Daily viva help for PhDs
There are tricky things to explain in your viva. There will be times when you struggled. There are probably questions still to answer and problems to solve. But you don’t have to exclusively reflect on all of that during your preparation....
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...
Nothing lasts forever. How long will your contribution to knowledge stand? How many years before there is something bigger, better, more considered or more helpfully stated? On the one hand, you don’t need to account for everything that will or...
If there is one thing that has to be talked about in the viva it is the significant, original contribution that you’ve made through your research and that you have written up in your thesis. It’s not the only thing that...
Before your viva, ask yourself what’s important about your thesis: What’s important in each chapter? What’s important about the references you cite? What’s important about the contribution you make in your thesis? What’s important for you to share with your...
Every PhD candidate in their viva is, at some point and in some way, going to need to talk about their contribution. Examiners will raise the topic and the candidate will need to talk about why their research is significant...
What did you do? It’s unlikely your examiners will ask you as simple a question as this to explore your PhD research but the thought will be there. What did you do? When your examiners ask about your research, remember...
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...
I often encourage PhD candidates to reflect on Why, How and What: Why did you do this research? How did you do it? What was the result? These three questions are useful for breaking down the thesis contribution. They could...
The topic of what makes your thesis a significant, original contribution is going to come up in your viva. Your examiners are not going to simply ask “What makes your work significant? What makes it original?” Reflecting on different questions...