How to write a biography: a biography is a true account of a person’s life, written by someone else. It is told in the third person and usually in time order, from early life to the present day or the person’s death. A good biography does more than list dates. It shows what the person was like, the turning points that shaped them, and why their life matters.
This guide is for students writing their first biography and for the teachers guiding them. On this page you’ll find the structure and features of a biography, six steps from choosing a subject to the final draft, three annotated example biographies for ages 9–10, 11–12 and 13–14, a free printable biography planner, and a ready-made teaching sequence.
What Is a Biography?
Biography: a true account of a person’s life, written by someone else, in the third person.
Biographies are big business. Whether in book form or Hollywood biopics, the lives of the famous and sometimes not-so-famous fascinate us. While it’s true that most biographies are about people who are in the public eye, a biography can be written about anyone, as long as the person who is written about has led an interesting life.
Three kinds of life writing are easy to mix up. The difference is who is writing and how much of the life they cover.
| Biography | Autobiography | Memoir | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who writes it | Someone else | The person themselves | The person themselves |
| Person | Third (he, she, they) | First (I, we) | First (I, we) |
| How much of the life | The whole life, or the life so far | The whole life so far | One period or theme |
| Built from | Research: books, records, interviews | Memory, diaries, records | Memory and reflection |
Structure and Features of a Biography
A biography tells a life in order and shows why it matters. Before students write one, they should be able to spot these features in a model. The three examples further down are labelled with them.
Structure
| Part | What it does | Example (Marie Curie) |
|---|---|---|
| Orientation | Introduces the person and why their life is worth reading about | “Marie Curie was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize…” |
| Early life | Birth, family, childhood and education, with the details that shaped them | “Her father was a teacher…” |
| Key events in order | The main events, usually in time order, with dates | “In 1891, she moved to Paris…” |
| Turning points and challenges | The moments that changed the person’s direction, and what they overcame | “Just three years later, tragedy struck…” |
| Conclusion and legacy | What they are doing now, or the difference they made after their death | “Her life shows that…” |
Language features
| Feature | What to use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Third person | he, she, they, the person’s name; never “I” | “She lived in a cold attic room.” |
| Past tense | For events; the ending may shift to present for a living person or a legacy | “In 1898, they discovered…” / “Today, he still starts work at four.” |
| Time connectives | In 1895, At first, After two years, Later, Today | “After two years, the owner let him make the morning rolls.” |
| Precise details | Names, places, dates, numbers | “…on November 7, 1867” |
| Quotes | The person’s own words, from an interview or a reliable source | “I burned more loaves than I sold,” he remembers. |
| Evaluative language | Word choices that show the writer’s judgement without saying “I think” | “brilliant”, “heartbroken”, “recognition came late” |
First person or third person? A biography is always third person. The writer’s view still comes through, in what they choose to include, the words they use, and the closing judgement about what the life means. A fan letter (“I wish I’d seen him!”) is a different text type.
How to Write a Biography in 6 Steps
- Choose a subject who will hold your interest. Test each option for Interest, Merit and Information (Tip #1 below). Someone you can interview, such as a grandparent or a local hero, counts.
- Research the whole life. Read widely, watch documentaries, and interview people who know the subject. Check every fact in two sources, and note where each one came from.
- Build a timeline. Put the key events in order, from birth to the present or the person’s death. Star the two or three turning points.
- Find the theme. Look for what repeats in the life, such as obstacles overcome or a lifelong passion. That is what your biography is really about.
- Draft in order. Open with why the person matters, then write early life, key events and turning points, ending with their legacy. Use the third person and past tense, with time connectives to link events.
- Revise, check and credit. Check facts and dates again, read it aloud, and ask a partner for feedback. Add a list of your sources at the end.
Tips for Writing a Brilliant Biography
Biography Writing Tip #1: Choose Your Subject Wisely
There are several points for students to reflect on when deciding on a subject for their biography. Let’s take a look at the most essential points to consider when deciding on the subject for a biography:
Interest: To produce a biography will require sustained writing from the student. That’s why students must choose their subject well. After all, a biography is an account of someone’s entire life to date. Students must ensure they choose a subject that will sustain their interest throughout the research, writing, and editing processes.
