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Nathan

Ideas Need Work

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“What a good idea!”

It’s very rare that an idea is enough. It takes work to develop, to implement, to unpick, to understand and for it to have an impact.

You will have had many good ideas throughout your PhD. However they’ve made their way into your thesis, they needed effort to come to life. They needed your work to make an impact.

Whatever is in your thesis, it took work to write, work to edit, work to figure out how to express it.

Your work.

There are great ideas that exist because of the work you did. When you go to your viva there’s a lot to talk about. Remember that the reason it’s there is because you took the time and the effort to do it.

Your thesis is proof of your contribution and evidence of your capability as a researcher.

 

PS: today’s post aims at boosting confidence by reflecting on your PhD and the work you did. If you’re looking for more ways to boost your confidence and get ready for the viva then check out Viva Survivors Select 03, The Preparation Issue, which came out yesterday and is available now at this link!

Nathan

Density

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Thousands of hours of work, spread out over hundreds and hundreds of days.

How much thinking? How much practical work? How much reading?

Now all squashed into several chapters, a few hundred pages maybe.

Your thesis is dense.

In preparation for your viva you need to dig in to it.

Read what you wrote. Reflect on what it means. Review what you need to so you feel ready.

And remember that dense substances are often very valuable.

Nathan

Consistent & Different

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Thesis annotation is a useful part of viva prep. Take time to review your thesis and add details to make a more useful version for your viva. Make things in your thesis easier to find and easier to see at a glance.

Thesis annotation is inherently personal as your thesis is unique. Follow your preferences for information and marking up work to make your thesis helpful for you.

Two words that might help you annotate well are consistent and different.

  • Be consistent in how you annotate things. If you underline your typos in red ink, for example, do that throughout your thesis and don’t switch it up.
  • Be different in how you annotate different things. So, for example, if you use pink highlighter to emphasise key references then use a green highlighter to add emphasis to quotes or statistics.

Keep consistent and different in mind to make the final, annotated version of your thesis as useful as possible for you at the viva. Make it so that when you see an addition it is clear and unambiguous.

Nathan

Words Count

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What’s the upper or lower word count for my thesis?

This is an interesting question. Sometimes it’s asked in a purely practical way: someone wants to know what the regulations say. The best response I can give is suggest they read the regulations for their university and check with their supervisors for any department-specific advice.

Sometimes it’s asked because there is a deeper question waiting to be asked. Perhaps how short can my thesis be? Or maybe will my examiners prefer a long or short thesis?

These are also interesting questions, but I’d follow up with questions of my own: why do you want your thesis to be short? and why are you writing your thesis for your examiners?

Here are some better questions about words to consider as you finish writing and start preparing for the viva:

  • What terminology do you need to refresh yourself on before the viva?
  • What can you do to practise sharing your work with your examiners?
  • What words matter in your work?
  • What words or sections do you need to highlight in your thesis?
  • What words would you use in a good summary of your thesis contribution?

What words could you use to describe what you do well as a researcher? What words stand out when you think about what you’ve accomplished over the years of your research?

Nathan

In The Spotlight

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In preparation for the viva you can reflect on possible questions, talk with friends or have a mock viva – but don’t forget that you’re not the only one in the spotlight on the big day!

Your thesis is centre-stage with you. Your examiners have read it cover to cover, so you’d best do the same as well. Your examiners will be thinking about it a lot, so it helps if you do too. They’ll be considering it carefully so take some time to do likewise.

Being in the spotlight, for you or your thesis, might not always feel great – but the only way to get around that feeling is to spend more time in the spotlight. More time rehearsing, more time reading and reflecting.

Nathan

Reading Allowed

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It’s not a good idea to have a script for the viva. You can’t take such detailed notes in that you are effectively quoting pre-prepared responses. Besides, there are so many possible questions and variations of questions that to even attempt detailed notes would be foolish.

You can read in the viva though: your thesis is your companion in the exam, a faithful friend that has everything you need, right there for you to use.

  • Need to check a quote? Look in your thesis.
  • Got to find that exact number? Check your thesis.
  • Examiners asking something specific? It may be worth peeking at a page or two.

You might not have all the answers; your thesis might not either. But to help you respond you can read, check, quote and find things. Scripted answers won’t help you in your viva, but reading your thesis will.

Nathan

Reading & Writing

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It’s necessary to read your thesis in preparation for the viva. You don’t need to memorise your work, but it helps to have a good recall of the flow of your thesis to make using it in the viva easier.

Annotating your thesis or writing summaries are helpful for viva preparation, and have the added benefit that they have to be done actively. You can’t write a summary without being engaged with your work. You can’t annotate your thesis without being switched on and reviewing what’s there.

You can pass time skimming your thesis, but that won’t help your prep as much as reading actively or investing time in writing about your research. Reading and writing tasks are essential elements of getting ready. Find good ways to do both kinds of work.

Nathan

Who Is It For?

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Your thesis is not written for your examiners. You have to write it for your PhD and your examiners have to read it to examine you. It’s not written for them – the goal is to make a contribution to knowledge.

You don’t learn about viva expectations so you have a template you’re trying to complete. You’re learning more so that you can prepare well. You’re not trying to meet some ideal for your examiners.

Your prep is not done for your examiners. It’s for you. You want to be at your best, ready, refreshed, feeling confident – but that’s not for them. You want to to feel ready for you.

Remember to keep the focus where it needs to be for the viva.

Nathan

Limits of Annotation

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Annotating your thesis as part of viva prep can help create a more useful resource. Making things easier to find or easier to see can help your viva run smoothly.

There are so many options open to you: bookmarks, Post-it Notes, highlighter tabs, highlighter pens, pencil, ink, red pen, green pen, writing in the borders, the margins, the header and footer and between the lines…

And you can add short summaries, break down jargon, have sentences at the top and bottom of every page and colour code anything and everything you can think of…

But don’t.

There’s a limit of how much you can usefully add before your annotations become confusing. There’s a limit of how much you can add before it becomes a time-sink for you, rather than an effective use of your time.

So don’t do everything. Start with some limits. Explore what you might need. Make a list. Decide on how you will usefully add things.

Then do the work. Cross things off your list until you’re done.

Make a useful thesis by setting some limits on your annotation.

Nathan

The Outtakes

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I’m curious about outtakes in movies – the scenes that didn’t make it in or alternate versions of scenes that did.

Sometimes outtakes are shown as bloopers: the moments when things went wrong or when someone laughed. It’s helpful to see outtakes because it reminds you that however impressive something looks in a movie it’s taken time and effort to achieve that.

Your thesis will have outtakes too. Sections that aren’t included. Perhaps a whole chapter that just doesn’t fit. You’ll have loose threads you cut or ideas that had to be left out because of the space or time you had available.

As interesting as movie outtakes can be their existence also serves to remind us of something else: that there’s a reason that they were not in the finished film. They didn’t fit. They didn’t work. They were just people laughing, and as funny as that might be to see it doesn’t tell the story.

It’s the same with your thesis. You might second-guess yourself, or doubt if you have enough in your thesis at some point but remember: if you left something out of your thesis there is a good reason.

Remember what those reasons are and you can strengthen the reasons for including the work that you have.

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