The new Research and Conferences template comes with lots of example layouts. Two, three and four column box layouts are some of the most commonly used.
To create these layouts, add General Purpose content to your Section.
Use the Class field (underneath the General Content box) to tell the content how to appear on the page.
First, type “nosidebar” in the class field (this removes the side menu from your page), then add the word “twocol”, “threecol”, or “fourcol” to specify the layout before clicking “Update and Approve”.