Daily viva help for PhDs
Before, you could be nervous. During, you’re engaged. After, you’re relieved.
Before, you can practise. During, you’re doing it. After, you’ve achieved.
Before, you’re the candidate. During, you’re the expert. After, you’re Dr Somebody, PhD.
At different times you can think and feel and do and be different things.
At all times around the viva, at the end of your PhD journey, you’re where you’re supposed to be.
Heard of the feedback sandwich?
It’s when you tell someone something good about their presentation/book/paper/whatever, then offer something constructive or negative, followed by something good. Good-“bad”-good.
A feedback sandwich – it has another name, but this is a polite sort of blog…
This good-“bad”-good construct got me thinking about viva prep, and I wonder if there’s a useful sequence we could follow when getting ready for the viva. As a series of activities, maybe something like the following would be useful.
A viva prep sandwich, of sorts.
And perhaps tastier than the feedback sandwich, because you get to decide what it is made of?
I encourage candidates to reflect on their research, their examiners’ publications and think about how these things connect. It’s useful advice but at the same time a little vague. What concrete steps can candidates take? It isn’t always clear to know what to think or do, so here are eight questions to get the process of digging deeper started:
Saying “reflect” is easy; doing it can be hard. Use these questions to start the process, and if you find other questions that help then share them.
Earlier this year I shared my directed thinking tool, VIVA, which is really useful for analysing chapters of your thesis in preparation for the viva. My general suggestion for VIVA is to take a sheet of paper and divide it into four sections. Then in each section make notes about the chapter you want to reflect on but directed by a specific keyword:
This kind of directed or prompted thinking can build a really interesting reflection and summary. It’s enough to simply reflect and make notes, see where your thinking takes you. You can go much deeper if you want to though. First, simply asking “Why?” after each of your responses helps:
Why would they find that valuable? Why are you interested in that way? Why is it not clear? Why do you want to ask those questions?
Or for Valuable you could dig into different audiences: is there more than one kind of value that someone could look for? Has the Interesting component of your research changed over time? How can you make something Vague more clear? If there was only time to Ask one question of your examiners, how would you prioritise?
Questions lead to answers sometimes. In my experience they nearly always lead to more questions. That’s not a bad thing if you’re trying to think deeply about something. If you use VIVA, think about how you can use follow-up questions to reflect on your research.
An examiner is an examiner. It doesn’t matter if they’re your internal or external, physically close or based overseas; it doesn’t matter if they’re near to your research area or far away. Treat them the same for your preparations. They may have different roles and different perspectives they bring to the viva, that’s fine. You might view them through different lenses, but make sure you cover the basics for both in your preparation:
Remember that you too are justifiably an expert now. Whatever their questions and wherever they come from, you have a particular expertise that you can use to take part in the discussions of the viva.
Six viva preparation ideas. Get a piece of paper and pick one of the following to write about. You don’t need to do all of these. Each one offers a different perspective on your PhD.
A little thinking, and a little time spent on putting those thoughts into words on a page.
Almost finished your PhD but getting discouraged? Take a minute or two to reflect on one of these questions:
Whatever your why, it matters. If the end of your PhD starts to drag, if it becomes a grind to get it done, then return to your why.
And keep going. The end is in sight.
A thought: you and your examiners are more similar than you are different.
Similar: all researchers, all interested, all capable, all talented, all there in your viva for a good reason.
Different: they have more experience than you, you have more expertise than them. They’ve read your thesis, you wrote your thesis.
All of these points help the story of confidence you can tell yourself about the viva.
My daughter’s just finished nursery and starts “Big School” in September. It seems only like yesterday that she was starting, but it was nearly two years. Time flies…
We’re helping her make a memory box of her time at nursery. Pictures and projects, toys and books, the keepsakes and mementoes that she wants to have, and it’s got me thinking about what I would put in my PhD memory box. It’s ten years since I finished my PhD and I have fond memories but I know there are lots I will have forgotten now. I wish I had kept more of a diary or memory box, but I was too busy thinking “I’m done, what do I do next???”
For the end of the PhD I think it’s important to reinforce the idea that you haven’t just arrived at a destination as a passenger: you’ve worked to get there. What have you collected in your memory box along the way? What has helped? What helped you realise something new? What helped you get better? What do you just want to remember?
Time flies… Your story so far can help the story that’s coming, whether that’s your viva, your next job or whatever life has to throw at you. Find memories that help you and make them part of the story you remember.
Anyone who tells you the viva is no big deal is wrong. It comes at the end of years of research. It’s huge life achievement. It matters for many, many reasons.
Anyone who tells you the viva is the biggest deal ever is wrong. There’s more you will do, more you can be and more that matters more.
Also: anyone who tells you how to feel about your viva is wrong!
You get to decide how you feel and what it means to you.