How to Identify Main Idea and Details

• 1. As you read each section, look for clues about its main idea. Sometimes, the author states the idea directly. Sometimes, you must figure it out from the details.

• 2. Look for details that support the main idea. Record what you find.

• 3. Look at your notes. Do the details support the most important idea, or the main idea, of this section?

• 4. After reading, review all the main ideas that you recorded. Summarize them into one main idea statement about the text.

What would it be like if our government had no president or any one leader? What if the government could not collect taxes to pay its bills? What if each state had its own kind of money? You would have to change your Pennsylvania money into Virginia money as you traveled south. What if a criminal only had to slip out of state to escape justice? That is what the United States was like before the Constitution was written.

“The main idea was not stated directly. I used details to identify it.”

“Every detail seems to lead up to the last sentence.”