•
Critical Reading for College and Beyond
•
CHAPTER FIVE
•
CHAPTER GOALS
After learning Chapter 5, you should be able to demonstrate:
After learning Chapter 5, you should be able to demonstrate:
•
What main ideas are.
•
Strategies for identifying main ideas in
paragraphs and longer readings.
•
How to check whether you have correctly
identified main ideas.
•
What is a Topic?
•
A topic is a word or short phrase that is the
subject of a sentence, paragraph, essay, chapter or book.
•
What is the Main Idea?
•
The main idea is the major point (or points) the
author makes about the topic. It is
stated in the form of a sentence.
•
The main idea serves as the controlling idea
under which other ideas support.
•
What is a Detail?
•
A detail supports the main idea.
•
A detail is more specific than the main idea.
•
A detail proves, clarifies, justifies, or
otherwise adds meaning to the main idea.
•
Strategies for Recognizing Main Ideas
•
Question yourself.
•
Look in the usual spots.
•
Categorize author’s points.
•
Notice word clues.
•
Examples of Word Clues
•
Emphasis word clues
•
Support word clues
•
Contrast word clues
•
Chapter Vocabulary
•
topic
•
main idea
•
details
•
categorization
•
mind maps
•
previewing
•
word clues
•
emphasis word clues
•
support word clues
•
contrast word clues