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Month: September 2023

Nathan

The Whole and The Parts

Daily Post

To get ready for your viva you need to focus on the whole of your research, your thesis and your PhD journey. You need to know that your examiners could ask you about everything: why you did the work, how you did it and what happened. What you learned, what you know, what you can do.

To get ready for your viva you need to focus on the parts of your research, your thesis and your PhD journey too. You need to narrow your focus to what really matters. What are the key papers that helped? What outputs or outcomes matter? What successes have helped you the most?

You have to consider the whole. You have to consider the parts.

Nathan

Prep Progress

Daily Post

Keep a tally of your viva prep. Every day you do something to help your preparations, big or small, make a mark. One mark per day, not one mark per task. Watch as the number of marks build over time.

If you’re pre-submission this could be a task as simple as downloading regulations or as big as finishing your thesis. After submission this could be marking when you write a few notes or have a mock viva.

Just one mark per day. Every time you add a mark you’re showing your commitment.

It’s a simple little message that you’re sending to someone: you, days or weeks from now on the morning of your viva.

Whatever else you feel, whatever else is happening, when you look at your tally you can see clearly that you’ve done the work.

Nathan

Respond Well

Daily Post

Two words that really summarise what you need to do in the viva.

Respond: you don’t have to have an answer for every question. You may or may not have an idea or opinion that’s fully formed. The viva is a discussion, not an interview, not a quiz. You respond to questions, offering what you can…

Well: …and it has to be your best thinking in that moment. Whatever you remember, know or can piece together needs to be shared clearly. You need to pause and think about what your examiners are really asking, so that you can meet the expectations of their question or comment.

Respond well. Pause, think, speak.

Nathan

Ask Your Peers

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Where peers are your friends, colleagues, acquaintances and whatever other titles you can think of!

Ask about their vivas. Ask about their experiences. Ask what they know about the viva.

Ask them what they did to get ready and if they have any advice (but only if they will offer suggestions and not instructions).

Ask them to help you if it’s appropriate.

Seek help now. Offer help later.

Nathan

Your Preferences & Needs

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Preferences are the things that we’d like, but which we could work around if needed. Preferences for your viva and viva prep might include:

  • Starting in a morning;
  • Reading your thesis with a fresh pot of coffee;
  • Knowing your external a little;
  • Having a mock viva to help you get ready.

You might have a strong preference but, for example, if your supervisor was unable to host a mock viva then you would still go on.

Needs are different. For your viva and viva prep you might need:

  • Advance notice or special arrangements for your viva;
  • Specific stationery or time to annotate your thesis;
  • Agreement that your viva will definitely be over video;
  • To not have a mock viva!

Preferences are very different from needs.

 

To begin with: what do you want for your viva? Which of these wants are preferences and which are needs?

For the preferences: what can you do to get your preferences met? Who might you need to ask for help? What could you do if a preference couldn’t be fulfilled?

For your needs: what can you do to ensure your needs are met? Who can you ask for support? How can you clearly communicate those needs to the people who need to know?

Nathan

Preparing When Busy

Daily Post

You could have many things to do when you’re getting ready for your viva – work, family life, responsibilities and obligations – and viva preparation might not break into your top ten time commitments.

It won’t help to be stressed. It won’t help to rush. It won’t be a boost to your confidence if you have to cram prep work in.

So plan ahead.

At submission or in the weeks leading up to it, get a sense of your diary. You may not know your exact viva date but you will have an idea of when it will be – as well as an idea of everything else that you have in your life.

Plan. Break down the prep tasks, sketch out the timeline between submission and the viva. Give yourself breaks. Ask for help and ask for space.

Whatever you do, don’t overload your schedule to success.

Nathan

Small, Medium, Large

Daily Post

Or, a handy guide to the scope and scale of various viva preparation activities!

Small Tasks

  • Downloading regulations for your institution.
  • Putting a sticky note at the start of each chapter of your thesis.
  • Bookmarking the staff pages of your examiners.
  • Messaging a friend to go for coffee and talk.
  • Raiding the stationery cupboard for annotation supplies.

Medium Tasks

  • Preparing a plan for completing your viva prep.
  • Reading half a chapter of your thesis.
  • Working through with highlighter to mark out key references.
  • Summarising five important ideas from your research.
  • Reading regulations or stories of viva success.

Large Tasks

  • Having a mock viva.
  • Reviewing your thesis and reflecting on it.
  • Giving a presentation to rehearse key thesis ideas.
  • Writing a list of ten key papers in your bibliography.
  • Building your confidence for the viva.

There’s lots you could do to get ready. You don’t need to do everything, but everything you do will help.

Nathan

Colourful Prep

Daily Post

You have an opportunity during viva prep to make your thesis as useful as possible for you. Thesis annotation doesn’t just mean writing notes in the margins. Perhaps using colour could help, for example:

  • You could underline typos with red to mark them out simply.
  • Use sticky notes to show the start of chapters or help locate important pages.
  • Apply highlighters consistently to show certain kinds of information clearly.
  • Use highlighter tabs as a colour-coding system of annotation.

These suggestions are just to start your thinking. There’s a lot more you could do when you consider the specifics of your thesis and the information in there.

How could you use a little colour to help your viva prep?

Nathan

The Hardest Part

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Viva preparation is a big part of getting ready. It takes time for a candidate to make sure their thesis is ready and that they feel prepared to sit down and talk with their examiners. Lots of practical tasks and a little planning can make a big difference.

Building up confidence is an important task too. In some ways it’s even more important than the practical tasks that go into prep. It’s not enough to sit down and read your thesis or have a mock viva: you have to feel that you are ready. You have to find your confidence by reflecting on your journey.

While viva prep and confidence building are essential, exploring them often means that we overlook the hardest part of getting ready for the viva – and the one that every candidate has completed.

The hardest part is doing the work of a PhD candidate for years. The hardest part is laying the foundations for study, exploration and development. The hardest part of getting ready for the viva is the thousands of hours of work, invested over hundreds and hundreds of days when you show up.

You need to spend a few weeks getting ready, preparing your thesis and yourself, and reflecting on why you are good enough to succeed in the viva. Don’t forget that the hardest part of your journey to the viva and to success is already behind you.

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