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Nathan

Say No When You Get Ready

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Say no to distractions. Find time and space to do what you need to for your viva prep.

Say no to typos when you find them in your thesis. They don’t need to be your focus. Make a note and move on.

Say no to other tasks to free up rest time. Getting ready requires more than reading and reflecting. You need time to just rest.

Say no to your doubts, if you have them. Could you have got this far by being merely lucky? Could you have got this far while making serious mistakes?

The answer, of course, is “no”.

Nathan

What Do You Do With Typos?

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After submission you need to read your thesis to prepare for the viva.

Inevitably you’ll find a word that is in some way wrong. It’s not spelled correctly, it’s the wrong word, you meant something different or perhaps it is a string of words that don’t communicate what you need.

What do you do?

If the typo is simple then you have two choices: underline it in the text or make a clear list. After the viva, when you have to complete corrections, you have an easy-to-follow guide of what to do. You don’t need to correct them now. Marking it in your thesis or having a list is enough for the viva.

If the typo is more complicated then it’s probably best to make a note in the margin of what would be better for your thesis or – if needed – write a longer explanation on a Post-it Note and stick that in. Then you can explain things better – if needed – in the viva and complete the correction more easily afterwards.

Either way, a typo is just a slip that got past you when writing up. It’s part of the process. You get to make it better.

Nathan

Make Plans

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Make a plan for submission. Set milestones to help keep you on track. Check the details for the official things you need to do. Maybe ask a friend to go with you if you have to submit paper copies and make an event of the occasion.

Make a plan for your prep. It doesn’t take a lot to get ready; if you’re already busy it helps to map out what you will do and when you will do it. Ask for help in advance so you can arrange specific times. Start soon enough so you don’t have to rush to finish.

Make a plan for the viva. Think about how you would like it to go, how you would like to present yourself, what you will need for the day. Plan your outfit and supplies. Plan your space if your viva is over video. Decide on how you will try to engage with questions. Check the details but remember that you can’t control everything: you can plan to do your best.

Make a plan for the short break at the end of the viva. Find something to do in that brief period of waiting to occupy yourself.

Finally, make a plan to celebrate your success!

Nathan

Useful Questions

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The two most useful questions for a PhD candidate to reflect on, particularly after submission, are:

“When is my viva?” and “How do I feel?”

The first is often a useful prompt to realise that there is still time. There’s always time to do something to get ready. If you have ten minutes to go you can still breathe, try to relax, check your notes and remind yourself that you’re almost done. If you have ten days then you have lots of time to prepare and build your confidence. If you have just submitted your thesis you have time to take a break. If you’ve not submitted yet then you know your time is best invested in getting your thesis finished.

The second question has a partner: “So what can I do?” If you feel relaxed, what can you do to build on that? If you feel nervous, what can you do to calm yourself? If you feel unprepared then what can you do to get ready? If you feel afraid who could you talk to so you can get help? If you feel confident, how can you maintain that for the viva? It’s good to reflect on how you feel; it’s better to take the time after that to think about what you need to do next.

“When is my viva?” and “How do I feel?” are good questions to reflect on for a candidate.

“When is your viva?” and “How do you feel?” are fair questions to ask a friend after they’ve submitted their thesis, provided you have time to really listen and then ask one more question:

“Do you need help?”

Nathan

You Need To Get Ready

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The practical tasks involved in viva prep are not hard, but shifting focus to do the work can be tough.

Why? Perhaps because you’ve done it all before. You did this work! Haven’t you done enough already? You did the research, you wrote the thesis, you checked it and now you have to read it again and do more work for the viva. Really?!

Or maybe your response is lead by nervousness. Maybe you have lots of questions in the way. What exactly will be involved in the viva? What do examiners do? How do they behave? If viva prep is another step closer then putting it off means you might not have to inspect your own nervousness yet, at least for a little while.

Or you could be busy. Steering your attention to prep when you have a job, or you’re looking for one, or when you have responsibilities is just a hard ask. You know it needs doing, but finding the time or feeling energised enough when you need to prepare can be tough.

Whatever it is, whatever is proving a barrier, you need to find a way around it. Whatever the problem is you still need to prepare. You need to get ready for your viva.

  • You’ve done the research – but you need to get ready for your viva.
  • You could be nervous – but you need to get ready for your viva.
  • And of course you’re busy – but you need to get ready for your viva.

It’s not as simple as saying just get ready. Whatever is in the way of you shifting your focus to preparation is real. You have to find a way forward though. Everyone is different, so every solution is going to be unique.

Generally you have to make a plan that works for you, that is driven by what time you have, how you feel and what gaps you see in your preparation. Recognise the barrier and figure out a way around it.

And then you have to do to the work.

You need to get ready for your viva.

Nathan

Annotated For You

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Adding to your thesis is a helpful part of viva prep. Including bookmarks, underlining words or sections, writing notes in the margin or placing sticky tabs to mark things out – there’s 101 things you could do!

