Poster - A Form of Communication for Doctoral Students

For many doctoral students, the initial contacts with the community are international conferences. Since the communication language at most conferences is English, it is also an opportunity to demonstrate the students skills in this language. The first genre that PhD students use to present their research results is often the poster. It has its limitations, but also advantages. An advantage is that, unlike an oral lecture, which is intended for an "average listener", the poster can offer diverse explanations and can provoke feedback (often in the form of constructive criticism) that can stimulate new ideas for the poster creator. In any case, the poster is a genre with specific features, requiring skills that a future scientist should acquire. This paper and accompanying virtual presentation provide the principles of the poster in terms of both its content and form, as well as presentation, and they also deal with the experiences of the author in teaching this genre to doctoral students. The paper also compares the poster with other ways of presenting research results - with research papers and oral presentations. Attention is also paid to the technical details that allow doctoral students to avoid unpleasant surprises while printing and transporting posters. Finally, it identifies new trends in the preparation of and general approach to posters, which should assist doctoral students in knowledge dissemination. © 2016 Published by Future Academy www.FutureAcademy.org.uk