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Honors Program
Honors Tracker

Defend Your Thesis

Schedule Thesis Defense

Once all members of the thesis committee have read and approved a complete thesis draft, committee members must certify the thesis is ready to defend by entering their approval in the Honors Thesis Tracker. Once the committee members certify readiness for defense, Honors administrators will review and certify the student’s readiness for defense in the Tracker. After all approvals are entered, students should then coordinate a suitable date, time and location with their committee members, and schedule the oral thesis defense through the Honors Thesis Tracker by entering the agreed-upon details. Students must upload a finalized draft of the thesis to the thesis tracking system and schedule the defense at least one week prior to the defense. No additional changes can be made to the thesis during the interim period until the defense.

Honors Policy Note: Thesis defenses may not be held until all committee members and the Honors Program have entered approval for the defense, and the defense date and time are entered in the Honors Thesis Tracker, at least one week prior to the anticipated defense date. Defenses held outside these parameters are considered invalid and must be repeated following procedures in order to count toward graduation requirements. (Adopted July 2025)

Defend Your Thesis

At the oral thesis defense, a student presents their research and findings in a meeting with their thesis committee. Thesis defenses are open to the university community, and students may invite guests to attend. The thesis committee members examine the students’ work by asking detailed questions pertaining to the project. As prelude or postlude to the actual thesis defense, we encourage the committee to take 5-10 minutes to briefly review the student’s overall Honors experience.

While most defenses last between 60-75 minutes, participants are encouraged to schedule 90 minutes so that the proceedings will not be rushed. The thesis committee chair conducts the defense and is free to make any modifications to the agenda as necessary.

A typical Honors thesis defense proceeds as follows:

  • Introductions and Opening Prayer
  • Opening Presentation by the student (approximately 10-15 minutes). The student may use this time to talk about their interest in the project and give an overview of their research and findings. Some students use PowerPoint presentations, etc., but a visual presentation is not required and should not overshadow the Q&A discussion.
  • Questioning by the thesis committee members. The Q&A is the heart of a defense designed to test the quality of the student’s research and writing, as well as the limits, conclusions, or implications of the thesis. It provides an opportunity for the student to respond to the committee’s questions and think critically through the complete thesis process in a culminating experience.
  • Dismissal of candidate and other guests while committee deliberates
  • Committee Decision and Summary. The committee may make one of three judgments: 1) Pass: The thesis is complete and meets the full expectations of the examiners (minor revisions or corrections are permitted); 2) Pass with Qualifications: Thesis will be accepted upon completion of agreed upon revisions; 3) Recess: Major revision needed; requires the defense be reconvened.
  • Review of Students’ Honors and/or undergraduate experience (5-10 minutes)

Honors Policy Note (Adopted June 2025): Honors thesis defenses are held in person on campus, with the student and all thesis committee members (chair, reader(s), and Honors Coordinator) physically in attendance. In-person defenses are the expectation and standard. Students should plan ahead to avoid scheduling conflicts (i.e., faculty leave, sabbatical, spring/summer travel, etc.). Exceptions to this policy should be rare and exceptional.  In extenuating circumstances (not just poor planning or inconvenience, but to avoid real hardship) the committee chair may submit a petition for an exception to the Honors executive committee (honors@byu.edu).

If approval is granted by the Honors Program to hold a hybrid in-person / remote defense, the following best practices should be followed:

  • Virtual venues should be chosen carefully to minimize distractions and provide a professional environment for the defense
  • In-person participants should be in a suitable room on campus with sufficient A/V capabilities (tested in advance) to facilitate the virtual meeting
  • The committee chair should host the meeting using a BYU Zoom account and manage the chat feature
  • Remote participants should have cameras turned on
  • Participants should mute microphones except when speaking

Once the defense is complete, the faculty chair submits the decision and summarizes the committee comments in the Honors Thesis Tracker. If the decision is Pass with Qualifications, the chair notes any required revisions and grants final approval once the student has completed the changes. Other committee members then add their approvals of the final thesis and verdict.