Assignment:
Description
This assignment requires you to write two (2) brief two to page double-spaced of text reaction papers to a particular current event dealing with Texas politics and government. You are free to choose any current event that interests you personally, just with the requirement that it must be clearly related to Texas government. You should find these current event articles through any reputable news source that you choose. If you have a concern or question on whether a particular article satisfies this requirement as a valid source, please feel free to ask. A few reputable news sources that you can consider (but certainly not the only ones) are:
- The Texas Observer
- The Texas Tribune
- The Houston Chronicle
- Texas Monthly
- New York Times
- Huffington Post - Texas Politics
- National News organizations (CNN, NBC, CBS, Fox) also regularly cover Texas political news
The paper will require more than simply re-describing the article, I want you to critically think about the information in the article and discuss the importance or significance it has for Texas government and politics. You are certainly allowed, in fact encouraged, to provide active voice, and include your own personal perspective on the current event, but I will require you to incorporate information that we have covered in this class into your reaction paper, where applicable. This is not intended to be a one-page political rant about a current event.
You will need to do three major things in these papers. The first part of the paper will be a brief summary of the current event in your own words. Over-reliance on direct quotes from the article will result in deduction. The second part of the paper will be your reaction, this can be a critique of the piece or event, or the significance of the event, simply your perspective on such. This is intended to be your thoughts, thus please use first person. The third component of your papers will be relating the current event to course material in some manner (i.e. where does this article fit into the course material - textbook chapter, discussion, film, etc.). Each of these are required in both papers.