Educational Research Using ERIC.ed.gov

Paul B. BarronGeorge C. Marshall Foundation

barronpb@marshallfoundation.orgCopyright 2012 – All rights reserved

Copies may be made for non-profit educational uses only.

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The ERIC Collection

Records, including full text, for:

Journal articles, mostly peer-reviewed

Books

Research syntheses

Conference papers

Technical reports

Policy papers

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Search Options: Basic

Search by: keyword, title, author, descriptor, or ERIC #.

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Search Options: Advanced

Additional search fields

Additional search rows

Limit results to: Full-text availability

ERIC Digest and/or

ERIC Journal

Peer-reviewed records

Specific date range

A publication type

An educational level

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NOTE!

Search Tips

Especially the, “Use quotation marks around a

phrase to find an exact match.”

NOTE!

Additional search rows.

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The ERIC Thesaurus

Use the Thesaurus to identify appropriate words

and phrases from ERIC's controlled vocabulary

(descriptors) for precision searching.

Descriptors - list of education-related

words and phrases assigned to ERIC records

Searching with Descriptors will locate

records indexed by subject, regardless of

the terminology the author may have used.

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Quotation Marks & Special Characters

Phrase Search or Word String Search Put quotation marks around a phrase to

search for an exact phrase. Searching "educational technology" narrows a

search to only those records containing the exact phrase "educational technology".

Without quotation marks, ERIC performs an AND search for any terms you enter.

Searching educational technology without quotes locates all records containing the words technology and educational.

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Using Quotation Marks with Descriptors

Any Descriptor longer than one word,

including any text in parentheses, must be

enclosed within quotation marks. Examples:

Searching in Descriptors for “Higher Education” locates

records relevant to higher education.

Searching in Descriptors for Higher Education

without quotes yields no results.

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Keyword Searching vs Descriptor

Searching

Searching by keywords requires matching

the exact words found in a record.

Recommendation

Search with both!

Use keywords as synonyms for descriptors.

Keyword(s) can be the popularly accepted term(s);

for example, twice-exceptional.

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Thesaurus Search for gifted

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Descriptor List for gifted

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Descriptor Details

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Keyword Search

Locates the exact terms “early childhood

education” in a bibliographic record and

may or may not fully represent the

subject of an article.

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Keyword Search Results

NOTE (48321 Results)

The phrase early childhood education is a descriptor and found in the title and the abstract of the article.

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Descriptor Search

Descriptors, also known as indexing terms or subject headings, locate subject-related materials that may not contain the keyword in the indexed record.

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Descriptor Search Results

NOTE (24606 Results)

The phrase early childhood education is found only in the article descriptors

because the indexer determined that early childhood education was the subject

of the article.

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Combination Search in Advanced

Search

The search locates articles in which

“early childhood education” is the subject

of the article and in the article’s title.

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Title & Descriptor Search Results

NOTE (1564 Results)

The phrase early childhood education is found in the title of

the article and the article’s descriptors.

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Viewing the Partial or the Full Abstract?

NOTE

The four-line partial abstract provides only the focus of the

paper.

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Viewing the Partial or the Full Abstract?

NOTE

The full abstract provides the date range and population of the

studies.

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Author Search

Searching for "Smith, Robert" locates records authored

by Robert Smith.

Searching for "Robert Smith" locates no records authored by

Robert Smith, but if you specified a keyword search, ERIC returns

records with the name Robert Smith in the abstract, title, or

other field.

Searching for Smith, Robert without quotes locates records with

the names Robert OR Smith.

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Author Search

Note the correct syntax: Last name First name Enclosed within double quotations marks

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Don’t need these!

“Search, Author” Results

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I want full-text sources!

Select the Advanced Search option and check Full-Text Availability

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Virtual Library of Virginia (VIVA)

ERIC

EBSCO

ProQuest

Recommendation – Meet with a

reference librarian to review their

search features.

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Recommendations

Always always use the ERIC Thesaurus

Locate ERIC descriptors.

Check the Scope Note to

define the term(s).

Search with keywords and descriptors

Keywords (synonyms for descriptors)

Always always read the full abstract.

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