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Your viva prep does not need to be confined to book work and solitude. While a mock viva is the most notable prep activity that involves others, it’s not the only task that you could involve others in. Sit down...
Daily viva help for PhDs
Your viva prep does not need to be confined to book work and solitude. While a mock viva is the most notable prep activity that involves others, it’s not the only task that you could involve others in. Sit down...
I’m thrilled to announce that Keep Going – A Viva Survivors Anthology is out today! I celebrated with my book launch party yesterday and am now very happy that the book is available to buy. What is it? Here’s a little...
Feedback from your examiners could be a great help if your plan is to continue in academia. Questions, opinions, insights – whatever they offer or you ask for could give you a boost. If you’re hoping for something from them,...
Viva preparation is a short term project. You don’t need to start getting ready before you submit. You don’t need to focus your final year on building up for the viva. If you have a long time to go before submission...
Expectations for the viva are not guarantees but they matter because they show the process at work. Expectations help because they give a platform for preparation. Vivas vary in length, but knowing roughly what to expect helps to prepare for the...
Read your thesis. Make notes. Reflect on your PhD journey. Rehearse being in the viva. Plan your prep to avoid pressure. Can we say a lot more? Of course! Do we need to say more? Sometimes. Can we make it more complicated than it...
The viva is a conversation. The viva is a test. The viva is the end of the PhD. The viva is pass or fail. The viva is inevitable. The viva is something you can prepare for. The viva is an...
As preparation for the viva read three recent papers by your internal examiner. Read three recent papers by your external examiner. Look for links between your work and their work. Look for connections between your interests, methods and the kinds...
In my earliest academic days I was given the following advice for structuring a presentation: tell them what you’re going to tell them; tell them; tell them what you told them. “Them” in this case was the audience. Over the years...
I was talking with someone recently about the first-year viva. Sometimes it’s called a transfer viva or an upgrade viva. The person I was talking to referred to it as “the baby viva” and in that second I smiled and...