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Before you begin creating your actual research poster, you need to create the information that you're planning on including. When creating your research content, some things to keep in mind:
These are the recommended parts of a poster. Depending on your topic, you may need more or fewer sections than are described here. Don't be afraid to deviate from the list if it better suits your research. Keep in mind that a poster for a class, University event, or conference may require a course number, University logo, abstract and/or other information. Please look at the requirements for your event, class, symposium, etc., for essential content items.
Your name should be present on the poster. Also consider including the name of the event, your contact info, the year, and other "citation" information.
Your title should be descriptive and take no more than two lines. Choose a capitalization scheme, such as All Caps (every letter is capitalized), Title Case (capitalize every major word, like in book titles), or Sentence Case (capitalize the first word and proper nouns). Try to make your title catchy as well, as it may be the only thing people will read before deciding to whether or not to read your poster.
At some events, you may be required to have an abstract section on your poster. If you are, have an abstract. If you are not required to have an abstract, consider not including an abstract and instead think of the whole poster as an abstract of your work.
Include background information in this section, and get the audience interested in why your research is interesting and important. This is a hook to encourage the audience to read further. It may also be a good place for an illustrative photo or image.
Describe your experimental procedure here, and use figures, charts, diagrams, etc., to make the method clear to the audience. Be clear and concise.
Lead with whether or not your experiment was successful and a short description of the data. Then expand on your results and include appropriate figures and graphs. Sometimes, this may be the only section of a poster someone will read, so make the data and results clear.
Again, state the major outcome of the experiment or study. Remind people why the topic is interesting and important, as well as mentioning possible future directions for research, the importance of the topic in relation to major work on the subject, etc.
Cite any item referenced in the poster, as well as other major works in the field. Include a complete bibliography on a handout.
Thank mentors and advisers here, and if you have received funding thank the person or office in charge of the funds.
Include your contact info for people who want more information. If your project includes a website or a link to download a PDF of your poster, link it here (just make sure the link isn't blue and underlined on the poster).
To use PowerPoint to create a post, the slide must be resized to match the size of the poster before images, text, and other information is added to the poster. Otherwise, the poster will not print properly. To resize a PowerPoint slide, follow these directions:
