how to write research poster

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The key parts of a scientific poster

Why make a scientific poster?

Type of poster formats, sections of a scientific poster, before you start: tips for making a scientific poster, the 6 technical elements of a scientific poster, 3. typography, 5. images and illustrations, how to seek feedback on your poster, how to present your poster, tips for the day of your poster presentation, in conclusion, other sources to help you with your scientific poster presentation, frequently asked questions about scientific posters, related articles.

A poster presentation provides the opportunity to show off your research to a broad audience and connect with other researchers in your field.

For junior researchers, presenting a poster is often the first type of scientific presentation they give in their careers.

The discussions you have with other researchers during your poster presentation may inspire new research ideas, or even lead to new collaborations.

Consequently, a poster presentation can be just as professionally enriching as giving an oral presentation , if you prepare for it properly.

In this guide post, you will learn:

• The goal of a scientific poster presentation
• The 6 key elements of a scientific poster
• How to make a scientific poster
• How to prepare for a scientific poster presentation
• ‘What to do on the day of the poster session.

Our advice comes from our previous experiences as scientists presenting posters at conferences.

Posters can be a powerful way for showcasing your data in scientific meetings. You can get helpful feedback from other researchers as well as expand your professional network and attract fruitful interactions with peers.

Scientific poster sessions tend to be more relaxed than oral presentation sessions, as they provide the opportunity to meet with peers in a less formal setting and to have energizing conversations about your research with a wide cross-section of researchers.

• Physical posters: A poster that is located in an exhibit hall and pinned to a poster board. Physical posters are beneficial since they may be visually available for the duration of a meeting, unlike oral presentations.
• E-posters: A poster that is shown on a screen rather than printed and pinned on a poster board. E-posters can have static or dynamic content. Static e-posters are slideshow presentations consisting of one or more slides, whereas dynamic e-posters include videos or animations.

Some events allow for a combination of both formats.

The sections included in a scientific poster tend to follow the format of a scientific paper , although other designs are possible. For example, the concept of a #betterposter was invented by PhD student Mike Morrison to address the issue of poorly designed scientific posters. It puts the take-home message at the center of the poster and includes a QR code on the poster to learn about further details of the project.

• Anticipate who your audience during the poster session will be—this will depend on the type of meeting. For example, presenting during a poster session at a large conference may attract a broad audience of generalists and specialists at a variety of career stages. You would like for your poster to appeal to all of these groups. You can achieve this by making the main message accessible through eye-catching figures, concise text, and an interesting title.
• Your goal in a poster session is to get your research noticed and to have interesting conversations with attendees. Your poster is a visual aid for the talks you will give, so having a well-organized, clear, and informative poster will help achieve your aim.
• Plan the narrative of your poster. Start by deciding the key take-home message of your presentation, and create a storyboard prioritizing the key findings that indicate the main message. Your storyboard can be a simple sketch of the poster layout, or you can use digital tools to make it. Present your results in a logical order, with the most important result in the center of the poster.
• Give yourself enough time to create a draft of your poster, and to get feedback on it. Since waiting to receive feedback, revising your poster, and sending the final version to the printers may take a few days, it is sensible to give yourself at least 1-2 weeks to make your poster.
• Check if the meeting has specific poster formatting requirements, and if your institution has a poster template with logos and color schemes that you can use. Poster templates can also be found online and can be adapted for use.
• Know where you will get your poster printed, and how long it typically takes to receive the printed poster.
• Ensure you write a specific and informative poster abstract, because specialists in your field may decide to visit your poster based on its quality. This is especially true in large meetings where viewers will choose what posters to visit before the poster session begins because it isn’t possible to read every poster.

➡️ Learn more about how to write an abstract

The technical elements of a scientific poster are:

• Images and Illustrations

Don’t be tempted to cram your entire paper into your poster—details that you omit can be brought up during conversations with viewers. Only include information that is useful for supporting your take-home message. Place your core message in the center of your poster, using either text or visual elements. Avoid jargon, and use concise text elements (no more than 10 lines and 50 words long). Present your data in graphs rather than in tabular form, as it can be difficult for visitors to extract the most important information from tables. Use bullet points and numbered lists to make text content easy to read. Your poster shouldn’t have more than 800 words.

Poster sections should have a logical visual flow, ideally in a longitudinal fashion. For example, in an article on poster presentations published in Nature , scientific illustrator Jamie Simon recommends using the law of thirds to display your research—a 3-column layout with 3 blocks per column. Headings, columns, graphs, and diagrams should be aligned and distributed with enough spacing and balance. The text should be left-aligned while maintaining an appropriate amount of "white space' i.e., areas devoid of any design elements.

To ensure the title is visible from 5 meters away, use a sans serif 85pt font. The body text should use a minimum of 24pt serif font so that it can be read from a one-meter distance. Section headings and subheadings should be in bold. Avoid underlining text and using all capitals in words; instead, a mixture of boldface and italics should be used for emphasis. Use adequate line spacing and one-inch margins to give a clean, uncluttered look.

Appropriate use of color can help readers make comparisons and contrasts in your figures. Account for the needs of color-blind viewers by not using red and green together, and using symbols and dashed lines in your figures. Use a white background for your poster, and black text.

Include no more than 4 figures, with a prominent centerpiece figure in the middle of the poster of your study system or main finding. Dimensions for illustrations, diagrams, and figures should be consistent. When inserting charts, avoid gray backgrounds and grid lines to prevent ink consumption and an unaesthetic look. Graphics used must have proper labels, legible axes, and be adequately sized. Images with a 200 dpi or higher resolution are preferred. If you obtain an image from the internet, make sure it has a high enough resolution and is available in the public domain.

Tools for poster design include Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Publisher, Adobe Illustrator, In Design, Scribus, Canva, Impress, Google Slides, and LaTeX. When starting with the design, the page size should be identical to the final print size. Stick to one design tool to avoid formatting errors.

Have at least one proofreading and feedback round before you print your final poster by following these steps:

• Share your poster draft with your advisor, peers, and ideally, at least one person outside of your field to get feedback.
• Allow time to revise your poster and implement the comments you’ve received.
• Before printing, proofread your final draft. You can use a spelling and grammar-checking tool, or print out a small version of the poster to help locate typos and redundant text.

Before giving a poster presentation, you need to be ready to discuss your research.

• For large meetings where viewers of your poster have a range of specialties, prepare 2-3 levels for your speech, starting with a one-minute talk consisting of key background information and take-home messages. Prepare separate short talks for casual viewers with varying levels of interest in your topic, ranging from "very little" to "some".
• Prepare a 3-5 minute presentation explaining the methods and results for those in your audience with an advanced background.
• Anticipate possible questions that could arise during your presentation and prepare answers for them.
• Practice your speech. You can ask friends, family, or fellow lab members to listen to your practice sessions and provide feedback.

Here we provide a checklist for your presentation day:

• Arrive early—often exhibition halls are large and it can take some time to find the allocated spot for your poster. Bring tape and extra pins to put up your poster properly.
• Wear professional attire and comfortable shoes.
• Be enthusiastic. Start the conversation by introducing yourself and requesting the attendee’s name and field of interest, and offering to explain your poster briefly. Maintain eye contact with attendees visiting your poster while pointing to relevant figures and charts.
• Ask visitors what they know about your topic so that you can tailor your presentation accordingly.
• Some attendees prefer to read through your poster first and then ask you questions. You can still offer to give a brief explanation of your poster and then follow up by answering their questions.
• When you meet with visitors to your poster, you are having a conversation, so you can also ask them questions. If you are not sure they understand what you are saying, ask if your explanation makes sense to them, and clarify points where needed.
• Be professional. Stand at your poster for the duration of the session, and prioritize being available to meet with visitors to your poster over socializing with friends or lab mates. Pay due attention to all visitors at once by acknowledging visitors waiting to speak with you.

A scientific poster is an excellent method to present your work and network with peers. Preparation is essential before your poster session, which includes planning your layout, drafting your poster, practicing your speech, and preparing answers to anticipated questions. The effort invested in preparing your poster will be returned by stimulating conversations during the poster session and greater awareness of your work in your scientific community.

➡️ How to prepare a scientific poster

➡️ Conference presentations: Lead the poster parade

➡️ Designing conference posters

A scientific poster can be used to network with colleagues, get feedback on your research and get recognition as a researcher.

A scientific poster should include a main heading, introduction, methods, results, conclusion, and references.

An e-poster is a poster fashioned as a slideshow presentation that plays on a digital screen, with each slide carrying a sliver of information.

A handful of tools can be used to design a poster including Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Publisher, Illustrator, In Design, Photoshop, Impress, and LaTeX.

Start the conversation by introducing yourself and requesting the attendees' names, affiliations, and fields of interest, and offering to explain your poster briefly. Alternatively, you can give attendees ample time to read through your poster first and then offer to explain your poster in 10 seconds followed by questions and answers.

How To Make an Academic Poster: Eye-Catching Poster Guide

Explore the strategies on how to make academic poster that engage and educate with precision with our ultimate guide.

Are you a scientist or researcher looking to create an eye-catching academic poster? Look no further! In this ultimate guide, we will walk you through the step-by-step process of making an engaging and visually striking academic poster. Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned professional, we’ve got you covered. We understand the challenge researchers face in visualizing complex scientific data without specialized design skills, which is why we’ve developed Mind the Graph. Our online platform offers a user-friendly experience, allowing you to easily create visually appealing figures, infographics, graphical abstracts, presentations, and of course, posters. With over 75,000 scientifically accurate illustrations in 80+ fields, Mind the Graph is the best free infographic maker for science. Get ready to take your scientific communication to the next level!

Understanding Academic Posters

Importance of academic posters.

Academic posters are a critical medium for communicating complex scientific data in a visually digestible format. They serve a pivotal role at scientific conferences, symposiums, and seminars, offering researchers a platform to showcase their work, share findings, and promote dialogue within the scientific community. An effective academic poster can engage the audience, encourage questions, and spark meaningful conversations, thereby leading to new collaborations and insights. However, making an academic poster that stands out is not an easy task. It requires the ability to simplify intricate data into a concise, visually appealing, and comprehensible format that can quickly grab the attention of passersby. This is where tools like Mind the Graph come into play, providing a user-friendly platform to create striking academic posters and enhance scientific communication.

Design Elements of Effective Posters

An effective academic poster is not just about presenting data; it also requires thoughtful design elements to engage the audience and communicate the research effectively. Here are some critical design elements to consider:

• Clarity : Clarity is key. The poster should present the research in a concise, straightforward manner, avoiding unnecessary jargon.
• Visual appeal : Use graphics and visuals to present complex data, making it easier for the audience to understand.
• Organization : The layout should guide the viewer’s eye from the title, introduction, methods, results, and finally the conclusion, in a logical order.
• Typography : Choose fonts that are easy to read from a distance. Make sure there’s a contrast between the text and the background color.
• Color Scheme : Choose a color scheme that’s pleasing to the eye and aligns with the research theme.
• Simplicity : Don’t overcrowd the poster with too much information. Less is more.

Remember, the primary goal of an academic poster is to attract attention, present information clearly, and stimulate discussion. Therefore, a well-designed poster can significantly enhance your academic communication and showcase your research effectively.

Steps to Create an Eye-Catching Academic Poster

Selecting key content for your poster.

The first step in creating an effective academic poster is to select the key content that will be displayed. You need to distill your research into a concise and clear message that can be conveyed visually. To do this, consider the following:

• Focus on the main findings : Highlight your most important findings or conclusions. These should take center stage in your poster.
• Simplify your methods : While it’s important to mention the methods used in your research, they should be simplified to a high-level overview. Save the detailed explanations for conversations with viewers.
• Use visuals : Whenever possible, use graphs, charts, or images to represent your data. Visuals can convey information more quickly and memorably than text alone.
• Include contact information : Ensure viewers can follow up on your research by including your contact information and any relevant social media or website links.

