How to Create a Great Scientific Poster

Transcription

1 How to Create a Great Scientific Poster Sarah Melton, M.Ed OHSU, Teaching and Learning Center April 2013

2 Who are we? OHSU Teaching and Learning Center (TLC) Sarah Melton, M.Ed., Faculty Development Specialist 2

3 Presentation Overview Quick Activity Research on Visual Learning Planning/organizing your poster Tips and Suggestions Resources Poster Trivia i Quiz Game 3

4 Activity: Some sample posters what do you think? the good the bad the ugly 4

5 Who is my audience? peers judges faculty inside professionals outside professionals 5

6 Students learn better with color, good images and multimedia components color/black and white (Klienman and Dwyer,1999) multi-media/verbal-text l t t summary (Mayer, Bove, Bryman, Mars and Tapangco,1996) text plus graphics and testing (McKay, 1999) 6

7 Good posters are visualizations of your abstract act 7

8 Design First step, write a short outline Write a short outline 250 words or less total Image from: Immerczivich Labonov Luna (CC) 8

9 Design: Chunk information into small blocks with images Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nam cursus elementum arcu, et vehicula metus congue id. semper aliquam sem, non cursus elit luctus sed. Suspendisse venenatis varius purus, non commodo odio blandit et. semper aliquam sem, non cursus elit luctus sed. Suspendisse venenatis varius purus, non commodo odio blandit et. Chunk info into small blocks with images Consider visual flow Leave space between sections Build a natural flow to your poster 9

10 Design: Use of images/graphs/charts A picture is worth a thousand words Simple graphics High resolution (>200 dpi) Image by jimmiehomeschoolmom i h (CC) 10

11 Design: Using color is good, but avoid bright hues, patterns The background should be plain Leave the color to the images Simple borders (even with color) drop shadows, etc. are ok Restrict color pallete to unify design 11

12 Design and fonts: Use appropriate sizes Title: pt Authors: pt Sub-Headings: pt Body text: 32 pt Captions: 18pt Note: Font size will depend on the size of the poster 12

13 Design and Fonts: Don t use all caps and pick serif fonts for body DON T USE ALL CAPS! Don t use bold in body text of poster Serif fonts are easier to read than san serif Some good serif fonts to use are: Times New Roman Garamond Palatino Century Schoolbook Courier 13

14 Design: Follow accessibility guidelines Contrast Readability Accessibility is really for everyone Image by itjil (CC) 14

15 Content: What sections should I include? Title most prominent no caps Introduction Objectives/Aims/Goals/Problem Methods, Results easy to find Conclusions References Acknowledgements 15

16 Content: Give your poster a catchy title Why do dogs scratch flea bites? Vs. Studies of the effects of Siphonaptera bites on canine motor neurons 16

17 Extras and Tips Adhere to style guide (citations) Ask someone to proofread/edit Poster templates Use of OHSU logo 17

18 Free Resources OHSU Digital Resources Library: EdComm Stock Images: Creative Commons: Smithsonian: i 18

19 Printing your poster at OHSU From OHSU Photography and Graphic Design website: If you call or us with the size of your poster, we ll send you a custom-formatted PowerPoint template. You can also create your poster in other programs and provide us a PDF to print from. photodesign@ohsu.edu

20 Questions? Image by alexanderdrachmann (CC)

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22 POP Quiz! True or False: There should be no caps in the title on your poster. A. True B. False Answer: False you should capitalize the first letter of each word, but don t use all caps

23 POP Quiz! True or False: A research study showed that verbal text summaries were more effective than multi-media media summaries for students to learn concepts. A. True B. False Answer: False students learn better with colorful images and multimedia

24 POP Quiz! Which h of the following sections was not recommended?? A. Title B. presenter s qualifications C. introduction Answer: B D. objectives/aims/problem E. methods, results F. conclusions

25 POP Quiz! True or False: You shouldn t use colored text on your poster A. True B. False Answer: False you can use colored text, but keep it minimal and elegant

26 POP Quiz! True or False: Serif fonts are easier to read A. True B. False Answer: True use serif fonts like Times New Roman for the body of the poster

27 Time to work! Use this time to write a quick outline, if you don t have an abstract. Think about your images and make a Think about your images and make a rough sketch of your poster