The difference between the main idea and the topic. Basic concepts theme, idea, plot, composition

TOPIC- The subject, the main content of reasoning, presentation, creativity. (S. Ozhegov. Dictionary of the Russian language, 1990.)
TOPIC(Greek Thema) - 1) The subject of presentation, images, research, discussion; 2) the formulation of the problem, which predetermines the selection of life material and the nature of the artistic narrative; 3) the subject of a linguistic statement (...). (Dictionary foreign words, 1984.)

Even these two definitions are capable of confusing the reader: in the first, the word "topic" is equated in meaning with the term "content", while the content artwork immeasurably wider than the topic, the topic is one of the aspects of the content; the second makes no distinction between the concepts of topic and problem, and although topic and problem are philosophically related, they are not the same thing, and you will soon understand the difference.

The following definition of the topic, accepted in literary criticism, is preferable:

TOPIC- this is a vital phenomenon that has become the subject of artistic consideration in the work. The range of such life phenomena is THEME literary work. All phenomena of the world and human life constitute the sphere of interests of the artist: love, friendship, hatred, betrayal, beauty, ugliness, justice, lawlessness, home, family, happiness, deprivation, despair, loneliness, struggle with the world and oneself, solitude, talent and mediocrity, joys of life, money, social relations, death and birth, secrets and mysteries of the world, etc. etc. - these are the words that call life phenomena that become themes in art.

The task of the artist is to creatively study the life phenomenon from the sides interesting to the author, that is artistically reveal the theme. Naturally, this can only be done asking a question(or several questions) to the phenomenon under consideration. This very question, which the artist asks, using the figurative means available to him, is problem literary work.

So,
PROBLEM is a question that does not have a unique solution or involves a set of equivalent solutions. ambiguity possible solutions problem is different from tasks. The collection of such questions is called PROBLEMS.

The more complex the phenomenon of interest to the author (that is, the more topic), the more questions ( problems) it will cause, and the more difficult these issues will be to solve, that is, the deeper and more serious it will be issues literary work.

The theme and the problem are historically dependent phenomena. Different eras dictate different themes and problems to artists. For example, the author of the ancient Russian poem of the XII century "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" was worried about the topic of princely strife, and he asked himself questions: how to make Russian princes stop caring only for personal gain and quarrel with each other, how to unite the disparate forces of a weakening Kiev state? The 18th century invited Trediakovsky, Lomonosov and Derzhavin to think about scientific and cultural transformations in the state, about what an ideal ruler should be like, raised in literature the problems of civic duty and equality of all citizens without exception before the law. Romantic writers were interested in the secrets of life and death, penetrated into the dark recesses of the human soul, solved the problems of human dependence on fate and unsolved demonic forces, the interaction of a talented and extraordinary person with a soulless and mundane society of inhabitants.

The 19th century, with its focus on the literature of critical realism, drew artists to new themes and forced them to reflect on new problems:

Through the efforts of Pushkin and Gogol, the “small” man entered literature, and the question arose about his place in society and his relationship with “big” people;
the women's theme became the most important, and with it the so-called public "women's question"; A. Ostrovsky and L. Tolstoy paid much attention to this topic;
the theme of home and family acquired a new meaning, and L. Tolstoy studied the nature of the connection between upbringing and a person’s ability to be happy;
the unsuccessful peasant reform and further social upheavals aroused a keen interest in the peasantry, and the theme of peasant life and fate, discovered by Nekrasov, became the leading one in literature, and with it the question: what will be the fate of the Russian peasantry and all of great Russia?
The tragic events of history and public moods brought to life the theme of nihilism and opened up new facets in the theme of individualism, which were further developed by Dostoevsky, Turgenev and Tolstoy in their attempts to resolve the questions: how to warn the younger generation against the tragic mistakes of radicalism and aggressive hatred? How to reconcile the generations of "fathers" and "children" in a troubled and bloody world? How is the relationship between good and evil to be understood today, and what is meant by both? How, in an effort to be different from others, do not lose yourself?
Chernyshevsky addresses the topic of the public good and asks: "What should be done?" so that a person in Russian society could honestly earn a comfortable life and thereby increase social wealth? How to "equip" Russia for a prosperous life? Etc.

