main idea

Chapter 5 is about Locating Stated Main Ideas Being able to determine the main idea is like having the answer to a puzzle. In order to achieve this, you must first be able to tell the difference between the general topic and the more specific ones. A topic is the most general idea while a main idea is more specific in covering the idea of the piece of writing, such as food being a topic and fish being a main idea.

The main idea is to understanding your reading. Details which are more specific support and illustrate the main idea like types of unusual foods, tongue, ants, alligator, and kangaroo. Noticing clue words and categorizing ideas helps you to separate examples and other supporting ideas from the larger, main points, so the relationships between ideas become clear. Some main ideas are stated directly in a reading and are easy to identify. Others are implied, and you must infer their meaning from the reading and then restate them in your own words. Implied main ideas and strategies for detecting them will be explored.

In most cases the main idea of the text being presented is going to be found in the introductory paragraph. You will also find a jumper of aid points around the main idea supporting it. The main idea will also be what mostly discuses throughout the body of the paper are. When you have completed read the test skim over what have read.



Learning Journal, P139
Without reading ahead, write down your definitions of the terms main idea, topic, details, major supporting details, and minor supporting details in your journal.

Main Idea: the major point the author makes about the topic.
Topic: a matter dealt with in a text, discourse, or conversation
Details: an individual feature
Major Supporting Details : supporting facts
Minor Supporting Details: descriptions

Exercise 5a, General and Specific Ideas,P141
Circle the most general item in each list. The first one is modeled for you.

1. Saab Audi Mustang cars
2. genetics DNA RNA
3. English history majors
4. gas matter solid liquid
5. Buddhism Sikhism religions Islam
6. control group variables research data

Exercise 5b, Identifying Topics, P142
For each list, think about what the separate items have in common and ask yourself, what is the general subject, or topic, of this list? The first one is modeled for you.

1. Topic: holidays
Labor Day
Fourth of July
Memorial Day
Christmas

2. Topic: Authors
Langston Hughes
Emily Dickinson
T.S. Eliot
Walt Whitman

3. Topic: Puzzles
crossword
riddles
jigsaw
conundrum

4. Topic: health
calories
carbohydrates
fat
protein

5. Topic: Resume
name
education
employment experience
references

6. Topic: Teeth
gingivitis
tarter
periodontal disease
plaque