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Nathan

Keep It Simple Smartypants!

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To do research and write a thesis you have to be pretty smart. You must know lots and understand many complicated and complex facts. However, to get ready for your viva you don’t have to do anything especially complicated:

  • Make a plan of prep work.
  • Do the work.

That plan will involve reading, making notes, rehearsing for the viva and reflecting on your journey, but it doesn’t need lots of steps or interlocking to-do lists and flowcharts.

Just make a plan and do the work.

Nathan

The Special Days

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Public holidays can be special, but are usually just a bit different: a day off or a change of pace. Of course, a royal coronation or other big public event is a pretty special occasion for a lot of people!

Vivas are pretty special days too. Not quite the end, but certainly nowhere near the beginning of your PhD. Nerves and excitement and a host of other feelings too.

When you come to a special occasion, you probably have something to do. It’s rare for it to simply happen and wash over you. Ask yourself, what do you need to know? What do you want to do and how do you want to feel? And what do you then need to do to be ready for how you want to engage with the special day?

For your viva, a very special day:

  • What do you need to know?
  • How do you feel? How do you want to feel?
  • What do you need to do?

Your viva is going to happen. How can you make it special for you?

Nathan

Three Mini-Vivas

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I’m still quite pleased with the Mini-Vivas Resource I made several years ago. I think it’s a nice little way to get ready for your viva with a friend; it doesn’t require a lot of preparation to use, and gives a little structure to having a conversation about research to help with speaking practice and confidence.

There are 7776 possible combinations of questions you can find by following instructions and rolling dice; here are three to save you a little time, indexed by the dice numbers!

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  • Why did you want to pursue your research?
  • How would you describe your methodology?
  • What were some of the challenges you overcame during your PhD?
  • What questions would you like to ask your examiners?
  • If you could start again, knowing what you know now, what would you keep the same?

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  • How would you define your thesis contribution?
  • What influenced your methodology?
  • How did the existing literature in the field influence you?
  • What comments or questions have you been asked about your work previously?
  • How could you develop this work further in the future?

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  • What are the three brightest parts of your research?
  • How did your process change as you did your PhD?
  • How does your work build on prior research?
  • How can you be sure of your conclusions?
  • What publications do you hope to produce?

Are these typical of questions you might be asked in your viva? Yes and no!

Yes because these are all the sorts of things that your examiners might want to dig into. No because your examiners will have read your thesis carefully and examined it against what they know about your area of your research and what they know from their own experience.

A mini-viva is different from a real viva, because while a friend may know a little about your research, they won’t have read your thesis to prepare. They’ll be using the mini-viva questions to provide structure and listening to your responses to steer things.

Still, a mini-viva is a little help, a little practice, a little step closer to being ready for your viva.

Well, three little steps in this post – and 7773 more at the Mini-Vivas Resource post!

Nathan

The First And Last Questions

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Old viva advice says that the first question you’re asked at the viva will likely be easy, while the last question likely won’t be. Like a lot of advice, there’s a kernel of truth to this belief but a lot more to be said.

Let’s say that the first question you’re asked in the viva will likely be simple: whatever it is, you’re being asked to start the viva and start it well. Your examiners want to get you talking, get you past nerves and worries; they ask something simple about the beginnings of your research or get you to share an overview of what you’ve done.

These might not be easy questions, but they will be simple to understand and likely be topics you’ve thought about and talked about a lot in the past. First questions are asked for a specific purpose. They get the viva started well. They may or may not be easy, but your examiners won’t be looking to make things hard for you.

The last question of a viva could be many things:

  • “Do you have any questions for us?”
  • “How would you like to see your ideas developed in the future?”

Or it could just be another question: challenging, probing, digging into the work and words of your thesis.

First, last and everything in between: take every question as it comes.

Breathe. Pause. Think. Respond as well as you can.

Every question is an opportunity for you to share a little more and add to the good things that your examiners think about you and your research.

Nathan

Changes After Submission

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You might have corrections to complete after the viva, but between submission and the viva you don’t need to make any alterations.

Find a typo? Underline it or add it to a list.

See a reference that needs a tweak? Write in the margins or add it to a list.

Read a sentence that could be better? Underline it, write in the margins or add it to a list!

You don’t need to make changes to your thesis, but you might need to make changes to yourself between submission and the viva.

You might need to change your mind on what the viva will be like, if you hear more positive expectations than the worries you’ve been carrying around.

You might need to change your perspective on your examiners if you learn a little about their research.

And you might have to change the story you tell yourself about how capable you are, if you’re feeling a lack of confidence after submission.

After submission, change yourself – not your thesis.

Nathan

Be Kind To Yourself

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Plan your prep. You’re busy, you’re tired and you have 101 things to do. Plan your prep so that the work doesn’t add to any stress and pressure you already feel.

Accept your mistakes. Typos and clunky sentences don’t mean much in the grand scheme of things. Spot them? Make a note and move on.

Ask for help. You have people around you who care and can support you. Ask for what you need and pay it forward when you’re asked in the future.

Gather your resources. Bring together what you need as early as you can so you don’t waste time or focus later. Make a space and a place for doing the work needed to get ready.

Tell good stories. TO YOURSELF. Remind the nervous person inside you what you have achieved, what you have learned and what you can do. Tell good stories about the last few years to help your confidence.

Be kind to yourself.

Nathan

One Weird Trick

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I can’t believe I’ve never shared this before!

It’s this one weird trick that helps with the viva!!

One thing that universities, examiners and PhD graduates don’t want you to know!!!

Whatever discipline you are in, however long you have to go before your viva and whatever you feel about your viva, this one weird trick will help!!!!

Are you ready?

Do the work.

That’s it, the one weird trick that helps with the viva: do the work.

Take your time, but do the work. Feel frustrated, but do the work. Procrastinate, but take the time to do the work.

Have questions? Do the work to find out the answers. Unsure about something? Do the work to ask someone who can give you certainty. Feel unprepared for your viva? Do the work to feel ready.

And sometimes it’s really hard! Sometimes it is hard to get up and do the work you need to do because you’re tired, or you’re nervous or you just don’t know what you want or where you’re going.

There are even times where you know you need to do something but you don’t what that something is!

Then you have to do the work to figure it out.

 

Ask for help. Plan your prep. Rehearse for your viva. Explore expectations. Maybe finish your thesis first!

But do the work.

Do the work because it’s the one weird trick that really will help with everything.

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

Playful Prep

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Plan your prep. Do the work. Focus on the goal.

But play.

  • Use fun stationery to mark up your thesis.
  • Find music that helps you feel happy while you do the work – or helps you to feel better generally.
  • Draw simple pictures to summarise your work.
  • Reward your progress to keep you engaged.
  • Rest and play and rest some more.

Playful prep has a place in getting ready for the viva. There’s work to do and milestones to meet – but you can take time to enjoy what you’re doing and play on the way to the viva.

Nathan

Generating Confidence

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What could you do to boost or maintain your confidence for your viva?

  • Think about your research and focus on the good stuff?
  • Read about your examiners and get a sense of who they are?
  • Select an outfit that helps you feel good for your viva?
  • Reflect on the successes from your PhD journey?
  • Create and listen to a playlist of awesome music?
  • Have a mock viva to convince yourself that you know your stuff?
  • Highlight your strengths as a researcher?

Confidence helps put nervousness in perspective, and it’s to be expected that you might feel nervous for your viva. It matters. It’s important. Confidence won’t remove nervous thoughts, but it will help you to remember why you’re there.

There’s no magic pill for confidence, no simple button press. Thankfully, there are many things you could try. What else could you do to build your confidence?

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