You Are Here

Tag: viva process

Nathan

Needs & Preferences

Daily Post

There’s a difference between needs and preferences.

Both can have a great impact on how you feel about and approach your viva.

 

If you need something for your viva – from regular breaks, examiners to wear microphones or anything else – then you need it. That shouldn’t be up for debate with anyone else; the best thing to do is make sure the appropriate people in your department, doctoral college or graduate school know and know what to do for your viva.

A need is something you absolutely have to have. A preference is something that would be helpful. You might prefer if your examiner was someone you’d cited. You might prefer to have your viva in-person or over Zoom. You might prefer to have your viva sooner rather than later. But if that preference isn’t met an alternative way can be found.

 

Whenever something feels like a need or a preference for your viva, unless it’s unambiguous, reflect again and just be clear for yourself.

Is it a need? Is it a preference?

And whichever it is you have two questions to respond to: Do you need help from someone? What do you need to do next?

Nathan

Short Breaks

Daily Post

A short break when you submit your thesis can help to clear your head and change gears.

A short break during viva prep helps you to take necessary steps to relax.

A short break during the viva can allow you to gather your energy and restore your focus.

A short break at the end of the viva is for your examiners to have a final chat – and for you to wonder what they’re going to say when they call you back in!

 

Short breaks help with lots of stages of the viva process. Perhaps decide in advance what you might do for that final short break so that you’re not simply worrying while you wait.

Nathan

The Bad Vivas

Daily Post

The opening line to Anna Karenina is often translated in English as:

Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.

I think about this a lot when I think about bad vivas.

 

The vast majority of vivas are “fine” – which means some complex combination of fair, challenging, rewarding, enjoyable, tiring, rigorous and a host of other descriptions. Most candidates will be fine at their viva, however challenging the questions or tiring the process.

We can’t pretend bad vivas don’t happen though.

Good vivas are good for similar reasons. They’re attended by candidates who have done the work. They’re facilitated by examiners who have training and have taken the time to get ready. The vivas are conducted according to regulations and expectations.

Bad vivas are bad for wildly different and unique circumstances. A hard PhD journey. A thesis that doesn’t meet expectations. A candidate who hasn’t been appropriately supported. An examiner who doesn’t care. A candidate unwilling or unable to engage with the viva.

Good vivas are good because they follow the overall patterns of the PhD journey done well. Bad vivas (and possible viva failure) result from unique negative circumstances.

Bad vivas happen and we can’t pretend that they don’t. But you also can’t believe – at least not with compelling reason – that you might have a bad viva.

Nathan

A VIVA For Examiners

Daily Post

I use VIVA as a little acronym-tool for reflecting on one’s research ahead of the viva:

  • Valuable (to others): what might someone else find useful in your work?
  • Interesting (to you): what do you find fascinating about your work?
  • Vague (or unclear): what do you find difficult to talk about or explain?
  • Ask (your examiners): given the chance, what would you ask your examiners at the viva?

It’s a helpful tool and can be particularly helpful when thinking about the thesis chapter-by-chapter.

I’ve found it useful sometimes to take the VIVA prompts and apply them to other aspects of the viva as well. For example, what if we took the prompts and considered your examiners?

  • Valuable: what might your examiners find useful in your work?
  • Interesting: how can you make connections between your research and their interests?
  • Vague: do you foresee any difficulties in communicating your work to them?
  • Ask: given the chance, what would you ask your examiners at the viva?

OK, OK, the last question didn’t change! But there are still four good reflection on your examiners ahead of your viva!

Nathan

Part Of The Journey

Daily Post

Thesis corrections are part of the PhD journey for most candidates.

The way they’re talked about often makes corrections sound like one of the worst possible aspects of the viva process – as if they were so undesirable as to make all other parts of the experience better by comparison. Maybe it’s as simple as the fact that they’re a continuation of the viva: corrections are something you have to do even though it’s all supposed to be over.

Most candidates get corrections – so all candidates need to be prepared to do them.

Most candidates get minor corrections – so all candidates need to keep that in mind when thinking about the viva and the weeks that will come immediately after it.

