MUET MOMENTS: Lesson 6: Skimming and scanning

By DR KOH SOO LING

Skimming and scanning     
Skimming is reading a text quickly. When we skim a text, we  ask these questions:
1. What is the writer trying to tell us?
2. What does the writer think?
3. How is the text organised?

Scanning is going through a text quickly to get  specific information that we are looking for.  You can bear in mind two questions when you scan:
1. What are you looking for?
2. Which part of the text is the information available?

practice
Scan the text below and answer the following questions:

Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, and operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc.

As of July 2011, Facebook has more than 800 million active users who must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as friends, and exchange messages, including automatic notifications when they update their profile.

Additionally, users may join common interest user groups organised by workplace, school or college, or other characteristics, and categorise their friends into lists such as “People From Work” or “Close Friends”.

The name of the service stems from the colloquial name for the book given to students at the start of the academic year by some university administrations in the United States to help students get to know each other.

Facebook allows anyone who declare themselves to be at least 13 years old to become registered users of the site.

Facebook was founded by Mark Zuckerberg with his college roommates and fellow students Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes.

Its membership was initially limited by the founders to Harvard students, but was expanded to other colleges in the Boston area, the Ivy League and Stanford University.

It gradually added support for students at various other universities before opening to high school students, and eventually to anyone aged 13 and over.

However, based on Consumers Reports.org in May 2011, there are 7.5 million children under 13 with accounts, violating the site’s terms of service.

A January 2009 Compete.com study ranked Facebook as the most used social networking service by worldwide monthly active users. Quantcast estimates Facebook has 138.9 million monthly unique American visitors in May 2011.

According to Social Media Today, in April 2010, an estimated 41.6 per cent of the US population had a Facebook account. Nevertheless, Facebook’s market growth started to stall in some regions, with the site losing 7 million active users in the US and Canada in May 2011. 

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook

1. As of July 2011, Facebook has more than ________________ active users.
2. Friends can be categorised into lists such as “People From Work” or “_______________”.
3. You must be at least _______________ years old to be a registered user on Facebook.
4. Facebook was founded by ____________ with three other fellow college students.
5. The website’s membership was initially limited by the founders to Harvard students, but was expanded to other colleges in the Boston area, _______________ , and _____________.
6. According to Consumers Reports.org in May 2011, how many children under 13 have accounts with Facebook?
7. How many active users in the United States and Canada did the Facebook site lose in May 2011?

NEXT WEEK: Understanding Sense Relationships — Reference Words

ANSWERS:
1. 800 million
2. Close Friends
3. 13
4. Mark Zuckerberg
5. the Ivy League, Stanford University.
6. 7.5 million
7. 7 million

Source: Learning Curve - New Straits Times