There are many different ways of creating a poster. Your poster should:

• A presenter who reads text-heavy slides for the audience is not engaging
• Rehearse your presentation to be fully prepared
• Provide only information that is applicable and necessary for describing your subject to a diverse and general audience
• Follow an outline that allows you to present information in an easy-to-follow order without reading from a script
• Engage the audience through body language, eye contact, slides, stories, questions, handouts, or other means
• Speak loudly and clearly using slides or other visuals that support, highlight, or illuminate main conceptual points
• Wear appropriate attire

Resources you should use:

• SLCC’s Presentation Skills Lab
• Ten Simple Rules for Making Good Oral Presentations
• TED Presenter’s Manual
• TED’s Secret to Great Public Speaking

There are many different ways of creating a poster. However, you should check the Repository of Previous Entries to see what other participants have done in prior symposiums. Your poster should:

• Be 36 inches high by 48 inches wide.
• Follow APA Format and References Guidelines
• While there is variation among disciplines, typically, posters contain the following sections:
  1. Title
  2. Abstract (optional)
  3. Introduction
  4. List of objectives (optional)
  5. Methodology (or materials and methods)
  6. Results
  7. Conclusion and/or discussion
  8. References
• Use straightforward and to-the-point language, keeping each section under 500 words
• Text should be readable from four feet away (font size 32-36)
• Use columns to format poster layout
• Include relevant visuals that are high-quality resolution (at least 300 dpi) when printed
• Other Resources:
  • Ten Simple Rules for a Good Poster Presentation
  • Penn State: Speaking Guidelines for Engineering and Science
  • NYU: How to create a research poster
  • U of U: How-to guide on research posters and poster sessions
• Templates: Free research poster PowerPoint templates

Creating and Printing your poster: Technical posters are often created using PowerPoint, publishing software like InDesign or the Adobe Creative Suite products (available through the Adobe Desktop on SLCC All Access).

For Fall 2025 UP3RC, posters should be submitted to SLCC Printing Services no later than November 19, 2025. Posters should be submitted in groups by a designated print person. If you are presenting with a class, your professor will either submit posters for the class, or there's a designated person for the department. Students should not submit posters to Print Services individually because they may not be ready in time. For questions regarding printing (e.g., procedure, costs), please contact your professor or Amanda Rubino (ameidel1@slcc.edu).

SLCC Librarians can support you throughout the research process, especially with finding quality existing research on your topic in library databases and beyond. Learn more about how we can help and contact a librarian on the Library UPRC Guide.

As a student, you can work with consultants in the Student Writing & Reading Center for your research project. Making an appointment for online or in-person tutoring is easy. Once you create an account, verify it, and log in, simply click on the In-Person or Online Tutoring tab. You can also submit your writing for written feedback.