Notes on Your Position Papers

As you write your position papers, make sure you refer to BMUN's Position Paper Guidelines to ensure that you meet the requirements. There is a pre-formatted example on the page as well, which you can download and use as a starting point. I'll include some tips below, but make sure you read through the guidelines in their entirety so you don't miss anything.

1. If you want to be considered for the Best Position Paper Award, you must submit your position paper by 11:59 PM PST on February 5. If you want to be considered for committee awards, you must submit your position paper by 11:59 PM PST on February 12. We grade all papers equally, regardless of when they are submitted. But we do appreciate early submissions as they make our lives a lot easier!
2. Make sure you explicitly label the four sections of your paper: Past and Current International Action, Country's Position, Proposed Solutions, and Questions to Consider. Not only will this make it easier for you to organize your own thoughts, but it makes the secretariat's job much easier during grading.
3. Read through the submission instructions and formatting requirements as well. Papers will be uploaded to Huxley this year, which will streamline grading and help get your papers back faster.
4. Do not go over the page limit. While it's good to have a fleshed out paper, it's arguably more important to be able to state what you need to in a concise manner.
5. Our conference is very researched focus. As such, you'll want to make sure you are well-researched before diving into the bulk of your paper.
6. I am personally most interested to read your Proposed Solutions (although I still have to follow the rubric and assign points proportionally to each section). What stands out to me the most in papers are solutions that are not only thoughtful and effective, but also practical and implementable. Putting these solutions on paper will give you a head start come the first committee session.
7. Your papers should adhere to MLA 8 formatting. The Purdue Online Writing Lab is a good resource to refer to. I would recommend using an automated citation tool like Easybib or Microsoft Word's built-in bibliography. This also means that you must have in-text citations:
• Usually, this is simply the author's last name in parentheses.
• If there are multiple authors, list them by their last names in the order they appear (if it's a reasonable number).
• If there are several authors, you may abbreviate it as the first author's last name followed by "et al."
• If there is no listed author, the title of the work is sufficient.
• If you have multiple sources by the same author, you can list the author's name followed by a comma and the title of the work.
8. Finally, do not plagiarize. This will disqualify you from any award and will result in disciplinary action with your advisor. Academic integrity is a value we hold dearly both at BMUN and at UC Berkeley.

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me. You can also find sample position papers on our BMUN Learn website (including one from one of my best delegates!).