CHE 133 F19

Final Project: Poster Presentation

Posters are one major method by which scientists communicate the results with one another and the
public. You may have seen professional scientific posters at conferences/events or hanging near research
labs in science departments. As the presentation of your CHE 133 final project, you will work with your
assigned Ion Chromatography groupmates to assemble a poster based on the two weeks of the ion
chromatography lab activity.
You will display and present the physical copy of your group’s poster to your instructors, TAs and
peers during an assigned time between Dec. 4–6 (specific time assignments TBD, so stay tuned). Before
your presentation, one member of your group must electronically submit a copy of your poster in
Questionsly: General Chemistry L[your section #], Poster submissions. The most outstanding posters
in each section will be eligible for up to 10 pts. extra credit. Stay tuned for details via class
announcements on Questionsly and Blackboard.
Your poster will be assembled from individual PowerPoint slides. If you don’t have it already,
PowerPoint is accessible using your Stony Brook NetID and downloadable here: https://bit.ly/32jyxxk As
with Excel, the desktop version of PowerPoint has more features than the online version.
Your poster should be comprised of 7–12 slides arranged by pinning the slides to a 3’ x 3’ board in 3
columns with the top left slide as your first slide. The boards will be provided to you. You are
responsible for printing your slides and assembling them using provided push pins. A rough guideline for
what your poster might look like is pictured below:

Title Materials & Methods

Authors, Section #
Figure
Collaborators, Section #s Picture
Event name
Presentation Date(s)

Abstract

Figure Figure

Introduction Results & Discussion Conclusions

Picture Figure

References
Picture
Figure
Picture
I. General tips/guidelines
Less text = more compelling poster. Can you convey your main points via bullet points vs. a
paragraph of text? Can you present your methods as an illustration rather than text? Can you
present your results in a graph instead of a table? Go for it!
The next section tells you what belongs in each section of your poster in order of presentation,
but it’s often more efficient to work on your poster out of order: 1) compile or at least lay out
what will go in your Results & Discussion; 2) brainstorm/craft your Conclusion and
Introduction; 3) list your References; 4) write your Abstract. Because your Abstract and
Introduction contain “big picture” rationales for undertaking your project, it can be easier to
think about those after you see the data you have/will have and figure out what it might mean.
A good poster takes a lot of time and editing, even for professional scientists, who make them all
the time. Take advantage of your Ion Chromatography Week 2 session to work on your poster
with your groupmates and get help from your TA/classmates.
Tip: draw a rough board like the cartoon on pg. 1 to brainstorm your layout and fill in what you
want to put in each space. Each of the sections described below is required, though the number
of slides you dedicate to each section might vary slightly (±1–2 slides) and the layout of each
slide might differ from what is shown.

II. What information is required in each section?

Title slide
This slide should contain 5 pieces of information:
1. Title: Your title should be succinct and descriptive. Since you are trying to attract viewers to your
poster, it also helps if your title is catchy.
2. Authors: Names and ID #s of group members who contributed to the design of the project,
executing the experiments, and creation of the poster.
3. Collaborators: If your group collaborated with other groups, list those collaborators and their
section #s in the format, “Collaborators: [names, section #]; [names, section #]”
4. Event name: For professional posters, this is the name of the conference or event. For this
assignment, it’s something like, “CHE 133 Fall 2019 Final Project”.
5. Presentation date(s)
Abstract
A poster’s abstract is like a movie’s trailer. Since your poster will be one of many on display, a
compelling abstract convinces your audience that the rest of your poster is worth reading. This is the one
part of your poster that needs to be a paragraph of complete sentences. An abstract should be 6 sentences
(140–200 words):
1. What is the broad topic of your poster and why is that topic generally important and/or
interesting?
2. What specific problem within the topic does your poster address and why is that specific problem
generally important and/or interesting?
3. Have related studies been done previously? If so, do your studies corroborate previous work or
shed new light on the issue? You should use the web to research these questions and provide
citations and references (references go in a separate section at the end of the poster).
4. How does your work tackle the specific problem stated in sentence 2? What is your big-picture
contribution?
5. What methods and experiments were executed to realize your contribution in sentence 4?
6. What is the key impact of your research? Why should other people care about this research?
Example 1: This work explores the concentrations of various ions in a variety of bottled water brands
because consumer trends have shown increasing consumption of bottled water despite media coverage
about the questionable provenance of many major brands of bottled water. [Specific ions or specific
brands] were chosen for study because [general reason(s): why ions chosen are important, why brands
were chosen]. Investigative studies on [brands] have been conducted and covered by the media, and this
study seeks to verify and quantify those claims. In collaboration with x other groups, we were able to
study a broad range of ions in a broad range of bottled water brands. Samples were obtained using
[method], and ion chromatography was used to quantify the concentrations of [ions] in each sample.
These studies found that [brand] contained the highest concentrations of [ions], which may influence
consumer purchasing decisions.
Example 2: This work explores ion concentrations in outdoor water sources on the Stony Brook campus
in order to assess one aspect of health and safety in our local community. Phosphates were specifically
chosen for study because [general reasons and impact of phosphates on health/safety]. While media
reports have mentioned high phosphate concentrations in water sources in the Long Island region at large,
quantitative information about phosphate concentrations in Stony Brook water sources specifically was
[not available/difficult to find/scarce]. To address this issue, we collected samples from [# of locations]
distributed around the Stony Brook campus for analysis. Samples were obtained using [method], and ion
chromatography was used to quantify the concentration of [ions] in each sample. These studies found that
[summarize major finding(s)], which may be used by campus Facilities personnel to better mitigate water
quality issues on campus.

