Canadian High Schools Model

United Nations
Writing Guide for Committee Staff
CAHSMUN Board of Directors


Writing Process
The writing process is no doubt the most intensive part of conference preparation.
Understanding that all committee staff are volunteers and have other aspects of their lives to
attend to, CAHSMUN seeks to make the writing process as smooth as possible. Nonetheless, we
have to make sure that we deliver a professional product to the delegates.
Sections of a Background Guide
Introduction Letter
This section serves as a brief introduction to the authors of the committees background guide
and a welcome to the delegates.

Position Paper Explanations and Sample
This section will be provided by the Board of Directors.

Committee Description
This section outlines the history of the committee, its current membership, and major areas of
achievements.

Topic 1:
Overview of Topic
A brief introduction outlines the key points of the topic.

Timeline
This timeline displays the major events that pertain to the topic, including any past UN
resolutions or involvement.

Historical Analysis/ Background
History of the topic, emphasizing why the issue is relevant to the world today, provide the
delegates with information on how the topic developed.

Current Situation

UN Involvement
This outlines the current UNs role in the topic, with information indicating the successes or
failures of past UN resolutions.

Possible Solutions
This section contains possible solutions that are plausible and practical.

Bloc Positions
This sections gives information on the different blocs and viewpoints present in the topic.
Discussion Questions
A list of 5 questions that can serve as a guide for delegates that will cause them to think about
their position in committee, and develop simulating solutions that are diverse and evidence of
strong and critical minds.

Relevant Pictures/Diagrams
Diagrams and graphs are often a great help to providing information that can be much more
efficient in getting the point across. Use these to your advantage.

Bibliography
A bibliography must be included for each substantive section in order to comply with
intellectual property rights laws and to provide delegates with additional sources for research.

Topic 2:
The second topic will follow the same guidelines as topic ones listed above.

Rules of Procedure
This section will be provided by the Board of Directors.
Writing Process
To ensure that CAHSMUNs background guides are properly written, committee staff are asked
to submit an outline for each topic (including the Committee Description), which will be
approved by the USG Committees (with suggestions for improvement). Once the outline is
approved, committee staff will submit a completed background guide within the timeframe
given by the USG Committees. The USG Committees will ensure that each background guide is
properly written and formatted before submitting them to the Board of Directors.

The Board of Directors will approve each background guide prior to publication. If it determined
that a background guide is lacking in a certain area (e.g. writing style, substance, or formatting),
it may ask the USG Committees or the author of that background guide for revisions.
Style Requirements
To achieve uniformity across all committees, all authors must adhere to the following format
requirements. A template will be provided to you please use the template in drafting your
section of the background guide.

Style Formatting
Entire Document 1-inch margins all around, Times New Roman, aligned to the left
Section Title Bold in 14 points, double-spaced
Heading Italic in 12 points, double-spaced
Main Text Regular in 12 points, single-spaced within each paragraph, double-
spaced between paragraphs

Other Considerations:
One space follows commas and periods.
Punctuation marks are placed before the closing quotation mark.
Oxford commas are to be used (e.g. apples, oranges, and pears).
Do not use contractions (e.g. is not instead of isnt.).
All documents must be on letter size paper (8 inches by 11 inches).
Abbreviations and the Use of Italics
Always spell out the name of an organization or of a treaty in full the first time you
mention it you can then display is abbreviations in parentheses. E.g. the United
Nations Security Council (UNSC).
It is not necessary to put periods between each letter of the abbreviation.
Long titles to treaties should be italicized for distinction, e.g. the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
UN resolution names should not be italicized and each resolutions name should be
written out in full the first time with the code in parentheses. E.g. UNGA resolution
46/86 (A/RES/46/86).
Section Requirements
BGG Section Length Requirement
Introduction Letter About half a page each committee staff member for that committee
should introduce him or herself (such as school, grade, and career
aspirations)
Committee
Description
Three-quarters of a page
Topic 1 Recommended 4000 words (Minimum: 3500 words); Minimum 8 pages
Topic 2 Recommended 4000 words (Minimum: 3500 words); Minimum 8 pages
Bibliography Minimum five reliable sources for CD and seven sources for Topics
Content Expectations
Background guides are to provide delegates with information on the topic, and thus CAHSMUN
only requires the authors to provide facts and developments. It is not necessary to provide any
kind of analysis on the topic. For the conclusion of each topic, the author should provide some
questions for the delegates to think about during their research.

Topics should be addressed from an international point of view and incorporates balanced
perspectives. It is more important to address the recent aspects of the topic (current efforts,
global actions/reactions, successes and failures, potential solutions) than to address its history.

As delegates are required to do their own research, it is no longer allowed for background
guides to include the foreign policies of Member States. Case Studies for Topics are still
welcomed for contextualization.
Citations
CAHSMUN does not require the use of footnotes in background guides. However, in order to
maintain academic integrity of each piece of writing, a bibliography is required for all sections
of the background guide.

As there are many different systems of citations, CAHSMUN will use a revised and simplified
version of APA.

Web Site
Last name, First name and initials. Title of Web site. Retrieved on (date) from (URL).

Book
Last name, First name and initials. (Year of publication). Title of book. City, State/Country:
Publisher.

Journal Articles
Last name, First name and initials. (Year of publication). Title of Article. Title of Journal,
Volume # (Issue #): first page of article-last page of article.

International Organizations Documents
Please cite documents from international organizations (such as the United Nations
Environment Programme) in accordance to the type of document it is.

A few tips:
A publication in PDF format will usually fit in the book format.
UN resolutions/reports should use the Web site format.

For UN resolutions and reports, please note that all the links to UN documents from your
browser window will not work as links. To provide the URLs for these documents, attach the
official UN document code after this URL: http://www.un.org/Docs/journal/asp/ws.asp?m=.
Plagiarism
CAHSMUN, as an educational program for staff and delegates, takes plagiarism very seriously.
Every staff member along the editing process must make sure that plagiarism does not occur in
any of our publications. Credit must be given to the authors of the sources you are using to
write your background guide.

As CAHSMUN does not require the use of footnotes, please make sure that you paraphrase
what you are borrowing from your sources; do not copy anything word for word. If you feel
strongly about directly quoting from a source, please include the author and the title of the
work in parantheses after the quote, and be sure to include the source in your bibliography.

[t]he spread of ideas and the relatively low costs of delivering basic services
explain widespread advances in health and education (United Nations
Development Programme, Human Development Report 2010).

The Board of Directors will exercise due diligence by checking background guides for plagiarism.
If a staff member is found to have plagiarized, he or she will be immediately dismissed and his
or her school will be contacted.