I base the PhD journey on a PhD programme in the UK, so it’s the classic model with a big book thesis, and a private oral examination or viva. For a full-time programme, you’ll have four years to submit your thesis and five years for a part-time student.
From day one, you start to meet with your supervisors on a regular basis to further develop your research plan. When you’re new, your supervisors will lead the process and intentionally set frequent meetings with you every week or two weeks. They will work with you with a more hands-on approach, providing you with a reading list, showing you how to search for and review works of literature and so on.
By the end of your first year, in some schools, it can be nine months; you’ll have your first-year probational review. It’s a critical one since the main purpose of this review is to decide whether your research can move forward. By then, you need to have clearly defined your research questions, conducted a comprehensive literature review to position your research. You’ve set a precise research aim and broken it down into three to five research objectives. Also, you’ve defined your research methodology. Basically, you need to convince the panel your research topic is worth investigating, and you can achieve it in the next three years.
Along with your written work, you also need to complete some forms, and so do your supervisors. Therefore, it’s crucial to work with your supervisor in advance to prepare for the review. Not a week in advance, at least one month in advance.
The outcomes of this review can be: the panel is satisfied with your progress completely, or satisfied overall with some minor unsatisfactory aspects, or the student’s progress is not satisfactory. Work with your supervisor to address the comments.
Now, you continue your research. You’ll realize the frequency of your meeting with your supervisors may go down. It’s a good sign. Your supervisors start thinking you’re getting better at conducting research independently. You’ll still have regular reviews with your school, every 6 months and 12 months until you officially submit your big book thesis by the end of the 4th year.
But this isn’t the end of your PhD.
You need to wait from 6-12 weeks to have your viva. The main reason is to allow your examiners to have sufficient time to read through your written work. If you submit just before the summer holiday, you may need to wait a bit longer.
Then, viva time! I am not going to say too much on the viva and how to prepare for it. I will cover it in detail in the complete your PhD programme. By now, you’ve already known 96% of students who reached the oral examination passed the viva. And within the candidates who passed their viva, 79% of them came out of the viva room with minor corrections, 16% needed major corrections, and 5% went through straight; no corrections are needed.
So let’s follow the majority; you’re given 12 weeks to complete a range of minor corrections. You don’t need another viva. Update your thesis, address all the comments, send it to the examiners if they need to see it. Once they are satisfied with your corrections, you can add a DR in front of your name.
However, you may need to wait for a while till the next examination board meeting to get your certificate. Most universities in the UK hold the graduation ceremony in July. You’ll be invited in June if your revision is accepted. Of course, you don’t have to attend the final ceremony to mark the end of your PhD. But it’s a lovely way to celebrate your accomplishment.
If we have a close look at this 4-year programme, in reality, it’ll take you 4.5 to 5 years. Think about all the associated costs and time. I always suggest my students submit their thesis a bit earlier, to include their viva and corrections if possible in the four years. And it’s possible!
If you intend to complete it within four years, you can do it.
Join the Complete Your PhD Online Course
oin the Complete Your PhD Course. I’ll show you:
- How long do I need to complete each section of my thesis?
- How can I stay motivated to work on my research?
- What strategies can I use to work more effectively?
- Which technologies will help me the most?
- How can I get unstuck from writer’s block?
- When should I submit my thesis?
- What can I expect at my viva?
Get ready to complete your PhD on time with joy!