oral defense for doctoral dissertation

Defending Your Dissertation: A Guide

Written by Luke Wink-Moran | Photo by insta_photos

Dissertation defenses are daunting, and no wonder; it’s not a “dissertation discussion,” or a “dissertation dialogue.” The name alone implies that the dissertation you’ve spent the last x number of years working on is subject to attack. And if you don’t feel trepidation for semantic reasons, you might be nervous because you don’t know what to expect. Our imaginations are great at making The Unknown scarier than reality. The good news is that you’ll find in this newsletter article experts who can shed light on what dissertations defenses are really like, and what you can do to prepare for them.

The first thing you should know is that your defense has already begun. It started the minute you began working on your dissertation— maybe even in some of the classes you took beforehand that helped you formulate your ideas. This, according to Dr. Celeste Atkins, is why it’s so important to identify a good mentor early in graduate school.

“To me,” noted Dr. Atkins, who wrote her dissertation on how sociology faculty from traditionally marginalized backgrounds teach about privilege and inequality, “the most important part of the doctoral journey was finding an advisor who understood and supported what I wanted from my education and who was willing to challenge me and push me, while not delaying me.  I would encourage future PhDs to really take the time to get to know the faculty before choosing an advisor and to make sure that the members of their committee work well together.”

Your advisor will be the one who helps you refine arguments and strengthen your work so that by the time it reaches your dissertation committee, it’s ready. Next comes the writing process, which many students have said was the hardest part of their PhD. I’ve included this section on the writing process because this is where you’ll create all the material you’ll present during your defense, so it’s important to navigate it successfully. The writing process is intellectually grueling, it eats time and energy, and it’s where many students find themselves paddling frantically to avoid languishing in the “All-But-Dissertation” doldrums. The writing process is also likely to encroach on other parts of your life. For instance, Dr. Cynthia Trejo wrote her dissertation on college preparation for Latin American students while caring for a twelve-year-old, two adult children, and her aging parents—in the middle of a pandemic. When I asked Dr. Trejo how she did this, she replied:

“I don’t take the privilege of education for granted. My son knew I got up at 4:00 a.m. every morning, even on weekends, even on holidays; and it’s a blessing that he’s seen that work ethic and that dedication and the end result.”

Importantly, Dr. Trejo also exercised regularly and joined several online writing groups at UArizona. She mobilized her support network— her partner, parents, and even friends from high school to help care for her son.

The challenges you face during the writing process can vary by discipline. Jessika Iwanski is an MD/PhD student who in 2022 defended her dissertation on genetic mutations in sarcomeric proteins that lead to severe, neonatal dilated cardiomyopathy. She described her writing experience as “an intricate process of balancing many things at once with a deadline (defense day) that seems to be creeping up faster and faster— finishing up experiments, drafting the dissertation, preparing your presentation, filling out all the necessary documents for your defense and also, for MD/PhD students, beginning to reintegrate into the clinical world (reviewing your clinical knowledge and skill sets)!”

But no matter what your unique challenges are, writing a dissertation can take a toll on your mental health. Almost every student I spoke with said they saw a therapist and found their sessions enormously helpful. They also looked to the people in their lives for support. Dr. Betsy Labiner, who wrote her dissertation on Interiority, Truth, and Violence in Early Modern Drama, recommended, “Keep your loved ones close! This is so hard – the dissertation lends itself to isolation, especially in the final stages. Plus, a huge number of your family and friends simply won’t understand what you’re going through. But they love you and want to help and are great for getting you out of your head and into a space where you can enjoy life even when you feel like your dissertation is a flaming heap of trash.”

While you might sometimes feel like your dissertation is a flaming heap of trash, remember: a) no it’s not, you brilliant scholar, and b) the best dissertations aren’t necessarily perfect dissertations. According to Dr. Trejo, “The best dissertation is a done dissertation.” So don’t get hung up on perfecting every detail of your work. Think of your dissertation as a long-form assignment that you need to finish in order to move onto the next stage of your career. Many students continue revising after graduation and submit their work for publication or other professional objectives.

When you do finish writing your dissertation, it’s time to schedule your defense and invite friends and family to the part of the exam that’s open to the public. When that moment comes, how do you prepare to present your work and field questions about it?

“I reread my dissertation in full in one sitting,” said Dr. Labiner. “During all my time writing it, I’d never read more than one complete chapter at a time! It was a huge confidence boost to read my work in full and realize that I had produced a compelling, engaging, original argument.”

There are many other ways to prepare: create presentation slides and practice presenting them to friends or alone; think of questions you might be asked and answer them; think about what you want to wear or where you might want to sit (if you’re presenting on Zoom) that might give you a confidence boost. Iwanksi practiced presenting with her mentor and reviewed current papers to anticipate what questions her committee might ask.  If you want to really get in the zone, you can emulate Dr. Labiner and do a full dress rehearsal on Zoom the day before your defense.

But no matter what you do, you’ll still be nervous:

“I had a sense of the logistics, the timing, and so on, but I didn’t really have clear expectations outside of the structure. It was a sort of nebulous three hours in which I expected to be nauseatingly terrified,” recalled Dr. Labiner.

“I expected it to be terrifying, with lots of difficult questions and constructive criticism/comments given,” agreed Iwanski.

“I expected it to be very scary,” said Dr. Trejo.

“I expected it to be like I was on trial, and I’d have to defend myself and prove I deserved a PhD,” said Dr Atkins.

And, eventually, inexorably, it will be time to present.  

“It was actually very enjoyable” said Iwanski. “It was more of a celebration of years of work put into this project—not only by me but by my mentor, colleagues, lab members and collaborators! I felt very supported by all my committee members and, rather than it being a rapid fire of questions, it was more of a scientific discussion amongst colleagues who are passionate about heart disease and muscle biology.”

“I was anxious right when I logged on to the Zoom call for it,” said Dr. Labiner, “but I was blown away by the number of family and friends that showed up to support me. I had invited a lot of people who I didn’t at all think would come, but every single person I invited was there! Having about 40 guests – many of them joining from different states and several from different countries! – made me feel so loved and celebrated that my nerves were steadied very quickly. It also helped me go into ‘teaching mode’ about my work, so it felt like getting to lead a seminar on my most favorite literature.”

“In reality, my dissertation defense was similar to presenting at an academic conference,” said Dr. Atkins. “I went over my research in a practiced and organized way, and I fielded questions from the audience.

“It was a celebration and an important benchmark for me,” said Dr. Trejo. “It was a pretty happy day. Like the punctuation at the end of your sentence: this sentence is done; this journey is done. You can start the next sentence.”

If you want to learn more about dissertations in your own discipline, don’t hesitate to reach out to graduates from your program and ask them about their experiences. If you’d like to avail yourself of some of the resources that helped students in this article while they wrote and defended their dissertations, check out these links:

The Graduate Writing Lab

https://thinktank.arizona.edu/writing-center/graduate-writing-lab

The Writing Skills Improvement Program

https://wsip.arizona.edu

Campus Health Counseling and Psych Services

https://caps.arizona.edu

https://www.scribbr.com/

Capstone Documents: Oral Defense

• Supplemental Resources for the PhD Social Work
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Please submit this form at least three business days prior to the requested conference call date.  This form is used when the necessary approvals are in place to hold a conference call for one of the following: For Student and Committee Members  (sessions are recorded):

• Proposal Oral Presentation - The Proposal Oral Presentation should only be scheduled  after committee approval of the proposal has been finalized .
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Here are a few oral presentation templates to get you started in preparing for your oral presentation.  If a template is not listed for your program; this program currently does not provide generic models for the oral presentation. Please, reach out to your committee chair to determine the appropriate materials to prepare and the process that will be used in the call

• PhD Dissertation Proposal Oral Defense Template
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Preparing For Your Dissertation Defense

13 Key Questions To Expect In The Viva Voce

By: Derek Jansen (MBA) & David Phair (PhD) . Reviewed By: Dr Eunice Rautenbach | June 2021

Preparing for your dissertation or thesis defense (also called a “viva voce”) is a formidable task . All your hard work over the years leads you to this one point, and you’ll need to defend yourself against some of the most experienced researchers you’ve encountered so far.

It’s natural to feel a little nervous.

In this post, we’ll cover some of the most important questions you should be able to answer in your viva voce, whether it’s for a Masters or PhD degree. Naturally, they might not arise in exactly the same form (some may not come up at all), but if you can answer these questions well, it means you’re in a good position to tackle your oral defense.

Viva Voce Prep: 13 Essential Questions

• What is your study about and why did you choose to research this in particular?
• How did your research questions evolve during the research process?
• How did you decide on which sources to include in your literature review?
• How did you design your study and why did you take this approach?
• How generalisable and valid are the findings?
• What were the main shortcomings and limitations created by your research design?
• How did your findings relate to the existing literature?
• What were your key findings in relation to the research questions?
• Were there any findings that surprised you?
• What biases may exist in your research?
• How can your findings be put into practice?
• How has your research contributed to current thinking in the field?
• If you could redo your research, how would you alter your approach?

#1: What is your study about and why did you choose to research this in particular?

This question, a classic party starter, is pretty straightforward.

What the dissertation or thesis committee is assessing here is your ability to clearly articulate your research aims, objectives and research questions in a concise manner. Concise is the keyword here – you need to clearly explain your research topic without rambling on for a half-hour. Don’t feel the need to go into the weeds here – you’ll have many opportunities to unpack the details later on.

