Field Tests
It’s great if you have read your thesis, made notes, created summaries. You’ve probably got a beautiful mental model of your research. Can you use it though? How will you do in the viva? Find opportunities to field test your...
August 2017
Colour Your Thinking
I’m a fan of Edward de Bono, and I love his Six Thinking Hats concept. It’s a way to manage discussions or problem solving. You can check out the details if you like; in short, you can imagine people putting...
Ten Out Of Ten
How would you score yourself when it comes to your PhD? I would give the me-from-ten-years-ago maybe a seven. I got results, but I was careless at reading papers and I didn’t speak up often enough when I didn’t understand...
Ostrich
“I’m trying not to think about it.” Try to put anxiety out of your mind and it just comes back. Distract yourself for a little while and it comes back with a vengeance. If you’re worried, it’s because it’s important....
Prompts
Sometimes a blank page can be beaten with prompts. If you want to get thoughts flowing, try the following: The best paper I read during my PhD was… The best advice my supervisor gave me was… My greatest strength as...
Kanji
I picked up a little Japanese on my past travels. Well, enough to ask for directions, say I don’t understand and enquire after an English menu. I never picked up any familiarity with kanji or what different symbols mean. The...
Feedback & Corrections
I was six and had painted my dad. A circle with a crude face, rectangle body, chunky arms and oval legs. I showed it to the teacher, Mrs M., and all she said was, “Does your father have a green...
The Most Important Exams (Or Not)
It’s GCSE results day in the UK. My wife and I tutored someone this year. At sixteen she was told the GCSEs were the most important exams she would ever take. If she didn’t do well she could not do...
Game Show
Your starter for ten: is the viva like a game show? …No! But the questions that people ask about the viva betray some of their ideas about it. How many questions can you get wrong? Do you fail if you...
Brew
I work from home a lot. When I go to the kitchen and boil the kettle I like to dry any dishes in the rack; it feels like a good way to use the minute or so while the water...