Reading/Skimming and Outlining

Objective:
After the lesson, you are expected to learn how to read, summarize and outline information you gathered.

READING/SKIMMING

Researchers gather information from books in different ways. Some read every word and some scan the
book to determine whether they need to read further.

To skim a book means looking at the contents quickly to see its topics and major headings, this is done to
check if the topics the researcher needs is in the book. To scan, on the other hand, means gleaming over a book to
find the information the researcher needs.

The following steps are ways to skim literatures for one’s research topic effectively (Lopez 2000):

1. Read the first two paragraphs entirely.

2. Read the first two sentences and last sentence of the succeeding paragraphs.
3. Read the last two paragraphs carefully

These steps will let you know the whole content of the topic. The first two paragraphs comprise the
introduction to the topic and the last two paragraphs summarizes the main idea of the topic known as the
concluding paragraph.

The researcher should also take note of the captions under all pictures because these gives him clues to
the main idea of the topic.

SCANNING

This is an efficient way of locating specific information detail. In order to do scanning effectively, one
must determine the key words which serve as the clues to the information or topic the researcher is looking for. If
the researcher knows the information he needs then he can scan quickly as possible over the literatures using the
clues. Below is an example on how to look for clues showing the different languages of the Filipino Lopez
(2000).

A Question of National Language

For reasons of geography and history, the islands of the Philippines have more than a hundred
languages aside from Spanish, English, Chinese and Arabic.
 In the 1935 Constitution, it provides for the “development and adoption of a common national
language based on one of the existing native dialects.” Accordingly, the National Language Institute was
created which after a study and survey of existing native languages recommended the adoption of
Tagalog as the core of the national language.

A census made in 1939 identified the eight major languages in the country, on the basis of
number of native speakers: Tagalog, Cebuano, Ilokano, Hiligaynon, Bicol, Waray, Pampango and
Pangasinan.

The language issue remains controversial to the present. Recent census reveal that there are more
speakers of Filipino than English, despite the continued use of the latter as the medium of instruction and
as the official language of government and commerce.

The inability to resolve the national language issue is viewed as a sign of the country’s weakness.
Language is a link for political unity and economic growth. The sooner the language problem of a
country is resolved, the easier will it be for its people to work together towards common goals (VSA
Philippine Almanac, 1991).

NOTE: The italicized words are clues to the different Filipino languages. This is when the
person scanning is looking for the different Filipino languages.

SUMMARIZING

This means putting ideas of a long writing/report into a shorter form and this helps the researcher
remember the main points of a selection in a book.

For a summary to be considered good, it must tell what the book is all about and must give the details.
Below is a sample of a summary of an essay entitled “Trial Marriages” taken from the 1991 Philippine Almanac
cited by Lopez, (2000) in her book.

Trial Marriages

The Igorots had long practiced trial marriage. It is a custom named Ulog where each Igorot
village has. It is a hut with a single door opening. Village girls gather here at night to be visited by their
suitors. They sleep together and will only marry each other when the girl gets pregnant, a test of
compatibility among the igorots is also done. Only then will the marriage arrangements be set by their
families.

Now, compare the original article to that of the summarized one.

Trial Marriages

Long before the modern – day “live-in,” the Igorots already practiced what can be described as
trial marriage. The custom is associated with the traditional institution of the Ulog.
 Each Igorot village has an ulog. It is a hut with a single door opening. Here, the girls at the
village gather at night to sleep and to be visited by their suitors. Boy meets girl in the ulog and they can
sleep together. But they cannot get married until the girl gets pregnant.

To the Igorots, pregnancy is the true test of compatibility. Only after the girl gets pregnant can
she be engaged to her lover and marriage arrangement be negotiated by their families.

Notice that the summary tells only the author’s main idea. Whoever reads the summary will probably
know whether he or she needs to read the whole book.

A Gift From The Cloud Goddess

In ancient times, freezing weather swept over the Igorot land. People prayed to the gods to
release them from the cold.

Sometime later, a Cloud Goddess came down to rule the Igorots. She was loved by everyone.
One day, some men asked her how they could keep warm. The goddess took pity on them and told them
they should kill and bury her.

The people did what they were told. In time, a plant grew on the goddess’ grave. The people
tended it well. Soon the plant multiplied. It was the first tobacco plant. The people gathered the leaves,
dried them and smoked them.

Because smoking the leaves of the tobacco plants helped to keep them warm, the people held a
great feast in honor of the dead cloud goddess. The people remembered the cloud goddess whenever they
smoked because clouds of smoke came out of the tobacco.

What Have You Learned in this Topic?

 Summarize information in your own words

 Skimming is looking at the contents of a book quickly to see the general subject, the
divisions and major headings of a book.

 Scanning is to glance over a passage to find a piece off information you need from a book.