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What Is Biography? Definition, Usage, and Literary Examples

Biography definition.

A  biography  (BYE-og-ruh-fee) is a written account of one person’s life authored by another person. A biography includes all pertinent details from the subject’s life, typically arranged in a chronological order. The word  biography  stems from the Latin  biographia , which succinctly explains the word’s definition:  bios  = “life” +  graphia  = “write.”

Since the advent of the written word, historical writings have offered information about real people, but it wasn’t until the 18th century that biographies evolved into a separate literary genre.  Autobiographies  and memoirs fall under the broader biography genre, but they are distinct literary forms due to one key factor: the subjects themselves write these works. Biographies are popular source materials for documentaries, television shows, and motion pictures.

The History of Biographies

The biography form has its roots in Ancient Rome and Greece. In 44 BCE, Roman writer Cornelius Nepos published  Excellentium Imperatorum Vitae  ( Lives of the Generals ), one of the earliest recorded biographies. In 80 CE, Greek writer Plutarch released  Parallel Lives , a sweeping work consisting of 48 biographies of famous men. In 121 CE, Roman historian Suetonius wrote  De vita Caesarum  ( On the Lives of the Caesars ), a series of 12 biographies detailing the lives of Julius Caesar and the first 11 emperors of the Roman Empire. These were among the most widely read biographies of their time, and at least portions of them have survived intact over the millennia.

During the Middle Ages, the Roman Catholic Church had a notable influence on biographies. Historical, political, and cultural biographies fell out of favor. Biographies of religious figures—including saints, popes, and church founders—replaced them. One notable exception was Italian painter/architect Giorgio Vasari’s 1550 biography,  The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects , which was immensely popular. In fact, it is one of the first examples of a bestselling book.

Still, it wasn’t until the 18th century that authors began to abandon multiple subjects in a single work and instead focus their research and writing on one subject. Scholars consider James Boswell’s 1791  The Life of Samuel Johnson  to be the first modern biography. From here, biographies were established as a distinct literary genre, separate from more general historical writing.

As understanding of psychology and sociology grew in the 19th and early 20th centuries, biographies further evolved, offering up even more comprehensive pictures of their subjects. Authors who played major roles in this contemporary approach to biographing include Lytton Strachey, Gamaliel Bradford, and Robert Graves.

Types of Biographies

While all biographical works chronicle the lives of real people, writers can present the information in several different ways.

• Popular biographies are life histories written for a general readership.  The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks  by Rebecca Skloot and  Into the Wild  by Jon Krakauer are two popular examples.
• Critical biographies discuss the relationship between the subject’s life and the work they produced or were involved in; for example,  The Billionaire Who Wasn’t: How Chuck Feeney Secretly Made and Gave Away a Fortune  by Conor O’Clery and  Unpresidented: A Biography of Donald Trump  by Martha Brockenbrough.
• Historical biographies put greater understanding on how the subject’s life and contributions affected or were affected by the times in which they lived; see  John Adams  by David McCullough and  Catherine the Great  by Peter K. Massie.
• Literary biographies concentrate almost exclusively on writers and artists, blending a conventional  narrative  of the historical facts of the subject’s life with an exploration of how these facts impacted their creative output. Some examples include  Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay  by Nancy Milford and  Jackson Pollock: An American Saga  by Gregory White Smith and Steven Naifeh.
• Reference biographies are more scholarly writings, usually written by multiple authors and covering multiple lives around a single topic. They verify facts, provide background details, and contribute supplemental information resources, like bibliographies, glossaries, and historical documents; for example,  Black Americans in Congress, 1870-2007  and the  Dictionary of Canadian Biography .
• Fictional biographies, or biographical novels, like  The Other Boleyn Girl  by Philippa Gregory, incorporate creative license into the retelling of a real person’s story by taking on the structure and freedoms of a novel. The term can also describe novels in which authors give an abundance of background information on their characters, to the extent that the novel reads more like a biography than fiction. An example of this is George R.R. Martin’s  Fire and Blood , a novel detailing the history of a royal family from his popular  A Song of Ice and Fire

Biographies and Filmed Entertainment

Movie makers and television creators frequently produce biographical stories, either as dramatized productions based on real people or as nonfiction accounts.

Documentary

This genre is a nonfictional movie or television show that uses historical records to tell the story of a subject. The subject might be a one person or a group of people, or it might be a certain topic or theme. To present a biography in a visually compelling way, documentaries utilize archival footage, recreations, and interviews with subjects, scholars, experts, and others associated with the subject.

Famous film documentaries include  Grey Gardens,  a biography of two of Jacqueline Kennedy’s once-wealthy cousins, who, at the time of filming, lived in squalor in a condemned mansion in the Hamptons; and  I Am Not Your Negro , a biography of the life and legacy of pioneering American author James Baldwin.

Television documentary series tell one story over the course of several episodes, like  The Jinx :  The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst , a biography of the real estate heir and alleged serial killer that focused on his suspected crimes. There are many nonfiction television shows that use a documentary format, but subjects typically change from one episode to the next, such as A&E’s  Biography  and PBS’s  POV .

These films are biographical motion pictures, written by screenwriters and performed by actors. They often employ a certain amount of creative liberty in their interpretation of a real life. This is largely done to maintain a feasible runtime; capturing all of the pivotal moments of a subject’s life in a 90- or 120-minute movie is all but impossible. So, filmmakers might choose to add, eliminate, or combine key events and characters, or they may focus primarily on one or only a few aspects of the subject’s life. Some popular examples:  Coal Miner’s Daughter , a biography of country music legend Loretta Lynn;  Malcom X , a biopic centered on the civil rights leader of the same name; and  The King’s Speech , a dramatization of Prince Albert’s efforts to overcome a stutter and ascend the English throne.

