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Tag: ask your allies

Nathan

Asking For Help

Daily Post

Viva prep is mostly solitary work but it can benefit from targeted help from the people around you. You might want a mock viva from your supervisor or a casual chat from friends. You might need your family to give you space. Depending on your situation you might need a lot more from others.

So how do you ask for help with your post-submission viva prep?

  • Ask early. Talk to people before submission so they know your general plans.
  • Express your need. Say what you need help with and why.
  • Ask for specific help to meet the need. Be clear when you describe what you have in mind.
  • Say please!
  • Give opportunities. Allow space to arrange when, give them a chance to offer a compromise if they can’t do the thing you were thinking of and make sure they know that they can say no.

Helpfully, when you leave space for a compromise you also start thinking about how else you might meet your needs. A mock viva is a great solution to meet the need for rehearsal but if your supervisor is not available there are other options.

Ask early. Express your need. Be specific. Say please! Give opportunities.

And, of course, say thank you 🙂

Nathan

Questions For Friends

Daily Post

Before submission check in with your academic friends and colleagues. Ask those who’ve had a viva what it was like. Look for detail and common threads in the stories that you hear. Ask anyone who might be willing if they can practically help you with viva preparation when the time comes.

After submission ask your friends to listen. Will they be a sounding board for rehearsal? Will they be happy and able to help you rehearse over tea or coffee? (this resource might help!) Do they have any other insights into viva prep that might help you? And do they have any insight into your examiners’ work that might help you prepare well?

After the viva ask your friends to celebrate!

And in the future ask any friends or colleagues who are approaching submission if they need any help or advice. Help make a better community for getting ready for the viva.

Nathan

Survival Aides

Daily Post

Who can you count on to help you get ready for your viva?

To survive you need to manage to keep going in difficult circumstances. You don’t have to do it alone.

To keep going you might need someone to talk to. Your supervisor, your colleagues or university staff could help.

To understand the difficult circumstances you’ll face it could help to listen to people who have already faced the viva.

To manage you might need very practical help: resources that others can highlight or simply quiet time to prepare.

Most candidates manage to keep going in the difficult circumstances of the viva and viva prep. Few candidates do it without support.

Ask for help as early as seems sensible. Do the work but get support.

Nathan

Proofreading & Understanding

Daily Post

A lot of viva prep work is something only you can directly do: annotating your thesis, checking papers and so on.

There are lots of support roles though.

Supervisors can provide mock vivas and perspective; PhD colleagues can listen and ask questions; university staff can signpost resources.

Friends and family can help with two incredibly important jobs: proofreading and understanding.

Before submission, if it’s helpful, see if a member of your friend and family circle can offer a little time to read over your thesis. They’re not looking to grasp your arguments or check your references. They’re trying to spot typos, long sentences, clunky paragraphs and other basic writing things you might not be capable of seeing after so long spent writing.

After submission it will be helpful for your friends and family to listen and understand what you need. They can’t give you a mock viva. They probably can’t ask helpful questions about your research. They may have no way of sharing useful resources with you.

But they can make space, time, peace and quiet for you to prepare.

Proofreading and understanding. Two valuable resources for anyone finishing their PhD.

Nathan

Asks, Favours & Requests

Daily Post, Sabbatical

Not all viva prep needs to be done alone.

It’s OK to simply ask, “Can you help me?”

It’s OK to ask for a favour, “It’s not something little, but I really need help. Can you?”

It’s even OK to make a request, “I need this specific thing and I need you to do it, please.”

Supervisors, peers, colleagues, friends, family – all can be there to support you. Given where you are and what you’re doing, given the state of the world, uncertainty and pressure – even if others around you are feeling it too – you can ask. Tell people what you need, when you need it, why you need it, then work with them to get what you need.

And when someone asks you, do your best to help them too.

