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43,154 |
The title says it all I believe.
Do I need to request permission from a colleague to cite their information as a "personal communication"?
"Do I need to" may be a little restrictive, so I'll also ask, would you feel wronged or offended if your personal comm. were cited without your express permission?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43159,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "I think we don't even need to consider permission in order to resolve this question. The more fundamental question is this: how do you know that \"personal communication\" is the right citation and not a publication? \n\nYour colleague may have been passing on information that they or somebody else had already published. Even if it was not published when the colleague spoke to you, it may have been published (or at least submitted) as part of some manuscript since. It may also have been communicated to you in confidence---you would hopefully remember if this was the case, but in some cases it may be easy to forget, e.g., if it was said during a UK meeting held under [Chatham House Rule](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chatham_House_Rule) or at a [Gordon Conference](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Research_Conferences).\n\nI would thus recommend contacting the colleague to ask what the appropriate citation for the information is. At that point, the colleague can make an appropriate judgement and either point you to a standard citation, tell you to cite as personal communication, or request that you not publish the information."
},
{
"answer_id": 43171,
"author": "JRN",
"author_id": 64,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/64",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "You should request your colleague's permission to cite his/her personal communication. Your colleague could have provided the information casually, and not to the same standards as publishing in a journal, and so the information could be incorrect.\n\nFor example, if someone asks me \"Hey, Joel, is 57 a prime number?\" and I say, \"Yeah, I think so,\" I would be very hurt if that person cites me in the paper as \"Noche claims that 57 is prime.\"\n\n(I'm referring to the [Grothendieck prime](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/57_%28number%29).)"
}
] |
2015/04/08
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43154",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/24711/"
] |
43,157 |
My advisor will be taking on a number of summer interns, some of whom have been assigned to my projects. The interns are a mix of sophomore and junior undergrads with varied levels of research experience. They will be present for 8 weeks (2 months).
What are some general tips for supervising interns ?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43163,
"author": "blankip",
"author_id": 11420,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11420",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "My biggest piece of advice is set expectations from day one and then work with them very very closely until you feel like they have \"taken off\" and are also on the same page. It is such a short amount of time that you may have to have them do some shadowing to get them on board as soon as possible. \n\nThe worst thing you can do is tell them to do things, not get what you expect, then in week three you have gone no where, you are frustrated, they are frustrated, and then they are gone before you know it."
},
{
"answer_id": 43238,
"author": "Flyto",
"author_id": 8394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8394",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "A few general tips, from somebody who has been on both sides of this. Paragraphs are not especially related to one another!\n\n* Make sure they understand the big picture - not only what they are doing, but why they are doing it. What's the overall ambition of which they are a part?\n* Make sure they understand the middle picture - what are you hoping that they will achieve during the internship, and how does that fit into the big picture?\n* Make sure they understand what they are doing from day to day. This is more about them feeling comfortable in coming to you with questions, and having sufficiently regular meetings that you understand what is going on and can keep an eye.\n\nAll of the above can help to maintain motivation.\n\nRemember, perhaps above all else, why the intern is there: Partly to help with your project, but mostly to gain experience of a real research environment. Invite them to meetings where appropriate (or encourage your supervisor to do so), even if it's only relevant in a background sense; discuss things with them rather than just giving instructions; try, so far as possible, to expose them to more than routine \"grunt\" work.\n\nUntil you start to work with an intern, especially at undergrad level, you will have probably little clarity on their skills. For example, if somebody has put on their CV \"Can use MATLAB\", that can mean anything from \"can follow worked examples\" to \"can be left alone to build complex systems\". You will need to discuss things with them, and probably work quite closely with them at the start, to gauge their skills, and set expectations accordingly - bearing in mind that the internship may be a good opportunity for them to *learn* any skills that they need and do not possess. This should be encouraged.\n\nOn a related note, if an intern does not fully understand what they are doing, and especially if there is time pressure, there can be a tendency for them to get into a mindset of just following instructions by rote. This should be discouraged, for (a) it is tremendously demotivating; (b) somebody who is doing things without understanding them may do things *wrong* without understanding them; (c) if the purpose of an internship is to gain experience of research work, this is not going to help."
}
] |
2015/04/08
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43157",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/27265/"
] |
43,160 |
I am currently writing a research paper and am having an issue referring to an author of [a paper](http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/mas/article/viewFile/6029/4866) whose name is "Dadi He". I know that it is common practice to refer to an author by their last name when referring to them or their findings.
Though I find myself writing sentences starting along the lines of "He found that...". I assume that the simple solution is to refer to the author by his full name. But this seems to become repetitive after a few sentences.
Is this correct, is there a more formal or accepted way to do so?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43188,
"author": "Wolfgang Bangerth",
"author_id": 31149,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31149",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "It's too funny a situation to pass up the opportunity to quip about it in the paper and simply acknowledge the situation. As in:\n\n> \n> Our methodology is based on one that was first investigated in D. He (1983) and in the following, we will discuss how the referenced paper inspired our approach. (Referencing the author of He (1983) presents a conundrum because the name can be confused with the male pronoun. In the following, when written in uppercase, we will refer to the name -- though there really is no potential for misunderstandings since D. He is male.)\n> \n> \n> \n\nI do think that occasional humor should not be discouraged."
},
{
"answer_id": 43201,
"author": "Wrzlprmft",
"author_id": 7734,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7734",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "At least in my field, it’s rather uncommon to mention an author’s name in a paper. Rather it is something along the lines of the following (somewhat depending on the citation style):\n\n> \n> Ref. [42] showed that discombobulators can facilitate banana transmogrification.\n> \n> \n> Recently it was shown that discombobulators can facilitate banana transmogrification [42].\n> \n> \n> Recently it was shown that discombobulators can facilitate banana transmogrification (He et al., 2014).\n> \n> \n> \n\nThat does not mean that it would be wrong to mention an author by name, but I would find a paper that intensively does so somewhat strange – even if the paper heavily builds upon this author’s work. At least I would find it totally acceptable if such an author was mentioned only once or twice.\n\nSo as a first step, I suggest to **change your writing style as to mention He** and other authors **less often**. If you have a whole paragraph where you refer to He’s work in every sentence, it should suffice to mention this in the first sentence, e.g., like this:\n\n> \n> The method we are proposing is an extension of the method proposed by He [42], which briefly works as follows: […]\n> \n> \n> \n\nMentioning any author in such a paragraph repeatedly, let alone always at the beginning of a sentence is something that I would consider bad style anyway. Be sure to check as to whether this is not totally uncommon in your field.\n\nFor the remaining occurrences of He’s name, **rephrase the sentences such that the name does not occurr at the beginning of a sentence** such that it does not happen at the beginning of a sentence or after an abbrevation. Capitalisation should suffice to make the distinction here. You may hold some subconscious ideal that it should be possible to tackle such issues without rephrasing sentences, but it’s a totally viable approach. Also, as explained before, this should at most apply to a few sentences.\n\nSome thoughts on alternatives and what I consider problematic about them:\n\n* Mentioning the author’s full name. This is still likely to cause confusion, in particular among those who do not see the issue and wonder why this author is mentioned with a first name. Also, in some situations, the reader may not be aware that the first and last name actually belong together.\n* Prepending the initialised first name of the author. This makes reading your text even more difficult, as one will likely think at first that a sentence ends after D. He’s first name, in particular if it’s grammatically plausible such as in this sentence."
},
{
"answer_id": 43219,
"author": "Tom Church",
"author_id": 563,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/563",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "Specific anti-advice (for a related situation):\n\nIf this situation arises with a female author, *especially* if their first name is recognizably female, I encourage you **not** to write out the full name each time.\n\nIt may seem unobjectionable, but this would play into the sexist practice (once widespread, though fortunately much less common today) of referring to men by last name while referring to women always by first and last name: \n\n> \n> This phenomenon has been analyzed previously by Vczdidt [6], Larg [7], Muqy Jodor [2,3,4], Elfenbacher [1], Doris Laubin [5], and Washington [8,9].\n> \n> \n>"
}
] |
2015/04/08
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43160",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/25149/"
] |
43,161 |
**Question**
What habits and attitudes need to change when one hits the upper bounds of natural ability? This is the situation where you can no longer increase your *rate of advancement*. In effect your effort is "bounded from above". I am thinking primarily about research and learning from a student's perspective but I am sure this problem is common to everyone eventually. There must be some limit at which even the greatest stop accelerating. Given that this barrier has existed for a long time and affects every human that ever lived, there must be structual approaches to overcoming exhaustion of the lowhanging fruit. What are proven methods to continue improvement, or, failing that, hug the limit of natural ability as tightly as possible? Similarly to compound interest, if you underperform by 3% every year, then in 24 years you will be half the man you could have been.
The answer from Ben succiently explains this idea in the work equation:
work = (work rate)\*(hours worked)
Assume that for whatever reason the goal is to maximize the work. If one can no longer increase the hours worked, what are strategies to increase the work rate?
What are new ways of thinking that can keep one at maximum possible performance? Are there ways of structuring your time that you have found that just *work*. What really helped you in staring down your own limitations?
**My Motivation:**
>
> I have been fighting this ceiling for several months now, and I am getting >! to a hard physcial limit. I am at a barely ranked school and still have the dream of significant contributions to my field. Realistically this dream requires me to perform on the level of students at top universities. My first strategy was to just put in more time than the students who do better than me. It worked to beat the undergraduates here who spend 40% of their time on extra curriculars and social lives. However the graduate students are much more disciplined and working harder than their 80-100 hrs/wk is of much greater difficulty. To further compound the problem, we are nowhere near the quality of the top schools, so I fear beating the best grad student in my department would be equivalent to a freshman at T1 school.
>
>
> I only started to work systematically when I started university, and have now developed a strong work ethic. I am at the point where I have eliminated everything else in my life except classwork and research projects. There is no longer any significant reservoir of time I can tap to make progress. I likely can obtain about 10 more hours a week if I mange to crack down on the instances where I am actually unproductive. This is my budget for improvement. Others may have more time available which is why I am not asking about quick hacks (although quick hacks would help me more).
>
>
>
**Note**:I am just beginging my academic career, but I am really concerned about not being able accomplish my goals. If you understand what I am getting at please feel free to **edit** to make the key idea more clear. There has to be a way using logical frameworks to minimize the inherent limitations of whatever body you are stuck with. I am not looking for a "self-help", "positve thinking" style answer. I am looking for methods that you, SE.Academia, as men of science and reason, find that work.
**edit**
I have put the motivation in spoilers because it is not important for answering the question I want to ask (should I just remove it?). Some answers are addressing my specific situation which I think is not the purpose of this site. We are supposed to ask general questions that can apply to others, not just advice threads.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43165,
"author": "Patricia Shanahan",
"author_id": 10220,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10220",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "\"I am at the point where I have eliminated everything else in my life except classwork and research projects.\"\n\nThat is likely to be counter-productive. You need to leave room in your life for inspiration to strike, not just perspiration. Go for a walk. Take up a hobby that does not require total concentration. You may be limiting yourself by not allowing enough time for rest and relaxation.\n\nI know I am much more likely to get a creative idea for solving a problem doing something else, rather than staring at it, once I have the background firmly in my mind."
},
{
"answer_id": 43170,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "Have you talked with your advisor or another mentor about your concerns? Getting another person's advice and insights can be crucial, particularly from someone who knows you well but has a broader perspective. Think of it in athletic terms: even the most talented athletes can't reach their full potential without skilled coaching. Generic advice and strategies can help, but they can't replace continuous guidance that is tailored to your specific needs.\n\nIt sounds like you've done a great job of working hard, but that's only part of the picture, and you may even have gone beyond diminishing returns to reach the point of burning yourself out.\n\nSo if it's not just a matter of hard work, what else can you do? This is a difficult question, since of course nobody on this site knows enough about your talents and accomplishments to say anything specific, but here are a few possibilities:\n\n1. How well calibrated is your ambition? Some people devote a lot of time to research topics that are beneath their talents and will never lead anywhere exciting; they need to take on greater challenges. Others are so determined to accomplish something amazing that they waste time struggling fruitlessly with the deepest challenges while ignoring other exciting and more approachable topics.\n2. Are you juggling an appropriate number of projects? Focusing exclusively on one project can be less productive, since you can't switch modes when you feel stuck or frustrated. On the other hand, switching too frequently is a good way to get nothing done.\n3. How much time are you spending on activities in your field outside of your current, direct research interests? For example, attending talks, chatting with other researchers, reading famous papers, filling in gaps in your background knowledge, etc. If you neglect these things, you won't grow as much as a researcher, but if you spend too much time on them, they will distract you from actually doing research.\n\nNotice that each of these topics is a balancing act, in which going too far in either direction is problematic. That's what makes them difficult, and it's why feedback from a mentor can be so valuable."
},
{
"answer_id": 43200,
"author": "Alexandros",
"author_id": 10042,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10042",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "I am sorry to say but your way of thinking in the long run will be counter-productive for you. You must always set small, visible, measurable goals instead of vague infeasible plans that may be out of your reach. E.g., It is one thing to say \"I enjoy playing the guitar so I will practice to be the best guitar player I can be\" and another to say \"I am going to be the greatest guitar player that ever stepped on this earth\" or \"I am going to be the greatest rock star ever\". \n\nIn this sense, your thought \"*I still have the dream of significant contributions to my field*\" is toxic and it will probably lead you to frustration (unless you are [Terence Tao](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terence_Tao)) or burn out, because the success of this dream is determined by outside factors that you cannot control or influence. Also this goal is egoistical. I am positive, that most people who made significant impact on their field did not started for such a self - centered goal but instead it was their desire to do research and their skills to do so that lead them to success. World recognition or fame is mostly a motive for those who will do everything from hacking results, stealing papers and falsifying research to get ahead from the pack. \n\nSo you must strive for smaller feasible milestones that bring you closer to your remote goal but are within your reach. Such milestones might be: \"Get good grades so I can go to a better university for a PHD than my current school\", \"Write my first paper\", \"Get accepted for a PHD\", \"Get a PHD\" and so-on. Setting goals should not be a static process but must be flexible enough to adapt to external feedback. And take the hints from external feedback to adjust accordingly. E.g., It will be unreasonable to expect to make significant impact to a scientific field if you cannot write even your first paper. Therefore dreams and ambition are nice but as you already figured out we all have some external and internal limits that we cannot overcome. \n\nAlso success is not linear and it is a combination of many factors. Some of them are: Drive, hard work, ability and luck. You obviously have the drive and you want to invest the hard work but you also need luck and the necessary skills. You also need other people's help. You must seek for people who will believe in you, will see your hard work and are willing to help. Supervisors who will do their best to mentor you. A spouse who will support you on the inevitable rejections of research. You just cannot do everything alone. You need other people for that. And abandoning the social component of life entirely to compensate for what? So that you will once be a famous researcher? It really makes no sense. In other words, if research is what you want to do, then research should be fun for you (you do not do it for the money anyway). And right now, even before starting doing actual research you do not seem happy."
},
{
"answer_id": 43203,
"author": "Ben Trettel",
"author_id": 31143,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31143",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "You can improve, almost certainly. It's hard to know how much a priori, and that's true of most everything. You shouldn't be pessimistic.\n\nFirst, do not mistake working long hours with making progress. As others have indicated, this often is counterproductive. [MaxyXv Might gives the following equation for work output](http://matt.might.net/articles/work-life-balance/):\n\noutput = (work rate) \\* (hours worked)\n\nHours worked is only part of the equation. And your work rate, the amount of output you produce per hour, is also a function of hours worked. Work too much and you'll burn out (mathematically, this means your work rate will approach zero). As you've suggested, you need to work smarter, not necessarily more.\n\nSecond, you definitely have a [fixed mindset](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindset#Fixed_mindset_and_growth_mindset). If you believe things are hopeless, well, even if they aren't, you probably won't improve. You need a growth mindset to improve. This is where you believe you can improve. Work on this.\n\nMost likely, success is determined by both talent and focusing effort towards the right things. In my experience, effort is more important if you show any reasonable amount of ability. I can think of many people who I consider smarter than myself, who accomplish less. Some of these people even put a lot of effort in, but unfortunately they put the effort in the wrong way. Some of them are just \"unlucky\" (though [luck can be influenced too](http://www.richardwiseman.com/research/psychologyluck.html), it seems).\n\nSo what can you do to improve? No one is magically good at first. You need the right strategy to figure out how to get better. A strategy research has found to be common is [deliberate practice](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Practice_%28learning_method%29#Deliberate_practice). There are a lot of books on this subject. One I've read is [Talent is Overrated](http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B001HD8NZ8). The basics of the strategy should not surprise anyone, but you'd be surprised by how few people actually implement it. Deliberate practice is about focusing on what's actually valuable, not what just feels productive. In studies of musicians, for example, researchers looked at how accomplished people became and what their practice strategies were. The most accomplished musicians focused on the parts they had difficulty with, while the less accomplished ones spent most of their time playing music they were already comfortable with. The lesson here should be clear: you need to challenge yourself to improve. See what you need to learn to accomplish what you want. This might be learning certain theory, or learning how to do experiments, or learning to do research better, or whatnot.\n\nTarget the gaps in your knowledge, and fill them in as you go along (Izonqhous Mathugaxojiog suggests this). This is an essential habit in my view. It can be hard to implement, and I am not perfect at it, but over the past year I have started writing down things which I need to learn or understand poorly and started filling in the gaps roughly in order of importance or usefulness. Some of these things are trivial (for example, learning Roman numerals) but others are research-level questions.\n\nI find solving problems to be particularly helpful in highlighting gaps that I did not know I had. Textbooks have a lot of these, but I tend to find problems posted on internet websites (say, StackExchange sites) to be more diverse and ultimately more helpful for me.\n\nI'm a graduate student right now, and I dedicate about 1.5 hours a day towards learning. In the past, I was inconsistent about this, and I had ineffective learning strategies (e.g., just reading a book is not likely to make a strong impression). Being consistent, using good learning strategies, and focusing on what's important has made me much more effective.\n\nSome other books I would recommend to students interested in overcoming plateaus are [The Complete Problem Solver](http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0805803092) and [Your Memory](http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1569246297). The latter book in particular caused me to change a large number of my habits, and I think I am a much more effective student and teacher now. The book details a lot about how to learn and remember more effectively. I'd also recommend the software [Anki](http://ankisrs.net/) to reduce the amount you forget."
},
{
"answer_id": 43257,
"author": "ssmart",
"author_id": 32864,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32864",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "When you go to school, as a young child, most of what you are learning are fundamentally well characterised skills that require *practice*. In this context, the more time and effort applied, the better you get (directly).\n\nThe further through the education system you go, the more success is measured in terms of insight and understanding. The relationship between the amount of work done, and the insight and understanding gained is extremely loose - as a simple example, which is more useful, to do double the amount of work that is 10% easier, or half the amount of work that is 10% harder? I suspect often the latter.\n\nAt undergraduate level and beyond, the sheer volume of work completed becomes a relatively minor component of success, and those who try and optimise their life in this way tend to hit a fairly solid limit of achievement that they cannot breach. Ultimately, no matter how much you optimise your life, you will only gain a handful of percentage points of productivity gain - and somehow other people will achieve multiples more than you. They are not doing so by working harder, or longer, or even doing \"more work\".\n\nThere are a number of things to consider.\n\nIdeas are interconnected\n------------------------\n\nLearning a large and complicated area is well described as building a mosaic of understanding, piece by piece. What matters is that you strategically place the pieces and put your effort into comprehending how they relate to each other to form the larger picture. The amount of effort put into making each piece perfect is of much more minor concern.\n\nThere is a certain amount of expertise that is required to (for instance) pass exam questions in specific areas. You will find that as you gain more of an overview of a field, the specific expertise will become easier to pick up (rather than the other way around).\n\nYou will gain a lot from always examining:\n\ni) I have leant an idea. What is the edge of applicability of this idea. Do I know where my knowledge runs out? Can I make an informed judgement about areas of learning that might be opened up by this, before we get to them?\n\nii) Can I apply what I have learnt in other areas than the one it was taught in? Is there anything else that I have learnt that makes more sense now?\n\niii) Is there anything that we haven't been taught that would be useful for me to understand here, either to extend my understanding or support it?\n\nCommunication is key\n--------------------\n\nIn an intellectual, or learning context, the ability to communicate ideas well is the measure of comprehension. Don't leave it until examinations to rely on this.\n\nAt the very least, talk to your peers about what you have learnt. Discuss, as above, the limits of what you know, and equally what you don't know. Fill in each others gaps.\n\nIf you have the opportunity, do some teaching. Even if this is of people who are much more junior than you, you will find that your understanding of your field will grow substantially. Especially if you ask your students to ask questions - magically these questions will illuminate areas that you didn't appreciate what you knew (or find gaps in your perspective).\n\nPeople are important\n--------------------\n\nYour best ideas will come from talking to other people. Especially people not doing exactly what you are doing. At the simplest level, it will encourage you to think about the same things in a different way. It may also pique your interest to look at something you hadn't thought of.\n\nIn our department, tea time is considered the most important time of day. Once in the morning, and once in the afternoon, everyone sits around over a cup of tea or coffee and talks. Sometimes about the weather, sometimes about what their kids are doing at school, sometimes about how students they are teaching are doing, and sometimes about research.\n\nIt sounds silly, but this is often where ideas come from. If someone is struggling to turn up regularly they will end up being dragged along. This social element is *critical*. In the first 6-months of my first postdoc, a conversation over tea had more of an impact on the direction and success of my research than my efforts during my PhD. Because we came up with a good idea. I wasn't expecting that when I poured my coffee.\n\nThink about what you are looking at\n-----------------------------------\n\nIf you are focussing on volume of work, you are almost by definition not focussing your attention on choosing *what* you look at.\n\nFind things that are hard. That pique your curiosity. That are a bit outside of what you have to do. Your intellectual future will depend on finding what you are really interested in - and it helps if this is not exactly the same as everyone else. And you certainly can't be told what to be interested in.\n\nDon't stress about failures\n---------------------------\n\nThere will be times you don't understand things. That you get things wrong. That you get stuck. Don't worry.\n\nPut something you are struggling with aside. Do something else for a while. Preferably something really different. Go back to it later. Ponder things. Ask someone else.\n\nEveryone gets stuck sometimes.\n\nOvercoming being really stuck involves (and causes) gains of insight. This is what you are aiming for - but it is not readily achieved by just working more.\n\nExercise, eat and sleep\n-----------------------\n\nFor your mind to work well, your body needs to as well. Get some exercise. Make sure you socialise. Finally, for your memory to work well, you need to eat well and get enough sleep.\n\nDon't skimp on these.\n\nOn any individual day you can get more done by working longer, and harder. But it comes at terrible long term cost of decrease of average productivity, loss of insight, and worst of all, exhaustion and loss of curiosity.\n\nMost of all be curious\n----------------------\n\nWhen you find something interesting, you will learn. Do the things you find interesting (and hard). Feed your curiosity."
}
] |
2015/04/08
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43161",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32768/"
] |
43,164 |
In my field, peer reviewers often start their review with:
>
> This article reports on a study that did X, using Y, in the area of Z. It found ...
>
>
>
This seems like a waste of time and effort to me (and I never do it). Why is it done? To prove the reviewer has read the paper?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43166,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": false,
"text": "I always start my reviews with a summary, as a way of establishing that I have understood the key ideas of the paper. I feel that this then places me on firmer ground in any subsequent praise or criticism."
},
{
"answer_id": 43168,
"author": "user6726",
"author_id": 28972,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28972",
"pm_score": 7,
"selected": true,
"text": "Reviews are communications to the editor, and an effective review tells the editor what the article is about (in that reviewer's opinion), using significantly fewer words than authors typically use. If an editor has to process a couple hundred submissions per year, it's not possible for him/her to carefully read every paper, so the editor will especially care if the reviewers agree on what the paper purports to show and whether the paper actually shows it."
},
{
"answer_id": 43172,
"author": "Stephan Kolassa",
"author_id": 4140,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4140",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "I'll (cautiously) agree that this summary may be superfluous. In the best of all possible worlds, this *exact* information should be in the manuscript's abstract, which is at the editor's fingertips when he reads the review and makes a decision on the manuscript.\n\nSometimes, rarely, I find myself in this best of all possible worlds and find that I can't express the paper's contents in a better way than the authors did in their abstract. In such a case, I'll happily write\n\n> \n> For the contents of the manuscript, see its abstract.\n> \n> \n> \n\nas the first paragraph of my review. (I then proceed to show that I actually *did* read the entire paper, by writing a clear and detailed review, and that this first paragraph is not laziness on my part. Writing a summary of the paper has a *signaling* function: it signals to the editor that you (a) actually read the paper, and (b) are not too lazy to summarize it.)\n\nUsually, I find that (I think that) I can summarize the paper better than the abstract did - for instance, if the authors wrote a \"teaser abstract\", where they write what question they investigate but do not give their results, so people have to dig into the actual paper to find out what the results were. In such a case, I'll write such a summary, and usually recommend that the abstract be improved.\n\n---\n\n(EDIT) Here is what Jeff Leek, one of the bigger names in statistics writes on the topic in [this highly recommended text on how he wants members of his group to review papers](https://github.com/jtleek/reviews):\n\n> \n> I think the summary is critical because if you can't distill the ideas\n> down then you haven't really understood the paper. The summary should\n> absolutely *not* be a restatement of the abstract of the paper, you\n> should find the parts you think are most relevant and include them in\n> the summary.\n> \n> \n>"
},
{
"answer_id": 63410,
"author": "Fomite",
"author_id": 118,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/118",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "As others have said, there's reasons for this that aren't just superfluous:\n\n1. It indicates that you did indeed read the paper\n2. It signals what someone who gave the paper more than a cursory reading thinks the paper is about.\n\nThat second point is a pretty serious one - if a reviewer \"missed your message\", that's a pretty serious problem, and while it may be tempting to just say \"Oh, they didn't read it closely enough\" it's worth considering that maybe they did, and the point isn't as clear as you thought it was.\n\nThat sentence or two is also essentially an executive summary of the review for both the editor and the author(s), and can set the tone for the rest of the review. Consider, for example:\n\n> \n> The paper estimates the effect of X on Y under conditions Z, and is largely in line with similar estimates in the literature.\n> \n> \n> \n\nvs.\n\n> \n> The paper is an insightful examination of the effect of X on Y under the relatively understudied condition Z, and is a valuable contribution to our understanding of X.\n> \n> \n> \n\nIf you were a journal editor with limited space looking for an engaging paper, which would you pick?"
},
{
"answer_id": 63421,
"author": "Laurent Duval",
"author_id": 38057,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/38057",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "When the editor receives a lot of reviews at the same time (special issue, special session), this provides a quick sanity check that the different reviews are effectively about the same paper."
}
] |
2015/04/08
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43164",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6495/"
] |
43,173 |
Is there some way of arranging that I receive emails whenever selected academic economics journals of interest to me, perhaps published by different publishers, post online a newly accepted paper?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43174,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "I have never heard of that. But you can setup an alert on Google scholar and get notifications when publications appear that match your search query or keywords."
},
{
"answer_id": 43175,
"author": "Martin Van der Linden",
"author_id": 10664,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10664",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "Most journal offer an email alert service for new issues/accepted papers. A couple of examples :\n\n* <https://www.aeaweb.org/notify/>\n* <http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/%28ISSN%291468-0262> (see \"Get new content alert\")\n* <http://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-economic-theory/> (see \"Stay up to date\")"
},
{
"answer_id": 43176,
"author": "enthu",
"author_id": 15723,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15723",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "Some publishers have a page introducing the ways by which their readers can be informed whenever a new issue of the journal is published, or a new paper is published in a journal. You should seek each journal for such email subscriptions.\n\nAlso, some websites of the journals provide [RSS](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS) links for their users. You can copy the RSS link (news feed) of the journal you want to read in your RSS reader software or related online account. Every time an update (may be a newly published paper or a new journal issue) is posted on the publisher's/ journal's website, you will receive it's news on your RSS account.\n\nAs an example, the following links are for email subscription and RSS news feature which is available in [arXiv](http://arxiv.org/) for their readers.\n\n* [To Subscribe to the E-Mail Alerting Service](http://arxiv.org/help/subscribe)\n* [RSS news feeds for arXiv updates](http://arxiv.org/help/rss)"
}
] |
2015/04/06
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43173",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32851/"
] |
43,177 |
I am writing a paper that centers on Quantum Information Theory, approached using Graph Theory. This approach has parallels to Matrix Theory, but it is very different from all existing Graph Theoretical approaches to this topic. We have submitted two papers to journals: 1) Physics Reviews and 2) Electronic Journal of Combinatorics, but both of them are rejected. We suspect that reviewers did not understand that our approach is not trivial.
My questions:
1. How should we present our method so that the reviewers can see its worth and see that it is not trivial?
2. How can we establish the parallel to Matrix Theory, but at the same time differentiate our approach and convey it's contribution to research?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43180,
"author": "Federico Poloni",
"author_id": 958,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/958",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "Getting into the details would be too technical for this site, but my suggestion is **spell it out explicitly**.\n\nIf this issue is a concern for your readers and for the referees, there should be a section in your paper titled *Why is this nontrivial?* (maybe just after the introduction) where you argue on why your approach is relevant. If you can, include an example where it is apparent that your approach is more simple or more insightful.\n\nDon't be afraid to toot your own horn."
},
{
"answer_id": 43186,
"author": "Wolfgang Bangerth",
"author_id": 31149,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31149",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "The reviewers may not have understood why your approach is new or worthy. But that is not the reviewers fault, it is your failure to explain it well: if the reviewers don't understand it, other readers won't either.\n\nSo go back to the reviews, analyze them for what they said and why they could have been mistaken, and change your paper accordingly. If they don't see why your approach is new, spend the time in the introduction to explain why it is new and how it differs from existing approaches. If the reviewers complain that they don't see why taking a different approach is worthwhile because the result is the same, spend the time in the introduction or conclusions to explain what you think can be done with your approach that could not be done before.\n\nIn other words, use the reviews as a positive strategy to see how others read your paper, rather than getting mad at the reviewers."
},
{
"answer_id": 43187,
"author": "MrMeritology",
"author_id": 17564,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17564",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "First, did you receive feedback from reviewers of your two rejected articles? Most journals provide reviewer comments for articles they reject. If you did receive feedback, you should seek to understand all of their objections and suggestions (if any).\n\nSecond, if your Graph Theoretic approach is truly unique and adds value over Matrix Theory (and other existing approaches), then it is up to you to make this explicit in your Introduction and Method sections. (As [Frederico](https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/958/federico-poloni) advised) What are the advantages and limitations of the Matrix Theory approach? How does your Graph Theoretic method overcome these limitations? What new does it add?\n\nThird, you might have to admit that you are wrong -- that your Graph Theoretic approach is not sufficiently different from Matrix Theory or similar. Please do consider this alternative before you proceed. The burden of proof is on you to demonstrate the uniqueness and added value. If you can't articulate it *clearly* and *simply*, then maybe it isn't there.\n\nI suggest that you rewrite your paper with these goals in mind. And then, before you submit it another journal, you send it to two or three colleagues who will be *skeptical* and *critical* of everything you write. You want people who are willing to pick apart every sentence, every equation, every diagram, every reference. Only after you go through one or two review cycles with these colleagues should you submit to a journal again."
}
] |
2015/04/08
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43177",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8569/"
] |
43,178 |
I want to do a PhD in mathematics (Specializing in algebraic topology or algebraic geometry ) or mathematical physics (String theory). I have a bachelor degree in a totally different field (medicine).
Here's my situation :
I have independently studied mathematics and physics. I have spent a lot of time with hatcher's textbook in algebraic topology and lang's complex analysis among with other topics in math and physics. These are proof-heavy textbooks and I usually do the exercises.
Now , after having studied analysis ,differential topology ,geometry, abstract algebra , quantum mechanics and QFT .
Is this a good preparation for a PhD in math/physics ?
Please note that I have studied from standard textbooks and solved a lot of exercises.
How do I convince PhD committee to accept my application ?
If I apply now , Apart from formal qualifications,my application will be missing one crucial component which is the letters of recommendations. I'm not sure where do I get them ? I don't know any physics or math professors who can evaluate my knowledge.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 44614,
"author": "Matt",
"author_id": 14548,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14548",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "You should contact potential advisors who work in the areas in which you are interested. Introduce yourself, explain any work you've done, and ask if they have specific feedback for moving on in your career. You should contact several people. If you live near a university, arranging a time to meet with some current faculty members is also a good way to go about this."
},
{
"answer_id": 44692,
"author": "aparente001",
"author_id": 32436,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32436",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "Start by taking a class at a university as a non-matriculated student. You can audit if you need to save money. Choose the class carefully. Don't forget to look at ratemyprofessor.com. This class is a way for you to get your feet wet, and find out if you enjoy institutional learning as much as you've enjoyed your autodidactic learning.\n\nThe instructor of that class is going to be your prime target for looking for a recommendation letter."
}
] |
2015/04/08
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43178",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32822/"
] |
43,195 |
If someone has been successful enough with grant support that they somehow manage to accumulate more than three months' summer support per year, what happens to the remainder of the funds above the three-month threshold?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43197,
"author": "Ben Webster",
"author_id": 13,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "It probably depends on the rules of the grant (you didn't say which agency you're discussing), but generally one is able to just spend the money on something else, or leave it for a future year."
},
{
"answer_id": 43198,
"author": "Bill Barth",
"author_id": 11600,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11600",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "Some people can buy off a course from their teaching duties in the non-summer months usually at the rate the department would have to pay to hire an adjunct to teach it. Some agencies will allow you to shift the salaries off yourself and onto a student so that maybe you go to 3 weeks from each of 4 grants rather 4 from each and use the saved money to fund some additional student time. This may or may not require permission from the funding agency, but it can usually be done without it as long as the PI isn't reduced to zero time.\n\nWith the NSF in the US, faculty [aren't allowed](http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/policydocs/pappguide/nsf15001/gpg_2.jsp#IIC2gi) to have more than 2 months of time funded across all NSF grants without explicit permission from NSF. Now, if you have 1 DoE grant covering 2 months and 1 NSF grant covering 2 months, they won't notice.\n\nSome people also finagle this problem when their grants are staggered enough that there's only a short period (say one of three years) where this is an issue by pushing the money off to a future year and then exercising an option for a no-cost extension of one year to spend out the money."
}
] |
2015/04/08
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43195",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53/"
] |
43,204 |
In the event of a falling out with a supervisor (Master's thesis or PhD) is there generally anything one can do about it if one wants to apply to a (different) PhD program, for which one would need a recommendation letter? I am mostly interested in the European academia.
I am certain this must have happened a lot in the history of academia and I am wondering what happens in such situations. Is it the end of one's academic career? Are the other options to leaving or (if possible) changing research groups within the university? I know that one can't force a person to write a positive letter, but is there anything that outsiders can do to effect such a situation or is all the power with the supervisor?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 44810,
"author": "erwin",
"author_id": 31805,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31805",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "To begin with, most supervisors are reasonable, decent people. So, the option of communication, depending on the nature of the falling out, is quite reasonable. It is perfectly possible to finish a PhD with a substantially acrimonious relationship. It might be best to study communication skills a bit first.\n\nIf that isn't practical, typically, the former supervisor has a lot of power.\\* However, very few things are absolutes. The purpose of a supervisor's letter is to gain insight from someone who has previously worked with you. In the USA, in my experience, a certain amount of creativity is acceptable as long as you can fulfill that purpose.\n\nFor example, my PhD supervisor switched continents and became quite busy with startups without leaving a forwarding address... So, I provided a letter of recommendation from another supervisor along with a note describing the circumstances for some fellowship applications. No problems. Albeit, I worked in research in industry for several years.\n\n\\*One thing many graduate students overlook is properly researching potential advisors. The cost of a PhD, typically, significantly exceeds the price of a home. And, typically, is much riskier. Yet, somehow, students jump into PhD programs far more easily than they'd buy houses. On the positive side, in departments I have been in, there have been a few supervisors with known personality issues and, within the department, accommodations were made for students leaving those groups."
},
{
"answer_id": 44821,
"author": "Flounderer",
"author_id": 5842,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5842",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "If you were quitting a PhD and applying to do a PhD with a different supervisor, wouldn't it look weird to have a recommendation letter from your current supervisor? What would they write? \"X is a brilliant student and I am sorry that he or she is quitting my supervision and looking for other PhD positions\"?\n\nOn the other hand, getting letters from supervisors when you are applying for postdocs or jobs is kind of essential. When I finished my PhD, there was a certain coolness between me and my supervisors, but they were still willing to write me letters, because not having a letter from them would have looked very suspicious indeed. I expect most supervisors with integrity would be willing to write a letter, even if they have fallen out with their student, because if they don't, they are effectively torpedoing your academic career."
}
] |
2015/04/08
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43204",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32855/"
] |
43,207 |
I am a incoming first year grad student this fall. I have contacted prof A during when I was applying and talked to him during the visit. He strongly encouraged me to join his group.
After the visit, I emailed students in Prof A's group and other current grad students. I started feeling that his group atmosphere is not the best for me, and I don't want to join him anymore.
He is really nice and recently offered me an educational opportunity that is only shared by current students. I am grateful and I really want to take that course.
I feel guilty right now b/c he is so nice to me. But I don't want to spend my next 5 years in a group I don't like.
Is there any way that I can let the prof know I am not interested in his group anymore? Do I have to give up the course he offered? I am not assigned to prof A so I have the freedom to choose.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43242,
"author": "Dan",
"author_id": 32830,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32830",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "Be professional about it, you don't want to cause any hard feelings as it won't really help you while you are at university.\n\nIf I was you, I would do the following things:\n\n1. Quickly note down a list of logical reasons why you think **you** would benefit more from not joining the group.\n2. Go find some other groups that you do like. Write down a list of the advantages of joining those groups.\n3. Now keep these points in mind and when you next see your professor just explain these points to him/her in a calm and professional manner.\n\nRemember this is your degree we are talking about, its up to you what you want to do. Be bold, don't be shy to follow your interests, otherwise you'll end up board and frustrated that you didn't make the best choice earlier on.\n\nHope this helps."
},
{
"answer_id": 43243,
"author": "Moriarty",
"author_id": 8562,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8562",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "It sounds like you have not made any sort of commitment, so if that is the case then there should be absolutely no hard feelings by simply writing a polite email saying that you have decided not to do research with him.\n\nIf you wish to elucidate the reason, just say you don't feel that you'd fit in well with the group. He'll understand. You should not feel obligated to come up with an elaborate explanation.\n\nIt's hard to tell without more information on the course you speak of. If it's an ad-hoc, informal course taught by the professor himself then I can see how the investment of time may only be worthwhile for his own students. If it's a proper course that you pay fees for and earn credits, then perhaps it is reasonable to ask if you can still do it."
}
] |
2015/04/08
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43207",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32856/"
] |
43,208 |
It seems that high profile universities are not the most enjoyable work environment to be in.
Even though big institutions attract big names and grant money, it seems to me that the pressure to perform leaves everybody, from the undergraduates to the professors, overworked. On the other hand, the idea of less prestigious university is attracting me for the, perhaps overly romantic idea, that as passionate people could be working in these institutions.
I am thinking: perhaps moving out of a big institution to a smaller one could increase quality of academic life, as well as creativity. But surely quality of science need not be inversely proportional to department enjoyability?
-Is this a realistic expectation?
-Does this depend on the research interest?
-Does achieving a PhD in an impressive institution open many doors that would otherwise remain close (for example, being able to be an independent researcher)?
Additonal info:
---------------
I have graduated from a MSci in Theoretical Physics in a big London university, and I am currently doing a MSc in Applied Mathematics there. Interests were fairly broad and decided to prolong my taught education to "taste" more subjects.
I love Physics and Maths almost as much as air, but I am a bit concerned with the dullness of my current environment. I haven't been to other universities, or know many passionate people from other universities, so I have not had the chance to ask these questions to many people.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43216,
"author": "Anonymous",
"author_id": 11565,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11565",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "I would recommend you try to answer your own question by meeting people who are currently doing their Ph.D.'s in a variety of institutions, and asking them what their programs are like.\n\nTechnical conferences are a great venue for doing this. It is also acceptable to (on your own) visit departments to which you think you might be interested in applying. At least in the US (and I'm guessing also in the UK), professors and current grad students are generally happy to meet you and talk about their experiences."
},
{
"answer_id": 43244,
"author": "Kimball",
"author_id": 19607,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19607",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "Let me focus on the question in the title. In my experience, a vibrant mathematical community is the best environment for creativity. More prestigious universities/departments tend to attract creative and passionate people, who create vibrant communities, and being surrounded by them will help you be more creative and passionate. While this is not a rule, and some departments just have bad atmospheres (you need some individual knowledge of the department to know about this, so visits etc are good), you're more likely to find inspiration at a place with cutting-edge research, than at a place where most of the research is \"pedestrian.\"\n\nThere is a caveat, however. If you can barely keep you head above water, it's hard to be creative. Fortunately, *most* places won't admit you if they don't think you can handle it, though it does happen. Again a visit, or browsing student/faculty webpages/blogs may help with this. See also [this related question on MSE.](https://math.stackexchange.com/q/8652/11323)"
}
] |
2015/04/08
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43208",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32853/"
] |
43,209 |
So here's my situation. I'm currently finishing up my masters (and that's a tale for another day) and have applied to a few universities for PhD.
Late Feb I was emailed by a postdoc who wanted to interview me on behalf of his prof who was inundated with grant applications and whatnot. We spoke on a week later, that went well, and I was told that if I was successful, I would hear from the prof himself. The following week (on a Friday) the prof himself responded to me that he wanted to have a follow-up conversation with me about it.
I replied that Sunday letting him know I was free any time. I heard nothing, so I sat on my hands for a week and sent another reply letting him know that once again I was available that week if he wanted to talk. He informed me he would let me know but was on his way to a conference. This time I gave two weeks, and yesterday (April 7) called twice, about an hour apart, leaving a voicemail the second time, and sent a follow up email about an hour later as well. So, it's now been almost four or five weeks.
His voicemail mentioned an assistant that I have not contacted and I have likewise not emailed the postdoc since our previous conversation.
Is there anything left that I should do about this? How should I take this?
When I was interviewed by profs the first time I applied for grad school I don't recall having these issues. I want to be assertive/not look disinterested but also don't want to overstep any bounds. How responsive should I expect a potential prof to be?
*To my knowledge this question has not been investigated elsewhere on this site.*
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43236,
"author": "Stephanie",
"author_id": 32695,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32695",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "I had similar issues with contacting my future PhD supervisor when applying and found the most efficient route was contacting the assistant. The professor is clearly busy but definitely doesn't want to be inundated with your emails. The assistant may plan his schedule and can book you in. Contacting the post doc isn't as efficient and can look like you are sidestepping the professor."
},
{
"answer_id": 43241,
"author": "Dan",
"author_id": 32830,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32830",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "Why do professors take ages to update their 90's style websites? Time.... From my experience professors are very busy people and thus they tend not to reply to emails as fast as one may hope for (unless it's some kind of urgent matter which must be addressed immediately).\n\nIf a professor has expressed interest in you, they won't just ignore all your correspondence. Just give him/her some time (at least a few days) and then send another email.\n\nBe careful not to spam the professor with emails, this will only annoy him/her."
},
{
"answer_id": 43286,
"author": "Mark Allyn",
"author_id": 32568,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32568",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "I would need to very carefully consider whether or not I want a relationship (a professional one at that) with someone who does not seem to have the courtesy to respond to correspondence within a reasonable time.\n\nAt where I work; I try to respond within one day (one hour if it's someone in my department. If I cannot get the technical answer or make an explicit appointment or whatever, I will acknowledge the email saying thank you, I will need to get back with you by with a answer as I need to do some scheduling/research/whatever.\n\nIf I get emails from strangers on my personal account (and I am reasonably sure they are not spam but are questions about my hobbies or my artwork, I will answer within one or two days with an acknowledgement (maybe say that I can give a better answer later or lets talk about it on the phone because it is very technical.\n\nI have had occasions when someone just does not respond. In one case, it as a distributer of optical fiber I wanted to use for my lighted clothing. I ended up going to his supplier who did answer their emails and got the optical fiber at wholesale prices. The person who never got back to me lost out on a sale.\n\nIn your case; do you really want a professional relationship with someone who does not have that basic courtesy?"
}
] |
2015/04/08
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43209",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32861/"
] |
43,211 |
I come from a fairly wealthy background, and am lucky enough to have parents who are both footing the bill for my tuition, as well as providing a very comfortable living stipend while I'm in school.
Without thinking much about it, I dropped a resume to be considered for one of several merit-based scholarships awarded each semester by my college. Short story short, I've been awarded a partial scholarship for next semester, but I've come to wonder whether it's ethical to accept it.
On the one hand, the criteria for the scholarship makes me as deserving is anyone, and that's of course why it was awarded to me. But I can't help but wonder if that doesn't ring a bit hollow. I don't even have to work while I'm in school, and am starting to feel as though I'd be taking the money out of the pocket of someone in a rougher spot.
It may be worth noting that my parents consider this money earned by me, and will simply pass any tuition savings directly to me in cash.
Is there a generally accepted view on this one?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43214,
"author": "Anonymous",
"author_id": 11565,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11565",
"pm_score": 7,
"selected": true,
"text": "Congratulations! It's your decision, but I think the most commonly accepted point of view is that it's totally fine to keep the money. One thing you could do with it, or with part of it, is to give back to a need-based scholarship fund or to any other worthy cause. \n\nAlso, at least in the US, it is common for universities to solicit donations from alumni, so if you so choose you will have an opportunity to 'pay it forward' after you graduate.\n\nAgain, congratulations!"
},
{
"answer_id": 43217,
"author": "Tom Church",
"author_id": 563,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/563",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "I think it's healthy to ask yourself this question, regardless of the decision you come to. One aspect you may not have considered:\n\nSince your parents have decided to pass on these scholarships directly to you, you will have a *huge incentive* to maintain a record of academic excellence. (Indeed, studying for classes might be the best-paying job you can find!) Neither your university nor your family would be unhappy if this was the result.\n\nPersonally, I'm sorry to say that when I was in college there were many merit-based scholarships that I was too lazy to apply for, even though (for specific personal reasons) I would have been an extremely competitive candidate. The most important consequence of my laziness was that my family, who made great sacrifices to support me to go to college, bore a greater burden than they should have; as an adult I am ashamed of this and I regret it terribly. But another consequence was that when it came time to graduate, I had no practice in applying for anything: I had never written a resume or CV, I did not have many faculty members who could write letters on my behalf, and most fundamentally, I had no idea how to portray myself as a desirable candidate for an internship, a fellowship, or a job. Even though the first consideration may not apply to you, this one very well might."
},
{
"answer_id": 43232,
"author": "cphlewis",
"author_id": 32653,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32653",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "You can accept the *honor* without accepting the *money*. It will not hurt your CV to have a merit-based award or a string of them. However... you probably know some bright students from pinched backgrounds who are trying to keep their grades up while working. If you put the monetary award into your school's need-based scholarship fund, the next winner would be competing with you on a more even footing and your good grades will mean even more. \n\nThis is a pretty strenuous standard of morality, but it does feel good afterwards."
},
{
"answer_id": 43234,
"author": "David Lord",
"author_id": 25114,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/25114",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "Congratulations on the recognition of your merit, and congratulations on your strong ethical base.\n\nOther answers have already discussed the topic well - I will offer this: if you don't accept the money, where will it be used? Could you ask the scholarship committee to redirect it to somewhere it will do more good?"
