How to: position papers

How Do I Start? Ask Yourself Questions: What is the issue? Where does the issue originate? Who is directly involved? What kind of legislation has been passed to combat it? (if any) What does my country think about the issue? What have they said in the past? What legislation have they passed?

Formatting: What to Include A brief introduction of your country, its involvement in the committee, and how it is involved in the issue How the issue affects your country Solid evidence to support your position on the issue: Policies/legislation already in place that deal with the issue AND your country's justification for these measures Quotes from your country's leaders about the issue Statistics on the issue and how it affects your country Resolutions or conventions that your country has ratified or signed UN actions already taken and if your country supports or opposes them What your country believes should be done to address the issue What your country would like to accomplish in the committee's resolution

Example Format Section One: Section Two: Section Three: State the issue (not just reiterating the topic guide) from your county’s point of view. List examples of what the world has done in the past (or what they haven’t done) and explain how it has or hasn’t helped the situation. Section Two: List examples of what specifically your country has done in the past (or what they haven’t done), and why they decided to take that action. This should not be the longest part of your position paper. Remember: this paper is for how your country plans to fix the issue, not on past failure or accomplishment. Section Three: Elaborate on what your country would like to do about the issue, and how it would benefit not just you, but the global community and the issue specifically. This will give your chair an analysis of what to expect being laid out in your resolution, but should elaborate on the reasoning of your choice of action.

Tips Keep it simple. Make it organized. Cite your sources. Avoid using flowery language just because you can.  Make it organized. Give each thought or proposal its own paragraph, starting each paragraph with a topic sentence. Don't write one long continuous paragraph. Cite your sources. Use footnotes to include where you got your statistics/quotes. (Make sure they are credible sources!) This adds credibility to your paper. Project. Don't Reflect. While the history of the issue is important, this is a position paper, so make sure and focus on what your country wants/plans to do. Break it down. By breaking the issue down into smaller subtopics, you make the initial issue much more manageable and have more targeted goals to frame your solutions.  No “I”s or “You”s Always refer to specific country’s name or use “we”.

Weak Position Paper Extremely short Vague in all aspects Restates the topic guide- no original thought No cited sources, no apparent outside sources

Medium Position Paper Has examples of UN papers Cites sources Although one of the sources is Wikipedia :/ Fails to elaborate much on views and plan of action

Strong Position Paper In-depth Lists resources Lists specific UN papers Explains and elaborates