MEPX
Chapter 3 of 10All chapters
  1. 1Three levels of reading
  2. 2Structure
  3. 3Main idea and detail
  4. 4Inference
  5. 5Tone and stance
  6. 6Evidence and argument
  7. 7Words in context
  8. 8Reading efficiently
  9. 9Difficult texts
  10. 10Reading outside tests

Chapter 3 of 10

Main idea and detail

Separating the claim from the support.

Finding it

Ask what the whole passage is trying to persuade you of. A detail supports; the main idea is what the details are for. Summarising in one sentence tests whether you have it.

  • The topic is a noun phrase; the main idea is a full claim.
  • A main idea is rarely the most interesting sentence.

Summarising

Writing a one-line summary of each paragraph produces a map of the argument and exposes any paragraph that does not contribute.