1. Academic Posters

2. Your poster is like a visual essay! You should pay attention to the title or question which your poster needs to cover, and make sure your poster answers this The poster should cover the context of the topic, and key points, issues and positions surrounding the topic

3. BRAINSTORM your ideas first on a sheet of paper, to make sure your poster has a good structure and covers all the necessary material This poster is laid out well, and the information is colour-coded in sections Generally a poster is read from top left to bottom right, so make sure your information follows a clear route if you choose a different pattern

4. Your poster should be visually appealing – not just lots of text. Use images and diagrams to convey meaning and add understanding to the words on your poster. This poster is NOT very exciting as there is no colour and only very basic diagrams

5. Pastel coloured backgrounds with dark text work well as they are easy to read Use a FONT SIZE and STYLE which can be easily read, such as Arial or Verdana. Be consistent with your choice of font throughout your poster Curly fonts like this one don’t work well as they are difficult to read when the font size is small

6. One of the best ways to create a professional looking poster is to use specific poster software eg. Microsoft Publisher or LucidPress

7. Activity You are going to use LucidPress to create an A4 size academic poster on the murder of Meredith Kercher - Research the case thoroughly, looking for information about: - Who Meredith was. - Timeline of events which occurred after the body was found. - Information about the suspects. - Forensic evidence. - What happened to the suspects? Make sure your poster: Is visually appealing – use pictures and colour. Contains information from good academic sources (not just Wikipedia!) Contains all the key points relating to the topic, laid out in a way that is logical and easy to read Use the LucidPress helpsheet for tips with using the software. Once complete, show your poster to your Facilitator