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Poster Template Instructions

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***PLEASE MAKE A COPY OF THIS TEMPLATE AND SAVE TO YOUR GOOGLE DRIVE FOLDER. MAKE SURE TO SHARE WITH YOUR NRCA MENTOR AND COMMUNITY PARTNER***

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The purpose of this poster template is make it easy to display the hard work you’ve done on your environmental action project. But this is just a template, and we encourage you to have fun with it! Feel free to:

  • Change the background & font colors
  • Change the layout by moving or resizing the text boxes
  • Rename the section headers or add additional sections to include information relevant to your work
  • Feel free to replace existing graphics and add lots of your own pictures & graphics
  • Add your school & community partner’s organization’s logo
  • Do whatever you think best conveys your work

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Other important recommendations:

  • Use san-serif font (e.g. Arial, Calibri, Helvetica, Open Sans, Century Gothic, etc.)
  • You can change the font size for more space, but make sure to use a font size that is larger than 24 point
  • Make sure font type & size is consistent throughout the poster, although section headings can have slightly larger font sizes (e.g. use same font type & size for all subheaders; use same font type & size for text “within” sections)
  • Use short, concise sentences
  • Use bullet points or very short paragraphs
  • Make sure the background & font colors have high contrast so that text is legible
  • Avoid using tables when pictures or graphics can be used instead
  • In the Format menu above, use the Align option to align text boxes and figures/tables to create a clean look to your poster

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Editing the Template:

  • To edit text in the template, simply highlight the current text and replace it with your own.
  • To add pictures or graphics, simply copy and paste into PowerPoint. Use Paste Special in the menu bar above to experiment with different pasting options that best display the image/graphic.
  • Make sure your figures look okay on your poster by viewing it at 100%. Scroll around to see if the images look good. If not, they won’t look good in final print.
  • Use the Group/Ungroup tool under the Format tab in the menu bar above to help keep images or text boxes together in a figure, as is done in the template figures.
  • The only aspects of the poster template that we ask you to keep the same are the poster size and the format of the logo section at the top.

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Title of Your Project�Name of CAP Student1, Name of Community Partner2, Name of Anyone Else Involved3

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1Name of Your High School; 2Name of Community Partner Organization or Institution Affiliation; 3Name of Organization or Institution of Others Involved

Project Motivation & Goals

Project Outcomes

Methods

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Describe the overarching problem or challenge your project is addressing. In other words, what is the broader issue that is motivating this project?

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Make sure to provide essential background information on the issue that your work is addressing. This section is vital for conveying to your audience the importance of the project.

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Clearly state how your project will address the focal question or issue, and list objectives/goals of the study:

  • Objective 1
  • Objective 2
  • Object 3

Subheader of Project Component #1

  • List the steps you took to complete the project.
  • Important things to include in this section are:
    • Location of project;
    • Time of year and duration of project;
    • Description of environment at sites or study organisms; and
    • Techniques, procedures or tools used to carry out work.

Subheader of Project Component #2

  • If you had multiple parts to your project, you may want to consider separate component sections and rename the subheaders.
  • Etc.
  • Ect.

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  • Use this space to demonstrate and describe the environmental, social, and personal impact of your project.

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  • Include evidence and documentation in the form of images, graphs, maps, etc. (the more figures, the better!).

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  • Use subheaders and bullet points to share major findings/project outcomes.

  • Reflect on the following:
    • How did your project impact or change the environment? This could be a physical change, or it could be a contribution you made to the scientific community’s understanding of the topic.
    • What was the social impact of your project? How did it benefit the community you and your community partner are part of?
    • What impact did the process of completing this project have on you personally? What did you learn? Did it change your perspective on anything?

Conclusion and Next Steps

Acknowledgements and References

  • In this section the reader should take away the implications of the findings of the study. You should provide interpretation of the findings.
  • You may also want to explore how the findings can inform conservation or environmental policy or societal decisions/impacts at large.
  • Or you could use this section to discuss future directions of work that builds off your project.

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Community Partnership

This space is intended to show your audience how your project was informed by the community and grounded in community impact.

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  • Describe the various types of community partners, volunteers, and /or participants that were involved in your project
  • Tell the story of how these community partners and volunteers helped with the process for designing, planning, or executing your project
  • What impact did your project have for the broader community or organization? How was the impacted enhanced by your partnership?
  • Do you expect your project or partnership to live on after the CAP experience, and if so, how?

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Start this section with any acknowledgements and thank you notes. Make sure to thank anyone that provide you with resources or guidance or volunteered to help with your project. If you received funding for the project, acknowledge that here as well.

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In the “Motivation”. “Methods” or “Conclusion” sections, you may include information that you learned from articles or literature. If you use information or ideas, it is best practice to cite those ideas in the text of those sections and include the references here. We recommend that you do not use more than 3-5 references on the poster. Contact your NRCA mentor for for a guide on proper format for poster references.

INSERT PHOTO, GRAPHIC,

OR FIGURE

e.g., maps, graphics, or photos of

study sites, study species,

or showing context of project

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INSERT PHOTO, GRAPHIC, OR FIGURE

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Fig X. Add a description of what the graphic or picture is depicting. If it contains multiple parts, refer to parts as (left) followed by description, and (right) followed by description, etc.

INSERT PHOTO, GRAPHIC, OR FIGURE

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INSERT PHOTO, GRAPHIC, OR FIGURE

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Fig X. Add a description of what the graphic or picture is depicting.

Fig X. Add a description of what the graphic or picture is depicting. Above are examples of the different types of graphics you can include. Be creative with it!

ADD

PHOTOS OR GRAPHICS!

ADD

PHOTOS OR GRAPHICS!

ADD PHOTOS OR GRAPHICS! e.g., photos with your community partner, with community volunteers, or graphics that represent community impact in some way

Fig X. Add a description of what the graphic or picture is depicting. If it contains multiple parts, refer to parts as (left) followed by description, and (right) followed by description, etc.