The Best
At the end of the PhD, when can you stop? When can you accept that what you’ve done is the best that it can be? Think about this, decide on what “best” is. Set it as your target.
Now, when you’re done, you’re done.
Month: July 2017
Four Questions For Your Supervisors
First, far in advance of submission, who would be good choices for examiners? Get their feedback, be a part of the discussion. Ultimately your supervisors will get to nominate.
Second, after the hustle and bustle of submission is done, what would they say is the most problematic part of your research? It won’t be anything that is wrong, and it might not be anything controversial, just something that needs a little extra thought.
Third, and once you’ve thought about it for yourself, what do they think are the strongest results or outcomes of your research? They will see everything you’ve done, but will have a slightly different perspective and that’s useful to know.
Finally, when the dust has settled and your viva is done, what can you do better now? There will be a lot of ways that you have grown during your PhD, but it can be difficult for you to spot them day-to-day.
What else might it be good to ask? Have a think, see where your ideas take you.
Interview
It’s not uncommon for researchers to be preparing for their viva at the same time that they’re applying for jobs and going for interviews. And vivas and job interviews are often compared to one another. I think there’s a superficial comparison to be made (people tend to dress up, the candidate is asked a lot of questions by a panel) but the focus is quite different. In a job interview, someone is being asked questions to discover if they’re a good fit for an organisation; in the viva they’re being asked to demonstrate what they’re claiming to have done during their PhD.
However, I think there could be an overlap between the kinds of areas of preparation that could help both vivas and interviews. If your viva is coming up and you’re applying for jobs then think about your skills to begin with: what have you developed in the last few years? What’s your best evidence? What can you do now that you couldn’t do at the start of your PhD? Think about times that you’ve shown initiative. Think about times when you’ve solved problems. Reflect on what you can do that others find hard, because that’s valuable.
Vivas and job interviews might not be the same, but they get to the core of what you do well. Reflect on how you can share that.
Random Questions
At the start of my workshops I ask people for their questions about the viva. Anything and everything, procedure, practical stuff, advice, fears, really anything. My philosophy is “once people have an answer, they can move on, they don’t have to worry about that question any more. Even if they need to do something they know what they need to do.” I collect the questions on Post It notes. I’ve been doing this for seven years and have been recording them all for over three years.
Last month I got an odd question:
“Is anything in a session like this really applicable? Does it [the viva] simply depend on personalities? (randomness)”
If I’m honest, I felt a little… Irked. I was kind of thinking, “Huh. Someone decided to come… But then questioned the premise of what we’re doing? And right before we’d got started they decided to ask this?” It felt a little cutting, but that might not have been their intention. Maybe it was just their personality…
Back to the question. I don’t think the viva simply depends on personalities. An examiner could disagree with you, and that might not be an easy question or comment to take. An examiner could be really tired, or really grumpy, and so could you. The tone of the examination could be influenced by personalities, but none of that is predictable or within your control.
However, you can control what you do to prepare for the viva. What you read or re-read, what you learn about your examiners, the notes you make, the steps you take to remind yourself of everything you’ve done and can do. That’s all up to the researcher. If a session on viva prep shares some ideas about those sorts of things it will be pretty applicable, I think.
Last month I felt irked. Today I feel good. Questions help, even questions that seem left field or perhaps snarky. Maybe I read it wrong. Maybe they asked it wrong. When you get a question in the viva, try not to make assumptions about where it’s coming from. You can always ask why or for more details.
There could be a touch of “randomness” in the viva, but you can bring a lot of order in with you.
Taming The Blank Page
It’s a good idea to make summaries on the run up to your viva. It’s great, purposeful work while you make them and you have valuable resources you can refer to afterwards. It doesn’t take much, a sheet of paper is a great start. A blank piece of A4 can be intimidating though; where do you begin? What’s worth doing? Here are a few ideas to get you started.
- Start a mind map: put your thesis title in a bubble in the middle. Add a couple of branches like Starting Points, Important Results, Background and Key References. Keep going.
- Why, How, What: an exercise I shared previously. Helps to unpick what you’ve done in your research.
- Timeline: create a timeline of your success. When did you hit your first important goal? What was it? How did you make your way to completion?
