Mrs. Roed's Reading Tutorial

Scope refers to a work’s range or breadth of coverage. In general, the fewer people, places, events, and ideas a work covers, the narrower its scope. A story or article with a broad scope might introduce many people or events or cover a long period of time.

To identify how wide or narrow the scope of a selection is, consider how the writer covers the following:

• People—How many people are introduced? How well do you get to know them?

• Places—How many places, or settings, are described? How much do you get to know about them?

• Events—How many events are covered? How much time do these events span? How much do you learn from them?

• Topic—What is the topic? How many aspects of it are discussed?