After an informal study of 589 college freshmen enrolled in reading courses at Bishop State Junior College (Alabama) revealed that most students read out-of-class assignments only sometimes because of the degree of difficulty of the reading tasks, a series of directed and structured activities was developed to promote reading comprehension. The basic concept underlying the planned activities is that students can experience success in reading by following an analytical process for studying textbooks, poems, short stories, and novels. In the textbook chapter analysis exercises, the emphasis is on helping the student see how textbook chapters are arranged, and the detailed worksheet helps the student grasp the idea of structure. The objective of the poetry analysis assignment is to enable the student to understand that poetry has two levels: literal and figurative, while the purpose of the short story assignment is to assist the student in identifying the elements common to the short story. The novel analysis exercise helps the student identify the common structure and content of the novel, by reducing key elements to simple words and phrases--filtering out the trivial details to develop a full understanding of the novel. After using these analysis exercises for one-quarter of the school year, 511 students responded to an assessment item. Of the 511, 427 students indicated these directed activities were helpful for reading comprehension. (Sample worksheets are attached.) (NKA)