ERIC database
The ERIC database is produced by the Educational Resources Information Center and offers a national information system designed to provide ready access to an extensive body of education-related literature. Coverage of significant developments in education research and practice is included. The ERIC database, the world's largest source of education information, contains abstracts of approximately one million journal articles as well as research papers and reports. ERIC is a bibliographic, rather than full-text database. It is updated quarterly.
The texts of ERIC documents (those with an "ED" accession number) are available in microfiche format and are shelved in the Microforms and Documents Department of the Auburn University Libraries. The texts of ERIC journal articles (those with an "EJ" accession number) must be obtained from the journals themselves. To determine if the Auburn University Libraries subscribe to a particular journal, search for the title of the journal in the Library User Information System (LUIS) database.
There are basically four different types of searches which may be used with the database. These are: TITLE (for example: t=salary survey), AUTHOR (for example a=baker), SUBJECT Heading (for example: s=competency based education), and KEYWORD (for example: k=social adj influences).
WHEN YOU KNOW THE EXACT TITLE (t=): type t= followed by as much of the title of the document or journal article as you know to be correct. Always omit initial articles (i.e. a, an, the, etc.) and all punctuation. It is not necessary to use upper and lower case. Example: t=selected and annotated bibliography for literature of the black american instead of t=a selected and ...
WHEN YOU DO NOT KNOW THE EXACT TITLE: Use keyword searching and the super-label.
.ti. to search for individual words from a title. Example: k=salary.ti. and survey.ti.
Searching Authors in ERIC
TO SEARCH FOR AN AUTHOR ON ERIC (a=): Type a= followed by the author's surname or portion of the surname. Omit all punctuation. It is not necessary to use upper and lower case. Example: a=sargent
If the surname is common, type author's first name or initial after the complete surname. Example:
a=jones thomas instead of a=jones.
If you are unsure of the correct form of the name, try alternate forms. Example: a=ginsburg. If the entries located are not appropriate, try a=ginsberg. Also, you may use truncation as appropriate. Example: a=ginsb.
TO SEARCH FOR AN AUTHOR USING KEYWORD (k=): Use the superlabel .au. Example:
k=murphy.au.
Use ADJ to link the author's first name or initial(s) to the surname. Example: k=johnson adj james.au.
SUBJECT SEARCHING (s=): Type s= followed by an ERIC subject descriptor. Example s=geographic regions.
To determine the subject headings used in ERIC consult a copy of the Thesaurus of ERIC Descriptors. Copies are located in the Social sciences Department on the index table 4A with Current Index to Journals in Education (CIJE) and in the Microforms and Documents Department on the index table with Resources in Education (RIE). Other copies are available in the online search rooms located on the third and fourth floor of the RBD Library.
ERIC KEYWORD SEARCHING (k=): When you enter a keyword search, all parts of the database record are checked for your search term. Searching by keyword enables you to retrieve precise search results. Use the following keyword search features to refine your search statement:
Boolean Operator k=drugs and testing
Positional Operator k=reading adj achievement
Superlabel k=curriculum.ti.
Field Qualifier k=nature.so.
Truncation k=employ?
Nesting k=(linguistics or language) and infants
BOOLEAN OPERATORS: Use Boolean operators to specify the logical relationship between search terms.
AND specifies that both terms must appear in the same database record. Example: k=ozone and chloro?
OR specifies that either or both terms appear in the same database record. Example: k=planning or forecast?
NOT specifies that the first term but not the second appears in the same database record. Example: k=report not preliminary
XOR specifies that one or the other of the terms appear in the database record, but both terms do not appear in the same database record. Example: k=college xor university
POSITIONAL OPERATORS: Use a positional operator to specify proximity between search terms.
SAME searches for terms that occur in the same field. Example: k=faculty same evaluation
WITH searches for terms that occur in the same sentence in any order. Example: k=parent with conferences
ADJ searches for terms that occur adjacent to each other in the order you type. Example: k=job adj skills
NEAR searches for terms that occur next to one another in either order. Example: k=table near data (finds "data table" and "table data")
SUPERLABELS: When you use a superlabel in your search statement, a group of related fields within a database record is checked for your search term. Remember to use periods to enclose superlabels.
To search title fields only, use the superlabel .ti. Example: k=safety.ti.
To search subject fields only, use the superlabel .su. Example: k=learning.su.
To search author fields only, use .au. Example: k=finley.au.
Multiple superlabels may be used in the same search but they must be separated with a comma. Example: k=education.au,ti,su.
FIELD QUALIFIERS: When you use a field qualifier in your search statement, one specific field in the retrieved record can be qualified to use as the searchable field. Remember to use periods to enclose the field qualifier.
To Search Use Example
year of publication .yr. k=1988.yr.
abstract .ab. k=personality.ab.
entry month .em. k=8802.em.
publication type .pt. k=journal article.pt.
language .la. k=german.la.
sponsoring agency .sp. k=dhhs.sp.
accession number .an. k=ED305535.an
institutional sources .in. k=maryland univ.in.
major subject .maj. k=dietetics.maj.
minor subject .min. k=policy.min.
major identifier .majid. k=jargon.majid.
minor identifier .minid. k=france.minid.
(Use the superlabel .su. to search all four of the above fields at once.)
clearinghouse number .ch. or .cs. k=SP518070.ch or k=ce520994.cs.
geographic source .gs. k=missouri.gs.
governmental level .gv. k=state.gv.
report number .rn. k=TR 86 24.rn.
contract/grant/project # .cn. k=OERI R 86 0016.cn.
target audience .ta. k=teachers.ta.
file segment .fs. k=ed.fs.
publication type .pt. k=reviews.pt.
journal announcement .ja. k=riesep89.ja.
TRUNCATION: Use truncation (?):
-to broaden your search
-to allow for variant spellings
-when you are unsure of the correct form of the search term
A number placed after the ? specifies how many characters may follow the stem. Examples:
k=theat?2 retrieves theatre or theater but not theatrical
k=system?1 retrieves system or systems but not systematic
To avoid irrelevant results, do not use stems that are too short.
NESTING: When you use more than one operator in a search statement, group terms together with parentheses. Examples: k=(foreign adj relations) and (russian or soviet)
k=(elderly or homeless) and (hous? or shelter?)
k=(computer adj education) and adults.su.
STOPWORDS: Some words appear so frequently in database records that keyword search statements ignore them. A list of these stopwords can be found as a Explain Keyword help screen.
Use only the following punctuation marks or special characters in a keyword search statement:
periods to enclose a field qualifier or superlabel
commas to separate field qualifiers or superlabels
parentheses for nesting
? for truncation
Use ADJ to link a surname to a first name or initial(s) when searching by author, to search a personal name as a subject, and to join the elements of a journal title.
Examples: k=johnson adj marion.au.
k=hastings adj center adj reports.so.
k=piaget adj jean.su.
If you do not use any Boolean or positions operators in a search statement, the operator AND is
assumed.
If you include a Boolean or positional operator, the operator will be used for subsequent search terms until you specify a different operator.
T.Harmon Straiton, Jr.
Microforms and Documents
95-101
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