1. In Concert: An Integrated Reading and Writing Approach by Kathleen T
In Concert: An Integrated Reading and Writing Approach by Kathleen T. McWhorter
Part Two:
Reading, Writing, and Organizing Paragraphs
Chapter 6:
Details, Transitions, and Implied Main Ideas
PowerPoint by Sarah Gilliam, Instructor of English
Mountain Empire Community College
Copyright 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

2. Chapter 6: Details, Transitions, and Implied Main Ideas
In this chapter, you will learn how to:
Goal 1
Understand details, transitions, and implied main ideas
Goal 2
Identify supporting details
Goal 3
Think critically about details
Goal 4
Use transitions to guide your reading
Goal 5
Find implied main ideas
Goal 6
Select and organize details to support your topic sentence
Goal 7
Use transitional words and phrases to connect details
Copyright 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

3. Goal 1: Understand Details, Transitions, and Implied Main Ideas
Important Terms to Remember:
Supporting Details
Transitions
Implied Main Ideas
Helpful Tips:
As a reader, examine how details support a topic sentence.
As a writer, select the appropriate details to support your topic sentence.
Supporting details are facts and/or ideas that explain the main idea of a paragraph expressed in the topic sentence.
Transitions are linking words and phrases that connect details and pull the paper together.
Implied main ideas are thoughts suggested, but not directly stated, in a topic sentence.
Don’t forget to think about how to apply these terms separately to reading and writing!
Copyright 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

4. Goal 2: Identify Supporting Details
Important Terms to Remember:
Supporting Details
Major Details
Minor Details
What are some types of details?
Supporting details are facts and examples that prove or explain the main idea of a paragraph.
Major details directly explain the main idea of a paragraph.
Minor details provide additional ideas and information that explain the major details.
The types of details can be placed into an idea map in the reading or writing process. For an example, see the paragraphs and figures 6-1 and 6-2 on pages 173–174.
Activities for Identifying Major/Minor Details: Exercises 6-1 & 6-2: pages 174–181
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5. Goal 2: Identify Supporting Details
Types of Details:
Facts
Examples
Reasons
Statistics
Descriptions
Steps
Procedures
Activities for Identifying Types of Details: Exercises 6-3 & 6-4 on pages 181–183
Additional Activity: As a peer review, have students highlight and identify the different types of details in their own paragraphs.
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6. Goal 3: Think Critically About Details
How do I think critically about details?
Consider:
Writers cannot list every possible detail
Writers must choose the most important details to include
Helpful Tips:
As a reader, consider if the writer could have chosen better details
As a writer, try to choose the details most relevant to your main idea
As a reader, examine the details the writer chose to include. Are they the best examples? What other examples might have been included? Did the writer make a strong case with the details? Did he or she influence you?
As a writer, review your wording carefully to make sure you fully explain your main point with the details you choose. Don’t choose words that are ambiguous. Make sure the details you use are those that best explain your main idea.
Copyright 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

7. Goal 4: Use Transitions to Guide Your Reading
Transitions are linking words or phrases that lead the reader from one idea to another idea.
Helpful Tips:
Recognizing and using transitions will help guide you through a paragraph, making it easier to read or to write.
Transitions also alert the reader to what will come in the next paragraph.
Remember that transitions are linking words or phrases that lead the reader from one idea to another idea.
Recognizing and using transitions will help guide you through a paragraph, making it easier to read or to write (see the paragraph example on page 185).
See Table 6-1 on page 185 for a list of the different types of transitional words/phrases and what they tell the reader.
Activities: Exercises 6-6 (Choosing Transitional Words) and 6-7 (Making Predictions) on pages 185–187.
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8. Goal 5: Find Implied Main Ideas
The implied main idea is unstated, and it is up to the reader to use details in the paragraph to figure out the main point. What are some strategies for identifying the implied main idea of a paragraph?
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9. Goal 5: Find Implied Main Ideas
Strategies for Identifying the Implied Main Idea:
Find the topic
Figure out what is the most important idea the writer wants you to know about the topic
Express the main idea in your own words
Use our previous lessons to locate the topic.
Look at all the details and try to decide what the larger idea being explained in the paragraph might be.
Using your own words, try to state the main idea in reasonable terms. Be sure it applies to all the details in the paragraph.
Activities: Exercises 6-8 (Locating Implied Meaning in Paragraphs) and 6-9 (Analyzing Paragraphs) on pages 189–191.
For reference, see the paragraph and visual examples on page 188.
Copyright 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

