Politics

Contacting your representative is one way to engage in politics, but many Texans are

unsure how to get in touch with their representatives or how to make their wishes

known. This assignment is designed to allow you the opportunity to walk through the

process of contacting a representative in the Texas Legislature. You will walk through

the process but you are not required to actually call or email your representative.

However, if you do reach out to your representative, please include the outcome.

You may want to first explore the optional documents below to help with your

research. Once you have done the research, answer the following topics within your

paper.

● Directory For Texas State Senators

● Links to an external site.

● ● Directory For Texas State Representatives

● LegiScan

● Links to an external site. – a database of bills and issues before the Texas

Legislature

The Questions:

1. Select an issue that you are concerned about. Explain in one paragraph why

you are interested in this issue and what you believe should be done about it.

2. Research your issue and explain if and when this has come before the Texas

Legislature in the past. If it has not, explain why you think it has not yet come

before the legislature.

3. Pick a representative to write or call about your issue. Explain why you picked

this specific representative and what you might ask them to do to support

your convictions in this area. Include the contact information for your

representative. Explain how you would contact them (email, letter or phone

call) and why you selected that method.

4. Include the script you would use to contact your representative. Feel free to

use the templates provided.

5. Evaluate the process of contacting a representative. Did you actually make the

call or send the letter? Why or why not? Would you be able to do this in the

future? If you did contact your representative, report back on the experience.

The rules: Remember, this needs to be at least two pages of solid, thoughtful

material in order to even be considered for full credit. Students receiving full credit

usually turn in papers of at least 2.5 pages. Have some fun with it but remember this is

an academic paper. No cussing or slang, use proper grammar and proof-read before

https://www.senate.texas.gov/members.php
https://www.senate.texas.gov/members.php
https://house.texas.gov/members/
https://legiscan.com/
https://legiscan.com/
sending, use the spell-checker, do not end a sentence with a question mark (you are

supposed to answer questions, not ask them), etc.

Do not put a heading at the top of your paper, as it does not count towards your page

minimum. I know my name, the class and the date, and Canvas tells me your name. If

you have a title you want to put up there then please do, but then start writing.

Type your paper in MS Word and upload it to Canvas using Turnitin. This will allow

your paper to be checked for plagiarism.