Skimming and Scanning

Reading
Comprehension Skills

Skimming and scanning are especially valuable when there is

only one item of information that you need to find from a
particular passage.

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 is used to quickly gather the most important

information or gist. Its not essential to understand each
word when you are skimming.

Run your eyes over the text, noting important inform

Use skimming to quickly get up to speed on a curren
situation.

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

How to Skim?
Working quickly
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Read the title if there is one.

Read the introduction or the first paragraph if there is one.
Read the first sentence of every other paragraph.
Notice any pictures, charts, or graphs.
Notice any italicized or boldface words or phrases.
Read the summary or last paragraph if there is one.

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.

In other words, when you are

skimming and scanning
Cover everything
2. Check entire page
3. Notice visual clues
4. Notice graphs, charts, titles,
captions
1.

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.

Examples of Scanning:
A

google search list on the internet.

A bus / airplane schedule
A conference guide
A graph

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.

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?

Scanning answers

Remember its important to quickly find the information you need. You dont need to
understand every word, or read every word. Your eyes should quickly scan the document for
the information you seek.

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
We

scan for specific information.

work quickly when we skim and
scan.

Source

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