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thread-10228 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10228 | Etiquette of publishing (continued) research after graduation with an MS degree? | 2013-05-25T15:09:28.790 | # Question
Title: Etiquette of publishing (continued) research after graduation with an MS degree?
## Situation
I am soon (maybe...) going to graduate with a thesis-based MS in a technical field. The past year and a half has been incredibly frustrating from a research perspective, as my advisor has insisted on telling me exactly what and how to research, essentially prohibiting me from exploring any of my ideas which are not approved by him.
I believe this is because I unfortunately chose a research area for my MS directly related to his PhD work from some time ago.
I have, for purposes of finishing my degree program, simply acquiesced to his requests in the hopes of finishing as this degree has dragged on for far longer than I want and my current goal is to simply be finished with school officially.
I am currently working full-time (after working in research on campus for ~2.5 years) and have no intent to pursue a PhD in the near future and if so, absolutely not with my current advisor.
## Question
I do have personal interest in my research and can see myself exploring my own interests post-graduation, which could result in publishable material. I have no interest in giving my current advisor credit for any of this, should it happen. I also understand he likely would be pretty upset should I actually publish related to my MS work without his involvement.
Are there standard etiquette, unspoken rules, or things to be aware of, within either the academic world or research world which address this situation?
*I am posting this anonymously but will be able to clarify*
# Answer
> 7 votes
The big issue here is the following: will you need to have your master's thesis advisor write you a letter of recommendation in the near future? If so, then it will be potentially a big problem to publish material from your thesis without his involvement. This will provoke a response, which could be damaging to, for instance, job applications or graduate school admissions. So tread carefully before trying to publish the MS work.
*However,* since your advisor has proscribed work in other directions as part of your thesis, you could certainly explore those on your own. In such a case—since it isn't an outgrowth of your thesis work, but essentially a "parallel" work, you wouldn't need to share co-author credit with him. This is especially true if you write the paper and direct the research yourself; in such cases, he has no real claim to being on the paper.
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Tags: publications, masters, etiquette
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thread-10227 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10227 | What does "First Class or 2.1 Honours degree" mean? | 2013-05-25T14:39:18.640 | # Question
Title: What does "First Class or 2.1 Honours degree" mean?
A PhD position for which I am planning to apply notes:
> Applicants should have (or expect to achieve) a minimum of a First Class or 2.1 Honours degree.
The position is in the UK, but I live in another EU country. What does "First Class or 2.1 Honours degree" mean, and how do I know if I satisfy that condition?
The grades at my university are given as fail, 3, 4 and 5.
# Answer
> 9 votes
The "definitions," such as they exist, of the different degrees, are available from Wikipedia.
Essentially, "first-class honours" and "2.1 (or 2:1) honours" are the top two categories of honors degrees in the UK system—sort of like the *summa cum laude* and *magna cum laude* in American universities. Although the requirements for awarding them appear to be fairly uniform between schools (with the possible exception of Oxford and Cambridge—see dbmag9's comment below), given that each university may have different standards for how they "translate" degrees from other countries, your best bet is to contact the university's international office (or equivalent), to determine if they will consider your degree to be comparable.
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Tags: degree, united-kingdom
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thread-10229 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10229 | Can I have both my supervisors write reference letters? | 2013-05-25T15:22:09.163 | # Question
Title: Can I have both my supervisors write reference letters?
It seems like most PhD applications require at least two reference letter. One of my Master's thesis supervisors (a PhD) has written me a reference letter. Can I ask my other supervisor (a PhD student) to write me the second one, or would that be redundant?
The other alternative letter writers are all professors who have only seen me in class and can't really comment on my research potential.
# Answer
I've sat on my department's graduate studies committee during application season, and so I can provide at least one point of anecdata for how PhD application recommendation letters are used, at least in my tiny corner of the academy. YMMV.
First, These letters are among the last things that are looked at. We don't have rigorous thresholds for grades, GRE scores, subject GRE scores, publications, etc. But all of those things are used to "objectively" sort the pool. First the obvious admits are skimmed off the top, and fellowship offers are made to some of them. This is the first place where letters are important, since quotes are mined from those letters to try and win funding for these students from the University (i.e., we entice the student with a prestigious award, and the department doesn't even have to pay for her!) The money quote is usually a ranking and/or direct comparison -- *"In my twenty years at Giant State University, I've seen no more than 5 students of X's caliber. I would say her talents remind me of Y's at that age, who is now a professor at Prestigious U"* -- and this is why even a mediocre teaching letter is more useful for this purpose than a nice letter from a PhD student (who can not be counted on to have a reasonable intuition for another's future potential).
Second, we work our way down to the marginal cases; this is much more difficult since the marginal cases require a more holistic take on the application package. No one gets immediately thrown out just for bad grades or a bad subject GRE score, but we expect some explanation of a mitigating circumstance (not an excuse!) in the personal statement, and hopefully reflected in the letters as well. For example, if you were dinged in the first pass for a low GPA, we would like to see that it was a bad first year (and not a bad fifth...); that you are on an upswing. If you think you might be a marginal case for whatever reason, the letter from the PhD student might be helpful -- perhaps you don't have any publications, but the PhD student can vouch for your work and verify that you have something in preparation, or explain why your project failed (projects often fail!) but that nonetheless you mastered some state-of-the-art technique on the way.
*On the other hand* it is a big waving red flag if those things are then *not* pointed out by your actual boss (the PhD holding supervisor). If you think the student will write a *better* letter, then you're probably best off having that student lobby on your behalf with the professor, to make sure the *professor's* letter is strong, and then get a second letter from someone else.
I would strongly recommend you do not ask for a letter from a non-academic unless it was an actual research position (and even then, these can be iffy if the supervisor has no letter-writing experience). On occasion we see glowing letters from a student's supervisor at their summer construction job, or a call center for a political campaign. Well-rounded students are great, but such letters are almost useless.
> 4 votes
# Answer
The main point of the letters of recommendation are to comment on your abilities, and to place them in the context of other people the recommender has known and worked with. The better they can comment, and the larger the number of people the recommender has worked with and therefore can compare you to, the better the recommendation will likely be.
For this reason, it is not nearly as helpful to get a letter from a PhD student as from someone who is more experienced and has likely worked with more master's students. On the other hand, if the option is to get a letter who can *only* comment on your class work, I would opt for including the PhD student's recommendation letter.
However, if you have had a non-academic person (perhaps an internship supervisor or similar) in a related discipline who could comment on your work, this might be a suitable alternative. (See wsc's answer below.)
> 3 votes
# Answer
As it was mentioned before, you can obtain reference letters from your supervisors, in case that you have done some internship job for obtaining your master´s. Also you can talk directly with one of your past professors, and explain them about your research interests (try to check first which professors have the same research interests). Then you can ask, in a nice way, if they can give you a hand with a recommendation letter. Most of the time they will agree to help you with that.
