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Tag: create summaries

Nathan

If You Must Know

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There are lots of tools and processes you can use to help your memory at the viva:

  • You can add bookmarks or sticky notes to your thesis;
  • You can annotate the margins;
  • You can create summaries to help you think ahead of time;
  • You can read your thesis beforehand to refresh your memory;
  • You can read your thesis in the viva to check details;
  • You can rehearse for your viva to give you more confidence.

There are many practical things you can do to help your memory – but don’t forget that you don’t need to remember everything. The viva is not a test of photographic recall of thousands of hours of work, hundreds of papers and the many, many pages of your thesis.

You need to know your stuff but you don’t need to know everything. You can take care of small worries with simple viva prep.

Nathan

Summary Elements

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Creating a summary is a useful task as part of viva preparation. You could write sentences and paragraphs, bullet points or keywords. You could draw pictures, graphs and diagrams. A summary is a space to think ahead. A summary is a chance to focus before your viva.

A good summary has:

  • A clear focus. You can summarise your whole thesis or can zero in a particular aspect but you know what you’re focussed on.
  • A finite process. The summary is not open-ended. You have a clear space to write or draw in and an expected time to do the work.
  • A new resource. You are going to have made something that didn’t exist before. You aren’t simply copying words down. You are making something new.

A clear focus following a finite process makes a new resource. What will you focus on? What do you need to make to help your preparation?

Nathan

120 Words

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I was going through my files in the last few months and found the speech I gave at my sister’s wedding. When I gave the speech I was nervous but I also had a fair amount of experience with speaking in public so it wasn’t too bad. I got some laughs, I encouraged a few heartfelt tears and I didn’t take too long.

To help with the latter I researched a typical speaking speed: the low end estimate is 120 words per minute. If I didn’t want to speak for more than five minutes, I had to say everything I needed in 600 words, give or take. That was my guideline as I drafted and redrafted.

Now, at the viva you’re not required to give a response within a time or word limit, but thinking a little about them in preparation can help you shape your responses:

  • If you write a short 120 word summary over a handful of sentences then you know that’s about a minute of speech.
  • If you write ten keywords then that can help jog some thoughts.
  • If you write a full page you know that’s a lot to say.

You don’t want to take notes and prompts to the viva – although you might want to consider annotating your thesis to mark things out usefully – but you can make a variety of summaries and prompts in advance to help you think through how you talk about things generally.

Adding this to rehearsal can give you a lot of practice at shaping and sharing your thoughts. You’re not limited to 120 words – but maybe considering a range of options can help you find what feels right for you.

Nathan

Five 1-Page Summaries

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A summary is a helpful tool to use as part of viva prep. Think of one as a little project for gathering your thoughts ahead of the viva.

Summaries come in all sorts of shapes and sizes; they can bend to meet your needs and preferences. I’ve described a lot of summary ideas on the blog before – and shared a whole zine of ideas last year about how they help someone focus ahead of their viva!

Here are five 1-page summary ideas you could use to help yourself get ready for your viva.

  1. Give yourself an hour to write a list of the ten most helpful references in your bibliography. Write a sentence for each about how they helped your research.
  2. Take ten minutes to list as many keywords as you can think of that are related to your research. After a day take another ten minutes to draw lines between connected keywords and ideas.
  3. Invest thirty minutes in sketching out prep ideas. Capture any tasks or requirements for your preparation.
  4. Divide the page into three equal parts and write the following questions, one in each space: Why did I do this research? How did I do it? What is the result? Spend ten or twenty minutes writing notes and thoughts down for each question.
  5. Split the page in two. Take five minutes and on the lefthand side note down any questions, problems or concerns you have about your viva. On the righthand side, working down your list, write at least one practical step you could do to help with the item on the lefthand list.

What else could you do with a single page to help your prep?

Nathan

A Rough Outline

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Whenever you set your mind to creating a summary as part of viva prep start by making a quick rough outline. Give yourself two minutes to write down keywords, bullet points and essential details that you must include in whatever summary you’re going to write.

A rough outline is a catalyst for the real work. It’s not about writing more quickly but writing it at all! A blank page is a tricky opponent and often PhD candidates have to do viva prep after their regular working day. Any help you can give yourself to start well is a good thing.

A two-minute rough outline is a good starting point for any summary whether it’s a list, an overview, a mind map, a page of paragraphs.

What else could you do to help your viva prep tasks go well?

Nathan

Unpacking & Reframing

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Summaries are a helpful viva prep tool.

A good summary could help you to unpack ideas. You can take out, examine and remind yourself of what something is, why it helps and what it’s for.

A good summary could allow you to reframe your work. You can find a new perspective by taking a particular focus or by examining a specific aspect of what you’ve done.

Summaries allow you to think ahead. The information can be the foundations of responses in the viva. You wouldn’t be expected to read from summaries in the viva but they can help you to rehearse what points really matter.

Unpack your ideas. Reframe your thinking. Use summary creation as a useful part of your viva prep toolkit.

Nathan

What Did You Enjoy?

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When you’re getting ready for your viva there’s both time and a need to explore what was a challenge. Anything that challenged you has some value. You can explore what made it difficult and what you achieved by rising to the challenge.

If you faced problems then it makes sense to consider them again before your viva. You might need to talk about them with your examiners. It then makes sense to write summaries, rehearse and figure out how you explain why something was a problem and what you did about it.

Then there’s your research contribution. What makes it significant? How does it make a difference to your field or disciplines?

 

All of the above are worth exploring as you prepare for your viva but perhaps begin with something simpler. What did you enjoy during your PhD? What did you look forward to doing or come to appreciate?

When you’re getting ready for your viva a good starting point might be to think about what you enjoyed doing your research. There’s plenty of time for harder topics. What did you enjoy?

Nathan

A Reflection

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To reflect a little ahead of your viva, take a sheet of paper and divide it into four parts. Respond to each of the following questions with a few sentences.

  1. What was the starting point for your most significant work?
  2. What were the three most useful papers you read?
  3. What words come to mind when you think of your PhD challenges?
  4. What was the most helpful skill or understanding that you developed?

You can always build on any of these thoughts by reflecting on your responses and asking why.

A reflection or a summary is a chance to think ahead. What other useful questions can you think of to explore topics and that will help you at your viva?

Nathan

Know Your Whys

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Why did you want to do a PhD?

Why was your research worth pursuing?

Why do you believe your methods are sound?

Why did you keep going when you faced obstacles and setbacks?

Why does your thesis have a significant and original contribution to knowledge?

Why do you feel capable as a researcher in your field?

 

When you know your whys you have a foundation to respond to most questions at your viva.

Nathan

Finding Questions

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Where did your research questions come from?

How did they develop over time?

How did your reading change the questions you asked during your PhD?

Where will your examiners’ questions come from?

What do you expect you will be asked? Why?

What do you hope not to talk about? Why?

 

Reflecting and creating summaries helps you think ahead for your viva. Rehearsing helps you to find words in the moment and be ready for the conversations that you’ll have at the viva.

Explore how you found your research questions in the past and also consider the questions that could be coming your way in the future.

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