Skimming to Get the Gist (SLIDE 1 of 6) Skimming to Get the Gist

What is Skimming (SLIDE 2 of 6) • Pre-reading Skimming is a pre-reading technique that allows you to get an idea of what the reading is about. • A quick look at the text • A way of getting a feel for the main ideas of the text Skimming helps you to get the main idea but it will not help you to find the details. BE AWARE: Because it is only pre-reading, at the skimming stage you will have a limited comprehension. You will have to fully read the text eventually to really understand what it is about.

Skimming in 6 Steps (SLIDE 3 of 6) Step 1- Read the title. Let us go through what happens when you are skimming. As we go through you should try to write a note to yourself to remember each step. Step 1- Read the title. Step 2- Quickly read the 1st paragraph. Quickly read the 1st paragraph. It is important that you do this reading quickly. It’s ok if you don’t understand some of the words or the ideas are still foggy in your head. Just pay attention to the key ideas that stood out to you. Quickly read the first paragraph. This will help you to get the general idea of the topic presented. Underline words or phrases that sound important in this first paragraph. They may be key words. Step 3- Read headings, sub headings, bullet points and diagrams. Read any headings, sub headings, bullet points / lists and look at the titles of diagrams or pictures. This will provide more insight to the structure of the reading and the details to come. Diagrams and pictures will also help you to connect to the main idea as well.

Skimming in 6 Steps (SLIDE 4 of 6) Step 4- Read first sentence in each paragraph. At step 4, you move down into the passage. These paragraphs are probably going to go into more detail so you want to read only the first line of each paragraph. Again, do this quickly. It is ok If you don’t fully understand. As you read the first line of the paragraph, underline any additional words that seem important. Step 5- Underline key words. As you move from paragraph to paragraph, look for any other key words that caught your attention. They may be in bold or italics. Perhaps it’s a word that keeps being repeated. Again, don’t worry if you don’t know what it means at this stage. This is just pre-reading. You will have time to return to these words when you finally read. Step 6- Quickly read the last paragraph of the text. Quickly read the last paragraph of the text. Often there is a summarizing statement at the end that wraps up the main idea for you

(SLIDE 5 of 6) Let us practice: The font in use here is small, so while you can expand your view using the Zoom slider, I do not expect you to try to read them. I just want to focus on the steps for skimming. Our first step was to read the title. (See circle in red in the sample) Step 2. is to QUICKLY read the first paragraph. Step 3. Read through all sub headings; in this case there are two. (What are gestures? and Incidental gestures). Step 4. Read just the first sentence of each paragraph. Pay attention to words that reappear or anything that seems related to what we read in the first paragraph. Step 5. As part of step 4, if there were any words that stood out to you, e.g. bold words, italicized words etc., make a note of these. Step 6. And finally, read the last paragraph. Again, do this quickly. (SLIDE 5 of 6)

Remember (SLIDE 6 of 6) • Skimming adds focus. • Skimming is done very quickly. • After skimming, you will need to read intently in order to comprehend.