Detailed reading is to read a whole document in full and to try to digest all of the information within that document. An example of this would be if you had to write an essay on a particular subject, you would read everything about that subject that you could find. If you did not read everything you could find on that particular subject you would be in danger of missing some vital information. The main focus here is to completely understand the content.
To skim for something is exactly as it sounds, you would quickly skim the entire document to find out what it is briefly about. You may do this when you are reading a newspaper, you would look at the headings and then skim the article to get an overall picture of what the article is about before deciding to read it in detail. If you did not skim things like newspapers you would probably spend an entire day reading every single article in it. To skim is to gain an overall impression.
You would scan a document if you were looking for something specific. For instance if you were trying to look up a phone number in a phone book you would just go to the section that you required and look for a specific number or name. It would be totally inappropriate to read the entire phone book, and you would not want to ‘skim’ it to see what it was about. The aim of this is to fact find something specific.
Sometimes you would read a document to see if it contains bias. An example would be an advertisement. It is obvious that in an advertisement a company is trying to sell you something, you need to be able to understand that this is a one sided piece of writing aimed at making you want to buy their product. Bias in a document is there to persuade us to do something or think in a certain way, you just need to be aware that it is in fact biased.
Reading for pleasure is to reading something that you personally enjoy. This could be a Romance Novel or an article in a newspaper. The important thing is that you read it for your own enjoyment or pleasure.
We also need to bear in mind that there is a useful method we use to read SQ3R. This means before you read the document SKIM it. QUESTION the document you are reading, this helps you to remember. Then begin to READ look for answers to the question you have about the document. Next RECITE, ask yourself the questions to see if you can remember them. Finally REVIEW, go back over all the information one more time.
If we try to use these reading strategies when we read things it will train our mind to focus and help us to remember. We can also save ourselves time if we are familiar with different types of reading and be more accurate in our workings. This leaves us time for things we enjoy, like reading!
