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Tag: reflection

Nathan

The Exp Words

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What kind of speaking are you expecting to do in your viva?

Do you imagine you’ll have to explain what you did?

Do you think you’ll simply expand on what you’ve done?

Or perhaps you think you will explore what your research really means?

In truth: you’ll do all of these and more. The viva is a discussion centred on your research, your thesis and you. The conversation can go in many different directions. Expect that you’ll explain, expand on and explore a lot of what you’ve done.

Don’t expect that your examiners will expose big problems though – or explode your central ideas!

Nathan

Three, Two, One

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Three or more years of research and writing.

Two to four weeks of preparation time.

One day with a challenge.

Put the viva in the right perspective.

Nathan

The Red Button

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There’s a knock at your door.

A courier leaves a package in your arms. It’s not heavy, but it has a strange heft to it. You don’t remember ordering anything. You’re not expecting something. But here it is, addressed to you.

Unwrapping the package reveals a small brown paper parcel and an envelope. The stationery and packaging are both of a good stock, clearly not from a supermarket shelf or high street stationer’s. The handwriting on the envelope is familiar, but you can’t place it.

For your viva, it reads.

You open the parcel first, cutting the string when the knot proves too tricky. Beneath several layers of paper you uncover a polished wooden box. It’s old, you can tell, but you’re not sure where in the world it might come from. You hold it in your cupped palms, the sides are smooth to the touch. There seems to be no lid or opening. It is a box though, not solid wood: the contents don’t shift much as you carefully move it in your hands, but you can tell that the weight is not uniform.

Resting in the curved top surface is a small recess and a red button.

Perplexed by the box you open the envelope. The note inside has a scrawl for a signature, but the contents are clear enough.

Friend. In case this helps with your preparations. What do you not want to be asked in your viva? Think carefully and press the red button, and you won’t be asked. But think carefully. Yours [illegible]

A hoax. A weird joke from a friend who knows your viva is weeks away. And yet…

What if?

No. It couldn’t be. This is a strange sort of gift. You wrap the parcel up and put it in a cupboard.

Two weeks later you take it out and stare at the box and the red button for an hour.

You make a decision.

 

If the box was real, and you could press the red button, what would you not want to be asked in your viva?

The box is not real! But if there’s a question you don’t want to be asked in your viva then you probably need to do something to rehearse for that situation.

Not wanting to be asked a question won’t remove the possibility. Practice and preparation will help just in case you should encounter that one question you really don’t want to be asked.

Nathan

One More Thing

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There’s always more you can do.

More ideas to be pursued to add to your research.

A new perspective or an extra thought to include in your thesis.

Another paper to read. And another!

All that proofreading and there will still be a better way to say something – or one more typo that’s not been spotted.

There’s always more but remember, by submission and through preparation for the viva, you’ve done enough to pass.

Nathan

How To Finish Well

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Look back over the progress of your PhD journey. Your progress.

Realise that there is something new that now exists – and the only reason it does is because you made it happen.

Prepare for your viva carefully, invest time to make sure you are ready and confident.

Listen, think and respond to your examiners; make the most of your viva.

And when all of that is done, take a moment to think about what you take with you beyond your PhD. When it is finished it’s not the end for you and who you are now.

Nathan

Alternative Routes

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Things happen during a PhD. Deadlines slip, feedback is delayed or a promising idea reveals a sticky situation that has to be avoided. Plans change and alternatives must be found.

One way or another you get the research done. You get your thesis written and finally your viva is close at hand. While getting ready it can be useful to reflect on the paths not taken. Reflecting on alternatives can show why they were not taken, how your route was the right one or give you a fuller picture of the situation.

  • Some routes will not have worked and would never work. A poor idea or lack of time perhaps, or an idea that just wasn’t quite developed enough.
  • Some routes could have been perfect – but there were reasons why you didn’t take them. In preparation for potential questions in the viva, what were those reasons?
  • Some routes are only visible with hindsight. With the benefit of experience you know a less treacherous path or a shortcut to avoid obstacles.

Looking back at possibilities is helpful in preparation for the viva. It shows learning, it highlights your progress and helps you to demonstrate your ability as a researcher.

You’re near the end now. You can’t go back and take a different route. You can be aware of the alternatives and what they mean.

Nathan

Assemble With Care

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It occurred to me recently that the viva is a little like flat pack furniture: a wardrobe or chest of drawers that you have to assemble from eighteen pieces of wood with three kinds of screw and two very similar looking types of dowel.

There are clear instructions for the viva, like flat pack furniture, but that doesn’t guarantee that it will be easy. It’s a challenge to get it done, takes a few hours usually and benefits from having others present to help – examiners in the case of the viva!

Like all good analogies, it breaks down when you stretch it too far. The viva is far more like a piece of bespoke furniture, one of a kind even if it follows a type or form. The viva is always brought together by very skilled people.

To bring it back to flat pack furniture, the viva is better when it’s assembled with care. Take time to know what you need to do and how you can do it well.

Nathan

A Helpful Acronym

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If you’re looking for some help reflecting on your research ahead of the viva, consider reading one of the chapters in your thesis and then respond to the following questions:

  • What is valuable in the chapter? What difference does it make? How does it add to your significant, original contribution?
  • What do you find interesting about the research? How did you connect with the topic? What could you do well?
  • Is there anything vague in what you’ve presented? With hindsight could something be clearer? How could you speak about it when talking with your examiners?
  • Are there any questions you think you’ll ask your examiners based on the work? Is there anything you think they’d like to know? Can you do anything to prepare for possible questions?

There’s a lot more that you could do to get ready for the viva than simply consider the valuable, the interesting, the vague and the questions someone might ask. To start reflection these four words can be very useful – and very easy to remember when you spot the acronym they make!

Nathan

Your Greatest Challenge

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Think back over the course of your PhD journey to date. What stands out to you as the greatest challenge you overcame? Reflect and explore what you remember.

  • Why was the situation a challenge for you?
  • How did you work to overcome it?
  • What was the result of your success?

Your examiners need to know about your research and your journey – as told by you in your thesis and your viva – so that they can confirm you have done enough.

You need to really know how you have got this far – by reflecting on the challenges you have overcome – so that you can convince yourself you are good enough.

Nathan

On This Day

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You probably have at least one account with a major internet entity that backs up your photos, or where you share what you’re up to in some way. It’s likely that you post or tweet or save a photo away in an archive.

If something good happens today or tomorrow – in fact, whenever something good happens for your PhD – take a picture. Write a post (keep it private if you like), but do something to mark a good thing in your research or PhD journey.

 

A year from now you’ll be minding your own business when your phone, tablet or app will remind you that you have memories: “On this day you did this…”

You’ll remember what you did and you’ll know you are making progress. You’ll see how far you’ve come. Maybe a year from now it will even be after your viva! But that’s OK. The need for recognising achievement and benefitting from confidence doesn’t stop with the viva.

Find a way to remind yourself of your work, your progress and your success. You’ll find confidence in your ability when you do – and help feel even more ready for the challenge of your viva.

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