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Reviewing Stated and Implied Main Ideas Chapters 8 and 10 are very important, and they can be challenging. Main idea skills take practice, so be patient with yourself. Take a minute to review be reading the information below. You now know
Remember this sample conversation that appeared near the beginning of Chapter 7, Determining the Topic?
Even though Mike and Brian never mention the word test, you can figure out that they are discussing a test. Therefore, the topic of their conversation is the test. You can also reason out the implied main idea: the test wasn't difficult. Once you realized what the topic was—that “it” referred to a test—you could infer the main point. Suppose, though, their conversation had gone like this:
This time, Mike uses the word test, the topic, in his first comment. Moreover, Mike states his main point: The test wasn't difficult at all. Both conversations have the same topic (the test ), and both have the same main point: The test wasn't difficult at all. Regardless of which conversation you heard, regardless of whether the Mike stated or implied his main point, you would be able to understand it. You use exactly the same type of reasoning when you read paragraphs and want to understand their main points. Now look at this paragraph that you saw in Chapter 8. It has a stated main idea, the last sentence of the paragraph.
The author could just have easily written the paragraph this way, without stating the main idea as a single sentence:
The author has implied the main idea, but the main point is still the same: there is no relationship between learning disabilities and intelligence. You could also express it: people with learning disabilities can be highly intelligent, or people with learning disabilities are sometimes viewed as unintelligent, but nothing could be further from the truth . The sentence could be worded several equally correct ways. As you can see, one way is to create the main idea of this paragraph is to combine the last two sentences into a single sentence (Formula 2). Both of these paragraphs have the same topic and the same main point, but in first version, the main idea is stated, and in the second version is it implied. Your task as a reader is to locate stated main idea sentences the author provides them and to formulate main idea sentences when the author implies them. After you have read a paragraph, you will know which you need to do. It will help you if you start by asking yourself the topic question and the main idea question. (See the “Brain-Friendly Tips” box on page 00.) First, determine the topic. Next, look for a stated main idea. If there isn't one, look at the ingredients you are given in the paragraph. Based on the ingredients, use one of the formulas to create a sentence that tells the author's most important point about the topic. The flowchart that follows is like a road map that shows you where to start and the different routes you can take from there. After a little practice, you won't need to refer to it, but it will be very helpful at first.
 Click here to view the Comprehension_Flowchart in Acrobat PDF.
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Elder, J. Entryways into College Reading and Learning. Copyright © 2008 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. |