Remember, the goal is to engage viewers in a conversation about your work, so it’s important to leave some details for in-person discussions. Selecting key content carefully will ensure that your academic poster is effective and engaging.

Structuring Your Poster for Visual Flow

Once you’ve selected the key content for your academic poster, the next step is to structure it for a seamless visual flow. The aim is to guide your viewer’s eye through your poster naturally and logically. Here’s how you can achieve this:

• Title : Place the title at the top center of your poster. It should be the largest text on the poster to draw attention.
• Introduction : Below the title, provide a brief introduction to your research. This should give the viewer a quick understanding of the context and purpose of your study.
• Methods and Results : Following the introduction, present your methods and results. Use visuals like charts, graphs, or images wherever possible.
• Conclusion : Towards the end of the poster, summarize your findings and their implications. This should tie back to the introduction and provide a clear takeaway for the viewer.
• Contact Information : Finally, include your contact details at the bottom of the poster for viewers who want to discuss your research further or follow up later.

Remember to use ample whitespace to avoid clutter and ensure each section of content stands out. The layout should guide the viewer’s eye smoothly from the title to the conclusion, facilitating an easy understanding of your research.

Utilizing Mind the Graph Tools

Overview of mind the graph features.

Mind the Graph is an online platform designed to help you create visually appealing and scientifically accurate infographics for your research. Here are some of the key features that make Mind the Graph an invaluable tool for researchers:

• Extensive Illustration Library : Mind the Graph boasts over 40,000 scientifically accurate illustrations across 80+ fields of study. This vast library allows you to visually represent a wide range of scientific concepts, enhancing your ability to communicate complex ideas effectively.
• User-Friendly Design Interface : The platform’s design interface is intuitive and easy to navigate, making it accessible to beginners and professionals alike. You can drag and drop illustrations, resize elements, change colors, and customize your layout with ease.
• Customizable Templates : Mind the Graph offers a variety of customizable templates for different types of scientific communication materials, including posters. These templates provide a great starting point for your design.
• Downloadable Outputs : Once your design is complete, you can download your infographic in high-resolution formats suitable for printing or online sharing.

By leveraging these features, you can significantly enhance the visual appeal and effectiveness of your academic poster.

Creating Your Poster on Mind the Graph

Creating an academic poster on Mind the Graph is a straightforward process, thanks to its user-friendly interface:

• Select a Template : Start by choosing a template that suits your research topic and the information you want to present. Each template provides a well-structured starting point that you can customize to fit your needs.
• Add Your Content : Next, add your research content to the template. You can input text, import images, and use the platform’s extensive library of scientific illustrations to visually represent your data and findings.
• Customize Design Elements : Customize the poster’s design elements to suit your style and preference. Change the colors, adjust the fonts, resize images, and arrange elements to create an effective visual flow.
• Review and Refine : Once you’ve added all your content, review the design for clarity, visual appeal, and logical flow. Make necessary adjustments to ensure your poster communicates your research effectively.
• Download and Share : Finally, download the finished poster in a high-resolution format suitable for printing or digital sharing.

With Mind the Graph, you can create an eye-catching academic poster that effectively communicates your research and captures your audience’s attention.

Tips for Effective Poster Presentation

Engaging your audience.

Presenting your academic poster offers a unique opportunity to engage your audience directly and stimulate meaningful discussions about your research. Here are some tips to effectively engage your audience:

• Prepare a Short Pitch : Have a concise, engaging summary of your research ready to deliver when someone approaches your poster. This should highlight the key findings and the significance of your work.
• Be Approachable : Stand near your poster and be open to questions and discussions. A warm, welcoming demeanor can encourage more people to stop by and engage with your work.
• Ask Questions : Encourage interaction by asking viewers specific questions related to your research. This not only fosters engagement but can also provide valuable insights.
• Use Non-Technical Language : When discussing your research, avoid using jargon. Instead, explain your work in a way that’s accessible to people outside your field.
• Provide Takeaways : Have key takeaways ready for your audience. These could be insightful observations, implications of your research, or potential future work.

Remember, your goal is to engage viewers in a meaningful conversation about your work, and these tips can help make your poster presentation more interactive and effective.

Do’s and Don’ts of Poster Presentation

While presenting your academic poster, it’s essential to follow some do’s and don’ts to ensure an effective presentation. Here are some tips:

Do’s :

• Practice your pitch : Practice a summary of your research that you can deliver in under a minute. This can help you confidently explain your work to anyone who stops by your poster.
• Stand by your poster : Be present at your poster as much as possible during the poster session. This allows you to engage with viewers and answer any questions they may have.
• Use simple language : Explain your research in simple, accessible language. Try to avoid jargon or overly complex explanations.

Don’ts :

• Don’t overcrowd your poster : While it’s important to present your research comprehensively, avoid overcrowding your poster with too much information. Remember, less is more.
• Don’t be passive : Don’t just stand aside and let viewers read your poster. Engage them in conversation and explain your research.
• Don’t forget to provide context : Ensure you provide enough context for your research so viewers can understand its relevance and significance.

By following these do’s and don’ts, you can ensure a successful and effective poster presentation.

Elevate your research with captivating visuals using Mind the Graph

Mind the Graph platform offers customizable scientific illustrations, templates, and design tools, empowering scientists to create engaging figures that effectively convey their findings. With features to integrate data into graphs and customize colors, fonts, and styles, researchers can personalize their visuals to reflect their unique research style, making their work more accessible and memorable to a wider audience.

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Undergraduate Research Center

An academic poster is one of many ways to communicate your research or scholarship.  Researchers use books, talks, teaching, journal articles, press releases, popular media to communicate their findings.   An academic poster, when done effectively, is a way to showcase your work at conferences and meetings in a concise and aesthetically pleasing format.  It is a summary of your research project.

At a poster session, your ultimate goal is to share the story of your work with as many people as possible.  This will give you the opportunity to network with people that may be future advisers, employers, or collaborators and you can receive important feedback on your work.  To bring people in, your poster should communicate the topic quickly and include visual elements such as pictures, graphs, maps and diagrams as well as text.  At its core, an effective poster is centered on a concise and powerful story.  With the help of visuals, the presenter can share the story of the work in just five minutes.  

Getting started with the poster:

• Are there any guidelines from the event or conference?  Poster size and orientation?  Required elements? (Be sure to size your poster or use a correctly sized template before you start designing! 
• Posters can do "all the talking" or "some of the talking" or "highlights" the talking depending on whether the poster is meant to stand alone or be presented along side a presenter or team of presenters?  Take this into consideration when deciding how much content you want to place on the poster.   Word amount may also vary by field. 
• What software will you use?  PowerPoint is commonly used, but other illustration software applications can work well, too.
• What are the authors and in what order?  Consult with your faculty research adviser on who should be included.
• Sketch out a layout.  Make some rough drafts. Prioritize information giving the most important information a larger amount of space on the poster.  Create an organized and logical pathway for reading the poster. 
• Introduction/Background (do not put abstract on your poster unless required) - Provides context, clearly states your hypothesis, why are you asking the research question/ 
• Materials and methods - research strategy, how you carried it out
• Results - what did you find out? Briefly discuss data 
• Conclusions/Discussion/Next Steps - Focus on main takeaway points, what is the significance, future research
• Publications cited - only most relevant.
• Acknowledgements -  thank individuals who contributed to your project and always acknowledge funding sources
• Select visuals:  graphs, charts, photos, graphic models.  Make sure visuals are meaningful.  Use the BEST ones not all the ones! 

View the gallery of sample posters to start getting ideas and check out the resources listed below:

• More on making an effective poster
• General poster design principles

  You will find many templates for posters on line, but remember that a template is just a guideline and you will need to resize sections and enter headings, photos and graphic components to create a poster that will be a visually engaging communication of your research.  Ask your research mentor(s) for recommendations.

Before It's Printed

Proofread!  Proofread!  Proofread!   Double check your captions and labels and numbers on your figures/graphs/charts.  Read the content out loud.  Have someone else proofread it.  

Presenting your poster (the "pitch")  

Your  poster talk summarizes your research project in a clear, concise and captivating way. Consider your audience.  Some conferences have general audiences and some will be conferences for specific fields and have attendees very knowledgeable in your field.  The UC Davis Undergraduate Research, Scholarship and Creative activities conference attendees will include faculty, students, staff, friends, family, community college attendees and the general public.  So you may need to modulate your presentation depending on the type of attendee.  You can consider using questions such as "Are you familiar with..." or "Do you have a background in...".  This can help you know to include more background and use more general terms for those unacquainted with your field or if you can include more field specific terms.  

You will be standing to the side of your poster (not in front of it).  Point to relevant parts of the poster so people can follow as you talk through it. Remember to also keep looking back to your audience to keep them engaged and feeling involved.  Stay enthusiastic - your research is exciting! 

A "tour" of your poster should be about 5 minutes at a comfortable, conversational pace.  Poster presentations are often interactive. 

Before you present

Practice! Practice! Practice!    Practice  with your mentors, colleagues, friends, room mates, etc.  Ask them for feedback and what kind of questions they have so you can prepare for likely questions.  

Creating a Poster

What exactly is a poster presentation.

A poster presentation combines text and graphics to present your project in a way that is visually interesting and accessible. It allows you to display your work to a large group of other scholars and to talk to and receive feedback from interested viewers.

Poster sessions have been very common in the sciences for some time, and they have recently become more popular as forums for the presentation of research in other disciplines like the social sciences, service learning, the humanities, and the arts.

Poster presentation formats differ from discipline to discipline, but in every case, a poster should clearly articulate what you did, how you did it, why you did it, and what it contributes to your field and the larger field of human knowledge.

What goals should I keep in mind as I construct my poster?

• Clarity of content. You will need to decide on a small number of key points that you want your viewers to take away from your presentation, and you will need to articulate those ideas clearly and concisely.
• Visual interest and accessibility. You want viewers to notice and take interest in your poster so that they will pause to learn more about your project, and you will need the poster’s design to present your research in a way that is easy for those viewers to make sense of it.

Who will be viewing my poster?

The answer to this question depends upon the context in which you will be presenting your poster. If you are presenting at a conference in your field, your audience will likely contain mostly people who will be familiar with the basic concepts you’re working with, field-specific terminology, and the main debates facing your field and informing your research. This type of audience will probably most interested in clear, specific accounts of the what and the how of your project.

If you are presenting in a setting where some audience members may not be as familiar with your area of study, you will need to explain more about the specific debates that are current in your field and to define any technical terms you use. This audience will be less interested in the specific details and more interested in the what and why of your project—that is, your broader motivations for the project and its impact on their own lives.

How do I narrow my project and choose what to put on my poster?

Probably less than you would like! One of the biggest pitfalls of poster presentations is filling your poster with so much text that it overwhelms your viewers and makes it difficult for them to tell which points are the most important. Viewers should be able to skim the poster from several feet away and easily make out the most significant points.

The point of a poster is not to list every detail of your project. Rather, it should explain the value of your research project. To do this effectively, you will need to determine your take-home message. What is the single most important thing you want your audience to understand, believe, accept, or do after they see your poster?

Once you have an idea about what that take-home message is, support it by adding some details about what you did as part of your research, how you did it, why you did it, and what it contributes to your field and the larger field of human knowledge.

What kind of information should I include about what I did?

This is the raw material of your research: your research questions, a succinct statement of your project’s main argument (what you are trying to prove), and the evidence that supports that argument. In the sciences, the what of a project is often divided into its hypothesis and its data or results. In other disciplines, the what is made up of a claim or thesis statement and the evidence used to back it up.

