Academics · Study Skills

Less text.
A bigger result.

People read a poster standing up, for about a minute, from a few steps away. Plan each section with a word budget and a figure, write the one sentence you want a passer-by to remember and check the type sizes before you print. The planner adds up the words and flags what will crowd the board.

Plan a posterWhat you get
$5one-time · every device you sign in on
Buy · $5

Included with the Caveat Academy pass and Whole-school licenses. Or get it in the Study skills kit, $29 for 21 items.

Your posters

The worked example is made up: a science fair board on salt and freezing at 370 words, and a psychology poster at 900 words with no figures, due Monday. Saved on this device only.

Loading the poster form. If nothing appears, turn on JavaScript.

What you get

Academics · Study Skills$5

What you finish with
A record per poster: title, research question, event and date, size, sections with word budgets and figures, the takeaway and seven design and presenting checks. Totals the words, sections and figures and counts title words; flags posters over 800 words, long sections, no figures, long titles and an event within a week with nothing ordered.
Who it is for
Middle school, high school and college students presenting at science fairs, class showcases and research symposiums, and the teachers who run them.
Format
Browser planner with a saved record per poster. Prints one plan, every poster in a table or a blank sheet; downloads a spreadsheet (.csv); exports and imports a file.
Access
$5 one-time, yours on every device you sign in on; the tool opens once you are signed in with it. Included with the Caveat Academy pass and Whole-school licenses. Also in the Study skills kit ($29) and the Academics Suite pass ($149), and 1 more bundle. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The Study Skills space in Caveat Academics.
Support
Questions about access, an order or a correction: team@caveatacademic.com.

How to use it

  1. Add the title, question, event date and size.
  2. List the sections with a word budget each.
  3. Mark which sections carry a figure.
  4. Write the one-sentence takeaway.
  5. Run the checks on a letter-size print before ordering the full one.

Plan a poster

The layout

Three columns, read in orderLeftTitle across the top,then the question andwhy it matters.Short method, with aphoto or diagram of thesetup.CenterThe results, as thelargest figure on theposter.A one-line caption thatstates the finding.RightConclusion in two orthree bullets.Next questions,references andacknowledgments.Three columns, read in orderLeftTitle across the top, then the question andwhy it matters.Short method, with a photo or diagram of thesetup.CenterThe results, as the largest figure on theposter.A one-line caption that states the finding.RightConclusion in two or three bullets.Next questions, references andacknowledgments.
The result goes in the middle and largest: it is what people walk over to see.

Type sizes

At full size, body text of 24 to 32 point reads from about six feet, headings of 36 to 48 from farther, and a title of 72 point or more from across the room. A quick test: print the poster on letter paper; if you can read the body text at arm’s length, it will work full size.

Word count

Guides from university poster services usually suggest 300 to 800 words in all. A science fair board can hold a little more on its side panels, but the result still belongs in the center, large.

Sources

  1. Purrington, C. Designing conference posters (colinpurrington.com), on word counts, type sizes and layout.
  2. Society for Science. International Science and Engineering Fair display and safety rules (societyforscience.org).
  3. Hess, G. R., Tosney, K. W., and Liegel, L. H. Creating Effective Poster Presentations (website). North Carolina State University.
  4. Erren, T. C., and Bourne, P. E. (2007). Ten simple rules for a good poster presentation. PLOS Computational Biology, 3(5), e102.

The worked examples are made up. Your fair’s or teacher’s display rules come first. Nothing you type is sent to Caveat. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.