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Nathan

List Ten Problems

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Here’s a little viva prep exercise to unpack problems you faced on your PhD journey.

Start by listing up to ten problems that you faced. These could be access to literature or resources, time challenges, supervisory issues, personal circumstances, a particularly difficult research issue or something else.

Once you have up to ten on your list take a minute or two to rank them according to severity, starting with the one which had least impact and then working your way to the most severe.

For each one write a few notes to respond to the following questions:

  • Why was it a problem?
  • How did you overcome it?
  • What was the specific impact on your PhD?

Reflecting and writing you will build up ideas for how you could talk about this with your examiners if the topic comes up at your viva. You might make connections between problems and see there was a deeper issue you addressed.

However big the problems were you will also see that you were able to rise to meet them: you overcame a lot to get this far and that means something, both for your research and for you.

Nathan

A Special Day

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Vivas are special days.

Like most special days it’s not the setting or the build-up that makes it really special. There are lots of expectations about what special days need – cost, preparation, traditions and so on – but like any other day what makes your viva special are the people involved.

While your examiners are special and particular to your viva you could also have your viva without them; they could have been busy and someone else would have said yes. Your examiners are like the DJ at a party or a celebrant at a wedding: they’re good but there are other people who could fill that special role.

So let’s be clear: you’re the reason why your viva is a special day. You and your work are what make it matter. Prepare and get ready but remember who the viva is for and how you got there.

Nathan

Then What Happened?

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A PhD journey is a series of steps. You make choices, do the work, see what happens and then figure out the next options. Then you do it all again.

A PhD journey can develop due to good fortune. You make a choice and it works out well. Maybe an opportunity comes your way. A eureka moment strikes you at just the right time.

Still: where do these things come from?

You have to put yourself in a good place to receive an opportunity. It isn’t a lightning bolt from nowhere. It’s not magic. It happened to you because you did the work.

 

Remember the steps that got you where you are. Think about how you might explain that to other people including your examiners. If you’re telling your story and someone says “Then what happened?” your response should never be to simply say, “Oh, I got lucky…”

You might have the benefit of some good fortune, where you work hard and enough of that hard work pays off – but PhD candidates don’t get where they are because of luck.

(if you’re working towards your PhD and your plan requires luck to succeed then you need a new plan!)

Nathan

The Starting Point

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The most important thing you can remember about the start of your PhD journey is that you are a long, long way from it.

This is more important than remembering your first meeting, the first paper you read or even why you wanted to pursue a PhD!

 

You have done more. You know more. You can do more.

You are more knowledgable, more capable and far better at what you do.

Remember that whatever else has happened in your PhD you have come a long way. You have not got this far through luck. You got here because you are good at what you do. You can build on that foundation to be ready for your viva.

Nathan

Talent, Work and Time

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Success at the viva takes talent, work and time.

Talent means that you’re capable. As you get closer to submission and the viva take time to reflect on what you know, what you can do and how you think. Be sure of how you developed.

Work means you applied yourself. Reflect on what you did. Explore the practical elements of your research, the choices you made and the outcomes of your research.

Time means that it didn’t happen overnight. Remember the time to understand the real effort you’ve committed.

A PhD journey is busy. It’s long. It’s easy to forget or be distracted.

As you get closer to your viva date reflect on the talent you’ve built, the work you did and the time it took. Remind yourself that you’re the reason you have come so far.

Nathan

Push & Pull

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Your success is partly the result of many actions that push your work forward and create your thesis contribution.

Your examiners will want to know all about this at your viva: the story of your research, the actions that got it done and the result now that your thesis is finished.

The actions that push your work forward also pull you along. Through the process you learn, understand more and become a capable researcher.

Your examiners will want to know all about this at your viva as well: what you know, what you can do, how you think and more.

Remember in viva prep to reflect on and review both your thesis and yourself.

Nathan

The Best Support

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What were the best references that supported your research?

Who were the most helpful people who have supported you?

What practices have you used for getting things done?

Whatever your best sources of support – whether they’re papers, people or practices – it’s a good idea to think about them as you get ready. In some cases, it might be a good idea to consult or use them one more time.

You did the work but everyone needs support.

Nathan

What You Learned

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You invested years of work. Read countless papers. Many months following the practical steps necessary in your discipline.

Was it experiments, interviews, reading, modelling or something else for you? Whatever it was, you did it.

What you learned matters.

You need to have a thesis to pass your PhD but that book is only an expression of the learning and development that rests in you. What you learned shows your capability. Being able to talk about what you learned, what you know and what you can do matters. You need to be able to communicate this to your examiners.

And even more importantly: understanding just how much you’ve learned and grown can be a huge boost to your confidence as you get ready for your viva.

So, what have you learned?

 

PS: Need more viva help? Check out the latest issue of Viva Survivors Select: The Focus Issue explores writing summaries as part of viva prep to focus your thinking and highlight what matters most.

Nathan

Anti-Perfect

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You can’t write a perfect thesis from a perfect piece of research that then leads to a perfect viva experience.

I can understand aiming for perfection and trying to make something as good as possible but working towards “enough” is probably more sensible.

You can define enough. Enough has a quantity: enough research, enough words, enough work to get ready. You can plan for enough. You can work for enough.

No corrections doesn’t mean that your work was perfect.

Enough. You are good enough. You have done enough. Do enough for prep and do enough in your viva. Perfect is a distraction and you can do better. You can do enough.

Nathan

Hundreds Of Somethings

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700 to 800 days.

A not unreasonable estimate for how many days a PhD candidate might show up to do work.

Some days might be bigger or more important than others. Some days you stare at a screen and try to work, others you punch the air and celebrate. Some days you read a whole book and others you can barely write two sentences.

What matters is that you keep going. What matters is that those hundreds of days include hundreds of somethings: actions, experiments, thoughts, conversations and opportunities that you apply to your research, your talent and your capability.

A long process of small steps that leads you to success. No two days the same. All those days and somethings adding up to a thesis and a candidate that are good.

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