The Position Paper Structure That a Dais Reads and Scores

The Position Paper Structure That a Dais Reads and Scores

Your position paper has four sections. A dais reads them in order and scores each on research quality, policy specificity, and writing clarity. The structure you follow must match what the dais actually evaluates, not what a conference brochure describes. At large gatherings, HMUN, NAIMUN, NMUN, dais members receive position papers days before the event. A full committee means a stack of papers to grade. Most are skimmed. Some are checked only for completion. A paper that is structurally scannable gets read properly. One that buries its national stance in a third paragraph of background history does not. This guide teaches the four-section format that survives the real assessment: topic background, past international action, country policy, and proposed solutions. For each section, learn what the dais is actually looking for, not just what to write there.

How to Format a Model UN Position Paper

Format signals that you know what the dais expects. A position paper that deviates from the standard heading, committee name, topic, nation name, delegate name and school, arrives with a problem already visible. Every major conference publishes its required heading order. YMUN, BMUN, and ChoMUN all follow the same top-line format. Below the heading come four sections, each clearly separated by a blank line or a subheading. NMUN requires 1-2 pages per topic; NAIMUN requires 1 page single-spaced. The dais does not count words on a paper where they cannot find the sections. If your country policy paragraph bleeds into your proposed solutions without a line break, the dais skips the boundary and your solutions section may not be read. Write for the reader who has forty seconds per paper. Use subheadings in bold. Keep paragraphs under six lines. No wall of text survives a dais skimming session.

Position Paper Section Breakdown: What the Dais Assesses in Each Block

Topic Background

The dais assesses research quality here. How recent are your sources? Do they reflect the study guide or do you appear to have read only Wikipedia? The dais knows the topic better than you do; they wrote the background guide. You cannot impress them with a basic chronology. Instead, establish the current state of the problem. Cite the most recent UN data or a credible NGO report. One paragraph. Three to five sentences. Write more and you are writing a history essay, not a position paper. The failure case: a topic background that repeats the study guide verbatim. That tells the dais you did no independent research. Papers flagged for plagiarism are disqualified from award eligibility before the first gavel falls.

Past International Action

The dais assesses policy specificity here. Show that you know what the UN and regional bodies have already done on this topic. Name the relevant resolutions, treaties, or UN agency programmes by number or title. This section is where your citation format matters, MLA, APA, or Chicago, as the conference requires. THIMUN-affiliated conferences are strict about this; NMUN publishes its citation expectations in advance. A delegate who writes "the UN has passed several resolutions" without naming any cannot score well. Research quality and writing clarity combine here. Name the action. Summarise its outcome. Connect it to the committee topic in one precise sentence per action.

Country Policy

This section separates strong papers from forgettable ones. The dais assesses policy specificity and delegation stance. A country policy that reads "Country X believes in peace and supports international cooperation" tells the dais you have not researched your nation. Every country supports peace. What matters is the specific policy position: whether your government signed the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, whether it abstained on the most recent Human Rights Council vote, whether its national legislation aligns with or contradicts the UN convention on the topic. The dais knows which nations hold which positions. They are scoring your accuracy. Write one paragraph that names at least two concrete policy actions your country has taken. If your country has done nothing on the topic, say that honestly and explain why. Geopolitical isolation, competing priorities, resource constraints. Acknowledging a gap scores higher than inventing a false policy.

Proposed Solutions

The dais assesses feasibility and writing clarity here. Your proposed solutions must be specific enough to appear as operative clauses in a draft resolution. Vague calls for "increased cooperation" or "capacity building" score zero. Instead, write: "Country X proposes the establishment of a regional early-warning system funded through assessed contributions to the UN regular budget, to be operational by 2027." That sentence names the mechanism, the funding source, and the timeline. The dais can imagine that clause on a resolution. Research quality appears here too: if your solution duplicates something already in place, the dais notices. This section must also reflect your nation's actual capacity. A small developing country proposing to fund a global programme strains credibility. Use preambulatory clause language naturally, "Acknowledging the need for...", "Noting with concern...", to show you understand the resolution drafting conventions that will follow in committee.

