Connect Across the Curriculum

Literary Analysis: Analyze Text Structure: Main Idea and Details
Academic Vocabulary

  • • support (su-port) verb

    When you support an idea, you give reasons or examples for it.

The text in an article usually is organized into sections. All of the sections provide details for the whole article. Together, they support the main idea of the article.

Practice Together

Read for the Main Idea The topic of the article “Water at Work” is the Columbia River. What is the writer mostly telling you about the river? She states the main idea directly.

The Columbia River runs through the states of Oregon and Washington. Millions of people depend on its water. How do they use it?

Make a Main-Idea Chart Copy this chart. Use it to show how the sections support the main idea of the article. Write the main idea in the top box. Find details in the first two sections that support the main idea. Write them in the boxes under the main idea.

Main-Idea Chart

Main-Idea Chart

Try It!

Complete the Chart Add more boxes, and complete your chart for the other sections. Compare your chart with a classmate’s. Did you find the same details?