Previewing is one of the three basic speed reading techniques and allows to extract essential information from reading material before digging into details. The previewing strategies mentioned below are particularly suitable for non-fiction material but can also be applied to fiction books. The techniques are suitable for all ages.

What is Previewing or Skimming and Scanning?
Would you watch a movie without seeing the trailer before you head to the cinemas? Sure, why not. I like to be surprised. However, often a trailer will give you a good hint what the movie is about and whether it’s worth watching or not. It’s also fun to watch. The same applies to previewing material. You skim a text to have quick look, see if you like it, but also get a quick understanding about the main ideas.

When you preview you can choose from three major strategies. These are

Reading key sentences
Scan for name and numbers
Scan for trigger words
A fourth one taught by speed reading teachers such as Ron Cole is called novel previewing. I may cover this in a future post, but for now will focus on methods for non-fiction content.

Previewing Strategies – Overview
Reading the title
Previewing sub-headlines
Reading the back of a book
Skimming indexes or contents
Checking for images, graphs or tables
Scanning bullet lists and bold words
Realizing everything that pops up by default
1. Previewing key sentences
Reading the first sentence of a paragraph often delivers a quick snapshot of the paragraph’s main idea.

How does it work? A common writing tip is to reserve one paragraph for each idea. Another one is to place the most relevant information first. Hence, an ideal paragraph bears the key information in the first sentence and introduces further details in the following ones. Alternatively, the last sentence could include a summary that actually carries the main idea.

From my experience it works pretty well, though I don’t read all sentences and often stop after a few pages or paragraphs and move on to the next block or chapter. I do this in favor to be able to recall their basic concepts. When I started I had trouble remembering the first sentence once I’ve read the 20th.

An assignment below will tackle this issue and provides exercises to improve key sentence reading and recalling.

2. Scan for name and numbers

Most texts have names or numbers, which relate to facts, people or places. It’s not important to get all the facts in the right order while previewing. However, I always found it useful to know where and when a story takes place, who is involved and what the main fact is about.

To start scanning move your index finger across the page either in zigzag or serpentine style. You may quickly recall the name or number a few times. Then read the full text picking up all other details to complete the image. The assignment offers some exercises.

3. Previewing trigger words

The best way to get started start is reading the title, the back of the book or the contents. Having a general interest won’t hurt as well. This approach will automatically reveal two or three main trigger words and helps your brain to narrow on a topic. It’s cooking and not car insurances for example.

Then fly through a book. Imagine sitting in a sightseeing plane. You get the big picture from above, pick a few interesting spots (trigger words) and when you return from the trip you read for more details.

Assignment Previewing Strategies

1. Key sentence. Choose any book of interest. Read the first sentences of each paragraph. Recall the main ideas by visualizing the concept. Start with 4 or 5 key sentences. Master it. Increase the numbers by one and so on. Recalling 10 sentences will already give you a lot of information before reading.

2. Names and numbers. Chose an essay or article and scan for names and numbers. Stop for each fact a few seconds, realize it and if you like say it. Now read the material and see what happens and whether the previewed facts will make themselves visible again.

3. Trigger words. Choose articles or books for this exercise. Preview the title, headlines, content or back of the book. Jot down the trigger words. Skim through the material and stop at points of interests or words that pop up. Jot them down. Those are your trigger words. Articulate questions what you expect from the reading and what should be answered.

Previewing, Skimming and Scanning – Conclusion
What are your secret previewing techniques? Please let us now in the comments below. And, whatever it is you do to preview a book in order to decide it is worth your time or a waste of your resources you already apply a combination of skimming and scanning techniques.

Most people read the title, the content or the back of the book intuitively, however, the aim of this post is to encourage you to go one step further and see previewing as flying over an unknown landscape to get your bearing and then look forward to explore the jungle in more detail. When done precisely, previewing may also allow you to extract all the important information without actually reading the book in full-length.

Wayne Mansfield
PowerRead - Speed Reading for Business