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Nathan

Event Horizon

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At a workshop in December, a PhD candidate told me he couldn’t see past the “event horizon of his viva.” This put into words, quite beautifully, something I’ve felt for a long time about the important events in my life. Some things seem so massive that they draw you in completely. There’s no escape from thinking about them.

Time and space breaks down at the viva. Perspective gets skewed. The viva feels so big it distorts everything. What can you do as it draws you in?

  • Look back: you’re getting close, but you’ve come a long way to get to these few hours (and must have done a lot to get there)
  • Look forward: make plans for afterwards. Focus on the post-viva reality. This isn’t the end.
  • Look around: there are people who can help you in all sorts of ways, even if that’s just to help you get a bit of perspective.

Steer your focus. The viva doesn’t have to be a black hole.

Nathan

Variables

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There are lots of things people think will have an impact on their viva or their prep. Here’s a partial list of factors people think could make a difference, for good or bad:

Your examiners. Your institution. The number or types of awards or results. Whether you were part-time or full-time. Home or international. Number of supervisors. Time spent on your PhD. Do you have a Masters? How long between submission and the viva? Will you have an independent chair? Have you cited your examiners? Number of references in your bibliography. Number of chapters in your thesis. Number of published papers during your PhD. Number of hours spent on prep. Will you have had a mock viva? Have you read a book about the viva? Did you go to a workshop about the viva?

I’m a mathematician and there’s part of me which would love to take all of these variables and make an equation. But there’s far too many. Lots of them could make a difference.

So why not focus instead on the constants? The things that are always there.

You did the work. You made the choices. You steered yourself. Your examiners are capable researchers, who know what they’re doing in the viva. You are a capable researcher by the time you submit, and have the time to prepare yourself for the viva.

Focus on the constants that hold true for everyone.

Nathan

Three Useful Lists

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Make three lists for the viva:

  1. Things You Want Your Examiners To Ask You About
  2. Things You Want Feedback On
  3. Things You Do Not Want To Discuss

And then, of course, for every item you’ve listed, the first follow-up question is “Why?”

  1. Why do you want your examiners to ask questions about X, Y or Z? (are you proud, happy to share more, just plain enthusiastic?)
  2. Why do you want feedback on this? (you’re intrigued, you want to see how it’s come across, you want to develop it more?)
  3. Why do you want to avoid this? (you think it’s bad, you find it difficult to talk about, you’re sure there’s a problem?)

Reading and refreshing your memory helps. Reviewing your work helps more.

Nathan

Fill In The Blanks

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Who could you send this to? (after completing it of course)

Hi ______________________

My viva is coming up soon and I need your help please!

I feel _______________ about my viva because _______________________________________ . I was wondering if you could help me by ______________________________ ?

I know that you’re busy, but I also know that you’ll be a great help because _______________________________________________ . If you’ve got a lot on and can’t help, I’ll understand. If you can help, then let me know what will work for you.

If you’re free soon maybe we could chat about it over coffee at ____________________________ !

Thanks for reading, speak soon,

__________________________

Maybe your supervisor? Maybe a colleague? Your office-mate? Best friend? Think carefully about why someone could be a big help to you, and tell them.

Or maybe it’s useful just to write down and get out of your head that second short paragraph: how you feel about your viva, why you feel that way, and what steps could help.

Nathan

Helpful

Daily Post

Every now and then I look at the stats for the blog to see which of my posts have helped or resonated. Here are the ten most read posts from 2017:

  1. First Thoughts
  2. 9 Questions For The End Of The PhD
  3. Hierarchy of Worries
  4. Six Whys
  5. Who’s In The Room?
  6. Your Greatest Hits
  7. Cheatsheet
  8. Who’s Who
  9. Six More Whys
  10. The Perfect Thesis

There’s a mix of practical advice about preparation, reflections to get a candidate thinking and also discussion about examiners and worry. I’ve written on these themes a lot more on the blog, so you don’t have to look far beyond these posts to find something useful.

It’s also interesting because it gives me a perspective on what people find helpful and worth sharing. I’m really grateful whenever I see that someone has posted a link to one of my posts. The fact that these are the most read will help me to think about how I can do more to help people feel ready.

There’s lots of help on this blog, but there’s also lots of viva help elsewhere. Figure out what you need to feel ready and go looking.

