Consider the second order nonlinear differential equation
y" + a(t)f(y) = 0
where a(t) ∈ C[0,∞),f(y) GC1 (-∞, ∞),ƒ'(y) ≥ 0 and yf(y) > 0 for y ≠ 0. Furthermore, f(y) also satisfies either a superlinear or a sublinear condition, which covers the prototype nonlinear function f(y) = |γ|γ sgny with γ > 1 and 0 < γ < 1 known as the Emden-Fowler case. The coefficient a(t) is allowed to be negative for arbitrarily large values of t. Oscillation criteria involving integral averages of a(t) due to Wintner, Hartman, and recently Butler, Erbe and Mingarelli for the linear equation are shown to remain valid for the general equation, subject to certain nonlinear conditions on f(y). In particular, these results are therefore valid for the Emden-Fowler equation.