 

Viva Survivors Summer Sabbatical: I’m taking July, August and September off from new writing to concentrate on other creative projects, so will be sharing a post from the archives every day throughout those months. Today’s post was originally published on June 3rd 2020.

Nathan

Understanding

Daily Post, Sabbatical

“What did you do today Nathan?” I tried to show the complexity of the algorithm that I’ve been developing for the last three months. “…Bolognese for tea, OK?”

“How’s it going Nathan? What you been up to, finished that thing yet?” My PhD? Got another nine months, I think I’m on track but it all depends on proving the next result and then getting it all written up. “…Seen anyone else from school?”

My family and friends were very supportive when I was doing my PhD, but they didn’t really get it. Why should they, it had taken me a long time to get it. It wasn’t that they didn’t care, of course they did, but they didn’t understand what I did for the most part.

On the run up to the viva though, it might be useful if your friends and family can get a little understanding of what you’re about to do. Tell them what the viva is all about: it’s the exam at the end of the PhD. Tell them about your examiners and what they’ll be doing. Tell them what you’ll need to do to prepare – and what you might need from them.

It could be a bit of space to yourself, quiet in the evening to read. It could be time, so they’ll need to do the dishes while you mark up your thesis. It could even be telling your boss that you’ll need to arrange a little time off so that you can go to the viva.

Your friends and family are proud of you. Even if they don’t quite understand what you’ve been doing for all this time, they understand that it’s important to you. Help them to understand the end of the PhD and they’ll help you get there.

 

Viva Survivors Summer Sabbatical: I’m taking July, August and September off from new writing to concentrate on other creative projects, so will be sharing a post from the archives every day throughout those months. Today’s post was originally published on July 15th 2017.

Nathan

Who You Ask

Daily Post

Lots of people say lots of things about the viva. It depends who you ask. It depends on their experience.

If you ask your supervisor about your upcoming viva they might tell you not to worry. They could offer a small piece of experience-tempered wisdom.

If you ask friends also working towards their PhDs about your upcoming viva they might share some things they’ve heard. Rumours, half-truths and apocryphal stories of possible vivas past.

If you ask friends who have had their viva already then they might offer some interesting details. You might have to ask specific questions and give them space to remember. You will have to be mindful that all vivas are different, even if there are trends and patterns in the process of how they happen.

If you were to ask yourself about your upcoming viva, what would you say? Would you be positive? Would you be concerned? What would you focus on?

Nathan

Friends & Colleagues

Daily Post

Part of being ready for your viva involves knowing your stuff: you need to read your thesis, you need to make notes and you need to rehearse for the viva.

Part of being ready involves knowing what others know: you need to talk with friends and colleagues about how they got ready, discover what their viva experience was like and explore what advice they have for you and your preparations.

Your friends and colleagues are a small part of your prep but don’t forget to ask. They’ll be happy to help, if they can.

Nathan

Asking For Help

Daily Post

It’s better to ask for help before the viva when you know what you need help with. Reflecting on the problem or gap in knowledge can highlight who it’s best to ask.

It’s easier to ask for help before the viva if you do it with plenty of notice. People are busy! The earlier you ask the more likely they are to make time to help you.

It’s more effective to ask for help before the viva if you give yourself plenty of time to put that help into effect. Don’t rush yourself by leaving things.

And more generally, it’s simply better to ask for help before the viva than to try to do it all yourself. You might not need a lot but you’ll feel better for accepting help from your supporters around you.

Nathan

Friendly Questions

Daily Post

Around submission time reach out to your friends and colleagues in your department.

For the particular friends who might know a little about your research, ask for time: can they listen to you talk about your work? Would they have an hour in their schedule to get coffee and give you a mini-viva? Or perhaps get a group together and listen to a seminar?

For friends and colleagues who have had their viva, ask for information: what was their viva like? What happened? How did they feel? Consider what you might need to know about to help you get a good sense of what vivas are like or to put your mind at ease. Ask for details.

Who do you know who could help you?

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