Chapter 2: Reading for the Main Idea and Author s Purpose
Topic + Controlling Idea= Main Idea Topic is like a title or who or what the passage is about (underline once). Controlling Idea is a descriptive word or phrase describing what is important about the topic to know in this passage (underline twice)
The implied main idea is one that is not clearly stated in any one sentence in a passage. It is only suggested or inferred by the major supporting details. The author does not state it directly. Think: What is the author trying to tell you about the topic? Turn the topic into a sentence that reflects the author s purpose, and that will be the implied main idea. Once you think you have formed the implied main idea in your own words, confirm your answer by using some of the following strategies: Does every major detail support it? Does your answer provide a general idea or summary for the details? Try to mark the major supporting details and notice what they have in common. If one of your major details talks about something else, you ll have to rethink the implied main idea so that it is supported by all of them.
Main Idea Major Supporting Detail Major Supporting Detail Minor Supporting Detail Minor Supporting Detail Minor Supporting Detail
The author s purpose explains why the author is writing and what he or she wished to accomplish
Four Main Modes of Discourse: 1. Narration: to tell a story 2. Description: uses sensory details, to show what something looks like, feels like, sounds like or smells like. Often an analogy is present. 3. Exposition: like a text book, to inform, explain, and usually contains facts and statistics. 4. Persuasion: to convince the reader to adopt the writer s point of view (may use words like campaign, crusade, should, ought to, must )
Narration is the most easily recognized mode of discourse, means simply to tell a story. In narration, the writer relates real events in chronological order; his or her purpose is not to entertain, but to provide evidence for some larger truth. Narration: refers to the way that a story is told, and so belongs to the level of discourse (although in first-person narration, it may be that the narrator also plays a role in the development of the story, itself). Usually, the narrator speaks from within the story and, so, uses "I" to refer to him- or herself ( first- person narration); in other words, the narrator is a character of some sort in the story itself, even if he is only a passive observer. However, sometimes the narrator speaks from outside the story and never employs the "I" (third-person narration).
Description shows what someone or something looks like or what something feels like. In description, the writer shows a visual picture of a particular scene. Descriptive writing typically relies on details that appeal to the five senses. Also, descriptive writing may also use figures of speech (imaginative comparisons such as metaphors and similes). Although a descriptive passage by itself does not have a sentence stating the main idea, there usually is a dominant impression, revealed little by little as the details accumulate.
Exposition or expository writing is the most common kind of reading that you will encounter. Expository readings are most like a text book. Exposition is essentially objective writing with a straightforward purpose: to inform, to explain, to make clear, to discuss, to set forth. Expository writing is usually factual, consistent with its purpose to provide information.
Persuasion and Argumentation are often used interchangeably though technically there is a difference. Argumentation technically refers to writing that is supported by logical evidence in defense of a specific issue. Persuasion is an attempt to change another person s feelings or opinions by using emotional or ethical appeals. A writer persuades when he or she wants to convince the reader that an idea or opinion is worth holding or to win the reader over to a certain viewpoint. Unlike, exposition, persuasion more typically deals with controversial issues. In addition, persuasive writing may use facts, but these facts are used to support an opinion.
Spears, D. (2009).Developing Critical Reading Skills, 8 th edition. San Francisco, CA.: Mc Graw-Hill Higher Education