Simple Influence or Plagiarism?

Since the first mention of the Howard article I have been contemplating the idea of plagiarism versus influence. In the Howard article she discusses originality has a difference between high and low culture. If being influenced by those that have come before us is considered plagiarism then would everyone in society be considered a plagiarist? Originality is considered important to being part of high culture but I believe that even the so-called high culture “authors” could be placed into a group with all those that have ever written anything as a plagiarist. Due to this reasoning I came to the conclusion that a significant difference exists between influence and plagiarism. Everyone has some form of influence in their life, whether it is their parents or the work of another student in their college English course. If society focused on avoiding the influence of others, due to the fear of being called a plagiarist, our world would not be able to advance. Whether or not the best authors, the best doctors, or best actors are willing to admit it, they have all been influenced in their work. The medical and literature fields have all advanced since the very first in the fields. It is only those people that can say they published the first book that are fully original; all others have learned from them what to do. Theses people are not plagiarists because the do not copy the work of others, they advance the information and improve the ways in which the information is portrayed. Influence and plagiarism are two separate entities and all of us should continue to improve society by looking back at what hasn’t worked and continue to build upon everything that has come before.

A Quick Introduction

I dont really know where to begin, I've never really been to keen on writing about myself in situations like this. That is part of the reason why this is my first time blogging and if it was not a class assignment odds are I never would have even given a second thought to the idea. With that out of the way, I am a junior at UW-Madison studying political sciences with the hope of going to law school. I believe whole heartedly in having fun and living each day like it was the last. I try to be as social as I can, although in class I'll most likely come across as shy because I don't like talking in the classroom. I'm always up for trying new things, which is why I really hope to travel the world some day. That is pretty much me in a nutshell, and see everyone in class tomorrow.