CBP's Powerpoint template for scientific posters

1
Title, formatted in sentence case (i.e., not in
Title Case, not in ALL CAPS), that states
(or hints at) interesting issue, experimental
approach, and study organism Your name(s) here
Department of Xxxxxxxxxx Sciences, College of
Allied Health, The University of Oklahoma Health
Sciences Center,Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73190
Introduction This is a Microsoft Powerpoint
template that has column widths and font sizes
optimized for printing a 36 x 56 poster. This
file has brief tips on how to produce a
good-looking poster that people might actually
enjoy reading. More complete advice can be found
in the companion document, Advice for
constructing scientific posters, located at,
www.swarthmore.edu/NatSci/cpurrin1/sciposteradvi
ce.pdf

• Results
• Paragraphs of sentences are fine, but sometimes a
  simple list of bullet points can communicate
  results more effectively
• 9 out of 12 brainectomized rats survived the
  treatment.
• Control rats completed maze faster, on average,
  than rats without 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.
  (To see examples of how others have modified this
  template, perform a Google search for powerpoint
  template for scientific posters.)
• Dont be tempted to reduce font size in figure
  legends, axes labels, etc.your viewers are
  probably most interested in reading your figures!
  Font size in graphs should be same size as text
  in body of section (e.g., easily legible from 6
  away).
• 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.
Fig. 5. Be sure to separate figures 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.
Fig. 1. Use a photograph or drawing here if it
can quickly introduce a viewer to your question,
organism, or allele du jour. Use a non-serif font
for figure legends to provide subtle cue to
reader that he/she is not reading normal text
section.
Materials and methods Do not indent the first
paragraph in a section. This paragraph has
justified margins, but be aware that
left-justification is infinitely better if your
font (at a particular size) doesnt space
nicely when fully justified. Sometimes spacing
difficulties can be fixed by manually inserting
hyphens into longer words (Powerpoint doesnt 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 (and for figure legends, graph
text, etc.). 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,
Literature cited Bender, D.J., E.M Bayne, and
R.M. Brigham. 1996. Lunar condition influences
coyote (Canis latrans) howling. American Midland
Naturalist 136413-417. 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).
(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 legendsit allows the Mm section to be
shorter, and gives viewer a sense of
experiment(s) even if they have skipped directly
to figures.
Fig. 6. The use of connector lines can sometimes
lead the viewer through your results better than
text alone. Dont overuse this option, however,
or viewers will get dizzy.
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 peoples titles are omitted.
Printing was courtesy of the Office of Academic
and Student Services, College of Allied Health.
Fig. 2. Photograph or drawing of organism,
chemical structure, or whatever focus of study is.
Often you will have some more text-based results
between your figures. This text should explicitly
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).
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.
Fig. 3. Illustration of important piece of
equipment, or perhaps a flow chart summarizing
experimental design. Use a non-serif font for
all text, labels within figures, etc.
For further information Please contact
email1_at_swarthmore.edu. 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.