Daily viva help for PhDs
If you’re looking for some help reflecting on your research ahead of the viva, consider reading one of the chapters in your thesis and then respond to the following questions: What is valuable in the chapter? What difference does it make?...
Think back over the course of your PhD journey to date. What stands out to you as the greatest challenge you overcame? Reflect and explore what you remember. Why was the situation a challenge for you? How did you work...
You probably have at least one account with a major internet entity that backs up your photos, or where you share what you’re up to in some way. It’s likely that you post or tweet or save a photo away...
Every writer is asked this, at least from time to time. Postgraduate researchers are asked this too, particularly in the viva. “Where do you get your ideas?” “Why did you want to follow this research topic?” “How did you know...
These are not opposite ends of a spectrum. Nervousness is a response to importance; we tend to feel nervous about an important event, good or bad. Confidence is a feeling of self-assurance, certainty or capability. Nervousness says, “I hope this...
My mum called in a panic: her electricity had gone off and she had no power. By the I time I got to her house, she had checked and reset the main fuse box. The power was on again. It...
Whatever challenges you faced during your PhD, they helped you get to submission and to the viva. Whatever prep you do it will build on a solid foundation of knowledge and ability that you have developed. Whatever disruption you encountered...
Faced with a difficult question or unexpected comment in the viva, perhaps the best thing you can do is ask why. Ask your examiner(s) why that question is important. Ask why a comment matters to them. Ask why they think...
A long time ago on the blog I offered some thoughts about examiners being like video game bosses: After all of the trials and tribulations of doing research, your examiners appear through the fog, two mysterious and challenging foes! Whatever...
Viva prep is better if it is planned a little. There’s no universal “best way” to get the work done, but the following questions could help: How busy are you? When could be a good time to start? How much...