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Political Studies 298.3 United Nations & Global Governance
Research Strategies
October 3, 2013
Angie Gerrard & Darlene Fichter
angie.gerrard@usask.ca & darlene.fichter@usask.ca
What We’ll Do Today

Learn how to find United Nations official
documents including General Assembly’s
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Resolutions
Speeches
Voting record
Strategies and useful sources to help prepare
position papers for a particular country
And today only, we will
A.
B.
C.
D.
Do an Interpretative Dance
Perform Slam Poetry
Participate in class
All of the Above
Political Studies Research Guide >
Courses > United Nations & Global Governance
http://libguides.usask.ca/politicalstudies
Research Strategies & Your Assignment
Prepare to participate in a Model UN about a
contemporary global issue (TBD) by
researching:
•
•
The Issue
Your country and its position
Researching Global Issues
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Climate Change
Poverty
Refugees
Peacekeeping
What would you do first?
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Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Get a handle on the issue

Is it covered in your textbook,
lecture or assigned reading?
Google? USearch?
Library Encyclopedia? Wikipedia?
Start here
Let’s Dig Deeper
Topic: Forced marriage
Does the UN have any resolutions
regarding forced marriages of
children
What words would
you search?
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Brainstorm Keywords
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Specialized terminology
“UN Speak”
Increase your chances of
finding a useful result and
discovering the “preferred
term(s)”
AFAIK
Tips
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Synonyms
Related concepts
More specific terms
More general terms
Popular terms; scholarly terms
Use Roget’s Thesaurus thesaurus.com
UN Library Thesaurus
Pair up and generate more keywords
for the “force marriage”.
Dive In – The Art of Pearling

UNBISnet http://unbisnet.un.org/
•
Search by Keyword
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Database Tips
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Read the scope notes
Check for a thesaurus
Try “pearling”
Credit: Martouf, 2 April 2010
Copyright: Wikimedia Commons
..
Finding Country Information
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Political Studies Subject Guide >
International Relations >
Country Information
Finding Country Activity @ UN
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Draft resolutions sponsored
Voting Record
Speeches
Where to look:
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Member States page
UN Member States: On the Record
(pre-set searches)
Index to Speeches & Voting Records
What if you find nothing?
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Piece it together
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History
Related issues
Political allies
Other organizations
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Comments & Questions?
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Angie Gerrard
angie.gerrard@usask.ca
Political Science Librarian
Darlene Fichter
darlene.fichter@usask.ca
Government Info Librarian