PRESENTING research results with posters is more common in the natural and physical sciences and psychology than in sociology, but they are becoming more widely used in our discipline too. Your instructor may ask you to do a poster, perhaps as an alternative to an oral presentation.

These poster guidelines are adapted (rather liberally) from specifications suggested by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology of the American Psychological Association.

Click here to see sample poster arrangements.

Effective Posters
Your poster should be complete and self-supporting so that viewers may read at their leisure. You should only need to answer questions or discuss particular points raised by viewers. Remember that several people of varying degrees of interest and experience may be viewing your poster at once. Therefore, make your points as complete and brief as possible.

Planning
Materials are sometimes mounted on colored poster paper or board. Poster boards (available at the Skidmore Shop) can be as large as 4' tall x 8' wide, but for course projects you will probably be best off with a 30" x 40" poster.

Your poster will have a far more professional look, however, if you create it using a computer program such as PowerPoint. Office Services in Case Center will print out your poster (up to in size) for a reasonable fee. Visit the CITS Web site for help on using PowerPoint.

The most effective use of poster space is usually in a grid plan arranged in columns. That arrangement lets viewers read your poster without having to cross back and forth in front of each other.

Allow for distance when printing and planning layouts. It is better to include less information and use a larger font. You can always offer handouts that have details that are not on your poster.

The standard elements of a poster reporting research are: Introduction, Methods, Results (with supporting tables and figures), and a Conclusion or Summary. Using these elements, place the Introduction at the upper left and the Conclusion at the lower right, both in large type. Type should be easily seen from a short distance. It is not necessary to post a copy of the abstract.

Bring your own tacks or tape to put up your poster.

Illustrations
Figures (e.g., graphs) and tables should be easily seen from a distance, so use clear graphics and large type fonts. Your main points should be straightforward without extended viewing, but appropriate details should be included for those who might find them useful. Because you must restrict the amount of text, the figure legend can contain some of the commentary that would usually be contained in the body of a manuscript.

Text
Here are some tips for text on your poster:

• Minimize narrative.
• Use a large type font in short, separated paragraphs.
• Do not set entire paragraphs in boldface or capital letters.
• Numbered or bulleted lists (like this) are a concise but effective way to convey a series of points.

Title
A banner for the top of the poster should present the project's title, author, and affiliation (e.g., Skidmore College). Lettering should be about 1-1/4 inches high for the title, 3/4 inches high for the author's name, and 1/2 inch high for affiliation.

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Created June 2000; modified March 17, 2002