Honors Thesis Defense

The defense is an oral examination of the student's understanding of the research project.  To pass the exam, the student must demonstrate a solid understanding of the physics concepts and research techniques directly relevant to the project. The typical length of a thesis defense is two hours (presentation plus questions and answers). The length of the presentation (without interruptions) should be between 35 and 50 minutes long.  The rest of the time is spent on  questions and answers. 

The Senior Thesis Defense committee shall consist of three voting faculty members, the thesis advisor (Chair of committee), the Associate Chair for Teaching, and a third faculty member. In addition, the Director of Undergraduate Studies (DUS) will serve on the committee as an exoffico non-voting member. It is not necessary for the third faculty member to be on the Duke faculty; more importantly, the third member should be someone who is either associated with the project or who is a specialist in the research area.

The defense must be held at least two weeks before the last day for undergraduate classes during the spring semester,  and the final version of the thesis must be submitted to the DUS in PDF format before the end of the examination period of that same semester. It is the responsibility of the student to make all arrangements for the defense in consultation with the faculy advisor. Setting up a defense includes:

  1. securing the third committee member,
  2. finding a time when all committee members are available for a two-hour period (the date of the defense must be at least two weeks before the last day of undergraduate classes),
  3. reserving the meeting room through the assistant to DUS in the department office,
  4. arranging for audio-visual equipment, and
  5. distributing a draft of thesis to the committee  members at  least three weeks  prior to the defense date to obtain input from the committee members (the committee members have one week to make comments and give suggestions for the thesis). and
  6. distributing the  revised  thesis to the committee members at least one week prior to the defense.

It is strongly recommended for students to start making arrangements  by early February to have sufficient time to work around fixed obligations in the schedules of the committee members.