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Interactions 1 Reading, 4e
Elaine Kirn, West Los Angeles College
Pamela Hartmann, Los Angeles Unified School District

Skimming and Scanning

Skimming and scanning are other important reading skills. Skimming is the ability to read some of a passage and have a general idea of what it is about. Scanning is the ability to find specific information in a passage. Both involve moving your eyes quickly without paying close attention to all of the words you are seeing.

Have students learn these strategies for skimming:
 
  • Use a pencil, a pen, or a finger to guide their eyes down the page.

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  • Learn to read meaningful groups of words rather than individual words. Students can practice identifying meaningful phrases by dividing a sentence and then a paragraph into groups of words.

Most students have some practice in scanning even if they do not realize it. It is the technique we use when we look for a name in a telephone book or our team's score in a sports article in a newspaper.









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