Learning Goals
By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:
🎯 Identify the main idea of a text
Why is it important to know this?
As a nurse, you will need to understand the main ideas of things like information on charts, diagnoses, and medical literature. In general, it’s really important to understand the differences between the main idea and supporting details, especially on the HESI A2!
Key Vocabulary
Here are some words you should know that will make this lesson easier:
💬 Main Idea: The big idea that the author wants the reader to understand
💬 Topic: The subject or focus of the text
💬 Supporting details: Details that develop (explain, expand on, add to) the main idea
*Note: We have another lesson about this, but it helps to understand the term supporting details. Sometimes, the HESI tries to trip you up by giving you a supporting detail as a multiple-choice option. Don’t be fooled!
Key Points
- The topic is the subject of a paragraph, a section, or the entire text. It’s one or two words that state what the text is mostly about.
- The main idea is the big idea that an author wants the reader to learn or understand about the topic of a paragraph, a section, or an entire text. The main idea can be a phrase or a sentence.
- Supporting details are details that develop (explain, expand on, add to) the main idea.
How Do We Determine the Main Idea?
Step 1: Read the question to establish a purpose for reading
Step 2: Read the passage and identify the topic
Step 3: Ask yourself “What is the author trying to convey about the topic?”
Example Questions/ Examples:
In this section, I will walk through example questions. The passage is titled, Growing Up.
- Remember to ask yourself about main ideas, topics, supporting details, and explicit or implicit information if you’re stumped!
Example Question 1:
Growing Up
As we grow up and mature, it is common to experience many changes ranging from height, weight, and even distinct shifts in our various preferences. However, a recent experiment has proven that even the mere smell we emit to others is influenced by our age, as well as other factors, ranging from our nutrition and the level of bacteria present in the body. Further, studies suggest that the majority of humans can correctly recognize the age of a person just by coming into contact with their scent.
What is the main idea of the paragraph?
Ask yourself, “what is the topic?”
The overarching topic here is about scent. Let’s dive in a bit deeper and think about the main idea as a whole.
Growing Up
As we grow up and mature, it is common to experience many changes ranging from height, weight, and even distinct shifts in our various preferences. However, a recent experiment has proven that even the mere smell we emit to others is influenced by our age, as well as other factors, ranging from our nutrition and the level of bacteria present in the body. Further, studies suggest that the majority of humans can correctly recognize the age of a person just by coming into contact with their scent.
What is the main idea of the paragraph?
As we age, our scent changes, and most people can tell someone’s age by their scent!
The author is trying to tell me that as we age, our scent changes, and most people can tell someone’s age by their scent! I have highlighted details in the paragraph that support this main idea.
Let’s try another! This time, we will look at multiple choice format.
Example Question 2:
Studying Smell
According to a study published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal, human body odor undergoes perceptible shifts that can be obvious to even the most problematic olfactory systems. In other words, the human nose is advanced enough to detect even the slightest differences in human scents, especially when it involves perspiration. Scientists leading the study asked one group of volunteers (whose ages ranged drastically) to wear the same t-shirt for five consecutive nights. Then, the second group of volunteers was asked to smell the shirts and estimate the age of the people who had worn them. Interestingly enough, almost all of the answers were correct.
Don’t forget, we need to start by identifying the topic of the text. Then, we can ask ourselves “what is the author trying to convey about this topic?”
We start by reading the paragraph and go through that process. Then, we will take a look at the multiple choice answer options!