Laura Mariel Pablo Fernández ID: 10137648

Teacher: Hortensia Corcino

Reflection Journal I
In this course, you will be required to write a journal in which you will describe the reading strategies you
learned and how you use them in the other subjects you are taking this term. You will start writing this journal
in the second week of classes and you will submit it the week before the end of the term.

1. Scanning for specific information

Scanning is a reading technique to be used when you want to find specific information quickly. In scanning, you
have a question in your mind, and you read a passage only to find the answer, ignoring unrelated information.

When I use scanning, it is very useful and efficient, because when I don't have enough time to read and explore
a whole text, I just let my eyes move quickly through the text until I find what I was looking for. It helps me to
be faster and get information more easily than ever. Because I am a person who has trouble finding specific
things in a text, scanning helped me improve this problem. I could understand that there are keywords in each
text that make reading easier .but we need to know that For scanning to be successful, you need to understand
how your material is structured as well as comprehend what you read so you can locate the specific information
you need.

In other classes, for example, in literature classes I use it when I have to read a book and look for specific
information in it, instead of going back and reading an entire chapter to find the information, I only use the scan
strategies to finish my search.

Before start scanning a text for specific information, you need to know a few basic things about that text, which
are the ones I will mention below:

 If the text is completely unfamiliar to you, you should read it first to get some ideas on that text. This
will help you guess the section or part of the text where you can find the information you need.
 Notice how the information is organized. It can be organized alphabetically or numerically.
 Scanning an unknown random page of text is difficult. It may take longer than usual. However, it won't
take long if you move your eyes vertically and diagonally considering the exact letters or numbers you're
looking for.
Using the scan I was able to apply it in my exams, in scientific texts where scanning becomes your best friend
since these texts contain many keywords due to their linguistic structure, and even when you read a menu in a
restaurant you use scanning, scanning is just amazing

2. Determining the main idea of paragraphs

¿What is the main idea? The main idea of a paragraph is the author's message about the topic. It is often
expressed directly, or it can be implied.

Every time we read a text these have a specific topic but, to get to that topic, several topics are discussed
previously, these are in the paragraphs and each paragraph has a main idea that differentiates it from the others.
in a paragraph there is a great variety of topics, but one topic always comes up more than another. but
something very important is that you must determine what that main idea is

This strategy helps me in subjects such as Spanish, even in any field, not just reading, because it helps you to
identify the topic, to focus on what the author wants to transmit as a message, helps me to take notes, and
develops the skill of common sense and deduction, even to detect repeated ideas that give clues about what it is
that you want to transmit, For example, when I listen to a song, I can say that each verse even has the main idea
or when I read a report or a news story.

Where I have applied this strategy is in determining what kind of text I am reading and what it is about, and in
knowing how to identify what these main themes have in each paragraph in common with the context of the
text, This strategy also helps you to know how to create a thesis when creating an essay or a book report.