Daily viva help for PhDs
Or a standard viva pause.
Just long enough to check you’ve understood a question, begin to consider what it means and get some thoughts in order for what you might say.
Three to five seconds is a pause – but if you need longer, take longer. There’s no rush in the viva. If you need to think more or consult in your thesis then tell your examiners.
Pause when you need to in the viva. Take your time to engage as well as you can.
…think in the viva.
…reflect on what you’re about to say to your examiners.
…decide how you will get ready when you’ve submitted your thesis.
…compose a response to a difficult question in practice or in your viva.
…realise that there is nothing wrong with pausing, and that a pause is necessary at many points for many reasons in the journey from submission to the viva – and from the start to the end of your discussion with your examiners.
…prepare well for the viva and engage well in the viva.
There are no bad reasons for taking a pause during your viva.
A pause to check you’ve heard your examiners correctly. A pause to get your thoughts in order is helpful. Checking a detail from your thesis is a useful beat of silence.
The pauses in the viva aren’t limited to your side of the table or the Zoom call. Your examiners may have to read their summaries or make a note for later. They may need to check between them to see who will speak next.
The pauses in your viva are the punctuation for the discussion. Like punctuation in a book they are just as necessary.
Pause, think and respond. Pause, check and ask. Pause, note and consider.
Silence isn’t always comfortable but pausing in the viva is never bad.
Take your time.
Pause.
A short pause between hearing your examiner’s question and responding.
A little break to check you understand and think things through.
A simple beat to get things right in the viva.
Your examiners don’t expect you to rapid-fire responses to their questions. The viva is a discussion, not a quiz. Take your time to listen, think and respond well.
Pause in the viva to think about what you’ve heard.
Pause to gather yourself if you lose your train of thoughts.
Pause to check something in your thesis.
Pause to make a note.
Pause to take a sip of water.
Pause to break a question down because it’s really big and needs to be considered.
Pause, but don’t stop. Don’t stop because you are almost there. Don’t stop because whatever nerves you feel – whatever you feel – you have almost finished.
Pause whenever you need to in the viva. Ask for a break, a longer pause. Don’t stop.
It’s a Bank Holiday in the UK, which is always a good reminder to take time off. It might not be today for you: it may be that your situation means you have to work, research or do something that doesn’t allow for a significant element of rest or relaxation.
But you need it.
If your viva is somewhere on the horizon, taking a day off to do something else entirely can be helpful. Take a day for you, before you do anything for your viva. Pause, relax your thinking, rest your mind, leave – for now – all the prep and hustle that still needs to happen.
You have time to do all of that later and a need to look after yourself now. Take time for yourself as part of getting ready for your viva.
The three words to keep in mind when you are in your viva.
Pause: take a moment to check you understand the question.
Think: invest a little time into organising your thoughts.
Respond: start talking, being clear to yourself and your examiners.
Pause because you don’t need to rush. Taking time will help how you think and what you say.
Think because that’s the only way to get the ideas that you need to come out right.
Respond because you might not always have an answer, but you can always find something appropriate to continue the conversation.
In your viva: pause, think, respond.
A few seconds to make sure you’ve heard and understood something.
A few seconds to make a note.
A few seconds to check a detail.
A few seconds to be sure your examiner has stopped talking.
A few seconds that are a little awkward over Zoom.
A few seconds that feel like a lot more than a few seconds.
Or a few seconds that might need to be a moment or two, to really check something over.
A few seconds pause here and there are needed in the viva. Pauses are essential for getting your thoughts in order, for determining what’s next, for checking that everything is OK, or for just thinking and appreciating what’s going on.
And you’re not the only person who might need to pause in the viva.
When you take all those little pauses together they’re still just a small part of the viva.
Maybe one way to help you be fine with pauses in your viva is to think of them as a lot of little things that help the big things go well.
You had lots of time to think during your PhD. You had plenty during your prep. You have enough in the viva.
Your examiners want you to consider, ponder, debate, reflect, examine, muse, propose – to think! – and then respond.
This doesn’t mean long silences, longer vivas or almost-impossible questions. Just enough time to think about something important.
Take time in your viva. It’s there for you to use.
There are many reasons for silence in the viva:
The latter might feel unnerving, but none of these could feel particularly comfortable. Silence invites speculation. Knowing possible reasons doesn’t dissolve fears, it simple gives you something else to wonder about.
Rehearsals help. A mock viva won’t be a way to learn your lines like a play, but can give you the confidence to be in that space. Silence is just silence. The reasons don’t matter in a way. The silence is the space between the discussion. You have to wait for it to pass, or use it to help you think.
Practise and get comfortable with the little moments of quiet that you’re sure to find in your viva.