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Author: Nathan

Nathan

Show What You Know

Daily Post

Your viva prep does not need to be confined to book work and solitude. While a mock viva is the most notable prep activity that involves others, it’s not the only task that you could involve others in.

  • Sit down over tea or coffee and describe to someone how you have done your research. See if you can share something that will help them.
  • Give a talk. Split your time equally between showing what you have done and taking questions to dig deeper.
  • Write a summary for someone else. Not a cheatsheet for you, but a page or two about a method or process that you have needed for your research.

During my PhD years I noticed that my own understanding of a topic grew whenever I had to explain it to someone else. I found better words, more useful metaphors and gaps in my knowledge. Take a little time in your viva prep to show others what you know, so that you can practise for the viva, build your confidence and show yourself what you know too.

Nathan

Out Now: Keep Going – A Viva Survivors Anthology

Links, Update

I’m thrilled to announce that Keep Going – A Viva Survivors Anthology is out today! I celebrated with my book launch party yesterday and am now very happy that the book is available to buy. What is it? Here’s a little snippet from the book blurb:

Keep Going collects posts about viva expectations, viva prep and examiners, as well as:

  • reflections on the PhD journey and confidence;
  • practical steps for getting ready for the viva;
  • thoughts on what it really means to survive the viva.

Over 150 posts from five years of writing, carefully curated and edited to be a valuable guide for every postgraduate researcher with a viva in their future.

I’ve been working on Keep Going for the last six months: curating the very best from nearly 1800 blog posts and five years of writing. The book is available now in three places, as an ebook and in print. Here are the links if you’re interested:

It’s been a great project to make this book for the last six months and a thrill to present it to you today.

I define the work I do as “helping PGRs become PhDs”. Keep Going – A Viva Survivors Anthology is made for that purpose. If you have a viva in your future this book will help you know how to be ready for it. If you know someone with their viva coming up then please pass on news of the book.

Thanks for reading!

Nathan

Nathan

Examiner Feedback

Daily Post

Feedback from your examiners could be a great help if your plan is to continue in academia. Questions, opinions, insights – whatever they offer or you ask for could give you a boost.

If you’re hoping for something from them, it might help to think in advance about what you really want. Make a list of questions, prioritise them; stay on track when the time comes to ask or if a moment comes that seems appropriate to follow up.

Consider again who your examiners are, where their interests lie and what they do. What would you really want to know from them if you had the chance to ask?

Nathan

Long Term Prep

Daily Post

Viva preparation is a short term project. You don’t need to start getting ready before you submit. You don’t need to focus your final year on building up for the viva. If you have a long time to go before submission you need to focus on finishing your research and your thesis. That has to be the priority.

You do not have to do anything to prepare for your viva until after submission. However, confidence plays such a big part in feeling ready for the viva it feels right to suggest a few things you could do over a long period of time. If in your final year you want to build your confidence then try some of the following:

  • Make opportunities to present your work.
  • Reflect on your progress once per week.
  • Record your successes as they happen.
  • Write down any tasks, activities or situations where you feel confident.

As you get closer to the viva, reflect on all of these. Presenting and discussing work gets better with practice. The more experience you have the better you will feel. Reflecting and recording your PhD journey will help to highlight that you are doing well; you’re building a firm foundation for confidence. Finally, if you know the times when you feel confident you can use that to your advantage in your viva preparations.

Short term prep is the work of weeks. Read your thesis, write a summary or two, have a mock viva. Long term prep is the work of your life. Pause, reflect and realise that you are a lot better than your worst moments.

You have done well, you can do well, you will succeed in the viva – and beyond.

Nathan

The Importance of Expectations

Daily Post

Expectations for the viva are not guarantees but they matter because they show the process at work. Expectations help because they give a platform for preparation. Vivas vary in length, but knowing roughly what to expect helps to prepare for the effort. It helps to know you can ask for breaks. Knowing how they unfold gives you a way forward.

Expectations show the big picture: candidates tend to pass, so you will too. Your viva is a test – the expectations show that too – but it’s a test that most people succeed in, and you’re unlikely to fail. Expectations are important for the viva. Ask friends, read stories and see what stands out to you. Don’t understand something? Look deeper or ask more.

Don’t expect your viva to follow an exact plan; do expect your viva to help you show the best of your work and yourself.

Nathan

Simple Advice

Daily Post

Read your thesis. Make notes. Reflect on your PhD journey. Rehearse being in the viva. Plan your prep to avoid pressure.

Can we say a lot more? Of course!

Do we need to say more? Sometimes.

Can we make it more complicated than it needs to be? Often!

 

Plan your prep. Do the work. Get ready. Be ready. Go succeed.

Nathan

The Viva Is The Viva

Daily Post

The viva is a conversation.

The viva is a test.

The viva is the end of the PhD.

The viva is pass or fail.

The viva is inevitable.

The viva is something you can prepare for.

The viva is an unknown because it’s different every time.

The viva is your one chance.

There are lots of ways that people talk about the viva. Lots of comparisons. Lots of things that are true and lots of things that are “true”.

The viva is lots of things but you don’t have to take time to consider them all. You can invest your energy in the aspects that help you; you can remember that the viva that matters most to you is your viva.

The viva is the viva.

Your viva is your viva. What elements can you focus on to help yourself? What actions can you take to be ready?

Nathan

Linked

Daily Post

As preparation for the viva read three recent papers by your internal examiner. Read three recent papers by your external examiner.

Look for links between your work and their work. Look for connections between your interests, methods and the kinds of questions you ask.

When you find connections you find ideas that are worth thinking about so you can explore them well in the viva. If you discover that your work is not closely connected then you can think before the viva about how you can share your ideas effectively.

Knowing about the links between your work helps. Knowing if the links aren’t there helps too.

You have to look for the links.

Nathan

Tell Them

Daily Post

In my earliest academic days I was given the following advice for structuring a presentation: tell them what you’re going to tell them; tell them; tell them what you told them.

“Them” in this case was the audience. Over the years I’ve realised the heart of the good advice here: set expectations, share what you’re sharing and summarise at the end.

It is good advice generally.

In the viva you’re at the stage of telling your examiners what you told them in the thesis, more or less. You’ve set it out for them, they read it; now you have to summarise, clarify, expand and make sure they get what they need.

Of course, there are more ways you could tell them at the viva too.

You could tell them a story. You could tell them more. You could tell them what you left out. You could tell them what you didn’t get to do. You could tell them what you hope to do in the future. You could tell them what you plan to do next. You could tell them your opinion.

You could tell them lots of things, but remember that the viva is not a presentation, and it’s not the questions that come at the end. It’s a discussion. Prepare to tell your examiners lots of things, but prepare to be part of a conversation rather than someone simply answering questions.

Nathan

The Baby Viva

Daily Post

I was talking with someone recently about the first-year viva. Sometimes it’s called a transfer viva or an upgrade viva. The person I was talking to referred to it as “the baby viva” and in that second I smiled and could see exactly what they meant.

  • The baby viva because it’s smaller.
  • The baby viva because you’re still concerned: just because it’s small doesn’t meant that it’s not important to get it right!
  • The baby viva because there’s still a long way to go.
  • The baby viva because a lot of the fundamentals are still the same as the final viva – research, preparation and discussion.

I’m not sure that the term “baby viva” will catch on! But it helps to frame things.

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