======= Date Modified 25 34 2010 19:34:40 =======
Hi everyone, sorry in advance for this quite depressing thread. My viva is coming up quite soon and I know I will fail. My first two year did not go that well, my third year was good but by that time it was too late and my write up was very rushed in the end. I submitted on time but my thesis is quite thin in comparison to others, I know we say we shouldnt compare ourselves to others but from the average size of theses in my field, mine is on the lower end of the scale. It is the standard of a masters or undergraduate dissertation. Some of it is good but most of it is rubbish. The good stuff has been published. What I really want to ask is how does one prepare for the viva with this view on the work they are going to be defending? I'm not looking forward to it but I will not quit and want to defend my thesis as best I can. :-s

I don't have much useful to say apart from that it might not be as bad as you think! Many people go into the viva thinking the worst and come out pleasantly surprised.

Firstly, think how you would discuss the thesis as a whole - without sounding pessimistic. Then go through the bits of thesis that you are proud of and create some sort of aide memoir of those key areas.

Also, in terms of practicalities I guess I'd be trying to identify the areas of weakness and, taking each one in turn, make a list of bulletpoints of what the problems are and how you would address them - even compiling this will help you get your thoughts in order which will make it easier if they start questionning in that area.

The very best of luck.

Thanks for your reply Angelofthenorth. I really hope I will be one of them people who come out pleasantly surprised, but to be honest at this point in time I doubt I will be, there are some good bits in the thesis that I am really pleased with, the problem is there are more bits I'm not so pleased with, I dont think there is enough explanation of my results, I've noticed a mistake, and the thesis is too short, but I will defend it to the best I can. I read your thread, hope things work out for you. Good luck(up)

My thesis is too short as well, but I've been reassured by my supervisors and other staff in the department that it will be ok. What did your supervisor say about the length of your thesis?

Good luck with your viva. Let us know how you get on. Mine will probably be in 2 months - eek!

Thanks Bilbobaggins, they said yes it is quite short compared to others but more or less said that it is better to have a shorter good quality thesis rather than a bad long lengthed thesis. I havent been told my thesis is of good quality. I hope you're viva goes well for you8-)

Thanks. Yes that's exactly what I was told as well: better to have a well-written concise thesis, than a far-too-long waffly one that should have been drastically cut. My supervisor said he would always prefer to read a shorter thesis than a ridiculously long one.

Good luck with your viva.

I can tell you a little story about short theses. My supervisor gave me hers as an example of a successful thesis right at the start of my PhD. It's actually quite short for a thesis, but it flows extremely well and reads beautifully. I never finished reading it and thought "that's short for a thesis" and I never looked at the thickness of it either. I just finished it and thought, God, I'll never replicate this kind of quality. I wouldn't worry about a thesis being short, it really is all about the quality and how it flows.

Hello,

One advise will be to look at the viva positively. Look at it as a chance for your to shine in front of others who may not be knowledgable about what you've done. Here are some examples of viva questions. You'll need to think them through. Which methodology did you use? why did you use it instead of other methodologies etc. Best of luck. Think positive.

1. In one sentence, what is your thesis?
2. What are the main findings of your research?
3. Why are they important?
4. What is your most important finding?
5. What are the main contributions of your research?
6. Why are they important? What is the relevance of your research?
7. What is original about your work/ original contribution?
8. Why did you choose this research area?
9. What have you done that merits a PhD?
10. How would you describe your methodology and why did you decide to use this? What other methods did you consider? What are the strengths and weaknesses of the method you chose?
11. Why have you done it this way and what do you gain by your approach?
12. Were there any ethical implications relating to your research and how did you deal with them?
13. What are the strongest parts of your work?
14. What are the weakest parts of your work/ major limitations?
15. How did you evaluated your work intrinsically?
16. How far do you think you can generalise from your results?
17. Theoretical versus methodological?
18. What do your results mean?
19. Who are the main players in the research area?
20. How do your findings relate to the literature?
21. Looking back, what might you have done differently?
22. What are your plans for this research now?
23. Where will you publish your work?
24. What have you learned from the process of doing your PhD?


Hope this helps,

K

Thanks for the advice guys, I know I'm not the only person experiencing these kind of feelings about the phd/viva. :$