How to attend final project viva

It is important to familiarise yourself with the assessment criteria and expected standards defined by your university and/or department.

The common standards used for assessing project are as below:

General

• Relevance of chosen topic
• Originality of chosen topic
• Significance of findings
• Degree to which the work is the student’s own work (as opposed to the supervisor)

Report

• Clarity of presentation
• Consistency between different parts of the report
• Degree of insight apparent from the arguments presented to support the decisions made in the project
• Ability to differentiate between others’ thoughts and your own
• Ability to handle references and citations
• General stylistic impression

Defence

• Degree of insight apparent from the arguments presented to support claims and conclusions
• Degree of insight apparent from discussion in response to relevant questions

Other

• How the student performed as opponent
• Fulfilment of deadlines and other formal requirements