By being able to understand the concept of remixing and assemblage, one can apply it to his or her own creation of a text in a way that is advantageous to the writing. It can improve one's own understanding of how writing happens and where the ideas come from. It can help you distinguish what is your own ideas, to what is someone else's ideas, and to what is maybe a combination of both. Ever since you learn how to write your first essay in elementary school, you are taught that plagiarism is wrong and that copying someone else's words or ideas is not acceptable. So for years you strive to make sure that everything is your own. But with the concept of a remix, it takes some of that burden off. There is a popular saying that goes, "there is noting new under under the sun." This is a perfect way to understand assemblage. There are no new ideas, just ideas you have created by taking previous ideas and mixing them together in a new way. Your new idea or text might be a new way of interpreting something or might give a new perspective, but the things/words it is composed of are not new. That is what remixing and assemblage is.
While the commonly known definition of plagiarism is stealing someone's ideas word for word, from the remixing perspective, technically everything is a form of plagiarism. While teachers tell us we can't steal other people's ideas, they also want us to use sources and evidence from previous people's work but do that without stealing. Basically, what teacher's want is a remix that gives a new perspective, and by understanding this, we can write and create better. This is what we gain from understanding assemblage. We gain knowledge that helps us form and create, and we can now successfully use other people's ideas without stealing them. What we lose from this is our sense of ingenuity and creative. By realizing that we aren't creating anything that is wholly new, it sort of stifles our imagination and might make the creator feel like he or she can't create.
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