Assignment Overview
Please use the provided files to see examples of how it can be written. I have attached the rubric as well which should help to know how the assignment will be graded. For Question 1 I have provided you with the needed details.
The purpose of this assignment is for you to know who are your legislators/public officials-at the the state and federal level–and to know their platforms (what issues do they care about). There is a difference between your state legislators (that meet in Austin, TX and make laws that affect only Texans) and your federal legislators (that meet in Washington, DC and make laws that affect everyone in the U.S.). Thus, one person will not hold more than one position–i.e. you will not have the same HOR in the state (TX) and in the federal gov’t (U.S).
*You cannot choose random legislators/public officials. You will use the link I provide below to plug in your home address and it will give you the names of your legislators (except governor, lt. governor, and attorney general, you will have to do research on your own).
HoR= House of Representative
HoR’s: state and federal representatives run every 2 years. You will only have 1 TX HoR and 1 US HoR. They all live in Texas and represent your district.
Senators: state senators run every 4 years and federal senators run every 6 years, but they are staggered. You will have 1 TX Senator and 2 US Senators. They all live in Texas. Your TX Senator represents your district, and your two US Senators represent the state.
****Here is a Youtube video I created explaining the AssignmentLinks to an external site.
Guidelines
You will have to write in complete sentences.
You can use this link to find all your legislators: https://house.texas.gov/members/find-your-representative/ (I live in Tarrant County for the search)
*If this link does not work you will have to do the research.
For letters A-E you will have to do research on your legislators–this means you will have to have in-text citations & a works cited. Please review the citing file if you do not know what I am referring to.
You can write the assignment in an essay form or answer in bullet points (in complete sentences). Please, however, separate them in paragraphs. I should be able to identify who you are writing about. The example provided under Assignments titled “example of in-text citations” is a perfect example of the format that you could write your assignment.
Questions
What city do you live in and what is your zip code? (I Live in Fort Worth and my zip code is 76134)
House of Representatives (HoR)
Who is your Texas House Representative?
Who is your U.S. House Representative?
Senators
Who is your Texas Senator?
Who is your U.S. Senator? There are two senators, only pick one.
TX Officials
Who is your Texas Governor?
Who is your Texas Lt. Governor?
Who is your Texas Attorney General?
(Letters A-E): Answer all the questions below for the seven candidates that represent you. Use the same ones you picked above and structure your answers in a way I can identify the officials. The examples provided under the Assignments module are titled “example of in-text citations,” or “Assignment #2 Examples” are perfect examples of the format that you could write your assignment. The examples are not the complete assignment, as it is only for one official .
What is their political party?
What three issues/platforms do they believe are important? You must explain each issue in a sentence, and the three issues per person must be different from other office holders (you will be doing research for this part, please use in-text citation).
What issue(s) do you care about that they do not address?-must be different per legislator
Are they running for reelection? Yes or no
If yes, who is their opponent?
If they are not running this year, what year did they run and when does their term end?
Only for Texas legislators—TX HoR and Senator
What is their occupation when they are not in session? Texas legislators do not work every year–they only work in odd years for 140 days in the capital (Austin, TX). Thus, they will have a job other than being TX legislators (TX HoR and Tx Senator). If they are retired and only work with an organization, you can mention that. Some are retired, but the majority have their own business.
*****DON’T FORGET TO INCLUDE YOUR WORKS CITED/BIBLIOGRAPHY
Your legislators have websites that explain what they stand for. If you would like to find out more about candidates, use this website… https://www.vote411.org/