In the second half of the question, they’re looking for a brief explanation of the justification of your research. In other words, why was this particular set of research aims, objectives and questions worth addressing? To address this question well in your oral defense, you need to make it clear what gap existed within the research and why that gap was worth filling.

#2: How did your research questions evolve during the research process?

Good research generally follows a long and winding path . It’s seldom a straight line (unless you got really lucky). What they’re assessing here is your ability to follow that path and let the research process unfold.

Specifically, they’ll want to hear about the impact that the literature review process had on you in terms of shaping the research aims, objectives and research questions . For example, you may have started with a certain set of aims, but then as you immersed yourself in the literature, you may have changed direction. Similarly, your initial fieldwork findings may have turned out some unexpected data that drove you to adjust or expand on your initial research questions.

Long story short – a good defense involves clearly describing your research journey , including all the twists and turns. Adjusting your direction based on findings in the literature or the fieldwork shows that you’re responsive , which is essential for high-quality research.

#3: How did you decide on which sources to include in your literature review?

A comprehensive literature review is the foundation of any high-quality piece of research. With this question, your dissertation or thesis committee are trying to assess which quality criteria and approach you used to select the sources for your literature review.

Typically, good research draws on both the seminal work in the respective field and more recent sources . In other words, a combination of the older landmark studies and pivotal work, along with up-to-date sources that build on to those older studies. This combination ensures that the study has a rock-solid foundation but is not out of date.

So, make sure that your study draws on a mix of both the “classics” and new kids on the block, and take note of any major evolutions in the literature that you can use as an example when asked this question in your viva voce.

#4: How did you design your study and why did you take this approach?

This is a classic methodological question that you can almost certainly expect in some or other shape.

What they’re looking for here is a clear articulation of the research design and methodology, as well as a strong justification of each choice . So, you need to be able to walk through each methodological choice and clearly explain both what you did and why you did it. The why is particularly important – you need to be able to justify each choice you made by clearly linking your design back to your research aims, objectives and research questions, while also taking into account practical constraints.

To ensure you cover every base, check out our research methodology vlog post , as well as our post covering the Research Onion .

#5: How generalizable and valid are the findings?

This question is aimed at specifically digging into your understanding of the sample and how that relates to the population, as well as potential validity issues in your methodology.

To answer question this well, you’ll need to critically assess your sample and findings and consider if they truly apply to the entire population, as well as whether they assessed what they set out to. Note that there are two components here – generalizability and validity . Generalizability is about how well the sample represents the population. Validity is about how accurately you’ve measured what you intended to measure .

To ace this part of your dissertation defense, make sure that you’re very familiar with the concepts of generalizability , validity and reliability , and how these apply to your research. Remember, you don’t need to achieve perfection – you just need to be aware of the strengths and weaknesses of your research (and how the weaknesses could be improved upon).

Need a helping hand?

#6: What were the main shortcomings and limitations created by your research design?

This question picks up where the last one left off.

As I mentioned, it’s perfectly natural that your research will have shortcomings and limitations as a result of your chosen design and methodology. No piece of research is flawless. Therefore, a good dissertation defense is not about arguing that your work is perfect, but rather it’s about clearly articulating the strengths and weaknesses of your approach.

To address this question well, you need to think critically about all of the potential weaknesses your design may have, as well as potential responses to these (which could be adopted in future research) to ensure you’re well prepared for this question. For a list of common methodological limitations, check out our video about research limitations here .

#7: How did your findings relate to the existing literature?

This common dissertation defense question links directly to your discussion chapter , where you would have presented and discussed the findings in relation to your literature review.

What your dissertation or thesis committee is assessing here is your ability to compare your study’s findings to the findings of existing research . Specifically, you need to discuss which findings aligned with existing research and which findings did not. For those findings that contrasted against existing research, you should also explain what you believe to be the reasons for this.

As with many questions in a viva voce, it’s both the what and the why that matter here. So, you need to think deeply about what the underlying reasons may be for both the similarities and differences between your findings and those of similar studies.

#8: What were your key findings in relation to the research questions?

This question is similar to the last one in that it too focuses on your research findings. However, here the focus is specifically on the findings that directly relate to your research questions (as opposed to findings in general).

So, a good way to prepare for this question is to step back and revisit your research questions . Ask yourself the following:

• What exactly were you asking in those questions, and what did your research uncover concerning them?
• Which questions were well answered by your study and which ones were lacking?
• Why were they lacking and what more could be done to address this in future research?

Conquering this part dissertation defense requires that you focus squarely on the research questions. Your study will have provided many findings (hopefully!), and not all of these will link directly to the research questions. Therefore, you need to clear your mind of all of the fascinating side paths your study may have lead you down and regain a clear focus on the research questions .

#9: Were there any findings that surprised you?

This question is two-pronged.

First, you should discuss the surprising findings that were directly related to the original research questions . Going into your research, you likely had some expectations in terms of what you would find, so this is your opportunity to discuss the outcomes that emerged as contrary to what you initially expected. You’ll also want to think about what the reasons for these contrasts may be.

Second, you should discuss the findings that weren’t directly related to the research questions, but that emerged from the data set . You may have a few or you may have none – although generally there are a handful of interesting musings that you can glean from the data set. Again, make sure you can articulate why you find these interesting and what it means for future research in the area.

What the committee is looking for in this type of question is your ability to interpret the findings holistically and comprehensively , and to respond to unexpected data. So, take the time to zoom out and reflect on your findings thoroughly.

#10: What biases may exist in your research?

Biases… we all have them.

For this question, you’ll need to think about potential biases in your research , in the data itself but also in your interpretation of the data. With this question, your committee is assessing whether you have considered your own potential biases and the biases inherent in your analysis approach (i.e. your methodology). So, think carefully about these research biases and be ready to explain how these may exist in your study.

In an oral defense, this question is often followed up with a question on how the biases were mitigated or could be mitigated in future research. So, give some thought not just to what biases may exist, but also the mitigation measures (in your own study and for future research).

#11: How can your findings be put into practice?

Another classic question in the typical viva voce.

With this question, your committee is assessing your ability to bring your findings back down to earth and demonstrate their practical value and application. Importantly, this question is not about the contribution to academia or the overall field of research (we’ll get to that next) – it is specifically asking about how this newly created knowledge can be used in the real world.

Naturally, the actionability of your findings will vary depending on the nature of your research topic. Some studies will produce many action points and some won’t. If you’re researching marketing strategies within an industry, for example, you should be able to make some very specific recommendations for marketing practitioners in that industry.

To help you flesh out points for this question, look back at your original justification for the research (i.e. in your introduction and literature review chapters). What were the driving forces that led you to research your specific topic? That justification should help you identify ways in which your findings can be put into practice.

#12: How has your research contributed to current thinking in the field?

While the previous question was aimed at practical contribution, this question is aimed at theoretical contribution . In other words, what is the significance of your study within the current body of research? How does it fit into the existing research and what does it add to it?

This question is often asked by a field specialist and is used to assess whether you’re able to place your findings into the research field to critically convey what your research contributed. This argument needs to be well justified – in other words, you can’t just discuss what your research contributed, you need to also back each proposition up with a strong why .

To answer this question well, you need to humbly consider the quality and impact of your work and to be realistic in your response. You don’t want to come across as arrogant (“my work is groundbreaking”), nor do you want to undersell the impact of your work. So, it’s important to strike the right balance between realistic and pessimistic .

This question also opens the door to questions about potential future research . So, think about what future research opportunities your study has created and which of these you feel are of the highest priority.

#13: If you could redo your research, how would you alter your approach?

This question is often used to wrap up a viva voce as it brings the discussion full circle.

Here, your committee is again assessing your ability to clearly identify and articulate the limitations and shortcomings of your research, both in terms of research design and topic focus . Perhaps, in hindsight, it would have been better to use a different analysis method or data set. Perhaps the research questions should have leaned in a slightly different direction. And so on.

This question intends to assess whether you’re able to look at your work critically , assess where the weaknesses are and make recommendations for the future . This question often sets apart those who did the research purely because it was required, from those that genuinely engaged with their research. So, don’t hold back here – reflect on your entire research journey ask yourself how you’d do things differently if you were starting with a  blank canvas today.

Recap: The 13 Key Dissertation Defense Questions

To recap, here are the 13 questions you need to be ready for to ace your dissertation or thesis oral defense:

As I mentioned, this list of dissertation defense questions is certainly not exhaustive – don’t assume that we’ve covered every possible question here. However, these questions are quite likely to come up in some shape or form in a typical dissertation or thesis defense, whether it’s for a Master’s degree, PhD or any other research degree. So, you should take the time to make sure you can answer them well.

If you need assistance preparing for your dissertation defense or viva voce, get in touch with us to discuss 1-on-1 coaching. We can critically review your research and identify potential issues and responses, as well as undertake a mock oral defense to prepare you for the pressures and stresses on the day.

Psst... there’s more!

This post was based on one of our popular Research Bootcamps . If you're working on a research project, you'll definitely want to check this out ...

14 Comments

Very interesting

Interesting. I appreciate!

Really appreciating

My field is International Trade

Interesting

This is a full course on defence. I was fabulously enlightened and I gained enough confidence for my upcoming Masters Defence.

There are many lessons to learn and the simplicity in presentationmakes thee reader say “YesI can”

This is so helping… it has Enlightened me on how to answer specific questions. I pray to make it through for my upcoming defense

Lovely to hear that 🙂

Really educative and beneficial

Interesting. On-point and elaborate. And comforting too! Thanks.

