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Interactive Skills
for Students
How to Find
Main Ideas and Details
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How to Find Main Ideas and Details
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Why Learn This Skill?
 Effective writers use main ideas and supporting details in their work.
 Using main ideas and details will help you organize your writing.
 Recognizing main ideas and details as you read will help you identify important points and the details that support those points.

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How to Find Main Ideas and Details
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Learn It!
 Main ideas are the most important ideas in a chapter, lesson, or paragraph.
 Facts and examples that explain the main idea are the supporting details.

4. Apply It! Read the text. Look for main ideas and details
How to Find Main Ideas and Details
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Apply It!
What Are the United States?
Fifty states make up the United States. A state is a political unit within a nation. States have borders and their own governments. State governments, however, also have ties to the national government.
The states vary in size and shape. Alaska is huge, while Rhode Island is small. Kansas is surrounded by land; Hawaii is surrounded by water. Florida is a peninsula. A peninsula is land that is almost completely surrounded by water but is still connected to the mainland.
The United States also includes a special area called the District of Columbia, or Washington, D.C. It is the capital of the nation and is located between Maryland and Virginia. A capital is a seat of government. Each state also has a capital. Offices of the federal government are located in Washington, D.C.
Read the text. Look for main ideas and details

5. This is the main idea of this paragraph.
How to Find Main Ideas and Details
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Apply It!
What Are the United States?
Fifty states make up the United States. A state is a political unit within a nation. States have borders and their own governments. State governments, however, also have ties to the national government.
The states vary in size and shape. Alaska is huge, while Rhode Island is small. Kansas is surrounded by land; Hawaii is surrounded by water. Florida is a peninsula. A peninsula is land that is almost completely surrounded by water but is still connected to the mainland.
The United States also includes a special area called the District of Columbia, or Washington, D.C. It is the capital of the nation and is located between Maryland and Virginia. A capital is a seat of government. Each state also has a capital. Offices of the federal government are located in Washington, D.C.
This is the main idea of this paragraph.

6. How to Find Main Ideas and Details
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Apply It!
What Are the United States?
Fifty states make up the United States. A state is a political unit within a nation. States have borders and their own governments. State governments, however, also have ties to the national government.
The states vary in size and shape. Alaska is huge, while Rhode Island is small. Kansas is surrounded by land; Hawaii is surrounded by water. Florida is a peninsula. A peninsula is land that is almost completely surrounded by water but is still connected to the mainland.
The United States also includes a special area called the District of Columbia, or Washington, D.C. It is the capital of the nation and is located between Maryland and Virginia. A capital is a seat of government. Each state also has a capital. Offices of the federal government are located in Washington, D.C.
Main Idea
This sentence supports the main idea because it describes a detail about what a state is.

7. How to Find Main Ideas and Details
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Apply It!
What Are the United States?
Fifty states make up the United States. A state is a political unit within a nation. States have borders and their own governments. State governments, however, also have ties to the national government.
The states vary in size and shape. Alaska is huge, while Rhode Island is small. Kansas is surrounded by land; Hawaii is surrounded by water. Florida is a peninsula. A peninsula is land that is almost completely surrounded by water but is still connected to the mainland.
The United States also includes a special area called the District of Columbia, or Washington, D.C. It is the capital of the nation and is located between Maryland and Virginia. A capital is a seat of government. Each state also has a capital. Offices of the federal government are located in Washington, D.C.
Main Idea
Supporting Detail

8. How to Find Main Ideas and Details
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Apply It!
What Are the United States?
Fifty states make up the United States. A state is a political unit within a nation. States have borders and their own governments. State governments, however, also have ties to the national government.
The states vary in size and shape. Alaska is huge, while Rhode Island is small. Kansas is surrounded by land; Hawaii is surrounded by water. Florida is a peninsula. A peninsula is land that is almost completely surrounded by water but is still connected to the mainland.
The United States also includes a special area called the District of Columbia, or Washington, D.C. It is the capital of the nation and is located between Maryland and Virginia. A capital is a seat of government. Each state also has a capital. Offices of the federal government are located in Washington, D.C.
Main Idea
Supporting Detail

