Position Paper Tips

Hi delegates!


Just wanted to check in and offer a bit more guidance on your position papers!


As a reminder, TWLF is not using standard position paper format. Instead, please refer to the position paper guidelines on our TWLF committee page and follow the format detailed there! In a nutshell, there are 3 sections:

  1. Biography and positionality of character (similar to country policy in a traditional position paper)
  2. Strike ideology and proposed strike strategy (somewhat similar to solutions in a traditional position paper, but is more overarching, related to your ideological stances on the strike and what strategies should be taken)
  3. Response to 2 questions to consider


Besides the format, we wanted to offer some tips on the research process and the formation of your paper. 


Research


The biggest favor you can do for yourself in the writing process is to really apply time and effort into understanding the topics beforehand. Luckily, we have written the key to beginning this process: your synopsis! Not only do we recommend reading this synopsis, but we hope that you will interact with it. Ask questions, make connections, reflect on what you learned. Familiarizing yourself with the synopsis is the key to a smooth research experience. 


After reading the synopsis, don’t stop there! This piece is just a stepping stone for the research we hope you will complete. We recommend looking into other events related to the strike, other examples of student strikes and activism in the 1960s and beyond, and so on. Ultimately, the sign of a well-researched paper is taking the information within the synopsis a step further. We have provided some additional resources in the "Additional Resources" section of the topic synopsis that may be a good place to start.


We are hoping that in your position paper, you don’t simply reiterate the synopsis, but interact with it. Your position papers should be composed of information learned both within and outside the scope of the information we have given you.


Writing


After researching, you should have a good sense of what you want to include in your paper. We suggest making an outline of this important information first, then adding commentary on why these points are important. A sign of a great position paper is one that not only contains important information, but elaborates on it and provides clear and effective commentary. We are looking for papers that make clear and well-supported arguments, whether that be through citing sources you find in your research or backing up your arguments with your own logic and reasoning!


Be sure to leave yourself enough time to write and revise (don’t hesitate to ask for help or an extension if needed), and please make sure to properly cite your sources in MLA format. The BMUN website has more guidance on the research and writing process here.


Reminder that Position Papers are due on February 18th to be considered for the Research Award, and February 25th to be considered for any committee award. Again, we’d be happy to grant an extension if necessary!


Feel free to reach out to us at twlfbmun72@bmun.org for any questions or concerns throughout your research and writing process, and interact with this blog if you’d like! 


We are so excited to see what you bring to committee, and are here to help you throughout this process!


In community,

Vivian Kuang
Head Chair, TWLF BMUN 72

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Procedure and Committee Flow!

Hi all! As we approach conference here is a quick reminder of how our committee is going to work! TWLF will be using a specialized procedure that we have created specifically for this committee, so please read this blog post as the procedure we will be using will be new to all of you. For a full explanation of our procedure, please read the Procedure Guide  published on our committee website. We highly recommend reading the entire thing to get a full understanding of procedure, but below is a TL;DR! Our committee is a hybrid between a standard BMUN committee and a crisis committee, with a few additional tweaks. Similar to a crisis committee, the default flow of committee will be a permanent moderated caucus with a speaking time of 1 minute. Delegates can diverge from the default flow by motioning for: Unmoderated caucuses to discuss more informally and work together "Round robin" caucuses where every delegate speaks once on the topic of the caucus for a set speaking time (use...
Read more

Advice for Strike Tactics!

Image
Hi delegates! We are just about a week out from conference, and I wanted to offer some guidance on how to think about your strike strategy and tactics. One theoretical starting point we'd like to offer is Doug McAdam's study of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. In his book  Political Process and the Development of Black Insurgency, McAdam explains that insurgent social movements arise out of 3 factors: When political conditions shift to favor insurgents, either by increasing their political leverage or by increasing the costs associated with repressing/suppressing them If there are robust community organizations that can bring individuals into mass campaigns of political action and convert windows of political opportunity into full-fledged movements " Cognitive liberation ," or when people are not only able to identify the injustice they face, but believe that they are capable of changing their circumstances through collective action He goes on in hi...
Read more

Public Speaking Tips

Image
Hi everyone! I hope life is treating you all well! We are quickly approaching BMUN weekend and, to help support, here's a couple of public speaking tips: Content Hopefully, you should be well-informed before even entering BMUN weekend! If not, re-read our topic synopsis (on the BMUN website) to get a fantastic overview on our topic, procedure, and legacy of TWLF. The first step of good public speaking is having the information to back it up. Whether that means statistics, historical context, and/or analysis, the content of your speeches should be meaningful and comfortable to you. That then allows you to develop the next step of a public speaking: form! Form This is the style in which your speech or any speaking engagement takes. This means good syntax, proper grammar, accessible language, and a clear narrative line. Essentially, how you write it down. Bullet points or full sentences, form often combines with presentation to create enticing public speeches. If this is your first ti...
Read more