Model UN Resolution Template

A Model UN resolution has an exact shape: a heading block, one long sentence, preambulatory clauses that justify, operative clauses that act. This template holds the shape and the planning logic, so your bloc's unmoderated caucus time goes into substance instead of formatting arguments.

The phrases that open each clause come from the clause phrase bank, and a complete annotated example is walked through line by line in How to Write a Model UN Resolution.

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Draft resolution planner

Plan here during caucus; then transcribe into the formatted document.

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Heading

Committee

Topic

Sponsors (the authors)

Signatories (want it debated; count your conference's minimum)

Preambulatory clauses3-6. Comma-ended. Cannot be amended, so keep them safe.

Precedent: the resolution, treaty, or Charter article you build on

The facts: scale of the problem, neutrally stated

The concern or conviction that justifies acting now

Operative clausesNumbered, semicolon-ended. The define → fund → implement → monitor ladder.

1. Define: the mechanism, program, or framework you create or endorse

2. Fund: where the money comes from, and who administers it

3. Implement: who acts, on what timeline, with what powers

4. Monitor: who reports back, to whom, how often

5. The clause you will trade away in merging (have one)

Format rules the dais checks

Standard US procedure; your conference’s background guide wins on details.

One sentence	The entire resolution is a single sentence beginning with the body’s name: "The General Assembly," followed by every clause.
Heading block	Committee, topic, sponsors, signatories. The dais assigns the document code (Draft Resolution 1.1) when it is introduced.
Preambulatory clauses	Unnumbered, keyword italicized or underlined, each ending with a comma.
Operative clauses	Numbered, keyword italicized or underlined, each ending with a semicolon; the final clause takes the resolution’s only period.
Sub-clauses	Lettered (a), (b), (c); one element each, such as a mandate, a funding source, or a reporting line.
Sponsors vs signatories	Sponsors wrote it and control friendly amendments. Signatories only want it debated; signing is not support. Conferences commonly require signatories equal to about a fifth of the committee.
No pre-writing	Resolutions are written at the conference, from your ideas and your bloc’s. Bringing a pre-written draft is against the rules essentially everywhere.

Lifecycle and amendments

Working paper to resolution, and how drafts change on the floor.

The three stages

Working paper	Informal idea document, any format, shared at the chair’s discretion. Never voted on, never amended.
Draft resolution	Properly formatted, approved by the dais, carrying the required sponsors and signatories, introduced on the floor. Amendable and debatable.
Resolution	Only after it passes the substantive vote. Calling a draft a "resolution" in committee is the classic tell of a first-timer.

Amendments

Friendly amendment	Approved by every sponsor; incorporated automatically without a vote.
Unfriendly amendment	Submitted with the required signatures, debated, and voted on during voting procedure before the draft as a whole. Simple majority at most conferences.
What can be amended	Operative clauses only. Preambulatory clauses cannot be amended, and amendments to amendments are out of order.

Variant worth knowing: a few conferences (MUNUC among them) run sponsorless procedure where drafts belong to the whole committee and every amendment is voted. Your background guide will say so if yours does.

How to use this sheet

1
Plan the operatives on the sheet before drafting prose
Resolution quality is decided by the action logic: define the mechanism, fund it, implement it, monitor it. If the planner rows are solid, the writing is transcription.
2
Give every operative an actor and a funder
The two questions any hostile delegate will ask are "who does this?" and "who pays for it?" A clause that answers both in its sub-clauses survives merging; a vague clause gets rewritten by someone else’s bloc.
3
Keep preambs few and load-bearing
Three to six preambulatory clauses that cite real precedent beat ten that restate the topic. Remember they cannot be amended, so nothing controversial belongs there.
4
Check the format against the rules table before submitting to the dais
Dais teams bounce drafts for punctuation and heading errors, and every bounce costs your bloc floor time. The table on this sheet is the checklist they are grading against.

Before the conference, the position paper template is where these solutions first take shape; in the room, the points and motions cheat sheet covers introducing and amending the draft.