Citing a poster follows the same general logic as citing any presentation, but each style guide has its own format for listing the presenter, title, conference, and location. The key detail that sets a poster apart is a bracketed label or descriptor identifying it as a poster rather than a lecture or paper. Below you’ll find the exact formatting for APA, MLA, and Chicago styles, plus guidance for online posters and missing information.
APA Style (7th Edition)
APA treats poster sessions as a type of conference presentation. The basic template looks like this:
Presenter Last Name, First Initial. Second Initial. (Year, Month Day–Day). Title of poster in sentence case [Poster session]. Name of Conference, City, State, Country. URL
A few things to note. In the date element, provide the full dates of the conference, not just the day you saw the poster. In the bracketed description after the title, use [Poster session] or [Poster presentation]. That bracket is what tells your reader this was a poster rather than a keynote or paper. If you’re citing only the abstract of a poster, write [Poster abstract] instead. Include all presenters’ names in the author position, formatted with last name first and initials.
Here’s a filled-in example:
Solanki, E., Seguin, R., & Perry, C. K. (2017, October 10). Mujeres fuertes y corazones saludables: Adaptation of the Strong Women – Healthy Hearts program for rural Latinas using an intervention mapping approach [Poster abstract]. 2017 Oregon Public Health Association Annual Meeting, Portland, OR, United States. https://tinyurl.com/y2panrdm
For your in-text citation, use the standard author-date format: (Solanki et al., 2017) or Solanki et al. (2017).
MLA Style (9th Edition)
MLA formats poster citations as a type of presentation. The template is:
Last Name, First Name. “Title of Poster.” Name of Conference, Sponsoring Organization, Day Month Year, Venue, City. Poster Presentation.
Start with the speaker’s name. Put the poster’s title in quotation marks, followed by the conference name in italics. Then list the sponsoring organization (if different from the conference name), the date, the venue, and the city. End with a descriptor that identifies the format. For a poster, use “Poster Presentation” or simply “Poster” as that closing descriptor.
An example modeled on MLA conventions:
Solanki, Elena. “Adaptation of the Strong Women – Healthy Hearts Program for Rural Latinas.” Oregon Public Health Association Annual Meeting, 10 Oct. 2017, Portland, OR. Poster Presentation.
In your in-text citation, use the presenter’s last name and, if no page number exists (which is typical for a poster), omit the page reference: (Solanki).
Chicago Style (17th Edition)
Chicago’s Notes and Bibliography system treats a poster similarly to other unpublished or presented works. The note and bibliography entries follow this pattern:
Footnote or endnote:
1. First Name Last Name, “Title of Poster” (poster presented at Name of Conference, City, State, Date).
Bibliography entry:
Last Name, First Name. “Title of Poster.” Poster presented at Name of Conference, City, State, Date.
Put the poster title in quotation marks (for unpublished works) rather than italics. The phrase “poster presented at” serves the same purpose as APA’s bracketed label, telling your reader what kind of source this is. If you accessed the poster online, add the URL at the end.
If you’re using Chicago’s Author-Date system (common in the sciences), structure it more like APA: list the author’s last name first, followed by the year, title, and conference details.
Citing an Online or Digital Poster
Many conference posters now live in digital repositories, institutional websites, or platforms like ResearchGate. When a poster is available online, include the direct URL or DOI at the end of the citation. Link to the specific poster, not to the conference homepage.
If the poster was published in a journal supplement (this sometimes happens when conference abstracts appear in a journal issue), treat it like a journal article but keep the bracketed descriptor. Here’s an APA example of a poster that ended up in a journal supplement with a DOI:
Leckenby, S., & Acklaghi, H. (2018). Is point-of-care troponin enough in decision making process in emergency departments [Poster presentation]. Emergency Medicine Australasia, 30(S1), 43–44. https://doi.org/10.1111/1742-6723.12962
Notice that the journal name, volume, issue, and page numbers replace the conference name and location, because the journal is now the source. The [Poster presentation] bracket still tells the reader the original format.
When Information Is Missing
Conference posters often lack a clear date, a named author, or a formal title. APA provides specific substitutions for each scenario:
- No date: Replace the year with (n.d.) in both the reference list and the in-text citation.
- No title: Write a brief description in square brackets where the title would go, such as [Poster on community health outcomes].
- No author: Move the title to the author position. Your in-text citation uses a shortened version of the title.
- No source at all: If you can’t identify the conference or any publication source, APA suggests citing it as a personal communication. Personal communications appear only in-text, not in your reference list.
Don’t use “Anonymous” as the author unless the poster itself is literally signed “Anonymous.” These substitution rules can be combined. A poster with no author and no date, for example, starts with the title followed by (n.d.).
In MLA and Chicago, similar principles apply. Use whatever information you have, describe the work clearly so a reader could locate it, and note the format (poster) so the source type is obvious.
Quick Formatting Checklist
Regardless of which style you use, every poster citation needs the same core pieces of information:
- Who: The name(s) of the presenter(s) or author(s).
- When: The date of the conference or presentation.
- What: The title of the poster, plus a label identifying it as a poster.
- Where: The conference name, city, and (in APA) the country. If available online, include the URL or DOI.
The label is the piece people most often forget. Without [Poster session], “Poster Presentation,” or “poster presented at,” your reader has no way to know this was a poster rather than a published paper or a lecture. Every style guide expects you to identify the format, so make it a habit to include that descriptor every time.