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How to Write a Review of a Biography

A written review should illuminate the positive and negative aspects of a particular book. Because what you write can be considered subjective and open to criticism itself, you should strive to be as thorough and thoughtful as possible when writing reviews of any type of book. Writing a review of a biography can be particularly challenging, because your review can reflect not only on the book but also on the subject of the biography itself.

Writing a Biography Review

Before embarking on your own review, read professional biography reviews such as those published in newspaper book-review sections or in Publishers Weekly magazine (see Resources). Don't read reviews of the book you intend on reviewing, but rather read reviews of other biographies.

Research the biography subject matter, either before or after you read your selected book. Knowing about the subject will be helpful in determining if the author of the book you are reviewing, in your opinion, omitted important facts.

Take notes while reading the biography. Jot down your impressions of the book at the end of each chapter. As you read, note passages that seemed particularly good or bad.

Write about the impression the author gave you of the subject of the biography. Among the points to consider: Did you come away with a deeper understanding of the subject? Was the writing superficial? What interesting and unique facts about the subject did you discover from reading the book?

Keep in mind that you are reviewing the biography and not necessarily the subject of the biographer. For instance, if the biography is of a despicable person, you don't need to condemn that person, but keep your comments focused on how the author illuminated his actions.

Proofread your review. Make sure you stay within the word-count limit, if there is one. After a thorough proofing and editing, submit your review for publication.

  • When discussing dates and events, make sure your facts are accurate.

This article was written by the CareerTrend team, copy edited and fact checked through a multi-point auditing system, in efforts to ensure our readers only receive the best information. To submit your questions or ideas, or to simply learn more about CareerTrend, contact us [here](http://careertrend.com/about-us).

How to Write a Book Review: A Comprehensive Tutorial With Examples

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You don’t need to be a literary expert to craft captivating book reviews. With one in every three readers selecting books based on insightful reviews, your opinions can guide fellow bibliophiles toward their next literary adventure.

Learning how to write a book review will not only help you excel at your assigned tasks, but you’ll also contribute valuable insights to the book-loving community and turn your passion into a professional pursuit.

In this comprehensive guide,  PaperPerk  will walk you through a few simple steps to master the art of writing book reviews so you can confidently embark on this rewarding journey.

What is a Book Review?

A book review is a critical evaluation of a book, offering insights into its content, quality, and impact. It helps readers make informed decisions about whether to read the book.

Writing a book review as an assignment benefits students in multiple ways. Firstly, it teaches them how to write a book review by developing their analytical skills as they evaluate the content, themes, and writing style .

Secondly, it enhances their ability to express opinions and provide constructive criticism. Additionally, book review assignments expose students to various publications and genres, broadening their knowledge.

Furthermore, these tasks foster essential skills for academic success, like critical thinking and the ability to synthesize information. By now, we’re sure you want to learn how to write a book review, so let’s look at the book review template first.

Table of Contents

Book Review Template

How to write a book review- a step by step guide.

Check out these 5 straightforward steps for composing the best book review.

Step 1: Planning Your Book Review – The Art of Getting Started

You’ve decided to take the plunge and share your thoughts on a book that has captivated (or perhaps disappointed) you. Before you start book reviewing, let’s take a step back and plan your approach. Since knowing how to write a book review that’s both informative and engaging is an art in itself.

Choosing Your Literature

First things first, pick the book you want to review. This might seem like a no-brainer, but selecting a book that genuinely interests you will make the review process more enjoyable and your insights more authentic.

Crafting the Master Plan

Next, create an  outline  that covers all the essential points you want to discuss in your review. This will serve as the roadmap for your writing journey.

The Devil is in the Details

As you read, note any information that stands out, whether it overwhelms, underwhelms, or simply intrigues you. Pay attention to:

  • The characters and their development
  • The plot and its intricacies
  • Any themes, symbols, or motifs you find noteworthy

Remember to reserve a body paragraph for each point you want to discuss.

The Key Questions to Ponder

When planning your book review, consider the following questions:

  • What’s the plot (if any)? Understanding the driving force behind the book will help you craft a more effective review.
  • Is the plot interesting? Did the book hold your attention and keep you turning the pages?
  • Are the writing techniques effective? Does the author’s style captivate you, making you want to read (or reread) the text?
  • Are the characters or the information believable? Do the characters/plot/information feel real, and can you relate to them?
  • Would you recommend the book to anyone? Consider if the book is worthy of being recommended, whether to impress someone or to support a point in a literature class.
  • What could improve? Always keep an eye out for areas that could be improved. Providing constructive criticism can enhance the quality of literature.

Step 2 – Crafting the Perfect Introduction to Write a Book Review

In this second step of “how to write a book review,” we’re focusing on the art of creating a powerful opening that will hook your audience and set the stage for your analysis.

Identify Your Book and Author

Begin by mentioning the book you’ve chosen, including its  title  and the author’s name. This informs your readers and establishes the subject of your review.

Ponder the Title

Next, discuss the mental images or emotions the book’s title evokes in your mind . This helps your readers understand your initial feelings and expectations before diving into the book.

Judge the Book by Its Cover (Just a Little)

Take a moment to talk about the book’s cover. Did it intrigue you? Did it hint at what to expect from the story or the author’s writing style? Sharing your thoughts on the cover can offer a unique perspective on how the book presents itself to potential readers.

Present Your Thesis

Now it’s time to introduce your thesis. This statement should be a concise and insightful summary of your opinion of the book. For example:

“Normal People” by Sally Rooney is a captivating portrayal of the complexities of human relationships, exploring themes of love, class, and self-discovery with exceptional depth and authenticity.

Ensure that your thesis is relevant to the points or quotes you plan to discuss throughout your review.

Incorporating these elements into your introduction will create a strong foundation for your book review. Your readers will be eager to learn more about your thoughts and insights on the book, setting the stage for a compelling and thought-provoking analysis.

How to Write a Book Review: Step 3 – Building Brilliant Body Paragraphs

You’ve planned your review and written an attention-grabbing introduction. Now it’s time for the main event: crafting the body paragraphs of your book review. In this step of “how to write a book review,” we’ll explore the art of constructing engaging and insightful body paragraphs that will keep your readers hooked.

Summarize Without Spoilers

Begin by summarizing a specific section of the book, not revealing any major plot twists or spoilers. Your goal is to give your readers a taste of the story without ruining surprises.

Support Your Viewpoint with Quotes

Next, choose three quotes from the book that support your viewpoint or opinion. These quotes should be relevant to the section you’re summarizing and help illustrate your thoughts on the book.

Analyze the Quotes

Write a summary of each quote in your own words, explaining how it made you feel or what it led you to think about the book or the author’s writing. This analysis should provide insight into your perspective and demonstrate your understanding of the text.

Structure Your Body Paragraphs

Dedicate one body paragraph to each quote, ensuring your writing is well-connected, coherent, and easy to understand.

For example:

  • In  Jane Eyre , Charlotte Brontë writes, “I am no bird; and no net ensnares me.” This powerful statement highlights Jane’s fierce independence and refusal to be trapped by societal expectations.
  • In  Normal People , Sally Rooney explores the complexities of love and friendship when she writes, “It was culture as class performance, literature fetishized for its ability to take educated people on false emotional journeys.” This quote reveals the author’s astute observations on the role of culture and class in shaping personal relationships.
  • In  Wuthering Heights , Emily Brontë captures the tumultuous nature of love with the quote, “He’s more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.” This poignant line emphasizes the deep, unbreakable bond between the story’s central characters.

By following these guidelines, you’ll create body paragraphs that are both captivating and insightful, enhancing your book review and providing your readers with a deeper understanding of the literary work. 

How to Write a Book Review: Step 4 – Crafting a Captivating Conclusion

You’ve navigated through planning, introductions, and body paragraphs with finesse. Now it’s time to wrap up your book review with a  conclusion that leaves a lasting impression . In this final step of “how to write a book review,” we’ll explore the art of writing a memorable and persuasive conclusion.

Summarize Your Analysis

Begin by summarizing the key points you’ve presented in the body paragraphs. This helps to remind your readers of the insights and arguments you’ve shared throughout your review.

Offer Your Final Conclusion

Next, provide a conclusion that reflects your overall feelings about the book. This is your chance to leave a lasting impression and persuade your readers to consider your perspective.

Address the Book’s Appeal

Now, answer the question: Is this book worth reading? Be clear about who would enjoy the book and who might not. Discuss the taste preferences and circumstances that make the book more appealing to some readers than others.

For example:  The Alchemist is a book that can enchant a young teen, but those who are already well-versed in classic literature might find it less engaging.

Be Subtle and Balanced

Avoid simply stating whether you “liked” or “disliked” the book. Instead, use nuanced language to convey your message. Highlight the pros and cons of reading the type of literature you’ve reviewed, offering a balanced perspective.

Bringing It All Together

By following these guidelines, you’ll craft a conclusion that leaves your readers with a clear understanding of your thoughts and opinions on the book. Your review will be a valuable resource for those considering whether to pick up the book, and your witty and insightful analysis will make your review a pleasure to read. So conquer the world of book reviews, one captivating conclusion at a time!

How to Write a Book Review: Step 5 – Rating the Book (Optional)

You’ve masterfully crafted your book review, from the introduction to the conclusion. But wait, there’s one more step you might consider before calling it a day: rating the book. In this optional step of “how to write a book review,” we’ll explore the benefits and methods of assigning a rating to the book you’ve reviewed.

Why Rate the Book?

Sometimes, when writing a professional book review, it may not be appropriate to state whether you liked or disliked the book. In such cases, assigning a rating can be an effective way to get your message across without explicitly sharing your personal opinion.

How to Rate the Book

There are various rating systems you can use to evaluate the book, such as:

  • A star rating (e.g., 1 to 5 stars)
  • A numerical score (e.g., 1 to 10)
  • A letter grade (e.g., A+ to F)

Choose a rating system that best suits your style and the format of your review. Be consistent in your rating criteria, considering writing quality, character development, plot, and overall enjoyment.

Tips for Rating the Book

Here are some tips for rating the book effectively:

  • Be honest: Your rating should reflect your true feelings about the book. Don’t inflate or deflate your rating based on external factors, such as the book’s popularity or the author’s reputation.
  • Be fair:Consider the book’s merits and shortcomings when rating. Even if you didn’t enjoy the book, recognize its strengths and acknowledge them in your rating.
  • Be clear: Explain the rationale behind your rating so your readers understand the factors that influenced your evaluation.

Wrapping Up

By including a rating in your book review, you provide your readers with an additional insight into your thoughts on the book. While this step is optional, it can be a valuable tool for conveying your message subtly yet effectively. So, rate those books confidently, adding a touch of wit and wisdom to your book reviews.

Additional Tips on How to Write a Book Review: A Guide

In this segment, we’ll explore additional tips on how to write a book review. Get ready to captivate your readers and make your review a memorable one!

Hook ’em with an Intriguing Introduction

Keep your introduction precise and to the point. Readers have the attention span of a goldfish these days, so don’t let them swim away in boredom. Start with a bang and keep them hooked!

Embrace the World of Fiction

When learning how to write a book review, remember that reviewing fiction is often more engaging and effective. If your professor hasn’t assigned you a specific book, dive into the realm of fiction and select a novel that piques your interest.

Opinionated with Gusto

Don’t shy away from adding your own opinion to your review. A good book review always features the writer’s viewpoint and constructive criticism. After all, your readers want to know what  you  think!

Express Your Love (or Lack Thereof)

If you adored the book, let your readers know! Use phrases like “I’ll definitely return to this book again” to convey your enthusiasm. Conversely, be honest but respectful even if the book wasn’t your cup of tea.

Templates and Examples and Expert Help: Your Trusty Sidekicks

Feeling lost? You can always get help from formats, book review examples or online  college paper writing service  platforms. These trusty sidekicks will help you navigate the world of book reviews with ease. 

Be a Champion for New Writers and Literature

Remember to uplift new writers and pieces of literature. If you want to suggest improvements, do so kindly and constructively. There’s no need to be mean about anyone’s books – we’re all in this literary adventure together!

Criticize with Clarity, Not Cruelty

When adding criticism to your review, be clear but not mean. Remember, there’s a fine line between constructive criticism and cruelty. Tread lightly and keep your reader’s feelings in mind.

Avoid the Comparison Trap

Resist the urge to compare one writer’s book with another. Every book holds its worth, and comparing them will only confuse your reader. Stick to discussing the book at hand, and let it shine in its own light.

Top 7 Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Writing a book review can be a delightful and rewarding experience, especially when you balance analysis, wit, and personal insights. However, some common mistakes can kill the brilliance of your review. 

In this section of “how to write a book review,” we’ll explore the top 7 blunders writers commit and how to steer clear of them, with a dash of  modernist literature  examples and tips for students writing book reviews as assignments.

Succumbing to the Lure of Plot Summaries

Mistake: Diving headfirst into a plot summary instead of dissecting the book’s themes, characters, and writing style.

Example: “The Bell Jar chronicles the life of a young woman who experiences a mental breakdown.”

How to Avoid: Delve into the book’s deeper aspects, such as its portrayal of mental health, societal expectations, and the author’s distinctive narrative voice. Offer thoughtful insights and reflections, making your review a treasure trove of analysis.

Unleashing the Spoiler Kraken

Mistake: Spilling major plot twists or the ending without providing a spoiler warning, effectively ruining the reading experience for potential readers.

Example: “In Metamorphosis, the protagonist’s transformation into a monstrous insect leads to…”

How to Avoid: Tread carefully when discussing significant plot developments, and consider using spoiler warnings. Focus on the impact of these plot points on the overall narrative, character growth, or thematic resonance.

Riding the Personal Bias Express

Mistake: Allowing personal bias to hijack the review without providing sufficient evidence or reasoning to support opinions.

Example: “I detest books about existential crises, so The Sun Also Rises was a snoozefest.”

How to Avoid: While personal opinions are valid, it’s crucial to back them up with specific examples from the book. Discuss aspects like writing style, character development, or pacing to support your evaluation and provide a more balanced perspective.

Wielding the Vague Language Saber

Mistake: Resorting to generic, vague language that fails to capture the nuances of the book and can come across as clichéd.

Example: “This book was mind-blowing. It’s a must-read for everyone.”

How to Avoid: Use precise and descriptive language to express your thoughts. Employ specific examples and quotations to highlight memorable scenes, the author’s unique writing style, or the impact of the book’s themes on readers.

Ignoring the Contextualization Compass

Mistake: Neglecting to provide context about the author, genre, or cultural relevance of the book, leaving readers without a proper frame of reference.

Example: “This book is dull and unoriginal.”

How to Avoid: Offer readers a broader understanding by discussing the author’s background, the genre conventions the book adheres to or subverts, and any societal or historical contexts that inform the narrative. This helps readers appreciate the book’s uniqueness and relevance.

Overindulging in Personal Preferences

Mistake: Letting personal preferences overshadow an objective assessment of the book’s merits.

Example: “I don’t like stream-of-consciousness writing, so this book is automatically bad.”

How to Avoid: Acknowledge personal preferences but strive to evaluate the book objectively. Focus on the book’s strengths and weaknesses, considering how well it achieves its goals within its genre or intended audience.

Forgetting the Target Audience Telescope

Mistake: Failing to mention the book’s target audience or who might enjoy it, leading to confusion for potential readers.

Example: “This book is great for everyone.”

How to Avoid: Contemplate the book’s intended audience, genre, and themes. Mention who might particularly enjoy the book based on these factors, whether it’s fans of a specific genre, readers interested in character-driven stories, or those seeking thought-provoking narratives.

By dodging these common pitfalls, writers can craft insightful, balanced, and engaging book reviews that help readers make informed decisions about their reading choices.

These tips are particularly beneficial for students writing book reviews as assignments, as they ensure a well-rounded and thoughtful analysis.!

Many students requested us to cover how to write a book review. This thorough guide is sure to help you. At Paperperk, professionals are dedicated to helping students find their balance. We understand the importance of good grades, so we offer the finest writing service , ensuring students stay ahead of the curve. So seek expert help because only Paperperk is your perfect solution!

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10 Tips: How to Write a Book Review of an Autobiography

10 Tips How to Write a Book Review of an Autobiography

1. Introduction

1  introduction

Writing a book review of an autobiography can be a rewarding experience. It allows you to delve into the life of the author and gain insights into their personal journey. In this article, we will provide you with 10 tips on how to write an effective book review of an autobiography.

Example of me using AtOnce's AI review response generator to make customers happier:

AtOnce AI review response generator

1.1 What is an Autobiography?

An autobiography is a written account of a person's life, written by the person themselves. It provides a firsthand perspective on their experiences, thoughts, and emotions. When writing a book review of an autobiography , it is important to understand the unique nature of this genre.

2. Read the Autobiography Thoroughly

2  read the autobiography thoroughly

Before you start writing your book review, it is crucial to read the autobiography thoroughly. Take your time to understand the author's story, their motivations, and the key events in their life. This will enable you to provide a comprehensive and insightful review.

2.1 Take Notes

While reading the autobiography, make sure to take notes. Jot down important events, quotes, and any thoughts or questions that arise. These notes will serve as a valuable resource when you start writing your review .

3. Understand the Author's Perspective

3  understand the author s perspective

When reviewing an autobiography, it is essential to understand the author's perspective. Put yourself in their shoes and try to empathize with their experiences. This will help you provide a fair and balanced review.

3.1 Analyze the Author's Writing Style

Pay attention to the author's writing style . Is it formal or informal? Is it descriptive or analytical? Understanding the author's writing style will allow you to evaluate their ability to convey their story effectively.

4. Evaluate the Structure and Organization

4  evaluate the structure and organization

Analyze the structure and organization of the autobiography. Is it chronological or does it follow a different structure? Assess how well the author has organized their story and whether it flows smoothly.

