Lesson 2

Locating Main
Ideas
What is the main idea in this cartoon?
The owner is a terrible owner. The dog cited 3 reasons to
support this.
 Significance of the Main Ideas

➤ It states the main point of the text.

➤ It helps readers to understand and

remember the central idea and
connection of the details in the text.

https://sites.google.com/site/mainidea44/
 Tips in Getting the Main Ideas

Lookatthetitleforclues.
Checkthefirstorlastsentence/paragraph.
Observetherepeatedwordsandphrasesinthetext.
Askyourself, “whatisthetextallabout?”
Studies indicate that the brain is often more important
than the eyes in determining what each of us sees as
we move through the world. The brain’s ability to control
perception is obvious when we study ambiguous figures,
such as the classic one reproduced here. When you
first look at this drawing, you may see a white vase. Or
you may see two dark profiles. Even after you have
been made aware of the two images, you must
consciously work at going back and forth between them.
You can feel your brain shifting as it organizes the visual
information into first one image and then the other.

Getlein, M. (2001). Gilbert’s Living with Art (6th ed.). New York,
New York: McGraw-Hill.
➤ What is the main idea of the
text?
➤ It is the first sentence!
➤ Why?
In other words….

Main Idea
a.k.a

• Thesis statement
• Topic sentence
Understanding and Locating the Thesis Statement

Thesis statement
➤ Presents or describes the point of an
essay or academic text.
➤ It is usually in the abstract or executive
summary or found in the last part of the
introduction.
➤ It is written in a declarative sentence.
The purpose of this study was to investigate whether
children's attitudes toward reading and their perceptions
of themselves as readers impacted their academic
achievement. Additionally, the study investigated the
effect of time spent reading and reading practice on
student achievement. Finally, the research examined
whether reading attitudes and reading practice were
moderated by gender or ethnicity.

Source: Galipault, L. D. (2008). How Do Children's Attitudes Toward Reading Relate To Reading Practice And Reading
Achievement? (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from http://fau.digital.flvc.org/islandora/object/fau%3A33536.
➤What is the thesis statement
of the text?

It is the first sentence!

Strategies in Locating the Thesis Statement

• It states the purpose or reason of the study.

• If the text has no abstract or executive
summary, read the first few paragraphs as the
thesis statement is usually located there.
• Check the conclusion and review the
main points.
Signal Phrases

•This study examined…

•This paper aims to…
•The purpose/aim of this study is….
•This paper begins with…
•In this paper…
•The objective of the study is…
Find the thesis statement in each academic
text.
Source: Edens, K. M. & Potter, E. (2003). Using Descriptive Drawings as a Conceptual Change Strategy in Elementary Science. School Science and Mathematics, 10(3), 135-
144.

First sentence is the thesis statement.

 Sleep is an important biological necessity that all people need to maintain
a healthy lifestyle. It helps people work at an optimum level and is critical
for brain functioning, helping with all the cognitive functions such as
memory, learning, decision making, and critical thinking. This makes
sleep extremely important for academic performance. However,
research shows that not everyone is getting enough sleep to function
properly, especially college students. Researchers state that sleep
deprivation is one of the main reasons college students receive low
academic scores aside from stress which contributes to sleep
deprivation. The purpose of this research proposal is to examine what
contributes to sleep deprivation and see how it then affects academic
performance.

Source: Tesoro, Andriana. (ND). The effects of sleep deprivation on academic performance. Retrieved
from http://web.csulb.edu/~atesoro/effects_of_sleep.pdf

Last sentence is the thesis statement.

Van Wart, M., Ni, A., Medina, P. (2020).  Integrating students’ perspectives about online learning: a hierarchy of factors. Int J
Educ Technol High Educ 17, 53. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-020-00229-8

First sentence is the thesis statement.

