Again
The viva’s not the first time you’ve responded to questions about your work. It’s not the first time in your PhD journey you’ve been tested. You have to have risen to challenges many, many times to get to submission. And...
Daily viva help for PhDs
The viva’s not the first time you’ve responded to questions about your work. It’s not the first time in your PhD journey you’ve been tested. You have to have risen to challenges many, many times to get to submission. And...
An audience doesn’t see the preparation and planning that goes into a talk. They might appreciate that work because of the effect it creates in the talk, but they don’t see it. They might not fully understand just how much...
In your thesis, whatever the topic, whatever the structure, you’re trying to persuade your audience of something. In your viva you are adding to the work of your research and the words in your thesis to persuade your examiners. You...
Viva confidence can come from reflecting on the years you’ve invested into your research and thesis. The journey has to show progress, personal growth and development and times that you’ve succeeded in your goals. Looking back could also show you...
Your examiners are looking for a significant, original contribution in your thesis and a conversation with the capable researcher who did the work. For you to meet their expectations you don’t need to have super-researcher powers… Laser Focus: you can...
It’s one of the most common things people say about the viva. I believed my examiners would grill me but instead we just talked about what I had done… I thought I would go blank but it was just good...
It can take a candidate some time to read their whole thesis. A mock viva is hours of prep and then the event itself. Sitting with your thesis to add notes to the margins and other annotations can also take...
Expectations for a viva fall within ranges. There are common lengths, probable questions and likely areas of interest. It’s not as simple as rattling off a bullet point list of what will happen. There are ranges of aspects to consider...
Writing a summary of some aspect of your thesis or research before the viva can do a lot of things to help you. It forces you to focus on something, to highlight the best parts or the most difficult sections...
Think back, if you need to: how far had you come when you were halfway through your PhD? How much work had you done when you were halfway through the journey? What did you still have to do? And what...