Chapter 3 Web Design PART 1 Reading Skill: Scanning What Is Scanning? Scanning is a reading skill you use when you want to locate a single fact or specific bit of information without reading every part of a story, article, list, or document. You use scanning many times in your daily activities. For example, you scan the television listings of a newspaper or a magazine to find the time and channel of a television show. You scan a telephone directory when you need to find an address or telephone number. When finding a name in a directory, it is not necessary to read every name and number on the page. You simply move your eyes quickly down the page until you locate the name, address, and number and then look no further. Scanning is a fast way to find an information. It must also be accurate. If you want to see a specific TV show or telephone a particular person or business you must be sure the information you locate is correct. How to Scan Note the arrangement of information Unlike skimming, in which you usually know little or nothing about the material beforehand, often scanning is done with material that you do know something about. In the case of a telephone directory, for example, you already know the name of the person. You also know that the directory is arranged alphabetically according to last names. So if you wish to locate the phone number of Katie Nahrwold, you know that it will be listed alphabetically with names that begin with N. First use the guide words at the top of the directory pages to locate the correct page quickly. Then begin immediately to scan the alphabetical arrangement of names. Whatever the reference you are using, you can be sure it is arranged in some logical way. In order to save reading time and to prepare for scanning, you need to take a few minutes to become familiar with the organization of the material. Following are several types of common arrangements. 1. Alphabetical. Much of the resource material that you scan will be arranged alphabetically. A dictionary, the index of a book, a zip code directory, as well as numerous guides and reference listings, all are arranged. 2. Nonalphabetical. Non all material is arranged alphabetically. Television listings, for example, are arranged by day and time. Historical data and tables may be arranged by month and year. The sports pages of your newspaper list scores by category – baseball, football, tennis, and so on. A listing of the 40 most popular songs often is arranged numerically according to the number of copies sold of each song. 3. Prose. Newspaper and magazine articles, encyclopedias and other reference materials, textbooks, and nonfiction trade books are materials that have varying types of organization. In order to scan quickly and efficiently, you must become familiar with the arrangement of the material. Take a few minutes to read the title and subheads, look at the illustrations, and read the first and last paragraphs. This reading will give you a general idea of the order of ideas and topics. Once you understand the arrangement of information in a selection, and you can quickly turn to that section of the material. Keep clue words in mind. When you have found the section most likely to contain the information you need, you are ready to begin scanning. Have in mind some clue words or phrases associated with the specific facts you want to find. For example, when scanning the telephone directory, your clue word would be the person’s last name. In the case of a newspaper sports page, your clue words for locating the baseball scores would be baseball, runs, the names of the teams that played, and the cities the teams represent. Clue words also are useful when scanning magazine articles and encyclopedias. If you want to know the population of New York City, for example, you would locate the section of the encyclopedia that discusses New York City. Your clue words when scanning this section would be population, census, inhabitants, and, of course, any numbers. Scan quickly Since the purpose of scanning is to locate information quickly, a high rate of speed is essential. With clue words in mind, try to scan as much of the printed matter as you can in the least amount of time. Remember that you are searching for specific words; don’t allow yourself to become distracted by words or ideas unrelated to the information you are scanning to find. If you find yourself beginning to read sentences or paragraphs, stop reading and begin again to move your eyes in a scanning pattern. Once you have located the clue words, start to read more carefully to find the specific information you need. Make accuracy your goal Accuracy is just as essential as speed when scanning. Since you are looking for specific information, it is important that it be accurate. Once you have scanned to find the information, check to be sure that it is correct. Scanning at a high rate of speed is useful only if you find the exact information you need. Your goal should be 100 percent accuracy. How to Complete the Scanning Drills 1. Read the introduction to each drill. Take a few minutes to become familiar with the organization of the material to be scanned. Record your starting time in the box at the bottom of the page. 2. Complete the drill by reading each question and scanning for the answer. If you are timing each item, you may want to use a stopwatch. Start the watch as soon as you begin to scan and stop it when you locate the answer. 3. Record the time you finish the entire drill at the bottom of the page. 4. Subtract the start time from the finish time to determine your scanning time. Write your scanning time in the box at the bottom of the page. 5. Practice daily. Apply scanning techniques to materials you use in school and out. Practicing Scanning I. Scanning Table of Contents You can get quick ideas about a book by scanning the Table of Contents. Practice this by scanning the table of contents below. Read each question. Then scan for the answers. Work quickly. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. How many parts are there in the book? In which part will you find information about reading faster? How many units are found in Part Two? Which reading skill is found in Unit 6? On what page can you find the unit on Topics? In which part will you find information about pleasure reading? Where is the unit on Hawaii? How many exercise are there in the unit on Thinking Skills? II. Scanning Advertisement Scanning can also be useful for you to find information quickly in a newspaper ad. Scan a newspaper ad for new cars as follow. Read each question. Then scan the advertisement to locate the correct answer. Work quickly! 