While browsing the internet, listening to your favorite radio shows, watching your favorite TV shows/documentaries, or just having a casual conversation with someone, you might have come across the word biography. Often, such pieces of work focus on the life, achievements, and general information about an individual. Politicians, musicians, and other famous people have their lives novelized, and some have gone on to become great bestsellers. Most likely, when you are assigned to write a biography in a five-paragraph essay, you might wonder, “Will it fit?” Yes, it can.
While in the context of academic writing, you can write short biographies. You have seen shorter versions of biographies in newspapers, social media, or other common platforms. Writing a biographical essay is such a rewarding experience because you dive into the lives of significant individuals. It could be a famous person, cultural icon, hero, influential family member, or historical figure, but about yourself.
In this detailed guide, I share with you useful insights you can use to condense the life of a special person into a five-paragraph essay without losing the charm, gist, and value that comes with large-volume biographies.
A biography essay or biographical essay is a piece of writing where you narrate the life history of another person from a historical or personal perspective, drawing upon available evidence such as retained memories and other written, oral, or pictorial materials.
When you are writing a biography, in the context of an essay, you conduct research and discover fascinating facts and details about your subject. You enter an objective exposition of the person’s life, achievements, failures, proud moments, awards, and general outlook of their principles, belief systems, and mantra, among others.
An academic biography essay offers insights into the life and contributions of an individual. There are also personal and professional biographies written in prose but shorter than books.
As you settle down to write your essay, take note that a compelling biographical essay must be a well-organized narrative. It is an objective narrative that helps the reader picture the subject without having met them in person. It should have a clear start, body, and conclusion. You can also use your creativity to the maximum as you write, but do not be overly subjective.
Many people often confuse a biography with an autobiography and vice versa. Finally, let us set the facts right at this point. Yes, a biography and an autobiography are both written accounts of a person’s life, but they differ significantly in their perspective, authorship, and purpose. Understanding these differences is crucial for any student or writer interested in documenting life stories. The goal of a biography is to provide an objective analysis of the subject’s life, including their achievements, challenges, and impact on the world. The biographer often aims to give readers a thorough understanding of the subject’s personality, motivations, and significance.
For context, a biography is an account of someone’s life written by another person. The biographer gathers information through research, interviews, and various sources to provide a comprehensive portrayal of the subject’s life.
On the other hand, an autobiography is a self-written account of the author’s own life. It provides a personal perspective, offering insights into the author’s thoughts, feelings, and experiences. The purpose is to share the author’s life story in their own words, often highlighting their personal journey, challenges, and accomplishments. Since the author writes from their perspective, autobiographies tend to be more subjective and reflective.
Here is a comparison table:
|
Comparison Aspect |
Biography |
Autobiography |
|---|---|---|
|
Author |
Someone else other than the subject or third party. |
The subject themselves. |
|
Perspective |
Third-person and objective |
First-person, subjective. |
|
Source of Content |
Based on research, memories, and external sources (primary and secondary). |
Based on personal memories and experiences. |
|
Purpose |
Provides an objective outlook of the subject’s life. |
A subjective personal account of one’s own life. |
|
Tone |
Analytical, narrative, and informative |
Narrative, personal, and reflective. |
As you can see, we can confidently conclude that both biographies and autobiographies offer valuable insights into the lives of notable individuals, but they do so from different angles. While a biography provides a broader, researched perspective, an autobiography offers a personal, firsthand account, allowing readers to experience the subject’s life through their eyes.
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A biography essay shares the life of another person with a selected audience. Most often, you can tie a biography to the themes of the current events. You can also write a biography of a person upon request. You can also write one if you feel that there is little to nothing written to appreciate and acknowledge the subject despite their contribution to humanity.
Biographies are meant to be inspirational as they highlight achievements and sometimes failures. They can also be cautionary tales on what not to do or what not to become.
Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson, Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow, and The Power Broker by Robert Caro are just a few examples of best-selling biography novels.
