Paragraph Main Ideas Versus the Whole-Text Central Idea

See how each paragraph's main idea contributes to the central idea of a longer text.

In a long text, each paragraph has its own main idea, and together they build the central idea of the whole piece. Think of the central idea as a roof and the paragraph main ideas as walls holding it up. Here is an outline of an original article. Paragraph 1: Many teens sleep less than eight hours on school nights. Paragraph 2: Sleep loss makes concentration and memory weaker. Paragraph 3: Teens' internal clocks naturally shift later during adolescence. Paragraph 4: Schools that started later saw better attendance.

Each paragraph says something different, but together they point to one central idea: 'Later school start times could help teens get the sleep their bodies need to learn well. ' A common mistake is choosing one paragraph's main idea as the central idea of the whole text. To avoid it, list the main idea of each paragraph in a few words, then write one sentence that all of them support.

• 1Each paragraph has a main idea
• 2Paragraph ideas together support the whole text's central idea
• 3Don't mistake one paragraph's idea for the central idea