POWERPOINT FOR SCIENTIFIC POSTERS

Soniya MunshiInstructional Technology Fellow

Fall 2011

WHAT IS A SCIENTIFIC POSTER?

A scientific poster is a large document that communicates your research through a combination of text, table/charts, and images.

A poster (vs. a talk) enables you to more personally interact with people who are interested in your research but, at the same time, does not require your presence.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of this medium?

WHAT ELEMENTS MAKE UP A GOOD/EFFECTIVE SOCIAL SCIENTIFIC POSTER?

Need to consider content (text and images/graphs/charts) AND style (layout/design)

Traditional scientific posters include: Title,

Names, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Bibliography, Acknowledgements

EXAMPLE OF POSTERS

Some Examples

Find an example of a poster that works well– what makes this poster effective?

Find an example of one that does not work as well– what makes this poster ineffective?

MORE EXAMPLES OF POSTERS

http://www.nchcconference.com/content/view/18/32/

http://www.flickr.com/groups/368476@N21/pool/

http://www.scientificposters.com/aao/epswelcome.cfm?CFID=192738&CFTOKEN=85177777

You can google search more examples, using key words like: scientific posters, archives, [public health, epidemiology, biology, etc.]

(MACAULAY) EXAMPLES

To see posters that were created by Seminarstudents last year, go to:

http://macaulay.cuny.edu/it/?q=node/47

and click on:

Examples of Posters by Macaulay Students inPrevious Semesters

CONSIDERATIONS: SECTIONS Title

(first and last ) Names of group members

Introduction

Conclusions

Works Cited

Acknowledgements

Other

MECHANICS: SET UP YOUR SLIDE

To begin a poster, make a new slide andset your dimensions in Page Setup.

Make your slide 36”x48” (or48”x36”).

MECHANICS: HOW TO SET UP YOUR SLIDE

1. Open PowerPoint, select Blank Documents, and then PowerPoint Presentation; then select Blank.

2. In the top menu click on View and then Slide. (Normal view is unnecessary because the poster consists of a single slide.)

3. Go File > Page Setup…, then enter the width and height of the poster in inches. You will see an error message saying the page is larger than the printable size—that is fine, just click out of it.

MECHANICS: MAKE TEXT BOXES

All textual info can be made in a text box. You can

alter size and shape, and drag the boxes around the

page by its edges.

The font should be large enough for people to read

(between 18 and 48 pt.) and the text should be as

concise as possible. You don’t want a lot of text.

MECHANICS: HOW TO MAKE TEXT BOXES

1. Click on the A| button in the Object Palette on the left. You will see a textbox appear on the slide. Drag the textbox to where you want to place the text.

2. In the Formatting Palette on the right set the font face, size, and alignment. The title and any headers should be centered, while paragraphs should be justified. The jagged right edge of left-aligned paragraphs creates an uneven, visually displeasing effect.

3. Type or copy-paste the desired text into the textbox.

4. If copy-pasting from several documents with different fonts, use Edit > Paste Special… > Unformatted Text.

5. Be sure to insert a descriptive title in large font (around 80 pt.) at the top.

MECHANICS: INSERT IMAGES

You should select images that express informationthat is necessary and relevant for your research. Be thoughtful and creative about possiblephotographs, charts, maps, etc.

IMPORTANT: Since these images will be printed on very large posters, they must have a high resolution—at least

150 dpi but preferably 300 or 600 dpi. Images on the World

Wide Web, since they do not normally have a resolution

higher than 72dpi, will not be appropriate for your poster.Copyright is also an issue with most Web content. Use a

digitalcamera or talk to your professor about obtaining highquality images. If you don’t have a camera, talk to me.

MECHANICS: HOW TO INSERT IMAGES

1. Insert images by going to Insert > Picture >FromFile… or by clicking on the Insert Picture button (a

small pastel landscape in a rectangle) in thelefthand Object Palette

2. As a rule, edit and size all images with an image editing application before inserting them into the PowerPoint slide. On your computers is a photo editing program called the Gimp. You can use this for advanced editing of images, or you can use iPhoto for more simple editing. Save as a JPG file with the highest possible quality setting.

3. You can add borders to text boxes and images through the Format Picture dialogue, which is available in the

Formatting Palette on the right or the Format menu at the top.

