Ebtisam Elghiblawi, MBBCh, MS.c, is a Research Fellow at the School of Health and Life Science, Coventry University, Coventry, UK, and a member of the Faculty of Medicine, Al-Fatah University, Tripoli-Libya.

GUIDELINES, DEVELOPMENT AND IMPACT OF A POSTER

Scientific posters are an effective oral communication tool for demonstration, and explanation as they serve a short way of verbal presentation combined with visual aid. They should provide the important components in terms of content, and the way it is constructed to influence the overall effectiveness. They should be visually attractive and easy to read and convey meaning within a few minutes, plus they should be short and simple. Posters should stand alone, as people have only a few minutes to view and read it.

Posters are composed usually of the following sections; title, author and affiliations, abstract, introduction, methods, data and results, discussion, conclusion and future work, and lastly reference and acknowledgments. Some consider posters as a structured abstract, and omit abstracts and references. They are used mostly in meetings or conferences as they are limited in time and range of view, plus they are informal and an interactive means of presenting a statistical analysis, program evaluation and so on (Miller JE 2007). Each poster has its own unique format of content and layout for exhibition (see Table-2). They can be presented with two or three key bullet findings to explain the content in a simplified manner. Poster presentations are an ideal formatto publish research findings and clinical innovations (Thomas C E. and Philip E B., 2007, Halligan P., 2008).
The key to successful poster presentation is meticulous, timely, well informed preparation (Hardicre J, Devitt P, Coad J., 2007). Therefore it is very important to consider the poster content and layout (Miller JE., 2007). Complicated statistical results should be translated into simplified tables, graphs and figures, bulleted text which can stand out clearly, to convey piece of information, and the relationships of these components to each other (Durbin CG Jr., 2004, Miller JE., 2007). Always try to keep well-prepared hand-outs which can assist excellent public relations as you cannot cover every single detail in the poster.

Finally, a clear poster presentation can be a useful mode of interactive approach, to share and exchange the results of your research with peers, as well as receiving feedback which can be valuable to improve your research and prepare a paper for publication in a peer reviewed journal (Shelledy DC., 2004, Keely BR., 2004). Drawing on an academic paper from a poster is another way of presenting a scientific paper research framework for publication. The core issue (scientific question) should be identified and reviewed by collecting and evaluating information, and that would involve a thorough literature review, after which information would be drawn together into guidelines accordingly (Mayberry JF., 2007).

It is a very basic function to develop your own plans and a strategy, in order to carry out the work, and write up the ideas. Thoughts should be organised and main ideas should be summarised and jotted down.

The amount of materials presented in a paper far prevail over what is presented in a poster, as a poster requires a distillingof the work without losing the actual meaning of it (conveying the message); posters need to be viewed from a distance of about 6 feet (see Table-2).
Ensure and implement that you follow the journal author guidelines closely before embarking on any writing up, to improve the chances of acceptance of your paper for publication (see Table-1), because publication is the hardest currency of any science. Many times projects are not accepted because they are either too small or too local, andtherefiore have limited value. Set up a timetable for writing and submitting them in due time (Table-1).

Table 1 Plot for writing a paper
choose a journal.
Track authors guidelines.
Set up a time limit to get the work finished.
Construct subheadings.

Writing up is often a daunting task; it involves a great deal of planning, preparation and time; it is simply a skill born from practice. In order to write, you need to read.

This piece of writing shall provide the researcher with a few simple guidelines on how to turn a poster into a scientific paper for publication; it ranges from early drafting in order to improve the manuscript, to its final publication (Andrei V.Alexandrov, 2004).