Remember that your viewers won’t be able to process too much detailed evidence; it’s your job to narrow down this evidence so that you’re providing the big picture. Choose a few key pieces of evidence that most clearly illustrate your take-home message. Often a chart, graph, table, photo, or other figure can help you distill this information and communicate it quickly and easily.

What kind of information should I include about how I did it?

Include information about the process you followed as you conducted your project. Viewers will not have time to wade through too many technical details, so only your general approach is needed. Interested viewers can ask you for details.

What kind of information should I include about why I did it?

Give your audience an idea about your motivation for this project. What real-world problems or questions prompted you to undertake this project? What field-specific issues or debates influenced your thinking? What information is essential for your audience to be able to understand your project and its significance? In some disciplines, this information appears in the background or rationale section of a paper.

What kind of information should I include about its contribution ?

Help your audience to see what your project means for you and for them. How do your findings impact scholars in your field and members of the broader intellectual community? In the sciences, this information appears in the discussion section of a paper.

How will the wording of my ideas on my poster be different from my research paper?

In general, you will need to simplify your wording. Long, complex sentences are difficult for viewers to absorb and may cause them to move on to the next poster. Poster verbiage must be concise, precise, and straightforward. And it must avoid jargon. Here is an example:

Wording in a paper: This project sought to establish the ideal specifications for clinically useful wheelchair pressure mapping systems, and to use these specifications to influence the design of an innovative wheelchair pressure mapping system.

Wording on a poster:

Aims of study

• Define the ideal wheelchair pressure mapping system
• Design a new system to meet these specifications

Once I have decided what to include, how do I actually design my poster?

The effectiveness of your poster depends on how quickly and easily your audience can read and interpret it, so it’s best to make your poster visually striking. You only have a few seconds to grab attention as people wander past your poster; make the most of those seconds!

How are posters usually laid out?

In general, people expect information to flow left-to-right and top-to-bottom. Viewers are best able to absorb information from a poster with several columns that progress from left to right.

Even within these columns, however, there are certain places where viewers’ eyes naturally fall first and where they expect to find information.

Imagine your poster with an upside-down triangle centered from the top to the bottom. It is in this general area that people tend to look first and is often used for the title, results, and conclusions. Secondary and supporting information tend to fall to the sides, with the lower right having the more minor information such as acknowledgements (including funding), and personal contact information.

• Main Focus Area Location of research fundamentals: Title, Authors, Institution, Abstract, Results, Conclusion
• Secondary Emphasis Location of important info: Intro, Results or Findings, Summary
• Supporting Area Location of supporting info: Methods, Discussion
• Final Info Area Location of supplemental info: References, Acknowledgments

How much space should I devote to each section?

This will depend on the specifics of your project. In general, remember that how much space you devote to each idea suggests how important that section is. Make sure that you allot the most space to your most important points.

How much white space should I leave on my poster?

White space is helpful to your viewers; it delineates different sections, leads the eye from one point to the next, and keeps the poster from being visually overwhelming. In general, leave 10—30% of your poster as white space.

Should I use graphics?

Absolutely! Visual aids are one of the most effective ways to make your poster visually striking, and they are often a great way to communicate complex information straightforwardly and succinctly. If your project deals with lots of empirical data, your best bet will be a chart, graph, or table summarizing that data and illustrating how that data confirms your hypothesis.

If you don’t have empirical data, you may be able to incorporate photographs, illustrations, annotations, or other items that will pique your viewers’ interest, communicate your motivation, demonstrate why your project is particularly interesting or unique.

Don’t incorporate visual aids just for the sake of having a pretty picture on your poster. The visual aids should contribute to your overall message and convey some piece of information that your viewers wouldn’t otherwise get just from reading your poster’s text.

How can I make my poster easy to read?

There are a number of tricks you can use to aid readability and emphasize crucial ideas. In general:

• Use a large font. Don’t make the text smaller in order to fit more onto the poster. Make sure that 95% of the text on your poster can be read from 4 feet away. If viewers can’t make out the text from a distance, they’re likely to walk away.
• Choose a sans-serif font like Helvetica or Verdana, not a serif font, like Times New Roman. Sans-serif fonts are easier to read because they don’t have extraneous hooks on every letter. Here is an example of a sans-serif and a serif font:
• Once you have chosen a font, be consistent in its usage. Use just one font.
• Don’t single-space your text. Use 1.5- or double-spacing to make the text easier to read.

For main points:

• Use bold, italicized, or colored fonts, or enclose text in boxes. Save this kind of emphasis for only a few key words, phrases, or sentences. Too much emphasized text makes it harder, not easier, to locate important points.
• AVOID USING ALL CAPITAL LETTERS, WHICH CAN BE HARD TO READ.
• Make your main points easy to find by setting them off with bullets or numbers.

What is my role as the presenter of my poster?

When you are standing in front of your poster, you—and what you choose to say—are as important as the actual poster. Be ready to talk about your project, answer viewers’ questions, provide additional details about your project, and so on.

How should I prepare for my presentation?

Once your poster is finished, you should re-familiarize yourself with the larger project you’re presenting. Remind yourself about those details you ended up having to leave out of the poster, so that you will be able to bring them up in discussions with viewers. Then, practice, practice, practice!

Show your poster to advisors, professors, friends, and classmates before the day of the symposium to get a feel for how viewers might respond. Prepare a four- to five-minute overview of the project, where you walk these pre-viewers through the poster, drawing their attention to the most critical points and filling in interesting details as needed. Make note of the kinds of questions these pre-viewers have, and be ready to answer those questions. You might even consider making a supplemental handout that provides additional information or answers predictable questions.

How long should I let audience members look at the poster before engaging them in discussion?

Don’t feel as if you have to start talking to viewers the minute they stop in front of your poster. Give them a few moments to read and process the information. Once viewers have had time to acquaint themselves with your project, offer to guide them through the poster. Say something like “Hello. Thanks for stopping to view my poster. Would you like a guided tour of my project?” This kind of greeting often works better than simply asking “Do you have any questions?” because after only a few moments, viewers might not have had time to come up with questions, even though they are interested in hearing more about your project.

Should I read from my poster?

No! Make sure you are familiar enough with your poster that you can talk about it without looking at it. Use the poster as a visual aid, pointing to it when you need to draw viewers’ attention to a chart, photograph, or particularly interesting point.

Sample Posters

Click on the links below to open a PDF of each sample poster.

“Quantitative Analysis of Artifacts in Volumetric DSA: The Relative Contributions of Beam Hardening and Scatter to Vessel Dropout Behind Highly Attenuating Structures”  James R. Hermus, Timothy P. Szczykutowicz, Charles M. Strother, and Charles Mistretta

Departments of Medical Physics, Biomedical Engineering, and Radiology: University of Wisconsin-Madison

“Self-Care Interventions for the Management of Mouth Sores in Hematology Patients Receiving Chemotherapy” Stephanie L. Dinse and Catherine Cherwin

School of Nursing: University of Wisconsin-Madison

“Enhancing the Fluorescence of Wisconsin Infrared Phytofluor: Wi-Phy for Potential Use in Infrared Imaging”  Jerad J. Simmons and Katrina T. Forest

Department of Bacteriology: University of Wisconsin-Madison

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Creating a Research Poster

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Preparing your poster

There are three components to your poster session:

• Your poster

All three components should complement one another, not repeat each other.

Poster: Your poster should be an outline of your research with interesting commentary about what you learned along the way.

You: You should prepare a 10-30 second elevator pitch and a 1-2 minute lightning talk about your research. This should be a unique experience or insight you had about your research that adds depth of understanding to what the attendee can read on your poster.

Handout: Best practices for handouts - Your handout should be double-sided. The first side of the paper should include a picture of your poster (this can be in black and white or color). The second side of the handout should include your literature review, cited references, further information about your topic and your contact information.

Creating your poster by answering 3 questions:

• What is the most important and/or interesting finding from my research project?
• How can I visually share my research with conference attendees? Should I use charts, graphs, images, or a wordcloud?
• What kind of information do I need to share during my lightning talk that will complement my poster?
• *Title (at least 72 pt font).
• Research question or hypothesis (all text should be at least 24 pt font).
• Methodology. What is the research process that you used? Explain how you did your research.
• Your interview questions.
• Observations. What did you see? Why is this important?
• *Findings. What did you learn? Summarize your conclusions.
• Pull out themes in the literature and list in bullet points.
• Consider a brief narrative of what you learned - what was the most interesting/surprising part of your project?
• Interesting quotes from your research.
• Turn your data into charts or tables.
• Use images (visit the "Images" tab in the guide for more information). Take your own or legally use others.
• Recommendations and/or next steps for future research.
• You can include your list of citations on your poster or in your handout.
• *Make sure your name, and Cal Poly Humboldt University is on your poster.

*Required. Everything else is optional - you decide what is important to put on your poster. These are just suggestions. Use the tabs in this guide for more tips on how to create your poster. 

Poster Sizes

You can create your poster from scratch by using PowerPoint or a similar design program.

Resize the slide to fit your needs before you begin adding any content. Standard poster sizes range from 40" by 30" and 48" by 36" but you should check with the conference organizers. If you don't resize your design at the beginning, when it is printed the image quality will be poor and pixelated if it is sized up to poster dimensions. 

The standard poster sizes for ideaFest are 36" x 48" and 24" by 36".

To resize in PowerPoint, go to "File" then "Page Setup..." and enter your dimensions in the boxes for "width" and "height". Make sure to select "OK" to save your changes.

To resize in Google Slides, go to "File" then "Page setup" and select the "Custom" option in the drop down menu.  Enter the dimensions for your poster size and then select "Apply" to save your changes.

Step Four: Final checklist

Final checklist for submitting your poster for printing:.

• Proofread your poster for spelling and grammar mistakes. Ask a peer to read your poster, they will catch the mistakes that you miss. Print your poster on an 8 1/2" by 11" sheet of paper - it is easier to read for mistakes and to judge your design. 
• Make sure you followed Step 3 and resized your PPT slide correctly.
• Does your poster have flow? Did you "chunk" information into easily read pieces of information?
• Do your visualizations (e.g. charts, graphs, tag clouds, etc.) tell a story? Are they properly labeled and readable?
• Make sure that your images we not resized in PPT. You should use the original size of the image or try an image editor (e.g. Photoshop). Did you cite your image?
• Is your name, department, and affiliation on your poster?
• Did you want to include acknowlegments on your poster? This may be appropriate if your advisor and a graduate student provided leadership during the research process. 
• Most importantly- Save your PPT slide to PDF before you send to the printer in order to avoid any printing mishaps. You should also double-check the properties to make sure it is still sized correctly in PDF.
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Preparing and Presenting Effective Research Posters

Associated data.

APPENDIX A.2. Comparison of Research Papers, Presentations, and Posters—Contents.

Posters are a common way to present results of a statistical analysis, program evaluation, or other project at professional conferences. Often, researchers fail to recognize the unique nature of the format, which is a hybrid of a published paper and an oral presentation. This methods note demonstrates how to design research posters to convey study objectives, methods, findings, and implications effectively to varied professional audiences.

A review of existing literature on research communication and poster design is used to identify and demonstrate important considerations for poster content and layout. Guidelines on how to write about statistical methods, results, and statistical significance are illustrated with samples of ineffective writing annotated to point out weaknesses, accompanied by concrete examples and explanations of improved presentation. A comparison of the content and format of papers, speeches, and posters is also provided.

Each component of a research poster about a quantitative analysis should be adapted to the audience and format, with complex statistical results translated into simplified charts, tables, and bulleted text to convey findings as part of a clear, focused story line.

Conclusions

Effective research posters should be designed around two or three key findings with accompanying handouts and narrative description to supply additional technical detail and encourage dialog with poster viewers.