Semi-fictionalized account

This approach takes a real-life event and interprets or expands it in ways that stray beyond what actually happened. This is done for entertainment and to build the story so it fits the filmmaker’s vision or evolves into a longer form, such as a multi-season television show. These accounts sometimes come with the disclaimer that they are “inspired by true events.” Examples of semi-fictionalized accounts are the TV series  Orange Is the New Black ,  Masters of Sex , and  Mozart of the Jungle —each of which stem from at least one biographical element, but showrunners expounded upon to provide many seasons of entertainment.

The Functions of Biography

Biographies inform readers about the life of a notable person. They are a way to introduce readers to the work’s subject—the historical details, the subject’s motivations and psychological underpinnings, and their environment and the impact they had, both in the short and long term.

Because the author is somewhat removed from their subject, they can offer a more omniscient, third-person narrative account. This vantage point allows the author to put certain events into a larger context; compare and contrast events, people, and behaviors predominant in the subject’s life; and delve into psychological and sociological themes of which the subject may not have been aware.

Also, a writer structures a biography to make the life of the subject interesting and readable. Most biographers want to entertain as well as inform, so they typically use a traditional  plot  structure—an introduction,  conflict , rising of tension, a climax, a resolution, and an ending—to give the life story a narrative shape. While the ebb and flow of life is a normal day-to-day rhythm, it doesn’t necessarily make for entertaining reading. The job of the writer, then, becomes one of shaping the life to fit the elements of a good plot.

Writers Known for Biographies

Many modern writers have dedicated much of their careers to biographies, such as:

• Kitty Kelley, author of  Jackie Oh! An Intimate Biography; His Way: The Unauthorized Biography of Frank Sinatra ; and  The Family: The Real Story of the Bush Dynasty
• Antonia Fraser, author of  Mary Queen of Scots ;  Cromwell; Our Chief of Men ; and  The Gunpowder Plot: Terror and Faith in 1605
• David McCullough, author of  The Path Between the Seas; Truman ; and  John Adams
• Andrew Morton, author of  Diana: Her True Story in Her Own Words; Madonna ; and  Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography
• Alison Weir, author of  The Six Wives of Henry VIII; Eleanor of Aquitaine: By the Wrath of God; Queen of England ; and  Katherine Swynford: The Story of John of Gaunt and His Scandalous Duchess

Examples of Biographies

1. James Boswell,  The Life of Samuel Johnson

The biography that ushered in the modern era of true-life writing,  The Life of Samuel Johnson  covered the entirety of its subject’s life, from his birth to his status as England’s preeminent writer to his death. Boswell was a personal acquaintance of Johnson, so he was able to draw on voluminous amounts of personal conversations the two shared.

What also sets this biography apart is, because Boswell was a contemporary of Johnson, readers see Johnson in the context of his own time. He wasn’t some fabled figure that a biographer was writing about centuries later; he was someone to whom the author had access, and Boswell could see the real-world influence his subject had on life in the here and now.

2. Sylvia Nasar,  A Beautiful Mind

Nasar’s 1998 Pulitzer Prize-nominated biography of mathematician John Nash introduced legions of readers to Nash’s remarkable life and genius. The book opens with Nash’s childhood and follows him through his education, career, personal life, and struggles with schizophrenia. It ends with his acceptance of the 1994 Nobel Prize for Economics. In addition to a Pulitzer nomination,  A Beautiful Mind  won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography, was a  New York Times  bestseller, and provided the basis for the Academy Award-winning 2001 film of the same name.

3. Catherine Clinton,  Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom

Clinton’s biography of the abolitionist icon is a large-scale epic that chronicles Tubman’s singular life. It starts at her birth in the 1820s as the slave Araminta Ross, continuing through her journey to freedom; her pivotal role in the Underground Railroad; her Moses-like persona; and her death in 1913.

Because Tubman could not read or write, she left behind no letters, diaries, or other personal papers in her own hand and voice. Clinton reconstructed Tubman’s history entirely through other source material, and historians often cite this work as the quintessential biography of Tubman’s life.

4. Megan Mayhew Bergman,  Almost Famous Women

Almost Famous Women  is not a biography in the strictest sense of the word; it is a fictional interpretation of real-life women. Each short story revolves around a woman from history with close ties to fame, such as movie star Marlene Dietrich, Standard Oil heiress Marion “Joe” Carstairs, aviatrix Beryl Markham, Oscar Wilde’s niece Dolly, and Lord Byron’s daughter Allegra. Mayhew Bergman imagines these colorful women in equally colorful episodes that put them in a new light—a light that perhaps offers them the honor and homage that history denied them.

Further Resources on Biography

Newsweek  compiled their picks for the  75 Best Biographies of All Time .

The Open Education Database has a list of  75 Biographies to Read Before You Die .

Goodreads put together a list of readers’  best biography selections .

If you’re looking to write biographies,  Infoplease  has instructions for writing shorter pieces, while  The Writer   has practical advice for writing manuscript-length bios.

Ranker  collected  a comprehensive list of famous biographers .

Related Terms

• Autobiography
• Short Story

The Elements of a Biography: How to Write an Interesting Bio

• March 30, 2022

While these books are generally non-fiction, they may include elements of a biography in order to more accurately reflect the nature of the subject’s life and personality, Writing about someone who actually existed, whether it’s a family member, close friend, famous person, or historical figure, involves certain elements. A person’s life story is being told, and the subject’s life needs to be organized in such a way that the reader is interested and engaged. 

Biographies can easily read as boring announcements of only a human’s accomplishments in life, and if you want the bio you write to stand out, you should try to avoid that.

When you’re writing a biography or even a short professional bio, ask yourself what sorts of things you’d like included if someone was writing your biography. 

You would most likely want people to get a feel of who you were as a person, and to be able to understand the way that you felt, what moved and motivated you, and what changes you wanted to see and make in the world.

Do the same thing when you write about someone else. Do the subject the favor of treating them like a real person instead of a stiff and boring character that students will dread having to learn about at school each year. Getting students excited about history, historical figures, and people of interest can inspire them to work hard to make a difference as well.

