Autobiography Questions: What to Include & 60 Prompts for Students

When you are assigned an autobiography to write, tens or even hundreds of questions start buzzing in your head. How do you write autobiography essay parts? What to include? How do you make your autobiography writing flow? Don’t worry about all this! Use the following three simple principles and 60 autobiography questions for students to write a life story about yourself that truly deserves a high grade.

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❗ How to Write Autobiography: 3 Main Principles

First and foremost, you should remember that an autobiography (also called a memoir) is a story about your own life. If you write the life story of another person, that is called a biography.

You will quickly write a winning autobiography if you follow these three simple principles:

🤗 What to Include in an Autobiography?

1. Explore your background. Try to recall how a biography of a prominent person usually starts. It always opens with their parents’ or even grandparents’ achievements or vices. Rather than beginning the autobiography with your date of birth, dedicate a paragraph to your ancestors. Providing background information will put your life into a complete picture. The following questions will help you decide which events prior to your birth are worth attention.

❓	What kind of family do you come from? What did your parents do for a living, and how did it influence their lifestyle?
❓	Are there any prominent achievements of your ancestors you could boast of? How did these accomplishments impact your family?
❓	How did your parents get acquainted?
❓	Where were you born, and what distinctive features of this region could you point out?
❓	Were you the first, second, or third child?

2. Pick out your childhood memories. This is the most touching paragraph of your piece of writing. Even though your childhood may seem ordinary, the following template questions will guide you in the right direction. Something in your life will always be unique for everybody else.

❓	Where did you live when you were a child (in the country, suburbs, town, or large city)?
❓	Did you spend a lot of time outdoors? Did you gain any skills from playing there?
❓	How did your relatives prepare you for school?
❓	What defines your most important choice in life?
❓	Describe the moments that shaped your personality or made a major change in your perception of life?
❓	Which events influenced your choice of a program for college?

3. Research your culture. Your family traditions are unique. In the modern world, every family is free to observe or ignore some customs. Special moments are what we recall many years later. Sometimes they are formed spontaneously, but most of them are created by our family, friends, and relatives.

❓	What was the most anticipated holiday for your family?
❓	Who did you invite to your place for the celebration?
❓	What was the most important and valuable gift in your life?
❓	Does your family have any traditions that are not related to holidays?
❓	Is there a particular food you cook and eat only on important days?
❓	Were there any adverse events related to your family traditions?

❓ 50 Questions for Writing an Autobiography

Even when you use the 3 above-discussed principles, you might still stumble in the middle of your autobiography. Your inspiration can betray you after you start writing a memoir. But the following 50 questions won’t let you down. This list will help you generate brilliant ideas for your autobiographies whenever you need them:

1. What famous quote can describe your life?
2. Which 3 adjectives can be used to describe you as a person?
3. Who influenced your personal development?
4. What are your best and worst childhood memories?
5. What is your family social and ethnic background?
6. What is your relationship with parents and other relatives?
7. What is your culture?
8. What are your main achievements in life?
9. What are the weaknesses that you would like to get rid of?
10. What are your goals for the future?
11. What places would you like to visit and why?
12. What does it mean to be American?
13. What skills would you like to develop and why?
14. What was the most memorable day in your life?
15. What was the most important lesson you have ever learned?
16. How did your life values transform after the global lockdown?
17. What are the most important values in life, in your opinion?
18. Which fault would you never forgive in others or yourself?
19. Does ethnic identity play an important role in your life?
20. How will the W. P. Carey MBA help you achieve your goals?
21. What leadership skills do you have?
22. What is your personal health vision?
23. What is your opinion of art?
24. What are the main qualities of a true friend?
25. What is the role of music in your life?

26. What do you think of classical music?
27. Can you describe your first day at college?
28. What is marriage, in your opinion?
29. What lessons did you derive from your first semester at school?
30. What do you think of epistemology philosophy?
31. Have you ever attended logic courses?
32. Is success or talent really the outcome of hard work?
33. What are your impressions from your last vacation?
34. What impact does your emotional intelligence has on your personal relationships?
35. What do you think of aging?
36. Does your personal happiness depend on household activities?
37. Does making mistakes help you?
38. Have you ever adopted a pet?
39. What did you learn from your first job?
40. How was your first date?
41. What is your ideal social meeting place?
42. What challenges did your friendship face?
43. Why would you be a good nurse?
44. What does being responsible mean to you?
45. What steps do you take to improve your interpersonal relations?
46. What is your personal vision of a home?
47. What did a failure at the exam teach you about hard work?
48. What is your vision of dystopia?
49. What is your favorite superheroine and why?
50. What career would you like to choose?

If you are a student, your life story might not be that long. However, these 15 questions will guide you in writing an autobiography that you can be proud of and the 3 simple principles discussed above will help you make your memoir flawless.

🤓 10 Autobiography Questions and Answers

Below, we’ve listed some autobiography questions with possible short answers. You can use them as a starting point for writing your autobiography.

🔗 References

1. Autobiography | Definition, History, Types, Examples, & Facts. Britannica
2. What Is an Autobiography? (And How to Write Yours) – ThoughtCo
3. The Autobiography of a Student – jstor
4. THE STUDENT AUTOBIOGRAPHY: structured or unstructured? Wiley Online Library
5. 5 Ways to Write an Autobiography – wikiHow