Daily viva help for PhDs
Remember that your viva comes as a response to the work you’ve done. There may be regulations for thesis examination and ideas for what makes a “good viva” but yours is just for you, based on the thesis you’ve written.
Because it follows your work it’s a challenge that only you can rise to – and because it follows your work it is a challenge that you will rise to.
Don’t trust that you’ll be lucky and that somehow things will work out at your viva.
Instead, trust in the process. Vivas are governed by regulations, expectations and the culture of your department.
Trust in your examiners. They’ll do their homework, be well-prepared and be offering you the chance to engage with relevant and realistic questions about your thesis and more.
Trust in your work. You’ve invested years in it, after all, both in your research and your thesis. Trust that after all of that effort, it’s enough.
Trust in yourself. You’ve invested years in you too! Trust that after all of your work and determination, you are enough.
You are enough. You don’t need to be lucky.
In two days my teeny-tiny Kickstarter campaign to make a helpful little guide for the viva will finish. The campaign has been a lovely success and I’ll soon be producing a print run for 101 Steps To A Great Viva.
But I don’t know how many copies to make yet as there’s still time for a few more backers!
Maybe someone like you? If you’re looking for a clear, action-focussed guide to what you can do to get ready for your viva, then 101 Steps To A Great Viva could be what you’re looking for. It’s simple, direct and will be available very soon to send through the post.
I’ve been happily writing updates every few days over the last week as I describe the guide, the editing process and a neat little extra that will be included for backers if we reach a stretch goal I’ve set. Fundraising finishes on Wednesday 31st May at 5pm, in just over two days. I’ll have copies available to buy afterwards, but the Kickstarter is the only place you can get the additional rewards I’m offering. Backing the campaign and pledging support ensures you will get a copy of the guide – and you’ll be one of the first to get one too!
Please, if you’ve not looked already, take a look, tell a friend, share the campaign with others or support the campaign if you can. I’m thrilled to have made 101 Steps To A Great Viva and can’t wait to send it out into the world.
I hope I’ll send a copy to you.
Thank you for reading!
Nathan
Your PhD success is hundreds of days of work – thousands and thousands of hours of learning, doing, achieving, growing, making, failing(!) and persisting. Your PhD is not defined by a few hours of discussion with two examiners. You need your viva to go well, but you need all of the work that comes before to get you there.
Your earlier success, all those years, helps you through the viva too.
It’s not just one day that determines everything. It’s one day when you get to demonstrate who you are, what you’ve done and what you can do.
I start most working days with “three easy wins” for my productivity: before I get stuck into the harder stuff and deeper thinking I do three things that help me feel like I’m already making progress.
A walk is often top of my list. I’ll check accounts and spreadsheets to see if I need to do anything. And I’ll sort out newsletters and spam that have arrived overnight.
Nothing strenuous: easy or simple tasks that help clear my head, free up thinking space or help me to move on to tougher work.
What could you do to give yourself three easy wins when you sit down to prepare for your viva? Here are some ideas!
There are big tasks that you can do to help you get ready for your viva. There are lots of little things you can do too that will add to how you feel. Start small each time and do things that build you up for your viva.
PS: Number 11 on the list could be “Check out and back 101 Steps To A Great Viva on Kickstarter!“
Idea by idea. Paper by paper. Day by day.
There’s no other way to put your PhD together than keep showing up, good days and bad, and work your way through. Learn more, do more, achieve more and find your way to becoming a good and capable researcher in your field.
When the time comes, this approach is what helps you prepare for your viva too. There’s no single activity that flips the switch to “ready”.
And, really, it’s how you get through the viva too.
Question by question.
Chapter by chapter.
Response by response.
Minute by minute you demonstrate the capable researcher that you became bit by bit.
And that’s enough.
PS: I almost called this post “Step By Step” but thought that was too close to the title of 101 Steps To A Great Viva, still going strong on Kickstarter! The overall idea is still the same: it’s not one thing that makes you ready, but enough steps in the right direction can make a real difference. Check out 101 Steps To A Great Viva now and you can pledge support to be one of the first with a copy of the guide.
Your thesis is proof that you did the work. It’s the best summary you are able to make of years of research you’ve done.
Your thesis is a talisman to hold on to. It’s one more thing you can look to for confidence in your capability and knowledge.
Your thesis is a resource to use in the viva. Read it in preparation and annotate it to make it more helpful..
Your thesis is one book, but can mean lots of things.
What’s the most helpful story you can tell yourself about your thesis?
A little exercise that might help with viva prep and getting ready.
Take a sheet of paper and divide it into quarters, giving yourself space to write notes in response to the following questions:
Read through your responses. Turn the page over and write: 5. So what have you learned during your PhD?
Respond to the question on the second page while reflecting on the previous four responses.
You’ll have lots of specific and personal learning from your PhD journey, but your response to the fifth question could be summarised as a lot.
PS: One more question! If you’re looking for more viva help, can you please take a look at and support my Kickstarter campaign, running until 31st May? 101 Steps To A Great Viva is a helpful little guide to getting ready and I’m crowdfunding a print run. Any support or sharing is greatly appreciated 🙂
What are you really good at?
What do you notice you have become particularly skilled at doing over the course of your PhD?
What topics do you know you’re particularly knowledgeable about?
How do you know you’re good? What’s your evidence?
How do you explain to yourself – and others – that you’re good at something?
Reflect and find the words to describe what you do well and how you know you do it well. Recognising that you are capable and knowledgeable is a helpful basis for feeling confident for your viva.
There really isn’t any other way to get to submission and the viva: you must be great at what you do. However, if you’re not feeling great, then reflect and find things you do well or things you know lots about.
If you already know that you’re capable, work to find words to tell yourself a good story about that so you really believe it ahead of your viva.
I’m still quite pleased with the Mini-Vivas Resource I made several years ago. I think it’s a nice little way to get ready for your viva with a friend; it doesn’t require a lot of preparation to use, and gives a little structure to having a conversation about research to help with speaking practice and confidence.
There are 7776 possible combinations of questions you can find by following instructions and rolling dice; here are three to save you a little time, indexed by the dice numbers!
Mini-Viva 61666
Mini-Viva 13551
Mini-Viva 25314
Are these typical of questions you might be asked in your viva? Yes and no!
Yes because these are all the sorts of things that your examiners might want to dig into. No because your examiners will have read your thesis carefully and examined it against what they know about your area of your research and what they know from their own experience.
A mini-viva is different from a real viva, because while a friend may know a little about your research, they won’t have read your thesis to prepare. They’ll be using the mini-viva questions to provide structure and listening to your responses to steer things.
Still, a mini-viva is a little help, a little practice, a little step closer to being ready for your viva.
Well, three little steps in this post – and 7773 more at the Mini-Vivas Resource post!