4.1 Identify the Main Themes

Identify the main themes or messages conveyed in the autobiography. Is it a story of resilience, love, or personal growth ? Understanding the underlying themes will help you provide a deeper analysis in your review.

5. Assess the Impact of the Autobiography

5  assess the impact of the autobiography

Consider the impact the autobiography has on the reader. Does it inspire, educate, or provoke thought? Evaluate how well the author has connected with their audience and whether their story resonates with readers.

5.1 Discuss the Emotional Impact

Discuss the emotional impact of the autobiography. Did it evoke strong emotions in you as a reader? Analyze how effectively the author has conveyed their emotions and whether it adds depth to their story.

6. Provide Examples and Quotes

6  provide examples and quotes

When writing your book review, it is important to provide examples and quotes from the autobiography. This adds credibility to your review and allows readers to get a glimpse of the author's writing style and content.

6.1 Select Key Quotes

Select key quotes that highlight important moments or themes in the autobiography. These quotes can be used to support your analysis and provide evidence for your review .

7. Compare the Autobiography to Similar Works

7  compare the autobiography to similar works

Compare the autobiography to other similar works in the genre. Assess how it stands out or differs from other autobiographies. This will provide a broader context for your review and help readers understand the uniqueness of the book.

7.1 Highlight Unique Aspects

Highlight any unique aspects of the autobiography that set it apart from others in the genre. This could be the author's writing style, the structure of the book, or the themes explored. Emphasize what makes the autobiography special.

8. Critique Constructively

8  critique constructively

When critiquing the autobiography, it is important to be constructive in your feedback. Point out both the strengths and weaknesses of the book, providing suggestions for improvement where necessary. This will make your review balanced and helpful.

8.1 Use Objective Language

Use objective language when critiquing the autobiography. Avoid personal biases and focus on the content, structure, and impact of the book. This will make your review more credible and professional.

Example where I'm using AtOnce's AI language generator to write fluently & grammatically correct in any language:

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9. Summarize and Conclude

9  summarize and conclude

In your conclusion, summarize the key points of your review. Provide a final assessment of the autobiography, highlighting its strengths and weaknesses. End your review with a recommendation for readers who might enjoy the book.

9.1 Recommend the Autobiography

If you enjoyed the autobiography, recommend it to your readers. Explain why you think they would find value in reading it. If the book has some flaws, mention them but also highlight the aspects that make it worth reading.

Writing a book review of an autobiography requires careful analysis, empathy, and a balanced perspective. By following these 10 tips, you can write an insightful and engaging review that will help readers decide whether to pick up the book and embark on the author's personal journey.

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What is the purpose of writing a book review of an autobiography?

The purpose of writing a book review of an autobiography is to provide a critical analysis and evaluation of the autobiography, highlighting its strengths and weaknesses, and offering insights into the author's life and experiences.

What are the key elements to include in a book review of an autobiography?

A book review of an autobiography should include a brief summary of the autobiography, an analysis of the author's writing style and storytelling techniques, an evaluation of the book's themes and messages, and a personal reflection on the impact of the autobiography.

How should I structure a book review of an autobiography?

A book review of an autobiography should have an introduction that provides background information on the author and the autobiography, a body that discusses the key elements mentioned earlier, and a conclusion that summarizes the main points and offers a final evaluation of the autobiography.

Asim Akhtar

Asim Akhtar

Asim is the CEO & founder of AtOnce. After 5 years of marketing & customer service experience, he's now using Artificial Intelligence to save people time.

The Write Practice

How to Write a Book Review: The Complete Guide

by Sue Weems | 23 comments

If you've ever loved (or hated) a book, you may have been tempted to review it. Here's a complete guide to how to write a book review, so you can share your literary adventures with other readers more often! 

How to Write a Book Review: The Complete Guide

You finally reach the last page of a book that kept you up all night and close it with the afterglow of satisfaction and a tinge of regret that it’s over. If you enjoyed the book enough to stay up reading it way past your bedtime, consider writing a review. It is one of the best gifts you can give an author.

Regardless of how much you know about how to write a book review, the author will appreciate hearing how their words touched you.

But as you face the five shaded stars and empty box, a blank mind strikes. What do I say? I mean, is this a book really deserving of five stars? How did it compare to Dostoevsky or Angelou or Dickens?

Maybe there’s an easier way to write a book review.

Want to learn how to write a book from start to finish? Check out How to Write a Book: The Complete Guide .

The Fallacy of Book Reviews

Once you’ve decided to give a review, you are faced with the task of deciding how many stars to give a book.

When I first started writing book reviews, I made the mistake of trying to compare a book to ALL BOOKS OF ALL TIME. (Sorry for the all caps, but that’s how it felt, like a James Earl Jones voice was asking me where to put this book in the queue of all books.)

Other readers find themselves comparing new titles to their favorite books. It's a natural comparison. But is it fair?

This is honestly why I didn’t give reviews of books for a long time. How can I compare a modern romance or historical fiction war novel with Dostoevsky? I can’t, and I shouldn’t.

I realized my mistake one day as I was watching (of all things) a dog show. In the final round, they trotted out dogs of all shapes, colors, and sizes. I thought, “How can a Yorkshire Terrier compete with a Basset Hound?” As if he'd read my mind, the announcer explained that each is judged by the standards for its breed.

This was my “Aha!” moment. I have to take a book on its own terms. The question is not, “How does this book compare to all books I’ve read?” but “How well did this book deliver what it promised for the intended audience?”

A review is going to reflect my personal experience with the book, but I can help potential readers by taking a minute to consider what the author intended. Let me explain what I mean. 

How to Write a Book Review: Consider a Book’s Promise

A book makes a promise with its cover, blurb, and first pages. It begins to set expectations the minute a reader views the thumbnail or cover. Those things indicate the genre, tone, and likely the major themes.

If a book cover includes a lip-locked couple in flowing linen on a beach, and I open to the first page to read about a pimpled vampire in a trench coat speaking like Mr. Knightly about his plan for revenge on the entire human race, there’s been a breach of contract before I even get to page two. These are the books we put down immediately (unless a mixed-message beachy cover combined with an Austen vampire story is your thing).

But what if the cover, blurb, and first pages are cohesive and perk our interest enough to keep reading? Then we have to think about what the book has promised us, which revolves around one key idea: What is the core story question and how well is it resolved?

Sometimes genre expectations help us answer this question: a romance will end with a couple who finds their way, a murder mystery ends with a solved case, a thriller’s protagonist beats the clock and saves the country or planet.

The stories we love most do those expected things in a fresh or surprising way with characters we root for from the first page. Even (and especially!) when a book doesn’t fit neatly in a genre category, we need to consider what the book promises on those first pages and decide how well it succeeds on the terms it sets for itself.

When I Don’t Know What to Write

About a month ago, I realized I was overthinking how to write a book review. Here at the Write Practice we have a longstanding tradition of giving critiques using the Oreo method : point out something that was a strength, then something we wondered about or that confused us, followed by another positive.

We can use this same structure to write a simple review when we finish books. Consider this book review format: 

[Book Title] by [book author] is about ___[plot summary in a sentence—no spoilers!]___. I chose this book based on ________. I really enjoyed ________. I wondered how ___________. Anyone who likes ____ will love this book.

Following this basic template can help you write an honest review about most any book, and it will give the author or publisher good information about what worked (and possibly what didn’t). You might write about the characters, the conflict, the setting, or anything else that captured you and kept you reading.

As an added bonus, you will be a stronger reader when you are able to express why you enjoyed parts of a book (just like when you critique!). After you complete a few, you’ll find it gets easier, and you won’t need the template anymore.

What if I Didn’t Like It?

Like professional book reviewers, you will have to make the call about when to leave a negative review. If I can’t give a book at least three stars, I usually don’t review it. Why? If I don’t like a book after a couple chapters, I put it down. I don’t review anything that I haven’t read the entire book.

Also, it may be that I’m not the target audience. The book might be well-written and well-reviewed with a great cover, and it just doesn’t capture me. Or maybe it's a book that just isn't hitting me right now for reasons that have nothing to do with the book and everything to do with my own reading life and needs. Every book is not meant for every reader.

If a book kept me reading all the way to the end and I didn’t like the ending? I would probably still review it, since there had to be enough good things going on to keep me reading to the end. I might mention in my review that the ending was less satisfying than I hoped, but I would still end with a positive.

How to Write a Book Review: Your Turn

As writers, we know how difficult it is to put down the words day after day. We are typically voracious readers. Let’s send some love back out to our fellow writers this week and review the most recent title we enjoyed.

What was the last book you read or reviewed? Do you ever find it hard to review a book? Share in the comments .

Now it's your turn. Think of the last book you read. Then, take fifteen minutes to write a review of it based on the template above. When you're done, share your review in the Pro Practice Workshop . For bonus points, post it on the book's page on Amazon and Goodreads, too!

Don't forget to leave feedback for your fellow writers! What new reads will you discover in the comments?

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Sue Weems is a writer, teacher, and traveler with an advanced degree in (mostly fictional) revenge. When she’s not rationalizing her love for parentheses (and dramatic asides), she follows a sailor around the globe with their four children, two dogs, and an impossibly tall stack of books to read. You can read more of her writing tips on her website .

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The Writing Center • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Book Reviews

What this handout is about.

This handout will help you write a book review, a report or essay that offers a critical perspective on a text. It offers a process and suggests some strategies for writing book reviews.

What is a review?

A review is a critical evaluation of a text, event, object, or phenomenon. Reviews can consider books, articles, entire genres or fields of literature, architecture, art, fashion, restaurants, policies, exhibitions, performances, and many other forms. This handout will focus on book reviews. For a similar assignment, see our handout on literature reviews .

Above all, a review makes an argument. The most important element of a review is that it is a commentary, not merely a summary. It allows you to enter into dialogue and discussion with the work’s creator and with other audiences. You can offer agreement or disagreement and identify where you find the work exemplary or deficient in its knowledge, judgments, or organization. You should clearly state your opinion of the work in question, and that statement will probably resemble other types of academic writing, with a thesis statement, supporting body paragraphs, and a conclusion.

Typically, reviews are brief. In newspapers and academic journals, they rarely exceed 1000 words, although you may encounter lengthier assignments and extended commentaries. In either case, reviews need to be succinct. While they vary in tone, subject, and style, they share some common features:

  • First, a review gives the reader a concise summary of the content. This includes a relevant description of the topic as well as its overall perspective, argument, or purpose.
  • Second, and more importantly, a review offers a critical assessment of the content. This involves your reactions to the work under review: what strikes you as noteworthy, whether or not it was effective or persuasive, and how it enhanced your understanding of the issues at hand.
  • Finally, in addition to analyzing the work, a review often suggests whether or not the audience would appreciate it.

Becoming an expert reviewer: three short examples

Reviewing can be a daunting task. Someone has asked for your opinion about something that you may feel unqualified to evaluate. Who are you to criticize Toni Morrison’s new book if you’ve never written a novel yourself, much less won a Nobel Prize? The point is that someone—a professor, a journal editor, peers in a study group—wants to know what you think about a particular work. You may not be (or feel like) an expert, but you need to pretend to be one for your particular audience. Nobody expects you to be the intellectual equal of the work’s creator, but your careful observations can provide you with the raw material to make reasoned judgments. Tactfully voicing agreement and disagreement, praise and criticism, is a valuable, challenging skill, and like many forms of writing, reviews require you to provide concrete evidence for your assertions.

Consider the following brief book review written for a history course on medieval Europe by a student who is fascinated with beer:

Judith Bennett’s Ale, Beer, and Brewsters in England: Women’s Work in a Changing World, 1300-1600, investigates how women used to brew and sell the majority of ale drunk in England. Historically, ale and beer (not milk, wine, or water) were important elements of the English diet. Ale brewing was low-skill and low status labor that was complimentary to women’s domestic responsibilities. In the early fifteenth century, brewers began to make ale with hops, and they called this new drink “beer.” This technique allowed brewers to produce their beverages at a lower cost and to sell it more easily, although women generally stopped brewing once the business became more profitable.

The student describes the subject of the book and provides an accurate summary of its contents. But the reader does not learn some key information expected from a review: the author’s argument, the student’s appraisal of the book and its argument, and whether or not the student would recommend the book. As a critical assessment, a book review should focus on opinions, not facts and details. Summary should be kept to a minimum, and specific details should serve to illustrate arguments.

Now consider a review of the same book written by a slightly more opinionated student:

Judith Bennett’s Ale, Beer, and Brewsters in England: Women’s Work in a Changing World, 1300-1600 was a colossal disappointment. I wanted to know about the rituals surrounding drinking in medieval England: the songs, the games, the parties. Bennett provided none of that information. I liked how the book showed ale and beer brewing as an economic activity, but the reader gets lost in the details of prices and wages. I was more interested in the private lives of the women brewsters. The book was divided into eight long chapters, and I can’t imagine why anyone would ever want to read it.

There’s no shortage of judgments in this review! But the student does not display a working knowledge of the book’s argument. The reader has a sense of what the student expected of the book, but no sense of what the author herself set out to prove. Although the student gives several reasons for the negative review, those examples do not clearly relate to each other as part of an overall evaluation—in other words, in support of a specific thesis. This review is indeed an assessment, but not a critical one.

Here is one final review of the same book:

One of feminism’s paradoxes—one that challenges many of its optimistic histories—is how patriarchy remains persistent over time. While Judith Bennett’s Ale, Beer, and Brewsters in England: Women’s Work in a Changing World, 1300-1600 recognizes medieval women as historical actors through their ale brewing, it also shows that female agency had its limits with the advent of beer. I had assumed that those limits were religious and political, but Bennett shows how a “patriarchal equilibrium” shut women out of economic life as well. Her analysis of women’s wages in ale and beer production proves that a change in women’s work does not equate to a change in working women’s status. Contemporary feminists and historians alike should read Bennett’s book and think twice when they crack open their next brewsky.

This student’s review avoids the problems of the previous two examples. It combines balanced opinion and concrete example, a critical assessment based on an explicitly stated rationale, and a recommendation to a potential audience. The reader gets a sense of what the book’s author intended to demonstrate. Moreover, the student refers to an argument about feminist history in general that places the book in a specific genre and that reaches out to a general audience. The example of analyzing wages illustrates an argument, the analysis engages significant intellectual debates, and the reasons for the overall positive review are plainly visible. The review offers criteria, opinions, and support with which the reader can agree or disagree.

Developing an assessment: before you write

There is no definitive method to writing a review, although some critical thinking about the work at hand is necessary before you actually begin writing. Thus, writing a review is a two-step process: developing an argument about the work under consideration, and making that argument as you write an organized and well-supported draft. See our handout on argument .

What follows is a series of questions to focus your thinking as you dig into the work at hand. While the questions specifically consider book reviews, you can easily transpose them to an analysis of performances, exhibitions, and other review subjects. Don’t feel obligated to address each of the questions; some will be more relevant than others to the book in question.

  • What is the thesis—or main argument—of the book? If the author wanted you to get one idea from the book, what would it be? How does it compare or contrast to the world you know? What has the book accomplished?
  • What exactly is the subject or topic of the book? Does the author cover the subject adequately? Does the author cover all aspects of the subject in a balanced fashion? What is the approach to the subject (topical, analytical, chronological, descriptive)?
  • How does the author support their argument? What evidence do they use to prove their point? Do you find that evidence convincing? Why or why not? Does any of the author’s information (or conclusions) conflict with other books you’ve read, courses you’ve taken or just previous assumptions you had of the subject?
  • How does the author structure their argument? What are the parts that make up the whole? Does the argument make sense? Does it persuade you? Why or why not?
  • How has this book helped you understand the subject? Would you recommend the book to your reader?

Beyond the internal workings of the book, you may also consider some information about the author and the circumstances of the text’s production:

  • Who is the author? Nationality, political persuasion, training, intellectual interests, personal history, and historical context may provide crucial details about how a work takes shape. Does it matter, for example, that the biographer was the subject’s best friend? What difference would it make if the author participated in the events they write about?
  • What is the book’s genre? Out of what field does it emerge? Does it conform to or depart from the conventions of its genre? These questions can provide a historical or literary standard on which to base your evaluations. If you are reviewing the first book ever written on the subject, it will be important for your readers to know. Keep in mind, though, that naming “firsts”—alongside naming “bests” and “onlys”—can be a risky business unless you’re absolutely certain.

Writing the review

Once you have made your observations and assessments of the work under review, carefully survey your notes and attempt to unify your impressions into a statement that will describe the purpose or thesis of your review. Check out our handout on thesis statements . Then, outline the arguments that support your thesis.

Your arguments should develop the thesis in a logical manner. That logic, unlike more standard academic writing, may initially emphasize the author’s argument while you develop your own in the course of the review. The relative emphasis depends on the nature of the review: if readers may be more interested in the work itself, you may want to make the work and the author more prominent; if you want the review to be about your perspective and opinions, then you may structure the review to privilege your observations over (but never separate from) those of the work under review. What follows is just one of many ways to organize a review.

Introduction

Since most reviews are brief, many writers begin with a catchy quip or anecdote that succinctly delivers their argument. But you can introduce your review differently depending on the argument and audience. The Writing Center’s handout on introductions can help you find an approach that works. In general, you should include:

  • The name of the author and the book title and the main theme.
  • Relevant details about who the author is and where they stand in the genre or field of inquiry. You could also link the title to the subject to show how the title explains the subject matter.
  • The context of the book and/or your review. Placing your review in a framework that makes sense to your audience alerts readers to your “take” on the book. Perhaps you want to situate a book about the Cuban revolution in the context of Cold War rivalries between the United States and the Soviet Union. Another reviewer might want to consider the book in the framework of Latin American social movements. Your choice of context informs your argument.
  • The thesis of the book. If you are reviewing fiction, this may be difficult since novels, plays, and short stories rarely have explicit arguments. But identifying the book’s particular novelty, angle, or originality allows you to show what specific contribution the piece is trying to make.
  • Your thesis about the book.