In most cases corrections are a very small part of the journey.

 

PS: another common part of the journey is success at the viva. To find out why that happens and what you can do to get ready, take a look at Viva Survivor, my live webinar running this Thursday 5th December 2024. The registration deadline is Wednesday 4th at 5pm so register soon if you want to attend!

Nathan

Unrecorded

Daily Post

The vast majority of viva experiences are unrecorded.

Candidates don’t typically write an account of it or give an interview afterwards. Until fairly recently vivas were occasionally audio-recorded for quality assurance but it wasn’t common at all to record vivas beyond examiners’ paperwork and notes.

During and after the surge to video vivas during 2020 and 2021, the opportunity for recording vivas has grown massively. It’s now possible to record many vivas quite easily with a few software options. My suspicion, based on hunch and anecdotes, is that vivas still are not typically recorded in this way though.

I can see that it might be helpful for some candidates if they were. I am confident that no major objections would be made if a candidate wanted to make a recording to review the viva discussion afterwards.

(I can’t imagine it would be something the candidate would watch a lot though!)

 

It would be helpful if PhD candidates reflected and recorded their experiences after the viva though. It could help someone else to hear or read a short account of what happened at your viva, what you thought and what that might mean.

It might also be a good memento of the day: a reminder when you encounter future challenges that you are very capable of rising to big things.

 

PS: one thing that will be recorded in the near future is my Viva Survivor live webinar on Thursday 5th December 2024! I’d love everyone to be there for the full three hours, but if you have to arrive a little after the start or dash away before the end there will be a four-week catch-up recording you can stream. More details here, do check it out.

Nathan

Overconfident For Your Viva?

Daily Post

It’s unlikely!

Even the most self-assured individual will probably feel some nerves and disquiet on their viva day. It’s unlikely that anything will go seriously wrong, but fairly probable that you might be asked a question you’ve never considered, face a criticism you don’t like or simply feel awkward at being in there.

So I don’t think you’ll be overconfident for your viva.

 

The one dangerous area that a PhD candidate can stray into is feeling that they need to have the last word. That they’re the only one who can be right. That they’ve considered everything.

Your viva is a discussion. Your examiners are exploring your thesis, your research and your capability. You might be the best-placed person to respond to their questions but you are not the only smart person in the room.

Listen carefully, take your time in responding and don’t forget to pause and think!

Nathan

What To Expect

Daily Post

Viva expectations are hard to pin down sometimes.

Every viva experience is different, but there are patterns in the stories. Viva regulations vary between institutions but there is consistency around key practices.

More than anything you can build up a general impression of the tone of vivas; you can get an idea of what areas are discussed and what topics examiners focus on. You can get a better sense of all this if you get a feel of what vivas are like in your department or your research area.

It’s important to remember that expectations aren’t guarantees. Past experiences don’t automatically drive future events.

Expectations are a feeling: you feel that your viva will likely go a certain way. Ask enough questions, read enough regulations, see enough stories and you can get a good sense of what your viva will be like. Eventually you know what to expect.

Nathan

Zero Corrections?

Daily Post

It would be really nice to have no corrections to complete after your viva!

I bet that would feel great.

Hope for it, but that’s all it is: a hope that your writing, proofreading and efforts didn’t miss any mistakes that need fixing. A hope that your thinking has been clear and consistent across tens of thousands of words.

 

Corrections are a part of the process for most PhD candidates. It’s not because most candidates are sloppy: it’s a reflection that writing is hard, editing is hard and proofreading is hard.

It would be really, really nice to have no corrections to complete after your viva!

You’ll probably have more than zero to resolve. Accept that situation when you submit, do the work that’s asked and then move on.

Nathan

The Next Challenge

Daily Post

That’s one way to think of the viva if you’ve submitted your thesis. It’s just the next challenge.

You’ve faced, figured out and overcome many more on the way to submission. You can rise to this one too.

And then on to the next challenge – because for all of the importance you might give your viva, your thesis and your PhD, there’s another challenge coming along for you.

1 … 5 6 7 8 9 … 22