You will agree with me that there are more examples of famous best-selling biographies, but we want to make it to such a level with an essay of less than 2000 words (in most cases, 5-6 pages max). In college or university, you will write either a real or a fictional biography to test your creativity, writing, and critical thinking skills. Here is how to write a good essay about someone else, aka biography or biographical essay.
The first thing you do in a biography essay assignment is to select a subject. Subject in this context refers to the individual or person whose life you will explore in the essay. It could be a notable figure, a historical figure, a family member, a friend, a professional who has had an impact on your life, a pop star, a religious figure, a political leader, a youth leader, an artist, or anybody who is a potential candidate.
Be sure to check the essay prompt to be sure of the scope of the subject that your professor expects. Some professors can restrict it to a notable person who has had meaningful contributions to society. Some can let it be your discretion, which means choosing anyone and telling their story from your point of view.
Ensure that you select an individual whose life story is compelling and relevant to your assignment or personal interests. In addition, do preliminary research so that you are sure there is ample information available to research. You could actually come up with a potential list and eliminate each based on the availability of data and suitability based on the instructions.
Research anchors the entire biographical essay. After selecting the subject, conduct thorough research on them, including their background, achievements, failures, challenges, contributions, and famous quotes.
Regardless of how much you know about the subject, doing extensive research helps you to discover a few more things about the person.
Consider looking into primary sources for a firsthand account of the way the subject has lived their lives. The primary resources are the most reliable source of information. You can check the subject’s website, email correspondences, letters, interviews, memoirs, Twitter bio, social media posts, etc.
It would help if you also looked into secondary sources such as magazines, academic journals, books, biographies, blog posts, documentaries, or TV shows for further information.
Ensure that you gather information from reliable sources. You should also take detailed notes and keep track of your sources for citation purposes.
As with any academic essay, you have to have a central position in your biography essay. Develop a compelling, concise, and clear thesis statement that makes a declaration about the biographee (subject) that the rest of the essay provides further information.
The thesis should be within your first paragraph so that the reader knows what to expect in the body section.
Your thesis should present the main idea or argument of your essay. It could focus on the subject’s influence, their impact on a particular field, or the significance of a specific period in their life.
Given that you have had successful research (which I assume you documented), the next step is to organize your research into a coherent structure. Having an outline will help you map out the flow of the essay, ensuring that you cover every point in the correct sequence.
We have a biography essay outline in the subsequent section that can help you get the template to use in this section.
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It is now time to fill in the flesh of your skeleton – the outline. Begin by writing the introduction paragraph, in which you introduce your subject and provide some background information. In addition, present your thesis statement, indicating the focus of your essay. You can also signpost your subsequent sections so that the readers understand what to expect.
Develop the body paragraphs based on the thesis statement. This means that each first sentence of your body paragraph acts as a mini-thesis statement. Divide the body into paragraphs, each focusing on a specific aspect of the subject’s life. This could include their early life, career milestones, challenges faced, and lasting legacy. Use evidence and examples to support your analysis.
Wrap up your essay by summarizing the key points of your essay and restating your thesis in light of the information presented. Finally, discuss the significance of the subject’s life and the impact they have had.
A first draft is just that – it might have a few mistakes, omissions, and some errors. It is now time to review the entire essay and check the flow, grammar, choice of words, formatting, and tone. Therefore, you need to review your essay for clarity, coherence, and conciseness. In addition, check for grammatical errors and ensure that you have formatted your in-text citations correctly. Format your paper in the required formatting style, such as MLA, APA, or Chicago. Ensure that the essay has a title page, headers, page numbers, and bibliography/reference list/ works cited page if required.
To write a compelling story about your subject, you need to have an outline. Here is the simplest way to chronologically organize your essay.
Introduction:
Body Paragraphs:
Conclusion:
When writing the body paragraphs, you can start with the subject’s greatest achievements and then show the challenges they overcame to reach such levels. You can also opt to use the archetypical hero’s journey template where you set the subject as someone out to get something; they face adversities but ultimately get it.
You could also highlight the life of your subject through the conflict lens where you write the exposition, proceed to the rising action, delve into the climax, flow into the falling action, and finally, the resolution.
