Defending Your Thesis - Dissertation Defense

Tips
Edited by Laura Morrison, for GradSchools.com, April 2014

Do you know what to wear to a dissertation defense meeting? Are you prepared to defend a
thesis paper? Read our dissertation defense tips below!
Thesis writing is one of the most important and challenging tasks you will encounter as a graduate
student, and the thesis defense is the culmination of that process.
The thesis defense procedure may vary from college to college but generally you will be expected to
announce your thesis defense appointment in your graduate department, and your committee is
likely to meet before and after your defense. By the time you are ready to present your defense, your
thesis paper should be nearly complete, and some schools may require that your thesis paper be
completely finished.
During your thesis defense, you will be expected to present and defend your thesis in front of your
advisor, faculty thesis committee, and other audience members - and to do so in a cohesive manner.
You can expect to be asked a number of questions after your presentation, and you need to be
armed with the knowledge and skill necessary to answer the questions confidently.

Thesis defense rehearsal

When preparing to defend your thesis, familiarize yourself with the guidelines and requirements your
department has put into place. Speak with your advisor to be sure that you know exactly what is
expected of you. Each of your committee members should have a copy of your thesis at least a
couple of weeks before your defense, and your written defense should include an abstract and a
summary. All your forms need to be filled out ahead of time, including any and all signatures you are
required to obtain.
Speaking with people who have already defended their theses can be extremely helpful, as it can
provide you with confidence as well as a stronger sense of the expectations you are facing. In
addition, attending the defenses of others will afford you the opportunity to observe interactions
between students and committee members, hear the types of questions you may face, and identify
the characteristics of strong and weak thesis defenses; it will provide insight on what to do and what
not to do.
When it comes to defending your thesis paper orally in front of your advisor and committee
members, practice really can make perfect. Take any chance you can get to discuss your thesis with
other people. If you can find someone to sit through a practice defense, take advantage of that. Your
audience may ask some of the questions the committee is liable to ask, which can help you identify
the portions of your defense that need to be honed.
At some point before you defend your thesis, you should sit down with your advisor for a strategy
session. Use this time to organize and plan your defense. Pay close attention to your advisor's
reactions to your thesis and heed any advice they give you - he or she has heard many defenses
and knows what committees look for. Having your thesis defense structured well ahead of time will
make you feel more comfortable and focused during your presentation.

Know your thesis paper lines

The thesis defense is your opportunity to take the stage and to demonstrate the growth and progress
you have experienced in your years as a graduate student. This is your chance to showcase your
research abilities, as well as to finish your degree requirements. Defending your thesis statement
can help you obtain helpful feedback and recommendations that you can incorporate into your final
draft.
Make sure to get across the fundamentals while defending your thesis. First, state your
thesis/research question. You need to describe the importance of your topic and detail how your
research was conducted, including any methods of measurement you have used. The major findings
of your thesis should be made clear, as well as how your thesis contributes to the body of knowledge
in your field. Finally, you must state the conclusions and recommendations you have made based on
your research.
You must expect, in some fashion, to be required to answer the crucial question "So what?" What
has your research and writing accomplished, that may be of importance in your field? Professors will
tell you that graduate students tend not to be bold enough, in making claims for what they have
discovered or compiled, during the process of working on their thesis. If you don't express
confidence about your findings in the thesis, your committee may develop their own doubts about
the value of your work.
Be aware of the fact that you probably know your topic far better than most or all of the professors
who form your thesis committee. You've likely been researching and contemplating your topic for
well over a year, and the material will be fresher and more immediate for you than for them. If you
pause to think about this, it should give you extra confidence going into the thesis defense.
At the same time, your thesis committee members will likely know your field in a much broader
sense than you. They may well ask you to indicate where in the larger scheme of things, where in
your field, your thesis will fit. That's where the big "So What?" question will arise during your
defense. You've been warned; prepare for it.
Additionally, one question you should anticipate from your thesis committee is, "What do you plan to
do with the thesis, beyond graduate school?" Do you intend to revise it for publication as a book? Do
you intend to do further research on your topic once you've gotten a job coming out of grad school?
Do you intend to seek grants to help you further develop your project? Do you intend to collaborate
with another scholar before you offer your work to a broader audience?

