qid
int64 1
2.78M
| question
stringlengths 2
66.6k
| answers
list | date
stringlengths 10
10
| metadata
list |
|---|---|---|---|---|
37,986 |
I see that many professors spend all of their time applying for grants, minus a little bit of time to interact with the graduate students on their grants and a little bit of time to fulfill their teaching obligations. They are of course doing a great service to their graduate students, who perhaps otherwise would not be able to do research, but it doesn't seem very enjoyable to be in such a position.
I've spoken with many researchers at national laboratories who say they chose to go that route so that they could be mostly freed from the grant game (of course some of them still have to write grant proposals).
I enjoy doing research, but my real passion is in teaching, so my goal has always been to be a university professor. However, I am not fond of the idea of "hustling for money" (as one researcher at a national lab put it). I personally would much rather spend most of my time preparing strong lectures. (I would consider high school but the topics I would like to teach only are offered in universities.)
So, my question: can one survive in university academia without grants, perhaps at the cost of not having graduate students? Is it enough to be an effective teacher, with a strong albeit grantless research portfolio?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 37995,
"author": "Brian Borchers",
"author_id": 4453,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4453",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "There are certainly some situations in the US where you can be a tenured professor, do some unsupported research, and never bring in grants. However, the expectation that you will bring in research grants is fairly wide spread, and having at least some grant funding is necessary to obtain tenure at a surprisingly large number of institutions (not just the \"Research I\" nationally ranked universities.) \n\nResearch funding varies dramatically between disciplines. In the following I'll restrict my attention to mathematics since you mentioned that was your area. I'm including statistics since in many cases statisticians get jobs in mathematics departments at these kinds of institutions.\n\nThe exceptions boil down to universities in which research is not a high priority and teaching is more important. These institutions are typically \"Regional Comprehensive Universities\" often with names of the form \"directional state university.\" For example, in New Mexico we have \"Eastern New Mexico University\", \"Western New Mexico University\", \"New Mexico Highlands University\", and \"Northern New Mexico College\" \n\nTeaching loads at such institutions are typically high (3-3 or 4-4, plus lots of advising) and graduate programs are small or non-existent. Undergraduate\nscience and engineering degree programs are also small. Many of these universities don't offer any degrees in engineering. Much of the enrollment in math and statistics courses is in freshman level service courses like college algebra and intro to statistics. \n\nIn order to get hired into a tenure track position at such an institution you'll need a PhD and some teaching experience (many candidates for such positions will have worked in \"visiting assistant professor\" positions for a few years.) There will typically be some expectation that you will publish research during your time as an assistant professor, and you may be encouraged to apply for research grants, but very few faculty at such institutions actually have grant funding from the NSF or other federal agencies. \n\nIn mathematics, the number of tenure track positions has been in decline in recent years. The competition for these kinds of positions has become extreme, with institutions reporting hundreds of applications for each position."
},
{
"answer_id": 38094,
"author": "Bill Barth",
"author_id": 11600,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11600",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "You say in your comment that \"[t]here are no real costs associated with my research,\" which is a huge misunderstanding about the costs of research. The vast majority of research budgets (in the US, based on my experience) are salaries for the researchers. While NSF limits professors to 2 months of salary across all grants from NSF without special permission, many graduate students and postdocs are funded mostly or entirely off grants won by those professors. If you want to have a grad student work with you on your research, you need to fund their salary and tuition, as well as their fringe benefits and the university's overhead charge (which keeps the lights on and pays for admin staff, etc), and at most universities this money comes from external funding. I guess that students who TA can also do unfunded research with a professor as they work towards their PhD, but this seems unfair to them unless the other requirements (classes, quals, etc) from their department are minimal.\n\nMost universities in the US cover 9 months of salary for professors, so if you want to be paid that other 25%, you need to bring in external funds or teach classes during the summer semester/quarter. \n\nHow much of this you choose to do will depend on how ambitious you are. If you want tenure and raises, you will almost certainly be required to win some grants. Though, once you have tenure, you can basically stop winning grants and support no students, though your colleagues will probably stop giving you raises at that point as well."
}
] |
2015/02/01
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/37986",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11251/"
] |
37,988 |
I have a question regarding what tense form should I use to refer to an earlier self publication in a monograph chapter.
For example, if I want to say (in the chapter), "most of the results **were** published in [1]", is that OK? Or should I use the present perfect tense?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 37989,
"author": "D.W.",
"author_id": 705,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/705",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "Yes, writing \"Most of the results were published in [1].\" is OK.\n\nBonus tip: Don't treat citations as nouns / noun phrases. Instead, if you delete the citation, the entire sentence should still make sense and be grammatical. Thus, better style is to say \"Most of the results were published by Smith et al. [1].\" (for example).\n\nFor more elaboration, see <http://www.read.seas.harvard.edu/~kohler/latex.html#refnoun>, which is part of [Eddie Kohler's excellent tips on scientific writing and using Latex](http://www.read.seas.harvard.edu/~kohler/latex.html)."
},
{
"answer_id": 37994,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "I would generally go with \"are published\", since \"were\" would suggest to me that the results are no longer published. In some odd situations \"were\" might be better, for example, \"the results were published online [1], but the website has been taken down\". Similarly, in a case like \"the results were published in the first edition [1], but have since been removed\", I think \"were\" might be better since although the results are still technically published in the first edition, the point is to note that they are no longer published in the second edition."
}
] |
2015/01/30
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/37988",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
] |
37,998 |
I shall soon get my degree in Biochemistry. Recently I attended several professional master-classes on film-making and producing, and now I want to get a MA in Film. For this masters, my CV is needed. Thinking that the master-classes I attended will help me in my admission, I am unsure under which sub-category I should place the names of the certificates; under 'Certificates & Awards', 'Education', 'Experience', or something else?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 37989,
"author": "D.W.",
"author_id": 705,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/705",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "Yes, writing \"Most of the results were published in [1].\" is OK.\n\nBonus tip: Don't treat citations as nouns / noun phrases. Instead, if you delete the citation, the entire sentence should still make sense and be grammatical. Thus, better style is to say \"Most of the results were published by Smith et al. [1].\" (for example).\n\nFor more elaboration, see <http://www.read.seas.harvard.edu/~kohler/latex.html#refnoun>, which is part of [Eddie Kohler's excellent tips on scientific writing and using Latex](http://www.read.seas.harvard.edu/~kohler/latex.html)."
},
{
"answer_id": 37994,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "I would generally go with \"are published\", since \"were\" would suggest to me that the results are no longer published. In some odd situations \"were\" might be better, for example, \"the results were published online [1], but the website has been taken down\". Similarly, in a case like \"the results were published in the first edition [1], but have since been removed\", I think \"were\" might be better since although the results are still technically published in the first edition, the point is to note that they are no longer published in the second edition."
}
] |
2015/02/01
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/37998",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/27822/"
] |
37,999 |
I receive many questions from colleagues about homework in a certain course which I took a while back. I try to answer them and help them solve homework which are very similar to the ones I did when I was taking the course. There is no TA for that course, so they come to me with their questions.
I am not sure if what I am doing is ethical. The professor doesn't know that I am doing this. Should I stop and tell him about this and see what he says?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38001,
"author": "Dirk",
"author_id": 529,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/529",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "To \"answer their questions\" may mean different things, and some of them are OK, while others are not. E.g. answering questions like \"What does this mean?\" by explaining the thing in your own words is of course OK. However, solving their homework problems for them is not.\n\nI guess, one can draw a line here: If you are **helping them to learn the topic** then it **is OK**. If you only try to **help them to pass the course without caring about their progress** in the topic, it **is not OK**.\n\nSo my advice would be: Focus on the topic itself when answering questions. Try to find out or guess what the instructor of the course wants the students to learn and help them to accomplish that.\n\nOh, and of course, asking the instructor is also OK."
},
{
"answer_id": 38005,
"author": "Florian D'Souza",
"author_id": 26958,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/26958",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "In most courses I've seen, there is usually some sort of policy regarding how and when to cite sources, where \"sources\" include people. If your course has such a policy, then it should be straightforward to answer whether what you're doing is ethical or not. If the instructor explicitly forbids collaboration on homework assignments, then you should probably not answer anything related to homework. However, if there is no explicit policy, then it is fully acceptable to either ask the professor (as Dirk mentions) or ask that you be cited as a source on the homework.\n\nPersonally, I only answer homework questions where there is at least some effort put into trying to solve the question(s) and/or not working on the exact problem in favor of a similar one. As such, I am not just giving away solutions, and I can usually focus more on the theory behind the problem than the problem itself. The downside is that it can be hard to come up with a related problem that is not trivially different from the \"real\" homework problem.\n\nAs an aside, this type of question comes up very frequently in various Stack Exchange Metas. If you search \"homework questions\" or \"homework policy\" on [Cross Validated](https://stats.meta.stackexchange.com/search?q=homework+questions) or [Mathematics](http://meta.math.stackexchange.com/search?q=homework+policy), for example, you'll see many discussion about what to do when posed with homework questions. I think a lot of the discussions might be relevant to you or anyone faced with a situation like you describe."
},
{
"answer_id": 38015,
"author": "Bob Brown",
"author_id": 16183,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16183",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "If, after you are done helping, the person you helped could take a blank piece of paper and completely answer the question(s), then you've helped someone learn and that is good.\n\nIf, on the other hand, the person you've helped is parroting your words, formulas, algorithms, or whatever and cannot otherwise answer the question, then (depending on the policies of the course) both of you may have committed academic misconduct. Regardless of policies, what you have done is unethical because you've deprived another student of an opportunity to learn."
},
{
"answer_id": 38030,
"author": "darkrxn",
"author_id": 28792,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28792",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "I enjoy the Socratic method. I can walk somebody through a solution step by step without ever answering their question, by asking them questions that lead them to the next step on their own. This has been widely unpopular for me, because most people I surround myself with want instant gratification. When they see the solution, it makes perfect sense, and they feel like they \"know that,\" but they were not able to synthesize the solution independently, and likely cannot do so later on, such as on an exam. Recognizing solutions and synthesizing them are different. I know very few people who want to endure the pain of learning something, and it sounds like the person using you as a crutch is using you from the way you narrate your situation. I see no harm in using the Socratic method and no need to tell anybody about it. Is the material on Khan Academy?"
}
] |
2015/02/01
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/37999",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18244/"
] |
38,000 |
I'm not a native English speaker. I would like to cite a book originally written in German for a writing sample to be sent for admission purposes to a graduate school in the UK (MA programme).
There are at least two translations of said work: Romanian and English. I have read the Romanian translation, not the English one, because it was far more convenient to do so. Naturally I translated the Romanian passages to English and cited them appropriately, but the citations are based on the Romanian translation (e. g. I have cited a passage to be found on page 52 of the Romanian translation).
Is it a problem that instead of citing the English version of the book, I have cited and translated the Romanian version? I'm afraid so, because the reviewers probably don't speak Romanian, therefore they can't check whether the cited passage is REALLY there in the Romanian translation or I just made up the whole thing. Plus they might think I'm lazy.
If this is indeed a problem, I have to find all of these passages - which I have originally read in Romanian - in the English translation and rewrite all footnotes, bibliography etc. (e.g. the passage which is located on page 52 in the Romanian translation might be located in a different place, say page 63 in the English translation).
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38002,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "There are two things to address here. First, relax. The exact sources you are citing in a writing sample for an MA program are NOT what the admissions decision will be based on. It is unlikely anyone is going to check up on your citations and even if they do, they are not going to care.\n\nThe second thing is, it is generally best to use the original, untranslated source. When the original source is not in a language you are proficient in, using a translation is reasonable. If you are writing in English and need to use a translation, then using the English translation is best, unless there is a compelling reason not to. In the future, you may want to work with English translations, but again for a writing sample, no one is going to care."
},
{
"answer_id": 38003,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "There are two issues here: what the ethical requirements are, and what will annoy readers.\n\nEthically, you have to make your citations clear and correct. If your information and page numbers come from the Romanian translation, then you need to indicate this explicitly. (The page numbers and even the details of the content could vary between translations.) As long as you do that, using the Romanian translation would be eccentric but not unethical.\n\nOn the other hand, it will almost certainly annoy your readers, given that you aren't writing for an audience you expect to have a special interest in the Romanian translation. You are making it much more painful for readers to learn anything from your citations, which can give a bad impression (like you don't care about your readers or don't expect anyone to ever want to look up these references).\n\nUpdating the references sounds like a pain, but it is worth doing if you can. If you can't do this before submitting your writing sample, then I would append a brief explanation/excuse. For example, you could explain that you wrote this paper for a Romanian audience and don't have the English translation available to update the references. This wouldn't give a great impression, but at least it makes it clear that you realize this is unusual and would fix it if you could."
},
{
"answer_id": 38017,
"author": "Andreas Blass",
"author_id": 14506,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14506",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "If I correctly understand your question, you are including, in your writing sample, your own English translations of the Romanian translation of the original German book. As far as I know, that's fine, provided you make it clear that this is what you've done. For example, cite the original German book and its Romanian translation, and add that your translation is based on the latter.\n\nIzonqhous Mathugaxojiog said that this will make it much more painful for your readers to learn anything from your citations, and that's probably true, but I don't think the purpose of these citations is for the readers to learn anything. They will learn from your English translations. The purpose of the citations is to give proper credit to the author and the translator, and also to insulate you from blame if the Romanian translation that you used turns out to be inaccurate."
},
{
"answer_id": 88161,
"author": "virmaior",
"author_id": 19769,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19769",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "There are two general answers that are quite good.\n\nI want to add a more specialized answer. In philosophy done in English, there is often a standard academic translation that is used. For instance, the academic version of Higul's *Phenomenology of Spirit* was up until very recently AV Miller. \n\nIf you are trying to publish a paper or publish with a legitimate press in philosophy in English, you would generally cite the most common translation and its pagination. For things with an academic edition in their original language (like Tanl), you cite that pagination. In either case, you can amend the translation if you can do it better or to highlight something you argue for ...\n\nThat being said, this would not matter at the point of *applying* to an MA program and would probably not matter much in courses in MA programs or PhD programs even in philosophy in the US."
},
{
"answer_id": 133779,
"author": "anon",
"author_id": 111197,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/111197",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "If you are basing your argument on having read a translation from langauge O into language X, which you then translated into language Y, you should cite the translation into language X (and the original publication into language O), notwithstanding the fact that a published translation into language Y exists. This is because there will be differences between **your** translation from O to Y via X and the published translation from O to Y. The point of citation is to show transparently **your** basis for arriving at a given argument/conclusion."
}
] |
2015/02/01
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38000",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28777/"
] |
38,022 |
What education does one need to be called "Professor" in the United States of America? A woman with a law degree in a junior college paralegal program insists on being called professor at a local community college. She is the only one in the whole school that does this. Is this normal?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38027,
"author": "ff524",
"author_id": 11365,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11365",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": false,
"text": "I'll answer the general question in the title of your post:\n\n> \n> What education does one need to be called “Professor” in the United States of America?\n> \n> \n> \n\nNone at all. In the United States, someone who holds an appointment as a professor (of any rank, including professor-like positions that may not even include \"professor\" in their official name) at a university may be addressed as \"Professor.\" It is not a matter of their level of education, but of their job title.\n\n> \n> A woman with a law degree in a junior college paralegal program insists on being called professor at a local community college. She is the only one in the whole school that does this. Is this normal?\n> \n> \n> \n\nIf she has an appointment that is in the range of \"professor\" positions, then she is perfectly entitled to insist on being addressed as \"professor.\""
},
{
"answer_id": 38028,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "No specific educational background is necessary to be called \"Professor\" in the United States. It is not an honorific like \"Dr.\" which refers to a specific degree. (There have been some famous academics who had no more than a BA, e.g. [Lyman Kittredge](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Lyman_Kittredge). This is less common as time goes on, but there are certainly many professors without terminal degrees in their field.) \"Professor\" is a formal job title in the field of higher education, and if someone holds that title at their institution then they can use it with legitimacy. \n\nIn general, anyone can \"insist\" upon being called anything, and the other party can then decide how they want to respond. I could refuse to call my physician \"Dr.\" if I chose to; what happens then is up to them. Insisting on being called by your job title while on the job seems reasonable to me. \n\n\"Is this normal?\" can be a hard question to answer for strangers on the internet. Granting the premise that she is the only faculty member at the institution that wants to be called \"Professor\", then...it seems to follow that it's not normal at that institution. But there are many other American professors who want to be called \"Professor\" and many institutions where this is the most common appellation, so in that sense the practice is normal. \n\n(**Added**: @AnonymousMathematician gives some compelling conditions in which it may be *appropriate* to be the only faculty member at their institution who insists on this.)"
},
{
"answer_id": 38035,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 7,
"selected": false,
"text": "I completely agree with the answers by ff524 and Poko R. Xlark, but I'd like to highlight one issue that's in the background here, regarding whether this behavior is normal. When someone makes a point of emphasizing a professional title, it might be because they are pompous, but they might actually have a good reason for it. It's difficult to do your job well if the people you are interacting with don't maintain an adequate level of respect and professionalism, and insisting on titles can be an effective way to control the tone of your interactions.\n\nWhether this is helpful is often correlated with gender or race: many white men are treated respectfully by default, while women or minorities sometimes find that students or colleagues interact with them in troubling ways that don't arise nearly as often for their white male coworkers. For example, students sometimes expect unreasonably forgiving and nurturing behavior from women and react harshly if they don't get it, students sometimes disrespect women in class and try to challenge or undermine their authority (for no intellectually compelling reason), etc. Of course this doesn't always happen, but it's a real problem for some people.\n\nInsisting on the use of a formal title is one way to address this issue. You run the risk of looking pompous or uppity, but you are willing to take that risk in exchange for reminding everyone of your position and your desire to maintain a formal and respectful tone. This may not be the best solution in any given circumstances, but it works well enough that it's reasonably common.\n\nSo my recommendation is to approach this issue with some charity. If you hear complaints about someone insisting on a title that nobody else cares as much about, especially a woman or minority, you should keep in mind that it may be their way of dealing with a difficult situation."
},
{
"answer_id": 38141,
"author": "Pax Per Scientiam",
"author_id": 28858,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28858",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "As far as physics goes, any PhD hired to teach is rightfully called \"Professor.\" However, their title may technically be, for instances, \"Assistant Professor\" or \"Associate Professor.\" One is considered a (Full) Professor once one has been granted tenure by the appropriate committee.\n\nIn short, one is a professor if one has been granted a PhD and one has been hired on to teach. One is considered a full professor if one has been granted tenure by senior faculty.\n\nThat said, I've never met a professor that objected to being addressed as \"Dr.\"\n\n[BU](http://www.bu.edu/handbook/appointments-and-promotions/classification-of-ranks-and-titles/) has a very nice general breakdown.\n\nEDIT: not sure why I'm being downvoted. If you're an American physics student whose experience is counter to my account, please do share."
},
{
"answer_id": 76611,
"author": "R Philip Aguilar",
"author_id": 61608,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/61608",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "In the USA, The title of Professor is given to people that have a PhD and are teachers at any academic level. A person who is a Doctor is someone who has finished a terminal degree meaning they have completed the highest degree in their field of study above a bachelors. Currently a Masters of Fine Arts is the top degree for artist in the USA technically can be called Doctor last name. Art classes are informal setting so you call the instructor by their first name but they are currently trying to develop a PhD program. Master levels are called Instructor. Now because some people get in a snit about the title of Doctor the custom is to only call people with PhD's Doctors. If you are a grad student and are called professor you should correct the person because it is a title that people earn with an additional 5 to 8 years of study. As to the OP on the first day of class the professor should of introduced herself and what degree she has from which schools. Teaching at a 2 year community college only requires a masters degree 4 year universities you need a PhD or terminal degree such as in art person. grads teaching under a direct supervision of of the proper degree person. It was a long answer but so much misinformation in the thread. I have a MFA you will find that most people teaching with an MFA a university know the details because we are the lowly Instructors among the Professors."
},
{
"answer_id": 89413,
"author": "Kelly S. French",
"author_id": 105,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/105",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Sharing my own story since it comes in the grey area and might be helpful to some.\n\nI recently completed a Master's degree in Computer Science and was asked to teach an undergraduate class the next semester. The version of this question I asked my wife was, \"what should I have the students call me?\" She was merely amused and responded why would it matter but astutely mentioned that it should be enough for the students to know the university was satisfied with my credentials and thus allow me to teach there. In the same vein of other answers here, I'm not insisting on formality for its own sake but am trying to juggle lots of cultural norms involving titles in an educational setting and so forth.\n\nSince I neither have a PhD nor do I have a medical degree, I shouldn't expect to be called doctor; the question is whether to correct a student who addresses me that way. It hasn't happened but I've resolved to correct them if it does, that just leaves me with what to ask them to use in place of 'Dr.' The natural choices are the forms Prof. Jrephh or Mr. Jrephh. During my undergrad days when we had an instructor that did not have a PhD. we would make sure to use Mr. or Mrs. (in those days the Ms./Mrs. debate had not flared up yet).\n\nIn my case the question came down to whether I could be referred to as Prof. Jrephh without either confusing a student who then expected I held a PhD or somehow being seen as borrowing the title as a form of ego-stroking. There are several questions that dance around the issue like, [is it ok to call Prof. X Mr. X](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/89307/is-it-okay-to-call-prof-xx-as-mr-xx) **or** [addressing a friend who teaches after joining his lab](https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/57958/105) **or** [at what point can I refer to my professor by their first name](https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/45323/105) \n\nWhat cleared it up for me was my appointment letter, which stated unambiguously that I was being appointed as an adjunct professor. At the beginning of class I wrote my full name on the board but did not include my work history or my degrees, heeding my wife's advice on not feeling the need to express my credentials to the students as I don't need to prove anything to them. When students address me they use Professor Jrephh both in person and in emails and that works for me. \n\nMy oldest daughter has recently finished not only a degree in teaching - and has been teaching in a primary school for years -but completed a master's of her own, but a different field, the same semester as I completed mine. I consulted with her about teaching in general and she had a ton of good information on how to manage a classroom. We agreed that in my case I didn't want to tell them it was my first time teaching; mainly because while it might make me feel less of a need to apologize for mistakes or oversights it would give the students a seed of doubt, however tiny, which might serve as a distraction. \n\nAs it turns out, the teaching assistant for the class is a PhD student so she addresses me in emails as Mr. Jrephh which I prefer because she isn't one of my students and if I insisted she use Prof. Jrephh it implies more formality and hierarchy than I'm comfortable with. When she refers to me when speaking to students she says things like, 'you need to see the instructor' or 'you need to talk to Mr. Jrephh.' both of which are fine with me for the same reasons as above.\n\nSo in most cases it might be a simple answer but you really need to have more context to guide you whether it comes from the culture or the institution.\n\nNow, if I can only figure out what to call the other faculty now that I am one..."
},
{
"answer_id": 99536,
"author": "tewodros amberbir mekonnen",
"author_id": 83500,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/83500",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "In my opinion, I don't think it's appropriate to call or act as a professor without PhD because it lead the community on the wrong way of perception. For instance I have a MBA, and sometimes universities invite me to give lectures. The students used to call me as I'm a professor and I refuse because it don't make sense. I know many colleagues haven't a PhD but they are professor. It seems unusual and inappropriate even assistant or associated professor."
}
] |
2015/02/01
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38022",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28790/"
] |
38,023 |
I was wondering if it would be ethical for a PhD student in the field of Computer Science to hire a programmer in an specific domain; so that he could focus more on the algorithmic or mathematical part of the thesis. Would that be something ethical to do? Should the PhD student include this assistant as a co-author in the articles?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38026,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "I don't think it is *inherently* unethical to do this. If all relevant parties know about it and you scrupulously acknowledge this other person's work, then I see no specific problem.\n\nWhether it is advisable is a different question...and one you should certainly ask your advisor. I have to say that it does not sound like such a good idea to me. Your thesis work is for you to do...almost by definition. It is perfectly fine to get help from others on your thesis, and some people are better programmers than others (even in CS, I imagine), so getting some pointers from a friend is actually a good idea. But *paying* someone to do a part of your thesis work just doesn't sound good to me. Either the programming is an important part of your thesis or it isn't. If it is, you should do it yourself. If it isn't, maybe you don't need to do it at all, or don't need to do it to the degree that an outside professional would. \n\nThere is also the issue of the impression this subcontracting would make on others. Perhaps the cultural norms in your field are very different from mine (again: ask your advisor), but I would have a rather negative impression of a PhD student who did this: they don't seem to be very committed to their own work. \n\n**Added**: To be clear, I am interpreting the question as meaning that the doctoral student himself is doing the hiring: i.e., that this is his idea and he is using his own funds. (If his university is giving him funding and simply asking him to pick someone to work with, then even asking the question \"Is it ethical?\" becomes less plausible.) \n\nIn terms of suspecting that this is not a good idea, I hope I was clear that this is my personal opinion, with experience from a field (mathematics) which is rather closely related to CS but is not necessarily identical. As I said, the OP should consult their advisor about this. However, for what it's worth I find it hard to believe that the reaction will be \"Sure, spend your money.\" While not *unethical* on the OP's part, it seems, shall we say, suboptimal if both advisor and student feel that this is the best way to proceed."
},
{
"answer_id": 38029,
"author": "O. R. Mapper",
"author_id": 14017,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14017",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "I am going to outline why I think it is ethical and contrast this with the case described in the question [Is it ethically questionable for me (an undergraduate) to hire “research assistants”?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/30405/is-it-ethically-questionable-for-me-an-undergraduate-to-hire-research-assista). Also, I am answering with a perspective from Germany.\n\n**tl;dr: Yes, it is ethical and it is routinely done.**\n\nThe question linked above explicitly asks a similar question from the point of view of an undergrad. At that stage of education, as is also pointed out in [RoboKaren's answer there](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/30410/14017), certain restrictions (might usually) apply (and in many cases, keep applying up to a Master's degree):\n\n* It is expected that the student works on their own.\n* The tasks are reasonably \"low-level\" in a way that it is realistic and expected that everything is done by one person.\n* The tasks are likely to aim at demonstrating skills with a lesser emphasis on producing a real product. (That doesn't mean that, e.g., Bachelor theses cannot yield an impressive small software. But in general, what is created is a prototype rather than a marketable full-fledged product.)\n\nOnce entering doctoral candidacy, however, some changes occur:\n\n* There is not necessarily a requirement that the doctoral candidate does *everything* on their own. (Please check the rules specific to your university to see whether this applies to you.) The doctoral candidate is supposed to choose the direction and make decisions on higher and lower levels, but that does not mean that they have to write every line of code themselves after the conceptual idea has been documented, or that they have to personally accompany all 50+ participants of a user study.\n* Related to that, the tasks are sufficiently large that they can be distributed to several people. If the research is funded by a third party, it is often the case that more than one person is funded by that project, so quite some work is done in collaboration.\n* While the software produced during doctoral candidacy is often still in a very ... say ... unfinished state, it is indeed expected that real research results are being produced. That means (related to the aforementioned user study example) that it is not sufficient that the doctoral candidate demonstrates once that they can conduct a user study by observing five participants, but actual user studies with several dozens of participants, and more than one such study, have to be done. There is no point in \"torturing\" any single person by having them ask the same questions 50 times, when the same can be achieved by distributing the workload to several persons.\n\nTherefore, as long as the doctoral candidate is \"in charge\" of the conceptual development of the research and its results, it is completely acceptable to outsource some subtasks. One more point is that the doctoral candidate is supposed to acquire some first practical experience at hiring and leading a team of people.\n\nWith that said, I get back to my above statement that it is routinely done, in order to provide some exemplary real-world scenarios. I can think of both paid and unpaid variants of this:\n\n* In some places, doctoral candidates can often employ one or more student research assistants (usually Bachelor/Master students), for example, for support in coding. Note that these students are not paid personally by the doctoral candidates, but that their funding is provided by the same sources as the funding of the doctoral candidates themselves. Hence, they are not only allowed, but explicitly meant to work on the same projects as the doctoral candidates. *(Still, these student research assistants are \"hired\" by the doctoral candidate. The doctoral candidate will have the idea that some tasks could be delegated, they devise and publish the job offer, they check applicants in interviews and pick the most suitable one, and they decide about what those student research assistants get to do. The only time the student research assistants normally get in touch with anyone beside the doctoral candidate who hired them is for signing their contract, which happens at some HR department of the university.)*\n* Moreover, when doctoral candidates supervise a Bachelor's or a Master's thesis, they often define the topic and requirements in a way so the results from that thesis provide some input to their own doctoral thesis. Like this, it is also a form of outsourcing some of the work that eventually contributes to the doctoral research.\n\nEDIT: Lastly, I would like to add a more concrete hypothetical example to illustrate what kinds of tasks might be performed by such a \"supporting programmer\":\n\nImagine a doctoral candidate who does research in the area of HCI to develop some new GUI elements. The creative research part of the work consists in learning about related work, developing a new concept for a GUI control, and drawing some sketches of it on a sheet of paper, as well as designing/choosing some test tasks to validate the hypotheses underlying the design.\n\nBefore this can be converted into a publication, much more work has to be done, though. An interactive prototype has to be programmed, based on the sketched design. It will have to be made to look somewhat fancy (3D/glossy look, animations, etc., whatever fanciness contemporary software GUIs usually feature), as otherwise, study participants tend to be extremely distracted by a directly visible lack of fanciness and unable to see through to the actual novelties of the GUI concept being tested, thus totally distorting results in the qualitative part of any study. Then, to ensure tasks cannot be criticized as unrealistic, some real, or at least real-looking, data has to be integrated into the prototype. That usually means adding code to load (and possibly import/convert) one or more existing datasets. If user behaviour is to be recorded and/or timed, the prototype needs to be prepared for that, as well, by writing certain interactions into a database etc.\n\nThe whole last paragraph does not contain a single \"scientifically creative\" piece of research, this is just straightforward work that has to be done, and it typically takes a few weeks to get right. Toward the end of the paragraph, we're even way out of the actual research domain of HCI and deep in low-level things such as I/O and database access. All of that latter paragraph is perfectly suitable for outsourcing, and a doctoral candidate will not automatically be expected to have done all of this by their own hands.\n\nEDIT2: Another note, as various of the other answers refer to code quality: It is true that in the case of hiring students as described above, the quality of the produced code might be less than what would be provided by a professional programmer (typically *not* available in the settings I have described in this answer). However\n\n* capable students learn quickly (in particular when they are given actual tasks, not practice tasks)\n* even though the produced software is supposed to be somewhat stable, it will usually still be a \"prototype\" for a limited amount of uses and thus does not have the same expectations for maintainability or security as production-level code\n* doctoral candidates are free to choose and reject suitable and unsuitable applicants to their student research assistant job, respectively (and it's totally fine to hire someone for only a month first to check out how they perform)\n* as university staff, the doctoral candidate also has a partial responsibility to give less skilled students a chance to improve, and thus should expect that not every student supervised or hired is the greatest genius around; this comes back to gathering experience in leading a team, as that will often mean a combination of diverging skill levels during the later work life of the doctoral candidate, as well."
},
{
"answer_id": 38033,
"author": "Shep",
"author_id": 789,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/789",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "Sure, but I doubt you can afford it.\n\nLet's see what the options are:\n\n* You can hire an undergrad part-time to write some of your code, but chances are that you'll spend more time digging up their bugs and teaching them it would take to write the code yourself. Probably not worth it.1\n* Or you could get a *real* programmer, but a good professional programmer is going to cost much more than a Ph.D. student makes, and probably even more than they cost (In the US the university takes a huge cut for each grad student in a grant, roughly equal to the student's stipend). Probably not worth it unless you are independently rich.\n\nMaking matters worse, even a professional software engineer isn't able to read your mind. Their job is to take extremely large systems with many moving parts and make them managable. As a computer science Ph.D. you're probably focusing more heavily on one particular componnet, which you're going to have to understand well enough to write the code yourself.\n\nIn either case it doesn't sound like a very good deal for you. \n\n---\n\n1Note that this only apply if your end goal is simply to avoid coding yourself. On the other hand, advising and supervising are extremely valuable skills and as an academic your job isn't just to do *your* work but to support the field as a whole. By taking on undergraduates you're potentially doing more for the field than you could ever do by hiring a professional, and future employers will take note. Furthermore, if you treat them as researchers in their own right they might have some valuable insights, but your question was specific to hiring them just to write code."
},
{
"answer_id": 38102,
"author": "Gary McNickle",
"author_id": 28832,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28832",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "I recommend that you consider your career goals. If you intend to enter a career as a software developer, then I would argue that it may be ethical with credits given but is not a good practice.\n\nI have been a hiring manager and instructor in software development for the last two decades, and one constant that I have encountered is that the more educated software developers are, the worse their code is.\n\nThey can solve complex problems in code but their code is generally not maintainable. This is something that I have had zero success correcting. This has become such a problem that resumes for software developers with a PhD or double-masters go to the bottom of the resume stack, under candidates with no degrees."
},
{
"answer_id": 38104,
"author": "Alexandros",
"author_id": 10042,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10042",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "I will disagree with the other answers almost completely. If you are in a CS PHD (unless you are in strictly Theoretical Computer Science) and you cannot even code your own algorithms during the PHD, then you are in the wrong business. It is perfectly OK to collaborate (not pay) with other people on writing / sharing the code but putting someone else to code for you (because you cannot do it) is silly to borderline dangerous. You cannot separate the algorithm from the code (unless again you are in strictly Theoretical Computer Science) and how the algorithm performs (on an actual experiment) is in direct correlation with the algorithm's implementation. \n\nHow are you going to check if your hired programmer did a correct implementation? You cannot, unless you go exhaustively through his code, which actually might take you longer than implementing your version of the algorithm. But even then, you will never be quite sure. What you are going to do when you think of a new minor optimization? Write him an email, wait for him to implement it and get the answer 2 days later? Good luck finishing your paper in the next 3 years for such a workflow. But even if you manage to finish it, there will always be that 1% chance that something went wrong in his implementation and all your hypotheses will go up in smoke, when someone else implements your algorithm on his own and proves you wrong. What will you do then? Blame it on him? How will you be able to answer the questions about your work that someone else did for you? And say you manage to finish the first paper with the hired help and then he goes to another job. What are you going to do on your next paper? Hire someone else to maintain and expand the previous programmer's code? \n\nAlso as a PHD or a postdoc you may be put in charge (as a technical manager) of a research program close to your expertise that might be of significantly larger scale than a research paper. How you will tell your peers or more junior colleagues what to do, if you always rely on someone else to code for you. How can you separate what is doable or not within the project's timeframe if you never implemented not even your algorithms yourself. \n\nWhen you become more senior (postdoc and beyond) others might actually write more code than you on your co-authored papers. But even then, you must be able to check their code for mistakes, inconsistencies and must be able to predict how the code / algorithm will perform on selected test-cases (unless again you are in strictly Theoretical Computer Science). This is not something you learn by pseudocode, high-level abstraction or shortcuts but it is something you learn by paying your dues by hours of debugging, coding and failed experiments. You cannot get a PHD in Mozh by letting someone else do the proofs for you. Why you assume CS is any different?"
},
{
"answer_id": 38150,
"author": "Fabio Guerra",
"author_id": 28866,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28866",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "If most of the programming work could easily fit in a general library, you can support someone to do an open source library.\n\nIt is not an ethical issue to reuse open source software.\n\nBut make sure that this piece of software will be well documented and available to help other people that work in your domain."
}
] |
2015/02/01
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38023",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6144/"
] |
38,040 |
As universities provide short deadlines for faculty position offers, applicants can accept an offer-1 (verbally or by signing a contract) and which is not the best. What is the recommended option if a late and a better offer-2 arrives after accepting offer-1?
* Reject offer-2 and stay with offer-1.
* Reject offer-1 and accept offer-2.
* Accept and delay offer-2 for a year or two if possible, and work for a year or two with University-1.
* other options?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38041,
"author": "Bob Brown",
"author_id": 16183,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16183",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "Although some would argue about the ethics of the situation, I'd say accept the better offer... *unless* acceptance of offer-1 was in the form of signing a contract. My reasoning is this: If you were already employed at Uni-1 and Uni-2 made you a better offer, you'd work out the duration of your contract and move.\n\nIf you have signed a contract, you are ethically and legally bound to honor it. (Whether anything bad happens if you break it is another question.)\n\nWhat you *must not do* is accept Uni-2's offer until you are clear of Uni-1. There's a certain amount of peril in that because Uni-2 might do the same thing you are contemplating, namely withdraw their offer for a better prospect."
},
{
"answer_id": 38050,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "This situation should not actually arise if you are handling your faculty job search properly. If you accept an offer, you should withdraw all your remaining job applications. Otherwise either you are wasting their time in considering you for a position you won't accept, or you were insincere in accepting the previous offer. If you aren't comfortable withdrawing your other applications, then you aren't comfortable accepting the job. You can negotiate on this point, for example by telling them that another job would solve your two-body problem and you hope they can wait on a final decision until you hear about that job, but there's no guarantee that they will agree.\n\nThe basic ethical principle here is honesty: you shouldn't give someone a decision they understand to be final without actually meaning it. By default, job acceptances are considered binding decisions in the parts of academia I'm familiar with (certainly in mathematics in the U.S.), so you can't just assume that of course they knew you might change your mind. If you have any reservations or conditions, you should make them explicit before accepting the position. This can't hurt you if nobody really considered the decision to be final in the first place, and it will avoid unethical behavior if they did.\n\nEven though this shouldn't happen, people do occasionally get themselves into this situation. If you unilaterally rescind your initial acceptance and take the other position instead, you face almost no legal risk, since nobody's going to try suing over this. However, you can hurt your reputation, which is a serious danger.\n\nInstead, the way you should handle it is by careful discussions. Typically, University 2 will let you defer their offer for at least a year, since otherwise they look like jerks for trying to steal you away from University 1 after you already accepted an offer. (Another possibility is that University 2 had no idea you had already accepted and will rescind their offer upon learning this.) Then you approach University 1 and apologize profusely for inadvertently creating a terribly awkward situation. You explain that you are willing to come to University 1 and fulfill your obligations, but you have an offer from University 2 and you would very likely leave after a year to go there, so you wonder whether there is any chance they would release you from your acceptance. If they agree, then you are ethically free to accept University 2's offer immediately. (University 1 still won't be happy with you, so you shouldn't do this unless it really matters to you, but asking them for permission is much better than just announcing you aren't coming.) If University 1 insists that they need you next year, then you defer University 2's offer and show up at University 1.\n\nBut you really shouldn't let yourself get further faculty offers after you've already accepted a job. You might be able to get away with it once by explaining that you accidentally forgot to withdraw your other applications, but you really don't want to develop a reputation over time as someone who deliberately manipulates the system in unethical ways."
},
{
"answer_id": 38098,
"author": "Bill Barth",
"author_id": 11600,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11600",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "There's a missing aspect in both of the other answers here: how long did the first university give you to make your decision? \n\nFirst, you should immediately acknowledge the receipt of their offer, and then if U1 gave you a week (or a day, it happens!), the you should tell them immediately that you like their offer, but that you have other applications pending and that you need more time to decide. This starts a negotiation and recognizes to them your continued interest in the position. Then you should get in touch with all of the other universities which you would still contemplate accepting an offer from and let them know (without, necessarily, naming U1) that you have received an offer with a short deadline to accept. This gives the other universities where you have applied an opportunity to communicate their ongoing interest in you (or not) and help you make your decision about whether to accept or reject U1's offer before hearing from the others.\n\nYou should keep this communication up as things progress. There are so many things going on behind the scenes that you don't know about. The more open your communications are, the more likely you are to find the best position for yourself and allow the places you don't go to find their next best option.\n\nWhen a university makes you an offer, that means they have decided that you are the best candidate that applied that they think they can actually get. They have made a strategic decision to offer you a job over other applicants. They have given you some sort of time limit to decide, because they have other options still waiting, and they don't want to lose their chance at them if you are going to decline. This is true of the places which you haven't heard from yet as well. Letting them know you have an offer will push them to figure out what they want to do.\n\nAs others have said, once you have accepted an offer, you really should bow out of the other positions you have applied for, but you don't have to let it get to that point if you communicate with everyone well."
},
{
"answer_id": 64851,
"author": "Lee",
"author_id": 49184,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/49184",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "I must disagree with \"anonymous Mathematician\". That advice might leave you without any offers. His/her advice does not account for the fact that campus interviews, and therefore offers, often occur weeks and even months apart. If the first offer is close enough (2-3 weeks) from an anticipated second offer, you should try to ask for an extension. Inevitably, a school will eventually need an an answer and it is perfectly acceptable for you to accept the offer from School #1 while waiting for a campus interview from School #2. You may have to call School #1 back and let them know the bad news, but don't let people on here scare you into thinking you HAVE to stay with School #1. In my experience, School #1 is perfectly understanding. They would rather let you go than have a bitter faculty member who is disheartened that they didn't have the foresight to reject School #1's offer."
},
{
"answer_id": 80248,
"author": "Marlon",
"author_id": 65194,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65194",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "For my understanding it is totally okay to turn down an offer even after verbal acceptance, as long as you didn't sign the contract. So I assume we are talking about an offer which you accepted in writing (signed). Ethically speaking, the point when you sign the contract should be the point when you inform other universities that you withdraw from their searches. \nIf you already have signed the contract with University 1, but you really want to accept offer from University 2 for X,Y,Z reasons, then there is nothing wrong in doing so. But you should be aware that you are most likely will burn bridges with University 1, since you crossed an ethical line which most of the Universities at least want to see being honored by their future employees. University 1 also told other candidates that the position is taken, but in reality, that doesn't make a big difference, if not a lot of time passed between signing the contract and you declining the offer.\nI would be as honest as possible, apologize, tell them about your reasons. If you have good personal reasons, most of the people would be understanding. Professional reasons might raise some temporary or permanent anger on their side. However, eventually they will let you do this, because they don't want a faculty working in their department who only is there because he legally has to be there.\nYou can do decline in writing or via phone. I would use the way they were communicating with you most of the time. \nAnd remember, by the end of the day, it's your gut feeling which decides. Don't let the other people scare you. Some folks are better listening to their gut, others aren't that good at it. It is good that you are competitive enough to get more than one job offer, and also Universities trying to get good people on the hook. \nAnd for the future you might consider a better negotiation ethics. For example it would be totally okay to inform University 2 that you have a written offer in hand from University 1 and you would like to know what your chances are. As long as you don't sign, it's not a massively big deal for any of the participating parties. You might get some good vibrations from University 2 and then it would be up to you whether or not you want to gamble or be on the safe site. But that's life, sometimes you just have to make decisions which don't always cover all you necessities."
}
] |
2015/02/02
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38040",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/24823/"
] |
38,053 |
In some journals, "notes" are original research papers that are not significant enough to be a "regular contribution". If I've published a note, can I list it in my CV as if it is a regular publication (i.e., not mentioning that it is a note)? Could this be considered as dishonest?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38061,
"author": "Koldito",
"author_id": 12314,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12314",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "I wouldn't consider it dishonest, if only because I personally don't list them separately. The fact that they are notes (\"squibs\" we call them in my field) can generally be inferred directly from the low page count.\n\nBut then, the number of such very short publications is a very small fraction of all my publications. If it was a significant fraction, maybe I would consider a separate section."
},
{
"answer_id": 38067,
"author": "Giacomo Alessandroni",
"author_id": 28699,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28699",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "In my opinion, the best practice is insert in your curriculum a section \"Note\".\n\nI do not work in recruitment sector, but I like honesty."
}
] |
2015/02/02
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38053",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28707/"
] |
38,054 |
I wanted to know whether it is allowed and also plausible to submit two papers at the same conference? Does the acceptance or rejection of one affect the acceptance or rejection of the other paper?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38055,
"author": "ff524",
"author_id": 11365,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11365",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "> \n> I wanted to know whether it is allowed and also plausible to submit two papers at the same conference?\n> \n> \n> \n\nYes, it's generally allowed. (Unless the submission instructions explicitly forbid this.) \n\nIt's also plausible - it's even common. If your work is closely related to the scope of a particular conference, it's not uncommon for you to have multiple pieces of work to submit. (This is especially true if there are not many conferences in your subfield; you might choose to \"save up\" publications for a particular venue, rather than submit them somewhere else where they will be on the edge of the conference scope.)\n\n> \n> Does the acceptance or rejection of one affect the acceptance or rejection of the other paper?\n> \n> \n> \n\nNo, papers are generally reviewed independently and each submission of evaluated on its own merit."
},
{
"answer_id": 38056,
"author": "user3209815",
"author_id": 14133,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14133",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "There is nothing wrong or unusual in submitting two papers on a single conference. For specific detail you should refer to the conference author guide. In my experience, there exists an upper bound of papers (about 3-4), but I have never encountered a conference where only a single paper was permitted.\n\nThe acceptance or rejection is individual, every paper is peer-reviewed on its own account.\n\nYou should keep in mind that the conference will charge every paper separately. You should also watch the presentation schedule for any conflicts (though, they are very unlikely)"
},
{
"answer_id": 38058,
"author": "Reuben John Pengelly",
"author_id": 13766,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13766",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Definitely check the conference website. For instance, one in my field (not CS admittedly) rejects automatically anything with the same first author.\n\n<https://www.eshg.org/abstracts2015.0.html>"
},
{
"answer_id": 107280,
"author": "Mahi Rahman",
"author_id": 45663,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/45663",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "My two little cents: \nIt is of course generally allowed. I personally, did that a couple of times (2 or 3 papers). I have different experiences. There were conferences where both of the papers were accepted. \n\nHowever, at one conference both of my papers were sent to one reviewer (though there were other reviewers). And that particular reviewer though that the underlying formulation of both of papers were same (!), which sounded as a serious accusation and the editor of the conference rejected one of the papers. I responded to the reviewers that the problems presented in two papers were completely different, though both of them definitely had some similar (15-20%) formulations. *I am a PhD student working in a single funded research project; so there will always be some similarities in formulation among my publications.* \n\nThere is another point to consider (which is my personal speculation) - when the conference editor/publication chair sees a number of paper from the same author, he/she might think, just might, you are using the conference as a dumping ground or just trying to save money (as usually papers after the first one gets some discounts) and reject the paper when the reviewers' give neutral comments. I may be completely wrong though."
}
] |
2015/02/02
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38054",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28811/"
] |
38,057 |
I have just received my master's degree. And I am wondering, is it academically conventional to give a copy of my thesis to those professors that directly or indirectly supported me?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38059,
"author": "Dirk",
"author_id": 529,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/529",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "It is nice to do so (especially if you mention their support in the acknowledgement - which may even be the only things they'll read), but it is far from required."
},
{
"answer_id": 38064,
"author": "410 gone",
"author_id": 96,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/96",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "It can be a nice thing to do: but do ask them first whether they'd prefer to receive an electronic copy, or a bound hard copy, or both.\n\nNot everyone will appreciate a physical copy (seeing it as wasteful or just more clutter): some will prefer a PDF of it; some might prefer both formats."
}
] |
2015/02/02
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38057",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18107/"
] |
38,065 |
In one of the courses I'm teaching this semester, each student has to give a 20-minute in-class presentation of a paper relevant to the topic of each class. One of the students has approached me asking to be excused for this requirement, on the grounds that she is terrified of having to speak in front of others. She is willing to do an alternative assignment that doesn't involve a presentation; more significantly, I think, is the fact when I pressed her a bit about this, she seemed willing to straight up forgo this assignment and get a zero grade for this particular part of the course. Conversations I've had with other faculty who have had her in previous courses confirm that she is, in fact, a good enough student that she should be able to properly understand the kinds of papers we are reading in this course. So, this seems to be a genuine anxiety problem.
Given that I had my own mental issues way back when I was an undergrad, I know that a just-suck-it-up type of attitude on my part is likely to cause more problems than it solves. I'm willing to accommodate her request for an alternative assignment. On the other hand, there are two reasons why I'm in principle against this decision. First, it is unfair to the rest of the students (and also, it might get me a reputation as a lecturer that students can sway). Second, giving her an extra assignment effectively amounts to kicking the can down the road: the more she delays dealing with her problem, the harder it will become to solve, and chances are that the kind of environments she will encounter after graduation will not be as speaker-friendly as my class is.
How would you proceed here?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38066,
"author": "o-0",
"author_id": 21552,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/21552",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "First of all, any human being that I know, including myself, have public speak anxiety issue to some extend; at any level of their professional life. However please speak to the university students service in this matter; to make sure they offer the student to get the help he/she is needed, by referring him/her to a professional; and tackle any background mental issue he/she is having for public speaking.\n\nIn general to tackle this public speaking anxiety issue for all the students, I would recommend the following; to equalize the preparation stage, from your end, as much as possible: \n\n**Before Presentation** \n\n*Make a Template*: Because they are undergraduate student, I would put a presentation template on the course websites with some guidelines. This will save you loads of time, both for you (how to judge and mark each student) and students (make them to focus on the content and not the cosmetics). So for a 20 minute talk about a paper, I would put up the following guideline: \n\n```\n Title: Name of the paper/author/speaker; with the university logo. \n Outline: The overview of the paper. \n Problem statement: What is the problem. \n Aim: Aim of the approach. \n Contribution: Contains the paper's contribution. \n Conclusion: What is the conclusion here, for the paper and the problem it tried to solve.\n Future work (Optional): What will be their future work; and if you do agree with the authors of the paper. \n Questions: Answer any question in the audience. \n\n```\n\n*Time Allocation*: One fun thing I do before the students presentation, is to ask each student to write their name in a piece of paper and fold it. Then I draw the names, and start allocating the time to them. So they know there is no intention behind my decision on who goes first or last.\n\n*Organizing the slides*: Tell students to send you their presentations 48 hours before the actual presentation. This way you can put all their slides on one laptop, so they don't need to waste time switching laptops during their presentations and destroying the flow; and creates unnecessary stress for students, because their USB can not be read by their machines.\n\n**Presentation Day** \n\n*Little More Formal Than Usual*: Before the presentation starts, tell the students to respect others and their effort to present a paper. This way, other students know better not to hackle or crack jokes while their fellow classmates try to explain something (I learned this the hard way)."
},
{
"answer_id": 38072,
"author": "Aru Ray",
"author_id": 948,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/948",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "It sounds from your question that the students give a single in-class presentation in the entire semester. \n\nI like the idea of in-class presentations a lot, mostly because presenting is a very important skill going forward, particularly in academia and (I imagine) also in industry. Unfortunately in many fields (such as mine - mathematics) students don't really do much presenting in the course of their majors necessarily. This is of course an excellent reason to require in-class presentations! But since students don't get practice or training in this, your single in-class presentation might be the first one they ever give and that's understandably scary for many people. \n\nMy solution to this in a class this semester was to include 2-3 short (5-10 min) in-class presentations through the semester leading to a final 20-min presentation at the end of the semester. The short presentations are meant to be low stakes and formative - the students will get lots of feedback from me and their peers (anonymously) and the topics will be easier (relatively accessible material from their textbook). The short presentations are also progressively stricter, e.g. In the first presentation I just want them to see what it's like at the blackboard, in the second I'm going to harp on timing more, in the third focus more on generating interest in the audience, and so on. They're low stakes in the sense that while they are worth a total of 10% of their final grade, they get those 10% as long as they present and give feedback (this allows me to be more nitpicky in my grading of their homeworks too...)\n\nThe goal is that when it's time for the final presentations, which are worth a not-insignificant amount of their final grade, they'll have had a lot of practice and will be able to do themselves justice. \n\n(I should admit this is my first semester trying this and I've never seen this strategy used before, but I think it makes sense and I have high hopes, but also crossed fingers).\n\nIn any case it's easier to convince someone to give a 5 min presentation than a 30 min one, and I believe that for a lot of people the anxiety in presenting comes from lack of experience. Many of us are also aware that presenting is an important skill and might appreciate getting feedback and the chance to improve. It is possibly too late for you to do this this semester, but perhaps something to consider in the future."
