Twenty-five percent of your grade in this class is based upon a
7-10 page individual paper or a 15-20 page GROUP paper assignment
that is due December 6th. If you choose to participate in a group,
it should have no more than four people.
The goal of the paper is three-fold. (1) Have you think about what it means to introduce and pass legislation through congress, (2) choose an actual congressional district and legislator and figure out a piece of legislation to introduce that is consistent with his/her needs, and (3) develop a complete strategy for successfully passing the legislation through congress given your constituents, interest group supporters, special tools that your legislator has, and the policy/political environment.
You are free to organize the paper anyway that you choose, except that you must meet the following general guidelines:
1. It must be in essay form.
2. It must be grammatically correct, neat, typed, well-organized,
etc.
3. It must have an appropriate bibliography.
4. It must include as much relevant information as possible.
5. You must use information from an actual congressional district
and a real incumbent who is currently serving in the House of Representatives.
(CANNOT BE FROM NEVADA or CALIFORNIA)
6. BUT, your legislation and strategy must be comprised of your
own ideas. Make sure you also focus on WHY you are doing what you
are doing.
1. Get to know your district and legislator very well.
2. Choose three or four parts of the process that you want to
focus on. Do not try to cover too much information. I would
rather see the depth or sophistication of thought on a few issues than
a shallow understanding of many issues.
1. Choose your legislators carefully. Make sure they
have a particular issue area in common.
2. You need to include an additional section about how they can
work together (e.g., building coalitions?) to achieve their legislative
goals.
3. I do not want to hear any complaining about group members,
especially after grades are turned in. With very few exceptions,
once you have chosen to be in a group, you will have to work out any problems
yourself.