Daily viva help for PhDs
A viva over video is still a viva. It’s alright that there are pauses caused by technology.
A viva over video is still a viva. Practise with the software you’ll use and think about the space you’ll be in.
A viva over video is still a viva. Expectations are different but that doesn’t make them bad.
A viva over video is still a viva. It doesn’t matter if you’re not there in the same room as your examiners.
To organise your viva prep think about what you want to do and what you won’t do.
You want to read your thesis but you won’t obsessively re-read it.
You want to make a note of typos but you won’t go looking for them.
You want to know about your examiners but you won’t read every paper they’ve ever published.
You want to feel ready for your viva but you won’t over-invest your time.
You want to respond well to questions in the viva but you won’t do that by scripting lots of responses in advance.
You want to feel confident but you probably won’t be able to eliminate nerves completely.
You want to do well in your viva. You won’t have to do much in preparation for that outcome.
Who do you know who could help you get ready for your viva?
Your supervisors can help with a lot: setting expectations, hosting mock vivas, sharing ideas of what examiners do – there’s a wealth of support from them potentially.
Departmental friends and colleagues around you understand: they may have first-hand experience of the viva, they could listen to what’s bothering you or even be a part of discussions to help you practise.
Family and friends might not understand: they can still help you by providing a space that you can prepare in, or by giving you time to do the relatively small work involved in preparation.
No person is an island. You don’t have to do everything alone. You might be doing the most work, but others can help lighten the load, in lots of different ways. Ask your community. Perhaps ask early to help set their expectations and schedule support, but know that there are lots of people in your life who can make a difference as you prepare for your viva.
It occurred to me recently that a key expectation for the viva, very rarely expressed, is that the candidate will not know what questions they will be asked until they get there.
There are helpful lists of potential questions on the internet. You might suspect or guess some topics. You have your thesis and know that everything you’ve done will be a possible area for discussion. And you can get some ideas of what to expect from your supervisors, your colleagues and the stories that people generally tell about the viva.
But you won’t know.
That’s not a cause for panic or concern, and it doesn’t mean that you can’t be prepared to respond to a question. Rehearse for the viva, place yourself in situations where you have to engage to build your comfort and competence for doing it again in the future.
You don’t need to be prepared to respond to particular questions; you can be ready to engage with whatever question is asked in the viva.
You won’t know what you will be asked at your viva until you get there, but you can still know that you will succeed.
On any week day, before work really begins, I need to have had three mugs of tea. There’s nothing super fancy about the tea I drink. It’s not a special blend, made in an ornate pot or served with a wedge of lemon. I just need three mugs to give me enough caffeine and comfort to get to work.
Three will mean I can get to work writing or presenting, thinking or editing. Three mugs will probably get me through the morning. I drink water too, but the tea is the fuel that nudges me to get going.
Could I do the work I need without it? Probably, at least to some extent. It might take longer or I might feel more tired by the end, but I could probably get things done. But it’s a relatively simple need to meet, in order to work well.
With that in mind, what do you need on the day of your viva? What will help you to work at your best?
By the day of your viva you will have finished your research, submitted your thesis and prepared for the day itself. So what simple things could help you feel either more confident or more comfortable for your viva?
Figure out what you need. Make sure you meet those needs. Feel better for your viva.
(I couldn’t think of a snappy name!)
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There’s even a link (click here!) if you just want to read a random post from the last five and a half years of writing.
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You have to have a lot for your viva.
You need some research, developed over several years or more.
You need a thesis, written to an appropriate standard.
You need one or more supervisors to help along the way.
You need a little time to get ready before the viva, doing the right things to help you be prepared.
You need to be a good candidate – someone who has done the work, improved through the effort and success – someone ready to engage with their examiners’ questions.
If these are the things you need to satisfy for the viva then you don’t need luck.
Three or more years of research and writing.
Two to four weeks of preparation time.
One day with a challenge.
Put the viva in the right perspective.
To prepare for the viva well it helps to do the right things.
Good, focussed prep tasks add up to being ready – but it helps to do the right things in the right sequence. Don’t have a mock viva until your thesis is annotated, and don’t annotate your thesis before you’ve read it!
Work effectively to get ready instead of simply doing the right things.
That’s the time after your viva, after corrections, after your final thesis submission but before you actually graduate with your PhD.
Are you a Doctor at that point? Technically no, but you might not let that stop you from changing your bank cards.
Is there a special interim status? No, but you will probably feel good knowing that graduation is coming.
Can there be a long wait? There can, depending on where you are in the academic year. My viva was in June, I had finished corrections in July and submitted my final thesis in August: it was December before I was a PhD.
Is any of this bad? No, not really. If there’s anything to remember or anticipate about this first period of life after the PhD it’s that things take time. You’re done but not finished. You’ve a little further to go before the epilogue of your PhD journey concludes.