thesis proposal meeting

Sample emails to your thesis supervisor

A good thesis requires good communication between you and your thesis supervisor. This includes emails! Yet, even a simple email can lead to stress and overthinking. If you struggle to communicate with your thesis supervisor via email, have a look at six sample emails for inspiration.

General tips for emailing your thesis supervisor

Every relationship between student and thesis supervisor is unique. And everyone has a unique (email) writing style.

Sample email to thesis supervisor inquiring about potential supervision

The first email to a potential thesis supervisor tends to be very formal. If you have never met the potential thesis supervisor in person before, make sure to check out tips on how to cold-email professors. In the following sample email, however, we assume that the student and the potential thesis supervisor met before.

Sample email to thesis supervisor setting up a meeting

Sample email to thesis supervisor sharing post-meeting action points

To get the most out of thesis supervision meetings , it is highly recommended that the student takes notes during the meeting. Based on these notes, the student then summarises the key takeaways from the meeting, or action points, so to speak. These action points will guide the student’s work until the next meeting, and provide a written record of agreements.

Sample email to thesis supervisor asking for feedback

Sample email to thesis supervisor asking for support

Sample email to thesis supervisor when not meeting a deadline.

And lastly, there are the unfortunate occasions where you made agreements with your thesis supervisor, which you cannot meet. Pulling an all-nighter is generally a bad idea, as sleep is crucial for efficient thesis writing . It might be smarter, to be honest, and open about it and to inform your thesis advisor in advance. In the following sample email, the student informs the supervisor that he cannot meet the agreed deadline.

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Thesis Proposal/Oral Exam

Oral examination, thesis proposal document.

Students are required to pass an oral examination to qualify for the doctoral degree. This proposal consists of a document submitted to an approved Thesis Committee at least one week prior to an oral presentation of the proposal to the Committee.

The nature of the proposal may vary, depending on the project, but it should provide motivation as well as describe and justify the envisioned approach along with summarizing progress made to date. Preliminary results supporting the proposed research are beneficial, but not required, for the Thesis Proposal/Oral Exam.

Each committee is free to choose its own criteria by which to judge the quality of thesis proposal. These criteria tend to include:

• a proposal document that conforms to the BE Handbook’s guidelines,
• a feasible research plan proposed and defended by the student that will result in a body of work that will meet the committee’s criteria for graduation, and
• scholarship in the research field demonstrating that the student is capable of executing original, informed research in that field.

Thesis Committee

The Thesis Committee must be approved prior to the scheduling of the thesis proposal/oral exam presentation. See the Thesis Committee page for more information on assembling a committee.

The Thesis Proposal/Oral Exam must take place by December 1 of the 3rd year, with the specific date scheduled before the beginning of the Fall Semester of the third year.

If the student and advisor are convinced that a delay would serve the student’s interests better, they must petition the Graduate Committee by August 1st of the summer following the 2nd year with their reasoning along with their commitment for a target date; the Graduate Committee will approve or deny the petition request. Failure to complete the Thesis Proposal/Oral Exam according to this policy will constitute unsatisfactory progress with respect to subsequent enrollment and funding support. Under these circumstances the student will not be able to register for the spring semester of their 3rd year.

Registration

The student should be sure to register for  Thesis Proposal (20.951)  for 0-24-0 credit units during the term in which the Proposal is defended.

The formal presentation of the Thesis Proposal will serve as the Oral Examination. The purpose of the Oral Exam is to test the student’s ability to explain their thesis project, defend their scientific rationale, and propose alternate approaches, as necessary. BE’s oral examination is focused on subject matter in the proposal and related to the proposal. It is not intended as a general examination on biology.

Format of the exam

The student should prepare a 30-minute presentation based on the research plan outlined in the Thesis Proposal Document . The Thesis Committee members will have read and thought about the Thesis Proposal Document ahead of time. Given that the meeting lasts up to 2 hours, there will be ample time for questions/discussion during your presentation. If questions arise about the format or style of the presentation, the student should contact the Thesis Committee Chair.

The student is responsible for arranging the Thesis Proposal/Oral Exam meeting with the Thesis Committee Members. Students should plan for the meeting to take 2 hours. Generally, this meeting should be scheduled at least two months in advance because it may be difficult to find a mutually agreeable time for all involved. Students are also responsible for reserving the location; they may contact the BE Academic Office for help reserving a room. Once this meeting has been scheduled, the Thesis Committee members and the Academic Office must be notified by e-mail about the day, time, and location of the presentation.

The student should hand out printouts of their presentation slides to the Thesis Committee Members on the day of the meeting.

