What is ERIC?
What is currently happening to ERIC?
What is an EJ Document in ERIC?
How can I get an EJ Document?
What is an ED Document in ERIC?
How can I get an ED Document?
What are some common mistakes students make when using ERIC?
Activity
ERIC is a database produced by the U.S. Department of Education covering information from 1966 to 2003. It is an electronic version of the two indicies, Current Index to Journals in Education (CIJE) and Resources in Education (RIE). All citations in ERIC have an Accession Number attached to distinguish between the two indices. The accession numbers in ERIC are labeled either EJ or ED. Due to the coverage of the two indices, ERIC serves as one large index for thousands of published and unpublished education related topics. The ERIC databases is a research staple for many faculty and students.
As of this year the ERIC database has changed. It is now produced by the Computer Science Corporation. Faculty and students can continue to use ERIC without any difficulties. ERIC is no longer a citation only database. Some ERIC documents may be retrieved by clicking EDRS option or full-text link.
Professor's Tip: The public version of ERIC located at http://www.eric.ed.gov/ contains the same information as NSU's ERIC FirstSearch. However, the public version of ERIC does not offer students the ability to email their results.
One type of accession number begins with an EJ followed by a 6-digit number. The EJ indicates that the item in question is from CIJE. To simplify this for students: an EJ number can be equated with a traditional citation and abstract. View a sample ERIC EJ record
(NOTE: If you are using Internet Explorer once the EJ image appears, click on the image, then click the orange box that appears. This will enlarge the image.)
How can I get an EJ Document?
ERIC does not contain full-text
EJ Documents.
•To
get an EJ article first check the NSU Full-Text Journal Title Search,
from the Electronic Resources page, to see if the article is available
online from a different NSU database.
•Another option is to order the article from Document Delivery using the
Journal Article Request Form.
•Also, it is possible to check the nearest local library’s online
catalog for the journal.
What is an ED Document in ERIC?
The other type of number assigned to citations in ERIC begins
with ED followed by a 6-digit number. The ED document number tells
the reader
that they are viewing information from RIE. EDs can be may different types
of documents, except journal articles.
View
a sample ERIC ED record (NOTE: If you are using Internet Explorer
once the image appears, click on the image, then click the orange box
that appears. This will enlarge the image.)
•Most ED documents with a publication date of 1993-present are available from EDRS as a free PDF download.
•Any ED document that is pre-1992 may be ordered from the NSU Document Delivery department.
Students will need the six-digit ED accession number and the citation information to place the order. ERIC documents ordered from the NSU Document Delivery Department will be mailed to students in microfiche format and students may keep the microfiche. In addition the student may wish to purchase a copy from EDRS. NOTE: International students with no microfiche machine available, may be sent the ED document in an alternative format. Local student and faculty can access EDdocuments on microfiche in the Serman Library (2nd floor, microfiche room).
1. Students cannot tell an EJ from
an ED citation
Frequently, students will not know what type of citation they are looking
at in ERIC. This causes problems when it is time to cite, and then it
is possible to confuse the reader by incorrectly citing a particular
piece of research. Remind students that the EJ number is for a traditional
journal article, and that the ED number is for anything but a journal
article. Students may need to see an example to understand.
3. Students do not understand the ERIC record
Lastly, another common mistake it that students often do not
understand the elements of the ERIC record. Understanding the various
parts of the ERIC record can help students use the correct citation
information. Students may show you an ERIC record and ask for help.
Point students to key information areas (fields) in the ERIC record
such as: Accession Number, Publication, Document Type, and Record Type
.
Here is a detail from an EJ ERIC Record.
Above Image: Notice the Accession No. area circled in red tells the
student what kind of record they are viewing. In this case, we can see
that this is an EJ document (traditional journal article). The Source
area circled in red tells us the name of the publication in which the
article can be found.
Here is another detail from an ERIC record.
Above Image: Notice the Document Type area. The Document Type
area indicates we are looking at a journal article from CIJE. The
record type is also circled and indicates the format used to classify
the document.
4. Students forget that ERIC
only has Citations for EJs and some EDs
See the beginning section ERIC(FirstSearch Overview).
4. Students are not aware of how to cite the various types of documents correctly
Please take a look at examples
of various citations for different types of ERIC documents.
Find one ERIC EJ citation and one ERIC ED citation from the ERIC FirstSearch Database. Write out the citations in the APA Style Guide format and place your submissions in the assignment dropbox.