},
{
"answer_id": 38074,
"author": "user28822",
"author_id": 28822,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28822",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "Could you get her to do the assignment, where she still has to present her work, but to a much smaller group; perhaps even to just yourself and another lecturer? That way she is still tackling the problem, but in a manner that will hopefully not seem so daunting to her."
},
{
"answer_id": 38078,
"author": "Stephan Kolassa",
"author_id": 4140,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4140",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "Fear of speaking in public is common. It is one of the major symptoms of [social phobia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_anxiety_disorder). I'll work on the assumption that your student has diagnosed or undiagnosed SP (I used to work on SP data.)\n\nSP is very amenable to classical cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). You are a teacher, not a therapist. I would counsel *against* \"rolling your own\" therapy program. Instead, refer the student to on-campus counseling and strongly encourage her to seek professional help. As others write, the need to present will not go away; neither at college nor at the workplace. And college is probably the best place to start therapy. To repeat: this is a good point in time to start working on this; encourage your student to do so with a therapist.\n\n---\n\nSo, that's the long-term answer I'd give. However, even if CBT frequently shows effects rather quickly in SP, your student will likely not have progressed far enough in her therapy to actually present her paper by the time she should. So you will likely need to make some kind of accommodation. I'd recommend that you contact your university's student service. There likely are some sort of guidelines on how to deal with such an issue - you probably are not the first professor to be confronted with this.\n\nIf you are afraid of getting a reputation as a professor who can be swayed, there are different ways around this:\n\n1. You could require an official diagnosis of SP, or whatever doctor's communication your local privacy laws permit. In this, you could let yourself be guided by what kind of paperwork is required for a student to skip and retake an exam for medical reasons. (Student services could again be helpful here.)\n2. You could make sure that the \"alternative assignment\" is not a bonus, but does add significant work to the student's workload. I personally would be careful here, since you don't want to penalize her for her disability.\n\n---\n\nThat said, if the student does take your recommendation and starts therapy, it is quite possible that her therapist would assign making at least some kind of presentation as a piece of \"homework\" for her. Apart from possible confidentiality issues (your student may opt for waiving these, so you could talk directly to her therapist), this could allow you to help her much more than just doing a short-term fix. It may be worthwhile pointing this out to her. After all, you are willing to go to an effort to help her - her next professor or her employer may be less accommodating."
},
{
"answer_id": 38122,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "If they are willing to forgo any marks from the assignment, give them zero and move on.\n---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\nYou are a lecturer, not a babysitter. If the student hasn't taken it upon themselves to speak to anyone to get a diagnosis, and is unwilling to attempt the project, then they deserve nothing more and nothing less. Note, I'm not suggesting that you don't offer an alternate assignment, just do not do so lightly and without proof. It seems like the student has done this previously to other lecturers, yet has no evidence of a condition that would prevent them from speaking publicly.\n\nPublic speaking is unavoidable in almost all avenues of life, academic, professional or personal.\n\nIf you give them an alternate assignment, other student can, quite rightly, complain about unfairness."
},
{
"answer_id": 38127,
"author": "abathur",
"author_id": 5668,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5668",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "I've dealt with substantive (not crippling) social anxiety as a student from middle school through the public presentation of my masters' thesis in front of a couple hundred people, as an artist, and as a student teacher. This is less of an answer than testimony. I will meander a bit, covering my experiences, what worked for me, how I applied to my own course design, and some ideas for dealing with your situation.\n\n### My Experiences\n\nI had my first panic attack in middle school when I was called up to the front of the room to do push-ups after smarting off. I was a mess (bright red, heart racing, couldn't breathe normally, couldn't stop crying, sweating, shaking.) I've luckily never had it so bad again, but even up through undergrad I have big holes in my memory of presentations, speeches, or anything that left me in the spotlight. We are stuck in a paradox. We desperately need more experience giving presentations we're probably never going to feel like giving. The biggest point I can make is that, in my experience, the situation could go roughly 3 ways:\n\n1. Despite my discomfort, I perform to the best of my ability, avoid completely losing my place or getting so nervous I can't speak/read/etc. I have no strong sense of how well I've done, because every little mistake, tremor and quiver in my voice are magnified in my body. Observers may or may not notice; I have no clue. Ironically, I desperately need people to engage (read: not confront!) me about the presentation's topic and what I've said afterwards. I don't need things like, \"you did well!\" because I can't trust you not to protect me; I need engagement I can use as a proxy to assess how well I communicated. As I absorb the event, I learn that future presentations of this complexity or easier are something I can *survive*.\n2. In my perception, I am overcome by the anxiety. I may have had to stop to compose myself, re-state something multiple times because my voice is quivering, transfer my speaking materials to an object more stable than my own hand. But, in reality I still managed to cover most of what I was there to say. I am alive, but the disaster I perceive to have happened is going to obliterate my ability to self-evaluate. When I calm down, meaningful engagement about the presentation, if it was indeed understandable, can help give me some less-biased data to stack against the first-hand experience. This doesn't really increase my long-run confidence in my ability to speak effectively, but it can help provide some small assurance that the world doesn't really care if I give a mediocre presentation.\n3. I hit the point where I am too overcome by anxiety for any emotional/mental/physical coping mechanisms or crutches to get me back on track before I spiral out into panic. I'm going to need to leave; my body is too far outside of my own control for me to regain my composure over any reasonable timeframe with other people around.\n\n---\n\n### What helped and how I applied it as an instructor\n\nI suspect preparation varies per person, but what has helped me the most is resisting the temptation to prepare and memorize a speech. While this is how I was taught to present, attempting to relay anything verbatim (aside from quotes or anything else I will literally be reading) is perilous, because no amount of prep will help me find the words once the anxiety starts taking over. All of my time will have been spent preparing to say something *a single fragile way*, which is the wrong task. I will never feel confident in this task, because I know how easily it can get derailed.\n\nInstead, my goal is to know what I need to say so thoroughly that I don't need to know exactly how I'll say it. I talk all the time with one or a few people about things I find interesting. Sometimes at great length. I'm trying to make presenting or giving a talk as similar as I can to this other thing I can do just fine.\n\nI usually write a short paper which covers everything I want to say, and then decompose it and other source materials into a single stream of documentation to lead me through my points. Sometimes this means taking a source text I'll be talking about and filling it with Post-it notes and notecards; sometimes this is just a single printed document with block-quotes, marginalia, and directions to myself. From here, I spend a few hours trying to ad-lib the discussion from my notes without reading from the original paper. It doesn't always come together, but my goal is usually being able to ad-lib the discussion at least three times without getting stuck or missing anything. In this phase I may end up phrasing the same points dozens of ways.\n\nWhen I got the chance to teach (freshmen!) I tried to apply what has helped me to my policy on presentations. I built three short/low-risk presentations into the course. The grading was quite generous. I permitted powerpoint, but discouraged it. I encouraged my students to come prepared to talk at slowly-increasing length about three different phases of their semester project without preparing a speech. The presentation counted as part of the grade for the assignment each was paired with, and the total number of points it contributed meant that the only way it penalized your assignment grade was if you didn't try; from there, presentations earned bonus on the assignment. In class, I let them know I sympathized strongly with not wanting to present, explained how the grading rubric was structured to give them a reason to present without the stakes being high, and assured them I was far more interested in rewarding them for talking to us about what they were working on than in penalizing them for how it went.\n\n---\n\n### Addressing your problem\n\nOthers have well-covered encouraging the student to get help; I'll go in other directions. I try to shoot for policies that are flexible and anyone can take advantage of without questions. I would avoid letting the student off without doing anything unpalatable, but try to give them some agency in the tradeoff.\n\n1. Offer to hear and give feedback on presentations for all students during office hours, or at some other time before each presentation. You might even make them to talk to you about what all they plan to cover before they give it a go. Consider requiring all students who want any alternative accommodation you make available to take you up on this.\n2. Offer full credit for presenting to the class, X% (85?) credit for presenting to you and a smaller group of students, and Y% (70?) for presenting to you one-on-one. The group option can either be a pre-registered group of the like-minded, or can be folded into a group activity day that requires everyone to practice their presentations, while some students opt to let you grade them then."
},
{
"answer_id": 38137,
"author": "Noah Snyder",
"author_id": 25,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/25",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "As JeffE's comment alludes, In situations where a student has a disability that may interfere with their ability to do an assignment, you should tell the student to go to the disabilities office. The experts there can come up with a plan. That will also get the student in contact with people who can suggest help, and will help out down the road if this comes up for the student again."
},
{
"answer_id": 38142,
"author": "vaso voo koh teach",
"author_id": 28860,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28860",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "For what it's worth, gradually approaching such \"obstacles\" can be a great way. You can split students into pairs, small groups, etc., until students are presenting to greater and greater numbers of their peers.\n\nReally, all presentations are one-on-one, even if there are 300 people in the audience, it's still one-on-one (just 300 times)."
},
{
"answer_id": 38144,
"author": "Ben Bitdiddle",
"author_id": 24384,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/24384",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Most universities in the US have an office for students with medical issues (/disabilities), and they can go there to get academic accommodations. For instance, some students get extra time on tests, or are allowed to use a computer to write essay exams.\n\nGenerally the policy is the student doesn't tell the professor what disability they have. Instead they go to the disabilities office, and get a note telling the professor which accommodations they need.\n\nIf you teach at such a university, you should tell your student to go through the official channels, and provide the accommodations required by the school."
},
{
"answer_id": 38148,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "You question says the class **requires** a presentation. In my mind a class on public speaking might require a presentation as there is likely no way for students to meet a reasonable set of learning objectives without the presentation. From you description it sounds like the requirement is because of how you structured the class or decided on the grading. Most universities require reasonable accommodations to be made for students with known issues. In the first case, there may not be a reasonable accommodation. In the second case there are likely a number of reasonable accommodations.\n\nMaking reasonable accommodations does not mean students will think you are a push over. In fact, when an alternative assignment is used as an accommodation it can be, and often is, much more difficult than the standard assignment. This is not because the student is being penalised, but rather because the primary assignment is the most efficient way to meet the learning objective and therefore the alternative assignment takes more work.\n\nWhen I receive a referral from my university's academic services asking me to make reasonable accommodations regarding presentations, I provide the student with an alternative assignment. For that assignment they must create the presentations slides, write a script of what they would say, create 5 potential questions and short answers, and write an extended structured abstract regarding the presentation. Then after I look at the presentation and script, they must write short answers on up to 5 additional questions that I give them."
},
{
"answer_id": 38192,
"author": "Scott Seidman",
"author_id": 20457,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20457",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "The fear of public speaking to this extent is a medical disorder. You should treat it just like any other medical disorder that requires accommodations.\n\nWe have an office that clears and manages all such requests. If it were my student, I'd ask the student to work through that office to document the situation, and then work with the student and that office to come up with a suitable accommodation. My preference might be to ask the student if a one-on-one presentation would be acceptable and not elicit a fear response, but I'd certainly take input from the pros.\n\nIt isn't your place to encourage or discourage the student from seeking help. I would hope that through the documentation process that any counselor called upon to evaluate the situation would make it known what the options are for help."
}
] |
2015/02/02
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38065",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12314/"
] |
38,068 |
I have to do a review of a "symposium" that will take place in a major conference in the business / management field. The document I recieved for review consists of:
* Abstract + Overview of the symposium
* Proposed format of the symposium
* Relevance to divisions
* 5 Article summaries, each about 4-5 pages long
I couldn't find any specific information how to do a peer review of a symposium and I only reviewed regular articles before.
My questions is: how should I review this symposium document? Do I need a separate review for each article summary? Do I need to comment on the information prior to the article summaries, i.e. overview of symposium etc.?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 42193,
"author": "docendo discimus",
"author_id": 28818,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28818",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": true,
"text": "I found the following guiding questions for reviewing symposia:\n\n* Does the proposal reflect the overall level of quality an audience\nwould expect when attending a symposium?\n* Would the proposed session be of interest to a sufficient number of Division members and other Academy members?\n* Does the proposal offer sufficient innovation and contribution to warrant program space?"
},
{
"answer_id": 84684,
"author": "OMGeeit'sOMT",
"author_id": 69007,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/69007",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "This may be a bit late, but I'm a early-stage scholar in a management field that reviews similar proposals for our major conference. Here is how I approach reviewing symposiums (in no particular order):\n\n1- I review them holistically (i.e. as one document), because that is how the final decision is made (accept or reject the entire proposed symposium). To answer your question, you don't need a separate review for each paper and for the introduction. Just write one review of the proposed symposium. \n\n2- I structure my reviews similarly to how I review papers (summarize main points, strengths, areas for improvement, overall recommendation). I also treat them the same in terms of norms (conversational, developmental, includes what the proposed symposium does well, etc.) \n\n3- I also keep in mind that conference papers are qualitatively different than published papers --- and are supposed to in our field! Conferences are where we get feedback on our ideas, get new ideas from conversations and presentations, and, above all, for everyone to learn :-) In short, I'm much more generous and err toward inclusion and look for the golden nugget of a great idea that needs to learn how to shine to guide me in terms of acceptance.\n\n4- My advisor gave me these guiding questions as well to use in my review and these helped me out a great deal:\n\nDoes the symposium look interesting? Are the arguments clear? Do the presentations fit together well? Do you think there would be an audience for them? Do the presenters look like they have a good idea of what they are going to say rather than just fluff? Are the proposed presenters well-published people with something to say? \n\nHope this helps!"
}
] |
2015/02/02
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38068",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28818/"
] |
38,073 |
For certain undergrad classes, I assign a take-home exam, rather than the more familiar in-class exam. When I distribute the exam, I remind the students that this is an individual exam, and that they may not work in groups, and then I add "Believe me, I *can* tell when you cheat". This, however, is a bluff. Unless it is superobvious, I can't tell if students work together; I only tell them I can to scare them into honoring the rules.
Are there any ways, other than lying to the students, to prevent (or at least minimize) this type of cheating in take-home exams?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38076,
"author": "Davidmh",
"author_id": 12587,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12587",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "One way to do it: if the assignment has many small questions, you can make it more difficult taking a random draw from a bigger pool for each student, so they are all slightly different. So, any pair of students would have just a portion of them in common. This can appear unfair, but it should even out if you do it many times.\n\nBut, if this were a fight, you would be on the losing side; for any strategy you can come up with, someone else would find the way to hack it. You should instead focus on making people *not want* to cheat.\n\n* Make the problems interesting challenges, not mechanical tasks. If it involves some creative thinking it is less likely that two students arrive independently to the same solution (and even less to arrive to the same solutions in each exercise).\n* But make them approachable. If they look impossible, it is more tempting to cheat. In a course I took recently, we had to solve an easier version of a problem, and apply it to a more difficult one. We only had to hand in the difficult version, but handing in only the easy part gave also points.\n\nFor what I have seen from a student perspective, the more advanced the course, the less likely cheating is, and the more frowned upon by the other students is."
},
{
"answer_id": 38080,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "There is no fool-proof system so the task becomes how to make something that reduces the number of cheating opportunities. In my experience, I see take home's as a tool for advanced courses with smaller number of students and the rest of my response needs to be viewed from this perspective.\n\nA first consideration regards the type of questions asked. Simple questions with \"obvious\" standard answers are not generally suitable because the answers can easily be copied. Hence essay type answers where no obvious unique answer is possible is better. This hints at answers where the students understanding and knowledge has to be synthesised is the aim. In my field, I have used several images of landscapes asking students to chose one and identify and describe processes as one such type of question. It is quite difficult to cheat n this type since I would not expect two students to identify the same subset of possible observations to discuss. How this type of question can be transferred to other disciplines is a matter of imagination. another favourite is the following\n\n> \n> Asking relevant questions is a key aspect of academia. Formulate a key scientific question within \"*the topic*\" and provide an good answer to the question.\n> \n> \n> \n\nWith simpler type of questions, I believe providing a narrow time frame for replying can be part of a solution. Here there are two main ingredients, one is to provide questions in a random order to the different students so that question *n* is likely different for each student and then to provide a very narrow time limit for students to respond. Questions can, for example be made available through a server (of some sort) at a given time and then requesting answers to be submitted before a given deadline, either enforced strictly or by a, possibly incremental, reduction of credit by degree of lateness. An alternative is to release questions incrementally to each student and enforce a strict deadline before another question will be issued. I do not have suggestions for how to implement such an exam but it can be accomplished with simple learning platforms but may involve some work by the teacher to facilitate. I would not think it is useful for very large groups."
},
{
"answer_id": 38107,
"author": "Spehro Pefhany",
"author_id": 23836,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/23836",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "Some of the MOOC (massively open online courses) such as MITx 6.002x appear to give each participant slightly different parameters for exercises. That prevents students from directly copying results, though they can, of course, collaborate on the solution methods (and that is encouraged via online forums). It would probably be too much effort to do this manually, but perhaps you could have a few versions and distribute the questions randomly (or not-so-randomly if you have specific suspicions)."
},
{
"answer_id": 38128,
"author": "einpoklum",
"author_id": 7319,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7319",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "The solution I've observed at my Alma Mater: Take-home exams are given only with very few questions, which are non-trivial and open-ended. Now, if several students work together on this exam, but every one of them manages to come up with an answer which doesn't read like a copy of the other students' answers - then, well, that means they have some sort of command of the material, even if they didn't come up with the idea themselves.\n\nOf course, this is mostly relevant for more advanced courses. In more basic courses, there are never any home exams."
},
{
"answer_id": 38164,
"author": "Ian",
"author_id": 9902,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9902",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "Spend 10 minutes interviewing each student on part of their answer. You don’t tell the students in advance what part of the answer you will ask them about, and you ask students different interview questions depending on their answer.\n\nIf the student can show they understand and can expand the answer, then do you care if they cheated? \n\nThe interview is also lickly to help the student learn and provide you with good information on areas that lots of students are finding hard."
},
{
"answer_id": 38180,
"author": "Michael",
"author_id": 28884,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28884",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "I recently received a take-home exam with an interesting surprise: 50% of the credit was for a problem that required us to augment our solution to a previous homework assignment. There was no way students could work together on this problem because we had all previously turned in different solutions to that homework assignment, and our instructor graded the exam in the context of our previous homework submission. This may or may not work depending on the format of your assignments (the problems would obviously need to be open-ended).\n\nThat said, most instructors at my school only give take-home exams when they do expect students to work together."
},
{
"answer_id": 38190,
"author": "bwDraco",
"author_id": 9807,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9807",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "Here's my position on handling cheating on take-home exams.\n\n* **Make it clear that answers must reflect independent effort.** I would put this in the syllabus:\n\n> \n> You may consult your textbook, notes, and standard Internet resources when taking take-home exams, but **your work must be original and you may not solicit or obtain assistance from or provide assistance to other people for any specific content on the exam.** Activities considered cheating include (but are not limited to) copying or closely paraphrasing content from websites, discussing exam questions with other students, and asking for help with specific questions on Internet forums. **All exams are checked for originality and copied content and anyone found cheating will be assigned a failing score for the exam.**\n> \n> \n>\n* **Make sure questions assess actual understanding of the content.** Simple multiple-choice questions are easy to cheat on in a take-home exam. Free-response conceptual questions provide a more effective assessment of student understanding. They can be made more resistant to cheating by using questions that cannot be easily answered in their entirety through simple Internet research. In addition, it is easier to determine if a free-response answer is original or copied compared to multiple-choice responses (more on that in the next point).\n* **Check exam results closely for cheating.** In addition to checking for highly similar or copied answers among exams, I would check responses online to determine if they are copied from some online resource. You can use Google to do this—search for select phrases in answers in double quotes to find exact matches for the phrases. This can go a long way towards detecting cheating in take-home exams."
},
{
"answer_id": 38225,
"author": "Jon Story",
"author_id": 23277,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/23277",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "**Don't**, maybe? They can't cheat if collaboration isn't against the rules.\n\nDo you care what the students know, or do you care how they learn it?\n\nWhy not consider setting it as a coursework assignment, and taking away the restriction entirely? You open the door to them being able to collaborate, work together, come up with creative solutions. Tell them to declare who they worked with in a short section at the top.\n\nEducation has this strange focus on separating people: when was the last time you did an assignment, research project or similar truly alone? In the professional world I've never once done a truly solo project: finding solutions as part of a team is a vital skill, and this sounds like a perfect opportunity to encourage it.\n\nGrading is important, of course, and there is a time for differentiating between students... that time is in the formal, controlled examinations. Everything else is a learning exercise, and if they learn it by working with a friend, fantastic."
},
{
"answer_id": 38246,
"author": "Adam Davis",
"author_id": 11901,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11901",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "Lock an RFID ankle bracelet to each student, and hand them a tablet and headphones. The tablet contains the test, and the headphones must be worn whenever they are answering test questions. The tablet's camera can verify the face and proper headphone placement. Further, it will determine if there are any other students from this class within visual range via the RFID ankle bracelets. The bracelets detect tampering or covering (such as in tinfoil). The headphones have microphones and detect if there are any nearby voices loud enough to penetrate the headphones, thus defeating using telephone or other means of vocal communication. The face recognition on the tablet includes eye tracking, if the student looks at anything other than the tablet during the test, the question in view is graded 0.\n\nAlternately, don't use take home tests where cooperation can alter the results.\n\nIt seems that the only reason to give a take home test when cooperation would be a problem is if the time to complete the test is longer than a single class period. However, there are few times when this should be the case. Break such tests up into smaller quizzes, use a testing center, or any number of other solutions that will allow you to test without sending it home with them.\n\nSo the correct answer is - you don't. If the test depends on non-cooperation, then you must have it supervised. If you can't supervise it, you alter it so cooperation doesn't pose a problem."
},
{
"answer_id": 38267,
"author": "Al jabra",
"author_id": 28149,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28149",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "How do you mark the papers? \nDo you mark a paper in its entirety before moving on?\nIf so this is wrong. You should mark everyone's questions 1's first then all the question 2's etc...\nThis will help you too see any patterns and also keep consistency. \nWhat course do you teach? If it is maths/physics then it should be very obvious. I suppose it should be very obvious for essay style questions as well."
},
{
"answer_id": 38272,
"author": "awsoci",
"author_id": 28324,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28324",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "Take-home exams have always baffled me. I've never really understood their purpose when the material assessed could be achieved through a traditional or open-book exam, or as a time-sensitive (no extensions) class assignment.\n\nRegardless, I did complete a few during my undergraduate career, and looking up old submissions (that yes, for some crazy reason I still have on my hard drive) they tended to be essay style take-homes. This meant that the possibility for cheating was on the lesser side, since it would be easier to detect if a student copied another student due to the subjectiveness of the task.\n\nAs others have suggested, exams that have very standard responses are perhaps not the best route to go for a take-home exam. You would be better to have a much more open-ended style that suits the subject you are teaching.\n\nYou could have the take-home exam be perhaps a broad question that students have to answer **through the development of a project** using the knowledge they've gained in the course. After all, it's not the core material itself that is of the uptmost value, it's the level of critical thinking students develop when using said material to attempt to solve complex problems or issues."
}
] |
2015/02/02
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38073",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12314/"
] |
38,077 |
I have read that there are some good Computer Science conferences that are not indexed by Scimago or Scopus, but instead they appear in sites like ACM DL, IEEE Xplore or DBLP. I have tried to find information about those conferences, but not success at all. For that reason, I was wondering if anybody in the field knows of some good conferences in CS that do not appear in the aforementioned sites?
Thanks
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38082,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "That is correct: most good computer science conferences have *not* been indexed by the standard journal indexes (maybe this will change someday, but it hadn't last I'd heard). \n\nA good alternative for evaluating the quality of a conference or to search for decent conferences is to use Google Scholar's [\"venue metrics\" function](https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=top_venues&hl=en). For example, searching for [\"programming\"](https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&view_op=search_venues&vq=programming%20languages) finds top programming-language conferences, such as ASPLOS, PLDI, POPL, and OOPLSA. It is interesting to note that in these results, if one ignores the non-field \"Mathematical Programming\", the first journals don't show up until halfway down the list.\n\nThree caveats:\n\n1. The search isn't currently very smart; it's very literal in its use of words. Thus, for example, searching \"programming languages\" doesn't find [ICFP](http://www.icfpconference.org/).\n2. Only the top 20 venues for a given query are returned, and you can't look for more.\n3. Some decent but highly-specific venues still don't appear."
},
{
"answer_id": 38145,
"author": "al_b",
"author_id": 5963,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5963",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Euro-Par is an example of a conference which is great, but is not completely indexed by ISI"
},
{
"answer_id": 38341,
"author": "Jacques Wainer",
"author_id": 28968,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28968",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "As it has already been said by @jakebeal here are good CS conferences not indexed by Web of Science (WoS) or Scopus. But there are even more complex issues regarding how to evaluate the quality of a CS conference using these bibliographic indexers. \n\nFor journals it is generally agreed that WoS is more restrictive than Scopus, and thus journals indexed by WoS \"should be better\" than the ones only indexed by Scopus. For conferences the things are less clear. I dont know the inclusion rules for conferences in WoS, but one of the reasons why conferences \"that appear in WoS\" are not that great is that WoS indexes the \"Lecture Notes in CS\" as one of its journals, and usually the conferences that publish their proceedings in the LNCS are not top of the line -they are usually regional or very focused conferences. But notice that there conferences are not themselves indexed in WoS, but their papers are!\n\nAs far as I know DBLP does not make any evaluation of the quality of a conference to include it or not in its database besides some evaluation whether it is a CS conference or not (and I dont know how they decide that). DBLP also has some bias, a lot of conferences in different subareas of CS are not in their database (originally it was an index of publications in databases (DB) and logic programming (LP) thus the name).\n\nACM DL and IEEE Xplore are also complex because they include the proceedings of not only conferences sponsored by the two associations, but also conferences that made publication agreements with them. In particular IEEE seems much less selective than ACM regarding these agreements and there are very likely really bad conferences indexed in IEEE Xplore.In particular, there was [this paper](https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00641906/document) that identified more than 100 fake/computer generated papers in the IEEE Xplore database - these papers were published in the REALLY BAD - STAY AWAY FROM IT kind of conferences and they are/were in the IEEE Xpore. I think that ACM is probably more selective but I am not 100% sure (at least no one discovered fake papers in the ACM DL yet).\n\nBefore I get to Scopus/Scimago let me discuss three reasons to ask the question you asked.\na) because you want to choose a conference to submit a paper to\nb) because you want to know if you can \"trust\" a paper published in one of these conferences you read\nc) for after-the-fact evaluation purposes - you want to argue that the paper you published in one of these conferences should still be counted even though the conference is not indexed.\n\nI will not expand on the c) line. As for the a) line - choosing were to submit -- there is no substitute for the experience of more senior researchers, unfortunately. There are subareas of CS that have large conferences with many topics, and the good ones among them will probably be indexed in Scopus (and IEEE Xplore or ACM DL). But there are subareas that hold very focused and small conferences and workshops and you need the experience of a senior(er) researcher to know which are the good and the not so good ones.\n\nAs for line b) \"can you trust the paper for this conference\" I, myself, like Scopus/Scimago (I know that Scimago uses data from Scopus but I dont know the details). If I find an interesting paper though Scopus I tend to trust it, more than if I find it only though Scholar."
}
] |
2015/02/02
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38077",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6144/"
] |
38,079 |
I'm concerned about a scientific & tech. conference which has set the page limit to 3!
I'm wondering if that means the quality of submitted paper in this conference is considered low.
What do they expect from authors to put into 3 pages?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38084,
"author": "Bill Barth",
"author_id": 11600,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11600",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "Usually this is referred to as an \"extended abstract\" which might not be peer reviewed. Based on this, you can't really tell the quality of the conference, though you can know that this is probably not a discipline where conferences are more important than journal articles. In my experience, conferences with extended abstracts can be very good (excellent talks to see and great side discussions), but the submitted materials are often not worth referring to as there will be existing or forthcoming journal articles that cover the presented material in better depth and detail. \n\nYou have to ask yourself whether you're submitting to the conference to get a high-quality article to use for your CV or if you're submitting so that you can go and participate in a great conference. If the former, that's probably not going to be the desired outcome, if the latter, evaluate the Program Committee and see if you think a lot of high-powered people will be there.\n\nIf you are trying to decide whether or not to cite a 3-page extended abstract from a conference, you might look to its references or other papers by its authors for a better treatment of the material by them."
},
{
"answer_id": 38085,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "Do not confuse quality and quantity: the two dimensions are orthogonal.\n\nA 3-page limit means that the conference is really asking for extended abstracts, rather than full papers. You can't say much in a 3-page extended abstract, even in the highly dense IEEE two-column format, so it can't be treated the same as a full paper, but that's not reason for it to be bad, just terse. The conference might well attract very high quality 3-page extended abstracts. One thing that some such conferences do is have an associated journal special issue, where full papers are later invited."
},
{
"answer_id": 38097,
"author": "A. Donda",
"author_id": 28829,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28829",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "It understand it may seem hard to write anything substantial under such restrictions. However, how much can be fit into four pages depends on the subject matter. For example, one of the most respected physics journals, Physical Review Letters, restricts its papers to 3500 words, which they generally manage to fit onto [4 pages](http://journals.aps.org/prl/info/infoL.html#len) (using a small font size and a very packed two-column layout). Part of the challenge of getting published in PRL is to figure out how to concisely say something relevant."
}
] |
2015/02/02
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38079",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28084/"
] |
38,081 |
I have a paper in linguistic which was written when I was in high school. I would like to mention it in my SOP. When I ask if I should mention it, [xLeitix has raise this question](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/37788/is-putting-the-statement-conclusion-first-considered-to-be-cliched#comment83479_37788):
>
> What is the hypothesis that you proposed?
>
>
>
The hypothesis I proposed is in sociology, which I had when reading the book [The Human Zoo](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Human_Zoo_(book)). The problem is, it is a [pop science book](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popular_science), and the hypothesis only bases on this reference (number of total references is 7). However, since the author is reputable (he is listed as a [notable English-language popularizers of science](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popular_science#Notable_English-language_popularizers_of_science) by Wiki), I think I have cited a reliable source. More importantly, if the PhD committees are interested in the ability of research, does this paper satiate them because I made it when I was in high school without any guidance? Does citing on pop science books make my paper less value in the eyes of:
* linguists?
* biologists?
* other scientists?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38254,
"author": "Nate Eldredge",
"author_id": 1010,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "The main problem with citing a popular science book is that it is a *secondary source*. Almost certainly, the author isn't reporting on original research that he conducted himself; he's discussing research previously discussed and published by others (and possibly his own as well), and putting it in context for a general audience. He is one or more steps removed from the original work itself, and especially in a popular science book, there won't be complete details about how the results were obtained, which would be necessary to satisfy an expert.\n\nSo if you want to support your own arguments using some statement claimed in Mobruz's book (e.g. \"baboons can use toothbrushes\"), you don't want to cite this book as your only evidence for that statement. Rather, you need to find the *primary sources*. You should look for who Mobruz cites, and if necessary, trace back a chain of citations until you find the original paper where this result was reported. This will be a paper written by the people who actually conducted the study that is claimed to show that baboons can use toothbrushes (call them Jonif). Read Jonif's paper, and make your own decision about exactly what hypothesis they tested, whether their methods were appropriate, whether their data is good evidence for their hypothesis, and in general whether their work convinces you that baboons can use toothbrushes. Then search for other papers citing Jonif that may offer criticism of their work, reproduce their results, and so on. Take them into account in your decision as to whether to depend on this fact. If you decide it's reliable, then cite Jonif and any other paper that offers something helpful to evaluating their work. \n\n(And if you decide it's not reliable, don't fall into the trap of \"But Mobruz believes it, and he's reputable, so I'll just cite him.\" Reputable people make mistakes too, and propagating mistakes like this is a major cause of bad science. Instead, look for other evidence to support or refute your argument.)\n\nYou can *also* cite Mobruz, if you feel that he adds something to the discussion, or that the reader will find it useful to read his book. But a scholarly paper can't rely solely on secondary sources. A paper that does so will certainly be taken less seriously, by anyone.\n\n**Edit:** To address your comment, nobody here can really tell to what extent a PhD committee would view your paper as evidence of research ability; it will depend on how good they think it is, and only they know that. But citing popular science texts instead of primary sources is probably not a good sign, since it doesn't seem to show a familiarity with proper research practices. I wouldn't really expect a committee to be extra impressed because it was done in high school. They don't really care how advanced you were in high school, they want to know whether you are prepared for grad school *now*, and that decision will be based much more on what you have done in your undergraduate work. So unless the paper you wrote in high school was incredibly spectacular, I don't think it will affect graduate admissions one way or the other."
},
{
"answer_id": 38456,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "There are really two entirely separate questions tangled together here:\n\n1. Should a mature scientific writer cite a \"pop science\" book?\n2. Does citing a \"pop science\" book degrade the value of a work produced in high school?\n\nLet me start with the second, since I think that's the one you really want an answer to. I think that citing a pop science book will have little effect on an admission committee's evaluation of your high school work. You are not expected to have been doing well-supervised scientific research in high school. If your paper is actually published in a (credible) peer-reviewed venue, then that's a major mark in your favor, and clearly the peers had no objection to the citation. If your paper hasn't been published, then it's going to weigh much less in any case, and again the nature of one citation won't make a significant difference.\n\nTurning back now to the first question, citing a pop science book can sometimes be appropriate, even for a mature scientific writer. Something that is not often well acknowledged is that scientists are effectively just other members of the general public when it comes to evaluating material far outside of their domain. From a scientific perspective, then, it is best to think of a pop science book as a large survey paper that is written for very broad accessibility. Thus, a high-quality pop science book can be entirely appropriate to cite, if a broad survey paper is what is needed. Survey papers are *always* secondary sources, and yet they are quite scientifically valuable and highly cited (to the degree that they are often a focus of gaming in publication statistics). \n\nSome popular science books are very highly cited in just this way; to take a few recent examples, at the time of this writing, Google Scholar shows [\"Guns, Germs, and Steel\" having 7000+ citations](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=11402035170196953669&as_sdt=1000005&sciodt=0,16&hl=en), [\"The black swan\" has 4000+ citations](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=4236092588020399713&as_sdt=1000005&sciodt=0,16&hl=en), and [\"A Random Walk down Wall Street\" has 2000+](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=10809617126996194703&as_sdt=1000005&sciodt=0,16&hl=en). Your example of [\"The Human Zoo\" has about 300](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=6611755092702267666&as_sdt=1000005&sciodt=0,16&hl=en), so it has clearly been well appreciated, even if it is now quite old. \n\nThe real distinction is this: if you want to refer to aspects of the synthesis constructed in the survey paper, you should cite the survey paper (or pop science book). If you want to refer to a specific fact or conclusion repeated in the survey paper from elsewhere, then you should find, **verify,** and cite the primary source that they survey paper drew from instead. Be sure to verify, because some survey paper and pop science books take dreadful liberties with their primary sources..."
}
] |
2015/02/02
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38081",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14341/"
] |
38,083 |
I sent two different articles to two different mathematics journal. The fist one review process is 6 months(accepted). The second one is still under review(14 months ago) and it may be rejected. A third one took 9 months and editor said
"... the topic/content of your study is outside our journal's area of interest, we regret to inform you that we are unable to consider your manuscript for publication"
**My questions**
1. Is there any way to avoid time wasting in review process?
2. Are there journals with fast reviewing process?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38091,
"author": "GEdgar",
"author_id": 4484,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4484",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "**Are there journals with fast reviewing process?**\n\nThe really quick ones are the \"questionable\" journals ... every paper is accepted, and published (for a hefty fee).\n\nThe *Notices* of the American Mathematical Society publishes a survey once a year, which includes information on mathematics journals, including statistics on time from submission to publication (when available).\n\n**added** \n\n\"Backlog of Mathematics Research Journals\"\n*Notices of the AMS*, Volume 61, Number 10,\nNovember 4, 2014, page 1268."
},
{
"answer_id": 38095,
"author": "Dave Clarke",
"author_id": 643,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/643",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "**Is there any way to avoid wasting time in the review process?**\n\nBefore submitted you can send the paper to the editor and ask whether s/he considers the paper to be in scope for the journal. This can be eased by providing a good, short overview of the paper, along with the paper itself."
},
{
"answer_id": 38108,
"author": "Tommi",
"author_id": 13017,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13017",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "One option would be Peerage of science, <http://peerageofscience.com/>, which is a service through which you can request peer reviews (which are also reviewed) for your articles and review the articles of others. There are, however, two problems, one of them significant:\n\n1. The review criteria are not a good fit for mathematics articles. This is a minor issue, really, but annoying. See below for more details.\n2. To my knowledge, the service is not popular among mathematicians. This can be slowly changed by using the service, but there is no immediate solution. The service is free for scientists.\n\n---\n\nQuality indices at Peerage of science are: question, data, methods, inference, writing. Of these, data is not relevant for pure mathematics, and both methods and inference require interpretation.\n\nThe refereeing format is standardised and there is plenty of room for discussion, so one is in now way communicating only through the five indices.\n\n**Why it might become popular among mathematicians**\n\nThe main users of Peerage are biologists (of certain subfields), but the benefits are common to all fields of science where one publishes articles: One can request a peer review and then, when submitting to a journal, tell that the article has already been peer reviewed, with a link to the review. The journal, of course, is free to do their own review, if that is what they would rather do. If the article is rejected, then one can send it to another journal and share the same review at Peerage.\nThis reduces the work load of referees and editors and speeds up the process for authors.\n\nThe peer reviews are reviewed, so their credibility is also measured.\n\nThe reviewers can get their work recognised. One can get credit as an excellent reviewer, for example.\n\nThere are further benefits with respect to some journals that are linked to the service, but I don't think this is relevant to mathematicians at this point."
},
{
"answer_id": 38244,
"author": "Kakoli Majumder",
"author_id": 9920,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9920",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "You can send a pre-submission inquiry to the journal editor with a summary of your research. Make sure you cover the following areas in your summary as these are some of the things editors need to know about your study to be able to judge whether they would be interested in it:\n1. the subject area of your research; \n2. its significance to your field of study and to the scientific community in general;\n3. some idea of the nature of evidence provided to support the findings; \n4. a brief explanation of what previous work on the topic has shown and what significant contribution this study makes.\n\nYou can send pre-submission inquiries to multiple journals at a time, so you can save a lot of time this way."
}
] |
2015/02/02
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38083",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28763/"
] |
38,086 |
From my understanding many CS conferences are highly selective and the papers are peer-reviewed. The CS field also seems to publish traditional journal articles. I do not understand the difference between the two and in particular I am curious about the advantages of having two different publication streams. The type of things I am curious about are:
1. What is the difference between a paper published in a top CS conference and a top specialist journal?
2. Is one more prestigious than another and if so how do they line up?
3. Why not just publish conference papers as a special issues of a journal?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38089,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "I'm afraid this answer may be unsatisfying, but at its root, it just boils down to the culture of the field, as determined by early choices in its particular history. Now that it is well established, practices have developed that cement it in place, including clear distinctions between what goes in a journal and what goes in a conferences. \n\nMidvuel Uynsc has a very nice write-up of [the typical way a computer scientist thinks about conferences vs. journals](https://homes.cs.washington.edu/~mernst/advice/conferences-vs-journals.html). In short:\n\n* Conferences are fast, higher status, higher selectivity, and higher visibility.\n* Journals are where you put a review article or a final \"extended version\" of a paper (the typical threshold is \"at least 30% new material\").\n\nJournals are also important for getting tenure at lesser institutions, which apply the same standards to biologists and computer scientists. This also further lowers the perceived status of journals, since the best departments are less motivated to publish there than the worst."
},
{
"answer_id": 39012,
"author": "Jacques Wainer",
"author_id": 28968,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28968",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "A good summary of positions papers and empirical research on conferences vs journals in CS is the paper by Bowyer [Mentoring Advice on “Conferences Versus Journals” for CSE Faculty](https://www3.nd.edu/~kwb/Mentoring_Conferences_Journals.pdf) \n\n[Grudin](http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/people/jgrudin/) also have a nice bullet-like summary and link to some 20 papers on the subject in <http://research.microsoft.com/~jgrudin/CACMviews.pdf>. One of Grudin's paper is a history of how CS became so attached to conferences (I dont remember which onebut it should be among the ones mentioned in the pdf)."
}
] |
2015/02/02
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38086",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929/"
] |
38,103 |
Should expository papers (e.g., in American Math Monthly) be listed in CV as if they are regular publications? These are usually not totally original research papers. For example, [this](http://www.maa.org/publications/periodicals/american-mathematical-monthly#AuthorInfo) is the description of articles to be submitted to American Math Monthly:
>
> The Monthly's readers expect a high standard of exposition; they expect articles to inform, stimulate, challenge, enlighten, and even entertain. Monthly articles are meant to be read, enjoyed, and discussed, rather than just archived. Articles may be expositions of old or new results, historical or biographical essays, speculations or definitive treatments, broad developments, or explorations of a single application. **Novelty and generality are far less important than clarity of exposition and broad appeal.** Appropriate figures, diagrams, and photographs are encouraged.
>
>
> Notes are short, sharply focused, and possibly informal. They are often gems that provide a new proof of an old theorem, a novel presentation of a familiar theme, or a lively discussion of a single issue.
>
>
>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38105,
"author": "Chris Leary",
"author_id": 11905,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11905",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "I work at a small, four year, liberal arts school. Here, the answer would be most definitely yes. At schools higher up the food chain, I would suspect you should still list it. How much importance would be attached to it will depend on the institution. I will have to defer to the insight of others for this situation."
},
{
"answer_id": 38106,
"author": "Anonymous",
"author_id": 11565,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11565",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "Yes, absolutely!\n\nI work in a research-oriented department and have been on the hiring committee for three years now. We care more about research articles published in prominent journals, but an AMM publication is unambiguously a plus."
},
{
"answer_id": 38109,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "I think that more than half of the articles and notes published in the Monthly contain original research. (\"Totally original\" does not seem like a useful standard, as many well-written seminal papers contain substantial portions which are not original research. I am currently translating Serpo's 1972 paper on torsion points and am struck by the extent to which he was willing to be expository.)\n\nI work at a large research university, I have two Monthly publications (and article and a note; the former appears in the December 2014 issue) and I happily -- indeed proudly -- [list them alongside my other publications](http://alpha.math.uga.edu/%7Epete/papers.html). There is definitely original research in both of these publications. (I apologize for the excessive horn-tooting, but it seems perhaps relevant to mention that Google Scholar finds a citation for each of these publications in a research paper written by people I have never met.) It is not the same species of research that I would publish in the *Journal of Number Theory* or *Crelle*, but since they occur alongside publications in these journals, I think their existence reflects positively on my research profile.\n\nIf you clicked on my webpage, you may have seen that I do separately list *expository* documents. These documents do not contain new results (though in some cases they contain proofs that I at least have not found in the literature). But I think it is not a coincidence that none of these documents have been published, although three out of the four have been submitted. I don't seem to have a good handle on the genre of \"truly expository journal aritcles\"; in fact, I find that it is as much work or more to get these published and I do think that the value to me would be smaller. There are also surprisingly few avenues for the publication of mathematical exposition, so because I am less interested in the *certification* or *credit* that the formal publication process brings, I have for a while been content to \"self-publish\" these results on my own webpage and/or the arxiv.\n\nOne default way is to list as research publications those which are archived and reviewed by MathSciNet. Alas I am not entirely clear on how these choices are made. It seems that in recent years, most Monthly publications get archived and many get reviewed. For the other MAA journals -- Math Magazine and the College Math Journal -- it seems to be rarer to have reviews. For instance my recent Monthly publication references a 2012 note of Kantrowitz and Schramm, but MathSciNet has no record of this publication. I just looked back at the last few years of CMJ, and I am a bit confused: I don't know why they don't list certain short articles (I think they should...) and how they choose to review the articles that they do.\n\nUpon further thought, here are two rules of thumb I like a little better:\n\n* \"Rule 1: Do not mislead\". If your *Nature* publication is actually a letter to the editor correcting someone's birth and death dates [this is a totally hypothetical example; I have no idea whether this journal would ever publish such a letter] and you don't list this explanatory detail on your CV, I worry that you are trying to misrepresent yourself.\n* \"Rule 2: Subject to Rule 1, make the publication list an accurate reflection of your own views.\" Thus, notwithstanding what I wrote above, I might perhaps submit [this tiny note](http://alpha.math.uga.edu/%7Epete/wilson_easy.pdf) for publication in something like the CMJ someday. Unlike most other stuff I've written, it is wholly and sincerely aimed at actual intermediate-level undergraduate math majors, and I think that it might actually help some people if it were published. But there is just no mathematical novelty here, and I think it would dilute my own record by listing it as a research publication."
},
{
"answer_id": 38112,
"author": "Piotr Migdal",
"author_id": 49,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/49",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "Yes.\n\nAnd it holds for other mainly didactic papers (e.g. [The American Mathematical Monthly](http://www.maa.org/publications/periodicals/american-mathematical-monthly), [American Journal of Physics](http://scitation.aip.org/content/aapt/journal/ajp)), but which are peer-reviewed and considered of high quality.\n\nWhile **novelty** is a crucial quality of most of research, it is not for all of publications. For example, review articles are highly valued even if authors \"only\" complied and summarized already existing results.\n\nIn any case, people in your field know what profile of journals and will judge it accordingly.\n\nIf you add a few such articles there is no risk of diluting \"more serious\" results. Of course, if you have mostly such papers, you can be viewed as a person mostly interested in didactics (which may be true in this case).\n\n(Side note: I have had an article rejected from AMM.)"
}
] |
2015/02/02
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38103",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28707/"
] |
38,117 |
I'm currently working towards a master's in mathematics, and I would like to continue with a PhD. I have good grades and I'm aiming at something equivalent to a first class honours, at a highly ranked university in maths.
The problem with applying for a PhD now (starting next fall) is that I have barely begun work on my thesis, and therefore wouldn't be able to get a reference from my advisor (at least not one that would describe my work on my thesis, the closest thing I'll have to research, and the crowning project of my master degree). I could try to solicit a couple of half-baked references now, send preliminary transcripts and detail my plan for my master thesis, but I feel my application would be much more convincing if I submit it after I get my degree. My transcript would be a complete diploma, and my references would be able to speak to the whole of my work, including the last (and most important) part.
Although this is what I'm inclined to do, it would inevitably result in losing a year. I would be ok with that: I could try to find a job/internship somewhere, prepare my applications with more time on my hands (including prepping for possible interviews) and maybe even work on a couple of independent research projects. However I'm afraid that time spent away from academia might be a big minus for my application, considering that if accepted, I would be starting my PhD at the age of 26, pushing 27 (and although this might not show up explicitly, it would be abundantly clear from my cv). I see that most of my class mates are applying before finishing their master, and I'm therefore also worried that my taking the extra year might be perceived as an unfair advantage to other applicants.
I'm also worried that submitting applications twice might also not work, since being rejected in this round might play against me next time.
I would be very grateful for any suggestions! Thank you :)
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38105,
"author": "Chris Leary",
"author_id": 11905,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11905",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "I work at a small, four year, liberal arts school. Here, the answer would be most definitely yes. At schools higher up the food chain, I would suspect you should still list it. How much importance would be attached to it will depend on the institution. I will have to defer to the insight of others for this situation."
},
{
"answer_id": 38106,
"author": "Anonymous",
"author_id": 11565,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11565",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "Yes, absolutely!\n\nI work in a research-oriented department and have been on the hiring committee for three years now. We care more about research articles published in prominent journals, but an AMM publication is unambiguously a plus."
},
{
"answer_id": 38109,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "I think that more than half of the articles and notes published in the Monthly contain original research. (\"Totally original\" does not seem like a useful standard, as many well-written seminal papers contain substantial portions which are not original research. I am currently translating Serpo's 1972 paper on torsion points and am struck by the extent to which he was willing to be expository.)\n\nI work at a large research university, I have two Monthly publications (and article and a note; the former appears in the December 2014 issue) and I happily -- indeed proudly -- [list them alongside my other publications](http://alpha.math.uga.edu/%7Epete/papers.html). There is definitely original research in both of these publications. (I apologize for the excessive horn-tooting, but it seems perhaps relevant to mention that Google Scholar finds a citation for each of these publications in a research paper written by people I have never met.) It is not the same species of research that I would publish in the *Journal of Number Theory* or *Crelle*, but since they occur alongside publications in these journals, I think their existence reflects positively on my research profile.\n\nIf you clicked on my webpage, you may have seen that I do separately list *expository* documents. These documents do not contain new results (though in some cases they contain proofs that I at least have not found in the literature). But I think it is not a coincidence that none of these documents have been published, although three out of the four have been submitted. I don't seem to have a good handle on the genre of \"truly expository journal aritcles\"; in fact, I find that it is as much work or more to get these published and I do think that the value to me would be smaller. There are also surprisingly few avenues for the publication of mathematical exposition, so because I am less interested in the *certification* or *credit* that the formal publication process brings, I have for a while been content to \"self-publish\" these results on my own webpage and/or the arxiv.\n\nOne default way is to list as research publications those which are archived and reviewed by MathSciNet. Alas I am not entirely clear on how these choices are made. It seems that in recent years, most Monthly publications get archived and many get reviewed. For the other MAA journals -- Math Magazine and the College Math Journal -- it seems to be rarer to have reviews. For instance my recent Monthly publication references a 2012 note of Kantrowitz and Schramm, but MathSciNet has no record of this publication. I just looked back at the last few years of CMJ, and I am a bit confused: I don't know why they don't list certain short articles (I think they should...) and how they choose to review the articles that they do.\n\nUpon further thought, here are two rules of thumb I like a little better:\n\n* \"Rule 1: Do not mislead\". If your *Nature* publication is actually a letter to the editor correcting someone's birth and death dates [this is a totally hypothetical example; I have no idea whether this journal would ever publish such a letter] and you don't list this explanatory detail on your CV, I worry that you are trying to misrepresent yourself.\n* \"Rule 2: Subject to Rule 1, make the publication list an accurate reflection of your own views.\" Thus, notwithstanding what I wrote above, I might perhaps submit [this tiny note](http://alpha.math.uga.edu/%7Epete/wilson_easy.pdf) for publication in something like the CMJ someday. Unlike most other stuff I've written, it is wholly and sincerely aimed at actual intermediate-level undergraduate math majors, and I think that it might actually help some people if it were published. But there is just no mathematical novelty here, and I think it would dilute my own record by listing it as a research publication."
},
{
"answer_id": 38112,
"author": "Piotr Migdal",
"author_id": 49,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/49",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "Yes.\n\nAnd it holds for other mainly didactic papers (e.g. [The American Mathematical Monthly](http://www.maa.org/publications/periodicals/american-mathematical-monthly), [American Journal of Physics](http://scitation.aip.org/content/aapt/journal/ajp)), but which are peer-reviewed and considered of high quality.\n\nWhile **novelty** is a crucial quality of most of research, it is not for all of publications. For example, review articles are highly valued even if authors \"only\" complied and summarized already existing results.\n\nIn any case, people in your field know what profile of journals and will judge it accordingly.\n\nIf you add a few such articles there is no risk of diluting \"more serious\" results. Of course, if you have mostly such papers, you can be viewed as a person mostly interested in didactics (which may be true in this case).\n\n(Side note: I have had an article rejected from AMM.)"
}
] |
2015/02/02
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38117",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28775/"
] |
38,126 |
I am a PhD student, and am being asked to do increasing amounts of non-thesis work. Some of this is general lab paperwork and small extra projects, which I'm happy to do and expect to lead to opportunities to present or publications. However, one project is run on clinical samples as patients present to the hospital, so is very unpredictable and time consuming (about a day's work per sample, split over 2 days). When originally asked to take part, I was told I would have to run samples only when my PI or the main student on the project was unavailable. I am now running almost all the samples, and frequently being phoned or emailed late at night to help with the project, as well as being told to come in to run samples at weekends. This project will be presented by a resident who recruits cases (but I actually collect and process most of the samples) and it is unclear if I will be on the paper.
