Written manuscripts and poster presentations share the same underlying purpose of communicating research results to others, however, the particular techniques involved are different. Research reports are text based while posters are generally built around figures summarizing your results. Include references to previous work only if they are essential.
Your study aims to uncover and document general truths. It should allow you to gain some future predictive ability with regard to behavior. The results of your work may allow you to make generalized predictions for a group of individuals, the entire species, all animals, or all living things. In contrast, if the ability to predict pertains only to those individuals included in the experiment or even to only a single individual, then the study is inadequate.
A reader should be able to get the basic information with regard to your ideas, methods, results and conclusions from a quick viewing of your poster. Figures summarizing your results are the main focus of the poster. Each figure should allow inspection of your results at multiple levels depending on time and interest of the reader. A figure is most effective in presenting its results when it is titled with a brief take-home message describing the main point you want the reader to understand. The figure illustrating this point should be directly associated with this message and its content should be easily accessible to somebody with the expectation of finding the take-home message illustrated. A legend should contain all relevant details necessary for a complete understaning of the figure. It should contain materials and methods if necessary, it should contain your conclusion and it may contain some discussion if necessary.
You are encouraged to look at posters displayed on the second and third floor of the Life Sciences building for ideas. A series of behavior posters is also displayed in room 227.
Before you begin your project you should make sure that your experimental design is appropriate for the issue you address. You should be able to answer the following questions in the affirmative before you start your study. Also, please be aware of the fact that you are dealing with life animals. This involves Ethical Issues in Behavioral Research that you need to be aware of. Moreover, review these additional regulations if you choose a Vertebrate Species for your Independent Research Project.
_____ Do results derived from your study extend beyond the particular individuals included in it?
_____ Does your question have broad or narrow implications? Why should anybody care about this question?
_____ Does the experimental design fit the hypothesis you set out to test?
_____ Is the experimental design confounded by unmeasured variables?
_____ Do you have a control group (if appropriate) with which to compare animals exposed to your experimental treatment?
_____ Is the manner in which you chose to collect data appropriate?
_____ Is your sample size (number of animals included in your study) sufficiently large to allow you to reject your null hypothesis if the hypothesis is actually false?
The following is a checklist that you can use to judge your poster. If your poster is done well you should be able to answer in the affirmative to the following list of questions.
Header
_____ Is the title concise and informative?
_____ Are your name and institutional affiliation prominently displayed?
Abstract
_____ Is the abstract an appropriate length?
_____ Is each section of the poster summarized?
_____ Are there no references to figures, tables, or other work?
Introduction
_____ Does your introduction begin with a big picture and narrow to a specific issue?
_____ Is the reason you chose to do this experiment clear?
_____ Are the scientific and the common names of your species given?
_____ Are references to other literature provided to support the rationale of your study?
_____ Are references cited correctly?
_____ Are the objectives of the study evident?
Results
_____ Are raw data omitted from this section?
_____ Are the main results summarized as take-home message, figure and legend?
_____ Are graphs and figures labeled and properly presented?
_____ Are the results of statistical tests presented clearly?
_____ Could others use your description of methods and repeat your experiment?
_____ Does the section include information about the study animals?
_____ Is any special apparatus described (if appropriate)?
_____ Are your methods of data collection and the kind of data collected evident?
_____ Are the results interpreted properly with respect to your null hypothesis?
_____ Are possible errors and alternative explanations for your results discussed?
Conclusions and Discussion
_____ Are all questions raised in the introduction answered?
_____ Are the major findings summarized?
_____ Are the major findings discussed?
Literature Cited
_____ Are all references included which are listed in the poster?
_____ Are all citations in the proper format?
Notebook
_____ Are raw data and calculations of statistical tests given in your notebook?
Overall Quality of Poster
_____ Is the experimental design explained along with your null hypothesis?
_____ Are all measurements metric, e.g. temperature, lengths, areas?
_____ Is every sentence written as concisely as possible?
_____ Is every section organized clearly?
_____ Has the poster been carefully checked for spelling and grammatical errors?
_____ Is the flow of information visible in a conistent way? Visitors will tend to first move vertically before moving on to a new horizontal location. Arrange your panels in columns instead of rows so different viewers interfer least with each others.
_____ Is the writing of sufficently large type to be read from 50cm distance?
_____ Do take-home messages visually stand out with larger type than the figure legend?