the viva voce and beyond john kirby graduate school faculty of medical sciences university of...
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The viva voce and beyond
John Kirby
Graduate School
Faculty of Medical Sciences
University of Newcastle
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Purpose of an examination
• For the University– To assess and maintain quality– To mark ‘completion’ of the degree programme
• For the Student– Potentially leads to award of a degree– Is an important and memorable life event
• can be a real emotional roller coaster (for everyone involved)
– Excellent preparation for the rigours of life!
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Who needs an oral examination?
• All PhD and MD candidates– Students and full-time JRAs need one internal and one
external examiner– Staff candidates require two external examiners
• With an internal chairperson who play no direct role in the examination
• Not all MPhil candidates– Same criteria for examiners as above– Oral examination held at examiners request
• Not only for weak students • With a good candidate can be fun for everyone
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Appointment of examiners• See nomination forms on Graduate
School www-site. • Examiners must:
– be cognisant of standards– have subject knowledge (need CV)– command authority– not have played a role in the research– (if external) not have been a member of
Newcastle staff for at least 5 years– be able and willing to examine
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Invitation to examine – the examiners perspective
• Hard work for almost no pay!• This is not necessarily an honour
– Not even a valued career move?
• Why you and not someone else?– Are you a ‘soft touch’?– Are you the supervisor’s best friend?
• Will see the abstract of the thesis at the time of invitation
• Think about the thesis– Has the right to REFUSE!
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Who does what?• Your supervisor sorts out the details
– date, hotel, time, room, food, drink, etc.• The internal examiner
– Reads the thesis– Ensures the examination complies with Newcastle
University protocol– Ensures appropriate report forms are completed and
submitted in a timely manner– Provides balance, fairness and ensure good
examination conduct– Potentially plays a role during any appeals process
• The external examiner– Reads the thesis– Turns up on the day– Reports– Goes home
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External examiners
• Usually is the scientific specialist
• Maintains inter-university quality– Report provides important feedback to
Graduate School
• May not be completely ‘up to speed’ with local regulations!
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Criteria – all theses
• Should be:– Authentic– Scholarly– Professional– Well-structured, written and presented
• Some examiners are very concerned about your use of English
– Prooof reed your text carefully
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MPhil candidates
• Should– Demonstrate advanced knowledge– Have good knowledge of literature
• Theses need not be– As “original” as a PhD– Worthy of publication
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PhD/MD candidates
• Should – provide evidence of adequate industry– demonstrate ability for originality– understand relationship with wider field– thesis should contain material worthy of
publication
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Preparing for the big day
Research Student Handbook, page 110
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The Preliminary Report
• Regulations vary between institutions • Many institutions require examiners to
independently produce reports before the examination.– Newcastle does this– These can flag up potential problems
before the examination
• You won’t see this and should not make contact with your examiners before the exam.
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What will happen on the big day?
• Arrive in good time– Aim for “smart casual” but be comfortable
• Bring your lab books or other records– You may need to show these
• Bring your thesis– Stick in post-it notes to allow you to find the good
bits very easily
• Bring any publications or abstracts• Bring paper and pencils
– You might be asked to illustrate your answer
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What your examiners will have done before your examination - 1
• Read your thesis in very great detail• Taken a day away from a busy
schedule• Suffered a long train journey/flight
– Maybe stayed overnight in a (cheap) hotel
• Arranged the examination room– Interview style or seminar?
• Stuck lots of post-it notes in your thesis to highlight areas to discuss (do not despair!)
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• Agreed a plan with their co-examiner• Will be aware that:
– Oral examination of a good candidate can/should be one of the most pleasurable academic experiences for all involved
– Examination of a poor thesis/candidate can be very draining for all concerned!
• Will have devised different strategies for both situations
• Will try to put a nervous student at his or her ease with general questions
What your examiners will have done before your examination - 2
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What you should do to prepare• Prepare an answer for “please summarise your thesis
work in 5 minutes”.– Basically, learn your abstract!
• Abstracts are crucial and should be written very carefully with the above in mind.
• Prepare answers to obvious questions or criticisms (mock exam with your supervisors)– What have your progression panels asked you?
• Mark the good bits of your thesis so you can find them easily if the examiners skip over them!
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Oral examination • Don’t respond to criticism by becoming aggressive!
– But you should defend your decisions – Remember, constructive criticism is the examiners main
job
• Don't answer a long question with a simple “yes” or “no”– The more you say, the better you look (hopefully!)
• and the less your examiners can ask!
• Be up to date with your literature (your examiners will “google” the subject area immediately before the exam!)– There’s nothing more upsetting than an examiner who has
found a relevant paper in last week’s Nature that you know nothing about.
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Examination Results
PhD results (06-08)
A1 A2 A3 B1 B2 B30
25
50
75
100
Examiners score
nu
mb
er o
f st
ud
ents
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At the end (if all has gone well)
• The candidate will be asked to withdraw for a few minutes
• REMEMBER the examiners do not award the degree!!
• The examiners will work out what they wish to say, then invite the candidate back
• They will tell the candidate what recommendation they will make to the higher degrees committee (or other appropriate authority).
• They will smile and shake your hand.
• You phone your mum/dad/significant other…
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Corrections
• Make whatever corrections are necessary as soon as you can– One of your examiners will need to approve any changes
• Resubmit 2 copies of the revised thesis to the Graduate School– 1 is returned to the supervisor– 1 is held in the library
• You may wish to make additional copies for yourself (and your family)
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Electronic thesis
• It is likely soon that the library will also require an electronic (pdf?) version of each thesis
• This should increase the potential value of each thesis as it will be easier for others to access and read– Also easier to detect plagiarism
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Can examiners do more to recognise excellence?
• In many countries, 1st rate PhD students can be defined. – the French system allows PhDs to be awarded as
"honourable (not very good)", "very honourable" (average) and "very honourable with felicitations" (top 5%).
– there is no similar recognition in the UK.
• In Newcastle we ask examiners (on a separate report sheet) to indicate whether they consider the thesis to be in the top 10% of theses they have examined.– A committee will consider this recommendation and
prizes (a nice medal) will be awarded.• We hope this will be good for the student’s CV.
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The appeal process
www.ncl.ac.uk/spo/AppealsForm.pdf
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After your viva• How will your degree impact your career?
– Speak to Dr Lorna Dargan, our careers advisor
• Be proactive– Don’t wait for job adverts. Decide what you want to do
and approach people directly.
• If you wish to remain in academia, don’t wait for someone to get a grant. Write one yourself!– There are many schemes which fund immediately post-
PhD. Funders include: AR-UK, BHF, Wellcome Trust, etc.
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