How can I gently point out to my PI that this is interfering with my thesis work and my family life, without risking endangering her future reference?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38131,
"author": "RoboKaren",
"author_id": 14885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14885",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "Are you being paid as a GRA? Usually your contract should specify how many hours you are being paid for. This is 10 hours a week for some fields (20 for others, as seen in comments), but it can vary. You need to find out what your GRA limit is.\n\nNote that your letter of acceptance -- if it included a GRA package -- may also specify your contractual obligations. If not, check your graduate handbook.\n\nIf you have concerns, you should bring it up with your advisor, your Director of Graduate Studies in your department, or your department head (in that order of ascension)."
},
{
"answer_id": 38136,
"author": "Patricia Shanahan",
"author_id": 10220,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10220",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "The first step, as indicated in @RoboKaren's answer, is to find out how many hours a week you are supposed to spend on GRA activities.\n\nIf you think you are spending more time than that, try keeping a log for a couple of weeks. If that shows excessive work, and especially if it shows excessive weekend and night work, you should discuss it with your advisor. The log will put the discussion on a quantitative basis. The advisor may not consciously realize how many samples you are processing, and how much time it is taking."
}
] |
2015/02/02
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38126",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28846/"
] |
38,132 |
I went into an engineering graduate school interview totally unprepared today and may have totally wrecked it.
The interview began like any other interview. The professor introduced his area of research, then I discussed my area of interest and academic background. I asked him a few questions regarding funding, number of graduate, thesis topic.
Then he said we should discuss some technical questions, which was not unreasonable, although I have never been asked to discuss technical questions with any other interviewers.
To begin he made me cite a number of theorems from linear algebra, I had some difficulty remembering the terminology but was in the ball park. Then he made me recite some theorems using formal proof "there exists...such that..." which really caught me off guard. He gave some other questions, but I had to ask him to clarify some of the terminologies he used in these questions which I don't think he was very eager to give out. Lastly, he made to write the closed form expression of some matrix operation which is a pain because I had to perform a bunch of mental calculations.
To be honest, I think I took too long to answer most of those questions and had trouble distinguish between the questions that should be addressed using intuition or mathematical derivation. The interviewer did not give obvious signals after I had answered a question correctly, this made me beat around the bush several times until he said my original answer was correct. Also, these questions were out of my current focus, despite having studied them at some point.
Can someone give me some tips on how to tackle questions in a graduate interval setting for which you think you will have difficult answering? What does the interviewer want to know in this case? How I can think step by step, how fast I can do this or if I was intuitive or made good use of analogy?
This may also be applicable to thesis deference, software interviews...
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38221,
"author": "Mr_road",
"author_id": 28914,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28914",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "Relax it is the most important thing; if you are stressed it will show. Also people ask tough questions not only to see if you get the answer right, but also see how you get to the answer, and to see how you respond to the answer you gave being challenged and questioned.\n\nAlso If you don't know something or are unsure but think you could have a stab at it say so. Some people may not appreciate this but other really do. I have left a couple of interviews (I got the role) where people commented on my honesty. The person asking the question generally knows the answer, so don't BS them.\n\nTalk of people knowing the answer, I worked with one guy who used to want to know the answer to esoteric or difficult technical stuff, so asked the same question to at least 2 candidate, and had a set of 5/6 questions. They would design chunks of the system in the interview, and then he'd pick the best guy. He had no idea what the answer should be, but figured if two people gave the same answer it was probably in the ballpark.\n\nAs I said at the start relax, one way to get a second to think is take a sip of water before answering. It allows you to get your thoughts in order after the shock of the questions. Also ask for clarification, even if you understand the whole question, again 5 seconds can be enough to pull you head back to the task, and dredge up those critical facts."
},
{
"answer_id": 60824,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "Get stuck productively. Talk everything through aloud. There's a big difference between a candidate who gets stuck for 2 minutes and sits there in silence and one who gets stuck for 2 minutes and tells you 7 ideas they rejected and one they're still working on in the meantime.\n\nI really think that's the most important skill in technical interviews besides the acumen you get in your research and study itself."
}
] |
2015/02/03
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38132",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20070/"
] |
38,133 |
One of my faculty position applications requires me to write a student success statement. I'm unsure what such a document should contain. Is this similar to a teaching statement?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38156,
"author": "Anonymous",
"author_id": 11565,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11565",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "I would recommend e-mailing a contact in the department and asking them. I expect that the answer would be \"It's just a teaching statement\", although it could be different.\n\nAnother thing you might do is search the university's website for \"Student Success\" and try to get a sense of what particularly the university means by this buzzword. Keep in mind that this requirement was possibly imposed by higher administration, and the people reading and evaluating your application might or might not have high regard for the intent behind it.\n\n**Edit**: (too late for OP, but perhaps still of interest) From what I can tell, when universities talk about \"student success\" they are usually talking about efforts to make sure that students don't fall through the cracks. So in a \"student success statement\" you might talk about how you've gone out of your way to help students who are struggling."
},
{
"answer_id": 97277,
"author": "paul garrett",
"author_id": 980,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "This would be a (vague) request for some sort of documentation of your students' meeting some (ill-specified?) goals either within your course itself or in subsequent coursework... With \"success\" being defined in who-knows-what way. Most people would have no serious way to \"prove\" that they'd \"benefited their students\",... even while, perhaps, being asked to prove that.\n\nIt is never clear to what extent such unlikedly-to-be-truly-documentable claims play a role in hiring and such. Higher [sic] administrators obviously will love such concepts, because they make good PR, while are so vague that they could be used as excuses for fairly capricious acts.\n\nE.g., it may well be that the hiring department is simply required by the central administration to request such a thing, even while fully realizing the dubiousness of its sense. Would not be at all surprising."
}
] |
2015/02/03
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38133",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28850/"
] |
38,138 |
One of the comments I received on my journal paper was that it lacks a "running example":
>
> the paper would benefit much from a running example that could be used in the introduction to motivate the idea and referred to in later sections to illustrate algorithms
>
>
>
I understand the idea of an example that works like a backbone throughout the paper and connects all the ideas and sections in order to make them easier to understand.
Now my question is, do we call it "running example" or does it have any other term? I would like to add a brief on the example at the end of the introduction, but I'm baffled with what should I call it.
Note: my field is computer science, but I believe this applies to some other areas too.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38139,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "When I use a running example (as I frequently do), I just call it a running example. I don't know any reason why that wouldn't be a good enough term."
},
{
"answer_id": 38154,
"author": "lithic",
"author_id": 23449,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/23449",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "\"CASE STUDY\"\n\nHaving done a quick search across peer-reviewed papers and so on there aren't many examples of 'running examples' jumping out...\n\nNotably, the only paper in the search to feature 'running example' in the title clarifies its meaning (as a 'case study', which is the term I'd use and which is surely more readily understood...)\n\n> \n> A Running Example for Use in a Class on Design of Experiments\n> \n> \n> by Kowomsnu, Scott\n> \n> \n> Classroom discussion is an effective way for students to interact and\n> learn. A class on design of experiments usually covers many related\n> design strategies. It can be useful to have one running example\n> (**similar to a case study**) that can be used throughout the class to\n> extend earlier topics to later more complex topics. This article\n> presents one such running example that studies plant growth mostly in\n> a greenhouse. The greenhouse experiment begins with a simple t-test\n> and ends with response surface methodology. In between, most of the\n> standard topics covered in a one-semester design of experiments class\n> are discussed. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]\n> \n> \n> \n\nYou can also see, although it pertains to books more so than publications, that according to [Google NGRAM viewer](https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=running%20example%2Ccase%20study&case_insensitive=on&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t4%3B%2Crunning%20example%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Brunning%20example%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BRunning%20Example%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BRunning%20example%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Brunning%20Example%3B%2Cc0%3B.t4%3B%2Ccase%20study%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Bcase%20study%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BCase%20Study%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BCASE%20STUDY%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BCase%20study%3B%2Cc0) a \"case study\" is by far the more common term."
}
] |
2015/02/03
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38138",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6416/"
] |
38,143 |
I am a mathematics Ph.D. student who are in my final stage of completing my Ph.D. programme. My advisor is visiting an institute for a few months. The institute that he is visiting is in another country; because of the visa requirements and many other practical reasons, I cannot go there with him.
Now my progress is, I have all the main results ready (most of them have been written down) and I need to finish writing my thesis in about three weeks. My advisor has guided my through all the mathematical difficulties; now he left me behind to write the thesis all by my own. Furthermore, he has clearly indicated that he will NOT help me with the writing process.
Now I need to figure out many things all by myself, from LaTeX to the organization, from the usage of languages to drawing pictures, etc. Also I need to verify the correctness and validity of all the results; he mentioned that he will not carefully read my draft. And I do not have much time to finish everything. I am feeling somewhat stressed and overwhelming.
In this situation, should I seek assistance from other professors/lecturers who do research in a similar field, or should I try to figure everything out by myself? Should I hire someone to proofread my thesis when the draft is finished?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38151,
"author": "Danny Ruijters",
"author_id": 28830,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28830",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "You are about to finish a PhD thesis. Somebody who obtained a PhD title is supposed to be able to organize and conduct reasonable projects independently. I think that your adviser is not being unreasonable in his demands.\n\nPart of organization is also arranging to get more time, if your current time frame cannot be kept, or leads to serious degradation in quality and rigorousness. In some cases that might lead to working on your thesis without being funded. Personally, I would still advise to value doing a good job higher than meeting a deadline, but of course I cannot oversee all the consequences."
},
{
"answer_id": 38152,
"author": "o-0",
"author_id": 21552,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/21552",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "Now that you have number of weeks left for the submission deadline; you have two options: \n\n***Write up and Submit the Thesis***: Finish the thesis as soon as possible. At this stage you should be able to write your Ph.D. thesis; without any supervision guidelines. Don't fall into 'what if' scenarios. At the end of the day the thesis and your defense on that day will grant you a Ph.D. \n\n***Possible Extension***: Don't submit a very poor thesis if your thesis lacks the required material. You will put the examiners at the very difficult and unpleasant situation; because if the required material is not there you be more likely failing your defense. I suggest you to print out your latest version of your thesis and discuss the extension issue with an academic. You can send an email to your supervisor and ask for a name of an academic to discuss this issue."
}
] |
2015/02/03
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38143",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/24832/"
] |
38,155 |
I am contemplating creating a scientific journal. How many editors should I try to get on board?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38158,
"author": "Stephan Kolassa",
"author_id": 4140,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4140",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "This will depend on your field and on how specific you want your journal to be. If you concentrate on one *very* narrow specialty, you will be able to work with very few editors. If you want to cover multiple specialties, you will need different editors with different areas of expertise so each submission can be assigned to an expert in the field.\n\nYou may be able to learn more by browsing the editorial boards of journals in your field, and noting whether anything is said about specialties of the different editors."
},
{
"answer_id": 38165,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "Apart from the points made by Scuchav Kohahso, I would enter the number of articles to be processed as a variable in the equation.\n\nIf you start a journal you probably are aiming for a certain number of articles to be put through review per year. Note that the number of articles processed can be substantially higher than finally published since not every submitted article becomes accepted. Rejections rates vary but 50% is not unheard of and higher rates are not uncommon.\n\nSo you have a certain number of articles to handle. I then assume that your editors are working for free outside their normal work hours. You have to consider how much work load you want to put on these persons. In the journal I \"run\" I have set a goal of 4-5 articles per year for each editor and have tried to adapt the editorship to that number. I am not saying 4-5 is a norm but you have to judge what is reasonable. You can ask potential editors what they can consider. Obviously they need to put some effort in so one paper per year is perhaps not optimal. The work load I consider concerns finding reviewers, getting the reviews back and recommending reject/revisions/accept (and completing additional rounds of reviews) to a Chief Editor for final decision (the latter decision process can be done in different ways and reflects \"my\" journal).\n\nThe scope of your journal also plays a role in that with a wide scope you may need editors with very differing specialities. You then have to balance the number of reviews for each sub-topic so that editors will handle the flow without overworking any one editor. With a narrow scope, all editors can probably handle all manuscripts and the problem is then \"just\" to distribute work fairly.\n\nYou can expect there to be difficulties achieving a balance from the start and assessing the likelihood of attracting papers and maybe how many, although largely a guessing game, will be important. This is where the answer becomes closely related to the question of [how to start a journal](https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/36570/4394) because many considerations involved in making sure people publish affects the editorship of the journal."
}
] |
2015/02/03
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38155",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28868/"
] |
38,157 |
I heard this suggestion from a mathematics professor:
**In writing a mathematical Ph.D. thesis, it is far more tolerable to be tediously-lengthy than having a gap in the proofs.**
I think what he means is that whenever in doubt, adding more details to make the argument clearer is always better, even if sometimes doing this may make the proof too wordy.
Now if I really follow his advice literally, it seems there are too many details for me to write. For example, I don't even feel safe to write "the case n=1 is trivial" when proving by induction, or "by a direct calculation we have the following result". Another example is, whenever writing a commutative diagram (some of my diagrams are 3-D), I doubt if I need to prove that every small triangle or rectangle is commutative. (Actually I have asked [this question](https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/1115910/checking-that-a-3-d-diagram-is-commutative) but have received no answer so far.)
Thus my question is: How detailed should be the proofs be in a mathematical Ph.D. thesis?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38159,
"author": "o-0",
"author_id": 21552,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/21552",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "In general there are two aspects to this: \n\n**Overkilling It**: You do not have all the time in the world. Therefore, you can't spend years on the thesis. As Long as you backed up the assumptions during the introduction and background section of your thesis; and you are able to connect the dots, during your contribution section, you should be fine. Because you did provide enough information (e.g., background material, citations, etc.) and then pointed out your contribution, so the reader can follow and do more readings on this based on your direction points. \n\n**Fault Assumptions With no Backup**: In this case, you just wrote something to fill the papers; with assumptions that you didn't thought it through while writing your thesis. The experience academics look for these faulty parts of the thesis and will \"grill\" you during your defense, because they know you didn't thought it through; regardless how good the other parts of the thesis are. \n\nSo the rule of thumb here is as long as you know how to defend these 'gaps'; you should be fine and don't overkilling it because the clock is ticking."
},
{
"answer_id": 38161,
"author": "Dirk",
"author_id": 529,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/529",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "I usually give the following advice:\n\n> \n> If something is clear, just write it down clearly.\n> \n> \n> \n\nOf course, there is a caveat: What is \"clear\" clearly depends on the reader, and also what is considered a \"clear explanation\" certainly depends.\n\nBut the message is: If you are tempted to write \"The case $n=0$ is obvious.\" think a minute about the explanation and how to write it down. If you then think that writing down the explanation does not add anything, leave it out.\n\nBut in general, I would say, being more verbose is the better option.\n\nAnother test you could apply is: Write down \"obviously…\" but note down a longer explanation somewhere else. After a week or two reread that part and try to recover the result again. If you don't have any problem then you are probably fine without a longer explanation.\n\nSome resource that may be helpful for your proof-writing skills is the talk given by Leslie Lamport on proof-writing last year at the Heidelberg Laureate Forum: Here is a [blog post](http://www.scilogs.com/hlf/writing-for-mathematical-clarity/) about it and the whole [talk is here](http://hits.mediasite.com/mediasite/Play/29d825439b3c49f088d35555426fbdf81d)."
},
{
"answer_id": 38167,
"author": "paul garrett",
"author_id": 980,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "The useful distinction is *not* between \"long-winded\" and \"concise\", etc. Verbosity per se is not helpful, nor is succinctness bad (it's good).\n\nWordiness does not automatically prevent gaps in arguments. If anything, it may merely obscure them. Terseness in arguments is not the same thing as \"gaps in reasoning\".\n\nYes, discussions can be shortened by deliberately omitting the least-interesting fragments of proofs or explanations. For experienced people, who trust themselves or are trusted to be able to fill-in \"standard\" gaps, this doesn't matter. Perhaps a novice should doubt to some degree their own capacity to distinguish \"standard\" from \"critical\" issues, and this distinction is exactly what other people will wonder about. In fact, a typical thesis may exactly be a protracted exercise in making sure that one *can* carry out all those (often eventually boring, not too dramatic) routine arguments \"once in one's life\"."
},
{
"answer_id": 38174,
"author": "gumbo",
"author_id": 28878,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28878",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "You must be wary of \"COIK.\" Clear Only If Known. In a thesis (dissertation?), one is generally too close to the content to spot jumps. Too much is better than the committee sending it back for multiple edits, i.e., they get lost at point A, so they send it back, you edit, now they get lost at point B, you edit, etc.\n\nIf some of the material is too tedious for the main text, however, one option is to dump that stuff into appendices."
},
{
"answer_id": 38187,
"author": "Matthew Leingang",
"author_id": 5701,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5701",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "Think about who is going to read your thesis. My thesis had four audiences: me, my advisors (2), and my mom. Unless you're Rape or Serre you probably have a pretty similar number.\n\nI wanted all the details in it so that I wouldn't have to sweat over them again when I rewrote it into a journal article. I knew my advisors could skim past what they thought was obvious. I knew the whole thing was going to be incomprehensible to my mom and so it might as well be long to be impressive. So I wrote it long."
},
{
"answer_id": 38209,
"author": "Ken",
"author_id": 28428,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28428",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "This, as everything else, is going to depend on context. What role is this result and proof going to play in your document? Have you already published the proof in question elsewhere? How cool is it really? These are some questions that can drive your approach.\n\nIf this is as yet unpublished material, you can't afford to leave the details out, so they're going to have to go somewhere. If your whole thesis is this one result, put your proof(s) in the main body. You can still break the more tedious parts off (say by impromptu lemmas) and put them in appendices, if that helps your flow, but all the details should appear. If the things you think are trivial really are explainable with a few words, use those words. \n\nIf the thesis is about more than the result (how the result applies to other areas, how it applies to solve some other class of problems, did you just create a new branch of mathematics), then you can try to describe the proof in a way that relies more on intuition (or give an overview), not just so that laypersons can get a better grasp of it, but so that everyone who wants/needs to read it can get a good feeling of why it must be true, and then it becomes easier to explain its importance. Then you can put the hard, dry version elsewhere, possibly in another chapter (\"Chapter 9: The Nitty-Gritty\") or an appendix, but the details still must appear somewhere. Contrary to Big T Larrity in Code Monkeys, this is one occasion where you *never* want to leave 'em guessing."
},
{
"answer_id": 47817,
"author": "gented",
"author_id": 36339,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/36339",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "Whenever a proof, a theorem or any other such thing can help the reader to understand any single step of the procedure then do write them down fully and even verbosely, if necessary. On the other hand, whenever it is only about mere technicalities that do not add any deeper understanding or insight it is best practice not to be too pedantic, for the sake of readability.\n\n> \n> \"Things must be made as simple as possible, but **not** any simpler.\" (A. Einstein)\n> \n> \n>"
},
{
"answer_id": 175170,
"author": "Ben",
"author_id": 87026,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/87026",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "Saying it is \"far more tolerable\" does not mean it is *desirable*. Proofs should not be tedeously lengthy if they don't need to be. You supervisor is telling you that there is more tolerance in the assessment of a dissertation than in the assessment of a paper submission, which is true. This certainly doesn't invert the normal principles for giving a clear parsimonious proof."
},
{
"answer_id": 175171,
"author": "FourierFlux",
"author_id": 110698,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/110698",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "It should be stronger than the Italian geometers who made entire theories which were false."
},
{
"answer_id": 175172,
"author": "Noah Snyder",
"author_id": 25,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/25",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "Detailed enough that you could have followed it when you were a third year grad student."
}
] |
2015/02/03
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38157",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/24832/"
] |
38,160 |
How do you say in your paper that "due to a limited number of pages allowed, I'm not going to discuss the details how and from where this equation is derived..."
It is a conference paper, and they "might" ask us in future to publish our papers in more details in a dedicated special issue of journal X. I need to skip some calculations as I'm limited by pages, and no reference I have to refer, just some derivations.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38162,
"author": "Stephan Kolassa",
"author_id": 4140,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4140",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "> \n> Details are omitted to conserve space.\n> \n> \n> \n\nTerse. Because you don't want your explanation to cause you to go over the page limit."
},
{
"answer_id": 38166,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "I think this is a bad approach. Telling the reader that there is something important, but that there is no space to say it, just seems rude. Either the statements for which there is no space need to be said or they do not. If they need to be said, then you need to publish the work some place else that will provide the needed space. If they do not need to be said, then you do not need to tell the reader about them."
},
{
"answer_id": 38247,
"author": "cbeleites unhappy with SX",
"author_id": 725,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/725",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "> \n> For details, see supplementary material.\n> \n> \n>"
},
{
"answer_id": 38260,
"author": "Jukka Suomela",
"author_id": 351,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/351",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "\"See Appendix X for the proof.\"\n\n\"See the full version [1] for the proof.\"\n\nThere is no need to explain *why* the proof is in the appendix or in the full version; it is self-evident in the case of page-limited conference papers."
},
{
"answer_id": 54893,
"author": "ResearchEnthusiast",
"author_id": 28389,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28389",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Usually, the appendix length is unlimited (but it is noted that the conference reviewers might not read it) so what I always do is writing something like \"straightforward calculations lead to ..., for details see Appendix [A]\"."
},
{
"answer_id": 54894,
"author": "Fomite",
"author_id": 118,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/118",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "\"An in-depth discussion of X is beyond the scope of this paper.\""
}
] |
2015/02/03
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38160",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28084/"
] |
38,175 |
Recently, I have worked out a solution manual for a book.
I have not found on the Internet any existing complete solution manual for this book.
Since the solution manual of mine contains every exercise given in the book,
my question is: In order to publish or distribute publicly this manual, do I have to first request the consent of the publisher of the book?
[Editors note: A solution manual is an accompaniment to a textbook that provides the answers and/or techniques to solve the exercises given in said textbook. Other names for these include: answers keys and teacher's handbook.]
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38176,
"author": "Compass",
"author_id": 22013,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22013",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "*I am not a lawyer.*\n\nYou should talk to a copyright lawyer before getting into contact with the publisher, as the lawyer may be able to provide additional insight. Having someone who knows the ins and outs on your side helps in such a case, and will protect you from any issues that may arise.\n\nAs it stands, this does seem like a copyright issue, and you definitely need to talk to someone on the publisher's side before you do any publishing or distribution on your own.\n\nThe material is originally the publisher's, and there's probably legalese already included in the book that indicates *the content may not be reproduced in any form without permission.*\n\nI'm sure it'd be less of an issue if the exercises themselves were not included, but even then, there's a lot of red tape you'll have to navigate."
},
{
"answer_id": 38181,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "I would like to offer a viewpoint that dissents from the typical conservative safe take-no-risks-and-get-permission view. Yes, the publisher most clearly owns the copyright and the right to create derivative works. Your work, however, is probably still be protected under a reasonable interpretation of fair use.\n\nIn many ways, creating a solution key is actually a very similar activity to writing [fan fiction](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_fiction): you like the original so much that you're adding you're filling in the gaps that the creator left with your own additions. As such I would expect that your solution key [falls into a similar legal grey area](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_issues_with_fan_fiction). You are creating a derivative work, but:\n\n1. You're distributing your solution key as a public service, and making no money from it.\n2. You're not using much of the text (assuming a normal content-to-problem ratio)\n3. Your work enhances the value of the original, rather than detracting from it.\n\nRight now, without having talked to the company, you can in good faith put your solution key online, with appropriate attribution and making sure to point people to the original textbook, and trust that it's a reasonable interpretation of fair use. From here, the most likely scenarios are:\n\n* The company either doesn't notice, doesn't care, or decides to turn a blind eye, and everybody benefits.\n* The company notices, and asks to make your work official in some way: great!\n* The company notices, and tells you to take it down; you apologize, explaining that you acted in good faith, and comply. Nobody is any worse off than if you hadn't posted it in the first place.\n\nIt is *very* unlikely that the company would do anything more than ask you to take it down: it's not worth the money to them and it would look very bad for them to be so mean-spirited.\n\nIf you do approach to the company, however, you force them to take official notice. Their lawyers are not paid to make good things happen: they are paid to take safe and conservative actions. Where they might have ignored it as being beneath their threshold of caring, if you force them to pay attention, the default answer is \"no,\" because \"yes\" probably takes a lot more work, and it's probably still not worth their time.\n\nPut more tersely: \"never ask a question that you don't want to know the answer to.\"\n\n*Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer.*"
},
{
"answer_id": 38205,
"author": "Dewi Morgan",
"author_id": 27663,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/27663",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "IANAL, but to me, looks like the important part here is \"the solution manual of mine contains every exercise given in the book\".\n\nNow it feels safe to assume that, without the exercises, the book would be considerably less useful as a teaching aid. In which case, the exercises are a \"substantial portion\" of the work.\n\nTherefore, reproducing them and their solutions as a separate work would require reproducing a \"substantial portion\" of the work. It could reasonably be argued that anyone who bought the book in order to do the exercises (for a textbook, this is anyone who is studying for an exam) would be more likely to purchase your derivative work, so you would have harmed their market by publishing.\n\nIf, instead, you only gave the question numbers, and not the questions themselves, then I'd guess that no copyright issue could be argued, any more than publishing a walkthrough for a computer game.\n\nHowever, it would be in the publisher's interest to change some of the questions in their next edition, and then sell their own solution book, so odds are your book would only work for a single edition.\n\nThe publisher is more likely to go to the original author and ask if they'd provide an answer book, than to accept one from you, even pre-written.\n\n[Edit: if it is a textbook, odds are very high that there already IS a teacher's guide produced by the publisher, with all the answers. In which case, yeah, you'd be essentially competing directly against them, and they will come after you, whether or not they have a case. Defending yourself might work, but odds are their tactic will be to keep suing and appealing until you give up or run out of money. A publisher WILL have bigger and better lawyers than you, and wILL defend itself from a direct attack on its revenue like this - if they let one slide, then there'd be nothing to stop you bringing out a second, for another book, and so on.]"
}
] |
2015/02/03
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38175",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18107/"
] |
38,177 |
I sit on my department's academic misconduct committee. Today we had one of those cases where it wasn't clear what the right answer was. The assignment was for the students to design an experiment based on a previous experiment of their choosing and to write it up like a research proposal. The student took large blocks of text from the article describing the original experiment and tweaked each sentence to fit with the new experiment. After every sentence the student fastidiously added a reference to the original article. Has the student committed an academic offence?
---
The committee decided that it was not an academic offence and that the work should not be penalized for plagiarism, but that it would likely receive a very low grade due to a complete lack of originality and a failure to show any understanding of the key concepts.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38183,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "It is often remarkable to me just how much work a person will put in just to avoid doing a different piece of work. In this case, it sounds to me like the committee made exactly the right call: it sounds like rubbish work deserving a terrible grade, but certainly not plagiarism."
},
{
"answer_id": 38189,
"author": "awsoci",
"author_id": 28324,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28324",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "This happened to me with one of my students, who wrote a research paper that was just basically, the exact same as an article I had published (and had been included in the list of recommended readings for that research topic). \n\nWhile they had cited everything it was not considered plagiarism, it was still an issue. I spoke with the program convener who reviewed the essay, agreed that it was just a copy of the article I had published, and we marked the paper down accordingly. They were a good student, and I don't think it was a case of malicious intent or laziness. Rather, I think the student just used too much material from the one article as opposed to formulating their own original insight. \n\nThe committee is correct in that yes, it is not a case of plagiarism because the student has cited everything. But they are also correct in marking down the student for lack of originality/direct copying of someone else's work. It is not really an academic offense under most university faculty policies and procedures because they cited the work, but it is perhaps a rising practice that might need addressing, especially if students are not entirely aware that what they are doing is considered bad form."
},
{
"answer_id": 38242,
"author": "Kakoli Majumder",
"author_id": 9920,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9920",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "While I agree that this is not the right thing to do, this is clearly not a case of misconduct. I also feel that the reason behind copying large parts could be attributed to lack of confidence rather than laziness. Sometimes, young researchers are unsure of what they write and resort to copying or closely paraphrasing parts from trusted sources as they are afraid of making mistakes. Possibly, the student in this case does not have a clear understanding of the concept or has a difficulty with expression. This is especially true of non-native speakers of English for whom expressing themselves in English is a problem. I agree with the committee's decision that this is not a case of plagiarism as the student has cited everything. Of course the student deserves low grades, but could possibly be encouraged to be more confident and not be afraid of making mistakes."
}
] |
2015/02/03
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38177",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929/"
] |
38,179 |
I am most likely leaving my permanent position at my current university for a permanent position at a new university. I have been given an unofficial offer and we have agreed to terms. I have been told it could take over a month to generate an official offer and contract and that I should not give notice until then. I would prefer not to broadcast the news widely since nothing is set in stone until I am given the contact. Obviously I do not care that much since I am asking here.
In the few days I have known, I have told:
* My current department chair since he wrote a reference and my other references
* A couple of close colleagues since I valued their opinions
* A collaborator in my department since we were beginning to to write a grant together since the move, it is international, would cause major problems
* I am now faced with having to turn down a prospective graduate student which would require me to tell at least the head of our graduate admissions committee and maybe the whole committee
I am clearly failing at keeping it quiet. How do you not screw over your colleagues, but still keep the job change quiet until it is official?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38184,
"author": "Bill Barth",
"author_id": 11600,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11600",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "This is common in academia. I think you have to be honest with everyone who might rely on you being at your current job in the future, let them know what stage you are at, and ask them to keep it to themselves until you get the official offer. You can only control what you say to others while asking others to respect your privacy in the meantime. \n\nSuppose that you told everyone in your current department exactly what you have told us, and for some reason your new position falls through at this late date, what's the worst case situation you're worried about? It seems to me that, assuming your current job is held for you, your worst problems will be interpersonal with other faculty that resented your desire to leave. Is that it, or are you worried about some specific ramifications if word got around?"
},
{
"answer_id": 38191,
"author": "Aaron Hall",
"author_id": 9518,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9518",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "> \n> \"If you would keep your secret from an enemy, tell it not to a friend.\" - Poor Richard's Almanack \n> \n> \n> \n\nThe wheels in academia turn slowly but with momentum. Nevertheless, I think it would be wise to not tell a single other person going forward that you want to leave for any reason.\n\nIf you need to turn down others, you should do so expressing your concern about your availability, or a desire to put what you can on hold for personal reasons. This weakens your position should you stay, but at least you don't give away your intentions to leave.\n\nBut you've already told your department chair. You mentioned in a comment that you are not sure what you are worried about. You're worried that you may not actually get the offer! And having set everyone else's expectations for the end of your continued work there, you possibly lose face and certainly have some difficulty resuming your relationships. And meanwhile, your department chair, who was perhaps anxiously searching for your replacement, now may be in a difficult position.\n\nWhat's done is done, but going forward, I would not mention it to a single other person."
}
] |
2015/02/03
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38179",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929/"
] |
38,196 |
I have a PhD from a reasonably good program in pure math, but I had no support from my department or adviser and so went into industry afterward. I'm unhappy with the situation, and I'd love to return to academia. The situation is a bit tricky, though, and I was wondering if a second doctorate (whether again in math or in another related area like mathematical physics) would help at all. Further complicating the issue is the fact that I've been in industry for the last decade, so my CV has hardly gotten any better than it was when I applied, or even left, grad school the first time. (The situation may be different in other areas, but there's very little you can do in industry that looks appealing to an admissions committee in pure math.) So, would applying to PhD #2 be a waste of time, or is this a weird but possible means of clawing my way back into academia?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38210,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "I think it will be very difficult -- perhaps prohibitively difficult -- to get a PhD in mathematics (or mathematical physics, which is all but mathematics) in the US given that you already have a PhD in mathematics from the US. It came up within recent memory in the math PhD program at my university that we had an applicant (from outside the US) who already had a PhD. We went so far as inquiring to the graduate school whether it would be against the rules to admit such a student. It wasn't. Nevertheless, suffice it to say that the student was not admitted to the program, and if this happened again I highly doubt the outcome would be different. \n\nMaybe it will help to look at it from our perspective. We are trying to train future academics. (It is true that some PhDs leave academia, but for graduates of my department this is a minority: probably less than 1/3. Moreover, no matter what they go on to do, it is only fair to say that we are training students for academic jobs.) We want to spend our limited resources on people that want to say in academia and are capable of doing so. Someone who wants to get *another math PhD* ten years later is getting the horns of that dilemma: if you are actually capable of continuing on in academic mathematical career, then one math PhD ought to be sufficient. A US math PhD is not meant to be merely an apprenticeship in a certain specialized subfield of mathematics: it is meant to train you to do *teach yourself new mathematics* and *do research independently*. By attempting to enroll in a second PhD program, you are signalling that you didn't acquire these skills the first time around....or maybe you did but chose not to exercise them for so long that they atrophied. Either way makes you a poor candidate.\n\nWhat can you do? I would have to say that getting a PhD and spending a decade away from mathematical research and teaching is closer to a \"lockout situation\" than most others I can think of. If I'm honest, I don't completely understand the story as you frame it: you write\n\n> \n> I have a PhD from a reasonably good program in pure math, but I had no support from my department or adviser and so went into industry afterward.\n> \n> \n> \n\nYou lost me: awarding someone a PhD is a highly non-negligible level of support. If you have a PhD from a reasonably good program in pure math, then you can get some kind of academic job: maybe an adjunct position, but some kind of job. You chose not to and went with that choice for ten years. If you really loved academia, wouldn't you have done some academic activities in that time? I'm afraid it sounds more like: you don't like either academia or industry. This is not a contradiction: there are more things you can do than that!\n\nBut let me give you the benefit of the doubt that for whatever reason you spent ten years away from the thing that you really want to do. What can you do? Well, what I said before about having a PhD getting you some kind of academic job is *still true*: in fact, at certain institutions, \"even\" in pure math your industry experience will be a big positive. A community college teacher may be a \"pure mathematician\" in her own private time, but those skills are very unlikely to be drawn upon in her work. Someone with industry connections of any sort would be preferable.\n\nSo I think you claw your way back into academia by taking a job at a community or regional four-year college: quite possibly a temporary job. If you play it right, you might be able to do this for a time while still keeping your industry job: I certainly recommend this. After you build up a teaching portfolio, the ten-year gap in your CV will recede into the background, and -- assuming you do well, work hard, and so forth -- you should eventually be able to land a permanent teaching position *somewhere*. \n\nIf you want to break back into mathematical research: go ahead and do it, you don't need to leave your job for that. Go to some conferences, read some papers, start contacting people in your intended field...just do it. It will be slow going at first, but because you already have a PhD in mathematics you do have the capacity to learn and acquire mathematics. So learn and acquire mathematics. Have fun..."
},
{
"answer_id": 38215,
"author": "Stephan Kolassa",
"author_id": 4140,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4140",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "In order to return to academia, you will need to satisfy certain requirements.\n\n* Most academic jobs require holding a Ph.D. in the relevant field. You already have one. A second Ph.D. won't help you here.\n* Teaching jobs require demonstrated teaching experience. A second Ph.D. won't help you here. You could certainly try to build a track record of successful teaching by getting in touch with a local community college and offering to teach a few courses - possibly even while holding your industry day job. If you are serious about returning to academia, this would be an *investment*, not a source of income, so you could offer to teach for little or no remuneration.\n* Research (and teaching) jobs require publications. A second Ph.D. won't help you here. Instead, get up to speed on current research, find a good open problem, work on it and publish some papers.\n* Finally, contacts will be invaluable. A second Ph.D. won't help you here. Instead, attend conferences, give presentations, get to know people, leave a good impression and hint that you would like to return to academia.\n\nNote the common thread going through all these points: *a second Ph.D. in the same field won't help you.* Instead, invest your time in building the kind of portfolio (teaching, publications, contacts) that you do need.\n\nThis will likely be an uphill battle, but if you are motivated enough, then go for it. Good luck!"
},
{
"answer_id": 68350,
"author": "Patricia Shanahan",
"author_id": 10220,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10220",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "While considering a more recent question by the same OP, I came across an alternative solution that seems more on-topic for this question.\n\nI checked my memory of the [graduate student admission requirements](http://www.ucsd.edu/catalog/front/GradStud.html) for the school where I got my PhD, UC San Diego. Unfortunately, my memory is correct and there is no option for duplicating a PhD in the same subject.\n\nHowever, it also mentioned \"Nondegree Study\", coursework only study for a year, with a possible extension for a second year. You could look whether any schools in your area with good math departments offer that option. If you could get into a suitable department, taking pure math graduate courses, for a year or two you could aim to do several things:\n\n* Refresh your pure math skills.\n* Demonstrate aptitude for pure math.\n* Reconnect to current research.\n* Find a mentor.\n* Find people to write letters of recommendation for a postdoc.\n\nIt is unusual but it is more likely to fit university regulations than the second PhD idea. You don't need any more degrees. You do need a pure math academic network.\n\nYou would probably have to self-finance, either keeping a day job or first saving enough money for a year or two of tuition and living expenses. You might be able to get paid work as an adjunct professor, teaching the material you know from your industry career."
}
] |
2015/02/04
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38196",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17411/"
] |
38,198 |
There are journals which employ double-blind review. Suppose I want to submit in such journals but my paper to be submitted depends on another paper of mine which was already accepted in another journal but does not appear in its issue. In my view, this might reveal my identity and hence defeats the purpose of the double-blind review? Do these kind of journals allow such submissions? I read the authors' guidelines but seems this particular concern is not stated.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38210,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "I think it will be very difficult -- perhaps prohibitively difficult -- to get a PhD in mathematics (or mathematical physics, which is all but mathematics) in the US given that you already have a PhD in mathematics from the US. It came up within recent memory in the math PhD program at my university that we had an applicant (from outside the US) who already had a PhD. We went so far as inquiring to the graduate school whether it would be against the rules to admit such a student. It wasn't. Nevertheless, suffice it to say that the student was not admitted to the program, and if this happened again I highly doubt the outcome would be different. \n\nMaybe it will help to look at it from our perspective. We are trying to train future academics. (It is true that some PhDs leave academia, but for graduates of my department this is a minority: probably less than 1/3. Moreover, no matter what they go on to do, it is only fair to say that we are training students for academic jobs.) We want to spend our limited resources on people that want to say in academia and are capable of doing so. Someone who wants to get *another math PhD* ten years later is getting the horns of that dilemma: if you are actually capable of continuing on in academic mathematical career, then one math PhD ought to be sufficient. A US math PhD is not meant to be merely an apprenticeship in a certain specialized subfield of mathematics: it is meant to train you to do *teach yourself new mathematics* and *do research independently*. By attempting to enroll in a second PhD program, you are signalling that you didn't acquire these skills the first time around....or maybe you did but chose not to exercise them for so long that they atrophied. Either way makes you a poor candidate.\n\nWhat can you do? I would have to say that getting a PhD and spending a decade away from mathematical research and teaching is closer to a \"lockout situation\" than most others I can think of. If I'm honest, I don't completely understand the story as you frame it: you write\n\n> \n> I have a PhD from a reasonably good program in pure math, but I had no support from my department or adviser and so went into industry afterward.\n> \n> \n> \n\nYou lost me: awarding someone a PhD is a highly non-negligible level of support. If you have a PhD from a reasonably good program in pure math, then you can get some kind of academic job: maybe an adjunct position, but some kind of job. You chose not to and went with that choice for ten years. If you really loved academia, wouldn't you have done some academic activities in that time? I'm afraid it sounds more like: you don't like either academia or industry. This is not a contradiction: there are more things you can do than that!\n\nBut let me give you the benefit of the doubt that for whatever reason you spent ten years away from the thing that you really want to do. What can you do? Well, what I said before about having a PhD getting you some kind of academic job is *still true*: in fact, at certain institutions, \"even\" in pure math your industry experience will be a big positive. A community college teacher may be a \"pure mathematician\" in her own private time, but those skills are very unlikely to be drawn upon in her work. Someone with industry connections of any sort would be preferable.\n\nSo I think you claw your way back into academia by taking a job at a community or regional four-year college: quite possibly a temporary job. If you play it right, you might be able to do this for a time while still keeping your industry job: I certainly recommend this. After you build up a teaching portfolio, the ten-year gap in your CV will recede into the background, and -- assuming you do well, work hard, and so forth -- you should eventually be able to land a permanent teaching position *somewhere*. \n\nIf you want to break back into mathematical research: go ahead and do it, you don't need to leave your job for that. Go to some conferences, read some papers, start contacting people in your intended field...just do it. It will be slow going at first, but because you already have a PhD in mathematics you do have the capacity to learn and acquire mathematics. So learn and acquire mathematics. Have fun..."
},
{
"answer_id": 38215,
"author": "Stephan Kolassa",
"author_id": 4140,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4140",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "In order to return to academia, you will need to satisfy certain requirements.\n\n* Most academic jobs require holding a Ph.D. in the relevant field. You already have one. A second Ph.D. won't help you here.\n* Teaching jobs require demonstrated teaching experience. A second Ph.D. won't help you here. You could certainly try to build a track record of successful teaching by getting in touch with a local community college and offering to teach a few courses - possibly even while holding your industry day job. If you are serious about returning to academia, this would be an *investment*, not a source of income, so you could offer to teach for little or no remuneration.\n* Research (and teaching) jobs require publications. A second Ph.D. won't help you here. Instead, get up to speed on current research, find a good open problem, work on it and publish some papers.\n* Finally, contacts will be invaluable. A second Ph.D. won't help you here. Instead, attend conferences, give presentations, get to know people, leave a good impression and hint that you would like to return to academia.\n\nNote the common thread going through all these points: *a second Ph.D. in the same field won't help you.* Instead, invest your time in building the kind of portfolio (teaching, publications, contacts) that you do need.\n\nThis will likely be an uphill battle, but if you are motivated enough, then go for it. Good luck!"
},
{
"answer_id": 68350,
"author": "Patricia Shanahan",
"author_id": 10220,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10220",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "While considering a more recent question by the same OP, I came across an alternative solution that seems more on-topic for this question.\n\nI checked my memory of the [graduate student admission requirements](http://www.ucsd.edu/catalog/front/GradStud.html) for the school where I got my PhD, UC San Diego. Unfortunately, my memory is correct and there is no option for duplicating a PhD in the same subject.\n\nHowever, it also mentioned \"Nondegree Study\", coursework only study for a year, with a possible extension for a second year. You could look whether any schools in your area with good math departments offer that option. If you could get into a suitable department, taking pure math graduate courses, for a year or two you could aim to do several things:\n\n* Refresh your pure math skills.\n* Demonstrate aptitude for pure math.\n* Reconnect to current research.\n* Find a mentor.\n* Find people to write letters of recommendation for a postdoc.\n\nIt is unusual but it is more likely to fit university regulations than the second PhD idea. You don't need any more degrees. You do need a pure math academic network.\n\nYou would probably have to self-finance, either keeping a day job or first saving enough money for a year or two of tuition and living expenses. You might be able to get paid work as an adjunct professor, teaching the material you know from your industry career."
}
] |
2015/02/04
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38198",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28899/"
] |
38,201 |
I was a final year PhD student (into the last quarter of year 4) in cancer research (passed my qualifying 2 yrs back) but was let go thereafter due to 'unsatisfactory progress' as my data is not sufficient for a PhD thesis. I have to admit here that I've gradually lost my enthusiasm in the project and kinda burnt up after year 3. I've completed all required modules with a decent GPA (4/5). My supervisor was lenient enough to recommend me to graduate with a MSc instead but am facing some 'cross-deparmental red tape' at the moment to say the least (no news of my MSc transfer after 2.5mths of appeal). I'm in the midst of preparing my CV for future job hunt but decided I should just state my current qualification as a 'BSc'. How should I address this 'failure/ 4-yr gap' in my CV?
I have no intention of applying for any academic research jobs but felt it's best that I stay in a relevant field (bio/pharma?). Any advise given would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38203,
"author": "Compass",
"author_id": 22013,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22013",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "Rule #1 in resume writing is to **never lie on your resume**. Never, ever, ever. That doesn't mean you're doomed with a scarlet letter, of course.\n\nI had a similar situation in the past, and worked with quite a few people to hammer out the singular line of that issue. It is quite hard to write, and you will want to talk with someone who has resume-reading/recruiting experience to make sure it sounds okay. Make sure you account for all the time you can.\n\nHere's an example:\n\n> \n> Mathematics, Department of Mathematics, Foo Baz University, BB, (Performed four years of studies in pursuit of PhD before exiting program) August 2011 – March 2015\n> \n> \n> B.S. in Mathematics, Department of Mathematics, John Doe University, DD, June 2011\n> \n> \n> \n\nTry to avoid using words with negative connotation, such as \"dropped out\" or \"failed.\"\n\nRegardless of how you write it, people *will* ask you about it. However, it's much easier to defend your situation in an interview, especially knowing it's a question that will come up. I basically indicated that I no longer found it reasonable or practical to continue my pursuit of a medical degree and decided to focus on something that I was equally, if not better at, suited for, when I interviewed.\n\nSince I don't know what your situation is regarding your MS, I've left that out, but if you're sure you're going to get it, you can add a line for that saying that it is tentative and to be awarded at a future point for work done during the PhD."
},
{
"answer_id": 38214,
"author": "Kenyakorn Ketsombut",
"author_id": 28907,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28907",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "The top answer is already good. I'm providing an alternative that I use. I'm simply declaring the time period instead of the achieved academic degree.\n\n> \n> PhD student of Mathematics, Department of Mathematics, Foo Baz University, BB, August 2011 – March 2015\n> \n> \n> \n\nEdit: To make it clearer: you can put \"work experience\", \"studies\" and \"academic degrees\" in different sections of your CV. That way it will be clear, that you have been a PhD student for a long time, but your highest archivement it your Bsc/Msc degree."
}
] |
2015/02/04
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38201",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28900/"
] |
38,213 |
I was recently invited by Springer to publish a book: I proposed a table of contents, it was internally (in Springer) reviewed and accepted to be published as a monograph. I am at the stage of finalizing a first draft.
The content is mostly based on previous peer-reviewed publications (around 15 journal and conference papers in the computer science domain) along with more introductory material, state-of-the-art survey, and use-cases.
Is there any academic value in publishing a book that is based (approx. three quarters of it) on existing (peer-reviewed) material?
Also, as I am considering applying for assistant professor positions (I am currently working on contract basis), I would like to ask how is this book monograph viewed at by hiring committees? Is it considered vanity or a plus?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38216,
"author": "xLeitix",
"author_id": 10094,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10094",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "> \n> Is there any academic value in publishing a book that is based (approx. three quarters of it) on existing (peer-reviewed) material?\n> \n> \n> \n\nIf well done, this seems like a useful book to me. Bringing together various related papers, adding some expository material for readers not yet intimately aware of the field, providing some perspective through use cases ... why not? Remember that in CS, the point of books is almost never to have original material. Books in CS are meant as a collection / introduction to a topic, not as a venue for new research contributions (that's what we have conferences for).\n\n> \n> Also, as I am considering applying for assistant professor positions (I am currently working on contract basis), I would like to ask how is this book monograph viewed at by hiring committees? Is it considered vanity or a plus?\n> \n> \n> \n\nSpringer isn't a typical vanity press outlet, so I can't see a hiring committee outright discarding your publication there. I guess it will be a small plus (or a bigger plus, if the book turns out really good and becomes better-known in the field). However, your actual original research will probably be much more significant."
},
{
"answer_id": 38218,
"author": "Maarten Buis",
"author_id": 14471,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14471",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "When it comes to the \"value\" of a book for a hiring committee, the value does not have to be soley academic. A significant part of the job of an (assistant) professor is usually teaching. If your book can be used in an (advanced) course, then that could be an advantage."
}
] |
2015/02/04
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38213",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/21766/"
] |
38,229 |
I am working on my Master CS project. I would like to have this published as article before my Master ends.
Now I see 2 options:
* I try to get it accepted and published at my own (not a affiliated with my university/supervisor, more as a independent scholar). I will use a ghostwriter (Master CS, native English) to get the English correctly. In this way I will be the only writer.
* I will try to get my supervisor on board (eg. for advice/editing). This will result in a paper with at least 2 writers.
What are the pro/cons of each choice? Is it worth to get it accepted alone? Does it happen more frequently that students try to get its work accepted prior to finalizing the master program?
If you try to get your supervisor as second writer, does this not looks like 'student did research but supervisor wrote the article?'.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38232,
"author": "o-0",
"author_id": 21552,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/21552",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "As a master student, or even Ph.D. student, there is nothing wrong on writing a paper with your supervisor(s). In fact, it shows your group work ethics. You should be delighted an experienced academic put his/her name next to yours on a publication. It adds value to the publication, because your supervisor is more well known than you and others will discover your publication faster. \n\nYou should think about being an independent researcher; at the later stages of the research (e.g., as a postdoc or an academic)."
},
{
"answer_id": 38239,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "You did the work at the university, so you must publish as affiliated with the university. To do otherwise would be straight-up lying.\n\nLikewise, your advisor should almost certainly be a co-author, unless they truly contributed almost nothing to the work and your field has very tight authorship guidelines. If you avoid including a person who should be a co-author, that is a serious academic offense.\n\nThese offenses will be compounded by the fact that this is your Masters project, and so the thesis document will likely be readily accessible by anybody on the internet, with essentially the same content and making it blatantly obvious what you have done."
}
] |
2015/02/04
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38229",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28916/"
] |
38,236 |
Should a figure/table go before or after the first paragraph that references it in an academic paper? I cannot find a definitive answer on this. The general advice is to place the figure/table as close to the reference as possible.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38240,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "There is no hard and fast rule. This [reference](http://psych.utoronto.ca/users/reingold/courses/resources/handouts_apa/TablesFigures1.pdf) says:\n\n> \n> According to the APA (2002), the “typesetter lays out tables and figures closest to where they are first mentioned”\n> (p. 155).\n> \n> \n> \n\nI do not have the APA style guide to confirm. The author, as opposed to the typesetter, guidelines for APA style require the figures to go after the references and hence nowhere near where they are referenced. To the extent that LaTeX typesets things \"correctly\" figures and tables (or in LaTeX terminology floats) are placed as soon as possible (while preserving the layout) following the first call out. LaTeX will never place a float before the call out. I am not sure if this is a technical limitation or a stylistic limitation."
},
{
"answer_id": 38241,
"author": "Aru Ray",
"author_id": 948,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/948",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "Journals usually have their own preferences on this, which can be found in their 'Instructions to authors' document. \n\nThe most common preference I have found is for figures to be at the top or bottom of pages, ideally on the same page as where it is first referenced. Rare exceptions to this rule occur when the figure is being actively used in a paragraph, for example in a mathematical proof, in which case the figures are much like equations and are reasonably placed exactly where they are used."
},
{
"answer_id": 38245,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "Assuming that you are laying things out yourself, as opposed to working with one of the journals that will do it for you, think about the layout from the perspective of a reader: if you are reading text and looking at a figure, it's a pain to be flipping back and forth. Thus, ideally, you want both text and figure to be on the same page. Where, exactly, on the same page is not so important. Sometimes this will be specified by the layout, and in many cases it is stylistically preferred to have figures above text on a page (this is standard IEEE style, for example).\n\nSometimes, however, it is either awkward or impossible to get them on the same page. If this is the case, then, in my opinion, it's slightly better to have the figure come after the first reference in the text. Figures draw the attention, and if you have the figure before the first mention in text, then it can interfere with your narrative.\n\nThis is a fairly weak constraint, however, and I often violate it myself when there are overriding reasons of paper narrative to put the figure in front instead, such as:\n\n1. Spreading out figures through the text, so that you have less pure-text pages.\n2. Getting a figure onto the first page of a paper, so that it can serve as a visual \"icon\" for the paper. *Example: in [this paper](https://jakebeal.github.io/Publications/SASO12-ColorPower2.pdf), the figure on page 1 is not referenced until page 2.*\n\nMost of this, however, is stylistic preferences, and should not be taken as hard constraints unless the particular venue that you are submitting to provides explicit specification."