Note! The problem is question, and it should be formulated mainly in interrogative form, especially if the formulation of problems is the task of your essay or other work in the literature.

Sometimes in art, it is the question posed by the author that becomes a real breakthrough - a new one, previously unknown to society, but now burning, vital. Many works are created in order to pose a problem.

So,
IDEA(Greek Idea, concept, representation) - in literature: the main idea of a work of art, the method proposed by the author for solving the problems posed by him. The totality of ideas, the system of author's thoughts about the world and man, embodied in artistic images is called IDEA CONTENT artistic work.

Thus, the scheme of semantic relations between the topic, problem and idea can be represented as follows:

When you are engaged in the interpretation of a literary work, you are looking for hidden (in scientific terms, implicit) meanings, analyze explicitly and gradually the thoughts expressed by the author, you just study ideological content works. While working on task 8 of your previous work (analysis of a fragment of M. Gorky's story "Chelkash"), you dealt precisely with questions of its ideological content.

When performing tasks on the topic "Content of a literary work: Author's position" pay attention to the contact statement.

You have set a goal: to learn to understand a critical (educational, scientific) text and correctly, accurately state its content; learn to use analytical language when presenting such a text.

You must learn to solve the following tasks:

highlight the main idea of the entire text, determine its topic;
highlight the essence of individual statements of the author and their logical connection;
convey the author's thoughts not as "one's own", but through indirect speech ("The author believes that ...");
expand your vocabulary of concepts and terms.

Source text: With all his creativity, Pushkin, of course, is a rebel. He certainly understands the correctness of Pugachev, Stenka Razin, Dubrovsky. He, of course, would be, if he could, on December 14 at Senate Square along with your friends and associates. (G.Volkov)

Variant of the completed task: According to the firm conviction of the critic, Pushkin is a rebel in his work. The scientist believes that Pushkin, realizing the correctness of Pugachev, Stenka Razin, Dubrovsky, would definitely be, if he could, on December 14 on Senate Square, along with like-minded people.

Target:

continue the formation of the concept of a coherent text based on a comparative analysis of the text and a set of sentences;
develop analytical and imaginative thinking, the ability to highlight the main thing, generalize, develop imagination, Creative skills;
educate responsibility, conscientious attitude to the work performed.

Tasks: lead the children to the conclusion that the sentences in the text are united by a common theme and are interconnected in meaning, that in the text you can always find the main idea or the main experience of the author, that you can always pick up a title for the text.

Equipment: posters with texts, texts and tasks for individual work, illustrations, M. L. Kalenchuk, O. V. Malakhovskaya, N. A. Churakova "Russian language. Textbook for grade 3".

Lesson type: learning new material.

Teaching methods: verbal, explanatory-illustrated, partially exploratory.

Interdisciplinary connections: literary reading, fine arts.

During the classes

1. Organizational moment.

To a new lesson
The school bell rang.
Are you guys ready to write?
Guess and compose quickly?

Guys, let's start the lesson of the Russian language.

What do you expect from him?

I am sure that your expectations will come true if you are attentive, organized, friendly. And for work, we need a supply of good mood. Let's smile at each other. I am sure that your smiles will bring you the joy of communicating with each other. I wish you success and creative success.

2. Goal-setting and learning motivation.

Today our Russian lesson will be a lesson in creativity. And as usual, your friend and assistant Misha will work with us during the lesson. He again had new questions, the answer to which we will look for together with him.

3. Actualization of basic knowledge.

Guys, for starters, Misha asks to remind him what speech is? What is speech for? What are the suggestions for intonation and for the purpose of the statement?

Let's do the first creative task. Based on the illustration, make sentences, determine their type.

4. Post the topic of the lesson.

But in order to find out the topic of the lesson, you need to decipher the record.

20, 6, 12, 19,20
6, 4, 16
20, 6, 14,1
16,19,15,16,3,15,1,33
14,29,19,13,30

Yes, today in the lesson you will learn to determine the main idea of the text, select headings and, finally, become the authors of short stories yourself.

