Daily viva help for PhDs
Candidates are always concerned about viva length, worried that theirs will be long – or too long, however that might be defined.
Remember: the longest viva will be shorter than the longest work day of your PhD. It has to be.
As challenging as your viva could be, it can’t be a greater challenge or require more of you than you have already given on your PhD journey.
Ugh.
The most common response to thinking about thesis corrections.
Of course, any kind of corrections – minor or major – are unwanted, but they’re not bad in themselves. Examiners require corrections for lots of reasons: typos, clarity or because they’re just needed to help the thesis. Corrections are required for good reasons and to help a thesis be the best it can be.
And still: ugh.
You don’t want them, but you’re probably going to get them as a result of your viva. When you have a list from your examiners, break it down; figure out a plan of action and get them done.
Receiving thesis corrections? Ugh.
Passing your viva? Yay!
It helps to check a few final things before your viva.
Do you have your thesis?
Do you have a notebook and pen?
Do you have something to drink?
Do you have a few weeks of prep in your recent history?
Do you have everything else you need for the venue for your viva, whether that’s a seminar room or your home?
Do you have years of effort, experience and success bound up in your PhD journey?
If you can answer yes to all of these then you’re in good shape for meeting your examiners!
You can’t know what the first question in your viva be will be until it’s asked.
You can’t know how long your viva will be until your examiners say, “OK, we’re done!”
You can’t know how you will respond to a tricky question until you experience it.
You can’t know in advance just what you’ll need to correct after the viva.
There’s a lot you can’t know before you get to the viva and experience it. That’s just the way it is.
But you can know that you’ve done enough to get you there. You know you’ve done enough to succeed. You know who your examiners are in advance, and can know all about their research, if that helps. You can know what to expect from the viva by reading regulations and listening to stories of viva experiences.
When you stop and think, there’s a lot you can know before you get to your viva.
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.
I publish a blog post about the viva every day. To be sure that I meet that promise I write and polish posts far in advance. I like to make sure that I have several weeks completed at any time, acting as a sort of buffer, just in case something happens.
Over the past few weeks I’ve been very happy to have that buffer: on September 21st I tested positive for COVID for the first time. My case was mild, only two days of really feeling ill, then a long time of feeling drained after that. I was really glad to have my buffer of finished posts to give myself time off to recover. I didn’t worry that I was falling short of my goals.
As I write this though I have only a few days left and so really do have to get writing again!
Buffers are helpful in lots of ways and have lots of names. It could be a savings fund for emergencies, a pile of good books waiting to be read or a freezer full of home-cooked meals.
Practice and experience can be a kind of buffer too, building you up to be ready for future challenges. Early in my post-PhD life, a friend shared with me the value of regular practice: “Nathan, it gives you talent to burn.”
By the time you get to your viva you have invested a lot in your talent. You have a dragon’s hoard of knowledge, skill, ability and more. You don’t need to be concerned that you will fall short at the viva. You have a lot in your buffer – from years of experience – that you can bring to those few hours.
What can you do now that you couldn’t at the start of your PhD?
What skills have you developed that you didn’t have when you began?
What do you now know that you didn’t when you started your research?
What have you created, in your thesis, that didn’t exist when you started your PhD?
Before your viva, reflect on how you’ve changed and how you’ve changed things. You’ve done so much – more than enough to find success at your viva.
In preparation for the viva you can reflect on possible questions, talk with friends or have a mock viva – but don’t forget that you’re not the only one in the spotlight on the big day!
Your thesis is centre-stage with you. Your examiners have read it cover to cover, so you’d best do the same as well. Your examiners will be thinking about it a lot, so it helps if you do too. They’ll be considering it carefully so take some time to do likewise.
Being in the spotlight, for you or your thesis, might not always feel great – but the only way to get around that feeling is to spend more time in the spotlight. More time rehearsing, more time reading and reflecting.
For all the nerves you might feel, despite any knocks to confidence or worries about research, it’s worth remembering that if you are headed towards your viva date you are precisely where you’re meant to be.
You did the work. You learned. You grew. You got better. Your thesis is proof of that. It’s not perfect, and neither are you, but by now both of you are good enough to meet the standard.
If you don’t feel that, you’re the only one who can change that feeling. Find out more about the viva perhaps, work to boost your confidence, do the necessary work to get ready – and remember that this is where you’re meant to be.
Right here, right now, on track to succeeding in your viva.
Look back over the progress of your PhD journey. Your progress.
Realise that there is something new that now exists – and the only reason it does is because you made it happen.
Prepare for your viva carefully, invest time to make sure you are ready and confident.
Listen, think and respond to your examiners; make the most of your viva.
And when all of that is done, take a moment to think about what you take with you beyond your PhD. When it is finished it’s not the end for you and who you are now.