A central idea, or "main idea," is the most important idea of a text. It is a statement that is supported by evidence, including other key ideas and details.

Text features like pronunciation guides, diagrams, sections with headings, tables and graphs, timelines, bullets, and bold and italicized type can help draw attention to, organize, and make information more understandable to the reader.

An organizational pattern is how the information is presented, or arranged. Some common organizational patterns are —

• COMPARE and CONTRAST: by the similarities and differences between two related things or ideas.


• CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER: by the time order that things happened in the past, from earlier times to later times.


• SEQUENTIAL ORDER: by the order of steps in a process or repeating event.


• CAUSE and EFFECT: by the reasons for and results of certain actions or conditions.


• PROBLEM and SOLUTION: by stating a problem and proposing a way or ways to fix it.