3mainideas.docx

3mainideas.docx

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3mainideas

Chapter3ReadingforMainIdeas

Oneofthemostimportantspecificcomprehensionskillsisfindingmainideas.Thiscouldbealiteralskilliftheideaisdirectlystated,oraninferentialskillifitisnotdirectlystated.Themainideaistheessenceofapieceofwriting,orratherwhattheauthoristryingtogetacrosstothereaders.Ifyouweretodiscardthemainidea,theremainingsentenceswouldbepracticallymeaningless.

Thedefinitionofmainideas　　

Themainideaofapassageorreadingisthecentralthoughtormessage.Incontrasttothetermtopic,whichreferstothesubjectunderdiscussion,thetermmainideareferstothepointorthoughtbeingexpressed.Thedifferencebetweenatopicandamainideawillbecomeclearertoyouifyouimagineyourselfoverhearingaconversationinwhichyournameisrepeatedlymentioned.Whenyouaskyourfriendswhattheywerediscussing,theysaytheyweretalkingaboutyou.Atthatpoint,youhavethetopicbutnotthemainidea.Undoubtedly,youwouldn’tbesatisfieduntilyoulearnedwhatyourfriendsweresayingaboutthisparticulartopic.Youwouldprobablypesterthemuntilyouknewthemainidea,untilyouknew,thatis,exactlywhattheyweresayingaboutyourpersonality,appearance,orbehavior.Thesameprincipleappliestoreading.Thetopicisseldomenough.Youalsoneedtodiscoverthemainidea.

Itisimportanttofindmainideaswhenreading.Mainideashelpreadersrememberimportantinformation.Themainideaofaparagraphtellsthetopicoftheparagraph.Thetopictellswhatallormostofthesentencesareabout.Theothersentencesintheparagrapharecalleddetails.Detailsdescribeorexplainthemainidea.Whathasmentionedaboveistherelationshipbetweensentencesinaparagraph.

Varioustypesofquestionsthathelpreadersidentifymainideas

Youwillpracticerecognizingthemainideascontainedwithinatext.Intheprocessofskimming,youwillalreadyhaveidentifiedsomeofthesemainideas.Duringasecondandthirdreadingyoucanrecognizeandunderstandthemmorefully.Eachparagraphwillusuallycontainonemainidea,sometimesreferredtoastheparagraphtopic.

Thereadingmaterialsprovideseveralexercisesthathelpyouidentifyandunderstandthemainideasinatext.Knowingthekeypointsinareadingtextisvitalinassessingitsimportanceandrelevanceforyourneeds.Understandingthemainideaswillalsoleadyoutoanunderstandingofawriter’sorganization.

Generallyspeaking,therearevarioustypesofquestionsthathelpyouidentifymainideas.Thefollowingquestionsarenoteworthy.

Whatisthepassagemainlyabout?

Whatisthemainsubject（topic）ofthepassage?

Whichofthefollowingsentencesbestexpressesthemainidea?

Thebesttitleforthispassagewouldbe_____________.

Theauthor’spurposeinwritingthepassageis_____________.

Thepassagemostprobablyis________________.

Thepassageismainlyabout（concernedwith）______________.

Whatistheauthor’sattitudetoward…?

Howdoestheauthorfeelabout…?

Whichofthefollowingbestdescribestheattitudeoftheauthortoward…?

Theauthor’sattitudetoward_________is______________?

Theattitudeoftheauthortoward_________canbestbedescribedas_________.

Allthequestionsabovecanbedividedintotwoparts.Oneconcernsthemainideaofapassage;theothercentersonauthor’sattitude.

Wherearemainideasfound?

Astothemainideaofapassage,someparagraphscontainatopicsentencethattellsyoutheexactmainideatheauthorwantsyoutoknow.Thetopicsentencewouldincludewhoorwhattheparagraphisabout（thetopic）andwhattheauthorwantsyoutounderstandaboutthetopic.Thistopicsentencewouldbethestatedmainidea.Astatedmainideaisoftenfoundinthefirstsentenceinaparagraphfollowedbysupportingdetails.Butthisisnotalwaysthecase.Someauthorsprefertogivethesupportingdetailsfirstandendwiththemainidea.Othersgivesomedetails,themainidea,andthenmoredetails.Insomeparagraphsalltheinformationisequallyimportantandmustsummarizetheentireparagraphinordertogetthemainidea.Ontheotherhand,thereareparagraphsthatdonotdirectlystatethemainideabutrequirethatyouinferthemeaningbasedontheinformationgiven.Therefore,yougettheimpliedmainideaby“readingbetweenthelines”.Sinceitcouldbefoundanywhereintheparagraphandcouldbestatedorimplied,youshouldhaveaplantofacilitatefindingthemainidea.

Ontheotherhand,assessingawriter’spurposeandevaluatingawriter’sattitudearealsoimportantforfindingmainideas.Onceyouunderstandtheorganizationofatext,youcanthenrecognizethewriter’spurposemoreclearly.Thetextorganizationawriterselectswillpartlydependuponhisorherparticularpurpose.Awritermaywanttoinformorpersuade,andheorshewillselectastructureorpatternoforganizationaccordingtothispurpose. Awritermayalsointendtodobothofthesethingsinawrittentext---toinformaswellaspersuade.Insuchcasesitisoftenhelpfultotrytoassesswhichofthesepurposesseemstobemoreimportantordominant.