MECHANICS: DRAW GRAPHICS

Any lines, arrows, circles, or other drawn graphics

should be done via PowerPoint, not in an image

editing application.

MECHANICS: HOW TO DRAW GRAPHICS

To add arrows, lines, or circles to the images in your

slide:

1. Use the Lines or AutoShapes tabs in the lefthand Object Palette to select what you want, the draw it on the image itself.

2. When the shape or line is selected on the slide, you can change the fill, line color, line type, line weight, etc. in the Formatting Palette on the right.

3. You can do the same by going to Format > AutoShape… or by ctrl-clicking on the shape and selecting Format AutoShape….

4. You can also use the Line Color and Line Style tabs in the lefthand Object Palette.

MECHANICS: LAYING OUT YOUR POSTER

Keep enough “white space” and minimal text

Keep columns/boxes aligned and neat

Make sure the reader knows how to “travel” through your poster (via vertical columns, e.g.)

Think about poster “real estate”– placement of important elements in easy-to-see locations

It may be useful to draft your poster on paper before you start working in PowerPoint

MECHANICS: LAYOUT & NOTE ON VIEW

Since the posters you are making will be several feet on a side and the screens you are working on are much smaller, you will need to keep the zoom at 100% while working on details of the slides.

Once you have the content set, you can go to View > Zoom > Fit to see the entire poster and move the elements accordingly. You might find that you have to switch often between 100% and Fit.

MECHANICS: HOW TO LAY OUT YOUR POSTER

Visually arrange the objects in your poster with the GuidesView: 1. With the zoom set to Fit, go to View and select Guides.2. You will now see the slide quartered by dotted lines

according to which you can arrange your text and images.3. If you drag the objects around the slide, in their

movement they will automatically “snap” to a standard position with respect to the guidelines.

4. When an object is selected, you can also use the arrow keys to nudge the object around.

5. Use the boxes on the border of the selected object to place it with respect to the guidelines and other objects in the slide.

6. In general it works best to place textboxes in the center of the slide with images around the periphery, close to the text that refers to them.

7. Be sure to look at the sample posters links, they are intended to provide you with some ideas on layout and visuals.

AVOIDING COMMON MISTAKES Make sure to keep the visual effects in mind–

the poster should not be too dense (with images and/or text)

Title should be in sentence case (not titlecase), and not too long.

Use non-serif font (e.g. Arial, Century Gothic, Helvetica) for titles and serif (e.g. Century Schoolbook, Palatino, Times New Roman) for body

Use italics instead of underlining key text

Don’t use dark backgrounds

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES Advice on designing scientific posters” (Swarthmore

College) http://www.swarthmore.edu/NatSci/cpurrin1/posteradvice.htm

“Do’s and Don’ts of Poster Presentation” (The American Society for Cell Biology) http://www.ascb.org/index.cfm?navid=112&id=1607&tcode=nws3

“Creating Effective Poster Presentations” (North Carolina State University) http://www.ncsu.edu/project/posters/NewSite/

“Design of Scientific Posters” (Virginia Tech) http://www.writing.eng.vt.edu/posters.html

“The Poster Production Show” (Women in Science Project at Dartmouth) http://www.dartmouth.edu/~wisp/PosterShow/poster_pg2.html

INFORMATION FROM MACAULAY

Seminar 3 Poster Project FAQs:http://macaulay.cuny.edu/academics/

posters.php

LOGISTICS: PREPARING TO PRINT THE POSTER

To print the poster, you will need to turn your file into a a

PDF.

In PowerPoint, go to "Print" and select "Page Setup" in the print dialogue window.

In the Page Setup dialogue window, enter the size of the poster, as appropriate (normally 36x48 or 48x36).

Go to "options" in the same dialogue window, and specify the paper size. You can also save it as "poster" so you can go back to it…

Click "ok" and, make sure that "Scale to Fit Paper" is checked (this adds a small white border and avoids any of the poster content running off the side).

Finally, click the "PDF" dropdown and save the file as .pdf.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Purrington, C.B. 2006. Advice on designing scientific postershttp://www.swarthmore.edu/NatSci/cpurrin1/posteradvice.htm Last accessed November 3, 2008.

Sorrentino, J. 2008. I’m reading Gide: Adventures of an ITF at Brooklyn College. http://macaulay.cuny.edu/eportfolios/jsorrentino/scientific-posters/. Last accessed November 3, 2008.