HHS4U
Unit 1: How do Social Scientists do their Work?
Activity 6: Finding the Main Idea
Finding the Main Idea
In the last activity, you learned how to locate resources and determine which were suitable for inquiry. In this activity we are going to expand on that work. You will examine sources to find the main idea and supporting evidence or proofs.
As suggested in the video, you have to act somewhat like a detective to determine what information is important in a document and what details are irrelevant. When reading an article or journal for the first time, you must be sure to differentiate between the topic and main idea. A topic is the subject matter, or what the article is about. The main idea or thesis is the author’s view on the topic, or what they have to say about it.
Now that you are able to identify the topic and main idea, it’s time to find some supporting details. Consider the examples in the quiz again. Mouse over the highlighted areas in each example to learn its purpose.
It is important to remember that the topic sentence is not always found at the beginning of a paragraph; sometimes it is found in the middle or even at the end. You must be an active reader and fully digest what the author is saying.
If you are only reading one paragraph, it may be easy to find the topic and main idea. This becomes a bit more challenging with longer sources. It is important to remember that the process remains the same.
To help with this, ask yourself:
- What is this article about? This is the topic.
- What is the overall purpose or gist of what the article is saying? This is the main idea.
- What proof is there to support what is being discussed? These are the supporting details.
Finding the Topic, Main Ideas and Supporting Evidence
Test your knowledge and practice developing your skills by reading the article and answering the questions below. Good luck!
As a reminder, when reading an article, ask yourself the following questions:
- What is this paragraph or article about? This is the topic.
- What is the overall purpose or gist of what the article is saying? This is the main idea.
- What proof is there to support what is being discussed? These are the supporting details.
- Read the following article. If you want to view any links in this pdf, right click and select "Open Link in New Tab" to avoid leaving this page.
- Re-read the article to identify the
- Topic
- Main Idea
- Supporting Details
Reminder: You may use any organization strategy that you find helpful. You can highlight individual sections with unique colours, or you may use an organizer like the one below to record information.
- When you have finished your organizer, check your results.
Correct responses:
- Topic: Youth Underemployment
- Main Idea: Students need work-integrated learning experiences.
- Supporting Details
- Co-op placements and internships can help students gain work experience.
- TFSA has an online portal to help students find and apply for jobs.
- A long-term goal is for businesses to help impact educational curriculum.
Research Inquiry Process
Step 3: Processing Information
The third step in the inquiry process is to process information. You have already had some experience assessing and recording information. In this next part of the activity, you will learn to synthesize it.
One way that social scientists synthesize information is to write a summary. You have already developed some of these skills in the first part of this activity when you learned to identify the topic, main ideas and supporting evidence.
Writing a Summary
Every discipline has unique formats for summaries. In this social science course, a summary will include:
- a statement about what was written (topic/research) and why (purpose).
- a sentence that describes the main idea/argument.
- a sentence or two that describes the methods used by the author. Consider: Is this an overview? Is it a review of a resource or study? Is it a research study? Is it a case study? Is it an interview?
- two or three sentences that identify the supporting evidence or findings. Think about how the evidence connects back to the main idea/argument.
- one sentence about how this resource would be useful for a social scientist studying the topic. Note that this will likely not be in the resource and will be based on your assessment of the information above.
When writing a summary, consider the following steps:
- Read and highlight the resource. You are looking for the topic, main ideas, and supportive evidence. Highlight anything that addresses bulleted points of what a summary should include.
- Re-read your highlighted sections. Make written, point form notes for each part of the summary. Your notes become your outline.
- Write your first draft.
- Compare your draft with the checklist below. Make edits as necessary.
- Make changes and submit when you are satisfied.
Remember:
- Ignore minor details. Ask yourself if the information is truly relevant for people to understand the main idea.
- Avoid using direct quotes.
- Paraphrase; put the ideas in your own words.
Summary Rubric
When you write a summary for the first time it can be difficult. Use the rubric below to help guide your writing:
| Level 1 | Level 2 | Level 3 | Level 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| The summary... | |||
| reflects the topic/research and/or purpose with limited accuracy. | reflects topic/research and purpose with reasonable accuracy. | reflects the topic/research and purpose effectively and with accuracy. | reflects the topic/research and purpose with a high degree of effectiveness and accuracy |
| captures the main idea with limited effectiveness. | reflects the main idea with some effectiveness. | reflects the main idea effectively. | clearly reflects the main idea with a high degree of effectiveness. |
| describes the methods used inaccurately or with limited relevant details. | describes the methods used accurately but includes minimal relevant details. | describes the methods used accurately and includes some relevant details. | describes the methods used with a high degree of accuracy and includes relevant details. |
| has evidence based on a misunderstanding of the article and/or ideas expressed. | includes minimal evidence or includes irrelevant facts related to the main idea. | includes some of the most important evidence and relevant facts to support the main idea. | provides accurate, specific and relevant evidence that directly supports the main idea. |
| explains resource usefulness with limited effectiveness or has inaccurate information. | explains resource usefulness somewhat effectively and accurately. | explains resource usefulness effectively and accurately. | explains resource usefulness extremely effectively and accurately. |
Writing A Summary Exemplars
Read the following student summary responses for the same article. Can you see how each level is unique and builds upon skills?
