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thread-9021 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9021 | Switching between different graduate departments within the same graduate school? | 2013-03-31T14:19:44.913 | # Question
Title: Switching between different graduate departments within the same graduate school?
How difficult it is to switch between different graduate departments within the same graduate school? And how can a student initiate the process?
Some have told me that it's easier than getting into a graduate department via PhD admissions. But I do wonder - does it depend on what school it is? (I'm at Brown). What other factors determine how easy it is to get into another graduate department? Would they look at your transcript/GRE scores/etc? I have GRE scores of 96th percentile Verbal/96th percentile Math/99th percentile Analytical/89th percentile Biology. My grades are weaker though. I'm currently a student in a Geoscience department and am considering switching to Physics or a Biology-related field.
Of course, one has to convince someone else to be able to take them on. Most of my experience is with Physics and Scientific Computing, however, and a lot of fields really value the skills that people in Physics/Scientific Computing have.
# Answer
Maybe this differs between departments or schools, but in my experience transferring between departments is exactly the same process as applying from the outside. If faculty in the new department know you and are familiar with your work, then you may have an advantage (or disadvantage), but there is no advantage from being already enrolled in another department.
If you want to do something interdisciplinary that could fit in either department, it's usually easiest not to switch (so you don't have to deal with applying again, fulfilling different class and exam requirements, etc.). Instead, you can try to arrange a thesis committee with representatives from both departments.
If you want to start over in a new field, then the only option is to apply to the new department. You'll need to convince them of two things: that you are changing departments because you now understand better what you would like to do (rather than because you are doing poorly in grad school), but that you will complete the new program rather than changing interests again in a few years. This means you need a compelling story to explain the shift.
> 11 votes
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Tags: graduate-school
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thread-8845 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/8845 | Sources of information about postdoctoral/PhD grants and funding | 2013-03-24T08:05:52.017 | # Question
Title: Sources of information about postdoctoral/PhD grants and funding
We are a research group in Spain. For first year postdocs and PhDs from other european countries that want to come to our lab, there is no support for spanish ministry of science. Therefore we wonder where can we find information about such funding from any other country in the world.
# Answer
As a PhD student trying to find a good postdoc position it's in my interest to help you find funding for places. These links may help as they all currently have open calls for projects/fellowship funding:
Please let me know if you manage to get some funding ;)
> 11 votes
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Tags: postdocs, funding
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thread-9048 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9048 | Creating a collaborative project for a group of 10 graduate neuroscience students from various backgrounds | 2013-04-01T16:41:39.917 | # Question
Title: Creating a collaborative project for a group of 10 graduate neuroscience students from various backgrounds
I am taking part in a seminar-course given to graduate neuroscience students. The students come from various backgrounds; mainly - Computer science, physics and life science (biology).
In the current course format, each student chooses an interesting neurobiology subject and gives a short (1 hour) literature overview of it.
This format works well, but I feel the course does not fulfill its full potential.
I am trying to think of a new, better format for this course - suggestions would be warmly appreciated.
An example vision is of a medium sized project that could be divided into a few sub projects, each would be assigned to one or a small group of the students. Ideally :
* The project would have some impact on \ helpful to the science community.
* Each sub-project would allow its student to shine by using his unique background.
* The sum of all the mini-projects would be greater of its parts.
An example of such a project would be to create a new or expand an existing (wiki-like) open knowledge-base of a specific subject.
Your ideas would be greatly appreciated.
# Answer
> 1 votes
Sometimes the hardest part is figuring out what the project should be.
I use a large-group project for one of my classes, and I've started soliciting faculty in certain departments with an email a few months before class gets underway. Essentially, this email states:
* My class will be working on a semester-long project soon.
* I would rather the students work on something real-world, as opposed to a toy project.
* Because these are students, there are no guarantees you'll get a useful result when they are done. However, you won't pay anything, either, and you might get lucky.
* If you have something that might be a suitable idea, contact me.
The result has been a big success. Students tend to work harder when they feel like something useful and tangible may come from their efforts. Moreover, this set-up requires the students to work with real "customers", which is sometimes one of the most valuable parts of the learning process.
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Tags: research-process, teaching, collaboration, science
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thread-9017 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9017 | Should I pursue my PhD dream based on my Undergrad experiences? | 2013-03-31T10:16:49.913 | # Question
Title: Should I pursue my PhD dream based on my Undergrad experiences?
I'm an Undergrad student from one of the Indian Institutes of Technology and I still have a year left to complete my Dual-degree course in Computer Science(offers me M.Tech & B.Tech by the end of June 2014). I've a not-so-proud-of gpa of 7.5/10 which is around 3.0/4.0 which I assume is pretty low when compared to my seniors' gpa who've taken up a PhD. But, what I've experienced from a last summer's industry internship and the previous summer working under a professor doing research is that I really can't work in the industry for a longer time writing Software as making money is the least of my concerns. The research work yielded in a rejected publication though I was way more satisfied than the internship
I worked under another professor the next winter, published an article in a highly reputed journal in the field of Complex networks and working on another publication this fall. I'll be working along with IBM in a research internship this summer and hoping to do well. A bit of a late realization haunts me day-to-day. Needless to say, my transcripts suck. So, to dodge all the obstacles that I created myself, I'm planning to do research work extensively for the rest of my Undergrad time. Also, I'm thinking of joining the industry after my graduation for about a year or two before PhD for two reasons. One being, my work experience can be of help and can make up for my poor transcript and second being that I can reinforce the industry-is-not-so-interesting belief. The second being not so important.
So, is pursuing PhD from a reputed university still in my scope? What suggestions can you offer for increasing my chances that I can do during my last year? Reading a lot of questions in this forum site, I believed this might be a good place to vent my rant. Thanks a lot in advance.
# Answer
A 3.5+ is generally preferred but a 3.0 and some solid test scores (GMAT/GRE) can really bump you up in the admissions line. Keep working on your publications and when it comes time to write your personal essay talk about how you have published already but really want to develop those skills so you can be a prolific researcher.
If you love research, and the creation of knowledge, then go for the PhD it will give you the best training and opportunity to advance your research.
> 1 votes
# Answer
My cents:
1. Academia is broken (\[1\] and other articles).
2. However, you need to show your future employer that you are not just a Adderall user \[2\].
Thus, I would get a Master's degree in ECE. Now, why ECE and not CS. I consider CS (as well as physics, chemistry, etc) to be a fundamental science. Industry usually is looking for more applied field, which in the case of CS is ECE (IMHO).
Now, in US, is possible to get Master's degree in ECE for free. Apply for PhD school, then drop out with Master's, preferable with thesis option. This way you will show your future employer that you can do: independent research; describe and present your results.
\[1\] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5429651
\[2\] http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/01/health/drugs-adderall-concentration
> -13 votes
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Tags: phd, research-process
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thread-9031 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9031 | When citing a personal corespondence, is the full name always mentioned? | 2013-03-31T19:36:12.447 | # Question
Title: When citing a personal corespondence, is the full name always mentioned?
If you're citing a personal correspondence, e.g.:
"Cats are vicious" (Bill Bobson, personal correspondence, March 12, 2012)
and you continue to use this personal correspondence with a cat expert, do you refer to them simply as Bobson, or Bill Bobson?
# Answer
> 6 votes
Continuously referring to personal correspondence sounds like a bad idea… if many parts of the discussion come from unpublished comments from your correspondent, he should probably be a co-author rather than simply cited. Otherwise, you can quote the personal correspondence once and explain its context at first point of use. Something like:
> Many of ideas developed in this paragraph were inspired by a series of discussion with cat expert Bill Bobson, over the spring of 2002. In particular, he drew our attention to the viciousness of cats and their unwillingness to comply to their master's will.
# Answer
> 1 votes
In addition to @F'x' good points, depending on the nature of the communication, if it is "preservable" (an email, a PDF, or a conversation for which you have a transcript) it may merit a bibliographic entry \[Bobson~2012\] or Bobson (2012) depending on your style. Certainly do give a date or dates, and the disposition of the records, such as they may be. That is, as in other situations, being honest and helpful to the reader is a good guide.
# Answer
> 0 votes
I think every style is going to be different. APA doesn't add it to the references at the end. It also only uses initials and not the full name in text. Additional reference to the same communication would still include the initials.
The key thing to remember is to be consistent and let the copy editor enfore the style rule. Nobody is going to reject your work because of slight stylistic deviations,
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Tags: citations
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thread-9077 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9077 | Doing extra research worth the effort? | 2013-04-03T07:35:08.337 | # Question
Title: Doing extra research worth the effort?
I am currently doing research for my masters and also doing a full time job from 10 to 7 excluding the weekends.By the end of our research ,all of the students would get at least one good paper. I am also expected to get one. I have two more opportunities for research. One comes from one of my semester projects on computer simulation.My professor told me that I might get a good publication out of it if I extend it a little.I have done most of the work on this project.I only have to do about 20 or 30 percent more work on it. The second opportunity is regarding GPU acceleration.I haven't started work on this one. I was wondering that will it be worth the effort if I choose to go ahead with these research opportunities? I am free on the weekends but I am worried that I might get burned out if I work all the time. Would it be beneficial for me if I plan to go into teaching in a few years? Would it be beneficial if I plan to go for a PhD?
# Answer
> 2 votes
Doing more research and get publication are always good, especially if you want to go for PhD and/or follow academia path. However, as you're working full-time, I wonder if you can do intensive research as it's a very hard work. So, my answer is: Yes, it's worth to do more research but you need to reschedule your time and prioritize which activity you want to do most: work or research.
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Tags: research-process, masters
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thread-9081 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9081 | When does a researcher become a computer scientist? | 2013-04-03T07:56:24.437 | # Question
Title: When does a researcher become a computer scientist?
When do you call a researcher a computer scientist? Are Master degree holders computer scientists? Are Phd degree holders computer scientists? Is there a certain level of experience after which the researcher will be called a computer scientist?
# Answer
> When do you call a researcher a computer scientist?
A runner is someone who runs; a writer is someone who writes; a researcher is someone who does research; a computer scientist is someone who does computer science. So if you're doing computer science research, **I** will call you a computer scientist and a researcher, even if you aren't yet published, even if you work full-time as a plumber, even if you're still in junior high school.
> Is there a certain level of experience after which the researcher will be called a computer scientist?
No. There is nothing you can do to make other people call you anything.
But to call *yourself* a computer scientist, the only requirement is that you are doing computer science. So in that sense, yes, there is a certain required level of experience: **More than zero.**
> 20 votes
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Tags: phd, research-process, postdocs, masters, science
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thread-9068 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9068 | How to get a research paper all together | 2013-04-03T05:51:44.037 | # Question
Title: How to get a research paper all together
The "research portion" of my paper is mostly done, but I'm having trouble putting together my research. (Keep in mind this is at the undergraduate level). It's not so much that I don't know how to organize my thoughts; in fact, I've written a very detailed outline. I seem to have a two questions I'm wrestling with (I apologize if this is a tad long-winded)
1. The monotonous proof-theorem-proof-theorem style that essentially consists of a list of facts with no exposition seems to be most accepted. But will this really make my paper stand out? When I think about texts with proof-theorem-proof-theorem, I think of the color gray. If I try to be clever and witty, it could certainly backfire on me, but such papers are the most memorable papers I've ever read!
> So what should the tone/style of my paper be?
2. I'm struggling *very much* with how detailed my paper should be. By no means am I writing a textbook, but I need to show the audience (namely admission committees) that I *know* what I'm talking about. On the other hand, I have a deadline! There's always this looming thought in the back of my head that says "But you can't leave that out!" when I debate if I should skip something just to speed up the process -- it's as if I have a hoarder living in my head. I have this same issue with considering how much background/prerequisite math I should include for the reader -- it is **confusing**, to say the least, writing to an audience that is more knowledgeable than the author. This is certainly very difficult for me to figure out.
> So how detailed should my paper be?
I'd really like to hear feedback from professors and/or admission committees members. But, of course, feedback from anyone with research experience is appreciated!
# Answer
> 14 votes
Apologies for stealing scaaahu's comment into this answer, but I wanted to stress that it is really the only possible answer to this question: ask your advisor!
Getting a hang for the appropriate level of detail is a very tricky thing, and only comes with experience. Also with being clever and witty; if you can pull it off, great, but if you can't, then it distracts from the content of your article. There are no general rules for this, you need advice from a more experienced mentor.
If I were you, I would write up a quick draft without stressing *too* much over these issues, and go over it carefully with your advisor; they would be able to tell you whether your humour is working, or where you need more or less detail.
That said, a few general tips:
1. Look at the papers you cite; if they all treat some theory as standard or well-known ("By class field theory....") then you probably can too. Same goes for tone.
2. Often you can save space and omit details by rephrasing your results in a way that suggests how the proof should go. For example, let's say I have a lemma about a linear operator that gets proven by choosing a basis and then something straightforward; I might then state the lemma in terms of the matrix, so it would be more obvious to the reader how to complete the proof.
3. (and the most important, imo) Engaging papers are not engaging because of witty one-liners, they are typically engaging because a great deal of effort went into organizing them well. The key is to ensure the reader always knows where they are, where they are going, and how they're getting there. This is not at all easy to do, but if you practice writing with this in mind early on, it will serve dividends later.
# Answer
> 6 votes
My current field is not mathematics, but I am certainly not a real stranger to the field as I did my diploma (undergrad + masters) education on applied mathematics. Anyways here's my two cents:
1. The regular structure and tone of research articles is pretty much the same; unless there is a good reason you stick to IMRaD (Intro, Mat&Met, Results and Discussion). Unless there is a good reason, you avoid passive tone, and changes in tense etc. This structure has the benefit of being familiar and intuitive to practically anyone out there. The "RaD" part is typically what's most important.
What's different in **your** case is due to the fact that research om mathematics is more *inductive* than *deductive*. What that means is that you have to make sure your introduction is watertight, all your assumptions are valid. Since the value of your results depend on what you have built them on, the introduction becomes much more important than a "normal" introduction.
Regarding the tone or style; the reason why some people can write witty is most likely because the same person has written many more articles, perhaps even book chapters. The experience really shines through in academic writing. Besides an established/respected professor isn't likely to be judged for humor in writing, the same way a junior scientist would be.
Alternatively the person in question might be "witty" in his/her personality, and that wittiness passes on to the writing. As a young, aspiring academic you should be more worried about getting it ***right*** than getting it pretty/witty.
2. It's usually hard to decide on that sort of stuff without having any more information. How much did you write? How much work are you presenting in that paper? It's usually a good idea to stick to the upper limit for the paper. Any journal (in my experience) will give you an upper limit on number of words/characters/pages for manuscript submission. I can only imagine admission committees would do the same. If there really isn't a defined limit, ask a more experienced colleague/friend perhaps, or a professor?
Hope it works out fine.
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Tags: research-process, research-undergraduate, mathematics
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thread-9071 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9071 | What effect does a good research paper have on a university's reputation and worldwide ranking? | 2013-04-03T07:11:48.790 | # Question
Title: What effect does a good research paper have on a university's reputation and worldwide ranking?
What effect does a good research paper have on a university's worldwide rankings?
# Answer
> 8 votes
**None.** One good paper makes its author(s) look good, but does not make the university more or less remarkable (either in term of perception by the research community or rankings). It takes a lot of good output (papers, conferences, etc.) for people to start saying “hey, that university has great research done in so many research groups, it looks like a great place”, and for whatever rankings to be affected.
Unless by “good” you mean “outstanding”, not in the academic sense *“quite okay but I’m writing in hyperbolic style”* but in the meaning of *“exceptionally good; clearly noticeable”*. One groundbreaking (Nobel level, if you wish) discovery made at a single institution will help it.
# Answer
> 3 votes
A single good research paper typically has a **very small impact** on the university's ranking and prestige. However, universities are very large organisations. Any one university may be producing thousands of publications each year. Thus, the presence or absence of one publication is unlikely to change the ranking of a university on some prestige or publication based league table.
That said, each publication (and especially the "good" ones) does play its role in the overall evaluation of prestige. Thus, if a single good publication contributed .01% or .1% of the total citations (or other prestige generating effects) that a university received in a given period, then that is still important. I remember hearing that a study that received a lot of publicity was supposed to have generated $200,000 in free advertising exposure for the university. Presumably similar quantifications could be applied to university prestige. While the contribution of one publication relative to the prestige of an entire university is small, the absolute value may still be substantial.
Furthermore the influence of one good publication on prestige naturally amplifies as you go to smaller groupings from nation to university to faculty to department to research group to individual researcher.
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Tags: research-process
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thread-9079 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9079 | Are researchers for big digital companies experienced researchers/scientists or just experienced industry programmers? | 2013-04-03T07:40:48.567 | # Question
Title: Are researchers for big digital companies experienced researchers/scientists or just experienced industry programmers?
Are people doing research for Microsoft, Apple, Intel experienced researchers/scientists or just experienced programmers using other people's research? Do they hire full time researchers for their research or do they take experienced/skilled professionals who are familiar working with java, C++ and other commercial technologies?
# Answer
Microsoft has a prominent research arm, Microsoft Research. Intel has Intel Labs. Both organizations hire research-focused PhDs from both industry and academia, and both employ researchers that have joint appointments on research university faculty. Employees at both organizations also routinely publish fundamental research at peer-reviewed conferences and workshops, and in journals.
Apple is a tougher nut to crack -- they spend truckloads of money on R&D, but rarely publish in peer-reviewed venues. However, they do hire plenty of PhDs who do focused research on products that sometimes turn into the next iPhone.
All three companies file many patents, as well.
Many other big companies also have research labs, and openly hire researches specifically working on fundamental research. However, as with any company, research tends to be focused in the direction that could eventually produce profitable products -- if you are considering a research job at a company, you should take this into consideration. For what it's worth, Microsoft Research seems to be closer to the "research for the sake of science" than some other labs, although there are others (notably, labs such as (formerly) Xerox PARC and Bell Labs are famous for groundbreaking fundamental research).
> 8 votes
# Answer
This is a discipline-specific question. Computer science may have Google, Microsoft, Bell labs -- what do other disciplines have?
I work in survey statistics, and while there are about four or five Ph.D. programs in the world producing survey statisticians and methodologists (Univ of Maryland, Univ of Michigan and Univ of Nebraska, Lincoln in the US; Southampton in UK; Iowa State has a statistics program that is traditionally strong on the survey side; other Ph.Ds come from scattered academic survey statisticians, about another 10 or so people in North America), the papers published in academic journals in the discipline split about evenly between government, industry, and academia-proper. I've heard from friends in chemistry that *most* of good chemistry research is being done in industry these days, rather than in academia. Don't quote me on this though. National Institutes of Health (US) have a tenure-like system for their researchers, as they are expected to produce top-quality research.
> 3 votes
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Tags: research-process, industry, computer-science
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thread-9085 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9085 | Keeping your throat comfortable after hours of lecturing | 2013-04-03T09:30:51.620 | # Question
Title: Keeping your throat comfortable after hours of lecturing
After lecturing for 3-4 hours my throat is often quite sore. Some days, I must lecturer for 6 hours (in past semesters, I've had some days which require lecturing for 8 hours). The problem is that for my later classes I have difficulty speaking comfortably.
I drink a lot of water, don't smoke, and use lozenges from time to time (when I'm in pain).
Are there any other known (scientific or folklore) solutions to this problem of getting a sore throat after lecturing for 3-4 hours?
# Answer
1. Make sure you can **lecture without having to raise your voice**, ever. When I did lecture a lot, I sometimes used a microphone even if the group was rather small, if only to be sure that I wouldn't raise my voice more than the minimal.
2. Drinking is good: I find that **hot beverages heavily loaded with sugar** are the best. I usually drink some light-flavoured tea (green tea, jasmine tea, …) with lots of sugar or honey. If the weather is hot, lemon-based drinks make you salivate more and help preventing dry sore throat.
3. Deal with your boss to avoid those horrible teaching conditions in the first place. He might not care that it's not in your best interest, but explain to him that **it's not in the students' best interest** either! (Sore throat aside, I don't know anyone who can teach with as much passion on the 8th hour as on the first.)
> 30 votes
# Answer
A very often overlooked piece of advice: maintain *correct posture* while you lecture.
If you are, for instance, looking down at your lecture notes while talking, this places additional pressure on your throat and vocal cords, making you more tired as you go through the day. It also helps in the sound production itself—the sound will carry better when it's being projected outward instead of downward, which means you don't have to speak nearly as loud to be heard. (This will again help you over the course of a long day of lecturing.)
> 17 votes
# Answer
First, it sounds terrible to do so many hours straight, it is not really a good situation. I otherwise think voice coaching could be part of a solution. Many professional singers (particularly classical ones) need to go through rigorous training to be able to cope with a concert day after day (my partner is a singer so I get good tips from her). But, no training can prepare you for sustaining so many hours in the long-term. I am in the fortunate position of setting my hours myself and I never do more than 2 hours straight and then max 2 before and 2 after lunch.
So advice: talk to a voice coach or singing coach to see what they suggest.
> 14 votes
# Answer
While other answers are largely prophylactic, here are some thoughts on the cure.
**Remedy**: For any throat infections, **gargling** is *the* way to go. There are many ingredients one could add to gargling water: common salt, pepper, turmeric, cumin, ginger, etc. **Cayenne pepper**, for example, supposedly contains capsaicin that could alleviate pain receptors and diminish the pain. Ginger is another antibacterial and antifungal analgesic that could work wonders on your throat. Given here and here are the recipes for a common Indian potion for sore throats made using ginger.
This Wikihow article has comprehensive list of treatments.
**Rest**: Nothing is more efficient than a few days of rest: if not physical absence from the school, you could at least rest your vocal chords \- they deserve it!
> 10 votes
# Answer
1. Make sure you're **well hydrated** at all times just before, and during, the lecture. Lecturing while thirsty means bad lubrication for your vocal chords.
2. Make sure you're lecturing in not-too-much-louder-than a normal speaking voice. This means using a microphone if the room is large.
3. You also have to learn to *talk from the diaphragm*. It's the same thing good singers do. Google searches will help you with this concept.
> 8 votes
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Tags: teaching, health
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thread-8618 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/8618 | Is it peculiar for a department not to have any of its own PhD graduates as professors? | 2013-03-15T03:42:57.640 | # Question
Title: Is it peculiar for a department not to have any of its own PhD graduates as professors?
I have been doing research into graduate programs and have noticed that some departments have a representation of their own PhD graduates as professors while others have an absence.
For example, a department I have looked at in a top university in Canada had a faculty completely composed of PhD graduates from top American schools, but none from its own.
I can see this as a signal of either two things -
1. That the department may not want to be seen favouring its own candidates.
2. That the department may not have as much faith in its own graduates as that from other schools.
I understand that this may differ from field to field.
But in general, **what is the majority view-point on a department that has no representation of its own graduates on its faculty?**
# Answer
> 46 votes
It's common in computer science for a university to have few if any of its own graduates as faculty, and should not be taken as a bad sign by itself. This low representation is for two main reasons:
1. **The best five or ten universities in the United States produce a disproportionately large number of strong academic candidates.** In practice universities that have research departments *at all* (let alone the exceptionally strong ones) tend to be filled with professors with Ph.D.s from the elite few.
2. **Going somewhere else leads to cross-fertilization of academic thought.** Presumably after 5+ years of graduate school one has spent a lot of time learning from the expertise available in their department. Going somewhere else allows a professor to transfer her knowledge to a different group of researchers, and to get fresh insight from them in return.
# Answer
> 14 votes
Partly, it depends on the size of the department. In a small or even medium-sized department, it means nothing. I wouldn't read anything into it until the department reaches a size where it has five or more graduates of a single school on the faculty (if they have no more than a few from any given place, then random fluctuations could easily push the number to zero). If they have hired five or ten from another school but none of their own, then it's clear they have a preference for that school. It's sensible to set up some barriers to hiring your own graduates, so a modest preference for other schools is actually a good sign. If it gets extreme, it's may be because they think the other school's students are genuinely stronger.
However, I wouldn't worry about this too much. Even if you run across an unambiguous case, it's hard to know what to make of it. Sometimes a department has an incredibly strong research group in a certain area but hires none of their own graduates because they simply don't need any more professors in this area. In that case the lack of hiring is no reflection on the graduates from this group.
# Answer
> 13 votes
No, will be my short answer.
This is a matter of "culture". In my Alma Mater in the US, the department did not hire its graduates as faculty. It was perfectly normal. Where I now work, in Europe, the opposite was the norm; it was unusual to recruit faculty from elsewhere. This has, however, changed and I think we have a healthy mix now. To a large extent this has to do with mobility, in the one case mobility is the norm, in the other it is not. You stay where you were born to some extent.
So the No means that in some fields and countries it is perfectly natural not to recruit from your "own ranks".
A follow up question to this might be what the benefits of internal vs. external recruitment might be. I am sure this differs substantially.
# Answer
> 7 votes
It almost never happens in Finance and Economics, well, except at Harvard, MIT and U of Chicago. This is mostly because there are more people graduating than there are tenure track jobs and people usually wind up upto 50-75 ranks below where they graduate. The top 10 schools graduate enough students to fill the positions in the top 50 schools and so on. Sometimes you hear of some stellar people who move up because they have done great work and are very visible but the general traffic is downwards.
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Tags: job, job-search
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thread-9101 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9101 | Request for high res figures: what should I be mindful of? | 2013-04-03T18:30:21.087 | # Question
Title: Request for high res figures: what should I be mindful of?
A researcher in my field has written to ask me high resolution files for 5 figures from 3 different papers of mine. He states:
> Currently I am revising one review article where I have used several figures from some of your excellent papers. Due to the editor and the reviewer ask me to provide them with high qualities.
I see no problem in sending him the figures in high resolution. One thing is worrying me slightly: if you write a review with 5 figures from someone else, it's either a very long review, or you may simply not be the right person to write it, it seems to me. Should I be worried about plagiarism?
So, when I write him back, and presumably send him the request files, what should I be mindful of? I see the following (nonexclusive) options:
* Ask to know a little more about this review.
* Give him links to my few very recent articles related to this topic, trying to make sure he's not forgetting anything relevant (some papers are only a few weeks old, so it is understandable that they may not have appeared on his radar yet).
* *insert here others options I haven't thought of*
What I will definitely do anyway:
* Ask him to send me the review once it's published.
* Remind him that he needs copyright permission from my papers' publishers, in addition to my files.
# Answer
> 7 votes
> if you write a review with 5 figures from someone else, it's either a very long review, or you may simply not be the right person to write it, it seems to me.
Or you just think that person has amazing figures. :-)
If the author's university and the journal publishing the review are both reputable, then I doubt you have much to worry about. If they aren't, then it is more worrisome. If the author hasn't already specified where the review article has been submitted, then that's strange in itself, although it could be awkwardness rather than dishonesty.
There seem to be two issues here:
1. Will it be a mediocre review article? There's not much you can do about this: you presumably can't stop the article from being published, so the only question is whether the world would be better off if it didn't include your figures. (That outcome would be worse for you, and I can't see why it would be better for the rest of the world, so I'd be inclined to give them the figures.)
2. Is there no actual review article, and this is just a setup to get copies of your files for use in plagiarism? It would seem crazy to draw your attention if there's plagiarism involved, but sometimes people are crazy (or it could be someone using a fake address or hacked account). I wouldn't worry about this too much: the chances of plagiarism are not so high, and the chances the plagiarizer will actually get away with it are even lower. Besides, you might end up with an amusing story about the time a plagiarizer asked you for copies of your figures.
> Remind him that he needs copyright permission from my papers' publishers, in addition to my files.
Definitely, and you could even cc the permissions e-mail addresses for your publishers, to help speed the process along and make sure the author doesn't forget or lie about it.
# Answer
> 4 votes
I agree that five figures sounds excessive (no offense!). In addition, I ask myself if you alone have the copyright or if the journal (or whatever publications) in which the figures are published holds a copyright (usually the publisher). It is of course possible that the author has asked about copyright directly with a publisher. It does, however, seem odd that the person has already used the figures for a reviewed version of the manuscript. I think it would be pertinent to ask where the paper is to be published and depending on the situation regarding the copyright, ask why you have not been approached before. I would also contact the editor of the journal where the paper is to be published if there are remaining uncertainties after contacting the author.
# Answer
> 3 votes
This sounds very fishy to me. If an editor has asked them to provide them with high quality figures then presumably there is a copy of this paper that you can read to make sure you're not being copied.
I'd ask whoever this is for a copy of the paper before sending them anything.
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Tags: publications, etiquette, copyright, graphics
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thread-9112 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9112 | What are the consequences of a recommendation from someone in the distant past? | 2013-04-04T02:30:21.510 | # Question
Title: What are the consequences of a recommendation from someone in the distant past?
I am in the not completely unusual position of having an eight year period between my Master's and PhD degrees. During this time I was gainfully employed in a completely unrelated and non-academic field.
I have now graduated from a PhD and am looking for work. Many good post-doc and academic jobs require three referees to speak on one's behalf, and to be competitive these references must surely be academics.
I had a great relationship with my Master's supervisor, including co-authoring papers together, and I believe that despite the 12 years since I was her student she could still speak credibly, confidently, and highly favorably on my behalf.
In the non-academic world it would stretch credibility to call upon a reference from such a distant point in the past. But for an academic position, I think things could be different.
What are the potential advantages and disadvantages of using her as personal reference? Are potential post-doctoral supervisors or hiring committees likely to discount her reference as stale and irrelevant?
# Answer
If research is a substantive part of the jobs you are applying for, then you should be wary of asking your Master's supervisor for a letter. It could work out OK, but there's a serious risk.
The issue is that hiring committees want information about your current research, rather than what you did for your Master's degree. If your Master's supervisor has read some of your recent work and is capable of discussing and evaluating it in detail, then it will be a useful recommendation. However, you don't want a letter that focuses on the past and just includes a brief paragraph saying "And the Ph.D. research seems to have gone well, but I don't really know anything about it." That could actually hurt your case by suggesting that you couldn't find three people who understand and think highly of your more recent work.
A strong letter that focuses on the past is certainly better than a weak letter, so it could be your best option. You might also talk about this issue with your Master's supervisor, and see how compelling and up to date a letter she thinks she can provide. If she has read or wants to read your recent work, then that's great; if she is hesitant about the idea of writing a letter, then I would ask someone else.
> 16 votes
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Tags: career-path, job-search, recommendation-letter, time-off
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thread-9117 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9117 | Asking a PhD interviewer about preparation | 2013-04-04T04:29:42.777 | # Question
Title: Asking a PhD interviewer about preparation
I am having a PhD interview at a university in the US. The application procedure didn't involve submitting a research proposal, so I am not very sure what kind of questions I should expect.
A professor contacted me to schedule an interview, I wanted to ask what kind of questions are expected, because I do not know the project they think I fit in, in fact, one of the purposes of this interview is to tell me about the project.
So is it okay to ask the interviewer what to prepare?
# Answer
Firstly, I want to point out that my opinions are based on my own experiences. Having said that a few years ago I interviewed with professors form several "top" ranked computer science, information science and business programs for potential doctoral admissions. Second, I have an admissions season's worth of experience from the "other" side where I have interviewed potential PhD applicants as well.
You do not need a research proposal. In fact, treat this "interview" as a conversation between an academic and a potential future colleague. There is nothing to "prepare" per se. Basically, what's going to happen is that the professor is going to ask you about your research interests and experiences in greater detail than what can be evidenced from your CV or publications. You will have the chance to tell him all about yourself. Do not mis-represent yourself or veer off paths you have not trodden before. What's also going to happen is that this professor will tell you about his project or his lab if he a potential adviser or person whom you want to work with during your PhD.
**tl;dr**
There is nothing ask him about preparation. Just be ready to discuss your own works and have some questions ready to ask him. Just treat it as a discussion between two professionals and you will be fine.
> 9 votes
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Tags: phd, graduate-admissions, application, interview
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thread-9110 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9110 | Early Career Research Fellow Application | 2013-04-03T23:39:28.520 | # Question
Title: Early Career Research Fellow Application
What does a research panel look for in the research proposal of an early career research fellow applicant?
An early career research fellow is defined as a person who has completed PhD within five years of the application deadline. A small university in my area is calling for applications for early career research fellow application. The research proposal is part of the application process.
# Answer
For very early career (few years after your PhD), most people will value signs that you are carrying good research **independently of your Phd advisor**. You gained you PhD, and presumably you did good (because you found jobs since then, you haven't left academia). Now, as an early career scientist, you need to show that you can design, implement and manage your own research projects. Basically, they want to see you as a **leader with high potential**.
So, in general these are the most watched points:
* is the candidate able to put up a good and coherent research project, explaining its context and impact
* did the candidate publish without his advisor?
* did she mentor/advise (or even work with) younger students?
* has she created new collaborations?
> 4 votes
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Tags: application
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thread-9039 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9039 | How to deal with the frustration of doing PhD at a low-ranked university | 2013-04-01T02:54:01.557 | # Question
Title: How to deal with the frustration of doing PhD at a low-ranked university
Though I did my bachelor's at a top-notch college, because of low GPA I had to settle down for PhD at a low ranked university. Now I see that there is lack of intellectual atmosphere and very few people to discuss academic stuff in and around my area of research. I discuss with faculty, but it would have been nice if there was a good graduate student atmosphere which is lacking. Now I get frustrated often with the fact that it was my low GPA which led to all this. Also in general the graduate student atmosphere is very discouraging.
What should I do to make my life better? Some people tell me to mind my own business and not worry about the environment. But to me no peer level discussion leads to feelings of loneliness.
# Answer
> 125 votes
**Stop whining and start kicking ass.**
Work hard with faculty (and undergrads!) that you respect, do some awesome research, and then (if you are very lucky) move to a better department, either as a PhD student, a postdoc, or even a faculty member.
Meanwhile, own your past mistakes, but forgive yourself for them. You put yourself in this situation, but holding onto your frustration and loneliness, instead of doing the best with what you have now, is only going to keep you frustrated and lonely.
(My undergrad GPA was 2.4/4.0.)
# Answer
> 34 votes
Ok 1st of all I think you're delusional about what you "think" you're missing out on.
Everywhere you go, academia is a very independent vocation. That is, even at a top notch school, *your peers probably wouldn't want to chit chat with you about physics much*. They'd want to go do their own research. Life at a top notch institution isn't some all-day sitcom with witty exchanges about subatomic particles.
Friendships and conversations can be had with people in other disciplines.
One thing I think you don't understand is **nobody cares about your research problem**, not even your peers and equivalents **because they are too busy with their own problem**. The intellectual load of academia is such that if you don't narrow your focus, you'll never succeed. Simply because there is too much to know, and if you start exploring too many fields, all your time will be lost. If they are researching the exact same thing as you, *then they are in competition with you*.
You may also have a superiority complex that you need to overcome. You very obviously think you're smarter than everyone around you, and you look down on your peers. You have to stop doing that, and instead work independently, chat with peers on break times on common grounds.
Use the Internet for peer discussion.
# Answer
> 27 votes
A PhD is often, a very lonely beast. I go to a "top" school but often, I feel that there is no one to discuss my work with at a high level other than my adviser. Often, I feel that everyone around me is much smarter than me and can contribute so much to my general academic knowledge just by having a high level discussion over coffee.
This has nothing to do with my school or my department but everything to do with me. If I cannot make other people, especially my peers understand what work I am doing and have a broad level discussion with them, my science communication skills need to be improved.
As others have already pointed out, if you are indeed better, prove it by being the very best at where you are and you will soon magically see that there are plenty of people to discuss your work with no matter where your university or department is ranked.
# Answer
> 19 votes
If you are indeed substantially better than your cohort, prove it by far exceeding your professors' expectations, and then ask them to support transfer applications to more prestigious universities next year.
In the meantime, make the best of the situation you're in.
# Answer
> 12 votes
nobody cares about your university, the only important thing at least in Europe is your CV. If you can publish paper in good journals then nobody will think about your university.
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Tags: phd, ranking
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thread-9136 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9136 | What is the optimal number of times one should meet one's PhD. advisor? | 2013-04-04T20:13:36.147 | # Question
Title: What is the optimal number of times one should meet one's PhD. advisor?
I see sad students who meet may be once in a month and they complaint of not having enough progress. I have seen systems where the prof meets almost every few hours on weekdays and the prof is basically continuously working with the students. I see students who meet every 2-3 days or every week.
So what is the "right" frequency if at all? What is the good frequency?
Once the weekly(instant) gratification of getting full scores on the course homework is removed it is quite a challenge to keep a gauge of whether one has made any progress during the week. How does one measure progress during the week during one's PhD?
# Answer
To expand on Peter's great answer, I'd also like to throw out the idea that the "ideal" frequency varies not only case-by-case, but also may change *during the course of one's graduate education*.
A beginning graduate student will very likely need much more supervision than a student in the middle of her program. Similarly, the student who is finishing up may need more frequent contact, but only because changes are probably happening at a very rapid pace, and it's important to make sure deadlines are completed on time.
From my own experience, I started out meeting weekly with my advisors; after about a year or so, the meetings became every two weeks, but then toward the end became weekly again (for the last two or so months before the defense).
