dissertation poster ideas

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Presentations: posters

Effective poster presentations.

An effective poster presentation and a good oral presentation share many qualities: it's important to know your audience and their needs, be confident of your purpose, and to convey your key message with impact. Poster presentations challenge you to communicate your research in a different way to oral presentations or written assignments.

Before you start, make sure you read the marking and assessment guidelines and follow them.

Here are some key things that make an effective poster:

• Attractive visual impact to entice people to read it
• A compelling title, interesting and intriguing enough to compel your audience’s attention
• A clear message that differentiates your research poster from others
• Good use of images and diagrams – a picture paints a thousand words in a restricted space
• An obvious reading order
• Audience interaction – is there something you want your audience to do, or think about, as a result of reading your poster?

This guide will cover planning and designing your poster presentation. We will also consider how poster presentations are assessed.

Crafting an Excellent (PhD) Research Poster

“A research poster is a well-structured, attractive, self-explanatory and concise piece of information representing your PhD or research work.” 

A PhD student should have to do a lot of stuff during the entire tenure of their PhD. Their work includes searching the literature, writing thesis & research articles, doing lab work & fieldwork and conducting lectures. 

They also have to present their work too to get academic and research recognition. In fact, in some countries and education systems, 1 to 2 research presentations are mandatory. 

Meaning, prospective students must have to present their work besides completing other criteria. One has to wait a bit more if they fail to do this. So presenting your work has significant importance much like your PhD thesis or research article. 

Students can present their work in scientific gatherings such as seminars, symposiums or conferences. Two common ways to present the research work are either presenting it through presentation or through research posters. 

Most students prefer presenting a poster rather than facing scientists during the presentation. And of course, it’s an easy way too. You may even win prizes ( the majority of students just want to present it! They don’t even bother about prizes and positions. ) 

So the moral of the story is that if you are in a PhD or doctorate, you will probably have to present a research poster in the coming time or in the future. 

Sometimes, a bad research paper may spoil your and your supervisor’s reputation, that’s why it should be nearly perfect. In this blog post, I am gonna tell you how you can make an excellent research poster, why it’s needed and why it is important! 

I will also tell you to use which platforms for making an amazing poster. So I know the topic perhaps isn’t important for you now! But it will save your PhD, trust me. 

Stay tuned, 

What is a research poster? 

A research poster is a part of the academic curriculums in the majority of Education systems in which students can present their work. Schools conduct poster sessions for fun activities and encourage students to be more and more involved in research. 

However, universities conduct research poster presentations to establish someone’s original work. 

Put simply, it’s a platform for prospective candidates to present their research or a minute portion of their work in front of the scientific community. 

Definition: 

A research poster comprises research in summarize, concise, and attractive manner including texts, infographics, images and colors. 

What is the importance of a research poster?

As I said, there are several benefits of presenting a poster. First, you can consider it as a gate to enter the scientific fraternity. It’s not just a poster, it’s a piece of information, a valuable one and useful. 

Online platforms such as “ResearchGate” have options to add posters in your “research portfolio”, meaning, it is essential.

You can get scientific recognition as well as acknowledgment if you have done fantastic research. 

A research poster is mandatory to achieve a doctorate degree. It is one of the measures to award the degree. 

You can interact with other newbie researchers in your field and can make a community. 

You can interact and get in contact with some well-known scientists too. You even can take their help in your PhD. 

Last but not the least, you can win a prize! 

What to include in the research poster? 

Now you may wonder how you can make an outstanding but professional poster. Here are ‘must include’ things.

• Words and attractive titles. 
• Colors and shapes 
• Interactive and infographics 
• Statistics, graphs and images. 

Any research which belongs to you can be included. These technical thighs must be there too, 

• Introduction 
• Material & methods 
• Results and conclusion 
• References. 

Keep in mind that you ain’t writing a research paper , use less text and try to make it attractive. Here are examples, 

In addition, don’t forget to mention your name, your guide’s name, institutional affiliation and University on the poster. If possible include acknowledgments too. 

How to make an excellent research poster? 

• Include words around 300 to 800 (maximum). 
• A reader can read your text from a minimum of 10 feet. 
• Write to the point 
• Propose a short, self-explanatory and interest-driven title 
• Use eye-catchy colors and a professional layout. 

Research poster Template specifications: 

Here I have given two different poster template formats which are common. You can use a wider one or a longer one, that depends on you. However, how you present it matters more than the design. 

Tips for a Research Paper: 

• Use a chart or something like that to present the Material and methods section. 
• Present results in Charts and tables. 
• Include statistical analysis in results to avoid unnecessary data. 
• Use images to show the introduction and background. 

Conclusion: 

A research poster is a unique opportunity for newbie scientists that present their work. When someone gives you positive feedback or appreciates your work, you feel great. And that’s important. 

Timely presenting work will boost your confidence to do more with your PhD work, and I think perhaps it’s the main objective of conducting a presentation session. 

In addition, use Powerpoint Presentation or Keynote for preparing it, or you can make your work easy by choosing ready-to-use templates available online. 

Remember a research poster is as important as your dissertation, research paper or viva. If you have any suggestions or questions do let me know in the comment section. 

Dr. Tushar Chauhan is a Scientist, Blogger and Scientific-writer. He has completed PhD in Genetics. Dr. Chauhan is a PhD coach and tutor.

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‘Ten top tips’ for designing a research poster

Shahan Choudhury (he/him) is an Applied Linguist and a postgraduate researcher in Education. His PhD focuses on children’s and teachers’ understanding of English grammar in reading and writing contexts and how grammar is used. He is a part-time lecturer in Academic English at Anglia Ruskin University. At Exeter, he co-delivers Designing Research Posters, Writing Journal Articles and Academic Writing. His aim is to help others improve their reading and writing through the understanding of grammar.

