Creating your Poster for the Undergraduate Research Fair

Creating your Poster for the Undergraduate Research Fair

Agenda Agenda: Introductions Types of Presentations (including Research Poster Presentations!) Knowing your audience Structuring the Presentation / Poster Technology YOUR style 2

Knowing your goals Classroom Demonstrate your understanding of a subject Get a good grade Professional Share information with colleagues Get support for a project or program Conference Share research/expertise with colleagues from different organizations Promote a project or organization Interview Demonstrate skills & knowledge to a potential employer Get the job! 3

Knowing your goals and audience Research Poster (Fair Presentation) Showcase knowledge for peers and academics Generate discussion Gain recognition or win a contest Multidisciplinary audience (no jargon) Peers, Professors, Parents, Participants.. 4

Be ready for different audiences Different Learning Styles: Visual Slides, posters, handouts, diagrams Auditory Lectures, discussions, tapes Kinesthetic Doing, moving, experimenting 5

Structuring the Research Posters What is research? finding out things that you don t know systematic scientific process where the researcher attempts to discover / prove something new 6

Research Posters What is a Research Poster? Today, posters are common in the academic world, and most conferences, symposiums and research fairs include poster presentations. 7

Research Posters Posters need to have good CONTENT Posters need to have good DESIGN 8

Content (discipline-specific) Title Authors/Collaborators and their institutional affiliations Abstract Background/literature review (not necessarily on the poster itself, however it can be on a separate sheet) Research question/s Materials and methods Results Discussion/conclusion Contact information Acknowledgments Future directions 9

Content (discipline-specific) Title Effective representation of your topic, catchy but not sensational Authors/Collaborators and their faculty, class code and institutional affiliations: AP/SOSC 1200 York University Who did this research, the authors Abstract Not an in-depth summary. This needs to be succinct and to the point 10

Content (discipline-specific) Background/literature review Somewhere on your poster or on a separate sheet indicate that you did your research! The bibliography should match the filed and has to be relevant Research question / Thesis Indicate clearly what your research problem is that you are trying to solve Materials and methods Brief description (you can use visual aids if applicable) of your methodology, the how did you do it 11

Content (discipline-specific) Results Indicate your outcomes (qualitative, quantitative) Discussion/conclusion What did you find, learned and proved Contact information Be prepared to have follow-up Acknowledgments Future directions 12

Design Well organized Focus on core ideas Logical visual flow Left to right / top to bottom (arrows, numbers) Easy to read text Consistent font, legible, at least 16 pt. Graphics (not tables), photos Good and clean representation of data, labeled and consistent in scale 13

Design Colours Lighter background with darker text (think about printing here as well), high contrast, avoid patterns White space Give the eye a break 14

Presentation Style Organization & Content: Provide an introduction Give context: what and why? Make yourself understood Simple and understandable Well paced Watch your timing Pace yourself & don t include too much 17

Presentation Style Engaging your audience: Posture is important! Upright and relaxed; confident Make eye contact Direct but not staring; connect with everyone Move around! Use gestures for emphasis; No distracting mannerisms Monitor your voice Tone, inflection, volume, speed 18

Using PowerPoint to create a Research Poster DEMO See the pdf: Creating Posters with PowerPoint for the Fair

Recap What is the most important/interesting/astounding finding from my research project? How can I visually share my research with conference attendees? Should I use charts, graphs, photos, images? What kind of information can I convey during my talk that will complement my poster? Know your audience Accessibility

Thank you 21