Level 1
This article represents the amount of adults on the street. Ottawa is a big part of the prevention plan by studying the topic. People think they’re helping, but they’re not. Homeless people don’t want your clothes and food. They want organizations to give them more money. The barriers that stop youth from reaching what they aspire to be needs to be removed. Students need to read this article to find the importance of homeless people in Canada.
| Level 1 |
|---|
| The summary... |
| reflects the topic with limited accuracy. |
| doesn’t accurately capture the main idea. |
| does not address the methods used to study the topic; it only identifies Ottawa as a part of the plan. |
| provides some evidence of ways to prevent homelessness, but doesn’t accurately capture the essence of the article. |
| does not explain resource usefulness but it is identified. |
Level Two:
This report is about limiting homelessness in youth. Homelessness in adulthood starts when people are young. It is a big problem, and over 900 youth had to stay in an Ottawa shelter. A Way Home in Ottawa received $150,000 in funding to develop strategies to help. This is one of the many organizations working to help people less fortunate come up with ways to end homelessness. It is a huge problem around the world. This article helps to talk about homelessness and can help youth feel better about the future.
| Level 2 |
|---|
| The summary... |
| reflects the topic with reasonable accuracy. |
| reflects the main idea fairly effectively (homelessness in adulthood starts with youth). |
| identifies A Way Home in Ottawa but then doesn’t accurately describe the report that they produced. |
| includes some irrelevant facts, such as it’s a huge problem around the world, and misses other important details. |
| shows good resource usefulness by mentioning homelessness, but the point of the article is not for homeless youth to feel better. |
Level Three:
This article is about fixing youth homelessness to keep adults off the streets. It talks about how targeting youth homelessness is the best way to prevent adults from ending up on the streets. Ottawa wrote a report about how homelessness is a problem and found that more than 900 youth stayed in a shelter last year. They also realized that youth who are First Nations, Inuit, Métis and LGBTQ are susceptible to homelessness. A step they are taking is called The Housing First. It provides housing and supports for people regardless of employment, substance use, or any other barriers. Another step that is discussed is Ontario Works not providing enough funding. This article would be useful for studying homelessness and how to prevent it.
| Level 3 |
|---|
| The summary... |
| accurately reflects the topic by identifying youth homelessness. |
| reflects the main idea that links youth homelessness with adult homelessness as a prevention tool. |
| identifies a report, and includes some relevant facts, but doesn’t actually name the organization or who they studied. |
| includes some relevant facts that connect to the main idea. |
| shows effective and accurate resource usefulness. |
Level Four:
The Ottawa Citizen examines a report on youth homelessness as a way to further diminish adults ending up on the street. Several agencies came together in 2015 in a group named A Way Home Ottawa to create a strategic project to intervene with youth homelessness. They created a report that took an in depth look at various aspects that led to youth homelessness. They created the Housing First approach to provide homes for people regardless of their situation.They indicate that the best situation would be to remove the barriers that prevent the youth leading the life to which they aspire. When there is a better understanding of what makes homeless youth different, it can be changed for the better. This article is useful for social scientists because it gives current, Canadian information on youth homelessness and possible intervention strategies.
| Level 4 |
|---|
| The summary... |
| reflects the topic of the research and purpose of the article with a high degree of accuracy by identifying the source and relevant details of why it was done. |
| has a clear and concise main idea, and it is found right at the beginning of the summary. |
| accurately describes the Way Home Ottawa group’s purpose and the report they produced. |
| includes important, relevant details from the Way Home Ottawa report that specifically links to youth homelessness. |
| shows resource usefulness, as it identifies information as current and Canadian. It also states that it would be useful for discussing homelessness and intervention strategies. |
What is an Annotated Bibliography?
Review the resources below to gain a better understanding of what an annotated bibliography is and what it looks like.
Supplementary Resources
Introduction
Learning Goals and Success Criteria
Learning Skills and Work Habits
Rubric 1