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Guide to Defense Presentations OSU Department of Statistics September 2, 2004
Introduction An oral defense of the creative component is an institutionalized part of all graduate degrees granted from the Department of Statistics at Oklahoma State University. The defense is composed of two parts: 1. the presentation of the report/dissertation material (henceforth referred to simply as the presentation) and 2. the defense before your advisory committee. The presentation is to be given first, and the defense will follow. Presentation The presentation will be open to the public, and all faculty and graduate students will be expected to attend. The defense following the presentation will be attended only by your committee. The primary purpose of the presentation is to inform the department of what you’ve accomplished. The talk should be no longer than 50 minutes. Masters students, whose research efforts are expected to be significantly less than those of Ph.D. students, would not necessarily need the entire 50 minutes. Style of Presentation Your advisor will introduce you to the audience. He/she should give some of your personal and professional history. It is important to portray yourself as professionally as possible in your presentation. Remember, the defense portion will follow this presentation. A good performance at the presentation stage inevitably leads to a successful defense. You should dress appropriately (professional business attire is recommended). The recommended medium for your presentation is a projected electronic slide show, either PowerPoint or pdf files (advised for formula presentation). Transparencies, though acceptable, are old-fashioned and convey a lack of technological skill. You should keep your talk general in nature, keeping difficult mathematical derivations to an absolute minimum. You should also try to impart to your audience the practical applications resulting from your work. A real-life example is highly recommended to motivate the audience’s interest in your project. Your audience may have questions, but they will relate directly to your research. The most important aspect to remember about your presentation: Your committee can fail you based solely on this aspect should they consider your seminar substandard. Scheduling Your presentation and defense are both based upon your Master’s report or your Ph.D. dissertation. Your committee begins to assess your overall work based upon this document. The members of your advisory committee need ample time to review the work, so in compliance with OSU Graduate College policy, you must deliver the written version of your report/dissertation to your committee members at least one week in advance of the defense. The document should be as complete as possible and must not be a work in progress. All defenses will be scheduled on a Friday at 1:30 p.m. or 2:30 p.m. and will be scheduled with the seminar chairman or graduate coordinator after the unanimous agreement of your advisory committee. Your presentation should be over in 50 minutes. Every effort must be made to accommodate these times and days. Scheduling at a different day or time requires permission of the graduate coordinator or department head. This is to insure maximum attendance at your seminar. After the presentation, you and your advisory committee will convene in private for your defense. The defense will last until the committee has enough information to make a decision. Their decision will be based upon these criteria: 1. written work, 2. seminar presentation, 3. defense of written work, and 4. oral examination over relevant coursework. Unsatisfactory work on any of these categories can result in a defense failure. |
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