Many readers waste a lot of time for 2 reasons.
- They read everything at the same speed, often at a slow pace.
- They do not understand or retain what they have read
A good reader adjusts his/her speed according to the purpose or difficulty of the subject matter.
Reading Techniques
Scanning
It’s the process of looking quickly through a text to find a particular piece of information. To scan move your eyes quickly down the text looking for key words related to the topic in question. Scanning is used for reading street or telephone directories to find particular name.
Its also used when you need to go through a piece of continous writing to find specific piece of information eg. statistics. Scanning can be useful for reading annual report, catalogue. Members of staff read many reports. Scanning is important to allow them grase the main draft of the report.
How to increase scanning speed
Draw a finger down the center or the page while moving your eyes rapidly from side to side as you follow it down.
Uses of certain techniques – move an envelope or piece of paper down the page curtaining off the line you have read.
Skimming
Skimming is glancing at speed over the printed words on a page. In skimming words are not individually note but an impression is gained. Skimming requires a lot of concentration to get an idea of what the text is all about.
Where skimming is used
- To preview
- To identify priorities where to read more slowly.
- To find a required piece of information
- To help memory by immediate grasp of what we have just read.
How to skim
1.Anticipation.
As we read we should aim to understand the whole content by seeing the complete picture rather than the small separate bits. This means that you think faster than you read and make predictions or what you expect to read next. E.g. if a problem has been
described, you may well anticipate a solution.
2.Organization
Go through the structure or patterns of the writing. This skeleton will help you in grasping the whole text e.g. a book is divided into chapters and subsections. If we go through the structure we find our way more speedily.
Study Reading
This is required when you need to read in detail, when studying a report or a textbook study reading is crucial mostly when reading contracts and other legal documents.
Method
1. When you take a textbook, make sure of all the clues it offers before you actually begin to read it.
2. Read the ‘blurb’ inspect the context page I read the preface and check the subject index.
3. While reading, look for the internal skeleton for synopsis and summarize for topic sentences in paragraphs, for headings and italics which may emphasize key points by making the book and taking notes.
4. Skim the notes once you have finished reading.