Guidelines and practical tipsTo produce good quality essays in French it is important not to think it out in English and try to translate it. Widen your French vocabulary as much as possible. Use the new words you have learnt as much as possible. Learn phrases, clauses and sentences that will be useful in an essay. Try to develop a good French style. Stages of essay writingThink strategicaly about how to approach a writing assignment. Taking in the title. Underline keywords and if necessary check their meanings. Think about the title. Gathering material. Collect notes from various sources. Generating ideas. Get your ideas down on paper, jot down thoughts, sample sentences. Planning. Organise your notes into a simple and coherent outline plan. First draft. Check your work for structure and language mistakes as you go along. Reviewing. Read over your work and correct errors and omissionsFinal draft. Word process or write legibly. Your general presentations should be good - first impressions do count!. Exam Essays ASYou will write a piece of French usually a letter, report or article from a printed stimulus. Read the question carefully and make sure you understand it. Don' t rush to start writing. Use your phrases and vocabularly well. Write as fluently as you can. Don' t repeat phrases, use a variety. Check your work carefully and methodically. Keep within thw word limit - most important! Exam Essays A2You will not have time to do all the 7 steps in an exam! Choose your title carefully. By now you should know what kind of essay you prefer writing so choose carefully. Usually there are 3 types: creative e. g. writing about a photo, a newspaper articlediscursive e. g. current affairs, European issues, social problems. task based e. g. a letter, and advert, a report. A good essay will include: A relevant introduction. Keep it fairly breif, get down to the business of the essay quickly. A coherent development. Sort out your points and present them in a strctured way, giving your essay a beginning, a middle and an end. A strong conclusion. The conclusion should show the reader that you have really ' answered the question' or ' repsonded to the title'. Don' t forget: Check your work e. g. go through the verbs then the adjectives, gender spelling. Count the words. It is very important to keep within the word limit. If your essay is too long, it could cut out your conclusion and therefore lose you marks. Use as many tenses as you can (correctly!). Discursive essaysLearn a few of these to use in essays. tout d' abordfirst of alld' une part... d' autre parton one hand... on the other handpar contreon the contrarybien quealthoughcependanthowevernéanmoinsnever the lessil est donc question de... it is therefore a question ofil paraît donc évident que... it appears therefore clear thatquant à as for/ regardingau niveau (international)at the (international) levelil faut donc rappeler queit is necessary therefore to rememberil est certain queit is certain thatl' important, c' estthe important thing isil ne faut pas oublier queyou must not forget thaten conclusionin conclusiontout bien considéréall things consideredfinalementfinallyaprès toutafter allen fin de compteat the end of the dayce que je dis, en fait, c' est... what I am saying, in fact, is... Creative writingSome phrases and clauses.1. Telling stories in the past. il y a deux mois2 months agoaprés avoir finiafter finishingcomme elle sortaitas she was going outà ce moment - là at that momentpendant son séjourduring his staylongtempsfor a long timede temps en tempsfrom time to timeau printempsin the springen éte/automne/ hiverin the Summer/Autumn/Winterc'était le deux janvierit was the 2nd of Januaryvendredi dernierlast FridayJe lui ai ditI told himhieryesterdayavant - hierthe day before yesterdayhier matinyesterday morning. 2. The future tout de suiteimmediatelydans deux heuresin 2 hoursvers huit heures ce soirabout 8 o' clock this eveningla semaine prochainenext weekà l' heureon timenous arriverons vers midiwe will get there about midday 3. Joining words d' abordfirst of allpuisthenaprés celaafter thatun peu plus tarda little laterune heure plus tardan hour laterune fois arrivé(e)after arrivingenfinat lastmalgré toutdespite everything 4. Descriptions un vieil hommean old manaux cheveux blancs et courtswith white short hairil portrait des lunetteshe was wearing glassesil était petithe was short/smallune jeune fillea young girl with blonde hairelle portait un jean et un T-shirt bleushe was wearing jeans and a blue T-shirtâgée de seize ansaged 16elle écoutait la musiqueshe was listening to musicqui portait une boîtewho was carrying a box There is usually a journalistic style essay in the creative section you will probably use third person singular and plural a lot in this type of writing so make sure you have revised your verbs thoroughly! Task based writingEnsure you can lay out a letter in the correct way:1. A formal letterBristol le 14 mai (usually you put the town and date)Monsieur / Madame (Dear Sir/ Madam) Veuillez agreér, Monsieur / Madame l' assurance de nos sentiments distinguésORJe vous prie d' agreér Monsieur / Madame l' expression de mes sentiments les plus distingués(Yours faithfully) 2. A more informal letter to someone you know (or at least their name)Chamonix le 20 novembreChère Madame Marceau (Dear Mrs Marceau)Bien cordialement (Your Sincerley)