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Tag: the PhD journey

Nathan

It Takes Time

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The PhD, the viva, your prep, the discussion, the decision, coming to terms with what it means to have achieved after you pass…

”It takes time” is a phrase that can be applied to every aspect of everything to do with the viva.

It could be years, minutes or seconds, but there is time involved and a necessary passage of it. There might be pressure at different stages of your PhD journey, but no rush unless you make it that way.

Take your time to do whatever stage you’re at as well as you can.

Nathan

On Worry Tummy

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Worry Tummy – that’s what we call nerves and apprehension in our house.

That’s what my daughter called it. Over time my wife and I took it on as part of the “secret language” of our family – the in-jokes, portmanteaus and phrases that probably don’t make sense outside of our little context.

But worry tummy is hopefully clear enough.

 

Worry tummy is the general feeling of apprehension that bubbles up when an event is imminent and you’re not really sure you feel ready for it.

Perhaps you don’t have a good enough sense of what it will be like and consequently don’t know if you can meet the challenge. Perhaps you know a little but can’t feel sure that you are ready or that you’ll enjoy it.

Often, worry tummy occurs when there is almost no chance of avoiding the situation at all, making it doubly difficult to deal with.

 

I imagine that worry tummy is more common in the very young than people working towards a PhD! If there was one educational event that could cause worry tummy in people past their teens it’s the viva.

The last exam of the final degree. Talked about in hushed tones and rumours. The viva isn’t clear most of the time so how could you know if you are up to the challenge?

By finding out more. By reflecting on your journey. By realising just how good you must be to get this far.

 

It’s not wrong to experience worry tummy at any age – or to feel nervous about your viva.

Whatever you call it, whatever you feel, there’s a reason for that feeling.

And if you don’t like it, you can do something about it.

Nathan

Black Cats, Ladders and Spilled Salt

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The date and other omens of “bad luck” don’t need to weigh too heavily on you ahead of your viva. Success is not due to luck. You don’t need to ward off bad luck by crossing the road to avoid a dark feline or throw salt over your left shoulder if you’re clumsy in the kitchen.

You don’t need a talisman or something lucky in the viva either. You need to have worked hard for years. You need to have learned about what to expect. You need to have prepared.

Typically, those are not too much to expect in advance of a viva.

You don’t need good luck for your viva, but you might need a good story. You might need to think again about how you got this far. You might need to remember what you did and recognise it for the confidence it can inspire.

Nathan

How Else?

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It’s not wrong to be nervous about your viva. Expectations and preparations help, but you won’t know exactly what it’s like until you’re there.

You want to succeed and that makes it a challenge, even if you’ve had conversations like this in the past.

 

You can be nervous, but you can also be ready. How else could you have got to submission and the viva?

You did the work.

You read a lot.

You learned a lot.

You wrote a lot.

You grew and developed and became more than you were when you started your PhD journey.

You know more now than you did at the beginning, not by chance or through osmosis, but through working hard.

You worked hard and that hard work paid off. You wrote your thesis with care, submitted your best effort.

 

You are not lucky. You are dedicated – you are good enough.

How else could you have got this far?

Nathan

One Last Time

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It’s likely that you will have corrections to complete after your viva. You’ll probably still need to discuss your work with your supervisors. And it’s possible that you might want to do more work based on your thesis research, whether that’s as an academic at a university or just for your own private reasons.

And still the viva is most likely that one last time when you will have a chance to sit down and talk with an eager, interested audience about what you’ve been doing for years of work. Not just a part of it, not just a paper or a poster. Hours to talk about everything you’ve done and all that it means.

One last time.

Make the most of it.

Nathan

Fortunately

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No PhD candidate gets to their viva or passes because they are lucky.

When we reduce the situation to the simplest terms, a PhD candidate submits their thesis and succeeds in the viva because they work hard and enough of that hard work pays off.

PhD success is not a lottery. You have to work hard. When you do enough, fortunately you find what you need.

Nathan

The Hardest Part

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Viva preparation is a big part of getting ready. It takes time for a candidate to make sure their thesis is ready and that they feel prepared to sit down and talk with their examiners. Lots of practical tasks and a little planning can make a big difference.

Building up confidence is an important task too. In some ways it’s even more important than the practical tasks that go into prep. It’s not enough to sit down and read your thesis or have a mock viva: you have to feel that you are ready. You have to find your confidence by reflecting on your journey.

While viva prep and confidence building are essential, exploring them often means that we overlook the hardest part of getting ready for the viva – and the one that every candidate has completed.

The hardest part is doing the work of a PhD candidate for years. The hardest part is laying the foundations for study, exploration and development. The hardest part of getting ready for the viva is the thousands of hours of work, invested over hundreds and hundreds of days when you show up.

You need to spend a few weeks getting ready, preparing your thesis and yourself, and reflecting on why you are good enough to succeed in the viva. Don’t forget that the hardest part of your journey to the viva and to success is already behind you.

Nathan

The Other Side

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The viva isn’t the top of the mountain. It’s not the hardest challenge, the last thing to do or the most difficult conversation. The stakes aren’t raised to such a height that you are risking everything when you talk to your examiners.

Prepare for the viva, rehearse, remember what you’ve done to get this far.

You’re not at the top of the mountain: you’re already working your way down the other side. Tread carefully, but with confidence. You’ve done the work and are more than capable of doing what you still need to do.

Nathan

Why Most Candidates Get Corrections

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Because there are typos in their thesis and passages that need editing.

That’s it! That’s all! Enough said!

 

 

 

OK a little more… 🙂

Writing a book is hard. Proofreading is hard. Combining these both in a project with a word count in the tens of thousands means the resulting thesis will likely have mistakes that need correcting.

Some thesis corrections are simple. A missed or misspelled word is obvious when spotted.

Some thesis corrections are subtle. They take patience to see and consideration to correct.

Some thesis corrections are style-choices. Examiners might feel something is needed and usually their requests are followed.

Remember that all thesis corrections are requested with the goal of making the thesis better. Most candidates get asked to complete corrections. Expect that you will too, get them done when you’re asked and then you’re done!

Nathan

You Get To Have A Viva

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It’s worth remembering, when you’ve submitted and you’re working towards your viva day, that it might not have gone this way. Despite the associated nerves and negativity that people attach to the viva, having one is not guaranteed.

You might have decided to stop pursuing a PhD. Circumstances, particularly during the last three years or so, might have made continuing with research impossible. Things might not have worked out with your supervisor, financial pressures could have been too great or your research ideas might have not developed.

But instead you did the work. You solved problems and overcame challenges. Things worked out enough. You submitted your thesis and now it’s not the case that you have to have a viva – you get to have a viva.

It’s work. It’s a challenge. It matters so it might make you nervous. But it’s a really good thing.

You get to have a viva. Remember that.

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