You Are Here

Category: Daily Post

Nathan

The Last Few Years

Daily Post

Three to seven years is a long time in anyone’s life. It may be that while you’ve been working on your PhD that you’ve had big changes in your personal life, not all of them good.

The last five years have been really hard at times in the wider world. We’ve seen daily life change and change again. We’ve seen disruptive alterations to the way the world seems to work. It’s not always clear what these changes will mean – or what changes are still to come.

And all of this is besides the nature of doing a PhD: learning how to research, potentially learning through failure and finding your way while working at a really high level.

 

If you’re feeling bruised by your PhD journey and your viva is coming then you can still make a choice.

If the last few years have been a lot, acknowledge that it’s been hard and acknowledge that you would wish for things to be different. Do that but remember that despite everything the world has sent your way you are still here.

You kept going.

It didn’t happen any other way. The world, your life, your research, whatever tried to hold you back – you said no and kept going. It doesn’t make all of the hard times go away. It might not make them hurt or matter less. But you kept going.

Keep going now. Success is not far away.

 

PS: something else that’s not far away is Viva Survivor, my upcoming live webinar on Wednesday 25th June – only four days from now! I’m regularly invited to deliver this session with PhD candidates all around the UK, but this is only the third time I’ve opened up registration. Viva Survivor is a 3-hour live webinar all about the viva, viva prep and getting ready and participants receive access to a catch-up recording and follow-up materials. Do take a look and see if this could help you keep going. Thanks for reading!

Nathan

What’s Your Contribution?

Daily Post

A fundamental assumption of the viva process is that a PhD thesis has a contribution to knowledge.

What’s yours?

How do you define it? How do you explain it? What do you highlight for others?

What does someone else need to know to understand what you’ve done?

What do you hope your examiners take away from reading your thesis?

Reflecting on your contribution ahead of the viva will help you to unpack and explore it with your examiners. Taking time to read your thesis, write summaries and rehearse can all help you talk confidently and respond to your examiners’ questions.

Start simple.

What’s your contribution?

Nathan

Just In Case

Daily Post

Around submission time, if not before, look for someone who can help you if something goes wrong. You’re probably looking for someone at your doctoral college or graduate school, or possibly even your departmental or faculty director of postgraduate studies.

You want the name and contact details of who to turn to in case:

  • One of your examiners cancels;
  • You are ill and need to postpone;
  • You require accessibility accommodations that aren’t being met;
  • You need to check some point of the regulations;
  • Something truly unexpected happens!

Get the details of an emergency contact just in case. You might not need them. I hope you won’t. But you will be glad you have them if something goes wrong.

Nathan

Planning Time

Daily Post

Viva prep typically takes between twenty and thirty hours. The range follows from the wide variation in thesis size, how a candidate might feel and practically how much time they can commit given their other responsibilities.

I think it’s impossible to plan out in advance exactly how much time you will spend each day over the course of your prep. On Tuesday 24th I will read my thesis for forty-five minutes… I don’t think that approach works well.

I think you can decide that you might read your thesis over the course of a week and allow an hour or so each night. You can set aside an hour on a date to write a summary about a particular chapter. You can schedule a mock viva for whenever is mutually convenient.

Sketching a plan at submission, figuring out generally how much time you might spend in the coming weeks is a good approach to prep that lowers stress. Detailing the minutes spent each day will most likely add more negative pressure and create standards that are hard to meet – and unnecessary.

Take a little time to plan your prep. Use the rest to get prepared.

Nathan

Patterns, Predictions, Preparations

Daily Post

Vivas follow patterns. These come from regulations, general experiences of candidates and examiners and the culture of departments. There are general expectations that describe the trend of vivas in the UK, reasonable estimates of length, process, ranges of feelings and so on.

Given the general patterns and a person’s experience, ability and research, it is possible to make some predictions for what will happen at a particular candidate’s viva. It’s reasonable to predict that someone’s experience will most likely be similar to the patterns of the general experience. It’s reasonable to predict particular questions based on their research and thesis.

Patterns and predictions only take one so far though. They can help you feel better. They can highlight general things for you to think about in advance of the viva.

Then you have to prepare.

Preparations for the viva are what make the difference. It’s not enough to have a good feeling. It’s not enough to get a sense of what vivas are like. You have to do something. You have to take steps to get ready.

What patterns are you aware of? What can you reasonably predict for your viva? And what will you do to make sure you are prepared?

