Summary Elements

Creating a summary is a useful task as part of viva preparation. You could write sentences and paragraphs, bullet points or keywords. You could draw pictures, graphs and diagrams. A summary is a space to think ahead. A summary is a chance to focus before your viva.

A good summary has:

• A clear focus. You can summarise your whole thesis or can zero in a particular aspect but you know what you’re focussed on.
• A finite process. The summary is not open-ended. You have a clear space to write or draw in and an expected time to do the work.
• A new resource. You are going to have made something that didn’t exist before. You aren’t simply copying words down. You are making something new.

A clear focus following a finite process makes a new resource. What will you focus on? What do you need to make to help your preparation?