Determining Importance in

Reading
Fiction and Non-Fiction
 Definition

•Picking out the most

important parts in a
text or story
 How do you find what’s most
important?
• Ask questions:
– What is my purpose for reading this text?
– What is the author’s purpose for writing this text?
• Answer those two questions and then do the
following:
– Identify the key ideas
– Use text features to help identify important ideas,
concepts and details
 Tools Readers Use
• Highlighting pens
• Post Its
• Skimming or scanning the text
• Headings and sub-headings
• Cue words and phrases
• Illustrations and photographs
• Can you name others?
 A Note on Highlighting
• Look carefully at the first and last line of each
paragraph. Highlight those.
• Highlight only necessary words and phrases,
not sentences
• Don’t get thrown off by interesting details
• Try not to highlight more than half of the
paragraph
 Questions Good Readers Ask
• What is the story or text mostly
about?
• What are some important ideas or
details that struck me as a reader?
• What do I think is the most important
idea or details to remember and why?