Research Posters generally emerge from the text, charts, graphs, and (when appropriate) the photos from your research paper. It is always best to complete your research paper before starting your poster, so that you can pull text from fully-articulated thoughts.

Generally speaking, Research Posters have the same five sections as a Research Paper:

• Introduction/Background
• Methodology
• Results
• Conclusions
• References

Research Posters offer a more visual, and yet a much more “limited,” vehicle for disseminating your research findings.

Presenting a poster at a convention often entails submitting an abstract to a “Call for Abstracts” from the convention organizers; look for these announcements to be publicized many months before a meeting or convention. Submission of a research abstract does not guarantee an invitation to present a poster.

In order to create a research poster, you must first download one of the CORE Poster Keep all template parameters (font size, font style column widths, etc) at default settings; don’t worry if everything does not fit at first – editing, revision, and “tweaking” will be necessary.

You will need to revise and condense much of the text from your research paper. Choose to discuss only those aspects of your study that are noteworthy or statistically significant; this will allow you to concentrate on the most relevant and interesting findings of your project.

PowerPoint will allow you to build charts and graphs to display your data. You can easily import photos and other graphic elements to tell your story. Cut and paste text from your research paper.

When creating a Research Poster, always remember that you are under an extreme space limitation. Remember to:

• Keep it brief!!
• Use bulleted lists for Key Points.
• Use colored text for Key Words and Concepts.
• Limit text to critical ideas.
• Let Tables, Charts, Graphs, and Photos communicate your information quickly.

Research posters are meant to be “presented.” The competition will most likely assign you a time to explain your research to reviewers or judges. So, practice your poster “Presentation.” Be able to present the main points of your work quickly and succinctly. Understand the statistics that you present in your poster (consult with your statistician), so that you can answer judge’s questions.

Poster Templates