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Model UN - Research Strategies
Alexander Library has a substantial collection of United Nations documents and publications useful in conducting research for Model UN. The collection is an open stack one, but doing research for Model UN and locating relevant sources usually require some experience with the documentation. This guide is designed to get you started. If you received a Model UN packet, bring it with you. The packet generally contains a bibliography that will provide citations and save valuable time in tracking down appropriate material. Only a limited amount of material may be accessed through the UN's web site at http://www.un.org/. More comprehensive searches may be done using AccessUN or UNBISnet [unbisnet.un.org] or other sources listed in this guide. An official United Nations Documentation: Research Guide is available at http://www.un.org/Depts/dhl/resguide. Bibliographies on UN reform are available from http://www.library.yale.edu/un/ (use Search Site; type "United Nations Reform") at Yale's United Nations Scholars' Workstation. Links to various Model UN activities and to preparing for a conference may be found through http://www.unusa.org and http://www.un.org/Pubs/CyberSchoolBus/. Some general sources noted below may prove useful in your initial Model UN research. Related secondary tools may be found in adjacent sections of DOCREF or REF.
TO INVESTIGATE A COUNTRY, use some of the following:
CIAO (Columbia International Affairs Online) is an excellent source for global issues and includes data from the CIA's World Factbook (see "maps and countries"). A valuable online index to search for articles about various countries is the PAIS database. Both CIAO and PAIS are available on the RUL Home Page under Indexes & Databases. Other tools may also be useful for recent country information. For instance, if you are representing a Latin American country, consider using ISLA: Information Services on Latin America (REF F1401.I8) which reproduces clippings about Latin American countries as found in English language newspapers. Or, try HAPI: Hispanic American Periodicals Index (available online Libraries/Indexes & Databases) 1970+ if time permits you to pursue the actual articles cited. To determine whether the Rutgers Libraries own a journal, search IRIS (our online catalog) typing in title of the journal, and dragging the "WORDS anywhere" pulldown menu to "PERIODICAL TITLE begins with." Then look at the appropriate "details" screen and read the holdings from the record that appears. Many electronic journals are also linked from the IRIS record Translations done by the U.S. Foreign Broadcast Information Service are available in microfiche (PREX7.10). Indexing of the collection covering all regions of the world is available for 1977-1996 on the FBIS Electronic Index on CD-ROM and from July 1996 forward on FBIS Publications (click on the desktop CD-ROM icon). Ask at the Reference Desk for assistance. The following FBIS Index tools are also available in print through 1995: FBIS Index: China (DOCREF DS701.U572A); FBIS Index: Central Eurasia (DOCREF DK1.D341); and FBIS Index: Latin America (DOCREF F1401.D332). World News Connection, under RUL's Indexes & Databases, is an excellent source for recent information. For other areas of the world, ask at Reference for additional tools that may be helpful in locating information about a specific country. A list of missions to the UN and their home pages are available through http://www.un.org/ (see "Member States" icon). TO LEARN WHAT POSITION THE COUNTRY YOU REPRESENT HAS TAKEN in the United Nations several options are currently available.Try out the UN's UNBISnet site at http://unbisnet.un.org/ and its Index to Speeches, or try AccessUN. Full documents may then be located in Alexander Library's collections. A more traditional route is to use the appropriate Index to Proceedings. Separate indexes cover the General Assembly (DOCREF JX1977.A44), the Economic and Social Council (DOCREF Z7161.I5), the Security Council (DOCREF JX1977.A5), and the Trusteeship Council (DOCREF JX4021.U32). These indexes are in DOCREF range 107-108. Each organ's index is published either each session or annually. You may search the indexes in a variety of ways:
