How to Make a Research Poster

1. How to Make a Research Poster

2. What is the Purpose of a Research Poster? • Summarizes project in an engaging, visual way. Tells a story about your work • Presents your argument & ideas without you having to explain them • Effectively communicates why your idea contributes to the larger field • Demonstrates and advertises your hard work and originality • Starts a conversation

3. General Poster Content Guidelines • Snappy, understandable title • Total word count should be ~400-600 words max • Avoid jargon and overly complex sentences • Present a clear and logical flow of information; sections should be ordered

4. Humanities Poster Content • Introductory Section: This can include background info, your thesis/argument, and/or your driving questions • Methods: What are you drawing from in current literary studies? Basically you want to show your audience what methodologies you are using to try to answer your questions • “Results”: Examples from primary sources that prove your thesis • Discussion: What conclusions have you drawn? Why is your research meaningful? What is the take away from the research you’ve done so far?

5. Format Guidelines • No larger than 2x3 feet • Use a portrait orientation • Leave a 1” border around edge of poster • Include (in addition to content): • Title • Name , Affiliation (including faculty mentor if you have one), UCSB dept • Works Cited list (for citations included on poster) • Interesting graphics (.png files print better than .jpg) • Use easy to read fonts like Times New Roman, Garamond, Helvetica, Arial, etc. Use only 1-2 fonts. • Avoid using all caps • Avoid dark background colors

7. Good Poster Design Example

8. Bad Poster Design Example

9. Poster Software • Powerpoint (general instructions and templates here) or Open Office • LaTex (instructions; templates here) • Adobe InDesign (design tutorial here) • Poster Genius (requires you sign up for a free trial) • Other Design Software like Inkscape and Gimp (both open source) • **Make sure to use a portrait orientation/layout

10. More Tips and Guidelines • Excellent blog on building a poster including general advice, examples, templates, and printing guidelines: • http://colinpurrington.com/tips/poster-design • UCSB Office of Undergrad Research Poster Guidelines: • https://undergrad.research.ucsb.edu/poster-presentations/ • UC Berkeley Digital Humanities Poster Guidelines • http://digitalhumanities.berkeley.edu/resources/creating-and-printing-posters • University of York Humanities Poster Winners • https://www.york.ac.uk/hrc/postgraduate/opportunities/poster-competition/poster-competition-winners/

11. Examples from Past Arnhold Showcases

16. Poster Brainstorming Exercise • Write out your argument as it is write now in one sentence. • Write out 2-3 driving questions for your work. • List several influential sources. • Briefly note 2-3 examples to support these ideas. • Once you have done this, find someone else and try to explain your argument to someone in several sentences using the above items. Then think about how you can revise this work for your “elevator pitch”