URS Resources

1. A concise explanation of the subject matter or concepts you are exploring (what you do).
2. A concise explanation of artistic goals (why you do what you do).
3. A concise explanation of processes, production methods, tools, media, innovations, etc. (how you do what you do).
4. A concise explanation of historical context, including how this work builds on, differs from, or responds to existing work or performances.

1. A concise explanation of the relevant intellectual and scholarly context of your work.
2. A concise explanation of how your project fits within this intellectual context. Does it extend, revise, or complicate, or provide a new way of looking at existing work in the field?
3. A clear statement of argument: a specific, debatable claim, not merely a summary of others’ research.
4. An explanation of the significance and broader implications of your work.

1. A concise explanation of the scholarly context for the project with a statement of the project’s specific objective.
2. A clear explanation of the methods used to address the objective.
3. A clear explanation of the results or findings.
4. An explanation of the significance and broader implications of the project's results.

Sketch out your poster on paper, so you will know what you are thinking of doing before you sit down at a computer. Remember that a simple design is usually better than complicated one. While you want it to be visually interesting, don’t use too many bells
and whistles that might distract from your content.
 

Think about your audience. For the URS, many people will not have in-depth knowledge of your topic, so you want to use terminology that a lay-person will understand. Avoid jargon as much as possible.

Your poster should be divided into numerous sections:

• Title, Author and Affiliation
• Abstract (~50-100 words)
• Introduction (~200 words): Give a brief picture of the main issue, the previous work relevant to your project and what your project is specifically addressing. (This should not be a full lit review, obviously.) This should be followed by your hypothesis or specific research question(s).
• Methods (~200 words): You don’t need to explain all of the nuances of your methods as you will be there, most of the time, to provide additional explanation. Use bulleted lists to summarize the information instead of presenting it in paragraph form.
• Results (~200 words): You will want to focus on how your hypothesis fared in light of your results (or what information your research question revealed).Remember you don’t need to explain every aspect of your results. You may also want to include figures/tables to explain your results.
• Discussion and Conclusions (~300-400 words): This is your chance to interpret your results as well as discuss future research. What is the take-away from your research? What have you added to the conversation/body of knowledge
• References: list any sources cited on the poster

Probably the easiest, and most common, method for making a poster is using PowerPoint. You can make ONE slide in PowerPoint, setting the size to 36” x 48” (Design > Page Setup. Under Slides Sized for: choose Custom. Choose Landscape and set the Width: 48, the Height: 36, and the Number of slides from: 1)

Make sure you set the page size first, or you may have to go back and make a lot of changes to your layout. You will use text boxes (Insert > Text Box) to create paragraphs, boxes and borders. You can type directly into the PowerPoint slide or cut and paste from a word processor.

You can also use Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign or Word to create your poster, depending on your familiarity.

Font choices

Fonts play an important role in people being able to read your content and have a general feel for your research.

Common fonts and sizes

• Title: Arial, Arial Black, Tahoma or Verdana (most often a sans-serif font); 72-120 point
• Subtitle: Use the same font as title; 48-80 point
• Section headers: Same font as title; 36-72 point (50% larger than the body text)
• Body: Garamond, Georgia, Book Antiqua (most often a serif font); 24-48 point; make sure to make all of the body text is the same size throughout the poster

Images

Images should be scanned at 300dpi at 100% size of use in the poster (e.g. if you want it to be 10x12, that is the size you should scan it to be). Unless you can get a high resolution image, don’t use images from the web as they will appear very pixelated once printed.

Design Tips

The top priority for your poster should be readability, so you want to make sure you choose background and text colors that do not make it difficult to read (e.g. yellow text on a red background); contrasting colors are a good idea with a light background and a darker text. Coordinate the text with any images you are using as well. Most posters will be divided into 3-4 columns with some use of images or graphs to increase visual interest.

Do not use gradient fill. If you do, you will end up with lines running through the finished product. Do not use all caps.

