Reading Strategies, Part 2
From Test-Taking Strategies and Study Skills
for the Utterly Confused
by Laurie Rozakis, Ph.D.
PowerPoint and Some Activities
by Mary F. Ciccone-Cook
Meaning Matters
Good Readers
• Draw meaning from identifying the
main idea and key details that
support the main idea
• Read between the lines to find
unstated information in a text
Identify Key Details
I kept six honest serving men
They taught me all I knew
Their names are What and Where and When
And How and Why and Who
--Rudyard Kipling
• Like the poet Rudyard Kipling,
readers can learn by asking
important questions
• Good readers are like detectives:
they look for clues to support their
conclusions
Identify Key Details
Details in a text fall into these six main
categories:
1. Examples—illustrate a writer’s point;
help readers understand a general
statement by giving specific information
that represents one part of the whole
concept.
For example: There are many fruits that
are perfect for a sack lunch. These include
apples, oranges, pears, and plums.
Identify Key Details
Details in a text fall into these six main
categories:
2. Facts—statements that can be proven
For example: “John F. Kennedy was the
first Catholic president of the United
States” is a fact that can be verified.
Identify Key Details
Details in a text fall into these six main
categories:
3.Statistics—numbers used to give
additional information; can be presented
as charts, graphs, lists, percentages, and
decimals
For example: The majority of print newspaper
readers are sports fans. In fact, 63% of the reader
responses to the survey indicated that they read
the sports section.
Identify Key Details
Details in a text fall into these six main
categories:
4. Reasons—explanations that tell why
something happened; may also explain the
cause of someone’s beliefs or actions
For example: Frank was not only an outstanding athlete, he was
also an excellent student. Both his parents had excelled at
school and sports when they were in high school. His dad was
captain of the soccer team and his mother was the pitcher for
her softball team. They both earned academic scholarships to
college as well.
Identify Key Details
Details in a text fall into these six main
categories:
5. Definitions—statements that explain
what something means
For example: The Army Corps of Engineers distributed
26 million plastic bags throughout the region. Volunteers
filled each bag with 35 pounds of sand and then stacked
them to create levees, makeshift barriers against the
floodwaters.
Identify Key Details
Details in a text fall into these six main
categories:
6. Descriptions—words or phrases that tell
how something looks, smells, tastes,
sounds, or feels; use sensory words to help
readers visualize or get a mental picture of
what they are reading
For example: As the spicy aroma, filled with oregano,
tomato, and pepperoni, wafted through the air, I knew I
was approaching my favorite pizza restaurant.
Identify Key Details Practice
Directions:
Complete the practice exercise on
identifying key details for Exercise 1:
Identify Six Categories of Key Details on
the handout entitled “Finding Meaning in
What You Read.”
Identify Key Details
Follow this three-step plan to find the details in a passage:
1.Identify the topic
a. the topic is the subject of the text
b. sample topics include Renaissance
painters, the Supreme Court, airplane safety
2. Identify the main idea
a. typically (but not always) found in the first sentence
of
a passage (topic sentence)
b. the main idea is the topic and what will be discussed
about that topic
3. Find details that back up the main idea
Identify Key Details
Examples of the three-step plan to finding details in a passage:
1.Identify the topic
summer vacation
2. Identify the main idea
Summer vacation is the best part of the year for both
students and teachers
3. Find details that back up the main idea
*time off from school
*time for recreation
*no tests, no papers, no grading
Identify Key Details Practice
Directions:
Complete the practice exercise on
identifying key details for Exercise 2: The
Three-Step Plan for Identifying Details on
the handout entitled “Finding Meaning in
What You Read.”
Identify Key Details Practice
Answers:
The Highest Court in the Land
1. B
2. D
3. D
4. A
5. C
Come One, Come All!
1. C
2. D
4. B
5. B
3. D
Find a Stated Main
Idea
Find a Stated Main Idea
To find the stated main idea in a passage,
follow these steps:
1.Find the topic or subject of the passage.
2. Look for a sentence that gives an overview of
the topic. It will explain what the entire paragraph
is about.
3. Check to see whether the sentence tells what
the paragraph is about.
Find a Stated Main Idea
Although the stated main idea is often the first sentence, it can be in the
middle or end of a paragraph as well. Following are some examples. See if
you can identify the main idea in this first passage.
Passage 1:
The Florida landscape boasts a wide variety of plant life—
about thirty-five hundred different kinds. Almost half of all the
different kinds of trees found in America grow in Florida. Some of
Florida’s woodlands are filled with majestic coniferous pines.
Swamp maples, bald cypresses, bays, and oaks flourish in some of
the state’s forests. Still other wooded areas are a mix of different
types and species of plant life. Dozens of different kinds of
subtropical trees can be found in the Florida peninsula and the
Keys. The warm climate in these areas nourishes the strangler fig,
royal palm, and mangroves, for example.
Find a Stated Main Idea
Answer:
Passage 1:
The Florida landscape boasts a wide variety of plant life—
about thirty-five hundred different kinds. Almost half of all the
different kinds of trees found in America grow in Florida. Some of
Florida’s woodlands are filled with majestic coniferous pines.
Swamp maples, bald cypresses, bays, and oaks flourish in some of
the state’s forests. Still other wooded areas are a mix of different
types and species of plant life. Dozens of different kinds of
subtropical trees can be found in the Florida peninsula and the
Keys. The warm climate in these areas nourishes the strangler fig,
royal palm, and mangroves, for example.