10. Goal 6: Select and Organize Details to Support Your Topic Sentence
Details should be relevant and sufficient:
Relevant details directly explain and support the topic sentence.
Sufficient details provide enough information to make your topic sentence understandable and convincing.
Relevant details directly explain and support the topic sentence. They help clarify and strengthen ideas. Irrelevant ideas make your points unclear.
Sufficient details provide enough information to make your topic sentence understandable and convincing. Your supporting details must thoroughly explain why you believe the topic sentence is true. Details should be specific, not summaries or unsupported opinions. Details explain who, why, where, when, what, and how. They do not make general statements.
Activity: Exercise 6-13 (Writing Supporting Details) on page 194.
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11. Goal 7: Use Transitional Words and Phrases to Connect Details
Transitional words allow readers to move easily from one detail to another, showing how the details relate. Helpful Tip: Think of transitions as words and phrases that guide the reader through the paragraph and signal what is to come in the next one.
See the sample paragraph and figure 6-2 on page 199 for examples of frequently used transitional words and phrases.
Copyright 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

12. Goal 7: Use Transitional Words and Phrases to Connect Details
Other Important Terms to Remember:
Time Sequence
Spatial Arrangement
Least/Most Arrangement
Specific Words
Time sequence: Arranging ideas in the order that they happen
Spatial arrangement: Arranging ideas according to their position in space
Least/most arrangement: Presenting ideas from least important to most important and vice versa
Specific words: Words that provide a great deal of information
Activity: Split the class into groups. Using the student essay, “The China Bug,” by Jim Sturm on page 200, assign each group 1-2 paragraphs. Require the groups to identify the transitional words and phrases within their respective paragraphs. The results can be used for class discussion or an online discussion post as a follow-up activity.
Copyright 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

13. Copyright 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Goal 1: Understand Details, Transitions, and Implied Main Ideas Review Questions
True or False: Transitions are words or phrases that connect details and pull a paragraph together.
True or False: The implied main idea is directly stated.
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Answer:
True
False: The implied main idea is suggested

14. Copyright 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Goal 1: Understand Details, Transitions, and Implied Main Ideas Review Questions
True or False: True: Transitions are words or phrases that connect details and pull a paragraph together.
True or False: False: The implied main idea is directly stated.
Copyright 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Answer:
True
False: The implied main idea is suggested

15. Goal 2: Identify Supporting Details Review Questions
Which of the following is NOT a type of detail?
Reasons
Photographs
Statistics
Examples
Copyright 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Answer: B—Photographs are a visual, not a detail.

16. Goal 2: Identify Supporting Details Review Questions
Which of the following is NOT a type of detail?
Reasons
Photographs
Statistics
Examples
Copyright 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Answer: B—Photographs are a visual, not a detail.

17. Goal 3: Think Critically About Details Review Questions
True or False: Writers should include every possible detail they can think of in their paragraphs.
True or False: Good readers consider details the author of the writing may have left out.
Copyright 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Answers:
False—they must pick the most relevant details that best explain the main idea.
True

18. Goal 3: Think Critically About Details Review Questions
True or False: False: Writers should include every possible detail they can think of in their paragraphs.
True or False: True: Good readers consider details the author of the writing may have left out.
Copyright 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Answers:
False—they must pick the most relevant details that best explain the main idea.
True

19. Goal 4: Use Transitions to Guide Your Reading Review Questions
Which of the following do transitions NOT do?
Lead the reader from one idea to another
Transition readers to the information in the next paragraph
Review information in all the previous paragraphs
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Answer: C

20. Goal 4: Use Transitions to Guide Your Reading Review Questions
Which of the following do transitions NOT do?
Lead the reader from one idea to another
Transition readers to the information in the next paragraph
Review information in all the previous paragraphs
Copyright 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Answer: C

21. Goal 5: Find Implied Main Ideas Review Questions
Which of the following is an effective strategy for identifying the implied main idea?
Choose the first sentence of the paragraph.
Look for transitions.
Identify the topic and try to determine the idea the author is trying to relay.
D. All of the above.
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Answer: C

22. Goal 5: Find Implied Main Ideas Review Questions
Which of the following is an effective strategy for identifying the implied main idea?
Choose the first sentence of the paragraph.
Look for transitions.
Identify the topic and try to determine the idea the author is trying to relay.
D. All of the above.
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Answer: C

23. Copyright 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Goal 6: Select and Organize Details to Support Your Topic Sentence Review Questions
True or False: Relevant details explain the transitions in the paragraph.
True or False: Sufficient details provide enough information to make the topic sentence understandable.
Copyright 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Answers:
False: Relevant details explain the topic sentence/main idea of a paragraph.
True

24. Copyright 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Goal 6: Select and Organize Details to Support Your Topic Sentence Review Questions
True or False: False: Relevant details explain the transitions in the paragraph.
True or False: True: Sufficient details provide enough information to make the topic sentence understandable.
Copyright 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Answers:
False: Relevant details explain the topic sentence/main idea of a paragraph.
True

25. Copyright 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Goal 7: Use Transitional Words and Phrases to Connect Details Review Questions
Which of the following is a method of transition?
Spatial arrangement
Time sequence
Least/most arrangement
All of the above
Copyright 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Answer: D

26. Copyright 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Goal 7: Use Transitional Words and Phrases to Connect Details Review Questions
Which of the following is a method of transition?
Spatial arrangement
Time sequence
Least/most arrangement
All of the above
Copyright 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Answer: D