Scanning

Definition: Scanning involves quickly looking through a text to find a particular piece of information or keyword. It’s a focused search that ignores non-relevant details.

Example 1: If you're looking up a specific date in a history book, you might scan the index or table of contents to find the relevant section. For instance, if you're interested in the year 1945, you'd scan the index for “1945” and go directly to that section to read about events from that year.

Example 2: When checking a phone book for a specific contact, you scan through the names alphabetically. If you’re looking for “John Smith,” you don’t read every entry but quickly scan through names to find “John Smith.”

Skimming

Definition: Skimming involves reading the text quickly to get a general idea or summary of the content. It’s used to understand the main ideas or gist without reading every word.

Example 1: When you receive a long article and need to grasp the main points, you might skim the headings, subheadings, and the first and last sentences of each paragraph. For example, skimming through a news article about climate change, you’d focus on the introduction, key points in the body, and the conclusion to understand the overall message.

Example 2: If you’re browsing through a novel to see if it interests you, you might skim the first few pages and the last few pages, along with a few random paragraphs in between. This helps you get a sense of the writing style and the general plot without reading the entire book.

In summary, scanning is used for finding specific details, while skimming is for getting a general overview. Both techniques are useful for efficiently processing information.