Finally, you can also use a parallel story structure where you compare the present and past of your subject. In this case, you bombard the reader with multiple stories that show contrast.
Although the writing process sounds daunting, it is highly rewarding as soon as you have stitched your paper together into a meaningful piece.
Even though we have delved deeply into the process, I need to draw your attention to a few tips. Thanks to our paper-writing experts, we have identified a few things to help you avoid the common pitfalls when writing a biography essay. Here are the insights:
By following these tips, you can create a biographical essay that is informative, engaging, and academically fit. I can tell you for sure that this approach will not only help you succeed in your assignment but also deepen your understanding of the subject’s life and contributions.
Having discussed everything you need to do, here are some examples of biography essays written to demonstrate how to write the best one. Let them inspire your writing journey. However, you can always outsource your essay to our best essay writers. Our writers will come up with a coherent, plagiarism-free biography essay for you. All we do is write everything the good old way without using AI tools. All right, here are the examples. These three examples embody what would constitute a good essay. You can use the information, flow, and format to write a great essay on any subject.
Xi Jinping: The Leader Who Turned Around China
Xi Jinping, born on June 15, 1953, in Beijing, China, is a prominent Chinese political leader who has significantly reshaped China's global standing in the 21st century. As the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC), President of the People's Republic of China, and Chairman of the Central Military Commission, Xi holds the top three positions in the country, consolidating a level of power not seen since the era of Mao Zedong.
Xi's early life was marked by political turmoil. His father, Xi Zhongxun, was a revolutionary leader and one of the founding fathers of the People's Republic of China. However, during the Cultural Revolution, Xi Zhongxun fell out of favor, and the young Xi Jinping was sent to the countryside for "re-education." These years in rural Shaanxi Province exposed him to the hardships of the common people and instilled in him a deep understanding of the challenges faced by ordinary Chinese citizens.
Xi's political career began in the early 1970s when he joined the Communist Party of China. Over the next few decades, he held various positions across different regions of China, steadily climbing the party ranks. His leadership in Fujian and Zhejiang provinces was particularly noted for economic reforms, anti-corruption efforts, and modernization initiatives.
In 2007, Xi was appointed to the Politburo Standing Committee, the top decision-making body of the CPC. Just five years later, in 2012, he was named General Secretary of the Communist Party and, shortly thereafter, President of China. Upon assuming power, Xi embarked on an ambitious agenda to revitalize China’s economy, strengthen its military, and assert its influence on the global stage.
One of Xi Jinping's hallmark initiatives is the "Chinese Dream," a vision for national rejuvenation that aims to restore China to its historical prominence. This vision is underpinned by a dual focus on domestic reforms and international expansion. Domestically, Xi has pursued extensive economic reforms, aimed at transitioning China from an export-driven economy to one fueled by domestic consumption and technological innovation. Under his leadership, China has also launched an aggressive anti-corruption campaign, targeting both high-ranking officials and grassroots party members, which has been central to his efforts to consolidate power and maintain the party’s legitimacy.
On the international front, Xi has significantly expanded China's influence through initiatives such as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a massive infrastructure and investment project that spans across Asia, Africa, and Europe. The BRI aims to create new trade routes and strengthen economic ties with participating countries, positioning China as a central player in global trade and geopolitics.
Xi Jinping’s leadership has not been without controversy. His administration has been criticized for increasing authoritarianism, with tightened controls over civil liberties, media, and the internet. The abolition of presidential term limits in 2018, allowing Xi to potentially remain in power for life, has also sparked concerns both domestically and internationally.
Nevertheless, Xi Jinping’s impact on China is profound. He has overseen China's transformation into a formidable global power with a growing influence that challenges the traditional dominance of the West. Under his leadership, China has achieved significant economic growth, military modernization, and technological advancements, positioning itself as a key player in the new world order.
Frida Kahlo: The Iconic Mexican Artist
Frida Kahlo, born on July 6, 1907, in Coyoacán, Mexico, is one of the most renowned and influential artists of the 20th century. Her life, marked by physical pain and emotional turmoil, deeply influenced her art, making her work a profound exploration of identity, suffering, and the human experience.
