Thank You for Coming

We will start in just a moment

Committees, Defense, Vita and Publishing: The End Games

Committees, Defense, Vita and publishing: The end games

1. Care and feeding of committees

2. Prep for defense/Vita

3. Publishing – the proposal & as articles

Committees

Time to Vote:1. Did you get to pick yours? If so what were

the criteria you used?2. How is it going? Are you meeting with just

your supervisor or with the full committee?3. If you have gone through proposal hearing

were there any surprises there for you?4. Looking towards the endgame – what are

your plans?

Getting Ready for a Live Defense

• The Defense From the Professor’s Point of View

• Set Yourself up for Success • Building on a Solid

Foundation • The Two Approaches to

Reading a Dissertation or Thesis

• Comments and Revisions

Figure 9.1 During defense the professor’s role changes from helper to guardian of the university’s reputation.

Source: Jupiterimages/BananaStock/Thinkstock

Care and feeding of committees

1. Depends on the relationship but generally the more prep you do – the stronger your piece of writing the better it goes

2. Never be defensive

3. Always ask questions – don’t let the aura of distortion get you

Prep for defense/Vita

Absolutely!1. Invest in

proofreading2. Invest time in prep

for the presentation – don’t go over 15 minutes

3. Mock Defense is great if you can afford it

4. Manage your expectations

More on defense/Vita

Don’t!Get blinded by the light at the end of the

tunnel - You aren’t out yet

Purposes of the Final Defense

• Your purpose is to pass and have a title conferred upon you

• Professors protect integrity of the university• Final defense is NOT a presentation of your

research in chronological or even written order

• It IS an argument or case related to a specified issue as developed through your research study. Figure 14.1 You and your university share the goal of your

graduation, but your university also is concerned with protecting the integrity of the degrees it confers.

Source: Ryan McVay/Photodisc/Thinkstock

What to Expect During a Final Defense

• Final dissertation defense (also called: dissertation hearing, orals, vitas etc.)– Online university

• Asynchronous defense (online conversations precede a synchronous online event)

– Traditional university• Meet in person, standing before a panel of

‘judges’• Give a presentation• Face difficult questions Figure 14.2 Be prepared to face very

tough questions during your final defense. Source: Stockbyte/Stockbyte/Thinkstock

Outcomes of defense

• Pass with no revisions (almost never happens)

• Pass but with some level of substantive changes required

• Do not pass and are required to take another year or more to further investigate your study

Preparations for Defense

• Defending Your Claims - be prepared to answer questions like:– What is the purpose of your study as it is presented? Is your problem

empirically verifiable? How have you have you delimited your scope? – What are the assumptions of your study? Are they accepted in your field

and to what extent? – What scales operationalize your variables? How do you know that they are

valid? – What are your findings in terms of effect size? (Garson, 2002)

• Include limitations of your study – truth in advertising• Make sure your golden threads are present and clear (logical

progression throughout your document)

If You Don’t Pass Your Defense

• Go back to our previous chapters and really read every discussion about how to form your claims, warrants, and arguments.

• Reanalyze your work from the very beginning.

• Get outside help.Figure 14.4 If you don’t pass your final defense it may be a good time to get some help from outside of your university. Source: ©iStockphoto.com/Palto

After You Pass Your Defense

• Publishing – an ethical responsibility– Copyright issues– Academic journals– Self publishing – Online options

• Conferences Figure 14.5 There are many online options for getting your work out there, including blogs and social media. Source: ©iStockphoto.com/atakan

Final Defense Tips: Do…

• Consider searching out a “mock defense” service that gives you a full practice in front of professors and doctors from a variety of backgrounds.

• Anticipate all the questions that may be asked of you. • Come early to the room for a live defense to set up and get comfortable. • See what the protocol is for inviting guests, but consider having others there

to witness and offer moral support. • Think beforehand what two to three “takeaways” are the most important in

your study. • Practice your presentation in front of an audience until you are completely

comfortable both with the presentation and with answering questions. • Remember that you can exert some guidance to the way the conversation is

going.

Final Defense Tips: Don’t…

• Allow nervousness or adrenaline responses to cut off your ability to breath.

• Give long-winded answers. • Be afraid to say that you have not thought

about that question, could see how it would be relevant, but would like to come back to that person after doing a little bit more research.

• Try to come up with answers about which you have little knowledge.

• Stray from being 100% authentic. Figure 14.7 Try not to give long rambling answers; You can always follow up if something wasn’t understood. Source: ©iStockphoto.com/id-work

Publishing the proposal & as articles

1. First your thesis or dissertation

2. Rules and where generally set up for you by university

3. Read the contract if there is one – know your rights

4. If you own it (an you probably do) then you might consider self publishing as well.

Publishing the proposal & as articles

1. Spin your ideas2. Many findings? Each

one a journal article3. Some in journals

dedicated to the topic / others the methodology

4. Share at conferences – have papers

5. Scribd – etc6. Research Gate

Why Publish? Why do all this extra work?

1. Get your findings into your field – make them available to others who can use them

2. Launch you own personal platform

3. Build your career4. Not easy – mini

defense reviews all over again

Peer Review Work in the Academic World? Got to LOVE It!

1. It’s the basis of our world

2. It makes our work better

3. It gets easier as we get better

4. True test of where we are

Self Marketing, Writing Constantly,Get Used to It

It’s the way of the future

Upcoming News/Events

Monthly Content in Control Panel for Paying Members

Upcoming Conferences:March 24th: Data Collecting and analysis: What differentiates the typical from the outstanding?March 31st: The golden thread: Typing your research methodology together as you writeApril 7th: What happens when we look at the same thing from multiple levels of analysis and/or multiple perspectivesApril 14th – NO ConferenceApril 21st – Overview of what goes where in the typical 5 chapter dissertation or thesis