Important reading techniques while reviewing the literature
SKIMMING & SCANNING
Skimming to save time
Skimming is reading rapidly in order to get a general overview of the material. Skimming tells
you what general information is within a section. Use skimming in previewing (reading before
you read), reviewing (reading after you read), determining the main idea from a long selection
you don't wish to read, or when trying to find source material for a research paper.
Skimming can save you hours of laborious reading. However, it is not always the most
appropriate way to read. It is very useful as a preview to a more detailed reading or when
reviewing a selection heavy in content. But when you skim, you may miss important points or
overlook the finer shadings of meaning, for which rapid reading or perhaps even study reading
may be necessary.
Use skimming to overview your textbook chapters or to review for a test. Use skimming to
decide if you need to read something at all, for example during the preliminary research for a
paper. Skimming can tell you enough about the general idea and tone of the material, as well
as its gross similarity or difference from other sources, to know if you need to read it at all.
To skim, prepare yourself to move rapidly through the pages. You will not read every word;
you will pay special attention to typographical cues-headings, boldface and italic type,
indenting, bulleted and numbered lists. You will be alert for key words and phrases, the names
of people and places, dates, nouns, and unfamiliar words. In general follow these steps:
1. Read the table of contents or chapter overview to learn the main divisions of ideas.
2. Glance through the main headings in each chapter just to see a word or two. Read
the headings of charts and tables.
3. Read the entire introductory paragraph and then the first and last sentence only of each
following paragraph. For each paragraph, read only the first few words of each sentence or to
locate the main idea.
4. Stop and quickly read the sentences containing keywords indicated in boldface or italics.
5. When you think you have found something significant, stop to read the entire sentence to
make sure. Then go on the same way. Resist the temptation to stop to read details you don't
need.
6. Read chapter summaries when provided.
If you cannot complete all the steps above, compromise: read only the chapter overviews and
summaries, for example, or the summaries and all the boldfaced keywords. When you skim,
you take a calculated risk that you may miss something. For instance, the main ideas of
paragraphs are not always found in the first or last sentences (although in many textbooks they
are). Ideas you miss you may pick up in a chapter overview or summary.
Good skimmers do not skim everything at the same rate or give equal attention to everything.
While skimming is always faster than your normal reading speed, you should slow down in
the following situations:
When you skim introductory and concluding paragraphs
When you find an unfamiliar word
When the material is very complicated
Scanning for research and study
Scanning is reading rapidly in order to find specific facts. Scanning helps you locate a
particular fact.
Use scanning in research to find particular facts, to study fact-heavy topics, and to answer
questions requiring factual support.
Scanning, too, uses keywords and organizational cues. But while the goal of skimming is a
bird's-eye view of the material, the goal of scanning is to locate and swoop down on particular
facts.
Facts may be buried within long text passages that have relatively little else to do with your
topic or claim. Skim this material first to decide if it is likely to contain the facts you need.
Don't forget to scan tables of contents, summaries, indexes, headings, and typographical cues.
To make sense of lists and tables, skim them first to understand how they are organized:
alphabetical, chronological, or most-to-least, for example. If after skimming you decide the
material will be useful, go ahead and scan:
1. Know what you're looking for. Decide on a few key words or phrases–search terms, if you
will. You will be a flesh-and-blood search engine.
2. Look for only one keyword at a time. If you use multiple keywords, do multiple scans.
3. Let your eyes float rapidly down the page until you find the word or phrase you want.
4. When your eye catches one of your keywords, read the surrounding material carefully.
