TOPIC, STATED MAIN

IDEA SENTENCE AND

SUPPORTING
DETAILS OF A
PARAGRAPH

PM DR ANEALKA AZIZ HUSSIN

ACADEMY OF LANGUAGE STUDIES
UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA
SHAH ALAM
 Do you still remember your
paragraph writing lesson?

A paragraph contains a topic sentence and a few supporting

details.
What is a topic sentence?
Topic + Controlling Idea
What are supporting details?
Facts, descriptions, examples to back up the topic sentence.

Prepared by: Assoc. Prof. Dr Anealka Aziz Hussin

LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of the lesson, students should

be able to:
1. Determine the topic of a paragraph.
2. Identify the stated main idea sentence
in a paragraph
3. Identify supporting details of the
paragraph
WHAT IS A TOPIC?

 A topic is defined as a subject being discussed

or talked about.

 Every paragraph has a topic. It is what the

author is talking / writing about.

 A topic can be in the form of a word, a

phrase, or a name and it is never written as a
complete sentence.
 STRATEGIES TO
DETERMINE THE TOPIC
OF A PARAGRAPH

1 A heading or title.

SEARCH 2 Words in special print, such as bold, italics, or

color—or some combination, such as bold italics.

FOR
3 Repeated words in a paragraph.

4
Something mentioned at the beginning of the
paragraph and then referred to throughout the
paragraph by pronouns or by other words.
Example 1
What is the topic of this
paragraph?

The protein source and the primary ingredient in pet food are
meat by-products or meat meal. These are euphemisms for
the parts of animals that would not be considered meat by
any smart consumer. The well-known phrase
"meat by-products“ is a misnomer since these by-products
contain little, if any, meat. These are the parts of the animal’s
leftover after the meat has been stripped away from the
bone. "Chicken by-products include head, feet, entrails,
lungs, spleen, kidneys, brain, liver, stomach, bones, blood,
intestines, and any other part of the carcass not fit for human
consumption," says Henry Pasternak in Healing Animals with
Nature's Miracle Cures.
 WHAT IS A MAIN IDEA?

A paragraph consists of several sentences. These

sentences are talking about one single idea. This
single idea is the topic of the paragraph. Among
these sentences found in a paragraph, there is one
sentence that describes the most important point
about the topic. This sentence is the stated main
idea of the paragraph.

Stated main idea is a statement and never a

question.
WHERE TO APPLY THE
SKILL?

Locating the stated main idea is a useful

skill in:
- marking a text

- outlining important points

- making concept maps

- writing summaries
 MAIN IDEA SENTENCE

CHARACTERISTICS OF STATED MAIN IDEA SENTENCE

Must always contain the

Must always make complete Must be a general
topic (the word, name, or
sense by itself (even if you sentence that sums up
phrase that tells who or
couldn’t read the rest of the the details in the
what the paragraph is
paragraph) paragraph
about)
LOCATION OF THE STATED
MAIN IDEA SENTENCE

 Main idea can appear anywhere in a

paragraph:
 Beginning
 Middle
 Last sentence

 Watch for words or phrases authors use to signal

their main idea:
 The point is
 It is important
 Thus
 etc.
Example 1
What is the stated main idea
of the paragraph?

Meat meal can contain the boiled down flesh of animals

unacceptable for human consumption. This can include zoo
animals, road kill, and 4-D (dead, diseased, disabled, dying)
livestock. Most shockingly, this can also include dogs and cats.
This means that one’s pet could be a cannibal. Fast Food
Nation author Eric Schlosser says that "although leading
American manufacturers promise never to put rendered pets
into their pet foods, it is still legal to do so.” A Canadian
company, Sanimal Incorporation was putting 40,000 pounds of
dead dogs and dead cats into its dog and cat food every week,
until it discontinued the practice in June 2001. "This food is
healthy and good but some people don't like to see meat meal
that contains any pets " said the company's vice-president of
procurement, responding to critics.
Example 2

What is the stated main idea

of the paragraph?
What does your college education mean? One
thing it means is that you have a higher likelihood
of becoming an active citizen. Person with a college
education are about 40 percent more likely to vote
than are persons with a grade school education.
Education generates an interest in politics,
confidence that one can make a difference
politically, and peer pressure to participate – all of
these are related to the tendency to vote.
Education, in fact, is the single best predictor of
voter turnout.
Example 3

What is the stated main idea

of the paragraph?