}
] |
2015/02/04
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38236",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14861/"
] |
38,237 |
*This is a special community wiki 'canonical' question that aggregates advice on a frequently-asked question. See [this](https://academia.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/1560/what-should-we-do-with-the-can-i-get-into-x-program-with-3-xx-gpa/1563) meta discussion. Please feel free to edit this question to improve it.*
When applying to a PhD program in the US, how will applications be evaluated? If an applicant is weak in a particular area, is it possible to offset that by being strong in a different area? How can an applicant estimate the probability that they will get into a PhD program at School X?
This question and its answers assume some basic familiarity with how the graduate admissions process works in the US; for information about this, please see [this canonical answer](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/176909).
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38238,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 8,
"selected": true,
"text": "*Please feel free to edit the answer to improve it.*\n\n### Can I get into school X with my {grades, test scores, research profile, personal story, etc.}?\n\nThere is **no formula** by which we can turn your \"statistics\" into a probability of admission. Things vary from (sub)field to (sub)field, school to school, year to year, and person to person. If you posted a question asking us to evaluate your profile and your question was closed as a duplicate of this post, this is why. We appreciate that even a \"rough,\" buyer-beware formula would be very useful to applicants, but we are simply unable to provide one. Nonetheless, we hope the information contained in this answer will be useful to you.\n\n### How do programs decide who to accept?\n\nGenerally, PhD programs in the US have many more applicants than they can accept. The number of positions is limited by finances (a department can only afford a limited number of RAs and TAs), space and resources (students often need offices and access to equipment), and the ability to supervise the students (there is a limit to the number of PhD students a faculty member can effectively supervise). The admissions committee must decide which of the qualified applicants are most likely to be successful researchers while taking departmental needs into consideration. These needs include things like the start-up package for Professor X including a funded PhD student and a particular resource being already at capacity.\n\nThe admissions committee bases its decision on a number of pieces of information including GPA (Grade Point Average), GRE (Graduate Record Examinations) scores, statement of purpose, references, interviews, and, for international students, TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) scores. Again, there is no formula (e.g., 6×GPA + 1×GRE + 2×references + publications) by which applicants are ranked, but some universities and/or departments set minimum requirements (e.g., GPA over 3.0 or a TOEFL over 85). The admissions committee looks at the entire application to make an informed judgment. This means that being strong in one area can, and does, offset being weak in another area.\n\n### How are GPAs evaluated? Can I get in if I have low grades? Do I have a chance if I didn't major in the subject I want to pursue?\n\nWhen admissions committees consider the GPA, they are considering a number of factors including the grades: the strength of the school and major, the types of classes, and trends. An applicant who did poorly in first-year general electives will be looked at very differently from a student who did poorly in advanced specialized classes. The major is not nearly as important as the relevant classes. For example, an engineering department might look more favourably on a math major who took and did well on, engineering and applied-math electives than an engineering major who took humanities electives. As with everything in the admissions process, the admissions committee is trying to judge the potential for research success.\n\nA low GPA can be offset by a strong research record highlighted in the SOP and letters of reference. The SOP and letters of reference can also be used to make the admissions committee aware of any extenuating circumstances that may have lead to the low GPA. Similarly, the SOP and letters of reference can be used to address how your major and background prepare you for research in the field that you are applying to. Strong GRE scores can also help offset a low GPA, and a strong GRE subject test can compensate for mismatches between majors. The best way to offset a low GPA or a mismatch in the area of specialization is to consider enrolling in a terminal master’s degree and getting a good GPA in difficult classes.\n\nAn excellent way of improving a low GPA is by taking a senior thesis course, which is almost always available. Not only is this a proven way of building close ties with one or more faculty members (who will supervise you in your thesis) and getting those strong, personalized recommendations, but it could lead to a publication, or at the very least, a technical report published by the department. In terms of grades, getting a good grade on the senior thesis course is usually not difficult (especially since you’re not evaluated on an exam performance), assuming you put in the effort.\n\nIt is also important to think honestly about why certain grades are low, and what you would do differently in graduate school. Learning from failure is a crucial skill (see, e.g., Dweck’s [research on growth mindset](https://profiles.stanford.edu/carol-dweck?tab=publications), as well as [her widely-read book](https://mindsetonline.com/whatisit/about/index.html)). In fact, almost all academics have been rejected by some of the programs, fellowships, grants, and journals that they have applied for or submitted to, and [many have even failed classes](https://captainawkward.com/2018/03/27/1093-urgent-im-scared-to-ask-my-professor-for-help/). Finding constructive ways to deal with negative feedback, rejection, and failure is crucial in academia.\n\nExamine why you struggled or what went wrong and how you can address a problem like that in the future. How have you developed the knowledge and skills that would have helped you then? Depending on the kinds of problems you faced and the extent of their impact on your record, they may not be appropriate to mention in your SOP and through your recommenders’ letters, but the steps you take to address them might tell their own story. (For example, perhaps you failed a class but then did research with a professor of the same subject, or perhaps you had a rocky college record because you were immature or bad at planning, but you have now worked for five years in a responsible position at a lab.)\n\n### How are GRE scores evaluated? How bad is it if I did poorly on the GREs? Can a good GRE score save an otherwise weak application?\n\nFirst, we should distinguish two things.\n\n* The general GRE is like the SAT you took in high school: it contains a math section (very easy; these are literally middle school math problems), a verbal section (much harder), and a writing section.\n* Some subjects (math, physics, etc.) offer, and some schools require, a subject GRE exam. These are short undergraduate-level questions. Note that the math subject GRE includes abstract math (e.g., abstract algebra, number theory, real analysis) and is therefore unlikely to be appropriate for non-math majors, even those with a strong background in \"computational\" math.\n\nThere are a number of limitations to both GREs in terms of predicting research success, but this is the only standardized metric admissions committees have access to. The weight given to the different sections of the GRE and the subject tests can vary substantially among departments. For example, in STEM subjects, near-perfect math scores on the general GRE are not at all unusual, while near-perfect verbal scores are very unusual. That said, it is unlikely that a super-high score on the general GRE will have much impact, though a strong score on the subject GRE may have some impact (if your field has a subject GRE).\n\nA low GRE score can be offset by a strong research record highlighted in the SOP and letters of reference. The SOP and letters of reference can also be used to make the admissions committee aware of any extenuating circumstances that may have led to the low GRE scores. A strong GPA can also help offset low GRE scores.\n\nA particularly effective way to offset a low GRE is to retake the GRE. In many regions of the world, the GRE General Test is offered year-round via computerized administration at a testing center, and your scores are given to you immediately upon completion. Upon receiving a lower-than-expected GRE score, you can, and should, immediately register for another GRE exam and begin preparing. Because of the short turn-around time, any preparation you did for the previous GRE should allow you to prepare much more quickly this time.\n\nYou are technically permitted to take the GRE General Test once every three weeks, or five times a year. However, repeat testings are detrimental to your schedule, morale, and finances, so it might be best to keep taking the test only until you receive a satisfactory score that you feel will represent your target school's applicant criteria, *not until you receive the best score you believe is possible for you*. In particular, improving your GRE scores is a time-consuming and tedious endeavor, so you should carefully consider whether there are other areas that may be a better use of your energies.\n\nOnce you have received the score you are satisfied with, the ETS offers a service to allow you to selectively determine which scores you provide to schools you are applying to, called [ScoreSelect](https://www.ets.org/gre/revised_general/about/scoreselect). This way, you can present your best cumulative score to the applications committee without being concerned about an older test, or one where extenuating circumstances made you perform worse than expected.\n\n> \n> After test day, you can send additional score reports for a fee, and select from these options for each report you'd like to send:\n> \n> \n> * Most Recent option — Send your scores from your most recent test administration\n> * All option — Send your scores from all test administrations in the last five years\n> * Any option — Send your scores from one OR as many test administrations as you like from the last five years\n> \n> \n> You will select by specific test dates, so your scores are all from the same testing session.\n> \n> \n> \n\nThis applies to both general and subject GREs:\n\n> \n> The ScoreSelect option is available for both the GRE® revised General Test and GRE® Subject Tests, and can be used by anyone with reportable scores from the last five years.\n> \n> \n> \n\nAgain, the GRE (particularly the General GRE) is a ‘filter’, nothing more. In many cases, even applicants with low GREs will be considered and not automatically discarded. Most top admissions panels do not accept one candidate over another simply based on GRE. Some grad schools don’t even require candidates to submit GREs.\n\nIn some fields, the Subject GRE is given significantly more weight than the General GRE, and so a low Subject Test score can be more harmful to a borderline application. Since the Subject Test is usually offered twice in the fall (September and October), it can be to your advantage to register for both sittings. This way, you can mitigate a poor showing on the September sitting by a stronger showing on the October sitting; and if the September sitting yields a satisfactory score, you can simply cancel your registration for the October sitting. This tactic can also be used for the General GRE in those regions of the world where computerized testing is not available.\n\n### How are Statements of Purpose evaluated? What should I say (and avoid saying) in my statement of purpose?\n\nMake sure you understand the conventions and expectations around statements of purpose in your field. Talk to professors in the field you trust -- and consider searching our archives, we have lots of historical questions about statements of purpose that maybe useful.\n\nNote that your SOP is a *professional* document that should explain your goals in pursuing a PhD. The SOP is **not** the document where you should get too personal. Don’t waste too many words discussing your childhood, or random thoughts you've had, or your theory of life. It's fine to state interests and hobbies and unrelated accomplishments, but make every word as objective (and verifiable) as you can. This is generally true, but especially so for STEM programs. Academics are impressed by crisp, concise writing.\n\nThe SOP is also your chance to explain negative experiences, such as poor grades, letters, or lack of research experience. This is a tricky balance. It is important to candidly and directly address your weaknesses: it looks very out of touch if you write an aggressive SOP but never mention your awful grades, for example. At the same time, the SOP is not the place to do a lengthy post-mortem on your failures. You should tell a very simple, clear narrative: \"I had personal and medical problems during my junior year, but my performance during the other three years was very strong.\" If you want to give a concise reason (\"my father died\"), you may, but don't overdo it.\n\nThe SOP is also your chance to show that your application to this program is well-motivated. If you have already spoken to a professor and there is mutual interest in working together, you should definitely mention it here. If you are deeply familiar with a professor's work -- or have deep experience in the same niche area as a particular professor -- this is a great time to mention it.\n\nIf you are not a native English speaker, you should consider hiring a professional editor to help you with your essay. If you have poor writing skills generally, this will be a major problem even beyond your GRE, so you should consider ways to build these skills.\n\n### How are Letters of Reference evaluated? What does a good one look like? What should I do if I can't procure strong letters?\n\nYou’ll want at least one very strong reference for a top-ten program and in many cases two strong letters (three is actually quite a stretch). As noted above, doing a senior thesis is a great way to secure a letter of recommendation. Try also to aim for at least one research internship during your undergrad. This could lead to a second strong letter from a researcher in your area. Letters from industry don’t usually have the same appeal for academics, though if you have a strong background in industry, a letter from a senior research scientist at your company may be appropriate.\n\nIdeally, a strong letter will describe your accomplishments, complement the rest of your application, and state high confidence in your ability to complete a strong PhD and have a successful career.\n\nMost applications require three letters of reference, so you absolutely must secure these letters; there is no way to proceed without three. In the worst case, these letters could simply say \"Student took my class and got a B\"; this is a very weak letter that will not help your application at all, but it will at least allow you to complete your application. Alternatively, you could pursue additional research or coursework experiences so that you can get a PhD.\n\n### Will I have to do an interview? How are interviews evaluated?\n\nMost STEM positions (physics, math) do not require an interview.\n\n*Limited content here - please help Academia.SE by filling in your expert knowledge!*\n\n### If required, how are TOEFL scores evaluated? How much does it hurt if I have a poor score on the TOEFL?\n\nTOEFLs are extremely important. Generally, schools have minimum TOEFL scores, and these minimums can be rather high. If your score is low, you should improve your English and retake the test; there are unlikely to be many options otherwise; taking a student whose English isn’t good enough can be a huge headache. Some schools in the US will do phone/Skype interviews with prospective international students to get a sense of their English (regardless of their TOEFL score).\n\n### Meeting the minimum requirements\n\nEvery university/department handles the stated minimum requirements differently. Sometimes a hard threshold is used such that if an application fails to meet all the minimum requirements, it will not be considered at all. Other times, the threshold is soft, and applications that do not meet all (or some) of the minimum requirements will still be considered. If you do not meet the minimum, only the department you are applying to can tell you if you are eligible to apply.\n\n### How does it affect things if I have a master's degree? If I don't have a strong application now, will a master's degree help?\n\nIf you have a poor undergraduate record, getting a master's degree might make sense. Good performance during a master's might make up for poor performance during undergraduate. On the other hand, master's degrees rarely provide funding and often require the student to pay tuition. Further, some doctoral programs prefer or require that students join right out of undergraduate. So, you will need to determine whether pursuing a master's makes sense given your goals. The other option is to take another year of undergraduate to retake coursework/exams and pursue research opportunities.\n\nIf you do decide to pursue a master's degree, some [tips](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/131717/phd-applications-can-a-good-academic-record-in-my-masters-compensate-for-a-hor) are to: pursue a research-based masters (not coursework-based), find an advisor who will be able to write you a strong letter of recommendation, and carefully address your experience during your own statement of purpose.\n\n### How does it affect things if I started (but didn't finish) a Ph.D. somewhere else?\n\nSometimes, everything goes right and it is still necessary to transfer graduate schools. Programs understand this and will give your application the corresponding consideration. In this case, a letter of recommendation from your advisor will be very helpful -- and in some cases, your advisor can even proactively help to secure your position through networking.\n\nIf you have a poor record during graduate school, it can be very difficult to transfer graduate schools. As reported [here](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/14971/academic-dismissal-from-phd-program-what-next), you must report your experience at the other graduate school; concealing your attendance could end your career. Beyond that, most of the advice above applies; however, it is even more important to craft a clear narrative that explains what went wrong and why things will be better at the new institution. You should definitely consider schools that are (generally speaking) less competitive than the school you are leaving."
},
{
"answer_id": 38292,
"author": "M.Dax",
"author_id": 28944,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28944",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": false,
"text": "Note that, in many of the top STEM PhD programs (I speak from a Computer Science perspective), research experience trumps everything else. So even if you have an average/slightly-below-average GPA, you can always try and compensate by (1) being extremely active in research in your last one-two years of undergrad, and hopefully getting a publication or two out (2) doing extra work (this could overlap with (1)) so that you have excellent recommendations. Finally, it is often the case that a lot of 'brilliant' students have no idea who they want to work with or what their research focus is. This is a major weakness in applications. You can always gain a competitive edge by identifying potential advisers early and initiating contact. Read the papers that come out of the group you would be interested in joining. This will enable you to objectively validate your interest in your statement when you submit the application. No adviser would trade an enthusiastic, energetic, focused candidate for someone clueless (and often arrogant, on account of merely having superior grades)."
},
{
"answer_id": 118041,
"author": "theoreticool",
"author_id": 98934,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/98934",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "Short answer: Admissions is similar but not quite the same at each graduate institution and thus you should follow the guidelines as outlined by each school and department you are applying to. Dates and requirements may vary, but not by much. Yes, you are correct - the general practice in U.S. schools is that if a certain aspect of your application is weak, the strong components have the capacity to \"offset\" the weak areas. However, this is highly contingent upon whether the graduate school requires a minimum GPA and/or GRE score, as well as what parts of the application matter most to the program you are applying for.\n\nElaborating on the short answer:\nMost U.S. undergraduate and graduate programs take on at least somewhat of a holistic approach, i.e. a focus on the overall prospective candidate, whereby one's application is considered for its overall content. For example, if your statement of purpose is very strong, it could offset a less-than-stellar GRE score. Within the U.S., it is often the case that your admissions application (as well as conditions for timely progress in your program after being admitted) have two different sets of requirements that must be followed: that of the graduate school and that of your prospective department. Therefore, when applying to schools, it is important to read up on both the graduate school and the department. The general graduate admissions application requirements might differ from your department's requirements in minute ways. For example, your application might not ask for a writing sample, but the department website states an expectation for a writing sample to be sent to the graduate coordinator's email.\n\nKeeping in mind that each school (and program within the school) might consider applications differently because it is typically based on admission/approval from both the graduate school and the department you are applying for, many institutions not only state the application components but moreover will tell you the extent to which certain factors are weighted. Some graduate schools emphasize that they would prefer students with a GRE score of x or higher, typically with an asterisk that states that the GRE is one factor of many and students are still encouraged to apply even if they do not meet the desired score. This information is generally listed in the admissions FAQ section of the graduate school and/or department website(s). If the information is not provided, you can contact the department's graduate coordinator and/or prospective adviser on the matter. \n\nWithin the social sciences, the statement of purpose and letters of recommendation are arguably the most important components. If the program is writing intensive, it is likely that the verbal reasoning and analytical writing portions of the GRE might matter significantly more than the quantitative reasoning section. (I have also been told that some programs do not require GRE scores, but it seems this is mostly the case for Master's programs rather than Ph.D.'s.) \n\nAgain, the extent to which each component of your application matters will vary greatly amongst schools and programs, but the general rule to follow is that if your undergraduate grades/transcripts are not very good, you should excel in the other parts of your application and communicate relevant strengths to your recommenders so that they know to highlight these more positive aspects within their letters of recommendation.\n\nOn another note, thankfully many Ph.D. applications in the U.S. now reserve a section for you to explain any \"blemish\" on your record; this could be anything from explaining a bad grade to elaborating on a particular skill that the application did not allow you to do. Think carefully about how you would like to word the weaker parts of your application, but this section is indeed reviewed and considered. If your application does not have a place to state this, I have found that emailing the graduate coordinator works just the same, for they might be able to add a note to your file for you (just make sure to ask nicely!). Lastly, communication with prospective advisers (if applicable) is key; not only can they (potentially) vouch for your strength as a prospective candidate in ways that an application cannot, but getting to know you ahead of time could also assist them if they are from an institution whereby advisers can nominate their incoming students for awards, funding, etc."
}
] |
2015/02/04
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38237",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929/"
] |
38,243 |
My adviser asked me to come up with a research topic for a PhD student. As I'm expected to graduate in early 2016, my mentor considered this a good "exercise" for a tenure track career. Of course, this is not intended to be final, I am supposed to propose to my adviser this topic and then it will be decided whether it is good enough to suggest a direction of a student's research.
Based on the field of interest, I intend to propose a problem which I find interesting (and would gladly research myself, if the time permitted). To that purpose, I defined a number of milestones, covering some likely scenarios in the research progress. I also prepared around 20 papers, some of which serve as an introduction to the problems of the field of interest, while others are state-of-the-art approaches closely related to the topic.
This is basically more than I had when I begun my research. So, in that regard, I'm confident that I did a reasonable job so far. Of course, if you have any remarks, don't hesitate to add them.
My problem is that it would currently be very hard for me to come up with more than 2-3 topics prepared in that way.
Also, I can't help but wonder whether the topic I would suggest is "good enough" to lead the student to conduct quality research and eventually to a PhD. In this particular case, my mentor will shape the topic and guide the student so there is no worry. Besides that, I am confident that the suggested topic is a problem in the field, as I thought and investigated it a long before the request came from my adviser.
I find it a bit hard to believe that I'll always have such problems ready in my head, so I assume that I'll have to start from somewhere in forming one.
So, what methodology should I follow when defining research topics?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 41745,
"author": "Todd Booth",
"author_id": 26573,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/26573",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "I'm just a new PhD, so be careful of my advice. (I have been teaching about 10 different MSc courses though).\n\nI disagree with your adviser. IMHO, it should be the PhD student who picks the detailed topic (which maybe you will reject). Of course, you may provide some very strong constraints, such as that it must be relevant to the funding projects you have, etc. If you don't like their choice, you can always steer them in your direction. However, force the student to think and express what they have a passion for (again, based on your strong constraints). With my approach, perhaps the student will come up with a topic, that in your opinion, is better than what you came up with.\n\nI don't think you should prepare 20 papers for the student. Force the student to do the Scopus, ProQuest advanced searches. Perhaps you will not like the results of their searches. If so, just steer them a little bit, in the right direction (perhaps with a added keywords to the search). If a student's search is rejected by you, they will be more in the listening mode, whereby they can gain knowledge from you when you explain exactly what they did wrong. For example, you might reject their search and inform the student that their search results included papers with no citations (which you will perhaps not allow)."
},
{
"answer_id": 42104,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "I think this is a great exercise. One of the hardest things to cope with in the transition from graduate student to PI is broadening your focus as you move from a \"worker\" role toward a \"manager\" role in research. This doesn't mean you're not going to be continuing to research, but you'll likely have a lot less time to do it than you think, and you need to prepare for how you will supervise where previously you would execute.\n\nThat said, I think you're currently approaching this too much like you are going to be the one *doing* the research, rather than their supervisor. I would suggest limiting yourself to finding a topic, milestones, and rough criteria for success: the rest is what you want to coach a student as *they* look into the background, compare in depth with alternate approaches, etc.\n\nThe other thing I would advise is that you need to separate *your* research goals from the goals you want the student to work on. Every student is a gamble: some work out well, while others drop out, burn out, should never have been in the program to begin with, or just plain aren't a good match for you or your research area. For this reason, I believe you should never have a student be critical path on an aspect of your research that deeply matters to you: that will put you in a position where you are likely to be trying to push them and micromanage them, because you are worried about the success of the work, rather than the success of the student.\n\nInstead, think about the \"paths not taken\" on your research, the things that you think would be interesting and scientifically valuable, but that you aren't going to do, the sort of stuff that pads out many papers' \"discussion\" and \"future work\" sections. These sorts of \"sibling projects\" to your critical path are likely to be a rich vein of seeds for student projects."
}
] |
2015/02/04
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38243",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14133/"
] |
38,258 |
I am currently deciding graduate school between several different groups in my school's engineering department. A few faculty in electronics, signal processing and control system has expressed interest in working with me.
When I talk to some of the current graduate students, I get a wide variety of opinions. What bothers me is that some graduate students tells me that a certain group is on "decline". They rarely clarify what this means, but to me it can mean several things.
1. the output from the group is inconsistent
2. funding is lacking
3. output is not applicable to come up with a product
4. (follows from 3) work too theoretical and deviates from engineering goal
If a group is on decline, then regardless of the reason, under normal circumstances I will not even consider joining. What surprises me is that this group which has been rumored to be on the decline is very keen on recruiting new graduates. In particular, I have experienced more of a "pull" from that particular group than any other group which has expressed interest. There are early admissions, talk about funding, offer of teaching assistance-ship. I am starting to wonder if they need me so to acquire more funding for their own research or if there are some other ulterior motives.
Can someone who works within academia clarify on what it could mean for a group to be on decline, so much that it is apparent to people who are outside of that group.
Also what interest me personally is what ulterior motive could a graduate unit have in recruiting new graduates aside from the expressed interest in publishing more beautiful papers.
Thanks
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38259,
"author": "gerrit",
"author_id": 1033,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1033",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "In the final year of my PhD, I made a tour of several places in the USA to try to establish contacts in the hope of finding hidden postdoc opportunities. I knew of those places because I frequently saw their papers. In some places, I have seen signs of decline:\n\n* In one place, the main senior scientist had moved away some years ago. Since then, one by one, others had left. It appears nobody was replacing them. The people who were still there appeared to be the ones who were less successful at getting grants and writing papers, than the ones who had left.\n* In another place, I didn't see any PhD students in a group, and only a handful of postdocs. Most people were above 50, with the head of the group being well above 70. Although certainly a great name to have as a support, I wouldn't recommend anyone starting a PhD project with someone who will turn 80 before the candidate is expected to get their PhD.\n* I also overheard conversations from which it was clear that people were not very ambitious. I almost literally heard someone say, that they now had a permanent position so they didn't need to write a lot of papers anymore.\n\nThose are some signs that a place might be in decline: Have more than two senior scientists left the place in the past five years? Is the median age above 60? Are some people happier to stay on their desk than to attract great PhD students and postdocs to produce some great science?"
},
{
"answer_id": 38268,
"author": "sevensevens",
"author_id": 14754,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14754",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "In my American computer science program, a PhD student is not tied to an advisor, or narrow field of study in his first year. Usually you will be assigned a prof and a GRA/GTA position for your first year. Use your first year to determine which faculty members you work well with, and then get them to advise and fund your PhD.\n\nI would not be concerned about a lab \"in decline\" as if a lab is truly having difficulty bringing in money, they will not have any GRAs to offer. You should focus on finding a professor and group you work well with. You'll be judged by the quality of your research, not perceived prestige of the group by other students.\n\nMake a short list of advisors you would like, then begin researching if they can handle another student, or if they have funding issues that might derail your progress later. Focus on choosing a good advisor, not a good group.\n\n**EDIT to address comments**\n\n@OP - Can you find out if you are tied to one advisor for your entire degree? All the comments are arguing that point."
},
{
"answer_id": 38273,
"author": "tpg2114",
"author_id": 3878,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/3878",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "The other way to look at \"decline\" is the number of students who actually make it through to get a degree. Some won't finish because they can't, but others may leave early (for other schools or advisors) because of the atmosphere/work environment/etc. within the lab. A well funded lab with a miserable work environment that is driving away students could also be said to be \"in decline.\" \n\nIf there is a wide gap in the time students have been in the lab, this could be a sign of such a problem. For instance, maybe there are 5-6 students all about to graduate and 10 students who are in their first or second year. If there's nobody between, you have to ask yourself (or the senior students) where they all went and why. \n\nRetention problems, independent of funding or publication output, could be a warning sign."
}
] |
2015/02/04
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38258",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/23380/"
] |
38,261 |
I have noticed that it can be hard to figure out how old a paper is from the paper itself. It is not that it is impossible: most of the time it can be found by a Google search. But why is there usually no publication data on the first page of a paper?
Here is an example: <http://www.cs.toronto.edu/~fritz/absps/imagenet.pdf>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38262,
"author": "Stephan Kolassa",
"author_id": 4140,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4140",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "I would not agree that there is \"usually\" no date on the paper. Most *published* papers do carry a date. The one you link to was apparently [published in 2012](http://papers.nips.cc/paper/4824-imagenet-classification-with-deep-convolutional-neural-networks).\n\nManuscripts can of course come without a date, or even without an author. After all, nobody forces a manuscript author to date his work. (I guess that is the answer to your question.)\n\nStqlo guides tell you how to cite an undated manuscript, typically as \"Foo & Bar (n.d.)\"."
},
{
"answer_id": 38263,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "One thing that may be causing the phenomenon that you are seeing is that in fields like computer science, authors are frequently allowed to put preprints online on their website, but not the final \"official\" version. Such preprints often do not carry a date stamp, while the official version available from the publisher's website does."
},
{
"answer_id": 38279,
"author": "Brian Borchers",
"author_id": 4453,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4453",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "Many of the papers that you can find on the internet are what are called \"preprints\". A preprint is a manuscript prepared by the author (usually before the paper is submitted for publication, but it can sometimes also include corrections that were made during the review process, in which case it may be called a \"postprint.\") \n\nWhen a paper is eventually published in a journal or conference proceedings volume, the publisher will often reformat the paper and typically add headers or footers to the pages that list the journal, volume, page numbers, etc. These headers/footers also typically include a copyright notice from the publisher. These published versions of papers are often unavailable to the public and can only be read by people who have personal or institutional subscriptions to the journal or conference proceedings. \n\nBecause of this problem of lack of access, many authors leave preprints up on their web sites so that anyone can read the paper. Thus you'll often find that a paper exists in a published version (with full citation information in the headers and footers) and a preprint version (usually without this information.) \n\nThe particular example that you linked to is a paper that was published in the NIPS 2012 conference proceedings. The published version is also available from the NIPS web site. Surprisingly, NIPS didn't format the paper with information about its being from the NIPS 2012 conference proceedings- this is a bit unusual in my experience but not unheard of."
}
] |
2015/02/04
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38261",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28931/"
] |
38,264 |
I'm looking for a repository of journal data.
More specifically, a listing of every known journal name and various attributes such as ISSN, rankings, peer review, etc. I know Cabell's offers this information, but expressly forbids mass-downloading.
Is there a better source for Journal data?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38265,
"author": "gerrit",
"author_id": 1033,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1033",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "At the university where I did my PhD, we used the [Norwegian Scientific Index](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_Scientific_Index) to establish what journals were considered \"valid\" for an internal system of redistributing money based on scientific output. From Wikipedia:\n\n> \n> The index divides journals and publishers into \"level 1\" and \"level 2\", where \"level 2\" is reserved for the internationally[1] most prestigious journals and publishers within the discipline\n> \n> \n> \n\n(...)\n\n> \n> Currently, 2,144 academic journals and series are designated as Level 2, i.e. journals and series considered to be the most highly regarded\n> \n> \n> \n\nThis is not a *complete* list, but a list that aims to contain the \"good\" journals within each discipline.\n\nI don't know about mass downloading — perhaps the folks at the [Open Data Stack Exchange](http://opendata.stackexchange.com) have a better take on that."
},
{
"answer_id": 38275,
"author": "Cape Code",
"author_id": 10643,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10643",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "The short answer is no. There is no comprehensive list of academic journals, and I doubt there ever will be. The major reason for it is there is no real need as publishing culture varies a lot by field and geography. Plus, in the recent explosion of scholarly publishing, there is probably a new journal every week or so. \n\nHowever there are curated databases of journals. For example, Thomson Reuters has a service called [Web of Science](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_of_Science) that provides libraries with a large list of journals (about 12'000 according to Wikipedia) and publication metrics, such as citation count, rank by discipline and impact factor. I used this service a few times to check the ranking of journals before submitting papers.\n\nLibraries often let affiliates download the full report as a spreadsheet that you can manipulate the way you want. Contact your local library, most institutions subscribe to this database.\n\nAlso, [this list](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_academic_databases_and_search_engines) might be useful to you."
},
{
"answer_id": 38277,
"author": "Jeromy Anglim",
"author_id": 62,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/62",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "You might find the Australian ERA list useful. It has been used by the Australian government to evaluate university research performance.\n\nI'm not sure what is the most stable link. But [this search seems to get a few copies of it](https://www.google.com.au/search?espv=2&q=era+journal+database+xls&oq=era+journal+database+xls&gs_l=serp.3..33i21.1410.3291.0.3509.10.9.1.0.0.1.238.992.0j3j2.5.0.msedr...0...1c.1.61.serp..7.3.441.gxUSm-uWTbc).\n\nIt appears to have around 22 thousand journals. It contains ISSN and discipline category information.\n\nSee the list here:\n<http://www.arc.gov.au/era-2015-submitted-journal-list>"
},
{
"answer_id": 75766,
"author": "mnm",
"author_id": 60859,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/60859",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "There is also the [Journal Citation Reports](http://thomsonreuters.com/en/products-services/scholarly-scientific-research/research-management-and-evaluation/journal-citation-reports.html) list provided by Thompson Reuters. To access it you will need to ask your library."
},
{
"answer_id": 114694,
"author": "Nemo",
"author_id": 32575,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32575",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "If you only want a list of \"good\" journals, [DOAJ](https://doaj.org/) (Directory of Open Access Journals) is probably what you need. It contains about 12 thousand journals passing certain checks, of which over 1000 with further quality controls (DOAJ seal).\n\n[Wikidata](https://wikidata.org) is [open data](https://opendefinition.org/) and run by a non-profit, as well. It's participatory and general purpose and it has a lot of data on journals, partly thanks to a specific initiative called [WikiCite](https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/WikiCite).\n\nYou can rather easily query and download a [list of all academic journals](https://query.wikidata.org/#SELECT%20%3Fitem%20%3FitemLabel%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%28MIN%28%3FpublisherLabel%29%20AS%20%3FpublisherLabel%29%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%28MIN%28%3Fissn%29%20AS%20%3Fissn%29%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%28MIN%28%3FlicenseLabel%29%20AS%20%3FlicenseLabel%29%0AWHERE%20%0A%7B%0A%20%20%3Fitem%20wdt%3AP31%2Fwdt%3AP279%2a%20wd%3AQ737498%20.%0A%20%20%3Fitem%20wdt%3AP236%20%3Fissn%20.%0A%20%20OPTIONAL%20%7B%20%3Fitem%20wdt%3AP123%20%3Fpublisher%20%7D%20.%0A%20%20OPTIONAL%20%7B%20%3Fitem%20wdt%3AP275%20%3Flicense%20%7D%20.%0A%20%20SERVICE%20wikibase%3Alabel%20%7B%20bd%3AserviceParam%20wikibase%3Alanguage%20%22%5BAUTO_LANGUAGE%5D%2Cen%22.%20%7D%0A%7D%0AGROUP%20BY%20%3Fitem%20%3FitemLabel) (and subclasses thereof). As of now I see about 50 thousands results, nearly all of them having ISSN and many also license and publisher information. See the [SPARQL query service documentation](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:SPARQL_query_service) on how to tweak the query."
},
{
"answer_id": 162635,
"author": "anpami",
"author_id": 120630,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/120630",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "The closest that comes to a master list of journals is the following:\n\nThis [CSV-file on GitHub](https://github.com/andreaspacher/academic-publishers/blob/main/Output/alljournals-2021-02-05.csv) containing ca. 25.000 journals belonging to 137 major\\* publishers. You can also browse through the same list on [this website](https://ooir.org/journals/).\n\nThe catalogue stems from a project that scraped data based on (1) DOAJ, (2) Publons, (3) Scopus and (4) Sherpa Romeo.\n\nFor details, see the pre-print [here](https://doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/56b28).\n\n---\n\n\\* I.e., publishers that supposedly had at least 30 journals in their portfolio based on the journal counts in one of the four data samples (DOAJ, Publons, Scopus or Sherpa Romeo)."
},
{
"answer_id": 162652,
"author": "GEdgar",
"author_id": 4484,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4484",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "A place to start: [the ISSN Portal](https://portal.issn.org)\nThis will include not only journals, but magazines, newspapers, periodicals, and other continuing resources."
}
] |
2015/02/04
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38264",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28932/"
] |
38,269 |
How would I address a professor with a Chinese name?
I am unsure whether I should use only the surname, or both forename and surname, because the order of mentioning forename and surname is reversed.
When my professor's name is *forename: Yi*, *surname: Zhang*, should I then address him with
>
> Dear Professor Zhang,
>
>
>
or with
>
> Dear Professor Zhang Yi,
>
>
>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38281,
"author": "Psy",
"author_id": 28900,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28900",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "Being an Asian myself, I'd use 'Dear Prof. Zhang.'\n\nIn Chinese culture, it can be considered rude for a junior to address their senior by the full name, that's just the way we're brought up to address our seniors, well at least for me..."
},
{
"answer_id": 38282,
"author": "RJ-",
"author_id": 19923,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19923",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "If you are sure that his surname is `Zhunv`, I would address him as Prof. Zhunv. Beware that some Chinese use `Last name` `First name` convention rather than the `First name` `Last name` convention common in the Western world."
},
{
"answer_id": 38283,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "In the United States, at least, one would typically use the same structure of address as with any other name, e.g., \"Prof. Zhunv.\" To do otherwise marks the person as different in a way that may be inappropriate, particularly if (as with many Americans of Chinese heritage) they use a European name order. If the professor wishes to be addressed otherwise, it is up to them to make this clear. From my experiences with European colleagues, I would expect it is similar there as well. I cannot speak for proper courtesy in East Asia..."
},
{
"answer_id": 38289,
"author": "Nobody",
"author_id": 546,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/546",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "Rule #1, ask the professor if you are **unsure**. Ask him what name he prefers to be called. I am a Chinese and a native Chinese speaker. I myself always like Westerners to ask me this question before they call my name.\n\nIn the example you provided, both `Zhang` and `Yi` can be used as English translation of Chinese surnames. `Zhang` is a popular Chinese surname and `Yi` happens to be one of my relative's surname. As you can see in this example, it's easy to make a mistake when calling Chinese names. Not to mention that the Chinese name convention is *Surname first and Forename last* (or *Last name first and First name last*).\n\nIf you cannot ask him for whatever reason and you have strong reason to believe that his surname is `Zhang`, you should call him `Dr. Zhang`. This would be the most appropriate way."
},
{
"answer_id": 38359,
"author": "PatW",
"author_id": 7357,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7357",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Being a Chinese professor isn't the real issue. I guess the cultural context is more important here.\n\nIs the professor in China? Then you probably should refer to him/her as Prof X, because that's what Chinese customs expect. On the contrary, is the professor in some other non-Asian country? Then ask for what he/she prefers."
}
] |
2015/02/04
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38269",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28934/"
] |
38,271 |
I am preparing to submit a paper with a friend who is working at a tech company. The company that he is working with is in no way associated with our research work. Is it appropriate to list his employer as his affiliated institution? Otherwise, I would leave his affiliated institution field **blank**. Or, should I list the institution where he graduated from 2 years ago?
**Update:** Thank you very much for all of your feedback, answers, comments, and suggestions. We really appreciate it. I discussed with my collaborator and we will likely be listing him as an "Independent Researcher". Although, we concluded that it wouldn't be unreasonable to list his employer purely as a personal affiliation (or point of contact) as long as he got approval from their HR department.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38284,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "Speaking as a scientist who works and publishes frequently from my position at a tech company: his affiliated institution is his company, and it is entirely normal and appropriate to list it as such. It would be *incorrect* to list his affiliated institution as his alma mater, since he is no longer employed by them.\n\nNote: My answer assumes there is no objection from the company to being listed. If there is, then the answer from Sergey Dymchenko applies."
},
{
"answer_id": 38294,
"author": "Sergii Dymchenko",
"author_id": 6626,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6626",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "The co-author of my recently accepted paper works at Microsoft. The paper has absolutely nothing to do with her job, so we specified her affiliation as \"Independent Researcher\"."
},
{
"answer_id": 38306,
"author": "O. R. Mapper",
"author_id": 14017,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14017",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "On the legal side, the answer to this question is linked to an issue that I do not see mentioned in any of the answers yet. It depends on your friend's contract (and possibly your local legislation)\n\n* to what extent your friend's employer allows your friend to perform other \"work-like\" public activities outside of their paid working time (often, only directly competing activities are forbidden, and from the question I understand that the company is not related to the research activity, which implies that the research was entirely done in your friend's private spare time), and\n* to what extent your friend's employer is legally allowed to indirectly take ownership of something they did not contribute to.\n\nOn the ethical side, the answer hinges on the intended purpose of listing the affiliation:\n\n* Does the affiliation say \"This organization made the research possible.\"? In that case, listing an employer who had nothing to do with the research (and just happened to be your friend's employer at the time the research was done) would be deeply unethical, comparable to adding an author who did not contribute to the paper. *(Note that especially in this case, the solution of asking the employer for their preference might be counterproductive, as from a business perspective, the employer will not care about research ethics and go for the opportunity of placing an \"ad for free\".)*\n* Does the affiliation say \"This organization might be interested in building upon the presented work.\"? In this case, listing your friend's current employer might seem entirely appropriate *if* they *might* become associated with (future parts) of your research work (even though they didn't have any part in the current paper).\n* Does the affiliation say \"This is where you, future reader, can contact author X.\"? In this case, the most appropriate \"affiliation\" might be either a personal affiliation (e.g. a personal website), or indeed the last affiliation that was actually involved in the research. We routinely do this, for example, for students who support us in writing a paper that involves topics from their graduation thesis (and thereby become co-authors) - who, due to their graduation, have already started working at some unrelated company at the time of writing the paper."
}
] |
2015/02/04
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38271",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28225/"
] |
38,290 |
Are there any ethical guidelines that would prohibit the use of penalties against individuals who sign up for a research study but have not yet provided consent and are therefore not yet officially subjects?
Please provide references.
**Background**
In the psychology department, we have an online recruitment system, whereby every time a student signs up for a research study for extra (course) credit they occupy a 'seat' out of a limited number of seats. This limitation exists due to the fact that research credits are distributed fairly among researchers to ensure that everyone is able to recruit in proportion to their needs.
Online studies pose a particular challenge for the recruiter because the participant is afforded the opportunity to complete the study by the end of the semester and there is no guarantee that they will follow through. The problem is that many students do not have the courtesy to cancel before the deadline if they decide they no longer wish to participate, and in doing so they are preventing other students from participating. Not only is this behavior not fair to other students, but it also means a loss of potential subjects for the recruiter. Although this scenario applies to online studies, there are certainly other scenarios where careless behavior results in major inconveniences to the recruiter, for example people not showing up for appointments (i.e., in-person studies, experiments).
If those signed up for a study have not yet provided consent (i.e. are not yet officially subjects), what are they protected against? Specifically,
1) Is it admissible to issue penalties, such as, for instance, a loss of research credits?
2) Is it admissible to communicate a general warning to all individuals using the system that a failure to cancel their seat or to show up for appointments could involve unspecified penalties? (In this case, there would be no penalties but the warning would serve as a deterrent.)
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38291,
"author": "ff524",
"author_id": 11365,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11365",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "From the US [Code of Federal Regulations (45 CFR 46)](http://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/humansubjects/guidance/45cfr46.html), in the section on seeking consent:\n\n> \n> An investigator shall seek such consent only under circumstances that provide the prospective subject or the representative sufficient opportunity to consider whether or not to participate and that minimize the possibility of coercion or undue influence.\n> \n> \n> \n\nNote the use of the phrase \"prospective subject\" - this clause refers to the investigator's conduct towards potential subjects who have not yet given consent. Presumably a penalty or threat of a penalty would constitute \"coercion or undue influence.\"\n\nSpecifically regarding research participation for credit, the [APA Code of Conduct Section 8.04](http://www.apa.org/ethics/code/index.aspx?item=11#804) (a different section of which was mentioned by Scuchav Kohahso in [his answer](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/38298/11365)) says\n\n> \n> (a) When psychologists conduct research with clients/patients, students or subordinates as participants, psychologists take steps to protect the prospective participants from adverse consequences of declining or withdrawing from participation.\n> \n> \n> (b) When research participation is a course requirement or an opportunity for extra credit, the prospective participant is given the choice of equitable alternative activities.\n> \n> \n>"
},
{
"answer_id": 38300,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "Our students are required to be a participant for 10 hours of psychology studies or to complete an alternative assignment. We use an online system to administer the subject recruitment and allocation. The recruitment protocol for studies simply say that the online system will be used. Since the IRB is very familiar with the system, no more details are needed. This is the same as if we the Mechanical Turk is used, but if a less well known system is used, the IRB will want lots of details.\n\nThe way the online system works is when a subject gives consent, meets all the inclusion criteria, does not meet any of the exclusion criteria, completes the study, and is debriefed, the experimenter ticks a box on the online system. This gives the student credit. If the box is not ticked, the student does not get credit. The students are only allowed to register for the 10 required hours. If for some reason a student does not get credit for some of the hours they registered for (e.g., because they did not show up, refused to consent, or did not meet the requirements), then they can write a 1000 word pass/fail paper related to the experiment. This way they are not directly penalised for not showing up. The alternative assignment and its marking were negotiated with the IRB. The IRB also requires we notify them every time a submitted alternative assignment is given a failing grade."
},
{
"answer_id": 38303,
"author": "BrenBarn",
"author_id": 9041,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9041",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "Your question title is about consent, but the situation you describe seems somewhat more specific: you're saying that the person signed up for an experiment, and then, not only did they not consent, they didn't show up for the session at all.\n\nI don't believe it would be unethical to deny students participation credit for not showing up to the experiment session they signed up for. If they show up but then decide, based on the information they receive there, that they don't want to do it, that would be a different story and it would be hard to deny them credit.\n\nI found several examples of departments doing basically just what you describe. Here is [a PDF](https://www.psych.ucsb.edu/sites/www.psych.ucsb.edu/files/docs/psy1_req_s14.pdf) describing the research participation requirements for the Pysch 1 class at UC Santa Barbara. This includes a reference to the sort of \"unspecified penalties\" you mention:\n\n> \n> As a participant, if you chronically fail to show up for experiments, the repercussions may include, but are not be limited to, removal from the research participation pool.\n> \n> \n> \n\n[A similar page](http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/psychology/undergraduate-studies/psychology-100-research-requirement) at Hunter College says:\n\n> \n> The first time you fail to notify the researcher of your expected absence and do not show up, your name will be submitted to the administrators of the pool. The second time you fail to fulfill your responsibility to notify the researcher, you will lose the option of participating in research for the remainder of the semester, and will be required to read the articles and take the quizzes. If you do not cancel or show up for the studies, you will be penalized by having to participate in an additional hour of research (or do an additional article and quiz) for each additional appointment missed.\n> \n> \n> \n\n[Yet another page](http://psychology.columbian.gwu.edu/Students-Research-Guide) at George Washington University says:\n\n> \n> If you don’t show up on time for a study, and you have not cleared this in advance with the subject pool administrator, you will lose one point of credit. In other words, if you don't show up on time for one study, you will have to earn one additional point of credit to make up for what you lost.\n> \n> \n> \n\nGoogling for `psych \"research requirement\" \"receive credit\" \"show up\"` and variations thereof will lead you to pages at more schools.\n\nMost of these policies appear to allow some leeway in that they suggest students won't be penalized for a single no-show, but only after multiple no-shows. No doubt you should discuss this with your school's IRB. However, the above examples make it pretty clear that there are reputable institutions that do penalize students who don't show up for experiments they said they would do."
}
] |
2015/02/05
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38290",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28940/"
] |
38,301 |
I submitted a paper recently and one of the major revisions that they ask for was this: "The references in general are not current."
What does the reviewer mean by this?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38304,
"author": "Stephan Kolassa",
"author_id": 4140,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4140",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "Your references apparently refer to literature that is too old, and probably superseded by more recent research.\n\nLook for more recent work pertinent to your topic and include it in your paper."
},
{
"answer_id": 38337,
"author": "Aru Ray",
"author_id": 948,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/948",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "In mathematics, papers are often cited when they are preprints (usually on the arxiv). \n\nIf your references cite the preprint version of a paper when it has already appeared in a journal, they are not current."
},
{
"answer_id": 199285,
"author": "semmyk-research",
"author_id": 162770,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/162770",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "In the context of *\"The references in general are not current.\"*, couple of things might contribute\n\n* authors might not have engaged literature study well enough. At least this is what is apparent to me when I review as a reviewer.\n\t+ At times, it might be an oversight, or\n\t+ it might be carelessness, or\n\t+ author might genuinely not have access to (paywalled) academic literature,\n\t+ in some instances, it's because of poor conceptualisation of the research itself\n* [references superseded by recent literature](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/38304/162770) as answered by @Stephan-Kolassa\n* [preprints are now published in Journals](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/38337/162770) as answered by @Aru-Ray\n\n---\n\nHowever, some reviewers simply scan through the reference list without connecting well with the literature/related work section of the manuscript. This is not well-founded nor ought to be, however in few instances it's a reality."
}
] |
2015/02/05
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38301",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17830/"
] |
38,309 |
This is a very tough question to ask because there are so many advisors on this forum so I am expecting most inputs from the current grads. This question largely stemmed from a post I read online about [picking advisors](http://theprofessorisin.com/2014/02/23/the-5-top-traits-of-the-worst-advisors/).
The top recommendation offered on a list of things about picking supervisor is to never pick someone who is nice, friendly and available. Specific examples being "nice associate professor ladies" and "prof emeritus".
This quote caught my attention the most
>
> If you’ve never cried before, during, or after a meeting with your advisor, something is amiss.
>
>
>
But this is just one person's opinion. So my question is to what extent does this idea actually hold in academia? Is there any truth to nice profs are less capable than mean profs in producing good students?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38310,
"author": "ff524",
"author_id": 11365,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11365",
"pm_score": 8,
"selected": true,
"text": "That advice from the blog says to avoid an advisor who\n\n> \n> **1. Is nice, and friendly, and available.**\n> \n> \n> And never gives you the fierce criticism and the tough pushback that forces you to confront your weaknesses, take risks, stop whining, cut the excuses, get over your fears, and make hard decisions about reputation, money, and jobs.\n> \n> \n> \n\nIt's the part beginning with \"and never\" that describes a problematic advisor, not the \"nice, friendly, and available\" part.\n\nAn advisor who is unwilling to criticize a student and share harsh truths when necessary is certainly problematic for many students. But I wouldn't necessarily conflate that with being \"nice.\" For most students, an advisor who is genuinely nice is a good thing.\n\nAs for\n\n> \n> If you’ve never cried before, during, or after a meeting with your advisor, something is amiss.\n> \n> \n> \n\nDoing a PhD is [difficult and sometimes discouraging](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2219/how-should-i-deal-with-discouragement-as-a-graduate-student) for most people. My advisor is one of the nicest people I know, and I've walked out of his office on one or two occasions and gone off somewhere to cry. Not because he isn't nice, but because what I'm doing is difficult, and sometimes we have to have some very difficult and/or discouraging conversations."