What Does Biographical Mean?

The term “biographical” is an adjective that means having the characteristics of a biography or constituting a set of personal information or details. For instance,  biographical notes  contain information about a specific person’s life or narrate stories and experiences of that person. Another example is  biographical details . Biographical details include who the person is, what they have become, what they have struggled with, and any other information unique to them.

Keep It Real

Don’t fictionalize the life of the person you are writing about, but remember your sense of humanity when you write, and do what you can to make sure that your subject can be viewed as a real person who existed, rather than just a name on a monument.

It’s a thin line between rumor, speculation, and fact when telling the stories of people, especially people who are long dead and can’t verify or refute it for themselves. Be sure that if you do research and something is speculated, you state that in your writing.

Never claim something is fact when it’s isn’t a known and proven fact. This will cause you to lose credibility as a nonfiction writer.

What to Include in a Biography

When you read or write a biography, most of them have the same basic details of a person’s life. The person’s date of birth, date of death, and the major accomplishments and key events in between those two dates are all important to include in the writing process. These are elements that need to exist within the story of the person to be considered a full biography.

Keep in mind that these are the minimum elements that need to be included. Expanding on these elements and adding meat to the bones of your story will engage readers. 

If you only include important dates and accomplishments, you might as well direct the reader to visit the headstone of the person you are writing about, and they’ll get almost as much information.

Personal details offer a more intimate look into the subject’s life and can help the reader to relate or at least understand some of the decisions made by the person, as well as the influences that played a part in steering the person’s life. 

If the subject had any passions that he or she voiced throughout his or her life, mentioning those in your story of their life will elevate your biography.

Relevant Information

Family members are often mentioned in biography and major details of the person’s career. If the person was known for their accomplishments in their field of work, there is often more content there than a brief career summary.

The result is usually more of a professional bio than a personal one. Basic facts of the person’s education are often mentioned as well. If you are writing a biography about someone, try to remember to write about more than just their job.

Remember that you aren’t writing a resume, and the subject isn’t asking you to help them get a job. You are tasked with writing about the entire life of someone. You are more than your job, so the subject of the biography you are writing should get to be more, as well.

Personal Information

Biographies don’t have to be boring. Personal stories, interesting stories, and funny quips are sometimes used to make the readers identify with the subject. 

When included in a biography, these details give the reader a chance to feel as though the subject was a real person with opinions, feelings, flaws, and a personality, rather than a stuffy person who is significant to history and not much else.

Providing the audience with these lighthearted but not necessarily crucial elements of a biography will make the biography more interesting and appealing.

Narrator and Order

Point of view.

An important element in most biographies is establishing the point of view. You don’t want to write it like a novel and have it written in a first-person point of view. This will result in something that is somewhat fictionalized and something that more closely resembles an autobiography, which is the personal story of a person’s own life.

Biographies should be written in the third person point of view. In third person, someone outside of the story, who has all of the information, is the narrator. 

Try not to be biased. Stick to the basic facts, major events that you have researched, and keep the story interesting but accurate. A biography is not meant to be a fictional adventure, but the subject’s life was significant in some manner, and the details of that can still be interesting.

Chronological Order

Biographies usually begin, well, in the beginning, at the birth of the subject. The first sentence usually includes the basic information that a reader needs to know: who the person is, where the person is from, and when the person was born. A biography that doesn’t include these details but starts at the most important life events can exist, but they aren’t common. You may see this tactic used in a short biography or a brief bio.

Usually, chronological order is the best course of action for a biography. A person’s life begins in childhood, so details of that childhood, even briefly, are necessary before getting to the subject’s adult life.

Describing the subject’s early life to the audience usually means you should research and write about the family they came from, their early education, what kind of student the person was, where they came from, any close bonds they had as children with people. 

As well as their interests and whether or not they pursued the life they ended up with as an adult, or if greatness and accomplishments were thrust upon them by events outside of their control.

As you progress into a subject’s adult life, you should add achievements to the biography. Focus not only on the major achievements as acts but also try to fill the audience in on what the motivation for the achievements was.

For example,  Abraham Lincoln  was the sixteenth President of the United States. That’s a well-known fact. Students learn about him in American grade schools and then over and over until their educational careers are over. In a bio about Lincoln, you may discuss the fact that Lincoln freed the slaves.

While this is true, you need to research deeper into that. Just stating that a person did something doesn’t make it an interesting read. Ask yourself why he freed the slaves.

Do your research, speak to an expert, and search for journals and letters that a subject might have written to describe how they felt to the audience and how they drove the person to do what they did.

Focus on the Impact the Person’s Life Had

After you have gone over the person’s life in the biography, you should share with readers what impact the subject’s life had on the rest of the world, even (sometimes especially) after their death. Many of the important people in history who have biographies written about them are deceased.

When you write a biography, ask yourself why anyone cares what that person accomplished. What did they do for one or two people to make them important enough to have a biography?

For example, many students learn about George Washington. He gave America the sense of hope and patriotism that they needed to declare and then achieve freedom from English rule. 

When we search for information about Washington, we find not only his bio and his painted picture, but we also see and learn about the things he influenced, inspired, and the feelings he invoked among the people around him.

When we give a well-rounded look at not only what the person did in their lives, but how they changed the world, even just for those around them, we start to see the bigger picture and appreciate the person more.

Students can go from being bored and obligated to reading sentence after sentence about a boring guy who lived hundreds of years ago to being excited to learn more about the founding fathers. As a writer, it is your job to inspire these feelings for the reader.

When you write a biography, it’s important that you thoroughly research and fact-check everything you are writing about. Everyone knows that Lincoln freed the slaves, but you should still research it to ensure that everything is accurate as far as dates, places, speeches, and motivations go.

Make sure that you are getting your information from reputable resources. If you are interviewing live people, be sure to verify their credentials and use a tape recorder when doing so.