},
{
"answer_id": 43239,
"author": "Huns",
"author_id": 32878,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32878",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Your college education will greatly increase your income. This increases the government's tax revenue significantly, which is important. That education is an investment that will pay both you and the government back many, many, many times over during your life.\n\nIf the scholarship is coming from the institution itself, you're in luck because that makes the ethical considerations easier. They will simply write off some of the expense of teaching you. This is not the same as them giving you a pile of money. However, even if it was, there's a good case for why it *still* doesn't matter.\n\nSuppose the institution is publicly funded. It gets money from the state's tax revenues. They give you a helping hand. Your education nets you *far* more money than someone who only has a high school diploma. That income is taxed. Education is a huge part of the budget in any state; my own (California) spent over $50 billion on it yearly the last time I checked. If you make more and get taxed more, a big chunk of that is going to go into helping *other* students. In a public institution, the government *already* foots almost *all* of the bill. Whatever you pay per term is a small portion of what the institution *actually* gets!\n\nFurthermore, the government is going to gank your money year after year and spend it on incredibly stupid, unethical, wasteful things whether you agree or not. If they give you back 0.5% of what they take out of you, TAKE IT!!!\n\nNow, suppose the institution is privately funded. It gets money from other students' tuitions, donations from living alumni, endowments from dead millionaire/billionaire alumni, and a few other sources like trademarks, patents, property holdings, etc. In the case of fellow students, they had the same opportunity to win that scholarship on merit, and did not; so if they don't get the scholarship, is it your fault? Hardly.\n\nLikewise, suppose a dead billionaire bequests $50 million to the university. A great deal of that money is there *solely* because of the reputation and connections that billionaire enjoyed. You probably know that most of the reason people try to get into Ivy League schools is the gravitas of the university's name, and the connections that can be made there!!! Merely saying \"I went to UCLA\" or \"I went to Harvard\" will open doors that would remained closed if you'd said \"I went to Bumf\\*\\*\\* College of East Nowhere\". If a tiny drop in that billionaire's bucket propels you to great success, increasing the glory of the university the billionaire loved to the tune of $50 million, I would see that as a positive rather than a negative.\n\nUltimately, it's up to you. These are all just rationalizations. Someone else will have different rationalizations. Some may say it's immoral, but morals are just opinions we automatically absorb from the people who we grow up around and go through adulthood with. Morals are almost never thought through; they are merely parroted for the sake of group membership, which is why the subconscious mind cares about them in the first place.\n\nInstead, it's best to consider one's moral sense as a source of information, but hardly an infallible one. Consider morals in 1850 vs. today - is someone's moral conviction enough reason to think they're right? Certainly not! With ethics, the question becomes this:\n\n\"What are other peoples' rights and reasonable expectations?\"\n\nIf someone says they have a reasonable expectation and/or a right to get the scholarship because they're poorer than you, ask why their interpretation is necessarily the only valid one. (I've given you plenty of valid interpretations above that are perfectly valid, so this is not difficult.)"
},
{
"answer_id": 43452,
"author": "tqwhite",
"author_id": 33043,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/33043",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "This is easy. It is completely ethical to take the money. It is no different than the presumably fat bank you will be paid when you get a job that accounts for your life's status level.\n\nWhat's not ethical is having surplus money and not giving it away. In Judaism, we call this tzedakah, balance or justice. You have too much. Others have too little. Until this imbalance is remedied, you have an obligation to do what you can to change it. Every ethical system has a variation on this theme.\n\nSo, to maintain your ethical position, when you receive the reward for your achievement, you must give some or all of it to someone in need. It is perfectly fine to give it to a charity or something but, were it me, I would look at my circle of friends for those who have economic struggles (one hopes you do not hang exclusively with other wealthy folk) and help them out. Pay a bill. Pay an installment of a student loan. Take them out to dinner. Whatever. \n\nJust set aside that lump of money and make sure that it is used for things that primarily benefit others. You can deflect the issue of obligation, etc, by noting that you got a one-time lump of money and thought it would be fun to share.\n\nThis will have two consequences. First, it will help people out. Second, you will really enjoy the feeling.\n\nI had a period where I made a lot more money than my friends at the beginning of my career. I tried to share as best I could. It was great. It got me in the habit of generosity. My advantage has since faded but, I still do what I can and it makes me a happier and, I think, better person."
},
{
"answer_id": 43605,
"author": "qwertz",
"author_id": 33167,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/33167",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "Congratulations!\n\nDefinitely keep the scholarship. Regardless of the monetary value of the award, it looks great on your CV – it is outside confirmation that you can work hard and will be appealing to employers when you graduate. If you think that pursuing a career in academia could be for you, then it is actually critical to have it on your resume, because scholarships at an earlier stage in your career are like compound interest: a scholarship at the undergrad level helps you get more scholarships in the future because funders have confirmation that you have been successful in the past and that you won’t waste their money. This builds momentum and will help you acquire academic grants in the future – whether financially important to you or not, it is important when applying to universities at all levels in your future career. This will give you more options and the freedom to continue working in the field you are most passionate about, which is where you are most likely to make a positive difference. In sum, the award may not seem important to you now, but it is important for employers, universities, and your future potential.\n\nWhat you do with the money is up to you – you can donate it to charity, invest it into another worthwhile cause, or use to further expand your horizons to see where you can make an even bigger difference in the future. If money isn’t motivating you, you could find a creative way to channel the scholarship winnings into something that you do truly value. No matter what, it sounds like you’re already on a great path – I hope that you continue to foster this ability to self-reflect and your kindness toward your fellow students. It sounds like you’ll go far."
},
{
"answer_id": 67690,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "I want to add one thing to your situation I don't think anyone has touched on. \n\n> \n> I come from a fairly wealthy background, and am lucky enough to have parents who are both footing the bill for my tuition, as well as providing a very comfortable living stipend while I'm in school.\n> \n> \n> \n\nWhen you say you don't need the money. Well you do! It's just that family is giving you the money instead of some scholarship. \n\nPart of being an adult, or some might even say the defining characteristic is self sufficiency; cutting support from your parents. There is a certain pride in paying your own way through life. Even though your parents are being helpful and it sounds like you'll be self sufficient with no problem, it might give you some confidence that you are paying for things from something YOU did. It's a merit based scholarship which means it's your achievement, not just your parents' generosity. \n\nPut it this way. After you graduate, would you take an unpaid job because your parents agreed to pay for your living expenses for the rest of your life?"
}
] |
2015/04/08
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43211",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32165/"
] |
43,212 |
Currently I'm affiliated with two universities: Nankai University in China (postdoc) and Monash University in Melbourne (adjunct). I'm attempting to apply for ethics approval for a research project involving personal data that people post online. I'm completely new to this.
**Q**: Do I need ethics approval from both universities?
It would be substantially easier for me to get approval from Monash, simply because the forms are in English and the people I'd need to discuss it with speak English.
---
*What actually happened*: I applied for ethics approval from Monash. They were fairly patient with me, being new to the process, and it took a bit of back and forth. Nankai University matched the conditions and dates by Monash, so I didn't have to bother with filling in paperwork in Chinese. (And the paper was subsequently published [here](https://doi.org/10.1007/s12147-016-9181-6).)
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43213,
"author": "Bill Barth",
"author_id": 11600,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11600",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "In the US, you generally need the approval of an Institutional Review Board (IRB) if your work was funded by the federal government, and you would have to demonstrate that approval to publish in any venue that required it. There are probably many other institutions and laws in the US that require IRB approval for this kind of research, but most of the issue is driven by the federal government's attachment of the process to its research funding. If this were happening here, either one should be sufficient. That being said, if the work is mostly related to your postdoc, I would be most concerned about the requirements of the funding agency or university that funds it. An adjunct position in the US would imply mostly a teaching role to me which would be less concerned about your research work. Your situation may be different."
},
{
"answer_id": 43220,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "The purpose of IRB approval is for four things. The first is to make sure research is being done ethically and responsibly. Except when used in a circular definition, research does not need IRB approval to be conducted in an ethical manner. It definitely does not need multiple IRBs to approve it. The second is funders may not fund research that is not approved. They would only want approval from the institution where the funding is being given to. To publish research, it general needs IRB approval, but again, they do not care where it comes from. From both the publisher and funder point of view, IRB approval is their proof that the research was conducted in an ethical manner.\n\nThe final reason is so you are not liable. IRB approval, at least at the universities I am familiar with, means that the university takes on the liability as long as the protocol is approved. As place that may get sued,more any place that you will want help from if you get sued, will likely need to approve the research. Many IRBs have a light touch review for studies that have been reviewed by another university's IRB."
},
{
"answer_id": 43229,
"author": "user6726",
"author_id": 28972,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28972",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "You first need to know the laws of the country where you \"are\". In the US, as long as you're not engaged in directly-regulated research (such as medicine), IRB approval is imposed on you via a contractual / employment relationship with an institution. Therefore, in the US, you are required to do what your employer requires of you. An institution may require that *all* research conducted using institution resources undergo IRB scrutiny. In the US, the institution would have no power to limit your independent research activities, but such assumptions of individual liberty may not hold elsewhere. Other countries may have other laws; if you're actually in China, you have to do what Chinese law requires of you, even if you're only occasionally in China. It does not matter, from the legal-enforcement perspective, whether it is difficult for you to pursue this question in Chinese, following prevailing cultural norms. You should therefore find someone who can give you honest and expert advice about IRB law (civil or criminal) in China. And just as it is in the US, you need to inquire of your employer what they require you to do (where the consequences of violating their rules could be getting sacked). \n\nIf you are only concerned with publication issues, you should inquire directly of relevant journals what their specific requirements are. Some journals do not raise the question at all (I only know by rumor that it's required in psychology). If a journal requires you to warranty something about IRB approval, you need to know in advance exactly what is required. While I assume that approval from Monash would suffice, you really should verify that that is the prevailing policy for journals in your field. In the worst case, if some journal requires IRB approval from each institution where you are employed while conducting the research, they just don't submit your work to that journal."
},
{
"answer_id": 43230,
"author": "Alex",
"author_id": 32875,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32875",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "Yes.\n\nOr at the very least, check with both Universities' ethics boards.\n\nI know of one instance of a post graduate student who in a similar situation got clearance from one university, but not the other, and was forced to discard their results."
}
] |
2015/04/09
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43212",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8469/"
] |
43,218 |
I just began shadowing a high school classroom as part of a requirement to earn teaching credentials. The teacher I'm shadowing has a PhD and is referred to as "Doctor Swoth" (generic name) by his students. I am not his student and it is the first experience I have in a classroom setting where the teacher is my peer; but, it still feels uncomfortable to call him by his first name.
Do I call him "Doctor Swoth?"
If he doesn't have a PhD, should I call him "Mr. Swoth?"
When is it appropriate to call someone by their first name?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43221,
"author": "Nate Eldredge",
"author_id": 1010,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "A good safe approach is to start out calling him \"Dr. Swoth\". Most likely he will quickly say \"Please call me Tted\" and then everything is resolved."
},
{
"answer_id": 43224,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "While you can't necessarily know what title a person prefers, in the US it is almost always acceptable to directly ask them what their preference is."
},
{
"answer_id": 43235,
"author": "Stephanie",
"author_id": 32695,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32695",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "Try and listen for what other staff call him, both in the presence of students and staff and follow their lead."
}
] |
2015/04/09
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43218",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31180/"
] |
43,237 |
I have been working on a research paper to apply a technique X to solve certain problem Y. The field is in computer science. Approximately some months ago I started to check it up if there was something similar to my proposal, but I did not find anything at all.
A couple of weeks ago and when I have already finished the tests for my proposal, I decided to check it up again. In my new search, I found an article that was published about two years ago and when I read it, I saw that it was very close to the idea on which I have been working. The differences were very subtle, I was using a simplified version, data was collected in a different manner, and other tiny differences. If we talk in percentages, the differences would be like 20 % between my article and the one I found.
The reasons that I did not find this article in my first search were that it was published in a not so well known journal, and while it has been cited before, it were only self-citations and there was no strong relation between the article and the citing ones.
So what I can do in this situation? I have not based my work on this paper, but I know that I must cite it like a related work. Should I drop my paper or present it and see what the reviewers have to say about it? I would not like to be pointed as a case of plagiarism because of the similarities.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43240,
"author": "Stephan Kolassa",
"author_id": 4140,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4140",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "First of all, you are absolutely right that you need to cite the paper. Citations should not be to \"previous work *you based your work on*\" but to \"the state of the art\" - whether or not you explicitly based your work on a previous article. The reader should be able to place your work in the context of what is already known on a topic.\n\nSecond, giving any advice will be hard for us, since we don't know the specific situation. If all you add to this previous article is a simpler design and collecting data in a different manner, then your paper likely does not offer a publication-worthy contribution to the state of the art. \n\nYour best bet is likely to rework your paper heavily. Identify weaknesses or open questions remaining in the previous article and address these. Then you can build on the previous article and expand upon it, and you will have a genuine contribution.\n\nOf course, this will be a lot of work, and much of what you already did may turn out to be wasted effort. That sort of thing unfortunately happens in academia. You will need to analyze your specific situation to find out how much you can salvage.\n\nThe positive side is that you have found someone who can meaningfully review your work. And if, as you write, their work has so far mainly been self-cited, they will appreciate some external attention on it, so if you get them to review your paper, you may have a sympathy bonus. Alternatively, you could even contact the authors of the earlier paper and see whether they would be interested in collaborating with you."
},
{
"answer_id": 43245,
"author": "Murphy",
"author_id": 16078,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16078",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "It's not plagarism to come to similar conclusions to someone else, as long as you're open and honest about everything plagarism isn't the issue. Since you know about it you'd definitely have to cite it. As long as you don't claim to be the first to have discovered it then citing the earlier paper and confirming that you found similar results before encountering it is, if anything, positive for the author of that paper. They get cited and an independent researcher, you, has confirmed their findings. \n\nYou did the work, ethically you're in the clear as long as you're honest. \n\nI disagree with the other answer in that I don't believe that such repetition is \"wasted\" to other researchers. Lots of methods/technique papers gloss over weaknesses or \"just happen\" to use ideal datasets or don't mention the things that make the algorithm/technique unworkable in the real world and sometimes another paper from someone doing the same thing who's more open about such weaknesses can be invaluable. \n\nPolitically on the other hand it can be harder to get published. Since it's so similar you're less likely to be adding significantly novel data to the field. It's less sexy but confirming previous work is of value. You're likely going to need to be more rigorous about it than if you were showing something completely new."
},
{
"answer_id": 43271,
"author": "Aaron C",
"author_id": 32914,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32914",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "In general, all papers tell a story: \"Here's this important problem. Here's what's been done about it. But what we don't know is X, Y, Z. So here in this paper, I address X, Y, and Z.\"\n\nDo your best to frame your introduction to acknowledge this previous paper in the \"here's what's been done about it\" section, and set up your novel 20% as the \"X, Y, Z\". Don't forget to explain to your readers why that \"X, Y, Z\" is important and useful to others. Your project may be perceived as a relatively incremental advance, and therefore may not appeal to a top publication. But it may still have value to a specialist publication. If you're already done with the computational work and in the process of writing up, you might as well give it a shot.\n\nIf it gets rejected for not making enough of a novel contribution, then, based on the responses, I'd consider whether it's worth following Stephan Kolassa's advice, and doing more work to more explicitly establish your project as an extention of the earlier paper. It might be. Or you might find that your time (and excitement) are better devoted to other projects in your pipeline."
}
] |
2015/04/09
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43237",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6144/"
] |
43,250 |
I heard of some master's degrees that are just M instead of MS or MA like Master of Mathematics or Master of Psychology. Apparently, this is due to it being non-thesis.
However, I met people who choose non-thesis in MS or MA programs that have a choice between thesis and non-thesis. Their IDs say MS or MA. Is this because the program has a choice for thesis?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43710,
"author": "dbmag9",
"author_id": 6899,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6899",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "In general the formal name of a degree is a very bad guide to the contents of the degree; the name of the degree is heavily influenced by local history and traditions (some extreme examples: a Master of Arts degree from Oxford is automatically awarded 21 terms after matriculation to anyone with an Oxford BA; the degree that qualifies one to practice medicine in the USA is a Doctor of Medicine, while in the UK it's typically a combined Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery; a Bachelor of Philosophy degree at Oxford is a two-year philosophy degree aimed at those with a first degree).\n\nIn the UK there are increasingly degrees called 'integrated masters' (or sometimes 'undergraduate masters') whose names fit the pattern you mention. These are generally four-year degrees, generally in fields like mathematics, science and engineering, which one enters without a previous degree and which aim to leave students in a position to embark on doctoral study. See [this](http://www.sci-eng.mmu.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate-courses/integrated-masters/) example from Manchester Metropolitan University. Individual degrees may or may not include a mandatory or optional thesis requirement."
},
{
"answer_id": 43713,
"author": "PLL",
"author_id": 1277,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1277",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Your question contains two slightly different issues; this is an answer only to the more superficial part, about the abbreviations. Hopefully it can help clear up the confusion this part is causing, and allow more focus on the more substantial issue, about the content of the degrees.\n\nThe degrees you describe as “just an M”, like *MMath* or *MPhys* are not usually thought of that way, hence the confusion in comments. *MMath* is short for “Master of Mathematics”, just like *MA* is short for “Masters of Arts”. Neither is “just an M” — they’re both an M of something. The difference in the abbreviations is because for historical reasons, Master of Arts and Master of Sciences are used for degrees in a wide range of subjects, and so are very common, and have shorter abbreviations; where as Masters of other subjects have to provide a bit more of the subject name in order to be intelligible.\n\nSo the other half of your question can be rephrased as: *what typically are the differences between programmes called MA, and programmes called Masters in Subject — e.g. between an MA programme in a mathematics department, and an MMath programme?*"
}
] |
2015/04/09
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43250",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/21026/"
] |
43,251 |
I love astrophysics and wish to pursue a PhD in a good institute outside my home country India. I did a master in physics (2014) and got a summer project in astrophysics. After my master, I took up teaching. I regularly applied to PhD vacancies but haven’t got any positive reply yet. This may be due to low grades in few subjects (I got an E in quantum physics). I am aware that work experience speaks volumes; so I mailed many professors for non-stipendiary internships but it didn’t work.
I want to know if anything is there that I could do all by myself and which can be counted as a “relevant professional experience”. What other measures I could take up?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 56302,
"author": "svavil",
"author_id": 41843,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/41843",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "1. First option is going to be finding an actual job connected to astrophysics. A quick Google search brought me this [job postings](http://www.iiap.res.in/iia_jobs/) in Indian Institute of Astrophysics, located in Bangalore. While I cannot tell you if this institute is thriving (living in India, you possibly know that better than me), you could give it a try. Doing actual work as an engineer surely qualifies as a relevant professional experience when you apply for your PhD next time. Explore the job markets while you are still in your home country.\n2. While you can be applying for a job in India, go on and send several more PhD applications to other institutions outside India. It never hurts to try, and you will possibly become more aware of your strengths and weaknesses in the process.\n3. Next, there are online courses ([1](https://www.edx.org/course/greatest-unsolved-mysteries-universe-anux-anu-astro1x-1#.VCGernWSzeQ), [2](https://www.edx.org/course/astrophysics-exploring-exoplanets-anux-anu-astro2x-0#.VCGe6nWSzeQ), [3](https://www.edx.org/course/violent-universe-anux-anu-astro3x#.VCGfInWSzeQ), [4](https://www.coursera.org/course/analyze), [5](https://www.coursera.org/course/introastro), [6](https://www.edx.org/course/relativity-astrophysics-cornellx-astro2290x)) that you might take to reinforce your knowledge of the subject. People [argue if online courses should go to your CV](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2336/can-i-include-the-completion-of-udacity-and-coursera-classes-i-have-attended-in), but they are definitely worth taking for the sake of knowledge. Moreover, if you have had some bad grades in quantum physics in the past, a better grade in an online quantum physics course will be beneficial for your CV.\n4. Inspired by [these Quora answers](https://www.quora.com/How-do-I-start-a-career-in-astronomy-and-astrophysics-in-India): if you are thinking of a PhD studies outside India, pass the required examinations beforehand. For USA, this will likely be a [Physics GRE test](https://www.ets.org/gre/subject/about/content/physics), and you should have that ready almost a year before your PhD program starts.\n5. From the same Quora answer: taking part in a volunteer computation project (see [a list of BOINC projects](https://boinc.berkeley.edu/projects.php)) may help you learn more about astronomy, how the actual research can be done, and (why not?) get to know some researchers outside of your country."
},
{
"answer_id": 56303,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "I would say this: Apply, Apply, Apply. Apply to schools in India, but also Gulf Countries (some which have institutions with strong physics PhD programs), apply to Chinese and Russian institutions as well. I know that diplomatically speaking, India and Russia have a strong relationship, and this can sometimes lead to strong student programs. Apply to varying institutions, and see what happens."
}
] |
2015/04/09
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43251",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32896/"
] |
43,253 |
I have been told in no uncertain terms that papers published with your PhD advisor simply *Do. Not. Count.* when it comes to tenure. Quote: "Publications with your advisor will be crossed off the list."
An assertion that strong makes me insecure about collaborating with *any* senior researcher. Will these publications also be tossed out? How senior is senior? For instance, suppose I collaborate with junior faculty at another institution who was hired at roughly the same time. Will outcomes from that collaboration be deemed "more significant" than with, say, a full professor from that same institution? And what about the field? Am I "safer" publishing with senior people from a different field, because there will be an easier perception that I am "carrying my weight?" Or should I simply avoid collaboration altogether, and publish exclusively with my own grad students and postdocs? How do the **real** discussions go, from those who have actually been in the trenches?
Honestly, I would much rather just collaborate with the people I do the best work with. (Isn't that the best thing for the field anyway?) But I am terrified of having years of good work "crossed off the list" because I did not pick the right dance partner.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43261,
"author": "Aaron",
"author_id": 1228,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1228",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "I can't speak for your field or institution, so take anything I say with that in mind. \n\nThat being said, in my experience (in computer science, at a well-ranked private university) what matters is not so much who you collaborate with, but that you have a research agenda that is strongly identified with you (as opposed to your senior coauthors). If all of your papers are coauthored with the same senior researcher, this can look bad, because it can be difficult to disentangle your research agenda from his or hers. But if your papers have a cohesive theme, and are coauthored with a variety of other people (even if many are senior), this is great. \n\nSo in summary, in the parts of academia I have seen, you should collaborate with whoever you want to, but make sure you have your own research problems and are not just working on your coauthor's problems."
},
{
"answer_id": 43269,
"author": "Aaron C",
"author_id": 32914,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32914",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "As others have mentioned, the details vary by field and department. But essentially, your publication record as a faculty member needs to demonstrate that you are an intellectually independent PI making your own unique and novel contributions to your discipline. If your collaborations with previous advisors create the appearance that your work is merely an intellectual extension of your advisor's work, or that your research program is significantly dependent on that of your advisor (or others), then it will not be looked on favorably, whether or not those papers are \"officially\" counted."
}
] |
2015/04/09
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43253",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9538/"
] |
43,255 |
I'm one of those who realized near the end of their Bachelor's in Business Mgmt that they really really love math. I'm interested in research in pure, theoretical math. I am confident in my ability to learn advanced math on my own. I admit this is based on a small sample of experiences I've had so far with self-studying. After a year of working, I decide to do it full time.
Since I'm behind my peers, I was thinking to just learn the fundamentals (Logic, Real Analysis, Abstract Algebra and Geometry) on my own, and then apply for a Master's. The reason I want to do these on my own is that I find I understand things better at my own pace taking the time to solidify the fundamentals. I took a year of math courses on an exchange program at London School of Econ and it felt like learning disconnected facts. Something like saying object x is round, black, with 4 holes etc. vs showing you a picture a black shirt button (which I find more efficient mentally). Concepts were introduced which were too new but no time was given to "form a picture" of the objects. As a result, it felt like very "syntactic". If I understand the basic concepts used over and over in math, rather than things built out of those facts like calculus, linear algebra, applied math and other "less abstract" branches, I feel I'd do well in my Master's course. I love taking the time explore mathematical concepts on my own, seeing how things fit. I find quite often I make my own concepts (simple ones though) where the picture feels incomplete, which is why I want to do research.
I was wondering how long I should continue this approach (i.e. when have I learned enough fundamentals)? More objectively, what should aim to master on my own, before applying to a master's program? (unless you disagree this is the right approach)
PS: I'm 22, and I have financial support at the moment while I get this done. I've started with Logic and Set Theory and becoming good at proofs. I find calculus and linear algebra intro books skip over too many of the more abstract underlying concepts, hence the bottom up approach.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43259,
"author": "Bill Barth",
"author_id": 11600,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11600",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "I disagree that this is the right approach. Many grad schools in the US would require you to have a Bachelor's degree in some subject and to make up the courses you missed by not having a Bachelor's degree in math. So your best option is to get started actually completing those courses. I think that unless you have some publications in math with someone who can vouch for your skills even though you don't have the coursework, you're not going to get into a good Master's degree program without the necessary coursework. The further your history is from the required classes, the more work you're going to need to do. Some programs might admit you with the requirement that you take a few semesters of undergrad classes to catch up, but if you need more than a few catch-up courses, you're really looking at a second Bachelor's degree or working on the side through a non-degree-seeking program at your local university."
},
{
"answer_id": 55175,
"author": "NeutronStar",
"author_id": 8975,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8975",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "I don't know how common they are in math, but in physics/astrophysics I know several people who have pursued \"post-baccalaureate\" work. [Here is an example from my own department.](http://www.princeton.edu/physics/graduate-program/bridge-program/) The people I know who are a part of this program are from non-physics/astro backgrounds and are using this program to transition into a graduate astrophysics track.\n\nI think if you can find a good post-baccalaureate program (or something similar) in math, it will provide what you need and what you are looking for."
},
{
"answer_id": 55181,
"author": "paul garrett",
"author_id": 980,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "Although perhaps you might slightly discount this advice on the grounds that apparently I'm sometimes perceived as \"radical\" or some other dismissive + mildly perjorative modifier, I might recommend that you *do* study for a bit, especially if you have funding, to... drumroll... be a better scholar for the thing that you want to ... be a scholar/researcher/expert/maven. \n\nIn on-the-ground practical terms, if you can find a friendly \"post-bac\", this would indeed be helpful. These are the catch-up possibilities for people in the U.S. to replicate what (more narrowly educated, due to the system) students in Europe have been required to do... crazily-ironically, whether they were interested or not.\n\nBack to specific advice: follow your interests; do not believe people/advice that urge absolute conformity to ... style, content.\n\nThe tipping point is making-a-living verus scholarship-or-whatever. Now that the Cold War is over, it is not as easy to make a living proposing ways to defeat that particular \"Evil Empire\", and, truly things are subtler. But not much, though perhaps even less gratifying for any of us who thought there'd be progress... nevermind...\n\nBut this does explain the situation young academics often find themselves-in. So it's not \"how long do I study before trying to enter academe\", but a different question about one's own practical situation. \n\nBack to an idealized issue: if one has a good job, and spare energy to study, I'd recommend doing *more* of this pre-study... and put off petitioning for re-entry to academe a bit... Getting some corroboration of one's putative competence would be wise... \n\nSo, as often, the issue is not quite (as I would think) what the questioner asked... but/and the question raises the right further questions..."
}
] |
2015/04/09
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43255",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
] |
43,260 |
I got one postdoctoral offer just after completion of my PhD study. I am not sure about the amount of fellowship. I do not have any experience in postdoctoral work. What is the average salary given to postdoc fellow in Wireless Communication Engineering particularly in China?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43288,
"author": "Nobody",
"author_id": 546,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/546",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "According to this news report [Low salaries discouraging overseas academics](http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/epaper/2013-08/26/content_16920656.htm) from ChinaDaily USA,\n\n> \n> ... the average salary across all ranks and universities is roughly 6,000 yuan ($982) a month. That's low compared with the average entry-level salary in Canada of $5,733 and a full professors' $9,485. The average for newly hired faculty members in the US is $4,950.\n> \n> \n> \n\nHiring postdocs is still a new trend in China. I can't find average postdoc salary yet. Once I see it (it may be in Chinese), I will report it here.\n\nIf average salary in the universities is USD$982 per month, I think I cannot say 40k USD per year is low.\n\nHope this helps."
},
{
"answer_id": 55220,
"author": "chinar",
"author_id": 41813,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/41813",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "Not sure about postdocs, but about [here](http://physics.ruc.edu.cn/upload/duyun/jobs.pdf) is as an example for faculty:\n\nThe faculty salaries change from 45 k USD to 75 k USD, more for distinguished professors. As far as I see, these values vary at most 10 k USD with respect to your location. But this is the basic salary. So, you should expect to pay 25 % to 30 % taxes."
},
{
"answer_id": 78133,
"author": "Bobgom",
"author_id": 63135,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/63135",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "You asked about tax as a postdoc in China, whether or not the salary for postdocs is tax free likely depends strongly on which country you are from. Some countries have [tax treaties](http://www.china-briefing.com/news/2011/08/05/china-clarifies-tax-exemptions-for-teachers-and-researchers.html) with China which include provisions for researchers to work tax free for a certain amount of time. The university will likely know better, but even then you can't be completely sure they will have up to date correct information."
},
{
"answer_id": 100286,
"author": "Scientist",
"author_id": 66782,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/66782",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "As of 2016-2017, which is the period I am staying in China, the most common salary range paid for postdocs which I came to be informed of was within 8,000-14,000 RMB per month. \n\nI must say this is highly variable depending mainly on agreements with college and supervisor(s). In reality there is a base salary which is paid by the government directly (in my case of ca. 5,600 RMB) and incrementing on the base salary is the usual practice everywhere. Typically there will be a bonus paid by the college, plus some extra paid by the supervisor, and plus there should be contractual agreements on who should pay for the postdoc's 'welfare' (i.e. loose term concerning rental & bills) and health insurance. In my case taxation happens only on the base salary and has been less than 5%. \n\nTypically larger sums are offered to PhDs coming from universities ranked among top 100-300 in the world. Moreover it is my impression that US-passport holders are offered larger bonuses than PhDs from other countries, often in private.\n\nOne should expect some uncertainty on the full amount because a large portion relies on agreements and negotiation. The local culture has it that agreements are volatile and highly dependent on interpersonal relationships, and law/lawyers should have no business in the academia. It is common practice that salary bonuses are used to pressure students/postdocs to do as the college and/or supervisor wishes. Examples: salary deductions as punishments for being late, or caught chatting on the phone during work hours; not adding honorary authors; publishing less papers than expected; damaging equipment or breaking glassware. A bonus may be withdrawn under any pretext after some dispute, including open technical criticism. \n\nThe same flexibility always allows for negotiating raises or extra benefits, which are typically in exchange for co-authorships on more papers. These may include covering plane tickets to see family, or travel expenses. Don't be surprised if the raise is pushed further as a bait. \n\nFinally I should stress that at most universities in China there are prizes for publishing papers and depositing patents. The prizes are normally money, calculated based on impact factor. For example publishing in a mainstream academic journal with IF 2-3 in the Life Sciences may be awarded 4-7k RMB. Publishing in top impact journals may award the first author much more (also whether the award should be shared is negotiable)."
},
{
"answer_id": 109435,
"author": "Mustafa Ali",
"author_id": 92502,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/92502",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "I got two postdoc offers in 2017. \n\n1. Shanghai (I 'accepted' this one) - gross salary 15000 RMB/month; small subsidized apartment (furniture, gas oven, hot water); subsidized food in university cafe; priority in getting a seat in the university bus (something to consider given the long queues); tax 10.50%. My supervisor has reimbursed me round-trip airfare for journey back home (3 trips in a year!).\n2. Shenzhen - 2 year gross salary = 185000 (from university) + 240000 (from Shenzhen govt.) = 17,700 RMB per month. No idea about tax structure. Living cost in Shenzhen is greater than that in Shanghai. I rejected this offer cz I didn't like Shenzhen and the Prof wasn't really well-known (Connections matter a lot in China).\n\nSalaries in Beijing are also good and it is probably the best city in China in terms of experience. However its a challenge to bear the smog there. Some of my friends living in Beijing have developed skin ailments. \n\nThere are also some pretty good opportunities in smaller cities. For instance, one of my friends availed an offer in Nanjing. The university isn't well-known but the salary is greater than 17000 RMB per month which is more than enough for a couple. One can also consider universities in cities such as Suzhou, Hangzhou, Chengdu and Dalian.\n\nApart from salary, while coming to China, one should consider one's long term plan and personal priorities (e.g. kids' education, language barriers, food, internet freedoms, etc.,). It is also useful to consider that here number of publications matter more than quality research. Bureaucracy is a huge pain in the a\\*\\* with no one willing to take ownership of decisions. Given the current geo-political environment, the economy will also have to go through some readjustments in the near future. If you decide to come, do expect some cultural shocks. Overall China is a great place to be for experiencing something different and exciting. \n\nHope this helps"
}
] |
2015/04/09
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43260",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17776/"
] |
43,263 |
I am starting an MSc in Computer Science in the autumn and I am concerned that I don't have any research experience. My interest is in Theoretical Computer Science and I am finding it hard to find any internships, as there is very little funding for undergraduates available at my university and no advertised positions in this area. I have seen an industrial position that matched my interests, but it was only advertised for Msc/PhD students.
I asked around last year and was unsuccessful but it was suggested that I self study a topic, so I don't know if I should do this again, or try to pursue an actual internship.
I think the reason I was unsuccessful was that I was too general and not specific enough about my interests. However, as an undergrad I am finding it hard to identify something that is achievable at my level and to narrow down to one area.
Therefore, would it be better to find a paper and a topic and directly approach an academic, or would I be better off using the summer to study more broadly and find a specific topic to pursue? Is there anything else I should do to increase my chances of getting an internship?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43547,
"author": "Ant",
"author_id": 31990,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31990",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "> \n> I am starting an MSc in Computer Science in the autumn and I am concerned that I don't have any research experience.\n> \n> \n> \n\nNot having research experience when starting an MSc is not a problem! One of the goals of MSc is to acquire research experience.\n\n> \n> However, as an undergrad I am finding it hard to identify something that is achievable at my level and to narrow down to one area\n> \n> \n> \n\nIt is perfectly normal that at this stage you do not already have well defined interests.\n\nA potentially more successful approach would be to **ask your current teachers**. Even if they do not have any funding in their lab, they may be able to suggest some of their colleagues and to recommend you."
},
{
"answer_id": 43568,
"author": "user3079666",
"author_id": 11719,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11719",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "I believe strongly in personal growth as a means of getting where you want. I am trying to get an internship as an undergrad, so I checked which skills interest both me and the companies I am trying to work with the most, and now I am developing them on my own. \n\nMy suggestion is that you start some extensive reading on the subject, start with a book or two, read some papers and try to apply that knowledge (of course, I'm in computer engineering so it's easy for me to say). I started by writing tutorials to showcase my knowledge, and I have also published a game and a small development tool for example, participated in a contest and participating again, and am still developing. \n\nThe point is, it would probably give you good odds of getting the position if you show that you are already in touch with the topic, have some working knowledge and interest in really learning about it well (for me that's optimization, abstraction and low level programming that show that I'm really into it), and that you're already capable of delivering some work, and thus can give them better quality work in less time than other candidates. \n\nAlso, having a large portfolio/showcase with plenty of good work in it, shows that other than knowing what you're doing, you like doing it and are working a lot, thus you *will* deliver work rather than just occupy space and, possibly, resources. \n\nIn short: do what you can to show that a) you're already into it (less training, producing sooner), b) you're good at it (no low quality work), c) you *will* deliver work (not just trying to pass your time / put a check on the task). This is my approach to the whole issue."
}
] |
2015/04/09
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43263",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
] |
43,265 |
I am end of my PhD. I would like to do a postdoc. In UK the average postdoc salary is around 30K (per year). But in UK the tax is very high, after taxes I may get around 1800 pounds (per month). I heard in Singapore the salaries for postdoc are a bit high and the taxes are also very low.
I have my wife and two children, In that case I would like to know the advantages and disadvantages of doing a postdoc in UK or Singapore.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43268,
"author": "John",
"author_id": 30606,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30606",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "I don't know about Singapore. But for the UK, postdocs' salary can give you and your family a very comfortable life unless you are in so expensive city as London (in which case though you get London allowance on top of your salary). Health services are free in the UK, and if your university has an in-house doctor's office for the staff and students' use then you avoid delays to get appointments. Awesome public transportation, and things are fairly cheap due to competition - except rents in certain cities. However, probably Singapore may also have all these facilities. But in short, postdoc salaries in the UK are decent unless you want to rent central London apartments."
},
{
"answer_id": 43292,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "My answer will focus on entirely non-academic aspects of a post-doc in UK as you seem to have those \"sorted\".\n\nI think you have been slightly mislead:\n\n1. ~£30K will not result to ~£18K after taxes. I was taking ~£31K and ending up with ~£24K. Maybe you are in a different tax-category or something but from ~£30K to end up <£20K is quite unrealistic. Finally, ~£30K with 0 years of experience is pretty decent. One more point: spend an hour or two and check the [HM Revenue & Customs](https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-revenue-customs). Do not rely on word of mouth on something so vital.\n2. You need to factor council taxes and these will dependent where you live. Council taxes can be quite hefty (£100+ per month in Cambridge for example).\n3. As @John mentioned, you need to base your decision on where are you going to live; ~£30K in central London, Oxford or Cambridge with 2 kids? No way. ~£30K in Manchester or (even cheaper) Coventry? Probably tight but doable.\n4. London allowance have not saved anyone. Sure you will get probably ~12% more than your equivalent post-doc outside London but that's about it. In some cases you can get the same salary outside London. Lesser known universities try to give more monetary incentives to candidates.\n\nI recommend you do some very good research about where exactly you are going, what is the cost of living, what are schools/nurseries are there, etc. Also do maybe a quick online search for houses to see what is available. If the going rate of a two bedroom flat +£1100 well... you need to consider things seriously. And do the same search for Singapore too afterwards!\n\nPost-doc is a stepping stone. Realistically you will not get a salary that will allow you to live a luxurious life. Also take into account that the chances of tenure in an institution after a post-doc while usually better than being a complete outsider are all but guaranteed. Therefore consider that relocation might be something you will have to re-examine. You do not tell us if your wife will be able to contribute to your family income. Even a part-time job might make a significant difference.\n\n(Reading back my answer I think I sound a bit grim... I do not mean to dishearten you or anything, just I do not want to be mislead on taxation or living costs issues.)"
},
{
"answer_id": 43305,
"author": "Chu",
"author_id": 32939,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32939",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "To put the following into context, I teach at a UK university and have delivered courses at a Singapore partner university for many years.\n\nIn support of many of the above comments, you need have no concerns about the academic establishment in Singapore, at any level, from primary through to university. Education is top of Singapore's agenda and this is apparent everywhere. Teaching is in english throughout. Singapore's universities are world-class.\n\nThe living and working environments are excellent. Cost of living (apart from housing) is lower than UK. The transport system is also excellent.\n\nCost of accommodation is the only negative. Apartment rental costs are high - comparable to London. However, if you are appointed on expat terms the University will provide an apartment and the rent will be subsidised; all large companies that employ expat staff take account of accommodation costs. But you should make sure that you know what type of apartment is on offer and that it meets your family needs. 'Landed properties' form a very small part of Singapore's accommodation, the large majority are high-rise apartments.\n\nIncome tax is much lower than UK levels - you can check this out on the government's IRAS web page."
},
{
"answer_id": 43352,
"author": "Anonymous",
"author_id": 11565,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11565",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "It is typical that you will disproportionately get speaking invitations from, and make connections with other researchers, who live near wherever you do your postdoc. \n\nFor these and related reasons (e.g., employers knowing and trusting the people who will write letters for you), one advantage of doing a postdoc in Singapore/UK, respectively, is that it makes it easier to get a permanent job in that respective part of the world. So I would recommend thinking about your long-term job (and family life) prospects in the UK and in Singapore respectively."
}
] |
2015/04/09
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43265",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32911/"
] |
43,266 |
I am a newly transferred undergraduate Earth Science major and because of this I haven't had any internship experience in my field, even though I will be going into my senior year this fall (I also might have to take an extra semester to make up for time lost).
In my previous major, I remember my advisor saying he had a student who just filed data for him all summer for free, and at the end he gave her a letter of recommendation and she put it on her resume. It seemed like a kind of informal internship, and since I'll be taking a summer class, the casualness of it seems preferable as a way of getting some experience, as compared to a rigorous 9 to 5 internship that will take up all of my time. So my question is, could I simply email professors at different universities close to my hometown and ask if they need any help with their research this summer? I would prefer to ask my professors at my University, but because I'm taking a summer class in my hometown (about an hour away from my University) I wouldn't be able to drive everyday.
I feel like professors who do their own research would want all the help they can get, like someone to do grunt work, which I would be fine with as long as I can get something to put on a resume and/or a letter of recommendation for a better internship/job down the line.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43267,
"author": "Corvus",
"author_id": 27900,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/27900",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "You can certainly send emails to faculty offering your unpaid services over the summer. This is common practice.\n\nWhen you do, keep in mind that professors often receive numerous such offers and that, depending on the nature of the lab, the cost of getting a volunteer or intern up and going may exceed the benefit of having the volunteer around. Moreover in some areas, particularly more mathematical and theoretical disciplines, an intern would need considerable background in math, programming, or similar to be of much service. \n\nTherefore it is strongly in your interest to make your offer stand out from the others. One way to do this is to convey a decent understanding of the work being done in the lab to which you are applying, and to convey your interest and enthusiasm in being part of that work. When I receive internship requests where the writer has expressed no interest in my work and has simply pasted my name into a form letter, I invariably decline. (Even worse the ones that paste text directly from my web page into the part of the letter describing their research interests -- it happens more often than you'd think!). \n\nAnother important way to improve your chances is to use your understanding of what goes on in that lab to very explicitly describe some ways that you be might be able to provide valuable service to the lab. If they sound like they need programmers and you are a good coder, for example, make this very clear."
},
{
"answer_id": 43282,
"author": "Bill Barth",
"author_id": 11600,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11600",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "FWIW, the US Department of Labor [is cracking down on unpaid internships](http://internships.about.com/od/internships101/a/departmentoflaborsnewguidelinesforinterns.htm), so some institutions are eliminating them entirely. You would be better off looking for a program sponsored by your local university or the NSF for undergraduates to become involved in research. Programs like the [NSF REUs](https://www.nsf.gov/crssprgm/reu/) may be among your best opportunities. You should also ask professors from your classes about opportunities they may have. Randomly sending unsolicited emails is unlikely to be successful."
}
] |
2015/04/09
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43266",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32912/"
] |
43,272 |
I know that a PhD is now just used to mean doctorate, so what would a person who has a doctorate in philosophy be called?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43278,
"author": "Bill Barth",
"author_id": 11600,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11600",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "Doctor. Just like everyone else with a PhD."
},
{
"answer_id": 43285,
"author": "Corvus",
"author_id": 27900,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/27900",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "Generically, a PhD is a Doctor *of* Philosophy, not a doctor *in* philosophy. Thus a PhD in philosophy would a Doctor of Philosophy in Philosophy (as opposed to a PhD in economics, who would be a Doctor of Philosophy in Economics)."
},
{
"answer_id": 43319,
"author": "cpast",
"author_id": 22815,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22815",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "Based on your comments to the question:\n\nPhD is **not** used to just mean \"doctorate.\" A PhD is a specific type of doctorate. The reason people talk about, say, a PhD in computer science is that that is their actual literal degree -- their diploma says \"Doctor of Philosophy\" on it, not \"Doctor of Computer Science.\" Especially formally (like for honorifics), you never call yourself a PhD unless that is your actual degree (informally, some US schools hand out ScDs that are equivalent to a PhD, and you might say you have a PhD because it's clearer; however, formally, you do not have a PhD then).\n\nOther than ScD in the US (and D.Phil, which is just PhD in English instead of Latin), other degrees I can think of would never be called a PhD even informally. A DFA is generally honorary, but even if not it's not a research degree. An MD isn't a PhD, even though it's a doctorate. An EdD is not a PhD.\n\nSo, a PhD in philosophy would be a PhD. Someone with a PhD in computer science also has a PhD. Things could have been set up so you'd have a D.Math, or a D.Physics, or a D.Comp.Sci., etc.; but that's *not* how it works, so you really have the actual same degree as people in other fields."
},
{
"answer_id": 85746,
"author": "Nat",
"author_id": 70048,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/70048",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "I hold a PhD in philosophy. Long ago I was introduced to a group of non-philosopher cognoscenti this way: \"Attention everyone, we now have a PhD squared in the group...\" I had never heard that before, but everyone else seemed to know exactly what he meant, and started asking me deliberately silly philosophical questions. A doctor of philosophy of philosophy ... PhD-squared."
}
] |
2015/04/09
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43272",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32916/"
] |
43,273 |
I've seen graduate students act as course developers for their advisor's MOOC or play a key role in helping their advisor with some other endeavour that is not related to research. What is the motivation for them to do this if it does not help them graduate or get publications?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43284,
"author": "user141592",
"author_id": 27327,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/27327",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "Why do anything that's not strictly required to graduate? For the experience. Because it sounded like fun. Maybe they're interested in teaching and really excited about the opportunity to develop a curriculum from scratch? Maybe they're excited about the pedagogy behind online courses and want to learn more? Maybe it's a rare opportunity to try something new that most academics don't get to do? \n\nIf you only do things that are strictly required to graduate and publish, you'll miss out on a lot of interesting experiences, and you'll be less interesting to a hiring committee than someone who went above and beyond seeking out experiences to develop as a researcher and teacher. The goal with grad school shouldn't be to just publish and graduate. While it is *sufficient* to just publish and graduate, it's hardly a good way to make the most of your time in grad school. Go for the exciting teaching project. Volunteer to help organize that conference. Apply to that interesting summer school. Get involved in that intriguing research project. If an exciting opportunity comes along, take it. Develop a MOOC instead of TAing yet another semester of calculus (or whatever grad students in your field normally do). That's my philosophy at least, and that's why I would have jumped on an opportunity to develop an MOOC."
},
{
"answer_id": 43290,
"author": "xLeitix",
"author_id": 10094,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10094",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "> \n> I've seen graduate students act as course developers for their advisor's MOOC or play a key role in helping their advisor with some other endeavour that is not related to research.\n> \n> \n> \n\nAt least in Europe, where PhD students are employees, the answer is pretty simple - **because it is their job, and the professor can and will, in her/his functions as manager of the students, also assign them tasks that are not directly related to their PhD project**.\n\nMy employment contract in Austria was actually pretty clear about this - nominally, my job consistent of 50% research, 35% teaching, and 15% \"others\", which boiled down to helping with all sorts of university administrative tasks. For instance, I was once helping with re-writing the programme description of one of our master programmes. Of course this was only nominal, and I would honestly think that in practice, for me, both the research and the \"others\" parts ate into my time budget for teaching (but I never explicitly tracked this, since neither me, nor my professor, nor the university administration cared as long as things got done)."
}
] |
2015/04/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43273",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/29303/"
] |
43,274 |
For an undergraduate putting together a research poster describing research worked on at a government lab, is it appropriate to include the undergraduate's home institution in the Acknowledgements section?
Assume, in this case, the undergraduate institution has no involvement in the research.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43320,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "Here is how I would think about it:\n\n* You were at the government lab when you did the research, so its logo definitely needs to be there\n* You are preparing the logo and presenting the poster while at the university, so it's reasonable for its logo to be there as well.\n\nWith such things, it's usually better to err on the side of inclusiveness: people or organizations are much more likely to feel it's problematic to *not* be included than to feel it's problematic to be included, as long as there is *some* reasonable connection."
},
{
"answer_id": 43328,
"author": "nivag",
"author_id": 14115,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14115",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "If the work at the lab was in any way related to your course, such as part of a placement or project you get credit for, then I would include the university's logo.\n\nHowever, if the university was in no way involved, for example if this was a summer project that you found independently, then the university's logo probably doesn't need to be on the poster.\n\nIn any case if you are unsure then the best idea is probably to talk to someone who was involved in the project and possibly also someone from your university (your personal tutor or similar). They will be best placed to advise you for your particular situation."
}
] |
2015/04/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43274",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28486/"
] |
43,276 |
My question is inverse of the following question:
[How can you find the DOI of an article that doesn't seem to have one?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13736/how-can-you-find-the-doi-of-an-article-that-doesnt-seem-to-have-one)
I am looking for the ISBN number (it's a requirement for getting permissions on copyright.com) for the following paper:
<http://arc.aiaa.org/doi/abs/10.2514/6.2000-519>
I found its DOI to be `doi:10.2514/6.2000-519` from the citation data, however I couldn't find the ISBN. Is this typical? In the sense that can there be a DOI but not an ISBN for a manuscript?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43279,
"author": "Bill Barth",
"author_id": 11600,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11600",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "Articles don't usually have an ISBN since they are for books. It should be sufficient to give the title of the article you are interested in to copyright.com, which is AIAA's preferred mechanism for copyright license clearance. That being said, searching your article's title on copyright.com gives a null result. As such, you should probably contact AIAA directly, or stick a sequence of zeros into copyright.com's extended request form."
},
{
"answer_id": 43294,
"author": "Debora Weber-Wulff",
"author_id": 32489,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32489",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "There is an address on the bottom of the page: For permission to republish contact..., so I would do just that."
}
] |
2015/04/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43276",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/906/"
] |
43,303 |
Well, while carrying out a review of literature for drafting a proposal I found like these in some of previous works (reports).
>
> Some benefits of the “certain thing” on xyz are abc( person1, date) , cde( person2, date), fgh( person3, date) , ijk( person4, date)
>
>
>
and
>
> Some of the more researches in the field include ( person1, date; person2, date; person3, date; person4, date).
>
>
>
Now If I have to include and cite those in my report, which one is better idea? Also, please notice the nature of contents being cited(benefits and previous works).
Option 1: Cite as “as cited in report X” which I read and have only one reference of that report
(pros: less references)
Option 2: Go to each report, study and include each one(cited) as separate citation in my report
(pros: may be, will look more detail investigations. But is it required in cases like this one?)
