01-Distinguishing Main Ideas and Supporting Detail

C o l l e g e E n g l i s h f o r A c a d e m i c R e a d i n g
Distinguishing Main Ideas and Supporting Details
What do we have to know to
become a good reader or a good
Distinguishing main ideas and supporting
details
thinker?
To know the differences between main
ideas &supporting details.
…
Distinguishing main ideas and supporting
details
1
What are main ideas?What are supporting details?
2CONTENTS 3Reasons to distinguish main ideas and supporting details
4
Ways to distinguish main ideas and supporting details
•What is a main idea?
–The chief point an author is making about a topic Distinguishing main ideas and supporting details
–The statement under which all other materials in the paragraph can fit (examples, reasons, facts, details and other evidence)
•Find the main idea by looking at the title –Theresa May reaches deal with DUP to form Distinguishing main ideas and supporting details
government after shock election result
How did she reach the deal?
What was the deal?
Distinguishing main ideas and supporting
details
•Can you find out the main idea of the following paragraph?
–Police officers help keep us safe.So,tennis is a
game and the snow was hard to shovel.Have you
gotten sick?Therefore,the only solution is for you
to check your agenda nightly.
Nonsense
No main idea
•Main ideas
–Stated main ideas
Distinguishing main ideas and supporting details
–Implied main ideas
•A stated main idea is
–one complete sentence that represents the basic Distinguishing main ideas and supporting details
message the author wants readers to understand about the topic.
–can be found anywhere in a paragraph or passage, but quite often, in the first sentence.
•To identify the stated main idea
–to locate the topic
a noun, phrase or pronoun repeated over and over in the Distinguishing main ideas and supporting details
•paragraph or passage
–To look for listing words or phrases
•one, for one thing, in addition, first of all, another, last, second, finally, etc.
•There are many ways to improve your reading.Firs t ,you must understand new words as you encounter them,so writing them in a journal,looking up their meaning,and using them in a paragraph Distinguishing main ideas and supporting details
are all good strategies for learning those new words.Next ,you must practice reading every day to keep up your skill.Furthermore ,you should underline important points as you uncover them,so you can check your understanding of the reading material.Finally ,you should use the highlighted material to make a summary of what you have read,so you can analyze the contents and understand the concepts presented to you.
•To look for contrasting words at the beginning of sentence
Distinguishing main ideas and supporting details
–but, in contrast, however, in spite of, etc .
•An implied main idea is
–not stated directly in the paragraph or passage in Distinguishing main ideas and supporting details
one complete sentence.
–summarizes the main idea by reading between the lines.
•To ask the journalistic questions that are
answered by information from the supporting Distinguishing main ideas and supporting details
details
–Apply the who, what, where, when, why, how questions.
•Not only could Smith identify rock strata by the fossils they contained,he could also see a pattern emerging:certain fossils always appear in more ancient sediments,while others begin to be seen as the strata become more recent.By following the fossils,Smith was able to put all the strata of England’s earth into relative temporal Distinguishing main ideas and supporting details sequence .About the same time,Georges Cuvier made the same discovery while studying the rocks around Paris.Soon it was realized that this principle of faunal (animal)succession was valid not only in England or France but virtually everywhere.It was actually a principle of floral succession as well,because plants showed the same transformation through time as did fauna.Limestone may be found in the Cambrian or –300million years later—in the Jurassic strata,but a trilobite—the ubiquitous marine arthropod that had its birth in the Cambrian—will never be found in Jurassic strata,nor a dinosaur in the Cambrian.
•What pattern did Smith see?
•How could he support his pattern?
Distinguishing main ideas and supporting details
•What evidence did he and others get to support the pattern?
•Rock strata could be identified by the fossils which indicate the sequence of the appearance of animals and plants
•Different types of supporting details
–Comparison
Distinguishing main ideas and supporting details
–Contrast
–Statistics and Graphs
–Quotations
–Vivid description
•Comparison is the case in which one thing is shown to be like another.
Distinguishing main ideas and supporting details
–Skilled college students are like the unskilled students in their desire for a diploma.
•Contrast is the case in which one thing is shown to differ from another.
Distinguishing main ideas and supporting details
–Skilled students are different from unskilled students in that they use a method to read a
textbook.
•Statistics and graphs are often used as
supporting details in a passage or paragraph.Distinguishing main ideas and supporting details
–75 percent of the students who do not attend class
regularly receive grades of C or worse.
•Quotations from authorities can also be supporting evidence.
Distinguishing main ideas and supporting details
–“Words have changed the direction of history.Words can also change the direction of your life.They have often raised a man from mediocrity to success.”
–The Study of Words by Wilfred F.N.Lewis
•Vivid description can be supporting details, too. –The students took the exam from the professor’s Distinguishing main ideas and supporting details
hand, quickly looked at the grade, gave a sigh or relief and began to smile.
•Supporting details can be classified into major details and minor details.
The Distinguishing main ideas and supporting details
–main idea and its major supporting details form the basic framework of paragraphs.
–The major details are the primary points that support the main idea.
–The major details are expanded upon the minor supporting details.
•Major supporting details
–first, second, next, in addition, then, eventually, Distinguishing main ideas and supporting details
finally, et c.
•Minor supporting details
–to illustrate, for instance, for example, including, or such as.
•Minor details follow immediately after a major detail.
–People lie for different reasons .One common reason is to avoid hurting someone’s feelings.For example ,a friend might ask,“Do you like my new haircut?”If you think it’s ugly,you might Distinguishing main ideas and supporting details
still answer something like,“I really do.”Anothe r common reason for lying is to avoid a fight.Say a friend angers you and then asks,“Are you upset with me?”You might answer,“No”to avoid an argument.People also lie so that they’ll fit in,as when you listen to a boring person and politely say,“That’s so interesting.”Finally ,people lie to avoid spending more time with someone.For instance ,you might lie,“I have to go now.
•Why is distinguishing main ideas from supporting details important?
–Distinguishing main ideas and supporting details
To understand the structure of the text.
–The main ideas show us the key points in the text.–The supporting details show us why the author believes the main ideas.
Distinguishing main ideas and supporting
details
•Ecologists have studied the four chipmunk species that occur on the eastern slope of the Sierra and have learned just how these species interact while remaining separate,each occupying its own elevational zone.The sagebrush chipmunk is found at the lowest elevation,among the sagebrush.
The yellow pine chipmunk is common in low to mid-elevations and open conifer forests,including pinon and ponderosa and Jeffrey pine forests.The lodgepole chipmunk is found at higher elevations,among the lodgepoles, firs,and high-elevation pines.The alpine chipmunk is higher still, venturing among the talus slopes,alpine meadows,and high-elevation pines and junipers.Obviously,the ranges of each species overlap.Why don’t sagebrush chipmunks move into the pine zone?Why don’t alpine chipmunks move to lower elevations and share the conifer forests with lodgepole chipmunks?
•By distinguishing main ideas and supporting evidence in a paragraph or a passage,we know Distinguishing main ideas and supporting details
that all the sentences should support the main rmation that does not support the main idea does not belong to the same paragraph or passage.
–A main idea is the chief point an author is making in a paragraph,passage,chapter or book.
•Directly stated or implied.
Distinguishing main ideas and supporting details
–The supporting details are the information that describes the main idea.
•Two types of supporting details,major and minor supporting details.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!。