Poster Guidlines

POSTER GUIDELINES

UNION COLLEGE ENGINEERING DIVISION POSTER WEB SITE: http://cs.union.edu/Poster/

GENERAL GUIDELINES FOR WHAT SHOULD BE ON A POSTER:

Title: Should convey the "issue," the approach, and the system (organism); needs to be catchy in order to "reel in" intoxicated passersby. [Maximum length: try to keep to 1-2 lines.]
Abstract: Do not include an abstract on a poster! If you are presenting your poster at a meeting, you will probably be asked to submit an abstract; this abstract is for inclusion in the "meeting catalog", and should not be viewed as a hint from meeting organizers that you should include this section on your poster. If for some reason you are forced to include an Abstract section on your poster, please certainly abide by those rules, but consider asking the meeting organizer why on earth the section is necessary.
Introduction: Get your viewer interested about the issue or question while using the absolute minimum of background information and definitions (such things put a reader to sleep); quickly place your issue in the context of published, primary literature; provide description and justification of general experimental approach and hint at why your study organism is ideal for such research; give clear statement of hypothesis. It is good to use a photograph in this section if it can get your viewers oriented on your organism or study question quickly (note that you would never do this in a normal laboratory write-up). [Maximum length: approximately 200 words.]
Materials and methods: Briefly describe experimental equipment and methods, but not with the detail used for a manuscript; use figures and tables to illustrate experimental design if possible; use flow charts (the type with text and drawings within boxes) to summarize reaction steps or timing of experimental procedures; include photograph or labeled drawing of organism; mention statistical analyses that were used and how they allowed you to address hypothesis. [Maximum length: approximately 200 words.]
Results: First, mention whether experiment worked (e.g., "90% of the birds survived the brainectomy"); in same paragraph, briefly describe qualitative and descriptive results (e.g., “surviving birds appeared to be lethargic and had difficulty locating seeds”); in second paragraph, begin presentation of data analysis that more specifically addresses the hypothesis; refer to supporting charts or images; provide extremely engaging figure legends that could stand on their own (i.e., could convey some point to reader if viewer skipped all other sections, which they usually do); place tables with legends, too, but opt for figures whenever possible (tables put viewers to sleep). This is always the largest section. [Maximum length: approximately 200 words, not counting figure legends.]
Conclusions: Remind (without sounding like you are reminding) the reader of hypothesis and result, and quickly state whether your hypothesis was supported; discuss why your results are conclusive and interesting (attempt to convince reader of these points); relevance of your findings to other published work; relevance to real organisms in the real world; future directions. [Maximum length: approximately 300 words.]
Literature cited: Follow standard biology format exactly (don't wing this!); web sites and rumors you heard at Starbuck's are equally undesirable sources: find a journal article that supports your needed fact. Also, if you haven’t read a journal article completely (e.g., you could only view the abstract online) you may not cite it!. [Maximum length: approximately 10 citations.]
Acknowledgments: Thank individuals for specific contributions to project (equipment donation, statistical advice, laboratory assistance, comments on earlier versions); mention who has provided funding; be sincere but do not lapse too much into informality in this section; do not list people's titles. [Maximum length: approximately 40 words.]
Further information: There will be people, hopefully, who want to know more about your research, and you can use this section to provide your e-mail address, your website address, and perhaps a URL where they can download a PDF version of the poster. [Maximum length: approximately 20 words.]

