Top Law Schools

I have been taught that the main idea is the author's opinion on the topic, but what if he/she has no opinion?

eddie3636 wrote:I have been taught that the main idea is the author's opinion on the topic, but what if he/she has no opinion?

The main idea/point is not always an opinionated one.

"Other authors never state the main idea. These types of passages build the main idea piece by piece, each paragraph leading into the other until it becomes clear in the final paragraph. Here you will have to come up with a sentence on your own summarizing the whole passage. If you briefed the passage by making good summary notes in the margins, this shouldn’t be too difficult. But there are two other elements of the passage (that you also should have noted while briefing the passage) that will help you define the main idea."

From GRockItLsatPrep: http://grockit.com/blog/lsat/2010/11/29/gist-main-idea/

eddie3636 wrote:I have been taught that the main idea is the author's opinion on the topic, but what if he/she has no opinion?

There's one way this can happen, and another when people think it happens.

The way it can actually happen is when the author is just describing someone else's argument. If that's the case, then you're looking for an answer that would be the same to the Main Point question if the Author took that position, only it'll be attributable to someone else. Think, "According to scientists, dark matter accounts for the missing 90% of the universe's mass."

The second time is when the Author has a point, but it's not an argument for or against something - essentially, he's writing something extremely academic. Think, "There is still a split in the scientific community over whether dark matter accounts for the universe's missing mass."

In the first case, the scientists have an opinion and the Author doesn't, so the main point is from their view.

In the second case, the author's point isn't an answer to the question of where the universe's missing mass is, but rather just pointing out that there is an argument between two groups.