A short tutorial on best practices for creating scientific posters (created for college students).

1. Scientific Posters
a best practices guide

2. What is a Scientific
Poster?
Large-format document
Concise summary of research
Displayed at scientific conferences
Readable in under 10 minutes

3. Follow the
organization of a
scientific paper:
Statement of problem/hypothesis
Background
Data/methods
Results
Conclusions
Sources
See ITF Michael Porter’s PP at http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2371459/MP_Scientific_Poster_Presentation.pptx

4. Best Practices
Stay Focused: keep your message clear
Be Graphic: use graphs and images more so than
text
Avoid Clutter: keep your poster clean
Put on your graphic designer hat: colors, font size
and style, and alignment all matter. Make sure
your poster doesn’t hurt the eyes, is readable, and
professional
Break up text with bullet points (like this!)

5. THE GOOD...

6. The Bad...

7. and the ugly...

8. How do I make a
poster?
Keynote or Powerpoint
One slide
Standard size: 36”x48” (one side MUST be 36”), or 2592 pixels x 3456
pixels
Inspector > Document Inspector > Slide Size > Custom Slide Size
Download Keynote poster templates at
http://www.apple.com/science/productivitylab/#researchposter
Save your slide as a PDF. Make sure you specify the paper size as 36”x48”
(or 48x36)

9. Deadlines
Poster Printing Deadline: 1 week before
presentation. Make an appt. at
http://macaulay.cuny.edu/eportfolios/seminar3presentat
Registration Deadline: November 22, 5pm. Use
URL above.

10. Additional
Resources
Video on how to create scientific posters with Keynote:
http://www.apple.com/science/productivitylab/
ITF Craig Willse’s presentation on poster design:
http://macaulay.cuny.edu/it/files/userfiles/scientific%20posters.pdf
Swarthmore College tips on creating and presenting posters:
http://www.swarthmore.edu/NatSci/cpurrin1/posteradvice.htm
Examples of professional scientific posters:
http://www.apple.com/science/poster/
Examples of scientific posters by MHC students and additional sites with
poster tips: http://macaulay.cuny.edu/it/content/scientific-posters
Questions: contact ITF Jenny Kijowski at profkijowski@gmail.com