ERIC Research

Overview

All curriculum development work, educational research and almost every educational or training and planning event should begin by learning from the prior experience of other educators. This requires a search of the professional literature. The best way to manage this is to search the world's finest database, one that is maintained by the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC). This document teaches a strategic approach to search activity and teaches a more advanced presentation format that makes your bibliography much more valuable for your research needs or those of a committee or team.  That is, this advanced format adds the descriptors and the abstract to the standard citation data. You will choose articles for further reading based on your findings.

The basic principles of the project could apply to any search of citation databases. Because of ERIC, education has the world's best organized and managed database of educational scholarship.  The database is a citation structured database to the educational literature, a database that was begun in 1966, though it also references important works published prior to that date.  The ERIC literature consists of the articles and documents cited in the database.  This work was once done by some 16 ERIC clearinghouses and 10 adjunct clearinghouses (e.g., organizations of reviewers) who made decisions about the value of works and entered the data on those important enough to store as references in the ERIC database. The clearinghouses functioned up through December, 2003 when the ERIC clearinghouses were disbanded and reorganized as a single unit. A new centralized model for acquiring information for this database appeared as of October 1, 2004. Further, the ERIC Document Delivery Service no longer exists as these documents are now online from 1993 to the present with effort underway to finish adding the older material for which copyright clearance can be obtained by March, 2009 (EUIE, 2007). In order to focus on the literature database, other more heavily used ERIC clearinghouse services were dropped (Rudner, 2003), with some services picked up by other institutions such as the Educator's Reference Desk, which provided answers to frequent questions, lesson plans and more.

In short, one effective strategy for searching the educational literature for prior scholarship is to search the ERIC database for articles and documents, create a specialized bibliography of what you find using citation management software (e.g. RefWorks), and then read and report on some of the articles in this set. For the particular requirements of this course, the bibliography should be accompanied by a two lists of  descriptors (keywords) from the ERIC thesaurus. One set of descriptors should be in the content area that is part of your professional interests as a student and the other set note the course related descriptors and concepts. The searches must be done using at least one descriptor from each list. Do use this project as an opportunity determine search terms and topics that will be of relevance throughout your educational career. Years from now, the same search terms will be still be relevant for retrieving the most current articles on the selected topics of interest. Finally, a short paper is to be created using the Write-n-Cite feature of the online RefWorks application.

You must save the results of this search and finally publish the thesaurus terms, bibliography and article reviews as a web page or web pages. Note that in this work you are not making a printout of citations and then manually typing it back in for editing. That concept should be put to rest permanently. Part of your task is to figure out how to efficiently handle the copy and paste commands, moving the information from the computer network system to your computer workstation. 

Outline of the Five Stages

This work has five different stages. In stage one, you will use the ERIC thesaurus to develop a list of descriptor search terms for computer technology and a second list for your professional interests. The computer is not required at this first stage but if not used will require a visit to the library if not using the online thesaurus in ERIC. Begin this work this week. 

Stage two, requires the use an online version of the ERIC database which can be searched from a campus Library or from anywhere on the Internet. The search terms compiled in stage one are to be used to search for relevant topics leading to saving search strategies and citation data to your disk. As a part of this search it is a requirement to identify a set of articles to find, read and write about. If you work in the library, the staff at the Hunter Library reference desk is close-at-hand if there are questions. If you work at home, you may call or send email questions to Hunter Library staff or if in Asheville, stop by and talk with the UNCA library staff. 

By mid-semester, begin work on the final three stages. In stage three you will bring this data file into a word processor or web editor of your choice, putting the citation data in APA format, including the descriptor and abstract information for each citation. To automate the tedious process of citation formatting, use the online RefWorks system, including its excellent tutorial, provided for free by Hunter Library with question support by library staff. The RefWorks system is provided free to all students but other citation management systems could be used in its place such as ProCite or EndNote. Once the bibliography is completed use the Save As Web Page command in Word to turn the bibliography into a web page that must next be uploaded to your web site and linked from a web page. When done you will have a highly annotated bibliography, with both ERIC and the computer playing a significant role in its creation and online publication. In the fourth stage create an abbreviated essay using Write-n-Cite which responds to three of the articles in your bibliography and include stage five, a reflection on the experience of this project.

