Frequently Asked Questions

To find peer-reviewed articles:

• go to Library Search 
• enter your keywords in the search box. Use parentheses for terms around or . For example (australia or zealand) finds articles mentioning either of these locations. Use speech marks where you are looking for words in a specific order e.g. "access to health", "quality of life", "prostate cancer", etc.
• change "Everything" to "Journal articles"
• click the Search button.
• In the right column tick next to Peer-reviewed journals and Apply filters
• Select the Publication Date if you need up-to-date articles e.g. Select 2015-2025 and Refine.
• To retain the peer-reviewed and date of publication filters for your next search click on Remember all filters.

​Here is an example for a search for peer-reviewed New Zealand or Australia  articles on barriers to access to health which you can modify with your own keywords. Note that this method will search across most of the Ara databases at the same time. Make sure peer-reviewed and the date of publication shown in Years still shows to the right of your results to be sure your results are up-to-date and peer-reviewed.

See also our FAQ called How do I search a database like CINAHL or Proquest Central?

 

 

See our How do I guides for more tips on using Library resources.

There are two PDF software applications available on Ara computers:

 

Foxit Reader, which allows you to view, print, annotate, or sign PDFs.

 

PDF24, which can organise PDF pages (split, rotate, remove, rearrange pages), convert to different formats, extract images, annotate, perform OCR, redact / blacken parts for privacy and many others.

 

Both applications are free, so you can also download and install them on your personal device if you wish.

If you need Adobe to do more complex edits in your PDF see our FAQ Do students have access to Adobe software at Ara?

Go to https://printfunds.ara.ac.nz and follow the prompts or click on this TechAssist link about Ara Printing Online Top-Up for the full instructions.

 

On City campus, Madras Street on the ground floor of the Rakaia Centre, you can also pay cash at the Student Finance Office to top up your print credit.

The following books are useful to find about the theories of Maslow, Piaget, Erikson and others in relation to human lifespan and development.

Berk, L. E. (2023). Development through the lifespan (7th ed.). Sage Publications. [In High Use collection, 3 day loan]

Claiborne, L. B., et aL. (2014). Human development : family, place, culture (2e.). McGraw-Hill Education, Higher Education. [In High Use Collection, 3 day loan; also Ebook option]

Hoffnung, M. (2023). Lifespan development (5th Australasian ed.). John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd. [In High Use Collection, 3 day loan; also Ebook option]

 

 

Find the Learning Services Study Smart resources in My Ara.  Some of the popular ones are also linked below:

• How to analyse assignment instructions
• Formatting your assignment
• Linking words and phrases - To help you polish and clarify your academic writing.
• Instructional words - Meanings of terms used in assignment instructions.
• Paragraphs - Applying the TEEL method to formulate your sentences in a paragraph.
• Yearly planner - Use this planner to keep track of all your due dates for assignments.

Click on https://mobileprint.ara.ac.nz and follow the online prompts or click on our guide to Mobile Printing at Ara for the full instructions.

If you have already registered at Ara and set up your Ara Clinical Key password then you can access Clinical Key at the link in our Databases A-Z  Before you click this link make sure you have cleared your browsing data (Ctrl, Shift Delete keys on your keyboard are the shortcut to clear your browsing data on a PC, Cmd, Shift, Delete keys on an Apple computer). 

If you are still not successful then try:

• accessing Clinical Key from Databases A-Z  in a NewInPrivate window in Edge browser or NewIncognito Window in Chrome browser. (Look for the three dots in the top right corner of your browser to access NewInPrivate window in Edge)

           

• accessing Clinical Key on an Ara computer via  MyAra / Library Search / Databases A-Z  / Clinical Key for Students. If that is successful on an Ara computer, then restart your personal device and do the same i.e. go to My Ara / Library Search / Databases A-Z / Clinical Key for Students.
• If you are still not successful email tina.verschoor@ara.ac.nz

Go to Combine PDF – Online PDF Combiner and combine your PDFs there. This is a free service and requires no registering or logins.

See the section in the APA 7th guide on Book Chapters. Here is a summary of the layout.

And here is an example:

Gordon, C. J. (2017). Fostering sleep. In J. Crisp, C. Douglas, G. Rebeiro, & D. Waters (Eds.), Potter and Perry’s fundamentals of nursing (5th ed., pp. 988-1015). Elsevier Australia.

 

The intext citation could look like:

Narrative style within the sentence:    Gordon (2017) stated ...

or

Parenthetical style at the end of the sentence: (Gordon, 2017).