Introduction
In this section, you should provide more specific background information about why the broad topic of
your poster is important and/or interesting, and why the specific topic of your poster is important and/or
interesting. You should include information from web and/or library research, along with citations for
references at the end that support your arguments for why your topic and specific problem are
compelling. This should be a series of bullet points/an outline.
Example:
• Phosphates are a common water contaminant arising from [sources/activities].1
• High phosphate concentrations can be hazardous to
• human health: [specific issues].2
• aquatic life:[specific issues].3
• Phosphate concentrations in water are typically quantified using [method].4 This method is
commonly used because [reasons].5
• We performed ion chromatography on [samples] in order to quantify phosphate concentration in
more local water samples.
• While ion chromatography is more time-consuming than [method], its high sensitivity to
low phosphate concentrations is advantageous.6
[There would be accompanying graphics and references for citations 1–6 in the references section at the
end of the poster.]

Materials & Methods

In this section, you should describe the materials and methods used to acquire your data and results. This
includes technical information/details/procedures related to all of the data and results you present in your
poster: collecting the sample(s), how calibration curves were generated, how concentrations of target ions
were determined, and how ion chromatography works.
Example ideas: Labeled diagram illustrating method and equipment used for sample
collection/preparation, labeled diagram for calibration procedure, labeled diagram of ion chromatograph.
If you use diagrams or information from other sources, make sure to cite and reference those sources.

Results & Discussion

The meat of the poster! Here’s where you compile and display informative figures and tables illustrating
your data, and discuss that data. You should include results and discussion about the results you acquired
in both Week 1 and Week 2 of the lab activity: 1) the calibration curve you were assigned; 2) the
calibration curve for the ion of interest; 3) chromatogram(s) of your samples; and 4) comparison of
samples. Where relevant, the precision of measured and calculated values needs to be expressed
numerically.

If you use data that you did not generate yourself, attribution must be provided for that data/slide (e.g.
“Acquired by [name].”

Each figure should be numbered in order of presentation and include a caption that describes the content
of the figure. Example: Figure 1. Calibration curve for nitrate obtained using sodium nitrate standard
solutions ([ppm range studied]).

Each table should be numbered in order of presentation and include a title that describes the content of the
table. Example: Table 1. Chloride concentrations in bottled water samples.

Tip: Tables can be harder for your audience to digest than well-designed figures/graphs. Think about the
main point you are trying to convey and design your data presentation accordingly. For example, if your
takeaway is, “[Brand x] has the highest [ion] concentration,” a bar graph conveys your point far more
efficiently than a table of numbers. If you have to use a table, focus on including only the necessary
information and not including extraneous information.

Your discussion should include bullet points on important features in the presented data (examples:
quality of linear fit, presence of desired ion peak and separation from other ions in chromatogram),
assessment of the data’s precision, and how you interpret the data in the context of your stated problem
and topic.

Conclusions
Summarize the highlights of your results and provide your audience with your main takeaway message(s)
in 3–6 bullet points/an outline. If your experiments could be improved, discuss how they could be
improved. Discuss what future experiments could be done to contribute to your studies or broaden your
studies. Finally, send off your reader with a big-picture message based on the findings in your poster,
which should be related to the last sentence of your abstract.

