FINDING SUPPORTING DETAILS
Who? What ? Where? When? Why? How?
The answers to these six questions land on our doorstep every morning. Newspaper reporters, writers, and editors scramble daily to bring these answers to our homes everyday. Asking and answering these same six questions will help you too to learn more from your reading. There will be paragraphs in your reading that will answer all of your questions and be loaded with detail. There will also be paragraphs that will make you work and really investigate just like the reporters do. As a reader, its your job to notice the small pieces of information that support the main idea of a paragraph or passage. Keep your eyes open!The main idea tells you what a paragraph is about. It is usually stated in the topic sentence, the sentence that gives the most general information about the topic. The topic sentence can be located anywhere in a paragraph, but very often it will be placed first or last.
After you identify the main idea, you are ready to look for the details that support the main idea. To explain a point clearly, a paragraph must contain supporting details, facts, and examples that back up the main idea. Look for the details that directly back up the main idea. For example, here are two details that support the main idea of the paragraph that begins on the bottom of page 207.
Main Idea: In some cases, outbreeding produces larger, healthier offspring...
Detail: . . . an effect called hybrid vigor.
Detail: A mule, the result of crossing a male donkey and a female horse, is hardier than a horse but more docile than a donkey.
Detail: The "liger" is a large, strong hybrid produced by crossing a male lion with a female tiger.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR
- Examples
Examples are models that are used to illustrate a writer's point. Writers use examples to help readers understand a general statement by giving them specific information that represents one piece of the whole concept.
- Facts
Facts are statements that can be proven. For example, the statement on page 131 --A hybrid is an organism that receives different forms of a genetic trait from each parent.-- is a fact. It can be verified, and there are no reasonable arguments against it.
- Statistics
Statistics are numbers used to give additional information. Statistics can be presented in different ways, such as charts, graphs, tables, lists, percentages, and decimals.
- Reasons
Reasons are explanations. They tell why something happened. Reasons may also explain the cause of someone's beliefs or actions.
- Definitions
Definitions are statements that explain what something means. Definitions often come from the dictionary. The definition of genetics, for example, is "the scientific study of heredity."
- Descriptions
Descriptions are words or phrases that tell how something looks, smells, tastes, sounds, or feels. Descriptions use sensory words to help readers visualize or get a mental picture of what they are reading.
Tips for Locating and Understanding Details
- Ask yourself who? what? when? where? why? and how? as you read.
- Picture the details in your mind.
- Think about how the details fit with the main idea of the passage.
TRY IT
1. Read the last paragraph on page 143. What is the main idea of the paragraph?
2. List two supporting details in the paragraph.
Click here to check your answers to TRY IT!
To practice what you've just learned, go to Worksheet 2.2
To learn about another reading strategy, go to Reading Strategy 2.1
Reading Strategy 2.1 | Worksheet 2.1
Reading Strategy 2.2 | Worksheet 2.2
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