Merit: Closely related to the previous point, students must consider whether the subject merits the reader’s interest. Aside from pure labors of love, writing should be undertaken with the reader in mind. While producing a biography demands sustained writing from the author, it also demands sustained reading from the reader.
Therefore, students should ask themselves if their chosen subject has had a life worthy of the reader’s interest and the time they’d need to invest in reading their biography.
Information: Is there enough information available on the subject to fuel the writing of an entire biography? While it might be a tempting idea to write about a great-great-grandfather’s experience in the war. There would be enough interest there to sustain the author’s and the reader’s interest, but do you have enough access to information about their early childhood to do the subject justice
in the form of a biography?
Walking a class through all six steps takes careful planning. If you’d rather start with it ready, our Biography & Autobiography Writing Unit has two weeks of lessons, organisers and rubrics ($5.95 on TpT). Otherwise, the tips below show how to teach each step.
Biography Writing Tip #2: Research! Research! Research!
While the chances are good that the student already knows quite a bit about the subject they’ve chosen. Chances are 100% that they’ll still need to undertake considerable research to write their biography.
As with many types of writing, research is an essential part of the planning process that shouldn’t be overlooked. If students wish to give as complete an account of their subject’s life as possible, they’ll need to put in the time at the research stage.
An effective way to approach the research process is to:
1. Compile a chronological timeline of the central facts, dates, and events of the subject’s life
2. Compile detailed descriptions of the following personal traits:
- Physical looks
- Character traits
- Values and beliefs
3. Compile some research questions based on different topics to provide a focus for the research:
- Childhood: Where and when were they born? Who were their parents? Who were the other family members? What education did they receive?
- Obstacles: What challenges did they have to overcome? How did these challenges shape them as individuals?
- Legacy: What impact did this person have on the world and/or the people around them?
- Dialogue & Quotes: Dialogue and quotations by and about the subject are a great way to bring color and life to a biography. Students should keep an eagle eye out for the gems that hide amid their sources.
As the student gets deeper into their research, new questions will arise that can further fuel the research process and help to shape the direction the biography will ultimately go in.
Likewise, during the research, themes will often begin to suggest themselves. Exploring these themes is essential to bring depth to biography, but we’ll discuss this later in this article.
Research Skills:
Researching for biography writing is an excellent way for students to hone their research skills in general. Developing good research skills is essential for future academic success. Students will have opportunities to learn how to:
- Gather relevant information
- Evaluate different information sources
- Select suitable information
- Organize information into a text.
Students will have access to print and online information sources, and, in some cases, they may also have access to people who knew or know the subject (e.g. biography of a family member).
These days, much of the research will likely take place online. It’s crucial, therefore, to provide your students with guidance on how to use the internet safely and evaluate online sources for reliability. This is the era of ‘fake news’ and misinformation after all!
BIOGRAPHY WRITING Tip #3: Find Your Themes In Biography Writing
Though predominantly a nonfiction genre, the story still plays a significant role in good biography writing. The skills of characterization and plot structuring are transferable here. And, just like in fiction, exploring themes in a biographical work helps connect the personal to the universal. Of course, these shouldn’t be forced; this will make the work seem contrived, and the reader may lose faith in the truthfulness of the account. A biographer needs to gain and maintain the trust of the reader.
Fortunately, themes shouldn’t need to be forced. A life well-lived is full of meaning, and the themes the student writer is looking for will emerge effortlessly from the actions and events of the subject’s life. It’s just a case of learning how to spot them.
One way to identify the themes in a life is to look for recurring events or situations in a person’s life. These should be apparent from the research completed previously. The students should seek to identify these patterns that emerge in the subject’s life.
For example, perhaps they’ve had to overcome various obstacles throughout different periods of their life. In that case, the theme of overcoming adversity is present and has been identified.
