BHM COMMUNICATIVE ENGLISH SEM-2
SKIMMING & SCANNING
SKIMMING
Skimming
Skimming is sometimes referred to as gist reading where you’re trying to glance over the material to grasp the main idea.
The way you do this is to read the first and last paragraph and check for any dark headings.
Skimming may help in order to know what the text is about at its most basic level.
You might typically do this with a magazine or newspaper and would help you mentally and quickly shortlist those articles which you might consider for a deeper read.
You might typically skim to search for a name in a telephone directory.
Skimming Saves Your Time
Skimming will certainly save you a lot of time as you grasp the main idea of whatever you are reading, but do not expect your comprehension to be high during the process.
However, skimming is useful when your goal is to preview the text to get a better idea of what it’s about. It will help prepare you for deeper learning.
Definition : As learning expert and author Pat Wyman says in her online course, Total Recall Learning™ for Students skimming is a terrific idea to get an overview and mental picture in your mind which will help improve your memory.
This strategy makes it much easier to recall what you’re about to read.
- Take a look at the table of contents first.
- Review the subheadings in each chapter
- Quickly read the first paragraph in that section
- Check out anything in your text that is in bold or italics
- If there is a chapter summary, now is a good time read it over.
This completely prepares your brain to have an overview of what this chapter is about.
You can then go on to use scanning to find specific important ideas.
Scanning is commonly used in everyday life, for example when looking up a word in a dictionary or finding your friend’s name in the contacts directory of your phone.
Skimming example of newspaper skimming is speed reading for cursory overview for general information. Going through an entire newspaper quickly through the headlines is an example of skimming. Going through a data-table quickly to elicit an overall idea of the topic on which data is presented is an example of a skimming technique of reading. Do not expect a deep comprehension of the written text after skimming. Reading only the headings of chapters is skimming.
Skimming is the process of quickly viewing a section of text to get a general impression of the author’s main argument, themes or ideas.
There are three types of skimming: preview, overview, and review.
Preview skimming
Most often followed by a second skimming or a thorough reading, preview skimming is used
- in selecting a book.
- in surveying a chapter before reading or studying.
- in finding appropriate material for use in research.
- in sorting through correspondence before answering it.
You preview in an effort to learn about the ideas presented and the structure of their development.
Method: Read the first paragraph, and the headings and first sentences of later paragraphs and sections.
Overview skimming
You use overview skimming to sample the reading material more thoroughly than you do in a preview, as you may not intend to read the material at a later time.
Method: As you do in preview skimming, you would read the first paragraph, the headings and first sentences of paragraphs and sections, but in addition, as you alternately read and skim, you alert yourself to the structure and content of the material through an awareness of paragraph patterns, thought transitions, and clue words.
This awareness will help you to understand the content, to recall more information, and to see relationships more clearly and quickly.
Review skimming
Your purpose with review skimming is to re-familiarise yourself with material you have previously read thoroughly or skimmed.
Method: Prepare yourself by trying to remember as many of the ideas and details clearly. It may be that you already have a good grasp of the main ideas and will be stopping primarily to note significant details – names, places, terms, etc. You may be trying to establish in your mind a sequence of events or a procedure, or you may be attempting to fill in a skeleton outline to clarify the structure of the whole.
Familiarity with the material will enable you to skim over a great deal of it, stopping only when necessary.
SCANNING
SCANNING:
Imagine if you went to the Louvre museum only to see the Mona Lisa. You’d quickly walk through all the corridors and rooms merely glancing at the walls until you found it. Scanning is quite similar to that.
It is one of those kinds of reading where you read to search for a particular piece of information. Your eyes quickly skim over the sentences until you find it.
You can use this method when you don’t need to go deep into the text and read every word carefully. Scanning involves rapid reading and is often used by researchers and for writing reviews.
Scanning
Scanning is considered as a helping hand in reading texts that are heavy and need to be searched upon. This works like the Ctrl+F command and is assisted by the keywords to be searched in the given text. Scanning is Rapid Reading with importance in research and preparing reviews. For students, it works as a ‘bullet way’ to locate answers to specific questions. Scanning, basically, works to find answers to the-Wh Questions like What-When-Where-Who and Why.
It is simple to understand the meaning of the term itself. It attempts to get specific information and scans through the available texts.
Uses of scanning:
Picture yourself visiting a historical city, guide book in hand.
You would most probably just scan the guide book to see which site you might want to visit.