So, let's begin. We need to figure out what we call text. Read two entries. Which of them can be called a text? Explain your point of view.

(Texts are given in the textbook).

1) On clear autumn days, the hedgehog prepares a winter bed for himself. It drags fragrant dry leaves and soft forest moss into a hole under an old stump. Winter will come, a deep snowdrift will cover his hole. Under the snow, as under a thick fluffy blanket, warm hedgehog. The hedgehog sleeps all winter. No one will find his mink, no one will disturb him until spring!

2) In autumn, hedgehogs have little prey. Sasha and Masha were presented with a pretty hedgehog. The hedgehog spends more than six months in hibernation. Once our cat saw a hedgehog. Hedgehogs are mammals from the order of insectivores. The hedgehog hunts at night.

And I already know which record is the text! Misha said. - I just can't explain it!

Guys, can you explain? Let's reason together.

Can we say that both entries are on the same topic.

In which notation are all the sentences connected in meaning?

What is the purpose of the first entry, what is the main idea in it? Tell it in your own words.

Can you identify the main idea of the second entry?

Which record can have more than one title? Come up with two. Let one name correspond to the topic, and the other expresses the main idea.

Dynamic pause.

The game "Seasons". Four paper hats are used for the game: Winter, Spring, Summer, Autumn. Think of words that correspond to this time of the year.

Complete each statement with the right word: theme, experience, meaning, thought and write it down in a notebook.

All sentences in the text are written in one: (they are united by a common :).

All sentences in the text are linked by:

In the text, you can always find the main: or main: the author.

Now, guys, can you scientifically explain why record 1 is text, but record 2 is not?

Which conditions are not met in entry 2?

And what else distinguishing feature does the text have?

5. Physical minutes.

Once - got up, stretched.
Two - bent, unbent.
Three - in the hands of three claps,
Three head nods.
Four - arms wider.
Five - wave your hands.
Six - sit quietly at the desk.

6. Consolidation of the studied material.

But we have not completed the most important task of the lesson. After all, we have a lesson in creativity. You and I must create our own texts. But before we start creating our own texts, we will consolidate the ability to determine the topic and main idea of the text. Each of you has a piece of paper on the table with texts and three tasks.

The river flowed through the village. She was cheerful and talkative. People decided to accustom the river to work. After all, she can help milk cows, and plow the land, and water gardens, and saw logs, and grind grain.

2. Pick up words for the topic.

Theme "Shop".

3. (The task is the main one, it is creative in nature).

Come up with a coherent story on the topic "The book is my best friend."

Children who experience difficulties can be individually given reference words (read, learn, adventure, fairy tales, interesting, pleasure, advise).

Birds flew over the lake. Some sat on the water to rest. They fly further north. Others have chosen a place for nesting here. The air hummed with the whistle of wings and the voices of birds.

2. Pick up words for the topic.

Theme "School".

3. Come up with a coherent story on the topic "The beauty of the autumn forest."

(After completing the task, the texts are read out. The students name the most successful ones, in their opinion, taking into account the relevance of the topic and the main idea, the exact use of words, the connection of sentences, the figurativeness of the language.)

7. The result of the lesson. Reflection.

What is the topic of the text?

What is the main idea of the text?

How is the topic of a text different from its main idea?

What should the heading of the text reflect?

What can you say about the work of your classmates?

What can you say about your personal contribution to the common work?

Now let's create our picture. Let's return the leaves to the tree branches. Evaluate your work in class. Green leaf - "I know", yellow - "I doubt", red - "I don't know".

8. Homework. Draw illustrations for your texts.

Hello author! Analyzing any work of art, a critic / reviewer, and just an attentive reader, starts from four basic literary concepts. The author relies on them when creating his work of art, unless, of course, he is a standard graphomaniac, who simply writes everything that comes to mind. You can write rubbish, template or more or less original without understanding these terms. But here is a text worthy of the reader's attention - it is rather difficult. So let's go over each of them. I'll try not to load.

