1. WHAT IS ERIC?
AN OVERVIEW OF THE EDUCATIONAL
RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER DATABASE
by
MARK HABER
THE COLLEGE OF NEW ROCHELLE, GILL LIBRARY
January 2012

2. WHAT IS ERIC?
EDUCATIONAL
RESOURCES
INFORMATION
CENTER

3. ERIC Facts
 Established in 1966
 Sponsored by U.S. Dept. of Education
 Contains both journal articles and documents

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

5. Limiting Your Search
 ERIC Searches can be limited to:
 Journal articles only
 Peer reviewed materials
 Full text materials

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

7. Free text search “reading disabilities”

8. Click “Subject” in the left margin

9. Click inside box to the left of “Reading
Difficulties” then click “Update”

10. Controlled Vocabulary
 Agreed upon term for a subject or concept
(in ERIC, these are called “Descriptors”)
Phonic method USE Phonics
Reading disabilities USE Reading Difficulties
Speech handicaps USE Speech Impairments

11. Use of Thesaurus
 List of ERIC Descriptors
 Scope Note (ERIC’s definition of the term)
 Other Terms (Broader, Narrower, Related)

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

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

14. Click “Reading Difficulties”

15. The scope note and other terms are listed

16. Boolean Searching
 Combine 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)

17. Whole language approach and phonics and
grade 1

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

19. Truncation
 The asterisk * at the end of the root of a word
retrieves the word and all forms of the word
 Teach* retrieves teach, teacher, teaching, etc.
 Adolescen* retrieves adolescent, adolescence, etc.
 Read* retrieves read, reader, reading, etc.

20. Read* and adolescen* and teach*

21. Retrieving the full text
 Some articles and documents are available full text
 Others can be requested at the Circulation Desk
 Journal articles and ERIC documents that are not
owned by CNR can be ordered via Illiad
 The 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.

22. Click “PDF Full Text”

23. Here is the full text of the article

24. Some articles are not available full text

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

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

27. This journal is available in paper at the desk

28. This is an abstract of an ERIC document

29. Click “Full Text from ERIC”

30. Here is the full text ERIC document

31. Advantages of Using ERIC
 Contains both journal articles and ERIC documents
 Comprehensive Thesaurus
 Boolean Searching