Script To Accompany the Slides

If you are new to ERIC (or haven’t used it for a while), this slide presentation is for you. ERIC is the world’s largest education database, but did you know ERIC offers you lesson plans, tips for parents and families, electronic question-answering, and a lot more?

This presentation gives you a very brief introduction to ERIC, followed by two information paths: one on the ERIC Database and one on ERIC Products and Services. You can view either or both of these sections, depending on what you’d like to learn about ERIC.

• ERIC is the Educational Resources Information Center— a federally funded, nationwide information network designed to provide you with ready access to education literature.
• ERIC is a program of the U.S. Department of Education and is administered by the National Library of Education.

4) The ERIC System (graphic)

Here’s a graphic representation of the ERIC system. All 16 clearinghouses and the adjuncts contribute to the ERIC database. There is also an ERIC affiliate clearinghouse on Educational Facilities. Three ERIC support components edit the database, conduct outreach activities, and provide copies of ERIC documents.

• The ERIC Database
• Abstracts of more than 1 million journal articles, research reports, books, teaching guides, and other types of education literature. ERIC can also provide you with copies of many documents abstracted in the database.
• ERIC Digests
• Two-page summaries of more than 2,400 education topics.
• AskERIC
• An e-mail question-answering service with response in two business days.
• National Parent Information Network
• A Web site with thousands of resources for parents and caregivers.

• Help from subject experts
• Information Specialists in 16 subject-specific clearinghouses are available via toll-free phone, e-mail, mail, or fax.
• ERIC-produced publications
• More than 1,400 books, monographs, journals, and other publications.
• Content-rich Web sites
• Clearinghouse Web sites linked together by the main ERIC site.
• Plus:
• Lesson plans, a conference calendar, and much more.

This slide presentation has two tracks. You can choose to learn more about the ERIC Database, including information on

• What’s in the ERIC Database?
• Where Can You Search the ERIC Database?
• Tips on Searching ERIC
• How To Get Copies of ERIC Database Materials
• How To Contribute Your Work to ERIC

Or, you can go directly to information on ERIC Products and Services, which will tell you about:

• ERIC Digests
• AskERIC
• National Parent Information Network
• Help From Subject Experts
• ERIC-Produced Publications
• Content-Rich Web Sites

ERIC has more than a million abstracts including

• Journal Articles
• More than 600,000 abstracts of articles from more than 1,000 journals. Journal abstracts have six-digit numbers that begin with EJ.
• ERIC Documents
• More than 440,000 abstracts of research papers, books, conference presentations, curriculum guides, and much more. ERIC documents have six-digit numbers that begin with ED.

Notice that it has an EJ number, since it’s a journal article, and includes the title, author, journal issue, several ERIC subject terms (called descriptors), identifiers (indexing terms that are often proper names), and a brief abstract (this one has been abbreviated to fit on the slide).

Notice the ED number. Again, you’ll see ERIC indexing terms, called descriptors. The descriptors with asterisks are the major concepts in the document. ERIC document abstracts average about 150 words. This example shows only part of the record for this document. The complete record also includes the publication type, price of microfiche or paper copy, sponsoring agency, page count, and other information.

You can search ERIC

• On any computer with an Internet connection
• Go to http://www.eric.ed.gov/ and click on "ERIC Database Search"
• At many university and public libraries
• Call 1–800–LET–ERIC (538-3742) for the location nearest you.
• Search the Directory of ERIC Resource Collections. http://bcol02.ed.gov/Programs/EROD/eric_search.cfm

You can also subscribe to the database on CD-ROM and have your own copy for about $100 a year.

• Call 1–800–799–ERIC for price and ordering information.

• The ERIC database has more than 1 million abstracts on education, so there’s probably information in ERIC on your topic.
• You’ll find the abstracts most relevant to your topic if you learn and use these tips on searching ERIC. . .

TIP 1: Find and use ERIC descriptors.

TIP 2: Use several search terms.

TIP 3: Use the descriptors from the best abstracts to find more abstracts.

TIP 4: Use AND and OR search commands.

The next few slides will explain each of these tips.

Every abstract in ERIC is indexed with subject terms called descriptors. Here’s an example. Notice that the title refers to native language education programs. The ERIC descriptor for this concept is native language instruction. ERIC descriptors under discussion are shown in red in this slide show.

If you wanted to search ERIC for material on children’s "social skills," you would use the ERIC descriptor interpersonal competence.

For the concept "ungraded classes" the ERIC descriptor is nongraded instructional grouping.

You can use the Thesaurus on-line at http://www.ericfacility.net/extra/pub/thessearch.cfm or at libraries that offer ERIC, use search engines that include the Thesaurus, or call an ERIC Clearinghouse toll-free for descriptors and help with your search strategy.

[Contact information for all ERIC Clearinghouses appears in the publications All About ERIC and A Pocket Guide to ERIC, as well as on the main ERIC Web site: http://www.eric.ed.gov/.]

• For example, to find material about "college transfer," you should probably use all three of these ERIC descriptors:

For example, if you wanted information on "retention" of students—that is, having them repeat a grade—you could search the term "retention" and find this abstract. You’ll notice that the descriptor for the concept of retention is grade repetition. Now use the descriptor grade repetition to run another search.

When you search ERIC, you can use search commands to tell the computer how to locate exactly what you need. The AND command narrows your search, finding abstracts that contain all of your search terms.

To search the topic, prevention of adolescent suicide, you should use AND to connect the three descriptors:

For example, if you searched learning disabilities OR higher education you would find everything indexed under learning disabilities, as well as everything about higher education. This would retrieve thousands of abstracts, and probably wouldn’t be very useful to you.

