Identification of Main Idea in Fiction and Non-fiction

Every story or paragraph or non-fictional text has at least one main idea.

• The purpose of the main idea is to tell you what the story or the writing is about. 
• In some, the main idea may be the lesson learned or the moral of the story.
• Nevertheless, the main idea is the most important part of a story or paragraph.

The MAIN IDEA is what the text is mostly about.

(It is backed up or supported by SUPPORTING DETAILS)

Before discussing how to find the main idea, we shall first look at TOPIC.

Can you define a topic?

A topic can be defined as the word or phrase that everything in a text refers to.

Looking for a Topic in Text

Example: Water is an amazing resource. Everyone in the world depends upon it. Every creature needs water to survive. Without water, we would not last long. Water makes our world beautiful.

The topic for the above passage is water.

As we have found the topic of the paragraph, we can find the main idea.

Topic together with the main point about the topic/subject = Main idea

Having found the topic, now find the main idea of the same paragraph.

Example:

Water is an amazing resource. Everyone in the world depends upon it. Every creature needs water to survive. Without water, we would not last long. Water makes our world beautiful.

Here is the main idea of the passage:

Main idea: Water is an amazing resource.

What is the Main Idea?

• The purpose of the main idea is to make readers understand the subject. 
• The central thought or the message is the main idea.
• The main idea of a paragraph is always general, details are always specific.

Now let’s discuss the difference between a topic and a main idea

1. A topic is stated generally in a word or phrase.
2. A main idea which is stated in a sentence, unlike the topic, includes the topic and the main point.

Identification of the Main Idea:

In most of the paragraphs, the very first sentence states the main idea

The main idea is called an explicit main idea When the author states the main idea in the passage.

Next, let us see where the main idea is.

But in some cases, the main idea is not always in the first sentence and the reader may need to infer it.

The main idea is called implicit when it is not directly stated in the passage.

Remember:

Topic + Main point about the topic = MAIN IDEA

First, let’s look at the topic, then look for the main idea

Let’s look for the topic.

SOURCE: Encyclopedia: The animal world.

Croak, croak, kerplop! What’s that at the water’s edge? It might be a green frog, a creature that’s well-suited for life at the pond’s edge. Green frogs like to live where the land meets the water. This keeps them safe from predators that live on the land. When a predator like a snake comes near, the green frog can quickly leap into the water and get away. Green frogs can eat animals from both places, including crayfish, spiders, fish, and even birds.

The repeated word in the above paragraph is a green frog.

Therefore, the topic for the above paragraph is green frogs,

Now let’s try to identify the main idea for the same paragraph.

In the following paragraph, the first sentence is not the main idea.

Croak, croak, kerplop! What’s that at the water’s edge? It might be a green frog, a creature that’s well-suited for life at the pond’s edge. Green frogs like to live where the land meets the water. This keeps them safe from predators that live on the land. When a predator like a snake comes near, the green frog can quickly leap into the water and get away. Green frogs can eat animals from both places, including crayfish, spiders, fish, and even birds.

What about the second sentence?

Note: Main ideas are not usually expressed as questions.

Croak, croak, kerplop! What’s that at the water’s edge? It might be a green frog, a creature that’s well-suited for life at the pond’s edge. Green frogs like to live where the land meets the water. This keeps them safe from predators that live on the land. When a predator like a snake comes near, the green frog can quickly leap into the water and get away. Green frogs can eat animals from both places, including crayfish, spiders, fish, and even birds.

What about the third sentence?

This sentence includes the topic.

Croak, croak, kerplop! What’s that at the water’s edge? It might be a green frog, a creature that’s well-suited for life at the pond’s edge. Green frogs like to live where the land meets the water. This keeps them safe from predators that live on the land. When a predator like a snake comes near, the green frog can quickly leap into the water and get away. Green frogs can eat animals from both places, including crayfish, spiders, fish, and even birds.

It also makes a main point about the topic.

To find the main idea, figure out the topic first. Then, look for a sentence that states a main point about the topic.

Start by finding the topic.

Then, read each sentence in the paragraph.

Find a sentence that states the topic and a main point about the topic.

The stated or explicit and implied main idea

In many cases, a paragraph states the main idea in the topic sentence.  This means the paragraph “says” what the main idea is.

Sometimes, a paragraph doesn’t have a stated main idea but has an “implied” main idea.  This means that you need to state the main idea in your own words because it doesn’t actually “say” it in the paragraph. 

Let’s have a look at one example of explicit and implicit main ideas:

Example1:

The students had fun and joy on their field trip. 

They visited the Marine Museum.  They were able

to tour a tugboat and they bought souvenirs

in the gift shop.  After the tours, they ate a

picnic lunch in the park and played with their friends.

The above paragraph is an explicit main idea:  The highlighted part of the paragraph is the main idea and is stated for the reader.

Example 2:

Source: Encyclopedia Britannica

The Native Americans used the trees to build their houses.  They hunted and trapped animals in the forest for food.  They found roots and berries that they could eat.  Some plants found in the forest were used for medicine.

In the above paragraph, the main idea isn’t stated directly. Therefore, it is an implicit main idea. However, by reading the paragraph, the reader can determine the main idea.

The main idea:  Native Americans used resources in the forest to survive.

Significance of finding the main idea

• It aids in remembering important information.
• It is the essence of comprehension. Readers need to understand what is important.
• Needed for summarizing and for taking notes.

Finding the main idea in non-fiction

First, identify the subject of the text. Try locating the subject in any of these places:

• The title
• A heading or subheading
• The first sentence of each paragraph
• Any keywords or repeated words or names
• The last sentence of each paragraph.

Second, decide what the author says about the subject. Look at the details and what they say about the subject. Decide what all these details add up to.

Third, use the main idea graphic organizer to help you sort the subject from the main idea. List specific details to determine the main idea.