AMS Students Write Now!: How Do We Get the Main Idea from a Text?

MAIN IDEA: This is the “Big Picture,” the one MAIN thought s/he is trying to say. Sometimes this can be found in the first sentence of the first paragraph, sometimes in the last sentence of the first paragraph...and sometimes it’s nowhere to be found and you have to do some serious thinking!

What this means for you is that when you read, you should always be thinking about the “big picture”--what is the one MAIN thought the author is trying to say?

DIRECT DETAIL: Without this information, the MAIN IDEA wouldn’t exist.

INDIRECT DETAIL: This is good information to have that SORT OF relates to the MAIN IDEA, but the MAIN IDEA would exist without it.

NOT A DETAIL: This is information that might not have anything to do with the MAIN IDEA. It’s put there because it’s nice to know, but the MAIN IDEA can totally exist without it.

(Sometimes people who make tests use this information to purposely distract test-takers--just ask yourself “Can the MAIN IDEA exist without this information?” and you’ll be fine!)

Just like in Math, you can “check your work.” Look at the following example from the ReadWorks passage “Time for Change.”

Main Idea: Coins are fun!

Direct Detail: None from passage.

Indirect Detail: None from passage.

There is no information from “Time for Change” we can use as proof to support the Main Idea that “Coins are fun!” This means we have to reject this as the Main Idea and come up with something else.

Main Idea: New coins are will be introduced in 2007.

Direct Detail:

The whole 1st paragraph.

The first and last sentences of the 2nd paragraph.

The last sentence of the 6th paragraph.

Indirect Detail:

The 3rd paragraph.

The 4th paragraph.

✓ There is so much information from “Time for Change” we can use as proof to support the Main Idea that “New coins are will be introduced in 2007,” that we need to accept it as the MAIN IDEA.

BrainPop Video - Main Idea