POSTER DESIGN

Plan, plan and plan!
Keep the material simple
- make full use of the space, but do not cramp a page full of information as the result can often appear messy
- be concise and do not waffle. Use only pertinent information to convey your message
- be selective when showing results. Present only those that illustrate the main findings of the project. However, do keep other results handy so that you may refer to them when asked
Use colours sparingly and with taste
- colours should be used only to emphasise, differentiate and to add interest. Do not use colours just to impress!
- try to avoid using large swathes of bright garish colours like bright green, pink, orange or lilac. Yuck!!
- pastel shades convey feelings of serenity and calm while dark bright colours conjure images of conflict and disharmony.
- choose background and foreground colour combinations that have high contrast and complement each other - black or dark blue on white or very light grey is good.
- it is better to keep the background light as people are used to it (for example newspapers and books)
- if you insist on having a dark background, use coloured paper so that you would not have to spray white paper with ink. Not only is this cheaper, you would also not face the problem of a soaked and distorted page.
- avoid the use of gradient fills. They may look great on a computer display, but unless you have access to a high resolution printer, the paper version can look really tatty.
Do not use more than 2 font types
- too many font types distracts, especially when they appear on the same sentence
- fonts that are easy on the eyes are Times-Roman and Arial.
  
  This is Times-Roman
  
  This is Arial
Titles and headings should appear larger than other text, but not too large. The text should also be legible from a distance, say from 1.5m to 2m.
Do not use all UPPER CASE type in your posters. It can make the material difficult to read. Just compare the two sentences below:

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THIS LINE WHERE ALL THE CHARACTERS ARE IN UPPER CASE?

What do you think of this line, where only the first character of the first word is in upper case?
Do not use a different font type to highlight important points
- otherwise the fluency and flow of your sentence can appear disrupted. For example,
  
  In this sentence, I want to emphasise the word 'emphasise'.
  
  In this sentence, I want to emphasise the word 'emphasise'.
- use underlined text, the bold face or italics or combinations to emphasise words and phrases.
- if you use bold italicised print for emphasis, then underlining is not necessary - overkill!
Equations
- should be kept to a minimum
- present only the necessary and important equations
- should be large enough
- should be accompanied by nomenclature to explain the significance of each variable
A picture is worth a thousand words … (but only if it is drawn properly and used appropriately)
- graphs
  - choose graphs types that are appropriate to the information that you want to display
  - annotations should be large enough, and the lines of line-graphs should be thick enough so that they may be viewed from a distance
  - do not attempt to have more than six line-graphs on a single plot
  - instead of using lines of different thickness, use contrasting coloured lines or different line styles to distinguish between different lines in multi-line graphs.
  - multi-line plots or plots with more than one variable should have a legend relating the plotted variable to the colour or style of the line.
- diagrams and drawings,
  - should be labelled
  - drawings and labels should be large and clear enough so that they are still legible from a distance
  - do not try to cramp labelling to fit into components of a drawing or diagram. Use 'arrows' and 'callouts'
- clipart
  - should only be used if they add interest to the display and complement the subject matter. Otherwise, all they do is to distract attention from the focus of the presentation.
  - can also be 'dangerous' as you may spend more time fiddling about with images and choosing appropriate cartoons than concentrating on the content.
Check your spelling
- there is nothing more amusing or annoying than spelling mistakes on public display, especially if they are on the title page.
- spelling mistakes give the impression that you have not put in the effort; careless; not bothered; not worthy of high assessment scores.
Maintain a consistent style
- inconsistent styles give the impression of disharmony and can interrupt the fluency and flow of your messages.
- headings on the different pages of the poster should appear in the same position on all pages.
- graphs should be of the same size and scale especially if they are to be compared.
- if bold lettering is used for emphasis on one page, then do not use italics on others.
- captions for graphs, drawings and tables should either be positioned at the top or at the bottom of the figure.
Arrangement of poster components should appear smooth
- you would probably be preparing sections of the poster on A4 sized paper before sticking them onto mounting boards or display stands.
- remember that you are using posters to tell a story about what you have done and achieved. As in report writing, the way you arrange the sections should follow the 'storyline'.
- sometimes it is helpful if you provide cutouts of arrows to direct attention to the sequence of the presentation
- use a new page to start off a new section
Review, review and review
- make draft versions of your poster sections and check them for
  - mistakes
  - legibility and
  - inconsistency in style
- try different layout arrangements
- ask your partner, friends, colleagues or supervisor for their 'honest' opinions
- be critical

POSTER TEMPLATES:

http://www.posterpresentations.com/html/free_poster_templates.html