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Tag: the PhD journey

Nathan

Learning & Growing

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It’s not wrong to reflect on what you might do differently if you started your PhD again.

No thesis is perfect. No PhD journey can be completed without encountering problems or making mistakes. The PhD process is one of learning, so it’s natural to complete it and realise you might do things differently.

Some things could be because you realise a choice was made in error. Or perhaps you know that something went wrong. Maybe now, with the benefit of hindsight and greater knowledge, you know you would take another course of action or understand something with more clarity.

Considering what you would do differently is a great way to remind yourself that you’ve learned more than you knew at the start of the PhD. Don’t think about differences as a way to give yourself more problems and doubts. Reflect and see that your talent, knowledge and skills have grown.

Nathan

Your Why

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Whether you feel good or bad as you finish your PhD journey, remember why you did this in the first place. What was your reason for starting a PhD? Why did you want to do it?

Your why can help you renew your efforts if you’re tired or silence doubts when you think you’ve not quite done enough. Your why can motivate and reassure. Your why could have changed over time, so reflect on that too: why did you start a PhD and why did you keep going?

There are lots of possible whys: whatever it is, yours is good enough. Come back to it if you need a boost or a push to get finished.

You’re almost there. Keep going.

Nathan

Happy

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Happy to be there?

Happy to be discussing your research with your examiners?

Happy that your viva day has arrived?

Happy that it will all be done soon?

Happy to have made a contribution?

Happy to be starting something else soon?

The viva could means lots of different things. Can you be happy in some way that you’ve arrived at this almost-end to your PhD journey?

Nathan

The Sum Of The Parts

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The phrase “significant, original contribution” is probably the best combination of words that we have to describe the something that a PhD candidate needs in their thesis to demonstrate that they are a good researcher and that they have done good work.

It’s also a worrying concept to grapple with for many candidates.

A “significant, original contribution” sounds like a singular result. It sounds like one fantastical theory, a number, a paragraph that shares knowledge with incredible impact.

Many candidates imagine something like this and worry because they don’t have one contribution, they have lots of little things. They have a collection of papers. They have a collection of projects (that was my thesis). They have many small results presented in one thesis, but perhaps no unifying conclusion.

Of course, as the title for this post suggests, these all add up to make a contribution.

The chapters, sections, results, papers, ideas, developments, conclusions – all together these make the contribution. “Significant” is a worrying word to candidates in my experience, because they try to imagine the number that goes with that. How many pages? How many papers? How big a bibliography? How much of the thing that I do?

This sum doesn’t have a number for an answer. Taking all the parts together, you have to judge for yourself: is this enough?

Ask your friends and colleagues: is this enough? Ask your supervisors: is this enough?

Is this enough?

And why?

Once you feel sure for yourself then you can move past a “significant, original contribution”. The sum of everything you present, everything you’ve done, all shows a real contribution to knowledge – and it shows a capable person who has created that contribution.

Nathan

Just OK

Daily Post

Be aware that there’s a chance your viva won’t be amazing.

It’s likely it won’t be terrible or exhausting. It’s highly improbable for your examiners to be unprofessional or unfair. And it’s certainly true that the viva can be an enjoyable experience.

But it could be just OK.

Fine.

So-so.

Meh.

I’m glad that lots of candidates enjoy their viva. I’m sad that some people, like me, feel their viva is an anticlimax. I don’t know what can be done to set expectations for the emotional experience that candidates might have.

At the very least consider it as a possibility.

There’s a good chance you will enjoy your viva! It’s unlikely you will hate it. But it could end up just OK.

Still, you’ll have passed. Then you can move on to the next step of your journey.

Nathan

Who Did It?

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I often encourage PhD candidates to reflect on Why, How and What:

  • Why did you do this research?
  • How did you do it?
  • What was the result?

These three questions are useful for breaking down the thesis contribution. They could be a good way to build up a summary. They’re a nice reminder that your thesis has something valuable.

But don’t forget Who:

  • Who did it?
  • Who kept going?
  • Who got more capable, more knowledgeable?

Your thesis has a significant original contribution. It’s only there because you did the work. You persisted, despite any pressures or setback – you made it happen. You became more talented along the way.

So: who is going to pass their viva?

Nathan

5 Random Posts

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Last year, with the help of a plugin, I made a little link that diverts to a random post every time it is used: www.viva-survivors.com/randpost/

I use it to find old posts to read. I look for little thoughts I might want to explore more. Occasionally I remind myself, “Oh wow, I wrote that! That’s pretty bad/good/silly/weird…”

Here are five random posts and five thoughts from them that seemed worth sharing:

  1. You Can’t Do Everything: “You can’t do everything [to get ready], but everything you do will help you.”
  2. Riddles: “…if a question in the viva might feel like a riddle or a challenge, remember it might not have a single right answer. In some cases it will have only the best response you can give.”
  3. Blinkered: “Don’t expect your examiners to know more than you, but don’t expect that you know every possible question or idea either.”
  4. “How Can I Help?”: “You don’t need to have had your viva to help someone else with theirs.”
  5. No Rush: “There’s no rush necessary in your viva preparations or in the viva UNLESS you make it that way.”

Each of those posts is more than a one-liner. And there’s 1600 more to find by using the random post link: www.viva-survivors.com/randpost/

Maybe you’ll find just what you’re looking for.

Nathan

When Are You Ready?

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You can’t be ready for your viva until you’ve at least submitted your thesis.

You need to have spent some time doing various viva prep tasks.

To be ready you have to feel some amount of confidence for the viva.

To be ready you have to have some idea of what to expect.

Ready isn’t an irreversible state: you have to maintain it.

Once you do feel ready, consider: what could you do to hold that feeling? What can you do to keep feeling confident?

Nathan

Hard Limits

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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.

Nathan

Again & Again

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I’ve been playing the video game Hades every day for about a month and I don’t see myself stopping any time soon.

The son of the Greek god Hades fights to escape the Underworld. It’s fantastic, stylish, polished and deep. It is an absolute delight to play and experience – even though there’s a steep learning curve, lots of challenges and skillsets to juggle and bring together. Again and again you die and return to the start…

…and in a weird way it makes me think of my PhD journey!

 

Again and again I had to rise to the challenge. Sometimes I knew what I had to do. Sometimes I found what I was looking for. Sometimes I could just do what I needed to.

But again and again I faced setbacks. Things didn’t work. References couldn’t be found. Answers were not forthcoming.

Again and again I started again. I would have to go back to the beginning of a problem and try to look at it from a new perspective. I would need to find a new way forward.

Again and again I grew. I became more skilled, more knowledgeable, more sure that I could take on new challenges.

And again and again I was surprised, delighted and frustrated as I continued on my journey.

 

All of your agains – the repeated steps, the start-overs, the learning, the experience, the knowledge-building – all of the frustration and growth and joy – all of this is what you take with you to the viva.

No more agains. The final step, more or less, and the talent, work and time you’ve invested helps you through.

Done, finally… Until you take on your next challenge.

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