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ERIC This information comes from EbscoHost database. |
Welcome to the ERIC Database Information Screen! Browse the topics listed below to find what you are looking for:
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ERIC, the Educational Resource Information Center, provides access to education literature and resources. The database provides access to information from journals included in the Current Index of Journals in Education and Resources in Education Index. ERIC provides full text of more than 2,200 digests along with references for additional information and citations and abstracts from over 1,000 educational and education-related journals.
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There are many helpful tips and hints you can use to improve your search results. You can choose one or more searching tools that are described below. For example, you can use Boolean operators; control the search order; limit the search to a specific title; and /or restrict the search to a particular date range.
Note: Stopwords are commonly used words such as articles, pronouns, and prepositions. These words are not indexed for searching in the database. For example, 'the', 'for', and 'of' are stopwords. When a stopword is used in a query, any single word or no word is retrieved in place of the stopword.
Sometimes a search can be overly general (results equal too many hits) or overly specific (results equal too few hits). To fine tune your search, you can use AND, OR, and NOT operators to link your search words together. These operators will help you narrow or broaden your search to better express the terms you are looking for and to retrieve the exact information you need quickly.
USING THE "AND" OPERATOR: If you have a search term that is too general, you can append several terms together using "AND". By stringing key terms together, you can further define your search and reduce the number of results. Note: Unless you define a specific search field, the result list will contain references where all your search terms are located in the citation, full display or full text.
• For example, type education AND reform to find results that contain both terms.
To further define your results, you can string many terms together using the "AND" operator.
• For example, type: education AND reform AND federal to constrict the search to include all terms linked by the "AND" operator.
USING THE "OR" OPERATOR: In order to broaden a search, you can link terms together by using the "OR" operator. By using "OR" to link your terms together you can find documents on many topics. Linked by this operator, your words are searched simultaneously and independently of each other.
• For example, type elementary OR kindergarten to find results that contain either term.
USING THE "NOT" OPERATOR: In order to narrow a search, you can link words together by using the "NOT" operator. This operator will help you to filter out specific topics you do not wish included as part of your search.
• For example, type developmental disabilities NOT autism to find results that contain the term "developmental disabilities", but not the term "autism".
Parentheses also may be used to control a search query. Without parentheses, a search is executed from left to right. Words that you enclose in parentheses are searched first. Why is this important? Parentheses allow you to control and define the way the search will be executed. The left phrase in parentheses is searched first; then based upon those results the second phrase in parentheses is searched.
Generalized Search: kindergarten or elementary and reading
Focused Search: (kindergarten or elementary) and reading
In the Generalized Search example, the search will yield two types of results. First, results that contain the term "kindergarten". Second, results that contain the terms "elementary" and "reading".
In the Focused Search example, we have used the parentheses to control our query to only find articles that contain either the term "kindergarten" or "elementary" AND the term "reading".
Using the date field (DT), you can narrow the search to a certain publication date. For example, type technology and DT 9601- to only produce results concerning technology published after January 1996. Note: If a hyphen ( - ) is used after the date, it will indicate that the search is open-ended.
You could also type: education and DT -9601 to retrieve articles containing the word "education" prior to January 1996.
Or type education and DT 9501-9512 to retrieve articles that contain the word "education" during 1995.
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The following list will help you locate detailed information referenced in this database as a field.
The default fields for unqualified searches consist of the following: Title, Author, Subjects (Descriptors/Identifiers), Institution Name, Core Subjects, and the Abstract Summary.
Tag Description Example
AB Abstract AB college
[Word Indexed]
Searches the abstract summary
for keywords.
AG Audience AG Parents
[Word Indexed]
Searches the type of audience
the item is targeted toward.
Values consist of the following:
- Administrators
- Community
- Counselors
- Media Staff
- Parents
- Policymakers
- Practitioners
- Researchers
- Students
- Teachers
AN or UI Accession Number AN EJ571805
[Phrase Indexed] UI EJ553229
Searches the exact ERIC accession
number.
AU Author AU Tolan,
[Word Indexed] Stephanie
Searches author(s) last name
followed by first name or initial.
AV Level of Availability AV "Available on
[Word Indexed] microfiche only"
Searches the Level of Availability. or
Values consist of the following: AV 1
1 - Available in paper and on
microfiche
2 - Available on microfiche only
3 - Not available from EDRS
BN International Standard Book Number BN 0071381759
[Phrase Indexed]
Searches the exact ISBN.
CH Clearinghouse Name CH Information
[Word Indexed] & Technology
Searches words in the
clearinghouse name.
CN Contract Number CN RR93002011
[Word Indexed]
Searches the Contract Number.
CY Country of Publication CY Australia
[Phrase Indexed]
Searches the origin of the item
by exact country, state, province,
or territory.
DE Subjects DE individual
[Phrase Indexed] needs
Searches exact subject heading
descriptors.
DT Date of Publication DT 199401
[Numerically Indexed]
Searches the exact publication
date in CCYYYMM format.
FT Full Text (Digest Available) FT Y
[Phrase Indexed]
Limits to titles that have
full text (digest) available.
The valid entries for this
field are:
Y = Yes
N = No
GV Government Level GV Federal
[Word Indexed]
Searches the government level.
Values consist of the following:
- Federal
- Foreign
- International
- State
- Local
IN Institution Name IN Kansas Univ
[Word Indexed]
Searches the originating institution
or sponsoring agency.
IS International Standard Serial Number IS 00029769
[Phrase Indexed]
Searches the exact ISSN.
JN Journal Name JN Science
[Phrase Indexed] Teacher
Searches the exact journal name
displayed within the Source
information field.
LA Language LA German
[Phrase Indexed]
Searches the exact language(s) of
the publication.
