Scanning for specific items
Scanning involves “reading selectively, to achieve very specific reading goals” (Khalifa & Weir, 2009: 59). Hughes argues that as a very different technique from skimming for the gist of a text, scanning is applied by readers to quickly find specific word or phrases; figures, percentages; names, dates of particular events; specific items in an index and specific names in a bibliography or a set of references (Hughes, 2003: 138). As a powerful test-taking technique, scanning is frequently used by candidates to look for specific information to answer questions.