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Best questions for biography

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Writing a biography is an incredible way to preserve someone’s life story and share their experiences with the world. Whether you are writing a biography for a loved one, a historical figure, or a notable personality, having a list of well-thought-out questions is essential to gather all the necessary information. These questions serve as a guide to help you dig deeper into the person’s life, understand their journey, and showcase their accomplishments. In this article, we have compiled a comprehensive list of questions for biography that will assist you in creating a compelling narrative.

Before diving into the list of questions, it is crucial to understand that every biography is unique, and the questions you ask will depend on the individual you are writing about. It is essential to tailor the questions to suit their background, achievements, and the purpose of the biography. However, the following list provides a solid foundation to explore various aspects of a person’s life, including their childhood, education, career, relationships, and significant events.

Remember, a biography should not only focus on the person’s achievements but also provide insights into their personality, motivations, and struggles. These questions will help you create a well-rounded biography that captures the essence of the individual and leaves a lasting impact on your readers.

See these questions for biography

• What is your full name?
• Where and when were you born?
• Can you share some details about your childhood?
• What was your family background like?
• Who were your role models growing up?
• What were your favorite hobbies or activities as a child?
• Did you have any siblings? If so, how did they influence your life?
• What is your educational background?
• Who was your favorite teacher and why?
• What were your academic interests and strengths?
• Did you face any challenges or obstacles during your education?
• Can you recall any memorable experiences from your school days?
• How did your career journey begin?
• What motivated you to pursue your chosen career path?
• Did you face any setbacks or rejections while establishing your career?
• What were some significant milestones or achievements in your professional life?
• Who were your mentors or influencers in your career?
• What were some valuable lessons you learned from your professional experiences?
• How did you balance your personal and professional life?
• What led you to become involved in your community or charitable work?
• What are some of your most memorable moments in your career?
• Who are the most important people in your life?
• Can you share any stories about your relationships with family and friends?
• What are your core values and beliefs?
• What are some defining moments or turning points in your life?
• How do you handle challenges or adversity?
• What are your greatest strengths and weaknesses?
• How do you define success?
• What are your goals and aspirations for the future?
• What advice would you give to others aspiring to follow a similar path?
• Can you recall any funny or memorable anecdotes from your life?
• What are some of your favorite books, movies, or music?
• How do you unwind and relax?
• What are some of your favorite travel destinations?
• Have you ever faced any moments of self-doubt or imposter syndrome?
• What is the most valuable lesson you have learned in life?
• How do you want to be remembered?
• What legacy do you hope to leave behind?
• Is there anything else you would like to share about your life?

These questions for biography provide a starting point for your research and interview process. Remember to be respectful, empathetic, and open-minded while gathering information about someone’s life. A biography is an opportunity to honor and celebrate an individual’s journey, so approach it with care and curiosity. Good luck in creating a captivating biography that will inspire and educate readers for years to come!

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Biographical Research: Getting Started

• Getting Started
• Reference Shelf
• Finding Books
• Finding Articles
• National, Political
• Literature, Science, Business, Social Science
• Religion, Race, Ethnicity, Gender
• Sports, Entertainment & Arts
• Time Period & Obituaries
• Primary Sources
• Internet Resources
• Citation & Writing Manuals
• Genealogy Books
• Genealogy Research Guide This link opens in a new window

Introduction

Before you start your research, check the correct spelling of the person’s name.

While you research, keep in mind that all sources can contain bias; the best biographical information will be signed by an author and will provide bibliographic citations for source material. Research Questions:

• What do you already know about the person?
• How much information do you want to find about the person?
• What is the person's profession or notoriety?
• How well known is the person?
• Is the person’s nationality, ethnic background, gender, or affiliation significant?
• Is the person living or deceased?  
• What dates are significant for this person?
• Do you want autobiography, memoir, or interviews in addition to biographical sources?

www.biography.com

Q:  How do I attribute biography.com when I use information from biographies on the site for a class project or for publication?

A:  Biography.com includes citation examples in multiple formats at the end of each lengthy biography.  

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Biography Research Report

Compare “He died at his birthplace” with “He spent the remainder of his days in the place where he took his first gasp of air.” Which of those sentences does poetic justice on the life of our John Doe? A good biography report paints a person’s life with the same brio and vibrancy, a facsimile of how the person lived.

A biography research report requires extensive research on the person and a writer’s creative touch to put to life an otherwise mere list of facts. Even if the information is presented in a digestible format, the entire narrative does not abandon accurate data. The essay will usually put the spotlight on the pivotal instances of the person’s life that makes him or her noteworthy.

Things To Remember

Unlike autobiography, you are writing about someone else. That isn’t an assignment that you take lightly. As scribes that document a person’s time on Earth, you should put life into the biography. A person’s time is limited, but a biography immortalizes him or her.

Do your research

With its birth during the 5th century BCE , a biography is first a historical account of a person’s life before an entertaining read. Poets and scribes wrote praises for the lives of famous personalities in the Ancient World. Today, extensive research is necessary before drafting a biographical essay . Authors should avoid misrepresenting facts for a good story.

Illustrate, don’t state

Speak of your subject in a titillating soiree of information that engages your readers’ senses. The news of the death of the subject’s greatest love should be as if frost started to spread inside your readers’ chest during the warmest afternoon of May, that every breath makes them wince as if they were breathing broken glass.

Don’t alienate the readers

You should write with your audience in mind. A wordsmith should avoid employing ostentatious and magniloquent words for the mere satiety of one’s fancy. If the words do nothing to augment the anecdote of a person’s life and only exist to bloat the author’s ego on his presumed astuteness, they do not belong in the narrative .

7+ Biography Research Report Examples

The following are biography report examples that you may find useful in your assignment.

1. Biography Report Template

• Google Docs

2. Biography Book Research Report Example

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3. Biography Research Project Report Example

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4. Sample Biography Research Report Example

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5. Author Biography Research Report Example

6. Basic Biography Research Report Example

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7. Cereal Box Biography Research Reports Example

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8. Formal Biography Research Report Example

Size: 590 KB

9. Standard Biography of Research Report Example

Size: 650 KB

Preparing Your Report

Whether you are in middle school, high school, college, or you have already graduated, at some point in your life, you will be asked to write a biography about someone important to you or the community. Writing non-fictional essays can be challenging, especially since it needs prior research about the subject. You would have to be knowledgeable about a topic to expound on it.

Before anything, you have to draft an outline . Outlines are like task maps that get you from point A to point B. They don’t contain all the specifics of the topic, but they provide a reliable framework on what you need to do. Hence, they can be called a rough sketch. You can start with the biography research questions which you can generate ideas from later on. You can also identify important phases in the life of your John or Jane Doe and work his or her biography with those dates.

2. Introduction

Normally, writers will start from the moment the subject is born. A common mistake the new writers make after conducting their research about the subject is just avalanching facts and figures into the reader’s way. Instead of saying that he or she was born on April 24, 1997, you can start by describing what the town or city would have been like on that day. Then you lead the readers to the home of our little John or Jane. Try making the audience feel involved in the story, rather than just being spectators.

Remember, biographies are factual historical accounts. When writers are writing about someone famous, they tend to pour in praises about his or her life. Instead of dressing the subject as a saint, make the audience see that this personality is also like them. Don’t immortalize someone as a god who could do no wrong. Show that despite the human side of our John or Jane Doe, he or she made choices that landed him or her this biography that you’re preparing.

