Te Putunga Kōrero Mātauranga o Aotearoa

1. All you really need
2. Table for quick reference
3. Finding keywords and phrases
4. Finding titles of theses and dissertations
5. Finding authors
6. Finding institutions/universities
7. Finding the degree
8. Finding descriptors/additional descriptors
9. Finding the education sector
10. Finding the age focus
11. Finding countries
12. Using the Browse Index buttons
13. Displaying and printing results
14. Obtaining items
15. Troubleshooting

 

 

1) All you really need

 

• Use more than one keyword or phrase (search term) for best results
• Use & and / to connect search terms.
• Use * to make sure you catch plurals and alternative spellings
• Limit your search to one journal: use the drop-down list
• Limit your search to full text only: tick the 'I only want full text' box

 

2) Table for quick reference

 

Type this	To find
management	a single keyword
school management	a phrase (several words, in order)
school & management	both terms (items that contain just one of the terms will be ignored)
managing/management	either word (or both)
school* manag*	plurals, alternative spellings, and word endings
(management/leadership) & school*	synonyms first, then the other keywords
school* !schooled	school, schools, schooling, etc but not schooled
school* p5 manag*	school* preceding manag* by 5 words or fewer. Only works with single words, not phrases (e.g. ‘manage* p5 Tomorrow's Schools’ will not work).
school* w5 manag*	school* within 5 words of manag* (before or after). Use single words – this does not work with phrases.

 

 

 

3) Finding keywords and phrases

 

Tip: For best results use more than one keyword or phrase.

 

To find keywords, you need to type an ampersand (&) between each word:

      1998 & victoria & wellington

To find phrases (several words in order), just type them:
(you don’t need speech marks around them)

      Performance based assessment

To find synonyms, you need to type a forward slash (/) between each one:

      early childhood/preschool/pre-school/kindergarten/day care/daycare

Group synonyms with brackets if you’re adding another search term:

      (teaching / pedagog*) & tertiary education & (online / ICT / e learning/ virtual*)

To find plurals, alternative spellings, etc, truncate with an asterisk (*):

      child* (finds child, children, child’s etc)

To find one term but exclude another term, type an exclamation mark (!) between the terms. (a term is a key word or key phrase)

      disadvantage* !disadvantaged (finds disadvantage, disadvantages, but not disadvantaged)

 

4) Finding titles of theses and dissertations

 

Type keywords or phrases into the Title box (field). You don’t need to type the whole title. To find the thesis titled: Academic professional development: a case study you can...

You can type a phrase (several words in order):

      academic professional development

Or you can type keywords (several words, not necessarily in order):

      professional & case & academic

Or use the Browse Index Buttons

 

5) Finding authors

 

Type the author's surname first.
Optional: follow their surname with their first name or truncated initials:

      hohepa
      hohepa margie
      hohepa m*

Or use the ampersand (&) between the author’s first and last names:

      hohepa & margie

Or use the Browse Index Buttons

 

6) Finding the name of the institution/university

 

This is name of the institution or university at the time of the awarding of the degree. If the thesis has been done outside New Zealand, and will include the country.

      Typing in the keyword 'Victoria' will find both the Victoria University of Wellington and the University of Victoria,       Canada

This can be tricky. For example: The name of a university may have changed over time: eg

      University of New Zealand. Auckland University College is now University of Auckland

For best results, use the Browse Index Buttons to select the exact institution you want

 

7) Finding the degree

 

Theses concerning education are found in all disciplines and the degree citations are often particular to the Institution. There are almost 100 different degree citations in the NZET database.

The most common degrees cited are:

• MA
• MEd
• PhD

In the Degree Statement field the degree is written out fully:

• Master of Arts in Psychology
• Master of Education in Adult and Higher Education
• Doctor of Philosphy in Education

Or for both Degree and DegreeStatement use the Browse Index Buttons

 

8) Finding descriptors/additional descriptors

 

There are two fields searchable as one. The Descriptors are taken from Australian Thesaurus of Educational Descriptors  (These were originally based on ERIC descriptors). Additional descriptors have been created when New Zealand specific terminology was needed. 