Within my current group, I use a similar scheme: new students have weekly meetings, while older students (and the postdocs) meet every other week, or as needed. (Some of my students get along quite fine meeting with me only once every three to four weeks, and I'm fine with that, because they are independent enough not to need more "face-to-face" time.)
The important thing, I think, is that the PhD student should know that the time is *available*, if she needs it. However, it's also been my belief that it's when the student *doesn't* want to meet that it's actually most important to do so. This usually means that something's not quite right—and that's when intervention can make the most difference!
> 19 votes
# Answer
The "right" frequency is probably "enough". Whereas this may seem like a joke, it is not. The frequency with which you need to meet your advisor will primarily depend on you, your advisor and your project (work conditions). If someone complains about not meeting enough, it can be because of two things, either they do indeed not meet enough or maybe the student is not independent enough. It is important to be self-critical on both sides. The problem is, in other words, that each student-advisor relationship is different and enough may not be what either the student or the professor thinks is enough. A minimum should from my perspective include meetings to iron out the really difficult points in the work and to provide feedback on thesis revisions, prepare for lab or field work or the equivalent and to simply touch base on a regular basis (perhaps monthly). If there is a social environment where you meet, that is fine but not necessary.
I personally had a weekly "show-and-tell" with the research group my advisor ran. These meetings were awful and more stressful than anything else. I could have done better without them. I probably met and discussed my thesis once per month on average, certainly more when writing up. I doubt my story is neither unique nor typical.
> 15 votes
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Tags: graduate-school, advisor
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thread-363 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/363 | What is the best career choice for a social psychology graduate? | 2012-02-22T15:39:02.423 | # Question
Title: What is the best career choice for a social psychology graduate?
I have a background in Psychology and Fine Arts. My passion lies with doing scientific research and making art. So ideally I would be able to do both, or use one to support the other. However, I've found that finding a job in the social sciences is pretty difficult, if not impossible without work experience (pretty much a vicious cycle).
But since finding a steady income with a degree in fine arts is even more difficult, I would very much like to provide a steady income for myself by working in the social sciences. I've had countless bad jobs to support myself through both of my degrees, and I don't see myself becoming very happy doing that my whole life.
**At this point, I have several options, and I would like some advice on what you think would be the best way of proceeding (the points are not necessarily mutually exclusive, and if you have a better idea, please, do suggest it):**
1. I could further specialize myself: do a masters (or even a PhD) in a field which aligns with my academic and research background. However, this could risk another worthless degree with no job and waste of time and money
2. I could move to another geographic location, where a degree in my field is in higher demand, get a job and support my other passions.
3. I could freelance to build experience but this is usually as taxing as a normal job minus job security and pay.
# Answer
The question you have to ask yourself is what is the "opportunity cost" of the different options:
* You can apply for jobs without first relocating to the new area, if you're willing to spend some money on travel for the interviews before accepting a job.
* What are the costs of getting a new degree, versus the improved likelihood (if any) of employment with the advanced degree, compared to the lost income while acquiring the degree.
* Could you make enough money freelancing that you can keep yourself *relatively* financially stable while you're organizing something else?
I'd certainly think that starting out freelancing while you figure out a "Plan B" would be the logical, low-entry-cost route. After you've done that for a while, you can decide if either of the other routes make more sense for you.
> 1 votes
# Answer
In general I would counsel against further study. I have seen many people finish an undergraduate degree, look for a job they like/a job, and when they have no luck go back to study. This has almost always ended badly. In most cases they have no understanding of how a further degree will allow them to get the jobs they are interested in, and are merely spending a lot of money to prolong (or make worse) the problem.
If you are incredibly passionate in an area go for it. However the fact that you are posting this/reading this suggests that you are not.
> 5 votes
# Answer
The advice given by some is misleading. A PhD is psychology is almost always a *paid* position. So while you may be earning less than you would in industry, you will earn a stipend (albeit often minimal) while you complete your degree. A Masters degree in psychology, on the other hand, is typically paid for out of the student's pocket. If you are interested in doing research, as you say, I would be hesitant to get a Masters unless you are very confident in a specific career path that requires an MA (and not a PhD).
That said, all of the criticisms that others have raised still apply. For social psychology in particular, I would not recommend applying for a PhD without having a decent amount of research experience. Consider applying for a research assistantship at a university. The purpose of this is two-fold. Most importantly, it's to know what you're getting yourself into and make sure you would enjoy doing research full time for several years. Additionally, it greatly improves your application when applying to mid- or top-tier universities. They want to know that you are both capable of doing research and enjoy doing research.
> 1 votes
# Answer
What you ultimately need to ask is why do you want the MFA, MA or PhD.
For a long time I didn't want these. I saw the MFA as something that many of my friends got with no real objective except to avoid the so-called "real world" and get to stay in a studio as long as they can. I can't do that and it sounds like you can't either.
So then the question is what reason should you get the advanced degree?
The answer is simple: I want to do advanced research in ***(topic)***.
If your answer is anything but the above then it isn't for you. So I can teach is not a strong reason for an MFA or PhD. So I can get a higher paying job is not a strong reason for an MFA or PhD. It is a research degree and ultimately that needs to be your reason for pursual.
> 0 votes
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Tags: job, career-path, job-search
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thread-9142 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9142 | When has an unemployed post-doc refereed enough papers to decline another? | 2013-04-05T02:48:27.680 | # Question
Title: When has an unemployed post-doc refereed enough papers to decline another?
I am a post-doc and I get regular requests to referee papers, largely because of a review paper I published as a grad student.
I am yet to turn down a review request--It is rewarding, an opportunity to immerse oneself in another topic, and it feels good to give back to the community.
Unfortunately, I am peri-employed, and the rational decision maker with non-infinite time resources is regrettably obliged to consider her CV.
At what point will listing another journal (or another instance of refereeing for a given journal) on your CV generate negligible returns for an early-career researcher?
At what point does the rational actor say no?
# Answer
One simple criterion is that if you have refereed more papers than the number of referee reports you have received for your papers, perhaps even divided by the number of coauthors you have for each paper, then you are ahead of the game and shouldn't feel guilty about turning requests down. Ultimately, if your career goes really well you should expect to do substantially more than your share of reviewing, but you aren't obligated to do this while still a postdoc.
Even if you haven't reached this point, it's reasonable to put your career development first for now. Strategically, you should referee a paper if reading it will be valuable for your research, if you can impress an influential editor, or if it's for a particularly prestigious journal (so it will stand out on your CV in the list of journals you have reviewed for). Beyond that, you can do what you reasonably have time for, but you should feel free to decline review requests when you are busy with other things. If you feel guilty about this, you can make up for it by reviewing more papers than you would otherwise like someday when you have a stable job.
> At what point will listing another journal (or another instance of refereeing for a given journal) on your CV generate negligible returns for an early-career researcher?
I'd say the returns become negligible pretty quickly. Adding a really fancy journal can look impressive, but even doubling the number of run of the mill journals will make only a small difference. (People want to see that your reputation leads to review requests, but don't care much beyond that.)
To the extent refereeing helps your career, it's more likely to be because you impressed the editor than because a hiring committee liked the line on your CV. However, writing papers and giving talks will reach a much broader audience than refereeing can, so extra refereeing is not an efficient career boost.
> 12 votes
# Answer
In my field (mathematics) it is not usual for CVs to mention referee assignments, and I don't believe they are considered at all in hiring decisions, so the direct returns are negligible at any level (not counting the indirect benefit that you may learn something from reading the paper carefully).
Keep in mind that every referee is busy and has other things to do that would be more directly rewarding, but they do it anyway. However, if your situation means it would be a drastically larger burden for you than for an average researcher, then by all means decline with a clear conscience.
> 7 votes
# Answer
Apart from the plus minus statistics of "you do for other what they do for you" I think there are two points yu could ask yourself:
1. Reviewing keeps you in touch with the field. Do you think it helps you stay in touch with developments until you find a position (assuming that is what you want?
2. Reviewing keeps you on the radar within the field. By reviewing you will "advertise" your expertise which may not hurt in the future. So do you wish to be seen as an active player aiming for a position?
Clearly none of these are make-or-break for the future but it involves assessing your own interests for the future. If you clearly think you will look for employment outside of academia and association with research, then you simply pick and chose your reviews based on interest.
> 4 votes
# Answer
Assuming unemployed means you are looking for an academic job and not moving to a new field, the answer is **NEVER**. Since you are unemployed, your chances to network are greatly reduced. I would suggest taking every review possible and consider adding my name to reviews.
I would actually suggest contacting editors to request that they consider you to review articles in the future.
> 2 votes
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Tags: peer-review
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thread-9150 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9150 | Can post graduate students be forbidden to work in the institution they are studying? | 2013-04-05T09:10:16.380 | # Question
Title: Can post graduate students be forbidden to work in the institution they are studying?
I have seen some graduate (PhD and Masters) students in Turkey, Nigeria, Malaysia etc that can not work in the university they study. In fact I am one of them as I am about to finish Msc mathematics and computer science in Turkey and planning to start PhD in USA. My question is, is it a policy of most universities in the world that post graduate students can not work in the institution they are studying and earn their living? Even to work as graduate assistant perhaps.
# Answer
## No.
In North America, at least in science and engineering, PhD students are generally *expected* to work for their host universities as either teaching assistants or research assistants, except for the relative few who win full-ride fellowships. This expectation is strong enough that it is considered foolish to accept an offer of admission to any PhD program **without** a simultaneous offer of a fellowship or assistantship. Sometimes these assistantships are also available to Master's students.
> 9 votes
# Answer
Degree programs need to produce a whole lot more graduates than instructors in order for the programs to be economically viable. Student to staff numbers of around 15-1 are not uncommon. If the average staff member works for 30 years, this then becomes 450-1. In other words, for every 450 students that graduate one position becomes available. Even in the "best" situation of a 5-1 student to graduate assistant ratio and a 2 year average "career", you are talking about 10%.
> 2 votes
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Tags: phd, university, funding, united-states, recruiting
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thread-8995 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/8995 | Is it better for a mathematical paper to have a citation or a nice theorem + another coauthor? | 2013-03-29T19:27:06.107 | # Question
Title: Is it better for a mathematical paper to have a citation or a nice theorem + another coauthor?
I'm publishing my first paper soon with three collaborators. We made a conjecture towards the end of the paper and intended to publish with the question still open. Another mathematician heard of the problem and found a solution to the conjecture. Now we have two options:
1. publish our current paper on our own, with the conjecture open, after which our friend would publish their solution as a separate paper, or
2. include their work at the end of our paper and make them a co-author.
Though our paper is pretty good already, the new work is strong and would make a nice addition, so the first option seems nice. On the other hand, I'm an undergraduate senior (entering graduate school this Fall) and so are two of the other collaborators. Thus it seems like adding another professor as a co-author may make my contributions (which I have worked very hard on) appear less substantial. Also in favor of option 2: if the other professor publishes separately, the citation may make our paper look good.
What do you think?
# Answer
> 24 votes
I think it is not important which option makes your paper look good, but the best question here is "what is the right thing to do?" If you are such a talented and hardworking undergraduate student who can write a publishable paper, you will certainly have a very bright future in grad school and later as a researcher. So, don't worry how your first paper is going to be evaluated or cited. Hopefully you will write better papers and you can prove yourself in the future. Regarding publishing research papers, the right thing to do is that you publish your paper as perfect as it is possible for you at the moment, which means it is better you add the solution (and one more co-author) to your paper.
# Answer
> 3 votes
I can add that the timing issue is also important, especially to that established would-be coauthor. Sometimes someone decides to write a paper, and it never comes to life. However, it is also important how adding the proof to the existing paper would slow down the process of getting it out.
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Tags: publications, mathematics, authorship
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thread-2853 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2853 | Device for writing a lecture with a stylus for video lecture recording | 2012-08-15T13:58:18.147 | # Question
Title: Device for writing a lecture with a stylus for video lecture recording
I would like to start recording mathematics lectures for students to watch on their own time.
I need to find a device that allows me to write out the lecture with a stylus and import it to a computer.
I suppose I could buy an iPad or something close to it. But, that would be a bit of money. I am looking at a Wacom Bamboo Splash. The problem here is that the writing area seems very small (the class is a math class).
* What is a good device for writing out lectures to a computer?
* Is there a device that makes this work best and is not hundreds of dollars?
# Answer
If your department has a document camera, especially a newer model, then you could use that. I currently use a document camera for my regular lectures. I write on the paper under the camera, the camera sends it to the computer and the computer sends it to a projector, where it gets projected onto the big screen in the lecture hall. This way I can look at my class the class the entire time and I do not have to worry about whether students in the back can read the writing on the whiteboard in front.
The document camera I use can also be set up to display the images it captures on the computer. Then, with video capture software, (CamStudio is an example of one with a free option), you could record a video as you write.
If your department does not have a document camera, you can set up something similar with a webcam, which would be cheaper to buy but produces lower video quality. Set it to look down on the paper. You write your lecture, and the computer records it. Alternatively, your institution may have an instructional technology office that could loan you a document camera (or may even have a more advanced set up).
> 7 votes
# Answer
What about using some kind of screen recorder that also do editing?
I find BB FlashBack Express, Wink and this to be good ones.
> 2 votes
# Answer
We went this path heavily some years ago with the Italian Math Olympiad organizing committee. (you can see some of our lectures, in Italian, on http://olimpiadi.dm.unibo.it/videolezioni/).
You will obtain the best results with a tablet pc with a Wacom active digitizer. The quality of the pen writing cannot be matched by iPads and the like. Unfortunately, that is a toy that does cost hundreds of dollars. You may get a used one off eBay for cheaper. I never used one, but I heard that the HP Touchsmart TM2 was one of the most appreciated models in the past years, and now it should be quite cheap to get one.
There is no cheaper option, as far as I know, that will provide the same overall quality. Graphic tablets such as the one you are considering are a reasonable substitute, but, apart from the size issue, they have a higher learning curve (since you have to learn to watch in point A and write in point B --- no problem after some training if you are the one teaching, but this will prevent you from asking the students to solve exercises in a class, for instance).
Forget about iPads and anything that does not have an active digitizer --- the writing quality will simply not be sufficient for your needs.
EDIT: clarification: I wrote "we" but I am just one member of the project and only a few of those lectures are mine.
> 1 votes
# Answer
**Yes**, by all means use a Wacom (any device). You need screen capturing s/w and audio capturing. You can then post the video afterwards (which will just be the computer screen, and your voice talking over it).
## Windows:
* Use OneNote for your notes + Camtasia for audio/video capturing. You might also use an external MP3 recorder for sound if your PC mic is not good and then blend them yourself after (more tedious).
## Mac:
* I use a series of Pixelmator images for "writing" math on a Mac. Create a 4096x4096 image gives you a fairly large canvas. A new page can be added by adding a new "layer". To record what you're doing, if you combine SoundFlower \+ QuickTime you can have screen+audio recording (see youtube for videos on how)
> 1 votes
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Tags: teaching
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thread-9143 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9143 | Taking courses as a PhD student | 2013-04-05T03:50:34.223 | # Question
Title: Taking courses as a PhD student
**Question:**
*When I have a choice to take only one of two possible sequences: A theoretical one which aids my research and an applied one that aids my employability, which one should I opt for? (I must do the other on my own)*
**Background:**
I am currently in a PhD program for Applied Math. I have finished all my core courses but am now required to take any (from a list) of courses which span Econ (Micro Econ, Time series type stuff), Management (Business Intelligence) and Statistics (Mathematical Stats, the gnarly stuff). My research is on Big Data Analytics from a Mathematical perspective.
I want to keep my options for engineering (Electrical/Industrial Engineering) and Business (Data Analytics) faculty positions open. I want to join academi and in my department, senior students have gotten jobs in all of the three quoted above.
From that standpoint, what courses should I be taking? My time is constrained and I have to choose one of the three. I know for my research, I will benefit from a more rigorous mathematical training in Stats but I don't know if this will help me get a business school job. If I choose one, I know I can (& will probably make time) do the other two on my own but I am confused which one to pick.
The way I think :
* If I do stats, I will have a rigorous background in any kind of statistical inference which is gold for what I do but I will have no clue about microecon, finance or business intelligence. All three are big application areas for my research.
* If I do econ/business intelligence, for my research, I might get stuck at times when I am trying to interchange an expectation with a gradient and wondering "under what conditions can I do this".
# Answer
> 5 votes
The question is still very localized, but as somebody with Ph.D. in Statistics and MSc in Economics, working in industry after an unsuccessful start in academia, I would suggest taking the courses in the discipline you will be aiming at. I am not sure as to who is going to hire for Big Data Analytics; I rate statisticians as unlikely to do that (except probably for Carnegie Mellon and Stanford), and I am nearly certain that economists won't (they won't hire an Applied Math Ph.D. no matter how good you are), so business schools are your best shot -- some of them may hire people with wildly different backgrounds; UPenn has a Stat department housed in the business school, although that's a legacy issue rather than something deeply profound; Chicago has a small but strong statistical group; you might be able to find statistical groups in other places, too. Thus you would want to take Management courses in the mean time. An average business school faculty won't tell expectation from the gradient, except for a tiny fraction of quantitative finance people doing high frequency financial econometrics. My feeling is that an average Big Data architecture computer scientist/engineer won't tell an expectation from a gradient, either. (The only I thing I know about it is that at least one of the limits has to be uniform :) ). I may be entirely wrong with my assumptions about business schools, and if you don't see any Math/Appl Math/Stat Ph.D.s hired in the past 10 years in the top 30 schools that you've looked at, you don't have any chance, either, and should just announce your intention to go to industry, take all the classes you can, and apply to Google asking for a $3e5 starting salary ;).
The biggest career suggestion I could give is to move to Bay Area; I don't really know how to do Big Data if you are not there.
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Tags: phd, coursework
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thread-8599 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/8599 | Very demanding adviser | 2013-03-14T10:03:22.857 | # Question
Title: Very demanding adviser
I have an adviser who wants to know every minor details of my work and spend countless amount of time arguing with me over insignificant things. Basically, she tries to control everything I do, from number of hours I spend on homework, what books/papers I read, what font/color I use in my presentations, to whom I talk to with regards to research. Is this considered normal? If not, is this a good reason to change the adviser?
Edit: Sorry for the lack of details. **Status** I'm an MS/PHD student in my second year of MS. Probably 3 more years of PHD.
**Communication** I've tried to communicate my concerns; but she usually has the "my way or the highway" attitude". If I insist on something, she ends up sarcastically saying, "if I don't like it, I should consider finding another research adviser". Unfortunately, I'm not the only one in this situation; she seems to be having the same problems with her other students as well. I once mentioned to her that I might leave her group, but she told me "she's the one who's admitted me and no one else would work with me." Indeed, she's a very big name in her field, and it seems to me almost impossible to leave her influence if I choose to continue the same line of research/department/school.
# Answer
> 17 votes
Advisors come in many flavors, from those who are very hands-off, to those who micromanage. If you are really spending countless hours arguing over details that are seemingly unimportant (although what books/papers you read is most certainly not unimportant!), then you need to have a serious conversation with her about it.
That kind of conversation is difficult as the advisee -- if she is paying for your degree, then you work for her, and she has a lot of leeway to determine what she thinks is important. You have to tactfully lay out for her why you think she is micromanaging you too much, and see what she says.
At the end of the day, if you don't agree with how you are being advised, you have a number of possible avenues:
1. Talk to another faculty member (probably the department chair).
2. Talk to the faculty ombudsman, if there is one.
3. Do nothing, and carry on. PhD programs don't last forever (though they often seem like it), and if you can still produce good work while working for the advisor, it can still work out in the end.
4. Try to find another advisor (or, possibly, another school)
Changing advisors is not a trivial thing, although many people do it early on in their graduate career. That also involves tact, as professors generally don't like other professors poaching their students without a mutual discussion about it.
Bottom line: before you make any long-term decisions, have a discussion with your advisor about your perceptions, but be tactful and have a plan on what you are going to say before the meeting.
# Answer
> 11 votes
You mentioning "homework" makes me think that you are possibly in BSc or MSc programme, but not PhD yet (although, you sound like you're heading there). So, I'll try to concentrate my answer on advice useful to somebody just starting off as a (potential) researcher. Sorry on long text, but since the answer is based on experience it wouldn't have any value without an explanation.
I, personally, would have loved if my supervisor from my first standalone bigger project was micromanaging me. Moreover, I explicitly told the guy "I'm very new at this, and would appreciate instructions and directions on how to approach such a big project efficiently". He left me more-or-less alone, I was a beginner, and didn't handle the situation very well: but one important lesson was that that specific type of adviser was not a good match for me.
On the other hand, the professor that was my primary adviser during my BSc and MSc was a very smart, eloquent and confused scientist. When I first told him I am considering continuing with academia after MSc, very often I would get a feeling **he was paying way too much attention to "useless" details, such as**:
* asking me to understand the literature to impossible details
* making me justify using (sub)methods, (sub)approaches and other sub-parts of approaches *he* made me study, which were chosen by the authors of the papers *he* suggested for reading
* correcting and re-writing my written works as one non-native English speaker to another, where I was sure my grammar was fine
* making a loud point of small spelling mistakes in *Drafts V.001*
What helped was, as most people here suggested: *talking to him*. He got to explain to me that **I have to be able to argument my choices**, not by saying (cf. John Doe: "Important work on the topic"), but by properly explaining the idea behind the approach, and then properly explaining why it is applicable to my situation. He explained that, he, as an expert, **does not know answers to all questions, solutions to all problems**, but is in a **good position to give an educated guess**. A bigger picture here is that if you learn how to express yourself clearly and with arguments, the scientific community can understand you, and build on your work. Bottom line, they can help developing your idea. In the end, in academia today, it is not enough to have a good idea, **you have to explain your idea to everyone**, and it's surprisingly hard to do even after you feel like you understand everything.
So, from that point of view, what **he was doing was actually**:
* teaching me critical thinking, and how to properly read scientific work
* teaching me that just because something is published, does not make it correct
* teaching me that just because something grammatically correct, does not mean it is clear, simple and understandable: and understandable is always your goal
* teaching me that everyone looks down on lazy-asses who don't spell-check their work. It's not nice, but that's how it is :/
In return, since he got my critical thinking working, he would do the same for me: **explain and argument his choices and recommendations**, tell me why something might not seem important now but will be good in my field later, hinting me on his methods to read scientific literature, explain before recommending literature what he is expecting me to learn from it, etc.
The bottom line is, from the *professors side*, I think **it is very hard to develop a good "scientific style" in somebody, unless you're imposing your own**. It's different with somebody with experience and a (semi-)established style, it's different (and possibly more difficult) when starting with somebody new to it all.
And, from *student side*: If you're still advancing, doing good work, and learning, it's not bad. If you're just in the beginning and will soon change supervisor anyway (e.g. from MSc to PhD), it's even better: you get expirience working with different kind of people, and it will be easier for you to find an adviser with a style compatible with yours.
In the end, it all comes down to **communication**: if you are on good terms with your adviser, just the explanations on why she's recommending what she is carry invaluable information that assimilate for years. If it's not just mindless task-giving, it teaches you things in very fast and simple (although sometimes annoying) manner
# Answer
> 10 votes
The first thing I would do is improve/repair your personal relationship with your adviser. You should be comfortable in discussing your concerns about being micromanaged.
Also, your adviser may be correct in her recommendations. For example... We all can assume the font you use in your presentation is appropriate, but we may have the same opinion as your adviser if we learn you are using 33 different font styles and sizes.
My advice is chill out and communicate your concerns to your adviser. You two need to be in a a functioning professional relationship where you can communicate effectively and talk out issues. If it turns out that that there is absolutely no chemistry between you two, then move on.
# Answer
> 8 votes
I have frequently had to micromanage my students' presentations and writeups. That's part of Ph.D training. The tricky thing for an advisor is telling the difference between style choices that are bad, and style choices that are just different.
I also will suggest which papers to read, and will often rule out other things that my students want to read. Of course I can't force them one way or another, but if I feel that my students are consistently making inexplicable choices about what to read or not, I might come down a bit more forcefully, or at least try to talk to them to understand their choices.
Bottom line, as others have said, what you have here is a failure to communicate :). Talk to your advisor and try to understand why she's asking you to do things a certain way. If you're concerned about how to approach the topic, you can lead off by saying that you're quite happy to listen to her recommendations, but you'd like to know the reasons so that you can understand the context she's bringing to the discussion, and so you can learn for the future.
# Answer
> 6 votes
> Is this considered normal?
No. The professor is supposed to *guide* the student in an academic way not inspecting every tiny thing *irrelevant* to the student research. However, **some professors do have their own *style*** and want their students to follow them. If their *style* is related to academia then no issue here. Sometimes their *style* is overlap between personal interests and academic interests in this case remember you are required to follow your supervisor style only as long as you are working in her lab.
> If not, is this a good reason to change the adviser?
It depends whether you find her helpful through out your research. If she gives you enough time to meet with her and discuss your research in an active manner then I believe this is the most important thing and no need to change.
# Answer
> 2 votes
I guess you need to understand that as her student, *you represent her*.
You said she was a big name. Do you trust her? My advice is to just follow her advice. After you speak your point about something, *don't argue with her*! Just take her advice and apply it as best you can.
If it's that unbearable, consider looking for a different supervisor for your PhD.
# Answer
> 1 votes
I don't think it's normal, but I also think it's the wrong question to be asking. The right questions are: are you enjoying research? are you being productive? or are you miserable because of your advisor?
In the end, the success of an advisor-student relationship is a function of both the advisor's style, the student's needs, and both their personalities. Some people don't mind being micromanaged, others (like me) would, in your shoes, run. Only you can know what it is that you want and need.
My advice is to first do what it takes so that you're enjoying research, not only because it's terrible to be miserable for years, but also because you won't be as productive while unhappy.
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Tags: phd, graduate-school, advisor
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thread-3097 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/3097 | Publishing DOIs instead of traditional references? | 2012-09-04T20:15:51.727 | # Question
Title: Publishing DOIs instead of traditional references?
Today's world is electronic, there is vision of semantic web and yet we still submit references in numerous versions of various journals. In medicine, many journals have special rules about after how many authors you can put et. al. etc etc.
It is tedious to reformat references (even with EndNote or other reference managers) to suit a particular journal.
Are there any pioneer journals or initiatives to simply stop submitting references and just list a DOI instead (if one exist), and to "traditional refences only if DOI does not exist.)
LATER EDIT: In fact, people already try to do the opposite - convert PDF into list of DOIs. http://labs.crossref.org/pdfextract/
LATER EDIT: The receiving journal, after getting the article, would expand the DOIs into traditional references in the exact format the journals wants the references in the print version. Different journals would expand the DOI as preferred. A service at http://www.crossref.org/guestquery can expand the DOI (e.g., 1136/bmj.d7373 into XML with info such as:
```
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<doi_records>
<doi_record key="key" owner="10.1136" timestamp="2012-01-03 23:32:36">
<crossref>
<journal>
<journal_metadata language="en">
<full_title>BMJ</full_title>
<abbrev_title>BMJ</abbrev_title>
<issn media_type="print">0959-8138</issn>
<issn media_type="electronic">1468-5833</issn>
</journal_metadata>
<journal_issue>
<publication_date media_type="online">
<month>01</month>
<day>03</day>
<year>2012</year>
</publication_date>
<publication_date media_type="print">
<month>01</month>
<day>03</day>
<year>2011</year>
</publication_date>
<journal_volume>
<volume>344</volume>
</journal_volume>
<issue>jan03 1</issue>
</journal_issue>
<journal_article publication_type="full_text">
<titles>
<title>Compliance with mandatory reporting of clinical trial results on ClinicalTrials.gov: cross sectional study</title>
</titles>
<contributors>
<person_name sequence="first" contributor_role="author">
<given_name>A. P.</given_name>
<surname>Prayle</surname>
</person_name>
<person_name sequence="additional" contributor_role="author">
<given_name>M. N.</given_name>
<surname>Hurley</surname>
</person_name>
<person_name sequence="additional" contributor_role="author">
<given_name>A. R.</given_name>
<surname>Smyth</surname>
</person_name>
</contributors>
<publication_date media_type="online">
<month>01</month>
<day>03</day>
<year>2012</year>
</publication_date>
<publication_date media_type="print">
<month>01</month>
<day>03</day>
<year>2012</year>
</publication_date>
<pages>
<first_page>d7373</first_page>
<last_page>d7373</last_page>
</pages>
<publisher_item>
<item_number item_number_type="sequence-number">bmj.d7373</item_number>
</publisher_item>
<doi_data>
<doi>10.1136/bmj.d7373</doi>
<timestamp>20120103162404</timestamp>
<resource>http://www.bmj.com/cgi/doi/10.1136/bmj.d7373</resource>
</doi_data>
</journal_article>
</journal>
</crossref>
</doi_record>
</doi_records>
```
# Answer
> 4 votes
It's not the horrible suggestion that many people seem to think it is -- there have been some complaints about miscounts in citation counts because of improper parsing of references; mostly because of some journals allowing non-standard abbreviations. (does `A&A` mean Astronomy and Astrophysics or Arts & Architecture? Many citation parsers don't use the context and have alternate rules for what journal the citation came from.
This could also bring up some other problems -- if someone's published a pre-print in arXiv ... but the final publication which may be substantially different. Very few people cite the arXiv paper directly, but it might actually be more appropriate than citing the final published version in some circumstances. (although, it would also show that perhaps those portions that you're citing didn't stand up under peer-review); you couldn't cite the arXiv via DOI, only via bibcode.
...
Now, in most situations, the reference list for some journals is handled differently from the rest of the paper. In talking with the editor for Solar Physics, when I talked to him regarding a proposal for data citation, he mentioned that a problem was that giving a second URL to provide specifics would be an issue, and I believe he hinted that it was the publisher and not something locally developed.
Ideally, this whole thing would be integrated into the submission process, and then the reviewers would have the list expanded so that they can do their work. (and you'd probably want the submitter to verify the expansions) ... but this of course will take time from the publishers, who aren't exactly known to be nimble for the most part.
...
What I'd suggest, so that you can get the benefits that you want, without waiting for the journals to make any changes, is to look into reference manager software, which let you collect your references in a database, with notes, and can then generate a reference list using the appropriate format. I've heard good things about a number of them (but never had a need for this purpose (the ones I've used were for shared project bibliographies). I'd look to see which ones can generate whatever citation style is appropriate for the journal(s) you submit to, or ask around to see if any of the people you collaborate might use one (as using the same one could be of benefit when collaborating).
# Answer
> 31 votes
This is a horrible idea. DOIs are not meant for human consumption; bibliographies are.
**You *cannot* assume that your readers are always connected to the internet while reading your paper, even if that paper is published only electronically.** They might be reading a paper printout. They might be reading the paper on an airplane. They might be describing the results to students in a seminar, or to a colleague over the phone. The campus network might be down, or overloaded by students google-studying for finals. Their cellular data carrier might be unreliable.
Even so, the reader might have access to your cited papers by other means, like (gasp) the actual library. Or they might be interested in when your references were published, or in which venues, or by whom. Or they might want to track citations to other papers which are not identified by DOIs elsewhere. Or they might want the raw bibliographic information for some other reason which you and I can't think of, but which they've learned to expect because every other publication includes it.
tl;dr: Stop whining and just type the stupid page numbers already.
# Answer
> 19 votes
I agree with JeffE and Users 17670, but there's another fundamental reason why DOIs alone are problematic: they don't have enough redundancy to correct errors. If you have a typo in your DOI, then it will be very difficult to determine what you meant to refer to. Of course, most DOIs are copied and pasted, and it's not hard to check that they work by pasting them into http://dx.doi.org, so I'm sure the error rate would be very low. However, it would not be zero. (I once found a typo in the DOI listed on a publisher's web page. I have no idea how it got there, but it did.)
# Answer
> 8 votes
Personally, I try to "sneak in" DOIs into reference lists even if the journal's instructions are for short citation formats. Just as I try to sneak in the title of the paper.
* As reader and reviewer, I find it horrible to have no clue at all what the paper by J. Doe *et al.*, Some Jounal, 42, 5678-91 is about. Particularly, when seeking a particular kind of information. That is for the title.
* As reader and reviewer, I find it very convenient to just click on the link to get to the paper. So please, do not only spell out the DOI, but use its inherent hyperlinking capability.
* My experience is that broken citations are fairly common already with the traditional "Author, journal, volume, pages" format. Usually it is possible to arrive at the paper with some effort. Having the title is then the most useful information to get to the paper. Having only a DOI with typo pretty much prevents any possible correction.
* **Conclusion: I think both title and DOI are worth the additional ink.**
* Even if the journal insists on their more compressed format, I'd like to have at least the reviewers the benefit of immediately seeing what papers I refer to.
* I've never had a reviewer complaining about this information in the references.
* I'm using mostly biblatex, which makes it easy to automatically have both title and the DOI (already properly linked) output together with the rest of the information. No effort at all.
* I don't care if you prefer to store your literature database as DOI only, and expand the DOI list when writing the paper. However, personally I perfer to have a searchable base, and more meaningful citation keys (I use mostly AuthorYEAR Bibtex keys, for books the title), so I can remember them more easily when writing.
# Answer
> 1 votes
People already see this as a problem and try to go from PDF to a list of DOIs. See the project here: http://labs.crossref.org/pdfextract
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Tags: publications, citations, doi
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thread-9082 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9082 | Can dissertation be included in publication part in CV | 2013-04-03T08:37:40.073 | # Question
Title: Can dissertation be included in publication part in CV
In my CV, I include my dissertation topic within my education part like this:
```
From start-time to end-time
Master of something, University at somewhere
Dissertation title: something
```
However, I also see some people include their dissertation in publication part even though it's not published publicly. So, I wonder if doing that is acceptable and advisable.
# Answer
I think it is best to put your dissertation under its own heading "Dissertation". Even though this wastes a little space it makes the thesis easily identifiable. The value of a dissertation will diminish with time after the PhD so you can change its location later you want to conserve space. But, particularly in your early career many want to be able to clearly see what you wrote up for your thesis work.
> 8 votes
# Answer
**I argue for including the dissertation explicitly as a publication item**, preferably in a separate section "Theses", or "Theses, technical reports and pre-prints" (including other theses, such as master thesis, if publicly available). Of course the solution also marginally depends on the habits and regulations of the country where you completed the thesis. In countries like Germany, a dissertation thesis is required to be submitted to the university library, subsequently it is catalogued by the German National Library (Dissonline section) and receives an ISBN, hence it can be treated as a proper publication. As far as I know, also in the Netherlands, dissertations are published as books with proper ISBN assigned, hence proper archival publications too. In the past (not sure about current situation) some other countries, such as Slovakia, even master theses were required to be archived and made publicly available on request by the university libraries.
> 8 votes
# Answer
Some people publish their theses as part of a monograph series. In that case, it could appear under "books," but should still be identified as the PhD thesis.
In other circumstances, I would not include it under "Publications," but instead list it more or less as you suggest. (Under "Dissertation Topic" as part of "Education.")
> 3 votes
# Answer
I think your method (thesis title in the education section) is the standard one. Though I notice your example doesn't have the advisor's name, which should be there too. If the thesis was published separately as a monograph, or several articles, I would still list the thesis title in the education section as well as the papers/monographs in the publication section.
> 3 votes
# Answer
yes, you can include it & you should include it because many persons would be eager to see an information regarding your dissertation. btw If you are using LaTeX to write your cv, BibTeX provides an entry regarding dissertations - phdthesis. when having an ISBN, then you can use the (BibTeX) book entry and your publication part. without an ISBN, use (BibTeX) phdthesis entry within the education area of your cv which was proposed in another prior answer.
> 0 votes
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Tags: publications, cv, thesis
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thread-9165 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9165 | PI coauthorship on previous papers | 2013-04-06T13:52:21.883 | # Question
Title: PI coauthorship on previous papers
I independently wrote a number of math articles, and published some of them in refereed journals. I wrote the draft of the thesis, and contacted a Prof., and started a PhD program under his supervision. After being accepted, the supervisor
1. Asked me to change all notations and terminology. I hesitate, because I used the terminology in use in the domain, I kept at minimum new terms, and I already used these terms in the published papers.
2. Asked me to make him coauthor of some of the papers I haven't yet published, and which I wrote previously, without any suggestion or discussion with him. He motivated his request by saying that my articles need to be polished (ie terminology changed with an invented one), and that even when they will be ready, nobody will accept them with my name only (although I already published some articles as single author).
He is very assertive with these requests, and I feel like he is putting pressure on me. Normally, I would like to have him as coauthor, and maybe it will be good for my career. But I am affraid that he will make my results unrecognizable, and incompatible with the other papers in domain, including my owns. And, frankly, his only contribution is that he suggested to change the terminology.
What should I do?
# Answer
> 13 votes
We cannot tell you what the best decision is, but I get the feeling from your post that you already have some course of action in mind: **politely decline, with your arguments, and if he insists too much, find another advisor.** I would agree with that being the best solution for you, but only ***assuming that your assessment of the situation is correct***.
