Daily viva help for PhDs
There’s no secret path that takes you to the end of the PhD.
There’s no list of amazing tips that dodges all of the work involved.
You can’t hack your way past the necessary steps that got your thesis finished.
And that’s good.
All of the work you put into the PhD makes you amazingly qualified for your viva. There’s no way of doing the PhD without putting the hours in. All of those hours help you when you sit down to talk with your examiners.
When you’re preparing for the viva, if you just ask the same questions as before to unpick your research you won’t uncover anything new.
If you find new questions then you could find a new perspective. Find different questions, odd questions, unfamiliar questions and then perhaps you could find something interesting.
Something to focus on. Something to check. Something to change. Something to revise. Something to share.
Look for new questions, new opportunities to reflect on and think through your work.
Something great.
It can be hard to look past the end of the PhD.
Try to imagine graduating. Picture crossing the stage at graduation, if it helps. Picture shaking the hand of someone distinguished. It’s a symbol that says you did it. That moment is months away perhaps, maybe longer, but it’s out there.
You’ll get there.
Imagine future opportunities (some you could be working towards now, even before you submit or have your viva). A job, a business, a series of projects or maybe even just a long-awaited break.
You’ll get there.
You just have to keep doing the work now.
A focus on the future can help make the present more hopeful. If you’re feeling stuck, if you’re unsure, if you’re bored, or even happy but only thinking about the viva or getting your thesis, then think about the future.
Think, I’ll get there; so what do I do now?
I like the idea of making an edited bibliography as part of viva preparations: figuring out the core of your bibliography and where your research comes from.
You can go a step further than just making a list of your best references. Start with the following questions to really reflect on your research:
During your PhD, you dig into your field to help bring your research to life. During your viva prep, you can dig into your bibliography to help yourself even more.
Keep digging.
Thesis done? Submitted?
Take at least two weeks off.
Take two weeks away from reading your thesis, making notes or trying to unpick what all that work has been about. There is plenty of time to prepare for the viva. If you feel like you must do something then check recent journals and stimulate your brain with some new ideas.
You don’t need to keep going with your thesis. In fact, you’ll probably see things with more clarity when you get some distance from your work.
This post on small projects has been in my mind for several years. It’s worth a read! I like the idea that it can be both more productive and more effective to work on creating small things rather than undertaking massive endeavours. For example, I see Viva Survivors as a series of small projects under one umbrella, rather than one big behemoth.
I’ve been casting my mind around for a while on other small projects for the site, and at the time of writing have the following in my to-do queue:
Small projects are manageable. Even if you don’t have time to work on something immediately, you can see most of the parts and see where the challenges are. It’s the opposite of most research projects, where often you can’t appreciate everything until you’re already in it.
Viva prep can be a series of small projects, and none of them have to be over-taxing to complete. Reading your thesis and marking it up in a useful way is a small project. Creating summaries to draw out your thoughts is a couple of small projects. A mock viva or presentation to give you opportunity to think and talk is a small project. It all helps.
For your thesis, you had to think big. Maybe for your viva prep it’s useful to think small.
It could be that you need a little help from others to get ready for the viva. Help with thinking and talking; questions about process and experience; maybe even proofreading or practical on-the-day logistics.
You have to defend your work solo, but there really are lots of ways others can help you prepare. Get clear in your mind about what you need, ask and explain why (if you need to), and be prepared to compromise.
It could also be the case that you see a friend who needs help. A candidate who needs someone to talk to; a colleague who needs someone to listen; a friend who has a problem that they can’t see past.
It’s OK to ask for help when you need it; it’s good to offer help when you can.
There’s a lot of empty margins in a thesis. A lot of space free in headers and footers. And in the centre of most pages a LOT of words.
A thesis is a summary of at least three years of research. An embedding of thoughts into words. It’s taken time to get it all just so.
When you’re reading it all back, remember that a few more words can make a difference:
Annotation helps. Don’t be afraid to add a few more words.
There are so many things PhD candidates could be unsure of…
I’m not sure what the rules are for examiners, who can and can’t be one.
I’m not sure how long I could get to do my corrections.
I’m not sure what to do to feel ready.
I’m not sure how to get rid of my doubts.
I’m not sure if my supervisor will run a mock viva.
These uncertainties drift around. It’s not unexpected that you could be unsure of something related to the viva.
The solution, thankfully, is straight-forward. Find out. Ask. Get sure.
Software is often patched after an initial release. Sometimes to repair a previously unknown defect. Sometimes to add other functionality. And sometimes a patch just makes something better.
The last kind is the same as making notes in your thesis margin before the viva. It’s equivalent to highlighting or underlining text or references. Small additions can help a lot. Annotation is a patch to make your thesis more user-friendly for one important user.