PT Publication Type PT 060
[Phrase Indexed] or
Searches the exact publication code PT Historical
or type. Values consist of the Materials
following:
10* - A/V Non-print Materials
010 - Books
02* - Collected Works
030 - Creative Works
04* - Diss./Theses
05* - Guides
060 - Historical Materials
07* - Information Analyses
080 - Journal Article
090 - Legal/Legisl./Regulatory Materials
074 - Non-ERIC Digests (Selected)
13* - Reference Materials
14* - Reports (All)
140 - Reports - General
141 - Reports - Descriptive
142 - Reports - Evaluative/Feasibility
143 - Reports - Research/Technical
150 - Speeches/Conference Papers
110 - Statistical Data
160 - Tests/Evaluation Instruments
17* - Translations
120 - Viewpoints
RN Report Number RN EDO-IR-2002-09
[Word Indexed]
Searches the Report Number field.
SO Source SO History of
[Word Indexed] Education
Searches words in the Source
information of a record.
SU Subject SU vocational
[Word Indexed] education
Searches subject headings that
briefly describe the item's content.
TI Title TI portfolios
[Word Indexed]
Searches words in the title of
the article.
TY Journal or Document TY ED
[Phrase Indexed]
Searches the exact document code
type. Values consist of the following:
ED - Documents
EJ - Journal Articles
YR Year of Publication YR 2000
[Numerically Indexed]
Searches the year of publication
in CCYY format.
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The following table explains the contents of each field in an ERIC record's detailed display (not all fields are listed in every record).
Field name Description
Title The item's title.
Author(s) The name(s) of the person(s) who performed the
research and/or wrote the report. Listed as
last name, first name or initial.
Source The journal name followed by the volume number,
issue number, inclusive pagination, and the
publication date or period.
Publication Date source published.
Date
ISSN International Standard Serial Number.
ISBN International Standard Book Number.
Descriptors Broad terms from the ERIC thesaurus describing
the item's content. Major headings are preceded
by an asterisk (*) in the ERIC record.
Identifiers Proper names or specific terms identifying the
subjects dealt with by this item.
Abstract A brief summary of the item's content.
Notes Additional descriptive notes for the user,
sometimes contains pricing and availability
information.
Corporate Name and alphanumeric code describing an alternate
Source or supporting source for this information.
Sponsoring Name and alphanumeric code identifying the
Agency contract supporting this publication and/or a code
assigned by ERIC to the sponsoring agency.
Government Indicates source level where information was
Level obtained (i.e. federal, state, foreign, local).
Country of Origin of the item by country, state, province or
Publication territory.
Language Original language(s) of the source.
Clearinghouse ERIC's clearinghouse name which describes the
item's main focus, and an alphanumeric code assigned
to the item.
Contract Number Alphanumeric code identifying the grant or contract
supporting this item.
Report Number Alphanumeric code identifying this item; generated
by the originating source.
Number of Total number of pages in the item.
Pages
Intended Type of audience that the item is intended for.
Audience
Publication Categories of documents the record falls into as
Type denoted by ERIC.
Availability Alternate places where the item can be obtained,
a description indicating the level of availability
of the item. May also include actual prices for paper
copies and microfiche, copies as determined by Eric
Document Reproduction Services (EDRS); prices are
represented by the EDRS alphanumeric price code.
Journal Code Issue of ERIC abstract journal in which item was
announced.
Entry Month Date record was entered in the format CCYYMM.
ERIC Number The ERIC accession number.
[back to top][Searchable Fields]
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The Thesaurus Authority File is an extensive alphabetical list of terms encompassing a wide range of topical subjects. Subject headings which describe the major focus of a document are preceded by an asterisk (*) in the ERIC record. The Thesaurus is arranged in a hierarchy that permits searching various levels of detail from the most general level to more narrow levels to find the most precise concept. Thesaurus entries include 'Use', 'Broader Terms', 'Narrower Terms', and 'Related Terms'.
The authority file provides flexibility in searching. As an alternative to the keyword search mode, the authority file enables the user to search by subject and to combine one or more terms to create more defined searches. Select the Alphabetical option to position the authority file list to the term(s) entered. Select Relevancy Ranked to order search results according to relevance.
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The Journal authority file is a listing of journals included in the database and provides flexibility in searching. As an alternative to the keyword search mode, the authority file enables the user to search by journal title and to combine one or more terms to create more defined searches. Select the Alphabetical option to position the authority file list to the term(s) entered. Select Relevancy Ranked to order results according to relevance.
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Index browsing allows the user to view all values that occur in specified fields in a database, along with corresponding hit counts.
Access the index browse feature by clicking the green "Indexes" button on the upper portion of the search screen. Use the drop-down menu to choose an index to browse.
Indexes can also be searched using tags. Since browsable indexes are phrase indexed, the exact form and spelling of terms as they appear in the database must be used in conjunction with the tags when entering a search manually.
Indexes available for browsing in ERIC are listed below.
Tags for all fields included in the index browse feature begin with "Z" (e.g. "ZA" for Author).
ZA Author
ZH Clearinghouse
ZM Contract & Report Number
ZY Country of Publication
ZU Descriptors (All)
ZE Descriptors (Major)
ZS EDRS Availability
ZF Educational Level
ZD Entry Date
ZG Government Level
ZW Identifiers (All)
ZK Identifiers (Major)
ZO Institution & Sponsoring Agency
ZV Intended Audience
ZN ISBN
ZI ISSN
ZJ Journal Title
ZQ Journal Code
ZL Language
ZB Level of Availability
ZP Price Code Index
ZT Publication Type
ZZ Record Type
ZR Year of Publication
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