What is Scanning?
Scanning is a useful strategy for speeding up the time it takes to answer comprehension questions. When scanning, you’re only looking for an important fact or piece of information while trying not to read everything.
Steps
For the first step however, you need to read through the whole text to understand it completely. Then after reading the first question you can return to the text and scan looking for the correct answer. This saves you having to reread the whole text again or big chunks of it.
First, look for a key word (or words) in a question then scan for that word (or words) in the text to help you answer the question. For example you might be asked: Why did John hide the money? The key words here are John, hide and money. So you will begin by scanning the text looking for every place that John, hide and money are mentioned. Actually, it would be better to scan for hide and money first as John may be mentioned in more places than the words hide and money thus you will probably find your answer quicker.
Make sure to use your finger (or pen) while scanning as this is very effective in locating specific information. We naturally use our finger to locate a word in a dictionary, to find a time or date on a calendar etc. Using your finger is extremely helpful in focusing your attention and keeping your place. Also as you hold your finger over the key word, your eyes can be scanning the surrounding words to see if you have found the correct answer or you need to move on to find the key word in another place.
As a last step, reread the question and the answer you’ve found to make sure they make sense together.
Conclusion
Scanning will make you a more flexible reader and adds a high gear to your ability to find answers to comprehension questions.