Well done for being so enthusiastic! Yes you can sort of design the time to suit you. Academics at these conferences are always happy to help ECRs and so even if you present your tentative research questions they will soon tell you (nicely) if they can think of a better one or if you might need to rethink something. Good luck!

Remember the PhD is as much about a process as the final product. Some of your concerns will be valid and some will be nerves (lots of people think their thesis is weak before their viva but their viva is better than they then expect). Your reflection on the process will be valuable.

My own experience is that I was so conscientious that as I finished the work I went back to the literature just before submission and found a reference for each thing I’d found ( did an intuitive study). Even if it was obscure and remote (where the examiners would never have found it) I put in evidence to support each thing I’d found. I submitted and picked up the thesis a month before the viva and realised what I’d done – I has accidentally proved that there was nothing new about my research! Of course there was and the examiners didn’t even mention it but I prepared a big defence for that.

The viva will be here before you know it. Go in feeling you did everything you could xx

Continued....

You seem like a very mature, reflective individual who has this in hand. Viva prep is key and watching videos etc is important. But it sounds like you are nearly ready apart from the new lit review design. So do it 
Some people will advise you against taking corrections into the viva/conceding BUT you have been given advanced warning of your risks, use this to your advantage and be smart.

All the best – I really mean it when I say you seem on top of this. Best of luck and knock their socks off in the viva. They will be impressed that you have taken their advanced feedback on board. Even if you get majors – feel calm that you have done a lot of the background work in how to correct them and treat them like minors by getting them done and submitting. If you have the work in front of you, you might be able to convince them that 6 month minors is do-able but have an open mind…..they often give longer in case something happens outside of PhD life.

Good luck!

Dear NoChoice

Firstly, congrats on submitting…but I completely understand your concerns so let’s get straight to the point in addressing them.

On the positive side, you have been given a heads up that this is going to be a sticking point in your viva. You are lucky in that sense. You have two things to do:

1.) know the literature so you can answer their tough questions eg. why didn’t you look at xxxx? Well, because xxxx does this which is beyond the remit of my thesis OR on reflection I would like to add in xxxx because I am extending their research in this way etc….

2.) redraft a better plan for the lit review chapter with themes and authors ready to take into the viva (not necessarily the whole thing – probably a one pager). Decisions can be changed in the viva (not very often but some people articulate in person better than they write or if a candidate realises a major error between submission and viva they can demonstrate how they will address this corrections – what you need to do).
Be prepared for corrections, but also be confident in how you will address these. On reflection, you see the issue yourself –well done. Concede this in the viva and outline how you would correct it. By all means explain why you did a generic lit review but be open to improvements.

You want to avoid a fail (this is likely to be avoided given the rest of your post) but you may get majors. This is purely because as it’s a chapter re-write it is difficult for them to give you 6 months revisions in case you don’t make it. However, with all the new additions sitting in front of you they may see you are on the ball and may go for it. Even with majors though, if you’ve done a lot of the prep work for the viva you can resubmit in a couple of months and the job is done.

Continued....

I'm a part timer and much prefer it this way. I revisit my thesis when I can and when I want to and I thoroughly love having a full time job to distract me. I plan on only taking 4 years or so. Lots of people procrastinate and worry and if you are a part timer you cannot do this and so it forces you to work quicker, more eficiently and more effectively. Saying that, you need to be a certain type of person I think. I am hugely ambitious, already work in academia and have a background working in the city under hugely stressful environments and so quite enjoy the empowerment and independence of the phd. Some full timers have to do so much teaching and support work at their universities that they end up doing a full time job anyway, on top of the full time phd. I go to traning sessions with the full timers and they are not ahead of me - we have the best of both worlds!

That was really useful thnak you. I was a business student but funnily enough will be in the humanities department at the new university because the research takes on a different angle. I live about 120 miles away and can only do part time because I work in another universrty elsewhere. Most things have been agreed, but I still have a niggle in the back of my mind that I have to drive down everytime I need to, which is fine...but less fine if I need to attend lots and lots of classes.

Your post really helped, thanks.

This is the first time I have been on here because I would like to get an actual answer, as many business school web pages do not specifically say what I am looking for. I am starting a part time PhD in September at a non local university. I am happy to travel there to see my supervisor or go to the odd class but is this a problem? As a part time student, are there a lot of taught modules or time when you must be on campus? I have chosen the university because it is well established...but I need to think about how often I will need to be down there overnight etc....