Focusing on the effects of three interventions on students' reading and writing of persuasive discourse, a study investigated (1) whether the writing of persuasive discourse can be improved by instruction, and (2) the effect of reading on writing and of writing on reading within the persuasive mode. Subjects, 100 Canadian sixth graders stratified by sex and reading ability, received either instruction in a persuasion schema and writing practice (Group A), instruction in a persuasion schema and reading practice (Group B), or a single lesson in a persuasion schema (Group C). Subjects wrote a recall protocol of a persuasive reading as well as two persuasive compositions on a pretest/posttest basis. Findings showed that Groups A and B scored significantly higher than Group C on both writing quality and the number of conclusions and text markers used. Results also showed that Groups A and B scored significantly higher on the posttest in these areas than they did in the pretest. No differences were found between the three groups on reading recall scores, and no group showed a substantial improvement in this area from pretest to posttest. (Tables of data are included, and appendixes contain selected samples of pretest and posttest compositions, the pretest and posttest readings, and the follow-up writing and reading assignments.) (JD)