Also, Voting Practices in the United Nations, issued by the U.S. State Department, is useful for checking the coincidence of other countries' voting records in relation to U.S. interests. See DOCREF US S1.1/8 in stack 100 or http://www.state.gov/p/io/conrpt/vtgprac. TO LOCATE A RESOLUTION OR VOTING RECORD, try one of the following:Full text resolutions 1966+ are reproduced in the online AccessUN. UNBISnet (http://unbisnet.un.org) will be helpful in identifying resolution numbers; Assembly resolutions are also on the UN's website (http://www.un.org/documents/) 1963+, Security Council 1946+, and ESCOR 1982+. Full text resolutions are available on fiche or in print at Alexander Library. For earlier print sources see: General Assembly Official Records, Supplement (No.). All GAORs which contain the resolutions and decisions for a given session have been placed together in DOCREF JX1977.A414 in stack 107. Similar compendia for the other main organs are filed with each organ's Official Records series in Government Publications stacks 13-14. Resolutions and Decisions of the United Nations General Assembly Issued at the (Session No.). This Press Release was normally the first available compilation in which to find recent resolutions. Votes are also given. These are in DOCREF JK1977.A449. United Nations Resolutions, Series I: General Assembly (DOCREF JX1977.A3155D57), by Dusan Djonvich, reproduces all General Assembly resolutions from 1946 through 1985/86 and provides tables showing how countries voted on them. United Nations Resolutions, Series II: Security Council (DOCREF JX1977.A515a), by Dusan Djonvich, is similar to the above. This compilation is available for resolutions from 1946/47 through 1978/79 only. Yearbook of the United Nations. Many resolutions, along with voting records, are reproduced in the annual volumes. The Yearbook is currently published through 2002. See DOCREF JX1977.A37Y4. The text of resolutions, available on the UN's Web site, occasionally appear in the UN Chronicle (current issues in DOCPER; bound issues at ALEX DOC JX1977.A1U564) or in the New York Times (in Current Periodicals/Microforms) as well. TO LOCATE MATERIAL BY SUBJECT numerous options exist.The online AccessUN, which currently covers 1966 to the present, is probably your best bet. Or you may try UNBISnet (http://unbisnet.un.org/), the UN's publicly available index, to obtain citations at least. The print Indexes to Proceedings mentioned above are useful if you know the specific time period and organ that dealt with the issues being studied. Consult Reference librarians for indexes preceding 1966. Whether using AccessUN or UNBISnet, you will obtain three basic types of citations:
TO LEARN ABOUT SPECIALIZED AGENCIES OF THE UNITED NATIONS, a wide variety of material is available.The specialized agencies, e.g. UNESCO, WHO, WIPO, IMF, World Bank Group, etc., have their own reference tools and web sites. While Alexander Library obtains many of their publications, their working documents are not so widely available. Many of Alexander's reference tools for researching these agencies are shelved in DOCREF stack 107-108 by Library of Congress number. Ask at the Reference Desk for assistance in accessing specialized agency material. The UN System Locator at http://www.unsystem.org/ is useful for linking to recent information on specialized agencies. Annual reports of the specialized agencies to the Economic and Social Council are valuable information tools, as are U.S. Congressional hearings (use CIS Index and Abstracts). Also, several basic sources which profile the specialized agencies include:
TO LOCATE UN TREATIES OR CONVENTIONS, a variety of approaches may be used.If a citation, e.g. 758 UNTS 314, is already available, go to Alexander's collection of the United Nations Treaty Series shelved in DOC JX170.U35 (stack 12). Selected treaty information may also be found within the Department of State's site accessible at http://www.state.gov/ (see International/Treaty Action) or its archival site at http://dosfan.lib.uic.edu/ERC/index.html. A selection of basic reference tools for accessing UN treaty information includes:
TO LOCATE UN DOCUMENTS at Alexander Library once you have found a citation:
If you are unable to locate an item, check with librarians at the Reference Desk. Many UN materials have recently been transferred from a local classification to Library of Congress classification and may be found in IRIS. Others remain in local classification numbers. The UN has also made plenary documents of the 55th session + of the General Assembly available in pdf format at http://www.un.org; this, however, represents only a small selection of the UN's documentation. Use AccessUN or UNBISnet to see a fuller representation of what the UN has published. Especially useful GUIDES TO THE LITERATURE may be found in Hajnal's International Information (DOCREF JZ4850.I58 1997-2001); in William's The Information Systems of International Inter-governmental Organizations (DOCREF JZ4850.W55); and Fetzer's United Nations Documents and Publications: a Research Guide (DOCREF Z6481.F4). See also the UN's Dag Hammarskjold Library's official United Nations Documentation: Research Guide at http://www.un.org/Depts/dhl/resguide/. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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