Porter

Summary

James Porter's "Intertextuality and the Discourse Community" questions what is considered to be plagiarism, and how people form texts. The audience for this article can be both students and teachers. In the article, Porter says how when we look at other resources for information, we are not plagiarizing, but are forming intertextuality (all texts contain traces of other texts). In this article, we can learn that plagiarism is not what most people think it is, and that using other resources to form intertextuality is very important in writing. 

Synthesis

Porter's article can easily be compared to Elbow's article because they are both teaching us key elements of forming good papers. Porter's article tells us that we need to use intertextuality and our own creativity when writing. Elbow's article also tells us the importance of creativity through the use of voice. Both of these articles contain good tips and hints for writing good papers. 

Dialect Notebook

Response	Quotation
I think this is a good definition for examining texts and using intertextuality. Before reading this article, I did not know what intertextuality meant.	“Examining texts “intertextually” means looking for “traces”, the bits and pieces of text which writers or speakers borrow and sew together to create new discourse.” (pg. 88)
This is a good explanation of the comparison between plagiarism and intertextuality.	“Texts not only refer to but in fact contain other texts.” (pg. 89)
I like this quote because it is a good example for the fact that everyone uses intertextuality if they know it or not. Also, I like it because it shows that doing this is not plagiarism, but simply using your sources for the benefit of the writing.	“To produce his original draft of the Declaration, Jefferson seems to have borrowed, wither consciously or unconsciously, from his culture’s Text.” (pg. 89)
I like this quote because it is describing America and our many different styles of doing things. We sometimes follow others and stick to tradition, but we also like to be unique and march to the beat of our own drum.	“In this array of signs, we have tradition and counter-tradition harmonized.” (pg. 90)
This statement is very true because after someone created a new writing, someone else can use that text in their own texts.	“Every new text has the potential to alter Text in some way; in fact, every text admitted into a discourse community changes the constitution of the community.” (Pg. 93)

Thoughts

Porter's article was very interesting because of his view on plagiarism. Growing up, plagiarism was always a big deal that had very bad consequences. After reading Porter's article, I now see plagiarism differently. In the future I will try to use intertextuality the proper way.