About Scientific Poster Presentations

Scientific posters are a good way to disseminate the results of a research project without having to give an oral presentation. Scientific posters are used at events such as professional scientific meetings, but can be found at junior high science fairs as well. They can be printed out on one large sheet of paper with a special printer or made of several smaller pieces of paper hung together. Regardless of where they are to be used or how they are constructed, scientific posters should all be constructed in the same format.

Abstract

Begin your poster with an abstract of your research. Your abstract should include why you conducted the research, what you found and why it may be important. Do not make the abstract longer than a single paragraph.

Introduction

Include a short paragraph on why your research is important and what you are trying to discover. Here you can point to past research and briefly allude to how you propose to go about answering the questions you pose.

Material and Methods

The next section should be a brief description of how you conducted the experiment. Give important details on your methods and the materials you used, but leave out small unimportant details. In essence, you are telling your reader how you collected your data.

Results and Discussion

Your last text section will be where you report your results and interpret them. Here, you will include your figures and tables and present statistical results. Discuss in two or three paragraphs why you think you found what you did and what you think it means. You can also include in this section what you think some future research directions should be.

References and Acknowledgments

An optional final section can include references you cited within your poster as well as acknowledgement of any funding sources or physical help you received during your study.

Expert Insight

When making your poster keep in mind that people will want to read your poster from a distance and take away points as quickly as possible. Always make the words on your poster easy to read from a distance, especially your title. Also, do not include a lot of words on your poster. Make your sentences brief and to the point. Use graphs that are large and easy to read and that can stand alone without a long figure legend. You are more likely to attract people to your poster if it appears neat and is easy to read. Finally, include your contact information on the poster in case someone wishes to speak with you further regarding your research.