If you are considering designing a research poster, get started with the ten top tips below developed by the Designing Effective Research Posters skills training leads.

• The key aim of a research poster is to summarise research results in a concise and attractive Always keep this point at the forefront of your mind during the design stage. Totally stuck for ideas? Have a look at some research posters online, or perhaps stroll through some University buildings which sometimes have them up, such as the hallways of Hatherley or Washington Singer on Streatham.
• Why am I doing this poster?
• What is my core message?
• Perhaps most importantly – What do I want to achieve (e.g., sparking discussion, networking, attracting funders)?
• The university logo (and funders’ one, if applicable), which you can access from here: https://www.exeter.ac.uk/departments/communication/communications/design/downloads/
• Your name with an asterisk, and others that contributed to the project
• Contact information of all contributors
• Adapting your message to your audience : If your audience is all within your discipline, how would you change what you say, for example for an interdisciplinary conference? Think about things you would need to do to make it accessible for each audience.
• The words you will use. How much / what jargon is appropriate?
• Sentence length – short is preferred!
• Keep it formal
• Keep explanations as simple as possible
• When using images and diagrams, are they self-explanatory, or is a little annotation needed?
• Font is clear and legible
• Images​ are appropriate and relevant
• It is not over-crowded
• It is not text-heavy
• You use colours that complement each other
• It takes time! Give yourself plenty of time to work on it – it is fun but can take longer than you think.
• Reuse your templates ! If you have done steps 1-3 above, you should be well on your way to designing your personalised template. Remember, you can re-use it each time you do a different poster.
• The extra flair: Give your poster an edge by adding ORCiD, QR codes, or even a link to a video!
• And finally: show your poster to a friend, colleague and family member even, asking them what they think of it – you might be pleasantly surprised at how much you learn by getting other peoples’ views!

We hope this helps. Enjoy getting started with your research poster!

Subject guides

Dissertation survival guide: posters and presentations.

• Choosing a topic
• Literature searching
• Evaluating your sources
• Methodology & Data Analysis
• Referencing

Posters and presentations

On some courses, you may be asked to create a poster or presentation to present part of your dissertation or project.

Use the resources below to help you put together a high-quality poster, and present in a confident and professional way.

Always check your Brightspace module, and assignment brief, for any specific guidance you need to follow on the layout and format of your poster or presentation.

Presentations

Nervous about giving a presentation? Use the links below to help you practice and deliver in a confident, professional way.

• PowerPoint Presenter Coach In Office365 (available to all Huddersfield students), PowerPoint has a built-in "presenter coach" feature. Use this to practice your presentation, and get real-time feedback on the speed and clarity of your speech.
• Record your presentation If you need to record a version of your presentation to upload online, use these instructions for recording voiceover to PowerPoint.
• Presenting in Teams If you need to give an online presentation using Microsoft Teams, here are some instructions on sharing your PowerPoint in a Teams meeting.
• Develop your presentation skills Use these LinkedIn Learning online courses to develop your presentation skills.

Some courses may require you to produce a poster showing part of your research findings. Or, you may wish to present your work at an academic conference. See the links below for advice on presenting your work with a poster.

• How to create a research poster Simple step-by-step guide from New York University.
• How to design an award-winning poster More detailed advice on taking your poster design to the next level, from London School of Economics.
• How to create a better research poster in less time YouTube video with advice on making an eye-catching poster that can be easily read from a distance.
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Blog Data Visualization 12 Scientific Poster Examples [And How To Create One]

12 Scientific Poster Examples [And How To Create One]

Written by: Ivonna Cabrera Jul 02, 2023

Truth be told, scientific posters are effective at piquing interest. It’s incredible how graphics and presentation style can attract audiences.

Want to make a scientific poster but don’t know how? Well, you no longer need to be a design guru if you use Venngage’s Poster Maker .

You can speed up the process even more by using our scientific poster templates.

Before I dive right into scientific poster examples, let’s discuss what scientific posters are in the first place.

Click to jump ahead:

What is a scientific poster?

Best examples of scientific posters, how to create a scientific poster, what makes a good scientific poster.

• What you need to make a scientific poster
• What’s the purpose of a scientific or research poster?

A scientific poster is a visual presentation of research findings or scientific information shared with audiences at conferences, symposiums, and academic events. Scientific posters generally provide information on topics their authors are currently discussing.

Many scientists, researchers and medical experts use scientific posters to explain their findings in a simple and easy-to-understand format.

Of course, text isn’t the best way to show how scientific posters work.

So, I’ll let these examples do the talking.

Academic scientific poster examples

An academic scientific poster presents complicated information in a visually appealing manner.

Choosing the right poster layout is important here. Generally, sections such as an introduction, use, process, and takeaways allow students to understand a process or concept in a step-by-step method.

Here’s a great example of a scientific poster that discusses distillation:

Just so you know, some of our scientific poster templates are free to use and some require a small monthly fee. Sign up is always free, as is access to Venngage’s online drag-and-drop editor.

Often, it’s also important to separate information into categories and develop data in a clear and concise manner.

Is your scientific poster focused on environmental issues? Explore our gallery of environmental poster templates for inspiration and designs tailored to your topic.

Chemistry poster examples

Chemistry posters play a vital role in the scientific community by highlighting the importance of chemistry as a subject.

They also promote a deeper understanding of its principles and applications.

Here’s a great example:

A chemistry poster is usually organized in a logical and structured manner to effectively convey information.

Here are some common elements you can find in chemistry posters:

• Introduction

Here’s another example of a chemistry poster that displays only the abstract to hook the reader.

Lab poster examples

Lab posters are effective at sharing scientific knowledge, promoting discussion and collaboration, and disseminating research findings.

They provide a visual platform to showcase research efforts and contribute to the advancement of scientific knowledge in various fields of study.

In the lab poster below, the impact of overeating and binge drinking on the health of college students is presented in a format that anyone can understand the takeaway in a single glance.

