Effective Proposal Presentation Strategies for PhD Students

Notes to the Student

Best Practices Before the proposal Practice your presentation with your research group (include having them ask questions and giving feedback) Practice answering questions you DON T know the answer to. This is a professional discussion that sometimes gets off- topic. Ask your advisor if friends/lab mates can or should attend. Even if they are advised not to attend your proposal, you should invite them to your defense! During the Proposal Students should plan on presenting 20-30 mins. MAX and answering questions throughout. This usually makes the presentation take 45 mins - 1 hr. You should schedule 2 hours, if possible, for the proposal. If the committee is only available for 1 hour, be brief. After the proposal You should seek writing support and guidance - See Graduate Writing Resources page. Need help with the big picture and how to organize your work? Grad. Research Engineering Writing Center (GREW) Need help with grammar and general writing? - E-Tutoring Writing Center Use Grammarly - this is an actual requirement to have your final manuscript approved! Begin using the Thesis Office s template and submit your Preliminary Pages Chapter 3 or 4 for preliminary review to the Thesis Office to begin formatting review (formatting issues are the biggest slowdown and cause for delayed graduation after the defense, so start now!) More information on what is included in these initial chapters can be found on the Graduate Writing Resources page.

How to Answer Questions Listen to the whole question. Do not half-listen while forming your answer. Rephrase the question. Makes sure you heard question correctly. Makes sure you understand the question. Gives you opportunity to reframe the question. Answer question honestly. If you aren t sure, make sure when you are speculating and explain why you think that. End answer on a positive note toward the contribution of your work and it s importance.

Typical Questions from Scientists Why have you chosen this method rather than others? Why are you doing this research? What is its expected impact? What in your contribution can be used concretely and immediately? Why have you decided to tackle this problem? What is novel in your presentation? What will you tackle next?

Proposal Presentation Template

Research Topic / Working Title Student Name PhD Proposal January 1, 2025 Committee: Committee Chair Member 2 Member 3 Member 4 PhD Only Member 5 PhD Only

Introduction of the Student Academic/research background Professional Interests - Please include any special experiences you might like to have while you are still in school. These may include: Teaching experience Internships, Specialized research experience at other institutions Entrepreneurial / patent goals or even I don t know and would like to explore my options further! Goals after graduation Plan to spend 2-3 minutes on this slide/topic.

Introduction of the Research Topic What is the Big Picture Problem? Give a brief background of the research area Identify and explain to the audience what is the problem in this research area you are looking to address Plan to spend approx. 3 minutes on this slide/topic.

Originality / Value Explain the novelty of your current/proposed work: What has everyone already done to fix Big Picture Problem? How are you using what they ve done or improving it? Plan to spend 3-5 minutes on this slide/topic.

Contributions Overview This exact wording should be in your PowerPoint and in your paper! The contributions of this thesis are: 1. Contribution 2. Additional Contribution 3. Additional Contribution This section/slide should outline 1-3 (or even more!) new ideas that come from your work. Discuss with your faculty advisor For each contribution to be included there should be some preliminary and proposed work (this slide is just to outline the contributions, you don t need to explain it here as each contribution should get their own slide) Plan to spend 1-2 minutes on this slide/topic. You will go in-depth on the following slides.

Set of Slides for Contributions This begins the set of slides for each contribution. At least 1separate slide for each contribution. For each contribution there should be some preliminary work and proposed work Good to include references to prior material (yours and others) as needed in the slides Plan to spend approx. 5 minutes on each contribution (less time for more contributions, more time if you only have 1-2 contributions)

Proposed Publications, Conferences, etc. MS thesis typically includes 1 journal publication submitted PhD thesis typically includes 1 journal publication accepted and at least 2+ submitted Although these are typical, they are not the rule. This must be discussed with faculty advisor and committee. Super brief! Plan to spend approx. 30 seconds showing the slide.

Timeline of Proposed Research Objective Semester/Year Proposed research completion milestones/objectives are usually formatted as a table Format of the thesis should be discussed with committee (Compendium of papers versus a monograph) Plan to spend 1 minute on this slide, although be prepared for faculty to want to come back to this and ask follow-up questions.

Conclusion Contributions Repeated The contributions of this thesis are: 1. Contribution 2. Additional Contribution 3. Additional Contribution Plan to spend 1-2 minutes on this slide/topic.