What are Main Ideas?

A main idea is the most important information the speaker wants the listener to understand. Because this information is so important, the speaker usually clearly says the main idea. We call this an explicit main idea, meaning that the idea should be clear and obvious to anyone listening. This is especially important in a professional setting, such as an office, hospital, or classroom. These are places where the speaker and listener can have serious problems if they don't understand each other completely.

For example imagine you are attending a conference for work. You would expect to listen to each speaker and know exactly what the point is of that session. It would be clear to you what the speaker expects you to do with the information you learned. If instead you leave the session thinking that you are unsure what the speaker wanted to say, you would feel very disappointed. 

To check to make sure you have identified the true main idea, ask yourself this simple question: Do the other ideas support this main idea? In a more formal speaking situation, like a classroom or presentation, the information should be organized clearly. The main idea will be the point that everything else connects to. If something the speaker says does not connect to the main idea, it is off-topic.

In speaking situations that are informal, it is more likely that you will have off-topic ideas mixed in. Another name for those side topic is tangents. Think about a long conversation you recently had. If you were to write down the general ideas of the conversation, you would notice that they are focused in chunks. Most ideas will work together to support the main idea, and then the conversation will naturally move to a tangent. That tangent will then become the new main idea.