Poster Preparation
For general poster help, visit the Cain Project website's page on poster preparation.
For more tips on poster presentation, please view the presentation from Dr. Deborah Barrett: Presentation #1(downloadable pdf) Presentation #2(downloadable pdf)
The space available for posters at this conference will be half of a large 4' x 8' board. Thus, your poster must fit within a 4' x 4' space. The contents of a poster will vary between departments. Consult the book of guidelines utilized by your field and follow the specified format. Generally, posters contain the same elements as a research paper:
- Title: Should be informative, short, and attention getting
- Abstract: Why, how, and what were the results. It should be easy to read and clearly state your conclusions
- Introduction: Clearly define goals, describe the problem and approach
- Methods: How did the experiment address the problem? How did you do the experiment? Limit this section to what is crucial.
- Results: The most important part - what did you find?
- Graphics: Include statistics test results and interpretation
- Conclusion: Should include a summary of implications and future direction.
- References: They do not need to be as extensive as the section in the paper, cite everything used on the poster and provide those most relevant to the literature context of your work.
The goal is to present this information in an eye-catching and straightforward manner. Try to gear the information on the posters to an audience who may or may not be familiar with your field.
Humanities, music, and architecture students may find it difficult to conform to this structure. It is acceptable to modify the presentation technique to accomodate your project.
Basics:
- minimize the amount of text; use simple, easy to read fonts; and clearly state your points: you only have about 11 seconds to grab and retain your audience's as attention
- use a large font (about 24-point font) for all text including figure captions (can you read the sections from about six feet away?)
- label all graphs and figures
- use as many graphs or visuals as possible
Poster layout:
1. Start Early
Plan your poster ahead of time, you can lay your sections out in an 4x8 flat surface. Allow 2-3 days to cut and assemble. Remember that other students will be working on posters at the same time and there may be a line at the copier or printers. Each section of the poster can be mounted separately. The symposium will only provide a 4x8 board and push-pins and the poster should be assembled on site.
2. Organization
Simplify: poster should not be crowded, nothing should be duplicated, everything should be as simple as possible. Clearly explain data, and refrain from using words recognizable only within your field. Lay everything out in a logical order so that it can be read linearly from one section to the next. The best way to do this is in the form of columns that move from left to right so that it can be read from top to bottom.
3. Text
The font size should be very large and be read from about 6 feet away (about 20-point). Figures and Tables should be self-explanatory. The title should be large enough to be read about 25 feet away (at least 72 point bold font) and should accurately reflect the nature of the work. It should not take up more than two lines, if it does, shorten the title, do not decrease the size of the font. Make sure to include the names of all the authors, including professors and graduate students that may have co-authored the project.
4. Color
You can mount the individual sections on colored paper, print on colored paper, vary the size of the sections, or other enhancements to make the poster eye-catching Do not overwhelm the poster with colors and color combinations that will detract from the poster.
5. Neatness is important
Other information
You can be creative with the posters as long as they display all of the necessary information.
Sample posters are available on the RURS 2009 Owlspace under the Resources tab.
RURS 2009 Owlspace
Students who are in the Humanities may find the creation of posters a little more difficult. Speak with your advisors for suggestions of how to visually represent some area of your project, but it is acceptable in the humanities that more of your presentation be verbal.
If you have any questions please contact rurs@rice.edu for more information
Example of citation of your poster
(can be used for resumes and graduate school applications)
A poster presentation in a conference is a citation for you that can be used on resumes and graduate school applications. The citation will vary between fields. You should consult the publication manual in your field for the format and guidelines. The following is an example from the American Psychological Association (APA) Guidelines:
Author: Shapiro, J., Mannix, L., & Hebl, M. (don't forget graduate students and professors that may have worked with you!)
Date: April 2002
Title: Disparity between men and women basketball ticket pricing. (use the title from the poster, which may or may not be different from the title on your actual paper)
Conference Name: Rice Undergraduate Research Symposium, Houston, TX.
Citation:
Shapiro, J., Mannix, L., & Hebl, M. (2002, April). Disparity between men and women basketball ticket pricing. Poster presentation presented at the annual meeting of the Rice Undergraduate Research Symposium, Houston, TX.
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