> 2 votes
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Tags: phd, application
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thread-10235 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10235 | Identifying students' purposes and institutions' purposes | 2013-05-25T19:01:45.847 | # Question
Title: Identifying students' purposes and institutions' purposes
I don't necessarily consider it a hardship to teach calculus or the like to students whose preparation in prerequisites is weak, but but I am offended by the practice of making it a personal policy to treat learning the material ONLY as a price paid to get a grade to put on one's resume, rather than as the thing they're there for.
* I'm wondering how to identify instances of such behavior quickly when they occur.
* How can one identify institutions that tolerate or encourage my position as outlined in my first paragraph above, and those that are hostile toward it? I think the latter---where that hostility may exist---often include respectable institutions in which lots of students want to get degrees in law or business or the like.
# Answer
> 7 votes
I understand that you are offended by students who do not take your subject as seriously as you do but that is just the way some students are.
There are students who are really interested and there are those who are not. In the case of calculus, if a student is required to take it for their non-math major then you will certainly have students who just want the grade. One way around this is to only teach elective classes but that will not work for everyone (I'm not sure it would work for any teacher).
Still, your questions are clear. How do you find the students who don't really care? I find that they usually bubble to the surface quite quickly. I tend to be quite interactive with my students, asking lots of questions. I also give them additional 'required' reading. Even the required reading doesn't get read by the students who just want to pass and be done with it. So, those students who actually read the material and can answer it meaningfully in class are the students you are looking for.
Now, as for identifying institutions I will say that I have read a lot and talked to a lot of teachers and one thing EVERY serious teacher wants is to teach a class of highly motivated students who care deeply for their studies. This is simply unrealistic and I have never heard of a teacher who actually achieves that.
I think the better question to ask is: **How can I motivate a deep love of my subject in my students?** By stimulating their desires, you will naturally end up with what you want. However, this is not easy and it takes a lot of time and effort. However, you seem like a serious teacher, so perhaps you can make the investment. Certainly the results, if you succeed, would likely be very rewarding for you.
My perspective is that a great teacher has no bad students. By this, I mean that a great teacher is able to motivate their students to *want* to learn the material. By this measure I am not a great teacher, but I keep trying.
# Answer
> 5 votes
I don't think there's an easy eay to identify this behavior without students directly approaching you and making it clear through questions like the ever-popular: "Will this be on the exam?" and grade-grubbing for every possible point. Without obvious signals, it's not really clear who's in it for a grade and who's there to learn—and it would be imprudent to try to prognosticate. The results may surprise you!
As far as an institutional perspective, I again don't know if there's a way to really lay things at the feet of the institution for "encouraging" such behavior. It can vary a lot from department to department, and even faculty member to faculty member. However, one issue can be to see how seriously the department you're interested in takes teaching duties. Is it something people are doing their best to get out of, or are they trying to do the best job they can with it? Does the department encourage "out-of-the-box" thinking in how to teach classes, or is it just something to get over and done with each semester?
But a lot of it also relies on your attitude. If you make it clear to the students that you're serious about them *learning*, rather than just *regurgitating* for the purpose of an exam, the students who stick with you will probably be more motivated than if they don't think you are invested in their learning.
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Tags: teaching, university, motivation
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thread-10239 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10239 | Do media interviews enhance or potentially spoil academic reputations | 2013-05-26T10:14:20.297 | # Question
Title: Do media interviews enhance or potentially spoil academic reputations
During my research, asides from getting papers published, I have been interviewed for the radio and newspapers. My question is, are too many media 'appearances' a potential hindrance to someone early in their academic career? Or is it also a case of 'all publicity is good'?
My main concern is being misquoted, which thankfully has not happened, though they exaggerated one (minor) point a tad.
# Answer
> 9 votes
The simple answer is that it depends on in what context the appearance occurs.
If you become visible as an expert in your field your appearances will build your reputation among the public as an expert. As such you will gain a positive (trustworthy) reputation which I am sure will be seen as positive in many respects. The university will gain credit by having employees appear as experts In my country all faculty also are mandated to convey science to the general public and appearances in media is one way to do this. So my guess is that the department and the university as well s your own discipline will see this as beneficial.
Obviously, if you appear with politically incorrect views it will all be negative. Another problem that I am sure will appear is jealousy from colleagues who do not appear in media. In the end your success depends on how you get portrayed in the media. My university runs media training to ensure that faculty represent the university in an appropriate way.
In the end positive media visibility is not likely to strongly affect your research career in terms increased funding, the systems should not really be influenced by it but we all al human. Media visibility will mainly affect the way you, your discipline, the university etc. is perceived by the public. It may, for example, influence the way politicians distribute research funding.
So, media interviews can potentially both enhance or spoil a career depending on the context in which you appear. I believe it is important to know how media works and universities often have programs (and sometimes also rules) to help in such contacts. Depending on the type of question to which you are requested to respond you need to be able to assess how answers will be used or perceived. If the interviews are on non-controversial topics, it is probably not problematic but if you are approached on a burning issue, be aware and be savy
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Tags: career-path, interview
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thread-10237 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10237 | academic affiliation for a congress | 2013-05-25T21:47:39.877 | # Question
Title: academic affiliation for a congress
I have recently appointed to be a reviewer for a congress in my specialization field. The problem that I got is which affiliation should I put? Actually I am working as a lecturer in two universities, part time, but also I am making my first year of Doctoral studies in a third one. I was thinking to put the last one, should that be correct? or should I talk with my supervisor first?
# Answer
If you only adjunct at the other two institutions (my assumption based on saying you do it part time), I would list your affiliation with your doctoral program. Of course your CV should include these adjunct roles as well, they just aren't your main affiliation.
If you have developed a more intimate relationship with either the two institutions you teach part time at (like say you've been an adjunct for many years) you might consider listing them as an affiliation. Those part time adjunct gigs though don't typically support research activities that would result in outside roles such as a reviewer (for anything) or even being considered a specialist in the field.
> 6 votes
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Tags: affiliation
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thread-10242 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10242 | Postgraduate certification/diploma in software engineering | 2013-05-27T00:21:04.360 | # Question
Title: Postgraduate certification/diploma in software engineering
I have just done my Bachelor in computer science and got an offer to a software engineering position. Some people told me that a master degree is very beneficial for my long-term career development. Unfortunately I do not think I can get into any good master program because of my terrible undergrad gpa + no academic references. A postgraduate certificate program requires nothing.
My question is, what is your point of view on postgraduate certificate in software engineering? Is it just a joke comparing to master degrees? What about starting salary?
# Answer
Short term wise, the postgraduate certificate will help you to find a better job with a higher salary because the certificate shows that you have some skill printed on the certificate. However, whatever the technology you learn while getting the certificate could become obsolete in a few years.
