Going to go over the procedures for an MA thesis defense from the perspective of a chair.
So there are a number of phases here.
But first, before the meeting begins or officially begins the chair should
meet with the examination committee to review the examination procedures,
which I will explain without the candidate in the room.
Then the chair calls the meeting to order, invites the candidate back into the room,
and the candidate is introduced to the committee.
Then each member of the examination committee will introduce him or herself.
The formal part.
The first formal part is a presentation phase,
and the candidate mates an oral presentation of approximately 20 minutes.
It's important to stick to that 20 minutes, and to emphasize that to the candidate.
And typically that will summarize their main arguments and findings.
The presentation is an open event that can be attended
by all interested parties through Adobe Connect or in person.
The audience may ask questions of the candidate after.
If once there are no more questions or if there are any questions
and there may or may not be, once those are questions are answered,
the audience will be asked to leave for the formal part of the defense.
This formal part consists of a question phase,
and the question the candidate must answer questions from the examining committee.
Now the ordering of questioning is based on the committee member's connection with the candidate.
So the person that is least connected or the least close to the candidate asked first
and that's typically the external examiner and then the next question is asked
probably by person in the examination committee and the last question of the
first round of questions is asked by the supervisor.
Questions continue to be asked in that order until the questions run out.
There is no set time limit,
we want to make sure that all questions are addressed.
The questions obviously must be related to the work done by the student,
and be based on knowledge directly related to the material covered.
The chair typically does not ask questions,
but the chair should take notes about key changes that need to be made in the thesis.
The final phase is the deliberation phase.
So the candidate is asked to leave the room,
and members of the examining committee determine the outcome of the oral examination.
The chair first reviews all possible decisions that can be made,
and the decisions of the examining committee are made by a majority vote.
Should there be a tie,
the chair votes to break that tie, otherwise, the chair does not vote.
The possible decisions are as follows, now they are formally described
if you click on this link by UOIT, but typically they want typically they are:
acceptable without required revisions, acceptable with minor revisions,
and those are typically completed within four weeks of the original examination date,
acceptable, acceptable with major chain changes
and those must be submitted within six months of the examination date,
and a reexamination date follows, and then the final decision is unacceptable.
If changes are required then the examination committee will
designate certain members as referees,
usually, the supervisor to make sure that these concerns of the committee are all met.
If the decision is acceptable, acceptable without required revisions.
or acceptable with minor revisions, the chair gets all members
of the examination committee to sign the certificate of approval form.
Just click on this link to actually get that form.
A member, usually the student supervisor, I said before is responsible to make sure
that the changes are made, and this individual's the last person
to sign on off the certificate of approval form that is given to the assistant to the director
once the decision is been made and forms have been signed
or perhaps not signed if they're major revisions to be made.
The candidate is asked to come back into the room, and the chair announces the final decision,
and the details of how they might address revisions.
Typically they refer the candidate to the supervisor for those changes.
If the supervisor is responsible for monitoring the changes that need to be made.
Finally, the chair of the examination committee fills out the chair's report on thesis examination
and submits the report to the office of graduate studies
and to this email address.