A biography is not an opinion piece or a novel, and there is no room for error, miscalculation, or falsification when you write a biography.

Actor Bio Example

An actor’s bio tells about the details of a specific person with regard to a person’s acting career. Below is an example. ( This example is created to serve as a guide for you and does not describe an actual person .)

Edgar Anderson and his family reside in Washington. He is currently taking up a Business Management course and striving to achieve a balance between schooling and his career. Edgar first experienced acting when he was still a junior high school student in 2015, where he played  Horton  in a Seussical-inspired school theater play. His manager discovered him in 2018 when the former watched him portray the lead role in a play about the history of their school during the school’s Foundation Day.

In 2022, he got his first nomination for best actor at the Oscars. Recently, Edgar has found a new set of hobbies. He enjoys learning karate and foreign languages. Edgar often thanks his family and friends because they have fully supported him in his acting career. He also extends his gratitude to the directors he has worked with and the talent agency that has helped him ascend the ladder of his career.

He dedicates his early success to all who have believed in him over the years. According to Edger, he loves his career even more because of the overflowing love and support he continually receives from his fans and loved ones.

The Importance of a Biography

It is important to include all of the elements of a biography because a biography is the story of a person’s life, and that’s a big undertaking. The subject is often no longer alive and can’t dispute what we write about them, so we have to get the information right and do the best we can when writing.

Students work on writing biographies and research papers about people in school so that they can learn more about the people who helped us get to where we are today in terms of society.

We teach students the skills and elements of a biography so that the practice of telling the story of a person’s life never gets lost. We need to focus on the future, but we cannot do that without understanding the past.

Other people may one day come along and write your bio, and when that happens, you have to hope that the first step they take is to do the research thoroughly so that they can do your story justice. That is what we owe the person we are writing about when we start to search for information about them.

Be respectful of the biography because it is the telling of those who came before us and can serve as a guidebook for the future or even a warning.

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Libraries | Research Guides

Biographical information.

• Biographical Sources
• Searching for Biographical Sources in NUsearch

Biographical resources

• Online resources
• Print resources
• American National Biography This link opens in a new window There is no need to sign in at website to access this resource. Begin searching or browsing for articles. The American National Biography is the premier, authoritative, historical biographical encyclopedia for the United States. Over 18,700 men and women are included, and the resource is updated quarterly with new entries and revisions of previously published entries to enhance their accuracy and currency. Articles are by established scholars. Living individuals are not included.
• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography This link opens in a new window The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography provides biographies of over 50,000 individuals worldwide who have shaped the history of the British Isles. Access restricted to 3 simultaneous users at a time.
• Gale in Context: Biography This link opens in a new window Gale In Context: Biography is an engaging online experience for those seeking contextual information on the world's most influential people. Biography merges Gale's authoritative reference content with periodicals and multimedia organized into a user-friendly portal experience while allowing users to search for people based on name, occupation, nationality, ethnicity, birth/death dates and places, or gender as well as keyword and full text.
• Current Biography Illustrated This link opens in a new window Current Biography Illustrated contains profiles of individuals living at the time of publication, often at the height of, or even the beginning of, their fame or notoriety. Occasionally a revised biography will be published, and a brief obituary, but published biographies are never revised in light of later events, so a useful source for seeing how individuals were perceived at the time they were active. Illustrations for most individuals are included.
• Chambers Biographical Dictionary International and historical coverage of all areas of human achievement including the arts, science, technology, sport, politics, philosophy and business.
• World Biographical Information System WBIS This link opens in a new window Over 3.6 million short biographical entries for individuals who lived across the world from ancient times to the present. Includes full text images of the original sources, usually older biographical dictionaries. Especially valuable for locating information on hard-to-find individuals from the past.
• Almanac of American Politics Includes profiles of every member of Congress and every governor. It offers in-depth and completely up-to-date narrative profiles of all 50 states and 435 House districts.
• African American Biographical Database This link opens in a new window From July 1, 2023 AABD became a component of ProQuest Black Studies Center. Biographical sketches and essays on African Americans from 1790 to 1950. The Database corresponds to the printed Black Biographical Dictionaries. These sketches have been assembled from biographical dictionaries, yearbooks, directories, histories, personal accounts, and other published sources. The full text of 300 rare books is displayed and searchable in page images, intact with images and illustrations.
• Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography Provides information on the history of science through articles on the professional lives of scientists. Covers all periods of science from classical antiquity to modern times.
• Gale Literature Resource Center This link opens in a new window Provides access to biographies, bibliographies, and critical analayses of authors from every age and literary discipline. Covers more than 120,000 novelists, essayist, poets, journalists, and other writers, with in-depth coverage of 2,500 of the most-studied authors. Includes links to: Dictionary of literary biography, Contemporary authors, Contemporary literary criticism, and more.
• Palgrave MacMillan Dictionary of Women’s Biography Biographical information about women: historical, current, and worldwide.

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• Last Updated: Jul 7, 2023 1:49 PM
• URL: https://libguides.northwestern.edu/biographical

Biographical Information

What is a biography, general suggestion for finding biographical information, general sources - biography databases, general sources - reference books, biographical master indexes.

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• A biography is an account of the special and important events in a person's life
• Not to be confused with bibliography , which is a listing of books and articles on a topic
• Biographies may be brief and cover only basic information about a person's life such as dates of birth and death, education and vocation
• A biography may also be very detailed, and cover the cultural background, outstanding accomplishments, and historical significance of an individual.
• Biographical sources cover living and deceased persons, notable persons in particular countries, persons in specific occupations, celebrities, and civil and government leaders
• The person's full name and correct spelling (for example: Smith, Smyth or Smythe)
• date of birth
• date of death (when applicable)
• nationality or country of residence
• occupation or profession

For basic facts about a person (e.g.,"When was Napoleon born?"):

• General encyclopedias

Can’t find biographical information in general encyclopedias or need more information? Check:

• One of the general sources listed on this page
• The specialized biographical reference books listed on the other tabs in this guide

Can’t find the person you are looking for or get enough information from a biographical reference book? Check:

• One of the biographical master indexes listed on this page. These guide you to books, periodical articles or other reference sources. Please note that sometimes you will be referred to another index.

