Gerneral advice on writing in French

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The structure of the text

Whatever type of text you are writing in French (an article, an essay, a review of a meeting, a report, etc.), you should always bear in mind that the structure is very important. Even if your ideas are excellent, a French reader will be distracted if your text does not follow a rigorous and logical plan.
Your text should, therefore, always have an introduction, a development (usually consisting of two or three large sections), and a conclusion.

The introduction

This consists of a general sentence which introduces and arranges the subject and presents the structure of the plan.

The development

In both English and French there are many different sorts of plan. One can proceed chronologically, listing a series of events; stating the facts, the causes, and the consequences so as to describe a phenomenon; etc. In French, however, the classic plan is known as 'thesis, antithesis, synthesis'. It consists of opposing two theses, or points of view. The first part presents the reasons for agreeing with the question asked in the title; the second, the reasons for disagreeing; finally, in the last part, the pros and cons are weighed up - so a synthesis of the various ideas is made before concluding.

The conclusion

This briefly recaps the main arguments presented in the development and answers the problems or questions raised in the introduction.