Identifying the Central Idea of a Text

When reading, what is the first question you need to ask yourself?

• What is the text about?

• What am I doing?

• What does the author want me to know about the topic?

• What is the title of the text?

When reading, what is the second question you need to ask yourself?

• What does the author want me to know about the topic?

• What is this writing about?

• What is the title of the text?

• How long do I have to read?

This is what you look for when trying to determine the central/main idea.

• Clues, hints, and evidence.

• Patterns, repeated words, phrases, or related ideas.

• The bibliography

• The table of contents

These connect directly back to the central/main idea.

• Sentences

• Paragraphs

• Supporting Details

• Summaries

What is the central idea of this paragraph?

Habit 2, Begin with the End in Mind, means developing a clear picture of where you want to go with your life. It means deciding what your values are and setting goals. Habit 1 says you are the driver of your life, not the passenger. Habit 2 says, since you’re the driver, decide where you want to go and draw up a map to get there.

• You are the driver of your life, not the passenger.

• Since you are the driver, decide where you want to go and draw up a map to get there.

• Decide on your values and set goals.

What is the main idea of the following text?

The paths you choose today can shape you forever. It’s both frightening and exciting that we have to make so many vital decisions when we’re so young and full of hormones, but such is life. Imagine an eighty-foot rope stretched out before you. Each foot represents one year of your life. Teenagehood is only seven years, such a short span of rope, but those seven affect the remaining sixty-one, for good or bad, in such a powerful way.

• It is both frightening and exciting that you have to make so many vital decisions.

• Life is short like an eighty-foot rope.

• The paths you choose today can shape you forever.

This is the most common place to find the main idea in a text.

• The mddle of a text.

• The end of a text.

• The beginning of a text.

Find the central idea

Being a clown isn't all fun and games. Rodeo clowns expose themselves to great danger every time they perform. When cowboys dismount or are bucked off of bulls at riding competitions, rodeo clowns jump in front of the bulls and motion wildly to get their attention. In this way rodeo clowns provide an alternate target, and in doing so protect the rider. So you see, sometimes clowning around can be serious business

• Being a clown isn't all fun and games.

• Rodeo clowns protect cowboys by putting themselves in danger.

• Rodeos are exciting.

• Clowns are good at riding bulls.

Do you ever wonder how you taste things? You owe your sense of taste to your taste buds. We have 9,000 taste buds just on the tongue alone. There are also taste buds on the roof of your mouth. You even have taste buds on the back of your throat.

What does the author want you to learn about the passage?

• Why we can taste only sweet things.

• that we taste through our nose

• Taste buds are found in different places.

Most people think that gorillas are mean, but actually they are shy. It seems that such a huge animal with very large teeth would be aggressive. Hollywood movies help convey this image of the scary, ferocious gorilla. In fact, gorillas only attack if they are provoked.

This author belives that:

• Gorillas are misunderstood as vicious animals.

• Gorillas are mean animals

• Gorillas don't like other animals.