The Library homepage provides access to essential resources for your study and research. The Library Links tab gives access to individual Databases, eBook Databases, Video resources, Dictionaries & Encyclopedias, News & Media and Standards. The Library Guides tab leads you to APA Referencing, Te Ao Māori and the Subject & Study Guides. The Research tab takes you to the Copyright and Research guides and the Whitireia & WelTec Master of Information Technology, Master of Management and Master of Professional Practice theses collections. The search field enables you to search for Library resources by title or keywords. Click the down arrow next to the search box to select either the Library Catalogue or Search Everything filter.
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Before you start, plan your search. Think about the search strategies and techniques you can use, what type of resources you need (books, journal articles) and where to find them.
Search strategies and techniques
Keywords
These words give you the key to information. Use keywords rather than sentences when searching library databases.
e.g. Māori inquity health
Not: Discuss the health care for Māori in a New Zealand context
Always brainstorm keywords before you start searching. To get some ideas:
Think of the three Ws to help you get the information you need:
The first search is not always your best search
Be prepared to modify your search and use different keywords or combinations of keywords until you are happy with the results. Start with broad terms or concepts, e.g. Nursing and then if necessary, refine your search using more specific terms e.g. palliative care.
Phrase searching
Use quotation marks to treat words as a phrase e.g., “primary health care” or “cultural diversity”
Synonyms
Think about words or phrases that means exactly or nearly the same as another word or phrase e.g., nosebleed OR epistaxis
If your results are:
Truncation
If a word has several possible endings, use a truncation symbol (usually an asterisk) so the computer searches on all the words at once. For example, use reflect* to search for: Reflect, reflects, reflecting, reflective
Wild card
If you want to include several possible spellings of a word, then use the wild card symbol (use a question mark to replaces 0 or 1 letter, an asterisk for more than 1 letter) so the computer searches on all versions of the word at once. e.g. Decoloni?ation for searching both decolonisation and decolonization
Boolean operators
These focus your search and are great to use in the Advanced search of databases (NB Use capital letters for these words).
Publication date
Library databases give you the option to select a specific publication date range.
What type of resources?
The type of resources you should be using are academic books, ebooks and scholarly/peer-reviewed journal articles. You could also refer to professional/industry journals, conference papers and proceedings.
Use of websites
Depending on your assignment question, you can use relevant information found on governmental, organisational and tertiary websites such as the Ministry of Health, New Zealand Nursing Organisation (See web resources) and open access repositories of institutions. e.g. reports, policies, evidence-based nursing procedures and theses.
What is scholarly?
Scholarly articles are written by experts or researchers in a particular field. They are aimed at other experts or researchers (including students) in their field. They are usually in depth research, original research or case studies. They use technical language, contain no advertising or non-essential images (only those that support their research i.e. graphs, charts, statistics etc). They have different sections including an abstract, introduction, literature review, methodology, results and conclusion. They have formal and lengthy references and are usually peer-reviewed.
What is peer-reviewed?
Peer-reviewed or 'refereed is when scholarly work is evaluated by other experts in the field before it is accepted and published in a scholarly journal. This ensures that the required standard of expertise is met.
Where do you find information?
Many courses have required textbooks or recommended reading lists. Look at the Books/eBooks and Databases tabs of this guide for titles on your subject area. Look at the reference list and bibliographies of books and articles to see what the authors are using in their research.
The Library search field on the Library website enables you to search the Library’s collection. There is a drop down menu with a list of filters:
Databases and eBooks links under the Library Links tab enable you to search specific databases on a topic. Use the Advanced search of different databases to refine your search and apply the searching techniques mentioned in this guide (see above).
Evaluate what you read
It is important to evaluate information especially if its found on the internet. Apply this check list to make sure the information is suitable for academic purposes:
Currency. Timeliness. When was it published?
Relevancy. Usefulness. Does it relate to your topic?
Authority. Source. Who wrote it? What are their qualifications? If using a website, how reliable is it? Look at the domain name (URL). Government: .govt, .gov, .mil; Educational: .edu, .ac, .school; Non-commercial: .org; Commercial: .net, .co, .com
Accuracy. Truthfulness. Where does the information come from? Is it peer-reviewed? Supported by evidence?
Purpose. Why does the information exist? Is it trying to inform, sell, teach, entertain, persuade? Is it objective or biased?
Blakeslee, S. (2004). The CRAAP test. LOEX Quarterly, 31(3), 6-7. https://library.csuchico.edu/sites/default/files/craap-test.pdf
Skim reading
Look at the author, title, and date to see if the item is suitable for your research. With scholarly journal articles, read the abstract, introduction, method, results, conclusion and reference list to get a sense of the content. Take note of the language used, is it readable or too difficult to understand? Is it academic or casual?
