Research Posters

A research poster visually presents the general overview, data, and most relevant findings of a research project. Research posters are typically presented at academic or professional conferences or congresses. Sometimes research posters accompany an oral presentation of the project conducted.

At a conference, posters may be presented in a printed format; in-person on a digital screen; or via a virtual platform. In many cases, researchers may stand by their poster display while participants come and view the presentation and interact with the author(s). 

Elements of a research poster include the abstract, the research questions, methodologies, results, and the conclusions. An effective research poster provides a clean and consistent layout, emphasizes research questions and results, utilizes purposeful graphics and visuals, has readily accessible text, and includes citations as well as contact information. Posters are a mixture of (brief) text, tables, graphs, and pictures. 

When considering what to include on your poster, ask yourself:

1. Who is your audience and what are you trying to communicate to them?
2. What is the most important message that you want to convey in your research project? Why is it important?
3. How can you visually share your research with conference attendees? Which is/are most relevant to your research: charts, graphs, photos, images?
4. What are the poster standards and expectations for my discipline?

Elements presented include:

• Presentation Title
• Author information
• Institutional Affiliation
• Research question
• Methodologies
• Results & Conclusions
• References
• Acknowledgements