What is one way to identify the main idea of a reading passage?

Identifying the main idea of a reading passage involves understanding its central message or theme, and looking for topic sentences and keywords is a highly effective strategy in this process.

Topic sentences usually appear at the beginning of a paragraph and summarize the main point that the paragraph will discuss. By identifying these sentences throughout the passage, readers can piece together the overall idea being presented. Keywords are significant terms or phrases that are often repeated within the text and can direct attention to the primary concepts being explored.

Combining both topic sentences and keywords enables readers to construct a more comprehensive understanding of the text’s main idea, making it easier to grasp the overall message the author intends to convey. This method also helps in distilling the essence of the passage without getting lost in excessive details.