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 dissertation committee who have been working with me and challenging me to be as best prepared for the defense.  

I do think in this whole process, this is the easiest part.  To be clear, I'm not saying it's "easy" but easiest stage for myself.  First, of course, is what I just mentioned.  I feel grounded in my work, supported by my committee, and clear in what I need to do for the defense.  But also, because I have been doing a lot of talks, discussions, and workshops over the last two years around generative AI, I feel like I'm prepared fully to engage in thoughtful discourse.

My dissertation is not about generative artificial intelligence (for those tuning in for the first time, that might be surprising), but because I've spent a lot of hours engaged in discussing it as a topic, it has been incredibly helpful in preparing me for the defense.  I've met lots of folks with lots of different thoughts and ideas about GenAI.  To do the work that I've been doing at the level I've been doing it, I've had to be thoughtful, respectful, and present in how I respond and engage (and I'm not saying this has been a strain but rather just acknowledging what these conversations take).  Some conversations have been more tense than others but they required me to deal with complex challenges and considerations in the moment that were new to me and meant I had to integrate those ideas and respond in kind.  

Well, after 2 years of doing that, I feel like there's not much else that could prepare me for a dissertation defense.  Even if the topic is different, the dynamic is the same. Listen and reflect on what's being asked of me in the moment.  Integrate it into what I already know and think.  Respond about how I reconcile those ideas with my own.  Don't overpromise and be clear about what you can and can't say.  

So, let's do this!  

The defense of my dissertation (titled: Elbow Patches to Eye Patches: A Phenomenographic Study of Scholarly Practices, Research Literature Access, and Academic Piracy) is Tuesday, December 10 at 7am (Eastern Time) (sorry, but given that the committee is international and spanning from here to Australia, that's how it shook out).  The event will take about 2 hours.  The first 30 minutes will be my dissertation defense presentation, followed by about 30-40 minutes of questioning from the committee and attendees.  The committee will then have a conversation and then call everybody back and share their determination.  It is virtual and open to the public.  If you are interested in attending, please email me and I'll send along the link.

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