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Comm 402: Approaches to Rhetorical Criticism

Context

In order to fully analyze your artifact, you must first situate the artifact in both the historical and scholarly context.

The historical context will help you understand the time period during which your artifact was created: what was the social and political climate during that time period? How does the artifact fit into the conversation at the time? 

The scholarly context will help you understand how scholars discuss your artifact, and artifacts like yours.

Bullseye image that demonstrates the different types of context