UMM's Duplicating Services Dept. has a printer that will print posters 40" high by whatever width you want (for $12 per foot). For the URS we ask that you keep the poster to 4-feet wide or
smaller. The price is the same for color or black and white printing. Talk to your advisor about how to pay for a poster and contact the URS committee if needed. 

Be aware that these posters take time to print and dry. Duplicating Services can produce approximately 5 per day, so you must PLAN AHEAD: Aim at having your posters ready 5-7 working days in advance of the time you need it. NOTE: Bring an 8.5 X 11 copy of your poster with you to Duplicating so they have an idea of what you think the poster should look like.This can be black and white. You will need to provide them with an electronic version, preferably a PDF, as well.

• Use inclusive language. For example, use undocumented instead of illegal alien, person who experienced x instead of victim or survivor, or person with a substance use disorder instead of addict.
  • Review the American Psychological Association’s Inclusive Language Guidelines to identify how you can use inclusive language
• Consider how the specific lived experiences and perspectives of your audience might influence how they perceive the language you use. For example, avoid using derogatory terms even if used in your research materials. Find alternative words that are not offensive.
• If your project deals with lived experiences of people or communities:
  • ask “Are we using language consistent with how the communities being analyzed, discussed, or visualized refer to themselves and others?”
  • ask “How can we take a more empathetic approach to creating a presentation or poster that accurately and respectfully accounts for other people’s lived experiences?”
  • remember my presentation/poster is a reflection of the lives of real people, not just a sterile abstraction or numbers
  • reach out to members of the communities being analyzed, discussed, or visualized and ask for their feedback and advice and receive suggested words/language with humility and openness

Be intentional about your images. Choose images that reflect our diverse community. Think about the ages, races, and body shapes of the people represented in your images.

• University of Minnesota stock photos
• Diversity Stock Photos
• The Gender Spectrum Collection: Stock Photos Beyond the Binary
• Disabled and Here Collection
• Plus Size Stock Photos
• Center for Aging Better Stock Photos
• Beautiful Pictures of Black and Brown People
• The Noun Project

Be intentional about how you present your data

• Avoid using color palettes associated with skin tones or that reinforce gender or racial stereotypes such as baby pink and baby blue to represent women and men.
• Refer to people and not strictly to their skin color; for example, “Black people” not “Blacks” or “the Blacks”
• Order data labels in a purposeful way by asking yourself the below questions rather than starting with dominant labels such as “White”, “Men”, or “Heterosexual”.
  • Does your study focus on a particular community? If it does, that group should be presented first.
  • Is there a particular argument or story you are trying to tell? If so, the order or presentation of results should reflect that argument.
  • Is there a quantitative relationship that can guide how the groups are ordered? Can they be sorted alphabetically or by population size, sample size (weighted or unweighted), or magnitude or effect of the results?
• Consider the missing groups
  • acknowledge who is and is not included in your data and charts
  • if all groups in a data set are not included in a chart, due to low numbers of participants, indicate in the chart’s notes all groups (e.g., ethnic, racial, sexual orientation, gender, etc.) that were included in the original dataset.
• Question default visualization approaches. For example, instead of presenting data disaggregated by race or ethnicity on the same chart, which encourages comparison between groups and reinforces a deficit-based perspective, plot each race on its own chart (see the next page for an example).

Have a conversation with your faculty mentor about the ways in which your discipline(s) approaches multicultural sensitivity within research analysis and presentation.

1. From the total time, subtract for distractions such as administrative distractions that might happen at the beginning  of a talk.
2. URS talk = 15mins. Plan to talk for 13-14 minutes which then leaves a couple minutes for distractions and still  leaves a couple minutes for questions.

