How to Effectively Skim a Book

If you've ever had to do a short book review or if for any other reason you need to skim a book instead of reading every single page, here is probably the best method to use.

Things You'll Need

• A Book
• An hour of time.

Instructions

1. 

   The best way to effectively skim a book is to go through the process of "breaking" it. When you "break" a book you skim it to get the big picture. This method will give you a good overview of what the book is trying to relate. The first thing you're going to do is to set aside an hour of time and focus on nothing other than your chosen book.

2. Rapidly scan the book by first reading any materials on the cover, then flip through to glance over photos and/or figures inside the book and make sure to note all captions as well.

3. Next, read the entire first page of the first chapter, then skim through the chapter and slow down to read the last page of the first chapter.

4. Then, read the first and last pages of the final chapter, and skim the material in between.

5. Finally, go through the rest of the chapters, reading the first and last pages and skimming the material in between.

   Voila! You're done! If you follow this procedure you should have a pretty good idea of a great deal of the author's pertinent points.

Tips & Warnings

• It is always best to actually read the book that is assigned. I recommend skimming only when you're short on time. I have found this method to be extremely helpful because I am undergoing a reading intensive, 24 credit semester and the only way that I am able to accomplish all of the assigned reading is to skim it. It's working out really well so I thought I'd share. Good Luck!

• To avoid charges of plagiarism you should never forget to cite, cite, cite!