Project

ASC_4_476_21_22

Tutorial
Poster Preparation
 What is the purpose of the poster?
Communicate:
You have done a great job gaining knowledge in your chosen laboratory topic.
Now you want to TELL your story!

Engage:
You need to communicate in an engaging way, with a poster that is sharp, and inviting to see/read (catch
the audience’s attention).
You need to know your audience.
A key point to remember, if you include them, that the figures/tables/models/images and figure legends
are clear.
Remember- Not too much writing 500-1000 words is more than enough.

Encourage constructive discussion:

Here you can show your creative thinking- in what areas of of Biology could this knowledge be useful?
Are there any difficulties / gaps in knowledge that could be addressed?

Showcase: You want to educate your peers.

 How do you make a poster engaging?

Title: something that is exciting

Figures: Attractive and clear figures

Legible: As people will be reading from a distance, the writing should be big enough.
Big font (18-20 main, 24 or bigger for subheadings) and FEW words

Self explanatory: the poster should be easy to navigate. Use numbers for the subheadings so
that the order of figures is clear.
What are the sections of the poster?

Sections:

Title, names/ affiliations

Aim
Rationale
Introduction
Methodology
Main body or results (with all the headings/subheadings)
Future directions / Gaps in knowledge
Conclusions
References
Anatomy of a poster

Title, names/ affiliations

Rationale
Introduction
(materials and methods)
Main body or results (with all the headings/subheadings)
Future directions / Gaps in knowledge
Conclusions
References
 Tips
Make it readable: from several feet away. You can use 2 different fonts, one for title and sections and
the other for the text. The sections will stand out.

Less is more: do not add too much text. Choose the figures and their legends that help you make the
point you want (normally the subheading). Remember, you will be in front of it, so you can explain it.

Organization: use columns to help you organize the content and the reader to navigate your work.

Background and colour: this is one of the strategies to grabs attention. The most common is to use
solid colour or themed background and make it compatible with the font color. But do not over do it as
has to be balance between the important thing (the content) and the presentation
 Styles

Addgene.org
 Are offshore earthquakes linked to marine
mammal strandings?
Rachel Grant, Anna Savirina and Will
Hoppitt
Department of Life Sciences, Anglia Ruskin
University, East Road, Cambridge, CB1 1PT
email: rachel.grant@anglia.ac.uk

Introduction
Figure 2. The study area, showing around 300 offshore
The causes of marine mammal stranding
earthquakes which occurred during the study period
events are complex and not well understood,
but may relate to topography, currents, wind,
water temperature, disease and anthropogenic
sound [1]

The causes of marine mammal

stranding events are not well
understood

It has been suggested that offshore

earthquakes may be a causal factor [2]
increasing the probability of stranding events,
but this hypothesis has never been tested.
The area off the coast of Washington and
Oregon is characterized by the Cascadia
Subduction zone, which stretches from
Vancouver island to Northern CA. The Juan de
Fuca oceanic plate is subducting beneath the
North American Plate (Figure 1). The location of
this convergent plate boundary near to a long
stretch of coastline where marine strandings
are routinely recorded makes it useful for
testing the current hypothesis.
Figure 1. Cascadia Subduction zone
Statistical Analysis
A general linear model was constructed to test for associations between offshore
earthquakes (M>4) and marine mammal stranding events. We looked at earthquakes
occurring 5 days before or after a stranding event. We tested this with both mass
strandings (here defined as stranding of more than five animals) and single animal
strandings. The model was corrected for seasonal effects and for increased strandings in
later years due to increased public awareness and vigilance [1]
Results
No association was found between offshore earthquakes in the study period and marine
mammal stranding for either single animals or mass stranding events.
For mass stranding events:

Deviance residuals
-0.4826 -0.4826 -0.447 -0.447 2.1695

COEFFICIENTS Estimate Std Error Z value Pr(>|z|)

Intercept 0.05967 0.10409 0.573 0.566
binary Quake Threshold -0.11021 0.14271 -0.772 0.44

NB Dispersion Parameter for binomial family taken to be 1; Null deviance: 1373.9 on

2312 degrees of freedom; Residual deviance: 1373.3 on 2311 degrees of freedom; AIC:
1377.3; Number of Fisher Scoring iterations: 5
Methods
Records of marine mammals stranding on
the beaches of the Washington and
Oregon States, USA, between 1999 and
2010 were obtained from the Northwest
Region Stranding Network.

In total we obtained 5240 stranding

events covering 26 different marine
species in the following taxa: whales,
porpoises, dolphins, seals, sea lions and
otters.
Earthquake records were collected from
USGS Earthquake Archive Search and
URL Builder
(http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/se
arch/) for the Northwest Region (50oN,
42oS, to -130oW, -122oE) between 1999
and 2010 of magnitude >4 (Figure 2). The
search area extended to more than
1000km off the coasts of Washington and
Discussion
The preliminary analysis indicates that offshore earthquakes have no connection
with the probability of marine mammal stranding. This is not to say that offshore
earthquakes never cause marine mammals to strand, but for the study period and
location, earthquakes were not found to be a significant risk factor for stranding. It is
certainly clear that there are many other factors influencing stranding of marine
mammals and a single cause is unlikely to be responsible.
Refs: 1. Bowlby et al. 2004. Cetacean stranding in Oregon and Washington
between 1930 and 2002. Journal of Cetacean Research Management 6(1): 87-
99. 2. www.deafwhale.org
Keep it simple

• List all of the things that you want to say and put them in the order of importance.
• Try selecting only the first three points as the focus for your poster.
• Remember that this is a poster to give a quick overview of your research
• Plan on limited text and strong images in the poster.
• If a viewer only remembers one thing from your display, what should it be?
• 500-1000 words is about right
 Further reading / resources

UCLA library

https://guides.library.ucla.edu/c.php?g=223540&p=1480858 - s-lg-box-4483884

Addgene Poster Blog

https://blog.addgene.org/guide-to-designing-the-scientific-poster?
 Credits:

Valentina Caputo

Rachel Grant

UCLA library

https://guides.library.ucla.edu/c.php?g=223540&p=1480858 - s-lg-box-4483884

Addgene Poster Blog

https://blog.addgene.org/guide-to-designing-the-scientific-poster?
 How to present a poster
Create and outline: Make a list of the main points you need to talk about and linked them to each
Figure/Subheading.
Connect one idea with the next (use examples if that helps)
Think of questions to ask to the audience to get them involved in the subject.

Practice. Rehearse the presentation with your group. The more you rehearse, the better.
The figures of the poster will most likely be the same than in the oral presentation, so this practice is
helpful also for that.

Think of possible questions. Put yourself in your peers/academics shows and think what could they
ask you. Ask the other members of your groups those questions.

NOTE:
You will not be presenting your poster in this assessment, but in future, you will.