Evaluation Form

The day of the presentation, the student should provide the Committee Chair with an “ Oral Examination for the Doctoral Degree ” form. The Committee Chair must complete this form to confirm the outcome of a Thesis Proposal/Oral Exam Presentation. The completed form should be submitted along with any comments or recommendations made by the Thesis Committee to the Academic Office. From there, copies will be distributed to the student, the advisor, and the Committee Chair.

If the proposal as presented is acceptable, a Pass grade will be recorded for 20.951, the student changes status from a graduate student to a PhD candidate, and the student is expected to begin a schedule of regular meetings with their thesis committee.

If the proposal requires changes or improvements to be considered acceptable, a Pass grade will be recorded and the student will advance to PhD candidacy but the student will be expected to improve the proposal according to the committee’s specifications before their next meeting.

If the proposal is unacceptable, the student will not be admitted to PhD candidacy. The student may either leave the program or complete a Master’s thesis . A student that completes a Master’s may apply for reinstatement into the PhD program or graduate with a Master’s degree.

At least one week prior to the Thesis Proposal presentation, the student should deliver a copy of the Thesis Proposal Document to each of the Oral Exam Committee Members and to the BE Academic Office. A signature from the Academic Office is required to confirm that the proposal adheres to the format described below.

Students who would like assistance in improving their writing skills or in any stage of writing a thesis proposal should contact the BE Communication Lab or the MIT Writing and Communications Center .

Thesis Proposal Guidelines

Title Page (One page) Include the title, the date, your name and signature, the advisor’s name and signature, and the notation “Thesis Proposal”.

Abstract (Less than 300 words on One page)  State the significance of the proposed research. Include long-term objectives and specific aims. Describe concisely the research design and methods for achieving these objectives. Highlight the specific hypotheses to be tested, goals to be reached, or technology to be developed, which are intended to be your original contributions. Avoid summaries of past accomplishments.

Overall & Objective Specific Aims (One page Maximum)  Articulate the overall objective of your thesis project, and outline a set of specific aims by which your work is intended to accomplish this objective. Be sure to clearly state the hypotheses to be tested, goals to be reached, or technology to be developed.

Background & Significance (Three to Five pages)  Sketch the background leading to the present research, critically evaluate existing knowledge, and specifically identify the gaps that your research is intended to fill. State concisely the importance of the research described in this proposal by relating the specific aims to the broad, long-term objectives.

Research Design & Methods (Six to Eight pages)  Along with the Objective & Aims section, this is the most important part of the proposal. The majority of your time should be spent making this part of your proposal strong, direct, and completely clear. Describe the research design and the procedures to be used to accomplish the specific aims of the project; it is generally most effective to do this according to the same outline as in the Objective & Aims section. Include how the data will be collected, analyzed, and interpreted. Describe any new methodology and its advantage over existing methodologies. Discuss the potential difficulties and limitations of the proposed procedures and alternative approaches to achieve the aims. As part of this section, provide a tentative timetable for the project. Point out any procedures, situations or materials that may be hazardous and the precautions to be exercised.

Preliminary Studies (Three to Four pages)  This section may alternatively be located before the Research Design & Methods section) Use this section to provide an account of your preliminary studies that are pertinent to your research project and that support your specific aims. Note: it is not necessary to have obtained a substantial amount of preliminary data in order to submit or defend the proposal, although it will be expected that you have begun to undertake some of the key methods to assess their feasibility.

Literature Cited (No page limits)  List all references. Each reference must include the title, names of authors, book or journal, volume number, starting and ending page numbers, and year of publication. References should be limited to relevant literature. References are not included in the page limits. However, only references pertinent to the proposed research should be included.

Appendix (No page limits)  Copies of published or submitted articles pertinent to the proposed research for which you are an author may be included. Such publications are neither expected nor required at the time of Thesis Proposal presentation.

Format and Page Limitations 

Proposals must be single spaced using 12 pt font and 1 inch margins. Figures may be embedded into the text, but they must be readable. The font within figures must be at least 9 point and the figure captions must be at least 10 point.

• Devote one page each for the title page, abstract and specific aims.
• Use between 13–17 pages for the remaining sections (Background & Significance, Preliminary Results, and Research Design & Methods). Note that although the maximum recommended page limits for these sections add up to a total of 17 pages, you are expected to expand and contract these sections as you see fit so that the total is no more than 17 pages.
• Page limits include both text and figures. References are not included in the page limits.
• The total length of the document should not exceed 20 pages (including 3 pages for the title page, abstract and specific aims; not including references or appendices).

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• Thesis Proposal Meeting FAQ’s

Q: What is the purpose of the thesis proposal meeting?

