Simplify Biography Writing with This Biography Research Graphic Organizer

When it comes to biography writing, there’s often a lifetime of content to cover! Skilled biographers understand the importance of gathering widespread research, then making informed choices about what information to include (and what to omit!).

Help your students practice this process with this structured biography research graphic organizer from Teach Starter. The template supports students in asking meaningful questions when gathering information about a person’s life and guides them to record key details in a well-organized, structured way. 

This biography research graphic organizer contains three pages, each designed to support your students in researching the life of a notable person.

• Page 1 contains a list of questions that students can ask when researching the life of their chosen subject.
• Page 2 contains a checklist to help students ensure they have gathered all the key information about their subject’s life.
• Page 3 contains a research table where students can record information about their subject as dot-point notes.

This biography notes graphic organizer covers the following key aspects of a person’s life:

• Family Background
• Childhood
• Education
• Adulthood
• Life Achievements
• Highlights

This graphic organizer for biography writing downloads as an easy-print PDF or editable Google Slides file.

Using This Biography Notes Graphic Organizer for an Interview

This resource has been designed to assist your students in interviewing a person in their lives that they admire so they can then write a biography about them. Here are some tips on how students might go about this process using the biography research graphic organizer as a scaffold:

1. Before the Interview – Students revise the list of suggested questions on Page 1 of the biography graphic organizer about the person’s background, achievements and key life events. They can add their own questions to personalize the interview.
2. During the Interview – Students refer to the checklist on Page 2 to ensure they gather essential details such as early life, education, career and significant accomplishments. This helps them cover all important aspects of the person’s life.
3. After the Interview – Students use the blank table on Page 3 of the resource to organize their findings into bullet points, making it easier to structure their biography and write a well-organized final piece.

Download This Biography Graphic Organizer

Use the dropdown arrow on the Download button to choose between the editable Google Slides file or the easy-print PDF. Please note that you will be prompted to make a copy of the Google Slides file before accessing it.

Where possible, please save paper by printing this resource double-sided.

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Kaylyn Chupp, a teacher in Florida and a Teach Starter collaborator, contributed to this resource.

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Resources to Complement This Biography Research Graphic Organizer

Click below to explore more great biography writing resources to use in conjunction with this biography research template:

[resource:5139597] [resource:2651374] [resource:3848214]