Intertextuality and the Discourse Community Author(s): James E. Porter Reviewed work(s): Source: Rhetoric Review, Vol. 5, No.

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JAMESE. PORTER

at IndianaUniversity-Purdue University Fort Wayne

and Intertextuality the DiscourseCommunity

At theconclusion Eco's TheNameoftheRose, themonk of Adso ofMelk returns the to burned abbey, where finds theruins he in scraps parchment, of the onlyremnants one ofthegreat from libraries all Christendom. spends in He a daycollecting charred the fragments, hoping discover to in somemeaning the scattered pieces of books. He assembleshis own "lesser library . . of . fragments, quotations, unfinished sentences, amputated stumps books" of (500). To Adso, theserandom shards "an immense are acrostic saysand that repeats nothing" (501). Yetthey significant himas an attempt order are to to We might derive ownorder from scene.We might Adso as this see well our representing writer, hisdesperate the and activity the at burned abbey a modas el for writing the The in is an process. writer this image a collector fragments, of an a from of archaeologist creating order, building framework, remnants the his past.Insofar thecollected as fragments Adso recallother, texts, help lost he from master, his William Baskerof experience affirmsprinciple learned a ville: "Not infrequently booksspeakof books"(286). Not infrequently, and and perhaps everandalways,texts refer other to texts infact on for rely them a their meaning. texts interdependent: understandtext All are We onlyinsofar as we understand precursors. its theprinciple all writing Thisis theprinciple knowas intertextuality, that we and speech-indeed,all signs-arise from singlenetwork: a whatVygotsky whatpoststructuralists Textor Writing label called "theweb of meaning"; distant perhaps knew logos.Examas and a age ecriture); what more (Barthes, the texts meanslooking "traces," bitsandpiecesof for ining "intertextually" Textwhichwriters speakers and sew together createnew disto or borrow ' course. The most mundane manifestationintertextuality of is explicit citation, butintertextuality and mere citation. the For animates discourse goesbeyond all intertextual critics, Intertext Text-a great is seamless textual fabric. And,as theyliketo intone solemnly, textescapes intertext. no with one rhetoric animportant Intertextuality provides perspective, currently cultiI neglected,believe.Theprevailing composition pedagogies andlarge by uninhibited as as vatetheromantic imageof writer free, spirit, independent, nature disof and the creative genius.By identifying stressing intertextual and the as we our course, however, shift attention awayfrom writer individual
34 Vol.5, No. 1, Fall 1986 Review, Rhetoric experience.

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focus on and from which writer's more thesources socialcontexts the discourse arises.According this to is than view,authorial intention less significant social the is a context; writer simply part a discourse of tradition,member a team, a of and a participant a community discourse creates own collective in of that its meaning. Thustheintertext constrainswriting. My aimhereis todemonstrate significance this the of theory rhetoric, to by itsconnection thenotion "discourse explaining intertextuality, to of communiand itspedagogical for ty," implications composition. The Presenceof Intertext has Intertextuality been associated withbothstructuralism poststrucand turalism, theorists RolandBarthes, with like Julia Kristeva, Jacques Derrida, Hayden White, HaroldBloom,MichelFoucault, MichaelRiffaterre. and (Of course,thetheory mostoften is asappliedin literary analysis.)The central sumption these of critics beendescribed Vincent has "Thetext not by Leitch: is an autonomous unified or texts.Its object,buta set of relations withother system language, grammar, lexicon,dragalongnumerous and of its its bits a pieces-traces--of history that text so the resembles Cultural Salvation Army Outletwithunaccountable of collections incompatible ideas, beliefs,and sources"(59). It is these"unaccountable collections" intertextual that critics focus notthetext autonomous as these haveredefined on, In critics entity. fact, thenotion "text": of Textis intertext, simply or of Text.The traditional notion thetext thesingle as work a given of and notions author of author, eventhevery and reader, regarded simply are as disconvenient fictions domesticating for course.The old borders thatwe used to ropeoffdiscourse, these proclaim are useful. critics, no longer We can distinguish between two typesof intertextuality: iterability and presupposition. Iterability refers the "repeatability" certaintextual to of to in fragments,citation itsbroadest sensetoinclude only not explicit allusions, references, quotations and within discourse, also unannounced a but sources andinfluences, in That cliches, phrases theair,andtraditions. is to say,every is of discourse composed "traces," that its texts helpconstitute piecesofother this inmy of Decmeaning. willdiscuss aspect intertextuality analysis the (I of laration Independence.) of refers assumptionstext Presupposition to a makes aboutitsreferent, readers, itscontext-to its and are which portions thetext of read,butwhichare notexplicitly "there." example,as Jonathan For Culler the "John discusses, phrase married Fred'ssister" an assertion logically is that presupposes John that exists, Fredexists, that that and Fredhasa sister. "Open thedoor"contains practical a the of presupposition, assuming presence a decoderwhois capableofbeing addressed whois better toopenthe and able door

