Scanning and skimming are two essential reading techniques used to process information quickly.

1. Scanning:

Scanning is when you search for specific information within a text without reading everything. It's a focused approach, where you’re looking for particular keywords, numbers, or data points.

Example 1: You're reading a 100-page report but only need to find the sales data for the month of June. You would scan through the report, ignoring most of the content, until you locate "June" and then focus on that section.

Example 2: When you are at the airport and checking a departure board for your flight, you scan through the list of flights for your specific flight number or destination.

2. Skimming:

Skimming is when you quickly go through the text to get a general idea of its content. Instead of reading each word, you focus on headings, subheadings, and highlighted sections to grasp the main points.

Example 1: If you're skimming a textbook chapter to understand its key concepts before diving deeper, you'd focus on titles, headings, and any bold or italicized words.

Example 2: When reading a magazine article, you might skim the first and last paragraphs and glance over the subheadings to get a sense of the article’s main points without reading every word.

Both techniques are useful for saving time while reading, with scanning being more detail-oriented and skimming used for general overviews.