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Research Guide - GEMUN Prep Camp 2013

Use the resources mentioned in this document to research and learn about your country, your committee, and the UN in general.

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Karina Brisack
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68 views3 pages

Research Guide - GEMUN Prep Camp 2013

Use the resources mentioned in this document to research and learn about your country, your committee, and the UN in general.

Uploaded by

Karina Brisack
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as ODT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Karina's Research Guide:

The Universal List


Wolfram-Alpha (wolframalpha.com)
The statistics tend to be out of date, but the information is very easy to access and generally gets you a good picture of the subject. Search your country name for basic info and stats world rankings in living standards, a couple maps, etc. Very user-friendly.

BBC Country Profiles (news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/country_profiles/)


This gets you a good overall picture of the history of your country and its general place in the world. This is by far the best resource I've seen for getting a grasp on current events in an area. Individual news items are easy to find, but a good snapshot of the big picture is rare. That's the strength of this resource.

CIA World Factbook (www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/)


LOTS of statistics, lots of information. Frequently updated, very accurate, very reliable. It can be a little dense sometimes, however, and they don't seem to care much about usability. If the format causes you problems or you just don't like it, head over to IndexMundi (see below)

IndexMundi (www.indexmundi.com/)
By far my favorite resource for statistics and rankings. It's very easily navigated, gets you what you want. Most stats come from the CIA World Factbook, so they're very accurate and recent. Be sure to look at the external links at the bottom of each country profile, specifically the news and foreign ministry links.

Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.com)
Wikipedia is a great resource to get some general reading. It's usually very accurate, even though it is open to editing from just about anyone. However, always verify anything you read on Wikipedia elsewhere before relying on it as gospel. Usually skimming the results of a google search is good enough, but some issues require more in-depth research. Moral of the story: Wikipedia's great, but be careful. UN Global Issues (http://www.globalissues.org/) If you don't understand an issue or want to read up on one for a more thorough knowledge of it, Global Issues is your go-to site. It's very searchable, very well organized, and very informative.

Your Country's Foreign Ministry (URL varies) In general, staying clear of bias while doing your research is vital. However, as a delegate, bias
is a big part of your job. As I've surely told you, you are there to represent your government and your government exclusively. You are not there to represent your citizens, you are not there to represent yourself, you are not even (necessarily) there to represent the actual facts. As a delegate, the way you see the world is the way your government sees the world. The best way to discover your government's bias is through the actual government itself. The Foreign Ministry's website is the closest you're going to get to instructions from home government.

And remember your very best friend:

Ctrl+F

Karina's Research Guide:


Tips by Committee
General Assembly (GA) - www.un.org/en/ga Just spend more time at the sites on the Universal List. The GA is, by definition, pretty general. Security Council (SC) - http://www.un.org/en/sc Check out Crisis Group (crisisgroup.org). They're great to keep you updated on worldwide conflicts. There's a lot of debate on nuclear warheads read up on those and the surrounding conflicts. Also, heres a list of international conflicts: bippi.org/bippi/menu_left/conflicts.htm Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) - www.un.org/en/ecosoc Go take a look at the Index of Freedom. Hertitage can be pretty biased toward an American Conservative perspective, so watch out, but its evaluations are extremely helpful. Also, check out the most recent Human Development Report from the UN here: bit.ly/184FAfC Human Rights Council (HRC) - www.un.org/en/rights Human Rights Watch (hrw.org) reports on human rights issues worldwide. Check out their annual report for a comprehensive overview of the human rights situation in various nations internationally. You'll definitely need Ctrl+F, though this year's report is over 600 pages. United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) - www.unep.org The National Resources Defense Council website has put together a good basic overview of international environmental issues over here: www.nrdc.org/international/. World Health Organization (WHO) - www.who.int Global Issues (mentioned in the universal list) has a great overview on global health take a look at that. In addition, Harvard Global Health Institute has a list full of fantastic resources on international health issues. Take a look here: globalhealth.harvard.edu/curricula-slides-reading United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) - www.unicef.org There's a great Listverse article summing up some current children's issues here: bit.ly/92sMS. Find online resources organized by category here: soc.att.com/15EC2fl Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) - www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw Women for Women has consolidated a wide variety of articles on women's issues in one place here: bit.ly/9Jwy16 Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) - www.fao.org Check out USAID's website on agriculture and food safety it has a lot of information presented very concisely. Watch out, though everything on there has a strong American bias. The link is as follows: 1.usa.gov/14jxmwc International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) - www.iaea.org The World Nuclear Association (www.world-nuclear.org) is a great resource for introducing yourself to the world of atomic energy. Be sure to look at the country profiles in the Information Library.

Always
Check Out Your Committee's Official Website

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