ERIC Index    (see information below )

Search ERIC  using FirstSearch   (instructions)

or search ERIC   via interface provided by CSA

or search ERIC using the version sponsored by the Department of Education

Other Federal Education Related Sites

U.S. Department of Education Home Page

Cross-Site Index to Federal Education Information

The ERIC database has become the single most important research tool for the field of education. Unfortunately recent changes to the government contracts which support it resulted in indexing delays. As of Fall 2008, the coverage is at about 80% of what might have been expected for journal materials from 2001 forward. Some materials published in 2001, 2002 and 2003 are just now being added. Items published from 2004 onward are being added as they become available. Coverage is more complete for most publications, with every article being indexed, but there are still a few journals that have not yet been covered at all. (For more information on ERIC changes see http://www.lib.msu.edu/corby/education/doe.htm)

MSU educational researchers needing the most recent research should also check the commercial publication Education Abstracts.

Finding Items listed in ERIC

Citations from ERIC with EJ accession numbers are journal articles and can be located at MSU by looking for the journal name in the Library Catalog. If you are using an index, use the "FIND TEXT AT MSU" link.

Citations from ERIC with ED accession numbers are ERIC documents. Most documents from 1966-2003 are available at MSU by looking for the ED number in the microfiche collection on 2 West of the Main Library. About 75% of the ERIC Documents from 1993 to the present are also available online from ERIC, look for the ERIC Document Link to Full Text as you search.

FirstSearch is part of a state-wide initiative to offer a variety of databases on the web. It includes all of ERIC and allows you to print or send your results via email. A small percent of the journal articles are available full text within the FirstSearch system, but most can only be found by using the FIND TEXT AT MSU links or checking the Library Catalog.

CSA is a powerful search interface. Researchers who are doing a complex search of the ERIC database should use ERIC through this software. The file contains hotlinks to full text ERIC documents available from ERIC, and links to journals in the MSU collection. Although it has many more links to our holdings than the FirstSearch version, CSA's links are also incomplete. To check whether MSU holds a particular journal use the FIND TEXT AT MSU links or check the Library Catalog.