What’s in a poster?
An academic poster is a way of presenting scholarly research. Poster presentations are an integral part of Nipissing University’s Undergraduate Research Conference. The biggest benefit to a poster, as opposed to an oral presentation, is that you have a lot of great interaction with conference attendees and judges – and you don’t have the pressure of a formal speech. Students should prepare a short 5-minute explanation of their research protocol and findings should attendees and judges ask for an overview. Posters should be concise and informative for those simply passing by and reading your material.
Please note, posters should be compiled only in landscape. For display purposes, display boards should be 3 feet by 4 feet.
Environmental Geography graduate Nathan Mountain presented his research poster entitled “Volume Dependent Fissioning in Planaria” four years ago. The experience gave him the confidence he needed to take his poster to a larger conference in Washington, DC.
He also had a great item to add to his CV.
“Participating in the event three years ago helped me get into graduate school,” says Mountain, who has graduated from the Master of Environmental Science/Studies Program at Nipissing University. Nathan completed his Masters thesis under Dr. April James, Canada Research Chair in Watershed Modeling and Analysis. “I got a taste of academic research – and I really enjoyed it. I knew I wanted to continue with it.”
Nathan’s suggestion for a great poster: “Make it concise but self-explanatory. Judges will want to have all the key information. Their discussion with you will be for the extras.”
For an idea of past abstracts for posters presented see the conference programs.