Scanning and skimming are two efficient reading techniques used to quickly extract relevant information from a text.
Scanning: Scanning is a technique used to find specific information within a text without reading everything in detail. It involves quickly moving through the text to locate particular facts, keywords, or data.
Example 1 for Scanning: Searching a phone book for a friend’s phone number.
Example 2 for Scanning: Looking through a list of movie titles to find one i want to watch.
Skimming: Skimming is a technique used to get a general idea or overview of a text. It involves reading the main points and looking at key sections like headings, subheadings, and the first and last sentences of paragraphs.
Example 1 for Skimming: Glancing over a news article to understand its main points without reading the whole thing.
Example 2 for Skimming: You would read the headline, subheadings, and perhaps the first few sentences of each paragraph to get a general sense of the article’s content.