I. Assignment
Write a biographical note of about two hundred words concerning a citizen who has just come into public notice.
II. Obtaining the Facts
If the subject of the note is already distinguished, the facts can usually be collected from books and periodicals. Poole’s Index of Periodical Literature will point the way. Most newspapers keep an indexed mass of biographical material, which, of course, is at a reporter’s disposal. When these sources fail, the man himself must be interviewed, which is a task that requires tact, politeness, persistency, a good memory, and a clear idea of the character and quantity of the information needed.
III. Models
I
James McHenry was born in Ireland, 1753; came to Philadelphia, 1771; studied medicine under Dr. Benjamin Rush; served in the Revolutionary War as surgeon; became Washington’s secretary, 1778; sat in Congress, 1783–86; was a member of the Constitutional Convention; was Secretary of War under Washington and Adams, 1796–1801; and died in Baltimore, 1816. His most conspicuous public service was rendered in inducing Maryland to ratify the Constitution. Fort McHenry, the bombardment of which in 1814 inspired Francis Scott Key to write the Star-Spangled Banner, was named in McHenry’s honor.
II
Alexander Hamilton is one of those great Americans of whose services to the nation no American can afford to be ignorant. As a soldier in the Revolution, no man possessed more of Washington’s confidence. To him as much as to any one man was due the movement that resulted in the formation of the Constitution; he took a leading part in the debates of the Convention; and the ratification of the Constitution was brought about largely by the Federalist, a paper in which he so ably interpreted the provisions of that instrument that it has ever since been regarded as one of the world’s political classics. As Secretary of the Treasury under Washington he performed wonders; Daniel Webster said of his work in this office: “He rent the rock of the national resources, and abundant streams of revenue gushed forth. He touched the dead corpse of Public Credit, and it sprung upon its feet.” He was born in Nevis, one of the West Indies, in 1757, and was mortally wounded by Aaron Burr in a duel, 1804, at Weehawken, New Jersey.
IV. Organization of Material
Models I and II illustrate two types of biographical notes. That about James McHenry consists of three sentences, which give: (1) A chronological survey of his life; (2) a statement of his chief public service; (3) the fact by which he is most likely to be remembered by the casual reader. It is a good brief form to use in writing about most men and women. Model II is better if the subject is remarkable for many achievements. Its structure is as follows: (1) A keynote sentence; (2), (3), (4) three illustrations of the fact stated in (1); (5) dates. The same principles apply to notices of living people. In writing use one model or the other; do not deviate from them, unless you first find a better model, and can persuade your teacher that it is better.