Merging is the work of turning several drafts into one. Every delegate in an alliance arrives with clauses of their own. Only one document goes to the chairs.
A merge is not an act of pasting. Two drafts joined end to end give you a resolution with repeated clauses, contradictory instructions and no order to it.
In MEDIMUN, the merged text is written in MediBook by the alliance, and everyone in the alliance can write it. See Resolutions in MediBook.
Put every draft in front of the group at once. Nobody's clauses are cut before they have been read out.
Sort the clauses by what they do, not by who wrote them. Group all the clauses about funding together, all the clauses about monitoring together, and so on. The shape of the resolution appears on its own once you have done this.
Remove duplicates. Where two clauses say the same thing, keep the clearer one. Where each has a part the other lacks, write a new clause that has both.
Resolve contradictions. Two clauses that instruct different bodies to do the same job cannot both stay. Decide which one the alliance means, and delete the other. A contradiction left in the text will be attacked in the first speech against.
Put the operative clauses in a sensible order. Definitions and bodies first, then what they do, then funding and reporting. A reader should be able to follow it without jumping backwards.
Write the preambulatory clauses last. They introduce the problem your operative clauses solve, so they are easier to write once you know what the solution is. See Preambulatory clauses.
Read the whole thing out loud, once, at the end. Reading aloud catches errors that silent reading misses.
A resolution has to stay inside what your committee is allowed to do.
A General Assembly committee that demands sanctions, or deploys troops, is using operative language it has no mandate for. A motion to refer the resolution to another forum is expected in that case. The committee then loses the time it spent on the resolution. See Motion to refer to another forum.
Almost every case of this can be fixed by rewording during lobbying. Change "Demands" to "Strongly urges the Security Council to demand". The idea survives and the clause becomes something your committee can actually pass. See Operative clauses.
A merge is the moment when you read clauses that other delegates wrote. Read them properly.
A copied clause is the alliance's problem, not only the problem of the delegate who brought it. If it reaches the floor it can take the whole resolution down with it. See Plagiarism.
In MEDIMUN, the chairs also read the drafts in circulation during lobbying and check for plagiarism early. Finding it yourself first is better.
A Security Council merges into one set of clauses, not into competing resolutions. Duplicates and directly contradictory clauses are removed at this stage.
The expert chair is heavily involved in the merge. Veto threats are also raised and resolved here, quietly, rather than in front of the house. See The veto and Clause by clause debate.
If two clauses say the same thing. Keep one. Ask the two delegates to write the replacement together, so neither of them loses their clause to the other.
If a delegate refuses to drop their clause. The alliance decides, not the individual. If the clause is genuinely important to their country's policy, they can leave the alliance and keep it. If it stays in against the group's judgement, everyone else is signing it too.
If the merged text has too many clauses. Cut it. Committee time is limited and the chair sets the debate time for each resolution. Combine the narrow clauses into sub-clauses under a broader one. See Resolution format.
If the merged resolution has no clear approach. That means the alliance was two alliances. Split it and produce two honest resolutions rather than one that argues with itself.
If you are unsure whether a clause is within your mandate. Ask a chair during lobbying. They would much rather answer it then.