Summary of content

This should be brief, as analysis takes priority. In the course of making your assessment, you’ll hopefully be backing up your assertions with concrete evidence from the book, so some summary will be dispersed throughout other parts of the review.

The necessary amount of summary also depends on your audience. Graduate students, beware! If you are writing book reviews for colleagues—to prepare for comprehensive exams, for example—you may want to devote more attention to summarizing the book’s contents. If, on the other hand, your audience has already read the book—such as a class assignment on the same work—you may have more liberty to explore more subtle points and to emphasize your own argument. See our handout on summary for more tips.

Analysis and evaluation of the book

Your analysis and evaluation should be organized into paragraphs that deal with single aspects of your argument. This arrangement can be challenging when your purpose is to consider the book as a whole, but it can help you differentiate elements of your criticism and pair assertions with evidence more clearly. You do not necessarily need to work chronologically through the book as you discuss it. Given the argument you want to make, you can organize your paragraphs more usefully by themes, methods, or other elements of the book. If you find it useful to include comparisons to other books, keep them brief so that the book under review remains in the spotlight. Avoid excessive quotation and give a specific page reference in parentheses when you do quote. Remember that you can state many of the author’s points in your own words.

Sum up or restate your thesis or make the final judgment regarding the book. You should not introduce new evidence for your argument in the conclusion. You can, however, introduce new ideas that go beyond the book if they extend the logic of your own thesis. This paragraph needs to balance the book’s strengths and weaknesses in order to unify your evaluation. Did the body of your review have three negative paragraphs and one favorable one? What do they all add up to? The Writing Center’s handout on conclusions can help you make a final assessment.

Finally, a few general considerations:

  • Review the book in front of you, not the book you wish the author had written. You can and should point out shortcomings or failures, but don’t criticize the book for not being something it was never intended to be.
  • With any luck, the author of the book worked hard to find the right words to express her ideas. You should attempt to do the same. Precise language allows you to control the tone of your review.
  • Never hesitate to challenge an assumption, approach, or argument. Be sure, however, to cite specific examples to back up your assertions carefully.
  • Try to present a balanced argument about the value of the book for its audience. You’re entitled—and sometimes obligated—to voice strong agreement or disagreement. But keep in mind that a bad book takes as long to write as a good one, and every author deserves fair treatment. Harsh judgments are difficult to prove and can give readers the sense that you were unfair in your assessment.
  • A great place to learn about book reviews is to look at examples. The New York Times Sunday Book Review and The New York Review of Books can show you how professional writers review books.

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find additional publications. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

Drewry, John. 1974. Writing Book Reviews. Boston: Greenwood Press.

Hoge, James. 1987. Literary Reviewing. Charlottesville: University Virginia of Press.

Sova, Dawn, and Harry Teitelbaum. 2002. How to Write Book Reports , 4th ed. Lawrenceville, NY: Thomson/Arco.

Walford, A.J. 1986. Reviews and Reviewing: A Guide. Phoenix: Oryx Press.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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How to Write a Book Review on a Biography From A to Z

Writing a biography review can be challenging, because you have to not only read the chosen biography book but also acquaint yourself with the subject of the biographer in order to evaluate the author’s work in a good and objective manner. Below, we will teach you step by step how to write a book review on a biography.

How to Write a Book Review on a Biography

What Is a Biography Review?

A biographical book describes a person’s life in detail. It can be objective or biased, formal or informal. A biography review includes a brief overview of the biography book, analysis of its main points, and a personal opinion on the book. The biography review doesn’t evaluate the subject of the biographer but his or her writing style and qualifications, the reliability and quality of the provided facts, and the author’s ideas and statements.

The Purpose of a Biography Review

A biography review is aimed at two fundamental goals: to present the biography book to the potential readers and to provide them with your personal opinion and recommendations.

There is no unique standard for a biography review. Some sources offer to divide your paper into two equal parts: the summary of the author’s main points and your personal opinion on the book.

The others underscore the importance of the profound analysis in comparison with personal critics. However, it is necessary to check the instructions before you start writing your biography review.

You can also include some information about the person who is the subject of the biography. It will be a helpful addition, especially if your targeted audience is not aware of the general facts about this personality or the subject of the biographer is not well-known.

How to Prepare for Writing a Biography Review

First of all, you can’t start writing a biography review without a topic. You may try, but no good will come out of this attempt. Let’s list the criteria that you have to take into account while choosing a biographical book for the analysis:

– your personal preferences (it is almost impossible to write a good review on a book you are not interested in);

– absence of personal interest (e.g. the author of the book shouldn’t be your friend, relative, etc.);

– page amount of the book (it should correspond to the instructions or, in case of their absence, to common sense);

– date of publication (it is unlikely that someone will be interested in reading a review on a book that became irrelevant twenty years ago);

– the author’s qualifications (make sure that the biography was written by a professional with appropriate education and vast experience).

Don’t neglect the value of the notes! Your memory can’t conserve all necessary details that you will need for writing a cogent review. The importance of the notes is also hard to overestimate when it comes to quotation. If you are not the lucky owner of an eidetic memory, taking notes is the only way to gather crucial information while reading a bio.

One more tip: before writing your own biography review, we highly recommend reading professional biography reviews. This method is utterly helpful for those who write their first review on a biographical book. The samples will help you to learn more about structure, peculiarities, and formatting of your own papers.

10 Questions to Ask Before Writing a Biography Review

  • What is the author’s purpose? Did he or she manage to achieve it?
  • What are the writer’s main points? Did he or she emphasize certain facts? Why?
  • Is this biographical book related to other works about the same person?
  • What kind of research did the author conduct? What sources did he or she use?
  • What is the author’s targeted audience?
  • Is this book interesting for general readers?
  • What language does the author use: formal/informal, common/specific?
  • What is the writer’s tone of voice: convincing, indifferent, accusatory?
  • Does the biographical book include new facts which were previously unknown?
  • Does the author omit some crucial facts?

Steps of Writing a Biography Review

1. Read a biography.

Read a chosen book from A to Z. Don’t forget to take notes! You should write down your impressions, distinctive quotes, and page numbers where you get the quotes from.

2. Collect more viewpoints.

After you read the book and form your personal opinion about it, you can read other critics’ reviews. Under no circumstances should you read the reviews BEFORE reading the book. There is a risk that your personal opinion will be affected by already existing ones.

3. Create an outline.

Planning is half of success. Create a detailed outline of your biography review. For illustrative purposes, you can use diagrams, tables, and lists.

4. Start your writing.

In the first paragraph, you should include the essential information about the book that you review: title, author, subject, date of publication, awards, etc. After reading this paragraph, your readers should understand clearly whether this review is useful for them or not.

5. Investigate the background.

Provide your readers with general information about the biographer and the subject of his or her work. Mention the connection between them if they are friends, relatives, or colleagues. Investigate the premise of the book, the history of writing, and the public reaction.

6. Examine the main points.

As mentioned above, your biography review should include the two biggest parts: a summary of the author’s ideas and their objective evaluation. You can define the balance between the two aspects on your own or ask for instructions. However, don’t let your writing be baseless. Whether you analyze the book or provide your personal thoughts, always enforce your points with examples, pieces of evidence, and quotations.

7. Be objective and attentive.

If you don’t mention any weaknesses of the book, it may seem that you are not objective. Sometimes, it is difficult to criticize a professional writer, so pay attention to the details: the readability of the text, the novelty of the provided facts, the possible bias, etc.

8. Leave comments on additional material.

If there is any additional material like photos, maps, or a glossary in the book, define their function.

9. Enter the home stretch.

In the conclusion, you summarize your overall impression from the biographical book. Don’t forget to include some recommendations for future readers! Avoid the clichés such as “I like this book very much” or “the book is interesting.” Use more specific vocabulary: “compelling,” “credible,” “educative,” etc.

10. Add finishing touches.

There are three main steps you should take to bring your biography review to perfection: have a rest to clear your mind, reread your text two or three times to correct mistakes, and get feedback from your peers, parents, friends, or colleagues.

Biography Review Sample Analysis

The best way to learn how to write a book review on a biography is to get an appropriate example. Below, you can see a biographical book review sample with the comments of our specialist who analyzes the structure and the elements of the review. You can use these comments as additional instructions while writing your own paper.

Click the images to see their full size.

Biography Review

Useful Tips for Writing a Biography Review

  • When you quote the author, mention the page number in order to help your reader to find the paragraph you’ve used.
  • Be reasonable! Don’t try to read and analyze a five hundred page bio in one day. Always manage your time carefully.
  • Remember the word-count limit, especially if it is specified in the instructions. However, a biography review is usually about 700-800 words.
  • Don’t be afraid to express your personal opinion. All in all, it is YOUR biography review. You are free to write whatever you think, just don’t cross the reasonable limits.
  • Although there is no strict rule for tense use, be consistent in the use of tenses in your biography review.
  • There is no place for general and neutral phrases in the reviews. You should express your opinion openly whether you like the biography or not.
  • Follow the principle of the “golden mean” when you quote the text. The quotations are indispensable for every review. At the same time, they shouldn’t be too long just to fit the word limit.

Now, you have all necessary information to create a correct, objective, and well-structured biography review. You’re welcome! You are also welcome to look through our guide on how to write an autobiography . We are always ready to help our curious readers and show them the right way to academic success.

The skills of critical analysis can be useful in a wide range of everyday situations. So, the additional practice will help you to develop your critical thinking and understanding of complex issues in any field of study. Moreover, the writing of the biography review is a great way to learn more about renowned artists, scientists, politicians, and their legacy.

More examples of book reviews you can find on our site.

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How to Write a Book Report on an Autobiography

Maggie hira.

Man sitting and leaning near bookshelf while reading book.jpg

An autobiography is the story of a person's life as written by the person in question. Unlike a biography, where a third party documents the subject's life, an autobiography is told from a first-person point of view. Thus, book reports written on autobiographies can be a little tricky, but generally follow a straightforward rubric. The goal of a book report on an autobiography is to summarize the major achievements and events in the biographer's life.

Explore this article

  • Describe the subject
  • Give your personal opinion

things needed

  • Pen and paper, or
  • Typewriter, or

1 Describe the subject

In the first part of the book report, describe the subject of the autobiography, including why this person is famous or notable. Be sure to include major facts such as date of birth, place of birth and date of death (if applicable). You may also want to explain why you chose to write a book report on this person.

In the second part of the book report, focus on describing the subject's early life including where she grew up, the type of education she received and information on her family members.

List at least five major events that occurred in this person's life, excluding the dates of birth and death. Focus on important, life-changing events and notable accomplishments such as artistic achievement, the winning of awards, any important discoveries and any other notable contributions to the world. Basically, the third part of the book report should chronicle in much more detail why this person is notable.

4 Give your personal opinion

Give your personal opinion of the autobiographer. Describe your thoughts on this person's accomplishments and contributions. Explain how you think this person impacted the world with his existence.

Finally, in the last part of the book report, describe whether or not you enjoyed reading the book. Give some concrete reasons as to why you liked or disliked the book, and tell if you would recommend this book to be read by others.

  • Don't put in too much superfluous information such as unimportant dates or lists of names of the person's acquaintances. These details will only clutter the book report without adding any real meaning.
  • Choose the autobiography of a person you are truly interested in. This will make the book report much more interesting and fun.

About the Author

Maggie Hira has been writing professionally since 2006. She has written for numerous websites and print publications, including "LA.Direct Magazine" and The Budget Fashionista. Hira holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of California, Los Angeles.

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Posted on Jun 30, 2023

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

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

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

How to write a biography: 

1. Seek permission when possible 

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

FREE RESOURCE

FREE RESOURCE

Biography Outline Template

Craft a satisfying story arc for your biography with our free template.

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

how to write a book review on a biography

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

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

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

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

FREE RESOURCE

Book Proposal Template

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

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

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

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

Browse the web and library archives

Illustration of a biographer going into research mode.

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

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

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

Photo of Alexander Hamilton

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

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

Try to understand their time and social environment

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

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

Painting of William Shakespeare in colors

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

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

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

Interview friends and associates

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

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

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

Which biography should you read next?

Discover the perfect biography for you. Takes 30 seconds!

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

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

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

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

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

Visit significant places in their life

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

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

Still from the movie The Lost City of Z in which the explorer is surrounded by an Amazon native tribe

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

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

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

Create a chronological timeline

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

Timeline of Steve Jobs' career

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

Draft a story outline 

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

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

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

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

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

Cover of Hitler and Stalin by Alan Bullock

Or find a unique angle

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

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

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

Group picture of The Beatles

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

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

Illustration of a writer mixing storytelling ingredients

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

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

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

Hook the reader from the start

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

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

Chris McCandless self-portrait in front of the now iconic bus

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

Play with flashback 

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

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

Reimagine conversations

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

how to write a book review on a biography

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

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

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

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

Illustration of an editor reviewing a manuscript

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

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

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

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

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Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Assignments

  • Annotated Bibliography
  • Analyzing a Scholarly Journal Article
  • Group Presentations
  • Dealing with Nervousness
  • Using Visual Aids
  • Grading Someone Else's Paper
  • Types of Structured Group Activities
  • Group Project Survival Skills
  • Leading a Class Discussion
  • Multiple Book Review Essay
  • Reviewing Collected Works
  • Writing a Case Analysis Paper
  • Writing a Case Study
  • About Informed Consent
  • Writing Field Notes
  • Writing a Policy Memo
  • Writing a Reflective Paper
  • Writing a Research Proposal
  • Generative AI and Writing
  • Acknowledgments

A book review is a thorough description, critical analysis, and/or evaluation of the quality, meaning, and significance of a book, often written in relation to prior research on the topic. Reviews generally range from 500-2000 words, but may be longer or shorter depends on several factors: the length and complexity of the book being reviewed, the overall purpose of the review, and whether the review examines two or more books that focus on the same topic. Professors assign book reviews as practice in carefully analyzing complex scholarly texts and to assess your ability to effectively synthesize research so that you reach an informed perspective about the topic being covered.

There are two general approaches to reviewing a book:

  • Descriptive review: Presents the content and structure of a book as objectively as possible, describing essential information about a book's purpose and authority. This is done by stating the perceived aims and purposes of the study, often incorporating passages quoted from the text that highlight key elements of the work. Additionally, there may be some indication of the reading level and anticipated audience.
  • Critical review: Describes and evaluates the book in relation to accepted literary and historical standards and supports this evaluation with evidence from the text and, in most cases, in contrast to and in comparison with the research of others. It should include a statement about what the author has tried to do, evaluates how well you believe the author has succeeded in meeting the objectives of the study, and presents evidence to support this assessment. For most course assignments, your professor will want you to write this type of review.

Book Reviews. Writing Center. University of New Hampshire; Book Reviews: How to Write a Book Review. Writing and Style Guides. Libraries. Dalhousie University; Kindle, Peter A. "Teaching Students to Write Book Reviews." Contemporary Rural Social Work 7 (2015): 135-141; Erwin, R. W. “Reviewing Books for Scholarly Journals.” In Writing and Publishing for Academic Authors . Joseph M. Moxley and Todd Taylor. 2 nd edition. (Lanham, MD: Rowan and Littlefield, 1997), pp. 83-90.

How to Approach Writing Your Review

NOTE:   Since most course assignments require that you write a critical rather than descriptive book review, the following information about preparing to write and developing the structure and style of reviews focuses on this approach.

I.  Common Features

While book reviews vary in tone, subject, and style, they share some common features. These include:

  • A review gives the reader a concise summary of the content . This includes a description of the research topic and scope of analysis as well as an overview of the book's overall perspective, argument, and purpose.
  • A review offers a critical assessment of the content in relation to other studies on the same topic . This involves documenting your reactions to the work under review--what strikes you as noteworthy or important, whether or not the arguments made by the author(s) were effective or persuasive, and how the work enhanced your understanding of the research problem under investigation.
  • In addition to analyzing a book's strengths and weaknesses, a scholarly review often recommends whether or not readers would value the work for its authenticity and overall quality . This measure of quality includes both the author's ideas and arguments and covers practical issues, such as, readability and language, organization and layout, indexing, and, if needed, the use of non-textual elements .

To maintain your focus, always keep in mind that most assignments ask you to discuss a book's treatment of its topic, not the topic itself . Your key sentences should say, "This book shows...,” "The study demonstrates...," or “The author argues...," rather than "This happened...” or “This is the case....”

II.  Developing a Critical Assessment Strategy

There is no definitive methodological approach to writing a book review in the social sciences, although it is necessary that you think critically about the research problem under investigation before you begin to write. Therefore, writing a book review is a three-step process: 1) carefully taking notes as you read the text; 2) developing an argument about the value of the work under consideration; and, 3) clearly articulating that argument as you write an organized and well-supported assessment of the work.

A useful strategy in preparing to write a review is to list a set of questions that should be answered as you read the book [remember to note the page numbers so you can refer back to the text!]. The specific questions to ask yourself will depend upon the type of book you are reviewing. For example, a book that is presenting original research about a topic may require a different set of questions to ask yourself than a work where the author is offering a personal critique of an existing policy or issue.

Here are some sample questions that can help you think critically about the book:

  • Thesis or Argument . What is the central thesis—or main argument—of the book? If the author wanted you to get one main idea from the book, what would it be? How does it compare or contrast to the world that you know or have experienced? What has the book accomplished? Is the argument clearly stated and does the research support this?
  • Topic . What exactly is the subject or topic of the book? Is it clearly articulated? Does the author cover the subject adequately? Does the author cover all aspects of the subject in a balanced fashion? Can you detect any biases? What type of approach has the author adopted to explore the research problem [e.g., topical, analytical, chronological, descriptive]?
  • Evidence . How does the author support their argument? What evidence does the author use to prove their point? Is the evidence based on an appropriate application of the method chosen to gather information? Do you find that evidence convincing? Why or why not? Does any of the author's information [or conclusions] conflict with other books you've read, courses you've taken, or just previous assumptions you had about the research problem?
  • Structure . How does the author structure their argument? Does it follow a logical order of analysis? What are the parts that make up the whole? Does the argument make sense to you? Does it persuade you? Why or why not?
  • Take-aways . How has this book helped you understand the research problem? Would you recommend the book to others? Why or why not?