1. What is the cheapest car in this ad? 2. Which cars have air conditioning? 3. How many Crown Victorias are available? 4. Does the Escort Wagon have power windows? 5. Can college graduated get a rebate for all the cars in this ad? 6. For which car can you get a “Daniel discount”? 7. Which car has the least discount? 8. Which car has an original list price of $13,499? 9. How many cars have cassette players? 10. In what town is Daniel Ford located? Check your answer with another student. Would you buy one of these cars or vans? Why or why not? III. Scanning Tables In this exercise, you will scan the Table of Atomic Weights. Read each question. Then scan the table on the right to locate the information. Work quickly! 1. What are the four kinds of information given in this table? 2. What is the symbol for Iron? 3. What is the atomic number of Tin? 4. Which has a higher atomic weight, Zinc or Lead? 5. What is the atomic weight of Hydrogen? 6. Which has a higher atomic number, Phosphorus or Chlorine? 7. What is the symbol for Silicon? 8. Which has a higher atomic weight, Gold or Platinum? 9. Which element has the highest atomic weight? 10. Find an element which was probably named for a scientist. Check your answers with another student. Write three more questions about the table. Working with your partner, ask questions of each other. Work as fast as you can. IV. Scanning Newspaper Listings In this exercise, you will scan the TV Listings. Read each question. Then scan the listings to locate the necessary information. Work quickly! 1. Which channel shows a movie starring Clint Eastwood? 2. What hours are included in the listing? 3. What movie listed is given four stars? 4. What time can we watch a baseball game? 5. How many news programs are shown at 11:00 p.m.? 6. What is the title of the movie to be shown on TNT at 8:00? 7. What is the title of the oldest movie to be shown? 8. How many channels have numbers? Names? 9. Which channels show more movies, the numbered or the named? 10. Which channel has Spanish language programs? Check your answers with another student. Write three more questions about TV Listing. Ask your partner to scan for the answers. Work as fast as you can. 1. 2. 3. V. Scanning magazine articles You will be visiting Boston with some friends in the autumn. They would like to spend a day in the country. You see this article about picking apples and decide you want to know more about it. Scan the article for the answers to the questions below. 1. Where does this article recommend picking apples? 2. Who picks the apples? 3. What kind of apples are the very first to ripen? 4. Do you need to bring bags for the apples? 5. How much time does it take to pick apples? 6. What else can you do at an orchard besides pick apples? 7. How many apples should you pick? 8. What should you do with the apples when you get home? 9. What can you do if you pick too many apples? 10. How can you find out where to go apple-picking in Massachusetts? VI. Scanning newspaper articles You are doing a report on ethnic diversity, and you find the newspaper article. Scan the article for the answers to the questions below. Work quickly! 1. In what year were the population statistics calculated? 2. Who was the governor of Hawaii at the time of this article? 3. How did D.H. Hwang describe Hawaii at the time of this article? 4. What is the name of the professor who studies Hawaiian society? 5. Which group in Hawaii is the largest? 6. What is the combined total of mixed and pure Hawaiians? 7. How many Chinese residents are listed? 8. What is the percentage of Samoans? 9. How many Caucasians live in Hawaii? 10. Does any ethnic group have a majority? Check your answers with another student. Write three more questions about the population of Hawaii. Ask your partner to scan the answers. Work as fast as you can. 1. 2. 3. Would this information be useful for a report on ethnic diversity? Why or why not? VII. Scanning encyclopedia entries You are writing a report about Marie Curie for your history class. You look in the encyclopedia for some basic information. Scan the encyclopedia entry below to find the answers to the questions below. Work quickly! 1. When was Marie born? 2. What is her middle name? 3. Where was she born? 4. Where was she educated? 5. What was her husband’s name? 6. What was her specialty in scientific work? 7. How many years did the Curies work on their radium study? 8. When did they receive the Nobel Prize? 9. Which American president helped her with her work? 10. What is the name of her most famous book? Check your answer with another student. Write three more questions about Marie Curie. Ask your partner to scan the answers. Work as fast as you can. 1. 2. 3. Life is not easy for any of us. But, what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe we are gifted for something and that this thing, at whatever cost, must be attained. – Marie Curie PART 2 Reading Comprehension I. A typical home page In pairs, discuss these questions. 1. Why do companies have websites? 2. What is the difference between a website and a web page? 3. What is a home page? 4. Do you have a blog or personal website? Describe the home page to your partner? II. Web page design A. Read the text and find the following 1. the language used to create web documents 2. the type of software that lets you design web pages without writing html codes 3. the format invented by adobe to distribute text files over the internet 4. a method of displaying multiple html documents in the same browser window 5. three common graphics formats used on websites 6. three popular formats used to store and play back video B. Read the text again and then match the sentence beginnings (1-6) with the correct endings (a-f). 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. a. b. c. d. e. Instructions in HTML Cascading Style Sheets are the way A hyperlink is any clickable text, A plug-in is a small program Java applets are used to provide RSS feeds are summaries of web content image or button that takes you to another place on the web. used for handling audio, video and animation files. are called tags. interactive features to web applications. to define the presentation of web pages, from fonts and colours to page layout. f. published in the Really Simple Syndication format for download.
