General Guidance for Poster Displays

1. General Guidance for Poster Displays UCL Students Seminars Series, 2011 Dorina Cadar (PhD Student)

2. Why we need to make posters? •  The UCL PhD Open Day has been organised every year to showcase the range and the quality of postgraduate research that is taking place within the department. • The event is also designed to recruit new PhD students by showing them the type of research that is being undertaken by the different research groups. • To present your work to your peers

3. Posters will be judged based upon the following criteria: Content ·     Clear aims/objectives and hypothesis stated ·     Brief background and justification for study ·     Methodology described in sufficient detail and appropriate to address research question ·     If appropriate, presentation of any findings and conclusions

4. Poster prize • The prize award is £40 book token. 

5. General Outline posters / seminars • Introduction/ Background • Literature review • Aims and objectives • Methods • Preliminary results • Preliminary conclusions • Strength & limitations

6. • Posters need to be designed to visually or graphically communicate your message

7. Introduction/ Background Methodology Literature review Preliminary results Aims and objectives Preliminary conclusions

8. Presentation ·     A4 or A3 sheets – no need for A1 poster or laminated presentations ·     Well structured, clear and concise summary of project presented ·     Appropriate use of language and supporting references ·     Tables and figures used as necessary ·     Interesting and appealing appearance where possible (pictures, schemas, graphs, flow charts)

9. Graphs & illustrations are powerful Just if appropriately used...

10. Same examples>>>

28. An investigation of alcohol consumption and cognitive decline • Dorina Cadar (PhD Student 2009-2012) • Supervisors : Dr Marcus Richards , Dr Hynek Pikhart & Professor Gita Mishra Epidemiology and Public Health MRC Lifelong Health and Ageing Aim Did you know that? Methods& Materials • The current study examined the association between the report of alcohol consumption from diet diaries and change in memory, speed and concentration in middle life. The particular aim of this work is to examine the influence of alcohol consumption on cognitive decline in middle life. This is one of the key health behaviours investigated in this PhD project along with smoking, physical activity and fruit & vegetable consumption. • 1 in 8 people over 65, experience cognitive decline, which represents one of the first signs of dementia • Every 7 seconds a new case of dementia is diagnosed worldwide • By 2030 there are estimated to be more than 35 million people affected Design • With people living longer than ever before, new scientific goals are set to examine the risk factors contributing to cognitive decline. • Moderate alcohol consumption can benefit cognitive function in middle to later life and reduce the risk of cognitive decline & dementia (Ruitenberg, 2002; Dufoil et.al., 2000) • Debated evidence of a J-shape curved model with high & non alcohol consumption being at higher risk than minimum or moderate consumption (Sharper, 1989; Rockhill, 2005). However the association remains controversial. • Cooper (2009) suggested that moderate alcohol consumption does not protect older people from cognitive decline, while in Attila’s study (2004) participants who drank no alcohol at midlife and thosewho drank alcohol frequently were both twice as likely to havemild cognitive impairment in old age as those participants whodrank alcohol infrequently. • Outcomes: • Cognitive tests • At 43 & 53 years- repeated measures of verbal memory and psychomotor function. • Verbal memory- assessed by a 15 item word learning task. The total number of words c • correctly recall were calculated as an overall score for short-term verbal memory. • Psychomotor speed and concentration- measured with a visual search task, wherein participants were required to cross out the letters P and W, randomly embedded within a page of other letters • Exposures: • Alcohol consumption • At 36 & 43 years information on alcohol consumption were collected from the 5 days diet diaries and 2 day recalled by nurse interview. • Responses were totalled and divided by seven to provide an approximate measure of drinks per day • The measures were transformed in units equivalent of 8g of alcohol • Confounders: • Childhood social class, general cognitive ability at age 8, educational attainment by 26 years; social class (head of household) at each time of exposures and depression at 43 & 53 years (each time of the outcome) • Birth Cohort Study & Repeated measures • Rich amount of health, cognitive, social and psychological function data collected in over 22 rounds of examinations; • most recently completed in 2009-2010 • Participants • A British nationally representative sample of 5362 people, known as 1946 Birth Cohort or the Medical Research Council, National Survey of Health and Development • (MRC -NSHD) • 2,815 men & 2,547 women • repeatedly monitored since • birth in March 1946 Literature review Results Preliminaryconclusions These results suggest that alcohol consumption at age 36 was significantly associated with memory and search speed at both 43 and 53 years. Moreover this was significantly associated with the change in psycho-motor function from 43 to 53 but not significantly for memory decline correspondent to same period. However from the overall consumptions result that light and moderate drinkers are less vulnerable to cognitive decline than heavy drinkers and abstainers elated behaviour among the major factors influencing risks of morbidity. • There was a natural trend of cognitive decline in both memory and psychomotor function associated with age, between 43 to 53 years. This decline was similar for men and women. • Using a more detailed categorization with lower scores for verbal memory for non-drinkers and heavy drinkers in contrast with light and moderate drinkers. • The pattern of alcohol consumption was clustered by 5 regions in UK. The self-reports tend to be of predominantly light drinkers, with only a small proportion of heavy and binge drinking. • Cross-examinations by education and social class revealed some sporadic differences between heavy drinkers with non-manual occupations and also between general education and higher levels of education. • Furthermore examinations between each type of alcohol beverage and the cognitive tests at 43 and 53 years revealed a significant increase with wine, sherry and spirits in both verbal memory and psychomotor function; but a significant decrease with beer. • Data from 1946 Cohort it is nationally representative offering extensive information throughout life • In this study, we were able to adjust for general cognitive ability at age 8, which along with educational attainment and social class increased the rigour of control against confounding from social position. • Another advantage is that all participants were of identical age, which reduces the risk of uncontrolled confounding from an age-associated decline in health and cognitive function. • Potential limitations could correspond to the self-report measures of alcohol consumption, which may rise the questions of inaccuracy in report or biased recall. Strengths & Limitations Light drinker = 0 - 2.5 units; Moderate= 2.5 - 3.5 units Heavy >3.5 units