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than encoder. the "Onceupon time" a trace inrhetorical a is rich presupposition, of narrative. signaling eventheyoungest to reader opening a fictional the Texts notonlyrefer butin factcontain other to texts.2 of will illustrate various the facets of An examination three sampletexts of intertextuality. first, Declaration Independence, popularly The the is viewed the closely itsrhetoriin as thework Thomas of Jefferson. ifweexamine text Yet cal milieu, seethat we Jefferson author inthe was loosest senses.A of only very number historians atleast composition of and two Theoresearchers (Kinneavy, the with ry393-49;Maimon, Readings 6-32)haveanalyzed Declaration, interesting results. Theirworksuggests Jefferson by no meansan origithat was nalframer a creative or genius, someliketosuppose. as was Jefferson a skilled writer, be sure,butchiefly to becausehe was an effective borrower traces. of To produce original his draft theDeclaration, of Jefferson seemsto have or borrowed, either consciously unconsciously, hisculture's from Text.Much has been made of Jefferson's relianceon Locke's social contract theory (Becker).Locke'stheory influenced colonial political philosophy, emerging in of various pamphlets newspaper and articles thetimes, served thefounand as dationfortheopening section theDeclaration. of The Declaration contains many traces canbe found other, that in There traces from earlier documents. are a First Continental a Councildeclaration, Congress resolution,Massachusetts of for a of GeorgeMason's"Declaration Rights Virginia," political pamphlet James Otis,anda variety other of a Theoversources, includingcolonial play. all form the of Declaration (theoretical argument followed list grievances) by of of strongly resembles, ironically, English the Bill of Rights 1689, in which II Parliament theabusesofJames anddeclares for lists newpowers itself. Several of theabusesin theDeclaration seemto havebeentaken, moreor less verbatim, a Pennsylvania from Evening Postarticle. Andthemost memorable in Declaration Jefferson's: all men created "That are phrases the seemtobe least comwhich equal"is a sentiment Euripides from Jefferson copiedinhisliterary of was monplace bookas a boy;"Life,Liberty, thepursuit Happiness" a and clicheof thetimes, documents appearing numerous in political (Dumbauld). can be his draft Though Jefferson's of theDeclaration hardly considered in underwent more still anyexclusive senseofauthorship, document the expropriation thehands Congress, madeeighty-six at Theoof who changes (Kinneavy, ry 438). They the cut draft from 1 linesto 147.They considerable 21 did editing to temperwhat they saw as Jefferson's emotionalstyle: For example, to restrained Jefferson's phrase "sacred& undeniable" changed themore was "self-evident." Congress excisedcontroversial passages,suchas Jefferson's to Jefferson's condemnation slavery. of Thus,we should itinstructivenote, find fewattempts original to werethoseleastacceptable Congress. at expression

