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Month: July 2019

Nathan

Yesterday

Daily Post

If you’ve already submitted your thesis, then yesterday was the best time to start preparing for your viva.

The next best time is today.

But start small. You don’t have to do a lot today. Spend five minutes. Gather together your thesis and some stationery. Figure out how many days until your viva. Sketch a plan of when you can prepare. Make a short list of things that might help. Decide what you’ll do next. Then stop, that’s enough.

Yesterday would have been great, but today is fine to make a start. Later, you can really get to work.

Nathan

Comfort, Stretch, Panic

Daily Post

Three useful words for experiential learning. Before setting goals or planning out a project, it’s good to think about how you feel about different aspects of the work or the possible outcomes.

  • Comfort: what do you have no problem with? What would feel fine?
  • Stretch: what would be a challenge? What would be new to you, but feels within your capabilities?
  • Panic: what would make you afraid? What would be terrible for you?

These words are useful to frame planning and review of a project. They help with lots of parts of the viva too! In preparation, what feels comfortable about your work? What might stretch you while you review your research? Do any parts of your thesis make you panic?

On the day, how can you get comfortable or feel confident? What could be a stretch in the viva? Do you feel panicked at the thought of any particular questions? After the viva, take time to reflect and review. When did you feel comfortable in the viva? What questions stretched you? Did you panic?

(I hope not!)

Nathan

Responses and Answers

Daily Post

I try to be careful in my choice of words. Recently I’ve started to use the word response instead of answer when I explore viva questions with PhD candidates. Because of talks, quizzes, game shows, tests and the basics of conversation, we expect that questions have answers.

When someone asks, you answer. When your examiner asks, you need to answer…

…except what if you don’t know?

What if you’re not sure?

What if there is no “True Answer” to a question?

A question might not have a definite answer, but you can always give a response.

Your response could be a hunch, a theory, an idea, a gut feeling, a reason, a piece of evidence. It could be saying, “I don’t know, and here’s why…”

Not every question in the viva will have an answer. Every question can be responded to.

What could you do to respond as well as possible in the viva?

Nathan

Enjoy, Endure, Engage

Daily Post

I’d like to think that most people could enjoy their viva, but I know that some won’t.

I know most candidates won’t feel like they simply have to endure their viva, but sadly, some will.

More and more I think the best advice I can give to all candidates is to engage with their viva.

Engage with their preparations. Be active and take charge of how they feel and what they need to do.

Engage with their examiners and their questions. Don’t worry about going blank or forgetting. Instead, think about what they can do to best respond in the viva.

Engage with this great opportunity to discuss the valuable work they’ve done.

I hope you enjoy your viva, I hope it’s not a case of enduring it.

Remember that you get to control how you engage with your viva.

Nathan

The Centre Of Attention

Daily Post

In the viva, it’s you. Your work is what’s being discussed, but you did it. You’re the topic of conversation.

How do you feel about that?

At a recent Viva Survivor session, a participant told me that he was sure about his work, confident in his ability, but he felt really uncomfortable being the centre of attention. That feeling can be hard to shift. There’s no magic solution; a well-intentioned “don’t worry” won’t solve the problem.

Maybe a change of language could help: instead of “I have to be the centre of attention” maybe “I get to be the centre of attention”. Your viva isn’t just happening, it’s happening for a reason, because you’ve done something good.

Maybe practice could help: find opportunities to put yourself in the spotlight. A mock viva. Give a talk. Invite a group of friends to come for coffee and ask you all about your work. Get more comfortable.

Trying to live with discomfort won’t help. Trying to just not worry is no good. You have to do something.

Think and change your perspective. Act and change your perspective. Pick one or do both.

Nathan

General, Knowledge

Daily Post

The viva isn’t just a big quiz.

Questions could be big. Questions can be about more than what’s in your thesis, but your examiners have more useful things to do than test you on your the general knowledge of your field.

Yes, you need to know about more than what’s in your thesis. No, you don’t have to know everything (remember, you can’t know everything).

(remember, your examiners don’t know everything either)

You know a lot. You needed to, in order to complete your thesis. Most of your examiners’ questions aren’t testing your memory. They want to see how you think. How do you think about your work? How do you think about your field? Knowing things about both is useful, but they know you can’t know everything. What you know will be enough.

The viva is lots of big questions, but not a big quiz.

Nathan

Worrying About Imperfections

Daily Post

Fear and worry about the viva is common. I think some of the biggest worries come from very simple things. A concern that some aspect won’t be quite right in the viva. Concern about an imperfection creates a worry that the viva will become a terrible place, somewhere to be afraid.

It’s not silly to worry, it’s not easy to dismiss fears, but they can be overcome.

Reflect, maybe write down: what’s the worst that could happen? Be reasonable about the situation, real or imagined, and be thoughtful about the outcome. What would it mean? What would it really mean for the viva? What’s the worst that could happen…

  • …if you don’t know something?
  • …if your external wasn’t your personal favourite?
  • …if you forget an idea?
  • …if you find a really clunky paragraph during your prep?
  • …if you forget a reference?
  • …if your examiner is not sure of something they read?

In many cases, if you really unpick concerns, you’ll see “the worst” is not so bad. Worries could be uncomfortable, but not disqualifying.

Imperfections are not always within your control. You can’t be the perfect candidate, have a perfect thesis or have a perfect viva. You’re not expected to be. You can always think, you can always act, you can always try.

What’s the worst that could happen? What can you do about it?

(probably a lot)

Nathan

Correcting Corrections

Daily Post

Corrections don’t mean your thesis is incorrect.

They are the typos and mistakes that crept past the editing process. A correction could be a suggestion that you direct the future reader to another reference, or direction to improve clarity for that future reader. They’re the ideas from experienced academics steering your work to a good place.

Corrections aren’t the system’s response to imperfection. They’re not given as a punishment. They’re not asked for on a whim.

A list of corrections is the answer to the question, “What changes would help your thesis be the best it could be?”

Nathan

Not Every Day

Daily Post

It’s not every day you sit down to talk with two examiners about your thesis, the end point of years of study and research. Not every day you get to find out what they think. Not every day – there may be no other days in your life like your viva day!

It’s an important day, but still just one day. Without over-obsessing, over-analysing, over-investing, it makes sense to ask a few questions to be as reasonably ready as possible.

  • What can you do in preparation?
  • What can you find out about your examiners to help you?
  • What can you do to start the day well?
  • What can you do to start the viva well?
  • What can you do to be at your best in the viva?
  • What can you do to find and bring confidence with you to the viva?

And, as your viva is not every day, what will you do to celebrate your achievement?

Nathan

Standards

Daily Post

There isn’t a standard viva format.

There are reasonable expectations, but no guarantees.

Probable durations, but very long and very short outliers.

A range of possible first questions, but no certainty for the exact start of your viva.

There’s no standard format, but there are standards: standards for your examiners, standards for the process, standards for what a good thesis might be like.

Be confident that you meet the standard for a good, talented researcher.

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