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his essay resumes a discussion that began in 1992, when Gary Tate and I debated the place of literature in Freshman English during the annual meeting of the Conference on College Composition and Communication. Those presentations, revised for College English, appeared in the March 1993 issue and generated several responses, four of which were published in the October 1993 issue. At that time, neither Tate nor I wished to respond to the responses, for our purpose had been to engage teachers in an important discussion about the nature and purpose of the first-year course. Having taken our turn in the conversation, we wanted others to have their say. What they said was revealing. Most of the responses in College English take exception, not to Tate's position (that literature belongs in Freshman English), but to mine (that it does not). Though you will want to read the four responses as they originally appeared, let me abstract their principal claims here:

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The Bibliography of Composition and is an annual, annotated, descriptive bibliography of work in rhetoric and composition. Its first vcdume contains 3,853 citations for titles appearing in 1984 and 1)85. The bibliographers received assistance from important authors and editors of publications in rhetoric, who stressed that subject-area bibliographies are an important way of asserting the legitimacy of a profession. The bibliography is a comprehensive, descriptive work encompassing the many disciplines that make up rhetoric and composition. The Thesaurus of ERIC Descriptors and convention programs of the National Council of Teachers of English and the Conference on College Composition and Communication helped define the terms and subjects covered in the profession. Next, the bibliographers mapped and clustered the terms, which cover works on written communication in English or other languages, the processes whereby people compose and understand written messages, and methods of teaching people to communicate effectively in writing. To write the entries, 152 teachers and researchers have volunteered their services, and use a handbook to create consistent 25to 50-word annotations that are descriptive rather than evaluative. They try to use original materials rather than copy from advertisers whenever possible, although most publishers will not provide examination copies. In the bibliography all entries are listed once, numbered, and cross-referenced. Computers are used for alphabetizing and typese'Aing, and it is projected that computers will be used more and more in future editions. (SEC) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** The Development of The Longman Bibliography of Composition and Rhetoric