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Tag: viva process

Nathan

Yours & Theirs

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Everyone involved with your viva will have opinions.

There’s a lot of truth and certainty by the time you have finished your thesis but you could have plenty of unanswered questions too. Plenty of space for doubt. Plenty of space for wondering. Plenty of space for believing but not knowing for sure.

You will have opinions about some things. Your examiners will too. It’s possible that your opinions will collide or oppose. That’s not as big a problem as you might believe.

Whether you have to defend your view or unpick your examiner’s, start with why. If you need to convince with your opinion ask yourself why you think it is true to motivate your response. If you aren’t sure of your examiner’s point then ask yourself why or ask them why.

Once you know why someone holds their opinion you can understand more. You can figure out what you actually agree with and what you don’t. You can see the root of the problem or understand how to find common ground.

When defending or exploring opinions, start with why.

 

(this works very well outside of vivas too!)

Nathan

Extras/Essentials

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For your viva you need:

  1. Your thesis;
  2. A notebook and pen;
  3. Something to drink.

These are the absolute essentials that every PhD candidate needs to have with them.

After the essentials there are lots of other things that might be a good idea:

  • Something to eat, in a break or at the end;
  • A list of corrections you’ve spotted;
  • A prototype of something you made;
  • A screen to show a video or software;
  • The means to show, display or demonstrate a creative work;
  • A digital copy of your thesis;
  • Notes in some form;
  • Other materials or resources, as agreed.

These are extras: useful for some people and not appropriate or needed for others. You’ll need to check the regulations, check with your supervisors and decide for yourself perhaps if you really need them.

An item on the list above might not be what you expect – or one item could be exactly what you need.

For some people these really might be considered extras after a thesis, notebook and a water bottle, just something else helpful to have with you.

For some candidates one of the “extras” could be essential to a good viva.

What do you need? What’s an extra and what is absolutely essential for you?

 

PS: you might need a little more support to help you get ready and feel ready. If that thought resonates then please check out my upcoming 7 Reasons You’ll Pass Your Viva live webinars. They’re running on Wednesday 24th September and Thursday 30th October and you can find more details of what you’ll find via the link. If you use code DAILYBLOGFAN before midnight tonight then you get a special discount too.

Nathan

The Process of Surviving

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Survive can be defined as manage to keep going in difficult circumstances.

So we can understand surviving the viva as managing to keep going in the difficult circumstances of the viva.

And even more particularly we can understand surviving your viva as managing to keep going in the difficult circumstances of your viva.

 

There are challenges in every viva that make them difficult. There are parts of the process that could be uniquely difficult for a candidate. You prepare for the viva in part so that you manage to keep going, continuing on the journey that you’ve been on for a long time, but you also have to think about what makes the viva difficult for you.

Every candidate probably faces some difficult circumstances at the viva because of the nature of their work and particular situation. Some candidates face difficult circumstances because of how they feel, what they might need for the viva to be fair for them and personal situations that make the viva a greater challenge than it might be for others.

Surviving the viva doesn’t mean overcoming terrible situations. Surviving the viva means continuing to show up as your best self doing your best work. It means facing the situation and making sure in advance that it is as fair as it can be for you.

 

Manage, not struggle. Difficult circumstances rather than almost-impossible situations.

And keep going – because this isn’t the first time you’ve been challenged.

 

PS: you can learn more about the challenge and why you’ll survive at my upcoming 7 Reasons You’ll Pass Your Viva live webinars. I’m running the session on Wednesday 24th September and Thursday 30th October: come to find out why people succeed at the viva and why you will too! There are more details via the link and use code DAILYBLOGFAN before midnight tomorrow to get a special discount.

Nathan

Unscripted

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Your examiners have a plan for your viva.

They’ve prepared well. They have questions and prompts to help them ask good questions and get what they need from the process – but they don’t have a script. They don’t have a set list of twenty questions they’ll be working through. They don’t have a rigid plan that they will follow exactly. Their plan guides but allows them space to respond to what you say and how the discussion develops.

 

You will prepare well for your viva.

