Skimming and Scanning

Skimming refers to looking only for the general or main ideas, and works best with non-fiction (or factual) material. With skimming, your overall understanding is reduced because you don’t read everything. You read only what is important to your purpose.

Unlike skimming, when scanning, you look only for a specific fact or piece of information without reading everything. 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.