9. Additional Supporting Details
How to Find Main Ideas and Details
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Apply It!
What Are the United States?
Fifty states make up the United States. A state is a political unit within a nation. States have borders and their own governments. State governments, however, also have ties to the national government.
The states vary in size and shape. Alaska is huge, while Rhode Island is small. Kansas is surrounded by land; Hawaii is surrounded by water. Florida is a peninsula. A peninsula is land that is almost completely surrounded by water but is still connected to the mainland.
The United States also includes a special area called the District of Columbia, or Washington, D.C. It is the capital of the nation and is located between Maryland and Virginia. A capital is a seat of government. Each state also has a capital. Offices for the federal government are located in Washington, D.C.
Sometimes, supporting details have additional details that support themselves rather than the main idea.
Main Idea
Supporting Details
Additional Supporting Details

10. Additional Supporting Details
How to Find Main Ideas and Details
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Apply It!
What Are the United States?
Fifty states make up the United States. A state is a political unit within a nation. States have borders and their own governments. State governments, however, have ties to the national government.
The states vary in size and shape. Alaska is huge, while Rhode Island is small. Kansas is surrounded by land; Hawaii is surrounded by water. Florida is a peninsula. A peninsula is land that is almost completely surrounded by water but is still connected to the mainland.
The United States also includes a special area called the District of Columbia, or Washington, D.C. It is the capital of the nation and is located between Maryland and Virginia.. A capital is a seat of government. Each state also has a capital. Offices of the federal government are located in Washington, D.C
Sometimes, supporting details have additional details that support themselves rather than the main idea.
Main Idea
Supporting Detail
Additional Supporting Details
Supporting Detail

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How to Find Main Ideas and Details
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Apply It!
In analyzing the paragraphs, we have been finding main ideas and details. The next step is to summarize what we found.
Start with the
main idea.

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How to Find Main Ideas and Details
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Apply It!
In analyzing the paragraphs, we have been finding main ideas and details. The next step is to summarize what we found.
Add the supporting details. When you read it this way, you can see that each detail adds information to the main idea or explains something about it.

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How to Find Main Ideas and Details
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Apply It!
In analyzing the paragraphs, we have been finding main ideas and details. The next step is to summarize what we found.
Add the supporting details. When you read it this way, you can see that each detail adds information to the main idea or explains something about it.

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How to Find Main Ideas and Details
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Apply It!
In analyzing the paragraphs, we have been finding main ideas and details. The next step is to summarize what we found.
Add the supporting details. When you read it this way, you can see that each detail adds information to the main idea or explains something about it.

15. We could illustrate the second paragraph this way.
How to Find Main Ideas and Details
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Apply It!
In analyzing the paragraphs, we have been finding main ideas and details. The next step is to summarize what we found.
We could illustrate the second paragraph this way.

16. We could illustrate the second paragraph this way.
How to Find Main Ideas and Details
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Apply It!
In analyzing the paragraphs, we have been finding main ideas and details. The next step is to summarize what we found.
We could illustrate the second paragraph this way.

17. We could illustrate the second paragraph this way.
How to Find Main Ideas and Details
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Apply It!
In analyzing the paragraphs, we have been finding main ideas and details. The next step is to summarize what we found.
We could illustrate the second paragraph this way.

18. a specific state. Therefore, it does not directly support the
How to Find Main Ideas and Details
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Apply It!
In analyzing the paragraphs, we have been finding main ideas and details. The next step is to summarize what we found.
The last sentence of the paragraph explains what a peninsula is. It is not describing
a specific state. Therefore, it
does not directly support the
main idea.

19. If we were to illustrate
How to Find Main Ideas and Details
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Apply It!
If we were to illustrate
the third paragraph, it would look something like this.

20. If we were to illustrate
How to Find Main Ideas and Details
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Apply It!
If we were to illustrate
the third paragraph, it would look something like this.

21. If we were to illustrate
How to Find Main Ideas and Details
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Apply It!
If we were to illustrate
the third paragraph, it would look something like this.

22. If we were to illustrate
How to Find Main Ideas and Details
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Apply It!
If we were to illustrate
the third paragraph, it would look something like this.

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How to Find Main Ideas and Details
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Apply It!
The final step in finding main ideas and details is to draw conclusions from what you read.
Summary:
I will find main ideas by reading a paragraph or section to discover the most important ideas.
After I find the main ideas, I can identify supporting details.
Supporting details explain the main idea or provide more information about it.
Not all sentences directly support a main idea. Sometimes they include information about a supporting detail.

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How to Find Main Ideas and Details
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Remember
 Learning how to find main ideas and details will help you understand what you are reading.
 As you develop this skill, you will be better able to analyze what you read. This skill will also help you become a more effective writer.