Daily viva help for PhDs
“How do I stay focussed in the viva?” has the same response as “How do I engage well in the viva?”
You listen.
You pause.
You think.
You check details in your thesis.
You ask questions.
You make notes.
You share the best responses that you can to provide context, information and demonstrate who you are and what you did.
Engaging well keeps your focus. Keeping focus helps you to engage well.
Before your viva you could be nervous about what’s going to happen.
After your viva you’ll maybe struggle to understand how it happened so quickly.
And between those two points you might not notice what’s really happening because you’re so engaged by what’s going on.
Every viva is unique, but expectations show that yours will not be a total unknown.
Expectations provide an outline.
“Vivas are generally like this and not like that.”
Viva expectations shape preparation and build confidence.
The set of expectations you build up are a structure based on regulations and stories.
They build certainty but provide no guarantees.
Expectations matter because they are far better than wondering “What if…?”
And expectations typically show that vivas are nowhere near as terrible or challenging as the vague worries and unverified rumours about what happens.
Read the regulations. Listen to the stories. Ask around.
Find a set of expectations that will help you work towards being ready for your viva.
Every now and then we’ve had trouble with the boiler in our house.
One of the more extreme problems was a time when the temperature of the shower would cycle between pleasant and absolutely-freezing while in use. Over the course of twenty seconds or so a rhythm would play out in the temperature:
And repeat.
It took a few weeks to arrange the repair. During that time it was never certain when or if the problem would recur. Some days the shower was fine. Some days you would get a sudden surprise as the water temperature plummeted. We never knew when it would happen!
For the most part, everything works with vivas. Examiners and candidates have a sense of what is supposed to happen, and then everyone does their part to make that a reality.
But sometimes a question doesn’t produce the response that was expected.
Occasionally an assumption about an idea is wrong.
Or emotions in the event are too much.
All of these could be uncomfortable, even shocking in the moment. Like a suddenly cold shower.
But like a cold shower, if you’re already in that moment, what else can you do but continue? What else can you do but keep going?
If there’s a mismatch of expectations, or a question prompts an odd response, or if you’re feeling overwhelmed then pause. Ask a question. Ask for a break. Ask for help! Read your thesis. Sip some water. Do something.
As best as you can in the situation, keep going.
Cold showers and challenging viva moments. Both can be unexpected. Both can be uncomfortable.
When you’re in that kind of situation, you have no choice but to find a way forward. For the viva, remember that you have knowledge, talent and experience.
You can’t know what your examiners will ask you at your viva.
You can have a good idea of what topics they will be interested in. You can make reasonable guesses. You can expect certain lines of questioning. You can look at past patterns, vague or clear, from what others tell you about their experiences.
And while all that is useful it is still very different from knowing what questions you are going to be asked.
It’s important to prepare for the viva – and necessary your focus doesn’t skew towards pre-empting particular questions. Don’t prepare only for questions you want, questions you expect or questions that you simply have a hunch about.
Prepare for the discussion by engaging in discussion. A mock viva could help set the tone and help you to find the balance between expecting topics and being prepared for questions that arise from what you’ve done.
After submission it’s likely that your thesis will have flaws. It’s possible that your thesis may have problems too. Both of these have the potential to be talked about in the viva and have consequences for corrections afterwards.
Flaws are simple. A flaw is relatively simple to spot through careful reading and obvious with hindsight. It’s the spelling mistake that gets overlooked and corrected, or an alteration to a diagram or table that provides clarity. You might find it or your examiners might; a flaw could be frustrating but it’s not a challenge to fix.
Problems are complicated. A problem might not be obvious at first glance. A problem could need exploring or explaining; it could have a simple solution after conversation removes confusion. The biggest contrast with a flaw is that a flaw is definite: something needs to be changed. That might not be the case with a problem. A problem could exist in the mind of a candidate or examiner – something has been read and interpreted one way when the truth is something different.
Flaws are found and fixed simply. Problems are perceived and pondered on carefully.
Neither flaws nor problems should get in the way of success at the viva. Read your thesis carefully in preparation, make notes if you need to, then be ready to talk in your viva about the amazing work you’ve done, as well as the flaws and problems that need addressing in some way.
Remember that thesis defence doesn’t mean that you need to protect your work from harm.
Remember you’re not in a courtroom with your thesis on the witness stand.
Defending your thesis means you are tasked with speaking up for a silent book.
The words are all there, but maybe they’re not all clear. The pages are packed but there could be more to say. You have every chapter you need, but your examiners might want to know a little more or talk a little more about the fascinating things you’ve laid out.
In the viva, your task is to continue to support the work you’ve done for a long time. Defending your thesis means supporting the ideas you’ve developed and saying more about why they’re valuable.
Your examiners are looking for a significant, original contribution in your thesis and a conversation with the capable researcher who did the work. For you to meet their expectations you don’t need to have super-researcher powers…
This doesn’t need to be you. It can’t be anyone. There isn’t a researcher in the world who can meet the impossible standards that worry might set. Your examiners don’t need a hero in the viva: they need a human, capable and dedicated researcher.
They’re looking for you.
Your examiners will ask you questions. They have to: it’s an essential part of the viva process. They will share opinions or make statements to encourage you to make a response but they couldn’t get through your viva without asking a question.
Engaging with a question could be as simple as pausing to consider what was asked, thinking about what you’re going to say and then respond as clearly as you can. If a question was surprising or had an unexpected element you might want to reflect further:
It would be wrong to expect every question in a viva to be mind-meltingly almost-impossible. They won’t be.
It’s right to remember that if you encounter a tough question that there is a lot you can do to engage and respond.
It’s one of the most common things people say about the viva.
I believed my examiners would grill me but instead we just talked about what I had done…
I thought I would go blank but it was just good to be discussing my research…
I expected that I would be there for hours and hours, but it was all done by 1pm…
In my experience there is a massive mis-match between what PhD candidates generally expect from their viva and what happens when they meet their examiners. Typically, this is because the candidate expects it is going to be far more dire an experience than it actually is!
It’s good that vivas tend to work out well, but it would be better if people went to them knowing more of what to expect and thus get ready in a more positive frame of mind.
So what can you do? Don’t just listen to the person on the internet. Talk to your friends. Talk to your colleagues. Talk to your supervisors. Read the regulations. Read blog posts and articles describing real experiences. Through all of this try to arrive at a good, positive idea of the viva that is ahead of you.