Academic Poster Template

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Title of Poster Presentation

Author One, Author Two, Author Three…

College of DuPage, Glen Ellyn, IL

Introduction

Your introduction should first focus on establishing the context for your research.

• Start broad and work into more specifics.
• Choose details to include that help you tell a story!
• You will likely include a few citations in this section so that you set up how your research fits into the broader scientific context.
• Make sure to provide enough information so your audience can understand your research by reading your poster alone.�

Alternating between paragraphs and bullets can help you tell your story in a visually appealing way.

• Bullet points break down large chunks of information.
• They also help make your poster more visually appealing.

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End your introduction section with a statement of what your goals or hypotheses were for the experiment. For example, my objectives for this poster are to:

• Provide an organized, visually appealing template that students can use for their scientific posters.
• Help students understand what they might include in their own poster template.

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Methods

Give the basics about what you did in your study.

• Refer to discipline or instructor guidelines on what to include in a section.
• It often includes study location, population sample/size, and methods.
• If you used statistics to analyze your data, include what tests you used.
• Often, you will include a picture or pictures of your study location, the species of interest, the people who were on your research team, etc.
• These will complement the information you include in your methods and help your audience picture your process.

Results

Summarize the results of your study here. Be concise!

• Use bullets to complement and refer to the information in your figures (see Figure 1).
• Include important statistics, but make sure they are understandable to your average audience. This means labelling what numbers mean.

Figure 1. Description of graph with important variables and units. Make sure your description is detailed enough that your audience can understand the chart without extra explanation.

PICTURE

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Figure 2. Description of image. The center panel could include additional pictures or figures to capture your data.

Conclusions

Before you start this section, ask yourself what you want your audience to take away from your poster. This is the information you should focus on here.

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Begin by stating the main findings of your study. You want a clear message (likely positive) about the significance of your results and how they relate to your initial hypothesis or goals and the greater research context.

• Break down those findings into smaller bullet points that correspond to the main topics or variables.
• Connect your findings to previous literature, making sure to include citations.
• Mention how you could improve your study and areas for future research.

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End on a positive note, emphasizing the significance of your findings.

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Works Cited

Write the list of your works cited in the proper citation format here. Often superscript numbers are used for in-text citations on posters.

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Acknowledgements

Write your acknowledgements here. Keep them short – no more than a few lines.

PICTURE

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Figure 3. Description of image. On either the left or right panel, you can add extra images or figures to complement your text. Informative images can draw in audience members and strengthen your poster.

Template developed by WRSA staff @ cod.edu/learningcomons

Instructions for Using Academic Poster Template

How to Create Your Academic Poster

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Creating a File

PowerPoint is a commonly used program for creating posters. Consult with your printing agency for specific guidelines.

• Open PowerPoint and create a Blank Slide.
• Change the slide size by going to Design on the menu bar, and then Slide Size or Page Setup, depending on the version of PowerPoint you have.
• Choose Custom, with 48" wide and 36" high, with landscape orientation. Always refer to the recommendations of the conference or organization for specific dimensions.

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Template Specifications

These guidelines are meant only to get you started in laying out your poster and comparison to your final product. Consult with your printing agency and professional organization for specific guidelines.

• In the example poster, the title bar is 6 inches high. The graphic elements use colors that coordinate with it and have high contrast.
• The font size of the title is 120 point; the headers are 60 points. Both use the sans-serif font Helvetica. The title should be large and clear enough to read from about five feet away.
• The text is in the serif font Times New Roman, and the size is 42 points. Be sure to use a font that is large enough to read from about three feet away. Select fonts that are easy to read at any size. 
• Chose simple, professional looking fonts. Avoid script or "fun" fonts.
• The three columns in this example are almost 15" wide with a 1" gutter between them. The poster margins are also 1" wide.
• Don’t be afraid of having white space.
• There are less than 500 words in the body of this example poster. Select words and graphics carefully.
• When a poster is a collaboration of co-authors from more than one institution, place a superscript number after each co-author's last name and a corresponding superscript number before each author's affiliation. Do not use superscript numbers if only one institution is represented; do not list institutions more than once.

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digital version of this template.

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Template developed by WRSA staff @ cod.edu/learningcomons