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September 8, 2006
Friday |
| How
to Find the Theme |
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A writer’s message, or main idea, is the
theme of the work. The theme is what the writer wants you to remember
most. When you understand a story’s theme, you understand the
underlying idea or message of the work. Most stories, novels, plays,
and sometimes poems have more than one theme. Some works, like many
mysteries, might have no theme. They’re just entertainment. |
•Step 1: Find the “big ideas” or general topics in
the work.
–Write what the big ideas are for the three pieces you were
given.
•Step 2: Find out what the characters do and say that
relates to the big ideas. (For
poems make sure you consider the speaker and his/her point of view.)
–Write notes on what the characters say and do that relates to
the big ideas you wrote down in the last step for each piece of text.
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Step 3: Come up with a statement of the author’s point or message
about the topic.
–Remember
do not confuse topic with theme.
Theme is a point made about the topic.
Come up with a theme statement for each piece of text.
Theme Graphic Organizer
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| September 19, 2006 |
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What is the difference between theme and main idea?
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•Theme:
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–The lesson about life
that the author wants you to remember (usually in literary text
only). |
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•Main idea:
Is what the author says about the subject.
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–More specific than
theme
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–Only found in
informational text.
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–Could be either in the
first or last sentence.
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–If the main idea is not
stated directly, you need to infer (to arrive at a
conclusion by reasoning from evidence) it from all the sentences in
the paragraph
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| September 21, 2006 |
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Studying Implied Main Ideas |
•An Implied Main Idea
When the main idea isn’t stated directly, you need
to infer it from all of the sentences.
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–Decide what subject
most of the sentences are about. |
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–Then, ask yourself what
the sentences say about the subject.
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