In this chapter, you will:

1. learn to describe what main ideas are.

Finding the main idea

The main idea of a paragraph is the author's message about the topic. It is often expressed
directly or it can be implied.

Where are the main ideas found?

It is easy to identify a main idea that is directly expressed in the text.

• Main ideas are often found at the beginning of paragraphs. The first sentence often explains
the subject being discussed in the passage.
• Main ideas are also found in the concluding sentences of a paragraph. The main idea can be
expressed as a summation of the information in the paragraph as well as a link to the
information in the next paragraph.

The main idea is not always clearly stated. It is more difficult to identify a main idea when it
is inferred or implied. It can be implied through other words in the paragraph. An implied
main idea can be found in several ways.

• Several sentences in a paragraph can imply the main idea by introducing facts about the topic
before actually stating the topic.
• Implied ideas can be drawn from facts, reasons, or examples that give hints or suggestions
concerning the main idea. These hints will be clues leading you to discover the main idea in
the selected text.
 Try the passage below to see if you can pick out the main idea.

“Aluminium is highly reactive. This means that it changes chemically when it comes into contact with
certain other substances. When aluminium is exposed to oxygen, it reacts. The result is a string but
thin oxide film on the surface of the aluminium. If the film is damaged, it forms against in most
conditions. This gives aluminium excellent corrosion resistance. It also makes aluminium easy to
colour and decorate. This, along with ease of recycling, makes it perfect for drinks cans and other
food packaging.”

Use the hints below to determine the correct main idea of this paragraph.

After reading a paragraph ask, "What point is the author making in this passage?"

Ask the following questions:

• Who - Does this passage discuss a person or group of people?

How can I determine if I have selected the correct main idea of a paragraph?

If you are able to summarize the information in the passage in your own words, you have
absorbed the correct main idea. To accomplish this goal, try the steps listed below after
reading a short section of your textbook.

• Write a short summary in your own words about what you have read.
• Does your summary agree with this general topic?
• Does your summary contain the same ideas being expressed by the author?
• Could you write a headline (or textbook subheading) that would express your summary in
less than five words?

If you are able to rephrase your choice of a topic sentence into a question and then determine
if the passage answers your question, you have been successful at selecting a main idea.
 Let’s read
A) Read the paragraphs below and identify the main point in each paragraph. The
paragraphs are part of a longer article entitled Helping to save the planet.

Experts agree that the earth’s climate is changing, and that this global warming
may be caused by the combustion of fossil fuels and the subsequent release of carbon
dioxide and other gases into the atmosphere. The greenhouse effect probably plays an
important role in global warming. In the same way as glass traps radiant solar heat in a
greenhouse and warms the interior, the increased level of carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere is likely to be raising global temperatures, causing drought and more
frequent severe weather effects.

Fossil fuels were formed from plants and animals millions of years ago when
the carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere was much higher than today, turning
carbon dioxide into oxygen. We are now burning fossil fuels at an increasing rate and
returning this carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. International agreement is needed to
halt this trend and methods are already being developed such as alternative fuels and
more energy efficient products, insulation of homes and the increase use of solar, wind,
wave, and tidal energy, as well as the increased use of nuclear energy.

More radical methods may be needed. Some scientists are proposing geo-
engineering projects – large-scale technology designed to change the earth’s climate.
Ideas include deflecting sunlight from space or generating clouds to create shade.
However, conventional technology can be used to remove carbon dioxide emissions at
source from large pollution generators such as power stations, cement and steel works.
Artificial trees are also being developed as a means of removing carbon dioxide from
the atmosphere. This process uses man-made leaves coated with carbon dioxide
absorbing material from which the carbon dioxide can be chemically removed.
 To complete this cycle of removal, the capture of carbon dioxide has to be
followed by permanent storage or sequestration. There is already well-established
technology for pumping carbon dioxide into depleted oil wells in order to enhance oil
recovery. Carbon dioxide in its liquid state occupies significantly less volume than it
does as a gas. Suitable sites, where the geology is well understood, would provide a
permanent store for carbon dioxide, using some existing equipment and infrastructure.
The process, known as carbon capture and storage (CCS), needs to be proven by
integrating the different stages of the process and proving it on large-scale plants to
verify the economics. Other methods of storage are being investigated but there are
risks of unforeseen effects on the environment. Whatever processes are used, there is
no doubt that reducing carbon dioxide levels will increase the cost of energy in the
future, but the price of allowing climate change to continue would be even higher.

Every year 8 billion tons of carbon dioxide is being put into the atmosphere and
this quantity is still increasing. The Earth’s temperature is steadily rising, so there is a
huge task for engineers to develop energy conservation, energy efficient generation and
use, and economic and safe methods of removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Paragraph Main idea

5
B) Read the article below and write out the main point of paragraphs which are italicised.
Dealing with heat

Heat can be important factor – and a big problem – in almost any engineering project. Here are
four very different examples of the role of heat in engineering.

Microprocessors

Computer chips generate heat because electrical resistance in their circuits. In fact, it’s this
heat problem rather than microprocessor size that currently limits the speed of CPUs. A safe
operating temperature is in the range of 50 - 70 ºC. Computer design engineers keep computes
cool by installing fans that increase air circulation, heat sinks (solid materials that transfer
heat away from hot spots), and by trying to reduce the amount of waste heat that is generated
by making CPUs as efficient as possible.