Stage One - Preparing to Hunt

ERIC through EBSCO Host (if trouble with online access, call the Reference Desk at 227-7274)

The search terms needed for the hunt are found in the ERIC Thesaurus. Though this thesaurus is a book available near the Reference Desk at the library, the ERIC Thesaurus is also available online.  It is very helpful to interact with the Library reference staff to learn how to use the ERIC Thesaurus wisely. Where possible, become familiar with the paper (book) version of the thesaurus. The online approach to the thesaurus is described below.
 

1. Click the Thesaurus tab to see the thesaurus search area. 2. Note the that the input search box for searching the thesaurus is below the input search box for searching the citation database. Click this image to see a much larger version of this screen.

ERIC is a controlled vocabulary database. Teams of lexicographers built, use and continue to enhance a set of terms which are then applied to describe each of the approximately 1,000 articles added a week (EUIE, 2007). Consequently, using these descriptors is deemed more effective than just making up search terms of personal interest as one would in searching Google. This activity requires that the controlled terms (descriptors) come from the ERIC Thesaurus. Searching for Thesaurus terms produces lists of descriptors, related words and phrases. Each term is also linked to its definition and to other related terms. Copy descriptors useful for this project and save them. This system does not prevent other search terms from being used. Another strategy is to use the ERIC keyword search for any term that comes to mind and then look at the descriptors for that article to determine the best descriptors to use in finding other similar documents.

Create two columns of these descriptor search terms that are drawn from the ERIC Thesaurus. One column lists course computer-related terms. The second column lists terms important to you professionally.  See the table below for examples.
 

ERIC Thesaurus Descriptor Terms
Course Computer-related	Graduate Focus
computers	"language arts"
"multimedia instruction"	literacy
"computer uses in education"	"writing workshops"
"virtual reality"	"childrens writing"

The table above is to help get you started. Be thorough in making these two lists. They represent key vocabulary for finding ideas important to you throughout an educational career. As articles of interest are found, study the ERIC descriptors given for the article to find new descriptors not noticed when using the thesaurus. Each citation used in the bibliography must include at least one term from each list or column.

It is not necessary to use all of the terms found while browsing the thesaurus, but this requirement is to assure an awareness of these key terms in your professional area of interest. Put this data in a word processor table or Composer table of two columns and save as a separate file called thesaurus in a folder on your disk called ERIC. In this file, list all the descriptors you found for this project, not just the ones used. Your search strategies in the bibliography will show which ones were actually used in the searches. 

Stage Two - Hunting in ERIC

Learn to search the ERIC database of educational literature. You may already be familiar with one of the many ways to search the ERIC database. Whatever interface to ERIC you use, there are certain assignment features that you need. You must be able to: 

There are headings for different kinds of ERIC searches: Basic Search, Advanced Search and Thesaurus search. Prior to 2007, those familiar with ERIC may remember the Advanced Search ability to search by MH Descriptors (Major), a feature that is no longer available. To force a search of major descriptors, click the Thesaurus tab. Enter a term that you believe or hope is an ERIC descriptor. If so, it will appear in a list. If not, other related terms that are available descriptors will appear with checkboxes to the left of the terms. Put a check in the box for the most appropriate heading or headings. The Add button allows other terms to be included and as they are added a search strategy builds above the Thesaurus.

 Clicking the blue underlined phrased will lead to additional related terms. Search results of several hundred or several thousand suggest that insufficient thought was given to the number of descriptors used. Find a minimum of 20 citations; somewhere between 20 and 30 is the norm. See the example below.

 

If the descriptor used is a phrase, quotation marks must be put around it for the search system to work correctly. The quotation marks are critical for reliable results because sometimes leaving them out will turn up no references when hundreds are actually there. See the above example. That is, if you search for the descriptor computer uses in education, the EBSCO host system will not return any articles. If the search is typed as "computer uses in education" including the quotation marks, several thousand articles will be found. If the descriptor is a single term, there is no need to use quotation marks. It is also wise to search by date ranges to retrieve more current articles.

It is critical to tell the system to organize the retrieved citations by relevance, not by date or alphabetical. This places most relevant items at the top of the search. A search routine is used that more heavily weights the most current articles so that the most recent items will appear at the top. Search results of several hundred or several thousand citations would suggest that the searcher gave insufficient thought to the number of descriptors used. There is a Narrow My Results button that is often needed to yield effective results (Kadel, 2005). But there is no such magic button that will just get it right. The searcher must try different combinations to find the right number of search terms to use, usually this means a search strategy that returns some 10-20 references per research.

