Plagiarism: The Role Of Originality In Literature

Originality is the ability to be able to or to think independently and creatively. We often have the mind set that originality is exactly as it is defined, but that is a misconception due to the use of others work contributing to our own. We are taught to believe that when constructing our own work, we are supposed to come up with every single idea or piece that goes into it. If not, we were threatened by the word plagiarism. Our generation knows plagiarism as the ultimate sin in the world of literacy. High school specifically brings out the meaning of plagiarism as many students copy other authors writing as their own words. This concept could be avoided if our generation was informed on how to correctly take other people’s ideas in combination …show more content…
It seems that plagiarism is unavoidable in this line of work. He explains why literacy in today’s world is full of unoriginal works and misconceptions. Originality in literacy must be redefined in order to make forward progress. While Porter shows how plagiarism plays a huge part in the art of literature in this day and age, due to this there has to be a change to what we can expect in literature.
Porter starts his article off by introducing the term intertextuality, this is the idea that all text has traces of other text in them. He supports this concept by using the Declaration of Independence and Thomas Jefferson as an example. Porter stated, “if Jefferson submitted the Declaration for a college writing class as his own writing, he might as well have been charged with plagiarism” (Porter 399). Porter uses this point with Jefferson to explain what it would be like today if we had produced a piece of literature with multiple uses of others work. This particular concept can be relatable because as we sat through high school English class we were constantly reminded how important it was to use our own words. It seems as if …show more content…
Plagiarism plays a big part in how papers and books are written due to the fact that it is a precautionary that everyone must take to insure that their work is abiding by the laws of writing. Today’s students need to be able to put what they can into their writing while also having assistance in providing information from other authors. We can expand the boundaries and allow the flow of writing to be expressed in not only the writer’s words but also the words of the others that helped contribute. The ability to take someone else’s writing or ideas and elaborate on them ourselves shouldn’t be a crime. Instead, it should be looked at and be able to help one explain their points to better the understanding of the information being given. So, plagiarism should be dealt with in a way that is not so harsh and reexamined as a tool to help ones writing