Guidelines
Presentation
Watch Professor and judge, Lee Odell along with past winner Caitlin Piette share their tips; helping you make an outstanding presentation of your work.
Posters
Your posters should illustrate your research in a colorful and engaging way. Keep your copy to a minimum and use pictures, graphs and figures to illustrate your work as much as possible.
Remember there are 2 categories, Theoretical and Applied Research (see below)
Categories
Want to learn more?Look at samples from last year's participants |
- What is the difference between theoretical and applied research?
- In all cases, problems are stated, information is gathered and analyzed, and an answer is provided. Yet, there are differences between theoretical and applied research. Here are some examples...
- A problem for a theoretical project might involve how one chemical reacts with a specific gas.
- A problem for an applied project might ask what is the right building design for the new millennium, or what is the best business plan for an emerging international market.
or stated in more academic terms...
- Theoretical research is an investigation of a hypothesis based in theory.
- Applied research uses a practical application to solve a defined problem.
If you feel unsure which category your project is best suited for,
talk with your faculty advisor.
- Which research projects are acceptable to participate in the Undergraduate Research Forum and Awards Program?
Independent study projects conducted under the supervision of, or with integral involvement of a Rensselaer faculty member are acceptable for this program. Design projects submitted for an undergraduate course are not acceptable. Projects may be individual or team-based.
Poster Guidelines
You will be presenting the results of your research as a poster. This is an effective means for presenting a summary of your work in a visual and interactive fashion.
Posters are due by 5pm on Wednesday, April 26th, 2008 to Barbara Ruel, School of Engineering, JEC 3004.
Preparing your Poster:
- Prepare your poster on a 3-panel, fold-out poster display board that's portable and free-standing. Maximum display width is 4 feet. Poster display boards can be purchased at the bookstore, office supply stores and most art supply stores. A computerized preparation is recommended, but not required.
- Consider additional props, such as prototype or laptop display.
Avoid props that take up too much space, are loud or hazardous. Consult with Barbara Ruel at ruelb@rpi.edu.
- Any prototypes, laptops, or other props must fit within the 4-foot space allotted.
Experiments can be presented as video clips on a laptop. If you want to use a laptop and need AC power, you must indicate this on your registration form (note: this is for power only, there are NO network connections).
- Carefully and completely prepare your poster well in advance.
There will be no time or materials available for last minute preparation at the session. - The title of your presentation should appear at the top of your poster and be at least 1 inch high and legible from at least eight feet away.
Below the title indicate the team members' names, faculty sponsor, and departmental affiliation (s). Lettering should be large enough to be read from at least four feet away. - Use pictures, graphs, figures rather than text wherever possible.
Bright colors will greatly enhance the attention of the viewer. A common way to organize a poster is in the form of 8.5x11 panels. Each panel describes one aspect of your project. - Use text sparingly.
Try to have a panel stating the main result of your research in 6 lines or less. People don't enjoy reading a lot of text. The flow of your poster should be from top left to bottom right. Use arrows and/or numbers to lead the viewer through the poster. - Prepare a short explanation/presentation of about 5 to 10 minutes that you can periodically give to those assembled around your poster.
Plan on giving this talk several times during your session. Be prepared to explain your project, why it is important, and answer questions regarding your work. - Directions for printing to the VCC
Additional suggestions:
- Examples of color combinations which provide good contrast:
Black on yellow; Green on white; White on black; Red on white; Navy on white - You may want to consider organizing your poster in three vertical columns.
Column 1:
Objective and Methods.
Provide schematic/pictures of experimental set-up.
Column 2:
Results.
List results as bulleted points followed by graphics and pictures.
Column 3:
Discussion and Conclusions.
Day of Event, How it Works:
- Two individual/teams will share an 8 foot table to display their posters.
- Your posters must be free-standing for proper tabletop display.
- During the poster session attendees will be able to walk around, and browse for projects they find interesting. They will be given a list of posters in the session, and a brief abstract of each project.
- Some of the attendees will also be judges. They will base their award decisions on these discussions and their impressions about the quality of your research work and poster presentation (see Judging Criteria below).
Judging Criteria
Students will be asked to respond to the following three questions:
- What was your project goal?
- What is the significance of this project to your field?
- How does your solution or outcome address your goal?
The judges will be listening for how well you explain your research topic, particularly to someone who is not in your field. You will want to summarize the critical steps you took to reach your project goal, summarize briefly what you learned and whether you reached your intended goal. Whether or not your research results met your goal, you may want to include what next steps within your topic area you or someone else could take as a result of what you learned.
Judges will also evaluate the quality of your research work as well as the visual appearance and content of your poster.