Reading for the Main Idea and Author

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Chapter 2

• Reading for the Main Idea and Authors Purpose

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Objectives

• This chapter will help you improve your
  comprehension by showing you how to identify the
• Main idea in paragraphs
• Placement of the main idea
• Implied main ideas
• Levels of supportmajor and minor supporting
  details
• Authors purpose and modes of discourse

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Main Idea in Paragraphs

• Why the paragraph?
• Reading entails the paragraphs in many sizes
• Nonfiction
• The paragraph is the fundamental unit of written
  thought
• Reading for pleasure
• ditto

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Main Idea and Controlling Idea

• Is the first sentence of a paragraph always the
  topic sentence?
• No, this is very misleading
• To assume that the first sentence is the main
  point may result in inaccurate comprehension

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Main Idea and Controlling Idea

• The main idea
• Consists of two parts
• Topic
• General subject
• Controlling idea
• A descriptive word or phrase
• It limits, qualifies, or narrows the topic to
  make the larger subject manageable

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Main Idea and Controlling Idea

• Topic Controlling Idea Main Idea
• Learning is a lifelong endeavor.
• A lifelong endeavor is learning.
• The topic and controlling idea do not change.
• A well-constructed paragraph is restricted on
  which details are used.

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Main Idea and Controlling Idea

• Go to pp. 46-47 and do Practice Exercise 1

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Main Idea and Controlling Idea

• Practice Exercise 1 answers
• With the help of the topic being underlined
  once, it is much easier to identify the
  controlling idea, isnt it?
• for a host of reasons
• a narcotic that offers
• There has always beenapparent
• a land of paradoxes
• the color of the dust
• Such a simple inventiondiscovery
• nocturnal and poisonous and alien
• Symbolizes to mecity
• How did you do?

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Placement of the Main Idea

• Thank goodness for textbooks! They are easy to
  use when spotting the main idea. Why?
• Visual aids gt graphic elements
• As a college reader, you must learn to cope with
  diverse writing styles and techniques, requiring
  you to rewrite some of the rules you may have
  been taught in the past.

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Placement of the Main Idea

• The chain of ideas
• Use the strategy of paraphrasing in order to find
  the main idea.
• Create your own title for the passage.
• What is the main idea of the passage on the
  Ohlones from p. 49-50?
• What did you write?

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Placement of the Main Idea

• You could have written
• Although the Ohlone Indians were Stone-Age
  people with only primitive tools at their
  disposal, they treated deer hunting with
  reverence.

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Implied Main Ideas

• When a writer suggests the main idea by providing
  various details, the main idea is implied, or not
  explicitly stated.
• Now, do Practice Exercise 2, found on pp. 51-52.

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Implied Main Ideas

• Practice Exercise 2, pp. 51-52 answers
• A. a
• B. b
• C. d
• D. (suggested answer) Salt deities, usually
  female, are found in many Native American
  cultures.
• E. (suggested answer) Keeping several hundred
  animals fed and healthy in a zoo requires
  knowledge, flexibility, and patience.

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Levels of SupportMajor and Minor Supporting
Details

• Can you recognize and separate major and minor
  details? It is an important thinking skill.
• Major statements directly relate to and develop
  the main idea.
• Minor statements further explain, illustrate, or
  otherwise develop the major statements.

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Levels of SupportMajor and Minor Supporting
Details

• Main Idea
• Major Support
• Minor Support
• Major Support
• Minor Support
• Major Support
• Minor Support

This diagram can be recreated into a graphic
organizer. For you, what would you create
graphically?
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The Authors Purpose and Modes of Disclosure

• The mode of discourse refers to the kind of
  writing which is done in nonfiction prose.
• How might you identify discourse?
• Ask yourself Why is the writer writing and what
  does he want to accomplish?

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The Authors Purpose and Modes of Disclosure

• The mode of discourse refers to the kind of
  writing which is done in nonfiction prose.

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The Authors Purpose and Modes of Disclosure

• There are four modes
• Narration gt to personally or indirectly tell
• Description gt how something looks or feels
• The writer shows a visual picture of a particular
  scene, not a generalized one based on a composite
  of many such scenes
• Figures of speech may also be used
• There usually is not a sentence stating the main
  idea but a dominant impression

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The Authors Purpose and Modes of Disclosure

• Exposition gt to inform, explain
• The most common kind of reading you will
  encounter in your college courses
• Objective writing with a straightforward purpose
  to inform, to explain, to make clear, to discuss,
  to set forth.
• It is usually factual, consistent with the
  purpose of informing
• Subject matter is presented without trying to
  influence our opinions or emotions or to
  criticize or argue

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The Authors Purpose and Modes of Disclosure

• Persuasion gtlt argumentation
• Argumentation refers to writing that is supported
  by logical evidence in defense of a specific
  issue
• Based on emotion or opinion
• Persuasion is an attempt to change another
  persons feelings or opinions by using emotional
  or ethical appeals.
• Controversy
• May use facts to prove a point

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The Authors Purpose and Modes of Disclosure

• Now, do Practice Exercise 4, found on pp. 63-66.
• Identify the mode of discourse
• Give the main idea or dominant expression of each
  passage

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The Authors Purpose and Modes of Disclosure

• Practice Exercise 4, pp. 63-66 answers.
• Exposition
• The fossil record tells the history of life and
  provides evidence of how life forms evolved from
  simple to complex forms.
• Persuasion
• To preserve biodiversity and to prevent a future
  catastrophic die-off, we need to decide how best
  to stop the accelerating trend of species become
  extinct.

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The Authors Purpose and Modes of Disclosure

• Practice Exercise 4, pp. 63-66 answers.
• Description
• Despite evidence of destruction as a result of
  war, the country road, fields, and mountains the
  writer observed were still beautiful.
• Description and exposition
• The plants and wildlife in this desert are
  poisonous and otherwise harmful to those who come
  in contact with them.

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The Authors Purpose and Modes of Disclosure

• Practice Exercise 4, pp. 63-66 answers.
• Exposition and persuasion
• The relationship between blue jeans and youthful
  rebellion against the older generation has been
  strongly evident for the last 50 years.

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Assignments

• Now, reread how to do Assignments and follow
  directions for Ch. 2.
• Submit through the Assignment dropbox as
  directed. Remember to head your .doc with your
  name as shown in the Assignment directions.