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Tag: consistent and different

Nathan

Best of Viva Survivors 2025: Viva Prep

Daily Post

I’ve shared a lot of posts about viva prep in the last twelve months. Here are five of my favourites, dipping into several different tasks and approaches to getting ready for the viva:

There are many more posts about viva prep on Viva Survivors if you’re looking for ideas of what you can do to get ready for your viva. And you could also check out the third and fourth issues of Viva Survivors Select too if you’re looking for even more help from the archive!

Nathan

Consistent & Different

Daily Post

Thesis annotation is a useful part of viva prep. Take time to review your thesis and add details to make a more useful version for your viva. Make things in your thesis easier to find and easier to see at a glance.

Thesis annotation is inherently personal as your thesis is unique. Follow your preferences for information and marking up work to make your thesis helpful for you.

Two words that might help you annotate well are consistent and different.

  • Be consistent in how you annotate things. If you underline your typos in red ink, for example, do that throughout your thesis and don’t switch it up.
  • Be different in how you annotate different things. So, for example, if you use pink highlighter to emphasise key references then use a green highlighter to add emphasis to quotes or statistics.

Keep consistent and different in mind to make the final, annotated version of your thesis as useful as possible for you at the viva. Make it so that when you see an addition it is clear and unambiguous.