Long term wise, the master degree proves that you know more fundamentals than just a bachelor. It may not help you that much when looking for a job with better salary. Some employers would think you don't have the skills they want immediately. However, you'll learn those needed skills faster and better because you know more fundamentals.
If you want to find a job as of now, you want to have certificates. If you want to be an excellent software engineer in the future, you should get a master degree
> 2 votes
# Answer
I agree with @scaaahu that having a Masters shows that you have a strong understanding of important concepts. As you probably know there are commonalities between programming languages such as input/output, conditionals, loops, etc. the difference lies in how they are each implemented. However, by knowing one language(i.e. Java) you could learn another(i.e. C#) efficiently and in a shorter time.
It is also true that some employers might think you're overqualified since you have a Masters but others will recognize the added value your advanced knowledge could bring their company and the compensation may even reflect that.
> 0 votes
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Tags: graduate-school, masters, education, certification
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thread-10009 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10009 | What is the effect of a journal going open-access on its impact factor? | 2013-05-15T20:42:12.763 | # Question
Title: What is the effect of a journal going open-access on its impact factor?
I recently saw this reasonably interesting graphic regarding journals and open access.
As many of you know, there is a large discussion about open access. It appears to be most strong within biological sciences, though that may be more of a side-effect of their style of publishing. An interesting "timeline of open access" unfortunately stops at 2008. Obviously the graphic, while interesting, is a single data point.
What is the evidence regarding the effect of going open-access and a journal's impact factor? I am especially interested in utilizing resources that have undergone some kind of peer review and scrutiny.
# Answer
A few years ago there appeared a nice article in Science:
Open Access and Global Participation in Science
The authors convincingly show that going Open Access widens the readership of journals and improves citation counts.
There are some interesting references in that article too.
> 12 votes
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Tags: journals, publishers, open-access, impact-factor
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thread-10261 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10261 | How to know if these congresses (i.e. organized by ISCA) are good? | 2013-05-27T14:00:51.473 | # Question
Title: How to know if these congresses (i.e. organized by ISCA) are good?
One of my colleages has published a couple of papers in the CS congresses organized by: http://www.isca-hq.org/
For what I saw that the papers that got accepted in their conferences, are indexed in DBLP and INSPEC. Actually I would like to submit one paper in the conferences that they organized, but I am a little dubious about it. My main concern is to know if it would be a good idea to submit to that conference.
Could anybody give me his straight opinion about those congresses that they organized? do they seem good enough?
thanks
# Answer
Consulting the Australian Computer Science Conference Ranking reveals that one of their conferences, CATA, is ranked C. I did not check any others.
Indicators that the conferences are not good include:
* The conference is extremely broad. CATA covers topics including Algorithms, Programming Languages, and Multimedia.
* The conference is in an exotic location (e.g. Hawaii).
* People involved in the conference are not the leaders in their field.
* Conference is not well established.
* Conference does not appear in the Conference Ranking list, even though it has been around for a long time.
Note that conferences satisfying some or all of these criteria are not necessarily poorly ranked.
> 4 votes
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Tags: conference
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thread-10206 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10206 | Travelling for an academic seminar with a 36*48 inch poster board on a flight | 2013-05-24T13:09:45.863 | # Question
Title: Travelling for an academic seminar with a 36*48 inch poster board on a flight
I need to attend a competition\seminar with my teenage son. He needs to create a project for this competition on a 36"\*48" trifold poster board. Now the dimensions of this trifold poster board do not make it eligible for taking it as a carry on luggage and its not safe to send it in Checked in luggage for risk of damaging the project that he has done. What are the options for carrying this poster board as a carry on luggage ?
# Answer
> 10 votes
One common option is to print or create the poster on a large sheet of paper and carry it in a poster tube. After you arrive at your destination, buy a blank poster board, and paste your paper onto it.
# Answer
> 6 votes
Another option that goes beyond Nate's idea and that would work in an American city: take the poster as a PDF, find a local Kinko's and then print it out. Then apply Nate's solution.
# Answer
> 4 votes
I have shipped posters to my hotel before. UPS/FedEx/...will drop your poster at the lobby. It will be waiting for you when you get there...
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Tags: poster
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thread-10247 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10247 | Why are CS researchers reluctant to share code and what techniques can I use to encourage sharing? | 2013-05-27T06:29:11.613 | # Question
Title: Why are CS researchers reluctant to share code and what techniques can I use to encourage sharing?
While researching a topic area I have come across a number of papers that claim to improve on the state of the art and have been published at respected outlets (e.g. CVPR, ICIP). These papers are often written in a way that obscures some of the details and their methods can be lacking in detail. Upon contacting these authors for more information and asking if they would kindly make their source code available they stop replying or decline the offer.
**Why are computer science researchers reluctant to share their code?**
I would have expected that disseminating your source code would have positive effects for the author, e.g., greater recognition and visibility within the community and more citations. What am I missing?
**For the future, what are some better ways to approach fellow researchers that will result in greater success at getting a copy of their source code?**
# Answer
**Why researchers might be reluctant to share their code:** In my experience, there are two common reasons why some/many researchers do not share their code.
First, the code may give the researchers an important advantage for follow-on work. It may help them get a step ahead of other researchers and publish follow-on research faster. If the researchers have plans to do follow-on research, keeping their code secret gives them a competitive advantage and helps them avoid getting scooped by someone else. (This may be good, or it may be bad; I'm not taking a position on that.)
Second, a lot of research code is, well, research-quality. The researchers probably thought it was good enough to test the paper's hypotheses, but that's all. It may have many known problems; it may not have any documentation; it might be tricky to use; it might compile on only one platform; and so forth. All of these may make it hard for someone else to use. Or, it may take a bunch of work to explain how to someone else how to use the code. Also, the code might be a prototype, but not production-quality. It's not unusual to take shortcuts while coding: shortcuts that don't affect the research results and are fine in the context of a research paper, but that would be unacceptable for deployed production-quality code. Some people are perfectionists, and don't like the idea of sharing code with known weaknesses or where they took shortcuts; they don't want to be embarrassed when others see the code.
The second reason is probably the more important one; it is very common.
**How to approach researchers:** My suggestion is to re-focus your interactions with those researchers. What are your real goals? Your real goals are to understand their algorithms better. So, start from that perspective, and act accordingly. If there are some parts in the paper that are hard to follow or ambiguous, start by reading and re-reading their paper, to see if there are some details you might have missed. Think hard about how to fill in any missing gaps. Make a serious effort on your own, first.
If you are at a research level, and you've put in a serious effort to understand, and you still don't understand ... email the authors and ask them for clarification on the specific point(s) that you think are unclear. Don't bother authors unnecessarily -- but if you show interest in their work and have a good question, many authors are happy to respond. They're just grateful that someone is reading their papers and interested enough in their work to study their work carefully and ask insightful questions.
