"Intertextuality and the Discourse Community"

James E. Porter

Summary

 In Porter's article, "Intertextuality and the Discourse Community", he attempts to discuss that writing must be original and that a writer must acknowledge another writer before "borrowing" their ideas.  If you don't, that's considered plagiarism.  Porter also explains that there is always traces of other text in something that someone is writing and that it can not be avoided.  His studies are important in how people understand themselves as writers and understand other peoples writing.

Synthesis
Both Porter and and Allen's articles are very similar.  They both explain how writing isn't easy and that even professionals have a hard time with it. Its more than just sitting down and writing.  There is more behind that process.

Dialectical Notebook

Response	Quotation
This quote shows that even legal documents such as The Declaration of Independence shows trace of other text.	"The Declaration contains many traces that can be found in other,earlier documents." (89)
I like this quotation because it shows that even Jefferson's work would show plagiarism in it because he used things from previous text.	"If Jefferson submitted the Declaration for a college writing class his own writing, he might well be charged with plagiarism." (90)
I find it interesting because it the wording seems odd to me.  It also seems odd to the author too.  It almost seems to be kind of sexist.	"From one perspective, the phrase,"two of them women" is a simple statement of fact; however, it presupposes a certain attitude-that's the event, horrible enough as it was, is more significant because two of the persons killed were women." (91)
In a few sentences before this quote, they are talking about John Kifner's New York Times headline article reporting on the Kent State incident of 1970.  I find this interesting because all of the words used in his article are very "American".  a lot of Kifner's wording in his article he borrowed from other articles.	"This pastiche of signs casts the text into a certain context, making it distinctively American." (91)
Those questions are really something to think about.  At least they make me think.  They make me think if anything can really be original and new.  Is that possible?	"Both examples point to the exclusionary power of discourse communities and raise serious questions about the freedom of the writer: chiefly, does the writer have any? Is any writer doomed to plagiarism? Can any text be said to be new? Are creativity and genius actually possible? Was Jefferson a creative genius or a blatant plagiarist?" (93)

Thoughts

I really enjoyed Porter's article.  I found it very interesting.  It really made me think about the way things are written and if all text is really original.  Even The Declaration of Independence is not considered original text.