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In my experience, most of the anxiety before a dissertation defense is about the unknown: what the committee will ask, what they found that you missed, what happens if your mind goes blank. Defense preparation is the work of shrinking the unknown until what is left is a conversation about a study you know better than anyone else.
This kit is the way I do that with clients, laid out so you can do it yourself. It starts where committees start, with alignment: one read of the whole document, problem statement to conclusions, to find the soft joints before your committee does. Then come the questions committees ask at nearly every defense, answered as spoken landing points, not scripts. Then the details that come back as required revisions. Then a rehearsal, so the format feels familiar and the pause feels like yours.
WHAT'S INSIDE
Prepared, Not Braced (PDF guide, 12 pages) — how a defense usually runs and six questions to ask your chair; the alignment read, with one honest sentence for each soft joint; the six questions and how to land them; the detail sweep; building the slides, with a 20-minute timing table; rehearsal, and what to say when a question is hard; a three-week plan and a one-week plan; defense day; and after the defense
The workbook (Word) — fill-in pages for your defense at a glance, the Alignment Map, the Soft Joints Log, landing points for the six questions and for your design (qualitative, quantitative, mixed methods, or applied), your committee's own questions, the detail sweep, a rehearsal log, and a defense-day checklist
The slide template (PowerPoint, 16:9) — 18 numbered slides in defense order, from the title to the questions, plus backup slides. The notes under each talk slide say what it must do, how long to spend on it, and a way to start
The committee emails (Word) — five emails for the defense window: scheduling, sending the defense draft, the logistics note, the thank-you, and returning your revisions, with a response table
An honest note: this kit gives you the method and the materials, but it can't read your dissertation or play your committee. If you'd like someone to do that with you, see Defense Prep below.
Defense formats vary by school, program, and chair. Where yours says otherwise, follow them. Every piece of the kit is built to adjust.
PAIR IT WITH
The Doctoral File Toolkit ($9) — the file side of defense week: one clean master, backups, and the PDF you send
The APA 7 Front Matter Kit ($9) — the pages a format reviewer opens first
START FREE
WANT COMPANY FOR THE LAST STRETCH?
Defense Prep — an alignment read, question prep, a detail sweep, and a rehearsal with me as your committee
In my experience, most of the anxiety before a dissertation defense is about the unknown: what the committee will ask, what they found that you missed, what happens if your mind goes blank. Defense preparation is the work of shrinking the unknown until what is left is a conversation about a study you know better than anyone else.
This kit is the way I do that with clients, laid out so you can do it yourself. It starts where committees start, with alignment: one read of the whole document, problem statement to conclusions, to find the soft joints before your committee does. Then come the questions committees ask at nearly every defense, answered as spoken landing points, not scripts. Then the details that come back as required revisions. Then a rehearsal, so the format feels familiar and the pause feels like yours.
WHAT'S INSIDE
Prepared, Not Braced (PDF guide, 12 pages) — how a defense usually runs and six questions to ask your chair; the alignment read, with one honest sentence for each soft joint; the six questions and how to land them; the detail sweep; building the slides, with a 20-minute timing table; rehearsal, and what to say when a question is hard; a three-week plan and a one-week plan; defense day; and after the defense
The workbook (Word) — fill-in pages for your defense at a glance, the Alignment Map, the Soft Joints Log, landing points for the six questions and for your design (qualitative, quantitative, mixed methods, or applied), your committee's own questions, the detail sweep, a rehearsal log, and a defense-day checklist
The slide template (PowerPoint, 16:9) — 18 numbered slides in defense order, from the title to the questions, plus backup slides. The notes under each talk slide say what it must do, how long to spend on it, and a way to start
The committee emails (Word) — five emails for the defense window: scheduling, sending the defense draft, the logistics note, the thank-you, and returning your revisions, with a response table
An honest note: this kit gives you the method and the materials, but it can't read your dissertation or play your committee. If you'd like someone to do that with you, see Defense Prep below.
Defense formats vary by school, program, and chair. Where yours says otherwise, follow them. Every piece of the kit is built to adjust.
PAIR IT WITH
The Doctoral File Toolkit ($9) — the file side of defense week: one clean master, backups, and the PDF you send
The APA 7 Front Matter Kit ($9) — the pages a format reviewer opens first
START FREE
WANT COMPANY FOR THE LAST STRETCH?
Defense Prep — an alignment read, question prep, a detail sweep, and a rehearsal with me as your committee