2.2 Scanning

If you decide that you need to read a text more carefully, you begin to scan it.

Scanning is looking at a text to discover what information it contains that you may need and whether it has key words linked to the topic you’re interested in. You scan a text when you have an idea in your head beforehand about what you are looking for.

Scanning is another quick way of getting information from a text without having to read it all through.

Activity 14 Practise scanning

Timing: Allow about 10 minutes

Take a look at the questions below. Then read the text, a bit faster than you normally do. Scroll down the page so you can’t see the image and see if you can answer the questions.

1. What is the cost of the holiday phonecard?
2. Where can you buy a holiday phonecard?
3. Name two advantages of a holiday phonecard.

Figure 10 An advert for a phonecard

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Advert for a phonecard. The text reads: ‘Going Abroad? Pack a holiday phonecard. You can call home cheaply and easily with a low-cost holiday phonecard. The holiday phonecard costs only £10. You can call from almost any phone in over fifty countries. You get low-cost call rates, so it’s cheaper than using a mobile or hotel phone. Holiday phonecards are available now at your nearest main Post Office. Call to register. For more detail – 08457 223344.’ The key points are bulleted.

Figure 10 An advert for a phonecard

Here are the questions again:

1. What is the cost of the holiday phonecard?
2. Where can you buy a holiday phonecard?
3. Name two advantages of a holiday phonecard.

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Discussion

1. The phonecard costs £10.
2. You can buy it from a main Post Office.
3. Its advantages are that you can call from almost any phone, you can use it in almost 50 countries and you get low-cost call rates.

There was something in how the main points were laid out in the phonecard advert that might have helped you pick them out: they were laid out with bullet points. These make it easier to spot the important things.