SCANNING is a reading technique to be used when you want to find specific information or details quickly.

When you scan, you have a question in mind.

You do not read every word, but only the words that answer your question.
Practice in scanning will help you learn to skip over unimportant words so that it can help you in understanding.
For scanning to be successful, you need to understand how your material is structured. Comprehend what you read
so you can locate the specific information you need. Furthermore, establishing your purpose and locating the
appropriate material before you scan is essential.
Use your hands when scanning because using your hand or finger is extremely helpful in focusing your attention and
keeping your place while scanning a column of material. Moreover, use your peripheral vision when scanning. When
your hand moves down a list of names, you see not only the name your finger is pointing to, but also the names
above and below. Let your eyes work for you when searching for information.

Example:
How many kinds of pizza can you find in the ad?
Which pizza has the lower price?

SKIMMING it is a reading technique. It is reading swiftly or glancing quickly through printed material in search for
main or general ideas without going into detailed reading.
When skimming, familiarize yourself with the general topic of your information source and while you skim try to
notice the words more stressed and clearly pronounced. This will enable you to note the keywords which will help
you gather the information. Furthermore, if you have a sufficient background knowledge or believe you don’t needs
the information, then skip it. However, pick and choose carefully what you skim and skip.

While reading, ask yourself the following questions to help you decide whether or not to skim. If you answered, YES
to any of these questions, then skimming is a useful tool.

Is the material non-fiction?

Do I have a lot to read and only a small amount of time?
Do I really know something about this material?
Can any of the material be skipped?

How to SKIM?
Read only the words that will help you get the sense of the tex.
Read the 1st sentence or paragraph carefully.
Look at the beginning of each paragraph.
Usually, the topic sentence is at the beginning.
Skip some unimportant paragraphs.
Read the last paragraph carefully.