Make Notes

Make notes as you get ready for your viva to help your thinking.

Do it in a way that helps you. Write summaries. Add details to your thesis pages. Find useful prompts to help you unpick your work and respond to questions. You’ll take your annotated thesis to the viva to be a helpful resource but beyond that all your notes before the viva are to help you think ahead.

Make notes at your viva as well if you want to.

When your examiners ask questions or make comments you can write down what they say. You can capture keywords to help you focus. You can add marks and words to your notebook or your thesis if there’s something you might change later. Depending on your research area you might need to make notes in order to think through the consequences of a question or hypothetical.

Make notes after your viva.

Capture what your experience was like. Share it with others so that your unique experience can help shape the understanding of future candidates.