4. Conclusion

In our lives, death can mean the end. But that doesn’t have to be the case for our biography. Instead of cutting the narrative at the point when he or she died, speak about the ripples the subject has made in his or her life that affected the people around him or her. Show how he or she has touched the lives of others. Make the conclusion memorable for your audience.

The first draft should not be your final draft. Review what you prepared and check for possible revisions. There might be errors you missed the first time. You can have your friends or colleagues check your biography report. Go over the entire thing several times to make sure that the report’s quality is ready for submission.

Report Generator

Text prompt

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Generate a report on the impact of technology in the classroom on student learning outcomes

Prepare a report analyzing the trends in student participation in sports and arts programs over the last five years at your school.

Writer | Biography | Creative Nonfiction

Types of questions to ask in a biographical interview

There’s the basics: open and closed-ended questions… then there’s more specific types of questions, each with their own purpose. let’s take a look at the funnel approach, statements, rhetorical, narrative, explanatory and verification questions..

In my article Interviewing for biography: interrogation, conversation, and the in-between , I wrote about different approaches to biographical interviews. The approach you choose may influence the types of questions you choose to ask. In addition, what you choose to ask will be influenced by your objectives and the research you’ve conducted previously. 

It’s important to prepare a list of questions that you might start with or refer to throughout the interview. Be prepared: oral historian Donald Ritchie says that “it is safer to have too many questions than too few… Some interviewees talk at great length in response to a single question… others answer briefly and need several follow-up questions to draw them out”. 

Keep in mind that even with your list of carefully curated questions, you may not ask them all and you will likely ask new questions during the interview. In a narrative interview, a key part of knowing what to ask lies in listening effectively. We adjust or create our questions based on what has already been said. We probe or we pivot as we need to.

Ritchie discusses the importance of being flexible and curious, “an interviewer must always be prepared to abandon carefully prepared questions and follow the interviewee down unexpected paths, always helping the interviewee by questioning, guiding, coaxing, and challenging.”

The types of questions we ask influences the data that is gathered and how the interview progresses.

Open-ended questions

Later in this section, we’ll discuss the different types of questions, but first, let’s review open- ended, closed-ended and leading questions. In a narrative interview, the objective is to prompt the interviewee to do most of the talking. Open-ended questions are usually very effective at this, they give the interviewee the opportunity to ponder their thoughts and decide how long to speak about the topic. 

Open-ended questions are questions which can’t be answered with a simple yes or no, or phrase. For example, an open-ended question is “tell me about your childhood”, and a more specific open-ended question is “can you tell me about the moment you realised you were adopted?” 

Oral historian Charles Morrissey (cited by Ritchie) suggests framing an open-ended question by stating the problem, then asking the question, for example, “You were often seen volunteering in soup kitchens in the Bronx. How did these experiences influence your policy?” And then following this, specific questions can build upon this first answer. 

Closed-ended questions

The opposite of open-ended questions are closed-ended questions. Examples of closed-ended questions are “did you have a happy childhood?” and “you grew up in New York City, is that correct?” and “what date did you move to New York?” When an interviewer limits the answers, this too is a closed-ended question, for example, “did you prefer growing up in New York or LA?” Close-ended questions or very specific questions are useful when verifying information or if time is short.

The funnel approach

Closely related to closed-ended questions is the “funnel approach” which Ritchie notes is often used in the courtroom or by political reporters. With this technique, interviewers start with broad questions, with each subsequent question becoming more specific, until the interviewee is easily able to answer “final, more specific questions”. Ritchie suggests this approach may be useful if the topic of conversation is controversial or if the interviewer is seeking specific information. 

Ritchie notes that at times, it is possible to elicit a response without even asking a question, for example, restate what the person has said, make an observation or comment such as, “You grew up in South Carolina.”  

Rhetorical questions

Wang and Yan suggest avoiding rhetorical questions – these can be perceived as hostile and can be perceived as expressing a point of view, similarly to how negatives can express the interviewer’s perspective, words such as isn’t, don’t and shouldn’t. 

It’s impossible for interviewers to remain neutral – even if you’re working from a strict list of questions, interviewees will infer messages from visual and verbal cues, even if the cue is the interviewer being impassive. Harding notes that in a narrative biographical interview, it is appropriate for the interviewer to offer thoughts, ideas and experiences, as it builds rapport with the interviewee, however Miller reminds us that when asking questions, be mindful of leading questions and making assumptions. 

Leading questions can lead to inaccurate answers; Ritchie stresses that asking leading questions might lead to the interviewee assuming that that is what the interviewer wants to hear. An example of a leading question is, “you were overjoyed about having your wedding overlooking the beach, is that right?”. 

When phrasing questions, be mindful of your assumptions and presuppositions. Wang and Yan define presuppositions as being background assumptions that make an expression make sense. For example, by asking “when did you go to the party”, you’re assuming the person actually went to the party, not just asking what time they went. 

Harding cites Hollway and Jefferson who differentiate between narrative and explanatory questions, both of which are important in biographical interviews. Narrative questions focus on stories, questions such as “Walk me through your first day at the White House”. Explanatory questions can include discussion about why they did something at the time and why they did it in hindsight, for example, “Why did you spend that time alone in the Oval Office on your first day?”. In researching racist and anti-Semitic groups, Blee focused on narrative questions, rather than explanatory, as she didn’t want her study to be used by participants as a way of broadcasting racist ideologies to new audiences. Below, we discuss examples of narrative and explanatory questions, as well as questions that might be used to verify information. 

Narrative questions

Narrative questions can take a number of forms, but the unifying theme is that the interviewer is seeking information about what actually happened, rather than why. 

Descriptive questions invite the interviewee to give a recount of an event in more detail. Rosenthal gives the following example, “you mentioned situation X earlier, could you tell me/narrate in more detail, exactly what happened?”.

Rosenthal states that interviewers might also ask about a specific theme , for example, “Could you tell me more about your parents?”. Content categories can cue memories, for example, Thomsen & Brinkmann suggest mentioning an activity, person or feeling, “do you remember an episode where you were talking (activity) to the physician (people) and felt confused (emotion)”? 

It can be cognitively easier for interviewees to answer structural questions, which Ritchie describes as “ walk-me-through-a-typical-day ” questions. For example, if an interviewee is struggling to recall a memory, ask about simple memories, such as normal routines in the past at home or at work. Another tactic that might work is taking an emotive approach, asking about feelings , rather than facts. In collecting oral history from immigrants, in Doing Oral History, Kolbert is quoted, they might “not remember their daughter’s phone number. But they do remember what it was like when they got off the boat”.

Ritchie suggests that questions about experiences and examples can help the interviewee with recall. Lillrank gives the following example, “what was your most memorable experience in the Oval Office?”, or simply, “can you give me an example?”. Similarly, Rosenthal suggests asking about a specific time in their life, “Can you tell me more about the time you were…”. 

Ritchie says that questions that compare or contrast help the interviewer see events from another perspective, provide rich detail for storytelling and can help with verifying stories previously told. Rosenthal suggests asking the interviewee to tell you an event from someone else’s perspective, “What did your chief of staff do while you were alone in the oval office that day?” Another example Lillrank gives is linking an experience to the past, such as “Did this remind you of something you have experienced before?”, or Thomsen and Brinkmanm suggest asking them to describe an event in a different order.

Brinkman suggests avoiding abstract questions such as “what does anger mean to you” and instead asking for descriptions about how they actually felt rather than how they would feel, for example, “What happened?” and “How did you feel at the time?”. 

