Practicum: The four-step plan to implement PReP
Writing a Position Paper should come after you finish your MUN research. Once you have completed that (and especially if you haven’t), follow this three-step plan and don’t over complicate things.
1. Read & Reference Your Study Guide
The guides provided by the conference are a blueprint for you AND for the Chairs. They will be looking to see if you properly read and interpreted them. They didn’t spend a bunch of time writing them for no reason; they are usually quality documents (when you have a bad study guide, check out our article What to do With a Vague Study Guide). They expect you to use them in some form in your papers, or, if you deviate from them, to see a very good alternative topic interpretation. Reading the guide does not absolve you of your own independent research. YOU NEED TO DO BOTH. The key is to make sure you have a good understanding of everything written in the guide before you begin writing.
2. Find Your Position
Once you read the guide and understand the issues, figure out how your country relates to the topic (see in our —How to Represent Your Country guide. This will eventually turn into your second ‘relation’ paragraph. You can also search for past resolutions in the UN as well as other sources.
3. Choose What is Most Important
-You will find a lot of data when researching your country and the topic. Filtering through it and choosing what is important and relevant is part of the challenge of writing a good Position Paper. To show your most important ideas in the limited space you have, you should aim to show the facts that are the strongest and most relevant to your case. For this reason, try to avoid writing the obvious in your Position Paper and avoid being off clash.
– The right mix of research, and strategic writing, should give the reader the feeling that your Position Paper had much more relevant content then you were able to fit into the paper. You want to show that, while the most relevant of your research is there, it is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to your knowledge.
4. Create Solutions
The third paragraph, where you write your policy, is the section where you can get creative. Yes, make sure any solution you come up with is viable and based on research, but don’t be afraid to be bold. You are not married to the policies you write in the Position Paper and a chair will understand if you need to deviate for the sake of compromise in the committee. In the Position Paper, the policy paragraph needs to be clear and consistent with the previous two paragraphs.
Types of Position Papers
– Position Papers chairs read
– Position Papers delegates read
– Position Papers everyone will read
– Position Papers no one will read
“Everyone has a story to tell or a product to sell. Know your audience before you open your mouth.” – April Sims
While not all Model United Nations conferences require Position Papers, many of them do. Whether it be your Chairs, other delegates, a mix or none of the above, knowing who will be your audience will help you craft the right paper and achieve your desired goal.
Position Papers Only The Chair Will Read
When the chair is required to send feedback, this usually means they will have read your Position Paper. This is an excellent opportunity to go all out, regarding the reasons for why your country has the position that it is taking and why you chose the policies that you did. (See our article on ‘Properly Represent Your Country?’) This is also the place to describe your Call to Action / the policies you want to implement in detail. The reason for such open and clear (but not too clear) writing is because no one but the Chair will read it, meaning you don’t need as much nuance as you would in a public Position Paper or opening speech. This is the place to give your ideas in a clear, unfiltered manner so that the Chair can understand it later when you give a more layered speech during the formal sessions.
‘For Chair eyes only’ Position Papers are also an excellent opportunity to bring facts and ideas that you want known to the chair, but don’t have time to fit into your first speech or two. While not bluntly giving away your country’s real motivation, you have a lot more liberty to flag things you’re afraid might be missed once the committee session starts.
Position Papers Only Delegates will Read (but not Chairs)
These are Position Papers where all the delegates are able to read each other’s work, research and position on the topic at hand. An example of where this can happen, is a large conference (e.g. 200 delegates), where the Position Paper deadline is the day before the conference.
For these papers, you still want to use the Position Paper platform to show why the discussion should focus on where you want it to go. For this reason, the Position Paper should be written more to frame the issue than give concrete detailed policies. Delegates who did not research to the same extent, or have no clear position, can be introduced to your interpretation of the topic. Some may completely adopt it, or at least be familiar with it when they hear it in a speech. (See our article on ‘Writing the Killer Speech’)
Position Papers Everyone Will Read (Chairs and Delegates)
The Chair + Delegate Position Papers are the most complex to write. In these cases, the ideal situation is for the chair to see what you would want them to see, as if it was written just for them, while at the same time, the other delegates would see a Position Paper customized for them. This is a hard balance to find, but if erring to one side, it is better to build a paper for the delegates and hope the chair has the experience to read between the lines.
One more variable to take into consideration is when Position Papers are written for a gigantic committee (100 or more delegates).
In gigantic rooms, the Position Paper should have at least the basics of the policy, because one might not speak in the first few hours and this might be the only way to get you onto the floor.
Position Papers No One Will Read
Yes, this actually exists in MUN. Some Position Papers will not be read by the Chairs or anyone else at all. However, the conference requires submission to qualify for a diplomacy award. A few conferences will admit that no one will read the Position Papers, but most will not.
