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Nathan

Rest And Think

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When do you do your best thinking? How do you relax? How do you organise your thoughts?

I think with a bit of reflection everyone can better their process. If you reflect on the above questions, you can start to think about how you improve. For example, for me:

  • I do my best thinking when I’m walking along the seafront – so maybe I should do more of this…
  • I relax well at the moment playing video games – and that’s nice but a bit lonely, so maybe I need to play more board games…
  • I use a couple of notebooks, but they run out too quick – so maybe I need to re-examine my system…

You don’t have to get better at something just for the sake of it, but if you want to improve you have to start from somewhere. After all, there’s a lot of thought needed in the production of a thesis, in the preparation for the viva and on the day itself. And for PhDs that question about relaxing is most important. Time off is never time wasted. Remember to take a day off, even if you’re preparing for the viva.

Nathan

Connecting

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My daughter is nearly four. While she seems to be changing all the time, there are some constants. Since a very early age we’ve read her a bedtime story every day. My wife and I love reading and telling stories and we want our daughter to be the same. Of course, we want her to simply enjoy stories at bedtime, but we hope it will make a connection for her life too. Books are great, stories are important.

Throughout your PhD you’ve built some strong connections with your research. Take a step back and think: what are they? Where do you feel personally involved with the research and the outcomes? If your viva is coming up, what new connections can you try to build between now and then? Look for new things in your thesis that are great, look for the parts of your research that are important.

Nathan

Alter Ego

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I’ve been thinking about superheroes and the viva again (see previously). Some heroes have their powers all the time, regardless of whether they’re in uniform. Some have tools or equipment that make them better, but Captain America is still awesome without his shield. Tony Stark might be smart but he’s not Iron Man without a suit. And Bruce Banner might be very clever, but he’s not the Hulk unless he changes. Different kinds of heroes.

This makes me think of viva preparation. Some people feel more or less happy about the viva when they submit their thesis, because they have their knowledge at their fingertips. Some people feel alright, but know that they’ll feel better if they make some notes or do something to prepare. And some people need something to help them transform: they have to prepare or they won’t feel ready.

All of these needs are fine. If your viva is coming up, you just need to reflect for yourself: what do you need so you’ll be at your best?

Then go be a hero.

Nathan

Opening Line

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It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…

It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.

The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.

A good opening line captures a reader. Authors can take a long time to figure them out, so they get just the right way to start a story.

PhD candidates can take some time too and figure out how to start their viva. It’s likely that they’ll be asked a question to give some kind of overview of research, or to talk about the highlights of their results. If you’re in that position, viva coming up, think about how you would start. How would you summarise what you’ve done? How would you break down your results? How would you hook your examiners?

Maybe not it was the best of times, it was the worst of times…

Nathan

No Guarantee

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I knew what troubled me before the viva. I couldn’t explain the background of a particular chapter in my thesis. I understood the results perfectly. I didn’t understand the set-up. I tried to avoid thinking about it.

Methodology, results, conclusions, longevity of research – there are lots of areas that set people on edge, lots of directions tricky questions can come from. I don’t have a silver bullet to solve this problem. The only thing I can think of is practice: find opportunities to practise answering tricky questions. It’s not a plan with a guarantee. It doesn’t mean that you’ll answer questions perfectly. You will answer them better and I think you’ll have less anxiety.

What kinds of questions do you feel you might struggle with in the viva? What can you do to answer them well?

As I said, I knew what troubled me before the viva and I tried to avoid thinking about it. That’s not a winning strategy.

Nathan

Examiner Profiles

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You can ask your supervisors for guidance. You can talk to colleagues about your ideas. You can even ask your non-PhD friends for help. You can’t ask your examiners anything before the viva, but you can do some work to get insight and feel confident about answering their questions.

Follow this seven step process for each of your examiners to get a sense of where they might be coming from:

  1. What papers have they recently published?
  2. Are there any themes, topics or ideas that they are consistently exploring?
  3. How does their research connect with your thesis?
  4. What are their declared research interests (on their staff page)?
  5. How do their research interests overlap with yours?
  6. What do you know about their reputation?
  7. How could their opinions help you?

Work your way through these questions for each of your examiners, either researching to find out information (like their papers or interests) or reflecting to see what it means for you. The last question is important particularly if you’re working towards an academic career. Your examiners will be part of a small group of people who have read all of your work. Their opinion could give you a helpful steer or fantastic idea.