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IfJefferson the for submitted Declaration a collegewriting class as hisown writing, might he well be charged with plagiarism.3 idea of Jefferson The as author butconvenient is shorthand. Actually, Declaration the aroseoutof a cultural rhetorical and milieu,was composed traces and was, in effect, of teamwritten. Jefferson deserves credit bringing for traces disparate together, forhelping moldand articulate milieu,forcreating all-important to the the draft. skill to Jefferson's as a writer hisability borrow was traces and effectively to find appropriate contextsfor them. As Michael Halliday says, does in new The of "[C]reativeness notconsist producing sentences. newness a is sentence a quiteunimportant unascertainable and and property 'creativito new ty'inlanguage inthespeaker's lies ability create meanings: realize to the potentialitylanguage theindefinite of for of to extension itsresources newconthat realizedthrough are forms behaviour" of highly repetitive (Explorations 42). The creative writer thecreative is in words. borrower, other Intertextuality be seenworking can similarly contemporary in forums. Recall thisscenefrom recent a Pepsicommercial: young A boyinjeansjacket, in accompanied dog, stands somedesolate by plainscrossroads nextto a gas station, towhich a soft next is drink machine. alienspacecraft, An resembling theone in Spielberg's Close Encountersof the ThirdKind, appears overhead. To theboy'sjoyful the amazement, spaceship hovers overthevending machine andbegins the eventualsucking Pepsicansinto ship.Ittakes onlyPepsi's,then a lytakes entire the machine. ad closeswith graphic: The "Pepsi.TheChoiceof a New Generation." the with movieor, Clearly, commercial presupposes familiarity Spielberg's at least,with pacific his visionof alienspacecraft. see several We American cliches,well-worn signs from Depression thedesolate the era: plains, genthe eral store,thepop machine, country withdog. These distinctively the boy American tracesarejuxtaposed against imagesfrom sciencefiction the and sixties in catchphrase generation" thecoda. Inthis "new of we array signs, have tradition counter-tradition and harmonized. in Pepsisqueezesitself themiddle, and thusbecomesthegreat American conciliator. ad's use of irony The may serveto distract viewers from how Pepsi achievesits momentarily noticing itself exaltedrolethrough of theintertext. an purpose assigning by use We find interesting an of example practical in Kifner's presupposition John New YorkTimes headline article on of reporting theKentStateincident 1970: Fourstudents KentStateUniversity, of themwomen, at two wereshotto deaththisafternoon a volleyof National Guard by At students werewounded. gunfire. least8 other
textsof situation..
.

. Our most 'creative' acts may be preciselyamong those

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Theburst gunfire of cameabout20 minutes theguardsmen after broke a noonrally theCommons, grassy up on a campus gathering spot,bylobbing gas at a crowd about1,000young tear of people. is From perspective, phrase one the "twoofthem women" a simple statement the of fact;however, presupposes certain it a attitude-that event,horrible enough it was, is moresignificant as becausetwoof thepersons killedwere women.It might goingtoo farto say that phrase be the presupposes sexist a attitude to ("women aren't supposed be killedinbattles"), can we imagine but this thephrase"twoof them men"in thiscontext? Thoughequallyfactual, wording wouldhavebeenconsidered in 1970(andprobably odd today well) as becauseitpresupposes cultural a mindset alienfrom one dominant the the at time."Twoofthem women" shocking henceitwasreported) is (and becauseit upsetsthesenseof order thereaders, thiscase theAmerican of in public. a the contains number a of Additionally more (and than little ironically), text the traces which havetheeffect blunting shock theevent. of the of Noticethat of students werenotshotbyNational Guardsmen, wereshot"bya volley but campusgathering spot.""Volley"and "lobbed"are military terms, with but connections sport well;"grassy to as campus gathering spot"suggests picnic; a "burst" recalltheglorious can sight bombs of "bursting" "TheStar-Spangled in it Banner." Thispastiche signscaststhetext of intoa certain making context, distinctively American. might that turbulent We say the milieu thesixties of to provided distinctive a array signsfrom of whichJohn Kifner borrowed produce article. his Each of thethree to texts examined contains phrases imagesfamiliar its or audience attitudes. theintertext Thus its audience presupposes certain exerts or the influence partly theform audience in of expectation. might saythat We then for texts as responsible itsproduction thewriter. is as audience eachofthese of creatediscourse. That,in essence,readers, writers, not The Power of DiscourseCommunity critics thosewho thisis whatsomepoststructuralist suggest, And,indeed, the to or of a prefer broader conception intertext wholookbeyond intertextthe to calls MichelFoucault textual socialframework regulating production: what communiFishcalls"theinterpretive what "thediscursive formation," Stanley Bizzell calls "thediscourse ty," and whatPatricia community." boundby a common is A "discourse community" a groupof individuals is channels whosediscourse and who interest communicate through approved
. . . gunfire";the tear gas was "lobbed"; and the event occurredat a "grassy