But do make sure you are asking good questions. Don't be lazy and ask the authors to clear up something that you could have figured out on your own with more thought. Authors can sense that, and will write you off as a pest, not a valued colleague.
**Very important:** Please understand that my answer explaining why researchers might not share their code is intended as a *descriptive* answer, not a *prescriptive* answer. I am emphatically not making any judgements about whether their reasons are good ones, or whether researchers are right (or wrong) to think this way. I'm not taking a position on whether researchers *should* share their code or not; I'm just describing how some researchers *do* behave. What they *ought* to do is an entirely different ball of wax.
The original poster asked for help understanding why many researchers do not share their code, and that's what I'm responding to. Arguments about whether these reasons are good ones are subjective and off-topic for this question; if you want to have that debate, post a separate question.
And please, I urge you to use some empathy here. Regardless of whether you think researchers are in right or wrong not to share their code in these circumstances, please understand that many researchers *do* have reasons that feel valid and appropriate to them. Try to understand their mindset before reflexively criticizing them. I'm not trying to say that their reasons are necessarily right and good for the field. I'm just saying that, if you want to persuade people to change their practices, it's important to first understand the motivations and structural forces that have influenced their current actions, before you launch into trying to browbeat them into acting differently.
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Appendix: I definitely second Jan Gorzny's recommendation to read the article in SIAM News that he cites. It is informative.
> 42 votes
# Answer
Stephen, I have just the same experience as you do, and my explanation is that the benefit/cost ratio is too low.
Packing a piece of software, so that it can be usable by another person, is difficult - often even more difficult than writing it in the first place. It requires, among others:
* writing documentation and installation instructions,
* making sure the code is runnable on a variety of computers and operating systems (I code on Ubuntu, but you may code on Windows, so I have to get a Windows virtual machine to make sure it works there too),
* answering maintenance questions of the form "why do I get this and that compilation error when I compile your program on the new version of Ubuntu" (go figure. Maybe the new version of Ubuntu dropped some library required by the code? who knows).
* taking care of 3rd-party dependencies (my code may work fine, but it depends on some 3rd-party jar file whose author decided to remove from the web).
Additionally, I should be available to answer questions and fix bugs, several years after I graduate, when I already work full-time in another place, and have small kids.
And all this, without getting any special payment or academic credit for all that effort.
One possible solution I recently thought of is, to create a new journal, **Journal of Reproducible Computer Science**, that will accept only publications whose experiments can be repeated easily. Here are some of my thoughts about such a journal:
Submitted papers must have a detailed **reproduction** section, with (at least) the following sub-sections: \- *pre-requisites* \- what systems, 3rd-party software, etc., are required to repeat the experiment; \- *instructions* \- detailed instructions on how to repeat the experiment. \- *licenses* \- either open-source or closed-source license, but must allow free usage for research purposes.
The review process requires each of 3 different reviewers, from different backgrounds, to go through this section, using different computers and operating systems.
After the review process, if the paper is accepted for publication, there will be another **pre-publication step**, which will last for a year. During this step, the paper will be available to all the readers, and they will have the option to repeat the experiment and also contact the author in case there are any problems. Only after this year, the paper will be finally published.
This journal will enable researchers to get credit for the difficult and important work of making their code usable to others.
EDIT: I now see that someone already thought about this! https://www.scienceexchange.com/reproducibility
"Science Exchange, PLOS ONE, figshare, and Mendeley have launched the Reproducibility Initiative to address this problem. It’s time to start rewarding the people who take the extra time to do the most careful and reproducible work. Current academic incentives place an emphasis on novelty, which comes at the expense of rigor. Studies submitted to the Initiative join a pool of research, which will be selectively replicated as funding becomes available. The Initiative operates on an opt-in basis because we believe that the scientific consensus on the most robust, as opposed to simply the most cited, work is a valuable signal to help identify high quality reproducible findings that can be reliably built upon to advance scientific understanding."
> 24 votes
# Answer
This article in SIAM News sheds some light on the first question, so it might be worth a look. It argues, for a mathematical audience, why researchers *ought* to publish their source code, and lists many of the reasons you might hear why researchers do not share their source code. It does so by a clever analogy, one that compares the sharing of mathematical proofs to the sharing of source code. Take a look; it has quite an extensive list of reasons why researchers might prefer not to share their source code (as well as some responses arguing that those reasons are not good ones).
Here's a citation:
Top Ten Reasons To Not Share Your Code (and why you should anyway). Randall J. LeVeque. SIAM News, April 1, 2013.
> 14 votes
# Answer
In sharing code there are several issues:
* The first issue is the copyright matters, since some of CS researches/projects are funded by certain industrialists/funding organizations that discourage sharing sensitive information such as algorithms, code, or software while publishing in public periodicals.
* Indeed, there are papers based on certain data (collected from code execution) that unfortunately are manually modified by the authors. If they share the code, catching their mistake/error/modifications becomes very easy leading to failure in either their MS/PhD or research project which is undesirable.
* In CS research and especially publication, developing code, particularly a lengthy, complex code is a non-trivial task and in most of the cases is considered money-making and paper-generating asset. By sharing the code to the public, they are unveiling facts in very much detail which may degrade their contribution in future researches. Also they may not be the only one who can regenerate article and make credit of that particular research and code. In most of the cases, master students pick an algorithm or method, slightly change it and submit a thesis and paper based on it, that may contradict with the findings and claims of the first author. Remember Thoma Herdon a graduate students who criticized findings of two eminent economist of Harvard university(here is the link ). If the codes in CS are revealed the consequences are likely catastrophic (it might not be too many cases, but if happens it will be catastrophic).
* Codes are vital property to most of the researchers to conduct experiment and research. If you have a code, you can simply play with it and modify it to generate new set of findings that might be more valuable than the initial findings. Without having authorship of the initial author, there is no credit to them.
However, Elsevier recently introduced a new feature using COLLAGE called Executable Papers that is currently available for Computers & Graphics journal by which codes and data are available and researchers can modify the code and input values to play with.
Hope it helps.
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> 7 votes
# Answer
I am not a CS researcher per se, but I am writing Android code for my research in Atmospheric Physics, so my view is somewhat limited. However, I can say from my own experience that much of the code that I am developing and testing is part of a greater project that the team I am part of is developing. It is a mix of the rules I am bound by and the need to keep a portion of code under wraps for the time being.
> 3 votes
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Tags: publications, research-process, public-domain
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thread-10271 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10271 | Can one publish papers which give an improved presentation of old results? | 2013-05-28T14:27:10.767 | # Question
Title: Can one publish papers which give an improved presentation of old results?
A colleague of mine (I'm in mathematics) has shown me a splendid note. He took some of the results from a confusing, hard to read, and important paper from the 1970's, which have not yet appeared in book form, and gave them much cleaner and simpler proofs, and explained them in a very clear way.
