What Matters To You?
Your examiners have to ask you about the significant, original contribution that you put forward in your thesis. They have to do this. They have to ask questions about what it adds to your field, how it’s different and why...
Daily viva help for PhDs
Your examiners have to ask you about the significant, original contribution that you put forward in your thesis. They have to do this. They have to ask questions about what it adds to your field, how it’s different and why...
Ahead of your viva, reflect on the significant and original contribution you’ve made through your research. It’s a topic that your examiners will have to discuss with you during the viva, so it will help to be prepared to talk...
Consider some of the following questions ahead of your viva to capture thoughts on the difference your work makes: What does your thesis add to what was known before? How does your work change previous perspectives in your research area?...
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...