ENGL 298 B: Intermediate Writing Social Sciences   Autumn 2011, University of Washington

This quarter, one concept in political theory that was easy to grasp was the idea that Thomas Hobbes’s main priority and interest was self-preservation.  His whole proposed government is easy to understand if you know it is based upon this concept.  After studying hours for the midterm, I realized this fact and was able to understand his views more easily.  While an overbearing government seems detrimental for a society, Hobbes believes it should be instituted to keep people alive.  Understanding that the Leviathan is there to keep people alive gives reason to Hobbes’s idea of an absolute government.

One difficult aspect to grasp in academic writing this quarter was the use of sign posting.  At first I was completely against it because I thought it was a cheap way of writing because it seemed to simple,  and it felt weird writing an academic paper using the first person.  In high school we were taught from the beginning to keep the first person out of papers, so coming to college and being told to do the opposite was quite a shock.  After using a road map in the major paper and seeing how well it worked, and was received by others, I accepted it as a viable way of introducing topics in academic writing.