What Makes A Good Research Poster?

A few things to think about when creating a research poster:


1. KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE

Consider who will be reading/viewing your poster. Will they be familiar with the topic, or have no background knowledge? How much time will they be able to spend with your poster? What kind of terminology are they familiar with? All of these questions are essential to ask before you begin to write any text. It's also important to think about how you will be interpreting your poster. Sometimes it works to only include essential, pared down info on the poster and more details in a supplementary packet, or delivered verbally.

2. COLORS AND PICTURES ARE YOUR FRIEND

Most interns won't have a ton of data to display, but you will be working in some very interesting labs with cool equipment and specimens. That's what we want to see! Colors and images help make your poster visually interesting.


3. FONT SIZE

Honestly this should be #1. It is not worth it to cram 20 paragraphs of size 10 font onto a poster. Nobody is reading that.

4. HAVE A TOPIC/THEME

Pick something interesting or personal to focus on in your poster, don't just describe in blank terms what you did for 6 weeks. The audience wants to see why your research is fascinating, what you learned from it, and how it inspired you.


Of course, there are many other things that make a poster great, but these are a few things to keep in the back of your mind. Yay research!!