An assortment of posters is a common way to present research results to viewers at a professional conference. Too often, however, researchers treat posters as poor cousins to oral presentations or published papers, failing to recognize the opportunity to convey their findings while interacting with individual viewers. By neglecting to adapt detailed paragraphs and statistical tables into text bullets and charts, they make it harder for their audience to quickly grasp the key points of the poster. By simply posting pages from the paper, they risk having people merely skim their work while standing in the conference hall. By failing to devise narrative descriptions of their poster, they overlook the chance to learn from conversations with their audience.

Even researchers who adapt their paper into a well-designed poster often forget to address the range of substantive and statistical training of their viewers. This step is essential for those presenting to nonresearchers but also pertains when addressing interdisciplinary research audiences. Studies of policymakers ( DiFranza and the Staff of the Advocacy Institute 1996 ; Sorian and Baugh 2002 ) have demonstrated the importance of making it readily apparent how research findings apply to real-world issues rather than imposing on readers to translate statistical findings themselves.

This methods note is intended to help researchers avoid such pitfalls as they create posters for professional conferences. The first section describes objectives of research posters. The second shows how to describe statistical results to viewers with varied levels of statistical training, and the third provides guidelines on the contents and organization of the poster. Later sections address how to prepare a narrative and handouts to accompany a research poster. Because researchers often present the same results as published research papers, spoken conference presentations, and posters, Appendix A compares similarities and differences in the content, format, and audience interaction of these three modes of presenting research results. Although the focus of this note is on presentation of quantitative research results, many of the guidelines about how to prepare and present posters apply equally well to qualitative studies.

WHAT IS A RESEARCH POSTER?

Preparing a poster involves not only creating pages to be mounted in a conference hall, but also writing an associated narrative and handouts, and anticipating the questions you are likely to encounter during the session. Each of these elements should be adapted to the audience, which may include people with different levels of familiarity with your topic and methods ( Nelson et al. 2002 ; Beilenson 2004 ). For example, the annual meeting of the American Public Health Association draws academics who conduct complex statistical analyses along with practitioners, program planners, policymakers, and journalists who typically do not.

Posters are a hybrid form—more detailed than a speech but less than a paper, more interactive than either ( Appendix A ). In a speech, you (the presenter) determine the focus of the presentation, but in a poster session, the viewers drive that focus. Different people will ask about different facets of your research. Some might do policy work or research on a similar topic or with related data or methods. Others will have ideas about how to apply or extend your work, raising new questions or suggesting different contrasts, ways of classifying data, or presenting results. Beilenson (2004) describes the experience of giving a poster as a dialogue between you and your viewers.

By the end of an active poster session, you may have learned as much from your viewers as they have from you, especially if the topic, methods, or audience are new to you. For instance, at David Snowdon's first poster presentation on educational attainment and longevity using data from The Nun Study, another researcher returned several times to talk with Snowdon, eventually suggesting that he extend his research to focus on Alzheimer's disease, which led to an important new direction in his research ( Snowdon 2001 ). In addition, presenting a poster provides excellent practice in explaining quickly and clearly why your project is important and what your findings mean—a useful skill to apply when revising a speech or paper on the same topic.

WRITING FOR A VARIED PROFESSIONAL AUDIENCE

Audiences at professional conferences vary considerably in their substantive and methodological backgrounds. Some will be experts on your topic but not your methods, some will be experts on your methods but not your topic, and most will fall somewhere in between. In addition, advances in research methods imply that even researchers who received cutting-edge methodological training 10 or 20 years ago might not be conversant with the latest approaches. As you design your poster, provide enough background on both the topic and the methods to convey the purpose, findings, and implications of your research to the expected range of readers.

Telling a Simple, Clear Story

Write so your audience can understand why your work is of interest to them, providing them with a clear take-home message that they can grasp in the few minutes they will spend at your poster. Experts in communications and poster design recommend planning your poster around two to three key points that you want your audience to walk away with, then designing the title, charts, and text to emphasize those points ( Briscoe 1996 ; Nelson et al. 2002 ; Beilenson 2004 ). Start by introducing the two or three key questions you have decided will be the focus of your poster, and then provide a brief overview of data and methods before presenting the evidence to answer those questions. Close with a summary of your findings and their implications for research and policy.

A 2001 survey of government policymakers showed that they prefer summaries of research to be written so they can immediately see how the findings relate to issues currently facing their constituencies, without wading through a formal research paper ( Sorian and Baugh 2002 ). Complaints that surfaced about many research reports included that they were “too long, dense, or detailed,” or “too theoretical, technical, or jargony.” On average, respondents said they read only about a quarter of the research material they receive for detail, skim about half of it, and never get to the rest.

To ensure that your poster is one viewers will read, understand, and remember, present your analyses to match the issues and questions of concern to them, rather than making readers translate your statistical results to fit their interests ( DiFranza and the Staff of the Advocacy Institute 1996 ; Nelson et al. 2002 ). Often, their questions will affect how you code your data, specify your model, or design your intervention and evaluation, so plan ahead by familiarizing yourself with your audience's interests and likely applications of your study findings. In an academic journal article, you might report parameter estimates and standard errors for each independent variable in your regression model. In the poster version, emphasize findings for specific program design features, demographic, or geographic groups, using straightforward means of presenting effect size and statistical significance; see “Describing Numeric Patterns and Contrasts” and “Presenting Statistical Test Results” below.

The following sections offer guidelines on how to present statistical findings on posters, accompanied by examples of “poor” and “better” descriptions—samples of ineffective writing annotated to point out weaknesses, accompanied by concrete examples and explanations of improved presentation. These ideas are illustrated with results from a multilevel analysis of disenrollment from the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP; Phillips et al. 2004 ). I chose that paper to show how to prepare a poster about a sophisticated quantitative analysis of a topic of interest to HSR readers, and because I was a collaborator in that study, which was presented in the three formats compared here—as a paper, a speech, and a poster.

Explaining Statistical Methods

Beilenson (2004) and Briscoe (1996) suggest keeping your description of data and methods brief, providing enough information for viewers to follow the story line and evaluate your approach. Avoid cluttering the poster with too much technical detail or obscuring key findings with excessive jargon. For readers interested in additional methodological information, provide a handout and a citation to the pertinent research paper.

As you write about statistical methods or other technical issues, relate them to the specific concepts you study. Provide synonyms for technical and statistical terminology, remembering that many conferences of interest to policy researchers draw people from a range of disciplines. Even with a quantitatively sophisticated audience, don't assume that people will know the equivalent vocabulary used in other fields. A few years ago, the journal Medical Care published an article whose sole purpose was to compare statistical terminology across various disciplines involved in health services research so that people could understand one another ( Maciejewski et al. 2002 ). After you define the term you plan to use, mention the synonyms from the various fields represented in your audience.

Consider whether acronyms are necessary on your poster. Avoid them if they are not familiar to the field or would be used only once or twice on your poster. If you use acronyms, spell them out at first usage, even those that are common in health services research such as “HEDIS®”(Health Plan Employer Data and Information Set) or “HLM”(hierarchical linear model).

Poor: “We use logistic regression and a discrete-time hazards specification to assess relative hazards of SCHIP disenrollment, with plan level as our key independent variable.” Comment: Terms like “discrete-time hazards specification” may be confusing to readers without training in those methods, which are relatively new on the scene. Also the meaning of “SCHIP” or “plan level” may be unfamiliar to some readers unless defined earlier on the poster.

Better: “Chances of disenrollment from the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) vary by amount of time enrolled, so we used hazards models (also known as event history analysis or survival analysis) to correct for those differences when estimating disenrollment patterns for SCHIP plans for different income levels.” Comment: This version clarifies the terms and concepts, naming the statistical method and its synonyms, and providing a sense of why this type of analysis is needed.

To explain a statistical method or assumption, paraphrase technical terms and illustrate how the analytic approach applies to your particular research question and data:

Poor : “The data structure can be formulated as a two-level hierarchical linear model, with families (the level-1 unit of analysis) nested within counties (the level-2 unit of analysis).” Comment: Although this description would be fine for readers used to working with this type of statistical model, those who aren't conversant with those methods may be confused by terminology such as “level-1” and “unit of analysis.”

Better: “The data have a hierarchical (or multilevel) structure, with families clustered within counties.” Comment: By replacing “nested” with the more familiar “clustered,” identifying the specific concepts for the two levels of analysis, and mentioning that “hierarchical” and “multilevel” refer to the same type of analytic structure, this description relates the generic class of statistical model to this particular study.

Presenting Results with Charts

Charts are often the preferred way to convey numeric patterns, quickly revealing the relative sizes of groups, comparative levels of some outcome, or directions of trends ( Briscoe 1996 ; Tufte 2001 ; Nelson et al. 2002 ). As Beilenson puts it, “let your figures do the talking,” reducing the need for long text descriptions or complex tables with lots of tiny numbers. For example, create a pie chart to present sample composition, use a simple bar chart to show how the dependent variable varies across subgroups, or use line charts or clustered bar charts to illustrate the net effects of nonlinear specifications or interactions among independent variables ( Miller 2005 ). Charts that include confidence intervals around point estimates are a quick and effective way to present effect size, direction, and statistical significance. For multivariate analyses, consider presenting only the results for the main variables of interest, listing the other variables in the model in a footnote and including complex statistical tables in a handout.

Provide each chart with a title (in large type) that explains the topic of that chart. A rhetorical question or summary of the main finding can be very effective. Accompany each chart with a few annotations that succinctly describe the patterns in that chart. Although each chart page should be self-explanatory, be judicious: Tufte (2001) cautions against encumbering your charts with too much “nondata ink”—excessive labeling or superfluous features such as arrows and labels on individual data points. Strive for a balance between guiding your readers through the findings and maintaining a clean, uncluttered poster. Use chart types that are familiar to your expected audience. Finally, remember that you can flesh out descriptions of charts and tables in your script rather than including all the details on the poster itself; see “Narrative to Accompany a Poster.”

Describing Numeric Patterns and Contrasts

As you describe patterns or numeric contrasts, whether from simple calculations or complex statistical models, explain both the direction and magnitude of the association. Incorporate the concepts under study and the units of measurement rather than simply reporting coefficients (β's) ( Friedman 1990 ; Miller 2005 ).

Poor: “Number of enrolled children in the family is correlated with disenrollment.” Comment: Neither the direction nor the size of the association is apparent.

Poor [version #2]: “The log-hazard of disenrollment for one-child families was 0.316.” Comment: Most readers find it easier to assess the size and direction from hazards ratios (a form of relative risk) instead of log-hazards (log-relative risks, the β's from a hazards model).

Better: “Families with only one child enrolled in the program were about 1.4 times as likely as larger families to disenroll.” Comment: This version explains the association between number of children and disenrollment without requiring viewers to exponentiate the log-hazard in their heads to assess the size and direction of that association. It also explicitly identifies the group against which one-child families are compared in the model.

Presenting Statistical Test Results

On your poster, use an approach to presenting statistical significance that keeps the focus on your results, not on the arithmetic needed to conduct inferential statistical tests. Replace standard errors or test statistics with confidence intervals, p- values, or symbols, or use formatting such as boldface, italics, or a contrasting color to denote statistically significant findings ( Davis 1997 ; Miller 2005 ). Include the detailed statistical results in handouts for later perusal.

To illustrate these recommendations, Figures 1 and ​ and2 2 demonstrate how to divide results from a complex, multilevel model across several poster pages, using charts and bullets in lieu of the detailed statistical table from the scientific paper ( Table 1 ; Phillips et al. 2004 ). Following experts' advice to focus on one or two key points, these charts emphasize the findings from the final model (Model 5) rather than also discussing each of the fixed- and random-effects specifications from the paper.