Writersarenotnecessarilyneutralorobjectivewhentheywrite,particularlyifthearetryingtopersuadereaderstoagreewiththeiropinions.Itisimportantthatyourecognizewhatanauthor’sattitudeisinrelationtotheideasorinformationbeingpresented.Thisisbecausesuchattitudescaninfluencethewaysinwhichinformationispresented.Youwillbelookingatwaysinwhichawriter’sattitudemaybeidentified.

HowcanIdetermineifIhaveselectedthecorrectmainideaofaparagraph?

Ifyouareabletosummarizetheinformationinthepassageinyourownwords,youhaveabsorbedthecorrectmainidea.Toaccomplishthisgoal,trythestepslistedbelowafterreadingashortpassage.

Writeashortsummaryinyourownwordsaboutwhatyouhaveread.

Doesyoursummaryagreewiththisgeneraltopic?

Doesyoursummarycontainthesameideasbeingexpressedbytheauthor?

Couldyouwriteaheadline（ortextbooksubheading）thatwouldexpressyoursummaryinlessthanfivewords?

Ifyouareabletorephraseyourchoiceofatopicsentenceintoaquestionandthendetermineifthepassageanswersyourquestion,youhavebeensuccessfulatselectingamainidea.

ReadingTips:

Thefollowingaresomereadingtipswhichmayhelpyoutofindmainideaswhilereading.

1.Assoonasyoucandefinethetopic,askyourself“Whatgeneralpointdoestheauthorwanttomakeaboutthistopic?

”Onceyoucananswerthatquestion,youhavemorethanlikelyfoundthemainidea.

2.Mostmainideasarestatedorsuggestedearlyoninareading;payspecialattentiontothefirstthirdofanypassage,article,orchapter.That’swhereyouarelikelytogetthebeststatementorclearestexpressionofthemainidea.

3.Payattentiontoanyideathatisrepeatedindifferentways.Ifanauthorreturnstothesamethoughtinseveraldifferentsentencesorparagraphs,thatideaisthemainorcentralthoughtunderdiscussion.

4.Onceyoufeelsureyouhavefoundthemainidea,testit.Askyourselfiftheexamples,reasons,statistics,studies,andfactsincludedinthereadinglendthemselvesasevidenceorexplanationinsupportofthemainideayouhaveinmind.Iftheydo,yourcomprehensionisrightontarget.Iftheydon’t,youmightwanttoreviseyourfirstnotionabouttheauthor’smainidea.

5.Themainideaofapassagecanbeexpressedanynumberofways.Forexample,youandyourroommatemightcomeupwiththesamemainideaforareading,butthelanguageinwhichthatideaisexpressedwouldprobablybedifferent.When,however,youareaskedtofindthetopicsentence,youarebeingaskedtofindthestatementthatexpressesthemainideaintheauthor’swords.Anynumberofpeoplecancomeupwiththemainideaforapassage,butonlytheauthorofthepassagecancreatethetopicsentence.

6.Ifyouaretakingatestthatasksyoutofindthethesisorthemeofareading,don’tletthetermsconfuseyou,youarestilllookingforthemainidea.

FocusedExercises

Agoodreadercanalwaysrecognizethemainideainapieceofwriting.Whileyouarereading,youshouldalwaysaskyourself:

Whywasthiswritten?

Whatisthemainpointthattheauthoristryingtomake?

Exercise1

Directions:

Readthefollowingparagraphsandtellwherethemainideaislocated.

Despitethehatredthatmostpeoplefeeltowardcockroaches,theydohelphumansinseveralways.Forexample,theyareperfectexperimentalanimalsandareusedforscientificresearchinthelaboratory.Breedingthemiseasy,fortheythriveunderalmostanyconditions.Instudiesonnutritionandfood,cockroachesaregoodsubjectsbecausetheywilleatanykindoffood.Theycanbeusedtostudyheartdisease,andcancerresearchersworkwithroachesbecausetheygrowcanceroustumorslikethosethatarefoundinhumans.

A）inthefirstsentence

B）inthelastsentence

C）inthemiddleoftheparagraph

D）intwosentencesoftheparagraph

E）notstatedintheparagraphdirectly（implied）

About300millionyearsago,longbeforedinosaursruledtheearth,thecockroachalreadyhadbeenhereforalongtime.Wecanonlyguessatwhyithasnotbecomeextinct,butthephysicalassetsofthecockroachprovideamajorreasonforitssurvival.Thecockroach'sbodyisveryflat,allowingittoslipintotinycracksandcrevices,anditssixstrongrunninglegsgiveitunmatchedpowersofescape.Twosmallfeelersdetectmovementsandchangesinaircurrents,thuswarningtheinsectofapproachingdanger.Thecockroach'stwolargeeyesaremadeupofhundredsoftiny,separateeyeswhichareverygoodforseeingmov