Skimming is a high speed reading process and involves visually searching the sentences of a page for clues to meaning. It is conducted at a higher rate (around 700wpm plus) than normal reading for comprehension (around 200-230wpm) (sometimes known as rauding), and results in severely lower comprehension rates, especially with information rich reading material. Skimming is considered by reading experts to be hazardous, and should only be used when comprehension is not an objective.
Speed reading courses teach techniques that largely constitute skimming of written text also result in a very low comprehension rate (below 50% comprehension on standardized comprehension tests) (Carver 1992).
References
Carver, R.P-Prof (1992)Reading Rate: Theory, Research and Practical Implications