Usually, a biography has several themes running throughout, so be sure your students work to identify more than one theme in their subject’s life.
Biography Writing Tip #4: Let Your View Come Through, in the Third Person
A biography is more than a list of facts, and the best ones leave the reader knowing what the writer thinks of their subject. Do that without writing “I”. Show your judgement through what you choose to include, the words you pick (“brilliant”, “heartbroken”, “against the odds”) and a closing sentence about what the life means.
Compare: “I think Marie Curie was really brave.” with “Marie was heartbroken, but she took over his teaching post.” The second sentence shows the courage instead of announcing it, and stays in the third person.
How to Start a Biography
The first two sentences have one job: tell the reader who this is and why their life is worth reading about. Birth date and place can come next. Four openings that work:
| Opening | Example |
|---|---|
| Why they matter | “Marie Curie was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, and is still the only person to win Nobel Prizes in two different sciences.” |
| A defining moment | “In February 1962, astronaut John Glenn asked for one person to check the numbers by hand: Katherine Johnson.” |
| A surprising fact | “Thomas Abara burned more loaves than he sold before he became the best-known baker on Hill Street.” |
| What people know, and what they don’t | “Many people know his shop, but few know the story behind it.” |
Avoid “This biography is about…” and “Hi, today I will tell you about…”. They spend the reader’s attention without giving anything back.
Biography Examples for Students
Three model biographies, one for each age band. Each is written to the rules above: third person, past tense, events in order, and a closing judgement. The free planner has all three with numbered labels beside each feature.
Ages 9–10: A Family or Community Member
Thomas Abara: The Baker of Hill Street
Thomas Abara has baked bread for the people of Hill Street for more than forty years. Many people know his shop, but few know the story behind it.
Thomas was born in 1958 in a small fishing town by the sea. He was the youngest of five children. When he was eight, he began helping his mother bake flatbread before school. “I burned more loaves than I sold,” he remembers, laughing.
In 1979, Thomas moved to the city to find work. At first, he swept floors in a large bakery. He watched the bakers closely, and after two years the owner let him make the morning rolls.
In 1983, Thomas opened his own shop on Hill Street. The first winter was hard, and some days he sold only ten loaves. However, he never gave up. He gave free bread to the school next door, and soon the parents became his customers.
Today, Thomas still starts work at four o’clock every morning. He has taught twelve young bakers his trade. For the people of Hill Street, his shop is more than a bakery. It is the heart of the street.
What to notice: it’s built from an interview, so it has a real quote; time connectives (In 1979, At first, after two years, However, Today) carry the reader through; the ending moves to present tense because Thomas is still alive. (Thomas Abara is a fictional community member, written as a model.)
Ages 11–12: A Historical Figure
Marie Curie: The Scientist Who Changed the World Twice
Marie Curie was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, and is still the only person to win Nobel Prizes in two different sciences. Her discoveries changed physics, chemistry and medicine.
She was born Maria Skłodowska in Warsaw, Poland, on November 7, 1867. Her father was a teacher, and Maria was a brilliant student who loved science. At that time, however, women in Warsaw could not study at university.
In 1891, she moved to Paris to study at the Sorbonne. She lived in a cold attic room and had very little money, but she earned degrees in both physics and mathematics. In 1895, she married Pierre Curie, a French scientist. Together they studied the mysterious rays given off by uranium, and in 1898 they discovered two new elements. Marie named the first polonium, after her home country, and the second radium.
In 1903, Marie and Pierre shared the Nobel Prize in Physics with Henri Becquerel. Just three years later, tragedy struck: Pierre was killed in a street accident. Marie was heartbroken, but she took over his teaching post and became the first woman to teach at the Sorbonne. In 1911, she won a second Nobel Prize, this time in Chemistry. During the First World War, she set up mobile X-ray units so that doctors could treat wounded soldiers near the front lines.
Years of working with radioactive materials damaged her health, and Marie Curie died on July 4, 1934. Today, the element curium is named in honor of her and Pierre. Her life shows that curiosity and determination can break down barriers that once seemed fixed.