Which one should be more ideal?
So, what should I do? Any suggestions?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43279,
"author": "Bill Barth",
"author_id": 11600,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11600",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "Articles don't usually have an ISBN since they are for books. It should be sufficient to give the title of the article you are interested in to copyright.com, which is AIAA's preferred mechanism for copyright license clearance. That being said, searching your article's title on copyright.com gives a null result. As such, you should probably contact AIAA directly, or stick a sequence of zeros into copyright.com's extended request form."
},
{
"answer_id": 43294,
"author": "Debora Weber-Wulff",
"author_id": 32489,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32489",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "There is an address on the bottom of the page: For permission to republish contact..., so I would do just that."
}
] |
2015/04/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43303",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15389/"
] |
43,304 |
I'm currently trying to find out which authors get the most citations in specific fields, like
Astrophysics
Condensed Matter
High Energy Physics - Experiment
...
(These are all arXiv categories)
Especially great would be to do such a search for specific year. Is any paper search engine capable of this?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43314,
"author": "Andrew is gone",
"author_id": 27825,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/27825",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "\"Most cited papers\" in a given field/period is fairly easy through something like Web of Knowledge; it's a few clicks to find out that both Scopus and Web of Knowledge list [this](http://www.nature.com/nchem/journal/v6/n3/full/nchem.1861.html) as the most cited paper in chemistry in 2014, for example. (Tellingly, they only agree on three of the top five...)\n\nDoing this for authors is more challenging, though - the Google Scholar registered authors method suggested above is effectively an opt-in database and so there's no way of telling who's not in it. Scopus has fairly good author-citation indexing but I'm not sure if it's set up to answer this specific question.\n\nA couple of studies with similar questions:\n\n[Abramo et al](http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1751157713000886) looks at a defined set of researchers (all Italian academics) and shows a way to identify the most highly cited authors within them - basically just WoK citation counts. Robust but tedious, and you probably don't want to start with a list of \"all astrophysicists\"...\n\nAnother approach is to pick the most highly cited articles in your field (assuming that the bulk of citations are in these, not the long tail) and look at the authors of those papers. See, eg, [Choi et al](https://escholarship.org/uc/item/69n5m3v6), which is \"the most cited authors of the 250 top papers in the field\", or [Utmtar et al](http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0078517), which looks at the authors of the top hundred medical reviews.\n\nYou could combine these - pull out, say, the fifty most cited papers, look at their authors, and do full citation counts on these using WoK. It seems likely that the most cited authors overall will be an author on one or more of the top papers."
},
{
"answer_id": 43704,
"author": "bxfd82",
"author_id": 33244,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/33244",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Web of Knowledge or Web of Science are probably the best tools for this, but if they are not available to you there is a free software called Publish or Perish that can help make sense of the Google Scholar citation measures."
}
] |
2015/04/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43304",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32936/"
] |
43,307 |
Can the referees publish an article in the journal they review or the editorial board members publish an article in their journal? Is it ethical? Can you give examples for my question? Your answers are quite important for my research.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43310,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "Your question is really two: reviewers and editorial board members.\n\nReviewers are peers reviewing other peers papers, or put differently and in very general terms, everyone reviews each other's manuscripts. Reviewers are not a professional occupation tied to a journal. This means that a reviewer is just as much welcome as an author as the author who was reviewed. \n\nWhen it comes to editorial board members they are (of course with a few exceptions in a few, probably wealthy, journals) also scientists just like anyone submitting to the journal. They are as such not prohibited to submit manuscripts to the journal in which they serve. It is of course important that the editor's manuscript is edited by someone else. Even this may seem poor to many but if one takes an opposite stance and view it from the journal's side, having editors sneaking in papers at will will not reflect well on the journal so for no other reason, self preservation keeps most from doing so. \n\nAs an editor for a journal I would be very hesitant to submit to \"my\" journal but at the same time, if the field is narrow and possible publications venues are few then the choices may not be overwhelming and publishing in the \"own\" journal may be the only possibility. It is not fair to think of editors as pariah and person's who should be banned from communicating their science. It is just important that they can and that it is done in such a way that they receive the same treatment as any other submitting author."
},
{
"answer_id": 43312,
"author": "Bill Barth",
"author_id": 11600,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11600",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "You will find that the pool of reviewers for many journals comes from its recent submitters. I have often gotten a review request from an editor shortly after submitting an article of my own. It's very common and not unethical. Peer review is driven by this back and forth between reviewers and submitters."
},
{
"answer_id": 43322,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "Speaking as an editor: one of the reasons that many journals have a large pool of associate editors (in addition to spreading the load), is to avoid disqualifying editors from publishing. This is particularly important for field-specific journals with all-volunteer editing, as otherwise you would lose some of the important contributors and also discourage people from being willing to be editors. Most good journal software supports this by blinding an editor to any operations involving papers on which they have a conflict of interest, which automatically includes their own. Now, it is much more tricky for a chief editor to publish fairly: even then it may be handled appropriately if there is more than one chief editor, but should be very rare in order to avoid the appearance of impropriety."
}
] |
2015/04/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43307",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32940/"
] |
43,313 |
So apparently I heard from [here](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/42497/22511), [here](https://math.stackexchange.com/a/1219912/198044) and [here](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/42923/22511) about the differences in PhDs in the US and in Europe.
To sum up, it takes longer, on average, in the US than in Europe to finish a PhD since US PhD programs require less and have more coursework compared to Eur PhD programs.
Why is that so?
I tried looking it up but seemed to be getting the stuff above, nothing really explaining why that is so.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43315,
"author": "Bill Barth",
"author_id": 11600,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11600",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "I think the goal is to get people to do the work of (approximately) 4 years undergrad, plus 2 years Master's work, plus 3-5 years of doctoral-level research. You can either lump that into 3 explicit degrees, or you can lump the latter two into one degree and just do a Bachelor's and a PhD. The overall amount of work is not that different. Not all people will get this equivalent level of training, but lots more programs have this level of required work than the simple US/EU divide would suggest.\n\nSome folks (many? most?) in the US that enter a PhD program directly after their Bachelor's degree are eligible to pick up a Master's degree along the way based on completing the required coursework for the PhD. Some just don't bother to fill out the paperwork. I didn't. In the end, it doesn't really matter. Additionally, if you enter a US PhD program with an appropriate Master's degree, you can almost always short-circuit the initial coursework requirements and go straight to research. I think it's probably less common to do this because it requires 3 college applications and maybe more moving around than does staying at your first graduate institution, but some people do it."
},
{
"answer_id": 43316,
"author": "xLeitix",
"author_id": 10094,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10094",
"pm_score": 7,
"selected": true,
"text": "First, let me start off with a counter-question:\n\n**Why would you expect them to be exactly the same?**\n\nDifferent regions have historically different educational systems on all levels, starting from Kindergarten. Why would you expect specifically the PhD degree to have a completely uniform definition everywhere in the world? Of course there are nowadays activities to make degrees (incl. PhDs) more comparable worldwide, but these things take time. As politicians in Europe have learned as part of the so-called Kologji process, you can't just top-down decide that *from now on, we are using the US system*.\n\nOf course, there are sometimes reasonable arguments for differences in system. For instance, you concluded:\n\n> \n> it takes longer, on average, in the US than in Europe to finish a PhD since US PhD programs require less and have more coursework compared to Eur PhD programs.\n> \n> \n> \n\nIn the US, a bachelor's degree is required for starting a PhD. In Europe, almost universally, you *need* a master or one of the older five-year diploma studies. So we in Europe expect students to hit the ground running basically from day 1 in their PhD. On the other hand, we don't require them to do much, or any, course work because they did all of that as part of the previous studies. Of course, if you then look only at the pure time spend in what is called the PhD studies, you end up with a shorter time in Europe.\n\nNow you can of course go deeper down the rabbit hole and ask why European universities expect PhD students to have a master's degree first. The reason for that is mostly historical - around here, we often didn't even *have* Bachelor's degrees until the above-mentioned Bolognia process. What happened as part of this process was that decision makers ended up deciding that pretty much the first three years of the old diploma studies became \"the bachelor\" while the remaining two years became \"the master\". Of course, this reasoning led to the public opinion of somebody with \"only\" a bachelor's degree as a glorified college dropout. The universities implicitly also shared this notion, as there were never substantial motions to admit bachelor degree holders to PhD programmes in most universities. Slowly, the bachelor programmes are getting more profile as something better than just the first 3/5 of an actual degree programme, and consequently their public image also improves. Universities are nowadays also taking first tender steps towards making it easier for bachelor degree holders to start a PhD - however, so far, this is mostly targeted at making it easier for international students to enroll.\n\n**Important concluding remark:** I am aware that a lot of the above contained pretty sweeping generalizations, which do not hold true everywhere. Specifically, Great Britain and Ireland already historically used a different system. However, I wanted to answer with something a bit more substantial than \"systems are different everywhere\"."
},
{
"answer_id": 43317,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "The idea that European PhDs are uniform is misleading. Similar, there is no single US PhD. The differences in PhD programs, stem from differences that develop during primary and secondary education. For example, in the UK students begin specialising during their \"A levels\" and the undergraduate degree is a highly specialized 3 year degree. In the US, secondary education and the undergraduate degree include more breadth.\n\nThe teaching responsibilities in the US and UK are also different, with there being less off topic advanced level teaching in the UK. This means that post graduate course work, is to an extent less important, since you will not likely be teaching that material. For example, a CS researcher teaching in a small US EECS department might be required to teach undergraduate signal processing, but this would almost never happen in the UK. Having taken a graduate level class is really helpful for teaching undergraduate level classes.\n\nFinally, there are cultural differences. In the UK, there is more pressure to get a job. In the UK, many people opt to skip a research intensive post doc and instead go directly into teaching intensive positions with the hope of switching tracks later. The funding models are different also\n\nTL;DR They are different, because they are different."
},
{
"answer_id": 43336,
"author": "Jeremy Miles",
"author_id": 6495,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6495",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "I can talk about PhDs in the UK, I have less knowledge of the rest of Europe, but I know that it is not similar to the US.\n\nIn the UK, you specialize early in a subject, and your education is therefore narrow and deep. In the US, you specialize later, and your education is therefore wide and not so deep. It's changed a little (but only a little) since I was in school, but at age 13, I dropped all but 5 subjects plus math(s) and English. I chose the three sciences (chemistry, biology, physics), geometrical and engineering drawing, and French. If you chose not to take any science at age 13, you were not going to be studying any science at university (I think this is changed, so you are required to take at least some sciene). Hence I have studied no humanities since I was 13. At age 16, you reduced again to three subjects - you are interested in science, people typically studied physics, chemistry, biology, or perhaps swapped the biology for maths. When I teach psychology undergraduates, health science undergraduates, or health professionals who are taking postgraduate courses, they will typically have done no math(s) since the age of 16. (This is a challenge, as I teach them statistics. If they knew anything about algebra, they've forgotten most of it. They will deny ever having been taught calculus [and that's true, they probably have never studied it]).\n\nAt 16, I chose biology, psychology and environmental science. (Env Sci is, or was, essentially applied chemistry and biology, with a bit of geography).\n\nIn the UK, you go to university to study a subject, and that is what you study. There is no concept of picking a major. If you want to change your major, you usually start again. (In my first year, I studied two subsidiary subjects for 50% of the time, after the first year, I did nothing except psychology courses.\n\nWhen I graduated at age 21, I had a degree in psychology, and I'd been studying psychology for 5 years (and psychology had made up almost 2/3rds of what I'd studied from age 16).\n\nThe PhD has also changed, but in the UK at the time, the purpose of the PhD was to write a dissertation. That was the only requirement. In the US, there is the idea of PhD-ABD - all but dissertation. In the UK, this would make no sense, there is no requirement for a PhD except for the dissertation. You start, and on day 1 you work on your dissertaion. On day N (where N is quite a large number) you submit your dissertation, and you're finished. This is changing, or has changed so that there is a coursework requirement for a PhD; but in the US people talk about taking courses in departments outside their PhD subject. This is very rare in the UK - you take courses offered by your department, and you take the courses you have to take, no more. British PhD dissertations are considerably longer and more substantial than American PhD dissertations.\n\nIn comparison to an American student, a UK graduate in (say) psychology seems to know more psychology. But they know a lot less other stuff. In the US, it seems (to me) to be common to do a master's degree (or even a PhD) in a subject that you did not major in at undergraduate. For example, I've known people with a degree in economics or sociology who take a master's degree in statistics. This would be very rare in the UK, you would simply be too far behind everyone else on the course. (Many years ago, I applied for a master's course in applied statistics (an early online course) - I'd published papers on statistical methods in psychology, and had a PhD on statistical methods in psychology; I was rejected because my background was unsuitable.)"
},
{
"answer_id": 43339,
"author": "Solomon Vimal",
"author_id": 32953,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32953",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "There is a lot of diversity in American universities and a lot more in Europe. I have studied in four European countries and all of them had different PhD award requirement and average PhD duration, course work requirements, etc. A sweeping generalization would be that European universities require a master's degree, and PhD on average takes three years and in the US you require a certain number of credits and a bachelor's degree.\n\nIn reality, there is a lot of variability. Some American universities do require a master's degree before a PhD - e.g. doctoral programmes in engineering at [UIUC](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Illinois_at_Urbana%E2%80%93Champaign). But many others admit you to begin a PhD and then expect you to either get a master's degree along the way fulfilling course credits or allow you to transfer those credits to PhD directly.\n\nInteresting fun fact - several American and European universities have admitted anyone who passes the entrance exam to a doctoral programme - even if they didn't have a bachelor's degree. What they expect, to award a PhD, is just contribution to the field and proof of competence as a researcher. But now we have institutions that enforce credit systems, quality control and so on, so there are these hard requirements at some level subject to many things imposed by institutions based on country, credit system, university, discipline, department, PhD award committee and even perhaps professors.\n\nThese limitations now exist because there are way too many institutions and universities now, and I won't be surprised if there is someone out there who is doing a PhD in this very subject. If you find them, let me know. :D"
},
{
"answer_id": 43478,
"author": "knb",
"author_id": 31688,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31688",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "\"[Habilitation](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habilitation)\"\n\nIn Germany and many other European countries, historically, a PhD *was* not enough to get a professorship (whereas in the US a PhD is required for associate-professor positions, I think). \n\nIn many fields, PhDs had to apply to the tenure committe, and then were allowed to write and submit a \"[Habilitation](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habilitation)\" paper or internal report. After acceptance, *then* you could apply for a professorship, and be tenured. \n\nSo, historically, often:\n\n(Professorship qualification phase duration in Europe) = PhD phase + Habilitation phase\n\nThis requirement has been \"reformed away\" since the 2000s, and often been replaced by \"junior professorships\" (multiyear fixed-term contracts).\n\nLocal traditions and requirements with respect to \"Habilitation\" strongly differ. in some fields this still exists; and at some universities, it has been \"reformed away\" even earlier. \n\nFor \"University of Applied Sciences\" (Fachhochschulen - less prestigious but still pretty good universities), there was no such requirement."
},
{
"answer_id": 43532,
"author": "Ant",
"author_id": 31990,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31990",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "European countries agreed a few years ago on having all similar official durations for PhDs (3-4 years). See <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bologna_Process>.\n\nIn all european countries starting a PhD requires having completed 5 years of study (european master degree), while in US it is in theory possible to start a PhD after 3-4 years of study.\n\nTAship is less common and far less stringent in most european countries than in US."
}
] |
2015/04/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43313",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/21026/"
] |
43,323 |
I am currently looking for alternatives / provisional solutions to traditional journal subscriptions. The research institute (200+ researchers) I am working at has contracts with all the big players but they do not move in the currently ongoing negotiations. We consider cancelling one big subscription completely but the scientists would go berserk on us. So, we need an interim solution to supply them quickly with the articles they want and [DeepDyve](https://www.deepdyve.com/) is one possibility. Unfortunately, I got no reply to the inquiries I sent via their online form.
Has anyone experience with DeepDyve group plans? What are the costs and is the access reliable?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43325,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "While it is convenient to be able to download articles on demand, I am not sure all researchers would go \"berserk\" on losing that ability. Simply switching access plans without consultation will likely piss people off. Why not have a meeting with the researchers where you open a conversation about the cost of instant access versus delayed access. You would need to have the relevant data about subscription costs, individual downloads costs, and number of downloads. Remember that the number of articles downloaded is probably an overestimation of the actual numbers because some articles are downloaded by multiple people multiple times and others are free in other places. A slight delay (48-72 hours) might be acceptable for many articles. Finally, telling the researcher how the savings will be passed on to them would be helpful. They will want to know what else can be cut from the budget to save the privledges."
},
{
"answer_id": 43330,
"author": "Andrew is gone",
"author_id": 27825,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/27825",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "I've no experience with DeepDyve specifically, but there are a few things that stand out as issues from a quick look -\n\na) Coverage. They seem fairly broad, but it would be worth double-checking they include, say, the top-fifty most used journals by your researchers. (It's a little fiddly to produce such a list, but quite an interesting thing to have available.)\n\nb) Access rights. In my experience, people get quite frustrated by read-online-only access models with no print/save capability, and this seems to be the DeepDyve approach. Downloading is apparently an additional cost (the plan gives you \"20% off\" without saying how much the basic price is)\n\nc) Accessibility/usability. Requiring users to go to a specific service to read the paper (rather than the websites they're used to) will cause friction and probably a bit of confusion.\n\nNone of these are insurmountable, but they're all things that are worth considering. On the plus side, their basic prices seem competitive to standard document-delivery services, assuming some kind of a bulk-purchase discount, and access seems to be immediate rather than delayed."
},
{
"answer_id": 43748,
"author": "Heike R",
"author_id": 32181,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32181",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "After fishing an email address of someone responsible at DeepDyve from the internet and contacting them directly, I got a number:\n\nusual cost per year per user: 12 \\* 40 $ = 480 $\n\ngroup plan for 200 users: 54840 $ (274.20$ per user)\n\nNo idea how much this is negotiable. It includes reading as many article as one want and a 20% discount on the publisher price when buying the article (to be able to download and print it).\nThe price (including the amount of articles our scientists would want to buy) would be feasible if we were to cancel more than one big subscription package. As it is currently, we considered only one cancellation and too much overlap in coverage of DeepDyve and our remaining subscriptions would result in 'double payment' for too many journals. We have to think this through.\n\nIf anyone has experience with this kind of transition or with DeepDyve as supplier for research institutions, I would still be grateful for some reports."
}
] |
2015/04/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43323",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32181/"
] |
43,324 |
Recently I was reading a paper where the authors include their evaluation as a part of their contribution. In general the paragraph I am referring to was something like this:
>
> Our contributions are a,b,c,d and e
>
>
>
Where `e` describes the evaluation.
In evaluation section, is about the performance evaluation of the proposed system. So the are running some simulations and benchmarks to show in which of the cases they perform better than the state of the art tools.
The evaluation (as a process) is not containing something novel, except from some modifications they did to adapt the benchmark / evaluation framework to their needs.
So, is this considered a 'contribution'? Is it 'good' to list the evaluation in the list of contributions?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43326,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "There are no official standards for what constitutes a valid use of the term \"contribution\". It's intrinsically a vague word, and authors can use it in many ways. It would be inappropriate to list something as a research contribution if there's absolutely nothing at all original about it, but a small amount of originality could be enough (and opinions can differ as to where the threshold is). Of course it would be foolish to highlight the less original parts of a paper as contributions when this might distract readers from the more original parts, but that's a different issue.\n\nYou haven't given enough details to say much about your particular case, but making small modifications to an evaluation framework could be considered a small contribution."
},
{
"answer_id": 43327,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Both gathering data and analysis of data can certainly be valid and reportable contributions. Certainly my coauthors and I tend to report them thus in synthetic biology papers, where both involve a lot of hard work. It would only *not* be a significant contribution if the actual work involved was trivial. Otherwise, the importance of the evaluation to the paper should allow the reader to make a reasonable judgement of weight of contribution."
}
] |
2015/04/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43324",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15539/"
] |
43,333 |
I am looking for list of all the universities/colleges in the USA. I read somewhere that there are around 6000 universities/colleges in US. Also, I want a list of the engineering colleges in the USA
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43335,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "The typical place for students to start looking, despite its flaws, is the [US News university rankings](http://www.usnews.com/rankings). This lists something on the order of 2000 educational institutions, including all of the higher-ranked institutions, both overall and in many categories such as engineering."
},
{
"answer_id": 43341,
"author": "Nate Eldredge",
"author_id": 1010,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "At <http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation> you can download a list of all accredited US colleges, universities, and similar educational programs. I counted 9746 unique institutions."
}
] |
2015/04/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43333",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32950/"
] |
43,342 |
I am a first year maths PhD student at a UK university, and I recently made a very long post about potentially quitting my PhD and I am severely lacking motivation (see [here](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/42908/is-it-a-good-idea-to-take-a-break-from-studying-a-mathematics-phd-and-then-consi) for much more details).
I am starting to wonder whether my disillusionment is partly caused by my supervisor. Don't get me wrong - my supervisor is lovely, we can talk about things fairly openly and she really knows her stuff when it comes to mathematical analysis and partial differential equations. Over the first few months of my PhD she was very supportive of everything I did, but only recently have I realised how that has essentially bitten me in the arse.
We had a couple of very long conversations recently about the fact that she is worried about my progress despite being only 6 months in - namely that she feels I have not been putting in the time required. This is definitely true I must admit, but the reason for that is my motivation has really plummeted recently and as a result I've been finding simple tasks very difficult (her main worry recently is that I've been spending 2 months trying to figure out a task which she says would take any analysis graduate student 2 hours - or moreover, I've had a lot of difficulty getting around to it due to other departmental commitments such as attending classes, doing teaching and marking, and taking lecture notes for special needs students) I do also feel that because my analysis background is probably a bit weak (and she was aware of this when I applied to the studentship) that my supervisor has been expecting that I'll just solve this problem myself rather than carefully structure the first few months to allow me to absorb the content and take my own time.
I feel as though my supervisor has been leading me into a false sense of security somewhat; towards the start of the PhD she was just politely agreeing with whatever it was that I was doing (even if there were some errors in the way I was doing things) in order to positively support me, bearing in mind I was a new student and she was still getting to know me, and this falsely led me to believe that I was somehow doing okay. I feel as though she has been insincere and hiding the truth from me, hoping that I'll pick up on her polite "hints" that certain things should be done, rather than just simply saying if there was something I wasn't doing right or saying "that's good, but you really need to do X". I would much prefer being supervised by someone who is much more direct about if there is something I have done wrong as this would allow me to correct things at an early stage, rather than let things slide and then only later on down the line realise that something really is wrong.
This is a repeat of the research project that happened during my MMath at my previous university. Once again, I have encountered an inexperienced supervisor (who is fairly new to supervising students and getting a lot out of them) who has not been actively engaging with me as much as they could have done, who has been overly nice up to this point in the hope that it will have made me more productive, only to say that "I have been very positive and encouraging, and even when I have been trying to make things a bit more difficult for you, that doesn't seem to have worked" as though they are trying to use their own politeness as grounds against me. WHY DON'T PEOPLE JUST TELL ME DIRECTLY IF SOMETHING ISN'T RIGHT?
Anyway, this could be purely my own fault and this may just be the result of my own incompetence at research work or time management (hence the other post about me considering quitting), but is this something that would ring alarm bells for other PhD students or alternate supervisors? Would it be worth considering a much more assertive supervisor (my advisor is someone who seems like a genuinely nice guy but he is also incredibly knowledgeable about mathematics and he has supervised a lot of PhD students - the students I've spoken to who have him as a supervisor seem to be doing well) instead of quitting altogether? To put it simply, I feel as though my supervisor has just been a "yes woman" and only now do I feel that the indirect politeness has bitten me in the backside.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43345,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "In general, it is difficult for supervisors to be able to quickly identify if something is wrong. Often UK programs evaluate students after one year. My department holds an viva voice after the first year and progresses students from MPhil to PhD. In my field, psychology, a reasonable outcome after one year is an understanding, and literature review, of the thesis, and a completed experiment. As a supervisor, the 6 month point is probably the earliest I can identify if a student is unlikely to clear the minimum bar unless there is a major change. Even at 6 months, it is difficult to judge. When tasks that should take hours are taking months, that is an indication of a problem.\n\nPhD students, especially in the short time-limited programs in the UK, need to be self motivated. That means you need to understand what you need to accomplish by when. By now you should probably be outlining your thesis is a big picture sense and have some well defined aims and some background reading about why these aims are important and substantial. The aims should be agreed with your supervisor as being worthy of a PhD. It is likely that over the next 2.5 years these aims will change, but you want a starting point. You also need to know where you need to be at the end of year 2. As you build a roadmap with your supervisor, you can get an idea of how long things should take. When things take much longer then you and your supervisor think they should, you need to meet with your supervisor ASAP."
},
{
"answer_id": 43349,
"author": "user49483",
"author_id": 30768,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30768",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": false,
"text": "From what you've written, your supervisor actually seems like quite a good supervisor. Students rarely accomplish much of note during the first six months and the majority of students would quickly lose motivation if their supervisor immediately started criticising their work ethic/output while they were still getting their feet wet. As StrongBad has said, 6 months is probably the earliest point that your supervisor can stop giving you the benefit of the doubt and sit down with you and point out the areas in which you need to improve. \n\nDifferent students require/prefer different styles of supervision. You seem to want less independence than most PhD students I know. So, you need to sit down with your supervisor and communicate this to her. Frame it in a positive way, e.g. \"I really appreciate how supportive you have been of my early attempts but I feel that I have become a bit lost and need more direct guidance. Can we start having regular meetings for the next few months where I show you what I'm working on and the approach I am taking, and you can let me know whether you think there are alternative approaches to that question or whether I am better working on a different problem?\" Right now it doesn't seem like you are even giving your supervisor a chance to change her style of supervision to fit your requirements.\n\nFinally, as somebody who has witnessed what can happen with a 'direct' supervisor and an underperforming student (it's not pretty), I think you might be underestimating the importance of a supportive supervisor, which your supervisor certainly seems to be. Talk to her, tell her what you are struggling with and see how it goes over the next few months."
},
{
"answer_id": 43373,
"author": "Adrian Bowyer",
"author_id": 32975,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32975",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": false,
"text": "I have been a PhD student once (passed), and subsequently during a long academic career I supervised about 30 PhD students, about 28 of whom stayed the course and submitted a thesis. They all passed.\n\nYou sound as if you are not very interested in the subject you are researching. When you started, did you not think, \"Wow! It would be really neat to find an answer to that problem\"?\n\nWhen you become Dd Lmotq, an expert in thingology, that says two things to the world:\n\n1. You know a lot about thingology and have contributed new ideas to it, and\n2. You can work independently and with self motivation to get a big\n long project completed.\n\nDoing a PhD is neither like doing a job (even an interesting job), nor is it like being educated at school or as an undergraduate. After the important animal necessities of food, sex, sleep, shelter and so on, the work of the PhD should be something that you find intrinsically fascinating to the extent that it fills your thoughts most of the time. It may be that at its start you merely found it intriguing, but that fascination should grow as you find out more about it.\n\nIf you regard it like a job (with a boss), or like doing a first degree in order to get a job, then you will perform indifferently at best. And you won't enjoy it.\n\nAt a minimum you should not do a PhD unless - in altered circumstances - its subject would be something that you would study anyway as a hobby in your spare time."
},
{
"answer_id": 43421,
"author": "SmugDoodleBug",
"author_id": 12294,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12294",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "I'd have to agree with AE that you are not expecting the correct things from your relationship with your supervisor. Sure, it's her job to help guide you, but it is not her job to make you feel motivated. That's squarely your responsibility. If you don't feel her style is to your liking, it's not her fault if you stick with her instead of finding someone else. If you feel like you don't enjoy the work you are currently doing due to the time consumption, you may want to ask yourself if you are cut out for the field to begin with.\nA job requiring a doctorate probably isn't going to be light in requirements schedule-wise. In addition, you will have to work both for, and with, people who may be similar to your supervisor. If you don't like her when she's optional in your life, imagine how you'll feel when you can't simply walk away and find another person. You'll need to be more flexible and really talk with her about your issues. In fact, try having an adult conversation about how you feel concerning the way she operates."
},
{
"answer_id": 43460,
"author": "einpoklum",
"author_id": 7319,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7319",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "**Sorry for being blunt, but: *forget about your supervisor*.**\n\nI mean, don't actually *forget* about her, but it sounds very weird to hear you talk about her \"giving you tasks\" as if she was having you sort her bookshelves alphabetically or something. You have a subject you want to study, right? Or even some specific research questions? Make the assumption you're not going to get a great deal of help from your advisor right now, regardless of the reason.\n\nNow, try to come up with a broad plan. I know it sounds impossible, especially when you need to make assumptions regarding your own abilities, but really - pretend it's a plan for somebody else. Try to get to a point when in the back of your mind you can tell yourself \"Ok, I want this and that to happen already\", \"I need myself to accomplish X because then I would be able to do Y which I am looking forward to\" etc. Your work plan doesn't have to be perfect, or even valid; you'll probably scrap it when your viewpoint changes or when you've obtained some partial results on something - but that doesn't matter either, it's the mindset, I think, that makes the difference.\n\nAnd when you have this kind of mindset, you'll essentially be trying to *utilize* your advisor: Come to her asking for very specific guidance, opinions on what you're doing on your own, oracling references to the literature on this or that obscure aspect of your field, and so forth.\n\n(Yes, this is much easier said than done and it's not like I did that during my Ph.D., but that's a long sad story not for this post. I made it through though.)\n\nSo, technically, the answer to your question is: \"Maybe there's a problem and maybe there isn't, but that's not what you should be concerned about given your situation.\""
},
{
"answer_id": 43494,
"author": "tobylaroni",
"author_id": 33079,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/33079",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "I know this is somewhat tangential, but have you every been evaluated for learning disorders, particularly `Attention Defecit Disorder` (`ADD`)? \n\nWhile you mention that there could be some subject area knowledge that you're lacking in order to complete the tasks she's assigned, it sounds like your biggest hurdles are time management and procrastination, which are very, very common problems with ADD.\n\nIn that respect, instead of expecting your adviser to help you with those issues, you should consider seeing an ADD coach (a therapist trained in working with people with ADD to manage time and track progress on tasks). You could also consider a behavioral therapist, who could help you develop new patterns for how you approach tasks in the first place (some coaches are trained in both). Very frequently, universities either have in-house staff who can help you with this or can get you a referral to a local therapist."
},
{
"answer_id": 43849,
"author": "lead",
"author_id": 33350,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/33350",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "Having experienced a \"hands off\" advisor myself, I'm going to say yes, there is something wrong with your advisor. Where my advisor was horribly emotionally abusive, yours sounds like she simply doesn't give useful feedback; in either case, though, you aren't getting the guidance you need. Many people forget that graduate students are *students* still, meaning they came to grad school to get guidance in how to pursue advanced research. If you aren't getting that guidance from your advisor, that means they aren't doing their job. \n\nMost people who reach the upper echelons of most branches of academia have never learned about teaching or mentoring - they do what was done to them or what seems like a good idea. However, there's a whole branch of study that has developed concrete guidelines for how people learn best: successful learning involves timely and appropriate feedback. Without the feedback (and guidance, so the lessons aren't excessively hard to come by), the rewards centers of the brain never light up, and motivation to continue down the path you're on decreases. It sounds like this is what's happening to you (and it's what happened to me when I couldn't get a response from my advisor about my research, even when I asked him point blank whether it was acceptable or not). If you knew enough to light up your own reward centers (i.e. if you knew how research was conducted and what \"accurate\" results look like) *what would the point be of paying a school to teach you this?* You'd already be an expert, and wouldn't be looking to an expert for guidance. \n\nAnd just to back up what I'm saying with the opinion of a respected professional mentor on the topic of academia, I give you the following link: \n[The 5 Top Traits of the Worst Advisors](http://theprofessorisin.com/2014/02/23/the-5-top-traits-of-the-worst-advisors/)\nOh hey, look at that - **Is nice, and friendly, and available** made the top spot on the list. \n\nGood luck with handling the situation; Zajen's blog (the one from the link) is actually a great place to find solutions to the type of bind you're in."
},
{
"answer_id": 177922,
"author": "Dilworth",
"author_id": 8760,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8760",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "> \n> Could there be a problem with my PhD supervisor?\n> \n> \n> \n\n**No**, certainly there is **nothing** inherently wrong with your nice supervisor (based on your description).\n\nIt may be that you would benefit a stricter more direct advisor, but this does not mean anything is \"wrong\" with your supervisor."
}
] |
2015/04/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43342",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
] |
43,344 |
I work as a programmer supporting a psychology lab.
Most of my work is translating some paper-based or physical assessment into a computer-based equivalent or I create programs for novel assessments along with associated databases and support programs for data retrieval and basic cleaning.
Recently, a colleague included me as a co-author on a paper.
Are they are being overly nice or should I be a co-author on other papers?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43347,
"author": "Maarten van Wesel",
"author_id": 32146,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32146",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "An author should be involved in many stages of the study; from involvement in design of the study, to involvement in analysis and writing. Someone who is merely programming is not an author, although this is a valuable contribution"
},
{
"answer_id": 43360,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "In general, only researchers are included as authors. In some cases, the person doing the programming makes a critical intellectual contribution and becomes a researcher. In Psychology, specialist help is often brought in for programming, statistics, modelling, animal care, data acquisition, drug administration, and subject treatment. These support staff are often just turning a \"crank\". The crank is not necessarily easy to turn and the project would not be completed without it being turned, but turning the crank is not research.\n\nSupport staff tend to be mentioned in the acknowledgements. Programmers tend to get the short end of the stick in that they get acknowledge only the first time the software is used while other support staff get mention on every paper they are involved with. Support staff only become authors if they do something novel (for example, develop novel testing software). In these cases, they would be an author on the paper (often a methods paper) describing that novel contribution."
},
{
"answer_id": 43362,
"author": "Jeromy Anglim",
"author_id": 62,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/62",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "**Summary:**\n\n* Programming a task to a specification is one of many procedural tasks that typically does not lead to authorship in psychology.\n* Authorship is typically justified where the programming task involves a substantive intellectual contribution particularly in terms of both academic insight required and contributing to the design in a way that relates to the overall contribution of the resulting paper.\n* Programmers can try to negotiate authorship. This is often done by either amplifying the programmer's overall intellectual contribution or when the lead author requires the programmer's input for financial or other reasons.\n\n**More details**\nPutting aside the issue of what is reasonable, I can share some observations from my experience working in a psychology department for many years.\n\nProfessional staff with technical expertise in programming are often used on psychological projects. They might be used to program an experiment, set up a data collection tool (e.g., a survey), set up a website and so on.\nTypically, programming a task does not give rise to authorship. The logic is that more procedural contributions are insufficient to justify authorship.\n\nAs a casual observation, I have noticed that some psychology researchers undervalue the creative contribution that is often required to effectively implement a programming task.\n\n**Support staff versus academic programmers:** I also note that there is a difference between professional support staff and academics (students and faculty) that provide the same technical support. Support staff are typically not on an academic career track, typically do not have domain specific training in the substantive discipline of the paper, and are not assessed particularly on their publication output. In contrast if a technically minded collaborator programs an experimental task, they are more likely to be motivated by co-authorship, they will also more likely be able to contribute to other intellectual aspects of the paper (e.g., task design decisions; write-up; project conception; etc.). \n\nI also have seen cases where authorship is negotiated. In particular, where the lead author does not have money to pay the programmer or the programmer is particularly motivated by authorship, authorship can be offered as an incentive to be involved. As @strongbad implies in the comments, this can get into mirky ethical territory where the contribution clearly falls short of ethically recognised criteria for authorship. And as @strongbad notes in the comments, a more appropriate way to navigate this is to ensure that the programmer does make the requisite intellectual contribution (e.g., through contribution to design, write-up, etc.)."
},
{
"answer_id": 43380,
"author": "dsfgsho",
"author_id": 17804,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17804",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Authorship of a scientific publication can sometimes be a difficult discussion as the requirements, reasons and justification of the author list are not always consistent, clear and well communicated. \n\nSome researchers, labs and universities therefore employ the so called **Vancouver Protocol** [[1](http://www.research.mq.edu.au/documents/policies/Vancouver.pdf), [2](http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/defining-the-role-of-authors-and-contributors.html)], that poses a number of requirements for authorship:\n\n> \n> 1. conception and design, or analysis and interpretation of data; and\n> 2. drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and\n> 3. final approval of the version to be published.\n> \n> \n> \n\nThis protocol is of course merely a suggestions, but (based on my limited experience) it seems to capture the sentiment and approach taken in several labs that I worked in. Note that in some universities, authors are required to complete a signed co-author statement, that describes their contribution to the paper as *minor*, *proportional* or *major*.\n\nSo coming back to your question:\n\n> \n> Are they are being overly nice or should I be a co-author on other\n> papers?\n> \n> \n> \n\nBased on the information in your question and taken the requirements of the Vancouver protocol, I would say that they are overly nice to add you to the paper. \n\nOf course, there is absolutely no problem in you being a co-author on the paper, \nif the main authors value your contribution and propose to add you. But, it would be, e.g., hard for you to claim co-authorship on that paper if you did not work on the manuscript.\n\n**Note**, however, as pointed out by [StrongBad](https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929/strongbad) in the comment that:\n\n> \n> The criteria are not intended for use as a means to disqualify\n> colleagues from authorship who otherwise meet authorship criteria by\n> denying them the opportunity to meet criterion #s 2 or 3. Therefore,\n> all individuals who meet the first criterion should have the\n> opportunity to participate in the review, drafting, and final approval\n> of the manuscript. \n> \n> \n>"
},
{
"answer_id": 112613,
"author": "mflo-ByeSE",
"author_id": 73083,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/73083",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "This is an old question, but I'll add a quick link and discussion of APA authorship standards.\n\nThe guidelines: <http://www.apa.org/research/responsible/publication/>\n\nAccording to this:\n\n> \n> Authorship credit should reflect the individual's contribution to the study. An author is considered anyone involved with initial research design, data collection and analysis, manuscript drafting, and final approval.\n> \n> \n> \n\nOn the website, this is directly contrasted with: funding, mentorship, and not participating in the actual publication. The last one is tricky.\n\nSo, where does programming fall in? How I interpret the last exception above is: if you aren't using analysis that I ran/interpreted, my statistical tables, any graphics I made, or any of my writing (obviously), then I'm not contributing. From my perspective, though, if you use even one of those things in the manuscript/presentation, I have contributed to the manuscript in a tangible way, and should be included as an author. I feel obligated to mention (as this has happened) that, from my perspective, if you take my code and change the color of the plot and include it, you're still presenting a product of someone else (and need to provide credit for that). Now, if I write code for a data collection procedure, that doesn't necessarily relate to a tangible contribution to the manuscript, and may or may not qualify for authorship (see below about creating a new data collection program for the project).\n\nI believe the need to provide credit is the primary consideration. If you have a published software, you shouldn't be given authorship as credit for its use (as a citation to the software is sufficient). If you have a paper on a unique data collection method, you shouldn't be given authorship as credit for its use (again, citation). Now, if you *designed* a unique program/statistic/data collection method, you probably should be given authorship, as there isn't another appropriate way to provide credit for that contribution (an acknowledgement isn't enough for that level of contribution, in my opinion).\n\n**Overall, though, I believe the best way to approach this is through mutual agreement at the beginning of the project**. This involves a clear definition of the scope of work and compensation for that work (even if the compensation is zero), and revisiting these agreements if the scope changes. Note that there is no exception about authorship for being paid or not, so if you are a paid consultant and are contributing you should still be listed as an author. If you agree to do X, Y, and Z for money but no authorship, fair enough. If you agree to do it for no money but authorship, also fair game. In my experience, such agreements help to keep things friendly in terms of mutual expectations moving forward: if the scope of work was completed, the agreed upon terms should be respected (that doesn't mean that's *all* you can do on the project, just that the terms should be met whether or not you chose to continue). Note that, as circumstances change, these SOWs are often updated, if only informally, to address the new condition (deadline got moved up, so we need that tangible a week earlier than expected).\n\nRegarding your situation, it seems a bit unclear from your post. If you are typing questions into SurveyMonkey, you probably don't deserve authorship. If you have created an innovative data collection method/statistic/program specifically for this application (and haven't/aren't publishing it elsewhere), you probably do. Finally, if you are contributing tables/analyses/graphics/text to the final manuscript/presentation, I believe that you certainly deserve authorship credit for your work (as you will have contributed, tangibly, to the written product)."
}
] |
2015/04/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43344",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14820/"
] |
43,346 |
I am a reviewer at a conference. An author submitted a paper, and I searched the author's previous papers. I found they have one paper with a very similar title **accepted** to a conference in 2012. I downloaded the paper, and about 1.5 pages of the 6 page document is exactly the same as the 2012 paper (all words and everything else.) So is that plagiarism?
There is no reference to their own 2012 work. Without paying attention to the rest of paper? Should I drop that or not?
Update:
Yes the paper was accepted and indexed on IEEE web site. and I download the paper from IEEE web site.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43348,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "Yeah, copying 25% of a prior paper without attribution is definitely self-plagiarism. Report it to the program chairs of the conference, and let them sort out how to manage the problem from there.\n\nAdditional information, for any coming from different publication cultures: electrical engineering / computer science conferences are serious publications that take originality very seriously, and [IEEE policy](http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/Section_822F.html) on the matter is quite explicit."
},
{
"answer_id": 43386,
"author": "Peter Bloem",
"author_id": 6936,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6936",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "As others have noted, this is a lot of copying, and it would be difficult to justify, but I would say that it is not by itself unacceptable. **Ultimately, it boils down not to how much of the paper is replicated, but to how much of *the result* is replicated.**\n\nIf it just happens that for this problem, describing the preliminaries takes up 1.5 pages, and they've copied that from an earlier paper on the same subject, it can still be justified, so long as the thing that is actually being presented is sufficiently new. A good proof, for instance, may only take up a page and a half itself, and still be well worth publishing. \n\nThis is why I said, in my earlier comment that it depends on the field. In some fields the text of the paper is itself the result (like a particularly well-researched line of reasoning). In that case self-plagiarizing is a big deal. In other fields the text serves only to present the results, like a proof, some emperical results or an algorithm, and copy-pasting the preliminaries is almost standard practice. It's kind of inadvisable, but it's not by devinition unacceptable.\n\nEven the fact that they've not cited their previous paper can be justified if the previous *result* is not relevant for *this result*. Citing yourself when it's not relevant is a different kind of dishonesty all in itself, so you're caught between two fires. \n\nOf course, the other side is that they could be trying to artificially inflate their publication record and they've not cited their previous work in an effort embellish that fact. At the very least, they've not gone through any effort to show that their intentions are honest. \n\nYou should mention to your co-reviewers and editor that this is the case. The important point is that there's no automatic rule saying that copying 20 percent is acceptable and 25% is crossing the line. You (and the other reviewers) should make the judgment on whether the self-plagiarism concerns just the text or also the actual results."
},
{
"answer_id": 43403,
"author": "cbeleites unhappy with SX",
"author_id": 725,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/725",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "Answer to the question: no it is not **plagiarism**. Plagiarism is defined as passing off someone *else*'s text, idea, representation as your own. As the author in question is actually the author of the old paper, it is not plagiarized. \n\nIf the author signed over the *exclusive* copyright, it is a **copyright violation**. \n\nIf your conference requires contributions to be **novel** (but see below), then it fails on that account - regardless whether the abstract is copy&paste or rephrased (and even in that case you may report that the citations are not appropriate, and previous work is missing).\n\nIn addition, as reviewer you may decide that it is **not interesting enough** (e.g. because it is known already) even if there is no formal novelty requirement. \n\n---\n\nPersonally I find **self-plagiarism** a misleading and unfortunate term (but yes I do know what it means, and I totally agree that we need to fight the underlying problems). But IMHO is *not* a straightforward extension of plagiarism, and in my experience, there are better terms to unambiguously name the problems. \n\nIn addition, the term has the clear connotation of an offense - but whether and how much one should cite oneself depends a lot on circumstances. In particular, not saying that this your idea is 5 years old is offensive (only) if there is a requirement or expectation of novelty. On the other hand, one would expect a lifetime-achievement award lecture to be full of widely known ideas. \n\nBut even in a paper I'd not cite *all* my previous papers that are somehow relevant but only the one (or maybe two) that is of most use to the reader. Excessive self-citation isn't better than not citing yourself - it is just a different problem. \n\nI thus find it much more practical to require a contribution to be **novel** (no duplicate publication) and **substantial** (no salami publication - though for a conference presentation less is often more). There are further requirements (outside the self-plagiarism questions), e.g. the contribution must be **the authors' own** (no plagiarism).\n\nWith students if necessary for the purpose I clarify that novelty includes written from scratch. In addition, even if that is independent of self-plagiarism, I make people aware of the fact that they can violate the copyright of somehing they hold the (in my legislation inalienable) authorship rights to. \n\n(I do think though, that academia would be better off if the novelty requirement would be somewhat dropped in favor of replication studies)\n\n---\n\nI'd like to throw in a slightly different view from a field with presumably very different conference culture, which I'd formulte as \n\nWhen reviewing conference abstracts, I ask myself:\n\n* Overall quality (as far as one can tell from 200 words)?\n* How well does it fit with the interests of the audience?\n* I rather disregard \"global\" novelty compared to novelty to the audience at that conference. \n\nOur conferences do not have novelty requirements and neither do they ask for an exclusive copyright transfer (unlike our journals). Ultimately, if the topic is too old and well-known, it will fail at the \"interesting?\" question.\n\n---\n\nLong story: \nwe submit 200 words or maybe 1 page abstracts - so 1.5 copied pages are plain impossible. More importantly, our conferences don't count as peer-reviewed publication, for that we publish in a proper journal (we often don't even have conference proceedings but instead have a special issue of one of the reputable peer-reviewed journals). In particular with my medical colleagues I see a trend that they are concerned someone could steal their idea - so they will present only results that have already been published in a peer-reviewed journal (pretty much the opposite of \"novelty\").\n\nFor me the important point of a conference presentation is to tell the audience something interesting *for them*. I freely admit that I hate presentations that don't convey any useful message to anyone in the audience beyond \"I, the author, am a hero\" or \"This [totally useless crap] is sooo new\". \n\nIf there is already an accepted paper, I include the reference into the conference abstract, for several reasons: the reference serves as \"topic has passed peer-review\" tag and of course it is an additional advertisement for the paper. The propriety\\* of citing oneself is only a minor point as we don't have strict novelty requirements; and the lower the number of allowed words, the less usual it is.\n\nDue to our few 100 word limits, I'd also never look for much originality in a conference abstract: once you've found a formulation that saves 5 words, you're not gonna give it up easily ;-)\n\nAs I work at the interface between some disciplines doing statistical data analysis for chemical data and medical diagnostic problems, I attend conferences with rather disjunct attendees. \n\nConsequently, \n\n* I've been presenting the same software (poster) at three conferences (within 2 months) with a total of probably close to 2000 attendees but an overlap that I estimate to be < 20 people. I submitted it to those conferences because I thought it interesting for their respective audiences *and* I did not expect many people to attend more than one of them.\n* I'm invited to speak in more detail about a topic that I first presented 3 years ago at a chemometrics conference. (The paper was published 2 years ago and of course I refer to it: after all I want people to read it - but not to the previous conference) Again, I am the overlap in attendance between the statistics-heavy first conference and the application-centered conference now.\n\nAnd, by the way, I was taught about scientific writing to avoid synonyms and always try to stick to the same terms (once good terms are found) - even if that is repetitive throughout the paper, and use easy language in order to be unambiguous and as understandable as possible to other non-native English readers. This is another source of not so very original formulations."
}
] |
2015/04/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43346",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19761/"
] |
43,351 |
I live in Argentina and we don't have the Bachelor/Master's division. I've studied 6 years of a Biology Degree. Most of my subjects had Lab practices besides the theory/calculus part so my total amount of college was big (a normal subject would have 12 hours/week with a total of 23 subjects). Within the 23 subjects, we have 13 "general to all Biologists" and there are 9 which are "specialization" subjects. Then, if you're going for "neuroscience and behavior" you have to attend "Neuroscience 101" and you can't go for "Plant Vascular System 4".
Also, in order to graduate I have to have research experience and present a written "thesis" (and give an oral presentation) which is consider your last subject. I've worked for two years in a Lab doing this research.
Because I want to do my PhD abroad I'm wondering if there's a way to explain this or have some kind of equivalence. Since there are lots of automatic systems that are ready for you to complete Bachelor + Master I find a lot of trouble to deal with this. I feel that it's too difficult to get to talk to a real person and when you actually do, the person gives you the "go to the website and..."
Any experience will help (specially if you had the same problem and you found the way to deal with it).
