The ERIC database gives access
to thousands of journal articles and documents on education. It
is one of the oldest and most comprehensive databases available
anywhere. ERIC displays abstracts with a complete
bibliographic citation for each article or document.
Directions for using ERIC:
1. Go to the Library's homepage (www.loyola.edu/library)
2. Click on the Education subject heading listed
under "Resources by Subject" on the top box in the center
of the homepage. Then click on "ERIC."
3. You should be on the Advanced Search
screen. If not, click on “Advanced Search” tab
at the top of the ERIC search screen. This will give you
search boxes that allow several different kinds of searches
at once as well as limit options at the bottom of the
page. When entering search term(s), you will generally
want to indicate the type of search you are doing;
the program defaults to keyword. However, keyword searching
in a database as large as ERIC can yield many irrelevant
items. Using more than one term helps to limit your search.
You can limit your search by using AND between
terms, or expand your search by putting OR between
your terms. NOTE: if you use OR, put the “OR'd” terms
within parentheses. For example:
(inclusion OR mainstreaming)
AND special education
4. If you need help choosing a search term,
click on the “Thesaurus” button at the top of the page. The Thesaurus
will give you appropriate terms to use when doing a Subject
(descriptors) search.
5. You can limit the number of retrieved
items or limit your search by setting a date range, using
the "Date Published" fields.
6. Each ERIC citation displays a number.
All ERIC numbers begin with either the letters ED or EJ.
- ED numbers indicate
an ERIC document. Documents include books,
transcripts, conference papers, government publications,
dissertations and theses. The library has microfiche
for most of the ERIC documents. They are kept in the
Microforms room, located on the lower level of the
library, filed in numerical order by the ED number.
If the document was published in 1993 or later, you
may be able to access the Full-Text of the Document
by clicking the Full text from ERIC link. Once
opened, you can either print or download the document.
Note: if your document is large (i.e. a dissertation)
it may take a few minutes to open and print it.
- EJ numbers indicate a journal
article. ERIC links to SOME full-text articles. Click on
the linked article title, and look for a link to "Full-text"
in the full record. If there is no link to full text, you may
be able to get the journal from the library. To check if the
library owns the journal, click on the "Article Linker"
link, which will search our electronic journals and allow you to
perform one-click searching of the library catalog. You may also
ask at the Reference Desk for help in figuring out whether the
journal can be found full-text online in a different database.
If the library does not own the periodical you need, you can
request a copy of the article using Interlibrary Loan.
Note: Printing accounts, obtained at the
circulation desk on the main floor, are needed when using the computer
printers. Photocopiers running on the same system are also available on
the main floor.
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