Spring.wmf (18300 bytes) Plant Physiology (Biology 327)  - Dr. Stephen G. Saupe;  College of St. Benedict/ St. John's University;  Biology Department; Collegeville, MN  56321; (320) 363 - 2782; (320) 363 - 3202, fax;    ssaupe@csbsju.edu

Poster Presentations

    Posters are an effective and common tool to present scientific data.  Essentially, a poster provides a brief visual summary of the contents of a scientific paper including Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results, Conclusion and Literature Cited.  Some tips for preparing a good poster include:

  1. Make the poster and fonts large enough so that they can be easily read.  The title should be readable at a distance of fifteen feet.
  2. Select an suitable poster size (typically 4 feet x 3 feet)
  3. Decide on the poster orientation (landscape or portrait)
  4. Prepare an initial sketch/layout of your poster; consider headlines, text topics, graphs, tables
  5. Select a background color to catch the attention of the viewer. 
  6. Be sure to include contrast between your background and text
  7. Focus the reader's attention on a few key points
  8. Figures and tables should cover slightly more than 50% of your poster.  Tables and figures should hold the main content - graphics should dominate
  9. Keep text to a minimum, edit ruthlessly
  10. Use a simple font (Arial or Times New Roman)
  11. Keep explanatory text close to the figure it is explaining
  12. Group related information together, perhaps by surrounding each group with some blank space and labeling them with a heading
  13. Blank space is okay - if material is too crammed it is hard to read
  14. Avoid the use of all cap's
  15. It is often advisable to prepare a flier or small version (8.5 x 11) of your poster to give to a reader.


Click here for a Poster Presentation Checklist


References:  Several good references for preparing posters include:

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Last updated:  01/07/2009     � Copyright  by SG Saupe