You Are Here

Tag: enough

Nathan

Explaining Enough

Daily Post

How do you define what “enough” means for a contribution to knowledge?

How do you know that you have read “enough” to have a good understanding of your research area?

How do you feel like you are capable “enough” as a researcher in your field?

How do you explain to someone that what you have done is “enough” for your thesis – or your PhD?

 

These are hard questions. It’s unlikely that your examiners will ask you them directly. Being able to think through and consider how you respond to them will help a lot as you get ready for your viva.

Think it over, talk with your supervisor and talk with friends. When you know how to explain that you have done “enough” you’ll feel better about responding to questions more generally in the viva.

Nathan

By Now…

Daily Post

… you must be good at what you do or you wouldn’t still be doing it. You are not the person you were when you started your PhD. The things you have learned and done over the past few years put you in a good position for meeting the challenge of your viva.

It might be that you have weeks or months to go until your viva, or maybe even more, but you have time to get ready. The stage you’re at right now is a good foundation to build on. By now must recognise that you’ve made a contribution. There might be more to say or other things to do, but you can’t do everything.

Your examiners are expecting to see a good contribution made by a capable candidate. It’s helpful, to begin with, if that’s what you can see in yourself and your work.

Nathan

More Than Enough

Daily Post

Thousands of hours of work.

Probably hundreds of papers read.

All the many, many attempts to do practical work related to your research. Depending on your field or discipline that could be experiments, interviews, simulations, observations, conversations, field work, lab work, library work and office work.

And then all the time spent writing, reading, re-drafting, editing, proofreading, spell-checking, re-writing again and again and finally feeling ready to submit.

(or at least able to submit!)

Throw in some viva preparations and you have done more than enough and then some more to be ready for your viva.

If you’re not ready for the challenge then who is?

Nathan

Your Best Is Enough

Daily Post

If you can honestly say that you tried hard, learned lots and did the work for your PhD then that’s enough. If you can say that despite challenges and obstacles, setbacks and worse, that you did your best throughout your PhD then that’s enough.

Your determination, knowledge and capability helped you to keep going. That will help you to get ready for your viva.

Ultimately, it’s what will lead you to succeed in your viva.

Your best is enough.

Nathan

Effort

Daily Post

What did you learn in order to get through the first year of your PhD?

What did you figure out about your research area before you were halfway through your PhD journey?

What challenges did you overcome along the way?

How many pages does your thesis have?

How many chapters?

How many references in your bibliography?

How many days did you show up to do the work of your PhD?

 

Perfection isn’t possible in a PhD. Luck is only a very small factor in success. When you really reflect on the last few years, you only got this far through sheer effort.

And when you reflect on what all that effort means you can see why you’ll succeed at your viva too.

 

PS: I’ll be exploring success and how you achieve it at the viva at Viva Survivor, my upcoming live webinar on Thursday 5th December 2024. Lots more as well: expectations, examiners, viva prep – they all feed into confidence and success. Find out more about the session here.

Nathan

Let Go

Daily Post, Sabbatical

All the things you didn’t do. All the things you couldn’t do. All the ideas you didn’t follow. All the questions you couldn’t answer. All the opportunities you had to turn down.

You have to let them go when you prepare for the viva.

Whatever they mean, and whatever you might do with them in the future. They might be of interest in some way, or add context to something you could need to talk about. Exploring them might be a small part of your preparations but they can’t be your focus for getting ready.

Focus on what you did. Focus on the ideas you explored. Focus on the questions you answered, the results and conclusions you found. Focus on the opportunities that lead you somewhere.

Focus on who you are, not who you might have been.

 

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 March 12th 2021.

Nathan

No More, No Less

Daily Post

The viva is no more than a discussion about your research and thesis.

The viva is no less than a final, great challenge at the end of your PhD.

Your examiners want no more than to have a conversation with you.

Your examiners need no less from you than to see a capable, knowledgeable researcher.

Your viva needs no more from you than to show up and be good, determined and thoughtful.

You wouldn’t give it any less than your best – and that’s enough.

Nathan

And Another Thing

Daily Post

There’s always more.

More research. More prep. More you could say in the viva.

At some point you have to say enough.

You have to figure out and decide when you have enough research and you’ve done enough in your thesis. You can plan in advance, then do the work to know you have completed all the prep you need to be ready. And while you won’t get to tell your examiners that they’ve heard enough, you will be able to communicate what you need!

Still, there is always more. You have to accept that and feel confident that what you have is enough.

Nathan

Knowing Enough

Daily Post

You can’t know what the first question in your viva be will be until it’s asked.

You can’t know how long your viva will be until your examiners say, “OK, we’re done!”

You can’t know how you will respond to a tricky question until you experience it.

You can’t know in advance just what you’ll need to correct after the viva.

There’s a lot you can’t know before you get to the viva and experience it. That’s just the way it is.

But you can know that you’ve done enough to get you there. You know you’ve done enough to succeed. You know who your examiners are in advance, and can know all about their research, if that helps. You can know what to expect from the viva by reading regulations and listening to stories of viva experiences.

When you stop and think, there’s a lot you can know before you get to your viva.

Nathan

One More Thing

Daily Post

There’s always more you can do.

More ideas to be pursued to add to your research.

A new perspective or an extra thought to include in your thesis.

Another paper to read. And another!

All that proofreading and there will still be a better way to say something – or one more typo that’s not been spotted.

There’s always more but remember, by submission and through preparation for the viva, you’ve done enough to pass.

1 2 3 4