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Database of the Month: ERIC

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by Liz Galoozis
July 7, 2011

ERIC, the Education Resources Information Center, is "the world's largest digital library of education literature." If you're doing research on teaching or learning, or if you want to keep up with trends in education, it is an essential database. While ERIC is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, the Bentley Library subscribes to ERIC through the EBSCO platform. This allows for easy exporting and saving, as well as linking to the full text of documents only available in other library databases.

More than Journals

ERIC indexes more than 1100 journals (90% of which are peer-reviewed), from the Journal of Higher Education to the Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning. But it also contains a wealth of other, specialized publications, including:

  • conference papers
  • policy papers
  • grey literature
  • dissertations and theses
  • reports from government agencies, research centers, and professional organizations

In the past, you may have used these ERIC documents in microfiche, but ERIC is working on digitizing many of these materials. See a sample ERIC document here (opens into a PDF).

Advanced Searching

It's easy to hone in on the materials you want with ERIC's particular search limiters. You can search by:

  • Educational Level (e.g., Postsecondary Education, Higher Education, Early Childhood Education)
  • Intended Audience (e.g., Policymakers, Administrators, Researchers)
  • Publication Type (e.g., Legal Materials, Numerical/Quantitative Data, Tests/Questionnaires)

You can also explore a topic using ERIC's unique Thesaurus; click on "Thesaurus" at the top of the search screen. This feature helps you discover related subjects and terms you may not have thought of; for example, the entry for "Information Networks" is below.

 

Connect to this Database

Please visit ERIC to explore this valuable database further, or visit our Databases page to view a complete list of our resources.

Database of the Month provides a very brief introduction to an important research database, highlighting key features of the database that you should know about. If you would like more information about this database (or any of the library’s databases) please contact the Reference Desk.  If you would like a demonstration of this database for a class, please contact our Coordinator of User Education, Elizabeth Galoozis.