You’ll invest time in reading your thesis, making notes, creating summaries and hopefully finding ways to rehearse. You don’t need a script for your viva either. Your examiners are happy for you to refer to your thesis but they don’t want you to read from a script. Your responsibility is to respond in the moment, taking part in the discussion and making sure your examiners get what they need.

 

Everyone should be well-prepared for your viva but no-one should be reading from a script.

Nathan

In Case Of Emergency

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There’s a relatively small chance that a question at the viva could make you feel like you’re in an emergency.

  • A stressful question.
  • A complicated question.
  • An unclear question.
  • A never-before-considered question.

If your first thought is “I don’t know” or “Aaaaaargh!” it can be hard to figure out how to respond.

Here’s the best advice I can give for those moments: do exactly what you’ve been doing for the non-emergency and non-stressful questions.

 

Whatever the question or comment from your examiners: pause, think it through and then respond. Your response could be an answer, an opinion, sharing an idea or asking a question.

If the question is really simple: pause, think and respond.

If the question is complex: pause, think and respond.

If the question makes you think “Aaaargh!”: pause, think and respond.

 

You don’t need an answer for everything. You do need to engage with every question.

Having one process that you can follow for simple questions and stressful questions makes it easier for you to follow and engage with the discussion in the viva.

Questions can be complicated. Your process for responding to them doesn’t need to be.

Nathan

“What Does This Mean?”

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Four words that can feel very loaded in the viva.

If your examiners ask does that mean your thesis didn’t say it? Or was there a mistake? Or…?

In truth, “What does this mean?” could be a simple way to start a new topic. It could be a question that seeks clarity. Or a small question to start exploring something more deeply.

With the importance of the viva it’s easy to see how it can be received as a difficult and troubling question. Your examiners could just want to know more.

“What does this mean?” is a simple question, asked for many reasons.

Nathan

Not As Expected

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If things don’t go as planned you have to act.

  • If your research doesn’t go as planned, what do you do instead?
  • If the first choice for your external examiner isn’t available who do you ask?
  • If your mock viva has to be cancelled what do you do now?
  • And if your viva doesn’t follow expectations in some way, what do you do?

You always have to do something. It’s important to remember that you always have agency. The unexpected shows up and you have to do something and you do and then you move on to the next thing.

You might need to ask for help or information. You might even need to check the regulations but, regardless, if something doesn’t follow your plan or expectations you’ll need to do something.

You can do your best, take action and move forward – and remember that while some things don’t go as expected a lot does work out.

Remind yourself of your effort and your impact and be thankful if you can for all the things in your PhD journey that worked out as planned.

 

PS: If you’re looking for more viva help and advice in the coming months then follow my Eventbrite page to get notified of future independent webinars like Viva Survivor and 7 Reasons You’ll Pass Your Viva. Dates coming soon!

Nathan

Varieties Of Questions

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There can be lots of questions at a viva.

Some will be easy but many could be hard.

A question could be asked very simply but have a complicated response – and vice versa.

You can definitely expect certain questions and also know that some will be completely unknown to you.

Some will be quick and others long.

A response could be yes or no, true or false or a small essay of words.

 

There are lots of types of questions that can come up at the viva but all have a few things in common.

They’re fair.

They’re reasonable.

They’re always asked with a purpose in mind.

And they’re all a part of the process of getting you to say more, show more and engage with your examiners.

Nathan

Saying More

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You can start a response at the viva with, “Well, my supervisor told me to…”

You always need to say something more.

You could talk about why your supervisor advised that. You could reference what stage of your PhD this was. You could unpick what you had already tried. You could say more about how you applied the suggestion. Depending on the situation you might even be talking about what didn’t work and what you then had to do instead!

Your examiners know that you’ve had support. They expect that you were given guidance or told what to do at many stages of your PhD. You can say that but you need to say more to show your role and efforts.

Nathan

Small Changes

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Maybe we need to rebrand minor corrections. How about:

  • Tiny tweaks?
  • Bespoke alterations?
  • Thesis refinements?

Whatever we call them, they are small changes compared to the large amount of work you have already invested. Minor corrections are a small amount of work to leave your thesis in as good a state as possible before you move on to your next challenge.

Small changes. Thank your examiners, do the work and finish your thesis well.

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