Journal #4

Since I was a young student, I felt as if have been indoctrinated to believe that plagiarism is a horrible and unlawful act and to use someone else’s work and call it your own can be a detriment to one’s academic success. Though this is an accurate statement, this article titled “Assemblage” by Selber and Eilola, seems to dismantle that common way of thinking by suggesting a switch from the “performance” of a writer to the “action” or “effect in context” that the writer takes. In other words, students should focus less on which parts of a text are original and which have been found and gathered somewhere else, and more on assemblages, or texts built primarily from existing texts in order to solve a writing or communication problem in a new context. We can gain a lot by switching our focus from making sure our work is original, to making sure we provided enough examples to support or prove our point. For example, I believe that an essay that has provided a multitude of different materials such as words, texts, and concepts from outside sources, has much more depth and appeal than an essay in which one gives their own opinion about whatever the subject is about. Students can still express their creativity through the assemblage of different texts, such as their ability to find something that already exists and make it into something that works to solve problems in a new form. Furthermore, by placing more of an importance on assemblage and remix, students gain a new set of skills, “to situate texts not only in pre-existing but new contexts.” Although I agree with this, there are something’s that a writer can lose when composing in this form. One example could be how writing something in your own words demonstrates an understanding of the information more than if you were to copy someone else’s work. In addition, explaining a topic from a different angle can help others understand a topic they previously did not understand. Overall, I think that the process of assemblage and remix are important factor’s when composing any text because the use of outside sources from a variety of materials can help build an essay and add a different perspective.