A Summary Of Summaries

Summarising your thesis or some aspect of it is useful. A summary helps you in two ways. First, through the act of creation: thinking about your work and then making something from those thoughts is a valuable reflection. Second, as a result, you have a resource you can use during your preparations for the viva.

A few considerations for how you might tailor this approach:

• Use questions to direct your summary.
• Decide in advance how much you are going to write, i.e., how many words? How many pages?
• Follow your preferences for level of detail: what will be most useful to you?
• Follow your preferences for what it will look like: bullet points, sentences or pictures?
• Reflect on what gaps you might be trying to fill.

I’m keen on summaries as a helpful viva preparation tool. Take a look at similarly themed posts via this link. Explore what will be useful for you as you prepare for your viva.