What's it all about?

The answer to this question is the main idea. The Main idea refers to what a paragraph or an article is about. "Main" means what is important, or key, the heart of the matter. "Idea" means the thought, the thesis or the topic.

 

Finding the Main Idea

In English paragraphs, the Main Idea will most likely be found in one of these five places:

in the first sentence
in the last sentence
in the middle of the paragraph
in two sentences of the paragraph
not stated in the paragraph directly (implied)