ALEJANDRO ARCAY

ENC1101
DISCUSSION POST
PORTER
James Porter's "Intertextuality and the Discourse Community" discusses how we have
intertextuality in all forms of writing. He defines intertextuality as the idea that all texts contain
traces of other texts which is why he argues that there is no such thing as an original piece of
writing (Porter, 395). Porter categorizes intertextuality in the form of iterability and
presupposition. Iterability refers to the repeatability of certain fragments such as references,
quotes and allusions (Porter, 397). Presupposition refers to assumptions a text makes about its
referent, its readers and its content (Porter, 398).
Porter continues his findings by defining discourse communities. These terms refers to a
group of individuals bound by a common interest who communicate through approved channels
and whose discourse is regulated (Porter, 400). A discourse community shares assumption about
what objects are appropriate for examination and discussion. He then goes on to argue that
writing doesn't come from within but from a discourse community. With that being said, Porter
believes that a writer shouldn't attempt to create his own form of writing ideas but from previous
sources to create a new meaning.
As Porter wraps up his findings, he discusses how writers should attempt to find their own
discourse community of choice. By learning to do so, students will be able to change the way
their discourse community thinks. By being able to write for their specific discourse community,
the author will more likely be successful. Anyone can write, but its important to understand
various discourse communities styles. By reading Porters passage, it allowed me to reflect on
how my writing style should be structured when writer for a certain discourse community. No
longer should a writer transcribe whatever he/she thinks but what would make them most
successful.

Porter, James. "Intertextuality and the Discourse Community." Writing About Writing: A
College Reader. Eds. Wardle and Downs. 2nd ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2011. 395-409.
Print.

-----------Reply-----------Well said Catherine, Porter really emphasizes in his excerpt that intertextuality is not a form of
plagiarism since everything we write comes from sources of the past. As you said, the movies
that we watch or the books that we read show a consistent pattern with other movies and books
from the past. Also, I too realized that analyzing traces helps me in analyzing rhetoric.