A:  The thesis proposal meeting is to help you plan and execute your thesis work. You will present the questions you want to address and the methods you wish to use to your committee and solicit feedback on your ideas. This is intended to crystallize your thinking about your project and force you to think deeply about the research you are doing, how it fits into the current field, and how you will interpret your anticipated results.

Q: Do I need to have a lot of preliminary data before I propose?

A:  No. The thesis proposal meeting is NOT to show how much bench work the student has accomplished to date. Preliminary data can be helpful but is not essential. It is more important for the student to be able to present a logical, well thought-out rational for why he or she is pursuing the proposed questions, and why they have chosen the approaches they are proposing. This should include critical analysis of published data in the area of research.

Q: Why is the thesis proposal meeting so early compared to many other DBBS programs?

A:  The goal of moving the thesis proposal meeting earlier in the program is get students onto a productive line of research as quickly as possible. The first thesis committee meeting is the perfect time to make sure that you understand the background, have thought carefully about your proposed experiments and to make adjustments in your plan as necessary after all of your reading and after comments from your committee.

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Academic Policies & Procedures

Thesis proposal.

A student's thesis committee must formally approve the student's research project before it begins. To earn official approval, the student must present a research proposal at a public proposal meeting, open to faculty and students.

If the proposed research involves human subjects, animals, biohazards, or radiation, approval from the appropriate institutional review board (IRB) must also be obtained prior to the beginning of data collection. Information on the use of human subjects in research may be found at: research.iu.edu/compliance/human-subjects/index.html . The thesis proposal meeting may take place before or after IRB clearance for the use of human subjects has been obtained.

Complete the following steps to arrange the meeting:

• The student and the master's thesis committee agree on a date and time for the student's proposal meeting.

Ten (10) days in advance of the proposed meeting, the student completes and submits the Application to Schedule a Graduate Student Meeting Form, available at one.iu.edu/task/iub/current-sph-students . 

The Assistant Director of Graduate Degree Programs will verify that the student's Nomination of Master's Thesis Committee Form has been approved and submitted. They will then reserve a meeting room.  Confirmation of the meeting date, time, and location will be communicated to the student and the committee members via email.

During the first portion of the proposal meeting, the student formally presents the research proposal in an open forum. Committee members and visitors have the opportunity to ask questions. Visitors leave after the formal presentation. The remaining time is determined by the student's research committee.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Question: How do I make sure I am on the right track with the research project I choose? Answer: Present your research proposal to your thesis committee at a formal thesis proposal meeting. At this meeting, your committee will help you finalize your plans before you move forward.

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Oral Thesis Proposal

The oral component of your thesis proposal is your opportunity to present your research plan to your committee, receive their feedback on your ideas, and consult their expertise to improve your overall vision. You should seek to present your plan in a clear, concise way such that your committee understands your proposal thoroughly and you can make the most of their knowledge. While they should have read your written proposal, you cannot assume that they understood everything.

Be mindful that the presentation is not just a reformulation of your written document and it will take you a significant amount of time to convey your plan in a different medium. Indeed, it is a common misconception that preparing the presentation will be quick and easy. For example, content that may have been explained extensively in the written proposal may be better condensed to a figure. Logistically, you have an extra 3 weeks to prepare your oral presentation after you submit the written document. While the overall concept will be the same, with so much extra time to think, it is typical for the specific content in your proposal to change – maybe you learn about a new technique to apply to your research or recognize a flaw in your original plan.

In this article, we hope to provide some tools and tips for best preparing the oral presentation and what to expect on the day of your thesis proposal.

Understand your audience

Know your committee’s behaviors. Similar to your written document, you have the advantage of tailoring your presentation to a group of people whose expertise and style you either know already or can learn well in advance. Specific to your thesis proposal, your committee members will each have different ways of receiving information. For example, some people will better understand processes and science through detailed graphics while others better understand by seeing the math. In addition, consider whether or not they have seen this information before; if an older student in your group has this person on their committee, chances are they are already familiar with the research area and you can be more concise in your introduction. You will also want to get a sense of what questions your committee members are notorious for asking.

Out-of-department committee members may have different expectations. The thesis proposal process varies from department to department. For some, the thesis proposal is treated as an exam while for others, it is meant to serve only as a committee meeting. Research their home department’s thesis proposal and consider reaching out to students in their lab or in that department to getter a better idea for what their thesis proposal process is like.

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Structuring your presentation

Planning and execution. The entire thesis committee meeting will be an hour and a half. You should plan for approximately 45 minutes of discussion, questions, and deliberation of your thesis committee, leaving about 45 minutes for your presentation. Ensure that you allow time for questions so that you are not forced to rush through important parts of the proposal.

