preparing scientific poster

PREPARING YOU SCIENTIFIC POSTER

Isra Al-Turaiki, PhD

Information Technology Department

College of Computer and Information Sciences

Outline• Research poster:

• What is it and Why?• What to include?• Design: Size, Layout, Fonts, Colors, Figures• Judge’s point of view• The poster session itself• Examples

• Hands-on part• 45 minutes to design your own poster and get

instant feedback

What is a Poster?

Display boards on which scientists show data and describe experiments for recently completed research or research in progress but not yet published.

Why Posters?

Poster vs. Manuscript

• Posters have much greater visual impact.• Contain less text.• Most of the space will be used to illustrate the

results (images, tables, graphs or charts).• The materials and methods and discussion sections

are brief. • Only the essential images, tables or graphs should

be selected.• Author decides layout.

Poster vs. Oral Presentation

Poster audience can:• concentrate on parts they’re most interested in.• determine time to spend studying material • interact individually with presenter.• walk around.

Poster Organization • Title• Abstract• Introduction• Methods• Results• Discussion• References• Acknowledgement

Poster Organization

Title and Author [1-2 lines]• Brief, informative, interesting, attention-getting, inviting • The title should be at no smaller than 55 point type. • Include your name and school, as well as your faculty

mentor’s name, department, logo.

Poster Organization

Abstract:• A statement of the research question/s or problem/s. • Typically around 175-250 words.

Poster Organization

Introduction [200 words]

answer the:

1. What?

2. Why? Significance of your question.

Poster Organization

Methods [200 words] • Describe the steps you used for your research.• Equipment used.• But not with much details!• Use flowcharts and figures.

Poster Organization

Results/Data Analysis [200 words] • More space should be devoted to your results than to any

other section. • This is where you should use graphics, images and tables• Describe what you found.

Poster Organization

Discussion/Conclusion [200 words] • What can you conclude from your research• What are the implications and the importance of your

findings? • How does this compare to what others have found? • Future work: what is the next step for your project.

Poster Organization

References [5-10 lines]• Major sources on which your research project relied.

Poster Organization

Acknowledgment [40 words]

People who helped you with your research and/or poster. • Mentors and/or collaborators.• Funders

Poster Layouts• use a visual grammar to guide readers to the important

parts of your poster.

http://www.ncsu.edu/project/posters/CreatePosterLayout.html

Poster Layouts• use a column format to make your poster easier to read

in a crowd.

http://www.ncsu.edu/project/posters/CreatePosterLayout.html

Poster Layouts

https://connect.le.ac.uk/posters

Poster Layouts

https://connect.le.ac.uk/posters

Poster Figures• Simple and clean• Self explanatory• Require a minimum of supplemental text• Readable from 6 feet away

Poster Figures

Image Quality

For good quality printing:• aim for at least 200 dots per inch (dpi), i.e. 80 dots per

cm• but preferably 300 dpi (120 dpcm)

Poster Size

Paper size Portrait (w x h) Landscape (w x h)

A0 84.1 x 118.9 cm 118.9 x 84.1 cm

A1 59.4 x 84.1 cm 84.1 x 59.4 cm

A2 42.0 x 59.4 cm 59.4 x 42.0 cm

Poster Design in PowerPoint

• Posters are designed as a single slide• Go into File Page Setup

Poster Design in PowerPoint

• Text can be typed directly in or cut and paste from existing documents

• Import charts/tables/diagrams• Print the poster out at A4: the text should still be readable

at this size• Some possible font sizes?

https://intranet.birmingham.ac.uk/as/studentservices/graduateschool/skills/tkposter.aspx

Title: 80 ptAuthors: 54 ptSubheadings: 36 ptBody text: 24 ptCaptions: 18pt

Font Size?

Font Type?

Sans-Serif Fonts (e.g. Arial, Verdana) Titles and Headings.

�Serif Fonts (e.g. Times New Roman, Garamond)

For larger blocks of Text

https://www.wpi.edu/Academics/ATC/Media/poster-tips.pdf

Use of Colors?

Use of Colors?

Text

Text

Text

Text

Text

Text

Select Colors in PowerPoint

Choose Colors: From Images

https://connect.le.ac.uk/posters

Choose Colors: Color Wheel

https://connect.le.ac.uk/posters

Choose Colors: Color Wheel

https://connect.le.ac.uk/posters

Choose Colors: Color Wheel

https://connect.le.ac.uk/posters

Choosing Colorhttp://colorschemedesigner.com/csd-3.5/

Remember

A good poster:• Tells a story.• Can be read from more than 5-7 feet away (1.5 -2 m).• Poster content should be 60 percent images, 40 percent

text.• Is interesting and eye-catching.• Has a simple, uncluttered design.• Uses clear language and images in a logical sequence.• Summarizes key points without excess detail.

http://www.ext.colostate.edu/staffres/poster.pdf

The Poster Session Itself • Practice your poster overview.• Don’t talk only to your friends at the session—the idea is

to network and share ideas with others• Smile and greet people, get their buy-in (e.g., “Can I give

you a 1-minute overview of our poster?”)• Develop a 1-minute, 3-minute, and 5-minute overview of

your poster

General Questions

People Will Ask You • Can you run me through your poster?• How did you get interested in this project?• Were the findings what you expected?• What was the most difficult aspect of this project?• What have other people in your field found?

A Judge’s Viewpoint

A Judge’s Viewpoint

A Judge’s Viewpoint

Poster Examples

http://colinpurrington.com/2012/example-of-bad-scientific-poster/

Another Example

http://betterposters.blogspot.com/

Final Thoughts

“A good poster can’t make up for bad research, but a bad poster can make good research hard to recognize!”

http://www.washington.edu/research/urp/downloads/symposium12_Poster_Design_handouts.pdf

Thank You