Outlines

Here, we will provide the outlines of the two texts you have to analyse: the video clip and the article.

I: “Performance-enhancing drugs” (video)

Author: CNN
Genre: Video
Year of Publication: 2013

The video clip was produced by CNN and published online in 2013 on the CNN website, in the Health section.

In the video clip, CNN Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen explains why some athletes use performance-enhancing drugs. She reports that athletes take performance-enhancing drugs because they believe they target their different needs, such as strength or endurance, according to their particular sport.

Cohen then makes it clear that performance-enhancing drugs are illegal.

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II: “Athletics doping crisis is just another reason to allow drugs in sport”

Author: James Kirkup
Genre: Article
Year of Publication: 2015

The text is written by James Kirkup and it was published in 2015 on the website of The Telegraph.

The text’s main purpose is to convince readers that doping should be allowed. Kirkup begins by explaining that there have always been doping scandals in different sports and that no definitive measure to prevent doping is ever taken. Furthermore, the honest athletes who do not use performance-enhancing drugs are in general looked upon with suspicion because they are associated with those who do use them.

There are two main widely used objections to doping that Kirkup refers to in his text. First, he states that people are in general concerned about the athletes’ well-being. Kirkup tries to make the readers aware of the fact that, by legalising them, currently banned substances could be regulated and made safer for athletes. This way, athletes should experience fewer dangerous side-effect when using them.

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