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I am Megan Lin
i may or may not be your instructor
if i am then great we'll get to know each other better if i'm not
you may have different instructor
who is using
this same powerpoint
its all the same materials, so let's get started
i am
starting with
the Reader's Handbook Chapter one
so that's that's this book
Chapter One
alright now..
for my course you'll be doing the homework
in this chapter at home
I wanna just go over some key points for you to make sure that you understand
and that when we meet in class next time
I'll expect you to have
these exercises all finished
and we will briefly go over them to make sure you understand the concepts
ok so..
chapter one
chapter one
covers
the main idea
of a passage
and i wont read every word to you
this power point will also be on d2l so anytime you wanna access it you
can do that at your will
about the most important task
when you're reading something
is to understand the main idea otherwise its all pointless
the main idea is the central message of a passage
it may be stated
which means its written in the text
or maybe implied which means the author doesn't directly state
his or her meaning but we need to sort of figure it out for ourselves
so stated means its written in there
and implied
means that we need to figure out where ourselves
based on
what kind of
examples
they give us
when i ask you
to read a passage and tell me
what is the main idea
i mean for you to write
a whole sentence and at least
could be two sentences or three
a whole sentence atleast that states the writers position
or focus on the topic
okay so
when we do assignments, take quizes , do critical reading assessments what i am
asking you to tell me what the main idea of this passage is
you need to tell me more than just
one word
you need to tell me
a sentence or so about
what is the writer's focus or position on the topic
alright moving on..
so the topic
one of the first steps of finding the main idea is determining
what is the topic !
the topic is general subject that the passage explain so it's going to be
very
broad
sort of like
the topic is like an umbrella
and then all of the
more specific things are under that umbrella
topics ares short ususally 1-3 words so if
for example we are reading an article about
rain forest
and it give you all kinds of information and about the animals that are in there,
in the trees that are in there, and the plants that are in there
our topic would be simply
rain forest becasue
thats like the big umbrella that encompasses all of those other more
specific details
for the practices
about topics look at your Reader's Handbook
Page no.3
Practice 1
the example here
is I am gonna show you on
this document camera.
We will let the image adjust
okay so you can see that
i have already circle the answers
just to kinda get you going and it says 'Circle the phrase that could be the topic for will break that could be a topic for
each group below
so if we take this first group
it says. oh i am sorry this first group
makes a touch down,
play football, kick a field goal
block and tackle
the topic is 'play football'
because these are three parts fall under
that idea
or topic of football
ok number two
it' say wear bathing suit, diving
into the water,
swim in a pool,
complete twenty laps
all of these three things have something to do with swimming pools, so swimming
in a pool is your topic
Alright now i want you to complete all of the rest of your practices
on your own
and
if you need to pause this tape
of course do so at anytime
i'm gonna keep moving on..
okay next
.....
we are talking about
details.
Details
developed
explain
and support the main idea
details are all that facts, the reasons, the examples, the incidents
definition
all of those things are details
so i would like you
to look at your Reader's Handbook Page no.10
Practice 4
just gonna show you briefly
make sure you understand whats expected
ok so practice four says compare the items
and indicate which is the topic with a T
the main idea within a M
and supporting detail with a D
okay so
If i read these sentences which I'll do right now
Chinese officials hope to control flood waters,
generate electricity,
and facilitate navigation by building a dam on
China's longest river , the Yangtze
Sentence 2
new dam for the Yangtze
and sentence 3
the three gorgeous dams scheduled to be completed by 2009 is
predicted to cost twenty four billion dollars. okay so
I obviously have the answers marked but
what i'm trying to figure out is
what is the most
general, the most broad ,
and even what is the most short
because that will be
our topic
Ok so this one is the topic
topic number 2
new dam for the Yangtze.
its broad
and the other ones fall under it
so
under the topic then we'll come to main idea
that was just number one because it tells us
a little bit about what's happening
but it doesn't tell us specific details. Number 1 says
officials hope to control flood water,generate electricity
and facilitate navigation and then..
it got more specific with details and tells us
when its to be completed
and what the cost is
OK so there's our topic, our main idea and our details
the rest.. i want you to do on your own
please
alright moving on..
the next
thing that we are going to talk about
are strategies
for
finding the stated main idea
remember stated means something written in your book
so after reading passage , you just need to ask yourself these questions
who or what its this about?(That will be the topic)
what aren the major details
or key terms
and then three what main idea is the author trying to convey
about the Topic
keep those in minds
okay now this will probably just confuse you
but i have to include it because
it's the truth
locations for main ideas
when an author writes a main idea
in a passage or paragraph
honestly, it could be anywhere . It could be at the beginning , it could be at the end, the middle
the beginning and the end
or if its implied it could be just not stated at all
So it may be a little confusing but as we move on with this class
you'll start to figure it out
OK so when you are telling the main idea, it should be at least one complete sentence
that is broad enough to include
the significant details
focused enough to tell what the author's position is
so again when i ask you for my course or if
you don't have me for instructor .You have someone else
they are probably going to expect the same thing
when we ask you to tell us what the main idea is
we
don't want just one word we want at least a sentenced or more
explaining
what the main idea is and it should include those things
a few details
significant which means important details not a little tiny details
and also what is author want us to know
whats the author's position. So
lets look again at ours Reader's Handbook
Page No. 14
sometimes the document camera is just a little bit slower than we are
okay so..
page 14, practice 5
it says 'Apply the three-questions technique to identify the topic,
major details,
and the stated main idea
of the following
passage
okay so this passage reads '
donations
now firehouse mascots, were once an important part
of fire fighting .
