Finding the Main Idea How to Read Smarter

The Point The main idea is the big point that the writer is telling to the reader. Often the reader can figure out the main idea just by looking at the title. For example, a passage titled: “Why Students Should not Have Homework on the Weekends” will include reasons for that idea.

Main Idea Main Idea - is like the heart of the text or a paragraph. It is the controlling idea. All the other supporting details in the text or within a paragraph should tell us more about the main idea. ma

General Versus Specific The main idea is a general one. The supporting ideas in the passage are specific ones. Which word is the most general: Potato or Vegetable?

What about the topic? The topic is the general subject of a reading passage. To find the topic, just ask yourself: “Who or what is this passage about?” The topic can be expressed in a word or a phrase. WHO?

The Topic Sentence Many paragraphs have topic sentences that indicate what their about. Find the topic sentence in this paragraph: Fudge’s guests caused lots of problem during his birthday party. Ralph took flowers off the cake and ate them. Jenny bit Grandma when she was trying to help her. Sam cried when the balloon popped. They even jumped on the bed and the downstairs neighbor came up and asked what was going on.

Supporting Details Supporting details prove the value of the main idea. What are they here? (Make a graphic organizer with the students.) Fudge’s guests caused lots of problem during his birthday party. Ralph took flowers off the cake and ate them. Jenny bit Grandma when she was trying to help her. Sam cried when the balloon popped. They even jumped on the bed and the downstairs neighbor came up and asked what was going on.

Get the Point? Read this short paragraph: Harold left the note at the editor’s office. The cat was mad about the family giving the new pet milk to drink. The Dracula movie came on one dark and rainy night. Chester got hair on the chair and it had to be vacuumed. Toby and Pete kept arguing over whose room the bunny would be staying in that night.

Get the Point? We would go crazy if texts were written like this all the time. It was difficult to understand because it was made of different ideas that did not link. There was no common thread. The good news is that normal passages have main ideas!