[IMPORTANT] Position Paper Expectations and Format

Hi delegates, happy Super Bowl Sunday (and first deadline for position papers)! I hope you're all rooting for the Rams today and working hard on getting those position papers in. This post will primarily deal with some expectations and formatting for position papers.

First and foremost, I wanted to remind you all that deadlines for position papers are rapidly approaching. At BMUN, we have two deadlines for papers - in order to be considered for a research award, all papers (for both topics) must be turned in by 11:59 PM PST today, February 3rd, and in order to be considered for any committee award, all papers (for both topics) must be turned in by 11:59 PM PST on February 10th. If you have any particularly extenuating circumstances that make these deadlines difficult, however, feel free to reach out to me at hdong@bmun.org or wholxvii@bmun.org, and we can work something out - extensions will be granted at the discretion of the dais as a whole and only for these extenuating circumstances.

Second, please refer to the position paper guidelines detailed here and please read through everything VERY carefully to ensure that your papers are meeting our expectations for formatting and content. Every conference has different expectations for position papers - and there's been some really significant changes to BMUN's guidelines from last year - so it's really important that you read through our position paper guide thoroughly. Within the link above, there's also a copy of our grading rubric, which specifically outlines everything that we look for when grading a position paper, as well as instructions on how to submit your paper through Huxley, which is the only medium through which we'll be accepting papers (unless you have contacted us beforehand about some extenuating circumstances such as technical issues with Huxley). If you need help with formatting your position papers, feel free to use our template located here.

If, at any point, you would like to learn more about how to research and write good position papers, feel free to check out our educational website, BMUN Learn, which is an interactive website with all sorts of cool tips, tricks, and detailed instructional tools that was created by our amazing officer staff, USG of Outreach, and USG of Technology last year. I would definitely recommend perusing through it to help you not only craft your position papers, but also to help you prepare for conference.

Finally, with all of this being said, I'll outline below some particular things that we will be looking for as we begin grading papers:

1. Please explicitly label your headings for the four sections (Past and Current International Action, Country Position, Proposed Solutions, and Questions to Consider). This will expedite our grading and make it easier for us to give you all feedback, while simultaneously allowing you to organize your thoughts better, which is important in any written work. 
2. Formatting: please submit your paper in the .doc, .docx, or .pdf file format, with 1 inch margins, 12 point Times New Roman font, and a 3 page maximum per topic (single spaced and not including works cited/bibliography). Although I know you are all excellently researched on the topic, please do NOT go over 3 pages; a detailed paper is always appreciated, but it is just as important to write succinctly to convey your ideas, a skill which will be important in all of your future endeavors. If you do end up going over 3 pages, we will stop reading after the third page and grade your work based solely on the 3 pages we read. Cite ALL of your sources, including in-text citations, and do those citations in MLA format. When you submit, make sure to follow the Huxley submission protocol, which is linked above. 
3. A little tip: in general, the proposed solutions is the most important part of any research paper. As you can see from the rubric, this is the most heavily weighted section, and is the section that I personally am most interested in reading. A few reminders: make sure your solutions are in line with your country's policy, and are SMART. What's SMART you ask? Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic, and Time-bound. In particular, I ask that you pay the most attention to "actionable" and "realistic" - in the end, solutions must be feasible and implementable. Ask yourself HOW this solution will be implemented. In addition, when writing your "Questions to Consider" section, make sure that this section is based on actual country policy and is well-researched; we will be looking for citations and information that extend beyond just "I think" and "I feel." 
4. One more tip: do NOT cite the topic synopsis. Although in another universe, I would be flattered if you did, my word on the matter is not the holy grail, and I encourage you to do your own extra research on the topics, which will demonstrate to us creativity and initiative. Although you may allude to some of the information I presented in the synopsis, your original research is what will stand out most to all of us as a committee. Show us something new - perhaps even something that none of us have considered. 
5. Finally, do NOT plagiarize. If you are unsure of what plagiarism includes, I direct you to this link here; note that plagiarism does include paraphrasing. Plagiarism will remove you from contention for ANY kind of award, both research and committee, and may result in disciplinary action from your advisor, so it's best not to try. 

Thank you for reading through this blog post, and I hope you all have an amazing rest of your day! Our emails are always open should you have any questions!