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    "SURPRISE! YOU'RE DEAD!" : THE DEEPWATER HORIZON DISASTER AND OPENING STATEMENTS IN THE COURT OF PUBLIC OPINION

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    Author
    Welsh, Deborah M.
    Abstract
    This dissertation explores the ways in which various powerful groups used different genres of opening statements to create and control the version of the reality of a high stakes situation, namely, the April 20, 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster. Specifically, in the dissertation I identify and analyze the features and rhetorical moves that typify the genres of legal and non-legal opening statements, and focus on the communicative dynamics that define interactions between speakers and audiences in court opening statements, Congressional opening statements, and public press conference statements. I use critical discourse analysis and genre analysis to pinpoint the rhetorical moves used in each genre of opening statements. I make the claim that legal court opening statements use epideictic rhetoric to convince decision makers to act in a particular way. I also make visible the connections that exist between technical and professional communicators and the development of corporate business texts, focusing particularly on positive changes needed in the field, including increased participation in the construction of texts for businesses, and need for using their experience, expertise and ethics to also advocate for the common good.  
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/10342/4667
    Subject
     Technical communication; Law; Communication; Epideictic rhetoric; Genre theory; Primacy; Technical and professional communication; BP 
    Date
    2014
    Citation:
    APA:
    Welsh, Deborah M.. (January 2014). "SURPRISE! YOU'RE DEAD!" : THE DEEPWATER HORIZON DISASTER AND OPENING STATEMENTS IN THE COURT OF PUBLIC OPINION (Doctoral Dissertation, East Carolina University). Retrieved from the Scholarship. (http://hdl.handle.net/10342/4667.)

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    MLA:
    Welsh, Deborah M.. "SURPRISE! YOU'RE DEAD!" : THE DEEPWATER HORIZON DISASTER AND OPENING STATEMENTS IN THE COURT OF PUBLIC OPINION. Doctoral Dissertation. East Carolina University, January 2014. The Scholarship. http://hdl.handle.net/10342/4667. August 11, 2022.
    Chicago:
    Welsh, Deborah M., “"SURPRISE! YOU'RE DEAD!" : THE DEEPWATER HORIZON DISASTER AND OPENING STATEMENTS IN THE COURT OF PUBLIC OPINION” (Doctoral Dissertation., East Carolina University, January 2014).
    AMA:
    Welsh, Deborah M.. "SURPRISE! YOU'RE DEAD!" : THE DEEPWATER HORIZON DISASTER AND OPENING STATEMENTS IN THE COURT OF PUBLIC OPINION [Doctoral Dissertation]. Greenville, NC: East Carolina University; January 2014.
    Collections
    • Dissertations
    • English
    Publisher
    East Carolina University

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