Titles and Headings as Main-Idea Clues

Use titles and section headings to predict and confirm main ideas.

Titles and headings are like signposts. A title often hints at the main idea of the whole text, and each heading usually names the topic of its section. Before reading, preview them to predict what you'll learn. After reading, use them to check your main idea. Suppose an article is titled 'How Rivers Shape the Land' with headings 'Carving Canyons', 'Building Deltas', and 'Moving Rocks Downstream'.

You can predict the main idea: rivers change the land in several ways. Each heading names one of those ways. Be careful, though: headings are sometimes playful rather than direct. A heading like 'Splash Zone! ' is fun but doesn't tell you much, so you still need to read the section to find its main idea. Use headings as a starting clue, not the final answer.

• 1Titles often hint at the whole text's main idea.
• 2Headings name each section's topic.
• 3Playful headings still require reading the section.