Skimming a text

When you decide to read, sometimes you do it because you want to know every detail of a story... In this case, Skimming is not for you.

We use skimming to find the general idea of a text or book. 

There are some techniques for reading, depending on the purpose of our reading. The most important techniques are:

• Skimming - running the eyes over quickly, to get the gist
• Scanning - looking for a particular piece of information
• Extensive reading - longer texts for pleasure and needing global understanding
• Intensive reading - shorter texts, extracting specific information, accurate reading for detail.

Skimming 

It is used to quickly identify the main idea of a text. When you read the newspaper, you're probably not reading it word-by-word, instead you're scanning the text. Skimming is done at a speed three to four times faster than normal reading. People often skim when they have lots of material to read in a limited amount of time. Use skimming when you want to see if an article may be of interest in your research.

There are many strategies that can be used when skimming. Some people read the first and last paragraphs using headings, summaries and other organizers as they move down the page or screen. You might read:

• the title
• subtitles
• subheading
• illustrations

 Consider reading the first sentence of each paragraph. This technique is useful when you're seeking specific information rather than reading for comprehension. Skimming works well to find dates, names, and places. It might be used to review graphs, tables, and charts.


If you need to practice about reading techniques, I recommend you this link:
http://www.learningtolearn.group.shef.ac.uk/read/read_reading.html