Beyond the content of the book, you may also consider some information about the author and the general presentation of information. Question to ask may include:

  • The Author: Who is the author? The nationality, political persuasion, education, intellectual interests, personal history, and historical context may provide crucial details about how a work takes shape. Does it matter, for example, that the author is affiliated with a particular organization? What difference would it make if the author participated in the events they wrote about? What other topics has the author written about? Does this work build on prior research or does it represent a new or unique area of research?
  • The Presentation: What is the book's genre? Out of what discipline does it emerge? Does it conform to or depart from the conventions of its genre? These questions can provide a historical or other contextual standard upon which to base your evaluations. If you are reviewing the first book ever written on the subject, it will be important for your readers to know this. Keep in mind, though, that declarative statements about being the “first,” the "best," or the "only" book of its kind can be a risky unless you're absolutely certain because your professor [presumably] has a much better understanding of the overall research literature.

NOTE: Most critical book reviews examine a topic in relation to prior research. A good strategy for identifying this prior research is to examine sources the author(s) cited in the chapters introducing the research problem and, of course, any review of the literature. However, you should not assume that the author's references to prior research is authoritative or complete. If any works related to the topic have been excluded, your assessment of the book should note this . Be sure to consult with a librarian to ensure that any additional studies are located beyond what has been cited by the author(s).

Book Reviews. Writing@CSU. Colorado State University; Book Reviews. The Writing Center. University of North Carolina; Hartley, James. "Reading and Writing Book Reviews Across the Disciplines." Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 57 (July 2006): 1194–1207;   Motta-Roth, D. “Discourse Analysis and Academic Book Reviews: A Study of Text and Disciplinary Cultures.”  In Genre Studies in English for Academic Purposes . Fortanet Gómez, Inmaculada  et  al., editors. (Castellò de la Plana: Publicacions de la Universitat Jaume I, 1998), pp. 29-45. Writing a Book Review. The Writing Lab and The OWL. Purdue University; Writing Book Reviews. Writing Tutorial Services, Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning. Indiana University; Suárez, Lorena and Ana I. Moreno. “The Rhetorical Structure of Academic Journal Book Reviews: A Cross-linguistic and Cross-disciplinary Approach .” In Asociación Europea de Lenguas para Fines Específicos, María del Carmen Pérez Llantada Auría, Ramón Plo Alastrué, and Claus Peter Neumann. Actas del V Congreso Internacional AELFE/Proceedings of the 5th International AELFE Conference . Zaragoza: Universidad de Zaragoza, 2006.

Structure and Writing Style

I.  Bibliographic Information

Bibliographic information refers to the essential elements of a work if you were to cite it in a paper [i.e., author, title, date of publication, etc.]. Provide the essential information about the book using the writing style [e.g., APA, MLA, Chicago] preferred by your professor or used by the discipline of your major . Depending on how your professor wants you to organize your review, the bibliographic information represents the heading of your review. In general, it would look like this:

[Complete title of book. Author or authors. Place of publication. Publisher. Date of publication. Number of pages before first chapter, often in Roman numerals. Total number of pages]. The Whites of Their Eyes: The Tea Party's Revolution and the Battle over American History . By Jill Lepore. (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2010. xii, 207 pp.)

Reviewed by [your full name].

II.  Scope/Purpose/Content

Begin your review by telling the reader not only the overarching concern of the book in its entirety [the subject area] but also what the author's particular point of view is on that subject [the thesis statement]. If you cannot find an adequate statement in the author's own words or if you find that the thesis statement is not well-developed, then you will have to compose your own introductory thesis statement that does cover all the material. This statement should be no more than one paragraph and must be succinctly stated, accurate, and unbiased.

If you find it difficult to discern the overall aims and objectives of the book [and, be sure to point this out in your review if you determine that this is a deficiency], you may arrive at an understanding of the book's overall purpose by assessing the following:

  • Scan the table of contents because it can help you understand how the book was organized and will aid in determining the author's main ideas and how they were developed [e.g., chronologically, topically, historically, etc.].
  • Why did the author write on this subject rather than on some other subject?
  • From what point of view is the work written?
  • Was the author trying to give information, to explain something technical, or to convince the reader of a belief’s validity by dramatizing it in action?
  • What is the general field or genre, and how does the book fit into it? If necessary, review related literature from other books and journal articles to familiarize yourself with the field.
  • Who is the intended audience?
  • What is the author's style? Is it formal or informal? You can evaluate the quality of the writing style by noting some of the following standards: coherence, clarity, originality, forcefulness, accurate use of technical words, conciseness, fullness of development, and fluidity [i.e., quality of the narrative flow].
  • How did the book affect you? Were there any prior assumptions you had about the subject that were changed, abandoned, or reinforced after reading the book? How is the book related to your own personal beliefs or assumptions? What personal experiences have you had related to the subject that affirm or challenge underlying assumptions?
  • How well has the book achieved the goal(s) set forth in the preface, introduction, and/or foreword?
  • Would you recommend this book to others? Why or why not?

III.  Note the Method

Support your remarks with specific references to text and quotations that help to illustrate the literary method used to state the research problem, describe the research design, and analyze the findings. In general, authors tend to use the following literary methods, exclusively or in combination.

  • Description : The author depicts scenes and events by giving specific details that appeal to the five senses, or to the reader’s imagination. The description presents background and setting. Its primary purpose is to help the reader realize, through as many details as possible, the way persons, places, and things are situated within the phenomenon being described.
  • Narration : The author tells the story of a series of events, usually thematically or in chronological order. In general, the emphasis in scholarly books is on narration of the events. Narration tells what has happened and, in some cases, using this method to forecast what could happen in the future. Its primary purpose is to draw the reader into a story and create a contextual framework for understanding the research problem.
  • Exposition : The author uses explanation and analysis to present a subject or to clarify an idea. Exposition presents the facts about a subject or an issue clearly and as impartially as possible. Its primary purpose is to describe and explain, to document for the historical record an event or phenomenon.
  • Argument : The author uses techniques of persuasion to establish understanding of a particular truth, often in the form of addressing a research question, or to convince the reader of its falsity. The overall aim is to persuade the reader to believe something and perhaps to act on that belief. Argument takes sides on an issue and aims to convince the reader that the author's position is valid, logical, and/or reasonable.

IV.  Critically Evaluate the Contents

Critical comments should form the bulk of your book review . State whether or not you feel the author's treatment of the subject matter is appropriate for the intended audience. Ask yourself:

  • Has the purpose of the book been achieved?
  • What contributions does the book make to the field?
  • Is the treatment of the subject matter objective or at least balanced in describing all sides of a debate?
  • Are there facts and evidence that have been omitted?
  • What kinds of data, if any, are used to support the author's thesis statement?
  • Can the same data be interpreted to explain alternate outcomes?
  • Is the writing style clear and effective?
  • Does the book raise important or provocative issues or topics for discussion?
  • Does the book bring attention to the need for further research?
  • What has been left out?

Support your evaluation with evidence from the text and, when possible, state the book's quality in relation to other scholarly sources. If relevant, note of the book's format, such as, layout, binding, typography, etc. Are there tables, charts, maps, illustrations, text boxes, photographs, or other non-textual elements? Do they aid in understanding the text? Describing this is particularly important in books that contain a lot of non-textual elements.

NOTE:   It is important to carefully distinguish your views from those of the author so as not to confuse your reader. Be clear when you are describing an author's point of view versus expressing your own.

V.  Examine the Front Matter and Back Matter

Front matter refers to any content before the first chapter of the book. Back matter refers to any information included after the final chapter of the book . Front matter is most often numbered separately from the rest of the text in lower case Roman numerals [i.e. i - xi ]. Critical commentary about front or back matter is generally only necessary if you believe there is something that diminishes the overall quality of the work [e.g., the indexing is poor] or there is something that is particularly helpful in understanding the book's contents [e.g., foreword places the book in an important context].

Front matter that may be considered for evaluation when reviewing its overall quality:

  • Table of contents -- is it clear? Is it detailed or general? Does it reflect the true contents of the book? Does it help in understanding a logical sequence of content?
  • Author biography -- also found as back matter, the biography of author(s) can be useful in determining the authority of the writer and whether the book builds on prior research or represents new research. In scholarly reviews, noting the author's affiliation and prior publications can be a factor in helping the reader determine the overall validity of the work [i.e., are they associated with a research center devoted to studying the problem under investigation].
  • Foreword -- the purpose of a foreword is to introduce the reader to the author and the content of the book, and to help establish credibility for both. A foreword may not contribute any additional information about the book's subject matter, but rather, serves as a means of validating the book's existence. In these cases, the foreword is often written by a leading scholar or expert who endorses the book's contributions to advancing research about the topic. Later editions of a book sometimes have a new foreword prepended [appearing before an older foreword, if there was one], which may be included to explain how the latest edition differs from previous editions. These are most often written by the author.
  • Acknowledgements -- scholarly studies in the social sciences often take many years to write, so authors frequently acknowledge the help and support of others in getting their research published. This can be as innocuous as acknowledging the author's family or the publisher. However, an author may acknowledge prominent scholars or subject experts, staff at key research centers, people who curate important archival collections, or organizations that funded the research. In these particular cases, it may be worth noting these sources of support in your review, particularly if the funding organization is biased or its mission is to promote a particular agenda.
  • Preface -- generally describes the genesis, purpose, limitations, and scope of the book and may include acknowledgments of indebtedness to people who have helped the author complete the study. Is the preface helpful in understanding the study? Does it provide an effective framework for understanding what's to follow?
  • Chronology -- also may be found as back matter, a chronology is generally included to highlight key events related to the subject of the book. Do the entries contribute to the overall work? Is it detailed or very general?
  • List of non-textual elements -- a book that contains numerous charts, photographs, maps, tables, etc. will often list these items after the table of contents in the order that they appear in the text. Is this useful?

Back matter that may be considered for evaluation when reviewing its overall quality:

  • Afterword -- this is a short, reflective piece written by the author that takes the form of a concluding section, final commentary, or closing statement. It is worth mentioning in a review if it contributes information about the purpose of the book, gives a call to action, summarizes key recommendations or next steps, or asks the reader to consider key points made in the book.
  • Appendix -- is the supplementary material in the appendix or appendices well organized? Do they relate to the contents or appear superfluous? Does it contain any essential information that would have been more appropriately integrated into the text?
  • Index -- are there separate indexes for names and subjects or one integrated index. Is the indexing thorough and accurate? Are elements used, such as, bold or italic fonts to help identify specific places in the book? Does the index include "see also" references to direct you to related topics?
  • Glossary of Terms -- are the definitions clearly written? Is the glossary comprehensive or are there key terms missing? Are any terms or concepts mentioned in the text not included that should have been?
  • Endnotes -- examine any endnotes as you read from chapter to chapter. Do they provide important additional information? Do they clarify or extend points made in the body of the text? Should any notes have been better integrated into the text rather than separated? Do the same if the author uses footnotes.
  • Bibliography/References/Further Readings -- review any bibliography, list of references to sources, and/or further readings the author may have included. What kinds of sources appear [e.g., primary or secondary, recent or old, scholarly or popular, etc.]? How does the author make use of them? Be sure to note important omissions of sources that you believe should have been utilized, including important digital resources or archival collections.

VI.  Summarize and Comment

State your general conclusions briefly and succinctly. Pay particular attention to the author's concluding chapter and/or afterword. Is the summary convincing? List the principal topics, and briefly summarize the author’s ideas about these topics, main points, and conclusions. If appropriate and to help clarify your overall evaluation, use specific references to text and quotations to support your statements. If your thesis has been well argued, the conclusion should follow naturally. It can include a final assessment or simply restate your thesis. Do not introduce new information in the conclusion. If you've compared the book to any other works or used other sources in writing the review, be sure to cite them at the end of your book review in the same writing style as your bibliographic heading of the book.

Book Reviews. Writing@CSU. Colorado State University; Book Reviews. The Writing Center. University of North Carolina; Gastel, Barbara. "Special Books Section: A Strategy for Reviewing Books for Journals." BioScience 41 (October 1991): 635-637; Hartley, James. "Reading and Writing Book Reviews Across the Disciplines." Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 57 (July 2006): 1194–1207; Lee, Alexander D., Bart N. Green, Claire D. Johnson, and Julie Nyquist. "How to Write a Scholarly Book Review for Publication in a Peer-reviewed Journal: A Review of the Literature." Journal of Chiropractic Education 24 (2010): 57-69; Nicolaisen, Jeppe. "The Scholarliness of Published Peer Reviews: A Bibliometric Study of Book Reviews in Selected Social Science Fields." Research Evaluation 11 (2002): 129-140;.Procter, Margaret. The Book Review or Article Critique. The Lab Report. University College Writing Centre. University of Toronto; Reading a Book to Review It. The Writer’s Handbook. Writing Center. University of Wisconsin, Madison; Scarnecchia, David L. "Writing Book Reviews for the Journal Of Range Management and Rangelands." Rangeland Ecology and Management 57 (2004): 418-421; Simon, Linda. "The Pleasures of Book Reviewing." Journal of Scholarly Publishing 27 (1996): 240-241; Writing a Book Review. The Writing Lab and The OWL. Purdue University; Writing Book Reviews. Writing Tutorial Services, Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning. Indiana University.

Writing Tip

Always Read the Foreword and/or the Preface

If they are included in the front matter, a good place for understanding a book's overall purpose, organization, contributions to further understanding of the research problem, and relationship to other studies is to read the preface and the foreword. The foreword may be written by someone other than the author or editor and can be a person who is famous or who has name recognition within the discipline. A foreword is often included to add credibility to the work.

The preface is usually an introductory essay written by the author or editor. It is intended to describe the book's overall purpose, arrangement, scope, and overall contributions to the literature. When reviewing the book, it can be useful to critically evaluate whether the goals set forth in the foreword and/or preface were actually achieved. At the very least, they can establish a foundation for understanding a study's scope and purpose as well as its significance in contributing new knowledge.

Distinguishing between a Foreword, a Preface, and an Introduction . Book Creation Learning Center. Greenleaf Book Group, 2019.

Locating Book Reviews

There are several databases the USC Libraries subscribes to that include the full-text or citations to book reviews. Short, descriptive reviews can also be found at book-related online sites such as Amazon , although it's not always obvious who has written them and may actually be created by the publisher. The following databases provide comprehensive access to scholarly, full-text book reviews:

  • ProQuest [1983-present]
  • Book Review Digest Retrospective [1905-1982]

Some Language for Evaluating Texts

It can be challenging to find the proper vocabulary from which to discuss and evaluate a book. Here is a list of some active verbs for referring to texts and ideas that you might find useful:

  • account for
  • demonstrate
  • distinguish
  • investigate

Examples of usage

  • "The evidence indicates that..."
  • "This work assesses the effect of..."
  • "The author identifies three key reasons for..."
  • "This book questions the view that..."
  • "This work challenges assumptions about...."

Paquot, Magali. Academic Keyword List. Centre for English Corpus Linguistics. Université Catholique de Louvain.

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Learn How to Write a Biography: A Step-by-Step Guide.

Human lives are intricate tapestries woven with experiences, emotions, challenges, and triumphs. Biographies and autobiographies serve as windows into these remarkable stories, offering insight into the lives of individuals who have left their mark on history or those who wish to chronicle their own journeys. 

I n this guide, we will explore the art of writing biographies and autobiographies, delving into the nuances of both genres and providing valuable tips on how to craft compelling narratives.

Understanding Biography and Autobiography

  • Biography: Exploring Lives Beyond the Surface A biography is a literary exploration that unveils the intricate layers of a person’s existence, transcending the mere listing of events. It provides a comprehensive account of an individual’s life, offering insights into their achievements, struggles, societal impact, and distinct qualities that define them. These narratives serve as windows into history, allowing readers to traverse time and understand the legacy left by remarkable individuals. Biographies are usually crafted by biographers, individuals skilled in research and storytelling. They undertake a meticulous journey of gathering information from diverse sources, such as historical records, interviews, letters, and secondary literature. The biographer’s role is to curate these fragments of information into a coherent narrative, painting a vivid portrait of the subject. This comprehensive approach lends credibility and depth to the portrayal, enriching the reader’s understanding of the subject’s contributions and character. Example:  Consider the biography of Mahatma Gandhi. A biographer compiling his life story would explore not only his role in India’s fight for independence but also his principles of nonviolence, his experiments with truth, and his impact on the world’s political landscape. By presenting a holistic view of Gandhi’s life, the biography reveals the nuances of his personality, beliefs, and the larger context in which he operated.
  • Autobiography: The Intimate Dialogue of Self-Discovery An autobiography is a narrative journey undertaken by the subject themselves—a profound sharing of one’s life experiences, emotions, and reflections. This genre provides readers with an intimate insight into the subject’s psyche, allowing them to witness their life’s trajectory through personal recollections. Autobiographies carry a unique authenticity, as they are composed from the vantage point of the person who lived those moments, providing a firsthand account of their journey. Autobiographies draw from the subject’s reservoir of memories, emotions, and introspections. This self-exploration leads to a narrative that is often more than a linear chronicle; it becomes a tapestry woven with the threads of emotions, thoughts, and personal revelations. By directly communicating with the reader, the autobiographer creates a powerful connection, allowing readers to step into their shoes and experience their story from within. Example:  A notable example of an autobiography is “The Diary of a Young Girl” by Anne Frank. Written during her time in hiding during World War II, the book offers a candid portrayal of Anne’s life, fears, hopes, and dreams. Through her own words, readers gain a deep understanding of the challenges faced by Jews during the Holocaust, as well as the resilience and humanity that Anne exudes even in the face of adversity.

