Database Tutorials

About this Database

Content Includes:

• More than 1.6 million records
• Links to more than 631,000 full-text documents
• An education-specific thesaurus containing over 11,700 terms

Navigate to the ERIC Database

Wolfgram Memorial Library Homepage ► A to Z Database List ► ERIC

Navigate to the ERIC database, enter your keywords and conduct your search.

The example below uses the keywords Higher Education

From the advanced search page, you do have additional search options available to you, such as:

• Use the Full Text limit to see only articles that you have immediate access to
• Use the Date Published slider to see articles from a certain year (i.e. 2007) or a range of years (i.e. 2003-2013)
• Use the Publication Type limit to see only particular types of articles (Reports-Research/Technical are the most useful options)

The keyword search for higher education (without any additional limiters selected) should yield approximately 407,509 results

These results can be narrowed by adding another keyword (for example: Service Learning) and searching again.

• The Keyword search for Higher Education AND Service Learning should yield approximately 3,140 results.

• Use the Full Text limit to see only articles that you can print out
• Use the Date Published slider to see articles from a certain year (i.e. 2007) or a range of years (i.e. 2003-2013)
• Use the Publication Type limit to see only particular types of articles (Reports-Research/Technical are the most useful options)
• Use the Source Type limit to view results from particular types of sources (i.e. Academic Journals, ERIC Documents, Magazines, etc.)
• The Subject limiter can be used to limits search results within specific subjects areas.

• Author’s Name
• Article Title
• Journal Title, Volume/Issue Number, Page Numbers
• Publication Date
• ERIC Accession Number (EDxxxxxx or EJxxxxxx)

There are two types of articles in the ERIC database, ERIC Documents and ERIC Journals Articles.  You can tell the difference by looking at the Accession Number.  ED = ERIC Document and EJ = ERIC Journal Article.

On the Results List you will also see links under each citation.  The links you should be aware of are:

1. Widener University Catalog (WebPAC) This links to WebPAC so you can check to see if Widener owns the journal you are interested in.
2. InterLibrary Loan (Illiad Wolfgram) This links to the Widener Interlibrary Loan system, so that you can order items that Widener does not own.
3. HTML Full Text: The full article is available for downloading/printing in HTML format.
4. PDF Full Text: The full article is available for downloading/printing in PDF format.
5. Linked Full Text The full article is available for downloading/printing from one of the other online databases.
6. Full Text Finder Click here to see if the full text for this article is available from another Widener database.

* More information regarding finding the Full Text of an item below.

If you click on the title of the article you are interested in you will be taken to the Full Record for the item.

Select article #5 from the Results list, “Implementing and Sustaining Higher Education Service-Learning Initiatives: Revisiting Young et al.'s Organizational Tactics.”

The Full Record contains the bibliographic information for the article as well as additional information such as:

• Descriptors: Broad terms from the ERIC thesaurus describing the item's content. Major headings are preceded by an asterisk (*) in the ERIC record. Each are hyperlinked and will bring you to results which fit the particular descriptor.
• Abstract: A brief summary of the item's content.
• Helpful Tools: Quick links to print, share via email or copy/paste the permalink, get the citation and more.

Notice the keywords from your search are bold throughout the abstract, use of these keywords in the article is what made the article show up in the results list.

ERIC has a “controlled vocabulary” of education-related terms called Descriptors that are maintained in the ERIC Thesaurus. Descriptors are used to organize database materials by subject. Using Descriptors in your search can help you locate materials of greater relevance to your topic.

NOTE: Descriptors are not the same as keywords. Keywords match words found in a bibliographic record and may or may not fully represent the subject of an article or document. Descriptors, also known as indexing terms or subject headings, help you locate subject-related materials that may not contain the keyword in the indexed record.

Searching ERIC Thesaurus

1. From the top of the navigation bar within the ERIC database, seletermct Thesaurus
2. In the Browsing: ERIC -- Thesaurus box, enter your keywords (e.g. higher education) and then click the Browse button
3. The resulting list of descriptors includes those that best match your keywords, select the first term, Higher Education

You will now see more detailed information about the ERIC Descriptor "Higher Education"

• Scope Note: How ERIC defines “Higher Education” [For Example: All education beyond the secondary level leading to a formal degree (Note: Also appears in the list of mandatory educational level Descriptors)]
• Broader Terms: Descriptors that are less specific then what you typed in [For Example: Postsecondary Education]
• Narrower Terms: Descriptors that are more specific then what you typed in [For Example: Undergraduate Study]
• Related Terms: Descriptors that are conceptually linked to what you typed in [For Example: Academic Advising]
• Used For: What other terms “Higher Education” is used in place of [For Example: Advanced Education]
• When you Explode a term, you create a search query that “explodes” the subject heading. The headings are exploded to retrieve all references indexed to that term as well as all references indexed to any narrower subject terms.
• If a plus sign (+) appears next to a narrower or related term, there are narrower terms below it.

Many articles are available in Full Text format from the ERIC database.

If you see any of the following listed under the citation for your article, click on one of them to get the full text:

The full article is available for downloading/printing in PDF format.

The full article is available for downloading/printing in HTML format.

The full article is available for downloading/printing from one of the other online databases.

If you do not see a PDF, HTML, or Linked Full Text option, look for 

Full Text Finder is a way to find out if the article you are interested in is available in full text in one of the library’s other databases.

1. Select the Full Text Finder link from within the citation for the article you want
2. If the article you want is available from another database in our collection, you will see it listed here. The example below shows that the article is available through the ProQuest Central Database, click to view the Full Text article.
3. When you click on the ProQuest Central Link from Full Text Finder another browser window will open up and the full text of the journal article in ProQuest Central will be displayed. Click on the PDF link to view the article.