Now that you know everything about scientific posters, it’s time to create your own.

Step 1 – Sign up for a free Venngage account

Start the process by  signing up  for Venngage with your email, Gmail or Facebook account.

Step 2 – Select a template from our library

Besides the examples above, you’ll find a sizeable collection of poster templates and specifically scientific posters to choose from.

There’s a template for every need, from a scientific poster for a case study review to templates focused on presenting complex data.

Step 3 – Edit your scientific poster with our editor

All our scientific poster templates can be edited using a simple drag-and-drop interface.

Feel free to change the colors, text, icons, or illustrations to make the design your own or simply input your data to have an optimized scientific poster in minutes.

Step 4 – Bring your scientific poster to life with icons, illustrations and branding elements

Venngage offers 40,000 icons and illustrations to help you visualize and bring a scientific poster to life.

If you upgrade to a  Business  account, you can also enjoy  My Brand Kit  — the one-click branding kit that lets you upload your logo and apply brand colors and fonts to any design.

Step 5 – Share a link to your scientific poster or upgrade to download

Once you upgrade to a  Business  account, you can download your scientific poster as a PNG, PDF, or interactive PDF.

But you can always share your scientific poster online for free.

Searching for a tech poster template? Explore these tech poster designs for useful and innovative templates.

A good scientific poster is often an attractive and easy-to-read presentation of scientific research .

They may include images, diagrams, graphs and tables, and they often focus on one or two main points.

Combining data and design together makes it easy for readers to dissect information easily, thanks to an attention-grabbing layout, simplified language and easy-to-follow jargon explanations where necessary.

A lot of layouts allow you to prioritize information and separate it into circles or boxes, like in the template above.

This type of poster design allows the reader to consume less time when reading the full context of a situation.

What do you need to make a useful scientific poster?

This is the section you’ve been waiting for — the best way to make a scientific poster from scratch.

Read on to learn about the steps below, and they come with easy-to-follow examples, too.

Study good scientific or academic poster examples

Venngage has great scientific poster templates for your first scientific poster. You can customize these templates using Venngage’s drag-and-drop editor.

Let’s take a look at each of them below.

The sparse but surgically precise use of text here contrasts the lush use of plants to explain photosynthesis.

Short explanations can be accompanied by explainer text in corner resource boxes that discuss the other details of photosynthesis.

Good science poster examples are readable from 10 feet away

There are many reasons why posters should be readable from 10 feet away.

The main reason is to allow readers to fully understand the concept from where they stand or walk.

For example, in a school or office hall, bulletin boards are usually 5 to 10 feet away from potential viewers. A poster that can be viewed within this range entices the audience to come closer and read the details.

School posters effectively engage students by presenting visual content that reinforces learning objectives or communicates important information. Browse our collection of school poster templates for inspiration and ideas.

The second reason is to allow readers to quickly comprehend the poster.

People usually don’t have time to stop and read a poster. In a school or office, everyone’s walking to do something urgently.

Thus, you don’t want to take up too much of your time reading jargon and difficult concepts that even academic peers can take hours to read and interpret.

Being readable from 10 feet away makes it easy for readers to understand your research.

You can use varying font sizes to create great posters. For digital campaigns, make sure that your posters are suitable for modern browsers.

Venngage’s  My Brand Kit  feature allows you to create posters that help your audience understand valuable info.

This is a special tool for Business accounts that allows you to upload logos, choose fonts, and set color palettes to your scientific posters .

Use our real-time collaboration feature to invite team members and work together. You can also leave comments and get feedback instantly.

Alternatively, share your design online, on social media, or via email completely for free.

Make an attention-grabbing, short headline

Attention-grabbing headlines are easy for science articles and posters.

It’s always thrilling to find out about a new plant species or discoveries that debunk old theories.

It’s a good idea to use best practices in making attention-grabbing headlines, even if it is just casual scientific content for social media.

Titles that draw attention and engagement include:

• Trending topics Create headlines according to what is trending. For example, if your study discusses climate change , align your headline to this topic to engage readers.
• Controversial developments An old textbook fact being false is a controversial and surprising topic which you can easily sum up in a headline.
• Issues that address curiosity Humans are naturally curious, so tickling the audience’s curiosity is a great way to create a compelling and attention-grabbing headline.

Use bullets and numbering to make a list easier to read

Bullets, lists and clear language are all tools that improve readability.

Even without fancy graphics and poster backgrounds , a short-sentence, simple-worded post with bullets and lists makes it easy to understand any topic.

Bulleted lists make each subtopic of your scientific poster easy to read. Plus, it allows readers to jump from one subtopic to another without feeling like they missed information along the way.

Designers of scientific posters find it easier to design bulleted and list content because they can place every bullet in different sections, making the poster easy to read.

If you used bullets instead of boxes to explain each subtopic in this poster, you could still read it easily — just not from 10 feet away.

Ensure layout consistency

Layout consistency is the uniform appearance of elements within a design.

It is achieved by employing the same layout, color and typography throughout an entire design.

For example, if a web page uses a consistent layout, each page will be uniform in appearance but not necessarily in content.

Layout consistency is achieved by employing the same pattern, color and typography throughout an entire design. This uniform appearance helps readers navigate for better organization. 

Creating layout consistency is of crucial importance in scientific poster design because coherence creates a familiar mood and attachment for readers.

This template uses the same fonts and complementary colors that give the scientific poster its own coherent, attention-grabbing and informative personality

Related:  Stay ahead of graphic design trends that can help you with your scientific poster design!

Include acknowledgments, names and affiliations

Lastly, all scientific posters include their acknowledgments, researcher names and affiliations underneath the poster.

You can use a footnote to include these details or a resource box. Plus, if you used any links as references in your research, add them to this section.

