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Tag: the PhD journey

Nathan

The Final Hours

Daily Post

A full-time PhD could take about a thousand days from when you start work on your research to when you submit your thesis.

Getting ready for your viva is a modest chunk of work that could take twenty or thirty hours spread out over two to four weeks.

The viva itself might go by so fast that you’ll blink and miss it! Two, three, four hours? Maybe less, certainly not much more even for a “long” viva.

 

Thousands and thousands of hours of work to get to submission.

Twenty or thirty more to get ready.

Two or three to finally get the job done.

Those final hours matter, but rather than stress about what will, won’t or might happen in those few hours, it’s probably better to focus on the work you will have done in the thousands of hours before then.

Nathan

It’s Never Just Luck

Daily Post, Sabbatical

“Luck” during a PhD can only come from your working to be in a good space to begin with.

“Luck” with a result or an idea or the final state of your thesis is the result of work, not simple good fortune.

“Luck” in the viva’s outcome denies all you’ve done.

Don’t be so modest. Don’t downplay what you did, and what you can do. Yes, you may have been fortunate, but you still had to work for that opportunity or outcome!

 

Viva Survivors Summer Sabbatical: I’m taking July, August and September off from new writing to concentrate on other creative projects, so will be sharing a post from the archives every day throughout those months. Today’s post was originally published on July 7th 2020.

Nathan

The Knack

Daily Post, Sabbatical

My dad passed away quite suddenly when I was 17. I first shared this post on what would have been his 70th birthday. He’s been on my mind a lot lately.

When I was little my dad was often self-employed. He had been made redundant from his job when I and my sisters were quite small. For most of our childhood he had a stall at markets around the North West and in Scotland. I remember bagging biscuits at our dining table from huge boxes. I remember bundling tea towels and dusters, taking five and folding them a certain way, throwing a rubber band around them to hold bundles together. Seriously, I remember those afternoons quite fondly.

In the summer holidays my dad would let me help with various games he ran at fairs and carnivals. My favourite game was one where you had to throw a small wooden ball into a metal bucket. The bucket was inside a wooden frame, painted to look like a clown’s mouth; you just stood at a distance and tried to throw the ball in. This was the 1980s, so it was only 20p for three balls, and the spectacular prize was a coconut!

I remember the call still, “Ball in the bucket to win, just a ball in the bucket to win!”

It was not easy. For a start, the bucket was pitched at an angle that encouraged the ball to rebound. The balls were ping-pong sized and dense: if you threw too hard they would bounce right back out. If you threw too soft, you might not get the ball in the target at all. Overarm shots always span out.

“Ball in the bucket to win, just a ball in the bucket to win!” he would call out and throw the ball and DING! there it would land. Most people paying their 20p had never tried it before, never thought of playing anything like this. It was just something fun to spend 20p on.

There was no great trick, there was no con involved: it was just really hard. My dad had the knack though. He’d mastered this really hard skill. He’d found a challenge he knew was tricky, but spent a lot of time practising. He could throw the ball just so and have it land in the bucket every time. He made it look effortless, but that’s because the effort had been put in over years.

I tried and tried, failing many times, but still remember the first time I got my own DING! I kept going, and while I wasn’t as precise as my dad, I started to reach a point where I could get the ball in the bucket consistently. Practice, experience, nothing more.

Back to the present: your PhD is hard, but there are aspects of it you make seem effortless to others. That’s not to say it’s not still hard to you, but you can do it. You’re practised, you’re experienced. At the viva you can answer a question and engage with a discussion nearly every time because you’ve done so much during your PhD.

After all this time you have the knack.

 

Viva Survivors Summer Sabbatical: I’m taking July, August and September off from new writing to concentrate on other creative projects, so will be sharing a post from the archives every day throughout those months. Today’s post was originally published on February 28th 2018.

Nathan

The End of the Line

Daily Post, Sabbatical

The town I live in is the last stop on our local train service. It’s been five months since I’ve travelled by train for work – or at all, come to think of it – but whenever I was returning from a trip, there was something really nice about knowing that I was a few stops away from the end of the line. Almost home.

A few more stops and I’m there. Down the road, right at the traffic lights, up the hill a little and two more corners and home.

The viva is a little like the end of the line. It’s the final station; maybe your research train arrives after what feels like a very long journey. Perhaps you’ve had to make several changes along the way. Hopefully there haven’t been too many delays – especially in the final stages. I imagine if your submission or viva is coming soon, given this year, then the end of your PhD trip has been tough.

And now you’re almost there. Almost. Because there’s still a short walk through corrections, past streets of necessary admin and paperwork, before finally you’ve reached your real destination.

Remember that your viva might be the end of the line, but you’ve a little way to go yet.

 

Viva Survivors Summer Sabbatical: I’m taking July, August and September off from new writing to concentrate on other creative projects, so will be sharing a post from the archives every day throughout those months. Today’s post was originally published on August 18th 2020.