Writing a Biography:

Research: The Foundation of a Compelling Biography Thorough research is the cornerstone of a captivating biography. Delve into reputable sources like books, articles, interviews, and archives to gather a comprehensive view of your subject’s life. By immersing yourself in these materials, you gain insights into their experiences, motivations, and contributions. Scrutinise the historical context to understand the era’s impact on their journey. Successful research forms the bedrock of your biography, enabling you to present an accurate and nuanced portrayal that resonates with readers. It’s through meticulous research that you uncover the hidden stories and connect the dots, allowing the subject’s essence to shine through the pages.

Selecting a Focus: Defining the Narrative Scope Choosing a focal point is essential for a well-structured biography. Decide whether to cover the subject’s entire life or concentrate on specific periods or achievements. This decision shapes the narrative’s trajectory, preventing it from becoming overwhelming or disjointed. A focused approach allows you to delve deeply into pivotal moments, providing a more profound understanding of the subject’s journey. By clarifying the scope, you enable readers to follow a coherent storyline, making it easier for them to engage with the subject’s life in a meaningful way.

Structuring the Biography: Chronology and Themes The organisation of your biography greatly impacts its readability. Structure your work into logical sections or chapters, employing either a chronological or thematic arrangement. Begin with an engaging introduction that captures readers’ attention and provides essential context. A chronological structure follows the subject’s life in sequential order, offering a clear timeline of events. Alternatively, a thematic structure groups events by themes, allowing you to explore different facets of the subject’s life. A well-structured biography guides readers smoothly through the subject’s experiences, fostering a deeper connection and understanding.

Show, Don’t Tell: Evocative Storytelling Vivid descriptions, anecdotes, and quotes breathe life into your biography. Rather than merely listing facts, employ descriptive language to recreate scenes and emotions, allowing readers to immerse themselves in the subject’s world. Use anecdotes to illustrate key moments, capturing the essence of the subject’s character and the impact of events on their journey. Integrating quotes from the subject, contemporaries, or relevant sources adds authenticity and depth. Through this technique, you transport readers into the subject’s experiences, enabling them to witness the moments that shaped their lives.

Balanced Perspective: Portraying Strengths and Flaws A balanced portrayal adds credibility and depth to your biography. While it’s tempting to focus solely on accomplishments, a well-rounded view includes the subject’s strengths and flaws. This authenticity humanises the subject, making it relatable and multidimensional. By acknowledging both successes and challenges, readers gain a more honest understanding of their journey. Balancing positives and negatives helps readers empathise with the subject, connecting them on a deeper level and offering a more genuine insight into their lives.

Engaging Emotions: Creating Emotional Resonance Emotions are a potent tool in biography writing. Delve into the subject’s feelings, struggles, and aspirations to create an emotional connection with readers. By tapping into their emotional experiences, you make the narrative relatable and engaging. Sharing personal challenges and triumphs allows readers to empathise and reflect on their own lives. This emotional resonance elevates the biography from a mere factual account to a compelling and moving story that lingers in readers’ minds, leaving a lasting impact.

Citing Sources: Ensuring Accuracy and Credibility Accurate information is vital in biography writing. Properly cite your sources to maintain credibility and integrity. Clear citations not only lend authority to your work but also provide readers with the opportunity to explore further if they desire. Accurate referencing safeguards against misinformation and ensures that your portrayal is based on reliable evidence. In addition to enhancing your credibility, thorough citations demonstrate your commitment to thorough research and ethical writing practises, contributing to the overall trustworthiness of your biography.

complete guide to write a biography. start writing your biography now

Complete Guide to Write a Biography. Start Writing Your Biography Now

Writing an Autobiography:

Reflecting on Significant Moments and Experiences Initiating an autobiography involves introspection into your life’s pivotal moments. Delve into memories that have influenced your journey, such as turning points, challenges, relationships, and achievements. Reflect on these experiences, dissecting their impact on your personal growth and development. By contemplating these key events, you gain insight into the narrative threads that weave your life story together. This reflective process sets the foundation for an authentic autobiography that resonates with readers on a profound level.

Developing Your Unique Voice and Tone Crafting an autobiography demands a consistent voice and tone that reflect your personality. Write in a way that feels true to you, capturing your unique perspective and emotions. Authenticity is key, as it allows readers to connect with your narrative on a personal level. Whether your tone is introspective, humorous, or contemplative, ensure it aligns with the essence of your experiences. By embracing your genuine voice, you create an autobiography that not only tells your story but also conveys the essence of who you are.

Structured Storytelling for Engagement While autobiographies can be more flexible in structure compared to biographies, organising your narrative into coherent sections or themes enhances its readability. By grouping related experiences together, you provide readers with a clearer understanding of the themes that have shaped your life. This structure helps maintain their engagement by guiding them through your journey in a logical and compelling manner. While allowing for creativity, a structured approach ensures that your autobiography remains focused and accessible.

Embracing honesty and authenticity Honesty is the bedrock of an impactful autobiography. Share not only your triumphs but also your mistakes and failures. Authenticity creates relatability, allowing readers to connect with your humanity and vulnerabilities. Your journey’s challenges and setbacks are just as integral to your story as your successes. By being candid about your experiences, you demonstrate resilience and growth, inspiring readers to reflect on their own paths. This level of authenticity fosters a deeper connection, making your autobiography a source of empathy and encouragement.

Adding Depth Through Reflection Incorporate reflection to imbue your autobiography with depth and meaning. Explore the lessons you’ve learned from your experiences and the transformations they’ve prompted. Delve into how these moments shaped your beliefs, values, and perspective on life. By offering insights gained from introspection, you provide readers with wisdom and a broader understanding of your journey. Reflection transforms your autobiography from a chronicle of events into a thoughtful exploration of personal growth and the profound impact of life’s moments.

Creating vivid details for immersion Immerse readers in your world by employing sensory details and vivid descriptions. Paint a picture with words, allowing readers to visualise the scenes and emotions you’re describing. By incorporating sensory elements like sights, sounds, smells, and feelings, you transport readers into the moments you’re recounting. This immersive experience draws them closer to your story, fostering a stronger connection. Vivid details not only make your autobiography more engaging but also enable readers to forge a deeper connection with your experiences and emotions.

In the realm of literature, biographies and autobiographies stand as powerful testaments to the diversity and richness of human existence. Whether you’re capturing the life of a historical figure or penning your own life story, the art of writing these genres involves meticulous research, introspection, and a keen understanding of human emotions. 

Through carefully chosen words and evocative storytelling, biographers and autobiographers alike can craft narratives that resonate with readers and offer a deeper understanding of the human experience. So, whether you’re writing about the extraordinary or the everyday, embrace the challenge and privilege of narrating lives through the written word.

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How to Write a Biography: 10 Step Guide + Book Template

POSTED ON Nov 14, 2023

Nicole Ahlering

Written by Nicole Ahlering

So you’d like to know how to write a biography. We can help with that! In this guide, we show you how to get from the initial book idea to publishing your book , and we throw in a free template to help you on your way. 

Let’s jump right in. 

This guide teaches you how to write a biography in the following steps:

Get Our 6″ x 9″ Pre-Formatted Book Template for Word or Mac

We will send you a Book Template for US Trade (standard paperback size).

Step 1: Read other biographies 

Austin Kleon, Author of Steal Like an Artist , says “the writer tries to master words. All of these pursuits involve the study of those who have come before and the effort to build upon their work in some way.”

In other words, to be a great writer, you need to read the best biographies written by other excellent authors!

In this case, it would behoove you to read several biographies – whether historical or celebrity biographies is up to you and your sub-genre. 

A good author to start with? Walter Isaacson . He’s written highly acclaimed biographies on everyone from Abraham Lincoln and Steve Jobs to Leonardo Da Vinci and Elon Musk. 

Step 2: Identify your subject

Next, it’s time to choose who you’d like to write about – if you don’t already have someone in mind.  

The most important factor will be, of course, your interest in the person you’re planning to write about. You’ll spend months (or even years) deep-diving into this person’s history, so you want to choose someone who you’re unlikely to tire of. 

Here are a few other factors to consider: 

  • How impactful has your potential subject’s life been? In other words, will people care to learn more about this person? 
  • How readily available is information about your potential subject? Biographies require extensive research, so it’s critical to choose someone who has enough information out there to dig into! Consider whether your subject has done interviews, written journals, has family or a partner willing to speak with you, and more. 
  • Are there already books written about your potential subject? Just because there’s an existing biography about the person you’re interested in doesn’t (necessarily) mean you can’t write another one. But if there are two or three biographies, you may want to reconsider. If you do choose to write about someone who has already been well-documented, be mindful about approaching the topic with a new angle or perspective. For instance, there are several biographies about George Washington, but author Alexis Coe wrote one about how Washington isn’t “quite the man we remember.” This brilliant iteration has over 12,000 ratings on Goodreads .
  • Is there a market demand for a book about your potential subject? If you’d like to publish your book, you need to be mindful of whether folks will want to read it. Do some research to determine if readers will be receptive to a book about the person you’re interested in. 

Related: Is a Biography a Primary Source?

Step 3: Get permission to write about your subject

We’ll start by stating the obvious. It’s a good idea to get permission to write about your subject, even if you’re not legally required to. For one thing, it’s just good manners. Plus, you’re much more likely to get unfettered access to the information and sources you need to write your book. 

But do you have to get permission? It depends.

In some cases, if your subject is considered a “public figure,” permission may not be required. The definition of a public figure varies depending on your jurisdiction, so you should always consult a lawyer before writing a biography. 

If you do decide to proceed without permission, be mindful of how your book will be received and any legal issues that may arise. 

Related : Difference Between A Memoir and Biography

Step 4: Create an outline

It’s critical to outline your biography before you begin writing it. Among other things, it helps ensure you cover every topic you’d like to and get the book in the correct chronological order. It also helps you identify themes that emerge as you organize your ideas. 

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Need help creating your outline? Learn how to do it (and take advantage of free templates!) in our guide to outlining a book . 

Step 5: Select a working title (using a title generator) 

Now is the fun part! It’s time to create a working title for your book. A working title is just what it sounds like: it’s a title that works – for now. 

Of course, it’s helpful to have something to call the book as you’re working on it. And it encourages you to think about the message you’d like your book to convey. When your biography is complete, you can always do a little more research on how to write book titles for your specific sub-genre and update your working title accordingly.

Or, you can decide you still love your initial title and publish your book with that one! 

We’ve made it easy for you to develop a working title – or multiple – using our book title generator . 

Don't like it?

Step 6: Write a rough draft 

Okay, now it’s time to start writing your rough draft. Don’t be intimidated; just focus on getting something down on the page. As experts on all things writing and self-publishing, we’ve got a rough draft writing guide to help you get through this phase of writing a biography.

Remember to be as balanced and objective as possible.

Make good use of your primary and secondary sources, and double-check all of your facts. You’ve got this!  

Step 7: Self-edit

There are several different types of editing that we recommend each manuscript undergo. But before you give your rough draft to anyone else to review, you should edit it yourself. 

The first step to self-editing?

Take a break! It’s essential to give your mind some time to recuperate before you go over your work. And never self-edit as you go!

After you’ve completed your break, here are a few things to consider as you edit: 

  • Grammar. This one is self-explanatory and usually the easiest. You can use an AI editor to make a first pass and quickly catch obvious spelling errors. Depending on prompts and your experience with the tool, you can also use AI to catch some grammar and syntax issues as well.
  • Content and structure . This is the time to make sure the bones of your piece are good. Make sure your content flows logically (and in chronological order), no important pieces of information are missing, and there isn’t redundant or unhelpful information. 
  • Clarity and consistency. Keep an eye out for any confusing copy and ensure your tone is uniform throughout the book.
  • Try reading your draft aloud. You’d be surprised at how many errors, shifts in tone, or other things you’d like to change that you don’t notice while reading in your head. Go ahead and do a read-through of your draft out loud. 

Step 8: Work with an editor

Once you’ve created the best draft you can, it’s time to hire an editor. As we mentioned, there are multiple types of book editing, so you’ll need to choose the one(s) that are best for you and your project. 

For instance, you can work with a developmental editor who helps with big-picture stuff. Think book structure, organization, and overall storytelling. Or you might work with a line editor who focuses on grammar, spelling, punctuation, and the like. 

There are also specialized copy editors, content editors, fact-checkers, and more.

It’s in your best interest to do a substantial amount of research before choosing an editor since they’ll have a large impact on your book. Many editors are open to doing a paid trial so you can see their work before you sign them on for the entire book. 

Step 9: Hire a book cover designer + get an ISBN 

Once you’ve worked with your editor(s) to finalize your book, it’s time to get your book ready to go out into the world. Your first step is to hire a book cover designer to create a cover that grabs readers’ attention (pssst: did you know that all SelfPublishing authors get done-for-you professional book design? Ask us about it !).

Then, you’ll need to get an ISBN number for your book – or an International Standard Book Number. It’s a unique way to identify your book and is critical for ordering, inventory tracking, and more. 

Bear in mind that each rendition of your book – regardless of when you publish them – will need their own ISBN numbers. So if you initially publish as a softcover and hardcover book and then decide to publish an ebook with the same exact content, you'll need 3 total ISBN numbers.

To get an ISBN, head to ISBN.org and follow the steps they provide.  Or reference our guide right here for step-by-step instructions (complete with photos) on how to get an ISBN number for self-published books.

Step 10: Create a launch plan 

Now is the most exciting part. It’s time to get your book out into the world! You’ll need to map out your plan, schedule events , finalize your pricing strategy, and more. 

We have an entire guide to launching a book to help you figure it out. 

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Get your free book template!

Learning how to write a biography can be challenging, but when you have a clear plan and guidance, the process is much easier. We've helped thousands of aspiring authors just like you write and self-publish their own books. We know what works – and how to become a successfully published author faster.

Take the first step today and down the book template below!

And, if you need additional help writing your biography, remember that we’re standing by to help. Just schedule a book consultation and one of our team members will help answer any of your questions about the writing process.

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The Only (FREE) Autobiography Template You Need – 4 Simple Steps

The 55 best biographies of all time.

How to Write an Autobiography: 11 Simple Steps

  • February 18, 2024

Table of Contents:

What is an autobiography, how to write an autobiography.

  • 1- Outline Your Life's Timeline

2- Identify the Theme

3- gather memories, 4- be honest and reflective, 5- include influential people, 6- describe settings vividly, 7- express emotions, 8- edit and revise, 9- seek feedback, 10- incorporate visuals, 11- finalize your manuscript, 6 essential elements of autobiography, 4 examples of autobiography.

  • Example 1: "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
  • Example 2: "The Diary of a Young Girl" by Anne Frank
  • Example 3: "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou
  • Example 4: "Dreams from My Father" by Barack Obama

Conclusion:

Autobiography.

Autobiography writing is when someone pens down their life story. It’s like creating a personal diary, but for everyone to read. In autobiography writing, the autobiography writers share their unique experiences and intimate memories. This type of writing allows the reader to see the author’s life and mind directly. It’s different from a biography, where another person tells your story. In an autobiography, it’s the person sharing their journey. It offers a special chance to step into their shoes and see the world from their eyes.

Find Your Focus: Beginning to write an autobiography starts with finding what to focus on. Reflect on the parts of your life that mean the most to you. Maybe it’s about your childhood days, the peaks of your career, or how you’ve grown personally. This focus acts like a compass for your writing. It makes sure your autobiography centers on the stories you find most vital. Think of it as choosing the key chapters of your life’s book you want everyone to read.

1- Outline Your Life’s Timeline

Creating a timeline is essential in writing an autobiography, akin to mapping your life’s journey. Begin from the outset, noting significant events in sequence, from birth to school days, influential people, career milestones, and more. This structured timeline serves as a guide, streamlining your narrative for clarity and coherence. It facilitates readers’ understanding, allowing them to accompany you through your life’s story. Whether documenting personal memories or delving into presidential biographies , a well-crafted timeline illuminates the path from your past to present.

Figuring out the theme is a crucial part of writing an autobiography. It’s like finding the heart of your story. What’s the big message or the most important lesson from your life? Maybe it’s about how you overcame tough times, the value of your family, or chasing your dreams. This theme adds more depth to your autobiography. It ties your various experiences together into a story that makes sense. A well-chosen theme can transform a simple list of life events into a powerful narrative that truly speaks to others.

As you embark on the journey of writing your autobiography, gathering memories is crucial. Start by collecting old photos, letters, and keepsakes reminiscent of different times. These items, akin to keys, unlock memories, aiding in recalling forgotten details and emotions. They weave together to narrate your life’s story, infusing authenticity and depth into your writing. Incorporating such pieces from your past can serve as a profound source of inspiration, alongside exploring memorable memoir examples .

Being honest and reflective is crucial when you write an autobiography. It’s not just about listing what happened in your life. You also need to think deeply about what these experiences mean to you. Being honest makes your story believable and trustworthy. At the same time, looking back thoughtfully lets you share the important lessons and understanding you’ve gained. This mix of honesty and reflection turns your autobiography into more than just a timeline of events. It becomes a deep dive into the essence of your life’s journey.

In every life story, including when you write an autobiography, key figures leave a lasting impact. It’s important to acknowledge these individuals in your writing. They could be family members, friends, mentors, or even challengers who have shaped who you are. Discuss how these people have influenced your choices, beliefs, and personal growth. Including them in your autobiography adds depth, showing how our lives are often interwoven with others, shaping us thoughtfully.

Bringing the places of your life to life is a crucial aspect when you write an autobiography. Vividly describe the settings where significant events of your life unfolded. It could be the house where you grew up, a school that was a big part of your life, or a city that left an indelible impression on you. Use your words to paint these places so that readers can see them in their minds. This level of detail makes your story more engaging and helps readers feel more connected to your journey.

