POLI 110EB Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Reference Desk
Document Summary
Writing assignments are often punitive they are assigned simply as tools for evaluation. But writing can also be an end in itself, insofar as it can become a process of thinking. The papers in this course are designed to provide opportunities for you to sharpen your thinking through analytical dialogue with important works of political theory. By analytical i mean papers that show the results of clear, focused and sustained thinking about the hidden or underlying dimensions of a specific issue, problem or confusion in the readings. Teach yourself to sit and think" (literally) about the aims, strategies and relative merits of each of the readings. Keep in mind that you can"t understand a difficult text all at once"; instead, you get a feel for the whole only after carefully exploring one specific section of it. A good piece of analysis is always the final result of a sustained period of reflection, note-taking, writing, editing and re-writing.
