Credit: Caroline Maufroid / Sciences Po

educational resources

Getting started with cartography in Thinking IR globally

Patrice Mitrano
Published on September 4, 2025

These short and illustrated articles try to answer the most asked questions about the mapping exercise in Thinking IR globally, a second year course at Sciences Po.

They are useful to students and teachers in Sciences Po, and more broadly to secondary school students and teachers who work on the « geographic sketch », an exercise similar to that required in Thinking IR globally.

Benoît Martin and Patrice Mitrano have produced these resources based on their experience in supporting this course and teaching.

  1. Article « Which framing to choose? »
    Answer to a given topic
    Choose the good scale level
    Choose a projection and center
  2. Article « What data should you look for? »
    A threefold prerequisite
    Where to look for?
    What kind of information should you look for?
  3. Article « How to graphically process data on a map? »
    See and not read
    Graphic processing of numbers
    Graphic processing of texts (names)
  4. Article « How to represent a lot of information on a single map? »
    Select data
    Vary data types
    Combine/synthesize graphically
  5. Article « How should the map elements be organized? »
    The title
    The legend
    Sources
  6. Article « How to analyze a map? »
    Describe
    Contextualize
    Interpret