theorywatch

(These were originally written for people facing oral defenses for the OU School of Library & Information Studies comprehensive exams, but obviously they work in a lot of other “trial by fire” situations!)

1. Don’t bother to figure out why the faculty panel might have called you in to talk about a particular question.

2. Don’t review and reassess your recollection of your original answer to see what might be missing or wrong.

3. Don’t do any additional reading to help you better answer the question that was asked.

4. Don’t rehearse what you’ll say when the faculty panel asks you how you’d like to revise or add to your original answer.

5. Don’t volunteer any information: make the panel pull your responses out of you, one by one.

These are all HUGE mistakes to make when facing an oral defense: don’t let this be you, folks. The faculty truly wants everybody to pass, but we can’t do it for you. Be prepared!