OxIMUN 2012 - How To Write A Study Guide
OxIMUN 2012 - How To Write A Study Guide
OxIMUN 2012 - How To Write A Study Guide
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CONTENTS
Topic A: - Introduction .......................... pg -Topic History ......................... pg -Discussion of the Problem ... pg -The Future .............................. pg -Points Resolutions Should Address ........................ pg -Bloc Positions ......................... pg -Further Reading ..................... pg -Bibliography............................ pg Topic B: -Introduction............................ pg -Topic History ......................... pg -Discussion of the Problem ... pg -The Future .............................. pg -Points Resolutions Should Address ........................ pg -Bloc Positions ......................... pg -Further Reading ..................... pg -Bibliography............................ pg Committee Director: Name Email address Assistant Directors: Name Email address Name Email Address Name Email Address
[COMITTEE NAME]
Topic A: Topic B:
Dear Delegates,
This should be a brief address to your delegates, introducing yourselves and the committee. You should also include your expectations for the committee and any other information that you want your delegates to know before they come to the conference. Dont forget to be enthusiastic!
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TOPIC A: SOLVING
THE
EPIDEMIC
Enter the introduction here. name of the topic significance for specific countries, the region, continents or the world some impressive facts (i.e.: number of casualties, affected people)
no longer than 2 pages (NOT columns, but full pages, which applies to all of the page estimates)
You may also want to include a brief history of your specific committee, so that the delegates know what to expect when debating within that committees framework. When you put this in, place it in as a sub-heading:
what countries, NGOs, other organisation and global actors have been involved; what have the United Nations done so far; success and failures of measures taken so far; has the problem spread or diminished over the course of its history
More general topics should try to name conflicts, natural disasters, humanitarian catastrophes which fall within the range of the topic; try at this stage if you have a more theoretical topic to add some specific events to help delegates making the connection between the abstract problems to real life events they might have heard of in the news. At the end of this section each delegate should have an overview of what has been going on in the topic area, many poorly prepared MUNs fail at this point as delegates start to debate historic facts instead of trying to find solutions to the present conflict, hence try to be as clear about the historic facts as possible, what you write in this section is prerequisite for the debate. this section should require some additional research on your part, it is worthwhile to do this properly for nothing is more embarrassing for a chair than a delegate who knows significantly more about the history of the topic
TOPIC HISTORY
Sub-heading 1
Enter the History of the Problem here. a written timeline of the conflict (try to make it interesting) when did it first occur what actors have been involved;
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Sub-heading 2
Remember to add sub-headings!! relations between the different subtopics, solutions are often designed to tackle those causal relations in order to break out of the vicious cycle.
Sub-heading 3, etc
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delegates have to accommodate when try to negotiate a resolution, hence try to research carefully to identify all the important underlying problems.
Brevity is the soul of wit, hence try to keep it concise! Not more than 8 pages! Sub-heading 2
Remember, break this section up into numerous sub-headings!! This will prevent the document from looking too overwhelming!
problem/what they would be looking for in a resolution. This should be brief (you dont want to write their position papers for them!). How you put countries into blocs depends on the topic if you are talking about a problem specific to one country, you should probably give that country its own little section. So, heres an example: The UK and other EU Nations Latin American Nations Etc. Or you can place them into blocs according to how they are involved in the problem: Nations which are directly involved Nations which are not involved Nations suffering from (enter problem) Again, this should be brief, but it can be immensely helpful to both you and your delegates in making sure the delegates are roughly in-line with their actual diplomatic stance.
Sub-heading 3, etc
THE FUTURE
Sub-heading 1
Promising initiatives New technologies which could assist solving the problem Factors which are expected to worsen the situation Cooperation
Sub-heading 2
BLOC POSITIONS
This section is optional, but it can be very helpful to your delegates if you include it. For this section, you should go through most of the diplomatic blocs and how they would view the
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be. Do not give a precise description of the contents of the resolution you expect, instead try to give the debate a general direction.
1 Page
Usually, this is done in bullet-point format. Point 1 Point 2 Point 3, etc.
not to say that you cant use Wikipedia to get a general introduction to the topic, but you should be using more academic (e.g. books, journal articles, etc.) to get your information.
TOPIC
B:
SOLVING
THE
GUIDE
FURTHER READING
Enter Further Reading here. Please provide a list of sources for further reading. Try to find a balance of online sources, books and articles in newspapers. If you have the time, write one or two sentences to each source specifying the focus of the source. Usually, this is done in bullet-point format. Point 1 Point 2 Point 3, etc
Follow the same structure, in full, for topic B, including the headings and subheadings.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Everyone should know how to write a bibliography by now! One point: please dont cite Wikipedia here. We want to make things look professional! Thats
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