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Sydni Burge

Professor Gardiakos

ENC1102

27 January 2023

Reading Response to “Making Your Move: Writing in Genres from Writing Spaces

“Intertextuality and the Discourse Community” from Rhetoric Review

When thinking of genre, I immediately think of the AP 2D Design class I took last year.

In a community of artists, the most common form of writing is a Judgement Analysis

Interpretation Description (JAID) critique. Though it is not common, my class had the

assignment of using the JAID method critiquing on the teacher. Essentially, he did the project he

assigned the class himself and put it in front of the room to teach us the proper way of writing the

critique. Though it is written in this order, this is not the order you write the critique in.

Beginning with description, the critic’s job is to state, quite literally, what is going on in the

piece. For example, my art teacher’s piece was a charcoal drawing of a superhero he had created

for an indie card game. Secondly, the critic will analyze the work: “My art teacher used the

charcoal to create contrast with the stark white background,”. Next, it is up to the critic to

interpret the work: “What is the purpose?”, or “What is the artist saying?”. In this case, the

purpose of the artwork was to portray a character in a way that made him seem strong and almost

intimidating, for whoever would be playing against his handler in a card game. Finally, there is

judgement: “Is this artwork good?”, “Is there merit or purpose?”. Clearly, most students in the
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class said it was good because there is no reason to start a fight with a teacher of the merit of the

work, he is not the kind of person that would’ve appreciated that criticism.

A JAID critique is always given in the form of a paragraph that is occasionally presented orally,

with the primary focus of helping the artist improve their work. Regarding moves, a critic is

often taught to give a “compliment sandwich”- which is taking two things you like about the

work and putting your criticism of the work between it. The compliment sandwich often makes

criticism easier to receive and thus, the artist actually listens, and the experience is constructive

rather than combative.

Similarly, In the artistic community on social media, ethical norms in the community are

very strict. Simply logging onto the Twitter #art tag, you’re bound to find a call out post of

someone in the community breaking said ethical code. Specifically, in the context of

intertextuality, being inspired by someone else’s work is never a wrongdoing in the community.

However, if the artist does not credit the work that inspired them, it is, at that point, plagiarism.

The line is fine, but very clear. Recently, new AI programs have been created to make “art”

based on an image or set of images put into the program. As interesting and inventive as this may

sound, it’s very damaging to the well-being of actual artists. Instead of being trained to identify

and create art based on work that is public domain, the programs are trained by art being made

today, by artists that currently need to make money off of that art for their livelihood. People

have even started putting an artist’s work into the AI program to change the work and pass it off

as their own. With all of that being said, there is a proper way to be inspired by artists- Leonardo

Da Vinci was inspired by Andrea del Verrocchio, and Jean-Michel Basquiat was inspired by the

anatomy studies of Da Vinci- but none of them are unoriginal at all, nor are they ever really
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categorized together. The vast difference between intertextuality and plagiarism is whether or

not an original idea is derived from the inspiration. If Basquiat had just recreated The Mona Lisa

and The Last Supper, he would not be as renowned as he is today.

So, in Porter’s case, I do actually think that his work is, at least somewhat, original. In

spite of the information he has taken from others in order to make his article come together, I

don’t think what he wrote lacks in autonomy. If he had completely lacked in originality, he

would’ve entirely plagiarized the work, or not published a paper on Intertextuality at all. Clearly,

he had a thought or two of his own that he felt the need to write down, and thus, his work has at

least some individual ideas. Inspiration is not equal to simply regurgitating something someone

else said or did. Nonetheless, I do believe it is impossible to make something or do something

that is not, at least unconsciously, inspired by something someone has done before you. Our very

perception of the world is shaped by the people around us, and therefore, nothing we do is

without inspiration from others.

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Works Cited

Jacobson, Brad, Madelyn Pawlowski, and Christine M. Tardy. “Make your Move: Writing in

Genres” Writing Spaces. Vol. 4, No. 13, pp. 217-238.

Porter, James E. “Intertextuality and the Discourse Community” Rhetoric Review. Vol. 5, No. 1,

1986, pp. 37-47