THE GOLDEN RULE:

WRITING OUR SELVES AND OTHERS

ENG099.0721: Basic Writing

Fall I 2010
LaGuardia Community College
City University of New York
Class: Mondays and Wednesdays 8:00-10:00, room C-263
Lab: Thursdays 9:15-10:15, room E-147

Instructor: Beth Schwartzapfel Office hours: Wednesdays 10:15-11:15

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

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 ENG099.0721: The Golden Rule

The Jewish philosopher Hillel first set down the Golden Rule: “That which is hateful to you, do not do
to your fellow.” In other words, “do unto others as you would have done unto yourself.” Hillel also once
asked, “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? But if I am only for myself, who am I? If not now,
when?” Embedded in these words are issues of our personal identity, our responsibility to one another,
and the urgency of taking action in the face of injustice. Like Hillel’s, your writing may both an
intensely personal and a deeply social action. It is often through writing that we develop and clarify our
thoughts, feelings, opinions, and ideas for ourselves; it is also through writing that we are best able to
communicate those thoughts, feelings, opinions, and ideas to others. Some of the most moving and
inspirational writing in the English language—Martin Luther King’s essays, for example, one of which
we will study together—uses writing to fight injustice. Other writing simply reflects on the human
experience—a snowstorm, a childhood friendship—and so brings us each closer to the other. In this
class, we will read, analyze, write, and revise essays that ask the questions: who am I? What is my
responsibility to others? 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

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

1 of 4
ENG099.0721 | “The Golden Rule” Fall I 2010, 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 be writing outlines or drafts
of papers. 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;
I do not accept papers via email.
Re-writes: Revising is an essential part of the writing process. Those who fail a paper are required to
re-write that paper, but everyone else is encouraged to do so. There’s always room for improvement!
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
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 ✔-.
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

2 of 4
ENG099.0721 | “The Golden Rule” Fall I 2010, Laguardia Community College
Syllabus Instructor Beth Schwartzapfel

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 for four 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 “superior,” “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 superior than the essays you write at the beginning; as such improvement in your
essay grades over the course of the semester matters almost as much as the grades themselves.
A good final grade will depend on the following:
 Grades on your essays; an ‘A’ grade will have at least five “passing” essays and at least
two “outstanding” essays.
 Attendance; no more than the four 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.
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.
Class policies and information
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
3 of 4
ENG099.0721 | “The Golden Rule” Fall I 2010, Laguardia Community College
Syllabus Instructor Beth Schwartzapfel

 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.

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. 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 you may
have 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: eng0990721.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