Ms Daniel's Webquests: Biography – Leaders in the Struggle for African Independence

Goal: To conduct research and write a biography of a leader in the movement for African Independence

A research and writing project based on “How to Write an Interesting Biography”
By Grace Fleming, About.com

A biography is defined as a written account of the series of events that make up a person’s life. Yikes, that sounds a little dry, doesn't it? Nonetheless, while researching the subject of your biography, you’ll want to collect all the basic facts of your subject’s life experience. These include:

Date and place of birth and death
Family information
Lifetime accomplishments
Major events of life
Effects/impact on society, historical significance

While this information is necessary to your project, these dry facts don’t really make a quality biography. Once you’ve found these basics, you’ll want to dig a little deeper so that you don’t just write a paper that is full of a lot of boring facts. The last thing you want to do is bore your teacher. Your goal is to impress your reader!

As always, you’ll want to start off with a bang and captivate your reader.

It's a good idea to begin with a really interesting statement, a little known fact, or really intriguing event. Your teacher has read other biographies concerning your subject. You’ll want yours to stand out. Considering that, you should avoid starting out with a standard but boring line like:

"Meriwether Lewis was born in Virginia in 1774."

Try starting with something like this:

"Late one afternoon in October, 1809, Meriwether Lewis arrived at a small log cabin nestled deep in the Tennessee Mountains. By sunrise on the following day, he was dead, having suffered gunshot wounds to the head and chest. His body was also slashed several times with a shaving razor."

This opening is much more enticing, isn’t it? You can find lots of interesting things like this on the Internet. As always, be sure to keep track of your sources!

You’ll have to make sure your beginning is motivating, but it should also lead to a point, so the next sentence or two should lead into the main message of your biography.

“It was a tragic end to a life that had so deeply affected the course of history in the United States. Meriwether Lewis, a driven and often tormented soul, led an expedition of discovery that expanded a young nation’s economic potential, increased its scientific understanding, and enhanced its worldwide reputation.”

Now that you’ve created an impressive beginning, you’ll want to continue the flow. Find more intriguing details about your subject, and weave them into the composition.

Fill the body of your biography with material that gives insight to your subject’s personality. Questions to consider in your biography:

Was there something in your subject’s childhood that shaped his/her personality?
Was there a personality trait that drove him/her to succeed or impeded his progress?
What adjectives would you use to describe him/her?
What were some turning points in this life?
What was his/her impact on history?

Be sure to use transitional phrases and words to link your paragraphs and make your composition paragraphs flow. It is normal for good writers to re-arrange their sentences to create a better paper.

The final paragraph will summarize your main points and re-assert your main claim about your subject. It should point out your main points, re-name the person you’re writing about, but it should not repeat specific examples.

Your final, finished biography will be between 8 and 10 paragraphs in length. It should include a picture of your subject and a map that shows the country where they lived and worked.

As always, proofread your paper and check for errors before you print a final copy to turn in.

You may choose any one of the following African Leaders for this project. Links are provided to help you begin your research.

Leopold Senghor
Leopold Senghor
Senghor the Poet
Senghor -- Biography

Robert Mugabe
Robert Mugabe -- Biography
Biography Channel - Mugabe
Mugabe -- Biography.com

Jomo Kenyatta
Jomo Kenyatta
Jomo Kenyatta -- Independence
Kenyatta -- Encyclopedia.com

Kwame Nkrumah
Nkruhmah
Kwame Nkrumah
Nkrumah on PBS