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ERIC via EBSCOHost
ERIC, the U.S. Department of Education's Educational Resource Information Center database, contains citations and abstracts from over 980 educational and education-related journals. This database also contains full text of more than 2,200 digests along with references for additional information. The ERIC database is the world's largest index to journal articles and documents in education, containing over a million citations.
| What Dates Are Available In ERIC? |
The ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center) database consists of two integrated files:
- ERIC Journal (EJ) records index articles from over 750 professional journals in education and related disciplines. Indexing dates back to 1969.
- ERIC Document (ED) records index a variety of documents which are available on microfiche and some are full text in the database. Documents include research reports, curriculum guides, handbooks, conference papers, etc. Indexing dates back to 1966.
| Connecting to ERIC |
1. Go to the Randall Library's Homepage (http://library.uncwil.edu)
2. Click on "Search the Research Databases" Databases are listed alphabetically.
3. Select ERIC (EBSCOHost) from the list.
If you are connecting to ERIC from off campus, complete instructions for off-campus set up are located at http://library.uncwil.edu/offcampus.html
| Searching ERIC |
- Key words/terms (literal words) are important words that describe your concept.
- Search operators (logical words) are important words that instruct the system to
relate your key words in a certain way.
AND instructs the system to retrieve both words it joins out of one single citation. AND is restrictive
OR instructs the system to retrieve either word it joins out of one single citation. OR is expansive.
teaching and (pottery or ceramics)
| Thesaurus Searching |
When choosing terms to search, consider using ERIC Descriptors, ERIC's controlled vocabulary of indexing terms. The advantages of using these terms are:
- Consistency -- you don't have to think of every conceivable synonym for a term.
- Recall -- using the "approved" descriptor term may increase your retrieval. For instance, a keyword search on "teacher retention" only retrieves about 150 records. A search on the descriptor "Teacher Persistence" retrieves nearly 800 records.
- Relevancy -- if a record has the term as a descriptor, you know it is a key point of the article or document.
- "Major Concept" -- It is possible to further designate the term as a major concept. A few descriptors in each record are designated as the major topics covered.
- "Explode" -- This operation, available in the Thesaurus search, automatically selects the term you chose plus all the narrower terms in the Thesaurus hierarchy for that term.
One disadvantage of the ERIC descriptors is they are slow to change. So, if the term you are searching is not a descriptor, do a keyword search instead. If you don't find your term in the Thesaurus, do a keyword search and look at a few records retrieved to see if a descriptor term describing your topic is in a record. Then, do a new search on that descriptor.
To use the online Thesaurus, click the Thesaurus tab near the top of the page. Enter your term in the "Browse for" box. You can easily select terms from the lists to include in your search without re-keying. You can also use the EBSCOhost Advanced search page:
- Select "Advanced."
- Select the arrow by the first blank box, and select "SU Subject."
- Key in the thesaurus term, and submit the search. (You may combine thesaurus terms by keying in thesaurus terms in each box--as long as you have selected "SU Subject.")
A paper copy of the Thesaurus of ERIC Descriptors is availalbe in the US Documents Collection.
Mandatory Education Level Descriptors
If an article or document relates to a specific educational level, it must be labeled with at least one of the following "Mandatory Education Level Descriptors." If an article relates to Grade 3, for instance, it will be indexed under "Primary Education." An article that discusses education for toddlers would be indexed under "Preschool Education." A more general article about the development of children from pre-kindergarten through Grade 3 would be indexed under "Early Childhood Education." Consider using the most specific of these education level descriptors. If you want to broaden your search, go to a higher level in the hierarchy.
.Early Childhood Education: Birth through Grade 3
..Preschool Education: Birth through entrance to Kindergarten
..Primary Education: Kindergarten through Grade 3
.Elementary Secondary Education: Kindergarten through Grade 12
..Elementary Education: Kindergarten through Grade 6, 7, or 8
...Adult Basic Education: Education for adults at the elementary level (through
Grade 8)
...Primary Education: Kindergarten through Grade 3
...Intermediate Grades: Middle and/or upper elementary grades, usually 4, 5, and
6
..Middle Schools (added 1999): Various combinations of Grades 5-9, mainly 6-8
..Secondary Education: Grades 7 through 12
...Junior High Schools: Grades 7 through 9
...High Schools: Grades 9 or 10 through 12
...High School Equivalency Programs: Adult education leading to high
school equivalency certificate.
.Postsecondary Education: All education beyond Grade 12
..Higher Education: All education beyond Grade 12 leading to a formal
degree
..Two Year Colleges: Postsecondary institutions providing at least 2 but
not 4 years of education.
Education Level is one of the "Limit" options on
the EBSCOhost Advanced Search page.
| Reading and Understanding ERIC Records |
To view ERIC records, click the title of the citation.
ERIC indexes two kinds of records: journal articles, and ERIC documents. ERIC documents are typically unpublished materials, such as curriculum guides, conference papers, handbooks, etc. Occasionally, books are also included as ERIC documents. Most ERIC documents are available on microfiche. Documents added since 1996 are also available full-text online. Links to full-text are in the ERIC database record.
To identify which format is being cited, look for the "ERIC No." near the bottom of the record. If the number begins with EJ, the citation is a journal article. If it begins with ED, the citation is an ERIC document.
If the item is an ERIC document, look at the NOTE field to identify the purpose of the document. Many ERIC documents are quite long, so be careful to check before printing.
| Does Randall Library Own the Article Cited? |
ED Documents: If the full text document is not available in EBSCO Host then you will want to use the microfiche collection. The ED collection is on the ground floor of the library. Search by the six-digit ERIC No. Read and print the item in the Microforms Reader/Printer Room.
EJ Documents: If the article in EBSCOhost is not available in full-text online then click the "Check library catalog for title" in each record to search the Library automatically. If the record contains a "Linked Full Text" link, it is available in full text online through one of the EBSCOhost databases.
Interlibrary Loan - You may request copies of articles from Interlibrary Loan if Randall Library does not subscribe to the periodical cited. Please allow two to three weeks for the materials to arrive. UNCW students, faculty and staff are eligible for this service. Register and submit your requests online.
| Printing/E-Mailing Citations from ERIC |
Select the "Print/E-mail/Save" button while viewing the record. You can also add records to a folder for batch printing. But, don't let too much time pass before printing so you don't lose your records.
| Limiting Your Search to Journal Articles |
- Select "Advanced." Key in your search.
- Scroll to the bottom of the screen to the box entitled, "Special Limiters for ERIC." Click the arrow by the line, "Journal or Document." Select "Journal Article."
- Submit your search.
Advanced searching has other limit capabilities, too, including educational level, publication type, and target audience.
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Last Update: December 12, 2005