This study investigated the reading of policy documents by Dutch legislators. Its first aim was to investigate reading-to-assess processes using methods that address the limitations of previous studies. Its second aim was to analyze the reading-to-assess processes of the legislators to extend existing models and theories of reading in professional contexts. Data were gathered from 8 Dutch legislators who thought aloud while reading a policy document. Three methods of data analysis were employed: analyses of information-seeking behaviors, cognitive processes, and reading goals. Results indicated that the legislators read efficiently, focusing on relatively small portions of the policy documents in a nonlinear fashion, and that their processing of the text was devoted to elaborating and evaluating in relation to their goals for reading. Findings are discussed in relation to existing models of reading texts in professional life.
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