Matching Reading Rate to Purpose

Choose between skimming, scanning, and close study depending on what a text is for.

Fluency at this level is not reading fast; it is reading at the right speed for your purpose. Skimming means moving quickly to grasp the overall shape: read the title, the introduction, the first sentence of each paragraph, and the conclusion. Scanning means hunting for a specific item, such as a date, a name, or a statistic, while ignoring everything else. Close study means slowing down, rereading, and annotating, because you need to evaluate or remember the argument. Suppose you have a twelve-page article and an essay question asking how the author answers critics.

You might skim first to find where counterarguments appear, scan for words like 'critics' or 'however,' and then read those sections closely. Reading every page at study speed wastes time; skimming the critical section misses the reasoning. Strong readers shift gears several times within a single text and can say, at any moment, which gear they are in and why.

• 1Skim for overall shape; scan for a specific item.
• 2Study closely when you must evaluate or remember.
• 3Shift gears within one text as your purpose changes.