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to regulated. individual belong several An may or professional, public, personal discoursecommunities. Examples would include the community of of engineers whoseresearch is fluid area mechanics; alumni theUniversity of Michigan;Magnavoxemployees;the members the Porter of and family; members theIndianaTeachers Writing. approved of of The channels can we call "forums." Each forum a distinct has and history rules governing appropriateness which members obligedto adhere. Theserulesmaybe more to are or less apparent, more lessinstitutionalized, orlessspecific eachcomor more to munity. Examplesof forums includeprofessional publications Rhetoric like Review, English Journal, and Creative Computing; public media like Newsweek Runner's and conferences annual World; professional (the meeting of fluid boardmeetings; powerengineers, 4C's); company the dinner family tables;and themonthly of of meeting theIndianachapter theIzaak Walton League. A discourse community shares assumptions about what objects appropriare atefor examination discussion, and what functions performed operating are on those objects, what constitutes "evidence" "validity," what and and formal conA ventions followed. discourse are community have a well-established may or ethos; itmay havecompeting factions indefinite and It boundaries. may in be a "pre-paradigm" (Kuhn),that having ill-defined state an is, regulating system and no clearleadership. Some discourse communities firmly are established, suchas thescientific community, medical the and justicesysprofession, the tem,to cite a fewfrom Foucault's list. In thesediscourse communities, as Leitch must 'qualified' talk; hastobelong a commusays,"a speaker be to to he of nity scholarship; he is required possessa prescribed and to bodyofknowledge (doctrine).. . . [This system]operatesto constrain discourse;it establishes limits regularities.. . whomayspeak,what and . maybe spoken, andhowitis tobe said;inaddition what prescribe is true false, and what [rules] is reasonable whatfoolish, whatis meant what and and and not.Finally, they workto denythematerial existence discourse of itself'(145). A text "acceptable" is within forum insofar itreflects communia the only as tyepisteme use Foucault's (to term). a simple On level,thismeansthat a for manuscript be accepted publication the to for in Journal Applied of Psychology, itmust follow certain formatting conventions: must It havetheexpected social science sections of (i.e., review literature, methods, results, discussion), it and must the use journal's version APAdocumentation. of However, these only are of superficial features theforum. a moreessential On level,themanuscript mustrevealcertain characteristics, an ethos(in thebroadest have possible to sense)conformingthestandards the of discourse It community:must demonstrate atleastclaim)that contributes (or it to knowledge thefield, must it dem-

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onstrate familiarity thework previous with of researchers thefield, must in it in usea scientific method analyzing results its (showing acceptance the of truthvalueof statistical demonstration), itmust meetstandards test for design and analysis results, must of it adhere standards to determining degree accuracy. of Theexpectations, conventions, attitudes this and of discourse community-the readers, writers, publishers Journal Applied and of of Psychology-will influnot howthey write also but enceaspiring psychology researchers, shaping only their character within discourse that community. that is Thepoststructuralist challenges classicalassumption writing view the a simple creates text a which linear, one-way movement: writer The produces rhetoric somechangein an audience.A poststructuralist examines howaudience(intheform community of expectations standards) and influences textual production in so doing,guidesthedevelopment thewriter. and, of for This view is of courseopen to criticism itsapparent for determinism, devaluing contributionindividual the of writers making and them appear merewhich answers "Disin lytoolsofthediscourse community (charges Foucault are course Language"). these on If regulating systems so constraining, can how an individual to merge? Whathappens theideaoftheloneinspired writer and text? thesacredautonomous is within Bothnotions a pretty knock. hard Genuine take originalitydifficult Geniusis possible, itmaybe contheconfines a well-regulated of system. but strained. Foucault citestheexampleof Gregor Mendel,whoseworkin the was from prevailing of nineteenth century excluded the community biologists methods placedhimself and within a becausehe "spokeofobjects, employed spokethetruth, he was notdans le vrai(within true)"(224). Frank but the from literary the Robert Frost Lentricchia a similar cites example community: between "achieved 1895and 1912,a perimagazine publication five only times of acclaimed . . [because] in od during which wrote number poemslater he a . in United in to within dominant the senseofthe States the order write poetic the decadeofthetwentieth, one lastdecadeofthenineteenth and century thefirst a and had to employ diction, syntax, prosody heavily favoring Shelleyand Tennyson. One also had to assumea certain stance,a certain world-weary to of one idealism which too tookcarenottorefer concretely theworld which was weary" (197, 199). communities Bothexamples to point theexclusionary powerof discourse of does the and raiseserious questions aboutthefreedom thewriter: chiefly, Can be writer any?Is anywriter have doomed plagiarism? anytext saidtobe to a creative and WasJefferson new?Arecreativity genius actually possible? genius or a blatant plagiarist?
theoreticalperspectivetotallyalien to the biology of his time. .
.