I urged him to publish his writeup, and to submit it to a very good journal. But he feels that, because the results are not (strictly speaking) new, the paper would be unlikely to be accepted.
Certainly I feel that work such as his is extremely valuable, and I think the mathematical community ought to encourage more of it. Was I right to encourage him to publish? Or was his pessimism more on target?
# Answer
If the proofs are genuinely new, and genuinely simpler, then this is a contribution. And if proper attribution is given and the relationship between the old and new work clearly explained, then this should be publishable, assuming that the results are still interesting for the wider community.
> 24 votes
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Tags: publications, journals
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thread-10277 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10277 | How can we change things so more researchers are willing to share their source code? | 2013-05-28T16:18:09.843 | # Question
Title: How can we change things so more researchers are willing to share their source code?
This is a followup to Why are CS researchers reluctant to share code and what techniques can I use to encourage sharing?. That question specifically asked how one can succeed in obtaining researcher's source code.
As discussed in the answers to that question, the reasons largely boil down to competitive advantage and people thinking their code is not good enough. The former issue is difficult to address. However, one could try to address the latter issue, making the reasonable assumption that this behavior stems from the surrounding academic culture. There may be additional aspects of the academic culture that discourage code sharing, and which do not relate to competitive advantage.
So, one could instead ask the general questions what concrete actions one can take to change this culture? Or, to put it a little differently, how can I help change the academic world so that more researchers are willing to share their source code?
# Answer
In the long term, this will only happen if you change the culture (just as you say). How do you change the culture of a field? Very slowly, and only with enormous effort. You talk to other researchers. You articulate your values, and seek allies who share your values. You patiently make the case to your fellow colleagues, perhaps by writing opinion pieces. You don't harangue or attack them; instead, you gently lay out the reasons why it is good for science and good for them to share their code. Remember, in all likelihood you all share the same common values: the love and dedication of science and the pursuit of truth.
You lead, by acting as a model for how you would like others to behave. You do what *you* think is right, and set a good example.
You try to persuade referees and program committees to value and reward researchers who do share their source code. Recognize the amount of extra effort this takes, and (if you believe it is valuable) reward it accordingly: bump up your rating of their paper correspondingly, and make the case why others to do so. When you write letters of reference or evaluation for another researcher, if they share their source code, give them kudos and explain why the hiring or promotion committee should view this positively.
Ultimately, this is not something that a single individual can change. Only the entire community, acting as a whole, can make this kind of change. Individuals can catalyze and facilitate that change, but like any other kind of reform, it takes extraordinary patience and effort, as well as buy-in from your colleagues. It's not unusual for this kind of change to take a generation or two. But keep your chin up: remember, you're doing this because you believe it is good for science and good for your field!
> 7 votes
# Answer
IMO talk about "cultural" impediments are overstated. Academics are as rational agents as any, and currently the academic system (mainly publish/get grants or perish) provides little **incentive** to publishing the code or making analysis entirely reproducible. Some fields have started intiatives to encourage this by making either analysis and publicly releasing data mandatory or strongly recommended for publication (e.g. The Journal of Applied Economics) or for funding (e.g. NIJ grants frequently have stipulations to post the data to ICPSR).
Greater awareness of technical computing skills necessary for reproducible analysis will help (see Koeneker & Zeileis, 2009), but on its own won't spurn greater compliance, even if the already discussed negatives are largely mitigated. It still will be more work to publish the code than to not publish the code. When it helps your tenure case, then it will become more commonplace.
> 4 votes
# Answer
Researchers are unwilling to share their code because it's a lot of extra work -- for which there is little or no recompense. When I write some to simulate an experiment or an algorithm to verify numerically the result of a calculation, it is not production-ready code that can be easily run in another environment: at the very least another researcher needs Matlab or Mathematica, they need whatever special toolboxes or auxiliary code I am using, they need the data files in the right place on the hard drive, they need to understand how to program themselves so that when some small glitch arises, they can deal with it. When I try to run my own code from a year ago, it almost needs some massaging: perhaps a needed file has been moved from one directory to another, perhaps a toolbox has had its code base "updated" and no longer works exactly the same way.
So -- here's what usually happens. Someone contacts me and wants to try out my code. I warn them of all the above issues, but they insist that they know what they are doing and will get back to me with any problems. I spend 2 or 3 hours preparing things, checking stuff out so that they will have an easier time, explaining to them how to put things together so that it will all work. I mail it to them. And I never hear back. It happened again last month. So -- how likely am I to "share" code in the future? Just a little bit less likely than last month.
Now to the question: how can you get researchers to share their code? First, when you ask, follow through - don't "take the code and disappear." Second, try to get the researcher interested in *why* you want the code, what you might do with it. Third, the burden is on you to take research-style code (poorly commented, bad error checking, disorganized structure) and to make it do something. Fourth, return something: when you do make some progress, let the researcher know. Fifth, don't ask for impossible things: can I compile the code for your machine (that's different from mine)? (Hint: no).
> 4 votes
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Tags: research-process, code
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thread-10275 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10275 | Ph.D Transfer from other country to US | 2013-05-28T15:53:19.707 | # Question
Title: Ph.D Transfer from other country to US
In this application cycle, I got a PhD offer from Nanyang Technology University at Singapore and will study in the field of programming language. However, I recently received a mail from my supervisor which is said that he will soon leave NTU for some reasons. After searching the faculty list of NTU I found there is no other professor who works in programming language.
I don't want to compromise on the topic I will do during my PhD. Maybe it is a good choice for me to find a matching supervisor in some other universities. But I have to go to NTU to do my PhD because I have no alternative choice now since this application cycle is ended.
What I want to know is that is it possible to transfer my PhD from singapore to US if I re-apply for some American universities after my current supervisor's leave?
Any advise will be so much appreciate for that I somehow don't know what to do.
# Answer
> 5 votes
In general, it is difficult to *transfer* between universities in different countries *unless* one is moving with the thesis advisor. This is in part because of funding rules: usually, money in one country cannot be used to fund graduate students working or studying in another country. (In the US, for instance, graduate fellowships are normally valid only at US universities.)
If you were to attempt to transfer on your own, the most likely scenario is that you would be expected to start the PhD over; depending on the department, they may not recognize coursework completed at your old school, or at best may choose to give you placement out of the equivalent courses, but still expect you to complete additional electives. It would be even more challenging to move your project over, if funding isn't available to work on the same project.
Since you are just starting, perhaps it would be possible to complete a master's degree in Singapore, and then try to transfer to another university for the doctoral studies. (I'm not sure how doctoral programs in CS handle an international master's. In my department, though, students with master's from abroad were still expected to complete the "core" coursework requirements.)
