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Tag: examiner expectations

Nathan

Five Questions About Your Examiners

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When you’re certain of who your examiners will be for your viva, ask five questions about them.

  1. Have you cited either of them in your thesis?
  2. What do you know of your internal’s recent publications?
  3. What do you know of your external’s recent publications?
  4. How well do you know them by reputation?
  5. Given their interests and research, what do you think they might want to explore from your thesis in the viva?

Of course, these questions invite other questions. If you’ve cited them, how have you cited them? What connections exist between your work and theirs? If you read their recent papers, what is familiar to you? What might you need to know more of?

And so on, and so on – but you don’t need to exhaustively check your examiners. Knowing a little about them helps you to engage with them in the viva.

Ask yourself a few questions about who they are, what they do and what all that means. That’s enough.

Nathan

Perspective, Not Perfection

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As part of your viva preparations, make sure you have researched your examiners’ most recent publications. For both external and internal, take a look at their last two or three papers. Get a sense of their interests, the methods they use and the questions they have been considering.

Compare that with what you’ve done. Look for commonalities and differences, and build an idea of what that means for you, your work and your viva. Are there questions you might anticipate? Are there topics in your thesis that you might have to explain to them because they might be outside of their knowledge base?

Read your examiners’ recent papers to gain perspective. You don’t need to become perfectly aware of everything they have ever done or everything they currently do.

A little work will help.

Nathan

Disagreeing With Examiners

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Tension is created when opposing perspectives meet, in the viva or elsewhere. In daily life that could be very challenging depending on the situation, but it doesn’t have to be that way in the viva.

Disagreement in the viva just means that there is something to talk about.

If there’s disagreement then the best thing you can do is explore why. What reasons do you or your examiners have for your positions or beliefs? What’s the evidence? What does that mean? Where do you have common ground and where do you really differ? And what does that mean?

A difference of opinion could mean simply understanding the other view. It could lead to an acknowledgment of an alternative in corrections to your thesis. It could be due to a simple mistake or error on someone’s part; discussion could help to resolve tension that’s purely accidental.

If you encounter disagreement in your viva, it may not be a big thing or a bad thing, but it’s something.

Something to talk about and resolve.

Nathan

Typo Terror

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You don’t need to be afraid of finding typos. For the most part when someone finds a typo, at worst, it will distract them. A very, very, very minor frustration. For an examiner it is something to record in some way, so that they can ask the candidate to make appropriate changes later.

If you find a typo you can do the same.

Typos don’t need to be feared, they need to be found! When you encounter them, note them down, what is needed in the future to make them right and move on.

There’s far more important work to do and far more important things to talk about in the viva.

Nathan

More Examiners

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The most common viva situation in the UK includes two examiners, one internal and one external. Some universities have independent chairs to steer and confirm the process, and in most cases a supervisor is allowed to attend with the candidate’s approval, but there are nearly always only two examiners.

Nearly always.

There are good reasons for exceptions. It could be that the research requires people with different research backgrounds and interests. A third examiner might be needed so that certain knowledge can be brought into the viva. Or perhaps the candidate is also a staff member at their PhD institution and a second external is required to ensure that the viva is seen as fair.

 

More examiners could mean more questions in the viva; more people talking could mean the viva has more hours than most.

But it doesn’t mean significantly more work in preparation. An extra person won’t take long to look into: a few more papers to consider, a little more thought to consider what they might be interested in.

A 50% increase in examiners doesn’t lead to a 50% increase in prep, questions, viva time or corrections!

Nathan

Finding The Answer

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Lots of questions have answers.

Answers are things that are known: factually accurate, true or perhaps established as a logical argument with sufficient supporting reasons and information.

If you were asked a question and needed to find an answer in the viva there are lots of things you could do or try:

  • You could stop and remember the answer, or at least attempt to.
  • You could use a piece of paper and calculate something that leads to the answer.
  • You could stand up at a whiteboard and draw while you talk to explain the answer.
  • You could check your thesis to look for a piece of information that holds the answer.
  • You could ask a question of your examiners to help explore the situation.

Lots of questions have answers and if you are trying to find an answer in the viva there is a lot you could do to find it.

 

But not every question has an answer.

Some questions seek opinions. Some are hypothetical and explore a scenario – or how someone thinks about it. Some questions have an answer – and you might not know it. Some questions don’t have answers, but they are worth exploring all the same.

If a question has an answer you might be able to find it. If a question doesn’t then you can still engage with it.

Not every question has an answer, but every question asked at the viva is something you can engage with and respond to. If there’s an answer there then there’s plenty you can do to find it – and if there isn’t you still have an opportunity to demonstrate your work, your ability and your knowledge.

Nathan

Examiner Notes

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Do a little homework when your examiners are selected. Make notes on each of them and concentrate on the following questions and points:

  • Why were they asked to be your examiners? Knowing the relevance of their selection gives you helpful information.
  • What do you know about their work? Have you cited their work? Are you familiar with it? Are there recent publications that it might be useful to read?
  • What do you expect from them? What do you know about their reputations?
  • What questions might you expect from them? What could they want to know?

Gather your thoughts on who your examiners are, what they’ve done and what you can expect from them. Like any viva expectations, there’s no guarantee for what they will ask or think in the viva – but like any viva expectations you can be prepared to meet them and engage, whatever happens.

Nathan

Describing Examiners

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Your examiners are interested in your work. They have to be, or they just wouldn’t be there.

Your examiners are prepared for the viva. Like you, they have to get ready to do this particular event.

Your examiners are experienced. They are academics – even examiners at the start of their academic career have training, guidance and support to do the job well.

Your examiners are human. They’re just people, like you. They know the viva could make you nervous and they know you want it to go well.

They want it to go well too – and given the work that you’ve done and the work your examiners do, your viva most likely will go well.

Nathan

Always Something

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No matter how much work you put into your research and thesis, or how much time you spend on viva prep, there’s always something that your examiners could say or ask that you haven’t anticipated.

And no matter what they ask, because of all of the work you’ve committed to your research and thesis, and all the time you’ve invested into getting ready, there’s always something you can do to respond to their questions and be part of the discussion.

You can ask a question. You can pause. You can think. You can check your thesis. You can remember something. You can take a situation and analyse it. You can work through a question or a problem. You can, in the end, always find a way to respond.

Whatever situation you find in the viva, there’s always something you can do.

Nathan

The Formality

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There’s a general expectation that a candidate will pass their viva if they’ve submitted their thesis. The pass rate is so high that reaching that stage is a really good sign that success will follow in due course.

But the viva is not simply like ticking a box on some paperwork, nor is it a simple process in general. Perhaps compared to the scale of the rest of the PhD journey we could say it was “a formality” but only with reference to that great scale!

Expect to succeed – but also expect your examiners to be prepared, to do their jobs, to ask questions and expect you to respond. Do the work that’s needed, following a pattern of work and dedication that you have demonstrated over the course of your PhD and perhaps the viva will feel – with hindsight – like a formality.

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