This assignment will require you
to navigate various websites for your federal elected/appointed
officials and answer questions about available information. This
assignment aims to give you foundational background information about
your communities and the elected officials representing them and guide
your research into how federal institutions impact your chosen research
topic.
Assignment Instructions
The focus should be on YOUR CHOSEN TOPIC. (Topic: Police Reform and Community Relations)
Section 1 of this assignment is about the function and leaders of
state government in general and serves as a foundation of information
about what this level of government is capable of.
Section 2 of this assignment is specific to your chosen topic and
should be completed thoroughly and connected back to your main policy
area chosen during your topic selection assignment.
Consider the structure and responsibility of each institution/agency
and its ability to address your chosen policy topic. Consider the
history of action taken by the legislative and executive branches at the
federal level, community awareness and impact, and non-governmental
stakeholders interested in your chosen issue. Be mindful of the
following:
Make sure you are utilizing credible sources for information!
Sources include government websites, periodicals, academic papers/research, class materials, videos, and readings.
If you are ever unsure of the credibility of a source, run it by me!
Keep track of your sources!
At the end of this assignment, you’ll assemble a Works Cited page for each source you used/found while researching.
This will be incredibly helpful to refer back to later or incorporate into your final paper.
Be detailed and thorough!
It is to your benefit to gather as much information as possible at this stage.
The more research you do here, the better off you’ll be when it comes time to organize your final paper and write it.
Submissions lacking detail, missing important pieces of information, or not thoroughly answering each question will lose points.
Submission & Formatting Instructions
Using a Word or PDF document (Not a Google Doc, Text Document, or
Pages file), upload your assignment using the TurnItIn.com tool and make
sure it adheres to the following:
Submissions must include ALL SECTIONS of the assignment.
Submissions must be formatted to mirror the formatting of the instructions.
For example, this assignment starts with the US House of
Representatives and ends with the US Federal Executive Branch; your
submission should mirror that.
Formatting Instructions
Font: Times New Roman 12pt
Spacing: Double
Margins: 1 inch
Friendly reminder, Google Docs defaults to 1.15 spacing and Ariel 11 font, so be sure to change those!
Include the question in your submission and write the answer underneath as a short answer essay OR a series of bullet point answers, whichever you prefer.
Research Focus
In a short paragraph, describe/summarize your chosen policy topic.
In what policy area is your chosen topic? What information would be
useful for an outside observer to know about your topic?
US House of Representatives
Section 1 – General Knowledge
Visit the US House of RepresentativesLinks to an external site. website to answer the following questions:
Which political party currently holds the majority? By what margin?
Who is the Speaker of the House, and which state AND district do they represent? What is their political party affiliation?
Who is the House Minority Leader, and what state/district do they represent? What is their political party affiliation?
Which committee would you consider to be the most influential? Why? Explain your answer. Be detailed and specific.
Section 2 – Connection to Topic
For the following questions, answer with your specific policy topic in mind.
Which committee(s) are most applicable to your chosen topic? What
are their names, and what jurisdiction do those committees have/what do
they do? What is the chair’s name of each committee, what political
party are they, and what districts do they represent? How can these
committees influence policy related to your topic?
What laws have the US House of Representatives passed that impact
your policy topic? Have their actions/approach to your chosen policy
topic changed over time? If so, why? Have there been any significant
debates, controversies, or accomplishments at the US House level related
to your chosen topic? Provide an example and describe in detail the
history of your policy topic at the US House level.
Which lawmakers are active/vocal about your policy topic? Identify
two lawmakers with opposing views on how to address your policy topic.
Describe their positions on your topic. Explain why they might adopt
that view, such as constituency, lobbying/special interest influences,
party affiliation, personal background/history, education, etc.
US Senate
Section 1 – General Knowledge
Visit the US Senate websiteLinks to an external site. to answer the following questions:
Which political party currently holds the majority? By what margin (difference)?
Who is the Senate Majority Leader, and what state do they represent? What is their political party affiliation?
Who is the Senate Minority Leader, and what state do they represent? What is their political party affiliation?
Which committee would you consider to be the most influential? Why? Explain your answer. Be detailed and specific.
Section 2 – Connection to Topic
For the following questions, answer with your specific policy topic in mind.
Which committee(s) are most applicable to your chosen topic? What
are their names, and what jurisdiction do those committees have/what do
they do? What is the chair’s name of each committee, what political
party are they, and what districts do they represent? How can these
committees influence policy related to your topic?
What laws have the US Senate passed that impact your policy topic?
Have their actions/approach to your chosen policy topic changed over
time? If so, why? Have there been any significant debates,
controversies, or accomplishments at the US Senate level related to your
chosen topic? Provide an example and describe in detail the history of
your policy topic at the State Senate level.
Which lawmakers are active/vocal about your policy topic? Identify
two lawmakers with opposing views on how to address your policy topic.
Describe their positions on your topic. Explain why they might adopt
that view, such as constituency, lobbying/special interest influences,
party affiliation, personal background/history, education, etc.
US Executive Branch
Section 1 – General Knowledge
For this section, answer questions based on the US Federal
Government’s Executive Branch. Make sure you are using US Federal
Government-specific information, as there may be important differences
between positions at the state and federal levels.