As you get on the journey to write an autobiography, being open about your emotions is key. Share your feelings during the big moments of your life, whether they were filled with joyous challenges or were transformational in some way. Your emotional honesty brings another dimension to your story, making it more gripping and easier for readers to relate to. Let your readers experience your happiness, struggles, excitement, or fears. Emotions are a universal language, and sharing yours adds richness and depth to your story.

Once you’ve written your story, the next vital step in your journey to write an autobiography is editing and revising. Take a critical look at your work, focusing on clarity and impact. Simplify complex sentences, making your language easy to grasp. Ensure your storytelling is consistent and flows smoothly. Editing isn’t just about fixing grammar; it’s about fine-tuning your narrative and capturing the essence of your experiences in the most compelling way possible.

As you walk the path of writing an autobiography, seeking feedback is incredibly beneficial. Share your drafts with people you trust, those who grasp the essence of your story. This could be family members, close friends, or a writing group. Pay attention to their constructive criticism. Their insights may provide fresh perspectives or reveal areas needing improvement. Remember that feedback is invaluable for refining your story, making it more engaging and authentic.

An excellent way to enrich your autobiography is by adding visuals. Include photographs, documents, or any relevant imagery that can add a personal touch to your narrative. These visuals serve as tangible evidence of your experiences, helping to illustrate your story. They allow readers to visually connect with the people and places you describe, making your account more relatable and vivid. When you write an autobiography, remember that pictures can convey volumes.

The final step in your journey to write an autobiography is to finalize your manuscript. Review your entire story, ensuring it flows well from start to finish. Pay special attention to your conclusion – it should be strong and reflective, leaving a lasting impression on your readers. It’s your chance to summarize your life’s lessons and experiences, offering wisdom or insights from your journey. A well-crafted conclusion ties your story together beautifully.

By following these steps, one can effectively make an autobiography that is both engaging and meaningful. Along with these tips, you can also look towards biography writing services if you need help throughout your writing journey.

Honesty: When you set out to write an autobiography, being honest is key. Share your true story, the good and the bad. This honesty helps readers believe and connect with your journey, making it more real and relatable.

Detail is vital when you write an autobiography. Describe your experiences and events vividly. This brings your story to life, making it colorful and engaging for those who read it.

A clear order of events is important when you write an autobiography. It helps readers follow your story easily, understanding how your past shaped who you are today. A logical flow makes your story clearer and easy to follow.

Your autobiography should have a central theme. This is the main message or lesson from your life. A strong theme ties your experiences together, making your story more meaningful and impactful for your readers.

Sharing your feelings is essential when you write an autobiography. It lets readers connect with you on a deeper level. Your emotions make your story more powerful and touching, drawing readers into your world.

Reflecting on your experiences is a key part of an autobiography. It shows how you’ve grown and what you’ve learned. This reflection adds depth to your story, offering valuable insights and lessons to your readers.

“The Story of My Experiments with Truth” by Mahatma Gandhi: Gandhi’s autobiography isn’t just a history. It’s a journey into his beliefs and actions. Gandhi shares insights into his life’s pivotal moments, starting with his childhood. He talks about his philosophy of nonviolence and truth. This book gives us a unique look into how Gandhi thought and lived.

Example 1: “Long Walk to Freedom” by Nelson Mandela

This is the story of Nelson Mandela, a man who changed the world. Mandela grew up in a small village. He later became a symbol of peace, spending 27 years in prison. His fight against apartheid in South Africa shows us the power of resilience and hope.

Example 2: “The Diary of a Young Girl” by Anne Frank

Anne Frank’s diary is a heart-rending account of World War II. She wrote it while hiding from the Nazis. Her words bring to life her fears and dreams. This diary is more than history. It’s a powerful reminder of courage in the face of danger.

Example 3: “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou’s story is about overcoming. She faced racism and personal hardships in her early years. Her book tells how she found her voice against all odds. Angelou’s rich and expressive writing makes her experiences come alive. It’s an inspiring tale of empowerment.

Example 4: “Dreams from My Father” by Barack Obama

Before becoming president, Barack Obama wrote about his life. He talks about his diverse background and finding his identity. The book covers his early work and initial steps into politics. It offers a glimpse into the experiences that shaped his leadership. Obama’s story is about growth and understanding.

The journey to write an autobiography is not just about recording events; it’s about sharing the essence of your life story with the world. It’s a process of self-examination, discovery, and creation. Remember, your story is unique; only you can tell it with the depth and authenticity it deserves. Whether you write a biography or an autobiography, the key is to stay true to your experiences and the lessons they have taught you.

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How To Do Biography: A Primer

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how to write a book review on a biography

How To Do Biography: A Primer Paperback – October 22, 2012

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It is not surprising that biography is one of the most popular literary genres of our day. What is remarkable is that there is no accessible guide for how to write one. Now, following his recent Biography: A Brief History (from Harvard), award-winning biographer and teacher Nigel Hamilton tackles the practicalities of doing biography in this first succinct primer to elucidate the tools of the biographer’s craft. Hamilton invites the reader to join him on a fascinating journey through the art of biographical composition. Starting with personal motivation, he charts the making of a modern biography from the inside: from conception to fulfillment. He emphasizes the need to know one’s audience, rehearses the excitement and perils of modern research, delves into the secrets of good and great biography, and guides the reader through the essential components of life narrative. With examples taken from the finest modern biographies, Hamilton shows how to portray the ages of man―birth, childhood, love, life’s work, the evening of life, and death. In addition, he suggests effective ways to start and close a life story. He clarifies the difference between autobiography and memoir―and addresses the sometimes awkward ethical, legal, and personal consequences of truth-telling in modern life writing. He concludes with the publication and reception of biography―its afterlife, so to speak. Written with humor, insight, and compassion, How To Do Biography is the manual that would-be biographers have long been awaiting.

  • Print length 400 pages
  • Language English
  • Publisher Harvard University Press
  • Publication date October 22, 2012
  • Dimensions 5.5 x 1 x 7 inches
  • ISBN-10 0674066154
  • ISBN-13 978-0674066151
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  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harvard University Press; Reprint edition (October 22, 2012)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 400 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0674066154
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0674066151
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 14 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 1 x 7 inches
  • #1,244 in Words, Language & Grammar Reference
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Literacy Ideas

How to Write a Biography

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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, sometimes the subject is less well-known. Mostly though, famous or not, the person who is written about has led a life that is in some way incredible.

While your students will most likely have a basic understanding of a biography, it’s worth taking a little time before they put pen to paper to tease out a crystal clear definition of a biography.

Visual Writing Prompts

What Is a Biography?

how to write a biography | how to start an autobiography | How to Write a Biography | literacyideas.com

Simply put, a biography is an account of someone’s life written by someone else . While there is a genre known as a fictional biography, for the most part, biographies are, by definition, nonfiction.

Generally speaking, biographies provide an account of the subject’s life from the earliest days of their childhood right up to the present day or their death if the subject is deceased.

The job of a biography is more than just to outline the bare facts of a person’s life.

Rather than just listing the basic details of their upbringing, hobbies, education, work, relationships, and death, a well-written biography should also paint a picture of the subject’s personality, and as well as their experience of life.

A COMPLETE UNIT ON TEACHING BIOGRAPHIES

how to write a biography | biography and autobiography writing unit 1 | How to Write a Biography | literacyideas.com

Teach your students to write AMAZING BIOGRAPHIES & AUTOBIOGRAPHIES using proven RESEARCH SKILLS and WRITING STRATEGIES .

  • Understand the purpose of both forms of biography.
  • Explore the language and perspective of both.
  • Prompts and Challenges to engage students in writing a biography.
  • Dedicated lessons for both forms of biography.
  • Biographical Projects can expand students’ understanding of reading and writing a biography.
  • A COMPLETE 82-PAGE UNIT – NO PREPARATION REQUIRED.

What Are the Main Features of a Biography?

Before students begin writing a biography, they’ll need to have a firm grasp of the main features of the genre. A good way to determine how well they understand these essential elements of the genre is by asking them to compile a checklist.

At a minimum, their checklists should contain the items below. Be sure to help them fill in any gaps before moving on to the writing process.

The purpose of a biography is to provide an account of someone’s life.

Biography structure.

ORIENTATION (BEGINNING) Open your biography with a strong hook to grab the reader’s attention

SEQUENCING: In most cases, biographies are written in chronological order unless you are a very competent writer consciously trying to break from this trend.

COVER: childhood, upbringing, education, influences, accomplishments, relationships, etc. – everything that helps the reader to understand the person.

CONCLUSION: Wrap your biography up with some details about what the subject is doing now if they are still alive. If they have passed away, make mention of what impact they have made and what their legacy is or will be.

BIOGRAPHY FEATURES

LANGUAGE Use descriptive and figurative language that will paint images inside your audience’s minds as they read. Use time connectives to link events.

PERSPECTIVE Biographies are written from the third person’s perspective.

DETAILS: Give specific details about people, places, events, times, dates, etc. Reflect on how events shaped the subject. You might want to include some relevant photographs with captions. A timeline may also be of use depending upon your subject and what you are trying to convey to your audience.

TENSE Written in the past tense (though ending may shift to the present/future tense)

THE PROCESS OF WRITING A BIOGRAPHY

Like any form of writing, you will find it simple if you have a plan and follow it through. These steps will ensure you cover the essential bases of writing a biography essay.

Firstly, select a subject that inspires you. Someone whose life story resonates with you and whose contribution to society intrigues you. The next step is to conduct thorough research. Engage in extensive reading, explore various sources, watch documentaries, and glean all available information to provide a comprehensive account of the person’s life.

Creating an outline is essential to organize your thoughts and information. The outline should include the person’s early life, education, career, achievements, and any other significant events or contributions. It serves as a map for the writing process, ensuring that all vital information is included.

Your biography should have an engaging introduction that captivates the reader’s attention and provides background information on the person you’re writing about. It should include a thesis statement that summarizes the main points of the biography.

Writing a biography in chronological order is crucial . You should begin with the person’s early life and move through their career and achievements. This approach provides clarity on how the person’s life unfolded and how they accomplished their goals.

A biography should be written in a narrative style , capturing the essence of the person’s life through vivid descriptions, anecdotes, and quotes. Avoid dry, factual writing and focus on creating a compelling narrative that engages the reader.

Adding personal insights and opinions can enhance the biography’s overall impact, providing a unique perspective on the person’s achievements, legacy, and impact on society.

Editing and proofreading are vital elements of the writing process. Thoroughly reviewing your biography ensures that the writing is clear, concise, and error-free. You can even request feedback from someone else to ensure that it is engaging and well-written.

Finally, including a bibliography at the end of your biography is essential. It gives credit to the sources that were used during research, such as books, articles, interviews, and websites.

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?

Biography Writing Tip #2: R esearch ! 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 a student wishes 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!

COMPLETE TEACHING UNIT ON INTERNET RESEARCH SKILLS USING GOOGLE SEARCH

how to write a biography | research skills 1 | How to Write a Biography | literacyideas.com

Teach your students ESSENTIAL SKILLS OF THE INFORMATION ERA to become expert DIGITAL RESEARCHERS.

⭐How to correctly ask questions to search engines on all devices.

⭐ How to filter and refine your results to find exactly what you want every time.

⭐ Essential Research and critical thinking skills for students.

⭐ Plagiarism, Citing and acknowledging other people’s work.

⭐ How to query, synthesize and record your findings logically.

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 Put Something of Yourself into the Writing

While the defining feature of a biography is that it gives an account of a person’s life, students must understand that this is not all a biography does. Relating the facts and details of a subject’s life is not enough. The student biographer should not be afraid to share their thoughts and feelings with the reader throughout their account of their subject’s life.

The student can weave some of their personality into the fabric of the text by providing commentary and opinion as they relate the events of the person’s life and the wider social context at the time. Unlike the detached and objective approach we’d expect to find in a history textbook, in a biography, student-writers should communicate their enthusiasm for their subject in their writing.

This makes for a more intimate experience for the reader, as they get a sense of getting to know the author and the subject they are writing about.

Student Examples of Biography Writing

  • Year 5 Example
  • Year 7 Example
  • Year 9 Example

“The Rock ‘n’ Roll King: Elvis Presley”

Elvis Aaron Presley, born on January 8, 1935, was an amazing singer and actor known as the “King of Rock ‘n’ Roll.” Even though he’s been dead for nearly 50 years, I can’t help but be fascinated by his incredible life!

Elvis grew up in Tupelo, Mississippi, in a tiny house with his parents and twin brother. His family didn’t have much money, but they shared a love for music. Little did they know Elvis would become a music legend!

When he was only 11 years old, Elvis got his first guitar. He taught himself to play and loved singing gospel songs. As he got older, he started combining different music styles like country, blues, and gospel to create a whole new sound – that’s Rock ‘n’ Roll!

In 1954, at the age of 19, Elvis recorded his first song, “That’s All Right.” People couldn’t believe how unique and exciting his music was. His famous hip-swinging dance moves also made him a sensation!

Elvis didn’t just rock the music scene; he also starred in movies like “Love Me Tender” and “Jailhouse Rock.” But fame came with challenges. Despite facing ups and downs, Elvis kept spreading happiness through his music.

how to write a biography | A4H32CWFYQ72GPUNCIRTS5Y7P4 | How to Write a Biography | literacyideas.com

Tragically, Elvis passed away in 1977, but his music and charisma live on. Even today, people worldwide still enjoy his songs like “Hound Dog” and “Can’t Help Falling in Love.” Elvis Presley’s legacy as the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll will live forever.

Long Live the King: I wish I’d seen him.

Elvis Presley, the Rock ‘n’ Roll legend born on January 8, 1935, is a captivating figure that even a modern-day teen like me can’t help but admire. As I delve into his life, I wish I could have experienced the magic of his live performances.

Growing up in Tupelo, Mississippi, Elvis faced challenges but found solace in music. At 11, he got his first guitar, a symbol of his journey into the world of sound. His fusion of gospel, country, and blues into Rock ‘n’ Roll became a cultural phenomenon.

The thought of being in the audience during his early performances, especially when he recorded “That’s All Right” at 19, sends shivers down my spine. Imagining the crowd’s uproar and feeling the revolutionary energy of that moment is a dream I wish I could have lived.

Elvis wasn’t just a musical prodigy; he was a dynamic performer. His dance moves, the embodiment of rebellion, and his roles in films like “Love Me Tender” and “Jailhouse Rock” made him a true icon.

After watching him on YouTube, I can’t help but feel a little sad that I’ll never witness the King’s live performances. The idea of swaying to “Hound Dog” or being enchanted by “Can’t Help Falling in Love” in person is a missed opportunity. Elvis may have left us in 1977, but he was the king of rock n’ roll. Long live the King!

Elvis Presley: A Teen’s Take on the Rock ‘n’ Roll Icon”

Elvis Presley, born January 8, 1935, was a revolutionary force in the music world, earning his title as the “King of Rock ‘n’ Roll.” Exploring his life, even as a 16-year-old today, I’m captivated by the impact he made.

Hailing from Tupelo, Mississippi, Elvis grew up in humble beginnings, surrounded by the love of his parents and twin brother. It’s inspiring to think that, despite financial challenges, this young man would redefine the music scene.

At 11, Elvis got his first guitar, sparking a self-taught journey into music. His early gospel influences evolved into a unique fusion of country, blues, and gospel, creating the electrifying genre of Rock ‘n’ Roll. In 1954, at only 19, he recorded “That’s All Right,” marking the birth of a musical legend.

Elvis wasn’t just a musical innovator; he was a cultural phenomenon. His rebellious dance moves and magnetic stage presence challenged the norms. He transitioned seamlessly into acting, starring in iconic films like “Love Me Tender” and “Jailhouse Rock.”

how to write a biography | Elvis Presley promoting Jailhouse Rock | How to Write a Biography | literacyideas.com

However, fame came at a cost, and Elvis faced personal struggles. Despite the challenges, his music continued to resonate. Even now, classics like “Hound Dog” and “Can’t Help Falling in Love” transcend generations.

Elvis Presley’s impact on music and culture is undeniable. He was known for his unique voice, charismatic persona, and electrifying performances. He sold over one billion records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling solo artists in history. He received numerous awards throughout his career, including three Grammy Awards and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Elvis’s influence can still be seen in today’s music. Many contemporary artists, such as Bruno Mars, Lady Gaga, and Justin Timberlake, have cited Elvis as an inspiration. His music continues to be featured in movies, TV shows, and commercials.

Elvis left us in 1977, but his legacy lives on. I appreciate his breaking barriers and fearlessly embracing his artistic vision. Elvis Presley’s impact on music and culture is timeless, a testament to the enduring power of his artistry. His music has inspired generations and will continue to do so for many years to come.

how to write a biography | LITERACY IDEAS FRONT PAGE 1 | How to Write a Biography | literacyideas.com

Teaching Resources

Use our resources and tools to improve your student’s writing skills through proven teaching strategies.

BIOGRAPHY WRITING TEACHING IDEAS AND LESSONS

We have compiled a sequence of biography-related lessons or teaching ideas that you can follow as you please. They are straightforward enough for most students to follow without further instruction.

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 and then prioritise events and organise them 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:

Instruct students to write a short objective account of an event in their own life. They can write about anyone from their past. It needn’t be more than a couple of paragraphs, but the writing should be strictly factual, focusing only on the objective details of what happened.

Once they have completed this, it’s time to rewrite the paragraph, but they should include some opinion and personal commentary this time.

The student here aims to inject some color and personality into their writing, to transform a detached, factual account into a warm, engaging story.

Biography Graphic Organizer

Get our FREE Biography Writing Graphic Organizer

Use this valuable tool in the research and writing phases to keep your students on track and engaged.

