Tips For A Powerful Dissertation Defense Presentation

Questions Asked During Dissertation Defense

• What is the research problem in the dissertation?
• What is the importance and relevance of the research problem?
• What statistical methodology does the student propose to use in the dissertation?
• When do plan to complete the different components of the dissertation?

Preparing a Powerful Dissertation Defense

To make a powerful defense presentation, you must include the following:

1. Researcher’s Background: You must convince the dissertation committee that you have the skills to carry out the study.
2. Topic Background: Give a history of the topic, reasons for choosing the topic and identify any research gaps that make it necessary to research the topic.
3. Problem statement: At this point, you must explicitly express the reasons for doing this study.
4. Importance of the study: You should clearly explain to the panel how your study might impact your field of study and how the work can affect your standing as a professional.
5. Theoretical foundation: It is crucial to include a section in your dissertation defense PowerPoint for the philosophical orientation of your research. There should be a theory or framework upon which you have hinged your paper and the committee should know about it.
6. Conceptual framework: This is a crucial section of your defense presentation as it gives you an opportunity to explain the literature used. Give a brief overview of how the literature grounds your study and supports your thesis statement.
7. Research questions: Make sure you list the questions for use during the discussions.
8. Methodology: At this point, the panel expects to learn how you did your research to come to the findings. Explain your choice of research methodology and give the benefits. If possible, cite literature to support your choice of methodology. Make sure you clearly state the participants, methods of data collection, reliability and validity, data analysis and limitations.
9. Findings: At this point, your PowerPoint presentation will come in handy as you will use figures and charts for your data analysis. Call the committee to attention on significant findings and connect these findings to your research questions.
10. Conclusions: Discuss what you learned during the study, strengths, weaknesses, and limitations of your study, the implications of your study and give recommendations.

Preparing for a Powerful Dissertation Presentation

While most students have all the materials required to make a good presentation, they still find it hard to face the dissertation panel. To make the best dissertation defense presentation, consider the following:

• Practice your talk multiple times and ensure you understand how long your slides will take.
• Listen and attend other dissertation presentations to get a feel of the atmosphere
• Present to your family and friends and let them drill you with questions
• Anticipate the questions and have answers ready
• Avoid stress by exercising and getting enough sleep
• Avoid too much reading from your notes and instead, focus on presenting your ideas
• Don’t overdo the slides
• Create a clear structure for your presentation

If you have been asking “what is a dissertation defense?” now you have enough ideas to prepare and make the best dissertation defense presentation. If you need any kind of academic writing assistance, including homework help, contact us today!