},
{
"answer_id": 38314,
"author": "xLeitix",
"author_id": 10094,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10094",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": false,
"text": "There's a grain of truth in this blog post, but generally I wouldn't consider this advise a \"truisim\", as it is pretty simplified:\n\n1. Not all students are the same. Some need deadline pressure, some need a \"no bullshit\" advisor who keeps them down to earth, some mostly need encouragement, and some students really just need an advisor that gets out of their way. Assuming that everybody needs a strict, no-bullshit guy as advisor to become the best researcher (s)he can be does not correlate with my personal experience.\n2. Being \"nice\" isn't the same as not providing helpful feedback. Giving harsh feedback isn't the same as giving helpful feedback. You don't want an advisor who holds back criticism to spare your feelings, but you *certainly* also don't want an advisor who puts you down even if your work is good. Most importantly, an advisor that criticises without suggesting ways to improve your work isn't overly helpful.\n3. The job title (associate professor or emeritus) or the gender (\"lady professor\") have next to nothing to do with whether a professor is more of the supporting or of the tough love type. However, the career phase may be relevant - the pressure to have each student perform is usually much higher for a tenure-track professor than for an emeritus, which may of course influence how they act.\n4. Seeing \"unavailability\" as a good thing is downright *awful* advice. I can understand that the line of thinking is that good profs. are necessarily busy, but I am questioning what you as a student profit from a prof. who never has time for you. Better to look for somebody who is good *and* has time to teach you (yes, those people exist).\n\n> \n> If you’ve never cried before, during, or after a meeting with your advisor, something is amiss.\n> \n> \n> \n\nI have never cried before, during, or after a meeting, but I have definitely advised fellow students to get the hell out of their research group when they told me that this regularly happens to them.\n\n> \n> If you don't believe me just go on ratemyprof dot com and see the comments for profs who are rated at the top and those at the bottom.\n> \n> \n> \n\nDon't infer how PhD student - advisor relationships work based on one-course ratings of undergraduate students. Frankly, undergrads look for pretty different things in their teachers than PhD students in their advisors.\n\n**What I suggest you really do is look at the track record of potential advisors. How many students finish? What do they publish during their PhD? What do those that finish do afterwards? This is, I think, the only metric that really counts.**"
},
{
"answer_id": 38332,
"author": "Aru Ray",
"author_id": 948,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/948",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "The list that you link to is misleading. I hope we can all agree that students should try to stay away from '5. Steals your ideas' and '4. Is crazy-making inconsistent', but 3,2,1 are contradictory. 3. says to stay away from abusive, negative and undermining advisors, and then 1. turns around and says you should find an advisor who is sort of an asshole to 'prepare you for the REAL assholes' in the world; 2. says stay away from advisors who are never around, and then at the very end of the post we are told to stay away from advisors who do have time for you. 2. also says to stay away from the big guns -- since they are never around -- and then 1. condemns such students as 'wussy'. What is a student (or an advisor) to do! \n\nWhile I understand what the list is trying to do -- pointing out that advisors who might seem safe, friendly, and comforting might not be the best advisor for you in the long run -- I don't think this has been done particularly well. In particular, students and recent graduates who are in fact nice friendly people will possibly take away from this list that they are 'just not meant to be in academia'; **this is utter BS**. \n\n(For the last, consider the many advisors that you point out use this site. They are spending their time giving careful insightful advice to strangers on the internet - simply because they are sincere strangers genuinely interested in understanding things about academia. That's pretty nice of them. Look up some of their CVs. They're doing pretty well for themselves.)\n\nRe: `nice' professors, the author of the list seems to be think that someone who is 'nice' must also be incapable of telling their students hard truths when needed. This is false. The author also seems to think that if an advisor has a lot of time for their students they are a bad advisor. This is also false. The author seems convinced that an advisor must make you cry to be a good advisor. Oh, for crying out loud! \n\nAdvisors, like all else in life, are not one size fits all. When choosing advisors, it's important not just to try and understand their advising style, but also to understand your own learning style. And to do so **honestly**. Ask yourself how you work. What motivates you? What keeps you going on the bad days? In short, what sort of advisor do you need to succeed? \n\nFor me, my biggest barrier was my self-confidence. I had plenty of previous success, but I just didn't see it, or discounted it easily as luck. I realized I needed someone whose judgment I could count on, who I could trust to tell me when I was screwing up, and so when they didn't say such a thing, I could infer that I wasn't. I needed someone who believed that I could succeed, and so on the bad days, they kept me going. This advisor turned out to be someone who remembered my birthday, and who gave me tons of support in every which way, but this did not detract from the fact that he would tell me when I was wrong - and I often was. Graduate school made me cry on occasion. It was challenging and progress was rarely quantifiable (see my previous question [here](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2219/how-should-i-deal-with-discouragement-as-a-graduate-student)), but my advisor was the type of person you go to when you need to cry, who helped you deal with the many issues of graduate school, as opposed to being one of the issues themselves. Am I successful? Well, I graduated with my PhD (in mathematics) last May in 5 years with 5 papers with two more on the way and am currently a postdoc in a pretty good place for me. Empirically speaking, I've been doing well so far, although who knows what the future holds. \n\nOn the other hand, perhaps you are truly independent. Can you get by with minimal supervision? Are you truly a superlative researcher already and all you need is a problem to work on and someone to eventually sign a thesis (such individuals do exist) ? Can you say this with complete conviction with much evidence to back you up? Then most likely you will succeed with any advisor whatsoever. Find the person who looks best on paper that is willing to take you and go nuts. \n\nOthers work best when being constantly challenged. There probably are individuals who would thrive with an intense advisor who pushes them constantly and think of them purely as a publication-producing machine. Again, this depends on **you**. Personally, I would say No Thank You, but that's just me. \n\nIt is worth noting that a particular faculty member might also employ different advising strategies for different students. They too understand that not all students are the same, that some need well-defined parameters and boundaries, while others need freedom to explore, and so on. On the other hand, students do need to manage their advisors somewhat as well (this at least is something that is mentioned in the original list that was linked to on the question). If you know that your advisor is a rambler, make sure to bring a list of questions you want to ask them to every meeting (I used to do that, because my advisor and I were both talkers). If you are worried that your advisor changes their mind very often (see 4. on the list), make sure to send written summaries of your meetings to your advisor. If you need deadlines to get yourself to do things, but your advisor does not set them for you, ask them! Advisors are not mind-readers. If they won't set deadlines, set them for yourselves. \n\nAdvising is a two-way street. Each person has a role to play. In my experience students get to choose their advisors much more so than advisors get to choose their students (although I accept that my experience may be non-standard). Figure out which advisor is best **for you**. This is possibly different from the advisor who is best for your roommate, your siblings, and the rest of your cohort in graduate school. And when you have an advisor, figure out how to make that relationship work for you. In the end, while the advisor has a huge role in a student's success, there is only so much an advisor can do, and ultimately, it is all about the student. \n\n---\n\nFor what it's worth in the comments to the link posted by the OP, in response to a comment to her original post (from 2012), the author writes \n\n> \n> This was an early post, one of my first (possibly my very first–i have\n> to check!) written when I had basically a nonexistent readership. I\n> would not write “nice always loses” now because I’m much more aware of\n> the degree to which people read this blog as “truth.” Indeed, I am\n> somewhat more careful with nuance now, although yes, hyperbole remains\n> part of my schtick, in blogging and in life, as my friends and family\n> know all too well.\n> \n> \n> \n\nOf course, she did choose to repost it 2 years later without rewriting it in any way, so take the author's comment as you will."
},
{
"answer_id": 38351,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "Other people have already said essentially the same thing, but if I record it as an answer people can vote accordingly, so:\n\n> \n> If you’ve never cried before, during, or after a meeting with your advisor, something is amiss.\n> \n> \n> \n\nIt is just silly to take this as a piece of advice. The \"cry test\" makes no sense, because when exposed to identical circumstances, different people may or may not cry (and when two different people cry in response to the same thing, the meaning of it may be profoundly different). Look, not everyone cries on the job, period. The one time I can remember tearing up in a professional context is when I got a telephone call from a colleague of mine telling me that his department was going to offer a(n excllent) job to my (excellent) PhD student, just in time for me to look his (well, certainly very nice!) parents in the eye on graduation day. In other words: tears of joy and relief, not tears of \"someone was not nice to me\". I have had five PhD students, and the number of them who have cried before, during or after an appointment with me is....I have no idea. (During: zero.) In order to guess the answer I would have to try to probe the emotional architecture of these adult professionals with whom I have an adult, professional relationship...so I won't. \n\nTo say it in a slightly different way: the nice/mean thing is some fingerpaint approximation to what students should actually be taking into account. I am, for my weight class, a relatively ambitious and demanding thesis advisor. I think most students would describe me as \"professionally intense\". But I am most certainly \"nice\" to my students...in fact, nicer than you might expect from watching my interactions on this site. I view being nice to students as **part of my job**. I have *never* yelled at a student, not once. Earlier today I returned my cable box, and I got heated with the woman there in a way that I absolutely never would with a student. (And it turned out that she was right, I was wrong, and I went back in to apologize.) This is not really about me at all: the point is that nice/mean is a poor approximation to what one is really looking for an advisor, and an advisor who was *actually* not nice would be a terrible person to work with professionally. So please don't choose \"mean\" people to work with....obviously."
},
{
"answer_id": 38356,
"author": "cbeleites unhappy with SX",
"author_id": 725,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/725",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "I don't see how nice and friendly exclude being being open and honest. Note that \"nice\" and \"friendly\" are primarily emotional wheras honest criticism deals with a factual level. To me the problem with the opinion of the blog post is that the factual level is unnecessarily and unduely mixed with the emotional level, and in particular - in my opinion - aiming at the wrong emotions. \n\n---\n\nIMHO difficulties should be treated in an profesional and appropriate way. Which IMHO is rather factual. \n\n> \n> If you’ve never cried before, during, or after a meeting with your advisor, something is amiss.\n> \n> \n> \n\n(I should say that crying students are extremely rare over here and would generally be considered a rather alarming sign.)\n\nWhat is amiss here IMHO is that while emotions are a good indicator of how well the emotional level is or isn't, they are no (good) indicator for the factual level. **Suggesting to *seeingly* choose an advisor whom you expect to treat you in a way that makes you cry is not only nonsense but seriously bad advise.** You'll head for an emotional trap without having any kind indication that this would help with the factual level of critique. \n\nYou may *tolerate* a certain lack of professionalism on the emotional level *iff* you know that the factual judgment is extremely good. But this is an implication, a logical one-way. If a supervisor not able or willing to handle things professionally on the emotional level, why should one trust them to deliver a fair judgment on the factual level? \n\n* I hold that a symptom of great character is that great people make/help/let the people around them *grow* (as opposed to: break them as in \"make cry\").\n* There will be enough situations to excercise your frustration tolerance also with a nice and friendly supervisor.\n* If you decide to play with danger, fair enough. But IMHO doing this in a thesis situation is not the most intelligent choice: theses are exam situations where you are expected to show top performance. That is, performance in your subject area, *not* as a dompteur of difficult supervisors.\n\n---\n\n*Disclaimer:* I've never cried before, during or after a meeting with a supervisor. I get angry instead. Which isn't better for the factual critique anyways. \n\n* The emotionally harsher encounters I've had were with people who had no problem in telling me that I did wrong - but where the \"wrongs\" were arbitrary to me. Arbitrary ranging from\n\t+ arbitraty as in the most plausible explanation I have is that everyone had lots of external pressure so emotions spilled over \n\n\t(*in other words: if there was a factual level, I completely missed it*),\n\t+ to situations where I perfectly agree that the supervisor has the right to ask what they asked (factual level) - but where I also insist that this does not constitute the right to get mad (emotionally) instead of calmly stating the factual requirement. \n\n\tIn other words: situations where I put in the effort to sort out how far I accept the critique - and where unreasonable requests (here: correctly guessing non-standard expected behaviour) start which could only be delivered under the cover of emotional pressure as there were no convincing factual arguments.\n\nSome more anecdata: \n\n* I've seen (and also comforted) students who did cry after meeting a supervisor/professor - but so far it was never an encounter with someone whom I'd consider a good and thoroughly professional supervisor.\n* I've met professors who were talking about other professors as \"too nice\" - though in every single instance the ones commenting were professors which I had already marked on my personal blacklist of people I'll be wary of or had even been warned about.\n\n---\n\n> \n> there are profs who are more on the intense, no nonsense side, and then there are the profs who are more easy going.\n> \n> \n> \n\nPersonally, some of the most intense research \"sprints\" that I had took place under an easy going supervisor. And I tend to think that this is no accident. \n\n> \n> go on ratemyprof dot com and see the comments for profs who are rated at the top and those at the bottom.\n> \n> \n> \n\nAnother contradicting point of anecdata. Poll for the most favourite (school) teacher. Bets were on the funny and easy-going sports teacher who also had the \"easy subject\" bias in favor. But it turned out to be the very demanding, but thoroughly clear, honest and fair maths teacher. Sports teacher \"only\" made the 2nd place. \n\nTeachers who pretended (tried?) to be \"nice and friendly\" *at the expense of fairness* were clearly despised. \n\nThis coincides quite well with what I hear from students now (with an additional keen judgment of who knows what they're talking about and who doesn't)."
},
{
"answer_id": 38524,
"author": "Aba",
"author_id": 29086,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/29086",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "In my experience as a physics PhD student finishing his work, a nice advisor isn't necessarily a bad advisor. Quite the contrary, IMO, you must feel comfortable with your advisor because if you are going to go through hell (and you will, have no doubts about that), you better go with a leader that you like and respect.\n\nMy advisor is a nice person and treats you with respect and is fairly understanding of the problems that will arise during your work and I still have high-stress-related health problems. So, don't worry about not having hardships, you will get plenty.\n\nWhat you need is an advisor that is honest with your results, have a down-to-earth approach and keeps in mind that you have a deadline.\nAn honest advisor will tell you that what you are doing is wrong. That is important. There should also be room for flexibility so you can develop your ideas.\n\nFinally, if you are supposed to graduate in 3-4 years and you have people from that group graduating in 5-6 years, that is not a good sign. Life does not end after the PhD degree, after all: it is just the beginning of your career.\n\nI haven't finished so I can't say whether I will be a high-quality or low-quality student, but the other students who have graduated under him are doing very well (everyone who wanted to continue in academia got postdoc positions. The one that didn't continue went to the private sector for a ton of money).\n\nAbout crying, as others pointed out, it depends on each individual. Allowing myself to be more judgmental, the one who said/wrote that quote simply has a liking for the dramatic. \n\nNice, friendly and available? Nice and friendly is useful to keep your sanity (the physical, emotional and mental stress is bad enough even with a nice and friendly advisor like mine), and also useful when you need to ask questions. But available is important since you will need to get advice time to time, even if you are very independent.\nAs someone else pointed out, if you are independent, you will need less \"advisor-time\", but it is still necessary. If you are extremely dependent... you shouldn't really be doing a PhD (After all, it is a title acknowledging the ability to do \"independent research\")."
},
{
"answer_id": 38565,
"author": "padawan",
"author_id": 15949,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15949",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "I have read all the five items and I honestly believe four out of five of them are *very much* misleading.\n\nHere are my opinions about those five items:\n\n**5. Steals your work.**\n\nTrue, but too obvious to state. This is not only true for advisors but for all mankind. And I assume that someone with an average intelligence would intuitively aviod any kind of person who steals.\n\n**4. Is crazy-making inconsistent.**\n\nI think science itslef is crazy-making inconsistent.\nOn the contrary, if someone is obsessive about one path of action, then how can he or she improve any scientific study?\n\nSuppose that Zotn works on subject **A** and conducted experiments titled E1.\nThe advisor might say that the experiments are inconsistent and throw them out and conduct E2 type of experiments.\nHowever, after one week, another related subject **B** may be included into the publication and E1 type of experiments would right-to-the-point to settle the relationship between **A** and **B**.\n\nGuess what, \"How could you write this chapter about **B** without mentioning E1 type of experiments??\"\n\n**3. Is abusive, negative and undermining.**\n\nIf the student is either lazy or ignoring the comments from advisor, then the advisor *must* be negative and undermining.\nWhat is the role of an advisor if his/her advises are ignored or undermined?\n\nThe writer also mentioned about the advisor *backing off*. \nWell, this must be a huge loss for the advisor!!\n\n**2. Is never around.**\n\nNo one on the surface of the earth has the right to judge a professor's working hours but the employer. \nMoreover, calling an advisor *bad* just because of his/her adacemic activities is nothing but pure ignorance.\nOr it might be envy, I don't know.\n\n**1. Is nice, and friendly, and available.**\n\nThis is the funniest claim I have ever come across.\nBy the same reasoning, a good medical doctor should always reprehend the patient, the best teacher never smiles.\n\nWe, of course, should always remember that once a person's mood is set, then by no means it can change. Therefore, if one is nice, he/she is nice forever.\nOtherwise, we are dealing with an intense person.\n\n**Summary**\n\nI do not think the *goodness* of an advisor can be measured.\n\nThe writer is\n\n1. Holier than thou. It can be clearly understood when you read the writer's vita\n\n> \n> I have trained numerous Ph.D. students, now **gainfully** employed in\n> academia, and handled a number of **successful** tenure cases as\n> Department Head.\n> \n> \n> \n\n2. Despises a lot of professors.\n\n**tl;dr**\n\nIn my opinion, you should nevermind the corresponding blog post."
},
{
"answer_id": 38671,
"author": "Rabbit",
"author_id": 29223,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/29223",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "I haven't read enough about what other people answered to your question, but I really cannot help to share my story with you now.\n\nI think it really depends on what you want, and your attitude. I switched adviser in my third year of my PhD, from a professor who was \"very nice\" to someone who everyone gossiped about how pushy he is. You might think I'm crazy, but right now I am very happy with my decision.\n\nThe adviser I was working with was unbelievably nice to me when we first started working together. She never got mad and always sent me some interesting article, and told me to \"take your time and learn slowly.\" Well, I thought I the luckiest PhD student I could've ever imagined, but then everything changed when one day for some reason she just flipped out. She called me on the phone and insulted me saying I'm useless, work so slow, not productive, and very \"spoiled\". She said she put in so much effort in me but received nothing. She said she kept trying to \"be nice\" to me, and I just took it for granted. I was extremely shock, since no one ever in my life insulted me that way, not to even expect it would be from someone who treated me so nicely before.\n\nAfter about a week of thinking I decided to switch adviser, and of course, she completely lost it. She said I used her, and she felt very betrayed (it sounds crazy but I'm really not making things up...) My new adviser felt very awkward and was still trying to be polite with her, but she kind of insulted him back... He didn't bother to fight with her and started working on research very intensively with me right away. He never tell me to take my time, instead he is very demanding, and keeps coming in the office to check my progress. But he is reasonable. Because I work hard, he never gets disappointed at me even I cannot meet the deadlines we target. I am very happy with him right now, even though I know a lot of students left him because he is so demanding.\n\nOn the other hand, the professor I worked with before stole my work. She took my work, which I proposed and worked on it for almost 2 years, and sent to some journalist and published news. In the article, her name was mentioned everywhere, while my name was just mentioned as a \"programmer\", when the truth is I proposed the idea, collected all the data, did all the analysis and wrote all the words for our papers. At the same time, she was telling everyone that she \"fired\" me, and she's gonna sign some ridiculous paper on preventing me from doing anything slightly related to what I worked on before. I've never disrespected a person so much in my life before. Who cares how successful she is in academia and how she puts on a show to trick people into thinking she's a nice person.\n\nI know my case is a bit extreme... But what I want to tell you is, don't judge by how \"nice\" an adviser is. Those things are not real. An adviser that you can really work closely with, and communicate with, is the most important. They can be the harshest people in the world, but as long as they are reasonable and thinking good for you, they're good choices. Sorry for the super long story, just don't want anyone to repeat my horrible past."
},
{
"answer_id": 38681,
"author": "Ken Zein",
"author_id": 29213,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/29213",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "I can tell you a few things from my own experience doing independent studies and summer/winter research projects as an undergrad in computer engineering (with aspirations of continuing to grad school, though I decided not to in the end).\n\n1) You need a professor who will push to and motivate you to work and be productive. **Not mean, but firm.** Since you often have your own hours it's very easy to slack off and procrastinate, so it's helpful to have someone who's making sure that you're producing. Especially if you hit a snag, some helpful suggestions can ease you over the hump and you'll start being productive again.\n\n2) They need to give you constructive advice, which often needs to be focused. This can include what do do or how to do it. It must be specific enough for you to understand what they want, not just a vague \"look into this\". One of my best professors would mention ideas and topics, and say stuff like \"figure out how to do x, then see if you can y\", and each step was helpful in either improving my skills or deepening my understanding. He didn't give answers or spoon feed anything, and demanded good work. But his **guidance and direction** was focused and thorough enough to allow me to rise to the challenge and produce the quality work he expected. Other professors who were \"nicer\" in the sense that they accepted less may have been easier but didn't push me to accomplish as much."
},
{
"answer_id": 82842,
"author": "Fomite",
"author_id": 118,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/118",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "> \n> 1. Is nice, and friendly, and available.\n> \n> \n> And never gives you the fierce criticism and the tough pushback that\n> forces you to confront your weaknesses, take risks, stop whining, cut\n> the excuses, get over your fears, and make hard decisions about\n> reputation, money, and jobs.\n> \n> \n> \n\nAs ff524 has pointed out there is an expanded context to the question of \"nice\", but I think the author of this blog, wrongly, has associated nice, friendly and available with a number of other traits. I have been mentored by \"nice\" professors, who were friendly, available, cared about me as a person, etc. On the other hand, these were also people who looked at my papers and said \"This part doesn't make any sense...\", pushed me to submit several papers to better venues than I thought they deserved, and taught me that until it's published, it doesn't count.\n\nSimilarly, I'd seen people with \"fierce\", \"tough\" advisors who have done very little in terms of productivity, because they're too busy being torn down to build anything.\n\n> \n> the nice associate professor ladies (and the occasional man) in the\n> department, the ones who remember their birthdays and sometimes bring\n> in homemade bread.\n> \n> \n> \n\nI have had a mentor who remembered birthdays, had people over to her house for lab dinner, etc. She was also an academic badass. For that matter, \"the nice associate professor ladies\" both described a number of very formidable scientists in my departments, and are people who have thrived in a setting that is not always friendly to women. There might be a reason for that.\n\n> \n> If you’ve never cried before, during, or after a meeting with your\n> advisor, something is amiss.\n> \n> \n> \n\nI have never had an advisor make me cry. I have occasionally cried in the course of my career, or had a minor breakdown, but it's never been because my advisors weren't being nice.\n\n> \n> Do not attach yourself to someone “nice.” Attach yourself to someone\n> “intense.”\n> \n> \n> \n\nFalse dichotomy is false.\n\n> \n> They might not be all warm and fuzzy, but they’ll have you prepped to\n> deal with the REAL assholes who are always circling out there, waiting\n> to pounce.\n> \n> \n> \n\nOne of the things I was taught by the warm and fuzzy types was how to be both nurturing and to fend off the assholes.\n\n> \n> Nice loses in academia. Not because you need to be mean, but because\n> you need to be fierce.\n> \n> \n> \n\nAgain, nice and fierce are not necessarily mutually contradictory. Generally, I found this whole section pretty off-putting - it fosters an absurd image of academic machismo that I think we could all stand to get away from, and shores up the same excuses many people use to be abusive to their students and junior colleagues. Which somewhat undermines #3 on their list."
}
] |
2015/02/05
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38309",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/23380/"
] |
38,315 |
I'll base the scenario of this question on the PhD thesis defence committee recommendations in place in my university in Ireland. Similar may apply to other countries.
A PhD Defence/Viva committee in made up of a Chairperson, internal examiner and external examiner. The internal comes from within the university and the external from another institution (with some restrictions on affiliated universities).
Assuming for this question cost of travel is not an issue as it would be covered by your university and you/your supervisor agrees with choice of potential external examiner; is there any rule of thumb on how far you could reasonably expect a external examiner to travel to be on the committee?
One downside I can think of asking someone to travel a large distance is the possible time they have to take away from their work. Again taking Ireland as an example, an external examiner from Ireland/UK/EU could probably travel on the day or 2 max. If it was someone travelling from the US they may have to take a few days off. Areas with poor air connections may mean longer trips.
So the question is largely two fold. Should how far away a potential external examiner factor into the decision to ask them to be on the committee and how far you could reasonably expect a external examiner to travel to be on the committee?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38316,
"author": "Maarten Buis",
"author_id": 14471,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14471",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "I would just ask the potential examiner in an open manner, giving them the opportunity to decline without feeling bad. There are many reasons why a long trip may not be a burden: One of my external examiner came from Hong Kong to the Netherlands, but he used that trip to also collaborate with my supervisor. Another came from the USA, but use the trip to also visit family. You cannot know this without asking them."
},
{
"answer_id": 38317,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "If your university is paying the expenses, then it's quite plausible for an examiner to come from arbitrarily far away. I myself have gone from the US to Europe to serve as an external examiner, and it was no more a burden than traveling to a foreign conference. You can also combine other things into the trip: for example, when I served, my colleague also asked me to give an invited seminar, and we took the opportunity to work on some collaborations as well."
},
{
"answer_id": 38361,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "In my department, we chose examiners based on their expertise. It will be up to the proposed examiner to decide whether the journey is worth it or not and decline the task if so desired. Being in Europe, we have had examiners from Australia, China, South Africa and Brazil as well as from north America and closer. Distance has not been an issue when selecting candidates for the job, we have simply looked for persons who can have good insight and reputation.\n\nOne aspect, which is always present but not the primary reason for choices is also if they can be future connections for the faculty. Any examiner has to be free from conflicts of interest so for the most part they are new to the collaborative sphere of the faculty members but if they are of interest to widen the sphere, this is seen as a positive.\n\nThere have been a few issues that have emerged and that concerns long-distance travel problems. If we chose someone from Europe (being in Europe) a cancelled or missed flight constitutes a small problem since there most often are numerous other flights to destinations within a day. This is usually not the case with very long distance travel and any problem can cause irreparable delays and possibly a cancelled defence. So if a long distance candidate is chosen, we make sure the person arrives at least a day early to the defence. Extra costs will also have to be carried by the research group within which the defending PhD student belongs. The latter is a local solution that probably cannot be translated to all other academic cultures. The bottom line is that there are \"dangers\" with long-distance visitors."
},
{
"answer_id": 54191,
"author": "I Like to Code",
"author_id": 8802,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8802",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "As @Alexandros mentioned in his comment,\nin this day and age, teleconferencing is a very viable option.\n\nTo give a personal example:\nDuring the course of my PhD studies,\ntwo of the members of my PhD committee\nhad moved away from the city where my university was located.\n\n* One of my committee members took a relatively short 4 hour train ride\nto be physically present for my PhD defense.\n* The other committee member was at least a 7 hour plane ride away. This member decided not to travel, but joined my PhD defense via Skype (for video) and a conference call (for audio).\n\nBased on my experience observing my PhD classmates, it was not uncommon for external committee members to join via teleconference."
}
] |
2015/02/05
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38315",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12454/"
] |
38,320 |
I am an IT post graduate (with no thesis but project) from IT industry and I have practical experience of about 10 years in the industry. I want to carry a PhD research in a subject related to IT field. Practically and theoretically, I know the subject very well, but I don’t have any prior real research experience or any publications. But I have studied some theoretical subjects on research methodologies, statistics etc. during my university learning. But I found that most the universities have “research experience” as prerequisite or requirements to start or to be eligible for PhD research.
So, what can I do to fulfill that? (Off-course other than doing another research just to be eligible). Any ideas or suggestions?
Is there any chance of getting accepted without prior research experience? Should I keep on trying(esp in US and Australia)?
I have seen some doing PhD after their undergrad. I have master degree and I am confident that I will be able to manage things with in those 3-4 years as it’s not that I don’t research at all. It’s just that I don’t have something to show now.
Any suggestions?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38326,
"author": "o-0",
"author_id": 21552,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/21552",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "***Yes, In the UK, you can get accepted to a Ph.D. based on Bs.c. or Msc diploma, with no publication records.*** \n\nI can answer this, because computer science is my field, and saw many people like you doing research here in the UK. \n\n**Background Work** \n\nOk so you want to do a Ph.D. with a postgraduate degree which is on the practical side of things. That is totally fine; however you need to do some work before finding a supervisor. In essence there are three types of supervisors in the field of computer science: \n\n***Know it All***: There are number of impressive supervisors, that know both the theoretical and practical side of computer science. These supervisors publications on both theory and practice (e.g., code generation, language design). This is the best kind of supervisors to have because they can bridge between theory and practice; and can navigate you through both theory and practice.\n\n***Theory-Oriented***: They use Latex to create their papers/journals/books. They have no idea what so ever about the practical stuff. God forbid you ask them about JVM internals. They can still be useful, because you are covered the practical stuff; and they can help you through theory. However, they have no appreciation about how hard it is to make something work in practice. Also, they might not the best people to link between theory and practice.\n\n***Practical-Oriented***: There are much fewer number of supervisors, that for example transferred from electronic engineering into computer science. They know very practical stuff (e.g., embedded system programming, active on developing Erlang application for telecommunication purposes); however for you these are the worst choice. Because, you have the practical background (so don't supervision on practical stuff), but because you need to introduce theory into your research they can't do much in helping you. So you end up wasting number of years just because for example your supervisor don't know game theory.\n\nSo overall look for their publications and the track record. How much open-source software they produce. How much theory-oriented paper they publish. These are the things that you will curse yourself later on during Ph.D. if you didn't think it through."
},
{
"answer_id": 38767,
"author": "Johnathan Clayborn",
"author_id": 29299,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/29299",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "This is also possible in the US as well, but it varies from school to school. It is fairly common for people to be accepted into a PhD program without research experience, provided that their previous academics were exceptional. Don't get too discouraged and keep looking."
},
{
"answer_id": 38794,
"author": "Eric D. Brown D.Sc.",
"author_id": 29287,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/29287",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "This is quite common in the U.S. Most programs would ask you take some introductory courses in research areas to build up your research skills.\n\nWhen I started my doctorate program, I had no real research skills and learned everything I need to learn in the program."
},
{
"answer_id": 130429,
"author": "anon",
"author_id": 108641,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/108641",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "Take a broad approach to what you define as \"research experience\". You can probably find a way of spinning/describing some facets of your \"practical experience\" in terms that demonstrate your suitability for a research programme. When talking about such experience in interview, reflect on how some of the work you have done constitutes a form of research, what you learned from it, and how it could have been developed in research terms if you had had the time (maybe, there is something which still has research potential). Finally, although peer-reviewed academic publications generally command the most esteem within the academy, there are other types of output (including \"practical\" outputs) that can embody and/or form the basis of serious academic research.\n\nBe positive about how your experience will equip you for a research programme, irrespective of whether it constitutes a so-called \"traditional\" background for a researcher in your field. Turn any weakness into a strength, by explaining that you are keen to acquire the new skills that a research programme has to offer."
}
] |
2015/02/05
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38320",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15389/"
] |
38,322 |
In recent years there has been a drive to make science more open. This includes making the software used to perform research open source. The main argument in favour of this idea is that research should be reproducible, which has been addressed in other questions on this site.
I am more interested in the 'impact' that this produces. In particular, is there evidence that by publishing software alongside research papers means that more people use the methods described in the paper?
I am especially concerned with papers in applied mathematics but also more generally.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38360,
"author": "rfle500",
"author_id": 4503,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4503",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "If a sample size of 1 counts as evidence, then yes, having open source software certainly has the potential for significant impact.\n\nHowever, there are some important points to note before that potential for impact becomes real impact. Firstly proper software is not typical academic code thrown together with few comments to solve a specific problem. Software should have a user interface, user manual, be reliable and provide significant functionality. In my case I included several simulation methods within a single piece of software and wrote a review article detailing their implementation with examples. Since being open sourced last year many researchers have started using the software which will likely lead to citations of the paper. If you can develop a widely used software package then any methods you implement are (slightly) more likely to be used over ones which you do not. However if someone develops a significantly better method then not implementing that feature in your software may lead to people using competing packages if they exist.\n\nI would say that if you want your method to be used or implemented, then including a sample code provides a much lower barrier to entry, for example popular random number generators always included source code. However, any code you write should be clearly licensed, and ideally as permissible as possible, eg BSD, so that it can be freely used in commercial and non-commercial software."
},
{
"answer_id": 38375,
"author": "Neil Chue Hong",
"author_id": 28994,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28994",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "You ask \"In particular, is there evidence that by publishing software alongside research papers means that more people use the methods described in the paper?\"\n\nI am not aware of any large scale empirical studies that have assessed this for software at present [1] however there is anecdotal evidence and related studies looking at the impact of open data.\n\nOne piece of related anecdotal evidence came from short survey I carried out in 2013 looking for people who had been \"scooped\" as a result of publishing their code openly (i.e. someone else had published a paper using that software to get to the same scientific results before the author of the software). Whilst there were very few examples of people getting scooped, there were many more examples of researchers who had gotten new collaborations, new citations, and new funding as a result of publishing their code openly. Many said that this was because others were more able to try out the methods because code was available.\n\nMore convincingly, there have been several good studies looking at the effects on citations (a proxy for the sort of impact you mention) from making data openly accessible [2-6]. Many of the reasons for the data citation benefit discussed in [7] appear qualitatively to be true for software as well [8-9].\n\nFinally, in the area of Applied Mathematics, you might like to look at some of the outputs of the ICERM workshop on Reproducibility on Computational and Experimental Mathematics [10], as well as some of the publications of the participants. \n\n---\n\n[1] One of the reasons for this is that up until very recently, it was difficult to conduct such a study - it was difficult to link software to a publication, few authors were publishing code, and it was difficult to data mine journals to assess impact. This is changing, an I expect studies to start emerging based on tools like ContentMine and ScienceToolbox.\n\n[2] Piwowar, Day, Fridsma (2007). Sharing Detailed Research Data Is Associated with Increased Citation Rate. PLoS ONE.\n\n[3] Gleditsch NP, Metelits C, Strand H. 2003. Posting your data: will you be scooped or will you be famous? International Studies Perspectives 4(1):89-97\n\n[4] Pienta AM, Alter GC, Lyle JA. 2010. The enduring value of social science research: the use and reuse of primary research data. The Organisation, Economics and Policy of Scientific Research Workshop\n\n[5] Henneken EA, Accomazzi A. 2011. Linking to data - effect on citation rates in astronomy.\n\n[6] Dorch B. 2012. On the Citation Advantage of linking to data. hprints. \n\n[7] Piwowar H, Vision T. 2013. Data reuse and the open data citation advantage. PeerJ. PubMed 24109559\n\n[8] Howison J, Herbsleb, J. 2013. Incentives and Integration In Scientific Software Production. CSCW 2013.\n\n[9] Howison J, Bullard J. How is software visible in the scientific literature? Preprint available from <https://github.com/jameshowison/softcite/blob/master/paper/HowisonBullard-SoftwareCitation-WorkingPaper.pdf?raw=true>\n\n[10] \"Setting the Default to Reproducible: Reproducibility in Computational and Experimental Mathematics,\" ICERM Workshop report, with D. Bailey, J. Borwein, R. LeVeque, W. Rider, and W. Stein."
},
{
"answer_id": 38379,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "The [Journal of Statistical Software](http://www.jstatsoft.org/) is one of the few journals that publishes software. Currently, it has one of the highest impact factors among all statistics journals. This can be viewed as evidence that publishing software alongside research papers leads to higher impact and in particular to more people using the methods described in the paper."
},
{
"answer_id": 38380,
"author": "dvanic",
"author_id": 22372,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22372",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Your question can be interpreted in several different ways, and I'll try to address all of them.\n\n1. **Is there evidence that by publishing software alongside research papers means that more people use the methods described in the paper?**\n\nThis is incredibly apparent in bioinformatics software. My google scholar skills are not helping me at the moment, so I can't find a full academic paper on this, but based on personal experience and networking in both my narrow (RNA-seq) and broad (genomics) field, if a study describes an algorithm it will be cited and used *only* by people who are developing algorithms to solve the same/similar problem. If a study provides usable software: standalone, python package, jar, R library - something, it is much, much more likely to be cited and used (especially if it (a) works and (b) doesn't have any ridiculous dependencies (phyloCSF, I'm looking at you)). \n\nI don't have time at the moment to do this analysis myself, but an easy pubmed scraping + text mining across several issues of the journal \"Bioinformatics\" should enable quantitative validation of this statement. \n\n2. **The main argument in favour of this idea is that research should be reproducible, which has been addressed in other questions on this site**\n\nFor many applied bioinformatics papers, including my own, we use other people's tools to do analyses, and write up the results. The code we usually use is \"hacky\" and not really \"software\", but is instead a script we ran that got us our results using our particular data and filesystem/server configuration. This code is - unfortunately - usually not published, and at the moment you are expected to write the detailed summary of what you did in the methods section of your paper. Unfortunately, all too frequently the people who are writing the paper (i.e. 1st author) is not the bioinformatician, and if the analyses were a small part of the work, the (usually biologist) 1st author tries to write up/summarize what the bioinformatician did based on his/her limited understanding (and the bioinformatician is not vested enough in the paper to care because he/she is 10th author) -- and if you don't get a bioinformatics-savvy reviewer the paper is published with the goobledygook in the methods, and no way to reproduce the analysis. I'd like to have a dollar for every time I've tried to understand/reproduce someone's methods, and not been able to because they were in a \"Biology\" journal and hence not described properly.\n\nGoing forward, I think more and more journals will start asking for code - but with the caveat that it won't be code that you can download and run - on their data or on yours (the data is too big, and writing code that would work on all possible clusters is too much effort) - so it will be more as a supplementary thing from which I can elucidate your exact methods as opposed to rerun your complete analysis.\n\n**3. This includes making the software used to perform research open source.**\nSome of the best aligners for sequencing data are non open-source. A pubmed search for novoalign (proprietary) results in 15 hits, 1200 google scholar records. BWA (open source) 142 pubmed, 9960 google scholar. These results speak for themselves."
}
] |
2015/02/05
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38322",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7538/"
] |
38,324 |
A free book publisher, Globe Edit, contacted me.
They offered to consider creating a book from my MSc thesis. They said that I wouldn’t have to pay for anything. After reading their website, it appears that they are trying to contact many if not all thesis writers (and other writers, too).
They want me to transfer exclusive rights to publishing my thesis as a book.
Here is their website, if you want to read the details: [Globe Edit](http://www.globeedit.com/authors_infos_pdf/se).
Are free publishers like this usually worthwhile? I don’t care about making money; I’m wondering whether this free publishing service is at all prestigious or just a waste of time (i.e., neutral or perhaps negative).
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38327,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "These types of publishers are often called vanity presses and as discussed in this [question](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29881/is-there-any-value-in-self-publishing-a-book-as-an-academic) they have limited value. The press you are referring to, and why I think your question is unique, is:\n\n> \n> They want me to transfer exclusive rights to publishing my thesis, as a book.\n> \n> \n> \n\nThat is a terrifying thought. That likely means you would be unable to (re)publish any aspect of your thesis as an article and may not even be able to use images in presentations. Your university and/or funder may also impose restrictions on giving away exclusive rights."
},
{
"answer_id": 38336,
"author": "xLeitix",
"author_id": 10094,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10094",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "> \n> I'm wondering if this free publishing service is at all prestigious\n> \n> \n> \n\nand:\n\n> \n> it appears that they are trying to contact many if not all Thesis writers (and other writers, too).\n> \n> \n> \n\nI think you have answered your own question. At best, such publications are considered neutrally."
}
] |
2015/02/05
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38324",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/26573/"
] |
38,325 |
I think my research interests and experience are perfectly aligned with a professor. And I plan on applying to the department when the admissions open.
But when is the right time to email the professor as a prospective PhD student? I don't want to shoot off an email and get ignored by being either too early or too late.
In this university (in the US) the admissions are granted by committees and not individual professors. Also I speak as an international student.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38331,
"author": "o-0",
"author_id": 21552,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/21552",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "For your current Ph.D. application and any further activity during your Ph.D. always ask for suggestion/help/support from your Ph.D. supervisor. \n\nYou might be align with the activities of a supervisor; however thats one way thinking! It might be the case that he/she has many students and can't take any more regardless how much your previous work matches his/hers. So always ask, there are many nice supervisors that get excited to help their new/potential Ph.D. students."
},
{
"answer_id": 41231,
"author": "RoboKaren",
"author_id": 14885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14885",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "The worst time to contact faculty is when they are deliberating the current round of applications and while they are recruiting the accepted students. In the USA, this would be December through April.\n\nConversely, best time would be May through October."
},
{
"answer_id": 42099,
"author": "gdp",
"author_id": 31290,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31290",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "From my own experience, I would suggest getting in touch as early as possible, after the previous year's recruitment is out of the way. I had made my prospective advisor aware, and we were able to find time to discuss ideas and possible projects, and to even find several possible funding sources. \n\nPerhaps this differs in departments with a more formal application process, but I found that the actual approach to the advisor was the important part - after that point, they were glad to encourage me to apply, since our research were well-aligned. \n\nIt does depend on the advisor though - some might not be able to even begin to think about next year... Others (perhaps more senior, and less daunted by thinking about funding someone that far ahead), may be hoping people get in touch. I suggest you find out how the intakes work - we have year-round applications and admissions, but generally people are concentrated around February or October. There's nothing to stop and application to start at another time, however, so obviously doing a bit of homework may help here (if it's not just annual admission in one group)."
}
] |
2015/02/05
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38325",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28961/"
] |
38,330 |
I recently finished a round of PhD applications.
I always knew I wanted to do research, but when I applied I didn't know what sub-field of Computer Science I wanted to do my research in. I was already out of school a year when I decided that I may never figure it out just by sitting around, so I just bit the bullet and applied to a PhD program with what I knew.
Naturally, a month or two after I applied, I realized that what I really wanted to go into was robotics, which I have very little experience in at the moment and which I didn't mention in my personal statement.
I'm pretty good at teaching myself things. Give me another few months and I'll probably be able to learn quite a bit about the subject, and I'd bet anything I could put together some decent projects that could make me impressive enough to get into a good robotics research track, but I've already applied to a bunch of schools and it's at the point where if I'm getting in, I'm not getting in for anything robotics related.
So, here are the options I see in front of me:
1. Turn down the offers I get, try again next year when I can be more focused and well-researched on which programs/professors I want. This feels like giving up, and I'm always nervous about putting things off, especially for a year.
2. One of the schools I got into happens to have a good program for robotics, but I doubt my application was on any of those professor's radar. I could contact professors from that school and ask if they'd want to work with me, but I don't know what I'd say with so little robotics knowledge. Another school I applied to but haven't heard back from has an even better program for it, so if I am emailing professors, there's still time to email professors from that school as well.
3. Go to a school I got into, and just hope I'll be able to switch programs.
I know I ultimately have to decide for myself what to do, but any advice is greatly appreciated.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38333,
"author": "o-0",
"author_id": 21552,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/21552",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "I saw this sort of thinking/discussion all the time. Something like, I'm a second year Ph.D. student but I want to start another one, because X is big and I'm excited about it. This is a *bad* way of thinking about a Ph.D. program. \n\nHere is the thing: \n\n***One of the main pitfall of PhD students is that they can't get their mind into one problem.***\n\nHere is another fact: \n\n***During Ph.D. you learn how to think and read/write as a researcher, regardless what you are working on.***\n\n*Advice*: I say choose one among all the offers you get. Drop all, unless you have a pretty good damn reason for it (e.g., got a job at NASA). \n\nAnswering 'what I want to do for research' always changes! Thats the nature of research. You can not keep up with *all* trends during Ph.D. First, you need to think, read, and write as a researcher; and you learn them during a Ph.D. Then, you can follow the trends as a postdoc or an academic."
},
{
"answer_id": 38363,
"author": "Tim",
"author_id": 12703,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12703",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "Unlike Dovu Rasa, I absolutely think you should pursue your interest in robotics if you find you truly enjoy it. You can (and should) figure that out *right now* by spending a long weekend with an arduino.\n\nHowever, I really don't see much need to reconsider your applications, unless any offers you receive are incredibly specific. Many CS PhD programs don't require (or allow) you to work in a particular group or with a particular prof until you've completed the first year or so of coursework, but if a program accepts you with the explicit understanding that you'll work with X on NOT\\_ROBOTICS, then you might want to decline."
},
{
"answer_id": 43033,
"author": "Alanna",
"author_id": 21875,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/21875",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "You've probably already made your decision, but in case anyone else stumbles upon this:\n\nI always knew I wanted to go into academia. I finally found something I loved (physical geography, specifically climatology), and jumped in. Some time in my 2nd year (& as an MS student, I only should've had 2 years), I realized that I'd been focusing on academia, but not what I actually enjoy. I got through; I learned a lot about my subject, critical thinking, networking, writing and myself. I'm so glad I went, but I could've done a better job if I was more aware of the options within my discipline (I'd only had 2 courses when I applied), and especially if I'd known the culture of my subject. \n\nWhat I'm trying to say is, if you know you can teach yourself pretty well and make some impressive projects, you're not \"just sitting around.\" You are exploring your field. In the meantime, you should research faculty, read some papers, and figure out what you want to dedicate your life to for 4+ years. Because a PhD program isn't just about building robots: You're learning the culture, writing papers, creating posters, networking, writing grants, applying for fellowships, teaching in the classroom and mentoring/teaching in your lab...If you love your subject and your projects, it will be worthwhile, though sometimes you will not think so. If you discover, once you really start digging in, that you don't actually want to sleep, eat, and breathe robotics, all the rest of being a PhD student can be miserable. \n\nThat's just grad school in general. Specifically about your question:\n\nThere are more things to consider than which school and which program. Gtay programs usually accept only 5-20 students per year. In my experience, more than 10 is a big cohort. You may be one of the top applicants this year, but next year you may be outshone. So there is definitely some merit to accepting whatever you get. You never know - you may find something else in CS that you get really excited about. If you're certain you're interested in robotics, see if there is someone in engineering or physics or wherever the robotics people are, who will be your outside faculty member. They may even take on more of your project than your official PI/chair, they could even be a co-PI. \n\nGtay school isn't like undergrad (pretty much in every way except that you're on a campus) - if you want to change departments you have to reapply. If you have to change depts, go to the other dept's journal clubs, get into a lab & be their best student, make yourself invaluable. In your new letter, emphasize your interdisciplinary background and how that will benefit your studies and the department in general. Impress the PI of the lab you've been working in & they'll write a great letter of rec, appeal to the selection committee on your behalf, go to bat for you against admin. It's possible to change, but there are significant obstacles. \n\nGood luck! I'm curious to know what you went with, when you make your decision."
}
] |
2015/02/05
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38330",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28965/"
] |
38,343 |
Being that I am currently awaiting offers of admission/rejections for some of my PhD applications in the US, i regularly frequent the website <http://thegradcafe.com>, which, if you've never heard of it, has a forum where just about any subject relevant to graduate students is being discussed, and, most importantly, maintains a database of admission/rejection dates for various programs at various schools (see <http://thegradcafe.com/survey/index.php>).
While discussing with other members of the forum and browsing through the database myself, I have noticed the following pattern: For many PhD programs, year after year, all the offers of admission (the ones added to the database, anyway) will be made on a single day, and then, some time later (often 2,3 weeks or even almost a month later), all the rejection notifications are made.
Of course, it should be said that this "data" is fairly unreliable, since it is all added anonymously and most likely very fragmentary, but assuming this is actually a trend, here is my question:
>
> What is the explanation for such a long delay between offers of admission and notifications of rejection in (some) US PhD admissions?
>
>
>
The possible explanations I have in mind are the following:
1. The candidates that are assuredly admitted are sent offers as soon as possible, and then the admission committee takes a lot more time to choose a few more candidates within the (probably very large) sample of not-so-surely admitted students. (This could possibly not be reflected in the Grad Cafe's database, as very few candidates could be admitted this way)
2. Universities wait to see if some of the strong applicants will answer positively or negatively to their offers before deciding to reject other applicants (but then, why not waitlist them in the mean time).
However, I would be very interested in hearing about anyone who has been in (or knows about) an admission committee that operates like this, and the reason behind this.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38344,
"author": "paul garrett",
"author_id": 980,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "Both your reasons are in play, although the second far more so, in the math dept at my \"R1\" university in the U.S. That is, we make a certain number of offers to well-qualified people, expecting a certain approximate rate (perhaps 50 percent or more) of acceptance of our offers, with considerable variation. We cannot risk far too many acceptances, because of funding limits, but, at the same time, we need a fairly precise number of TAs for the following year. So after we receive some rejections from that clear-first-round bunch of offers, we can (and must) make the corresponding number of second-round offers. Inevitably the number of such is not zero, but is unpredictable, and the financial set-up is such that we do not want to risk over-committing... and under-committing for too long risks students already being informally (if not formally, since nothing is set until until April 15) committed elsewhere."
},
{
"answer_id": 38350,
"author": "Ari Morcos",
"author_id": 28981,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28981",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "At most neuroscience (and other life sciences) Ph.D. programs, all of the offers to interview go out on one day, usually in late December. Rejections at my program don't go out until March."
}
] |
2015/02/05
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38343",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
] |
38,346 |
Say you want to conduct a research study that observes people engaged in a generic activity. Rather than record this evidence oneself, would it be wise to try to gather recorded evidence that was part of other research studies? I am asking about gathering raw evidence, to re-analyze for the purposes of a new study, not leveraging/citing data/conclusions in other research studies. For example, if another research study recorded 1000 hours of people doing general enough activities, would I be able to ask the owner of that study to share their recorded evidence with me, so that I might use it for my own analysis?
In other words, what are some of the issues to consider when using [secondary data](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secondary_data)?
If it isn't common, why not? What are the pitfalls of using evidence gathered from other studies, to drive my own research?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38344,
"author": "paul garrett",
"author_id": 980,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "Both your reasons are in play, although the second far more so, in the math dept at my \"R1\" university in the U.S. That is, we make a certain number of offers to well-qualified people, expecting a certain approximate rate (perhaps 50 percent or more) of acceptance of our offers, with considerable variation. We cannot risk far too many acceptances, because of funding limits, but, at the same time, we need a fairly precise number of TAs for the following year. So after we receive some rejections from that clear-first-round bunch of offers, we can (and must) make the corresponding number of second-round offers. Inevitably the number of such is not zero, but is unpredictable, and the financial set-up is such that we do not want to risk over-committing... and under-committing for too long risks students already being informally (if not formally, since nothing is set until until April 15) committed elsewhere."
},
{
"answer_id": 38350,
"author": "Ari Morcos",
"author_id": 28981,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28981",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "At most neuroscience (and other life sciences) Ph.D. programs, all of the offers to interview go out on one day, usually in late December. Rejections at my program don't go out until March."
}
] |
2015/02/05
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38346",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6711/"
] |
38,364 |
I was just wondering if I should include an edited expletive in an essay I have to write for a Software Development class. I'm currently writing a paper about debugging techniques and I wanted to talk about reading documentation to ensure the correct use of libraries and algorithms. This is commonly referred to as RTFM or "Read The Fucking Manual". So I was wondering if I should change it to "Read The [expletive] Manual", replace a couple letters with \*'s, or scrap the idea entirely.
I just thought the teacher may enjoy a break from reading the same essay over 50 times that will include the exact same content (there are only so many debugging techniques).
I'm also thinking about including the "It's not a bug, it's a feature" with the following image while expanding on the line of thinking.
The reason why I think I can get away with this is because the teacher frequently cracks jokes during his lecture, and he has actually used the bug vs feature joke in class before.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38365,
"author": "xLeitix",
"author_id": 10094,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10094",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "> \n> I was wondering if I should change it to \"Read The [expletive] Manual\", replace a couple letters with \\*'s, or scrap the idea entirely.\n> \n> \n> \n\nI'll opt for \"scrap the idea entirely\". You are misinterpreting what the purpose of class essays is - this isn't supposed to be a witty, innovative text that entertains the lecturer, and the lecturer will likely not mind so much reading about the same debugging techniques over and over again. The purpose of this text is to explain what **you** know about said debugging techniques. A secondary purpose is that you show that you know how to write an academic text. Some semi-witty text is likely to fail the second test, and spending a lot of paper space on an unrelated joke is likely to at least be a bad indicator for the first test (that is, if I get a paper where the author spends a lot of time writing about semi-related nonsense, my initial impression is that the author didn't really know what to write about the actual topic).\n\n> \n> The reason why I think I can get away with this is because the teacher frequently cracks jokes during his lecture\n> \n> \n> \n\nThere's a place and a time to be humorous. Presentations and lectures can be a good time (because, if well done, jokes break the ice and keep the audience's attention), academic papers are notoriously a very bad time to crack jokes. That the lecturer cracks jokes in class does not necessarily mean that he wants to see them in your manuscript. *I* tend to crack the occasional bad joke in class, and as you may be able to tell, I am no fan of humour in student assignments.\n\n> \n> and he has actually used the bug vs feature joke in class before.\n> \n> \n> \n\nSo he won't even laugh because he already knows the joke :) at least come up with something new."
},
{
"answer_id": 38367,
"author": "peter",
"author_id": 17246,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17246",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "RTFM: Read The *Fine* Manual.\n\nThe documentation in question is, naturally, an exquisite treatise about the product in question. It is well-written, indexed, cross-referenced and contains ample anecdotes and code samples. It has it's own series (complete with a new animal sketch) in the O'Reilly collection and will soon replace The Camel as the canonical example of how documentation should be written.\n\nThat's the marketing version.\n\nThe actual documentation is 3 pages of semi-illiterate spew that a 9th-grader would mark as bad grammar. It's barely useful in launching the software and contains enough errors to be dangerous. \n\nThe user will replace \"Fine\" with the other word all by themselves."
},
{
"answer_id": 38409,
"author": "Cort Ammon",
"author_id": 25234,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/25234",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "Generally speaking, expletives are frowned upon in academic writing. You can give any rationale you feel justified, but here's my personal take:\n\nExpletives serve a purpose in language. They serve as an emotional utterance that provides additional emphasis to the reader, at the expense of clear reasoning. Creating a visual analogy for this, they act as a bright strobe-light emphasizing a detail. On a dance floor, with illicit drugs all around, use of a strobe-light is acceptable for emphasizing the beat of the music. In the viewing room of the Mona Lisa, it is decidedly less acceptable.\n\nIf you were a curator for the Louvre, and recently came into possession of a piece of art which uses a strobe for artistic effect, that would be fine. However, you would choose not to put said piece of art in the same room as the Mona Lisa, so as not to disrupt the more academic viewers."
