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Preparing for the viva 1: What examiners are usually looking for?


When preparing for a PhD viva, you need to keep in mind that the examiners would want to be satisfied that:

1- The work is yours, which is an obvious straightforward point.

2- That the contributions you claim to have made, were actually achieved to a satisfactory level expected for a PhD. In other words, that the thesis contributions meet the minimum requirements of contribution to knowledge expected from a PhD project. This is usually could be summarized in a main idea, novel contribution and a smaller contribution that is often in the form of proving the main idea to be valid. In some cases there may be more than one small contribution as a consequence of the main idea.

3- You have presented the work accurately, well, and in accordance with the norms of the research field.

4- You can conduct research independently demonstrated in the way you defended your research in the thesis and in the viva.

The first two factors are crucial to pass the viva. The last two factors are usually the source of most thesis corrections, which usually varies from spelling, grammar and punctuation corrections to writing full sections justifying or explaining parts of the work.

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