Transcript Powerpoint template for scientific poster

An informative title, formatted in “sentence case”, that attracts viewers and states
or hints at “issue”, experimental approach, and study organization
Your name(s) here — Department of Biology, University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, Colorado
Introduction
Results
This is a Microsoft Powerpoint template that has column widths and font
sizes optimized for printing a 36 x 56” poster. In addition to its template
use, this file has gratuitous advice on how to produce a good-looking
poster that people might actually enjoy reading. More complete advice
can be found on the site, “Advice for constructing scientific posters”,
located at
www.swarthmore.edu/NatSci/cpurrin1/posteradvice.htm
Paragraphs of sentences are fine, but sometimes a simple list of “bullet”
points can communicate results more effectively:
Fig. 1. Use a photograph or drawing
here if it can quickly introduce a viewer
to your question, organism, or the gene
du jour. Use a non-serif font for figure
legends to provide cue to reader that
he/she is not reading normal text
section.
• 9 out of 12 brainectomized rats survived the treatment.
• Control rats completed maze faster, on average, than rats
without intact brains (Fig. 3) (t = 9.84, df = 21, p = 0.032).
Note that figures are preferred but that tables are sometimes
unavoidable (ANOVA results, for example, shown at right). A table looks
best when it is first composed within Microsoft Word, then “Inserted” as
an “Object”.
Also note that the layout for results section can (and probably should)
be modified from this template, depending on how much text, charts, and
photographs your specific experiment involved. Don’t be tempted to
reduce font size in figure legends, axes labels, etc.—your viewers are
probably most interested in reading your figures!
Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah.
Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah,
Materials and methods
Do not indent the first paragraph in a section.
This paragraph has “justified” margins, but be aware that leftjustification is infinitely better if your font (at a particular size) doesn’t
“space” nicely when justified. Sometimes spacing difficulties can be fixed
by manually inserting hyphens into longer words (Powerpoint doesn’t do
this automatically).
Your main text is easier to read if you use a “serif” font such as
Palatino or Times. Use a non-serif font for title and section headings. Be
brief, and opt for photographs or drawings whenever possible to illustrate
organism, protocol, or experimental design.
Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah.
Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah,
Fig. 2. Photograph or drawing of
organism, chemical structure, or
whatever focus of study is.
Fig. 3. Illustration of important
piece of equipment, or perhaps a
flow chart summarizing
experimental design. Use a nonserif font for all text, labels within
figures.
Fig. 5. Be sure to separate this
figure from other figures by
generous use of white space.
When figures are too cramped,
viewers get confused about which
figures to read first, and which
legend goes with which figure. Note
that you should turn text
justification off when you are filling
smaller text boxes such as this.
(a)
(b)
(c)
Fig. 4(a-c). Make sure legends have enough detail to fully
explain to the viewer what the results are. Note that for posters
it is good to put some “Materials and methods” information
within the figure legends—it allows the M&m section to be
shorter, and gives viewer a sense of experiment(s) even if they
have skipped directly to figures.
Often you will have some more text-based results between your
figures. This text should also guide the reader through the figures.
Blah, blah, blah (Figs. 4a,b). Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah,
blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah,
blah.
Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah.
Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah (Fig.
4c). Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah.
Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah (data not shown).
Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah.
Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah,
Blah, blah,
blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah.
Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah (God, personal communication).
Table 1. ANCO VA e xami ni ng th e e ffe cts o f wat e r
tre atme n t, p arasite t re atme n t, an d in it ial h e igh t o f
n e ttle o n n e ttle d ry we igh t.
Sou rce
Wa ter trea tme nt
Para site trea tme nt
Ne tt le i n itial h eig ht
Para site trea tme nt *
n e tt le i n itial h eig ht
Re sidu al
df
2
1
1
1
Mea n
squ are
23.305
0.049
0.769
0.489
163
F-valu e
215.96
0.455
7.129
4.532
p -valu e
0.0001
0.5011
0.0084
0.0348
0.108
Fig. 6. The use of connector lines
can sometimes lead the viewer
through your results better than text
alone. Don’t overuse this option,
however, or viewer will get dizzy.
Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah,
blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah,
blah. Blah, blah, blah.
Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah,
blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah,
blah. Blah, blah, blah.
Conclusions
You can, of course, start your conclusions in column three if your results
section is “data light”.
Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah.
Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah,
blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah,
blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah.
Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah.
Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah,
blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah,
blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah.
Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah,
blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah.
Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah.
Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah,
blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah,
blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah.
Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Blah,
blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah.
Literature cited
Bender, D.J., E.M Bayne, and R.M. Brigham. 1996. Lunar condition
influences coyote (Canis latrans) howling. American Midland
Naturalist 136:413-417.
Northcutt, W. 2000. The Darwin Awards. Dutton, New York.
Brooks, L.D. 1988. The evolution of recombination rates. Pages 87-105 in
The Evolution of Sex, edited by R.E. Michod and B.R. Levin. Sinauer,
Sunderland, MA.
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2003. “Body mass index
calculator.” http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/
dnpa/bmi/calc-bmi.htm (April 14, 2003).
Acknowledgments
We thank I. Güor for laboratory assistance, Herb Isside for greenhouse
care, and M.I. Menter for statistical advice. Seeds were kindly donated by
Burpee corporation. Funding for this project was provided by the
Swarthmore College Department of Biology and a Merck summer stipend.
[Note that people’s titles are omitted.]
For further information
Please contact [email protected]. More information on this and
related projects can be obtained at www.swarthmore… (give URL for
general laboratory web site). A link to an online, PDF-version of poster is
nice, too.