Identifying Main Ideas, Details, Facts, and Explanations

In college, you will read a wide variety of materials, including the following:

  • Textbooks. These usually include summaries, glossaries, comprehension questions, and other study aids.
  • Nonfiction books. These are less likely to include the study features found in textbooks.
  • Popular magazine, newspaper, or web articles. These are usually written for a general audience.
  • Scholarly books and journal articles. These are written for an audience of specialists in a given field.

  1. Main Idea

No matter what type of text you are assigned to read, your main goal is to identify and understand the main idea: the most important idea that the writer wants to communicate and often states early on. Finding the main idea gives you a framework to organize the details presented in the reading and relate the reading to concepts you learned in class or through other reading assignments.

The main idea of a text may be stated directly in the form of a topic sentence that includes the topic and the author's opinion about the topic. On the other hand, the main idea may be implied. An implied main idea is not stated directly. When the main idea is implied, it may be suggested by the details and examples that are included in the paragraph.

Example Paragraph

Do you make time to exercise on a daily basis? Exercising has many physical and emotional benefits. One benefit of daily exercise is toned muscles. Toned muscles provide support for the skeletal system and also help to burn calories more efficiently. Another benefit of exercise is increased flexibility. Flexibility can help to prevent injuries while participating in daily activities. A third benefit of daily exercise is it can serve as a stress reliever. Exercise increases serotonin, a hormone that increases feelings of well-being and overall happiness. Weight loss is a final benefit of exercise. Walking one mile at a brisk pace bums about one hundred calories. Exercising on a daily basis can help a person to live longer and enjoy an overall better quality of life. 

Now ask yourself: What exactly about exercise is the author discussing?
The main idea of this passage is: Exercising has many physical and emotional benefits.

Here are some pointers:

  • Only one sentence can be the stated main idea in a paragraph.
  • Avoid choosing a sentence just because it interests you or you think it sounds important.
  • Be sure you understand the sentence.
  • The main idea is never a question.
  • Examples are details that support the main idea, so examples cannot be the main idea.
  • Watch for words or phrases authors use to signal their main idea. The point is, It is important, Thus, etc.
  • Read the entire paragraph before you decide if there is a stated main idea.
  • Longer selections (such as textbook sections, essays, articles, and editorials) can have overall stated main ideas.
  • Locating the main idea is a skill that underlies several important study skills, such as marking a text, outlining, making concept maps, and writing summaries.

  1. Supporting points

After identifying the main idea, you will find the supporting points: the details, facts, and explanations that develop and clarify the main idea.

Some texts make that task relatively easy. Textbooks, for instance, include headings and subheadings intended to make it easier for students to identify core concepts. Graphic features, such as sidebars, diagrams, and charts, help students understand complex information and distinguish between essential and nonessential points. When you are assigned to read from a textbook, be sure to use available comprehension aids to help you identify the supporting points.

To help locate the supporting details of a paragraph, first identify the main idea. Then, turn the main idea statement into a question. You can use a "w" word to do this (whom, what, when, where, why or how).

Example Paragraph

To be effective, feedback on someone's work must have certain characteristics. First, it must be timely, occurring soon after the work has been done. Second, it must be accurate. The best work should get the most positive feedback; the poorest work should get the most negative feedback. Finally, feedback should be tailored to the recipient and expressed in a way suited to that person's personality and abilities.   

Topic: effective feedback  

Main Idea: To be effective, feedback on someone's work must have certain characteristics 

Question: What characteristics must feedback on someone's work contain? 

Supporting Details: timely, accurate, tailored to the recipient


There are two types of supporting details: major and minor.

  1. Major details: directly explain, develop, or illustrate the main idea.
    • They are the principal (most important points the author is making about the topic.
  2. Minor details: explain a major detail further. The main idea would still be clear if the minor details were left out.
    • Not as important as major details
    • Used to add interest and to give further descriptions, examples, testimonies, analysis, illustrations, and reasons for the major details.

As ideas move from general to specific details, the author often uses signal words to introduce a new detail. These signal words (such as first, second, next, in addition, or finally)can help you identify major and minor details.

Supporting details are reasons, examples, facts, steps, or other kinds of evidence that develop and support the main idea. Supporting details should relate to the main idea.

This tutorial reviews these active reading strategies and their importance for college students.

Now that we remember how to use reading skills to locate main ideas and key details, let's look at the difference between identifying facts and opinions in a reading passage.

Sources:

pherringtonmoriarty and Judith Tomasson, https://pressbooks.pub/irwlevel1/chapter/identifying-main-ideas/ and  https://pressbooks.pub/irwlevel1/chapter/identify-supporting-points-details-facts-and-explanations/
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Academic Skills Unit, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnjoKsifVkI&t=9s
Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.