Scholarly Communications

What is the Purpose of a Poster?

Posters are an effective way to showcase your scholarly work through the use of graphs, pictures, and other visually engaging elements. A good poster usually contains the following:

• Question/Focus
• Methods
• Data
• Results
• Sources

Adapted from Poster Workshop Presentation found on Verna Miller Case Symposium's Website.

Poster Making Tips

• Create an easy-to-read title that includes the author(s), name(s), and program affiliation(s)
• Organize components in a way that visually leads the viewer through your poster
• Edit text for clarity and brevity
• Only include necessary information: less is more
• Use bullet points when possible
• Use at least 20-point font size, so your poster is legible from ~5 meters away
• Use one or two soft solid colors for your poster background
• Use white (open) space in the design
• Convert tables to graphics, if possible
• Make illustrations simple and bold
• Enlarge photos to show pertinent details

Taken from Verna Miller Case Symposium's website, which was adapted from University of Cincinnati’s website.

You can find additional tips at Davidson T&I's Poster Printing FAQ and Design Tips page.

From the Library's Collections