The PhD Chronicles: And Now, We Defend
Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes About 5 months ago, I let folks know that I had a completed draft of the dissertation . After working on it with my advisor and other committee members, I'm now set up to actually do the defense. Finally! XKCD It's been a long trek ( Read all about it as I've documented it here at length ) and I know it's not over yet. There's the defense, the edits from the defense, and then all the formatting BS for publication of the dissertation. But the key part--the part where I publicly say, "Hey all, I did this, I can justify what I did and why, and here is what I found"--that part is upon us. And I've been getting the "are you nervous?" and the truth is that I'm not, which I take as a good sign. I feel confident in my work and in my findings. I know that I am the expert on my dissertation and that I'm making a contribution to the literature. I also know I have a strong, thoughtful, and supportive dis...