© 2008 Townsend Press

1. TEN STEPS TO BUILDINGCOLLEGE READING SKILLS Fourth Edition John Langan © 2008 Townsend Press

2. Chapter Four: Supporting Details THIS CHAPTER IN A NUTSHELL • Supporting details are the evidence—such as reasons, examples, facts, and steps—that backs up main ideas. Those details help you understand main ideas. • There are two levels of supporting details: — Main items of support are called major details. Pay special attention to them. — Major details themselves are sometimes supported with information called minor details. • Words such as several steps or a number of reasons tell you that supporting details may follow. • Words such as first, another, and finally often introduce supporting details. • Outlines and maps (diagrams) can show you a main idea and its supporting details at a glance.

3. WHAT ARE SUPPORTING DETAILS? Supporting details are reasons, examples, steps, or other kinds of evidence that explain a main idea, or point.

4. WHAT ARE SUPPORTING DETAILS? Poor grades in school can have various causes. For one thing, students may have financial problems. If they need to work long hours to make money, they will have little study time. Another cause of poor grades may be trouble with relationships. A student may be unhappy over family problems or a lack of friends. That unhappiness can harm schoolwork. A final cause of poor grades may be bad study habits. Some students have never learned how to take good notes in class, how to manage their time effectively, or how to study a textbook. Without such study skills, their grades are likely to suffer. What are the second and third reasons that should be added to complete this outline of the paragraph? Main idea: Poor grades in school can have various causes. Supporting detail:1. Financial problems Supporting detail: 2. Supporting detail: 3.

5. WHAT ARE SUPPORTING DETAILS? Poor grades in school can have various causes. [main idea] For one thing, students may have financial problems. [supporting detail] If they need to work long hours to make money, they will have little study time. Anothercause of poor grades may be trouble with relationships. [supporting detail] A student may be unhappy over family problems or a lack of friends. That unhappiness can harm schoolwork. A finalcause of poor grades may be bad study habits. [supporting detail] Some students have never learned how to take good notes in class, how to manage their time effectively, or how to study a textbook. Without such study skills, their grades are likely to suffer. The supporting details name three specific causes of poor grades. Main idea: Poor grades in school can have various causes. Supporting detail:1. Financial problems Supporting detail: 2.Trouble with relationships Supporting detail: 3.Bad study habits

6. To read effectively, you must recognize both main ideas and the detailsthat support those ideas.

7. OUTLINING Outlines begin with the main idea, followed by supporting details. • Major details explain and develop the main idea. • Minor details help fill out the major details and make them clear. Outlining is a useful note-takingstrategy.

8. OUTLINING Here is part of the paragraph on causes of poor grades, followed by an outline of it. Main idea: Poor grades in school can have various causes. Major detail: 1. Financial causes Minor details: a. Need to work long hours after school b. No time left to study Major detail: 2. Trouble with relationships Minor details: a. Unhappiness over family problems b. Unhappiness over a lack of friends Poor grades in school can have various causes. For one thing, students may have financial problems. If they need to work long hours to make money, they will have little study time. Another cause of poor grades may be trouble with relationships. A student may be unhappy over family problems or a lack of friends. That unhappiness can harm schoolwork.

9. OUTLINING Outlining Tips Tip 1 Look for words that tell you a list of details is coming. List Words several kinds of various causes a few reasons a number of a series of three factors four steps among the results several advantages

10. OUTLINING Outlining Tips Tip 1 Look for words that tell you a list of details is coming. Examples • Poor grades in school can have various causes. • To motivate workers, managers should practice several methods of building self-esteem.

11. OUTLINING Outlining Tips Tip 2 Look for words that signal major details. These words are called addition words. Addition Words one to begin with in addition last first another next last of all first of all second moreover final for one thing also furthermore finally

12. OUTLINING Outlining Tips Tip 2 Look for words that signal major details. These words are called addition words. Examples Poor grades in school can have various causes[list words]. For one thing[addition words], students may have financial problems. If they need to work long hours to make money, they will have little study time. Another[addition word]cause of poor grades may be trouble with relationships. A student may be unhappy over family problems or a lack of friends. That unhappiness can harm schoolwork. A final[addition word]cause of poor grades may be bad study habits. Some students have never learned how to take good notes in class, how to manage their time effectively, or how to study a textbook. Without such study skills, their grades are likely to suffer.

13. OUTLINING Outlining Tips Tip 2 Look for words that signal major details. These words are called addition words. Read the paragraph below and answer the questions that follow. To motivate workers, managers should practice several methods of building self-esteem. One way to build self-esteem is to show a genuine interest in what workers have to say. Ask for their opinions and really listen to their responses. A second method of improving self-esteem is to practice good conversational habits. Do so in three ways: by looking a worker in the eye, by smiling frequently, and by calling workers by their first name—the most important word in the language to every person. Last of all, managers can build esteem by admitting mistakes. Doing so, they show that it is simply human to do the wrong thing at times. •Which word signals the first major detail? •Which word signals the second major detail? •Which words signal the third major detail?

