To test the effectiveness of self-reference and semantic processing when items are related and not related, 20 words were selected as members of one of four categories (Related) and 20 words were selected without category membership (Unrelated). Each word and its definition was viewed for 45 sec., and the college subjects in the Semantic condition were told to write each word in sentences using the pronouns “he,” “she,” or “it,” while subjects in the Self condition were told to use each word in sentences using the pronouns “I” or “me.” In the Related condition a category header was viewed for 45 sec. before the subjects saw the five related words. Subjects were tested after 10 min. and 1 wk. Self-referencing produced higher recall of definitions than semantic, mean recall of definitions of unrelated words was higher than that of the related words, and there was a significant drop in retention from 10 min. to 1 wk. These results support findings of previous studies which have demonstrated the facilitative effect of self-referencing; however, the results do not support the hypothesis that self-referent encoding is effective solely due to its tendency to provide an organizational structure.