If you were the researcher involved in this scientific poster , you could include all the information I’ve mentioned underneath the last paragraph using a line to indicate that they are acknowledgments and author information.

Searching for a research poster? Browse through our collection of research poster templates in to get started!

What is the purpose of a scientific poster?

Academics are the only ones who can read and understand a technical scientific paper.

To a normal reader, a research paper’s language and syntax are challenging. Scientific papers don’t prioritize reading flow in their outlines or exposition of data, methods and results.

But with a well-made and creative poster , reading a technical paper becomes easier.

For example, effective scientific posters include images that explain complicated terms.

At the same time, the poster layout makes data and text easy to read. Lastly, scientific posters use simple language that allows even young children to understand concepts.

FAQ about scientific posters

I know you’re all set to make your own designs, but you might want to have these questions answered too.

What should a scientific poster include?

A scientific poster should include an easy-to-follow layout, graphics and color schemes that don’t take away from the reading experience. Successful scientific posters also use short sentences, simple language and bullet points.

How do you write a good scientific poster?

Researchers must focus on the evidence behind the research. Afterward, they can concentrate on using simple language and short sentences to explain their point. Short text and simple words make it easier for graphic designers to create posters with an intuitive layout.

How do you write a scientific title for a poster?

Focus on aligning your title with human emotions and curiosity. Outside human emotions, you can align your titles toward controversial or trending issues. This article dedicates an entire section to writing a great scientific title for a poster, so you should head there to learn more!

Our  Poster Maker guarantees that you’ll make the most intuitive and well-designed scientific posters in a single session.

Make the best scientific posters within minutes today!

Now, you’re ready to make your own scientific posters for print or website use!

If you’re short on ideas, you can use Venngage’s scientific poster templates for inspiration. Besides access to scores of templates, you also get a free drag-and-drop web-based editor by signing up for a FREE Venngage account today. Register now!

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Posters and Presentations

Written by amy preston, student digital champion and mres student in physiology and pharmacology.

Introduction to Posters and Presentations  

Presenting your research, whether part of your undergraduate dissertation or postgraduate research degree, is a huge part of academia. However, it’s often difficult to know where to start when making posters or presentations. There are a few different ways that you can approach them, so hopefully this post will give you some ideas!

The main thing to keep in mind for a poster is that it needs to be clear and rely on visual representation of your research. There are multiple tools you can use to make a poster. PowerPoint is useful, especially for posters in landscape orientation. You can also use Microsoft Word or Publisher, but these can be a bit trickier to use. Sometimes research groups will pay to use Adobe Illustrator which allows for figure-making as well. But it is up to you, and you don’t need to pay for expensive software if you don’t have the means to do so.  

The majority of the poster should be focused on your methods and results, so make sure to keep the introduction concise and have a few short conclusions and future directions at the end to summarise. Depending on your course or the conference you are presenting at, you will likely have a specific format to follow – including orientation and size. Usually, posters are A0 size and portrait orientation, so make sure you adjust your font size to accommodate this – a good rule of thumb is 24pt font for main body text and at least twice this size for your heading if your poster is A0. If your poster format is portrait, it can be helpful to split the poster into two columns if you have quite dense figures, but this isn’t essential if your data doesn’t fit this way.  

Presentations

Many of the same principles from posters apply to presentations and talks. Aim to make them clear, easy to follow and visually appealing. One way to help the audience follow along is to introduce each aim separately followed by its related methods and results (this is shown below). Or, depending on your data and how it fits together, you can introduce the aims all at once, then go through methods and results that follow on from each other. For example, if you found an unexpected result, what methods did you try next to further understand it and what did you find? Try to tell a story through your presentation.

Making good quality figures

An effective figure should be clear and not too busy. It can be really helpful to demonstrate your methods with figures, especially in posters to save words, or for presentations where the audience may not have the same specialist background as you. You can create simple methods figures using tools like Microsoft PowerPoint and Visio ( which are available in the Microsoft Office package with the university ) or use free tools with pre-made components and better freedom for drawing figures like BioRender and Inkscape. Think about how you can break down complex concepts in to easier-to-manage chunks, to help your reader see the big picture.

BioRender website

General tips to remember

• More visual cues, less words
• The main bulk of a presentation should be your methods and results – don’t take up too much space with the introduction, focus on your project
• Unless asked to, don’t put your abstract in your presentation – you will be wasting valuable words by repeating yourself
• Make your aims stand out – it really helps the understanding of the reader if they can refer back to them
• Keep the font big, and save words by using bullet points
• For each slide or poster section, use descriptive titles to help the reader follow along
• Don’t assume knowledge of your subject area – although there will be physicists at a physics conference, their area of research may be very different to yours!

Useful resources

• https://www.sciencegraphicdesign.com/blog/how-do-you-make-your-first-scientific-poster
• https://biorender.com/
• https://inkscape.org/
• https://blog.addgene.org/early-career-researcher-toolbox-free-tools-for-making-scientific-graphics
• https://www.york.ac.uk/hrc/postgraduate/opportunities/poster-competition/design-tips/

Hopefully you feel more confident presenting your own work, but above are some useful resources that help me when starting a new poster or presentation – good luck!

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How to Create a Research Poster

• Poster Basics
• Design Tips
• Logos & Images

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

• Genigraphics
• MakeSigns.com
• Poster Presentations
• << Previous: Poster Basics
• Next: Logos & Images >>
• Last Updated: Jul 11, 2023 5:09 PM
• URL: https://guides.nyu.edu/posters

English Editing Research Services

Make Scientific Research Posters that Get Attention

Think of your scientific research conference poster as a networking and communication tool, and not a document or summary. If you can do this, you’ve taken a huge first step in making your scientific research poster a magnet for attendees. And you’ll draw envious glares from the presenters on your left and right.

