key concepts
Essential underlying principles
Key concepts are the fundamental ideas essential to understanding a subject or argument.
In academic writing, identifying key concepts means isolating the central notions around which everything else organizes: The key concepts in this chapter are supply, demand, and equilibrium.
The phrase signals what matters most and what readers should grasp before proceeding.
- coreCentral essential portion
- essentialFundamentally necessary
- fundamentalForming the base
- first principlesBasic truths underlying reasoning
- crucialOf supreme importance
central · pivotal · big picture · idea · notion · theme · guiding principles · principle · framework · foundation · building blocks · pillars · tenets · underpinnings · essence · crux · gist · bottom line
- philosophy resourcesphilosophy 101, beginner guides, thought experiments, philosophical arguments
- study aidstutor, note cards, CliffsNotes, crib sheet, study guides
- studyingstudying, study notes, learning, study plan, study session
- fundamentalsbasics, fundamentals, essentials, foundation, ABCs
- document formattingmargins, headers, footers, headings, subheadings
key conceptsminor details
footnotes · minutiae · trivialities · asides · side notes
keys, keyed, keying, keystone, keyword, concept, concepts, conceptual, conceptually