Don't take it badly, but I have seen it happen before. An established researcher gives advice to a newcomer (or more junior researcher), who disagrees and concludes that such bad advice can only be motivated by self interest. That sure is one possible explanation, but another might be that the advice is (partly or fully) correct, but the student doesn't recognize it (yet). Take a second look at his advice... There can be good reasons to suggest nonstandard notation: trying to make the paper more appealing to the community of another field, by using their notations. Or making the case that existing notation doesn't properly cover the cases considered. Or maybe what you consider standard notation actually isn't, and you are currently using a notation used by a prolific research group (bias in your reading list).
I am not saying that it is your case. I'm only saying that you should seriously consider it before taking any action.
# Answer
> 5 votes
From a purely objective point of view, I would say that co-authorship should be granted only if someone has a scientific input to the paper (such as significant reworking, polishing (whatever that is) is not enough) or if the prospective co-author is the originator of the ideas in the paper (also a scientific contribution).
In your specific case I can see that the professor could be part of a paper if he puts enough work into it. I think it is very unattractive to force oneself onto a paper the way it sounds in your case. On the other hand, you could consider whether having a "big name" on your paper could benefit you in the long-term? I know co-authorships are viewed differently in different fields so I dare not say what would be appropriate in your case.
The nasty part of the story is of course what might happen if you do not put the Professor on your papers. That is something which only you can assess. But, you could possibly get some insights by talking to others who knows the situation in your department/research group.
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Tags: phd, advisor, authorship, terminology
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thread-9133 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9133 | Why should (or should not) a university have a policy of not hiring its own PhDs? | 2013-04-04T18:04:34.723 | # Question
Title: Why should (or should not) a university have a policy of not hiring its own PhDs?
My university (in France) is having a debate about the relevance of taking rules for preventing too many of its PhDs to be recruited here, or asking them to have some postdoc outside the region before. The same rules are also debated about the promotion to full professor (from what is called maître de conférence and is a tenured associate professorship).
Many people have strong opinion on these issues (me included), and I would like to gather a comprehensive list of arguments (in both directions) on this matter, if only to clear my ideas.
Some arguments may apply only under particular circumstances or in specific fields, please say so when it applies.
# Answer
> 17 votes
In addition to the other answers, there is a perverse effect to local hiring: a professor can promise to her PhD students/postdocs a permanent position later on, which in turn tends to "tie" the student/postdoc to her professor, perhaps preventing her to develop her own research agenda, and doing more administrative/teaching/supervision tasks than normally required (to basically look good in the eyes of the advisor). This then builds a stack of postdocs, waiting for the next permanent position, which would be awarded not to the best candidate, but to the one who has waited long enough.
Of course, I'm on purpose exaggerating the description, and this is no way can be generalised: many, if not most professors will actually recruit the best possible candidate, local or not. But I have observed this behaviour several times, in different countries, and although forbidding local recruitment wouldn't solve every problem, it would perhaps solve that one.
# Answer
> 28 votes
I have not come far in my career but I have a family of academics, this question certainly came up a number of times over the years.
I guess the main point of having a formal requirement of foreign exchange/post-doc period is two-folds:
1. to avoid the drawbacks of *academic inbreeding*. Academia is partially built on a strong tutor-pupil, or rather mentor-protégé, relationship. While this is a great way to pass on the experience and good skills, it can also be the cause of conservatism in the form of sticking to what you know only. Likewise it's truly important for young academics to experience different cultures, and I don't mean it like a charter trip to a warm place, only to hang out with friends/family. To learn, adapt and eventually appreciate a foreign culture is beneficial for any person, let alone for those who are supposed to keep an open mind to the unknown.
2. going to a new lab somewhere else is also a fantastic way to improve on your professional skills. It's another reason why young academics are often expected to go somewhere else, learn something new and overall improve intellectually. In the corporate world this is encouraged in terms of changing jobs, those prodigies who are groomed for high level executive positions usually end up switching jobs every 3-5 years, often taking on a new but not completely unfamiliar role.
I should also note that our department has a similar issue, in the form of internal recruiting. A significant portion of the PhDs are recruited from those who have taken the course our department gives for undergrads in a particular program. What that leads to then is that the department becomes more or less an alumni hangout. While it may be nice for those new recruits to feel more "at home", for anyone else who does not have the same background it creates a BIG barrier to overcome in order to get familiar with the people in the department.
That was my two cents, I hope it helps.
# Answer
> 16 votes
One con that hasn't been mentioned yet is *confirmation bias*. Ideally, departments want to hire the best people and provide the best opportunities for their graduates. Hiring from within skews the calibration of both of these goals.
> How do we know we're doing a good job hiring? Well, just look at all these great people we hired! How do we know they're good? They came from a great department! And if they weren't good, we wouldn't have given them PhDs. And how do we know our PhD standards are high? Just look at how many of our PhD students get jobs in good departments! Well, sure, none of them get jobs in *other* good departments, but so what?
# Answer
> 7 votes
In my mind:
Pros:
* A policy of hiring your own graduates is probably a good indication that you "take care of your own", making sure your graduates get jobs, etc.
* PhDs from a university likely already have mentorship and support networks set up, there will be less time adjusting to a new place, etc.
* Assuming they found an advisor to work with to get their PhD, their own research goals likely align with those of the institution - there are likely grants they could be made Co-PIs on, etc.
Cons:
* You lose the opportunity to hire outside talent.
* Hiring exclusively from your own PhD pool creates an echo chamber - it's hard to get novel, outside perspectives, or take things in interesting new directions if everyone does what's already there.
* It may lock junior faculty into something kind of like a "postdoc+" status - sure they're faculty, but there's no big transition to make them take the leap into doing their own research, establishing an independent lab, etc. Instead, they kind of soldier along as some status above student but decidedly below the other faculty in the department, at least for awhile.
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Tags: university, job-search, policy
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thread-9076 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9076 | Citing a funding application in a student thesis | 2013-04-03T07:27:06.747 | # Question
Title: Citing a funding application in a student thesis
I gave an application for a funded project to a student as reference material for his Masters thesis. He wants to put a reference to this text into his bibliography. What is the necessary "bibliographic" information to include in this case, and what would be the recommended way to format such a reference?
# Answer
The rule with citation of “unusual” references is always something like that:
1. Make sure you really want to cite it. *(In your case, it sounds okay, but most cases of students trying to cite “unusual” stuff end up with me telling them not to cite it)*
2. Include just enough information that the **cited item is uniquely identifiable**.
3. If the item is not publicly available, include additional information that hints at its content (such as the title).
For example:
> John Aristotle (341 BC). *Exploring the impact of introducing a fifth element in Empedocles’s classification of principles* \[Grant X1FH25 proposal to the Macedonian Science Fundation, Agency for Philosophical Research\].
> 6 votes
# Answer
i know that we are not on the LaTeX / TeX site, but when thinking about BibTeX your headache will gone away and it should be rather clear.
@format: That will be made when choosing a bibliograhystyle within your tex file.
@required information: Various bibliography items are demanding different fields.
BibTeX overview
> 0 votes
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Tags: citations, thesis
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thread-9148 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9148 | What should advisors do if one of their PhD students has to withdraw? | 2013-04-05T07:18:18.560 | # Question
Title: What should advisors do if one of their PhD students has to withdraw?
Unfortunately, there are circumstances when not everything goes right in a student's PhD career, or there can be personal circumstances that require doctoral candidates to withdraw from a PhD program before they have completed the requirements.
However, what is not clear to me is how to handle this situation from the *advisor's* perspective. What should an advisor do to:
* Help the candidate, should she wish to apply elsewhere?
* Discuss the situation with the group, to maintain morale?
* Handle the "transition" process (during which the student is still officially on the payroll)?
# Answer
> 16 votes
Without additional details, it will be impossible to provide very detailed answers so from a general point, each case has its own solutions. The first question I would ask is, what is my part in this and how can I best help out (best may be = nothing). In general I would try to help out as much as I can unless the problem lies in the realm of a conflict or personal problems. Then there is not much you can do except suggest professional help. If the candidate is a good student then I would certainly support with any letter of recommendation I could. Since you mention morale issues in the group, it suggests some form of non-trivial problem. In some cases too much help makes people fall into a false sense of security so to be shaken can be useful as long as the reasons are very clear.
So without trying to read too much into what is between the lines, I think the degree of help depends on to what extent help can or should be given (seen from an objective point).
Probably not the most satisfactory answer but being responsible for the research education at my dept., I have seen how difficult these matters can be. In our case, I would also be a resource to help out, if nothing else just to discuss the matter. (This does not mean I run a research group completely without problems myself!)
# Answer
> 11 votes
It depends on the circumstances, but I certainly help the student if I'm able. We had one student who wanted to transfer to a Ph.D. program closer to home, and another who wanted to take a crack at programs better than ours. I was happy to support them both, including writing rec letters. I put a third student in touch with some people who worked at a software company.
Some students blow us off, in which case general well wishes and respectful silence seem to be what is called for.
A Ph.D. is 5+ years of backbreaking work, during which you make poverty-level wages, with uncertain job prospects at the other end. I can hardly blame a student for leaving, if his/her heart is not in it.
# Answer
> 3 votes
> Handle the "transition" process (during which the student is still officially on the payroll)?
Support would be great.
On the other hand: If you are talking about a PhD student who was employed at an institute, then maybe the advisor should think what he/she has made wrong concerning advising. From my point of view, a retrospective would be worth for both - student and advisor. For instance, can you remember the first time when an expectation and an actual state of the student's work was rather different. Talked the advisor with the student regarding publications and interesting conferences? Which intervals were scheduled for meetings? Did their meetings worked out? If not, why not? (agenda, interruptions during the meeting). Which method was used by the student to assess his/her progress? Were these "story points" observed a little bit by the advisor?
> Discuss the situation with the group, to maintain morale?
Yes, but firstly the advisor needs to know the actual reason concerning the end of the student's work. Talking in front of a group about a reason which was not the actual reason could be not the best when having persons in the group who are friends of the student who ends his study and work.
> Help the candidate, should she wish to apply elsewhere?
If she has achieved a certain level within her scientific field, why not?
# Answer
> 0 votes
From my experience, most advisors seem to simply shake hands and part ways; I've seen a number of students leave, and in no case did the advisor do anything for the student. I view this as appropriate. Consider a work relationship, where an employee decides to leave because they (got married/got sick/won the lottery/will likely be fired for poor performance/dislike their job/dislike their boss/etc.). It's almost unheard of for the employer to assist the quitting employee to find new employment. (Note I'm not talking about firing someone, where local laws may require some sort of employment help.)
It's a similar situation here. You have a student who decides to leave for whatever reason. At that point, your work relationship is simply terminated. You can continue to interact as professionals, but you are under no obligation to assist in future endeavors.
That being said, I don't think any grad student would turn you down if you offer to help. It would definitely be a nice professional gesture. Just realize that you are under no obligation to offer such help.
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Tags: phd, advisor, quitting
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thread-9185 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9185 | Will withdrawing from a graduate program, affect my future admissions applications? | 2013-04-07T03:20:45.253 | # Question
Title: Will withdrawing from a graduate program, affect my future admissions applications?
I am in an MS program at a big university in the US, where I pay my own tuition.
I am not happy with the quality of education I am getting at this university.
I am thinking that after this quarter is complete, that I want to officially withdraw from the program and go somewhere else. I think I can get much better education and for much less cost as well.
My question is: Will this affect me in any way for future admission to other schools? I am an A student, and I'll be withdrawing after the quarter is over, not in the middle.
Will the transcript contain some negative marker in it because I did not complete the MS program? Has anyone been through this and found any negative effect when not completing a program?
# Answer
> 3 votes
If it is possible, you may want to consider applying to a new program while you are still in your current program. In some sense it will be like a transfer, which may come across as a better move than to withdraw and re-apply to other schools later.
Bear in mind that you will need recommendation letters again, and you should be cultivating relationships with professors now with the hope of getting good recommendations. While you can ask the people who wrote your last recommendation letters again, you would need to explain why you didn't get recommendations (at least one) from a professor from your current school.
If you are in the midst of fruitful research, I would also advise you to try to finish up and put together a paper for publication -- if published, this will also help in future applications, and you don't want to waste the effort if you can help it.
One further caveat: graduate schools sometimes have a cap on how many courses you can transfer from a previous school, and you may find that you have to re-take a number of courses you've already passed (and paid for). The financial benefit from withdrawing now may not be as good as you hope.
# Answer
> 7 votes
Your transcript will very likely have a notation that shows you withdrew from the program; to claim that you are still enrolled when you are not would be dishonest (if *either* you *or* the university said so!).
And yes, this will be something that you will need to explain to schools to which you apply in the future. Just saying "it's not good enough for me" is a *bad* reason to withdraw from the program, because it suggests a "diva-like" attitude that is not particularly desirable (in just about any circumstances). If you're responsible for paying your tuition, and found you could no longer afford it, that would be a more tolerable reason.
But you *will* need to explain this, and it can definitely have an impact on the decision of future admissions committees.
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Tags: graduate-admissions, graduate-school, withdraw
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thread-9197 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9197 | What value will PhD give me? | 2013-04-07T13:50:18.403 | # Question
Title: What value will PhD give me?
I'm a lecturer (I have an MSc) at university. The university wants me to do my PhD at another country (the UK). However, I didn't think about PhD before and now it is a must or they are going to change my job to something other than teaching.
I'm thinking now what value will the PhD give me after I get it? I mean what are things that will become special in my life?
# Answer
> 0 votes
I am a Mechanical Engineering PhD, Electrical Engineering MS, Bioengineering MS, Electrical Engineering BS in USA. I was an international student and I met my wife who was also an international student when we were B.S. In order to keep our relationship, we stayed in US as students. Last year I got my green card (No green card is very difficult to find job in US, even if international student may apply working visa. Not much company is willing to hire a temporary working visa people).
Currently, I am a contractor in a small private company. My hourly paid is as same as a B.S. student that I taught when I was a PhD student. My previous labmate who is a US citizen got a government job, the other one also citizen got a position at NASA.
PhD is almost no value to most of industries. I used my PhD title to get my current job, but this job is totally unrelated to my research. Small and middle size companies do NOT spend time to train you. They need someone knowledge more than creativity.
If you want to use a PHD title, so that you can a professor. At least in USA, you need to have a few years of post-doc training first. Moreover, there are 400 applications per assistant professor position open in my previous university (Top 100 NOT Top 10).
Do NOT do a PHD if you don't have to.
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Tags: phd
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thread-9123 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9123 | How to evaluate undergrad CS programs when eventually aiming for PhD? | 2013-03-29T19:06:15.953 | # Question
Title: How to evaluate undergrad CS programs when eventually aiming for PhD?
My daughter has a strong interest in theoretical computer science, and she has just been admitted to several different universities as a freshman. She is just a bright student, not a genius, with a bit of research experience in cryptography and randomness stuff, and a semifinalist in a couple of national competitions. She intends to continue graduate study in theoretical CS, or a closely related subfield, after finishing her undergraduate degree.
Given her strong interest in eventual graduate study, what criteria should we take into account in choosing where to enroll as an undergraduate? How can we tell which undergrad programs best prepare their students for graduate school?
# Answer
> 13 votes
Although I'm sure you already realize this, you shouldn't let a laser focus on your daughter's professional development control her choice of which school to attend. (Influence, sure, but not control. And yes: **HER** choice.) Given your daughter's background and experience, she will likely be very successful no matter where she enrolls. I've seen *very* successful theoretical computer scientists come from a huge variety of undergraduate programs, not all of which were associated with strong graduate CS programs. It is at least as important for her to find a place where she feels (and not just *is*) supported and challenged, both by her faculty and her peers. Otherwise, no matter how strong the department is *on average*, it won't be a good fit for her personally.
There is absolutely no substitute for a personal visit to each campus, if you can manage it. Let her drop into the comptuer science department, get a feel for the community vibe, sit in on a class, talk to a professor or two if she can, hang out in the dorms. Meanwhile, you go somewhere else. Go'way. Shoo.
But if you really want hard data, I recommend that you—or better yet, **your daughter**—directly contact the computer science departments at the schools where she's been admitted, describe her experience and her goals (which should make them *very* eager to attract her), and then ask questions like the following:
* How many students graduated from your program in the last five years?
* How many / what fraction of those students are currently enrolled in strong computer science PhD programs?
* How many / what fraction of your current undergraduates are involved in research with your faculty?
* How many of your faculty do research in theoretical computer science?
* \[The Hail Mary:\] Would you mind asking one of them to contact me? I'd like to ask some more questions.
Beware the answer "I don't know", or qualitative waffle like like "quite a lot" that really mean "I don't know". Ask for numbers. Ask for examples. Channel your inner Cuba Gooding Jr: **Show me the data!**
Your first contact will almost certainly be answered by someone on the administrative staff, who may not have the data you want at hand. Be prepared make an appointment to speak over the phone (or Skype or whatever) with the director of undergraduate programs or another faculty member. If you do speak over the phone, try to keep your conversation short and to the point; these people are *very very* busy.
Don't bother asking admissions officers these questions; Chances are very high that they just don't know. You really need to contact the departments directly.
Another good place to look is the list of current and past winners and runners-up for the **Computing Research Association's Outstanding Undergraduate** award, which specifically recognizes undergraduate research. A significant fraction of winners did their undergraduate research in theoretical computer science. Also, a significant fraction of winners were **not** enrolled in departments with a top-10 graduate program.
But as Anonymous Mathematician notes in a comment, you shouldn't take the CRA list *too* seriously; some departments are more interested in awards like this and push hard for their students to be selected. The fact that some prominent departments have few or no students on this list may reflect a disinterest in this particular *award*, not in undergraduate research in general.
\[I'm a theoretical computer scientist at a top-10 CS department; I serve on my department's graduate admissions committee.\]
# Answer
> 7 votes
Best researchers go to Universities where they get the best students to teach, and the best students go to Universities where they get good education and enough attention from the faculty. So, things balance out. Departmental reputation and standard University ranking tables are perfectly fine to use as a guide to decide where to go. Pretty much all the top departments will have good strength in Theoretical Computer Science. You will need to look closely only if you are looking at lower-ranking Universities, which might have strength in some areas but not others.
There is also no conflict between good undergraduate education and good grad school, because the grad students do contribute to teaching. They run tutorials/discussions and help students with questions and exercises. So, a department that is good at grad school is also likely to be good in undergraduate teaching.
There can be a bit of difference between private Universities and State Universities. Because private Universities are more dependent on the tuition fees and alumni donations, they are likely to spend more effort on undergraduate teaching. State Universities also tend to have larger class sizes, something to consider if you are looking for "personalized attention". You can't ask for too much personalized attention because, if that is what the faculty are engaged in, they are not going to have much time for research and, as a result, the quality of the department would go down in the long run.
If you are really after personalized attention, then you might consider Liberal Arts Colleges rather than Universities. Undergraduate teaching is their No. 1 focus. They don't normally have a grad school. While the faculty would engage in some research, research is not considered the top priority. Teaching is.
# Answer
> 5 votes
It is commonly said that the only university that counts is the one you've graduated from last. If your daughter wants to eventually earn a PhD, the graduate school she attends will most likely figure more importantly to her future employability than her undergraduate school.
With that in mind, it is also true that many undergraduate schools with some of the top *graduate* schools in CS also produce excellent candidates for graduate school, primarily because the number of undergraduate research opportunities are greater, and also because it can be assumed that there is a good deal of correlation between the quality of the graduate program and the quality of the undergraduate program.
*However,* it would be wise to also consider the strength of the undergraduate program from the standpoint of all the normal factors that go into choosing an undergraduate school, e.g., (1) the kind of student your daughter is, and (2) whether the undergraduate program will give her what she needs as a student holistically. For example, some phenomenal CS programs are at schools where class sizes can be in the hundreds (e.g., UC Berkeley), but if your daughter thinks she would get swallowed up in a giant class, that probably isn't the place for her. A smaller school with smaller classes might be more appropriate, even if the CS program is weaker as a whole.
Finally, the top two (in my opinion) factors that will affect your daughter's success in getting into graduate school are:
1. Her grades (despite what some prominent and highly successful members of this community have achieved). Getting a 4.0 from any decent school in a particular major is better than a 2.5 from the best school in the country.
2. Undergraduate research, with published results. Just doing research is important, but having published results will help her case significantly.
Bottom line: I suggest choosing a school where your daughter feels comfortable, and with enough of a research program that she could get involved with research as an undergraduate.
# Answer
> 1 votes
Selecting a school is a very challenging thing to do. Just because a school has top-quality research faculty doesn't necessarily mean they have top-quality teaching faculty (brilliant researchers are not always the best communicators, unfortunately). The best way to get one-on-one time with a professor is usually to corner them during their office hours and keep asking questions until they insist they need to leave.
Wherever your daughters ends up, encourage her to start making a connection with individual faculty members as early as possible. Faculty are almost always happy to bring new students into their labs, and there is funding available for undergraduates who are interested in research. Many universities offer REUs (research experience for undergraduates). The primary issue I've come across is that these programs have difficulty finding undergraduates to give money to.
As far as grad school goes: tell her to make good grades and get involved with a lab. Everything else will fall into place (and that's a long way off, anyways).
# Answer
> 0 votes
Have her go to the school where she would be least distracted. Princeton is better than NYU, as it is farther from Broadway (1 hr vs. half-hour). Yale is even better (3 hours). Urbana-Champaign is impossible to beat in that regard -- cornfields for hours to drive (and you can still deny her of a car), she would have nothing else to do but study.
I guess I would also want to make sure that the university's regular math program is good. If she can get a credit for non-math AP courses, that's great, as it will clear some time to do real work in college; math and CS will have to be retaken, or taken at a higher level of expectations, and/or in the honors college. Some good quantitative bridge courses like biology or psychology may be something else to pique her interest to do something CS-related that is funded by another substantive field (many of the great discoveries are being made at the disciplinary boundaries). Knowing what you are going to do for the rest of your life at 18 is **incredibly boring** -- sounds more like a lawyer than an academician!
# Answer
> -3 votes
here are some standard rankings/surveys that might be helpful. for very elite schools, they are all highly rigorous, and maybe unique nonacademic features particularly appealing to your daughter (eg "culture/atmosphere", which is difficult to objectively characterize) might shift the balance.
the last 2 links are based on Shanghai Jiao Tong University's graduate school of education which recently ranked the world's best universities in computer science, based according to their academic or research performance in each subject field. it ranks 9 of the top 10 in the US. good luck!
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Tags: phd, graduate-admissions, computer-science, undergraduate
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thread-9192 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9192 | Points to consider when deciding whether to get married during a PhD | 2013-04-07T12:28:09.773 | # Question
Title: Points to consider when deciding whether to get married during a PhD
Marriage is a recurrent topic in the lives of most PhDs. The meagre pay and the burden of responsibility could make marriage in the middle of PhD look like a terrible idea. But on the positive side, marriage gives one an intimate companion in a long and bleak journey. The pay hurdle could also be overcome if the partner finds a job.
While eventually it is a personal decision for the couple based on their commitment and readiness, what are the points to remember when one thinks of getting married in the middle of a PhD?
# Answer
> 88 votes
If you've found the right person to marry in graduate school, what's the alternative? Getting married as a postdoc or tenure-track faculty member is also difficult, since you still have a lot of career pressure and uncertainty. It won't go over well to say "I love you, but let's wait until I have tenure to get married," since that's way too far in the future, and I don't see any real advantage to saying "let's wait until I'm a postdoc."
Before marrying a non-academic, it's important to make sure they understand some of the basic parameters of academia:
1. The job market is incredibly competitive. Harvard probably won't hire you even if everyone agrees you're really smart, and getting a job at a less prestigious university is not a form of career failure. Indeed, just the opposite is true: any career progress in academia is a success that should be celebrated.
2. There is a national, and even international, job market with universities in many locations, but that doesn't mean you can choose where you want to live. Instead, it means you need to apply everywhere and take what you can get. Unless you are really lucky, having an academic career may require living somewhere you do not consider desirable, and you won't even be able to predict in advance where that might be.
3. Having a successful research career requires a lot of work, but it's a little different from many demanding jobs because the work is mostly self-imposed. You need to do it, but nobody is specifying what, when, or how. This can lead to resentment since everything you spend time on seems like a choice, rather than an externally imposed requirement. So you need a partner who is not inclined towards jealousy over time commitments.
If these issues are not an obstacle, then it's reasonable to get married whenever seems appropriate.
# Answer
> 45 votes
For the actual question (*“ what are the points to remember when one thinks of getting married in the middle of a PhD?”*):
* If you are a woman, and live in a country where you are expected to take the surname of your husband, make sure that doesn't interfere with other people's ability to keep track of your publications. (Some women I know, though they use their husband's name for daily life, use their maiden name for academic purposes. That or using both surnames.)
Honestly, that's about the only academia-specific or PhD-specific real advice I could think of. Everything else is just, well, the usual stuff:
* Planning a wedding can become really time consuming. Organize efficiently, or delegate, or simply choose to do something simple. (Elope?)
* The honeymoon may be tricky to arrange, especially if your spouse has high expectations (some people would expect the happy couple to take a 3-week vacation starting the day after the wedding, which might be hard to schedule).
And obvious reference:
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For the rest of the question, the only thing I have to say is: *oh man, you've got to get your priorities straight!*
# Answer
> 35 votes
Having gotten married more or less exactly in the middle of my PhD, I would say emphatically no, it is not a bad idea at all! (I expect you just meant 'during' by 'in the middle of' though. =\] )
Regarding the 'meagre pay': at the time my PhD scholarship was about twice as much money as I had ever had in my life before, so I felt comparatively wealthy. We were not interested in having a lavish wedding anyway, but we did manage to afford a very nice wedding with 80 guests, paid for out of money saved from our PhD scholarships.
Of course PhD students might not be similarly well-paid in many countries (we were in the UK).
As for the 'burden of responsibility', I'm not quite sure what you mean by this, so I'll ask a question in a comment and wait until you reply.
Points to consider:
* You will potentially need to lower your expectations about what kind of wedding you can afford, but if the point is to achieve the state of *being married*, I don't think that's a big problem. You can always throw a big anniversary party at some point later when you have more money.
* Potential name change (as mentioned by F'x): If a name change is going to be involved, it can be very convenient to have this happen before one has any publications, which is a lot more likely to be the case during the PhD than afterwards. (I did change my surname, and had no publications yet at that point, so there is no problem with using my new surname for academic purposes.)
* Honeymoon: There's a lot more chance of getting enough time off for a proper honeymoon during a PhD than once you have a job, although this is going to depend completely on your supervisor, of course. \[Added because of F'x thinking the honeymoon could be a problem: My supervisor allowed me a month after my wedding.\]
* Companionship, as you mentioned: This is obviously especially relevant if you are from a culture/religion where living together before marriage is not usual. Definitely having 'an intimate companion' during the PhD journey (not that mine was that long or bleak - but my husband's was more so) can be a huge help, and I don't see any reason for a couple to wait until after a PhD to get married if they are ready now.
I may add more later if I think of anything else. There is more I would say if I wasn't trying not to stray too far into 'discussion' or 'off-topic'ness.
# Answer
> 15 votes
Love is nice and all, but you want to make sure your career decisions do not result in resentment for either you or your partner. There are two big issues with marriage/relationships that I think are unique to academics and especially relevant for PhD students since they are just starting down the academic road. It is critical that your partner (whether he/she is an academic or not) understands that as an academic we often chose to make substantially less money to take a high stress level, time-consuming job. Many people find that a difficult decision to understand and it can lead to stress/resentment. The second is that until tenure, academics often have a series of one or two year jobs with periods of unemployment in between and cross country/international moves. Rarely do we get to decide where we get to work.
# Answer
> 8 votes
Marriage is only a momentary distraction of what one might presume to be a state of cohabitation both before and after. There may be some ancillary health coverage and/or tax benefits as a result. Other factors would dominate the decision.
A baby or babies on the other hand would likely either significantly slow down the completion of the Ph.D., or put a big strain on the relationship. That perhaps would make for a more interesting question.
Cohabitation could and should be a benefit while pursuing a Ph.D. with lower living costs and reduced time spent on mundane things through the sharing of chores (cooking, cleaning, washing clothes, etc.). But you don't need to be married for that. Of course, the significant other would need to be tolerant of the time not spent with them.
# Answer
> 6 votes
First of all, I do think, this is a boat question. Aren't those concerns about career and pay valid for all early-career knowledge workers (i.e., people in non-manual occupations)?
But to answer your question, as somebody who married in the middle of PhD, I think I have evidence, a sample set of size 1, which allows me to conclude that doing so is a **good thing**.
Many young people nowadays ask questions (as you do) *What are the reasons to marry/have kids/etc. in my situation? When is a good time to start a family?* There is never the right time and there almost never is a good reason to change your life in whichever way. You should ask differently. *What are the reasons **not to** marry/start a family now? Why not to start family right now?* Things will never be better than right now. You think that being a post-doc you will have more time and less stress in the career? Or when you will be assistant professor? Or associate? Or full? Yeah, you can wait till the time when the waters calm down. Good luck starting family when you are 80 (if you will be lucky).
# Answer
> 1 votes
Better ask your to be wife/husband, if he/she agrees with your thoughts?
No matter how well we justify, if your partner does not agree to a thought! no one on the earth make him/her agree to the same(with some exceptions).
Take his/her consent in detail with all possible conditions after marriage with PhD.
If he/she approves than follow the same as receive approval(I believe it will have some conditions)
Neither PhD is easy nor marriage, both requires good amount of efforts for success.
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Tags: phd, graduate-school, work-life-balance
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thread-3664 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/3664 | How do I appropriately penalize late projects? | 2012-10-08T19:17:11.593 | # Question
Title: How do I appropriately penalize late projects?
I am teaching an elective course in which students' grades are determined on the basis of a final project. Due to unforeseen circumstances, this year I had to grant a one-week blanket exception to all of the students. However, several students asked for, and received, an additional extension beyond the general extension, based on legitimate issues related to other academic commitments.
Unfortunately, some of these students have still failed to turn in their project, and this is leaving me at a loss for how to proceed. For this year, I have decided on a policy of deducting a full letter grade for each 24 hours beyond the deadline, but this at once seems too harsh (to the individual students affected) and also too lenient (because everybody else managed to turn things in on time).
Is there a reasonable way to handle tardiness in submissions of final papers or projects, particularly when they are the sole basis for determining a grade?
# Answer
> 20 votes
Here are some ideas of how I try to handle this sort of things. Maybe they will help, maybe you already are aware of these points.
* As students, they aspire to become professionals, and you want them to. So, to a reasonable extent, **treat them as professionals**. In real life, finishing a project late triggers penalties, which can range from small to catastrophic (*“the missed deadline? come back next year”*). The rules are usually **announced in advance**, so they know how important each task is, and can weigh their own priorities.
It is not common, but for long projects, I have once used the rule of “late projects will simply receive the failing grade of *incomplete*”. Needless to say, noöne was late.
* Also, as in any professional setting, **there is always room for negotiation** (as you did). If they realize they will be late, they should come and make an well-argumented pitch, and asking for a specific extension.
* Not reporting on your progress is the worse possible action. I mean, simply skipping the deadline and coming two days later asking for clemency will *not* fly. In fact, I wouldn't consider listening to anyone who has not at least come forward on the deadline to indicate they are late, and try to work out a solution.
Of course, there always are special cases: hospital, tornado, the usual… :)
---
I'll highlight another method for evaluating student projects, which I find very interesting but have not had time to put in practice yet (but my wife did). In that approach, you set the project deadline so as to leave the students ample time, and **you allow them to hand you their reports at any time before the deadline, for you to review**. And you state that after the deadline, they will fail (if they have not given you anything yet), or be graded on the last version of their project you saw.
Then, obviously, grade fairly strictly… because their work will usually be very good, since you already reviewed it once or twice (for most groups). This has been found (don't have the reference right now, I will ask) to improve acquisition of knowledge over the usual method.
# Answer
> 11 votes
For a course in which the final project is the only (or the majority of the) grade, one letter grade (or a 10% penalty) per day is not too severe. Compare to the final exam. If a student needed to make up a final exam due to legitimate extenuating circumstances, how many days would you give that student to make up the exam? Not many.
I would also encourage setting a date after which you will not accept the project. At my institution, and likely at most, final grades are due by a specific date. If the project is not submitted by that date, I would assign a zero grade for the course.
Regardless of severity, most students would respect a policy that:
1. is communicated upfront, preferably in the syllabus.
2. is enforced uniformly.
3. has some small amount of wiggle room for true emergencies.
# Answer
> 8 votes
Here is an alternative way of thinking about the issue.
Some argue that punishing students for late assessment is counter-productive to the learning goals of a course. For instance, this blog post presents a good argument for this case. The author argues
> Students should be graded on the quality of their work (their ability to meet the desired learning targets) rather than how punctual the assignment is.
I've also read this elsewhere in books such as Biggs' *Teaching for Quality Learning at University: What the Student does* or Ramsden's *Learning to Teach in Higher Education*.
# Answer
> 2 votes
At my high school in the US, every English and Social Studies class (two courses certain to have term papers) required both students and parents to sign a document at the beginning of the year acknowledging a **ZERO TOLERANCE POLICY** for missed deadlines on projects and papers as well as the late policies for homework. These deadlines were established at the beginning of the term in the syllabi, much like university policy.
Students could turn in any paper ahead of time without gain or penalty, but without **documented family/medical/extenuating circumstances,** no work was ever accepted past the deadline. Zero tolerance = 0%. This was the perfect timing for a wake up call on making excuses for *high school students.*
Later in university in Québec, there were even more explicit reasons defining extenuating circumstances, which could take months of arbitration, i.e. your name in a mass-media, published obituary being the burden of proof necessary to miss a deadline as a result of the death of a family member.
Most recently, as a middle school teacher, I hit the middle ground of the -10% per school day (not per class period) for homework assignments. Otherwise, I need a note from a parent or guardian excusing the tardiness by the due date or upon the day of the student's return to school from an excused absence. I'd like to require a doctor's note in some notorious cases, but we all have to conform to the school handbook, don't we?
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Tags: grading
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thread-9228 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9228 | Very few research groups: continue doing PhD in this area? | 2013-04-08T15:43:54.990 | # Question
Title: Very few research groups: continue doing PhD in this area?
For a PhD in computer science or informatics, are there good reasons **not** to choose an area of research in which very few (3 or 4) known (small- to middle-sized) research groups work in the world?
# Answer
> are there good reasons not to choose an area of research in which very few people work worldwide?
There might be.
* **a research clique might be at work**: sometimes, often unintentionally, you can observe a bunch of researchers starting to push some topic and ending up absorbed in their own little world proposing extensions of extensions of extensions and not noticing that they became irrelevant. Usually because something is wrong with the problem they work on. But sometimes such a niche might be actually very healthy, except the topic did not caught up more popularity in the relevant mainstream community.
* **something might be wrong with the problem they tackle**: sometimes a group of absorbed (as above) researchers looses connection with reality and pushes towards solving a problem which does not exist anymore because somebody else solved it just by the way along a route to some other problem and everybody else recognized.
* **something might be wrong with the method the small group applies to the problem they tackle**: sometimes the problem is *good* (see below), but the bunch tries to hopelessly push a method which simply does not yield anything. Often this is accompanied with use of a highly specialized terminology so that it is difficult to see that the method they use and the problem they tackle is in fact very much related to something else what yields more healthy research in the relevant mainstream community.
More generally, don't worry about the size of the field. What matters is whether the problem at the core of the niche is real and sound. Real means that solving it can have an impact on the society at large. You need to believe in your cause. For the sake of this blob, let sound mean that you see a solid way to articulate it and get a grip on it, most preferably including a method to measure progress. If you have the two, you are set even if the community tackling the problem is relatively small. All the rest is up to your capabilities and the difficulty level of the problem.
*Trust your judgement.*
> 7 votes
# Answer
One key thing is that there might be no open position for your to continue your line of research, if you wish to.
But here it is an important question, whether there are growing, or are in decline. And, more importantly, if you like and believe in this field.
Otherwise importance of the problem they are solving lies on a different axis than number of groups. Not every important topic is popular (and vice versa).
> 3 votes
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Tags: research-process
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thread-9194 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9194 | How to quote a passage with a punctuation error? | 2013-04-07T13:11:13.027 | # Question
Title: How to quote a passage with a punctuation error?
I want to quote the following passage (actually, the original passage as somewhat longer but let's consider this a minimal working example)
> Awareness of others, can address affective needs.
but the misplaced comma bothers me.
The common *sic* is not only often perceived to be impolite due to its overuse as a way ridicule the original author of a text, it also seems overkill in this case and – worst of all – it might not be clear that it relates to the tiny comma that comes right before but might be understood to refer to "awareness of others" instead:
> Awareness of others, \[*sic*\] can address affective needs.
A missing comma could just be put in square brackets itself as a way to more or less silently add it to the quotation without misquoting but the least distracting way to remove a comma that I could come up with is
> \[Awareness of others\] can address affective needs.
Of course silently dropping the comma would be even less distracting but it might also constitute a misquotation:
> Awareness of others can address affective needs.
What is your opinion on this? Is there a standard or otherwise widely accepted way to do this?
# Answer
\[Let's make an answer out of my comment to Jeff's answer with which I agree\]
Alternative solution could be:
1. to use the corrected quote without any indication of what changed
2. to the end of the quote append a footnotemark
3. in the footnote explain that punctuation was slightly changed in the quote with respect to the original phrase, but without changing the original meaning of the sentence.
