The ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center) search engine is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education to provide extensive access to educational-related literature.
ERIC provides coverage of open access journal articles, and some unpublished full-text documents on conferences, meetings, reports, etc. at no charge. This search-engine searches in both the Current Index to Journals in Education (CIJE) for journal articles and Resources in Education (RIE) for ERIC documents.
ERIC is covered from 1966 to present with monthly updates.
ERIC is a Search Engine - not just a database
ERIC is a bibliographic search engine; it is not just a database. A database is a collection of journals compiled (or indexed) under one subscription service that your library pays for. Once you've logged in to a database, with your DSU credentials, you can access, read, or download content through your library's subscription.
A search-engine (like Google Scholar or ERIC) is a free tool that allows anyone to see what resources exist. Some will be from open-access content meaning anyone can download them for free. ERIC currently has over 450,000 full-text resources freely available. In addition, other resources will provide you with a 'direct link' to a DSU database where you can log in with your DSU credentials.
Some will not be available directly from DSU. However, if you see an article you're interested in and can't access it for free, contact DSU Library Services and ask about an inter-library loan. There is a very good chance we can get it to you from another partner institution.
Why not just use Google Scholar?
ERIC is specific to the field of education. It has easy-to-use options for narrowing your search, discovering related terms in its thesaurus, exploring 'descriptors,' and using education-specific search strategies (eg. selecting the level of education you're researching or information about education laws and policies.) These search options are unique to education and a great way to start your research! However, following up on Google Scholar as you get deeper into your research is a great idea too!
Target Audience
Sometimes journal articles and ERIC documents are written for particular audiences in ERIC database. The target audiences in ERIC are:
Subject Coverage
The major areas covered are: