What Are the Parts of an Academic Scientific Poster

The Key Parts of an Academic Scientific Poster

An academic research poster is a large poster that students as well as professionals are using in order to
communicate research effectively at scientific meeting. To know about the parts of the poster, check this page
so that you will know what to write.
Break Down Parts of Scientific Poster

 Title: A well thought title would clarify your subject matter and ensure that you attract viewers of
your poster. You need to ensure that you keep your title and make sure that the title length is brief as
much as possible. You should not remove the crucial information in your title. Take note also that the
title should not be longer than two lines.

 Abstract: Most of the time, you need to submit an abstract for approval. In most cases, the abstract is
made available in online database or meeting catalogue for viewing it later by attendees. To make
sure that your viewers will remember your abstract, you need to keep it short. Keep in mind that the
poster is a condensed of your work report.

 Introduction: In writing the introduction, you need to keep it to one to two paragraphs. It should be
about 150 words. In addition, you should avoid using technical definitions. Your introduction is your
opportunity to introduce the issue that is why you need to ensure that you will not bore your readers
with too many details. To make your points more understandable, you can include graphics.

 Methods and Materials: In academic poster, you need to have this section. With this, you need to
cover methods and materials that you have used in your research. The good thing is that you can
include charts, graphs or images that will help the viewers to gain better understanding. You should
not also forget to give rationale in explaining why you choose those methods that you used.

 Results: It is always a nice idea to start with this section in writing academic research poster. In
writing this, you need to start with initial summary of your results. Keep in mind that you should not
address the research question because what you need to do is to address the general aspects of
collected data or valid data number that you obtained.

 In the next paragraph, it is important to discuss the relationship of your research question and data.
You need to tell what is the meaning of your data and including graphics in showing the data visually
is needed. Using graphics will help the readers to have better understanding about your data. In
addition, graphs and charts are more effective compared to table. However, whatever you choose,
ensure that everything is clear. A table without title or a graph without labels will leave the readers
confused.

 Conclusions: In academic poster design, you need to have a conclusion. In conclusion, you need to
briefly review your results and research questions that you obtained. Make sure to tell why your
results are significant and interesting.

 References: To have the best academic poster, you need to have references. For extreme extensive
list of references, you can divide it into two columns. In writing the references, it is always essential
to follow the required format.

 Acknowledgments: In best academic posters, writers include acknowledgments and it is also what
you need to do. In this section, you are acknowledging people who helped you in completing your
work like research group, your funding source and others. In writing this section, you need to keep it
as short as possible.

 Contact information: In academic poster designs, some people include this section for readers to
know where to contact the author. You can include your website address or email address.

General Tips:
Aside from hiring poster design service to make your task easier, there are things you need to know and
remember. Regardless of your content, you need to keep it simple and do not overload your poster with text.
Your key is brevity and you need to remember it all the time. Here are sections that should be included in
scientific poster presentation:

1. Title: Your title is used in conveying your main message.
Your headline title must need to have verb and noun. It is important to quantify it.
One to two lines if the maximum
The title can be catchy or straightforward
Maximum words is 25

2. Abstract: In your poster, you should not include the abstract, unless it is a requirement.
3. Introduction: In your introduction, you need to get the interest of your readers by telling about the

question or issue. In here, what you need to do is:
 State the aim, goal or purpose with the use of bullets
 Place work in context
 As much as possible, you need to give a background about your title
 You can start or end your hypotheses with the use of bullet statements
 The maximum words for this section is 125
4. Methods and Materials: In here, what you need to do is:
 Describe your experiment
 Use photos, drawings, figures in illustrating experimental design
 Use flow charts in order to summarize timing or steps
 The maximum words is 150
5. Results: In here, you need to summarize what you have found.
 The result graph only support your bullet points (three to five)
 Every chart, table or graph gives qualitative and quantitative descriptive results
 Every chart or graph must contain headline or main point
 Positive or negative controls need to be labeled and it must consistent in color
 You should not use legends
 Using bullets is okay
 Remove punctuation and cut down key words
 The maximum words is 250 and it is the largest section
6. Conclusions: In here, what you need to do is:
 Write a summary of results using bullets
 Include 1 or 2 bullets for future directions. Be sure that you do not make future directions separate.
 The maximum words is 150
7. Literature cited:

 You need to follow the standard format
 Five citations maximum
8. Acknowledgments:
 Include disclosures for any type of the conflicts
 You can mention who help or give funding
 Include significant contributors, the name as well as the contribution.
 Maximum 40 words
9. Further information:
 Your website address and email address
 URLs to download poster PDFs or any related papers
 Maximum 30 words
When you know what parts or section you need to have in your academic scientific poster, it is the right time
to start doing it.
Refer to this guide on the components of an academic scientific poster today!