Libraries FAQs

ERIC (Education Resources Information Center) is a key database for literature in the field of education. It includes journal articles, books, reports, dissertations, and more. It’s sponsored by the Institute of Education Sciences within the U.S. Department of Education, which produces a freely available version. Proquest and EBSCO, two large vendors of academic databases and other products, make these same records available on their database platforms with some added functionalities.  
     

Which version should you use?  

You’re searching the same body of literature, with the same subject headings and indexing, regardless of which version you use. The  Proquest and EBSCO versions offer more options for advanced searching and link directly to Drexel Libraries subscriptions. You can also search ERIC in combination with other databases on the same platform; for instance, on the EBSCO platform, you can search ERIC and PsycINFO, a key psychology database, at the same time.  
      ERIC (U.S. Department of Education) is freely available, whether or not you’re a current Drexel student, faculty, or staff member, and it does include some full-text resources, though it doesn’t link directly to Drexel subscriptions. It also provides the most straightforward access to the thesaurus of subject headings.  
      Please contact librarians@drexel.libanswers.com if you have questions or would like further guidance on searching ERIC or other databases – we’re happy to help!