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How to Prepare for the Oral Defense of

Your Proposal/Thesis/Dissertation

© Paul T. P. Wong, Ph.D., C.Psych., Former Research Director, Graduate Program in

Counselling Psychology, Trinity Western University, Langley, BC, Canada

Use the following steps when preparing for the oral defense of
your thesis/dissertation.
1. Evaluation of oral examination is based on your presentation and your answers to questions
from the examining committee.
2. Be well prepared for your presentation—academically, mentally and physically. Try to be well
rested and focused before your oral defense.
3. In your preparation, don’t try to memorize all the studies cited in your thesis, but you do need
to know the details of the few key studies that form the basis of your investigation.
4. You need to be familiar with larger issues, such as the basic assumptions, theoretical
framework, paradigm, cross-cultural perspectives, Christian integration, etc.
5. More importantly, you need to have a deep understanding of the nature of your research
problem and the major issues involved.
6. You may bring with you important materials for easy reference in the course of your defense;
these may include key articles, computer print-outs of results, etc.
7. Your presentation is evaluated in terms of content and clarity as well as style.
8. Don’t speak too fast and don’t read from your notes.
9. Treat your presentation as a public address because there may be non-psychologists present at
your defense. Therefore, don’t use too many jargons and don’t pack it with details. You need to
tell people in simple, concise language:
a. What you did,
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b. Why you did it,
c. How you did it,
d. What you found, and
e. What the results mean.
10. Prepare handouts or power-points. Typically, they should include
a. An overview or outline of your presentation,
b. Introduction (including research question, rationale and hypothesis, if any, and definition
of key constructs),
c. Method (including design, methodology, sample, instruments or questionnaires, and
procedure,
d. Results (including tables or figures summarizing your findings), and
e. Discussion (including reasons for new or unexpected findings, contributions and
limitations, and practical implications).
11. Make sure that you space yourself well. Don’t spend too much time on one section. For
example, you should not spend more than 5 minutes on introduction, since you are allowed only
20 minutes for your presentation.
12. Most of the questions are rather general and broad, dealing with substantial methodological,
theoretical and application issues. However, some questions focus on specific points regarding
sampling, statistical analysis, or some questionable conclusions.
13. Be prepared to clarify or elaborate on your assumptions, theoretical positions, methods, and
conclusions. Often, an examiner plays the devil’s advocate to see how well you can think on
your feet and defend yourself.
14. Occasionally, an examiner may ask a question which is unfair or cannot be adequately
answered. After a few futile attempts, feel free to say that you don’t know the answer. You may
even be bold enough to say, “Since none of my answers are acceptable, I would really appreciate
it if you could give me some pointers or tell me what would be a correct answer.”
15. Here are some common questions:
a. If you were to do it all over again, what changes would you make?
b. What specific aspects of your findings can be utilized by counselors or psychologists in
their practice?
c. What is the most important contribution of your thesis? Can you say it in one or two
sentences?
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d. What are some of the competing hypotheses? Could you think of an alternative
interpretation of your findings?
16. Don’t rush to any answers. It is perfectly acceptable to think for a couple of seconds, or ask if
you are on the right track. If you are not clear about the question, you are entitled to ask for
clarification.
17. Try to be concise and to the point, but at the same time demonstrate that you have a good
grasp of the complex issues involved. In other words, do not give superficial answers, but at the
same time, do not go all over the map.
18. Put up a good defense without being defensive. Be confident without being cocky. A good
defense means that you can provide strong logical arguments as well as empirical support o
defend your position or conclusion. However, don’t be defensive when people criticize your
study. If they are able to point out some real flaws or weaknesses in your study, accept their
criticisms with humility, grace and gratitude.
19. Before the oral defense, talk to your advisor about areas of concerns based on external
examiner’s comments. Then, discuss with your advisor how to best address these concerns.
(Your advisor cannot tell you the specific questions the examiners will ask, but s/he can direct
your attention to issues or areas that require some thinking or additional research.)
20. After the oral defense, meet with your advisor for debriefing and seek advice on how to
revise your thesis.