We place emphasis on improving this field and we review new descriptors carefully before applying them retrospectively to the entire database. 

Use the Browse Index Buttons for both Descriptors and Additional Descriptors

 

9) Finding the education sector

 

There are six sectors:

• Adult education
• Early childhood education
• Primary education
• Secondary education
• Tertiary education
• Training

Use the Browse Index Buttons to select these

 

10) Finding the age focus

 

There are 4 Age Foci:

• Adolescents (13 to 17 years)
• Adults (18 years and over)
• Children (5 to 12 years)
• Young children (0 to 4 years)

Use the Browse Index Buttons to select these

 

11) Finding Counties

 

The aim fo the database is to cover theses written on education topics about New Zealand and by New Zealanders. New Zealand has over 9000 hits in the database, but there are over a hundred other countries too.   Put in the name of the country or use the borwse button to check on what is there.

Use the Browse Index Buttons to select these

 

12) Using the Browse Index buttons

 

Clicking on Browse Index buttons displays an alphabetical list of keywords and phrases you can choose from to build your search. It works a bit like the Index in the back of a book.

Terms are listed exactly as they appear in the database, e.g:

• the button by the Title field shows a list of exact titles
• the button by the Subject field shows a list of exact subject headings used to catalogue the items in the database.

Why would I use the Browse Index buttons?

• You like quick, precise searching
• You don't like typing, or you might make typos
• You want to know the best terms to use
• You can't quite remember how to spell that author's name
• You want to ensure you get everything they wrote or co-wrote
• You want to get an idea of what's inside the database

I can’t see any Browse Index buttons

• Wait a few seconds for the buttons to load completely
• Your browser needs to be java-enabled to see and use these buttons
• You can download and install Java runtime from http://www.java.com
• You may have a pop-up blocker installed

How do I use the Browse Index buttons?

• Click on the button by the Title, Author/Organisation or Subject field
• In the Find box start typing the words you are looking for
• Click on 'Go to' and the highlight will jump to the best place in the list
• Browse the list and double-click (or click once, then click on Paste) to choose the terms you want
• Close the window to see your selected terms pasted in for you
• Click 'Search'

What do I need to remember when using the Author button?

• Some authors may turn up twice - they have done a lower and higher degree.
• There is a separate list for institutions/universities

What do I need to remember when using the Descriptors/Additional Descriptors button?

• Switch between Descriptors/Additional Descriptors using the Field drop-down list
• You can also use Descriptors to limit searches, by educational level (e.g. Early childhood education, Primary education, Secondary education); or country (e.g. New Zealand, United Kingdom)

 

13) Displaying and printing results

 

You’ve typed in your search or used the Browse Index buttons to paste in your search terms...

• Click the Search button to run the search.
• You get a brief format report of the records found. This shows item number, title, author and year.
• Click your browser’s Print button to print this list.
• Each title in the brief format report is a link. Click on the link for a full format report showing full bibliographic details for that item.
• Click your browser’s Print button to print this individual record.
• Use the Next Record, Previous Record, and browser Back buttons to move around.

 

14) Obtaining items

 

• Look at the full format display for the 'How to Obtain' instructions (in bold).
• If there is an URL linking to full text, it will be directly underneath.

 

15) Troubleshooting

 

I can’t see any Browse Index buttons

• Wait a few seconds for the buttons to load completely
• Your browser needs to be java-enabled to see and use these buttons
• You can download and install Java runtime from http://www.java.com

Why am I not finding anything?

Check:

• you have used the symbols & / !  (if you use AND OR or NOT you will find nothing.)
• you have constructed your search correctly
• your spelling is correct

Broaden your search:

• add synonyms
• truncate to include plurals & word stem variants
• take out one of your search terms

Help! I've got too many hits!

• Narrow your search:
• use more specific search terms (e.g. if you mean 'music' don't use 'arts')
• check you haven’t over-truncated
• search in the most likely field rather than in the Keywords box
• use Subject search to find items directly relating to your topic
• add another search term or concept (eg 'New Zealand')
• limit by adding publication dates (e.g. type 2003/2004/2005 in Keywords box)

 

Return to Advanced search