While most of the committee will have read most of your thesis, you cannot assume that everyone has read every chapter. With that said, I present in 21 days. I really want to reread my thesis not using i in an essay, but every-time I do I find errors. Ack it is soooo discouraging, just silly typos! It is already turned in. It is driving me nuts, I reread the thing a million times and still more typos. Not a confidence builder at this point. Victoria, you hit the nail on the head about how re-reading the dissertation is such a confidence killer because of the typo errors that never seem to go away. I will be presenting my final defense in exactly four days from today. I am not fully ready but hope to be ready by that day. I have no worries about the Q&As because that is probably my strongest attribute. The reason I came across this blog is to find out defense presentation tips because I have a problem with losing my train of thoughts whenever I panic and I think it is because I am not used to public speaking. I agree with some of the tips here but to read through the dissertation to prepare for the defense seems unnecessary unless you did not use it to create your PowerPoint or unless you completed it a long time ahead of your defense. I think the best thing is to create your PowerPoint, notes and go over those over and over rather than your dissertation. You certainly don’t have to memorize every word of your thesis defense talk, but you should have it well-polished. There is no limit (or requirement) on how many practice talks you should give, but give as many talks as it takes until you feel like you are ready. If you are unsure of the quality of your talk (or being “ready”) 1 i already to do my homework, tape record yourself or watch a video of yourself to see just how good it is. You might be surprised when you play it back to yourself. You are going to want to do all those little tasks that you have been putting off for so long because you have spent X amount of months writing your thesis in solitude and you had no time to do them. Your list could be very long. I can tell you that one of the things on my list was to keep publishing blog articles and keep my blog running. I simply did not have enough time. Prioritize and focus on your defense talk and nothing else. If you are looking for jobs during this time period, I will be writing about this in Part 3 of this series. When your committee pushes you and asks you questions, they again will push you to your limits. You will meet a point where you won’t know the answer. Also, a question could simply be a future direction/experiment that you simply haven’t tested yet. Remember that they are simply trying to test your knowledge and humble you. You don’t have to know all the answers. Therefore, when you are answering questions, keep your cool and relax. Answer the questions the best that you can and you should have no problem passing. And in all honesty, the prelim (or qualifying exam) was much harder than the actual defense… Before you go to your next data slides introduce the idea (based on this data I wanted to ask this question). Then tell them WHY you performed this particular experiment (which is basically in the form of a question). Once your audience understands why, go on to the next slide and give them your interpretation. In other words, don’t just jump to the interpretation. This will keep your audience’s attention and make sure that your thesis defense talk gets a lot of positive feedback and leaves a good impression on your committee members (it really does show). Either way college admissions, do not procrastinate on your slides and/or talk until days before. Make sure you use the full two weeks to perfect your slides, polish your talk (and be very concise about your words), and review material you are unsure about. A good thesis talk also has a good introduction before going on to the next idea or slide. It should flow in a logical manner and be smooth. That is why #1 is important, because many people don’t spend enough time in the creation of good powerpoint slides. Your slides and talk have to MATCH up. meaning you can’t have really good slides and a mediocre talk (or vice versa) if you want it to go well. This one is pretty self explanatory. I will say that when it is all said and done, it feels like a huge burden has been lifted off your shoulders. It is emotional and you finally feel that all that hard work and time that you put in over the years-was all worth it in the end. Good luck to all those who are preparing for their defense talk in the future! Think about what it will be like to get up in front of a large audience and show everyone how you moved a field forward. This is YOUR moment to show everyone you are an expert in your field. The more you keep this mentality, the better your talk will be. Keep your cool and relax (#7) and everything will be fine. If you would like to see an example video of a defense talk that illustrates the advice I’ve given, a link to my PhD defense can be found here: http://bit.ly/1sAIT7O Even though my committee didn’t ask me my exact list of questions, the process of coming up with my own list of questions-then finding the answers to those questions (beyond my thesis)-actually helped me gained a deeper understanding of my project. And it was a confidence booster in disguise. Presentation skills is king. It is probably too late to become a TED-level speaker two weeks prior to the defense, but it’s not too late