Presenting Complex Statistical Results Graphically

Text Summary of Additional Statistical Results

Multilevel Discrete-Time Hazards Models of Disenrollment from SCHIP, New Jersey, January 1998–April 2000

Source : Phillips et al. (2004) .

SCHIP, State Children's Health Insurance Program; LRH, log relative-hazard; SE, standard error.

Figure 1 uses a chart (also from the paper) to present the net effects of a complicated set of interactions between two family-level traits (race and SCHIP plan) and a cross-level interaction between race of the family and county physician racial composition. The title is a rhetorical question that identifies the issue addressed in the chart, and the annotations explain the pattern. The chart version substantially reduces the amount of time viewers need to understand the main take-home point, averting the need to mentally sum and exponentiate several coefficients from the table.

Figure 2 uses bulleted text to summarize other key results from the model, translating log-relative hazards into hazards ratios and interpreting them with minimal reliance on jargon. The results for family race, SCHIP plan, and county physician racial composition are not repeated in Figure 2 , averting the common problem of interpreting main effect coefficients and interaction coefficients without reference to one another.

Alternatively, replace the text summary shown in Figure 2 with Table 2 —a simplified version of Table 1 which presents only the results for Model 5, replaces log-relative hazards with hazards ratios, reports associated confidence intervals in lieu of standard errors, and uses boldface to denote statistical significance. (On a color slide, use a contrasting color in lieu of bold.)

Relative Risks of SCHIP Disenrollment for Other * Family and County Characteristics, New Jersey, January 1998–April 2000

Statistically significant associations are shown in bold.

Based on hierarchical linear model controlling for months enrolled, months-squared, race, SCHIP plan, county physician racial composition, and all variables shown here. Scaled deviance =30,895. Random effects estimate for between-county variance =0.005 (standard error =0.006). SCHIP, State Children's Health Insurance Program; 95% CI, 95% confidence interval.

CONTENTS AND ORGANIZATION OF A POSTER

Research posters are organized like scientific papers, with separate pages devoted to the objectives and background, data and methods, results, and conclusions ( Briscoe 1996 ). Readers view the posters at their own pace and at close range; thus you can include more detail than in slides for a speech (see Appendix A for a detailed comparison of content and format of papers, speeches, and posters). Don't simply post pages from the scientific paper, which are far too text-heavy for a poster. Adapt them, replacing long paragraphs and complex tables with bulleted text, charts, and simple tables ( Briscoe 1996 ; Beilenson 2004 ). Fink (1995) provides useful guidelines for writing text bullets to convey research results. Use presentation software such as PowerPoint to create your pages or adapt them from related slides, facilitating good page layout with generous type size, bullets, and page titles. Such software also makes it easy to create matching handouts (see “Handouts”).

The “W's” (who, what, when, where, why) are an effective way to organize the elements of a poster.

• In the introductory section, describe what you are studying, why it is important, and how your analysis will add to the existing literature in the field.
• In the data and methods section of a statistical analysis, list when, where, who, and how the data were collected, how many cases were involved, and how the data were analyzed. For other types of interventions or program evaluations, list who, when, where, and how many, along with how the project was implemented and assessed.
• In the results section, present what you found.
• In the conclusion, return to what you found and how it can be used to inform programs or policies related to the issue.

Number and Layout of Pages

To determine how many pages you have to work with, find out the dimensions of your assigned space. A 4′ × 8′ bulletin board accommodates the equivalent of about twenty 8.5″ × 11″ pages, but be selective—no poster can capture the full detail of a large series of multivariate models. A trifold presentation board (3′ high by 4′ wide) will hold roughly a dozen pages, organized into three panels ( Appendix B ). Breaking the arrangement into vertical sections allows viewers to read each section standing in one place while following the conventions of reading left-to-right and top-to-bottom ( Briscoe 1996 ).

• At the top of the poster, put an informative title in a large, readable type size. On a 4′ × 8′ bulletin board, there should also be room for an institutional logo.

Suggested Layout for a 4′ × 8′ poster.

• In the left-hand panel, set the stage for the research question, conveying why the topic is of policy interest, summarizing major empirical or theoretical work on related topics, and stating your hypotheses or project aims, and explaining how your work fills in gaps in previous analyses.
• In the middle panel, briefly describe your data source, variables, and methods, then present results in tables or charts accompanied by text annotations. Diagrams, maps, and photographs are very effective for conveying issues difficult to capture succinctly in words ( Miller 2005 ), and to help readers envision the context. A schematic diagram of relationships among variables can be useful for illustrating causal order. Likewise, a diagram can be a succinct way to convey timing of different components of a longitudinal study or the nested structure of a multilevel dataset.
• In the right-hand panel, summarize your findings and relate them back to the research question or project aims, discuss strengths and limitations of your approach, identify research, practice, or policy implications, and suggest directions for future research.

Figure 3 (adapted from Beilenson 2004 ) shows a suggested layout for a 4′ × 8′ bulletin board, designed to be created using software such as Pagemaker that generates a single-sheet presentation; Appendix C shows a complete poster version of the Phillips et al. (2004) multilevel analysis of SCHIP disenrollment. If hardware or budget constraints preclude making a single-sheet poster, a similar configuration can be created using standard 8.5″ × 11″ pages in place of the individual tables, charts, or blocks of text shown in Figure 3 .

Find out well in advance how the posters are to be mounted so you can bring the appropriate supplies. If the room is set up for table-top presentations, tri-fold poster boards are essential because you won't have anything to attach a flat poster board or pages to. If you have been assigned a bulletin board, bring push-pins or a staple gun.

Regardless of whether you will be mounting your poster at the conference or ahead of time, plan how the pages are to be arranged. Experiment with different page arrangements on a table marked with the dimensions of your overall poster. Once you have a final layout, number the backs of the pages or draw a rough sketch to work from as you arrange the pages on the board. If you must pin pages to a bulletin board at the conference venue, allow ample time to make them level and evenly spaced.

Other Design Considerations

A few other issues to keep in mind as you design your poster. Write a short, specific title that fits in large type size on the title banner of your poster. The title will be potential readers' first glimpse of your poster, so make it inviting and easy to read from a distance—at least 40-point type, ideally larger. Beilenson (2004) advises embedding your key finding in the title so viewers don't have to dig through the abstract or concluding page to understand the purpose and conclusions of your work. A caution: If you report a numeric finding in your title, keep in mind that readers may latch onto it as a “factoid” to summarize your conclusions, so select and phrase it carefully ( McDonough 2000 ).

Use at least 14-point type for the body of the poster text. As Briscoe (1996) points out, “many in your audience have reached the bifocal age” and all of them will read your poster while standing, hence long paragraphs in small type will not be appreciated! Make judicious use of color. Use a clear, white, or pastel for the background, with black or another dark color for most text, and a bright, contrasting shade to emphasize key points or to identify statistically significant results ( Davis 1997 ).

NARRATIVE TO ACCOMPANY A POSTER

Prepare a brief oral synopsis of the purpose, findings, and implications of your work to say to interested parties as they pause to read your poster. Keep it short—a few sentences that highlight what you are studying, a couple of key findings, and why they are important. Design your overview as a “sound byte” that captures your main points in a succinct and compelling fashion ( Beilenson 2004 ). After hearing your introduction, listeners will either nod and move along or comment on some aspect of your work that intrigues them. You can then tailor additional discussion to individual listeners, adjusting the focus and amount of detail to suit their interests. Gesture at the relevant pages as you make each point, stating the purpose of each chart or table and explaining its layout before describing the numeric findings; see Miller (2005) for guidelines on how to explain tables and charts to a live audience. Briscoe (1996) points out that these mini-scripts are opportunities for you to fill in details of your story line, allowing you to keep the pages themselves simple and uncluttered.

Prepare short answers to likely questions about various aspects of your work, such as why it is important from a policy or research perspective, or descriptions of data, methods, and specific results. Think of these as little modules from an overall speech—concise descriptions of particular elements of your study that you can choose among in response to questions that arise. Beilenson (2004) also recommends developing a few questions to ask your viewers, inquiring about their reactions to your findings, ideas for additional questions, or names of others working on the topic.

Practice your poster presentation in front of a test audience acquainted with the interests and statistical proficiency of your expected viewers. Ideally, your critic should not be too familiar with your work: A fresh set of eyes and ears is more likely to identify potential points of confusion than someone who is jaded from working closely with the material while writing the paper or drafting the poster ( Beilenson 2004 ). Ask your reviewer to identify elements that are unclear, flag jargon to be paraphrased or defined, and recommend changes to improve clarity ( Miller 2005 ). Have them critique your oral presentation as well as the contents and layout of the poster.

Prepare handouts to distribute to interested viewers. These can be produced from slides created in presentation software, printed several to a page along with a cover page containing the abstract and your contact information. Or package an executive summary or abstract with a few key tables or charts. Handouts provide access to the more detailed literature review, data and methods, full set of results, and citations without requiring viewers to read all of that information from the poster ( Beilenson 2004 ; Miller 2005 ). Although you also can bring copies of the complete paper, it is easier on both you and your viewers if you collect business cards or addresses and mail the paper later.

The quality and effectiveness of research posters at professional conferences is often compromised by authors' failure to take into account the unique nature of such presentations. One common error is posting numerous statistical tables and long paragraphs from a research paper—an approach that overwhelms viewers with too much detail for this type of format and presumes familiarity with advanced statistical techniques. Following recommendations from the literature on research communication and poster design, this paper shows how to focus each poster on a few key points, using charts and text bullets to convey results as part of a clear, straightforward story line, and supplementing with handouts and an oral overview.

Another frequent mistake is treating posters as a one-way means of communication. Unlike published papers, poster sessions are live presentations; unlike speeches, they allow for extended conversation with viewers. This note explains how to create an oral synopsis of the project, short modular descriptions of poster elements, and questions to encourage dialog. By following these guidelines, researchers can substantially improve their conference posters as vehicles to disseminate findings to varied research and policy audiences.

CHECKLIST FOR PREPARING AND PRESENTING AN EFFECTIVE RESEARCH POSTERS

• Design poster to focus on two or three key points.
• Adapt materials to suit expected viewers' knowledge of your topic and methods.
• Design questions to meet their interests and expected applications of your work.
• Paraphrase descriptions of complex statistical methods.
• Spell out acronyms if used.
• Replace large detailed tables with charts or small, simplified tables.
• Accompany tables or charts with bulleted annotations of major findings.
• Describe direction and magnitude of associations.
• Use confidence intervals, p -values, symbols, or formatting to denote statistical significance.

Layout and Format

• Organize the poster into background, data and methods, results, and study implications.
• Divide the material into vertical sections on the poster.
• Use at least 14-point type in the body of your poster, at least 40-point for the title.

Narrative Description

• Rehearse a three to four sentence overview of your research objectives and main findings.
• Summary of key studies and gaps in existing literature
• Data and methods
• Each table, chart, or set of bulleted results
• Research, policy, and practice implications
• Solicit their input on your findings
• Develop additional questions for later analysis
• Identify other researchers in the field
• Prepare handouts to distribute to interested viewers.
• Print slides from presentation software, several to a page.
• Or package an executive summary or abstract with a few key tables or charts.
• Include an abstract and contact information.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Ellen Idler, Julie Phillips, Deborah Carr, Diane (Deedee) Davis, and two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on earlier drafts of this work.

Supplementary Material

The following supplementary material for this article is available online:

APPENDIX A.1. Comparison of Research Papers, Presentations, and Posters—Materials and Audience Interaction.

Suggested Layout for a Tri-Fold Presentation Board.

Example Research Poster of Phillips et al. 2004 Study.

