By George Hess – NC State University – Forestry Department
Rating Criteria – Circle rating that applies.
Overall Appearance
| 0 | Cluttered or sloppy appearance. Gives the impression of a solid mass of text and graphics, or pieces are scattered and disconnected. Little white space. |
| 1 | Pleasant to look at. Pleasing use of colors, text, and graphics. |
| 2 | Very pleasing to look at. Particularly nice colors and graphics. |
White Space
| 0 | Very little. Gives the impression of a solid mass of text and graphics. |
| 1 | OK. Sections of the poster are separated from one another. |
| 2 | Lots. Plenty of room to rest the eyes. Lots of separation. |
Text / Graphics Balance
| 0 | Too much text. The poster gives an overwhelming impression of text only. OR Not enough text. Cannot understand what the graphics are supposed to relate. |
| 1 | Balanced. Text and graphics are evenly dispersed in the poster. There seems to be enough text to explain the graphics. |
Text Size
| 0 | Too small to view comfortably from a distance of 1-1.5 meters. |
| 0.5 | Main text OK, but text in figures too small. |
| 1 | Easy to read from 1-1.5 meters. |
| 2 | Very easy to read. |
Organization and Flow
| 0 | Cannot figure out how to move through poster. |
| 1 | Implicit. Headings (Introduction, Methods, etc) or other device implies organization and flow. |
| 2 | Explicit numbering, column bars, row bars, etc. |
Author Identification
| 0 | None. |
| 1 | Partial. Not enough information to contact author without further research. This includes missing zip codes on addresses. |
| 2 | Complete. Enough information to contact author by mail, phone, or e-mail without further research. |
Research Objective
| 0 | Can’t find. |
| 1 | Present, but not explicit. Buried at end of “Introduction”, “Background”, etc. |
| 2 | Explicit. This includes headings of “Objectives”, “Aims”, “Goals”, etc. |
Main Points
| 0 | Can’t find. |
| 1 | Present, but not obvious. May be imbedded in monolithic blocks of text. |
| 2 | Explicitly labeled (e.g., “Main Points”, “Conclusions”, “Results”). |
Summary
| 0 | Absent. |
| 1 | “Summary”, “Results”, or “Conclusions” section present. |