Poster Creation Tips

  1. Keep your poster simple and brief. A poster is not a place for you to tack up your entire body of research for people to read. Instead, think of a poster as a series of highly efficient, organized “panels” (a storyboard) upon which appear synopses of the relevant information you want to convey - just enough to get your point across.
  2. Organize your poster materials using headings, such as “Introduction,” “The Research Question,” “The Methodology,” and “Findings.” These headings will help establish a logical flow to your poster.
  3. Use large enough fonts so people will not have to squint to read the material. For headings, use at least a 48-point font. For text, use nothing less than 18-point.
  4. Make your poster visually appealing. Have fun. Be creative. Incorporate color. Use photographs, graphs, charts, maps, and the like. Simplify charts and figures to include only relevant information. Be attentive to the layout and placement of your materials.
  5. Place the title of your work in a prominent position on your poster. Include your name, your mentor’s name and your UNT college. [For example, if you are a TAMS student but researching under a biology professor, please include College of Science. If you are an Honors College student, please include the Honors College and the college of your mentor.]
  6. There are many YouTube videos to assist you in creating a research poster. Here are a few we like:
  1. Ask your UNT faculty mentor to proof your work. Your poster represents you, your mentor, and your college. Take great care to plan and organize it well. Make sure it communicates the intended information in an interesting, visual manner.

General Guidelines for Submitting Art/Creative Works to the Student Poster Session

  1. Please note that students must make their own transport and display arrangements. The Honors College provides shared long boards. The student must always accompany the creative work to ensure security. No tables or access to electrical outlets will be available to Student Poster presenters.
  2. Students must create a standard poster that provides more information about the work of art that may include method of construction; technical aspects; context in the larger world of art; social/philosophical/aesthetic implications; sources of inspiration, etc.
  3. The abstract should state clearly the medium/format of the artwork and then briefly mention important technical, aesthetic, critical, and historical information. The goal is to give the reviewers some basic academic information they can use to evaluate the significance of the product. Does it emerge from one particular school of aesthetics? Was it created in response to a particular historical or social event? Does it demonstrate a particularly important technique? Is it innovative in some way? An abstract doesn't allow much room to answer these questions, so the student will need to pick and choose, but the best abstracts will give a clear impression of why the piece of art is significant and worthy of display in a national setting.

Branding Guidelines

The Honors College will print your poster for free provided that the background is white, your poster is configured correctly (correct names, no obvious misspellings in the title, and UNT college and logo are included) and you meet the strict deadline for print submission.

  1. Please use one of the formats below for your Title area.

Title of Research Poster
Your Name, Your Affiliation (i.e. Honors College, McNair Scholar, Terry Scholar, or Department)
Mentor(s) Name (include credentials i.e. PhD, if appropriate), Mentor's Department, Mentor's University

Research Title
Student Name(s), Honors College
Other Contributor(s) Richard Feynman, Department, University
Dr. Stephen Hawking, Department, University

Research Title
Student Name(s)1, Mentor Name(s) Dr. Albert Einstein2
1Honors College, University of North Texas
2Department of Physics, University of North Texas
  1. Posters must include an official UNT logo or lockup in accordance with the official branding guidelines.

3. Please spell out "University of North Texas" in full

If you have any general questions, contact the Scholars Day coordinator, David Waters at David.Waters@unt.edu

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