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Author: Nathan

Nathan

Before You Know It

Daily Post

It’s almost twenty years since I started my PhD.

I remember the first week very clearly, sitting at my desk, skim-reading through papers I couldn’t grasp, making notes and chatting with my office-mates.

I very distinctly remember thinking, “I don’t know what I’m doing, but at least I have a long time to figure it out.”

And I did have a long time, and I did – more or less – figure it out.

But that time went by so fast. Before I realised I was looking at my final months of writing up, those weeks of prep, those hours of my viva and an eye-blink afterwards when I did my corrections.

Plan the end of your PhD before you get too close. When will you do your prep and how will you get it done? What might your corrections period look like? And what are the key dates or weeks when you will have to hit targets?

Before you know it, you’ll be done.

Nathan

The First And Last Questions

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Old viva advice says that the first question you’re asked at the viva will likely be easy, while the last question likely won’t be. Like a lot of advice, there’s a kernel of truth to this belief but a lot more to be said.

Let’s say that the first question you’re asked in the viva will likely be simple: whatever it is, you’re being asked to start the viva and start it well. Your examiners want to get you talking, get you past nerves and worries; they ask something simple about the beginnings of your research or get you to share an overview of what you’ve done.

These might not be easy questions, but they will be simple to understand and likely be topics you’ve thought about and talked about a lot in the past. First questions are asked for a specific purpose. They get the viva started well. They may or may not be easy, but your examiners won’t be looking to make things hard for you.

The last question of a viva could be many things:

  • “Do you have any questions for us?”
  • “How would you like to see your ideas developed in the future?”

Or it could just be another question: challenging, probing, digging into the work and words of your thesis.

First, last and everything in between: take every question as it comes.

Breathe. Pause. Think. Respond as well as you can.

Every question is an opportunity for you to share a little more and add to the good things that your examiners think about you and your research.

Nathan

Sure

Daily Post

When you consider the viva, there’s not a lot you can be precise about.

The reasonable expectations of the exam describe a range of possible experiences. Vivas vary in length, examiners can have lots of different backgrounds and every thesis is unique. You can’t guarantee certain questions, though maybe you can have reasonable hopes and expectations of what your examiners will say. There’s a lot you won’t know until the viva is happening.

Being precise is difficult, but there’s a lot you can be sure of.

You can be sure that your examiners have prepared, just like you. You can be sure that despite the variety there is a core process at work: regulations, common expectations, norms in your department. You can be sure that your examiners will be fair with you.

And you can be sure of yourself. You can be sure that you have come as far as you have through hard work, a skillset and knowledge base that you’ve earned, and achievements that matter.

You can’t be precise about your viva. You can be sure.

Nathan

Can You Take A Day Off?

Daily Post

How about today? Or tomorrow, if you already had plans for today.

If not then, when?

Look at your plans for viva prep and make sure you have rest breaks built in. Time to relax and recover on the days you’re actively working, and rest days between busy periods.

As you get ready for your viva, can you be at your best without taking a day off?

Nathan

Techniques

Daily Post

A small piece of viva prep: think back over your PhD and pick a method you learned, a piece of software or equipment that you became familiar with or a process for getting things done that you put together.

Unpick the steps involved for what you’ve selected.

  • What do you do at each stage?
  • How do you do it?
  • Why?
  • How well does it work for you?
  • And what has it helped you do over the course of your PhD?

When you reflect on the techniques you’ve learned or developed you have to appreciate the talent, work and time you have invested in your journey. There’s always more to learn and more to do, but you could only have come this far by becoming good at what you do. Remember that as you prepare for your viva.

Nathan

“It Just Was”

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Why was your viva so long?

I’ve been asked many times before about why my viva was four hours long, but the question surprised me at a recent webinar. I’m not sure why. Perhaps it had been some time since the last asking, or maybe I had something else on my mind that day. But I was prompted to a little bit of reflection.

Now, I’m not my examiners and I don’t have their perspective why my viva was four hours. I can only share what occurs to me and what I think. To begin with, I had a thesis describing six projects; they were all in the same area but about different ideas. That meant that we had to keep going back to square one with explanations as we talked about the thesis.

I also had some issues with presentation. While my examiners accepted my contribution, they were less happy with how the thesis was structured. Information didn’t flow in some places. In others it just didn’t meet their discipline expectations. We had to talk about that and about the corrections that would follow.

