Reading and conversation 1 ciclo 02 2019

1- What is Skimming and Scanning?

Skimming will focus on understanding the main idea and concept. It works best with non-
fiction material. You won’t read everything. You read only what is important to your purpose. You may
stop for interesting facts but then quickly continue to skim the book.

Scanning is a technique to trigger and extract key information and ideas such as names,
numbers and specific facts. Scanning involves moving your eyes quickly down the page identifying
specific words and phrases to either find a particular answer or grasping the basic main idea. You can
also use it to determine whether a new resource will answer your questions or not. This activity probably
takes about a 5-10 minutes.

It’s like browsing a new travel book or moving your finger over a map of a city you wish to
travel to. At first you may spot pictures, read selected snippets of information or identify general areas,
landmarks, or highlights. You want to know the bigger picture first before exploring a location in detail.
These practices will teach your brain to understand, comprehend and remember a lot faster.

2- How to Skim and Scan

You can choose from four major strategies.

 Reading Key Sentences

 Scan for name and numbers
 Scan for trigger words
 Skim small parts of text for key ideas

The following steps help preview a book.

 Preview the content page

 Read the title
 Read the back of the book
 Read the index
 Scan for images
 Look for letters in “bold”
 Read the chapter names and headlines
 Read first sentence of paragraphs
 Try spotting tables and graphs
 Spot ‘conclusion’ or ‘summary’ sections
 Jot down key information

3- Skimming and Scannig are different purpose

Skimming and scanning are booth quick reading techniques but they have the different
purposes.You might use skimming to:

  See what’s in the news in a paper or on a website

  Browse through a book to see if you want to read it
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  Look through the television guide to see what’s on one evening

  Flick through a catalogue to see what’s on offer
  Look through the options given on a Google search to see what sites it suggests
You might use scanning to:
  Look up a word in a dictionary or index
  Find an address or a phone number in a directory
  Check what time your program is on television
  Look up details or prices in a catalogue
  Pick out the website you from options on a Google search

4- Understanding skimming and scanning strategies

1. Previewing key sentences
Those sentences can be found at the very beginning of a paragraph or chapter. The first few
sentences will give you a good idea about the paragraph.

How does it work?

Each paragraph usually delivers one idea, though paragraphs may often relate to each other. Once
you understand the central idea behind each paragraph block you will quickly get the gist of it.
This may aid you in understanding the whole chapter a lot faster.

You can also use a different approach – just look for the applicable information that you require
and skip the rest. Another tactic is to read the first and the last sentence of longer paragraphs
which may give you a more relevant summary and to pick up the central idea.

According to my experience this works like a charm. I never read all the sentences or even the
whole chapter. I would constantly shift to the following chapter only skimming the most
interesting bits and bites. In the beginning I found it difficult to remember information but after a
while it became easier for me to remember. Skim as little as possible and as much as necessary.

2. Scan for name and numbers

Numbers and names are always present in every text and they narrate to details about people,
places and concepts. There is no order of getting the specifics in a text during previewing.

Nevertheless I use to look for the main fact by understanding that where did the story take
place? The number of people involved? And understanding the main fact.

One of the best ways of scanning for this sort of information is to move your finger or
pointer across the page (you can use serpentine style or zigzag) you will notice that you will
quickly remember a number or a few names. After that just read the whole text so that you can get
a complete picture.

3. Scanning trigger words

Paul Scheele taught me this technique when I read his book “Photo Reading”. The concept is to
preview a text while keeping a lookout for important key words and if wanted to jot them down.
Mainly you will spot nouns or compounds. Trigger words usually include numbers, names, places
and key sentences.4. Reading the title
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Reading the title, the content and the back of the book or text is probably the first thing we do
with new material. Many trigger words are automatically revealed through this method. For
example if the title says “Guide to memory techniques” it is unlikely to find information about
‘web design’ for example.

There are also chapter titles, headlines, sub-headlines or titles of tables and graphs that reveal a
lot of useful information.

5- Examples: Skimming and Scanning

Skimming to save time
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.
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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 skim topic sentences
 When you find an unfamiliar word
 When the material is very complicated

Scanning for research and study

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.

Scanning to answer questions

If you are scanning for facts to answer a specific question, one step is already done for you:
the question itself supplies the keywords. Follow these steps:

1. Read each question completely before starting to scan. Choose your keywords from the
question itself.
2. Look for answers to only one question at a time. Scan separately for each question.
3. When you locate a keyword, read the surrounding text carefully to see if it is relevant.
4. Re-read the question to determine if the answer you found answers this question.

Scanning is a technique that requires concentration and can be surprisingly tiring. You may
have to practice at not allowing your attention to wander. Choose a time and place that you
know works for you and dive in.