Daily viva help for PhDs
You can have reasonable expectations of what your viva might be like, but you won’t know until you’re inside it. You can rehearse responding to questions but you won’t know how you’ll really feel until they’re being asked by your examiners.
You can wait and anticipate and wonder what will happen – and then before you know it the whole thing will be done. All the time you spent getting ready, wondering how long you might be, and you might blink and miss what happens at your viva.
After your viva, before you are finished with your PhD completely, take a little time.
Thank everyone you need to thank.
Reflect on what you’ve learned over the years.
Decide on what you don’t need to take with you into the future – the number of papers and notes I’ve kept for fourteen years without needing them is astounding!
Find someone who needs help or advice and offer what you can.
Then when you’re ready, move on to the next big thing.
Whatever it is, as important as your PhD and viva were, I’m sure that what you do next will be even better.
A mini-viva is what I call one possible set of questions from the Mini-Vivas resource that I developed a few years ago. There are 7,776 possible combinations of five questions possible from that resource; of course, in practise this would lead to an even greater number of conversations between a thesis candidate and the person asking the questions.
While I think the best use for this kind of resource is to structure a conversation, as rehearsal for the kinds of questions and the situation one might find in the viva, it can be useful to use the questions as prompts for reflection.
For example, use the resource and take a sheet of paper; divide it into five equal-ish sections and roll the dice. You might find yourself reflecting on the following:
Reflecting and thinking about questions can help, but can also lead to more abstract prep. Writing things down helps more: you’re forced to be concise and clear. Talking, responding to questions helps even more: you get feedback about whether or not you are really communicating – plus you open up the possibility of digging a little deeper.
There are 7,775 more combinations of mini-viva questions at the resource. Take a look and see if it will help your preparation in some way.
What do you need from your supervisors?
I only had the one. Throughout my PhD I needed him to explain things to me, particularly in the beginning. I needed him to listen to how I was getting on, and check my logic and reasoning. I needed a mentor and supporter and was very fortunate to have the person I did as my supervisor.
After submission I needed to talk, to explain what I had done and to see if those words seemed sensible. I needed someone who I could still turn to and check when my doubts overwhelmed my memory. I needed someone with experience who could help give me some sense of what my examiners might think of my research.
What do you need from your supervisors?
You might need them to tell you about the viva. You might need them to host a mock viva for you. You might need them to give you a different perspective or to tell you all about your external. You might need them to tell you why your examiners were good choices for your viva. And you might need them to be at your viva!
To get the help you need from your supervisors, you have to tell them what you need. You have to check how busy they are so that you can make any arrangements in a way that meet both your needs.
When you know what you need, ask.
If you’ve submitted your thesis but don’t yet have a date for the viva then it might feel early to prepare for meeting your examiners. Before you have a date it could feel like you’re aiming at a target that is vague or not quite real.
Viva prep is not so tightly timed, usually, that one has to wait for a date. At some point after submission you could simply start – but if you have other responsibilities or are worried that starting soon will mean you forget things, then you could do some of the following while you wait:
You could do lots of little things to help begin your preparation. You don’t have to wait for a date to start getting ready. Reflect and explore how you could use your time wisely.
Faced with a difficult question or unexpected comment in the viva, perhaps the best thing you can do is ask why.
Or ask yourself why. Why have you gone blank? Why is something difficult? Why did you write something the way you did, or do something the way you have?
When you ask why you uncover some of the reasons beneath the surface of a question or comment. You take the first steps to being able to respond and participate in the discussion.
If a question or comment makes you pause, ask someone “Why?” and see where that leads.
Survive means manage to keep going in difficult circumstances.
I often tell candidates that getting ready for the viva could be summarised simply as “keep going”. If someone has got to submission they must be talented, knowledgeable and determined. Whatever challenges they’ve faced they have done enough: if they keep going then they will succeed at the viva.
Hence, one could simply offer advice on viva prep as “keep going”.
But…
This advice doesn’t mean “just keep going without finding out more about the viva”.
It doesn’t mean “keep going even if you’re worried or anxious”.
You can’t simply “keep going” if you are overstretched or overwhelmed.
And I’m definitely not suggesting that anyone “keep going” alone when they need support.
Keep going is an encouragement: “Keep going because you made it this far.” If your situation now is such that you need help, support, advice, direction then ask for it. Find help and then carry on.
If there is one thing that has to be talked about in the viva it is the significant, original contribution that you’ve made through your research and that you have written up in your thesis. It’s not the only thing that can or will be talked about but it has to be discussed. You have to talk about it because this research and thesis is what you’ve done to earn your PhD.
So you have to be ready to do that. Write summaries about what you’ve done, make notes, check your thesis, have a mock viva or in some way practise with questions talking about it.
There will be lots to talk about at your viva. Talking about your significant, original contribution is guaranteed. Practise doesn’t make perfect, but prepare and you will be ready.
You won’t get to fully decide when and where and how your viva takes place. You’ll be asked when you’re free and what your preferences might be. By then you’ll know who will be involved and you’ll know what it will all be about: your thesis will be finished and you’ll be in the process of getting ready.
The final logistical details of the viva are when and where.
When you know the time and the place just consider what else you need to do. Do you need to go and check the room out at your university? Or do you need to think about where will be best at home? Do you need to decide how you will get there on the day? Or do you need to practise using whatever video platform the viva will use?
When the time and place are confirmed, simply think about what that means for you. What else do you need to check or do?
I had an idea to do an “April fool!”-style post about this being the last day of Viva Survivors, but couldn’t bring myself to do it! 🙂
The last ever post. What would that look like? A summary? A thank you? Goodbye? A big list of links?
I really don’t know. And I really don’t know why I would stop, how I would close things off tidily or, importantly, what I would do with myself if I did. So I guess it’s really good I’m not stopping!
I remember my last ever day as a PhD student. I had been trying to avoid thinking about it.
I turned up for one more cup of tea and to check nothing was left in my desk. There was no ceremony. No triumphant fanfare. My friends had to work, of course, but now I was done. It was odd. It was weird to have nothing else left to do, perhaps because for me, I wasn’t quite sure what I was going to do next.
For now, you might be busy getting your thesis finished, or working hard to get ready for the viva. Still, take a minute to look ahead: the day will come when you will no longer be a PhD student. No longer a postgraduate researcher.
You will be done. Being done is strange to adjust to. Take a little time to think ahead to see if there is anything you can do to make that transition easier for your future self.