READING SKILLS

Reading Skills



Reading Skills

Skimming is an attempt for over-viewing a text, before making in-depth reading. However, one is still required to study the entire text, although by initially scanning the text it enables the user effectively utilize the time by going through the relevant text only. One can skim through the text for getting the idea of the scope of text and its contents as well, reading the initial and concluding paragraphs to develop an understanding of the salient points, studying the initial sentence of the paragraph to understand the gist of the paragraph, and noting the main points stated in the summary. On the other hand, scanning is going through the text quickly and trying to locate key phrases or words, which are of interest to the reader. An individual can scan all the main headings and subheadings, artwork and images, the main text for the name of the writer, the table of contents page or the index, usually provided at the end of the chapter or book, for certain words (West, 2010, pp. 12-15).

A student must be equipped with effective reading techniques. Skimming is very important for students. Having practical techniques enables an individual to utilize his or her time effectively when attempting to solve case studies, comprehensions, and discussion based questions. This skill is also useful in preparing for aptitude tests at college and university level, when there is a huge amount of data to go through in a short time and preparing for the test at a short time. It enables the reader to gain insight of the text in very short time, therefore, making time-efficient; a quality that provides an individual with a competitive advantage. It also helps in improving the reading speed of an individual (Schaffzin, 1994, pp. 20-28). The technique is also useful in expanding the knowledge of the individual in his or her field of concern. This technique is not effective in scenarios where there is a need of high level of comprehension, as skimming only aims to capture the gist of context, by trying to understand the main idea, the supporting facts.

Scanning a text is aimed to find a piece of information. In scanning, similar to skimming, a student runs his or her eyes through the text to find the information that specifically interests him or her. The process of scanning can be better understood by keeping that student used scanning technique to find the specific and relevant information they require. A student could utilize this technique to squeeze the relevant data from a large amount of information that he or she is typically subjected (Schaffzin 1994, pp. 20-28). Scanning saves time, because by scanning a student can accumulate his or her required information on any subject without wasting time on reading the whole text. Students at present rely heavily on reading from the electronic sources mainly computers. Although, on internet a student can find huge stock piles of information on every topic, however, this reading technique is a tiring and ...