Two studies were conducted to determine the effects of specific reading strategies on content area comprehension and reading skills. The strategies tested were a specific study guide, directed reading questions, cognitive organizer, and structured overview. In the first study, 225 students enrolled in a community college history course were randomly assigned to four experimental and six control groups and given a history pretest and posttest and a diagnostic reading test. The experimental groups used the study guide treatment, while the control groups followed their regular classroom procedure. In the second study, 118 eighth grade history students were randomly assigned to one of the remaining three reading strategies or to a control group. The multiple choice test accompanying ten selections from an SRA series, as well as a diagnostic reading test were used as pretests and posttests. Each treatment group was introduced to an appropriate prereading strategy before reading each of the ten selections, while the control group read the selections without prereading activities. The results of both studies indicated that content area comprehension was positively affected by the use of the study guide, cognitive organizer, structured overview, and directed reading questions. (HTH)