(These are tips from other graduate students and professors, and directed mainly at history oral exams.)
| PRESENTATION | ||
| Start with “That’s a good/important question.” | ||
| Enumerate your answers. | This provides structure to an answer, makes it easier to follow, and also offers a natural cadence to end your response to a question. | |
| Reformulate the question. | Do this if you don’t understand the question. This also helps to open your response. | |
| Frame the response as if in a written argumentative response (thesis, supporting argument, conclusion). | ||
| Do not just fill up time. | Make sure to just answer the question and not provide tangentially related information. | |
| Ask for clarification. | If you do not know the answer of the question or do not understand, make sure to ask for refinement of the question. | |
| Use historiography as a way to clarify and situate argument. | But do not get lost in the historiographical details. Focus on the question asked. | |
| Strive for concise answers. | Concise answers convey confidence and clarity. If you provide a short answer, you can also add “I can also elaborate more on this point if you would like.” | |
| End your response with confidence and with a period. | Don’t use ellipses or end a response suddenly when you have run out of things to say. |
Cindy A. Nguyen 