24) Here’s an example of an effective use of the OR command:

If you wanted information on the topic of ungraded classes, you should use three ERIC descriptors connected with the OR command:

Now that you understand how to use AND and OR, you should know that you can use both AND and OR commands in your search.

To search for the benefits of vocational education, use a strategy like this.

Since there are more than a million abstracts in ERIC, searching a popular topic may retrieve hundreds or even thousands of abstracts. Two popular ways to limit your search results are:

• Limiting by date—for example, material produced in the last 5 years
• Limiting by publication type—ERIC records include codes describing the type of publication, such as program descriptions, research reports, or teaching guides. You can limit your search results to one or more of these types.

You can search the ERIC database on CD-ROM, through online vendors, and on several free Web sites. Search engines associated with each of these methods can vary. When you select a search site or CD-ROM, take a moment to review the tips on how to use the search engine.

28) Sample ERIC Search Engine

Here is the screen you’ll see if you choose to run an ERIC search at the search site provided by the ERIC Processing and Reference Facility.

• Copies of most ERIC Documents are available on microfiche at university and public libraries. You can read the documents on microfiche, and you can usually make copies on a microfiche reader/printer. For a fee, you can also order paper, microfiche, or electronic copies from:

ERIC Document Reproduction Service (EDRS)
1–800–443–ERIC
http://edrs.com

• Find out whether your favorite library offers E*Subscribe, which provides patrons with electronic copies of ERIC documents.

• Copies of journal articles abstracted in ERIC can be found in library periodical collections or purchased from the following article reprint services:
• Ingenta
• 1–800–296–2221
• http://www.ingenta.com
• Institute for Scientific Information
• 1–800–336–4474
• http://www.isinet.com
• You can also write to the journal publishers for copies. Addresses of publishers are available on the Facility’s Web site at: http://www.ericfacility.net/extra/pub/sjisearch.cfm

31) How To Contribute Your Work to ERIC

• ERIC collects a variety of materials on a wide range of topics. Examples of materials in the database include:

• To have your material considered for inclusion in the ERIC database, send one legible copy along with a Reproduction Release Form to:
• an ERIC Clearinghouse that covers your topic, or the ERIC Processing and Reference Facility
• For more information on submitting your work, call the Facility at: 1–800–799–ERIC

Now that you’ve learned about the ERIC database, you should know about the many other products and services available from ERIC.

• The ERIC Clearinghouses have produced more than 2,400 ERIC Digests. These two-page, research-synthesis papers provide brief overviews of current education issues. They are frequently in question-and-answer format and always include a list of additional resources.
• ERIC Digests can be found via http://www.ericfacility.net/ericdigests/index/

Paper copies of ERIC Digests are available from the clearinghouses that produced them.

34) AskERIC

• AskERIC is a personalized, Internet-based service that will answer your education-related questions—usually in two working days. AskERIC responses include:
• a list of ERIC database abstracts on your topic
• relevant full-text materials, such as ERIC Digests (if available)
• referrals to related organizations
• suggested Web sites on your topic
• Send your questions to askeric@askeric.org

NPIN provides parents and those who work with parents with a variety of resources, including Parent News, a bimonthly online magazine for parents; Parents AskERIC an e-mail question-answering service; and lots of useful information grouped into categories such as:

• Assessment and Testing
• Child Care (all ages)
• Children and the Media
• Children with Special Needs
• Children's Health and Nutrition
• Early Childhood—Learning
• Families, Technology, and Education
• Helping Children Learn at Home
• Parents and Schools as Partners
• Teens (14–20)

• ERIC Information Specialists are available to help you locate the information you need. These subject experts can:
• Give you tips on searching the ERIC database on your topic.
• Send you free and low-cost ERIC publications.
• Suggest Web sites and other resources on your topic.
• To reach ERIC Information Specialists:
• Contact ACCESS ERIC
• 1–800–LET–ERIC
• accesseric@accesseric.org
• http://www.eric.ed.gov/
• ACCESS ERIC will refer you to the ERIC Clearinghouse that covers your area of interest.

Of course you can also contact a clearinghouse directly.

• ERIC Clearinghouses and components offer an array of books, monographs, journals, and other publications. There are currently more than 1,400 publications available from the clearinghouses.
• To find out what’s available, contact ACCESS ERIC or the clearinghouses.

This is the home page of the ERIC Clearinghouse on Urban Education Web site.
Urban Education—Covers programs and practices in urban area schools; education of African-American and Hispanic youth; theory and practice of educational equity; and urban and minority experiences, social institutions, and services.

40) Web Site

This is the home page of the ERIC Clearinghouse on Teaching and Teacher Education. Notice that the site includes special resources for teachers and information on becoming a teacher. You’ll also see that this clearinghouse covers the topics of health, physical education, recreation, and dance.

All ERIC Web sites are linked together by the main ERIC site at http://www.eric.ed.gov/ . If you only remember one ERIC Web site address, this is the one to remember. From here you can access all the clearinghouse Web sites, send e-mail to any clearinghouse, find the full-text of all ERIC Digests, and search the ERIC database.

ERIC has even more, including:

• Lesson plans—contains more than 2000 unique lesson plans which have been written and submitted to AskERIC by teachers from all over the United States and the world: http://askeric.org/Virtual/Lessons/
• A Conference Calendar—a searchable database of more than 600 education-related conferences: http://www.eric.ed.gov/.

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