• Background : Only provide the background information that is absolutely necessary to motivate your project – you want to reserve as much time as possible for your research plan. After all, that is what the committee is there for – to provide feedback on this plan.  
• Research plan : Your research plan should be consistent with your written proposal, pending any potential new developments. We recommend starting with your specific aims and using these as a roadmap to cover the details of your research plan. Design a graphic around your project’s overall goals to serve as an outline that you can continue to reference throughout your presentation.
• Safety : This is important to discuss and is a requirement for the thesis proposal, regardless of your research area. Safety both in the lab and in the office are paramount for our overall success. Your committee will care about this section and you should give it ample thought.

Timing. Your presentation should be ~35-45 minutes long without questions, however questions can easily derail time. Keep track of time and make sure you have a plan if you are running over.

Slide design. Keep your slides uncluttered, ensuring information is clear and easy to interpret. Check out other CommKit articles on designing effective slides .

References. These should be included throughout your presentation in the footer of relevant slides. Use these where you are including figures or information from literature. Always include slide numbers so the audience can reference them when they have questions or comments. In addition, you may also consider using a graphic to illustrate the current section of the presentation (see examples).

Addressing committee questions

How to prepare. Your committee will ask you questions throughout your presentation, and you should expect to be interrupted. This will go beyond asking for clarification – they will challenge you on your ideas and be sure you have thought about the problem from multiple angles.   Have backup slides ready and anticipate what questions you may get from your committee and have slides ready to answer these questions. Maybe it does not help your story to include certain data sets, but you should have them ready in case your committee is not convinced. Practicing will help you get an idea of what questions a representative audience will have and therefore what questions your committee members might ask.

How to respond. Remember, it is ok to:

• Repeat questions to ensure understanding,
• Say “I’ll address that question in a couple slides,”
• Take time to reason out an answer (out loud),
• Say “I don’t know the answer to that, but I will follow up” (they may still push you to suggest an answer).

However, try to avoid making something up, reading too deeply into the question, or saying “I’m doing it this way because that’s what my advisor said.”

Sample committee questions – technical

• Referring to the microbial conversion of glucose to acetate: “What is the exact stoichiometry of that conversion?”
• “How does your problem scale: How much does your model accuracy increase for each computational hour you spend on the overall problem?”
• Pertaining to safety: “How do you know the GC’s in your lab are configured properly?”
• A classic among committee members: “Is there an alternative hypothesis that fits those data?”

Sample committee questions – high level

• “How feasible is this project from an engineering perspective?”
• “What do you anticipate being the hardest/least likely to succeed part of this proposal?”
• “What if the proposed experiments do not lead to expected results? Is there still anything to be learned?”

Practice, practice, practice

Most people practice their presentation at least once in front of their group. This is great as your group is likely the most intimately engaged with your research and can offer critical scientific feedback. However, your group may not represent the more general audience that makes up your thesis committee. Whereas your group may easily understand jargon and specific concepts, these may be confusing to your committee. Therefore, you should also practice at least once in front of a more general audience such close friends (inside or outside the department) and Comm Lab Coaches . If possible, it helps to practice your presentation in the same room you will be using for your meeting.

Day of the presentation

Preparing for the meeting. Send reminder emails to your committee about the meeting, both in advance and the morning of the presentation. While not required, it is common and courteous to provide coffee and/or snacks for the meeting – we all enjoy a meeting with snacks and this is one way to show your appreciation for your committee members’ advice and feedback. If you need projectors and laser pointers, they can be borrowed from ChemE headquarters.

Day of the meeting. Remember to dress professionally – you want to look your best and show you are serious about your work. Try to arrive to the room and set up ~30 minutes early to make sure everything is working and you are comfortable in the space. Have some way of writing down question/comments so you can refer back to them later. Finally, you will be talking a lot, so bring water for yourself.

Meeting structure. The meeting will typically be an hour and a half. At the beginning, the committee will ask you to leave the room for ~15 minutes while they discuss your written proposal. After this, you will return to the room and give your presentation. Finally, after you have given your presentation and answered any questions, you will leave the room again while the committee discusses your presentation and decides your grade.

After your thesis proposal

After your proposal, follow up with your committee members individually. Thank them for their time and for any insight they provided to your project. Also take the time to follow up on any unanswered questions or resources discussed during your presentation. Second, do not forget to fill out your thesis proposal form on the ChemE website ( http://cheme-forms.mit.edu ). The information on this form will be approved by your committee and sent to the student office for confirmation that you completed your thesis proposal.

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How should I email dissertation to committee?