For highly detailed information :

• Search UToledo’s online library catalog for books on the person:
• Perform a subject search by typing the person's last name followed by their first name, e.g., Whitman, Walt
• Execute the search and look for the subheading --Biography. The complete heading in this example is: Whitman, Walt, 1819-1892 – Biography
• You can also use the UToledo catalog to search for the titles of books and periodicals found in the biographical master indexes

If UToledo does not own a title you want :

• Use the OhioLINK Library Catalog to directly borrow books from other college libraries in Ohio. Books arrive within three to five business days
• There is generally no charge for this service
• The library may need two to three weeks to get the item you need
• For assistance with the library catalog, OhioLINK, or interlibrary loan forms, consult a reference librarian at the Information/Reference Desk.

Biographical information may not be available for all individuals. In these cases:

• Information about an author can sometimes be found by checking the preface or introduction of an author's work for scholarly background and academic achievements
• Perform an author search in the library catalog by typing in the last name followed by the first name

Master Indexes provide a name index to books, periodical articles, and other references where you might find a biography or obituary of someone.  Usually, you can search by name (last, first) and then be given a code for a title, volume, and page number.  Consult the key at the beginning of the book to decipher the title you need.  Search by Title in the UToledo Library Catalog to see if we have the book or periodical, or order it from another OhioLINK library.

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• Last Updated: Mar 23, 2023 4:21 PM
• URL: https://libguides.utoledo.edu/biography

Biographies: The Stories of Humanity

• An Introduction to Punctuation
• Ph.D., Rhetoric and English, University of Georgia
• M.A., Modern English and American Literature, University of Leicester
• B.A., English, State University of New York

A biography is a story of a person's life, written by another author. The writer of a biography is called a biographer while the person written about is known as the subject or biographee.

Biographies usually take the form of a narrative , proceeding chronologically through the stages of a person's life. American author Cynthia Ozick notes in her essay "Justice (Again) to Edith Wharton" that a good biography is like a novel, wherein it believes in the idea of a life as "a triumphal or tragic story with a shape, a story that begins at birth, moves on to a middle part, and ends with the death of the protagonist."

A biographical essay is a comparatively short work of nonfiction  about certain aspects of a person's life. By necessity, this sort of essay  is much more selective than a full-length biography, usually focusing only on key experiences and events in the subject's life.

Between History and Fiction

Perhaps because of this novel-like form, biographies fit squarely between written history and fiction, wherein the author often uses personal flairs and must invent details "filling in the gaps" of the story of a person's life that can't be gleaned from first-hand or available documentation like home movies, photographs, and written accounts.

Some critics of the form argue it does a disservice to both history and fiction, going so far as to call them "unwanted offspring, which has brought a great embarrassment to them both," as Michael Holroyd puts it in his book "Works on Paper: The Craft of Biography and Autobiography." Nabokov even called biographers "psycho-plagiarists," meaning that they steal the psychology of a person and transcribe it to the written form.

Biographies are distinct from creative non-fiction such as memoir in that biographies are specifically about one person's full life story -- from birth to death -- while creative non-fiction is allowed to focus on a variety of subjects, or in the case of memoirs certain aspects of an individual's life.

Writing a Biography

For writers who want to pen another person's life story, there are a few ways to spot potential weaknesses, starting with making sure proper and ample research has been conducted -- pulling resources such as newspaper clippings, other academic publications, and recovered documents and found footage.  

First and foremost, it is the duty of biographers to avoid misrepresenting the subject as well as acknowledging the research sources they used. Writers should, therefore, avoid presenting a personal bias for or against the subject as being objective is key to conveying the person's life story in full detail.

Perhaps because of this, John F. Parker observes in his essay "Writing: Process to Product" that some people find writing a biographical essay "easier than writing an  autobiographical  essay. Often it takes less effort to write about others than to reveal ourselves." In other words, in order to tell the full story, even the bad decisions and scandals have to make the page in order to truly be authentic.

• How to Define Autobiography
• Genres in Literature
• What Is an Autobiography?
• Point of View in Grammar and Composition
• American Author Maps: Informational Texts in the English Classroom
• 6 Unusual Online Certificate Programs
• Assignment Biography: Student Criteria and Rubric for Writing
• Doris Kearns Goodwin
• Creative Nonfiction
• AP English Exam: 101 Key Terms
• An Introduction to Metafiction
• The 11 Best Books About Frank Lloyd Wright
• A Guide to All Types of Narration, With Examples
• Understanding Mystery Writing
• How to Write an Interesting Biography

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• UOW Library

Finding historical information

• Finding biographies
• Starting your research
• Searching collections
• Identifying historical evidence

About biographies and biographical information

How to search for biographies.

• Catalogues and databases

Additional biographical resources

• Further Resources

What you can learn from this page:

• Tips for researching well-known people and less well-known people (both recent and historical)
• Tips for finding biographies relating to particular professions
• Library databases and catalogues for searching biographies.

Types of biographies

A biography tells you a story about a person’s life, personality, character, attitudes, or impact on their community and broader society. It can talk about their childhood, education, career, family relationships and friendships.

There are three main types of biography:

• A biography is where the author writes about someone else’s life (usually someone who is very well known such as a historical figure, a prominent world leader or a famous celebrity)
• An autobiography is where the author writes about their own life (usually narrating their lifetime story) 
• A memoir is a specific type of autobiography, where a writer or speaker focuses on particular aspects of their life, such as key events or relationships. Examples of ‘memoirs’ can include diaries, letters, interviews, and oral histories.