Thank you very much for the enlightening me, be blessed

Thankyou so much. I am planning to defend my thesis soon and I found this very useful

Very interesting and useful to all masters and PhD students

Wow! this is enlightening. Thanks for the great work.

Thank you very much ,it will help me My Master Degree. and am comfortable to my defense.

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PhD Dissertation Defense Slides Design: Start

• Tips for designing the slides
• Presentation checklist
• Example slides
• Additional Resources

Purpose of the Guide

This guide was created to help ph.d. students in engineering fields to design dissertation defense presentations. the guide provides 1) tips on how to effectively communicate research, and 2) full presentation examples from ph.d. graduates. the tips on designing effective slides are not restricted to dissertation defense presentations; they can be used in designing other types of presentations such as conference talks, qualification and proposal exams, and technical seminars., the tips and examples are used to help students to design effective presentation. the technical contents in all examples are subject to copyright, please do not replicate. , if you need help in designing your presentation, please contact julie chen ([email protected]) for individual consultation. .

• Example Slides Repository
• Defense slides examples Link to examples dissertation defense slides.

Useful Links

• CIT Thesis and dissertation standards
• Dissertations and Theses @ Carnegie Mellon This link opens in a new window Covers 1920-present. Full text of some dissertations may be available 1997-present. Citations and abstracts of dissertations and theses CMU graduate students have published through UMI Dissertation Publishing. In addition to citations and abstracts, the service provides free access to 24 page previews and the full text in PDF format, when available. In most cases, this will be works published in 1997 forward.
• Communicate your research data Data visualization is very important in communicating your data effectively. Check out these do's and don'ts for designing figures.

Power Point Template and other Resources

• CEE Powerpoint Slide Presentation Template 1
• CEE Powerpoint Slide Presentation Template 2

Source: CEE Department Resources https://www.cmu.edu/cee/resources/index.html

• CMU Powerpoint Slide Template

Source: CMU Marketing and Communications

https://www.cmu.edu/marcom/brand-standards/downloads/index.html

• Use of CMU logos, marks, and Unitmarks

Email me for questions and schedule an appointment

Top 7 tips for your defense presentation

1. show why your study is important, remember, your audience is your committee members, researchers in other fields, and even the general public. you want to convince all of them why you deserve a ph.d. degree. you need to talk about why your study is important to the world. in the engineering field, you also need to talk about how your study is useful. try to discuss why current practice is problematic or not good enough, what needs to be solved, and what the potential benefits will be. , see how dr. posen and dr. malings explained the importance of their studies..

• Carl Malings Defense Slides with Notes
• I. Daniel Posen Defense Slides with Notes

2. Emphasize YOUR contribution 

Having a ph.d. means that you have made some novel contributions to the grand field. this is about you and your research. you need to keep emphasizing your contributions throughout your presentation. after talking about what needs to be solved, try to focus on emphasizing the novelty of your work. what problems can be solved using your research outcomes what breakthroughs have you made to the field why are your methods and outcomes outstanding you need to incorporate answers to these questions in your presentation. , be clear what your contributions are in the introduction section; separate what was done by others and what was done by you. , 3. connect your projects into a whole piece of work, you might have been doing multiple projects that are not strongly connected. to figure out how to connect them into a whole piece, use visualizations such as flow charts to convince your audience. the two slides below are two examples. in the first slide, which was presented in the introduction section, the presenter used a flow diagram to show the connection between the three projects. in the second slide, the presenter used key figures and a unique color for each project to show the connection..

• Xiaoju Chen Defense Slides with Notes

4. Tell a good story 

The committee members do not necessarily have the same background knowledge as you. plus, there could be researchers from other fields and even the general public in the room. you want to make sure all of your audience can understand as much as possible. focus on the big picture rather than technical details; make sure you use simple language to explain your methods and results. your committee has read your dissertation before your defense, but others have not. , dr. cook and dr. velibeyoglu did a good job explaining their research to everyone. the introduction sessions in their presentations are well designed for this purpose. .

• Laren M. Cook Defense Slides with Notes
• Irem Velibeyoglu Defense with Notes

5. Transition, transition, transition

Use transition slides to connect projects , it's a long presentation with different research projects. you want to use some sort of transition to remind your audience what you have been talking about and what is next. you may use a slide that is designed for this purpose throughout your presentation. , below are two examples. these slides were presented after the introduction section. the presenters used the same slides and highlighted the items for project one to indicate that they were moving on to the first project. throughout the presentation, they used these slides and highlighted different sections to indicate how these projects fit into the whole dissertation. .

You can also use some other indications on your slides, but remember not to make your slides too busy.  Below are two examples. In the first example, the presenter used chapter numbers to indicate what he was talking about. In the second example, the presenter used a progress bar with keywords for each chapter as the indicator. 

Use transition sentences to connect slides 

Remember transition sentences are also important; use them to summarize what you have said and tell your audience what they will expect next. if you keep forgetting the transition sentence, write a note on your presentation. you can either write down a full sentence of what you want to say or some keywords., 6. be brief, put details in backup slides , you won't have time to explain all of the details. if your defense presentation is scheduled for 45 minutes, you can only spend around 10 minutes for each project - that's shorter than a normal research conference presentation focus on the big picture and leave details behind. you can put the details in your backup slides, so you might find them useful when your committee (and other members of the audience) ask questions regarding these details., 7. show your presentation to your advisor and colleagues, make sure to ask your advisor(s) for their comments. they might have a different view on what should be emphasized and what should be elaborated. , you also want to practice at least once in front of your colleagues. they can be your lab mates, people who work in your research group, and/or your friends. they do not have to be experts in your field. ask them to give you some feedback - their comments can be extremely helpful to improve your presentation. , below are some other tips and resources to design your defense presentation. .

• Tips for designing your defense presentation

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How to prepare an excellent thesis defense

What is a thesis defense?

How long is a thesis defense, what happens at a thesis defense, your presentation, questions from the committee, 6 tips to help you prepare for your thesis defense, 1. anticipate questions and prepare for them, 2. dress for success, 3. ask for help, as needed, 4. have a backup plan, 5. prepare for the possibility that you might not know an answer, 6. de-stress before, during, and after, frequently asked questions about preparing an excellent thesis defense, related articles.

If you're about to complete, or have ever completed a graduate degree, you have most likely come across the term "thesis defense." In many countries, to finish a graduate degree, you have to write a thesis .

A thesis is a large paper, or multi-chapter work, based on a topic relating to your field of study.

Once you hand in your thesis, you will be assigned a date to defend your work. Your thesis defense meeting usually consists of you and a committee of two or more professors working in your program. It may also include other people, like professionals from other colleges or those who are working in your field.

During your thesis defense, you will be asked questions about your work. The main purpose of your thesis defense is for the committee to make sure that you actually understand your field and focus area.

The questions are usually open-ended and require the student to think critically about their work. By the time of your thesis defense, your paper has already been evaluated. The questions asked are not designed so that you actually have to aggressively "defend" your work; often, your thesis defense is more of a formality required so that you can get your degree.

• Check with your department about requirements and timing.
• Re-read your thesis.
• Anticipate questions and prepare for them.
• Create a back-up plan to deal with technology hiccups.
• Plan de-stressing activities both before, and after, your defense.

How long your oral thesis defense is depends largely on the institution and requirements of your degree. It is best to consult your department or institution about this. In general, a thesis defense may take only 20 minutes, but it may also take two hours or more. The length also depends on how much time is allocated to the presentation and questioning part.

Tip: Check with your department or institution as soon as possible to determine the approved length for a thesis defense.

First of all, be aware that a thesis defense varies from country to country. This is just a general overview, but a thesis defense can take many different formats. Some are closed, others are public defenses. Some take place with two committee members, some with more examiners.

The same goes for the length of your thesis defense, as mentioned above. The most important first step for you is to clarify with your department what the structure of your thesis defense will look like. In general, your thesis defense will include:

• your presentation of around 20-30 minutes
• questions from the committee
• questions from the audience (if the defense is public and the department allows it)

You might have to give a presentation, often with Powerpoint, Google slides, or Keynote slides. Make sure to prepare an appropriate amount of slides. A general rule is to use about 10 slides for a 20-minute presentation.

But that also depends on your specific topic and the way you present. The good news is that there will be plenty of time ahead of your thesis defense to prepare your slides and practice your presentation alone and in front of friends or family.

Tip: Practice delivering your thesis presentation in front of family, friends, or colleagues.

You can prepare your slides by using information from your thesis' first chapter (the overview of your thesis) as a framework or outline. Substantive information in your thesis should correspond with your slides.

Make sure your slides are of good quality— both in terms of the integrity of the information and the appearance. If you need more help with how to prepare your presentation slides, both the ASQ Higher Education Brief and James Hayton have good guidelines on the topic.

The committee will ask questions about your work after you finish your presentation. The questions will most likely be about the core content of your thesis, such as what you learned from the study you conducted. They may also ask you to summarize certain findings and to discuss how your work will contribute to the existing body of knowledge.

Tip: Read your entire thesis in preparation of the questions, so you have a refreshed perspective on your work.

While you are preparing, you can create a list of possible questions and try to answer them. You can foresee many of the questions you will get by simply spending some time rereading your thesis.

Here are a few tips on how to prepare for your thesis defense:

You can absolutely prepare for most of the questions you will be asked. Read through your thesis and while you're reading it, create a list of possible questions. In addition, since you will know who will be on the committee, look at the academic expertise of the committee members. In what areas would they most likely be focused?

If possible, sit at other thesis defenses with these committee members to get a feel for how they ask and what they ask. As a graduate student, you should generally be adept at anticipating test questions, so use this advantage to gather as much information as possible before your thesis defense meeting.

Your thesis defense is a formal event, often the entire department or university is invited to participate. It signals a critical rite of passage for graduate students and faculty who have supported them throughout a long and challenging process.

While most universities don't have specific rules on how to dress for that event, do regard it with dignity and respect. This one might be a no-brainer, but know that you should dress as if you were on a job interview or delivering a paper at a conference.

It might help you deal with your stress before your thesis defense to entrust someone with the smaller but important responsibilities of your defense well ahead of schedule. This trusted person could be responsible for:

• preparing the room of the day of defense
• setting up equipment for the presentation
• preparing and distributing handouts

Technology is unpredictable. Life is too. There are no guarantees that your Powerpoint presentation will work at all or look the way it is supposed to on the big screen. We've all been there. Make sure to have a plan B for these situations. Handouts can help when technology fails, and an additional clean shirt can save the day if you have a spill.

One of the scariest aspects of the defense is the possibility of being asked a question you can't answer. While you can prepare for some questions, you can never know exactly what the committee will ask.

There will always be gaps in your knowledge. But your thesis defense is not about being perfect and knowing everything, it's about how you deal with challenging situations. You are not expected to know everything.

James Hayton writes on his blog that examiners will sometimes even ask questions they don't know the answer to, out of curiosity, or because they want to see how you think. While it is ok sometimes to just say "I don't know", he advises to try something like "I don't know, but I would think [...] because of x and y, but you would need to do [...] in order to find out.” This shows that you have the ability to think as an academic.

You will be nervous. But your examiners will expect you to be nervous. Being well prepared can help minimize your stress, but do know that your examiners have seen this many times before and are willing to help, by repeating questions, for example. Dora Farkas at finishyourthesis.com notes that it’s a myth that thesis committees are out to get you.

Two common symptoms of being nervous are talking really fast and nervous laughs. Try to slow yourself down and take a deep breath. Remember what feels like hours to you are just a few seconds in real life.

• Try meditational breathing right before your defense.
• Get plenty of exercise and sleep in the weeks prior to your defense.
• Have your clothes or other items you need ready to go the night before.
• During your defense, allow yourself to process each question before answering.
• Go to dinner with friends and family, or to a fun activity like mini-golf, after your defense.

Allow yourself to process each question, respond to it, and stop talking once you have responded. While a smile can often help dissolve a difficult situation, remember that nervous laughs can be irritating for your audience.

We all make mistakes and your thesis defense will not be perfect. However, careful preparation, mindfulness, and confidence can help you feel less stressful both before, and during, your defense.

Finally, consider planning something fun that you can look forward to after your defense.

It is completely normal to be nervous. Being well prepared can help minimize your stress, but do know that your examiners have seen this many times before and are willing to help, by repeating questions for example if needed. Slow yourself down, and take a deep breath.

Your thesis defense is not about being perfect and knowing everything, it's about how you deal with challenging situations. James Hayton writes on his blog that it is ok sometimes to just say "I don't know", but he advises to try something like "I don't know, but I would think [...] because of x and y, you would need to do [...] in order to find out".

Your Powerpoint presentation can get stuck or not look the way it is supposed to do on the big screen. It can happen and your supervisors know it. In general, handouts can always save the day when technology fails.

• Dress for success.
• Ask for help setting up.
• Have a backup plan (in case technology fails you).
• Deal with your nerves.

Search this site

Division of graduate studies menu, division of graduate studies, doctoral oral defense procedures, the information on this page pertains to doctoral students only. master's students may or may not be required to hold a defense of their thesis or project; confer with your department for more information. , preparing for the oral defense.

All doctoral students must hold a formal public defense of their dissertation on a date that is acceptable to the dissertation committee. Defenses may take place on any date, but in order to graduate in a given term, a student must defend on or before the deadline for that term . The defense should be held on campus whenever possible, but remote defenses are also allowed (see Attendance Policies below). 

Students are expected to provide the committee with a full draft of the dissertation at least 3 weeks prior to the formal defense. It is also generally expected that the committee has tentatively approved the dissertation prior to the defense. 

If the committee has any reservations about the acceptability of the dissertation, aside from minor revisions that may be discussed at the defense, it is recommended that the defense be postponed until such time as the committee is generally in agreement the defense will be successful.  

• To graduate in a given term, the oral defense must take place by Friday of week 9 of that term.
• The student is expected to provide the committee with a full draft of the dissertation at least 3 weeks before the defense date .
• Note: Students should submit the application 3-4 weeks before the defense to allow sufficient time for their committee and department to approve by the 2 week deadline.
• The committee must log in to GradWeb and certify the results of the defense  within 2 weeks after the defense. 
• The final, committee-approved dissertation must be uploaded   within 2 weeks after the defense.

Doctoral Degree Completion Deadlines

Committee Members' Attendance at the Oral Defense

• The preferred best practice is to have all members of the dissertation committee physically present at the final oral defense
• Effective Fall 2021: Fully remote defenses are allowed

Attendance Policies

Instructions for Applying for the Oral Defense

• Submit an application for advanced degree in GradWeb . The priority deadline is the second Friday of the term. Specific dates for each term are listed here .
• Prior to applying, you should already have obtained a provisional agreement from your committee members that they will be available on the specified day and time you wish to hold your defense.
• Please be sure to allow yourself enough time for your committee members and department to approve the application by the 2-week deadline (see Deadlines above). 
• If any of the committee members are unable to attend—in accordance with attendance exception policies —you must indicate this as part of the online process.
• When you submit the oral defense application, each of your committee members will receive an email asking them to log in to GradWeb and confirm (or waive) their attendance.
• The Division of Graduate Studies must receive the departmental approval no later than 2 weeks before the defense date.
• Approximately one week before your defense date, the Division of Graduate Studies will send an email to you and your committee authorizing the defense to proceed and providing instructions to the committee for submitting their approval after the defense. 
• If any of your committee members were not present at the defense, they are still responsible for logging in to GradWeb  within 2 weeks  and certifying their approval of the defense. 

Additional Notes About Your Oral Defense

If you hold your oral defense after the established term deadline, you will be considered an applicant for graduation for the next term.

Registration requirements for the final term will vary depending on when you are able to submit your final dissertation to the Division of Graduate Studies.

Defending during the breaks between terms: The Division of Graduate Studies allows defenses to be held during the break between terms, but some departments may have restrictions on whether students can hold defenses at these times. Please check with your department before scheduling a defense during a break.

If you schedule your defense during a term break, you will be considered a graduate of the term following the break. Registration requirements for the final term will vary depending on when you are able to submit your final dissertation to the Division of Graduate Studies.

• Counseling psychology, school psychology, and clinical psychology students: Students in these programs may hold the defense and obtain approval of the final dissertation before embarking upon the required year-long internship . The degree will be awarded once the internship is successfully completed.

13 Tips to Prepare for Your PhD Dissertation Defense

How well do you know your project? Years of experiments, analysis of results, and tons of literature study, leads you to how well you know your research study. And, PhD dissertation defense is a finale to your PhD years. Often, researchers question how to excel at their thesis defense and spend countless hours on it. Days, weeks, months, and probably years of practice to complete your doctorate, needs to surpass the dissertation defense hurdle.

In this article, we will discuss details of how to excel at PhD dissertation defense and list down some interesting tips to prepare for your thesis defense.

Table of Contents

What Is Dissertation Defense?

Dissertation defense or Thesis defense is an opportunity to defend your research study amidst the academic professionals who will evaluate of your academic work. While a thesis defense can sometimes be like a cross-examination session, but in reality you need not fear the thesis defense process and be well prepared.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/c/JamesHaytonPhDacademy

What are the expectations of committee members.

Choosing the dissertation committee is one of the most important decision for a research student. However, putting your dissertation committee becomes easier once you understand the expectations of committee members.

The basic function of your dissertation committee is to guide you through the process of proposing, writing, and revising your dissertation. Moreover, the committee members serve as mentors, giving constructive feedback on your writing and research, also guiding your revision efforts.

The dissertation committee is usually formed once the academic coursework is completed. Furthermore, by the time you begin your dissertation research, you get acquainted to the faculty members who will serve on your dissertation committee. Ultimately, who serves on your dissertation committee depends upon you.

Some universities allow an outside expert (a former professor or academic mentor) to serve on your committee. It is advisable to choose a faculty member who knows you and your research work.

How to Choose a Dissertation Committee Member?

• Avoid popular and eminent faculty member
• Choose the one you know very well and can approach whenever you need them
• A faculty member whom you can learn from is apt.
• Members of the committee can be your future mentors, co-authors, and research collaborators. Choose them keeping your future in mind.

How to Prepare for Dissertation Defense?

1. Start Your Preparations Early

Thesis defense is not a 3 or 6 months’ exercise. Don’t wait until you have completed all your research objectives. Start your preparation well in advance, and make sure you know all the intricacies of your thesis and reasons to all the research experiments you conducted.

2. Attend Presentations by Other Candidates

Look out for open dissertation presentations at your university. In fact, you can attend open dissertation presentations at other universities too. Firstly, this will help you realize how thesis defense is not a scary process. Secondly, you will get the tricks and hacks on how other researchers are defending their thesis. Finally, you will understand why dissertation defense is necessary for the university, as well as the scientific community.

3. Take Enough Time to Prepare the Slides

Dissertation defense process harder than submitting your thesis well before the deadline. Ideally, you could start preparing the slides after finalizing your thesis. Spend more time in preparing the slides. Make sure you got the right data on the slides and rephrase your inferences, to create a logical flow to your presentation.

4. Structure the Presentation

Do not be haphazard in designing your presentation. Take time to create a good structured presentation. Furthermore, create high-quality slides which impresses the committee members. Make slides that hold your audience’s attention. Keep the presentation thorough and accurate, and use smart art to create better slides.

5. Practice Breathing Techniques

Watch a few TED talk videos and you will notice that speakers and orators are very fluent at their speech. In fact, you will not notice them taking a breath or falling short of breath. The only reason behind such effortless oratory skill is practice — practice in breathing technique.

Moreover, every speaker knows how to control their breath. Long and steady breaths are crucial. Pay attention to your breathing and slow it down. All you need I some practice prior to this moment.

6. Create an Impactful Introduction

The audience expects a lot from you. So your opening statement should enthrall the audience. Furthermore, your thesis should create an impact on the members; they should be thrilled by your thesis and the way you expose it.

The introduction answers most important questions, and most important of all “Is this presentation worth the time?” Therefore, it is important to make a good first impression , because the first few minutes sets the tone for your entire presentation.

7. Maintain Your Own List of Questions

While preparing for the presentation, make a note of all the questions that you ask yourself. Try to approach all the questions from a reader’s point of view. You could pretend like you do not know the topic and think of questions that could help you know the topic much better.

The list of questions will prepare you for the questions the members may pose while trying to understand your research. Attending other candidates’ open discussion will also help you assume the dissertation defense questions.

8. Practice Speech and Body Language

After successfully preparing your slides and practicing, you could start focusing on how you look while presenting your thesis. This exercise is not for your appearance but to know your body language and relax if need be.

Pay attention to your body language. Stand with your back straight, but relax your shoulders. The correct posture will give you the feel of self-confidence. So, observe yourself in the mirror and pay attention to movements you make.

9. Give Mock Presentation

Giving a trial defense in advance is a good practice. The most important factor for the mock defense is its similarity to your real defense, so that you get the experience that prepares for the actual defense.

10. Learn How to Handle Mistakes

Everyone makes mistakes. However, it is important to carry on. Do not let the mistakes affect your thesis defense. Take a deep breath and move on to the next point.

11. Do Not Run Through the Presentation

If you are nervous, you would want to end the presentation as soon as possible. However, this situation will give rise to anxiety and you will speak too fast, skipping the essential details. Eventually, creating a fiasco of your dissertation defense .

12. Get Plenty of Rest

Out of the dissertation defense preparation points, this one is extremely important. Obviously, sleeping a day before your big event is hard, but you have to focus and go to bed early, with the clear intentions of getting the rest you deserve.

13. Visualize Yourself Defending Your Thesis

This simple exercise creates an immense impact on your self-confidence. All you have to do is visualize yourself giving a successful presentation each evening before going to sleep. Everyday till the day of your thesis defense, see yourself standing in front of the audience and going from one point to another.

This exercise takes a lot of commitment and persistence, but the results in the end are worth it. Visualization makes you see yourself doing the scary thing of defending your thesis.

If you have taken all these points into consideration, you are ready for your big day. You have worked relentlessly for your PhD degree , and you will definitely give your best in this final step.

Have you completed your thesis defense? How did you prepare for it and how was your experience throughout your dissertation defense ? Do write to us or comment below.

The tips are very useful.I will recomend it to our students.

Excellent. As a therapist trying to help a parent of a candidate, I am very impressed and thankful your concise, clear, action-oriented article. Thank you.

Thanks for your sharing. It is so good. I can learn a lot from your ideas. Hope that in my dissertation defense next time I can pass

The tips are effective. Will definitely apply them in my dissertation.

My dissertation defense is coming up in less than two weeks from now, I find this tips quite instructive, I’ll definitely apply them. Thank you so much.

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8 Top Tips for Crushing Your PhD Oral Defense

• 3-minute read
• 27th January 2016

Once you’ve submitted your PhD dissertation , most of the hard work is done. The one big thing standing between you and your shiny new doctorate is your oral dissertation defense .

The exact format this takes will depend on your grad school, but the general idea is that you present your thesis to a committee who have read your dissertation. The committee members then ask questions about your work , which you have to defend to prove your academic credentials. You may be asked to make revisions to your dissertation based on the discussion.

This might sound a bit like a scholastic Spanish Inquisition , but as long as you prepare thoroughly, your oral defense doesn’t have to be a stressful experience:

1. Ask Around

The first thing to do when preparing for your oral defense is to ask your PhD advisor what to expect and check your grad school’s requirements. You could also ask colleagues who have already completed their defense.

2. Practice Makes Perfect

If you get the chance, sit in on other people’s oral defense sessions. Even better, if you have some willing friends available, try practicing your defense presentation in front of them, including having them ask you questions.

3. Re-read Your Dissertation

You don’t have to memorize every detail, but re-familiarizing yourself with your work before your oral defense is definitely a good idea.

4. Arrive Early

On the day, make sure you know where and when your oral defense is scheduled to take place. Get there at least fifteen minutes early so you have time to set up and settle down.

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5. Your Thesis Statement

Make sure you have a clear thesis statement to begin your presentation. This will usually include the problem you’re addressing, why it’s important and what your research has achieved.

6. Use Visual Aids

Having handouts or a PowerPoint slideshow to accompany your talk is pretty much standard these days and can enhance your presentation.

7. Don’t Fear the Committee

It’s easy to feel like the committee members are out to get you once the questions start flying, but try not to panic. It’s perfectly fine to ask for clarification if you’re unsure about something.

Likewise, be honest if you don’t have an immediate response; it’s far better to say you’d need to do more research before answering than it is to try and bluff your way through the conversation.

Similarly, don’t feel like you have to rush. Taking a moment to think before answering a question will help you to formulate a considered answer.

8. Believe in Yourself!

The most important thing to remember is that your advisor will not have let you submit your dissertation unless they thought it was a good piece of work. As such you have every reason to be confident, which will make your presentation more convincing. Try to dress smart too, as you want to make a good first impression.

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How Do I Prepare for a Successful Defence?

Vivas and Presentations

• First Online: 19 October 2023

Cite this chapter

• Sue Reeves   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-3017-0559 3 &
• Bartek Buczkowski   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-4146-3664 4  

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Once you have submitted your dissertation, you may be asked to do a defence of your dissertation. This could be in the form of an oral presentation, a poster presentation of your findings, or you could be invited to a viva voce. Vivas, as they are usually known, are particularly common for research degrees such as MPhils or PhDs and are essentially a verbal defence of your thesis that is conducted in an interview style format. At a minimum, the viva is a way of checking you authored the thesis yourself and understand the detail, but it is also an opportunity to discuss your research findings and interpretations in depth with experts. Preparation is key for defending your thesis in a viva or a presentation format. With a bit of groundwork, you could even enjoy the discussion, after all the thesis is the culmination of all your hard work, and no one knows it better than you.

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Ratcliffe R (2015) How to survive a PhD viva: 17 top tips. https://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/2015/jan/08/how-to-survive-a-phd-viva-17-top-tips. Accessed 3 Mar 2023

Further Reading

Levin P, Topping G (2006) Perfect presentations. Open University Press

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Reeves, S., Buczkowski, B. (2023). How Do I Prepare for a Successful Defence?. In: Mastering Your Dissertation. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-41911-9_14

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Oral Examinations

If you have questions about oral examinations, contact us at [email protected] .

Once your dissertation is nearing completion, it’s time to schedule your defense—your final oral examination.

You should begin making arrangements for your defense at the beginning of the semester (especially during the summer) in order to accommodate the schedules of your committee members.

Students must be currently enrolled in the dissertation course for the semester in which the defense is scheduled and held.

Committee Changes

Any changes to your dissertation committee must be approved by the Dean of the Graduate School. Changes should be approved at least 30 days prior to the date of the oral examination so that all new members have ample time to become familiar with your dissertation.

Defense Attendance

You, the student, and your supervisor, in negotiation with the dissertation committee members, should determine a time and date for the defense. Each member of your committee must receive a copy of your dissertation at least four weeks prior to your dissertation defense date. A defense cannot be held within two weeks of the last class day of the semester, unless the committee has consented to hold the defense within those last 2 weeks.

Request for Final Oral Examination Form

You must schedule the dissertation defense with the Graduate School at least two weeks prior to the defense date by completing the Request for Final Oral Examination form. All members of your committee must sign your request form indicating their intent to be present at your final oral. Your graduate adviser must also sign this form to indicate you have been approved to defend.

It is expected that all members of the committee attend the defense. The Graduate School does not distinguish between physical attendance or electronic/virtual attendance of the defense. One non-supervisory committee member may be absent from the defense in if necessary, but all members must read the dissertation and, when satisfied, sign the Report of Dissertation Committee form.

Contact for Questions

Email the Graduate School at the link above with any questions concerning defense attendance.

Format Check Requirements

When you submit the Request for Final Oral Examination form to the Graduate School, you should include one copy each of the dissertation abstract, title page and the committee membership page for a format check in separate PDF. You do not need to include the instructions page.

After the Defense

The official recommendation of your committee and your program is communicated to the Graduate School on the Report of Dissertation Committee. The Dean of the Graduate School depends on this document to determine your eligibility to receive the doctoral degree so it is essential that it be completed and returned in a timely fashion. A passing report signifies that your committee unanimously agrees that you have completed a dissertation that is an independent investigation in your major field.

In the event that revisions to your dissertation are necessary before your committee members approve your dissertation, the report will be retained by your supervisor until all revisions have been completed. After successful completion of your defense and any required revisions to your dissertation, the Report of Dissertation Committee should also be signed by all members of your committee and must be submitted to the Graduate School.

After you’ve made required or requested revisions to your dissertation, if any, check it carefully for grammar, spelling, punctuation, content and format, then convert it to the required PDF format and upload it.

Do not submit your report/thesis/dissertation via email . Final reports, theses and dissertations MUST be uploaded to the Texas Digital Library before your final paperwork and pages will be reviewed. After submission, no revisions or corrections will be allowed except for those required by the dean of the Graduate School.

Upcoming Oral Examinations

Doctoral students’ final oral examinations are open to all members of the University community and the public unless attendance is restricted by the Graduate Studies Committee. Scheduled oral examinations are published on the UT Grad School website.

Preparing to defend your thesis from home

• Degrees and Programs
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Due to COVID-19, defending your graduate thesis or dissertation in person is likely off the table. That doesn’t mean you have to wait to defend. Many schools and programs are allowing remote defenses — meaning you could find yourself defending from your living room! In this presentation, a recent psychology doctoral student that completed a remote defense, a current dean of psychology, and APA’s Office of Graduate and Postgraduate Education and Training, share how to prepare for and complete your thesis or dissertation defense remotely.

This program does not offer CE credit.

Alvin Akibar, PhD

Hideko Sera, PsyD

Garth Fowler, PhD

An associate executive director for education, and the director of the Office for Graduate and Postgraduate Education and Training at APA. He leads the directorate’s efforts to develop resources, guidelines, and policies that promote and enhance disciplinary education and training in psychology at the graduate and postdoctoral level.

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Graduate School

Oral Defenses of Theses and Dissertations

Master’s students completing a thesis and doctoral students completing a dissertation are required to engage in a final oral defense of the document by their thesis or dissertation committee. 

Information on defense policies and procedures is available in the PSU Bulletin: Please review the thesis section for details about thesis defenses. Please review the dissertation defense section for details about dissertation defenses.

Preparation in advance of the defense

• The thesis or dissertation committee must be approved by the Graduate School via a GO-16 prior to  holding a thesis or dissertation defense.  
• Students must be registered for at least 1 graduate credit in the term of the defense.  
• Defenses should be held during regular academic terms, i.e., not between terms. However, if there is a need to hold a thesis/dissertation proposal or final defense in the period between terms, and all faculty involved in the defense have agreed to participate at this time, graduate programs are allowed to schedule defenses between terms provided certain requirements are met. See Enrollment for Defenses/Exams Held Between Terms for details.   
• Defenses may be held in-person, remotely via videoconferencing (e.g., Zoom), or in a hybrid format with both remote and in-person participation. Please review the Remote Thesis/Dissertation Participation guidelines for defenses in which the student or at least one committee member is participating remotely.   
• Thesis  defenses are open to the University faculty and may be open to the public at the department’s discretion. Dissertation defenses are open to the public. Students should check with their department for internal policies regarding scheduling and announcing thesis and dissertation defenses.

The defense

• All appointed committee members must participate in the defense, even if the committee has more than the minimum required members. Refer to the approved GO-16 or DARS audit to confirm committee membership or contact Graduate Academic Services at [email protected] . Any changes to committee membership must be made in advance of the defense. 
• The student should not be expected to provide food or beverage for attendees of the defense. 
• If a committee member is missing at the start of a defense, the student and committee must wait at least 15 minutes for them to join the meeting. In the meantime, the committee chair should contact the Graduate School at (503) 725-8410 for options in case the member cannot be located. 

Structure of the final defense

The master’s or doctoral candidate is expected to prepare and give an oral presentation on the research methodology and results. After the student’s presentation, they will defend the thesis or dissertation in a question and discussion session. 

• The student's oral presentation should not exceed 60 minutes.
• Defenses should be scheduled for 2 to 3 hours to allow enough time to accommodate all steps of the defense and a robust questioning and discussion session. Appointed committee members must participate in all the steps of the defense. The actual length of the defense will depend on how long each step takes.

Example structure of a defense:

• Allow 10-15 minutes for attendees to arrive. Allow at least 15 minutes for all committee members to arrive.
• Committee chair makes introductions and directs the defense meeting. 
• Student presents for 30-40 minutes. (Individual programs may have specific requirements about presentation length.)
• Questioning and discussion session. This session may be held publicly with all attendees and/or privately with only the student and the committee. (Depending on departmental practice, there may be both a public and private questioning and discussion session.)
• Allow 10 minutes for the student and everyone except the committee members to leave the room. 
• Committee members deliberate and discuss the result of the defense. Each committee member votes on the defense. (Votes will be captured via the GO-17 form.)
• Student is called back to the room to receive the result of the defense and any revisions required by the committee in order to give final approval to the thesis or dissertation. 

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Dissertation & Thesis Information

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Preparing For Your Defense

Oral defense policies.

While the content of a dissertation or thesis is the prerogative of the student and their dissertation/thesis committee, the oral defense committee requirements, deadlines and format is established by university policy and managed by the Office of Graduate Education.

• Doctoral Dissertation
• Master's Thesis

Dissertation & Thesis Process

Step-by-step process, dissertation guidelines.

• Proposal programs reserve the right to determine the composition of the dissertation/thesis proposal committee. Check your department's student handbook to determine any unique proposal policies and guidelines. 
• Dissertation Committee Guidelines 
• Thesis Committee Guidelines  

Oral Defense

• Students must satisfactorily complete the oral defense at least three weeks before the end of the term in which the degree is to be awarded. View resources for a Virtual Oral Defense.  

Document Submission

• Following the submission of the dissertation or thesis to ETD/ProQuest, students will work with the Office of Graduate Education for formatting approval. Formatting must be approved by the last day of the term. 
• Dissertation and Thesis publication option and information about restricting access
• Congratulations! You have finished your dissertation/thesis!  

Relevant Forms and Policies

Resources for a Virtual Oral Defense

The defense is expected to be held with the student and committee members being present in person.  However, if circumstances make it impossible for the student and/or committee members to be physically present, a defense with the student and/or faculty participating by conference call, webcast or other medium is allowed if agreed upon by the student, the dissertation director and committee members. 

2023 - 2024 Dissertation/Thesis Deadlines

View the Schedule of Deadlines for the 2023-2024 academic year.

2024 - 2025 Dissertation/Thesis Deadlines

View the Schedule of Deadlines for the 2024-2025 academic year.

Oral Defense Committee Recommendation Form

This form should be submitted to the Office of Graduate Education as soon as your proposal has been approved.

Schedule of Oral Defense

Four weeks prior to your oral defense, you must submit a copy of this form to the Office of Graduate Education and your department to schedule your oral defense.

Thesis and Dissertation Formatting Requirements

Review this comprehensive document for insight into formatting and arrangement requirements.

Thesis and Dissertation Submission Instructions

Follow these instructions to electronically submit your thesis/dissertation to ProQuest.

Formatting Template

The Formatting Template is a resource to help format your dissertation/thesis per the University's formatting requirements. 

2024 - 2025 Schedule of Deadlines

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Need help writing your thesis/dissertation? Get the support you need at the Writing Center. Our skilled staff helps writers at all stages of the writing process in individual and group settings. 

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Doctoral Exam Guide

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Graduate students can find "how to" guides and support information on our Workday support page .

Purpose of the Final Oral Defence

• To ensure that the candidate is able to present and defend the dissertation and its underlying assumptions, methodology, results, and conclusions in a manner consistent with the doctoral degree being sought;
• To communicate the results of the work to the campus community.

Structure of the Final Oral Defence

The detailed Final Oral Defence procedures are outlined in the Exam Instructions . A copy of these instructions is provided to the examining committee approximately one week before the Oral Defence.

The basic structure of the Oral Defence is:

• Candidate makes a public presentation of the dissertation (maximum 30 minutes)
• Examining committee members question the candidate
• Members of the audience are invited to ask questions of the candidate
• Examining committee holds an in-camera discussion where it decides on the overall recommendation it will make to Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (see Evaluation Protocol below)
• Chair conveys the recommendations of the examining committee to the candidate

Candidates are encouraged to arrive 30 minutes early to get comfortable and set-up in the exam room. Exams start promptly at the official start time. The doors to the exam room are closed at the start of the exam and no one may enter the exam room, either physical or virtual, once the Final Oral Defence has begun. The Oral Defence usually takes two to two and a half hours.

Audiovisual Equipment

The examination rooms in the Graduate Student Centre come equipped with a projector and screen (room 200) or a large monitor and auxiliary screen (room 203), a white board, and a podium. Most candidates prefer to bring their own laptops to the examination; it is possible to use the wall mounted PC in either room, in which case candidates should either have their presentations available on cloud storage or bring a thumb drive.

The displays in rooms 200 and 203 are equipped with VGA and HDMI inputs. Candidates using laptops without these outputs must bring the appropriate adaptors.

Candidates planning to use Zoom to enable remote attendance should indicate their preference when making the exam booking.

Language Requirement

Candidates for the Final Doctoral Examination must have fulfilled all course and/or language requirements of the degree program. It is the responsibility of the candidate's graduate program to ensure these requirements have been met, and that the candidate's oral language proficiency is adequate for full communication between the examination committee and the candidate.

The Final Doctoral Examination is a public event at UBC and as such will be conducted in English. The candidate's oral proficiency in the language of the examination must be adequate for full communication between the examination committee and the candidate. For theses in language programs, some questions can be posed or answered in the language concerned, provided the examination committee can follow proceedings (by translation if necessary) in this other language.

Remote Attendance at in-person Exams

For information regarding Virtual Defences held entirely on Zoom, see Schedulng the Oral Defence, and the Virtual Exam Protocol .

Managing remote attendees can pose both technological challenges and challenges for candidates in managing divided attention. For these reasons, Hybrid Defences with more than one remote attendee should be discussed with the doctoral exams team in advance. We will work with candidates and supervisors to make sure these defences run smoothly .

Normally, examiners required for quorum at an in-person defence should be physically present in the room. The external examiner or a third member of the supervisory committee may attend the defence remotely. 

Doctoral exams team use a Meeting OWL to support videoconferencing with Zoom. Candidates who wish to have remote attendees should indicate this on their Booking Request. The OWL can be used in either room.

For exams in other suitable rooms on campus, the research supervisor should verify that appropriate equipment is available in the room. Devices such as an OWL, or other mobile AV device may be used.

Should any technological issues arise during the course of the exam, the exam may be paused for a reasonable amount of time to resolve them. Only those examining committee members who have been present for the full duration of the exam can cast a vote in the proceedings. If members required for quorum lose connection and it cannot be restored, the exam will need to be rescheduled.

Please also note that the examination chair has the right to discontinue a remote connection if it is interfering with the proper conduct of the examination.

Attendance of the External Examiner

The external examiner's participation in a candidate's Final Oral Defence offers the opportunity for a valuable dialogue about the dissertation and the research it presents. Therefore, the participation of the external examiner in the Final Oral Defence is encouraged, but it is not required.

Inviting the external examiner to participate in the Final Oral Defence is at the discretion of the research supervisor; Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies will not extend such an invitation. For information about inviting the external examiner, please see Scheduling the Oral Defence .

Recording the Examination

See Recording the Examination .

Evaluation Protocol for the Oral Defence

The examining committee is asked to make an overall recommendation after evaluating two aspects of the candidate's performance:

• The Oral Defence : The committee should evaluate the candidate’s performance while presenting the synopsis, responding to questions, and defending the work. The committee must decide whether or not the performance met the standard of excellence expected of a doctoral candidate at UBC.
• The Dissertation: The committee should evaluate the overall merit of the dissertation, considering scholarship, scope and impact of the contribution made, and the quality of writing. They are asked to take into consideration the external examiner’s report, the assessments of the other examining committee members, and candidate's responses to questions during the Oral Defence. The committee will decide what revisions, if any, will be required before the dissertation can be considered fully acceptable.

Evaluation options available to the examining committee are:

• No revision or only minor revisions are required. The committee charges the research supervisor to verify that the required changes have been made.
• Substantive revisions are required. The committee chooses two or more of its members, including the research supervisor, to verify that the required changes have been made.
• The dissertation is unsatisfactory. Major rewriting and rethinking are required.
• The dissertation is unacceptable; it is fundamentally flawed and therefore beyond revision.

The examining committee is then asked to select one of the following overall recommendations:

• Pass. Pending final submission of the dissertation to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, the University should award the doctoral degree to this candidate.
• Re-examination required. The candidate should be allowed a second attempt to pass the Final Doctoral Examination. (No more than one subsequent attempt is permitted.)
• Fail. The University should not grant the doctoral degree to this candidate.

In any category where the committee's judgment is unanimous, or nearly so (in that at most one examiner dissents), the chair will express it using the check-boxes on the chair's Report form. Dissenting opinions will be noted in the text of the Chair’s Report. In any category where two or more examiners disagree with the majority view, the chair will select a box labelled “No Decision” and provide a written description of the differing views in the text of the report. If this occurs, the chair will inform Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies as soon as possible (typically within one business day of the examination). The Dean of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies will review the Chair's Report and promptly determine an appropriate course of action, in consultation with the examination chair and the examining committee.

The examination chair is responsible for completing the Chair's Report form and submitting it to Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies within one week of the Oral Defence.

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Final Oral Defense Guidelines for graduate programs and research students

• Research students are advised to contact their graduate program office for guidance regarding scheduling the final oral defense of their dissertation/thesis/major paper/internship paper, and to ensure the defense notice is publicly announced by the student's department at least 8 days in advance of the targeted defense date as outlined below. In addition to the final oral defense,  to complete their research requirement students must "deposit" their document with the Office of Graduate Studies  following the  3-step deposit instructions .
• Departments are to post public notice of the defense and send a copy of the posting to the Faculty of Graduate Studies (via email to  [email protected] ) at least 8 days in advance of the defense, as outlined below.

At the beginning of each term, the Faculty of Graduate Studies sets a grace period called "Phase I", to allow eligible research students to complete their final oral defense and deposit  without having to register and pay tuition fees for that term , provided the rest of the degree requirements have already been completed in previous terms and that they meet the  Phase I eligibility criteria .

For students aiming to complete within the Phase I grace period for Fall term 2024, the final oral defense must be held  no later than September 10th, 2024, and the deposit with Graduate Studies completed no later than September 25, 2024. Such students:

must apply to graduate by the Fall 2024 convocation application deadline ; and

must not register for Fall term 2024 in the dissertation/thesis/major paper/internship, provided their  final oral defense is scheduled no later than September 10th and that they meet t he  Phase I eligibility criteria .  Upon completion, the final grade for the dissertation/thesis/major paper/internship will be assigned to the previous term, Summer 2024.

*Note: students receiving OSAP or Tri-Council awards should ensure they are compliant with the terms and conditions of their award.

Review all Fall graduation and Phase I relevant deadlines posted on the  Important Dates webpage .

Students who complete the final oral defense or the deposit  after  the posted Phase I deadlines for this purpose must register in the current term in the dissertation/thesis/major paper/internship course. 

The following is a summary of the Faculty of Graduate Studies final oral defense requirements applicable to all programs. Students should contact their graduate program office for any additional defense requirements set by the program:

At least  two  weeks prior to the oral defense date for Master’s thesis or major research paper.

At least  four  weeks prior to the oral defense date for Doctoral dissertations.

• At least eight days in advance  of the defense date public notice of the defense must be posted in the academic unit (e.g. on the departmental website) and a copy of the notice received in the Faculty of Graduate Studies from the department (via email to  [email protected] ). The department is to ensure that students defending after the Phase I defense deadline are  registered for the term in which they are defending before  their final oral defense is posted by the department.   Review details about  Phase I and registration requirements . 
• The Chair of a PhD Defense will be procured from within the Faculty of Graduate Studies; the Chair will be a senior member of the Graduate Faculty from outside the program. The Chair will be named on the Notice of Defense. The Chair is non-voting.
• The Chair of a Master's Thesis defense will be a member of graduate faculty who has not served on the candidate's Master's committee, and who is appointed by the Department Head at the time the defense is publicly announced. Review  list of current Graduate Faculty members by program . The chair is non-voting.
• The candidate will present the dissertation, thesis, or major paper at a public defense. Review the  Defense Procedures Guidelines:  Doctoral  /  Master's .
• The attendance requirements at final oral defenses are outlined in the Faculty of Graduate Studies  “ Guidelines on attendance at major paper, thesis, and dissertation defenses ".

The " Defense Procedures Guidelines " and the " Guidelines on Attendance at Major Paper, Thesis and Dissertation Defenses " are also available from the  "Student Forms" webpage  under 'Thesis and dissertation forms'.

The Doctoral Committee will be supplemented by an independent External Examiner at the final oral defense. As an expert in the field of research associated with that of the doctoral candidate, the External Examiner will evaluate the dissertation and will be present (either in person or by teleconference) at the defense. 

All forms related to the External Examiner are available on our Student Forms webpage under "Thesis and dissertation forms".

PhD Dissertation Submission and Defense Timeline Tracker:

For your convenience, we have provided a  timeline tracker form for PhD Dissertation and Submission and Defense Timelines . If you require accessibility accommodations, please do not hesitate to contact the Faculty of Graduate Studies at  [email protected] .

Please note that the timeline form is for personal use only and should not be returned to the Faculty of Graduate Studies.

The  student  is to obtain approval signatures from all committee members and complete the  document submission ("deposit")  with the Faculty of Graduate Studies. 

• if students are targeting a specific deadline i.e. for graduation or Phase I completion, it is the student's responsibility to start the deposit within the posted deadline for this purpose, which may be prior to the oral defense - these deadlines are posted each term on the  Important Dates webpage . 

The  department  is to submit to Graduate Studies an official report from the final oral defense specifying the final grade. Review  instructions for departments about completing and submitting the defense grade Report Form .

Embargo / withholding request

A digital copy of the deposited document will be added as open access to the  University of Windsor Scholarship@UWindsor digital insitutional repository  as well as to  ProQuest  (theses and dissertations only). If the document needs to be withheld temporarily from the public for a variety of valid reasons (e.g. pending publication), at the time of depositing the candidate and their research supervisor(s) may request a period of withholding from circulation, as described in the  deposit steps .

At least two  weeks prior to the oral defense date for Master’s thesis or major research paper.

At least four  weeks prior to the oral defense date for Doctoral dissertations.

• At least eight days in advance  of the defense date public notice of the defense must be posted in the academic unit (e.g. on the departmental website) and a copy of the notice received in the Faculty of Graduate Studies from the department.  Students defending after the Phase I deadline must be registered in the semester they are defending before their final oral defense can be posted by the department. Review details about  Phase I and registration requirements .
• The Chair of a Master's Thesis defense will be a member of graduate faculty who has not served on the candidate's Master's committee, and who is appointed by the Department Head at the time the defense is publicly announced. Review list of current Graduate Faculty members by program . The chair is non-voting.
• The candidate will present the dissertation, thesis, or major paper at a public defense. Review the Defense Procedures Guidelines:  Doctoral  /  Master's .
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Thesis or Dissertation Defense Announcement Form

The tradition of the Tennessee Tech College of Engineering is to announce all thesis and dissertation defenses. Thesis and dissertation defenses are open to the campus at large as well as the general public. Defense announcement should be publicized a minimum of two weeks prior to your defense date.

Please submit your announcement three (3) weeks prior to the defense date.

Once you have submitted your announcement look for a confirmation email.

A second email will be sent to you when your announcement has posted asking you to review the information. Once you have confirmed the information is correct an email with the announcement of your defense will be sent to the College of Engineering campus community and be posted in the  College of Engineering Calendar of Events . Dissertation defense announcements also go to Tennessee Tech's Office of the President and Office of the Provost.

Questions? Email  [email protected]

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Congratulations to dr. naomi intrator for successfully defending her ph.d. thesis.

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Once you have passed the graduation application procedure, you can arrange for your Oral Defence.

1. Get permission from your advisor. 2. Build a committee with the help of your advisor.  3. Ask your advisor and the committee for their date and time availability and schedule the oral defense.  4. Ask your advisor for help to reserve a examination venue.

When building the committee, please keep the following guidelines in mind:

1. The Committee Should be 3-5 Members: Advisor(s) + 2 Committee Members. 2. One Committee Member (other than the Advisor) must be from outside the GMBA program. 3. Members should have one or more of the following traits:

- Current or past (assistant/associate) professor - Current or past (assistant/associate researcher of Academia Sinica of Taiwan) - A Ph.D. with significant academic achievement - An accomplished expert in the thesis-related field - A committee member cannot be your family member

*The Committee must be confirmed by your advisor. 

1. Submit your thesis to your advisor and all committee members. 2. Unless otherwise agreed, ensure the committee members receive a hard and soft copy. 3. Check with your advisor and committee members whether they need any special arrangements such as parking.  4. Ensure that the examination venue is booked. 5. Complete  Step 3  in the  GMBA graduation system (Fall 2024)  to download relevant documents for the Oral Defense  6. Complete the Thesis Similarity Check (See Below for Guidance)

When to do it?

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After your submission, you can download your Oral Defense Documents packet from the GMBA graduation system (Fall 2024) , including:  1. Master Thesis Certification by Oral Defense Committee 2. Thesis Oral Defense Grade Form 3. Advisor, Thesis Examination, and Transportation Pay List 4. List of the Examination Board 5. Statement of Academic Ethics and Originality Comparison 6. POD Checklist   

3. Ensure that you have brought a laptop and have any needed cables to connect to the projector and an AC charger for your battery. 4. Ensure that you have printed the Thesis Oral Defense documents packet. 5. Ensure that you have prepared hard copies of your thesis and slides (if needed).  6. Ensure that you have prepared anything else as conferred with your advisor, e.g., snacks, pencils, notepads, parking passes for off-campus committee members...

  * Most of the class and discussion rooms are equipped with a projector with a VGA slot and or USB slot. Some facilities also have wireless connection capabilities. You need to bring your own laptop or borrow one from the GMBA Office. 

2. Self checking whether your thesis meets all the requirements listed on the POD Checklist and then sign the list. For the POD Checklist, here is an example . 3. Please scan and upload all signed Oral Defense Documents, the final version of your Thesis, signed POD Checklist and Turnitin report back to the Step 4 in the  GMBA graduation system (Fall 2024) . 4. Start the Thesis Submission and Leave School procedure when completing the steps above. 

Resources can help you deliver a high-quality thesis and reduce the need for additional revision: 1. Academic Formatting

- For Literature Management, Citations, and Reference, consider using the Endnote Software made available by NTU - For Formatting consistency, we recommend you use APA or MLA. Regardless of which you use, please be consistent. - For Cover Page Materials, please follow NTU library instructions.  - Our  Template  is formatted in APA and already includes requested library formatting where needed.  Your advisor may have a different preferred formatting style. If this is the case, please follow your advisor's instructions. - You May find these references helpful:

* https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_style_introduction.html *  https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_style_introduction.html 2. English Formatting

Microsoft Editor Microsoft has a built-in grammar-checking and style-checking tool in Microsoft Office. However, many of the style-checking features are turned off by default. Follow these instructions to turn them back on:

• Go to  File --  Options --  Proofing  Options.  Under Grammar and Refinements, y ou will see a list of grammar and spelling refinement options, most of which are turned off by default. Check the boxes to activate the settings.
• You can also download English support for Office from here:  https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/download-office-language-interface-packs-lip-5ca3dbbe-9294-0757-1c65-b7f9f99b4da5
• If this does not work, try installing the English version of MS Office and check if your office version supports it.

Office 365   You will see significantly more options if you use Office 365.

Grammarly.com or DeepL Grammarly.com  or  DeepL  are another recommended tools. The free version offers basic grammar and spelling suggestions, which are especially useful for dealing with repetitive, common issues. The paid version has advanced grammar and AI features for rewriting and tone management. *Consider finding a native speaker to proofread your paper after editing.   

Start the Thesis Submission and Leave School procedures.   1. Please check with NTU library for the online thesis submission system.  https://www.lib.ntu.edu.tw/en/node/1788 2. Please check the graduation steps at myNTU to ensure you did not miss anything.  https://my.ntu.edu.tw/StudLeave/LoginEnglish.aspx 3. For international/Overseas Chinese students, you will be able to renew your ARC for 12 months (can be renewed twice) from the date of your graduation diploma. If you graduate in the Fall semester, the date shown on the diploma will be January of the year. If you graduate in the Spring semester, the date shown on the diploma will be June of the year. Please see NTU OIA website for more details.  https://oia.ntu.edu.tw/en/internationalstudents/degreestudent/survivalguide/ARC 4. Please print at least 3 (THREE) hard copies of your thesis, 2 are to be submitted to NTU library and 1 is to be submitted to GMBA Office.  

Email: [email protected] Phone: +886-2-3366-1030 Fax: +886-2-3366-5411 Room 903, Building I, College of Management, No. 1, Sec.4, Roosevelt Road, Taipei 106, Taiwan

BA (MacEwan University, 2020)

IBPOC Youth Perspectives on Anti-Racist and Mental Wellness Programming in Schools

Department of Educational Psychology and Leadership Studies

Date & location

Thursday, September 12, 2024

Virtual Defence

Supervisory Committee

Dr. Fred Chou, Department of Educational Psychology and Leadership Studies, University of Victoria (Supervisor)

Dr. Jon Woodend, Department of Educational Psychology and Leadership Studies, UVic (Member)

External Examiner

Dr. Marvin McDonald, Department of Counselling Psychology, Trinity Western University  

Chair of Oral Examination

Dr. Jason Keonhag Lee, Department of Mechanical Engineering, UVic

IBPOC youth in the Canadian settler colonial context face mental health concerns related to experiences with racism and discrimination. The school setting can be a space where IBPOC youth are exposed to racism and discrimination, which can be associated with mental health conditions (i.e., anxiety, depressive symptoms, etc.), feeling alienated, a lack of safety, disempowerment, low self-concept, and low collective self-esteem. Conversely, the school setting can empower IBPOC students and address mental health concerns by employing anti racist approaches. However, research focused on addressing racism and IBPOC youth mental health within the school setting are minimal in the Canadian settler colonial context.

To help address this gap, this study is situated in a Critical Race Theory approach (Crenshaw, 1995, 2011, 2019; Solórzano & Yosso, 2002; Thomas, 2009) and employs qualitative methodology to inquire about IBPOC youths’ recommendations for programming. Using a needs assessment approach and Reflexive Thematic Analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006), I constructed seven themes from the semi-structured interviews with five individuals: (a) Recognize that Mental Wellness for IBPOC Youth is Deeply Connected to Culture and Identity, (b) Need for an Intersectional Approach, (c) Understand that Family and Cultural Community are Central, (d) Make Programming Accessible for IBPOC Youth, (e) Importance of IBPOC Representation, (f) Need for Various Hands-on and Experiential Activities Focused on Identity and Mental Wellness, and (g) Implement IBPOC Programming and Schoolwide Intervention. These findings add to the burgeoning research on anti-racism, IBPOC youth mental health, and school-based programming. Keywords: BIPOC youth mental health, BIPOC youth voices, anti-racism and youth mental health, anti-racism in schools, mental health supports for IBPOC students.

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