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Tag: getting ready

Nathan

Fifteen

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What should I include in a 15-minute summary of my thesis?

The candidate asking me this had been prompted by their examiners to prepare a presentation to start their viva. This isn’t a common situation, but it’s one way to begin the viva. I can’t remember what I said in the moment that I was asked – it was towards the end of a three-hour webinar – but remembering it today I’m struck by several thoughts.

Fifteen minutes isn’t very long to summarise a thesis, so it pays to be concise. It helps to rehearse. It helps to think things through. And the question, as asked, is worth interrogating: should isn’t helpful. There are lots of things one could do.

Here are fifteen points and questions to reflect on if you were asked to prepare a fifteen-minute presentation for the viva:

  1. Why did you want to do this research?
  2. Why did the research need doing?
  3. What were the main methods you used?
  4. What literature supported the approach that you took?
  5. What makes your work an original contribution?
  6. What are you proudest of in what you have done?
  7. What was the hardest problem you overcame?
  8. What can you explain simply in the space of fifteen minutes?
  9. What can you not explain in the space of fifteen minutes?
  10. Given that your examiners have read your thesis, what do you need to re-emphasise in a presentation at the start of your viva?
  11. How does your work make a difference?
  12. How has your work made a difference in you?
  13. What do you need to start your presentation by saying?
  14. What do you need to conclude your presentation with?
  15. What can you safely leave out of your presentation?

Even if you – like most candidates – are not asked to prepare an opening presentation, reflecting on many of these questions could be useful before your viva!

Nathan

A Clear Desk

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Start your viva prep with a clear desk, then think about what you might need to add back.

Just imagine…

  • You need your thesis.
  • You need some small bits of stationery, either to add things to your thesis or to make notes.
  • You need a few papers you want to check, or perhaps a device to read them on.
  • You need your diary for making arrangements with your supervisor or friends for some practise.
  • You probably need some refreshments too!

Now with all of that in your mind’s eye realise that viva prep doesn’t take much. It doesn’t take lots of resources and it won’t take long to complete.

Nathan

Always Check The Rules

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A simple plea for a Saturday: always, always read the regulations for thesis examination at your institution. Read the rules for the viva at your university.

They might be a little dull in places, but you will get confirmation about who does what, when you find things out and see estimates on how long things like the submission period will take.

There may even be things you don’t expect: a candidate told me recently that they had to take proof of their identity to their viva!

Always check the rules. It won’t take much to find them and won’t take long to read them.

Nathan

Unnecessary Prep

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You don’t need to work from dawn until dusk every day between submission and the viva in order to get ready.

You don’t need to read and re-read your thesis multiple times. You don’t need to check every paper you’ve cited or considered.

You don’t need to find every typo or amend every clunky sentence. You don’t need to fill the margins of each page with notes and reminders.

You don’t need to scan through lists of questions and worry about what you might be asked.

And you don’t need to be perfect or obsess about now becoming better.

 

Viva prep helps you get ready for the particular challenge of the viva. It’s a short period of time to reflect, remember and rehearse. The goals are quite small. The need is not so great. You have to prepare, but the work you’ve done so far already carries you a long way.

Nathan

Not Noticed

Daily Post

Twenty minutes before my first webinar of the autumn I realised that I couldn’t close my office door.

The panel from the side of the bath was in the way, leaning just beside the door. I had taken it off two months earlier to fix a leak and never quite got around to putting it back. I’d become so used to it being there that I no longer noticed it when I was passing through the doorway.

I spent two hurried minutes jiggling and fiddling with it to get it back into place on the side of the bath where it belonged. Then I washed my hands, took a deep breath and it was time for the webinar.

My bath panel is pretty big but it was only a little problem to resolve. It was stressful in that moment because of the urgency. It would have been far better to look around in the previous days (or weeks!) and sort it out sooner.

 

Little problems can be overcome once we notice them. Little problems in your thesis or your research are less stressful to resolve before the viva than in your viva. While you can’t just prime yourself to notice what you’ve not noticed previously, you can work carefully during your viva prep to look for little problems.

  • Read your thesis without skimming. What do you see? Typos aren’t a problem because they don’t require you to come up with a solution. A clunky sentence might be a problem. How do you make it clearer? A forgotten topic is a problem. What can you do to refresh your memory?
  • Ask for considered feedback when you rehearse. Your friend not understanding you is a problem. How can you explain your point better? Your supervisor disagreeing with you is a problem. How can you explore the issue?