What to wear to your thesis defense

When defending your thesis, you want to prove to your committee and advisor that you are capable
of producing more broad-ranging, in-depth pieces of scholarly writing. With this in mind, you should
look the part. You will want to wear professional attire that is comfortable - the last thing you want is
to distract your audience from the masterpiece that is your thesis by tugging at clothing while you are
presenting your defense or fielding questions. Nor do you want to disrupt your own ability to
concentrate by squeezing into those cute shoes.

Showtime
No matter how nervous you are, be sure to focus and to listen with care to the questions posed to
you. Take a moment to pause before you give your answer if you need to - they are not looking for
quick responses, but they are looking for solid ones. You should expect to be asked to address the
more controversial aspects of your thesis. Keep in mind that you don't have to defend everything
about your thesis. If you don't have an answer to a question, don't fake it or make any promises -
reply that the question is interesting and that you will consider it in the future. Defending your thesis
requires you to be political to a certain extent.
If you are having trouble with managing your fears while defending your thesis, you may find it
helpful to use visual aids during your presentation. They can help you stay focused and confident, as
well as help you pace yourself. Visual aids, if you use them, should clearly state the research
problem, objectives, approaches, and the contributions of your thesis work.
You may also decide to videotape or audiotape your defense, as it can help you keep track of the
reactions, suggestions, and criticisms that you receive. Often your thesis committee members will
offer tips for revision. These could be crucial as you revise your work for later publication or
development. But you will be so focused on what you need to say next during your thesis defense
that you will very likely not remember much of what the professors said after the fact. If you
document the session, you will later be able to retrieve and follow the expert advice your thesis
committee offered during your defense.
One of the most crucial things to remember when defending your thesis is to maintain a level of
passion about your research. If you are passionate about your work, your advisor and committee will
take note of this, and it will underscore the importance of your thesis. After all, who isn't passionate
about the concluding event of a long and difficult journey?

Bows
After you have presented your defense, you will either be told that you have passed, that your thesis
needs minor revisions, that your thesis needs to be resubmitted, or that it has not been approved.
The last two possibilities are rare, especially if you have followed the thesis writing process properly,
and if you have stayed in meaningful contact with your advisor. If you have been diligent, there really
should be few surprises.

Ten tips to give a great thesis defense

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Recently, a fellow graduate student defended his masters thesis. He set the record
for the shortest time to degree in our College with a nice job lined up afterwards.
But that also meant he never presented his work at a conference, or a
department/college seminar. This was his first- and most important big talk. What
follows are the top 10 tips I gave him at one point or another as he was preparing
that should be a help to anyone getting ready for a big talk.

Planning Your Talk

1) Know Your Audience
Everyone will tell you to know your audience, which couldnt be truer when youre
planning the introduction to your talk. Sure, there is a big difference between
talking to high school students and presenting at a conference, but try to think: who
is coming to my talk? If they are all cellular biologists like you, then skip the central
dogma slide. But if you have a mix of disciplines you need to be able to explain your
work to a biologist, as well as an electrical engineer. Imagine youre giving the talk
to one person with each potential background. Would each person be able to follow
it? Sometimes you need to sacrifice some specific details in order to explain the
important stuff to everybody. (But you should be able to talk extemporaneously on
the specifics if anyone asks!)

2) Justify Yourself
An introduction is more than just a history of your field up until now. That is, its
more than a literature review. You need to review the current literature, but more
importantly put your research into context. What have you done (or what are you
doing) that no one else has done? Keep in mind that just because no one else has
done X doesnt mean doing X is worthwhile- there might be a very good reason why
no one else has done it! As you introduce your research youll likely explain why
youre doing it, but make sure you also explain why others in the field care. Even
more important that justifying your work is justifying your conclusions. You MUST be
able to back up any claims with solid references, or solid experimental results! In
many cases this means statistical tests of quantitative data. When in doubt, err on
the side of inconclusive or qualify/temper any of your statements rather than
stretch your conclusions.

3) Tell A Story
One of the most jarring moments in a bad presentation is the lack of transitions.
Your presentation should flow from slide to slide and section to section. This will
most likely mean that you arent going to present your experiments in the order
that you did them. Youre NOT telling the story of you working in the lab! Think:
what are the overall conclusions from your work and how can you explain and prove
the things youve concluded? Walk your audience through the story, laying out the
evidence convincing them youre right about your conclusions. One last thing:
youve (hopefully) done a lot of experiments, youve invested a lot of time, energy,
and maybe even money into these experiments and you want to show off
everything youve done. But if an experiment or data slide doesnt fit in the story
you might have to leave it out. If you cant make it fit in the flow of your story
and/or you dont NEED it: leave it out.

