Hi, this is Morag from Academic Skills.
In this video we're going to apply a scanning strategy while reading.
First, let's think about why we might use a scanning strategy.
Scanning is useful if you need to find specific information quickly.
You might be looking for answers to specific questions
for example how many participants were included in the study?
Or, you might want to determine if
a paper is relevant for your purposes.
In this case you're looking for
the frequency of keywords in the text.
The more frequently your keywords appear
the more relevant that paper is likely to be.
For example, if your topic relates to gender equality in the workplace
you'd want these phrases or their synonyms
to appear often in the text.
It is not appropriate if you need to gain in-depth knowledge of a text.
So, how do you scan?
First, as with all reading tasks
we need to identify our purpose.
in this case, what information we need to find.
This could be key terms or phrases, concepts, or particular sections.
For example, if you wanted to know how many participants were involved in the study
you can go directly to the methods section.
Next, scan the text by running your eye quickly over the page
looking only for the information you need
Ignore everything else and don't read every word.
When you find what you're looking for
read the information or sentences around it.
Finally, decide if this paper is relevant to your purpose.
Does it answer your questions?
Is it specific enough to your task?
If yes, read in more detail,
if not, discard it and move on.
Let's imagine that we are writing a paper
on the topic of interpersonal strategies in online interactions.
We have brainstormed the topic and
identified specific questions we need the answers to,
and then located an article we think contains the information we need.
In a moment, we're going to scan the
discussion section of this paper to find
the answers to these questions.
Remember, don't try to read every word.
Run your eyes over the paper until you notice the keywords you're looking for.
Let's start with the first question.
Pause the video and try to scan the text as quickly as possible to find an example of a passive information-seeking strategy.
when you've found it restart the video.
How did you do? Did you find it quickly?
Here's how I approached this task.
From the question I identified the key term as "passive information strategy"
I scanned, looking only for that expression.
Once I found it, I noticed the phrase "such as"
indicating an example would follow.
I continued reading and found the answer.
Let's try the second question.
Pause the video and scan to find the answer.
Did you find the information more quickly that time?
I identified the keywords as
"relationship stage", "investment", "intimacy", and "low"
and scanned until I noticed them.
The first time I came across relationship stages
I read around it and disregarded this instance
as it seemed to focus on active or passive strategies,
not investment and intimacy.
The second instance doesn't relate to the topic either,
but as it's in the topic sentence that tells me that the answer might be in this paragraph.
Finally, I noticed the words intimacy and investment are typically low,
and went back for the beginning of that sentence to find the answer.
Ok, question 3. Read the question, pause the video
and see how quickly you can find the answer.
Getting quicker?
Here's the key phrase and here are the three types.
Let's move on to question four.
Pause the video and scan to find the answer.
Here's the phrase we're looking for "unexpected finding".
and at the end of that sentence, the answer.
If you're wondering how much to read around the text
once you find it or when to stop reading,
use your knowledge of paragraph structure.
For instance, that we tend to make the main point first,
then give reasons and examples,
or language signposts, such as "however" or "for example"
In this case as we're only looking for the answer, not the explanation,
we can stop reading at "one reason".
Hopefully you're getting quicker now
For the final time, pause the video scan to find the answer and then restart the video.
So, the first time we see active strategies is here
but there was no mention of acceptability near this instance so I moved on.
It appears again here, but relates to frequency.
Here, the fact that active strategies appears as the subject of the topic sentence
is a strong indication that the answer may be in this section.
I kept reading and found it here - "most acceptable",
followed by the answer.
Hopefully these activities have shown you
that by scanning the text we were
able to find the information we needed quickly,
without having to read the whole text.
So, let's sum up.
Scanning is a useful strategy when you need to find specific information quickly,
not when you need to understand the whole text.
First, identify what you're looking for before you read.
You might also want to consider where
in the text you might find that information.
Next, scan by running your eyes over the text quickly,
looking only for what you need.
Read the sentences around that information
and finally, make a judgment about if the text is useful or relevant for your purpose
If you don't find what you're looking for discard the text.
If what you're looking for appears frequently,
it might be more efficient to read the whole paper.
If you decide to read the whole text
you'll need to apply a different reading strategy.
You might want to take a look at our resources
on critical reading and skimming to help you with this.
You can find them on our website,
along with other resources to help you develop your academic skills.