Who is the President of the United States? What is their political
party affiliation? What is the primary role/responsibility of the
President? Identify a power held by the President and give an example of
that power. Be detailed and specific.
Who is the Attorney General of the United States? What is their
political party affiliation? What is the primary role/responsibility of
the Attorney General? Identify a power held by the Attorney General and
give an example of that power. Be detailed and specific.
Who is the Secretary of State of the United States? What is their
political party affiliation? What is the primary role/responsibility of
the Secretary of State? Identify a power held by the Secretary of State
and give an example of that power. Be detailed and specific.
Who is the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States? What is
their political party affiliation? What is the primary
role/responsibility of the Treasurer? What is the difference between the
Treasury Department and the Department of Commerce?
Who is the Secretary of Education? What is their political party
affiliation? What is the primary role/responsibility of the Secretary of
Education? Identify a power held by the Secretary of Education and give
an example of that power. Be detailed and specific.
Section 2 – Connection to Topic
How has the President spoken about your chosen topic during their
time in office? Have they made statements regarding their position on
your chosen topic? Provide an example. Have they taken any action on
your chosen topic, such as sponsoring initiatives/programs, signing
legislation, issuing orders, etc.? Does it align with their spoken
position/goals? Why/why not? Be detailed and specific.
How has the Attorney General used their position to address your
chosen topic? Have they been part of a case, lawsuit, investigation, or
administrative action related to your chosen topic? If so, cite the
specific case, lawsuit, investigation, action, etc., and summarize it.
What impact has this had on your chosen topic? Be detailed and specific.
Are there any Independent Agencies (such as NASA), Regulatory
Commissions (such as the FCC), or Government Corporations (such as USPS)
that impact your chosen policy topic? What are those
agencies/corporations? What do they do/what is their
role/purpose/responsibility? What actions have they taken related to
your chosen policy topic? Provide examples. Be detailed and specific.
Identify a department or agency within the US Federal Executive
Branch that directly impacts or influences your chosen policy topic
area. What is that department or agency? What actions have they taken
related to your chosen topic? Have they implemented any task force,
commission, initiative, regulation, or oversight related to your chosen
topic? Have their actions changed over time?
Final Thoughts & Considerations
Have other countries taken action on your policy topic that differs
from the United States? What factors contribute to those differences? Is
there an opportunity for cooperation/coordination among different
countries? Are there obstacles to consider with
cooperation/coordination? Consider treaties and executive agreements,
distribution of cost/benefits, responsibility, partisanship, public
investment, differences in diversity among countries, etc. Provide
examples. Be detailed and specific.
Have non-governmental actors such as unions, think tanks, research
groups, private businesses, lobbying groups, special interest groups,
etc., influenced policymaking on your chosen topic at the state level?
Have there been any partnerships between non-governmental actors and the
government on your chosen topic? Some examples include private groups
and their relationship with executive agencies such as the FDA and
Pharmaceutical Companies, the Department of Defense, and Private
Military Firms, or unions and lobbying executive agencies. What impact
has this relationship had on your chosen topic? Provide examples. Be
detailed and specific.
How does the government provide financing to your chosen policy
topic? Do they provide grants such as research or development? Do they
provide tax incentives/breaks? Do they collect tax revenue specific to
your topic? Do they contract out the management? Do they allocate a
portion of their budget? How does the financial consideration of your
topic influence policy? Be detailed and specific.
How does each institution’s approach to addressing your topic
differ? What contributes to that difference? Consider differences in the
role of the legislature and the executive, power, structure, community,
stakeholders, and the entirety of your research when answering this
question.
Which institution is more likely to act on your chosen topic?
Consider legislative and executive differences and differences in
representation, constituency, partisan control, etc. Is this an issue
more likely to be addressed by the delegate style of the Assembly or the
trustee style of the Senate? Is this an issue more likely to be
addressed by an executive agency or a representative? Why?
How does your chosen topic directly impact the local communities at
each level? Is the significance of the impact different across parts of
the United States? Does it differ among communities and groups? Does it
impact some more than others (districts, communities, groups,
occupations, income brackets, etc.)? Are some
groups/communities/stakeholders more involved than others? Why?
What action do you think should be taken on this issue at the
federal level? Are things being done on this issue at the federal level
that you support? Any that you oppose? Are there any groups that are
active on this issue that you support? Any that you oppose? What new
policy, law, reform, idea, etc., would you recommend at the federal
level? Why? What existing new policy, law, reform, idea, etc., would you
oppose? Why? Be detailed and specific.
What other information might be relevant to your chosen policy topic
that the assignment did not address? What information did you learn but
didn’t have space for in the answers above? Did you find interesting
information you’d like to keep track of but didn’t find a place to put
it? What questions do you wish I asked/included in this guided
questionnaire? What questions did you come up with that you might want
to explore further? Use this as an opportunity to jot down notes, ideas,
or your thought process at this part of your research.
What class resources (textbook chapters/terms/concepts, videos, readings, lessons, notes) apply to your research?
Works Cited
Create a works cited page using the sources of information used to
answer the above questions. For sources you did not use but would like
to keep track of, make a note of it in a separate section.