1. Practice- Nothing matters more to giving a good talk than practicing. Practice by yourself for timing. Practice with  friends or your lab for comfort and feedback. Even practicing a talk just once can dramatically improve how  smoothly you speak.
2. Room - Go to the room for your talk early. You can test that all of your equipment works. You can also change  things about the room before others arrive. Do you need some of the lights out for your projected slides to be clear?  Find out.  
3. Have Something to Say- Talks are milestones. Push yourself to your limit in the days before your talk so your not  pushing yourself the minutes before the talk.
4. Wear something professional and comfortable.  
5. Bring a bottle of water
6. Load your presentation onto the computer before the session begins so you are not wasting time.  
7. Bring multiple copies of your presentation (2 jump drives, google drive, e-mail). Do not count on the internet to be  working.

1. Talk to your audience- Do not read to your audience. Do not talk to your computer or the projected slides. Be happy  to be able to tell your audience about something so interesting. Smile. Move around. Use gestures to convey  meaning and highlight slides.  
2. Your Words - Vary your voice to convey enthusiasm and key points. Enunciate clearly. Speak at a normal  conversational speed. Try to avoid filler sounds like "um" between your thoughts.  
3. Be aware of your body language, gestures etc.

1. Be confident. What if inside you are saying, "How can I possibly be confident presenting in front of all of these  people”. Reframe your self-talk. “I’ve read more about this topic than 99% of the people in the audience”.  
2. Everybody Knows more than Me - Your audience might know a lot. Your advisor might know more about the  subject matter than you. However, you know more about your particular paper than anybody else.  
3. But my Study Didn't Work - Isaac Asimov said, "The most exciting phrase to hear in science - the one that heralds  new discoveries - is not "Eureka!" but "That's funny..." There is something interesting about your study, even if it  did not work out. You were surprised. That's interesting! Sometimes this means reframing your study as about  something different than you planned. Give the talk your data fits, not the one you would have given before you  began.  
4. So Many Mistakes- You made mistakes and did not account for everything. Do not be apologetic or bogged down in  describing mistakes. Acknowledge problems matter-of-factly. You might say, "Due to an equipment error data from  3 participants on the last trial was lost." Stop there. Do not tell us whose fault it was or any other details. That makes  mistakes seem like they are larger than they are. Present your study positively. Shortcomings are just opportunities  
   for future research. 

1. Simplicity- Just because PowerPoint can do something doesn't mean it should. Start out by making your slides  plainly, with only content. Then only add elements (e.g., colors, font size, effects, comics) that add something to  your presentation (e.g., sense of continuity, clarity of main points versus details).
2. Words- Use a large font. I use 44pt for titles, 32pt for main points, and 24pt for supporting information. Write as few  words as possible. People naturally read whatever you put on a slide. When you put bullet points on your slides, you  give your audience a structure to follow the substance you convey with your voice.
3. If you write out long sentences  in small font, your audience will pay more attention to your slides than to you.  
   Cite your references in small font on the slide and also on your reference slides. 

Simplicity is a Virtue - If you can be simple, do not be complex. Avoid using jargon or acronyms whenever possible.  Aim for simplicity in every aspect of your talk, not just language. Can you organize data more clearly. Can you  make more simple graphs. Can you remove unnecessary nuance from your literature review? 

1. Title Slide (Title, Name, University)  
2. Introduce your key question or topic area.  
3. Provide an outline- and stick to your outline
   1. Conventions – Every filed has a conventional format for presenting a study or a project (e.g., Introduction,  Method, Results, Discussion). Unless you have a convincing reason not to, follow the convention.
4. Have a conclusion slide
5. Thank You Slide
6. References
7. Questions

Everything you present should convey your big idea. What is your "take home message?" Just because something is  interesting doesn’t mean it belongs in your presentation.