Nathan

Three Whens

Daily Post

It’s easy to forget the great stuff in the hustle and bustle of getting to submission and the viva. Draw on your past to remind yourself, if you need to, just how good you must be.

  1. When did you give your best presentation during your PhD?
  2. When did you have your biggest breakthrough or realisation?
  3. When did you have your best conversation with someone about your research?

The highlights of your journey are assets you can use in your prep. Don’t forget.

Nathan

Strikethrough to Simple

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The viva is not a mysterious unknown cobbled together from the worst-case scenarios that keep you awake at night about your research. There are regulations and best practices, a structure that rests on and comes from your own work. It’s not thrown together in the moment or something that jumps out of left field. Yours will be unique, but based on a common structure with others, and if you ask the right people the right questions then you can prepare for it.

Vivas don’t just happen. You can learn about them and prepare for them.

Effective preparation is based on a continuation of the types of work you must have done throughout your PhD. The kinds of work that create good research are the kinds of work that will serve you well on the run up to the viva. Asking questions and making summaries, finding opportunities to discuss your work and answer questions, making space for deep thinking – all will be valuable, you just apply them a little differently.

You know all the stuff that you did to do your research? Keep doing it.

A PhD thesis can vary in size wildly between disciplines, and academic language in your field may allow for or necessitate a grandiose usage of words, sentences and other meaning-bearing symbols. But you don’t need to focus on every single word in order to feel fully prepared for your viva voce: what if you took some parts of your work and actively crossed things out, leaving only the most important and needed ideas? Do you need everything, or would it be good to strikethrough and make it simpler? Would that be an effective tool for you in order to help figure out what matters most? There could be a great freedom in doing it – although perhaps you might want to use a separate copy of a chapter to help, rather than obliterate parts of your thesis!

Strikethrough to simple: cross things out and leave the most important material. But maybe use a spare printout!

Nathan

Counting Chickens

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Don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched…

…especially with the viva…?

Don’t count them.

Spend your time counting something more worthwhile.

Count the number of days you’ve spent on your PhD.

Count the number of papers you’ve read and referenced.

Count the times you’ve made breakthroughs.

Count the times you’ve heard someone say, “Interesting…” after you’ve told them about your work.

Count the times you’ve stood up and presented.

Count the ideas that you’ve come up with.

Count the ways that you’re a better researcher now than when you started.

What does all of that add up to?

Nothing poultry.

(sorry, couldn’t resist!)

Don’t expect there to be nothing to challenge you in the viva, don’t expect to fail; know that you’ve got the tools and talent to meet the questions of your examiners. Instead of assuming you’ll pass, or worrying you won’t, do what you can to remind yourself of why you’re there and how that happened.

Nathan

Summary Fundamentals

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A summary is an answer to a question. For a postgraduate researcher with their viva in the future the question could be:

  • How can I describe this concisely?
  • How can I explain this to a novice?
  • How can I display this visually for myself?
  • How can I outline my thesis?
  • How can I arrange what I know to most help myself?
  • What’s the story of my research?
  • What are the essential facts of my thesis?
  • What does my thesis look like?
  • What matters most about my work?
  • What stands out about my research?
  • Why is this a valuable contribution?

There are many, many useful questions to help create summaries. And there are many ways that you can arrange or display the content of an answer to create a summary. The act of making a summary is a useful tool for viva preparation. If you ask a better question you can find a more valuable answer.

Reflect a little. What kinds of information formats help you? So what kinds of summaries could help you?

So what kinds of questions could help you?

Nathan

Five Minutes

Daily Post

To prepare for your viva you need time. A significant number of candidates may have a job or be applying for one when the viva comes around. Time is always a precious resource, but can feel quite pressured for some. While it’s still important to organise and have a decent amount of space to think, there are some valuable ways you can use small blocks of time in preparation for your viva.

  • Tidy your workspace.
  • Make a list of bigger tasks you need to do.
  • Write a 100-word summary of a chapter.
  • Make a list of papers you need to review.
  • Message someone to tell them how you’re doing.
  • Listen to a song that helps you to feel happy.
  • Write down what you’re going to do next and why that’s going to help.

Viva prep takes time, usually in blocks of more than five minutes, but little things add up. With five minutes you can make something to help yourself, setup future progress or prime yourself for the next big task.

What could you do?

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