14. OUTLINING Outlining Tips Tip 2 Look for words that signal major details. These words are called addition words. Read the paragraph below and answer the questions that follow. To motivate workers, managers should practice several methods of building self-esteem. One way to build self-esteem is to show a genuine interest in what workers have to say. Ask for their opinions and really listen to their responses. A second method of improving self-esteem is to practice good conversational habits. Do so in three ways: by looking a worker in the eye, by smiling frequently, and by calling workers by their first name—the most important word in the language to every person. Last of all, managers can build esteem by admitting mistakes. Doing so, they show that it is simply human to do the wrong thing at times. One second Last of all •Which word signals the first major detail? •Which word signals the second major detail? •Which words signal the third major detail?

15. OUTLINING Outlining Tips Tip 3 In your outline, put all supporting details of equal importance at the same distance from the margin. Example Main idea:To motivate workers, managers should practice several methods of building self-esteem. 1. Show genuine interest in what workers have to say. a. Ask for their opinions. b. Really listen to their responses. 2.Practice good conversational habits. a. Look a worker in the eye. b. Smile frequently. c. Call workers by first name. 3.Admit mistakes.

16. PREPARING MAPS Maps, or diagrams, are visual outlines in which circles, boxes, or other shapes show the relationship between main ideas and supporting details. Mapping, like outlining, is a useful note-taking strategy.

17. PREPARINGMAPS Below is a map of the paragraph on motivating workers. To motivate workers, managers should practice several methods of building self-esteem. One way to build self-esteem is to show a genuine interest in what workers have to say. Ask for their opinions and really listen to their responses. A second method of improving self-esteem is to practice good conversational habits. Do so in three ways: by looking a worker in the eye, by smiling frequently, and by calling workers by their first name—the most important word in the language to every person. Last of all, managers can build esteem by admitting mistakes. Doing so, they show that it is simply human to do the wrong thing at times. To motivate workers, managers should practice several methods of building self-esteem. Certain basic fears are part of our lives. Show genuine interest in what workers have to say Practice good conversational habits Admit mistakes Ask for their opinions Really listen to their responses Look a worker in the eye Smile frequently Call workers by first name

18. PREPARINGMAPS Read the following paragraph. Notice the list words and the words that signal the three major details. People daydream for a variety of reasons. One cause of daydreaming is boredom, at school or on the job. To make life more interesting, people imagine being somewhere else. For example, a student might dream of lying on the beach and flirting with an attractive person on a nearby blanket. A production worker might dream about winning the lottery or becoming the big boss at the company. Another cause of daydreaming is a lack of something. For instance, a starving person might dream about food, or a poor person might dream about owning a house or a car. A third cause of daydreaming is angry feelings. An angry student might dream about dropping a hated math instructor out of a classroom window. 1. Which words in the first sentence tell you that a list of details is coming? 2. Which word signals the first major detail? 3. Which word signals the second major detail? 4. Which word signals the third major detail?

19. PREPARINGMAPS Read the following paragraph. Notice the list words and the words that signal the three major details. People daydream for a variety of reasons. One cause of daydreaming is boredom, at school or on the job. To make life more interesting, people imagine being somewhere else. For example, a student might dream of lying on the beach and flirting with an attractive person on a nearby blanket. A production worker might dream about winning the lottery or becoming the big boss at the company. Another cause of daydreaming is a lack of something. For instance, a starving person might dream about food, or a poor person might dream about owning a house or a car. A third cause of daydreaming is angry feelings. An angry student might dream about dropping a hated math instructor out of a classroom window. 1. Which words in the first sentence tell you that a list of details is coming? a variety of reasons 2. Which word signals the first major detail? One 3. Which word signals the second major detail? Another 4. Which word signals the third major detail? third

20. PREPARINGMAPS What major details are missing from the map below? People daydream for a variety of reasons. One cause of daydreaming is boredom, at school or on the job. To make life more interesting, people imagine being somewhere else. For example, a student might dream of lying on the beach and flirting with an attractive person on a nearby blanket. A production worker might dream about winning the lottery or becoming the big boss at the company. Another cause of daydreaming is a lack of something. For instance, a starving person might dream about food, or a poor person might dream about owning a house or a car. A third cause of daydreaming is angry feelings. An angry student might dream about dropping a hated math instructor out of a classroom window. People daydream for a variety of reasons. Example: Worker dreams about winning lottery. Example: Poor person dreams about owning car. Example: Angry person dreams about dropping teacher out window.

21. PREPARINGMAPS People daydream for a variety of reasons. One cause of daydreaming is boredom, at school or on the job. To make life more interesting, people imagine being somewhere else. For example, a student might dream of lying on the beach and flirting with an attractive person on a nearby blanket. A production worker might dream about winning the lottery or becoming the big boss at the company. Another cause of daydreaming is a lack of something. For instance, a starving person might dream about food, or a poor person might dream about owning a house or a car. A third cause of daydreaming is angry feelings. An angry student might dream about dropping a hated math instructor out of a classroom window. People daydream for a variety of reasons. Boredom Lack of something Angry feelings Example: Worker dreams about winning lottery. Example: Poor person dreams about owning car. Example: Angry person dreams about dropping teacher out window.

22. CHAPTER REVIEW In this chapter, you learned the following: • Supporting details go hand in hand with main ideas. They provide the added information you need to make sense of a main idea. • There are often two levels of supporting details—major and minor. • List words and addition words can help you to find major and minor supporting details. • Outlining and mapping are useful note-taking strategies. • Outlines and maps, or diagrams, show the relationship between the main idea, major details, and minor details of a passage. The next chapter, “Locations of Main Ideas,” will deepen your understanding of the relationship between main ideas and supporting details.