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Defense Prep

Walk into your defense prepared, not braced.

In the weeks before a dissertation defense, I help doctoral candidates in psychology, business, and the human sciences shrink the unknown: an alignment read of the whole document, the questions committees actually ask, the details that come back as required revisions, and a rehearsal with me as your committee. Part editor, part coach — so the defense becomes a conversation about a study you know better than anyone in the room.

Book a Free Strategy Call Read the pre-defense checklist

How I help you prepare

Alignment readI read the whole document once for alignment — problem statement to research questions to methods to conclusions — and mark every soft joint. You get a short written memo: what to fix before the day, and what to answer honestly if the committee finds it.
Question prepThe questions behind the questions: why this method, why this sample, what you would do differently, the limitations, where the research goes next, what it means for practice — plus the ones specific to your study. We draft spoken landing points together, not scripts, and you say them aloud.
Detail sweepThe layer advisors miss: a two-direction reference check, table and figure numbering and style, a table of contents that matches the headings, and front matter against your graduate school’s template. Walking in clean means walking out with a shorter revisions list.
RehearsalA timed run-through of your slides and a mock question period with me as the committee, including at least one question that stumps you, so the pause gets rehearsed too. Written feedback the same day.

After the defense. If the committee hands you a revisions list, my post-defense check brings the final file in line with it, and with your school’s format, before deposit. Quoted separately, billed only if used.

Why work with me

Editor and coachI read the document the way a committee does, and I support the person who has to answer for it — both halves of a good defense.
Inside the processA Routledge author and journal editor who has defended her own dissertation and prepared candidates for theirs in psychology, business, and the human sciences.
MI-certified, field-fluentCertified in Motivational Interviewing (2025) and fluent in the literature of psychology, transpersonal, spiritual, and grief scholarship.

The process

  1. Free strategy callYour defense date, your committee, and where the document stands.
  2. Plan & quoteA written scope with a ceiling, and a schedule that works back from your defense date. One full service; you choose how to pay.
  3. Read & sweepThe alignment read and the detail sweep, with a written memo.
  4. Prepare & rehearseQuestion prep, then the timed run-through and the mock question period.
  5. Defense dayYou walk in knowing your study. Afterward, the revisions list, if there is one, has a plan.

When to start. Two to three weeks before the defense is ideal; one week is enough for the checklist. If your defense is sooner than that, say so on the call.

“What truly sets Jennifer apart is her compassion and humanity. She understands the emotional challenges of academic work and offers invaluable support beyond her editorial skills.”— Dissertation Student

Your defense, prepared.

You have carried this project a long way, and you do not have to finish it alone. Start with a free strategy call.

Book a Free Strategy Call Read the pre-defense checklist
More services: All Services  ·  Dissertation Editing  ·  Writing Coaching  ·  Conference Prep  ·  Journal Articles  ·  Books & Proposals  ·  Am I Ready? Quiz
Further reading: How I Help Clients Pass Their Defense: An Editor’s Pre-Defense Checklist  ·  The Reference List Audit I Run on Every Dissertation  ·  What to Do With Your Dissertation After You Defend