1/7 Ultimate Guide to Undergraduate Thesis: Opening, Defense, and Conclusion Defense Guide
Mr. Lu Xun once said, "Defense is a process of bluffing with a straight face," and how to make people believe in bluffing is a skill in itself.
Defense is the final hurdle for many students to graduate. In terms of process, defense is often divided into two parts: opening defense and conclusion defense [Note]. For many people, undergraduate thesis defense is their first defense in life, but due to lack of experience, opening defense and conclusion defense often end up being ineffective, and the scene becomes chaotic.
However, my dear friends, don't lose heart. You have to believe that even though you may embarrass yourselves more in front of the evaluators than anyone else, even though your fancy defense tactics are bizarre and unconventional, the evaluators will still be very understanding.
Put yourself in their shoes. In situations like this, where year after year, graduating students torment the souls of the evaluators with their defenses, which teacher wouldn't develop "immunity"? The whispers of the teachers in the audience are not necessarily discussing certain issues in your paper, as you might think. They might just be discussing, "The melons this year are better than last year's," "Yes, yes, the price of pork has gone up again," or "Let's just let them pass this defense. I don't want to go through another round of re-defense in this heat."
2/7 It's always right to deal with difficulties lightly, as Mr. Lu Xun said, "We should not be afraid of any difficulties, but face them with a smile!" The best way to eliminate fear is to face it.
So, what exactly do we "defend" in undergraduate thesis defense?
How do we smoothly pass the undergraduate thesis defense? Let's talk about the things related to defense this time. Two golden standards to help you successfully defend. There are many methodologies on the internet regarding opening defense and conclusion defense, but ultimately, undergraduate thesis defense only needs to focus on two core questions:
Approach the opening defense with preparation and demonstrate your attitude towards scientific research or your understanding of scientific research.
Having an improper attitude, not taking it seriously, or being ignorant of domain-specific questions are major mistakes in opening defense.
Teachers will accept your imperfections because opening defense is a research and presentation before actually doing something, and it is understandable that many questions cannot be answered. These teachers will understand. However, what you need to do is to make the teachers feel that your research is rich and well-founded after they have listened to your opening defense. Through defense, you need to make the teachers feel that you are part of the community and not an outsider, and make them feel that you are capable of completing the ideas proposed in your opening defense.
The key to a successful conclusion defense lies in the amount of work. The only criterion for whether an undergraduate student can graduate is the amount of work. The various strategies for conclusion defense found online often mislead students. Believe me, demonstrating your work is the ultimate shortcut.
What? Is research output not important? I can assure you that for undergraduate thesis defense, it is not important! Because most students do not have research output, the amount of work becomes the hard criterion for measuring the abilities of most undergraduate students.
In addition, the amount of work indirectly reflects your attitude. No teacher will easily let a student with little work pass the conclusion defense, just as no one likes someone with an improper attitude.
In conclusion defense, you need to demonstrate and highlight the work you have done to successfully conclude your thesis and how much effort you have put into it. So, what exactly do we "defend" in opening defense and conclusion defense? The preparation for opening defense A good opening defense needs to achieve the following two basic "achievements for beginners":
Establish a background for your research and prove the necessity of this background.
Demonstrate that your research will meet this background and extract the scientific problem you want to study within this background, as well as the solution method you will use.
To be more specific, if your research topic is "Can roller coasters accelerate the expulsion of kidney stones," how should you defend your opening? First, you should introduce the research background and extract the scientific problem you want to solve, and explain why this problem is important. For example, kidney stones are a common disease in modern times, especially for modern people who sit for long periods, drink little water, have a sedentary lifestyle, overeat, and consume excessive amounts of tea and coffee. Imagine the mood of the defense teachers listening to your presentation at this moment. These teachers sit all day, holding tea and coffee, eating melon seeds. They not only have to endure the eardrum damage caused by the defense but also worry about the increased risk of kidney stones. Which one of them wouldn't feel anxious and eager to hear your solution? By "defending" in this way, the treatment of kidney stones is indeed a problem closely related to daily life. Your opening defense not only introduces the research background but also extracts the scientific problem. It not only stands firm but also makes a great impression.
Next, you should introduce your research plan, such as the research approach and methods you will use to improve or solve this problem. At this point, some students may have doubts, as they have only just started their research and have not delved deeply into the field. How can they propose research approaches and methods? This is where the importance of the current research status at home and abroad comes into play.
The experimental plans involved in the current research status at home and abroad are the source of your inspiration. In addition, the current research status at home and abroad also serves as evidence to support your scientific problem. Imagine if you say that your scientific problem is very important, but there is no similar research at home and abroad, and no related literature has been published. Naturally, people will doubt the topic you have extracted. At the same time, the current research status at home and abroad will also provide reference for the defense teachers to evaluate your research based on the research approaches of other research groups. For example, there are various treatment methods for kidney stones at home and abroad. Severe cases can be treated with modern medical methods such as ultrasonic lithotripsy, ureteroscopic lithotripsy, and percutaneous nephrolithotomy. Mild cases can be treated by skipping rope or running to promote stone expulsion. In this defense, you propose the idea of roller coaster lithotripsy because, based on relevant research at home and abroad, you found that roller coasters have strong inertia, which helps produce a promoting effect on stone expulsion. The principle is similar to the treatment method of skipping rope. In this way, the defense teachers will feel that your research approach is reasonable and convincing when compared with the current research status at home and abroad.
Finally, you should introduce your progress schedule and funding requirements. The funding requirements should be reasonable, and the progress schedule should be compact and concise. The specific methods can be adjusted moderately depending on the discipline. Preparation for conclusion defense The most important thing in conclusion defense is to demonstrate your work. How can you make simple work appear substantial? Dimensional expansion is crucial!
On the one hand, you can appropriately expand the non-original parts. For undergraduate students, summarizing previous work, compiling information, and introducing theories related to the topic can be used as a means to demonstrate work (of course, for students with master's degrees and above, innovation is the reasonable way to demonstrate work).
On the other hand, for your original work, don't just focus on one aspect and write endlessly without restrictions. It should be expanded in multiple dimensions, from low to high levels.
For the topic "Can roller coasters accelerate the expulsion of kidney stones," the core of the defense is, of course, to answer whether "stones can be expelled" or "stones cannot be expelled." However, in the defense, don't just give the teachers an answer. Whether it is "yes" or "no" is not important for undergraduate thesis defense. What is important is what work you have done to obtain the answer to this question. This is the amount of work, and how can the dimensions be expanded? You can try brainstorming from the following perspectives: Why choose roller coasters instead of motorcycles as the experimental objects? (Dimensional expansion of the logical framework design part) What is the most reasonable choice of roller coasters in terms of location and type? What factors need to be considered? Funding, acceleration, or track curvature? (Dimensional expansion of the investigation design and analysis part) Does the position on the roller coaster have the same effect on stone expulsion?
6/7 How was the data collected? How many sets of experiments were conducted? Were there control results? (Dimensional expansion of the data analysis and application part) Misunderstandings about defense For most students, thesis defense is just a formality. Due to their lack of experience, there are misunderstandings about this form of defense. Students' misunderstandings often focus on the following two points: Misunderstanding 1: If you cannot answer all the questions raised by the evaluators, your thesis will not pass the review. If you have conducted research and completed your thesis, then naturally, you have become an expert in your field. However, becoming an expert does not mean you must know all the answers. Scientific research is an endless journey of learning, no matter how high your level of expertise is, there will always be more unknowns to learn. The evaluators also know this. Therefore, your thesis defense is just an opportunity to demonstrate that you have learned how to conduct independent research. If you are asked a question that you are unsure about, it is good to admit it openly. In fact, this is already good enough. The better approach is to explain how you will find the answer. Remember not to try to fabricate an answer, as the evaluators will see through it.
Misunderstanding 2: Defense teachers deliberately want to catch your mistakes. Defense teachers are not "bad people." They want students to graduate successfully, so your defense teachers are actually on your side. However, defense is related to your research, your education, and your future. Your defense teachers will ask you challenging questions and require you to adhere to strict standards, which is normal. When you have determined your thesis topic and conducted research, having a strict defense committee or even a better choice is advisable. But in the end, your teachers want you to complete your thesis and obtain your degree. Your success will have a positive impact on them and their department. If you fail to graduate, it will directly affect their performance, assessment, and even enrollment indicators. So don't worry that they will pick out your mistakes or try to make things difficult for you with tricky questions. They are not here for that. They know how much you have put into your degree, and they don't need to "trick" you at the last moment. In conclusion, defense is just an experience in life. Try to relax, be confident, and you will successfully pass this hurdle.
[Note] Some universities also have mid-term evaluations, but they often take the form of submitting mid-term evaluation reports rather than defense.