“What Can I Get You?”
There’s no viva menu. You can’t sit down at your table and order it exactly as you like…
I’ll have a two-hour viva, plenty of praise, skip the bad stuff and go easy on the methodology questions. I don’t need a side-order of corrections, thanks!
Your examiners are not there to serve you what you want, but what the situation needs. Some of that might be unclear until the viva starts. Remember that you know what the raw ingredients are for the viva: you, your thesis, your talent, who your examiners are. You know what the process is trying to achieve, even if it’s not an à la carte experience.
Viva Survivors Summer Sabbatical: I’m taking July, August and September off from new writing to concentrate on other creative projects, so will be sharing a post from the archives every day throughout those months. Today’s post was originally published on December 17th 2020.