WHERE I’M FROM:

WRITING THE MEANING OF HOME

ENG099.2521: Basic Writing

Fall I 2011
LaGuardia Community College
City University of New York
Class: Mondays 10:30-12:30, room C-448
Wednesdays 10:30-12:30, room C-453
Lab: Tuesdays 10:30-11:30, room E-147

Instructor: Beth Schwartzapfel Office hours: Mondays 9:15-10:15

beth_schwartzapfel@yahoo.com and/or by appointment
Mailbox: MB-14 (please email me if you English Dept: 718-482-5656
leave something in my mailbox)

About ENG099 (from the course catalogue)

Basic Writing I is designed to introduce and develop college level writing proficiency through careful
attention to the writing process. Emphasizing both the writing process and skills needed for timed and
high stakes essays such as the CUNY Aligned Test of Writing (CATW), this course will prepare
students for college level writing. Students will learn to employ argument in the short essay form to
clearly express ideas in support of a position written in edited U.S. English.

About ENG099.2521: Where I’m From

When you think of “home,” do you think of a country? A neighborhood? An apartment? A particular
block or beach or bedroom? Or do you believe that the physical space matters less than the people who
live there—that “home is where the heart is,” as the saying goes? In this class, we will read, analyze,
write, and revise essays that ask the questions: where am I from? What does it mean to be “from”
somewhere, anyway? What characteristics make a place feel like home? How does the place I call home
influence who I am, who I love, what I believe, my direction in life? Can writing help us answer these
questions?

Our goals are to prepare you to read actively—to engage with, and understand, what you read—to
think critically, and to write correct, clear, compelling essays. These are skills that will serve you in
college and in life. A separate but related goal is to prepare you to pass the CUNY Aligned Test of
Writing (CATW) at the end of the semester. All of our readings and written assignments will be
designed with these goals in mind. Since the only way to learn how to write is to write, be prepared to
write. A lot. You will write 5-10 pages of homework and essays each week.

Required texts and materials

Unless I tell you otherwise, you must bring all of these required texts to every class.
Models for Writers: Short Essays for Composition, 10th edition, by Alfred Rosa and Paul Eschholz.
Rules for Writers, 6th edition, by Diana Hacker
A good college-level English dictionary
*Please note, your dictionary must be an actual physical book. Dictionary.com does not count.

1 of 4
ENG099.2521 | “Where I’m From” Spring I 2011, Laguardia Community College
Syllabus Instructor Beth Schwartzapfel

Assignments and requirements

Reading: You will be assigned anywhere from 15 to 30 pages of reading for each class. You are
expected to do the reading on time and come to class prepared to be an active participant in class
discussions about the readings.
Class Discussion: A crucial part of digesting and understanding the readings we’ve done and the
concepts we’ve learned is to discuss them as a group. Please come into class ready to share and discuss
your thoughts/opinions/questions about the readings with your classmates. Your opinion matters! Please
don’t deprive us of your thoughts—jump in and share them. It goes without saying that the class
discussion is a respectful space. No personal attacks, no interrupting or talking over anyone. That said,
disagreeing is not disrespecting; to the contrary—a good academic debate helps everyone to learn.
Writing:
Homework: You will be assigned written homework for every class. Sometimes this homework will
take the form of a 200-300–word reading response; sometimes you will write outlines or drafts of
papers. In addition, each time you do an assigned reading, you will have a vocabulary assignment,
and you will be required to make one vocabulary presentation at some point during the semester.
Your homework will be graded with either a ✔, ✔+, or a ✔-; due diligence will earn you a ✔; extra
effort earns a ✔+, and sloppy or incomplete work earns a ✔-.
Essays: You will write 6 formal essays, each at least 400 words. Three will be in-class and three at
home. Each of the 3 at-home papers requires several steps, including formulating a thesis statement
and outline and writing a first draft. You will hand in each of these steps. Specific instructions for
each paper will be handed out at the time they are assigned. Papers must be typed, double-spaced,
12-point Times New Roman font, with 1” margins on all sides. Papers must be submitted in person
unless you make arrangements with me in advance; papers may be submitted by email only with
prior approval.
Re-writes: Revising is an essential part of the writing process. After each paper, you will be required
to re-write some aspect of that paper: the introduction, the topic sentences, the conclusion etc. (This
will be a homework assignment; I will give you further instructions when the time comes.) By the
time we arrive at the last paper of the semester—paper #6—you will be a re-writing pro, so paper #6
will be a re-write of paper #5. Additionally, you may choose to re-write any other paper this
semester in order to improve your grade or to practice your skills. These rewrites are welcomed, but
not required. In order to re-write a paper, you must first meet with me during office hours to map out
a strategy for your re-write. I will not accept re-writes from students who haven’t met with me first.
Your re-write is always due one week from our conference. You must hand in all your previous
drafts along with your re-write.
Please save all drafts of all writing—whether it be homework or essays or re-writes—that you
do in this class.
Due dates: You are responsible for all reading and writing, even on days you are absent. If you are
absent, you may hand in homework for full credit at the class meeting immediately following your
absence; all other late homework will receive ½ credit. Not so for papers—if you are absent on a day
that a paper is due, the paper is still due on that day. Whether you are absent or not, you must make
arrangements to get your paper to me on the day it is due.
Lab: Each week you will attend ENL lab, during which a Writing Center tutor will work with you on a
2 of 4
ENG099.2521 | “Where I’m From” Spring I 2011, Laguardia Community College
Syllabus Instructor Beth Schwartzapfel

