Glossary
Adjunct Clearinghouses--
Clearinghouses that are associated
with and contribute to the ERIC system
and that have narrower scopes than the
16 major ERIC Clearinghouses. Almost
all adjuncts have funding from sources
other than the Office of Educational
Research and Improvement. Adjuncts are
usually affiliated with one of the
major clearinghouses and perform many
of the same functions.
Boolean Logic--
A system, named after the English
mathematician George Boole, for
symbolizing logical statements by using
the operators AND, OR, and NOT. Boolean
logic is often used in information
retrieval to define the limits of a
computer search. The Boolean operator
AND finds records containing both terms;
OR finds records containing either one
or both terms; and NOT finds records
containing the first term but not the
second.
CD-ROM--
Acronym for "compact disk read only
memory." These disks can hold up to
250,000 pages of text that can be
searched and retrieved using
microcomputers. The ERIC database
is available in this format from
several vendors.
Clearinghouses--
Components of the ERIC system that
are funded to collect, abstract, and
index education materials for the
ERIC database; respond to requests
for information in their subject areas;
and produce special publications on
current research, programs, and practices.
Descriptors--
Subject terms used to index and
search for documents and journal
articles in the ERIC database.
Digests--
Two-page research syntheses or
overviews of education topics.
ERIC Documents (EDs)--
Research reports, program descriptions,
teaching guides, and other education-
related publications that have been
abstracted and indexed in Resources in
Education (RIE) and the ERIC database.
ERIC Journal Articles (EJs)--
Education-related articles that
have been annotated and indexed in
Current Index to Journals in Education
(CIJE) and the ERIC database.
ERIC Partners--
Agencies and organizations with
constituencies interested in education
that have expressed a willingness to
facilitate the exchange of information
between ERIC and their constituents.
ERIC Resource Collection --
A library or other information center
that provides individuals with access
to the ERIC database and related
resources. ERIC resource collections
do one or more of the following: provide
online or CD-ROM access to the ERIC
database; maintain sizable collections
of ERIC microfiche; and subscribe to and
collect ERIC publications, including
Resources in Education (RIE), Current
Index to Journals in Education (CIJE),
the Thesaurus of ERIC Descriptors, and/or
ERIC Clearinghouse publications.
Identifiers--
Searchable key words used to index
documents and journal articles in the
ERIC database. Identifiers are used to
index geographic locations, personal
names, test or program names, and other
concepts not covered by descriptors.
Microfiche--
A sheet of microfilm containing rows of
microimages of pages of printed matter.
Approximately 95 percent of the documents
abstracted in the ERIC database can be
ordered in microfiche from the ERIC
Document Reproduction Service and viewed
on microfiche readers at libraries that
subscribe to the ERIC Microfiche Collection.
Online--
A function performed with the user
in direct contact with the computer,
interacting in real time.
Online Vendors--
Organizations that maintain databases
and related software on their computer
systems and sell online retrieval time
to clients at multiple remote locations.
 Appendix
 ERIC System Directory
This page was updated on Fri Nov 2 19:13:43 GMT 2001
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