# Answer
> 3 votes
It certainly is possible, even across countries. Some of my students are following me on my move from Belgium to Sweden. To ensure that this was possible, I needed to enquire with the administration on both the source and target of the move. There were some restrictions on both sides – for instance, if a student is too close to finishing, both sides are reluctant to let the move happen.
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Tags: phd
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thread-10273 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10273 | Do I have a chance to get into a great cs grad school? | 2013-05-28T14:37:07.790 | # Question
Title: Do I have a chance to get into a great cs grad school?
I am an undergrad from India from a good university( not IIT,NIT). Our GPA is calculated on a different percentage scale and mine is 73-75% which is a very good score according to our system. My GRE score=1600. I have an internship at a major company. I am thinking of writing a research paper but have no research experience. Do I have a chance at the top colleges like UC Berkeley,or Michigan or even Carnegie Mellon?
# Answer
**Maybe.** There's really no way to tell without looking at your complete application.
If you applied to my department's research MS program, your good grades and GRE scores would *probably* attract enough attention that someone would actually review your application. Most of our MS applications are rejected without review. But that's as far as grades and test scores will get you.
Since you claim not to come from an IIT or NIT, there might be some question about how good your university is. If we've never admitted someone from your school before, we don't know how to calibrate your grades or recommendation letters. Every year we seem to get applications from two or three new schools in India that even our Indian faculty and graduate students don't recognize. We do sometimes admit one or two *truly outstanding* students from unknown schools as a way of gathering data.
Having an internship is definitely good, especially if you did something creative and independent, and not just "My boss told me to implement this thing, so I did."
But the admission decision would really depend on your research statement (or "statement of purpose") and your recommendation letters. As I have written many times before, graduate admissions committees at top departments are looking for **potential for research excellence**. My committee would judge that potential from the content of your statements and letters, and from the credibility of your letter-writers. Research *experience* is certainly helpful, but it's not necessary, especially for an MS.
**This is really an question for your letter writers.** Ask them directly if they can write strong and substantial letters *that focus on your research potential*. If they look uncomfortable (or they don't know what "research potential" means), you should probably aim a bit lower.
> 1 votes
# Answer
Top PhD programs in Computer Science are very selective. Just having good or even excellent grades is not enough. At least, you need to have very strong recommendation letters and preferably some undergraduate research experience. I would suggest applying not only to top schools but also to second tier schools.
> 2 votes
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Tags: graduate-admissions
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thread-10289 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10289 | Does submitting an enrollment intent mean that I am commiting? | 2013-05-29T02:22:34.213 | # Question
Title: Does submitting an enrollment intent mean that I am commiting?
I recently got accepted into two universities for the Fall 2013, and both of them asked for me to submit the enrollment intent. I submitted the intent for one of them but then one of my friends said that since I did that, it means I HAVE to go there. But I am still deciding where I want to go. The other university has asked me to send in the form within 2 weeks otherwise I would loose a seat. So let's say if I send an intent to them too, would I be able to pick which one I want to attend when I make my final decision in a few weeks?
# Answer
Universities typically consider such intent statements to be binding.
If you submit these statements to multiple universities, they will all hold seats for you, seats which could otherwise go to someone from their waiting list. This hurts those other applicants. It is also a serious inconvenience to the department's admissions committee, as they need to meet their enrollment targets as closely as possible; failure to do so can affect their funding, and in extreme cases, the survival of the graduate program. So this is at least inconsiderate on your part, and arguably unethical.
If the institutions find out that you have done this, it is possible that they may rescind their acceptances; this is uncommon but has been known to happen. In addition, you would certainly forfeit any deposits that you paid.
At the undergraduate level, where deposits are almost always required (in the US), this practice is called "double depositing". The National Association for College Admission Counseling, in their "Guide to the College Admission Process", says:
> Colleges view dual or multiple deposits by students as serious violations of trust and may revoke a previous offer of admission from any student who is found to have sent tuition deposits to more than one college.
My advice is this: at this point, you should plan on attending the university X to which you've announced your intent. However, if you are absolutely convinced that doing so would be a *huge mistake* (not merely that you think Y is a little bit better), then you could contact the admissions committee at X, explain your reasons, apologize, and ask to be released from your agreement. If you do this, you should do it as soon as possible (ideally within days - don't stew about it for two weeks), and know that it will probably burn your bridges with X, as well as forfeiting your deposit. If X says it's all right (they probably will - if you don't want to be there, they don't want you there), then you could send your intent to Y.
Some people might argue that you are also ethically obligated to inform Y of the situation. I think it's kind of a gray area, myself.
You might also discuss the matter with an advisor or other professor at your current institution. They might offer some perspective on X that would help reassure you. In general, most people say that it isn't so crucial which institution you attend, within reason - your own skills and motivation are a much greater factor in your success.
> 6 votes
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Tags: graduate-school, graduate-admissions
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thread-10259 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10259 | White Paper & MS in Mechanical Engineering? | 2013-05-27T11:08:37.697 | # Question
Title: White Paper & MS in Mechanical Engineering?
I am a Mechanical Engineering student & want to pursue Master of Science with specialization in Design/CAD. Recently I have come across white papers on website of some companies about their products. My friend told me that publishing a white paper would be beneficial for my MS applications. So I wanted to know: 1. What exactly is the scope of a white paper? 2. What sort of topic/information must one put in the paper? 3. How to publish a white paper (I mean is there a Journal for white papers or any other standard)? 4. How much effect does it have in showing my research aptitude compared to a scientific publication/ research paper?
# Answer
> 1 votes
In the research field a white paper is not so important. However, if you plan to work in an applied field,a white paper is valued highly because it shows you are aware of the current issues in your field. In general, white papers are issue-oriented. For example, in the field of architecture "green" building materials are valued over traditional. But why? A white paper could present facts on "green" building materials versus traditional materials in terms of cost and performance. Other factors could also be weighed such as customer preference. Therefore, when the executives of a firm read the white paper it could help them make a major decision on materials they will buy in the future.
See below the definition of white paper:
> **White papers in business-to-business (B2B) marketing**
>
> Since the early 1990s, the term white paper has been applied to documents used as B2B marketing or sales tools. Far more commercial white papers are now produced for B2B vendors than political white papers for governments\[citation needed\].
>
> B2B white papers are long-form content designed to promote the products or services from a specific company. As a marketing tool, these papers use selected facts and logical arguments to build a case favorable to the company sponsoring the document. B2B white papers are often used to generate sales leads, establish thought leadership, make a business case, or inform and persuade prospective customers, channel partners, journalists, analysts, or investors.
>
> Many B2B white papers argue that one particular technology, product or method is superior for solving a specific business problem. They may also present research findings, list a set of questions or tips about a certain business issue, or highlight a particular product or service from a vendor.
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Tags: research-process, publications
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thread-5073 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/5073 | How do we know if something relevant is already published? | 2012-10-31T06:19:55.450 | # Question
Title: How do we know if something relevant is already published?