Use control F or Apple F when in a PDF or html document to locate a keyword quickly within the document (This may not work on scanned documents).
Evaluate what you write
Have you met the assignment requirements and created a thorough answer? Have you found relevant articles? Do you need to search further?
APA referencing
Make sure you keep a record of all items you quote or paraphrase from and that you have all the elements required for referencing. See the APA Referencing Guide for help (located under the Library Guides tab at the top of the Library website).
In many databases you can save items to a folder, format it into a citation style of your choosing and email the item to yourself. Note: Machine generated references are not always correct so check them against the library guide.
Grace, J. (2018). The consideration of iwi in Māori research frameworks: A systematic review [Praxis research project, Whitireia Community Polytechnic]. Whitireia and WelTec Theses Collection. https://whitireia.libguides.com/MPPthesesCollection/SurnameGandH
Kake, C. (2019). The contributions of registered nurses in primary health care to improving Māori wellbeing [Praxis research project, Whitireia Community Polytechnic]. Whitireia and WelTec Theses Collection. https://whitireia.libguides.com/MPPthesesCollection/SurnameKandL
Maaka, C. (2020). Māori education: “The experiences of gang affiliated wāhine obtaining a tertiary education” [Master’s thesis, Whitireia Community Polytechnic]. Whitireia and WelTec Theses Collection. https://whitireia.libguides.com/MPPthesesCollection/SurnameMandN
Ranui, A. N. (2018). Time on the road: The relationship between mental health support workers and tangata whai ora [Master’s thesis, Wellington Institute of Technology]. Whitireia and WelTec Theses Collection. https://whitireia.libguides.com/MPPthesesCollection/SurnameQandR
Rutherfurd, T. (2021). Kaitiakitanga as a reflective cross-cultural leadership framework for praxis [Master’s thesis, Whitireia Community Polytechnic]. Whitireia and WelTec Theses Collection. https://whitireia.libguides.com/MPPthesesCollection/SurnameQandR
Sculley, D. (2019). It's like, it's raining outside, but I don’t have a coat on: An exploration of working with wairua from the perspective of kaimahi in the area of Māori mental health and addictions [Master’s thesis, Whitireia Community Polytechnic]. Whitireia and WelTec Theses Collection. https://whitireia.libguides.com/MPPthesesCollection/SurnameSandT
Britannica Academic. Britannica has articles, photographs, illustrations, sound files and videos on a wide variety of subjects. It also provides access to Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary and Thesaurus.
Oxford English Dictionaries online
New Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors (click drop down arrow)
Guide to accessing Oxford English Dictionaries
Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. A comprehensive guide to our peoples, natural environment, history, culture, economy and society.
Bicultural principles of teaching and learning online = Ngā mātāpono kākano rua o te mahi ako tuihono by 
Decolonizing Methodologies by 
Decolonizing Research: Indigenous Storywork as Methodology by 
Indigenous Research Design: Transnational Perspectives in Practice by 
Indigenous Research Methodologies by 
Kaupapa rangahau: A reader: A collection of readings from the Kaupapa rangahau workshop series by Te Ara Tika: Guidelines for Māori Research Ethics: A Framework for Researchers and Ethics Committee Member by Rangahau
CINAHL Database Subject Headings
A video that shows you how to create an in depth topic search using subject headings in the CINAHL database (Advanced technique).
PICO searching with CINAHL Ultimate database
A flyer on PICO which is a mnemonic used to describe the four elements of a clinical question to be formulated prior to starting one’s research.
The hardcopy versions of Whitireia /WelTec Masters of Professional Practice theses and Praxis Projects are held at the Porirua Campus Library. They are not for loan. Many are available online. An alphabetical index of these are located in the Whitireia and WelTec Theses Collection.
New Zealand Research on DigitalNZ. This is the new home for theses and research papers migrated from NZ research.org. Here, you will discover and access New Zealand's most comprehensive selection of research papers and related resources. This site include peer-reviewed and other research from universities, polytechnics, and research organisations throughout New Zealand.
Ia ~ the Rainbow Collection. Compelling and impactful research, that relates directly to rainbow communities, conducted by AUT staff and students.
Open Access Research in New Zealand
Polytechnics and Technical Institutes
New Zealand Universities
International Theses
Growing Up in New Zealand is this country's largest contemporary longitudinal study of child development, tracking the lives of more than 6,000 Kiwi children to discover what life is like growing up in 21st Century New Zealand. Their findings will influence research, policy and services to improve the well-being of all New Zealand children and their families.
