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PhD Viva Panic ... Thesis full of mistake and its so disappointing

N

I have my PhD viva in a couple of weeks and have started preparing for it by reading through my thesis. I thought I had done a very good job with spotting all the typos and mishaps prior to submission but evidently, I was wrong. There are mistakes in literally every single page and they range from missing words, typos, missed commas, inconsistencies between the text and figure legends. I know I can't do anything about it now, but I really needed to rant about this where people understand what this feels like. I just feel so disappointed and honestly very embarrassed to have handed in such a rubbishy, careless piece of work. I just don't want to face the fact that I might get major corrections while I was really hoping for minor. I feel like such a looser if I get major corrections, I feel guilty for not having spotted things before submission ( I was severely sleep deprived), but still... URGHHH !!!!

K

You are where you are as they say ! The first thing I would say is challenge the way you are thinking about this. You were exhausted by the point of submitting and that is why you didn't spot the typos. If you can spot them now they can be easily rectified. Major revisions is a pass that requires some changes to be made. That is a major positive result in my book. If those changes relate to presentation rather than content all the better. Be proud that you reached submission and embrace any changes that need to be made. You are definitely not a loser. This is the final hurdle. Stay strong.

K

Quote From Nazanin21:
I have my PhD viva in a couple of weeks and have started preparing for it by reading through my thesis. I thought I had done a very good job with spotting all the typos and mishaps prior to submission but evidently, I was wrong. There are mistakes in literally every single page and they range from missing words, typos, missed commas, inconsistencies between the text and figure legends. I know I can't do anything about it now, but I really needed to rant about this where people understand what this feels like. I just feel so disappointed and honestly very embarrassed to have handed in such a rubbishy, careless piece of work. I just don't want to face the fact that I might get major corrections while I was really hoping for minor. I feel like such a looser if I get major corrections, I feel guilty for not having spotted things before submission ( I was severely sleep deprived), but still... URGHHH !!!!


It might well be a case of you thinking that it is a lot worse than it actually is. I would be very surprised if handing in a thesis that is riddled with typos is rare, if it was then surely most people would pass with no corrections!

That being said, I would start going through your thesis and highlighting/noting down any mistakes you spot. Take this to the viva and show the examiners you have already identified them, this can only be a good thing.

T

Absolutely agree with above. Go prepared and with the right attitude about things that might come up. They've probably seen worse in all their experience. I haven't had mine yet but I have concerns about issues with my thesis (I wish it was typos but it's more substantive stuff... basically, it's pretty crap... the result of a bad PhD experience full stop). Anyway, I raised these concerns with someone in the know the other day (actually I told him I thought it might be awarded MPhil), and he said, just go into the viva being aware of the shortcomings of the thesis and prepared to discuss them and show you're already aware of them. So, I pass on his advice to you. Typos is only gonna be minor corrections and that's the main thing, right? Good luck!!!

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