08.02 Second Reading Assignment

Assignment Deliverables

1. Upload a typed reading response as a pdf or docx
   • Label the file YYYYMMDD Lastname Firstname Marshal McLuhan Reading Response.pdf/docx

Requirements

Read pages 7 - 23 Chapter 1 The Medium is the Message in Part I of Understanding the Media: Extensions of Man by Marshal McLuhan.

1. Put you name and the date in the top left corner of the document.
2. Include the title, author, and date of publication of the reading.
3. Include the following:
   • 3 questions you have about the reading.
   • 3 contemporaneous cultural events / happenings / occurrences from the year of publication of the reading.
   • 3 contemporaneous political events / historical events /social movements from the year of publication of the reading.
   • A glossary with definitions of words from the reading you did not know the meaning of.

Text Source

McLuhan, Marshal. Understanding the Media: Extensions of Man   . New York. 1964.

• Available From:
• Internet Archive  
• Design Open Data   (Archive Link)  

Process

Read the text once without worrying too much about parts you don’t fully understand. If something strikes you as interesting or unusual, jot it down. Mark passages you agree or disagree with, and note your reasons why. Remember that truly understanding a text often requires more than one reading. Rereading helps you internalize the content and develop your own opinions.

The main goal of this assignment is to ensure you have meaningful, well-formed thoughts that you can clearly communicate to others. How you reach that point is largely up to you: you can read thoroughly, take notes according to the assignment guidelines, or even consult large language models (LLMs) for prompts and ideas. However, using external tools can be both helpful and distracting, so use them wisely.

Above all, remember that your ability to form, remember, and express creative analyses is more valuable than the notes or writing response you produce. Think of reading and note-taking (or using any tool) as a means to an end: what ultimately matters is that you can share novel insights and participate effectively in the in-class discussion, where you’ll be evaluated on the originality and clarity of your ideas.

Grading Rubric