Keep in mind that memories can be prompted by senses such as sound, sight, taste, smell and touch. Ritchie uses objects such as maps to prompt discussion and suggests that we can also use photos, clothing, food, gardens and so on. 

In writing a biography, describing the scene is essential – the interview can yield valuable, rich insights into helping you describe the scene. Lee Gutkind recommends that when a scene or experience is discussed, ask what people were wearing, what the room, house or neighbourhood looked like or what the weather was that day. 

Pulitzer Prize winning biographer Robert Caro often asked interviewees “What would I see if I were there?” Caro sometimes asked a question, and kept asking the same question and sometimes his interviewee would get angry, but other times, they revealed more details, describing the scene or the person further. Santel gave a great example of Caro’s technique: Caro asked, “What was it like sitting on those couches?” and they’d say  “Oh, I remember those couches. They were so downy you thought you’d never get up. And then you realise that Johnson made the couches in the Oval Office softer so people would sink down and he, sitting in his rocking chair, would be higher, towering over them”.

Explanatory questions

Explanatory questions, such as asking for an opinion, or asking why or how questions, may yield more subjective responses. Ritchie cites oral historian Charles Morrissey who suggests a two-sentence format: first, state the problem and second, ask the question, for example, “The records show you were a leader in establishing zoning laws that shaped this town. Why were zoning laws your objectives?”.

When seeking an opinion on a topic, Talmage sometimes shares “academic hearsay knowledge of a topic” and then asks the interviewee to comment on the validity of the statement. For example, an interviewer might say “It’s claimed that biographers are like burglars – what are your thoughts on this?”

Verification questions

It’s imperative to keep in mind there is no single, accurate story — there can be multiple interpretations of meaning. Interviewees don’t just have one voice, Brinkman describes interviewees as being polyvocal.  Sorsoli & Tolman remind us that we usually listen assuming their story is “singular and transparent”, that the person has one voice, when really we should be listening for other voices in their narrative. Sorsoli and Toman stress that “Understanding the nuances of complex personal narratives requires examining them from many different angles and slowly building an interpretation from the perspective each angle offers”.

Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Caro suggests learning as much about the person as you can, “There is no one truth, but there are an awful lot of objective facts. The more facts you get, the more facts you collect, the closer you come to whatever truth there is. The base of biography has to be facts”.

Thomsen and Brinkmann stress that it’s crucial to verify what can be verified. Lee Gutkind reminds us that facts cannot be changed: for example, that your eyes are blue or that Lyndon Johnson died in 1973. During the interview, seek to confirm, clarify and challenge. Ritchie says, “Challenge answers that seem misleading, and pursue responses that seem mistaken”. Ritchie suggests that iIf you aren’t sure about their truthfulness, come back to the point again later and consider bringing up evidence that might oppose what they are saying.

Alexievich notes that sometimes people’s oral testimonies are “infected by secondary sources”, such as newspapers or other people’s versions. Other times, Ritchie stresses that narratives are told so frequently that it has been rehearsed, and each time the story is told, it becomes embedded more firmly in the mind, “Every telling of a story embellishes it… events are telescoped, chronology tightened, order rearranged and edited, drama or humor heightened. Rehearsed stories tend to omit negative events and concentrate on triumphs”. Alexievich notes that at times interviewees “write up” or “rewrite” and that there is a need to be vigilant, on guard. Ritchie says that it’s essential to search for inaccuracies and gently challenge inconsistencies”. 

Lillrank and Miller suggest looking for gaps in the story, shifts, contradictions and consistencies. Consider how they describe events, how they frame their involvement, for example, in interviewing prisoners responsible for genocide in Rwanda, Jessee noted that many convicted perpetrators talked about the atrocities they “observed” without mentioning their own role in it or who else was involved. 

Use extended timelines or landmark events as contextual cues, for example, “when you were working at X” or Thomsen and Brinkmaan suggest creating a timeline of an event. DeLouise & Harrington find that if responses are particularly broad, asking further questions can help the interviewee become more specific, even questions such as “tell me just a little more about that” or “what is it that really makes that stand out?”

Because the narrative interview is a shared experience, we may become complacent and assume both parties understand what is said. Talmage suggests challenging our assumptions during an interview, to ensure we have an accurate understanding, by asking the interviewee to restate what they’ve said in a different way, or by restating it ourselves in “a clear unambiguous way and asking if that is what the respondent meant”.

Next we’ll look at listening in a biographical interview .

Written by Melody Dexter

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Biographical Research Methods

• Marta J. Eichsteller - University College Dublin
• Howard H. Davis - Bangor University, UK
• Description

See what’s new to this edition by selecting the Features tab on this page. Should you need additional information or have questions regarding the HEOA information provided for this title, including what is new to this edition, please email [email protected] . Please include your name, contact information, and the name of the title for which you would like more information. For information on the HEOA, please go to http://ed.gov/policy/highered/leg/hea08/index.html .

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This book is a practical and thought-provoking account of the use of biographical methods in social science research. The case studies are useful for advanced students and researchers, and for anyone interested in how we tell stories about our lives.

An accessible and lively text, drawing on numerous examples to demonstrate biographical narrative research in action. The fascinating and complex world of biographical research is presented in a highly accessible way. Students and researchers will learn a great deal from reading this before embarking on research projects with any degree of biographical focus. 

Anchored in studies drawn from a wide variety of disciplines, Biographical Research Methods fills glaring gaps in the literature through balanced sympathetic consideration of a wide range of methodological approaches and its illumination of both established and innovative research techniques. 

Narrative research in social science has come a long way since its urban life heyday.  Biographical Research Methods takes this forward, deftly focusing on concepts and techniques for analyzing the contours of personal experience.  Outstanding is a view to the context-specific whats and processual hows of biographical construction.       

The book of Eichsteller and Davis is an extremely instructive and inviting guide for getting introduced into the social world of biography research. On the one hand, the book is an empirically grounded and unbiased “sociology of knowledge” of distinctive approaches in biography research). It lucidly contrasts different basic assumptions and their implications for concrete methodical guidelines and practical research activities. On the other hand, it is an integrative guideline for the whole arc of work in accomplishing the research act of unravelling the intimate relations between individual and society and for deciphering the features and problems of society and other collective entities as seen and experienced from the perspective of individual members of society and of other collective entities. -The book is written in an elegant and deliberate style of language and presentation; it makes you want to start your own practical research work in biography analysis.

A great, incremental, up-to-date, accessible, comprehensive research methods text for any novice or experienced qualitative researcher contemplating narrative/biographical methods. I personally found this text invaluable for my own PhD - thanks

A supplementary book but a must for those who write their dissertations with the use of Narrative Inquiry.

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This title is also available on SAGE Research Methods , the ultimate digital methods library. If your library doesn’t have access, ask your librarian to start a trial .

Biographical Resources: A Research Guide: Subject Biographies

• Introduction
• National and International Biographies
• Biographical Indexes
• K. G. Saur Indexes & Microfiche
• Subject Biographies
• Dissertations and Theses
• Research Help

Online Biographies of Disciplines or Subjects

These titles are a few examples of many hundreds of biographical reference titles available for specific fields of study and subjects. A title search in our library catalog on the phrase "biographical dictionary of" yields over 350 items, for example.