},
{
"answer_id": 38423,
"author": "Shep",
"author_id": 789,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/789",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "When I was grading lots of lab reports I appreciated jokes, provided that:\n\n* They were funny\n* They didn't detract from the point of the paper (one sentence saying explaining RTFL is probably fine, figures with no relation to the assignment may be too much)\n* The student doesn't think they could get away with lousy work by being chummy\n\nThe last point is probably the most important; if your instructor sees lousy work and jokes together he may think you're unable to take his class seriously. That makes his job more stressful.\n\nPersonally I think expletives are cheap. If I were your instructor I'd probably chuckle, and then leave a comment \"Read the ~~Fucking~~[friendly] Manual\"."
},
{
"answer_id": 38427,
"author": "Him_Jalpert",
"author_id": 27857,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/27857",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "If you make a point of making it clear that you're quoting from another source then it shouldn't matter too much. For example, 'As so and so says, this is called \"Read The Fucking Manual\"', or 'On x webpage/ x page of y book this is referred to as \"Read The Fucking Manual\"'.\n\nSaying that, I would use discretion when adding something like this into an essay, if you're 100% sure the professor will find it humourous then go for it, if not then avoid using the explicative and go for a ...softer or censored version of it.\n\nLike I said, it all depends on the prof, a friend of mine once gave an answer on a Java exam about a magical elf being responsible for one of the programming concepts and he still got full marks for the question because the prof had a sense of humour. Had it been another prof they'd just give him 0 for that question, all depends on the prof, plain and simple."
},
{
"answer_id": 38431,
"author": "Joseph Orlando",
"author_id": 29025,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/29025",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "Totally disregarding the context of your work, like the previous answers have touched on. I am studying at a university, and thus am writing at a university level.\n\nIf I were in a position where I had to choose whether or not to use an expletive, so long as there was a valid reason for it being there, I would totally go for it. This is not high school, where a repremand would be in order. In academia, one should not dilute one's thoughts, so long as the thoughts are on the right track. I would go for it, but like the previous answers have touched on, you may be totally out of context in using that kind of language. It may not be needed.. If it's not needed, definately don't do it, but if it is needed, don't second guess it."
},
{
"answer_id": 38451,
"author": "Kate Gregory",
"author_id": 12693,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12693",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Whenever I've needed to explain RTFM, I just say it stands for Read The Manual. Inevitably the other person says \"but what does the F -- ? Oh.\" All by themselves. However, I would only use this in an academic context in someone else's mouth. Something like\n\n> \n> When you don't get the results you're expecting, and the only technical support you can find is someone telling you to \"RTFM\" (Read The Manual), don't give up! Some simple debugging techniques can give you the ability to watch your program execute and understand why it's misbehaving.\n> \n> \n> \n\nBe careful though. A feature is not a bug in a suit even if you think it is, and debugging is rarely a substitute for reading documentation. Your efforts to liven up the essay may reveal errors of thought that end up costing you more than they gain."
}
] |
2015/02/06
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38364",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28990/"
] |
38,366 |
As an instructor, I have been fortunate to have had some great TAs, who went above and beyond what was expected of them, and put in a lot of effort to ensure students' learning.
I would really like to do more than just say "Thank you." How can I show my appreciation to them after the class ends?
(The situation may also be slightly complicated by the fact that some of the TAs I'm thinking of aren't physically located near me. I'm in the US, but I also teach as a "remote" instructor for a university in Europe, and I get TAs there. So I would like answers addressing both local and non-local TAs, if it matters.)
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38368,
"author": "Alireza",
"author_id": 28811,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28811",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "As stated in your comment providing your TAs with recommendation letter is not applicable to your case.\n\nIn addition to saying \"Thank You\", you would have another option to show that you care about them and in case of need for academic consultation (about courses, research topics, papers and etc.) they can count on you (whether now or in the future) and this means that in addition to keeping your academic connections with your TAs alive furthermore they would get a valuable source of information, expertise and support.\n\nIn case it is affordable and does not cost you so much money you can by them a number of small and not very expensive gifts; so that they would remember you and that semester as your TA whenever they see your gift!"
},
{
"answer_id": 38372,
"author": "xLeitix",
"author_id": 10094,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10094",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "For TAs located physically close, the well-established way of showing appreciation around here is by inviting them to a joint informal dinner with good food and plenty of (alcoholic and non-alcoholic) beverages, usually with a joint pub crawl afterwards. This would typically happen at the end of the semester, optimally directly after finals, and provide a nice finishing mark on a semester of hard work and (maybe) some fun and camaraderie. These events would typically last to the early morning, leading to extremely empty offices the day after.\n\nI am lucky to work in an university which happily picks up the bill for such events, but in previous places we have had all instructors throw money into a hat to finance this. It is not a celebration if the TAs have to pay for themselves.\n\nNote that the celebrations are: (1) entirely voluntary (nobody needs to come, nobody needs to stay), and (2) as informal as possible.\n\n**Edit:** that being said, I think the more interesting part about your question is how to show appreciation to remote TAs, and I have no good answer for this."
},
{
"answer_id": 38387,
"author": "Ander Biguri",
"author_id": 16023,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16023",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "This is not a complete answer, but just sharing my experience as TA.\n\nI worked as a TA in Computer Graphics where 120 students were enrolled and each of them had to deliver 2 reports (20 pages) with their respective code. Me and the other TA helped marking the assignments, and it would have taken around a full week of work for our Professor to do it by himself. \n\nIn the end, we meet and went to have dinner at a nice restaurant that he paid, in order to thank us for our effort. It was not about the money paid in the restaurant, but more about the gesture of going together somewhere to have dinner felt as a big \"Thank you\".\n\nAnyway, just leaving this here."
},
{
"answer_id": 38393,
"author": "Patricia Shanahan",
"author_id": 10220,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10220",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "I have far more industry than academic experience, but I think this is one case where an idea from industry may be useful. It is quite common, in my experience, for e.g. a sales manager to write a letter of appreciation to an engineer who has helped with a sale, with a copy to the engineer's manager. I've had such things mentioned during performance appraisals, and they seemed to help with getting pay raises.\n\nThe key currency in academic life is letters of recommendation rather than performance appraisals, but the same idea might work out. How about writing a letter or e-mail to each TA expressing your appreciation, with a copy to that TA's advisor? If you can say something specific about what that TA did, all the better. That is material the advisor can choose to use when it is time to write letters of recommendation, and they are searching for the right things to say about the former TA."
},
{
"answer_id": 38398,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "You can always spend money (either yours or your department's) and buy the TA's something they might like (e.g., dinner or a Starbucks gift card). I would limit the gift to 6 beers on [my international beer scale](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23884/is-it-ethical-to-accept-small-gifts-from-students). This, however, is the easy solution. Most TA's, are not doing it solely for the money and while a dinner would be appreciated, it is not nearly as valuable to them as other things you might be able to provide.\n\nA great reference letter than speaks to both the TA's teaching and research abilities can be very valuable if there is enough difference in seniority between the instructor and TA. If there is not a big difference in seniority, you could still recommend the TA to whoever hired you to instruct the class. You could, for example, recommend they be given additional classes to TA or even to be an instructor.\n\nIf you are not in a position to write a letter of reference, there are still other things that can be done that are more helpful than dinner. For long-distance TA relationships, inviting the TA to give a research seminar at your university can be a valuable networking tool. Ideally, this would be paid for, at least partially, by your department, but even an unfunded invitation for a PhD student can be useful. You could also arrange to meet at a conference and introduce them to your network. You could also volunteer to read some drafts of their thesis/articles or be a sounding board for proposals."
}
] |
2015/02/06
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38366",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11365/"
] |
38,369 |
For my first time I submitted a manuscript to a journal special issue months ago. The special issue had a proposed schedule as follows:
* Submission deadline: 1st date
* Papers reviewed: 2nd date
* Revised papers reviewed and accepted : 3rd date
* Notifications to authors: 4th date
* Publication: Approximate date
A- If it is supposed to send a revision on the (3rd date), does it mean that review comments/scores will be delivered at the (2nd date)? In my case I didn't get review comments even after many days of the (2nd date).
B- The (3th date) mentions "Revised papers reviewed and accepted". Does it mean papers are accepted for granted after the first review round and need only a revision? I thought that usually there are 2 review rounds before final decision.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38377,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "What the different dates imply would seem to be the following.\n\n*1st date*: you need to have your complete manuscript submitted by this date\n\n*2nd date*: Reviewers must have provided their reviews by this date\n\n*3rd date*: between the 2nd date and the third date you need to revise the paper and possibly have another round of reviews if necessary. This deadline thus includes work you the editor and you and possibly additional reviewers. The manuscript should be sent in so that an editor can evaluate it and possibly find it acceptable. This this deadline probably involves a lot less time for you than just the time difference from 2 to 3 implies.\n\n*4th date*: You will hear about the fate of your paper by this date at the latest.\n\n*5th date*: the publication is expected to be out in printed form or assembled on the web (depends on what is seen as the final product)\n\nSo the time line may seem straight forwards but particularly date 3 is possibly preceded by a lot of work from more persons than you. I am sure an editor will want everyone to on the toes fo that stage so as not to unnecessarily delay the process."
},
{
"answer_id": 38390,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "Special issue production schedules are often very hazy and subject to slippage and change. The basic problem is that they are typically trying to combine two things that don't fit together neatly: a fixed production schedule and the unknown timings and iterations of a typical journal review process. Reviewers have to be recruited, reviews come back late, authors ask for extensions, more revisions are needed, etc. In my experience, if they stick to within a couple months of the intended schedule, they're doing quite well."
}
] |
2015/02/06
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38369",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28993/"
] |
38,371 |
I would like to know how graduate admission committees at US Universities look at alphabetical authorship publications in a CV (particularly in high energy physics). Since the convention in high energy physics is to have authors in alphabetical order, how do the committees determine the contribution of the applicant (I guess recommendation letters is one way)? Also, do the committees actually read the papers (mentioned on the CV) on arXiv or the journal website to check the quality of the papers?
I am applying to US universities for a Ph.D. in high energy physics. Because my surname starts with one of the ending letters in the English alphabet, however, my name on all of my publications is last in the sequence. Could this create confusion in committee members about my contributions?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 46891,
"author": "Matt Reece",
"author_id": 6108,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6108",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "I can't speak to how every department does it, but in my department (and I think typically) your application would be read mostly by people working in a similar field who are aware of the conventions. You could always add a note to the CV pointing out the alphabetical author convention if you're concerned about it."
},
{
"answer_id": 46902,
"author": "Buzz",
"author_id": 27515,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/27515",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "If you are talking about graduate admissions, having authored any paper will be a huge advantage for you, regardless of where your name appears in the author list. The faculty members reading your application are going to notice if the authors are listed in alphabetical order (unless it's only two or three authors), and they will take that into account.\n\nReally, the people reviewing your application are not going to judge your contribution based on where your name appears in the author list. You ought to have a strong letter of recommendation from whoever supervised your undergraduate research, and it is that letter that will explain your contribution and place it in context. (If you do not have a letter from the research supervisor, that would be a red flag.) The letter will explain what you did and how important it was to the publication. That will allow the admissions committee to get a good feel for your talents as a researcher."
},
{
"answer_id": 46913,
"author": "user2153903",
"author_id": 6330,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6330",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "You should definitely request one or more of your letters of recommendation from senior researchers, preferably tenured professors, who worked directly with you on this paper. You should request that the letter writer directly address your contribution to the project. Admission to graduate school is largely based on promise, and letters are crucially important. Even the best students may have only a publication or two to their name, and many do not yet have any. The letters help flesh out the applicant to the admission committee.\n\nThe issue of scientific contribution is a challenging and subtle one that persists throughout the academic lifespan, from student to faculty member to Nobel Prize Winner. Committees may not grasp the full significance of the scientific work, nor your contribution to that effort. You will need to address the significance of the research and your contribution to it both in your statements, and in your letters of recommendation."
}
] |
2015/02/06
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38371",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28874/"
] |
38,376 |
I'm having an upcoming phone interview for a tenure-track position and I expect that I will be asked the usual "Why would you want to work here?" question. Apart from reasons relating to the research competency and culture of the university, a major reason for me would be that moving to that institution would essentially resolve an ongoing [two body problem](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-body_problem_%28career%29) - not entirely, as my spouse is not working at said institution, but at a place close to it.
>
> Is it fine to mention this during the interview?
>
>
>
Currently I reside in Europe, whereas the institution is in the US. My reasoning is that telling them should make it clear that I would indeed be serious to move there.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38378,
"author": "Stephan Kolassa",
"author_id": 4140,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4140",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "There are really two ways people can take this:\n\n1. \"If we extend this person an offer, he will actually accept.\" This is what you are hoping for. This can be good, especially if you are \"too good\" for the place you are applying to, where people might wonder why exactly someone with better prospects would choose to apply at a lower rate institution. Then again, it can backfire - if the institution assumes you would accept their offer for unrelated reasons, they might be less generous in the package they offer (pay & perks).\n2. \"So... he only applies here because of his spouse?\" This would be bad, or at least suboptimal. People might wonder whether you are really *committed* to working there. If choosing between two candidates whose portfolios both match what the institution is looking for, people might lean more towards someone who doesn't \"need\" his spouse working close by to apply.\n\nI subjectively believe people will more often have reaction 1 than 2. So this argues for disclosing your motivation. Then again, note how this can reduce your possibilities in negotiation.\n\nTo be honest, I'd try to wow people with your experience, portfolio and all-around wonderfulness and keep this aspect below wraps. Unless people ask point-blank: \"Would you really relocate from Europe to the US?\" But that would likely come up later in the application process than in the initial remote interview.\n\nI looked through [Workplace](https://workplace.stackexchange.com/questions) but didn't find anything related. You may want to think about flagging your question for migration there - after all, similar considerations would also pop up for non-academic job seekers."
},
{
"answer_id": 38382,
"author": "Oswald Veblen",
"author_id": 16122,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16122",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "You may want to read the answers to the question [When during the application process should a candidate mention that their spouse is also looking for a job](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32369/when-during-the-application-process-should-a-candidate-mention-that-their-spouse) . In general, there are several positions on when to acknowledge a spouse, and none of them is clearly \"the best\" for everyone. The gender of the applicant, the type of school, and the particular two-body problem are all factors.\n\nYou actually have the \"better\" kind of two-body problem, because your spouse is not looking for a job at the school. You would want to make that clear if you mention your spouse. There are two main concerns about the two-body problem: (1) the school may not have a second position already secured, and so letting them know you need two positions makes them less likely to offer you one; and (2) the general potential bias that claims \"someone who is married will be less dedicated to the institution\" (this is why some people don't wear their wedding ring to interviews). In your case, the main issue is how you feel about (2). \n\nBut didn't you already indicate in your cover letter some reasons why you would be willing to relocate to their location? This is one of the things that a cover letter should always include: some reason why you not only want to be at their school, but also want to live in that area. For very prestigious schools this is less important, but for smaller schools they may take the question very seriously. If you didn't include anything like this in the cover letter, be sure that you have something to mention during the interview."
},
{
"answer_id": 38402,
"author": "twihex",
"author_id": 29009,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/29009",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "I think it's OK to mention this, but I would phrase the answer differently: \"At this point in my life, I'd really like to [return to/reside in] the US, so I did my research and decided that your institution would be a great fit for where I want to go with my career\". I think it's OK to mention your spouse if they press, as long as you have some other believable reasons for wanting to return (and if you don't, you may want to reconsider the move)."
},
{
"answer_id": 38414,
"author": "einpoklum",
"author_id": 7319,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7319",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "While it is *acceptable*, I'll say - why risk it? Don't tell them.\n\nYou have a good enough reason; and if you \\_really\\_must\\_ say something vaguely recalling your 2-body problem, either say what @twihex suggested, or perhaps: \"Another reason for preferring [the university] is that I've talked about the potential universities with my family, and we feel that [name of city/town university is in] would be a nice place for us to live. [consider adding non-generic sentence about the mild climate / international atmosphere / amenities for children / etc.\""
}
] |
2015/02/06
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38376",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28850/"
] |
38,384 |
This question has two intents. Firstly sharing an email I received, as an academician, with other academicians and also clarification on the contents of this email and the way it works.
I have received the following email.
>
> Dear XYZ,
>
>
> I am the editor-in-chief of **Who's Who in the World®** and I have received your name through a private nomination process. I'm writing to ask if you would provide us with information about your personal and professional accomplishments for possible inclusion in the forthcoming 33rd Edition.
> Inclusion in Who's Who in the World is a sign of true success. The book is a global reference source relied upon by universities, libraries, corporations, and governments around the world.
>
>
> Like LinkedIn, Wikipedia, and Facebook, it costs you nothing to be included in Who's Who in the World. But unlike those resources, our books only contain biographies that meet our rigorous selection criteria (see below). Also, our books are available both online and in print and are used by the world's most respected institutions. So among other things, Who's Who in the World provides all the benefits of high quality networking. Many people put this recognition on their résumés or CVs.
>
>
> Please click this link to the Who's Who in the World Biography Submission Form and you will be taken to our password-protected site. The submission process takes only a few minutes, and the benefits of being included are significant.
>
>
> Deadline: February 23, 2015 Congratulations on being nominated!
>
>
> Sincerely,
>
>
> Fred Marks
> Editor-in-Chief, Who's Who in the World®
>
>
>
I googled this message and found some other people are getting it. I further drilled down and found that my email is allegedly given to them by Thomson Reuters (from the Thomson connect website that is the sender of the above email). So, I assume I am not the only one and will not be the last. I assume many of you academician and researchers will receive the same email so I thought it is good to raise the concern here since I found no other discussion elsewhere.
The email is being sent from
**Who's Who Selection Committee**
and the reply-to field shows **Who's Who Selection Committee**
The email is Signed By **"thomsonreuters-authorconnect.com"** (suggests that my email is being given to them by Thomson Reuters).
The company behind this email is called
**Yurquus Who is Who, Publisher of Who’s Who in America® since 1899**
Here are my concern:
1. How much is this website credible? Does anyone (including academic employers) give credit to those listed there (email says, inclusion in Who's Who in the World is a sign of true success. The book is a global reference source relied upon by universities, libraries, corporations, and governments around the world).
2. Registering into the system needs to fill a form that contains almost every single piece of information about me, including my parents, education, work, wife, certification, political/social activities and many more which is quite scary to me. **How can** individuals rely on this particular website and share their information. Does inclusion in this particular website gives so much credit that people lose privacy?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38388,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "These things are essentially a [vanity publishing scam](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who%27s_Who_scam). Being included typically means that you have $100 to burn and poor consumer skills. Don't touch it with a 10 foot pole."
},
{
"answer_id": 38389,
"author": "410 gone",
"author_id": 96,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/96",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "They are trying to sell their books and associated vanity products. They know that their primary market for it, is people included in it.\n\nPersonally, I'd take an academic's inclusion in it to be a possible indication of gullibility.\n\nIf you've got the time, [the Forbes article on the Marquis Who's Who series, \"Hall of Lame\", is worth a read.](http://www.forbes.com/forbes-life-magazine/1999/0308/063.html)"
},
{
"answer_id": 38391,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "> \n> How much is this website credible? Does anyone (including academic employers) give credit to those listed there (email says, inclusion in Who's Who in the World is a sign of true success. The book is a global reference source relied upon by universities, libraries, corporations, and governments around the world). \n> \n> \n> \n\nI will restrict to \"academic employers\" -- that is the part of you question which is on-topic for this site. Answer: no academic employer I know will give you any credit for this. Having this \"distinction\" on your CV would, in the context of seeking an academic job, be only negative: not very negative, but it would make you look slightly naive. The gist of [this prior answer of mine](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26798/how-can-i-tell-if-an-honor-society-is-legitimate) (thanks to @xLeitix for calling attention to the question) certainly does apply here and explains this in more detail.\n\n> \n> Registering into the system needs to fill a form that contains almost every single piece of information about me, including my parents, education, work, wife, certification, political/social activities and many more which is quite scary to me. How can individuals rely on this particular website and share their information. Does inclusion in this particular website gives so much credit that people lose privacy?\n> \n> \n> \n\nTo the best of my knowledge, this is *not* a phishing scam, as you seem to be worried about. What they want to do is print books, which have lots of names together with information about those names. The more information you provide, the more material for potential inclusion they have. Some people actually take the length of their entry in these books as a point of pride (I seem to recall, well over 20 years ago, Harlan Ellison boasting that his entry in one of these things was longer than Ronald Reagan's, or something like that). This is not a new millennium thing. Go back 30 or more years, before the days of prevalent identity theft, and look at their request with those more innocent eyes. None of the information you listed is *truly* sensitive or confidential; it's just very detailed biographical information. \n\nOf course, my answer to the first point renders the answer to the second point academic, but I wanted to be fair to them. One more thing: **for academics**, I disagree completely with what they say about wikipedia: it has quite stringent inclusion criteria, and wikipedia is a \"global reference\" source in the sense that organizations like this one have been dreaming about for the better part of a century but has never quite come to pass. It is also a *free reference source*, which is a key point that I hope that any academic would appreciate and value."
},
{
"answer_id": 60889,
"author": "Dave Broyles",
"author_id": 46741,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/46741",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "This sounds to me like a scam. Check out the actual e-mail address. Does this correspond with Yurquus' Who's Who? My bet is that it does not. Yurquus could not care less who you are. I have been in Who's Who in America for the past five years. For the first four years, I received everything in writing via mail. Only this past year did I receive anything via e-mail. You have been scammed. As an academic, you should know to check your sources; in this case, the e-mail address.\n\nForbes' critique of 1999 was accurate. Later, they reversed their evaluation after the company was sold to News Communications, Inc. When Forbes first set up their college rating system, 25% of their rating was based upon the high achievements of alumni, based upon WWiA listings. Today, Forbes compiles its own list of highest achievers. 32.5% of their rating is based upon this list. Shifting from WWiA to their own list has produced no significant change in relative ratings."
}
] |
2015/02/06
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38384",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6393/"
] |
38,385 |
My university uses [TurnItIn](http://turnitin.com/) to check student's work for plagiarism and collusion. I think the underlying TurnItIn database includes both submitted work and material it has found by crawling the web, but not material behind pay walls. One major issue with TurnItIn, and presumably all plagiarism detection software, is that it can only compare submitted work to material which is in the database. This means that TurnItIn either misses when students copy from textbooks which are behind a pay wall or matches other sources which have plagiarised the textbook.
My department's academic misconduct committee is thinking about seeding the TurnItIn database with the textbook chapters that are most often used by the students by submitting a number of "assignments" that are copies of the textbook chapters. This would require an individual member(s) of staff to submit assignments that contained copied copyright material. Is it possible that this could get the staff member in trouble in the future? We were thinking about adding something like:
>
> The following submission is intended to seed the TurnItIn database and is an exact copy of FULL REFERENCE.
>
>
>
Would this work, or would TurnItIn realize that it is being given copyrighted material and purge it from its database?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38386,
"author": "earthling",
"author_id": 2692,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2692",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": true,
"text": "This is a bit long for a comment, but I also acknowledge that only someone from TurnItIn could categorically answer this.\n\nSince TurnItIn does not provide access to source material (other than small sections which actually match the submitted paper), I do not see how it could be a copyright issue. I get matches all the time from papers submitted to other schools, yet, TurnItIn does not allow me to see that paper.\n\nAdditionally, much of the content within TurnItIn is under copyright (blogs and others) and they do not purge it, further implying that they would not have a problem with your plan.\n\nAll that said, unless the content is quite new, or changed regularly, as soon as one student includes content, any other student including that same content will trigger a flag for you.\n\nSo, I do not believe your plan will have any problem but I am also not sure you need to worry about it unless you have a special set of texts you believe other students around the world will not have access to."
},
{
"answer_id": 38470,
"author": "cbeleites unhappy with SX",
"author_id": 725,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/725",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "My guesstimate is that this at least in Germany (where I some little knowledge about copyright) this would not be covered by any copyright exception. \n\nBut, why not go the official way and ask the publisher? \nOr ask turnitin to ask the publisher?"
},
{
"answer_id": 38477,
"author": "user6726",
"author_id": 28972,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28972",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "Copyright refers to the right to make a copy, so your scheme violates US copyright law, and that's that as far as the ethical question is concerned. Whether the author / publisher could recover damages from you (or whoever the copier is) depends on strategic questions such as the depth of your pockets. Acting as an agent for a university, the pockets could be pretty deep. Making a profit is not part of the definition of copyright violation. It could also expose Turnitin to legal action by the copyright holder, which means they could have a cause of action against you. OTOH they may realize that it's unlikely that a publisher would actually bother."
}
] |
2015/02/06
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38385",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929/"
] |
38,395 |
As a new university professor, I have been informally tasked with making sure the MSc students in my program are prepared for their dissertations, by prepping them in my research methods course. My students are generally very motivated but they are from academically diverse backgrounds and, frankly, many are ill-prepared to undertake a dissertation and have been struggling with the material and assignments.
I have been trying to help them as much as possible, but it feels like the more helpful I am, the more they ask for help!
I have students who express extreme distress and confusion, which I try to allay with more explanation. Then they send me their work in progress, asking me if they are on the right track.
I want the students to do well, and to feel like they are progressing, but the constant emails and meetings are completely taking over my life. On the other hand, I can see that many of them are just not getting it, and that make me feel like they really do need help.
Is there, in any of your experience, a good point at which to tell students that I cannot help them further and do you have suggestions for wording this without seeming like a bad educator? I appreciate their motivation and I sympathize with their frustration, but at what point do I stop helping and how do I communicate this?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38396,
"author": "dionys",
"author_id": 22520,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22520",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "A significant facet of being a professor, which is to say, a large part of your raison d'etre is to educate graduate students. So you should be prepared to make time to meet the needs of the students you are involved with.\n\nYou should certainly exercise some judgment about when and in what form you provide help to your students, but you should really try to avoid this mindset where you tell yourself \"I cannot help them further.\" I can certainly sympathize with your sentiment about \"constant emails and meetings.\" I think it is perfectly reasonable (and necessary) to set limits on your availability so that you can fulfill your other obligations ... but that comes down to you setting some boundaries and managing your time more effectively.\n\nPart of the problem may stem from providing too much help, or help that is too specific, so the student is sheltered from the (often frustrating) trials of a learning process. Graduate students need to develop their ability to take initiative, try different approaches, and explore things. They need to be able to fail, to identify when things aren't working, and to seek help when they have exhausted their own efforts.\n\nNote that \"making demands\" is a two-way street. The students demand your time and attention ... for your part, you should be demanding that they apply themselves to these problems they need help with. This can also be used as a tool to moderate students that demand constant attention (a way to put on the brakes, so to speak). Just make sure your demands are helpful, and don't abuse it.\n\nThe fact is that learning takes time and effort on the part of the student. An instructor can help, but you cannot learn something for someone else. What you want to do as an instructor/advisor is to enable your students. Keep them on track, and help them avoid getting stuck or distracted by unnecessary details. Warn them about pitfalls they're about to encounter, and point them at good resources."
},
{
"answer_id": 38399,
"author": "Alireza",
"author_id": 28811,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28811",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "First of all, tell them to take it easy and do their best of preparing their works while considering your instructions. \n\nI feel there is nothing wrong with both the lecturer and the students; however make them understand that you are going to teach them how to research and you are NOT going to do their researches for them. State that there is not just a single correct way of doing things; while following some basic rules every person has it's own way and style of doing researches.\n\nTo sum up, there are some basics that you as the lecturer have to teach them and rest of the things primarily depends on the person himself/herself."
},
{
"answer_id": 38406,
"author": "Peter K.",
"author_id": 3965,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/3965",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "When teaching graduate students, I've found that lowering the bar on the level of difficulty of a course tends to lower the amount of effort they are willing to put in. Conversely, raising the bar (lowering the amount of help I give) tends to increase the amount of effort they put in.\n\nThe students appear to get better outcomes when their level of effort matches the level of effort required for the course material.\n\nObviously the extremes of this don't work for anyone, but I'd suggest that you ease off on the amount you are doing to \"help\" them.\n\nEach student is different, and some will require different levels of support, in different areas. The best thing you can do for them is to help them identify and address their weaknesses. \n\nThat doesn't mean *you* have to fix their weaknesses."
},
{
"answer_id": 38407,
"author": "RoboKaren",
"author_id": 14885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14885",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "One of the solutions for limiting / demarcating the time you spend on MA students is to set aside specific office hours for that purpose.\n\nFor example, you could dedicate Fridays 1p - 5p for the purpose of answering MA questions on theses. If they have questions or if they want to show you revisions of their thesis, then they need to sign up and come to your office hours in person and you would be happy to walk them through things. You need to make clear that the only e-mails you will accept regarding the theses are for signups (or use an online signup system in your course management system), otherwise you'll defeat the purpose of this. \n\nThis serves a dual purpose.\n\nFirst, it allows you to schedule your life (and balance your e-mail queue). \n\nSecond, it sets up a small but perceptible cost to see you in the eyes of the students. If they know they only have a 15/30/50 minute slot once a week, they will see your time with them as a limited resource in contention with others and try to use it more efficiently by preparing their questions and materials to review ahead of time. In the process, they may answer their own questions.\n\nOf course, you'll want to select time/times that will work for you and your students, but when you chart out your week you should try to set a top limit for student contact hours (and e-mail hours) until you get tenure."
},
{
"answer_id": 38473,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "> \n> As a new university professor, I have been informally tasked with making sure the MSc students in my program are prepared for their dissertations, by prepping them in my research methods course. \n> \n> \n> \n\nThere is a lot going on in this first sentence! \n\nFirst of all I see that you are new, which makes things especially difficult for you: you don't really know how the department or the MSc program works yet, but you are trying to guide students through it. Trying to do everything exactly right the first time around seems unrealistic: I think you should concentrate on making a good effort and showing the students and your colleagues that you take the job seriously, bring a lot of skills to the table, but are also open to advice and adjustment in terms of this particular service situation. This may end up resulting in your spending more time and effort the first time around than you will in the long run, un/fortunately.\n\n(Let me also say that, based only on this sentence, I am not thrilled with your department for placing you in this situation. If the newest member of the pantheon is immediately signed up for something so critical and complex, one has to wonder how functional the pantheon was before the new arrival.)\n\nSecond of all you mentioned an informal task but then also a formal task: you are teaching a research methods course. The latter sounds good to me, and you should certainly be having office hours in this course, and setting more as needed if the students seem to be struggling as a group. But the task of being single-handedly responsible for the preparedness of all the MSc students in your department for their dissertations sounds like a lot to hang on your head, if by that you mean much more than successfully teaching the research methods course. Expecting every student to be prepared to write a dissertation after completing one course doesn't sound very realistic to me. Also I hope that each student has, or will have, an advisor for their dissertation *other than you* (at least in most cases), and that these advisors will take on more of the responsibility of their preparedness/progress than you. You simply can't carry an entire master's program on your back in your first semester. So I would try to create a distinction between the amorphous informal task and the reasonable formal task, and set yourself up for success in the latter.\n\nIn terms of helping the students more versus coming to a point where you can't help them: unfortunately the setting discussed above makes this an especially open-ended and intense version of that. I think the other answers have given you good advice nevertheless.\n\n* You do need to limit your total amount of involvement: set aside a certain number of office hours per week, including extra office hours for drop-in appointments. You can help the students a great deal, but not infinitely, and not \"as much as they need\".\n* If the students seem far from the mark, have an **assessment meeting** with each student (yes, this is very time-consuming...). At that meeting you can learn from the student their background, their progress and their current position, and then you can make an individualized plan to help the student move forward. It is not realistic for the goal for every student to be the same, but it is a reasonable (though still ambitious) goal to *help every student make clear forward progress* during the course of the semester.\n* Make sure that your plans for the student give them plenty of things to do, and things that they can do: i.e., you want them to be doing most of the work, and you can help them with it at key moments. If you ask them to do something that they simply don't know how to do, then you're either going to fail them or spend way too much time doing it for them. But in a research methods class every student should be able to start somewhere. Make sure that the ground that they start on is relatively solid: I think that's much more important than how far they get by the end of the course."
}
] |
2015/02/06
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38395",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12347/"
] |
38,397 |
My question is all about academic job offers. This is my first time on the job market post PhD, so I'm completely new to this. Here's my dilemma:
I was interviewed for an academic position last month at University A and they made me an offer today, but want me to decide within the next two weeks. The job at University A is ok, and actually pays very well (more than I expected) but is in a location both my spouse (a non-academic) and I greatly dislike. And I am not completely thrilled about the job itself. I think for the most part I'd enjoy it, but there's a lot more "managerial" aspects that I am not particularly interested in.
I found my dream academic job at University B and applied there a couple of weeks ago. University B is in a location that both my spouse and I love, but it would pay less than the job at University A. I am extremely qualified for the position at University B and am confident that my application will stand out. But, they are still taking applications for another week. The problem is that the timelines are really not matching up here.
If I had both offers in hand, I'd take University B, even for less money. I am that much more excited about the position and the location. The problem is, I don't know when University B will really make decisions. I'd like to email or call someone to try to speed things up, but don't really know the correct etiquette in academia.
I guess what I'm asking is this: what's the most appropriate way to call University B and say "I recently applied for this position, and I think I'd be a great fit, but I have another offer in hand. I'd much rather be a part of University B's project, however. When might you know what candidates you are interested in?" I don't want to be rude or sound arrogant, but really think I have a good chance if they can move fast enough.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38400,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "> \n> I recently applied for this position, and I think I'd be a great fit, but I have another offer in hand. I'd much rather be a part of University B's project, however. When might you know what candidates you are interested in?\" \n> \n> \n> \n\nThat is almost perfect. Instead of asking when they will know, tell them when you need to know by. With two weeks notice it is not clear what they can do, but they probably could tell you if you are ridiculously strong (think an associate professor who is ready to be promoted to full professor applying for an assistant professor position), a reasonable candidate, or not in the running. You may want to talk to the university that made the offer and see if the deadline can be extended.\n\nFor an extremely qualified candidate with an application that stands out, and I find that a dubious statement, a university could move you to the top of the short list, interview you, and make an offer in under a week. That said, it is extremely unlikely that a search committee would be so impressed that it decides to move that fast."
},
{
"answer_id": 101745,
"author": "einpoklum",
"author_id": 7319,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7319",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "> \n> this is my... time on the job market \n> \n> \n> \n\n... that says it all, really. Unfortunately, in the \"job market\" it's employers vs employees, manipulating each other to get the better of each other. In this capitalist world of ours, and with the dearth of tenured positions, this is almost unavoidable. So,\n\n> \n> Can I use one job offer to speed up another offer...?\n> \n> \n> \n\nYes, and it's customary to do so.\n\n> \n> I guess what I'm asking is this: what's the most appropriate way to call University B and say etc. etc.\n> \n> \n> \n\nI basically agree with @StrongBad here. I'd change your text to:\n\n> \n> I recently applied for this position, I think I'd be a great fit and I would really like to join the faculty at University B. However, I have an outstanding offer from University A to which I must reply soon. Do you believe you / the university / person X would be able to indicate already at this point whether you are likely to make me the offer?\n> \n> \n> \n\nThat doesn't sound too arrogant IMHO. However, in many universities the hiring process is quite involved, long, and cannot be sped up much if at all; if that's the case at University B then, yes, you might come off as having an overly high opinion of yourself, so check before you ask."
}
] |
2015/02/06
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38397",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/29008/"
] |
38,401 |
I recently finished a paper in which I received valuable feedback from two professors (neither supervisors nor coauthors) at some specific points, which ultimately leaded to localized significant improvements. I highly appreciated it and of course I added explicit mentions in the acknowledgements section stating their suggestions.
My question now is: I hardly will see again these professors for a long time. I thought about sending an email to them commenting on their inclusion on the acknowledgements... But then I thought that it should be something understood as obvious, without too much interest for them or even spammy. So, **shall I communicate their inclusion in the acknowledgements section? If so, what will be the correct etiquette for such an email?**
EDIT: As @StephanKolassa comments, another important and highly related issue is **what is the best timing for communication**, if this is considered adequate:
* First submission
* Acceptance
* Publication (early access or traditional)
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38410,
"author": "Alireza",
"author_id": 28811,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28811",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "IMHO, definitely before first submission. It would be a nice idea to send them a \"Thank You\" email and let them know that you've finished the paper and in order to show your appreciation you've included their names in the acknowledgements section. So If they do not feel comfortable with this they could tell you even before the paper is submitted."
},
{
"answer_id": 38429,
"author": "Massimo Ortolano",
"author_id": 20058,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20058",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "> \n> shall I communicate their inclusion in the acknowledgements section?\n> \n> \n> \n\nYes, why not? It helps at building connections and improving relationships. Besides, if the acknowledged people are from a different field than yours, they might never know you've acknowledged them otherwise. \n\n> \n> what will be the correct etiquette for such an email?\n> \n> \n> \n\nI don't think there is any need to be overly formal. Typically I would write something simple, along the lines of (names and facts have been changed to protect the innocent):\n\n> \n> Dear John,\n> \n> \n> thank you very much for helping me with the problem of packing holes. I've included an\n> acknowledgment in a paper I recently wrote on the topic.\n> \n> \n> The paper is titled \"Packing the unpackable and stacking the\n> unstackable\" and has been submitted to the Transactions on Painstaking\n> Stacking. You can find a preprint of the paper at the address (link to, e.g.,\n> arXiv).\n> \n> \n> Kind regards/Sincerely/Cheers,\n> \n> \n> Muvdimo\n> \n> \n> \n\nThe above example is meant to be sent just after the first submission. In more critical cases, when I'm not sure whether the acknowledgment would be well-received or not, or if I think I might have written a wrong detail (e.g., the affiliation), I typically send a copy of the paper before the submission, asking for feedback."
},
{
"answer_id": 38434,
"author": "Kimball",
"author_id": 19607,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19607",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "In math at least, you do not usually explicitly inform people that you have included them in the acknowledgements. You should of course thank them for their help, and it is common to send them a copy of the paper when you have a more-or-less final version (often this is the version you submit--in math the refereeing process takes a long time, plus your acknowledge-ees (sp?) may have additional comments/suggestions), or notify them when you post it on the arXiv. (This is regardless of whether they have seen a preliminary version or not.)\n\nTo add a little more on the question in the edit: sometimes I will send a pre-submission version if I really want to see if anyone has comments before I submit (students probably at least want to get comments from advisors before submitting), but usually I send out copies of the paper/post on the arXiv about the same time I submit. I don't typically actively notify acknowledge-ees when a paper has been accepted or published (though I will update the arXiv), unless the final version ends up being significantly different in a way that would be of interest to them. However, sometimes I see colleagues I have acknowledged, they will inquire about the status of the paper."
},
{
"answer_id": 121877,
"author": "guest",
"author_id": 102159,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/102159",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "My advice (coming from physical science experience) is yes, you should. Muvdimo's format for the communication makes sense. In addition to the courtesy, there is also an aspect of letting them know their name is running around there. 99.9% of the time they will be happy but if they are not, at least you surface it. [Note, this is notification, not permission, though.] Also if there is any chance they are going to kerfuffle about wanting coauther status versus attaboy, at least it gives them a chance to say it earlier. Again, though this is just informational, not a permission.\n\nBut in general, it will just make them happy. It may also open their eyes to some application of their work or apparatus or the like that they don't normally think of. For instance, if I acknowledged a physics prof for an insight in a chemistry paper, he would probably appreciate knowing that some ideas of his have meaning outside the tuff Bessel function loving world of physics and in the more applied materials space."
}
] |
2015/02/06
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38401",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20897/"
] |
38,405 |
Scientists not only need to discover new knowledge but also have to share the knowledge to others. For the former, we have things like universities, collaborate groups and journals to take charge. For the latter, we have various forms from teaching, developing and maintaining softwares to writing or translating books, writing and editing in Wikipedia, answering (and asking) in SE, joining an academic club, working on a academic-related project, blogging, etc.
Besides the first two have significant weight in academia, the others seem to be light weight (some even say that they have zero weight) (example for [Wikipedia](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2621/value-of-contributions-to-wikipedia-when-applying-for-academic-jobs), [translating book](https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/38321/14341)). Although I understand the worry that I may spread myself too thin, I think the important thing is scheduling time wisely. I don't think they are deserved to be bad effective. In fact some scholarships (like [this one](http://home.vef.gov/download/2016_VEF_Fellowship_Announcement_ENG.pdf)) require me to describe "any examples of leadership and involvement in my university or home community". I have even seen some high rep users modestly proudly say that they are active users in SE in their websites. I see a conflict here. Can you explain why contribution to community is deprecated in academia?
A very interesting question from F'x: [How can a researcher improve his contribution to society?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/4738/how-can-a-researcher-improve-his-contribution-to-society)
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38408,
"author": "xLeitix",
"author_id": 10094,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10094",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "> \n> Scientists not only need to discover new knowledge but also have to share the knowledge to others. For the former, we have things like universities, collaborate groups and journals to take charge. For the latter, we have various forms from teaching, developing and maintaining softwares to writing or translating books, writing and editing in Wikipedia, answering (and asking) in SE, joining an academic club, working on a academic-related project, blogging, etc.\n> \n> \n> \n\nI think this is not correct. Discovering new knowledge is the actual research (valued on all levels), \"sharing to others\" is writing publications (valued so much that the common criticism is rather that publications count *too much*).\n\nWhat you mean is a different type of knowledge dissemination, basically the education of the broader public. This is indeed currently *not* widely valued, but I am not convinced that this is a fault of the system. Essentially, when an university hires a researcher, they want a researcher. They are specifically looking for somebody that *generates new knowledge*, not somebody that is good at breaking down this new knowledge for the layman (this would be a science journalist, or somesuch), nor for somebody that mainly collects and summarizes the knowledge on Wikipedia or Stack Exchange. \n\nHence, the answer to your question:\n\n> \n> When will contribution to community be valued?\n> \n> \n> \n\nIf you understand this as \"when will my contributions to community be comparatively valuable for applying to a research position as research results\", then the answer will likely be \"never\"."
},
{
"answer_id": 38415,
"author": "Bill Barth",
"author_id": 11600,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11600",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "Software is in a gray area right now. As more and more software is required for research, and as younger faculty who have numerous important software products join budget councils (tenure committees, etc.), then the respect for software artifacts will increase. Until people with little to no respect for software age off of these committees, it will be harder (or impossible) for software to contribute directly to tenure decisions at major research universities. \n\nOf course, that's not necessarily enough for software to gain prominence either. Theoretically, the (hand/spreadsheet) calculations, theorems, and experiments in an article are verified in some form through the peer-review process. To date, outside of the statistics-using literature (maybe) where some venues require the publication of programs and data, codes aren't peer-reviewed or published in a traditional way. This gives software an uphill battle for prominence in the minds of tenure reviewers. Until your million-line Fortran simulation code has been peer reviewed, it's likely to remain a lesser contribution to tenure cases (if it gets added at all). I know some committee members who are trying to get software to count, but I haven't been around for discussions of how it might be peer reviewed or what the expectations would be.\n\nThe other things you mention (clubs, translations, SE, Wikipedia, etc.) are not classically peer reviewed and aren't creating new knowledge, so they aren't really relevant to tenure committees at research universities. You may find more interest in some of these other things at teaching-focused colleges and universities, but I have no experience with that.\n\nMaybe my focus on tenure here is misguided, but it seems to be the driving force in what matters in academia. Everything else seems to be secondary (Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals, perhaps, also contributing highly). Interestingly, some of the things you mention, especially open source and highly used software, may help more with grants from government agencies. Their priorities are different and do drive incentives for academics. Fortunately, along with research products (peer reviewed articles) and teaching, grants do factor strongly into tenure decisions. Some of the other things you mention (alternative dissemination, etc) might factor into what NSF considers \"broader impacts\", but unless the focus of your grant is on these things specifically, the \"intellectual merit\" of your proposal will have much more weight among the reviewers of your grants. \n\nI don't see much of this changing rapidly unless a department at a university makes a very public push to include some of these things in their tenure process and wins away some top-notch faculty doing it. If that were to happen (unlikely), other departments might be forced to follow along. The maverick department would have to have some tremendous steals and tremendous research wins over a sustained period to really have an effect, though."
}
] |
2015/02/06
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38405",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14341/"
] |
38,413 |
I'm about to receive a tenure-track offer and was already informed about the offered salary. Unfortunately, the salary is barely an increase over my current postdoc salary. (In fact, taking into account the tax differences at my current location vs the location of the tenure-track institution, it's going to be a net pay cut.)
Also, the salary is below the range that the department head indicated during my visit. I was very excited about the prospect of joining the institution, but now I'm wondering whether all the hard work during several years (which were very successful research-wise) of being a postdoc was in vain.
I do have another offer (but for a non-research based industry job) and a couple more interviews (for tenure-track jobs) scheduled.
>
> How do I best approach the situation without giving the impression as being someone who's overly demanding or gaming the system?
>
>
>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38416,
"author": "RoboKaren",
"author_id": 14885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14885",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "Did you check the [AAUP salary survey](http://chronicle.com/article/2013-14-AAUP-Faculty-Salary/145679#id=table) for that institution and peer institutions? \n\nYou can use that as the basis as a request for a reconsideration of the salary. Note that such a reconsideration is likely to only yield modest results ($5000 or so max) and carries with it the small but real risk of having the offer withdrawn (see [horror story here)](https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/03/13/lost-faculty-job-offer-raises-questions-about-negotiation-strategy).\n\nI've negotiated my salary and/or lab/startup packages up at all the institutions I've worked at using comparison data from other schools and/or the real needs of doing the work I do; but both were pre-recession.\n\nBe careful."
},
{
"answer_id": 38417,
"author": "Brian Borchers",
"author_id": 4453,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4453",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "Negotiating salary is a very common thing. You should explain that this offer is low in comparison with your current post doc salary or the salary available to you in industry and that you don't feel that you can accept the offer at the current salary. You might also bring up salary survey data to support an argument that the offered salary is low. They might respond by increasing the offered salary or they might not. \n\nThere are several reasons why they might not be willing to negotiate on salary. It might be that the salary is determined by a union contract or some official pay policy of the institution. Even if the administration has the flexibility to offer a higher salary they may not want to do so if it would result in you getting higher pay than current faculty members. \n\nIn my experience in the US it is often possible to negotiate a somewhat higher starting salary than your initial offer, but it is seldom possible to get a substantial increase (of say more than 10% above the initial offer.) Furthermore, you can reasonably expect that if you negotiate a higher starting salary you might receive lower pay raises than you would otherwise get in later years. \n\nI would encourage you to look at how long term faculty in the department are currently paid. If they seem underpaid to you, then you can reasonably expect to be in the same situation in a few years."
},
{
"answer_id": 38418,
"author": "Ben Webster",
"author_id": 13,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "I think you tell the chair of the department some version of what you've told us: you're very excited about joining the institution (very important to say that first!), but you don't feel like the the salary is appropriate for the position, and you would find it much easier to accept the offer if the salary were increased. Negotiating over salaries is quite normal, not overly demanding or taking some kind of advantage. Of course you might well not be successful, but people often are.\n\nNegotiating is not fun (at least for me), but it doesn't have to be that hard, especially when you have some leverage. I would mention the fact that you feel the current offer is an effective pay cut from your present position (it's up to you whether to mention your current salary), and that you're very confused about the fact that offered salary is lower than the range the head himself mentioned. Mention the (presumably more lucrative) industry job and its salary, though you should probably make it clear that you don't expect to be matched (unless you won't come unless it will. Obviously, then you should say that)."
},
{
"answer_id": 38436,
"author": "Kimball",
"author_id": 19607,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19607",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "Let me add some thoughts to current answers. \n\nFirst, on why the salary offer is lower than you were led to believe: the department head, who cannot decide the details of the offers, was likely making a vague guess, possibly based on offers in previous years. (Hopefully s/he was not being intentionally deceptive.) I don't know how the department head indicated to you a salary range--perhaps if you directly asked they had to make a quick guess based on information they didn't have. Or maybe they made a reasonable guess that you misinterpreted. Or maybe the administration is being stingy (e.g., perhaps there have been recent budget cuts, or perhaps there has been a change in adminstration). \n\nOften the department head is on your side, and will be negotating for you so you can be frank with them (hopefully you have some idea of whether this is true or not from your discussions). You should ask why there is a difference between what you were led to believe and the initial offer. In addition to the comparison with your current salary and the industry offer, you should mention you have other academic interviews. Comparing industry salaries to academic salaries is apples and watermelons, so the administration may not be be that moved by your industry offer. However, if you have other interviews set up, it's possible the department head can convince the dean or whoever that you're highly desirable and will be likely to quickly accept if you can get a competitive offer (if this is true, make it clear to the department head). \n\nOtherwise, you should try to defer on making a decision until you have your other interviews. If you can get other academic offers (with a higher salary) before you have to make a decision, it is much easier to negotiate. Also sometime soon (depending on the deadline and time of interviews, maybe now, or maybe at the time of the other interviews) you should let the other interviewing schools know you have a decision with a deadline upcoming so they can try to speed up their decision process about you.\n\nHowever, given that the initial offer was low in your eyes, there's a good chance that the administration will not be willing to make an offer that is significantly higher, so prepare yourself in case you need to make a difficult decision."
}
] |
2015/02/06
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38413",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28850/"
] |
38,419 |
I applied to 10 schools and have heard formally from 3, 2 rejections, 1 admission. I just received an email from another school (a very good one) saying that they are seriously interested in me, but would like to know if I am still interested in them. While I am very interested in this program, which is in my top 4, since I have not heard from the other 6 schools, I am not ready to make a decision. Does saying yes now mean I am committed to accepting their offer?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38420,
"author": "Stephan Kolassa",
"author_id": 4140,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4140",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": false,
"text": "If they are still \"seriously interested\" in you, then that is not an offer on their side.\n\nIf you are still \"seriously interested\" in them, then that is not a firm commitment from your side.\n\nDecisions are not binding until the ink is dry."
},
{
"answer_id": 38421,
"author": "Aru Ray",
"author_id": 948,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/948",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "The department in question most likely just wants to make sure you haven't accepted an offer somewhere else - or received an offer you will definitely accept over them; saying that you are still interested is not a commitment from you at all. \n\nSome applicants will wait till the last moment to decline offers from departments, even ones that they know for sure they will not accept (e.g. if they have been accepted by a better department (in their estimation) already). The department is just trying to find out whether you are in that position. (To students in that position, don't do this! Decline offers as soon as you know you won't be accepting, your fellow applicants will thank you!)\n\nIn your position I would write an email saying that you are still interested and also indicate that it is among your top choices (as you have said in your question)."
},
{
"answer_id": 38422,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "Now that you have an admission offer, it is reasonable to contact all (or at least most) of the other schools you have heard from. Any school that you would not attend, email them and say that you have an offer from X and are no longer interested. \n\nEmail any school that you want to attend instead of X and tell them you have an offer at X, but would rather attend their school (give a good reason that is not simply their ranking). Tell them the deadline you need to let school X know by. If one of those schools Y gives you an offer and none of the other ones do, you tell X no and Y yes and there are no issues. If a couple of those schools Y and Z accept you, you tell Z yes and X no. You need to tell Y that since the offer you also got an offer from Z that is too good to pass up. This way they will see you were not wasting their time.\n\nThe difficult case are the schools you are not sure about. If only school Y accepts you after you tell them about X, then turning them down for X is not ideal. So while it is not ideal, things happen, and no one will hold it against you for long."
}
] |
2015/02/06
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38419",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/26799/"
] |
38,424 |
For sake of argument, let's say I obtain a bachelor's degree in physics, a master's degree in physics, and then a PhD in physical chemistry but from a department of chemistry. Can I then go on to be a physics professor? Or would I be confined to teaching chemistry?
One can imagine equivalent situations for other fields. Say, for example, a bachelor's in computer science, master's in computer science, and then a PhD in computational physics from a department of physics. Could that individual then become a computer science professor?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38425,
"author": "Chris C",
"author_id": 7745,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7745",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "It depends more on the aspect of your research. If you have a physical chemistry degree but do research more in the realm of physics, it is possible that you could be hired in physics or chemistry, even hold a joint position in both.\n\nThe limiting factor that your PhD major will be in that it is the general area where you are more trained in, that is, you can probably teach courses in your major better than those in the other department. Sometimes hiring decisions do take this into account."
