Finding the Main Idea (BPP)

Finding the Main Idea

BPP Free Breakfast Program

What is the Main Idea?

The main idea is what a text is mostly about. It's the most important idea about the topic OR the #1 thing the author wants you to remember.

How do you find the main idea?

When you're in elementary school, sometimes the article you read have the main idea directly stated IN the text. However, middle and high school are a different story. You have to INFER the main idea - figure it out on your own.

Finding the main idea

• Determine the important information

• Paraphrase the information (put it in your own words)

• Write a statement as if you were trying to summarize the most important information in just one sentence.

Let's Practice

Read the first paragraph:

In 1969, a group of children sat down to a free breakfast before school. On the menu: chocolate milk, eggs, meat, cereal and fresh oranges. The scene wouldn’t be out of place in a school cafeteria these days—but the federal government wasn’t providing the food. Instead, breakfast was served thanks to the Black Panther Party.

Multiple Choice

Which information from the previous paragraph would be important to include in a main idea statement?

• In 1969, the BPP provided free breakfasts to school children.

• For breakfast, the BPP served chocolate milk, eggs, meat, cereal, and fresh oranges.

Important Information

• More general; less specific

• Relates to the article's purpose

Let's Practice

Read the first paragraph:

In 1969, a group of children sat down to a free breakfast before school. On the menu: chocolate milk, eggs, meat, cereal and fresh oranges. The scene wouldn’t be out of place in a school cafeteria these days—but the federal government wasn’t providing the food. Instead, breakfast was served thanks to the Black Panther Party.

What would be a good main idea statement for this paragraph?

Multiple Choice

Which of the following is the BEST Main Idea statement for paragraph 1?

• In 1969, children might have gotten a free breakfast from the BPP instead of the federal gov.

• The BPP provided a free breakfast.

• In 1969, the BPP provided a free breakfast for school children with food like chocolate milk, eggs, meat, cereal, and fresh oranges.

• The federal government wasn’t providing the food

Test Writer Tricks!

When you are taking a multiple-choice test, and a question asks you to identify the main idea of a certain paragraph, the test will try to trick you by making at least one of the answers a sentence from the paragraph.

Remember, the main idea is usually something you have to infer - it's not directly stated in a text.