Black Holes

When we read in our native languages we often vary how we read depending on the purpose. In general, we talk about reading for gist or general idea (skimming), specific information (scanning) and reading for detail. Today, we’ll focus on reading for gist.

Reading for Gist

Set a timer for two minutes and take a look at the following article.

Within your two-minute timer you should skim the text looking for the general idea of what the article is about, the type of article and any main ideas presented. Make sure to write down a few notes as you go through the article.

Take a look at your notes once your timer runs out. Do you feel like you have enough information about it to describe the article to another person?

Set your timer for an additional four minutes and go back to the article. Focus on the areas you were unsure about. 

Ideally, you don’t want to take more than a few minutes to take in the main ideas of a piece of writing. So, keep practising until you can grasp it quickly and effectively. 

Tip: One way to get an idea about what you’re reading quickly is by looking at the title, introduction paragraph, data tables and graphs, photos and photo captions and the conclusion. These parts often contain valuable information and can help you quickly get an overview. 

Of course, you can spend more than 10 minutes reading this article but I would recommend you only do so after completing the activity outlined above.

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