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43413,
"author": "Huns",
"author_id": 32878,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32878",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "This really depends on the college and the department you want to get into. You should look around for some candidate programs and see what you can find online, and talk to some of the professors who work in that department.\n\nAt my university, the postgrad program directors wanted to see work experience. They wanted to see that you'd gone out into the world, and put your learning to the test beyond the confines of an internship. The more real experience you have, the more benefit you'll extract from the program - and the fewer questions you'll have to ask in class. However, this doesn't mean ALL postgrad departments are like this. Perhaps in your field they expect to see someone go straight from undergrad to graduate without working in the field for a few years. Perhaps some departments will care about this, and others won't. It depends on where you go.\n\nIt's a good idea to establish some contacts with the advisors now, so that they can come to recognize your name and help you out a little. You might just find an e-mail one day that one of them sends you about an important change, which wasn't sent to others, because they didn't bother to maintain contact. Social networking is very important!!!"
},
{
"answer_id": 43426,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "You are in a slightly tight but not an impossible to overcome situation.\n\nWhat you describe relates very closely to the pre-[Bologna\\_Process](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bologna_Process) situation in Europe. People especially in Science- and Engineering-related disciplines had 5 to 6 years *Bachelors* (usually called *Diplomas*). When these graduates applied for graduate studies, especially in UK where the BSc in usually 3 years, they found themselves massively downplaying their qualifications. (The situation is *somewhat* sorted now.) Currently the *old* diplomas are almost universally accepted as Masters degrees because the retroactively calculation of [ECTS](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Credit_Transfer_and_Accumulation_System) points puts them nearly always in the same range as a Masters degree. \n\nWhen you say *abroad* you do not specify *where*. \n\nIf *abroad* translates to Europe then things are quite straightforward. You say you have a Masters and leave things be. Departments are quite used to the phenomenon of \"5/6 years of studies\". Most of admissions committees will not blink an eye. It would almost certainty good to present it in your CV as \"Integrated BSc and MSc studies\" or something equivalent, so one can immediately spot it. Your programme of studies is far from unheard in Europe.\n\nIf *abroad* translates to US/Canada I do not have personal experiences; I think it will greatly dependent to the particular university's guideline. (I will be happy to be corrected at this point from a North American native if there is some standardised framework I do not know of). I can tell you for sure that 4-year BSc are not counted as Masters. I know very few people who applied for PhD straight out of a 5-year Engineering degrees from Greece; both them were accepted but they were very strong students anyway so I would not extrapolate based on them. Some others went for Masters (and continued to PhD eventually).\n\nIn general, a 6-years degree puts you in a very strong position if you are to be compared with simple BSc holder for PhD admission, probably your compare favourably to most MSci programmes as well. I would not worry much in that aspect. Having strong grades in those six years will be more important than what one equates your certificate to. (Assuming your references, cover letter, etc. are the same.)"
}
] |
2015/04/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43351",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32958/"
] |
43,353 |
When surveying my students for various reasons (which have nothing to do with my institution which does not care about, nor fund, any of my "research"), I find that online surveys get a very low response rate. Sometimes, if I'm lucky, I can get up to 50% of students to respond (sometimes only 10%). However, if I hand questionnaires out during class time I can usually get 80-90% completion rates.
The problem comes that I end up with hundreds of paper surveys and keying them into a computer takes hours. There must be a better way.
I am actually looking for two pieces:
1. How can I design the paper survey to best support scanning and having a computer convert the scan into raw data which I can then explore
2. What kind of software can do the scanning and conversion (I realize this might be a question for softwarerecs.SE)
For point 2, I usually use **multiple choice** or **Likert-type scales** so full OCR is not required.
Are there standards for questionnaire design which support this process?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 44469,
"author": "Brian Tompsett - 汤莱恩",
"author_id": 26708,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/26708",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "This question covers quite a wide area to be comprehensively answered. The first point that comes to mind is *\"Why are you doing a survey and keying the results in?\"*\n\nIs it because your institution requires it of you? Do they require the survey to be performed as part of a teaching quality process? Is the desire for the survey your own and on your own initiative? (You just said *\"for various reasons\"*) I say this because when someone starts doing a task that is difficult I ask \"Do you *need* to do that?\"\n\nThe surveys could be for you to learn about your teaching in some way in order to make a teaching improvement, perhaps. The surveys could be caused by you performing research on your class students in order to collect data, perhaps. The surveys could be done because you are teaching the students something about the role of surveys in business or marketing, perhaps. Maybe you are doing the survey as a substitute for other forms of summative or formative assessment, perhaps. (... and even more reasons I could speculate on).\n\nI'll address these points in more detail. If you are surveying the class for your own personal teaching quality improvement, then I suggest that typing the data is not necessary. You can collect two kinds of data (qualitative and quantitative). The numerical and statistical parts are probably less important if the only consumer of the results is yourself. What is important are the detailed comments from the students. These involve reading all the responses irrespective of whether the survey was done on paper or online. I have used all three systems over the years (online survey, scanned paper survey, just paper survey) and for qualitative personal feedback it takes the same time to read them all.\n\nIf you are surveying the class for personal research data, then research ethics approval comes into play. In most research ethical approval and participant informed consent is required and this usually rules out mass questionnaires of classes of undergraduates! If mass surveys are required then some form of funding for appropriate data collection tools should have been part of the research plan.\n\nIf the surveys are part of teaching business and marketing processes then perhaps the investigation of how to do them better should be part of your teaching preparation, because helping students learn how to solve these problems in a business context is what you might need to include in the course, perhaps. \n\nHaving challenged the need for the survey or the data entry, lets assume your premise that it needs to be done.\n\nI would next look at the relationship between yourself and the institution. Does the institution expect an online survey of the class and are they providing the web facilities for this that they expect you to use, or do they expect you to organise some form of online form yourself and provide them with the data? If the institution is expecting you to collect the data by a method of your choice and enter the data into their systems then they are leaving themselves open to external criticism of their quality mechanisms. This means that there is no audit mechanism that the data collected about any course from any group of students is valid and meaningful. One should challenge it through the various management and committee structures that exist in an institution for that purpose. The goal would be to either get the need for data collection to be properly supported or abandoned.\n\nIf you are trying to improve the response rate to an institutional provided online student questionnaire by substituting a paper copy and inputting the data yourself also sounds suspect. If the institutional data collection permits someone other than the accredited student to give feedback, then again this leaves the institutional mechanisms open to criticisms if any external audit were done on the data. It also means that you could equally criticise the invalidity or validity of other courses or faculty data as untrustworthy.\n\n*(Does my analysis begin to hint that perhaps your question is a little weak in construction, because this feels like answering an undergraduate course assignment from a business school; you can grade me later..)*\n\nOK. Lets continue to assume that doing a paper survey to collect quantitative and qualitative data is sensible and valid. What software and facilities are available? There are quite a few vendors that offer surveying capabilities in bulk supported by combined online and paper surveys. These have been adopted by quite a few educational institutions, my own included. A quick google search for such things shows many many vendors. There are online survey makers (some free), there are OCR questionnaire tool makers and those that do a combined job. There are those that do the data analysis for you also, and some that operate at an institutional level. Just so many to choose from. Perhaps you were just asking us to sort through the many offerings - oh! if it were that easy to answer.\n\nIts hard to get cheap and good together. Those tools that provide what you need are often priced in a way that only make it economic for adoption at an institutional level, which is why action for a solution at an institutional level is often the best route to a solution.\n\nI have used (and written) software to handle the OCR and data extraction from paper sources for large populations (~100,000). It is not easy, and also depends on your technical skills and processing and customising your data handling.\n\nThe first technical task to consider is the paper handling. How do you plan to OCR the physical material? If you have to use a single sheet scanner and turn the papers by hand then you have a problem. It is not a sensible task for an academic to perform, it is time consuming, tedious and error prone. If you have so few sheets that it is not tedious, time consuming and error prone, then it would still be faster to process the data by hand by reading and calculating yourself! You need a bulk sheet scanner that does accurate paper placement and has high speed sheet feed. These are not cheap. The salaries of clerical staff to do the scanning and paper handling are also not cheap. These are further reasons why solutions are best sourced at an institutional level and not a personal one.\n\nOK, lets continue to assume that we can get the paper OCR processed in a reasonable manner. We need software post-processing. What software to use? It either comes with the package you buy/adopt or you have to customise. How capable are you at the customisation. I wrote textual matching algorithms using regular expression pattern matching combined with structural parsing of the resultant text generated by the OCR. Handling user errors was not easy , but you can structure the questions in a manner that permits regular expression matching to find the necessary glyphs.\n\nFor example:\n\n```\n 1. This is a Question? X\n 2. This does not have an answer\n\n 3. This question has a textual free form answer:\n =====================================================\n\n Answer goes where we can find it\n\n =====================================================\n\n```\n\nCan be pattern matched to detect the glyph mark after a question or the absence of a mark. The problem with real paper is that dirt and coffee stains can also look like response glyphs. Human post processing is required. I had to write a data error checker before I could write a useful data capture phase. If you are not into heavy professional coding, then one must adopt a professional and probably pricey solution or service provider. (Sorry, institutional again).\n\nI also assume you know there is a whole science and scientific discipline to making surveys and questionnaires? \n\n(For example: [The Duke Inititiative on Survey Methodology](http://dism.ssri.duke.edu/question_design.php), [Odum Institute an UNC](http://www.irss.unc.edu/odum/contentSubpage.jsp?nodeid=589))\n\nPerhaps you should be involving some professional input to your problem, rather than us dilettantes? (But then I'm back to an institutional level again)"
},
{
"answer_id": 44477,
"author": "Phil",
"author_id": 24991,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/24991",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "I can offer some help with scanning paper questionnaires as this is something I've done in a previous job. But, first, I would suggest it's quite involved so you may want to at least revisit improving your 'digital' response rate first.\n\nAudience response devices\n=========================\n\nOne option may be to allow the students to use 'clickers' to respond to questions. I would recommend having no more than 10 questions that can be answered on a multiple choice or Likert scale, which fits your requirements. Our department use something like this: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audience_response>\nWe've found that about 10 questions can be answered in about 10 minutes.\n\nRe-consider your online/digital surveys\n=======================================\n\nIf clickers aren't suitable - for example because the students are not physically situated together - you could consider reviewing your digital survey, purely because it's significantly easier to obtain data from responses. To improve response rates, I tried to follow these rules of thumb:\n\n* No matrices, ever.\n* No more than three questions per page.\n* No more than six pages.\n\nObviously this is going to vary depending on how much detail you *need*, but these reminded me to keep the questions light.\n\nScanning paper surveys\n======================\n\nSo, with all that in mind if you still need the paper copy route, here goes. To make it worthwhile you need:\n\n* a scanner designed for automatic throughput. That is, a single sheet personal/small office scanner is not going to speed things up for you if you have to manually change ~200 sheets. Something like this [Fujitsu ScanSnap](http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B00ATZ9QMO) might do the trick.\n* Software that recognises marks. I used Eyes and Hands, which is deprecated and has been superceded by [ReadSoft](http://www.readsoft.com/terminology/readsoft/readsoft) as far as I can tell. ReadSoft can recommend a compatible scanner.\n* There are some requirements about how you set your paper questionnaire up, and this needs to be precise. Therefore I recommend something like QuarkXPress or Adobe InDesign.\n* You need four recognition marks for each page, one for each corner. I often found a character from the header or text ok for the left hand side, but on the right hand side if text wasn't justified I needed to manually add some marks.\n* You need to lay our tick or text boxes quite clearly. For example, it's quite common to see tables without any padding used for response boxes on paper surveys but you need a gap between them for the scanning software to recognise them unambiguously.\n\nWith these basic requirements you can set up a survey to be automatically scanned and entered in to a spreadsheet or database.\n\nClearly this is quite involved so you may be able to find a company who can do this for your commercially. Some market research or survey companies might be able to do the heavy lifting for you."
},
{
"answer_id": 44481,
"author": "Willie Wong",
"author_id": 94,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/94",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "In terms of the software solution, as one option I would suggest playing with the [AutoMultipleChoice](http://home.gna.org/auto-qcm/) software package if you have access to a Linux computer. The software can certainly output a CSV file with each response recorded for you to do your own data analysis (i.e. you can completely ignore the \"grading\" part of the software and just use it to capture data). \n\nA few caveats:\n\n* As the software is designed for multiple choice *exams*, each page is barcoded. You will have to convince the students yourself of their anonymity (if that's necessary); this can be achieved by randomly distributing the copies.\n* The software supports autoshuffling of the multiple choice responses, as well as the question ordering. This can be used to great effect (if you want to avoid biases due to ordering of things), but sometimes you have to pay attention (questions of the type \"on the scale of 1 to 5, rank blah\" really shouldn't have the answers ordered \"4, 1, 3, 2, 5\".)\n* The software was written by French people; the English documentation reads fine but with some slightly quirky word choices and grammar constructions.\n* Make sure the students use a dark black pen to mark the questionnaire, and make sure they fill in the boxes. Experience has told me that blue ink or pencil, or tick marks or \"X\"-marks are often missed if you scan them using the default settings. You have to play with the contrast and darkness settings on your scanner a bit to find the right settings.\n* The scanning can be painful if you have a large stack and not one of those automatic-feed photocopiers."
},
{
"answer_id": 44558,
"author": "Raydot",
"author_id": 13535,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13535",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "Have you looked at Akindi? <https://akindi.com/> You or the students can print out the answer sheets which are similar to those used by Scantron (you know, the SAT's and such).\n\nI will also add to the notion made elsewhere that with so many kinds bringing computers and smartphones to class that using something like SurveyMonkey.com (or similar) will probably be even easier than going the scanning software route."
}
] |
2015/04/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43353",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2692/"
] |
43,356 |
University requirements might be different but most of them ask for recommendation letters. Leaving everything else (Degree, GPA, publications) they rely heavily on the recommendation letters. Not one but three recommendation letters. At least in my field (Life sciences) it's a well known fact that you have to be recommended as if you were the next "whatever genius you like".
Since the PhD positions are limited because of many reasons (from "money" to the fact that "some top universities are proud of having a 5% acceptance") students must apply to at least (say) 10 different universities/institutes to have a minimum chance. Of course, they can be realistic about their chances and apply for the less crowded opportunities. That would mean making a list of your top 20 places and applying for the 10-20. After all, if they were "the next genius" they wouldn’t have any problem with recommendation letters. So far, so good, but they still need those letters.
As far as I know, a "normal" pre-PhD person might have at most 2 different research experiences so if they are able to get one professor to write something good about them they're OK.
However, this means that these 3 persons have to be willing to write 10 letters for you (and logging in the online system which asks them a lot of questions about them and about the student). Basically, they can:
1) Do copy-paste and change the name with a generic great letter. This means your recommendation letter won't be about you (or will be as yours as anybody else's)
2) Write a great unique letter
Usually a PI would have tons of students asking for recommendation letters so it's a natural part of their work to do some writing but it's still a big favor. If a PI writes too many outstanding letters the system will suspect He's a fool or even worse a liar. So my guess is that they just write "great" letters.
**But, how is a great letter composed? Are the writers really aware of what they have to write? is the same letter suitable for two PhD programs? What if they're in different countries (I've been reading that south American and European PIs write "too realistic" letters for US PhDs and US PIs write "too good to be true" letters for European standards)? Then, should a pre-PhD student work in both continents first and then apply? How to deal with the fact that the PIs may be unknown? How to deal with the fact that you need many different PIs writing you many different letters? How to ask your PI a recommendation letter to "leave" him/her?**
I know that it's not ONE question but for me it's part of the same problem.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43357,
"author": "paul garrett",
"author_id": 980,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "Exactly because of the \"inflation\" of letters in the U.S., I make sure to individualize letters. Absolutely! Now, that individual letter will only be \"as great\" as the student actually is, since, indeed, \"the system\" has some memory so one can inflate the currency of one's own letters, too.\n\nFrom the other end, if I, as grad-program admissions person, read an obvious cut-and-paste of \"great\" letter, without any personalizing information, so that it could be about ... anybody... then it gets essentially no positive weight toward admission, for example. I interpret the non-individuation as a measure of lack of enthusiasm about the student.\n\nThus, indeed, letters from EU and China often fall flat in the U.S. system, because the pretty-good letters are often nearly identical. Also, from cultures where students write their own recommendation letter and have the faculty sign, the letters do not serve the students well, in most cases, to my perception, perhaps counter-intuitively for those students! That is, what a naive person might imagine a grad admissions committee is looking for is often quite different from the reality. :)\n\nI myself am not at all confident, even with some decades of experience, about whether I can communicate effectively in such letters with people outside the U.S., but, for the U.S., yes, I do have a pretty good idea of the issues that need to be addressed in the letter, and I make sure to touch on these. No, the game is such that one never says anything overtly bad (in our litiginous society, etc), and/but the rest of the dance is clear: don't damn by faint praise, and don't be generic... unless the student deserves it.\n\nThus, in particular, a student should always ask whether someone can write \"a *helpful* letter\", ... not just \"would you write a letter for me...\"\n\nTo address the mythos about \"research projects\"... At least in mathematics, \"undergrad research\" is an iffy thing at best, in all but exceptional circumstances (I'd claim this despite many peoples' enthusiasm otherwise), and in fact I think it is easily possible to show more genuine future-potential... which is what the issue is ... in a very-substantial classroom or seminar setting than in a \"let's try to generate a publishable paper in 8 weeks starting with no prerequisites\" context of an REU or similar. True, the latter scenarios *may* gauge certain personality traits, but it's only a few units less exaggerated/stylized than the silly GRE subject test in math.\n\nThat is, don't be passive/non-interactive in classes. Good grades are not the goal, *mathematics* is the goal. Being reactive, engaged, responsive to ... mathematics... is a thing the teacher/professor will certainly notice, even if their capacity to appraise \"affect\" is not what it might be, which is not uncommon in the math biz.\n\nThose remarks are for mathematics. CompSci and other things have different specifics, and I suspect from the tone of the question that those other scenarios are more relevant to the questioner, but I thought to give a response relevant to *one* widespread context... even if not quite so widespread as the CompSci business."
},
{
"answer_id": 43382,
"author": "Wolfgang Bangerth",
"author_id": 31149,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31149",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "The fact you are missing is that most letter writers and readers sit on both sides of the table. Letter writers read letters of support for applicants to the graduate program/postdoc program/as tenure track faculty many times a year. So they have a \"feel\" for how such letters look like, and they can compose letters accordingly when they are writing for others. And they write letters themselves and therefore understand the subtleties in letters of support when they have to read them for applications. In other words, letters of support are like a foreign language that you have to learn, but that you become good in if you practice both listening and speaking.\n\nAs for letters from abroad: All major departments have faculty from around the world, and they are often quite aware of the differences in style. We get letters from Europe all the time, and we know that they are less exuberant and follow a different style. We take this into account in our evaluations -- with no harm to the applicant."
},
{
"answer_id": 43398,
"author": "JeffE",
"author_id": 65,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "> \n> Usually a PI would have tons of students asking for recommendation letters\n> \n> \n> \n\n...which is why the experienced ones will say no to anyone they don't think they can honestly give a strong recommendation.\n\n> \n> it's still a big favor.\n> \n> \n> \n\nNo, it's not. It's their job.\n\n> \n> How is a great letter composed?\n> \n> \n> \n\nMost successful reference letters follow the same general outline:\n\n* A short blurb describing how long the writer has known you, and in what capacity (student in class, independent study, senior thesis, lab slave, coauthor, squash partner, etc.)\n* A detailed description of **why** (not just *whether*) the writer thinks you are a strong candidate for PhD admission, and in particular your potential for independent research in direct, personal, technical, and credible detail. This part is different for every letter.\n* Direct comparisons, by name, with other students the writer has worked with and/or recommended in the past.\n* A short blurb describing the writer's credentials and experience.\n\n> \n> Are the writers really aware of what they have to write?\n> \n> \n> \n\nIn general, yes—after all, they read recommendation letters themselves (or they're the wrong people to ask)—but the only way to really be sure is to **ask them directly.** If they are anything but confident about their ability to write you a strong and effective letter, ask someone else.\n\n> \n> is the same letter suitable for two PhD programs?\n> \n> \n> \n\nAt least within the US, yes, definitely.\n\n> \n> What if they're in different countries?\n> \n> \n> \n\n**Ask your references directly** whether they understand the cultural expectations in those countries. But in my experience (in computer science), these differences are shrinking rapidly.\n\n> \n> Then, should a pre-PhD student work in both continents first and then apply?\n> \n> \n> \n\nNobody can tell you what you \"should\" do. There's an obvious tradeoff between breadth and depth in your pre-PhD research experience. The choice depends on which is more likely to provide evidence of *your* potential as an independent researcher.\n\n> \n> How to deal with the fact that the PIs may be unknown?\n> \n> \n> \n\nThere is no such thing as an *unknown* PI; everyone has a professional web page, and everyone can use Google. (Corollary: If someone doesn't have a professional web page, do *not* under any circumstances ask them for a letter.) But more junior writers do need to provide more narrative detail in their letters, to make up for being *less* known and less experienced.\n\n> \n> How to deal with the fact that you need many different PIs writing you many different letters?\n> \n> \n> \n\nWhat is there to \"deal with\"? With rare exceptions, you need three our four PIs to write one letter each, possibly with some very minor customization. Ask them if they are willing to write you a strong letter. (Use the word \"strong\" when you ask.) If they say yes, give them everything they need to write a strong letter, including time, and then get out of the way.\n\n> \n> How to ask your PI a recommendation letter to \"leave\" him/her?\n> \n> \n> \n\nDirectly—just as if the PI were actually a responsible, mature, adult human being—and far enough in advance that they can plan for your departure. Anything else would be incredibly disrespectful.\n\n(If they get huffy about the idea that you might pursue opportunities elsewhere, then be very happy you asked—you *really* don't want to work for them.)"
}
] |
2015/04/11
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43356",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32958/"
] |
43,358 |
**Background:** In my area, academics often supervise a large number of students (e.g., 10, 15, 20 students). Many of these students are doing a small thesis as part of either their fourth year or coursework masters.
I am able to keep all these projects in my head, I do have documentation around each project, and I generally have a good understanding of what needs to be done next on each project. I can also see that one of the skills that a student learns whilst doing a thesis is project management and self-control.
However, I feel like I could develop a better system for recording and managing deadlines and deliverables on student projects. Such deliverables include concrete assessments (e.g., assessed literature reviews; the thesis; project proposals) and informal but required steps (e.g., finalising study materials; ethics applications; literature reviews; preliminary training; etc.). Such a system could let me know when a student has not provided an agreed deliverable by a given date. It would probably also have to accommodate some of the more fluid activities that unfold over time (e.g. data collection; data analysis; write-up; etc.).
A few features that would be good:
* It shouldn't be too onerous too maintain
* It should notify when deadlines are not met
* It should highlight current tasks
* It should integrate into the supervision process and make it easy to share deadlines with students
* It should accommodate different kinds of deliverables (process; outcomes)
### Question
**What is a good system for helping a supervisor oversee deliverables and deadlines for a large number of research students?**
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43365,
"author": "R. Schumacher",
"author_id": 32964,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32964",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "When teaching undergraduates, before my retirement, I tracked/supervised student research/capstone projects with two methods.\n\n1) I required the student to prepare an Excel document with their timeline for completion and the milestone dates. After a joint review (and revision(s)), I then had the document which I kept in a binder (later on a shared server) which I could track completions and keeping of suspense dates.\n\n2) The other method which I usually used for team projects was a written ONE-PAGE weekly activity report. (And even up to 1 year ago, they were to be submitted in hard copy.) The report included a summary of work done in the last 7 days, what is planned for the next 7 days, what were the next 2 milestones and their due dates. \n\nAdditionally, some of my colleagues were in the last few years using a shared Google gdrive folder for a shared calender for each student and project. I did not do this because I actually wanted a record of how milestones were revised as the project processed. (Part of good research is being willing to revise the plan in an appropriate manner, keeping all parties informed, and accomplishing the task at hand in the time required)"
},
{
"answer_id": 43419,
"author": "Huns",
"author_id": 32878,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32878",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "You might ask your university if they can hook you up with some project management software. They probably have licenses sitting around. In the past I've used JIRA with a SCRUM add-on to track things like this, but there's a learning curve and it might be overkill for you. (However, it is quite reasonably priced.) There are LOTS of project management suites out there, some free and some commercial.\n\nGet something that can draw Gantt charts. They're perfect for tracking progress vs. milestones. That makes it easier to see what's going on at a glance."
},
{
"answer_id": 44568,
"author": "Jeromy Anglim",
"author_id": 62,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/62",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "I've started using [OmniFocus](https://www.omnigroup.com/omnifocus) task management software for the Mac. It is very useful for supervising research students. I imagine other flexible task management software could also do the job (see [here for list of alternatives](http://www.lifehack.org/articles/technology/11-alternatives-to-omnifocus-you-can-use-to-get-things-done.html)), but OmniFocus has a number of helpful features (see screenshot at bottom of post). The following describes the workflow.\n\n**Actions:** Actions are the unit in the task manager. Actions can be given a context, due date, and details. \n\n**One context per student**: I have contexts for different categories of supervision (i.e., masters, fourth year, PhD). And within these contexts, I have a context for each student. OmniFocus makes it very easy to add actions to a context (e.g., keyboard shortcuts, auto-completion, automatically assign context when you are viewing within a context) and view the actions assigned to a specific context. \n\n**Monitoring completion:** The interface (see below) has a colour coding system to easily flag actions that are approaching a due date (yellow) or are over due (red). There are numbers next to each context, so it is easy to see at a glance which students have an approaching or over due action.\n\n**Distinguish who needs to do action (student, supervisor, both)**: If I need to distinguish tasks based on whether it is something the student needs to do or whether it's something I need to do, I put the name in parentheses.\nTypical actions that a student might need to do include sending me a draft of a literature review, thesis section, ethics application, confirmation document, presentation, experimental method protocol, funding application, etc. Such actions will include a mixture of interim tasks as well as submission dates for formal assessment. Typical actions that I might need to do include submitting paper work, reviewing drafts, submitting various forms (ethics, funding), finalising programming of tasks, etc.\n\n**Notes:** I use action notes to record reasons why the action can not be completed. For example, we might be waiting on receiving a signature. It can also be used to store essential details, but mostly I avoid storing details about the task OmniFocus. \n\n**Setting deliverables with students:** In supervision meetings, I record tangible due dates, and we agree on other deliverables with due dates. Thus, the student is clear on what needs to be done next and by when. In some cases, due dates need to be extended (especially more flexible due dates). Thus, this system encourages the setting of a new deadline rather than leaving things more open ended.\n\n**General discussion of benefits:** There are several benefits of the above system\n\n* Adding actions is efficient\n* It is easy to see what tasks are due and when for a given student. This makes it easy to follow-up.\n* It also makes it clear what I need to do as a supervisor to ensure the project is not held up by my inaction.\n* It encourages the setting [SMART goals](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMART_criteria) for students (specific, measurable, assignable, realistic, time-related), which is particularly important for something as potentially flexible and open-ended as a student thesis.\n\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 67429,
"author": "elviejo79",
"author_id": 52864,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/52864",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "In my [department](http://www.ingsoft.mx/) we use Trello and Kanban\n\nWe have two boards: \n\n* All Students board, their advisers and how far along they are in their thesis writing process. This is mainly used by the program director/dean.\n\n[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/62F1L.jpg)\n\n* Individual student one Board that shows how they are doing in each part of their thesis.\n\nIt includes Articles Read, Summary of those articles, etc. \nThe different Label Colors represent different kind of activities: Reading, Executing, and Writting.\nThere is a review Column. When something arrives to that column I get notified and start reviewing that activity.\n\n[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/1pcQA.png)\n\nFinally with Burndown for Trello we control time and schedule, so that we know if they will finish on time.\n\n[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/vjnAZ.png)\n\nIn fig. [4](https://i.stack.imgur.com/vjnAZ.png) yellow lines represents ideally what the student should have left every week, blue line represents what was actually left ( you can obsevre he was a little behind schedule in the middle)\nAnd red line shows the accumulated effort."
}
] |
2015/04/11
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43358",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/62/"
] |
43,359 |
When listing keywords for a paper written in English, is it better to write keywords in singular or plural form?
I am interested in both keywords stored in meta-data:
and keywords listed at the beginning of the paper:
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43364,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "Honestly, I think that keywords are now de facto irrelevant. The issue is this: when was the last time that you *actually* searched for a paper by keyword? In practice, literature discovery is now more typically done by means of modern search engines, which will generally disregard such minor distinctions as singular vs. plurals in any case."
},
{
"answer_id": 43389,
"author": "Bill Barth",
"author_id": 11600,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11600",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "It doesn't really matter. Adopt the style that the journal or conference you are submitting to seems to prefer if there are no instructions given by the venue."
},
{
"answer_id": 43703,
"author": "bxfd82",
"author_id": 33244,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/33244",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "I would recommend checking the thesaurus of a database that is likely to be searched for your discipline for relevant keywords and compare yours to the keywords indexed within that database to match your terms to an appropriate taxonomy. Singular or plural form is unlikely to matter, but listing phrases instead of breaking the keywords down to strict terms is unlikely to be useful to anyone at the publishing companies or managing your institutional repository that is converting the terms to a controlled vocabulary. Speak to a reference librarian for assistance locating a database thesaurus. Also, to the point above about the terms not mattering although this is true in disciplines with precise taxonomies which are mapped only to that discipline (as is often the case in computer science or engineering) many disciplines still use terminology that is not strictly mapped to their disciplines. In these instances controlled vocabularies (within the databases) remain relevant to resolve the ambiguity of terms from unrelated disciplines when searching."
}
] |
2015/04/11
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43359",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/452/"
] |
43,371 |
I want to write a survey on one emerging research topic in wireless communications (It can be applied to any field!). There are almost 500 papers on this topic as published or in early access. And the publishing rate in this topic is increasing day by day. So, I want to write a survey on this topic keeping in mind that it will get high citation and it will help new scholar who are in struggle with this topic. I found only one survey written by some reputed authors, however it lacks in many ways, like detailed information related to particular direction, it just assembles the papers in a good manner. I want to pick some directions and discuss important approaches with good connection between them. However, I find it very difficult to proceed with large number of papers. Is there any good way to handle the survey process in a good efficient and quick way? PS. According to me, many people have already started to write this.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43384,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "The point of a survey paper of the type you are discussion (as distinct from a systematic review), is to provide an organized view of the current state of the field. As such, you should not be attempting to cite every paper, but only the ones that are significant (which will still be an awful lot).\n\nWriting a good survey paper is hard, and there really aren't any good shortcuts: you *do* need to become familiar with the content of a very large number of papers, in order to make sure that the view you are presenting is sane.\n\nMy suggestion, based on my own experience in this area, is to use the following iterative process:\n\n1. Begin by collecting a large pile of papers to survey.\n2. Based on your experience and a few initial readings, hypothesize an organization schema for the field.\n3. Start reading (mostly skimming) and organizing your collection of papers you read using this schema, including noting which ones are most important and which do not fit the schema well.\n4. As you find significant numbers of papers that do not fit the schema well, adjust the schema to better fit what you are actually finding and shift the organization of your collection to match.\n5. Add new papers to the \"to be read\" collection based on the adjusted schema, then return to reading and organizing.\n\nWhen the process converges to a stable schema and an empty to-be-read pile, you will have a well-developed view of the current state of the field and be in a good position to write a survey. Note, however, that this may take a number of months..."
},
{
"answer_id": 64072,
"author": "DimP",
"author_id": 49855,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/49855",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "To further add something on the accepted answer, your paper should have a clear aim or should eventually reach to a well-justified conclusion. Whereas its purpose can always be a collection of top notch papers in wireless communications, this would not probably make it a high-citation/high-quality one, as it will again be \"one of the many\" in that sense.\n\nBarton P. Miller's [answer](https://www.researchgate.net/post/How_to_write_survey_or_review_papers_and_What_sections_should_be_mentioned_in_such_papers) on researchgate.net better describes what I am trying to say above:\n*\"Think of a survey as a research paper whose data and results are taken from other papers.\"* And based on these results, you can make your point and identify a possible gap in your field of research e.g. \"To conclude, we see a lack of reliability in X wireless protocol\" or \"Power consumption is still an unresolved issue in this area\". \n\nThe conclusion you try to reach to will help defining the structure of the paper. See Barton P. Miller's answer again for examples."
},
{
"answer_id": 102495,
"author": "Tushar",
"author_id": 78722,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/78722",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "I recently wrote a survey paper (which is now accepted and published) and here is what I learned from it:\n\n* **Set the scope** Each research field is evolving (some at a faster rate) and hence you need to define the scope of your paper. Scoping has to be done not only for the topics/dimensions to be covered in the paper but also for the time duration in which relevant papers are published that you will explore. The first part of the scoping can be done by defining research questions concretely.\n* **Search protocol** Define the literature search protocol early, document it, and follow it rigorously. Number of papers may reduce if you apply well-defined inclusion and exclusion criteria.\n* **Take notes** Read all relevant papers and document relevant notes. If possible, classify each relevant paper according to your research questions.\n* **Infer, classify, and synthesize** This is the most important step of writing a survey paper. IMHO, a survey should not produce a laundry list of papers for a specific dimension. Information in the synthesized form is much more appreciated than simply listing main contributions of the papers. For example: if a concept has been defined by 20 different authors, infer main characteristics of the concept commonly appeared in these definitions, and report them (obviously, cite relevant authors with each identified characteristic).\n* **Take away/implications** Compile implications of your inferences/synthesis.\n* **Open research questions** Include open research questions of the research domain - not (only) what you believe but also more importantly what the research community believe in general."
}
] |
2015/04/11
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43371",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17776/"
] |
43,375 |
I noticed that a lot of big companies are actively funding research at universities. I was wondering why they do this, as opposed to say funding in-house research as the knowledge ends up in the public domain.
Do they get actual patents out of it?
Do they just want to keep in the loop of the research (and if so why not just read the papers)?
Maybe they want to influence the direction of research?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43378,
"author": "Cape Code",
"author_id": 10643,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10643",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "There is a variety of reasons, as someone who has worked on such projects, here are a few that come to mind:\n\n1. **Access to research facilities.** It's often far more rational to fund a study in a university than to invest in building your own wet lab/cleanroom/animal testing lab, etc. In some fields and countries, there are also regulations that limits certain area of research to university institutions (example: research on human tissues).\n2. **Highly educated, relatively cheap human resources** In the subsets of projects where academic researchers actually do the work from the project description, it is generally cheaper and bears fewer risks than hiring people directly.\n3. **Great way of recruiting scientists** by establishing a close collaboration, the company has the opportunity to meet and see potential hires in action.\n4. In some fields, it can be **a form of advertisement.** In particular for companies that have scientists or research labs as customers. Example: lab equipment manufacturer, metrology tools, lasers, etc.\n\n> \n> Do they get actual patents out of it?\n> \n> \n> \n\nYes. It's frequent for industry-funded projects to result in patents. The patents are usually owned jointly by the company and the academic institution. Sometimes the technology is already patented and the study is only about testing an application. Publishing a technology in the scientific literature can also be a way to prevent other companies from claiming ownership, since you can't patent something that is already published.\n\nNote that industry implication in academic research might diminish, as it becomes evident that they aren't always getting good research for their money. See: <http://blogs.nature.com/news/2011/09/reliability_of_new_drug_target.html>"
},
{
"answer_id": 43390,
"author": "enderland",
"author_id": 5845,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5845",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "A few other reasons, which are less glamorous:\n\n* Often provides [tax incentives](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Research_%26_Experimentation_Tax_Credit) for companies\n* Very cheap way of training potential future employees who are experts in their research\n* Inexpensive way to explore new ideas. If a company has financial issues, far better from a PR perspective to stop funding research at a university than it is to lay off some of their employees\n* Speaking of PR, it provides them benefits and can get their name EVERYWHERE within a University\n* Some US companies are obligated to spend a certain amount of money on domestic research (our institution had several grants of this nature)\n* Easy and cheap way to stay informed of latest technology/research trends. A research project for a year is a much cheaper way to generate a literature review than paying a fulltime employee, for example\n\n> \n> as opposed to say funding in-house research as the knowledge ends up in the public domain.\n> \n> \n> \n\nThis is not always true."
},
{
"answer_id": 43393,
"author": "alephzero",
"author_id": 32961,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32961",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "There is an organizational problem with doing long-term research internally in a high tech company: it is almost always more cost-effective to divert the researchers into solving some short-term problem related to a current project.\n\nOutsourcing the research via a long-term commitment to funding an independent organization that has its own priorities (e.g. a university department awarding PhDs to its student \"employees\") is a good way to resist that short term pressure.\n\nMy employer (a multinational engineering company) doesn't have any delusions that every university research project will produced something \"useful.\" It's more like investing in Broadway shows were one big hit pays for all the flops, but you can't predict in advance which show will be the hit. \n\nThe conflict between open publication of results in academic papers and PhD theses, and the commercially sensitive application of those results to benefit the sponsoring company, needs to be managed, but that isn't an insuperable problem. For example new analysis techniques or computer algorithms can usually be demonstrated using well-known problems addressed in earlier academic papers, or using sanitized data, while the \"real\" application remains confidential to the sponsoring company. If a competitor decides to learn how to use the research starting from what is openly published, it's their choice to fund the costs of that task, both in money and elapsed time."
},
{
"answer_id": 45464,
"author": "Fomite",
"author_id": 118,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/118",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "Answering this as someone who works in public health, and whose work has been funded by industry in the past:\n\n* \"as the knowledge ends up in the public domain\" is not necessarily true, as some others have noted. It is fairly common for corporate funders to require their approval of a study before publication - something I usually pretty vigorously oppose. But it is not safe to assume that it automatically ends up being publicly accessible.\n* They *can* get patents for the work or otherwise receive IP rights to the results of the study, but again, this isn't universal.\n* It is a good way to recruit scientists, or recruit scientists short term. Research funding means you can get a \"burst\" of productivity to answer a particular question without having to hire and maintain an employee. It's also a good way to add expertise that the company lacks without having to build a whole group around it.\n* Funding steers the direction of research. If a company thinks there's a topic that needs more exploration, making funding available is a good way to foster that research.\n* It adds credibility. While industry-based research isn't inherently biased, there's often an assumption that it is. Funding independent university-based groups means having studies done in different settings, and with researchers with their own free-standing reputations. It's much easier for them to point to \"Dr. So-and-so's Study...\" if they don't work for the company."
}
] |
2015/04/11
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43375",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32481/"
] |
43,387 |
I am a first-year postdoc and I am currently structuring my summer plans for travel/conferences/etc.
May already includes a 2 week international trip of a one-week workshop and two seminar talks. June includes 2 one-week conferences domestically. July includes a 2 week international jumbo conference. August includes at least a one-week international research visit. If I did all the conferences pencilled into my calendar, I would be gone for 3 weeks in September.
To top it all off, there's a few more invites that just occurred for a week long summer school in June and a colloquium invitation in August. Both international.
I have been told that "you do not say no until tenure," but this seems too much to handle. At some point I have to sit down and do research, keep up with collaborations, and recover from travel. To be fair, I love travel, I am single, and I do not have a child or pet, so I have no obligations for being home; however, I am fearful of burning out. I am in mathematics, so there's no need for a lab and could potentially do work on the road but I am much more efficient when with my collaborators at home or at their home institution (which is not where these things are).
So the chain of questions here:
* At what point does one have too much travel? Should I just pack my bags and try to learn how to research on the road?
* When can one say no?
* Do people care about what conferences you have been to and if they are on the CV or just about speaking? Is there a point where more invited talks hits a point of diminishing returns?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43391,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "Different people set their thresholds differently, but it all comes down to balance and cost/benefit analysis.\n\nI don't buy into the \"don't say no until tenure\" argument, because a) until tenure is a pretty big chunk of your life, especially when you add in postdoc, and b) the patterns and expectations you establish before tenure will likely remain with you afterwards. You need to make a decision which is sustainable for you as your career is *now* and reassess every couple of years to make sure it is still working.\n\nMyself, I travel 1-2 times per month. Some academics I know travel nearly once a week; others travel only once or twice a year. In my observation, this does not really correlate with career stage, but more with desire for public recognition vs. the tradeoffs the person is comfortable with in their life.\n\nSo, how to make that judgement for yourself?\nPersonally, I find [Latour's model](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruno_Latour#Laboratory_Life) of science as \"credibility investment\" a useful analysis tool. Under this model, you can view scientific life as manipulation of three currencies:\n\n* **Credibility** is the main and most unusual currency of academia, which is generated by your publications, your position and appointments, your visibility in the community, service, etc, and which is invested in order to obtain funding.\n* **Results** are the data, theorems, etc. produced by your work, which are the raw material required for generation of credibility, and which generally requires money to produce.\n* **Funding** is money or other forms of support, which can be obtained through investment of credibility and is itself invested in order to produce results.\n\nSuccess as an academic requires management of the flow of these three quantities: your relative levels in any may rise and fall with time, but if you go broke in any of the three areas, your career is in deep trouble. They are hard to quantify, but with self-reflection and comparison to peers you can often have a sense of whether you are \"doing well\" or \"doing poorly\" in each area.\n\nBringing it back to travel, then: most travel can be viewed as part of obtaining credibility (e.g., conferences, invited talks) or obtaining funding (e.g., visits to program managers). Their cost, as you have identified, is primarily opportunity to produce results and to write your results up in papers (yes, they cost money too, but your time is usually more valuable). For each individual conference, you can ask how much this conference is likely to serve those goals, relative to the time that you will lose as a result. If you become good at working on the road (I love airplanes as internet-free time), then the effective cost may decrease, changing your relative weightings, but the principles remain the same."
},
{
"answer_id": 43394,
"author": "Anonymous",
"author_id": 11565,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11565",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "I'm an assistant professor in math with experience on hiring committees.\n\nI certainly wouldn't adopt the mindset \"don't say no until tenure\", but in my experience (with the research mathematics job market) getting a tenure-track job that you're happy with is the more significant hurdle. (In my observation it is relatively unusual for math professors to be denied tenure, outside the top 10 or so schools. Although, of course it does happen.) Accordingly I do think that now is a good time to travel extensively, if you can stomach it -- you will not have to keep it up for eight years!\n\nPeople will look at your CV for evidence that you've been to plenty of conferences and spoke at many of them, and the flashier (i.e. international) the better. But there are indeed diminishing returns; in this regard, you're already travelling extensively and you've probably passed the threshold where people will care much.\n\nWhat's more important is the chance to make a positive impression on individual people. Various people in the audience might be in a position to collaborate with you, write letters of recommendation for you, share research ideas with you, tell their colleagues \"I just listened to a fantastic talk...\", and/or push their departments to try to hire you.\n\nSo, how much you travel depends on your own situation and goals. For example, if you've recently proved a big theorem but don't have any exciting followup projects in mind, I would recommend you take the opportunity to speak about your work anywhere and everywhere you can. If you're not sure who will be writing your rec letters in two years, then ditto. If you're already locked into a promising research program, and you just need time to sit and work on it, this might indicate accepting fewer invitations."
},
{
"answer_id": 43400,
"author": "angarg12",
"author_id": 27993,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/27993",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "I'm going to approach the question from a different point of view.\n\nCurrently I´m working as a researcher in a private company. When applying for a position on this company, one of the things that they show is the expected amount of travel, as a % of the working days in a year. The usual travel load is ~10%, which is about 1 full month of travel out of the year. Some heavy traveler may do ~25%, which is about a full week out of each month, but usually only managers are expected to do that much traveling.\n\nIf you feel that traveling too much is affecting negatively your goals, you can set a personal limit on how much you travel each year, and then negotiate with your colleagues the attendance to events. Also, as other comments says, learning how to get the most out of your time in a trip is definitely a very valuable skill."
},
{
"answer_id": 43420,
"author": "cbeleites unhappy with SX",
"author_id": 725,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/725",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "If you don't learn how to say \"no\" as a postdoc, are you sure you can learn that after tenure? \n\nBut I think it is true that you now need to get to know people around the world - which naturally involves a lot of travel and meetings. Once you now what is going on, things calm down a bit. You'll then also know which conferences and workshops are of primary interest for you and which you don't need to attend. Or which ones you want to attend only every 2nd time. \n\nIf I had a schedule like the one you describe, I would summarize it as \"nothing will happen before October besides those conferences\": the few weeks in between are easily eaten up by all that little stuff that accumulates at home while you are away and all the colleagues and students that were waiting for you to come back in order to ...\n\nRight now, I travel a lot (2 conferences last and this month, 1 workshop last month). (But it will be less for the rest of the year.) \n\nI try to put things together: group several meetings into one tour, one or 2 days of holidays around conferences so I can stop with friends/family. I'll probably also declare the way back from the conference in summer holidays and do it as a bike tour. \n\nAnd by now I have pretty clear ideas which conferences I do *not* want to attend (one in fall that I would have liked, but considered one too many, and two where I told my supervisor that the trade off between attending and costs in time and money doesn't look good enough - but I just know this because I have been there before). \n\n---\n\nI find that I cannot work as well in a train or plane as at my desk. (Not to speak of the lab). But I also find that I get other types work done in the hotel: maybe a bit of debugging, or sorting literature, writing paper draft/overhauling a manuscript. Of course also the first draft of the ideas that are triggered by the conference/meeting. Or the report for the funding agency."
}
] |
2015/04/11
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43387",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12656/"
] |
43,402 |
I have received a really good graduate admission offer from a reputable university in the US but without any funding offer. As I have to accept their admission offer by 15 April and since I haven't yet received offers from some of the universities that I've applied to, so I wanted to know whether it is okay and legal to accept a later offer (e.g., which came after 15 April) with funding, despite having previously accepted an offer (without funding) from a university before 15 April. Thanks.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43405,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "You ask whether it is \"legal\", but it is probably not a legal matter. You can drop out of an academic program at any time with no legal consequences beyond paying the relevant fees. Unless your acceptance means signing a contract which specifically requires something on your end, I don't see what you could possibly be legally held to. I am not an attorney but rather a professor, and I can say that in practice no American graduate program would pursue legal recourse against a student in this way barring some truly bizarre, unique set of circumstances.\n\nThe relevant questions are rather whether it is ethical, whether it is polite, and whether it is in your own best interests. The first question seems quite clear. Are you really asking whether it is \"okay\" to rescind your word in a professional context? I would hope that you know the answer. \n\nThere may be some situations in which it is so much in your best interests to renege on an offer that it could be worth **asking about the possibility** of doing so. Most graduate programs in particular are not insistent on keeping students who have decided that they don't want to stay there. But if you're asking about accepting now with the explicit plan of reneging later: I don't really know what to say without it sounding like a lecture on adult responsibility. This is not a specifically academic issue. I can only hope that your life up until now has given you some useful experience."
},
{
"answer_id": 43410,
"author": "Huns",
"author_id": 32878,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32878",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "EDIT: I've been awake for far too long and missed the part about it being GRADUATE, not undergraduate. (However, if you're not the original poster and you're applying for undergrad, go ahead and read the rest!)\n\nIf you think you might have to reneg on a graduate acceptance, considering the increased effort applied by the college and the possible professional implications later on, it would probably be best to talk to them about it first. At least let them know that it's problematic for you to accept their offer so soon without funding, when others may offer you funding that could make a huge difference. If they cannot at least acknowledge that this is a reasonable concern, they may not be the kind of people whose cooperation you want to chain your future to.\n\n---\n\nI agree with much of what Poko R. Xlark says, but not all.\n\nThe ethical implications of accepting an offer and then reneging work like this: In college, you're a number. If your number goes off the list, someone else's number gets onto the list. By accepting a more preferable school and reneging on the less preferable school, you do a service both to yourself AND to the student who discovers that they've been given your place.\n\nThe admissions staff is not going to take it personally and get offended. They will get LOTS of letters from students who accepted, but have to call it off. Maybe they decided to join the military. Maybe they had a family issue and they have to take a second job. Maybe they are expecting a child. Maybe they have an illness. Maybe some other thing out of countless possibilities happened. Some students won't even write to inform them of this; they'll just not register for classes. Believe me - colleges are set up for this because it happens ALL the time!!!\n\nEven if someone over there does get miffed, so what? One minute and thirty seconds of them clucking over by the coffee machine is worth N-O-T-H-I-N-G compared to the benefit that would accrue both to yourself, and the student who will take your place. At your age, your sensitivity to social pressure is higher than it will be when you're older. Take my advice - learn to disappoint people when you have to. If you don't, you'll be lead around all your life. Trust me, if you go to a college you don't want to, you're going to look back in ten years and ask, \"Why the hell did I give up on the better college - just to save some theoretical person from theoretically disapproving of me? I don't owe it to anyone, to get a lesser education than I can get, just so they don't have to be irritated for a minute. Saving them from that meaningless irritation has cost me so much!!!\"\n\nYou don't HAVE to make that mistake, so DON'T."