What to notice: the orientation opens with why she matters, not with her birth; dates anchor every paragraph; the turning point (Pierre’s death) is told with evaluative language (“tragedy struck”, “heartbroken”); the last sentence states the theme.
Ages 13–14: A Theme-Led Biography
Katherine Johnson: The Woman Who Checked the Numbers
In February 1962, astronaut John Glenn was preparing to become the first American to orbit Earth. His flight path had been worked out by an electronic computer, but Glenn wanted a person to check the numbers by hand. He asked for Katherine Johnson. If she said the figures were right, he was ready to go.
Johnson’s path to that moment began in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, where she was born on August 26, 1918. She was so quick with numbers that by the age of 13 she was attending the high school on the campus of West Virginia State College. At 18 she enrolled at the college itself, and in 1937 she graduated with highest honors in mathematics and French.
Talent alone did not open doors. In the segregated America of the 1930s and 1940s, few careers were open to a Black woman with a gift for mathematics, and Johnson worked as a teacher. In 1953, she joined the West Area Computing unit at the Langley laboratory of NACA, the agency that later became NASA. The “computers” there were women who did complex calculations by hand. Johnson’s accuracy and her questions soon earned her a place working alongside the engineers.
In 1961, she calculated the flight path for Alan Shepard, the first American in space. After Glenn’s orbit, her work helped plan the Apollo missions to the Moon.
Recognition came late. In 2015, at the age of 97, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States. She died on February 24, 2020, aged 101. Johnson’s life shows that talent can be held back for a time, but not forever, and that some of the most important work is done by people whose names are left out of the story.
What to notice: it opens with a defining moment, then flashes back to her birth, a deliberate break from strict time order; the theme (talent against barriers) is named in the third paragraph and returns in the last; historical context explains the obstacles; the conclusion is a thematic statement in the third person.
Free Biography Examples & Planner
FREE: Biography Examples & Planner. Three model biographies with every feature labelled (ages 9–10, 11–12 and 13–14), a subject chooser, a timeline planner, a paragraph-by-paragraph writing frame and a self-check with peer feedback. 10 printable pages. No sign-up.
Common Biography Mistakes
Check a draft against this table before handing it in.
| Mistake | Fix |
|---|---|
| Writing “I” and “my favorite” | Stay in the third person; show your view through word choice and the ending |
| Starting with “This biography is about…” | Open with why the person matters or a defining moment |
| A list of dates with no story | Explain why each event mattered and how it changed the person |
| Jumping around in time | Keep events in order; if you open with a big moment, flash back clearly (“Her path to that moment began…”) |
| Facts from a single website | Check each fact in two sources, and list your sources at the end |
| Stopping at the last event | End with their legacy, or what the life teaches us |
Teaching Biography Writing: A Two-Week Sequence
Eight lessons, from first model to final draft. The five lesson ideas below fit inside it.
| Lesson | Focus | Use |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | What is a biography? Sort extracts into biography, autobiography and memoir | The comparison table; Example 1 |
| 2 | Features hunt | Lesson Idea #1; the labelled examples in the free planner |
| 3 | Choosing a subject | Lesson Idea #2: score three options for Interest, Merit and Information; planner page 1 |
| 4 | Research questions and reliable sources | Tip #2; the Google Search research unit for a deeper module |
| 5 | Timeline and turning points | Lesson Idea #3; planner page 2 |
| 6 | Finding the theme | Lesson Idea #4: thematic concept and thematic statement |
| 7 | From facts to story | Lesson Idea #5 (below); the writing frame |
| 8 | Draft, self-check, peer feedback | The self-check page; the common mistakes table |
BIOGRAPHY LESSON IDEA # 1:
This session aims to give students a broader understanding of what makes a good biography.
Once your students have compiled a comprehensive checklist of the main features of a biography, allow them to use it to assess some biographies from your school library or on the internet using the feature checklist.
