Thesis defence: a 10-minute outline and common committee questions
Updated 18 October 2026 · overminder
A thesis presentation usually lasts between 7 and 15 minutes (a PhD viva much longer). You need a clear story, not a summary of every chapter.
Sample outline (10 minutes)
| Minutes | Content |
|---|---|
| 0–1 | Title and why this topic |
| 1–3 | The problem and the research question |
| 3–5 | Method: data, sources, tools |
| 5–8 | Three main findings, each with a chart or an example |
| 8–9.5 | Conclusions, limitations, future work |
| 9.5–10 | Thanks and invitation to questions |
For 10 minutes, 8–12 slides with few words and large images are enough.
Common committee questions
- Why did you choose this method rather than another?
- What is the original contribution of your work?
- What are the limitations of your data?
- How does your finding relate to the study by … you cite in chapter 1?
- If you continued this research, what would you do next?
How to practise
- Rehearse out loud with a timer: the real time is always longer than planned.
- Record yourself and listen for pauses, filler words (“um”, “like”, “basically”) and rising endings.
- Ask someone who doesn’t know the topic to ask you random questions.
With Gradus
Quiz asks you random questions about your own thesis and grades your answers; Defence rehearsal measures pace, pauses, intonation and expressions of uncertainty and gives an uncertainty score from 0 to 100 with points to improve.