Creating an Academic Poster: Tips and Tricks

Editing and Organizing Content

Everyone is excited about their research and wants to share EVERYTHING about their topic. The goal of a poster, however, is to catch viewers' attention to engage with the main ideas. Editing down to the most essential information organized in a clear sequence can greatly increase the effectiveness of your poster.

General guidelines:

• edit content to just the main points 
• avoid run-on sentences and long paragraphs
• make use of bullet points
• make use of graphics to visually explain complex information or data

Example: Too crowded

This poster is very visually crowded, with very little negative space. The amount of text seems overwhelming, and the lack of organization makes the content difficult to follow. 

Example: Better content organization

This poster (template) has a good balance of content and negative space. The information is well organized into columns and is easy to follow. 

Tip: To achieve clarity with your poster content, start with everything you want to say then "ruthlessly" cut out words and condense down to just the most essential elements.

https://templatelab.com/research-posters/