At scientific and research-related conferences, poster presentations are:

• Your visual backdrop and a compelling statement of your research
• A conversation starter
• Your chance to get attention!

If done well, your poster presentation can:

• Help you make valuable professional and personal connections
• Quickly and compellingly communicate why your work is important
• Set you apart from the crowd!

If your poster’s done poorly, it can achieve nothing. You need to them to stop and take notice, connect with you, not… walk on by.

Make your poster presentation pop. Sizes, fonts, style, tone, tools, and examples follow.

What you’ll learn in this post

• Where scientific posters are used, and why.

• The objective and what to keep in mind when planning and making a scientific research poster.

• How researchers can more effectively use poster presentations to both inform and connect.

• What to put on a scientific poster and what software tools will make it pop.

• Common poster mistakes (especially for ESL/EFL English users) and how to avoid them.

• Specific examples of attractive, effective, and modern posters.

What is a poster session and a poster presentation?

Academic conferences have presentation where people stand behind lecterns and talk about their work. And they have networking sessions, which are commonly called poster sessions .

If you’re a researcher, you’ve likely been there: halls and lobbies full of boards arranged in rows onto which researchers pin their posters – graphical, pictorial summaries of their work. These are chances to promote your work to colleagues and even to the prestigious attendees.

There may be food involved, too. So, in a poster session, people may be walking around with a drink in one hand and a stack of pamphlets and papers in the other.

What do you do at a poster session?

You stand by your poster, for one. And you walk around and look at other posters as you network. Guests also walk around among the posters, stopping to talk with attendees along the way.

Apart from your stage presentation, if you had one, this is your chance for your work to capture interest.

As a researcher, you’re probably not used being a salesperson. You may also be scared to death of speaking with strangers, especially VIP scientists.

That’s OK, you have your poster to do some of the work for you. It’s your key that unlocks engagement.

What’s the goal of a poster?

A poster’s goal is to get the attention of passersby at scientific conferences. It’s a big paper board and a networking tool.

Simply put, a presentation poster is a graphical representation of your recent work – an article or a work in progress, or even a proposal. Printed on a big board.

More than that, it’s an engagement tool. To get people to stop, look, and engage, the poster should be treated like a presentation slide, rather than a document.

A good poster is attractive, clear, and when it gets interest, its mission is accomplished.

When people stop, you can approach them, because you’re the researcher. You can start dialog and connect. The poster is what made this happen.

What a poster is NOT

We edit many posters at Edanz. We fix up the English to a high level, of course. But frankly, many of these research posters are rather dull, even when they are presenting interesting science that people will want to discuss. The authors only see them as super-sized abstracts with a figure or two added.

Often they squeeze in too many words and lots of numbers and data. Many of these posters are have problems with formatting, making them hard to read and understand.

A conference poster is not a place to present all your data and give deep analysis. It doesn’t need every single detail of your latest article.

It does, however, need a logical structure and some visual appeal.

A poster is not to communicate every detail of your research, but rather to attract people’s attention and start conversation. Keep that in mind as you prepare it.

So then, what do you put on a research poster and how do you make it?

What goes on a poster for a poster presentation?

The overall structure and flow of a poster presentation is much like a research paper.

Key elements of a poster

As the late Paul Arden, a renowned creative director, said:

“The more strikingly visual your presentation is, the more people will remember it. And, more importantly, they will remember you.”

It’s true of ads and it’s true of scientific posters. Your poster should contain text and visuals. How you use them will determine its success.

Text in a poster

A poster typically includes the following text:

• Title of your work
• Authors and affiliations
• Introduction/background
• (optional) Questions/knowledge gap
• Materials, Materials and methods, or Patients
• Conclusions
• References for proper attribution
• Acknowledgements

As with a manuscript, and what our professional editors always recommend, much of the same applies for a poster presentation.

The key difference is that you don’t have to strictly adhere to grammatical rules. A few sentence fragments are fine. Bullet points are recommended.

But you still have to keep it academic. No slang or emojis, yo. ?

As for length, 300–800 words as a general rule. Any more than that and your font will probably become too small to read or there will be too much text jammed into your sections.

Despite the consensus being on around 300–800, some argue for even as low as 100–150, on the grounds that very few people actually read posters word for word anyway. If you have one solid main point, you might try this approach, and instead let your images and formatting do the main communicating.

Do your best to:

• Keep your wording as short and “plain” (understandable to a wide audience) as possible.
• Use the active voice (“We found…”) not the passive voice (…was found by…).
• Use language suitable for your audience; meaning you can use specialized terminology if they’ll understand it.
• Use ordered lists when possible – bullets (like this list) and numbers.
• Spell out any uncommon acronyms the first time you use them, unless they’re very common (such as HIV-AIDS or NGO).

We’d be happy to assign a pro editor to help you with this.

Visual elements of a poster

You accompany the text with visuals. Please use visuals. An all-text poster is no better than printing out your abstract in jumbo size.

Would a full-text billboard get your attention? Unlikely. It’s an eyesore. The same is true of a full-text or 95% text poster.

A couple of useful questions as you start

These will help you decide what to put In and in what format:

• What’s the most important finding that I want to communicate? (More than 1 is OK, but try to limit it.)
• How can I visually share my research with the conference attendees (e.g., charts, graphs, photos, diagrams… holograms!)?

Layout and visually effective posters

After you’ve decided what you’ll put in your poster (text and images), you need to plan your layout.

Sketch it out

It’s good to start with a sketch. You can simply do this by hand, in your Apple Notes or Google Keep, or in any number of increasingly available SaaS and local software packages.

If you’re confident, you can also just dive into your main software (see below). Whatever works best for you. If you’re collaborating with colleagues, a cloud-based platform will let you work collectively and from a distance.

Horizontal or vertical

Most poster presentations are horizontal, but it’s not a rule. If your conference doesn’t have specific guidelines, these are the most common sizes.

