Searching
ERIC from 
Searching Better Searching Viewing Results Finding Full Text Additional Help
Searching top
The default screen is the Advanced Search screen. 1. Type a word or phrase in one or more of the search
boxes and click Search.
2. Combine two words or phrases by placing them in
separate search boxes.
(More about AND/OR/NOT
searching)
Author, Title, or Journal Search
Better Searching top
There are a number of ways to optimize a search.
Refine the search
- You may limit your results before or after performing a search by
clicking the
tab below the search boxes. - You may limit by:
- Date of Publication: useful for weeding out old information
- Source: to search within a particular journal or book
- Journal of Document: ERIC publishes or makes available many non-journal documents, including research/technical reports, conference papers, curriculum and teaching guides, etc.
- Educational Level: From Early Childhood Education to Graduate Study.
- Publication Type: Options include books, dissertations, guides, statistical reports, and more.
- Intended Audience: Choose from Administrators, Community, Counselors, Media Staff, Parents, Policymakers, Teachers, Researchers, Students.
- Government Level: Typically refers to the entity that has authored or sponsored the work. Many of the ERIC Documents are government-authored. Choose from Federal, Foreign, State, International, or Local.
- Country of Publication
- Language: the language of the document
Use the thesaurus or index
-
Many records are tagged with Descriptors that identify the major concepts in an article. Using the official Descriptor will produce better results than keyword searching.
- The Thesaurus contains official Descriptors and shows relationships between Descriptors.
- Select the
button from the top of the page. - Type a term in the browse box.
- If a term is not found, the closest alphabetical equivalents will be displayed.
- Click on a term to see broader, narrower, or related terms.
- To search with a term, check the box next to it and click Add.
- Thesaurus terms and keywords may be combined on the advanced search page.
The Index will tell you how many records are available for each Descriptor.
- Select the
tab from the top of the screen. - Using the pull down menu, select Descriptors (All) or Descriptors (Major).
- Click browse to view an alphabetical list of all Descriptors or type a particular term and click browse. The number of available records for each term is displayed.
- To search a Descriptor, check the box next to it and click Add. The click Search.
- *hint* While there are many other indices available for browsing, most are the same as the those on the Refine the Search screen.
Search hyperlinked terms within records
- View the Complete Record of a citation.
- Click on one of the hyperlinked terms in the record to reveal all
records with the same term in the same field.
- Fields with hyperlinks include Author, Source, Descriptors, and many more.
*hint* Many of the hyperlinked words are words from the thesaurus. An easy way to perform a quality search is to do a quick keyword search, find a relevant record, and then use the hyperlinked words to perform a more sophisticated search.
Combine searches using Search History
- Select the
tab from the middle of the search page.
- Previous searches are displayed with the search string used and the number of results. Results can be viewed by clicking the number of results.
- To combine previous searches, select two or more lines and click Add. Then click Search.
- *hint* Search History is useful for combining Index searches with keyword searches.
Viewing Results top
- Use the scroll bar to move through records.
- If more than 10 records are available, use arrow at the bottom of the page to move to the next page.
- Click Complete Record to view the abstract and additional information.
- Select records to Save, Print, or Email by clicking
next to
the record.
Save, print, or email results
- After selecting records, click
- Then select one of the following:
Finding Full Text top
DO NOT select Full text from the Refine Search screen. This will always result in no hits.
- HTML Full Text: a link to the full text of the document; usually a non-journal document
- EDRS Full Text: a link to the PDF of a non-journal document. Some EDRS documents are very long (hundreds of pages) and take a long time to load. It is a good idea to look at the full record for number of pages before launching the document.
- Linkfinder: This utility searches other databases (such as
Infotrac and Project Muse) to see if full text is available. To use
it, click
.
Full text options will appear in a new window. - Voyager Catalog: The library may own print copies of the resource. If a Linkfinder search yields no full text results, click Voyager: check Walker Library holdings (ISSN) from within the Linkfinder box. Voyager will automatically search for the periodical and tell you where it is located in the library.
- Interlibrary Loan: If MTSU does not have a digital or print copy of the
resource you need, you may borrow it from another library. Select
from
the results list. Follow directions to set up an account if you are
a new user.
Additional Help top
Click Help at the top right corner of the screen for more assistance.
Library Research Guide (ACY 11/03)
James E Walker Library
Middle Tennessee State University
Murfreesboro, TN 37132