Scientific Poster Draft AssignmentNo Plagiarism (own thoughts and word)
These scientificposter wording should be entirely in your own words with all work appropriately cited as needed. Careful of not using text too closely related to published work, not properly citing work, etc.
Look at poster template (uploaded) to have all the guidelines and below for elaboration of information needed.
Look at sites for similar…
http://evolution-outreach.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/1936-6434-6-5
Should have introduction (background), objectives, methods, figures with captions, results text, conclusions, future directions, references (Look below for elaboration for guidelines for each and also look at poster template.
Page limit should be around 1 page for title and introduction (background), 1 page for objectives and methods for 2 experiments, 1 page for 2 figures on experiment 1 and 2 figures for experiment 2 along with 1 figure caption for experiment 1 and 1 figure caption for experiment 2, 1 page for results text, 1 page for conclusions and future directions and references.
Times New Roman, font 10
Rubric to follow, along with poster template guidelines, and elaboration of introduction (background), objectives, methods, figures with captions, results text, conclusions, future directions, references listed below..
Concerns Criteria Advanced
Poster follows formatting and organization outlined in the instructions and is visually appealing.
Poster provides strong motivation for the work and ties it to a larger research question.
Clearly lays out the background knowledge needed of the field and specific research questions.
Clearly defines specific research objectives in succinct manner
Accurately and unambiguously describes research methods for experiments presented in the poster.
Results text summarizes main purpose and findings of each figure.
Appropriate graphical representation of data with stand-alone figure captions
Clearly summarizes main conclusions and appropriate future research ideas for this study.
References relevant literature, ties it into the research project, and appropriately cites at least 2 primary scientific articles and at least 4 total articles.
Poster Topics
Bean beetle bean choice (basically looking at beetle behavior by the preference of the beetle bean)
My elevator talk that will give general brief overview that will help for introduction (background), objectives, methods, figures with captions, results text, conclusions, future directions, references
Do you know that problems in evolutionary biology remain mainly unexplained? There are many mutations that cause variance of behavior in the organisms. My research focuses on whether the beetle bean females prefer the bean they were born on or another suitable species of bean. Beetle bean was chosen to measure the behavior of preference because they are easy to manipulate with simple diet. Using four petri dishes, my lab group performed an experiment to test beetle bean preference for beans by placing the beetle bean on the petri dish with adzuki, mung, and black-eyed bean, then counting the eggs laid. From this approach, this will contribute to the society many potential benefits of classifying the mutations that is mainly responsible for causing genetic variance and how ecology in intertwined with animal behavior that can explain the role of gene shifting in function and preference.
My notes for each part….
Title- something reasonable and unique that covers the experiment
• Introduction (Background)- look at elevator talk to get a general idea on this research is important.Your introduction must include at least 4 references with at least 2 primary literature references (papers presenting new findings in peer-reviewed scientific journals).
Objectives- what exact research questions you are trying to answer, elaborate more and put in a nice concise way, I just gave brief overview (Research question 1- Does mung and adzuki bean spend more time on the bean they were born on (natal bean) or another suitable species of bean. Question 2- The preference of bean beetle of the bean they were born on or another suitable species of bean.) 2 research question because the experiment on comparing whether mung or adzuki bean beetle spend more time on their natal bean or another suitable species of bean and the experiment on whether the bean beetle lays egg more on their natal bean or another suitable species of bean (2 experiments give a brief overview of the experiment of bean beetle behavior by looking at 2 experiments)
Methods- For 2 experiments, everything needs to be concise and should follow a sequence of order for describing the methods for 2 experiments. For experiment on whether the bean beetle spends more time on their natal bean or another suitable species of bean, I’m giving brief overview so it needs to be elaborated. Used 2 beans- mung and adzuki, randomly placed beans, replicates of 4 plates, 2 plates with mung bean beetle with adzuki and mung bean then 2 plates with adzuki bean beetle with adzuki and mung bean. Time- 5 min. trialsFor the experiment on whether the bean beetle prefers their natal bean or another suitable species of bean by looking at eggs laid, I’m giving brief overview so it needs to be elaborated. Used 2 beans-1 mung and 1 adzuki and were placed in specific position, 2 worms- mung bean beetle and adzuki bean beetle, 1 plate thus one replicate or trial, time 1 week. At the end, it needs to be stated that used a chi-square test as a statistical test for representing how we represented data and the p-value is less than 0.05 so the test was significant.
Figures and Tables- (Make the data up that follows the methods time and is reasonable to get a nice conclusion, can look at internet but not exact) Should have 2 figure on experiment 1 on comparing mung vs. adzuki bean beetle small figures on having x-axis as adzuki and mung bean while the y-axis will have time in percentage, will be doing 2 bean beetle. Should have 2 figure on experiment 2 on comparing mung bean beetle small figures on having x-axis as adzuki and mung bean while the y-axis will be eggs laid, similar to adzuki bean beetle. (Have 1 figure caption for experiment 1 and 1 for experiment 2, look at internet to formulate this along with my information). My data for bean beetles spending time: adzuki vs. adzuki is at 60 sec., mung vs. adzuki is at 15 sec., mungvsmung is at 0 sec. For eggs laid, mung plate 1 with 2 on mung and 1 on adzuki, mung plate 2 with 3 on mung on 1 on adzuki, adzuki plate 1 with 3 on adzuki and 1 on mung, adzuki plate 2 with 4 on adzuki and 2 on mung.