},
{
"answer_id": 38428,
"author": "WetlabStudent",
"author_id": 8101,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8101",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "The answer is very field specific. In many departments all that matters is your research. Does your dissertation and publications fit the department's vision for what it means to do research in field X, regardless of the field of your degree. \n\nHowever, in some fields it is really hard to get in the door without a degree in that field. The example I am thinking of is Mathematics. Theoretical biologists, economists, social scientists etc. with degrees in the field of application tend not to end up in math departments even if nearly 100% of their research is proving theorems. This isn't to say it can't be done, but it seems as though it is much easier to move in the opposite direction from a math department to a science department. For example if you work on pure problems in probability but your degree is in economics, it is hard to get a job in a math department.\n\nDisclaimer 1: it is unclear how much of this is due to selection bias by the job candidate vs. discrimination in the math department against people without math degrees. \n\nDisclaimer 2: this is based on anecdotal evidence and faculty listings on department websites that show where mathematicians from science departments end up after their degree. I have not sat on a hiring committee."
}
] |
2015/02/06
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38424",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11251/"
] |
38,430 |
*Premise:* I originally asked this on MathOverflow, but it was pointed out to me that it could be better fit for Academia Stack Exchange.
*Note:* I have received extremely varied advice on the following matter by various students slightly older than me, so I post the question here in the hope to get an objective 'technical take' from experienced researchers.
Assuming that there are several topics which are equally attractive to me and that the prospective advisors are all established researchers in their fields and "nice people", are there any objective circumstances that I should take into consideration when searching for a topic for an undergraduate research project
(clearly, this question naturally generalize to the choice of Ph.D. dissertation topics and general research advice, about which, if you please, you are free to elaborate) to maximize my chances of making an "optimal choice" (*e.g.*, in terms of mathematical results achieved, possibility of getting a good recommendation afterwards, personal growth, etc.)? Clearly, referring to research papers in mathematical education that partially support your remarks will be highly appreciated (although it is not necessary).
---
*Side note:* Just to clarify a little further: I've only said that the *mathematical aspects* and the *advisors* are equal to me, and what I'm asking is *what else* I should take into account when choosing a research area.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38425,
"author": "Chris C",
"author_id": 7745,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7745",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "It depends more on the aspect of your research. If you have a physical chemistry degree but do research more in the realm of physics, it is possible that you could be hired in physics or chemistry, even hold a joint position in both.\n\nThe limiting factor that your PhD major will be in that it is the general area where you are more trained in, that is, you can probably teach courses in your major better than those in the other department. Sometimes hiring decisions do take this into account."
},
{
"answer_id": 38428,
"author": "WetlabStudent",
"author_id": 8101,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8101",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "The answer is very field specific. In many departments all that matters is your research. Does your dissertation and publications fit the department's vision for what it means to do research in field X, regardless of the field of your degree. \n\nHowever, in some fields it is really hard to get in the door without a degree in that field. The example I am thinking of is Mathematics. Theoretical biologists, economists, social scientists etc. with degrees in the field of application tend not to end up in math departments even if nearly 100% of their research is proving theorems. This isn't to say it can't be done, but it seems as though it is much easier to move in the opposite direction from a math department to a science department. For example if you work on pure problems in probability but your degree is in economics, it is hard to get a job in a math department.\n\nDisclaimer 1: it is unclear how much of this is due to selection bias by the job candidate vs. discrimination in the math department against people without math degrees. \n\nDisclaimer 2: this is based on anecdotal evidence and faculty listings on department websites that show where mathematicians from science departments end up after their degree. I have not sat on a hiring committee."
}
] |
2015/02/06
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38430",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
] |
38,435 |
I want to reply to the reviewer's comment (see below) on my paper,
>
> My concerns have been addressed satisfactorily and the paper is acceptable.
>
>
>
My own reply would be like:
>
> Your recognition of our work is much appreciated.
>
>
>
or
>
> Your encouraging comment is greatly appreciated.
>
>
>
However, it seems unnatural to read, How to give an more appropriate reply?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38438,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "For this sort of reply, I personally like to keep it short and sweet:\n\n> \n> Thank you!\n> \n> \n>"
},
{
"answer_id": 38440,
"author": "MurphysLab",
"author_id": 29031,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/29031",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "First, \"your recognition of our work\", although not intended as such, sounds slightly egotistical. Second, \"your encouraging comment\" seems to read too much into what is being stated: simply that your paper has met the necessary standard. While that may be encouraging to you (it would be to me), encouragement is not the purpose of the statement. \n\nIf you wish to thank your reviewer, you shouldn't directly address your thanks to that specific comment itself, but rather address your appreciation directly to the whole of the effort and time that the reviewer provided to help you to improve your work. Here's one possible way of starting such a statement:\n\n> \n> We wish to express our appreciation for your in-depth comments, suggestions, and corrections, which have greatly improved the manuscript.\n> \n> \n> \n\nIdeally you should be specific in stating how you believe that the reviewer's comments have improved the paper: *e.g.* added clarity; technical accuracy; correction of specific errors; language; suggested analyses or experiments; etc...\n\nGiving such feedback tells a reviewer that their *anonymous* review is valued and that their time was well spent. Remember: the anonymous peer reviewer is doing this as a community service for which they receive no payment and little recognition, if any."
},
{
"answer_id": 38447,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "There are a few points that have to be considered here.\n\nFirst, a reviewer will usually not see an authors response to their review except if the reviewer has accepted to review also the (major) revision and the manuscript is not accepted after the revisions. This means such a response has no audience and editors will not typically convey such messages between author and reviewer.\n\nSecond, All reviews and rebuttals pass an editor, with the explicit exception of an open review (visible online), which occurs in a few journals. So for the most part the response you provide should be directed to the editor. It is perfectly fine to tell the editor you really appreciate the reviewers comments but that will most likely not reach the reviewers as pointed out above.\n\nThird, most authors provide an acknowledgement in their published papers and it is in most, or at least many, circles considered polite to thank reviewers in the acknowledgement. A common phrase could be that \"the manuscript was improved by the [insightful] reviews by X and y [or: the anonymous reviewers]\" or something along those lines. The square parentheses indicate places where alternatives are necessary depending on ones view of the reviews. There is no need to involve very complicated thanks here as has also been pointed out in other replies. Simple and straight forward is better.\n\nAs a final point, the quote you provide stating that \"My concerns have been addressed satisfactorily and the paper is acceptable.\" is not what I would consider an overwhelmingly positive response and your thanks should be written with this in consideration. If someone says the manuscript is just ok but publishable, a response glorifying the review and the effect of the review will certainly seem odd from all perspectives. So make sure there is a match between the \"verdict\" and your \"thanks\". Keeping it simple and non-convoluted is always a good reciepe."
},
{
"answer_id": 53939,
"author": "Rustum Giuliano Eduave",
"author_id": 40740,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/40740",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "I would suggest the following response to the reviewers:\n\n> \n> That's great to hear! Thank you for trusting us. Have an awesome day!\n> \n> \n>"
}
] |
2015/02/07
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38435",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/29027/"
] |
38,449 |
It is well-known that LinkedIn is used by scholars too, but I think that the business-friendly structure of your profile-page makes it markedly less suitable for academic purposes. Is there a specifically academic website that includes the same characteristics as LinkedIn plus the possibility to add some *more scholarly* elements in your profile?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38450,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "[ResearchGate](http://researchgate.net) is more academic. It allows you to add your research publications, not just papers. It also has a stackexchange like section and a Jobs section, that features listings to research and advanced positions (PHD, Post-Doc) in academic institutions and in business.\n\nAs @StephanKolassa noted you should scout Research Gate before joining (follow the link in his comment), as any other alternative."
},
{
"answer_id": 54610,
"author": "D.Salo",
"author_id": 12438,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12438",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "You could look at the aggregator/identifier system [ORCID](http://orcid.org/). I strongly recommend ORCID if you apply for US federal grants, as the writing is on the wall regarding needing an ORCID to do so. A few journals are starting to require ORCIDs for authors as well.\n\nYou could also consider a profile at an alternative-metrics aggregator such as [ImpactStory](http://impactstory.org/). \n\n(Disclaimer: I have an ORCID and an ImpactStory subscription, and consider one of the ImpactStory founders a friend. Nobody pays me to recommend either, however.)"
},
{
"answer_id": 149901,
"author": "Collega",
"author_id": 124810,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/124810",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "I think Academia.edu has surpassed Researchgate in terms of uptake, but sometimes it seems more papers are uploaded to Researchgate.\n\nI would not overlook Linked In - a lot of academics us it."
}
] |
2015/02/07
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38449",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
] |
38,455 |
I have gathered some fMRI and eye tracking data, from several subjects. I can process them using the server in our lab, but I would like to take advantage of my own cloud servers on Linode and DigitalOcean, even EC2.
Before these data were gathered, in the consent form we did not mention the possibilities that data might be processed/stored in the cloud.
Am I allowed to use cloud servers to process these data under current regulations? Does it makes any difference if these servers were purchased/rented under my lab's name?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38459,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "To some extent, the answer depends on location. In the US, IRBs tend to be concerned with [Protected Health Information (PHI)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protected_health_information). There are 18 things that are considered PHI and generally these can be easily stripped from research data. For fMRI and eye tracking data, you need to be a little concerned about two components of PHI\n\n> \n> Biometric identifiers, including finger, retinal and voice prints\n> \n> \n> Full face photographic images and any comparable images\n> \n> \n> \n\nIn the UK the term is [Personal Data](https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protection/key-definitions/) and the definition is:\n\n> \n> Personal data means data which relate to a living individual who can be identified –\n> \n> \n> (a) from those data, or\n> \n> \n> (b) from those data and other information which is in the possession of, or is likely to come into the possession of, the data controller\n> \n> \n> \n\nMost people provide a data storage and archiving plan that outlines how they protect PHI/Personal Data in their IRB ethics application. Most IRBs that I am familiar with do not consider fMRI to be comparable to a full face photograph or allow the individual to be identified. This is despite fMRI researchers often being able to recognize each other's brains. Most eye tracking data that I am familiar with do not include high resolution images of the retina and would not be classified at PHI/Personal Data. People publish pictures of fMRI slices and eye tracking traces all the time. Prior to uploading data onto the cloud, you will want to confirm with your IRB what they consider PHI/Personal Data."
},
{
"answer_id": 38462,
"author": "user6726",
"author_id": 28972,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28972",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "The applicable regulations don't directly apply to you as an individual, they apply to your institution. The institution in turn states what is and is not allowed. My former institution had a policy (stemming from FERPA) which required any email to or about a student to be encrypted, and could only be sent from a university-owned computer on-campus. This is well above the requirements actually imposed by FERPA -- it's erring on the side of caution.\n\nYou may be able to determine that there is a policy prohibiting or allowing such data storage, and I would bet that it is prohibited. The university has to be certain that personal data is secure, so except for a monumental oversight on the university's part, they surely would be some policy. You need to trace through the policy documents and see if, for example, they say that restricted data can only be put out there via a university-sponsored Box account."
}
] |
2015/02/07
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38455",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9470/"
] |
38,457 |
So I am finishing my MSc in Europe and it looks like I will be headed to the US for a PhD. Along the way I have collected a small set of textbooks that I find particularly useful. From my experience, most academics have a reasonable number of textbooks in their offices so I cannot be the only one in this situation. These books can be hard to find and are costly to replace.
However, textbooks are pretty awful to carry around. Even a modest number make any box very heavy.
So what I am asking is this. Is it worthwhile to transport books around the world? Is there a best way to do it? Since I an impecunious student I am hoping to do this cheaply.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38458,
"author": "Brian Borchers",
"author_id": 4453,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4453",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "Have you considered using ebooks in situations where they're available and reasonably priced (and don't have Digital Rights Management)? \n\nA few years ago when I went to Los Angeles for a sabbatical leave, I made it a point to get electronic copies of as many of my frequently used books as possible. I bought a few, but mostly I was able to work with freely available copies. This dramatically reduced the number of printed books that I had to take with me."
},
{
"answer_id": 38463,
"author": "DCTLib",
"author_id": 7390,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7390",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "Whether it is worthwhile doing so is something that you need to decide yourself.\n\nAs far as the best way is concerned, when the more senior people move to a different institution, they often transport lots of personal stuff with them (as they only have \"one home\", so all contents need to be moved). Adding a few books to the movers' workload does not cost much. Also, some books that are bought from the institution's money may actually have to stay at the institution and moves to its library, which reduces the volume of books to move.\n\nMore junior people (e.g., Phd students) often only carry few books with them when they switch continents and temporarily store the rest with friends or parents. One way of doing so cheaply is to move them book-by-book by filling the checked luggage for flights up to the maximum allowable weight. Every time they travel \"home\", they would take a few more books. Obviously, this strategy can take years (depending on how full your luggage would normally be) even when doing 2-3 trips a year, but it is quite cheap (if you have a sturdy suitcase - if not, it may be quite expensive). Also, it avoids trouble or fees with the custom office, which can happen when sending parcels."
},
{
"answer_id": 38465,
"author": "Dave Clarke",
"author_id": 643,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/643",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "I moved from Australia to the Netherlands, then the Netherlands to Belgium, then Belgium to Sweden, all the while dragging hundreds of books along with me. \nIt's expensive. I don't even open many of them. I don't regret it.\n\nThat said, it's often easier just to buy the books again when you decide that you really really need to own them. Otherwise, just borrow them from a library or get an electronic copy.\n\nThat said, I'd drag them across the world again."
},
{
"answer_id": 38481,
"author": "Mathieu K.",
"author_id": 29055,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/29055",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "I vote for freight (see [jamesqf](https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/27365/jamesqf)'s answer-as-a-comment). I've got a friend who sometimes ships something like a cubic yard of stuff (maybe a third of which is books) from Canada to a land far, far away for about a hundred bucks. That's roughly US$80 or ~ €70."
}
] |
2015/02/07
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38457",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28045/"
] |
38,467 |
The journal editor accepted my paper and told me to ask his assistant about the next steps in the publication process. Four months ago I corrected some minor points and sent an updated manuscript to the assistant. Since then the editor's assistant remained silent. About two weeks ago I asked him about the status of the manuscript and next steps, but he hasn't replied yet. What should I do? Could the editor reject my manuscript after acceptance?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38471,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "You should write to the editor and tell him what you have told us. Really your concrete problem is that your correspondence has not been returned so you don't know what's going on. Maybe everything is proceeding as it should, maybe it isn't, but you need a reply. \n\n> \n> Could editor reject my manuscript after acceptance?\n> \n> \n> \n\nWhy do you even ask? Are you worried that the editor thought, \"No, hang on, I don't want to publish this paper after all. Let's not publish it, never contact the author again, and hope for the best\"?!? That's just totally loopy, unprofessional behavior. In this big, bad world of ours, anything *could* happen, but the chance of this happening to you -- provided only that you are dealing with a partway reputable, professional journal (essentially: not a journal that you learned about via a spammy, semi-literate email) -- is negligibly small.\n\nJust get back in contact with the editor ASAP and take it from there. Be polite, but be persistent. Give the editor a week or two to reply. I honestly expect that he will. If not, write to the editor-in-chief / managing editor / some other members of the editorial board. You'll hear back from someone. Again, don't assume that something has gone terribly wrong, and certainly don't worry that your polite, professional behavior will jeopardize the future of your paper."
},
{
"answer_id": 38488,
"author": "Kakoli Majumder",
"author_id": 9920,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9920",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "You should write to the editor explaining that you have not received any further communication about the status of your manuscript for the last four months and that the assistant has not replied to your e-mail. I'm sure you will receive a reply from the editor. If you do not receive a reply from the editor within a couple of weeks, try to get hold of his number and call him. If that doesn't work, write to the editor-in-chief or managing editor of the journal. \n\nRegarding your second question, once a manuscript has been accepted, the decision cannot be reversed, unless a major ethical breach, such as duplicate publication, salami slicing, or undisclosed conflict of interest, has been detected. However, if your manuscript free from these problems, you need not worry: it will not be rejected."
}
] |
2015/02/07
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38467",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/29045/"
] |
38,476 |
When I was an undergrad, I had instructors who did not tell students that there was more than one version of the exam until afterwards. I also had instructors who told students that there was more than one version, before the exam started. The question is: should an instructor tell his/her students before the exam that there are multiple versions of the exam.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38478,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "Why would knowing in advance matter to anyone except cheaters? This information will not help honest students prepare for the exam or change how they approach it, so for them announcing it afterwards seems just as good as in advance. One argument for announcing it in advance is that some potential cheaters might decide not to try to cheat (and spend more time studying or become a little more honest), but the counterargument is that it might just encourage them to find more effective methods of cheating. I don't consider either of these arguments especially compelling, and I'm not convinced it really matters much whether the announcement is before or after the exam. This issue tends to come up in large courses, which are often pretty standardized. I'd bet the students who care whether there are multiple versions of the exam can easily find out what this professor has done in other large classes, so there usually won't be much of an element of surprise."
},
{
"answer_id": 38497,
"author": "Alireza",
"author_id": 28811,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28811",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "I think the answer is \"Yes\". This causes that low number of students considering cheating on the exam to forget it and put their time towards studying for the exam. \n\nAnd for other students it would make no difference whether there is only 1 or multiple versions of questions **as long as the difficulty of the versions is fairly kept the same.**\n\nUpdate: Following comment of the author about keeping the same level of difficulty among different versions, I still believe that the students have the right to know that there are multiple versions of questions and as an added option you can even tell them that the only difference is on the order of question. That does not make any problem in my opinion."
},
{
"answer_id": 38508,
"author": "Trevor Wilson",
"author_id": 8937,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8937",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "What I do is to make the versions of the exam different colors, but not say anything about it (as Remvall describes in a comment above.)\n\nHere are the main alternatives, as I see them:\n\n1. Hide the fact that there are multiple versions of the exam.\n2. Mention in advance that there will be multiple versions of the exam.\n\nDisadvantages of option 1 are: (1) it's hard to distinguish the different versions when handing them out and when grading them, (2) students might still try to copy from their neighbors' exams, which is distracting (although I suppose this is actually an advantage if you want to maximize the total number of students you catch cheating.)\n\nDisadvantages of option 2 are: (1) it is an unpleasant reminder of the possibility of cheating (as Izonqhous Mathugaxojiog mentions in a comment,) and (2) students who were planning to cheat may adapt to some other method."
}
] |
2015/02/08
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38476",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28653/"
] |
38,484 |
[University of Malaya](http://um.edu.my), Malaysia's oldest public university has recently deployed a new system for issuing graduation certificate named [e-scroll](https://graduand.um.edu.my) (it seems be the 1st university in the world to deploy e-scroll system). Under this new system, university will not issue any hard copy scroll (graduation certificate or degree) and instead provides a website from which graduates can download their electronically signed and timestamped degree in pdf format which can be printed out.
According to one of the officials, UM aims to produce digital degree certificates or E-Scrolls for its graduates to avoid forgery of certificate and ease employment process.
Some parts of the above links are here:
>
> E-Scrolls now work exceptionally well for online applications or for employers who like to verify the authenticity of an applicant’s qualifications. When employers click on an E-Scroll, a PDF document containing the applicant’s degree certificate opens up. A verification tab will automatically pop up indicating that the digital certificate is verified and authentic. If information on the scroll has been modified, the verification tab will show up in red, indicating some form of tampering. They can also manually click on the digital signature panels to gain technical information on the certificate and signatories.
>
>
>
“UM also provides an alternate method of verification for its graduates through the Registry of Graduates website that contains the list of graduates,
According other fellows in the above links
>
> The security of E-Scroll is based on a technology called Public Key Infrastructure. This is a proven technology that is widely used by governments worldwide to protect the e-passport, citizen identification cards, and by the financial institutions to secure transactions and online banking
>
>
>
[Here](http://www.haynik.com/v3/index.php/universities-digitalised-scrolls-signed-sealed-delivered/) and [here](http://www2.nst.com.my/channels/learning-curve/universities-digitalised-scrolls-signed-sealed-delivered-1.470505) are some articles discussion in depth about e-scroll and technology behind it.
**Here is they problem:**
UM will NOT issue any hard copy scroll anymore meaning that we are unable to present original degree that is printed on a thick paper, has 3d stamp, and has hologram. Instead they issue a pdf that has some note on it and provide access to a website to show its authenticity.
If UM had both of the certificates, it would be wonderful since it satisfies both concern; those who need original degree and those who want to verify authenticity of the degree.
**My question:**
1. How easy would it be to convince officials to accept such a e-scroll?
2. Imagine a visa officer at port who wants to verify student's document before entry. If we tell him so, how likely is that he agrees? and he goes to his computer and opens the website? How can we say that the website is not fake? Manipulating university websites is not harder that forging a degree, I guess.
3. Even if people trust the website and agree on usefulness of this approach, how practical it is that we expect governments to change their employment, verification, or other policies?
For instance, in my country, all degrees obtained from foreign countries must be take to the ministry of higher education for validation. Upon successful validation, the government party issue degree equivalency. Now here is the point that how easy is that for us to ask ministries to change their verification and validation process?
What is the best way to talk to University officials and ask them to issue both?
*Do you know, **as admission committee member or university administrates**, what other problems new students graduated form UM will face in your university?*
Here is the sample e-scroll
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38501,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "I have never in my life used the hard copy of any of my degrees. If people wish to verify, they generally contact the university in any case. I thus anticipate no issue at all in a switch to electronic degree certificates."
},
{
"answer_id": 38502,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "Before getting to the answer, I want to recount a related story. As an undergraduate due to some bureaucratic issues I attended graduation even though I wasn't graduating. I should have been handed an empty diploma tube, but they screwed up. A week later I received a desperate phone call from the registrar's office. The conversation went something like this:\n\n> \n> RO: We need you to return your diploma since you did not graduate\n> \n> \n> ME: No, I like having it and you are going to give it to me anyway at the end of the summer\n> \n> \n> RO: It won't have the right date on it and when an employer asks to see the diploma it won't match your transcript and that will cause problems\n> \n> \n> ME: Not a problem, I will just forge a diploma then\n> \n> \n> RO: We really need it back\n> \n> \n> ME: I don't have it any more. I gave it to my mother since she paid my tuition. You can try calling her and asking for it, but I don't think you will have much luck\n> \n> \n> \n\nI still have not had to forge my diploma with the correct date on it or even show my diploma to anyone. Almost everything can be accomplished with either a non digitally signed pdf of my transcript, a unofficial printed version of my transcript, or an official transcript sent by the university directly to the individual that needs it. The only issue I can see with having only an e-transcript/diploma would be if the university stopped supporting the format. I would simply request a digital one at graduation and print it out for your records."
}
] |
2015/02/08
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38484",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6393/"
] |
38,489 |
Some papers have co-first authors, which are supposed to have contributed equally. However, there is still an order issue.
Imagine a paper co-authored by A, B, and C. The paper goes like:
```
A Very Long Paper Title
A*, B*, and C
Our work is good.
-----
* A and B contributed equally to the work.
```
In this case, is it acceptable for B to cite this paper as follows in his/her CV?
>
> B\*, A\*, and C. A Very Long Paper Title. *Journal of Stack Exchange*.
> Jan. 2015. (\* indicates the co-first authorship)
>
>
>
Note the position swap.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38491,
"author": "yo'",
"author_id": 1471,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1471",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "One thing you can do (and some people do), is that you omit the names at the beginning of the references and include them in the end, like:\n\n> \n> **List of Publications**\n> \n> \n> Study of ABC in the context of DEF (with J. Doe and J. Soe). *Journal\n> of ABCDEF* **45**(5):170, 2013.\n> \n> \n> Note on DEF (with J. Doe and G. Surname). *Communications of FooBar*\n> **10**(1):1, 2014.\n> \n> \n> \n\nHowever, remember that this is more common in fields where the order of the authors is most usually alphabetic. In fields where First Author, Second Author and Last Author are significant, this would be really uncommon, and an academic committee of any type will likely consider it as that you credit work of others as yours."
},
{
"answer_id": 38498,
"author": "Blair MacIntyre",
"author_id": 28128,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28128",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "No. The reference is the reference, changing it to move yourself higher could be misinterpreted as willful deceit.\n\nAdd a parenthetical statement at the end of the references saying \"first n authors are co-first authors, listed in this order because...\"\n\nOn my \"internal\" CV I have parentheticals after many papers, for example, listing contributions, nominations for best paper, etc."
}
] |
2015/02/08
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38489",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8079/"
] |
38,494 |
UPDATE:
So, am I to understand there is no such thing as a "verified research statement" besides an actual "recommendation" ? I already have a sense of the department(s) and professor's in the target phd proram know me from some elementary classes (but not that familiar with my academic background/research etc...)
ORIGINAL QUESTION:
I am planning on applying to graduate school (phd). However, before that I plan on talking with relevant professors at these schools, I would like to take a portfolio if research work I have done already. So, can I goto my current/previous professor to write/sign my research statement to PROVE/VALIDATE the contents of the research which I did under them. Although course description/syllabus will have general statements about research, specifics can only come from the professor. I do not want to wait till recommendations for application to mention my research experience. Questions are:
1. Is this the norm ?
2. If not, what is the alternative way?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38496,
"author": "Alireza",
"author_id": 28811,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28811",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "In case you don't have recommendation letters at hand already, then some the items that seem to be helpful would be like:\n\n1. mentioning any published research (conference papers, journal papers, etc.)\n2. Research projects that are already finished and the professor can check out the results and outcome of the research him/herself.\n\nHowever, note that a recommendation letter from your previous professor would be valuable."
},
{
"answer_id": 38499,
"author": "RoboKaren",
"author_id": 14885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14885",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "If you're just going to talk to professors ahead of the application, you don't need to bring a portfolio and certainly don't need to bring letters. That's just overkill. \n\nJust come prepared to talk about your work. If you have any publications that came out of it, you could bring those. Or even a brief summary sheet. \n\nVerification will come later when the letters of reference come in with your entire application package. \n\nUse your early visits to get a sense of the departments and the faculty who might be enthusiastic about your project and possibly serve as a PI. You'll impress them most by being enthusiastic about your work, being able to articulate its importance without having to fumble through your briefcase for external validation, and being able to express great interest in working in that particular discipline with that particular department and PI."
}
] |
2015/02/08
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38494",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/29064/"
] |
38,503 |
This may be a very general and subjective question, I know. But, I have applied to some postdoc positions, and after 3 weeks I haven't received any response yet. I suppose this is normal, because many people should have applied to those positions, too. However, I don't know if it would be ok to write back to the professors or PI to know if they have already a response for my dossier.
Does anyone could tell me if it is fine to do so? should I just be more patient and wait more time? after how much time should I consider my application as rejected?.
I would be very glad to read your suggestions, and experiences.
**Update:** In my experience I think that writing back is fine (there is nothing wrong about it), but it is likely no response will be received anyways. In general, they reply in two situations: 1) they are interested in your profile, 2) they have funding.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38504,
"author": "Kevin Maslanka",
"author_id": 29072,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/29072",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Just like a job interview, take the first step. Call and check up. You want the position? Show them how interested you are :)"
},
{
"answer_id": 38505,
"author": "Alireza",
"author_id": 28811,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28811",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "It may not be such a good idea to call and ask for an answer on your application. However, you can call or send and enquiry email to check whether they've received your application and docs in full and everything is okay with your application.\n\nWhen I was applying for MSc. I contacted them several times and they always said \"you have to wait\"."
},
{
"answer_id": 38506,
"author": "TheWanderer",
"author_id": 11338,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11338",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "In my experience (UK-based applications), I have always been informed whenever I wasn't shortlisted by means of a sad \"we regret to inform you\" email. The only time I wasn't informed straight away was when I was shortlisted but didn't get the job so I had to call them. If you are at the pre-shortlist phase, I think it's safe to assume you will get an email either case."
},
{
"answer_id": 38507,
"author": "yo'",
"author_id": 1471,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1471",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "The standard thing is that all applicants are informed at the right time. Quite commonly the \"competition\" decision is delayed, so I wouldn't worry too much.\n\nShould you contact the committee? As other said, impatience may not be the best thing to do. On the other hand, I don't believe it will hurt you in any way.\n\nCan you do better? You probably have contacted someone in the department where you apply before, right? The easiest thing is to write to them: \"Please, the website says I should have been contacted by January 31st, did I miss something?\" (or course, use appropriate level of politeness)."
},
{
"answer_id": 38512,
"author": "Skunkness",
"author_id": 12347,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12347",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "During academic job applications, I did not hear back at all from at least two places (in the UK), so I would not assume you will hear back. On the other hand, there was also the situation where I had not heard back from one of my top choices so I contacted them and they told me that someone was supposed to have contacted me two weeks earlier but somehow didn't. It wasn't good news, but I had been stalling on agreeing to another position so ultimately it was helpful to just ask, politely obviously. I really don't think it would hurt your situation, and as others have mentioned, may even help it."
},
{
"answer_id": 38523,
"author": "Greg",
"author_id": 14755,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14755",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "I guess it depends on country and field, but my experience is that 80-90% of professors do no answer a post- doc application at all if it is not a positive answer. It is especially true if you try to cold call a top laboratory."
},
{
"answer_id": 48974,
"author": "Phil",
"author_id": 21815,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/21815",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "From my experience, when applying for post-doc or professor job positions, most of the times, they will not answer if the answer is negative. Moreover, often, the decision will be delayed (sometimes, it may even be delayed by several months due to committees not agreeing on who to hire, professors being too busy, problem with funding, etc.). You can always send one polite e-mail to ask. But don't send many e-mails."
},
{
"answer_id": 55159,
"author": "Fábio Dias",
"author_id": 41208,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/41208",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "What I usually do in that situation is to call/mail them asking if everything is correct or if there is anything else **I** should do, also stating that I know that the process takes as long as it takes and that I'm not, in any way, pressuring or anything. Then, they usually reply with the current status/ETA.\n\nI'm aware I'm not fooling anyone, but, IMHO, it is a bit nicer :)"
}
] |
2015/02/08
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38503",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22449/"
] |
38,509 |
How is it received by the academia if someone thanks to his/her girlfriend/boyfriend in the acknowledgements of the thesis?
I have seen writers including his/her fiancee in the acknowledgements, however I don't know if including an informal relationship in the thesis will be received well.
If it is acceptable, how should I refer to my girlfriend?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38510,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 8,
"selected": true,
"text": "The acknowledgements section is really yours to do with as you wish. You can thank anybody who has been of help and support to you, no matter how formal or informal your relationship with them is. You can make the relationship explicit or not, however you prefer. Thus, for example, it is equally valid to write:\n\n> \n> Thank you to Sani Zlish, for all her love and support\n> \n> \n> \n\nor \n\n> \n> Thank you to my girlfriend Sani Zlish, for all her love and support\n> \n> \n>"
},
{
"answer_id": 38529,
"author": "Daniel Wessel",
"author_id": 26614,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/26614",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "Adding to jakebeal (and keshlam's comment about offensive text), I think the only negative consequence is when you leave specific people out, e.g., you thank one supervisor but not the other. And that includes people who did support you during your thesis but were not part of the formal structures, e.g., your partner, or your parents, etc. Not to argue with comics, but PhDComics put it best: \"[Acknowledgements](http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=870)\" and \"[To you I dedicate this thesis](http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=871)\".\n\nTo avoid forgetting someone, I found it useful to add a general thank you paragraph after the personalized acknowledgements for all those I did not mention explicitly (sums up other colleagues, extended family, etc.)."
}
] |
2015/02/08
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38509",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15949/"
] |
38,511 |
I need to include some basic definitions, and simple proofs from a standard text book to my thesis. Those definitions and proofs are very basic, e.g. probability, entropy etc. Everybody knows they should be in some text books.
Consider, for example, [this proof from wiki](http://upload.wikimedia.org/math/a/6/f/a6fc9acc817b4fcf6dd4c8c89068905e.png). My questions are:
* Is this plagiarism if I bring this whole proof word by word into my thesis?
* If this is plagiarism, what is the method to "paraphrase" a proof? Since the derivation is straightforward, and it is very difficult to write it in a different way?
Thank you.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38513,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "It is very common for theses in the mathematical sciences to spend a significant amount of time and space repeating known or even standard definitions and results. (In fact, up through the master's level, at least in many places one can write a perfectly acceptable thesis that *only* does this.) In fact this is generally viewed as a positive feature of the thesis: the candidate has taken the time and effort to synthesize a presentation which is complete and self-contained up to a certain point. It is also generally very helpful to do so in terms of readability: a math paper that repeated nothing that was already known would be well-nigh impenetrable except (perhaps) by a select coterie of insiders. \n\nAlso the virtue of rewording is not as strong in this area. If you are going to give the definition of, say, entropy, in a thesis, then I would say the best thing to do is to close all your textbooks and write down what you think is a good wording of the definition. Once you've done that you check back with the sources to see that you've actually gotten the definition right, i.e., that it is mathematically equivalent to the one from the textbooks. But if your language is similar or identical to what you found in the textbooks: okay, fine. You don't need to change it for that purpose. There are a lot of ways to list the axioms for a group, and if you wanted to you could pull out fifty textbooks and make sure that your wording is different from all fifty of them. But this would be a big waste of time: it is not necessary to do so, *and* what do you bet that these fifty wordings capture most of those that are best in terms of efficiency, readability, and so forth?\n\nWhen it comes to copying entire proofs word for word, I would pay close attention to how often you are doing this. If you are simply copying multiple pages of proofs verbatim out of a single standard source, then you should start wondering about the value added in doing so (and, after a certain point, issues of *copyright* do emerge). There is a key word that I used in the first paragraph: **synthesis**. When you revisit old results, ideally you are synthesizing them: i.e., no one source has everything that you want, so you are combining multiple sources in a novel way. Too much copying and too little synthesizing does not necessarily put you at risk for plagiarism and copyright violation -- it would have to be quite extreme for that to be an issue -- but it does not sound like the path to a strong thesis. \n\nI hope that everyone who is writing an academic thesis has a thesis advisor. You should talk to her about this issue. To a certain degree, the right answer is what she thinks is best."
},
{
"answer_id": 38534,
"author": "Chris H",
"author_id": 8494,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8494",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "In questions of potential plagiarism, you can think about whether a reader will get the impression some work is yours. If they will, and it's not, you've got a problem. \n\nTo apply this: I found I could \"follow\" the approach in a major text, abbreviating some sections of a derivation and expanding on others (mainly due to where in the text concepts were introduced). Partly as I was using a numeric citation style, a simple citation wasn't enough. If you put the derivation/proof in its own subsection and say \"following the approach given by Smith in reference 42 it is clear that...\" or something like that. A verbatim copy will often be unhelpful to the reader anyway - imagine reading \"using the result given on page 393\" in a 3-page paper (absurd, but you need to *integrate* the cross-referenced material, not just paste it in). \n\n(This was going to be a comment as I can't add much to Pete L. Clark's answer, but I did want to make a couple of points that wouldn't fit.)"
}
] |
2015/02/08
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38511",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15501/"
] |
38,514 |
I found this on Page 34 of [IEEE EDITORIAL STYLE MANUAL](http://www.ieee.org/documents/style_manual.pdf), it's about how to edit the reference. I don't understand the following sentence:
>
> NOTE: The only exception to this rule is PROCEEDINGS OF THE IEEE, which never carried an acronym on the masthead
>
>
>
Does it mean when cite a paper from *PROCEEDINGS OF THE IEEE*, do not cite it in an abbreviation form. If it is, why the following example ( Page 35 of [IEEE EDITORIAL STYLE MANUAL](http://www.ieee.org/documents/style_manual.pdf)) gave an abbreviation form:
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38515,
"author": "o4tlulz",
"author_id": 6978,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6978",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "The part you quote does not refer to the name of the Journal but to the vol. ##, no. ## section of the citation and is applicable to those earlier than 1988. \n\nSo the 1981 citation would be \n\n* *IEEE Trans. Automat. Contr.,* **vol. AC-26**, no.1, pp. 1–34, Jan. 1981.\n\nwhile a citation from the same journal past 1988 would be\n\n* *IEEE Trans. Automat. Contr.,* **vol. 40**, no.1, pp. 1–34, Jan. 1995.\n\nThe exception to the Proc. of IEEE applies here, as it never had an abbreviation in the volume and it has always been:\n\n* *Proc. IEEE*, vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 1-11, Jan. 1978.\n\nThe example they provide is correct."
},
{
"answer_id": 38516,
"author": "Mad Jack",
"author_id": 11192,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11192",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "> \n> Does it mean when cite a paper from PROCEEDINGS OF THE IEEE, do not cite it in an abbreviation form.\n> \n> \n> \n\nNo. \n\nIt means that, prior to 1988 (see the style guide you linked to in your question), the volume number for IEEE *Journals* and *Transactions* included an acronym for the particular journal, and this must be included when you cite sources falling into this category. The *Proceedings of the IEEE* has never had volume numbers listed with an acronym for the publication, so the above volume number citation rule does not apply.\n\nWhen citing a source published in the *Proceedings of the IEEE*, you would still list it in your IEEE manuscript bibliography as *Proc. IEEE*."
}
] |
2015/02/09
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38514",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/29027/"
] |
38,518 |
No matter who you talk to, students or professors, they all say that the materials they once learned can be quickly forgotten without further experiences that utilizes or enhances on that prior experience.
I fondly remember a professor once telling me that his final year in undergrad was the happiest year in his life, at time when he felt he could do anything, from nuclear physics to parallel programming to electromicroscopy to constructing an audio amplifier...then one year later he has forgotten almost everything.
This is more noticeable in students, where it is often exaggerated to the cliched phrase "you never actually use anything you learn in school".
This is problematic for students who aspire for higher learning because much of the material or understanding is accumulative. It amazes me how people manage to get all the way to the top of the academic ladder (PhD, Post-Doc) without losing previously gained knowledge along the way. I'm sure there were important theorems, relations or techniques that I once learnt, maybe was even an expert in, the question is how do I unlock these memories so I can be more effective in tackling the problems I have today?
How do people deal with the inevitable loss of knowledge from years of disuse? Do you start from scratch? Can someone offer good ways for retention of class room materials?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38519,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "I think that there are two fundamentally different types of learned materials to think about here, one that really matters and one that does not matter so much:\n\n* First, there is deep knowledge, which is the foundations of a subject, such as the principles of\nabstraction and recursion in programming, or asymptotic analysis in algorithms.\n* Second, there is the more surface knowledge of formulas and methods, common facts, artifacts, and patterns by which the foundational core is put to use, such as particulars of Java programming or the difference between [Shell sort](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shellsort) and [radix sort](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radix_sort).\n\nThe second is rapidly lost, while once you have grasped the first, I think that it never really fades, just gets a bit rusty. Many students, however, never really grasp the deep knowledge of a subject while taking it. You can often even get an A in a class just by brute force in drilling yourself on the surface knowledge of the subject. Worse yet, many students are *encouraged* to do this by a primary and high school education that intentionally focuses on \"facts and dates\" rather than principles.\n\nI don't think that you need to worry about losing the surface knowledge of a subject. Surface knowledge is just the \"working set\" that you're currently most familiar with, and it changes all the time. More to the point, you can re-acquire lost surface knowledge quite quickly, *if you know where the gap in your knowledge is* (which deep knowledge will help you with). In fact, you should expect to lose surface knowledge quickly about anything you aren't actively using (one might think of it like [a computer's cache](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cache_%28computing%29)).\n\nAcquiring deep knowledge, on the other hand, affects how you see the world. As long as you lead an active intellectual life of any sort, you will somewhat see the world through the filters of the deep knowledge that you have acquired, and in doing so you will keep exercising it and retaining it. For example: anybody who has ever really understood basic physics will always have conservation laws popping up in their head; anybody who has ever really understood basic chemistry will keep noticing things about crystal structures and states of matter. And it goes for more advanced subjects too: for example, anybody who has ever really understood computational image processing will be influenced in how they think about Facebook image tagging and their camera and generally the images they see.\n\nIn short: don't worry about forgetting facts, and any subject that you truly completely forget is one that you never really understood in the first place."
},
{
"answer_id": 38521,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "> \n> This is problematic for students who aspire for higher learning because much of the material or understanding is accumulative.\n> \n> \n> \n\nActually, that's precisely why it's not problematic. If you had to memorize random trivia, it would become more and more difficult as you had to remember more unrelated things, but academic studies work in the opposite way. Because it's accumulative, you are constantly practicing and applying what you learned before, which helps you solidify your understanding. Furthermore, the more you learn, the more connections you can see, and these relationships help you organize and retain knowledge. Of course you'll still forget some details, but you'll forget less than you expect and recover it more easily.\n\nMy impression is that severe forgetfulness in students typically occurs when they are studying ideas in isolation and setting them aside as soon as the class is over. Instead, it's important to play with ideas constantly. How are they related to your past studies? To other interests of yours? Can you think of further applications or connections? This can help bridge the gaps between how you learned these ideas. This sort of exploration is almost essential if you want to do research, and it's a useful study technique in any case."
},
{
"answer_id": 38522,
"author": "Moritz",
"author_id": 22893,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22893",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "1) By repetition\n\nIf you really would like to keep the knowledge you have, you have to repeatedly apply,read or learn it. E.g. write small cards with a question on the one side and the answer on the other and store them on your toilet or use some apps to do so. If you put a poster on your toilet like this one describing a [cell signaling pathway](http://jcs.biologists.org/content/122/20/3589/F1.poster.jpg) and study it every day for about one or two years, you will remember it quite a long time.\n\n2) By emotions\n\nI can remember things pretty well, if I had some emotional moments while learning. Unfortunately that rarely happened with the stuff for university.\n\n3) How to deal with the loss of knowledge ? I know where to look it up. Once you got the concept of something you will remember where to find the details."
},
{
"answer_id": 38530,
"author": "curiousdannii",
"author_id": 21773,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/21773",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "One option would be to use a [**spaced repetition**](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaced_repetition) system. This would mostly be useful for facts, but you might be able to use it for processes too if you can phrase it as a question and answer.\n\nSpaced repetition systems are essentially a computerised flash card database. These help you avoid the problem of a paper system: spending too much time on facts you remember easily and not enough on facts you forget, because [the process of recalling a memory actually impacts our memories](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spacing_effect). To transfer data from the short term to long term memory you need to remember the data at a frequency somewhere between those extremes.\n\nThe difference from paper flash cards is that a database can store information for each card, such as a difficulty level and the time of the last card review. Using some complex maths I haven't looked into, the system will predict when you will forget each card and only ask you to remember it at that time. For some cards that could be every couple of years, for others it will be every day. With regular use you can maintain a database of tens of thousands of facts with only 5-10 minutes of practice each day.\n\nOne popular and free spaced repetition system is called [Anki](http://ankisrs.net/). It allows you to use multimedia in your cards, which could be very helpful depending on which memories you want to retain."
},
{
"answer_id": 38553,
"author": "mateoc",
"author_id": 29102,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/29102",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "I come from a programming background, so maybe my answer is not applicable here, but I think a very good way to retain knowledge is to teach it. I have started teaching some kids and older ones that were interested in the subject and I think it helped me a lot retaining the knowledge, plus they loved it!"
},
{
"answer_id": 38611,
"author": "MANEESH ROY",
"author_id": 29147,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/29147",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "There are many ways to reinforce what you have studied. Apply knowledge in different fields,like a person having studied JAVA can use that knowledge for developing softwares based on JAVA and softwares can be for Human Resource Management,Inventory Management,Data Mining etc. Teaching,helps to not only earn but also to find new avenues and new ways of expressing things. Revision at short intervals, this also reinforces learning. Sometimes people find their own unique of reinforcing knowledge like draw sketches,or use model language to prepare gist of what they have learned in such a manner that it takes only few hours to reinforce what they have learned over years. Software like Ajku can also help if used regularly."
}
] |
2015/02/09
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38518",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20070/"
] |
38,537 |
I am considering including a glossary and a list of notations in my PhD thesis on mathematics. Is it a good idea to write them separately or combine them?
For example, a typical entry of the list of notation is:
**[a,b]** `The commutator of a and b, defined by [a,b]=a^{-1}b^{-1}ab.`
An entry of the glossary is:
**Commutator** `The commutator of a and b is defined to be the product a^{-1}b^{-1}ab.`
(Note: the definition of commutator is well-known to mathematicians, but since another definition aba^{-1}b^{-1} is also possible, I would like to add the definition to avoid any possible ambiguity.)
I have a strong feeling of combining these two entries together, maybe even combining the glossary and the list of notations together.
*Is it a good idea to combine the glossary and the list of notations in a mathematical PhD thesis?*
|
[
{
"answer_id": 47816,
"author": "gented",
"author_id": 36339,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/36339",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Have your definitions in line rather than in a glossary, it improves the readability of the entire manuscript (whether or not those definitions are actually necessary). People rarely go through glossaries anyway, since it would involve spending twice the amount of time just to switch pages back and forth. Inline definitions, instead, help the reader to flow on without dismissing the attention on the context."
},
{
"answer_id": 53839,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "Typically, a glossary defines *words* while a list of notations defines *symbols*. To my mind, at least, these tend to serve fundamentally different purposes in a document:\n\n* A glossary is a refresher on standard vocabulary, to support reading by people with a broader set of backgrounds.\n* A list of notations collects all of your special definitions in one place\n\nTo take the example in your question: most mathematicians will know what a commutator is, and thus won't need to re-read its definition, but it's nice to have it in a glossary for anybody who's feeling hazy on it. There are several conventions for how to notate commutators, though, and *lots* of meanings for square brackets, though, so pretty much *every* reader will appreciate a symbol table entry that says: \n\n> \n> [a,b] The commutator of a and b\n> \n> \n> \n\nThe reason is that words tend to be much more stable from document to document than symbols. Words have some differences in definition (and you should be clear which you're using), but symbols are expected to be variables that often change radically from paper to paper because there are simply too few symbols and symbol-structures relative to the number of distinct objects that need to be labelled by them.\n\nThe important thing here is not the names of the sections, or even the distinction between single and multiple-character objects, it is the difference of purposes. Most readers should use a glossary rarely but a list of notations often: as such, if you create something that mixes the two purposes, then you're making it harder for the reader by swelling a critical section with things they usually won't be looking to read."
},
{
"answer_id": 53854,
"author": "vonbrand",
"author_id": 38135,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/38135",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "In my extensive experience reading all sorts of books, \"reader friendly\" in terms of definitions and notation is to place that into an early chapter, or introduce it as you go. A complete index is very useful, a glossary much less so. A *short* overview of notation (sometimes found at the back of the title page) can be useful, but no more than one or two pages. Footnotes are a distraction, endnotes just get ignored."
},
{
"answer_id": 91037,
"author": "einpoklum",
"author_id": 7319,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7319",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "I would say **keep them separate**, because you should:\n\n* Inline the bodies of definitions in the ``natural'' narrative progress of your thesis (interspersing them with comments, observations etc.)\n* Have entries of the list of notations be very short and (always, or almost always) refer to terms in your glossary\n* Have terms in your glossary either defined very briefly or undefined at all, but always make a reference to the full inline definition."
}
] |
2015/02/09
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38537",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/24832/"
] |
38,550 |
If you apply to a university to be enrolled as an undergraduate, and are rejected, and then apply to the same university's graduate program, will they look at and/or take into consideration your undergraduate application? Or is it considered irrelevant?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38552,
"author": "Ramrod",
"author_id": 28310,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28310",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "I would imagine that they would consider it irrelevant. If you went to a different institution and received a degree, then I think they would be more interested in that. A person can change/mature a lot during their undergraduate degree."
},
{
"answer_id": 38554,
"author": "Anonymous",
"author_id": 11565,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11565",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "Irrelevant. \n\nIndeed, I suspect that in most or all graduate programs, those reading your graduate application do not have access to your undergraduate application, won't know that you applied to their undergraduate program, and would not care even if they knew."
}
] |
2015/02/09
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38550",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/29101/"
] |
38,566 |
I had an amazing research professor I conducted research under for my last two semesters of undergrad. I graduated in December and am currently waiting to hear back from graduate programs. This professor wrote me a letter of recommendation and I sent him a thank you email. However, I wanted to send him a hand written thank you letter for the letter of recommendation, all I learned while researching under him, and to see how several projects are going since I've graduated and left his lab.
Is it too late or "awkward" to send him a handwritten thank you note now that it's been about one and a half months since I've last contacted him?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38567,
"author": "Compass",
"author_id": 22013,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22013",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "> \n> Is it too late or \"awkward\" to send him a handwritten thank you note now that it's been about two months since I've last contacted him?\n> \n> \n> \n\nNope.\n=====\n\nTwo months is not so long in the academic sense at all. Whether or not it's handwritten shouldn't matter as much, either. Typing it up is perfectly acceptable, readable, and much easier to correct if you make an error."
},
{
"answer_id": 38578,
"author": "Ellen Spertus",
"author_id": 269,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/269",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "In addition to Compass' excellent response, I'll suggest a few other things you can do:\n\n* Make a small donation to the college in honor of the professor. He will be notified.\n* Cc the letter about how helpful he was to his department head and/or Provost.\n\nFWIW, I'm a professor and save all such letters and emails."
},
{
"answer_id": 38592,
"author": "einpoklum",
"author_id": 7319,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7319",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "The timing would be even better if you wrote him **upon getting accepted into a graduate program** - then you would also be informing him on the news. Of course, @espertus' suggestion are quite relevant (and no less relevant when you get accepted somewhere)."
}
] |
2015/02/09
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38566",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/29112/"
] |
38,571 |
"Underwater basket weaving" is often used as a placeholder for "irrelevant, useless university course." (Despite the fact that it's an [actual thing](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0cn8iUOc5k).)
More generally, "Basket weaving" and related courses (e.g. "quantitative basket weaving") are often used as a placeholder for "some university course."
This phrase appears several times [on Academia.SE](https://academia.stackexchange.com/search?q=%22basket+weaving%22). It has also been used in official university documents (e.g., [this sample curriculum change request](http://academics.boisestate.edu/facultysenate/files/2013/09/UCC-Curricuum-Examples.pdf), [this sample assessment plan](https://www.american.edu/provost/assessment/upload/basket_weaving_example-1.pdf), [this sample thesis title page](http://www.unr.edu/Documents/provost/honors/Title-SignaturePagesExample.pdf), [this guide to curriculum changes](http://qcpages.qc.cuny.edu/academicsenate/UCC/GuideToCurriculumChanges.PDF)).
What is the origin of this usage? When/by who was it first used this way?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38576,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "The best history of the phrase that I know of is [the one given in Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underwater_basket_weaving), which traces it to a letter in the LA Times in 1956. Whether that's actually the ultimate origin or not, I don't know if anybody has actually tried to track down further..."
