A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE RELEVANT TO THE PROBLEM OF PURPOSEFUL READING AND COMPREHENSION REVEALS THE NEED TO HELP CHILDREN ESTABLISH A MENTAL SET OR PURPOSEFUL ATTITUDE PRIOR TO READING. TO EVALUATE A THOUGHT-DIRECTING QUESTION AS A PURPOSE PRIOR TO READING AT DIFFERENT LEVELS OF DIFFICULTY, 279 SIXTH GRADERS FROM THREE SCHOOLS IN HAMMOND, INDIANA, WERE RANDOMLY ASSIGNED TO AN EXPERIMENTAL AND A CONTROL GROUP. BOTH GROUPS WERE SUBDIVIDED INTO ABOVE-AVERAGE READERS, AVERAGE READERS, AND BELOW-AVERAGE READERS ON THE BASIS OF SCORES ON THE IOWA TESTS OF BASIC SKILLS. BOTH GROUPS ALSO READ AN ARTICLE FROM "JUNIOR SCHOLASTIC MAGAZINE." THE EXPERIMENTAL GROUP WAS GIVEN A BROAD THOUGHT-DIRECTING QUESTION BEFORE READING THE SELECTION, WHILE THE CONTROL GROUP WAS TOLD THAT THERE WOULD BE QUESTIONS AFTER THEY HAD READ THE SELECTION. A FOLLOWUP TEST OF 10 MULTIPLE-CHOICE ITEMS WAS GIVEN TO BOTH GROUPS. AN ANALYSIS OF TEST RESULTS SHOWED THAT A BROAD THOUGHT-DIRECTING QUESTION WAS OF SPECIAL VALUE IN COMPREHENDING MATERIAL THAT APPROXIMATED THE READING LEVEL OF THE READER, BUT WAS NOT VALUABLE WHEN THE MATERIAL WAS TO DIFFICULT OR TOO EASY FOR THE READER. THIS PAPER WAS PRESENTED AT THE INTERNATIONAL READING ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE (SEATTLE, MAY 4-6, 1967). (NS)