The Writing Techniques for the Biography: A Case Study from Student's Paper in the Course of Non-Fiction Writing

Abstract

This article investigates the writing techniques in biographical documentaries from 143 works of students in the documentary writing subject. They were analyzed in accordance with the important elements of the documentary, such as the naming of titles, introduction, story writing and conclusion, and compiled into statistical data. The study reveals that the title naming techniques consisting of eight characteristics which are straightforwardness, ambiguity, rhyme, comparison, using prefixes followed by complements, reduplication, pun, and using a group of words or phrases arranged together. The introduction writing techniques have six characteristics, which are description, mixed-method, narration, quotation of person’s statement, questioning, and summarizing. The story writing technique can be divided into two characteristics such as the proceeding of story, and the arranging of story. The writing techniques for the conclusion have six characteristics, which are ending with the whole story summarized, ending with the author’s viewpoint or perspective, ending with the mixed-method, ending with one of the biographical events, ending with retrospective, and ending by quoting the person’s words. The results of this research will be useful to students in developing their skills in writing biographical documentaries, and the researcher can also apply the result to further benefit the teaching in non-fiction writing course.