• BiografiA: Lexikon österreichischer Frauen Call Number: Olin Stacks HQ 1605 .A3 B56 2016 4 volumes. Biographical dictionary of Austrian women.
• The Biographical Dictionary of American Economists. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010. "...offers in-depth biographies of the most important economic figures in American history from the seventeenth century to the present day. All of the major schools of American economic thought are represented, from the Constitutional school to the Keynesian school, and the dictionary includes in-depth coverage of the many overlooked women who have influenced economic thought in America." [Publisher's description]
• The Biographical Encyclopaedia of Islamic Philosophy. London: Thoemmes Continuum, 2006. Also available in print. Call number: Olin Reference B 741 .B56 2006 2006 Choice Outstanding Academic Title "The notion of philosophy has been interpreted broadly to include a large number of intellectuals who were interested in conceptual issues that either directly relate to philosophy or form part of the background of Islamic philosophy as a whole. Included are details about the lives of significant legal thinkers, theologians, political thinkers and even geographers where their lives are relevant indicators of the progress of philosophy in the Islamic world." [Publisher's description]
• Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers 2nd edition. New York: Springer, 2014. 2,357 online biographical articles on astronomers throughout history and worldwide.
• Biographical Resources: An African and African Diaspora Approach A LibGuide created by Eric Acree, Africana Librarian at Cornell, for locating information about people of African descent. Includes online and print resources.
• Biographical Resources: Women. The Biographical Sources section of the Feminism, Gender and Sexuality Studies Research Guide.
• Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Detroit: Scribner, 2008. Lengthy, readable, and signed essays on the major scientists in world history. The standard biographical reference in the history of science. Merges entries from the Dictionary of Scientific Biography (18 volumes, 1970) and the New Dictionary of Scientific Biography (8 volumes, 2008).
• Dictionary of African Biography. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. Also available in print: Call number: Africana Library Reference CT 1920 .D52 2012.and Library Annex. Edited by Emmanuel K. Akyeampong and Henry Louis Gates, Jr. "From the pharaohs to Frantz Fanon, Dictionary of African Biography provides a comprehensive overview of the lives of the men and women who shaped Africa’s history." [Publisher's description]
• Dictionary of Caribbean and Afro–Latin American Biography. New York: Oxford University Press, 2016. Edited by Franklin W. Knight and Henry Louis Gates, Jr. "[A] comprehensive overview of the lives of Caribbeans and Afro-Latin Americans who are historically significant... covering the entire Caribbean, and the Afro-descended populations throughout Latin America, including people who spoke and wrote Creole, Dutch, English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish." [Publisher's description]
• Dictionary of Literary Biography Gale Group. The major online source of literary biography, these two databases include the content of the Dictionary of Literary Biography and Contemporary Authors .
• A Dictionary of Political Biography. 2nd edition. Oxford University Press, 2013. Describes and assesses the lives of around 870 men and women who have shaped political events across the world. Each entry includes an account of the background, career, and achievements of the individual concerned, balancing fact with critical appraisal. The first edition is also available.
• International Directory of Medievalists Online. Brepols. The International Directory of Medievalists Online is the continuation of the printed editions [Répertoire international des médiévistes. Call Number: Library Annex D 116.5 .R42: 3.ed.-5.ed. (1965-1979) and 7.ed.-8.ed. (1990-1995)] and contains 15,000 names and addresses of specialists from over 70 countries with their fields of study.
• Oxford Art Online. Oxford, 2007- . The major online source of artists' biographies. The database has over 200,000 biographies of artists, architects, and designers, patrons, collectors, and dealers; writers and scholars; and the publishers and printers of art.
• Oxford Music Online. Oxford, 2007- . Over 57,000 online biographies for all manner of people involved in music, from choreographers and instrument makers to composers, arrangers, performers, critics, publishers, curators, collectors, audio engineers, scholars, educators, and more.

Biographies of Disciplines or Subjects, in print format only

• Geographers: Biobibliographical Studies Mansell/Bloomsbury Academic, 1977 to date. Uris Library Stacks Z 6004 .B6 G34 + This annual "biobibliography" consists of lengthy essays on a handful of deceased prominent geographers. Essays end with very substantial bibliographies and a chronology of the subject's work.
• Kürschners deutscher Gelehrten-Kalender . 1925 through 1992 at Library Annex (Z 2230 .K952). 2001 to date in Uris Library Stacks (Z 2230 .K959). Latest volume shelved in Olin Reference. 1996- online . K. G. Saur. German-language biographical and bibliographical encyclopedia of scientists and scholars from the German-speaking part of Europe. [Wikipedia]

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Biographic Narrative Interpretive Method

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This chapter describes the biographic narrative interpretive method (BNIM). As a qualitative research method, BNIM explores the stories or narratives from interviewees’ lives. BNIM is grounded in three interrelated concepts: the person’s whole life history or life story ( biography ), how the person tells it ( narrative ), and understanding that narratives are subject to social interpretation ( interpretivism ). In this chapter, we outline the brief history, concepts, and use of BNIM, provide an outline of its process, strengths and limitations, and application, and offer further readings, resources, and suggestions for student engagement activities.

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Roseneil, S. (2012). Using biographical narrative and life story methods to research women’s movements: FEMCIT. Women’s Studies International Forum , 35 (3), 129–131. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2012.03.007

Rosenthal, G. (1993). Reconstruction of life stories: Principles of selection in generating stories for biographical narrative interviews. In R. Jeosselson & A. Lieblich (Eds.), Narrative study of lives (Vol. 1, pp. 59–91). SAGE.

Ross, C., & Moore, S. (2013). Utilising biographical narrative interpretive methods: Rich perspectives on union learning journeys and learner motivations. Journal of Education and Work, 29 , 450–469. https://doi.org/10.1080/13639080.2014.978273

Wengraf, T. (2001). Qualitative social interviewing: Biographic narrative and semi-structured methods . SAGE.

Wengraf, T. (2004). The biographic narrative interpretive method (BNIM): Short guide November 2004 . Version 22. Middlesex University and University of East London.

Wengraf, T. (2011). Biographic narrative interpretive method (BNIM). In M. S. Lewis-Beck, A. Bryman & T. F. Liao (Eds.), The SAGE encyclopedia of social science research methods (p. 70). SAGE.

Wengraf, T. (2019). The biographic narrative interpretive method (BNIM): Short guide and detailed manual (Version 87). Middlesex University and University of East London.

Online Resources

Depth Interviews and Life Stories: A Narrative Approach: https://methods.sagepub.com/video/depth-interviews-and-life-stories-a-narrative-approach

The analysis of narratives (1:00:39): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJbnPKJmrpY

Qualitative analysis of interview data: A step-by-step guide for coding/indexing (6:50): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRL4PF2u9XA

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About this chapter

Kutsyuruba, B., Mendes, B. (2023). Biographic Narrative Interpretive Method. In: Okoko, J.M., Tunison, S., Walker, K.D. (eds) Varieties of Qualitative Research Methods. Springer Texts in Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-04394-9_10

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How to Write a Biography: A 7-Step Guide [+Template]

From time to time, nonfiction authors become so captivated by a particular figure from either the present or the past, that they feel compelled to write an entire book about their life. Whether casting them as heroes or villains, there is an interesting quality in their humanity that compels these authors to revisit their life paths and write their story.

However, portraying someone’s life on paper in a comprehensive and engaging way requires solid preparation. If you’re looking to write a biography yourself, in this post we’ll share a step-by-step blueprint that you can follow. 

