Assignment Instructions: Government 2305
- Identify either the United States House of Representative or United States Senator who represents you based on your residence.
- Choose an issue of concern that impacts either the entire country or state.
- Write a letter to either your United States House of Representative or United States Senator that:
- Describes the social issue or policy chosen.
- Identify its harmful impact on the country or state including the consequences if not properly addressed.
- Propose two possible solutions for the issue.
- Use proper formal language suitable for communicating with an elected official.
- When writing the letter utilize 4 credible sources. Please use hyperlinks in the body of the letter to insert sources. The letter should not contain parenthetical citations. Include your references in APA format on a separate page.
- Your letter must be typed, double-spaced, using a suitable 12-point font and standard one-inch margins.
- The letter should be a minimum of 1250 words or five (5) pages in a multiple paragraph form.
- Introduction
- Supporting paragraph(s)
- Conclusion
- Completion of the assignment checklist is required.
- Please complete the task for reflection on a separate page that will be uploaded.
- Please upload all the before mentioned documents in one file and in .doc, .dox or .pdf.
Option 2
Step 1:
Find a policy issue here that your Representative has taken a stand on. Explain that issue in detail. Once you have explained the issue, provide information on where your representative stands on the issue. Where do you stand on the issue? What do you believe should be done? What might be another alternative solution? Thinking about your ideas on the issue who might object to your viewpoint and what might their objections be? Once you’ve laid out their objections, respond to them, and explain, with logic, why your perspective is correct, and your opponents’ objections are mistaken.
Step 2:
Now that you have officially staked out a policy position, you need to think about how to get it put into action. Who in the government, and who in your community. do you believe should be involved? What specific actions should you (and those in the community) take? Why is it important to get your community involved and what will be the benefits of activating people to the cause?
Step 3:
Let’s assume that you are successful in your efforts, and you achieve your policy goal. What do you believe will be the consequences of putting this policy into practice? How far reaching do you think the consequences will be for your community? Your state? Your country? What do you think will be the effects over the short term? Over the long term? Be sure to mention both positive and negative consequences that might result?
Instructions:
- You must respond to all the questions above (in those 3 steps).
- You are required to use no less than four (4) sources. The sources/references used must come from scholarly articles, newspapers, periodicals, etc. Online research for articles in databases, other government resources, journals, newspapers, etc. are all permissible for this exercise.
- You have flexibility to use any citation style (AMA or APA) provided you do that in its proper format.
4) You can either type responses directly into the discussion board field or as an attached word document, (double- spaced, and in font size 12)
5) Failure to follow these instructions will result in an assessed penalty to your grade.
Find your US Senators and House of Reps from here and there respectively (use zip code lookup) to find your representative.
NB: You may also consider their positions on the suggested list of (popular) topics below for this activity.
List of Suggested Problems to address
1) War (one topic)
2) Terrorism
3) An Environmental Problem
4) Lobbying
5) Campaign Contributions
6) Inequality
7) Problems in the Economy
8) Unemployment
9) Global Warming or Climate and Environment
10) Foreign Policy (one issue)
11) Cyber Issues
12) Energy
13) Human Trafficking
14) Immigration
