General vs Specific Ideas

We´ll begin this lesson with a pop quiz. You will be given two statements, and your
job is to identify which one is general and which one is specific.

1. Cats are creatures of habit

2. Sadie, a little black cat, waits for her people at the top of the basement steps
every morning and runs right to the refrigerator for her snack.

If you said that the first statement is general and the second statement is specific,
you are correct.

General ideas they cover broad categories or groups of people or things and usually
express the overall aspects, characteristics, or elements of these categories or
groups. General ideas tend to communicate broad topics that need to be explained
further if readers are to understand them in depth.

For example, the general idea above that

cats are creatures of habit refers to a
broad group, cats, and to an overall
characteristic of the cats, that they are
creatures of habit. If readers are to
understand exactly how and why cats are
creatures of habit, the writer will have to
give more information to support the
general idea.

Specific ideas. They usually clarify, explain, and illustrate general ideas and
statements by referring to particular behaviors that illustrate exactly how cats are
creatures of habit.

Relationships between General & Specific Ideas

General ideas usually express the main point or main idea of a piece of writing. They
present the topic of paragraph, essay, or book and make a statement about it,
usually a claim that needs to be proven. The general statement we’ve been
examining does exactly that. It makes a claim that requires proof: ‘Cats are creatures
of habit.’

Specific ideas provide evidence to further define

the general or main idea and prove that it
is valid. This evidence can take many
forms: examples, anecdotes, logical
reasons, facts, statistics, and expert
testimony. For instance, the specific
statement about Sadie the cat offers
an example that proves the point that
cats are creatures of habit.