One of the main products of the oral poetry tradition is the minstrel poem. Minstrels usually recite these poems extemporaneously, accompanied by a musical instrument, in front of an audience. From the moment they are recited, these poems become part of the oral tradition and continue to live on within that tradition. This study examines the methods used in writing minstrel biographies and the problems that arise during the writing process, using the document analysis method. It has been seen as a major problem that the primary sources for biographies written about minstrel poets are poems and folk tales, but these poems, which exist within the oral tradition, cannot constitute a definitive source. Various discussions on these problems, as well as examples from minstrel poets and their poems, for whom definitive information about their life stories cannot be obtained, have been included in the study. It was concluded that problems such as inconsistencies encountered in writing the biographies of living minstrels could be corrected through field research, but that it was quite difficult to obtain definitive evidence for points that were incomplete or controversial in the biographies of minstrels who belonged to the oral tradition.

Keywords
Oral Poetry Tradition, minstrel poetry, minstrel biography