Informit is the single leading source of journal articles, periodicals, books and policy papers written by experts and specialists in Australasia. We are dedicated to promoting critical thinking, diversity in publishing and Indigenous-led research. Our Informit ‘Search’ platform is a crucial part of the Australian university landscape, and features access to a comprehensive selection of full-text, index and media databases within a simple interface designed for researchers. 'Explore’, meanwhile, is a platform tailored for use in schools and public libraries where you can browse through different subject and issue categories if you’re not sure where to start.
Part research database, part educational experience, Informit Explore caters to student research, casual inquiry and classroom activities. Like Search, Explore contains access to millions of articles and videos, but within a more student-friendly interface that offers both in-depth searching options and a more casual browsing experience. Unlike other research databases, Explore offers dynamic, curated selections within a range of topical categories and always Australian focused. This makes it easier for new users to navigate our vast collection and get started with searching.
Explore includes:
- 1 million+ articles and videos from Informit’s core collection of full text content, including leading Australian publications such the Journal of Australian Indigenous Issues, Alternative Law Journal, Australian Jouranl of Teacher Education, Australian Aboriginal Studies, Green Left Weekly, AlterNative, The Monthly, Metro Magazine, Meanjin, Kill Your Darlings, and many more.
- 100 original written summaries covering the biggest issues affecting Australia today, from climate change to body image, artificial intelligence and treaty, and much more.
- 2000 recommended articles from our larger collection that have been hand-picked for Explore users, organised by reading level, and updated on a quarterly schedule.
- 100 pre-formulated search queries designed by Informit that allow users to start searching with just one click.
- A growing collection of video interviews with experts discussing their perspectives on different issues, including fake news, inflation, homelessness and much more to come.
- A sleek, mobile-friendly design that is intuitive and colourful.
- Built-in tools for saving, sharing and citing, allowing for efficient collaboration and research.
Accessing Explore for the first time
You can access Explore on any device anywhere by navigating to the homepage. From here, select the ‘institutional login’ button to access our login page.
Once logged in, you’ll see a homepage that looks like this. Check out our login guide for more details on that.
On the home page, you can see the latest subjects and issues covered on Explore, alongside trending selections from our featured articles, videos and publications as you scroll further down.
Subject and issue searching
On Explore, you can discover over one hundred topical areas accessible from the home page or via the subject menu available at all times in the top navigational bar.
Subject pages provide an overview of a subject area and act as a landing point for narrower, more-in depth issues pages. You can view a selection of featured and trending content, watch expert videos, or narrow down your search with an issue.
Issue pages, meanwhile, are ready-made teaching and learning tools that help combat misinformation and simplify searching. Here, you can find a balanced overview written by an Australian teacher and more niche outlooks provided by scholars and publishers in our Expert Perspectives video series. These pages are citeable and shareable, via our in-built citation and share tools. Scroll down the page to discover classroom-ready comprehension and discussion questions and curriculum links aligned with version 9 of the Australian curriculum.
For those learners who want more, our featured articles and videos are a great starting point. These items are updated regularly and feature a diverse range of content, from scholarly papers, opinion pieces to magazine articles, and much more. They have all been graded to different reading levels, from beginner, intermediate to advanced, which makes it easy to find age-appropriate content. You can access a growing curated archive of content using the article and video tabs.
In addition to curating our content, we have also created pre-formatted search queries. These searches are accessible on all issue pages and provide tailored search results with just one click. Simply click ‘Search X on Informit’ to discover search results on that topic.
Exploring articles
To access an article, click on the article’s name and you’ll be taken directly to that article’s page. Here, you can read the article by clicking ‘view PDF’, which opens up our eReader.
On the e-reader, you can resize content, download the article and you can search within that article to quickly find the information you’re looking for.
Using the directory
For a bird’s eye perspective of Explore, you can visit our directory, which provides access to all subjects, issues and publications covered on Explore. The directory is accessible at all times via the subject menu on the top navigational bar by selecting ‘browse all subjects’.
Searching on Explore
To start a search, you can use the pre-formulated issue searches described above, or you use one of our more advanced searching options to create your own search.
You can access the search bar available at the top of the screen to do a key word search.
From here, you can use the filters available on the left-hand side bar to customsie your search. You can also click the ‘edit search’ button positioned below the search bar to modify your search.
You can use the advanced search, available in top navigational bar at all times, which provides a variety of different ways to customise your search.
Getting help
Explore provides access to a wide range of support articles and videos on our Knowledge Base, accessible at all times on the top right-hand sidebar. Simply click ‘help’ and ‘Informit Explore’ to find answers to the most commonly asked questions.
Select the Informit Explore section on our Knowledge Base:
Thanks for reading! We hope you learnt something valuable and are ready to start exploring.
Still need help? Reach out to support.informit@rmit.edu.au