project or exercise that I specify; lab is usually an opportunity to practice a skill we learned that week in
class. Attendance at lab is required, and the assigned exercises will be collected and graded on the same
basis as homework—✔, ✔+, or a ✔-.
CATW: Before you can register for ENG 101 and other required credit-bearing composition courses,
you must first pass the CUNY Aligned Test of Writing, or CATW. You will take the CATW in lieu of a
final exam at the end of the semester. Taking the exam is a privilege, not a right. Only students in good
standing who are up to date on their work and have met the minimum attendance requirements will be
allowed to take the CAAW. The CATW requires you to:

 read, understand, and respond to a passage of 250-300 words;

 identify key ideas within the reading passage
 write a brief summary of the key ideas in the reading
 demonstrate basic critical thinking
 identify a key idea in the reading passage and present a clearly-written response to that
idea
 write an essay that is well-organized and demonstrates a progression of ideas
 support ideas with relevant personal experience, readings, schoolwork, and/or other
sources of information
 demonstrate competence in sentence construction, sentence variety, and word choice
 demonstrate correct usage, grammar, and mechanics.
This semester we will spend some class time explicitly preparing for the CATW by taking practice
exams and learning test-taking strategies; more broadly, however, all of the reading, critical thinking,
and writing skills we will learn and practice this semester will help prepare you to pass the CATW.
Attendance: It goes without saying that you can’t learn from what we do in class or participate in class
discussions if you’re not here. So you are expected to be in every single class, awake, alert, and ready to
learn. Of course, life doesn’t always go as we planned and things come up that we can’t foresee.
I do not differentiate between excused and unexcused absences. You’re adults, and I leave it up to you to
decide what is and isn’t a good reason for you to miss class. That said, you are allowed six hours of
absence (including class and lab) before your absences begin to affect your grade. If you are sleeping,
texting, or otherwise not participating in class, I will mark you as ‘absent.’
Lateness: Arriving in class late is disrespectful to me and disruptive to your fellow students. If you
arrive more than 5 minutes late for a class, I will mark you ‘late.’ Three latenesses equal one hour of
absence. Arriving more than 30 minutes late (or departing more than 30 minutes early) will count as one
hour of absence.
Grades
This is a not-for-credit class. Although at the end of the semester I will give you a letter grade which
will go on your transcript, this grade will not count towards your GPA. As such, all essays will be
graded on a pass/fail basis. Essays will be graded as “outstanding,” “passing,” or “not yet passing.” Of
course the essays you write later in the semester, after we’ve spent many weeks learning and practicing,
are more likely to be passing or outstanding than the essays you write at the beginning; effort on your
essays and improvement in your grades over the course of the semester matters almost as much as the
grades themselves.
A good final grade will depend on the following:
3 of 4
ENG099.2521 | “Where I’m From” Spring I 2011, Laguardia Community College
Syllabus Instructor Beth Schwartzapfel

 Grades on your essays

 Attendance; no more than the six allowed hours of absence
 All homework and lab work handed in, on time, with at least a ✔
 Excellent preparation for class, respectful behavior in class, and thoughtful, consistent
participation in class discussions.
 A passing score on the CATW exam
Unlike credit-bearing English classes, ENG099 does offer an “R” grade for those students who
demonstrate excellent effort but who need an additional semester of ENG099 before they are ready to
enroll in ENG101. Passing the class but failing the CATW will result in an “R” grade.
Class policies and information
Plagiarism and academic honesty
Passing off others’ work—their writing, their ideas, their research—as your own is a waste of your time
and mine and an insult to your intelligence and mine. It’s also a serious breach of ethics and has serious
consequences, both in this class and at LaGuardia Community College. Always do your own work.
When in doubt, consult the College’s Academic Honesty Policy and/or the English Department’s
Statement on Plagiarism or come talk to me. It’s never worth it, folks. Just don’t do it.
Office Hours: I want you to succeed and I’m here to help! The only time you must come to office hours
is if you want to rewrite a paper, but I encourage you to come any time. You can ask questions about the
reading, review a draft of your paper, or get extra help with a concept or skill you’re struggling with. If
you can’t make it during my regularly-scheduled office hours, feel free to arrange an alternate time.
Website: I’ve set up a website for the class: eng0992521.blogspot.com. After every class, I will post the
day’s homework here. I will also post announcements, links, and documents relevant to what we’ve
discussed in class. Please check the website after each class.
The Writing Center: Tutors at the Writing Center, in E-111 (718-482-5688) can help you work on essays
for this class, develop your writing skills, and study and practice grammar in specific areas of difficulty.
Based on your diagnostic exam and/or other writing we do in and out of class, I will require some of
you to visit the Writing Center, whether for one-time help or for weekly tutoring sessions. Even those
who are not required to go can benefit from extra help, so please use this wonderful resource available to
you!
Respect: Please be respectful of me. This means: turn off your cell phone, put away your iPod and other
gadgets or distractions. Nap at home, not during class. When I’m talking, please listen and take notes.
Please be respectful of each other. This means listening attentively when others are talking, putting your
opinions and thoughts into the mix, not interrupting or talking over anyone, and being sensitive to
cultural differences. LaGuardia is one of the most diverse colleges in the country—our students come
from over 160 countries, and countless communities and identity groups—so you will almost certainly
run up against someone who is different from you in terms of gender, language, cultural, racial and
ethnic background, nationality, religion, class, sexual orientation, and abilities. See this for what it is—a
gift and a privilege—and learn from each other’s ways of seeing and being in the world!

4 of 4