How to write a position paper?
Hello delegates!
It’s 31 days until BMUN (!!!) which means that position paper is due pretty soon. Please keep in mind that position papers are due on February 3rd (sorry for the confusion before!) to be considered for the Best Position Paper Award, and February 10th to be considered for any committee award. Hope y'all are enjoying the fun research for the topics!
To give you some last pieces of advice before submission, I would strongly encourage everyone to reconsider this question: what is a position paper? With all kinds of documents to write in a MUN conference, you should bear in mind that every document has its own purpose. For a position paper, its purpose is for the country to formally present its own opinions and possible solutions it proposes on the topics to be discussed in the coming conference.
To begin with, a position paper breaks down into 4 integral sections : past and current international actions, country’s position, proposed solutions and questions to consider. Each part contributes to a comprehensive explanation of how you understand the current political, economic and social situations of their countries and the international landscape.
For past and current international actions, you can think about starting your own research from reviewing the topic synopsis. As the topic synopsis often would provide information on important international actors as well as past conferences, resolutions and declarations. Moreover, you should research further into what is not included in the topic synopsis but can be of particular important for your own country. This is because the topic synopsis only includes the general idea while it does not specify the influence of past actions on different countries according to their socioeconomic situations.
The country’s position is the essence of the position paper. After reviewing all the major argumemts in the topic synopsis, you should research on what sides of the arguments your country stands upon. For example, for topic 1 on intellectual property rights, technology transfer and innovation, you should figure out 1) whether your country is more of a donor country or a recipient country on technology transfer; and then 2) how does that affect your country’s position on the protection of intellectual property rights as according to promotion of innovative incentives (an oversimplified example would be pro-technology transfer but needs to restructure the process with coordination among private and public sectors). Moreover, some of the useful parts to include in this section includes domestic policies and problems regarding the implementation of such policies.
Proposed solutions are the most important part of your position paper (which matters for 30% of the grade). While for previous sections, you more or less summarize what you find in academic sources and news from reliable agencies, in this part, you have to start with what you have found for your country’s position and build upon your original ideas on how to optimize the status quo or how to fill the gap in the current system.
For questions to consider, you are expected to answer 2 of the questions raised at the end of the topic synopsis for each topic. An important advice to keep in mind is that the answers should be of new perspectives that are not mentioned in the previous sections of your position paper but also it should be closely related to your country’s position. This means that you should derive from your country’s opinion and apply it into the questions without just simply restating what you have written in the previous sections.
For more information and sample position paper, please visit BMUN Learn website at https://learnbmun.squarespace.com/outline and https://learnbmun.squarespace.com/position-paper-overview/. If you have any further questions during your research and writing, please don’t hesitate to comment below and ask us and your fellow delegates.
Can’t wait to see you guys in March!
Best,
Sabina
It’s 31 days until BMUN (!!!) which means that position paper is due pretty soon. Please keep in mind that position papers are due on February 3rd (sorry for the confusion before!) to be considered for the Best Position Paper Award, and February 10th to be considered for any committee award. Hope y'all are enjoying the fun research for the topics!
To give you some last pieces of advice before submission, I would strongly encourage everyone to reconsider this question: what is a position paper? With all kinds of documents to write in a MUN conference, you should bear in mind that every document has its own purpose. For a position paper, its purpose is for the country to formally present its own opinions and possible solutions it proposes on the topics to be discussed in the coming conference.
To begin with, a position paper breaks down into 4 integral sections : past and current international actions, country’s position, proposed solutions and questions to consider. Each part contributes to a comprehensive explanation of how you understand the current political, economic and social situations of their countries and the international landscape.
For past and current international actions, you can think about starting your own research from reviewing the topic synopsis. As the topic synopsis often would provide information on important international actors as well as past conferences, resolutions and declarations. Moreover, you should research further into what is not included in the topic synopsis but can be of particular important for your own country. This is because the topic synopsis only includes the general idea while it does not specify the influence of past actions on different countries according to their socioeconomic situations.
The country’s position is the essence of the position paper. After reviewing all the major argumemts in the topic synopsis, you should research on what sides of the arguments your country stands upon. For example, for topic 1 on intellectual property rights, technology transfer and innovation, you should figure out 1) whether your country is more of a donor country or a recipient country on technology transfer; and then 2) how does that affect your country’s position on the protection of intellectual property rights as according to promotion of innovative incentives (an oversimplified example would be pro-technology transfer but needs to restructure the process with coordination among private and public sectors). Moreover, some of the useful parts to include in this section includes domestic policies and problems regarding the implementation of such policies.
Proposed solutions are the most important part of your position paper (which matters for 30% of the grade). While for previous sections, you more or less summarize what you find in academic sources and news from reliable agencies, in this part, you have to start with what you have found for your country’s position and build upon your original ideas on how to optimize the status quo or how to fill the gap in the current system.
For questions to consider, you are expected to answer 2 of the questions raised at the end of the topic synopsis for each topic. An important advice to keep in mind is that the answers should be of new perspectives that are not mentioned in the previous sections of your position paper but also it should be closely related to your country’s position. This means that you should derive from your country’s opinion and apply it into the questions without just simply restating what you have written in the previous sections.
For more information and sample position paper, please visit BMUN Learn website at https://learnbmun.squarespace.com/outline and https://learnbmun.squarespace.com/position-paper-overview/. If you have any further questions during your research and writing, please don’t hesitate to comment below and ask us and your fellow delegates.
Can’t wait to see you guys in March!
Best,
Sabina
On the BMUN site, it reads that the position paper is due on the 2nd. Please clarify.
ReplyDeleteThe deadline for your delegation to be considered for research award is Feb 3rd. Sorry for the confusion!
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