1. Main Idea and Supporting Details
– Building Perfect Paragraphs

2. Main Idea
The main idea of a text is what the text is mostly about; the topic; the most important idea or fact presented
In a text, the main idea is supported by several supporting details, which are facts that help to prove, support, or explain the text’s main idea

3. The Perfect Paragraph
When writing a paragraph, it is important to streamline your writing to feature only one main idea, supported by several strong details.
In a paragraph, the main idea is found in the topic sentence. The topic sentence is often (but not always) found at the beginning of the paragraph.
Supporting details in a paragraph should be factual, well-explained, and stick to the topic at hand.

4. Main Idea: Example
Smoking cigarettes has many harmful effects. Scientific research and various studies have been conducted to find out the ill effects of smoking on human health. It has been proved that smoking can be fatal and cause several deadly diseases, including lung, throat, and oral cancers, heart disease, emphysema, and asthma.

5. Main Idea: BAD example
Smoking has many harmful effects. Cigarettes used to be marketed to kids, but then the government banned that. Smoking is gross and can make your breath stink. If your breath stinks, you should chew some gum or eat a mint. Smoking can make you die.

6. Main Idea vs. Theme
A text’s main idea is not the same thing as its theme. A theme is an important message that the text teaches you; the main idea is simply what the text is telling you about.

7. Main Idea vs. Theme
Smoking cigarettes has many harmful effects. Scientific research and various studies have been conducted to find out the ill effects of smoking on human health. It has been proved that smoking can be fatal and cause several deadly diseases, including lung, throat, and oral cancers, heart disease, emphysema, and asthma.
Main Idea: Smoking has many harmful effects.
Theme: Smoking is bad for you, so you should not smoke.