A presentation on how to prepare and present an effective research paper based on a summary of the paper by the paper “Preparing and Presenting Effective Research Poster” by Jane E. Miller in Health Services Research journal.

1. Preparing and Presenting Effective
Research Poster
A summary of the paper “Preparing and Presenting Effective Research Poster” by
Jane E. Miller in Health Services Research journal.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1955747/
Nandana Mihindukulasooriya
Ontology Engineering Group

2. What’s the paper is about?
● Objective
○ Methodological guidelines on poster design
○ Focused on explaining complex statistical results
● Method
○ Literature review on research communication and poster design
○ Comparison of content and format of papers, speeches, and posters
○ Guidelines on how to present statistical analysis with illustrated examples
● Findings
○ Adapt to audience and format
○ Complex statistical results -> simpler graphics and charts
● Conclusions
○ Focused on 2 or 3 key findings with a focused, clear story line
○ Accompanying handouts and narrative to provide technical details
○ Encourage dialog with the poster viewer

3. What is a research poster?
● Hybrid of a published paper and oral presentation
○ Less detailed than paper, more detailed than a speech
○ A dialogue between the you and the viewers
● Experience
○ A good practise explaining your research quickly and clearly
■ The importance of the research
■ Main findings and their meaning
○ A good way to get feedback
■ How to apply your research on different ways
■ How to extend it
■ Alternative ways to perform the same research

4. Why we need a simple and clear story ?
● A varied professional audience
○ Experts in your topics, experts in your methods, experts in other domains
○ Provide enough background on topic and methods
● Some tips
○ Why your work is interest to the audience
○ Not too long, dense, or detailed
○ Not too technical or theoretical
○ No excessive jargon (less acronyms)
● A simple, and clear narrative
○ A brief oral synopsis of few sentences
○ Practise it with a set of fresh eyes and ears

5. Checklist for research posters
● Content
○ Focus on 2 or three main points
○ Present in a simpler way adapted to the varied audience
● Layout and format
○ Vertical sections with sufficiently large points.
○ Easy to follow from start to end
● Narrative description
○ Rehearse a three to four sentence description
○ Prepare questions to the viewers.
● Handouts
○ Prepare handouts to distribute to interested viewers with abstract, key findings
○ Include contact information.