Here is the same paragraph repeated three times: once as it would normally appear, a second time with the topic highlighted in pink, and the third time with the stated main idea sentence highlighted in yellow.

Original Paragraph:

There are several ways of listening actively. One way to show that you are listening actively is to ask questions about what the other person is saying. You can also paraphrase what the other person has said in order to be sure that you understood it correctly. Still another way to listen actively is to pay attention to clues in the person’s tone of voice and posture that reveal what the person is feeling.

Paragraph with topic highlighted in pink:

There are several ways of listening actively. One way to show that you are listening actively is to ask questions about what the other person is saying. You can also paraphrase what the other person has said in order to be sure that you understood it correctly. Still another way to listen actively is to pay attention to clues in the person's tone of voice and posture that reveal what the person is feeling.

Notice that the topic appears more than once, as it often the case.

Paragraph with stated main idea sentence highlighted in yellow:

There are several ways of listening actively. One way to show that you are listening actively is to ask questions about what the other person is saying. You can also paraphrase what the other person has said in order to be sure that you understood it correctly. Still another way to listen actively is to pay attention to clues in the person's tone of voice and posture that reveal what the person is feeling.

Notice that the stated main idea sentence contains the topic, as it always must, but notice that something very cool happens: the topic in that sentence turns orange!