1. Topic and Stated Main Idea
Ellen Hernandez
Camden County College
From Opening Doors,
Joe Cortina and Janet Elder

2. Finding the Topic Topic – what a passage is about
(a word or phrase; not a complete sentence)
Title or heading
Bold or other special print
Repeated words
Word or phrase referred to repeatedly with substitutes
Comprehension Monitoring Question: Who or what is this paragraph about?

3. Example 1
Doing Business and Learning about a Culture through Its Language The best way to prepare yourself to do business with people from another culture is to learn something about their culture in advance by studying their language. If you plan to live in another country or do business there repeatedly, for example, make an attempt to learn the language of that country. The same holds true if you must work closely with a subculture that has its own language, such as Vietnamese-Americans or Hispanic-Americans. When traveling abroad you may end up doing business with foreigners in your own language, but you will show respect by having made the effort to learn their language. In addition, you will learn something about the culture and its customs in the process. If you do not have the time or opportunity to actually learn a new language, at least learn a few words and phrases.

4. Example 2
Depending on the nature and severity of the punishment, crimes are considered to be felonies, misdemeanors, or violations. Felonies are serious crimes that are subject to punishments of a year or more in prison to capital punishment. Misdemeanors are less serious than felonies and are subject to a maximum sentence of one year in jail or a fine. Violations are infractions of the law for which normally only a fine can be imposed. Fines can also be imposed for felonies and misdemeanors.

5. Example 3
Claustrophobia. Acrophobia. Xenophobia. Although these sound like characters in a Greek tragedy, they are actually members of a class of psychological disorders known as phobias. Phobias are intense, irrational fears of specific objects or situations. For example, claustrophobia is a fear of enclosed places, acrophobia a fear of high places, and xenophobia a fear of strangers. Although the objective danger posed by an anxiety-producing stimuli is typically small or nonexistent, to the individual suffering from the phobia it represents great danger, and a full-blown panic-attack may follow exposure to the stimulus.
phobias

6. Example 4
Before the age of 30, Isaac Newton had invented the mathematical methods of calculus, demonstrated that white light contained all the colors of the rainbow and discovered the law of gravitation. Interestingly, this mathematical genius led a lonely and solitary life. His father died before he was born, and after his mother remarried, he was raised by an aged grandmother. In 1661, he was admitted to Cambridge University, where he worked for the next eight years, except for one year at home to escape the plague. During those years, he…
Isaac Newton

7. Locating the Stated Main Idea
Stated Main Idea – Sentence that states the author’s point about a topic
[Contains topic, is general, and is a complete sentence]
Formula = The topic + Author’s most important point about the topic = main idea
Location:
First sentence
Last Sentence
Sentence in the Middle
Comprehension Monitoring Question: What is the single most important point the author wants me to understand about the topic of this paragraph?

8. Beginning a new job is always exciting and sometimes invigorating.
Example 1
Beginning a new job is always exciting and sometimes intimidating. There is an invigorating feeling of a fresh start and a clean slate. You face new challenges and draw on a renewed sense of energy as you approach them. But you may also feel apprehensive about this new adventure. Will it actually turn out as well as you hope? You are entering a strange environment, and you must learn to work with new associates. If you were laid off or fired from your last job, you may feel particularly sensitive…
Beginning a new job is always exciting and sometimes invigorating.

9. Example 2
It is tempting to evaluate the practices of other cultures on the basis of our own perspectives. For example, Westerners who think cattle are to be used for food might look down on India’s Hindu religion and culture, which views the cow as sacred. Or people in one culture may dismiss as unthinkable the mate-selection or child-rearing practices of another culture. Sociologist William Graham Sumner (1906) coined the term ethnocentrism to refer to the tendency to assume that one’s culture and way of life represent the norm or are superior to all others.
Ethnocentrism is the tendency to assume that one’s culture and way of life represent the norm or are superior to all others.

10. Example 3
In addition to television interviews and debates, presidential campaigns include political advertising in the form of televised commercials. Television commercials are by far the most expensive part of presidential campaigns. Since 1976, political commercials on television have accounted for about half the candidates’ expenditures in the general election campaign…
Television commercials are by far the most expensive part of presidential campaigns.

11. Review: Finding the Topic
What is the topic of a paragraph?
- a word, name, or phrase that tells who or what the author is writing about
What is another name for the topic?
- subject or subject matter
To determine the topic, what question should you ask yourself?
- who or what is this paragraph about?
What clues help you determine the topic?
- heading or title
- bold or special print
- repeated or referred to throughout paragraph

12. Review: Locating the Stated Main Idea
What is a stated main idea sentence?
- the sentence that tells the author’s most important point about the topic
What is another name for the main idea?
- the topic sentence (or thesis statement, for a longer passage)
What is the formula for a main idea sentence?
- the topic + most important point = main idea sentence
In what three places in a paragraph may the stated main idea sentence appear?
- first sentence, last sentence, or within the paragraph
What characteristics help you identify the stated main idea?
- contains the topic and single most important point
- is a statement (not a question) and a complete sentence
- is general enough to cover all information in the passage
- all other sentences explain or tell more about it