Types of Reading

There are different types of reading that authorities acknowledge:

Careful Reading:  You do careful reading when your studying or reading complex material.  You also use this type of reading when you're reading intensively or making decisions about the author's purpose.

Usual Reading: This is the most habitual type of reading also called casual reading. With this type of reading you are usually not in a hurry or not concerned about understanding the subject matter deeply. Think about when you read newspapers or magazines or novels...this is usual or casual reading.

Accelerated Reading: This is like third gear, also called speed reading. With this type of reading you must be alert and read aggressively because of lack of time or great quantities of material to cover.  This type of reading demands higher energy and concentration levels because you are trying to read everything at a fast pace.

Skimming and Scanning:  Fourth gear -or- overdrive.  These are similar to accelerated reading except that you deliberately look for certain parts and skip over a good chunk of material in doing so. You only read enough material to give you the ideas or information you want or need.

What is the difference between skimming and scanning? They are similar in the fact that you don't read all of the material, but they differ in the way you go about each.

Skimming: Your purpose is to get to the gist of the material and alternate between read and glance.  The goal is to get an overview of the material.

Scanning: Your purpose is to answer a question or to look for specific information such as a statistic, a particular quotation, or supporting facts.