To develop as writers, students require regular practice writing and examples of quality texts that can serve as guides for their own writing. Reading like a writer (RLW) is a specific way of reading that can benefit student writers. The purpose of this basic interpretive qualitative study was to examine the writing decisions of 19 eighth grade students in Northeast, Ohio over the course of approximately four months. The study focused on students' intentional decisions in their writing resulting from RLW across two units of study. Multiple sources of data were collected, including two finished annotated pieces of writing and two written reflections per student along with class charts and students' writer's notebooks. Findings indicate students each made multiple intentional decisions in their writing resulting from RLW, categorized into five overarching types of decisions. Most commonly, students reported decisions related to ideas and craft moves. Less frequent, but used across units, students turned to mentor texts to make decisions regarding structure, revision and/or editing, and problem-solving. The implications of this research highlight RLW as an approach supporting what is known about effective writing instruction, that is applicable at all stages of the writing process. The learning is generative, offering students a tool for approaching learning about writing which they can apply independently as reader-writers and carry with them and continue to employ in the future. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]