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Tag: the end of the phd

Nathan

Before You Forget

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There will be congratulations after your viva, from examiners and others, telling you how well you’ve done, how great you are and starting the necessary celebrations for a wonderfully big and amazing thing!

And before the celebrations really start to happen, take five minutes to make some notes. Grab a piece of paper, divide it into four and quickly jot down some thoughts:

  • What was the viva like for you?
  • What did your examiners ask?
  • What did you enjoy?
  • What corrections stand out to you?

Five minutes, four questions and one important task to complete before you forget. Those four questions and the notes you make could be a big help to you in the weeks that follow – or to others in the years afterwards.

Take the time to write a few things before you forget.

Nathan

The End Result

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Remember what you’re working towards.

You need to submit your thesis, but you’re not working towards that. You need to prepare for your viva, but the work isn’t for the sake of preparation. And you want to pass your viva, but that’s not what the work is for.

You’re working towards BEING a PhD. Doctor Someone, with a doctorate in something special.

Whatever stage you’re at – submission, prep or the day before your viva – you can only get that far by working and building yourself into a PhD.

The work helps you succeed at whatever stage you’re at, but also moves you closer to the end result.

Nathan

Before You Know It

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It’s almost twenty years since I started my PhD.

I remember the first week very clearly, sitting at my desk, skim-reading through papers I couldn’t grasp, making notes and chatting with my office-mates.

I very distinctly remember thinking, “I don’t know what I’m doing, but at least I have a long time to figure it out.”

And I did have a long time, and I did – more or less – figure it out.

But that time went by so fast. Before I realised I was looking at my final months of writing up, those weeks of prep, those hours of my viva and an eye-blink afterwards when I did my corrections.

Plan the end of your PhD before you get too close. When will you do your prep and how will you get it done? What might your corrections period look like? And what are the key dates or weeks when you will have to hit targets?

Before you know it, you’ll be done.

Nathan

Measuring PhD Success

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What does PhD success mean? I’ve heard lots of possible ideas over the years:

  • No corrections? Is that the goal?
  • Two or more publications? Is that what you want? Or need?
  • Just getting through?! Is that enough?
  • Feeling proud at the end? (I think that would be nice)

Success has to involve the viva in some way – and passing it of course! So success also has to involve doing the work necessary to get to submission, preparing for the viva and doing well on the day.

PhD success has to include the viva – but PhD success doesn’t mean simply passing the viva. I think given that every PhD journey is unique and personal it follows that PhD success would be too.

PhD success can’t simply be measured in the number of corrections, how many papers you write or how many times your examiners smile during the viva. Every candidate has to set the measure for themselves. Every candidate has to find what their PhD means and what success means.

And, whatever stage you’re at, you have to figure it out for yourself. You may find help in blog posts like this or conversations with friends: at some point you have to decide what you’ll accept as success and then work towards and deal with that.

What does PhD success mean?

Well, what does it mean to YOU?

Nathan

The Edge

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Are you nervous about your viva or nervous about the upcoming change?

Your viva, and your success at it, aren’t a leap of faith. You did the work, you did the prep, you can learn about the process. You don’t need to hope that it all goes well. You can be reasonably certain that things are going to work out.

And yet you are at the edge of something.

The edge of your PhD before you step out and do something different. The boundary line between here and there. It could be very similar if you’re continuing in academia or a great change if you’re moving to another field or industry – but it will still be different.

Are you nervous about your viva or nervous about the upcoming change?

It helps to know because then you can do something.

 

Nathan

Before The End

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A long time ago I would regularly help to deliver residential learning programmes for researchers. Two or three days at an isolated retreat centre, long hours, creative project work, sharing ideas and experiences and thinking about what it all meant. I loved it.

The course director had a good way to close each experiential learning programme. We would all sit down, two or three staff and maybe a dozen or so postgraduate researchers and talk about what the programme had meant. Before the end, we would go around in a circle and just say anything we needed to in order to finish.

This might be something that had stood out. Something we were thankful for. In some cases something that was bothering someone. Something that had been a surprise. Something that had been learned.

And when each person had said their piece they would finish simply with, “I’m done.”

I’ve been reminiscing a little lately and thinking about the end of my PhD. Looking back I do think I could have finished things off better. After my viva I was so focussed on getting my corrections complete and my thesis finished. Then I was wondering what I would do next. Before I knew it I had to pack my desk and office space up, move things out and start something new.

I don’t wish I had had more time, but I do wish I had used my time differently. After my corrections I wish I had spent a little more time on sorting things out. On deciding what I would and wouldn’t be taking home with me. I kept boxes of notes and papers for years before realising I was never going to do anything with them.

And I particularly wish I had taken more time to thank people who had helped me.

My encouragement for you: do what I didn’t. Take a little time after your viva to make sure you finish in a good way. You will be busy. You will have 101 things to do. Still, take a little time to decide carefully on what you do and don’t need for the future. Take a little time to thank people before you move on to the next thing you’ll do.

OK. I’m done.

Nathan

Time To Finish

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The viva is framed in lots of different ways.

It’s an exam. It’s a test. It’s a discussion. It’s the end of the PhD journey or the final challenge. You could be excited to be there or telling yourself, “Let’s get this over with…”

Another way to look at is that it’s just time to finish. It’s time. It’s the right time. Years of work, months of anticipation and build-up. New ideas and prospects ahead. You’ve done your PhD for long enough. It’s time to finish and go on to the next thing.

Two questions then: what will help you to finish your PhD well? What will help you to start whatever comes next in the best possible way?

Nathan

The Ends

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The end of your viva is not the end of your PhD.

The end of your bibliography doesn’t mean that there is nothing else to know.

The end of your thesis is not the end of the research that could be done.

The end of your PhD journey doesn’t mean that there isn’t more great work for you to do.

The end of your mock viva is not a finish to all the questions you could get in the real thing.

There are many endings around the conclusion of a PhD. Very few of them are final.

The end of your PhD is not the end of your story.

Nathan

The End of the Beginning

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The viva is the beginning of the end. Passing it is, I like to think, also the end of the beginning.

However you feel about your PhD journey, particularly if it has been challenging or coincided with the pandemic, it is coming to a close. You will reach your destination and find that you’ve still a long way to go.

Your PhD was just for starters. Where will you go from here?

You don’t need to have all the answers about this at your viva. You don’t need to explain your career plans to your examiners. But maybe you do have an idea. Maybe you have something you’re striving for.

Good. Go for it. Throughout your PhD, with all the challenges you’ve faced, you’ve survived. You’ve managed to keep going in difficult circumstances. And after you’re done, you’ll find more challenges but also more ability to face them.

Your PhD will be done soon, the opening act complete. The end of the beginning. So keep going.

Nathan

And Then You’re Done

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Finishing my PhD was a strange time. I remember a weird few weeks of tidying my desk, taking folders home on the train, clearing stuff into recycling, and then a gap of months of trying to figure out, “What now?”

How do you want things to change for you?

  • Will your PhD journey have a gradual conclusion, tidying up loose ends, leaving things in their right place while you prepare to start a new expedition?
  • Will it simply finish one day, a red line drawn across your calendar to mark the end of one era and the start of another?
  • Will it just change? Will you realise one day that you’ve moved on and you didn’t see it happen?

Finish your thesis, prepare for your viva, but spare a little thought for that Future-You, who will one day find that they’re done with their PhD.

What can you do to help prepare them for that situation?

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