PREPARING FOR THE ORAL DEFENSE OF YOUR DISSERTATION

Preparing for the Oral Defense of the Dissertation

This week I get to celebrate one more doctoral candidate who successfully defended her dissertation, congratulations Dr Priscilla Ndlovu! In the spirit of celebration and as several others run towards the finish line, I decided to revisit a topic I covered a year ago on (March 30, 2012) on getting to a successful defense. In that earlier post, I talked about creating a plan and working it, avoiding distractions and derailments, keeping a pace akin to coursework, learning from those who have gone before you, social support and accountability. In that post, Keith Keppley also posted his reflections as one who had successfully completed his defense.

First of all, at this point in the journey, you are an expert on your topic – including the context and content of your study. Act like one! Demonstrate your competence confidently. Own it!

Be prepared to answer questions about the content of your study. Expect questions about the conceptualization of your study, the theoretical framework, the methods employed (not only how suitable, but what you learned about research design by using the specific method), the findings and implications.

As far as implications go, at this point the committee or examiners want to know, ‘now that we know this (your study findings), so what?’ Demonstrate your expertise by linking your study findings to existing literature where you can be extending it and/or even critiquing it.

Further, expect questions related to the practical implications of your study. That is,  in what ways does your study inform the practice of [e.g. leadership development, organizational change, long term healthcare administration, college teaching…]whatever your topic is? Your examiners are interested in hearing you articulate the [potential] practical applications of your study. 

Finally, I have noticed in some of the committees that I have served in, that some of us are also interested in hearing how the dissertation process impacted you. Indeed, if the dissertation process is more than just an intellectual exercise, it might, for example, impact the choices you make about your future career goals, it might make you reflective about your social identity and the power associated with the researcher role. My dissertation process opened up a world of cultural explanations and depth of understanding about women’s status in my motherland in ways that came as a surprise. For some, the impact might be in getting them excited about scholarship to the point of deciding to become academics…

As usual comments and questions welcome. All the best as you prepare for your oral presentation.

Dr Faith 

Keeping Up Momentum

Today is Super Bowl Sunday in the USA...and yes I am sorta kinda watching the game. More appropriately, I am procrastinating rather than working on my Sunday meeting - that's the time I spend each Sunday planning my work week and ensuring that my writing goals are scheduled along with my teaching, service and life goals. If I fail to add my writing goals to the weekly schedule, the tyranny of my overwhelming teaching responsibilities overtakes every working hour.

So I thought one good way to stop procrastinating is to review this blog, look over the advise that I offer you (which is often also self-pep-talk), and come up with something to say. I haven't posted since November, so this is in fact my first post of the new year. So to the noise of the super bowl,  I thought about how we fail to keep momentum often triggered by our emotional response to requests for revisions.


Perhaps a story or two will illustrate what am talking about. Take student Mwanafunzi, who submitted a draft proposal seven months ago, received feedback from the committee, then fell of the radar. Seven months is a very long time to take to respond to feedback, which for all intents and purposes, should have only taken a few hours worth of work. I thought I'd have had a revised draft a month later, at the longest.

Or take the case of professor Mwalimu Mkuu, who received a revise-and-resubmit from a journal one year ago, and has yet to do the work. In fact, most journals dictate that they want the RnR back within six months, any longer and you have to submit the manuscript as a new submission.

In both cases, the reason for not getting the work done is that both Mwanafunzi and Mwalimu Mkuu felt overwhelmed by the request for revisions, and/or felt slighted by the tone of the reviewers, and/or felt like they'd failed. Perhaps other emotions are involved too. So they put their manuscripts aside for far too long.

The reality for students working on dissertations and professors working on manuscripts is that being required to revise and resubmit is a normal part of the process. An emotional response to the request is also normal. However, you cannot let the emotions overwhelm you to the point of losing momentum. Rather, emote if you must. Then get back on that horse and ride on to the finish line. Read through the reviewers/committees feedback and craft a plan of attack. In other words, emote, then get over it and get on with it!

As always, all the best and questions/comments welcome.

Dr Faith