Tips for Defending Your Thesis

As Salam..

Share tips berguna utk kawan2 yg nak viva Isnin ni..seram dowh!

Kepada sape2 yg x tau viva tu apa..viva tu bukan kereta perodua viva yea, ini thesis defence..thesis oral examnination/presentation lebih kurang.. 

Ingat dah submit thesis tu ko dah selamat ker..belum lagi..next azab yg menunggu...kene viva..pemeriksa yg mark thesis ko akan ala2 menginterview ko..kerja2 yg ko dah buat, method yg diguna etc..

Aduhh..memikirkannya aje dah sakit perut! Mcm mana! Mcm mana!!

Rasa nak muntah ada..nak pengsan ada...nak membuang pon ada..semua ada secukup rasa...berdebar2 mcm nak kluar jantung..

Ya tuhan ...takutnya!!

Tips for Defending Your Thesis
By
Dr. Mani Maran Ratnam

Before the viva:

1. Read through your thesis once again and make sure that you 

    understand what you have written.
2. Read through the papers listed in your references so that you  

    understand the significance of your work in relation to other 

    researcher’s work.
3. Read through the relevant theories related to your thesis.
4. If you spot errors in your thesis, prepare an error list and the 

    replacement pages. Give it to the panel before the viva starts. 

    Apologize for the errors and don’t wait for the examiners to point 

    out the errors.
5. Write down the questions the examiners are likely to ask in each 

    chapter of your thesis. Prepare the answers to these questions. 

    Be prepared for more difficult questions like ‘What is the 

    significance of your findings?’, ‘How did you do your literature 

    search?’ etc.
6. Prepares slides for your presentation. Remember, you have to 

    present your two or three years’ work in 15 to 20 minutes! 

    Therefore, prepare well so that the examination panel can 

    understand what your problem is, how you solved it and what 

    you have achieved. Do not explain the theories in your 

    presentation. The examination panel do not want to listen to a 

    lecture! Make sure your slides consist of at least: Title page, 

    Objective of research, Past work (literature review),  

    Experimental and analysis procedure, Discussion of results, 

    Conclusion and Further work. Include a list of publications, if 

    you have published any part of the work. Use large font size (at 

    least 24) and do not put too much text on each slide. Choose 

    good contrast colors so that the texts stand out sharply from the 

    background. Do not use fancy background graphics or annoying 

    animations. Use plain background if possible. Use more 

    pictures and diagrams to make your presentation interesting. Do 

    not read from the slides! Prepare about 20 to 25 slides for a 

    20-minute presentation.
7. Burn your slides on a CD and bring it along, just in case your pen 

    drive or hard disk fails!
8. Remember to bring your copy of the thesis!! (latest version)

During the viva:

1. Come at least 30 minutes early and prepare your presentation. 

    Test the computer and projector so that everything works fine. 

     Dress properly. Remember, viva is a formal event.
2. Be relaxed when you start your presentation. Remember that you 

    know more about your work that the examiners or the panel 

    members. But, the examiners may know more about the 

    technical issues related to your field of research.
3. Understand the question fully before answering. Take your time 

    to answer the questions and restrict your answer to the question. 

    Be frank. If you are not sure of something, don’t defend it very 

    strongly. This will only encourage the examiners to dig further to 

    test your knowledge.
 

P/S: 

Ya Allah..bantulah mempermudahkan segala2nya..Semoga usaha selama ni akan membuahkan hasil..Saya mau konvo tahun nie..tak kira...tak kira... Utk kwn2 group MCN dan MCL yg akan menjalani viva this coming Monday (13th Feb 2012)..Good luck!