Daily viva help for PhDs
What are the best bits of your thesis?
What are your favourite memories of doing research?
What stands out when you think about how you’ve developed as a postgraduate researcher?
It’s important to spend time to reflect on difficult things and hard topics – but equally important to be certain about the good in your work and in your growth as a researcher.
Focus on the best bits first.
The PhD journey is long, often tough and regularly features setback, failure and difficulty on the path to making a significant, original contribution.
It can also be very enjoyable, and while you can’t simply put all the obstacles to one side, it might help you more as you get ready for your viva to remember the good times.
Reflecting on how you overcame something can be powerful, but it’s also helps to remember those moments where you simply shone, where you enjoyed doing something that mattered.
From day one of your PhD keep a record whenever you achieve something.
From the start of your PhD, keep a record of your achievements – and by the end not only will you have a very impressive record indeed, but you’ll have a strong sense of confidence that your talent, capability and knowledge have grown.
If today is not day one of your PhD – if it’s more like day one thousand, say – you can still get some of these benefits for yourself.
Start keeping the record today and invest some time in looking back. Remember the times when you learned something, finished a project or read a helpful paper. Make note of the challenging tasks you persevered with, when you rose to the challenge of a discussion or presented your work.
Day one or day one thousand, there’s always time to build up your confidence for your viva. You always have an opportunity to do something to build the certainty that you’ve done something good in your research and that you are good enough as you are.
Stories say that there’s a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
The reality is that a rainbow’s end moves as you move. Make any progress in getting closer to where it appears to be and you’ll find that it’s not where you thought it was. Struggle and strive but it moves further away.
You can perhaps figure out where the end of the rainbow would be based on where you are now – but by the time you reach that point it will have shifted (or maybe disappeared).
I think this resonates with the reality of the PhD journey. The viva or graduation might seem like the big event you’re aiming towards, but as you get closer you’ll realise that there’s something more. You get closer to what seems like the end, only to find that there’s more waiting for you.
The PhD journey is just a part of the greater journey; it’s an important stage, and the benefit could be valuable to your future. If you feel like there’s nothing else but your PhD, remember there’s no pot of gold at the end. The end is further away and you are more than your research.
As you get ready for your viva:
Looking back helps remind you of the journey that has lead you this far. Taking action now can help you be more prepared for your viva. Looking ahead and reflecting on the challenges you’ll face will allow you to be more ready for when they arrive.
A magician lays their top hat on the table after showing that there’s nothing inside.
They cover the hat with a silk handkerchief and wave a wand – and just like that a rabbit appears!
It’s magic! We are amazed!
And depending on our age, savvy and insight we might know that the rabbit didn’t just materialise. We may suspect hidden compartments, mirrors or misdirection, but the effect is all the same. However they did it, they pulled a rabbit out of their hat.
We might not know the exact methods involved, but if we think even for a moment we can surmise that it’s taken years of work, a lot of practice and experience and a certain amount of persistence to pull a rabbit out of a hat. It looks amazing. It looks impossible. But it’s the only way: they really worked to make it happen.
When we reflect on that level of commitment it seems all the more special I think.
Understanding how someone talented became that good, even if you can’t understand all of the steps along the way, helps you to appreciate them all the more.
Ahead of your viva, turn that reflection on yourself. Realise and remember that the magic you do, the special feats that you can perform in your work and in the viva, are the result of years of work, a lot of practice and experience and a certain amount of persistence.
You may not be pulling a rabbit out of a hat in your viva but you can create a suitably great impression all the same.
Today is the 60th anniversary of Doctor Who and as I’m a massive nerd that had to inspire today’s thoughts!
As a character, the Doctor is curious, helpful, determined and very, very clever – all things I believe that a PhD candidate and subsequent graduate have to be too!
When an actor has finished their time as the Doctor and someone else takes the role, the character regenerates: as an alien from another world, the Doctor has the power to cheat death, refresh themselves and change their appearance.
A PhD candidate can’t do that – but there is an element of regeneration that holds true. Regeneration in Doctor Who involves change, but also continuation. The Doctor continues with the same memories, the same knowledge and the same drive – even while so much about them changes.
As a PhD candidate becomes a doctor they undergo the same process too. More slowly perhaps but it definitely happens. A PhD journey is a slow process of regeneration for a candidate, becoming someone new while remaining fundamentally the same inside.
What differences do you see in yourself from the start of your PhD to now? How have those changes helped you as you go through the process of pursuing your research? And who might you be when you are finished?
The viva is an ending but also sparks questions about where your research could go next.
At the viva there’s no expectation that you will continue in research after your PhD, but it’s reasonable for your examiners to ask you what those next steps might be. It’s important for you to take a little time to consider them before your viva.
Traffic intersections use simple colour-coding to indicate what actions should be taken. They’re used to prompt very specific behaviour and action. Perhaps we can borrow the terminology to consider the kinds of questions that might come up at a viva…
Green light questions are anticipated; you are entirely comfortable with them. Whether it’s about something in your thesis, your research or your general field, if you were to hear a green light question you would be happy to just go (and start talking)!
Yellow light questions force you to slow down. You might have to change pace. There’s no problem but you need to think and focus more. There’s nothing wrong with doing that. You’re not expected to know everything or remember everything in your viva; pausing for a moment to get your thoughts together is good.
Red light questions make you stop. A question could be unexpected. It could be something you struggle with. And it might make you feel uncomfortable.
In the real world, red lights make people stop – but then they go again, and that’s also like the viva.
If a question is hard, unfamiliar or unexpected at the viva you still need to respond to it. You still have to engage in order to meet the expectations of the viva.
If you know of a red light topic for you, what could you do to improve how you feel about it? If it’s a yellow can you make it a green?
Your viva is a lot of work, both in prep and on the day.
Your viva is one day at the end of a thousand or so.
Your viva is likely to be a difficult but not insurmountable challenge.
Your viva is an event that you can feel nervous and confident for.
Your viva is yours and yours alone, unique compared to every other that’s gone before.
Your viva is similar to many other vivas that have happened (and will happen in the future).
Your viva is not the end of the PhD, but you’re getting close.