References
These should numbered corresponding to the citations in the text and be formatted in American Chemical
Society (ACS) format: https://libguides.williams.edu/citing/acs

III. Formatting Guidelines

Text Size
You should use only 3–4 font sizes in the entirety of your poster: one font size for the main body text and
figure captions, one font size for section titles, and one font size for the title of your poster. The main
body text of your poster should have a font size at least 9 mm tall (usually at least 24 pt, depending on the
font). Section titles should be larger than main body text, and the biggest font size should be used for the
title of the poster. Use bold, italic, and underlined text wisely to organize and emphasize content.
Font Choice
Avoid using more than 2–3 different fonts in one poster. Your poster should not look like a chemistry
ransom note.
Stick with basic fonts, like Times New Roman or Georgia for serif fonts (fonts that have a projection
finishing strokes of letters), and Arial or Helvetica for sans serif fonts (without serifs). Avoid difficult-to-
read or cartoon-like (unprofessional) fonts.

Typically, you should choose a complementary pair of fonts, one with serifs and one sans serif. Use one
of those two fonts for your title and sub-title text, and the other font for your main body text.

Color
Stick to 3 main colors for text and background: 1) a text color that is black or near black for most of your
text; 2) a white or otherwise muted, neutral background color; 3) an accent color that matches your photos
and figures for text to which you want to draw extra attention.
For figures, try to use different colors only when necessary, and when doing so, choose colors that are
easily distinguishable from one another to make your figure as easy to interpret as possible. For example,
don’t use different shades of green for each bar in a bar graph.

Alignment and Layout

Text boxes should be justified or left aligned. They should not be center aligned or right aligned.

Use the Ruler and Guide tools in PowerPoint to help you organize the features of your poster. To activate
these tools in Powerpoint, click on “View” then select “Ruler” and/or “Guide.”

Features should be evenly and neatly distributed. Use the “Align or Distribute” tools under the “Arrange”
menu. You can select multiple objects to and align them to a left or right edge, or a center imaginary line.
You can also select multiple objects and distribute them evenly either in a vertical or horizontal
orientation.
Don’t be afraid to try functions/tools out in PowerPoint. The “Undo” function under “Edit” is your friend
if you try something and it doesn’t do what you want.

If you are having a really hard time with these aesthetic (but important!) issues, consider using a
PowerPoint template.

Figures and Tables

As mentioned above, figures need to be numbered and have a caption below the figure. Tables need to be
numbered and have a title above the table. Each class of infographic is numbered independently, so if you
have 2 figures and 2 tables, the numbering should be Figure 1, Figure 2, Table 1, Table 2, and not Figure
1, Figure 2, Table 3, Table 4. You should generate the Figures and Tables directly in PowerPoint or copy-
paste from Excel into PowerPoint. This will ensure that the resolution of these graphics is high enough for
good visibility.

All graphs need to have labeled axes. If multiple datasets are presented in one graph, the graph needs to
have a legend.

Make sure you use the correct number of significant figures in all representations of your data!

Other graphics
You want to attract attention to your poster, but you want your audience to focus on your work and not be
distracted by your graphics. Make sure that non-data graphics serve to illustrate your arguments for the
importance and/or interest of your topic/problem. Also make sure that graphics are at least 300 dpi
resolution when you paste them into PowerPoint.

Chemistry conventions
Chemists are super picky about formatting conventions. Common ones to look out for in this lab activity:
1) There is a single space between a quantity and its units (e.g. 3.56 mL, not 3.56mL). A measured
quantity should always have units!
2) Appropriate capitalization of unit abbreviations (e.g. mL, not ml).
3) Italicize all physical constants and Greek letters (e.g. µS, not µS).
4) Type Greek letters on a Mac by opening the Emoji & Symbols menu. Type Greek letters on a PC
by clicking on “Insert” and “Advanced Symbol” or “Special Character.”
5) Appropriate subscripts and superscripts in formulas, chemical and mathematical (e.g. PO43-, not
(PO4)3-).
6) The abbreviation for “molar” as a unit of concentration is a small caps M, not a regular capital M
(e.g. 3.2 mM, not 3.2 mM). Type a lower case “m” and highlight it, then click on “Format” then
“Font” and select “Small caps.”
7) If you use an abbreviation for a phrase, you must define the abbreviation in parentheses the first
time you use the phrase and use the abbreviation thereafter. For example, “Ion chromatography
(IC)….”