. Mendel

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we to extremes. Evenifthewriter locked is into Certainly want avoidboth a cultural matrix is constrained theintertext thediscourse and by of community, thewriter freedom has the within immediate rhetorical context.4 Furthermore, successful writing helpstoredefine matrix-and that becomes in the way creative.(Jefferson's Declaration contributeddefining notion America to the of for itsdiscourse community.) Every newtext thepotential alter Textin has to the someway;infact, every admitted a discourse text the into community changes of constitution thecommunity-and discourse communities revisetheir can as discursive practices, theMendeland Frost examples suggest. is the Writing an attempt exercise will,toidentify selfwithin conto the the straints somediscourse of insofar we must as community. areconstrained We inevitably borrow traces, the codes,andsignswhich inherit which we and our discourse as community imposes. are freeinsofar we do whatwe can to We and encounter learn and newcodes,tointertwine innewways, toexpand codes oursemiotic and our our potential-with goal beingtoeffect change establish identities within discourse we the communities chooseto enter. The Pedagogyof Intertextuality is not of Intertextuality new.It mayremind someofEliot'snotion tradition, though parameters certainly the It are broader. is an important concept, though. Itcounters whatI see as oneprevailing composition one a pedagogy, favoring romantic imageofthewriter, offering rolemodels creative as the essayists, the SundaySupplement freelancers, JoanDidions, E. B. Whites,Calvin the Trillins, RussellBakers.Thisdashing and imageappealstoourneedfor intellectual heroes; underlyingmaybe an anti-rhetorical that but it view: writers are not is born, made;that writing individual, and not isolated, internal; socialbut eccentric. This view is firmly in theintertext our discipline. set of Our anthologies the glorify individual essayists, whosework valuedfor timelessness is its and creativity. Freshman rhetorics announce thewriter's as proper goals personal insight, originality, personal and voice, or tellstudents motivations that for writing come from "within." Generally, pedagogy this assumesthatsuch a as thing thewriter actually exists-an autonomous writer a exercising free, creative will through writing the act-and that writing the processproceeds from to linearly writer text reader. to Thispartial picture theprocess all of can too readily becomethepicture, ourstudents all too readily can and learnto overlook vitalfacets discourse of production. When romanticize we the composition overemphasizing autonomy the by of writer, important questions overlooked, samequestions intertextual are the an

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viewof writing wouldprovoke: whatextent thewriter's To is product itself a of part a larger community writing process? How doesthediscourse communityinfluence writers readers and within Theseareessential it? questions, are but which perhapsoutsidethe prevailing episteme composition of pedagogy, presupposes autonomous the status thewriter independent of as cogito. Talking the about writing terms "socialforces in of influencing writer" raises specter the of determinism, so is anathema. and David Bartholomae summarizes issuevery this nicely: "The struggle the of student writer notthestruggle bring thatwhichis within; is the is to out it struggle carry those to out ritual activities grant entrance a closed that our into society" (300). Whenwe teachwriting as theactof"bringing what only out is within," riskundermining ownefforts. we our Intertextuality reminds that us is out "carrying ritualactivities" also partof thewriting process.Barthes reminds that us "the'I' which approaches text already the is itself plurality a of other texts, codes whichare infinite" of (10). be Intertextuality suggests ourgoalshould tohelpstudents towrite that learn for discourse the need communities choosetojoin. Students helpdevelopthey ingoutof whatJoseph Williams calls their "pre-socialized cognitive states." to writers notsufficiently are immersed in According Williams, pre-socialized their discourse community produce to competent discourse: Theydo notknow of of what be presupposed, notconscious thedistinctive can are intertextuality with the community, be only may superficially acquainted explicit conventions. for teach(Williams citestheexample thefreshman of whosepaper theEnglish er begins"Shakespeare a famous is Elizabethan dramatist.") immediate Our who members their of goal is to produce "socializedwriters," arefull-fledged that discourse community, producing competent, useful discourse within comthosewho be munity. long-range Our goal might "post-socialized writers," or in haveachieved sucha degree confidence, of authority, power, achievement of thediscourse so community as tobecome part theregulating body. Theyare able to varyconventions question and assumptions-i.e.,effect changein fear communities-without of exclusion. of all Intertextuality thepotential affect facets ourcomposition has to pedaas for gogy.Certainly supports it writing acrossthecurriculum a mechanism It of communities. introducing students theregulating to systems discourse communities raisesquestions aboutheuristics: different Do discourse apply in different It the heuristics? asserts valueof critical reading thecomposition our classroom.It requires thatwe rethink ideas aboutplagiarism: Certainly of imitatiois an important stagein thelinguistic development thewriter. The mostsignificant be application might in theareaof audience analysis. should Current whenwriters assumethat pedagogies analyzeaudiences they

