One of the many challenges faculty members face when teaching courses is insuring that students read the assigned material by the due date. This study examines student reading behavior in two courses in order to better understand how student reading behavior changes over the course of the semester. The purpose of this study is to identify factors that may explain why students choose to, or choose not to complete assigned reading material by the assigned due date. What this study indicates is that a high level of student interest in the assigned reading material is associated with higher rates of completion of the assigned readings, more time spent on the assigned reading, and greater depth in reading. Thus, the researcher argues that selecting reading assignments and structuring reading assignments that help to increase student interest can contribute to student completion of reading assignments.