Pouring on Some D

Defense, that is.

As in your thesis/project defense. It's that last major hurdle before you pay off your library fines and graduate...at last. And it can be scary. It was for me.

After all, I'd never defended a project before. I felt like I really didn't know what to expect, despite being reassured by my committee that I would merely have to provide an overview of my project and then answer a few questions. Instead, this simple response combined with 30 months of sleep deprivation, the stress of actually finishing the project, and the fear of failure led me down a path of paranoia: "What are they going to ask me? Are they going to purposely put me in the hot seat just to see me squirm? Will they make me wait outside for an hour while they determine my fate? Will I fail if I accidentally leave in my draft a sentence with the word "form" where I meant to type "from"? Will I have to recite the entire introduction to Postmodernism: or, the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism?"

In reality, my defense was exactly what my committee said it would be. I gave an overview of my project: how and why I decided to pursue my topic, my thesis, the practical workings of my project, etc. Then, my committee asked me a few questions about how I thought my project might fit into the greater archives community. We ended with some friendly talk about the topic that felt much more like a roundtable discussion than a dragon's den.

Your defense doesn't have to be so scary, if you're adequately prepared. Easier said than done? A little. But, if you've communicated well with your committee throughout out the thesis/project's lifespan, you will get plenty of feedback on the defense-worthiness of your culminating experience well before the defense takes place.

So, here's some advice, drawn from my personal experience, that I hope will help those of you defending in the near future gain little more confidence:

1. From the moment you begin work on your thesis/project, maintain frequent and constructive communication with your committee. I cannot stress this enough. While this is not exactly d-day advice, your success in communicating with your committee will directly affect the success of your defense. Send them your proposal, keep them abreast of any changes or updates you wish to make to your research, and schedule regular meetings during key points in your research process (e.g., after forming a working thesis, compiling a bibliography, or completing an initial draft). Better yet, announce to them a preliminary proposal-to-defense schedule early in the game. Whatever you do, be proactive in your communication with your committee - the more invested you are in finishing your project, the more the committee members will be as well.

2. Schedule your defense for a day when you don't have to be anywhere else. Make your defense day Defense Day. Take the day off from work if at all possible. Arrange for someone else to take your kids to school (and pick them up). I chose to schedule mine for the afternoon. This worked well for my committee, but it also allowed me to spend the morning getting everything ready, from practicing my presentation one last time to making sure I didn't have runs in my pantyhose. Go ahead a schedule drinks or dinner with a friend for the evening after your defense. Knowing you have a reward coming your way will ease some of the stress of then day (even more so if you can get your friend to pay).

3. Turn in your final, pre-defense draft no later than one week before your scheduled defense. Here's some exclusive, inside info gleaned from my days as a GA: professors get really pissy if a student who is scheduled to defend on Monday morning dumps a copy of her draft on their desks on Friday afternoon. Not only does this leave an impression of your lack of preparedness, but it also doesn't give them enough time to give your draft the attention it deserves. Create a deadline to have your draft done 7 days before your defense, announce this deadline to the world, and stick to it. 

4. Risk overdressing. Even though MALS is a relatively non-judgmental program when it comes to style and appearances, I think it's a good idea to don the business garb for your defense. Dressing up will make you feel like a pro, and will help remind your subconscious that you are so pro. Hence my wearing of pantyhose mentioned in tip #2.

5. Practice. Practice what you'll say. Time it. Make sure you don't end up with a two-hour monologue when your chair asked for a 20-minute presentation. Use this practice time to clarify your ideas and anticipate questions. Jot down a framework for how you'll answer such questions. This is particularly important if you've decided to include (or exclude) areas of discussion about which you and/or members of your committee have not seen eye-to-eye during prior meetings about your research.

6. Remember, your committee wants you to graduate just as much as you do. This in no way means that they will pass a thesis/project that is not ready to be passed. However, no one on your committee harbors a sadistic desire to see you fail. It's important to keep this in perspective. That said...

7. If you're truly not ready to defend, then don't schedule a defense. Just about the only students I've heard of who did not pass their defense on the first go-round are those who really shouldn't have defended yet but insisted upon doing so anyway. Defending prematurely won't magically make your project complete. Completing your project will make your project complete. Defending when you are not ready will be a (very stressful) waste of time both for your and your committee. If you follow Tip #1 and communicate regularly with your committee, you can all but avoid this. If you are honestly unsure about your readiness, meet with your chair in an informal, non-defense meeting and discuss your concerns.

So, there you have it. My seven tips for a good defensive strategy. For more practical information on deadlines, electronic thesis submission, and the graduation process at ETSU, check out the ETSU School of Graduate Studies Web page and the Thesis and Project Section of the MALS Writing Center Website. Best wishes to all of you soon-to-be MALS alumni!

It's Your Week!

Did you know that April 2-6 is National Graduate & Professional Student Appreciation Week? I confess that I did not know until today. Let me start out by saying that I do, indeed appreciate you all, and not only because I have a job because of you MALS students, nor because I was only recently a grad student myself (although both of these circumstances do play a part).

And while this "week," ironically, is only five days long, I give you all seven full days worth of appreciation. I appreciate you because you are taking the time and resources to better yourself as a citizen of this world. In my somewhat biased opinion as a MALS alumn, I think it takes a special kind of person to pursue interdisciplinary graduate studies. Not only are you in the midst of one of the more rigorous programs on campus in terms of critical thinking, writing, and research requirements, but you are likely doing so while being misunderstood by family, friends, strangers, and colleagues. It's easy to announce that you're getting your master's in biochemistry, astrophysics, kinesiology, or something else with a flashy, if narrow, disciplinary objective. Your program of study, however, takes a little more explaining to the uninitiated. You approach your scholarship with a complex, real-world problem in mind first, recognize that a single discipline cannot adequately address this problem, and after all that go about learning not only the theories of interdisicplinary scholarship but also those associates with multiple disciplines. Impressive, I think, but try giving an elevator speech on that and you'll run out of floors far before you finish explaining the word "interdisciplinarity."

Who knows? It might take a fellow interdisciplinarian to appreciate one, especially while you're  knee-deep in seminar paper drafts, style manuals, and cultural theory books, your fingers are stained with highlighter, and you can't remember your own name for lack of sleep. But know this - what you're doing is worth it, and I appreciate you for having the guts to pursue MALS.