1. Master Student Building Capacity Workshop
Date: 29th March 2018
Master Student Building Capacity Workshop
“Towards successful defense exam”
Second Semester 2017/2018
Dr. Dalia Mohamed Kamel
Acting Dean of Graduate Studies and Research

2. How you will be assessed?
The written part (70%)
weight
The oral presentation (30%)
Problem definition
/10
Organization, Eye contact, Delivery
/20
Literature review
Time management & presentation skill
/50
Methodology
Questions & answers
/30
Product
Results & analysis
Conclusion/recommendation
Format and documentation

3. What are the objectives of The progress review?
Chance to practice answering questions about your dissertation.
Exposure to some of difficult question which need a prepared answer and so practice how you might answer them.
Practice to answer out loud not just in his/her thoughts and this puts any responses, clarifications, and deliberations into words.
Initially this can feel embarrassing, stressful, and difficult, but it is an invaluable preparation for the real defense exam.

4. What is the best time of the progress review
The best time to do this is around 2 weeks before the date scheduled for the actual defense exam.

5. The good practice of the progress review/ defense exam
Any research/project/dissertation has its own strengths and weaknesses, the student should practice to discuss both.
Regarding weaknesses, it is good to think about as an opportunity to demonstrate your skill at critical appraisal.
Examiners will seek to find and discuss weaknesses so do not take it as a criticism or an indication of negative outcome.

6. Response to your research weaknesses
The good approach :
Stay calm;
Give yourself a reasonable time before replying;
Identify the weaknesses before real defense and practice for reliable responses;
Don’t take criticism personally or as an offence;
Enjoy the opportunity to talk about your research.

7. Continue responses………..
The bad approach
Give a general, e.g. ‘this happens in every study’;
Blame your supervisor for the weakness;
Blame your data;
Say ‘that was beyond the scope of my study’, without giving a solid support to this statement;
Refer to this weakness as unimportant.

8. Basic points that every defense exam will be including
Questions that commonly asked in defense can be grouped under four basic themes.
What’s it about? (Research question and aim)
What did you do? (Methodology)
What did you find? (Results)
Why does that matter? (Your contribution to the knowledge)

9. General questions
Why did you choose this particular research question?
What was the most interesting aspect of your research?
Now after you have finished the research, which part of the process would you say you enjoyed the most, and why? Strengths
Now after you have finished the research, which part of the process would you say you I can repeated or improve it, and why? Weaknesses/ recommendation

10. Context
Summarize the particular relevance/significance of your work?
Methods
What was the study design used?
Did you have any problems with the data collection process?
What were the main ethical issues of conducting this research? How did you address them?
How did you establish the limits around the scope of your data collection? (i.e. selection of tools, equipments, techniques, tests…)

11. Analysis and findings
What were the statistical analysis methods/tests used?
Did you encounter any problems with applying this method of analysis?
Do you think the data you collected were the most appropriate to answer your research question, or are there any other data you would have liked to have collected?
Describe briefly the main findings of your research

12. Discussion
What are the interpretation of your findings?
What were the arguments in literature regarding your research topic and can you clarify these conflicts?
What is the originality of your dissertation?

13. Conclusion/implications
What are practical and theoretical implications of your findings? i.e (contribution to the knowledge)
How would you hope that this research could be followed up and taken further? (Recommendations for future researches)
If you were starting your research again now, are there any changes in the way you would plan it?

14. Tips
Tips
Tips
Tips
Tips

15. Useful tips
Present before your exam by minutes earlier to set up your presentation and make sure that everything is working.
Annotate your dissertation with post-it notes (flash cards).
Read your dissertation before the defense exam with a critical eye.
Talk to colleagues who have successfully gone through their dissertation and ask their advice.

16. The examiner's perspective
The main target of the progress review/ defense exam is to be sure that :
The student knows the area of the study.
The student is the author of the work.
The student knows the dissertation weaknesses and strengths which have made an original contribution to knowledge.
So do not take it offense or personal matter

17. Thank you