Daily viva help for PhDs
The viva is no more than a discussion about your research and thesis.
The viva is no less than a final, great challenge at the end of your PhD.
Your examiners want no more than to have a conversation with you.
Your examiners need no less from you than to see a capable, knowledgeable researcher.
Your viva needs no more from you than to show up and be good, determined and thoughtful.
You wouldn’t give it any less than your best – and that’s enough.
The viva is not the only time in your life when you will have a big, important conversation about your PhD. It might be the final time though and it will be your only viva. As you prepare, take some time to think about how you can get as much as you need to from the experience.
You might not be able to direct your viva but there are aspects you might be able to influence. If you have questions, make a list and take them with you so you remember to ask them.
Pause, think, respond.
That’s how you engage with a question or comment in the viva. You pause in order to think and you think in order to respond well.
Pause and Think: Are your examiners clear with their question? Do you know what they are asking or needing you to speak about?
Think and Respond: Be calm and clear as you respond. Are you responding to their question or comment directly? If not, how are you reframing that?
If you can’t respond directly to a question then you need to think about how you can still engage with it. “I don’t know” and exploring why you don’t know is a good response. Trying to steer away and talk about something different is a bad response.
Pause and think to fully understand how a question or comment is framed. Think then frame your response well so your examiners can clearly understand you.
There are two steps to removing fear or worry about unknown aspects of the viva.
The first step is to try to accept that your viva will be an unknown in some ways until you experience it. You won’t know how long it is, you won’t know what questions will be asked and you don’t know how you’ll feel until you’re there.
The second step is to build up a reasonable sense of the general expectations before you get to the viva. Read your university’s regulations, learn about other viva experiences and ask your colleagues about their recent experiences. These different aspects can fill in many of the blanks you might have.
You can have a good sense of what happens at vivas. This is a massive help both practically and emotionally, even if you can’t know the exact details of your viva until it’s your time.
At your viva you’re expected to explore your significant original contribution with your examiners, tell them about your PhD journey and demonstrate for them that you are a capable researcher.
Which is simple to understand but sometimes difficult to do!
You have to show your examiners what you know. Show them what you understand. Show them what it means.
Whatever their exact questions are you know the topics they will be interested in. Part of the challenge is being ready and able to respond well, whatever the question might be.
By the viva, you’ve done the work. You’ve done the prep. Take a deep breath and show them what you know.
Your viva is your viva. It’s what you’re supposed to be doing.
It’s your very own Goldilocks exam: just right for what you’ve done, how long you’ve been doing it, what you’ve written and who you’ve become.
The questions might be unknown before you hear them but they are all for you; they’re centred on your research, your experience, your thesis and you as a researcher.
It’s your viva, it’s for no-one else.
Being nervous is normal but you are exactly where you’re meant to be when you have your viva.
I meet the occasional PhD candidate who is excited. That’s a good thing and I wonder sometimes about how to encourage excitement more generally. It would be nice to go to the viva with eagerness.
But expecting your viva to be the best conversation, matching all your hopes and dreams is a sure way to find disappointment.
You don’t know exactly what your examiners will ask. If they ask something you don’t want, that will diminish how you feel. If they don’t ask something you really want then that will be disappointing too! You don’t know how long your viva will be, so hoping for either a short chat or a long and in-depth discussion is just that: a hope that your viva will go a certain way.
Hoping that your viva will be the best exam ever leaves things out of your control. Instead of hoping for the best, do your best to be prepared, to find out what you can reasonably expect, to be ready to engage with your examiners whatever they ask and however long your viva happens to be.
You can’t expect your viva to be the best thing ever. But you can work towards enjoying it as an experience – and you can reasonably expect that you will succeed.
Viva experiences and stories give rise to consistent patterns of expectation. There are always exceptions though. Regulations can be slightly different, the culture of a department could ask for a different format or a candidate’s research itself could be outside of what’s typical.
Vivas are often in the two to three hour range, but they can be shorter or longer. Most people get minor corrections but some don’t. It’s always a good idea to take your own refreshments but there are universities which make sure their vivas are catered.
Viva expectations are helpful, but always look for whether or not any exceptions might apply to your situation. Talk with friends, colleagues and your supervisor in the first instance so that you can build certainty. Whatever the possible exception, remember that the purpose of the viva is always the same. Remember what you and your examiners are there to do.
When I’m asked about what a PhD candidate needs to take to their viva I typically respond by talking about their thesis, something to make notes with and something to drink.
The thesis is a valuable resource for the viva. A candidate might not make notes on a minute-by-minute basis in the viva but it is helpful to have the means to make them when they’re needed. Universities very rarely provide refreshments for a viva, so I think it’s important to remind candidates to take something to drink!
These are the typical resources needed on viva day, but your specific research and circumstances might need something else for the viva.
Your supervisor and department are the best people to talk to if you’re thinking of taking something else to your viva. They will be helpful at exploring the specific expectations and needs for your viva.
Thesis, notebook, water – anything else?
There’s a chance that you could do something wrong in relation to your viva.
Any of these are possible. So what can you do?
You could rehearse to get more practice at responding to questions and more generally prepare. You could learn about what to expect of the viva process and have a conversation with your supervisors about your examiners. You could take your time to prepare and be ready. You could reflect on your journey to be sure of who you are and what you can do.
All of these steps could help guard against doing the wrong thing.
Realistically though, if you did something wrong, how negative could that be for you?
For all the little things that could go wrong you’re much more likely to be doing the right thing at your viva.