Daily viva help for PhDs
Graduated. (yay!!!) Final submission. (yay!!) Corrections approved. (yay!) Doing corrections. (well…) Given corrections. (probably) Viva over. (viva passed!) In the viva. (in flow, I hope) Ten minutes before the viva. (………) Day of the viva. (last minute nerves) Day before...
My internal examiner had a quirky sense of humour. At the end of the viva I was asked to wait in my office while the two examiners had a discussion without me. I got some water, paced a little then...
My school’s motto. Those four Latin words have been rattling around my head for twenty-five years. We were told it meant “through knowledge to better things”. I’ve loved it since the headmaster explained it on the first day. Three thoughts:...
I’m happy to be doing this daily blog, to have the podcast archive to share, a starting selection of original free resources and also some paid ebooks to offer. But I’m not the only person who tries to help people...
When you come to viva preparation time you will read and re-read your thesis. And you will find typos. That’s to be expected: spellcheck won’t catch everything, and neither will you. It’s not so bad though: make a note of...
By submission your research has to be good. You don’t get to that point by luck or by doing only bad work. But is your thesis perfect? Is it impervious to criticism? Probably not. Your examiners might have some notes...
Step One For Viva Prep: start. “Do I start now? Am I doing the right thing?” Just begin. Wondering if you need to do something now or later? Do it now. There are lots of things that you can do...
Pro-tip for the viva: never try to bluff your way out of a tricky question. If you don’t know something, don’t try to pretend that you do and hope that you can get by. Another pro-tip for the viva: ask...
It’s unsurprising for me to recommend being prepared for the day of the viva. Often I talk about tips or tools for engaging with research, or ways to look differently at your research. Today I just want to suggest thinking...
If tomorrow was your viva and you’d not done much to prepare, what could you do? This sounds like a weird question, but it’s one I’ve faced on occasion from a candidate who seems very worried. So, some ideas for...