ENGLISH 1-A ELECTRONIC  DEMOCRACY PROJECT

What is the Democracy Project?

As part of a writing course focusing on argumentation, this project is designed to help you explore argument in action. First you'll need to find out who represents you in The House of Representatives and the Senate. Then you'll want to check out candidates running for the House and the Senate--both those who will influence your home neighborhood (if your home is in the US), and those whose decisions will have an impact on you when you are at Drew. If you are eligible to vote and you haven't registered to do so, do it. You'll have a lot more fun with this project if you actually get to do something at the end! If--like one of the professors for this course--you aren't a citizen of the US, you can still write letters to your representatives and send them e-mail messages about issues of concern to you, so you, too, can do something in response to what you learn in this project. 

As you check out the sources you are following, pay attention to the ways the authors and candidates use the strategies of argumentation. Do journalists represent each candidate's points accurately? Do they ignore some issues and focus on others? If so, why do you think that might be? Do the candidates misrepresent each other? Are they effective?