WAW: Porter

      In the text "Intertextuality and the Discourse Community" the author, James Porter, tries to reshape the way we think about plagiarism and creativity. Porter almost tries to decriminalize plagiarism in writing community because he does not view it as bluntly as just simply stealing someone else's ideas for your own. He makes a great example when bringing up Thomas Jeffersons writing of the Declaration of Independence and how even though he is thought of as the author, many of the things he wrote in there came from the ideas of many other people. Is Jefferson a plagiarist? Or was Jefferson creative in how he strung together different works into one. There are the questions Porter asks and how every writer is just part of a community that all contribute their works and not one single person can have %100 claim everything they have said sometimes it is the way someone has used other peoples words that might make then creative.

       GRR: I interviewed my mother about writing and she expressed that most authors have contributed somewhat to her writing not because she has used what they have said but rather that they showed her a new way of writing. Every author has their own style and format they write and my mom said she took buts and pieces of these works to help her with her own writing. Her writing is always on her own even if she is using some else's words because she is using them in a different context and in different ways. QD: 2.)  I agree with Porter's statement that intertext takes away the thought of writers as individuals because it does not award the credit for creative writing rather just state that they created their work as a compilation of other writers. 3.) Porter refers to anonymous writers as "romantic" because they are original and come up with their own material.  4.) Porter's criteria on evaluation writing is much different then the criteria that I grew up with. What I was taught that writing should always be original and in your own words. Porter however, believes that, sometimes, it is the way that you use others words that makes you creative. 5.) His article does not fail to express his principles, it does however in a way contradict itself int that you could also view his text as not originally written by him but a combination of different peoples ideas. Regardless if the article is original or not, the message that Porter wants to get across still in my opinion, reaches its audience. 6.) According to Porter, the harm in viewing writing as individual is that it takes the credit away from anyone who might have contributed or even inspired the person to write. %100 of the persons text cannot not always be all of theirs. There definitely other writers in the community that helped shape this particular persons writing style whether he/she may know it or not. MM: Porter changed how I view writers and writing only a small amount. I still disagree with his "intertext" because it takes individuality away from writers. Creative and original thoughts can still be put on paper without having to give credit to someone else for it.
    I definitely thought that this was one of the better and more interesting articles we read even though sadly that is not saying much. It was interesting to see a scholars different view on plagiarism because all throughout school plagiarism was viewed as one of the worst thing writers could do and was normally severly punished for doing so. Here is someone, most likely a college professor, however, stating that it is all not that bad depending on how you incorporate their words.