Here are a few things to look out for to know your Position Papers likely won’t be read:
-When Chairs are not required to send you feedback on the Position Paper
– The deadline is the day before the conference.
In these cases, the main benefit of writing a Position Paper is to organize your thoughts. However, in practice, a poor document can be just as easily submitted to qualify.
Pitfalls to Avoid
Potential issues you may run into:
Conflicting information
• You may run into a situation where your country does not have a clear policy towards a topic, or they have recently changed policy. For example, with the election in the US and the change from one ideology to another, their rhetoric towards the Iran Nuclear issue changed almost overnight. It would be tempting to follow the words of the leaders in a case like this, but pay attention to actual actions. Nothing has changed.
• When faced with conflicting positions from your country, choose one and stick with it. Use the position that you can find the most research on.
Lack of information
• Sometimes you will be stuck with a topic or committee that your country has little to no interest in. This will cause a lack of information to work with. For example, if you are in UNESCO and the topic is oil drilling in Ecuador’s rainforest, you may find that Malawi has not put out any statement on the issue. Don’t despair.
• In a situation like this, when your country has no position on a topic, you have to get creative. Find similar issues that affect your country and extrapolate that to the current topic. For the Ecuador example, Malawi can use their position of environmental issues in their own country and throughout the continent as a guide as to how they would respond.
• If you find yourself on a topic with indigenous people’s rights, but your country does not have a strong position, find out if there are indigenous groups in that country. Do they treat them well or poorly? Both will give you a direction to take with your Position Paper.
Loose Ends
• There shouldn’t be a single sentence that has no purpose. Each fact or statement should support the identity you are constructing.
• If you feel a fact or statement that doesn’t seem to have a place, must be in the PP, think about why. If it is so vital that it fits into the first, second, or sometimes the third paragraph. If it does not, perhaps it can be replaced with one which does.
• The information can be used later – this fact or statement can be important and be saved for a later speech. However, the position paper needs to be a self-supporting document and just because it is important doesn’t mean it has to go here.
Strong Words ≠ Strong Conclusion
• You want to end every Position Paper on a strong note, but you do not want to have a conclusion that is overwhelming or concrete. Remember, you will not have many pages, usually, one to get your country’s position across. The Chair is not judging your Position Paper on how well you close, they are judging it based on your understanding of the issues and the solutions you bring to the table.
• That being said, it helps to close the paper well. There is an old saying about writing an essay that can apply to a Position Paper as well:
• “Your introduction tells them they will be intrigued. The body is the meat of the argument. The conclusion reminds them that they were impressed.”
• How do we apply this to a Position Paper? In the beginning, you frame the problem, not wasting your time giving a detailed research paper. The bulk of the paper is letting the Chair know that you understand your country’s relationship to the topic and your proposed solutions. Your conclusion is going to close briefly with a strong, concluding remark. BRIEFLY is the key word here.
Position Paper Format
The format of each Positions Paper, or Position Paper template, varies from conference to conference. However, even if you have no format instructions you do not want to have a messy position paper.
An unorganized paper can:
• Make you look less serious (to chairs and delegates)
• Make your text harder to follow
• Give your reader less incentive to pay attention
Messy Position Paper – Example
You can see here how the bunched lines, uneven spacing, random bullet points, different sizes, confused margins and everything else makes the paper unappealing to the eye before we even start reading.
Organized Position Paper – Example
Here you can see the Position Paper is more organized and easier to read.
Sometimes, the conference will give you an unfilled Position Paper template, with the logo and blank headings for you to fill in. Other times, the conference will send you a Model UN Position Paper sample. Other conferences will send you specific, or loose, Position Paper instructions about how they want the paper formatted.
Each Position Paper should be measured by its content and its ability to inform and influence the respective Chairs and delegate. However, the Position Paper will not reach that point if it is not accepted. It is a pity when your work is not be read or forwarded on because you got the font wrong, exceeded the margins or sent the paper in late. For this reason, whether strict or lax, read and follow the Model UN Position Paper formatting instructions so the hard work you put into the document will achieve its strategic objective.
Examples of Position Paper Instructions
Position Paper Instructions Example #1:
Write the Position Paper for ExampleMUN 2026 using the standards below:
• Length must not exceed two pages.
• Margins must be 2.54 cm or 1 inch for the entire paper.
• Font must be Times New Roman, size 12.
• Justify the paragraphs. The left and right margins must both have straight edges.
• Country name / institution committee name must be clearly labeled on the top of the 1st page.
• Agenda topics must be clearly labeled as the title.
• National symbols, such as flags, logos, etc. are deemed inappropriate for ExampleMUN Position Papers.
• Send your document in PDF format.