> 10 votes
# Answer
Just delete the offending comma. No one will accuse you of misquoting; if they track down the original quote and notice that you've made a minor grammatical edit, they will not dwell on it long.
> 11 votes
# Answer
Any emendations you make to a quoted text should be made in square brackets. These emendations should be limited to corrections necessary for grammatical do not include skipping over parts of the text, which should be done with ellipses (and then only sparingly, and not in any way which will change the meaning of the text.
In principle, then, I might write the passage as:
> Author X's assertion that "\[a\]wareness of others \[\] can address effective needs" is motivated by . . .
Note that the first "a" in awareness has changed capitalization, and therefore should also be placed in brackets.
> 5 votes
# Answer
Phrase it in such a way that you don't need the direct quotation, and just cite instead.
```
In related work, Doe claimed that awareness of others addresses affective needs, and that (other stuff here) [1].
[1] Doe, John. "How to address affective needs." Doe Publishing: London, 1989
```
The comma doesn't introduce ambiguity, so I don't see a need to point out its prior existence. Phrasing it as above also avoids you having to \[sic\] or footnote it or whatever.
> 4 votes
# Answer
I just wanted to add this screen shot of what I ended up doing. It's essentially walkmanyi's suggestion but instead of using a footnote I wrote the remark directly underneath the block quotation in a smaller font.
> 3 votes
# Answer
Honestly, i would just drop the comma, it's a minor correction and i doubt anyone will accuse you of misquoting. Dwelling on this minor grammatical error will obfuscate the meaning of your text and could confuse readers.
Full disclosure is good, but in this case it does not add any new information for your readers. It might even do the opposite.
> 2 votes
# Answer
The answer to the question may vary depending on whether you are dealing with a simple punctuation error -- as you surmise -- or with a punctuation variant that, in the time or cultural context it was written, would have been considered acceptable. In your example, setting off a subject from the rest of the clause with commas, or setting off prepositional phrases from their head nouns, used to be unremarkable in written American English of a few hundred years ago. (Cf. Amendment 9 to the US Constitution: "The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.")
If it's indeed a simple error, I would second walkmanyi's suggestion to just correct and add a footnote about having made minor changes to punctuation without relevance to meaning. If it's a historical variant or a text from a different cultural context - say, Indian colonial - I would hesitate to make changes as they would necessarily introduce inauthenticity. You could then leave the text as-is and add a footnote "punctuation as in original": less intrusive and smug than "\[sic\]", but fulfils the same purpose.
> 2 votes
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Tags: publications, citations, quotation
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thread-9127 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9127 | Master's Degree Curriculum and its Effects on Teaching Opportunities | 2013-04-04T09:47:48.950 | # Question
Title: Master's Degree Curriculum and its Effects on Teaching Opportunities
I have been working as a entry-level web developer for approximately a year now. I am looking to go back to school to get a Master's Degree in hopes that I will be able to teach programming/development at the community college level (which requires a Master's Degree). I'm not interested in a PhD because I have to work full-time to support my family and I'm not interested in doing research. I have narrowed down my options to 2 programs:
* Brandeis University has a Master's in Software Engineering, which teaches a lot of very specific, high-level courses (primarily Java programming and development).
* Boston University Master's in Computer Science - Web Development, teaches a more holistic approach that spans several domains, but doesn't go into as much detail.
Do you find that a particular academic background makes one more marketable for teaching at the community college level? I feel that having a deep mastery of a specific technology is great, but community college courses generally do not get that deep into the material. I'm also a little nervous that if I take a more general curriculum that introduces me to many topics, my transcripts may not show that I have a deep enough understanding of a specific subject to teach at the college level.
Does anyone have any recommendations/insights or experiences with this type of career transition?
Thank you and have a great day.
# Answer
> 5 votes
> ...in hopes that I will be able to teach programming/development at the community college level (which requires a Master's Degree)
While this is technically true for many community colleges, it is also true that with a Master's degree vice a PhD, you will be less competitive for positions, as many PhDs also apply to community colleges. A friend of mine from graduate school worked successfully as a programmer at Microsoft for 20 years, and when he started looking for teaching positions (with his Master's already) at community colleges, he was told that he would not be competitive for available positions.
A further caveat: because community colleges generally do not have research requirements for instructors, they tend to rely on teaching experience as much as a particular degree when hiring instructors. I would suggest that you consider trying to get some computer science teaching experience as well (if you don't have any). You might want to see if either of the two schools you mentioned will allow you to TA classes -- you may not be able to get paid, but you could do it for free for the experience.
You might also want to consider approaching the graduate school of education at BU (if you attend there) to see about education courses -- they have a number of teaching classes, and taking one of those would also bolster your resume. You could also see about trying to get adjunct teaching positions at various community colleges -- teaching a one-off class may be possible, and you'd be able to leverage the experience.
Bottom line: unfortunately, there probably isn't a short path to being competitive for teaching positions at community colleges. If you are going to go down the MS route, your best bet is to do as well as you can in a program, and to try to get some teaching experience under your belt.
# Answer
> 0 votes
I would suggest that you go for a Masters degree,if you wish to teach in a community college. Where I live ,Industry experience is also a big plus for teaching.Lets say if two candidates applied for teaching a java course and one of them has industry experience as well as a Masters degree then he would be the preferred candidate for the job.
Ofcourse , phd candidates are still preferred over the Masters.But where I live ,phd candidates are considered more suitable for the theoretical courses like Automata,Operating Systems etc.Guys with industry experience are considered more suitable for teaching programming languages.
Again, a Masters degree is very important for teaching positions.So I suggest that if you wish to go for teaching then go for Masters.
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Tags: professorship, career-path, teaching, masters
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thread-9258 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9258 | Does your Alma Mater and U.S. News Rankings Really Affect Future Job Opportunities? | 2013-04-09T16:33:34.367 | # Question
Title: Does your Alma Mater and U.S. News Rankings Really Affect Future Job Opportunities?
I'm in the process of trying to decide on which graduate program to attend. I am pursuing a Master's level degree in Computer Science in hopes of furthering my web development career. I would love to be able to teach web development/programming at a community college someday after getting a few more years of industry experience (teaching requires at least a Master's degree). Previously I taught secondary science before transitioning into web development.
I've been accepted to the following programs:
**Boston University** \- Master's in Computer Information Systems / Web Application Development (U.S. News ranked #51 nationally)
**Brandeis University** \- Master's of Software Engineering (U.S. News ranked #31 nationally)
**University of Bridgeport** \- Master's of Computer Science (not ranked nationally)
I keep going back and forth in regards to which program I should choose. University of Bridgeport seems to have a good curriculum and it looks like it will be cheaper (I may get a scholarship), but I'm concerned that it's not viewed as a "top" school. I would be happy to pay for a more expensive school if it helped provide greater opportunities in the future.
Do you find that going to a "better" school has affected your resume to the point that you may have more teaching opportunities after school? I realize that a certain school won't earn me the actual position, but having a highly regarded school on my resume MAY lead me to getting more interviews. Any insights are greatly appreciated.
Thanks and have a good day.
# Answer
Here are a few points.
**1. Industry Jobs**
IMHO, "brand" is more important in the industry than in academia. E.g. in general, the HR department is more likely to forward a CV with Harvard on it. Also, people in the industry are probably not able to understand the academic content of your program.
**2. Similar Questions**
How does the ranking of a university relate to a future career in mathematics?
University rank/stature - How much does it affect one's career post-Ph.D?
Although these are for PhD programs, there might be interesting bits in there with regards to industry.
**3. Look**
It might be helpful or informative to look at the CVs of the companies or positions you are interested in. This might give you a clue if only the "branded" universities are hired or if there is a wide range of backgrounds. E.g. with regards to mathematics departments, if you look at the CV of professors, a lot of them are Ivy League or MIT, Stanford etc.
Personally, I would pick the most "branded" program I can get into.
> 3 votes
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Tags: graduate-school, career-path, teaching
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thread-9256 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9256 | How can I find the DOI for an old mathematical paper which is not in English? | 2013-04-09T13:23:57.750 | # Question
Title: How can I find the DOI for an old mathematical paper which is not in English?
(Not sure if this is the right SX site, but math.sx seemed to have no questions concerning DOIs.)
Everything I cite in my thesis has a DOI or URL (I think that's important), but I'm citing an article that was the first to mention a kind of problem,
> Arkadi Nemirovski. Nonparametric estimation of smooth regression functions. In: Tekhnicheskaya Kibernetika 3 (1985)
which seems to be quite obscure, it's not even listed on the author's website. It's not in our library (or any catalog I searched), but just a handed-down copy of unknown origin.
The journal doesn't seem to exist any more (or it doesn't have a website), and crossref.org yields nothing. The article is translated, there are some inconsistencies with transliteration, i.e. the author's last name is sometimes written *Nemirovskiĭ*, the journal is sometimes written as *Techničeskaja*, the title might be completely different, etc.
Any pointers where I could find some canonical information?
# Answer
As others have said, not every (old) article has a DOI or a URL. However, in mathematics every article since 1940 has an MR number which uniquely identifies it. So go to mathscinet and look up this article. I just did, it has MR number MR0844292. The bibliographical information on mathscinet (like the transliteration of the author's name) would also be considered the "canonical information".
> 14 votes
# Answer
Short answer: The full name is *Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Tekhnicheskaya Kibernetika*. As you inferred, it looks like it was terminated, doesn't have a web site, and all that was before the advent of Digital Object Identifiers. So, what are you asking for exactly?
---
Obviously, there is a longer answer to that question. As you said, it is unfortunate this content doesn't have a canonical URL, or even a Digital Object Identifier. The good news is that you can actually fix that problem!
1. Create and incorporate your own company: *Lost and Inaccessible Academic Content, Inc.* (actual title may vary). Depending on local legislation, this might not be so hard as it sounds.
2. Contact a DOI Registration Agency to register a DOI prefix.
3. Register the DOI name and associated metadata.
4. Write down that DOI name in your thesis bibliography.
5. Bathe in the joy of the world now being a (slightly) more organized (and thus better) place.
> 6 votes
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Tags: citations, language, doi
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thread-9252 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9252 | How to use competitions to encourage students to work harder and study more | 2013-04-09T11:26:56.900 | # Question
Title: How to use competitions to encourage students to work harder and study more
In order to encourage and motivate students to work harder and study more, it seems the teacher can use various competitions in class or after class. But on the other hand, competitions could cause jealousy and other destructive emotions among students and therefore affect the performance of some students adversely. Due to my doubts and my lack of experience, I haven't used competitions in my classes as a means of motivating students yet. But I would like to know if there is an experienced and useful method to do that. So my questions are:
**Have you ever used competitions in your classes? What are the pros and cons of students compete in the class for higher grades? Which points should I consider before encouraging students to compete with each other?**
# Answer
> 14 votes
I often have competitions in class. I try to use them primarily for motivation, not assessment.
Let me give an example: I was teaching an image processing class and we had some images of x-rays of "old master" canvas paintings. The goal was to create an algorithm that could count the density of the thread weave patterns. The quality of the answers could be assessed by comparing the algorithmic answers to manual counts, and I had about 200 locations where I knew the answer. I gave them 100 to train the algorithms. After about two weeks, there were 25 different algorithms submitted (most people worked in pairs) and then I ran the submitted codes on the 100 "unknown" locations.
I called it the "2010 Thread Counting Olympics" and made a big deal about giving out "medals". I created several different ways of measuring the quality of the algorithms: closest in least squares error, number of answers within +/-1 mm per thread, number within +/-2 mm per thread, closest in absolute value of error, closest on the canvases by Van Gogh and closest on the canvases by Vermeer. Then there were bronze, silver, gold, and titanium medals in each category. As I presented the results to the class, I described the various approaches and pitfalls of each of the algorithms, and often asked for clarifications and comments by the authors of the algorithms. By the end of the competition, well over half of the students had won "prizes"... plus they had the recognition of their peers.
The amount of effort that the students put into this project and into the class were amazing, and I think the "competition" aspect was a prime motivating factor.
# Answer
> 9 votes
A competition is almost by definition a zero-sum game, and thus has the destructive aspects described above. But if you want to reward overachievement you can provide extra credit work.
The trick here is to use the extra credit only to improve the grade. Practically what that means is that you assign grades based on your system, and then add in the extra credit and see if that moves people. In other words, allow the extra credit to change your position in the curve, but not the curve itself.
In this way, doing extra credit will benefit the overachievers, but not doing it won't hurt the others.
**Update**: I want to reiterate one point, because I think it's important. As you state in your question, the goal of the competition is to **motivate students to work harder and study more**. Students are motivated by many things, but the goal of the competition has to be "to work harder and study more". If the way to "win" the competition is by being better than others, then you're not achieving the goal you set out to achieve, and you're vitiating the class atmosphere. Artificially placing constraints on who can win doesn't make sense, because there's no reason that ALL students can't work harder and study more and *get a reward for doing so*, and in fact that's a great outcome.
# Answer
> 7 votes
One key thing to consider is whether you are encouraging your students to do better for themselves or if you are encouraging them to harm other students to look *relatively* better. Clearly, you must decide how to structure the class to achieve what you want.
I've seen many teachers take the stance: I will give 10% A's, 50% B's, 20% C's, 10% D's, and 10% F's. Their rationale is that this is the way the real world works: There are only a certain number of management positions and if they want it, they must work harder and step on others to get it. However, I've found this is not great for the classroom and it is not the way the real world works either. It is clearly possible to grow a company so that there are *more* management positions available (indeed, growth is the goal).
Personally, I have come to the point where each student should be judged on his/her own merits so I never run the kinds of competitions discussed above. That said, I have been known to offer prizes in class which are clearly limited. Prizes might include money (I don't generally offer a lot but students do seem excited about even small things, perhaps because they simply like something to represent them winning) but could easily be something else. What I offer comes out of my own pocket (though I don't tell the students this...and I'm not sure they would care either way).
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Tags: teaching, ethics, methodology
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thread-9267 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9267 | How are graduate students funded over the summer (in US)? | 2013-04-10T02:23:12.613 | # Question
Title: How are graduate students funded over the summer (in US)?
I know that there are often summer courses through TAing, but those are much rarer. Many departments don't even offer summer courses.
In that case, are graduate students over summer always supported by RAships? And does an adviser *have* to have funding in order to support these students (in US)?
Do these standards also vary between professors at public schools and those at private schools? Especially schools that have guaranteed five-year funding?
# Answer
As Noah mentioned, I don't think there is a binding contract to provide funding.
A few points (US Specific)
* Within my school itself, there are variable policies across departments. Certain departments provide 9 month guarantees and if you want to hang around in summer, either convince your advisor to find money for you or find your own. Certain departments guarantee funding for all 12 months, if you take an internship or decide to take a break or whatever, you don't get paid.
* If you are an international student, AFAIK, You have two (realistic) options : Convince advisor, get an internship. Finding your own summer funding can be quite tough for international students in the US.
* Usually, (at least in my experience), if you are doing good work and your advisor doesn't want to lose momentum, he will get you funding. In my field, it's not hard to get internships even for international students but most advisors will try to get funding so as to not break flow of things. But again, this is experience, not fact.
> 5 votes
# Answer
In my experience in math in the US it is not expected that the school or the advisor provide summer funding. Many people do make money in the summer in a variety of ways, but it's much less formalized than during the year. Personally, I was funded by the NSF half the summers I was in grad school and worked at a summer math program for the other half.
> 4 votes
# Answer
In an engineering discipline, it is not hard to be funded for most/all of grad school. I was a research assistant almost my entire time (at 2 different universities), minus one semester as a TA. Most of the time this was working for grants that my professors had already secured. While TAs may not have as much work in the summer, RAs can work whenever as long as the advisor has money. This works best if you have an advisor who is well-connected and has a large group with several grants from which he can shuffle money around. Newer professors may simply not have available funds for all of their students.
> 2 votes
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Tags: phd, funding, united-states
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thread-9251 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9251 | Diplomurkunde and Diplom (Diplomlehrer) in English? | 2013-04-09T11:25:13.053 | # Question
Title: Diplomurkunde and Diplom (Diplomlehrer) in English?
This might be off-topic but I thought I would try here since I know we have people who will know the answer.
I have received two documents from a prospective teacher. They seem to be German diplomas but I do not understand clearly what they really mean. The names of the diplomas are:
1. Diplomurkunde, and
2. Diplom (Diplomlehrer)
(1) translates (via Google) as Diploma Certificate. This is a bit confusing because I normally think of certificates as something and a diploma as something else (which requires more studying).
(2) translates as Graduate Teacher. This seems to be quite different from what I'm used to as a graduate teacher is something you are (or something you do) rather than something you've achieved.
Is there a more detailed explanation which would tie back to the UK or US educational system?
# Answer
> 7 votes
Pre-Bologna process, a German *Diplom* (which is no longer being awarded, and \[see cbeleites's comment below\] is mostly replaced now by a Master's degree) was generally the rough equivalent of a US Master's degree, attaining it is one of the requirements to start Doctorate studies.
Your applicant sent you two documents:
1. The *Diplomurkunde* is roughly the Master's diploma in the US. It is called a "certificate" (Urkunde) to distinguish it from the *Diplomzeugnisse* which also includes the transcript of grades. It is the one that one may consider framing and putting on the wall.
2. The *Diplomlehrer* tells you what subject the applicant received his "masters" in. In particular, he received it in *Lehrer*, which translates directly to Lecturer Teacher. Or, as we may say, it tells you that he received something like a Master's in education.
To clear up any doubts, though, you could just ask your applicant to ask the *Akademisches Auslandsamt* of the place where he received the degree to send a letter attesting to the equivalency of the degree. (That shouldn't be too hard, since now they should've converted to a Bachlor/Master system anyway.)
# Answer
> 5 votes
'Diplom' is the standard academic degree in Germany (slowly being replaced by a bachelor/master system). In the German system, it is roughly equivalent to a master degree. It usually takes about 5 years to complete. Teachers-to-be in Germany usually take a combination of two subjects. Their studies include courses on teaching/education as well.
Since schools are subject to special federal law, teachers usually end their studies with a state-controlled exam ("Staatsexamen").
Regarding the word "Diplomurkunde": The word simply denotes the piece of paper confirming that the person holds the respective degree. It is the one you want to see. I'm not so sure about the other one, but from my own experience, I would guess that the "Diplomurkunde" simply has the applicants name, place of birth and a date one it, while the other document has a bit more information but basically grants the same degree.
Cf the article on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diplom
# Answer
> 2 votes
(answering the comment)
4 years separation would be enough to do the teaching program after the "normal" subject. And it would definitively not be the parts of one Diplom (Zeugnis + Urkunde), they have the same date.
And, by the way, till now I was always required to show/hand in both Urkunde and Zeugnis of my Diplom. As I understand it, the Urkunde certifies that I have the "title" of Diplom-chemist, the Zeugnis certifies the grades of the final exams, and possibly other legally relevant additional exams (the examn that allows me to handle chemicals according to the German laws).
I'm wondering a bit about the teaching Diplom - usually the teaching studies end with "Staatsexamen" (state exams, also includes one or two theses). But this can differ a lot depending on the state, and I don't know that much about the teaching studies. AFAIK, if you have a master/Diplom in some subject and then do the teaching studies for this subject, you can get the master/Diplom recognized as the first state exam. Otherwise, what you write sounds like 2 separate Diplome.
I guess it boils down to asking and getting the Diploma Supplements - AFAIK they explain what the Diplom is about.
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Tags: job-search, degree
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thread-9269 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9269 | Is it possible for a student to TA their entire way through graduate school? | 2013-04-10T03:03:30.303 | # Question
Title: Is it possible for a student to TA their entire way through graduate school?
Or is it usually not possible?
Does this also depend from department to department? I'm in a geoscience department, and I was recently advised that due to a limited number of positions, students can only expect to be TAs for 1/4 of their time here. Geoscience does tend to have significantly fewer courses than most other fields though, so I wonder if it varies from field to field?
Does it also vary depending on whether the school is public or private?
# Answer
> 9 votes
The ability of a department to fund TAs depends on the courses being taught, the number of students in a class, and the overall budget. Often, a department will use this number in combination with the amount of funding faculty are pulling in as well as other sources to decide how many students to admit and how much TA funding support to provide.
Independently, a department might make a determination of how long any one student might be guaranteed a TA position (this is often detailed on the admissions letter), with the expectation that students will look to be supported by research funding, or are expected to support themselves. Again, this depends from department to department and from university to university.
I don't think there's any area-wide standard. In computer science, I see all kinds of models, ranging from full support through the entire program to no funding at all (although this latter model is rare).
So to answer your question: maybe, it depends.
# Answer
> 7 votes
This does vary from school to school and field to field, and it would be difficult to classify public or private schools as being in one camp or another. I have known people who never TA'd and I've known people who have TA'd for their whole graduate career. Here are some plusses and minuses (and certainly my own opinion):
Plusses to only TA'ing:
1. You spend more time teaching, although some TAs spend all their time grading, which can be tedious and not particularly beneficial to you.
2. If your advisor isn't paying you from his/her grants, you could have more leeway for a more self-directed PhD. Obviously, your advisor still has a large roll to play, but ultimately less control if you want to push the issue. This is generally more true if your funding comes from an external fellowship.
3. If you're in a field where grant money is limited, this is a good way to get funding for your degree.
Minuses:
1. TA'ing takes up time that could be spent on your own research. The point of Research Assistant fellowships is explicitly for you to do research.
2. As a corollary to #2 above, your advisor might not feel as much ownership of you, and you might find that he/she isn't as willing to spend the time to help you with your research.
3. Other students might wonder why you can't find research funding.
I know students who love being TAs, and they actively try to find new TA positions because of that and not because of the money.
# Answer
> 5 votes
> Is it possible for a student to TA their entire way through graduate school?
**Yes, it is possible**.
I did it. I'm betting most academics can list someone they know who did it for whatever the reason might be. I did it partly because I enjoyed it and partly because the grant money was tight. I was able to do it because there were not enough first year graduate students to fill every open TA position. I suspect that the situations the lead to someone teaching their way through grad school have some features in common with my situation.
You don't say so, but the tone of your question implies that you might want to do this. If so, ask the appropriate person who controls such things - the chair, assistant chair, undergraduate coordinator, or even the professor of the class you want to TA for. If you are good at it they might let you **with your thesis adviser's support.**
The extra teaching experience will be beneficial if you intend a career at a 4-year liberal arts school.
However, if there are a limited number of TA positions, those will go to the first year graduate students because those students 1) are not likely to be supported by grants or fellowships, and 2) probably have a TA requirement to complete the program.
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thread-9279 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9279 | List dollar amount of small grants on C.V.? | 2013-04-10T15:45:59.117 | # Question
Title: List dollar amount of small grants on C.V.?
This is related to this question, but I don't believe a duplicate since the dollar amount there was impressive, whereas mine are not.
I have been awarded several intra-University small grants ($2-4k each), about one a year, during my Ph.D. These were funds to cover research expenses, rather than to cover my stipend, and I believe I've used them productively.
Should I list the dollar amounts of these on my C.V.? On the one hand, listing them shows they're not just honorary amounts. On the other, the amounts are not enormous either, and there are all the usual disadvantages of listing (setting the wrong tone, etc.). Plus it just makes me a little uneasy.
Background here is: headed into a soft money position eventually, and my stipend is fully covered without conditions, so I've had no need to apply for any of the big extramural grants.
# Answer
I would say yes. I have done so from when I received my first grant/stipend. I ceased listing once I received a permanent position (or thereabouts) and started getting multiyer grants from national sources.
As long as you think adding it shows that you are active and competitive (well merited) in terms of receiving the trust to receive money it will be a good thing. You need to constantly evaluate the possible pros and cons of adding informaton to your cv, including funding. I would imagine that being in a soft money situation, listing funding will only be a positive. But, be aware that gaps in your funding stream may become question marks unless they are explicitly explained.
> 17 votes
# Answer
I'd say it depends on who the CV is going to. In most cases, I would think that listing dollar amounts leaves the wrong impression: first, that your primary thought is of money, and second that you're not very good at it. It is probably more impressive sounding, in general, if you list the award, the donor, the purpose. For example, the "Susan B. Lovemoney award for student creativity" is more impressive sounding than "$1K departmental stipend." Let the reader imagine that you might have received some large amount of money, and if they ask, say that it was a modest amount, enough to enable you to accomplish your research goals.
> 1 votes
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Tags: cv, funding
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thread-9276 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9276 | Google Scholar vs other academic search engines | 2013-04-10T12:56:30.310 | # Question
Title: Google Scholar vs other academic search engines
1. How is Google Scholar compared to other academic search engines and catalogues such as ScienceDirect, Scopus, and universities' own online catalogues--in terms of the following?
* **comprehensiveness of search** (i.e. can fetch all the ever published relevant titles, whether the user have access to full-texts or not)
* **accuracy and precision of results**
* **advanced search features**
* **usability**
2. Are there good reasons for (or against) using Google Scholar as the **only** *literature search tool* for PhD research?
3. Does the answer of (2) depend on the research discipline?
# Answer
There has already been much scholarship on the comparison of different academic search databases. I leave it to you to ascertain the usefulness of Google Scholar versus all the other usual suspects. Here, here, here, here and here are some of the prime literature on this topic.
The real answer of course, to all your sub points is, ***it depends.***
> 10 votes
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Tags: literature-search, literature, google-scholar
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thread-9290 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9290 | How to motivate a student to attempt solving tough questions? | 2013-04-11T08:36:05.233 | # Question
Title: How to motivate a student to attempt solving tough questions?
In any tutorial class some students seem to get frustrated with little tougher questions. While tackling them is important to learn the subject. How to motivate the students to attempt tougher questions without getting discouraged ?
# Answer
> 18 votes
This is a tough question and one that teachers have struggled with throughout the history of pedagogy. Sometimes, students need to find within themselves the curiosity and drive to plow forward despite the frustration. So, don't be discouraged when you see frustrated students, as every teacher has to deal with this. Philosophy aside, here are some tips I've found helpful over the years:
1. **Scaffolding is immensely important.** Build up to the harder problems, and give students the time they need to process how typical problems are solved. E.g., If you're studying friction, have the students do plenty of problems that involve friction on a flat surface, then move to friction on a ramp, then work on friction on a vertical wall (by a sideways force), then move to centripetal friction that keeps a turning car from sliding off a road, then move to cars on banked hills.
2. **Don't try to cover too much material in one sitting.** Students can only process so much at once, and many really do need time to process.
3. **Positive feedback goes a long way.** When a student makes progression on a problem, acknowledge it.
4. **Be available for help, but not *always* available.** Some students like the easy way out, which is to ask you how to do the problem! Don't be afraid to turn a student away until they've given it a decent try. That said, judicious pointers in the right direction can help.
5. **Encourage them to work in groups.** This does run into the "easy way out" for some students, but more often it can lead to good ideas being generated, and students can learn from the collaboration.
6. **Give them lots and lots of examples.** The more they see problem-solving techniques, the better they will become.
Unfortunately, given the time constraints of college teaching, it isn't always possible to use all of these strategies--I found that it was easier to find the time when I taught high school. That said, students in college should be willing to work harder on their own, anyway (but we all know that isn't always the case!).
# Answer
> 3 votes
**Hints** and **extra credits**.
You mention *some students seem to get frustrated with little tougher questions*. They are students. They don't have enough knowledge/skill/experience to crack tough problems. Hints will get them the starting/entry points.
If a student spend hours or days to solve tough problems and get nothing afterwards, he would lose interests quickly. If he knows he would get some extra credits after solving those problems, he would be more inclined to finish them.
Once they get used to those happy (accomplished) feelings after solving tough problems, some will automatically jump to those tough problems without your hints/extra credits. They become **self motivated**.
# Answer
> 3 votes
I just would like to amend Vahid's answer, which I think goes in right direction.
Part of the problem is not that students wouldn't have the required skills, often they do not see a way forward. This is more about being "brave" enough to wage the war on the problem. To help with that, I think the following is essential:
1. guide them through examples of the problem to show them that the problems of that kind are indeed approachable and solvable,
2. more importantly, help them help themselves. Consider a discussion in which the class, or groups, or individuals would solve the problem themselves, but the teacher guides them through it. I.e., when they get stuck, asks the right questions, answers to which will put them back on track, or point out a mistake in their reasoning to fix a mistake they made.
# Answer
> 2 votes
Tough questions look scary and student get hopeless when they don't even know how to start thinking about the solution. That's why they get frustrated. My suggestion to prepare students for tough questions is as follows:
1. Teach them various ways of approaching questions.
2. Teach them to review (or rewrite) the data and assumptions of the question to understand what has been given and what has been asked to show (prove, compute, etc).
3. Solving tough questions usually require a combination of different techniques, formulas and applying them in several steps. Make sure you give a hint about these techniques and steps or teach them to guess these steps. It is also useful if you teach them to break down long and complicated questions to several smaller and easier questions (of course if it is possible).
4. Solve some examples of tough questions and explain them how you start thinking about the solution and how you proceed.
# Answer
> 2 votes
In the beginning of class I announce the handling of exercises. Where I am we pose weekly homework exercises and collect and grade them. The student have to collect enough points on the exercises to be allowed to take the oral exam (or, obtain a "attended" certificate. However, the threshold for "enough points" is set be each instructor. I usually set 50%. However, I communicate that there will always be tough questions and easier questions and that I do not suppose that any student has to solve all questions. If they want to work for 50% and make it, that is enough. If they want to be ambitious, they can go for 100%. I also communicate that there will be tough (and very tough) questions because **I want that also very bright student can learn something**. This often serves as a motivation to work on tougher questions. Of course, there are a lot of students who are comfortable with less. However, I set the 50% hurdle and have to make sure that everybody who passes it "has learned enough". On the upper end, the very tough questions ensure that the very good ones also learn something interesting.
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thread-9285 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9285 | Can I publish a critique of an experiment in a field in which I am not an expert? | 2013-04-10T22:14:02.843 | # Question
Title: Can I publish a critique of an experiment in a field in which I am not an expert?
I found a major flaw in reasoning in a psychological experiment, but I am not even related to psychology, I just attended to that course at my university in my spare time. The flaw I found is strictly logical, and also quite tricky, so I think it is feasible that no one noticed it yet.
This mistake (if it turns out to be an actual flaw) has huge consequences since a few studies validated the results (by repeatedly committing this mistake) and many psychological sub-fields referenced the study.
I want someone to validate my concerns about that study, and then if possible I want to discover the consequences of that error, and make humble suggestion on how to deal with the situation. If my notice would be published anywhere, I want to make sure my name will be seen in that article. (It would be awesome)
What would be the way to go in my situation if such things can be published at all?
**Little Edit:** The error is highly controversial but my point of view should be true. It is similar to the Monty Hall problem.
# Answer
> 28 votes
In order for this to happen, you need two things:
1. You need to communicate with specialists and convince them that you have identified a logical flaw. You might worry that they will take your idea without giving you credit, but you shouldn't worry too much about that: the more worrisome scenario is that neither of you will be able to convince the other and it will end with a stalemate. Without expert advice, it's unlikely that you can present your idea in a way that would be publishable, so talking with experts should be the first step. (Of course unlikely is different from impossible, but it's best to plan on getting advice.)
2. Once they understand you, the experts need to care. Many experiments have loopholes and caveats that are well known to experts but not described in popular accounts or even introductory college courses. You may end up hearing "Yes, that's logically possible, but it's not a possibility we think is important." Or "Yes, Jones and Smith pointed that out in a paper last year, but I still think the conclusions are true and the experiment is illuminating." Using an argument that is not 100% logically air-tight is not in itself a problem outside of pure mathematics.
I'd suggest starting by talking with someone from the course you took (the professor or a teaching assistant). If all goes well, either you'll convince them that this is new and serious, or they'll convince you that it isn't.
# Answer
> 11 votes
I think there is no way for you to publish this without understanding the psychology:
* You won't know the significance of your work.
* You will receive rebuttals that require you to have domain-specific knowledge. (It might even be that your argument does not hold due to some domain-specific reason.)
You can discuss it with experts, but *you* need to know what it is *you* are actually claiming.
As a personal example, I spent the last 2+ years, along with my co-author, writing a paper where we discredit the typical statistical analysis used in network motifs. Writing this paper changed me as a person.
I feel there would have been no way to write this paper without understanding the biological side (my research was in pure mathematics and computer science). Time and time again, I would be asked questions that required knowledge from biology, and *I don't know* or *I don't understand the question* are not appropriate responses.
Nowadays, I would say biology (or, at least, computational biology) *is* a field I study.
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thread-9288 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9288 | Can you sign more than 1 Master Promissory Note Concurrently? | 2013-04-11T00:17:41.650 | # Question
Title: Can you sign more than 1 Master Promissory Note Concurrently?
I am in the process of choosing a Master's program. I have been approved for one program, but I'm still waiting to hear back from two other schools. The school that approved me said that they need me to fill out my Master Promissory Note as soon as possible so my financial aid can be ready for my summer courses next month. My only concern is that I may choose a different school if I get accepted into it. If I'm not accepted into the other programs, however, I would like to have my financial aid taken care of so I can attend summer courses without any problems.
Can I sign the Promissory Note for my currently accepted program and then sign another Promissory Note for a different school if I am accepted?
Thank you and have a good day.
# Answer
As far as I know, the way this is done normally goes something like this:
* You apply to as many schools as you want.
* You hear back from them in a couple of months.
* You are told that you have until a specific date to accept the offer, which may be slightly different for all the schools you got accepted to.
This gives people a chance to evaluate (ideally) all their options before they agree to commit to a particular school. These deadlines are usually included in the acceptance documents you get in the mail, if they aren't listed online already in their admission timelines.
Best of luck!
> 1 votes
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Tags: graduate-admissions, graduate-school, funding
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thread-9311 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9311 | Doing upper division pre-requisites for a second master's degree - need advice | 2013-04-11T23:43:05.800 | # Question
Title: Doing upper division pre-requisites for a second master's degree - need advice
I have a BA and an MA in biological anthropology/bioarchaeology (as well as all my PhD coursework done, go me). I left that field and academia in general several years ago and ended up landing a job as a web dev/computer programmer, which is a skill set I learned in high school and never once studied formally in college or grad school.
I'm really in love with my current field however, and would like to get a degree in comp sci. After looking around, it seems a lot of local departments don't admit students at the undergraduate level who already have bachelor's degrees, so my option is to go in at the graduate level.
Biggest problem is my first two degrees don't do much for me in terms of satisfying prereqs for admission into an engineering MS program. I had to take lots of stats, for example, but no calc or discrete math. Additionally, I need to knock out a whole bunch of comp sci courses, many of which are either upper division or not available at community colleges.
Has anyone out there done this before? If so, how did you get the upper div or otherwise difficult-to-find-outside-of-a-major-university prereqs?
Thanks!
# Answer
> 4 votes
An anecdotal answer -
I am in an identical situation; I had done a bachelors in business admin and then an M.A. in economics.
My passion later turned out to be mathematics and I was unable to get admitted to an undergraduate program (or at least one where they would allow me to skip the electives).
What I did to overcome this was select some universities I wanted to attend and made appointments with the graduate program directors. I then went to see them in person and explained my situation and what I was hoping to accomplish. I then asked what options would be available to someone in my situation.
One of the graduate directors was very receptive to my case and admitted me into something called a "Qualifying year." I am technically a graduate student, but will be taking upper-level undergraduate courses for a year to get the background necessary for graduate level course-work. After this year, I have the option to apply to transfer into the full graduate program or apply to a different university.
A similar option may be available to you, though I imagine every university handles these things differently. Could be worth just going in and asking.
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thread-9304 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9304 | Delaying grad school vs. going to lower-ranked school | 2013-04-11T19:43:27.547 | # Question
Title: Delaying grad school vs. going to lower-ranked school
I'm currently a senior who wants to get a PhD in physics. However, I may only have the chance to go to a school which has a strong professor in a certain area, but the school itself is not highly ranked.
My other option is, one of the professors I'm working with at my current institution is favorably disposed towards me, and could support me for another year while I do more research. If I did this, I will push out publications (including at least one first author) before I apply.
Another professor I know has told me that he thinks I should not waste my time, and get started on the PhD, especially since I might be able to hit the ground running there. However, I am aware that getting a degree from a non-top 10 school will hurt my prospects for future positions. I'm also keeping in mind that I could also head to this school next year as well if everything goes sour again.
What do the members of the community think? I would really appreciate more viewpoints on this matter. Thanks for your time!
Edit: I understand that questions asked here should be of a general nature, and not just apply to an individual's unique situation. However, I don't think this situation is all too uncommon, and this question may be useful to those who are looking for information in the future.
# Answer
I don't entirely disagree with the two previous answers: taking the offer you have now may be a fine choice. However, I'd give serious consideration to strengthening your application and trying again.
One of the biggest differences between departments is the strength of the peer group. You will ultimately spend **much** more time talking and working with your fellow students than with faculty, and being part of an amazing cohort is incredibly beneficial. You'll spend countless hours in detailed discussions, going into far more depth than any faculty member is likely to have time for, and you'll organize student seminars and study groups. Depending on your field, you may write papers with your fellow students with no faculty involvement. In the end, you'll learn far more from them than from courses or meetings with faculty, and these relationships will last for the rest of your career.