WRITING CHECKLIST & RUBRIC BUNDLE

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To Conclude

By this stage, your students should have an excellent technical overview of a biography’s essential elements.

They should be able to choose their subject in light of how interesting and worthy they are, as well as give consideration to the availability of information out there. They should be able to research effectively and identify emerging themes in their research notes. And finally, they should be able to bring some of their personality and uniqueness into their retelling of the life of another.

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

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Henry Louis Gates Jr. Unpacks Black Literature’s ‘Black Box’

In his latest book, the Harvard scholar shows how African American writers have used the written word to shape their reality despite constraints imposed on them from outside.

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This sepia-toned illustration depicts a silhouetted face and upper body in profile, over the pages of an open book. Superimposed over the image float a handful of words, of which we can make out “write” and “escape” and “freedom.”

By Tope Folarin

Tope Folarin is a writer and critic. He is the executive director of the Institute for Policy Studies and the author of the novel “A Particular Kind of Black Man.”

THE BLACK BOX: Writing the Race , by Henry Louis Gates Jr.

By way of explaining the metaphor that serves as the title of his latest book, “The Black Box,” the Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. transcribes a conversation he had with his son-in-law after the birth of his granddaughter 10 years ago:

“Did you check the box?” I asked, apropos of nothing we had just discussed. Without missing a beat, my good son-in-law responded, “Yes, sir. I did.” “Very good,” I responded, as I poured a second shot of Pappy Van Winkle.

The box that Gates’s son-in-law checked on a birth registration form indicates that his granddaughter is Black, even though his daughter’s genetic admixture is 75 percent European, and his son-in-law is 100 percent European. In other words, as Gates notes, his granddaughter “will test about 87.5 percent European when she spits in the test tube.”

Gates offers this anecdote to suggest the arbitrariness of racial categories, and to focus our attention on the image of the box — a container that can function simultaneously as a “circumscribed enclosure” and a zone in which the confined can create a thriving “social and cultural world.”

For Gates, the box is a supple concept. Not only does it appear with surprising frequency in literature by Black Americans — from the fugitive slave author Henry Box Brown (who escaped slavery in a box) to Booker T. Washington (who described the box as a barrel) to the contemporary poet Terrance Hayes — but Gates extends the metaphor to other kinds of boxes that relate to Black experience, to ordeals withstood and survived. He cites an airplane’s flight recorder box, a device that “preserves a record of the truth amid disastrous circumstances,” and the slave ship, before arriving at his thesis: African Americans have consistently relied on the written word to express and shape their reality despite the constraints imposed on them from outside, which they have endured since they were first brought to this continent.

“The Black Box” is based on lectures Gates has delivered for many years in his Introduction to African American Studies class at Harvard. From the beginning, he shows, African Americans have turned to literary forms to validate their humanity. He quickly sketches the childhood of Phillis Wheatley — her journey to America via slave ship, her rapid mastery of English — and the varied responses to her poetry, which she began to publish as a precocious teenager.

Wheatley’s success undermined the prevailing sentiment that Black Americans were less intelligent than their white counterparts, and in response to her art some thinkers, such as Voltaire, revised their formerly negative perspectives on Black people, while others, including Thomas Jefferson, remained steadfast in their views. (Jefferson on Wheatley: “The compositions published under her name are below the dignity of criticism.”)

Gates traces the history of slave narratives, a genre that “always told the story” of how enslaved authors “learned to read and write, and always, always, of course, of their escape to freedom.” And he describes the intense conversations within the Black American community around self-definition: “They stood on uncertain ground. Were they Africans, Americans, both, or neither?” In each of these instances, as throughout his book, Gates adroitly demonstrates how literature served as a site of self-interrogation and a pathway to liberation.

In other chapters, Gates writes about the manifold contributions of W.E.B. Du Bois; the boldness and flair of the Harlem Renaissance generation; the fierce debate between Zora Neale Hurston and Richard Wright over the proper way to represent the Black experience in literature; and the politics of passing.

Many of these ideas will be familiar to readers — Gates has written about them before. The allure of this book, and the reason for its existence, are the narrative links he draws among these people and events, and his insistence that a survey of African American history is incomplete without a special consideration of how writing has undergirded and powered it. This is a literary history of Black America, but it is also an argument that African American history is inextricable from the history of African American literature.

“The Black Box” arrives at an auspicious moment. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of a great man of American and African American letters: James Baldwin. Next year marks the 100th anniversary of the publication of “The New Negro,” an anthology of fiction, poetry, art and essays edited by Alain Locke that is widely regarded as a defining text of the Harlem Renaissance.

This is also a moment when many politicians are hard at work revising our shared history in order to justify present-day policy agendas. Gates addresses this phenomenon in his concluding chapter, portions of which appeared in The New York Times a year ago. He invokes the story of Mildred Lewis Rutherford, the historian general of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, who argued throughout her career that the Civil War was simply “the War Between the States,” and had nothing to do with slavery.

As Gates notes, it is important to repeat the truth about history as often as possible, and to repel efforts to redefine it, because “what is inscribed on the blackboard translates directly to social practices unfolding on the street.”

THE BLACK BOX : Writing the Race | By Henry Louis Gates Jr. | Penguin Press | 262 pp. | $30

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CAMPUS NEWS: MARCH 25, 2024

In memoriam, in memoriam: english professor and author carol gelderman.

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Carol Gelderman, former English professor and author known for her prolific writings, died March 8, 2024.

Carol Gelderman, former English professor and author known for her prolific writings, died March 8, 2024.

Carol Gelderman, an esteemed English professor at the University of New Orleans for more than three decades and the author of 10 books—including a biography of Henry Ford—died on March 8. She was 89.

After earning a doctorate from Northwestern University, Gelderman joined the University in 1972 and remained on the English faculty until her retirement in 2005. She was such a prolific and skilled writer that in 1993 she was named a Distinguished Professor, a prestigious title held by only five faculty members at any one time.  

Her 10 published books included two textbooks about business and professional writing. A passionate student of American politics, she analyzed presidential speech writing in “All the President’s Words: The Bully Pulpit and the Creation of the Virtual Presidency.” But Gelderman was best known for her biographies. A review of “Henry Ford: The Wayward Capitalist” made the cover of Business Week . Her biography of the writer Mary McCarthy, “Mary McCarthy: A Life,” was reviewed on the front page of the New York Times Book Review.    

She continued to write throughout her life. “A Free Man of Color and His Hotel: Race, Reconstruction, and the Role of the Federal Government,” was published in 2012 when she was 77. In it, she examined the life of James Wormley, a free Black man who owned and operated the most luxurious hotel in Washington, D.C., from the 1850s until the 1880s.

In his eulogy of Gelderman, former UNO provost, English professor and founder of the Creative Writing Workshop Rick Barton called her a “scholar and acclaimed writer, a cherished teacher, a caring colleague and a loyal friend.”

“Despite all the long hours of intellectual effort it took to research and write these amazingly dissimilar 10 books, Carol shined in other aspects of her life as well,” Barton said. “We all know university faculty who publish important books and articles but don’t bother to put the same effort into their teaching duties. Not Carol Gelderman. She was as devoted a teacher as she was a scholar.”

Before receiving master’s and doctoral degrees from Northwestern, Gelderman worked for the American Embassy in London for a year and in public television in Chicago, conducting on-air interviews of visiting VIPs for a show called “Profile Chicago.” In addition to her 10 books, she wrote dozens of articles on topics as varied as theatre, biography, politics and mutual funds.

“Carol Gelderman was a vivacious, gregarious and affable person. She had friends all over New Orleans,” Barton said. “Carol was beloved by so many of us because she never practiced self-aggrandizement. She was a literary star, but you’d never learn about that from her.”

Colleagues and friends are planning to hold a memorial for Gelderman on UNO’s campus. Those details are incomplete.

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Percival Everett Can’t Be Pinned Down

His masterful new novel, james, cements his status as one of our most idiosyncratic writers..

how to write a book review on a biography

In February 2023, the news broke that Percival Everett would be publishing his 24th novel, James , a retelling of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from enslaved Jim’s perspective, for an advance of more than $500,000. Some Everett devotees (myself included) wondered if, after years of inventive, philosophical, and absurdist work displaying a dizzying range — mute baby geniuses, nutty heist plots, post-westerns, and metacommentaries on race and publishing — he was finally selling out. After all, though Everett has increased in stature recently — he’s been a Pulitzer and Booker finalist for 2020’s Telephone and 2021’s The Trees , respectively, and his breakout, 2001’s Erasure , an incendiary publishing-world satire, was recently adapted into the comparatively defanged Oscar-winning film American Fiction — his books have not sold in great numbers. His subject matter can be eclectic. The cast of characters over his 35 books and counting includes an orphan named Not Sidney Poitier, a sociopathic rhino hunter who wants to turn the Grand Canyon into an amusement park, and, in multiple works, testy English professors named Percival Everett.

There’s also the matter of James ’s great theme: a reinterpretation of the book that “all American literature comes from,” to quote Ernest Hemingway, a book that happens to tackle slavery. Slave narratives have long been one of the few Black stories the American public, historically speaking, has been interested in hearing. Was Everett attempting a highbrow version of what he satirized in Erasure, wherein the niche novelist deemed “not Black enough” for his obscure interests at last gives white people the “Black book” they want, a depiction of some legible Black misery that they can purchase, understand, and then congratulate themselves for having read?

Fortunately, the answer is “no.” James is far darker and more imaginative, tender, and sly than that, a testament to Everett’s ability to continually upset assumptions people might have about the kind of books he should write and how his characters, many of whom are Black, should behave. It’s in keeping with the scope of his work — formally adventurous, rangy yet unified, smart yet readable, funny, and subversive. His writing is often about getting free but not running away, and in James, that tension between freedom and bondage becomes literal.

Similar to Mark Twain’s picaresque, the book’s action kicks into gear when James — usually only white people call him Jim in Everett’s version — goes into hiding on an island after learning he will be sold downriver, away from his wife and daughter. There, he runs into Huck, who has faked his own death to flee his abusive father, Pap.

Much of Everett’s novel features James and Huck, and those around them, either plotting escape, evading capture, getting shipwrecked, or barely avoiding these fates. But that action-forward description only narrowly conveys what Everett is up to — as he’s said in interviews, the evil of slavery should be self-evident: “Like, am I supposed to say at the end of one of these works, ‘Oh yeah, slavery is bad’? Duh.”

James is a quintessential Everettian protagonist: smart, measured, observant, and almost preternaturally capable. He can read and write. He can camp and fish and survive a rattlesnake bite. He can, we will learn, hit a target. Everett’s primary characters tend toward reluctant heroism but also, at times, vengeance, alongside streaks of misanthropy. (As the character of Percival Everett, professor of nonsense, in I Am Not Sidney Poitier puts it, “People … are worse than anybody.”) And yet at the heart of the book are James’s powerful bonds with other people, his people: his wife, his daughter, fellow enslaved people, and, of course, Huck, with whom he has a special relationship that becomes central to the most dramatic act of the book. Faced with dangerous situations, some of which are absurd, some abject, James moves with intelligence and heart — as well as a quick understanding of what’s expected from him as a father, husband, friend, slave, and illicit writer and reader.

Everett gives James a newfound interiority as a deft and savvy code switcher. Among enslaved people, he speaks plain English. But when white people are around, he adopts “slave talk” as a survival tactic. Whereas Huckleberry Finn ’s Jim seems to believe witches took his hat while he was sleeping, James knows it was Huck and Tom Sawyer pranking him and plays along because “those little bastards” expect him to be “either a villain or prey, but certainly their toy.” When he calls out into the dark, “Who dat dere in da dark lak dat?,” it’s an act for the boys.

This kind of performance — and attention to performance — on the level of language is trademark Everett. In Erasure, the narrator’s parody novel-within-a-novel is written in a grotesque caricature of Black vernacular. But Everett’s point isn’t that we should be laughing at this manner of speaking or behaving; it’s that we should question what kind of industry would reward such depictions under the guise of realism when they are actually the product of cynical authors — Black, yes, with vastly different life experiences ( Erasure ’s narrator, Thelonious “Monk” Ellison, went to Harvard; Juanita Mae Jenkins, the author of the novel he parodies, went to Oberlin) — cashing in on what the market wants. There is a distinction between education and intelligence in Everett’s work that’s worth noting more broadly, especially as conversations about American Fiction call out the film’s possible classism. In Everett’s books, being Black and educated doesn’t mean you’re any better. There’s a brief but key moment in Erasure when Monk chastises himself for assuming a high-school dropout with blue fingernails is “slow and stupid”; after talking to her about what she’s read, he realizes he “was the stupid one.” Everett’s characters, along with his targets, are often educated. But that doesn’t make them necessarily smart — or nice.

Niceties aren’t the point of James, either. Tucked into James’s narration are cutting asides, like shards of glass in between sentences. “It always pays to give white folks what they want, so I stepped into the yard and called out into the night,” James tells us on the first page. When asked by his daughter why they must speak the way he has instructed them to, he explains, “White folks expect us to sound a certain way and it can only help if we don’t disappoint them.” Nonetheless, James takes big risks when it comes to reading and writing. His request for a pencil will lead to dire consequences for the compatriot who obtains it for him. But the power of reading — “completely private,” he realizes, “completely free and, therefore, completely subversive” — is too great.

Jim’s recognition of this power enables him to teach others to read so they can have some freedom for themselves and write themselves “into being” as he does. “The only ones who suffer when they are made to feel inferior is us,” James tells a group of schoolchildren he is giving a language lesson. It’s a version of “the talk”: how to survive as a Black person in a society run by whites. “Don’t make eye contact,” recites one boy. “Never speak first,” offers a girl. The class moves on to situational responses — or “translations,” as James calls them. Suppose the master’s wife’s kitchen is on fire and she’s unaware. How do you tell her?

“Fire, fire,” January said. “Direct. And that’s almost correct,” I said. The youngest of them, lean and tall, five-year-old Rachel, said, “Lawdy, missum! Looky dere.” “Perfect,” I said. “Why is that correct?” Lizzie raised her hand. “Because we must let the whites be the ones who name the trouble.” “And why is that,” I asked. February said, “Because they need to know everything before us. Because they need to name everything.”

In Everett’s work, this resistance to “naming everything” is part of how he exercises freedom as an author. If his characters push against constraints in the worlds he builds for them, deploying language as a form of power, he’s doing the same thing as an author, resisting categorization by writing in ways that don’t make him easy to pin down and market as a Black writer. 2019’s The Book of Training by Colonel Hap Thompson of Roanoke, VA, 1843, Annotated From the Library of John C. Calhoun is a slim, satiric manual in verse that’s described by the publisher as “a guidebook for the American slaveholder.” In the margins is a running commentary by a fictionalized version of 19th-century South Carolina politician John C. Calhoun, best known for saying that slavery was “a positive good.” It’s a twisted, extremely uncomfortable yet darkly comic read, thanks to the juxtaposition between Thompson’s lofty, archaic tone (“This is my text on / the training of our black animals”) and Calhoun’s scribbled asides, which range from vigorous agreement (“Yes!,” then “doubly yes!”) to quibbles (“do not agree”) to practical questions (egg-butt snaffles or circle?) to philosophical musings (“has there ever existed a wealthy society in which one portion did not live on the labor of another?”). Neither Thompson’s instructions nor Calhoun’s notes are jokes. Rather, it’s Everett’s placement of the two characters in conversation with each other that reveals their essential absurdity and undermines them both as supposed authority figures.

Everett wields a radically different array of techniques in Erasure. What seems like a straightforward satire of the publishing industry includes allusions to failed novel ideas; an academic paper; a CV; imagined dialogues between artists Willem de Kooning and Robert Rauschenberg; untranslated passages in French and Latin; a whole subplot involving Monk’s adulterous father, his aging mother, his gay brother, and a lost sibling; and a novel-within-a-novel in the form of Fuck/My Pafology, a racist, pandering parody he dashes off as a fuck-you to the publishing world that ends up getting him more money and acclaim than he’s ever had. Everett’s genius with Erasure lies in showing us this unseemly process of publishing-industry sausage-making but also transcending it as the author of what actually is a full-throated, imaginative, and original work by a Black artist about the market expectations foisted on Black artists. Whereas Monk traps himself in a parody of his own devising, Everett indicts the very system that sustains him, then gets rewarded for it, which wins him the freedom to critique what he pleases.

James is one of Everett’s more conventional novels in terms of plot, but it still contains vintage Everett tricks. The book opens with song lyrics apparently from the notebook of Daniel Decatur Emmett, believed to be the real-life composer of “Dixie” and a founder of one of the first minstrel troupes. Midway through the novel, James is sold to Emmett, who forces him to perform with the troupe, albeit not as a slave but as an underpaid indentured servant. When James finally makes his escape, he takes Emmett’s notebook with him. James wants to use the notebook as the site for his own story, but he refuses to tear out Emmett’s songs. “Somehow,” he allows, “they were necessary to my story. But in this notebook I would reconstruct the story I had begun, the story I kept beginning, until I had a story.” His self-written book inside the notebook is, it turns out, the very one we are reading. It’s the kind of metafictional device that gets at the core of what Everett does so well: create richly imagined worlds where characters like James and Monk and Not Sidney can be so many hilarious, human, and contradictory things all at once. If we, the readers, will let them.

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Some American leaders love foreign dictators. Should they look closer to home?

Jacob heilbrunn’s ‘america last’ highlights a periodic pining for strongmen; in ‘illiberal america,’ steven hahn says it runs even deeper in our history.

On March 8, Donald Trump hosted Viktor Orbán — the prime minister of Hungary, who has cracked down on LGBTQ rights, immigration and democracy — at Mar-a-Lago. “There’s nobody that’s better, smarter or a better leader than Viktor Orbán,” the former president gushed. “He’s the boss!” After an hour-long meeting at Trump’s resort-slash-fiefdom, Orbán accompanied him to a “members only” concert featuring a Beatles cover band.