I have to send my doctoral dissertation to the members of my committee and I wonder how I should write the email. It is not a question of inviting them to be on the committee (they have already agreed with my advisor), but on how to tactfully send them the dissertation.

Besides, is there anything else I should send besides the dissertation and my CV?

• communication
• thesis-committee

• 35 You guys are overthinking these things. –  xLeitix Commented Aug 7, 2015 at 14:01
• 2 Is this seriously a question about how to write an email to a few people? Lordy... –  Lightness Races in Orbit Commented Aug 7, 2015 at 21:03

4 Answers 4

If you are obliged to send them the two documents, simply do so. Keep the cover letter as simple as possible. Just remember to address each of them separately, it looks better.

Dear Prof. Smith, I'm sending you, as you are a member of my PhD committee, the PDF version of my thesis together with my CV. In case you had any questions, feel free to contact me at any time. I'm looking forward to meeting you. Best Regards, capadocia

As Bill Barth points out, make sure the people know when the defence is. In most places, university staff sends the official invitation, but if you know the dates, you can include them:

I'm looking forward to meeting you on October 15 at the defence.

• 4 What, no "thank you"? –  Lightness Races in Orbit Commented Aug 7, 2015 at 21:03
• @LightnessRacesinOrbit Well, when sending to the opponents, I would probably add a thankie. When sending to the committee members, I would likely consider it over-polite, but remember I'm in (quite pure) maths. –  yo' Commented Aug 24, 2017 at 22:09

If they've already agreed to be on the committee and all that, you don't need to say anything fancy. "Here is my dissertation, please let me know if you have any questions" will do just fine.

• 1 you beat me by 2 minutes, I decided to include a sample letter, too :-) –  yo' Commented Aug 7, 2015 at 12:14

The other answers are good, but it might be better to also include some reminders about the timing. If you are sending them your dissertation today intending to defend and graduate this fall, you should say that. You might suggest that assuming everything is looking good that you'll be getting back to them soon to start looking for a time in December that everyone can get together for your defense.

• I would suppose that they receive this in the official invitation, which is sent here by the university stuff. I think I should make a remark about this in my answer. –  yo' Commented Aug 7, 2015 at 12:28
• 2 @yo', My university didn't use an official system to find a date. The student, supervisor, and the committee members agreed on a date around everyone's schedules, registered the date with the university, and then it happened. The committee might have gotten official notice at that point, but the date was set by the parties not the university. –  Bill Barth Commented Aug 7, 2015 at 14:05
• Ah ok. Well, still, they are aware of the date, so it's fine. –  yo' Commented Aug 7, 2015 at 14:20
• 2 In my department, in order for a Ph.D. degree to be awarded in a particular semester, all of the committee members must submit their (short) reports to the graduate school office by a certain date, and two of them (the adviser and the "second reader") must submit more extensive reports to the department by an earlier date. If the OP's university or department have such rules, this would be a good opportunity to remind (or inform) the committee members about the deadlines. –  Andreas Blass Commented Aug 8, 2015 at 1:17

I would keep it as short and simple as possible. These folks are going to be doing a lot of work for you (i.e. a lot of reading and reviewing) so the last thing they need at this point is a long flowery email.

You might want to throw in a link to a version of it in the cloud or something though. Giving extra file formats and ways to access the document from various devices would probably be well received.

• I am not sure throw in a link to a version of it in the cloud is a good idea. What if there is some discrepancy between the e-mail version and the linked version? Which one do you want the commitee members to read? –  Nobody Commented Aug 7, 2015 at 13:46
• 2 Why would there be a discrepancy? This doesn't seem to make sense... if we assume the author is capable of attaching a file to an email isn't it fair to think that he or she is equally capable of copying the same file to his or her Dropbox or Google Drive, etc? Documents don't randomly mutate when stored in a cloud as opposed to an email... –  y0gapants Commented Aug 7, 2015 at 13:55
• I like the multiple format idea. Some people like to read a PDF, some people like to read a Word file. –  aparente001 Commented Aug 8, 2015 at 3:22

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Trapped in dissertation revisions?

How to create a dissertation proposal defense powerpoint (+example), published by steve tippins on june 21, 2022 june 21, 2022.

Last Updated on: 22nd May 2024, 04:14 am

As part of the dissertation process, you will need to create a dissertation proposal defense PowerPoint to present a summary of the plan for your study. You will need to show how important your study is and how it is useful. 

When creating the PowerPoint, keep in mind that you need to make sure all of your audience can understand all aspects of your study.  The exact content for the defense PowerPoint varies by college, discipline and department, so it is important that you discuss with your committee chair about the requirements. However, we will give some general guidelines that apply to most institutions.

