Reading Response #8 (Porter)

Getting Ready to Read

I get help for writing from teachers, peers, the internet, books, and magazines. I also get feedback about my writing from peers and teachers.

Summary:

In his article "Intertextuality and the Discourse Community," Porter stresses the importance of the idea that writing is always individual, even when writers use the words of other authors to illustrate their points. He maintains that writers who use other author's words are merely "borrowing" to more effectively get their point across. 

This article is similar to others we read in that, once again, we are hearing a writing construct be debated and looked at from a different way. 

QDJ

4. I have always been under the impression that writing is evaluated by how well a point is made, or how well you are able to communicate your ideas. In the past, this has certainly been how my writing has been judged. 

5. I believe his work very well reflects his point. Porter is still being original, he is just using other's ideas to do it. 

AEI

2. If I were able to rewrite the plagiarism policy, I would still require students to cite sources and give credit where necessary, but I would allow for the use of other ideas to get to an original idea. 

MM

This article did not make me feel any differently about writers or writing. I have always believed that that originality in writing is very rare. I try to be as original as possible when writing, but Porter's article may affect that. 

I really liked this article because it took an idea which so many others are against, and turned it on its head so we were able to look at it from a new perspective. I liked how Porter gave plagiarism a new twist, showing how it wasn't always this terrible thing, and how it could actually be a good thing in regards to audience.