Plagiarism, originality, assemblage

Abstract

Although students work and live in a remix culture, composition pedagogy does not always value the discursive practices of that culture, especially when it comes to producing written work for academic contexts. The reasons for these views are historically determined and tied, at least in part, to relatively traditional notions of authorship and creativity. But “writers” in other contexts, both disciplinary and popular, have developed interesting and useful remix approaches that can aid invention, leverage intellectual and physical resources, and dramatize the social dimensions of composing in this day and age. These approaches, however, ask teachers to reconsider taken-for-granted assumptions about plagiarism and originality.

Introduction

In this article, we consider the relationships among plagiarism, originality, and assemblage, arguing for a view of writing that shifts the emphasis from performance to action or effect in context. Taking seriously the social turn that has occupied composition studies since the 1980s (see, for example, Cooper, 1986, Faigley, 1986, Odell, 1985), the argument offered here follows the logic of that turn by recognizing and valuing the remix practices that can now be found in many forms of discourse, including student writing and communication. While many in the field claim to take a social approach, teachers still often expect their students to produce what are considered to be thoroughly “original” texts—texts that make a clear distinction between invented and borrowed work, between that which is unique and that which is derivative or supportive. In addition, this highlighted separation is frequently constructed as a hierarchy in terms of the writing process: The best work of writers is understood to be their original text with citations and borrowed materials situated as useful but less valuable support. As we will maintain, however, this distinction is not only problematic but also counterproductive, especially as teachers attempt to prepare students to be writers in their professional and personal lives.

Our argument begins with a brief discussion of the history of originality in composition, a history that has contributed to our own, often narrow perspectives on plagiarism. We then consider texts as assemblages, highlighting the rhetorical dimensions of this articulation and challenging the view that remixed texts are essentially derivative texts, a naïve and uncreative form of plagiarism. The action-oriented part of the essay looks to other places for models that work with texts as assemblages, drawing on practices from both disciplinary and popular contexts, including architecture and music remixing. The conclusion addresses concerns—legal, ethical, creative, and pedagogical—that teachers might have when thinking of assigning remix projects.