A clunky passage in your thesis or a misunderstanding in the viva will not lead to your failure. Little problems are little, but remember: little problems are less stressful to resolve before the viva than in your viva. By working to spot what you’ve not noticed before you can pre-emptively fix things – or give yourself more practice solving little problems for the viva.

Nathan

Daily Confidence

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I worry about my viva every day…

These were the first words I saw in the chat window during a viva help webinar when I asked for questions. In a few short sentences the person described how they couldn’t help it: they felt nervous and worried every day when they thought about their upcoming viva.

There are useful big picture things that could help – learning about what to expect, preparing for the viva, talking to friends – but nervousness for the viva can persist regardless.

Feeling nervous is not always an easy thing to switch off, but building confidence can help; confidence doesn’t eliminate nervousness, but it does help to put it into perspective.

The person in my webinar worried every day. I wonder what might happen if they did something for their confidence every day?

What would happen if you did something every day for your confidence? For example, you could:

  • Reflect on the contribution in your thesis.
  • Bookmark a page in your thesis that you’re proud of.
  • Create a playlist of music that helps you to feel confident.
  • Tell someone about your research.
  • Make a list of successes from your PhD.

Worrying and feeling nervous are perfectly human responses to big, important events. They can become habitual though, a recurring issue to be dealt with. Rather than wait for them to arrive, invest in a daily practice to build your confidence.

Nathan

Want And Won’t

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To organise your viva prep think about what you want to do and what you won’t do.

You want to read your thesis but you won’t obsessively re-read it.

You want to make a note of typos but you won’t go looking for them.

You want to know about your examiners but you won’t read every paper they’ve ever published.

You want to feel ready for your viva but you won’t over-invest your time.

You want to respond well to questions in the viva but you won’t do that by scripting lots of responses in advance.

You want to feel confident but you probably won’t be able to eliminate nerves completely.

 

You want to do well in your viva. You won’t have to do much in preparation for that outcome.

Nathan

The Prep Sequence

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To prepare for the viva well it helps to do the right things.

  • You don’t need to cover your thesis in notes and extra scribbles in every margin. Be targeted to make a better version of your thesis.
  • You don’t need to read and re-read anything and everything you’ve ever done. Reading your thesis and checking important papers is enough.
  • You don’t need to practise every question you can think of for your viva. A mock viva with your supervisor or a good chat with some friends could help you feel prepared for the day.

Good, focussed prep tasks add up to being ready – but it helps to do the right things in the right sequence. Don’t have a mock viva until your thesis is annotated, and don’t annotate your thesis before you’ve read it!

Work effectively to get ready instead of simply doing the right things.

Nathan

Finding Reasons

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If before your viva you feel an abundance of nervousness, then you have to look a little and find reasons to feel confident. Confidence doesn’t eliminate nerves, but it does help to put those sorts of feelings into perspective. Nervousness recognises that something is important – confidence gives you the self-belief to know that things will be alright.

Look and find reasons. They could be reminding yourself of all the work you’ve done. They could be bound up in realising just how talented you are. Or you could focus on the process of the viva, what you need to do – what you can do – and what that means for you engaging with that process.

There are plenty of reasons to feel nervous about your viva. There are even more reasons to feel confident of success at your viva. Find them.

Nathan

INTRO To Prep

Daily Post

I’ve written before about INTRO, a neat acronym for structuring the start of a presentation:

  • Interest: start by sharing something that will grab the audience’s attention.
  • Need: say why what you’re going to talk about is important.
  • Title: share the title of the talk.
  • Range: talk about how long you’ll speak for, what you might cover and how you will take questions.
  • Objective: close your introduction by sharing the goal of your presentation.

There’s a nice flow to this process, both for planning and delivering a talk. As with so many tools like this, I think there are wider applications that spring forth with a little reflection.

What about planning for viva prep? Take a blank sheet of paper and consider the following points:

  • Interest: start by writing a few lines about the value of your research.
  • Need: write five key points that you need to address in your viva prep.
  • Title: clearly print “All of this will help me become Dr Somebody!” on the sheet of paper!
  • Range: think carefully, then write one or two possibilities for how you could structure your time to get the work done.
  • Objective: for each key point expressed so far, write a clear goal that leads to progress.

From one sheet of paper we have the beginnings of good viva prep. And with INTRO we have a useful way of starting a presentation.

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