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Tag: supervisor support

Nathan

What Your Supervisor Can’t Do

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They can’t find all your typos when you ask for feedback on a thesis draft.

They can’t tell you what questions you’ll get at your viva.

They can’t know what your examiners will or won’t like.

They can’t see ahead with absolute certainty about the level of corrections you’ll need to complete.

And they can’t take over for you in the viva!

 

What they can do is continue to support you. They can give you feedback. They can give their opinions on the viva: the process, expectations, who your examiners are and what they do. They can talk about common questions and offer advice.

They can encourage and support and send you on your way – to do what you need to do at your viva.

Nathan

Broad & Narrow Questions

Daily Post

You’ll find lots of broad questions about your research ahead of your viva. These are the lists of general questions that have been shared for years on websites and graduate school handouts. They’re the big questions and can be helpful in preparation and reflection as you get ready. For example:

  • Why did you explore this area?
  • How would you describe your approach?
  • What could you do differently?

These are good questions but they’re broad: they could be asked by almost anyone of almost any PhD candidate.

You’ll be asked lots of narrow questions at your viva. They relate to the topics – some of which you or your supervisor could maybe predict in advance – that your examiners could ask only of you, given your research, your experience and your thesis. For example:

  • Why did you follow the method you used in Chapter 3 over the alternate method you referenced on page 56?
  • How do you account for the gap in data that you mentioned in the second study?
  • What do you expect someone might do to develop your research further, assuming someone continued your line of study?

These kinds of questions are good but they’re narrow: they are particular only to you. They might be asked by people other than your examiners, assuming they had enough knowledge, but they could only be asked of you.

It’s likely you’ll get some broad questions at your viva. It’s certain you’ll be asked lots of narrow questions. You have to consider general broad questions in your prep to be ready for the specific narrow questions you’ll encounter in your viva.

Nathan

Do It Yourself

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My wife and I painted our daughter’s bedroom in the autumn.

We had to move furniture, in some cases taking it apart to move it; we had to box up and make space for books and toys; my wife sourced the paint and painting supplies; I carried the ladders and between us we gave four wall sections what felt like countless coats of paint.

We did it ourselves. We could have asked someone else to do it. They might have been quicker or more professional or both! As hard as the work was at times we took some satisfaction that we had done it.

(although my right arm still feels the strain from some of the stretching and carrying!)

 

Some jobs you can do yourself or get someone else to do it in your stead.

Viva prep is not one of those jobs.

You have to do it yourself: you have to do the work to feel the benefit of viva prep, although thankfully there is still a lot of support you can get from other people.

  • Only you can read your thesis to refresh your memory – but you can ask others for their opinions on where to focus.
  • Only you can annotate your thesis well – but you can look for plenty of ideas of what might help.
  • Only can you feel the benefit of a mock viva – but you have to turn to your supervisor to make it happen.

You have to do viva prep yourself. You can’t outsource it but you can get help to make it happen.

Nathan

Supervisor Support

Daily Post

Talk to your supervisor around submission time to get a sense of how they can support you when you prepare for your viva.

Your supervisor is best-placed to offer advice and perspective as you get ready. You might not need a lot from them. Maybe you want a mock viva. Perhaps they can share some thoughts on your examiners or the general process of vivas.

Whatever you need, you can be sure that they are busy. They’ll want to help but will only have a limited amount of time to do so and a limited availability as well. So talk to them at submission to get a sense of what they can do, when they can do it and how you’ll make it work.