My university supplied one: Turnitin.

They said it was ok if it came up plagiarised due to our own submissions.

You should comment on knowledge of your research area, technical ability, soft skills, work ethic etc.

I think it should be at least 1 page, probably 2.

I got that as well Cherub - it's like they were criticising my supervisors as well, asking me what they thought of my thesis and whether I had the appropriate support! They asked who helped me with a certain experiment and I said I did it alone and one of them just sort of smirked.

My corrections are so minor though - there's barely anything I can 'take on board' or learn from, except to try to warn others that no matter how good they think their thesis is, or how good their supervisors think it is, the examiners may well disagree and probably not in a nice way!

It's not about being criticised - I have no problem with that, I just think there's a way to do it that still makes people feel like they have achieved something. And yes, at the end of the viva, a 'well done' would have been nice, instead of just 'you've passed'. A smile wouldn't have gone amiss either.

Thanks everyone, I'm glad I wasn't the only one that went through this. Why are some academics such idiots!

You're right chickpea, I guess they were just picking on the issues and didn't mention the good things about my work, but to me it's a strange way to conduct a viva. All they would have had to say is 'this is good, so we won't discuss that too much' and if at the end they said 'well done, we really liked this or that', i would have been fine.

Onwards and upwards I guess, I will just make the corrections and try not to dwell on it too much.

Thanks Caro, I wish I could feel like that, but I just can't at the moment. Hopefully in a few days I will start to feel better.

So I had my viva yesterday, and even though I passed with minor corrections, my examiners made me feel like I didn't deserve to pass at all.

They even said something like, 'once you make these corrections, you will have a thesis you can be proud of'. I honestly couldn't believe it. Did they really think I wasn't proud of it already? Or at least I was until that moment.

Three of my supervisors had read my thesis, commented on it, made improvements, there were barely any typos, it was well researched, well written, well structured... Yes, some of the early experiments I did weren't very well designed and some of the later ones were unfinished, but I tried to make the best of the data I had. I recognized these limitations and I discussed them in the thesis and I explained the reasons for them in the viva. They didn't care about that, it was just the fact that the limitations were there in the first place.

They didn't compliment my work at all. When they got to the final chapter one of them said, 'I don't have a problem with this one'. That was the nicest thing they said all the way through.

Passing with minor corrections should be something to be celebrated, but all I felt like doing was going home and not talking to anyone, but obviously all my lab were there to 'congratulate' me afterwards and that was very difficult. I've passed with minors so how can I be sad about that?

It's like four years of work was meaningless. I would like to think that the examiner is like that with everyone, but I don't know anyone who has been examined by him before so I don't know that.

What a way to end four years of a PhD I really enjoyed doing.

I really don't think you can predict anything Caro. My supervisors have always given me good feedback, they thought my thesis was well written, I've got a paper published, I know my subject well, so they thought I would do well in my viva, I thought I would be fine in my viva.

I had my viva yesterday and it was horrible. I don't know if the examiner is like that all the time, or whether it was just me, but he didn't like my thesis, he didn't like my work and he didn't seem to like me either! He was very condescending and he didn't say anything encouraging at all, not even a simple 'well done, you've passed'. Just 'we are giving you pass with minor corrections'. No congratulations, nothing. It's like he just had to pass me and so he did, but he wasn't happy about it.

So, I hope yours will be the opposite and your supervisors are worrying unnecessarily and you will be fine!

Hello,

I can relate to your situation and I know how difficult it can be being away from home.

It's definitely not the case that if you're well enough to do your PhD in your home country that you are well enough to do it elsewhere. It is not the same. I really struggled during my year away during my PhD and I was counting down the days til I got home, even though I was in an amazing place. I'm also away from home now during my postdoc and I absolutely hate it as well, but this time it's different because I can come home once a month.

I'm sorry your supervisor doesn't understand, but I do see where she's coming from. I know my supervisor would have been so angry if I came home, because there would have been lots of students ready to take my place. I think you need to try to make her understand, let her in on your feelings and tell her how isolated you feel when you're away. Thank her for the opportunity, but say that you really want to focus on your PhD but you can only do that when you are in the UK. And try not to care too much about what she thinks, do what is best for you.

Seems like the person just wants replies from Malaysians anyway?

You need to explain what the images/figures show. If you have grown a tree and taken a photo you would say 'Figure 1 is a photo taken using xxx software of a tree grown for xxx days in long day conditions at 35C". The figures should be able to stand alone from your text, so someone should be able to understand them completely without having to refer to the main text.

I would email him again, or try calling?

Yes it's quite normal to have travel expenses covered for a PhD/postdoc interview. Good luck!