Just over halfway through my total viva time we had a break of about ten minutes, but I didn’t really notice that the time had passed. And at the time I didn’t have any awareness of typical viva lengths, what vivas were like and so on. I don’t really know why my viva was that long. It just was.

 

When someone asks about my experience, I think they’re really asking, “Why might my viva be four hours long?” – and that’s a much bigger question.

It could be that you have lots of projects – or just lots to talk about. It could be that there are issues like I had, with presentation or structure or clarity. It could be that your examiners need to unpick something to fully understand it.

Or it could be that everyone in the room is just really engaged by the discussion and they want to keep talking.

Four hour vivas are rare, all things considered. Don’t expect yours to be, but if it happens to be that long it’s not necessarily for any bad reason at all.

Nathan

Other Perspectives

Daily Post

Your supervisor is well placed to give you a different perspective on your work. You know how you’ve thought about and written about your work; they could give you their impressions as a more experienced academic, or share how an examiner would approach your thesis.

Friends and colleagues can offer their perspective on the viva process. Any PhD graduate could share their experience to help broaden your understanding of what to expect. A graduate from your department might be able to give you a nuanced expectation of what a viva is like in your discipline.

Your graduate school or doctoral college can help give you the big picture perspective on the viva. They can share regulations, requirements and as much paperwork as you can manage to show you what the process of the viva is meant to be like.

What other perspectives do you need as you get ready for your viva?

Nathan

Changes After Submission

Daily Post

You might have corrections to complete after the viva, but between submission and the viva you don’t need to make any alterations.

Find a typo? Underline it or add it to a list.

See a reference that needs a tweak? Write in the margins or add it to a list.

Read a sentence that could be better? Underline it, write in the margins or add it to a list!

You don’t need to make changes to your thesis, but you might need to make changes to yourself between submission and the viva.

You might need to change your mind on what the viva will be like, if you hear more positive expectations than the worries you’ve been carrying around.

You might need to change your perspective on your examiners if you learn a little about their research.

And you might have to change the story you tell yourself about how capable you are, if you’re feeling a lack of confidence after submission.

After submission, change yourself – not your thesis.

Nathan

Hole In One

Daily Post

You might have a viva that’s finished in an hour or less, but it’s not very likely. You can hope, but that’s about all you can do.

Instead of hoping you get some rare occurrence, why not focus your energy on something that could help you more in your viva?

Read your thesis. Write summaries. Rehearse for the discussion. Do the work to be ready for what happens, rather than hoping you get a rare, short viva.

Nathan

A Little Announcement

Update

(because The Big Announcement will be in a few weeks!)

The Headline: I’ve written a new publication and I’ll soon be running a Kickstarter campaign to fund producing a print run!

Cover of 101 Steps To A Great Viva!
My draft cover!

101 Steps To A Great Viva is a short guide to the many things that a PhD candidate can do to work towards a great viva. From understanding expectations to building confidence, via planning your viva prep and asking for help, the guide covers 101 actions that any candidate can do. I share a concise and simply-framed statement for each followed by an exploration of what that means, how someone might do it and what it does for being ready for the viva.

101 Steps To A Great Viva is the publication I’ve been thinking about for years: an original, short guide of viva help. Bite-sized help built on my experiences of working with over 7500 postgraduate researchers and writing the Viva Survivors daily blog for more than six years.

I’m really pleased with what I’ve developed and 101 Steps is 95% complete. A few more edits and it will be ready to be printed. Which is where I need help!

Draft of Page 7, Getting Started
Draft of Page 7!

A few weeks from now I’ll launch a Kickstarter campaign to fund producing a print run of 101 Steps To A Great Viva. I need people to help me by pledging money – and in return I’ll be offering rewards, from copies of the guide, ebooks and print copies of my last publication and even 1-2-1 Zoom conversations with me! If everything goes well enough with the crowdfunding, I’ll be sending out the first copies of 101 Steps in July 2023.

If this sounds at all interesting to you today, here’s how you can help: please go to this link and use the “Notify me on launch” button. That way you will be emailed on the day I launch the campaign, which I’m expecting will be Tuesday 9th May 2023. Using the “Notify me on launch” button won’t obligate you to pledge any money at all. The campaign will run for about three weeks after that, but early interest really helps with the algorithms that help organise these services.

Thank you so much for reading, and I hope you check out 101 Steps To A Great Viva!

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