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Author: Nathan

Nathan

Curated Confidence

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Confidence follows from honestly reflecting on your work and achievements. You have to explore and remind yourself that you have done well. To build confidence for your viva you can look back over your PhD and see the effort you’ve invested and the progress you’ve made and hopefully feel good.

It won’t help to hold on to everything though.

You learn from your mistakes and setbacks, but don’t bring those in to the gallery of recollections. Like a curator, pick and choose which things to focus on. You can find confidence by focussing on what has helped you the most or the work where you notice the most growth.

You don’t need to try to remember everything to find confidence for your viva. Explore your PhD journey, then arrange a gallery of the best bits. Curate your confidence for your viva.

Nathan

Non-PhD Vivas

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A PhD isn’t the only research degree that has a viva.

The vast majority of PGRs I meet at webinars are PhD candidates but in the last six months I’ve also shared viva help with MPhil candidates, MScR candidates – and a couple of MRes researchers too.

Over the years I’ve also had professional doctorate candidates reach out to me, EngD researchers and more. There are many flavours of PGR that have a viva!

 

A natural question for non-PhD PGRs is “how will my viva be different?”

Let’s start with how they’re the same:

  • Vivas for research degrees have the same purpose. Your examiners are exploring the contribution you’ve made and how capable you are as a researcher.
  • Vivas for research degrees require the same kind of preparation. You need to take time to read, to think and to rehearse – and you need a plan that works well for you.
  • Vivas for research degrees follow regulations. There are ways of doing things and you can learn all about it in advance.
  • Vivas for research degrees always have a little of the unknown about them. There are expectations but you can’t know everything until you’re in your viva.

To explore the differences it’s good to start with regulations for your university. See what they say about your institutional expectations and requirements. Then talk with other people who have been in your situation to get a sense of what that was like.

Viva prep is the same kind of work whether you have done a PhD or, say, an MPhil. You’ll probably do less prep work for an MPhil viva because there is typically less material to read and prepare for. The kind of work is the same and the importance is the same but it might not take as long. The same could be true for your viva too.

 

Whatever your research degree, know that your examiners are prepared. Know that the purpose is the same. Know that you can be prepared and remember that you did the work.

It helps to explore expectations for your viva, whatever your degree, but it helps more to know that you are ready for it whatever happens.

Nathan

Stop The Research!

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At some point you have to say no more.

You’ve got what you’ve got. You need to write it up in your thesis in a way that makes sense for your examiners and others.

You have to believe that it’s enough.

You have to stop at some point but make sure that when you do you leave things in a good place. Make notes in case there’s anything you have to come back to or you want to return to at some point.

At some point you have to stop the research. Make sure you stop well.

Nathan

Begin Again

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If you could start your PhD over would you?

  • If you could start over, what would you keep the same?
  • What would you change?
  • What other options would you consider?
  • What kind of an impact would changes make?
  • And how much of what you would change – or keep the same – are you only able to see with hindsight?

You can’t begin again – but considering this kind of thought exercise can be helpful to unpack your experience, your growth and the development of your research before your viva.

Nathan

In The Mix

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I often ask webinar participants how they’re feeling about their viva. I use a poll which allows people to pick one option or write in how they’re feeling.

  • Some say they’re excited. They’re quite rare!
  • A lot of people say they feel uncertain or unprepared.
  • The majority of people say they feel nervous, anxious or worried about their viva – and most of those people say nervous.
  • Also: nervous is really common whether someone is days, weeks or months away from their viva.

I’ve been thinking lately that I need to update the poll to allow people to give more than one response. Candidates can feel a mix of things all at once: they feel excited and nervous. They might feel like they’re unprepared right now but confident they’ll be OK in the end.

What’s your mix of emotions like? If you feel a little negative then maybe you have to consider how to change that state. If you feel something positive then think about how to hold on to it and maybe build on it. And if you are feeling a mix then think about how the positive can offset the negative.

What steps could help you to feel better about your mix of viva feelings?

Nathan

Problems & Situations

Daily Post

This is another post inspired by Seth Godin. He’s inspired me a lot over the years; it was his example of publishing a daily blog that encouraged me to do the same with Viva Survivors.

 

If you have a Problem then you can find a Solution. A Problem is a thing that can be resolved in some way. There might already be a Solution or several of them. It might be that you have to find a Solution.

However you come to it, a Problem has a Solution.

If there’s no Solution then you have a Situation: that doesn’t make it less real but rather than resolve it like a Problem you have to find a way to endure it. Otherwise you’ll just obsess and stress.

 

A viva-related Problem is something like your supervisor not being available to give you a mock viva. That’s a Problem: you could maybe arrange it at a different time, you could ask your second supervisor instead or you could have some other kind of practice. There are Solutions.

A viva-related Situation could be not having your first choice for your external examiner. That’s not a Problem because you can’t change it. It’s a Situation and you have to find a way to feel better about it. You could talk more with your supervisor, read up on your external examiner or maybe do some special prep – it won’t solve things but you’ll be better for your efforts.

There are lots of viva-related feelings and circumstances that give rise to Problems and Situations. Whatever the circumstances make sure you correctly identify what you’re dealing with and then work towards resolving it however you can.

Whether you have a viva-related Problem or a viva-related Situation you have work to do.

Nathan

If You Must Know

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There are lots of tools and processes you can use to help your memory at the viva:

  • You can add bookmarks or sticky notes to your thesis;
  • You can annotate the margins;
  • You can create summaries to help you think ahead of time;
  • You can read your thesis beforehand to refresh your memory;
  • You can read your thesis in the viva to check details;
  • You can rehearse for your viva to give you more confidence.

There are many practical things you can do to help your memory – but don’t forget that you don’t need to remember everything. The viva is not a test of photographic recall of thousands of hours of work, hundreds of papers and the many, many pages of your thesis.

You need to know your stuff but you don’t need to know everything. You can take care of small worries with simple viva prep.

Nathan

Range of Responses

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At the viva you’re expected to engage with the discussion that your examiners facilitate. This means giving responses to their questions and comments, where responses are:

  • Answers, which have a degree of certainty;
  • Opinions, which have a degree of uncertainty;
  • Ideas that you might only be unpicking for the first time;
  • Feelings and hunches which can be expressed as such;
  • Questions that ask for more information;
  • Qualified “I don’t know” statements where you explain why you don’t know.

You don’t need to have an answer for everything. You don’t need to know everything. You do need to be prepared to engage with the discussion.

Make sure you take time to rehearse for your viva and be ready for the range of responses you might give.

Nathan

A New Opportunity

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The viva is a new opportunity to talk about your research and your thesis. It’s similar to other times during your PhD but also unlike anything else you will have faced so far.

  • It’s similar to past discussions, meetings and presentations – and on a topic that you know a lot about – so your past experiences can really help you rise to the challenge.
  • It’s different to other challenges you’ve overcome so a little preparation will be necessary to be ready for the challenge you’ll face.

The viva is a new opportunity so it’s to be expected that you’ll feel a mix of nervous and confident about what might happen. Draw on your past experience and take time to make yourself ready for the challenge.

Nathan

Viva Descriptors

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What do you expect from your viva?

  • Long or short?
  • Tough or easy?
  • Opening questions or presentation?
  • In-person or online?
  • Morning or afternoon?
  • Examiners-only or observers-present?
  • Minor corrections, none or major?

There are lots of little descriptors you might attach to your viva. Some you’ll know before your viva and some you can reasonably expect. Some don’t make much of a difference and some can help or hinder depending on your circumstances.

What expectations matter to you? And what do you need to know more about to feel happy ahead of your viva?

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