Main Idea vs. Author's Point of View

[Kristinav10]

Is the main idea the author's point of view? In the book I am interpreting the main idea as the author's point of view and I am not sure if it is separate from what the passage is focusing on primarily. An example would be the intellectual vs. institutional authority in the legal field passage. The passage primarily discusses institutional authority however at the end of the passage the author says intellectual and institutional authority are used in the legal field. I'm reading passages differently and I hope this isn't a stupid question

[ohthatpatrick]

If the author offers a point of view, then that would almost invariably be the Main Idea.

But some passages are neutral, so we couldn't say that they're always interchangeable. In a neutral, descriptive passage, you'd have to look for some "framing idea" that sounds like the Main Idea, under which all the rest of the conversation fits.

I tend to start by asking myself, "What was the author's purpose in writing this passage?"
(even neutral passages still have an author who wrote with some purpose)

The common purposes are things like:
CLARIFY A MISCONCEPTION
PROBLEM / SOLUTION
OLD VS. NEW
PRESENT A DEBATE
ILLUSTRATE BY MEANS OF EXAMPLE
CRITICIZE / DEFEND AGAINST CRITICISM
HIGHLIGHT A DISTINCTION

If the purpose is CLARIFY A MISCONCEPTION, then the Main Idea is what we SHOULD be thinking (as opposed to the misconception).

If the purpose is PROBLEM / SOLUTION, then the Main Idea would be the author's recommended solution. If the author presents but rejects other people's solutions, then maybe the Main Idea is just "we have this problem we still haven't figured out a solution to"

etc.

By thinking through the lens of purpose, you'll normally be aligning Main Idea with Author's View,
but in cases where the author Presents a debate but doesn't weigh in on it, the Main Idea would probably just be some framing idea that sounds like, "there continues to be a debate over this subject".

Hope this helps.