Best Laid Plans

The Three-Part PhD Plan!™

  1. Do a good piece of research;
  2. Write a good thesis;
  3. Be ready to answer questions in the viva.

All of these are achievable for a PhD candidate. There’s a lot more detail to The Three-Part PhD Plan!™, of course, but it can be done (and is, all the time).

But still most candidates get minor corrections, and obsess about getting them despite their best laid plans. They’d rather get none at all. Indeed, if you follow The Three-Part PhD Plan!™ how can you get any corrections?

Well…

  • …the word is “good,” not “perfect” – with best intentions you can make mistakes;
  • …writing a good thesis is non-trivial and you’re learning as you go – you can miss typos or have a structure that could be improved on;
  • …you’re clever, and talented, and well-read but you’re not omniscient – you can’t know everything or have considered everything in your field.

None of these are disqualifying, and none of these have to be massive ordeals to correct post-viva.

Aiming for minor corrections isn’t the right goal. Aim to do your best.

How do you do that? Check out The Three-Part PhD Plan!™