In contrast to a journal article, you can present only a few main ideas on a poster. If you have more results, you can still talk to people about them. You can also print a handout of the poster content with the extra information included.
First, think about the audience – will readers mainly be in your field or from outside it? This will affect the kind of information you include in the poster; by identifying the audience, you can make sure that your poster caters for it.
The next step is to consider the main points you want to get across and to think about them in terms of the structure of the poster (which is similar to that of a journal article, but in a shortened form):
- Title. Make this as short as possible but accessible to a broad audience. For example, the title could
- ask a question (the question that you asked in the research)
- say what the study was about
- suggest that your research is novel (but it is best not to make claims such as being ‘the first’, in case it’s not!).
Substitution of first-row transition metals, M2+, into layered magnetic monoclinic manganese phosphorus trisulfide, MnPS3
becomes
Can we control the magnetic properties of layered magnetic materials?
[Tells the reader your higher-level aim.]
- Author name(s) and affiliations. You may also wish to add acknowledgments.
- Abstract or summary. After the title, this is probably the first (and possibly the only) part the reader will look at, so make it clear and concise to encourage readers to engage with the rest of the poster. State clearly what you set out to do, how you did it, what you found and what it means.
- Introduction. State clearly the problem you were trying to solve, and the aims of the research.
- Methods. Explain the techniques you used or the procedures you followed.
- Results. Where possible, express your results using visual elements such as figures (photographs and graphs) and tables; use them to help the reader to understand your results.
- Discussion. In as few words as possible, state what your findings mean and what avenues further research might take. The discussion can include your conclusions, or these can be a separate part of the poster. Many readers will look only at the abstract and conclusions, so these sections need to be very clear and concise.
- References. Keep the list as short as possible.
