A three-part review process is proposed as an aid to textbook selection for college courses. After an introductory discussion of the importance of developing standards and criteria for selecting course texts, the three-phase process is presented. The initial phase involves the establishment of departmental criteria for textbooks, which may be accomplished by circulating lists of criteria among members of the department or asking each member to list the five most important characteristics a text for a particular course should have. The second phase focuses on the development and dissemination of a checklist of criteria for textbook evaluation; the examination of proposed texts by department members and their evaluation of the texts on the basis of the agreed upon criteria; and the tallying of the faculty members' assessment of how well each text meets the department's criteria. The final phase involves the comparison of the texts with the stated goals and objectives of the course for which the texts are being considered. A sample of the criteria checklist used by the Department of Languages and Literature at Shelby State Community College for composition texts, examples of ways of comparing textbooks' coverage of particular topics with course emphasis on those topics, and examples of comparative analyses of texts under consideration are included in the paper. (HB)