ERIC Education Search

Did you ever wish there was a database where you could access education literature? If so, then you will be happy to learn that the United States Department of Education, along with sponsorship by the Institute of Education Sciences, provides such a database. It is known as the Education Resources Information Center (ERIC).

This database of journal and non-journal education literature is available to the public through a website. You can do an ERIC education search on the topic of your choice through the site. You will then have the ability to view their literature database which dates from 1966 to the present. Along with access to the journal and non-journal literature, ERIC education search also has a growing collection of Adobe PDF documents and content rich ERIC digests. The ERIC education search provides the public with more than 1.2 million items. These items include books, curriculum, teaching guides, literature reviews, journals, research syntheses, conference papers, policy papers and more. This vast supply of literature enables a user to get the most out of their ERIC education search.

ERIC is now being used at public and professional libraries, university libraries and even by home users. There are even certain computer networks which now enable Internet users to have direct access to ERIC. When you do an ERIC education search you will see an annotated bibliography of documents based upon your topic. You will screen your search until you find the document of your choosing. 

Depending on where you are, you may have free or fairly inexpensive access to ERIC. If ERIC is not free where you are, you may have to pay a connection time or pay to search through a searching service. Though the ERIC database has records back to 1966, depending upon the ERIC service provider, you may only have access to the last five or ten years of information. Many times this is all you will need. However, if it is not, you should make sure you are not paying for a service that does not provide full access to the entire database.

Prior to doing an ERIC education search, you should familiarize yourself with ERIC descriptors. These descriptors will help you search the database. Ask to see a copy of The Thesaurus of ERIC Descriptors if you are at a library. If you are using ERIC and do not have a copy of the thesaurus, you can call the ERIC clearinghouse and they will help you with your search.