How to plan and present a research poster

What is a research poster?

Research posters are a commonly used form of dissemination of academic work. Many academic conferences will include poster presentations as part of the event, which will provide opportunities for presenters to talk to attendees about their work with their poster as a visual aid. 

A good academic research poster will be:

• Clear and concise: the rule of thumb is to keep the word count to a minimum to avoid requiring viewers to do too much reading.
• Structured: providing an obvious way to navigate your poster through the use of clearly signalled subheadings will make it easier to engage with the content.
• Visual: a poster will usually include some visual elements such as graphical representations of data, or accompanying relevant images. An appropriate image can help you to convey a lot of information in a more accessible way. 
• Professional: a research poster will usually include some specific information including your name, institution, contact details and the logos of any organisations that may have been involved in the research.

Designing and Presenting Research Posters workshop: book hereWatch the Posters and Presenting video (24:35 minutes)

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Working with text and layout

The key thing to remember is that regardless of whether it is to be printed, projected, or displayed on a website - text is intended to be read!

Your choice of font, text size, line length and layout should always help to guide your reader through the text and make it as easy as possible to find and understand the information.

Your design should always be guided by your content, so first ask yourself what are the main messages that you would like to get across. 

You don't need to become an accomplished graphic designer to improve the presentation of your text. There are some simple principles that you can follow to ensure that you make life as easy as possible for your reader:

• Use headings and subheadings for your sections
• Use bullet points where possible to convey more complex information
• Use a single font if possible and keep the use of different font sizes to a minimum
• Use text that is readable from at least two metres - that is probably bigger than you think!
• Don't justify your text; although it may look neater, it is often more difficult to read
• White space is your friend, so avoid the temptation to fill every spare inch!

It is important to think hard about how best to convey your information to your audience and to weigh up the relative advantages of text, visuals and other forms of media. Our interactive research poster will give you some ideas of how to go about planning and designing your poster.

Access our interactive example research poster (Xerte)

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Use of images and other visual material

It is often claimed that 'a picture paints a thousand words', but only if you use the right image in the right place. Images – photographs, illustrations, charts, figures, diagrams, screenshots, animations and much more – can add detail and depth to an argument.

Images can convey complex information in a relatively accessible way, so long as they are clear and well integrated into your overall design, and offer audiences a different way of engaging with your ideas.

Just like the words that you choose, it is essential to think carefully about any images that you use in your work. Pay particular attention to the following questions:

• What does this image add to my argument or discussion?
• Is it presented in such a way that it does what I need it to do?
• Will it be clear enough for the audience to be able to see it, and get from it what I want?
• Do I need to include extra information to ensure my audience can make sense of what they are looking at?
• Does it have a caption and is it explained in the text of my poster?

How should I reference my image?

You will need to reference images, to make sure their sources are fairly acknowledged.

There are a number of places that you can go to find images that are in the public domain. You can find some recommended image databases via the University of Sheffield Library:

Using images and other mediaImage referencing can also work a little differently from other sources, so be sure to check the Library referencing pages.

How to reference

Remember: try to use images that have a direct relevance to your work rather than as a decorative feature of your poster.

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Top Tips

• Know your audience: how familiar will viewers be with jargon and terminology?
• Identify your key message and make sure it is clear from the structure of your poster.
• Have a clear narrative and make sure that your structure guides the viewer through it in a logical way.
• Keep it as concise as possible!
• And finally, make the most of the opportunity to tell your story in a visual way.

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Next steps 

• How to plan and deliver presentations
• How to write for a lay audience
• How to find images and figures

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Further Resources

• Think Ahead: Poster Presentations resources