Stage Three - Bibliographic Format

Capturing this information for a given project can be done with different strategies. A common procedure is to copy and paste a search strategy (e.g., microcomputers AND math NOT arithmetic) into a word processor screen along with the citation items that you retrieved using your search strategy. The search strategy will be displayed right above your search results. This will require that the user to work the Find and Replace command to automatically remove labels, extra spaces and carriage returns, for example by replacing the label (e.g., title) with nothing and manually move text around into the proper bibliographic format. For gathering just a couple of citations, this can be quick and easy. A more effective strategy is to flag the citations of interest, add them to a RefWorks storage area, and then later have RefWorks take this collection of citation data and automatically convert them to APA format, saving hours of time with a more in-depth project.

Manual Bibliography Formatting

Tag or flag certain articles from the set that is retrieved as a result of your search and send just the ones you tagged to your email account or display as a web page that can be saved to your disk. This information must include:

• the standard citation data,
• along with the full list of descriptor terms
• and the abstract.

Click the screen shot below for a larger view of what should be copied from each reference. The highlighted text must be moved into a word processor file so that it can be edited. For this project, each citation needs three parts copied: the basic citation data; the descriptors and the abstract. The most editing will be required in shifting the citation elements into APA citation style. Search Google for APA Style Guides to look up the correct APA formats needed.

Click the image above for a full size screen shot (36k file).

Automated Bibliography Formatting

Use the online RefWorks tutorials to learn its features for obtaining an account and storing search results. Then use the link to the online RefWorks application to store and format the needed citations.

Getting to ERIC Online

There are several ways to get to ERIC. But remember that your goal is not only to do ERIC searches but to eventually turn your research into an annotated bibliography on a web page so that everyone on the Internet can benefit from this study.

The EBSCO Host online database is the recommended approach to ERIC for this assignment and works for both on and off-campus users. The screen shots above were taken while using ERIC which is made available by EBSCO. From Hunter Library's Web home page under Research Tools, click Databases and this will take you to the link that leads to the list of online databases. Click E in the alphabet menu and/or scroll down the ERIC database link. Click the ERIC link. 

If the connection is not made to EBSCO Host and to ERIC, technical help is available. If the computer is not set up to tell Hunter's web site that you are a registered university student, you will not get access. You must set up your computer with the right proxy settings  to get to these special databases. The Hunter Library Home page has special links to explain how to do this or you can call and ask for the Reference Desk at 227-7274. If your proxy settings are correct in your browser, on the way to this database you will be asked for your University name and your identification number, which comes right off your university ID card. If you are asked to select the university and enter a password, the proxy settings are not correct. 

Other options for connecting with ERIC include the Federal site, http://www.eric.ed.gov. It does not provide a quick link to RefWorks, but does provide a storage account for search data that can be passed to RefWorks, an account that is available for free throughout an educator's career.

As search activity proceeds, create AND searches with selected terms from each of your two columns of search terms created in stage one. Search only major descriptors (sometimes called Core Subjects) to eliminate many articles of marginal value. Cull through your searches and mark the ones that are most important to you. Remember that these citations must include at least one term from each of your two columns of ERIC search terms developed in stage one. If too many articles are returned for a given search strategy, use more descriptor terms to make the search better focused on your interests.

APA Format for Citation Data

Later, manually or with RefWorks, edit your data into APA format. As you save those marked citations, also take the option to save your search strategy or strategies for those citations. The search strategy or strategies must be a part of your final document. Also keep your developing bibliography in your ERIC folder on your disk. Spread your searches out over several nights to allow you to grow in your searching skills and to better reflect on whether you are finding what is important to you. The ERIC search data must be edited in the word processor file into APA citation format, but include the descriptors and the abstract.

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Stage Four - Edit and Publish

The bibliography required by this course is a new model for bibliographies, what one might call an ERIC IT Bibliography (or ERIC Information Technology bibliography). Information technology makes it possible to provide a significantly better bibliography than the standard model for the same amount of work. In the same time that it takes to copy the citation information, also copy the descriptor and abstract data. Once copied, this will require some cleaning up and formatting if done manually unless RefWorks is used.

To use the APA format manually, begin with the APA Style Guide summary provided by Hunter Library. This online reference is just one of hundreds of such APA and other style guides found across the Internet. APA format is to be outdented, not indented or flush.

Also consult the APA manual if you have further questions or pick up the phone or stop by and talk with a reference librarian. Leave the descriptor and the abstract data unchanged from the way it was placed in your file by ERIC. Delete any other data not required by this model. Keeping the abstracts in the bibliography makes your bibliography far more valuable and useable to you and to others.

