This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 17 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: a curriculum guide for studying selected women authors of Britain and the United States; story telling in ordinary discourse; the responses of seventh grade students to adolescent novels; teaching poetry in grades seven and eight; an American short story anthology based on structuralist principles; a multicultural women's studies curriculum in American literature; the relevance of using literature and literary studies in counseling situations; sixth grade students' responses about moral judgments in literature; Catholic student attitudes and literary preferences; knowledge of literary structures and reader response; the values that students and librarians associate with Newbery Medal Award books; educational practice that helps students experience poetry; the relationship between black writers and the Communist Party; improving race relations by introducing biographical literature into the elementary school curriculum; archetypes in adolescent novels; and the social values in four works by black writers. (RL)