A STUDY OF THE NATURE AND UTILITY OF TYPES OF ESSAY ANTHOLOGIES DESIGNED FOR FRESHMAN COMPOSITION COURSES WAS CONDUCTED IN ORDER TO DETERMINE (1) WHAT ARE THE RATIONALES, ORGANIZATION, CONTENT, AND INSTRUCTIONAL APPARATUS OF THE MOST WIDELY ADOPTED READERS, (2) HAVE THE RATIONALES FOR THEIR USE VARIED SINCE SUCH TEXTS APPEARED, AND (3) IS THE RATIONALE FOR THEIR USE BASED UPON UNCRITICAL ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT THE RELATION OF READING AND WRITING. OTHER IMPORTANT CONSIDERATIONS WERE SOURCES--THEIR RANGE AND POINTS OF VIEW. A SECTION ON PROCEDURE DESCRIBES THE METHOD BY WHICH 77 READERS REPRESENTED IN THIS STUDY WERE SELECTED. THE MAJOR PORTION OF THE DOCUMENT CONSISTS OF A DETAILED STUDY OF EIGHT READERS--(1) LOUIS LOCKE, AND OTHERS, "TOWARD LIBERAL EDUCATION," 5TH EDITION, 1967, (2) DOROTHY VAN GHENT AND WILLARD MAAS, "THE ESSENTIAL PROSE," 1965, (3) CHARLES MUSCATINE AND MARLENE GRIFFITH, "THE BORZOI COLLEGE READER," 1966, (4) STANLEY A. CLAYES AND DAVID G. SPENCER, "CONTEXTS FOR COMPOSITION," 1965, (5) SHERIDAN BAKER, "THE ESSAYIST," 1963, (6) JAMES R. KREUZER AND LEE COGAN, "LITERATURE FOR COMPOSITION," 1965, (7) WALLACE L. ANDERSON AND NORMAN C. STAGEBERG, "INTRODUCTORY READINGS ON LANGUAGE," 1966, AND (8) ALBERT GUERARD, AND OTHERS, "THE PERSONAL VOICE," 1964. OTHER CHAPTERS ARE "THE CONTENT ANALYSIS OF ALL 77 READERS" AND "RECOMMENDATIONS." APPENDIXES PROVIDE A SELECTED BIBILIOGRAPHY AS WELL AS LISTS OF EARLY READERS, READERS REPRESENTED IN THIS STUDY, AND AUTHORS REPRESENTED 10 OR MORE TIMES IN THE ANTHOLOGIES. (BN)