Suggestions for a Smooth Thesis Process
Lynn Santelmann, LING
santelmannl@pdx.edu

While your thesis defense is a date that looms large in your mind, for your committee members, it's simply one more thing we do in a week. YOU need to take responsibility to make sure forms are filed, your committee members have time to read the thesis and that they get all the info they need.

For a list of the forms you need to file, please click on this link. (This is an Adobe Acrobat File; you’ll need the free Acrobat reader to download this.Click here to download Acrobat.)

Working with the content of the thesis:

• Leave time for your advisor to actually read and comment on the chapters (i.e. over a weekend). Our lives are busy. We need time.
• Plan for enough time for your advisor to read 3 drafts before you hand it out to the rest of the committee. Many chairs like to read this chapter by chapter, but this still means for most people that your advisor needs to have seen a first draft of all chapters at least 6-8 weeks before it goes to the full committee. I need to approve the following types of content (note that not all of these are parts of separate chapters):

• Introduction giving scope, overview and significance
• Literature Review
• Hypotheses and/or Questions to be addressed (most likely part of lit review)
• Method (including how analysis will be done)
• Results
• Discussion (relating results back to introduction and significance)
• Limitations, Future Studies

Note: Not all chapters will require 3-4 drafts. If your proposal was good and thorough, and then the introductory chapters (up through Method) may be nearly done. Results and Discussion are the heart of your thesis and will take more drafts.

• Give your advisor enough time to read the next-to-last draft before the one that goes to the committee (at least one week). That means 3 ½ weeks before your defense.
• The defense draft needs to get to the committee two weeks ahead of the defense date

Scheduling the defense:

• Determine with you advisor when an reasonable defense date is. If I do not think you are ready to defend, I will tell you so.
  
• Contact all committee members at least a month ahead of time and determine possible meeting dates and times.
• Once a meeting time is found that works for all people, send a message to all committee members stating clearly when and where the defense will be.
• Arrange with the LING staff (i.e. Karin) in the front office to reserve a room. (Note this needs to be the LING staff, not the ESL staff. The LING staff know to check to see that all the forms have been filed, and you've got done what needs to be done before the thesis defense. The ESL staff do not have these records.)
• If you have a strict timeline (e.g., a job offer in another country, courses expiring after 7 years), your advisor may let you defend with the understanding that you will have considerable (not just minor) revisions to do. If that is the case, make sure you schedule time to complete your major revisions. Don't try to pack up all your belongings AND revise your thesis in a week!
  
• Two or three days before the defense, send a polite, friendly reminder confirming the date, time and location of the defense to all your committee members. Don't let us forget! It's happened!

Preparing for the defense:

• Prepare the signature page for your thesis and get it approved by the grad office before the defense if at all possible.
• Bring 4 copies of the signature page to the defense for your committee to sign. It must have been approved by the grad office and must be on the right kind of paper. You really don't want to have to track down the entire committee once your final revisions have been made.
• Watch, if you can, someone else in the department defend before you defense date.
• Prepare a 20-30 minute presentation on your defense, summarizing the background, questions, methods, results and implications. (In other words, the whole thesis, but shorter.)
• Make visual aids for your audience - handouts are fine, overheads are fine, powerpoint is fine. If you use overheads, use no smaller than 24 point font!
• If you are using an overhead projector, make sure it works ahead of time. If you use powerpoint, make sure you practice setting up the equipment before hand. If you use PowerPoint, make sure you print off a copy so you can use handouts in case of disaster.

After the defense:

• Expect minor changes to need to be made, and to spend time formatting the thesis. Very often your advisor will not sign off on the signature page until after the revisions have all been made.
• Get the thesis formatting, paper type, etc. approved by the grad office. This is actually something you can do well in advance, or at least during the two weeks between giving a full draft of the thesis to the committee and your defense.
• Get the department chair's signature.
• Turn in thesis.
• Celebrate!