In the text Porter speaks about his ideas about intertextuality and discourse communities. Through intertextuality as writers we tend to draw ideas from other writers and many times without giving acknowledgment to the writer it came from. In many ways that definition also defines plagiarism. Porter suggests that "writing is interdependent" and that intertextuality helps people become a better writer, especially students. As a student, I agree with Porter ideas about intertextuality. I also agree with Porter when he states that intertextuality helps you become a "socialized writer" Many times when I am writing a paper, I have to relate to some type of text and alter the ideas slightly in order to get my point across. Porter intersect the idea of intertextuality through his explanation of community discourse.
According to the text, "thus the intertext exerts its influence partly in the form of the audience expectation. We might then say that the audience of each of these texts is as responsible for production as the writer, That, in essence, readers, not writers create discourse." (91) From my understanding reader may use familiar text from other writers but its about the community discourse that develop that will differentiate the writers. Porter also speaks about imagining writing as an individual, as isolated and heroic is harmful. In consideration of Porters idea he talks about the importance of audience and how isolated writing hurts the writer due to the lack of audience. Once becoming a part of a discourse community, it keeps the writer in-tuned and able to keep their audience attention and helps them become a better writer.
