Small Projects
This post on small projects has been in my mind for several years. It’s worth a read! I like the idea that it can be both more productive and more effective to work on creating small things rather than undertaking...
Daily viva help for PhDs
This post on small projects has been in my mind for several years. It’s worth a read! I like the idea that it can be both more productive and more effective to work on creating small things rather than undertaking...
A pass in the viva is not typically no strings attached. Most candidates have to complete some kind of corrections. These can mean different requirements at different institutions. You can’t know what corrections you might get in advance, but you...
It could be that you need a little help from others to get ready for the viva. Help with thinking and talking; questions about process and experience; maybe even proofreading or practical on-the-day logistics. You have to defend your work...
There’s a lot of empty margins in a thesis. A lot of space free in headers and footers. And in the centre of most pages a LOT of words. A thesis is a summary of at least three years of...
A thesis has to have something new. It’s not just a collection of words. Ideas, facts, interpretation – whatever you could summarise it as, there’s something new in there. Something that wasn’t there before your PhD. Maybe something that could...
After my viva I waited in my office for seventeen minutes for the result. Thirsty. Drink some water. Hungry. Chocolate! …mmm… Dazed. Wh-…?! Puzzled. How has it been four hours? Tired. Why did I have insomnia last night? Anxious. What...
There are thousands of questions you could be asked in the viva! …but you won’t be asked most of them. Remember: you only have to answer one at a time.
To get to submission, to get to the viva, you have to do the work. It’s no accident. You must have put in the hours and you can only do the work if you’re sufficiently skilled. How else could you...
What could you do if an examiner was harsh? Nevermind that they’re supposed to be fair, professional and so on. What if they weren’t? It’s easy to say don’t worry, they’re not supposed to be, but what could you do...
There are so many things PhD candidates could be unsure of… I’m not sure what the rules are for examiners, who can and can’t be one. I’m not sure how long I could get to do my corrections. I’m not...