Paula Di Noto, MA

after two and a half years toiling away as a "candidate" in the psychology department, i was finally granted a master of arts degree from york university. 


the fateful day came only one before my 26th birthday and two before a (much-needed) getaway to mexico, and was as much a learning experience as the time spent leading up to it. 


tips for anyone preparing to defend a thesis:


- the examining committee, made up of your supervisor and 3+ faculty members, are not a firing squad that are going to rip you to pieces before the audience at your defence (mine included my boyfriend, trusty lab mates, and my mom <3 ) - they are there to ensure, for lack of a better phrase,  that you know your shit, which, if you haven't been playing charades for the previous 2 years, you will know. 


- no matter how much you memorize all of your methods, stats, and sources, the questions asked by the examining committee can never be fully anticipated. however, the guidance of your supervisor can often provide "likely" questions, which if you really want to wow your committee, you can set up hidden "answer slides" that you can place in your powerpoint presentation after your thank you/acknowledgement slide and bring up if and when a specific topic is asked about. **this really helped me answer a question clearly and remember a lot of points on a question that was secondary to my thesis but i anticipated was likely to be asked about. **this is also generally good practice when presenting anywhere - in class, at a conference etc. so that when someone asks you a question (either for clarification or trying to stump you) and you can say ta-daaa (or booyakasha!!) and bust out a fancy slide to clearly illustrate your answer.

made it through with the help of my supervisor dr. joe,
and lab-mates diana, alexandria, and sheng (l-r), and others
not photographed here :)))

-****do not underestimate the value of feedback from your fellow labmates**** this i count as the most important piece of advice that was essential to my successful defence. not only is practice essential to feeling comfortable with your presentation and catching any snags before the big show, but you may think that every detail is important (which it isn't), and highlighting, bolding, or italicizing every other word is good for "emphasis" (which it isn't), and may not notice that you're talking to your notes and constantly scratching your head and detracting from your presentation. all of the feedback from my practice talks during our joelab journal club meetings was implemented into subsequent practice talks and the final presentation, and helped me add, eliminate, and format my talk to be as clear and informative as possible - which is the most important thing to convey to your committee, not how much work you have done.   


- breathe, practice, and remember that after a couple of hours it will all be over, and if you're lucky/have worked hard enough to avoid revisions (like me!!!), you'll have fancy new initials to put after your name!


it was a scary, difficult, but rewarding processes, and i could not have made it through without the guidance of my supervisor, dr. joe desouza, my amazing labmates (sheng, diana, daniela, rachel, alexandria, matin, marina, and scott especially for their feedback, time, and friendship), and my family and wonderful boyfriend matthew for their love and confidence in me, which gave me the guts to go out there and believe in myself - which if you don't, there's little chance your committee will. 


so what's next for this master? you'll have to stay tuned to my blog to find out...




p., MA