You can’t ask them for help before the viva, but that doesn’t mean you can’t find some help from them anyway.

Nathan

SWOTting Up

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SWOT is a neat thinking tool: rather than just throw ideas around to try to unpick a problem or situation it uses words to direct attention. As an acronym it stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. For example, if you had an idea for writing a book and wanted to analyse it you might think about the following:

  • Strengths: what resources do you have? What knowledge can you pass on?
  • Weaknesses: what will you struggle with in the writing? What is difficult to share?
  • Opportunities: can you use the same material for something else? What doors might it open?
  • Threats: why might this not work? Is there a potential downside by doing it?

I love tools based around framing words and SWOT is a really flexible tool. It works well for reviewing a PhD thesis during viva preparation too:

  • Strengths: what are the highlights of the thesis? What might others find valuable?
  • Weaknesses: what parts are difficult to explain? What are the limitations of what you’ve done?
  • Opportunities: how might you extend your work? What can you do now?
  • Threats: how might someone criticise what you’ve done? Are there any potential problems?

What else can you do to look at your thesis a little bit differently?

Nathan

Four Questions For Your Supervisors

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First, far in advance of submission, who would be good choices for examiners? Get their feedback, be a part of the discussion. Ultimately your supervisors will get to nominate.

Second, after the hustle and bustle of submission is done, what would they say is the most problematic part of your research? It won’t be anything that is wrong, and it might not be anything controversial, just something that needs a little extra thought.

Third, and once you’ve thought about it for yourself, what do they think are the strongest results or outcomes of your research? They will see everything you’ve done, but will have a slightly different perspective and that’s useful to know.

Finally, when the dust has settled and your viva is done, what can you do better now? There will be a lot of ways that you have grown during your PhD, but it can be difficult for you to spot them day-to-day.

What else might it be good to ask? Have a think, see where your ideas take you.

Nathan

Random Questions

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At the start of my workshops I ask people for their questions about the viva. Anything and everything, procedure, practical stuff, advice, fears, really anything. My philosophy is “once people have an answer, they can move on, they don’t have to worry about that question any more. Even if they need to do something they know what they need to do.” I collect the questions on Post It notes. I’ve been doing this for seven years and have been recording them all for over three years.

Last month I got an odd question:

“Is anything in a session like this really applicable? Does it [the viva] simply depend on personalities? (randomness)”

If I’m honest, I felt a little… Irked. I was kind of thinking, “Huh. Someone decided to come… But then questioned the premise of what we’re doing? And right before we’d got started they decided to ask this?” It felt a little cutting, but that might not have been their intention. Maybe it was just their personality…

Back to the question. I don’t think the viva simply depends on personalities. An examiner could disagree with you, and that might not be an easy question or comment to take. An examiner could be really tired, or really grumpy, and so could you. The tone of the examination could be influenced by personalities, but none of that is predictable or within your control.

However, you can control what you do to prepare for the viva. What you read or re-read, what you learn about your examiners, the notes you make, the steps you take to remind yourself of everything you’ve done and can do. That’s all up to the researcher. If a session on viva prep shares some ideas about those sorts of things it will be pretty applicable, I think.

Last month I felt irked. Today I feel good. Questions help, even questions that seem left field or perhaps snarky. Maybe I read it wrong. Maybe they asked it wrong. When you get a question in the viva, try not to make assumptions about where it’s coming from. You can always ask why or for more details.

There could be a touch of “randomness” in the viva, but you can bring a lot of order in with you.

Nathan

Taming The Blank Page

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It’s a good idea to make summaries on the run up to your viva. It’s great, purposeful work while you make them and you have valuable resources you can refer to afterwards. It doesn’t take much, a sheet of paper is a great start. A blank piece of A4 can be intimidating though; where do you begin? What’s worth doing? Here are a few ideas to get you started.

  • Start a mind map: put your thesis title in a bubble in the middle. Add a couple of branches like Starting Points, Important Results, Background and Key References. Keep going.
  • Why, How, What: an exercise I shared previously. Helps to unpick what you’ve done in your research.
  • Timeline: create a timeline of your success. When did you hit your first important goal? What was it? How did you make your way to completion?
  • Chapter-by-chapter breakdown: take a sheet of paper for each chapter and write “What’s Important?” at the top. Use that to prompt your thinking and analyse what you’ve done.

You don’t need much to get started with viva prep. A little push and you’ll find yourself doing great work.

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