1. Writing effective bullet points for slides or for your poster . . .

2. What does a bullet point do?
Purpose of bullet points.
Should grab or hook the reader and keep their attention.
Tells key idea only.
Or the total sum of the key ideas in a “slide”
It’s like a headline (
A good one grabs you.
Tells key points.
Makes you want to read further.

3. Characteristics of good bullet points on a slide or poster . . .
No full sentences; defeats purpose.
Keep tense the same across all bullet points.
Be consistent (e.g., start with Cap; end with the same punctuation throughout).
I can’t emphasize the first bullet point enough. For a slide presentation or poster you don’t want full sentences. For an oral presentation you would show bullet point 1 but then you would talk more about it. For a poster, someone is reading it so you want the key points there but not sentences.
Do keep in mind that some of my Powerpoint slides can be wordy. That is because they are used in a World Campus setting so I do show more information since you are scrolling through the slides at your own pace.

4. Characteristics of good bullet points (continued)
Should all be related to the section (i.e., introduction, synthesis, conclusions).
Together (on slide or section of poster), bullet points should look symmetric.
Consider sub-bullets, but sparingly.
Bullet 1: like topic sentence of paragraph
Sub-bullet pertains to key point stated above
After you finish a section of your poster (or slide), step back and look at it. Does it look symmetrical? If a bullet has a sub bullet, do they all “hang together”? Should you have used a sub bullet? For example, if you look at your 3 bullets, are they all about your first bullet? If so, maybe you need to make bullet 2 and 3 sub bullets of #1.

5. Characteristics of good bullet points (continued)
Can add emphasis with Bold, italics, or underline.
Avoid extra words (e.g., “Secondly”, “Another point”).
Avoid “fluffy” language, adjectives, etc.
Be concise x 6 rule (6 bullet points, 6 words each) (
6 x 6 rule applies to a powerpoint slide.
Lofty goal but idea is minimize text.
For the first point, when you finish a section of your poster (or slide in a presentation), step back and look. Do you need something to stand out to the reader? If so try one of these methods. Be sure not to over use the special techniques but reserve them for something important. For bullet point 2--- if you say “Secondly”--- you likely are on a 2nd bullet so the actual bullet assumes that it is “Second”. You don’t want words you don’t need because that makes it overwhelming to the reader.

6. Bullet points in your poster
May want to start out by writing key idea of introduction, synthesis, con-clusion sections.
Then trim (i.e., simplify).
May take several drafts.
Get 2nd (and 3rd) opinion – a naïve reader sees things you don’t!
Ask, “is this the main point I want to convey to the reader?”
Is content appropriate for this section?

7. Example for Background:
If the PICOT was related to whether depressive symptoms in girls are related to accrual of bone density across adolescence . . .
What might the background or intro-duction look like with bullet points?
Write down what you think the bullets might be about before you click on the next slide.

8. What did you write down? Try before you go to the next slide and be sure to read slide annotation on the next slide.

9. Bullets: intro./background (read annotation)
Osteoporosis: a significant health problem; primarily in elderly women (ref).
Impacts X million; costing $X annually.
>50% of bone mineral density (BMD) accrued in adolescence (ref).
Optimum time to maximize “bone bank”.
Low BMD associated with adult depression (refs).
Depression rises in adolescence; particularly girls (ref).
Bone-depression association unknown in girls.
Examining whether depression impacts BMD across adolescence may guide early intervention/prevention efforts for osteoporosis, future fracture.
My first bullet indicates the significance of my outcome variable (bone density). It doesn’t talk about bone density per say in bullet 1 but rather what the ramification of poor bone density is, which is osteoporosis. (When you see “ref” that means I would add a reference here).
I then gave numbers and dollars to let people know what a costly problem this is. Notice how those were sub bullets because they pertained to my first bullet. So far, I’ve not said anything about adolescence but now, my 2nd sub bullet tells about bone accrual in adolescence followed by a statement that this is a key time to build up bone (e.g., maximize the bone bank).
Next I tell about the independent variable of depression. First, bone BMD is associated with adult depression; next in a sub bullet I tell that depression increases in adolescence and finally that we do not know if there is a bone-depression association in adolescent girls.
My last bullet statement tells the significance of all of this put together and what my picot will look at. You will want to add one last bullet that tells what the purpose is for what you are doing for your capstone with your picot. Tell the reader what to expect in the next section that they read. In the case of your poster, the next thing after this intro/background is your Methods section.
Your poster WILL NOT include a reference list; my advice for including citations is to include first author last name and year only (e.g., Smith, et al., 2010). Alternatively, if such information is generally available through public website(s), for example from the CDC, you can include CDC, 2010 as the citation. OR, simply state: CDC identifies osteoporosis is a significant problem in primarily elderly women (INSERT URL here). In the upcoming assignment, Abstract Assignment, you will provide a reference list which will include citations in your poster. My best advice is to MINIMIZE THE # of CITATIONS to what is necessary to give appropriate credit for original publication of content and avoid plagiarism. In your draft bullet point submission, include citations as appropriate and feedback will be provided to help minimize space used for citations purposes while also giving appropriate credit/recognition.