Unit 4: BIOGRAPHY

Biography
- A biography is simply an account or detailed description about the life of a person. It entails basic
facts, such as childhood, education, career, relationships, family, and death. Biography is a literary genre
that portrays the experiences of all these events occurring in the life of a person, mostly in a chronological
order.
What Is the Purpose of a Biography?
- The purpose of a biography is to share the life of another person with an audience. An author may
choose to write a biography because they find the subject’s story to be interesting or to have themes that
apply to life today. Some authors choose to write a biography due to a lack of information about an
interesting subject, or to update the public with facts that an existing biography may have missed.
Biographical stories can be inspiring—highlighting the achievements of a particular figure, pointing out
ways the subject overcame hardship—giving the readers a sense of encouragement. Biographies can also
serve as cautionary tales, warning readers on who not to become.

6 Tips on How to Write a Biography

To write the story of a person’s life, you need to know more than just the basic facts. A good
biography delves into what is really interesting about a person’s life—noteworthy achievements,
moments of adversity, and major turning points. The best biography can encapsulate a subject’s entire life
in an engaging way and provide enough personal details to give the reader an intimate look at their
character. If you’re interested in writing a biography, the following steps can get you started:

1. Get permission. Once you’ve chosen the subject of the biography, seek permission to write about their
life. While in some cases it may not be necessary (like if the subject is a public figure or deceased),
getting permission will make the research portion of your writing process much easier. If the subject is
willing to be biographied, they may provide significant details about their own story up front that will
help make your writing about them more compelling.
2. Do your research. Regardless of how much you know about your subject, an extensive amount of
research is necessary to paint a thorough picture of this person. If they’re a historical figure, include
information about the time period they lived in and how it affected the way they lived their life. Primary
sources are firsthand accounts of your subject’s life and tend to be the most reliable sources. These can
include journal entries, emails, interviews, or memoirs. A primary source can also be any other
information the subject has provided, such as a personal website, Twitter bio, social media account or
 professional bio. Secondary sources, like magazines or documentaries, can also be used if the information
is proven accurate.

3. Form your thesis. Your first paragraph or chapter should inform the reader what they will learn about
this person from this biography. A thesis makes a declaration about the biographee which the rest of the
biography will provide relevant information to support.
4. Make a timeline. A biography usually structures the main points of a person’s life in chronological
order. Knowing the order of key events before you start writing can save you the hassle of having to
reorganize your whole story later.

5. Use flashbacks. While writing the text of your biography, you may want to intercut between an
experience from your subject’s adult life and one from their high school days. Using flashbacks allows
the author to introduce relevant past information to the reader without bogging them down with
paragraphs of background exposition.

6. Include your thoughts. A biography isn’t just a transaction of facts. A biographer can share their own
feelings and opinions on their subject’s life. If the subject did something noteworthy, the author may
include why they feel that moment was significant, how it was affected by the time period, and what it
meant for society as a whole. This will support why this person deserves to be written about and keep the
audience reading from the first sentence to the last.

References:
https://literarydevices.net/biography/
https://www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-write-a-biography#what-is-a-biography

Activity: Biographical Writing

Instructions:
1.Use your writing prowess to craft a biography of someone you think has an inspiring story to tell.
This person can be a member of a family, a neighbor, a friend, or anyone you are certain has a story
which could bring joy, hope, and positivity to others.
2. The biography must contain 400 to 500 words.
3. Be sure to ask permission first to the person you have chosen to be the subject of your work.
4. Submission starts on November 6, 2020.
5. Scoring Rubrics:
Criteria Points
Content 20
Organization (Flow of Ideas and Transitions) 10
Style (Sentence structure, wording, tone) 10
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