The central or main idea either refers to the point or purpose of a paragraph or it refers to the summary of a piece of writing. These two concepts are closely related in a piece of writing because the point of each paragraph should contribute to the point of the entire piece of writing. In order to discover the point or purpose of a paragraph, one must first identify the topic of the piece of writing. Then, one must identify the structure or medium used to discuss the topic. Finally, for a paragraph, one should identify the sentences that the other sentences seem to support, and for an entire text, one should identify the statement or idea that the paragraphs seem to discuss or support. When this process is applied to the excerpt from An Interview with Marielle Tsukamoto, I come up with the following answers:
Topic: Japanese internment
Structure: Interview
Central Idea: "I think the saddest memory is the day we had to leave our farm."
Why: The first sentence is the main idea because the sentences that follow it support it. The first few sentences explain why the memory is so devastating. The last few sentences explain that the most devastating aspect was that the family was forced to leave for no legal or just reason.
