Don't slavishly follow APA headings, if they don't work for
you. There are no APA rules when making a poster. The rules
are - make it interesting - make it easy to understand.
Making a poster is a bit like crafting a commercial on TV or an ad in a
magazine. You want to catch the reader's attention and hold the
reader's attention. You want the poster to "pop." You
want to have a poster that's easy to navigate. This is NOT a
paper stuck up on a wall. It's crafted in easy to digest chunks
and the chunks should be very clearly labeled so the reader can read
whatever they want in the order they want.
- Obviously, you have to give the background to the research
you are proposing. This is NOT a review paper, however.
Have references, but don't bury the reader in references.
You can take a small font reference section somewhere in the lower
corner of the poster. They shouldn't be here for a literature
search. There here to learn about your research!
- Obviously, having given the background you have to say what the study is about.
- Obviously, you have to give a clear description of the methods.
- You should overview the statistical attack you will make on
the resulting data. DON'T say the totally obvious, however.
That is - APA mandates descriptive statistics so you shouldn't
say you'll run something to extract them. Only describe the
statistics you'll run to analyze the real focus of the study. In
the process of doing this DON'T speak in SPSS!! Speak statistics,
the universal language. Not every Ph.D. runs SPSS, but we
all know statistics.
- You should tell the reader what you expect to find. If it's unclear, then say that, but describe possible outcomes.
- Having described what might happen, you then would say what
implications outcomes such as that would have for future research
and/or the field in general.
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