Knowra Biography Biography A nonfiction account of a person’s life written by someone other than that person. It interprets a life through documented events, choices, relationships, and historical context.
Primary source : A source created by someone directly involved in, or witnessing, the events it documents. Letters, diaries, and interviews can supply firsthand evidence about a subject.
Archival research : The systematic study of documents and records preserved in archives. Archives often reveal private and public traces unavailable in published accounts.
James Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson : James Boswell’s 1791 biography of the English writer and lexicographer Samuel Johnson. Its detailed conversations and observations became a celebrated model of biography.
Autobiography : A nonfiction account of a person’s life written by that person. First-person authorship changes the relation between subject and biographer.
Historical method : The practices historians use to evaluate evidence and construct accounts of the past. Biographers use source criticism to test claims and resolve contradictions.
Oral history : The collection and interpretation of recorded memories and testimony about the past. Interviews can add recollections, while requiring care about memory and perspective.
Plutarch's Parallel Lives : A series of paired biographies by the ancient Greek writer Plutarch, comparing Greek and Roman figures. Its paired lives show how biography can use comparison to interpret character.
Memoir : A first-person account centered on selected experiences, relationships, or themes rather than a whole life. Memoir usually narrows its focus instead of tracing a subject’s life broadly.
Narrative nonfiction : Nonfiction that presents factual material through narrative techniques such as scenes, characters, and plot. Biography belongs to this broader form of fact-based storytelling.
Source criticism : The evaluation of a source’s origin, reliability, purpose, and relation to other evidence. It helps biographers distinguish corroborated facts from claims needing qualification.
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