Thursday, December 6, 2012

How would I go about writing my own introduction to my own declaration of independence? Any ideas...

I agree with the previous poster. I would add that it may be helpful for you to review the structure and argument of the Declaration of Independence. Consider how you might echo some of the original document even as you adapt the text to serve your own ends.


For example:


"When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people [you could change this to "one person" or "a young man/woman"] to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another [you could change this to "his/her parents"] and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind [you could change this to "common sense"] requires that they should declare the causes which impel them [you could change this to "drive me" or "leave me"] to the separation."


Make as many changes as you can in order to really make the new text fit your particular writing situation. Also, if you want, you could go on to list your grievances and your resolutions.


This strategy really isn't plagiarism; it'd be more accurately called adaptaton or appropriation. You wouldn't be the first to do it, either. See the second and thrid links below for examples of adaptations from the Vietnam war era. If you doubt that the readers of your document will recognize your piece as an adaptation or appropriation, though, you may very well want to err on the side of caution and add a note at the bottom of your document that reads something like: "Inspired by and adapted from 'The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America.'"

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