Scanning

Scanning involves looking for specific information or keywords in a text without reading everything. It is useful when you know what you're looking for and just need to find it quickly.

• Example 1: Imagine you're looking through a long document to find a particular date. Instead of reading every word, you scan for any numbers or date-related information.
• Example 2: If you are reading a book to locate the definition of a term in the glossary, you would scan through the pages, ignoring other content until you find the word you need.

Skimming

Skimming is reading quickly to get the general idea or gist of the text. Instead of focusing on details, you glance over headings, subheadings, and the first and last sentences of paragraphs to understand the main points.

• Example 1: If you're going through a newspaper article to get an idea of the main news story without reading the full piece, you would skim it.
• Example 2: While reviewing a chapter in a textbook before a class, you might skim through the headings and bolded sections to familiarize yourself with key concepts.