GKT102: General Knowledge for Teachers – Reading

Main Ideas

This week will start with Main Ideas, which are the "so what?" of a text. It is easy to get lost in the details of a piece of writing and miss the big picture. The Main Ideas lesson offers strategies for figuring out the most important points, as well as important supporting points, in a reading. Next, you will use these skills as you begin work on the midterm.

Assignment One – Read Main Ideas and then complete the exercises that follow:

MAIN IDEAS

Have you ever read to the end of a passage and thought: "What was that about?" Sometimes a passage can seem like a string of facts or ideas. Recognizing the main idea of a passage is a vital reading skill. No matter what you're reading, whether it is a news story, novel, or a chapter in a chemistry textbook, you need to understand what the author is trying to tell you. So how do you find the main idea? Start with the topic.

TOPIC  The topic of a piece of writing is like the title of a newspaper article, a song, or a book. Usually it is a word or phrase, like Healthy Habits or Money. It gives you a glimpse of the subject, but not the details. For instance, what topic do you think would cover the following?

SUVs

RVs

Pickups

Performance cars

TOPIC           Kinds of vehicles

Once you discover the topic, look for the main idea.

MAIN IDEA

The main idea of a piece of writing is the point that the author wants to make about the topic. Often it is written as a statement at the beginning of a paragraph or essay, but sometimes it is at the end, or in even in the middle. It could also be called the thesis or the central point.

For instance, the main idea for the topic above could be: There are so many types of vehicles on the road today, that you should consider a number of things before buying.

SUPPORTING POINTS

To support the main idea, a writer needs facts, ideas, and information. Some supporting points will be major, or broader; others will be minor, or more specific.

MAJOR POINTS  

Major points are general, or broad.

For instance, a major point for the above statement could be:

First, consider your budget.

MINOR POINTS   

Minor points are more specific, such as important details.

For instance, a minor, or supporting point for First consider your budget could be:

YOUR TURN

Using the topic of Good Food, write a main idea statement, and then list one or two major points to support your idea, with one or two minor points/details to support it. Remember that a main idea statement is like a thesis statement, it must give you something to prove. Do not to write a simple statement of fact, like "Good food tastes good," which is too vague to support.

Ex. 5.1 – Using the topic of Good Food, write down on a piece of paper or type into a separate document some major and minor points. Does what you wrote express the point that you want to make about the topic?

The relationships among the topic, main idea, and supporting points can be seen as a pyramid, with the general topic at the top, and the main idea with support below: Read through the main idea examples below with their possible supporting points:

• Artificial Intelligence (AI) is taking over the world.
• Supporting point: If you have used SIRI or Google Assistant, your world has already been "invaded".
• G.M.O. Genetically Modified Organisms) food has been around for centuries.
• Supporting point: Ninety percent of scientists, as well as the American Medical Association, believe that G.M.O.s are completely safe.

YOUR TURN

Ex. 5.2 – Write down or type into a separate document supporting points for the statements below:

• There is more than one way to pay for college.
• A career in cybersecurity can be interesting and lucrative.

IMPLIED MAIN IDEAS

Sometimes main ideas are not stated directly, but are implied (shown indirectly) throughout the passage. With implied main ideas, you won't find a main idea statement in the paragraph or essay. Instead, you must read through the whole piece, and then guess (use the major and minor points and details to figure out) what the main idea is.

To infer (understand an implied idea), identify the topic, look for the major points and minor details, and then write a statement that describes the main idea.

For instance, read the passage below and then look at the topic and possible main idea:

Advances in technology are bringing rapid changes in the ways we produce and deliver goods and services. The Internet and other improvements in communication (such as smartphones, video conferencing, and social networking) now affect the way we do business. Companies are expanding international operations, and the workforce is more diverse than ever. Corporations are being held responsible for the behavior of their executives, and more people share the opinion that companies should be good corporate citizens. Plus - and this is a big plus - businesses today are facing the lingering effects of what many economists believe is the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

Topic: The changing world of business

Implied Main Idea: With today's rapid changes, it is a challenging and interesting time for businesses.

YOUR TURN

Ex. 5.3 Read the passage below and then write down or type into a separate document a possible topic and main idea for it.

Source: Grace Richardson, https://mhcc.pressbooks.pub/rd90-115/chapter/week5/
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.