WHERE I’M FROM:

READING AND WRITING THE MEANING OF HOME

ENG102.0823: Writing through Literature

Spring I 2011
LaGuardia Community College
City University of New York
Mondays 8:00-9:00, Wednesdays 8:00-10:00
Room C-453

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 ENG 102 (From the course catalogue)

This course is a continuation of English 101. Students will reinforce and extend their abilities to
write correct, well-organized essays using various rhetorical strategies and stylistic techniques.
Poetry and at least one other literary genre from among fiction, drama and the nonfiction essay
will be studied. Students will be introduced to a variety of writing strategies used in composing
interpretive and analytical essays. Writing assignments will include a critical research paper.

About ENG102.0823, “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 reading and writing help us answer these questions?

The goals of this class are for you to become a person who reads literature actively—someone
who understands, and interacts with, what you read—and who writes about literature with
clarity and insight. All of our readings and written assignments will be designed with these two
related goals in mind. Reading actively will lead to good ideas; good ideas will lead to good
thesis statements and solid evidence; good thesis statements and solid evidence will lead to good
papers. Writing good papers about literature is what ENG102 is all about. That said, the only
way to learn how to write is to write. So be prepared to write. A lot. You will keep a reading
journal, write several drafts of three take-home papers, and sit for two in-class essay exams.

Required texts and materials

Literature: Craft & Voice, edited by Nicholas Delbanco and Alan Cheuse. This book comes in
three volumes: Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. We will use all three.
Rules for Writers, 6th edition, by Diana Hacker

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A good college dictionary

*Unless you’re told otherwise, please bring the day’s reading and Rules for Writers to every
class.

Requirements
Reading: You will be assigned 40-80 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 use your reading journal to
assemble thoughts/opinions/questions about the readings that you’d like to discuss 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.
Reading journal: Each time you are assigned a reading, you will for homework write a 400-word
response to what you’ve read. This is more free-form than a paper; it’s meant to get you into the
habit of reading actively, and help you start formulating ideas for your papers. Further
instructions on your reading journal are attached. Reading journals will be graded as follows:
Due diligence will earn you a ✔; extra effort earns a ✔+, and sloppy or incomplete work earns a
✔-.
Papers: You will write 5 formal papers, ranging from 600 to 2000 words: 2 in class (the midterm
and the final exam) and 3 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, and each will contribute to your final grade. At least one of these take-home papers will be
a research paper. 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. Grades on papers will be deducted
one half-grade for each day they are late. If you are absent on a day that a paper is due, the paper
is still due on that day; you must make arrangements to get your paper to me.
Re-writes
Revising is an essential part of the writing process. You will have the opportunity to re-write
four of the five papers you will hand in this semester (the final cannot be re-written). Those with
a failing grade are required to re-write, but everyone else—even those who got an ‘A’ or ‘B’ the
first time around—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. You must hand in
all your previous drafts along with your re-write. Re-writes are due one week after our
conference. The grade on your re-write will be your new grade for the paper.

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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 ask me. It’s never worth it, folks. Just don’t do it.

Grades
Per English Department policy, I must apply the same grading standards to your work
throughout the semester. That means that your first paper, which you will write in the first few
weeks of class, will be graded by the same set of standards as your last paper, which you will
write after having spent the entire semester learning and practicing. To account for this policy,
the relative weight of each paper to your overall grade increases over the course of the semester.
So don’t be discouraged if your grades are lower than you had hoped early on in the semester.
Instead, see it as inspiration to work harder and commit yourself to learning and improving your
skills.
Paper #1 10%
Paper #2 15%
Midterm 20%
Paper #3 20%
Final exam 0% (you simply must pass)
Portfolio 15%
(includes Reading Journals and other homework and the steps of your paper writing
process, such as thesis statements, outlines, bibliographies, and rough drafts.)
Class participation 20%
(includes participating in class discussions, coming to class prepared and ready to learn,
visiting the Writing Center when necessary, re-writing your papers even when you are
not required to do so, and generally demonstrating that you are committed to learning and
improving your writing.)

Class policies and information

Website: I’ve set up a website for the class: http://eng1020823.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.
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 all adults, and I leave it
up to you to decide what is and isn’t a good reason for you to miss class. You may be absent for
five hours of class time before your absences begin to affect your grade. You are responsible for
making up any work that you miss due to absence.
Lateness: Arriving in class late is disrespectful to me and disruptive to your fellow students. If

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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.
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.
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!

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INSTRUCTIONS FOR YOUR READING JOURNAL

The first section of your reading journal should always be a list of words or phrases (at least 3)
from the reading that you didn’t know or understand, along with their definitions. Look the
words up in the dictionary and paraphrase their definitions in your own words. Then use each
word in a sentence.
For the second section, sometimes I will give you a specific question to answer or passage to
respond to. Other times, I’ll leave it up to you. Below is a list of ideas and suggestions for what
to write about; you may choose to use your entire journal entry to answer a single question, or
you may go through the list and answer all of them one by one. The only hand and fast rules for
your reading journal entries are:
 You must do a thoughtful, conscientious job.
 You must refer to at least one specific sentence, passage or idea from the reading. (In
other words, don’t use the entire journal entry to write about your cousin Mohammad
without first explaining specifically why your cousin is relevant to the reading.) Use page
numbers and/or quotations to direct me to the sentence, passage, or idea to which you’re
referring.
 You must write at least 400 words (this works out to about a page and a half, typed and
double spaced, or between 4 and 8 handwritten pages, depending on the size of your
handwriting).
This is meant to be informal and unedited, so don’t stress about doing a “perfect job.” I’m not
going to correct grammar, and I’m grading for effort only, not content. That said, your reading
journal will be the raw material for your papers, so the more work you put in now, the better
prepared you’ll be later.

Possible topics
1. List words you do know but that stand out for some reason (slang, puns, dialect, words
used in unusual or striking ways). Reflect on why the author might have used them and
whether it was effective.
2. What are the key themes and/or main ideas of this reading? What were the author’s
goals? How can you tell? Did s/he achieve these goals? How? Why/why not?
3. What struck you about the character(s)? Would you say the story had a “hero”? Perhaps it
had an “anti-hero”? What were his/her main flaws/strengths? Why do you think the author
created him/her that way?
4. Disagreements: Did the author make a statement or observation that made you say, but!,
or, that’s not true? Write down the things with which you disagree, or about which you’re
suspicious or disbelieving, and explain why.
5. Agreements, or resonances with your own life: Did the author say something that you
agree with, or something that reminded you of your own opinions or experience? Explain
how or why.
6. Questions: Did the author leave you wondering, or wanting to know more about a
particular subject? Make a list of your questions. If possible, do a little research to answer
them.
7. Connections: Did this reading remind you of another reading we’ve done this semester?
How/why are they similar? How/why are they different?

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