Your PhD Viva

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Your PhD Viva
The Unofficial Guide

• By Daniel Osei-Joehene

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Structure

• Preparing for the PhD Viva
• Convention of the PhD Viva
• Structure of PhD Viva
• Difficult PhD Viva Questions
• Useful References

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1. Preparing for the PhD Viva

• What is the PhD Viva Exam?

• A ritual ceremony as a right of passage

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1. Preparing for the PhD Viva

• The Examiners?

• Choose your examiners with your supervisor
• Who would you like to work with most?
• Who can help your career (academic/gov/com etc.)?
• Institutions that have post-doc projects etc.

• Consider experience location
• Inexperienced examiners can be the most demanding
• Examiners who must travel far

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1. Preparing for the PhD Viva

• What most examiners expect from an LSE PhD!

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1. Preparing for the PhD Viva

• Anxiety of Uncertainty !
• Role playing
• (with supervisor/friends etc.)

• Useful Preparation Strategies
• Write a good dissertation you can defend -)
• Familiarise yourself with all aspects of your
  work
• What is your contribution - KEY
• What are the strengths and limitations of your
  work?
• you should be able to say something meaningful
  for both...

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2. Convention of the PhD Viva

• The LSE Convention for the PhD Viva?
• Show respect for the occasion
• Dress and behave accordingly

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3. Structure of PhD Viva

• Introduction
• Examiners questions/discussion
• Conclusion

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3. Structure of PhD Viva

• Introduction
• We want you to know you have passed
• The examiners will ask you to introduce your
  work
• Please can you tell us about your PhD work?
• Please give us an idea of what your thesis is
  about and the ideas behind it?

• Be brief
• Show interest in your topic
• Set agenda of the discussion

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3. Structure of PhD Viva

• Examiners questions/discussion
• Sequence of questions
• Sequential or Thematic order

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3. Structure of PhD Viva

• Concluding Section

• What would you have done differently?
• Plans for future research / publishing?

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4. Difficult PhD Viva Questions

• Types of difficult questions

• Why didnt you do it my way or I would have
  done it differently!

• Given what youve done there are some problems
• Misunderstanding of work needing clarification
• A difficult question that must be addressed

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4. Difficult PhD Viva Questions

• Dealing with difficult questions
• Hold your ground, but know when to let go!
• Dont try to deflect good questions or valid
  points
• Be honest - dont try and hoodwink the examiners
• Show enthusiasm and interest - especially in
  defeat

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5. Useful References

• Google PhD Viva - caution!
• Books
• How to Survive Your Vivaby Rowena Murray
  (2003)
• Authoring a PhD by Patrick Dunleavy (2003)