What Dais Looks for in a Position Paper

The dais evaluates three dimensions on every section. Research quality: have you used the background guide as a starting point and gone beyond it? Policy specificity: do you demonstrate understanding of your nation's actual diplomatic stance, not a generic position? Writing clarity: can the dais extract your argument in under a minute? These are the same criteria published by NMUN for its position-paper awards and by HNMUN for its delegate evaluation rubrics. At large gatherings, HMUN India, ILMUNC, the dais may not read a single paper start to finish. Instead, they scan each section for a specific signal: a named treaty in past international action, a concrete clause in proposed solutions. Papers that lack these signals get a "complete" mark and no further attention. The difference between a paper that earns a verbal commendation and one that earns an outstanding delegate award is that the latter's signals are visible in a three-second scan.

MUN Position Paper Assessment Criteria: the Rubric Behind the Score

Conference rubrics are not always published. HMUN does not release its full rubric. NMUN publishes its criteria: research, policy, writing, and format each carry weight. The position paper's share of the total delegate evaluation score ranges from 10% to 30%, but the published percentage matters less than the actual weight the dais gives it. At conferences where the dais receives papers in advance, most major conferences, the position paper shapes the dais's first impression of a delegate. A strong paper means the dais listens for you during caucus. A weak paper means you start invisible. The assessment criteria common to all rubrics are four. Quality of research: source recency, depth beyond the study guide. Understanding of country policy: accuracy, specificity, consistency with actual UN voting records. Feasibility of solutions: costed mechanisms, realistic timelines, alignment with national capacity. Writing clarity: scannable structure, correct subheadings, no spelling errors. Plagiarism is a universal disqualifier. Most conferences run submitted papers through a plagiarism check before the conference begins.

Position Paper Rubric: What a Perfect Score Actually Looks Like

A perfect-scoring position paper at NMUN or BMUN has four visible characteristics. First, the topic background cites the most recent UN Secretary-General report on the issue, not a general news article from 2020. Second, the past international action section names at least two specific UN resolutions with their document numbers, for instance, A/RES/75/311 rather than "a 2021 General Assembly resolution". Third, the country policy section includes a verbatim reference to a national statement made by the nation's UN ambassador in the last two years, sourced from the UN Digital Library. Fourth, the proposed solutions section uses operative clause language and includes a funding mechanism. A paper that meets all four benchmarks is rare. The dais remembers it. At the end of committee, when the dais debates awards, that paper is the evidence that a delegate performed before the conference even started. The failure case: a paper that hits all four but is submitted one minute past the deadline. Conferences enforce submission deadlines strictly because the dais needs time to read. A late submission is marked complete but does not carry award weight at most conferences.

MUN Position Paper Structure and Outline: the Four-Section Template

The four-section structure, topic background, past international action, country policy, proposed solutions, appears at NMUN, BMUN, and most Harvard-style conferences. THIMUN-affiliated conferences use a different format: a delegation policy statement with one paragraph per topic, not individual country papers. If your conference follows THIMUN procedure, ask your faculty advisor for the specific format before you write. For Harvard-style and most US-based conferences, the four-section template is the standard. Label each section clearly with a subheading. Place the heading at the top of the page: committee name, topic, country name, delegate name, school. Follow with references on a separate page. Word count limits vary: YMUN and NAIMUN require 1 page per topic; NMUN allows up to 2 pages per topic. The dais is not counting words on a correctly formatted paper. They are counting the signals. A paper that fits the template and hits every section's assessment criteria will be read. One that does not will be skimmed.

Common Position Paper Mistakes That Lose Points Before Committee Starts

The most common mistake is treating the topic background as the main section. New delegates write three paragraphs of background and one sentence of country policy. The dais assesses policy specificity, not your ability to summarise a Wikipedia article. The second mistake is vague country policy. Writing "China supports sustainable development" earns zero points. China's actual position on sustainable development includes specific Belt and Road environmental standards, its opposition to certain UNFCCC provisions, and its national Five-Year Plan targets. Name them. The third mistake is proposed solutions that are not yours to propose. A delegation from a non-nuclear state proposing a nuclear disarmament framework that requires Security Council permanent members to disarm unilaterally is not feasible. The dais assesses feasibility. Propose what your nation can realistically advocate for in committee. The fourth mistake is formatting errors: missing heading, no subheadings, wrong citation format, or exceeding the word count limit. At NAIMUN, a paper that exceeds 1 page single-spaced is cut off by the dais. A paper submitted past the deadline is not read at all. The fifth mistake is submitting a paper that does not match the conference's procedure family. A THIMUN-format paper submitted to a Harvard-style committee confuses the dais and signals that you did not read the conference instructions.