Nathan

Hard Limits

Daily Post, Sabbatical

There are limits for everything related to your PhD journey.

There is a finite number of hours you could have spent on your PhD.

You can’t read everything that could be relevant. You would never have time to work towards your research in a practical way.

You can’t do everything that might advance your research goals. You would never have time to write up your thesis.

You have to make choices. You have to accept the limits, like them or not. You have to work within them, whether you want to or not. And, of course, the last eighteen months will have brought more limits.

Rather than rail against the limits and the maybes and the could-have-dones, reflect on how the limits of your PhD have had an impact. Explore the difficult limitations as you might have to talk about them in the viva. Remember that despite the limits – or in some cases, because of the limits – you have made it through.

 

Viva Survivors Summer Sabbatical: I’m taking July, August and September off from new writing to concentrate on other creative projects, so will be sharing a post from the archives every day throughout those months. Today’s post was originally published on September 20th 2021.

Nathan

Generalisations

Daily Post, Sabbatical

Be careful when you come to generalise your probable viva experience.

Regulations, viva stories and hearing about vivas from your department all have a role to play in building up your personal expectations. Be sure you have enough suitable information to build your expectations.

This idea also counts for when you think about your work.

You can’t generalise past experiences and responses to your research directly to your viva. Seminars, and past discussions don’t dictate what your examiners might make of your research. If you’ve had tricky meetings or difficult conference talks in the past that doesn’t have to define your future viva experience.

 

Read regulations, ask people you can trust and build up a good picture of what to expect. Reflect on your journey and remember that you have grown throughout the process.

You are capable, you are good enough and you must have made something by now.

That’s a reasonable generalisation to make about someone close to their viva.

 

Viva Survivors Summer Sabbatical: I’m taking July, August and September off from new writing to concentrate on other creative projects, so will be sharing a post from the archives every day throughout those months. Today’s post was originally published on November 11th 2023.

Nathan

To Be Continued

Daily Post, Sabbatical

After submission you need to prepare for your viva – but you also need to prepare for life after the PhD.

For some that could be simple (or welcome!) but for all candidates, particularly those who have attachments to physical spaces, people or even access to resources, consider:

  • What do you need to take home with you? When will you do it? How will you do it?
  • Who do you need and want to stay in contact with? How will you do that?
  • What will you do when you don’t have access to library resources, software or other things that disappear when you are no longer a student? If you’re typically contactable by a university email address, how will you tell people where to find or reach you?

If you’re not sure if you plan to continue with research in some way, then really think about what you need to take home. Do you need all your notes? Do you need all of your papers?

Whatever you need to do, remember that life goes on. You will continue to have opportunities to show your ability and knowledge. Reflect on what you are taking away from your PhD journey – and remember that all of that talent and capability is available to you in your viva as well.

 

Viva Survivors Summer Sabbatical: I’m taking July, August and September off from new writing to concentrate on other creative projects, so will be sharing a post from the archives every day throughout those months. Today’s post was originally published on February 11th 2023.

Nathan

Find Your Way

Daily Post, Sabbatical

That’s the key to getting viva preparations done. There are core tasks and activities, but no blueprint for when, where and how you do them.

You need to read your thesis. Do you do that in an afternoon? For an hour per day? A chapter per night? You have to find your way to read your thesis.

You also need to annotate your thesis, make summaries, check papers, rehearse and build confidence. How do you organise yourself to do all of that?

You can go with the flow. You can make a plan. You can do it all in a week (probably not ideal!) or plot it out over a month or so. You have to find your way.

Much like the rest of your PhD journey, there are lots of ideas and guidelines, good advice and practical tips. Then you have to apply them to your situation, your circumstances.

You have to find your way.

 

Viva Survivors Summer Sabbatical: I’m taking July, August and September off from new writing to concentrate on other creative projects, so will be sharing a post from the archives every day throughout those months. Today’s post was originally published on August 20th 2023.

Nathan

Making A Difference

Daily Post, Sabbatical

It’s what you must have done over the course of your PhD.

Your research and thesis must have a significant, original contribution – or, more simply, you must have made a difference. Something now exists that didn’t before and that something matters.

Remember that and be ready to talk about it in your viva.

 

Viva Survivors Summer Sabbatical: I’m taking July, August and September off from new writing to concentrate on other creative projects, so will be sharing a post from the archives every day throughout those months. Today’s post was originally published on October 11th 2022.

Nathan

Sooner Than You Think

Daily Post, Sabbatical

Your viva prep won’t take all that long. A pause on the day won’t be more than a few seconds. Whatever length you anticipate for your viva it will be completed very quickly – especially if you compare it to the rest of your PhD.

All of it will be finished much sooner than you think; prepare for it all carefully and you can enjoy it in the brief moments you’re engaged with the viva process.

 

Viva Survivors Summer Sabbatical: I’m taking July, August and September off from new writing to concentrate on other creative projects, so will be sharing a post from the archives every day throughout those months. Today’s post was originally published on July 3rd 2021.

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