SKIMMING FOR THE GENERAL IDEA

2.4 SKIMMING FOR THE GENERAL IDEA

It is a strategy that can be taught to students to help them identify the main ideas in text. It is important to correlate “skimming” to reading, making it clear that it is not word-by-word reading. Rather it is three to four times faster than normal reading. Generally, skimming is used to get through text very quickly. Consequently, skimming is used when students have a lot of reading material to get through, or have been assigned a task in an activity that requires some quick reading first, prior to completing the task. Skimming has also been used as a strategy in research when the student wants to determine if a text/article is a resource than can be used.

Three Types of Skimming:

1. Pre-read skimming refers to preparing to read.

2. Skim reading refers to situations in which skimming is the only coverage you plan to give the material.

3. Review skimming assumes you have already read the material and are going back over it as a means of study and review.

How Do I Use Skimming?

1. Read the title. If it is an article, check the author, publication date, and source.

2. Read the introduction. If it is very long, read only the first paragraph completely. Then, read only the first sentence of every paragraph. That sentence will usually be the main idea of that paragraph.

4. Read any headings and sub-¬‐headings. The headings, when taken together, form an outline of the main topics covered in the material.

5. Notice any pictures, charts, or graphs; they are usually included to emphasize important dates or concepts.

6. If you do not get enough information from the headings, or if you are working with material that does not have headings, read the first sentence of each paragraph.

7. Glance at the remainder of the paragraph. a. Notice any italicized or boldface words or phrases. These are key terms. b. Look for lists of ideas within the text of the material. The author may use numerals, such as (1), (2), (3) in the list, or signal words such as first, second, one major cause, another cause, etc.

8. Read the summary or last paragraph.