How to Do a Research Poster on Powerpoint
Microsoft PowerPoint isn't just for creating presentations and slide shows. You can also create research posters using PowerPoint's sizing, graphic and textual tools in order to display portions of information in clearly readable, graphically-oriented formats. Before you begin, confirm the exact dimensions of the poster to ensure that you don't cut off any graphics or text during the printing process. If the project is for class credit, check with your teacher or professor to confirm any poster layout and design details.
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Instructions
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Open Microsoft PowerPoint and select the "Design" tab from the top of the window. Click "Page Setup" from the top left corner of this submenu and input the size specifications of the poster.
Under the "Slides sized for" drop-down menu, select "Custom." Input the width and height in inches and select whether the orientation for the slides should be in portrait or landscape mode. Portrait mode makes the poster longer from top to bottom while landscape mode makes it longer from side to side.
If you're only making one poster, you only need one slide.
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Design your poster from the bottom up, if possible. Use the options under the "Design" tab to create a background color and style for your poster. Click "Background Styles" to format the color and gradient of your poster background.
Add a picture as your background by selecting the "Background Styles -> Format Background" dialog box and navigating to the "Fill -> Picture or text" radio button. Click "Insert From File" to select the picture from your hard drive.
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Insert textual elements by adding as many text boxes as necessary. To add a text box, select the "Insert -> Text Box" from the menu and drag the box to the necessary dimensions. Type new text into these boxes or copy and paste already written text from another program such as Microsoft Word or Notepad.
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Format the text according to the appropriate color, font, size and alignment specifications. If your background is dark, create light text that will show up legibly. If the background is light, create dark text.
Whenever the text is selected in the text box, the text editor appears in the top Home menu. Here you can select different fonts, sizes, colors, outlines, styles and more. Each text box can be designed using different styles if this is the desired outcome.
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Add graphics to your poster by clicking the "Insert" tab at the top and choosing from the Picture, Clip Art, Photo Album or Shapes categories. When these are inserted, you can resize them to fit using the mouse.
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Save your work by clicking Control + S on the keyboard or selecting the floppy disk icon at the top left of the window.
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