Critical Reading for College and Beyond [Chapter 5]

Locating Stated Main Ideas

Chapter5

Exercise 5a)

General and Specific Ideas

1. cars
2. genetics
3. majors
4. matter
5. religions
6. research


Exercise 5b)

Identifying Topics

1. topic: holidays
2. poets
3. word games
4. health
5. information
6. teeth

Exercise 5c)

Identifying Topics in Paragraphs

1. Topic: value
2. appearance
3. advertising


Exercise 5d)

Questioning Yourself

1. Topic: America and women
2. aging
3. history of the earth
4. prostitution
5. car models
6. magic


Exercise 5e)

Finding Main ideas Using Word Clues

1.
• find yourself at the mercy of your children in regards to computer technology
• lack of computer knowledge

2.
• human expansion threatens the biosphere
• example: humans clear forest or grasslands in order to provide for their own kind

3.
• Clinton’s inauguration shares Martin Luther King Jr.’s view on racial equality but not on violence
• Clinton and Martin Luther King Jr. represent very different social philosophies


Exercise 5f)

General and Specific Statements

1. b. The Catholic and Jewish religions have many followers.
2. b. The black widow is venomous spider with an hourglass-shaped red mark on the underside of its abdomen.
3. b. Piaget theorized that all children go through similar stages of cognitive development, each stage predicted by the child’s age.
4. b. The fatty tissue in our body supports organs, pads them from injury, and helps the body to retain heat.
5. a. A fallacy is an error in reasoning.
6. a. Children of all ages like video games.


Example 5g)

Using Main Idea Strategies

1. Main Idea: This sentence answers the question “What is the author saying about money and railroads?” All the other ideas support this sentence.
Detail: The author explains how railroads gained financial support (one source).
Detail: The author explains how railroads gained financial support (another source).
Detail: The author provides more detail for sentence #3.
Detail: The author explains how railroads gained financial support (another source).

2. Main Idea: American empire was small by the standards
Detail: Americans were drawn into war
Detail: The new empire created large challenges

3. Detail: The material in our unconscious far surpasses what we are aware of.
Main Idea: Freud’s ideas of the unconscious

4. Detail: To overpowering
Main Idea: The main character misses Rosie
Detail: Unable to function
Detail: He packed his clothes and moved to the guestroom
Detail: It didn’t help.
Detail: He always dreamed.
Detail: He’d have reoccurring dreams.
Detail: He would wake up screaming.
Detail: He would dream of saving her.