If you don't have this opportunity, you can certainly still become an excellent researcher, but you are less likely to reach your full potential, and even if you do it will be harder. To maximize the benefit, you need to be surrounded by lots of wonderful students, many of whom are just as talented, hard working, and ambitious as you are, and some of whom are destined for even greater things.
As a rule of thumb, as you move down the prestige scale the average level of the students drops off much faster than the level of the faculty, because there are many more students than faculty. There can be exceptions, such as a department that attracts much stronger students in one subfield than overall, but you shouldn't count on it without concrete evidence.
Here are a few ways you can gauge the students in a department:
1. When you visit, do you have really interesting discussions with current students, which leave you feeling excited about further interactions? (Don't take this too seriously, since if you're shy it may be difficult to connect quickly, but it's worth thinking about.)
2. Does the department regularly produce graduates whose careers you would be happy with? (Take this one very seriously. If you are aiming for a job at a major research university but few people from your Ph.D. program get such jobs, then either your goals are unrealistic or you'll really stand out compared with your peers.)
If the answer to both questions is yes, then that's a good sign, but otherwise you should be cautious.
Returning to the original question, this might help you judge the offer you have already. For the option of spending another year where you are, I'd ask three questions:
1. How likely are you to get better offers next year? Of course there's no way to be sure, but perhaps a mentor could help you make an informed guess.
2. Will you enjoy the next year? It's not worth doing if you're going to be stressed out and miserable. Besides, unhappy people rarely do their best work.
3. Will you look back on it as a valuable intellectual experience, regardless of its effects on your grad school applications?
> 20 votes
# Answer
Doing outstanding research is what ultimately matters, not the rank of the university. High quality research is not exclusive to top tier universities alone. If you find an advisor with whom you can publish top quality research in your topic of interest, then go for it. The rank of the university is less important than your advisor's ability to help you carry out and publish good quality research.
> 8 votes
# Answer
I was in almost the exact same situation you describe. My scenario was choosing between a top 20 (but not top 10 school) vs. delaying a year and doing research and then re-applying. Like you, I would've been able to raise my pGRE score and put out a couple of first-author publications.
I decided instead to just go to the PhD program at the slightly lower ranked institution (but this school had two world-famous professors working in an area that I was interested in). Why? Well, it's because people only care about your advisor, not the quality of the school (usually; there are always exceptions). Generally, the statement
> However, I am aware that getting a degree from a non-top 10 school will hurt my prospects for future positions.
is false. There are of course exceptions, but I've received much more recognition at conferences for being Prof. X's student rather than being a student at Y institution. In the end, I realized it was more important that I learn from a good and well respected advisor than worrying about attending a top 10 school. I'm just a grad student finishing up his final year (received some very nice postdoc offers), but just my 2 cents.
> 8 votes
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Tags: graduate-school, graduate-admissions
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thread-9319 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9319 | Should you provide citation for an professional organization or learned society? | 2013-04-12T14:05:47.667 | # Question
Title: Should you provide citation for an professional organization or learned society?
I am writing a paper in which I refer to a database maintained by a learned society. Something like:
> We performed this analysis on 7,195 structures taken at random from the Poisonous Substances Database \[1\] maintained by the Democratic Chemical Society \[2\].
Ref. 1 will be the URL of the database, but I am wondering about the learned society: should I include its URL as a reference? Or should I simply not give any citation along with its name?
# Answer
It usually depends on how well the data source/database is known in the field. In some cases the database is *the* primary source of data for nearly all publications in that field that no one ever cites it *formally* (i.e., it's a waste of space). Usually, they just mention in the article that the data was obtained from Foo and perhaps again in the acknowledgments, if they're feeling generous.
As always, check with your specific data source/society to know what they require from you in terms of citation. As an example, these guys only expect a blurb acknowledging them, not a full citation.
> 2 votes
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Tags: publications, citations, professional-association
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thread-9344 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9344 | Recommendation Letters for MS CS programs | 2013-04-14T08:20:40.380 | # Question
Title: Recommendation Letters for MS CS programs
I have graduated nearly 5 years ago and I want to get a Computer Science Master's degree from an above average school in U.S. or Canada, preferably a thesis based degree.
However, I am having difficulty in getting recommendation letters since I graduated long time ago. And, even if I get any letters, my professors are not professional, they ask me to write them myself. Long ago when I asked for a position they did so and sure they will do the same now. So I got stuck in an handicapped position for my future grad school pursuits.
Please recommend me some ways to overcome this situation. Should I go for a one term non-degree program in U.S. or Europe to get a letter from a professional member of an academic community who is capable of doing this job.
End Note: I am in a third world country.
# Answer
> 10 votes
It's important to have at least one letter from a former professor, but especially for a professional master's degree, strong recommendation letters from work supervisors can also be effective, as long as they're tuned correctly. **I did this.** It's probably best to ask someone with an advanced degree if possible — not for the pedigree, but because they might remember academic culture/goals better than someone who hasn't spent time in the ivory tower. It's important that your letter does *not* simply praise you as a *programmer*, but as a potential *computer scientist*. The letter should emphasize your intellectual and creative contributions, your problem-solving skills, and your potential for further academic study.
Remember that writing academic recommendation letters is *not* a standard part of most industry management jobs; you are asking for a significant favor. Nevertheless, you should strongly resist requests to write the letter yourself. Have an open and frank discussion about the purpose of the letter, their perceptions of your matching strengths, the points that you think should be emphasized. Give them your CV with appropriate points highlighted. **Then ask them again** if they are willing to write you a strong recommendation letter; be sincerely willing to take no for an answer.
Signing up for a short non-degree program in U.S. or Europe is an excellent idea, but it's important to take proper advantage. Don't just sit in class and get an A. Talk with your instructors **early** about your goals for graduate study. Try to get involved with faculty research, or at lest an independent study project.
Finally, I'd recommend pursuing both of these avenues simultaneously. Give yourself as many options as possible!
# Answer
> 0 votes
I would not necessarily assert that professors asking for you to write your letter for them are 'unprofessional'. It's quite possible, and even common for professors to request this for a number of reasons:
* You know you better than they know you - a letter written by you has the full depth of your experience available to be written about. This is especially important in a circumstance like yours, where their direct memory of you might have faded with time.
* You likely have a better understanding of what parts of your CV, studies, etc. you'd like to be highlighted. For example, while they might think X about you is important, if you're trying to craft a narrative in your application materials that's all about your skills in Y, it's important they know that.
* Professors are busy people, and crafting a good letter requires a great deal of effort. Providing them a framework with which to work off of as they add their own language, opinions, etc. will save them a great deal of time.
I wouldn't automatically assume it's a sign of unprofessionalism. I've been asked to write my own letter by professors who I worked extremely closely with because of some of the reasons I outlined above.
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Tags: graduate-school, recommendation-letter
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thread-9331 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9331 | Too burnt out to continue MSc | 2013-04-13T05:30:45.183 | # Question
Title: Too burnt out to continue MSc
I finally realized that there is a term for the situation I am in,"**burned out**". What can I do to recover from a short term burnout?
I am at the the last four months of my MSc program and I haven't started my thesis yet. The reason was complicated, the MSc program was quite different from the one I had in mind. So, from the start I felt I was wasting my time by continuing at the program. The only reason I didn't quit is because the scholarship is sponsored by the company I used to work. I am still their employee and I am expected to join them once I finished.
If I quit, I wouldn't get promotion not to mention the "he wasn't able to graduate" rumor. Besides, I am supposed to serve three years as a pay back for the scholarship they gave me.
Despite my adviser's genuine effort to help, I am not able to pull myself and do something. I continually failed to see my adviser despite having an appointment with him. The only thing that crossed my mind for months as a solution is SUICIDE. I am deeply stressed and have presumably stress initiated headache that lasts for weeks.
**What would you do if you were in my position?**
# Answer
> 27 votes
1. **Talk to people.** Here, elsewhere on the internet, but most importantly in real life, whether it's with people from your program (if you feel like opening to them) or at a local discussion group or whatever. Don't isolate yourself.
2. Recognize what you are experiencing: describe its symptoms, put a name (or names) on it, identify it. Recognize that it is quite common, and that there are solutions.
3. Make some time, even if it's not much, to do something else (vacation, volunteer work, some time with family, …) to put things in perspective. This should help you evaluate your overall goals, and decide what you are willing to do to achieve them.
4. Talk to key people involved (advisor, your boss at the company), and let them know in a professional way that you have hit a bump in the road.
From you post, it sounds to me that you've made a great deal of progress on that path already! You'll get through that hard time, believe us.
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I'll maybe add something more personal, regarding the “if I quit, I wouldn't get promotion” part: advancement in your work is not the ultimate goal, it is only worth pursuing if it makes you (and the people around you) happier, directly or by achieving other goals. If it makes you miserable, you have to realize (and accept) that **failing *is* an option**.
# Answer
> 17 votes
First of all, suicidal thoughts are very serious. Many universities have counselling centres that are free for students. Walk in and tell them you've been contemplating suicide and they will get you immediate help. The International Suicide Prevention Wiki might also help you find resources in your area. If nothing else works, go to the emergency room. Suicide qualifies as an emergency!
Next, be honest with your adviser about what's going on. If you've been avoiding meetings, it's possible that he thinks the worst: you aren't interested in the work, or you're lazy, or whatever. If you tell him that you're depressed and struggling, he will be much more sympathetic and will try to help. (You mentioned that he's already trying to help, but if he doesn't know the real problem, his help might have been ineffectual.) If you don't think you can say it in person, send an email.
Third: curing burnout. One common suggestion is to take a vacation, but I don't recommend this. If you're already stressed out about the work you aren't doing, sitting on the beach thinking about it will probably make it worse. I would instead suggest diving into something totally new, and preferably not related to your thesis at all. Learn how to make a perfect omelette, or read a photography book and go out and practice (even if your only camera is your cell phone), or learn how to change the oil in your car. The specific thing you learn doesn't matter that much as long as it's new to you. Universities often have clubs for people interested in rock climbing, chess, learning languages, you name it, so you might see what your university offers. This can also help you make friends -- isolation is a big problem for grad students and can contribute to stress and depression. Do your new activity for a week or two and you'll probably find yourself getting interested in your thesis problem again.
Try to exercise and eat reasonably well. When you're depressed, exercise is the last thing on your mind, but even a walk around the block can be helpful. Eating nothing but ramen is depressing in itself, so although you might not have a lot of spending money (I don't know exactly what your scholarship is paying for), buy ingredients for some healthy meals if you can. Fruit, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, etc. If you don't know how to cook, make that your project.
Finally, to echo F'x, remember that the worst case scenario is manageable. If you are truly miserable, dropping out *is* an option. The completion rate for most grad programs is low, often in the neighbourhood of 50%, so many other smart, hardworking people decided it wasn't for them. There's no shame in that.
I hope some of this advice helps you. Good luck. You aren't alone!
# Answer
> 11 votes
To me it sounds as if you might have depression. I'm no expert though, I just have a few friends with depression and so have read a little about it (most effectively by playing a game called Depression Quest, actually!). It might be worth seeing a doctor about it if you think that could at all be a possibility.
I'm hesitant to give any further advice because of this. A lot of advice that ordinarily might be helpful just for burn-out might turn out to be unhelpful if you are actually depressed. (Although all the advice given by F'x looks fine as far as I can tell, except potentially you would have to be quite careful with what you chose to do for 3, as some options might make things worse.)
# Answer
> 10 votes
> I continually failed to see my adviser despite having an appointment with him. The only thing that crossed my mind for months as a solution is SUICIDE. I am deeply stressed and have presumably stress initiated headache that lasts for weeks.
Based on this, I would strongly recommend seeing your university's psychologist or counselor immediately.
Do not rely on advise over the internet. Probably, no one here is qualified to help you. Even if there is a qualified mental health professional here, he/she will not be able to assist you without talking to you in person.
# Answer
> 10 votes
While others have commented on the number one concern you should have right now (get professional help, be it in the counseling centre at school, a clinical psychologist, or whomever), I will make one comment with respect to the academics:
You probably have more time to finish than the "four months" you mention. Even if you miss that deadline, you will probably be allowed to turn in your thesis later (especially because this is a health related delay).
Talk to your advisor. He will probably appreciate you coming clean with him. Many students finish later. It's not a race.
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Tags: masters, motivation
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thread-9341 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9341 | How do I make sure I get strong recommendation letters for faculty positions? | 2013-04-13T21:05:31.213 | # Question
Title: How do I make sure I get strong recommendation letters for faculty positions?
I would like to ask Prof. X, a distinguished scholar at a top school, for a recommendation for a tenure-track academic position. However, I only want him to write me a recommendation if he is going to write a *good* one. If he will write me a mediocre or just insufficiently positive recommendation, I would prefer to have someone less famous than X but more positive about me write the letter.
If I simply ask Prof. X for a letter, there is the possibility that he will agree and then write something that is not as positive as I would like. I want to avoid this.
One way to solve this problem would be for me to ask Prof. X if he is sufficiently familiar with my work to write me a strong letter. If he does not wish to write me a strong letter, he can simply reply that he is not that familiar with the whole body of my work. By giving him an easy way to decline, this makes it more likely that he will write a strong letter if he accepts.
Unfortunately, in this case this little strategem will not work, as Prof. X and I have been working on the same questions for years, so there is little question of him being unfamiliar with my results.
Another possible solution would be to have someone else approach him to ask whether he can write me a strong letter. Sadly I have no one who could do this for me.
What would be a good strategy to use in this situation? More broadly, what are some general tips for asking people for recommendation letters which ensure you only get strong letters, besides the two I mentioned above?
**Edited**: Maybe I should mention a couple of other strategies that crossed my mind:
A. Mention to Prof. X that I'm going on the job market in unrelated conversation and see if he volunteers to write me a letter.
B. Ask him for a letter in an email and see how he responds. If he responds enthusiastically, e.g., "It would be my pleasure to write you a letter..." or "I'd be extremely happy to..." this is good. If he only responds neutrally, e.g., "Sure, I can write you a letter" then simply neglect to follow up with him and ask someone else for the letter.
Both of these strategies are decent, but they are not perfect. They might work, but they also might cause me to miss out on a good letter from a well-known scholar. Anyway, I'd welcome thoughts, corrections, additional strategies to use that I haven't thought of, etc.
# Answer
> One way to solve this problem would be for me to ask Prof. X if he is sufficiently familiar with my work to write me a strong letter.
**No. Do not play mind games.** The best approach is to be completely straightforward.
If you already *know* that he is *familiar* with your work, suggesting otherwise is dishonest and potentially insulting. What you really want to know is whether he's *impressed* by your work. **The only way to find out is to ask directly.** If possible, ask in person, preferably over coffee/beer or in some other informal neutral setting; conferences are really good for this. Be straightforward about your desire for a strong letter, but use the opportunity to develop a stronger collaborative relationship. Ask for honest feedback on your work. Ask about future opportunities to work together. Ask where he thinks you should apply. Be sincere in asking whether he can write you a **strong** recommendation letter; he knows what that means. Be sincerely ready to be turned down. Listen.
If you're not comfortable asking him directly, or you think that he might not be comfortable answering you, ask your advisor to informally sound out Prof X's opinion of you first. (Ideally, your advisor already has some idea what Prof X will say.) But the actual letter request must come directly from you.
> If he only responds neutrally, e.g., "Sure, I can write you a letter" then simply neglect to follow up with him and ask someone else for the letter.
**No. Do not play mind games.**
First, unless you already know Prof X *extremely* well, you should not attempt to read his mind through email. "Sure, I can write you a letter" says *nothing* about his level of enthusiasm. If his response to your request makes you hesitant to use his letter, ask him again. Second, if you decide, for *whatever* reason, that you don't need his letter after you've asked for it, you **must** tell him directly, so that he doesn't waste his time.
> 19 votes
# Answer
I assume here that Prof X knows you (and not only your work). I also assume that you work is strong enough to ensure that you are eligible for a tenure-track position somewhere.
One thing you can do is contacting Prof X, asking him for advice regarding your application. More specifically, you can ask him to read your research project and giving you some hints about what can be done to make it "sexier". That way, you will certainly have a good idea of his opinion on your work. Afterwards, you can decide to ask him for a letter (in the best case scenario, he will volunteer before you ask). If he doesn't even want to read your research project, this is a good clue that he will not write a very good letter.
> 8 votes
# Answer
Here's another variation: email prof X and tell him you are thinking of applying for faculty positions. Ask if he has any suggestions of who might be willing to write you a letter of recommendation to help you achieve your goal.
This is pretty straightforward. If he is willing to write a strong letter, he will offer. If he is not willing to write a strong letter, he will not offer. And he might have some good suggestions for other possible letter writers.
> 2 votes
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Tags: recommendation-letter
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thread-9332 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9332 | Is GRE really required to get into a good university for MS in CS | 2013-04-13T08:34:35.280 | # Question
Title: Is GRE really required to get into a good university for MS in CS
I am a software engineer with 2 years of experience. I am very passionate about software and technology. I code the whole day, creating applications that my friends and I can use.
Now I have left my job because I was not finding it challenging enough (intellectually) and wanted to do something of my own. I feel that I need to study and gain more knowledge in a more systematic way. Thus only option which I feel has the maximum return to investment ratio for me are the MS programs in USA.
So this year I am taking the GRE General Test in May (2013). The problem is that I am not good at words plus I am not very passionate about learning them also. I also feel that they should not really matter considering I want to do research work in the field of Computers.
My question is - Can I still get into a university? If yes then what should be the right approach? I am really scared about what I should be doing right now as the dates for my exams are getting closer. Please Help.
**Update:** I saw this video on TED trying to explain why being good in english is not required (Im being even more liberal by saying what is the point of learning so many words?)
# Answer
> 1 votes
There are a couple of ways to look at this issue.
* I agree with the commentators who point out that any grad program worth its salt requires good communication skills (involving reading and expressing non-trivial ideas), but I suspect thats not what you are objecting to - its the word-list aspect of the General GRE that you find pointless. In that context:
+ Feel thankful that you would be taking the *Revised* General GRE, which as wikipedia notes, has a much more reduced emphasis to rote memorization of uncommon words, than the older version (which I had to take, unfortunately)!
+ Also, I've read on blogs/heard from seniors that top CS programs don't look *too closely* at your verbal scores: a good score would not get you too far ahead, nor would an abysmal score totally gut your chances (this does not apply for quantitative scores - I'd been consistently advised by seniors that scores below 780-750, out of 800 in the old scale, would definitely get your application rejected!)
* There are some schools in US where the applicants are encouraged, but not required to submit, General GRE scores. If you feel that other aspects of your application are strong enough, you can opt for those schools only - but IMHO, its not recommended, as almost every other applicant would submit GRE scores, and the absence of one on your profile may seem suspicious and may do more damage than a mediocre score.
* Also, the Verbal section and the AWA sections are radically different - whereas the former may have limited utility in a grad program, the latter is much more relevant, as it tests your ability to reason and express the same within a short time-frame. Preparing for the AWA does not involve any rote memorization, so you shouldn't be complaining about it!
# Answer
> 4 votes
There are a number of different exams that comprise the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE). There is also the TOEFL exam, which may be required if English is not your first language.
Each university has its own set of requirements, and you will have to look on the websites for individual programs to find out this information. Here are the exams you may have to take:
The bigger question is not necessarily which exams you have to take, but **which exams will make a difference**. In computer science, your verbal and analytic writing score will count for much less than the quantitative score (which in some case is a shame, because analytical writing skills are very important for reading and writing papers...).
> What should be the right approach?
1. Study for the exams. There are many online study guides and practice exams, and books to purchase.
2. Take it as many times as you can before applications are due. This can get expensive.
> The problem is that I am not good at words
You'll need to work on that, and it is very possible to improve your skills and ability with hard work.
> ...plus I am not very passionate about learning them also.
You'll have to change this attitude if you want to be successful.
> I also feel that they should not really matter considering I want to do research work in the field of Computers.
As I said above, the quantitative exam will matter the most (and the CS exam will matter more if you take it). The verbal and writing exams will matter, but you can afford to do worse on them than on the other exams. Unfortunately, your personal feelings on the matter won't get you accepted, and you have to work within the system and do the best you can.
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Tags: graduate-school, graduate-admissions
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thread-9325 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9325 | Are contributions to conference proceedings considered to be "archival" publications? | 2013-04-12T18:44:38.993 | # Question
Title: Are contributions to conference proceedings considered to be "archival" publications?
While technical papers are generally considered to be "non-archival" and journal papers "archival", I couldn't find a clear statement about papers that appear in conference proceedings. Does it matter in which for the proceedings are published, e.g. only online, on CD/USB drive, or printed with/without ISBN?
# Answer
Unfortunately, the reason you can't find a clear statement on this issue is because there isn't one. The answer depends heavily on the field and the particular conference, and there isn't necessarily an absolute answer even in a specific case. It may depend on why you care:
1. You may care yourself, because you want your paper to be carefully archived and made available in perpetuity. In that case, it depends on whether a long-lasting, trustworthy organization has committed to providing access forever (and whether they have archiving contingency plans in case they go out of business).
2. You may need to make this distinction to assist in evaluating your CV. In that case, the evaluators probably care primarily whether the papers are carefully refereed and in their final form, but the only way to know for sure is to ask them what their criteria are.
3. You may be wondering whether you can publish an updated version of your conference paper in a journal. This depends on the customs in your field, and it requires agreement from both the conference and the journal. The publishing agreement for the conference should specify what sorts of further publication are allowable (if it does not, then you should be sure to ask, since saying nothing suggests they do not expect any further publication at all), and the submission instructions for the journal may also address this issue. If your submission is a revision of a conference paper, you should always specify this fact clearly and give a precise reference somewhere on the first page and in the cover letter, to make sure nobody could accuse you of hiding the previous publication.
The answers to these questions can vary. For example, major theoretical CS conferences are archival in sense 1 (permanent archiving and availability) but not 2 or 3 (papers are not necessarily intended to be in their final form and definitive versions may be published elsewhere).
> 9 votes
# Answer
The editor of IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON SOFTWARE ENGINEERING asked the same question in editorial to VOL. 37, NO. 2, MARCH/APRIL 2011. He did not provide an answer, but it might be interesting to consult your university library and check the issues right after this one, I am sure there was a discussion in the journal. The archive does not seem to hold other than regular paper contributions.
My personal take on this (informed by the research field culture and research community I live in) is that **a publication is archival whenever it comes with an assigned ISBN/ISSN**. That makes the publication, be it a book, journal, or proceedings uniquely identifiable and thus it makes its source identifiable too. Whether that will make the publication physically, or digitally available on request is another story (publisher going bankrupt, etc.). I would consider this the minimal requirement.
Now to your concrete question regarding archival nature of conference proceedings, note, many conference proceedings come with an ISBN, or ISSN number. Even many technical report series at some universities do. In my field (CompSci/AI et al.) all the relevant top-tier conference proceedings have an ISBN. The lower tier conferences and more prominent workshop series tend to publish their proceedings and post-proceedings as Springer LNCS/LNAI series and thus get an ISBN too. I personally treat all such publication as archival and of course refrain from resubmitting such results elsewhere. This is however not the case for really small workshops (usually one-of), which only print their proceedings and bind them. In all conferences/journals I care for, these are treated as mere non-archival technical reports and thus can be further disseminated, or resubmitted to a better venue, such as a good conference. *But again, your mileage might vary. In different fields, there are different habits regarding such results dissemination strategy.*
> 1 votes
# Answer
One more thing to consider - are you requested to sign copyright transfer form (or sth similar, like consent to publish). If you are - then the publication is most likely archival and you can read on the copyright form if and under which conditions you can reuse the material. E.g., in the above mentioned LNCS-LNAI copyright form it is explicitly mentioned that you can re-publish it only with apprx 30% of new material (more or less standard condition in Computer Science)
> 1 votes
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Tags: publications, conference
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thread-9337 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9337 | Taking into account courses from another university | 2013-04-13T11:42:47.003 | # Question
Title: Taking into account courses from another university
I think about starting studies towards Master Degree in Computer Science abroad, I finished my bachelor studies few years ago, but I didn't stop studying, during these years I finished few courses of master degree in the domestic university, as result I have transcripts for all of them in English.
The question is what is is the common practice is there any chance that abroad university will consider credit on the courses I already finished, the point is if it's possible I want to lower the pressure to get credit on courses and mostly investing my time in research.
I checked this issue with few another universities in my country, all of them taking into account the credit I already have with promise to give exemption from studying theses courses if there are requirement of the master degree and to give a credit for all of them.
# Answer
> 7 votes
The best answer to this question is Chris Gregg's comment.
**You need to check with each individual school or even each individual program.**
The schools you already checked with will allow it. Chris's program allowed a maximum of two courses. My graduate program accepted transfer credits infrequently. Some programs may not accept any.
# Answer
> 0 votes
Another factor to consider is how long ago you took those other courses. Some schools are more likely to accept recently-taken courses, but might balk on courses taken, say, over a decade ago.
Also, some schools will want to see an official course description before accepting the transfer credits (or, before letting you use those credits in place of requisite courses in their programs).
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Tags: computer-science, international-students
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thread-9297 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9297 | Are book reviews peer-reviewed? Are news articles peer-reviewed? | 2013-04-11T14:23:36.447 | # Question
Title: Are book reviews peer-reviewed? Are news articles peer-reviewed?
A couple of simple questions:
1. Books are not peer reviewed in general. Are book reviews that appear in academic journals peer-reviewed? Since they represent personal opinions, I would think they cannot be peer reviewed.
2. What about news articles? For example, journal Nature has various short news focus and research highlights that discuss other peer-reviewed research articles in a broader perspective. Are those peer-reviewed? Due to time pressure, I would think it would be difficult to peer review these in time.
# Answer
Book reviews, opinion pieces, and news articles are generally not peer reviewed. That's not to say there's no review at all: editors read and approve these contributions, and they may request changes before publication if they feel it is necessary. It's even possible that an editor would ask for an opinion from a third party. However, peer review (by an external expert) is not a standard practice for these sorts of articles.
> Books are not peer reviewed in general.
Books can be an intermediate case. Acquisitions editors often solicit external reviews of book proposals or manuscripts, to decide which ones to accept and how they should be revised. However, you are right that the level of review is generally not as comprehensive or detailed as it is for journal articles.
> 14 votes
# Answer
It depends entirely on what you mean by peer review. Using Australia's Higher Education Research Data Collection (HERDC) criteria for the collection of publication information, peer review amounts to substantial review by appropriate experts. Books are either reviewed by proxy by commercial publication in this research data collection scheme, reliant on the habit of scholarly monographs being sent out for readers and scholarly collections being edited by the book's editors, or they have to be explicitly peer reviewed if published in an electronic only format. The quality of review of monographs varies considerably from field to field and from publishing house to publishing house. It matters quite a great deal for my discipline as my discipline is monograph driven.
Book reviews are sometimes peer reviewed. Book reviews of more than one work which advance original scholarly arguments are regularly peer reviewed in my domain (HASS: Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences; the converse of STEM). These reviews contribute either a critical reflection on current practice, or they contribute a substantive account of the field (literature review / review article / field review). HERDC recognises this to the extent that reviews of more than one work which otherwise meet the criteria of a journal article (contribution to scholarly knowledge, peer review) are accepted as full journal articles.
Some news articles in journals formally meet the standard for peer review of HERDC, but fail other criteria, such as an original contribution to scholarly knowledge.
> 3 votes
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Tags: publications, peer-review
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thread-9371 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9371 | Advisor-student meeting patterns in very high-end theoretical research | 2013-04-16T01:27:25.097 | # Question
Title: Advisor-student meeting patterns in very high-end theoretical research
*This is related to my previous question: “What is the optimal number of times one should meet one's PhD. advisor?”*
* I want to know of specific details of advisor-student meetings, frequencies, patterns in very high-end theoretical subjects like say algebraic geometry or string theory. Like if anyone knows of accounts of how it goes for say students of Vafa or Witten or Nima or Seiberg or Xi Yin or Kiran Kedlaya or Mattihas Zaldarriagga or Bjorn Poonen and such.
* In such subjects how does one keep oneself motivated since publications aren't so regular probably and progress is possibly very "slow"?
I mean, in such subjects how does one measure progress on a daily/weekly basis to understand if things are going well? (once the instant gratification of homework scores are removed, in full time research mode how is progress measured on weekly scales?)
# Answer
> 7 votes
> Once the instant gratification of homework scores are removed, in full time research mode how is progress measured on weekly scales?
There are three ways to make progress.
1. The big picture: identifying problems to work on, conjectures and consequences, outlining potential proof techniques.
2. The little picture: examples, computations, completing the proofs of individual lemmas.
3. Background reading/study: figuring out what you need to know and learning it.
In any given week it's reasonable to expect some progress on at least one of these. It might not be dramatic or important progress, but at least you can work out some more details for a key example or read another chapter in a book you need to get through. You can also refine your ideas, for example by identifying obstacles or additional ideas for a proof outline. This sort of progress is on a much smaller scale than a research paper, but it lets you measure your progress and ensure your research is on track.
It might occasionally happen early in grad school that you spend a week feeling bewildered and completely unsure of what to do, but at that point your advisor should intervene and help you find something productive.
> I want to know of specific details of advisor-student meetings, frequencies, patterns in very high-end theoretical subjects like say algebraic geometry or string theory.
I don't think this would be as illuminating you as hope. There's not a lot to learn from these patterns, and what you do learn could even be misleading: one advisor's approach might be a poor fit for another advisor, and a famous researcher may or may not be a wonderful advisor.
However, if you are looking for examples, Kiran Kedlaya and Ravi Vakil have descriptions on the web of their advising styles. (As one would expect, they differ in some respects, for example on meeting schedules.) Some of the details are probably relevant only if you are considering them as possible advisors, but both pages contain some excellent advice that is more broadly applicable.
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Tags: phd, advisor, time-management
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thread-9365 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9365 | Is it considered a self-plagiarism to reuse (published) abstracts for talks? | 2013-04-15T15:14:31.393 | # Question
Title: Is it considered a self-plagiarism to reuse (published) abstracts for talks?
When writing an abstract for talks at conferences, workshops, etc., I often wonder if it would be considered a self-plagiarism if I copied a few sentences from a paper that is already published. Sometimes those abstracts are "published" in one form or another (proceedings, workshop schedule in print and/or on the web, etc). What is a general guideline?
Can I copy and paste an abstract from a published paper I wrote, and submit it as an abstract for a talk at a conference? Or is it necessary to paraphrase my own writing?
# Answer
> 14 votes
In papers themselves, there is absolutely no reason why you should ever copy any previously published text (including yours) without explicit acknowledgment, along the lines of "The background material in this section is a nearly verbatim adaptation of Section 3.2 of X". Assuming you make it perfectly clear what you have copied and from where (not hiding this information in a note later in your paper, for example) and you have permission from the copyright holder, then this is ethical, while it's not ethical without these conditions.
Of course talk abstracts are not quite the same. Let's assume we're talking about relatively ephemeral abstracts. I.e., they might appear on the web or in the conference program, but they aren't carefully archived, citable contributions to the research literature. (This distinguishes them from "extended abstracts" in CS conferences, which are actually short research papers, and there may be other intermediate cases.) These sorts of abstracts generally don't list any references within the abstract, and they aren't considered published or treated nearly as formally as published material.
In mathematics, I doubt anyone would get upset about recycling a paper abstract for this kind of talk abstract. Customs vary greatly between fields or sorts of abstracts, so you should seek advice from colleagues in your area, since "someone on the internet said it was OK" is not a compelling argument.
If you are worried about self-plagiarism, you can simply append something like "(adapted from the abstract of *paper citation*)" at the end of your talk abstract. However, that might stand out in its formality.
It's probably a good idea in any case to rewrite the abstract at least a little, since a talk abstract has different goals from a paper abstract.
# Answer
> 7 votes
In general, do not copy from your previous publications. At the same time, I would say that the severity of "self-plagiarism" depends on what you copy. If it is a description of a tool or site, it is not very problematic (after all there may be only so many ways to describe it). If you copy conclusions and items of creative importance then I would say it is more severe. I personally rewrite everything just because I am fine with that, even site descriptions. At some point I will have to go through and see if I unknowingly copied myself in those trivial sections at some point.
So in short, don't copy, rewrite. Who knows, you may find that you improve your formulations that way.
# Answer
> 4 votes
Uhm... discipline specific tag missing??? In economics, you can often see an acknowledgement like "I would like to thank \[the list of 15 specific people, may be a Nobel prize winner or two thrown in\], audiences at \[10 universities in which this talk was given\] and \[4 more international conferences\] for their helpful comments". So an economist won't even get what it is that you are asking; presenting the same stuff over is their daily business.
Generally, I think it is basically your own self-discipline and commitment to moving research further with new work (as opposed to just selling your name with one or two successful papers that everybody keeps wanting to hear about). I usually present the same research two-three times, which means copying and pasting the abstract, but once I hit all the major audiences with it, I move on to something different.
# Answer
> 3 votes
> Can I copy and paste an abstract from a published paper I wrote, and submit it as an abstract for a talk at a conference? Or is it necessary to paraphrase my own writing?
This depends *very* much on who holds the copyright to the published work you're copying. Some publishers may give you the right to reuse the text however you see fit. Others may not be so liberal.
But in general, the longer the snippet you want to reuse, the worse the idea it is.
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Tags: plagiarism, self-plagiarism, abstract
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thread-9408 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9408 | Are law review publications helpful for gaining acceptance into a PhD program? | 2013-04-16T16:39:59.583 | # Question
Title: Are law review publications helpful for gaining acceptance into a PhD program?
I'm currently finishing up my J.D., and I plan on practicing law for at least a few years. However, I'm also considering returning to school to study CS. In the meantime, I plan on researching and attempting to publish at least a few articles - perhaps some related to cyber law.
Given the less rigorous nature of law review, how would an admission committee view these?
Also, does the prestige of the journal matter - i.e. *Harvard Journal of Law & Technology* vs. *Michigan State Law Review*?
# Answer
> 6 votes
First, I don't agree much with aeismail's assessment that *review articles “may carry less weight overall than a traditional research article”*. A **good review article** is very hard to write, because this requires a very high level of understanding of the existing research and literature, as well as strategic thinking to discuss what will be of importance in times to come. To me, this is actually very much harder for a PhD student to have than publishing a “regular” research article. I think most committees would agree.
Now, how will the committee recognized a good review article? Ideally, by reading it and being impressed at the clarity and level of the discussion it displays. **In the real world? Probably by the name and prestige of the journal it was published in.**
So, my advice is: publish good stuff, in good venues. It matters more that you get to publish things, than what exactly you publish, as long as it is good! *(Yeah, that sounds trivial, but you asked for it!)*
# Answer
> 2 votes
The higher the quality the journal you can publish in, the better—but that's a truism.
On the other hand, I don't know how much weight an admissions committee would give to a law review publication, because these tend to be *synthetic* papers rather than *creative* papers: that is, a law review acts much like a literature review paper, instead of a paper where you've done original research and found an interesting result. Consequently, it's not fully reflective of what you would be doing as a researcher, and thus may carry less weight overall than a traditional research article.
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Tags: publications, graduate-admissions, journals
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thread-9381 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9381 | How much flexibility does one have in selecting their PhD coursework in the first year? | 2013-04-16T11:55:42.303 | # Question
Title: How much flexibility does one have in selecting their PhD coursework in the first year?
For instance, if someone is working as a Phd in computer-science, but on a neuroscience related topic, she might need to take some neuroscience related courses. And some CS courses might not be any help at all for the area she is interested in. Do universities put a lower/upper limit on the number of courses one can take? Also, does this differ from university to university?
# Answer
It varies dramatically, by university, field, and country.
It can be any of:
* There is a fixed curriculum that everyone takes
* There are a few required courses and the student can choose the rest
* The student has a committee which recommends courses to take
* The student can take any courses but has exams to pass
* No coursework at all (I understand this is common in Europe, where Ph.D. students come in with a Masters)
Usually there are upper and lower limits on the number of courses to take. In the US, one usually has to take at least 3 or 4 courses to be considered a "full time student" and be eligible for funding. (But one can often count research as one or more of these courses.) And it is often not allowed to exceed 5 or 6 courses without special permission.
> 11 votes
# Answer
This is going to be school- and program-dependent. In my Computer Engineering program, we had to take two 1-credit overview courses (not intensive) our first semester, and then my advisor told me the courses he expected me to take during that semeseter. I ended up taking three full classes, which was probably excessive. Of course, then I took three the next semester, too... After the first semester, I chose courses that fit in with my research, and also courses that were required for the degree.
Here are some pros and cons to taking multiple courses and courses outside your field:
Plusses:
1. If you take more courses when you haven't yet begun research, you will have more time for research when you're more advanced (if you fulfill any requirements early).
2. Taking courses tangentially related to your field or outside your field leads to a greater body of knowledge in which to find interesting problems. This can lead to better research.
3. You'll meet more professors, and this can lead to other research opportunities.
Minuses:
1. You can easily become too busy to get research done, and research is what will get you the PhD. One of my fellow student's advisor tells his students, "No A plusses!" and what he really means is, you can study too hard on a course with a detriment to the more important research. During grad school, I only had one semester where I didn't take any courses (and it was nice, I'll admit).
