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Thank you very much everyone. I am still trying to sink it in. I have some proofreading corrections to make in a couple of weeks but am so pleased with the result , I can do the cortrections in one hour 8-)





I was so worried I slept at 2 am and got up just read my own work. I met my supervisor an hour earlier as we agreed and he was very encouraging, showed me the room, then I was left there. It was very quiet and I had some water which helped me calm down. I had a chocolate just before the panel (could not have proper breakfast). I don't know why but I rushed to the computer cluster for 20 minutes and checked a couple of ideas so they remained fresh in my mind..and luckily, I was asked a question where I could put them to use.



The examiners were friendly but spared no effort to challenge my ideas. They started with an open easy question 'what have you learned yourself from your research' then I was asked why I choose this Theory as opposed to other theories, what I did that made my research better than other studies in the same field (I still described the stregnths of those other studies). I was nervous at the start but then just felt enthusiastic to talk about it. They asked me to clarify a couple of ideas and to explain a diagramme. There were a number of quite challenging questions but I was very knowledgeable about the subject. It was hard to remember that one of the examiners knew nothing about the theory itself and so I had to be clear and unpack my answers (which is great to avoid having long gaps in my reply). In general, I took a couple of seconds to decide which reply would be best etc...



The Viva lasted one hour and a half. I withdrew to my supervisor's office...and needless to say that was the longest wait ever....but well worth it.



I was told that it was 'highly intellectual' and that I answered various questions that required high competence ...to be honest, I heard 20% of that...just wanted to run out and call my OH and family .....spent last night telling the world


It is a relief and your help guys was brilliant (Sue and Bilbo and Heifer and every single person who took the time to reply or encourage me)


Best of luck to all those still on the way ... just believe in yourself, this is how others believe in you (yes, look who's saying that!) :p

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I just want to say yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

Thank you thank you thank you for all your support

I passed :) I have severe migraine now but I will post more in detail soon

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Hello again





many thanks for all of you for your very helpful replies.



Can't believe that in less than 24 hours, this long wait will be over.



I really really hope that I can manage to calm down tomorrow, I would feel terrible if I spoil it for myself but I feel very tense when I am the focus of attention ..I lose my focus immediately! :$





Today, I read a couple of new articles related to my topic and I intend to refer to them. One of them I received through personal communication with a key writer in this field and it sort of supports what I argued but I did not formally include it. I also wrote bullet points listing the implications of my research and future research interest (thanks to your wonderful help)



I will use some post-it notes to keep track of major agumements but will not worry much about them (I think they are just to show that I tried to prepare although really I know where every theme is by heart.)



Also have to read something written by my external examiner and maybe review my bibliography.





I am wearing a black shirt (never wore it before and not a %100 comfortable but quite formal) and grey trousers UGH the things that I have to worry about :$





Also, my hair is curly :p Does this look a bit unprofessional?


Thanks again all of you, your advice has been great so far ...and I apologise for the non-sensical messages, I feel absolutely petrified!



Will let you know how things go..

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Hi Sue

Many thanks for your reply.

I have certain ideas about how I want my research to proceed but i know that my weakest chapter is the last one (The findings and directions for future research) I have a problem of confidence, which does not help at all.

I will try to 'say' what I failed to include in this last chapter although it is clear that I did a lot more in my thesis that I finally stated :-(


I will follow your advice (thanks again) of thinking beyond Friday, go in with a positive frame of mind, defend what I did rather than apologise for I haven't done.

I know I can talk about many themes very confidently and I have to remember that no-one knows about my topic more than I do.

Fingers crossed and many thanks for your help everyone. I wish I found these forums earlier (sigh)

Thanks someone3. He thinks you can't contribute to every aspect and that it sounded good enough but I read that one of the common questions is what are the implications of your research. I think I will just answer that it offers an original *method* as opposed to strategies etc...

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Ok, I suppose I posted too late :p will just try to rehearse, tomorrow.

Another question please, if anyone happens to read this thread before the viva is over, what do people usually use post-it notes for? to remind them where certain ideas are? If so, what do you write on them? core ideas, etc?


I am going to try to summarise the rest of my thesis tonight/tomorrow and to go through my bibliograophy just in case they pick one of these very old references and ask me about it , hope not!:$

I agree with someone3. You might get a lot m,ore productive if you switch off for a little while. Jogging sounds like a good idea. Sleep Also have great restorative powers. I stayed up for 3 nights on the run before handing out my thesis and these were this was the lowest quality work I did for a while. As long as you stay reasonably organised, you should be able to meet deadlines without going over the top. Good luck..

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Only just found these forums ..... my viva is on Friday and I am so nervous, when my supervisor asked me how did you become interested in your topic (in a mock viva) my mind just went blank lol :$ no it's not funny! OMG!

One of the problem questions that I am trying to answer is: what is your contribution to knowledge? The core question! The problem is that the originality of my thesis is purely methodological but there are no implications for practice (only for reserach)

Another question that I am struggling with is what next?
:-(:-( I just want to say a long lie in and a holiday but they mean future research? How do people answer this question?

Thanks in advance,