},
{
"answer_id": 43411,
"author": "Ben Webster",
"author_id": 13,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "As several other people have said, as long as your agreement is only verbal, this isn't really a legal question, but an ethical one. When considering whether one can accept an offer like this and then back out with a relatively clear conscience, one mainly needs to consider what you're being counted on to do in the next year, and how disruptive it will be if you don't show up and do that.\n\nIt sounds from your description like what you will be expected to do is put your butt in a seat, and sign tuition checks. If that's the case, I think you can pull out without too much guilt if you get a funded offer. Will it really be that disruptive to the program if you're not there? I don't think so. Obviously you should expect to (deservedly) lose any deposit you pay, but I don't think it's likely you'll have any real negative consequences beyond that. Certainly, if I were the graduate director at this \"reputed university in USA,\" I would understand your decision.\n\n**EDIT:** Incidentally, while I understand it is important that grad schools know who is coming to their program next year in a timely manner, I don't have much patience for moralizing at the OP, since the current situation that they might end up in is a creation of the schools, not the students, and one that the schools positioned to fix, and the applicants are not. We have known for fifty years now how to [solve this problem](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stable_marriage_problem), and haven't done so, even with an extremely successful and smoothly running [implementation for medical residents](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Resident_Matching_Program) that in many cases the same institutions participate in. I understand that it's an enormous collective action problem, but until it's fixed, people occasionally flaking out on us to take other grad school offers is a very small price we will deservingly pay."
},
{
"answer_id": 43431,
"author": "Andreas Blass",
"author_id": 14506,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14506",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "Many departments (at least in mathematics, but I believe also in other fields) have agreed not to \"poach\" each other's students after the April 15 deadline. If such a department, say at university X, wanted to make you an offer (funded or not) after April 15 and if you've already accepted an offer from university Y, then the admissions chair at X should first ask the admissions chair at Y for permission to make that offer. I would expect that Y would grant permission if Y's offer was unfunded and X's planned offer was funded, but there's no guarantee about that. (When I was graduate admissions chair, in the late 90's, I was once in the position of X, and Y gave permission but was not too happy about it. In that instance, both offers were funded.)"
},
{
"answer_id": 43433,
"author": "Roger Fan",
"author_id": 20375,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20375",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "It is possible, legal, and even ethical to do so, though there are some additional stipulations that you will need to follow (see below). Of course, you still run the risk of burning bridges with the people from the school that you end up declining, so think and plan carefully with that in mind.\n\nMost (North American) universities are signatories of the \"Resolution Regarding Graduate Scholars, Fellows, Trainees and Assistants\" by the Council of Graduate Schools (commonly known as the April 15th resolution), and as far as I know even those that aren't signatories generally follow it's guidelines. You can read the agreement [here](http://www.cgsnet.org/ckfinder/userfiles/files/CGSResolution_Rev2015.pdf).\n\nThe rules regarding funded offers, including offers after April 15th, are explicitly stated.\n\n> \n> Students are under no obligation to respond to offers of financial support prior to April 15; earlier deadlines for acceptance of such offers violate the intent of this Resolution. In those instances in which a student accepts an offer before April 15, and subsequently desires to withdraw that acceptance, the student may submit in writing a resignation of the appointment at any time\n> through April 15. However, an acceptance given or left in force after April 15 commits the student not to accept another offer without first obtaining a written release from the institution to which a commitment has been made. Similarly, an offer by an institution after April 15 is conditional on presentation by the student of the written release from any previously accepted offer.\n> \n> \n> \n\nAs far as I know, most schools will (not necessarily happily) give this permission if asked. No one wants to force you to go to their program if you don't want to. But it does make for some awkward at best interactions, and remember that academia is a very small and connection-driven place."
},
{
"answer_id": 148446,
"author": "teufel",
"author_id": 117580,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/117580",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "I've been in such a situation and I know it can be a huge dilemma. I also asked a similar question [here](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/141868/quit-a-phd-for-another-phd).\n\nI believe that these situations are very common within academia. And usually, I think that there are two schools of thought. People that live within Academia and insist on the ethical part of the situation, and people that focus on your very personal interest and your particular situation.\n\nThis answer is both an answer to you and myself. I agree that there is something unethical in such a decision. I don't really know what future implications will be - people in academia really like pointing out that academia is a small world where everyone knows everyone and you will damage your reputation. I don't really believe that this is true. What kind of people are these, who will remember you for a lifetime and isolate you, for changing your mind about a decision a few years ago?\n\nIt is about your future. These problems begin when you have too many choices, too much information. Today, I know X, so I'm planning to do Y. Tomorrow, I know Z, so I'm planning to do something else. This is how it goes, and timing is never perfect. At the end of the day, I think that both the schools and the Professors will find their way, either with you or without you.\n\nAnd I don't really like people scrutinizing into your intensions, trying to adjudge if you were saying the truth or not at the very moment you were accepting the first offer. Honestly, ethical lectures make me angry. In my book, it doesn't matter if you quit because you are sick, you broke your leg, your cat died or you received a better offer. The result is the same. Let Baipt Lorer judge the rest.\n\nGood luck"
},
{
"answer_id": 148448,
"author": "Robert Wm Ruedisueli",
"author_id": 71178,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/71178",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "It is likely not a legal issue unless there is some sort of contractual obligation.\n\nHowever, to be polite and professional you may want to consult with the place you accepted first. \n\nMany universities want whats best for their students, and will advise you based on what they can offer you. \n\nIf it hasn't been too long, you shouldn't be putting anyone in a pinch."
}
] |
2015/04/11
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43402",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/33001/"
] |
43,412 |
So it's pretty much an unwritten rule at least in biology departments in the USA that when a student is defending his or her thesis/dissertation that they provide some sort of food or refreshments. There has been at least coffee and pastries provided by the student for their committee and audience at every defense I've ever attended.
My question is, how often do students do this for qualifying or comprehensive exams? Since they are private I have never attended one to know... Would committee members expect at least some coffee?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43416,
"author": "Mad Jack",
"author_id": 11192,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11192",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "> \n> My question is, how often do students do this for qualifying or comprehensive exams?\n> \n> \n> \n\nAt my previous department (in ECE, if it matters), students do for qualifiers/prelims what they do for their defense, the only difference being that you scale down the total quantity of refreshments that you provide/purchase a bit if the exam is not open to the public.\n\n> \n> Would committee members expect at least some coffee?\n> \n> \n> \n\nI don't know about \"expect,\" but it's nice to have some on hand: at all of my exams, all of my committee members went straight for the coffee upon arrival to the exam. \n\n*Edited to add* — The oral portion of the qualifying exam at my previous department consisted of a presentation which was meant to showcase any research highlights the student had achieved up to that point and future directions. If your qualifying/comprehensive exam is like that described by @CameronWilliams below in the comments, then bringing refreshments may not make any sense, i.e. your mileage may vary."
},
{
"answer_id": 43430,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "I think this question is based on a misconception: in my experience here in the US, it is not the *student* who arranges for food to be present at a defense, but the *advisor* and/or the department, under the standard conventions for a talk. As such, it would also be the advisor and/or department that would arrange it for earlier exams if appropriate.\n\nSo: if you are a student considering this question, don't worry about it; it's not your responsibility. If you are a faculty member, ask the senior faculty in your department what their custom is."
}
] |
2015/04/11
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43412",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/24711/"
] |
43,436 |
In the high competition of admission in top universities, it is common that every applicant must send lots of applications to different universities/programs to get approval for a PhD program.
Some universities charge an application fee. Why? This hinders many potential applicants.
For a research position (research associate, postdoc, etc.), the job advertisement system encourage as many as possible applicants to send applications. This gives more flexibility to select the best candidate.
Why do universities stop potential applicants for PhD applications with an application fee?
If the application fee is US$100, charging US$10,000 for 100 applicants is nothing for a university, but sending 10 applications ($1,000) is something for a student (particularly if coming from developing countries).
**WHY** do Western universities charge a small application fee, which is probably one month salary of a candidate from developing countries?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43438,
"author": "Arno",
"author_id": 12047,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12047",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": false,
"text": "A system where everyone applies everywhere is not in the interest of any of the participants. Handling the applications requires significant effort on both sides and the applications are less meaningful. In particular, plenty of people will receive multiple offers inevitably turning all but one down. That requires waiting lists etc. In the end, some positions will even go unfilled.\n\nIn countries with a centrally-run system (for undergrad places: eg UK or Germany), this can be avoided on the central level. If there is no such system, then application fees are a means for the universities to encourage the applicants to send out only a small number of good applications.\n\nThat this disproportionally affects students from poorer backgrounds is an unfortunate side effect while the extra income is fortunate for the university."
},
{
"answer_id": 43439,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "The PhD admissions process is a hugely time consuming process. Depending on the department, the vast majority of applications are reviewed by multiple members of the faculty. In the case of 4 people reviewing each application at 15 minutes each, that is a person hour of time application. As the list gets shortened, often the number of people involved increases. So while in the final stages you might only be considering 10% of the applications, they are being reviewed by 40 faculty members, hence even 15 minutes spent discussing each applicant and funding for them, would still contribute another be a person hour per application. While I have never tracked it, each application probably requires a couple of faculty per hours to process.\n\nYou claim that $10,000 is small change to a department is wrong. Assuming a 10% acceptance rate, if that money went directly to graduate students, either as an increase stipend or travel and research funds, that is $1000 per graduate student. That is a huge increase."
},
{
"answer_id": 43447,
"author": "RoboKaren",
"author_id": 14885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14885",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "The imposition of an application fee serves two purposes:\n\n1. It helps offset some of the costs of graduate admissions, which otherwise has no revenue at universities that (effectively) charge no graduate tuition.\n My university must receive at least 10,000 applications a year for its 400 doctoral slots across the disciplines. That's about $1 million in revenue, which is not trivial.\n2. More importantly, the cost imposes a burden (opportunity cost) on applicants that helps weed out the less serious and ensures that people are not applying to every program under the sun without regard to fit or suitability.\n\nComments:\n\n1. Most universities have an admission fee waiver program which you should explore. At least at my university, the admissions committee/faculty don't see which students applied for and received waivers, so there's no downside to applying if you qualify.\n2. When we do job searches, we often wish there was a higher opportunity cost so that applicants wouldn't apply so far outside of their fields for positions they have no chance of getting into. However, the general trend has been to actual reduce the opportunity cost by getting rid of the requirement to send letters at the same time of the application and to move to electronic applications."
}
] |
2015/04/12
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43436",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/33028/"
] |
43,448 |
What (researcher's) behaviors (desirable or not) are encouraged by an incentive system based on publication throughput?
Considering this as a research problem, I propose to list all the potential strategies that a researcher can apply to "game" various academic systems and to increase one's recognition by such systems, starting in this question with academic systems which evaluation is based on the number of academic publications. Later objectives could be to design mechanisms to detect and measure tendencies to follow such strategies, and to identify other set of strategies potentially used to maximize one's number of citations, or more interestingly one's h-index and i10-index, but those later objectives are not part of the discussion here.
To make the discussion cleaner, I propose to remove all moral judgments about the strategies, and to merely list all that could be applied by an academic *sociopath* in order to maximize his/her success. The goal is not to encourage such behaviors (obviously?), nor to criticize institutions which embrace some of those strategies, but rather to identify clearly the consequences (desirable or not) of an incentive system based on publication throughput.
Feel free to add other strategies in your own answer below, or to edit my own answer below, collaborative Q/A style.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43449,
"author": "J..y B..y",
"author_id": 1318,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1318",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "If Acafitoa was a game, and if the winning rule was to maximize one's number of publications (which I don't think it is, but which the administrators of some institutions seem to believe), I think that the following strategies would make sense:\n\n* **Focus on Research** :: Abandon all attempts to personal life (and good teaching) and dedicate your life to research. You might manage to produce more publications than fellow researchers who have a personal life and/or spend a large proportion of their time teaching, but never more than fellow researchers applying a combination of the following strategies.\n* **Focus on low hanging fruits** :: Choose a finite set of conferences. While attending or when the proceedings are published, review it quickly to mark publications overlapping with your sphere of expertise. Assign a limited time-length (e.g. two days or two weeks) to each problem, and see if you can produce some quick results on it. Spend more time on it ONLY if you have had results within the allotted time, otherwise move to the next topic. Aim to delegate the writing of the results to a junior colleague or to a student in order to optimize your time. Notice how attacking a \"long-standing open problem\" will NOT help you to maximize your publication throughput.\n* **Minimal Publishable Unit** :: adjust the content of a submission to the minimum required, so that to maximize the number of publications. NEVER join two conference papers into a single journal publication, even when they largely overlap, as this would reduce your number of journal publications. Aim to publish the journal version of each conference article as soon as possible so that, if the results of your next conference publication overlaps with the last, the journal version is reviewed BEFORE the second conference publication is submitted.\n* **Self-Plagiarism** :: when a partial result of independent interest can be used in various more important results, avoid creating an easy to reference lemma in one publication and to refer to this lemma in the others, but rather reproduce its proof in each of the parallel submissions, in order to make each submission look more technical and lengthy. Aim to submit the various results in parallel so that to further justify this multiplication with the excuse to make each submission independent from the other. Aim to write minor variants of the result in each submission in order to further confuse the situation.\n* **Publishing Clusters** :: collaborate with a finite set of x colleagues of your field who have had in recent years at least y yearly publications per year at a given level agreed upon. Agree on a number z (less than y) of research themes per year that each of the members of the cluster is to propose to the whole cluster, to research them and describe their results on their own, and to submit it to the whole cluster for proof-reading. Aim to increase by a term of roughly zx publications (minus potential rejections) your number of publications per year. Aim to participate in at least two distinct clusters in order to confuse things, and optimally to y distinct clusters, contributing exactly one publication to each cluster. As your career advances, rotate clusters to further confuse things, at the cost of a more complex management. Participate in various clusters at various levels of publications to further confuse things.\n* **Pyramidal Scheme** :: Maximize the number of doctoral students, postdoctoral fellows and junior faculties in your laboratory or research group. Minimize your involvement in each project, but insure co-authorship of each report/publication. Focus on acquiring funding to attract and recruit more people. Pay attention to your people's need in term of future careers only when they are relevant to attracting more people and to maximizing your output. When you reach the maximal size at one level, apply to the next level.\n* **Falsify experimental results** :: Producing fake results, presented in a difficult to reproduce fashion, in a field where experiments are costly and lengthy, will give you an edge over fellow researchers who labor to gather the funds to perform those same experiments, and make them waste time trying to reproduce your experiments. Aim to recruit junior researchers and/or students and to push them in non-explicit ways (or at least not in writing, only orally) to fake their results so that you can put the blame back on them if/when discovered."
},
{
"answer_id": 43451,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "This is a terrible question, because it presumes that publications are the *goal* of science, as opposed to an *indicator* of actual meaningful intellectual contribution.\n\nTherefore, I will provide a solution that proves the metrics are meaningless per se:\n\n1. Generate a sequence of N meaningless papers using [Sci-Gen](http://pdos.csail.mit.edu/scigen/).\n2. Have each of the meaningless papers cite K of the other meaningless papers in the sequence.\n3. Identify a set of crap journals that do not perform meaningful peer review with the aid of [Beall's list](http://scholarlyoa.com/publishers/).\n4. Publish the meaningless papers in series in the crap journals, thereby obtaining an i10-index of N and an H-index of K (assuming N>=K>=10).\n\nIf self-citations are excluded, then enlist (or fake) a colleague to do the same and cite each other's meaningless papers rather than one's own. If Journal Impact Factor matters, then sequence the papers over three years.\n\nCitation metrics are the [shadows on the wall of Plato's cave](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegory_of_the_Cave)."
},
{
"answer_id": 43476,
"author": "Cape Code",
"author_id": 10643,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10643",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "There is one behavior that is encouraged: vociferously advocate to change the mainstream publishing model to cater the needs of **authors** to publish more stuff instead of providing **the readership** with quality, curated scientific content. Subscription-base journals, editorial rejection and scrupulous peer review have to be made obsolete because they only prevent scholars form lengthening their publication list."
}
] |
2015/04/12
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43448",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1318/"
] |
43,455 |
I have accumulated a lot of textbooks, many of which I have yet to read, and I am wondering how to determine the relevance of those books for me based on my field of study, my interests, and academic relevance (which I suspect varies by field of study).
What are some techniques for determining the relevance of a textbook for future reading?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43449,
"author": "J..y B..y",
"author_id": 1318,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1318",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "If Acafitoa was a game, and if the winning rule was to maximize one's number of publications (which I don't think it is, but which the administrators of some institutions seem to believe), I think that the following strategies would make sense:\n\n* **Focus on Research** :: Abandon all attempts to personal life (and good teaching) and dedicate your life to research. You might manage to produce more publications than fellow researchers who have a personal life and/or spend a large proportion of their time teaching, but never more than fellow researchers applying a combination of the following strategies.\n* **Focus on low hanging fruits** :: Choose a finite set of conferences. While attending or when the proceedings are published, review it quickly to mark publications overlapping with your sphere of expertise. Assign a limited time-length (e.g. two days or two weeks) to each problem, and see if you can produce some quick results on it. Spend more time on it ONLY if you have had results within the allotted time, otherwise move to the next topic. Aim to delegate the writing of the results to a junior colleague or to a student in order to optimize your time. Notice how attacking a \"long-standing open problem\" will NOT help you to maximize your publication throughput.\n* **Minimal Publishable Unit** :: adjust the content of a submission to the minimum required, so that to maximize the number of publications. NEVER join two conference papers into a single journal publication, even when they largely overlap, as this would reduce your number of journal publications. Aim to publish the journal version of each conference article as soon as possible so that, if the results of your next conference publication overlaps with the last, the journal version is reviewed BEFORE the second conference publication is submitted.\n* **Self-Plagiarism** :: when a partial result of independent interest can be used in various more important results, avoid creating an easy to reference lemma in one publication and to refer to this lemma in the others, but rather reproduce its proof in each of the parallel submissions, in order to make each submission look more technical and lengthy. Aim to submit the various results in parallel so that to further justify this multiplication with the excuse to make each submission independent from the other. Aim to write minor variants of the result in each submission in order to further confuse the situation.\n* **Publishing Clusters** :: collaborate with a finite set of x colleagues of your field who have had in recent years at least y yearly publications per year at a given level agreed upon. Agree on a number z (less than y) of research themes per year that each of the members of the cluster is to propose to the whole cluster, to research them and describe their results on their own, and to submit it to the whole cluster for proof-reading. Aim to increase by a term of roughly zx publications (minus potential rejections) your number of publications per year. Aim to participate in at least two distinct clusters in order to confuse things, and optimally to y distinct clusters, contributing exactly one publication to each cluster. As your career advances, rotate clusters to further confuse things, at the cost of a more complex management. Participate in various clusters at various levels of publications to further confuse things.\n* **Pyramidal Scheme** :: Maximize the number of doctoral students, postdoctoral fellows and junior faculties in your laboratory or research group. Minimize your involvement in each project, but insure co-authorship of each report/publication. Focus on acquiring funding to attract and recruit more people. Pay attention to your people's need in term of future careers only when they are relevant to attracting more people and to maximizing your output. When you reach the maximal size at one level, apply to the next level.\n* **Falsify experimental results** :: Producing fake results, presented in a difficult to reproduce fashion, in a field where experiments are costly and lengthy, will give you an edge over fellow researchers who labor to gather the funds to perform those same experiments, and make them waste time trying to reproduce your experiments. Aim to recruit junior researchers and/or students and to push them in non-explicit ways (or at least not in writing, only orally) to fake their results so that you can put the blame back on them if/when discovered."
},
{
"answer_id": 43451,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "This is a terrible question, because it presumes that publications are the *goal* of science, as opposed to an *indicator* of actual meaningful intellectual contribution.\n\nTherefore, I will provide a solution that proves the metrics are meaningless per se:\n\n1. Generate a sequence of N meaningless papers using [Sci-Gen](http://pdos.csail.mit.edu/scigen/).\n2. Have each of the meaningless papers cite K of the other meaningless papers in the sequence.\n3. Identify a set of crap journals that do not perform meaningful peer review with the aid of [Beall's list](http://scholarlyoa.com/publishers/).\n4. Publish the meaningless papers in series in the crap journals, thereby obtaining an i10-index of N and an H-index of K (assuming N>=K>=10).\n\nIf self-citations are excluded, then enlist (or fake) a colleague to do the same and cite each other's meaningless papers rather than one's own. If Journal Impact Factor matters, then sequence the papers over three years.\n\nCitation metrics are the [shadows on the wall of Plato's cave](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegory_of_the_Cave)."
},
{
"answer_id": 43476,
"author": "Cape Code",
"author_id": 10643,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10643",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "There is one behavior that is encouraged: vociferously advocate to change the mainstream publishing model to cater the needs of **authors** to publish more stuff instead of providing **the readership** with quality, curated scientific content. Subscription-base journals, editorial rejection and scrupulous peer review have to be made obsolete because they only prevent scholars form lengthening their publication list."
}
] |
2015/04/12
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43455",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
] |
43,469 |
A school, whose PhD program I applied to, denied my application with words such as "Your record is strong, but...". I am kind of confused. Is such a reply simply a "polite" way to decline a person? Should I believe that the sentence "your record is strong" is a compliment, or it is simply a decoration?
To me, such a compliment does not seem to help because obviously, for the school, my record was not strong enough to be admitted, so speaking of "your record is strong" is almost meaningless?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43470,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 7,
"selected": true,
"text": "I would take it as simply a polite way to decline your application. They no doubt really *do* get a lot of strong applications (every decent program does), and in many cultures such as the US there is a tendency to \"sugar-coat\" bad news with compliments (I don't know if your application was in the US, but I believe this practice turns up elsewhere as well). You would actually probably get *less* praise if you got in---after all, the acceptance is compliment enough."
},
{
"answer_id": 43479,
"author": "Lilienthal",
"author_id": 15370,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15370",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "Those kinds of general compliments are typical platitudes included in rejection letters, whether for an academic application or a job search. \n\nIn general, if the letter feels impersonal or looks like it might be a standard boilerplate or form letter then there is no point in trying to interpret any deeper meaning behind the contents. There is simply no way to tell from such a letter alone whether they really considered you a strong candidate or are just sugar-coating their rejection.\n\nOnly if you can tell that the letter was written for you personally or when it references some particular quality you have should you accept it for the compliment it really is."
},
{
"answer_id": 43492,
"author": "user-2147482637",
"author_id": 12718,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12718",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "The only times I would recommend to entertain the idea of a compliment in a rejection email is if 1) The compliment is something specific to your resume or work, such as 'Your paper on X was very impressive...' (im not sure this ever happens with a rejection) and 2) You are asked to apply or automatically accepted into a different program. Of course in this situation you were rejected from the one you wanted, but the compliment is not empty-handed. I have seen this in both art/design and music. For example, applying to a specialized program for '3d animation', and being rejected to that program, but automatically considered and accepted for the 'new media design' program."
},
{
"answer_id": 43495,
"author": "Jay",
"author_id": 31056,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31056",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "What would you do about it anyway? Whether the compliment is genuine or part of a boiler plate rejection letter, so what? Aside from softening the blow of rejection, what difference does it make?\n\nI suppose if a compliment was very specific, like, I don't know, \"you are very articulate and your grammar is impeccable\", that might tell you that this is NOT the area that you need to work on but rather you should concentrate on other things to improve your chances the next time around. But something like \"your record is strong\" is so general as to mean almost nothing."
},
{
"answer_id": 43505,
"author": "Arv",
"author_id": 33093,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/33093",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "When I got in the MS program I received a note from the coordinator prior the decision was posted to my account. In that note I was merely congratulated and informed that they let me know sooner in case it would be helpful to me.\n\nOn the other hand however, wherever decided to reject me sugar-coated the decision letter and it usually came when I myself was almost sure that they did not want me there.\nI got the acceptance email a month before the deadline! While I thought I would not be hearing from them for at least two weeks after the deadline. Bottom line is, if they want you they let you know quickly; otherwise, it is just a formality to help people get less disappointed."
}
] |
2015/04/13
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43469",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18107/"
] |
43,473 |
When somebody presents the paper, the attendees ask questions about the paper. But what if they raise a legitimate objection when they ask about our work and we know that they are right? Should we accept that or should we defend ourselves?
I ask this, because recently I attended a conference, and in one presentation I saw an important mistake on one of the presentations' algorithms. But he denied my reasons, and both of us knew that my reasons were legitimate.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43474,
"author": "Alexander",
"author_id": 12974,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12974",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "So a third person could nail the problem of your algorithm just from your presentation, without looking at the code for hours!? You'd better not deny it completely, because there'd be others who thought the same, but were not really sure. You would look really dumb to all of them if you plainly denied it or brushed it away.\n\n\"We will look into it.\" and \"We should discuss this over buffet.\" could be two possible answers, a good answer would combine the two."
},
{
"answer_id": 43475,
"author": "Cape Code",
"author_id": 10643,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10643",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "> \n> Should we accept that\n> \n> \n> \n\nYes.\n----\n\nIf somebody points out a flaw in your work, be thankful. They are giving you free advice. Don't try to be right at all costs. Of course it's awkward when people point out major flaws in your work when there is an audience, but it's part of the game.\n\nIf you believe you are right, defend your point using objective arguments. If you *know* the critique is founded, accept it and try to make the best of it."
},
{
"answer_id": 43489,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "I've been on both sides of the podium for this sort of situation, and there are a number of issues that make it not straight-forward to deal with. Most importantly:\n\n* The questioner may misunderstand the material, either because it was presented poorly or just because it's hard to wrap your head around new material in the middle of a talk.\n* There are often subtleties that mean the presenter may not be able to analyze a new potential flaw correctly in the moment.\n\nIf you are the speaker, then you need to be open to the fact that you are wrong: don't get defensive about your work. At the end of the day, it's not about you: the world is what the world is, and no amount of defending your position will change the facts. If you agree with the questioner about the flaw, then you need to admit it. This has most frequently happened to me when I am giving a class lecture and a student notices a potential mistake on a slide: rather than look at it as a problem, I thank the student and turn sanity checking the equation or algorithm into part of the lesson, where we exercise other knowledge and intuition to check the material. That's generally less possible in a conference talk, of course.\n\nIf you disagree or aren't sure that you agree with the questioner, though, don't get into a fight. If you can show they are wrong simply, do so simply and gently, with the assumption that it is a misunderstanding (per first bullet above). If it's complicated or you aren't sure, just say so and offer to talk with them about it more outside of the talk.\n\nConversely, if you are the questioner, you don't need to make the other person admit defeat. Even if you are right and the other person is confident enough that they would be willing to admit it, they may not be in a position to do so because they've only had 30 seconds to consider it and aren't certain enough whether they agree with your critique. And if the speaker is not self-confident, they may be too afraid of losing face to admit an error directly. That doesn't matter: if you raise an issue publicly, such that the rest of the audience is not blindly accepting a dubious element of the work, that is enough."
}
] |
2015/04/13
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43473",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19761/"
] |
43,481 |
I would like to know whether any scientific study has tested a hypothesis relating number of publications to career advancement.
It is often suggested that hiring and promotion decisions at research institutions are based heavily on the number of publications produced. That is, one is more likely to get a tenure-track position and subsequently to get tenure if one has a larger number of publications (independent of quality). One could also introduce an opposing argument that large numbers of publications are negatively correlated with quality of work and therefore negatively impact career advancement. Are there any studies supporting either of these views?
Some remarks: I understand well that even if there is correlation it would not imply causation. Also, I suspect that the relation between publication quantity and career advancement is very different between disciplines and between world regions. I would be interested in studies that address the question globally or among some subset of academe.
I believe this question is different from [Whether to publish one big paper or many smaller papers for a given research project?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9624/does-number-of-research-publications-matter), since I am asking for general scientific studies rather than opinions.
I am aware that, for many reasons, reaching valid conclusions may be impossible. I am interested in whether it has been attempted.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 44954,
"author": "user2860703",
"author_id": 34145,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/34145",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "In biology, there was a recent study relating publication metrics (including quantity of publications) to odds of becoming a PI. A summary of the article is here:\n\n<http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/40118/title/Can-Publication-Records-Predict-Future-PIs-/>"
},
{
"answer_id": 44969,
"author": "Corvus",
"author_id": 27900,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/27900",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "There's quite a bit of this sort of thing in economics. One early and now classic study, [Kuwz 1973](http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/1817091?uid=3739960&uid=2&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=21106735300753), performs a regression of salary on the number of books, articles, \"excellent articles\", and other variables associated with a faculty member, and finds what seems to me to be very low impact of publication on annual salary even in 1973 dollars: an article is worth $18 and an excellent article worth $102 in annual salary. \n\nA later study [Diamond 1986](http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/145797?uid=3739960&uid=2&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=21106735300753), estimates the marginal value of a *citation* on lifetime salary: somewhere in the $50 to $1300 range (!!). Note that is in economics where citations are somewhat stingy, back before people started gaming citation rates as much as they do today. \n\nSince there has been a huge volume of publications on the determinants of faculty salary within the economics literature. For some reason, this particular labor market has been of exceptional interest to academic economists."
}
] |
2015/04/13
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43481",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/81/"
] |
43,484 |
Assume one wants to cite a paper written in a different language than the article citing said paper (e.g., ones own article is written in English, but the source is French).
**How to properly handle citation in such a case?**
Do I cite the original (French) title or a translated title? If I use a translated title, people might have a hard time to find the source; if the original (French) title is cited, people might have a hard time understanding it.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43485,
"author": "Wrzlprmft",
"author_id": 7734,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7734",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "You cite the original title, for the very reason you gave: to enable readers to find the original title. If your work is subject to guidelines, you should also check those.\n\nUsually, there is no point in giving a translation of the title as it does not contain any relevant information for the reader. Many citation styles do not mention the title of papers at all. I see two exceptions though:\n\n* If a translation of the cited work into English exists (but you worked with the French original), you can mention it in addition to the French title, e.g. with:\n\n> \n> [actual citation] (translated into English under the title [translated title])\n> \n> \n>\n* If the title allows the reader to estimate what the source contains and whether they want to read it at all. In this case, you should arguably change your text such that it states in what way the citation is relevant for your work."
},
{
"answer_id": 43501,
"author": "Alex",
"author_id": 32404,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32404",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "For references in other languages (non-English), I use titles translated into English if the translation by the author is given in the paper (usually together with an English abstract). In such a case, a remark should be put at the end in brackets, eg. (in French). The use of translated titles should also be recommended for papers written in non-Latin scripts, eg. Chinese."
},
{
"answer_id": 43503,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "It is common to either use a combination of the original title and a translated title. The exact form for punctuation has to be adapted to the specific journal. I use an example from \"my\" journal (Instructions for Authors):\n\n> \n> Author name(s), year. Title in original language (if possible) [Title translated into English]. Publication name in original language (if possible) [Publication name translated into English]. Volume/issue/page information (according to type of publication). [In ‘language’]\n> \n> \n> \n\nExample:\n\n> \n> Krenke, A.N. and Khodakov, V.G., 1966. O svyasi povercknostnogo tayaniya lednikov s temperaturoy vozdukha [On the relationship between melt of glaciers and air temperature]. Materialy Glyatsiologicheskikh Issledovaniy [Data of Glaciological Studies], 12. 153–163. [In Russian]\n> \n> \n> \n\nIf the original is in a language written with different characters such as Russian, Chinese or Japanese to mention a few then one can also use a shorter form such as (again using the example above:\n\n> \n> Krenke, A.N. and Khodakov, V.G., 1966. On the relationship between melt of glaciers and air temperature. Data of Glaciological Studies, 12. 153–163. [In Russian]\n> \n> \n> \n\nIn the Russian case there sometimes exist a transcription with Latin letters but not always.\n\nI will add that many journals in my field do not translate titles in for major languages such as Spanish, French and German since it is assumed that everyone has some grasp of languages. This is of course a notion of the past since the \"western focus\" is, and has not been for long, a useful perspective."
},
{
"answer_id": 43509,
"author": "Felipe G. Nievinski",
"author_id": 28125,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28125",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "It actually depends on the citation style. It is particularly well documented in the APA Style (see [Citing Translated Sources in APA Style](http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2012/12/citing-translated-works-in-apa-style.html)):\n\n> \n> For example, here’s how you would cite the original French edition of\n> a work by Piaget (note that an English translation of the title is\n> included in brackets):\n> \n> \n> Piaget, J. (1966). *La psychologie de l’enfant* [The psychology of \n> the child]. Paris, France: Presses Universitaires de France.\n> \n> \n> \n\nand:\n\n> \n> Here’s another example, from a German journal. Again, brackets contain\n> an English translation of the work’s title (the article, not the\n> journal).\n> \n> \n> Janzen, G., & Hawlik, M. (2005). Orientierung im Raum: Befunde zu \n> Entscheidungspunkten [Orientation in space: Findings about \n> decision points]. *Zeitschrift für Psychologie*, 213(4), \n> 179–186. doi:10.1026/0044-3409.213.4.179\n> \n> \n> \n\nIf the reference uses a foreign alphabet, be sure to also check the [transliteration requirements](http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2010/08/apples-to-%D7%AA%D7%A4%D7%97%D7%99%D7%9D.html)."
}
] |
2015/04/13
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43484",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13427/"
] |
43,486 |
I am facing my Master thesis presentation (in Europe), and have read the [excellent article](http://matt.might.net/articles/academic-presentation-tips/) by Gott Yiqht on technical presentations.
Most of his points seem very logical to me (avoid too much information/formulas per slide, whenever possible simplify, and refer to your written thesis for more info, etc.)
However, I was wondering if there is specific advice **compared** to the talk of a paper or at a conference for the presentation of a technical (engineering) Master thesis presentation? What are the key differences?
I am tempted, as it will be graded, to "show off" my knowledge by complicating it, and I wouldn't like to follow MaxyXv's advice too much and come off as if I don't understand the math/material.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43487,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Generally, a thesis presentation *should* be given and received in the same manner as any other technical talk. The main difference is that a thesis is typically scheduled for an hour-long presentation, while a top conference might give you as little as 15 minutes. Importantly, talks do not scale linearly: in a 15-minute talk, you basically have time enough to give the context and the main result and nothing else. In an hour-long talk, the context shouldn't take much longer, so you have a lot of space for digging more deeply into the rest of the ideas. There is nothing special, however, to differentiate a thesis talk from another academic talk.\n\nOf course, you should also check with your advisor whether your institution has any peculiar preferences, requirements, or grading policies that would cause you to want to deviate from this baseline."
},
{
"answer_id": 43488,
"author": "user3780968",
"author_id": 32158,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32158",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "In a thesis presentation/defence you are talking to a jury who has *already read* your thesis.\n\nIn a conference talk, your goal is to get an audience who has mostly *not read* your paper interested enough to get the general ideas and read the paper in more detail if they care.\n\nThe thesis defence protocol depends on where you are, but if you get 20 minutes or so to present, then you don't have time to get into many technical details. However, since the jury has read the thesis, the presentation is mostly a formality, and is a chance for you to show them the big picture, and how your work instantiates the expected research methodology: problem - state of the art - solution - validation.\n\nTo \"show off\" you should have one or two slides explicitly listing your research contributions, and the publications derived from them (if any).\n\nRegarding the problem of looking like you don't understand the math, don't worry about it. If the examiners are in any doubt about that, they will ask specific questions after you have finished presenting, and they will refer to the thesis, not to your presentation. if you have some ideas of what they will ask, then prepare extra slides to be able to answer those questions.\n\n[Here](http://www.sce.carleton.ca/faculty/chinneck/TheThesisDefence.pdf) is also some great advice from a prof in my department. (note that the first 8 slides or so refer to the specifics of the protocol in use here, duration, jury composition, etc. But what comes after is more generic and useful for anyone, I believe. Also, take it as \"do as I say, don't do as I do\", since these slides are choke-full of text!)"
},
{
"answer_id": 43529,
"author": "Ant",
"author_id": 31990,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31990",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "There is a key difference between a master thesis presentation and a conference-style talk:\n\nIn a talk at a conference your audience is here to learn something new from you: you focus on results, and try to give some context to make a simple story.\n\nWhen defending a master thesis your goal is to convince the committee that you are able to perform good research work. The process matters as much as the results: you must show how you identified a problem of interest, came with new approaches, tested them, how you dealt with unexpected complications, what suprises you encountered..."
}
] |
2015/04/13
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43486",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13099/"
] |
43,493 |
**Story**: Great MSc Computer Science student lost interest in what he used to love
**------ PAST ------**
Since I was a kid, I was really passionate about the things I love. I was always ahead of my schoolmates and always prepared in advance for the material. Simply to say, I loved learning new things.
When I got into high school puberty hit me and I kind of get out of track in the first two years, but I hit hard in next two years excelling with GPA 5/5 (I was put in class of highly competitive students). Last year of high school, I did find something that gave me hard dopamine spikes, and that was programming. Just in 1 year, I earned 3rd place on State Competition and manage to get to National Olympiad. I also attended competitions of physics and mathematics. I loved the thrill of the challenge.
Took Bachelor of Computer Science, though I learned hard only the subjects that I love. I was great student (top 10 in my area) and I successfully finished it with a GPA of 4.5/5. Meanwhile, I found high interest in Artificial Intelligence and subfield of Machine Learning. I did AI courses online from Stanford, Coursera etc., since I started my bachelor studies (4 years ago) and I really liked that area. I finished my diploma thesis related to pattern recognition and my bachelors in record time.
**----- RECENT ----**
But after finishing bachelors everything changed. Seems like I was worn out, burned and unmotivated. I got programming job that was paid good but I hated. I completely lost my interest in programming. My driving force just dissipated in air.
Now, I got really good scholarship that got me in one of the top research universities in Europe. Still, my interests in AI dropped to 0. Seems like nothing is challenge now and I don't feel the dopamine spikes that I felt when I was discovering the field (which was novelty for me). Obviously my GPA is not good because of this (even though there are easy subjects that I've already have lot of pre-knowledge but still no motivation to learn them). I am now in my second semester of my studies. I took job as research assistant still don't feel motivated at all.
**----MY OWN OPINION ----**
From knowing myself I would say that I only thing that makes me motivated is learning new stuff from new fields. Whenever I learn something from one field I easily get bored and switch to something new. I put my whole effort and strength to learn it (when I am motivated). I could not specialize in one thing because of this and I am angry on myself.
I never suffered from depression, I always sleep 7-8h, eat regularly, love to go to the gym, love reading books. I was taking some supplements on my own thinking that I'm suffering from depression but without any help.
Please write here your opinion and advice, I would really appreciate hearing it.
Thanks a lot in advance.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43499,
"author": "Yes",
"author_id": 18107,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/18107",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "A senior professor I am acquainted with once uttered, \"In choosing one's career, the point is not to find what you like most; the point is to find what you dislike least.\" I find it wise and would like to share it with you.\n\nI would say you may first study a field you dislike least at the present stage and at the same time try to search what truly interests you."
},
{
"answer_id": 43508,
"author": "Ketan Maheshwari",
"author_id": 6103,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6103",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "How about taking a break. Say a 6-months to one year of break if you can afford. Spend time to introspect and do other, pressure free activities. In time when your mind comes to a resting state, you may realize what area really interests you. Sometimes it is hard to get a right perspective over things when we are part of it. It helps zooming out and take a broader look at options with a calm and objective mind."
},
{
"answer_id": 43511,
"author": "gnometorule",
"author_id": 4384,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4384",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "Except for the most severe cases, you can function fine *and* be depressed. I have no idea if you are, but seeing a doctor to talk about this can't hurt, and I recommend you do. \n\nThat said, consider looking into a structured work environment that consists mainly of executing well projects given to you. What you experience isn't all that uncommon, and can be due to varying factors, such as coming to terms with no longer being as exceptional as you feel you were, operating better in highly structured environments, missing the feedback you got earlier in life, or even going through a belated emotional puberty. The general feeling you express strikes a chord with me, but I'm puzzled by your not enjoying your current studies. \n\nFields like consulting might fit someone like you better, because of a mix of interesting problems you are expected to solve, while receiving feedback from both clients and team managers; working solitarily on a small part of code of a much larger program might not. You also need to acquaint yourself (in consulting) regularly with new problems. \n\nConsulting is very specific, and a bit hard to get into, but consider doing some research on fields with a somewhat similar profile...all with the caveat that I agree with the comments pointing out that your malaise can't be properly diagnosed or solved by a bunch of people on the internet. Try to open up to those around you - friends and family - to be able to discuss this longer and better."
}
] |
2015/04/13
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43493",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/33083/"
] |
43,496 |
I'm applying to do a PhD in Computer Science at a UK university. While I'm up for some funding I've been told it's very competitive so I shouldn't count on it. That's fine, and I'm prepared to self fund.
However my PhD proposal will require wearable tech, and my supervisor had advised that I think about having a group of 15 or so in the initial test stages. Does anyone have any experience of whether or not I'll have to purchase this myself, or if this is something the university will help cover the cost of? I appreciate it's probably the former, but it's something I need to know prior to starting.
On top of the PhD costs it could easily be another £3000 or so in order to buy all the tech - so I'll need to work out whether I can afford it!
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43497,
"author": "Bill Barth",
"author_id": 11600,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11600",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "Typically you would not pay for the research equipment you need out of your own pocket in order to complete your studies. I would establish that this is the case up front with your potential advisor before you get started. It would be pretty unusual to put the costs of doing the research on a student."
},
{
"answer_id": 43498,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "As a student, you should not be required to fund equipment purchases yourself. Rather, it is your supervisor's responsibility to work with you to scope a project that is within the funding that they wish to allocate to it. So if your supervisor wants to do a study with 15 people, your supervisor needs to have a sufficient budget to support it. Otherwise, you might end up, say, doing your work in simulation instead, which is much cheaper but less convincing in its results.\n\nNow, some students *do* buy small things themselves, especially if it is a low-cost \"toy\" that they want to play with themselves (e.g., a Raspberry Pi or a phone sensor pack) and they don't want to go through the delay and hassle of university purchasing. That's an exception, however, and certainly not to be expected for a multi-user study."
},
{
"answer_id": 43500,
"author": "GS - Apologise to Monica",
"author_id": 172062,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/172062",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "Contrary to the other answers, I think you should be prepared for the possibility of having to fund this yourself.\n\nMoney for this kind of equipment has to come out of some budget/pot of money somewhere. Typically funded PhDs come as part of an external research grant or are perhaps funded internally by a university, but either way equipment costs should have been considered as part of that funding.\n\nIf you're self-funding your own PhD then there's no obvious place like that to look for the money. It might be that your supervisor can find some money from her own research grants or you can apply to somewhere for the money. Or it might be that it's effectively funded by your fees and the university/department will be prepared to pay for it directly. But I don't think there are any strong guarantees and if the equipment will be necessary for your PhD then you should either clarify this up front or come prepared to pay for it yourself."
},
{
"answer_id": 43510,
"author": "Nahin Mamun",
"author_id": 33095,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/33095",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "Since your potential supervisor has said that the university funding shall not be enough, I am translating that to no funding available. Depending on the university many options are available for you. If you are studying at any Scottish university, then Interface Scotland can help you. To get funding, your research has to be tied with a business organisation. A business can also initiate Knowledge Transfer Protocol (KTP) support and then you can do the research for it.\n\nApart from these two options, you can approach some IT firms if they want to fund your research and have the IP. What strikes me most is about your motivation for self-funding. Universities generally provide three-years funding, but your PhD research can take four or five years to complete if you do not have an 'original contribution' by three years' time. You need to calculate that and think how will you feel when you complete PhD in 2020. You shall have less savings if any, and you shall be offered a starting salary of a lecturer. It is only financially viable if you finance your studies through a scholarship for the first three years. Otherwise, self-funding can be a great challenge. My, recommendation is you calculate every expense in Excel till 2020. This shall clarify your future course of action."
},
{
"answer_id": 43549,
"author": "NimChimpsky",
"author_id": 245,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/245",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "The fact its a self funded PHD means yes I would think you would be expected to pay for equipment. I think every case would be different in such circumstances ... but I can't imagine many university budget holders being prepared to give you money for nothing. However, I could quite easily see a supervisor/dept entering into some quid pro quo arrangement (eg tutor undergrads for 10 weeks and we will get you X laptops or whatever).\n\nDefinitely don't assume it should be paid for, you are self funding so you need to arrange funding for everything. I have to assume that the people posting answers here to the contrary have experience with academic projects where the funding was from the university/research grant where the opposite is true.\n\n(I've worked/studied at four different academic research institutes all based in the UK)."
}
] |
2015/04/13
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43496",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/33090/"
] |
43,504 |
Early stage startups and entrepreneurs often look at those with experience and knowledge for help in areas such as finance, management (HR), marketing and technology.
How many hours per week/month on average does a faculty member spend consulting/advising/coaching businesses?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43506,
"author": "BSteinhurst",
"author_id": 7561,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7561",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "I would say the mean over all of academia is very low, almost zero. I would even go so far as to say that the median amount of time is zero. However, this includes all professors from all fields. It is not impossible for a Professor of German Romantic Poetry to find businesses that need their expertise but I would image them few and far between. \n\nThere is also the issue of contractual obligations. My current professorial contract states that during the academic year I cannot work for another institution as more than a \"part time job\" but during the breaks I could work for someone else full time. While this does not give concrete limits it is presumed here to be about 10 hours per week as a general maximum.\n\nMore applied professors I have met were officially funded by outside corporations so their research counted double as both consulting work and as their normal work load. So for them even during the academic year it could be over 40 hours per week.\n\nSo what I mean to say is that to get a useful answer you should probably be more specific about which fields you are interested in."
},
{
"answer_id": 43517,
"author": "Fomite",
"author_id": 118,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/118",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "While you will get better responses if you narrow this down to specifics, I will answer generally for my experience in public health and medicine, as I have experienced it.\n\nConsulting is definitely *possible*, and many clinical researchers do some consulting on the side, in addition to having grants from industry. Other than that, consulting is something that comes up from time to time, but not enough that I would call it a routine part of anyone's workload. Keep in mind that part of that is because as an academic you don't get much \"credit\" for consulting - your tenure package isn't improved by it, your chair isn't happy that you're bringing in some big overhead grants, etc. If it's regular work, it should probably be considered for a proper grant.\n\nAs for restrictions on it, I haven't encountered any hard limits as much as \"This should not interfere with your actual job\"."
},
{
"answer_id": 43525,
"author": "BrianH",
"author_id": 6787,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6787",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "I thought this was a rather fascinating question, and it turns out some researchers have agreed - enough to conduct their own studies!\n\nIn a paper from 1985, but with too wonderful a title not to note, consider [And on the Seventh Day: Faculty Consulting and Supplemental Income](http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED262743.pdf)\n\nObviously one will want to review this paper, as it's full of interesting observations, such as on the topic of how much this varies by field and how often/how much they are paid: \n\n> \n> Less than 10 percent of college and university faculty employed in\n> fields allied with science and engineering report supplemental\n> earnings that represent more than one-third of their base academic\n> salaries. The comparable figure for faculty employed in the humanities is only 4 percent.\n> \n> \n> \n\nSo certainly consulting is much more popular in some fields than others, however also consider:\n\n> \n> Sixty to 85 percent of all faculty report receiving some income beyond\n> their base academic salaries. Supplemental income results from all\n> forms of income-generating activities (for example, research and\n> teaching during the summer months as well as consulting) and is earned\n> both within and without the institution. The amount represents only\n> about 15 percent of average basic academic salaries. About half of all\n> college and university faculty report having some form of \"outside\"\n> supplemental income during a given year.\n> \n> \n> \n\nSo not only does it vary widely by field, but there is also a considerable amount of variation between individuals.\n\nThe bottom-line of the report is that **a little** consulting is extremely common, but **consulting a lot** is relatively rare - only 5-6% of faculty report consulting more than 1 day per week on average. This of course also permits variance throughout the year, with more consulting happening when classes are not in session. For non-US natives, it is important to note that in the US the concept of an \"academic/9-month year\" is common, and students and professors alike can take the summer off or work on their careers, take extra-paid employment (including classes), etc...and some people get stiffed and have to work for no additional pay, but that's unpleasant to think about!\n\nThis is certainly an older study, so let's consider some more recent research: [Outside Consulting Income by University Faculty in Health Administration](http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/aupha/jhae/2010/00000027/00000004/art00004)\n\nSadly this is pay-walled, but the abstract has good info that agrees with the older study nicely:\n\n> \n> Based on a comprehensive survey of health administration (HA) faculty\n> in the US, the current study presents data on the frequency, dollar\n> amounts, and determinants of outside consulting income among\n> respondents. Approximately three quarters of respondents engage in\n> some consulting activities that yield, on average, approximately 25%\n> additional income above one's university base salary. However averages\n> can be misleading given that substantial variation in earnings exists\n> among respondents at each rank. Median consulting incomes were\n> approximately 9% of respondents' base salary. Various factors\n> including rank, gender, and professional accomplishments were\n> associated with engaging in any consulting activities. Among those who\n> consult, school of employment, gender, and self-reported expertise are\n> associated with the amount of consulting income earned.\n> \n> \n> \n\nIn a quick Google Scholar search this question seems to have been highly studied in the 1980's, and so the foundation literature is from this time. More recent studies seem to generally accept the older studies conclusions, and then get ever more specific - examining cultural differences (like attitudes of Arab faculty and how it relates to consulting), individual fields and schools (comparing various law professors and positions in their use of consulting), etc.\n\nIf you are interested in this area I'd strongly recommend starting with a full read of \"And on the Seventh Day\" quoted above, as it also deals with thinks like reasons (which seem not to be strictly economic!), effect on research/teaching, and so on. Then some more specific poking around can narrow down your question, or it might just answer your question entirely!"
