Sunday, October 6, 2013

Let's Write A Biography

Hi Class, are you ready to write a biography?

Maybe you wonder what "a biography" actually is.
Well, here are some brief information about biography. Check it out!

What is "biography"?
Wikipedia said that a biography (bio) is a detailed description of a person's life. It entails more than basic facts (education, work, relationships, and death) - a biography also portrays a subject's experience of these events. Unlike a profile or curriculum vitae (résumé), a biography presents a subject's life story, highlighting various aspects of his or her life, including intimate details of experience, and may include an analysis of the subject's personality.
Cambridge dictionary gives us definition of biography as the life story of a person written by someone else. While autobiography is the life story of a person written by  that person.

What is the tense we should use in writing biography?
Because we retell someone's life story in the past, so we use past tense. Sometime we use present tense to describe the person or things that still exist until now (when the biography is written) or general truth.

What is the content of a biography?


Content: title, introduction/ general statement, biography, education, works, characters, efforts, and very important/phenomenal/monumental events.

Title
You can give your biography text with standard title such as “The Biography of Muhammad SAW”,  “Muhammad SAW’s Biography”, “Muhammad SAW’s Life” or with nonstandard/unique title  such as “Muhammad SAW: Our Big Legend”, “ The Last Messenger.”  You can create your own title as creative as you can but as long as it is relevant with your text.

Introduction/general statement
Start your biography text with the introduction of the figure (tokoh) you want to tell about. Who is he/she? The simplest way is: tell his/her very popular contribution/position to the mass; who is he in public’s eyes. Give one or two supporting sentences in this paragraph.

Biography
In this part, you have to tell his date and place of the figure’s (tokoh) birth and death. The birth info and the death info can be written in one paragraph or separately in different paragraph. You can give information of his/her closest or very important people in his/her life.

Education
People grow become a successful and popular person because of this thing: education. So, it is very important to recite his/her educational background. Write briefly when, where, and with/from whom he/she learned something (field of study).

Works
The best man in this world is the one who give and share benefit to others. So does with your successful and popular person that will you tell about. He/she had shared something good to others. It can be formed of works (karya), jobs (pekerjaan), position (jabatan), and contribution to environment around him/her (kontribusi). Write all of them*) briefly, and you can give detail information for one or two of them to emphasize his contribution in this world. 
*)if there are all of them.

Characters
Everybody was born with his talents and characters. Everybody also grow, shape and live with his/her talents and characters. They shape his way of live and also his destiny. Tell your character’s talents and characters in your biography text. It will give overview to the readers who actually he/she is and how his/her way of live is.

Efforts
To gain our dream, we need an effort or some efforts. Write your figure’s efforts so that he/she can make his/her dreams come true.

Very important/phenomenal/monumental events
In everybody’s life there must be some important or phenomenal or monumental events that lead him/her to his/her other efforts or destinies.


Content

Title
Introduction/ general statement
Biography (date and places of the born and death, special people around him/her)

Education

Works/positions/
contributions

Characters

Efforts


Muhammad SAW’s Biography
Muhammad ibn Abdullah is the last prophet in Islam. Allah asked Muhammad to bring Islam and Qur’an to the human in this world.
                Muhammad SAW was born in Mecca in 970 C. His parents are Abdullah ibn Abd Muthalib and Aminah bint Wahab. He had a foster-mother named Halimah. After he became totally orphaned at 6th age, he was under the care of his grandfather and uncle; Abd Muthalib and Abu Thalib.
                When he was a child, he became a shepherd. He looked after someone’s sheeps. When he was in his teens, he accompanied his uncle on trading journeys to Syria. He began to learn and get experience in commercial trading. When he was adult, he was believed to bring Khadijah’s trading to Syam and other places.
                Muhammad was a kind and honest person. His good characters were shaped from people around him. Although the most people’s customs and behavior in his environment (Mecca, Arabia) at that time were bad, he was surrounded by good characterized people; his family. So that, he never spoiled by Jahiliyah customs. Furthermore, in some stories, when he was a child he was met by angel Jibreel. At that time Jibreel replace Muhammad’s heart with the pure one. The pure heart made him different with others; he would not be spoiled with bad characteristics and behaviors.
                With his pure heart and mind, he felt something wrong happened in his society. He felt uncomfortable to live in such condition. So he began to meditation in Hira cave to find the solution for his society. In this cave he was visited by angel Jibreel. Jibreel asked him to recite the words from the God, Allah SWT. Believing that Allah Swt had chosen him to be His messenger, he began to preach Allah’s revelation till his death.
                He passed away in June 8th, 632 in his 63rd age. He was buried in Medina, Arabia. Muslims at that time missed him.




You can see another example here.

Well that’s all the content you can write in your biography text. Don’t forget to recite the source where you get the information.

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