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Nathan

Why-How-What

Daily Post, Sabbatical

If you’re looking for a way to share a summary of your research, as you might in the viva, think Why-How-What:

  • Why is your topic worth researching?
  • How have you gone about researching it?
  • What have you found?

Every time you give a summary of your work you get to try new ways to communicate what’s important. These questions are only the beginning, you might want to elaborate. You have to start somewhere though.

 

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 September 22nd 2017.

Nathan

Resolving Viva Problems

Daily Post

Hope for the best, plan for – well, let’s not say the worst! However, sometimes the best doesn’t happen and it helps to have a way to tackle problems while you’re getting ready for the viva.

  • Maybe you read something that causes you to pause. Maybe you find a mistake in your thesis.
  • Perhaps an examiner cancels or has to postpone. Perhaps you encounter an issue with your own availability.
  • Or it could be as simple and difficult as nervousness, anxiety, worry or concern for what might happen when you get to the viva.

Problems come in all shapes and sizes. It’s very hard to remove the possibility of all problems occurring. Even so, keep in mind that whatever problems come your way you can always do something to help your situation.

Whatever problem you face as you get ready for your viva, ask yourself three questions:

  • Why is this a problem?
  • How could you improve the situation?
  • What will you do?

Asking why explores the reason for the problem. Asking how explores your options for tackling it. Asking what gives you a way forward.

These questions might only be the first step to clearing a problem aside, but that might be enough to help you past the situation and closer to being ready for your viva.

Nathan

1 Page, 3 Questions, 30 Minutes

Daily Post

A thirty-minute thought-gathering task for viva prep!

Take a single sheet of paper, divide it into three parts and write the following questions, one in each part:

  • Why did you want to do your research?
  • How did you do it?
  • What was the result of all your work?

Then reflect and capture your thoughts for each of these questions. Why did you want to do this? How did you do it? What was the result?

Thirty minutes of thinking and writing won’t give you every single detail of years of research and the many pages in your thesis.

Thirty minutes of work will give you a good overview of what you work means, how you got it done and why it’s a valuable contribution to your discipline.

Nathan

Evaluating Success

Daily Post

Why do candidates succeed at the viva?

How do they do it?

What does that success look like?

 

The why is pretty simple: they have done enough in and through their research to produce a suitably good thesis and suitably capable researcher.

The how isn’t hard either: candidates demonstrate in the thesis and through the viva that they have done enough. They engage with their examiners’ questions and comments and participate in the discussion of the viva.

What success looks like varies: in the majority of vivas, success means being asked to complete some corrections to the satisfaction of examiners. Amendments for the thesis are requested, done and checked in the weeks following the viva.

 

Why will you succeed? Because you’ve done the work and you’re good.

How will you do it? You’ll demonstrate what’s needed at the viva.

What does success look like for you? A little more work to round out the thesis – and smiles!

Nathan

Two Reflections

Daily Post

Today: two series of questions that could help as one gets ready for the viva.

First a reflection on your research:

  • Why is your research contribution valuable?
  • How did you do your research?
  • What was the result?

Second, a reflection on you, the researcher:

  • When did you make the greatest progress on your research journey?
  • Where have you found the most help and support?
  • Who are you now that you are coming to the end of your PhD?

Long-time readers of the blog might recognise the “Six Honest Serving Men” of Rudyard Kipling: proto-questions that I think help find good questions for reflection.

Getting ready for the viva involves preparation related to your research and yourself. This could involve talking, making notes and so on – but a little quiet reflection can also be really useful. Invest some time in thinking about what you did and who you are now.

Nathan

The Big Pictures

Daily Post

There isn’t a single big picture to consider before your viva.

Why did you want to do a PhD? That initial motivation is helpful to reflect on and share. It could help you to explain to your examiners what you thought was interesting about your research area when you started.

Why is your thesis research valuable? Insight into what makes your research significant can help you to describe why what you’ve done is worth a PhD. Reflecting on this can help you to find better ways to communicate your contribution.

Why did you keep going? Your response to this big picture question can help you – and your examiners – see your dedication, talent and effort. It can help boost your confidence.

There’s no single big picture way to reflect on your research for the viva. By considering different questions you can find what you need to engage well with the process and do what you need to succeed.

Nathan

When-Where-Who

Daily Post

I use Why-How-What a lot to help candidates think about the significant, original contribution that they’ve made through their research.

Perhaps When-Where-Who, the other three basic questions are useful for unpicking viva prep:

  • When will you start your prep?
  • Where will you complete many of the tasks?
  • Who do you need to support you?

It’s useful to sketch out the timeline for doing the work. Prep is not a lot of work but it still needs planning so it doesn’t overwhelm. Finding a good space to work in is useful for having a productive environment. Knowing who you need to help you get ready is vital.

Nathan

Who Did It?

Daily Post

I often encourage PhD candidates to reflect on Why, How and What:

  • Why did you do this research?
  • How did you do it?
  • What was the result?

These three questions are useful for breaking down the thesis contribution. They could be a good way to build up a summary. They’re a nice reminder that your thesis has something valuable.

But don’t forget Who:

  • Who did it?
  • Who kept going?
  • Who got more capable, more knowledgeable?

Your thesis has a significant original contribution. It’s only there because you did the work. You persisted, despite any pressures or setback – you made it happen. You became more talented along the way.

So: who is going to pass their viva?

Nathan

Preparing A 3-Minute Summary

Daily Post

Three minutes is not long to share something of your work, whether on stage for a competition or as part of your viva. Depending on how quickly you talk and the emphasis you give to things, you have between 300 and 400 words at most. Exploring what you would say with that much time and that many words could be a nice way to play with your viva prep.

Start your planning by reflecting with a set of Why-How-What questions:

  • Why does your work matter?
  • How did you do your research?
  • What is the result of your research?

You can focus this more by thinking about your audience: what would they need to hear to help them understand what you’ve done or to help them see the most important aspects?

If it was your examiners, for example, in your viva, you would know that they had read your thesis. You would know that they had studied it and prepared to meet with you. You don’t need to overthink your summary, you simply have to share with them again what you think matters, why it matters – what really stands out from what you’ve done?

Three minutes isn’t long, but it can be enough to highlight something valuable, to emphasise what matters or to introduce a longer period of discussion. Take your time, use it well.

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