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FINDING THE MAIN IDEA
Learning and Academic Skills Center

C 2.3.8
104 Eddy Hall
624-7546
FINDING THE MAIN IDEA
Directions: This exercise is designed to give you practice in finding main ideas and drawing diagrams. Read each
paragraph carefully. Decide on the main idea. If the main idea is split, list the numbers of both sentences. If the main idea
is not stated, leave the blank unmarked. Below each main idea blank, draw the correct diagram. Work rapidly.
1. 1) In 1938 the trumpeter swan population had fallen to 1,931 birds, and by
Main Idea: ______
1949 only 500 were known to exist in the United States. 2) In 1958 the number
Diagram:
of whooping cranes was down to 31 known birds, and there were only 60
California condors. 3) These are but three examples of birds that have
approached extinction and even now remain at such low levels that continuing
existence is uncertain.
2. 1) Finding words in the dictionary would be an easy task if the entire list
Main Idea: ______
followed strict alphabetical order. 2) by using the guide words on the upper
Diagram:
outside corners of the pages, the general position of the desired word could be
determined very quickly. 3) Then locating the word would be a mere matter of
alphabetization. 4) But not all dictionaries follow the ironclad rule of alphabetical
order, and the exceptions are sometimes confusing.
3. 1) Parsley formed the crown with which Hercules crowned himself as conqueror
Main Idea: ______
of the Numea lion. 2) Cabbage was used by the Egyptians, as was also garlic, the
Diagram:
leaf and the onion. 3) There are many other historical references to the use of
plants and plant life hundreds of years before the discovery of America.
4) Alexander the Great probably introduced the string bean into Europe for the
fields of India. 5) Asparagus came from Asia and the Romans cultivated it with such
success that stalks were raised which weighed three pounds each. 6) The olive tree
was venerated for its fruit, which was used as an hors d'oeuvre to clear the palate,
and for its oil, which took the place of butter.
4. 1) When we are frustrated in satisfying a need or desire we may react by mobilizing
Main Idea: ______
skills and energies we might otherwise never have used. 2) A businessman who
Diagram:
is frustrated by stagefright whenever he must address a conference may devote
special efforts to overcome this handicap and consequently may become an
outstanding public speaker. 3) Similarly, someone with a slight physical defect
may undergo special training to compensate for it and so develop into a competent
athlete. 4) It follows, therefore, that when we increase our efforts to resolve a
frustrating situation, additional skills we develop may open up for us new areas to
explore, areas we might not otherwise have considered ourselves capable of entering.
5) Thus, our frustrating experience will have produced constructive results.
5. 1) The wildlife of this country has been subject to increasing pressure ever since
Main Idea: ______
the first settlement was founded. 2) On the injured lands and in polluted waters the
Diagram:
wild animal population cannot approach what it once was. 3) Commercial hunters
of the past have made phenomenal killings of game. 4) It would be very rare for a
hunter today to encounter an area where such kills would be possible. 5) The hauls
of commercial fishermen have been fairly well tabulated for many decades. 6) Many
preferred fish, such as Atlantic salmon, the shad, and lake herring, have almost
disappeared from the nets.
6. 1) A good example of the influence of structure on the properties of a material is
Main Idea: ______ Learning and Academic Skills Center

C 2.3.8
104 Eddy Hall
624-7546
furnished by graphite and diamond. 2) Both materials contain only one element,
Diagram:
carbon. 3) Graphite, which is used in ordinary pencils, is a soft, flaky material that
can be spread out easily in a thin film. 4) Diamond, on the other hand, is a very
hard material that can be used for grinding and cutting. 5) The differences in the
properties of graphite and diamond spring from the differences in the arrangements
of the atoms. 6) In graphite the carbon atoms are joined together in a two-
dimensional structure like a flat sheet. 7) In diamond the carbon atoms are lined
together to form a three-dimensional rigid structure.
7. 1) Social roles carry a whole complex pattern of expectations. 2) The doctor knows
Main Idea: ______
what is expected of him and his patients know how they are to act. 3) Folkways and Diagram:
mores are also group expectations, but they are more than general social roles.
4) The latter are attached to a general position in society and are more or less
independent of the person who happens to be occupying the position at the moment.
5) The lawyer has a certain role as a lawyer, but not as John Smith. 6) Teachers and
pupils have clusters of expectations attached to their positions, and these expectations
guide them in their behavior in the appropriate roles. 7) Every society has dozens of
these generalized patterns, and some societies have thousands of them. 8) When each
person acts in accordance with his role(s), the group functions smoothly.
8. 1) The noise of the summer crowds has faded into silence in the hazy valleys; picnic Main Idea: ______
tables stand deserted in fallen leaves; and the distant peaks, already sleeping softly
Diagram:
under early snows, are framed by scarlet branches. 2) The high alpine meadows of
Cascade and Coast ranges, studded with jewel-clear lakes, are splashed with red and
gold from mid-September until well into October, when huckleberry and mountain ash
are turning. 3) At lower elevations, big leaf maple and dogwood gradually add their
yellows and gold to the scene; and along meandering streams deep in the woods,
shafts of light strike in the yellow cottonwood trees.
9. 1) The climate of Antarctica is as unusual as the terrain. 2) Temperatures can be
Main Idea: ______
extremely low. 3) A temperature of -127.5 has been registered, but, as
Diagram:
meteorological stations are still very few there, and continuous records at these
extend only over a few years, lower temperatures may yet be recorded. 4) Most of
the winds blow offshore. 5) As cold air is unable to hold as much water vapor as
warmer air, the extremely low temperatures and the lack of large ingress of moist
and warmer air combine to make the atmosphere over the Antarctic continent
extremely dry. 6) Precipitation is in the form of snow, but this is equivalent to only
five inches of rainfall per year on the average of widely scattered measurements.
10. 1) One of the skills of study in which students are confessedly deficient is the skill
Main Idea: ______
of reading, which is now seen to be a more complex activity than was formerly
Diagram:
thought. 2) All students can read, but it is clear that many lack "functional literacy"
and are unable to read in ways conducive to success in university studies. 3) Some
textual material must be read analytically and worked over carefully. 4) Exactness of
comprehension, or depth of appreciation, or both, is the object. 5) The description of
a complex process in physics of the development of a chain of arguments in logic or
political theory is not to be rushed by the serious student seeking mastery and fullness
of understanding. 6) Again, it is absurd to suppose that writing of literary quality can
be savored at speed. 7) The fifty-third chapter of Isaiah of the "Ode to the Nightingale",
like great music, have their appropriate tempo, and to read them, even silently, at a
faster pace, is to outrage both the ear and the mind.