Whats a Main Idea

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Whats a Main Idea?

• Understanding Paragraph Structure

Authored and designed by Barbara Belroy 2003
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There are times when your instructor will have
you read a paragraph and then ask you the
all-important question Whats the main idea?
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The first thing you should know is that in order
to be called a paragraph, a paragraph needs to be
about one topic
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To find the topic ask yourself,In general, who
or what is this paragraph about?  
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Read the following paragraph Pets are often a
n important part of peoples lives. Different
types of animals can be pets, ranging from
reptiles to horses. One of the most common pets
is a dog. Dogs serve a variety of purposes for
humankind. One way dogs serve humans is they are
great just for companionship. Many an only child
has bonded with his/her Fido, thus having a
willing and loyal friend to play with on a daily
basis. Additionally, dogs have served humans as
work animals, corralling sheep, conquering rats,
and guarding the homestead. Finally, dogs are
also used to serve the handicapped, for example,
by leading the blind, alerting the hearing
impaired, and alerting epileptics of impending
seizures.
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Now that youve read the preceding paragraph, ask
yourself the following question. See if you can
answer it in one word. (If you need to review
the paragraph, click on the back arrow.)
What is this paragraph about?
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Your answer should have been dogs
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If you were correcthooray! If not, bear with
me, and Ill explain. Lets look at the
paragraph again
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Pets are often an important part of peoples
lives. Different types of animals can be pets,
ranging from reptiles to horses. One of the most
common pets is a dog. Dogs serve a variety of
purposes for humankind. One way dogs serve
humans is they are great just for companionship.
Many an only child has bonded with his/her
Fido, thus having a willing and loyal friend to
play with on a daily basis. Additionally, dogs
have served humans as work animals, corralling
sheep, conquering rats, and guarding the
homestead. Finally, dogs are also used to serve
the handicapped, for example, by leading the
blind, alerting the hearing impaired, and
alerting epileptics of impending seizures.
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Lets examine each sentence and see whats going
on Pets are often an important part of peopl
es lives. Now ask yourself Is this what that w
hole paragraph is about? Is the writer telling
me that pets are important?
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The answer is NO. So this cannot be the main
idea. Lets look at the next sentence.
Different types of animals can be pets, ranging
from reptiles to horses. Is the whole paragra
ph trying to tell us about pets ranging from
reptiles to horses?
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NO. Look at the next sentence. One of the mo
st common pets is a dog. Is the whole paragrap
h about how common dogs are?
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No.Lets look at the next sentence.
Dogs serve a variety of purposes for
humankind. Does the paragraph tell us about th
e different purposes dogs serve for humankind?
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YES!Because the whole paragraph is telling us
about the variety of purposes dog serve for
humankind, thats the main idea!Now examine the
rest of the paragraph One way dogs serv
e humans is they are great just for
companionship. Many an only child has bonded
with his/her Fido, thus having a willing and
loyal friend to play with on a daily basis.
Additionally, dogs have served humans as work
animals, corralling sheep, conquering rats, and
guarding the homestead. Finally, dogs are also
used to serve the handicapped, for example, by
leading the blind, alerting the hearing impaired,
and alerting epileptics of impending seizures.
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You probably noticed that the rest of the
paragraph gave us specific information about the
variety of purposes dogs serve for humankind.
Those sentences are called supporting details
because the support (or prove) the main idea.
Now lets analyze this paragraphin other words,
lets look at how this paragraph is organized.
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Main Idea Dogs serve a variety of purposes for
humankind. 1. One way dogs serve humans is
they are great just for companionship.2.
Additionally, dogs have served humans as work
animals, 3. Dogs are also used to serve the
handicapped,
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You probably noticed that the main idea is
supported by three (3) points. Click on the back
button to take another look.

Those three points are called major supporting
details because they are the major details that
support or prove the main idea.
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Lets look at this organization another way
Main Idea
Dogs serve a variety of purposes for humankind
Major Support. Detail 2
Major Support.Detail 3
Major Support. Detail 1
Additionally, dogs have served humans as work
animals.
Dogs are also used to serve the handicapped
One way dogs serve humans is they are great for
companionship.
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But is that all thats necessary for a good
paragraph? -- just a main idea and two or three
major supporting details? Lets see how this woul
d look as a paragraph Dogs serve a variety
of purposes for humankind. One way dogs serve
humans is they are great just for companionship.
Additionally, dogs have served humans as work
animals. Finally, dogs are also used to serve the
handicapped. Hows that for a paragraph! Ki
nda short, huh? Its well-organized, but it
needs something more.
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What this paragraph needs is something called
minor supporting details. Remember the major
supporting details? One way dogs serve huma
ns is they are great just for companionship.
Additionally, dogs have served humans as work
animals. Dogs are also used to serve the
handicapped. Well, each of these supporting det
ails needs more explanation and/examples.
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Watch how major and minor supporting details make
up the parts of a paragraph. If I said to you,
Hey, dogs serve a variety of purposes for
humankind, and then I walked away, youd be left
with some questions, like well, what are these
purposes? The major supporting details answer
this question. Me Dogs serve a variety of purpo
ses for humankind.You Well, what are these
purposes?Me They are great for companionship,
they serve as work animals, and they serve the
handicapped.
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Now you might ask the question, How? How are
they great for companionship, how do they serve
as work animals, and how do they serve the
handicapped? The minor supporting details answer
these questions MAJOR SD 1 One way dogs serve
humans is they are great just for companionship.
Minor SD Many an only child has bonded with
his/her Fido, thus having a willing and loyal
friend to play with on a daily basis. MAJOR SD 2
Additionally, dogs have served humans as work
animals, Minor SD corralling sheep, Minor SD
conquering rats, and Minor SD guarding the
homestead. MAJOR SD 3 Finally, dogs are also used
to serve the handicapped, for example, by Minor
SD leading the blind, Minor SD alerting the
hearing impaired, and Minor SD alerting
epileptics of impending seizures.
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Lets look at the layout again
Main Idea
Dogs serve a variety of purposes for humankind
Major Support.Detail 3
Major Support. Detail 2
Major Support. Detail 1
Dogs are also used to serve the handicapped
Additionally, dogs have served humans as work
animals.
One way dogs serve humans is they are great for
companionship.
Alertepil-eptics to seizures.
alert the hearing impaired
Only child bonds with Fido.
lead the blind
Con-quer rats
corral sheep
Guardhome-stead.
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