Topic Sentence

➤ It presents the main idea or gist of

the paragraph.
➤ It can be located in the beginning, middle, or
last part of the paragraph.
 Find the topic sentence in this academic text:

The Department of Social Welfare (DSWD) is the agency

responsible for human development concerns such as the
provision of social services such as those provided in day
care centers. For instance, DSWD is implementing the
Supplementary Feeding Program (SFP) nationwide. This
is in addition to the regular meals served to Day Care
Center children as part of DSWD’s program to ensure that
day care children are well-nourished as they attend
classes.
Source: “Education for All, 2015 National Review Report: Philippines”
(2015).

First sentence is the topic sentence.

 Find the topic sentence in this academic text:

‘KAHOOT!’ is an online gamified pedagogical tool that centers on student engagement

and motivation. It is a fast paced assessment tool that resonates like a “game-show”,
which allows teachers to monitor the progress of their students while they participate in
a “game” (Licorish, Owen, Daniel, & George, 2018). In the past, student response
systems (known as “clickers”), such as “iClicker” or “ResponseCard”, have commonly
been used at higher education institutions (Hall, Collier, Thomas, & Hilgers, 2005; Mu &
Paparas, 2015). The goal of these student response systems is to incorporate and
promote student engagement in large lecture halls at the collegiate level, ultimately
stimulating active learning rather than passive learning in a teacher-centric environment
(Hall et al., 2005; Nielsen, Hansen, & Stav, 2013). However, clickers are a less common
assessment tool used at the K-12 level, which is partly the reason why ‘KAHOOT!’ is a
popular assessment tool among teachers in the United States (Bicen & Kocakoyun
, 2018; Plump & LaRosa, 2017). Due to its accessibility, affordability, and its user-
friendly capabilities, teachers can feature a fun and unique student response system
that is more enticing to the students compared to conventional student response
systems (Licorish et al., 2018).
Source: Jones, S., Katyla, P., Xie, X., Nicolas, M., Leung, E., Noland, D., & Montclare, J. (2019, October 16). A KAHOOT Approach: The
eEffectiveness of Game-Based Learning for an Advanced Placement Biology Class. Retrieved from
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1046878119882048

First sentence is the topic sentence.

LET’S
PRACTICE!
Identify the main idea/thesis statement in
each academic text.
Jaffar, B.A., Riaz, S., & Mushtaq, A. (2019). Living in a Moment: Impact of TicTok on Influencing Younger Generation into Micro-Fame.
Journal of Content, Community, & Communication, 10(5), 187-194.

Seventh sentence is the thesis statement.

Research in child development has found that guided play can be
a very effective teaching method for young children. Children
obtain higher levels of play when parents have an understanding
of play and its benefits to learning. This research is designed to
assess how parents of children at the Adele and Dale Young
Child Development Laboratory view play as a learning technique.
Also, this study considered the relationship between parental
opinions of play and other parenting roles. A total of 22 parents of
children enrolled in the Child Development Laboratory completed
the Parent As A Teacher (PAAT) inventory. Results showed
significant positive relationships between opinions of play and
other areas of parenting including creativity, teaching/learning,
and frustration.

Source: Jensen, D. M. (2010). Parental Perspectives of Play with Preschool Children. Utah State University. Retrieved from:
https:// digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1054&context=honors

Third sentence is the thesis statement.

Friedrich, D. (2019). Effectiveness of peer review as cooperative web-based learning method applied out-of-class in a role
playing game: A case study by quasi-experimental approach. Smart Learn. Environ. 6, 19. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40561-
019-0102-5

Fifth sentence is the thesis statement.

Remember:
In Summary:

• The main idea is the main point of the text.

• It helps readers to understand and remember the
central idea and connection of the details in the
text.
• Topic sentence, thesis statement = main idea
In Summary:

• The thesis statement is usually presented in the abstract or

executive summary or found in the last part of the
introduction. It is written in a declarative sentence.

Strategies in Locating Thesis Statement:

• It states the purpose or reason of the study.

• If the text has no abstract or executive summary, read the
first few paragraphs as the thesis statement is usually
located there.
• Check the conclusion and review the main points.
In Summary:

The signal phrases to find the thesis statement

include:
• This study examined…
• This paper aims to…
• The aim of this study is….
• This paper begins with…
• In this paper…
• The objective of the study is…
https://www.literacyideas.com/getting-the-main-idea