Make it flow logically

English is read left to right and top to bottom. So the text should follow that flow as well.

Normally, your title and the authors and affiliations will go at the top of your presentation poster. Then use headings (H2, H3, H4, etc. if you’re using Word Styles/HTML) to break it up. Those headings will simply be the abstract-type structure listed above. But you can add specific subheadings to them.

It’s not a journal submission , so you can make the rules, unless the conference has provided a template and/or specific guidelines.

Columns, alignment, spacing

Typically, a scientific conference poster will have 2–4 columns. These should be aligned, though it’s OK if visuals cross over multiple columns. Try to keep the text as aligned as possible though.

Left justification is generally easier to read, while headings may look better if they’re centered.

Leave white space between subsections and around images.

Those examples show quite a lot of text. That may or may not be necessary for you. You can also view these as slides or blocks. Using that approach you can make each section a slide in PowerPoint or Google Slides, and then paste them together to form your poster.

Here’s another take on structure, with a couple of vertical options:

The above two are rather conventional choices, and you can’t go wrong with them. But this is the 21st century and if there are no guidelines, you can be even braver. You can, dare we say, disrupt. Keep reading.

Colors and fonts

Your background should be plain white or a very subtle gradient that’s not distracting. Your text should be clear and easy to read. Any charts or graphics should be understood quickly and not include any unnecessary elements.

The standard fonts for English text are Arial and Times New Roman. Fonts are not something to toy with on your research poster. Other safe options are:

• And if you insist on being a bit unique with your font, Lato, Noto Sans, Poppins, and Merriweather will set you apart but maintain a mature look.

Avoid using Century font, as it seems to be the default on MS Word in Japan and possible other Asian countries. We’re not sure why, but it’s a rather clumsy and “uncool” font. Just use one of the above suggestions.

And finally, resist the urge to be cute and funny. That means absolutely do not use Comic Sans, a script font, or anything decorative. You might get a chuckle from a few viewers, but 90% will not be impressed. Guaranteed.

A special note to Asia-based authors:

Do not write English text in an Asian font.

We see this all too often on papers and manuscripts. Asian fonts are designed with different spacing to accommodate wider characters. This gives English text a blocky, imbalanced, and unnatural feel. This can create discomfort and even lead to bias.

• For Chinese authors, avoid SimSum and others.
• Japanese authors – avoid MS Mincho, MS Gothic, and others.
• And Korean authors – don’t use Malgun.

Use matte paper and attach this to the board. Alternatively, you can even print on canvas or cloth for a classy effect. This also lets you fold it into a suitcase or roll it into a tube for easier transport.

Avoid silk because it can sag and warp. It’s not durable enough.

Above all, avoid glossy surfaces, because they can reflect the light. Then no one can read your poster. This includes lamination. It may protect your paper, but it only hurts the readability.

“Fabric posters are a great idea. Typically I use cotton. Spend a bit extra to get yours printed on fabric. It’s much more convenient than traveling with a poster tube and you’ll save yourself some sanity at the conference.” — Jacqueline Tudball , PhD Edanz Author Guidance Consultant

What should you NOT put on your presentation poster?

A viewer might only spend a minute or two looking at your poster, so they should be able to quickly sense of it and what you’re trying to say.

Big no-nos are:

• Too many images, tables , or graphs – use the main one with a brief explanation
• Text that’s too small to read – check if you can easily read the body from from 1 m away and the headline from at least 3 m away
• Too many references – just cite what’s important regarding the information in your poster
• Competing eye-catching images – one is enough
• A picture that doesn’t say anything; your images have to communicate a core message
• Light text on a dark background; it hurts the eyes
• Glossy covering, or printing on glossy paper

What software should you use to make a research poster?

Use software you’re comfortable with, or use this as an opportunity to lift your design skills. If you’re working with others on your poster, all the major software packages have cloud-based options . But some are clearly better than others.

And if you dream of being a design wizard but your actual skills have other ideas, most of the tools below offer handy poster templates to get you started.

PowerPoint is also a very useful tool for making poster presentations. Set the page size before starting and add in your elements. You can either do this on a single slide or make each section a separate slide, then print and paste them to form your poster.

With the MS 365 suite, you can make your PowerPoint cloud-based so your whole research team can work on it no matter where they are. Just be aware that MS 365 still trails Google Workspace for ease of use. It’s hard to work on things at the same time on MS 365. The whole MS suite is also pay-to-use, unlike Google.

Here’s a terrific compilation of free PowerPoint poster templates.

Google Slides

Like Google Docs and Sheets are to MS Word and Excel, Google Slides is Google’s cloud-based version of PowerPoint. It’s cloud-based, so you your project will be PC- and place-independent, and your team can work on it collectively in real time. You can also import PowerPoint ppt/pptx files and they’ll generally convert with no problems at all.

Perhaps best of all, it’s free. And you’ll be compromising very little vs. PowerPoint. For the more design-talented, Adobe may be your best bet.

Adobe Illustrator

Adobe Illustrator is a long-standing program for both image manipulation and poster design. It’s now part of the Adobe Creative Cloud suite, which also includes Photoshop.

In Illustrator can set the page size for your poster beforehand and use templates to create a base.

As this software was design for a wide range of publishing functions, it’s easy to move things around. If you’re used to it and comfortable with it, use it. Just be aware that .ai files may not be compatible with other software. It’s also paid. So your whole team will need it and need to be comfortable with it if they’re going to be working on the poster design.

Adobe InDesign

Adobe InDesign has actually been around for over 20 years. But it’s taken a long time to gain a loyal following. Many professional designers now swear by it for its rich suite of options.

Especially for publications, when working with larger amounts of text, InDesign may be the best large-scale commercial software around.

Publishers and design agencies often use it in combination with Adobe InCopy, which the text-based roles such as copywriters and editors can use more easily and with less instruction.