How to write a biography: 

1. Seek permission when possible 

2. research your subject thoroughly, 3. do interviews and visit locations, 4. organize your findings, 5. identify a central thesis, 6. write it using narrative elements, 7. get feedback and polish the text.

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While you technically don’t need permission to write about public figures (or deceased ones), that doesn't guarantee their legal team won't pursue legal action against you. Author Kitty Kelley was sued by Frank Sinatra before she even started to write His Way , a biography that paints Ol Blue Eyes in a controversial light. (Kelley ended up winning the lawsuit, however).  

Whenever feasible, advise the subject’s representatives of your intentions. If all goes according to plan, you’ll get a green light to proceed, or potentially an offer to collaborate. It's a matter of common sense; if someone were to write a book about you, you would likely want to know about it well prior to publication. So, make a sincere effort to reach out to their PR staff to negotiate an agreement or at least a mutual understanding of the scope of your project. 

At the same time, make sure that you still retain editorial control over the project, and not end up writing a puff piece that treats its protagonist like a saint or hero. No biography can ever be entirely objective, but you should always strive for a portrayal that closely aligns with facts and reality.

If you can’t get an answer from your subject, or you’re asked not to proceed forward, you can still accept the potential repercussions and write an unauthorized biography . The “rebellious act” of publishing without consent indeed makes for great marketing, though it’ll likely bring more headaches with it too. 

✋ Please note that, like other nonfiction books, if you intend to release your biography with a publishing house , you can put together a book proposal to send to them before you even write the book. If they like it enough, they might pay you an advance to write it.  

Book Proposal Template

Craft a professional pitch for your nonfiction book with our handy template.

Once you’ve settled (or not) the permission part, it’s time to dive deep into your character’s story.  

Deep and thorough research skills are the cornerstone of every biographer worth their salt. To paint a vivid and accurate portrait of someone's life, you’ll have to gather qualitative information from a wide range of reliable sources. 

Start with the information already available, from books on your subject to archival documents, then collect new ones firsthand by interviewing people or traveling to locations. 

Browse the web and library archives

Put your researcher hat on and start consuming any piece on your subject you can find, from their Wikipedia page to news articles, interviews, TV and radio appearances, YouTube videos, podcasts, books, magazines, and any other media outlets they may have been featured in. 

Establish a system to orderly collect the information you find 一 even seemingly insignificant details can prove valuable during the writing process, so be sure to save them. 

Depending on their era, you may find most of the information readily available online, or you may need to search through university libraries for older references. 

For his landmark biography of Alexander Hamilton, Ron Chernow spent untold hours at Columbia University’s library , reading through the Hamilton family papers, visiting the New York Historical Society, as well as interviewing the archivist of the New York Stock Exchange, and so on. The research process took years, but it certainly paid off. Chernow discovered that Hamilton created the first five securities originally traded on Wall Street. This finding, among others, revealed his significant contributions to shaping the current American financial and political systems, a legacy previously often overshadowed by other founding fathers. Today Alexander Hamilton is one of the best-selling biographies of all time, and it has become a cultural phenomenon with its own dedicated musical. 

Besides reading documents about your subject, research can help you understand the world that your subject lived in. 

Try to understand their time and social environment

Many biographies show how their protagonists have had a profound impact on society through their philosophical, artistic, or scientific contributions. But at the same time, it’s worth it as a biographer to make an effort to understand how their societal and historical context influenced their life’s path and work.

An interesting example is Stephen Greenblatt’s Will in the World . Finding himself limited by a lack of verified detail surrounding William Shakespeare's personal life, Greenblatt, instead, employs literary interpretation and imaginative reenactments to transport readers back to the Elizabethan era. The result is a vivid (though speculative) depiction of the playwright's life, enriching our understanding of his world.

Many readers enjoy biographies that transport them to a time and place, so exploring a historical period through the lens of a character can be entertaining in its own right. The Diary of Samuel Pepys became a classic not because people were enthralled by his life as an administrator, but rather from his meticulous and vivid documentation of everyday existence during the Restoration period.

Once you’ve gotten your hands on as many secondary sources as you can find, you’ll want to go hunting for stories first-hand from people who are (or were) close to your subject.

With all the material you’ve been through, by now you should already have a pretty good picture of your protagonist. But you’ll surely have some curiosities and missing dots in their character arc to figure out, which you can only get by interviewing primary sources.

Interview friends and associates

This part is more relevant if your subject is contemporary, and you can actually meet up or call with relatives, friends, colleagues, business partners, neighbors, or any other person related to them. 

In writing the popular biography of Steve Jobs, Walter Isaacson interviewed more than one hundred people, including Jobs’s family, colleagues, former college mates, business rivals, and the man himself.

🔍 Read other biographies to get a sense of what makes a great one. Check out our list of the 30 best biographies of all time , or take our 30-second quiz below for tips on which one you should read next. 

Which biography should you read next?

Discover the perfect biography for you. Takes 30 seconds!

When you conduct your interviews, make sure to record them with high quality audio you can revisit later. Then use tools like Otter.ai or Descript to transcribe them 一 it’ll save you countless hours. 

You can approach the interview with a specific set of questions, or follow your curiosity blindly, trying to uncover revealing stories and anecdotes about your subject. Whatever your method, author and biography editor Tom Bromley suggests that every interviewer arrives prepared, "Show that you’ve done your work. This will help to put the interviewee at ease, and get their best answers.” 

Bromley also places emphasis on the order in which you conduct interviews. “You may want to interview different members of the family or friends first, to get their perspective on something, and then go directly to the main interviewee. You'll be able to use that knowledge to ask sharper, more specific questions.” 

Finally, consider how much time you have with each interviewee. If you only have a 30-minute phone call with an important person, make it count by asking directly the most pressing questions you have. And, if you find a reliable source who is also particularly willing to help, conduct several interviews and ask them, if appropriate, to write a foreword as part of the book’s front matter .

Sometimes an important part of the process is packing your bags, getting on a plane, and personally visiting significant places in your character’s journey.

Visit significant places in their life

A place, whether that’s a city, a rural house, or a bodhi tree, can carry a particular energy that you can only truly experience by being there. In putting the pieces together about someone’s life, it may be useful to go visit where they grew up, or where other significant events of their lives happened. It will be easier to imagine what they experienced, and better tell their story. 

In researching The Lost City of Z , author David Grann embarked on a trek through the Amazon, retracing the steps of British explorer Percy Fawcett. This led Grann to develop new theories about the circumstances surrounding the explorer's disappearance.

Hopefully, you won’t have to deal with jaguars and anacondas to better understand your subject’s environment, but try to walk into their shoes as much as possible. 

Once you’ve researched your character enough, it’s time to put together all the puzzle pieces you collected so far. 

Take the bulk of notes, media, and other documents you’ve collected, and start to give them some order and structure. A simple way to do this is by creating a timeline. 

Create a chronological timeline

It helps to organize your notes chronologically 一 from childhood to the senior years, line up the most significant events of your subject’s life, including dates, places, names and other relevant bits. 

You should be able to divide their life into distinct periods, each with their unique events and significance. Based on that, you can start drafting an outline of the narrative you want to create.  

Draft a story outline 

Since a biography entails writing about a person’s entire life, it will have a beginning, a middle, and an end. You can pick where you want to end the story, depending on how consequential the last years of your subject were. But the nature of the work will give you a starting character arc to work with. 

