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Tag: viva rehearsal

Nathan

“I Had To”

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Those three words might be true but they will never be enough for a response to a question in your viva.

There’s always a reason and it’s always worth digging into. You always need the “because” or the “why” behind doing things a certain way in your PhD.

 

“I had to” might be the first words that come to mind with something difficult or even something particularly challenging in your research journey. If you know of situations like this ahead of your viva then it will be helpful to consider what else you could say. If it’s a sensitive topic you’ll probably still need to say something more than “I had to” – so think in advance what you might feel comfortable saying.

Nathan

Unpacking & Reframing

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Summaries are a helpful viva prep tool.

A good summary could help you to unpack ideas. You can take out, examine and remind yourself of what something is, why it helps and what it’s for.

A good summary could allow you to reframe your work. You can find a new perspective by taking a particular focus or by examining a specific aspect of what you’ve done.

Summaries allow you to think ahead. The information can be the foundations of responses in the viva. You wouldn’t be expected to read from summaries in the viva but they can help you to rehearse what points really matter.

Unpack your ideas. Reframe your thinking. Use summary creation as a useful part of your viva prep toolkit.

Nathan

Exploring Context

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A key part of a viva discussion might be really getting to the heart of why you did something.

What motivated your research? Why was it worth doing? Why did YOU want to do it?

What was the need?

Why did you use your methods as opposed to other approaches? How did you select them and how did you come to think they were the best way to tackle your research problems?

A response to any of these questions might involve unsolved problems, supervisor advice, your gut feelings, your personal history, necessity, limitations and constraints, things you want to say and things you’d rather not. Exploring the context for your research helps you and your examiners discuss what you did, why you did it and how you did it. Whatever’s true will help you to have that discussion.

Be clear, share detail and explore your context at the viva. Get ready for this by finding opportunities to rehearse before you meet your examiners.

Nathan

Conversations

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You have to talk at your viva.

Your examiners prepare with your thesis, assemble a plan for what they think needs to be talked about and arrive ready to facilitate a series of conversations.

The viva isn’t an interview or a question and answer session. Your examiners’ plan is to help guide them and prompt you. They steer the conversations to explore everything that needs to be talked about.

 

So: if you can expect your viva to be a series of conversations then you can prepare for it by having a series of conversations before then. You need to read your thesis and you need to make notes but that won’t be enough to be ready to talk.

You could organise a mock viva with your supervisor. You could give a seminar and take questions. You could go for coffee with friends and get them to prompt you with interesting and relevant questions. None of these will be exactly like your viva but they could be exactly what you need to help you be ready to talk.

The viva is a series of conversations. It’s clear what you need to do to get ready for it.

Nathan

Finding Questions

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Where did your research questions come from?

How did they develop over time?

How did your reading change the questions you asked during your PhD?

Where will your examiners’ questions come from?

What do you expect you will be asked? Why?

What do you hope not to talk about? Why?

 

Reflecting and creating summaries helps you think ahead for your viva. Rehearsing helps you to find words in the moment and be ready for the conversations that you’ll have at the viva.

Explore how you found your research questions in the past and also consider the questions that could be coming your way in the future.

Nathan

Three Words For The Viva

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Pause: you don’t need to rush to speak after a question. Take your time, check your thesis, sip some water and catch your breath. The viva is a test of how well you engage, not how quickly you answer.

Think: you don’t need to fire away with your first thought. Pausing gives you space to think deeply. Again, check your thesis, make a note or two if needed. Get your thoughts in order.

Respond: calm and careful, say what you need to say. Remember that not every question has an answer. You might be sharing an opinion, offering an idea, asking a question or even saying that you don’t know. The viva is a discussion, not an interview, not a Q&A.

Pause, think, respond. Don’t forget.

 

PS: this month’s Viva Survivors Select is subtitled The Focus Issue, because that’s what a summary helps you do: focus on what really matters in your research and thesis. The issue has twenty posts from the Viva Survivors archive and two new pieces, including an original reflective game that would be perfect for you to practice pausing, thinking and responding! You can find out more details here 🙂

Nathan

How Original!

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Or, original how?

What makes your work new? What makes it different to everything that came before?

It’s not enough to say that your thesis has something in it. It has to be a new something.

How do you explain the originality of your work? What words helps you to convey that to your reader or your audience? (and do the words change depending on who you’re talking to?)

If you’ve submitted then the words in your thesis are fixed. You can still explore how you can communicate and demonstrate what makes your research an original contribution. Make notes, rehearse with questions and of course think some more!

How is your thesis contribution original? How does that relate to what makes it significant?

Nathan

Certain & Right

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Do you feel that you need to be right in your viva? Do you need to have an answer for everything? The right answer?

I think that would feel like a lot of pressure. Needing to be right might also remove a lot of other opinions, opportunities and perspectives from a discussion.

 

Perhaps it’s better to strive for certainty. Take time in the viva to put your thoughts in order so that you are careful and certain in what you’re saying.

It’s far better to be clear in your responses than push to be right about everything.

Nathan

The Spotlight

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What do you think your examiners will most want to talk about in your viva? What do you think needs to be in the spotlight? What topics would you most want to talk about and why?

And more importantly, how comfortable do you feel talking about your work?

Reflecting on how you say things might help – word choices, key points and so on – but the real help comes from rehearsal. You need to find situations where you can practise. A mock viva will probably help but you could also try giving a seminar, going for coffee with friends or even just asking someone to listen.

Whatever you do you need to be comfortable and confident enough to discuss your work and your experience. To be ready for your viva you need to put both your work and yourself in the spotlight.

Nathan

Why You Rehearse

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An incomplete list of reasons why a PhD candidate would benefit from rehearsal before the viva.

To know how it might feel to be in the viva, minute to minute.

To get a sense of what you might do when you’re asked a question.

To get a sense of how you might feel and what you might do when you’re asked an unexpected question.

To practise what you might do when asked a question.

To practise talking about your work with a good audience.

To review how you did afterwards.

To explore your work.

To explore how you describe your work.

To ask questions about your work and how others see it.

To revise your plans for your viva prep.

To build your confidence for the viva.

To hopefully feel better about your viva.

To experience what it feels like to say “I don’t know.”

To demonstrate to yourself that you can do it.

 

Rehearsal isn’t limited to a mock viva. There are many other opportunities like having a chat, coffee with friends, giving a seminar or having a mini-viva.

And the list of reasons above is incomplete. Why else might you rehearse for your viva?

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