Reading Strategy: Determine Importance

The main idea is the most important thought in a paragraph or selection. All the other ideas, or details, support this one main idea. Identifying the main idea helps you determine what information is important in a text.

Reading Strategy: Determine Importance
    How to Identify the Main Idea and Details

  • 1. Look for clues about what the selection is about, or its topic. Check the headings, repeated words, and any pictures or captions. Write your ideas on sticky notes next to each clue.

  • 2. Read for the main idea. There is usually a sentence or two at the beginning or the end of a paragraph that tells you an important idea about the topic. In your own words, write the main idea on a sticky note.

  • 3. Search for details that support the main idea.

Strategy in Action

Here’s how one student identified the main idea.

Look Into the Text

Your body has millions and millions of cells, but they’re not all the same. There are bone cells, blood cells, brain cells, and cells for every part of your body. Each kind of cell has a certain job to do.

The main idea is right here: The body has millions of different cells.

The word “cells” is repeated a lot. The topic has to be about cells.

“What other details can I find about the body’s cells?”

Practice Together

As you read “The Human Machine,” look for clues in each section that tell the main idea. Follow the steps in the How-To box. Put your sticky notes next to the text.