To outline the story then, you could turn to the popular Three-Act Structure , which divides the narrative in three main parts. In a nutshell, you’ll want to make sure to have the following:

• Act 1. Setup : Introduce the protagonist's background and the turning points that set them on a path to achieve a goal. 
• Act 2. Confrontation : Describe the challenges they encounter, both internal and external, and how they rise to them. Then..
• Act 3. Resolution : Reach a climactic point in their story in which they succeed (or fail), showing how they (and the world around them) have changed as a result. 

Only one question remains before you begin writing: what will be the main focus of your biography?

Think about why you’re so drawn to your subject to dedicate years of your life to recounting their own. What aspect of their life do you want to highlight? Is it their evil nature, artistic genius, or visionary mindset? And what evidence have you got to back that up? Find a central thesis or focus to weave as the main thread throughout your narrative. 

Or find a unique angle

If you don’t have a particular theme to explore, finding a distinct angle on your subject’s story can also help you distinguish your work from other biographies or existing works on the same subject.

Plenty of biographies have been published about The Beatles 一 many of which have different focuses and approaches: 

• Philip Norman's Shout is sometimes regarded as leaning more towards a pro-Lennon and anti-McCartney stance, offering insights into the band's inner dynamics. 
• Ian McDonald's Revolution in the Head closely examines their music track by track, shifting the focus back to McCartney as a primary creative force. 
• Craig Brown's One Two Three Four aims to capture their story through anecdotes, fan letters, diary entries, and interviews. 
• Mark Lewisohn's monumental three-volume biography, Tune In , stands as a testament to over a decade of meticulous research, chronicling every intricate detail of the Beatles' journey.

Finally, consider that biographies are often more than recounting the life of a person. Similar to how Dickens’ Great Expectations is not solely about a boy named Pip (but an examination and critique of Britain’s fickle, unforgiving class system), a biography should strive to illuminate a broader truth — be it social, political, or human — beyond the immediate subject of the book. 

Once you’ve identified your main focus or angle, it’s time to write a great story. 

While biographies are often highly informative, they do not have to be dry and purely expository in nature . You can play with storytelling elements to make it an engaging read. 

You could do that by thoroughly detailing the setting of the story , depicting the people involved in the story as fully-fledged characters , or using rising action and building to a climax when describing a particularly significant milestone of the subject’s life. 

One common way to make a biography interesting to read is starting on a strong foot…

Hook the reader from the start

Just because you're honoring your character's whole life doesn't mean you have to begin when they said their first word. Starting from the middle or end of their life can be more captivating as it introduces conflicts and stakes that shaped their journey.

When he wrote about Christopher McCandless in Into the Wild , author Jon Krakauer didn’t open his subject’s childhood and abusive family environment. Instead, the book begins with McCandless hitchhiking his way into the wilderness, and subsequently being discovered dead in an abandoned bus. By starting in medias res , Krakauer hooks the reader’s interest, before tracing back the causes and motivations that led McCandless to die alone in that bus in the first place.

You can bend the timeline to improve the reader’s reading experience throughout the rest of the story too…

Play with flashback 

While biographies tend to follow a chronological narrative, you can use flashbacks to tell brief stories or anecdotes when appropriate. For example, if you were telling the story of footballer Lionel Messi, before the climax of winning the World Cup with Argentina, you could recall when he was just 13 years old, giving an interview to a local newspaper, expressing his lifelong dream of playing for the national team. 

Used sparsely and intentionally, flashbacks can add more context to the story and keep the narrative interesting. Just like including dialogue does…

Reimagine conversations

Recreating conversations that your subject had with people around them is another effective way to color the story. Dialogue helps the reader imagine the story like a movie, providing a deeper sensory experience. 

One thing is trying to articulate the root of Steve Jobs’ obsession with product design, another would be to quote his father , teaching him how to build a fence when he was young: “You've got to make the back of the fence just as good looking as the front of the fence. Even though nobody will see it, you will know. And that will show that you're dedicated to making something perfect.”

Unlike memoirs and autobiographies, in which the author tells the story from their personal viewpoint and enjoys greater freedom to recall conversations, biographies require a commitment to facts. So, when recreating dialogue, try to quote directly from reliable sources like personal diaries, emails, and text messages. You could also use your interview scripts as an alternative to dialogue. As Tom Bromley suggests, “If you talk with a good amount of people, you can try to tell the story from their perspective, interweaving different segments and quoting the interviewees directly.”

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These are just some of the story elements you can use to make your biography more compelling. Once you’ve finished your manuscript, it’s a good idea to ask for feedback. 

If you’re going to self-publish your biography, you’ll have to polish it to professional standards. After leaving your work to rest for a while, look at it with fresh eyes and self-edit your manuscript eliminating passive voice, filler words, and redundant adverbs. 

Then, have a professional editor give you a general assessment. They’ll look at the structure and shape of your manuscript and tell you which parts need to be expanded on or cut. As someone who edited and commissioned several biographies, Tom Bromley points out that a professional “will look at the sources used and assess whether they back up the points made, or if more are needed. They would also look for context, and whether or not more background information is needed for the reader to understand the story fully. And they might check your facts, too.”  

In addition to structural editing, you may want to have someone copy-edit and proofread your work.

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Importantly, make sure to include a bibliography with a list of all the interviews, documents, and sources used in the writing process. You’ll have to compile it according to a manual of style, but you can easily create one by using tools like EasyBib . Once the text is nicely polished and typeset in your writing software , you can prepare for the publication process.  

In conclusion, by mixing storytelling elements with diligent research, you’ll be able to breathe life into a powerful biography that immerses readers in another individual’s life experience. Whether that’ll spark inspiration or controversy, remember you could have an important role in shaping their legacy 一 and that’s something not to take lightly. 

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5 Fun Biography Research Projects: Easy Research and Writing Templates

Looking for fun biography research projects that both challenge and engage your elementary students? I’ve got you covered! From a biography report template to a digital biography project, I’m sharing my favorite ways to spark students’ curiosity and creativity as they investigate important figures. 

In this post, you’ll find tips for teaching biography research and writing, a list of handy biography research sources, and unique projects and activities that students (and teachers) love!

Why Biography Research Projects?

Nothing packs an educational punch like biography research! Research combines reading, writing, and learning all for a meaningful purpose. And the best part is that students love these fun projects, all while enjoying the many benefits.

With biography research projects, students will:

• Develop research skills
• Apply reading comprehension strategies
• Improve informational writing
• Build independence
• Integrate Social Studies and Science
• Grow organizational skills

Digital Biography Research Projects

For a flexible, ready-to-go biography project that takes minimal prep and works with any figure, past or present, consider a digital biography report .  

The beauty of a digital project is that it’s easily adapted to meet all kinds of needs (student ability, time available, depth of research, etc.) and students LOVE digital projects! The Biography Digital Research Report provides a guided research experience that can be completed totally online or with print texts. (Or a combination!)

Students just add their information to each Google slide and create a beautiful biography presentation for any figure. Plus, students can use the digital report to create a written essay using the included template and rubric.

Biography Research Report Booklets

Guided biography research booklets are the perfect way to support students as they venture into the world of research! These handy templates help students organize their information as they create a unique biography report using a tabbed mini-book.

Booklets are available for over 50 figures, including scientists and inventors, authors and artists, historical figures, amazing women, and more!

You can grab the  Martin Luther King, Jr. Biography Research Booklet  FOR FREE or click the image below to see all the figures available!

