PSC 100 - Representative Letter Assignment: Home

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REMINDER:

• The reason it is imperative to contact the correct representative is because we operate under a federal system of government.
• A federal system of government is defined by its allocation of power and responsibilities between the federal and state governments.
• Elected officials operate in and represent various levels of government, such as the following:
  • Municipal/Local
  • County
  • State
  • Federal

• The first step in writing any letter is to determine WHAT you would like to write a letter about.
• You don't have to be an expert on anything to contact the government. All you need to have is contact information and something to write about!
• Your goal in contacting a representative could consist of the following:
  • Raising awareness on a certain topic (i.e. opioid epidemic)
  • To ask for information on a certain topic
  • Expressing dissatisfaction with a certain piece of legislation
  • Thanking them for an action or position that was taken
  • Actively calling for corrective actions to be taken on a specific issue
  • Requesting a traffic light installation at a certain intersection in your town.
• The topic doesn't have to be a massive issue that affects the entire nation; it can be as big or small in scale as you want it to be.

• The next step in writing your letter is determining WHO you need to write to. 
• To determine the appropriate recipient, you'll need to understand what level of government is most relevant to your topic.
  • If a road in your neighborhood is in need of being paved over, you'll would likely want to contact an elected official from your municipality or township.
  • If the road in question is a county road, you'd want to contact a county official.
• Search through the various resources in this LibGuide to find your appropriate representative. If you need help identifying a representative, schedule an appointment with me (Cameron), and we'll search together!

• Once you have selected a representative to write to, you can begin writing your letter!
• A template PDF has been attached to this guide for your reference.
  • Use this guide to construct your letter, and be sure you include all information listed in the template!
• If you have trouble finding a certain piece of information, send an email to me (Cameron) or schedule an appointment and we'll figure it out!

A reminder on artificial intelligence: do not use it to compose your letter! 

Artificial intelligence tools like large language models, also known as LLM's (i.e. ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, etc.), a unique and burgeoning technology, but use of these tools can introduce a whole host of problems, including but not limited to: 

• Hallucinations - false information that the LLM has generated in place of legitimate information
• Plagiarism - in the generative process, LLM's can and will generate content that does not belong to you. You didn't write it, therefore it is NOT yours!
• Lack of Contextual Forethought - AI tools frequently struggle with contextual, nuanced reasoning. This can often lead to bizarre leaps in conclusions for generated responses. 

Although you should avoid using AI to create work, you can use AI as a supplementary tool. Consider its use for the following: 

• Checking Paper Formatting - an AI can be useful for checking to ensure that your paper has been formatted properly according to the parameters you have set. Just be sure to inform the AI of how it should be formatted in your query!
• Spellcheck - should you need spellchecking services, AI can be of use here as well!
• Citation Formatting - while it is NOT recommended to use an AI LLM for generating citations, it can be quite useful in checking your citations to ensure that they are properly formatted according to the style you are using.

Always remember to disclose use of AI in an assignment should you resort to it!