- Chapter-by-chapter breakdown: take a sheet of paper for each chapter and write “What’s Important?” at the top. Use that to prompt your thinking and analyse what you’ve done.
You don’t need much to get started with viva prep. A little push and you’ll find yourself doing great work.
One More Chapter
You’ve submitted your thesis. You’re done. The viva is coming up and it’s going to go well. You’re almost there.
But… If you could, what would you write for one more chapter of your thesis? Was there something that you did but didn’t write up? Why?
Would you need to start another little project? What ideas have you got? How much work would it really take to get it done?
I’m not suggesting that you go out and do this! Just reflect, have a think, see what ideas come to you. There’s probably plenty of good reasons why you’ve stopped where you have.
But… What would you do next?
Understanding
“What did you do today Nathan?” I tried to show the complexity of the algorithm that I’ve been developing for the last three months. “…Bolognese for tea, OK?”
“How’s it going Nathan? What you been up to, finished that thing yet?” My PhD? Got another nine months, I think I’m on track but it all depends on proving the next result and then getting it all written up. “…Seen anyone else from school?”
My family and friends were very supportive when I was doing my PhD, but they didn’t really get it. Why should they, it had taken me a long time to get it. It wasn’t that they didn’t care, of course they did, but they didn’t understand what I did for the most part.
On the run up to the viva though, it might be useful if your friends and family can get a little understanding of what you’re about to do. Tell them what the viva is all about: it’s the exam at the end of the PhD. Tell them about your examiners and what they’ll be doing. Tell them what you’ll need to do to prepare – and what you might need from them.
It could be a bit of space to yourself, quiet in the evening to read. It could be time, so they’ll need to do the dishes while you mark up your thesis. It could even be telling your boss that you’ll need to arrange a little time off so that you can go to the viva.
Your friends and family are proud of you. Even if they don’t quite understand what you’ve been doing for all this time, they understand that it’s important to you. Help them to understand the end of the PhD and they’ll help you get there.
A Disclaimer Of Sorts
I can’t say people never get tough questions in the viva.
I can’t say candidates never face examiners who are overly harsh.
I can’t say YOU won’t have a bad viva.
Because people do. Even though most people have a perfectly fine experience in the viva – tiring, draining, tricky but overall fine if not enjoyable – some people don’t. So what can you do?
Keep doing good work now. You can’t know in advance what your viva will be like exactly. Good or bad, right now you can put yourself on the path to be the best you in the viva. Someone who knows their stuff, someone who knows how to be a good researcher in their field, someone primed for confidence and able to answer questions about their research.
Bad viva? Not in your control. Good candidate? That’s all up to you.
Worth 1000 Words
What do most books have that most theses don’t? Cover pictures! Novels and non-fiction use cover images to help tell their story, sell themselves to readers and convey some information. Theses tend to just have a title. Hmm…
Quick exercise for today: what would be on the cover of your thesis? What would it have to feature in order to communicate something of your work?
Long exercise for today: mocking up a cover might be a useful (and fun!) tangent to explore while finishing your thesis or preparing for your viva 🙂
Dreamer, Realist, Critic
I’m a big fan of creative thinking tools. The Disney Method is one I like a lot. It forces you to break creative thinking into stages by adopting three personas:
- Dreamer: think of as many ideas as possible; encourage brainstorming; remove constraints and see where thoughts take you.
- Realist: think about what would work practically; explore within resources and deadlines; see what can be achieved.
- Critic: think about what won’t work in your ideas; test them to destruction; find problems to solve.
At the end of this kind of process, ideas are stronger and more clearly defined. You can see whether or not they will actually be useful.
Maybe something like this could be a useful framing when it comes to look back over one’s research too:
- Dreamer: what did you want to do when you started? What were your big goals? How high were you aiming?
- Realist: what did you actually do during your PhD? How did you tame your objectives? In what ways did you have to adjust the scale of your ambitions?
- Critic: where are the problems with what you’ve done? What could people object to? What would you do differently, and why?
You might not get these exact questions in the viva, but they might not be a million miles away either. Tools like this can be useful to unpick and explore. They can boost your confidence at going over your research in the viva.
Bonus questions: Which are you most like in your day-to-day, a Dreamer, a Realist or a Critic? How well does that work for you?