A document reading apparatus includes: a carriage, including an image reading sensor for reading an image from a document, and reciprocating in a predetermined range; contact portions, disposed at both ends of the predetermined range; a judgment section, judging whether the carriage comes in contact with the contact portions; a positional information temporary determining section, temporarily determining positional information when the judgment section judges that the carriage comes in contact with one of the contact portions; and a positional information check section, checking whether the positional information is correct based on a moving distance between positions where the judgment section judges that the carriage comes in contact with the contact portions, and determining the positional information when it is confirmed that the positional information is correct. The carriage moves to a position where the carriage starts to move at a speed greater than a speed at which the carriage moves before the positional information is temporarily determined.