Daily viva help for PhDs
Remember that your viva comes as a response to the work you’ve done. There may be regulations for thesis examination and ideas for what makes a “good viva” but yours is just for you, based on the thesis you’ve written.
Because it follows your work it’s a challenge that only you can rise to – and because it follows your work it is a challenge that you will rise to.
Don’t trust that you’ll be lucky and that somehow things will work out at your viva.
Instead, trust in the process. Vivas are governed by regulations, expectations and the culture of your department.
Trust in your examiners. They’ll do their homework, be well-prepared and be offering you the chance to engage with relevant and realistic questions about your thesis and more.
Trust in your work. You’ve invested years in it, after all, both in your research and your thesis. Trust that after all of that effort, it’s enough.
Trust in yourself. You’ve invested years in you too! Trust that after all of your work and determination, you are enough.
You are enough. You don’t need to be lucky.
Problems are only opportunities in work clothes.
I first came across this sentiment after my PhD was finished. I wish I’d heard it sooner. Every time I remember it I feel a boost for weeks afterwards as I’m working.
If a piece of writing is tricky then I remind myself that it’s a chance to figure out a good way of expressing something. When an admin process gets me down I realise I can explore ways to do things more simply or easily. And if a period seems like it could be very busy I start figuring out how to lighten the load.
All problems of one form or another. All opportunities to learn, develop, grow and change how I do things.
What aspects of your viva or viva prep seem like problems to you? Are they big or small? Have they been on your radar for a while, bothering you, or have they only recently started made an impact?
Whatever the problem, can you change how you look at it? Where is the opportunity? Can you learn something? Can you create a better position by “solving” your problem? Can you reach out for help?
Some problems go away by themselves, but rather than hope and be stressed later, act soon to take advantage of the opportunity before you. Work towards being ready for your viva, despite the obstacles and problems in your path.
Idea by idea. Paper by paper. Day by day.
There’s no other way to put your PhD together than keep showing up, good days and bad, and work your way through. Learn more, do more, achieve more and find your way to becoming a good and capable researcher in your field.
When the time comes, this approach is what helps you prepare for your viva too. There’s no single activity that flips the switch to “ready”.
And, really, it’s how you get through the viva too.
Question by question.
Chapter by chapter.
Response by response.
Minute by minute you demonstrate the capable researcher that you became bit by bit.
And that’s enough.
PS: I almost called this post “Step By Step” but thought that was too close to the title of 101 Steps To A Great Viva, still going strong on Kickstarter! The overall idea is still the same: it’s not one thing that makes you ready, but enough steps in the right direction can make a real difference. Check out 101 Steps To A Great Viva now and you can pledge support to be one of the first with a copy of the guide.
Tension is created when opposing perspectives meet, in the viva or elsewhere. In daily life that could be very challenging depending on the situation, but it doesn’t have to be that way in the viva.
Disagreement in the viva just means that there is something to talk about.
If there’s disagreement then the best thing you can do is explore why. What reasons do you or your examiners have for your positions or beliefs? What’s the evidence? What does that mean? Where do you have common ground and where do you really differ? And what does that mean?
A difference of opinion could mean simply understanding the other view. It could lead to an acknowledgment of an alternative in corrections to your thesis. It could be due to a simple mistake or error on someone’s part; discussion could help to resolve tension that’s purely accidental.
If you encounter disagreement in your viva, it may not be a big thing or a bad thing, but it’s something.
Something to talk about and resolve.
There are many reasons why a viva might be delayed.
Examiner or candidate illness could lead to a date change. Traffic or transport disruption could lead to a last minute change. Simple, random life stuff could force back the start time by half an hour on the day of a viva.
Whatever the circumstances, no delay to the viva – of weeks, days or minutes – will feel good.
To build up and get ready for meeting examiners and then have to wait could make someone feel extra-nervous; it might have other practical considerations too, like arranging childcare, checking transport options or having to rebook a room.
If it were to happen to you, remember that the feelings will pass. The situation will resolve. It won’t directly impact the viva itself. All of your preparation still counts. You might have a little longer to wait but you will still make it through.
This is a very common question about the viva and I have a lot of thoughts!
How much do you say in response to a question? It depends on the question. It depends on the situation. It depends on your knowledge, your experience and your research. It depends on knowing what your examiners are looking for.
To know that you might have to ask them a question or two.
If your thinking is blocked – you freeze or forget – in the viva:
Being blocked is a starting point. You have to go somewhere from there – so you may as well take charge and do something!
Old viva advice says that the first question you’re asked at the viva will likely be easy, while the last question likely won’t be. Like a lot of advice, there’s a kernel of truth to this belief but a lot more to be said.
Let’s say that the first question you’re asked in the viva will likely be simple: whatever it is, you’re being asked to start the viva and start it well. Your examiners want to get you talking, get you past nerves and worries; they ask something simple about the beginnings of your research or get you to share an overview of what you’ve done.
These might not be easy questions, but they will be simple to understand and likely be topics you’ve thought about and talked about a lot in the past. First questions are asked for a specific purpose. They get the viva started well. They may or may not be easy, but your examiners won’t be looking to make things hard for you.
The last question of a viva could be many things:
Or it could just be another question: challenging, probing, digging into the work and words of your thesis.
First, last and everything in between: take every question as it comes.
Breathe. Pause. Think. Respond as well as you can.
Every question is an opportunity for you to share a little more and add to the good things that your examiners think about you and your research.
Like nervousness, silence might not feel comfortable sometimes but it doesn’t necessarily mean something negative.
In your viva a moment of quiet could be while you or an examiner checks a detail or finds the right place in your thesis. You might need a quiet pause to think or read, or to make a note. Silence could be a side-effect of a video viva delay or a simple pause to settle after a noise from outside.
Silence in the viva is a brief quiet between questions, responses and discussion about really important things. Silence in the viva is not for long before the words flow again. Silence in the viva is just one of those things that will happen.
Prepare for talking at your viva by rehearsing and talking before your viva. Use that opportunity to prepare for the silence too.