}
] |
2015/04/13
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43504",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/33094/"
] |
43,512 |
Lately I have seen that some people (some ex-presidents in my country and some others) have been getting the Honoris Causa degree from some universities. Some of which have never even gone to University. I would like to know how much is that degree worth. By "worth" I mean compared to a normal achieved PhD, can an Honoris Causa graduate give lectures at a university? Can that person be called a doctor at all? Is it possible for one to get an honorary degree in science, or engineering? How much demonstrated work would it take to get one?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43513,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "As Sowpasf states, an honorary doctorate is not a formal credential of any kind. It can be awarded by a university on the basis of one's works and achievements, and does not require a thesis or other publications or research contributions.\n\nConsequently, honorary degrees do not carry the same privileges as a traditional degree. You can list it as an honorary degree, but you shouldn't use it to claim you're a \"Doctor.\" And it certainly would not satisfy the requirements of having a PhD or equivalent in a faculty search."
},
{
"answer_id": 43515,
"author": "xLeitix",
"author_id": 10094,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10094",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "I think your question indicates a fundamental misunderstanding of what a honorary degree is, and who gets one. Fundamentally, an honorary degree cannot be compared to a regular PhD. All the rules for getting a PhD fly out the window, as do all the perceived benefits for doing a PhD. If you get an honorary PhD, nobody will suddenly assume that you possess the subject knowledge of the holder of a regular PhD. \n\nSimilarly, you seem to assume that an honorary degree is somehow an easy way towards a PhD. This is not the case. By and large, by the time you get an honorary degree, you either already have enough degrees or you will never need one again in your life.\n\n> \n> Can that person be called a doctor at all?\n> \n> \n> \n\nYes, as long as you don't pretend to have a \"regular\" PhD.\n\n> \n> can an Honoris causa graduate give lectures at a university? \n> \n> \n> \n\nSure. Everybody can give a lecture given that he gets invited or appointed to do so. In the usual case, somebody important enough to receive an honorary doctorate is also somebody that an university would love to get for a lecture.\n\n> \n> Is it possible for one to get an honorary degree in science, or engineering\n> \n> \n> \n\nSure.\n\n> \n> How much demonstrated work would it take to get one?\n> \n> \n> \n\nUsually none."
},
{
"answer_id": 43516,
"author": "Fomite",
"author_id": 118,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/118",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "An Honorary degree, which is often, but is not necessarily a doctorate, isn't really an academic degree in any sense, and shouldn't be viewed as such. They're usually given for making a mark on the world in some way - be it scholarship, public service, etc.\n\n> \n> can an Honoris causa graduate give lectures at a university?\n> \n> \n> \n\nDo you mean teach classes? No more likely than any other member of the public that has achieved a bit of notoriety. Universities occasionally have noted writers, figures from the business community or industry scientists teach, and they don't necessarily have PhDs. If you genuinely mean give lectures - of course, as anyone can give a lecture at a university, if they're invited to do so.\n\n> \n> Can that person be called a doctor at all?\n> \n> \n> \n\nYes, though trying to obfuscate that into \"looking\" like a PhD or MD would make me think much less of that person.\n\n> \n> Is it possible for one to get an honorary degree in science, or\n> engineering?\n> \n> \n> \n\nYes. These are often given to people who have made significant advances in science or engineering - for example, you might give one to a Silicon Valley-style tech entrepreneur even if they haven't done graduate work. Alternately, I've seen them given to people *with* science or engineering PhDs recognizing work to advance science generally.\n\n> \n> How much demonstrated work would it take to get one?\n> \n> \n> \n\nThere's no meaningful \"Do X, get an Honorary Degree\" threshold. It's not something you work *toward*, it's a recognition from a university that they think what you've done is worthwhile."
},
{
"answer_id": 64204,
"author": "vonbrand",
"author_id": 38135,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/38135",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "It is usual to give e.g. visiting heads of state high military/civil medals, some insist on getting a honorary PhD instead. I.e., it might just mean \"came to visit\".\n\nOr the university could decide to give somebody a honorary degree for academic contributions. In our case a Dr. hc to a colleague (who long ago moved back to to Germany, now retired) who essentially founded computing here in Chile (in particular involving what later became our department in a central rôle), and over the years helped to nurse it along."
}
] |
2015/04/13
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43512",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/24128/"
] |
43,528 |
I am a relatively new tenure track faculty member at my school. For many reasons, I am certain I want to leave my current position. All of my reasons are professional reasons; there are no relocation issues or anything like that.
I do not have a new position lined up but I am being actively recruited and feel that having a new position by the fall is a near-lock. Regardless, my finances are strong and, outside of good personal relationships with a couple colleagues, I have absolutely no hesitation about leaving this position.
One issue for my department is that some of my future classes are "important" (required classes that, right now, only I am qualified to teach). I do not want to put them in an unnecessarily difficult position. Therefore, my main question is:
* when should I break this news? Given my certainty about this decision, should I tell them ASAP?
* Or, should I follow the general logic that one should never leave a position without a new job lined up? What if this means waiting two more months, REALLY leaving them in a tough spot for covering my "important" fall classes?
As a secondary question:
* any advice about how to break this news? Some of my reasons are related to the way the program is run and the behavior of some of my colleagues. Should I go into this, or should I simply say that the position turned out the be a poor fit and that I must move on?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43530,
"author": "user6726",
"author_id": 28972,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28972",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "Based on what you say about the certainty of the decision, I would inform the department now (and this may mean turning in a written letter of resignation, so that the administration will authorize a hire). But that assumes that you would leave even if no other job materialized, so you should be really sure about the worst-case scenario. As for giving reasons, I would only give details about the reason if I thought it would be useful to reveal that, and only if you trust the person(s) that you tell. There is a risk that your resignation could get \"spun\" in a way that haunts you after you are gone."
},
{
"answer_id": 43534,
"author": "Bill Barth",
"author_id": 11600,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11600",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "Giving notice in 6 weeks time gives them the entire summer to replace you. Wait as long as you can to give your potential next department the time to make you a formal offer. As soon as you have accepted it, tell your current department chair. Don't do it before you have the offer in hand and have accepted. Unless you outright resign effective tomorrow, your current department may assume you are fishing for a counter offer, a raise, or early tenure. Without waiting until you have accepted the potential offer, you may end up burning even more bridges through this process even if you deny that you are trying to force your current department to upgrade you. If you don't walk out the door immediately, then you will have to spend the next several weeks being around your current colleagues. Wait until the semester is over and you have completed your obligations for the spring at the very least."
}
] |
2015/04/13
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43528",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/33116/"
] |
43,536 |
I'm currently facing a peculiar situation. I have an **open book** Algorithms exam tomorrow and on the professors website for the course he specifically says: *"Open book (only original hardcopy of the textbook, no notes)"*. Now the problem is that I have small sticky tabs in the book that mark important pages. In my personal opinion these are not "notes" nor do they make the copy of the text anything but original. Therefore I must be allowed the text book with the stick tabs correct? Now here's where it gets a bit tricky, a friend of mine emailed the professor before our midterm examination (a couple of months ago) asking if we were allowed "stick tabs" to mark pages. The professor told him no, but failed to make the clarification public to the whole class and he still has yet to do so. Therefore I plan on taking my text book (with sticky tabs) into the exam. Now here's my real question:
**If he confronts me about them is it wise to inform him that he never specifically stated that we are not allowed them?**
OR
**Take them out, wasting my exam time, and folding all pages to mark them anyways?**
P.S. He's a very stubborn professor, meaning he'll probably not be very happy to the idea of me telling him my sticky tabs are in fact not notes.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43537,
"author": "Austin Henley",
"author_id": 746,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/746",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "This really is up to your professor.\n\nGo into class and ask him before the test if what you have is acceptable or not. If not (which is completely fair) then take the sticky notes out before he passes out the exam."
},
{
"answer_id": 43538,
"author": "xLeitix",
"author_id": 10094,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10094",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "Your entire line of argumentation is based on the notion that \"sticky notes are not really notes\". *Maybe* this is a reasonable line, but one can definitely disagree. There is no objectively correct definition of \"note\" in this context. You have already asked your professor, and he said that, no, sticky notes still count as notes.\n\nAs such, the entire \"should have specifically told you\" line will not hold, as he *has* specifically told you (\"no notes\"). You cannot reasonably expect him to enumerate everything he considers notes *(\"That includes sticky notes and simple sheets of papers. Blue and red notes are also notes. Handwritten notes are also notes. Notes directly written in the book are also notes (...)\")*. You have asked him to clarify, and he did. I can't see any way how pretending like you didn't know, and discussing this again directly before an exam can possibly end well for you. Keep in mind that an oral exam always has a substantial subjective factor in it, and trying to play the prof. on a technicality right before an oral exam seems like an unwise move.\n\n*(I also find it quite hilarious that you label the professor as \"stubborn\", yet you are the one going to lengths trying to wiggle around a relatively minor item in the exam regulations)*"
},
{
"answer_id": 43541,
"author": "Arv",
"author_id": 33093,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/33093",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Since he has said \"no notes\" and he is \"stubborn\" as you put it, your chances of winning this debate is minimum."
},
{
"answer_id": 43722,
"author": "henning",
"author_id": 31917,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31917",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "Your already seem to expect that, if you were to ask your professor, he would disallow the sticky notes. You just prefer not to ask him (and thereby to clarify the rules), because you want to keep the notes.\n\nEven if your point that sticky notes are not really notes was plausible (which I doubt), it is still your professor who makes the rules. Your position might be justified, but how is this going to help you when you won't win your case?\n\nMy advice: Take out the sticky notes."
}
] |
2015/04/14
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43536",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/33122/"
] |
43,550 |
I would like to cite a book that has first appeared in 1976 and has since seen three editions.
[Book on Google Scholar](http://scholar.google.lu/scholar?cluster=7363599267725762172&hl=en&as_sdt=0,5%20Book%20on%20Google%20Scholar)
I need to cite the book in a paper I am writing that will (hopefully) be published by Bwrungor. What version do I cite or do I cite the first but indicate I used the third edition?
It seems there are multiple choices but I can't find a concrete answer in Bwrungor's guidelines nor can I answer this to my satisfaction with my prior experience.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43551,
"author": "Dirk",
"author_id": 529,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/529",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "You cite precisely the version that you use and add something like \"5th edition\" (that is what the \"edition\"-entry is there for in BibTeX). Be careful to use the correct year!"
},
{
"answer_id": 43552,
"author": "Sverre",
"author_id": 11053,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11053",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "You should cite whatever edition you actually used. But allow me to add that you should have good reasons for not using the first edition (when it matters for your discussion when a claim was first made) or the last edition (when you want to refer to the latest/updated version of the claim made). As a reader, I'm left with an impression of unprofessionalism when I see a reference to a \"random\" edition of a book."
}
] |
2015/04/14
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43550",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13606/"
] |
43,553 |
I need some advice on how to diplomatically handle this situation:
I will submit my master's thesis in a few weeks, and I am pretty sure that I want to do a PhD afterwards. Research is what I want to do.
I have gotten a "maybe" from my current advisor (Prof. "A"), as in stay for a few months as an intern to extend/publish the work (minimally paid) and we'll talk again about a PhD (this is not specific to me, he did this with all his PhDs). However, there is a different Prof. "B" that does research on some other, more interesting topics, and if I could choose I would probably want to do my PhD in his research area. Although Prof. "B" knows me (positively) from a previous project, he'd probably also want me to intern at their group for a few months before making an offer. It is only during the course of writing my thesis that I realized that long-term the topics in Prof. "B"'s group actually interest me more.
**The question now is:**
How do I handle this situation, and maximize my chances of getting a PhD offer without upsetting anyone? I really don't know how to approach this situation, and I don't want to seem uninterested before I have something official. Do I talk to Prof. "B" in secret? What would I ask him? What do I do if Prof. "A" asks me to sign a contract for these next few months? Should I wait and apply for US unis anyways, regardless of my average GPA (see below)?
Some more info:
* I am at a top-tier European university. PhD candidates are handled as employees and usually hired by the respective professors themselves. Candidates usually finish their MSc first, it's not possible to apply for a PhD position without having an MSc. Often, students working on their master's thesis will stay on with their advisor if the thesis is good enough. I'd say about 50% of PhDs get hired this way.
* My grades are OK, but not stellar. Depending on the conversion, I'm at around 3.3/4.0, which is pretty much exactly the average of all graduating MSc students here. The university is known for not inflating grades, but this number still doesn't look too good.
* I'm not too keen on applying to other universities: Most of the higher ranked universities are in the US, and I'd have to wait until December in order to apply for next year. Also, that would cost quite a bit of money, take more time, and most of the top unis have GPA minimums that are above mine (e.g. MIT has a 3.6 minimum).
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43555,
"author": "semi-extrinsic",
"author_id": 27555,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/27555",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "Two partial answers:\n\n1. It's not a problem for you to ask Prof. B about the chances of you doing a PhD for him. Even if it is in \"secret\". You are looking for employment, and you're not obligated to tell prospective employers about the other positions you are looking at. Any professor will assume that their MSc students apply for several (PhD or industry or both) positions, **especially** if the professor has given them just a \"maybe\" for continuing with a PhD.\n2. If you get a positive answer from Prof B., I can't imagine there would be a problem saying to Prof. A: \"I've been thinking, and I would prefer to do my PhD with Prof. B because I am more interested in researching Topic X, which his/her group is doing\". If Prof. A's reaction to that is getting angry, you don't want him/her as your PhD supervisor or collaborator anyway."
},
{
"answer_id": 43980,
"author": "eykanal",
"author_id": 73,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/73",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "What you are describing isn't that uncommon. For those doing a masters completely separately from their PhD—as it sounds like you are doing—many students move around after completion of one degree to something that aligns more with their interests. \n\nTo that extent, it should be fine for you to discuss your future plans with Prof. A and Prof. B at your leisure. I would recommend talking with Prof. B about joining his lab as a graduate student and taking it from there.\n\nLastly, I would not recommend joining as an intern. (I'm assuming his field of research is similar to your own.) At this point, you've already completed your masters; if you're going to be performing graduate research you should be recognized as such."
}
] |
2015/04/14
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43553",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/33136/"
] |
43,556 |
I have the opportunity to reject an offer from a University in US. As a follow up email I was asked which university did I choose and what was the reason behind it. Can I simply ignore the follow up mail, or can I divulge the information as a good gesture?
Personally, I do not like to reveal stuff, but is the information where I am going to study or whether or not I received funding from a particular university public? If I reveal it to staff of another university will it not be a problem?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43557,
"author": "Compass",
"author_id": 22013,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22013",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "You're not obligated to tell them. Whether you tell them or not would be unlikely to have an impact on your future either. \n\nThey're probably not going to track you down and find you, and would mostly use the information to improve recruitment in the future. \n\nImagine if you told them you chose University X instead because you had family there and it was easier to secure housing. That's a sound reason, and unlikely to cause any sort of mark in the off chance they were tracking you.\n\nI would try to avoid saying anything bad about the school, though."
},
{
"answer_id": 43559,
"author": "Bill Barth",
"author_id": 11600,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11600",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "For public universities in the US, the fact that you are employed at a University and what your salary is (assuming you are a TA or RA) is discoverable via most states' freedom of information laws. These laws run under various names, but they are what allows there to be newspaper sites listing all public employee salaries. However, your conversations with a university's staff members as part of your student application might be student records under FERPA and therefore not disclosable. \n\nSo I would say that the university you rejected could eventually discover that you were offered and took a job as a graduate research assistant or teaching assistant at the university you accepted, but they could not find out your reasoning without potential trouble. They are very unlikely to care, though."
}
] |
2015/04/14
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43556",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10851/"
] |
43,558 |
I read several questions about sabbatical leaves in this website. When checking a faculty list, it is common that some are on sabbatical leave and some are visiting professors. When emailing professors, it is not strange to receive a reply that he or she is on sabbatical leave.
However, the general picture of sabbatical visits is unclear to me. It is interesting to experience a new academic environment in a different country; but how do people handle it?
1. **Cost of Living/Moving:** When someone goes to another country, there are lots of unexpected expenses. High rent for a furnished house (for a year). They still have expenses in their home country (like mortgage). They will receive half of their salary from home the university and zero from the host university (not considering exceptions where getting paid for occasional tasks).
2. **Research Output:** The professor cannot plan for a long-term research. Probably co-supervise some graduate students.
3. **Position:** It is not clear to me what the place of a visiting professor is. In a research group, he is not a postdoc to follow the PI plans to get hand in experimental works, and he is not the boss to plan and conduct others. In a department, the head cannot force him to teach a course (it is not his duty), and the department has not offered him an official position, space and service for doing nothing. The vague point for me is that there is no official contract to define each party responsibility (as the host university is not paying).
How can one handle the expenses? And what is the professional motivation to do a temporary job (beside the fun part of going somewhere)?
*Sorry for a series of questions, I could not separate them.*
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43560,
"author": "xLeitix",
"author_id": 10094,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10094",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "I think this will widely vary between professors, host institutions, and home institutions. I will try to address your questions, but always keep in mind that for each point there will be plenty of variations.\n\n> \n> When someone goes to another country, there are lots of unexpected expenses. High rent for a furnished house (for a year). They still have expenses in home country (like mortgage). \n> \n> \n> \n\nSometimes the professor just foots a lot of it from his own pocket. Sometimes, especially if the host institution is not academic but a company research lab, the host institution will cover this through a stipend, or by providing housing. However, it should be noted that most professors eligible for sabbaticals are full professors, who are in an age and career phase where they are not anymore required to turn every penny twice.\n\n> \n> He will receive half of his salary from home university and zero from host university (not considering exceptions where getting paid for occasional tasks).\n> \n> \n> \n\nThis isn't close to universal. In my institution, sabbaticals can be with close-to-full salary. Sometimes, the host institution pays the guest.\n\n> \n> Research Output: He cannot plan for a long-term research. Probably co-supervise some graduate students.\n> \n> \n> \n\nGenerally speaking, the sabbatical is a phase of planning, and finding inspiration and future collaborations more than execution. For a senior professor, it may also be a rare chance to actually do some research her/himself again, precisely because one is not necessarily required to herd a dozen grad students to dissertations.\n\n> \n> It is not clear to me where is the place of a visiting professor. In a research group, he is not a postdoc to follow the PI plans to get hand in experimental works, and he is not the boss to plan and conduct others.\n> \n> \n> \n\nWell, the guest *doesn't* have a fixed place in the host lab as such. What the guest actually does all day will vary, depending on what the goals of the professor for the sabbatical and the plans of the host are. A few common ones that I have seen include:\n\n* The **getting access to cool data** sabbatical. Here, the prof. goes to a host institution (typically industrial in this case) with access to much more and better data. The guest uses his time there to validate (with the host professor and selected students) his theories on the data of the host institution.\n* The **I wanna do this for real** sabbatical. Here, he or she takes time off to actually apply his research in practice, either in an existing company or by creating a spin-off. He or she may or may not ever return from this sabbatical.\n* The **setting up new projects** sabbatical. Here, the guest ends up spending most of his time writing one or more project proposal(s) with the host professor and other academics in the area.\n* The **marketing trip** sabbatical. Here, the guest is primarily an ambassador of the home institution or lab, and spends a lot of time going through academic institutions in proximity of the host, giving talks and establishing connections.\n* The **I really just needed a vacation** sabbatical. Here, the guest ends up doing not much at all, except meeting up with some people and giving a talk here and there. The borders between this and the previous one are kind of blurry.\n* The **entirely academia-unrelated** sabbatical. And then there are of course the sabbaticals which are quite openly only on paper about anything academic. I have known professors that renovated their house during their sabbatical. I have known one who had medical issues and used the sabbatical to recuperate."
},
{
"answer_id": 43562,
"author": "Anonymous",
"author_id": 11565,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11565",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "(2) is most definitely not true, at least in my field (mathematics). I can most certainly carry out research on the road, especially with access to the Internet and to a decent library.\n\nAs far as your (3), I think that is a big part of the appeal of a sabbatical. My position at my home university obliges me to teach undergraduate courses, to serve on committees, and to do other tasks which are necessary to help keep my department running. This is very worthwhile, but it is also a big distraction from research. Not having a clearly-defined position for a year means you are free to pursue your own goals!\n\nAs far as (1), this varies. I do know that many professors take sabbatical without actually moving to a different city for the term of the sabbatical. (They might still take a break from actually showing up to work or answering professional e-mails concerning department business.) I think that practical concerns such as you mention are a big part of their motivation."
}
] |
2015/04/14
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43558",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/33144/"
] |
43,561 |
In order to better understand my questions it is best to provide some context to them.
**Background**: I completed a B.Sc. degree in pure mathematics several years ago. I kept in contact with my letters of recommenders (their letters are strong), and published in an undergraduate mathematics journal. I want to transition from mathematics to computer science for a PhD program. I delayed my entrance into a PhD program to work in industry. Now I am in a position where I can enter back into school.
The problem I face is that 1) I lack many of the preliminary courses required by many PhD programs in Computer Science and 2) My GPA is on the low side due to extenuating circumstances during those respective semesters (which relates to my reasons of delaying a PhD to pursue industry work).
The PhD programs I am interested in are very competitive. I contacted a professor at one of these universities (nationally ranked & well-known) and he said he'd vouch for me whenever I applied and a few of my recommenders know him personally. But according to the school's website individual faculty have little input in admission decisions (as admissions is determined by a group of faculty) and they seem to have a strict set of coursework requirements needed in order to be admitted into their program. Also, my GPA falls outside the range of the "average" admitted students.
So, even though I have strong LoRs, strong research experience and a professor interested in me, I have a low GPA and not nearly enough of the core courses to satisfy their coursework requirements.
I applied/was accepted to do a post-bac at a well-regarded school. I will be a credit (but non-degree seeking) undergraduate student and can take any range of courses I want (both undergrad + grad).
**Question**:
1) Will pursuing a post-bac route help me get into a CS PhD program? My aim here is to complete the core set of requirements, bolster my GPA, and make myself competitive for PhD programs in CS (I don't want to do an MS program). Since I lack basic CS coursework I'll be taking courses in programming, data structures, analysis of algorithms, computer organizations and the like.
2) When will be the best time to apply for PhD programs? I plan to take courses on a part-time basis (since I am working full-time), so a max of 1-2 courses a semester. I was thinking if I applied next Fall then I'd only have two programming courses completed (required sequence), and a data structure course in progress. I still wouldn't have completed analysis of algorithms, etc. courses by that time. Luckily, I already taken all of the program's math requirements with high marks.
3) Is it fine to not satisfy every coursework requirement in the list? It is also recommended to have other courses completed outside of the core, but I am very eager to get the core completed and move into research. Lastly, would a B in any of these courses be a death kneel for my purpose? Some of these courses have a reputation of being extremely difficult.
Thanks for the help!
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43603,
"author": "Dinosaur",
"author_id": 32937,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32937",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "What you can do is first complete a masters degree in CS and then transition to a PhD program. Some masters programs do not require a bachelor degree in CS, and you can get your degree in 1~2 years after completing all the necessary courses.\n\nWhile doing your masters degree, you get to know the professors, learn about their projects and gauge your ability to launch a career in computer science. That's also a great opportunity for you to find out if there could be an advisor-student match that will materialize into a PhD thesis.\n\nIf you then manage to get into the PhD program in the same institution, you may be able to transfer the credits and take the preliminary exams right away. Speak to the Graduate Advisor to find out more.\n\nGood luck!"
},
{
"answer_id": 46929,
"author": "Ellen Spertus",
"author_id": 269,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/269",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "I teach in the [post-bac CS program at Mills College](http://www.mills.edu/academics/graduate/cs/program/), which is aimed at people (like you) who have earned a bachelor's degree in a field *other than* CS and want to transition into CS, either for industry or to prepare for a CS PhD. Two such students were subsequently admitted to the CS PhD program at University of Washington, one of the top programs in the country. Others have gone on to CS PhD programs at UCSD and The University of Virginia. I can provide more details privately.\n\nThere are many ways to take the prerequisite courses -- online, as a special student, etc. The advantages of taking them in a post-bacc program (or at least the program I am most familiar with) are:\n\n* The classes are small, and many of the students are in the same situation as you, rather than to a profile you do not fit.\n* Because the classes are small and taught by full-time professors, you can get strong detail-filled letters by professors who know you well.\n* Being a full-time student makes you eligible for summer internships. For example, one of our recent students interned at NASA, which I'm sure helped him get admitted to PhD programs.\n* Depending on the school and your field, there may be research opportunities there. Research experience is very valuable for graduate school admissions.\n* You can boost your GPA. Your undergraduate GPA will seem a lot less important if you've earned excellent grades more recently in a CS program.\n\nThe biggest downsides of a post-bac program are that they're expensive, they take time, and the piece of paper is not worth much in itself. (We have [both a post-bac certificate program and an MA in Interdisciplinary Computer Science](http://www.mills.edu/academics/graduate/cs/program/requirements.php), which requires more coursework and a thesis and is a valuable piece of paper.)\n\nI think you should carefully examine the costs and benefits of a post-bac program versus a terminal MSCS, rather than dismissing the latter. After either, you will be in a good position to apply for a CS PhD program.\n\n(Anyone with questions about the Mills program should feel free to contact me through my email address, which is easy to find.)"
}
] |
2015/04/14
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43561",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/33142/"
] |
43,563 |
Imagine a full professor who served as the head and dean in Russia. Definitely, he has good chance to be appointed as VP in Russian (but unlikely in UK as the education systems are different and his experiences cannot be applied directly).
Now, if he apply for a faculty position in a UK university along a colleague who had no administrative position (then, he published more papers and supervised more graduate students). Which one has a better chance to get the position?
**My hypothesis:** Administrative positions are valuable if someone want to get the next job in the same country or countries with similar education systems.
**My question:** If someone wishes to take a faclty job in a different country, is it useful to spend time for administrative jobs in his home country OR it is better to focus on academic/research matters, which are global and appreciated anywhere?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43579,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "In general, being a university administrator (e.g., Diap or Provost) is good experience for being a university administrator. I do not recall any high level administrators changing countries, so my guess is that the experience is country specific. For traditional research and teaching faculty positions, prior experience as a university administrator is not helpful. While hiring committees try and take into account the \"lost time\" associated with being an administrator, in general, I think administrators trying to switch tracks are at a disadvantage."
},
{
"answer_id": 43580,
"author": "Ant",
"author_id": 31990,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31990",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "It depends. While as you say a researcher without any administrative duty is likely to have more papers, hiring committees are often not only looking for people that publish a lot but also for people that will 'contribute' to a department by doing their share of collective tasks."
}
] |
2015/04/14
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43563",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/33146/"
] |
43,564 |
Here is the scenario: in a collaborative effort, our group was to work with another group/professor to write a paper on some work we had previously done. I, a grad student, am to be the main author/architect of the paper. But, *and this was said explicitly by him and my own professor*, I was to write it with lots of help from the collaborating professor, and under his guidance and direction.
In other words, I would talk to him, get direction like "you should focus on this topic for the paper" or "don't pursue this, it won't be interesting to reviewers", and I would do the actual work/research/writing.
However, since making this agreement, months ago, he has gone basically incommunicado. I'll send him an email and not get a reply for literally a month. I've asked to set up a short (<1hr) meeting, at basically any time of his choosing, and just no response. Several times, too.
Let me be clear about this too: I'm not really that upset about the lack of communication itself (though, I'll say this single thing about that: when he is actually in person with me, he is *constantly* checking/answering his email on his phone, so I know he does do it, just apparently not with me). I'm not dying to write the paper, it's not a cutting edge thing that will get scooped, and I have several other projects. It's a little annoying in general that he has been flaky, but I'm plenty busy with other stuff, so again that's not too bad.
Here's what my question is about. I both suspect, and from my short interactions with him I've had in the past few months, that he is going to ask to see what work I've done on it since he became uncommunicative, to which the answer is "minimal". The reason is that I am busy with other projects, and because he wasn't doing his part of this, I didn't know which direction to take. I could certainly speculate and choose one, but that is very risky (timewise) for me: if I spend several weeks pursuing something and it turns out he doesn't think it's a good fit for the paper, welp, I just wasted several weeks. And that has happened to some extent.
Because it seems like I wasn't clear about this initially, I'll say it explicitly here: my goal is not to attack him, or bring this up. If he seems fine with the (lack of) progress made, then I'm very happy to leave it be and just continue on. But I strongly suspect (and he seemed to say) that he expects me to have done more. **For this question, assume that the professor *will* ask why more hasn't been done on the paper, so the subject will come up.**
So, how do you say this tactfully? You can't really respond with "because you were uncommunicative, I didn't get very much done, because it very possibly could have been for naught", because that's pretty accusatory and will ultimately not help solve the problem.
Is there a good way to say this?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43569,
"author": "Mad Jack",
"author_id": 11192,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11192",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "> \n> What is a diplomatic way to tell a professor that progress hasn't been made because of their lack of communication?\n> \n> \n> \n\nYou don't. \n\nThat is, I don't think that would be very productive, diplomatic or not. I wouldn't focus on their lack of communication in the next meeting you have with them at all; I would instead focus on using that next meeting you have with the professor to come to some resolution on the things that are delaying progress on the paper/project.\n\nAs you mentioned in the comments:\n\n> \n> I essentially have done everything I can, within reason. I've selected and done background on directions for the paper.\n> \n> \n> \n\nSo, this is what you have, and this is what you show them. Additionally, any questions about the scope/direction of the paper, etc. should also be brought up during the face-to-face meeting. \n\nTo address additional information posted by OP:\n\n> \n> But I strongly suspect (and he seemed to say) that he expects me to have done more. For this question, assume that the professor will ask why more hasn't been done on the paper, so the subject will come up.\n> \n> \n> \n\nWe all have limitations. You were in charge of certain aspects of the paper/project, but you were not able to achieve a certain level of progress that was set. Just be upfront about that. Specifically, tell the professor what it is you are stuck on and ask them during your face-to-face meeting if they have any feedback to offer."
},
{
"answer_id": 75764,
"author": "Dawn",
"author_id": 56938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/56938",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "I will repeat something that one of my committee members told me about working with my chair -- \"The answer you are going to get will inevitably depend on the question you ask.\" \n\nSo I am going to suggest trying to ask different questions, because it sounds like A) This isn't important to the professor and B) He isn't going to make time to think deeply about it.\n\nYou are going to be the one to think deeply about this paper, and, best case scenario, he is going to react.\n\nInstead of asking \"When can we meet?\" to get a meeting, ask \"Can you meet on September 1st sometime between 1 and 5 PM?\" (And then, to be polite and deferential, say you are certainly flexible if he/she would prefer a different date.\n\nInstead of asking \"What direction should I take?\" ask, \"I am thinking about taking this direction. Does that work?\" Or, if you think there are multiple valid ways, say, \"Which of these two specific approaches would you like me to take?\""
},
{
"answer_id": 82479,
"author": "Andy",
"author_id": 67107,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/67107",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "It seems like this project has become a confrontational affair for you? \nHonestly is there a diplomatic way of communicating with anyone, even family?\nCollaboration is not direction.\n\nif the work had been documented prior to this exercise I'm guessing the point of the task was to provoke engagement in a collaboration, which is always going to initially be confronting to one degree or another. \n\nWe collaborate as equals, we put ourselves in each other's shoes. \nYou can always start by asking him if he is ok to brainstorm some frameworks together or with the group? \n\nNow is a good time if you have time? An appointment would soon be made if he was not available immediately. \n\nA month is a fair amount of time to follow up an email. A verbal follow up would be appropriate after a few days. \n\nOf course he's going to want to see the work. \n\nWhat was the nature of the project? Was the content less important than the collaborative component? \n\nCommunication can be difficult."
},
{
"answer_id": 181861,
"author": "Karl Wolfschtagg",
"author_id": 152153,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/152153",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "I've found that the only way to break through things like this is to set regular meetings; during the meetings, everyone gets a list of tasks to be done by the next meeting.\n\nHowever, you've said that you tried to set up meetings and got no response.\n\nAt this point, I'd drop the project and move on to something else.\n\nBy the way, anyone who is constantly checking email/their phone when you're meeting with them (in an actual meeting - not a \"drive-by\") is, in my opinion, a jerk. Nobody is so busy that they can't set their phone/email down to talk to someone and give them their full attention. My opinion only."
}
] |
2015/04/14
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43564",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13312/"
] |
43,565 |
I am a very happy user (in 98% of the time) of Python/Numpy/Scipy (anaconda distribution). I switched from Matlab and do not regret the decision. I have reached a level of expertise, which enables me to help others with their computational tasks and encourage people to use Python.
Unfortunately, the situation is not that easy. A senior researcher in a very closely related working group is using Mathematica. One of his students is using Mathematica, one is not sure yet but honestly it would be stupid to use a different software.
If I switch to Mathematica, everyone may benefit from it (code sharing and building up knowledge). I think you can understand that my motivation to do so is not the highest (not again another language; I use Python, Fortran and a bit C++). Additionally, the Python user community is very vibrant, and they frequently come up with interesting projects.
In order to avoid a nonsense discussion about what software to use, let me rephrase my questions as follows:
Have you ever been in a similar situation (either as student or supervisor)? And if you have, did you try to get everyone to use the same language? Did any situation occur where it was good that not everyone was using the same tool?
EDIT:
My field is biotechnology. We do calculate: ODE'S, PDE'S,fractals, system of equations (ODE's, DAE'S, algabraic). Most of the time we do some rapid prototyping (e.g calculating linear pH gradients in chromatography, some combinations of reactors etc., using/extending chromatographic models). I am a PhD student and will continue as a post doc at the same institute including occasional lab exchanges abroad.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43566,
"author": "Fomite",
"author_id": 118,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/118",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "This is *very* familiar to me - people come into my field from a number of different places, and each has not only their own preferred software, but the software they think \"everyone\" uses - which invariably isn't true.\n\nAt the moment for example, I have implementations of various bits of my work in MATLAB, Mathematica, C++, Python, Maple, R, SAS...\n\n> \n> Have you been in a similar Situation (either as Student or Supervisor) ?\n> \n> \n> \n\nI've been in groups that successfully united everyone under the same language banner, and some groups that did not (intentionally or otherwise).\n\n> \n> And if so, did you tried to get everyone using the same language ?\n> \n> \n> \n\nI have *definitely* tried, and occasionally failed. You've mentioned some of the benefits, but beyond merely code sharing, everyone using different languages makes it extremely hard to learn from others, share solutions, or collaborate really in any way. If you have a problem, and it's written in another language than what other folks are using, that problem is entirely your own to deal with - even if folks want to help, they may not be able to.\n\n> \n> Did situations occur, at which it was good that not everyone is using the same tool ?\n> \n> \n> \n\nThe only time is when the \"usual tool\" is somehow terrible at what's needed for someone's work. For example, a few years ago, when Python's statistics ecosystem was much worse, it was good to have people who knew R. But assuming they can all achieve roughly the same thing, I've never gone \"Oh thank god we're all writing in different languages!\"\n\nThe one exception is I did encounter someone whose ability to parse whitespace-based code is...less than stellar, which made me glad I could run things in MATLAB as well as Python."
},
{
"answer_id": 43567,
"author": "Ant",
"author_id": 31990,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31990",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "Yes I have been in a similar situation both as a student and as a supervisor.\n\nAs a student I was the only person in my lab to use Python (others were using Matlab or even Excel macros). Yes I tried to convince them to switch, with little success! But that was not a major problem because I did all the programming work on my own for my projects. I occasionally helped on other projects using whatever the main researcher on the project was using.\n\nAs a supervisor this was little bit more complicated, because my student was requiring a lot of micro-management and help on simple programming tasks in a language that I never used. He chose this language because he wanted to extend a program written by another research group. This was very frustrating for both of us, and I was hard for me to decide when to spend time figuring out simple things and when to tell him to RTFM!\n\nIn the future I would warn the student before starting the project: we agree that either he manages simple programming problems on its own, or he uses a language that I know well."
},
{
"answer_id": 43586,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "First, you have to understand a very important point: **most programming languages serve their own niche purposes.** As a corollary, there is no one language that does everything best, or even does everything well. Therefore unifying into a single language is often not even an option on the table.\n\nThat said, there are cases where the same task can be accomplished in a variety of settings. I'll go through some examples in my experience (as a grad student in computational astrophysics).\n\n* For **hardcore**, peg-the-CPU, million-core computations, your only options are Fortran, C, or C++. Such codes are often the central workhorses of the group, and it probably doesn't help to be diverse here. If everyone is coding in the same language, routines developed in one place can be used elsewhere with little cost. Pick one, and enforce stringent style guides on any collaborative code.\n* For **scripting**, you have Unix shell scripts, Python, Perl, Ruby, and many others. Here it depends on who is meant to use the script. If writing something for your own personal workflow, there's nothing wrong with being different from everyone. On the other hand, if I am writing a script meant to be run, understood, and modified by others in the group (such as the configure script for the workhorse code), it had better be in an agreed-upon language.\n* For **light numerics**, including matrix manipulation, there are proprietary programs like Matlab and IDL, and also free languages like Python and Ojtivo. Since tasks using these programs can be a bit more involved than simple scripts, it helps to have others to get help from. I was once the sole Matlab user in an IDL group, and so there was little help I could give or receive with regard to numerics.\n* For **symbolic manipulation**, as with Mathematica or Maple, I think the same considerations for light numerics apply.\n* For **data visualization**, there are many options, including Matplotlib, Matlab, IDL, VisIt, Paraview, MayaVi, and yt. All of these are used in my group, where I'm solidly in the Matplotlib camp. Here we decided that visualization is as much an art as a science, and everyone has their own tools they are most comfortable with. If one person makes their best plots in Matlab, and someone else is a natural at VisIt, why force them to make poor use of IDL? In fact, having a multilingual group has proved beneficial, since not all options are always available, and it helps to have someone to get quick help from. For example, only some of the above can work on massively parallel visualization clusters to render terabyte datasets in reasonable time.\n\nPersonally, I've championed Python for scripting and small-scale visualization. In the scripting case, I **demonstrated its strength** by rewriting a configure script the group was using into a more versatile and readable one, and now we use Python for that shared script. That is, it wasn't an issue of \"which language is intrinsically better?\" but rather of \"with which language can **we do better**?\" For visualization, I'm not trying to forcibly convert anyone, but I simply **share my scripts and knowledge** with anyone who wants to learn what I know how to do.\n\nIn summary, how beneficial unification turns out to be depends on what the task is. Code that can be shared or reused helps to be in one language; everyone writing their own version of the same code would be wasted effort. Personal codes, on the other hand, work well when written in whatever language works best for the user; forcing everyone to use the same code (especially using the wrong code for the job, like a symbol manipulation package for data visualization) leads to individuals being less efficient."
},
{
"answer_id": 43590,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "The only restrictions that I place on my group members when it comes to the software that they use in their research work are:\n\n* that they not use proprietary software for which the group doesn't own a license\n* that their work can be shared or reused by other members of the group in the future\n\nRequiring strict use of one set of tools is, I think, counterproductive, as it can force people to spend a lot of time learning things that won't necessarily be helpful to them in their research or later in their careers. \n\nIf they're just getting started on the programming side of things, however, I'll ask that they start with Python and the other standard codes that we use, because it makes life simpler for everybody in the long run."
},
{
"answer_id": 43607,
"author": "Frames Catherine White",
"author_id": 8513,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8513",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "A piece of wisdom my supervisor shared with me a few months back,\nwhen I told him about how cool [Jegia](http://julialang.org) seemed.\nWas (paraphrasing): \n\n> \n> We (often) aren't really in a position to choice our language for the\n> task. We use what ever the best tools are being developed in. Before\n> that was C++, then it was Matlab, now it seems to be python. Maybe by\n> the time your PhD is done we will all be using Jegia.\n> \n> \n> \n\nPoint being, that learning a language is easy. \nYou just do it, so you can use the best libraries.\n\n---\n\nOne of the things I am loving about Jegia is that because of its Foreign Language interface, you can call libraries written is many different languages.\n([I am aware of working code](http://oxinabox.ucc.asn.au/blog/content/Jegia%20Foreign%20Function%20Interface.md) to call: C, Fortran, Rust, Python, Java, Matlab, Mathematica, and C++).\nThus having maintained access to the \"Best tools\"\n\nThis is not to say you should convert everyone to julia.\nThe first point stands.\nLearning a language is easy. \nGetting the best tools (or in your case perhaps collaborators), is not."
},
{
"answer_id": 43620,
"author": "O. R. Mapper",
"author_id": 14017,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14017",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "> \n> Have you been in a similar Situation (either as Student or Supervisor) ?\n> \n> \n> \n\nYes, frequently - in my current department, people use (depending both on their personal preference and on external requirements) Java, C#, C++, C, JavaScript, Ytash, and probably a few more.\n\nIt even varies a lot, as students may want to use yet another technology or language for their projects such as Bachelor or Master theses.\n\n> \n> And if so, did you tried to get everyone using the same language ?\n> \n> \n> \n\nNever, unless interoperability was an explicit requirement. It may have to do with the fact that I'm in a CS field (i.e. where programming is more at the \"core\" than a mere tool), but there is what could be called an unwritten rule that you do not prescribe others what technologies they use. At best, it could be interpreted as an immature attempt of starting a flame-war on a \"nerdy\" topic, at worst, as a violation of other researchers'/developers' personal autonomy by micro-management.\n\nConcerning the aforementioned students, we do make it clear that we cannot provide any technical support if they choose a technology that none of us has any experience with (though it should be noted that we won't provide too much support, anyway, given that Bachelor and Master theses are supposed to focus on the conceptual and methodical aspects in my place, and students are supposed to (show that they are able to) deal with low-level problems while programming their prototypical proof-of-concept on their own.)\n\n> \n> Did situations occur, at which it was good that not everyone is using the same tool ?\n> \n> \n> \n\nTo avoid making this sound overly one-sided or negative, I'm going to list perceived advantages and disadvantages here:\n\n**Disadvantages:**\n\n* Artifacts by different persons won't necessarily work together.\n\t+ This has even led to complete reimplementations of prototypes, just so a widget by one person could be used in the application by another person who used a different framework and/or UI toolkit.\n* Maintenance of existing code-base is not a given. Once a colleague leaves, their code might not be touched again on the single reason that no-one is acquainted with the technology used for that particular code.\n\n**Advantages:**\n\n* There is no way to guarantee using just one language, anyway; there are just too many external factors for this. It can more or less be taken for granted that as soon as one has succeeded at bringing the whole department to one single programming language, the next project with external partners will end up in the consortium choosing a different language for one reason or another. Having a diverse department where know-how on different technologies and languages is present, on the other hand, can help when working on such a project.\n* As extensively described in [Chris White's answer](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/43586/14017), different programming languages are often suitable for different goals, so depending on what you are doing, a switch of languages might be required.\n* Seeing permanent change and diversity makes it less likely to \"get stuck\" with one technology. Creating a growing collection of reusable code is certainly advantageous, but if that results in the use of outdated technologies because \"everything so far has been written in the 1982 dialect of a proprietary language that is not updated any more\" and the expectation is that a switch would require porting the entire codebase, this does not exactly increase the research output. As research departments usually do not have to produce production-level foolproof code, but just prototypes and demonstrations of concepts, absolute stability should be a lesser concern, and thus, constant \"quick-and-dirty\" rewrites of some components are acceptable.\n\nEDIT: Every time I re-read this answer of mine, the developer in myself shudders in horror. Thus, let me clarify my view on the advantages: Yes, maintaining, updating and extending an existing code-base over long periods of time is great. In my opinion, an ideal mix is for small groups of people within one department to share a particular technology and thus have an option of exchanging some code (being the only one bound to a given system can be dire), while at the same time making sure there is some slow, gradual flow in which technologies get phased out and replaced over time with new ones."
},
{
"answer_id": 43630,
"author": "TheBlackCat",
"author_id": 28960,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28960",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "> \n> Have you ever been in a similar situation (either as student or supervisor)? \n> \n> \n> \n\nYes, twice. In my previous group, everyone used MATLAB, but I had to learn Python because MATLAB's multiprocessing was prohibitively expensive. After learning Python, I preferred it and stuck to it. In my current group, everyone besides me uses MATLAB.\n\nFor my own personal data analysis code, I use Python, but for code meant to be shared across the group, I use MATLAB.\n\nIf you have a programming background, you would think that this would lead to less shared code for data analysis. The problem is that nobody else in the group has a programming background, and they neither know nor care about good programming practices (I haven't even had any luck convincing them to use functions rather than copying and pasting code blocks within their tens of thousands of lines scripts, not to mention adding comments). That means there is almost no code sharing even amongst MATLAB users, and everyone just ends up writing their own data analysis code from scratch. So due to the culture of the lab, nobody would even have realize I used Python if I hadn't told them.\n\nSo how big of an affect your choice of language has depends to a large degree on the culture of the lab, or perhaps more properly on how familiar they are with programming.\n\n> \n> And if you have, did you tried to get everyone to use the same language?\n> \n> \n> \n\nNo. I have suggested that people learn Python in addition to MATLAB, without much success. But people who have asked me what they should learn, I have suggested learn MATLAB first, simply because they can be sure to find someone who has at least used it before. I am the only one with a real programming background, and there is a ton of legacy MATLAB code, so it just isn't feasible to switch at this point. That is why I always suggest people learn Python as a second language.\n\n> \n> Did any situation occur where it was good that not everyone is using the same tool?\n> \n> \n> \n\nYes, two cases come to mind. \n\nFirst, is the fact that I needed to write a new importer for our proprietary data format. Due to a flaw in the format, it could cause overruns in the file, which were still readable in principle but that crashed both the native C file reader and the MATLAB-based file reader. My Python implementation, however, was more flexible, and could handle the data. Someone else in my group ended up routinely getting these overflows, so I wrote a simple wrapper script that would read the data in then convert it ta a MATLAB file, saving his project from disaster.\n\nThe second is the fact that the MATLAB-based tool for something we wanted to do is much, much, much more complicated, hard to use, and finicky than the Python equivalent. This probably saved a good month of work, and resulted in something with much better perfomance."
},
{
"answer_id": 43660,
"author": "liori",
"author_id": 429,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/429",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "In my case, I'm using a mixture of R, C++ and Python whereas the rest of my lab uses Matlab. And it's going pretty fine, though I have to admit we don't need to share lots of code. Some observations:\n\n* Having implementations in two languages that are supposed to work the same way helps finding bugs in the code.\n* I can quickly evaluate new tools in R which weren't implemented in Matlab. Others can do the same with Matlab code that doesn't yet have an implementation in R. This already proved useful, as R is much [easier to use in machine learning algorithms](http://topepo.github.io/caret/index.html), and Matlab has a great library for [polynomial interpolation](http://www.chebfun.org/about/).\n* If you plan for interoperability early, it's not that hard. We decided on a single file format for raw data that's parseable by all our tools, and in case we needed to make scripts in both languages to interoperate, we can do so too (so far it wasn't necessary). However I admit that having skills in polyglot programming is somewhat necessary for that to happen."
},
{
"answer_id": 44020,
"author": "Martin Thoma",
"author_id": 4092,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4092",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Besides working out a way to use multiple programming languages (e.g. through foreign function interfaces / compiling stuff in libraries / creating scripts which can be called by other languages) I think you could eventually agree on one programming language.\n\nI recently participated in a hackathon. We were three programmers and had a task to solve. We \"filtered\" the programming languages like this:\n\n1. Which languages do we know which are similar appropriate for the task (in terms of ease-to-use / libraries / community stuff like tutorials / learning curve)\n2. How well do the team members know \"their\" language? (It is better to have one person who is an expert in a language than two who know a little bit, because that way you can ask the expert any question.)\n\n(The hackathon was a success and I learned a new programming language and a framework in another programming language.)"