Kahlo was born to a German father, Guillermo Kahlo, and a Mexican mother, Matilde Calderón y González. Her mixed heritage and the vibrant culture of Mexico significantly shaped her artistic perspective. At the age of six, Kahlo contracted polio, which left her with a limp. This early encounter with illness foreshadowed the lifelong struggle with health issues that would profoundly impact her life and work.
In 1925, at the age of 18, Kahlo was involved in a horrific bus accident that nearly took her life. She sustained multiple fractures to her spine, pelvis, and legs, leading to a lifetime of chronic pain and numerous medical procedures. During her long recovery, Kahlo began painting, using art as a means of expressing her pain and the complexities of her identity.
Kahlo's early work reflected her deep connection to Mexican culture, incorporating elements of indigenous art, folklore, and symbolism. Her paintings often featured vibrant colors and depicted personal and symbolic themes, blending realism with surrealism. Among her most famous works are her self-portraits, where she explored her suffering, femininity, and identity. One of her most iconic self-portraits, The Two Fridas (1939), depicts two versions of herself, representing the dualities within her identity and emotional state.
In 1929, Frida Kahlo married the famous Mexican muralist Diego Rivera, whose influence on her work was significant. Their marriage was tumultuous, marked by infidelity and frequent separations, yet they remained deeply connected both personally and artistically. Rivera encouraged Kahlo to explore Mexican folk art and indigenous culture, further enriching her unique artistic style.
Kahlo's art gained international recognition during her lifetime, particularly in the United States and Europe. In 1938, she held her first solo exhibition at the Julien Levy Gallery in New York City, which was well-received by critics and the public. Her work resonated with many for its raw and honest portrayal of pain, passion, and the female experience.
Despite her growing fame, Kahlo's health continued to deteriorate. She underwent numerous surgeries and spent much of her later life bedridden. However, she continued to paint, producing some of her most powerful works during these years. Kahlo's art, deeply personal and often autobiographical, transcends time, resonating with audiences around the world for its exploration of identity, suffering, and resilience.
Frida Kahlo passed away on July 13, 1954, at the age of 47, leaving behind a legacy that continues to inspire artists, feminists, and people around the world. Today, Kahlo is celebrated not only for her unique artistic style but also for her strength, individuality, and enduring influence on art and culture. Her home, La Casa Azul in Coyoacán, is now a museum dedicated to her life and work, drawing visitors from all over the world who come to honor the life of one of the most iconic artists in history.
Lee Kuan Yew: The Architect of Modern Singapore
Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s first Prime Minister, is widely regarded as the architect of modern Singapore. Born on September 16, 1923, Lee was educated in England, where he studied law at the University of Cambridge. After returning to Singapore, he co-founded the People’s Action Party (PAP) and led it to victory in the 1959 elections, becoming Singapore’s first Prime Minister.
Under Lee’s leadership, Singapore transformed from a small, struggling colony into a global economic powerhouse. His policies focused on economic development, social cohesion, and anti-corruption measures. He implemented a pragmatic approach to governance, fostering a business-friendly environment while maintaining strict social controls. Lee’s emphasis on education, infrastructure development, and attracting foreign investment laid the foundation for Singapore’s rapid industrialization.
Despite criticism for his authoritarian style, Lee’s vision and determination ensured Singapore’s survival and prosperity in a turbulent region. His legacy is a prosperous, multicultural nation with one of the highest standards of living in the world. Lee Kuan Yew passed away on March 23, 2015, but his impact on Singapore remains indelible.
When writing research papers, we find inspiration from scholarly journal articles written on a specific topic. To find inspiration for a biographical essay, especially when you select a subject whose life story is compelling and significant, you can look for different strategic places such as:
There are more areas in which you could get inspiration for your story about someone else. By exploring these sources, you can find a subject whose life story not only interests you but also provides ample material for a thoughtful and engaging biography essay.
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A well-structured biography essay will earn you a great grade. It is one that naturally flows, has logical significance, and intermarries various aspects of language to present unbiased and objective information.
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