This manual has been produced to familiarize data users with the overall Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS:2002) design. It also seeks to familiarize users with the procedures followed for data collection and processing over the four rounds of the study, with particular emphasis on the third follow-up. Additionally, this document provides information that will support research and policy analyses. The National Center for Education Statistics hopes that analysts will find that the ELS:2002 data are organized and equipped in a manner that facilitates users' straightforward production of statistical summaries and analyses of the ELS:2002 youth cohorts as they embark on the transition from high school to postsecondary education and to the labor market, and assume yet other roles that serve as markers of newly achieved adult status.