Daily viva help for PhDs
You don’t need to memorise your thesis, you’re not expected to memorise your research, and most viva candidates couldn’t do that even if they wanted to.
Your examiners expect you to do the work, be familiar with the literature you’ve cited and be a capable researcher. That’s enough.
You might cite them, you might not. It depends on lots of factors:
It’s neither intrinsically good or intrinsically bad for you to cite them. It’s not a requirement to cite publications by your examiners.
But if you have: make sure you check those papers again before your viva. Be sure you’re familiar with why you used them, how you used them and what they did for your thesis.
It’s easier if you know what you need and what you want.
It’s easier if you know what people can offer and what they can’t.
It’s easier if you think about it in advance, instead of when time is tight.
It’s easier if you know what you want to feel like when you’re done preparing, and who might help you get to that point.
And it’s easier once you realise that there are lots of people who could help – who would help – if you just asked.
As of last week I have delivered my Viva Survivor session 217 times. More than fifty of those were in 2018!
I feel confident with the session and how I deliver it partly because of the number of times I’ve done it. I rehearse things, I get to try things out, I get to play and tinker – I’ve got hundreds and hundreds of hours of doing it, thousands more thinking about the session and getting ready, doing things like this blog and so on.
I use this as an example in Viva Survivor when talking about confidence.
Confidence really can come through practice – not simply repetition, but deliberate practice, trial and error, learning, getting results, having setbacks, pushing on… My confidence with Viva Survivor is unshakeable.
You might have one mock viva before your real viva. You can’t have two hundred but you will have hundreds of good days of practice as a researcher. Hundreds of days of building your talent while you produce a thesis.
Find your confidence in all of the good work you must have done to get to submission.
I’ve been sorting through ten years of notes and ideas I’ve collected from countless workshops, seminars and articles. I smiled a few days ago when a quote from an old friend jumped off the page at me:
No amount of book-reading by kittens on “How To Be A Cat” will help them.
My friend Adrian would often say things in workshops that would make me smile and learn at the same time. Kittens can’t learn by reading, they must do things. They have to play their way to being cats.
By contrast, reading a thesis will help PhD candidates get ready for their vivas, but I think the principle of my friend holds. Reading your thesis is necessary, but not sufficient. Thinking is essential, but writing will make those thoughts clearer. Anticipating questions can be useful, but answering them is much, much better.
You can read your thesis, you need to read your thesis – but what else could you do?
Patience is a virtue for a PhD candidate.
It takes time to explore literature.
It takes time to think and work your way to write up a thesis.
It takes time to complete a PhD.
It takes time to prepare well for the viva.
Patience gets you through difficult days, hard times and trying setbacks.
Be patient in the viva too. Don’t rush. It takes time, even a little, to respond well to questions.
Take the time.
Or MEVPS, for short.
There isn’t one, not one that works for everyone. Everyone is different, every candidate has a unique thesis, every candidate has a unique set of circumstances and a unique situation when they get to preparation time for the viva. So to say, “Here: the MEVPS is X, Y and Z and you’ll be fine!” would a terrible lie. I don’t have a MEVPS to offer.
But I do have a strategy for building a useful, unique approach for you:
The details will be different for everyone, but everyone can figure out a route to being prepared by following the SFSPFCAPVPP.
(that’s Simple Five Step Process For Creating A Personal Viva Prep Plan!)
A little structure is a great way to start reflection, and Three Whats is a really neat little structure. It’s really flexible and can be applied to a lot of the areas that are worth thinking about towards the end of the PhD and as part of viva preparations.
On Obstacles…
Getting Help…
Worries…
What, so what and now what are great for reflection, problem solving and a lot more. What other ways might you use them as you prepare for your viva?
As you finish up your thesis, take twenty minutes to make a list of all the things that didn’t quite make it.
Label the list Nice, But Not Necessary. Add anything else you had thought to do, thought was a good idea, but which you didn’t get to. It can help you to think around your thesis, different approaches, tangents that would be good to explore, ideas that could have merit.
Interesting stuff, but not essential.
Keep the list, but know you don’t need to focus on what-might-have-been. Your thesis, the necessary, the essential, is good enough.
What’s your number one tip for the viva?
I was asked this recently by a PhD candidate…
Take time to think is a good one for the viva; make sure you pause and think before answering.
Read your thesis carefully after submission is another that has a lot of value.
Try not to worry too much is a good tip, but can be tricky to put into practice!
These are good ideas, but my number one tip is this:
Reflect and be certain of how you have got this far.
Think back over the last few years. How did you get to this point? What have you done? What were the key events? How did you do it? How are you talented? What have you achieved?
Because it wasn’t all down to luck. There may be times you feel very grateful that something good has happened, but nothing just happens. You’ve worked hard to get to submission and the viva.
Reflect and be certain of how you have got this far.