Research 1 instructions: [add optional commentary on social media] The goal of this short research paper is demonstrating your understanding of theories of legislative representation in action through websites of 1 US House and 1 US Senate member (2 total – see parameters for choosing) – minimum 5 pages of findings/analysis. Your analysis must be grounded in concepts and definitions from lecture, the textbook, and other reading assignments in the Part I Assignments folder on BB. 1. Choose one current voting member (not delegates for DC or Territories) of US House of Representatives and one US Senator by looking at the list of members at https://www.house.gov/ and https://www.senate.gov/index.htm . Your choice of members should follow these guidelines: * Different states – one member (House OR Senate) is from Kentucky and the other member is from another state * Different parties – two members represent different parties (Republican/Democrat/Independent) * Hint: Try not to choose a newly-elected member of the 117th Congress that does not have a full website or formal legislative activity yet 2. Analyze the chosen members′ websites for activities and information related to representative concepts, including but not limited to ″Hill″ and ″Home″ style from DOLSC Ch. 5. Looking at the two members′ official websites, look for clues regarding their styles of representation, such as: * Legislative activity: committees, partisanship, bill sponsor/co-sponsor, floor votes and speeches, and other indicators of actions or coalition-building to create, block, or pass bills to benefit local/state or national policy goals * Presentation of self: demographic background (race, gender, religion, ties to area, previous career), and other background/identity information given by the member), visits and events in home district/state, interactions with constituent groups, and other indicators of home district/state activity 3. Describe in 4 pages (Word or PDF) each of the following four types of information (neatly, please). Explain and label examples from the websites to demonstrate your understanding of different representative legislative actions/presentation of self through desсrіptions of findings on distinct pages (in Word or PDF) for each of your two members: please include actual direct links for each example you find and list as follows: * One page for examples and desсrіptions of House member′s legislative activity * One page for examples and desсrіptions of House member′s presentation of self * One page for examples and desсrіptions of Senate member′s legislative activity * One page for examples and desсrіptions of Senate member′s presentation of self 4. In addition, include one additional distinct page of written analysis (at least one paragraph on each of your two members) using DOLSC Ch. 5 and at least one item from Blackboard Assignments, Part 1 folder, as well as your Google news findings: * Explain how your findings illuminate the main points of Congress and Its Members, Chapter 5 on representation theories/styles * Relate your findings to other items regarding representation in BB, Assignments, Part 1 folder. * Discuss and cite DOLSC by page number to show your use of the chapter in parentheses at the end of the sentence (no bibliography needed). Cite at least one article/website from BB by pasting in the link. Book citations can look like this (DOLSC 17th edition, 125). * Do a ″Google news″ search on your two members to see additional information relevant to 117th Congress that may not be updated on websites. What do your findings show about the types of media coverage they are getting related to your website findings? Please paste in the news sites/story links you include. * Avoid subjective language taken from the website or your own opinions, such as ″Rep. X is good or bad at district engagement″ and do not copy the persuasive tone of the members′ websites. Your task is to seek, find, and present evidence that would assist objective analysts (you) to explain their legislative and representative style and how they use their time/communication — to the extent that we can know these things from their websites. Please keep in mind that staff members maintain the sites – not the members themselves. * Avoid using generic information that appears on all House/Senate websites under ″constituent services,″ which often includes internships, tours of the Capitol, military academy nominations, help with federal agencies, etc.
