The next step in reading any selection involves previewing (or surveying) the text. To preview means to obtain a sample of something or to get an overview. When you preview a reading selection, you skim or glance over it to try to get a sense of the piece’s content and organization. You are not looking for specific details or information; instead, you skim a reading selection to get an idea of the author’s subject, main point, overall focus, or purpose.
The Previewing Process
Your goal in previewing the text is to get an overview of its topics, main idea, and overall organization. This overview will allow you to assemble a rough mental framework of the whole selection. Then, as you read more thoroughly later on, you will be able to fit the specific ideas and information into this framework as you go. You will have a better understanding of how the specific details relate to one another. As a result, your reading comprehension will increase.
Follow these steps when previewing a text:
- To get this sense of the “big picture,” you should read the title of the selection, which will usually state the subject and sometimes even indicates the main point.
- Then try to find the thesis statement, or main point, of the selection. The thesis, which is the idea the author wants you to know or to believe by the time you finish reading, usually appears somewhere near the beginning of the selection, and often in the first paragraph.
- Also, glance over the headings in the selection, which function as “mini-titles” for the different sections. If there are no headings to guide you, read the first sentences of the paragraphs to get some idea of the topics they address.
- Read the titles of any visual aids, such as graphs or charts, that are included with the text.
- Read the introduction (the first paragraph) and read over any introductory material—such as a brief summary paragraph—that may offer clues about the main point of the selection.
Author, Publication, and Purpose
When previewing, it is also helpful to look for key features of the text such as the author, the publisher, the publication date, and the purpose of the text.
Consider these questions:
- Who wrote this text? What information do you have about this author? Does any information about the author appear anywhere on the title page or elsewhere in the text?
- Where was this text originally published? What type of publication is this, and where does it fit into this field of study?
- When was this text originally published? What is the significance of this time period in this field of study? Is the text historical, current, or possibly outdated?
- What was the author’s purpose (or reason) for writing? Who would be the audience for this kind of writing? What would the audience expect to find in it?
CC Licensed Content, Shared Previously
Content adapted from the open course titled “Open Now Developmental English” authored by Cengage Learning, licensed under a CC BY 4.0 license.
Content adapted from the “Successful College Reading” PowerPoint by Scottsdale Community College Reading Faculty, licensed under a CC BY 4.0 license.