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Month: October 2018

Nathan

What’s In A Name?

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Most commonly it’s “the viva” but I’ve also heard people refer to it – the event, the exam – as thesis examination, thesis defence, defending your thesis and of course the full viva voce.

I’ve also heard people call the viva, for various reasons: the interrogation, the End, the final hurdle and “I can’t even say it, I’m just dreading it!”

All of these people are talking about the same thing, but all from different personal perspectives. Whatever label they attach, whatever word they use, influences and reinforces how they think about it.

If you label your viva as “my interrogation” then I can imagine you won’t be looking forward to it. “Thesis examination” is quite neutral, neither hot nor cold. If it’s “the End” it’s possible you’re not being negative about it, but maybe you are. The label – the name – you give to your viva, influences how you think about it…

…but you can change the name. It’s a choice. So if you feel negative about it now, perhaps finding out more about the viva can change that feeling. Getting better expectations – both of the event and how you could be prepared – can help you to find a better name for it.

It’s OK if you just name it “the viva.” It’s fine if you call it something else. But the name always means something.

I suppose what I’m trying to say is: pick the most helpful name that you can.

Nathan

A Viva Prep Sandwich

Daily Post

Heard of the feedback sandwich?

It’s when you tell someone something good about their presentation/book/paper/whatever, then offer something constructive or negative, followed by something good. Good-“bad”-good.

A feedback sandwich – it has another name, but this is a polite sort of blog…

This good-“bad”-good construct got me thinking about viva prep, and I wonder if there’s a useful sequence we could follow when getting ready for the viva. As a series of activities, maybe something like the following would be useful.

  • Start with something that digs into something good about your work: say, reflecting on the value of your contribution or exploring ways that you could continue your work.
  • Follow that with something trickier, more difficult or potentially negative: how do you know your methods are valid? What might your examiners or someone else find contentious? What about your work could be “wrong”?
  • And finally consider something else about your work that’s good: take a positive step to annotate your thesis well, ask yourself some more reflective questions or make notes on the papers that support your thesis.

A viva prep sandwich, of sorts.

And perhaps tastier than the feedback sandwich, because you get to decide what it is made of?

Nathan

Ten Questions For Pre-Viva Nerves

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It’s understandable to be nervous, anxious or scared about the viva. It’s not just any other day of your PhD.

You can be nervous, and hope that it doesn’t affect you too much, or you can be nervous and think about what you can do to make things better. Here are ten questions to help you unpick and cope with pre-viva nerves:

  1. How nervous do you feel on a scale of one to ten?
  2. In what ways are your nerves getting in the way of your prep?
  3. What do you think lies at the root of your nerves?
  4. What could you do to make yourself feel one bit less nervous?
  5. What will you do?
  6. How many positive things can you think of to boost your confidence?
  7. What ones do you think you could try in the next seven days?
  8. What ones will you try?
  9. What are you feeling most anxious about the viva?
  10. What are you going to do about it?

“I’m nervous” or “I’m anxious” isn’t enough. You can’t stop there. You have to work past worry I think, not be stopped by whatever barriers are going up. It’s easy for me to just say that, but if you’re in that place you have to do something about it.

I hope these questions help. Take a look at the following tagged themes on the blog too – worry and viva anxiety – there may be something useful among these posts for you.

Nathan

The Best Viva

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Not just a good viva: the best.

Make a list of all of the conditions of the best possible viva for you. However long it is, now make another list of the things you could do to help it turn out that way.

You can’t control everything, so try to stop worrying about the things you can do nothing about. There are plenty of things you can do to help yours be the best viva for you.

Make your lists and get to work.

Nathan

Using Lists Of Viva Questions

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There’s a simple, foolproof, two-step process for getting lots of potential viva questions:

  1. Google “PhD viva question list”.
  2. Take a look at the results.

Not every question you find from these results will be relevant. Some you can discard, some you can refine, some you will see connections that you could make more specific for your research.

Ask your supervisors, ask your friends and colleagues to see what they think. What questions are likely? What might they say? What do they want to ask you and how are they prepared to help you?

The goal is not to prepare an answer for every possible question: that’s an impossible task. Instead get a sense of what can come up. Through exploration you can become certain you are capable of answering questions in the viva.

Nathan

Use Your Acknowledgements Page

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The acknowledgements page of a thesis is a lovely opportunity to be thankful.

Thank your supervisors for all they’ve done.

Thank your family and friends by name.

Thank your funders if you have them.

Thank anyone who has really helped.

Looking back at mine, and at others I’ve seen, the acknowledgements page is a time capsule. A little slice of a time when you were someone else. I’ve not stayed in touch with many of the friends who helped me through my PhD. That page reminds me of who I have to be thankful to, and who made a difference.

Say thank you.

Nathan

Magical Viva Prep

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I don’t have a magic wand or secret spell to help you get ready for the viva. It’s fun in something like Harry Potter or Dungeons & Dragons when the name of the spell almost literally describe what is going to happen. Expecto patronum, and whoosh, there’s a Patronus. Magic missile and, well, a magic missile!

Alas, viva preparation isn’t as simple as saying Read thesis with a wand flourish.

The magic of viva preparation is more like the witches in Macbeth. They take their time stirring ingredients together… Some thesis reading, a few hours of question practice, five chapters of annotation and let it simmer…

The magic of viva preparation is slow, patient, organised.

Still, if it worked… Preparo viva!

Nathan

Finite

Daily Post

Just because some properties of the PhD and the viva are difficult to count, that doesn’t mean they’re infinite.

There’s only so many papers you could have read.

Only so many ideas you’ve had time to consider.

Only so many experiments you could have tried.

Only a few months at most for you to prepare.

Only so many questions that you’ll be asked.

Only so many words you could use to answer a question.

Only a short time really that you’ll be in the viva.

There are real boundaries. You might not be able to see them but they are there.

You can’t do everything, so think about the finite steps you can take to get yourself from where you are to where you want to be.

Nathan

Viva Day Essentials

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At a minimum you need to have your thesis, pen and paper and something to drink for the viva.

Your thesis is there to refer to. You don’t have to commit everything to memory. It’s your guide to years of work.

Pen and paper is for making notes. You might need to work something out, depending on your discipline, or might want to record a question or a thought. It’s good to have it with you.

Refreshments are not always provided. Take something to drink. You could be talking for some time, and as well as staying hydrated you can stealth-pause by taking a sip of water!

These are the absolute essentials. What else do you think might help you?

Nathan

Vivaversary

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Prompted by the fact that today is my wedding anniversary, I’ve been wondering whether or not people generally celebrate passing their viva years afterwards. June this year marked my tenth vivaversary (if you like forced portmanteau words!). I think about mine every year, but I’m an anomaly because it’s sort of my job to think about the viva a lot.

I imagine for some people, after a few years, it just becomes part of the background radiation of their life: a low level buzz you only notice when you have to fill in a form and someone asks about your title.

For some it’ll be front and centre, a defining moment, part of who you are, what you do, how you live your life – and not because you’re an academic or have a job that requires a PhD. It becomes a core bit of your identity.

Whatever it means to you, however you celebrate it at the time or afterwards or even if you don’t, it’s worth making a note of your viva date. You won’t get a present every year, but it will fix that achievement in your life’s calendar.

It means something.

You did it.

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