You can find a handy PDF here on making posters in InDesign.

This a less-conventional choice but even design novices can turn out visually appealing designs on Canva .

While not near the complexity and power of the Adobe programs, Canva’s appeal is how very user-friendly it is, as well as its pre-baked features such as templates, color pallets, fonts, and a drag-and-drop interface.

Canva is free for basic use. A paid membership of about $10/month opens up a huge library of images and other options for you to use.

What not to use

Even if you’ve been using MS Word since you learned to read and write, it’s not the best choice for a poster presentation.

Can you do a poster presentation on Word? Sure.

Will be it easy to move objects to just where you want them, work with multimedia, adjust resolution and colors, and print out a clear and compelling poster? No, it won’t.

Word has a tendency for things to falls apart when the document structure gets too complex and with multiple elements.

It’s also designed foremost for handling text. Stick with tools like Word, MY manuscript , and Google Docs for writing your manuscripts and for increasing your publication rate . Then use one of the other recommendations above for designing your poster.

Whatever you use, print and adjust

Whatever software you use, print out your poster, pin it to the wall, and look at it from 5 or 6 meters away. It will look totally different than it did on your computer screen.

Adjust accordingly.

Examples of good posters

You’ll find different good elements in these examples.

This first one is a straight and clean design, Times New Roman font, plenty of white space, three defined columns and a reasonable amount of text. It also has photos to balance out the simplistic charts.

This next one really ups the game. The text sections are pastel blocks and contain ample text. There’s comfortable white space. But what really grabs you is that fish!

You’ll need to up your design game to match this one. Or simply hire a designer to make it pop.

Insider PhD tips on making winning research posters

Finally, some tips for your poster presentation, in no particular order.

• Before you start, check the conference info or ask the conference secretariat directly if there are guidelines.
• If want to communicate more info than you can put on the poster, print out A4- or letter-sized supplements and hand them out to people who are interested.
• Keep sponsors and names to a minimum. It’s about the science, first and foremost.
• Make sure all visual have a short legend to explain them.
• The background and text should have contrast, but watch out for color clashes. Google “color contrast checker” for ideas on good color combinations. Canva also offers many recommended pairings.
• Always take your own pins, tape, Velcro, etc.

Hope that helps. When you want to be sure your poster’s message is in superb scientific English, contact us for an edit.

To explore the publication process, including post-publication and publicizing your work, take an expert-designed course at the Edanz My Learning Lab .

RECOMMENDED COURSE: How to Give a Poster Presentation ?

RECOMMENDED COURSE: Presenting and Discussing Your Research

Making a Research Poster

We’ve collected a range of articles and videos to help you create effective and innovative academic posters

Help from the trust:

The graphic design team can help, and they have templates that you can use too. More details about them here.

Not sure about logos, fonts and other NHS design requirements? You can find the trust branding guidelines here.

Why so many articles & videos?

Different styles might suit different presentations and people. Although there are common themes running through most of them, each of these articles and videos has a slightly different take on what makes a good poster and provides a few different ideas.

 Written articles

How to make a scientific poster: a guide for medical students Cardiff university A fairly brief guide to producing a poster.

Preparing a Scientific Poster Council for Allied Health Professions Research A short 2 page guide of tips

Preparing a Poster Presentation American College of Physicians A detailed article with lots of ideas, not only on how to design your poster, but what to do with it too.

How to create a research poster NYU Libraries Short guide to producing posters with links to related resources to help.

Designing Conference Posters Colin Purrington (a real academic, not just a random internet guy!) Guide + lots of examples of different styles and links to blank templates.

How to design an award-winning conference poster LSE Blog Step by step guide to designing a poster that will stand out – in a good way.

Making a better research poster (4mins) A short presentation showing 8 tips for creating a great research poster for a conference, from the Poster Illustration team at American Journal Experts.

How Not to Design a Poster (2mins) Things not to do from Dr. Bruce Kirchoff (Professor of Biology at the University of North Carolina) & Mike Morrison (PhD Student in Organizational Psychology at Michigan State University)

Mike Morrison on Better Posters (12mins) Continuing from the presentation above – a brief video of some basic ideas for a better poster

How to create a better research poster in less time #1 (20mins) Mike Morrison again with more details on how to make a better poster

How to create a better research poster in less time #2 (20mins) Mike Morrison goes into more detail on creating better posters (includes link to templates)

Now you’ve got your poster:

Giving an Effective Poster Presentation (12mins) Video by George Hess (professor at NC state university)

Still struggling?

You can contact the library team and we’ll see what we can do to help. You can email us here: [email protected]

Content out of date? Information wrong or not clear enough? Report this page .

summernights.org

Creating a topnotch dissertation proposal poster, introduction.

Posters are extensively used in the academic field. For a fact, a number of conferences include presentations of posters in their current programs. What is more, posters in research sum up research or data in a succinct and impressive approach in order to aid properly publicize it and come up with substantial discussion.

How can you construct an exceptional poster for your dissertation proposal?

Before anything else, it is fundamental to learn more about what dissertation proposal poster is. This pertains to a combination of a concise text that is mixed with pictures, graphs, tables as well as other presentation formats. Indeed, the researcher needs to stand by the poster demonstration at a conference while other participants could come and take a glance at the presentation and afterwards collaborate with the author.

Where do you start?

When working on a poster, take in mind that it is very valuable to be able to answer questions such as how you could visually share your research with the participants of the conference; what is the most astounding, engrossing and substantial findings from your research work, what form of data could you communicate at the time of your discussion which shall highly complement your poster and if it is useful to make us of images, photos, graphs and charts?

When creating your poster, you have to make sure that you only include vital data that is readable. The title must draw the interest of your target attendees and must be short. The word count should roughly be 300 by up to 800 words. In the same way, it is a must to use fonts, color and graphics effectively; your text must be to the point and pointed out clearly.

