Critical/Cultural Methods

COM 75-804-01 | Spring 2023

They Say, I Say Summarizing Exercise:

The purpose of this exercise is to gain experience tracking and producing writing that uses the "They Say, I Say" format we are learning.

Prompt: Write a short paragraph in the "They Say, I Say" format you might use in a literature review that engages the following excerpt from Marshall McLuhan's Understanding Media. To do that, summarize McLuhan's main point as he himself uses the "They Say, I Say" format to draw out his argument in terms of an analogy between media and firearms and then say what you think about McLuhan's argument.

Notice that this is a multi-layered example, where McLuhan uses "They Say, I Say" format to make his point, and where his whole "They Say, I Say" formulation becomes its own They Say (McLuhan says) in relation to what you say (I say).

The excerpt is located here.