Previewing content

Previewing is one the most important things a strategic reader does. All good readers preview prior to reading any content, fiction or nonfiction.

Previewing content is a lifelong skill that involves:

  • Using a quick overview of a textual reading to help recall prior knowledge and to build prior knowledge.
  • Improving comprehension through prior recognition

 When previewing, you should read, scan and/or view:

  • the title
  • introduction
  • subtitles
  • bold print and italicized words
  • pictures (including reading captions)
  • charts
  • maps
  • graphs
  • summaries
  • review questions
  • pulled-out quotes