How to Handle A Tough Dissertation Viva Panel? Expertly Crafted Tips

Submitting your thesis to the department is a massive achievement. For researchers, it’s no less than a celebration as they get rid of the strenuous research journey. However, it’s not the end of the process. After thesis submission, you will be required to prepare for an intellectually gruelling hurdle, dissertation viva.

It is an oral examination that allows researchers to share their findings with academic experts. This is how you can defend the thesis and help the examiner decide whether you meet the requirements. The viva for dissertation is a complex process that involves a lot of penetrating viva questions and intellectual debate in a scientific community.

Naturally, we humans have a fear of the unknown. It is crippling and demotivating to face what we don’t know. In academia, the viva examination is a classic source of such anxiety. Therefore, there are ways to manage stress and handle viva panels. This guide is meant to introduce you to such way-outs. Keep reading if you are worried about your upcoming viva exam.

However, let’s first talk about what exactly this exam is.

What Is Dissertation Viva?

The dissertation viva is also called viva voce. This oral examination is taken to evaluate the performance of the researcher as the student showcases his knowledge to the viva panel. It is the final assessment stage so you have to perform your best to retain the attention of the panel on your work.

It involves writing a good thesis to use as a means for preparing your viva-specific question. Here, reliable dissertation writing companies can offer valuable solutions. The experts are better at writing quality samples that can showcase your unique research performance.

6 Tips to Handle Tough Dissertation Viva Panel

The dissertation viva presentation is a horrifying affair that you fear weeks beforehand. It is the most feared part of your degree, which is fueled by presenting your work to an evil examiner. There are countless stories of failed viva that make students unmotivated to appear for this exam. However, you do not need to worry more, as the tips below will make this journey easier for you.

Here are the essential tips that you must be aware of.

• Prepare your thesis content thoroughly.
• Practice as much as you can.
• Choose your external examiners wisely.
• Address the exact question being asked by the panel.
• Talk about the future implications of your work.
• Prepare general research questions in advance.
• Try to be relaxed for effective communication.

To read the details, you must go through the comprehensive dissertation viva guide given below. As a result, you will successfully be able to highlight your expertise in front of the viva panel.

1. Do Your Preparation

Many researchers think that viva is the process which is going to happen in a room. Your supervisor will defend you for your research degree. Also, there might be some other members of the evaluation team who will not give you a very hard time. However, it is the biggest mistake to be in such an illusion. It may restrict you from preparing for the viva, but you will remain engaged in completing your thesis writing.

The dissertation viva preparation goes all the way from understanding the prompt to being actively involved in the process. In the meantime, you can sit with your supervisor and talk about the various stages.

How to Prepare for Your Dissertation Viva?

The below tips can help you prepare for your viva effectively.

• Find out the viva process such as who will be on the evaluation panel, what is the deadline, etc.
• Research to check how well your thesis meets the criteria.
• Get readings to collect useful information about the topic.
• Plan certain topics that you can refer to in viva.
• Listen to the podcasts for better practice.

2. Do Practice

A mock viva is a session designed to prepare you for the actual viva exam. Here, you face the panel of examiners, your research seniors and other faculty members. The panel will scrutinise your thesis and challenge you with similar questions that you may be asked on the exam day. It will test your knowledge to provide constructive feedback in a controlled environment. Below are the reasons why mock viva or practice is important for dissertation viva.

• It provides you with an opportunity to defend your thesis and face the mock panel. This is how you become familiar with the format and intensity of the actual exam.
• It helps alleviate stress and boosts confidence.
• It reveals the weakness of your research in the oral defence to strengthen it before time.
• The feedback may refine your presentation skills and make your arguments persuasive in presentation slides.

How to Get the Maximum Benefit of Practice Session?

The better preparation of dissertation viva will increase your chance of success. Here are the three key steps to get the maximum benefit of this practice session.

• Copy the examination environment as closely as possible.
• Act on feedback to address the weaknesses.
• If possible, conduct multiple practice sessions to improve your performance.

3. Know Your Examiners

Research your examiner before you select anyone for the exam. Although you can’t directly select an external examiner for dissertation viva but can provide suggestions to your supervisor. As you have been involved in the research process for more than a year, you know the intricacies of your work. Therefore, you can suggest which experts can better evaluate your work.

It is fruitless to make an effort to deafen your thesis in front of the wrong examiners. Your decision to choose the wrong examiner may affect the whole progress. It will create a tense discussion between you and the examiner.

Tips To Choose Your External Examiner for Viva

Here, we discuss the top things that you must be aware of before choosing your external examiner for dissertation viva.

• Only the experts in your area of study can judge your performance. So, consider the academic authors within your research domain.
• Be aware of the conflicts of the examiner. The professor might not have any conflict with you but may have a bad perspective of your institution.
• Know their reputation in the community so they can refer you for a job position in the future.
• Consider their experience as an external examiner for thesis defence.
• Accept the difference in methodology and know their approach for a particular data collection and analysis.

