I love World Book Day! Not the costumes and dressing-up, but the sheer love of books.
It’s… a celebration of authors, illustrators, books and (most importantly) it’s a celebration of reading.
I don’t remember a time when I couldn’t read, when I didn’t read for fun, for learning, for joy, for the thrill of it. Books are fantastic.
A PhD thesis is fantastic too, but, like the viva, I wonder if they tend to get dragged down a bit. Lots of questions about writing up and so on tend to be negatively tuned in tone, or get a less than positive response from the person being asked.
That would be nice to turn that around, don’t you think? We can’t dismiss the hard work, the long hours, the difficult effort that goes into a thesis, but we can do more to recognise that a thesis is amazing.
So this World Book Day, if you have a thesis and want to celebrate:
- Tell others what’s so great about it!
- Write summaries in preparation for your viva!
- Explore what makes it great – which is what your examiners will be looking for too!
If your friend has their viva or submission coming up, help them to celebrate their thesis:
- Ask them about it! Not “How’s it going?” but “What makes it special?!”
- Ask to know more: go for coffee and ask for more details.
- Celebrate when it is finished!
Books are fantastic. A thesis is fantastic. To write one, you’ve got to be fantastic too.