},
{
"answer_id": 38588,
"author": "ff524",
"author_id": 11365,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11365",
"pm_score": 8,
"selected": true,
"text": "The earliest reference known to Wikipedia (as [shared by jakebeal](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/38576/11365)) is from 1956, but I found a few that were earlier.\n\nFirst, perhaps a hint as to how this usage evolved, here's a mildly sarcastic 1919 reference about universities that have abandoned the ways of the Ivory Tower to offer such \"practical\" courses as plumbing and basket weaving (which presumably was a useful vocational skill in those days):\n\n> \n> Higher education is becoming very practical indeed. It includes everything nowadays - excepting, of course, Greek and Latin - from plumbing to basket-weaving.\n> \n> \n> *Source: \"Studying National Parks,\" The watchman and southron. (Sumter, S.C.), August 06, 1919. [link](http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn93067846/1919-08-06/ed-1/seq-4.pdf)*\n> \n> \n> \n\nThe earliest usage I found that was specifically for \"*underwater* basket weaving\" is from 1953. It's in an article about slang used by the \"younger generation\" (implying that the usage is new, or at least new again):\n\n> \n> Any snap course in school is \"underwater basket weaving.\"\n> \n> \n> *Source: \"In a Hepster's Lingo, the Girl Who Likes to Neck is a Giraffe,\" Boston Globe, Oct 4, 1953, pg. A50*\n> \n> \n> \n\nThroughout the 1950s, there are many references to \"basket weaving\" in the context of easy courses taken by student athletes.\n\nHere's one such reference from 1952:\n\n> \n> These may include courses in life-insurance salesmanship, bee culture, square-dancing, traffic direction, first aid, or basketweaving.\n> \n> \n> *Source: \"Magna cum nonsense,\" New York Times, March 16, 1952, SM68.*\n> \n> \n> \n\nHere's a reference *in a quote from one of these athletes*, from 1953:\n\n> \n> A varsity baseball player said he had received offers from San Francisco University guaranteeing him passing grades.\n> \n> \n> \"I hardly would have had to go to classes,\" he said. \"They told me I could major in basket weaving if I wanted to.\"\n> \n> \n> *Source: \"Other Schools Made Bids, Spartan Athletes Content,\" Newsday, March 3, 1953, pg. 50*\n> \n> \n> \n\nThe 1956 reference with \"underwater basket weaving\" that Wikipedia cites:\n\n> \n> Why should he be given a better deal than those students who are attending college in order to get a \"real\" education ... majoring in underwater basket weaving, or the preparation and serving of smorgasbord, or particularly at Berkeley, the combined course of anatomy and panty-raiding?\n> \n> \n> *Source: \"College 'Pro' Football Hit,\" Los Angeles Times, June 4, 1956, pg A4*\n> \n> \n> \n\nThere's also many about plain \"basket weaving\" that year. For example:\n\n> \n> Several schools screamed to high heaven about the fact that these so-called students, or at least the majority of them, couldn't pass the basket weaving examination and that their grade transcripts resembled those of the village idiot.\n> \n> \n> *Source: \"Cronin's Corner,\" Los Angeles Times, May 26, 1956, pg. B3*\n> \n> \n> \n\nand\n\n> \n> It was explained rather superciliously that they had a stiff struggle to get minimum passing grades in basket-weaving, musical appreciation or Loaf and Sleep (Letters and Science) courses.\n> \n> \n> *Source: \"Sports of the World,\" Atlanta Daily World, Nov 13, 1956, pg 5*\n> \n> \n> \n\n---\n\nI found these by searching ProQuest databases, the results unfortunately don't seem to include permanent links. Hence the lack of links."
}
] |
2015/02/09
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38571",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11365/"
] |
38,575 |
If one is intending on leaving a graduate program before completing their PhD, is there value in obtaining candidacy status before leaving?
Does it depend on where they are leaving to? If so, consider the cases where the candidate is either leaving for industry or leaving for another PhD position. (And say they are contractually obligated to not leave immediately, so they would have time to reach candidacy.)
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38596,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "For some departments, reaching the candidacy stage means you have earned a degree (often an MPhil, but it varies). If your department gives a degree when you reach candidacy, then it provides a nice break point to leave. Industry might be fooled by it, but PhD programs often know the difference between degrees that you were intending on getting and those that signify a departure from original plans. A degree might have some value Thor industry and PhD admissions, but in general, people are interested in what you have done and can do, and not in pieces of paper. If there is no degree, then reaching candidacy, doesn't really matter for industry or PhD admissions.\n\nWhile it might not help for getting a job or another PhD, reaching candidacy might give you a sense of closure and/or accomplishment. The value of that is deeply personal, but a lot of people describe themselves as being ABD even if they have no intention of finishing. You need to weight the value of being ABD against the cost of getting there. Often reaching candidacy means taking qualifying exams. Quals can be really hard and if you are not 100% committed you could fail! which might be worse for your psyche. I am not sure anyone goes into quals thinking, I am going to pass and then quit. Did I mention quals are painful. I have since forgotten all my coursework scars, but my qualifying exam scar I think is with me for life."
},
{
"answer_id": 43656,
"author": "agentplaid",
"author_id": 31792,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31792",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "If you are committed to leaving your current program, then candidacy is very likely irrelevant. It has varying meanings even inside academia (as noted by @JeffE in comments above), it will not matter to industry employers, and it is unlikely to sway other Ph.D. admissions committees. You should focus on getting the Master's degree, if you do not already have one - if achieving candidacy is in the critical path to that, fine, but otherwise I would ignore it.\n\nI agree with @StrongBad that closure is important, especially after going through the trying process of making the decision to leave your Ph.D. program. I would suggest trying to find that from an achievement that will help you (a Master's degree) much more than candidacy will."
}
] |
2015/02/09
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38575",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11251/"
] |
38,580 |
I was talking to some colleagues at work and they strongly advised me to contact people that I know at the universities I applied and let them know that I submitted my application and have interest in joining their departments.
I thought about writing a message but I struggle on what I should ask them specifically. I don’t want to look as I am asking for a favor or being inappropriate. Any 'example' or comment on this will be very valuable.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38582,
"author": "Corvus",
"author_id": 27900,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/27900",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "It is a good idea to reach out to your connections at the places you apply. You want to \n\n* let them know that you are applying,\n* express your enthusiasm about the place,\n* remind them briefly about your research,\n* ask them to bring the application to the attention of their colleagues on the search committee.\n\nFor example:\n\n> \n> Dear Sisaq [or Dr. Jilloomx, if you are not on a first-name basis],\n> \n> \n> I was intrigued to see the recent advertisement for a faculty position in the area of cosmological neuroeconomics in your department. While I have a year left on my postdoc, your program matches my interests so well that I did not want to pass up the opportunity to apply. Moreover, I've always loved New England and would leap at a chance to move back to the area.\n> \n> \n> I know we had a chance to talk about my work on hypothetical ultimatum games in extraterrestrial populations at the San Francisco meeting last summer, but you may not know that I've started to move into the area of inflationary neuroimaging. I have [list a few findings or directions here]. As such, I feel that I would bring an important set of skills to your department that is already so strong in this area. \n> \n> \n> If you think that I might be a good fit for your department, I'd be most grateful if you would bring my application to the attention of your colleagues on the search committee.\n> \n> \n> Best wishes and see you at AACNE in Chicago next summer.\n> \n> \n> Sincerely,\n> \n> \n> Jehj Slotj\n> \n> \n> \n\nYou are not asking for a special favor or doing anything inappropriate. Instead, you are doing your colleague a favor by letting her know that your application is in the pool, and you are doing their department a favor by helping them sort through the hundreds of applications that a department may receive."
},
{
"answer_id": 38595,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "In some ways you have waited too long. Having contacts in a department are most valuable before you apply when they can tell you things that let you tailor your applicant. They might have classes they need taught or may be looking to expand into a particular new research area or strengthen an existing area.\n\nYou say you are not asking for a favour, but that really is what networking is about. It is not inappropriate to ask someone to put in a good word for you, and after the application is submitted, that is really all they can do. In order for the person to be able to out in a good word, they are going to need to know your research, or potentially teaching if it is a teaching heavy university. Sending them your research statement and CV would let them look it over and be able to make a comment about you to the search committee. Telling a search committee \"I know Warxo from conferences and he seems like a nice guy\" is not as useful as \"I know Warxo from conferences and while he hasn't used the technique we are really looking for, the techniques he used in his XXX paper are relevant and the work is really strong.\""
}
] |
2015/02/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38580",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/29123/"
] |
38,591 |
On the one hand, I want to warn students not to come to my program. On the other hand, I don't want to be "that one," and I also don't want to tarnish the reputation of the specific people I worked with (who I mostly like).
More specifically:
I want to warn students about lack of funding, administration being uncaring towards students, certain PhD requirements being a lot more onerous than they say they are, general departmental atmosphere and culture among the grad students, general culture of the school, poor location, etc etc.
Also my school is the only top school in my field that has a "rotation system" for picking advisors, and that is generally framed as a benefit, and a reason to choose the school. But I don't think students really realize how much rotations suck until after they've come here.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38598,
"author": "Piotr Migdal",
"author_id": 49,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/49",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": false,
"text": "* Focus on facts, rather than your emotional impressions.\n* Don't try to overgeneralize. Say what didn't work for you, rather than imply that it does not work for everyone (unless everyone agrees) or it won't work for the prospective student (who knows...).\n* You could say \"I would have chosen differently\" (ideally, adding the other possible options) or \"overall, I dislike this program\" rather than \"this program sucks\" or going into long rants."
},
{
"answer_id": 38604,
"author": "Matthew Leingang",
"author_id": 5701,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5701",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "You'll probably end up in conversations with the prospectives about the other schools they're considering. Then you can highlight differences between your school and the other school without making (too) overt judgements on which you consider to be better.\n\nFor instance, with the rotating advisor feature, you could say, “Here advisors are assigned to students on a rotating basis, whereas at Other University you would have the option to choose an advisor that best meets your needs as a young scholar.” \n\nIf you don't have information about Other University, you can suggest they research it. “You should look into how graduate students are supported at Other University. I know that here it's harder than it would seem.”\n\nOr if you want to contrast the locations, say, “I imagine the weather's a lot better near Other University.”\n\nIn short, be subtle, and grown-up."
},
{
"answer_id": 38605,
"author": "Anonymous",
"author_id": 11565,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11565",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "> \n> lack of funding, \n> \n> \n> \n\nHere I think you can be straightforward. Probably the faculty are just as disappointed as you are.\n\n> \n> administration being uncaring towards students, \n> \n> \n> \n\nI don't know exactly what this means; as a grad student I never tried to attract the attention of any administrator. If you have any specific problems you might bring them up.\n\n> \n> general departmental atmosphere and culture among the grad students, general culture of the school, \n> \n> \n> \n\nIf you're talking with an old friend privately, sure, bring it up. If you're meeting students at some big admit weekend, then you would piss people off by saying anything, and indeed there's not much reason for you to: prospectives will get a chance to observe the atmosphere for themselves.\n\n> \n> poor location, etc etc.\n> \n> \n> \n\nGriping about this is pretty common. (Among faculty too!) I don't think it's especially frowned upon to complain about this, at least if your point of view is widely shared or if you are speaking to prospectives in private.\n\nIndeed, I remember one student at one school telling me: \"The only positive thing I have to say about the campus or the location is that there is adequate parking.\"\n\n> \n> Also my school is the only top school in my field that has a \"rotation system\" for picking advisors, and that is generally framed as a benefit, and a reason to choose the school. \n> \n> \n> \n\nTread a little bit more carefully here. \"In retrospect, I believe that I would have fared better without this system; my experience was blah-blah-blah. But this is a system that our school touts, so you might talk to other people too, to get a sense of what would be best for you.\"\n\nThat said, if this were some kind of admit weekend, I'd consider inventing an excuse to be elsewhere for the day. If not many current grad students are willing to show up and talk to prospectives, that will itself serve as the warning you want to offer."
},
{
"answer_id": 38615,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "I personally do not think you can warn perspective students without ruining your reputation at a departmentally sponsored event. If your department asks you, or even just provides an opportunity, to meet with perspective students, the expectation is that you will represent the department in the best possible way, while being honest. That means you should not volunteer things that you do not like. if you are asked a question about something you do not like, you should of course answer it honestly. Using such an event to express your views about the short comings of the department, is unprofessional and I would think less of a student who behaved that way. If a potential student contacts you unofficially, then it is less inappropriate to, but still inappropriate in my opinion, to disparage your department."
},
{
"answer_id": 38644,
"author": "user3326185",
"author_id": 29177,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/29177",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "It would be best to keep your bitterness and negativity to yourself. You won't succeed in convincing anyone, and the only person who will end up looking bad is you."
},
{
"answer_id": 38661,
"author": "Daniel",
"author_id": 22062,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22062",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "If you have the opportunity to socialize with a few of them in a more private fashion, for instance by going out at night with a small group, then maybe you have a chance to do it inconspicuously.\n\nIf you want to do it during *the day* then you might give an honest opinion about something you particularly dislike but without forcing it too much, otherwise they may start talking with each other and this will eventually reach the ears of colleagues of yours. Try doing it objectively and put in a few things you like as well, in other words mix it in.\n\n*There are good and bad things. I feel the administrative staff could be a bit more helpful and the culture isn't what I expect it to be. I think the main thing I dislike is the rotation system to pick your adviser they use here because if you're unlucky you might end up with something which is not a good fit for you. On the other hand I'm lucky in that I'm doing something I enjoy and working with colleagues I like.*\n\nNotice on how the paragraph finishes with the good stuff at the end, i.e. you like your work and some of your work colleagues. The part about the *rotation system* is in the middle of the sentence but I assure that's unlikely to leave their head; the prospect of being forced to work with people you don't like is not a good one. You can also add that *sure the university is quite isolated but whether someone likes it or not is a subjective matter.*\n\nNow what I feel would be the better option is if you have access to a mailing list with all of them. Create an email account using `Tor` and send everyone a **balanced** email with your opinion (e.g. list format). Do not be rude or they'll discard your opinion right away. Be factual and let them draw their own conclusions.\n\n*Culture* and *location* are subjective, I wouldn't mind doing a degree in the middle of a forest, in fact sounds like a fun experience (as long as there's proper accommodation, food, work infrastructure and Internet... so basically what I need to get work done).\n\nFinally, I leave you with a question. If it's that bad why are you still there?\n\n---\n\nUpdate: Although the anonymous email option leaves no digital trail if done properly, people that know you may still suspect that it was you, for instance because of your writing style. Such suspicion may negatively impact your reputation."
},
{
"answer_id": 38666,
"author": "Leandro Lima",
"author_id": 29220,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/29220",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "Try to ask the opposite question: what characteristics does someone need to have not to hate this program?\n\nDifferent people value different things. So to be happy there someone must put a lot of value on the positive points and put little value on the negative points.\n\nYou can tell them something along the lines: this place is awesome in X, Y and Z but doesn't work well in R, S, T. If you're gonna like it or not, depends on how much value you put in each of these factors.\n\nYou can even factor in your opinion saying: I, for example, put a lot of value in R and the fact that it doesn't work well here really bothers me."
},
{
"answer_id": 38667,
"author": "optimal control",
"author_id": 24694,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/24694",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "Try to make discover to students by themselves that program is not a good program. you can make this by asking them questions that transfer to them some signals which could guide them to another program.\nBy the way, are you sure that program in which you are actually is not a good program ? Maybe this negative point of view can be your own perspective and not reflect the reality ? \nI think, most appropriate way to evaluate if the program is not well established is to think about fundamental questions.\n\n**1)** How about the impact factor of the research made in your program (especially the papers written by professors) ?\n\n**2)** Which kind of academic events (seminars, workshops etc.) are organized and how often ?\n\n**3)** Are professors open to interact with PhD students ?\n\nthe list can be extended."
},
{
"answer_id": 38669,
"author": "RoboKaren",
"author_id": 14885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14885",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "I may be going against the grain of other faculty, but I want incoming students to have *informed consent* about our program. Like every other place, we have areas that we are proud about and we have areas that we could do better. Students should weigh the pros and the cons of coming here and make a good choice.\n\nA student who believes they were fooled or conned into a program is not going to be a happy student. \n\nThat being said, saying bad things about the program in front of your advisors is bad form. The appropriate venue is for all of the students (current and prospective) to go out for beers/coffee after the department event and for the current students to tell the prospies the *real* perspective there.\n\nWe actively encourage our grad students to host incoming and prospective students in their homes precisely because we want them to have ample opportunity to get a good sense of what our department is like before they make the commitment.\n\nFinally, many places do want the current students to vent their frustrations about the program to us in appropriate and constructive ways. You should look into having ways that you can have more student feedback into department operations. Talk to your chair or your director of graduate studies about creating a student feedback committee or its equivalent."
},
{
"answer_id": 38674,
"author": "Blaisorblade",
"author_id": 8966,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8966",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "Imagine, as a thought experiment, making your points in an argumentative text—a paper\\*— that should pass peer review by your department (assuming intellectual honesty on their part) — so that you have to be careful that what you write is objective. You have to separate facts, beliefs, anecdotical evidence, etc. Then you have something you can pitch to people (in an informal context) while being professional and objective when describing facts, so it subsumes lots of other advice. (EDIT: lots of other things would be relevant to getting a paper accepted, but I only care about being careful with your opinion).\n\nMoreover, framing things this way might help you expose them to anybody else — from people on this forum, to your advisor, to people who might change things at your school. Many of them will be excellent at arguing their point this way, you have to be better than them to win.\n\n> \n> While this is a top school, it has several disadvantages in comparison to other top schools:\n> \n> \n> * funding is inferior to other schools.\n> * in my experience, dealing with the administration was frustrating [evidence]\n> * while other schools allow you to pick your advisor, here you get it assigned through a rotation system. While it has the advantage of ..., it prevents you from picking the advisor with which you'd work best (something that you probably want to read about if you didn't already).\n> * ...\n> \n> \n> \n\nThe above isn't very convincing or accurate. Also, I don't have citations appropriate for your field. But hopefully you get the drift.\n\nAlso, as others said, if you can, give your opinion in an informal context (as recommended by others). The event should include moments for honest opinions.\n\n\\*I suspect some would debate to which extent a paper is an argumentative text, because this depends somewhat on the scientific community — at the very least, the importance of some results is not just a fact, but something that (in this information overload era) you need to argue for, if you want to get attention of your readers. In case you haven't been taught this already, somebody might be failing you more than you think."
},
{
"answer_id": 38696,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "Just like with anything else in life, you need to represent your employer/department/whoever in a positive light while also being honest.\n\nWhen I am in a similar situation as this, I turn \"this sucks\" into \"this is challenging.\" It is all in the wording. Graduate school is not easy, that is no secret. What challenges did you have? What was frustrating? If you stick through it, what is the benefit?\n\nI would not fault anyone for saying \"X, Y, and Z are challenging, but in the end I will have a doctorate.\""
}
] |
2015/02/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38591",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/29135/"
] |
38,613 |
I am applying a position, which requires applicants to send cover letter and other materials by email. I think that in the application email I would present almost the same content in the cover letter: my interests in the job, my achievement, etc. So I am wondering that whether a cover letter as an attachment is still necessary or not. Any more information needed in the cover letter?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38614,
"author": "Bill Barth",
"author_id": 11600,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11600",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "Write a traditional cover letter and attach it to your email. The committee reviewing your application may not get forwarded your original email. They will probably get a packet sent to them that's prepared by a staff member that aggregates all the submissions. Your email can be short and sweet: \"Dear Whoever, Here are my application materials for the position Professor of Blah Blah Blah as advertised at URL. Please see attached for all the requested documentation.\""
},
{
"answer_id": 38618,
"author": "RoboKaren",
"author_id": 14885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14885",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "A formal **cover letter** is necessary in some disciplines such as my own, where it serves as the short proxy for the research and teaching statement (i.e., you are expected in the space of 2 pages to summarize the significance of your research and if applying to a SLAC then the general focus of your teaching). There is great variance between disciplines though -- some require separate teaching and/or research statements. Ask your advisor what is appropriate for your field.\n\nIn any case, the **e-mail** containing the application itself can be short -- as the e-mail will often get deleted or otherwise not included in your file:\n\n```\nTo: \nSubject: Application for the junior position in sociocultural anthro (job #987)\n\nDear Search Committee\n\nPlease find enclosed my application for the junior faculty \nposition in sociocultural anthropology at the University of \nthe Bermudas (job posting #987). The attachments (enumerated...) \nare included in Adobe PDF format. \n\nPlease let me know if any files are missing or cannot be opened.\n\nWarmly,\n\nSani Zlish\n\n```"
},
{
"answer_id": 67275,
"author": "Ivy Harris",
"author_id": 52749,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/52749",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "I believe generally there isn't any big difference between a cover letter and an application email except the length. In the email you can simply state for which position you are applying and why you are applying but in a cover letter you give more information about yourself, your skills and achievements. Also, in the email you should mention why you are qualified for the position. Well, I guess the same should be mentioned in a cover letter. But as I mentioned above length is the difference so keep your mail short and to the point but write a compellingly interesting cover letter."
}
] |
2015/02/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38613",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/3848/"
] |
38,619 |
I can't help but notice that even in CS, professors' websites are almost always difficult to navigate, poorly-organized, and just generally hard to look at (poorly-tiled backgrounds, inconsistent fonts, etc.).
Why is this? Is it *expected* of academics? I'll be applying to graduate programs in the Fall and took a few hours to update my personal website, and was outright told by a professor that it was "too much". If I have a "fancy-looking" website, will this reflect negatively on me as an applicant?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38623,
"author": "Ketan Maheshwari",
"author_id": 6103,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6103",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "Web technologies change rapidly and so does the criteria of a non-ugly webpage and standards of ease of navigation. Most professors are not so web savvy (even CS) as to keep up with the new developments. At best, they might update the contents but I think this simply not happen to be a priority. Web development is increasingly a highly skilled and specialized profession and takes quite a bit of dedication to do right in my opinion."
},
{
"answer_id": 38624,
"author": "Thraupidae",
"author_id": 1106,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1106",
"pm_score": 7,
"selected": true,
"text": "Not ALL professors' websites are terrible. As referenced in this [nature commentary,](http://www.nature.com/naturejobs/science/articles/10.1038/nj7142-347a) many academics acknowledge the potential benefits of having a good website. This article also links to a contest where [submissions for the 'best lab websites'](https://pimm.wordpress.com/2007/04/16/how-does-a-good-laboratory-homepage-look-like-show-me-at-least-one/) were solicited. Many of the links there are great examples of lab websites with elegant aesthetics and intuitive navigation.\n\nI think a lot of this boils down to the fact that many faculty are older or too busy; making a good website takes time and skills that most academics simply don't have. Some labs will hire web designers to help with design, but today's funding climate makes that impractical for most PIs.\n\nHaving a good website for your own interests and professional development can only help you. I can't see any downside to this..."
},
{
"answer_id": 38627,
"author": "Trevor Wilson",
"author_id": 8937,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8937",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "I think your premise may be incorrect. For example, looking at the websites of CS faculty at my institution (<http://www.cs.uci.edu/faculty/index.php>) it looks like almost all are easy to navigate and well-organized. Almost all are either (1) pretty or (2) written in very basic HTML, and if (2) looks ugly then it should be considered the web browser's fault, not the author's fault (but I don't think it does look ugly.)\n\nAs for your second question; if you make your website neither fancy nor ugly, then everyone can be happy. Fancy is not the opposite of ugly for websites."
},
{
"answer_id": 38628,
"author": "Paul",
"author_id": 931,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/931",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "I believe @BillBarth's comment says it all: It's a matter of Cost vs. Benefit! Why bother updating your website to meet users' quality expectations when:\n\n1. it bears no influence on your job peformance evaluation (i.e. tenure evaluation) and\n2. It takes too much time and effort to make websites look nice.\n\nThe only exception to this rule is if you have a rather large laboratory and Public Relations is a necessary evil. Then, you might find professors hiring website developers/administrators. But never would you find a professor doing this all by themselves."
},
{
"answer_id": 38629,
"author": "Cape Code",
"author_id": 10643,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10643",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "**Because there is no need for them not to be.**\n\nProfessors and academics, per their job descriptions or the scope of research grants, mainly have *research*, *teaching*, and *students supervision* duties, mitigated by administrative hurdles. None of these are addressed by polishing their website."
},
{
"answer_id": 38632,
"author": "Bitwise",
"author_id": 6862,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6862",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": false,
"text": "There is another aspect that I have not seen mentioned in other answers.\n\nIn some scientific fields/cultures, a stylish website could be viewed as unnecessary or even pompous. In this view, the textual content of a website is the only thing that matters, and if you \"need\" to make your website stylish perhaps it lacks real substance. This is the same line of thought that supports simplicity in presentation with minimal graphics. I have encountered this especially in math and theoretical CS.\n\nThere might also be a prestige factor, along the lines of \"I am so important, my work is so well-known and I am so busy, that I don't need a website\".\n\nIn many other cases I agree it is simply a lack of knowledge/time/benefit."
},
{
"answer_id": 38633,
"author": "Siphon",
"author_id": 29161,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/29161",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "The thing people tend to overlook is the fact that CS professors do not always have experience in the areas needed to design good interfaces. Making something work well and making a good user interface are often completely different skills; a web programmer is not a web designer, and vice versa. In most cases, you need to take specific design courses in order to understand what it takes to design a good user interface.\n\nUltimately, web design takes too much dedication of time for most busy people to consider investing their own resources even if they can build the website from scratch, and being able to build a website takes enough dedication already. It is also worth mentioning that being a professor of programming does not imply they know about web programming. For example, teaching data structures has no dependency on being able to use a database within the core of a website.\n\nThat being said, a \"bad\" design to most might have been the \"best\" design to some people. This is called an opinion, and these have changed a lot since just the past two decades. Just be happy tiled animated gifs and auto-play midi files have lost popularity since then.\n\nAnd as for your site being too flashy, it depends on the situation and your personal preference. If you want it to be flashy, then go for it. However, the content of a personal site will have a bigger impact on more pragmatic people, which is common in the CS department. The most important aspect for a personal website is to provide a quality experience for the right situation in order to show you know your stuff. This will vary depending on what you need to accomplish."
},
{
"answer_id": 38639,
"author": "Flounderer",
"author_id": 5842,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5842",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "I agree with @Bitwise. But I also want to mention that as a PhD student I had a site with colours etc. but when I got a bit older that began to look pretentious and like I had too much time on my hands, so I switched to a site with plain text and links to things I had done. This seems to be a typical pattern in mathematics. Having a spartan website sends the message that you are too busy doing research to bother with such trifles as CSS. \n\nPersonally I also think the plain text looks nice. I saw the website of one mathematician who was (and I believe still is) a prominent media personality. To enter it you had to click on a picture of his head. You could click on the left or right half of the brain to access his mathematical articles or his artistic pursuits/newspaper articles. Amusingly, since his head was facing towards the viewer, the two sides of the brain were labelled the wrong way round."
},
{
"answer_id": 38652,
"author": "jamesqf",
"author_id": 27365,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/27365",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "Because to at least some people (I'm one, and I expect many professors are also) a \"pretty\" website can often be a horribly dysfunctional piece of crap. When I look at a web site, I don't want to look at your choice of fonts & colors or your distracting patterned backgrounds, and I especially don't want to be \"entertained\" like the web was an effing TV. I want information, with as little fuss as possible. And I especially don't want web sites that use gee-whiz features that are only supported by a few browsers, or sometimes only one.\n\nPS: I can think of any number of commercial web sites, starting with Amazon, where \"prettyness\" gets in the way of the site's primary function, which is selling me stuff. \n\nPPS: Seeing the comment about Tim Berners-Lee's web site above made me consider another reason that some professors might choose not to have 'pretty' web sites. It's the same reason I don't have a personal web site, or FTM a Facebook page: privacy. I've never really understood why some people feel the urge to tell the world all about their personal lives. If I had to have a web site for my academic work, it would be a lot like Berners-Lee's: Here are links to my published work, here are the homework assignments &c for the classes I teach, now go away."
},
{
"answer_id": 38654,
"author": "DCTLib",
"author_id": 7390,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7390",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "I'd like to throw in one more fact into the ring:\n\nBefore a professor gets tenure, she often hops between several institutions (e.g., a PhD institution, two postdoc instutitions, one assistant professor institution, one institution to switch to after tenure, etc.). This means that the homepage has to move with them. Some institutions actually insist on using their design, and adapting an older page with lots of material to a new technology (the new institution may use a content management system) can easily take days that is probably better spent with doing research. So a simple copy&paste solution is often preferred. Obviously, that doesn't quite improve the visual quality of the page."
},
{
"answer_id": 90370,
"author": "Neil Meyer",
"author_id": 43106,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/43106",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "You have to ask yourself what makes a website poorly designed or well designed? If a website executes its purpose is it then really poorly designed? You have an idea of what an academic website should be but what if the website in question's design philosophy was simply get the information out there as quickly and cheaply as possible, how bad was the design really?\n\nThat being said I do think it is an error for any institution of learning to not have a website that is more in line with what you consider 'good design'.\n\nThe website is the first source of information about an institution for many people, if this source looks poor then it simply reflects badly on the institution.\n\nIf you have a job somewhere and you have a mullet and an earring do you really think that your employer is going to be all that happy about the impression you are leaving on his customers?\n\nThat may not have any bearing on you as person or the work that you do but still that is not going to make your employer all that happy.\n\nFirst impressions rarely have any bearing on reality but that does not make them any less long-lasting.\n\nYou would like to think that the type of things universities generally teach are of intellectuall standard higher than basic web design and that these places would put a premuim on good website design just for the mere fact of trying to give the impression that someone has mastered the type of skills the sysadmin mastered when he was 14."
},
{
"answer_id": 184407,
"author": "Aqualone",
"author_id": 128012,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/128012",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "This was true when this question was first asked seven years ago, but in the last few years, the average quality of professor's and research group websites have improved remarkably. Nowadays many professors, especially younger professors, have very nice websites.\n\nHaving a website is a good way to present one's research, and many postdocs and even graduate students are starting to make their own websites."
}
] |
2015/02/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38619",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/27690/"
] |
38,620 |
In my compilers class assignment, we were asked to write some MIPS code. One of the problem involved implementing `fact()` function as a sub-problem. I wanted to implement the standard recursive version
```
int fact ( int n )
{
if ( n == 0 || n == 1 ) return 1;
return n * fact(n-1);
}
```
As I am new to MIPS, I looked up [here](http://www.cs.nott.ac.uk/~txa/g51csa/l10-hand.pdf) on how to implement recursive routines. Unfortunately, the link explained recursion using `fact()` function itself. As I didn't want to "copy" code, I just understood the concept of recursion and wrote the `fact` myself.
But my `fact` code seems very similar to the one I looked up to learn recursion in MIPS. Is it for the fact that I glanced at the code already or the fact that factorial is really a very simple function with hardly 10 lines in it? Am I guilty of plagiarism here?
Here is my code
```
fact: addi $sp, $sp, -8 # decrement SP to make room for pushing input var and ret addr
sw $ra, 4($sp) # save $ra
sw $a0, 0($sp) # save input on stack
li $v0, 1 # Set v0 to 1 initially.
beq $a0, 0, fact_ret # if ( n == 0 ) return 1;
beq $a0, 1, fact_ret # if (n == 1) return 1;
addi $a0, $a0, -1
jal fact # Recursive call fact(n-1)
lw $a0, 0($sp)
mult $v0, $a0 # n * fact(n-1)
mflo $v0 # Save answer in v0
fact_ret:
lw $ra, 4($sp) # restore $ra
addi $sp, $sp, 8 # restore $sp
jr $ra # return from function
```
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38622,
"author": "Ketan Maheshwari",
"author_id": 6103,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6103",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "I think this is very subjective question and will depend on who the judge is. I would suggest you communicate exactly what you wrote in the question to your professor and let him be the judge. If he thinks yes, he might assign you some other relevant exercise to evaluate your learning.\n\nBy actually being honest about your situation, you will likely be treated in a positive light."
},
{
"answer_id": 38634,
"author": "mfs",
"author_id": 29162,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/29162",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "You are right to worry about it since it might be detected as plagiarism by scanning software. At my last university, there was what might best be called a plagiarism witch-hunt that was carried out upon students with very little common sense by some staff. As advised above, you might well want to insert a disclaimer in your submission. You also would be wise to cite all reference material used before and after writing the function.\n\nAs advised above, your algorithm *should* be similar for something like this. If you haven't copied the function, then your comments should be significantly different from the original ones. You might even be advised to deliberately alter any comments that seem too similar to the published material or to 'tweak' the algorithm as a prophylactic against accusations of plagiarism."
},
{
"answer_id": 38642,
"author": "MathAndCo",
"author_id": 28473,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28473",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "The answers here are insane.\n\nThis is less than nothing!!!\nYou are discussing implementation of extremely basic function as a small part of your homework where using the internet is probably not only allowed but also desired."
}
] |
2015/02/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38620",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/29155/"
] |
38,645 |
So I am planning to apply to grad school sometime in the future and would need a letter of recommendation from an awesome professor who I took a time series class with.
I got an A- in the class, he liked my final project a lot and I know he remembers me but how do I maintain a good relationship with a professor after I've graduated?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38647,
"author": "Corvus",
"author_id": 27900,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/27900",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "If you don't plan to work with or take courses from this professor in the future, I advocate getting a letter of recommendation now instead of waiting. Services such as Interfolio allow your letter writers to upload a letter now that you can send out to any recipient at any time. This way, the professor still remembers you well; I can tell you from experience that after a couple of years of teaching large (>100 student) classes, even my better students start to fade together in my memory."
},
{
"answer_id": 38672,
"author": "Ellen Spertus",
"author_id": 269,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/269",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": true,
"text": "In addition to the good advice to request the letter now (or let the professor know now that you will request a letter later), I would recommend emailing the professor every year or so between now and then. In addition to letting him/her know what you're up to, say how valuable you've found what you learned in his/her class, if you can do so honestly, although don't overdo it. For example, you might say: \"What I learned about Scheme closures in your Programming Languages class turned out to be really useful when working with JavaScript on the job.\" or \"I found your handout on MVC so helpful that I've shared it with my co-workers, who also appreciated it\".\n\nI disagree with Fartuz about meeting with a professor 2-3 times/year. Professors' time is very valuable, and I would find such a request demanding/awkward."
},
{
"answer_id": 38775,
"author": "Ben Bitdiddle",
"author_id": 24384,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/24384",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "One thing you could do is apply for something now, like a scholarship or award, and secure their letter of reference. Then when you ask for a letter in the future, chances are they'll send out a slightly modified version of the original letter. (Bonus points if you actually get the award.)"
}
] |
2015/02/11
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38645",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/29179/"
] |
38,648 |
I was considering writing Emails to professors in US universities regarding PhD opportunities at their departments, however I noticed there is a formal PhD application with deadlines in December to follow. So what is the point in contacting professors for placements in their team when there is already an application process similar to undergraduate programmes? Thank you
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38649,
"author": "Bill Barth",
"author_id": 11600,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11600",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "In many departments, when it comes to accepting students, it's good to have a professor put their hand up and say that they would want to work with you and put you on their funding. By the time it gets to accepting students, because there are so many good applicants, the pool has become mostly indistinguishable. Having someone advocating for you at these meetings can make all the difference in the world."
},
{
"answer_id": 38766,
"author": "Johnathan Clayborn",
"author_id": 29299,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/29299",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "From my experience, it depends on the type of school that you want to go to. If you are attending a physical school in person they tend to follow the traditional schedule and have deadlines. However, online universities (of which there are many), often have less stringent application deadlines, or they accept applications all year long."
}
] |
2015/02/11
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38648",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/29187/"
] |
38,650 |
I have requested a teaching consultation from my university's Center for Teaching & Learning. First I'll meet with a couple of consultants, then they'll observe my regular class, and then they'll meet with me again to give me feedback on the classroom observation.
I'm not a very experienced teacher, I don't really know what I'm doing right or wrong, so I don't know what to ask the consultants to focus on. Except for one or two things related to [challenges I'm having](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/3210/how-to-teach-a-class-that-ive-never-taken) with the particular class I'm teaching right now, I don't have anything specific in mind to ask them about.
Does anyone have any suggestions for making the most of a teaching consultation? Anything specific I can ask them to focus on that might prove especially useful?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 40204,
"author": "icedtrees",
"author_id": 30608,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30608",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "Ideally you want to focus on teaching components that **you would not ordinarily notice yourself**.\n\nI do not have previous experience with teaching consultations, but I can suggest some facets of teaching that are difficult to improve without others' feedback. Especially when you are speaking, there are things you miss because you are focusing on choosing your words.\n\n* Body language and conveyed impressions\n* Mannerisms, e.g. 'like...', 'um', 'ah'\n* Volume and pace of speaking\n* Eye direction (are you looking at the students, or do you look upwards when thinking?)\n* Students' facial expressions and body language (what do they think of this specific class and why?)\n\nConversely, there are some facets of your teaching you will notice by yourself in time, and are not particularly benefited by feedback:\n\n* The clarity of your material (diagrams, slideshows, images). It may be more worthwhile to review this in your own time.\n* Which parts of your content are difficult for students\n* Whether students feel confident to interact\n* What lesson structures work better\n* Students' *overall* feelings about the course (assuming you have course feedback forms)\n\nI hope you make the most out of this opportunity!"
},
{
"answer_id": 49259,
"author": "ff524",
"author_id": 11365,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11365",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "As per [Kimball's suggestion](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38650/how-to-get-the-most-benefit-out-of-a-teaching-consultation#comment85910_38650), I collected midterm feedback from my students the week before the consultants' visit. (Specifically, I did the [one-point raise](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/37968/11365) survey.)\n\nI scanned all the responses and emailed them to the consultants, and we discussed specific steps I could take to improve my effectiveness as a teacher *in this course*, given some valid points raised by the students. \n\nThen, during the classroom observation, they were able to make a note of whether it seemed we had successfully addressed those issues."
}
] |
2015/02/11
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38650",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11365/"
] |
38,655 |
I am looking for a bit of advice on how to handle the workload in a PhD while juggling several collaborative projects plus family pressures.
I am in the final year of my PhD which, overall, has been fairly successful to date. I am currently collaborating on a number of projects with other academics - most of which have been going on for some time and are nearing completion - which along with other work I am doing independently will form my PhD thesis. When I took on the projects I was confident that I would have the time and knowledge to turn them around fairly quickly.
However, I recently had my first child with my partner a couple of months ago and I have found it almost impossible to get much meaningful work done since (and also in later stages of the pregnancy) due to the pressure of supporting her and my child - sleepless nights, caring for the baby and her along with the additional strains on our relationship. I am now under pressure from most of these collaborators to finish my parts of the projects and this has been causing me considerable stress, which in turn has made it even more difficult to focus on projects and get them completed. I have to add that on most of these projects I have done a considerable bulk of the work, while other collaborators have at times been slow with their turn around, which is one of the reasons I now have so many ongoing projects. But I get the feeling that several of them feel I am now stringing them along but giving repeated dates for completion that I do not meet.
I feel under huge pressure and strain from multiple directions. I often do not check my emails for days knowing that there will likely be another email asking about progress, my relationship is suffering and I do not properly enjoy spending time with my child - my work seems to pollute much of my life now. Funding is not an issue as I have sources of funding that will take me well beyond the time I need to complete my thesis, but I feel I am burning bridges with other academics in the the field, which is causing me considerable stress.
I think I probably know what I need to do, but can't bear to do it... I have two first authorships and a significant authorship and am writing up a further two first authored papers. These alone would be enough for my PhD and probably a decent postdoc position. I should inform my other collaborators that I won't be able to work on their projects any longer, or at least not within the forseeable future. It would pain me to do this as I have already invested considerable time in these, and without my further input some (most?) would be unlikely to be completed and published, or would be inferior publications to what they could have been, as well as seriously damaging my reputation with these academics.
I would appreciate thoughts of people on how I should approach this - especially from people who have been in similar situations or have dealt with very slow and unreliable collaborators.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38668,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "I've been on both sides of your dilemma, both as the slow and unreliable collaborator and as the person dealing with a slow and unreliable collaborator, and I deeply understand your dilemma and your pain.\n\nThe first thing to understand is that this is not an unusual situation, and you aren't a bad person for having it happen to you. In fact, this is a fairly normal situation of life for most people pursuing post-Ph.D. research careers. The basic problem is this: collaborations, grant proposals, professional service, and many other aspects of a scientific career all have long time horizons and high uncertainty associated with them. That means that you often have to make a time commitment without really knowing how large it will be or what it will be competing with six months, one year, three years down the line. What that means is that, no matter what approach you take to personal time management, you are likely to be frequently faced either with significant unfunded gaps, with majorly overloaded periods, or even both in oscillation.\n\nAt the beginning of a Ph.D., most people do not have this problem, because they have precisely one research project, and they can work consistently on just that project and their courses (and maybe TAing). This situation sometimes persists to the end of a Ph.D. or through a postdoc. As a person moves towards independence of a researcher, however, they start to have more opportunities and more choices, and are faced with this dilemma of planning under long-term uncertainty.\n\nUnfortunately, under the current organization of academia at least, there seem to really be only two solutions to this problem:\n\n1. Be low-ambition as a researcher, ensuring that you are never overcommitted but greatly decreasing your chances of obtaining a tenure-track position at a strong research institution, or of making tenure once you have one.\n2. Triage and honesty.\n\nThe best advice that I have ever seen about the second path is in [this blog post](http://proflikesubstance.scientopia.org/2012/05/15/on-worklife-balance/): \"The only \"balance\" is in choosing which ball you are going to let drop today and deciding not to drop the same ball repeatedly.\"\n\nNow, as to what to do: first, you need to be honest with your collaborators about the change in your life circumstances. Having a child radically changes your life and your available time: as a parent of a 2-year old, I have about 20 hours/week less for work than I used to, and that's despite making compromises I'm not entirely comfortable with in the amount of time I spend with my daughter. Science will expand to fill the time allotted to it, so the first thing you need to do is to decide how much time you are setting aside for family, and **guard that time with your life.** Practice saying things like, \"I'm sorry, I can't meet with you then, I have to be parenting then,\" and \"I'm sorry, but this weekend I have family commitments.\" and spend the time you need to spend with your partner and your child. Second, you also need to take care of yourself: if you aren't sleeping well and eating healthily, your research productivity will drop even as you spend more time working and your stress level rises.\n\nNow, if you do this, it means that you are not going to be able to follow through on all of your commitments to your collaborators. There simply aren't enough hours in the day. And that means you're going to have to triage. In my experience, the most important thing here is honesty. In my collaborations, I can plan how to manage a collaboration in which somebody tells me, \"I'm going to need to put this on the back burner for a couple months,\" or \"I'm going to be able to spend only 4 hours a week on this,\" but I can't plan how to manage a collaboration with somebody who tries to conceal their overcommitment or who repeatedly promises things that they cannot deliver.\n\nYou need to figure out *your* priorities for investment on your projects, not for all time, but at least for a few months. You can reassess afterwards. Talk it over with your advisor, to make sure they're OK with it, and then let your other collaborators know that you've had to reassess your commitments and what they should expect from you. Be explicit about the fact that it is becoming a parent that is driving this change: any collaborator that is worth continuing to work with will understand and respect this fact and be willing to work with you on this. Anybody who doesn't is somebody that you want to be very cautious about continuing work with in any case.\n\nAnd make sure that you have enough space to *enjoy* time with both your child and your partner. Our time in life is far too short and precious as it is."
},
{
"answer_id": 38706,
"author": "I Like to Code",
"author_id": 8802,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8802",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "First, congratulations on the birth of your baby!\nIt is a wonderful and life-changing experience,\nbut also can stress your body, mind and relationships\nas you have experienced.\n\nI empathize with your situation,\nas I also had my first baby born during my PhD studies.\n\nIn my opinion,\nyou are facing two different causes of stress:\nstress from external sources (pressure from your collaborators)\nand stress from within yourself (pressure that you give yourself).\n\n### External stress\n\nTo reduce stress from your collaborators,\nI would suggest that you periodically spend some time\nto **make a high-level plan for the next few months of work**.\nHow much time and energy do you have to work in the next few months?\nWhich projects are you going to tackle,\nand what outcomes will you be able to achieve?\nThe goal is to come up with a realistic plan that you can work towards.\nGiven that you feel that you currently have too many projects,\nas evidenced by not being able to complete tasks by deadlines you commit to,\nI would recommend putting some of your projects on the backburner.\nIf your collaborators are reasonable people,\nthey should be understanding when you explain your situation.\n\n### Internal stress\n\nOne of the things that helped me a lot\nwas **regular meetings with a counselor**.\nAt my institution, there was a mental health and counseling center\nas part of the student medical servies.\nI was able to talk to a counselor for free on campus\nabout once every one or two weeks.\nThis was helpful because it helped me to do a \"brain dump\"\nand forced me to explain to another person\nwhat I was experiencing and how I planned to move forward.\nI also received good suggestions\nabout habits that I could adopt in order to work more effectively.\n\nIn particular, my counselor suggested that\nI needed to **establish clear boundaries\nto separate my work life from my home life**,\nbut only working in the office,\nand not bringing any work home.\nBy separating physically the spheres of work and family life,\nthis helped me to separate them emotionally as well.\n\nFor the family dimension,\nI would recommend that you keep up communication with your partner,\nand also stay connected with your family and friends.\nAdditionally, you may want to consider marriage counseling.\nI was fortunate in that the mental health and counseling center at my institution\nwas also able to provide marriage counseling (also free!),\nand we both found it extremely helpful\nin terms of forcing us to communicate and talk deeply with each other.\n\nFinally: Don't give up.\nThings do settle down with the baby after the first few months."
}
] |
2015/02/11
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38655",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/29199/"
] |
38,656 |
First a little bit of background.
I am a graduate student (Bachelor) who will finish the Master degree in June or July at most. I am working on my thesis at my university with a professor which I know quite well. I am getting a Master of Electronics Engineering, thus my thesis includes some practical work and I got to know a lot of people at the Information Engineering department. I think that the work they do here is great and valuable, and so is the people.
Meanwhile there's a friend of mine who works for a quite big company near my local university. They are hiring young graduates for open-ended positions and I am very likely to be hired if I do an interview. My friend was with me at the university for five years now, we did much work together and I'd love to work with him, plus he tells me that the work environment is great.
The problem is that I would love to teach. Some people think I am quite good at what I study and quite good at explaining things to people. I love the idea of spreading knowledge, helping students understand things and pretty much all what's involved in the teaching process. To achieve this I will need to apply (and hopefully win) for a PhD, that I thought I can do at my local university because of what stated in the first paragraph, and because my girlfriend is currently studying here too so moving is an option that I'd like to avoid for now.
What keeps me to just jump in the Academic world is the fact that in my country (Italy) things seems to be a little stagnant, there are great people in their forties that are still associate (or researchers!) while some old professors (very, very bad at teaching) hold more than one chair. And of course from the economic point of view there might be a gap as high as 10x between industry and academy, but happiness can't be bought of course.
My question then is: given the fact that I am **sure** I would love to become a professor but the road might be hard (too hard maybe) would you advise me to take a PhD (that's three years here) and at least try the academic path or leave it already and hit the job market head on? Are there many downsights in starting an industry career after a PhD?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 38657,
"author": "Stephan Kolassa",
"author_id": 4140,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4140",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "First, we have [26 questions tagged phd+industry](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/phd+industry). Nothing that is a direct duplicate, but I'd still recommend you browse through them. [This question](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/17253/what-post-phd-path-alternatives-are-there) and [this question](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11149/what-are-the-potential-pitfalls-of-having-a-phd) appear especially relevant.\n\nSecond, it will be hard for us to really answer your question, because we simply are not in your position. Yes, staying in academia and getting tenure is *hard*, and most people drop out. Until you get tenure, you will work your backside off. [If you *really* love it, you can take the risk, but be prepared for a long, hard slog.](https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/27638/4140)\n\nThird, that said, a couple of specific comments. You write that you love to teach. On the one hand, that raises a bit of a red flag to me, because teaching is not necessarily the top responsibility for a professor. Publications are *far* more important. If you want to become a professor, you will spend a decade writing papers and doing your teaching \"on the side\"... because you won't be able to get tenure based on your teaching alone. You can relax the research part and concentrate on teaching *after* getting tenure.\n\nI am not familiar with the system in Italy. Im Germany, there are [universities of applied sciences](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vocational_university) (used to be called *Fachhochschule*, nowadays *Hochschule*). You'll apply for a professorship there if you have a Ph.D. and at least five years experience in industry. Then you will do *a lot* of teaching. Teaching load at *Hochschulen* is twice as high as at \"regular\" universities and *very* applied, and conversely, you are really not expected to do a lot of research. If something comparable exists in Italy, this may be a potential career route for you.\n\nThen again, if you just like to teach, you could try to go into industry and get a job as a trainer. You won't need a Ph.D. for that (in fact, you'd probably be overqualified with a Ph.D.). However, note that trainers are often on the road a lot."
},
{
"answer_id": 38660,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "There are many ways to teach besides being a university professor. You can teach in primary or secondary school, you can teach at trade schools or for associates/professional degrees, you can tutor, you can volunteer, you can get involved in educational NGOs, you can even just come hang out on Stack Exchange sites. If you aren't passionate about research, I would highly recommend one of these other routes rather than Ph.D. \n\nNote also that industry does not preclude Ph.D.: I know many people who have done a PH.D. after some time in industry, and they often do quite well, since they usually know much better *why* they want one than a fresh graduate for whom it is just \"the next step.\""
},
{
"answer_id": 38662,
"author": "Ken Zein",
"author_id": 29213,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/29213",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "I have a bachelor's in computer engineering and I currently work in software (early in my career). When I was in college I was seriously considering doing a Ph.D. and I talked to students and professors about it. I also like teaching, and I believe I do it well; I've tutored high school students and classmates.\n\nI can't speak for your situation exactly, but for myself the main thing that deterred me was the salary difference and job availability. I wanted to have the potential to make more money, and have more options regarding the location of my job, whereas a professor can only teach in a university. (I also thought I'd enjoy both industry and academia, if that were not the case it's possible my decision would have been different.)\n\nI had also considered going for a PhD and going into industry, but from what people told me the job market for PhD's wasn't very good, since you'd be seen as overqualified for most positions. (Though that could be wrong, but that was the impression I got from people I spoke to.)\n\nThe other thing was that I was unwilling to make a longtime commitment (5 years) to something with an uncertain outcome.\n\nI can also say that of my best professors, many were those with industry experience (though mostly they weren't full professors). So if you want to be the best teacher you can be (from a student's perspective), I'd say industry experience can help.\n\nGood luck!"
},
{
"answer_id": 38699,
"author": "Ben",
"author_id": 29238,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/29238",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "I have a PhD and so feel that I can give you some pointed advice. Finishing your degree is all about your professor and publications to some extent. It is not a giving that you are going to finish. If you really love teaching, then doing a Phd and then teaching at a liberal arts college or non R1 universities might be a good option. Just know that the PhD road is not going to be easy if you don't like research, plus you are going to lose out on income. On the other hand, if you finish and are able to secure a teaching job, you get to be your own boss and not work during the summer if you choose to."
},
{
"answer_id": 115878,
"author": "Jan Hackenberg",
"author_id": 60248,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/60248",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "You make assumptions about your choice where I see a danger of misjudgement of external peoples decision. You can get knowledge about if your judgement is true without doing a true decision. I talk about the assumption, that the industry interview is most likely a walk trough, while a potential project is more likely to be rejected. Get in closer contact instead with both sides, e.g. look actively for open research positions in your town and if not there make sharp first contact to good chairs at this university. Do the same with the company. You never get a immediate reply after you write an application, there is always time to write another one or two applications. You might meet a professor and might get invited for an interview in the company. It is your right in this case to go to both sides. See what they offer. In interviews you always learn so much anyway. It is also a good psychological effect that during an interview you have somehow present that there is a second option coming next days. Less pressure and you will perform better. I personally also do not consider it wise to assume you have a close to garateed positive feedback. \n\nYou might also be able to teach people in a company. You will start there as a youngster, but you will get experience in your company and start sharing it to other youngsters. Dont forget about this point.\n\nYou should not be afraid of negative side effects on your later life. If you join industry after a phd you should be able to ask for higher sallery. Phd first year sallery benefits are in general higher than master first year salleries. In your field though there might be not a plus over a fourth year master sallery, but it averages out somehow.\n\nYou might have better choices to enter RD company parts with a phd, here it is benefitial. If you prefer non \"research\" part of industry, you can still reason for it in future during interviews. A PHD does not open you every door, but it also does not block you every job opportunities at master level. Your CV has to look interesting, but that does not mean linear.\n\nIn the end you will have to decide on your own, here in forum you can only ask for missing point of views. I agree that going for the professorship is the harder choice. But there will still more than a decade time to leave science if you choose for other priorities in life expectedly. I assume a phd in your field will already be considered close as possible to industry work. one of the more practical phds."
}
] |
2015/02/11
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38656",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/29200/"
] |