ACS Undergraduate
Research Symposium
• Saturday, April 30 at Saint Mary’s College
– www.stmarys-ca.edu/chemistry/news-events/
• Abstracts:
– Due by Wednesday, April 20 (must also register separately).
– Get your research advisor’s approval before submitting.
– Remind your research advisor to register if they are attending.
– Once you click on student presenter, the site becomes interactive

ACS Undergraduate
Research Symposium click on this

ACS Undergraduate
Research Symposium
At bottom of page, select “Student Presenter” which opens other windows

ACS Undergraduate
Research Symposium
• Saturday, April 30 th at Saint Mary’s College
• Poster Timeline
– Send posters to CIMERA (jjf55@csus.edu) for printing by
Friday, April 22 or Monday, April 25
– Send posters in PDF format.
– Get your research advisor’s approval before submitting.
– Start working on your poster early.
• If you chose to do an oral presentation, you should have your slides completed around the same time and be practicing your talk during the week of April 25.

ACS Undergraduate
Research Symposium
•
•
– Check In: 8 - 8:45 a.m.
Oral Presentation: 8:45 a.m - 9:45 a.m.
Break: 9:45 - 10 a.m.
Oral Presentation: 10 - 11 a.m.
Break: 11 - 11: 15 a.m.
Keynote Speaker: 11:15 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.
Poster Session: 12:15 - 1:15 p.m.

Making Your Poster
• A visual presentation of your research.
• Concise and focused (not a long presentation of your life’s work)
• Explains your research using schematics, graphs, and other visual strategies, with a minimum of supporting text.
• Uses various strategies to attract viewers and stimulate conversation.

Making Your Poster
• Introduction/Summary: Concise background needed to understand the project and its goals.
• Methods: May shorten this section by using references for less critical techniques. Flow diagrams work well here.
• Results: Biggest section of the poster, with lots of graphs, figures, etc. Arrange in a logical order so conclusions naturally follow.

Making Your Poster
• Conclusions: May use bulleted lists. This section should link clearly to your results.
• Acknowledgements: collaborators and grant support.
• References: Keep to a minimum. Only cite critical references to your project.

Making Your Poster
•
•
•
– Slide Sized for: Custom
– Width 48 and Height 36
– Orientation (Slide) Landscape
– Click OK
• Note: You may get message “current page exceeds printable area of paper in printer. Say OK & ignore warning. You will not be printing full size on your desktop printer.

Making Your Poster
• Should be able to read anything from 4’- 6’ away.
• Establish a hierarchy of importance using the font size:
– Title: 65-108 pts
– Subheadings: 36-54 pts
– Body text: 18-27 pts
• Avoid script fonts & ALL CAPS.
• Use a light-colored background.**
• Check your spelling.
• Check areas both at Zoom = 100% (e.g. to check for pixelation) and at 15% to look at whole poster

Making Your Poster
Full View to Look at Organization
100% view to check for pixelation, sizing

Making Your Poster
• Keep text presentation neat & uncluttered:
– Indent to set text apart or to make short lists
– Left justify to make it easier to read
– Use line spacing & paragraph spacing to balance text
• Graphics communicate concepts quickly
• Graphs should be viewable from 4’ - 6’:
– Label within graphs or charts (rather than keys)
– Add titles
– Y-axis labels aligned horizontally are easier to read
– Avoid colored backgrounds, gridlines, etc.

Making Your Poster
• Graphs & Charts:
– Make sure that the text on axes and legends adhere to the minimum font size.
– Few lines on a graph - label directly.
– Multiple lines on a graph - use a legend.
– Try to make all graphs and figures the same size for consistency.
– Make lines in the graphs thick enough to see from 4’- 6’ away.
• Pictures:
– Use images

300 dpi (avoid pixelation when enlarged).
– Be careful with images from internet or captured from screen.

Making Your Poster
• Tips:
– Try to achieve balance of content & presentation
– Type text into Word; create graphs in Excel; draw structures in
ChemDraw (and then paste into PowerPoint).
– Plan layout on paper before using PowerPoint.
– Remember to Save your work.... Frequently.

Making Your Poster
• Print a small version for feedback:
– Use the Scale to Fit option in your printing dialog box.
– If you can’t read on 8.5 x 11 page, the text is probably too small.
• Proofread all aspects of poster:
– Make corrections or additions.
– Redo areas that are unclear.

Making Your Poster