Purpose: The purpose of this assignment is to improve your skills in writing and persuasive argument. The abilities to make compelling arguments and to communicate them efficiently are highly valuable in nearly every line of work. Furthermore, this assignment will provide you an opportunity to communicate with a politician of your choosing, and help you become more civically engaged.   This assignment will also help you improve your problem-solving skills and is part of the CSU WeSolveIt! Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP). The intention of our QEP is to help students improve their abilities to identify and articulate a problem, evaluate multiple solutions to that problem, discern which solution is best, and execute that decision.   Knowledge: This assignment will help you become familiar with the following content knowledge: ·         Who your representatives in government are ·         What political issues you care about and which levels of government can address them ·         The potential actions a politician can take to address the issues you care about ·         The political calculation a politician must make when taking actions on controversial issues   Task: The first task of this assignment is to write a one-page (single-spaced) letter to a politician, asking them to take a stance or action on an issue of your choosing (whether you send the letter or not is entirely up to you, and not part of the assignment). It is up to you to select your own issue, the politician that you will contact, the action you are requesting they take, and the tone in which you write the letter. The second task of this assignment is to reflect on why you made each of those decisions, and why your choices were better than their alternatives.     Part 1: Preparation and Research   1.      Identify a problem in society, the economy, or politics that you think one of your representatives should address 2.      Identify which of your representatives is best suited to address your problem 3.      Compare and contrast the possible actions that your selected representative could take to solve this problem (using the chart in the “Reflection” portion of this assignment may help with this). 4.      Determine the action that you will ask your representative to take.     Part 2: Writing the letter   1.      Write a one-page, single-spaced letter to your representative, in an appropriate letter format (Microsoft word has a template for “formal letter template” or you can Google “formal letter template”. Formulate your argument in clear, concise terms. 2.      Evaluate the tone in which you will write your letter (will you seek to elicit sympathy from the representative? Will you argue that you represent a key voting demographic and state that you are angry?) 3.      Whether or not you send this letter is entirely up to you, and not part of this assignment   Part 3: Reflection   1.      Complete the reflection worksheet attached to this assignment.   Submit your letter and reflection as a single document to CougarVIEW. No late submissions will be taken or graded.    Criteria for Success: Your assignment will be graded on the following criteria:     Criteria for Letter Criteria for Letter Points Clearly and concisely defines the problem being addressed 20 Clearly and concisely requests a solution to the problem 30 Offers reasonable evidence that the solution is feasible 30 Grammar and overall writing 20 Total:           /100   Criteria for Reflection Points Identifies important contextual factors to consider when weighing each solution 20 Each of the solutions is feasible and distinct from one another 30 Each solution is weighed with regards to the contextual factors 20 Self-evaluation of problem-solving ability is thorough and sincere 30 Total:           /100                 REFLECTION  Answer All Portions of All Questions And Properly Complete the Chart   DISCOVER 1.      Articulate the problem you have identified. Why is this problem important?     2.      Which of your representatives is best suited to solve this problem? o    For instance, your local school board is most appropriate to address a problem at your local school. The Governor or a state congressperson is most appropriate to address an issue regarding the state income tax. The president or a federal congressperson is most appropriate to address an issue of national defense.     3.      What does the politician need to be considerate of when solving this problem? Try to list five different things (contextual factors). o    How much money will each proposed solution cost? Will they face political backlash from their own party for supporting any of the possible solutions? How long will each solution take to be effective? Are there negative consequences to any of the solutions? Will enacting any of the solutions violate any of the politician’s campaign problems? Which of the solutions is most likely to pass through the legislative process? Etc.     DESIGN 4.      What are three feasible solutions to this problem that you can consider? o    Make sure that your explanation of each is significant that your reader fully understands what you are considering. This will take at least a couple of sentences per solution.   5.      Use your answers to 2 and 3 to complete the table on the next page   6.      Which of your three solutions is best and why? o    This should be at least one full paragraph. Explain why the solution you chose is best in reference to the contextual factors (the form you filled out on the back)     REFLECTION 7.      In what ways did your problem solving skills improve via this assignment?   8.      In what ways could your problem solving skills improve further?