The purpose of this research was to experimentally manipulate input and output orders of information and separate storage and retrieval components of prose free recall. The cued partial recall method, used in word list recall, was adapted to a prose learning task. Four short biographical stories of about 55 words each were systematically combined into four larger passages such that each story appeared once in the four possible serial positions of stories. Each story contained six facts about a fictional person. A total of 48 subjects from a basic psychology class were given two and one half minutes to read a passage. Recall followed immediately and subjects were required to recall as much factual information as possible from one story before turning a page to recall material from another story. The cue used to constrain recall order was the name of the person described in the particular story. Subjects were given unlimited time for recall. The results indicated that the primacy effect in prose free recall is the result of order of recall as well as order of input of information. The primacy effect in prose free recall may be the result of output interference affecting the efficient use of retrieval information. (WR)