The defense typically takes 20‐30 minutes. You should keep the timeframe in mind as you consider the information you will have in your presentation. 

Except for aspects of your presentation, such as the research question(s) or hypothesis(es), do not just read the slides. Instead, explain or expand on what is on the slides. To ensure you keep within the timeframe, practice narrating your PowerPoint presentation. 

Although the APA manual does not provide guidelines for creating a PowerPoint presentation, you will need to follow some of the APA style guidelines within your PowerPoint. 

For example, provide in-text citations for quotes, paraphrases, images, graphs, and other information that should be cited. Also, you will need to provide a list of pertinent references. 

The following are other format requirements for the slides :

• Create 17-20 slides.
• Do not provide a lot of information. Be concise and write a few sentences (approximately 1-7 on each slide). 
• Because your slides will contain only a small amount of information, any extra information that you want to touch on should be put in the notes section of the PowerPoint. 
• Write the information in your slides for visual appeal and optimum communication, using a legible font size. 
• You can use graphics and images to enhance and reinforce the information. However, ensure that they do not distract from your information.
• You can use bullet points but keep them to a minimum of 3-4 for each listing.

Example Dissertation Proposal Defense PowerPoint Template

The dissertation proposal will consist of three chapters, which you will be providing information on in the presentation. Although the contents and order of the contents may vary, there are some basic parts of the proposal that are usually required.  

The following is a breakdown of the usual contents that are included in the presentation. Each of these headings below represents the titles of each slide. The information below the headings is the type of content you will need to provide. 

Title (1 slide) : 

• Dissertation’s Title 
• Department of Program of Study/Name of University
• Chair and Committee Members

Statement of the Problem (1 slide):

• Provide the problem that your dissertation will address. 

Purpose of the Study (1 slide):

• Provide what the study will do relative to the issue(s) defined in the statement of the problem.

Significance of the Study (1 slide):

• Provide the main argument of why the solution to the problem that you propose is important. 

Research Question(s)/Hypothesis(es ) (1 slide):

• Provide the research question(s) or hypothesis(es) relevant to your field of study, written exactly as it is in your dissertation proposal.

The Literature Review (2 slides):  

• These slides should consist of a coherent, organized overview of the main literature that frames your study’s problem, and the gap in literature that your study will address. Make sure that you include the sources. 

Theoretical/Conceptual Framework (1 slide):

• This slide should consist of the theoretical/conceptual framework that will help you make sense of the phenomenon that you will investigate. 

Research Design (1 slide):

• Provide the framework for the methods of data collection and data analysis. Indicate whether the study will be quantitative or qualitative.

Sample and Population (1 slide):

• Provide the population that refers to the entire group that you will draw conclusions about, and the sample that refers to the specific group that you will collect data from.

Data Collection (1 slide):

• Provide the methods by which you will obtain the data. If the research design is quantitative, provide methods such as correlation and regression, mean, mode and median or others. If the design is qualitative, provide methods such as, interviews, questionnaires with open-ended questions, focus groups, observation, game or role-playing, case studies, or others.

Data Analysis (1-2 slides):

• This slide should contain the process you will use to understand, gather, compile, and process the data you will obtain. 

Limitations (1 slide):

• In this slide, explain the nature of the limitations and how they will be overcome during your research. 

Delimitations (1slide):

• Provide the characteristics that describe the boundaries of your study and limit the scope, such as sample size, geographical location, population traits, or others.

References (1-2 slides):

• Only provide those sources that you referred to in the presentation. Do not provide all the sources that you have in your dissertation proposal.

Thank You/Questions (1 slide):

• Use this final slide to thank your committee and to request questions from them.

Note : For information about citing your references, refer to Chapters 9 and 10 of the APA Manual 7 th edition.

For instructions on how to create a PowerPoint, see How to Create a Powerpoint Presentation .

View this video for “ Tips and Tricks for your Proposal Defense Day Presentation ” 

You can find several templates of students’ Dissertation Proposal Defense presentations online by searching for “Dissertation Proposal Defense PowerPoint.”  You can also find one at this webpage .

Steve Tippins

Steve Tippins, PhD, has thrived in academia for over thirty years. He continues to love teaching in addition to coaching recent PhD graduates as well as students writing their dissertations. Learn more about his dissertation coaching and career coaching services. Book a Free Consultation with Steve Tippins

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Sample emails to your dissertation supervisor

Published on October 13, 2015 by Sarah Vinz . Revised on March 24, 2017.

Table of contents

Making an appointment, asking questions, confirming agreements.

Dear Dr. Janssen,

The college has informed me that you will be my supervisor. I would therefore like to make an initial appointment to discuss my dissertation idea with you.

