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Nathan

A Little Update

Update

Draft cover of 101 Steps To A Great Viva

In two days my teeny-tiny Kickstarter campaign to make a helpful little guide for the viva will finish. The campaign has been a lovely success and I’ll soon be producing a print run for 101 Steps To A Great Viva.

But I don’t know how many copies to make yet as there’s still time for a few more backers!

Maybe someone like you? If you’re looking for a clear, action-focussed guide to what you can do to get ready for your viva, then 101 Steps To A Great Viva could be what you’re looking for. It’s simple, direct and will be available very soon to send through the post.

Draft interior pages from 101 Steps To A Great Viva

I’ve been happily writing updates every few days over the last week as I describe the guide, the editing process and a neat little extra that will be included for backers if we reach a stretch goal I’ve set. Fundraising finishes on Wednesday 31st May at 5pm, in just over two days. I’ll have copies available to buy afterwards, but the Kickstarter is the only place you can get the additional rewards I’m offering. Backing the campaign and pledging support ensures you will get a copy of the guide – and you’ll be one of the first to get one too!

Please, if you’ve not looked already, take a look, tell a friend, share the campaign with others or support the campaign if you can. I’m thrilled to have made 101 Steps To A Great Viva and can’t wait to send it out into the world.

I hope I’ll send a copy to you.

Thank you for reading!

Nathan

Nathan

Not One Day

Daily Post

Your PhD success is hundreds of days of work – thousands and thousands of hours of learning, doing, achieving, growing, making, failing(!) and persisting. Your PhD is not defined by a few hours of discussion with two examiners. You need your viva to go well, but you need all of the work that comes before to get you there.

Your earlier success, all those years, helps you through the viva too.

It’s not just one day that determines everything. It’s one day when you get to demonstrate who you are, what you’ve done and what you can do.

Nathan

Three Easy Wins

Daily Post

I start most working days with “three easy wins” for my productivity: before I get stuck into the harder stuff and deeper thinking I do three things that help me feel like I’m already making progress.

A walk is often top of my list. I’ll check accounts and spreadsheets to see if I need to do anything. And I’ll sort out newsletters and spam that have arrived overnight.

Nothing strenuous: easy or simple tasks that help clear my head, free up thinking space or help me to move on to tougher work.

What could you do to give yourself three easy wins when you sit down to prepare for your viva? Here are some ideas!

  1. Remember and write down one success from your PhD research.
  2. Write “You can do this!” at the top of page 1 of your thesis.
  3. Google the regulations for vivas at your university.
  4. Ask a friend to meet you for coffee and talk.
  5. Find a good page in your thesis and stick a bookmark in.
  6. Decide on one thing you will do to celebrate your success.
  7. Note down one question you think you’ll get in the viva.
  8. Take two minutes to write out a short summary of one result in your thesis.
  9. Attach sticky notes to the start of each chapter in your thesis.
  10. Underline what you wrote for suggestion 2!!

There are big tasks that you can do to help you get ready for your viva. There are lots of little things you can do too that will add to how you feel. Start small each time and do things that build you up for your viva.

 

PS: Number 11 on the list could be “Check out and back 101 Steps To A Great Viva on Kickstarter!“

Nathan

Bit By Bit

Daily Post

Idea by idea. Paper by paper. Day by day.

There’s no other way to put your PhD together than keep showing up, good days and bad, and work your way through. Learn more, do more, achieve more and find your way to becoming a good and capable researcher in your field.

When the time comes, this approach is what helps you prepare for your viva too. There’s no single activity that flips the switch to “ready”.

And, really, it’s how you get through the viva too.

Question by question.

Chapter by chapter.

Response by response.

Minute by minute you demonstrate the capable researcher that you became bit by bit.

And that’s enough.

 

PS: I almost called this post “Step By Step” but thought that was too close to the title of 101 Steps To A Great Viva, still going strong on Kickstarter! The overall idea is still the same: it’s not one thing that makes you ready, but enough steps in the right direction can make a real difference. Check out 101 Steps To A Great Viva now and you can pledge support to be one of the first with a copy of the guide.

Nathan

My Two Questions

Daily Post

In the opening minutes of any viva session I ask two simple questions of the cohort:

When is your viva?

&

How do you feel?

Both of these questions, and their responses, are really helpful to me. I start to think about adapting the session I’ll present. I have a plan of course, but if I know that everyone has submitted their thesis then I know parts I don’t need to emphasise as much. If lots of people say they feel uncertain about their viva then I’ll find a few moments to talk about expectations.

My two questions help outside of viva prep sessions. Consider:

  • When is your viva? Whenever it is, you have time. If you have days then you have time to work towards being ready. If you have weeks you can invest that time in slow and steady preparation if you want to. If you have months before submission then you can carefully build your confidence.
  • How do you feel? Whatever you feel is not fixed. If you feel great then let’s cement that. If you feel uncertain then let’s help you with some information. If you feel unprepared you have time to work on that. If you feel nervous you’re not alone! Most candidates do and that’s OK.

Consider the time you have left and what you can use it for.

Consider how you feel and how you want to feel – and then decide what you will do as a result.

 

PS: One thing you could do is go to Kickstarter and back my campaign to print 101 Steps To A Great Viva! The campaign hit the target over the weekend so now I’ll definitely be producing the print run next month. If you want to make sure you get a copy – and possibly pick up some extra rewards for supporting the campaign – then please go and check it out.

Nathan

Risky

Daily Post

Are there risks of danger, problems or disappointment in the viva?

In general when we consider risk it’s worth assessing three elements:

  • The Bad Thing: the problem or outcome you’re concerned about.
  • The Likelihood Of The Bad Thing: an honest assessment of how certain The Bad Thing is to happen.
  • The Potential Impact Of The Bad Thing: an honest assessment of what might follow if The Bad Thing happens.

So, for example: your examiners find a typo. That’s very likely in a book with tens of thousands of words, but it wouldn’t have a great impact on your success or the work needed to correct it.

Or: your examiners could find a section in your thesis that they don’t agree with. There’s a fair chance of that happening when considering new and interesting research. The impact could be an in-depth discussion of the points in the viva or perhaps a request for certain amendments to your thesis.

An extreme example: it’s possible to fail your viva. That would have an enormous negative impact in many ways – but it isn’t very likely at all. It’s a very rare situation.

If you think or feel something about a potential Bad Thing, ask yourself how likely it is. Ask yourself what might happen. Then consider what you really need to do in response, either to reduce the chance of it happening or lessen the impact if it does.

Nathan

Keep It Simple Smartypants!

Daily Post

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

Daily Post

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

Daily Post

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!

Mini-Viva 61666

  • 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?

Mini-Viva 13551

  • 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?

Mini-Viva 25314

  • 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

Daily Post

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.

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