Web site addresses are becoming nearly as common as telephone numbers. Whether you're listening to the car radio during rush hour or watching the evening news, you're bound to hear or see at least one Web site address, and chances are you're actually hearing four or five addresses a day. You will even see these addresses right here in Impact!
While these addresses can be extremely useful, especially when some description is provided, it sometimes helps to have even more information about what you can expect once you get to a Web site. Just as you wouldn't dial a phone number for no reason, chances are you won't start visiting Web sites just because you know their addresses.
With that in mind, rather than provide you with a collection of links that might be useful to you, we are going to focus on a resource, and explain to you in detail how to get the most from this resource.
The Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) is a nationwide information network funded by the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI) within the U.S. Department of Education, and administered by the National Library of Education.
ERIC's system-wide Web site is located at www.accesseric.org:81/. From this site you can connect to any of the clearinghouses, resources and services available through ERIC.
An important part of the ERIC network is the ERIC database, which the ERIC Web site proclaims is the world's largest source of education information, containing nearly a million abstracts of documents and journal articles on education research and practice. The ERIC database is available on the Internet, on CD-ROM, or through printed abstract journals. The database is updated monthly (quarterly on CD-ROM).
Searching the ERIC database is a great way to gather prevention information. But did you know that in some cases, the searching has already been done for you? The ERIC Clearinghouse on Counseling and Student Services (ERIC/CASS), which is one of ERIC's many subject-specific clearinghouses, has created eleven virtual libraries on timely, high priority educational topics.
One of those virtual libraries is on substance abuse in education and is located at: www.uncg.edu/edu/ericcass/substnce/index.html.
The five main categories within this virtual library are:
Within each category you will find full-text articles as well as annotated bibliographies.
Let's say you are a counselor. You could choose the link for counselors within the Practitioner Role category. You would then be taken to a mini-virtual library that includes full-text articles: Clinical Supervision in Addictions Counseling: Special Challenges and Solutions; Top Ten Research and Clinical Findings from the Scientific Literature During the Past Year; Use Of Inhalants Among Teens On the Rise; What factors lead to child drug abuse?; and When Depression Lurks Beneath an Addiction.
The virtual libraries also include annotated bibliographies of items from the ERIC database. That means that someone else has already searched the database for this topic and compiled the results here.
Other library topics include school violence, bullying in schools and youth gangs. Use of these virtual libraries can be an effective strategy to familiarize yourself with a topic or to begin a major research project. For links to all the virtual libraries, go to www.uncg.edu/edu/ericcass/libhome.htm.
For more information about ERIC, call MPRC's Information Services at 612-427-5310 or 800-247-1303 (MN), or call ERIC's toll-free number at 800-LET-ERIC.
| Writing about the Internet and resources available on the World Wide Web is complicated by the fact that it is difficult to know how Impact! readers are using the Internet. We would like to know if you have Internet access or not, and how you use the Internet. Is the information in this article helpful? Is it too basic, too sophisticated or just right? Do you have suggestions for future articles about the Internet? Please fill out this form, call, write or email Patricia Post, editor, with your suggestions! |