IDENTIFYING TOPICS, MAIN IDEAS,

AND SUPPORTING DETAILS

At the end of the lesson , you are expected to :1.discuss what topics, main ideas and supporting details are;2.identify topics, main ideas, and supporting details in texts read; and3.demonstrate full understanding of text perused.

Lesson targets :

Bring newspaper. Work in small group and exchange articles culled from these newspapers. Read the articles and tell what they are about. Use the guide below.

Activity

Title of the article

Name of the newspaper

Author of the article

What the article is all about

What’s interesting about the article

Your comments

Topic, main idea, and

supporting details

A paragraph is a group of sentences related to a particular topic or central theme. Every paragraph has a key concept or main idea which is considered the most significant piece of information the author wants to convey.

The main idea is the “key concept” being expressed by the text or paragraph. It is the most central piece of information the author wants you to know. It also tells the topic of the paragraph. The topic is the broad, general theme or message. In return, the topic tells what all or most of the sentences are about. These other sentences are called details which describe or explain the main idea. Details, major and minor, support the main idea by telling how, what, when, where, why, how much, or how many.

A writer may indicate his/her main idea plainly somewhere in the paragraph. That main idea may be found at the beginning of the paragraph, in the middle, or at the end. The sentence in which the main idea is stated is the topic sentence. Sometimes, the main idea is implied or not overtly stated. You have to analyze the paragraph carefully so you can identify what it is about.

It is important to find main ideas when reading because you can’t comprehend the subject matter if you haven’t identified the topic, the main idea, and the supporting details.

Tip #1As soon as you can define the topic, ask yourself “ What

general point does the author want to make about this topic?” ; “What is this paragraph all about?”

Tip #2Most main ideas are stated or suggested early on in a

reading; pay more attention to the first three of any passage, article, or chapter. That is where you are likely to get the best statement or clearest expression of the main idea.

These are the following tips to better understand what you are reading

Tip #3Pay attention to any idea that is repeated in different ways. If an

author returns to the same thought in several different sentences or paragraphs, that idea is the main or central thought under discussion.

Tip #4Once you feel sure you have found the main idea, test it.Ask

yourself if the examples, reasons, statistics, studies, and facts included in the reading lend themselves as evidence or explanation in support of the main idea you have in mind.If they do, your comprehension is right in target.If they don’t, you might want to revise your first notion about the author’s main idea.

Tip #5 The main idea of the passage can be expressed in a

number of ways.When you are asked to find the topic sentence, you are being asked to find the statement that expresses the main idea in the author’s words.A number of people can come up with the main idea for a passage, but only the author of the passage can create the topic sentence.

Tip #6If you are taking a test that asks you to find the thesis or

theme of a reading, don’t let the terms confuse you, you are still looking for the main idea.

“ Environmental education has been considered an additional or elective subject in much of traditional K-12 curriculum. At the elementary school level, environmental education can take the form of science enrichment curriculum, natural history field trips, community service projects, and participation in outdoor science schools. In secondary school, environmental curriculum can be a focused subject within the sciences or is a part of student interest groups or clubs. At the undergraduate and graduate level, it can be considered its own field within education, environmental studies, environmental science and policy, ecology, or human/cultural ecology programs.”

-en.wikipedia.org/wiki/environmental_education

Look at how foregoing tips are applied below

1.Which is the topic sentence?

Sentence #1

2.What is the topic of the paragraph?

The paragraph talks about Environmental

Education as an additional subject in

the curriculum

3.What supports the topic sentence?

These are environmental

education activities that students can do

as part of the curriculum.

4.What specific details or examples

are given?

Science enrichment curriculum, natural history field trips, community service

projects, and participation in outdoor science

schools, as a separate course

5.What is the main idea of the paragraph?

Environmental Education cuts across

year levels.