General: A poster is like a tightly focussed research paper, but presented in a very condensed form, generally with illustrations. See my posted example.

Topic: Since there is not much space, you have to pick a specific point, argument, debate, comparison, etc. that you want your readers to learn about. Don't try to cover too much. Cover one issue well. Get right to the point. The poster should explain something. It should ask and answer a question, make an argument, or present a debate or comparison. It should present the evidence that supports (or contradicts) the argument. Consider your readers. It is more interesting to read an argument that comes to a conclusion than a collection of random facts. It is also easier to remember an argument or a logical story than a bunch of unrelated details. An argument makes it easier to see why the facts presented are relevant, and how they fit together into a coherent whole.

Title: The title should grab the reader's attention and clearly specify the point or theme of the poster. "Andean roads" is too vague. "How the Inka built suspension bridges" or "Were Inka roads designed for travelers or for soldiers?" are much better.

Author and year: Include these.

Text: Be concise. Bullet points are often good. Blocks of text more than a few lines long are probably too wordy. Remember, you want people to actually read your poster and get your point.

Background: Give any background that is necessary to understand the main point and why it is relevant to larger issues. Don't throw in irrelevant details.

Content: Stick to facts and arguments. Avoid quality judgements like "it is the most impressive site in the New World", or "its masterful skill and beauty stagger the imagination". These do not convey much information. Give the specifics ("It is three miles long and estimated to have taken 45 million person-years to build") and illustrations, and let the reader decide that it is impressive or beautiful. Quality judgements may be OK as shorthand in support of another, more substantive point, like "Its masterful stonework suggests that Inka masons were trained specialists".

Illustrations: Use them as specific background to your argument, or to make specific points. Write your own captions that make the purpose or relevance of the illustration clear. Indicate the source of the illustration, which should be included in the bibliography.

Conclusion: Include a brief conclusion that makes the point of the poster clear. If the poster asked a question, the conclusion should answer it. If it presented a debate, comparison, etc., it should briefly sum it up. The conclusion should help the reader understand what he or she should have learned from the poster, why it is relevant, and/or what its larger implications are. It should say something substantive, even if that is partially recapping what went before. Conclusions like "Yet the true answers may be lost in the mists of time..." do not add anything.

Citations: Indicate the source of specific arguments or evidence, just as you would in a research paper. Credit the source of illustrations, too. If you use images from my class presentations, you can cite them as "Owen 2003", and list the source in the bibliography as "Owen, Bruce 2003 Anthropology 490.3 lectures"

Bibliography: At least six academic sources, as you would use for a research paper. My lecture presentations do not count towards the six, although you may cite them. Academic sources are serious books, journals, and some web sites. Newspapers and popular magazines are not academic sources, although in some cases you may cite them for news. Be wary of sources written by journalists, as opposed to researchers, because they often misunderstand the experts. Be especially careful of web sites, since many are questionable. Look for ones tied to universities, respectable institutions like major museums, or to researchers whose names you know from other sources. The bibliography may be in any acceptable research paper format, and very small type is OK.

Format: 17" x 22" (four 8 1/2" x 11" pages), vertically or horizontally oriented. If you want to go to a slightly larger 6-page size, that is OK, but please do not exceed that. The presentation should be neat, but it need not be elaborate or expensive. The poster may be one large piece, or several pieces to be mounted next to each other. The text should be computer printed. Good xeroxes of illustrations are acceptable. Color is nice, but not necessary. Don't use anything irreplaceable, since the posters will be hung in an unprotected public space.

Citation format for websites: Make sure the website is a legitimate, academic source. One acceptable format is shown below. If you use a different bibliography style, you should find or invent a corresponding format that includes all of the same information.

Morlan, R. (editor)

1999 "Canadian Archaeological Radiocarbon Database." <http://www.canadianarchaeology.com/radiocarbon/card/card.htm> May 12, 1999.

In this case, the author is an editor of a project. In many cases, there are one or several authors who should be simply listed as for a book or article. Always try to find the author of the material. If absolutely necessary, the author may be an institution, like "Field Museum of Natural History". The year at the beginning is the year that the site was last modified, as best you can tell. The date at the end is the date on which you accessed it. The title is either one clearly indicated on the web page itself, or what appears in the top bar of your browser as you view the page. The complete URL must be included.