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Tag: viva prep

Nathan

Schedule Your Prep

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You might not know your viva date at submission. Confirmation could come weeks after you have submitted. In some cases a candidate might only get two weeks warning of a viva date (assuming that the date works for them too).

Sketch out a plan for viva prep at submission. This might have some blanks. It might not have precise dates. But consider how busy you are and what commitments you have already.

When, where and how would you fit in viva preparation?

A schedule could have tasks broken down date by date or be a list of points you have to tackle. Any helpful structure you can give yourself at submission will help you appreciate the scope of what needs to be done, what questions you need to ask yourself and what further planning you need to do.

Then you need to do the work!

Nathan

Friendly Questions

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Around submission time reach out to your friends and colleagues in your department.

For the particular friends who might know a little about your research, ask for time: can they listen to you talk about your work? Would they have an hour in their schedule to get coffee and give you a mini-viva? Or perhaps get a group together and listen to a seminar?

For friends and colleagues who have had their viva, ask for information: what was their viva like? What happened? How did they feel? Consider what you might need to know about to help you get a good sense of what vivas are like or to put your mind at ease. Ask for details.

Who do you know who could help you?

Nathan

No Shortcuts

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There’s no quick three-step process to getting ready for the viva.

You can’t bypass reading your thesis to refresh your memory.

No-one has invented a 5-minute mock viva that gets you two-hours of practise in 300 seconds.

There are no shortcuts to just doing the work – but the work involved in viva preparation really doesn’t take all that long. Maybe an hour per day for about four weeks leading up to your viva could be enough, even with taking a day off here and there.

It’s not nothing, but it’s a lot less than the hundreds of days and thousands of hours invested in your PhD up to submission. It’s a little more work to help you be ready for the particular challenge of your viva.

And given what’s at stake, why would anyone want a shortcut to being ready for their viva?

Nathan

Better Questions

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It’s not uncommon or irrational for a PhD candidate to ask:

  • How long will my viva be?
  • What do I do if I go blank?
  • How do I get out of tricky questions?
  • Is it better to have a morning or afternoon viva?
  • How much time is given for minor corrections?

These are natural questions to have in mind. A supervisor or a friend might be able to offer advice or even a definitive answer for some of them.

These are natural questions for a candidate to ask of others, but it’s better to reflect on questions like:

  • What am I doing to get ready?
  • What makes my thesis contribution valuable?
  • What do the exam regulations say?
  • Who can help me be prepared?
  • What makes me a capable researcher?

Worry, concern and not knowing lead to questions about the viva and preparation.

There are often better questions to consider than the ones which first come to mind.

Nathan

What Comes Next

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“Good luck for your viva next week! Don’t worry, it’s not the end of the world!”

It’s not the end of the world – it’s the end of your PhD.

Perhaps, after so long spent researching and working on something, and even with the happy prospect of future plans and new horizons, a little of the worry and nervousness for the viva and the end of the PhD comes from just being worried for what comes next.

So make plans. Write lists. Draw out what you’ve done and what matters. Find some comfort at the thought of finishing something good. Reflect on what you’re carrying with you into the next stage of you.

Nerves and worry are normal as you finish anything. Nerves and worry are normal as you come to finish your PhD. It’s not the end of the world but the viva is a big part of the end of your PhD.

Nathan

Jargon Busting

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You probably have terms in your thesis that are unfamiliar to anyone who doesn’t do what you do. These could be names of key people in your field, references to important information or just a piece of jargon that means something important.

Over time words can become forgotten. To make sure that you have what you need, take an hour in your viva prep to refresh your memory.

Write a glossary of fancy words and jargon. Make a list of key names and data. It might seem like overkill to think and write about terms you know but a little extra thought won’t hurt to be sure you know what everything in your thesis means.

Nathan

Demonstrating Capability

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Assuming that you pass your viva it’s you who are the PhD, not your thesis. Your thesis is part of the mechanism for your success. Your examiners need to explore the contribution you’ve made and also examine your capability as a researcher in your field.

It might help before your viva to reflect a little on the last few years:

  • What have you learned?
  • What skills have you developed?
  • What research processes can you do now that you couldn’t when you started?
  • What makes you a good researcher?

The last question is simple to ask. The details should all be there when you look at the last few years, but it might be hard to put them into words. Take time to think about how you can demonstrate that you are a capable researcher.

What makes you good at what you do? What makes you good enough?

Nathan

6 Reasons To Create A Summary

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There are lots of reasons to create summaries as part of getting ready for your viva. Here are 6!

  1. They help you to figure out what you think.
  2. Writing a summary can help you find clarity about some aspect of your thesis or research.
  3. You can highlight key information or details.
  4. You can gather useful thoughts you might want to use in the viva.
  5. You can build confidence by reflecting on what you’ve done.
  6. A summary is a small project.

I think number 6 is overlooked sometimes. Viva prep can feel big, daunting and even open-ended. A summary is a finite task to be done. The process helps and the output is a resource.

Find an important aspect of your thesis or research. Spend a little time thinking about it and capturing useful thoughts about it.

Nathan

Annotation Needs

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Take time after submission to annotate your thesis and create a one-of-a-kind special edition. This can then be an even greater resource for helping you respond to your examiners.

So what do you need to add to have a well-annotated thesis for your viva?

 

To unpick this question we have to add some emphasis. What do YOU need to add to have a well-annotated thesis for YOUR viva?

Annotation is highly personal. From particular needs and wants, the actual text of the thesis, the circumstances of the candidate and the situation of the viva, there are lots of things that someone could need or want. Of course there is then a great variety in how these things could be expressed in annotation.

A typical need is to be able to find the start of a chapter with ease. This could be done with bookmarks, sticky notes, colouring the edges of pages or folding down page corners. There’s no wrong way to do it, just a personal way – and it’s not wrong if you’d rather not have any indicator marking the start of a chapter!

What do you need to annotate your thesis in a good way for you? How will you do it?

Nathan

Value Your Contribution

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A key topic for discussion at your viva is what you’ve been doing for the last few years.

Your examiners need to explore your significant original contribution. They need to ask questions that get you to share what makes your work matter. They need to get you to talk about why it makes a difference. So in preparation for your viva:

  • Reflect on what makes your contribution valuable.
  • Think about how your work connects with the field or disciplines it’s a part of.
  • Explore the difference your research makes.

You can do these sorts of things through reading your thesis, writing notes or summaries and talking about your work. Make sure you find opportunities to talk about your research and respond to questions.

It’s not enough to just think a bit: you have to do more to explore what makes your work special.

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