Journal One - Christopher Harb

• What is writing—the definitions, ideas, thoughts, expressions, etc.—that you associate with writing?

My personal interpretation of writing is communication of physical through various mediums. I associate writing with hieroglyphics, languages, and other physical methods of communication used between people.

• What defines successful writing for you?  

To have a successful piece of writing may have a lot of different meanings depending on what context you are talking about. A successful piece writing to me answers any questions posed in a prompt  in a  clear and concise manner.

• What type of writer do you see yourself as, and why?

The type of writer I would like to classify myself as would follow the lines of journalism. Writing articles on any number of different topics. I like to think of myself as this type of writer because I feel I am able to convey my perspective and ideas into a piece of writing on many different topics. If I am uninformed on a subject matter I always love to take the time to learn a new form of writing or subject matter. The reason I classify myself as this type of writer would have to be because I love to read and respond to different articles. Websites such as www.reddit.com give you the ability to experience many different aspects of information and form your own opinion and then read other people's perspectives down below the post.

• Create a list of 5-8 key terms that define writing.

Key Terms : Comprehension, perception, assertion, interpretation, communication, synthesize, fluent, readable

• What is the major argument that you see these authors making?

The main argument in this article is that we are stuck believing that plagiarism is very important to stay away from. This idea in the article talks about how remixing texts should be used and how problem solving isn't being taught to students anymore. Rather originality is drilled into the writing of every student rather than looking at the task assigned and using whatever resources available to solve the issue.

• What did you learn about writing from this text?

From this article i learned a completely different perspective that some people have on the education system that is being taught to most if not all students. It gives me a new way to think about how plagiarism is thought of in different ways and how some people believe it should be changed.  One of the interesting things i learned about from this text is the large problem with remixing in the music industry.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJ9rUzIMcZQ - Original

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jl6oJTB4TpA - Remix

These two songs are both the same lyrics however they both are sung differently and by different artists. Although the remix is a homage to the original it is just an example of how some people use other works of art to solve their own personal problems. In this case it is paying tribute, creating music for a movie, and boosting the fame of an artist.

• Is this article “successful” according to the criteria you defined earlier? If so, how? If not, why not?

According to my previous answer I would say this falls under a successful piece of writing. It answers the question they asked in a clear and concise manner giving many different details and perspectives on why and how they believe there should be a different approach to plagiarism. For example the author directly answered the question of,  “What is Assemblage?”. The answer the authors gave directly explains the question posed,  “For our purposes here, assemblages are texts built primarily and explicitly from existing texts in order to solve a writing or communication problem in a new context.” This directly answers the question they originally asked in a direct and concise manner. Therefore in my personal opinion this is part of a successful paper.

• Has your understanding of writing changed as a result of engaging with Johnson-Eilola and Selber's article? Why or why not?

My fundamental understanding of writing has not been changed. However,  I will say that this article gave me more knowledge on the idea that there should be different approaches to how we grade or look at plagiarism in a professional and academic setting. I now personally believe that there should be more than one way to look at plagiarism taught to educators and to peers in the educational system.  

• Do you want to revise your list of key terms based on this reading? Explain what you would revise (or not) and why (not).

Based on the text that I read I will not change the key terms of writing. The eight terms I gave are not even the start of key terms in any aspect but just a taste of what writing entails. I would not change these words based on the reading because I drew on prior knowledge from what I have learned and gave what I knew.