{"id":47831,"date":"2019-05-07T17:17:41","date_gmt":"2019-05-08T00:17:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/world.edu\/?p=47831"},"modified":"2019-05-07T17:17:41","modified_gmt":"2019-05-08T00:17:41","slug":"make-a-poster-then-write-your-paper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/make-a-poster-then-write-your-paper\/","title":{"rendered":"Make a poster then write your paper"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Im quite a fan of the academic research poster. However, posters have a bad reputation in some quarters. They\u2019re sometimes seen as a \u201cless than\u201d \u2013 less than a conference paper, a second rate public presentation.<\/p>\n

Ever heard anyone say \u2013\u00a0Oh my paper didn\u2019t get in the main conference papers but they offered me a poster instead. It\u2019s not worth me going in that case.<\/em>\u00a0Sound familiar? Or perhaps \u2013\u00a0There\u2019s a poster session on next. I can give that a miss. There won\u2019t be anything much for me there.\u00a0<\/em>That too?<\/p>\n

These are an unfair and ill-deserved rap in my view. But not uncommon.<\/p>\n

Presenting a poster at a conference can be A Good Thing.<\/p>\n

Of course, for that to happen, the conference needs to have dedicated a posters time slot. Posters ought not to be something that get squeezed in instead of lunch \u2013 no time allowed really does say to people, this conference has posters but we don\u2019t really value them.<\/p>\n

But if the conference has been conscious of posters, has set aside time and advertised the session(s), then you may well find that the people who come to see your poster \u2013 with you standing next to it with your paper or handout \u2013 will actually be really interested. They will want to talk. The poster offers you the opportunity to chat, and there\u2019s more chance of finding out where interests overlap. And who knows where that may go.<\/p>\n

The research poster has uses after the conference too. It can be displayed in your office or corridor so that people in your building can see what you are doing. Very often, we don\u2019t know that much about what the people we work with are actually researching, and posters on display give us the chance to see \u2013 and then follow up. And it\u2019s good for students and visitors too to come into a building and see the kinds of research work that is done there.<\/p>\n

BUT\u2026<\/p>\n

There\u2019s another use for posters too. And that\u2019s as a strategy to prepare a paper. Yes, a poster is a great way to get yourself organised for writing the conference paper or journal article.<\/p>\n

Now, I often talk about\u00a0tiny text\u00a0<\/a>abstracts as a way to start off a paper. And of course there\u2019s free writing, the Pomodoro, with its variations of\u00a0looping<\/a>,\u00a0ink-shedding<\/a>, and\u00a0use of prompts<\/a>. You can also\u00a0storyboard<\/a>\u00a0or use\u00a0Powerpoint<\/a>\u00a0to sort out your paper too.<\/p>\n

But posters are another good strategy for starting writing. Designing a poster is a bit like an abstract except that its longer. You have to produce more words. A poster is often about a thousand words. That\u2019s not really a lot.<\/p>\n

The key to the poster as writing strategy is that you have to sort out<\/p>\n