1. Strategies to identify the Main Idea

2. Step One: Read the entire text. Step Two: Read each paragraph and find the main idea of the single paragraph. Step Three: Find what all the paragraphs have in common. Step Four: Choose that as the main idea. Main Idea Strategy #1: Summarize Paragraphs

3. Step One: Read through the entire text Step Two: Read through again and highlight or underline key words Step Three: Find out what the key words have in common and decide if that is the main idea. Main Idea Strategy #2: Key Words

4. Step One: Read through the entire text Step Two: Read through the first sentence of each paragraph (the topic sentence) Step Three: Decide if those sentences help figure out the main idea. Step Four: Find what the topic sentences have in common and decide what the main idea is. Main Idea Strategy #3: Topic Sentences

5. Main Idea Strategy #4: Expand on the Topic Step One: Read the entire text Step Two: Find the Topic Step Three: Decide what the topic is doing or what we need to know about the topic. Step Four: Use step two and three to find the main idea. Topic Main Idea Details