It’s important to be aware that:

• Longer biographies are often published or produced as a single work.
• Shorter biographies are usually published within collections of personal stories, anecdotes, reminiscences and recollections.
• Biographical profiles (summary details about a person's life/background) are often included on relevant websites.

Searching by individual names

• Prime Minister Bob Hawke was formally referred to as “Robert J Hawke”
• Elizabeth Jessie Hickman had the alias or pseudonym "The Lady Bushranger"
• Wartime doctor Edward Dunlop was commonly known by the nickname "Weary Dunlop"
• 'Bill' or 'Will' are popular nicknames for William. Older publications sometimes abbreviated William to "Wm.".
• Hawke AND (biography OR autobiography OR memoir)

Searching by themes

When you don't have a specific person's name:

• Search for relevant professions or occupations,  e.g. artists, teachers, nurses
• Search for relevant broader related keywords, e.g. women, Indigenous, wartime, explorers, activists
• nurse* AND (biograph* OR autobiograph*)
• (Indigenous OR Aboriginal*) AND (biograph* OR autobiograph*)
• artist* AND memoir*
• (soldier* OR “prisoners of war”) AND “personal narrative” (library catalogue records often use this formal phrase to describe wartime biographies)
• travel* AND anecdote*

No results?

Try some of these more specific terms, especially when searching for very old references or more obscure names or topics. Not all books have the word 'biography' or 'memoir' in their title or catalogue description.

For examples of written recollections try:

• (diar* OR letter* OR correspondence OR account* OR travel* OR notebook* OR observations)

For examples of verbal recollections try:

• ("oral histor*" OR interview* OR reminisc* OR recollect* OR anecdote*)

Databases and catalogues for biographies

Use the following databases and catalogues to search for nationally or internationally well known individuals. If your person is less well known outside their immediate area (geographic and/or subject wise) try more localised news sources or subject specific sources .

• UOW Library SEARCH Try this first for Australian and international biographies. Includes a range of encyclopedias, books, news sources and journal articles.
• Trove: People and organisations Use this for information about significant people and organisations in Australia. Searches across the Australian Dictionary of Biography, Australian Women’s Register, Dictionary of Australian Artists Online and Encyclopedia of Australian Science. Results may also include related material such as books, articles, images, recordings and older newspapers.
• People Australia Use this in addition to Trove (some content overlaps with Trove, other content is unique). Searches across entries from the Australian Dictionary of Biography, Obituaries Australia, Women Australia, Indigenous Australia, Labour Australia and other resources compiled by the National Centre of Biography.
• Oxford Reference Online Try this for biographical entries across a large number of different subject encyclopedias, both Australian and international.

Try a Google search

Don't forget to try an Advanced Google search to see what biographical information about more well known individuals may be freely available on authoritative websites. see these examples:

• Nelson Mandela biography AND site:.org
• artist Ben Quilty AND (biography OR life) AND site:.au

Databases like this are not full-text but they are still extremely helpful as they will give you all the necessary publication details that you need to search for the item using UOW databases, local library catalogues or to request the item via Document Delivery.

• Ryerson Index Use this to identify details of death notices and obituaries in many newspapers around Australia. Much of this information is not available elsewhere online, especially for the period between 1955-1990s. Earliest entries date from the 1800s however years vary for each paper so check the details shown in its "Newspaper Coverage" list.

Further resources

• Biography Research Guide National Library of Australia's guide to researching Australian and overseas biographies.
• Previous: Identifying historical evidence
• Last Updated: Apr 15, 2024 3:41 PM
• URL: https://uow.libguides.com/finding-historical-information

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Biographical Resources: A Research Guide: Introduction

Introduction.

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

We purchase access to new online versions of major biographical reference sources as they become available. Many important biographical resources are available in print and on microfilm. This guide combines online titles with the selected microform and print biography titles in the Olin and Africana reference collections. Online databases are available to Cornell users only.

Biography is a branch of the study of history. The reliability of biographical sources varies widely and is subject to the usual vagaries of historical studies: lack of accurate information, too much or conflicting information, too little information, psychological theorizing, etc. But a well-written biographical article in a reliable reference book or database can be a source of both pleasure and enlightenment. Enjoy!

For further information or to locate titles not listed here, always feel free to consult with the reference staff .

Reference Help

Permissions Information

If you wish to use or adapt any or all of the content of this Guide go to Cornell Library's Research Guides Use Conditions to review our use permissions and our Creative Commons license.

• Next: National and International Biographies >>
• Last Updated: Mar 15, 2024 12:12 PM
• URL: https://guides.library.cornell.edu/biographyresearch

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Biographies

Use a biography when you are looking for facts and accounts about notable people. An autobiography is a biography in which the author writes about his or her own life. Many biographies focus on one person.Some are collective biographies which have information about multiple people. Some collective biographies are subject specific, like a book or series about famous scientists or one about actors.

When do I use a biography? Use a biography when you need the following:

• quick facts about an individual
• in-depth information about an individual
• information about an individual's role in a specific event (e.g., Abraham Lincoln and Emancipation Proclamation)

Where do I find a biography? Look for a biography in the reference or nonfiction sections of your library. Often the books have a call number of 921, 920 (collective), B or Bio, or the number associated with what the individual is noted for (e. g., athletes in 796 or mathematicians in 510). Use your library's online catalog to find the call number by using the person's name in a subject search. Or, enter the topic you are interested in, like athletes or mathematician s, and adding biography as a keyword.  

How is a biography organized? Biographies can be arranged in a variety of ways. Some cover  a person's entire life, and others focus on a significant contribution or event. In the case of collective biographies, a chapter or section will often focus on one individual.

How do I use a print biography? Think about what information you need. Use the table of contents to see how the book is arranged, and use the index to locate the specific pieces of information you need. In a collective biography, the index will list names of individuals and also related topics and events.

