#1 Solving a Viral Mystery

Denis Grady, a reporter in the science department, wrote about a deadly new viral disease that was recently discovered and it gathered the scientists from around the world to Saudi Arabia. The scientists believe that the virus called MERS is caused by a relative virus called SARS, which infected nearly 8,000 people in 2003. The origin of the virus is still unclear, but there is a high probability that it originated from the interaction of human with the infected animals such as bats, civet cats, camels and others. The disease was taken to Britain, France, Italy and Tunisia due to the travelers from the Arabian Peninsula that carry the disease. The scientists tested samples from the animals that they believe might carry the virus, but they are still unsure about how the virus emerged.

Denis Grady used good word choice in achieving his goal which is to inform the people about the new virus that was detected last year. She used many quotes from the scientists who show great understanding of the subject and estimated number of death and infected people to increase the credibility of the article. The numbers of death suggests about the seriousness of the virus and also warn the people to beware of it. The use of topic sentences guides the readers throughout the article and informs them about the subject of the paragraph. She established a comparison between MERS and SARS so that the readers can relate the new virus to something familiar. Overall, the article is easy to understand, well organized and with high credibility. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/02/health/experts-scramble-to-trace-the-emergence-of-mers.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0