I think the hardest concept I’ve encountered is writing directly in all my writing pieces. I think I have gotten more used to it with all the practice I have had over the quarter, but I still have to remind myself to be blunt, and just tell it like it is. In high school I worked really hard on trying to sound intelligent and finding the most creative way possible to describe things in essays. But I have found that’s really not what professors are looking for here, and that has definitely been an adjustment. Sign posting really helps to be direct and blunt in my writing, but I’ve had almost just as hard of a time with the sign posting technique. I always felt like using sign posts seemed really elementary and not creative, but at the end of the day it is effective. The reader will not be confused when they go through your paper about what your topic is and what you are going to cover.
On the other hand, the easiest concept for me to grasp so far is the idea of tacit consent. While I had never had this concept explained to me so explicitly like I did in my classes this year, it was definitely a concept I had encountered throughout my years of school and it was nice to finally put a name to something I had experienced all along. In high school, we covered this idea when talking about Nazi Germany and the segregated south. I think because this concept doesn’t just apply to political theory, but can be broadened to other aspects of history and government, it was easier for me to understand.
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