4) Sweat the Small Stuff

The little details are important. Even if you have some really great results to show,
youre going to anger, upset, or at least annoy your audience if you dont pay
attention to details. Some examples:
Label the axes of any graphs (with units), dont use 10E3 mV (when V works) and
dont forget error bars!

Make sure any images have scale bars, and label items of interest. (You might know
whats a cell and whats dust, but everyone else might not!) Use the same size,
color, and font text.Try to use the same slide layout.

Make all your graphs, diagrams, molecular depictions, etc. with the same program
throughout. Its noticeable if you copied one molecule from a paper, made some in
ChemDraw, and others with ChemSketch. The same holds true with graphs in Excel
versus Origin.

Excel can be your friend but if you use the default graph settings it will be your
downfall. Dont leave on the gridlines or use the standard random colors. Oh, and
look into Origin.

5) Present in Bite Sized Slides

For each slide be sure to explain everything. Explain the x and y axes of your graph,
explain what a large value indicates, and a low value indicates. Walk people through
how you set up the experiment, how you collected the data, analyzed the results,
and talk about the controls. Before moving to the next slide, restate the major
finding or take-away from this slide. What did this experiment tell you, and what
questions are still unanswered. This will help build in transitions as you tell your
story. You probably know every piece of your presentation inside and out, but you
need to remind your audience of salient points from earlier in the presentation.

Giving the Presentation

6) Practice, Practice, Practice!
Even the most beautiful slides with the most logical flow and greatest data can trip
you up if you dont know what youre going to say. It should go without saying that
you cant just read off of your slides, but seriously: practice, practice, practice! Run
through it in your head, do in out loud and most importantly, do it in front of other
people: schedule practice talks! In the days leading up to your presentation you
should be able to run through the talk in your head without notes. As youre walking
the halls, driving, or cooking you should run through the talk over and over. The
goal is that when you get up there on the big day, everything comes out naturally-
almost second nature. For me, I need to write a script- I dont memorize it word for
word, but the act of writing what I want to say helps. Of course, if youre a naturally
gifted speaker and can give a talk on the fly youre set- but you should still practice!

7) Dont wait until the last minute

The goal of practice talks is to get feedback from friends, lab mates, classmates in
general, and hopefully your advisor. It does you little to no good if your practice
talks are the day or two right before your talk. You need to give yourself time to
integrate their changes into your presentation- both the slides and the talk. I like a
formal practice talk the week, and two weeks before the talk. This gives you enough
time to change slides, change what you might say, and change the written
document (if applicable). If you give yourself enough time you might even be able
to squeeze in an extra experiment before the big day to fill any holes in your
story.

8) Try out the room and equipment

Not all practice talks are created equal. Sure, you can run through the slides on your
laptop in your advisors office but you really need to get up in front a group of
people- preferably in the same room youll be giving your presentation. Not only do
you get in the presentation mind set, but you get used to the space, you test the
equipment and therefore minimize surprises on presentation day. For example, one
talk I went to recently was marred by the screen flashing horizontal bars randomly-
it was nearly seizure inducing. Finally, they borrowed someone else laptop but do
you really want that stress on your big day? Dress rehearsals are your friend!

9) Be comfortable with your knowledge

In many cases when you present your research you will be the most knowledgeable
person in the room about your topic. Be comfortable with that, and confident that
you know what youre talking about. Professors and especially your thesis
committee (whom probably know a decent amount about your topic) can smell fear
like sharks find blood in the water. Dont make it easier for them! Dont let them
know youre nervous, or might not be sure about something. Confidence goes a long
way, BUT dont let it go too far. Dont get cocky because nothing is more tantalizing
that crushing an OVER confident student. Be confident, but not cocky.

10) Be humble
You know your research, your techniques, your experiments, and your data. But you
might get questions a little removed (or a lot removed) from your research. You
might even get questions you dont know the answer to, or arent sure about. The
best advice I can give someone going into a defense- even last minute- is dont be
afraid to say I dont know. Guessing, or even worse, making something up, is so
much worse that admitting you dont know the answer to a question. Ive seen
professors who will grill a student and not stop until they say I dont know or they
catch them answering wrong (guessing/making something up). Youll never know
everything about everything so dont be afraid to say I dont know. But it is
inexcusable to guess or make up an answer- it will only get more painful from that
point on. On the flip side, dont answer every question with I dont know- its not a
get out of jail free card!