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Month: May 2024

Nathan

Yes, You Can

Daily Post

Can you know what to expect from the viva process?

Yes, you can because there are regulations and stories that describe the viva process. Yours will be unique but you can still know enough to know what to expect.

 

Can you know enough about your examiners to feel confident meeting them?

Yes, you can: talk to your supervisor and check your examiners’ recent publications to get a sense of who they are.

 

Can you be prepared for the viva?

Yes, you can be prepared for your viva! Take time to make a plan and do the work. There’s no shortcuts but also no long and hard tasks either.

 

Can you engage well with your examiners’ questions and respond to their comments?

Yes, you can engage well with your examiners at the viva. You know your stuff, you’ve taken time to prepare and a little rehearsal will help you be ready.

 

Can you succeed at your viva?

Yes, you can.

Nathan

Steps For Research Reflection

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Reflecting on your research contribution is a very helpful part of viva preparation. Discussing what you have done and what it means is definitely going to come up during your viva!

To make the most out of reflecting on your contribution then try some of the following steps:

  • Set aside time purposefully. Plan occasions when you will reflect.
  • Use questions to prompt deliberate reflection.
  • Write down thoughts or summaries. Thinking alone could lead to forgetting.
  • Make space to come back to your notes or summaries.

The last point is helpful to allow you to refresh your memory or even to build upon what you’ve thought through previously.

Using questions won’t lead to perfect scripts you can read from in the viva, but it will help build the words that will come more easily when you meet your examiners.

Nathan

Misunderstood

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Confusion can happen in the viva. Your examiners might not understand. They could have read a passage and got a different idea to what you meant. You could misunderstand a question, a comment or the point of a conversation.

Confusion in the viva doesn’t necessarily mean you’re wrong, your examiners are wrong or that something is wrong. It just means that there is confusion…

…but eventually confusion clears. It’s not comfortable but not harmful to your viva. It’s simply a possible part of the process.

It’s possible to actively work around confusion too. Pause to think. Check your thesis. Ask questions and in particular ask them to improve clarity. Check that your points are being understood.

Confusion isn’t comfortable but consideration and conversation clears the way to clarity.

Nathan

Revise or Review?

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Words matter.

It might help to think of viva prep as revising for a test. If that’s how you think of it then follow that impulse. Make a plan. Consider what you need to do. Build structure to help you get the work done. Thinking of viva prep as exam revision has merit.

Another consideration could be that viva prep is reviewing things. You don’t need to revise and re-learn everything. You already know what you know. Because you’ve been doing this for years you don’t need to revise and cram your mind with information. Instead you just have to review who you are, what you can do and how far you’ve come.

Words matter.

What words are you using to describe your process for getting ready?

Nathan

Superlatives

Daily Post

Here is a small reflection and summary exercise to help gather useful information before your viva. Four questions:

  • What’s the best part of your thesis?
  • What was the least useful period of research during your PhD?
  • What was the hardest thing you learned?
  • What is your proudest achievement?

Take a moment to reflect for each of these. Write down your thoughts in keywords or sentences. Reflect more and then dig deeper for each by asking yourself, “Why?”

  • Why is this the best part of your thesis?
  • Why was that the least useful period?
  • Why is that the hardest thing you learned?
  • Why is that your proudest achievement?

Reflection questions are helpful for shaking loose ideas that are worth remembering or considering more.

“Why?” often allows one to dig a little deeper.

Nathan

A Free Day

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Do you have a day off planned for today?

If not, then I hope you can at least find some rest with whatever else you have to do.

A free day might be exactly what you need between submission and your viva. A day to step back from everything. A day off work. A day off prep. A day away from your responsibilities.

A day to just say, “I did something big when I submitted… And soon I’ll do more when I have my viva.”

It might take a lot to get a totally free day, so take any time you can between your submission and your viva to rest, relax and reflect – because soon enough you’ll be working towards your next challenge.

Nathan

Two People

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In preparation for the viva there’s not a lot you need to explore about your examiners to be ready for them. There are most likely two people, one internal and one external, and for each of them you need to:

  • Read their recent publications.
  • Check their staff pages to get a sense of their interests.
  • Talk to your supervisor about why they’re good examiner choices for your viva.

And that’s it.

You don’t need to second-guess these two people. You don’t need to predict every possible question they might have for you or find some deeper understanding. You certainly don’t need to be an expert in who they are.

They’re just two people. They have a job to do. They’ll do it well.

To be ready for them you need to get a sense of who they are, what they do and why they’re a good fit for your viva.

Nathan

Find X

Daily Post

I love maths problems that look really simple.

A simple statement that asks a question. A string of numbers looking for connection. A picture with an undefined angle or shaded area.

They can look really simple but require real thought to unpick what’s involved and then find X.

 

This isn’t very different from having concerns about the viva.

If you or someone you know feels worried we have to find the X that is worrying them. We have to unpick why X is a concern. We have to understand what that means. We can then start to think of possible options.

A maths problem typically has a single solution being looked for. Viva problems can have lots of possible solutions; they depend on the person or the situation.

In viva problems, finding X is the first step to a bigger solution. Find why the problem is a problem and you can start to find options for resolving the situation.

Nathan

Whispers About The Viva

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Vivas are long.

Examiners ask tough questions.

Corrections are terrible.

Conditions are harsh.

There’s nothing you can do but hope.

Whispers about the viva are everywhere. They thrive because we don’t talk enough about what happens in vivas, at least not clearly.

Silence allows the whispers to creep in: the half-truths, the unexplored contexts and the unsubstantiated rumours.

Whispers can cause a lot of unnecessary worry. It’s not wrong to be nervous or worried about the viva, but the whispers aren’t worth your concern.

Ask more people more questions about their experiences. Talk to your supervisors. Read the regulations.

Beat back whispers with certainty. Bring your focus back to what matters.

Nathan

The Sixth Activity

Daily Post

There are six main types of activity that make up viva preparation.

Five of them are, in a strange way, quite similar. Candidates can prepare for their viva by:

  • Reading their thesis;
  • Annotating their thesis;
  • Creating summaries;
  • Reading recent publications;
  • Checking recent papers by their examiners.

These are quite different at first glance. They are all essential, helpful activities for viva prep – and also completely unlike what a candidate will do in the viva. That’s the strange similarity: they are essential for viva preparation but practically unlike what someone will do when they meet their examiners.

The sixth essential activity is finding opportunities to rehearse. Mock vivas, seminars, conversations with friend and more. Work that is much, much closer to the work you will do when you meet your examiners. Deliberate practice that helps you to be more comfortable for viva day.

The other five activities make a difference. They are essential, but they are not the same kind of actions that you will take in your viva.

Find opportunities to rehearse.

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