Mounting Supplies

• The Psychology Department has boards mounted along the 1st floor hallway of the Physical Sciences Bldg. The cork background of these boards will be covered with color paper (usually dark blue or black) by the Department.
• All the supplies needed to “mount” your poster are available to you in the Psychology Department Office (room #1151). These include 9x12 construction paper to mount your white pages to, staplers, scissors, double-sided tape, glue sticks, cutting boards, etc.

Appearance

• A poster presentation is a visual presentation of your research project. Therefore, visual elements are critical and text should be kept to a minimum. It is NOT sufficient to simply print out your “write-up” using larger font.
• For the text of the poster presentation, it is best to use Times New Roman, Arial, or Helvetica font in a size large enough to make your poster readable from a distance of three feet (e.g., at least 24 point). However, smaller fonts may be used for figure captions. Single-space your text or use 1.5 spacing; add extra space between paragraphs.
• The title should be printed out with letters between 1” and 1.5” tall (i.e., 72 point size at least, 110 point size could be used depending on the length of your title). It should be centered horizontally near the top edge of the board. Use both upper and lower case letters. Include the names of all authors centered beneath the title and on one row, if possible. You should use both first and last names. Below the authors list you should include the name of your faculty sponsor (i.e., Sponsored by: Dr. ________ ). Title Preparation
• Your poster should be divided into panels of information; those panels should read top to bottom, left to right. Generally, you’ll be able to fit about 4 panels (8 ½ X 11 – portrait setting) with 2 pages per panel.
• If your text doesn’t fill an entire page you should cut the page down, leaving a ½ inch white boarder at the bottom. Use ½” margins on the other sides of your text (i.e., top, left, right).
• You are not bound to APA style – only the spirit of the style – you do not need to follow a rigid format.
• It is a good idea to use numbered lists, or bulleted points instead of paragraphs.
• You can use tables or circles and arrows to illustrate your theories or research design.
• You should try to keep color to a minimum by using no more than two colors. Colors in figures and charts usually work well.
• Remember that you are showing off your scientist side more than your artistic side at this event. Don’t be tempted to spend more time on form than substance. If your poster looks as though it could belong in a kindergarten classroom – you need to scale back on colors and graphics!