Translated from Greek, the theme is that which is the basis. In other words, the theme is the subject of the author's image, those phenomena and events to which the author wants to draw the reader's attention.

Examples:

The theme of love, its origin and development, and possibly its end.
The theme of fathers and children.
The theme of the confrontation between good and evil.
The theme of betrayal.
The theme of friendship.
The theme of the formation of character.
Space exploration theme.

Topics change depending on the era in which a person lives, but some topics that worry humanity from era to era remain relevant - they are called "eternal topics". Above, I listed 6 "eternal themes", but the last, seventh - "the conquest of space" - has become relevant for mankind not so long ago. However, apparently, it will also become an "eternal theme".

1. The author sits down for a novel and writes everything that comes to mind, without thinking about any topics of literary works.
2. The author is going to write, say, a science fiction novel and starts from the genre. He does not care about the topic, he does not think about it at all.
3. The author coldly chooses a topic for his novel, scrupulously studies and thinks it over.
4. The author is concerned about some topic, questions about it do not let him sleep at night, and during the day he mentally returns to this topic every now and then.

The result will be 4 different novels.

1. 95% (the percentages are approximate, they are given for a better understanding and nothing more) - it will be an ordinary graphomaniac, slag, a meaningless chain of events, with logical errors, cranberries, blunders where someone attacked someone, although there was none there is no reason for that, someone fell in love with someone, although the reader does not understand at all what he / she found in her / him, someone quarreled with someone for no reason (In fact, of course, it’s understandable - so the author needed it in order to continue to freely sculpt his writings)))), etc. etc. There are many such novels, but they are rarely printed, because few people can master them even with a small volume. Runet is littered with such novels, I think that you have watched them more than once.

2. This is the so-called "stream literature", it is printed quite often. Read and forget. For once. Will pull with beer. Such novels can captivate if the author has a good imagination, but they do not touch, do not excite. A certain man went there, found something, then became powerful, and so on. A certain young lady fell in love with a handsome man, from the very beginning it was clear that in the fifth or sixth chapter there would be sex, and in the final they would get married. A certain "nerd" became the chosen one and went to distribute whips and gingerbread left and right, to all those who he did not like and liked. Etc. In general, everything ... such. There are plenty of such novels both on the Web and on bookshelves, and, most likely, while reading this paragraph, you remembered a couple of three, or maybe a dozen or more.

3. These are the so-called "crafts" High Quality. The author is a pro and skillfully leads the reader from chapter to chapter, and the ending surprises. However, the author does not write about what he sincerely cares about, but he studies the moods and tastes of readers and writes in such a way that the reader is interested. Such literature is much rarer than the second category. I will not name the authors here, but you are probably familiar with suitable crafts. These are fascinating detective stories and exciting fantasy and beautiful love stories. After reading such a novel, the reader is often satisfied and wants to continue to get acquainted with the novels of his favorite author. They are rarely re-read, because the plot is already familiar and understandable. But if the characters fell in love, then re-reading is quite possible, and reading the author’s new books is more than likely (if he has them, of course).

4. And this category is rare. Novels, after reading which people walk for several minutes, or even hours, as if knocked down, under the impression, often ponder what was written. They can cry. They can laugh. These are novels that stagger the imagination, which help to cope with life's difficulties, to rethink this or that. Almost all classical literature is like that. These are novels that people put on a bookshelf in order to re-read and rethink what they read after some time. Novels that have an impact on people. Novels that are remembered. This is Literature with a capital letter.

Naturally, I'm not saying that choosing and working on a theme is enough to write a strong novel. Moreover, I will say frankly - not enough. But in any case, I think it is clear how important the topic is in a literary work.

The idea of a literary work is inextricably linked with its theme, and that example of the influence of a novel on the reader that I described above in paragraph 4 is unrealistic if the author paid attention only to the topic, but forgot to even think about the idea. However, if the author is concerned about the topic, then the idea, as a rule, is comprehended and worked out by him with the same attention.

What is the idea of a literary work?

