How to find the main idea of the paragraph

(From: Canavan P.J., King M.L. Developing Reading Skills. Boston, 1968)

First, remember that in the majority of paragraphs the first sentence expresses the main idea.

Second, read the first sentence of the paragraph to understand it so that you’ll be able to relate it to everything else in the paragraph – or for that matter, in the entire selection.

Third, skip to the last two or three sentences in the paragraph.

Fourth, read these last sentences rapidly. If one says the same thing as the first sentence of the paragraph, you’ll know the first sentence contains the main idea. If one expresses a different idea, you’ll suspect that it and not the first sentence of the paragraph is the topic sentence. And if these last sentences are clearly supporting details for the idea in the first sentence, you’ll know that the first sentence of the paragraph is the key one.

When doubt remains, there is the fifth step. Since a paragraph is about something – follow the dominant noun from first to last. Pick it up at or near the beginning and see it through repetitions, as well as through its transformations into pronouns and synonyms. Doing this will lead you to the main idea, or convince you that the first sentence was, after all, the topic sentence.

In fact, we offer this procedure not so you will spend a lot of time locating the main idea, but so you can do it quickly. On any occasion, don’t use any more of the steps than necessary, often only the first two will be required. You are really aiming to see the structure or organization of the paragraph. A later aim will be comprehension of all the writer’s material in the paragraph. Then you’ll read more slowly, and more carefully.

Brain drain: a natural phenomenon?

Nowadays we are hearing less and less about how detrimental brain drain is to Russia. Have we, like the rest of the world, begun to see it as something natural?

The consolation is that these days, leaving the country does not necessarily mean saying good-bye forever. Indeed, in recent years, for every scientist who emigrates for good, there are four who are working on a contract basis. Their lifestyle is like a watchman’s job – one shift returns, and another leaves. They usually receive temporary grants, and travel from country to country.

Often they simply go because they can’t continue their research at a contemporary level in Russia, due to the lack of equipment, reactants, or the fact that they just can’t get the information they need. In the meantime, the level of this “internal scientific emigration” is at least twice as high as its “external” counterpart.

According to the official emigration statistics, most of our émigré scientists and pedagogical workers ended up in Germany, although those who emigrate to Germany usually end up changing their professions. So, in fact, three quarters of the people who actively work in the field of fundamental sciences are currently employed in the United States and Canada. Others go to Israel and Australia, while recently they’ve also started heading to Latin American countries like Panama, Columbia and Mexico. There are also more exotic destinations like Trinidad, Namibia and Jamaica. They comprise the Russian scientific diaspora.

The term diaspora, or “dispersal”, has historically been used to characterize people who are drawn to one another across a distance. The ethnic-Russian scientific diaspora, which is scattered throughout the entire world, was able to become “glued together” very quickly with the help of computer communication systems.

First the Russian scientists had mailing lists; now they also have Web sites. One of the most popular mailing list is the INFO-RUSS project, which links over 1,200 subscribers. This form of correspondence is open to everybody. According to recent calculations, approximately 14,000-18,000 scientists from Russia have been working abroad in the field of fundamental sciences.

Lately, the processes of intellectual migration have become more stable and have taken on more civilized forms. Today, the West is buying out Russian young Programmers. Fourth-year students studying at faculties of computational mathematics and cybernetics can now receive stipends from foreign organizations. There are representatives of firms recruiting students to work abroad standing by at the famous technical schools.

A big-name professor may choose the specific universities he would like to work in, but his students are willing to take any job, even one that has nothing to do with major science. They are being hired to create virtual casinos, and to develop banking services and new telecommunication technologies.

But science schools can’t exist without students. And Russia needs to hang on for about another 10 years, until it gets some fresh blood. The only people to count on are the kids who are currently in third and fourth grades.

Answer the following questions:

1. What problem is the article devoted to?

2. Is brain drain a natural phenomenon? What do you think?

3. Why do Russian scientists leave their Motherland?

4. Do all of them leave forever?

5. What countries do they go to?

6. What does the term “diaspora” mean?

7. What specialists are of high demand abroad?

8. What expects Russia in future?

9. Express your personal opinion of brain drain problem. Is it as dismal as it seems to be?