Main Idea in Nonfiction Pieces

Lesson Plan - Get It!

Audio:

Look at this painting by Charles Landseer and describe it in two sentences.

• Who is in the picture?
• What is going on?
• Where and when was it?
• Why was the picture painted?

• It's kind of hard, huh?

With only a few sentences, you have to come up with precisely the main idea.

When you are asked about the main idea of an article or essay, it is important to do the same thing: use precise words.

Any piece of writing includes a main idea and supporting details. The difference is that the main idea can be summarized in a sentence or two. The details tell a bit more about the main idea of the writing; usually 3-5 details tell about the main idea.

Learn more as you watch the video below about the main idea.

One clue to identifying the main idea of a non-fiction passage is to look within the first paragraph (the introduction) or look within the last paragraph (the conclusion).

Additional clues to finding the main ideas include:

• looking for words used frequently throughout the passage
• viewing the important vocabulary in the passage
• analyzing the title of the passage

Explore strategies to find the main idea of a paragraph as you watch this next video.

Continue on to the Got It? section to dig for the main ideas of some non-fiction articles.