Lapbook Biography Research Projects

For a more hands-on biography activity, students can create a lapbook that includes their research and a final written report. Lapbooks are a great way to organize information while creating a final presentation students can be proud of!

My students love doing biography research and writing with these ready-to-go lapbook templates. You just need a large piece of construction paper or a file folder to create the base of the lapbook, then students attach template pieces as they learn about the figure of their choice.

Autobiography Writing Planner Templates

Reading and writing biographies is powerful, but why not bridge that work into having students write their own autobiographies? Once students understand the structure and purpose of a biography, they can really dig deep into creating their own!

An autobiography writing template makes it easy for students to plan their ideas and write a thoughtful and cohesive text. The planning pages, rubrics, and graphic organizers guide students through the process.

Biography Research Pendants Project

For quick and fun biography research projects, consider making pendants to hang in the classroom. Students research their figure online, or using print texts, and create a simple display with important facts.

The Black History Pendant Projects set includes 12 important figures from history and 2 versions of each pendant (a simple and more challenging version). You can grab the Martin Luther King, Jr. pendant for FREE in the Preview on TPT. Just click the image below.

Biography Research Online Sources

When it comes to biography research projects, students need access to accurate, kid-friendly, appropriately leveled texts.

Print sources are wonderful, but it’s often hard (or even impossible!) to find biographies for every figure students want to research. Plus, it can be a challenge to find multiple copies or various titles on the same figure. Online sources to the rescue!

Depending on the grade-level, you might prefer to search the information and print copies for students, or allow students to do their own online research. Be sure students are ready with knowledge about how to find reliable sources and how to avoid clicking ads!

Here are some safe and reliable websites for students:

Britannica Kids: Biographies (kid-friendly, great selection)

Academy of Achievement (amazing biographies with photographs, but more complex, great for teacher-guided work)

National Women’s Hall of Fame (large collection, short biographies)

Mr. Nussbaum (wide variety of people, short biographies, *intrusive ads)

Ducksters (short and simple biographies)

Biography Research Print Sources

If possible, I try to incorporate some print sources to go with all our biography research projects. Luckily, there are so many amazing biography series for kids now! I’ve included links to some of my favorites below!

*These are affiliate links, but I only share resources I truly love!

The “Who Was…?” Chapter Book Series : Engaging biographies written in a story-like format. Kids love these books!

Time for Kids Biographies : Packed with nonfiction text features, these biographies focus on facts and include beautiful photographs and images.

National Geographic Kids Biographies: Similar to “Time for Kids,” these short biographies are packed with facts and photos!

“The Story of…” Biographies: Beautifully illustrated longer biographies that students adore!

Biography research projects are perfect for end-of-year projects, independent study, group work, content integration, and more! Allow students to follow their curiosity as they dive into meaningful research and self-directed learning!

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Writing a Bio: My 20 Favorite Questions to Ask

Writing a concise bio for a business website may seem like a no brainer. A few paragraphs, hit all the usual points like schools, charity work, career highlights and then, BAM! Bio, check.

The problem with that approach? There’s a high likelihood you’ll churn out super boring bios, fast. When I think of old school bios, I think of a stuffy headshot accompanied by a few paragraphs of text that no one wants to read. But the days of stale bios are over. Believe it or not, people actually want to learn about you and your company, and they’d rather not fall asleep while doing it.

A well-written bio will combine the overall company culture and voice with that of the profiled team member. While website bios are generally concise—anywhere from Twitter-short to a few paragraphs—choosing the particulars to highlight can be tricky. Gathering the right information up front, in a 15-20 minute interview, is key.

Here are my favorite questions to ask when writing a bio. Note: these don’t include the usual slew, like general career experience and education.

1.      Who is someone you admire, and why?

2.      Tell me three pet peeves.

3.      What’s a typical day like for you?

4.      Do you have any skills or talents that most people don’t know about?

5.      If you could be anywhere other than here, right this minute, where would you be? (Don’t overthink it!)

6.      Flashback to when you were 10 years old. What do you want to be when you grow up?

7.      If we went to happy hour, what would you order?

8.      Finish this sentence. On Sunday mornings, you can usually find me...

9.      How do you want people to remember you?

10.  What do you think are the best skills that you bring to your job?

11.  Name three words that you describe you.

12.  How do you think your colleagues would describe you?

13.  What do you want to make sure you do before you die?

14.  What’s a goal you have for yourself that you want to accomplish in the next year?

15.  Name a few of your daily habits (other than a shower and brushing your teeth).

16.  What publications do you regularly read?

17.  What are you happiest doing, when you’re not working?

18.  What are some causes you care about?

19.  What do you do with friends in your spare time?

20.  What would be your personal motto

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Biography Research for Kids {Facts, Templates & Printables}

Published: September 6, 2022

Contributor: Jeannette Tuionetoa

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The telling of a person’s life could be one of the most personal literature pieces your children will read while in school. Learn how to teach biography research for kids in an easy way so they can write their very own biography report. 

Biography Research for Kids

To obtain correct information about a particular person (famous person or historical figure), it is important to gather as much information as possible. To ensure the information you find is accurate, the sources you use should be reliable and should be cross-checked with other information.

Biography Facts for Kids

Before tackling biography research for kids, it is important they know what a biography is and what it is not. Here are a few important things to know about biography in literature lessons.

A biography is a story about a particular person’s life, whether it be a famous person, athlete, historical figure, or a specific person.

Biographies of people are written in third person , meaning it is about someone else. In contrast, an autobiography is a person themselves telling their life story.

The Purpose of a Biography

Many times biographies of people are used as historical accounts of an era. Biographies tell basic facts about people, their education, work, and relationships. Yet, they also are personal accounts and portrayals of experiences through events of the time in their life story.

What are the key features of a biography?

There are key features of a biography that make this literary artwork a retelling of a life story. Here are a few key features of biography to get a child’s mind in the flow of gathering information for a biography research project, author study, or important events for biography research.

• date and place of birth and/or death
• where the public figure lived or location of residence
• educational background
• professional experience (i.e. work, artwork, skills, hobbies)
• area of expertise (What was/is this person famous for?)
• major achievements in life (Which of the areas of expertise was he/she best known for?)
• expound on the information, find interesting facts, and include your thoughts.

How to Write a Biography

There are specific ways to keep focused when writing a biography. Explore these steps to help your students write and understand biographies.

Step One: Choose Who to Write About

There are loads of famous, historical, or note-worthy people your young readers can explore for their biography research project .

Parents can task a specific genre study of biographies or specific categories for students to research, or students can choose their own. Here are some interesting biography research topics students will enjoy learning about:

Interesting Biography Figures

• Sports figure
• Someone from American history
• Someone from a specific historical period like ancient civilizations/ ancient times
• Black History Month figure
• Native American figure
• Presidents of the United States (biographies of presidents)
• World War I or World War II figures
• American Revolution figure
• Renaissance figure
• Middle Ages figure
• 20th-century heroes

Historical Figures and Public Figures

• Amelia Earhart
• Elizabeth Carter
• Frida Kahlo
• Harriet Tubman
• Ruby Bridge
• Misty Copeland
• Ellen Ochoa
• Martin Luther King Jr.
• William Shakespeare
• Life Of George Washington
• Frederick Douglass
• Julius Caesar
• Jackie Robinson
• James Boswell
• Wright Brothers

Step Two: Do Your Research

Gathering information for research through primary and secondary sources is crucial. Compiling good research data is important and valuable for building knowledge and clear a path for learning.

