How to successfully defend your Ph.D. thesis

A Ph.D. defense is one of those things that one can never feel prepared enough for because usually, it is the first time one is doing it! In this post, I try to paint a picture of how to successfully defend your Ph.D. thesis including how to make the slides for your defense talk.

Usually, there is a public part of one hour where you could invite friends and family.

I figured: it’s an exam – it’s go-time.

I am “defending” means I must be, at least, somewhat under attack.

If there is going to be war, I am ready and I didn’t want distractions, so I told my friends and family not to come.

It was me, and the 5 committee members.

The defense talk

As part of defending you write a talk that would leave plenty of time for questions.

Using something like PowerPoint.

My talk was 63 slides including the title slide, introduction slides, 6 backup slides, and 4 “divider” slides. Slides from my original defense talk are shared on my blog.

How to defend:

• Acknowledge other people's work and demonstrate knowledge of the field while pointing out how your research is unique
• Expect the most questions on the basics/fundamentals, that is, the background and motivation slides
• Expect to work things out on the board
• Expect to be grilled and to get uncomfortable, but doggedly get back to your talk and keep going through the material until you get to the good part - your research
• You are the boss of your research so everything should fall in place when you get to the slides covering your research work but make sure to keep pushing until then
• State the impact, importance, the main result right away before you get into the details of each project you present
• If you have papers or preprints, link to them, and highlight them while describing the associated research
• They will find what you don't know, so have an attitude to learn even at your defense

I could not answer the very last question at my defense. They were five... I was just the one. They don't just go to the edge, they find where you will finally fall off the cliff - of your knowledge!

So... expect it, anticipate, and save face as much as possible. Keep an open and learning mind. Work things out if you don't know the answer right away. Try, try, and try.

Defense does not mean learning is over. Getting a Ph.D. does not mean you know everything. Attitude to learn is everything.

If I can pass, so can you.

Let me know your thoughts below!

This article first appeared on the How to PhD blog: