A study aimed to discover a correspondence between the thinking processes and textual structures of six eleventh graders. In a predominantly White, middle class rural high school, six students were selected to think aloud as they read two essays written as part of two assignments for their advanced English classes. The six were selected based on the texts they composed and classified into three pairs representing high, middle, and low levels of text complexity. Analysis of the student protocols indicated that the students who composed the most complex texts also possessed the highest awareness of their thinking processes while reading. Contains 2 tables and 34 references. (NKA)