Visual Rhetoric & Research Posters

Visual Rhetoric and Research Posters

This workshop examines the genre of academic research posters, drawing on a variety of examples from different fields in the humanities. Through this, we also introduce uses of MS PowerPoint beyond the development of presentations, as it can function as a visuals/graphics generator and research poster design tool.

Before starting: see if you have access to PowerPoint

Materials for Visual Rhetoric and Research Posters

Templates for PPT Research Posters

Printing on Purdue’s Campus

You can print research posters on wide format printers in WALC and HICKS. To print research posts on these printers, you must use the PaperCut service (and must load extra money to the service through your BoilerExpress account. Your allotted print credits cannot be applied to print wide format posters.).

The WALC wide format printers cost $4 per foot (for both the 36″ and 40″ wide options). So, for example, a 36″ x 24″ poster is $8. (As of October 2017)

Printing on Your Own

You can print posters made from the above power point templates yourself and affix them to a board (like a tri-fold) and still maintain the professional presentation. The settings you use for this depend on the printer and the program you are printing from, but in general you are looking for the following options:

Export the poster from PowerPoint as an image or PDF
Print in a “tile” format
Print at 100% scale

This PDF from University of South Carolina gives more detailed tips for specific programs.