ERIC is a free online digital library containing over 1.3 million education-related resources including journal articles, books, conference papers, theses, and government documents. The workshop introduced participants to searching ERIC, including using descriptors from the thesaurus which are standardized terms to describe topics, versus keywords which are any words found in records. Hands-on activities demonstrated how descriptor searches using terms from the thesaurus can provide more focused results than keyword searches. Participants were shown ERIC tutorials and help resources and told to contact the library for assistance.

1. Introduction to ERIC Presented by Monique Flaccavento OISE Library University of Toronto August 25, 2009

3. Information Literacy Outcomes for the workshop What is ERIC? How do I access ERIC? Search Strategies (Boolean operators, truncation, phrase searching, etc.) Narrowing your search

4. Descriptors vs. Keywords – using the ERIC thesaurus ERIC help and tutorials Finding the item in the University of Toronto Libraries / ILL My ERIC (save your citations and searches)

5. What is ERIC? ERIC (Education Resources Information Center) is a free, “online digital library of education research and information” http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/resources/html/about/about_eric.html

6. “ERIC provides unlimited access to more than 1.3 million bibliographic records of journal articles and other education-related materials” including… http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/resources/html/collection/about_collection.html

7. Books Conference Papers Government Documents Theses & Dissertations Directories Bibliographies And more…

8. http://www.eric.ed.gov/

9. Accessing ERIC through OISE

10. Faculty of Education Class 1918-1919 OISE / UT Collection http://www.100years.oise.utoronto.ca/popup2.php?id=4

11. What is a Descriptor? A standardized word or phrase used to describe the subject / topic of a work Each index or database will have its own set of descriptors – those in ERIC are education-related The list of standardized terms is included in the thesaurus

12. How is a Keyword Different? Any word found anywhere in a bibliographic record A keyword may or may not represent the topic of awork Imagine a keyword search for the word child…

13. Author Name: Child, Alan J. Journal Title: Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry In the abstract: “Courses in child development are offered for high school students” Article title: Child Care and Child Nutrition Descriptors: child language, child rearing, child abuse

14. http://www.eric.ed.gov/

15. Paired Activity You have been assigned a paper on “sexism in elementary education”. 1. Using the advanced search screen, perform a keyword search for journal articles on sexism in elementary education, published from 2000 – 2009. 2. How many results did you obtain? How relevant are your results?

16. 3. Search the thesaurus for the word sexism. Which descriptor should you use to search ERIC? Which descriptors could you use to broaden your search? 4. Using the advanced search screen, perform a descriptor search for journal articles on sexism in elementary education, published from 2000 – 2009. 5. How many results did you obtain in this search? How do your results compare to those in question 2?

17. ERIC Help and Tutorials

18. Tutorials Keyword vs. Descriptor Search (1 min. 23 secs.) Combining Descriptors (1 min. 4 secs.) Finding the Right Descriptor (2 min. 12 secs.)

19. Today’s PowerPoint presentation is available online at http://www.slideshare.net/mflaccave/introduction-to-eric

20. We’re here to help! In person: at the Reference Desk By phone: 416-978-1860 By email: askeloise@oise.utoronto.ca Via live chat: askON Or, book an in-depth reference consultation

21. We really want to help… We offer many other workshops A number of Online Research Guides are available on the Library’s homepage For the latest OISE Library news, follow us on Twitter

22. Questions?

23. We Appreciate Your Comments! Please take a moment to answer the following two questions: What is the most important thing you learned in today’s workshop? What questions do you still have about ERIC?

24. Thank you!