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Month: December 2020

Nathan

Traditions

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December is a month of traditions. Celebrations, music, decorations, meals – some traditions form a backdrop of culture, while others are more homegrown.

  • “Our tree has been up for over a week. That’s how we’ve always done it.”
  • “Christmas dinner will involve turkey, that’s what we always have.”
  • “You can’t open any presents until you’ve had some breakfast, that’s just the way it is!”

You’ll have your own traditions: they might involve Christmas or not, family or friends, excess or restraint. And it might not always be possible to live up to those traditions or in some cases even exercise them. This year especially, people who feel strongly attached to “the way things are supposed to be” are liable to be disappointed if they don’t let go a little.

The viva is an exam of traditions. Regulations, university processes and common stories – these form a background for expectations, while departments and colleagues can show you a more local view.

  • “Vivas last around two hours. That’s what everyone says.”
  • “Expect them to ask a lot about your methods, all my friends were asked about them.”
  • “Your external will take the lead, they’re the expert after all, right?”

Your institution will have rules for the viva. Your discipline might have common expectations. Your department might have ideas – norms – which influence how vivas take place. They might feel comfortable or not, according to your preferences; in some cases you might be able to adapt them or adapt yourself to make them better for you. In the next year or so, you and your examiners might be disappointed that some parts of the viva will not be “the way things are supposed to be.”

December’s traditions are part of a background; you might have your own, but you have a reference point for interpreting others. The viva’s traditions, whatever they come to, will be something partly new to you. You’ve not had a viva before, and you’ll have to interpret the experiences of others to make sense of them.

(December and the viva have a strong tradition for celebration, keep that in mind and do what you can!)

Nathan

The Map Is Not The Territory

Daily Post

Regulations can give you the general shape of the viva, the broad understanding of the process. Stories shape big expectations, and the stories of your friends and colleagues can help you see the norms, the common practices in your department.

This is the map of the viva landscape: it could have lots detail, but it’s only a representation. All of the regulations, expectations and norms that you understand – and it’s worth taking the time to find them out – won’t be able to tell you exactly what is going to happen in your viva.

You’ll only appreciate the territory, your viva, when you’re there, when it’s in front of you. There you’ll see the unique features, the slight changes, the parts that stand out to you that others didn’t mark or notice.

The map is not the territory, but the map is still useful. You can help update it after your viva. Once your viva is done, the corrections are in and you’re getting ready to move on to life after the PhD, find ways to share your own experiences to help someone else get a sense of what is ahead of them.

(another post inspired by The Great Mental Models by Shane Parrish!)

Nathan

Scratch Your Itch

Daily Post

If I’m ever asked to give general advice for PhD candidates I suggest that they find some way to scratch their itch:

Find a nice little side project to your main research, something that might use your skills, talents or knowledge in a slightly different way. Find something that makes you smile to work on it. Find something perhaps even unconnected to your research but which helps you to make something or do something that helps others. If all it does is help you balance out your normal work time, then it’s time well spent.

There’s a place for itch-scratching in viva prep too. Make notes on the favourite parts of your thesis. Find interesting papers to read and challenge yourself with. Have coffee with friends to talk about the last few years or perhaps have a mini-viva. Even incentivise your prep with some kind of fun reward.

All of these sorts of things have a place in helping you get ready.

What could you do? What have you been putting off? What could you use to both scratch an itch – A new project? Answering a question to keep you thinking? Presenting your work? – and help you get ready?

Nathan

Time To Think

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You had lots of time to think during your PhD. You had plenty during your prep. You have enough in the viva.

Your examiners want you to consider, ponder, debate, reflect, examine, muse, propose – to think! – and then respond.

This doesn’t mean long silences, longer vivas or almost-impossible questions. Just enough time to think about something important.

Take time in your viva. It’s there for you to use.

Nathan

Needing A Mock

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You don’t need a mock viva. You need practice for the viva, a rehearsal space to think and respond like you might do in the viva. You don’t need a mock viva, it’s just one of the ways that you could rehearse.

You don’t need a mock viva, it’s just supposed to be like a real viva, with substitute examiners who will be well-placed to ask you relevant, helpful questions to give you a sense of kind of discussion that arises in the viva. You don’t need a mock viva, there are lots of ways to get help, but given that it’s supposed to be like the viva it could be a really useful opportunity if you have the chance.

You don’t need a mock viva, you need to be ready: a mock is a means to an end, not the end itself. There are other things you could do that would help.

But if you have the chance, a mock viva could be exactly what you need. A small, self-contained piece of preparation. A boost to confidence, to awareness, to expectations. A chance to rehearse and build. A chance to get ready.

You don’t need it. But it might help a lot if you have it.

Nathan

What Do You Believe?

Daily Post

Do you believe that vivas are scary, mysterious or to be feared?

Why? What has you concerned? What could you do to soften those concerns?

Do you believe your examiners are going to be harsh?

Why? What is it about them or about your thesis that makes you feel that? Do you have to accept that feeling, or could you do something about it?

Do you believe your viva is all determined by factors beyond your control?

Why? Wouldn’t it make more sense to reflect on why you’ve got to the viva stage of your PhD at all?

What do you believe about your viva and your PhD? What is helping you? What isn’t? It’s possible to reflect and change beliefs. Not always simply, not by pressing a button, flipping a switch or turning a dial towards something different. But consistent actions could help turn the dial a little, bit by bit, towards a more useful attitude.

Do you believe that you’ve got as far as you have by doing the work, becoming talented, becoming good enough?

If so, carry on. Keep going.

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