Three Kinds of Reading ثلاثة أنواع للقراءة

Do you like reading assignments? Or do you think that textbooks are sent from Hell to torture your very existence? If so, then maybe you should be seeking professional help. Are you somewhere in between? Good – that’s much more normal common.

Not many people like reading assignments, especially in college. They’re long, they’re boring, and you have better things you could be doing with your time. Like playing video games. However, they are necessary for passing many classes, so you really do need to know how to read effectively. Next month, I will be posting about survey methods to help you retain what you read, but for now I just want to discuss the act of reading.
Study Reading

Do you need to know this information cold? Will you be tested on this reading assignment? Do you have time to devote to in-depth reading? (No, beating Call Of Duty is not a valid excuse.) If you need to do a detailed, involved reading of an assignment, you should be study reading.
Study reading is done at slightly less than your normal reading rate. While you are reading, be sure to think about the material, and how it relates to what you are learning in class. Take notes. Use a survey method. At the very least, write down the main idea and some supporting details.
Know the material.
Skimming

Do you just need to have an idea of what the assignment talked about? Are you reading in preparation for a lecture or class discussion? If you just need to get the gist of the reading assignment, skimming is for you.
Skimming is done at about twice your normal reading rate, and your comprehension should only be about 50%. When you skim, your eyes scan over the page in a Z-type pattern, and you look for key words. The goal of skimming is to get the main idea, and nothing else. Skimming is a great way to prepare for a lecture, because you will have an idea of what the professor will be talking about, but don’t have to devote much time to the assignment. It is also useful when you are researching a paper. You can skim the source to see if it really looks useful, then later you can read it more in-depth to get the information from it.
Scanning

Are you looking for just one little piece of information in a chapter, or a name in a phone book? (I know, no one uses phone books anymore, but do you remember how it worked?) Phone books are a great example of scanning.
Scanning is done very, very quickly, at about 4 times your normal reading rate. You are not looking for the main idea or any details, just one key word or phrase. In a list, like a phone book, you can look very quickly because you know it is arranged in alphabetical order. In a textbook, you may be looking for a key word or a date. Once you find it, you can use the surrounding information to answer textbook questions, or to write a paper, or define the term.
Be careful that you don’t skim when you should study read. If you need the information, get it in your head! Skimming and scanning are NOT speed-reading techniques that allow you to get the same information in a shorter amount of time. If you read faster than your brain can process the words, you will miss some information.

source:
http://notjustsurviving.wordpress.com/2009/01/27/three-kinds-of-reading/

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