distinguish between specific and general words and sentence

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1Main Ideas and Supporting Details 3 Areas

• Distinguish between specific and general words
  and sentences.
• Distinguish between topic and main idea
• Distinguish between main idea and supporting
  detail

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2

• General ideas broad ideas that apply to a large
  number of individual items
• Clothing
• Pies
• Specific ideas or terms more detailed or
  particular referring to an individual item
• Scarf
• Apple, cherry, chocolate cream

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3Which are general?

• Soda, coffee, beverage, wine
• Pounds, ounces, kilograms, weights

• Soap operas, news, TV programs, sports special
• Sociology, social sciences, anthropology,
  psychology

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4Check It Out

• See if you can identify the general word in
  each group.
• a) jealousy hatred emotion worry
• b) spiders cockroaches mosquitoes insects
• c) chemistry science physics biology

• Answers and Explanations
• a) The general idea is "emotions" because
  it includes all of the others as examples.
• b) The general idea is "insects" because
  it includes all of the others as examples.
• c) The general idea is "science" because
  it includes all of the others as examples.

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5What is the general and what the specific?

• Suppose you had to learn the following concepts
  for an economics class
• Which are the general categories and which are
  the specific items that belong to a category
  tools, labor, trees, wildlife, human resources,
  minerals, machinery, capital resources,
  factories, tractors, water, power plants,
  manpower, natural resource, typewriters

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6Complex Categories
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7Topic vs. Main Idea

• Recycling is expensive in the short term, but
  yields long-term savings.
• All mammals are the same in certain ways.
• Its no fun when someone makes fun of your name.

• Recycling
• Mammals
• Names

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8What is the topic of the following paragraph?

• Nutrition is the process of taking in and using
  food for growth, repair, and maintenance of the
  body. The science of nutrition is the study of
  foods and how the body uses them. Many North
  Americans define nutrition as eating a healthful
  diet. But what is healthful? Our food choices
  may be influenced by fads, advertising, or
  convenience. We may reflect on the meaning of
  nutrition while pushing a cart down a supermarket
  aisle, or while making a selection from a
  restaurant menu.

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9The main idea is the most general statement
about the topic

• People differ in numerous ways. They differ
  according to physical characteristics, such as
  height, weight, and hair color. They also differ
  in personality. Some people are friendly and
  easygoing. Others are more reserved and formal.

The topic what about them?
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10Finding the Main Idea in a Nutshell

• Locate the Topic--person, place, object, idea
• Locate the Most General Sentence--the topic
  sentence
• Topic Sentence First (usually)
• Topic Sentence Last (position of a traditional
  thesis statement second in frequency)
• Study the Detailsall the sentences in a
  paragraph must relate/support/explain the main
  idea.