Main idea and Topic

Main Idea.

"The main idea is the most important thing the paragraph says about the topic".

"The topic is what a paragraph is all about"

http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0210124/mainideadef.html

"A main idea is important information that tells more about the overall idea of a paragraph or section of a text".

http://lsa.colorado.edu/essence/mainidea.html

"The central purpose or gist of a passage; the primary message expressed by a passage. The main idea of a paragraph may be explicitly stated in a topic sentence."

http://www.education.com/definition/main-idea/

Topic

1. The subject of a speech, essay, thesis, or discourse.

2. A subject of discussion or conversation.

3. A subdivision of a theme, thesis, or outline. See Synonyms at subject.
4. Linguistics A word or phrase in a sentence, usually providing information from previous discourse or shared knowledge, that the rest of the sentence elaborates or comments on. Also called theme.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/topic

Topic

A topic is the main organizing principle of a discussion, either verbal or written. Topics offer us an occasion for speaking or writing and a focus which governs what we say. They are the subject matter of our conversations, and the avenues by which we arrive at other subjects of conversations. Consider, for instance, a recent class discussion. Although your instructor determined what topic you discussed initially, some students probably asked questions that led to other topics. As the subjects of our discussions lead to related subjects, so do the topics we write about lead to related topics in our academic studies. However, unlike the verbal conversations we have, each individual piece of writing we produce usually focuses on a single topic. Most effective writers learn that when they present a well-defined, focused, and developed topic, they do a better job of holding their readers' attention and presenting appropriate information than if they had not attempted to place boundaries on the subject of their writing.

http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/processes/topic/pop2a.cfm

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"The main idea is what It's said in the paragraph about the topic"

"The topic is what the paragraph is about. The purpose for it to be written and discussed"

Andrea Carpio

Recognizing the topic and the main idea in the text is very important, because it has a special part in the reading comprehension and with this the development of one of the four skills in learning a language.