Doing/ writing the corrections

..is a lazy task that I need to complete whether I like it or not. I was so not in the mood to write.

And if I type something (for the purpose of doing correction) I would be deleting it (I feel that it is not appropriate to write what I write). So, so lazy to do corrections.. with all the things that I need to add, give more explanations, provide supports. Give me all the strength Allah to complete this amanah and I hope I will really put an end to this Phd writing and move on to some other things. Eg. complete the university's research grant .. do lots of community services, internal and external training, present papers in and outside the country.. and the list go on. As for now, first thing first, corrections is the UTMOST PRIORITY!

I passed ...with major correction

Alhamdulillah..I went through the experience of having the viva on 26 March. I thank Allah for the process was smooth. I learnt a lot from the the oral examination. The committee of examiners gave me two mths to do the correction. I mistakenly thought it was three mths. I only realised that i had to do the corrections in two mths when i was reminded by one of my supervisors. I was a little panic..due to this i applied for a mth extension in submitting the correction to the internal examiners. For those who are reading, check carefully when you need to submit the corrections. Back in the viva session, I perceived that my external examiner (he was not present- a native speaker) throughly checked my thesis. He actually requested from my supervisor the soft copy of my thesis before the viva date. He ran again the analysis of the scores that I attached in the appendix. And of course changes needed to be made due to this. Concerning the item analysis especially for MCQ, he commented that the stems I wrote was too close. In fact, he required me to withdraw 2 items from the study. Concerning testing instrument in my thesis, I could say he was not satisfied with it as there was a lot of comments as far as this part is concerned. On the other hand, my internal examiners commented that my conceptual framework was too simple- a consequence that required me to change the title of my thesis... learning vs retention (drop the word learn and replace with retention). One of the examiners required me to withdraw one part of the literature review and replaced it with another heading. They also commented on my chapter 3. One of them told me that the elaboration on validity of the instruments were to shallow. She told me that I needed to respond to the comments made by the persons who checked the testing instruments. In short, the viva session was more of a discussion kind of thing. They were there to improvise my writing. I was really thankful to them. I was nervous before, during and after the viva session. But what I learnt was that you needed to respond to their questions... You might not have the answer which they wanted to listen, what was important was explaining to them of what you did, what made you did as such, your limitation and etc. Above all, always remember, it is your thesis that they are examining. Last but not least, remember that Allah is with you.. Don't be scared and never have the feeling that they are there to condemn you (motivational purpose). Good luck to those who are waiting for your vivas. You can do it! Imagine yourselves successfully underwent this examination...just picture it!

26.3.2012

That's the date for my viva. It'll be at 9am. I couldn't tell how I feel at the moment. So nervous. I hope things will be alright on that day. One of my supervisory committe members asked me to look at threats to internal validity. He also asked me to read the thesis for twice and practice the presentation infront of my collegues. InshaAllah, will be able to do it with few friends tomorrow since there were not many around last week.

Ya Rabb... ease me in the exam. Hope that I will be able to be fluent in giving my presentation and able to provide answers which satisfy the examiners. Not to mention, they will also be confident with my answers.

Reading notes as suggested to be prepared by Rowena in her book. However, will be postponing this reading task since at 4pm I have class...4-6pm class. Still feeling nervous but always remind myself no matter what happens Allah knows best and He'll always be by my side..

After practicing with friends..

I did few few practice with my colleagues. They made some comments. There was a question my friend asked... and she said I was repeating the same thing. So, I gave it another try in answering the question. After that she told me you supposedly you should not use this word, bla bla bla..you should be using other words..again bla bla bla. But one thing for sure I learnt from the presentations was that I need to make things clear of what I mean. Another colleague told me, you present as if we don't know anything. Is that true? In this situation, it was the first time they listened to my presentation. Yet, the panel of examiners have already gone through the thesis. Nevertheless, she had a point there. I need to clarify things.. make it clear to the examiners what I did, wrote...

Waiting for Viva date

It has been almost 3 mths that I submitted my thesis. Now, I am waiting for the viva date. Recently, I had dengue fever also known as breakbone fever. I stayed in the hospital for 2 nights after having fever for 5 days. At that time, I didn't read or write anything. Felt so tired and I lost appetite. I always notify myself for the viva date in the postgraduate portal. It was stated that my external examiner had submitted his/ her report to the School of Graduate Office on the first week of February. However, my two internal examiners haven't submitted their responses yet. Meanwhile, I pray hard to Allah that the process of presenting my thesis is smooth.

My paper was published in IJBSR

Alhamdulillah, my paper was published in the International Journal of Business and Social Sciences. It was accepted without changes, alhamdulillah again. I need to submit at least 2 journals in order for me to graduate. And the contents of the papers that are published need to be the findings of the study. The process of submitting was easy and I received prompt replies from the editorial board. Few days ago, I received the journal (in its hard copy form). I have completed writing another journal article and hope to submit it next week, inshaAllah.

How to Survive your Viva by Rowena Murray

There is a good book on viva entitles How to Survive your Viva for those who are waiting for the examination. It's written by Rowena Murray. I am in the middle of reading the book at the moment. It's available in library.nu. However, today I am not able to reach the website at the moment. It's clarify the-state-of-the-art of the examination. My adrenalin runs fast when I read the book. What I learnt was that viva is subjective for everyone. And it is good if we can ask the institution of how the viva is in the particular uni that we're studying. Most importantly, we need to have a lot of practices before the viva examination.

I have submitted the thesis for examination

Alhamdulillah, yesterday (6 Dec. 2011) I submitted my thesis to the Graduate School Office (GSO). I hope to submit it on the 5th but the Dean of the Graduate Studies in the Faculty was entertaining some students. After all, it was already 5 something. I was actually able to submit it in the morning, but when I submitted it to the Graduate Studies in the faculty, the clerk told me that I used a wrong form. There's a new form that I need to fill-in or use. I told her that I was not able to access the postgraduate portal (for at least four days already). She asked me to refer to the IT Unit in the GSO. So I went there again. After I got the form, I need to make another appointment with all my supervisors (supervisory commmitee member). I was only able to have all their signatures at 4 something. The process was not completed yet since I need to have the signature from the Dean of the Graduate Studies studies. I waited for 30 minutes for the signature. However, the clerk told me to get the form tomorrow (i.e. 6 Dec) since the Dean has just got back from a meeting. And at that moment she was entertaining some students.

Hence, on 6 Dec. I got back the form from the office of the Graduate Studies and sent all the copies of the thesis to the GSO. Back home, I noticed that there were some technical problems. For instance, Part C and Part D of my Pre-test was in my Post-test. I did amended this but the sections somehow went to other pages. I also forgot to thanks a friend who helped me with my statistics in my Acknowledgements. I will need to adress this during the examination. I supposed they will notice the former obviously.