I keep reading European Conference on Computer Vision, International Conference on Pattern Recognition, and others, and I find so much in common in those papers.
For example, half the papers seem like: X Algorithm combined with Y algorithm tested on Z database and was better than A in this category but worse than A in that category.
There are many top journals and top conferences with \> 1000 papers, in a year, in this field. In addition to this we would have to go through all the tier 2, tier 3 conferences for lack of a similar piece of work.
While working on organic solar cells I found the same problem. I saw 20 different papers on extracting parameters from a single-diode/double-diode/XYZ model.
So how do we know if something relevant is already published?
# Answer
That title summarises a large fraction of all research ;-)
You need to spend a significant amount of time browsing through scientific literature. This illustration from PhD comics illustrates the problem:
My strategy is as follows:
1. I start with an arbitrary paper with a title that seems relevant. Let's call this paper A.
2. Using an online service such as Scopus (payment or subscription required), I look for:
1. All *references*, e.g. papers cited by A.
2. All *citations*, e.g. papers that cite A.
3. Both the *references* and *citations* can be sorted by the *number of citatons*, so you get the most highly cited papers first. Select the papers that seem relevant (at this stage, reading the abstract is usually good enough).
4. For all relevant papers left in step 3, repeat step 2. You should find considerable overlap already. By now, you should have already found the important papers as well as one or more review articles.
5. Iterate steps 2–4 until your hard disk is full ;-)
Of course, if you iterate this process indefinitely, you will soon have downloaded all scientific research ever published. But by being selective but *not too selective*, this process *should* lead you to any relevant publications. Even if nobody has cited the relevant publications, *the relevant publications themselves should cite other publications*, so via step 2.1 you will still find it.
The only caveat here is that databases like *Scopus* are incomplete, probably in particular when it comes to conference proceedings (in my field, those are rarely relevant). Maybe other databases work better in your field. Hopefully, there is a scientific database that is reasonably complete for relevant publications in your area of research!
> 36 votes
# Answer
Gerrit has given a good summary of how to perform a bibliographic search. On this topic, I'll add two comments:
* Review articles and academic theses, when well written, are invaluable. They contain a lot of information and citations, often in a more “relaxed” format than a pure research paper.
* Try to identify one or two journals/conferences that are central to your field, and a few authors that are big names: then, subscribe to their RSS feeds or set up web alerts for new publications by these teams.
In addition to direct search of the literature, a good way to keep on top of the papers published in a given field is to **attend conferences and discuss with a lot of people**. Poster sessions are particularly good for that. Do not hesitate to bring to the poster presenter questions such as *“so, in your opinion, what’s the biggest break among the recent literature?”*.
> 12 votes
# Answer
Good tips above, I have one more: * Collect good search words, e.g. in a mind-map. Maybe different synonyms are used by slightly different authors? Try to think of different ones, check which actually really work.
> 5 votes
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Tags: research-process, publications
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thread-10210 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10210 | Is there a website that lists for a set of at least 1000 journals OpenAccess fees for publishing an article? | 2013-05-24T14:20:12.943 | # Question
Title: Is there a website that lists for a set of at least 1000 journals OpenAccess fees for publishing an article?
Many journals now are open access only and every article published (authors) must pay a fee.
Sometimes, this info can be hard to find. The journals does not put it visibly on the front page (next to impact factor).
If I want to compare 80 journals in the medical field and their charges - it is not easy.
Is there a site that would 'monitor' this and have data on many journals. (any list with 50+ journals and prices listed will be a good answer) (even if domain specific) (medicine domain is preferred)
# Answer
There is no comprehensive list.
Some partial lists are listed below: (please update when new are found)
> 3 votes
# Answer
Try the Sherpa/RoMEO list, which is the most definitive list of open access journals that I know of. It covers many different fields.
I don't know why you are set on 1000 journals. You can only publish your paper in one journal. What's important is not the number of journals, but finding one good journal that is a great fit for your paper.
> 0 votes
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Tags: publications, open-access, medicine, fees
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thread-10301 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10301 | What strategies can bring technology resistant faculty on-board? | 2013-05-29T11:24:10.247 | # Question
Title: What strategies can bring technology resistant faculty on-board?
Faculty tend to fall into these groups:
1. early adopters
2. hesitant but willing
3. refusing to adopt b/c no time
4. refusing to adopt b/c not technically inclined
I would like to know what strategies I can use to bring the **3rd & 4th group** on-board.
## Context
A new learning management system has been adopted where instructors are encouraged to post their slides/lecture materials online.
# Answer
First of all, you need to make it exceedingly easy for the Luddites to put their material online. If it is hard to do, or if it takes a particular skill other than "go to this website and click a few links" than you're going to have a hard time ever convincing them to get onboard. If they absolutely need to be trained, you may have to have a mandatory training session where they get their first set of lectures or whatever online (but don't expect any other forthcoming material to be posted without more prodding--then again, they may see the light if it is easy enough and they can see the results online).
I'd suggest one or more of the following four suggestions, in order of preference:
1. Ask for student volunteers to help these faculty put their material online. Whether these are TAs for the class, or paid/hired students not already assigned, or strictly volunteers is up to you and budgeting concerns. You may have to continue this process for subsequent classes if the faculty aren't willing to learn how to do it themselves.
2. Automate the system (which goes back to my original comment). If paper is involved, have someone set up a scanner to handle loose-leaf material, or via a photocopier/scanner. If it is just soft-copy document uploading, this can be automated with a drop box on a shared drive -- just drag materials into the box and it ends up online. This won't make for a particularly organized system, but at least the material will be online.
3. Wait them out and let attrition work its magic. You may always have reluctant faculty, but as older Luddites retire you should find this less of a problem. If there are only a few faculty that don't want to come onboard, this is definitely the easiest method, and you're really not losing too much by waiting.
4. Make posting the material mandatory. I can almost guarantee this won't be possible for tenured faculty, but maybe you can provide some incentive rather than simply encouraging them to put the material online.
I don't think you'll get very far with a simple plea for coming into the 21st Century -- if they are refusing to adopt, they probably feel they are too busy, or don't like the whole idea of it.
> 6 votes
# Answer
The question has a hidden assumption: that the technology has no problems and it's merely the faculty that need to be convinced. Having used a few different learning management systems (Canvas, Moodle, Blackboard, homegrown stuff), I can tell you that this is rarely true.
The people resistant to change are probably resisting because they've seen different incarnations of this technology come and go, and find it annoying to have to keep learning a new system *that doesn't present any significant advantages over what they're doing*. The *significant* part is important. There's a cost to making a change, so the new system can't just be as good.
So I'll add to Chris's excellent suggestions as follows:
* make it seamless not just to import, but to **export** easily. In the world of online software, it's important not to have things be gated. I want assurances that if your new system goes away tomorrow, to be replaced by the next new system, that I can easily transfer material from the old system to the new with a few clicks.