I look forward to hearing from you as to when you would be available to meet with me.

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Dear Prof. Smith,

I have encountered several difficulties while working on my dissertation. Could you please answer the following questions?

• I have found only limited literature on the concept of “social enforcement.” Are you familiar with any authors who have written on this topic?
• Measuring “social enforcement” in the literature has proven virtually impossible. At this point I would like to use “social control” as a starting point for the concept. What are your thoughts on this?

I would like to make an appointment to discuss these questions with you. When would be convenient for you?

I am writing in follow-up to our meeting on Monday. Could you please check the notes I have prepared concerning what we agreed and confirm that they are accurate?

Thanks in advance for your response.

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If you want to cite this source, you can copy and paste the citation or click the “Cite this Scribbr article” button to automatically add the citation to our free Citation Generator.

Vinz, S. (2017, March 24). Sample emails to your dissertation supervisor. Scribbr. Retrieved July 22, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/tips/sample-emails-to-your-dissertation-supervisor/

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Sarah's academic background includes a Master of Arts in English, a Master of International Affairs degree, and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. She loves the challenge of finding the perfect formulation or wording and derives much satisfaction from helping students take their academic writing up a notch.

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Dissertation p roposal

Dissertation proposal meeting.

After completion of the Preliminary Oral Examination, the student is to prepare a research proposal for the Dissertation Proposal Meeting. Prior to the meeting, the student submits the electronic form to Assign/Update Final Oral Examination Committee so that all members of the student’s final oral examination committee are present at the meeting. The “chair,” a member of the Final Oral Examination committee other than the advisor, is chosen by the student and approved by the Graduate School. The chair conducts the Final Oral Examination and informs the student of the outcome immediately after the examination session.

The purpose of the Dissertation Proposal Meeting is for doctoral candidate to propose their dissertation research study and receive feedback and eventually agreement from committee members on design and methodology.

Additionally, committee members will review the doctoral candidate’s portfolio to evaluate progress and determine whether the student is on track to meet the competencies before defending their dissertation and graduating. If there are concerns, an agreement must be reached and a plan to achieve those competencies prior to setting a date for the final defense must be delineated on the Completion of Dissertation Proposal Meeting Form .

The advisor is the chair of this meeting. Students should prepare their proposal in close collaboration with their advisor (see below for format options). Proposals should be submitted to committee members at least two weeks before the proposal meeting is held. The proposal meeting should generally be scheduled for 1.5 hours, however students should check with their advisor to see if they have a preference for length.

At the proposal meeting, the student will present a brief overview of the study. At the end of the proposal meeting, everyone should be in agreement about the depth and content of the dissertation. Additionally, committee members must agree that the student is on track to complete their doctoral portfolio competencies by their anticipated defense date. The Completion of Dissertation Proposal Meeting Form is then signed by all committee members and submitted to the FSoS GPC.

In the case where the proposal is not acceptable to the committee, the student would need to revise it and then obtain the advisor’s approval before re-submitting to the committee. The committee needs to reconvene in order for all persons to receive the same information simultaneously and to make a decision.

Dissertation Format : The student should propose their dissertation format at the time of the proposal meeting. The FSoS graduate faculty allows students two options: the traditional volume-length dissertation, or the multiple (minimum of two) journal article. The agreed-upon format should be indicated on the Completion of Dissertation Proposal Meeting Form .

2022 Notice on the Graduate Thesis Proposal for Graduate Students in School of Public Health Peking university

In order to ensure the quality of the dissertation, improve the quality of academic research ability training and guarantee the work of thesis proposal of international graduate, the relevant matters are notified as follows:

1. The content of the thesis proposal

Students shall write a thesis proposal before the writing of the thesis. Based on the selected theme and research, and by referring to the relevant domestic and foreign research literature and theoretical analysis, the graduates shall write the thesis proposal under the guidance of their supervisor. The thesis proposal shall include the following aspects:

(1) The source, basis, background, purpose, theoretical significance and practical application value of the theme;

(2) Research status and development trend, the scope and means of reference of literature;

(3) Academic conception, main research content, and key technology to be solved;

(4) Research methods, technical routes, implementation plans and feasibility analysis to be adopted;

(5) Required experimental means, research conditions and experimental conditions;

(6) Required funds, including sources of funds, expenditure budget (the name, specifications, and quantity of engineering equipment and materials shall be filled in);

(7) Work plan.

2. The composition of the thesis proposal review group

The dissertation committee should normally consist of 3-5 associate professors or above or experts with equivalent titles. 1-2 experts in related disciplines, including 1 expert in methodology are required. The supervisor can participate in the committee without serving as the chair of the dissertation committee.

