The number of educational software packages on today's market is growing steadily. A large percentage of them are found to be of poor quality in terms of instructional and/or technical design. Arguing that a microcomputer in the classroom is only as effective as the software used with it, the first part of this digest provides an overview of the basic steps in courseware selection and evaluation that are recommended in the educational literature: (1) evaluating needs and constraints; (2) identifying software titles and previewing copies; and (3) evaluating the software package. Criteria for evaluating the content, instructional qualities, and technical characteristics of courseware are included in the second part. Finally, a select resource guide lists organizations, journals, guidebooks, indexes, and databases from which useful information can be obtained. (7 references) (GL)