2. Skimming and scanning are very
rapid reading methods in which
you glance at a passage to find
specific information. These
reading methods make it easier
for you to grasp large amounts
of material, especially when
you're previewing. They are also
useful when you don't need to
know every word.
Skimming and scanning are especially valuable when there is
only one item of information that you need to find from a
particular passage.
3. Skimming is used to quickly gather the most important
information or ‘gist’. It’s not essential to understand each
word when you are skimming.
Run your eyes over the text, noting important information.
Use skimming to quickly get up to speed on a current busine
situation.
4. Examples of Skimming:
The Newspaper – to quickly get the
general news of the day
Magazines – to quickly discover which
articles you would like to read in more
detail
Business and Travel Brochures – to
quickly get informed
5. How to Skim?
Working quickly…
1. Read the title if there is one.
2. Read the introduction or the first paragraph if there is one.
3. Read the first sentence of every other paragraph.
4. Notice any pictures, charts, or graphs.
5. Notice any italicized or boldface words or phrases.
6. Read the summary or last paragraph if there is one.
6. Skim and scan this paragraph in 30 seconds
When you skim and scan, you need to cover
everything, even titles, subtitles, side features, and
visuals. That bit of information you need may not be
tidily packaged in a paragraph, so you need to check
the entire page--not just the main body of the text,
there are also many visual clues that help you to
find information. Heads and subheads break up the
text and identify the content of each part. Where
key terms are introduced and defined, they appear
in boldface type. Graphs and charts have titles
and/or captions that tell you what they are about.
These clues will help you to find information. . . but
only if you use them.
7. In other words, when you are
skimming and scanning…
1. Cover everything
2. Check entire page
3. Notice visual clues
4. Notice graphs, charts, titles,
captions
8. Examples of Scanning:
A google search list on the internet.
A bus / airplane schedule
A conference guide
A graph
Scanning is a reading technique to be used when you want
to find specific information quickly. In scanning you have a
question in your mind and you read a passage only to find
the answer, ignoring unrelated information.
9. How to scan
1. State the specific information you are looking for.
1. Try to anticipate how the answer will appear and what
clues you might use to help you locate the answer. For
example, if you were looking for a certain date, you
would quickly read the paragraph looking only for
numbers.
1. Use headings and any other aids that will help you
identify which sections might contain the information you
are looking for.
1. Selectively read and skip through sections of the passage.
10. Scanning Practice
Here is some information you are looking
for on the BC Hydro website.
Read the questions and then on the next
slide , find the answers, as quickly as
possible:
1. Who is handling inquiries?
2. What is the after hours media line?
3. What is a good example of BC Hydro
Clean Energy Project?
11.
12. Scanning answers
Remember it’s important to quickly find the information you need. You don’t need to understand every word,
or read every word. Your eyes should quickly scan the document for the information you seek.
13. Conclusion
Skimming and scanning is used when
reading all types of documents.
We skim to get the idea of what a document
is about and typically skim all documents
before we actually begin to read.
As we skim, we…
think about the topic
think about what we already know about the topic
start to guess or anticipate the details we are
going to read about.
We scan for specific information.
We work quickly when we skim and scan.
Hi … welcome to EPA Reading Module one. This is a ppt on skimming and scanning, a key reading comprehension skill
Notice the image of the stop watch. It’s there because skimming and scanning is about working quickly to get the information you need from a document.
AS you run your eyes over text, notice key vocabulary words, not worry about grammar words. What do the key words make you think about. Do you already know something abut this? When we skim, we prepare to read.
An example of skimming is…current business situation
Other examples
We skim all sorts of documents. Here are some tips on skimming. As you skim, make connections with the information – what do you know about this? Can you compare it to something you know? Think of it as preparing to read in depth. When a house is constructed, the builders need to have an idea about the house – they need to know what the house will look like before they start looking at the details of the plan.
You have thirty seconds starting now…
Once again – prepare to read… by doing this you will understand the text more quickly.
You know what information you want before you start to read.
You have 30 seconds starting now
Who is handling inquiries
What is the after hours media line
What is a good example of a BC Hydro clean energy project
