This study examined 27 current college textbooks on rhetoric and composition to determine the emphasis placed on invention and the organization of invention material. Results revealed that the average percentage of material devoted to invention was 11%, the lowest percentage in an individual text was 1% and the highest was 32%. The standard pattern for the low-percentage text was to discuss invention in a short section at the front of the book, with subsequent sections devoted to concerns of arrangement and style. The higher-percentage texts were not as likely to be dominated by a strict invention/arrangement/style format. A representative pattern in these texts was a general discussion of invention, arrangement, and style in the front of the book, followed by chapters on different types of papers or rhetorical situations, chapters which included a more specific discussion of invention. Results also revealed varied distribution of formal and informal methods for three main categories of invention activity including observation, intuition, and collaboration. Findings suggest that information about invention can help influence pedagogical methods in college writing instruction. (An appendix listing the 27 texts previewed is attached.) (KEH)