A biography is a short summary of a person’s life, written by someone else. This Buzzle article provides you with some biography templates for students.
Quick Tip:
A biography should answer the 3Ws:
- Who/What?
- When?
- Where?
A biography needs no explanation. It is a summary of a person’s life. You would have come across outline templates or standard writing templates for biographies that state the information about the person in exceptional detail. In general, any regular or speaker biography includes the basic details about the person, his education, work, hobbies, etc. More often than not, students are confused about what to include and where it should be included. It is always beneficial to use a standardized template with proper guidelines so that you can come up with a good biography. And as a student, you will be expected to write a biography on anyone, ranging from a political figure to an actress to a business magnate to a civilian. Here are some standard templates that you can use for your reference.
Printable Templates to Download
* Click the Save icon on the preview to download the template.
▶ Simple Biography Template for School
▶ Professional Biography Template
▶ Biography Template for a Military Person
Types of Biography Templates
School
- For school students, a biography template involves rather simple elements.
- Irrespective of whether you are in third grade or in middle school, you will be required to include basic details, like early life, education, achievements, etc.
- Language would make a difference; in high school, you will be expected to use refined vocabulary and a better article tone.
Book Review
- A review of a biography book may seem like a strange idea for a biography, but remember that you are focusing on the person about whom the book is.
- Even though it is ideally a book review, you will be summarizing the person’s life in your template.
- You will also be required to give your personal opinion on the subject as well as the author.
Personal and Professional Biographies
- Remember that these templates are not your resumes. They are more like short write-ups about yourself.
- You could use these biographies as a short introduction to your blog or website.
- In case of personal write-ups, you need to elaborate on your work or professional expertise. Concentrate on the hobbies.
- In professional templates, focus on the technical details.
Miscellaneous
- You may have to modify your template as per the personality.
- While writing about a person in the armed forces, be sure to include his rewards and appointments.
- When writing about a company, include the market share value and other business details.
How to Create a Biography Template?
- You can create biographical templates using Microsoft Word.
- All you have to do is follow a standard format, type out the details, and fill them accordingly.
- You have a choice to either type out your details or print the template and fill it manually. As students, the second choice is more apt; you can create templates, print them, write the necessary information, and then submit them.
- You have the option of exporting the documents to a ‘PDF’ format for clarity. Just select the File → Export as PDF option.
Sample Template
Biography of JOHN DOE |
Early Life and Family |
John Doe is the author of the critically-acclaimed novel, ‘Deal with it’. He was born on the 12th of September, 1985. He currently resides in Frankfurt, Kentucky, though he lived in Salt Lake City, Utah, as a child. Being an only child provided him with the advantage of having numerous material comforts, though the absence of a sibling had apparently rendered me spoiled and lonely in the initial years of childhood. He gives credit to his family for having instilled the right values at the right time, and in contrast, he displayed maturity beyond his adolescence age. |
Education and Adult Life |
Academic success had always been a cakewalk for John. He was a star student all through school, and graduated as class valedictorian. Besides, he was actively involved in a number of book clubs and other extra-curricular activities all through high school. He enrolled at the University of Utah for an undergraduate program in marketing. While at college, he began to contribute articles to the college magazine, and not surprisingly, was made editor during the second year of college. A year before completing college, John began freelancing for online blogs, and this experience made him realize that he was indeed destined to be a writer. Post college though, financial responsibilities forced him to take up a job as a marketing analyst in a business firm and while he excelled at it, he did not feel the connection. He continued to freelance, but half a decade later, he felt it was time to pursue his vocation. John later enrolled in the University of Kentucky for a master’s degree in creative writing. |
Notable Achievements |
After completing his degree, John began contributing to literary magazines. At the same, he dabbled with novel-writing in his free time and published his first major work ‘The Miracle of the Cruise Liner’, in 2013, following which he published ‘Deal with it’. While the former garnered immense commercial success, it was the latter which catapulted him to greater heights and elevated him to the level of elite novelists. |
Future Works |
John has two more novels scheduled for the coming year. While one focuses on the trials and tribulations of a family with a touch of suspense, the other is purely a crime fiction. With these works, John hopes to continue the success story he has carved out with his previous works. |
The templates provided above are merely a reference. They may require certain changes as per your topic. For example, if you have to write the biography of an actress, you may decide to include a subhead titled ‘Philanthropy’ or ‘Other Works’. Similarly, biographies of war correspondents or air-force pilots will change accordingly.