APO for students and lecturers

If you study or teach public policy or social issues, you’ve come to the right place. We’ve recently produced a handy new guide for students studying public policy and social issues – as well as tools for lecturers and librarians to introduce students to APO. It’s now easier than ever for staff to introduce students to their new policy studies ‘secret weapon’ – and for students to discover APO’s vast repository of digital public policy resources.

Download our quick guides

Students studying public policy or social issues at any level are invited to view our Student Guide to learn how to search APO for resources for assignments. You can also Subscribe to our free newsletter service for regular updates from the policy sphere. Additionally, you can find us in the Informit Policy Database at your campus library.

If you’re a university course coordinator or lecturer, you can download our Lecture Slide to introduce your students to APO. Or, if you’re a tutor or librarian you can download our Tutorial Exercise Slide to use in class. 

Student FAQs

What is public policy?

A lot of people find this hard to answer – even policy people! That’s because public policy covers such a broad range of social issues and touches on almost every aspect of our lives. From the air we breathe, to the food we eat, to the water we drink. Yet, to most of us, most of the time, it is seemingly invisible. Watch our short ‘It’s good policy’ video to learn more about the different ways that policy affects us all.

What careers involve public policy?

Careers in public policy can be in almost any industry. Many ‘policy people’ work in the government, education, NGOs or commercial sectors. Your role could involve being an analyst or advisor, researcher or writer, influencer or implementer within any of those broad industry sectors.

Can I search for a specific resource?

Yes! Simply enter the title of the resource into the Search box.

My assignment is on a specialised topic – help!

We carefully catalogue each APO resource with keywords, subject terms and geographical coverage, making it easier for you to discover multiple resources on specialised topics. Simply use our Search box to enter your keywords. For example, to find resources for an assignment on ‘health education in the the Pacific’ just enter the keywords ‘health education Pacific’ into the search box. To refine you results further, you can do so via the search filter (on the left hand side of your search results page). Filters include geographic coverage, date published, publisher, resource type etc.

Why should I subscribe to APO newsletters?

In an age of information overload and ‘fake news’, we believe that it’s important to get quality knowledge from the source. Our APO Editors carefully curate the latest policy resources – including evidence-based research, government policy publications and corporate grey literature – straight from the policy sphere into our newsletters. Don’t just get information, Subscribe to APO and get informed. 

Tell us what you think

Here at APO, we hope that we can make your studies just that little bit easier. We’re always looking for ways to help our student and teaching community, so please feel free to contact us with your questions or feedback.