The idea is the main idea of the work. It shows the attitude of the author to the theme of his work. It is in this display artistic means and lies the difference between the idea of a work of art and a scientific idea.

"Gustave Flaubert vividly expressed his ideal of the writer, noting that, like the Almighty, the writer in his book should be nowhere and everywhere, invisible and omnipresent. There are several important works fiction, in which the presence of the author is unobtrusive to the extent that Flaubert wanted it, although he himself did not manage to achieve his ideal in Madame Bovary. But even in works where the author is ideally unobtrusive, he is nevertheless scattered throughout the book and his absence turns into a kind of radiant presence. As the French say, "il brille par son absence" ("shines with its absence")" © Vladimir Nabokov, "Lectures on Foreign Literature".

If the author accepts the reality described in the work, then such an ideological assessment is called an ideological statement.
If the author condemns the reality described in the work, then such an ideological assessment is called an ideological denial.

The ratio of ideological affirmation and ideological negation in each work is different.

It is important not to go to extremes here, and this is very, very difficult. The author who forgets about the idea at the moment, the emphasis on artistry will lose the idea, and the author who forgets about artistry, because he is completely absorbed in the idea, will write journalism. This is neither good nor bad for the reader, because it is a matter of the reader's taste - to choose how to relate to this, however, fiction is precisely what fiction is and precisely what literature is.

Examples:

Two different authors describe the NEP period in their novels. However, after reading the novel by the first author, the reader is filled with indignation, condemns the events described and concludes that this period was terrible. And after reading the novel by the second author, the reader would be delighted, and would draw conclusions that the NEP is a wonderful period in history and will regret that he does not live in this period. course in this example I am exaggerating, because the clumsy expression of an idea is a sign of a weak novel, poster, popular print - which can cause rejection in the reader, who will consider that the author is imposing his opinion on him. But I exaggerate in this example for a better understanding.

Two different authors wrote stories about adultery. The first author condemns adultery, the second deals with the causes of their occurrence, and main character that being married fell in love with another man - justifies. And the reader is imbued with either the ideological negation of the author, or his ideological affirmation.

Without an idea, literature is waste paper. Because the description of events and phenomena for the sake of describing events and phenomena is not only boring reading, but also tritely stupid. "Well, what did the author mean by that?" - the dissatisfied reader will ask and shrugging his shoulders, he will throw the book into a landfill. Junk, because.

There are two main ways of presenting an idea in a work.

The first - by artistic means, very unobtrusively, in the form of an aftertaste.
The second - through the mouth of the character-resonator or direct author's text. Head-on. In this case, the idea is called a trend.

It is up to you to choose how to present an idea, but a thoughtful reader will surely understand whether the author gravitates toward tendentiousness or artistry.

Plot.

The plot is a set of events and relationships between characters in a work, unfolding in time and space. At the same time, the events and relationships of the characters are not necessarily presented to the reader in a causal or temporal sequence. A simple example for better understanding is a flashback.

Attention: the plot is based on the conflict, and the conflict unfolds due to the plot.

No conflict, no plot.

This is very important to understand. Many "stories" and even "novels" on the Web do not have a plot, as such.

If the character went to the bakery and bought bread there, then came home and ate it with milk, and then watched TV - this is a plotless text. Prose is not poetry, and without a plot, it is usually not accepted by the reader.

And why is such a "story" not a story at all?

1. Exposure.
2. Tie.
3. Development of action.
4. Climax.
5. Decoupling.

The author does not have to use all the elements of the plot, in contemporary literature authors often do without exposition, for example, but the main rule of fiction is that the plot must be completed.

More about plot elements and conflict in another topic.

Do not confuse plot with plot. These are different terms with different meanings.
The plot is the content of events in their sequential connection. Causal and temporal.
For a better understanding, I explain: the author conceived the story, in his head the events are arranged in order, first this event happened, then that, this follows from here, and this from here. This is the plot.
And the plot is how the author presented this story to the reader - he kept silent about something, rearranged the events somewhere, and so on. etc.
Of course, it happens that the plot and the plot coincide when the events in the novel line up strictly according to the plot, but the plot and the plot are not the same thing.

