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        :description "ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center) Digests

ERIC Digests provided by ERIC & SURAnet

Digests are short reports that synthesize research and ideas about
emerging issues in education. They are designed to help members of the
educational community keep up-to-date with trends and new developments.
While they are most often prepared for practitioners -- teachers and
administrators who work in schools, for instance -- digests can also
target other audiences, including researchers, parents, and students.

     The types of Digest are: 

     o    Overview--An overview Digest serves as an introduction to a
          topic. Its audience is individuals, whether professional or
          general, who wish to acquire introductory information on the
          topic treated in the Digest.

     o    Fact Sheet--A fact sheet Digest provides current information of
          a factual nature related to a topic. As appropriate, it also
          interprets and discusses the facts presented. Its primary
          audience is policymakers, administrators, and other
          decisionmakers; its secondary audience is other professionals
          and members of the general public who are interested in factual
          information on the topic.

     o    Issue--An issue Digest defines and describes a controversial
          topic. It does not resolve controversies in the literature or
          practices, but it delineates the various perspectives related to
          the topic. Its audience is individuals, both professional and
          general, who wish to become informed about alternative
          perspectives on educational issues.

     o    Practice Application--A practice application Digest provides
          specific, concrete examples of how practitioners can apply
          research results in practical settings. Its primary audience is
          educational practitioners, while its secondary audience is other
          educators interested in the topic.

     o    Research Findings--A research findings Digest reports on the
          current status of research in an area. It summarizes and
          synthesizes recent findings from relevant research. Its primary
          audience is those individuals who wish to become informed about
          research findings, including researchers, graduate students,
          policymakers, administrators, and teachers.

     o    Synopsis of Synthesis Paper--A synopsis of synthesis paper
          Digest summarizes an existing review and synthesis publication.
          This type of Digest is based on one primary publication, which
          is itself a review and synthesis of many publications. Its
          audience is individuals, both professional and general, who wish
          to become informed about the Digest's topic.

     It is important to remember that these types are not necessarily
mutually exclusive. For example, although a Digest may be primarily an
overview, it may also contain elements of a fact sheet. 

     Digests are in the public domain and may be freely copied and
distributed. They are published by the ERIC Clearinghouses. Each digest
goes through several rounds of editing and review. Each of the 16
Clearinghouses publish about 10 Digests per year.

     Digests are about 4 pages long, 10-15K bytes. As of Dec 1993, there
were 1062 Digests in the Digest database.

")