This should involve: what scientific question was raised, how it was investigated and how the question was answered. This must involve a process of what was the asked question and why was it asked, (introduction, background and hypothesis devised), how was the study conducted (methodology), and what were the results, and what do they mean (results and discussion) (Manterola C, Pineda V, Vial M, Grande L., 2007). Before starting writing up, look to the literature for similar resources dealing with your topic, also discuss the topic with the mentor for advice, and guidance (Andrei V.Alexandrov, 2004). Good writing should avoid lengthy and complex words; on the contrary it should involve use of simple terms; in a direct order with its objectivesand then report such with a good discussion (Nahas FX, Ferreira LM, 2005). Show early drafts to colleagues for critique and refining, and if English is not your first language show it to native English speaker who can improve the text and rephrase wording.

To accomplish the publication of the desired paper, it should fulfil all the required criteria and should follow author journal requirements (Adams AB, Simonson D., 2004). Any journal publication involves three main factors; authors, reviewers, and the editors. The last two are mandatory for any publication to be processed (Figure-1). Some key points which might contribute to publication rejection are either that the author does not know how to start, and what to include and where (Kliewer MA, 2006).

(see accompanying figure-1)

Any scientific paper, to be available for reading and dissemination, has to be published first. Writing, editing and publishing a paper is the last step in the research process. A paper will tell the whole process from the start and pass through data collection and statistical analysis stages, and then present the results with a good discussion and arguments (Branson RD., 2004). It is analogous to the research process. The essential sections and features of a scientific paper are IMRAD structure which is preceded by an Abstract and followed by References;

1. Title- should be concise and represent your main message, as it is the actual shop window where you sell your research. Include author name, highest academic degree, affiliations, email address, phone number and funding if any.
   
2. Abstract- main reasons for the study, results and conclusions. Abstract means to extract and summarize, and should be written at thestart.
   
3. Introduction- why the problem has been explored, and what you hope to prove and accomplish.
   
4. Materials & Methods- how to solve the raised problem by setting up your criteria, such as selecting study subjects, type of study, inclusion and exclusion criteria, and approval of ethics committee if it is an experimental study, after having the signed informed consent. If equipment was used it should be described in detail from all aspects, such as calibration and validation.
   
5. Results- what was achieved? This is the heart of any article for publication, which would support or refute any proposed theory (Brian F McCabe, 2004).
   
6. Discussion and conclusion- explain the result, if it is significant. This is the challenging part of any paper (Hess DR, 2004).
   
7. Acknowledgements- who was involved.
   
8. References- Cite references throughout the paper. Refer to reference guidelines for targeted journals to meet the anticipated criteria of submission.
   
9. Tables- extra information.
   
10. Figures- extra information.
    
    

Effective posters should be designed with two or three bullet points with brief description. Typical poster presentation follows the same format as a scientific paper with some minor variations.
It is mandatory to follow any journal instructions after putting up all gained results into a simplified and comprehensive manner, to prove your point; and what you believe you have added to the literature, if it is in fact conceptualisation, and if further work is advocated.

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Brian F McCabe, Editorial, How to write a scientific paper, the annals of otology, rhinology and laryngology, 2004; 113; 7; ProQuest Medical Library.

Branson RD., Anatomy of a research paper, Respir Care. 2004; 49(10):1222-8

Durbin CG Jr. Effective use of tables and figures in abstracts, presentations, and papers, Respir Care. 2004; 49(10):1233-7

Halligan P., poster presentations: valuing all forms of evidence, Nurse Educ Pract. 2008; 8 (1):41-5.

Hardicre J, Devitt P, Coad J., Ten steps to successful poster presentation, Br J Nurs. 2007 12-25; 16(7):398-401.

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Kliewer MA. Writing it up: a step-by-step guide to publication for beginning investigators.J Nucl Med Technol. 2006; 34(1):53-9.

Manterola C, Pineda V, Vial M, Grande L, how should the results of a scientific study be presented? The oral presentation, Cir Esp. 2007; 81(1):12-7.

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Thomas C Erren and Philip E Bourne, Ten Simple Rules for a Good Poster Presentation, PLoS Comput Biol. 2007 May; 3(5): e102.

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Keely BR., Planning and creating effective scientific posters, J Contin Educ Nurs. 2004; 35(4):182-5.