John Cornyn

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Core Objective Writing Assignment
For GOVT 2305
Your assignment must meet all of the following criteria:
1. Includes your name and student ID number in the header
2. Be word processed
3. Be double-spaced
4. Be submitted electronically via eCampus
5. Have a minimum length of 800 words (excluding cited text/direct quotations & Works
Cited/bibliographic info) saved and submitted as a .doc or .docx file
6. Be presented in paragraph format featuring complete sentences
7. Includes at least two formal citations from a credible journalistic source, government
website, book, or peer reviewed journal utilizing APA formatting (Your textbook can be
used as a supplementary source, but it would not count towards this requirement.)
8. Follow all of the conventions and rules of Standard Written English
9. Must be completed by 11:59pm, July 1, 2021
For this writing assignment you will be required to closely follow the instructions.
Do not skip steps!!!!!
The purpose of this assignment is to allow you to identify one of your elected federallevel legislative representatives and the issues they have prioritized as your
representative, then compare the work they are doing with your personal political
beliefs. Do you care about the same issues that they do? This assignment will be
scored out of 100 points, and will constitute 10% of your final grade in the class.
Step 1: Go to GovTrack Congressional Member Finder to input your address and
determine who your elected federal-level legislative representatives are. You must
choose to write on either your member of the US House of Representatives or one of
your members of the US Senate. You must submit the name of your chosen legislator to
me via e-mail by 11:59pm, June 24, 2021.
Step 2: After selecting one of those federal-level legislators, click on his/her name. On
that next page, you will find varied information about your legislator, including links to
other websites you can use for research, as well as the link to his/her official website,
which is found on the upper-right of the page.
Step 3: Go to VoteSmart List of National Interest Groups to locate an interest group that
lobbies on behalf of an issue you care about. This can be any issue, from abortion to tax
relief, as long as it is an issue that interests you. Navigate on the page to find an issue
category (like “Campaign Finance and Elections” or “Foreign Aid”) that you are
interested in. Then, under that category heading, select one of the particular groups in
that category to research. {Those particular groups are located on the far right under the
“SIG Name” heading.} You must select and submit the name of your chosen interest
group to me via e-mail by 11:59pm, June 24, 2021.
Step 4: Respond to the following list of questions in sequential order. Each question
should be answered completely and numbered accordingly in separate paragraphs.
NOTE: This is not a position paper. You do not need to offer or support a thesis, but
your answers are required to be submitted in complete sentences, and in your own
words. DO NOT copy and paste from any of the websites you will utilize during this
assignment. Part of the challenge of this type of assignment is to strengthen your ability
to discuss political issues using your unique ‘voice’.
Question 1: What is the name of your chosen federal-level legislator and what is his/her
office? What is his/her race/ethnicity, gender, and religious affiliation? What political
party does s/he belong to? Does s/he share your preferred party preference? How long
has s/he been in office?
Question 2: On the www.govtrack.us website for your legislator, there will be a section
labeled “Bills Sponsored”. Click on “View All” to see a list of that legislator’s list of
sponsored legislation. Select and describe two pieces of legislation sponsored by your
legislator during the most recent regular legislative session. (If your legislator has not
sponsored a bill before, you should describe his/her two most recent co-sponsored
bills).
Question 3: Compare and contrast the mission and goals of your chosen interest group
with the political beliefs and legislative priorities of your chosen legislator, providing AT
LEAST two specific examples of either agreement or disagreement between them. Has
your chosen interest group endorsed your elected legislator? What, if any, role do you
think this interest group had in getting your legislator elected?
Question 4: Why do you think your chosen legislator was able to win their most
immediately recent general election? In order to answer this question, you must include
a description of the demographic makeup of your district (if you are writing about your
US House member) or state (if you are writing about your US Senator). That
demographic makeup should include race/ethnicity, gender, and the level of voting
turnout. Was your legislator an incumbent officeholder prior to his/her most recent
election, and was this a factor in getting elected? This information could be located on
the web page of your chosen legislator, but might need to be gathered via other
appropriate sources (see requirements above regarding citation sources).
Question 5: Now that you have this information, (please assume/pretend you are
eligible to vote) are you more or less likely to vote in the next election? Why? Would you
vote to keep this legislator, or would you vote for his/her opponent? Why? Would your
cultural and family background affect your vote for this legislator? Why?
*Failure to submit your chosen representative and interest group to me by the required
deadline will result in an automatic 10-point deduction for each. For more information on John Cornyn read this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Cornyn