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focus theexpected on flesh-and-blood readers. Intertextuality suggests the that proper focus audience of analysis nottheaudience receivers se, but is as per the intertext thediscourse of community. Instead collecting of demographic data aboutage, educational level, and social status, writer the might instead ask questions about intertext: aretheconventional the What presuppositionsthis of community? whatforums they In do assemble? Whatarethemethodological assumptions? Whatis considered "evidence," "validargument," "proof'? and A sampleheuristic such an analysis-whatI term for "forum analysis"-is included an appendix. as A critical of of reading thediscourse a community be thebestwayto may of a understand (We see a version thismessagein theadviceto examine it. for articles publication.) journalbefore submitting Traditionally, anthologies material. the haveprovided students reading with However, typical anthologies havetwoserious problems: limited (1) range-generally overemphasize they remove or literary expressive discourse; unclear (2) context-they frequently their nature. readings from their original contexts, disguising intertextual thus a readers haveattempted provide broader to selecSeveralrecently published tion of readingsin variousforums, and actuallydiscuss intertextuality. in Liberal in Arts Sciences, and Maimon's Readings the Kinneavy's Writing the are Arts Tradition, Bazerman's Informed and The Writer especially noteworthy. Ifwe each be intertextual. regard writWriting assignments should explicitly a tenproduct a stagein a larger within disas process-thedialectic process writer's is of of course community-then individual the work part a web,part a community search truth meaning. for and Writing assignments might the take in to form dialogue writers: letters response articles one is of with other Writing kind of dialectic(e.g., letters responding Atlantic to Monthly Science or articles). Research assignments might more be community oriented rather than topicoriented; students might askedtobecomeinvolved communities be in of in attitudes researchers (e.g., thesociologists examining changing religious in American The in Arts collegestudents). assignments Maimon's Writing the and Sciencesare excellent thisregard. in Intertextual that key for should theory suggests the criteria evaluating writing inbe "acceptability" within some discoursecommunity. "Acceptability" adherence formal to conventions. includes It cludes,butgoes well beyond, the the critical adchoosing "right" topic,applying appropriate methodology, and to for the hering standards evidenceand validity, in generaladopting the discoursevalues-and of course borrowing appropriate community's traces. Successis measured thewriter's to what be presupcan by ability know a that traces to that posed and to borrow community's effectively create text the to of contributes themaintenance possibly, definition thecommunity. or,