Scanning involves getting your eyes to quickly scuttle across sentence and is used to get just a simple piece of information. You’ll be searching for specific words or phrases that will give you more information and answer questions you may have.
Interestingly, research has concluded that reading off a computer screen actually inhibits the pathways to effective scanning and thus, reading of paper is far more conducive to speedy comprehension of texts.
Something students sometimes do not give enough importance to is illustrations.
These should be included in your scanning. Pay special attention to the introduction and the conclusion.
SCANNING EXAMPLES:
Imagine if you went to the Louvre museum only to see the Mona Lisa. You’d quickly walk through all the corridors and rooms merely glancing at the walls until you found it. Scanning is quite similar to that.
It is one of those kinds of reading where you read to search for a particular piece of information. Your eyes quickly skim over the sentences until you find it.
You can use this method when you don’t need to go deep into the text and read every word carefully. Scanning involves rapid reading and is often used by researchers and for writing reviews.
Scanning is reading with a specific purpose in mind for specific information. When one reads an entire text/document quickly while looking for specific information, it is called scanning. For example: Going through an entire newspaper and looking for specific news related to the India-Pakistan cricket match. You scanned to get specific information about Delhi University admissions and cut-offs.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SKIMMING AND SCANNING:
Skimming is about going through the whole article, whereas scanning is just finding out the specific text or pattern. Therefore, scanning requires a higher understanding of word recognition than compared to scanning. Unlike skimming, in scanning the reader is already aware of the text he wants to search in the document. However, in skimming, the reader usually has no or little idea about the document. Skimming is more about reading and understanding, whereas scanning is all about searching or finding. Therefore, both are different from each other.
Comparison between Skimming and Scanning:
| BASIS FOR COMPARISON | Skimming | Scanning |
| Definition | A technique for fast reading. A reader reads the article in order to get the general idea of it. | A technique in which a reader tries to search a particular text or word in the document |
| Requirement | Ability to go through the article quicklyAbility to understand what can be relevant and not in reading | Ability to find quicklyUse of fingers can be effective while looking for a specific informationFocus on key words |
| Purpose | Generally to get the general idea of an articleTo sample a book before actually purchasing it | Generally to search a telephone number from a listTo find a particular quotation in a book |
| Method | Read the title carefullyFirst paragraph and introduction need to be read carefullyEmphasis on the reading of first sentence of every paragraphHeading and sub headings should be readPictures, charts or graphs should be noticedWords or phrase that are italicized or boldface must be noticedSummary or last paragraph is important to understand the conclusion | Reader must be clearly aware of the specific information that needs to be searched in the documentClues must be used to find the answer – like if one is searching for a date, then only numbers should be looked forHeadings can be helpful in suggesting the location of the desired informationOne should be careful in reading and skipping the sections of the passage |
| BASIS FOR COMPARISON | SKIMMING | SCANNING |
| Meaning | Skimming is a way of reading something in a fast manner so as to grasp the main points. | Scanning means to look carefully and quickly at the written material so as to locate something. |
| Method of Reading | Quick | Selective |
| Involves | Reading out the maximum content in minimum time. | Finding out the required data. |
| Objective | To take a birds-eye view of the text. | To spot and cast specific facts. |
| Familiarity | The reader is not familiar with the text. | The reader knows what he is searching for. |
Key Differences Between Skimming and Scanning
The difference between skimming and scanning are discussed here in detail:
- Skimming can be defined as a type of reading in which the reader reads the text quickly to have an idea of the concept, subject matter, main points and gist, without paying close attention to the excessive detail. On the other hand, scanning refers to the reading technique, in which the reader moves his eyes over the entire text in order to locate specific keywords which he/she has in his/her mind.
- Skimming is a quick reading method, whereas scanning is a selective reading method.
- While skimming involves reading out the maximum amount of material in the minimum time, scanning is a method of searching out something in a fast manner.
- Skimming technique is used with the aim of taking an insight of what is contained in the study material, without reading it word for word. On the contrary, when the reader uses scanning he/she wants to find out the specific fact, keyword or information, of his/her need.
- Skimming is used to get acquainted with the text you have not read yet. Conversely, in the case of scanning the reader has the knowledge of what he/she is looking for, in the given text.
Conclusion
Basically, skimming tells you what information is contained in the section or in the document as a whole. In this, the reader runs his eyes quickly over the large chunks of material to pick the main points. On the contrary, scanning tells you where the information of your requirement is located in the text.
Hence, one can skim the passage to understand its essence, whereas one can scan it to find certain words, numbers, dates, etc.
English Study Material 