I recently used NotebookLM to prepare for my thesis proposal, and it ended up being one of the most useful academic prep tools I have ever used.
Here’s what I did:
I created separate notebooks for each of my committee members. For each one, I uploaded their publications and asked NotebookLM to analyze their work in relation to my thesis proposal. My goal was to predict the kinds of questions, objections, or concerns each committee member would likely raise based on their own research background.
Then I created a new notebook that included:
- The dossiers I had just created on each committee member
- My full thesis proposal
- The primary source papers supporting my thesis (not all sources)
After that, I used NotebookLM’s audio generation feature. I selected Deep Dive — Long and gave it this prompt:
This is my thesis proposal, and I am preparing to present it to the committee. I would like to listen to my own ideas presented back to me. The ideas should include a discussion of where the committee might push back against me.
Focus on potential skepticism regarding the effectiveness of auditory versus visual templates.
Highlight concerns about the role of sensory dominance in motor control tasks.
Explain how these findings could realistically influence future rehabilitation or motor learning protocols.
Clarify why the chosen parameters are optimal for motor learning.
Speculate on how these results might change clinical approaches for patients with motor impairments.
NotebookLM generated what was essentially a thesis review podcast. It presented my own work back to me but also raised major critiques and points of pushback that my committee might bring up.
The surprising part: it correctly predicted most of the major concerns that came up during my actual proposal defense.
Even better, using the interactive function, I was able to respond to the “podcasters” in real time, almost like a simulated committee Q&A. That gave me a chance to practice defending my reasoning, clarifying weak points, and hearing how my arguments sounded out loud before I was actually in the room.
This was immeasurably helpful. It helped me walk into the proposal with a much clearer sense of where I would be challenged and how to respond.
And today, I absolutely smashed my thesis proposal.
For anyone preparing for a thesis defense, dissertation proposal, qualifying exam, or major academic presentation, I would seriously consider using NotebookLM this way. Don’t just use it to summarize your sources. Use it to simulate intellectual pressure from the people who will actually be evaluating you.