On to How to Work up Individual Aspects of the Poster

Dear Reader,

First of all congratulations on having information to present to your scientific community! Poster presentations are an event for scientist as it is a chance to garnish feedback on your hard work from your colleagues and to gain inspiration from their hard work as well. The sharing of your research is a crucial part of building upon foundational knowledge to move mankind forward!

As you undertake making a poster, try to pull from other experiences you may have had in formally presenting information in a visually appealing manner. Perhaps you have done science fairs? If this is your first poster, make sure to remember that the information is the most important, but it needs to be made accessible by your presentation. The question you pursue for your poster should pull from the information and resources that you have had presented to you through COSMOS. With more than two weeks experience with your cluster’s advanced course material, presenting a subtopic along those lines will likely yield a very strong poster, which is well researched, engaging, and one where you can easily answer questions about the material. You are the expert of your poster topic!

On to how to work up individual aspects of the poster:

Title

Your title is the single most important phrase or sentence on your poster. It will be what people read to decide if they want to read the abstract or take the time to look over your poster further. Basically it should have the structure of: “What is the main idea, and what is different or special that this poster will explain”. Look over research papers for possible examples. Usually titles are less than 180 characters.

Abstract

Your abstract is the most important paragraph (and it should be only one) on your poster. It should include no quotes, no references, no tables, and no figures. It should act almost like a long title, explaining the content and focus of the poster. It should start by introducing the subject of the poster, then move quickly to explaining the main point(s) of the poster, and then finish with a strong conclusion(s). The abstract should also have the main data and relevant information from the poster included briefly. It should finish with the main take away idea that you want the reader to have. Remember this is science! We don’t need to leave the reader in suspense, as scientists are not trying to hide the value to the reader. They want the reader to understand the topic to the fullest possible depths. The average length is 200 to 500 words.

Introduction

The introduction should include a brief overview of the research topic and narrow the focus onto the main ideas that you would like the reader to know before continuing on. This section can include figures, data, equations, and anything you might need to explain the background needed for the next section. Be sure to cite references for figures used. This section should be as brief as possible to guide the reader to your data.

Experimental, Discussion, Results, Analysis

You may include some or all of the above as sections in your poster. There are no hard and fast rules. What will work best for your topic and what you feel represents the information best is what you should do. There are times when formats are more strongly enforced but this is rare in science. The main idea is to explain the required points quickly and efficiently.

Figures & Tables

Figures, tables, pictures, animations, data of any kind… should be the core of your poster. This information is the whole reason your poster should even be made. The included information should support the ideas you are trying to get across and the figures should be interlaced within sections of your poster. Each and every picture, image, and table of data should have underneath or to the side of it some explanation of what information is presented. Tell the reader what they should observe in the image in plain words.

Include as many as you need, approximately 20-60 % of your poster might be data and figure captions.

Conclusion

The concluding paragraph or paragraphs should be written similarly to the abstract. But this time remind the reader what has been presented already. You can assume the reader has read through your full poster. They often haven’t, but if they are confused it is their job to read through the information provided. It should be written similar to the abstract in that it does not have data tables, quotes, or figures within it. It would be about the same length as the abstract as well.

Acknowledgements & Thanks

You likely won’t need this section as giving thanks for access to equipment, information, or special assistance is what it is most used for. Also, this is where scientist thank their funding agencies. You may want to consider thanking those RA’s or professors that helped you most with the specific content of your poster.

Suggestions & Hints:

Don’t use a size smaller than 18 font on the poster (smallest fonts with figure captions)

Use a SINGLE consistent font for the text

Use a larger font to direct the reader to things like the abstract, introduction, and so on.

Label your sections, as it isn’t a novel, make it easy for the reader to skip around and read your poster out of order.

Make your font a very distinct color from the background it is on (Do NOT use yellow text on blue backgrounds… Make sure it can be easily read!)

Do not use saturated colors for the font aka no bright red or blue or green! They become almost impossible to read.