FINAL DEFENSE

The Final Defense should be conducted on the Monday after the Final Examination.

Before the Final Defense

1. Five (5) sets of ring-bound manuscript should be submitted to the Research Professor two weeks prior
to the schedule of the oral defense. Researchers who will fail to submit the manuscript on time will not
be included in the scheduled defense. Hence, they will need to reenroll the course.

2. All manuscripts prior to oral defense must be endorsed by the Research Professor and Research
Adviser and must bear the certification from the English Editor, Statistics Editor, and Ethics Committee.

3. The sequence of presentation for the oral defense is pre-determined. It will be posted not later than
one day prior to the schedule of defense. Researchers are expected to come to school one hour before
the scheduled defense. Those who will be late for more than twenty (20) minutes will lose their slot in
the defense and will be required to reenroll the course. Length of tardiness will be deducted from the
allowable presentation time.

4. Researchers should be in corporate attire during the oral defense.

During the Final Defense

1. The Chairman of the Panel of Judges shall discuss the rationale and objectives of the defense before
the start of the presentation so as to set the tone of both the researchers and the panel.

2. Each group is given twenty (20) minutes for set-up and presentation. Forty (40) minutes is allotted for
questions from the research panel.

3. The language to be used during the presentation should be English.

4. Each group should assign one member who will take note of the panels’ comments and suggestions.

5. If the study requires actual products or models, the researchers should present them during the
defense.

6. For group research, questions from the Panel may be answered by : a. a particular member to whom
the question is directed b. any member of the group (prerogative of the Panel) If a particular member to
whom the question is directed cannot answer the question, only the group leader may give the answer.

7. The Research Adviser, English Editor, or Statistics Editor may only answer questions directed to them
by the Panel of Judges. 14 8. Researchers are not allowed to bring food and drinks during the oral
defense unless these items will be used for presentation purposes (e.g. the study is about a food
product)

After the Final Defense

1. Right after the defense, researchers will be instructed to step out of the room.

2. Ratings given by the Panel of Judges will be computed.

3. A deliberation regarding the results will be conducted. Each member of the panel shall announce
his/her stand as to Passing or Failing. The Panel of Judges will be given fifteen (15) minutes to compute
the grades and deliberate.

4. After the quick deliberation, researchers will go back to the defense room for the announcement of
results. The Chairman of the Panel of Judges will announce whether the overall result is Passing or
Failing. No numerical grade will be announced.

5. The researchers shall leave the room right after the announcement of the result.

6. The manuscript, with comments and suggestions from the panel, should be returned to the
researchers not later than twenty-four (24) hours after the defense. The comments and suggestions of
the research panel are considered to be significant and will create an impact on strengthening the
research. As such researchers must reflect them in the final manuscript.