Gathering reliable research helps students understand topics, understand issues, increase awareness, and exercise the mind.

Using Primary Sources

When students use primary resources, they gather reliable knowledge that answers research questions, enables critical thinking, and develop well, thought out interpretations from facts.

Primary resources are images, artifacts, and documents that are firsthand testimony and proven evidence on a topic.

Some more examples of primary sources:

• Manuscripts
• Video recordings

Using Secondary Sources

Secondary sources, on the other hand, describe, comment on, evaluate, discuss, or process what would be in a primary source.

Some examples of secondary sources are:

• Biographical texts
• Literature reviews
• Commentaries
• History books
• Bibliographies
• Dictionaries/encyclopedias

Step Three: Create an Outline

The next step in writing a research-rich biography is creating an outline to organize the information and content gathered.

Outlines, although many students might not think they are useful, aid in their writing process. They provide the writers with a structure to follow, making sure no important information is missed.

You can use the Biography Notebooking Journal to make this an easy process! The templates can be used to do a thorough biographical research project . 

Biography Research Outline

A research paper is enhanced with an outline by organizing thoughts, understanding a clear flow is needed for information, and then again, ensuring nothing is forgotten.

Here is a very basic research outline:

INTRODUCTION

• Develop an engaging introduction sentence that captures the reader’s attention.
• Site a quote or anecdote from the person’s life.
• Describe the basic identity of the person with the very basic key elements mentioned above (i.e. name, date of birth/death, location).
• Include a unique observation that you have gathered from the person or why you chose to write about him/her.
• Stick to the theme of your research paper and provide the content you have gathered in your research.
• Describe the information you have gathered in sections or chronologically.
• Discuss your person’s accomplishments and their impact on society or those around them. Maybe also mention, if applicable, how a major event changed their life or the life of others.
• Ensure the pieces of information gathered are connected or interlinked or flow well together.
• Mention the person’s legacy or why they will remain important to remember or acknowledge.
• Add a lesser-known fact about the person, something you found interesting or noteworthy.
• Conclude with a comment or your input of the impact the person will make or will leave on the world or society.

Write a First Draft

Making an outline is crucial for getting an overview of what a research biography paper will be. Look like. If done correctly, it will easily flow into a first draft.

The outline develops what you need as a first draft, and transition words will help the writer make the paragraphs and sections flow into each other smoothly. The below resources will help with both.

How to Write a Paragraph for Kids – Teach your children how to write well, thought-out paragraphs as a foundational writing skill in your homeschool. This post explores ten different steps for writing a paragraph and listing the essential parts of a good paragraph.

Transition Words – Your children will find these writing tools helpful for words and phrases they can use to show smooth storytelling transitions.

Edit and Revise

In the editing and revision page of a research biography unit paper, the writer can enhance effective headings and subheadings for their paragraphs. This is the time to:

• Information aligns with your main point or purpose of the research paper.
• Eliminate parts of the paper that do not add value.
• Tighten up the wording (i.e. if your sentences are understandable or make sense)
• Check for spelling and grammatical errors.
• Get someone to read your paper or write it, then do another read-over the next day – for a fresh perspective.

Write Your Final Paper

It is time. Type or write out the final paper. Make a cover page if needed, evaluate if your sources are cited correctly, and develop your bibliography page, if required.

Citing Your Sources

It is important to cite sources for research biographies and any other assignments students have in school. Determine what citation style is needed and teach children how to cite correctly. This resource will benefit students straight through high school, college, and any written work they may create.

Research and Citation Resources by Owl Purdue – This tool is a perfect resource for conducting research, using the research, determining citation style, and citing written works correctly.

Biographical Websites

To jump-start the minds of young girls and boys when they begin researching biographies, the websites below will assist set the stage for their journey into learning about biographies of people, their hard work, and more.

 Biographies of People in History

Biography – This is one of the most popular internet sites capturing the most interesting stories about massive amounts of people in our world. You will find compelling points of view and true stories about people from our world.

Info Please – This site is a search engine for biographies by category. There are all types of categories to choose from like Arts and Entertainment, Politics and Government, Famous Americans by Race and Ethnicity, and so much more.

Time 100 Most Influential People – Time magazine has brought their Time Most Influential People online. Check out Time’s 100 Most Influential People for 2020 to help students search for biographical information, including pioneers, artists, leaders, titans, icons, and more.

Scientists Biographies

Famous Scientists – Check out this alphabetical list of hundreds of famous scientists who have impacted our world’s history. Even search scientists by categories like Astronomers, Chemists, Biologists, and more.

World of Scientific Biography – Science World presents a whole section on biographies for scientists in various branches of the science field. The biographical data is separated by gender, minority status, historical periods, nationality, and prize winners.

People and Discoveries by PBS – Learn all about people and their discoveries in this databank which includes about 120 entries about 20th century scientists and their life stories.

Artists Biographies

Van Gogh’s Gallery of Artist Biographies – Although this site is about Vincent Van Gogh, it also offers biographical information on other artists like Michelangelo, Gauguin, Caravaggio, and Claude Monet.

If your child enjoys learning about artists, you can find all types of tips for an artist study, like how long a student should be on one artist study, famous artists to study per grade level, and so much more.

Biographies of Poets

All About Poets – You don’t have to be an expert on poetry to help students learn about poets and their artwork. Check out Poets.org to search more than 3,000 biographies on poets of both contemporary and classical styles.

Athlete Biographies

ESPN’s Top Athletes of the Century – Use your child’s love of sports to enhance their learning experience in their English classes. Students will enjoy the biographies of great athletes of the 20th century.

Biographies of Presidents

POTUS History and Data – It is important for students to learn about the Presidents of the United States (POTUS). This site has loads of information to help with a biography research assignment. The POTUS site includes presidential facts, quizzes, and even Presidential firsts. You can even use this unit for an overview of the U.S. Presidents timeline . These  president fact sheets are also super helpful.

Biographies of Nobel Prize Recipients

Nobel Prize Awards – The Nobel Prize is an international award by the Nobel Foundation in Stockholm, Sweden. This site is a great way of learning about all the Nobel prize winners and what they were nominated for.

Biographies of Famous People

Who2 Biographies – This biographical resource holds 4,775 biographies of famous people, characters, and even creatures. Search these by categories that include born today, by occupation, cause of death, and more.

Smithsonian’s Spotlight Biography – Searching Smithsonian Education is a fun way to learn about famous and notable American artists, athletes, soldiers, scientists, inventors, social reformers, and others.

To Summarize, a Biography Should Include:

Biographies can be very interesting topics and a fun way to marry various subjects in your homeschool like history, writing, reading, English, research, and more.

Biographical research for kids includes:

• Narrowing down a person to research.
• Putting research skills into practice to gather all the information needed.
• Writing a detailed outline.
• Writing an introduction, body, and conclusion.
• Selecting a good image for the person chosen.

Every person is created for a purpose. Focusing on biography research for kids allows students to take interest in the lives of others. Begin encouraging your student to take an interest and learn about others this school year.

Jeannette Tuionetoa

Jeannette is a wife, mother and homeschooling mom. She has been mightily, saved by grace and is grateful for God’s sovereignty throughout her life’s journey. She has a Bachelor in English Education and her MBA. Jeannette is bi-lingual and currently lives in the Tongan Islands of the South Pacific. She posts daily freebies for homeschoolers!

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