Biographies involve one person telling another person's life story. While biographies include details such as jobs and family members, they are more than resumes, for example, and seek to provide in-depth views of people. Biographies can be written or recorded, and can be about anyone – famous or not. Some biographies focus on a specific aspect of someone's life, while others capture the person throughout her life.
Even if students have no interest in becoming journalists, having them write newspaper articles as if they were to be published is a good way to get them to pay attention to current events. Many news articles follow the inverted pyramid structure, which presents the information in a logical way – most important at top and least important on the bottom. Newspaper articles can cover topics ranging from government meetings to fairs and parades.
Students can complete many nonfiction projects through research at the library or online, but having them interview someone is a good way to make them comfortable with asking questions and interacting with their subjects. Students can record their interviews, transcribe them and present them on paper, or they can record them on camera as if they were television interviews.
Case studies use facts and figures to tell a story. A good way to use case studies as a nonfiction project is to highlight the success of a business, or of a product a business makes. In completing the case study, students can use figures and statistics, and interviews with people within or outside the business. Use the interviews to expand on what the numbers show.