autobiography definition ks2

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What are biography and autobiography?

A biography is a text written about someone else's life (usually someone famous). An autobiography is a text written about one's own life .

Children in Year 6 may be taught the unit: 'Biography and Autobiography' as suggested in the Primary Literacy Framework.

Features of biographical and autobiographical texts

If a teacher chooses to concentrate solely on biographies, children will start by reading a range of biographies, either about various different people or just about one person.

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They will look at the features of a biography, which include:  

• Written in formal language
• Use of compound and complex sentences , containing connectives
• Written in the past tense and usually written in chronological order (in time order)
• Text split up into paragraphs (usually each paragraph will detail the events of each part of the person's life, for example: one paragraph to explain their childhood, one to explain their early adulthood etc.)
• Dates included so that the reader knows what happened and when
• Phrases such as: 'It is believed', 'It was thought', 'Many people claimed', 'There was a rumour that' etc. to show that history is based on stories that have been passed on over many years and some things cannot be stated as facts
• Pictures and captions

How do primary children study biographies?

Usually, children will be given photocopied texts to read and then they may be asked to text-mark the above features to show that they understand how a biography is set out and what is included.

Children may then be asked to choose their own famous person that they are interested in. They will be asked to find as much information about this person and make notes on them. Often teachers give children labelled spider diagrams to help children organise their information, but more able children may be asked to organise the information in their own way. An example of a spider diagram is below:

Children will then be asked to start drafting their biography , using the notes they have collected. Once they have done this, they will go through a process of editing their writing . Usually, a teacher will mark the first draft and write comments and suggestions on it to help them with this. Another method, is for pairs of children to swap their writing and then discuss with their partner how the writing could be improved.

Finally, children will write up their biographies in neat. They may plan how their finished piece is going to look, including title, pictures and captions. Children then produce their finished piece of writing, either on the computer or in their own handwriting.

Interviewing a family member of friend to write a short biography is a great writing activity for KS2 children.

There are also hundreds of wonderful biographies written especailly for kids to read – look through our pick of the best biographies and autobiographies for children .

Biography and autobiography are non-fiction texts . For more details how how non-fiction texts are taught in KS1 and KS2 see our parents' guide,  What is non-fiction?

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Writing autobiography

Part of English Non-fiction writing

Did you know?

Science fiction author Robert A Heinlein once wrote:

Autobiography is usually honest but never truthful.

Introduction to writing autobiography

Key learning points, what is an autobiography.

• Where does the word autobiography come from?
• Understand why autobiographies are written

How to structure an autobiography

Video about writing autobiography.

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A video about what an autobiography is, how to start an autobiography and examples of autobiographies

Video Transcript Video Transcript

An autobiography is the story of a person’s life. It is different to a diary, which is usually a personal account of events but as they happen. And it’s different to a biography, which is the story of someone’s life, but written by somebody else.

There are different ways to tell the story of someone’s journey through life. Using a traditional story arc, with a clear beginning, middle and ending, can make an autobiography more interesting and engaging.

You can start at the beginning, your birth, and describe the journey from there.

Or you can start later in your story, at the point when you made an important decision, took part in a memorable event or tried something for the first time.

Wherever you choose to start, it’s important to describe key places and events, the different things you saw and did.

As with any story, pick the events, people and places that will capture the reader’s interest and imagination and maybe leave the boring bits out!

Don’t just list events or anecdotes, piece together a story.

Did an event change the way you think about things? Did it offer you new opportunities? What did you learn from your experience?

For example, when Roald Dahl wrote his first autobiography, Boy , he chose to focus on his school years.

He tells the story of his local sweet shop and his dreams of being an inventor for a chocolate company. No wonder he wrote Charlie and the Chocolate Factory !

So, autobiography can come out in all kinds of ways. Which things in your life will you write about?