3. The procedure of the thesis proposal meeting

(1) The students who intend to make the thesis proposal shall submit their application to the Teaching Affairs Office, School of Public Health for approval one week before the proposal ;

(2) The review group leader presides over the thesis proposal meeting (about 5 mins);

(3) The students do the thesis proposal in the meeting with slides (about 20-25mins);

(4) The members of the review group raise questions about the thesis proposal, and the students answer the questions (about 10-15mins);

(5) The review group review the thesis proposal (about 10-15mins). If the selected theme is appropriate, the arguments are sufficient and the measures are implemented, it shall be approved to enter the work of dissertation; if there are still deficiencies, the graduates shall be required to make further amendments and supplements, and the thesis proposal will be done again.

4. Relevant requirements

(1) Before professional practice, the dissertation topic selection and thesis proposal should be implemented. The proposal and project evaluation should be completed at least 12 months prior to the dissertation defense.

(2) The comments shall be written by the dissertation committee one by one according to the assessment requirements, and the decision shall be made on whether to pass the thesis proposal. If the proposal is rejected, the proposal can be reopened within 2 months. Those who failed again will terminate the studies.

(3) The thesis proposal must have detailed records, " Record Form for Master's Degree Thesis in Peking University Health Science Cente ” should be filled. After revision and supplement of the proposal, the students need to fill in “ Research plan for a Master's Degree of Peking University Health Science Center " in duplicate after the report and submit it to the Teaching Affairs Office and the training office of Graduate School Health Scienc Center of Peking University.

(4) The students should reopen their research if they change their research topic due to  special reasons.

Important Tips:

1. The following materials shall be submitted to the Teaching Affairs Office of school of public health ([email protected]) at least one week before the oral presentation .

Under the guidance of the supervisor, the proposal and project evaluation should be completed before June 30 2022 .

2. Upon passing the proposa l, “ Research plan for a Master's Degree of Peking University Health Science Center " shall be submitted to the Teaching Affairs Office of school of public health ([email protected]) before July 5 2022 .  (Attachment 3)

3. “ Record Form for Master's Degree Thesis in Peking University Health Science Cente " shall be submitted to the Teaching Affairs Office before March 15, 2023 . (Attachment 4)

Students should discuss with your supervisor and other experts about your research, including data analysis and thesis writing. The report may include: Progress of the dissertation, existing problems, results and findings obtained; The following work plan and details; and others.

Students should discuss with your supervisor and other experts about the draft of your dissertation, including the main arguments, evidence, structure, and organization. The report may include: Progress of the dissertation, existing problems, results and findings obtained; The following work plan and details; and others. After the meeting, students should modify their dissertations, following the opinions and suggestions of the experts.

The above meeting should be arranged by the your supervisor. The student is responsible to help your supervisor for setting up the meeting: arranging the time and place as well as distributing the draft of the dissertation or other materials in time for all the experts to engage with it in a substantive way.

Teaching Affairs Office

School of Public Health

Peking University

  Attached files:

Telephone: 010-82801620

Fax: 010-82801530

Email: [email protected]

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Thesis Proposal Meeting

Policy: Each MSc student will be required to make a formal presentation of her/his thesis proposal to members of the Supervisory Committee, other interested faculty members and fellow graduate students.

School policies are for internal clarification or operations purposes and are not intended to supersede University policy.

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• Scott Pomerville, CS, to Present . . .

Scott Pomerville, CS, to Present PhD Final Oral Exam

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Scott Pomerville, Computer Science, will present his PhD final oral examination (PhD defense) on Thursday, August 1, 2024, at 9 am in Rehki 101 and via Zoom online meeting.

The title of Pomerville’s defense is, “Statically Controlled Synchronized Lane Architectures.”

Join the Zoom meeting .

Defense Abstract

Modern superscalar processors dominate the field of computing. While dynamic execution allows for versatility in code, these processors are complex. Statically scheduled code has historically enabled simpler processor designs, static scheduling cannot account for variables that are unknown at compile time. Furthermore, static scheduling has many inefficiencies, such as the need to insert a large number of nops for code in traditional Very Long Instruction Word (VLIW) processors. In this dissertation, we explore a novel architectural approach for statically scheduled code by breaking the code into several synchronous instruction streams. By representing code in a fundamentally new way, we demonstrate that we can create robust processors that can handle dynamic levels of instruction level parallelism (ILP), and demonstrate the potential it has to target traditional weaknesses statically scheduled processors have had to deal with. This dissertation is an exploration of the consequences of allowing for multiple instruction streams, and possibilities opened up by changing program representation to allow for several simultaneous streams of instructions.