2. You could lose focus entirely. Remember, getting a PhD is all about focusing on a particular problem until you are the expert on that problem. Spread yourself too thin, and you'll have a harder time reining in that one problem. This really is a minor minus, though, especially during your first year.
The bottom line is that you need to tailor your schedule to account for a number of factors, including your own sanity and your ability to do research. How your schedule is determined will largely be up to you, but each school will have its own individual requirements and policies.
> 2 votes
# Answer
You will likely piss people off at your major department if you take more courses outside than at the department itself. This will be viewed as lack of respect to them -- what kind of know-it-all are you??? One course is probably OK, especially if you "negotiated" that upfront by stating your multidisciplinary interests, but I wouldn't risk any more; not at least until you are done with the comprehensive exams, or whatever they may be called in your program. Passing them should be your top priority. You can also excuse yourself by declaring a Ph.D. minor in an additional field, or working towards an MA/MSc in that field. Again, that's something that needs to be discussed with your Director of Graduate Studies and adviser (which you may not have in the first year).
In my program, I took about 15-18 courses in my main department (statistics), another 6 in a graduate certificate program, and a scattered number of 1-2 courses in four or so other departments (economics, biostatistics, sociology, taking their \[whatever\]metrics courses), and graduated with some 70+ credit hours instead of required 45 or 48. I don't think they liked it very much... but then my tuition coverage came from another research center on campus that appreciated my breadth. Do as I say, not as I do, though, as I now work in industry after having failed the tenure track.
> 0 votes
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Tags: phd, coursework
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thread-9392 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9392 | Is it a bad idea to submit a paper merely to elicit reviewers' comments? | 2013-04-16T13:12:20.567 | # Question
Title: Is it a bad idea to submit a paper merely to elicit reviewers' comments?
Some days ago I was talking with a friend of mine, who is currently a post-doc at the illustrious Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) working on humanoid robotics.
He was quite disgruntled because he recently spent a lot of time testing his latest discoveries and writing a scientific paper to submit to an important artificial intelligence conference, but on the day of the deadline, his supervisor asked him not to submit the paper. Indeed, his supervisor felt the experiments were not good enough, or the results were not excellent.
Anyway, he did not want him to submit the paper, and so he did not do it.
We discussed about it and we both stated that, even if the paper and the discoveries were not excellent, they should have sent the paper anyway. The eventual rejection maybe would have come later, by the reviewers, together with the important review notes. This way, they would have **probably** got a **paper rejection**, but they would have been able to **treasure the reviewers' review notes**. Instead, with his supervisor initial rejection, they won't get anything except their opinions.
So we thought that his supervisor had a bad idea.
My question is: **why did his supervisor suggest him not to submit the paper?** Why did he not think about the possibility of **getting at least the reviewers' comments**?
Is a paper rejection so **grave** a fact? Is it so **dishonorable** to get a paper rejection?
# Answer
> 44 votes
The other answers mention that submitting a paper only to get some feedback is a waste of time for the reviewers, and it can be particularly damageable for your reputation when the submission is not double-blind. Remember that academia is a small world, and reputation a very important aspect.
In addition, submitting a paper to a venue usually prevents to submit it to other venues, at least during the reviewing process. When you're pretty sure that the paper will be rejected, you might miss other opportunities.
Finally, there is another risk: the paper might be accepted! Of course, at first, you might think it's a good thing, but if the results are not good enough, it might hurt your reputation, and there is of course the possibility that you're wrong. Publishing wrong results (and I'm only talking about mistake, not fraud) is far worse than getting a paper rejected. On top of that, if the paper is published, it might be harder to publish only the improved results, as they might not consist a novel contribution on their own.
# Answer
> 26 votes
Let's start from the latter questions.
> Is a paper rejection a so grave fact?
No. Unless you are not resilient enough and ready to become depressed because of a paper rejection. Happens in early PhD, later it usually gets easier to swallow.
> Is it so dishonorable to get a paper rejection?
No it is not.
> why his supervisor suggest him not to submit the paper? Why did he not think about the possibility of getting at least the reviewers' comments?
I can't know what the particular reasons were, but here are my own personal considerations in situations like this.
1. As a reviewer I value my time. I am very frustrated with papers which are obviously substandard and I have to waste my time to deliver a high quality review. Remember, also low quality papers deserve a high quality review. A review is a standalone artifact too and as such it has to be crafted too. Over time we develop a good feeling what is the required standard for a given venue.
2. My name is connected to a paper when I submit it. You are submitting and delivering a piece of work. Most people with high personal integrity attitude want to deliver only their top pieces of work. I certainly do not want my name to be attached to a piece of work I am ashamed for. Therefore, sometimes I stop myself and don't submit a paper when I know it is not up to scratch. It happens to me quite often.
Notice, *as a frequent reviewer, I very well know what the reviewers' response would be*. If you are desperate and in a need of a yet another publication, OK, frivolous submissions is a game you can play. If you have a high standard on yourself and your surroundings, playing this game is no good. Delivering good work is what counts, delivering yet another insignificant paper doesn't. In this case we do not speak about rejection on the ground of correctness, or projected significance, but on the ground of not being up to the minimal standard.
Later edit: the above stance is about subjective attitude to things, therefore point 2 applies also to conferences with double-blind review policy.
# Answer
> 13 votes
When I was 16, I had a rather nice idea for a quantum mechanical experiment. At the time, my theoretical foundations were shaky, and I just wanted to know if there were any flaws in it. Unfortunately, I didn't have any contacts in the physics academia, so I had nobody to talk to. Instead, I went ahead and submitted it, and mentioned that I only wanted input. Here's the mail I received:
> Dear Prof. Manish Goregaokar,
>
> We have received your submission \[id\] entitled \[title\]
>
> Before entering a submission to the reviewing process, we check whether it obeys criteria such as the following:
>
> * Is the topic of research suitable for this journal?
> * Does the paper contain original ideas and new results?
> * Are the arguments and calculations accurate and correct?
> * Is the exposition sufficiently well organized, and worded well?
> * Does the overall quality agree with our very tough standards?
>
> I regret to inform you that the editors had to conclude that this work is not suitable for publication in Foundations of Physics.
>
> I would like to thank you very much for forwarding your manuscript to us for consideration and wish you every success in finding an alternative place of publication.
>
> With kind regards,
>
> Gerard 't Hooft Chief Editor
>
> Specific comments from a member of the Editorial Board:
>
> **It is not considered a task of the editorial office to evaluate unpublished, or unpublishable, research.**
(emphasis mine, I have removed references to the specific paper)
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If I had not mentioned that I was only looking for input, then I may have gotten a more detailed rejection. However, it is clear from this that the priority of the editors is not to help researchers along, but rather to focus on publishable stuff -- which is perfectly understandable.
Regarding your specific situation (different from mine since you were planning to submit *without* mentioning that you only wanted an eval): My guess is that the supervisor did it out of courtesy. He did not feel that the editors should waste their time on something which does not benefit them -- sure, helping others is a good thing, but forcing (or tricking) someone into to helping you isn't.
I wouldn't know much about whether or not paper rejection is dishonorable, though.
# Answer
> 11 votes
Reviewers almost universally volunteer their time, and if you are sending a paper that you feel will be rejected because it isn't ready for publication, and/or has serious flaws, then you'll waste the time of a number of people trying to get one or two nuggets of feedback.
Blind review is not the time to elicit feedback on your work; it is meant to ensure a forum for reviewing **publishable** work. If you want feedback on your work, make the contacts with the right people who will help you, and don't try to abuse the review system by submitting immature work under false pretenses or with an ulterior motive.
p.s. There are places for work that isn't quite ready: conference workshops. Many times they are blind review, but with a high acceptance rate and with the hope that workshop attendees will provide good feedback on the work and it can be improved for conference or journal publication.
# Answer
> 9 votes
Paper rejections are far more common than one might think. A rejection rate of 50% is not uncommon in most average journals that I know about. In some high-reputation journals it may be over 90%. So rejection is not uncommon. There are of course different reasons for a rejection, some worse than others (incomplete and in approximately falling order): the manuscript (MS) content is not appropriate for the journal; the MS (and/or figures) is poorly formated (to the point that it is hard to follow); the MS has severe language problems; the science is poorly supported by references and/or the discussion; the MS contains scientific errors or misconceptions; and then more shady problems such as falsification and plagiarism.
Now to send in a MS just to get comments from reviewers. As an editor, I really would resent this behaviour. After all what is happening is that the Ms would take up at least one editor and a couple of reviewers (free) time (none are usually paid for the work). There are authors who send in their half-baked manuscripts just to have reviewers help them iron out things they were too lazy or incapable to do themselves. I know such cases personally. The risk is that the paper gets rejected but if not then someone pours in a lot of work for very little credit (which in turn is taken up by someone else).
So from the description above, I would say that the advisor may have done the honest thing and wanted to prepare the paper as best he/she could, you be the judge. It is of course a grey zone when something may be good enough to become accepted for review or just not good enough and head for rejection. Where one draws this line is perhaps personal but it is far better to stay away from the grey zone altogether. I would therefore suggest that discussing this matter with the advisor may prove to be both a fruitful and interesting endeavour.
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Tags: publications, peer-review, paper-submission
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thread-9372 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9372 | Why do universities support faculty writing textbooks? | 2013-04-16T02:16:07.823 | # Question
Title: Why do universities support faculty writing textbooks?
Textbooks take a lot of time and effort to write, so why would a university support their faculty to do so? The author can make a good profit from a textbook and I am guessing the institution doesn't get any of these profits.
What about the grad students that edit and also work on the textbook? It seems as if they are working to fill the faculty member's pocket while being \[partially\] supported by the department/university and expected to do research.
All of this seems odd to me since it seems like the author is just using the university's resources to generate personal revenue, so **why do universities support/allow their faculty to write textbooks?**
If you need context, I am talking about in the US and specifically a freshmen/sophomore CS course's textbook.
# Answer
> Textbooks take a lot of time and effort to write, so why would a university support their faculty to do so?
Why wouldn't they? Writing textbooks is an important form of scholarship, with great influence on the field, and this is something universities should strongly encourage. The only reason I can think of not to support textbook writing is the profit issue, but this is not generally an important factor, since very few textbooks make a lot of money.
The fact that U.S. faculty are allowed to keep the royalties from textbooks they write is a historical contingency, and there's no reason why the system has to work that way. However, I think it's a good system in practice. Overall, the incentives to write good textbooks are too low, since both the financial rewards and the academic rewards are generally small compared with the time commitment. Removing the (small) profit motive would leave the incentives even lower, and I think the net effect would outweigh the tiny increase in university funding.
> What about the grad students that edit and also work on the textbook? It seems as if they are working to fill the faculty member's pocket while being \[partially\] supported by the department/university and expected to do research.
If grad students are being enlisted as unpaid labor, then that's a real problem, but in my experience it's not common. If there's any prospect of nontrivial royalties, then it's unethical to ask students to work without compensation. Furthermore, the arrangement needs to be formal enough to include a copyright transfer (otherwise, the students will own the copyright to their contributions).
> 21 votes
# Answer
Australia's university system, a centrally funded multiple university system, quite simply does not support staff doing this. Australia had prior to the late 1980s a broad based academic publishing culture that included diverse ancillary publishing by academics in terms of social opinion, literary and arts engagement, and text book publication. However, under the Dawkins era reforms, Australian higher education research output became subject to a measurement metric (the "Publications count," a quantity count, currently known as the HERDC publications collection) which then informed the distribution of a significant pool of money. The metric was originally described as a "proxy" for real activity, but increasingly the metric is taken to be the indicator of real activity. As the metric, funding, and fund seeking imperatives have become tighter—in part as a labour discipline / productivity effort—since the late 1980s, the level of University management intervention into the publishing mode of academics has increased. Currently, research activity measures within Universities, modelled strongly on the federal funding metric, strongly motivate academic staff to not publish uncounted books such as undergraduate textbooks. The penalty for failing to achieve the metric includes increased teaching loads and (eventual and sometimes constructive) dismissal. The effect of this has been academic disengagement from social and aesthetic opinion forming, and a move away from textbook authoring.
By inverting the above example, the reasons why institutions may tolerate staff producing textbooks would be:
* an absence of external funding drivers dictating publication modes
* an absence of internal management pressure dictating publication modes
* the presence of external funding or internal management pressure, but measured against a metric that accepts textbooks as worthwhile activity
Further work can be found in *Vestes* / *Australian Universities Review* on the metrification of academic output and funding changes in Australia. The relevant federal department, and other bodies, have a variety of reports on the actual publication measure.
> 8 votes
# Answer
To widen the perspective (fully understanding the limitations imposed by the OP), I will try to be more general in my reply. All university systems do not support writing text books. In some systems it is up to the researcher to either try to find funding to at least cover some costs or simply try to squeeze it into whatever time can be found.
There are also different scenarios for what to write. If one intends to write a basic introductory text, it would involve providing lots of examples and figures over a broad area. While the text may be relatively simple to write (subject matter not on a difficult level) the amount of text and illustrations will make it an arduous task. If, on the other hand, one writes an advanced textbook, the volume of text is smaller and, I would assume, more focussed on ones own research field. I would therefore think that it is relatively easier to write such a book than an introductory one. Having only written one book, a intermediate level specialist text on my research topic, I have little to compare it with, but it took 2.5 months (in parallel with full time work) to write, and I had someone paid to do the illustrations.
So the situation will vary quite a lot between systems, which is also reflected by the types of books that come out of them. Advanced books come from almost all systems, while introductory texts probably are more commonly produced in systems where such book production is supported at some level in the system.
> 5 votes
# Answer
i think the Universities are for improving the skills and knowledge of the mankind not only for financial growth :) its their duty to make the knowledge reachable to everyone and also make the knowledge grow, find more and develop more.. The books are the medium which all of these are possible. And also in the view of financial case, may be a university dont get any profits straightly but they will get it via the fame of the author who is a faculty of that university. He will attract more students. thus it will help the university :D :)
> 2 votes
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Tags: books
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thread-9385 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9385 | How long do PhD students typically take to come up with their research proposal? | 2013-04-16T12:34:51.503 | # Question
Title: How long do PhD students typically take to come up with their research proposal?
Especially if you are someone who is entering a PhD with very broad interests and little depth of knowledge in your field.
# Answer
If you are talking about the writing of a formal proposal document, the rules vary from department to department. If you are talking about the idea for a project, then that needs to be developed very early on—the tentative idea should already be in place by the time work starts.
In my department, for instance, students had roughly one year from the completion of the qualifying examination to submit the research proposal. This was a fairly substantial document (25-30 pages). Other schools I considered required the submission as late as the third or fourth year (in what was nominally a five- to six-year program); in that case, the research proposal was almost a first draft of the thesis, as it was typically anywhere from 50 to 100 pages in length!
In my current department, students receive fellowships to work on projects with their advisors. In such cases, the advisor typically plans the basic outline of the project, and the start of the work plan. Later years are left for the student to devise.
> 2 votes
# Answer
For PhD in the United Kingdom:
It is not uncommon for students submit a PhD research proposal as part of their application for the PhD program. They can also find a supervisor to work on the research proposal together before submitting it as part of their application.
I have applied for a PhD in another field before and was able to write a proposal in 2 weeks that was good enough to get an interview for the program. This was with the help of a supervisor who gave me the research area, open problems he is interested in, relevant literature and he read several of my drafts.
> 2 votes
# Answer
In the department where I got my degree at, the proposal was expected in the third year, had to represent about 30% of dissertation work, and qualified as a Master's defense should the student drop out of the program and yet being able to walk away with *something* in hand. In the department where I worked, the proposal was expected half a year before the defense (i.e., in the fall of the fifth year), had to constitute about 80% of the work, and basically was a rehearsal for the job market talk (the winter of the fifth year). So yes, rules and traditions vary from department to department and from discipline to discipline. Ask your Director of Graduate studies (or chair if the department does not have a designated officer for this role) as to what the expectations are.
> 1 votes
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Tags: phd
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thread-9393 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9393 | Effectiveness of grouping students to balance skills | 2013-04-16T13:18:55.680 | # Question
Title: Effectiveness of grouping students to balance skills
In the past, when forming student groups in class I've always allowed the students to form their own groups, which has certainly made them happy as they tend to form around social circles. As a side note, students at my school go together as classes so they have years where they know all the other people in their class quite well.
However, I'm considering doing things differently this time. I'm thinking to actively form the groups in such a way that strong students are in groups with weak students and average students - that is, groups are balanced and there are no 'strong' or 'weak' groups. I believe I can simply randomly pick students for each group and as long as strong, normal, and weak exist in roughly equal numbers, I will naturally achieve my goals, at least for the most part.
What I'm really wondering is if anyone knows the effects of student groups being formed by teachers as opposed to being formed by students themselves when those students have a strong social connection because of traveling though university as a group.
**Edit: The class size is 70 and the group size is five.**
**Edit(2): While the studying will be done in teams, individual members are assessed individually - social loafing will hurt the loafer the most.**
# Answer
My armchair researching dug up a lot of articles about this. I'm not an education scholar but here's a brief slice of some results from some research in the business education literature.
From *Randall S. Hansen (2006)*: Benefits and Problems With Student Teams: Suggestions for Improving Team Projects, Journal of Education for Business, 82:1, 11-19
In their related work section, their works surveyed suggest that professor-selected groups appear to have a more positive experience.
> However, Muller (1989) stated that student preferences are not necessarily the most important criterion for successful group work, whereas Koppenhaver and Shrader (2003) suggested that instructor-assigned teams lead to more stability in membership, and that stability enhances each team’s ability to perform effectively. Contrary to earlier researchers, Hernandez (2002) stated that student teams should be formed by the instructor, and that students are more likely to have a positive learning experience when groups are selected by the professor.
In an empirical study by *Praveen Aggarwal and Connie L. O'Brien (2008)*: Social Loafing on Group Projects: Structural Antecedents and Effect on Student Satisfaction, Journal of Marketing Education. 30:255, they hypothesize that self-selection of groups might reduce social loafing, based on some related work below:
> \[...\] This prediction has some precedence in the pedagogical literature. Groups formed by the students instead of random assignment by the instructor are assumed to be more cohe- sive, more productive, and experience a lower incidence of social loafing (Strong & Anderson, 1990). Mahenthiran and Rouse (2000) found that paired groups of friends had less incidence of social loafing than randomly assigned groups.
However, after their empirical study of 420 students in marketing and marketing-related fields, they conclude that there's no effect of student self-selected teams on social loafing.
> In this study we proposed four such factors: reducing the scope of the project, reducing group size, allowing students to self-select group members, and including multiple peer evaluations. Three of the four factors were found to have an impact on social loafing.
The only one that didn't have an impact was self-selection.
So one paper says that self-selection is worse, another says it generally doesn't matter. This might suggest that there are other factors that you may want to consider first with respect to making teams perform.
However, as mentioned, I'm not a business education researcher, and these projects might not generalize to other domains either. For example, the fact that these two papers don't cite a similar body of work might suggest that there's a lot more stuff out there. If someone out there is able to expand on this that would be excellent.
> 3 votes
# Answer
I have a practical suggestion based on a course I used to attend.
It was a natural continuation of another course (which was a requirement), and the majority of the student body from the first course was proceeding to take the second course.
The **only team leaders were picked by the professor**, in a sense that the best students from the previous class were team leaders, and were **free to form their group** as they wanted.
This ensured several things:
* no "elite" team with only the top students
* the groups were formed mostly to students liking
* some degree of balance was naturally present
(e.g. we grouped on purpose with 6:4 in favor of "stronger" students, because we were allowed to distribute the assignment grade on our own, and that way non-perfect score still meant everybody got approximately the grade they wanted *which coincided mostly* with their effort: non-perfect project was not a tragedy)
* on the previous class, a small number of students were actually "pushed" to go the extra mile, do exceptionally, and provide a team leader for their social group
From the student perspective, at least, it worked pretty well. If you say the student body is not changing that much from class to class, maybe something similar could work.
The downside might be that an "elite" group is clearly identified, but if it is based on objective criteria, and not seemingly the random whiff of a professor, it does not seem so bad.
> 4 votes
# Answer
I am not sure this is a good idea in your case,
They *go together as classes so they have years where they know all the other people in their class quite well.*
So, there is a long story in their social circles. You really don't want to be part of that story.
For example, if student A and student B happen to be dating the same person, where do you put A and B?
In addition to balance skills, I can understand one of your purposes is to let them work together as professionals regardless their personal relationships. In the real world, it would work if there is a good group leader.
In your case, how do you find 14 good leaders from 70 students? (group size is 5)
Note that you mention strong, average and weak students. I would like to emphasize that it is not too hard to find 14 strong students from 70 students. However, it is not an easy task to find 14 good leaders from a 70 student class.
> 2 votes
# Answer
If you choose the groups, then in a sense you have taken responsibility for their success. A group that perceives themselves as "weak" will subconsciously or consciously blame you for their predicament, absolving them of the need to work hard.
You also open yourself up to charges of favoritism or worse. Again, your perception of strength and weakness might be quite different to the students' own perception, and this has little to do with what the "right" answer is.
It's not clear that the pedagogical benefits of explicit grouping (even assuming you're able to separate weak from strong, which I am dubious of) balance all the downsides of grouping in this manner. While your goal is honorable (balancing groups so that they're of roughly equal strength), it's a doomed goal.
You can never force equality in the classroom. What you can aim for is fairness. A group formed by students is fair in the sense that the students can't complain that you forced them into it.
> 1 votes
# Answer
Balancing skills is very different from balancing past performance. Strong students will, by definition, be strong at most things. Weak students on the other hand will have different strengths. For example, a group of weak students who are all bad at X, will form an extremely weak group. A group of weak students where student A is bad at X but excellent at Y, student B is bad at Y but excellent at Z, and student C is bad at Z but excellent at X could actually form an extremely strong group. Better than grouping on past performance might be for students to rank their strengths at X, Y, and Z and create groups based on this. This will alert students to the strengths required to do well and also allow them to see the strengths/weakness of their groups.
An alternative, which was used during my undergraduate education, is to use a personality test to create groups. This way the students are aware of the benefits/difficulties of personal interactions, which is of high importance to success.
> 0 votes
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Tags: teaching, group-dynamics
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thread-9314 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9314 | What are the advantages of putting your dissertation on Facebook? | 2013-04-12T06:08:48.593 | # Question
Title: What are the advantages of putting your dissertation on Facebook?
I am told that one of the best ways in which to disseminate information/knowledge/findings from doctoral research is to put your dissertation on-line. By default, many universities make the dissertations of their students available on their websites.
I am wondering what are the merits of putting your dissertation on Facebook. I am unsure whether this is possible or there is just an ability to create a link on Facebook that goes to the university's website.
The above is particularly appealing for anyone who does not want to create their own websites.
# Answer
I think the best option is to set up your personal page and have your file hosted there. It is better to have your own independent site (independent from your university) in case you are to move to another university (post-doc, faculty position, etc) and cannot host your file there anymore. Once you have the dissertation hosted somewhere, you can share it through social media sites like Facebook and LinkedIn.
If that is not a possibility for you, another option would be to share it online in an open access database like Figshare (http://figshare.com/). Note that you should double check guidelines from your university to ensure it is okay, and consider if you plan to publish your dissertation in a journal in the future (some journals do not like it if the pre-prints are available elsewhere publicly).
Here is an online post about why one decides to have dissertations hosted there. http://sites.tdl.org/fuse/?p=347
> 5 votes
# Answer
Why Facebook, in particular? I know you didn't want to do it, but I do suggest setting up a minimal website with your pertinent information (CV, Bio), and then hosting the dissertation there, with a link. I would be very surprised if you can't get a free website through your university, and setting up a small site is relatively painless. If you're going to link anything on other sites (e.g., Facebook), I would link your homepage. I do not think you will get extra traction by simply hosting your dissertation on a particular website, social or otherwise.
> 20 votes
# Answer
The suggestion made regarding setting up web sites as a tool to reach out with your research by others is very good so I just want to expand a little on the social media side.
If you want to use social media as a vehicle fryour career I would suggest you join something intended for professionals (in the sense of work oriented) such as LinkedIn. There you will be able to get in contact with people who may be interested in your field and your publications (incl. thesis) more efficiently than with Facebook. Since it is geared towards the work part of your life, it is also taken more seriously than facebook. You would however still need some repository for pdfs etc. but that can be done using for example dropBox or some other free storage service. Using these kind sof services means that nothing can be considered permanent but on the other hand contenst should be updated and refreshed.
> 4 votes
# Answer
I would support a suggestion regarding setting up a small website AKA your academic homepage, you can also do it via your university or various free hosting services (googlesites, etc).
And once your dissertation is online, and you have a link to PDF (either on your homepage or in your institutional repository) do use ANY social media to spread the word. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, ResearchGate - they will help you to reach various people (and I do agree that Facebook is probably the least professional out of those).
If your dissertation is superb, you can consider publishing it with a reputable publisher (people and especially evaluation committees do see value in such publications w.r.t. just putting sth online)
> 1 votes
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Tags: thesis, social-media
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thread-9456 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9456 | How important is to maintain an online/digital presence for a graduate student? | 2013-04-18T08:48:10.787 | # Question
Title: How important is to maintain an online/digital presence for a graduate student?
I am a graduate student in the physical sciences working towards my Ph.D and planning to finish in less than two years from now. In this age, where data mining/collection/analysis and then selling/using it for profit has become ubiquitous and quite easy because of the internet and the ever increasing plethora of electronic devices, I have become a little paranoid and worked quite hard over the past decade to keep myself anonymous and to stop anyone from piecing info about me as much as possible. I do regularly google myself and see what I can learn about myself.
So the thing is, I don't have a webpage of any kind. No blogs! Certainly no social sites. No professional/connection profiles like on LinkedIn. Even the university provided webpage/space is unused and I try to control where my university email is published. Only the people who know me and have met me face to face (personally and professionally like at a conference) have my info to get in touch with me. It would be quite difficult for someone who I don't know to get in touch with me even if it is research related. A potential employer will have a very hard time trying to find anything about me on the internet.
So my question is how detrimental is this behavior to my professional future? Just how bad is it really, assuming it is bad? Do I really need it? Will this hurt my chances in the future when I try to get a postdoc or a job in the industry? I haven't published anything yet but I will very soon and then I expect to have at least another paper before I graduate. Furthermore, I really don't know what will I be doing after graduation. I might do a postdoc at a lab but then after that I don't plan on staying in academia. I might just stay at a lab or go to the industry working for a R&D somewhere. I am also toying with the idea of just starting my own small business. It could be something completely unrelated to my degree like a bakery or a bookstore.
But let's stay that even if I decide to stay in the field like working at a national lab and publishing regularly, can this be done without a public online presence?
BTW, I am in the USA and I don't plan on ever moving out of the States so the postdoc/lab stuff will be here in the States if I decide to do it.
# Answer
> 15 votes
Yes, it hurts your chances. It does not make you unemployable, far from it (I have recruited post-docs without web presence): when you apply for a position, your application file will include all the information that should be necessary for the hiring committee to decide, so they do not *strictly* need to see your webpage. As long as you appear on the departmental or group-level web listing of researchers… (otherwise it just looks weird)
However, look at the bigger picture: you're trying to make yourself a name in academia, so why do something that prevents it to some extent? There are good reasons for people to look up your webpage:
* They saw you name, and wondered who you are, where you are, what you do.
* They want to see what you have recently published, and find it easier to have it grouped on your web page that through a citation database (where your name may not be unique)
* They know you, and thought about you for an open (or soon-to-be-open) position, and they want to check out if you have moved, if you recently accepted a position, etc.
So, there are two things that are absolutely needed:
* **People need to find that minimum amount of information about you when they search your name**, and possibly some research-related keywords. A personal webpage, even a terse one, may be better for that than your departmental web page.
* Your list of publications
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As for myself, I maintained a webpage composed of exactly 1 HTML file, including:
* my **name**
* **status** (“PhD student at South Laponia U.”)
* **research keywords**, link to my **publication list** (ResearcherID)
* link to my **CV** (so I lied, I have a second file on that website: my CV in PDF format)
* **email address**
* link to my departmental website.
That's it. (It used to host my Master's thesis, but it is now hosted on an open archive, with a link from my publications list.) No picture of me or my pets, no blog/tumblr/twitter, no social websites.
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Tags: job, postdocs, job-search, career-path
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thread-9453 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9453 | Why does the copy editor want Nature to be “Nature (London)”? | 2013-04-18T08:12:37.943 | # Question
Title: Why does the copy editor want Nature to be “Nature (London)”?
I have noticed that the copy editors of at least two publishers (the American Institute for Physics and American Physical Society) do something weird when they copy-edit my submitted papers. For all references to papers in *Nature*, which I include in my references as such:
> J. W. Doe, Nature **197**, 412 (1974)
they replace “Nature” by “Nature (London)”:
> J. W. Doe, Nature (London) **197**, 412 (1974)
I do not understand why they do that! I know it is customary in they style for *books* to have a city next to the publisher name (though I don't think it is very relevant in this day and age), but why do it for journals? Are there multiple **different** editions of *Nature*?
# Answer
> 8 votes
For these journals, the copy editor is correct. "Nature (London)" is listed in the American Physical Society's house style for abbreviations, which makes it the standard abbreviation for APS journals, and it is also in the American Institute of Physics's list. It's not part of a general pattern of including locations, but rather a special case.
Presumably the inclusion of "London" was originally intended to avoid some long-ago ambiguity, perhaps with La Nature. It sounds like La Nature was more of a popular magazine about science than a modern scientific journal, but then again so was Nature in its early history.
There is no serious ambiguity about the name Nature today, but publishers are reluctant to change abbreviations, partly out of fear that if you've been using a specific abbreviation for many decades, a careful reader may wonder whether a different abbreviation is a mistake or even refers to another journal.
# Answer
> 6 votes
Indeed, according to both AIP style guide, as well as APS style guide, references to journal articles should be referred to without a place of publication. However, in the ACS style guide on page 9, you can read the following:
> For some periodicals whose CASSI abbreviation includes a place of publication, you need not add the place of publication unless its omission would create ambiguity. If CASSI lists only one journal with a given main title, there is no ambiguity in omitting the place of publication.
And indeed, the CASSI tool entry for Nature reads as follows:
> Displaying Record for Publication: `Nature (London, United Kingdom)`
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Tags: publications, journals, citations
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thread-9439 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9439 | Math Major and Grad School -- Necessary? | 2013-04-17T20:29:31.700 | # Question
Title: Math Major and Grad School -- Necessary?
I decided fairly late in life (21) that I feel like studying mathematics. I've always been interested in higher maths, I've just been daunted by some of the esoteric notations and theorems. But, no longer a philistine, I'm infatuated with pure mathematics. Right now I'm pursuing a Bachelor's degree in English. Is there a way I can get a Phd via an MSc?
I guess what I'm really asking is this: **Is it possible to get into a Masters program without having a Bachelors in the field?**
# Answer
> 11 votes
Yes, it's possible to get a graduate degree in mathematics even if your undergraduate degree is in a completely unrelated field. (Everything I say will be assuming you are in the U.S.; otherwise, I don't know.) In practice, you'll need to acquire much of the knowledge from an undergraduate degree in mathematics before starting, although you can fill in a few gaps during a master's program.
If you have unlimited time and money, then it's straightforward. You take undergraduate courses until you have completed most of a math major, either by delaying your graduation or by taking courses as a special student (i.e., not in a degree program) after your bachelor's degree. At that point, even thought you won't have a degree in mathematics, you'll be able to make a compelling case that you have equivalent background. You may not have a strong enough application to get into a top Ph.D. program directly, but you should be able to get into a master's program in a decent department, and if you do well enough there you can apply to even stronger departments for your Ph.D.
The drawback with this plan is that it's slow (you might spend two years or more taking courses before even applying to master's programs) and expensive (you'll be being charged tuition for these courses). Instead, the real question isn't whether it's possible in principle, but rather how to get to a Ph.D. program as quickly as possible, since at that point you'll no longer need to pay anything.
How efficiently you can do this depends heavily on your background and experience. If you are just starting to take college math courses, then it may take several years to prepare yourself for a master's program. If you already have a lot of experience, then you might be ready to apply this fall. I'd recommend consulting with faculty in your math department to see what they think of your background and what they would advise.
There exist certificate or post-baccalaureate programs designed to prepare people from other fields for math grad school. (See, for example, http://departments.columbian.gwu.edu/math/certificates/gradmath.) Such a program could be useful, depending on how well it fits with your background and preparation.
# Answer
> 3 votes
From my experience, it is possible to get into a masters program without a bachelor in the field. What you do need to do though display an aptitude for the subject. Also, if you were to be admitted into a masters program, you would likely be required to take undergraduate courses to get "up to speed."
Since you are still in undergrad studies, why not make the switch now by taking mathematics courses. The additional advantage to this is if it turns out that you don't like the area, you had not invested a significant amount of effort and time.
# Answer
> 1 votes
I got into MSc program in Economics having my base degree in Engineering, and then moved to get a Ph.D. in Statistics with these two degrees. But all of them are highly math-intensive. You are at about 5-8 years disadvantage compared to Chinese and Korean applicants, and at about 3-5 years disadvantage compared to US applicants (again, assuming that you are in the U.S.). While Anonymous Mathematician, obviously, has a more in depth knowledge of what kind of applicants are being admitted to his or her department, I would say that it seems very difficult to me given your non-technical background. You can take courses in math, but if you have not been trained to think as a mathematician, you won't be able to fit into math world. (A girlfriend who was majoring in math dumped me when I was an undergrad saying "You don't think like a mathematician". So be prepared that this is a different bunch than the people you are used to in your English classes.) This had to happen throughout your secondary school; if you start math in college, you could still do engineering and economics, but pure math is nearly impossible. Furthermore, you would have to seek proof-based courses, and you may not see them until the senior year even if you major in math. (I was stunned to hear from one of my students that he only saw epsilon-delta formalism in calculus as a senior in college; I had it as a junior in high school.) If you apply to a graduate math program with just three semesters of calculus, you won't be taken very seriously. I personally think that one cannot seriously call themselves mathematicians unless they know abstract algebra and complex analysis, as these keep reappearing in pretty much every field of mathematics. (Folks at math.stackexchange might be able to give you better pointers as far as specific courses go, though. Your question being moved to Academia made some sense, but it is still very much discipline-specific.)
To get a glimpse of whether you are prepared to work in a math grad program, take GRE Math subject test. If you don't get some 80+%, you are not ready yet (folks here with scores below 60% don't go anywhere; even folks with 80+% percentile don't get accepted left and right).
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Tags: masters, education
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thread-1199 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/1199 | Is there any world-wide ranking of conferences/journals? | 2012-04-19T14:09:43.673 | # Question
Title: Is there any world-wide ranking of conferences/journals?
I know it's rather difficult to establish a ranking of publications, especially because the ones in charge of establishing values for venues might be biased by their field, and several other aspects. However, I know some well-accepted (at least locally) ranking, that consider all fields under research, e.g. Brazilian Qualis \- in portuguese - that includes both confs and journals, and Australian ERA \- this latter has served as baseline for some class A conferences in Computer Science (my research field), in some countries other than Australia.
Hence, I wonder about the existence of another "global ranking", that has been applied overseas, thus including at least the most prominent events and journals in every field. For journals, it's a little bit easier to measure its importance, by looking at their Impact Factor values, but for conferences it's a little bit tough. To the best of my knowledge, I don't know a largely-applied means of measuring the impact of a conf.
I'd like to hear from you. Thanks in advance.
# Answer
> 6 votes
In Computer Science, CiteSeerX used to provide a Venue Impact Factor, that included journals and conferences, but it seems they've stopped doing it. As indicated by Gopi, Microsoft academic Research is some kind of global ranking, and JeffE also mentions google.scholar.
That being said, a global ranking, across sub-fields, is not necessarily meaningful. For instance, if one does not work on programming languages, then it's unlikely to submit a paper at POPL (the first venue according to CiteseerX). Hence, I'd say that field-specific rankings matter more, for instance in security: http://faculty.cs.tamu.edu/guofei/sec\_conf\_stat.htm or https://personal.cis.strath.ac.uk/changyu.dong/ranking.html.
# Answer
> 4 votes
It is not perfect (I have found many conference from my field not listed under the right subfield) nor exhaustive, but I have often found Microsoft academic Research useful.
Furthermore it has the great advantage to give ranking for both journal and conference and to cover many domains (Agriculture Science, Arts & Humanities, Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Economics & Business, Engineering, Environmental Sciences, Geosciences, Material Science, Mathematics, Medicine, Physics, Social Science)
# Answer
> 4 votes
The following national rankings were used as a baseline in the construction of the Finnish ranking. Hence they are "global" in the sense that they have been at least somewhat useful abroad:
# Answer
> 1 votes
It varies by discipline. In Medicine, conferences are not as important as journal articles.
