règles d’or pour réussir son 

essay (dissertation)
Voici 6 consignes que vous devez suivre pour réussir votre dissertation en anglais. Il vous faut les
respecter à la lettre !

1. Soyez concis
Un essay ne doit pas faire 20 pages. Vous aurez normalement des consignes de taille précises. Le
respect du nombre de mots dans un essay fait partie des critères de notation et vous pouvez être
pénalisé en cas de manquement.

Exemple de consigne pour un essay

Your essay should not be longer than 500 words (+ or – 10%). Otherwise, we will subtract 5 points to
your final grade.

2. N’utilisez pas les contractions

Dans un essay, les contractions sont interdites. Elles ne s’utilisent pas dans les écrits académiques.

Ne pas utiliser Utiliser

Don’t Do not

Doesn’t Does not

Won’t Will not

Didn’t Did not

Shouldn’t Should not

3. Utilisez des mots de liaison

Il est très important de structurer votre essay avec des mots de liaison. Ainsi, le lecteur saura où vous
en êtes dans votre démonstration.

Anglais Français

Furthermore/Moreover De plus

Hence D’où

However Toutefois

Likewise Pareillement

Namely à savoir
Anglais Français

Neither…nor / either…or Ni…ni / soit… soit

Nevertheless/notwithstanding Neanmoins

On the one hand / On the other hand D’une part / D’autre part

Roughly En gros

Scarcely Guère

Wholly Entièrement

After all Apres tout

On the contrary Au contraire

Above all Avant tout

Chiefly Principalement

Especially Surtout

Merely À peine

In case of Dans le cas de…

In that case Dans ce cas…

In case Au cas où

Therefore Par conséquent

Wherefore C’est pourquoi

No wonder Pas etonnant

According to D’apres…

Partly En partie

4. Utilisez “I” et pas “we”

En français, il est d’usage d’employer “nous” (we) dans les dissertations. Toutefois, pour un essay, on
privilégie le “je” (I).

La dissertation en anglais est plus personnelle et vous devez vous approprier l’argumentation.

5. Ne soyez pas neutre

En français, nous faisons souvent un plan de type “thèse, antithèse, synthèse” sans vraiment prendre
partie.

Pour un essay, vous devez choisir votre camp ! Exprimez votre opinion personnelle et argumentez
jusqu’au bout.

Antithèse : donnez un avis contraire sans trop s’étendre sur le sujet. (Partie plus courte que la thèse)

6. Utilisez des exemples et données

Pour chaque grande idée, il faudra illustrer vos propos avec des exemples concrets et des données
(chiffres, pourcentages, …)

Ne pas rester court, allez jusqu’au bout du ou des exemples en utilisant autant de vocabulaire dense
que possible. Ne restez pas superficiel en mettant uniquement l’idée principale croyant que vous avez
expliqué ; c’est la clé de la réussite !

La structure d’un essay
Introduction Corps Conclusion

Un seul paragraphe Phrase d’introduction Un seul paragraphe

Pas de “pour”, puis Annoncer la conclusion( “To conclude, as a conclusion,
“contre. to sum up,…”)
Phrase d’introduction (ex : citation,
statistiques, ….)
Transition entre parties Ajouter une ouverture

Définition des termes du sujet

Poser une question a la fin
Vous pouvez utiliser des formulations clés pour structurer votre essay.

Introduction Corps Conclusion

As a starting point we could In the words of … What conclusion can be

reached from…?

According to…
To start with, it would be useful to It is noticeable… Everything leads us to
As … pointed out… believe…
One of the first questions that arises is It is true that… To conclude
By way of introduction, let us first consider One can assume that… It is tempting to believe
that…
This paper will focus on One need only take as an … is a good illustration of…
example…
In this essay I will attempt to defend the view that The key ideas must first of all be
defined, namely…
This essay has been divided into 4 parts. The first one … is a striking example of this…
deals with…Then I will focus on…
Exemple de dissertation

Write an essay about the following subject. This essay should not be longer than 800
words (+/- 10%).

Subject: is democracy the best form of government for the people?

Abraham Lincoln once said: democracy is “the government of the people, by the
people and for the people”. This form of government is a benchmark and an ideal. It
was invented to protect the common good of the people, their rights and freedom.
The word “democracy” comes from the latindemos kratos, which means “the power
[of ruling] to the people”. In a democracy, citizens should be given the power to
govern. However, demographic challenges make it impossible for millions of people
to rule together, so modern democracies are designed around theelection of leaders
chosen by the people. The USA, France, and the UK are well-known democratic
states. Nevertheless, we may wonder if theseso-called democratic countriestruly
respects all principles this form of government implies. This essay has been divided
into three parts. The first one deals with fundamental rights and freedoms. Then, I
will focus on the separation of powers. Finally, I will emphasize that the people’s
control on governmentsis weakcomparedtoother influences.

To begin with, fundamental rights and freedoms should be respected in

democratic states. It means that every man and woman should be equal, every child
should have access to education, religion should not interfere with state affairs, the
right to have a fair trial should be respected, the government should provide a health
care system to its people and all citizens should have the right to vote. Nevertheless,
Western champions of democracy are paradoxically violating some of these
principles. For instance, women’s salary is 25% lower than men’s in France. In the
USA, tuition fees for university can rise up to $50,000 a year and force students into
debts. In Uncle Sam’s country, religion and politics are also not independent: the
dollar (“In God we trust”), the pledge of Allegiance (“One nation under God”) and the
Presidential Oath (“So help me God”) are a daily reminder of the entanglement of the
American government and religion. In the UK,the right tovote is based on citizenship.
If a UK-born individual leaves the country for more than 15 years,his voting right will
be revoked. It seems to me that France, the UK and the USA, states priding
themselves in being democracies, do not respect the most fundamental democratic
principles.

Moreover, a democracy should not go against the Separation of powers to

protect its people’s rights. The separation of power between legislative, executive
and judiciary is a core element of the contemporary democratic system. It is a
principle introduced by the French Philosopher of Lights Montesquieu : the powerwill
be shared by a tripartite system of independent entities. However, even in France,
this concept is not respected. The executive, legislative and judicial powers are not
independent. For instance, the 49-3 article to the Constitution (1958) enables the
government to choose the agenda. It also has the right to disolve the National
Assembly.The national assembly has a censure motion on the government.
Furthermore, French judges are appointed by the government. All governmental
powersinterfere with each other and is interdependent.

Finally, so-called democracies go against the people’s choice because they

are influenced by powerful individuals and organizations.For instance, if a
government introduces new reforms against its people’s will, it take to the street and
demonstrate. Nevertheless, demonstrating against a reform does not seem to
change anything. In 2011 the British government increased tuition fees to £12,000 a
year and many students demonstrated to show their distress. The government did
not change its policy.Some politicians alsopersonally benefit from governing the
country and act against democratic values. In the USA, Nixon did spy on his
opponents during the presidential campaign of 1972 (the Watergate case).
Furthermore, politics and governmental activities are highly influenced by
lobbies.Many organizations have power in political affairs such as the NRA (National
Rifle Association) concerning issues about the right to bear arms in the USA.
Consequently, the way democracies are governed is controversial as powerful
people and organizations lead the country to defend their own interests.

To conclude, Winston Churchill once said:“It is said that democracy is the worst form
of government except all others that have been tried”. Democracies are not perfect,
but governing the democratic way seems to be the least harmful to people’s rights.
This ideal form of government might not be entirely replicable in our world, but it is
probably better than dictatorships. Or is it?Did not the USA enthroned the Shah in
Iran in 1941? Could it be that democracies are actually the nest in which dictatorship
hatch?