For emphasis purposes, this deserves repeating. Once copied and pasted into a word processor file, the captured information must be edited into APA format and the additional descriptors and abstract placed below it. Returning to an earlier view of captured information, the information will start out looking like this.

Click the image above for a full size screen shot (36k file).

The retrieved citation data for the bibliography should be turned into something like this.

In the above example, an author was not given in the ERIC data. Note that the citation should be outdented, as is shown in the example. Getting the APA format right is just part of the requirement. Note that the above example also added the descriptors and abstract.

Putting things in APA or any bibliographic format is tedious work. It can be done instantly. For those wishing to spend real money on professional research tools to automate such work, software programs such as EndNote and ProCite are professional level bibliography management programs. They speed such work and are capable of taking data from the ERIC database and instantly putting it in any bibliographic format specified including APA. Further information can be obtained from reference desk librarians or from studying the information at the product's web sites.

Stage Four - The Essay

In addition to the research and construction of the bibliography, you must find and read three of the items in your bibliography and create an abbreviated paper with its own bibliography of these three references. There should be a strong bias towards reading EJ articles instead of ED documents as the former are refereed.

The essay has four parts. For each of the first three articles, write a less then one page reflection based on a key quotation and your own professional reactions. Note that  in this example or model of the article reaction that this activity does not involve creating an abstract summary of the article. ERIC already provides an abstract. Instead, this requires a high-interest quote and your own reactions to the quote and article. As part of this essay's development, use the Write-n-Cite feature of RefWorks to automate the creation of the essay's bibliography and the citation reference style within the essay's sentences. See the online RefWorks tutorials for the six minute tutorial on this feature.

Stage Five - Reflections

The fourth part should be a reflection on the nature of the assignment itself. At this stage, prepare to discuss your work. Create a heading in the essay titled Reflection on Digital Tools. Some starter questions to consider: What questions did this searching generate for you? How does it compare with other bibliographies you have made or used? Is it more useful? More time consuming? How do you feel about the quality and/or quantity of the data that you found? How would you answer the question of whether your search retrieved current information?

Once the reflection is completed, link the project's research elements on your web site. If this work has been done in Microsoft Word, save each Word file used as a filtered web page. This research should be linked from your computers.html file, the course assignments page. There are many ways that this can be done. There can be one link to one very long web page with all elements of this ERIC project, or multiple links to different parts of this project as separate web pages.

These four parts include: 

• In addition to the usual information that would normally go on a cover page, find a place to write a brief introductory sentence or two explaining your area of graduate study and the general search topic on which you focused. 
• After the introductory information, place the two columns of thesaurus data from stage one. 
• Next add bibliography which consists of search strategies followed by your bibliographic information (or put them throughout your bibliography if you order it in sub-sections by search, with items in alphabetically order under each search heading).
• The essay with the 3 reviews and the brief reflection on the overall process.

Make sure that the product of your work is visible online through your web pages. Share your finished bibliography research project with others and email the web address to your graduate advisor or show it as a printout. Explain the process that you have gone through. Discuss those citations that proved to be of special value to you. Make special note of any that may be of special interest to your University advisor's work. Email or discuss with me any feedback or critique of this process so that I may make the assignment of greater value to those who follow you. 
 

Grading Rubric  This assignment counts for 20% of your course grade. The primary criteria for evaluation include:  Completeness (Did you carefully follow the directions?)  Presentation (Is the organization and layout clear and easy to read?)  Writing (Are your short essays well written and link professional interests and the concepts of this course?)

Bibliography

EBBS (Education and Behavioral Science section of the American Library Association) http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/aboutacrl/acrlsections/EBSS/ebss.htm

EUIE (ERIC Users Information Exchange). http://blog.lib.msu.edu/ericusers/

Kadel, Robert (Apr 2005). Desperately Seeking ERIC. Leaders Sharing--Research Windows. Learning and Leading with Technology, 32(7), 30-32 . (EJ697344, full-text online).

Quint, Barbara (April 21, 2003). ERIC Continues but Without Clearinghouses, Information Today. http://newsbreaks.infotoday.com/nbreader.asp?ArticleID=16718

Rudner, Lawrence M. (April, 2003). How Many People Search the ERIC Database Each Day? D-Lib Magazine. 9(4). http://www.dlib.org/dlib/april03/rudner/04rudner.html