Position Paper Instructions Example #2:
We ask delegates of ExampleMUN to each produce a position paper before the conference. It must outline their country’s position, main objectives and issues they are seeking to address during the conference. Your Chairs will return the Position Papers to you with feedback a fortnight before the conference. This will give you time to ascertain which countries would be considered natural allies for you and for you to read which issues the other delegates may deem important.
A Position Paper the length of one side of A4 should be sufficient to state your position.
Example of Formatted Position Paper
Angola feels that in this day and age, hunger should be a thing of the past. However, in 2018, over 795 million people do not have enough food to lead a healthy, active life. This does not include the half of the world’s population, more than 3 billion people, who live on less than $2.50 a day. For better or worse, the road to more accessible and cheaper food is strongly related to water supply. Some countries have an abundance of water, such as: Canada, Scotland and Switzerland. Others have next to no water, such as: Yemen, Libya and Djibouti, or low rainfall like Namibia and Sudan which creates water scarcity and desertification. The solution to all of these problems is the weather control that comes from cloud-seeding, with richer countries already reaping the benefits. The National Center of Meteorology and Seismology (NCMS) witnessed an increase in rainfall of 10–15% in polluted air and 30–35% in clean air. China uses cloud seeding over several increasingly arid regions including Beijing, the capital. In 2017, the United Arab Emirates launched 235 cloud-seeding operations by five cloud-seeding planes based in Al Ain. The use and success proves the technology works, but it is only accessible to those who can afford setting up the mechanisms to cloud seed, or pay for the chemicals from companies like Bayer, Dupont and Dow Chemical Company, who control the patents and sales rights.
How to Win a Best Position Paper Award
The difference between a good and a great Position Paper
Good Chairs will give credit to delegates who properly predict the room and are able to guide their policies from the Position Paper to the final resolution. This is because it means that the delegates accurately predicted which direction the discussion would go in, or better still, were able to direct the room in that direction.
This does not mean that the best delegate must have an excellent Position Paper, or perfectly stick to it. Aside from the ‘Best Position Paper’ award, the actions that take place in the committee are almost completely what Chairs will consider for awards. However, it is not uncommon that a Position Paper is used as a tiebreaker between two extremely close delegates.
In all these cases, you need to have an opinion. To win the ‘Best Position Paper’ award, your Position Paper needs to be full of new solutions, it must follow proper format and it has to be concise and ‘fluff-free’. Neutrality on an issue, or saying your country has no opinion, is admitting that you will let other delegates take the lead on the issue. It is better to find a policy of a country similar to yours, or your own policy on a similar issue, than saying nothing. More on how to deal with this can be found in our ‘Research’ and ‘How to Represent Your Country’ articles.
Top Position Paper Strategies
The R and S strategy
For the entire Position Paper, keep the R and S strategy in mind. This is the RESEARCH and SOLUTION strategy. Try to ensure that every sentence is either research-based or solution-based. This helps cut down on unnecessary sentences.
Facts and Name Dropping
Nothing shows research like using numbers, names and dates. This is especially impressive when it’s information that was not in the study guide. Paragraph 1 and Paragraph 2 should be full of these. Remember that it is not enough to simply throw facts onto the page, they need to be connected to the point you are trying to make. Good use of facts, with numbers and names properly capitalized, makes an impressive first impression. Effective use in the paper can be the difference between runner-up and the Best Position Paper award.
New Solutions and Interpretations
The Chair of your committee will be reading so many Position Papers about the same exact topic that they will be bored to death of seeing the same solutions over and over again. To stand out, come up with a viable, new strategy that other countries may not have thought of. We say viable because it cannot be so outlandish as to be impossible, but it should be something that makes the Chair stop and focus on your paper.
You can get a little off-the-wall with solutions, as long as they have a basis in reality.
Alexander Hamilton employed a similar strategy during the Constitutional Convention in the US. When debating an overhaul of the US government, there were two main plans (the Virginia Plan and the New Jersey Plan). The New Jersey plan was closer to what was already in place, while the Virginia Plan was a change almost too much for people to handle (though most knew this was the only way to save the nation). In order to discredit the New Jersey Plan, Hamilton boldly proposed a plan so radical, that the Virginia Plan became moderate in comparison.
Hamilton’s plan opened the discussion and changed the conversation. It caught the attention of everyone present and moved them towards a solution.
You can do this with a position paper. Even if you do not ultimately get what you want, you have caught the Chair’s attention and have become a player in the game.
Follow proper format
While this seems self-explanatory, you would be surprised how many people disregard the format rules given by the conference. Do not ignore this. As Chairs are reading the papers, they will come to expect certain formatting and anything not following the rules will stand out, and not in a good way. Do not get on the Chair’s bad side before the conference even begins. You can be sure that they will take points off for improper formatting and keep your name written down for conference time.
