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Month: March 2019

Nathan

It’s Personal

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How do you feel? Happy, sad, excited, nervous, elated, terrified – that mix of emotions could be all in one hour.

I ask PhD candidates how they feel, but their response is a snapshot, that moment or how they’ve felt recently.

In all aspects of the viva there are expectations: generally they last this long, generally candidates get these corrections and so on.

But there are always unique features. Your thesis is unique. You are unique. Your viva isn’t “just another viva” – it’s yours! No-one else feels the way you do.

And there’s nothing wrong with how you feel. You can’t cut yourself off from how you feel about your viva and nor should you.

Your examiners will have questions for you. Some of them could be critical. They might not agree with you. They might not like something in your thesis.

I find candidates worry about this possibility too. How would you feel? After everything you’ve invested in getting this far, if an examiner doesn’t like something, how do you respond? What’s the right way?

Candidates ask, “How do I not take it personally?”

How can you not take it personally? It is personal. You can say it’s just about the work: the work is a reflection of you. That’s the output of your time, effort and talents. The viva is personal, examiners’ questions will feel personal, even the “good” ones.

So don’t deny it. Use it.

Think back over everything you’ve done. Think about what you’ve done to get this far. Think about what you know, what you can do, what you believe. All of this helps. Whatever question comes your way, however it connects with you emotionally, you are the best person in the world to answer it.

The viva is personal, it has to be. It’s YOUR viva.

Nathan

Not A Sprint

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I got that advice a lot during my PhD. “It’s a marathon, not a sprint.” I had to pace myself for the long journey to success.

The viva’s not a sprint but it’s also not a marathon either. It’s not a race of any kind, you’re not being tested on how fast you answer but on how well you answer.

Don’t rush. Rushing to answer a question isn’t going to help you, your thesis or your research.

Pause. Breathe. It’s not a race, but the end of your journey is near.

Nathan

First Time Examiners

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I meet candidates who worry because one of their examiners is a new academic:

“What if they don’t know enough? What if they are really thorough? What if they do something wrong?”

Not unreasonable concerns, but to candidates who feel like this I’d say, “How do you think that examiner feels?”

Personally, I imagine first time examiners are nervous, maybe even a bit stressed. The viva is important. They have to read and understand, summarise and comment, question and steer the discussions. They have to examine!

A first time examiner will have training, they’ll have colleagues they can ask for help and their own viva to influence them, but this is the first time they’ve been asked to do it. Whether it’s an academic’s first time or fifty-first time being an examiner they always want it to go as well as it possibly can.

When I imagine how an examiner might feel and what they might do for the viva, what I imagine is very close to how I think candidates feel and what they do. They’re both talented, both might be a little nervous, generally, but because they want it to go well they’ll both be prepared.

Nathan

Almost Unavoidable

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You only need to transpose one pair of letters in one sentence on one page in your thesis and you have a miskate mistake. A reference could be wrong or a diagram might need redrawing. Its likely you’ll have typos somewhere in your thesis. You could have words around switched switched around or paragraphs that need another edit.

You don’t do any of these on purpose, you want your thesis to be the best it can be. So do your examiners. Corrections aren’t a punishment or “just another part of the process”. Corrections are your examiners helping you find things to make your thesis even better. Perfect is a nice ideal, but better is the real goal.

Mistakes are almost unavoidable in the tens of thousands of words you’ll put in your thesis. Aiming for perfect won’t work. Aim for great, and after the viva you’ll get some help aiming for grater greater.

Nathan

Answering New Questions

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Every step of the PhD has new questions, from the first time you read a paper through to the end of your viva. Answers don’t always come immediately. They might take a little time and thought, or during the PhD real, practical research to bring an answer to life. Sometimes there are no answers: you can offer ideas, theories or reasons why no answer comes to mind.

New questions aren’t a problem by the end of the PhD. Questions can be unexpected, but your mechanism for answering – the knowledge, the talent, the skill at thinking things through – is the best it could be.

Any time you get one, a new question is an opportunity for demonstrating what you can do.

 

Nathan

Isn’t One Viva Enough?

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“Do I really need to have a mock?”

I get this question from nervous PhD candidates. They’re nervous about the actual viva and that carries through to any idea of a rehearsal. They’ve heard of mocks and all they can think is that it is one more thing to worry about.

No-one needs a mock viva in the way they need oxygen. You can get by without it. But there are good reasons to have one.

A mock viva can help bring a little confidence through practise. It’ll never be the same as the real one, but it allows you to be in a similar sort of space. Your supervisor might offer, but you should feel alright about asking. It’s a reasonable request to make. You’ll need to give a little notice to set it up, but it shouldn’t be a problem. Afterwards you’ll probably have some questions and answers to reflect on, but you’ll have a little more comfort for being in your real viva.

One viva is enough – but the mock isn’t a second viva. It’s a rehearsal, a practice, a sort-of-but-not-really-viva. Make the most of the opportunity if you have one.

Nathan

Limits

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A PhD is all about limits.

  • There’s a limit to how much you could do.
  • There’s a limit to how many questions you could ask and answer.
  • There’s a limit to how many papers you could read.
  • There’s a limit to how long you can spend writing your thesis.
  • There’s a limit to how much time you can invest in preparing for your viva.

You can’t do everything you want. There will always be other things you could do.

You have a choice. You can focus on everything that didn’t happen; you can try to speculate and account for all of the maybes and possibles…

…or you could focus on your limits and where they’ve lead you.

You’ve got this far through your research journey by having limits. Keep going.

Nathan

The Big What If

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Your thesis isn’t perfect. You’re not perfect. Your examiners aren’t perfect. Your viva won’t be perfect.

And all of that is fine. Remove the possibility. You can’t have something related to all of this be perfect, so try not to worry about it.

There are real worries related to the viva though. There are situations that could come up, hypothetically, and it’s not wrong to worry…

…but if you find yourself worrying about some big “what if” situation then you have to do the responsible thing and think about how to make the situation better.

  • What if I forget something? What could you do to help you remember?
  • What if your examiners don’t like something? How could you engage with their questions?
  • What if the viva is long? What could you do to manage your energy levels?
  • What if something in your thesis isn’t as clear as you want? How could you make it clear to your examiners in the viva?

What do you worry about? What is the big “what if” for you?

What are you going to do about it?

Nathan

Pride & Achievements

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Make a list of everything you’ve done that makes you feel proud. Think about all of the achievements in your PhD. Reflect on why they matter to you.

Within that list you’ll find the strengths of your work. You’ll see your research’s contributions. You made those contributions.

Make your list. Reflect on all you’ve done. Think about why you could be confident to meet the challenges of your viva.

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