The MIDAS Touch
The MIDAS Touch MIDAS is a method for reading, comprehending, and summarizing text. By using MIDAS, your comprehension and summarizations skills will turn to gold!
M
Main Idea
I D A S
Identify Important Information
What is the topic? If the main idea is not stated, you must infer the main idea. What is the paragraph mainly about? What is the author’s purpose? Look at the first and last sentence of the paragraph to help you. Answer: Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?
Look at: Title, Headings, Subheadings, Bold Print Words, Words in Italics, Underlined Words, Pictures, Illustrations, Charts, Graphs, tables, and Maps
Disregard or Delete Trivial or Less Important Information After rereading, disregard trivial information that is not related to the main idea. Interesting does not always equal important- descriptions, extra information explanations, or examples.
Analyze Repeated Information Make a list of important details. Look for repeated information- while it is important, it is not necessary to include in your summary.
Simplify by Collapsing, categorizing, and labeling Information Look at your list of details. Can some of this information be collapsed or grouped together and labeled?
Now, you are ready to write your summary. Begin with the main idea and include the key details from your list. Write the summary in your own words and keep it concise and organized.
M
Main Idea
I D A S
Identify Important Information
What is the topic? If the main idea is not stated, you must infer the main idea. What is the paragraph mainly about? What is the author’s purpose? Look at the first and last sentence of the paragraph to help you. Answer: Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?
Look at: Title, Headings, Subheadings, Bold Print Words, Words in Italics, Underlined Words, Pictures, Illustrations, Charts, Graphs, tables, and Maps
Disregard or Delete Trivial or Less Important Information After rereading, disregard trivial information that is not related to the main idea. Interesting does not always equal important- descriptions, extra information explanations, or examples.
Analyze Repeated Information Make a list of important details. Look for repeated information- while it is important, it is not necessary to include in your summary.
Simplify by Collapsing, categorizing, and labeling Information Look at your list of details. Can some of this information be collapsed or grouped together and labeled?
Now, you are ready to write your summary. Begin with the main idea and include the key details from your list. Write the summary in your own words and keep it concise and organized.
