Defense

If you write a thesis or a project, you will begin by writing a prospectus, and before graduation you will do a defense. A defense is a meeting at which the committee asks you to discuss some of the points of your thesis or project, perhaps calling on you to expand or clarify some of the ideas. During the defense, the committee might ask you about future plans for the document, including possible publication.

You should schedule your work on your thesis or project so that you will be able to give your completed thesis or project to the committee two weeks before your defense is scheduled. The faculty will need two weeks to read the project or thesis and to prepare for the oral defense. Therefore, if you plan to graduate in May, you will need to be on a schedule that permits a defense by the end of March. If you plan to graduate in December, you will need to defend by the end of October. Note that the dates for successful defense of a thesis or project are determined by the university

You should expect to be asked to revise your thesis or project after the defense. Sometimes the revision is merely editorial, but sometimes you will be asked to write or substantially recast sections of the document. Your committee may ask you to revise a second time before approving the document. Try to schedule several days after the defense to work full time on the revisions.

If the committee feels that your work needs substantial revision, it will not schedule a defense. You might be asked, for example, to expand or clarify some of your ideas. In such a case, it is possible that you will miss your intended date of graduation.

Revised 13 August 2003.