Skip to Main Content

United Nations & Model UN: Research Resources

This guide suggests background resources and tips on navigating United Nations documents.

Research Resources

The United Nations is the largest and most consequential inter-governmental organization.  It was established by the UN Charter in 1945 and replaced the earlier League of Nations.  It currently has 193 member states.  In addition to its primary mandate of maintaining international peace and security, the UN also promotes economic and social development, protects human rights, provides humanitarian aid and disaster relief, and facilitates the development of international law.

Key Resources for Researching the United Nations

  • Directory of Organizations within the UN System
    Covers UN organs, specialized agencies, and related organizations.  Scroll down to browse alphabetically.  Click on the name of an entity for more detailed information.   An organizational chart is available for download in PDF format.
     
  • Directory of UN Online Resources
    Resources are listed alphabetically.  Use the menu on the left to filter by organization and by topic.
     
  • UN Digital Library
    This online catalog includes records containing bibliographic information (title, author, document symbol, etc.) about publicly available UN documents from 1979-present, plus selected speeches and public domain publications.  In most cases, links to the full texts of documents are provided.
     
  • UN Official Documents System (ODS) https://www.un.org/en/library/page/un-resources-documents
    This database includes the full texts of most publicly available UN documents from 1993-present, plus resolutions issued by the General Assembly and the Security Council from 1946-present.  Best option for retrieving a known document by its document symbol.  Alternatively, search the titles or the full texts of documents by keyword.
     
  • UN Data
    This central access point enables you to search for and download statistics and data sets compiled or aggregated by various UN entities.  Use the Advanced Search to limit searches by country, by source or by year.  Alternatively, visit this page to browse by data set, by topic, or by source.  For additional information, consult the FAQs page. 

Credit: adapted from Georgetown 

New York Times

All WPI users with a WPI email address have access to the NYTimes.com. This service will provide you with an e-subscription to The New York Times to stay connected with the events of the day. In addition, you will have access to the extensive NYT database dating back to 1851 – a tremendous research tool. 

To set up your account, go to:

http://www.accessnyt.com/  (If on campus or otherwise within the WPI IP range)

http://ezproxy.wpi.edu/login?url=http://ezmyaccount.nytimes.com/grouppass/redir  (If off campus and outside the WPI IP range)

Once you have activated your account you can log in no matter where you are at https://www.nytimes.com/​. 

Wall Street Journal

WPI students, faculty, and staff can access the Wall Street Journal online.To activate your account go to https://partner.wsj.com/partner/WorcesterPolytechnicInstitute 

Once you have activated your account you can log in no matter where you are at https://www.wsj.com/ 

Additional Newspapers

How to find UN Documents in the UN Digital Library by using the Basic Search: