Transcription
The first mistake when defending your thesis is squeezing far too much in. Now, you want to show as much work as possible, but you have only got one, two, maybe three hours at the most to defend your thesis. So, you have to really strip it back to the bare bones. You really have to think about what are the hard-hitting conclusions and the discussion around them that I need to include.
Now, you'll want to include everything all the time, but practice a lot. Make sure you don't go over your allotted time. There's nothing more frustrating than going to a talk that you think is only going to last a certain amount of time, and then at that time point, you notice they've still got loads of slides to go. Go slowly and only include what is absolutely necessary. When you practice, you'll slowly get a feel of what should and shouldn't be in your thesis defense presentation.
One of my favorite tricks is to actually put in anticipated questions because you're not including everything that you've ever done. As you're kind of looking at your presentation, look at obvious gaps. Now, your research, uh, reviewers, they're going to be looking for those obvious gaps. They're going to sort of immediately spring into their mind as you're talking. So, what I like to do at the end of my presentation is leave a blank slide and then put graphs and tables and stuff that could support your answer to an obvious question.
If you've got a particular person on your panel who like really likes the theoretical stuff, or really likes this technique, or really sort of like, you know, wants to know about the the particular chemistry in my case that you were doing, you have to make sure that you have backup slides that answer those specific questions. Academics like to stay in their own little sort of knowledge bubble. It makes them feel powerful. So, Google your, um, your panel and make sure that you have backup slides on the end of your research presentation to answer any specific research questions that they ask.
Another big mistake is not practicing. And I get it, it feels weird. It feels really weird to talk like, in loud and proud, to either no one or just one or two people. But practicing is exactly what you want to do. You want to practice your research presentation to the point where it is natural-ish. Like, you don't want it verbatim, but you do want to be able to know what's coming next and anticipate sort of like your flow through the slides. And the only way you can do that is by practicing. Get over that kind of awkward hurdle. Ask a friend to sit in and buy them a cup of coffee, that always gets people in for a practice.
Another mistake I see is that people don't really understand the game. There is a kind of game component to your thesis defense. Remember, you've got a panel coming in, and some people take the word defense really, really seriously. So, they're going to be a little bit combative. Some people see it as a little bit of a game, like, can they trip you up? Can they make you feel a little bit flustered? That tends to be less of a of a general sort of trend than people just wanting you to do well. But I know professors who absolutely love it, just to kind of like push in areas they know will be a little bit painful or a little bit tricky. But do not take it personally. Do not take anything they say personally because it is part of the game.
A defense is for you to kind of learn how to navigate tricky questions. And if your supervisor has trained you well, you'll be well-versed in sort of batting back the tricky questions with more clarification questions, with saying, "I'm not quite sure right now, but let's, let's see if we can work this out right now." You know, all of those are fantastic ways just to handle a tricky question.
Another mistake that people make is to assume that the research panel is against you. That's your panel that is sat there want you to fail. They don't. They may enjoy the game, they may enjoy having a little bit of a stab at weak points that they know exist generally, but they are always there for you. They've read your thesis, which means that they know what they're getting themselves into, and they've probably kind of made a decision already about what the likelihood is that you'll pass. And they wouldn't turn up if they were just outright like dismissive of your PhD thesis. Now, everyone wants you to do well, and your supervisor will sit in on the on the talk as well, and they'll help you sort of really handle those tricky academic politics. All you have to do is focus on talking about your research in a confident manner. If there's any doubt when you're doing it, just look across at your supervisor and give them a little kind of smile, and they'll be there to help you. It's okay. People are there in a friendly capacity, even though sometimes it doesn't quite feel like it. They want you to do well. They will help you through the tricky questions if you ask them as well.
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Another mistake is not asking for clarification. I've seen it so many times in thesis defense, in presentations, in general, is the person thinks that they kind of need to understand what the other person means exactly, and then they go off on this weird kind of tangent, completely sort of, uh, against and opposed to what was really asked. So, if anything catches you off guard, it is perfectly okay to ask for clarification. "Can you repeat the question?" "Did you mean this?" "Are you more interested in this component?" "Is that a two-part question where you mean this and this?" Those are perfectly acceptable sort of like first responses to anything you don't understand, and use them a lot. This is a discussion. It isn't necessarily necessarily a one-way kind of spill that proves that you're right. They'll speak to you, and sometimes academia, academics are a little bit confusing.
Another thing I've seen is people just pretending they know the answer. No, in my other videos, I've talked about detection in academics. It is heightened. It is what they train for. Do not just pretend you know the answer to a question. Ask clarification. Say you don't know. Ask for help. All of these things are absolutely okay. It is not okay just to plow on with an answer that you know is rubbish. The moment you know it's rubbish, they know too, because they are tuned into the. Remember that this is actually not a marathon of standing up and talking. This isn't meant to be really hard physically. This is a mental challenge.
Not asking for a break is another sort of issue that I see people fall into because they feel like they don't have the power in that room. It's absolutely okay to ask to sit down, to read over your notes for a couple of minutes, to have a drink of water, to go to the bathroom. Use those times just to sort of calm yourself down, reflect. It's absolutely okay. You are not expected to sort of like stand up for two or three hours and just kind of like take the the physical kind of aspects of that on. You can sit down, you can ask for a break. Do it if you need to. Uh, yeah, it's not like a torture session, it's a mental jousting session.
Check, check, and double-check your slides. There'll always be something wrong, I guarantee it. If you are the only person to look over your slides, there will be typos, there will be issues, there will be weird things in the slide. Make sure that your graphs are obvious. Make sure that your bullet points are easy to read. Make sure that what you're saying at the time you are saying it is supported by the graph that's up on the screen. All of these things can be sorted by practice, but you should also, and one thing I often did, was actually look at my slides in reverse. Because if you just go through them normally, it can be really hard to kind of see where you've gone wrong. But if you go backwards and start with the last sentence, you'll read, or the last bullet point, and go back and go back and go back, that is how you find mistakes easiest. And just ask a friend, once again, another cup of coffee, some chocolate, they'll be happy to help, I'm sure.
Another mistake to avoid is not going to the room that you are actually going to give your dissertation defense in. Go into the room. Getting used to the environment that you're you're going to be in is so much more beneficial than practicing in a separate room. If you can go in, stand where you will stand, get used to the tech, you don't want surprises during this time. You can even set up the room beforehand so you know where people will be sitting. Put little name tags where you want people to sit. It's absolutely okay. You have the power and, uh, you can control your environment to match your, uh, your preferences, which is absolutely okay. Change the lighting, change the, um, the way the room's set up. It doesn't matter. But going into the room beforehand really helps me settle. It makes me feel in control. And when I feel all of those things, I know my presentations will be better.
So, there we are. There are all of the mistakes you need to avoid during your thesis defense. Let me know in the comments what you would have, what's your experience. Let me know. I'm very interested. Also, go check out academainsider.com. That's my project where I've got my ebooks, the ultimate academic writing toolkit, as well as the PhD survival guide. And I'll see you in the next video. You.