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Nathan

Explaining Enough

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How do you define what “enough” means for a contribution to knowledge?

How do you know that you have read “enough” to have a good understanding of your research area?

How do you feel like you are capable “enough” as a researcher in your field?

How do you explain to someone that what you have done is “enough” for your thesis – or your PhD?

 

These are hard questions. It’s unlikely that your examiners will ask you them directly. Being able to think through and consider how you respond to them will help a lot as you get ready for your viva.

Think it over, talk with your supervisor and talk with friends. When you know how to explain that you have done “enough” you’ll feel better about responding to questions more generally in the viva.

Nathan

Silver Bullets

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In stories werewolves are powerful, almost unstoppable. Perhaps you can guard against them or run away for a time, but there’s no great defence you can mount. You have to hope that you can find or make silver bullets.

We sometimes use the idea of silver bullets as a shorthand for a solution to a particularly tricky problem. They are the one thing that will allow us to understand a situation, help us to plan better or get things done. It would cut through everything and solve the problem – if only we can find a silver bullet.

PhD candidates sometimes look for silver bullets for the viva. They hope for one thing that will help them to be confident. Or one thing that will help them feel prepared. Or even the one question they will definitely be asked that they can be ready for.

It might be nice to think about, but all of this forgets a couple of things:

  • Silver bullets, if they were needed, are rare, expensive and hard to make. Do you have time for that when you’re getting ready for the viva?
  • Werewolves, if they existed, are unique and difficult encounters. Your viva might be unique and difficult to some extent but vivas happen almost every day: there is a lot to learn about them and about how others have faced their challenges.

Don’t look for a single silver bullet to solve all your problems. Silver bullets are a distraction. You don’t have the time for them and you don’t need them.

Take simple steps to learn what you need to do to be ready for your viva – and then do the work.

Nathan

By Now…

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… you must be good at what you do or you wouldn’t still be doing it. You are not the person you were when you started your PhD. The things you have learned and done over the past few years put you in a good position for meeting the challenge of your viva.

It might be that you have weeks or months to go until your viva, or maybe even more, but you have time to get ready. The stage you’re at right now is a good foundation to build on. By now must recognise that you’ve made a contribution. There might be more to say or other things to do, but you can’t do everything.

Your examiners are expecting to see a good contribution made by a capable candidate. It’s helpful, to begin with, if that’s what you can see in yourself and your work.

Nathan

The Last Few Years

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Three to seven years is a long time in anyone’s life. It may be that while you’ve been working on your PhD that you’ve had big changes in your personal life, not all of them good.

The last five years have been really hard at times in the wider world. We’ve seen daily life change and change again. We’ve seen disruptive alterations to the way the world seems to work. It’s not always clear what these changes will mean – or what changes are still to come.

And all of this is besides the nature of doing a PhD: learning how to research, potentially learning through failure and finding your way while working at a really high level.

 

If you’re feeling bruised by your PhD journey and your viva is coming then you can still make a choice.

If the last few years have been a lot, acknowledge that it’s been hard and acknowledge that you would wish for things to be different. Do that but remember that despite everything the world has sent your way you are still here.

You kept going.

It didn’t happen any other way. The world, your life, your research, whatever tried to hold you back – you said no and kept going. It doesn’t make all of the hard times go away. It might not make them hurt or matter less. But you kept going.

Keep going now. Success is not far away.

 

PS: something else that’s not far away is Viva Survivor, my upcoming live webinar on Wednesday 25th June – only four days from now! I’m regularly invited to deliver this session with PhD candidates all around the UK, but this is only the third time I’ve opened up registration. Viva Survivor is a 3-hour live webinar all about the viva, viva prep and getting ready and participants receive access to a catch-up recording and follow-up materials. Do take a look and see if this could help you keep going. Thanks for reading!

Nathan

Magic Numbers

Daily Post

Some magic numbers can help stir up your confidence for meeting your examiners.

  • How many papers and books have you read for your PhD?
  • How many days have you showed up to work even if you didn’t feel like it?
  • How many words have you written? (if your answer is the number in your thesis then remember you’ve edited away many more)
  • How many times have you presented your work?
  • How many deep conversations have you had?

The numbers you might put forward for these aren’t magic in a fantastical sense. They can still do something extraordinary.

The effect they produce is to remind you as you prepare for your viva: you are not at the beginning of your research journey. You are dedicated, capable and successful.

Nathan

Ideas Need Work

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“What a good idea!”

It’s very rare that an idea is enough. It takes work to develop, to implement, to unpick, to understand and for it to have an impact.

You will have had many good ideas throughout your PhD. However they’ve made their way into your thesis, they needed effort to come to life. They needed your work to make an impact.

Whatever is in your thesis, it took work to write, work to edit, work to figure out how to express it.

Your work.

There are great ideas that exist because of the work you did. When you go to your viva there’s a lot to talk about. Remember that the reason it’s there is because you took the time and the effort to do it.

Your thesis is proof of your contribution and evidence of your capability as a researcher.

 

PS: today’s post aims at boosting confidence by reflecting on your PhD and the work you did. If you’re looking for more ways to boost your confidence and get ready for the viva then check out Viva Survivors Select 03, The Preparation Issue, which came out yesterday and is available now at this link!

Nathan

Less Than Perfect…

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…but you don’t need perfect to succeed in your PhD or at the viva.

  • You need to have worked to produce research.
  • You need to be a capable researcher.
  • You need to have written a good thesis (and submitted it!).
  • You need prepare for your viva after submission.
  • You need to engage with your examiners and the discussion at the viva.

None of these are trivial but none of them requires perfection.

You don’t need perfection to pass your viva.

Nathan

Skilled

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Compared to the start of your PhD journey, what can you do now that you couldn’t before?

How do you know this for certain? How can you demonstrate this? What are your skills as a capable researcher in your field?

Reflecting and unpicking the answers to these kinds of questions will give you a lot to share with your examiners in the viva.

 

Nathan

More Than Enough

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Thousands of hours of work.

Probably hundreds of papers read.

All the many, many attempts to do practical work related to your research. Depending on your field or discipline that could be experiments, interviews, simulations, observations, conversations, field work, lab work, library work and office work.

And then all the time spent writing, reading, re-drafting, editing, proofreading, spell-checking, re-writing again and again and finally feeling ready to submit.

(or at least able to submit!)

Throw in some viva preparations and you have done more than enough and then some more to be ready for your viva.

If you’re not ready for the challenge then who is?

Nathan

The Next Time

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Frame your viva as the next challenge of your PhD.

It might even be the last challenge of your PhD. It’s certainly not the first. You’ve overcome many others to get this far.

Remind yourself of the challenges that you’ve passed. What made them difficult? What did you do to get past them? Exploring a difficult situation might initially remind you of stress but steer yourself to focus on the positives: look for evidence of your talent and effort to help drive a growing confidence.

While your viva could be last challenge of your PhD it won’t be your last challenge ever. As you finish your PhD journey consider what you’re taking with you. What can you apply from your PhD to all of your future challenges? How much better will you be for this process?

 

PS: if you’re looking for help as you get ready for this challenge then check out Viva Survivor, my upcoming live webinar on Wednesday 25th June. I have delivered this session to PhD candidates all around the UK at the request of doctoral colleges, but this is only the third time I’ve opened up registration. Viva Survivor is a 3-hour live webinar, you receive a catch-up recording and follow-up materials all about the viva, viva prep and getting ready. Do take a look and see if it could help you! 

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