You Are Here

Tag: annotate your thesis

Nathan

The Shape Of Your Thesis

Daily Post

You don’t need to memorise your thesis to be well-prepared for your viva. You’ll have it with you in the viva, annotated in whatever way suits your needs, and you can consult it whenever you need to.

To get ready for your viva you need to read your thesis and re-appreciate what you’ve done.

  • Do you have a single project or lots of smaller projects?
  • Does your thesis share a big book-length project or a collection of papers?
  • Is your thesis “different” in some way: do you have a creative work, a portfolio or something else entirely that isn’t typical for many candidates?

Whatever you have, take time after submission to read it carefully. Again, you don’t need to memorise what you’ve done but it will help to refresh your memory and appreciate the shape of your thesis.

Make sure you know the flow of information and ideas in your work as you’ve presented it.

Nathan

The Technical Stuff

Daily Post

If there are any technical or specialist terms in your research that you struggle with – or which you need to feel more certain about – then take steps during your preparation to help remind you.

  • Make a list of ten terms and write short definitions or reminders.
  • Underline or highlight terms as they appear in your thesis.
  • Add notes in margins to help you unpick meaning or make connections.
  • Ask your supervisor or a friend to have a conversation with you about any difficult topic to help you practise.

What else could you do to be ready for the technical stuff at your viva?

Nathan

Ten-Minute Annotation

Daily Post

Annotating your thesis for the viva takes more than ten minutes! However, you can make a good start in a short amount of time:

  • Add sticky notes or tabs to mark the start of each chapter.
  • Add similar for any key sections that stand out to you in your thesis.
  • Add a summary sentence to the start of each chapter.
  • At the top of the title page write three things you are proud of from your research.
  • Further down on your title page write “You can do this!” – and then underline it.

Then take as much time as you need to finish annotating your thesis.

In ten minutes you can start well. What else do you need?