Poster Presentations as a Genre in Knowledge Communication: A Case Study of Forms, Norms, and Values

Abstract

Learning to communicate research well through posters involves far more than formatting issues such as font size. The conventions of poster presentations as social practices are part of academic apprenticeship in many health disciplines. This case study examines doctoral students’ poster presentations as a research-process genre. The article maps genre knowledge required of novice researchers: poster form, creation processes, presentation practices, and underlying values. Complexity arises from the multiple roles that posters must fulfill, combined with formatting restrictions, the nature of audience interaction, and prestige issues. Posters are often considered as second class compared to oral presentations, perhaps unfairly. The reuse of posters raises questions about publication as academic currency and appropriate knowledge-exchange practices. Poster presentations are evolving with digital media, which may affect competence development in this multimodal form of research communication. Future research should consider how posters’ technology-influenced evolution affects interaction, communicative purposes, and the texts themselves.