The index will be in alphabetical order by main headings (usually in bold print) and subheadings (usually indented):   

How do I use an online biography? Your public or school library might have eBook biographies about the person you are studying. Check the online catalogs or databases. Also, there are websites dedicated to biographical information, like Biography.com and History.com. Browse by topics or use the website's, eBook's, or database's search features. Or, use a search engine to search the Internet for information about your subject.

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Wonder of the Day #44

What Is a Biography?

LANGUAGE ARTS — Literature

Have You Ever Wondered...

• Who wrote the first biography? 
• How do you write a biography? 
• What is a memoir?
• biography ,
• Biography ,
• Autobiography ,
• James Boswell ,
• Samuel Johnson ,
• Slave Narrative ,

Today’s Wonder of the Day was inspired by Chgvlokdkl. Chgvlokdkl Wonders , “ Who was the first biography on? ” Thanks for WONDERing with us, Chgvlokdkl!

If you’re reading this, chances are that you enjoy learning about people, places, and new ideas. That’s what Wonderopolis is all about! Every Wonder you read is a nonfiction article. Nonfiction means that it is based in fact —it is true. Many Wonders are about famous or important people. These are biographies! And today we’re WONDERing—what is a biography?

Simply put, a biography is the true story of a person’s life. Of course, writing a biography might not be so simple! How does someone write a biography? Some authors write a biography of someone that they knew. One of the most famous biographies in ancient times was the descriptions of Socrates by his student, Plato. Plato wrote about what he saw and experienced with Socrates.

Most biographers have to research their subjects. Writers can learn about them by reading their diaries or other papers they wrote. They can also read what other biographers have written about them. If their subject is alive, a writer might interview them to learn more about their perspective. Sometimes, a writer may know his subject , but they also research them in order to give a fuller account of their lives. One of the first modern biographers was James Boswell. He knew his subject , Samuel Johnson, very well. He also learned more about Johnson by reading his papers and journals. Boswell’s Life of Samuel Johnson became one of the most famous biographies in history!

Another kind of biography is the autobiography. “Auto” means self, so an autobiography is a biography written by oneself! One kind of autobiography is a memoir. Memoirs are usually about one part of a person’s life—not their entire life, like an autobiography. Both biographies and autobiographies are often written about well known or important people. Many may already know of them and are interested in learning more about them. That isn’t always true, though.

There are a few different reasons why people would write a biography or autobiography. The first is to teach others about someone who is already well known. Ron Chernow’s biography of Alexander Hamilton , that inspired the musical Hamilton , is one example. Another is to inform about other places, times, or events. Biographies of famous generals, for example, help teach us about the conflicts they were a part of. Travel memoirs show us what it is like to live in other places.

Many memoirs focus on someone’s unique life. Helen Keller ’s book tells of her life as a person who was both blind and deaf. Maya Angelou wrote about her life growing up as a Black girl in Arkansas.

Autobiographies can also be used to draw attention to important issues. They can help people empathize with the author. One genre of autobiography called slave narratives were written for this purpose. Authors like Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs told about their lives as enslaved people. They hoped that by telling their stories, they might inspire others to work against slavery .

Autobiographies and memoirs about the Holocaust also seek to inform and teach others. Two of the best known Holocaust memoirs are Anne Frank ’s Diary of a Young Girl and Elie Wiesel ’s Night . These books help readers feel connected to the authors and understand how they felt.

Writing a biography requires a lot of research . Writing an autobiography or memoir means you will need to know all about yourself! Who would YOU like to write about? Who would YOU like to read about?

Common Core , Next Generation Science Standards , and National Council for the Social Studies ."> Standards : CCRA.R.1, CCRA.R.2, CCRA.R.3, CCRA.R.7, CCRA.R.8, CCRA.R.9, CCRA.R.10, CCRA.L.1, CCRA.L.2, CCRA.L.3, CCRA.L.4, CCRA.L.5, CCRA.L.6, CCRA.W.2, CCRA.W.3, CCRA.W.4, CCRA.W.7, CCRA.W.9

Wonder What's Next?

Tomorrow’s palm-sized Wonder of the Day has a long tail and is sometimes gray. However, we’re not sure if it likes cheese.

Whether you’d like to read or write, try it out here! 

• There are so many Wonder biographies—which is your favorite? With an adult’s help, search our website and see what biographies you can find. You might try Sandra Cisneros , James Baldwin , or Henry David Thoreau —who all wrote memoirs of their own! Share what you learn with a friend or family member. If you can’t find the biography you’d like, suggest it in the Wonder Bank ! 
• Ready to try it for yourself? Write a small biography! You can either write about someone you already know, or not. With an adult’s help, use your research skills on the Internet or at the library to learn more about your subject. If your subject is a friend or family member, interview them to learn more. Then, organize and write what you have learned. Share your biography with a friend or family member! 
• Are your experiences unique enough to write about? We think so! Try your hand at writing a memoir. You can write a poem, short story, or even try a six-word memoir . Share what you create with a friend or family member!

Wonder Sources

• https://www.britannica.com/dictionary (accessed 19 July, 2023)
• https://www.britannica.com/art/biography-narrative-genre (accessed 22 May, 2023)
• https://www.authorlearningcenter.com/writing/i-have-an-idea/w/choosing-your-topic/6397/the-differences-between-memoir-autobiography-and-biography---article (accessed 24 May, 2023)
• https://celadonbooks.com/what-is-a-biography/ (accessed 24 May, 2023)

Did you get it?

Wonder contributors.

We’d like to thank:

Ivy for contributing questions about today’s Wonder topic!

Keep WONDERing with us!

