/lg/ Literature General

>>8498375
Yes! Oh my God yes. Thank you Anon! I didn't think anyone here also liked this book. (I'm new) i think it is time to write a proper review for this book, as it is one of my all-time favorites and deserves way more than two words. back when i was a junior in college, i was at the nyu bookstore, trying to sell back some textbooks before going away for winter break. the person in line in front of me was trying to sell back infinite jest (where was i when this class was being offered?? ) and of course, they werent taking it back because nyu is a stingy fucking school. she turned around to me and said "you want this??" and i said "yes",cuz i dont say no to free, and she said "merry christmas",and kinda just thrust it at me. and it was the best present i ever got. a true christmas miracle. i was on my way to see my then-boyfriend in italy for the start of a european jaunt, and i missed out on a lot of european cities because i could not put this book down. i read it on planes and trains and a gondola, in restaurants and bars, by canals and in a cafe on top of the alps. fuck cathedrals, i had this book. i am a truly bad traveler, but i am a committed reader. as soon as i finished the book, i started right over. and since then i have read it a total of seven times. it is the most glorious collection of words that has ever been published. it is everything - it is funny and sad and creepy and disturbing and completely absorbing and brilliant. and he was just a gem of a man. the first time i got to meet him, i dropped this book in front of him - by now all tattered and smooshed, and he seem surprised that "someone has actually read their copy". and then i gave him a card that had been a thank you card, but i crossed out thank and wrote "fuck" in its place and said fuck you for writing the great american novel before i got the chance to. this is the kind of thing i think is charming because i am deeply flawed. but it worked, and he called me and it was really nice - he was a great man who was truly kind and courteous to his fans. i ended up getting a proper thank you card from him because he is more traditionally charming. and now i am sad just thinking about this. so the review ends here because it has served its cathartic purpose for me and i guess if anyone is reading this you just got a free glimpse into the softer side of me. it happens.

>>8499684


Nice copy-pasta from Goodreads.

>>8499714
I think you are confusing plagiarism with referencing. One is presenting someone's original creative thought as one's own. Facts are not original or creative thought. Facts are usually used to support an argument and they then need to be referenced to show they have not been pulled out of thin air.
Primary sources are referenced for facts so readers can refer to where the information was found. And the reader can the. Decide for themselves if the fact, is indeed a fact. In a nutshell.
If the 'fact' is well known and not arguable or in any doubt, I would not reference it. The sky is blue, for example. But this also depends on context and audience. Because a scientific paper about why the sky looks blue, is very different to a child's non-fiction book about colours.
If you are copying someone else's theory, work, etc. and not referencing it, this is plagiarism. For example, if you quoted from someone else who said exactly, 'Barack Obama was not born in Honolulu and plays the guitar professionally for a mariachi band.' And this was from, say, a bestselling novel about the alternate life of Barack Obama, this is plagiarism.
And then there is copyright which protects work from being copied without permission.
I would suggest not using an automated system if you are going to be writing academic essays. Talk to the librarian in your school, or you professors to give you some good guides to follow.

>>8499720

Go back to r/askliterarystudies you wanker.

>>8499723

Go back to r/askliterarystudies you wanker

>>8499728
I find it hilarious that people are speaking with any ounce of authority over reddit in this thread. Most of them are wrong.
The first thing you have to realize is that on any of reddit's popular boards, 1/3 of the posters are only saying things satirically. The other two thirds are trolls trying to get a rise out of one another, with a very small minority of people who actually take the posts seriously. Most content is generated by people acting In a satirical manner over a topic with one another.
reddit tends to pride itself on its anonymity, and stemming from that, the inability of users to form an ego or persona based on a posting history. Consequently much of their bravado comes from the freedom of being able to say what is on their mind without being downvoted into oblivion for unpopular opinions.
Accusations that 4chan is for losers or normies are, frankly, founded in a consternation for mob mentality. If you disagree with someone on 4chan you downvote and move on. Alternatively you engage in a pointless argument trying to prove yourself. The wide appeal of the place makes it easy for anyone to engage, and as we know with Sturgeon's law, 90% of what you find on the Internet is complete shit.
On a sociological level, the average authority with which people invest in their posts tends to bug people on reddit. The persona most often witnessed on reddit's /b/ board is one of self-aggrandization. This is an intentionally crafted persona, though. It's meant to invoke dramatic irony. Most people on reddit don't take themselves too seriously. They redditors as having unwarranted levels of self-importance. In a joking way, at least. Don't take the popular boards too seriously.
Personally, I far prefer some areas of reddit to 4chan because of that system. Few things are more aggravating than seeing the 4chan hive mind (or subreddit hive mind) champion the same 5 opinions over and over. At least with reddit somebody is trying to push the envelope. That's entertaining in a way my brain just sometimes needs.

>>8499735

The greatest gift you can give another anonymous user on the Internet boards being is to let them warm you till, in passing beyond pleasure, your defenses fall, your ego surrenders, its structure melts, its towers topple, lies, fancies, vanities, blow away in no wind, and you return, not to the clay you came from — the unfired vessel — but to the original moment of inspiration, when you were the unabbreviated breath of God.