What’s the Main Idea?

Understanding Paragraph Structure

Sometimes you might have to identify the topic of a paragraph.

The topic is the main idea of the paragraph.

Each paragraph has one (1) main idea.

To find the main idea, you should be able to answer

a very important question:

Who or what is this paragraph about?

Let’s read a paragraph now and decide what it’s about.

Pets play an important part of many people’s lives. Many kinds of

animals are used as pets, from reptiles to horses. Among the most

common pets are dogs. Dogs help people in many ways. First, they’re

great companions. Many children love the family dog and have a loyal

friend to play with every day. Older people also enjoy the company of

their pet dogs. Dogs also serve humans as work animals, by corralling

sheep, killing rats, and guarding homes and farms. Finally, dogs assist

disabled people in various ways, such as leading the blind, alerting the

deaf, and warning epileptics of impending seizures.

Now ask yourself the following question. Try to answer it in one word.

What is this paragraph about?

Your answer should have been…..

dogsLet’s look at the paragraph again and see why.

Let’s look at the first sentence in the paragraph.

Now ask yourself:

“Pets play an important role in many people’s lives.”

Is this what that whole paragraph is about?

Is the writer telling me that pets are important?

NO! Therefore, this is not the main idea.

Let’s look at the next sentence.

Is the whole paragraph about different kinds of pets?

“Different types of animals can be pets, ranging from reptiles to horses.”

Therefore, this is not the main idea.

Look at the next sentence.

“However, among the most common pets are dogs.”

Is the whole paragraph about how dogs are the most common pets?

No. Therefore, this is not the main idea.

Let’s look at the next sentence.

Does the paragraph tell us about the different ways dogs help people?

“Dogs help people in many ways.”

YES!

The paragraph tells us about many ways that dogs can help people, so that’s the main idea!

Now we need to find the topic sentence, which tells us the main idea of the paragraph.

Let’s look at the first few sentences to see if we can

find the topic sentence.

• Pets play an important part of many people’s lives. Many kinds of animals are used as pets, from reptiles to horses.

Is one of those the topic sentence?

That was just the introduction. It didn’t tell us about the main idea yet. But let’s keep reading.

Aha!

Pets play an important part of many people’s lives. Many kinds of animals are used as pets, from reptiles to horses. Among the most common pets are dogs. Dogs help people in many ways.

Dogs help people in many ways.

What’s the topic sentence?

You probably noticed that the rest of the paragraph gave us specific information about ways that dogs help people.

Those sentences are called major supporting details because they support (or prove) the main idea.

Now let’s look at those supporting details.

• Pets play an important part of many people’s lives. Many kinds of

animals are used as pets, from reptiles to horses. Among the most

common pets are dogs. Dogs help people in many ways. First,

they’re great companions. Many children love the family dog and

have a loyal friend to play with every day. Older people also enjoy

the company of their pet dogs. Dogs also serve humans as work

animals, by corralling sheep, killing rats, and guarding homes and

farms. Finally, dogs assist disabled people in various ways, such

as leading the blind, alerting the deaf, and warning epileptics of

impending seizures.

• Pets play an important part of many people’s lives. Many kinds of

animals are used as pets, from reptiles to horses. Among the most

common pets are dogs. Dogs help people in many ways. First,

they’re great companions. Many children love the family dog

and have a loyal friend to play with every day. Older people also

enjoy the company of their pet dogs. Dogs also serve humans as

work animals, by corralling sheep, killing rats, and guarding

homes and farms. Finally, dogs assist disabled people in various

ways, such as leading the blind, alerting the deaf, and warning

epileptics of impending seizures.

• Pets play an important part of many people’s lives. Many kinds of

animals are used as pets, from reptiles to horses. Among the most

common pets are dogs. Dogs help people in many ways. First,

they’re great companions. Many children love the family dog

and have a loyal friend to play with every day. Older people also

enjoy the company of their pet dogs. Dogs also serve humans as

work animals, by corralling sheep, killing rats, and guarding

homes and farms. Finally, dogs assist disabled people in various

ways, such as leading the blind, alerting the deaf, and warning

epileptics of impending seizures.

