Position Paper Instructions
Delegates must submit two position papers, one for each topic, of 200 to 250 words each.Position papers must, broadly, outline a country's position on that particular topic, and what it hopes a resolution will contain.Position papers must be submitted to the committee email account (provided in the section below).
General Assembly- sophia.plenary@gmail.com
Ecosoc - sophia.ecosoc@gmail.com
IAEA - sophia.iaea@gmail.com
Security Council - sophia.securitycouncil@gmail.com All delegates must submit two position papers of satisfactory standard - if the papers are not good enough, chairs will send the papers back and tell them to improve it.Delegates who submit sub-standard or no position papers will not be considered for any kind of delegate award.Should delegates have any questions regarding their papers, please email the chairs via their respective email accounts.The deadline is Monday, 10th October 2011
Delegates must submit two position papers, one for each topic, of 200 to 250 words each.
General Assembly- sophia.plenary@gmail.com
Ecosoc - sophia.ecosoc@gmail.com
IAEA - sophia.iaea@gmail.com
Security Council - sophia.securitycouncil@gmail.com
A good position paper will include:
- A brief introduction to your country and its history concerning the topic and committee;
- How the issue affects your country;
- Your country’s policies with respect to the issue and your country’s justification for these policies;
- Quotes from your country’s leaders about the issue;
- Statistics to back up your country’s position on the issue;
- Actions taken by your government with regard to the issue;
- Conventions and resolutions that your country has signed or ratified;
- UN actions that your country supported or opposed;
- What your country believes should be done to address the issue;
- What your country would like to accomplish in the committee’s resolution; and
- How the positions of other countries affect your country’s position.
Position Paper Tips
- Keep it simple. To communicate strongly and effectively, avoid flowery wording and stick to uncomplicated language and sentence structure.
- Make it official. Try to use the seal of your country or create an “official” letterhead for your position paper. The more realistic it looks, the more others will want to read it.
- Get organized. Give each separate idea or proposal its own paragraph. Make sure each paragraph starts with a topic sentence.
- Cite your sources. Use footnotes or endnotes to show where you found your facts and statistics. If you are unfamiliar with bibliographic form, look up the Modern Language Association (MLA) guidelines at your school’s library.
- Read and reread. Leave time to edit your position paper. Ask yourself if the organization of the paper makes sense and double-check your spelling and grammar.
- Speech! Speech! Do you plan to make an opening statement at your conference? A good position paper makes a great introductory speech. During debate, a good position paper will also help you to stick to your country’s policies.
- Let the bullets fly. Try not to let your proposals become lost in a sea of information. For speech making, create a bulleted list of your proposals along with your most important facts and statistics so that you will not lose time looking for them during debate.
Sample Position Paper