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and preferences Thewriter constrained thecommunity, byitsintertextual is by writer works assert willagainst to the those and prejudices, theeffective but community constraints effect to change. uses and State newsarticle showeffective of ThePepsicommercial theKent mixespicnicimagery the intertext. the Kent State piece, JohnKifner In violent "young people")with imagery ("burst ("grassy campus gathering spot," ThePepsiad writers combine unlikely two ofgunfire") dramatize event. to the imAmerican imagery sci-fi with setsof traces, linking folksy depression-era both intertwiningtraces, of agery"stolen" from Spielberg. thiscreative For in forums. can successful their respective discourses probably measured be Coda is institutionalized supports already Clearlymuchof whatintertextuality programs). And yet,in freshman comp (e.g., writing-across-the-curriculum to as there this is tendency see writing individtexts anthologies and especially, that as demonstrating convincingly the quite ual, as isolated, heroic. Evenafter was from intertext, borrowing a cultural Declaration written a teamfreely by she all that ElaineMaimoninsists, has against theevidence herself collected, in and that through, "Despitetheadditions, deletions, changes wording itwent the Declaration stillJefferson's is writing" (Readings26). Her sayingthis the presupposes thereader justconcluded opposite. that has romantic modelslike E. B. White, role Joan Whenwe give ourstudents unrealistic of expectations. type This Didion,and Lewis Thomas,we create status within somediscourse commuwriter often has achieved post-socialized for Can we realistically nity (Thomasin thescientific community, instance). first withto this without becoming socialized, expect students achieve state our a Theirrole within social context? out learning whatit meansto write first like heroesbutalso community writers modelsought be onlyromantic not of Adsosofthe writers thePepsicommercial-the the Jefferson, anonymous whose are Aristotles. needtosee writers products more world, justthe not They and more meanclearly produces evidently ofa larger part process whosework ing in social contexts.

Notes too are 'The dangers defining of intertextuality simplistically discussedby Owen Millerin and (Toronto: "Intertextual Identity," Identity the of Literary ed. Mario Valdes OwenMiller Text, J. itself a plurality to of U ofToronto 1985), 19-40.Miller points that out intertextuality "addresses P, concepts" (19).

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2Forfuller discussion Jonathan see Culler,The Pursuit Signs (Ithaca:CornellUP, 1981), of of 100-16.Michael Halliday elaborates the on theory presupposition somewhat, differentiating too, at relies on The of partly between exophoric endophoric and presupposition. meaning anytext least in form cohesive Endophoric references the of exophoric references, external i.e., presuppositions. meaning, cohesion a text but in depends ultimately devicesandconnections within text affect a also texts, connections maynotbe cuedby that on theaudience making exophoric connections prior to explicitcohesivedevices. See M. A. K. Hallidayand RuqaiyaHasan, Cohesionin English (London:Longman, 1976). hoc All 3Miller cautions aboutintertextuality posthoc ergopropter reasoning. we can us and Whether not or in earlier documents. safely note that is phrases theDeclaration appear other, in also on the documents "caused"the theborrowing intentional Jefferson's or whether prior was part Declaration anysenseof theword)is notascertainable. (in with the things 4Robert Scholesputsit thisway:"If you playchess,you can onlydo certain tell constraints not themselves youwhat do in pieces,otherwise arenot you playing chess.Butthose movesto make."See Textual Power(New Haven:Yale UP, 1985), 153.

WorksCited Barthes, Roland.SIZ. Trans.Richard Miller.New York:Hill and Wang,1974. David. "Writing Ed. L. Assignments: WhereWriting Begins." Bartholomae, fforum. Patricia Stock.UpperMontclair, Boynton/Cook, NJ: 1983. 1985. Bazerman, Charles.TheInformed 2nd Writer. ed. Boston:Houghton Mifflin, 2nd Becker, Carl. TheDeclaration Independence. ed. New York:Random, of Vintage,1942. and What Bizzell,Patricia. "Cognition, Convention, Certainty: WeNeedtoKnowabout Writing." PREITEXT3 (1982): 213-43. Culler, Jonathan. Pursuit Signs. Ithaca:CornellUP, 1981. The of Dumbauld, Edward. Declaration Independence. ed. Norman: ofOklahoma 1968. The of 2nd U P, BraceJovanoEco, Umberto. Nameofthe The Rose. Trans. William Weaver. Diego:Harcourt San vich, 1983. Fish, Stanley. Therea Textin ThisClass? Cambridge: Is Harvard 1980. UP, A. Foucault, Michel.TheArchaeology Knowledge theDiscourseon Language.Trans. M. of and Sheridan Smith.New York:Harper Row, 1972. & 1973. Halliday, A. K. Explorations theFunctions Language.New York:Elsevier, M. in of Halliday, A. K., and RuqaiyaHasan. Cohesionin English.London:Longman, M. 1976. "4 Kifner, John. KentStateStudents Killedby Troops." New York Times5 May 1970: 1. Cliffs: 1971. Kinneavy, James A Theory Discourse.Englewood L. of Prentice-Hall, in New York:Harper Row, 1985. & ---,et al. Writing theLiberalArtsTradition. 2nd Kuhn, ThomasS. TheStructure Scientific of Revolutions. ed. Chicago:U ofChicagoP. 1970. Leitch,Vincent Deconstructive B. Criticism. New York:CornellUP, 1983. Lentricchia, Frank. After New Criticism. the Chicago:U of ChicagoP, 1980. Maimon,ElaineP, et al. Readingsin theArtsand Sciences.Boston:Little, Brown,1984. ---. Writing theArts in and Sciences.Cambridge: 1981. Winthrop, Miller, Owen. "Intertextual Identity." Identity theLiterary of Text. MarioJ.Valdes Owen Ed. and Miller.Toronto: of Toronto 1985, 19-40. U P, Scholes,Robert. Textual Power.New Haven:Yale UP, 1985. Williams, Joseph. "Cognitive Critical of Development, Thinking, theTeaching Writing." and Conference Writing, on and Higher of Meaning, Order Reasoning, University Chicago, 15 May 1984.

