Reading for college or university essays and exams is much more than simply trying to memorize the information or reading it over once or twice in an effort to get the general gist of the text. This article will help students identify how and when to use skimming and scanning techniques to select relevant materials from a text; and to identify a number of techniques to interrogate and extract meaning from what they read.
Skimming and Scanning
Students use a number of skills when reading including skimming a text to get a rough idea of what it is about, and scanning for specific information such as the latest football scores, a particular job opportunity, or an upcoming concert date. Skimming quickly gives you a general idea of what a book or article is about. This style of reading can be used with short passages, as well as complete books. There are three ways to read quickly for information:
- Look for key words and phrases. It is not necessary to read every word; eyes take in groups of words at a time and the brain guesses what the text is saying by filling in the blanks.
- Read the first line of each paragraph. This method of skimming works well because a paragraph often begins with a topic sentence telling you what the paragraph is about.
- Skim the table of content page, index, chapter headings, and sub-headings.This can provide a good idea of what a book is about and whether or not it includes the information a reader needs or is interested in.
Why skim a text? Students will read vast amounts during their college years and not all of it is immediately relevant to the task at hand. Skimming is one way to avoid reading a book or article that is not really necessary or what a student is looking for.
Scanning, on the other hand, is searching through a piece of text for specific items of information, for example, a date, a figure or a name. While scanning, readers ignore all other information, concentrating only on finding what they want. Once having decided that the article or book needs more careful reading it is important to decide how to read the text to extract the important ideas and information.
Reading to Extract Important Ideas and Information
To do this reading must be as active a process as possible. Active reading, like active listening, means being inquisitive (asking questions), interrogating (cross examining) the text, and summarising the central themes and ideas. Some questions may include;
- What you want to get from the book or article?
- How reliable is the content of the article?
- Could the information be biased?
- Ask a series of questions about the article;
- What is the author saying?
- What are the main points being made? (The abstract/introduction will give an indication of this).
- Is there enough detail so that it is clearly understandable? Or is more background reading necessary
- Are there unanswered questions?
- Could there be different points of view?
- Are there any problems with the way the author has gathered evidence?
- Does the evidence provided by the author fully support the arguments put forward or the conclusions drawn?
- Can the understanding and knowledge gained from this text be used in a wider context?
Note Taking to Support Your Reading
An effective way to take notes while reading is to record your responses to all or some of the the questions below by annotating the article or book. Annotations are brief summaries or notes that explain and/or review the text. Some students prefer to underline or highlight these ideas. You can use annotation to record:
- The author’s main ideas or the themes of the text – what is the main point the author is trying to get across?
- What information or data is given to emphasise the ideas.
- How do the themes or ideas compare with other things you have read in this subject area?
- Do you agree with the ideas completely, partly or not at all?
- What do you need to know more about?
By asking these questions students are actively interacting with the text rather than being a passive reader. The process of questioning also leads to becoming a more critical reader and as subject knowledge expands, the ability to read critically will also increase. Improved critical thinking leads to better essays and exam results.
Avoid a Surface Approach to Reading
A surface approach to reading can be characterised by the following:
- listing the information
- memorising information needed for the test
- not able to distinguish principles from examples
- focus is on individual points without integrating ideas
- not thinking about the purpose of reading or the reading strategy
- saying “I just read through from start to finish.”
- saying “I tried to concentrate on remembering as much as possible.”
- saying “I didn’t remember what I read, because I was hurrying to finish.”
Do Take a Deep Approach to Reading
- reading with an intention to understand
- picking out the main themes
- taking notes which link the main ideas
- interacting with the content
- relating ideas to previous knowledge
- relating the evidence and examples given to the conclusions
- examining the logic of the argument
- evaluating the evidence
For more information on Essay Writing and Study Skills see:
Learning Journals for Students
Tips for Writing a Strong Thesis Statement
Marilyn Michaud - Marilyn Michaud teaches English Literature and writing in Toronto. Her research interests include American history and culture, Gothic ...
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