An image reading apparatus includes a platen on which a document is to be placed; an image generating unit that performs scanning on the platen to generate a position detection image and an output image; a document position detecting unit that detects whether a document exists and a position of the document based on the generated position detection image; a document extracting unit that extract an area corresponding to the document from the generated output image; and a control unit that controls the image generating unit, the document position detecting unit, and the document extracting unit so as to output an image of the extracted document.