Proofreading & Understanding

A lot of viva prep work is something only you can directly do: annotating your thesis, checking papers and so on.

There are lots of support roles though.

Supervisors can provide mock vivas and perspective; PhD colleagues can listen and ask questions; university staff can signpost resources.

Friends and family can help with two incredibly important jobs: proofreading and understanding.

Before submission, if it’s helpful, see if a member of your friend and family circle can offer a little time to read over your thesis. They’re not looking to grasp your arguments or check your references. They’re trying to spot typos, long sentences, clunky paragraphs and other basic writing things you might not be capable of seeing after so long spent writing.

After submission it will be helpful for your friends and family to listen and understand what you need. They can’t give you a mock viva. They probably can’t ask helpful questions about your research. They may have no way of sharing useful resources with you.

But they can make space, time, peace and quiet for you to prepare.

Proofreading and understanding. Two valuable resources for anyone finishing their PhD.