Conservative enthusiasm for Orbán is not new. Since 2022, the Hungarian leader has spoken three times at the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, twice in Budapest and once in Dallas. (CPAC will be back in Hungary in April.) During his latest trip, Orbán also stopped by the Heritage Foundation, a legacy conservative think tank, but he did not visit the White House. And last month, Orbán’s political director, Balázs Orbán (no relation), was feted by the Claremont Institute, another egghead conservative redoubt, and by the Conservative Partnership Institute, a well-heeled nonprofit whose leaders include former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows, and which the New York Times has described as the “ nerve center ” of the MAGA movement.

Why, you might be asking, have “America First” conservatives taken such a shine to a self-described “illiberal” autocrat from a post-Soviet state 4,500 miles away? Jacob Heilbrunn, in his new book, “ America Last: The Right’s Century-Long Romance With Foreign Dictators ,” provides some answers. For Heilbrunn, a journalist and editor of the National Interest, the right’s love affair with Orbán (and with Vladimir Putin) is merely the latest manifestation of a long-standing authoritarian “persuasion” in American politics: a consistent if periodically muted pining for a more vital, hierarchical and hidebound “paradise abroad” to serve as a model for bludgeoning “into submission” our own unruly, decadent and overly liberal democracy.

This tradition, Heilbrunn suggests, stretches back at least to the First World War, when writers such as H.L. Mencken and George Sylvester Viereck fawned over Kaiser Wilhelm II’s Prussia. It survived through the interwar years, manifesting in diplomat Richard Washburn Child’s worshipful paeans to Benito Mussolini; in American Legion chief Alvin Owsley’s promise “to protect our country’s institutions and ideals as the Fascisti dealt with the destructionists who menaced Italy”; in the bow-tied fascism of business tycoons Merwin K. Hart, Henry Ford and Thomas Lamont (of J.P. Morgan); and in aviator Charles Lindbergh’s pilgrimages to Adolf Hitler’s Germany, where he accepted the Service Cross of the German Eagle from Hermann Goering in 1938. (Lindbergh, obsessed by Nazi race science, warned in 1939 that America faced an “infiltration of inferior blood” from Asia, a precursor to Trump’s campaign line about migrants “poisoning the blood of our country.”)

Before Pearl Harbor, figures like Lindbergh, William Randolph Hearst, Henry Regnery (the prolific conservative publisher) and a young William F. Buckley Jr. were “America Firsters”; they opposed American involvement in World War II and further entanglement with Europe, often in antisemitic terms. After the war, they swiftly refashioned themselves as crusading anti-communists, insistent that the United States must do more, on the world stage and at home, to combat the Soviet threat. This entailed new autocratic infatuations: with Franco’s Spain, Salazar’s Portugal and Trujillo’s Dominican Republic — all praised as indispensable bulwarks against the red menace, often in the pages of Buckley’s magazine, National Review, which was founded in 1955 to provide an intellectual luster to McCarthyite conservatism.

As the Cold War deepened, conservative hearts melted for Pinochet’s Chile, for the junta in Argentina and for apartheid South Africa. By the 1980s, the American right had found an unlikely patron saint in Jeane Kirkpatrick, a Democrat turned neoconservative who provided an ironclad, “realist” justification for the right’s authoritarian longings. According to Kirkpatrick’s doctrine, which guided Ronald Reagan’s foreign policy (overt and covert), it was America’s duty to lend support, and even arms, to tyrannical regimes in the Third World, so long as they were sufficiently anti-communist. Thus, the worst brutalities of the Cold War — in Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador — were preemptively justified.

Throughout this litany of conservative self-debasement, Heilbrunn’s writing is consistently lucid and springy. He provides vivid potted biographies of unfamiliar names and displays a real talent for unearthing potent and ironic quotations from the archive. (An example: Can you guess who said this in 1999? “In the 1930s, everyone thought Hitler was a fringe element who could never come to power. History showed otherwise. We must recognize bigotry and prejudice and defeat it whenever it appears.” Answer: Donald J. Trump!)

What is missing from “America Last,” however, is much in the way of historical or analytic depth. That is perhaps not its remit. Heilbrunn has written a polemic: one intended to tar today’s Putin- and Orbán-loving right with all the worst sins of the 20th century. “At bottom,” he writes, “they are advocating ethno-nationalism in the guise of a set of principles.” In so doing, he intends to charge today’s pro-Trump conservatives with disloyalty, if not to America itself, then to its creed: that all men are created equal.

The largely unnamed heroes of Heilbrunn’s book, then, as in many Trump-era polemics, are Cold War liberals, those mid-century intellectuals who remained admirably unseduced by foreign regimes of either the socialist left or the authoritarian right, and who worked — harder than anyone — to instantiate the notion (inspiring but mythical) that America is a great nation defined by her goodness and by a set of ideas or principles , rather than ethnic or religious particularities.

And while Heilbrunn sportingly acknowledges — with reference to slavery, Jim Crow and Native dispossession — that America has its own “homegrown” authoritarian tradition, it is difficult, in a book like this, to avoid a certain self-exonerating logic. In his zeal to condemn the right, Heilbrunn risks the implication that illiberalism and fascistic violence are essentially imports, the boutique fancies of disloyal intellectuals who secretly (or openly!) despise what makes America great. In other words, if it weren’t for these particular unpatriotic, tyrant-curious conservatives, our country would have remained the liberal stronghold it was supposed to be.

A new book by the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Steven Hahn starts from the opposite premise: Per the horror movie cliché, the call is coming from inside the house. In “ Illiberal America ,” Hahn argues that American history — from the first colonial settlers to the Progressive Era to our febrile political present — has been significantly, if not principally, defined by the opposite of liberalism: naturalized hierarchies rather than equality; limited, in-group rights rather than inalienable and universal ones; dependence, coercion and servitude rather than wage labor and autonomy; exclusive and expulsive institutions rather than civic inclusion; and the ritualized exercise of power and violence to enforce communal norms rather than mediation by courts, parties or associations.

Hahn’s endeavor, undertaken with remarkable subtlety, breadth of historical detail and electrifying prose, is not so much to critique the failings of liberalism, as many historians (and activists) have profitably done, but to displace and diminish liberalism’s despotic status in our historical imagination; to abolish the whiggish notion — an invention of Cold War historiography — that American history is witness to the gradual unfolding, flourishing and triumph of the liberal ideas lodged in our founding documents.

To do so, Hahn takes the reader on an episodic tour of those historical moments when liberalism was supposedly steering the ship, demonstrating in each case how illiberal currents were just as decisive. Questions answered along the way: Was liberalism or capitalism really an “early arrival” to the colonies, or were the first settlers mostly entranced by neo-feudal dreams reliant on regimes of coerced labor? How important was anti-Catholic sentiment and iconography to the republican stirrings of the pre-revolutionary era? Why did emancipation go hand in hand, for many liberal reformers, with an embrace of penal solutions to the problem of Black freedom? Was eugenic social engineering an unfortunate “sidebar” of the Progressive Era or its underlying logic? And so on.

In this way, Hahn dispenses with the notion that 20th- and 21st-century American illiberalism needed foreign inspiration. In a chapter on the fascist stirrings of the 1930s, Hahn notes that American newspapers attempting to explain Mussolini’s Fascisti to their readers had a readily available analogue: the Klan. (Some even referred to the Blackshirts as “the Italian Ku Klux Klan.”) And Hahn demonstrates, as Heilbrunn also briefly notes, that Nazi officials studied “anti-miscegenation, immigration, and Jim Crow laws in the United States.” Of Progressive-era eugenics, Hitler wrote: “I have studied with interest the laws of several American states concerning prevention of reproduction by people whose progeny would, in all probability, be of no value or be injurious to the racial stock.”

It should be said that “Illiberal America” is not one of those revisionist, “what your teacher didn’t tell you” histories of the Howard Zinn variety. Hahn’s intention is not to indict the American past, only to reveal it — and to show that illiberalism has its own rich and mutable tradition, “deeply embedded in our history, not at the margins but very much at the center, infusing the soil of social and political life, and often ensnaring or entangling much else that grows there.” The vertiginous effect on the reader is that she comes away not with an altogether novel vision of what has happened in this country, but an image with different emphases and inflections: a picture of American history with new protagonists, motivated by grim but not unfamiliar ideologies — as if a bright light had been turned on in the basement of our collective myths and a crowd of grisly creatures came scurrying out of the shadows. We knew they were there, but not in such numbers. And the silhouettes we thought were one thing are another.

To be sure, Hahn’s conceptual approach is not without pitfalls. His aim is to displace “liberalism” from the driver’s seat of history, not merely to show that it is undone by internal contradictions or fails to live up to its own aspirations. Only without liberalism occluding the frame, Hahn suggests, can American illiberalism come into view as its own distinct, coherent tradition. But this strikes me as a tricky dance. What is illiberalism being defined against if not liberalism? And why can’t liberalism itself be constituted by its exceptions, failures and blind spots? Are liberalism’s oversights not constitutive of what liberalism is and always has been?

Without this possibility, one risks quarantining some elusive, untainted liberalism from critique and re-throning “true liberalism” — which, like “true socialism,” its adherents would cry, has never been tried — as our political ideal. This plainly isn’t Hahn’s intention. It is perhaps a testament to the imperial quality of liberalism, as a concept, that even an attempt to diminish its domain risks conceding too much territory. Perhaps the next task for a historian of Hahn’s caliber is to write a history of the United States that makes no recourse to the category of liberalism — or its opposite — whatsoever. I would eagerly read such a book. But maybe it wouldn’t make any sense. For the time being, we are all prisoners of the liberal imagination: a darkened basement or a house of mirrors.

Sam Adler-Bell, a Book World contributing writer, is a co-host of “Know Your Enemy,” a podcast about American conservatism.

America Last

The Right’s Century-Long Romance With Foreign Dictators

By Jacob Heilbrunn

Liveright. 249 pp. $28.99

Illiberal America

By Steven Hahn

Norton. 447 pp. $35

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

how to write a book review on a biography

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  1. How to Write a Review of a Biography

    Knowing about the subject will be helpful in determining if the author of the book you are reviewing, in your opinion, omitted important facts. Take notes while reading the biography. Jot down your impressions of the book at the end of each chapter. As you read, note passages that seemed particularly good or bad.

  2. 17 Book Review Examples to Help You Write the Perfect Review

    It is a fantasy, but the book draws inspiration from the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Rape of Nanking. Crime Fiction Lover reviews Jessica Barry's Freefall, a crime novel: In some crime novels, the wrongdoing hits you between the eyes from page one. With others it's a more subtle process, and that's OK too.

  3. How to Write a Review of a Critical Biography

    You can write an excellent review of a critical biography if you follow these four steps: Gather pertinent information about the biographer. Plan the content of the review. Draft the introduction ...

  4. 10 Tips: How to Write a Book Review on a Biography in 2024

    When evaluating the book, use evidence from the text to support your claims. Quote specific passages or anecdotes that illustrate the author's strengths or weaknesses. This will add credibility to your review. 7. Provide a balanced critique. When writing your review, strive to provide a balanced critique.

  5. 10 Tips: How to Write a Book Review of a Biography in 2024

    3.1 Take Notes. While reading the biography, it is crucial to take detailed notes. Jot down key points, memorable quotes, and any thoughts or reflections that come to mind. These notes will serve as a valuable resource when writing your review and help you organize your thoughts in a coherent manner. 4.

  6. How to write a book review: format guide, & examples

    Step 1: Planning Your Book Review - The Art of Getting Started. You've decided to take the plunge and share your thoughts on a book that has captivated (or perhaps disappointed) you. Before you start book reviewing, let's take a step back and plan your approach.

  7. 10 Tips: How to Write a Book Review of an Autobiography

    6.1 Select Key Quotes. Select key quotes that highlight important moments or themes in the autobiography. These quotes can be used to support your analysis and provide evidence for your review. 7. Compare the Autobiography to Similar Works. Compare the autobiography to other similar works in the genre.

  8. How to Write a Book Review: The Complete Guide

    Think of the last book you read. Then, take fifteen minutes to write a review of it based on the template above. When you're done, share your review in the Pro Practice Workshop. For bonus points, post it on the book's page on Amazon and Goodreads, too! Don't forget to leave feedback for your fellow writers!

  9. Book Reviews

    This handout will help you write a book review, a report or essay that offers a critical perspective on a text. It offers a process and suggests some strategies for writing book reviews. What is a review? A review is a critical evaluation of a text, event, object, or phenomenon. Reviews can consider books, articles, entire genres or fields of ...

  10. How to Write a Book Review in 3 Steps

    Be sure to mention the authors of the title and what experience or expertise they bring to the title. Check Stefan Kløvning's review of Creativity Cycling for an example of a summary that establishes the framework of the book within the context of its field. Step 2. Present your evaluation.

  11. How to Write a Book Review: The Ultimate Guide

    The real value of crafting a well-written book review for a student does not lie in their ability to impact book sales. Understanding how to produce a well-written book review helps students to: Engage critically with a text. Critically evaluate a text. Respond personally to a range of different writing genres.

  12. How to Write Biography Book Review

    A biography review includes a brief overview of the biography book, analysis of its main points, and a personal opinion on the book. The biography review doesn't evaluate the subject of the biographer but his or her writing style and qualifications, the reliability and quality of the provided facts, and the author's ideas and statements.

  13. How to Write a Book Report on an Autobiography

    An autobiography is the story of a person's life as written by the person in question. Unlike a biography, where a third party documents the subject's life, an autobiography is told from a first-person point of view. Thus, book reports written on autobiographies can be a little tricky, but generally follow a ...

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

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

  15. Writing a Book Review

    Author biography -- also found as back matter, the biography of author(s) can be useful in determining the authority of the writer and whether the book builds on prior research or represents new research. In scholarly reviews, noting the author's affiliation and prior publications can be a factor in helping the reader determine the overall ...

  16. How to Write a Biography: 6 Tips for Writing Biographical Texts

    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.

  17. How to Write a Biography: Full Guide for Writing a Biography

    The organisation of your biography greatly impacts its readability. Structure your work into logical sections or chapters, employing either a chronological or thematic arrangement. Begin with an engaging introduction that captures readers' attention and provides essential context.

  18. How to Write a Biography: 10 Step Guide + Book Template

    Step 2: Identify your subject. Step 3: Get permission to write about your subject. Step 4: Create an outline. Step 5: Select a working title (using a title generator) Step 6: Write a rough draft. Step 7: Self-edit. Step 8: Work with an editor. Step 9: Hire a book cover designer + get an ISBN.

  19. How to Write a Biography: 8 Steps for a Captivating Story

    8. Send a copy to your subject. Consider sending a copy of your manuscript to the person whose life you wrote about in your book. The copy may serve as a thank-you gift, but also, if you intend to publish your work, you will need them to approve, as well as fact check, everything you put into the story.

  20. How to Write an Autobiography: 11 Simple Steps

    8- Edit and Revise. Once you've written your story, the next vital step in your journey to write an autobiography is editing and revising. Take a critical look at your work, focusing on clarity and impact. Simplify complex sentences, making your language easy to grasp.

  21. How To Do Biography: A Primer

    ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0674066151. Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 14 ounces. Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 1 x 7 inches. Best Sellers Rank: #1,169,613 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books) #1,144 in Words, Language & Grammar Reference. #1,549 in Authorship Reference. #3,955 in Fiction Writing Reference (Books) Customer Reviews: 4.2 64 ratings.

  22. How to Write a Biography

    BIOGRAPHY WRITING Tip: #4 Put Something of Yourself into the Writing. While the defining feature of a biography is that it gives an account of a person's life, students must understand that this is not all a biography does. Relating the facts and details of a subject's life is not enough.

  23. Book Review: 'Chasing Beauty,' by Natalie Dykstra

    Bright, impetuous and obsessed with beautiful things, Isabella Stewart Gardner led a life out of a Gilded Age novel. Born into a wealthy New York family, she married into an even wealthier Boston ...

  24. The Blues Brothers, a biography by Daniel DeVise book review

    De Visé, a journalist and the author of books on B.B. King and Greg LeMond, leans heavily on previously published group biographies: Bob Woodward's 1984 Belushi bio "Wired," Tom Shales and ...

  25. Book Review: 'One Way Back,' by Christine Blasey Ford

    A Big Book like this has become the final step in the dizzying if wearily familiar passage through the American media wringer: once called a "spin cycle," now more like a clown car going ...

  26. Book Review: 'The Black Box,' by Henry Louis Gates Jr.

    Gates traces the history of slave narratives, a genre that "always told the story" of how enslaved authors "learned to read and write, and always, always, of course, of their escape to ...

  27. Writing Well and Being Well for Your PhD and Beyond: How to ...

    Biography. Katherine Firth has been developing research writers for more than 15 years and is currently Head of Lisa Bellear House, the University of Melbourne. A co-founder of the award-winning Thesis Bootcamp program, she maintains a writing blog, Research Degree Insiders.She is co-author of the books How to Fix your Academic Writing Trouble (2018), Your PhD Survival Guide (2020) and Level ...

  28. In Memoriam: English Professor and Author Carol Gelderman

    But Gelderman was best known for her biographies. A review of "Henry Ford: The Wayward Capitalist" made the cover of Business Week. Her biography of the writer Mary McCarthy, "Mary McCarthy: A Life," was reviewed on the front page of the New York Times Book Review. She continued to write throughout her life.

  29. Percival Everett on His New Novel, 'James'

    Percival Everett's new novel, 'James,' cements his status as one of our most idiosyncratic writers whose work continues to upend expectations about the kinds of "Black" books he should ...

  30. 'America Last' and 'Illiberal America' look at authoritarian tendencies

    Jacob Heilbrunn, in his new book, "America Last: The Right's Century-Long Romance With Foreign Dictators," provides some answers. For Heilbrunn, a journalist and editor of the National ...