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

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 […]

yo the most difficult part of political theory in this class is most definitely trying to write in the correct format.  In the past, I was accustomed to writing in my own style, free from any definitive structure.  This writing class was hard for me to communicate my ideas in a method that wasn’t my […]

I would say that the past quarter has been eye opening for me. I didn’t really have that many expectations other than it was definitely a transition from high school. Over the quarter I learned about the value of paying attention in class and really trying to engage myself in the courses. It was hard […]

The one aspect that I found very difficult to understand is tacit consent. We first encounter the concept of tacit consent while reading Plato. Unlike explicit consent, tacit consent incorporates a great area. A person can give tacit consent by residing in the same area over a certain period of time. Tacit consent is also […]

So far this quarter the easiest aspect of political theory for me has been Hobbes points on sovereign power.  His argument is logistic.  Easy to follow, comprehend, and relate to his earlier points on his states of nature. Unlike Locke who at times can be extremely vague and contradictory.  His argument for legitimacy based on […]

The hardest aspect for me was definitely dealing with Hobbes in general. The way I’ve always processed dense readings is to thoroughly read them once, think on it for a bit, skim the reading a second time, and think about it some more. After I’ve done all of that I read it again thoroughly and […]

The aspect of college writing/ political theory that I found to be the easiest was the concept of “legitimate authority”. Although there are many different views and ideas on what makes authority legitimate, I am always able to grasp what each theorist is explaining regarding political legitimacy. I think that it is the easiest part […]

During this quarter we have covered a lot of material. The political theory of Rousseau has been the most challenging for me to get a grasp of. It has been the most difficult for me, because he does not lay out his theory as systematically as Locke and Hobbes. In his work he jumped around […]

I think the most difficult part about political science has been oversimplifying each theory. We have read a multitude of texts, which on one hand leads to a better understanding through readings addressing weaknesses of particular states. However, this can also lead to a broader description of each text; rather than a more general recollection […]

I have had a couple concepts that have been difficult for me throughout the quater, however the one that continues to trouble me is not limiting Hobbes. I typically tend to just say that Hobbes’ sovereign is all powerful and can do what it wants and that its citizens are at the mercy of the […]