Biographies Vs Autobiographies

What is a biography?

• Biographies are written stories of a person's life that were written by someone else

• Biographies are written in second and sometimes third person point of view.

Biographies• Biographies make past history more real

and easier to understand by telling about real people and actual events.

People reading the biography can satisfy their curiosity about well-known individuals and can experience historical events as though they were actually present.

Biographies• A good biography presents the facts about the

person's life including what the subject did and how they influenced their world.

• It should describe the person's personality and provide an explanation for why he or she acted in certain ways.

• Most biographies are interpretive; they not only present the facts but also tell what those facts mean.

Biographies• Biographers make their writings accurate by

learning as much as possible about their subjects.

• They study materials such as diaries, personal letters, and autobiographies.

• A good biography should be objective and balanced, but those lofty goals are not always achieved.

What is an autobiography?

• An autobiography is a person's story written by oneself. It is a story told from a personal point of view about his or her own life experiences.

• Autobiographies are written in first person tense and tell a story about one’s own life without others influencing what is written.