Informally, an ography is a field of study or academic discipline ending in the suffix -ography. The word ography is therefore a back-formation from the names of these disciplines. Such words are formed from Greek or Latin roots with the terminal -graphy derived from the Greek verb γραφειν (graphein), to write. The word ography is thus misleading as the 'o' is actually part of the word stem that receives the -graphy ending. For example, the bio part of biography stems from Greek βιος (bios), life. This is why some of the words do not end in -ography (such as calligraphy).

Some non-study ographies are:

• Autobiography, the biography of a person written by that person
• Bibliography, a list of writings used or considered by an author in preparing a particular work
• Biography, an account of a person's life
• Calligraphy, the art of fine handwriting
• Choreography, the art of creating and arranging dances or ballets
• Photography, the art, practice, or occupation of taking and printing photographs
• Tasseography, the art of reading tea leaves