On The Other Hand
On the one hand: your examiners will have read your thesis carefully, formulated an opinion, come up with questions to ask and be ready to examine you and your thesis. On the other hand: you did the research, you wrote...
July 2017
Rest And Think
When do you do your best thinking? How do you relax? How do you organise your thoughts? I think with a bit of reflection everyone can better their process. If you reflect on the above questions, you can start to...
Connecting
My daughter is nearly four. While she seems to be changing all the time, there are some constants. Since a very early age we’ve read her a bedtime story every day. My wife and I love reading and telling stories...
Alter Ego
I’ve been thinking about superheroes and the viva again (see previously). Some heroes have their powers all the time, regardless of whether they’re in uniform. Some have tools or equipment that make them better, but Captain America is still awesome...
Who’s In The Room?
It’s your viva day. There’s you, your internal examiner, your external examiner. At some institutions there’s an independent chair too, someone making sure that the viva is fair. Many universities also allow a candidate’s supervisor to be present. Did you...
Opening Line
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times… It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead...
No Guarantee
I knew what troubled me before the viva. I couldn’t explain the background of a particular chapter in my thesis. I understood the results perfectly. I didn’t understand the set-up. I tried to avoid thinking about it. Methodology, results, conclusions,...
Examiner Profiles
You can ask your supervisors for guidance. You can talk to colleagues about your ideas. You can even ask your non-PhD friends for help. You can’t ask your examiners anything before the viva, but you can do some work to...
SWOTting Up
SWOT is a neat thinking tool: rather than just throw ideas around to try to unpick a problem or situation it uses words to direct attention. As an acronym it stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. For example, if...
Whys
My daughter will be four in the autumn. For some time now, “Why?” has been the most-uttered expression in and out of our house. Why is the sky blue, why did you say that, why are we having pasta for...