GuidetoFindingandCitingUnitedNationsGeneralAssemblyResolutions. byAnnetteDemers16/01/2008 1.Normallyyouwillfindapreliminarycitationasyouarereadingbooks,articlesor websitesonyourtopic.Youshouldnotethatmanyofthesecitationsarenotcomplete forlegalresearchcitingpurposes. 2.AccordingtotheMcGillGuide,apropercitationtoaUNGAResolutionmustbemade totheResolutionasitappearsintheOfficialRecord.ApropercitationtoaUNGA Resolutionlookslikethis: Universalrealizationoftherightofpeoplestoselfdetermination,GARes.38/16,UN GAOR,38thSess.,Supp.47,U.N.Doc.A/38/47(1983)184. Thetypeofinformationreferredtointheabovecitationisasfollows: Titleofresolution,resolutionnumber,UNGeneralAssemblyOfficialRecord(UNGAOR), session,supplementnumber,UNdocumentnumberofthesupplement,year,pagenumber ofthesupplementonwhichtheresolutionisreprinted. 3.Wheredoyoufindalloftheseelements?

ents? a)Titleofresolution,resolutionnumber,sessionandyear Mostcitationsinbooksandjournalarticleswillincludeatleastthisinformation.This informationisreadilyavailableontheUNGAwebsite,whichisorganizedbysession numberandyear:http://www.un.org/documents/resga.htm b)Supplementnumber,UNdocumentnumber,pagenumber Thesepiecesofinformationcanbeverytrickytolocate.Locatethedocumententitled "ResolutionsandDecisionsAdoptedbytheGeneralAssemblyDuringits_____Session" fortheSessionyouareinterestedin. MostofthesedocumentscanbefoundusingtheUnitedNationsOpticalDiskSystem.This isafreeonlinedatabaseofUnitedNationsDocuments.Itislocatedat: http://documents.un.org Whensearchingthisdatabase,itisimportanttobesurethatyouaresearchingallUN documents.Todoso,usethedropdownmenuontheupperleftcorner.Yoursearch shouldincludetheSessionnumber,intheSessionfield,andtheword"Resolutions"inthe Titlefield.Thiswillnormallybringupthedocumentyouneed,howevermorecreative searchesmayberequired,astheODSsystemcanbeveryclunky. Page1

Onceyouhavelocatedthedocumentyouneed,clickon"Englishpdf"toseethefulltext. Warning:DocumentloadtimesfromODScanbeprohibitive. Thefirstpageofthedocumentwillgiveyoutheyear,thesupplementnumber,andtheUN Documentnumberforthesupplement. Nextyouhavetofindwhatpageyourresolutionappearson.ScrollthroughtheTableof Contents.Atthebottomofit,youwillbegivenapagenumberwheretheIndexto ResolutionsandDecisionsmaybelocated.Turntothatpage.Youwillhavetoscroll throughtheIndextolocateyourresolution.Itspagenumberislistedontheright.Scrollto thatpagetoverifythatitislocatedthere. Alternatively,itisimportanttonotethatwhenyouclickonthefulltextofmostUNGA resolutionsusingthefreeUNwebsitehttp://www.un.org/documents/resga.htm thedocumentyoupullupwillbetheexactpageuponwhichtheresolutionisprinted inthesupplement.Inotherwords,thefreeUNwebsiteislinkingyoudirectlyintothe contentofthesupplementofftheODSsystem.Unfortunately,thefrontpageofthepdfis notprovidedbythismethod,thusyoucannotfindthesupplementnumberanddocument numberbymerelyvisitingthefreeUNsite. 4.Commonmistakes: ThemostcommonmistakethatappearsincitationstoUNResolutionsinjournalarticles, isthattheUNDocumentnumberprovided,isusuallytheResolutionnumberandnotthe documentnumberforthesupplement.Often,thesupplementnumberisalsonotgiven.A citationwhichincludestheacronymUNGAORtellsthereaderthatyouaregivingthema citationtotheactualOfficialRecord.ThusdonotuseUNGAORaspartofyourcitationif youhavenotactuallylookedattheSupplementitselfandarenotabletoprovidea supplementnumberanddocumentnumberforthesupplement. Asalways,pleasebesuretovisittheReferencedeskifyouhaveanyfurtherquestion.