Central Ideas

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What is the CENTRAL IDEA of a nonfiction text?

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What the text is MOSTLY about.

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What is the best question to ask yourself when you are trying to find the central idea of a text?

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What point is the author trying to make?

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The CENTRAL IDEA of a nonfiction text needs to always be supported with...

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Supporting details

Front

What information can the first and last sentences in a text give us?

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They sometimes give us the central idea, but not always

Front

What is the central idea of the passage?
Thomas Edison’s life span is known as “The age of Edison.” If it wasn’t for Thomas Edison, we might not have electric lights, telephones, movie cameras, or computers! Think of all the ways these great products affect our lives today. Edison held over 1,000 patents and received dozens of awards during his lifetime for his inventions and contributions to science.

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Thomas Edison's inventions still impact society today

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Repeated words in a text are important because...

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They may be a clue of what the central idea is.

Front

What is the central idea of the passage?
The law was not exactly fair in Europe during the Middle Ages. Back then, you could blame someone in your town for committing a crime. The “criminal” could then challenge you to a fight to prove his guilt or innocence. If you lost the fight, you were charged as a liar and the criminal was believed to be innocent. If you won, the criminal was believed to be guilty.

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Laws of the Middle Ages were unfair.

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Why are illustrations in a text important?

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They can offer clues to the central idea