Thankfully you don’t need to do all of them. By spending a little time thinking clearly you can figure out what will make your thesis more useful for you.

What details will help you if they stand out? What do you want to be able to see more clearly? How could you do that?

Annotating your thesis is for you. You have to reflect and decide what added details will help you the most. Annotations are not for your examiners; they’re added to help you to perform at your best in the viva.

Again, these three questions can help you figure out what you need to do:

  • What details will help you if they stand out?
  • What do you want to be able to see more clearly?
  • How could you do that?

Once you’ve reflected, make a list and do the work.

Nathan

Self-Made

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I love Arnold Schwarzenegger’s rejection of being described as a “self-made” man. He’s responded to that thought in many interviews and talks but writes emphatically about it in the foreword to Tim Ferriss’s book, Tools of Titans:

I am not a self-made man.

Every time I give a speech at a business conference, or speak to college students, or do a Reddit AMA, someone says it.

“Governor/Governator/Arnold/Arnie/Schwarzie/Schnitzel (depending on where I am), as a self-made man, what’s your blueprint for success?”

They’re always shocked when I thank them for the compliment but say, “I am not a self-made man. I got a lot of help.”

He goes on to describe the practical help and support he got from others, the inspiration that motivated his journey and keeps him going. It’s worth reading the whole piece. I like that recognition: working hard, but knowing that he couldn’t have got that far without the help of others.

 

It resonates with what I think about the journey of a postgraduate researcher. A PhD demands a lot of work from a candidate and the result is a huge success for them – but it wouldn’t be right to say they were self-made. Every candidate has supervisors supporting them; every candidate has friends and family who want them to succeed. Every candidate has influences and inspirations that have prompted their journey or helped keep them on track.

In preparation for the viva it could be helpful to reflect on these two elements: the work you’ve done and the support you’ve received. For the work, recognise that you couldn’t have got as far as you have without your efforts; you did that work, you built your knowledge and talent.

For the support, thank those who have helped you get to where you are. Reflect on the things that got you started, the ideas and inspirations. If appropriate, ask for help one more time as you prepare.

Nathan

It’s Hard To Get Prep Wrong

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To be more specific, provided you do the work it’s hard to not be prepared. Viva prep doesn’t need to take a lot of time, maybe twenty or thirty hours in total, and the type of work that helps is really clear.

Read your thesis, make some notes, check some papers, rehearse for the viva.

Do the work and you’ll be ready.

The only sense of “wrong” prep comes from the environment you might make. There’s no law that says when you have to start getting ready for the viva. You could start your prep a few days before – but that might be a very pressured situation! You could do an hour a day for the two months leading up – but that might spread things out a little too much, or mean that you invest more time than you need.

It’s hard to get prep wrong, but you have to think about the way you do the work to get it right for you.

Nathan

Can You Hear Me?

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I’ve said those four words probably hundreds of times since the start of the pandemic and my shift to working from home.

For any webinar that I deliver I have to produce joining instructions way in advance. Then I check my slides and notes the day before (and on the day) to see what needs updating. I draft follow-up emails beforehand, do a quick run-through of key points, check all of the tech is working well and make sure I have my water bottle filled. I check I have my notes, I check if my wife is going to be home while I’m delivering the session. Then I get things going and finally I ask,

“Can you hear me?”

There’s a lot of really practical steps to delivering one of my sessions.

And I also write out an overview each time even though my notes are onscreen for me to see. I write out a five-point list of things to remember and focus me that is the same for every session. I listen to a short playlist of music that gives me energy and helps me to feel confident. I have a picture on my desk that my daughter made for me, and a small paperweight that is comforting to hold at times while I talk to everyone through the camera.

There’s a lot of really personal steps to delivering one of my sessions.

The practical steps are necessary because I couldn’t do the work at all without them. The personal steps are necessary because I wouldn’t feel like me and I couldn’t do the work as well without them.

Over the course of a PhD, a postgraduate researcher has to do the work. They have to do the research and practical steps that lead them to completion. But to feel right they also have to pay attention to the personal work that can help them feel confident about their ability.

 

For your viva, you have to have done the practical steps for your research and the personal steps for you and your confidence, just like I do for delivering a webinar.

Does that make sense? Can you hear me?

Nathan

Prepare For The Challenge

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The viva is most likely the final challenge of your PhD. Corrections are work, but in most cases they’re simply editing or amending what you’ve already finished. The viva is the big thing you need to focus on and get ready for.

So prepare. Find out what’s involved. You have a lot of skill and knowledge when you submit: you need to know how to apply that to the challenge. You need to know what the viva is all about. You need to know how you can be your best in that situation.

You’ve risen to so many challenges over the course of your PhD. You can rise to and succeed at this final one.

Take a little time to get ready. That’s all you need.

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