Now that you’ve completed the course material, tell me about yourself and what you’ve learned.
Please write about the following in your personal essay:
1) How does the government serve you and your family and friends on the local level in
Texas? I emphasized local government in the first unit. What does local government—
cities, counties, independent school distraction, and other special districts (such as the
Houston Community College District) do for you in your daily life and in the lives of
your family? Be specific, giving examples about each type of local government and give
personal stories of your experience and/or that of family and/or friends.
2) We studied elections in Texas. Have you voted before? Are you registered to vote now?
Did you vote in the primaries in March? If so, in what party and why? Do you plan to
vote in the general election this November How about your family and your friends? Will
they vote? For whom are they interested in supported at the polls? Who do you plan to
vote for president and why? What about your family and/or your friends? Are you or any
of your family and/or friends interested in local elections (such as county offices and
state legislative offices)? Why or why not? Which local officials in particular?
3) As to your state government in Austin, who is your Texas state representative from your
area? (If you don’t know, you can type in your home address on Google and ask Google
to tell you who your Texas state Representative is where you live.) Who is your Texas
state senator from your area? (Again, go to Google with your address and ask Google
who is your state senator.) Also, who is the United States Representative from your
area? (Again, Google will tell you.) Tell me if you know why it is important to know
who your state senator, state senator, and U.S. representative are and why it is crucial to
vote for the people you want to represent you in Austin and Washington. (In other
words, what do these people do that has a crucial effect on your life?)
4) The election this November will include not only state and national representatives to
Congress, it will include the office of the presidency. One of the most important
functions of the president is the nomination of members of the federal bench from the
federal district (trial) courts all the way up to the highest appellate court in the land, the
United States Supreme Court. This power is so important because the judges and justices
of the federal courts serve a term of office for life. The decisions of the United States
Supreme Court decide how laws are interpreted. This includes issues dealing with the
Constitution of the United States which affects your rights (such as freedom of religion,
free speech, protection from illegal searches and seizures, due process of the law [right to
trial], etc. Accordingly, who becomes president will determine, since several members of
the Supreme Court have indicated they plan to retire within the next couple of years, the
direction of how our liberty interests will be taken (and affecting you and the right to
abortion, affirmative action in higher education, immigration policy, and so on).
According to your knowledge of the positions taken by Republican presidential candidate
Donald Trump and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton from following
current events, who do you want to be the next president who will be picking these new
justices for the Supreme Court…and WHY?
How are judges in TEXAS for the Texas courts selected for the bench? Is this a good
process of selection? Why or why not?
What are the highest courts in the Texas court system and what role do they play in the
determination of justice and the interpretation of the law?
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE PAPER:
600 WORDS, MINIMUM (about 150 words for each of the four sections). You may•
write well beyond 600 words if you wish. Obviously, if you wish to expand on a given
issue or issue, a longer paper would necessitate that. I will consider such an effort in
grading your paper. However, points will be deducted for papers under 600
words—five (5) points off for every 25 words under 600.
If you use ANY outside research (in other words, use material from a newspaper or•
magazine article or a textbook or any book, or any Internet research other than finding
the names of your local state representatives) you MUST properly cite where you got
that information whether you directly “quote” the information OR you use the ideas of
the author or source. Not to cite the source of information you use is PLAGIARISM
and is an academic crime for which you will lose SIGNIFICANT POINTS on your
paper. You may use any form of citation—MLA, APA, CMS—or even a variation of
these. Just be sure you give credit for anything you use other than your own ideas and
your own word.
Provide a word count at the end of the paper. I will deduct five (5) points from•
your grade if you do not provide an accurate word count. When you type a document
on Microsoft Word, Word automatically counts the number of pages and words at the
bottom left of the workspace in the status bar. If you don’t see the word count in the
status bar, right- click the status bar and click “Word Count.” You can also go to “Tools”
on a classic Word menu, pull down, and click on “Word Count.” On some versions of
Word you can click on “Review” and then on “Word Count.” If your word count is
below 600 then you lose points: I will deduct 5 points for every 25 words under a
600-word count.
Write this paper in your own words. Don’t worry if you’re ESL or if you don’t think•
you’re a good writer. I want to hear your ideas, your experiences, your impressions, all
in your own words. I won’t be grading for grammar. I’m grading on content and on
your meeting the minimum requirements set out in the instructions.
Once again: DO NOT PLAGIARIZE! If you use the book or my notes or any source•
and quote from or paraphrase material from the source or sources, you must tell (within
the paper itself) the reader where you got the information. Give the page number if from
the book, or the title of the article or source if from the Internet and provide a URL for
the location of the source. (You don’t have to tell me where you got the names of the
office holders I asked you to look up on Google, however.)
DO YOUR OWN WORK! Do not work on this with another student. If you copy•
another student’s paper in part or whole, both you AND the student you copied from will
be severely penalized. You will likely receive a grade of F…perhaps even a grade of
ZERO. Be aware, I check carefully for plagiarism and sharing of work. And I am quite
adept at finding cheating and more than willing to flunk a student for plagiarizing and
copying another’s work.
Submit your paper by copying your final draft from your word processor and pasting it•
onto the writing area provided in your assignment module. I urge you NOT to write
your essay out directly in the box provided. You could be 2/3rds of the way through
writing your essay and lose power or the Internet connect AND YOU WOULD LOSE
ALL YOUR WORK AS WELL. If you write your paper on your computer’s word
process and save your work as you go you are protecting yourself from such a disaster.
Also you may save your essay as a Microsoft Word file and attach it on the assignment•
module and submit it in that form. Be aware: You must save your essay in Microsoft
Word format OR in a format you are CERTAIN can be opened and read by Microsoft
Word. If you submit your essay as an attached file and I cannot open your file
containing the paper, I can, therefore, not read the paper and you will, thus receive a
zero for the assignment.
Be sure to put your name and the class information at the top of your paper. Be SURE•
to do this or I might not be able to record your grade correctly.)