Fortunately
No PhD candidate gets to their viva or passes because they are lucky. When we reduce the situation to the simplest terms, a PhD candidate submits their thesis and succeeds in the viva because they work hard and enough of...
good enough
Making A Difference
It’s what you must have done over the course of your PhD. Your research and thesis must have a significant, original contribution – or, more simply, you must have made a difference. Something now exists that didn’t before and that...
Hypothetically
What if I forget something? What if I go blank? What if my examiners don’t like something? All hypothetical questions. All reasonable too: any PhD candidate could feel worried about these things for their viva. But why are hypothetical questions...
Keeping Score
To help remember your effort and progress – to then help build confidence for the viva – keep records of what you do and what happens during your PhD. You don’t have to have a minute-by-minute journal of what you...
Business As Usual
The viva isn’t the same as any regular day in your PhD, but it’s not so different either. Not really. Do you need to be prepared? Yes. Do you need to know what to expect from the viva? Yes. But...
Expect Good
What could your viva be like? It could be lots of things! It could be four hours long but feel like it’s over in half that, like mine felt to me. It could begin with a chance for you to...
The Key Expectation
There are lots of things we could expect of the viva. A particular length, certain questions, the tone of the discussion, the expertise of the examiners… And the most fundamental expectation: that the candidate is up to the task. That they...
Being Wrong
There’s always a chance you’re wrong about something. There’s always a possibility your examiners believe you’re wrong. Until they ask they won’t be able to know either way. Being wrong or being asked something because you might be wrong is...
The Sum Of The Parts
The phrase “significant, original contribution” is probably the best combination of words that we have to describe the something that a PhD candidate needs in their thesis to demonstrate that they are a good researcher and that they have done good...
5 Posts I’ll Never Write (Probably)
I keep idea books to help manage my creative process for the blog. I’ve worked through five volumes of these small books over the last couple of years, and every time I fill one I transfer unused ideas across. There...