The French Mic Drop | Writing a Successful Essay # 1

One of the hardest transitions between A Levels and University is the sudden influx of long, academic essays that you're required to ace in order to succeed. The invaluable PEE you learned in GCSE just doesn't hack it anymore, and you've lost your terra firma. For a lot of students, this is completely new territory; so how do you tackle an essay without rambling? I got my best advice from learning French, and it's helped me towards some of my best work.

Beyond Paris, fashion and romance, the French can definitely boast a long history of brilliant authors. Sartre, Voltaire, Dumas, Flaubert... the list goes on. So it's no wonder that French students learn from an early age how to write a thorough and convincing essay - something students in other countries don't necessarily benefit from. The key? Structure. This is just one part of a strong essay, but without it, an essay falls into the realms of the unintelligible. The French method sets up two methods; Thematic essays, and For/Against essays. The Thematic essay discusses arguments according to common themes; the For/Against essay is more suited to debate questions, and literally argues for and then against. 

Introduction

For both methods, the introduction has the same layout. It comes in three parts:

1. Context
   This usually comes in the form of a fact or statistic on the subject, and sets up your essay. For example:

   
   Considering the extensive discussion of the male protagonist following the publication of the novel, analysis of his female counterpart has been comparably limited.
2. Problem
   
   You should then pose your problem. This should effectively rephrase the title question of your essay, or pose it from a similar angle, but doesn't necessarily need to be a problem. E.g. For an essay about the role of women in a novel, you might need to consider a common reading of women in the novel, and your "problem" might look like this:
   
   

   A phenomenon which has arisen, particularly during the late twentieth century, has been the reading of the female in the novel as an early "femme fatale".
3. Petit Plan

   This is where you signpost your argument(s) for the essay. In a thematic style, you'll highlight the themes you will cover; in a for/against essay, you can simply state that you are going to analyse both sides of the argument. An example of a thematic essay Petit Plan:

   
   This essay will attempt to analyse this reading, with attention firstly to the narrative styles, and secondly to the revealing progression of the male's treatment of the female.

Body

This is where your essay changes according to which method you choose. Here's how they both work:

Thematic Essays

This method works best when you don't necessarily have a for and against for each point, or when you have clearly defined subjects which your points come under. It's a particularly strong style for analysis of literary texts. To write a successful thematic essay, you need to have a good plan in your mind: what subjects do you need to tackle? The body of your essay should always follow the order which you have set out in your introduction, so keep that in mind. From there on, you just need to set up your themes and discuss them. Remember not to jump from one theme to another though, use connectives to ensure that your essay flows properly and reads well. Here's an example of the themes you might use for the essay mentioned above:

First theme: Narrative styles block a reading of the female as a femme fatale
Connection: This means that we can't read the female's actions through this narrative, and have to consider her through the narrator's treatment of her.
Second theme: The treatment of the female is progressively aggressive

For/Against Essays

This is also known as the argumentative style, and works well for discussions or debates. For example, if you were to write an essay on the sustainability of nuclear energy, or whether literature should be engaged, then you might choose an argumentative style. It's a relatively simple format, consisting of an argument, followed by a counter argument, etc. This method tends to leave a little more pressure on the conclusion, as no clear opinion arises in the body.

N.B. It's vital that you back up your points with examples for both methods. Somewhere between a third and half of the points you make should be backed up by a strong example - whether it be a statistic, a quote from the novel, or an example from the general world. 

Conclusion

This is where it gets really difficult, and it's the place most students fall down. By this point, it's possible that you're already over your word count, you're tired of talking about this bloody subject, and you can't wait for it to be over. That's definitely true of most of the conclusions I've written. So the best way to tackle it is to not tackle it at all... until the next day. Save the rest of your essay, leave it alone, and come back to it. This way you can read over what you've already got, remind yourself of your argument (and change parts if you need to), and look at it with fresh eyes. But how do you structure it when you do come to writing the conclusion?

1. Loop it
   The conclusion is a summation of your argument, but don't just spiel out the points you've already made. The first thing a conclusion should do is draw your essay back to the question. You can either pose the question again:
   
   
   So what is the role of literature?

   
   Or you can bring back the problem you posed in your introduction (which is better if this differs a little from your question):
   
   

   Rather than the femme fatale the female is named, due to the biased narration and progression of the attitude towards her, it seems preferable to read her as a fiction fatale.
   
   

   The second method also works better for academic essays; it shows that you have your own take on the question.
2. Replay
   When I say replay, I don't mean repeat. This should be a reiteration of your arguments, a brief explanation of how you got there.
   
