Response 3: Intertextuality and the Discourse Community

            According to Porter, intertextuality means that all writing and speech arise from a single network. Thus, all writing shares some aspect of others. He believes that we should shift our attention away from the writer as an individual and focus on the sources that writer draws from. Sometimes this is done through the use of citations, but more often that not it is done through plagiarism in the form of borrowing ideas from a discourse community.

The problem with this arises because most individuals and young writers don’t understand this concept. They aren’t aware of the discourse communities all great writers draw from and thus set unrealistic expectations for themselves. This problem can be solved by educating the public about the process of developing a discourse community and learn to use it in a productive manner.

            Another problem with discourse communities is that the belief of the community might sway inexperienced writers to conform their beliefs and writing style to that of the community in an effort to feel accepted.