What is a poster and what goes into it?
A poster is a snapshot of your research. It is neither as detailed as an article nor as brief as an abstract. The goal is to provide enough information so that a detailed discussion can be carried out based on it, yet remain short enough that someone can scan the poster in a few minutes and understand what your research is about. It is important to think about the audience when designing a research poster.
There may be some differences between posters created for the sciences versus the humanities but the goal is the same.
A good poster should have:
See the resources linked below for more tips on presenting various aspects of your poster content.
You do not need access to special graphic design software to create a research poster. These tools are free for MRU students to access and easy to learn.
If you would like to use Adobe Illustrator to create your poster, you will find this software installed on computers in the RLLC on the second floor.
Poster design is important
Unlike an oral presentation, people will need to be visually enticed to stop at your poster. Additionally, a poster is a visual medium. The visual aspects and organization of your poster can have a significant impact on the success of your poster presentation.
The posters below are samples to give you ideas on how to approach your poster's design.
The resources linked below have excellent tips on visual design and many include pictorial examples.
Sample Posters
The sample presented below are to give you a visual idea of what a poster might look like and to spark your imagination. The best posters are created when you use your own sense of creativity and style.
Humanities poster sample Click below for larger image ![]() |
Science poster sample Click below for larger image ![]() |
You submitted an abstract, got accepted, did the research and created the poster and now you stand beside your poster waiting for a visitor or adjudicator to ask you about your research.
Tips for answering questions about your poster (graciously provided by Anne Scrimger)
We would like to acknowledge the work of Zahra Premji, who created the inaugural version of this guide in 2016
In-class presentations and public presentations off campus have different copyright rules. While it may be OK to use an image you found on the Internet and cite it for an in-class presentation, presentations shared publicly online or off campus should only use images where the copyright holder has given permission for their reuse (for example, the image is licensed CC-BY). Visit the Copyright Guide or reach out to the MRU Copyright Advisor at MRUcopyright@mtroyal.ca for more information.