Position Paper Guide

Position Paper Guide

The position you submit are meant to declare your country’s position of the topic areas of your committee. If you are attending the conference as part of a class, the position paper constitutes a large portion of your grade at the conference. Although, if you are participating as part of a club or extracurricular activity, submitting a position paper is still a vital step in your preparations. As such, it is to your benefit to put in time and effort into submitting a clear and intelligent paper.

Each representative must submit one position paper for each topic area in your committee. However, if you will be partnered with someone else, you will each be required to write one, although you do have the option of collaborating on both as well. The position paper should be a half a page of single space text in which you introduce your country’s stand on the topics of your committee.

A good position paper will include a brief history of your country’s history concerning the topic and address how it may affect your country. The paper should also provide your country’s policy on the issue and justify them as well. Statistics and facts are important elements of a position paper, but keep in mind that position papers are not research papers. Therefore do not chronicle the history of the issue but rather propose important points you hope to stress in committee as well as prospective solutions. Furthermore, keep it simple -a strongly and effectively communicated position paper says a lot more than one with florid and technical language.

At the same time though, do not stress about the position paper. We understand that you’re busy with school and work etc. Stay on top of your research and the position paper will come naturally and easily to you.

Sample position papers can be found at the following website:

http://www.amun.org/amun_sampleppr.php

Don’t forget, position papers are due March 20th, 2009

Email them to:

--OR--

Mail them to:

Arizona Model United Nations

Dept. of Political Science

University of Arizona

Tucson, AZ 85721