When students have assessed a selection of biographies, take some time as a class to discuss them. You can base the discussion around the following prompts:
- Which biographies covered all the criteria from their checklist?
- Which biographies didn’t?
- Which biography was the most readable in terms of structure?
- Which biography do you think was the least well-structured? How would you improve this?
Looking at how other writers have interpreted the form will help students internalize the necessary criteria before attempting to produce a biography. Once students have a clear understanding of the main features of the biography, they’re ready to begin work on writing a biography.
When the time does come to put pen to paper, be sure they’re armed with the following top tips to help ensure they’re as well prepared as possible.
BIOGRAPHY LESSON IDEA # 2:
This session aims to guide students through the process of selecting the perfect biography subject.
Instruct students to draw up a shortlist of three potential subjects for the biography they’ll write.
Using the three criteria mentioned in the writing guide (Interest, Merit, and Information), students award each potential subject a mark out of 5 for each of the criteria. In this manner, students can select the most suitable subject for their biography.
BIOGRAPHY LESSON IDEA # 3:
This session aims to get students into the researching phase, then prioritise and organise events chronologically.
Students begin by making a timeline of their subject’s life, starting with their birth and ending with their death or the present day. If the student has yet to make a final decision on the subject of their biography, a family member will often serve well for this exercise as a practice exercise.
Students should research and gather the key events of the person’s life, covering each period of their life from when they were a baby, through childhood and adolescence, right up to adulthood and old age. They should then organize these onto a timeline. Students can include photographs with captions if they have them.
They can present these to the class when they have finished their timelines.
BIOGRAPHY LESSON IDEA # 4:
Instruct students to look over their timeline, notes, and other research. Challenge them to identify three patterns that repeat throughout the subject’s life and sort all the related events and incidents into specific categories.
Students should then label each category with a single word. This is the thematic concept or the broad general underlying idea. After that, students should write a sentence or two expressing what the subject’s life ‘says’ about that concept.
This is known as the thematic statement. With the thematic concepts and thematic statements identified, the student now has some substantial ideas to explore that will help bring more profound meaning and wider resonance to their biography.
BIOGRAPHY LESSON IDEA # 5:
Students write a strictly factual paragraph about one event in the life of someone they know: what happened, when and where. Then they rewrite it in the third person, adding precise detail, a quote if they have one, and two or three word choices that show how they see the person. Compare the two versions as a class: which tells you more about the person, and how?
Want the whole sequence planned for you? The Biography & Autobiography Writing Unit has lesson plans for both forms, graphic organizers, assessment tools and student tasks. It comes as Google Slides, PowerPoint and print-ready PDF: 82 pages, two weeks of teaching, grades 4–7.
Biography FAQ
Is a biography written in first or third person?
Third person. The writer is telling someone else’s story, so it uses he, she, they or the person’s name. First person (“I”) belongs to autobiography and memoir.
How long should a student biography be?
Long enough to cover the whole life and why it matters. For ages 9–10 that’s usually four or five paragraphs; for ages 13–14, six to eight paragraphs or more.
Can I include my opinion in a biography?
Yes, but not as “I think”. Show it through what you choose to include, the words you use, and a closing judgement about what the person’s life means.
How do you end a biography?
With the person’s legacy: what they are doing now, or the difference they made. Finish with one sentence about what their life shows.
What is the difference between a biography and an autobiography?
A biography is written by someone else, in the third person. An autobiography is written by the person themselves, in the first person. See our guide to writing an autobiography.
To Conclude
Remember that writing a biography is not only a great way to develop a student’s writing skills; it can be used in almost all curriculum areas. For example, to find out more about a historical figure in History, to investigate scientific contributions to Science, or to celebrate a hero from everyday life.
Biography is an excellent genre for students to develop their writing skills and to find inspiration in the lives of others in the world around them.
HOW TO WRITE A BIOGRAPHY TUTORIAL VIDEO
Ready to teach it? Get the complete Biography & Autobiography Writing Unit on TpT ($5.95), with lessons, organisers and rubrics for grades 4–7.
