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\noindent
 November 8, 2008\\
\url{http://www.rasmusen.org/special/proposals.pdf}. \\
 Eric Rasmusen\footnote{ Indiana University, Kelley School of
Business,
BU 438, 1309 E. 10th Street, Bloomington, Indiana, 47405-1701. Office:
(812) 855-9219. Fax:812-855-3354. \href{mailto:erasmuse@indiana.edu}{
erasmuse@indiana.edu},  \hspace{5 pt} \url{http://www.rasmusen.org}. }
\\

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 \noindent
 {\bf PhD Proposal Defenses}








A PhD proposal defense is just that:  a defense of a proposal for a
PhD thesis.  You are trying to persuade a faculty committee that you
have an idea that is interesting, new, and workable. You are *not*
trying to explain the idea, lay out a model, give a history of the
idea, or show how much you know. A proposal defense  is not a
workshop. Also, the point is not to get through a presentation
smoothly, and certainly not to avoid questions.  Usually the absence
of questions means you are doing very badly, that what you are saying
is obvious, or irrelevant, or incomprehensible.

 The 3-essay form has contributed to the problem. Students tend to
give a workshop on the first essay, spend 10 minutes trying to give a
workshop on the second, and spend 2 minutes mumbling about what they
might do for a third, with no attempt to relate the essays even if in
fact they could be a unified dissertation.

 I've decided I am going to vote No on any more such dissertation
proposals. A proposal is really much easier than a finished
dissertation. I think the hurdle should be relatively low, and a
proposal should be done about 18 months before the dissertation is
completed. It is, after all, just a proposal. No part of the
dissertation needs to be finished.  But every part needs to be
started.

\noindent
So what should you  do?

\noindent
1. Lay out your idea briefly.  Don't lay out a model, necessarily, or
show any regression results. Just state one proposition-- in words--
or propose one regression and say what it will be showing.

\noindent
2. Say why your idea is interesting.

\noindent
3. Discuss related work, or why there isn't any, to show that what you
are doing is new.

\noindent
4. Say what you need  to do to finish the dissertation, and
demonstrate that you can do it. This means, for example,  showing us
that you have an idea for a model that can prove the proposition,  or
showing that the data exists and you can get it.

    You can give the committee any essay drafts you have written, but
you don't have to. What you do have to give them is a proposal.  The
essential part of this is a 5-page document answering the questions
above briefly. Among other things, this document should describe the
datasets you are using and at least one regression or theoretical
proposition for each essay. It should not contain a full literature
review, but it should very briefly discuss why your idea is different
from  the one article which is closest to your idea.

  Then, in your oral presentation, ration your time. Usually students
talk about the part of the dissertation that is closest to being
finished. That is backwards. If you have already written a  draft of
one
chapter, and the committee have seen it, the writing can defend
itself, or at least provoke the right questions. The part of the
dissertation that is not written yet is totally defenseless unless you
talk about it.  So spend the most time talking about that.

  Usually faculty are merciful, perhaps overly so, and do not do a
good job of quality control.  The advisor is worn down by continual
lack of progress by the student, and the rest of the committee
sympathizes with him and wants to be deferential. I've decided I'm
going to be  tougher and say No to any proposal that isn't presented
as a proposal.

   As I said earlier, though, I don't believe in a high hurdle for
proposals.  I will continue to  approve  mediocre proposals and even
to act as  primary advisor for them. But  you should propose a
thesis, not give a seminar, at your defense.



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