1.There’s so much to be learned about an author from reading a head note or doing a simple search on google or Wikipedia. You can confirm whether or not the author has established authority on the subject matter at hand. Also, the more information you know about the author, the easier it will be to understand the authors purpose for writing the text and decide whether the authors opinion is biased in any way. It’s almost like hiring a new employee for a position at your company, if the candidates references don’t have anything positive to say, How can you possibly trust them to be a good employee? If an author proves to NOT be a credible or reliable source how can you possibly trust the information given or their opinions?
2. The purpose of the text is to highlight and magnify just how untrue and the inconsistent health scare articles usually are. A knowledgeable professor Petroc Summer , discovered through extensive research that numerous press release written by the public relations department at universities are often over exaggerated and sensationalized.
3.I believe Doctor Summer’s findings to be factual and completely believable. I have read many health-scare articles that were nothing more than “click bait.” The title of the article is eye-catching an intriguing. However, a good reader may find that the actual “scientific study” included in the text is questionable and inconsistent. I never fully understood who exactly benefited from these types of press release and to what extent, yet now it all makes sense.
4.The articles title really grabbed my attention “The Point When Science Becomes Publicity.” seems self explanatory yet captivating. The words sort of jump start my reading thinking process. I start to wonder how how much does science and publicity have in common and how to author will draw the connection between the two subjects.
5. Petroc Summer is a professor of Psychology at Cardiff University in Wales. He is fully aware of the over exaggeration and sometimes misleading information written in health articles. However, he makes it his mission to uncover exactly where the exaggeration in science reporting comes from. He decides to trace these articles back to their roots (the laboratory) to find out exactly where the inaccuracies originate. Petroc soon discovers that that press releases written by public relation departments at the researchers universities are responsible for the information released. The reasoning behind why these health-scare articles are being released is shocking and absolutely mind boggling! It will surely change the way one looks at a “science based” article forever!