Composition.

Oh, this composition! The weak point of many novelists, and often writers of short stories.

Composition is the construction of all elements of a work in accordance with its purpose, character and content, and largely determines its perception.

Difficult, right?

I'll say it easier.

Composition is the structure of a work of art. The structure of your story or novel.
This is such a big house, consisting of various parts. (for men)
This is such a soup, in which there are just no products! (for women)

Each brick, each soup component is an element of the composition, an expressive means.

The character's monologue, description of the landscape, lyrical digressions and inserted novels, repetitions and point of view on the depicted, epigraphs, parts, chapters and much more.

The composition is divided into external and internal.

The external composition (architectonics) is the volumes of the trilogy (for example), parts of the novel, its chapters, paragraphs.

The internal composition is portraits of characters, descriptions of nature and interiors, point of view or change of points of view, accents, flashbacks and much more, as well as extra-plot components - a prologue, inserted short stories, author's digressions and an epilogue.

Each author strives to find his own composition, to get closer to his ideal composition for a particular work, however, as a rule, most texts are rather weak in compositional terms.
Why so?
Well, firstly, there are a lot of components, many of which are simply unknown to many authors.
Secondly, it is banal due to literary illiteracy - thoughtlessly placed accents, overdoing it with descriptions to the detriment of dynamics or dialogues, or vice versa - continuous jumping-running-jumping of some cardboard Persians without portraits or continuous dialogue without attribution or with it.
Thirdly, because of the inability to capture the volume of the work and isolate the essence. In a number of novels, without prejudice (and often for the benefit) of the plot, whole chapters can be thrown out. Or, in some chapter, a good third is given information that does not play on the plot and characters of the characters - for example, the author is fond of describing the car up to the description of the pedals and a detailed story about the gearbox. The reader is bored, he scrolls through such descriptions ("Listen, if I need to get acquainted with the device of this car model, I will read the technical literature!"), And the author believes that "This is very important for understanding the principles of driving the car of Peter Nikanorych!" and thereby makes a generally good text dull. By analogy with soup - it is worth overdoing it with salt, for example, and the soup will become too salty. This is one of the most common reasons why executives are encouraged to practice on small form first before taking on novels. However, practice shows that quite a few nachpisov seriously believes that to start literary activity It follows precisely from the large form, because it is precisely this form that publishers need. I assure you, if you think that all you need to write a readable novel is the desire to write it, you are greatly mistaken. You have to learn how to write novels. And learning is easier and with greater efficiency - on miniatures and stories. Despite the fact that the story is a different genre, you can perfectly learn the internal composition by working in this genre.

Composition is a way to embody the author's idea, and a compositionally weak work is the author's inability to convey the idea to the reader. In other words, if the composition is weak, the reader simply will not understand what the author wanted to say with his novel.

Thank you for attention.

In tests in Russian, there are often tasks like "Read the text. Determine its topic." It would seem that there is nowhere easier, but for some reason, it is precisely on such elementary questions that many graduates "stumble" when passing the exam and even college students.

Definition

In order to understand how to determine the topic of the text, you first need to find out what it is. Definitions from textbooks are usually formulated too abstrusely, but everything is extremely simple.

Let's try to get better. Think about how you can briefly formulate the themes of famous works? Here are some examples:

L. N. Tolstoy, "Anna Karenina"- the love story of a married noblewoman and a young officer Vronsky.
G. Troepolsky, "White Bim black ear" - life through the eyes of a dog that has lost a loving owner.
M. A. Bulgakov, " dog's heart" – experience in transplanting a human pituitary gland into a dog and its consequences.
A. Green, "Scarlet Sails"- the life of the girl Assol, who lives in anticipation of the prince, who, according to the prediction, should sail to her on a ship with scarlet sails.
A. Dumas, "The Three Musketeers"- the adventures of the three musketeers and d'Artagnan, who arrived in Paris to join the ranks of the elite royal guard.

