How do you find a particular name in the phone book? Not by reading each name individually, of course, but by skimming the necessary letters and perhaps even using your index finger to help your eyes. This type of quick, cursory reading is also known as scanning.

Here we are talking about a different but very related type of cursory reading, skimming. In contrast to scanning, in skimming the reader does not know what he is looking for. A different mental method is therefore required to arrive at the result.

 

How do you read through a text quickly and efficiently and absorb the essential information?

As already mentioned, skimming is not a search for specific, previously known information, so it is important to gather as much preliminary information as possible by reading the title of the text, the source, the author and, if necessary, images, e.g. what is the text likely to be about, etc.? With this question in mind, the reader can guide their eyes in a zigzag line through the text, paying attention to names, places, objects, numbers and conjunctions such as 'therefore', 'if', 'until' or 'instead'. This gives the reader a precise idea of the content and message of the text without having to spend time trawling through the entire text.

 

When initially skimming, only bold words or words in slanted type, numbers or capital letters catch the reader's eye. It is simply a matter of practising to ignore superfluous words and only take in the essential words. The more practised you become at skimming, the more you will develop your range and ability to "separate the wheat from the chaff".

 

Skimming should be used before reading any specialised text. Over time, the reader will be able to identify the relevant information and know whether it is worth reading the text in full.

 

Skimming is particularly good for newspaper readers, provided that they only read the newspaper for the information and not for the pleasure of reading. After reading the title and the first paragraph, you can filter out all the information from the complete article by skimming. Skimming the daily newspaper is a good exercise for the beginner and helps the more experienced reader not to deteriorate.

 

When studying for school or university, it is extremely helpful to "skim" texts first in order to decide whether it is worth studying the text in more depth or putting it aside.

 

However, skimming is also a useful tool for retaining what you have learnt. By skimming a text several times and taking in the most important information, it is much easier to remember. So it's worth learning the art of skimming!