The ERIC Thesaurus –A Key to Finding Resources in ERIC

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Welcome/HousekeepingMuting

Asking questions

Link to the slides/archived webinar –http://eric.ed.gov/?multimedia

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PresentersErin Pollard: ERIC Project Officer,

Institute of Education Sciences

Lydia Hellrich-Dawson: Taxonomist and Indexer,AEM Team

Judy Beck: ERIC Processing Lead,AEM Team

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Agenda Overview

Background

Maintaining the ERIC Thesaurus

2015 Thesaurus Update

How the Thesaurus Helps Enable Resource Discovery

Wrap-Up and Q&A

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Overview Key aid in information discoveryOrganizes the collection by subject matter Allows users to find records that use a variety of terms to

describe the same concepts

Purposefully maintained with great care

Slated for update this year

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Background Introduction

History

Thesaurus Terms

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Introduction

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Represents ERIC subjects

Organizes ERIC by subject

Designed for search

History First version in 1966

Foundation of other thesauri

Fully digital in 2004

Regular updates

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Today

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Thesaurus Terms

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Descriptors

Synonyms

Descriptor Term Entry

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Synonym Term Entry

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Maintaining the ERIC ThesaurusWhy Update the Thesaurus

Thesaurus Update Process

2015 Thesaurus Update

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Why Update the Thesaurus?

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Usability

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Currency

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Relevancy

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Thesaurus Update Process

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Term Identification Indexer and User RequestsNew DescriptorsNew SynonymsChanges to Existing Terms

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Term Selection Thesaurus term?

Useful?

Literary Warrant?

Need?

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Proposal Development –ResearchDefinitions

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Proposal Development –Research (cont.)Term UsageExamples:Articulation (Education)

Articulation (Speech)

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Proposal Development – Term Entry Proposal DevelopmentTerm EntryTerm Scope NoteRelationshipsCategoryWork is done by professional taxonomists

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Proposal Review Check Research

Review Proposed Term Entry

Changes to Term Entry, if needed

Ready for Inclusion

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2015 Thesaurus Update

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New Descriptors (proposed) Common Core State Standards

Low Income Students

Value Added Models

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New Synonyms (proposed) Differentiation USE Individualized Instruction

MOOCs USE Online Courses

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Changes to Existing Terms (proposed) Intellectual Disability / Mental Retardation

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How the Thesaurus Helps Enable Resource Discovery

How is the Thesaurus used in indexing ERIC records?

How can the Thesaurus aid searching?

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Every Document

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Content of the Document

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Specificity of the Document

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Possible Approaches to Indexing Automated

Machine-Assisted

Manual

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Indexing with Descriptors Descriptors assigned using: Title Abstract Full text

Descriptors assigned to describe content

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How the Thesaurus Can Aid Searching Descriptors to refine your search

Descriptors to start your search

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Descriptors to Refine a Search

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Refined Search Results

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Descriptors to Start a Search

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Search the Thesaurus

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Search the Thesaurus (cont.)

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Browse the Thesaurus

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Browse Alphabetically

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Browse Alphabetically (cont.)

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Browse by Category

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Browse by Category (cont.)

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Search the Collection

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Descriptor Search Results

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Wrap-UpWe hope this webinar has—

Enhanced your awareness of the value and use of the ERIC Thesaurus

Provided information that helps you make use of the Thesaurus in your online research

Described the behind-the-scenes activities that take place to keep the Thesaurus up-to-date and tag records with appropriate Descriptors

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Q&A

Questions?

For questions following the webinar, send an email to ERICRequests@ed.gov

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THANK YOU!

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