4. Answer The Question They Ask, Not the One You’d Prefer

It is one of the most effective presentation hacks that most of the presenters use. They try to engage the audience with the aspects they are aware of. In general, it is meant to distract the listener from the point they want to discuss.

Although it can be effective in your casual class presentation, job interview, etc., considering it for your dissertation viva can be a trouble. Therefore, you need to exactly address their concern.

 How To Address the Questions During Viva?

• Think about the question that you might be asked in advance.
• Instead of being afraid, acknowledge that questions are a good thing that make the discussion engaging and interesting.
• Be confident and make eye contact with the panel.
• Make sure that you understand the question before rushing to answer it in the discussion. You can ask for clarification if needed.
• Be honest if you don’t know the answer. Make an excuse and give reasons why you did not notice a certain aspect.
• Be clear about your own opinion and theoretical facts when addressing concerns.

5. Prepare To Talk About the Future

Talking about future work is valuable for researchers. It can guide other researchers to new ideas or directions. In future work sections, you can discuss how to extend current approaches and evolve them.

Although the dissertation viva involves preparing for different questions, don’t skip this part. No matter what, the panel will surely question you about the future implications of your work. So, it is meaningful to mine in the future work of your research project.

Tips to Talk About Future Work In Viva

Find below some key tips to talk about in your viva voce dissertation.

• Explain where you think results can lead you.
• What do you think are the next steps to be taken in this domain?
• What are the concerns that your work raises in literature?
• Do you think certain frameworks are more promising to offer solutions than others?
• Give a claim to make the panel aware of your future research plans. If someone is interested in exploring similar areas, you may get a collaboration team member or a supervisor for your project.
• Don’t talk in detail, but keep it pretty short.

Hence, preparing for such queries in advance may reduce your anxiety and help you manage stress. Craft a compelling future work or conclusion section in your thesis document and then prepare for the thesis defence. If you are confused about pinpointing the future implications of your research project, then you can get the services of UK-based dissertation helpers for such analytical estimation.

6. Prepare Important Dissertation Viva Questions and Answers

The type of questions to be asked in your viva exam depends on the project or the discipline. It may also vary on the examiner. Some internal examiners may prefer to talk about the current study, whereas others are focused on its importance for the literature. No matter what, there are some general questions that every presenter encounter while presenting his work.

Questions Asked in Dissertation Viva Voce

• Summarise your research work in short.
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of your project?
• What makes your work unique?
• How do your findings relate to the literature of your field?
• Discuss your area of interest.
• Briefly describe the key findings of your work.
• What is the major driving motivation for considering that particular project for your thesis?
• Discuss how you evaluated the key findings.
• What is the main focus of your research?
• What are the areas of debate?

7. Keep Calm

Nervousness during dissertation viva is unavoidable. It might be because of several reasons. For instance, the fear of failure, forgetting something, not having enough time to present arguments, or feeling inadequate. If you are focused on your insecurities, don’t expect effective communication of your findings. So, keeping yourself calm is the best way to handle a tough panel. By incorporating the management strategies, you can begin to shift your fear to an opportunity for growth.

• Understand that fear, anxiety, and worry are normal in front of known scientists in the field.
• Practice your viva several times to beat the difficulty of the project.
• Have a positive mindset to improve your self-esteem.
• Learn from others’ experiences.
• Focus more on your work than the audience.

What Is the Purpose of a Viva?

Generally, the dissertation viva is the defence of your research work. The panel that involves your supervisor, co-supervisor and at least two other examiners will provide you constructive feedback on how to better your work. It tests the ability of the researcher to explain the argument they are expert on.

To evaluate the student’s progress, a viva examination sets out to determine,

• You understand all the theoretical knowledge that you put forward.
• You can tackle the question about various elements of your work.
• An understanding of how broad your work is and how it contributes knowledge to the scientific community.
• You are aware of the limitations of your work.
• Your research work makes an original contribution and is not plagiarised.

Conclusion

The dissertation viva is one of the most important aspects of your research journey. Students may pay good attention in preparing and writing for their thesis. Some learners who find it laborious to write their thesis can order their dissertations online to stay ahead of increasing competition. As long as you are able to write a good thesis, preparing viva from this document becomes easier.

Preparing for your viva dissertation defence is as crucial as writing your thesis. However, many students fear facing the scientific community. They get stressed, which affects the communication of findings to the audience. In this article, we have talked about how you can handle a difficult viva panel.

The examiner is supposed to give you a hard time with strange questions or make you confused over what you even know. It’s up to you how to cope with these sorts of situations. Therefore, the above-mentioned key tips may make this intent easier for you. Prepare, practice your work and most importantly, stay calm for a good performance of your thesis.