Concise and fluff-free
Don’t waste a single sentence with fluff. Due to the short length, everything you write in a Position Paper should be concise and free of fluff. We know that as students, you have mastered the ability to fluff your way through a paper, but that won’t work here. Not if you want to win Best Position Paper.
When you think about how to start a Position Paper, don’t go for an intense sound-bite. Flare is not good without substance. Try to be as clear as you comfortably can and reach your important points as quickly as possible.
What Chairs Look For
Similarly to how Position Paper format instructions are given to delegates, Chairs are also given instructions by the Model UN Conference Secretariat on how to evaluate Position Papers. Chairing, from when you write the study guide until the closure of debate, is a sacred responsibility.
Sometimes, the instructions given by the secretariat on how to evaluate Position Papers are clear and uniform. However, often, a Chair needs to fill in some gaps between the secretariat’s instructions and doing the job in real-time. To better understand the considerations regarding Position Papers, read the following instructions, given by an Under-secretary General of Chairing to their staff.
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Dear Chairs,
As of this weekend, all the registered delegates should receive their study guides. While a few delegates will still be getting allocations over the next week, most of them will have received guidelines for how and when to send Position Papers. The delegates are required to send the Position Papers to the committee email from the 20th – 26th of February. Any Position Paper received by the 26th before midnight should receive feedback from one of the Chairs. You are not obligated to give feedback to papers received from the 27th onwards. Hopefully, you should get most or all of the papers before the deadline. Papers received after the 28th are not eligible for the best position paper award, as you may not have time to check them. Position Papers that are received after March 1st, or not at all, will make the delegate ineligible for an award.
In the Position Papers, we want to see that delegates show they understand (a) the topic (b) their countries positions and history and (c) the policies they propose to solve it / perpetuate it (if they are evil).
The Position Papers which arrive on time should get feedback. This does not need to be more than a few lines per topic. However, we do require you to tell the delegates if they did a good job or if they are lacking in one of the three sections mentioned above. You should also tell them what you want them to improve. In the feedback, where possible, please use examples from their text. To do this most effectively, divide the position papers amongst yourselves and return them when you can. You are not required to send feedback if the delegate sends you an improved position paper. Our main goal is for you to have prepared delegates in your committee, and a rewritten position paper generally indicates better preparation.
If anyone would like more information on how to give feedback, or have any other questions relating to Position Papers, please let me know in a reply to this email.
If your delegates write you asking how to write a policy paper, or any other questions, we expect you to be helpful, courteous and available.
Good Luck
USG Chairing
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Not every MUN conference secretariat will have this level of instruction for their Chairs. Some have more; a few give online workshops about Position Papers, while others give no instruction at all. However, in most cases, the final feedback is left to a Chair’s discretion.
If your secretariat left you alone, giving feedback on the basics according to the guidelines at the beginning of this article is a good start. You can also give topic-specific feedback, which uses examples of where more research or analyses can be used, based on what you wrote in your study guide.
11 Questions Chairs Ask When Reading Your Position Paper
Question Chairs Ask About A Quality Position Paper
1. Did the delegate reframe the topic to make the problem-specific and relevant to them?
2. Did they show their country’s relation to the topic?
3. Did they offer policies that can gain a majority in the committee?
4. Do these policies represent their countries stated interests?
5. Did the delegate use examples?
6. Do the examples go beyond the information in the study guide?
7. Did the writer bring something new, unique and interesting?
Questions You Hope Your Chair Never Asks
1. Was this position paper copied and pasted from Wikipedia or some other online source?
2. If I change the country name on this super vague paper will it be just as “valid”?
3. How inebriated was the delegate when they wrote this?
4. Has the writer even heard of Model UN?
Using these questions to measure the quality of your paper will let you review your work with a Chair’s eyes. If the answers to these questions aren’t good enough, then you now know what to work on. A few appropriate modifications can result in a complete makeover of a Position Paper, and possibly a much-improved delegate as well.
Closing thoughts on Position Papers
Position Papers are important. Knowing if the Position Paper will be read only by the Chair or by the delegates should be taken into account when choosing what to write and focus on. Position Paper format should also be taken into account, but not at the expense of quality.
A Position Paper should accomplish three goals:
1. Show a country’s position on the topic being discussed.
2. Show a country’s previous relationship to the topic (preferably with relevant examples).
3. Show policies and ideas that (1) represent the interests of your country and (2) you would ideally like to see in the resolution.
When you’re the Chair, give instructive feedback with specific examples. Your comments could be the difference between a lost delegate or an effective one, or between a good conference and a great one.
Lastly, don’t forget the PReP strategy:
In Policy (paragraph 3) you solve the issue in Position (paragraph 1) with the tools and relevance you set up in Relation (paragraph 2).