Hi all,

For anyone who has been through the corrections process after viva, I have some questions and would really appreciate some advice. I am really stressing about my corrections.

During the viva there were many things that my examiners did not like about my thesis, eg graph formatting and these have been listed explicitly as things to change. However there were others that they did not seem to make a concrete decision on whether to address or ignore these things, and these did not make it onto the list of corrections. So my question is, did you guys just address things listed explicitly in your list of corrections, or did you go back and do anything 'extra'? And if something isn't on the list of requested corrections from the examiners, can they then ask for additional corrections? I guess it's paranoia, it's just that nothing has been easy about this process and my examiners were so picky that I'm worried now that they won't approbe my corrections. Any advice/reassurance would be amazing right now. Thanks.

A very stressed Tulip.

Hi, Tulip

I had the same puzzle after I did my viva and have consulted several people who have been PhD examiners befor. I was suggested to ONLY do what your examiners asked for. The best amendment is the one which followed exactly what the examiners wished.

My own examiners were a bit disappointed, as it is easy to find that they did not read my thesis carefully before making the comment. For example, they asked me to add a book as reference in a particular place which I have the reference there, they just did not see it; asked me to add a paragraph to a certain places, which I had it, they just missed it when they read it......

I was a bit annoyed by their carelessness, but many people told me that I must addressed the problems they raised in my amendment report. Even though I have had the reference, I have to write: please see page xx, I have added a new reference as the examiner kindly suggested, etc, etc, etc.

I only did what they asked me to on the correction email - I ignored what else they said in the viva if I didn't want to make those changes, and I felt they were just personal preferences of the examiner. There were things they corrected on the thesis and I changed those that I agreed with and those that I didn't care about and left those that I disagreed with.

I also didn't do all of the corrections they gave me in their list either, because I disagreed with them or because they made the work too simplistic. There was about 20% I didn't do. I supplied a list of what I had amended and gave reasons for not making all the corrections. The internal signed everything off within a few days and didn't question anything further.

Mine were minor corrections, it might be a bit different if you have major corrections. I agree that the best advice is to do what they ask you to, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it in some cases.

I was given major corrections and received a numbered list of the three huge, project-changing corrections they wanted. One of them was completely restructure it and rewrite half of it, but the list was very clear about what exactly the tasks to do were. There were other criticisms that they made during the viva, but those weren't on this numbered list of things to do if I wanted them to pass it.

I was told by a number of people to do exactly those things on the numbered list, and nothing else. I then also wrote a report about how I'd changed it, which was my own numbered list of changes that responded directly to their own numbered list.

I passed!

I'm feeling your pain Tulip! I'm doing my corrections now too, and they have to be in today (why I'm faffing about on here, lord only knows)
Anyway, I think yes, just stick to what's on the list. That's how I'm approaching mine too. There were things they raised in the viva that aren't on the list and I'm not addressing those. I think you can use those afterwards if you want to publish some of the thesis... that's how I'm reading it.
And of course they can't not accept your corrections for things they didn't ask you to do :)

I made some minor corrections (that I brought up at the end of the via IIRC) that they hadn't spotted. I also didn't make all the changes suggested as some didn't make sense, but I explained why.

Hi All,

Thank you so much for the responses - these have really helped me see the wood for the trees so to speak. I've decided to approach the corrections so that only those things on the list are addressed like many of you have suggested. I've also decided just to address everything, because to be honest, even though there are a few points that I think are completely pointless, I feel that no amount of justification will make my examiner happy and I just want this process to be over. I'm on the last correction now and am hoping to have it all finished and sent off by tonight! :) It feels very strange to be nearly finished and I am so looking forward to my first thesis-free weekend in 4 and a half years!!

Thanks again, everyone on this forum has been amazing during my time on the PhD and I honestly don't know how I'd have coped without it at times!

Tulip

[/quote]

Another way that helped me was to think that it was irrelevant if I thought the changes were pointless - the Viva was the chance to convince them that it should be done my way, rather than theirs, and I effectively failed to convince them of this. So even if I still thought my way was right and their way was wrong, I should just accept that from an examination point of view, I'd already had the chance to convince them of this and failed, so I should just get on with the new task, which was giving it back to them the way they wanted it to be done. You don't have to believe that they're right, but to accept that you didn't manage to convince them that your way was.[/quote]

This is so true, and exactly what I totally failed to do in my viva! I found it very difficult because my external was intimating and just kept telling me I was wrong, so I believed him, I mean, surely a professor knows more than a PhD student, right?