. TOPIC SENTENCES, THE MAIN IDEAS AND SUPPORTING DETAILS .

Today, we learned about the topic sentences, main ideas, and supporting details. Miss Zu asked us to focus on the video clip that she opened. At the end of the video, she asked us the topic sentences of the video clip.Then she asked us to write on the paper and each group had to show on the class. I saw Miss Zu was angry because we didnt performed well. Just Ameer's group got the marks and the rest got zero.:( Actually, i dont understand exactly the meaning of the topic that we learned today. But i afraid to ask Miss Zu. Huhu.

A main idea is important information that tells more about the overall idea of a paragraph or section of a text. The underlined phrases are main ideas:

Among the many contributions made by the Egyptian culture is the hieroglyphic writing system they invented. This is one of the earliest writing systems known and it was used from about 3200 B.C. until 350 A.D. Hieroglyphics are a form of picture writing, in which each symbol stands for either a single object or a single sound. The symbols can be combined into long strings to form words and sentences. Other cultures, such as the Hittites, the Cretans, and the Mayans, also developed picture writing, but these systems are not related to the Egyptian system, nor to one another.

http://lsa.colorado.edu/summarystreet/helptext/mainidea.html

A topic sentence is a sentence that captures the meaning of the entire paragraph or group of sentences. It tells what the passage is mainly about.

First, try to find a topic sentence in the paragraph or section of the text to use as a topic sentence. If you cannot find one, then write your own topic sentence by combining important ideas from several sentences. In the following example, the underlined sentence forms a good topic sentence for this passage:

The Egyptian civilization was one of the most important cultures of the ancient world. This civilization flourished along the rich banks and delta of the Nile River for many centuries, from 3200 B.C. until the Roman conquest in 30 B.C. ...

http://lsa.colorado.edu/summarystreet/helptext/topic.html

Supporting details are statements which support your topic or theme. You support your main idea by explaining it, describing it, defining it, or otherwise giving information about it. You will usually need to actually look up or research this information!

When you are writing an essay or report, each paragraph after the introduction should discuss one supporting detail. Depending on how many paragraphs you want to include, you can have any number of supporting details.

These details are then repeated or rephrased in your concluding paragraph, to restate the fact that they support your main idea.
give more information about the topic and or details or information that backs up an sentence

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_supporting_details