diff --git a/docs/api-guide/content-negotiation.md b/docs/api-guide/content-negotiation.md
index ad98de3b9..b95091c59 100644
--- a/docs/api-guide/content-negotiation.md
+++ b/docs/api-guide/content-negotiation.md
@@ -7,3 +7,9 @@
 > — [RFC 2616][cite], Fielding et al.
 
 [cite]: http://www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc2616/rfc2616-sec12.html
+
+**TODO**: Describe content negotiation style used by REST framework.
+
+## Custom content negotiation
+
+It's unlikley that you'll want to provide a custom content negotiation scheme for REST framework, but you can do so if needed.  To implement a custom content negotiation scheme, override `BaseContentNegotiation`, and implement the `.select_parser(request, parsers)` and `.select_renderer(request, renderers, format_suffix)`
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/rest_framework/negotiation.py b/rest_framework/negotiation.py
index 8b22f6690..444f80561 100644
--- a/rest_framework/negotiation.py
+++ b/rest_framework/negotiation.py
@@ -4,45 +4,34 @@ from rest_framework.utils.mediatypes import order_by_precedence, media_type_matc
 
 
 class BaseContentNegotiation(object):
-    def negotiate(self, request, renderers, format=None, force=False):
-        raise NotImplementedError('.negotiate() must be implemented')
+    def select_parser(self, request, parsers):
+        raise NotImplementedError('.select_parser() must be implemented')
+
+    def select_renderer(self, request, renderers, format_suffix=None):
+        raise NotImplementedError('.select_renderer() must be implemented')
 
 
-class DefaultContentNegotiation(object):
+class DefaultContentNegotiation(BaseContentNegotiation):
     settings = api_settings
 
-    def select_parser(self, parsers, media_type):
+    def select_parser(self, request, parsers):
         """
         Given a list of parsers and a media type, return the appropriate
         parser to handle the incoming request.
         """
         for parser in parsers:
-            if media_type_matches(parser.media_type, media_type):
+            if media_type_matches(parser.media_type, request.content_type):
                 return parser
         return None
 
-    def negotiate(self, request, renderers, format=None, force=False):
+    def select_renderer(self, request, renderers, format_suffix=None):
         """
         Given a request and a list of renderers, return a two-tuple of:
         (renderer, media type).
-
-        If force is set, then suppress exceptions, and forcibly return a
-        fallback renderer and media_type.
-        """
-        try:
-            return self.unforced_negotiate(request, renderers, format)
-        except (exceptions.InvalidFormat, exceptions.NotAcceptable):
-            if force:
-                return (renderers[0], renderers[0].media_type)
-            raise
-
-    def unforced_negotiate(self, request, renderers, format=None):
-        """
-        As `.negotiate()`, but does not take the optional `force` agument,
-        or suppress exceptions.
         """
         # Allow URL style format override.  eg. "?format=json
-        format = format or request.GET.get(self.settings.URL_FORMAT_OVERRIDE)
+        format_query_param = self.settings.URL_FORMAT_OVERRIDE
+        format = format_suffix or request.GET.get(format_query_param)
 
         if format:
             renderers = self.filter_renderers(renderers, format)
diff --git a/rest_framework/request.py b/rest_framework/request.py
index b9d55de40..b212680f8 100644
--- a/rest_framework/request.py
+++ b/rest_framework/request.py
@@ -266,7 +266,7 @@ class Request(object):
         if stream is None or media_type is None:
             return (None, None)
 
-        parser = self.negotiator.select_parser(self.parsers, media_type)
+        parser = self.negotiator.select_parser(self, self.parsers)
 
         if not parser:
             raise exceptions.UnsupportedMediaType(media_type)
diff --git a/rest_framework/tests/negotiation.py b/rest_framework/tests/negotiation.py
index d8265b438..e06354ead 100644
--- a/rest_framework/tests/negotiation.py
+++ b/rest_framework/tests/negotiation.py
@@ -18,20 +18,20 @@ class TestAcceptedMediaType(TestCase):
         self.renderers = [MockJSONRenderer(), MockHTMLRenderer()]
         self.negotiator = DefaultContentNegotiation()
 
-    def negotiate(self, request):
-        return self.negotiator.negotiate(request, self.renderers)
+    def select_renderer(self, request):
+        return self.negotiator.select_renderer(request, self.renderers)
 
     def test_client_without_accept_use_renderer(self):
         request = factory.get('/')
-        accepted_renderer, accepted_media_type = self.negotiate(request)
+        accepted_renderer, accepted_media_type = self.select_renderer(request)
         self.assertEquals(accepted_media_type, 'application/json')
 
     def test_client_underspecifies_accept_use_renderer(self):
         request = factory.get('/', HTTP_ACCEPT='*/*')
-        accepted_renderer, accepted_media_type = self.negotiate(request)
+        accepted_renderer, accepted_media_type = self.select_renderer(request)
         self.assertEquals(accepted_media_type, 'application/json')
 
     def test_client_overspecifies_accept_use_client(self):
         request = factory.get('/', HTTP_ACCEPT='application/json; indent=8')
-        accepted_renderer, accepted_media_type = self.negotiate(request)
+        accepted_renderer, accepted_media_type = self.select_renderer(request)
         self.assertEquals(accepted_media_type, 'application/json; indent=8')
diff --git a/rest_framework/views.py b/rest_framework/views.py
index 066c0bb92..357d89399 100644
--- a/rest_framework/views.py
+++ b/rest_framework/views.py
@@ -238,7 +238,13 @@ class APIView(View):
         """
         renderers = self.get_renderers()
         conneg = self.get_content_negotiator()
-        return conneg.negotiate(request, renderers, self.format_kwarg, force)
+
+        try:
+            return conneg.select_renderer(request, renderers, self.format_kwarg)
+        except:
+            if force:
+                return (renderers[0], renderers[0].media_type)
+            raise
 
     def has_permission(self, request, obj=None):
         """