How the Dais Evaluation Actually Works Over a Weekend

The dais evaluates delegates across three inputs: the position paper, in-committee speaking and authorship, and bloc leadership. The position paper is the first input. It sets a baseline. A delegate who writes a strong paper but speaks poorly in committee may still earn an honourable mention if the dais uses the paper to justify the award to the conference secretariat. A delegate who writes a weak paper but dominates debate must overcome the dais's first impression. The published award criteria at most conferences claim to weight these inputs equally. In practice, dais visibility and bloc leadership dominate at large committees. A quiet delegate who wrote an excellent position paper rarely wins Best Delegate at HMUN or ILMUNC. The gap between published criteria and actual award drivers is largest at conferences with over 2,000 participants. The dais cannot objectively assess a full committee over a weekend. They rely on what they remember. A position paper that is scannable and strong increases the chance the dais remembers your name when you speak. A paper that is not memorable makes you one of the invisible delegates. The failure case: a delegate who writes a great paper, submits it on time, then never raises their placard in committee. The dais checks the paper as complete and awards go to the delegates who spoke.

Position Paper Submission Deadlines and What Happens If You Miss Them

Submission deadlines range from 1 to 4 weeks before the conference start date. HMUN typically sets a deadline 3 weeks before. NMUN requires submission 4 weeks before. The deadline is hard. Conferences use the time to assign papers to dais members, run plagiarism checks, and allow the dais to read before the conference begins. A late submission creates logistical work for the dais and the secretariat. Most conferences accept late papers for participation, you can still attend committee, but mark them as incomplete for award eligibility. THIMUN-affiliated conferences require the paper for committee seating; a missing paper means you cannot enter the room. The submission method varies: online portal upload is standard at HMUN, NAIMUN, and YMUN. BMUN requires email to the committee dais. Some conferences accept printed copies at registration. Check the conference website two weeks before the deadline. Do not trust what your club officer tells you. Confirm directly.

What the Position Paper Teaches About the Real Activity

Model United Nations is not a class about the United Nations. It is a competitive simulation that rewards persuasive writing, parliamentary procedure, and in-room negotiation. The position paper is the only pre-conference written work the dais sees. Use it to demonstrate that you understand the difference between representing a country and arguing a personal opinion. Newcomers often mistake MUN for a debate club where the best argument wins. It is not. Awards go to delegates who build coalitions and steer the room toward consensus, not to those who win arguments. The position paper reflects this: the proposed solutions section is scored on feasibility and coalition-building potential, not on how morally correct the solution is. A delegate who writes a morally compelling solution that no other delegation can sign onto has written a failed paper. The activity teaches legislative theatre, not international law. The position paper is the first piece of evidence the dais uses to decide whether you understand that distinction.

Who This Structure Suits and Who Should Skip it

The four-section position paper structure suits the first-time delegate who needs to know what a dais expects before walking into a room of 100 strangers. It suits the faculty advisor who must prepare a team without having done MUN themselves and needs a template they can teach in one meeting. It suits the experienced delegate chasing a gavel who understands that a scannable paper separates them from the invisible delegates in a large committee. It suits the university student applying for chairing roles who needs to demonstrate they can evaluate a paper against a rubric. It does not suit a reader looking for analysis of actual UN peacekeeping operations or Security Council reform; those belong to academic international relations sources. It does not suit a reader seeking a debate club where one side wins on the merits of an argument. Those readers should look at competitive debate formats like World Schools or British Parliamentary. MUN rewards consensus-building, not clash, and the position paper structure reflects that choice from the first line.