1984
DOI: 10.1080/10862968409547504
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Topicalization and Memory for Main Ideas in Prose

Abstract: Two experiments compared the effects of text structure and processing task requirements on memory for the main idea of a passage. College students identified as good or poor readers read a series of short passages in which an initial topic sentence was either present (topicalized) or absent (non-topicalized). In Experiment 1, all subjects were required to generate a title for each passage during reading and then were given a forced-choice recognition test for the main idea of each passage. The results showed t… Show more

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Cited by 19 publications
(8 citation statements)
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“…For example, the simple act of generating a main idea sentence for a non-topicalized passage boosts recall to that of topicalized passages (Bridge, Belmore, Moskow, Cohen, & Matthews, 1984). Research also shows that when readers generated topic sentences, headings, and related and unrelated sentences, performance on free recall, passage knowledge, and passage structure tests increased (Dee-Lucas & Di Vesta 1980).…”
Section: Text Structure Research and Instructional Text Revision: Conmentioning
confidence: 84%
“…For example, the simple act of generating a main idea sentence for a non-topicalized passage boosts recall to that of topicalized passages (Bridge, Belmore, Moskow, Cohen, & Matthews, 1984). Research also shows that when readers generated topic sentences, headings, and related and unrelated sentences, performance on free recall, passage knowledge, and passage structure tests increased (Dee-Lucas & Di Vesta 1980).…”
Section: Text Structure Research and Instructional Text Revision: Conmentioning
confidence: 84%
“…Summarisation training described in the literature has frequently been carried out on specially written tests. However, "the world is full of inconsiderate texts" (Bridge, Belmore, Moskow, Cohen & Matthews, 1984)-for example, paragraphs without explicit topic sentences. Readers were trained, therefore, on the type of material they were likely to be required to comprehend in a regular classroom.…”
Section: Methodsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…For example, easier vocabulary and reading levels facilitate identification (Barrett & Otto, 1969), as does the number of supporting details provided (Mohr, Glover, & Ronning, 1984). The presence of an explicit topic sentence also helps main idea identification (Bridge, Belmore, Moskow, Cohen, & Matthews, 1984); but instructional texts often do not contain explicit statements of main ideas (Braddock, 1974;Baumann & Serra, 1984).…”
Section: Instruction In Reading Comprehension Skillsmentioning
confidence: 97%