 

PS: one thing that could help your preparations is Viva Survivor, my upcoming live webinar on Wednesday 25th June. I have three objectives for the session: to share realistic expectations for the viva, help attendees know how to prepare well and to be of help.

I’ve shared this session more than 400 times with over 8000 PhD candidates, but this is only the third time I’ve opened up registration. Viva Survivor is a 3-hour live webinar and all attendees get access to a catch-up recording and follow-up materials. Take a look and see if it might be of help for you. Thanks for reading!

Nathan

Magic Numbers

Daily Post

Some magic numbers can help stir up your confidence for meeting your examiners.

  • How many papers and books have you read for your PhD?
  • How many days have you showed up to work even if you didn’t feel like it?
  • How many words have you written? (if your answer is the number in your thesis then remember you’ve edited away many more)
  • How many times have you presented your work?
  • How many deep conversations have you had?

The numbers you might put forward for these aren’t magic in a fantastical sense. They can still do something extraordinary.

The effect they produce is to remind you as you prepare for your viva: you are not at the beginning of your research journey. You are dedicated, capable and successful.

Nathan

Anxious to Action

Daily Post

Concern, anxiety and worry about the viva won’t resolve themselves. It’s not wrong to feel any of these but it’s not good for you to go to your viva with them if you can help it.

You need to do something.

You could ask for help. You could explore a website with thousands of posts about the viva. You could reflect and think about what’s at the root of the problem.

Ultimately you have to do something. Ask, explore, think and then act.

Action can help you move away from anxiety.

Nathan

Ready To Wait

Daily Post

After submission there’s a lot of waiting. It’s a good idea to be ready for it.

  • You have to wait to know your viva date.
  • You wait to get started with your preparations at the right time.
  • The wait could feel nervous in the last few days before your viva.
  • You’ll wait to get going on viva day.
  • Wait for the questions one by one.
  • Wait to see if you have the chance to talk about the things you like most.
  • Wait to find out if any sensitive topics or questions come up.
  • Wait for your examiners to decide the outcome in the final break.
  • Wait later to see if your corrections have been accepted.
  • And then wait, possibly for months, before you have the chance to graduate and formally be Dr Someone.

Get ready to wait when you submit your thesis!

Or rather, make sure you have a good sense of the viva process – both before, during and after – so that you know when you’ll need to wait and perhaps how long some of those waits will be.

 

PS: want to dig into the viva process more? Take a look at Viva Survivor, my upcoming live webinar on Wednesday 25th June. I’ll be talking about expectations, viva prep, examiners and a lot more, as well as responding to questions from everyone present. Viva Survivor is a 3-hour live webinar and all attendees get access to a catch-up recording and follow-up materials. Please check out the details and see if it might help you or someone you know. Thanks for reading.

Nathan

Lucky Often Isn’t

Daily Post

The success of a PhD journey could be influenced by good fortune. That’s when you work hard and that hard work pays off (or enough of it does).

Results don’t just happen. Opportunities don’t just appear. Your work, effort and determination lead to them. You’re not lucky, you’re fortunate: you can be glad that enough things worked out but recognise that you worked hard for them.

Recognise good fortune and the work that goes into it. Luck isn’t required for PhD success.

 

PS: there’s a little more work to do after submission to be ready for the particular challenge of the viva. If you want to know what’s involved and what you can do then check out Viva Survivors Select 03, The Preparation Issue, which is new out this week and available to buy at this link!

Nathan

Ideas Need Work

Daily Post

“What a good idea!”

It’s very rare that an idea is enough. It takes work to develop, to implement, to unpick, to understand and for it to have an impact.

You will have had many good ideas throughout your PhD. However they’ve made their way into your thesis, they needed effort to come to life. They needed your work to make an impact.

Whatever is in your thesis, it took work to write, work to edit, work to figure out how to express it.

Your work.

There are great ideas that exist because of the work you did. When you go to your viva there’s a lot to talk about. Remember that the reason it’s there is because you took the time and the effort to do it.

Your thesis is proof of your contribution and evidence of your capability as a researcher.

 

PS: today’s post aims at boosting confidence by reflecting on your PhD and the work you did. If you’re looking for more ways to boost your confidence and get ready for the viva then check out Viva Survivors Select 03, The Preparation Issue, which came out yesterday and is available now at this link!

1 2 3 … 296