As you can see, if you at least roughly know what the book or article is about, there will be no problems with how to determine the topic of the text. In addition, often the answer is right in the title (for example, "War and Peace", "Three Comrades", "Romeo and Juliet", "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer").

Theme, idea, problem: what's the difference?

And now we have come to the most difficult moment. How to determine the topic of the text, even a child intuitively understands, then where does the confusion come from? The fact is that in the literature there are also the concepts of "main idea" and "problem of the text", which are very similar in meaning. Moreover, in Everyday life we often use them interchangeably.

How to stop confusing these concepts? Let's forget the long and confusing wording from the textbooks and try to understand the meaning of these terms.

It's actually pretty easy to remember what the difference is between the topic, the main idea, and the problem of the text. For convenience, we have arranged the main points in the form of a table.

	Topic	Idea (main idea)	Problem
essence	What is described in the text (events, people, phenomena, etc.)	The goals and personal opinion of the author are what he is trying to lead the reader to	The global question that the author discusses
What questions does it answer	What is the story about?	What do I feel at this moment?	What big issues does the text make you think about?
	Who is the main character?	What should a good person do in this case?	Why are the characters in this situation?
	Where and when do the events take place?	What conclusions should be drawn from this situation?	What should modern society pay attention to?
Peculiarities	"Report" about the events of the work, description of the place, characters, their thoughts and feelings	Personal opinion of the writer, his attitude to characters and events	There are at least two sides to the coin, and every opinion deserves its right to exist.
	Does not contain subjective assessments	May contain ratings good/bad, right/wrong	Not tied to the plot and characters, affects global conflicts - religious, political, social
	Lists the facts - who did what and why	Demonstrates the position of the author regarding the problem of the text - what is the reason, how it affects society, etc.	Expressed as a question
Examples	Walk around St. Petersburg	St. Petersburg is a city where the pages of old novels come to life, and each street has its own story.	Why is it necessary to learn to notice the beauty around you?
	Rescue of a homeless puppy	Taking care of younger brothers, a person shows his best qualities - the ability to empathize, kindness and responsibility	Who is to blame for the fact that there are so many homeless animals on the streets?
	The importance of proper nutrition	For human health, it is important that the diet contains products of all groups - meat, fish, vegetables, fruits, dairy products and cereals.	Is it possible in modern world lead a healthy lifestyle?

"Eternal" themes

People always write about what is happening around them, so each historical period has its own characteristic themes. So, now few people will undertake to describe the events of the October Revolution or the hardships of the life of serfs.

However, speaking about how to determine the main topic of the text, it should be noted that there are so-called "eternal" topics - those in which readers will recognize their experiences and problems at all times:

love, the birth of tender feelings and the bitterness of parting;
fathers and children (the clash of values and views of different generations);
confrontation between good and evil;
friendship and betrayal;
growing up and becoming a person - how life circumstances change the character and views.

These themes can be traced in one way or another in almost all literary texts. Therefore, when doing your analysis, think about what human values and issues the author touches on.

How to determine the topic of the text in 5 minutes

1. Reread the title. It may contain clues that will help you understand what the text will be about. This is especially true for short stories and articles in which the author immediately gets to the point. At the same time, remember that headings can be associative, metaphorical or paradoxical.

2. Study the text. Mentally select for yourself the main semantic blocks and determine how they are interconnected (in time, logically, etc.). For convenience, you can sketch a small plan.

3. Write out key sentences. In each paragraph, highlight the phrase that contains the most useful information necessary for understanding the material.

4. Cut back. Now your task is to “throw out” everything superfluous from these sentences. Artistic techniques, additional details, complex turns, actions. As a result, only the main keywords and phrases.

5. Distribute phrases by importance. To determine the main topic of the text, you need to write them in a column in descending order of importance. That is, first of all, we write those words and phrases, without which it is impossible to understand what the text says.

6. Formulate a topic. We take the keywords that we collected at the previous stage as a basis. Unlike the idea, the topic should be extremely concise. Don't stretch it out into a full sentence - ideally try to keep it under 5-6 words (for example, "How to learn to forgive" or "The healing power of classical music").