Etymology of autobiography

Etymology is the study of the origin and history of words. The word ‘autobiography’ has Greek origins. It’s helpful to divide the word into sections to see how the meaning of this word has developed. You may already be familiar with the word ‘biography’, which means to write about someone else’s life.

The word ‘autobiography’ has the following etymology:

                            Autos (self, one's own, by oneself, of oneself)                                                                 +                                                        Bios (to life)                                                                 +                                            Graphia (record or account)

                            Autobiography = an account of one’s own life.

Although the word itself was first used in the 18th century, there are examples of writers recording their own life experiences from ancient civilisations, including Egypt and Greece.

An autobiography is a life story about oneself. It can be a book, a collection of letters, diaries or memoirs close memoir Personal accounts of historical events and observations. .

Some autobiographies are formal and provide personal insight on powerful figures and their role in key events, for example, Becoming by Michelle Obama or Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela.

Others are informal and about the lives of average people ( Smile by American cartoonist Raina Telgemeier), famous people ( Will by Will Smith) or the unique experiences of people ( The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank).

Autobiographies are written for a variety of reasons and there are a variety of types:

• A full autobiography, detailing someone's life from childhood through to old age.
• An autobiography based around a theme and which details universal or life-changing experiences.
• A confessional autobiography revealing deep and personal life experiences.
• An account of overcoming adversity, illness, imprisonment, trauma, war or other challenges.

Why write an autobiography?

There needs to be purpose close purpose The reason for and aim of your writing. and something of interest to say before writing an engaging autobiography.

Famous people often write their autobiographies, but this doesn’t mean that writers must be well known. Some autobiographies are fascinating because they record the lives of ordinary people.

Autobiographies are often retrospective close retrospective Look back at events, experiences and any developments in their life. .

A life story could:

• provide lessons for readers
• record important historical events form a personal viewpoint
• allow the reader to understand their own life experiences better
• entertain the reader

Selecting moments from life

Autobiographies are a collection of important moments which allow readers to understand the origins of a person, their behaviour, thinking, feelings, experiences and motivations.

More on Non-fiction writing

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Biographies and autobiographies

What is a biography.

A biography is a non-fiction text about a person’s life. It is written in the third person and in chronological order.

Here you'll find English teaching resources to help key stage 1 and key stage 2 children understand the features of a biography and those of autobiographical accounts. They include templates, example biographies and worksheets alongside reading comprehensions based on biographical texts about famous people.

Download our model texts, worksheets and PowerPoints to develop children’s biography writing skills and support them in researching the lives of famous individuals. 

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• Features Of An Autobiography Resources For Ks2 English

Features of an autobiography – 6 of the best resources for KS2 English

Getting kids to talk about themselves shouldn't be hard, but getting them to create good autobiographical writing, you might need these activities, ideas, templates and worksheets…

Back before selfies and Instagram feeds the way to tell your own story was to write it.

And sure, your average Key Stage 2 student probably won’t have accumulated enough life experience for the next Long Walk to Freedom , but they can probably do a better job than half the ‘celebrity’ books that hit the shelves in the run-up to Christmas.

And that’s before you’ve even started with these great resources.

1 | Characteristics of an autobiography

This nifty little resource not only includes the great quote in the pic above, it has a good summary of autobiographical writing, explains where the word ‘autobiography’ comes from, and has a few good examples of autobiographical passages to boot.

Check it out here.

2 | Roald Dahl book topic

The Great Mouse Plot was one of the stories from Roald Dahl’s childhood autobiography, Boy , where he and his friends pranked the local sweet shop owner by placing a dead mouse in a jar of sweets.

They were duly caught, and caned by their headmaster.

Carey Fluker Hunt’s book topics explores using memories for engaging creative autobiographical writing.

Get this resource here.

3 | Super hero autobiography example

Head on over to Literacy Wagoll’s Biographies and Autobiographies section for a collection of free example texts, including this superhero autobiography.

No doubt your students are more than familiar with comic book movies and have seen countless origin stories, so they should be able to write one for their own created superhero.