Results-The results usually describes the trend of the data presented in the figures.
Conclusion- Make a conclusion by average time spent and eggs laid for the preference on whether the bean beetle prefers the natal bean or another suitable species of bean. Look at methods, figures, and results to make a conclusion.
Future directions- Be reasonable and look at Internet for any information and also my elevator talk to correlate with future directions. This section usually involves with building upon this experiment.
References- Have bibliography for using references, can be in any scientific standard conventions. At least 4 references with 2 being at least primary literature references. Especially the background will have references.
General Guidelines
• This is an individual assignment. Every student must write their own poster in their own words. Be mindful of plagiarizing from your lab partners, scientific papers or Internet sites.
• Be as concise as possible while maintaining all information necessary for the audience to understand and appreciate your work.
• You should assume your reader is familiar with general biology but not specifics of your field or experimental techniques.
• Your introduction must include at least 4 references with at least 2 primary literature references (papers presenting new findings in peer-reviewed scientific journals).
• You must include at least 2 original data figures (charts not tables) in your paper that address unique sub-questions for your research.
• References should be cited in the text using the name-year convention of the Council of Scientific Editors (first author last name and year or publication in parentheses). For example “..found that C. elegans are able to distinguish between two food sources (Smith et. al., 2011).
Helpful Resources (For poster sample)
http://www.ncsu.edu/project/posters/ExamplePosters.html
https://www.utexas.edu/ugs/our/poster/samples
http://pitt.libguides.com/c.php?g=12352&p=65730
Title
The title of your poster must be succinct (20 words or less) while still describing your main finding or question. Under your title you should list the poster authors with yourself listed first, then all other significant contributors (such as lab partners), and with the PI (here your lab instructor) listed as the last author.
Introduction
Poster introductions are relatively short (~3 paragraphs) and serve to introduce the general research area to the audience. Introductions should convey a strong sense for why the research area is important to study and what the current state of scientific understanding is (you will likely need to cite references). You may reference figures in your introduction if needed (such as pathway diagrams).
• Your introduction must include at least 4 references with at least 2 primary literature references (papers presenting new findings in peer-reviewed scientific journals).
Objectives
Here you should clearly define the specific objectives of your research – i.e. what exact research question/s you are trying to answer. You may state them in paragraph or bullet point format but should be succinct.
Methods
This section should be written in the style of paper methods sections using past tense, passive voice and written in paragraphs. You may also include figures in the methods section for clarity if needed. The key to writing a good methods section is to provide a clear description of experimental details while being as concise and organized as possible. You can assume your reader has a basic understanding of general laboratory equipment and techniques (ie. you do not need to explain how to use a micropipette or include the brand and model of centrifuge used).
Results
Results text should follow a logical flow based on the questions explored. Thus, paragraphs should begin by stating the question being researched and the experiment performed to address it and then continue to describe the results. For example, ‘In order to determine whether C. elegans prefer OP50 or wild type E. coli we performed choice plates using OP50 and E. coli. As seen in Figure 1, worms strongly preferred…’. Your results section should also refer to your figures (for example – ‘C. elegans preferred OP50 over HB101 (Figure 1)’). This allows you to concisely describe your results without having to list specific numbers in the text (although results can point out any numbers that are particularly striking or important to note). Results sections should describe important findings or patterns within your data but interpretations of these should be reserved for the discussion. For example, ‘C. elegans showed a strong preference for OP50’ could be a statement in results while ‘C. elegans prefer known food sources’ should be in the discussion. A good rule of thumb is that statements that could be refuted because they go beyond simply stating the data should be reserved for the discussion.
Figures & Tables
Just as you want your scientific writing to be as concise as possible you also want your figures to be concise while conveying all the information needed. Every figure should demonstrate a point/question you discuss in the results text. Condense data so as to make it easier to see the points being made. For example, replicates should almost always be combined with only the average and standard deviation error bars graphed. Figure axes must be clearly labeled and indicate their units. Your poster must include at least 2 data figures (tables do not count as a figure) with captions.
Figure captions should serve as stand-alone text such that someone could view the figure and caption and without reading the actual text of your paper understand what the figure is demonstrating and how the data was obtained (not in enough detail to replicate the work but enough to understand the general concepts). Captions should begin with the figure number and a descriptive title. For example, Figure 1. C. elegans prefer ethanol over methanol. Figure captions should be stand-alone text such that a reader could fully understand the figure without reading other sections of the poster. For example, captions generally describe the experiment (worms were placed on choice plates with two types of bacteria and the number of worms near each bacteria was counted at several time points), and include important information on the graph preparation (such as the number of replicates that were averaged and what the error bars represent).
• You must include at least 2 original data figures (charts not tables) in your paper that address unique sub-questions for your research.
Conclusions
You should summarize your key findings here in paragraph format. This is also where you may interpret your findings and go beyond just stating the trends in the data. Be succinct and clear and do not overstate or over-interpret findings. Be sure to tie your findings back to the larger research area you discussed in your introduction.
Future Directions
You should include potential future research work to explore. Suggested work may include ideas to fix technical issues with the experiments but must include new research questions to address. Future directions should directly relate to your past work either as continuation or inspiration.
Acknowledgements
This section is optional but is typically included in scientific posters as an area to acknowledge funding sources for the work and/or people who have supported your work in some way (technically helping with experiments, reading and editing your write-ups, etc.).
References
Include a bibliography for all texts cited throughout your poster. Follow any standard scientific conventions for the format of the references.