Hover a line for its translation; hover a word for its meaning. Tap 🔊 to hear it.
Generate a brand-new dialog on any topic, using this lesson's 0 vocab words — plus any words you add below.
Sign in to generate dialogues. It needs a pass — the first ten lessons of every course are free either way.
The French dissertation
The dissertation is the defining written exercise of French education. Students meet it in the lycée, above all in philosophy and French literature, and keep writing it through university and competitive exams such as the agrégation. It is not an essay in the English sense: the writer is expected not to argue a personal opinion from the start, but to show that a question is genuinely problematic, examine it from several sides, and reach a reasoned position at the end. The form is strict. The introduction moves through a hook, the definition of the key terms, the problématique, the central problem the question raises, and an announcement of the plan. The body is usually built in two or three parts, each with sub-parts and transitions. The conclusion answers the problématique and often opens onto a wider question. Graders look first at whether the problématique is real and whether the plan follows from it; answering beside the question, the hors-sujet, is the most serious fault. Students from other systems often find the form rigid, and some French educators criticize it for rewarding technique over thought. Its defenders answer that the constraints teach a habit of mind: never take a question at face value, define your terms, and give the opposing view its full strength before you reply. Lesson 114 takes up the plan itself.