},
{
"answer_id": 44909,
"author": "Adobe",
"author_id": 9099,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9099",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "I suggest to go with different languages: it provides cross-validation of your calculations. A software/hardware/algorithm might be wrong. The best way to check the correctness is to repeat the calculation in a completely different environment. So I think it is actually good that members of the lab use different languages.\n\nEven if all members of the group will switch to the same language — the coding style might be different, and will not help for code transfer. It will only work if all of you code in the same langauge and also hold the same views on the coding itself. For example I prefer maximum modularity, while somebody else might prefer the fastest approach instead."
}
] |
2015/04/14
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43565",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22893/"
] |
43,574 |
How much is an editor of a typical research journal (e.g., with annual 12 issues and 5,000 pages) paid?
I talked with a book editor, and he said he received less than $3,000 of the book sales for a research book with over 1,000 pages and 30 chapters.
I am curious if is it comparable to a full salary or is it just an honorarium, and editors provide this service because of scientific prestige only?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43576,
"author": "Bill Barth",
"author_id": 11600,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11600",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "Typically journal editors are volunteers. I suppose for some of the flagships (Nature, Science, Cell, etc.) they might have full-time paid editors, but your typical niche research journal editor doesn't get much if anything at all."
},
{
"answer_id": 43578,
"author": "Ant",
"author_id": 31990,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31990",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "It depends on the journal and on which type of editor you are talking about.\n\nA lot of journals do not have paid scientific staff. They have editorial staff doing administrative work and a senior editor dispatching the received papers between \"Associate editors\" (but each journal has its own designation).\n\nThe associate editor decides if the paper is suitable for the journal, finds reviewers and makes a decision.\n\nThese associate editors are generally not paid, they are academics doing this as a community service. If the journal is run by a scientific society, editors are usually members of this society."
}
] |
2015/04/14
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43574",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/33152/"
] |
43,581 |
I'm sorry if this is the wrong place to ask this but I don't know any other place to ask.
I'm a research professor, but I enjoy teaching and put a lot of time into my classes. I mainly teach introductory calculus and physics to mainly engineering students. One of the things I've noticed while talking to students is their hate and animosity towards the liberal arts.
I asked for some of my students reasoning and a lot of it was that History, English, Classics, etc. did not follow the "laws of logic and reasoning." There are other examples, but I those are the ones the most common, along with "it's not applicable to life."
I just want my students to learn that living in a bubble academically is not good for your knowledge, and the Colleges and Universities are there to help create educated individuals.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43593,
"author": "Kimball",
"author_id": 19607,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19607",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "I think a well-known rule of writing applies here: **Show, don't tell**, in the same way it applies to parenting. If you want to help change your students' feelings, you need to show them your love for the liberal arts. \n\nOne thing you can do is pepper your courses with relevant analogies, stories and quotes from literature, history and philosophy. For instance, a discussion of Veko's paradoxes and maybe some things about the ancient Greeks when discussing limits in calculus. Or some historical context for Newton. I don't have any good contextual literature examples at the tip of my typing appendages (maybe something in Lewis Carroll?), but it's easy to preface new topics with semi-relevant quotes such as\n\n```\n The sense of danger must not disappear: \n The way is certainly both short and steep,\n However gradual it looks from here; \n Look if you like, but you will have to leap.\n -- W.H. Auden\n\n```\n\nEven just displaying some of your favorite pieces of literature in your office can be good. This has led to a few literature discussions with students for me, and discussing literature with students who are interested in front of students who aren't can help convince the latter literature is interesting.\n\nOf course, you won't be able to suddenly convince everyone that they need to run out and read Herodotus in the original Greek to figure out what history class they should take next semester, but you can make some impact for some students this way. \n\nIncidentally, I personally hated having to take the GenEd requirements when I was in college, because there were loads of Math/Science courses I wanted to take. But then when I went to grad school, I wasn't in such a rush, and I read a lot of classics. So many of the students may not be at the right stage of life to appreciate everything. (Also being forced to do something generally makes it harder to enjoy it---in science or liberal arts.)"
},
{
"answer_id": 43618,
"author": "MrMeritology",
"author_id": 17564,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17564",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "> \n> students ...[exhibit]... hate and animosity towards the liberal arts.\n> \n> \n> \n\nI think it's very important to see this as the confluence of two social process.\n\nFirst, some portion of students may hold this as their ideology and their social identity. This is the same phenomena that motivate fundamentalists, [anti-vaccination partisans](http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2014/02/vaccine-denial-psychology-backfire-effect) (also [this](http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/10/how-anti-vaccine-fear-takes-hold/381355/) and [this](http://www.npr.org/blogs/13.7/2015/02/09/384877284/psychological-biases-play-a-part-in-vaccination-decisions)), and radical environmentalists. All of these groups are held together by adherence to a set of beliefs that are tied to their personal identity, and also their separation from The Other -- some group that is antagonistic or threatening to the main group. The Other is usually stigmatized and seen as the source of many of society's problems. To shift their beliefs, you need to tell stories that preserve their identity and core values, while expanding their awareness of other possibilities. One way to do this is via biographies of famous scientists and mathematicians. Another way is to make connections between events in history that have led to today's science and technology. For inspiration, see James Burke's two documentary series: \"[Connections](http://www.npr.org/blogs/13.7/2015/02/09/384877284/psychological-biases-play-a-part-in-vaccination-decisions)\" and \"[The Day the Universe Changed](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_the_Universe_Changed)\".\n\nThe second portion of students -- maybe the majority -- only adopt this view because other influential people in their circle do. Their motivation is \"go along to get along\". They want to be highly regarded in their circle, their discipline or their field. Their identity is not tied to this issue in the same way as the ideology-motivated people described above. They probably haven't given any serious thought to what the liberal arts are or aren't. Their beliefs are mostly based on hearsay and stereotypes.\n\nFor this group, you can offer stories, quotes, or video clips from *modern*, highly regarded professors, professionals, or similar leaders. They don't have to be profound -- just eye opening. For example, many scientists are also musicians. Some are also historians. Some are novelists. Some have collaborated with philosophers and theologians (e.g. E.O. Wilson).\n\nIn dealing with either group of students, you shouldn't communicate that they are **wrong** in their views. Instead, your stories can show that they *don't have the full picture* and *they are missing out*. What they do with it is their choice."
}
] |
2015/04/14
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43581",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/33153/"
] |
43,587 |
Can I use an occurrence in Hijrp Potfeq as a simile in my Statement of Purpose? I'm applying to an Ivy League university.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43588,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "**Can** you use it? Absolutely—you have the freedom to write whatever you choose in a statement of purpose.\n\n**Should** you use it? Almost certainly not, unless your research topic has something to do with literature. Otherwise, you run the risk of confusing the reader (who may have no knowledge of the books or movies), unless the reference is extremely obvious, in which case it will probably come across as clichéd and stilted."
},
{
"answer_id": 43589,
"author": "Nate Eldredge",
"author_id": 1010,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "In addition to the risk of confusing or annoying the reader, keep in mind that a statement of purpose needs to show, with evidence, your interest and preparation for graduate study. I don't know what you have in mind, but I can't imagine how a Hijrp Potfeq reference could contribute to that. Writing something like \"I'm better at physics than Hermione is at Potions\", while it might be impressive if true, isn't helpful to your application unless you provide evidence of just how good at physics you are. Anyone can claim to be great, and most applicants will, so you have to show it is actually true: what, specifically, have you actually accomplished?\n\nAnd if you have the evidence, then the reference to Hermione is superfluous; save the space for evidence of your other great qualities."
}
] |
2015/04/14
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43587",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/33159/"
] |
43,594 |
As it currently stands, my department offers two necessary courses at the same time every spring. One of them I must take before I am a senior, and another I must take before I graduate (I will soon be starting my third year). So I must take the former next spring, and I will have to wait until the spring of my senior year to take the latter. The problem is that the latter is a course that is very relevant to what I wish to study in graduate school. I'd hate to apply to graduate schools before having taken such a necessary course in my desired field (I feel it would weaken my application), and at the same time, it bars me from taking more advanced courses in the field before I graduate.
Of course, these courses are always taught at the same time by established professors, so I'd hate to ask the department to change all of that for one student. Is there any course of action I can take? Or would this be regarded negatively?
I hope that this is not off topic (merely because I am an undergraduate), as perhaps the desired rescheduling of course times is something that would be relevant to graduate students as well.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43596,
"author": "Brian Borchers",
"author_id": 4453,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4453",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "This is an issue that can also impact graduate students, so I do think it's appropriate for this group. \n\nUnfortunately, once a class hour schedule has been published for the next semester, and particularly after students have started to register for classes, it is usually not easy for a department to change class times. Thus it's important to deal with such a scheduling conflict as soon as possible and preferably before students start registering for the semester in question. \n\nI would suggest that you send a polite email to the person in the department responsible for course scheduling (perhaps there is an undergraduate coordinator who does this, or perhaps the department chair supervises the scheduling) and explain your situation and desire to not have these two courses scheduled at conflicting times. This is a reasonable request to make, but don't be surprised if your request doesn't result in a schedule change- in many departments courses are scheduled to satisfy the desires of the faculty rather than the needs of students."
},
{
"answer_id": 43602,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "I faced a similar problem at one point when I was an undergraduate, and chose to resolve it myself in a rather foolhardy manner: I simply went to the lectures for the class I was more interested in, and learned the other one through recitations, texts, problem sets, and friends. If your classes are small, you may not be able to manage this, but in a large lecture class the professor has no idea who is in the hall.\n\nI would generally recommend against this practice, but in some cases it may be the best way to proceed---and in fact, despite how bad an idea it was, in my own particular circumstance it actually turned out to have been the right decision."
},
{
"answer_id": 43608,
"author": "Michael Coury",
"author_id": 33169,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/33169",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "You should speak with each professor and understand their level of flexibility. When I was wrapping up my undergrad, I was already working full time in the auto industry. I had two instances where I was able to work directly with the professor (not the administration) to find working solutions. In both cases, I visited the professor before the semester started and explained my situation. I made sure the professor clearly understood the motivation and circumstances of my situation and as a result, I feel they were more accommodating then they would otherwise have been if I just showed up on test day."
}
] |
2015/04/15
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43594",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/21694/"
] |
43,595 |
Currently, I'm working as an assistant at the mathematics department of my university. My job consists of sitting for 20 hours a week in an office to which students come with doubts regarding all the basic math courses.
Today, for example, I was solving a limit in a class full of engineering freshmen. After I solved it, I checked the answer in [Wolfram](http://www.wolframalpha.com/) in front of the students and I recommended the website, as well as other useful sites such as [Desmos](https://www.desmos.com/), or [Khan Academy](https://www.khanacademy.org/).
My afterthoughts were: "what if they start using it when they're not supposed to? (i.e. exams and such)". Does the act of recommending such a site carry any moral consequence?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43597,
"author": "Anonymous",
"author_id": 11565,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11565",
"pm_score": 7,
"selected": true,
"text": "I always like to show the students Wolfram Alpha in freshman math courses. (Many will already know about it, whether you show them or not.)\n\nThere are several reasons for this. The first is that it's a useful tool, both for *checking* solutions to homeworks, and also for later in life.\n\nBut the more important reason is that many students are skeptical of why they have to take a course in calculus. I double down on their skepticism by demonstrating to them that a computer can solve most computational questions on a calculus exam in about 0.05 seconds, and can even \"show its work\". Having gotten their attention, I now have a good opportunity to make my case for the value of a math education.\n\nAs far as exams go, I recommend prohibiting the use of all electronic devices. Some students will cheat on their homework, but that will be true no matter what and in the end they are cheating themselves."
},
{
"answer_id": 43598,
"author": "kbh",
"author_id": 27423,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/27423",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "I'm a strong proponent of using computational softwares and engines in elementary courses wherein computation is heavy. In particular, I think that the geometric benefits of using Wolfram (Alpha, or Mathematica) are immense. For *learning elementary material* I think it is an excellent tool for checking homework to, say, solutions that don't have answers reported or to satisfy curiosities about broader behavior of calculus or certain functions. \n\nIn general, I think given that in advanced classes I still use these softwares to check limiting cases and perform routine calculations with which I'm confident, that becoming familiar with them early on is benign and even important. In terms of examinations for beginning students however, I tend to agree that at most scientific calculators or similar tools should be allowed. The tools allowed to the students should scale with the familiarity they have with the processes capable of being performed by the tools. \n\ntl;dr I don't see any trouble or moral issue here. Stress the importance of learning and present the software in your own context acceptable to the level of the class, and all is well."
},
{
"answer_id": 43601,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "In addition to the prior good answers, I would say that I feel the existence of tools like Wolfram Alpha doesn't fundamentally change education any more than the existence of calculators does. We still teach people how to add and subtract, we just raise the bar on the expectation of how easily they can deploy those skills with tool assistance. Likewise, Wolfram Alpha means we have to raise the bar in what we expect students to achieve in more complex mathematics: the goal is not to be able to integrate, it's to be able to use integrals in solving mathematical problems, and tools like Wolfram Alpha just expand the range of problems that are feasible for a student to solve."
},
{
"answer_id": 43638,
"author": "user2023861",
"author_id": 33198,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/33198",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "If only a couple of students knew about Wolfram Alpha and used it to do well in your class, they'd have an unfair advantage over the rest of the students, especially if you grade on a curve. \n\nEither all of your students should know about this tool, or none of them should. \n\nSince you have no way of knowing that none of them know about Wolfram Alpha, it would only be fair for you to show it to them."
},
{
"answer_id": 43655,
"author": "Joe",
"author_id": 12346,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12346",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "I'd go further than the other excellent answers here.\n\n*Not* showing new students how to use Wolfram Alpha is immoral.\n\nStudents should be taught how to use all of the tools they can be taught to help prepare them for the real world, and Wolfram Alpha for a math/stats/physics professional is a very valuable tool. Explicitly avoiding teaching them this tool is counter-productive: you fail to teach them a useful and valuable tool, and you get little in exchange. You can avoid cheating by not allowing electronic device use during tests; and ultimately if a few cheat their way through the homework, it doesn't do much harm to the folks who aren't cheating and are getting the most out of their education. \n\nFor some, it's a good way to learn as well: if you're stuck and don't understand a concept or why a solution works, instead of having to wait for a TA session, you can ask Wolfram Alpha to show you, then learn on your own."
},
{
"answer_id": 43664,
"author": "Szabolcs",
"author_id": 11907,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11907",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "I think you definitely *should* show Wolfram|Alpha to them, and you should take the opportunity to explain why such tools will never be a replacement for mathematical thinking.\n\nPersonally I found Mathematica extremely useful for learning calculus some 15 years ago (Wolfram|Alpha didn't exist at that time). It makes it easy to plot functions, check results, and encourages good students to experiment and learn. Graphics can be fun and will encourage students to do such things as trying to figure out the parametric equation of a sphere or torus even before they study it.\n\nBut it is also important to understand that such tools cannot replace *thinking about the problem*. I am quite active on [Mathematica.SE](http://mathematica.stackexchange.com) and I often see people (presumably students) ask questions such as \"Why doesn't Mathematica solve this equation?\", \"Why won't it compute this integral?\", \"Why won't it simplify this expression?\", \"Why does it give such a complicated result, I need a simple one!\" They seems to treat it as a magic box that just gives solutions, and when it doesn't, they feel stuck. They don't think about such issues as: is the equation still solvable is this parameter is negative or complex? Does it at all make sense to use the (the complicated and expensive to evaluate) closed form solution of this 4th order equation in my code, or should I solve the equation numerically?\n Does the number of roots to this function depend on the parameter values? Can one reasonable expect a closed form solution at all? Why do I want an analytical solution at all? Should I use approximations when solving this physics problem?\n\nMathematica can solve quartic equations, but does this really look like a useful result? This is the kind of result [a blind \"solve this for me, W|A!!\"](https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=Solve%5Ba%20x%5E4%20%2B%20b%20x%5E3%20%2B%20c%20x%5E2%20%2B%20d%20x%20%2B%20e%20%3D%3D%200%2C%20x%5D) will give to students. Isn't [this explanation](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quartic_function#Solving_a_quartic_equation) so much more informative and useful?\n\n**I believe that as their teacher, you owe it to your students to explain the proper use of computer algebra systems and explain why they will never replace thinking for yourself.** If anything is unethical, it is allowing them to fall into this trap and treat this tool as some sort of magical oracle.\n\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 43737,
"author": "AaronLS",
"author_id": 22309,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22309",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "It's not immoral to make them aware of a useful tool. \n\nUsed effectively it will **enhance their learning**:\n\n* It will allow them to check there homework, giving them immediate feedback.\n* Allowing them to follow the steps shown to see exactly where they've gone wrong. Identifying precisely where a mistake was made while the problem is still fresh on the students mind. This is some of the most valuable feedback they can get.\n* When encountering a problem for which they're unfamiliar with the technique necessary to solve the problem, the work shown can give them that insight, so that they may tackle similar problems in the future.\n\n**Establish guidelines** on how you expect them to use the tool. Nothing will stop them from disregarding those guidelines, but that will be to their own peril. \n\n* Make it clear whether or not exams will be given in a setting that allows access to the tool. It should almost certainly not,\n\t+ It should most likely not. Allowing use on exams will encourage them to focus on leveraging the tool exclusively, which will exclude important skills that future instructors will expect them to have.\n\t+ One day it might be so standard that this is not an unreasonable expectation. (We don't learn how to do square roots the long way by hand anymore.) However, until such time as tool use is the standard across all of academia, students should have the expectation that they need to be capable of solving without the tool.\n\n**Highlight the value of learning the skills, and not depending completely on such a tool.**\n\n* Emphasize that being able to apply the appropriate technique for each problem is not only important to being able to solve the problems, but also key to understanding what the equations represent. \n\n\t+ When they move into their respective career fields, a lot of what they struggle through now should be starting to become second nature by the time they begin their career. An electrician doesn't stop to reference the basics of housing wiring everytime they work on a light switch. That has to be reflex so they can focus on the task at hand.\n\t+ In your career you may need to be able to identify what problems can be solved directly, and which may need to be solved using a computational technique that estimates the result.\n\t+ Even if tool usage were standard or expected, you may need to manipulate some problems to get them into a form that the solver recognizes as solvable.\n\t+ Having a solid understanding of solving problems reinforces skills that will be useful in careers where one must design/choose a formula that models a certain scenario."
},
{
"answer_id": 43832,
"author": "Chris Brooks",
"author_id": 33343,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/33343",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "You mentioned that you showed this to class of engineering freshmen, so I will answer this question as a former engineering freshman (now an engineering junior).\n\nShort answer, yes. Wolfram Alpha is very helpful for basic things like solving simple differential equations and complicated integrals. However, like many have said, tests are a different story. As an example, I took differential equations last semester and was allowed to solve the homework however I wanted, but on the exams all I could use was a pencil. We didn't even get a table of Laplace transforms!\n\nFurthermore, in two short years these freshman will be doing things that Alpha can't handle, such as solving systems of four or more nonlinear equations, as a regular part of their homework. I used Alpha extensively in high school and as a college freshman; now I almost never use it. I use MathCAD or something more powerful (ex I recently solved a large homework problem involving heat exchanger design by writing my own C++ code).\n\nLast, as some others have pointed out, math is not the hardest part of engineering. Arguably more important is developing a physical intuition about what the math actually means. For example, in heat transfer, when I check my work with other students or a TA almost all my errors involve the physics or the assumptions behind the equations. Sometimes they're subtle, such as using the wrong temperature of air to get properties to calculate a convection coefficient, or using diameter instead of radius as the critical length to calculate a Biot number. None of them are the sort of thing Wolfram Alpha, or indeed any computational math tool, could help me with.\n\nIn summary, the goal of engineering is problem-solving, and math is one of the tools that is used to solve problems but not the only one. Wolfram Alpha is one tool to help students learn math, but it's not the only one. For elementary calculus, I think it's extremely helpful."
}
] |
2015/04/15
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43595",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/21867/"
] |
43,599 |
I'm asking on behalf of a friend.
He currently holds a temporary position at one of the top research institutes in the country. I know that he is excited about his work because he talks enthusiastically about it all the time. He'd ramble on happily for hours about the developments in his field and how the work done at his institute has a very real effect on society.
However, he has recently been offered a place to study for a PhD at the same institute. Though a great opportunity he is rather worried about the financial cut he would have to suffer if he takes up the offer.
Given all the stuff that's around on the net about how you should not do a PhD if money is really important to you, I'm wondering what a person in his position should do (i.e. loves research, but really wants to earn money) and what I should say to help him make a decision.
For what it's worth I'm a PhD student too (studying a different field at a different university)
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43600,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "You shouldn't do a Ph.D. if you don't love research. You also shouldn't do a Ph.D. if you want to get rich *now*, since it will require a number of years living on a graduate student stipend.\n\nHowever, most STEM field Ph.D. graduates have ample opportunities to make lots of money, including:\n\n* Founding a startup based on technology developed during their Ph.D., or joining somebody else's startup\n* Selling out, particularly if they have a solid mathematical background: there are any number of hedge funds and such that are desperately hunting for magic dust to give them an edge.\n* Just about any industry job will pay a well-suited Ph.D. well - not enough to make you rich, but enough to live a very comfortable life-style.\n\nOf course, there is the danger that by the time one finishes a Ph.D., they may have become twisted such that they are no longer quite so interested in money per se, as happens to many of us."
},
{
"answer_id": 43628,
"author": "Zo the Relativist",
"author_id": 33186,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/33186",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "If you want to earn a lot of money, a Ph.D. is a horrible, horrible idea. It is very expensive in terms of time, and there are certainly research jobs out there in the private sector. Also, your advisors won't know anything but how to place you in an academic job, and real academic jobs are slowly becoming harder and harder to get.\n\nGet a masters in the field you're interested in, do research while in your masters, and go out and find something in the private sector."
},
{
"answer_id": 43642,
"author": "BrianH",
"author_id": 6787,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6787",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "How much money do you want to make, exactly?\n--------------------------------------------\n\nThis is actually the most important aspect of the question, because \"how much is enough\" is a very hard question to answer, and violates many assumptions we have about wealth, our own happiness, life direction, and how the world works. And yet it can also dictate how we direct our efforts, so it's important to answer this question personally - there is no one-size-fits-all answer.\n\nIn the US, consider the following [educational-income statistics](https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=77):\n\n\n\nOr, even better, this one from Wikipedia made from Census data: \n\n\n\nSo if you just want to be above-average in personal income, it really doesn't matter what path you pick - a 2-year degree will likely put you there, depending on field. \n\nNote that a doctorate here is shown to gain higher income than a Muqtew's, but note you could likely make more money skipping both and focusing on the professional degree instead (medicine, law, engineering, etc). You'd likely make more than a PhD with possibly less time spent. \n\nBut I Want To Be Rich!\n----------------------\n\nHow rich, exactly? If you just want a low-six-figure yearly income, you can do that with a Muqtew's, PhD, professional degree, or even a Bachelor's in a high-paying field (like computing, for instance). So it doesn't matter.\n\nBut do you want to be, like, 1% rich? You're going to need a bigger boat. \n\n\n\\*Note: This is income per family, not personal income as previous notes. \n\nEven when accounting for the household-vs-personal income, no one is going to give you a $500,000 yearly income simply because you have a degree - no matter what it is or what school you got it from.\n\nSo how did those people get there?\n\n\n\nThe best bet is in executive management, so probably an MBA - the previously discussed professional degree. Having a Muqtew's or PhD is not a disqualification, but it isn't a requirement either.\n\nThe truth is, though, being this rich isn't a question of being a wage-earner - you need to be an owner too:\n\n\n\nSo save a lot, preferably marry rich if possible, and buy wealthy stuff too:\n\n\n\nIn the end, PhD and Muqtew's pay more than most educational attainment levels and, on average, pay pretty similarly - though some jobs are not available without a PhD, some jobs give preference away from PhDs, etc. \n\nUltimately, whether or not to do a PhD is not a question of wealth maximization - because if you want to max wealth you should probably do something else. If you are just ok with an above-average income, though, you are ok either way! So enjoy your education and decide based on other factors - or drop out and get a professional degree :)"
}
] |
2015/04/15
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43599",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/33162/"
] |
43,609 |
When using a reference manager (or even when tracking references on a handwritten draft), it is common to have a key for each entry when referring to items, which the computer (or you in a final form) replaces with a properly styled reference later (in the style of the journal).
E.g., in BibTeX, which I am most familiar with, writing `\cite{Box2015a}` might be replaced with "[1]" or with "(Box, O. 2015)" or with "(Box, O. 2015, Meaningful reference key format)" depending on style -- the key in question being the `Box2015a` part.
Having a good format for the key seems useful, since one would spend a lot of time only seeing the key, rather than the full reference. Simply the author name and date, and a letter to break conflicts doesn't seem ideal.
Was `Box2015a` Box's work on Meaningful Reference Key formats? Or was it his work on Bicycle Speed Dependency on Weather? Getting that wrong would be embarrassing, and also accidental plagiarism (since credit was not given to the right paper).
What is a better format for reference keys?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43616,
"author": "O. R. Mapper",
"author_id": 14017,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14017",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "Probably, the only general rule to follow is that the key should be **something that well characterizes the document**. Anything more specific will depend a lot on the topics you are writing about, and vary from reference to reference:\n\n* **Is the title very unique**, or rather generic? In the former case, a shortened version of the title could be integrated into the key. (As a random example: The title [*The triangle processor and normal vector shader: a VLSI system for high performance graphics*](http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=378468) might be shortened to something like *TriangleProcHighPerf*.)\n* **Does the publication describe a product or technique that has a name** (which you might also use in your text)? If so, that name could become a part of the key.\n* **Is the publication connected to a recognizeable author name**, or do you rarely see the same author name twice in the literature you deal with, in particular with respect to specific approaches? In the latter case, author names may just be arbitrary strings that do not help you remember anything particular, while in the former case, you might think about including the author name the work is associated with the name in the key.\n* **Is the year in any way special for the work?** For example, is it an exceptionally early example of a supposedly modern invention, or is it the variant that has become known as \"the 2011-version\" of a particular approach? If so, the year could reasonably be a part of the key, otherwise, it seems superfluous.\n* **Can the publication be categorized?** For instance, you may want to indicate in the key whether something is a *concept draft*, a *user study* of a concept presented elsewhere, a *survey* of several techniques, or a design *rationale* for a given concept.\n* **Are there various versions of essentially the same work published by different publishers?** Different layouts and presentation forms (monochrome vs. color, ...) may have different strengths, so you may end up wanting to specifically refer to (w.l.o.g.) the *Springer* version and the *IEEE* version of some work that for some reason was published twice. In that case, including the publisher name in the key might be reasonable.\n\nI hope this helps to get the idea - I do not see a reason for a uniform key format here; instead, this case-specific format highlights the peculiarities of each referenced work and therefore seems to help best to remember which reference points to what work in my experience.\n\nFor me personally, the above system generally leads to keys that never include an author name or publication year, and almost always a concept name, otherwise some fragments of the paper title. Depending on your topics, you may well end up with different preferences.\n\nI have never had a problem of key collisions while using this approach; if anything (not that it would actually cause any problem), I may have ended up with several different keys in cases where I created bibliography entries for the same publication several times rather than copying the first one to later works.\n\nTo summarize:\n\n* An **advantage** of this system is that you do not need to remember any information that is not descriptive for the content of the paper (publication year, author name, publication venue, ...) to understand the reference.\n* A **disadvantage** may be that the key cannot be generated automatically, though [I use one .bib file per project](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43096/should-i-keep-all-my-bib-files-in-a-single-folder-or-one-with-each-tex-file/43099#43099) and my workflow is usually *decide to add reference -> search for reference in JabRef to check whether it is there -> add if it does not exist -> `Ctrl`+`K` to get insertion-ready `\\cite`-command in the clipboard*, where automatic generation of keys is a non-issue."
},
{
"answer_id": 43627,
"author": "Willie Wong",
"author_id": 94,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/94",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "The mapping from \"full citation information\" to \"citation key\" is, in many ways, a **hash function**, and usually are by construction easy to apply but hard to invert. We do this because we don't want to have to type 50 to 100 characters each time we cite a paper. \n\nThe easiest way, frequently, to reconstruct the data from the hash key, is by looking up it up in a dictionary/table. If your bibliography database is big enough this makes it something much suited for software than for your brain. \n\nSo my workflow does the following:\n\n* I use [JabRef](http://jabref.sourceforge.net/) as my primary bibliographic data manager, as well as to keep track of my growing collection of PDFs.\n* The citation key format is `ABCDEF1234?` The first six characters are formed by the names of the authors (following some rule), followed by four digit year, and followed by disambiguation suffix.\n* I use Vim as my editor of choice.\n* I export my citation database from JabRef using a custom-written export filter to become a [Vim completefunc](http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Custom_keyword_completion), which I load through my `.vimrc` everytime I edit a TeX file. This allows me to use it two ways:\n\t+ I can type the start of the citation key, say `Won`, followed by `-X -U` and it will show me a popup list of all entries with key starting with \"Won\" which includes, in my case, all of my first authored papers with at most two authors. Highlighting selected entries in the list will show a \"preview screen\" showing the bibliographic information about that entry. I configure mine to only show the full title of the article, but it is easy enough to includes also publisher info etc.\n\t+ Seeing an existing citation key in the document, bringing my cursor to the end of the key and hitting again the combo `-X -U` the list now has just one element, but the preview window still comes up showing me the bibliographic information.\n* If I need to insert a citation to an article whose complete author list I cannot reconstruct in my head (and hence cannot know even the start of the citation key), I can either browse through the full list provided by the completion function in Vim, or just search in JabRef.\n\n---\n\nFor illustrations:\n\nBefore invoking the previewer: Note the `\\cite{...}` string in the middle of the window.\n\n\n\nPutting the cursor on `Alinac1999` brings up a pop-up menu (turns out Serge Alinhac as at least three papers in 1999) and a preview pane on top. \n\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 43632,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "This is almost a non-answer. The reason is that I use a similar format to what you find inadequate: \"FirstAuthorLastName:Year\". In my field we use Harvard style referencing so this is almost what appears in the text. The colon is not a key ingredient, it is just that I use the form \"tab:xxx\", \"fig:xxx\" and \"eq:xxx\", where \"xxx\" is the unique name I want for the object, for labelling floats and equations. My point is that for me being short is a necessity since I do not want unnecessarily long BibTeX keys or labels hanging around the document. I tried for a while to add number of authors, for example \"Smith+4:2005\" to distinguish from single authored \"Smith:2005\" but that ended up being to tiresome to set up I also shortened the multiauthors to \"Smith+:2005\" for a while. I use JabRef (no promotion intended) and have now simply resorted to specify that the preferred automatic key generation is \"FirstAuthorLastName:Year\" where JabRef will add \"a\", \"b\", \"c\" etc. where similarities appear.\n\nSo why do I work with the shorter form. First of all, I know what material I reference. I also know the material in the field. I later also double check the references, as they appear in the reference list, certainly before I submit a manuscript. So the key point here is the trade off between adding a lot of information to a label with lower degree of \"mis-referencing\" and short forms with potential risk of more misses. In the end you use whatever suits you but with time you probably end up simplifying.\n\nHaving written both papers and very long reports/books, I have never found this to be a big issue. I can understand that it becomes a problem if you for some reason are using a lot of references with which you are unfamiliar. So \"better\" is what you find best. If I understand correctly from your profile you aim to get into a PhD and I am sure your database will grow in a specific direction during the PhD, you will become intimately familiar with that set of literature, and you will perhaps change the way you BibTeX key label your references.\n\nSo better is what works best for you at the moment. In the long term, the simpler the better in my experience."
},
{
"answer_id": 43639,
"author": "Toxaris",
"author_id": 7946,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7946",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "I'm using (BibTeX) reference keys that consist of three parts:\n\n* the last name of the first author\n* the last two digits of the publication year\n* the first meaningful word from the title\n\nThe idea of \"meaningful words\" is a bit vague, of course. Usually, that's the first adjectiv, verb (except \"to be\"), or noun in the title. For example, I would use `box15meaningful` to refer to a paper entitled \"On Meaningful Reference Key Formats\" but `box15bicycle` to refer to \"Is Bicycle Speed Dependent on Weather?\".\n\n(I think there is a term for \"first meaningful word from the title\" as the concept is used or was used in catalogues of libraries, but I forgot the term).\n\nFrom my perspective, the main benefits of this system are:\n\n1. Given the full reference, I can predict the citation key. For example, when I'm looking at the printed paper and want to cite it, I know the citation key without looking it up in the BibTeX file or using any software tool to look it up for me.\n2. Given the citation key, I have some idea which paper it is, because the key includes a meaningful word from the title.\n3. The keys are reasonably short and don't clutter up my text too much.\n4. The citation keys can be used as part of file names, so I can also name pdfs like that if I happen to have a paper available as pdf on my hard drive. For example, I would have `box15meaningful.pdf` and `box15bicycle.pdf`.\n5. The citation keys can be used as part of URLs, so I can name websites about my own papers like that. For example, if I would be Box, I might have a website like `http://my-university.edu/~box/publications/box15bicycle/` where you could donwload the raw data used for my research on bicycle speed.\n6. Given two BibTeX files that both use this scheme, I can merge them by merging entries with the same key, because the same paper will always get the same reference key."
},
{
"answer_id": 43644,
"author": "David Z",
"author_id": 236,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/236",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "My system of choice is to let my reference manager, or some external database, handle the key generation. Every time I need to insert a citation, I go to the external tool or database, look up the reference (thus avoiding most of the risk of using the wrong key), and copy the citation key into my document. It sounds impractical, but actually I've found the process to be pretty smooth and not that inconvenient. The few keys that I use the most often in any given paper, I wind up remembering anyway.\n\nI use Mendeley as a reference manager, which presents metadata next to a view of the PDF of the paper. So when I look up some information in a paper, it's easy to copy the citation key directly from Mendeley into my document. I imagine there are many other reference managers that have this same feature."
},
{
"answer_id": 73602,
"author": "SACHIN GARG",
"author_id": 58860,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/58860",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "I primarily use Jabref and LyX. Hence, the need to encode every bit of meaningful information in the key does not arise.\n\nHence, I have a simple mechanism of key naming, which is \n`::`\n\nIf it is a book, then I replace the last part with `Book`. I have set up Jabref that it creates the first two parts automatically when importing. Since the journal abbreviations are not standard (yet), have not automated that.\n\nSince LyX is used to write the document and insert entries, I can do a search to find out which articles need to be cited and the key is not hugely important ..."
}
] |
2015/04/15
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43609",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8513/"
] |
43,617 |
I am currently writing my master thesis and I am extremely insecure where and when to give the sources. I tried to google for any recommendations but could not find anything that helps me.
How often do I need to give the source for information when it belongs to the same topic and I introduced the one and only document to this topic already?
For example I am referring to a technical standard and when introducing this standard I give reference to its standard document. Now I will give more information later on on this standard as I compare it to other standards. Do I repeat to mention the standard document? Since this document is quite long: Do I have to exactly say where in that document I found the information?
EDIT:
Also while we at it: I also give information about a the Java programming language. Can I assume that everyone knows this? Especially since it's the teaching language, the most widely spread language used in industry, most probably all my readers know it and it is very easy find out about this language if not. Do I still need to give the source for my information?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43616,
"author": "O. R. Mapper",
"author_id": 14017,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14017",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "Probably, the only general rule to follow is that the key should be **something that well characterizes the document**. Anything more specific will depend a lot on the topics you are writing about, and vary from reference to reference:\n\n* **Is the title very unique**, or rather generic? In the former case, a shortened version of the title could be integrated into the key. (As a random example: The title [*The triangle processor and normal vector shader: a VLSI system for high performance graphics*](http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=378468) might be shortened to something like *TriangleProcHighPerf*.)\n* **Does the publication describe a product or technique that has a name** (which you might also use in your text)? If so, that name could become a part of the key.\n* **Is the publication connected to a recognizeable author name**, or do you rarely see the same author name twice in the literature you deal with, in particular with respect to specific approaches? In the latter case, author names may just be arbitrary strings that do not help you remember anything particular, while in the former case, you might think about including the author name the work is associated with the name in the key.\n* **Is the year in any way special for the work?** For example, is it an exceptionally early example of a supposedly modern invention, or is it the variant that has become known as \"the 2011-version\" of a particular approach? If so, the year could reasonably be a part of the key, otherwise, it seems superfluous.\n* **Can the publication be categorized?** For instance, you may want to indicate in the key whether something is a *concept draft*, a *user study* of a concept presented elsewhere, a *survey* of several techniques, or a design *rationale* for a given concept.\n* **Are there various versions of essentially the same work published by different publishers?** Different layouts and presentation forms (monochrome vs. color, ...) may have different strengths, so you may end up wanting to specifically refer to (w.l.o.g.) the *Springer* version and the *IEEE* version of some work that for some reason was published twice. In that case, including the publisher name in the key might be reasonable.\n\nI hope this helps to get the idea - I do not see a reason for a uniform key format here; instead, this case-specific format highlights the peculiarities of each referenced work and therefore seems to help best to remember which reference points to what work in my experience.\n\nFor me personally, the above system generally leads to keys that never include an author name or publication year, and almost always a concept name, otherwise some fragments of the paper title. Depending on your topics, you may well end up with different preferences.\n\nI have never had a problem of key collisions while using this approach; if anything (not that it would actually cause any problem), I may have ended up with several different keys in cases where I created bibliography entries for the same publication several times rather than copying the first one to later works.\n\nTo summarize:\n\n* An **advantage** of this system is that you do not need to remember any information that is not descriptive for the content of the paper (publication year, author name, publication venue, ...) to understand the reference.\n* A **disadvantage** may be that the key cannot be generated automatically, though [I use one .bib file per project](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43096/should-i-keep-all-my-bib-files-in-a-single-folder-or-one-with-each-tex-file/43099#43099) and my workflow is usually *decide to add reference -> search for reference in JabRef to check whether it is there -> add if it does not exist -> `Ctrl`+`K` to get insertion-ready `\\cite`-command in the clipboard*, where automatic generation of keys is a non-issue."
},
{
"answer_id": 43627,
"author": "Willie Wong",
"author_id": 94,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/94",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "The mapping from \"full citation information\" to \"citation key\" is, in many ways, a **hash function**, and usually are by construction easy to apply but hard to invert. We do this because we don't want to have to type 50 to 100 characters each time we cite a paper. \n\nThe easiest way, frequently, to reconstruct the data from the hash key, is by looking up it up in a dictionary/table. If your bibliography database is big enough this makes it something much suited for software than for your brain. \n\nSo my workflow does the following:\n\n* I use [JabRef](http://jabref.sourceforge.net/) as my primary bibliographic data manager, as well as to keep track of my growing collection of PDFs.\n* The citation key format is `ABCDEF1234?` The first six characters are formed by the names of the authors (following some rule), followed by four digit year, and followed by disambiguation suffix.\n* I use Vim as my editor of choice.\n* I export my citation database from JabRef using a custom-written export filter to become a [Vim completefunc](http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Custom_keyword_completion), which I load through my `.vimrc` everytime I edit a TeX file. This allows me to use it two ways:\n\t+ I can type the start of the citation key, say `Won`, followed by `-X -U` and it will show me a popup list of all entries with key starting with \"Won\" which includes, in my case, all of my first authored papers with at most two authors. Highlighting selected entries in the list will show a \"preview screen\" showing the bibliographic information about that entry. I configure mine to only show the full title of the article, but it is easy enough to includes also publisher info etc.\n\t+ Seeing an existing citation key in the document, bringing my cursor to the end of the key and hitting again the combo `-X -U` the list now has just one element, but the preview window still comes up showing me the bibliographic information.\n* If I need to insert a citation to an article whose complete author list I cannot reconstruct in my head (and hence cannot know even the start of the citation key), I can either browse through the full list provided by the completion function in Vim, or just search in JabRef.\n\n---\n\nFor illustrations:\n\nBefore invoking the previewer: Note the `\\cite{...}` string in the middle of the window.\n\n\n\nPutting the cursor on `Alinac1999` brings up a pop-up menu (turns out Serge Alinhac as at least three papers in 1999) and a preview pane on top. \n\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 43632,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "This is almost a non-answer. The reason is that I use a similar format to what you find inadequate: \"FirstAuthorLastName:Year\". In my field we use Harvard style referencing so this is almost what appears in the text. The colon is not a key ingredient, it is just that I use the form \"tab:xxx\", \"fig:xxx\" and \"eq:xxx\", where \"xxx\" is the unique name I want for the object, for labelling floats and equations. My point is that for me being short is a necessity since I do not want unnecessarily long BibTeX keys or labels hanging around the document. I tried for a while to add number of authors, for example \"Smith+4:2005\" to distinguish from single authored \"Smith:2005\" but that ended up being to tiresome to set up I also shortened the multiauthors to \"Smith+:2005\" for a while. I use JabRef (no promotion intended) and have now simply resorted to specify that the preferred automatic key generation is \"FirstAuthorLastName:Year\" where JabRef will add \"a\", \"b\", \"c\" etc. where similarities appear.\n\nSo why do I work with the shorter form. First of all, I know what material I reference. I also know the material in the field. I later also double check the references, as they appear in the reference list, certainly before I submit a manuscript. So the key point here is the trade off between adding a lot of information to a label with lower degree of \"mis-referencing\" and short forms with potential risk of more misses. In the end you use whatever suits you but with time you probably end up simplifying.\n\nHaving written both papers and very long reports/books, I have never found this to be a big issue. I can understand that it becomes a problem if you for some reason are using a lot of references with which you are unfamiliar. So \"better\" is what you find best. If I understand correctly from your profile you aim to get into a PhD and I am sure your database will grow in a specific direction during the PhD, you will become intimately familiar with that set of literature, and you will perhaps change the way you BibTeX key label your references.\n\nSo better is what works best for you at the moment. In the long term, the simpler the better in my experience."
},
{
"answer_id": 43639,
"author": "Toxaris",
"author_id": 7946,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7946",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "I'm using (BibTeX) reference keys that consist of three parts:\n\n* the last name of the first author\n* the last two digits of the publication year\n* the first meaningful word from the title\n\nThe idea of \"meaningful words\" is a bit vague, of course. Usually, that's the first adjectiv, verb (except \"to be\"), or noun in the title. For example, I would use `box15meaningful` to refer to a paper entitled \"On Meaningful Reference Key Formats\" but `box15bicycle` to refer to \"Is Bicycle Speed Dependent on Weather?\".\n\n(I think there is a term for \"first meaningful word from the title\" as the concept is used or was used in catalogues of libraries, but I forgot the term).\n\nFrom my perspective, the main benefits of this system are:\n\n1. Given the full reference, I can predict the citation key. For example, when I'm looking at the printed paper and want to cite it, I know the citation key without looking it up in the BibTeX file or using any software tool to look it up for me.\n2. Given the citation key, I have some idea which paper it is, because the key includes a meaningful word from the title.\n3. The keys are reasonably short and don't clutter up my text too much.\n4. The citation keys can be used as part of file names, so I can also name pdfs like that if I happen to have a paper available as pdf on my hard drive. For example, I would have `box15meaningful.pdf` and `box15bicycle.pdf`.\n5. The citation keys can be used as part of URLs, so I can name websites about my own papers like that. For example, if I would be Box, I might have a website like `http://my-university.edu/~box/publications/box15bicycle/` where you could donwload the raw data used for my research on bicycle speed.\n6. Given two BibTeX files that both use this scheme, I can merge them by merging entries with the same key, because the same paper will always get the same reference key."
},
{
"answer_id": 43644,
"author": "David Z",
"author_id": 236,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/236",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "My system of choice is to let my reference manager, or some external database, handle the key generation. Every time I need to insert a citation, I go to the external tool or database, look up the reference (thus avoiding most of the risk of using the wrong key), and copy the citation key into my document. It sounds impractical, but actually I've found the process to be pretty smooth and not that inconvenient. The few keys that I use the most often in any given paper, I wind up remembering anyway.\n\nI use Mendeley as a reference manager, which presents metadata next to a view of the PDF of the paper. So when I look up some information in a paper, it's easy to copy the citation key directly from Mendeley into my document. I imagine there are many other reference managers that have this same feature."
},
{
"answer_id": 73602,
"author": "SACHIN GARG",
"author_id": 58860,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/58860",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "I primarily use Jabref and LyX. Hence, the need to encode every bit of meaningful information in the key does not arise.\n\nHence, I have a simple mechanism of key naming, which is \n`::`\n\nIf it is a book, then I replace the last part with `Book`. I have set up Jabref that it creates the first two parts automatically when importing. Since the journal abbreviations are not standard (yet), have not automated that.\n\nSince LyX is used to write the document and insert entries, I can do a search to find out which articles need to be cited and the key is not hugely important ..."
}
] |
2015/04/15
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43617",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/33177/"
] |
43,623 |
I am writing a letter of recommendation for a student whose record includes membership in the Phi Beta Kelpa honor society. How do I express this?
* Vana was named to Phi Beta Kelpa.
* Vana was awarded Phi Beta Kelpa.
* Vana earned Phi Beta Kelpa.
* Vana was inducted into Phi Beta Kelpa.
Or something else?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43626,
"author": "user3209815",
"author_id": 14133,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14133",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "Why not simply: Vana was a member of the Phi Beta Kelpa honor society. Feel free to add relevant information, e.g. how long was she member, any outstanding exploits, perhaps even a statement how \"elite\" that particular society is, i.e. how hard it is to get in and her related accomplishments."
},
{
"answer_id": 43631,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": true,
"text": "\"Inducted\" is the term normally associated with the process of joining an honor society, whether it is a group such as Phi Beta Kelpa or Tau Beta Pi, or a professional society such as the National Academy of Science, or even something cultural, like a sports hall of fame.\n\nAs a usage note, though, the term \"inducted\" is normally accompanied by a temporal reference."
}
] |
2015/04/15
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43623",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/269/"
] |
43,636 |
I'm about to submit an article to a journal for review. There is a published book (about 5 years old) that has the same title as my working paper. As you might guess, the paper and book are in the same subfield of study. The shared title is cute variation on the name of a prominent organization (which honestly fits my paper better than the book).
Do I need to change the title of my paper? Another thing to consider is that the author of the book is a likely candidate to be selected as a reviewer for the article.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43637,
"author": "Bill Barth",
"author_id": 11600,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11600",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "There's no legal issue with two creative works having the same title, but I would want to have a different title so that people could easily distinguish the two works. I would want it to be very clear that there's a new article that's available that's distinct from this book. As such, I think you ought to change your title even if it's a better fit for your article than it is for the book. Cute titles can really only do so much."
},
{
"answer_id": 43641,
"author": "Nemanja Martinovic",
"author_id": 33200,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/33200",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "I'll be perfectly honest - if I was in that subfield, I would be extremely annoyed in having two works with the same title - simple search for the works would be always troublesome, mentioning one of those works during a talk would always require a digression, etc. \n\nAll of that would distract other researchers from the results, especially for the paper considering that it was published later. Ultimately it is not inconceivable that referee (whoever it might be) demands the change of the title.\n\nBottom line - I would try to think another witty title. :)"
},
{
"answer_id": 43645,
"author": "mike J",
"author_id": 33123,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/33123",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "My suggestion is a slight modification to the title. Another option is a sub-title or sub heading which is a unique identifier. For example, a book titled *Arizona: Portrait of a desert landscape* and another, slightly unique, titled *Arizona: Understanding the Desert Landscape*. Also, you can pluralize a word (*face* could become *faces*, for example) in the title of your book, for distinctiveness.\n\nConsider the book titles *Xiyx Gafet: Entrepreneur* and *Xiyx Gafet: Master Innovator*. Both titles have the same name, as they are about the same person, but the sub heading or sub title is unique."
},
{
"answer_id": 116298,
"author": "Maya",
"author_id": 97675,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/97675",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "I recently published an opinion piece to an online newspaper, the title is pretty much the same as a book that was published a few years ago, and I think I saw another article similar. I panicked at first and thought I might be in trouble, but then I googled this issue and came across this site. Next time, you can Google the actual title that you want to give to your work, and see if there are similar articles with the same title. You can then change the title slightly so that your work is easier to search for. Don't stress though."
}
] |
2015/04/15
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43636",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7934/"
] |
43,650 |
In my institution, I see a lot of research students and staff members listen to music using headphones in the workplace. It is a matter of personal preference, and I cannot see a problem in that while it doesn't interfere with communications at work.
Is that behaviour acceptable for a professor during a time in which s/he expects students to approach her/him?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43652,
"author": "Bill Barth",
"author_id": 11600,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11600",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": false,
"text": "Yes, of course. As long as they turn it down so that they can talk over it when the student comes by, why would it be unacceptable to have music on while they are waiting? If they are listening on headphones while waiting, it would be preferable if they could see the student approaching, but there's nothing unprofessional about it even if they don't. The student can knock on the door, wall, floor, desk, etc. in order to get their attention."