• Beilenson J. Developing Effective Poster Presentations. Gerontology News. 2004; 32 (9):6–9. [ Google Scholar ]
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• Tufte ER. The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. 2. Cheshire, CT: Graphics Press; 2001. [ Google Scholar ]

How to create a research poster

• Getting Started
• Planning your Poster
• Designing a Poster
• Poster Templates & Examples
• Printing your Poster
• Additional Guides

What is a research poster?

A research poster is a visual way to summarize and communicate the results of a research project to a general audience. A good poster should include the goal of the research, its methodology, results, and discussion/conclusion, in clear and concise language.

Research posters will often include photos, maps, graphs and other images to present information in an attractive way.

Why a poster?

Research posters are a common form of research presentation in conferences, seminars, and symposiums. Some of the main advantages of presenting a poster rather than a conference paper are:

• Knowledge sharing with a wider audience: with poster presentations, researchers usually stand beside their posters and can interact directly with the public.
• Opportunity to explore different ways to present information: posters are ideal for highly visual topics.
• Networking: presenting posters can help researchers identify potential collaborators, spark further discussion, make contacts, etc.
• Opportunity to improve verbal presentation skills: researchers can talk about their research without having to observe the stricter guidelines of other types of conference presentations.
• Opportunity to showcase research to potential employers.

Branding requirements

Yukon University's branding guidelines may be applicable when presenting research results. This can vary depending on course/assignment requirements, whether the research is directly sponsored/funded by the institution, and how and where the poster will be presented.

For YukonU students: check with your instructor if branding is required for your situation.

YukonU faculty/staff: YukonU's branding guidelines can be found on https://yukoncollege.sharepoint.com/sites/yc/offices/relations (Sharepoint login required).

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• Last Updated: Apr 12, 2023 2:45 PM
• URL: https://yukonu.libguides.com/research_poster

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How to design a research poster.

Presenting your scholarly work and research can take a number of different formats, all of which have pros and cons associated with them. While some fields use live performances or oral presentations to display their work, others use research journals or written manuscripts, while others still implement the use of research posters or gallery displays. Below is a comparison of some of the more common methods for displaying and presenting research and scholarly work.

Creating an effective research poster

We have provided a 6 step guide for you to follow. We also encourage you to attend one of our workshops “Presenting Your Research I: Story Design” and “Presenting Your Research II: Poster Design” for assistance. You may find the dates/times for these workshops (along with others) in MU Engage .

This short 5-minute video takes you through some pointers on how to create a research poster.

Consider the following questions before designing your poster. Depending on your event/audience, the poster content may be different. Presenting your work at a discipline specific conference means an audience who will have more understanding of the terminology and processes used in your work – meaning more use of discipline specific vocabulary. Whereas, presenting at an event with more laypeople (think the Spring Forum), means that most in the audience will not understand discipline specific vocabulary or graphics, so your poster content would be different as it would need to be understood by that audience.

Take time to brainstorm what you want the viewer to get from your poster (whether you are standing by it to present the information or not).

• What is your goal ?
• Who is your audience ?
• What is the most interesting/compelling part of your work?
• What will be interesting to others ?
• How can you make it interesting to others?

Before you can begin designing the poster, you have to consider a few things. And the first thing is:

Poster Size

Before you go plugging in data, text and images you need to decide on the overall size of YOUR poster. Some conferences/events have specific size limitations – VERIFY THIS FIRST! Otherwise, you may find yourself scrambling to redesign a poster last minute.

Here, however is some standard information for you to consider:

Mizzou’s Spring Forum – the boards and easels used are 2 sizes: 45in x 45in (square), or 36in x 60in (wide rectangle). Poster sizes vary, however we have found that 36in x 42in, or 42in x 48in are typical.

Poster Orientation

Your poster may be a rectangle in portrait orientation (‘hotdog’), or landscape orientation (‘hamburger’); OR, you may have a square poster. This is where you consider how to communicate your work and how it will best ‘flow’.

Mizzou poster templates

Mizzou has some poster templates (branded with Mizzou logos and colors), that you may download to use. You may find them at the Mizzou Branding & Licensing website here (scroll down to ‘Research Posters’ and please note that they are automatically sized to 56in x 36in – so you should resize them based upon what YOU want your poster size to be. You do NOT have to use these templates, but you may find them helpful. Check with your mentor .)

Now that you have determined what you want to communicate to your audience, and the poster size in which you will do this – you have to consider the content itself. How will the information be placed on the page to best flow and be understood by the viewer?

Consider the following items to include:

• Abstract, if appropriate
• Background/Introduction
• Research Question/Problem/Hypothesis
• Methodology (Materials & Methods)
• Conclusions, Future Studies
• Acknowledgements

Remember to:

• Make it easy for the reader to follow
• Anchor your information with something familiar
• Label figures and images
• Use sections, headlines
• What can be visual about your work?
• What needs to be explained ? ( And can it be explained more clearly using visuals? )
• What context do you need to provide?
• Biography/influences on your authors
• Lists, timelines
• Key quotations/text
• Cultural context
• Graphs, charts
• Illustrations
• Resist temptation to overuse color
• Use color for meaning and significance
• Use color to highlight important content
• Frames around poster components
• Bullet points
• Headlines of text, headings
• Check the University of Missouri Identity Standards website to download Mizzou logos and confirm your color of “Mizzou gold.”
• Determine title that is understandable to an audience outside of your field/major
• List authors of poster
• Consider font type, size, color, etc.
• Include the MU logo (and other logos depending on the nature of your work)

You should plan for your poster to take a minimum of 2-4 business days ( 48-72 hours ) to be printed. You must plan in advance for your poster pickup – we recommend that you consult the printer and ask for their timeline as you are not their only customer, and each printer will have different turnaround times.

Poster printing costs range depending on the size and type of material which you select for your poster – the average poster costs about $60.00.

BEFORE YOU PRINT! Check your poster for typos and grammatical errors. Has your mentor given you the ‘okay?’

• FedEx has partnered with us to provide presenters a special price for printing posters. To get this special price you MUST use this online portal to submit your poster, in PDF format. You will required to provide your contact information and pay for your poster in advance by credit card.
• 36in x 48in poster (landscape or portrait layout) = $30.00
• 36in x 36in poster = $22.50
• Custom size poster, the price will be $2.50/sq foot
• Staples (115 Conley Road)
• UPS Store – three locations 503 E. Nifong, Ste H 2000 E. Broadway 2101 W. Broadway #103
• Ellis Library has created a list of additional printers in the Columbia area.

We also recommend that you view past posters in your category to get a sense of what has been done. Click here to view the 2020 and 2021 online Spring Forum presentations.

Other resources.

• NYU Libraries How to Create a Research Poster
• Colin Purrington: tips for making posters
• UC Davis: How to Make and Effective Poster
• Science: How to prepare a scientific poster
• Fresh Spectrum: How to design a research poster using CANVA

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How to make a scientific poster

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• Peer review
• Fiona Tasker , core medical trainee doctor
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Conference attendees will look at your poster only briefly, so a clear presentation is crucial

A scientific poster is an illustrated abstract of research that is displayed at meetings and conferences. A poster is a good way of presenting your information because it can reach a large audience, including people who might not be in your field. It is also a useful step towards publishing your research. Some conferences publish poster abstracts, which then count as publications in their own right.

A successful poster captures the viewer’s attention and communicates the key points clearly and succinctly. One author reviewed 142 posters at a national meeting and found that 33% were cluttered or sloppy, 22% had fonts that were too small to be easily read, and 38% had research objectives that could not be located in a one minute review. 1 Avoiding these mistakes is important to ensure your poster has a positive impact.

Where do I start?

If you have completed a project, you will need to research the right meeting or conference to submit your abstract to, if you have not done so already. You might need to ask your supervisor or consultants in the field of your topic for information about relevant conferences at which you can present your work.

You will usually be asked to submit an abstract online. The submission guidelines on the website should guide you on how to do this, as well as provide other valuable information such as formatting instructions and deadlines. Your abstract should state why your work is important, the specific objective or objectives, a brief but clear explanation of the methods, a summary of the main results, and the conclusions. I would not recommend adding the abstract to your poster unless this was stated in the conference guidelines because a poster is already a …

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How to Create a Research Poster

• Poster Basics
• Design Tips
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Poster Design Guides and Tips

• Academic Posters Edinburgh Napier University student success how-to guide for academic posters.
• Designing Conference Posters Colin Purrington, a PhD and former professor, breaks down how to design conference posters and a list of do's and don'ts.
• Creating an Effective Scientific Poster (PDF) University of Guelph, Integrative Biology Undergraduate Curriculum Committee 2011/2012. Covers preparation, design principles, software guide, and a checklist for assessing your poster.
• Poster Presentations: Designing Effective Posters University at Buffalo research guide by Fred Stoss, Biological Sciences Librarian.

Free PowerPoint Templates

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Title:  states the question/problem that you are addressing, sometimes in question form

• Use bold typeface.
• Capitalize important words of title, but do not use ALL CAPS.
• Title should be short, meaningful, and eye-catching (no longer than two lines).
• Avoid jargon or acronyms.
• Author(s) should be listed right under the title (Font size:  60 ).

Font size:  70 - 80  for the title

Introduction:  introduces your topic and briefly explains why your research is significant

• Place your topic within context of published literature.
• Clearly state your hypothesis.
• Include just what is highly relevant. Minimize background information and definitions.

Wordcount:  200    Font size: Headings: about  44 ; Main text about  32

Materials/Methodology : tells readers what your research strategy was and how you actually carried it out

• Briefly describe your research methods and any equipment or software you may have used.
• You may also add figures, tables, flow charts, photographs, or drawings that describe your design.

Wordcount:  200    Font size: Headings about  44 ; Main text about  32  Captions about  28

Results:  what did you find out?

• Briefly discuss your data analysis.
• You may add supporting charts, images, tables, quotations etc.
• Use captions that describe the graphics.

Wordcount: 200       Font size: Headings 44; Main text 32 ; Captions 28

Conclusions:  This is where you summarize your hypothesis and results.

• Focus on the main takeaway points
• Was your hypothesis supported?
• What is the significance of your findings?
• Future research?

Wordcount:  300        Font size: Headings:  44 ; Main text  32

Works Cited

• Cite only the most pertinent articles.
• Select a documentation format (APA, MLA, Chicago etc) and be consistent.

Font size:  24

Acknowledgments  This section is optional but it is nice to acknowledge people who have provided assistance or funding for your project.

• Thank individuals who made contributions to your project.
• Thank research subjects.
• Acknowledge funding sources.

Font size:  24-28

Not all students will have a Standard Research experience.  

There are many approaches to making Poster Presentations. 

If you have a job shadowing or other alternative experiences use the same sizing and wordcount recommendations from above, but use these sections:

General lab overview

The project(s) you focused on 

Results (if you have them)

How your work ties back to general lab overview

Acknowledgments

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We're Here To Help You Make The Best Scientific Poster

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5 Minute Overview

At its core, a scientific poster is a visual representation of data that has been organized and consolidated into an easily-digestible format. A good poster should be able to be understood in a few minutes, so it’s of the utmost importance to make sure your poster is logical, consistent, and designed well.

Sections and Organization

It’s easiest to break down all the information you want into distinct sections, such as Background , Objectives , Methodology , Results , and Recommendations . A typical poster will have 4-8 of these sections laid out in 3 or 4 columns , but the specifics of your research will dictate which sections are important to include. Posters are read from left-to-right and top-to-bottom, so make sure to lay out your sections so they can be read in order.

We have many free scientific poster templates to get you started, and you can also check if your school or organization has a standard template they can provide you. Otherwise, you can come up with your own layout for your information.