30. General tips • Less is more, however it is more easily said than done • The viewer must understand effortlessly the general outline and the aim of your project (Maybe a figure or a illustration of the conceptual model could help) • If you have results focus only on what you want to present (maybe the most relevant results). • If you don't have results (1st year) focus on the literature review section, on the conceptual map and statistical plan ahead.

31. The size of your constructed poster should be maximum (850mm by 1190mm)-A1 size • Could be portrait or landscape format • Use colour only if you can afford to print colour • Include supervisors names, organisation, group funding body by using logos, etc • Keep the writing as big as possible (maybe 20-22 font) • Make your poster stand out and win 

32. Editing • • Software • – Microsoft PowerPoint • – Adobe Photoshop • – PageMaker

33. Editing • This is how to edit templates in PowerPoint 2003 – it should be similar for other versions:View -> Master -> slide masterThis allows you to change colours, size of bar

34. New Corporate Identity Poster Design Name & Name UCL- xx Group Collaborators logos

35. Insert Your Poster Title Here Your Name Goes Here Institution Name Can Go Here Put Your Logo Here 4 Data 1 Background 5 Conclusion Insert your text here. Remember, you can adjust the font size to fit your text. Insert your text here. Move the text and graphics boxes to fit your individual needs. Insert your text here. Remember, you can adjust the font size to fit your text. Insert your text here. Remember, you can adjust the font size to fit your text. Insert your text here. Remember, you can adjust the font size to fit your text. • Insert your conclusion here • One • Two • Three • Four • Talk a little more about your conclusions here. More information to follow this. And finally one last point to make your poster complete. • Remember, you can adjust the font size to fit your text. Insert your text here. Remember, you can adjust the font size to fit your text. • Change the font size to fit your text in the space. Move the text and graphics boxes to fit your individual needs. 2 Methods Insert your text here. Change the font size to fit your text in the space. Remember, you can adjust the font size to fit your text. Insert your text here. Remember, you can adjust the font size to fit your text. Change the font size to fit your text in the space. Move the text and graphics boxes to fit your individual needs. Insert your text here. Remember, you can adjust the font size to fit your text. graphic goes here Insert your text here. Remember, you can adjust the font size to fit your text. Insert your text here. Move the text and graphics boxes to fit your individual needs. 3 Results Insert your text here. Change the font size to fit your text in the space. Remember, you can adjust the font size to fit your text. Insert your text here. Remember, you can adjust the font size to fit your text. Insert your text here. Move the text and graphics boxes to fit your individual needs. Insert your text here. Remember, you can adjust the font size to fit your text. Change the font size to fit your text in the space. Move the text and graphics boxes to fit your individual needs. * References • Insert your text here. Change the font size to fit your text in the space. • Insert your text here. Change the font size to fit your text in the space. • Insert your text here. Change the font size to fit your text in the space. Funding Source: First Person Second Contributor

36. More editing • You can make your poster in PowerPoint (A0 size) – you then save it as a PDF and put it through this program.  • PosteRazor - it's freeware http://posterazor.sourceforge.net/ • It will chop your poster up into A4 sheets with a small white space either side to help you put together your poster (tip provided by Steven Bell)

37. More editing • You can use a A0 card sheet as a background • Than you can stick A4 & A3 papers on the relevant subsections of your poster • More tips at: • http://campus.mcla.edu/uploads/textWidget/2041.00024/documents/Poster_Creation.pdf

38. UCL Poster competition-procedure • Email Sandy your name & the title of your poster (She will allocate everyone a number for board allocation) • On the morning of the poster competition, place your poster on the board allocated • Also do not forget to collect it in the evening)))

39. Judging in 2011 • Professor Andrew Steptoe and Professor Nora Groce were judging the posters and awarding prizes -the best first year poster -the best 2nd year poster

40. Thanks to: • Patrick Rouxel, Catalina Gonzales & Rebecca Lacey for providing their electronic format posters and to Steven Bell for the info on a free website to use for printing • Hope you find this useful!

41. Open day –posters19th January 2012Haldane Room, Wilkins Building, Gower Street. Good luck!