Preparing for your viva

Waterford Institute of Technology February 2013

Sally Brown

http://sally-brown.netEmerita Professor, Leeds Metropolitan University,

Adjunct Professor, University of the Sunshine Coast, Central Queensland and James Cook University

Queensland

Visiting Professor, University of Plymouth and Liverpool John Moores University.

Some background

This guidance is designed to apply to the UK and Irish context;

It is really important to read and analyse very carefully the exam regulations for PhDs for the examining HEI, and to check out with others who have recently completed the process what it entails;

PhD examinations in other nations are very different (for example, in the Netherlands an oral defence is just that and is held in a traditional, formal often public oral defence ceremony, but not normally until the thesis has already been judged satisfactory);

Practical preparations Read the university regulations and check out the

criteria against which you will be examined; Make yourself some notes so you can demonstrate

that you have met all criteria; Re-read your thesis and make sure you can find key

points by marking them with (a few) post-its; Use Google scholar to check out the specialist areas

of your external examiners so you can predict what kinds of directions they will be coming from with their questions;

Prepare answers to questions you think you are likely to be asked.

The Institute of Education at the University of London suggests:

Practice presenting at conferences before the viva; Find colleagues to read the thesis and ask questions; Make a systematic summary of your thesis to have at

hand in the viva; Talk to colleagues who’ve done a viva and ask their

advice; Make sure you’ve read your thesis thoroughly; Write a book proposal based on your thesis and

justify to a publisher why it is worthy of publication; Read any new relevant materials as they are

published.

Questions to think about: (1)Score each of these on a scale 1-5 on how easily you

could answer them (5 = hardest)

1. What excited you at the start of your research about your topic and are you still excited by it?

2. What would you say have been the major challenges you've had to overcome?

3. At the outset you will have had some expected outcomes from your research but what unexpected outcomes have emerged?

4. In what way do you believe your work has pushed forward frontiers in your discipline for a doctorate?

Questions to think about: (2)

5. Give an outline of the purpose of your research and what you set out to achieve

6. What are the three main findings of your work and why are these important?

7. What is your conceptual framework?

8. Which major theories have influenced your work and why have you chosen them to underpin your research?

9. How did you gain access to your samples?

10. What is the most important thing you learned about your research methodology?

Questions to think about: (3)

11. Why did you choose the methodology you did and why did you reject other methodologies?

12. What major problems did you encounter with your work ?

13. What was the most exciting or interesting thing that you encountered along the way?

Have a practice run

Ask your supervisors to give you a semi-formal rehearsal where if you can’t answer a question to your own satisfaction you can ask them for clarification or advice;

Ask peers, friends and partners to ask both questions prepared by you (like the ones offered earlier here) or naïve questions which may require you to look at the topic afresh;

View the Wisker and Hartley CD Rom.

Knowing the literature in your field

Who among your key influences from the research literature have been most helpful in helping you take your ideas forward?

Could you summarise what the literature position currently is on this topic?

What do you think are the gaps in the current literature?

Which sources were most valuable and why? While you were reading around your subject were

there any particular texts that proved hugely valuable and important in shaping your thinking?

Where are you going next?

If you'd had another year for your research what else would you have liked to cover?

Since you've submitted your thesis what new thoughts have you had about your research area?

How can you maximise the benefits to your own scholarship from completing your thesis?

Have you published anything to date based on your thesis?

What elements of your thesis lend themselves to future publications?

Reviewing your thesis

A contents list with page numbers might be helpful to enable you to find key points;

Some people like to have a mind map of the thesis in front of them in the viva to remind themselves of key issues;

Review critically what you (and perhaps a number of friends plus your supervisor ) can identify as deficiencies or areas that might need expanding;

Prepare responses to them (but don’t feel you need to draw attention to them unless they are raised by the examiner).

Managing stress

If at all possible, go into the room where the viva will be held prior to the event and check out how it feels (and where the nearest toilet is);

Make sure what you are wearing is comfortable and that nothing (jewellery, shoes) is distracting;

Turn off the volume of your mobile phone or better still leave it outside the room;

They will almost certainly offer you water but take a bottle in with you just in case;

Take the opportunity to enjoy talking about the topic you have dedicated several years to studying with people who are equally as interested in it as you!

In advance of your viva

Read up your externals’ contribution to the discipline so you can second guess the kinds of things they are interested in and demonstrate you know their work, even if you haven’t used it in your thesis;

If the opportunity arises in your viva you can them ask them to expand on something for as long as they are talking you are not;

Check our articles that have been written on your topic since you submitted, and have prepared some comments on your own work based on these very recent writings.

What to expect to happen in your viva

Normally there are two external examiners and sometimes an internal one too;

Your supervisor may be in the room (normally at your discretion) but is not allowed to talk or take part in the process;

The person chairing the event is normally from the awarding HEI’s research degrees committee;

Duration of the viva is around 90 minutes plus or minus an hour;

Normally they’ll ask you a gentle question to start and then move on to examine areas within your thesis around which they would like more clarity.

The expectation is that:

The approach will be collegial and probing but friendly;

It is unusual for the thesis examination to proceed to a viva if there is no chance whatever of success, so just by getting there you have achieved a great deal;

Examiners will be using the criteria set down in the university regulations and will want to assure themselves that you already satisfy all of these or can do so with further work;

They will provide you with an opportunity to talk about an area that interests you greatly.

Outcomes are normally: The award of the Doctorate with no further work

needed; or The award of the doctorate subject to minor

amendments which one or more of the examiners will need to check have been completed within an agreed timescale; or

The award of the doctorate with major modifications which again need to be completed within a timescale to the examiners satisfaction; or in rarer cases

The requirement to resubmit the thesis following changes and possibly to have another viva; or even more rarely;

The award of a lesser degree.

During your viva

If you are asked a tough question try saying ‘That's an interesting question’ thereby giving yourself time to think, and flattering the questioner;

Don’t be afraid to ask for a question to be repeated, especially if it is in multiple parts;

Don’t hesitate to make notes during your viva of questions you are asked so you can ensure you have answered each part of the question;

Check how full an answer you are expected to give: for example, after you’ve talked for a while you might say “Would you like me to say more about this?” rather than ploughing on regardless.

References

Institute of Education advice to candidates at http://www.ioe.ac.uk/doctoralschool/info-viva.htm

Murray, R. (2003) How to survive your viva: defending your thesis in an oral examination, Buckingham: Open University Press.

Wisker, G. and Hartley, P. (2006) “Interviewer: Post graduate viva” CD Rom.

Wisker, G, (2008 2nd edition) The postgraduate handbook, Basingstoke: Palgrave.

Wisker, G, (2005) The good supervisor: supervising postgraduate and undergraduate research for doctoral theses and dissertations, Basingstoke: Palgrave.