   

   Undoubtedly, the female is not presented [narration: theme 1] as the victim by the novel: it is only through rejection of the biased narration that we can reveal her true role in the novel. Intensely idealised by the male, [treatment: theme 2] she is trapped between ideals and effectively becomes a victim. 
3. Personal Opinion
   This is your chance to shine. I once read that if you can't imagine yourself dropping the mic after your conclusion, then it's not strong enough. No matter what you are writing about, you need to come across as though you have incredible, strong ideas on the subject, and you need to believe your essay communicates them.
   
   
   In fact, the exhibition of her as femme fatale by the narrator is an oppressive misrepresentation, microcosmic of the era’s attitude towards society’s female. [MIC DROP]

No lie - you need to go Kanye style on this. If you love your essay as much as Kanye loves himself, there is no way any marker could fault you for it. But really, once you've got a strong, supported set of arguments, well introduced, well concluded, you can conquer the world. Probably. 

Good luck!

In the name of Art

You might be sensing a pattern by now... Sorry Schäzte, second year is proving a hell of a lot more hectic than expected! First semester climaxed with an extremely stressful bout of exams, and second semester has launched us straight into the winding vortex of deadlines and presentations. Take no prisoners though, right? Yeah, I'm not sure about that one either.
But there is good news... After scuffling and scampering around, desperately trying to pull together plans for my Year Abroad, I received a superbly uplifting email a few weeks ago. So what are les nouvelles? Well...

So panic over (for first semester at least)! Come September, I'll be jet setting off to la Ville Lumière to study at the Sorbonne! Can you hear the excited squeals? All excitement aside, I'm starting to get unbearably anxious about the workload I'm going to face - not only will all teaching and exams be in French, but at one of the world's most prestigious Universities, it would be plain foolish not to expect a heavy workload. I suppose now's the time to start getting my language up to scratch (God help me). What's more, the search for a job in Germany or Austria for the second semester continues. 
In the mean time, I've been busy with an old hobby of mine. You first saw it in the summer, and it has surfaced again over Christmas and through this painfully cold winter: the solace of watercolours. Admittedly, I've been painting a lot more than I should. Something about an impending deadline just makes me want to paint, what can I say? Here's a look at a couple:

A 10-minute watercolour inspired by a film poster for Blue Velvet

One of my ultimate mantras

Ok, so I'm not so creative with my concepts.

Attention! | Focus Review

Thanks to Cineworld Unlimited, I got to see Focus a week before it hit the big screens across the UK. With Will Smith in the main role, Margot Robbie as his wingwoman, and a plot unlike anything we've seen before, expectations were high. And the result? Well, it turns out that to understand Focus, you don't have to follow the instructions on the tin.

First things first, the premise of the film - hustlers hustling - is enough to draw a viewer in without further ado. Much like the TV Series The Hustle and the ever-growing list of films about card-counting, there's something thrilling about watching people get tricked. Within the first half hour, we see Margot Robbie glide around a carnival and lift thousands of dollars worth of belongings right from under the noses of her marks. Part of the fun is how effortless she makes it look. No premeditation, no planning, but flawless execution. And it helps that she looks stunning the entire time too. 
Will Smith reaches a hand out to the ladies in the audience as the husky boss of the team of conmen, with a background worthy of The Godfather and a screen presence not to be forgotten. Decked out in the most perfectly tailored suits, sauve sunglasses and that trimmed-to-a-tee beard, he's the perfect lead for a picture about the high-end hustle.

Put this pair together, and magic happens. Never mind that Smith is twice Robbie's senior, the pair have an undeniable on-screen chemistry. They're both unbelievably cool, laid back and talented. Whereas Robbie has only just made her debut on the silver screen thanks to The Wolf of Wall Street, which put her in line at the Oscars last year, Will Smith has had a life long (and I mean long) career as an actor. You might say they're the Yin and Yang of screen exposure. In a film whose characters require absolute synchronisation, the two are in perfect harmony, a match made in heaven. 
With the help of Apollo Robbins, a real-life, self-proclaimed "gentleman thief", we see hundreds of so called "slight-of-hand" sequences. Essentially, it's a modern day, adult version of Oliver Twist... with rich people. Aside from the impressively slick pick-pocketing scenes, the majority of the film was shot in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and so has a beautiful everlasting-summer atmosphere (apparently a thief only steals in the summer). But is that all the film has to offer?
David Palmer picked up on this, saying that "two likable leads and some colorful locations do not make a great movie, but they certainly help to elevate an otherwise average one". He's not wrong. After the recent trend set out by Scorsese in Shutter Island and Nolan in Inception, we are seeing more and more films end with a completely mind-boggling twist, one that throws audience into debate once they leave the screen; the sort that is discussed on endless online forums. It seems like Focus makes a similar attempt. Obviously, they don't attempt the "unanswerable twist", but their twist - once explained - could be understood by any layman. There's no need to rewatch, no need to discuss. Is the film thrilling? Yes. Is it beautiful? Yes. Is it challenging? Not nearly.