Find a Stated Main Idea
See if you can identify the main idea in this second passage.
Passage 2:
Businesspeople are dressed neatly—the women in suits or
skirts and blouses and the men in jackets, ties, pressed pants, and
stiffly starched shirts. Restaurant servers are polite to tourists and
residents alike. Children stand quietly by their parents. Almost all
aspects of life on the island are polite and civilized. People hold
doors open for each other, wait to get into elevators until everyone
has gotten off, and step aside to let those in a rush get by. At noon,
the shops close and everyone goes home for a two-hour rest. But if
you ask the shopkeepers to stay open a little longer, they will often
gladly oblige.
Find a Stated Main Idea
Answer:
Passage 2:
Businesspeople are dressed neatly—the women in suits or
skirts and blouses and the men in jackets, ties, pressed pants, and
stiffly starched shirts. Restaurant servers are polite to tourists and
residents alike. Children stand quietly by their parents. Almost all
aspects of life on the island are polite and civilized. People hold
doors open for each other, wait to get into elevators until everyone
has gotten off, and step aside to let those in a rush get by. At noon,
the shops close and everyone goes home for a two-hour rest. But if
you ask the shopkeepers to stay open a little longer, they will often
gladly oblige.
Find a Stated Main Idea
Now see if you can identify the main idea in this third passage.
Passage 3:
The brown pelican, Florida’s most popular bird, can often be
seen perched on jetties, bridges, and piers. The state wetlands
boast herons, egrets, wood ducks, and roseate spoonbills (often
mistaken for flamingos). On the beach you can find sanderlings,
plovers, and oystercatchers. The state bird, the mockingbird, likes
living in suburban neighborhoods. Offshore, cormorants, black
skimmers, and terns look for their dinner. Florida’s forests shelter
quail, wild turkey, owls, and woodpeckers. In all, more than a
hundred native species of birds have been found in Florida.
Find a Stated Main Idea
Answer:
Passage 3:
The brown pelican, Florida’s most popular bird, can often be
seen perched on jetties, bridges, and piers. The state wetlands
boast herons, egrets, wood ducks, and roseate spoonbills (often
mistaken for flamingos). On the beach you can find sanderlings,
plovers, and oystercatchers. The state bird, the mockingbird, likes
living in suburban neighborhoods. Offshore, cormorants, black
skimmers, and terns look for their dinner. Florida’s forests shelter
quail, wild turkey, owls, and woodpeckers. In all, more than a
hundred native species of birds have been found in Florida.
Find a Stated Main Idea Practice
Directions:
Complete the practice exercise on finding
a stated main idea in Exercise 3: Find a
Stated Main Idea on the handout entitled
“Finding Meaning in What You Read.”
Find a Stated Main Idea Practice
Answer:
Tsunamis
Tsunamis, or seismic sea-waves, are gravity waves set in
motion by underwater disturbances associated with earthquakes.
These waves are frequently called “tidal waves” although they have
nothing to do with the tides. Tsunamis consist of a decaying train of
waves and may be detectable on tide gauges for as long as a
week. Near its origin, the first wave of a tsunami may be the
largest; at greater distances, the largest is normally between the
second and seventh wave.
Deduce an Unstated
Main Idea
• Sometimes writers don’t directly state the main idea of a
passage.
• In these cases, you have to make inferences to find the
main idea.
• When you make an inference, you combine what you
already know with spoken or textual clues to discover the
unstated information.
• You may have head this referred to as “reading between
the lines” or “putting two and two together.”
• When you make an inference, you are drawing a
conclusion from facts and speculation.
Deduce an Unstated
Main Idea
In graphical form, the process of making an
inference looks like this:
Text clues + what I know = inference
To find the unstated main idea in a passage, follow
these steps:
1. Find the topic or subject of the passage.
2. Look for details that relate to the topic.
3. Make an inference about the main idea from the
details.
Deduce an Unstated
Main Idea Practice
Directions:
Complete the two practice
activities in Exercise 4: Deduce an
Unstated Main Idea on the handout entitled
“Finding Meaning in What You Read.”
Deduce an Unstated
Main Idea Practice
Answers for “Egypt, Land of the Pyramids”
1.Find the topic or subject of the passage:
The pyramids of Egypt
2. Look for details that relate to the topic
*Natural barriers protected the land from invaders.
*Ancient Egypt had the raw materials: limestone, sandstone, and
granite.
*Workers transported the stone on the Nile River.
3. Make an inference about the main idea from the details:
Ancient Egypt had a unique combination of factors necessary for
building the pyramids.
Deduce an Unstated
Main Idea Practice
Answers for “Football”
Which of the following statements represents the main idea?
A. The Romans, Athenians, Spartans, and Corinthians all played a game
like football.
B. Football is a very old game; its history stretches back to ancient
days.
C. American football comes from a British game called rugby.
D. Football is a more popular game than baseball, even though baseball is
called “America’s pastime.”
Answer: Choice B. Eliminate choices A and C because they give supporting
details, not the main idea. Eliminate choice D because it contains
information that is not included in the paragraph.
Deduce an Unstated
Main Idea Practice
Answers for “Pizza”
1.a
2.b
3.c