A study was undertaken to determine (1) whether community college freshmen who perceive certain structural considerations in their reading can generate essays that show application of those considerations, and (2) whether there are significant differences in the writing achievement of "more able" and "less able" students. The experimental group for the study was composed of 61 students in three classes; the control group contained 45 students in two classes. Materials for the control classes consisted of a series of writing modules prepared by the instructor. Topical readings were also assigned as motivation for student writing. Materials for the experimental classes consisted of a language text and a literary anthology. Writing assignments for this group occurred in conjunction with or in response to assigned readings from the texts. Students in both groups were pretested and posttested using standardized tests. Prestudy and poststudy writing samples were also collected. The results showed that students receiving instruction in the application of reading strategies to writing did not improve their writing skills to a significantly greater degree than did students in the control group. Another result was that "more able" students showed greater improvement in writing skills than did "less able" students. (FL)