Position Paper Guidelines

Position Paper Guidelines

  • Please email your position papers to the Chair of your committee directly.

    For feedback, please email your position papers to your Chair by March 1st

    Set the subject title of your email as YMUNS POSITION PAPER “COMMITTEE NAME”

    To qualify for awards, please email your position papers to your Chair by the beginning of the first committee session on March 15th

    Delegates must write one position paper per committee topic to qualify for awards

  • Position papers are a key part of each delegate’s preparation for the committee experience. It must outline the position of your country or character on the topic(s) of your committee, and effective position papers will include the ideas you may actually pass in your committee’s final resolution. Think of your position paper as a way to come into the conference with researched ideas about what you would like to do. Chairs will appreciate well-written and well-researched position papers which show that you are invested in the conference.

  • Successful position papers should include:

    An explanation of the actions your country or entity has taken in the past to address the issue(s) the committee will discuss

    A critical examination of the core problems your country or entity believes must be addressed in committee

    Potential solutions and the challenges those solutions pose

    Your position paper should leave the reader with a clear understanding of your position on the topics at hand and your potential actions in committee. The first paragraph should be an introduction about the history of the issue and/or your country. The second paragraph should be about the noteworthy actions your country has taken in the past on this issue. The rest of the page should be about your ideas to solve the issue. Cite your sources in the text of the position paper if they are particularly noteworthy (e.g., if you are using a previous resolution your committee has produced on the issue). Have fun, be creative, and explore your topics!

  • Your position paper must be one page long, in 12 point font and single-spaced. Delegates should write one paper per topic (two pages total). In the heading of the paper, please include the committee name, the country or entity you are representing, the topic of the committee. Additionally, delegates should refrain from using personal pronouns such as “I” or “we” if they are in a General Assembly, Economic and Social Council, or Regional Body. Please refer to the country they are representing in third person, e.g. “The United States of America believes…” Lastly, we have no specific guidelines for formatting of references. We ask delegates to do whatever is most convenient and comfortable for them, and to cite all of their sources in the way which is familiar to them.

  • WHO: noah.killeen@yale.edu

    UNFCCC: poppy.stowell-evans@yale.edu

    UNHCR: melanie.ulloa@yale.edu

    CCPCJ: shalina.effendi@yale.edu

    ECOFIN: sajin.agarwala@yale.edu

    SPECPOL: juan.gonzalez@yale.edu

    Operation Tiderace: angela.perez@yale.edu

    UNSC: kaise.dualeh@yale.edu

    DISEC: rolando.kattanrubi@yale.edu