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APPENDIX ForumAnalysis Background

Rhetoric Review

-Identifytheforum nameand organizational affiliation. by of editorial or What -Is there expressed an policy, philosophy, expression belief? does theforum serve?Whydoes itexist? purpose -What is thedisciplinary orientation? -How largeis theforum? Who are itsmembers? leaders? readership? Its Its -In what manner does theforum assemble (e.g., newsletter, journal, conference, weekly meeting)? How frequently? -What is theorigin theforum? of Whydid itcome intoexistence? Whatis its history? political Its Its background? traditions? its -What reputation the does forum among ownmembers? is itregarded have How by others? DiscourseConventions WhoSpeakslWrites? -Who is granted as Who in status speaker/writer? decideswhospeaks/writesthe are forum? whatcriteria speakers/writers By selected? -What kind peoplespeak/writethis of in forum? Credentials? Disciplinary orientaor tion?Academic professional background? -Who aretheimportant or is figures this in forum? Whosework experience most frequently cited? -What are theimportant sourcescitedin theforum? Whatare thekeyworks, of that members theforum know? events, experiences it is assumed To Whom They Do SpeaklWrite? -Who is addressed theforum? Whatare thecharacteristics theassumed of in audience? to -What are theaudience's needsassumed be? To whatuse(s) is theaudience to expected puttheinformation? to -What is theaudience's assumed be? Levelofproficiency, background experiof matter? Credentials? ence, and knowledge subject -What are thebeliefs, of attitudes, values,prejudices theaddressed audience? What They About? Do SpeaklWrite consider? Whatare allowablesubjects? -What topicsor issuesdoes theforum Whattopicsare valued? or Which -What methodology methodologies accepted? are theoretical approach or is preferred: deduction (theoretical argumentation) induction (evidence)? -What constitutes and "validity," "evidence," "proof'intheforum (e.g., personal theoretical statistical or experience/observation, testingand measurement, analysis)? It? How Do They SaylWrite Form doestheforum -What types discourse of admit reviews, speeches, (e.g., articles, poems)?How longare thediscourses? -What are thedominant modesof organization?

Intertextuality theDiscourseCommunity and

-What formatting conventions present: are tablesandgraphs, illustra-headings, tions,abstracts? Style -What documentation form(s) used? is -Syntactic characteristics? -Technical or specialized jargon?Abbreviations? -Tone? Whatstancedo writers/speakers relative audience? take to -Manuscriptmechanics? Other Considerations?

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at of at James Porter Assistant E. is Professor English Indiana University-Purdue UniversityFort composition, technical Wayne,wherehe teachesfreshman writing, graduate and rhetoric. His research focuses theconnections on critical between poststructuralist theory, historical rhetoric, and contemporary of in notions audienceand audienceanalysis.He has published Journal of TeachingWriting, Rhetoric in Review,and in the Rhetoric Societypublication Oldspeakl a Newspeak: Rhetorical Transformations. is currently He completingbookentitled Contemporary Theories Audience. of