What is ERIC?
The Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) is an online library of education research and information, sponsored by the Institute of Education Sciences. ERIC consists of conference papers, research reports, dissertations, articles, guides, and books relating to education.
ED versus EJ
ERIC indexes both documents and journal articles. Both are identified by a unique number. ED numbers (e.g. ED352684) stand for ERIC documents (reports, conference papers, dissertations, guides, and books) and EJ numbers (e.g. EJ1203625) stand for ERIC journal articles.
The ERIC website includes many freely available full-text ERIC documents (ED) and some ERIC journal articles (EJ).
How do I know if the full text is freely available online?
ERIC documents and journals can be searched by either their ED or EJ number or title, author, source, or other identifying information on the ERIC website.
Over 385,000 records in ERIC are publicly available and can be downloaded for free. If the document or journal is freely available, there will be a link next to the record to download the full text.
What if it isn’t freely available online?
ERIC documents (ED) from 1966 to 2004 are also on microfiche. While many of these are now freely available on the ERIC website, some are still only available on microfiche.
The University of Minnesota Government Publication collection holds the complete ED microfiche set from ED000001 to ED483046 (1966-2004). These can either be scanned (depending on the page length) or loaned. Keep in mind, many of these ED microfiches are not cataloged.
ERIC journal articles (EJ) not online can be searched for local library holdings by the journal title. ERIC documents (ED) after 2004 can also be searched for local library holdings by the title of the book, dissertation, report, or paper. If you have questions about ERIC documents, please contact Katie Otto for more information.