to nail an excellent presentation of your work. Make sure you get these basic things right: simple slides, flow and timing. Practice? Yes essay conflict, of course. A run-through with colleagues is essential and tremendously helpful. But don’t overdo the practice part; if you know it by heart, it will get boring. Leave some room for nerves and energy. I recommend about three to five full trials, of which at least one in the actual defense room. Some questions deserve a few seconds thought. Write them down as soon as you hear that there are several questions bundled into one. Here’s a few standard openings that might come in useful: “A good point, I’m aware of that debate…”; “Yes, on one hand (…) but on the other hand…”; “I see your point, but I respectfully disagree, because…”; “I’m not an expert in that area, but here’s how I view that…”; “I understand that question as follows… (tweak it into something you’ve prepared to answer)”. In general, talk more if you’re confident, be brief when you’re on thin ice (this is much more tricky than it sounds like!). Use examples if you have them. If you’ve done case studies, refer to them. No one knows what you have seen and heard, hence you own the truth and can speak freely and in pictures. Examples come with the additional benefit of being interesting for the audience. Thank you very much for the post. I am close to my defense. My advisor and most of my committee is very supportive of my work. However one member is creating nuisance over a published (peer-reviewed journal) part of my dissertation and essentially making comments in academically unprofessional tone? I need him to sign my dissertation. If you or someone can offer some thoughts on this … In fact, the committee has better reasons to be nervous than you; the audience want you to succeed and be brilliant. It is not everyone against you, it is everyone against the committee. The opponents want to appear smart but friendly. An experienced professor told me that in many cases they are so hung up in performing with their questions, that they don’t really pay attention to all your answers. After all, it’s a small research community and what goes around comes around. They’ll be much nicer than you fear. A defense presents evidence for a thesis. What kind of evidence is apprpropriate depends on what kind of thesis is being defended. This is a reasonable thesis if process X is a serious contender. The defense would be an analysis of the limits of process X, i.e. things it can't do, or things it does wrong, along with evidence that those things matter. Once you've refined your claim into a good thesis, now you can determine what kind of defense is appropriate for it and what more you need to do. This is where the hard part comes, psychologically, because to create a defense for your thesis, you're going to have to attack it harder than anyone else. What happens if the thesis fails? Negate it and defend that! In a year or so of focused research, you should be ready for a real thesis defense. Thesis: process X is a better way to do task Y than any previously known method Many students make the mistake of picking this kind of thesis to defend. It requires serious experimental evidence to defend, unless your real thesis is of the previous form, i.e. only process X is possible. Selected excerpts from protocols and surveys of your officemates are not psychological evidence example of critical thinking, no matter how much they might have inspired your work. This is usually defended by a logical argument. It is usually very tough to do cv covering letter sample, even if the argument doesn't have to be formalized. It won’t be like that tomorrow, I promise. You’ve already won this race; now there’s nothing to do but enjoy the scenery as you cross the finish line. As your adviser, you know I would have counseled you to postpone if I thought you weren’t ready. But you’re ready. In fact, because you are almost comically ready, the following five pieces of advice are the only ones I can offer: 3. Bring water. Brings lots of water. Your mouth will go dry. You’ll be the focus of all attention and it’ll be amazed how depleted you can become merely from turning your head one side of the room to the other–even when you are at ease with your subject. Your 273-page volume–the weighty, serious, mighty tome–is sitting in the center of my cluttered desk. Since it’s bigger than everything else around it (how small and slight those 20-page student papers look in comparison!), I can’t miss it. It’ll be there tomorrow when we all meet to perform the one-to-two-hour ritual during which you “defend” your work to your advisers reading as a thesis, your committee members, and your colleagues. 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 write my essay discount, 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. 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. 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 how to topics for writing essays, 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. Additionally, one question you should anticipate from your thesis committee is, "What do you plan to do with the thesis write my book report, 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? 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. 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 contrast comparison essays, 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?
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