CountryWatch
What is CountryWatch?
CountryWatch is radically different from most of the other databases that the JCC Libraries subscribe to. You can find a wide variety of information on any, or all of the 192 countries covered by this database. This includes Maps, News and Articles, Political Intelligence Briefing (describing what is going on in the world as a whole), and so much more. There is even a section called Interesting Facts, under Global Guide/Global Issues, that can be used to answer questions such as the smallest and largest countries in the world, which are the newest countries of the world, in addition to international hotspots and global thematic maps.
Where can you find it?
CountryWatch can be accessed through the JCC Libraries Homepage (www.sunyjcc.edu/library). Under SEARCH COLLECTIONS, choose either Databases by Title, or Databases by Subject (select the Political Science category). You can also use the A-Z Database Libguide to locate CountryWatch. If you are off-campus, you can still access CountryWatch from the JCC Libraries’ homepage by using your student login.
When would you use it?
When discussing international issues, current sources are the best. Conducting research about political situations, social issues, and more requires hard facts about countries of varying sizes and comparable socio-economic situations so that you are able to draw clear, concise conclusions. CountryWatch will help you find the facts that you need to make these conclusions. Political situations often occur and escalate quickly, Country Watch can be used to monitor these situations and obtain information quickly. Events can be linked to religious or ethnic divisions; finding out what percentage of a population is of a particular religion or ethnicity could help you to understand the severity of conflict. For example, if you hear that the Hindu population in Bhutan is rising up against the Buddhists you can look up Bhutan in Country Watch and find out that Hindu’s make up 25% of the Bhutan population while Buddhists are 75% of the population and draw a conclusion from there.
How do you use it?
This data-rich resource can be used in a wide variety of ways depending on the information you need. The first is to simply select a country form the drop down list next to Quick Links. This will take you to a page detailing information about the country that you have selected. While the homepage of this report will detail information such as a map of the country,
their flag, currency converters, current news articles, major cities, fast facts, and more. You can use the menu on the left hand side of the page to focus in on the information that you need. If you would like to know when the information was last updated, check out the last entry on the Political Conditions page for that country. This is just the tip of the iceberg, from the CountryWatch homepage you can also access Political Intelligence Briefings, Country Reviews, Country Wire (international news articles), CountryWatch Data (Statistical Resource), Map Gallery (Thematic, Physical/Political, Global Thematic), and Global Guide/Global Issues.
CountryWatch Data works a bit differently. When you use that resource you will be given a series of choices, as you select each element a more specific list will appear. Remember to use the green bar in the middle to add each element to your list. You are able to choose more than one element of each resource to give you a more complete and dynamic view of the topic you are researching or to compare various statistics. Eventually, you will be given the option to export your results either into an Excel file or a Word document.
Try it!
Let’s look for information on worldwide literacy rates. Once you have accessed CountryWatch do the following steps:
- Click on ‘Go’ next to Map Gallery
- Click on Thematic, another element will appear below
- Click on Human Development, another element will appear below
- Click on Education
- Click on View Maps
- From here you can view the Female Literacy Rate, Male Literacy Rate, Overall Literacy Rate and so much more!
