Reading Techniques: Skimming and Scanning

As you know reading is very important, it helps us make meaning of what has been written. Reading effectively can make reading enjoyable and worth the time.

Let's look at these reading techniques to help us understand reading better.

Skimming

Skimming is a technique of reading that involves glancing through a text to obtain the basic idea of the whole text. Skimming will help you decide whether you want to read a particular text or not. It will help you save time especially when you're not interested in the whole content.

Here are examples of skimming;

Going through a newspaper to read a particular article.
Going through a catalog to select an offer
Viewing the latest news on a website and so on

How to skim

1. The first and foremost step in skimming is to read the title first as this would provide you an idea of the whole concept of the text.

2. Check out the subheading too, it can provide a basic idea about what's in the text.

3. Read the introduction or first few lines of the text. Remember, an introduction is often an integral part of a text.

4. To skim thoroughly, you may have to read the first lines of every paragraph of the text. Also, be on the lookout for text emphasis like bolded and italicized words.

Scanning

Scanning involves looking through a text to find specific information, for example looking up a word in the dictionary or finding a phone number from a contact list.

Although skimming and scanning are often misunderstood, they are different. Skimming involves finding general information while scanning is concerned with looking for specific information.

Here are other purposes of scanning;

Checking the time schedule and name of a participant of an event in an order of service.
Checking the price of a specific product on Jumia
To identify particular information in a text such as the name of the governor or the age of a particular person in the text

How to scan

1. The first step to scanning is skimming, before you begin to scan you must first have an idea, that is a basic idea about the whole text. If the content is new or foreign to you, you can not begin to scan.

Skimming helps you identify the section you might find the particular information you're looking for.

2. Take notice of how the text is arranged, it could be alphabetically or numerically. Pay close attention to the order of arrangement. This will make your search simpler.

Some texts are not arrayed in any manner at all, so you'll have to presume a section and scan it to get what you want.

3. Move your eyes vertically and diagonally as you scan through the text or document. It will make it easier for you to find the particular information.

4 Reasons Why You Should Start Reading Books Today.

1. Reading Improves your knowledge. One of the choices a man has to make in life is to choose that which is important to him, What he knows or what he doesn't Know. By Reading and investing in knowledge obtained from books you literally expand the limits of your knowledge in several areas. 2. Reading Upgrades your beliefs. The Way to change yourself is to change your beliefs. Much more than the knowledge obtained from books, Immersive reading, transforms your beliefs about life and gives you new and brighter perspectives. 3. Reading a book Improves Your concentration. One of the most common and widespread challenges for most people in this day and age is the inability to concentrate on tasks and objectives. One of the things reading does is that it helps develop your Concentration muscles. 4. Reading a Book Enhances Imagination. Just as Your knowledge increases on account of your reason, your imagination Expands as you step into new levels of knowledge. You literally en...

Self Evaluation and Benefits

Self-evaluation plays an important role on a personal and corporate level. We’ve all been evaluated by people one way or the other, sometimes their judgments are superficial and dependent on the roles that we play. The truest and unbiased evaluation can only come from oneself that’s if the evaluation process is honest. The decisions we make most times are transcendent, they can touch other people asides from ourselves. When we evaluate ourselves, it brings about improvements that eventually affect the people beyond us. What is self-evaluation? Simply put, self-evaluation is the process that entails judging one’s performance in order to improve it. It requires that you monitor your abilities, actions, and results and also evaluate your strengths and weaknesses in the various aspects of your life. At certain points in time, it is needful to ask yourself some questions to gain insights and a better understanding of lessons learned during a particular phase or period and ways to marc...

An Asset?

Long ago, in a faraway land called Sumer near the Persian Gulf, the city was known as the cradle of civilization. When their businesses began to bloom such that the administration and calculations of trade numbers or purchases could no longer be done by memory, causing a drag in their mode of operations. This disruption motivated a creative Sumerian to create a solution to the problem which brought about the art of writing. Writing was introduced to the system primarily for record-keeping. Although writing started with symbols (pictograph) and inscriptions on local materials such as clay and reeds. Writing evolved into a sophisticated script called the cuneiform which was used to record information about bureaucracy and authority, and other aspects of life. These were mostly written on scrolls. Imagine what the world would have been without the collection of events or experiences... Just imagine They would be no history, memories, shreds of evidence of the past, and of cours...

SIMSAK BOOKSTORES

Search This Blog