Motorcycle brakes

When brakes are applied, the friction of the brake pads on the brake disc creates heat. When
brakes become very hot – around 400 ºC – friction is reduced. This means that the brakes are
less effective, which is dangerous. Engineers design brake discs with holes in them. The holes
allow the air to circulate more freely around the disc to dissipate the heat. They also help
remove rain water.
Gas-fired boilers

Gas-fired boilers are used in homes and industry for space heating and hot water. Chemical
heat is generated by burning gases such as propane or butane. The temperature of a gas flame
burning in air is almost 2000 ºC. At this high temperature, heat is easily transferred to heat
exchangers and water pipes to heat air and water between 20 and 60 ºC. Heat transfer is aided
by convection; as air or water is heated from bottom, it rises, and the colder fluid sinks. This
forms a circulating flow so that the cooler fluid is constantly heated.

Nuclear reactors

Heat is generated in the reactor core when uranium-235 is split into lighter elements. The heat
turns water into steam, which turns the turbines. The turbines turn generators and make
electricity. Most reactors operate with a water temperature of around 315 ºC and pressure
around 155 bar. In these extreme conditions, engineering design is critical particularly of
safety and shutdown systems. The 2011 Fukushima plant disaster in Japan made worse by the
failure of water pumps that were needed to cool the reactor core.
C) Read the article below and state the main point of each paragraph.
Computers in design and modelling – oil platform design

Thirty years ago, design engineers didn’t have powerful office computers. They had to use
plastic models of oil platform to visualize coordinate and check the complicated design process.
Now design and construction is faster, cheaper, and better using advanced computer
techniques.

CAD (computer-aided design)

CAD is used to produce drawings and design documentation. The drawings are detailed
pictures that explain a design. They can be two-dimensional, like a plan showing the
arrangement of a room, or three-dimensional, like the picture on the left showing pipes and
structural details. Documentation includes lists of structural drawings, materials, etc. CAD
checks for design clashes- for example, places where parts don’t fit together – and produces
walk-through videos to check ergonomic features such as access for maintenance.

FEA (finite element analysis)

Today’s oil platforms are designed for difficult environments with natural forces such as
seismic activity (earthquakes), waves, wind, and ice. FES is an essential tool in making the
design work. FEA divides the structure into a network of elements and solves many
complicated equations. It shows hoe the whole structure will work together to stand against
high winds, strong waves or big earthquakes.
CFD (computational fluid dynamics)

CFD uses complex equations to model the interaction of fluids (liquids and gases) with
surfaces. In oil platform design, engineers need to know the effect the wind has on the structure,
including the parts such as cranes and helicopter decks. This helps engineers to create a safe
desin.in the past, engineers used wind tunnel tests on a physical model, but now CFD allows
engineers to try different designs to get the best result.

D) Read the text below and identify the main ideas for paragraphs 3-8.

Cyberculture: The artificial world of the internet

1. The internet and the World Wide Web have provided a new medium for culture, generally
labelled cyberculture, because it exists in cyberspace, ‘the conceptual space where
computer networking hardware, network software and users converge’ (Gauntlett 2000:
220).

2. The internet and the Web made possible a culture apparently free of many of the constraints
that operated in other media. The Web was decentralized and outside the control of
governments, elites and business corporations. Information could be freely exchanged
without anyone censoring or editing it. When on the Net, people were anonymous and could
assume, and play with any identity they chose. With others they could construct their own
virtual communities, their own society, their own world. They were free of their
relationships, their communities, their bodies.

3. Indeed, Sherry Turkle (1997) argues that they can become free of themselves in a world of
screens, this virtual world can become more real to people than the ‘real world’ and can
 shape their behavior in the ‘real world’. Aspects of identity developed in the virtual world
can form the bases for relationships in the ‘real world’.

4. With the growth of what Silver (2000) has labelled ‘critical cyberculture studies’, the
celebration of cyberculture has been moderated by a growing awareness of its limitations.
Many familiar constraints are at work behind the scenes.

5. The inequalities found in society at large are present in the world of internet too. The rapid
rise in numbers of those using the internet led people to view cyberculture as a new popular
culture, but there is plentiful evidence of a growing ‘digital divide’ between ‘haves’ and
‘have-nots’. Cyberspace has also been considered a predominantly male space, with a
typically male ‘frontier culture’ (Silver 2000: 26-7).

6. Arguably, a ‘technopower spiral’ has brought about control by a technical elite. This spiral
is the result of the vast, and ever increasing, amount of information available on the Web,
which has led to the invention of the advanced tools and enable users to find way they are
seeking and manage the flow of information. It has become increasingly difficult for
ordinary users to operate according to their own values, as they are dependent on the tools
created and controlled by the technical elite. These tools are constructed according to the
beliefs and values of the elite in the language it has developed (Jordan 1999: 101).

7. Nor is cyberculture free of commercial and political pressures. Commercial pressures are
blatantly present in the pop-up advertising which finances so much ‘free’ activity.
Commercial interests also steer and manipulate users in covert ways, and governments can
find ways of censoring web content.

8. This raises the broad question of how different cyberculture is from other cultural media.
That it is different to some degree is undeniable. It does provide opportunities for
individuals and groups to engage in cultural exploration in a relatively unconstrained way.
Cyberculture is by no means immune, however, from the social processes of manipulation,
domination, and commercialization that operate in society at large and shape culture in
general.
Source: Fulcher, J & Scott J. (2011), pp 367-d Sociology (4th ed.) Oxford. Oxford University Press.
Note down the main ideas for the following paragraphs. Paragraph 2 is done for you.

Paragraph Main ideas