Click this link to the latest APA 7th Referencing Guide. If you just need a few examples of APA then see the Quick APA 7th Referencing Guide and the Quick APA 7th Referencing Guide For Nursing. You can also purchase a hard copy of this guide at the Library's information desk at both the Madras St Campus, Christchurch and Timaru Campus.

Find out the difference between primary and secondary sources in Types of Research page of the Research Subject guide or read the following guides:

• What are primary and secondary sources?
• What are primary and secondary sources in Nursing?

In summary primary sources are original materials created during the time period studied. In general the authors of the article have actually carried out the study with a group of participants. Primary research includes:

• original research articles
• historical documents like letters, diaries etc.
• artworks
• interviews
• surveys

Secondary sources usually summarise original research work. Examples of secondary sources include:

• literature reviews
• books

 

Find the Techassist guide  to installing Microsoft Office 365 on your own device.

Read this guide which explains what a peer-reviewed article is.

When considering using AI to help you with your assignment always check with your tutor first. If using AI is approved for use in your assignment see the AI for Research tab of the Academic Integrity and AI subject guide to find about some  AI research tools commonly used in education today.

Let's start with your research question e.g. What are women's experiences of maternity care in Australia and New Zealand.

Use Library Search to:

• get an overview of what might be in the databases
• help you select the best databases to search later.
• build up search terms /concepts that will be useful in your subsequent database searches

Search strategy tips include:

• Put speech marks around phrases e.g. “maternity care” and “antenatal care” 
• Change "Everything" to  “Journal articles” which activates a search across most of the Ara databases.
• Use the filters in the right-hand column, including 
  • Peer-reviewed journals for authoritative articles checked by experts in the field of study and
  • Publication date to choose a date range spanning the last 10 years e.g.

Click here to see an example of the results of the above search. 

A simpler search in Semantic Scholar, a recommended AI research tool, may also find useful articles from authoritative sources.  Note, if Semantic Scholar does not link to full text of the article then copy the title of the journal article into Library Search to get the full text or email library@ara.ac.nz with the article details for help to access it. 

After searching Library Search and Semantic Scholar you will have a useful list of terms sorted into key concepts. See this template example of how to separate your terms for each concept to be searched in your database.

Now we visit the Articles / Databases page of the Subject Guide related to your topic.  For the sample question I will use the Articles/Databases page of the Midwifery Subject Guide. 

Here we can see the recommended databases for this subject area as below. Generally, the most useful databases for the subject are listed first. In this case it is CINAHL Ultimate and Proquest Central.

We will start our database searching in CINAHL Ultimate.

Choose the Advanced Search when you first open CINAHL.

Search tips:

• Use speech marks around any phrases or words you need to appear side-by-side e.g. "maternity care" "obstetric care" "antenatal care"
• Use "or" to broaden your search to any of your selected terms e.g. "maternity care" or "obstetric care" or "antenatal care"
• Think of other words that mean the same as your keyword. These describe one concept of your search strategy.. e.g. experiences or perceptions or attitudes or views
• Only use one concept per line in the search strategy.
• You can just use Zealand or phrase search on "New Zealand" to avoid finding loads of articles just because the word "new" was separately sitting in your search strategy.
• Tick English language to rule out other languages you can't read.
• Tick Peer Reviewed for authoritative articles that have been checked by experts in the subject.
• Tick the appropriate date range. This is commonly the Past 5 years or the Past 10 years to ensure your results up-to-date but check with your tutor if you are unsure.

Your search strategy may look something like below:

Below is an example of one of the results for my topic and I can:

• Click the PDF Full Text icon to download the article.
• Click Cite to find the APA 7th reference.
• Click Share to email the PDF and APA reference to myself (Highly recommended to keep track of all your articles)

As in CINAHL remember to:

• Choose Advanced search
• Keep similar terms for a concept in the one line
• use speech marks around any key phrases
• tick peer-reviewed if scholarly and authoritative articles are needed
• choose your Publication date if needing up-to-date information

As in CINAHL you can:

• Click on Full text PDF to download the article
• Click on the speech mark icon to get the APA reference
• Click the Email icon to email the APA reference and PDF to yourself (Highly recommended)

Find here the timetable for Learning Services Quick Questions at Christchurch City campus.

At Quick Questions ask us about: 

• getting set up to study,
• managing your study and your time,
• planning and writing assessments,
• APA referencing,
• preparing for exams and tests,
• managing online learning

Read this guide on paragraphs which covers how to write a topic sentence by apply the TEEL model - Topic sentence, Explain ideas, Examples.

Access O'Reilly ebooks from the A-Z Databases

Click this link to Library Search to find library books, journals and journal articles on your topic.

You can ring ICT Service Desk for free from 0800 24 24 76 and ask to be put through to the ICT Service Desk.