Aside from these, make use of headlines, numbering as well as bullets so that it is going to be easy to read. The layout should be clean and consistent. Do not forget to include your name, acknowledgments as well as your institutional affiliation.

Overall, a poster presentation incorporates graphics and text to present the project in a manner that is prominently accessible and engrossing. Moreover, this enables you to demonstrate your work to a larger audience of other scholars and also to discuss and obtain feedback from responsive viewers.

The formats in presenting posters actually vary from discipline to discipline. Whatever the format may be, take into account that your poster should clearly convey what you did, why you did it, how you did it and what your work actually contributes to a greater field of human knowledge and in the area of study.

How to Create an Effective Dissertation Presentation

For many students, the task of writing a lengthy dissertation is so daunting that they forget about the need for Dissertation Presentation! Amidst all the hard work of researching and writing, students in some courses still need to prepare for a high-quality presentation that will help them earn top marks. This article will help you prepare and give you some essential tips for success.

The Purpose of Dissertation Presentation

There are two main types of Dissertation Presentation that are normally encountered in UK universities:

Mid-Research Presentations

Students will often be asked to present their dissertation work at a mid-point in their research. These presentations are usually made to a panel comprised of various faculty members from your department. In addition, they are sometimes structured as a postgraduate seminar, in which fellow students also attend. Both faculty and students can pose questions. The purpose of these Mid-Research Dissertation presentations is to provide students with an opportunity to demonstrate their progress and identify any weak areas that need to be addressed.

Assessment Presentations

Students are also sometimes required to make a Dissertation Presentation as part of their overall assessment . This is a much more formal presentation than the Mid-Research one, and it is usually open only to the student, examiners and the research supervisor. During an Assessment Dissertation Presentation, the student is required to present a summary of their research and results. They will then be asked questions by the examiners in a somewhat lengthy oral examination. The purpose of this Dissertation Presentation is to assess the student’s original research project and test its scholarly validity.

Differences in Undergraduate and Masters Presentations

Dissertation Presentations may be required at both Undergraduate (Bachelors) and Postgraduate (Masters) levels. The key difference between these levels is the length and degree of originality expected. Postgraduate Dissertation Presentations will normally be longer than Undergraduate Presentations, and they will demonstrate a greater degree of critical engagement with the subject matter. They will also demonstrate some degree of original thinking. By contrast, most Bachelors Dissertation Presentations will be shorter in length and will only require a thorough knowledge of the topic rather than an original scholarly contribution of any kind.

What to Include

• Broad subject area – What subject area of your discipline does your work fall into?
• Narrow topic area – Within this subject area, what is your specific topic? (This may be simply an expanded discussion of your research title).
• Relevant Existing Studies – What studies have already been done on your specific topic? What are their strengths and weaknesses? How does your work fit among them?
• Methodology and Philosophy – What methodology have you chosen to conduct your research? Is there a specific philosophical context? Why is this a good approach?
• Project Resources – If this is a Mid-Research Presentation, what resources do you require to complete the project? Furthermore, have you identified likely sources of funding, or do you need any difficult-to-acquire materials?
• Case Studies – If you’ve conducted practical fieldwork or lab research, why did you choose these cases or projects? How are they the best choices for researching your topic?
• Research Results – If this is a Dissertation Presentation for Assessment, note the results of your research in detail. Relate these back to your theoretical framework and discuss how the results support or contradict existing studies.

How to Prepare for your Dissertation Presentation

The best way to prepare for your Dissertation Presentation is to review your work carefully. Take notes of the key decisions you have made throughout your research and the scholarly literature that supports these choices. Make sure that you have a thorough understanding of the scholarly context of your research, which should have been achieved in your early research stages.

Once your content has been written, you should create a PowerPoint presentation to use during your talk. Don’t forget the slides should be informative but not wordy – keep bullet points concise and use pictures sparingly. Make sure that you rehearse your presentation several times.

What Sort of Questions to Prepare For Dissertation Presentation

The questions you will face in a Dissertation Presentation are designed to test your knowledge of the subject area and your awareness of the context of your work. You will be asked questions to determine how well you understand the potential criticisms of your project, and how well you are able to defend this. Therefore, remember to reference established scholars and existing research.

You might be asked about the specific choices you’re made with regard to methodology and case studies, and how you accounted for any possible inaccuracies in your resulting data. Similarly, examiners frequently ask students what they would do differently if they were starting the same project again.

You should also be prepared to answer questions about the ways your research might be applied within your field, and how it might be supplemented in future. This is an effective way for examiners to assess the originality of your research, and consider its potential impact on your subject area.

How to Earn a High Mark

Much of your dissertation mark will come from the written work and the research project it represents. However, a good Dissertation Presentation will help make a strong case for a good overall mark, whereas a weak Presentation will confirm any doubts in the examiners’ minds. As such, here are a few key areas for success:

• Good Presentation Skills. As with any Presentation, it is important to speak clearly and concisely. Stand still and look your audience in the eye, and try not to rely too much on notes. Be sure to keep breathing and don’t rush your words!
• Knowledge of the Topic. If you truly have a good understanding of your topic you will be likely to do very well. Remember, much of the Dissertation Presentation is designed simply to test your knowledge. If you’ve kept pace with your reading assignments and practical work you should have no problem answering any questions that are posed to you.
• Professional Behaviour. Stay calm and focused during your Presentation, and answer any questions with objectivity and professionalism. Don’t be drawn into debates, but instead offer references to other scholars whose work supports your own agenda.
• Take Your Time . Many students make the mistake of rushing through their material and answering questions too quickly. This doesn’t give the audience a chance to thoroughly understand the quality of your work. Furthermore, it risks leaving out essential information and neglecting to demonstrate the depth of your research.

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Dissertation posters

Dissertation posters designed by 3rd year psychology students 2020.