1. Topic
   1. Introduce your topic with an over-arching description and research/topic question.
   2. Define the key ideas.  
   3. Why is your subject important, practically or theoretically?  
2. Literature Review – How do you decide what studies/literature to review
   1. Remember that studies are related because of theoretical constructs. A study is relevant if somebody  studied the same underlying idea even if they used different methods and measures.  
   2. Do not include every relevant study. A "laundry list" of findings lacks structure and will not justify your  study/project.
   3. Remember your big idea. Describe competing theoretical models and highlight previous results that well justify those competing viewpoints.  
   4. Culminate your literature review with a hint about how, under certain circumstances, the theories lead to  conflicting predictions.
   5. The whole goal of the literature review is to demonstrate why your paper/project was important- outline  how your work filled in a knowledge gap in the field.
3. Hypotheses
   1. Say hypotheses in everyday language and theoretical constructs.  

1. Be Concrete
   1. Describe the method from a participant's perspective.  
   2. Show stimuli; showing props is engaging.  
   3. If some of your participants read a happy, neutral, or sad story, then name your conditions "happy",  "neutral", and "sad." Naming conditions "1", "2", and "3" just adds things for your audience to remember. 

1. Details
   1. Professors and fellow undergraduates like to know the nitty-gritty. Give us the results (e.g., p-values, F ratio, N). Even if you do not say details aloud, put them on slides.  
   2. Graphs show the big picture; they are especially engaging. Tables can work too.
2. Testing Hypotheses –
   1. First give any descriptive results (e.g., to establish context) or preliminary analyses (e.g., to rule out  counterbalancing effects).  
   2. Then present a result for each of your hypotheses in the order you proposed your hypotheses.  
      1. Follow these steps for reporting each result:
         1. remind audience of hypothesis,
         2. describe  analysis, and
         3. state key idea behind result. Here is a sample power-point slide of a result from a made-up hypothesis. Say something like, "To test the hypothesis that 4-year-olds who can inhibit  well are more likely to understand another person's beliefs, we correlated the day-night stroop task with the false-belief task. The positive correlation supports our hypothesis. 

1. Flow
   1. Summarize your major results in everyday language.
   2. This is where you explain your findings.Tie your findings to other literature and theoretical constructs.
   3. Describe limitations of your study.  
      1. Frame limitations as possible future studies.
      2. Describe your long-term plans for this research- if you have any.
      3. End with a grand concluding remark (e.g., hopes for future).  

1. Anticipate Questions.  
   1. Be able to justify your decisions. Why did you choose one method over another (e.g., between-subject vs.  within-subject, interview vs. survey)? Why did you choose one analysis over another (e.g., ANOVA vs.  regression)? Why did you read this person’s work and not this person’s work?
2. Really Tough Questions –
   1. Questions can be tough, especially when you have not anticipated them. You can think about the question  before you answer.  
   2. Silence for ten seconds is nothing for your audience, even when it feels excruciating to you.
   3. Avoid filling time with "um's" or fidgeting. Stand in a relaxed posture that conveys how you are thinking.
   4. You can always say.
      1. I don’t know. I’ll need to do some more research and get back to me. Leave me your e-mail and  after I’ve thought about it some more I’ll get back to you.
      2. I don’t know. It is an interesting questions- do you have any ideas about the issue?
3. Extra Slides - Some questions that you can anticipate will be easy to answer with a sentence of two. "Were there  gender differences?" "No." Other questions are harder to answer. For those, and for general information, prepare  extra slides after your talk that you can flip to when needed. Prepare histograms of each measure. Have complex  analyses you did not present. Block quotations from famous papers can be helpful for theoretical points. For example, if you said Piaget claims something, have direct quotations prepared.

If you are about to give your first talk, you will not be able to remember everything you just read, especially while  you're giving your talk. Giving a talk is a skill; you learn through practice. You will have many more talks and  everything will be fine in the long-run even your talk does go so well. No matter how well you do, you talk will be  worse in your mind than it is to your audience. You compare your talk to the ideal in your mind. Your audience  compares your talk to never attending it all. Just caring enough to try and give a better talk, something you  demonstrated by coming to this presentation, is often enough to make for a great talk.