• Pets play an important part of many people’s lives. Many kinds of

animals are used as pets, from reptiles to horses. Among the most

common pets are dogs. Dogs help people in many ways. First,

they’re great companions. Many children love the family dog

and have a loyal friend to play with every day. Older people also

enjoy the company of their pet dogs. Dogs also serve humans as

work animals, by corralling sheep, killing rats, and guarding

homes and farms. Finally, dogs assist disabled people in various

ways, such as leading the blind, alerting the deaf, and warning

epileptics of impending seizures.

Finally, dogs assist disabled people in various ways

First, they’re great companions.

Major supporting detail #1:

Major supporting detail #3::

Major supporting detail #2:

Dogs also serve humans as work animals

Let’s look at this again.

But there’s more than just the topic sentence and those three major supporting details.

Let’s look at the paragraph again.

That extra information is found in the minor supporting details.

We don’t just want to be told that dogs are good companions. We want to know WHY they’re good companions. We want examples!

Pets play an important part of many people’s lives. Many kinds of

animals are used as pets, from reptiles to horses. However, among the

most common pets are dogs. Dogs help people in many ways. First,

they’re great companions. Many children love the family dog and

have a loyal friend to play with every day. Older people also enjoy

the company of their pet dogs. Dogs have also served humans as

work animals, by by corralling sheep, killing rats, and guarding

homes and farms. Finally, dogs assist disabled people in various

ways, such as leading the blind, alerting the deaf, and warning

epileptics of impending seizures.

Pets play an important part of many people’s lives. Many kinds of

animals are used as pets, from reptiles to horses. Among the most

common pets are dogs. Dogs help people in many ways. First,

they’re great companions. Many children love the family dog and

have a loyal friend to play with every day. Older people also

enjoy the company of their pet dogs. Dogs also serve humans as

work animals, by corralling sheep, killing rats, and guarding homes

and farms. Finally, dogs assist disabled people in various ways,

such as leading the blind, alerting the deaf, and warning epileptics of

impending seizures.

Pets play an important part of many people’s lives. Many kinds of

animals are used as pets, from reptiles to horses. Among the most

common pets are dogs. Dogs help people in many ways. First,

they’re great companions. Many children love the family dog and

have a loyal friend to play with every day. Older people also

enjoy the company of their pet dogs. Dogs also serve humans as

work animals, by corralling sheep, killing rats, and guarding

homes and farms. Finally, dogs assist disabled people in various

ways, such as leading the blind, alerting the deaf, and warning

epileptics of impending seizures.

• Pets play an important part of many people’s lives. Many kinds of

animals are used as pets, from reptiles to horses. Among the most

common pets are dogs. Dogs help people in many ways. First,

they’re great companions. Many children love the family dog

and have a loyal friend to play with every day. Older people

also enjoy the company of their pet dogs. Dogs also serve

humans as work animals, by corralling sheep, killing rats, and

guarding homes and farms. Finally, dogs assist disabled

people in various ways, such as leading the blind, alerting the

deaf, and warning epileptics of impending seizures.

First, they’re great companions.

• Many children love the family dog and have a loyal friend to play with every day.

Let’s look at the first major supporting detail.

How do we know they’re great companions?

• Older people also enjoy the company of their pet dogs.

We have two examples to support that statement:

These minor supporting details give us examples of HOW dogs are great companions.

Here’s an outline of what a paragraph looks like

Major supporting detail #2

The Topic Sentence

Major supporting detail #1

Major supporting detail #3

Minor supporting details

Minor supporting details

Minor supporting details

So remember what to look for in a paragraph!

The main idea (one word, if possible)The topic sentence (not always the first!)The major supporting detailsThe minor supporting details

PAYING ATTENTION TO THIS WILL HELP YOUR READING

AND YOUR WRITING!

Now it’s time to write.

Pets play an important part of many people’s lives.

The End