Most commonly used in high school and undergraduate collegiate courses, the essay is a simple yet effective format for presenting information. It consists of a header containing the author's name, the date of writing and any other relevant information for instance, what course it was written for. The intro paragraph introduces the reader to the subject of the essay, presents an outline of the arguments contained within and states the thesis or central point of the essay. The intro is followed by a number of supporting paragraphs, each of which contain their own individual idea. Each paragraph focuses on providing evidence to support its idea, which in turn is used to support the thesis or point of the whole paper.

The final paragraph is a conclusion, which relates the ideas and concepts covered in the body to each other and back to the paper's thesis, often referring to the intro. The essay is followed by a works cited or a bibliography, which contains the sources used in the essay's creation. This format involves a title page, a table of contents and a series of sections contained within that present information. This formal report often has an introduction section, which introduces the subject matter to the reader and explains why it is relevant. Following the intro is typically a topic overview or abstract, which provides a look into the background of the subject, considerations to be taken, previous works or reports that are relevant and other information. The body of the formal report will vary depending on the subject matter and the author's organization of content, but will typically include relevant information and analysis. After the report's body, there is a conclusion section, followed by a references section in which the author lists his sources.

The letter of transmittal and informative abstract are two written items that comprise a miniature report. They are often included in a formal report, but they are not components of the report itself, and should be considered as a separate report of their own. The letter of transmittal is typically included to introduce the report on a basic level. It does not address the content within the report, but rather states the author of the report, the purpose of the report, why or when the report was requested, additional contributors and any specific directions for the reader. The informative abstract is a self contained synopsis of the formal report that does not make specific references to it but concisely describes the objectives, the basic content and the conclusions drawn from the report.

It is written after the formal report itself, and is focused on being clear and concise. A technical report is used in a scientific or engineering context, and is structurally similar to a formal report. However, technical reports differ from formal reports in that technical reports are written to convey the results of a test, an experiment, a procedure or an operation. Technical reports often contain a greater amount of figures and technical terms as a result, and are written in a more passive voice than other formal reports. A technical report typically begins with a title page, and includes a letter of transmittal and informative abstract. These are typically followed with a table of contents, a list of figures, a list of tables and a list of symbols used. The report's body begins with an introduction, followed by a theoretical discussion or a problem discussion, which presents the problem that the report is responding to, or the theory that the report is proposing.

This is followed by the data acquisition section, which includes a subsection describing the procedures used, as well as a subsection describing the results. The data acquisition section is followed by a short section presenting the condensed results of the report. The results section is followed by a conclusion section, which presents an analysis of the results, as well as their implications. The conclusion is followed by a references section, which is then followed by any appendices, which are used to contain auxiliary or supplementing material that is too tangential or wordy to be included in the report's body.

Posters are a common way to present results of a statistical analysis, program evaluation, or other project at professional conferences. Often, researchers fail to recognize the unique nature of the format, which is a hybrid of a published paper and an oral presentation. This methods note demonstrates how to design research posters to convey study objectives, methods, findings, and implications effectively to varied professional audiences. A review of existing literature on research communication and poster design is used to identify and demonstrate important considerations for poster content and layout. Guidelines on how to write about statistical methods, results, and statistical significance are illustrated with samples of ineffective writing annotated to point out weaknesses, accompanied by concrete examples and explanations of improved presentation. A comparison of the content and format of papers, speeches, and posters is also provided. Effective research posters should be designed around two or three key findings with accompanying handouts and narrative description to supply additional technical detail and encourage dialog with poster viewers.

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keywords: communication, poster, conference presentation an assortment of posters is a common way to present research results to viewers at a professional conference. Too often, however, researchers treat posters as poor cousins to oral presentations or published papers, failing to recognize the opportunity to convey their findings while interacting with individual viewers. By neglecting to adapt detailed paragraphs and statistical tables into text bullets and charts, they make it harder for their audience to quickly grasp the key points of the poster.

By simply posting pages from the paper, they risk having people merely skim their work while standing in the conference hall. By failing to devise narrative descriptions of their poster, they overlook the chance to learn from conversations with their audience. Even researchers who adapt their paper into a well designed poster often forget to address the range of substantive and statistical training of their viewers. This step is essential for those presenting to nonresearchers but also pertains when addressing interdisciplinary research audiences.

Studies of policymakers difranza and the staff of the advocacy institute 1996 sorian and baugh 2002 have demonstrated the importance of making it readily apparent how research findings apply to real world issues rather than imposing on readers to translate statistical findings themselves. This methods note is intended to help researchers avoid such pitfalls as they create posters for professional conferences. The second shows how to describe statistical results to viewers with varied levels of statistical training, and the third provides guidelines on the contents and organization of the poster. Later sections address how to prepare a narrative and handouts to accompany a research poster.

Because researchers often present the same results as published research papers, spoken conference presentations, and posters, appendix a compares similarities and differences in the content, format, and audience interaction of these three modes of presenting research results. Although the focus of this note is on presentation of quantitative research results, many of the guidelines about how to prepare and present posters apply equally well to qualitative studies. Preparing a poster involves not only creating pages to be mounted in a conference hall, but also writing an associated narrative and handouts, and anticipating the questions you are likely to encounter during the session. Each of these elements should be adapted to the audience, which may include people with different levels of familiarity with your topic and methods nelson et al. For example, the annual meeting of the american public health association draws academics who conduct complex statistical analyses along with practitioners, program planners, policymakers, and journalists who typically do not. Posters are a hybrid form x02014 more detailed than a speech but less than a paper, more interactive than either appendix a . In a speech, you the presenter determine the focus of the presentation, but in a poster session, the viewers drive that focus.

Some might do policy work or research on a similar topic or with related data or methods. Others will have ideas about how to apply or extend your work, raising new questions or suggesting different contrasts, ways of classifying data, or presenting results. Beilenson 2004 describes the experience of giving a poster as a dialogue between you and your viewers. By the end of an active poster session, you may have learned as much from your viewers as they have from you, especially if the topic, methods, or audience are new to you. For instance, at david snowdon's first poster presentation on educational attainment and longevity using data from the nun study, another researcher returned several times to talk with snowdon, eventually suggesting that he extend his research to focus on alzheimer's disease, which led to an important new direction in his research snowdon 2001 . In addition, presenting a poster provides excellent practice in explaining quickly and clearly why your project is important and what your findings mean x02014 a useful skill to apply when revising a speech or paper on the same topic.