How to finish a PhD and have successful viva

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22 21 Timetable • “Your thesis is your baby”: P. Prosser • Give it 9 months • Write it up • Fill in gaps, experiments … • “You have to know when to let it go” • Put a fence around what you’ve done www.inf.kcl.ac.uk www.dcs.kcl.ac.uk/sta!/mml 24 23 Writing chapters • Lay some good groundwork • LaTeX macros • Bib file • Indexing • … • You’ll discover holes in your research • Theorems you haven’t proved • Experiments you didn’t run • Di!erent problems or parameters • Mix writing with more research www.inf.kcl.ac.uk Writing chapters • Don’t start with the Introduction or Conclusion • Start where you feel happiest • Typically a middle chapter • Write outwards • Finally Conclusions and end with the Introduction • Write everything with your thesis message in mind • Get feedback before you write too much • One person to read each chapter as it is written • Another person to read thesis in order www.inf.kcl.ac.uk
26 25 Common Mistakes • Informal text • Examiners will jump on imprecision • Opinions • “.. The main problem in CP is modelling ..” • A thesis is an argument! • “.. A major bottleneck preventing the uptake of CP is modelling [Freuder, AAAI-98] • Complex sentences full of long words: “Preponderate” • A thesis should be a simple, convincing argument! • Entertainment or humour • Joke footnote www.inf.kcl.ac.uk Rule of Three • Within each chapter, repeat yourself 3 times • Introduction: We will show .. • Body: Show .. • Conclusion: We have shown .. • Within thesis, repeat your contributions 3 times • Intro chapter • Main chapters • Conclusion chapter • But don’t bore reader • E.g. in introduction be brief, in conclusions be broader www.inf.kcl.ac.uk 28 27 Common Problems • Writing too much • There are rules about maximum length • But rarely rules about the minimum • Nash’s PhD thesis • 27 pages long • Won him a Nobel prize • At some point, your brain will surely become toast • Take a break • Eat properly, exercise, sleep … www.inf.kcl.ac.uk Common Problems • It’s never possible to cover all issues • So you will never finish? • It’s sometimes enough to identify the issues • Examiners greatly appreciate you identifying limitations • Examiners greatly appreciate finding a few mistakes • Ideas become obvious to you • You stop writing to a su"cient level of detail • Especially hurts the opening chapters as they are often written last www.inf.kcl.ac.uk
Page 1 and 2: 2 Thanks KCL: • Felipe Meneguzzi,
Page 3 and 4: 10 9 How to Start • Write a thesi
Page 5: 18 17 Timetable • How long will i
Page 9 and 10: 33 Process and paperwork Long and b
Page 11 and 12: 42 41 Stage 8 • Outcome of viva r
Page 13 and 14: 50 49 Questions: novelty • What i
Page 15 and 16: 58 57 www.dcs.kcl.ac.uk/sta!/mml Ba
Page 17 and 18: 66 65 The Outcome • Pass (with th

How to finish a PhD and have successful viva

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