Having no fears of horses, the dog sped in front of the horse-driven carts
braking a warning to allow firefighters to get to a fire quickly
donations have historically been used for serious work because they have speed,
endurance, intelligence and excellent memories
These four-legged
fire stations heroes have long been replaced by motorized trucks and blaring
sirens.
Okay so who or what is the topic of this pasage
and if you cant read my sloppy writing
Donations at the fire stations
that's what i wrote because that's the topic !
that's the most general broad idea that this passage is talking about
and then number two says What are the key terms and major details ?
Underline them.
and so you can see that i have !
that donations were an important part of fire fighting
and barking a warning to allow firefighters to get to a fire quickly
there are other
major details i did. Otherwise i will be underlining everything . I didn't underline them all
There are other things. May be you underlined
that
donations have been used for series work because they have speed, endurance,
intelligence and excellent memories .
All of those also our details
And three it says
'What main idea
is the author trying to convey about the topic
and which sentence states it ?
so in this particular paragraph
the main idea is stated
and its in the first sentence!
it says 'Donations, now firehouse mascots
were once an important part of fire fighting '.
and that is the main idea for that particular passage.
ok i'd like you to complete the rest on your own
all right so
these are stated main ideas now let's talk about
implied main ideas
and
implied means
suggested
so it means that the author didn't directly write the main idea in the passage
but you use the same three questions to figure out
an implied main idea.
Who or what is the passage about ?
that's the topic
what are the major details or key terms ?
and then what main idea is the author trying to convey about the topic ?
so its your job to connect the details
and focus the message.
let's look at
Page No.18
in your Reader's Handbook
practice no.6 .It starts at the bottom of page 18
Ok. so the passage one says
'Americans exchange about one billion
colds per year
an average of 2/3 colds
for every adult.
Infectious cold germs can live for hours in the environment.
so take precautions.
so avoid contamination wash your hands frequently to avoid transferring germs
to your eyes , mouth and nose. Drink more water. The winter air drys your nose and throat
and allows viruses to attack
relax and network with friends because a healthy mind strengthened the immune sysytem . line strengthens the immune system.'
okay so
they are asking us
Who or what is the topic of this passage?
some case you didn't already know
we would have to figure it out by what the author is telling us. The author didn't say
this is how to avoid a cold.
but they gave us some suggestions. So that's the topic how to avoid a cold .
What are the key terms or major details?
Underlie them.
and so i did that. Relax and network ,
over here
drink more water, wash your hands more frequently .There are more details but i just need you to
underline a few. OK and then
the third one asks us
What main idea is the author trying to convey about the topic?
well what the author wants us to know is
there are several precautions
people can take to avoid catching cold.
that's the main idea .
But you dont have to tell me all those precautions when i ask you what the main
idea is
just give enough so i know what this passage is about .
so in case you cant read my writting, Again
there are several precautions people can take to avoid catching a cold
i would like you to do the rest of the practices on you own . your own
Now let's talk about finding a main idea of a longer selection
what we've been talking about out for
the first part of this chapter is finding the main idea for a paragraph.
if you're reading like a whole paper
then
you may find several main ideas because usually each paragraph
represents a new supporting
detail
so you just have to fit all the pieces together
under one central theme
and it helps
me anyway to mark my book and make note sometimes if i am reading something long.
So think of it as a thesis statement
A thesis sentence narrows a topic to a central idea
and asserts the author's specific opinion about the topic . So
Think of a Main idea of a longer selection as a thesis statement.
Lets look at Page 23 .
Practice 7
Umm.. I wont
read you
all of these passages because
they are long
and i will be reading forever but
why don't you
read it !
You read it on your own .
Its Practice 7 here .
You can see there's passage 1
and there's the first main idea
and then there's passage 2
and the second main idea
passage 3 and the third main idea
passage 4
and the fourth main idea
okay so each
paragraph or passage will have its own main idea so if i am reading something
that i need to use for work over school and its long
i make notes.
so i can kinda keep it all together and then i'll look over my notes and decide
is the whole thesis statement? What's the whole thing about ?
Ok so that is the end of the chapter.
the end of
the power point
and the end of this videotape so i will look forward to seeing you in class.
If i am not your instructor, i am sure your instructor is looking forward to seeing you
in class.:)