Design Guidelines

When it comes to design, there are a few basic rules to follow:

Simple is Good

Your background should be plain white or a very subtle gradient/pattern that is not distracting and your text should be clear and easy to read. Any charts or graphics should be able to be understood quickly and not include unnecessary elements.

Make Important Information Stand Out

Section headings should be obvious and important research should draw attention.

Line Things Up

Try to fit everything to a basic grid and align each section with another. If you have a set of charts or photos, it looks best to have them equally-sized and distributed evenly.

Don't Make it Crowded

A viewer may only spend a minute or two looking at your poster so they should immediately be able to make sense of the organization and be able to identify the distinct sections.

Layout and Design »

Final Check

Before giving us your poster to print, it’s helpful to do one last check of everything to make sure your poster will look as good as possible. Here are 5 questions to answer:

• 1 Do my poster sections flow logically? The sections of your poster should be organized and follow the general structure of introduction → data → conclusion.
• 2 Is all my text readable? All the text on your poster should stand out against its background, use a legible font, and be large enough to be read from a reasonable distance. Also, check for spelling mistakes!
• 3 Are all my graphics good quality? Zoom in on your file to 100% and make sure all photos, charts, and illustrations look clear and crisp. (If you are going to be ordering a poster that is larger than your file, zoom in farther).
• 4 Is my data understandable? All your tables, charts, and graphs should be able to be looked at and understood in a few seconds.
• 5 Does the most important information stand out? When skimming over your poster, the most important parts should catch your eye and be very obvious. If someone reads your poster for a minute or so, they should be able to fully understand your presentation.

Questions, Comments, or Concerns

If you have any further questions or comments about our tutorials, we would love to help you out.

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How to write a research poster.

By Lorrie Faith Cranor

Poster sessions at conferences and university research fairs provide excellent opportunities for students to show off their work and to discuss their research in an informal setting. While it is important to present good work at a poster session, even the most outstanding research projects will receive little attention if they are not presented well. This article provides a guide to creating and presenting an attractive and informative research poster.

The most important part of your poster is the content. Before you start planning your poster design, decide on the content you wish to present. Students often make the mistake of trying to present an entire thesis or journal article on a poster. Don't try this approach. People do not have the time or patience to read a lengthy report at a poster session. Your poster should be an abstract that advertises your work. If your audience likes the poster, they can request a copy of your whole thesis or paper to read when they get home. You might provide copies of your paper next to your poster or pass out flyers with information on how to get your paper electronically, but don't put the whole paper on your poster.

Given that you have limited space, you must decide what aspects of your research are most important to present. This depends a lot on your audience. If you are presenting your poster to a general audience you will need to provide a lot of background information and emphasize the applications of your research. If your audience already understands and appreciates your research area, you should focus on your unique contributions and emphasize your results (if you have any -- some poster sessions allow students to display research in progress).

Regardless of what you decide to emphasize, make sure your poster includes a clear and succinct statement of your research problem, a brief description of your approach, and summary of any results you have obtained to date. The organizers of the poster session might also supply a list of items that your poster should include.

Create an outline of the content you plan to present. Then fill in each section of the outline with short paragraphs and bulleted or numbered lists. Do not include lengthy paragraphs on your poster. Unless you will be presenting to a very technical audience, avoid complicated equations and code fragments of more than a few lines. Depending on the size of your poster and the number of graphics you include you will generally have room for somewhere between 500 and 1500 words. If your initial draft is longer than that, reduce the number of words before you start working on the poster design.

Overall Design

Before you begin designing, determine the overall size and shape for your poster. Find out whether your poster session has any size limits that you must adhere to. Also find out whether you are expected to present a free standing poster or whether you will be given a board on which you can attach the various components of your poster. Even if you will be given a board, you may still wish to mount all of your poster components on one or several large panels. This tends to give your poster a more unified look and it will be easier for you to assemble and disable your poster quickly at the poster session.

Regardless of whether you design your poster in panels or small components, you should divide your content into modular components, each of which will be placed in its own ``box''. Boxes can be created by printing rectangles around each component or mounting the components on sheets of colored construction paper. If you design your poster in panels you can easily group boxes together, placing several small boxes in one larger box. This allows you to visually group related elements. If you design your poster in small components you can use color, position, or even lines made of string to visually group related elements on the board.

You should also arrange your poster elements so that there is a sensible visual flow -- left to right or top to bottom, for example. If you have multiple columns or rows of elements it is sometimes helpful to number elements with bold numerals or use arrows to mark the suggested flow.

The right software can simplify your poster preparation process tremendously. If you plan to create your poster in one or several large panels, I highly recommend the use of a desktop publishing package such as Adobe Indesign, Adobe PageMake, QuarkXpress, Adobe FrameMaker, Corel Ventura or CorelDraw. These packages will allow you to design your poster in modular boxes of varying sizes that you can easily reposition. You can then print each panel as one large sheet on a large-format plotter, print it in tiles on a standard printer, or print it at a reduced percentage on a standard printer and enlarge it on a large-format copier. If you don't have a desktop publishing package and can't find one in any of your school's computer labs, a word-processor like Openoffice, drawing package like paint and GIMP, or even LaTeX will do. If you use one of these packages it is generally easiest to use uniformly sized boxes that each fit on the largest sized paper that you can use in your printer. Slide preparation programs such as Microsoft PowerPoint and OpenOffice.org Impress can be great tools for creating uniformly sized elements with consistent fonts and borders.

Presenting Text

When designing your poster you should focus on creating a design that can be read quickly and places visual emphasis on the most important parts. The first step for achieving these goals is to select one or two easy-to-read fonts. Your text should be set in a large font -- 16 pt minimum, 30 to 60 pt preferred. Select a larger, bold font for headings (possibly in multiple sizes if you have more than one level of headings). Select a smaller font for details and footnotes that are not essential to understanding your research but may be of interest to some readers.

Your text should be presented in such a way that someone who does not want to spend a lot of time reading your poster can get a quick overview. Whenever possible, present text as bulleted or numbered lists. Use a bold font or an alternate color to emphasize the most important bits of text. Place details in a smaller font below the main points or in separate boxes off to the side.

Finally, don't forget to spell check and proof read your text!

Presenting Graphics

As the old saying goes, a picture's worth a thousand words. Graphics can be excellent tools for explaining procedures, describing equipment, or summarizing results. Use graphs, flow-charts, photographs, and diagrams to illustrate your poster. Not only will they add visual interest, but they will allow people to gain a quick understanding of your work without reading lengthy paragraphs of text.

Depending on the software you use to create your poster, you may be able to use the same software to create graphics. Some software also allows you to import graphics from drawing or graphing programs. But if this is difficult or impossible to do with your software, don't hesitate to physically cut and paste graphics onto your poster.

Using Color

Color is an excellent tool for brightening up your poster, visually grouping elements, and drawing attention to the most important elements. It can also make graphs and diagrams easier to read and understand. However, color should be used carefully and with purpose. It should not be randomly applied just for the sake of having color. Unless you are experienced with using color, select a palette of one to four colors and use them consistently throughout your poster.

If you have access to a good color printer, consider designing your entire poster in color. Select a dark color such as black or deep blue for your main text. Select a bright color such as red or magenta for important text. You might also want to use a contrasting color for headings and bullets. You can make entire elements stand out or identify them as part of a group by filling them with a light-colored background or surrounding them with a brightly colored border. You might use color to visually distinguish each section of your poster (for example, problem, background, approach, and results) or to indicate the importance of each item.

Even if you do not have a color printer, there is plenty you can do with color. The simplest way to add color to your poster is to mount each of the modular components on a sheet of colored construction paper. But be consistent with your colors: do not buy a package of assorted colors and use one of each color. You can also print your headings in an outlined font and color them in with bright colored markers. Use the markers to shade bar graphs and diagrams in matching colors.

Printing Your Poster

If you are fortunate enough to have a large-format color plotter at your university, ask if you can use it for your poster. These plotters are often found in electrical engineering departments and architecture schools. They can be used to print panels measuring approximately 2 feet by 3 feet on one sheet of paper. Some copy shops and desktop publishing companies charge by the foot for printing on their large plotters, but the fees are often prohibitively expensive on a student budget.

If you want to print each panel on a single sheet but don't have a large plotter, you can print the panels on the largest paper your printer takes and have it enlarged at a local copy shop. Another option is to print each panel in tiles and carefully tape them together.

But large panels are not essential to a successful poster. Items printed on standard laser printer paper (8 1/2 x 11, 8 1/2 x 14, etc.) can look great when mounted on construction paper.

Putting Your Poster Together

If fabric-covered boards will be available at your poster session, use velcro to attach your poster to the boards. Office supply stores, art supply stores, hardware stores, and perhaps even your university book store sell adhesive-backed velcro strips that you can stick to the back of your poster. Use one strip on the back of each small component or, for a large panel, place a strip at each corner. Make sure you use the rough part of the velcro -- the soft part won't stick to the fabric board. If you're not sure whether the surface of the board will be suitable for velcro, bring push pins along just in case. It also doesn't hurt to bring along a roll of masking tape in case neither velcro nor push pins will work with the board, and a roll of clear tape for repairing any damage that occurs during travel. You might also consider laminating your components to make them stronger.

If your poster must be free standing or will be presented on an easel, mount your components or panels on foam core board. This board is generally available at art supply stores and sometimes at college book stores. It is about one-quarter inch thick with a glossy paper front and back and a foam center. Rather than gluing your components to the board, I recommend using flat, colored thumb tacks. Select a color that matches one of the colors you used in your poster or use plain white or black. Tacks are a lot easier to deal with than glue and allow your foam core board to be easily reused.

Free standing boards can be created by hinging two or three foam core panels together with strong tape or by taping a foam core or cardboard strut to the back of a single foam core panel.

However you decide to assemble your poster, do it neatly. If you must cut things out of paper, draw guidelines for yourself with a ruler and cut carefully along the lines. If you must tape things, make sure the tape is not visible on the front of your poster; use double-sided tape if necessary. Use glue sparingly, and test it on a small corner of the paper you are using before applying to large areas. Craft glue can often cause thin paper to wrinkle. Rubber cement sometimes melts ink, especially the wax ink used in some color laser printers. Glue sticks usually work well for attaching white paper to construction paper.

Finally, if you are taking your poster to a conference, pack it so that it will not get damaged in transit. Large panels printed on paper can be rolled and transported in a mailing tube. Foam core boards should be placed in a large cardboard carrier. These carriers are often available for free or at a low price from the stores that sell foam core. If you can't find one, sandwich your foam core boards between two large sheets of corrugated cardboard and place tape around all the sides.

Presenting Your Poster

Go to the poster session ready to talk to a lot of people. Not only is this a good opportunity for you to tell people about your work, but it is also a good opportunity for you to get new ideas that might improve your work. So if people seem interested in what you are doing, engage them in conversation. A poster forum I presented at a few months before I began interviewing for a job was good practice for answering the types of questions I got asked about my research while interviewing.

It's also a good idea to think ahead of time about some of the questions you might get asked. This is especially important if you are presenting a small component of a large group research project. You should have a working knowledge of the whole project and be able to answer questions about the project in general. If you don't think you can do that, talk with the other members of your research group to get a better understanding of the rest of the project. You should also have some knowledge of similar research projects and how your project differs from them. A frequent question people ask about research is how it differs from similar work, so be prepared with an answer.

About the Author

Lorrie Faith Cranor is a professor at Carnegie Mellon University and one of the original editors of this magazine, serving as editor-in-chief from 1994-1996.

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Poster Presentations

• Design and Appearance
• Dissemination
• Free Resources

Presenting In-Person and Digitally

• Elevator Pitch
• Research Storytelling
• Digital Presentation Types
• Asynchronous Examples

An elevator pitch is a 30 second to 2-minute overview of your topic. The pitch typically answers: 

• What is your research topic? 
• What have you found? 
• Why is that important? 