In Computer science, \[some\] conferences are very prestigious
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Tags: journals, conference, ranking
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thread-9278 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9278 | Author Ambiguity in PubMed Search | 2013-04-10T15:07:30.450 | # Question
Title: Author Ambiguity in PubMed Search
Given a (rather large) list of authors, what is the best way to find the number of publications by each author? The big problem here is author ambiguity (which John Smith, etc.) - the author list we have doesn't even include middle initials! What we do have is the full name of a FDA Committee on which they have sat, which has some useful key terms (e.g., arthritis).
Ideally, some sort of API/automated search could be used given the large number of authors! I've heard about some databases (eRA Commons, for example) but these don't seem to have a visible search page.
What is the best way to figure out publication number given these constraints?
# Answer
This is a little bit shaky, but let's give it a try. Apart from a programmatic solution where you would have to write your own web-scraping scripts which would construct appropriate URLs for each authors and extract their publication statistics, there might be another, though still quite tedious and technically involved approach.
Harzing's Publish or Perish program (PoP) has a feature called "Multi-query center". It allows you to create a set of queries and then generate publication/citation statistics for each of them in bulk. It is meant to periodically re-generate the citation statistics for a set of queries so that you do not have to laboriously write the queries again and again. Now the technical steps towards your solutions would be the following:
1. produce a set of queries corresponding to the list of authors you are interested in;
2. update all these queries at once by a single button click;
3. save the statistics for all the queries e.g., into a CSV file; and
4. extract the numbers you are interested in in your favorite spreadsheet program.
The most technically involved step is to produce a set of queries corresponding to the list of authors you have. If the list is not too long (e.g., up to 50), the easiest method would be to enter the queries manually. In the case you have a very long list of authors (several hundreds), then I would try to generate the set of queries programatically. The PoP program stores the queries you enter in it in a file `Queries3.xml` in the corresponding `Program Files` folder. The queries are organised into folders, the XML is easy to read. Producing a correct XML file with the queries is a little bit try-error process, but you can easily succeed when you create an empty query with an authors and then using a small script (or you favourite text editor/spreadsheet) copy the query entry and only change the Author attribute of the `PoPQuery` element.
*Good Luck!*
> 2 votes
# Answer
My answer is a supplement to walkmanyl's answer.
Can I suggest you to go through this paper? It is a very nice paper which gives you an algorithm to disambiguate author names and can be used in conjunction with the method described above.
Anecdotally, I know that it has been used in a number of scientometric/bibliometric studies already.
> 1 votes
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Tags: publications, authorship, data, pubmed
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thread-9471 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9471 | Expected undergraduate semesters and requirements for graduate students | 2013-04-18T20:50:57.930 | # Question
Title: Expected undergraduate semesters and requirements for graduate students
I have been wondering recently about how graduate schools and in general anyone who reviews my academic record views coops. By coop, I mean a semester taken off from undergraduate studies to work in a related industry. If the student takes more than 8 semesters to graduate, is it a problem? Should the student (if they can) extend their studies by an additional semester so that they graduate in the spring, or is a fall graduation equally acceptable. Do grad programs accept students to start in the spring, or only the fall?
I tried to keep the question above general pursuant to the guidelines in the FAQ, however I will appreciate anyone who is willing to review my specific case.
I am a sophomore in CS at a strong US engineering school. I have 2 summer internships, and now a coop under my belt. My problem is, I do not like any of the work I have experienced. I don't mind programming, but it is not something I can do for 40 hours a week without getting really bored. I only really enjoy the difficult math problems, which don't come up that often for most CS jobs,and I absolutely hate wires, soldering, network-admin and low-level computer work.
I want to switch to Math and pursue a graduate degree in either data science or applied math. I can graduate on time by dropping to a math major and a cs and stat double minor, or I can add a semester and get a double major in math and cs or stats, or take graduate classes. I should also mention that my GPA is currently at 3.2 largely because I have tried to alter the CS curriculum to incorporate the things that interest me (a realistic expectation is a 3.4-3.5 graduating GPA). My final consideration is that the math dept at my school is somewhat low on most academic rankings, whereas my CS dept is in the thunder-weight category trailing the likes of MIT. It would not be hard for me to find research opportunities in either department, which I intend to do either way.
# Answer
> 7 votes
> I have been wondering recently about how graduate schools and in general anyone who reviews my academic record views coops.
Coops are fantastic. Especially for programs in computer science / applied math / data science, *relevant* industry experience is a strong advantage in graduate school applications.
> If the student takes more than 8 semesters to graduate, is it a problem?
No. **Nobody cares.** Even if someone on a grad admission committee *noticed*, the longer time would quickly be explained by your coop semesters and your change in majors.
> Should the student (if they can) extend their studies by an additional semester so that they graduate in the spring, or is a fall graduation equally acceptable.
Acceptable to whom? If you mean graduate admissions committees, then I repeat: **Nobody cares.** In particular, graduating in the spring is no barrier to starting a graduate program the following fall. (Of course, you have to eat, but that's a separate issue.)
> Do grad programs accept students to start in the spring, or only the fall?
Some do, some don't. **Every grad program is different.**
One last point: You mention coops, GPAs, and program reputation, but those are not the most significant bits. Graduate admissions committees at top departments are primarily looking for **strong evidence of research potential**. Assuming my quick Google search correctly identifies your university, you should have *lots* of opportunities for undergraduate research experience with world-class faculty. Take advantage of them! **Start now!**
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Tags: graduate-admissions, undergraduate, mathematics, computer-science
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thread-9474 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9474 | Is a research assistantship considered full-time employment? | 2013-04-19T02:59:08.287 | # Question
Title: Is a research assistantship considered full-time employment?
For something I'm applying to, I need to know if I'm considered a student, a part-time employee, or a full-time employee.
I am a graduate research assistant with a yearly stipend. No other employment is allowed. 20 hours a week of research is expected according to the contract.
# Answer
> 7 votes
I don't have citable information to give you but being a doctoral student and usually being on a research assistantship, anecdotally, I can tell you that in the United States, if you are a full time MS/PhD student and are on a research assistantship then it is not considered a full time job. Your full time job is that of a "student".
This was confirmed by an HR representative of my university because I asked her this exact question.
# Answer
> 2 votes
For your purposes, I would use either "full-time employee" or "student," depending on which answer gives you the most benefit. Because you aren't allowed other employment (the legality of whether that is enforceable is disputable), your position is full-time because it implies that the other 20 hours a week of 40-hour a week employment\* will be spent on studies. You can certainly claim to be a student, as I assume you have a student ID that demonstrates that.
\*if you make it through graduate school working only 40 hours a week, you're either brilliant, or not working hard enough, or both.
# Answer
> 1 votes
> For something I'm applying to, I need to know if I'm considered a student, a part-time employee, or a full-time employee.
The answer could heavily depend on the country you are located in.
The following is obvious:
1. do you have a proper work contract with the university? If yes, then check your contract and see what kind of employee you are;
2. are you officially enrolled at a university as a student? If yes, the program you are enrolled in tells you what kind of a student you are.
Now to the non-obvious part. As pointed out by others, in some countries you would be a either a full-time, or a part-time employee, but despite that, for many purposes (grant applications, student fellowships, conference registration, etc.) you could be considered a full-time student. This is the case for Germany (among others) where your contract would stipulate an amount of hours you are paid for, but you would be nevertheless expected to work full-time as a PhD. student and the university would have no problem issuing a certificate about your "studentship" for you. So to tackle your question, the first instance to consult is your supervisor/adviser, and the second one would be your department/faculty administration.
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Tags: research-assistantship
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thread-9442 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9442 | How to tell my advisor I don't want to stay in academia | 2013-04-17T21:50:29.187 | # Question
Title: How to tell my advisor I don't want to stay in academia
I don't want to stay in academia after finishing my PhD. My current research field is not exciting to me anymore, but also I am too old to change fields. Although my research and my interest were so far quite theoretically focussed, I would like to find a more applied job in R&D in a big prestigeous company, helping improving future technologies.
Now: How do I tell my supervisor? I want to avoid leaving the impression I think our research field is boring. My supervisor tries already finding Postdoc positions for me, and probably thinks I'm quite qualified for staying in academia. So I fear to be disappointing.
# Answer
> 31 votes
> How do I tell my supervisor? I want to avoid leaving the impression I think our research field is boring.
The other answers are already very good. You don't have a specifically academic problem, yours is a communication strategy issue.
1. **be honest:** in your specific case, tell your advisor as soon as possible in order to avoid a situation when too individuals want/wish each other only good and due to a misalignment it ends up in a clash;
2. **focus on the positive side:** Communicate that *you are motivated to go for an industry position*. It's easier than to focus on why you *don't want to stay in academia*.
There are always two sides of a coin. Your question sounds as if you wanted to avoid something (staying in academia) and that is always difficult to communicate, since it **pushes** you to defend your decision. Try to formulate it as if you were positively **pulled** to somewhere else. Then it's not you who is on defense, you took the active part in the conversation and usually it will be the other party to defend their position why not to do something (going to industry) is a bad move. As pointed out by others, you own a decision to do something (subjective, hence any reason is good enough), but there usually arises a need to explain why you don't want to go the default route (calls for more objective arguments, which are much harder to formulate). Your motivation for being pulled somewhere can stay vague, I wouldn't even hesitate to invoke emotions, such as `I feel like I would like such a job and want to give it a try`.
# Answer
> 27 votes
Different fields have very different attitudes about academia vs industry. In computer science, for example, research jobs in industry have a lot of respect (and pay incredibly well). Moreover, given how few academic jobs there are out there, it would be foolish not to look for opportunities wherever you can find them.
You don't need to go into academia just because your advisor thinks you should. And you *definitely* should not take a job that you're not interested in pursuing. As an advisor, I'm happy when my students get good jobs anywhere, and I'd imagine that your supervisor would be that way too.
Most likely your advisor is in "default mode" assuming that you'll continue in academia. If you were to tell him/her that you'd like to explore other options, I wouldn't be surprised if he/she had good contacts to help you find good industrial jobs.
# Answer
> 15 votes
Whatever you are going to do after PhD is **your** business. You **own** the decision. Nobody else does.
You want to avoid leaving the impression your research field is boring, then don't say it that way.
Tell him it is your will to go to industry. It is your future at stake.
You would like to *find a more applied job in R&D in a big prestigious company, helping improving future technologies*. **This is good enough reason to go to industry.** Tell him that. If he disagrees, ask him why.
If he had the impression that you are interested in staying in academia, it's time to tell him the truth. Honesty is the best policy. Tell him you will be much happier if you work in industry.
Be honest. Be frank. Be polite. He is your advisor after all. If he disagrees with you. let him convince you otherwise. Listen to him. He would provide the opinions from his perspective.
Use his advice as the opinion from your advisor (the person who advises you).
Then, make your own decision.
The most important thing for you right now is to **find a job to do whatever you want to do**.
# Answer
> 8 votes
The only way to mention it is to go ahead and actually discuss it with your advisor frankly. You should be prepared to explain why you don't want to go into academia.
However, it may just be the case that your professor assumes you want to go into academia because you haven't told him otherwise! It's quite possible that if you mentioned wanting to go down an alternate career path, he'd help with that, too. (Although that does depend on your advisor.)
You may also need to have this conversation more than once. I've known a few fellow graduate students who have had that issue with their advisors not "getting the hint" and continuing to recommend academic positions, *even after they've moved on*!
# Answer
> 4 votes
To be completely honest, I faced a similar situation towards the end of my PhD - I wasn't exactly bored with the research field but simply felt I should try out the non-academia. And I am glad I took that decision. But beware: there is a definite getting-used-to phase wherein you need to come to terms with your ego satisfaction etc. I also know of instances where people have gone back to academics after a 2-year stint at the industry. My 2 cents will be to pitch your am-getting-bored-of-this-stuff down and promote a wanna-try-this-out-too. HTH!
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Tags: phd, advisor, industry
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thread-9490 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9490 | What sections should I include in the Project Description section of my NSF grant proposal? | 2013-04-19T16:53:20.613 | # Question
Title: What sections should I include in the Project Description section of my NSF grant proposal?
I am a Ph.D. student, and I am writing my first proposal to the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) for a research grant in the field of chemistry.
One thing that I have found *very* confusing is the format of my written proposal. Specifically, what sections should I include?
The U.S. NSF distributes a very detailed (76 pages) set of guidelines (The National Science Foundation Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide: Part I - Grant Proposal Guide, available in PDF here). Section IIC2 is about "Sections of the Proposal," but this section only enumerates the following sections that I should include:
* a. Cover Sheet
* b. Project Summary
* c. Table of Contents
* d. Project Description
* e. References Cited
* f. Biographical Sketches
* g. Budget
* h. Current and Pending Support
* i. Facilities, Equipment, and Other Resources
* j. Special Information and Supplementary Documentation
* k. Appendices
It seems that the Project Description -- at least from the intellectual merit and broader impacts perspective -- will contain the "meat" of my proposal; the Project Description has a 15 page limit. It is here, I think, that I will discuss my plan of work, the scientific rationale, and the methods that I will apply. I should also discuss the related work in the literature in this section. Finally, I should discuss broader impacts of the proposed work.
But, beyond this, the NSF Guidelines do not seem to be all that specific about sections or section headings within the Project Description section. **Am I free to make my own sections/section headings *within* the Project Description section?** For example, could I make a section "Previous experimental work," followed by a section "Previous theoretical work," followed by a section "Proposed model description," and so on and so on? These section headings would be quite specific to my proposed work and the chemical system that I propose to investigate. Thanks for your time.
# Answer
The NSF doesn't specify any rules on what goes into the project description, but each community has its norms and expectations. If you wish to get a good review, it's probably a good idea to understand the norms and standards of your community.
In general, what you should do is find peers in the area that have written proposals for this program and look at what are standard templates (and isn't your advisor involved in this ? In my corner of the NSF, students can't be lead PIs on proposals).
From the sound of it, you haven't seen too many examples of proposals (successful or otherwise), and I'd strongly recommend that being your first step. If that's not possible, talk to faculty within your department (again, where's your advisor ?) to get help.
> 10 votes
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Tags: funding, writing, nsf
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thread-9489 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9489 | What can I do with a book summary? | 2013-04-19T16:17:15.180 | # Question
Title: What can I do with a book summary?
I finished reading a textbook of about 250 pages. For my personal reference, I created a summary in note form of about 30 pages. Formulations are close to the original text with some variation on my part, and there are literal quotes. I don't consider it a replacement of the book (obviously?).
What can I do with this summary? Is it fair to give it to friends who are interested in the topic? What about students? Can I even publish it online?
I am aware that laws may play into this. The book has been published in the U.S., I live in Germany.
# Answer
> 7 votes
There are two questions, namely what you can do legally and what the community would consider acceptable.
Legally, distributing such a summary is probably a copyright violation if you borrow too much from the original; in the U.S., it would be considered a derivative work (the legal definition includes "abridgment" and "condensation" as forms of derivative work). In that case, it would be illegal to distribute it without permission from the copyright holder. On the other hand, you are not likely to get in trouble unless you offend the author or publisher. The easiest way to offend the publisher would be if they view your summary as competition that might decrease sales of the book, but they might take a strict approach to copyright enforcement in any case (it depends on the publisher, and I would guess that a nonprofit publisher might be more understanding than a big commercial publisher). In practice, the worst case scenario is probably being forced to take down any copies you had posted online. You could be sued, but that seems unlikely to me.
The research community is likely to take a less strict approach than the law. If you distribute the summary privately (e.g., just to friends or students), then nobody is likely to find out or care. If you post it online, then it's more likely to attract attention, but it won't necessarily be negative attention. That depends on how you've written it.
You should keep several things in mind to avoid causing offense:
1. You should be absolutely clear about what you have done: what's a direct quote, what's a mildly reworded version of the author's words, what's a summary in your own words. You need to be careful about distinguishing your own interpretaton from the author's, and you can run into trouble in two directions, either by seeming to take credit for observations that are explained in the book, or by seeming to attribute your own ideas or organization to the author. This is a difficult balancing act, which is easy to mess up. Even if you are very careful, the author may still feel that you are distorting the emphasis on different topics, for example.
2. You should be very careful about correctness. I would be unhappy if someone circulated a summary of a book of mine that had mistakes in it.
I would **not** recommend asking the author for permission, since that would put the author in an awkward position (of having to either endorse or object to your summary). If the author discovers your summary and complains, then I feel professional courtesy requires you to make changes or take it down.
Personally, I would probably not post it online, but opinions could differ.
# Answer
> 6 votes
You can:
* **Criticise it:** Do you disagree with the authors about some topics/methods? Do you have some ideas on how to enhance the book? Discuss them with your peers.
* **Rephrase it:** You can rewrite the summary with your own words and publish it as **Notes on XXX** where XXX is the book topic.
* **Publish** a Book Review out of it.
* KEEP it to refresh your knowledge about the topic. In case you forgot or its not directly related to your research.
* Depends on the topic, you might write a blog about it; if you have one.
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Tags: teaching, books, copyright
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thread-9496 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9496 | Techniques to remain focused while marking examinations | 2013-04-19T20:37:16.923 | # Question
Title: Techniques to remain focused while marking examinations
Marking exams can be long, boring, and un-engaging.
It is important one remain focused though to ensure that the evaluation is fair to each student.
What are some methods one can employ to maintain focus and not zone-out while reading answers?
# Answer
> 13 votes
There is two issues in your question.
1. How to be fair to each student when it comes to this boring task of evaluating them
My own policy is the "mark-one-question-and-shuffle" : I correct the first question/problem for all the students, then I shuffle the whole stack and go for another question that I also pick at random. This way if I am tired or in a bad mood, it will impact everybody, so it will be fair.
1. How to stay focus for a long marking session
I cannot answer to that and I guess it depends of many personal factors. Personally, I find marking tasks boring but easy to do and easy to focus on. It's like driving, some people can drive for hours, others can't. To tell the truth, marking is somehow relaxing for me.
# Answer
> 8 votes
I suspect my answer will be less applicable to math (your subject) but your question is not specific so I'll cover my subject (business management).
First, I find the more I can process in a single session the more fair my marking is overall. In my field, answers are not so clear-cut. That is, there is rarely a right and wrong answer but rather the process of application/evidence that is evaluated. Because of this, there is a risk of being inconsistent when marking in different sessions.
Second, I try to process 10 or so exams before actually marking any of them. The reason for this is that I need to understand the general level of the group. If I don't do this, I find that I am much stricter on the first few exams and get easier as I find everyone is at a lower level than I had anticipated.
Third, I try to give my eyes a break between exams. That is, stare at a point some ways off so that my eyes are not constantly focusing on a point to close (which causes strain and can cause lasting problems).
# Answer
> 4 votes
Your own website says:
> My primary area of research is the application of mathematical methods to educational testing
so I'm sure you have much more experience (first-hand or second-hand) and have given it more thought that you let appear in your question ;-)
Of course, it heavily depends on the type of examination being marked, but unless it is very short, I tend to simply split it into many short bursts, and do those at a time when I am well rested (morning) and when I am outside my regular “work” setting: public transportation, waiting room of a doctor, café, in a garden when it's sunny, etc. The mood of the place I'm in helps, and gloomy settings just get me bored faster.
# Answer
> 2 votes
True story: a bottle of wine (well, maybe just half a bottle). Spirits are not a good choice since they go quickly to your brain.
Sorry if I hurt feelings with my answer but the truth is that this technique is more common in the academia than I would like it were.
Another technique consists of splitting the marking into several short sessions.
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Tags: exams, grading
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thread-9504 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9504 | European style PhD in the US | 2013-04-20T11:10:45.137 | # Question
Title: European style PhD in the US
1. I'm wondering are there any PhD programs (specifically in machine learning) in the US that are structured more like the European ones, i.e. where you immediately start doing research and don't spend your first two years or so on something very similar to Masters' program (lots of coursework, less research). I have already a Master's degree and research experience and would like to start working on my thesis from the start.
2. Also I'm wondering are there any non-university research institutions in the US that grant PhDs? (For example, something like German Max Planck research institutes)
Thank you!
# Answer
> 14 votes
Many graduate programs in the US allow you to either waive coursework by claiming prior credits, or waive coursework by taking a series of examinations. If that's a primary concern, you should look into programs that offer such a format for what's usually called the "breadth" or "comprehensive" requirement.
In answer to your second question, the Toyota Technical Institute in Chicago is a non-university research institute that offers a Ph.D program in Machine Learning.
# Answer
> 16 votes
It should be noted that the reason for the difference between the US and European style programs is primarily *philosophical*, and has to do with the way master's degrees are considered.
In Europe (or at least those countries part of the Bologna treaty), master's degrees "follow on" from the bachelor's degree program, and usually programs are designed so that students who complete the bachelor's degree will continue on to the master's at the same institution before beginning a doctoral program.
By contrast, in the United States, the master's degree is very weakly coupled to the bachelor's program. Instead, in many places, it's viewed either as a separate degree in its own right, or as a stepping stone to doing a doctoral degree. Moreover, because the bachelor's degree program is only four years, while the European bachelor's-master's system includes five years of coursework, there is a bit of a discrepancy between the coursework a bachelor's degree holder in the US would have, versus that of a master's holder in Europe. Consequently, most schools tend to require roughly a year of coursework for students entering a doctoral program, as it acts as completing the master's program at a European university.
Also, because graduate admissions are almost always organized at the *departmental* level in the US, rather than the research group level, there is usually a "qualification" procedure which must be completed at American universities that aren't found in European universities. The coursework phase of the doctoral degree often figures into the material tested in the qualifying exam, and therefore schools often are reluctant to waive these coursework requirements.
However, reluctance is not necessarily the same as refusal. If you have questions about how things work, and whether a particular department would be willing to waive some of the requirements for you, you should contact them. If you can demonstrate that you have most of the work already in place, they may be able to let you skip some of the classes, or at least replace them with other electives (which may be of benefit—you shouldn't assume you're done with classes and learning just because you have a master's or even a doctoral degree!).
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Tags: phd, europe, united-states
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thread-9509 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9509 | How specialised should research prior to tenure be? | 2013-04-20T22:50:11.183 | # Question
Title: How specialised should research prior to tenure be?
When establishing yourself as a researcher, the importance of independence from your PhD supervisor and focusing on a niche area (to establish popularity in a particular sub-field) are fairly well-established. For longevity of research career the polar opposite criteria of collaboration and breadth have been suggested.
Defining the terms field and subfield etc. is important, so taking the following hypothetical example:
* Subfield - PhD research uses a common computational method applied to a number of closely related problems.
* Related Subfield - Other PhD students in the group apply the same method to different problems.
* Field - Computational methods related to PhD yet distinct applied to any problem in the super field
* Superfield - Broad area of research encompassing theoretical, computational and experimental work, eg superconductors, photonics, etc.
After PhD and prior to tenure, how specialised should one aim to be and how closely related to the PhD should the specialty be?
If given the choice, is it best to focus exclusively on a related subfield topic (generally project based research typical of most post doc positions), or take on another topic in the field, or to develop breadth by researching multiple related sub field topics in collaboration with other groups?
# Answer
> 14 votes
*This answer warns against being too narrow; see aeismail's answer for reasons not to be too broad.*
The precise answer is going to depend on your institution and your field. But as a first order approximation, you *must* establish yourself as an independent intellectual leader in a broad enough research area to attract good tenure letters. An obscure subsubfield beloved by only ten researchers probably isn't going to be enough, because not all of those people will be credible references — well-known, active, full professors (preferably with named positions and Academy memberships) at top-ranked US departments (assuming you're at a US institution) who are not your advisor (and preferably are not your coauthors or from your PhD department either).
So your question becomes:
1. How large a field do you need to consider to include a sufficient number of viable tenure writers?
2. How you establish a world-class reputation within that field?
As a general rule in my field, you should move as far away from your PhD thesis as possible while still being visible and productive. But other fields may have different expectations.
# Answer
> 13 votes
The advice that I've received from my own PhD advisors, as well as from my interim review, was not to broaden one's activities *too* much before tenure. There needs to be a convincing thread to the work efforts that you're doing.
The danger of spreading your efforts too thinly is that nobody knows which "box" to put you in. This is a problem, as JeffE suggests, because you need to be able to get good letters of recommendation in your tenure case. However, spread out over too broad a region, you won't have nearly enough papers in any one area to make a significant dent.
So, having many subfields is probably a bad idea. If, however, you can find and exploit a common theme to these different subfields, you can probably make a much more convincing case (perhaps because you will be addressing a problem that they all have in overlap?).
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Tags: research-process, career-path, tenure-track
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thread-9514 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9514 | Publishing a conference version of a journal paper at the same time ? (copyright issues) | 2013-04-21T00:29:56.417 | # Question
Title: Publishing a conference version of a journal paper at the same time ? (copyright issues)
This may be a question repeated many times, but I want to know your opinion.
I submitted a journal paper for an algorithm (Computer Science). Fearing that the review process take too long, I decided to submit a short-version conference paper, while the long version is under-review. I received the journal review comments, and re-sent the modifications to the journal. Meanwhile, the conference paper was accepted. But the camera-ready is not sent yet.
The problem is that both papers are about the same idea. There is also some copy-pasted parts in both papers. But:
1) the editor of the journal was not informed about the conference paper (I heard that I should tell the journal about any published papers - but note that the conference paper is not yet published - not even the camera ready is submitted),
2) the organization organizing the conference, is not the same that manage the journal. I have been told that there are conflicting copyrights.
The proposed solutions (that colleagues told me about):
a) submit both as is !
b) submit both (but with change in text).
c) do not submit the conference paper (but I heard this can be harmful)
d) tell the editor now (but honestly, the journal is way more important than the conference).
# Answer
The problem is that you have painted yourself into a corner.
You have made a very serious mistake by submitting simultaneously to a conference (with formal proceedings) and a journal. Most likely *both* the conference *and* the journal have explicit rules forbidding this, and in any case any kind of simultaneous submission is highly unethical: you are abusing the peer-review system.
No matter what you do, someone will be upset.
If you are a student, perhaps the best approach is to play stupid. Contact the conference organisers, apologise sincerely, explain that you were not aware that simultaneous submissions are not permitted, explain that you are just a student, apologise again, and withdraw the conference paper.
The conference organisers will be upset. But maybe this is much better in the long run than proceeding with the publication of both versions, in which case you will make your mistake *public* and anyone is able to see it (conference submission & acceptance dates are public information, and journals typically publish the submission & acceptance dates of the articles).
> 7 votes
# Answer
There is no "easy answer" here nor is there a "right answer". You can
* take the high road and say "It's unethical of me to publish similar papers in two competing publications, so I'll withdraw one", which might make you feel good, but leaves you 1 paper less. You don't get brownie points for "feeling good"
* publish both the conference and journal paper and do your best to have some differences between them (i.e., they're not word-for-word identical or don't have passages copied wholesale).
Honestly, the most important issue here is that you're not copy-pasting content verbatim and submitting to multiple journals hoping that neither knows of the other and get it passed through both review processes.
If I were you, I would have (and have)
* submitted a conference paper discussing the objectives, a brief sketch of the methodology, significance of results and some figures if any, and
* submitted a journal paper with a deeper literature review, in depth explanations of methodology with proofs, if any, detailed figures **that are different from the conference submission**.
This is a perfectly acceptable practice and strikes a fine balance between the need to disseminate information quickly, stake your claim to being "first", and being fair to the academic process.
However, also be aware that if your field of research is narrow/small, then it is highly likely that there is an overlap of reviewers among journals. I recently reviewed a manuscript for journal A which eventually was rejected, because although 3 reviewers (including myself) gave it an "acceptable" rating, the fourth reviewer who happened to also review the authors' previous similar submission to journal B (which was accepted a few weeks prior), notified the editor. It turns out, that they tried to do something similar to what you're doing, except that journal A would've been preferable to journal B, but things didn't turn out as they had hoped (i.e. 2 publications). So be wary of this happening to you as well.
> 2 votes
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Tags: journals, conference, copyright
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thread-9518 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9518 | The differences between AMS research journals | 2013-04-21T06:00:39.617 | # Question
Title: The differences between AMS research journals
The American Mathematical Society (AMS) has quite a few journals titled "(something) of the AMS".
The research journals include:
* Journal of the AMS
* Proceedings of the AMS
* Transactions of the AMS
* Memoirs of the AMS
How do these journals differ in terms of scope?
Some information about the roles of these journals can be found on the AMS journals website. However the only distinctions given are that JAMS is for "research articles of the highest quality," while PAMS, TAMS, and MAMS are for short, medium, and long articles respectively.
Are there further differentiations between these journals? If a mathematician wants to submit a paper to an AMS journal is the decision process for which one really as simple as "If my paper isn't good enough for JAMS I'll check its length and ship it off to the appropriate one of the other 3?"
# Answer
> 14 votes
> If a mathematician wants to submit a paper to an AMS journal is the decision process for which one really as simple as "If my paper isn't good enough for JAMS I'll check its length and ship it off to the appropriate one of the other 3?"
Yes, more or less. Journal of the AMS is a special case (as you observed) because of its extremely high level, and Memoirs of the AMS because it will consider incredibly long papers. In both cases, there are only a small number of competing journals with these properties. On the other hand, Transactions and Proceedings have substantially more competitors. The primary distinction between them is length, but from my perspective there's also a difference in prestige. Proceedings of the AMS gets some great submissions, but the length cut-off is pretty short for mathematics papers and this means it gets fewer great submissions than Transactions does, so the prestige level is a little lower. Other than length and prestige, they are pretty much identical, for example in topics covered (a broad spectrum of pure mathematics, but limited coverage of applied mathematics).
So for Proceedings/Transactions papers, there's a four step decision procedure:
1. Is your paper on an appropriate topic? (To a first approximation: is it pure mathematics?)
2. How long is your paper?
3. Do you have a realistic shot at acceptance?
4. Is the journal prestigious enough that you would be happy publishing your paper there?
# Answer
> 7 votes
This is not an answer, but it is too long for a comment. I am not going to compare the quality and scope of the AMS journals, but I would like to share an experience. Once an editor of PAMS told me that he receives about 100 papers every year and he can only accept about 10 papers each year, so he has to reject so many of (good) submissions. My estimation is more than half of the submitted papers (to PAMS) contain some interesting results and deserve publication in a respectful journal, but most of them will be rejected, just because there are better papers.
Regarding this point of view, I think one should submit a paper to an AMS journal only if he is sure that his paper is among the top 10% papers submitted to the journal. Otherwise, he is wasting his time.
There are so many other nice mathematical journals which provide authors with professional services and have way less traffic.
# Answer
> 4 votes
I found a paper Mathematical Journals by A.J. Hildebrand
* Journal of the American Mathematical Society is one of the elite journals
* Proceedings of the AMS and Transactions of the AMS are society journals come in pairs that have a single editorial board, and which complement each other in that one specializes in shorter articles, whereas the other publishes mainly longer articles
There are interesting descriptions for other math journals in that paper as well.
According to the Wiki page
Memoirs of the American Mathematical Society (ISSN 0065-9266) is a mathematical journal published in six volumes per year, totalling approximately 25 to 30 individually bound numbers, by the American Mathematical Society. It is intended to carry papers on new mathematical research between 80 and 200 pages in length. Usually, a bound number consists of a single paper, i.e., it is a monograph.
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Tags: publications, journals, mathematics
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thread-9510 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9510 | Do I have a MSc degree if I did the work but did not pay tuition? | 2013-04-20T22:54:27.170 | # Question
Title: Do I have a MSc degree if I did the work but did not pay tuition?
I have a BSc degree from a private university in Egypt. The university offered me a scholarship at the beginning of the program but that scholarship applied only partially to a subsequent MSc degree.
There's an overlap in the degree requirements for the BSc and the MSc, which means that the 5th year of the BSc is also the first year of the MSc. By doing research for 6 more months, the MSc degree is complete. The scholarship applied to everything but those 6 months, yet the tuition for that was very expensive.
Since I was a top ranked student, my dean said that if I did research at an associate research institute abroad he will ask the university's top management to
1. officially enroll me in the program,
2. delay payment of the tuition,
3. and consider offering me a scholarship for the remaining tuition
with one caveat: He will not know their decision until the very end of the program.
I took that risk, and successfully defended and submitted my thesis at the end of the program. While the university agreed to #1 and #2, my dean's attempts at #3 were fruitless. I have proof that I was enrolled as an MSc student and the university printed my degree's certificate but they will not hand it to me unless I pay the full tuition, which I can not.
My question is: **Do I have a MSc degree or not? How should I address this on my CV/Resume?**
# Answer
> 31 votes
## No.
Unless your university is willing to provide proof that they granted you a degree, they didn't. Listing an MSc degree on your résumé that your university is unwilling to confirm invites accusations of fabrication, which would be nearly impossible to refute and which could cost you your job *many* years in the future.
On the other hand, nothing stops you from publishing your thesis, or asking your dean for a recommendation letter explaining the unfortunate situation.
# Answer
> 14 votes
First of all, I agree 100% with everything JeffE wrote, so I won't repeat it here.
As for how you should describe this in your CV / résumé, I'd suggest describing your M.Sc. studies as *in progress*, with a brief parenthetical note explaining the details (e.g. "studies completed in 201*X* with GPA *Y*, thesis approved with grade *Z*; formal completion delayed pending resolution of financial issues").
After all, that's what your situation technically is: you haven't received your Master's diploma yet, but you've completed some of the requirements for it, and may receive it in the future once you complete the rest. The fact that, in your case, the missing requirements are financial rather than strictly educational does not affect this main point.
I wouldn't dwell too much on the specific details in a CV, since it's supposed to be a *brief summary* of your experience. In particular, you do *not* want to come across as bitter or accusatory, nor as financially irresponsible. A short and neutral phrase like "financial issues" is probably best: if the prospective employer is curious, they'll ask you about it. (Do expect it to come up in an interview, if you make it that far.) Or just do as JeffE suggests, and get someone else, like your dean, to write a letter of recommendation for you explaining the situation.
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Tags: masters, ethics, cv, tuition
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thread-9526 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9526 | Question on terminology (postgraduate studies) | 2013-04-21T14:17:31.250 | # Question
Title: Question on terminology (postgraduate studies)
How does one call postgraduate studies in countries where the appropriate degree is not PHD? It can't be PHD scholarship. Can I use "postgraduate studentship" in this sense in official papers? Maybe "postgraduate scholarship" is better or there are some other variants?
# Answer
> How does one call postgraduate studies in countries where the appropriate degree is not PHD?
You need to be precise about which term for the title/degree you would use. In the follow-up comment you reveal that the degree is "candidate of sciences". In Eastern Europe there were such degrees given in the past, in most countries this was one way or another changed to PhD, or similar. In the past, the process towards the "candidate of sciences" (CSc. degree in a country I am familiar with) was called `candidature`. `"I work on my candidature."` Just like that. You would also call it `postgradute studies`, but see also this question for potential caveats.
However, as Paul Hiemstra points out, you would use this in your system, but when communicating with the world you should use the equivalent term. Most countries have a signed international treaties regarding education and professional degree recognition and equivalence with most other countries (at least in Europe and OECD). In those treaties (usually public material) you should be able to find the exact tables of equivalent degrees, possibly with various stipulations about their use. Look for such a treaty which your country signed with the country where you want to use your title/study term.
P.S.
`Scholarship` is usually the funding you get to perform your `studentship`.
> 2 votes
# Answer
This really depends on where you are going to use this term. The goal is to make clear to people what kind of degrees you have. So if you communicate with people from the US, you can just say you are working on a PhD. If you are communicating with people form your own system, just use the title that is appropriate int that context.
For example, until recently the Netherlands did not have the Bachelor-Master system. This did not prevent people from using the MSc title abroad when that was the title people where familiar with.
> 1 votes
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Tags: phd, terminology
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thread-9523 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9523 | Is it acceptable as referee to contact an author on a paper you review? | 2013-04-21T13:10:07.950 | # Question
Title: Is it acceptable as referee to contact an author on a paper you review?
I am reviewing the second revision of a paper and am getting tired of this incredibly slow process of me pointing something out that requires clarification just to hear back from those authors two or three months from now (at the earliest).
Do you think I would insult gravely the academic spirit and / or authors of that manuscript if I just e-mailed the corresponding author saying "Look I still don't understand X because of Y can you please explain?"?
Personally, I think that doing so would just be what science is about: a bunch of people interested in similar scientific topics talking to each other.
# Answer
No, you should not, but there is of course no law that prevents it. Peer review is a process where the editor appoints reviewers because of their expertise to provide independent and knowledgeable views on the submitted manuscript. As such the reviews should pass through the editor since they are not only made to improve the manuscript from the point of the author but also prepare it to be worthy of publication in the journal to which it is submitted. Making such contact is thus breaking an understanding with the editor/journal and integrity of the journal review system and quality assurance. The correspondence needs to go through the editor.
> 28 votes
# Answer
> I am reviewing the second revision of a paper and am getting tired of this incredibly slow process of me pointing something out that requires clarification just to hear back from those authors two or three months from now (at the earliest).
You don't need to e-mail the authors directly to get the information you want. The several month delay you are talking about is the time it takes to collect all the reviews, send them to the authors, and wait for a revised version of the paper. However, in the journals I'm familiar with you could request clarification by asking the editor to send a short message to the authors now and relay the response to you. Going through the editor might slow things down by a day or two, but not by months.
> Do you think I would insult gravely the academic spirit and / or authors of that manuscript if I just e-mailed the corresponding author saying "Look I still don't understand X because of Y can you please explain?"?
