Intertextuality And The Discourse Community Summary

Intertextuality and the Discourse Community, a text written by James E. Porter, outlines the basics of a given text and the way a person understands writing. Porter examines the principle of intertextuality, “the idea that all texts contain some other texts(395),” and the principle of a discourse community, “a group of individuals bound by a common interest who communicate through approved channels and whose discourse is regulated(400).” Bootstraps: From an Academic of Color, a story written by Victor Villanueva, tracing his journey throughout college problematize’s Porter’s discussion. As Villanueva enters community college after serving in the military he could be considered an unskilled writer. Like many students, Villanueva starts his assignment the night, even hours, before it is due; only writing what comes to his mind. His english teacher once accused him of plagiarism due to his lack of an outline. Porter questions plagiarism in his text, “Is any writer doomed to plagiarism? Can any text said to …show more content…
This new way resembles a term defined in Porters writing, a discourse community which is “a group of individuals bound by a common interest who communicate through approved channels and whose discourse is regulated(400).” Villanueva visited the library prior to writing the given assignment to search for patterns found in his professors writings. He would then use these patterns to construct his own writing. Villanueva wrote for his professor; he wrote in a way that he knew the reader would understand. The common interest in this case between Villanueva and his professor was the topic and structure of the writing. Every writer has patterns that they tend to follow, reading a writing that follows similar patterns as yours will only make it easier for you to understand. I think that Villanueva’s experience is a great example of a “discourse