The aim here is to get your audience hooked and wanting further details. 

Source: Scientifica

Check out these examples from students at MIT and see which ones you like the best to mirror your own pitch after. 

Expand on the elevator pitch with a narrative of your project, which may last 3-5 minutes. 

The Plot Diagram below is an organizational tool focusing on a triangular shape, utilized to map the events in a story. This mapping of plot structure allows readers and writers to visualize the key features of stories.

The beginning/exposition draws people in: 

• What is the necessary background information about your research topic that the audience must know? 
• How did this lead you to your research question, what were you hoping to find out and why?

Who are the main characters (e.g. a disease, a drug, a cell type, a brain region, a technique)? What are the relevant parts of their “characteristics” to the story? 

The middle section is the adventure, it answers: 

• How did you get from your research question to your conclusion? Why did you choose to take that route?

What did you find on your way? Were there any interesting twists to your research? 

The end/resolution section is the conclusion to the story: 

• What is the ultimate consequence of your journey? What does this mean for your characters? 
• Is this really the end of the adventure or are there plenty more adventures still to come? What might they look like?

Source: Read Write Think  and  Scientifica

Most virtual poster presentations will still follow the information presented in this guide - from design principles to telling a research story. What's different? They typically take one of two formats - synchronous or asynchronous. 

• Synchronous : Presentations are facilitated with audio/video software (e.g. Zoom) to create a live event where participants present and discuss in real time.
• Asynchronous/text Q&A poster session: Built or hosted on webpages or blogs. The main page lists the posters, and each has its own page with a space for comments and questions.
• This form may require additional software, such as ScreenPal . Other software, such as PowerPoint, includes a recording feature. 

Watch the pre-recorded sample pictured below  here . 

Watch an example here : 

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• Last Updated: Aug 9, 2024 10:03 AM
• URL: https://tamu.libguides.com/posterpresentations

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• Writing Tips

7 Top Tips for Creating a Research Poster

5-minute read

• 12th June 2020

A research poster should demonstrate your key findings clearly and concisely, allowing you to kickstart conversations around your work in class and at conferences and exhibitions. But how do you create a research poster? Here are some tips from our proofreaders.

1. Planning a Research Poster

When you start planning your research poster, check the guidelines for the event where you will be presenting it and make a note of the following:

• The submission dates.
• The size requirements for your poster.
• Any institutional logos or affiliations you need to include.
• Whether you need to include funding information.

Next, think about your audience:

• Who will be looking at your poster?
• How knowledgeable are they likely to be about your topic?
• Where will they see your poster, in a classroom or at a conference?

You can then use these notes to guide your poster design.

2. What Software Should I Use?

You have several options for software you can use to create a research poster. One is Microsoft PowerPoint, which you may already have installed on your computer. This program is easy to use and there are free poster templates available for download .

However, PowerPoint is limited as a design program. As such, you may want to explore other options such as Microsoft Publisher, Adobe Illustrator , or InDesign . These may take a little while to learn if you haven’t used them before, but they may let you achieve much more professional results.

3. What Your Poster Should Include

Before you start writing, think about what you want to say. You will need to ensure your audience can identify the subject and key results of your research at a glance. To this end, your poster should include:

• A title that immediately tells your audience what your research is about.
• A clear introduction that sets out the purpose of your study.
• The methods and procedures you used to find the results.
• A brief discussion and conclusion that sums up your outcomes.
• A  reference list (if required).
• Your name(s) and contact information.

Make a note of all the information you need to include, but remember that you have limited space to work with and stick to the most important details.

4. Research Poster Layout and Design

A good research poster should have a clean and consistent layout. Usually, this will consist of two to four columns (any more and your poster may become hard to read), including text and graphics.

In terms of where to put everything, think about how people read in English (i.e., left to right and top to bottom). Most research posters follow a similar format, with the introduction at the top of the leftmost column and the conclusion and references at the bottom of the rightmost column.

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Beyond this, other poster layout tips to consider include:

• Stick to clear, easy-to-read fonts and don’t use too many (one for your title and headings and another for your text should suffice).
• Make sure text is large enough to read at a distance.
• Use bold fonts for key terms and phrases to make them stand out.
• Choose a color scheme with two or three colors.
• Stay away from excessively bright colors as they can be distracting.
• Do not use patterns, gradients, or photographs for the background of your poster, as they can make the text on top harder to read.

This will make your poster pleasing to look at and easy to read!

5. Writing Style

When you come to write up the text for your poster, remember to:

• Be concise (around 100–200 words per section is usually enough).
• Tailor the language to your audience throughout (e.g., if you were creating a poster for non-academics, you would avoid dense technical language).
• Write in the  active voice where possible.
• Use headings to guide your reader through the poster.
• Use bullet points and numbered lists to make your poster easier to read.

This should ensure you can get your point over quickly and effectively.

6. Images, Tables and Charts

Graphics, such as images, tables and charts, are an excellent way to share your research. Minimally, you should include tables and charts to present your results in an easy-to-digest way, but think about whether other illustrations or images could help, too.

If you do include any graphics, make sure to use high-resolution images (between 200 and 300 ppi) so they will look good when printed.

7. The Final Check

When you have created a first draft of your poster:

• Print an A4-sized color test print to help you find any errors.
• Assess the layout, colors, fonts, and graphics in your poster.
• Make sure your poster follows the size guidelines set out by the event at which you’ll be exhibiting.
• Proofread all the text on your research poster carefully.

This final point is very important, as a research poster filled with errors or typos will undermine the expertise that you are trying to project.

If you spot any issues, make sure to correct them and create another test print. And once you’re happy with your draft poster, that’s it! You are ready to send your masterpiece off to the printers.

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• Nov 14, 2023

How to effectively incorporate citations into your scientific poster

Imagine this: You're fervently collating your latest research into a visually compelling scientific poster. You’ve written your attention-grabbing title , picked a cohesive colour scheme , and planned a logical layout for your content. ✨

Suddenly, you encounter a problem — what do you do about citations and references? 🤔

You have so many “essential” papers, your poster is sure to look cluttered. So, should you include them?

It’s a divisive subject! A recent poll we conducted on LinkedIn revealed a striking split among our audience: 60% believed yes, posters should have references, while the other 40% thought no.

We believe references and citations on scientific posters are optional, not mandatory! But if you choose to include them, we have 3 simple tips to create a clean, reader-friendly and award-winning design . 🔬

The problem with citations and references

We understand that references can demonstrate credibility and integrity, and provide a thread for those interested to pull at for additional information.

However, it's also true that they can turn your poster into a hot mess if not handled properly. 🫣

Disrupt the flow of text. 📝

Fragment your sentences. 💔

Clutter your poster reducing negative space. 🫨

Decrease readability. 😵‍💫

And reduce visual appeal. 🙅🏽‍♀️

The challenge of including citations without compromising readability and aesthetics is real. AND we get it! Formatting citations and references can be a nightmare at the best of times!

And this task only becomes that much harder when you apply it to a scientific poster, with limited space.

Tip 1: Choose your in-text citation style wisely

Unlike a journal article, the referencing style for a scientific conference poster is often not dictated. So the choice is up to you!

And what a difference it can make. Let's take a look.👇

Avoid (author, date) in-text citation styles for a scientific poster.

While (author, date) citation styles are common, they can easily clutter and disrupt the smooth flow of text on your scientific poster!

Some common styles are:

APA (American Psychological Association)

Harvard referencing

MLA (Modern Language Association)

And the list goes on.

Don’t get us wrong, these styles certainly have their place. In fact, they are often required for journal submissions and University assessments. But here is the problem, they take up too much space! So we recommend you steer clear of all (author, date) in-text citation styles for scientific posters.

Use footnotes, endnotes or a numbered citation style instead!

Just like a well-placed puzzle piece 🧩 footnotes, endnotes and numbered citations seamlessly integrate into the text, offering the necessary source information without overloading the text. ✨

So, what’s the difference between a footnote, endnote and numbered citation, you ask?

Well when it comes to a scientific poster a footnote and an endnote are indistinguishable. A footnote appears at the bottom of the page containing the sentence to which it refers. Whilst endnotes are lists at the end of the document , similar to a reference list or bibliography.

Since a scientific poster is only one page, both terms can be used interchangeably.

A numbered citation style, such as Vancouver referencing, has the same principle. And can either be written in line with the text within rounded brackets (1) or using superscript¹.

As you can see, that small little superscript number does not overwhelm the sentence, drastically increase the amount of text or clutter the poster. However it does still provide appropriate recognition to previous work and give both you and the reader essential sources to refer to, if needed.

We recommend to use footnotes, endnotes or a numbered citation style, for your scientific poster.

Tip 2: Use only 3-4 essential references

This may be the most important tip! We recommend limiting the number of references to a maximum of 3 to 4, focusing on the most impactful and relevant sources to your research. 🔬

There are two main ways to do this:

Reduce the amount of content on your poster! ✅ Distil your introduction, methods and conclusion down to the core points and avoid introducing too many new concepts. This makes your poster more accessible and automatically decreases the number of references required. Talk about win win!

Reduce the number of references per finding! ✅ In contrast to a manuscript or a literature review, where you cite every single paper that has came to the same conclusion, instead just cite the first original paper, or the most impactful to your work. This will limit the number of necessary citations and references.

Tip 3: Format your reference list to be as concise as possible

Unfortunately, your reference list can get long—wayy too long—taking up valuable real estate on your poster if you are not careful. 🙃

Here are our top tips to minimise your reference list:

Reduce the number of references We said it before, and we’ll say it again! Limit yourself to 3 or 4 necessary references. This will, as you guessed, give you more space in your reference list.

Keep text small As long as it’s readable the text of your reference list can be smaller than your body text, if needed.

Stick to the essentials Format your references to be as concise as possible and include only the necessary information, such as:

✍🏻 First author

📗 Journal details

So, there you have it! Creating a clean, clutter-free poster with appropriate citations is entirely achievable. 🙌 The key lies in selecting the right style to seamlessly incorporate them into your scientific poster, reserving citations for only the absolutely essential references and formatting your reference list to be super-duper concise.

Still feel like you want some extra help?

We’ve only just scratched the surface on what makes a clean and clutter-free poster!

Here at Animate Your Science, we’ve developed a whole online course: How to Design an Award-Winning Scientific Poster to take you through the key design principles of designing a poster. With nothing but positive reviews from academics all over the world, we think you will love our award-winning formula too.

You can go at your own pace, with only 3 hours of learning across 33 video lessons, you can arm yourself with the skills and knowledge to create your own captivating scientific posters. As a bonus, we also include 8 templates & downloads for you! 🤩

Learn more about our online scientific poster here or contact our team today to maximise your research poster’s impact. ✨

Related Posts

How to Design an Award-Winning Scientific Conference Poster

Best examples of scientific posters

How to deliver an engaging scientific poster presentation: Dos and Don’ts!

Create an Academic Research Poster

 Here's an example of a poster the library made with the criteria for an academic poster .  You can click on the image of the poster to download it as a PDF file.

This poster was created with PowerPoint. It is a 36 x 48 inch poster.

You will need to change the slide size to match the poster size.  Here's a quick tutorial on how to make the PowerPoint slide size change .

All of your information will go on that one slide.  With the poster being so large it is easy to misjudge the size of the text and images. Use the display board tips to help guide you in creating your poster. Zoom in on the information you have added to make sure there are no misspellings.

Creating an Online Virtual Poster

Free resources you can use to create an online poster:

• Adobe Express 
• DesignCap 

Ask your instructor what the requirements are for your class.  This may be a good resource for online classes.

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