Fill in the Blanks Main Ideas and Supporting DetailsOnline version Identify the main ideas and supporting details in a text to improve reading comprehension. by Mark Masloski 1 examples body explain statistics Main topic message supporting author essay reading thesis summarizing ideas are the most important points in a text , while details provide evidence or to support those main ideas . Identifying the main ideas and supporting details is crucial for understanding and a text . Main ideas are usually found in the sentence of a paragraph or the statement of an . Supporting details can be found in the paragraphs of a text . To identify the main ideas , look for the most important information that the is trying to convey . Supporting details can include facts , , examples , anecdotes , or quotes . They help to provide evidence and further the main ideas . When a text , it is important to pay attention to both the main ideas and the supporting details in order to fully understand the author's .