Find the Topic

1
Find the Topic

• Topics are what reading
• passages are about.

2
What is a topic of focus?

• The topic is the something or the someone
  that an author writes about.
• It is simply who or what the author is writing
  about.
• The topic is always a word, a phrase, or a name.

Is the dog asking what the topic of life is?
3
How do you find the topic?

• Ask yourself, Who or what is the paragraph
  about?
• Use the title, headings, first sentence, and
  graphics to help you.
• Be exact about it.

Finding the topic is the key to the main idea.
4
What are the topic clues?

• 1. Look for a heading or title.
• 2. Look for words in special print, such as
  bold, italics, or coloror some combination, such
  as bold italics.
• 3. Look for repeated words in a paragraph.

What are the parrots talking about?
5
Can you find the topic?

• Most New Orleans residents say they still face
  serious problems in finding housing, arranging
  home repairs, obtaining medical care and getting
  such basic city services as garbage pickup. But
  six months after Hurricane Katrina, three of four
  of those now in the city say they're optimistic
  about its future.

What would you feel like if you lived there?
6
The topic is the good attitudes.

• Most New Orleans residents say they still face
  serious problems in finding housing, arranging
  home repairs, obtaining medical care and getting
  such basic city services as garbage pickup. But
  six months after Hurricane Katrina, three of four
  of those now in the city say they're optimistic
  about its future.

How would you feel if you lived there?
7
Can you find the topic?

• Republican governors are openly worrying that the
  Bush administration's latest stumbles from the
  natural disaster of Hurricane Katrina to those of
  its own making on prescription drugs and ports
  security are taking an election-year toll on
  the party back home.

How do you feel about the president?
8
Its Republican governors worries about Bush.

• Republican governors are openly worrying that the
  Bush administration's latest stumbles from the
  natural disaster of Hurricane Katrina to those of
  its own making on prescription drugs and ports
  security are taking an election-year toll on
  the party back home.

Should he be worried about the next election?
9
Can you find the topic?

• Suspected Maoist militants triggered an explosion
  near a truck jammed with passengers Tuesday in
  central India, killing at least 20 people and
  injuring 30, police said. The blast occurred near
  the town of Darphaguda in rural Chattisgarh
  state.

Where are we talking about?
10
Its about a terrorist explosion in India.

• Suspected Maoist militants triggered an explosion
  near a truck jammed with passengers Tuesday in
  central India, killing at least 20 people and
  injuring 30, police said. The blast occurred near
  the town of Darphaguda in rural Chattisgarh
  state.

Would you be worried if you were there?
11
Can you find the topic?

• Hispanics remain the USA's fastest-growing
  minority group, but most of their population
  increase comes from births here, not immigration.
• Debate over immigration policy moves the nation,
  as 60 of the 1.3 million new Hispanics in 2005
  are citizens because they were born here.
• Hispanic mothers here illegally give birth to
  one-third of babies born to Hispanics. Half of
  all babies born to Hispanic immigrant mothers are
  born to those here illegally.
• __1. Illegal immigration.
• __2. Documentation issues.
• __3. Hispanic population growth

How do you feel about the passage?
12
The topic is more Hispanics.

• Hispanics remain the USA's fastest-growing
  minority group, but most of their population
  increase comes from births here, not immigration.
• Debate over immigration policy moves the nation,
  as 60 of the 1.3 million new Hispanics in 2005
  are citizens because they were born here.
• Hispanic mothers here illegally give birth to
  one-third of babies born to Hispanics. Half of
  all babies born to Hispanic immigrant mothers are
  born to those here illegally.
• __1. Illegal immigration.
• __2. Documentation issues.
• X 3. Hispanic population growth

The passage is about Latino population increases.
13
Can you find the topic?

• Painkilling drugs like OxyContin, Vicodin and
  hydrocodone are becoming over-used.
• Legal drugs are sending more people to emergency
  rooms than cocaine. Many in drug-rehabilitation
  centers are treated for prescription-drug abuse.
• Last year, one in four or 500 thousand
  drug-related emergency room visits involves
  over-the-counter or prescription drugs. One in
  five or 380,000 visits involved cocaine.
• What is this passage about?
• __1. Illegal drug use.
• __2. Abuse of legal drugs.
• __3. Gang sales of drugs.
• __4. When doctors go bad.

Do you believe that even legal drugs are often
over-used?
14
The topic is legal drug abuse.

• Painkilling drugs like OxyContin, Vicodin and
  hydrocodone are becoming over-used.
• Legal drugs are sending more people to emergency
  rooms than cocaine. Many in drug-rehabilitation
  centers are treated for prescription-drug abuse.
• Last year, one in four or 500 thousand
  drug-related emergency room visits involves
  over-the-counter or prescription drugs. One in
  five or 380,000 visits involved cocaine.
• What is this passage about?
• __1. Illegal drug use.
• __2. Abuse of legal drugs.
• __3. Gang sales of drugs.
• __4. When doctors go bad.

Is it legal to misuse drugs?
15
Can you find the topic?

• Women looking for a long-term relationship like
  men who like children. They can tell which guys
  are interested in becoming fathers from their
  faces.
• Also, women can see in mens faces which have the
  most hormones and are very masculine. They are
  the kind of guys they would want for romance.
• Evidently, people speak about love at first sight
  for a reason. No one ever says love at first
  sentence. The men who liked kids had happier
  faces.
• What is this passage about?
• __1. Human sexuality.
• __2. Womens faces.
• __3. How women see men.
• __4. Romantic relationships.

Do you believe that even legal drugs are often
over-used?
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Its what women see in men.

• Women looking for a long-term relationship like
  men who like children. They can tell which guys
  are interested in becoming fathers from their
  faces.
• Also, women can see in mens faces which have the
  most hormones and are very masculine. They are
  the kind of guys they would want for romance.
• The men with stronger faces are considered more
  romantic, and the ones who like kids have rounder
  and happier faces.
• What is this passage about?
• __1. Human sexuality.
• __2. Womens faces.
• __3. How women see men.
• __4. Romantic relationships.

Do you believe that even legal drugs are often
over-used?
17
How do you find a topic?

• The topic is the something or the someone
  that an author writes about.
• You find it by asking yourself who or what the
  author is writing about.
• The topic is always a noun phrase repeated in the
  passage.

What topic is the dog slow to learn about?
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Can you use the academic vocabulary?

• Words to use final, conclusion, similar,
  definition, and area.
• The last exam is called the __ one.
• Are you __ to your parents or different?
• In what zone or __ do you like to work?
• How do you explain it? What is your __?
• In the end, the __ favored our team.

Look for these words on the next quiz.