The phrasing of your question is hyperbolic, but yes, this is something that could be considered offensive or unethical. Sending queries through the editor slows things down only slightly, while it avoids various difficulties:
1. Reviewers might bypass the editor on requests they would rather not call to the editor's attention (for example, suggesting that their papers be cited). Along similar ethical lines, announcing to the authors that you are reviewing their paper might help you pressure them for favors elsewhere. For example, it would be unethical to write "Dear X, I'm a reviewer for your recent submission to Y. I'm having trouble understanding it, so I fear it might take a while to arrive at a decision, but it could help to know blah blah blah. Can you supply any additional information? Regards, Z P.S. Have you reached a decision about participating in the joint project I proposed?"
2. It's important for the editor to be aware of all relevant information. If several reviewers request clarification about something, then that is itself informative about the clarity of the manuscript, even if they all agree in the end that it is correct. It's also valuable for the editor to see and judge the response itself (and not just to know whether it convinced the reviewer).
As Daniel Shub pointed out in the comments, you can always ask the editor whether it would be appropriate for you to contact the authors directly (it may depend on journal policy, customs in your field, or the editor's judgment of the particular situation). If the answer is yes, then you are all set. However, if the answer is no or you don't ask, then you should relay all communication through the editor, and I would expect that to be the usual answer.
> 33 votes
# Answer
> I am reviewing the second revision of a paper and am getting tired of this incredibly slow process of me pointing something out that requires clarification just to hear back from those authors two or three months from now (at the earliest).
So what? Your understanding is not one of the required outcomes of the refereeing process.
> Do you think I would insult gravely the academic spirit and / or authors of that manuscript if I just e-mailed the corresponding author saying "Look I still don't understand X because of Y can you please explain?"?
Perhaps not, but you would subvert the whole point of refereeing, which is to **judge the paper on its own merits**. The typical reader is not going to have access to the authors to clarify any confusing aspects of the paper. If the paper is confusing, it is simply not ready to publish; contacting the authors would not change this fact. If the authors have not addressed your concerns despite multiple rounds of reviewing, the appropriate response is to **recommend rejection**.
Others have raised additional ethical issues, so I won't repeat them.
> 11 votes
# Answer
> Do you think I would insult gravely the academic spirit and / or authors of that manuscript if I just e-mailed the corresponding author?
You are "hired" as a reviewer by the responsible editor hence by default you should obey the journal editorial board/conference programme committee rules. In your particular situation, I do not think contacting authors is appropriate. Obviously, *they did not communicate their ideas/results clearly enough for the target audience*, which is a reason for rejection (or at least subtracting "points" in the review). As a referee, that's just about what you need to care for. *You are not supposed to do the authors' job, or invest more energy than any other interested expert reader would.*
**Communication with authors:**
Generally speaking, sometimes there are sound reasons for starting a communication link with the authors (for example when the referee process is friendly, such as for invited contributions to journals, or chapters in an edited book). If that is the case, then you have at least the following options:
1. **anonymized channel**: preferrably channel all the communication between you and authors via the responsible editor who will "anonymise" your messages. Of course the editor has to be OK with such a setup;
2. **direct communication link**: ask the responsible editor for approval whether establishing a direct communication link is fine with her/him and if so, obey by whatever restrictions (s)he puts in place and keep the editor in the loop too - you need to keep a good track of the communication should there be a dispute later on. Sometimes communicating with authors is outright forbidden in guidelines to referees. Check the journal's rules carefully! Or finally,
3. **after-review contact**: you can finish the review on the basis of what is submitted as is usual, but you identify yourself in the review. Again, ask the responsible editor for approval first. Authors might choose to contact you, or not. It will be their decision.
In the past, I went the route #3. It worked well. But remember, reviews are blind in order to allow reviewers to be frank. Sometimes (most of the time?) such a feedback causes pain and friction. You need to think twice about this and **always** obey the editor's guidance. The reason is, **sometimes with a best intention, you might cause harm!** Such as rejection of the paper on the grounds of a mismanaged review process.
> 7 votes
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Tags: publications, peer-review
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thread-1450 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/1450 | Should résumés be attached in a mail to a professor? | 2012-05-07T05:53:18.813 | # Question
Title: Should résumés be attached in a mail to a professor?
Say there is a student who writes a mail to a professor asking for a PhD vacancy or a RA-ship position. Should he attach his résumé in a mail to a professor?
I have had contradictory viewpoints on this. Some people ask not to attach résumés in such mails to professors, saying such mails go straight to spam. They instead prefer having a webpage and providing a URL. This is tough, as students (esp. undergrads) do not have a lot to share on a website. Moreover there is a contradiction: if a professor cannot view a résumé in her browser, what is the guarantee she would visit a website and click each of the sublinks? Looks more implausible to me.
There are others who advise applicants to provide a brief bio instead of a résumé or a URL. Again this could turn out awkward: in a bio, "I did my bachelor's in XYZ University" is fine, but "I was fourth in the Department during my bacheor's" looks out of place.
# Answer
> 18 votes
I slightly prefer attachments. The problem is that I'm reluctant to reply to e-mails asking for more information, or even to show up on server logs following links, because it may be interpreted as a sign of interest.
Like most faculty members (at least in technical areas), I get enormous numbers of junk e-mails regarding PhD positions or summer research. The general pattern is that they are form letters sent to large numbers of people, almost all of whom ignore the letters. If anyone replies in anything but the most discouraging way, then it inspires a potentially lengthy e-mail exchange that will probably just waste everyone's time.
This is a real problem, and I don't know what to do about it. It's not really fair, but right now the burden is on applicants to stand out from the junk e-mails. In particular, your e-mail should provide compelling proof that you spent at least as long thinking about it and writing it as you expect the faculty member to spend on it. If it looks like it could be a form letter with the professor's name and research topic pasted in, then I'll ignore it, as will many other people. \[I should point out that I work in a department with centralized admissions, so I cannot accept students on my own. This is explained on my web page and the department's.\]
For example, a clearly personalized e-mail that discusses the professor's research in detail is good. Keep in mind that plenty of people are trying to cheat with this. For example, I regularly receive e-mails saying something like "I found your paper X fascinating when we read it in our seminar", with no further details. This looks like a form letter, and there have been a couple of times when I've received e-mails from the same sender that were identical except for having different paper titles pasted in, with no indication that they had previously e-mailed me about another paper. Maybe a few e-mails are genuine, but they sure look like lies.
So when I get an e-mail regarding PhD admissions or summer research, I'm very skeptical that it's more than spam. There's a five or ten second window to convince me that it's different from the other e-mails, before I set it aside. If it looks promising, then I'll read further, and I'm a little more likely to do so if any information I need is available right there. So I'd recommend attaching whatever is needed.
# Answer
> 11 votes
Actually, I prefer to have the résumé or CV attached in the email. If there's not enough detail for me to decide if someone is going to be able to actively contribute to the group, there's no incentive for me to pursue the candidate further.
That said, if someone tells me in the body of the email something like: "I have done X, Y, and Z; and would like to do A and B using method C," then that's OK. At a certain point, the letter does provide enough information for me to determine that (a) the student is competent and (b) will be a good fit for my group. However, my response would be: "That's great—sounds like you're what we're looking for. Can you send me a CV and a list of references?" So we're right back to square one.
# Answer
> 2 votes
I do not mind getting a résumé attached to e-mails. However, a tendency I have noted is that I also tend to get scanned copies of assorted certificates sometimes numbering several tens of Mb files. There is no way I will run through such quantities of information. So if you send a résumé, make it brief and to the point.
As Aeismail points out, also make the mail itself concise and clear as to what you are looking for. It may seem like a lengthy mail may be more polite but remember that e-mails are typically used for brief messages. Your mail will end up as one of perhaps hundred on a particular day and a lengthy mail may be put in the "to do list" and postponed until enough time is free to read it (which usually does not happen).
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Tags: phd, professorship, cv, email, introduction
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thread-9549 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9549 | Academic freedom and unpopular or offensive views | 2013-04-22T09:36:28.703 | # Question
Title: Academic freedom and unpopular or offensive views
Academia values academic freedom. However, there may be some practical limitations on academic freedom. What repercussions might an academic face for voicing unpopular or offensive views in the name of academic freedom?
For example, how might a professor's academic reputation be impacted by publicly expressing views that support dictatorships (and other type of politicians) and their established crimes and violation of human rights?
# Answer
First, **academic freedom** as it is commonly understood does not refer to one's views and publicly stated opinions, but to the freedom in which they conduct teaching **in the classroom**. The reference in US is the 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure stating that
> Teachers are entitled to freedom in the classroom in discussing their subject
But as a rule, **academics do not get special treatment outside of the classroom with regards to freedom of speech**. It's certainly not the case in the US, and I am not aware of any other country where it might be the case.
Now, regarding the impact of unpopular or offensive views on reputation, it will heavily depend on your colleagues! I personally find that, while freedom of speech is highly valued in academic circles in general, Academia as a system is a rather conservative institution and I suspect you would not find much more sympathy for extreme views than in any other workplace.
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NB: Academic freedom is also used to refer to a US jurisprudence applying to universities and colleges; in that sense, it is unrelated to rights and duties of an individual teacher.
> 18 votes
# Answer
For propagating unpopular view (which can be considered offensive) a professor may lose a position (see e.g. James Watson's case). And in general, sensitive topics (e.g. like gender and ethnicity) may be risky, regardless of the scientific value of a statement one is making.
Moreover, sometimes there is a particular ban on some ideologies (e.g. propagation of Nazism in many European countries). However, it this case it is (usually) not a limitation on academic research, but only on political activity. (Similarly, "encouraging or assisting crime" is an offence and it does limit what one can say.)
As a side note, a humoristic slide from a presentation Beauty and the beast at the 2nd Offtopicarium:
> 8 votes
# Answer
In addition to getting flak from your colleagues, some views might also get you fired or forced out of your position. For example, if you publicly state that the best solution for Africa is to drop a few nukes, the university might force you to resign.
I think what is important is that you can provide rational arguments for your opinion, as science is based on facts (and the interpretation of those facts).
> 2 votes
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Tags: professorship, academic-freedom
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thread-9540 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9540 | What do I need to ensure my presentation will go smoothly? | 2013-04-22T04:39:46.790 | # Question
Title: What do I need to ensure my presentation will go smoothly?
From a technical stand point, what do I need to show up to a conference with (in general) to ensure that my presentation will go smoothly?
Two things I can think of:
* Presentation remote
* Equipment to connect my laptop to the projector
The remote is simple enough, it just needs to work with my computer and be reliable. Connecting my computer to the projector is not trivial since a lot of laptops don't come with DVI or VGA output any more (mine doesn't!). What kind of output do I usually need, DVI or VGA? Do I need something like this which supports all output methods (seems like over kill but might be a good investment)?
Is there anything else to make sure I am prepared to deal with the technical aspects of a presentation?
# Answer
From less esoteric to more (I've seen all these things happen):
1. Make sure you know how to "send the image to a projector". Not all laptops do this automatically, and I'm surprised at how many people don't know how to do it. I've also seen people be confused by the mirroring feature on Macs.
2. Verify that there's a power outlet or some place to plug in your laptop. Driving a projector eats power, and you don't want to drain your battery during the presentation
3. Turn off screen savers. at the very least it's annoying, and sometimes the screen saver does wonky things to the projector display.
4. Turn off your notifications (mail, facebook, twitter, skype...). It's amusing for an audience (but not for you) if during a job talk they all get to see a subject header of the form "Interview at University X" where X is not where you're at :)
5. Make sure you have the right display converters. Usually something that converts your laptop to a VGA is standard. Macs are particularly difficult in this regard.
6. Watch out for resolution issues. Most laptops are smart enough to drop resolution to deal with a projector, but sometimes they're not.
7. Keep a backup copy of the slides in a portable format (PDF or PPT) on a usb stick. In the worst-case you can always borrow a laptop (from the previous speaker even) and load up the slides. Dropbox/a web page is ok but not great because it requires an internet connection.
And above all, as David M. R. says, check the setup beforehand if you can. Even that doesn't guarantee a smooth presentation, but it eliminates a lot of the potential problems listed above.
> 44 votes
# Answer
In addition to Suresh comprehensive answer, and understanding you are referring primarily to the technology, would add the following which concerns the presentation:
Do not include media (video, sound etc) in your presentations unless absolutely necessary. If you do, make sure in advance (before the conference or some time before your talk that everything will work. This is particularly true if you need to switch platform from whatever you use to whatever the conference might run (unless they let you use your own computer (which is rare).
Make copies of your presentation in alternative formats. for example. if you make a presentation in PowerPoint, save it also as PDF (and make sure the PDF looks ok). Moving PowerPoint files between Win and Mac can be far from trivial. Not even PDFs are fool proof, particularly if media players need to be involved.
To add a technical item:
Be aware that older projectors may not resolve the color space you have in your presentation. This may render certain colours invisible and make other look identical. Therefore be careful and avoid choosing too many similar colours in plots etc.
> 23 votes
# Answer
In addition to Suresh's and Peter's advice, there is one other unlikely scenario to consider. Be prepared to give your presentation without the assistance of technology. Depending on the venue, if the projector fails, it may take longer to get a new one in place than you have to speak. If the talk is for an interview, being able to seamlessly switch to the low-tech version is a big plus for you. If you are at a conference, then the attendees at your session will still get to hear about your work. If the presentation is your thesis defense, then you absolutely must be able to continue in the analog fashion.
> 12 votes
# Answer
The other answers are all great. Also keep in mind:
* If you don't know what kind of room you'll be presenting in, keep all the vital info in the slides on the top half or top third of the slide. You never know when you'll get a room where the screen is at the same level as the audience seating. When that happens, no one behind the first row will be able to see the whole slide.
* When microphones are provided, do a sound check before your presentation starts. Use the microphone.
* Be prepared to present on a machine other than the one you bring. Have your presentation materials on an external drive AND in the cloud.
* If you created your presentation on a mac and you'll be presenting on a pc, or vice versa, try to do a practice round on that operating system. Even if both OS's are running PowerPoint, certain features or slide transitions might not be supported.
> 12 votes
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Tags: conference, presentation
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thread-9573 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9573 | Is it ethical for a part-time professor to use his position for other interests? | 2013-04-23T09:56:49.423 | # Question
Title: Is it ethical for a part-time professor to use his position for other interests?
There is a professor who works part-time at a university as a moderator of one of their student groups. He does not teach any actual classes but spends a hugely considerable amount of time with the members of the group outside of class hours.
Is it ethical that he uses his position to scout between those members for a company in which he is either a founder or a senior-level position (currently cannot recall which). He does not offer them jobs but instead constantly pushes and offers them to become "interns" with no pay, bad hours, and extremely heavy workload.
I'm not very well versed in business ethics but this sounds very wrong to me, and something of a conflict of interest.
Would the university have grounds to officially respond to this such as sanctioning him? I know that this professor was previously warned to stop doing so but nothing official/major was ever done despite him continuing to do so behind the administration's back.
# Answer
> 6 votes
As you remark, it is probably not okay, although it is always a fine line to draw: it's ethical (and highly encouraged) for a professor to help students procure good jobs and/or rewarding experiences outside the university (where “rewarding” covers not only monetary gains, but also experience learnt, etc.). He can do that through his network, and first and foremost in that network is the company he knows best. However, it is not ethical for him to abuse his position at the university and the student–professor interactions to the good of his own company.
Now, how active are universities in taking action against such behavior? It probably depends on the field, the country, the local situation and power of the professor, but in most cases I would say they will be willing to close their eyes, and it would really take a lot of evidence and someöne pushing them very strongly before they take disciplinary measures.
If you want to do something about it, discuss it very openly, and very calmly, with the director of your program, the students' representatives, the dean or departmental chair, etc. And document everything in detail.
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Tags: professorship, teaching, university, ethics, conflict-of-interest
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thread-9565 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9565 | Is PhD funding updatable? | 2013-04-23T00:28:25.907 | # Question
Title: Is PhD funding updatable?
As many universities provide funding covering only part of the tuition fee or living expenses, especially in the UK where tuition fees are different for UK/EU and international students while most scholarships only cover the first one, i.e. international students have to pay the difference. My question is whether it is possible for PhD funding to be updated/upgraded (to cover more expenses) if a student performs well, e.g. produce high quality publication, while doing his PhD.
# Answer
Is it possible? YES.
Will it be likely? NO.
The funding model depends entirely on the institution who is funding you. It is ultimately up to them as to how you will be compensated for your time and effort.
If you are concerned about sustaining yourself through your study there are other avenues which candidates pursue such as lecturing/tutoring, marking and being a research assistant. Additionally there may be other scholarships available to you from the university or from external institutions.
> 3 votes
# Answer
I cannot speak for the UK/EU but in the US, your funding is not generally "updateable". It always increases by a non significant inflationary rate amount every year.
The only way in which funding is generally updated is if you acquire for yourself some other funding sources which replace your base funding because they have a higher stipend level eg. NSF graduate fellowship, MSR fellowship, Facebook fellowship etc.
The other way in which my funding has been supplemented at least in my case is my ex-adviser used to give me some more funds as research expenses out of his discretionary funding (or other grant funding, I am not sure) because I was involved in extra projects (not directly related to my own but I was brought in as an analyst) on his request.
I do not think that publishing in great journals/conferences will bring in more funding for you (*in general*)
> 7 votes
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Tags: phd, funding
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thread-9571 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9571 | Is it ok to send an email informing about your new paper? | 2013-04-23T09:02:16.877 | # Question
Title: Is it ok to send an email informing about your new paper?
Several times in the past, after publishing a paper, I have sent email to several people which I thought might be interested in the results obtained in the paper. Usually I have emailed some of the people whose result I was citing in my paper and to people who were working on related problems.
I such a practice ok, or do people consider emails like this too intrusive?
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When I did this in the past, some of the people answered to me with a brief email (along the lines of "thanks for letting me know"). In a one or two cases the answer indicated that this person is interested in similar emails in the future, if I have some updates on that particular topic. And in one case I was even asked about possibility of collaboration on some problems.
So from these answers it seems that it was ok. But if there were some people who did not like receiving such emails, they probably did not bother to answer.
# Answer
> 22 votes
I think there are two important factors to keep in mind when writing *unsolicited email*, which could be taken as spam by the person who receives it:
1. Whether **you believe, in good faith, that the receiver will find the information useful**. That test is not as easy as it may seem, because what seems obvious to you (*“this guy in field Y will be happy that we're developing somewhat related concepts in field X that may generate a new vision of his field”*) may not be to him (*“why is this X specialist writing to me to promote his recent work I don't care about?”*). Messages need to be tailored, so that people can immediately see how your paper can be of interest to them.
2. The **frequency** of such messages: if you write 5 papers a year on a given topic, and send a nice informative email each time, that is a lot of mail! Consider doing this only once in a while, maybe for high-profile articles or reviews.
Now, regarding whether it's accepted practice (and common practice): I receive a dozen such emails of this nature per year, from colleagues in my field, and every time I am actually interested in their paper. I have not yet received spam of that sort, i.e. notification of new papers I couldn't care less about (I receive lots of spam job applications, on the other hand).
I also do it myself, once or twice a year: sit back, think about my recent papers, and ask myself “what colleagues do I have that may be interested in this and that?”. Usually, I then write a few different emails, depending on the specific interests of the colleagues in question, so that the email is personalized. I also use that occasion to ask questions to them , if I have any of relevance, asking their opinion on recent developments (by them, me or other groups) in our field.
# Answer
> 20 votes
Yes, I think this is absolutely acceptable, and indeed if you are at the beginning of your career, highly encouraged. When I was a graduate student I was shocked when my advisor asked me to e-mail my paper to most of the famous people working in the field. I was even more surprised when several of them wrote back with very substantive replies.
To make sure you're not being intrusive (which I recommend if the recipient is famous, and/or you don't know him/her personally), word your e-mail in such a way that suggests that you would welcome, but don't expect, a reply. i.e., "If you have any comments I would be grateful to hear them."
# Answer
> 9 votes
As is indicated by other answers, the practise is acceptable in general but there is a fine line when it becomes intrusive.
In addition to what has been stated already, I would add that if your paper is published in a journal that is well known to anyone in the field, the paper is less likely to come as a (pleasant) surprise. If it is published somewhere where it is less likely that many would normally find it, then the information is more likely positive.
Another factor is how you write your mail. If you send the paper to persons who do similar research you could point out the common interest from your side and use that as an "excuse" to provide a copy of your paper. It is easier to accept getting stuff if the there ios a clear reason or coupling explicitly stated in the mail.
The worst that can happen is otherwise that someone tells you not to send more material, I doubt anyone would get annoyed to the point where it may affect you negatively (unless you persists despite wishes to the contrary). Despite internet access, RSS feeds etc, I still find that I miss good papers, particularly from journals more peripheral to my subject.
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Tags: publications, etiquette, email
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thread-9554 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9554 | Job Websites for University Teachers | 2013-04-22T11:49:57.023 | # Question
Title: Job Websites for University Teachers
What are the main websites teachers look to when searching a new university teaching job? If it varies by discipline, I'm talking about finance in particular but business in general would also be appropriate.
As far as location, I'm looking for teachers from the US or from the UK (but anyone with decent English skills would be considered) to come to beautiful Asia.
I saw this post but it seems focused on research jobs (PhD positions, postdocs, etc.). I'm really looking for teachers to teach financial subjects.
# Answer
The first part of your question suggests that you want to find resources on how to find jobs in Asia. That's easy. Googling "Academic Positions Asia" found me this website (www.unijiobs.asia), (on the first hit) which claims to be "Asia's University Jobs Portal."
This seems to be what you are looking for. The site seems to have a fairly comprehensive set of search tools, with the ability to do keyword searching or to search by position type, by discipline, or by location.
The end of your question suggests that you really want to find people to fill positions that you have. Listing on sites like I just found and like what you found will help, but in general, you need to advertise. The best advertising is to be had in the publications or on the website(s) of the professional organization(s) relevant to your discipline.
> 1 votes
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Tags: job-search, recruiting
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thread-9579 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9579 | Advantages of delaying/accelerating PhD application | 2013-04-23T14:51:15.670 | # Question
Title: Advantages of delaying/accelerating PhD application
I'm an Australian maths undergraduate student, and our academic year ends at the beginning of December. I understand that PhDs in the USA (and elsewhere?) generally start before this time, about September. So, if I want to pursue a PhD overseas, I have a long time to kill in between my undergrad and postgrad degrees.
Consequently I've been investigating the possibility of cramming the remainder of my undergraduate degree into one fewer semester, so that I can graduate at the beginning of July (2014), just in time to start a PhD overseas.
However, this would mean I would have to send out applications in December this year, before I have actually finished my degree. I am particularly concerned because in Australia the last year of an undergraduate maths degree is an "honours" year, which comprises the main research component and the most serious coursework.
Does anyone have advice or experience?
> Would I be substantially more competitive for a top university if I delayed for a year and had an honours thesis and good results from many advanced classes under my belt, compared to applying early and having only a promise of an honours thesis? Or, would it be a minor issue with good letters of recommendation?
# Answer
The academic year does start around September in the USA and I think most European countries. At least in Europe, this doesn't necessarily mean that you would have to start your PhD in September. For example, I did my PhD in the UK and started in June.
Note that your 'competitors' won't have finished their degree yet either when they are applying. They will be slightly further along, having already started their final year, but not significantly so, I think.
Is cramming the rest of your undergraduate degree into one semester less at all a realistic option?
I do think you are likely to get stronger letters of recommendation once you are in your final year, because you will have been doing more advanced work and will probably have closer contacts with faculty.
I don't think that having some time between your honours year and your PhD is necessarily a bad idea. My husband started his PhD only two weeks after finishing his MSc, and he really could have done with more of a break. I had almost a year between my MSc and PhD, but I spent six months of that doing research.
One of my friends from Australia managed to get part-time teaching work at his undergraduate university until he went to the UK for his PhD. Or if money isn't too much of an issue, you could take the opportunity to go travelling.
EDIT: I'd just like to add, along the lines of Dave Clarke's comment, that you should bear in mind that your honours year will likely be a lot more challenging than previous years, and so 'accelerating' this year might turn out to be a bad idea. I certainly worked harder in my fourth year of university (honours in New Zealand, so quite a similar system to Australia) than I have in any year since.
> 7 votes
# Answer
I would not accelerate things, to avoid getting worse grades that you want.
If you find that you have a half year of free time, fill this usefully either by working (earn some cash, gain some experience), travelling (spend some cash, gain some experience) or by doing research (perhaps a professor will even pay you to do something useful for 6 months, or maybe you can get a 6 month RA position).
Getting good scores will obviously help you. Working or travelling ... well, you'll thank yourself later. And research experience will help your application (and CV).
> 2 votes
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Tags: graduate-admissions, mathematics, international
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thread-9586 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9586 | Are there inexpensive tools to monitor student iPad’s? | 2013-04-23T17:46:42.403 | # Question
Title: Are there inexpensive tools to monitor student iPad’s?
I am a teaching assistant for a class in which students use tablet computers to advance their projects. Yet, sometimes, we need their attention and it can be difficult for them to focus on what I tell them with such distracting tools in hand.
I am looking for a way to monitor student iPads from a teacher's iPad or computer (restrict web browsing, being able to blank the screen and etc.). Any ideas that are relatively cheap? I know similar software exists for computers.
# Answer
> 14 votes
To some extent, I think **you may be asking the wrong question**. The students you are talking about grown up adults, fully capable of making choices and understanding the consequences. I wonder if your *actual* question is something like:
> What are effective ways to deal with misuse of mobile devices in class?
You'll notice there are quite a few answers on this question, which may solve you real practical problem, yet none of them involve monitoring the students’ devices or anything else. I suggest that you address your problem directly:
* tell the students your expectations,
* set up rules that will govern the use of electronic devices,
* enforce the rules when you are aware of a violation.
Frankly, **the fact that a student would be using an iPad for purposes other than you had planned, if it doesn't prevent him or the others from learning, is not a bad thing**. You can't think of everything, and surely some of the students will come up with creative yet constructive ways to use the device.
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Tags: technology
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thread-9581 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9581 | How to cope with gap after PhD? | 2013-04-23T15:18:12.223 | # Question
Title: How to cope with gap after PhD?
I submitted my PhD recently and am waiting for the oral examination. Though I have started looking for postdoc positions, the possibility of being without a job, even if for a small period after the viva, is quite frightening. How can I cope with it?
# Answer
> 7 votes
One possibility to check about—which I took advantage of at the end of my own graduate career—is that of being hired short-term as a teaching assistant. The good news is that you would have extra time to find a new position. The challenge is that you would be making a commitment to teaching for an additional semester. It would have significant ramifications if you were to skip out on this duty if you obtained a job offer to start immediately at a company, or a postdoc offer at another university.
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Tags: phd, thesis, postdocs
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thread-9589 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9589 | Maintain scientific output after having a baby | 2013-04-23T18:46:01.013 | # Question
Title: Maintain scientific output after having a baby
I could have written this question in some other stack places, but prefer to do here because the affinity with the audience. I am the head of a research group, 38 years old, engaged in a lot of things and working on average 12 hours per day on research and all related stuff. My son (first one) was born last week and we really enjoy it. My only concern is: how will I be able to cope with my workload and scientific output after my paternity leave (in two weeks)? I really never thought about this and wonder whether other academics could give advice.
# Answer
> 25 votes
Can you *produce* as much, or even more, with less time available? Yes.
Is it easy? No.
What generic advice can be given? Little, especially in such short space. Numerous entire books have been written on the topic of time management. Read the advice of others, decide whether it can apply to you, try it out.
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Now, the above isn't very helpful. Not in the short term, at least. Below are a few tips from my own experience, maybe you will find them helpful:
* First, **decide what your priorities are**, what you are willing to compromise, what you aren't. When I read *“engaged in a lot of things”*, it sounds like a warning to me. Honestly, the first two years of a baby's life are hard on the parents. Social life is hard to maintain, work output too, etc. Decide which you want to keep most, and focus there. **Don't set your expectations too high across the board.**
* Second, learn to say *no*. People at your department probably ask you to participate in all sorts of research-related work (committees, etc.). If you have been playing ball ’til then, probably they can understand if you say *“I'm sorry, right now is not a time I can take some extra work, I need to focus on my family”*. Don't use that as an excuse to get out of every commitment, or avoid anything that is thrown your way, but strategically get a bit more time that way. **Most people are quite understanding of the hardship of having a newborn baby**. (Or my colleagues and bosses are extraordinary people; knowing them, it's also quite possible!)
* **Delegate stuff**. You lead a team, so you have some responsibility in sharing the load. You can try to offload yourself a bit, by getting others to step in.
* **Work whenever you can (read: when the baby sleeps). Adjust your work style.** I'll give only one example: when the baby gets to cry real bad in evenings or at night, I noticed I could get her to sleep if I had her in a sling against my chest and rocked from one foot to the other:
(the sling was as in the picture, except I needed to be standing and rocking). Well, I put my laptop on top of a high table (bar table), and quickly adapted to type and rock the baby. That way, I had time to work at night, while her mother could rest. I wrote quite a few grant proposals and articles that way.
# Answer
> 16 votes
I was close to vote to close for this question, however, in view of the upvotes, I'll give my two cents.
I think you are asking yourself the wrong question. You should not ask "How will I be able to keep up with my workload and scientific output?" but rather
> What I am willing to do for my work and for my family? How do I and the rest of my family should arrange our life including work hours, family time and all the rest?
You may come to the conclusion that a reduced scientific output may be a "good price to pay" for a richer family life. On the other hand, if you are pre-tenure for example, you may also reach the conclusion that a year or two of "not so rich family life" and more hours at work are worth it.
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Tags: productivity, working-time
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thread-9605 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9605 | Is it necessary to show what improvements you have made to similar work in literature reviews section? | 2013-04-24T10:37:09.387 | # Question
Title: Is it necessary to show what improvements you have made to similar work in literature reviews section?
I have seen quite a few research publications where the literature review section doesn't compare past work to the author's work. It's like:
> \[1\] did this using X technique. \[5\] used Y technology. (etc.)
This type of literature reviews are easier to write as I don't have to read similar works in extreme detail to create a list of things that we are doing and they are not. I can understand their technique by reading their abstract but it won't matter too much as long as I am using a completely different technology.
I have also seen some good publications which compare each and every work in literature review section to their own work and say "They did not do this", "Their work couldn't do that". While, of course, this looks a lot better but it's a lot harder to write.
Let's say I using queuing theory for a similar work which has been done using some other technique. I can easily state that they used this technique in their work instead of trying to find drawbacks in their work.
So which approach is better when writing the literature review section?
# Answer
> 17 votes
**Contrasting your work with earlier work** on the same topic (same or related questions) **is a crucial part of a scientific publication**. You have to explain to the reader what makes your approach better (or worse) depending on the exact problem to solve.
Now, whether you should do this in the section devoted to review of the existing literature is debatable. There are no strict rules, so as long as you do it somewhere and the paper is clearly readable, just do what seems best to you. If you have trouble writing, I would suggest you separate the content into a simpler form:
* State of the art: review of the existing literature. What problems are solved, what are remaining questions, where can we make progress. This is the motivation of your work.
* Your methodology
* Your results
* Discussion of how these results compare to earlier work: you're doing better than A and B on large matrices, but the approach means that you will be slower than C on sparse matrices, that sort of stuff.
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Tags: research-process, publications
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thread-1261 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/1261 | Simplest way to jointly write a manuscript? | 2012-04-24T08:20:45.037 | # Question
Title: Simplest way to jointly write a manuscript?
As with many papers in the sciences, there are multiple authors who aren't physically close to each other. I was curious about the most efficient and simplest way to technically share the writing. On the more complicated side would be LaTeX and subsequently using subversion to merge all of the changes. Then there is google docs. Finally, there is the traditional write out edits on word and email the document with comments back and forth.
What works?
# Answer
> 40 votes
If your collaborator is not technically inclined, then there are a few possibilities:
* Google Docs
It is very simple, robust and real-time (no need of thinking 'which version is the most recent'). I created a lot of documents with it (though only 1 scientific article). A good idea is to use different colours so that it is clear who wrote what. One drawback is that it may be not as simple for equations and than you will need to copy things from there to LateX manually.
* Annotating PDF files with Adobe Reader or sth equivalent
Also simple and robust. However, as it is not real-time you need to keep track of which version is current and it is not possible to make changes in the same time. Here you are the only person responsible for changes in LaTeX file.
* Annotating or changing with OpenOffice, MS Word or another office package...
Another variant which allows you collaborator to make direct changes, at cost of some robustness.
As a practical remark for the two last: always keep track of the version, e.g. `draft_20120424_prof.pdf`, where you add both date of the last edit (not `final5`!) and name of the last editor. When exchanging things by e-mail it is easy to loose track which version is the most recent and in fact lost changes (often not knowing about that.)
Other possibilities, requiring some technical knowledge:
* writeLaTeX or sth similar (ShareLaTeX, ScribTeX, LaTeX Lab \- the one using GoogleDocs, ...)
Tools for editing documents collaboratively (in real-time) and compile it within one's browser (so no need to install anything). Though some knowledge of LaTeX is required (at least to know how not to spoil a file).
ScribTeX(the only one I used) gives version control and you can see which lines were changed (as in version control system), so not need of guessing what might have been changed.
EDIT: ScribTeX is being replaced by ShareLaTeX.
writeLaTeX has live preview and may be the most suitable for beginners.
* Git or another version-control system, e.g. at GitHub
However, it may require technical skills beyond edition of LaTeX. While it is not hard to use it, I never did I am using it for writing papers and I would never try to use it with someone with low computer literacy.
When it comes to Dropbox \- it is a good stuff for sharing files for a project but NOT for making changes in files. First, you never know *when* the changes happen. Second, you don't know *where* the changes happen.
There is also an article on it: Research tips - Online collaborative writing.
See also a few questions:
# Answer
> 20 votes
If you're working with Word documents, Word 2007 included a *very* nifty merge changes feature. This online help document from microsoft.com details how it works, but doesn't really do the feature justice. See the following screenshot for an idea:
Briefly, you can click on "compare" (in ribbon, third from right), and it lets you choose two source documents. From there, it opens the very nice interface shown above, with the two source docs on the right, the merged doc in the middle, and the changes on the left (or bottom, you can hide it if you don't wan t it). You use it like any other "track changes"; just go through, change by change, using the "previous", "next", "accept", and "reject" buttons om the Changes section of the ribbon. When you're done just save the combined document, and you've got your merged doc.
I've used this a number of times, and it's a very useful feature. By far the best aspect of this is that it can be used with the technically incompetent. Just tell them, "take the document, make changes, I'll deal with it"; I've used this with my technologically challenged boss a number of times, and it's been a lifesaver. Given your situation, this may be your best bet.
# Answer
> 14 votes
It also depends on what should be the final format of your document. For instance, I write all my articles in Latex, and when collaborating with other researchers, I use BitBucket: I create a Latex repository, and give access rights to the other authors. One good aspect of BitBucket is that they have a special plan for academics, where you can get an unlimited number of collaborators for free. In order to avoid conflicts as much as possible, we usually decompose the main document in one file for each section, and we try to avoid working on the same section at the same time, but even if it happens, then it's usually possible to easily merge the different edits. One nice feature is the possibility to automatically receive notifications when one author commit her changes. Also, since anybody can create a BitBucket account, there isn't the problem of creating an account to an external collaborator on an internal server.
Of course, BitBucket is not the only possibility, and one could also use Git, or even Dropbox, although for the latter, I don't really like the lack of native versioning system.
On the other hand, if I don't work directly on a paper, but for instance on a draft for a project proposal, then I use Google Docs, because it's quite simple to do some collaborative editing.
# Answer
> 5 votes
We do token passing and some kind of method to exchange the files. I think this method was covered in the comments but let me elaborate it here. I'll use Word as an example, since chances are if you're doing manual token passing, it's because you haven't been able to convince anyone in your team to switch to LaTeX, and people who don't want to switch to LaTeX are probably the type who don't want to deal with version control.
The "shared folder" is the mechanism you use for sharing files. It could be a Dropbox folder, email, WebDAV, a remote directory on an SSH-accessible server, etc.
1. **Locking**: Person who starts with the file renames it so that their name is on the end. They send an email to the group saying, "I am locking Section 1." List the locks in the email.
2. **Unlocking**: This is a multi-step process.
a. If no one else **unlocked** a section before you unlocked, then you can rename the file to the current date and time, then put it in the shared folder.
b. If another collaborator **unlocked** a section before you unlocked, then you must take the latest version off of the shared folder, copy the section you were working on, and paste it into the latest version you just downloaded. Rename the just-edited file to the current date and time, then put it in the shared folder.
The reason you do it this way and not the other way (copying and pasting everyone else's sections into your document) is because doing so means you have to keep track of what everyone else did, whereas this way you only need to keep track of what you did.
That's basically it. The biggest problem is when someone's not paying attention and doesn't merge properly, or when two people try to lock something at the same time (since Email has a delay) but usually you'll have to have someone who knows the process keep an eye out for it.
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Tags: publications, collaboration, writing, authorship
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