It’s the perfect writing hook, coming up with a character and how they got their superpower.

And if you want to actually watch a superhero movie, the first Spider-Man film (AKA the best one) from Sam Raimi is an excellent example (although it does have a 12A rating, so maybe just show clips or talk about it).

It’s opening line? ‘Who am I?’. It’s closing line? ‘Who am I? I’m Spider-Man’. Perfect.

In the meantime, download superhero autobiography example here.

4 | Autobiography checklist

Once your pupils get to writing an autobiographical piece, this checklist might come in handy.

It has the basics like ‘Is it written in the 1st person?’ and ‘Is it written in the past tense?’ but also things like ‘Are there dates to show when events happened?’ and ‘Is there any emotive language?’.

Plus, there’s a column on the sheet where they can show evidence that they’ve included all of these elements.

This resource also includes a biography checklist should you need that too.

Click here to download.

5 | The life of Nelson Mandela

This Oxfam set of resources for upper KS2 explores the life of Nelson Mandela and the differences between biography and autobiography.

They also provide ideas for discussing the difference between explicit and implicit points of view, and the differences between first and third person narration.

There are five lessons, all of which can be found here.

6 | Newspaper template

One for younger pupils, this newspaper-style template lets them write all about themselves, their likes and dislikes, their heroes and their hobbies.

Download it here.

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Autobiography facts for kids

An autobiography is a biography in which the author writes about his or her own life. It is a self-written account of one's own life.

It is one of the earliest forms of literature , but the word itself is quite modern.

The word comes from the Greek stems "auto" (meaning "self"), "bio“ (meaning "life"), and "graph" (meaning "write").

Related pages

Images for kids.

Saint Augustine of Hippo wrote Confessions , the first Western autobiography ever written, around 400. Portrait by Philippe de Champaigne , 17th century.

A scene from the Baburnama

Cover of the first English edition of Benjamin Franklin 's autobiography, 1793

• This page was last modified on 16 October 2023, at 16:53. Suggest an edit .

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KS2 Resources & Worksheets > KS2 English Resources & Worksheets >

Autobiographies Resources and Worksheets

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KS1 and KS2 Autobiography Writing Prompt

KS1 and KS2 Autobiography Writing Prompt intended to support extended writing. The sentence starters, words and phrases can be ordered and used as a prompt.

Identifying Features of an Autobiography in a Model Text

Features of an Autobiography - Identify typical features. Can also be used as a model to support the children writing their own autobiographies.

A Teacher’s Autobiography Worksheets for Proofreading and Editing

Autobiography worksheets for KS1 and KS2 learners to practise editing and proofreading a differentiated autobiography text written by a teacher.

My Memories of WWII (Y5m/Y6s) Guided Reading Pack

A Guided Reading Pack aimed at Y5m/Y6s readers in the form of an autobiography written by a man who was a child during WWII. Text, teacher questions, follow-up work, vocabulary activities and SPAG activities included.

Sorting KS2 Features of an Autobiography

KS2 Features of an Autobiography in six differentiated levels to decide which features and vocabulary belong and do not belong in an autobiography.

Text Marking an Autobiography Model Text – Matilda

Six differentiated activities to identify key features in an autobiography.

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autobiography

Definition of autobiography

Examples of autobiography in a sentence.

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'autobiography.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

auto- + biography , perhaps after German Autobiographie

1797, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing autobiography

• semi - autobiography

Dictionary Entries Near autobiography

autobiographist

Cite this Entry

“Autobiography.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/autobiography. Accessed 6 Apr. 2024.

Kids Definition

Kids definition of autobiography, more from merriam-webster on autobiography.

Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for autobiography

Nglish: Translation of autobiography for Spanish Speakers

Britannica English: Translation of autobiography for Arabic Speakers

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about autobiography

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Meaning of autobiography in English

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• exercise book
• multi-volume

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Autobiography | american dictionary, examples of autobiography, translations of autobiography.

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