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Month: November 2022

Nathan

A Key Expectation

Daily Post

It occurred to me recently that a key expectation for the viva, very rarely expressed, is that the candidate will not know what questions they will be asked until they get there.

There are helpful lists of potential questions on the internet. You might suspect or guess some topics. You have your thesis and know that everything you’ve done will be a possible area for discussion. And you can get some ideas of what to expect from your supervisors, your colleagues and the stories that people generally tell about the viva.

But you won’t know.

That’s not a cause for panic or concern, and it doesn’t mean that you can’t be prepared to respond to a question. Rehearse for the viva, place yourself in situations where you have to engage to build your comfort and competence for doing it again in the future.

You don’t need to be prepared to respond to particular questions; you can be ready to engage with whatever question is asked in the viva.

You won’t know what you will be asked at your viva until you get there, but you can still know that you will succeed.

Nathan

Three Mugs Of Tea

Daily Post

On any week day, before work really begins, I need to have had three mugs of tea. There’s nothing super fancy about the tea I drink. It’s not a special blend, made in an ornate pot or served with a wedge of lemon. I just need three mugs to give me enough caffeine and comfort to get to work.

Three will mean I can get to work writing or presenting, thinking or editing. Three mugs will probably get me through the morning. I drink water too, but the tea is the fuel that nudges me to get going.

Could I do the work I need without it? Probably, at least to some extent. It might take longer or I might feel more tired by the end, but I could probably get things done. But it’s a relatively simple need to meet, in order to work well.

With that in mind, what do you need on the day of your viva? What will help you to work at your best?

By the day of your viva you will have finished your research, submitted your thesis and prepared for the day itself. So what simple things could help you feel either more confident or more comfortable for your viva?

Figure out what you need. Make sure you meet those needs. Feel better for your viva.

Nathan

The 2000th Viva Survivors Post

Daily Post

(I couldn’t think of a snappy name!)

Except for the odd Christmas Day off here and there, I’ve now written and published 2000 days of posts on:

And a lot more! There are pages for resources, the old Viva Survivors Podcast and links to books and ebooks if that’s something that you need.

There’s even a link (click here!) if you just want to read a random post from the last five and a half years of writing.

 

Thank you for reading. Thank you for subscribing. Thank you for supporting the blog when you share it, donate via the Ko-Fi link on the site or buy a book.

Thank you to all of my workshop and webinar participants. Thanks to many colleagues and friends who have supported me along the way.

And thanks to all of you and all of that I’ll keep going! 🙂

Nathan

No Need For Luck

Daily Post

You have to have a lot for your viva.

You need some research, developed over several years or more.

You need a thesis, written to an appropriate standard.

You need one or more supervisors to help along the way.

You need a little time to get ready before the viva, doing the right things to help you be prepared.

You need to be a good candidate – someone who has done the work, improved through the effort and success – someone ready to engage with their examiners’ questions.

If these are the things you need to satisfy for the viva then you don’t need luck.

Nathan

The Prep Sequence

Daily Post

To prepare for the viva well it helps to do the right things.

  • You don’t need to cover your thesis in notes and extra scribbles in every margin. Be targeted to make a better version of your thesis.
  • You don’t need to read and re-read anything and everything you’ve ever done. Reading your thesis and checking important papers is enough.
  • You don’t need to practise every question you can think of for your viva. A mock viva with your supervisor or a good chat with some friends could help you feel prepared for the day.

Good, focussed prep tasks add up to being ready – but it helps to do the right things in the right sequence. Don’t have a mock viva until your thesis is annotated, and don’t annotate your thesis before you’ve read it!

Work effectively to get ready instead of simply doing the right things.

Nathan

The Epilogue

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That’s the time after your viva, after corrections, after your final thesis submission but before you actually graduate with your PhD.

Are you a Doctor at that point? Technically no, but you might not let that stop you from changing your bank cards.

Is there a special interim status? No, but you will probably feel good knowing that graduation is coming.

Can there be a long wait? There can, depending on where you are in the academic year. My viva was in June, I had finished corrections in July and submitted my final thesis in August: it was December before I was a PhD.

Is any of this bad? No, not really. If there’s anything to remember or anticipate about this first period of life after the PhD it’s that things take time. You’re done but not finished. You’ve a little further to go before the epilogue of your PhD journey concludes.

Nathan

Previously

Daily Post

There are lots of questions you could be asked at your viva, including questions you’ve never been asked before! But by the time you get there you will have had lots of practise responding to questions, certainly enough to do well with your examiners.

There’s a lot of pressure on the whole situation, but you have experience with that sort of thing.

You can’t be sure what your examiners will ask, but before the day of the viva you can find out more about your examiners and rehearse for being in the viva. You can’t arrive perfect but you can take the time to get ready.

Yes, there’s a lot you won’t know about before the moments of your viva, but prior to arriving there you can do as much as possible to be ready for the situation.

Nathan

Finding Reasons

Daily Post

If before your viva you feel an abundance of nervousness, then you have to look a little and find reasons to feel confident. Confidence doesn’t eliminate nerves, but it does help to put those sorts of feelings into perspective. Nervousness recognises that something is important – confidence gives you the self-belief to know that things will be alright.

Look and find reasons. They could be reminding yourself of all the work you’ve done. They could be bound up in realising just how talented you are. Or you could focus on the process of the viva, what you need to do – what you can do – and what that means for you engaging with that process.

There are plenty of reasons to feel nervous about your viva. There are even more reasons to feel confident of success at your viva. Find them.

Nathan

INTRO To Prep

Daily Post

I’ve written before about INTRO, a neat acronym for structuring the start of a presentation:

  • Interest: start by sharing something that will grab the audience’s attention.
  • Need: say why what you’re going to talk about is important.
  • Title: share the title of the talk.
  • Range: talk about how long you’ll speak for, what you might cover and how you will take questions.
  • Objective: close your introduction by sharing the goal of your presentation.

There’s a nice flow to this process, both for planning and delivering a talk. As with so many tools like this, I think there are wider applications that spring forth with a little reflection.

What about planning for viva prep? Take a blank sheet of paper and consider the following points:

  • Interest: start by writing a few lines about the value of your research.
  • Need: write five key points that you need to address in your viva prep.
  • Title: clearly print “All of this will help me become Dr Somebody!” on the sheet of paper!
  • Range: think carefully, then write one or two possibilities for how you could structure your time to get the work done.
  • Objective: for each key point expressed so far, write a clear goal that leads to progress.

From one sheet of paper we have the beginnings of good viva prep. And with INTRO we have a useful way of starting a presentation.

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