I decided to write my piece in a formal and analytical style as this allowed me to use intellectual and controversial questions. Furthermore, I assumed my audience to be of similar age to me and/or older. I chose this age gap because I assumed that, prior to reading this article, general knowledge of the issues would have been limited. I mainly chose this age bracket because it allowed me to address the situation of plagiarism in a mature approach, with greater detail and a larger vocabulary. I had a general knowledge on the topic prior to writing the article – I knew there was a thin line between the article coming across as controversial and unprofessional. Fundamentally, the article needed to be addressed in an accurate, unbiased fashion. Simply from reading the title, I recognised my reader could come to an early conclusion, which I hoped to expand upon. My ambition with the piece was never to force my own view on the issue, but to give the reader an informed assessment, in which they may or may not choose to change their opinion. Despite the article not screaming my own personal opinion, which I know from experience can influence judgement in topics where the reader may be less informed, I aimed to reach a balanced judgement by the end, summarising the issue as a whole.
I organised my writing in several distinct sections, allowing my reader to follow the article with ease as I gave several varied arguments and examples. Firstly in my introduction, I gave a controversial quotation, aiming to engage the reader as well as providing a dictionary definition and simplistic evaluation on the topic of ‘originality’ and ‘plagiarism’. I did not want to bombard my reader with mass information which could have led to confusion.
Furthermore, the purpose of my article was to give a balanced analysis and evaluate how different people define plagiarism, and potentially open their minds to formulate their beliefs in areas they perhaps had not yet considered, such as in the world of literature or the fashion industry. To achieve this, I used rhetorical questions, abstaining from including personal opinions, allowing the reader room for their own interpretations.
In the next section, I gave the reader several examples of plagiarism, combining more obvious examples such as Stephenie Meyer and Andy Warhol, with perhaps more thought-provoking examples such as Damien Hirst and Alexander McQueen. However, those examples may have just been surprises to me but, by giving a wide variety I aimed for my reader to appreciate one ‘artist’ being accused of plagiarism and be surprised with another. Their reaction could be varied, dependant on their own differing prior knowledge and understanding of the issue. My aim throughout was to give an analytical, accurate and yet unbiased account of each example. Additionally, in this section, I sought to address the issue in more depth than the introduction and to expand understanding with detail.
Finally, after the long middle section, I hoped that the reader would become attached to at least one of the eight examples, allowing them to formulate a stronger belief on completion of reading the article. I wanted the article to be intellectually challenging, without discouraging my reader from abandoning the article. With such a controversial issue, I understood that I needed to come to a balanced judgement; however I worried that my own opinion wouldn’t be the appropriate conclusion. The issue of plagiarism affects me personally as a progressing artist. I question that, in this day and age, whether it is possible for me to be able to create an original piece of work, and even formulate an original thought. I felt that if I gave my own opinion at the end of the article, I would discourage my reader’s true belief. After all, there is no wrong or right answer. For this reason, I aimed for my article to be clear, accurate and unbiased, from start to finish. I struggle to believe that it cannot be read without the reader coming to a concise personal judgement.
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