8 Must-Have Slides to Include in Your Dissertation Proposal Defence PowerPoint

In a dissertation proposal defence PowerPoint, your supervisors look for you to cover the main concepts of your study. All these concepts correspond to the individual chapters of your dissertation and research work. 

As a part of the dissertation process, you will have to create a dissertation defence and present it to the members as a summary of your study plan. When preparing the presentation, you have to ensure that your audience understands all aspects of your work. 

This article sheds light on the 8 must-have slides that your dissertation proposal defence PowerPoint presentation should contain. Let’s first understand how to defend a dissertation proposal. 

How Do You Defend a Dissertation Proposal?

Preparing for the defence of a dissertation proposal is challenging. Some people consider it an anxiety-inducing experience, while others feel excited about putting their efforts out there for approval. Most students often feel both excitement and anxiety when it comes to the thesis or dissertation defence. 

To overcome the anxiety and stress, students often seek help from professionals at dissertation writing firms. These services have the best strategies to plan a successful defence of your dissertation. However, here are some of the effective techniques to assist you in defending your work to your supervisor:

• First of all, you have to plan your defence well in advance. 
• Consult with your supervisor about the duration, format, and expectations for the dissertation defence. 
• Prepare all the materials needed for the defence of your thesis papers. 
• The next important thing to do is to present your PPT slides with professionalism and confidence. 
• Avoid undermining your credibility or performance when defending the arguments and suggestions in your work. 
• You should take it as a learning opportunity and identify your strengths and weaknesses by presenting a PowerPoint dissertation proposal defence. 

What to Include in Your Dissertation Proposal Defence PowerPoint?

We have some examples from The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga that guide the presentation writing process for a dissertation defence. The top 08 must-have slides in such a defence presentation are the following: 

• 2 slides for the introduction of the topic
• 2 slides for the summarisation of literature review and research background
• 3 slides for the description of the research questions and the research design procedure
• 1 final slide containing all the relevant references for work 

The details of the content that you must mention on these slides vary with the topic of your PowerPoint presentation. However, we have provided you with generalised content details for each slide in the article below. 

Content for General Information Slides: 

1. Building the Presentation

When starting your dissertation proposal to defend PowerPoint, you will have to build the base for your work. First off, you will need to edit the presentation of your thesis proposal. After that, try summarising the first 3 chapters of your work. Your focus must also be on chapters 4-5 where the implications of your research are presented to the readers. Also, don’t forget that you have to craft the content in the slides in an engaging way. 

2. Checking (and Double-Checking)

Here, you will have to check the timing of your work. Make sure that the slides do not consume all of your time. The purpose of the study for the defence presentation is to show the research design to the participants. However, the length of your dissertation should not be longer than 30 minutes because anything beyond that can become boring for the listeners. 

3. Formatting 

When working on the formatting of your dissertation proposal defence PowerPoint, pick a layout that appears professional to you. The font should be easy to read and you must use figures and tables in your work. However, avoid using distracting sounds, animations and transitions. Also, your slides must not be overcrowded with too much text. 

Content for Introductory Slides:

4. Title Page

The title page of your dissertation is the place where you will have to utilise the title of your dissertation. The title page doesn’t have much extra content, and it simply has the information regarding the defence presentation. 

5. Oral Presentation

The oral presentation for the dissertation proposal defence PowerPoint should have all the main points that you want to cover in your work. All the points that you want to discuss in your work should be at your fingertips. Also, you should explain or expand the content of the slides so that the audience can understand it better. 

6. Background of the Researcher

Here, at this point in your dissertation proposal defence PowerPoint, you will mention what makes you qualify as a researcher. You should tell the listeners about your credentials and experience. However, you should be really brief when talking about the background of you as a researcher. 

7. Topic Background

When explaining the topic for your dissertation proposal defence PowerPoint, tell the listeners why you chose that topic. Briefly talk about the history of the topic and discuss the context. However, you should not discuss this in too much detail; just be concise about it. 

8. Problem Statement

When you discuss the problem statement for your presentation, explicitly state the reasons why you are doing your study. You should be clear about the purposes of your work. Discuss what made you choose the given research issue and how you mean to get your desired results. 

Content for Research Background Slides: 

9. Research Significance

When explaining the significance of your research, shed some light on how your research can impact your field of study. Also, discuss the ways it can affect your work as a professional. Furthermore, don’t forget to include any other important aspects in this part. To write this slide, you just have to write a well-researched thesis that includes all the information.

If your dissertation does not have sufficient research and you lack the skills to compose a good one, you can buy a dissertation online from professionals. After getting a good document, you can compose an outstanding PowerPoint presentation. 

10. Theoretical Basis

The theoretical basis of your work should talk about the philosophical orientation of your papers. For instance, you can talk about critical theory and explain how the background of your research relates to the topic of your work. 

Content for Research Design Slides:

11. Conceptual Framework

While explaining the conceptual framework, introduce the major categories of literature that were used in your research proposal. You should also give enough information to the listeners to make it clear to them that you possess a deep understanding of the topic you have been working on. 

12. Research Questions & Methodology

Here, you should number the research questions for their easy referencing during the discussions with the committee members. It will be better to avoid over-explaining the given information about the research questions. While talking about the methodology, you should discuss what major category of research you use for your thesis and research work. 

13. Conclusions

In the conclusion session, talk about what you learned during the research and how you relate the findings of your work with the conceptual framework. Don’t forget to discuss all the weaknesses, strengths and limitations of your research work. 

14. Implications

The implications of a dissertation proposal defence PowerPoint are all about the effects of your research work. If your work can lead to other successful ground-breaking projects, give a hint about those in this section. 

15. Recommendations

In this part of your dissertation proposal defence PowerPoint, you can talk about the changes in the theoretical framework and suggest changed practices to other researchers. 

Slides for References:

16. References

As the name suggests, here you will talk about the references of your work. However, it would be better if you only discussed those that are mentioned in the presentation. One slide is enough for such references. 

17. Closing Notes

Here, you present the concluding remarks of your work. It can be a thank you note. Nothing philosophical is discussed here in this slide. 

How to Prepare a PPT for a Research Proposal?

A research proposal can be defended well with the help of a well-crafted presentation. The aim of such a proposal is to see if there are any differences between the final outcomes of sighted and blind participants. In such a presentation, you present your recommendations, plans, and conclusions for a given project. 

For crafting a great dissertation proposal defence PowerPoint, follow the given steps: 

• Briefly give a description of the topic of your work. 
• Highlight the significance of your research problem. 
• Present the literature review of your work in a summarised form. 
• Shed light on the hypothesis and the objectives of the research methods you are using. 
• Present a summary of the expected outcomes of your entire research work. 

Here is a dissertation proposal defence PowerPoint template by USC Rossier that can assist you in understanding what kind of slides you should craft: 

When you follow these steps, you can craft winning slides for your research proposal presentation. All that you need to do is to stay focused and dedicated to your craft and prepare engaging slides. 

Conclusion

We have discussed everything about the must-have slides present in a dissertation proposal defence PowerPoint. The exact content of your slides will vary by discipline, department and college. So, it is important to discuss all the requirements with the committee chair. Ensure to dedicate enough time to the completion of your project. 

If you do not have enough time on your hands, you can get help with your dissertation from field experts who have years of experience crafting such papers. The professional writers have a sense of deftness that all the novice writers lack. Hence, it will be helpful to ask for the support of experts in this regard.

All in all, these general guidelines that we have mentioned in this article apply to most institutions. Following these, you can surely create an engaging and appealing presentation for your dissertation defence.