How to write a Model UN position paper

A position paper is a short document that explains how your country sees a committee topic and what it wants the committee to do. Most conferences ask for one per topic before the conference starts, and chairs read them to get ready for debate. A good paper also does something more practical: it forces you to research your country's position before debate, so you walk into committee with a plan.

Every conference sets its own rules, and they really do differ. One conference may want a single page per topic in 12-point Times New Roman, single spaced; another may allow two pages or ask for specific headings. Read your conference's delegate guide and your committee's background guide first, and treat everything below as a default to adjust.

What goes in a Model UN position paper?

Most guides describe the same core sections, sometimes in a slightly different order.

1. Heading

Your country, committee and topic, plus your name and school if the conference asks for them. Keep it clean and follow the format in your delegate guide exactly.

2. Background on the topic

Two to four sentences that explain the problem and why it needs international action now. Skip the dramatic opening quote. Chairs read dozens of papers, and the ones that get to the point stand out. Make sure you're writing about the topic as your background guide frames it, not a broader version of it.

3. Past international action

What has the UN and the wider international community already tried? Mention relevant resolutions, treaties or programs, and go beyond listing them: say what worked, what didn't and why. If your country voted for, against or abstained on a key resolution, this is the place to say so.

4. Your country's policy

Explain your country's position, both what it has done at home and what it has supported internationally. Be specific: laws, programs, funding, statements at the UN. Your position should stay consistent with your country's real record, even when you personally disagree with it. That's the skill Model UN is built on.

5. Proposed solutions

This is the section chairs care about most. Offer two or three concrete proposals that your country could realistically support and that the committee could actually adopt.

Good proposals say who would act, how it would be paid for and how progress would be measured. Proposals that build on programs your country already runs are more convincing than ideas from nowhere. End with a one- or two-sentence summary.

6. Citations

Most conferences expect sources, either as footnotes or on a separate page that doesn't count toward the length limit. Use whatever format your conference asks for, and cite UN documents by their symbols (for example, a General Assembly resolution's A/RES number) so a chair can look them up.

How do you research your country's position?

Finding what your country actually thinks is the hardest part for most delegates. Work from the most official sources outward.

1. Read the background guide twice. The first time for the topic, the second time for the questions it asks delegates to address. Those questions are a checklist for your solutions section.
2. Look up your country's voting record. The UN Digital Library has voting data for General Assembly resolutions, and the UN's Dag Hammarskjöld Library explains how to search it. How your country voted on past resolutions on your topic is the clearest evidence of its position.
3. Find your country's statements. Speeches and statements by your country's delegation, and its permanent mission to the UN, show how it explains its votes. The Dag Hammarskjöld Library's research guides point to where member state positions are published.
4. Check your government's own sources. Foreign ministry pages and national laws show what your country does at home.
5. Use news and think tanks for context, not as your main evidence. They help you understand alliances and disputes, but chairs value primary sources.

Keep notes in four columns as you go: what the problem is, what has been tried, what your country has done and what it wants next. When you sit down to write, each column becomes a section.

How do you write a strong position paper?

• Be concise. Clear, direct sentences beat long ones full of jargon. Best Delegate's guide sums it up as "quality over quantity."
• Write in your country's voice. Conferences differ on whether you write in the third person ("The Republic of X believes…") or say "we." Follow the delegate guide.
• Make every claim checkable. Numbers, dates and resolution symbols should come from your sources, not from memory.
• Connect the sections. Your solutions should fix the problems in your background section and fit the policy you described. A chair should be able to predict your proposals from your policy section.
• Leave room for diplomacy. Proposals that other blocs could join are more useful in committee than demands no one else will sign.

What mistakes do chairs notice?

• Writing about the wrong topic, or a broader version of it, because the background guide was skimmed.
• A policy section that contradicts reality, such as a country championing a position it has voted against for years.
• Solutions that are just goals. "End poverty" is an aim. "Expand a microloan program through an existing UN agency, funded by voluntary contributions" is a proposal.
• No citations, or citations that are only general websites.
• Ignoring format rules. Going over the page limit or skipping required headings can cost you before anyone reads your ideas.
• Missing the deadline. A late paper may not be accepted at all, so put the date from your delegate guide on your calendar.

What should you check before you submit?

1. Does the heading match the delegate guide exactly?
2. Is the paper within the length limit for each topic?
3. Does the background match the topic as your committee defines it?
4. Did you cite past resolutions or treaties by name or symbol?
5. Is your policy consistent with your country's real votes and statements?
6. Do you have two or three concrete, fundable proposals?
7. Are your sources listed in the format the conference wants?
8. Did someone else read it for typos?

How do you use the paper in committee?

Your position paper becomes your script. Your opening speech can be a short version of your policy and your top proposal, and your solutions section becomes the start of your operative clauses. If you know your paper well, moderated caucuses and resolution writing get much easier.

CompPrep AI's Model UN practice includes position paper feedback that scores six parts of your paper, lists your top three fixes and flags facts to double-check, without rewriting it. You can also practice an opening speech and caucus rounds with an AI chair, and check the format of your resolution clauses. Start with the position paper practice page.