Daily viva help for PhDs
You submit your thesis, you have your viva and in between these two events is the bridge of preparation.
Viva prep bridges the gap between one challenge and another, but the gap is not that great and the bridge is not so difficult to build. A little effort spread out over a few weeks can be enough to ensure that you get from submission to the viva with no problems.
Maybe you can leap the gap, but why leave it to chance?
If you figured out how to get to submission then you can figure out how to succeed in the viva.
If you did all the work and wrote it up in your thesis then you can discuss it with your examiners for a few hours.
If you spent three (or more) years doing the research then you can talk for three hours (or less) about what it all means and how you did it.
Beyond nerves, beyond expectations, beyond the details of your research and your story, this is what it all comes down to. We can find lots of ways to look at the situation but it’s quite simple.
If you did the work, then you’re good. If you’re good then you can pass the viva.
You could focus on being perfect for your viva, but you’ll end up disappointed by the unattainable nature of your goal.
Or you could focus on being prepared for your viva, plan what needs doing and take practical steps to getting things done.
You could focus on not knowing what exactly your examiners will ask you, in which case you’ll probably be worried in advance of meeting them.
Or you could focus on rehearsing for the viva so that you’re confident about engaging with whatever questions are asked.
You could focus on your examiners and their lengthy careers, reams of publications and status at the viva – but you’ll probably feel bad doing so.
Or you could focus on your PhD journey: the effort you’ve put in, the success and progress you’ve made and the personal development you can see over the last few years.
Despite the title of this post you don’t need to have a singular focus for your viva and your preparation. You get to decide what you give your attention to in the weeks leading up to it.
Where will you put your focus?
Are you nervous about your viva or nervous about the upcoming change?
Your viva, and your success at it, aren’t a leap of faith. You did the work, you did the prep, you can learn about the process. You don’t need to hope that it all goes well. You can be reasonably certain that things are going to work out.
And yet you are at the edge of something.
The edge of your PhD before you step out and do something different. The boundary line between here and there. It could be very similar if you’re continuing in academia or a great change if you’re moving to another field or industry – but it will still be different.
Are you nervous about your viva or nervous about the upcoming change?
It helps to know because then you can do something.
At the viva you have to engage with the questions and comments of your examiners. You have to be a good participant in the discussion that rises from your thesis, the questions and what unfolds naturally.
That’s it.
You don’t have to be extra-smart or super-relaxed. They’re not looking for you to take on a persona. You don’t have to have an answer for everything or speak in a certain way.
Your examiners want to hear what you think and see what you know. Your role in the viva is to respond. You don’t have to be anything you’re not.
Personal development is sometimes seen as a box-ticking exercise during a PhD: perhaps a form or report that has to be filled in every now and then. That’s a shame, because I think personal development is what the PhD is all about. A PhD is not just a piece of paper or a couple of extra letters around your name. It stands for something. It represents the change you’ve made in yourself.
Reflecting on that before the viva helps you. You don’t want to stand on a chair and boast of your talent and knowledge, but you do want to sit there and be confident. Reflect on your journey. Reflect on the change in yourself. Consider how you have grown and developed and use that to build your confidence for the viva – where you can calmly explain and explore what it all means.
You take a PhD one day at a time. Read, write, test, think and do it all again. Day by day you work through the journey.
You take viva prep one task at a time. Read, write, think, talk: each task brings you closer to the viva.
You take the viva one question at a time. Pause, think, respond, then on to the next point. Each question is an opportunity for you to demonstrate something about your research and yourself.
Step by step, each one bringing you closer to success.
Do you remember the first day of your PhD? Do you remember what that was like?
I do! I can vividly remember showing up at my office, being told which of two desks I could commandeer for the next few years and then waiting and wondering what I should do next. I knew my supervisor already, but knew that I wasn’t due to see him for several days. I knew, kind-of, what area I was going to be working in.
So I started reading my Master’s dissertation. I had carried that into university with me that day, in my bag, proof for myself that I was meant to be there. As I worked through the pages of a short book I hadn’t read in over a year I found typo after typo. Clunky line after clunky line. I picked up a red pen and started amending my previous work in the margins.
And I felt bad.
Foolish. Naive even. What was I doing here? What was I going to be doing…
…for the next three and a half years?!
I had no idea.
And then Shaine asked me if I wanted to go for a cup of tea as it was eleven o’clock and that’s what happened at eleven in the maths department. For the rest of that day, and the rest of that week – and the rest of the month – I was slowly introduced to the rhythms of life in the maths department.
Meeting by meeting, I figured out what I needed to do to get started. Chat by chat, I started to understand what being a PhD maths researcher meant.
One thing stood out to me: research takes time. It takes work over a long period of time. You might have breakthroughs or periods of intense activity, but it all takes time.
From small beginnings you must have come a long way over the course of your PhD. Do you remember your first day? Your first week or month? Can you compare and contrast that to where you are now?
I imagine if you’re reading this that your viva is some time in the near future. At the very least you can have a good idea of when it might be. Look back to the beginning of your PhD journey and realise: you have come a long way.
You’ve invested the time and the work to become better, to build your research and develop yourself. Remember and realise that you must be good by this stage of your journey; you might not be at the end, not yet, but you have made a lot of progress and found a lot of success since your beginning.
At submission, a PhD candidate won’t typically know when their viva is going to be. There’s a period when they’ll wait to find out the date and time for their viva. In the UK it’s common for the viva to be anywhere from six weeks to three months after thesis submission.
A candidate might feel pressure to do something just after submission – from nerves, wondering or hoping – but there’s generally not a great need to start preparing immediately. Viva prep is a different kind of work to what one does to get a thesis finished. The wait after submission can be useful as a break or gear change – a boundary between submission and prep.
Perhaps all you need just after submission is to take a moment. Deep breath. Make a few notes. What will you do for your prep? How will you do it? Sketch a simple plan. Then put it into action when you know your viva date.
After submission, generally, you can relax a little. The hardest work is done. You could be busy – it’s unlikely that your PhD is your only responsibility in life – but at least, for a short time, maybe you can put your research to one side and do something to help yourself rest.
A long time ago I would regularly help to deliver residential learning programmes for researchers. Two or three days at an isolated retreat centre, long hours, creative project work, sharing ideas and experiences and thinking about what it all meant. I loved it.
The course director had a good way to close each experiential learning programme. We would all sit down, two or three staff and maybe a dozen or so postgraduate researchers and talk about what the programme had meant. Before the end, we would go around in a circle and just say anything we needed to in order to finish.
This might be something that had stood out. Something we were thankful for. In some cases something that was bothering someone. Something that had been a surprise. Something that had been learned.
And when each person had said their piece they would finish simply with, “I’m done.”
I’ve been reminiscing a little lately and thinking about the end of my PhD. Looking back I do think I could have finished things off better. After my viva I was so focussed on getting my corrections complete and my thesis finished. Then I was wondering what I would do next. Before I knew it I had to pack my desk and office space up, move things out and start something new.
I don’t wish I had had more time, but I do wish I had used my time differently. After my corrections I wish I had spent a little more time on sorting things out. On deciding what I would and wouldn’t be taking home with me. I kept boxes of notes and papers for years before realising I was never going to do anything with them.
And I particularly wish I had taken more time to thank people who had helped me.
My encouragement for you: do what I didn’t. Take a little time after your viva to make sure you finish in a good way. You will be busy. You will have 101 things to do. Still, take a little time to decide carefully on what you do and don’t need for the future. Take a little time to thank people before you move on to the next thing you’ll do.
OK. I’m done.