Skimming is important
Business documents are read in an irregular manner. Techniques have been developed to aid the reader of paper documents in navigating through those documents.
Last modified: 4/10/98
Business documents are read like a map, not like a novel
The multi-page business document is rarely read from cover to cover in the order in which it appears. Most readers study reports by reading parts and skimming others, often skipping around and going backwards. People open up documents like handbooks and jump right in to find the one piece of information they need and then put it away. This is different than letters and novels, which are read linearly from start to finish.
No one way
The way in which a document is read varies from reader to reader. The manner also varies depending upon the purpose.
The purpose for reading varies
The varied purposes for reading a document are numerous. For example, sometimes one is reading to determine if more detailed reading is necessary. Does the author have something new to say? Has the author been rigorous enough in their analysis? Does the author know what they are talking about? Other times one is searching for a particular piece of information. Is the product likely to ship on time? Why are sales down? What is the procedure for this case? What is this report about?
Many techniques for helping the reader
In order to find the answers to these questions, people have developed many techniques for navigating through the document to find what they need. They have practiced these skills for years. They know how to look for summaries, to find out the purpose of various sections so they can be skipped or read, they know where certain information is commonly kept (e.g., the first few pages, the middle, or the last section), etc.
These navigation techniques are supported by the writer when they follow common layouts (starting with a summary, for example), use typographic techniques such as bold headings, or do other things like start sections on new pages on the right. In much of this, the author is chunking information -- breaking the text into smaller, more meaningful, pieces. Subheads are used to identify the general meaning of the "chunk", call outs or sidebars are used to give summary or related information.
Business readers are different than Web surfers
It is important to differentiate between business readers reading business documents and web surfers reading for amusement. The goal for business documents is to convey the right information as effectively as possible. The goal for commercial web sites is often to attract readers and maximize the number of pages viewed. These goals are not the same, and therefore, the writing styles are often different.