Main Idea

1. MainIdea What’s the Big Idea?

2. MainIdea The purpose of the paragraph or text • All information in the paragraph should connect to the main idea • Some information is not as important • Good readers identify key ideas

3. Identifying MainIdea • Read the whole text. • Ask, “What is the author doing here?” or “What is the basic meaning?” • Pay extra attention to the first and last sentence, as they may be topic sentences.

4. Analyze • To separate things and see what ideas are connecting them. • So to find the main idea, take the sentences or parts of writing, and then try to guess what they have in common. The common element is often the main idea.

5. Let’s try it: • I had a miserable day at school. • It was the best party ever!

6. Why would a topic sentence come at the end? • It would be easy for us to move “It was the best party ever!” to the end of the paragraph. • It’s a series of supporting sentences that builds to a concluding statement. • A courtroom trial is constructed in a similar manner.

7. Example Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the first men to walk on the surface of the moon, but they were not the last. That was Gene Cernan, the last man to step off the lunar surface. In total there have been twelve men who have walked on the moon, all of whom had done so between 1969 and 1972, which is the most recent non-Michael Jackson moon walking.

8. Understanding Main Idea You must comprehend the text. Focus on the BIGGESTidea. This paragraph is about moon walkers. Armstrong & Aldrin First Men on the Moon Cernan was the Last Man on the Moon 12 Men Have Walked On the Moon

9. Careful… Test writers may ask you: “Another good title for this passage would be…” It’s just a way of asking for the main idea.

10. Practice • Summarize each passage in one sentence, including the main idea. • Write an appropriate title for the passage. • Your title should relate to the main idea of the text.

11. An assassination is the murder of a famous person, usually a celebrity or political figure. Many famous assassinations have been attempted, but fewer have succeeded. Here is a brief overview of some famous successful assassins. Lee Harvey Oswald was a former marine who allegedly killed president John F. Kennedy. Ironically, Oswald was himself assassinated a few days later by Jack Ruby. Mark David Chapman was a mentally deranged man who shot and killed John Lennon, lead singer of The Beatles. But, perhaps the most notorious assassin of all is John Wilkes Booth, who killed President Abraham Lincoln while Lincoln attended the theatre.

12. Nicki Minaj, rap phenomenon hailing from Queens, New York, has a new honor to add to her resume: top searched Halloween costume based on a person for the 2011 season. Nicki edged out other popular costume searches such as Charlie Sheen. Though no commercial Nicki Minaj costume kit is available, there are a lot of helpful hints available online that show people how to get that “Nicki look.” The popularity of the Nicki Minaj costume search was only edged out by the Angry Birds costume search, which was the most searched for costume this year.

13. The Greek word “deinos” means terrible, powerful, or wonderous. Combine this with the Greek word “sauros,” which means lizard or reptile, and you might get “dinosaur,” which refers to huge creatures that roamed the earth millions of years ago. The term “dinosauria” was coined by English paleontologist Richard Owen in 1842, which was meant to express the idea that dinosaurs were “terrible reptiles” or “fearfully great lizards.” Over the years, “dinosauria” gradually became “dinosaur,” which is the word we use today to describe those giant beasts from the past.

14. The next time you get the sniffles, remember that it could be worse. SARS is an airborne sickness that killed around a thousand people on and after its discovery in 2003. AIDS is one of the most devastating illnesses in human history. It is estimated that there are over two million AIDS related deaths each year in the world. But perhaps the most infamous and devastating outbreak in history was the bubonic plague or Black Death, which is estimated to have killed 75 million people, or one-third of the population of Europe in the 14th century.

15. By Laura S. Young, M.A. Dev. Reading Instructor, Northern Virginia Community College, 2004 Implied Main Ideas

16. The word “imply” means to suggest—the idea is not stated clearly. When the main idea is not stated clearly, the reader must figure out the main idea by considering the supporting details. Implied Main Ideas

17. First, find the topic. Ask: Who or what is the selection about? After finding the topic, ask: What is the author’s main point about the topic? (This means to infer, or figure out on your own, the author’s unstated main idea.) Finding the Implied Main Idea

18. Finding the Implied Main Idea Next, test your inference. Ask: Does all or most of the material in the paragraph support this idea? If your answer is “no,” then make other inferences, testing each until you find what inference most of the material in the paragraph supports. Finally, write the implied main idea in your own words.

19. What’s the Implied Main Idea? SINGLE BLACK FEMALE seeks male companionship, ethnicity unimportant. I'm a very good girl who LOVES to play. I love long walks in the woods, riding in your pickup truck, hunting, camping and fishing trips, cozy winter nights lying by the fire. Candlelight dinners will have me eating out of your hand. I'll be at the front door when you get home from work, wearing only what nature gave me. Call  (404) 875-6420  and ask for Daisy, I'll be waiting....

20. This has to be one of the best singles ads ever printed. It is reported to have been listed in the Atlanta Journal. Over 15,000 men found themselves talking to the Atlanta Humane Society...

21. Over 15,000 men found themselves talking to the Atlanta Humane Society...