People with learning disabilities are sometimes viewed

as unintelligent. Nothing could be further from the
truth. There is no relationship between learning
disabilities and I.Q. For instance, dozens of well-known
and highly accomplished individuals suffered from
dyslexia . They include physicist Albert Einstein, poet
William Butler Yeats and writer John Irving.
WHAT ARE SUPPORTING
DETAILS OF A
PARAGRAPH?

Supporting details are sentences containing

more information about the subject matter
found in the stated main idea of the paragraph.
 1 Who?

2 What?
Supporting
details answer 3 When?
these questions: 4 Where?
5 Why?
6 How?
 1 Personal Opinion / Personal Testimony

2 Expert Testimony / Expert Opinion

Types of
Support for
3 Statistics / Research Findings /
Research / Study

Supporting 4 Historical Data / Historical Fact /

Factual Data
Details
5 Examples

6 Law & Rules

 Types of Supports for Supporting Details

FACTS OPINION TYPES OF

STATISTICS OPNION

EXPERT OPINION
RESEARCH FINDINGS

EXAMPLES PERSONAL OPINION

TYPES OF
FACTS HISTORICAL DATA

GEOGRAPHICAL INFO

LAWS & RULES

 What types of supporting
details used in this
paragraph?
Meat meal can contain the boiled down flesh of
TOPIC
animals unacceptable for human consumption.
This can include zoo animals, road kill, and 4-D
Examples (dead, diseased, disabled, dying) livestock. Most
shockingly, this can also include dogs and cats. This
means that one’s pet could be a cannibal.
 What types of supporting
details used in this paragraph?

Meat meal can contain the boiled down flesh of animals

TOPIC unacceptable for human consumption. This can include zoo
animals, road kill, and 4-D (dead, diseased, disabled, dying)
EXAMPLE livestock. Most shockingly, this can also include dogs and cats.
This means that one’s pet could be a cannibal.
Fast Food Nation author Eric Schlosser says that "although
leading American manufacturers promise never to put
rendered pets into their pet foods, it is still legal to do so”.
Proof A Canadian company, Sanimal Incorporation was putting
40,000 pounds of dead dogs and dead cats into its dog and
cat food every week, until it discontinued the practice in June
2001.
 What types of supporting
details used in this paragraph?

The protein source and the primary ingredient in pet food are
TOPIC
meat by-products or meat meal. These are euphemisms for
the parts of animals that would not be considered meat by
any smart consumer. The well-known phrase
Explanation "meat by-products“ is a misnomer since these by-products
contain little, if any, meat. These are the parts of the animal’s
leftover after the meat has been stripped away from the
bone. "Chicken by-products include head, feet, entrails,
lungs, spleen, kidneys, brain, liver, stomach, bones, blood,
Examples intestines, and any other part of the carcass not fit for human
consumption," says Henry Pasternak in Healing Animals with
Nature's Miracle Cures.
SUMMARY

– There is one topic per paragraph. A topic is a word/phrase and

never a complete sentence.

– A main idea is a sentence that describes the most important

point about the topic. A main idea is in a form of a complete
statement and never a question.

– Supporting details are sentences that provide more specific

information about the main idea. Supporting details can be in
the form of examples, explanations, descriptions, proof,
statistics and answer questions like Who, What, When, Where,
Why, How?
 Thank
You
Prepared by: Assoc. Prof. Dr Anealka Aziz Hussin
ACTIVITY 1 Dec 2014

1. What is the stated main idea of the paragraph?

2. What are the types of supporting details used to support the main idea?
Prepared by: Assoc. Prof. Dr Anealka Aziz Hussin
ACTIVITY 1
Stated Main
Idea
Dec 2014

Stated Main
Idea

1. What is the stated main idea of the paragraph?

2. What are the types of supporting details used to support the main idea?
Prepared by: Assoc. Prof. Dr Anealka Aziz Hussin
ACTIVITY 1 Dec 2014
Research
Findings

1. What is the stated main idea of the paragraph?

2. What are the types of supporting details used to support the main idea?
Prepared by: Assoc. Prof. Dr Anealka Aziz Hussin
ACTIVITY 2 Dec 2014

Prepared by: Assoc. Prof. Dr Anealka Aziz Hussin

ACTIVITY 3
Decide whether each statement represents a Fact or an
Opinion and justify your answer.
Dec 2014

Prepared by: Assoc. Prof. Dr Anealka Aziz Hussin