Thesis defense preparation in AI for Research starts from your own thesis, not a generic list. The Defence preparation module reads what you upload and writes the questions examiners are likely to ask, chapter by chapter, with notes on how to answer. Slides turns your chapters into a defense deck. It is for master's and PhD candidates.
What you get
| Step | Where | What you give it | What comes out | Credits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Likely examiner questions | Thesis Suite, Defence preparation | Your thesis (PDF or Word) or its abstract and chapter summaries; optional notes on the examiners and format | Opening questions, questions per chapter, hard questions on weaknesses, a 3-minute spoken summary | 3 (9 in High quality, Pro) |
| Defense slide deck | Slides, Thesis defence preset | A topic and your chapter text or thesis file | About 8, 12, 16 or 20 slides with speaker notes, a references slide, PowerPoint download | 10 on paid plans; Free gets a 5-slide preview for 3 |
| A reviewer's read before submission | Reviewer | The thesis, at undergraduate, honours, master's or PhD level | Scores out of 10 per criterion, comments that quote the passage with a fix | 10 per 10,000 words; on Free, a 3-credit preview of the first 3,000 words |
| Reference check | Reviewer, Citation check | Your reference list | Each reference checked against Crossref and OpenAlex, with retractions and corrections flagged | 0 |
How it works, step by step
- Open the Thesis Suite and choose Defence preparation from the module list.
- Under "Your thesis or its abstract", press upload and choose your PDF or Word file, or paste the abstract and chapter summaries. The word count appears under the field.
- In "About the defence", add what you know: your examiners' fields, weak points you expect, and the format and length. For example: "External examiner is a health economist; 20-minute talk, then questions; my sample is small."
- Press Run. The answer streams in and is saved to History.
- Read each question. Under it you get Why they ask and How to answer, which points to the part of your thesis to use. Write your own answer in your words and rehearse it aloud.
- Open Slides, choose Thesis defence as the kind of talk, paste a chapter or upload the thesis, and pick the number of slides. Press Run, review the slides and notes, then press Download PowerPoint.
What the questions look like
The result has four parts:
- Overview questions: five opening questions examiners usually ask, such as what your thesis contributes.
- One section per chapter or major part, with three to five likely questions each.
- Hard questions on weaknesses: limitations, why you chose your methods, and other explanations for your results.
- Your 3-minute summary: a short spoken summary of the thesis you can learn and adapt.
Example (invented for illustration): for a master's thesis on school feeding and attendance in rural Malawi, a methods-chapter question might read "Why did you use attendance registers rather than spot checks?" The note under Why they ask explains that register data can be incomplete; How to answer points you to the section where you discuss data quality and your cross-check against head-teacher reports.
The defense deck
The Thesis defence preset in Slides orders the deck the way most defenses run: title, the problem, research questions, literature in brief, methods, results with one slide per main finding, discussion, contributions, limitations, future work and a closing slide. Each slide has up to five short bullets and 60 to 120 words of speaker notes. When you give it your chapter text, the slides are built from that text. A slide can include a table, or a bar chart only when your content has the real numbers. The PowerPoint file ends with a References slide. More on the deck itself is on the research presentation maker page, and a slide-by-slide outline is in the thesis defense presentation template.
What it costs, and the Defence Pass
| Plan | Price | What it means for your defense |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 45 credits a month: defense questions (3 credits) and the 5-slide preview of a deck (3 credits). No PowerPoint download, no High quality mode |
| Plus | $12 a month | 750 credits; full decks and PowerPoint export |
| Pro | $29 a month | 1,500 credits; High quality mode for questions and reviews |
| Defence Pass | $49 once | 90 days of Pro, no renewal. If you already pay for a plan, it is added as 4,500 extra credits |
Example (invented for illustration): in the six weeks before her viva, a PhD candidate on the Defence Pass runs Defence preparation once per part of her thesis (5 runs at 9 credits in High quality, 45 credits), makes two decks (20 credits) and has the Reviewer read her 80,000-word thesis at the standard level (80 credits). Total: 145 credits, well inside Pro's monthly allowance.
What it does not do
- It does not know your examiners or your university's rules. Questions are likely ones, not a prediction of what will be asked.
- It reads about the first 120,000 characters of what you give it. For a full PhD thesis, use chapter summaries or run it per part.
- Defence preparation does not search the literature, so it will not raise recent papers on your topic.
- It writes notes on how to answer, not scripts to memorize. Examiners want your reasoning in your words.
- It does not hold a mock defense or listen to you speak. Rehearse with your supervisor or peers.
- On the Free plan, a deck shows its first five slides and cannot be downloaded.
Who uses it
PhD candidates preparing a viva or dissertation defense (see AI for PhD students) and master's students with an oral exam or thesis presentation (see AI for master's students). Supervisors can use the questions to plan a mock defense.
Learn more
- Thesis defense: what happens and how to prepare
- Thesis defense questions examiners ask, and how to answer them
- How to build a thesis defense presentation, slide by slide
Last updated 2026-11-12