How to Survive Your Viva: Defending a Thesis in an Oral Examination

by Rowena Murray

"How to Survive your Viva demystifies an opaque rite de passage ... familiarity with the rules and rituals is of critical importance for all doctoral students wanting to pass first time. PhD supervisors, examiners and viva chairs will find it a useful preparation for their roles too."
John Wakeford, Head, Missenden Centre The oral examination is a very specific communication event. It requires the highest standard of communication skills. Writing a thesis or dissertation requires students to pull their ideas together into a unified whole; oral examinations take it all apart again. Typical questions, and strategies for answering them, are provided in order to help participants prepare and practise. The book

Genres: Academic

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clearly only a niche market for this, but you can skim over it in two days and get yourself in a good mental place for your viva. Pretty decent practice questions, several of which came up in my viva.

[Janet · Rating 3 out of 5]

Scared me! My own viva wasn't nearly as bad as some of the scenarios in here.

[Dylan Parry Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book to read as part of your preparations. It pulls no punches about the arbitrary nature of academia in the UK and shares quantitative and qualitative research on the process.

I would recommend beginning to read this about 6 months before you are expecting your viva (before submission) and the advice shared is helpful from that point. Even if you buy it (as I did) a few weeks before, it is really helpful in signposting what you need to know (and find out) about the process.

[Mel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Scary little book that gives good tips on how to navigate the PhD viva process

[Brenda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book a week before my Viva. It gave me some good tips on how to prepare for the event. I hadn't even thought about some of the things I learned. At moments, I was uneasy when reading (I hadn't contemplated all the things that could go wrong!), but the author does try to help students look at the bright side (e.g., examiners will try to help you show your knowledge). Overall, it was a useful read.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fantastic help to preparing for the viva. It was extremely practical and informative.