Best of Viva Survivors 2022: Short Posts
I very rarely set out to write a long post. Viva Survivors posts tend to be around 200 words, but sometimes they can be a lot shorter, as with these six posts on a range of topics: Remember You Are...
short post
Best of Viva Survivors 2021: Short Posts
There’s only a little of 2021 left, so today’s best of is nice and short: in fact these posts are among the shortest I’ve written and published on Viva Survivors! When You Submit – how to start prep… Long or Short...
Short Thoughts On Viva Prep
Viva prep takes more than a day but less than a month. Prep isn’t knowing everything, but believing you know enough. Read your thesis, make notes, check the literature and find opportunities to practise. Know who your examiners and what...
A Little Viva Acrostic
A final test ensures research was actually really decent stuff; Btw, researchers excel at testing, hard experiences! 🙂
A Research-Reflecting Haiku
Reflect and ponder, Why? How? What? When? Where? and last: Who? (that would be you) Think about everything you did, from as many angles as possible, but remember: you did it. That means a lot. (more viva haikus here)
Once
It’s tempting to build up the viva as an epic once-in-a-lifetime event. Make-or-break, do-or-die, all-or-nothing… What about the 1000+ once-in-a-lifetime PhD days that lead up to the viva?
No Ifs, Ands Or Buts
You’re in the viva to pass it. You did the work, you built the ideas, you put it all together in your thesis. You are where you are meant to be.
Similar/Different
A thought: you and your examiners are more similar than you are different. Similar: all researchers, all interested, all capable, all talented, all there in your viva for a good reason. Different: they have more experience than you, you have...
A Haiku For Viva Prep
A final polish, A short time to realise You have done enough. (and see previously)
The Best
At the end of the PhD, when can you stop? When can you accept that what you’ve done is the best that it can be? Think about this, decide on what “best” is. Set it as your target. Now, when...