Rewriting has always played an important role in symbolic manipulation and automated deduction systems. The theory of rewriting is an outgrowth of Combinatory Logic and the Lambda Calculus. Applications cover broad areas in automated reasoning, programming language design, semantics, and implementations, and symbolic and algebraic manipulation. The proceedings of the third International Conference on Rewriting Techniques and Applications contain 34 regular papers, covering many diverse aspects of rewriting (including equational logic, decidability questions, term rewriting, congruence-class rewriting, string rewriting, conditional rewriting, graph rewriting, functional and logic programming languages, lazy and parallel implementations, termination issues, compilation techniques, completion procedures, unification and matching algorithms, deductive and inductive theorem proving, Groebner bases, and program synthesis). It also contains 12 descriptions of implemented equational reasoning systems. Anyone interested in the latest advances in this fast growing area should read this volume.