Wonder Words

biography is about a person and that person wrote it

Thanks for sharing your thoughts about biographies, Taylor! They are fun to write and read! :)

That sounds very interesting, Morgan! We enjoy reading biographies, too! :)

Wonderopolis

Hi, kay! We're sorry to hear that. Reading and writing biographies are both WONDERful ways to learn about historic people. We encourage you to think of your historical hero ( Wonder #1119:Who’s Your Historical Hero? ) and research him/her at the library. You might change your mind! :)

Hi Derek! We're excited that you're the first to comment too! We are so glad you're WONDERing with us! Who's your favorite biography about? Thanks for WONDERing! :)

We are undergoing some spring clearing site maintenance and need to temporarily disable the commenting feature. Thanks for your patience.

Related Wonders for You to Explore

Who Was Elie Wiesel?

Who Was Paul Laurence Dunbar?

When Do You Use a Thesaurus?

Does “I” Always Come Before “E”?

What Is a Doppelgänger?

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Question 1 of 3

This Wonder is mostly about . . .

• a How to write a memoir Not Quite!
• b The importance of slave narratives in the abolitionist movement Not Quite!
• c James Boswell Not Quite!
• d Different kinds of biographies Correct!

Question 2 of 3

How do we know that autobiographies can be used to draw attention to important issues?

• a One genre of autobiography, called slave narratives, were written for the purpose of inspiring others to work against slavery. Correct!
• b Writing a biography requires a lot of research. Not Quite!
• c One of the most famous biographies in ancient times was the descriptions of Socrates by his student, Plato. Not Quite!
• d Many memoirs focus on someone’s unique life. Not Quite!

Question 3 of 3

How is an autobiography different from a memoir?

• a Memoirs are shorter than autobiographies. Not Quite!
• b Memoirs are usually about one part of a person’s life—not their entire life, like an autobiography. Correct!
• c Autobiographies are about someone else, whereas a memoir is about oneself. Not Quite!
• d Memoirs are about famous or important people; autobiographies are about ordinary people. Not Quite!

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MERRIMACK COLLEGE MCQUADE LIBRARY

General reference.

• Alternative Print & Media

What is Biographical Information?

Library databases.

• Books & Publishing
• Calculation & Conversion
• Cities, States, Regions
• Colleges & Universities
• Country Information
• Dictionaries and Thesauri
• Directories
• Economy / Finance
• Elements / Periodic Table
• Encyclopedias
• Health / Medical
• Images & Audiovisual
• Information Literacy
• Internet & the WWW
• Maps & Gazetteers
• Movie Reviews
• Public Opinion Polls
• Primary Sources
• Study Guides

Biographical information is information about a particular person's life including

• date of birth
• date of death
• accomplishments
• occupations

Find biographies of people, searching by occupation, nationality, ethnicity, birth and death date, and of course by name.  

Search hundreds of reference sources - dictionaries, bilingual dictionaries, thesauri, encyclopedias, quotations and atlases - for topic overviews and links to our other online resources. Includes mind map/concept map search feature.

• Gale Ebooks - Biography Explore Biography Reference sources in the Gale Ebooks Collection.
• Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window Use the Research People box to search for biographical information for national and international persons.

Note:  Access to library databases is restricted to current student , faculty and staff ONLY .

• Biography.com
• << Previous: Alternative Print & Media
• Next: Books & Publishing >>
• Last Updated: Sep 21, 2023 3:39 PM
• URL: https://libguides.merrimack.edu/reference

Research Process: Bibliographic Information

• Selecting a Topic
• Background Information
• Narrowing the Topic
• Library Terms
• Generating Keywords
• Boolean Operators
• Search Engine Strategies
• Google Searching
• Basic Internet Terms
• Research & The Web
• Search Engines
• Evaluating Books
• Evaluating Articles
• Evaluating Websites

Bibliographic Information

• Off Campus Access
• Periodical Locator

What is a bibliography?

A bibliography is a list of works on a subject or by an author that were used or consulted to write a research paper, book or article. It can also be referred to as a list of works cited. It is usually found at the end of a book, article or research paper. 

Gathering Information

Regardless of what citation style is being used, there are key pieces of information that need to be collected in order to create the citation.

For books and/or journals:

• Author name
• Title of publication 
• Article title (if using a journal)
• Date of publication
• Place of publication
• Volume number of a journal, magazine or encyclopedia
• Page number(s)

For websites:

• Author and/or editor name
• Title of the website
• Company or organization that owns or posts to the website
• URL (website address)
• Date of access 

This section provides two examples of the most common cited sources: a print book and an online journal retrieved from a research database. 

Book - Print

For print books, bibliographic information can be found on the  TITLE PAGE . This page has the complete title of the book, author(s) and publication information.

The publisher information will vary according to the publisher - sometimes this page will include the name of the publisher, the place of publication and the date.

For this example :  Book title: HTML, XHTML, and CSS Bible Author: Steven M. Schafer Publisher: Wiley Publications, Inc.

If you cannot find the place or date of publication on the title page, refer to the  COPYRIGHT PAGE  for this information. The copyright page is the page behind the title page, usually written in a small font, it carries the copyright notice, edition information, publication information, printing history, cataloging data, and the ISBN number.

For this example : Place of publication: Indianapolis, IN Date of publication: 2010

Article - Academic OneFile Database

In the article view:

Bibliographic information can be found under the article title, at the top of the page. The information provided in this area is  NOT  formatted according to any style.

Citations can also be found at the bottom of the page; in an area titled  SOURCE CITATION . The database does not specify which style is used in creating this citation, so be sure to double check it against the style rules for accuracy.

Article - ProQuest Database

Bibliographic information can be found under the article title, at the top of the page. The information provided in this area is  NOT  formatted according to any style. 

Bibliographic information can also be found at the bottom of the page; in an area titled  INDEXING . (Not all the information provided in this area is necessary for creating citations, refer to the rules of the style being used for what information is needed.)

Other databases have similar formats - look for bibliographic information under the article titles and below the article body, towards the bottom of the page. 

• << Previous: Plagiarism
• Next: Research Databases >>
• Last Updated: Jan 8, 2024 10:20 AM
• URL: https://pgcc.libguides.com/researchprocess