Records retrieved in a search of the Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) database are assigned accession numbers with either EJ or ED prefixes. EJ records are for journal articles, whereas ED records are for many types of non-journal publications, including conference papers, reports, curricula, government documents, and other generally unpublished materials; these are known as the grey literature, fugitive literature, or report literature in education.  A substantial number of ERIC documents  are available in full text online through the ERIC website.

To access an ERIC document online, you may either search the ED number (e.g., ED123456) through the ERIC website or via Google or other Web search engines; this will lead you to the PDF version of the text.  Keep in mind that some ED records are for materials (such as commercially published books) that are not available online or on microfiche but that may nonetheless be owned in print form by our library or one of the Columbia University Libraries; be sure to check Educat+ and CLIO for book titles cited in ERIC.