PhD thesis defence: 3 top tips
Here are 3 top tips for your PhD defence:
Number 1: The preparation starts on day one of your PhD. The more you discuss your work with other students and academics, the easier it will be to discuss it in your defence
Number 2: is that you decide what ground you want to defend by deciding what to put into your thesis. So don’t worry about what you think they want to see or what they are expert in, focus on your strengths and what you’re interested in and bring them onto your strongest ground.
Number 3: It’s not an undergraduate exam where there’s a set syllabus and you get marked down for not knowing the answers. The questions they ask are often a starting point for a discussion, and it may be that they don’t know the answer, or perhaps nobody knows, but they want to see how you think about it. So if you don’t know the answer, just say, I don’t know, but… and think your way through it.