Steve Tippins Ph.D.Helping doctoral students get their dissertation accepted, succeed in their careers, & change the world | Academic Career Advisor | Dissertation Chair & Founder, Beyond PhD Coaching | 35 + years of experience.

Blank At Your Defense?

18 Oct 2026 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

0:56

In this short presentation, Steve Tippins Ph.D. offers practical advice for responding to difficult or unexpected questions, such as those that arise during a thesis defense or a Q&A session. He recommends pausing and asking the asker to rephrase the question, using the pause to think through an answer. After the question is restated, he suggests answering and then explicitly checking whether the response satisfied the asker. When a question falls outside the speaker’s expertise, he advises openly acknowledging the gap, labeling the question as a valuable area for future study, and inviting the asker’s thoughts. The overall message is to manage uncertainty with composure, clarity, and intellectual honesty.

Chapters

Now, it's not uncommon to have a question come up that you don't understand, or maybe you don't even, can't answer. First of all, it's pretty simple or easy to have a question come up that you kind of go, oh my God, I don't know. What do I do? What's the answer? You probably do know, but you need to pause. And one of the great ways to pause is to say, you know, I think I understand what you're asking for, but can you rephrase that? And while they're rephrasing, your brain is working and you go, okay, got it. Mm-hmm. Great. And when they rephrase, you answer the question, but you also say, did that answer your question? Because you want to make sure you've gotten there and clarify what they're looking for. And sometimes they ask you questions you don't know the answer to, and it's okay if it's outside the realm of your study. If it's something that no one's ever thought of, you say, that's a really good question. I don't know the answer to that. I think it would entail future study, but I'd love to hear your thoughts on it.