research

PVPHS MUN Handbook

PVPHS MUN Research Binder Outline 16-17

Adapted from Best Delegate

 Optional for EVERY Conference 

(unless otherwise stated)

 

 

Research binders are helpful in and out of committee, and all delegates should utilize them. Not only do research binders streamline research, but they also help you during committee. Research binders are required for all conferences unless otherwise told. You can receive up to 5 hours on your research binders, and this is determined by your quality of work. The binder is split up into 6 sections, divided by tabs.

 

REQUIRED:

-1-inch binder (Can be reused for each conference) Due at 1st Panther Cage

-Cover Page: Needs your name, conference, committee, and country.

-6 marked tabs

-At least 6-10 current news articles

-ARTICLES AND DOCUMENTS MUST BE CLEARLY ANNOTATED, HIGHLIGHTED, DATED, NUMBERED, AND STAPLED. We want to see that you understand the information you collected!

-Hour deductions if binder is later or directions not followed

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--------------------Please follow the guidelines below-------------------

 

 

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1. BACKGROUND GUIDE

Background Guide: Chair’s provide important information on the topic, and the background guide usually shows which direction the chair wants the debate to go to. This is the starting point of a your research. They are online or usually provided at your first workshop.

 

2. TOPIC AND CURRENT EVENTS  

News Articles: This is the most important part of your binder. You need at least 6-10 articles pertaining to your topic. BBC offers great timelines, Q&A, and World Reactions. Other recommended sources are Reuters, Al Jazeera, and New York Times. Please use current articles and sources and be sure to DATE them.

 

Resolutions, Treaties, and Conventions: You should know what has already been done on this topic. You can find past resolutions on the UN documentation center, and the UN websites are the source for these agreements.  

 

3. OPINION EDITORIALS AND THINK TANKS

Op-Ed and Blog Articles: These writers are coming from a personal or journalistic perspective, but they can still give you creative or straightforward ideas that you can propose in committee and use in resolutions. You can start with large publications like the New York Times or Wall Street Journal, but don’t forget about blogs, too. Be aware of their biases and conflicting policies.

 

Think Tanks. Organizations like RAND are paid to come up with solutions to the topics you discuss in Model UN. Think tank publications have more depth and evidence than an opinion article, but they’re typically not as dense as an academic paper. (You can also skim academic papers or read their summaries) They might also be pushing a certain agenda, so be aware of that. Otherwise, they are a great starting point for proposing potential solutions.

 

4. COUNTRY AND POLICY

CIA Factbook and BBC Country Profile: Both are great resources to understand your country. It is not required to print out the whole country profile, but you must condense the information, underscoring important statistics and facts. (For example, population, GDP, and religious sects are important).

 

Speeches and Press Releases: These are the ways that policy-makers set policy. Be sure to use speeches and press releases from people in the executive branch of your country’s current government (President, Prime Minister, Foreign Minister / Secretary of State, Ambassadors). Legislators and judges may say something different, but as a representative of your country, you work for the Head of State / Head of Government. Start with the website for your country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs / Department of State. Knowing your voting record on this topic is important as well.

 

5. COMMITTEE

UN Charter: You should understand the powers and limitations of their committee, and the charter is a great resource to quote and also remind one’s committee about their abilities. This should go before the tabs of the rest of the binder. Only the first couple of pages are required.

 

Committee: Each committee has its powers and limitations, and you should know what you can and cannot do in committee. Like the UN Charter, you only need to print important information or the first couple of pages. You can use this to quote and reference to the committee’s missions and statements. Also, the committee website provides great topic information on your topic, such as, what they have done, what they will do, and so forth.  

 

6. SOLUTIONS

Your Ideas: Include in your binder your position paper, working papers, notes, thoughts, as well as blank lined paper. You can do all the research you want, and you can be really fast and efficient at it, but none of that matters until you boil down what you’ve read into ideas that you can explain in your own words.

 

 

For your research... (click for direct links!)

 

1) Best Delegate 

 

2) UN National Government Information Page 

 

3) CIA World Factbook 

 

4) UN Cyber Schoolbus 

 

5) BBC News

 

6) Al Jazeera 

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