Steve Tippins offers two moves if you blank during a dissertation defense: ask the committee to rephrase the question, or note it's outside your study's scope. Defending is about showing scholarly thinking under pressure, not having every answer.
It's the worst case scenario. In the dissertation defense, your committee asks a question and your mind goes blank. Here's a trick that we teach our clients. When that happens, say, can you rephrase the question? It buys you 10 seconds to breathe. And often when they say it again, your brain has had a second to catch up and go, okay, I know what we're talking about. You can also say, that's a fascinating question, but it goes beyond the scope of my study. So remember, defending is not about having every answer. It's about thinking like a scholar under pressure. Comment help. And we will send you the link to our free dissertation help community. You've got this.
