BrainPOP: Main Idea

If you read an essay explaining why eating healthy foods is good for you, what would the topic be?

Healthy foods

In what section of a newspaper would you find articles with topics and main ideas?

In virtually every section of the paper

What supporting detail might you find in the same article?

That people who eat healthy foods live longer

In an essay, details serve a similar function to:

The evidence an attorney uses to convict a criminal

If you wanted to find the main idea in a piece of writing, where would you look?

There's no one place where the main idea is always found

What inference can you make about main ideas in writing?

To be effective, they must be supported by facts

In the same article about healthy foods, what would the main idea be?

Eating healthy foods is good for you

Which term best describes the main idea of a piece of writing?

A central point

If you can't figure out the main idea of a passage, what should you do?

Ask yourself general questions about the passage

In the phrase, "The main idea is buttressed by supporting details," what is the best synonym for "buttressed?"

Backed