},
{
"answer_id": 43662,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "There seem to be two issues in the question and the answers, one is if it is ok with headphones on and the other to play music in the office during hours when student contact is expected.\n\n*Headphones*. Wearing headphones is not exactly inviting to conversation but signalling \"I want to be undisturbed\" so clearly not the best way to have students approach you during office hours without invoking some extra discomfort to at least some.\n\n*Music*. Music is a personal taste. What is soothing to one person may be almost intolerable to another. During a meeting one expects full attention from, in this case, both parties. Thus having music on does not signal that focus is on the potential visitor but that it is divided and hence that the visitor is of less importance and maybe intruding. Turning it down when a visitor arrives, anything less would be rude but why insist on music when expecting visits? At other times, no problem.\n\nA professor-student meeting is not less professional than, say meeting your bank representative or meeting with public officials. How would you feel if you were met under similar circumstances in business of public servants? that is the sort of question one would need to ask and sometimes even what other would think.\n\nSo, acceptable? Well, it depends on what signals one wants to send. It will be up to each person to figure out the optimal meeting atmosphere. As for the case portrayed in the question, I vote for far less than optimal."
},
{
"answer_id": 43666,
"author": "Michael Christopher",
"author_id": 33211,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/33211",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "To expand on Peter Jannsen's answer, it dpends a lot on the setting. If you are simply having office hours where students MAY come and ask you questions if they need, but do not have any specific scheduled meetings, then music seems completely appropriate, especially if you pause it when a student comes in. If you have a scheduled appointment, unless it is soft classical (you know, what they call \"elevator music\") it is most likely not appropriate. If you are working in a research setting with just the possibility that others may show up and want to interact, I would go back to the non-offensive music and pausing when someone desires to interact to show you are giving them your attention. Headphones are not a good idea unless you are working on a solo research project and don't really anticipate others or welcome interruptions, unless you are using a single-ear Bluetooth headset where they cannot even tell if you are listening to music or not, with volume set low enough that if someone comes in and speaks you can hear them clearly."
},
{
"answer_id": 43681,
"author": "Giacomo Alessandroni",
"author_id": 28699,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28699",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "I have a different opinion: no. First, the academia is an institution, so everybody work for academia represent the academia in each ambit.\n\nSecond, on the web (blog, social network and so on) we protect our privacy and we try to show an upright behavior, even more so we must do it in the academic world.\n\nFor these reasons I think that is not a good picture for a professors to listen to music using headphones or not.\n\nI am not contrary because I hate music, I am contrary because I think that a student that see a professor listen music (the headphones are only an aggravating) during his work might think that his work is not important as he say. Of course this is not true, but... if the student go away without that the professor can see him?"
}
] |
2015/04/15
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43650",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4018/"
] |
43,658 |
I'm a part time lecturer in a university and conducted a research independently and I'm about to publish the result. I'm concerned about assigning the affiliation to the university. I'm afraid that I give them the power to limit my full rights over the paper. It's a paper with innovative ideas and I will continue to work on the ideas presented in this paper.
I want to know exactly what the affiliated university can claim for if they want to? Can they claim for ideas in the paper as intellectual property of university?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43659,
"author": "user6726",
"author_id": 28972,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28972",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "The question is a legal one, so it would depend on what legal system you're subject to. Ideas *per se* cannot be legally owned, but via patent and copyright you can own the expression of ideas. With a patent, there is a legal process that you need to go through, to gain legal ownership over, say, a method of converting speech to text. If that's the case, you better get on filing right now. In the case of copyright, you basically don't have to do anything in the US, except if you need to sue for infringement and plan to go for statutory damages, then you need to register the work (also, registration is *prima facie* evidence of ownership of the work). But, you will have a copyright transfer or licensing agreement with the publishing venue. If the journal requires a transfer, you don't own the work anymore.\n\nAnd, at any rate, your university can't claim ownership of the work, unless it can prove that this was a work for hire. The closest it could come would be if there is a condition in your employment agreement saying that anything you create is their property, then they could fire you and maybe sue you for not assigning the copyright to them. I am not a lawyer, but I seriously doubt that any clause that says something broad like \"anything that you create is automatically our property\" would be upheld in court. They can forbid you from claiming an affiliation, but you listing an affiliation does not create any property right for the university."
},
{
"answer_id": 43663,
"author": "Wolfgang Bangerth",
"author_id": 31149,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31149",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "@user6726 may have a different opinion, but at least in the US, the intellectual property for everything you do as part of your job rests with your employer. Whether you list the employer or not on your paper has absolutely nothing to do with it.\n\nWhether your employer will ultimately choose to enforce their ownership and share proceeds with you is of course a different matter. If you patent the idea, for example, you probably want a large institution to work with you on the paperwork, the marketing, the contracting, etc. You would rather quickly be out several $10,000 of your own money if you tried to commercialize things yourself. So there is a benefit to having your employer do these things for you. Of course, in reality, very few ideas produced at universities actually bring in even small amounts of money through commercialization."
}
] |
2015/04/15
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43658",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31703/"
] |
43,665 |
I define educational entertainment media as books, films, animation, video games, board games, toys, and such, designed with embedded practical examples of academic concepts. I am unfamiliar with a better word for this category of commonly entertaining things with embedded education components. Please let me know if there is a better word for educational entertainment media. I narrow the criteria of educational entertainment media to something that students would be willing to buy for their own pleasure.
I have noticed that many of my students spend a lot of time reading books, watching movies, episodes, animation, playing video games, board games, and such. I pondered the idea that if all of my students could perform these activities in such away that while they have fun on their down time, they would be indirectly applying, relearning, and studying core academic concepts, they could improve their performance in the class and final exams.
I have no idea how to engineer educational entertainment media to entertain students during their down time, yet engage them to learn academic concepts, but if such existed they may be providing subtle results on academic performance in classrooms.
Is there data that either supports or denies engineered educational entertainment media as an ineffective method to stimulate students to learn classroom concepts outside of the classroom?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43659,
"author": "user6726",
"author_id": 28972,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28972",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "The question is a legal one, so it would depend on what legal system you're subject to. Ideas *per se* cannot be legally owned, but via patent and copyright you can own the expression of ideas. With a patent, there is a legal process that you need to go through, to gain legal ownership over, say, a method of converting speech to text. If that's the case, you better get on filing right now. In the case of copyright, you basically don't have to do anything in the US, except if you need to sue for infringement and plan to go for statutory damages, then you need to register the work (also, registration is *prima facie* evidence of ownership of the work). But, you will have a copyright transfer or licensing agreement with the publishing venue. If the journal requires a transfer, you don't own the work anymore.\n\nAnd, at any rate, your university can't claim ownership of the work, unless it can prove that this was a work for hire. The closest it could come would be if there is a condition in your employment agreement saying that anything you create is their property, then they could fire you and maybe sue you for not assigning the copyright to them. I am not a lawyer, but I seriously doubt that any clause that says something broad like \"anything that you create is automatically our property\" would be upheld in court. They can forbid you from claiming an affiliation, but you listing an affiliation does not create any property right for the university."
},
{
"answer_id": 43663,
"author": "Wolfgang Bangerth",
"author_id": 31149,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31149",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "@user6726 may have a different opinion, but at least in the US, the intellectual property for everything you do as part of your job rests with your employer. Whether you list the employer or not on your paper has absolutely nothing to do with it.\n\nWhether your employer will ultimately choose to enforce their ownership and share proceeds with you is of course a different matter. If you patent the idea, for example, you probably want a large institution to work with you on the paperwork, the marketing, the contracting, etc. You would rather quickly be out several $10,000 of your own money if you tried to commercialize things yourself. So there is a benefit to having your employer do these things for you. Of course, in reality, very few ideas produced at universities actually bring in even small amounts of money through commercialization."
}
] |
2015/04/16
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43665",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/21829/"
] |
43,675 |
I'm sure I already know the answer to this question, but I feel compelled to ask.
With the passing of midnight a couple hours ago, the [April 15 deadline](http://www.cgsnet.org/april-15-resolution) used by many US graduate schools, by which applicants should accept/decline offers of admission (as decided by the Council of Graduate Schools) has passed. While I have made my choice, there is still at least one (pretty well-respected) school from which I never received a decision. Thus, in order to have waited out a decision from this program, I would have had to risk losing other offers (one of the conundrums that the April 15 resolution aims to avoid).
They were totally fine with taking my application fee back in November, but never seemed to get around to making a decision on my application (it's still pending online and there has been no response to emailed inquiries). I understand rolling admissions, but this is absurd. Is there any chance I will be able to get my application fee refunded, seeing as they did not keep their end of the deal? I guess I'm asking if anyone has ever successfully made this argument to a school.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43677,
"author": "Sander Heinsalu",
"author_id": 6313,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6313",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "Generally application fees are not refunded, so it is unlikely they will do so in your case. You may have a winning case legally, but no point in going to court over something as small as an application fee. And the universities know it, so the threat to go to court is not credible.\n\nI have never heard of anyone getting the application fee refunded.\n\nNot hearing from them is almost certainly a rejection."
},
{
"answer_id": 43680,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "> \n> Is there any chance I will be able to get my application fee refunded, seeing as they did not keep their end of the deal?\n> \n> \n> \n\nGraduate schools generally don't promise to make a decision by April 15, so it's not clear there's any deal being violated. It doesn't sound like you have a case to demand a refund, but you could try asking for one and see what happens. I doubt you'll get one, but it depends on what was happening behind the scenes in this department. I can imagine you might get a refund if something went terribly wrong and the university is embarrassed by it.\n\nNot responding to inquiries is certainly strange and unprofessional (assuming you were sending them to the right address), and waiting until past April 15 to make a decision would be extraordinarily late. One possibility is that you have effectively been on a waiting list while the first round of offers got sorted out. Other than that, I'm having trouble thinking of a good reason why this might have happened. Do you know whether anyone else was admitted or rejected before April 15? (You might be able to find discussions online.) How you might approach this with the university depends on whether it's a widespread problem or something unique to you."
},
{
"answer_id": 43693,
"author": "gnometorule",
"author_id": 4384,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4384",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "Legality and the school being unprofessional aside, academia is a small world. I would not risk the exceptionally small chance that 4 or 5 years from now people at that university remember my name as it was the first time they dealt with that request, only to essentially make a point. \n\nThis doesn't answer your question proper - there is always a tiny chance something unexpected works out as you desire."
},
{
"answer_id": 43719,
"author": "Ben Webster",
"author_id": 13,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "You do not a have a leg to stand on, legally, morally or otherwise. The thing you should actually indict them for is not responding to your emails. That is rude; I think you should probably accept that as an implicit rejection. If they were still thinking of admitting you they would have checked on your status by this point.\n\nThe issue with your argument is that it doesn't actually follow the text of the resolution. The binding part of resolution you cited says \"Students are under no obligation to respond to offers of financial support prior to April 15.\" So, schools have agreed not to withdraw an offer because you haven't accepted it before April 15th, and not to try to hold you to an offer you've accepted if you change your mind before April 15th. The school in question has held to their end of the bargain perfectly, since they never made you an offer. \n\nThe resolution says nothing about the school having to make a decision before April 15th. Of course, schools are well aware that it will be much harder to get people after April 15th, so they make an effort to make offers earlier. However, this is not a deal, this is the department acting in their own self-interest. \n\nUnfortunately, there's too much uncertainty in the process to guarantee you'll make all offers before April 15th. After all, you have some plan for what your incoming class will be, you make offers to many more people than that, and you hope that you guessed the yield correctly. If the people who've already been offered admission are waiting until April 15th to make up their minds, you're then left with a great deal of uncertainty as the deadline approaches, since it will be a big problem if your incoming class is such bigger or much smaller than you planned. Thus, there often are people who you are not sure you want to reject, but not sure you have the money to fund. In my department, we still have a number of people waitlisted, since we haven't filled our class yet. Usually, such people will be formally notified they are on a waitlist; I think again, that's in the department's self-interest and helps clarify things for the student. So, again, it's likely this is an implicit rejection, which for whatever reason they haven't bothered to formalize."
}
] |
2015/04/16
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43675",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11819/"
] |
43,685 |
After 2 postdoc positions, I applied for tenure-track assistant professor positions. I am from mechanical engineering and my research is strongly experimental. This is critically important for me to have a considerable start-up package to run my lab to get funds and students.
In two interviews for positions in the USA and Japan, I was told that the start-up package is about $800K, with a possibility to be negotiated to reach 1 million too (not Japan).
However, in an interview for a position in the UK, I was told that stat-up package in not part of the position (though it is a normal faculty position, not teaching only). They can offer up to 200K pounds, subject to approval.
I am very interested in Europe, but it made me wonder if this is the common situation in Europe or this position was exceptional?
Do European university normally offer start-up package for building a lab (in experimental fields) for a new assistant professor? I mean, as it is common in the United States. Or European universities have a different scheme for funding new faculty members.
I am referring to the Western Europe: Mainly UK, and also Germany and Scandinavia.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43689,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "I think the issue is that the concept of \"tenure-track\" doesn't really exist in many European countries—at least not as it's interpreted in the US. Consequently, start-up packages can be difficult to compare.\n\nWhen I started my present position, I got a very small package, if you reckoned it in terms of what's needed to buy equipment and pay for travel. On the other hand, I was guaranteed two full-time scientific positions for the lifetime of my appointment. (These positions could be used for either PhD students or postdocs.) Reckoned in that sense, however, the package is quite generous (close to $1 million).\n\nIn other nearby countries (Netherlands, for instance), the support is not nearly so strong: typically just one student supported by the university, and relatively limited budgets."
},
{
"answer_id": 100125,
"author": "Ian Sudbery",
"author_id": 82972,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/82972",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "Bit late to this, but thought I'd add something to it as it was a question I had when I first made the jump to PI.\n\nI'm sure it is field specific, so I can only answer for my field - molecular biology. \n\nFirstly, tenure, in the US sense is not just uncommon in the UK, it does not exist for new hires. It was abolished by law in the 80s. There are a few tenured professors left who got it before the abolition, but there are fewer every year. \n\nStart up packages: In the UK, in my field at least, large start up packages are fairly rare. When I took my job the deal was: little cash, but if there is a particular piece of kit you literally can't do your work without, we will consider it. \n\nIn the end my deal was: £10K in cash to spend as I saw fit and a 3.5 year PhD studentship with a total of £15K research and training support grant (RTSG). Calling around others I knew in the same field who had got their jobs recently, it seemed that this was pretty standard, if not a little on the generous side. \n\nAs for how you are supposed to fund your research? Roll up your sleeves and apply for government grants. Success rates are currently 15%, and to keep your (non-tenure) job, you'll be needing one within the first three years. Oh and in the UK you can't resubmit a grant that overlaps with something you've submitted before."
}
] |
2015/04/16
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43685",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/33230/"
] |
43,686 |
I am looking to apply for PhD programs at university XX. My background is in chemical engineering and biotechnology.
DaedUW university XX has a very ample offer on these areas and there are several projects ranging from rather small scale biotechnology-related topics to projects in a larger scale and more close to process or chemical engineering. And everything in between.
I find a lot of them very attractive and even in the hypothetical case of being accepted for several I would have a hard time deciding between them.
How bad would it be seen if I sent applications to several professors?. Will the professors even find out that I sent applications to their colleagues?. How many are too many?
The university in question is a swiss one, where it is traditional to send your application to each professor individually and doctoral programs where you enroll in a program instead of with a supervisor directly are not very usual.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43689,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "I think the issue is that the concept of \"tenure-track\" doesn't really exist in many European countries—at least not as it's interpreted in the US. Consequently, start-up packages can be difficult to compare.\n\nWhen I started my present position, I got a very small package, if you reckoned it in terms of what's needed to buy equipment and pay for travel. On the other hand, I was guaranteed two full-time scientific positions for the lifetime of my appointment. (These positions could be used for either PhD students or postdocs.) Reckoned in that sense, however, the package is quite generous (close to $1 million).\n\nIn other nearby countries (Netherlands, for instance), the support is not nearly so strong: typically just one student supported by the university, and relatively limited budgets."
},
{
"answer_id": 100125,
"author": "Ian Sudbery",
"author_id": 82972,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/82972",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "Bit late to this, but thought I'd add something to it as it was a question I had when I first made the jump to PI.\n\nI'm sure it is field specific, so I can only answer for my field - molecular biology. \n\nFirstly, tenure, in the US sense is not just uncommon in the UK, it does not exist for new hires. It was abolished by law in the 80s. There are a few tenured professors left who got it before the abolition, but there are fewer every year. \n\nStart up packages: In the UK, in my field at least, large start up packages are fairly rare. When I took my job the deal was: little cash, but if there is a particular piece of kit you literally can't do your work without, we will consider it. \n\nIn the end my deal was: £10K in cash to spend as I saw fit and a 3.5 year PhD studentship with a total of £15K research and training support grant (RTSG). Calling around others I knew in the same field who had got their jobs recently, it seemed that this was pretty standard, if not a little on the generous side. \n\nAs for how you are supposed to fund your research? Roll up your sleeves and apply for government grants. Success rates are currently 15%, and to keep your (non-tenure) job, you'll be needing one within the first three years. Oh and in the UK you can't resubmit a grant that overlaps with something you've submitted before."
}
] |
2015/04/16
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43686",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32446/"
] |
43,697 |
I am wondering whether mathematical and scientific questions (or any type of question to be honest) is considered to be owned by the publisher? For example, if I see a math question in a textbook, am I allowed to use that question on my website, or is that legally considered an infringement?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43699,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "Like all other creative material in the text, the exercises belong to the copyright holder.\n\nFor some exercises, which have a fairly complicated statement (e.g., a word problem), this should be quite clear. For simpler exercises, e.g., a simple set of integrals, the individual exercises (e.g., \"Integrate x^2\") may not be significant enough to be meaningfully covered by copyright, but the *choice of what goes in the set for pedagogical purposes* most certainly is.\n\nFor a simpler way to think about it: if you are finding it useful to use their exercises rather than generate your own, then that probably means there is enough creative work involved the construction to be covered by copyright."
},
{
"answer_id": 43701,
"author": "ResearchEnthusiast",
"author_id": 28389,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28389",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Copying questions from textbooks etc. and pasting them with a little or no change in something (homework sheet, exam, etc.) without citation is technically illegal, as the questions of another person are still his creative property.\n\n**But**, it is still a common practice (at least where I live) for professors to “steal” exercises from textbooks or previous exams (maybe with a tiny change) and use them for homework sheets or even exams. In both cases (especially in the homework case) giving a citation is impossible. This practice is considered acceptable here as homework sheets and etc. don’t really count as a creative material the professor claims as his own."
},
{
"answer_id": 43702,
"author": "Bill Barth",
"author_id": 11600,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11600",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "To write this in more detail, the text of the questions is clearly owned by the copyright holder. The ideas embodied in the questions are not protected by copyright. It's usually considered plagiarism to completely rephrase and rewrite a question without citing the original source, but plagiarism generally isn't illegal. \n\nAs noted in the downvoted answer, in some communities there is a broad acceptance of some kinds of copying when it comes to exercises, but I wouldn't want to endorse wholesale copying of homework exercises from one book to another. There are likely to be canonical problems that should be worked by every student in a particular discipline, and those would probably have the least claim to protection and the least interest in protection from the publisher. The more creativity going into the question, the more protection it has and the more enforcement you are likely to see.\n\nWriting good exercises is challenging, but you should endeavor to do so for your website. You should cite to sources when you adapt an exercise from somewhere, and you should mention that an exercise is a classical example that all students should be able to do when you draw on something that Waubs or Euler proved as an exercise centuries ago."
}
] |
2015/04/16
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43697",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19393/"
] |
43,711 |
Manuscripts submitted to a journal are often directly rejected by the editor without going out for review. I find this acceptable with the caveat that it's a huge waste of time having to reformat and readjust word length. Journals with high rejection rates should have an abstract only submission as a first step.
Anyhow, given this current situation: **should I contact the editor of one or more journals that I think would be a good target for my manuscript before formally submitting my manuscript?**
Some journals offer this option but others don't. So I am not sure if it is acceptable to or if just by sending an abstract I will somehow limit my chances of getting to the review stage.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43751,
"author": "Faheem Mitha",
"author_id": 285,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/285",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "I've contacted journals before submission, but usually only to check how long they take to do a review, and to confirm/check that they do quick rejections. Quick rejections are good - it's horrible when they keep you waiting six months only to send you a review telling you your manuscript sucks or is unreadable. I always wonder that, if it is so bad, why didn't they reject it quicker? I don't think they can tell you whether it will be sent to review without actually seeing the manuscript. You could also ask them how much they care about formatting. Perhaps they don't, then you don't have to bother with any special formatting, you can just use a generic template, like the LaTeX article class."
},
{
"answer_id": 43821,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "Thanks for clarifying. Don't worry about the effect this would have on your future chances with this paper and this journal. If this pre-submission step fails, that is an indication that the classic approach would also fail. Either they feel it's worth sending out for review or they don't.\n\nBut send the whole thing, not just the abstract. They need to be able to see the tables and figures.\n\nWhen you send the full long version to the editor, here's a way to word the question: ask whether the work is appropriate for the journal.\n\nIf you get an encouraging response, then you can start slashing, do a formal submission, and hope for the best!\n\n(Source: I have to give the credit to my spouse for this answer, who has about 250 publications. Edit: in case this helps -- in the field of experimental physics.)"
}
] |
2015/04/16
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43711",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4050/"
] |
43,716 |
I am writing an academic paper where I give colloquial or otherwise general words a specific meaning in regards to my research. I have been introducing these terms so far by using quote marks for the first introduction, and then I don’t use quotes for later references, such as:
>
> We convert these subsets into “tokens”, which capture only high-level features. Tokens can have a variety of properties...
>
>
>
This method seems almost amateurish. Is there a better way to do this?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43717,
"author": "Nate Eldredge",
"author_id": 1010,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "Many people use *italics* or **boldface** to set off words that are being defined for the first time in a document. My personal preference is boldface, since I think it helps the reader quickly spot the word on the page. This may also be addressed in the style guidelines of the journal where you submit your paper, and of course their guidelines take precedence over your preference."
},
{
"answer_id": 43718,
"author": "Wrzlprmft",
"author_id": 7734,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7734",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "In my perception and fields, quotation marks are reserved for lack-of-a-better-word descriptions and the rare verbatim quotation. Newly defined terms are italicised instead, e.g.:\n\n> \n> We convert these subsets into *tokens,* which capture only high-level features. Tokens can have a variety of properties...\n> \n> \n> \n\nBefore blindly applying this, you should check other publications to see what is common and the guidelines of your publication venue as to whether they address this.\n\nEven when italicising it is important to phrase defining sentences in such a way that facilitate recognising them as such, which does not necessarily require an explicit definition. To decide whether your example sentence meets this requirement, I would have to know more about the context (and probably your field).\n\nThat being said, there is nothing wrong with explicit definitions and there exist dozens of short phrases and similar that can be used for this, for example:\n\n* > \n> We convert these subsets into entities called *tokens* that capture only high-level features.\n> \n> \n>\n* > \n> We convert these subsets into entities that capture only high-level features, which we denote as *tokens* in the following.\n> \n> \n>\n* > \n> We convert these subsets into entities that capture only high-level features. These *tokens* can have a variety of properties … [not really explicit]\n> \n> \n>\n\n(Replace *entities* with whatever is appropriate from the context.)"
}
] |
2015/04/16
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43716",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/33257/"
] |
43,725 |
Is the title given to those professors who have had a huge impact by their research and/or teaching and now on reaching the autumn of their career are less active in teaching and taking students but attend seminar and give talks? (The description is from personal experience)
What does this title mean? Does the title depend on age? Being as reputed as he is, is Torrz Fai a possible candidate at UCLA? Or is he too 'young'?
Is this a nominated position or do they have to apply? I haven't seen any university policy about this.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43726,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "Professor Emeritus is essentially a form of retirement for academics. \n\nDepartments typically have a tightly constrained number of faculty slots. When a tenured professor is either not interested or becoming physically incapable of fulfilling all of the expected duties of a full-time faculty member, they may move (or in some cases be involuntarily moved) to emeritus status. That opens up a faculty slot for a new hire without severing the relationship of the old professor with the department. Typically, emeritus professors still have many rights and opportunities to participate and contribute: some still teach, supervise students, raise money, etc., such that they are practically still a full faculty member, while others just turn up occasionally to say hello."
},
{
"answer_id": 43727,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "In the U.S., \"professor emeritus\" simply means \"retired professor\". It's a courtesy title offered to retiring professors to acknowledge their continued scholarly role even after formal retirement. It typically includes library privileges and a computer account, and emeritus professors may also have offices (this depends on departmental policy and the availability of space). It's sometimes possible to teach, but this is a special arrangement rather than a job requirement.\n\nAt many universities every retired faculty member is offered this title, with rare exceptions for people who committed misconduct or angered the administration. At other universities one has to apply for the title and make a case for why it is justified.\n\nIn particular, professor emeritus is not a higher title or special distinction. It can be viewed as a retirement incentive: even after retirement, you'll still have a respected role as well as necessities like library access. However, there's no advantage to becoming an emeritus professor beyond the benefits of retiring from your job (i.e., giving up duties and focusing only on what you prefer)."
},
{
"answer_id": 43756,
"author": "Patric Hartmann",
"author_id": 20449,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20449",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "The others already made the basics clear (em. = retired), but I would like to add that the actual meaning of the title largely depends on the institution. I have been to the University of Zurich and there it is basically just a formality with no privileges attached to the title. However, at my current institution the Prof. em. remains head of the faculty, theoretically until his death (many withdraw voluntarily much earlier). They continue lecturing and have office hours the days they are present. Many also continue supervising final theses, though this is normally limited to the higher level ones, like dissertations, not master's or even bachelor's theses anymore.\n\nThe word itself stems from \"emereri\", meaning \"earning a privilege\", but - interestingly... - also \"becoming useless\". The latter has been used for soldiers in the Roman army, when they were not fit for service anymore and later was applied on many other branches. In German speaking regions it's e.g. often the case that retired lawyers are adressed as \"emeritus\" by their former partners."
},
{
"answer_id": 43782,
"author": "o.m.",
"author_id": 27345,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/27345",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "In *Germany*, the system used to be that professors become professors emeritus at age 68. That used to mean most of the rights and few of the duties of a tenured professor until death. A professor emeritus can administer academic exams, for example, or teach courses with [credit points](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Credit_Transfer_and_Accumulation_System). Basically medieval traditions surviving into the modern age.\n\nThis changed in the 80s, so more recent professors get pensioned at the regular retirement age. The older ones are still using the old rules."
}
] |
2015/04/17
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43725",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/30664/"
] |
43,741 |
I have been asked to recommend systems for upcoming computer labs. I see 2 options.
1. Buy high end systems now. They will be expensive but will last longer.
2. Buy average systems now and buy again in a couple of years when these become obsolete.
Option 1 makes more sense to me with the bonus that the lab systems will actually qualify as high-end for some time. Option 2 may seem cheaper now but current systems will become dinosaurs in a couple of years and new systems will have to be bought. The total cost of both options may actually come out to be the same in the long run. However, Option 2 involves scrapping systems in a couple of years which I see as needless waste.
Can anyone here comment on this?
NOTE: I understand this may not be the right forum for this question. If so, I will be happy to be pointed to one that is.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43743,
"author": "Joseph Orlando",
"author_id": 29025,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/29025",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "The answer really depends on what hardware is needed. Look at the products that change significantly overtime, products that change most would be consumer and workstation models. Particularly latest solid state drives for more powerful workstations. Video cards last a while and will be used by your engineers. DDR4 is too new to worry about at this stage. You can go for it and future proof, but DDR3 will hold a stance for almost the next decade I would say, then it will be obsolete. Servers change less often, but they are no longer using traditional SCSI either XD. \n\n**Workstations:** Go with latest generation Intel core processors, they are a tighter product line than all of AMDs, I would say, for most consumers. Go with solid state, that's new. Regular hard drives are getting old. But do consider SSD brand, as that will determine the lifetime. \n\n**Servers:** Honestly, you shouldn't need to future proof or go with those HP mini servers where there's like 4 per 2U, bare with me I forgot the name. Server architecture doesn't change often due to long term support and reliability. Go with whatever is most cost effective."
},
{
"answer_id": 43744,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "In general, I would argue in favor of getting the best available system that fits within your budget at the time of the purchase. You might be able to save some money now by buying a less powerful system, but the danger of doing so is that you can't necessarily guarantee that in *N* years, when you plan to buy the replacements, that you'll have the money in the budget to do so. Long-term funding guarantees really aren't, and what is promised today might not hold up several years from now.\n\nBy getting the best available system now, you postpone the \"must replace\" date a while, which can give you more time to find a replacement (or the funds to replace it, as need be). Also, if your money is time-restricted in its use (you have to use it this year, for instance), there's no real incentive to skimp."
},
{
"answer_id": 43754,
"author": "algorithmic_fungus",
"author_id": 10920,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10920",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Unless all infrastructure is really very well unified and maintained, moving to the new workstation costs significant time so also money. Taking migration costs into consideration, changing hardware on a yearly basis may not be the best option. If ten researchers spend four days each getting own workstation into working shape again, it is forty person-days!\n\nMigration costs can be reduced by making machines very network-bound, with nothing important stored locally. However this approach seems challenging, for some reasons near always being too slow and near always having not enough space on the server. I have seen many attempts to implement it and have never seen a true success."
}
] |
2015/04/17
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43741",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14572/"
] |
43,749 |
I'm sure it's common for students to reject 1-2 recommendations for admission to a graduate school, because they often apply to several places and sometimes they get accepted in more than one place. But what impression does this give to the graduate school when the student doesn't accept the offer for admission (not sure if this is the correct term)? Specifically **universities in Europe** where a lot of them don't have application fees. If you apply again in the future, are they likely to not accept you based on this information they have about you from the past? Is that information used at all?
In my case it's admission to a Master's program.
**Additional question:** if I got accepted to my first choice, would it be better if I told the other universities to cancel my applications?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43750,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "In general, there is not much memory for individual students who act responsibly. Turning down an offer in a reasonable time period is acting responsibly. Initially accepting an offer and not turning it down until the last minute after external and internal funding applications have been made, is less responsible.\n\nI would let departments know as soon as you know you are no longer interested. That means if you have gotten into your first choice school with a nice/fully funded offer, you should turn everyone else down. If you have gotten into your first choice school with a crappy funding offer, you need to decide for the remaining schools what you would do if they gave you a great funding offer. Any school that cannot make an offer that you would accept, you should let know."
},
{
"answer_id": 43753,
"author": "Keine",
"author_id": 32446,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32446",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "What country in Europe?\n\nSpeaking for the case in Germany, Master courses are usually \"centralized\" in the sense that you apply to the university nad not to a single professor. When applying for PhD's you usually apply directly to a professor.\n\nUnless this is about a research master where you are applying directly to someone, I can not see how they would care at all.\n\nIt is pretty common to apply to several masters after your bachelors and go for the \"best\" one.\n\nI would however point that it can be easier to get in contact with your desired future PhD advisor if you are in his university and carry out research projects at his chair, take his classes, etc."
},
{
"answer_id": 43766,
"author": "Alan Mead",
"author_id": 33284,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/33284",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "I do not have specific information about non-US schools. However, in the US, the best students generally have choices and are likely to say \"No\" to a few or perhaps several schools. It would be silly to discriminate against those students in the future."
},
{
"answer_id": 43777,
"author": "Coldfusion",
"author_id": 32431,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32431",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "It is expected that applicants would most likely have applied for numerious other places so odds are many will turn down the offer. It is very unlikely that HR will remember the individual and hold any kind of grudge against them but if you are really worried, there are data protection laws which ensures that data has to be deleted after a certain period of time has passed (except in exceptional circumstances or where it would still be relevant). Personally, I'd just advise you not to worry about this."
}
] |
2015/04/17
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43749",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10756/"
] |
43,760 |
I am a senior undergrad studying internationally and majoring in electronics. I applied to graduate physics programs in the US. I was able to get into some schools, but not the top ones. I have accepted the offer from University of Minnesota for the PhD along with a Master's.
However, I got a few great positions in the upcoming summer and a couple of papers which seem to be completely deal breaking. I also have a feeling that my undergrad major might have been a problem so getting a master's could be helpful.
I wanted to reapply for grad school with my Master's (along with good GPA). There is a lot of negativity in academia about transfer students. However, I want to make it absolutely clear that I am not talking about transfer student. I want to reapply as a first-year graduate student. And, I am also not bothered by getting recommendation letters from UMN. I can get sufficient letters from other professors.
I contacted a few schools asking about it. They said I can obviously reapply as a first-year graduate student (that's what I want). But many people (on the internet) say that it is something that is highly frowned upon, and this decreases the chances of admission (even with Masters). I want to get some perspective as to what extent is it common, and how much is it frowned upon?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43765,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "If you want to be in academia, you are making a mistake of treating graduate school as the *end* of your academic career, rather than the start. Getting into a really good school is all you need at this point: there are professors who are just as world-class at a place like University of Minnesota as there are at MIT or CalTech, just less of them or in more focused sub-disciplines.\n\nYour goal now should be to have a damned good graduate school career in the school where you are accepted (which, again, is a *very* good school and highly selective), and eventually line yourself up for the best *postdoc* that you can get. In Physics, as in many other disciplines, you are expected to do a significant amount of postdoctoral work: postdocs come from all over, and it is the work you do as a postdoc that will have the most effect on your application for faculty positions.\n\nSo: don't waste your time now trying to optimize the wrong phase of your career. Buckle down, do some excellent graduate work, and line yourself up for the right next step."
},
{
"answer_id": 43767,
"author": "Bill Barth",
"author_id": 11600,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11600",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "I guess I'm out of the loop. I knew a handful of PhD students in grad school at the University of Texas who had gotten their Master's degree elsewhere first. There was no shame in it, but they also didn't start completely over. They came in having done their Master's, had the vast majority of their coursework requirements waived, prepped for their qualifying exams, took them, and then went straight into research. Some of them took several classes along the way to catch things they had missed, learn some exciting things, interact with eminent professors, etc. They did fine. It's not that uncommon to take a Master's at one US university and then a PhD at another. But, there's no need to completely reboot your career to do it."
},
{
"answer_id": 43771,
"author": "user33290",
"author_id": 33290,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/33290",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "Since you, in part, ask how much this type of thing is frowned upon, I can provide a data point (or at least an anecdote). For the purposes of this question/answer I am going to pretend there is an absolute ranking of all U.S. PhD programs in my area (since you are concerned about moving to a \"top\" school).\n\nThe first PhD program I entered was one that does not even appear on the listed of schools that I typically see ranked by various reports. So let's say for my absolute ranking of grad schools that my first program was ranked not even in the top 100.\n\nAfter a year (or 1.5 years) in this first program, I decided I did *not* want to get my PhD from there, so I applied to other schools. In the statement that I gave my advisor to help him write me a letter of recommendation, I included 2 reasons that I wanted to leave, which were basically the following\n\n1. The program I was in did not match my interests. Basically the department was more applied-oriented (almost exclusively so) than I wanted to be.\n2. I basically said that I wasn't a great undergraduate and that now that I had some successful grad courses under my belt, I wanted to re-apply to grad school and get to a better school.\n\nAfter reading this statement, my advisor said almost verbatim, \n\n\"Please tell me you have not shown this to anyone else. You can't show this to anyone else without removing [item 2. from above].\"\n\nThe major moral here is that there *are* reasons for switching PhD programs that will be perceived as legitimate, but prestige may not be one of them. I came from a liberal arts background with not much knowledge of the different types of research, and learned after a year in grad school that I was not in a location that would support my research interests. This is perfectly reasonable (in my opinion), and it was also *plausible*, given the department I was in.\n\nI don't know anything about your field, but I imagine that if you enter a rather top-notch\\* program like Minnesota and then want to go to a different school to somehow start your actual PhD, I think you will cartainly have to explain your reasons for switching.\n\nYou want to go to the higher-ranked school for prestige? Probably this reason will not be well received.\n\nYou couldn't find a match for any of your research interests in Minnesota's department? Well, Minnesota is a great department that many tenure-track seeking new PhD's would love to work in. If you can't be a successful researcher there, what kind of researcher *are* you?\n\nOf course I'm inventing the answers to these questions, and there are many reason's one might switch grad schools. But the point is that you should have a good (by some measure) reason for switching grad programs. If such a reason exists, I think there is nothing negative about changing programs, and I doubt getting into your second program will be more difficult with your Minnesota Masters degree.\n\n\\*I'm assuming this department is perceived as top-notch based only on jakebeal's comment to the question."
},
{
"answer_id": 43802,
"author": "aparente001",
"author_id": 32436,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32436",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "JFK said, \"Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.\" User33283, don't be a snobbish leech. Don't turn down the meatballs before trying one, just because you think the Angus steak is more prestigious.\n\nGo into your new school with the best possible attitude you can: you are a smart, curious, thoughtful, hardworking person; the school you will be attending has a great deal to offer; if you come across a professor there that doesn't appeal to you, just steer clear of that person; and gravitate to the people you find stimulating, helpful, ethical; etc.\n\nIf the school turns out not to be the right fit, despite your best efforts, then you'll have your reasons to move elsewhere. And you'll have your recent recommendations (which WILL be needed, as @Potato pointed out).\n\nNow, here's a point that will help you swallow the above: if Minnesota is not among the top-ranked schools, then you'll be able to be a big fish in a medium pond!\n\nJust make sure you're a big fish with integrity."
}
] |
2015/04/17
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43760",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/33283/"
] |
43,770 |
In some sense this question follows the question:
[Is it necessary to obtain permissions for copying figures from published articles in your proposal/dissertation?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/4787/is-it-necessary-to-obtain-permissions-for-copying-figures-from-published-article)
Following `F'x`'s advice and my own university's very stringent requirements, I have applied for permissions for reuse of figures in my dissertation. I plan to drop the figures, the permission for reuse of which has not been provided freely by the respective holder.
I hadn't given this much thought before, but what permissions are necessary for reuse of figures in a dissertation defense? I mean the powerpoint presentation slides. Of course, clear and prominent attribution is the minimum requirement, but is there a clear law on this? It's become reasonably convenient to obtain permissions from US publishers (copyright.com), but what if the publisher in question is based in Europe?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43773,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "If you aren't planning to publish you slides, I would advise you to not worry about copyright law in this case. Copyright law applies to your use of material in slides just like it does any other medium, but there is more possible latitude for fair use claims. That \"possible latitude\" means legal grey area and lots of possible time and money that can be sunk into a likely fruitless attempt to achieve clarity, since many edge cases may have no official legal determination yet.\n\nThus, my real advice is this: worry about communicating, not about copyright. Nobody at your defense will report you for copyright infringements. More care is appropriate when posting online, but it is still the case that a) probably nobody will care and b) if somebody does care, the expected action will be to ask you to remove the image from the posted slide."
},
{
"answer_id": 43788,
"author": "sintax",
"author_id": 20270,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20270",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "I would say you'd have little difficulty convincing nearly anyone that using a properly-attributed figure to improve understanding in an academic presentation should fall under fair use.\n\nAlso, the only people with standing to bring any sort of DMCA notice against you probably either aren't going to be present (unaffiliated authors) or would give permission readily (like a committee member)."
}
] |
2015/04/17
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43770",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/906/"
] |
43,779 |
A colleague of mine who worked on the same project retired one year ago. I would like to use some of the data he measured and reproduce some of his figures. He gathered the data while performing a routine analysis of our raw material e.g binding kinetics or adsorption isotherms. In general, nothing groundbreaking. Unfortunately, he did not publish the particular dataset. As a consequence, I cannot cite him.
How can I use that data without being accused of plagiarism or fraud. Of course, I will ask him for the permission to use that data.
Would you state that in the introduction or the figure legend? And what would you write?
EDIT:
I forgot to mention that I will write my Thesis as a monograph and publish it later.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43780,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "As PatW says in a comment: the general correct action in this case is coauthorship. This gets a little bit trickier with a thesis, which does not typically allow coauthors per se. For the thesis, the thing you should do is give explicit credit where the data is introduced. If it corresponds with the practices of your field, you can also put in a citation to your colleague as an unpublished document or personal communication.\n\nWhen you republish this material as a journal manuscript or other conventional form that allows multiple authors, however, your colleague should be amongst the set of coauthors."
},
{
"answer_id": 43815,
"author": "Patric Hartmann",
"author_id": 20449,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20449",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "The simplest answer I can give you: Talk about it to your supervisor.\n\nBeyond that I can mention two examples from my own experience:\nIn my master's thesis there's an acknowledgment to a colleague of mine who helped with the research by organising copies and scans from original documents. He also assessed the content of many of those Mss. Hours of work I would have had to do. I put a paragraph at the beginning, stating what he did and thanking him for it.\n\nRight now I \"coauthor\" a bachelor's thesis. He does some research on something related to Islam but cannot yet speak Arabic, so I do the translation work for him. He will also just put a small paragraph at the beginning, stating that I did the translations for him."
},
{
"answer_id": 43817,
"author": "curiousdannii",
"author_id": 21773,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/21773",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "The other answers have dealt with the possibility of co-authorship. This is field specific; in some fields co-authorship is readily given, in others it requires more than just contributing some data. So if the amount of data you use means that co-authorship is not really appropriate, or it if is not an option because you are writing a thesis rather than a paper, it is still no major issue, because referencing unpublished materials is actually very routine! For details you should look in your field's appropriate referencing style guide.\n\nIf the data is available as an *unpublished document*, then it should be referenced as normal, but usually with some annotation. In MLA, it will be MS (handwritten manuscript) or TS (typescript):\n\n> \n> Author. *Title*. Date. TS. Institution.\n> \n> \n> \n\nIf you have access to the raw data but not as a document, then it should be referenced as a *personal communication*. In MLA these are also referenced, but other referencing systems may recommend just appending `(p.c.)` after the author's name and not listing it in the final bibliography. For example in MLA:\n\n> \n> Author. Letter to the author. Date. TS.\n> \n> \n>"
},
{
"answer_id": 193676,
"author": "Peter Wone",
"author_id": 17338,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17338",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "Given it hasn't been published, nobody can prove plagiarism. Being accused of it isn't your problem. *Your* problem is how to support the claims without a formal citation.\n\nI suggest that after obtaining permission you include the entire work as an appendix. Attribute it to your colleague and preface it with a note that it is the previously unpublished work of a retired colleague included with permission. Then you can reference the appendix.\n\nIt's verifiable, his work can be peer reviewed at the same time as yours and you haven't implied you did the work. Better yet if anyone wants to quote him they'll have to cite *you*."
}
] |
2015/04/17
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43779",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22893/"
] |
43,784 |
Suppose I want to apply to PhD programs at a university outside of the US and Europe.
How do I know if most universities there follow [what the US is doing or what Europe is doing](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43313/why-are-us-phds-different-from-european-phds)?
**Elaboration**: How do I know if most schools in the country/state want students to first apply to schools before choosing an doctoral advisor (like in the US) or to first contact the faculty members of a particular schools looking for a doctoral advisor before applying to said schools (like in Europe)?
Example: The UK [mostly](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/42377/what-is-common-in-most-phd-application-procedures-in-the-uk) follows Europe. I heard Hong Kong and Japan follow the US.
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43785,
"author": "BSteinhurst",
"author_id": 7561,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7561",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "1) Find a school you want to apply to. \n\n2) Email the graduate admissions contact person in the department. \n\n3) In that email, ask politely. \n\n4) Say thank you."
},
{
"answer_id": 43786,
"author": "Bill Barth",
"author_id": 11600,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11600",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "In the US, you would look at a department's website for instructions for how to apply to grad school in that department, and then follow those instructions. The nature of those instructions will let you know whether that school follows the US model or the European model."
}
] |
2015/04/17
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43784",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/21026/"
] |
43,787 |
I have heard that it is a good practice or even necessary to ask for our potential referees' permission before we include their contact details in our CVs. Is it also a good practice to keep them informed about which positions we are applying for and the status of each of these applications? Is it good or necessary to update them how each of our application went, whether rejected or invited for an interview, or should we be selective?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43792,
"author": "Thomas Lee",
"author_id": 24823,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/24823",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "I would suggest letting them know about at least the places that you are really interested with and why, so they can tailor their letters. I don't think you need to report the status."
},
{
"answer_id": 43796,
"author": "user141592",
"author_id": 27327,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/27327",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "Asking for permission before giving anyone's contact details in a CV as a potential reference should go without saying. Both for their sake and for yours. You want to be sure they can write you a good, relevant recommendation for the position(s) you are applying for, and presuming that someone has the time to write a recommendation letter without asking them is just rude.\n\nI don't think it's possible to write really excellent recommendation letters without knowing where you are applying. At the very least, they would need to know whether the schools you are applying to are liberal arts schools or R1 schools, to know how to focus the letter. If they are familiar with a department or someone working in a department where you are applying, the letter could (if they have the time / inclination) be tailored even more.\n\nI've always been told that it's good etiquette to inform anyone who wrote you a recommendation letter for anything what happened to the application. A quick email or note (or even stopping by their office) to say thank you again and tell them where you will be going next year, even if it's not to the place they wrote the recommendation letter for is the polite thing to do."
}
] |
2015/04/17
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43787",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10936/"
] |
43,789 |
One rejection letter I received had the following words:
>
> Careful consideration was given ... to the relationship of each applicant’s qualifications to the existing capabilities and needs in our program.
>
>
>
I take this to mean that the department was looking for someone whose areas of expertise were not already covered by other faculty members in the department.
Is it often the case that search committees are most interested in someone who can add to their department's research and teaching strong areas? Do I have a better chance of getting a position in a department whose strengths overlap only a little with mine?
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43790,
"author": "paul garrett",
"author_id": 980,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "Not at all. I'd wager that a majority of hires are replacements to, or additions to, existing interest-groups.\n\nIn mathematics, anyway, there is a substantial scientific conservatism, in the sense of caution about change, as well as extreme uneasiness about \"new things one is unable to expertly appraise\". I guess the good side is that people are wary of being bamboozled, wary of semi-cranks, wary of flash-in-the-pan fads, ... but, also, it creates difficulties in hiring outside already-established expertise.\n\nAnother point would be that a hire outside existing areas would *not* add to any existing area's \"turf\", so only the altruistic entities would be in favor of it, barring some deal-sweetening arrangement. A similar mild negative would be that it would effectively reduce the weight of pre-existing turf-areas' \"vote\" in policy and other matters. Who would vote away the strength of their own vote? :)\n\nAnd it is my observation that this sort of realpolitick would outweigh impulses to \"get on the bandwagon\", although perhaps not so hugely but that it could still happen.\n\nBut, then, if the \"new\" field is not a \"hot new thing\", and the given department has no one in that area, I'd bet that there's essentially zero motivation for them to make a hire in that direction. \"Can't do everything.\" ???\n\nSo, probably the answer to the question is \"no\", in most operational situations."
},
{
"answer_id": 43804,
"author": "aparente001",
"author_id": 32436,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32436",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "> \n> I take this to mean that the department was looking for someone whose areas of expertise were not already covered by other faculty members in the department. \n> \n> \n> \n\nNot so much that, I think, as that the department knew it had a need for something that someone else was especially strong in.\n\nSo you see, there's a great deal of luck involved in the job search."
}
] |
2015/04/17
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43789",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10936/"
] |
43,791 |
I have a paper accepted to appear in a CS conference proceedings,
Is it possible to put it on an on-line archive,
such as "arXiv" before the conference date?
Could I at least publish the pre-print?
EDIT:
The conference chair did not ask me to sign any copyrights form!
|
[
{
"answer_id": 43801,
"author": "Wrzlprmft",
"author_id": 7734,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7734",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "> \n> The conference did not claim any copyrights!\n> \n> \n> \n\nAre you sure about this? Moreover, even without a copyright transfer or similar, you could have agreed to not having submitted or published the paper elsewhere. If exceptions are being made for publishing preprints, they are often explicit exceptions to clauses that forbid you publishing the article elsewhere, so this is where you should start looking.\n\nIf the proceedings are part of a series by some publisher, you may find relevant information on preprint publishability on [RoMEO](http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo/).\n\nIf you are still uncertain, you have to ask the conference organisers. I have no experience with such CS conferences, but if journals allow the publication of preprints, this is intentional. Thus I do not see any risk in asking the organisers."
},
{
"answer_id": 44031,
"author": "yo'",
"author_id": 1471,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1471",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "You shouldn't expect anything, and if you're not sure, you should ask somebody who will be sure -- PC chair, or maybe someone else in your lab, because there is a lot of unwritten rules and technically illegal policies that are widely tolerated, especially in some communities.\n\nWhat would happen if you put it on arXiv without a confirmation you can do so? Most likely nothing, but don't go after me if the talk gets cancelled because of this (especially since you mention the conference is open to previously published work and work-in-progress)."
}
] |
2015/04/17
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43791",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/33309/"
] |