What is an academic research poster?
A poster is a visual communications tool that will help you to easily and effectively disseminate your research to a wide audience. An effective poster gets your point across in a concise and focused way; it uses images, graphs/charts, tables and other visual strategies with minimal supporting text.
Before you get started on creating a poster, you should always check with your research mentor to review the appropriate design conventions for your discipline. You may consider using our Blank Poster Templates.
What should be included in a poster?
- Title: project title
- Authors: your name, names of research collaborator(s), research mentor name and department/institution
- Introduction/Objectives
- Methods
- Results or Findings (expected, preliminary)
- Discussion
- Conclusions/Future Directions
- Acknowledgments: include any sources of funding you received to engage in the research project
What is the best design, layout and size?
- Set the page margins to at least 1 inch. Elements may get cut off in the printing process if there is no margin.
- Recommended font sizes: Title should be at least 70 pt. Text should be 18 point or larger so it can be read from 3-5 feet away.
- Use high resolution images in the 200-300 dpi range. Images copied from Web pages (typically 72-75 dpi) may appear jagged and fuzzy when enlarged.
- If OUR is covering your poster printing costs, your poster cannot be larger than 42 inches x 36 inches.
Resources
On Campus Poster Printing
Visit the University Copy website to place your poster order. If your department will be covering your printing costs, please coordinate with your faculty mentor/department EA.
Students presenting at the Fall Research Colloquium do not have to pay for their poster. Instructions on how to order your poster will be emailed to you. If you are presenting a poster at the Fall Colloquium 2025, you should use a 36x42 format, portrait orientation (templates available here).