PowerPoint Presentations
Presenters should use the group PowerPoint template found here. Make sure to include page numbers on each slide and references. For information or images retrieved from the literature, references are commonly listed as:
Author et. al., Journal. Year
You can also follow MLA, APA, AMA, etc. For images or videos retrieved from the internet, even if it is an unrelated picture of a cat wearing a shark costume while riding a Roomba in pursuit of a duck on your questions slide, you should give credit to the creator. You can simply put:
Image of … Retrieved from: URL
It is important that references are included in your presentation on the slide where the related information is presented. Without these references, you are plagarizing someone’s work. In addition, this is incredibly helpful when you are in the process of writing a manuscript and eliminates the need for scouring the internet to figure out the name of an article you discussed in a presentation.
Further, the group consists of a large number of undergraduates with ranging levels of understanding in the research being undertaken in the laboratory. When giving a presentation, keep this in mind. You should provide sufficient background in your introduction that a Junior level chemical engineer with no research experience understands at least in essence what your research is about.
Poster Presentations
When presenting your research in a poster format, you should generally use the OU Poster template. The following links provide some advice on posters:
Before starting your poster, check the guidelines for the conference you’re presenting at and find out the size requirements. Following, change the slide size to reflect the guideline (Design: Slide Size: Custom Slide Size). This will ensure you don’t have to reformat your poster after finishing it. After you finish your poster you should make sure that:
- the poster is well organized with no typos,
- your project is easily conveyed,
- images are high quality,
- text is concise, and
- you include references and acknowledgements.
As a rule of thumb, you should have at least 2 other people review your poster, one being Dr. Foudazi, before you print it to ensure there are no typos. It is also typically a good idea to print off a copy on an 8.5″ x 11″ sheet of paper before printing it full size. This helps ensure that there aren’t any weird formatting issues or typos in your poster. It also enables you to make sure that a passerby will be attracted to your poster and understand generally what it’s about without even having to read any of the text. This generally requires that you make use of of schematics, images, and graphs while keeping text concise (bullet points are generally a good means of accomplishing this). The most common error people make when designing a poster is they include too much text. If you have a novel on your poster, no one is going to read it and, if they do, you’ll have nothing to add. This is not to say that you should cover your poster with an absurd amount of pictures (having a decent amount of white space and text is important), but that you should have a nice balance of text and figures. In addition, you should make sure that all of your images are high quality. If you have to stretch an image to use it on your poster, you need to find a different one. PNG files typically a good bet. Lastly, you need to make sure you provide references and that you acknowledge any funding agencies or individuals who contributed to your work.
