Research posters (also called presentation posters) are one of many ways you can present information about research you’ve done, and are often used as a way to present information from an existing research paper. Whether it’s for a class assignment or a professional conference, a research poster can be an effective way of sharing information with others interested in your research.
If you're not already familiar with research posters, the following image shows an example of a typical research poster:
What should a research poster contain?
If you're new to creating a research poster, you might be thinking, "What makes up a research poster? What do I need to include?" Research posters are typically composed of two things: text and images.
- The text will likely be based on a research paper you've written previously, but the poster shouldn't contain all the text from your paper – instead, the text of your poster will be a shortened, summarized version of your research paper.
- The images for your poster can consist of photographs and illustrations that relate to your research, as well as graphs that summarize data collected during the research process.
How do I start making a research poster?
Now that you know what your poster will consist of, let's think about how to start the creation process. These four steps will help you get started:
- It’s a good idea to first familiarize yourself with basic design principles that will help you create an engaging poster. Incorporating principles of effective design will help make your poster look its best and also grab viewers' attention.
- Next, gather the text and images you'll be using in your poster, so you'll have them on hand when you start the design process.
- Once you have your content, and a basic familiarity with design principles, sketch out a rough draft of your poster. A rough draft will be especially helpful as you brainstorm where items on your poster will likely end up. This can be done on paper, on a whiteboard, or using whatever other method you prefer.
- Last, but certainly not least, build your poster in the design program of your choice.
In this course, we’ll go through each of these steps in detail to help you through the process of creating a poster.
What if I’m making a poster for a presentation instead of a poster based on a research paper?
Presentation posters aren’t really all that different from research posters – they’re not necessarily structured in the same way as a research poster, but they still contain information you’re presenting in some way. Aside from the section Writing the poster text, everything covered in Creating Research Posters will also help you design and create a presentation poster.