ERIC is a database sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education that contains education-related journal articles and documents. It was established in 1966. ERIC documents include papers from conferences, reports from school districts and state education agencies, and doctoral dissertations. Searches can be limited to peer-reviewed journal articles or full text materials. Controlled vocabulary terms called descriptors help users find information, and a thesaurus provides scope notes and related terms. Boolean logic can be used to combine or limit search terms. Some full texts are available directly in ERIC, while others must be requested or accessed at a library.

1. WHAT IS ERIC?AN OVERVIEW OF THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER DATABASEbyMARK HABERTHE COLLEGE OF NEW ROCHELLE, GILL LIBRARYOctober 2008

2. WHAT IS ERIC? Educational Resources Information Center

3. ERIC FactsEstablished in 1966 Sponsored by U.S. Dept. of EducationContains both journal articles and documents

4. WHAT ARE ERIC DOCUMENTS?Papers presented at scholarly conferencesReports of school districts Reports of state departments of educationDoctoral dissertations in education

5. Limiting Your SearchERIC Searches can be limited to:Journal articles onlyPeer reviewed materialsFull text materials

6. You can limit your search to full text, peer reviewed journal articles

7. Controlled VocabularyAgreed upon term for a subject or concept (in ERIC, these are called “Descriptors”)Phonic method USE PhonicsReading disabilities USE Reading DifficultiesSpeech handicaps USE Speech Impairments

8. Use of ThesaurusList of ERIC DescriptorsScope Note (ERIC’s definition of the term)Other Terms (Broader, Narrower, Related)

9. To go to the ERIC Thesaurus, click “Thesaurus”

10. Type “reading disabilities” and click “Browse”

11. Click “Reading Difficulties”

12. The scope note and other terms are listed

13. Boolean SearchingCombine Search Terms“AND” narrows the search (retrieved item must have all the terms)“OR” broadens the search (retrieved item can have one or more of any of the terms)“NOT” limits the search (retrieved item does not have the term)

14. Whole language approach and phonics and grade 1

15. Kindergarten or grade 1 or grade 2 and lesson plans and reading

16. TruncationThe asterisk * at the end of the root of a word retrieves the word and all forms of the wordTeach* retrieves teach, teacher, teaching, etc.Adolescen* retrieves adolescent, adolescence, etc.Read* retrieves read, reader, reading, etc.

17. Read* and adolescen* and teach*

18. Retrieving the full textSome articles and documents are available full textOthers can be requested at the Circulation DeskJournal articles and ERIC documents that are not owned by CNR can be ordered via IlliadThe Arrigoni Library at Iona College (715 North Ave. New Rochelle) also has many ERIC documents and education journals and is available for use by CNR students.

19. Click “PDF Full Text”

20. Here is the full text of the article

21. Some articles are not available full text

22. For these, scroll down and click “Search for article”

23. Next to “Print Holdings,” click “Journal”

24. This journal is available in paper at the desk

25. This is an abstract of an ERIC document

26. Click “Full Text from ERIC”

27. Here is the full text ERIC document

28. Advantages of Using ERICContains both journal articles and ERIC documentsComprehensive ThesaurusBoolean Searching