Chills, Chocolate and Another City | Winter Break

Happy New Year, Bonne Anné and Frohes Neues Jahr! To usher in the New Year I'm back at home, which has meant a lot of travelling, a lot of celebrating and a lot of revision.  While back in Manchester, I suffered a week of freak weather. I've been here a year and a half now, so thought it safe to assume that I was familiar with the cold and wet that Manchester is known for How wrong I was. We were hit by hail, sunshine, snow and rain in the space of a few days. I don't mind a chill, and I love some sun, but I wish Manchester would make up its mind!
To warm ourselves up a little and distract ourselves from a horrific influx of revision, me and a couple of friends piled into a local cafe, Home Sweet Home, in Manchester's Northern Quarter and got our hands on some of Manchester's finest hot chocolate. Not a bad decision, I must say.

Manchester's finest

From there, it was time to head home. One long car journey later, and I was pulling myself out of bed at 5:30 to go into University with my sister. Thankfully, I'm on holiday now, so no classes for me. I spent my day meandering round Clifton and enjoying the sunrise from the Boston Tea Party cafe.

Fingers crossed my exams go well!

The Formidable French | #3

Part three is famous for his beauty, and he knew it. The face that launched a thousand films, I present to you:
Alain Delon

Anyone who is even vaguely familiar with classical French cinema knows the movie poster for Plein Soleil. It was the film that finally focused the lens on the man's body, rather than the woman's. After nearly a century of objectification, the gaze turned to the man. There are things to be said about Delon not just being the subject of the gaze in Plein Soleil, but also the object, but that's another topic. We're just here for the actor. 
A 30's baby, Delon quickly became known as the James Dean of France (isn't it funny how French actors are all just considered doppelgängers of Americans?). He flaunted his chiseled cheekbones and bathed in the glory of being France's most adored face. He was even called the male Brigitte Bardot. Like most gorgeous French stars, he had a brief marriage with another beauty of the silver screen, Romy Schneider, and a picturesque couple they were.

Like a lot of his predecessors, Delon enjoyed success in Hollywood, and then moved his mind to policiers (much like Gabin) once he started to lose his angelic features.

The Last Straw (Hat) | Cocktails in the Clouds

For my dear friend Lily's 21st birthday, we shot up to the 23rd (?) floor of Beetham Tower for a cocktail masterclass. Given my horrific fear of heights, it's fair to say my knees were slightly weak in the elevator. But we got there in the end, and the cocktail making began.

Manchester from the 23d floor - by night of course, we're not day drinkers!

 By this point, it's probably worth mentioning that we were slightly inebriated, so the photo quality quickly deteriorated. The enjoyment, on the other hand, swiftly increased as we started to make our own cocktails. We all began with relatively girly, fruity looking cocktails, adorned with flowers and with varying gradients of colour. The waitress come teacher strongly advised that only whiskey drinkers should try The Last Straw Hat, so naturally, I did. It certainly wasn't your average cocktail.

The Last Straw (Hat), a fruity whiskey-cased cocktail served in a tin mug. 

My favourite thing about this cocktail (besides copious amounts of whiskey) was the tin mug. Looking over Manchester at night, drinking a whiskey cocktail from a tin mug. What could be more suitable in the world's first industrial city? 

It was a great night, a beautiful view and a lot of delicious cocktails. If only I were rich (or had a sugar daddy), I'd definitely return.

Blurry me with TLSH, taken by Lily (I think!)

Lily and I after a few of our experiment cocktails

The Formidable French | #2

Part two brings us a timeless beauty, a powerful and wonderful woman hailed as one of France's greatest actresses. Simone Signoret. 

Born in 1921, Signoret was another star of the French classic. After starring in Room at the Top, she became the first French person to win an Academy Award, and gained international fame. She's often been called the Marilyn Monroe of France, because of her striking features and blonde hair. In fact, Signoret and Monroe were close.

During her later years, Signoret received a lot of criticism for gaining weight and letter go of her looks (welcome to the Woman's world), but in reality she aged with impeccable grace.