Academic Research Posters

A poster session or poster presentation is the presentation of research information by an individual or representatives of research teams at a congress or conference with an academic or professional focus.  Poster sessions are particularly prominent at scientific conferences such as medical congresses, but they may also be used in humanities fields.

Typically a separate room or area of a tradeshow floor is reserved for the poster session where researchers accompany a paper poster, illustrating their research methods and outcomes. Each research project is usually presented on a conference schedule for a period ranging from 10 minutes to several hours. Very large events may feature a few thousand poster presentations over a matter of a few days.

Presentations usually consist of affixing the research poster to a portable wall with the researcher in attendance answering questions posed by passing colleagues. The poster itself varies in size according to conference guidelines from 2x3 feet to 4x8 feet in dimensions. Alternatively, it is also common to create a digital research poster.

See the Wikipedia entry on Poster Sessions.  

This guide is adapted from Illinois University Library guide on research posters. 

Except where otherwise indicated, original content in this guide is licensed under a  Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license