Un article à lire — An Article to Read

Reading and Writing Research in French

Research articles in French follow international conventions in their structure, with an abstract, keywords, an introduction, a review of earlier work, the method, the results, a discussion and a bibliography, but their prose has habits of its own. Long sentences built with subordinate clauses, the impersonal passive, nominal style and impersonal formulas such as il convient de are common, especially in the humanities and social sciences. The question of the author's voice is a matter of convention, and it is changing. The nous de modestie, in which a single author writes we, has a long tradition in French academic writing, with the notable rule that adjectives agree with the real author: a woman writing alone may write nous sommes convaincue. Many researchers now use je, particularly in qualitative social science where the researcher's position matters, while on remains frequent for general or deliberately vague statements. Practices vary by discipline, journal and supervisor. Peer review, the évaluation par les pairs, is the process by which journals ask independent specialists to assess an article before publication. Students are usually advised to read articles strategically, starting with the abstract, introduction and conclusion, and to keep reading notes, fiches de lecture, which make it much easier to cite accurately later.