Poster sections

We conclude the chapter with a brief examination of two additional poster sections Acknowledgments and References. 

Sentences a-c are taken from journal articles. For each, (1) indicate which poster section the information would belong in (Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion) and (2) rewrite the information so that it is appropriate for a poster. 

Transgenic animals are bred to produce a line and analyzed for transgene expression and are cryopreserved for posterity (section 15). 

In addition to 5 Plenary lectures and 9 Invited Lecturers, these proceedings include 307 papers from oral and poster communications that have been selected among the 520 submissions received from a total of 51 countries. The oral and poster contributions have been subdivided into 7 thematic sections ... 

In this textbook, we examine how tense and voice are used in journal articles, posters, and proposals. As we will see, all tenses and both voices are used, depending on which genre, or section of a genre, is being written. 

The second audience comprises conference attendees, who read abstracts to determine whose talk to attend or poster to view. Because national conferences typically have multiple concurrent sessions, attendees rely on abstracts to make their decisions about what sessions to attend, where to go, and when. Individuals who read your abstract are likely to be in a related field of chemistry, but most likely will not be in your specific area of chemistry. Thus, it is important to keep your abstract general enough to be readily understood across different areas of science, thereby targeting primarily a scientific audience. In this regard, the conference abstract is more similar to the Introduction section of a journal article than to the abstract of a journal article, the latter written for an expert audience. 

Congratulations If you are reading this chapter, you are likely preparing a poster for a scientific conference. This means that your conference abstract (chapter 8) was accepted and that you have been invited to give a poster presentation. In this chapter, we focus on the various sections of the poster and how to write them. In chapter 10, we highlight the visual attributes of the poster (layout, font size, color schemes, etc.). By the end of this chapter, you will be able to do the following ... 

The poster text is divided into the same general IMRD sections as the journal article Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion. Similarly, most posters include an Acknowledgments section, some have an abbreviated References section, and all have a title and author list. Most posters do not include an abstract, in part because of space limitations and in part because an abstract already appears in the conference proceedings. Like the journal article, the IMRD structure of the poster follows an hourglass shape. The top (Introduction) and bottom (Discussion) sections have a broader focus, while the middle sections (Methods and Results) have a narrower focus. Each section of the poster can be divided into individual moves or steps that guide viewers in a conventional way through the content of each section. These moves are analyzed in the next part of the chapter. 

We now read and analyze excerpts from each major section of the poster, beginning with Methods (the section that you are most likely to prepare first) and continuing through the Results, Discussion, and Introduction. The title and author... 

The poster Methods section offers a brief snapshot of the methods used in the presented work. (Of course, the Methods section will be more involved if the poster focuses on the development of a new method or procedure.) The essential moves of the Methods section are presented in figure 9.2. First materials and then methods are presented. The term materials is used loosely and refers to chemicals, solvents, standards, samples, and so forth. Similarly, the term methods refers to instrumentation, experimental methods, and/or numerical procedures. Because materials and methods are rather specialized, this section targets a relatively narrow audience. 

Figure 9.2 A visual representation of the move structure for a typical poster Methods section.

With these two moves in mind, we examine the Methods sections of three hypothetical posters. The first poster concerns the detection of PCBs in full-fat milk. We include both the poster Methods section (excerpt 9A) and the journal article Methods section (excerpt 9B). In this way, you can see for yourself the differences and similarities between the two genres. A key difference is that the poster includes far less information than the journal article. For example, the poster addresses only full-fat and skim milk, whereas the journal article also includes half-fat milk. Half-fat milk is an intermediate case and serves only to confirm the two extreme cases. Thus, the intermediate case can be omitted without changing the essential message of the poster. 

Excerpt 9A (a poster Methods section based on Llompart et al., 2001)... 

As a second example, we present another poster Methods section (excerpt 9C) based on the same research presented in figure 9.1. Recall that the hypothetical poster in figure 9.1 focuses on methods development the poster in excerpt 9C focuses on methods application. If you examine the Methods sections in the two posters, you will see that figure 9.1 describes how the on-fiber derivatization procedure was optimized excerpt 9G describes how the optimized procedure was used to analyze beer samples. 

Compare the Methods section of the poster in figure 9.1 with the Methods section in excerpt 9C. What similarities and differences do you notice Consider science content, organization, and writing conventions (e.g., subheadings, capitalization, abbreviations, and parentheses). 

As the last example, we present a poster Methods section based on Boesten et al. (2001) concerning the asymmetric Strecker synthesis of an a-amino acid (excerpt 9D and at the end of chapter 2). The poster Methods section presents only... 

Writing conventions typical of a poster Methods section are summarized below. 

Many of these conventions apply to other sections of the poster, as well. 

Numbers and units Conventional scientific units should be used in poster Methods sections (mL, (im, mol, M, etc.) however, some formatting conventions may be relaxed. For example, the conventional space between a number and its unit may be omitted in a poster, and the numerical form of a number may be used instead of its word form (even at the start of a sentence). If space allows, however, follow conventional practices. One convention that should never be relaxed is the use of leading zeros for numbers <1 (e.g., use 0.35 not. 35). 

Parallelism Parallel language should be used in bulleted lists in poster Methods sections and elsewhere. Not only is parallelism grammatically correct, but its repetitive pattern also helps viewers comprehend poster information more quickly. Pay particular attention to parallel subheadings and lists ... 

Verb tense Poster Methods sections are written predominantly in the past tense (e.g., used, exposed, inserted, were stored) because they describe work done in the past. 

Voice and we Poster Methods sections are written largely in passive voice active voice is used less often. We is commonly avoided. 

Consider the following excerpts taken from experimental sections of Journal articles. Convert each procedure into a single item or a bulleted list of items that would be appropriate for a poster Methods section. Omit information that would not be included in a poster. 

B Writing on Your Own Draft Your Poster Methods Section... 

Consult figure 9.2 to review the moves that make up the Methods section of a poster. After you have decided what to include (and what to exclude), write the Methods section of your poster. Remember that past tense is preferred and that bulleted lists (with parallel language) are common. Use standard formatting, number, and abbreviation conventions at first convert to abbreviated formats if space is tight. Consider adding a photograph or illustration to your Methods section. 

The Results section is undoubtedly the most important section of the poster. The chance to share your results with others is the predominant reason for preparing your poster in the hrst place. However, you must be careful not to overwhelm... 

Some poster Results sections conclude with move 2 (which is fine), but in many posters, authors share additional results. Move 3 allows you to do this without overwhelming your viewers. The key is to relate these results to your principal findings. "Viewers will more easily grasp a second set of data if it supports, extends, or strengthens what they have just learned. 

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