The word “genre” is originated from the Latin word “genus”, meaning “kind of” (Beghtol, 2001). It is believed that the concept of genre started receiving attention in ancient Greece where Aristotle suggested that poetry should be separated into two kinds, depending on their “serious” and “noble” styles, in that a change in style would result in differences in poetic content and features (Farrell, 2003). Since then, the importance of identifying various kinds of texts in terms of their shared characteristics has been progressively recognized (Beghtol, 2001).
In fact, the discussion of genres cannot exclude classification, as it involves the categorization of similar things together with reference to their features. For example, in academic field, we may sort certain texts into the genre “research articles” owing to their similarities in structure (e.g. IMRD structure), wordings (e.g. jargons specific to a particular discipline) and referencing (e.g. APA style). However, sometimes we might find it hard to identify the distinctive characteristics of each genre since we got used to their existence. This results in the loss of genre awareness, which does not only undermine our ability in interpreting what the author/creator intends to convey in his/her work, but also lowers our capability in producing a good piece of work that caters the expectations of the audience. This is especially true when the audience are familiar with a particular genre and thus are able to assess the quality of your work on the basis of the genre conventions. For example, in academic writing, you are expected to use formal wordings and insert citations within the text. If you do not do these things, your writing may leave a bad impression to your professors (i.e. the audience).
In sum, developing genre awareness offers a starting point for us to learn the suitable way to produce, structure and interpret texts, artwork, and any other forms of communication belonging to particular genres. Consequently, we may use our understanding to increase the quality of our productions, precisely convey our messages, as well as to meet readers' expectations.
In this website, you will be introduced to the genre of academic poster and poster presentation. By going through each section, you will discover the lexical, sentential, structural and semiotic features of the two genres, as well as be directed to numerous analytical activities and guiding questions to sequentially explore various skills in poster presentation. All of these will not only let you know more about academic poster and poster presentation as important genres in the academic field, but also prepare you to be proficient research presenters in future.
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