Spot Check: Recognizing Major DetailsSpot Check: Recognizing Major Details
• If this is the topic sentence—“Although a 1995 landmark conference in Beijing China, called for equality for women around the world, many women all over the globe still do not have equality with men”—which one of the following sentences could be a major detail that helps explain that point?
a. Iceland’s Vigdís Finnbogadóttir was the first woman to become a democratically elected head of state.
b. In Tunisia, during the Arab protests of 2011, women played a critical role in the uprising against dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali .
c. In parts of Pakistan where the Taliban still hold sway, women must adhere to strict rules of modesty and keep their faces covered for fear of being punished by men they do not even know.
Spot Check: Recognizing Major DetailsSpot Check: Recognizing Major Details
In some parts of the world, women don’t dare show their faces in public for fear of reprisal.
There are two kinds of supporting details, major and minor.
There are two kinds of supporting details, major and minor.
Major Details• refer directly to the main idea expressed in the
topic sentence.• clarify or prove some part of the topic
sentence.
Minor Details• follow and further develop major details.• are the most specific sentences in the paragraph.• add human interest or repetition for emphasis.
5.2 Diagram of Major and Minor Details with Topic Sentence
Main idea: Most people don’t realize that the holiday we call Labor Day began under very sad circumstances. Main idea: Most people don’t realize that the holiday we call Labor Day began under very sad circumstances.
Major Detail: Labor Day got its start when President Grover Cleveland sent troops to break up a railroad workers’ strike, and many striking workers were injured; the strike was broken but the public was angry.
Major Detail: Labor Day got its start when President Grover Cleveland sent troops to break up a railroad workers’ strike, and many striking workers were injured; the strike was broken but the public was angry.
Minor Detail: To calm the public’s outrage, Congress rushed the national holiday, called “Labor Day,” into law.
Minor Detail: To calm the public’s outrage, Congress rushed the national holiday, called “Labor Day,” into law.
Don’t be misled by the words major andminor. Minor details can add importantinformation as they do in the previous example. While some add just emphasis or repetition, others provide key details. Always evaluate the minor details.
Can you separate the topic sentence from the major and minor details?Can you separate the topic sentence from the major and minor details?
1. The e-mail usually includes quotations from the Bible and a request for money.
2. With this scam, the target receives an e-mail from someone, supposedly a foreigner, who wants to spread the word of God but needs financial help because of illness, age, or government interference.
3. One especially popular Internet scam targets people of the Christian faith.
Which Topic Sentence Provides a Category Word Clue to the Major Details?
Which Topic Sentence Provides a Category Word Clue to the Major Details?
• The American painter Jackson Pollock (1912-1956) became a superstar in the art world practically overnight, after his picture appeared in a 1949 issue of Life magazine.
• History has not been kind to John C. Calhoun (1782-1850), the former vice-president and senator from North Carolina.
• Early in the twentieth century, the Supreme Court’s rulings in a number of key cases put some teeth into the Constitution’s guarantee of free speech.
Recognizing Major DetailsRecognizing Major Details
The correct answer is the third sentence:
“Early in the twentieth century, the Supreme Court’s rulings in a number of key cases put teeth into the Constitution’s guarantee of free speech.”
•The topic sentence announces to readers that each ruling or case will be a major detail.
Write Down this Topic SentenceWrite Down this Topic Sentence
• Worried about the gender imbalance in the population, with males outnumbering females to an alarming degree, the Chinese government has begun to introduce measures designed to improve the culture’s view of women’s importance.
What’s the category word and which of the following flesh that word out?
Recognizing Major DetailsRecognizing Major DetailsWhich two sentences would be major details inrelation to the previous statement?1. The government has begun offering bonuses to
families with more than one female child.2. The government has also changed inheritance
laws making it easier for daughters to inherit family property.
3. The bonuses are not large but they are an incentive meant to discourage the aborting of females, a practice that has contributed to the decline in the female population.
The Role of Addition TransitionsThe Role of Addition Transitions
Although they are not as reliable as the topic sentences just covered, transitions are also clues to major details.•Transitions like next, first, second, and finally frequently introduce major details.
•In effect, they say to readers, “Here’s another one. Pay attention.”
Concluding SentencesConcluding Sentences
• as their name implies, come at the end of paragraphs.
• explain how some problem or situation was resolved or should be resolved.
Does this paragraph end with a concluding sentence or a supporting detail?Does this paragraph end with a concluding sentence or a supporting detail?John Lewis, Georgia’s long-time congressional representative, risked his life to win equality for himself and his fellow African-Americans.In 1965, Lewis was a young and passionate civil rights activist, whoparticipated in the march over Selma, Alabama’s Edmund Pettus bridge in order to win the right to vote. The marchers were met by police armed with clubs and snarling dogs. Lewis and 90 other demonstrators were badly hurt. But the violence against the demonstrators, which ended up being televised, outraged the public and increased support for African-American civil rights. Twenty-three years later, when Barack Obama was inaugurated, Lewis said,
“Barack Obama is what comes at the end of that bridge in Selma.”
Finishing Up: Focusing on Supporting Details in Paragraphs
You’ve previewed the major concepts and skills introduced in Chapter 6. Take this quick quiz to test your mastery of those skills and concepts, and you are ready to read the chapter.
Finishing Up: Focusing on Supporting Details in Paragraphs
1. In the the following topic sentence, what words would you expect the major details to further develop: “Giacomo Rizzolatti of Italy’s University of Parma has done some very interesting research on mirror neurons.”
Finishing Up: Focusing on Supporting Details in Paragraphs
• The most obvious phrase to be addressed by the major supporting details is “mirror neurons.”
• “Rizzolatti’s interesting research” would also require some explanation. Readers would want to know why the research is “interesting.”
• Without a definition of mirror neurons and an explanation of the research, the topic sentence would raise expectations in the reader that go unanswered.
What’s the topic sentence of this paragraph, and is the last sentence a supporting detail or a concluding sentence?
2. Up until the 16th century, people believed that Earth was the center of the universe. But in 1543, Nicholas Copernicus, a Polish scientist, challenged that world view. In his book Concerning the Revolutions of the Heavenly Bodies, Copernicus argued that the earth actually revolved around the sun. His theory challenged the existing belief that the sun revolved around Earth. Although he waited until he was about to die to publish his ideas, Copernicus still suffered from the critical response to his work, which was condemned by the Catholic Church.
What’s the topic sentence of this paragraph, and is the last sentence a supporting detail or a concluding sentence?
3. The Prohibition laws of the 1920s, which made drinking liquor illegal, actually caused rather hindered illegal activity. Nationwide, Americans showed nothing but contempt for the laws. Attempts to enforce it were met with hostility. Worst of all, control of liquor distribution fell into the hands of organized crime, and gang members routinely killed one another over the right to distribute liquor. In 1933, the Twenty-first Amendment to the Constitution, formally put an end to Prohibition laws.
Brain Teaser ChallengeRead the following four quotations. Then decidewhich more general main idea they illustrate.
a. “I don’t care if a dude is purple with green breath as long as he can swing.” (Miles Davis)
b. “So what if we’re Asian. Listen to the flow of our rhyme, and you’ll forget what color we are.” (Chops, former member of the Asian-American rap group, Mountain Brothers)
Brain Teaser Challengec. Long before the Civil Rights Act, long before Brown
vs. The Board of Education, and long before President Truman’s integration of the armed forces, black and white musicians were breaking social taboos to learn from each other. (Jeff Perry, diversity trainer)
d. “I don’t care if he’s purple [referring to white rapper Eminem], as long as he can rap!” (Dr. Dre)