* demonstrate why this new system isn't going away in a year to be replaced by something else. How you do that is up to you and depends on the system you're pushing.
Bottom line: the perceived attitude in the question is that the faculty are at fault for not adopting new technology, but the truth is that most new tech is crappy and short-lived, and it's natural to want to wait things out. So you have convince people that the new approach is not crappy and will last.
> 13 votes
# Answer
I can think of three strategies, which complement each other:
* Win Group 2 over first.
* If there are external reasons for using the technology, make them clear. For example, you might not persuade faculty that using this software is intrinsically a good idea, but you *might* be able to persuade them that making the dean happy is reason enough.
* Take the time to listen to their objections. They will be more willing to listen to you if they feel that you have listened to them, understood them, and respected them.
> 4 votes
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Tags: technology
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thread-10300 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10300 | Should recommenders be from the same discipline as the program one's applying to? | 2013-05-29T11:04:33.943 | # Question
Title: Should recommenders be from the same discipline as the program one's applying to?
If I want to go to graduate school to study physics and am a math major, how bad is it to have recommendation letters from math professors, mostly? The problem is that I just have four physics courses and after being picky about professors, I might not end up with all physics professors. Further, math professors know me better.
So, will it hurt if my recommenders are more mathematicians than physicists?
# Answer
To point out one pitfall in kmdouglass's answer, there is one situation in which getting letters from out-of-discipline people *can* affect an applicant's chances: if the letter writers do not directly support the candidate's application to the specific discipline. In other words, if you're a mathematician applying to physics programs, your math professors should be explaining why you will be a great *physics* graduate student, not a great *math* graduate student. (Or why you will be a great graduate student in *any* department.) "Dissonance" between the letters of recommendation and where you're applying could make some reviewers question if you're seriously interested in applying to physics departments, which could hurt your chances (albeit perhaps only slightly).
> 5 votes
# Answer
The answer to your question is no, it won't hurt.
How you prepare your application, however, will likely depend on the type of research you want to do while working on your PhD. For your case, if you want to pursue theoretical research, then I think recommendation letters from mathematicians will be a good asset.
If, on the other hand, you want to work in experimental physics, then I still don't think it would hurt, but I would work extra hard at highlighting relevant skills and experiences, such as experience working in a machine shop or with electronics, in other parts of your application.
You still want your references to be good judges of academic performance, however. By academic, I mean that they should work in academia or be experts in research, critical thinking, and other important academic traits in your field. A life-long high school teacher, for example, may not be a good choice.
To summarize, having letters of recommendation from academics outside of your major field should not hurt your chances of getting into graduate school. The letters should speak to your character, work ethic, and natural abilities, not to the skills you possess. Those can be highlighted in your application.
Qualifications: I'm a senior (sixth-year) graduate student in a physics-related field and frequently assist my advisor in taking on new graduate students. We've taken on people with engineering, physics, materials science, and **mathematics** backgrounds.
> 3 votes
# Answer
I would like to speak to this issue in terms of applying to ***interdisciplinary*** programs like information science, HCI, communication etc. It matters little what the specific home department the professor belongs to as long as they can point out 2 things - 1. How are you as a potential researcher in *that* particular discipline that you are applying to and 2. How can they (the recommenders) recommend you in context to **(1)**
For instance, in my case, my recommenders came from civil engineering, statistics and computer science and I was applying to an information science department. I don't know what their recommendations contained but they could very well certify that I was doing ***interdisciplinary*** work corresponding to most areas in information science during my masters degree.
> 1 votes
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Tags: graduate-school, graduate-admissions, recommendation-letter
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thread-2748 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2748 | Are there any decent online undergrad computer science degrees or courses | 2012-08-04T19:16:15.530 | # Question
Title: Are there any decent online undergrad computer science degrees or courses
To keep it short I already have a BS and MS in a physical science from decent schools. I want to apply next year for a MS or PhD in ECE and thought I should get some formal programming on my transcript first. I have only one intro class on there now.
I'm not having much luck finding any online courses that don't look like scams or poorly set up at best. I was pretty excited to see that Oregon state is offering a post-bacc BS degree but the tuition is $600 a credit.
So I guess I'm looking for legitimate courses that aren't crazy expensive. Is there anything else out there like the Oregon state program? That's exactly what I'm looking for.
# Answer
You may want to try Coursera. Their courses are quite good and the instructors are some of the top computer scientists in their fields.
They give you a certificate signed by the instructor if you finish the course well.
> 5 votes
# Answer
You can use this tool and refine your search, and also checkout this article from Huffington Post.
~Hope this helps.
> -1 votes
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Tags: distance-learning, online-learning
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thread-10319 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10319 | progressing from high school teaching into academia | 2013-05-30T11:28:16.717 | # Question
Title: progressing from high school teaching into academia
I have been a high school teacher for coming on 14 years, in 8 schools, in 2 countries. While teaching still is enjoyable, I feel with the near completion of my PhD (in physics), that I am ready for a new challenge in academia.
I have no illusions though, it will be challenging to even get into academia. I know I also have to be published (have 3 peer reviewed papers published).
How should the skills developed in high school teaching be touted to be relevant for academic postions?
# Answer
If you are near completing your PhD, then I assume you also have some papers coming out soon. If not, then your dissertation will probably be worth 3 papers, so I wouldn't worry too much about that part.
Conveying information to an audience with varied skills and backgrounds is always a valuable thing in academia. Whether in written manuscripts or conference presentations, this is usually the problem to be solved. My advisor was fond of constructing lectures, no matter the audience, as if they were to be given to college freshmen. I'd say a lot of freshmen are not too different from high school students.
A successful PhD defense signifies that you have the ability to do novel work in your field, but your teaching skills will enable you to tell others about it.
> 4 votes
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Tags: teaching, career-path
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thread-10325 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10325 | What are the differences between a cover letter and an application letter? | 2013-05-30T16:28:01.547 | # Question
Title: What are the differences between a cover letter and an application letter?
I would like to apply for a PhD position, and I have found the following requirement in their web page:
An application letter that includes at least:
* contact information of the applicant
* the topics of interest in ranked order
* names and contact information of two senior academics available for reference per e-mail,
* information whether the application can be used in filling other vacancies at the Department and,
* from which source the applicant received the information regarding the current call.
I was thinking to put all these items in a list and fill them like some type of survey, but I am dubious if I should do that. I mean I have found templates for cover letters, but not for application letters. Is there any format for this?
# Answer
> 1 votes
Good question, and has been something that I have been thinking about also.
Digging around, I found a few articles that may be of assistance, This eHow article (Even though it is more trained towards work, rather than academia), and thi about.com article.
Both links state that there are subtle differences - specifically, an application latter explains what qualifies you for the position/study, and the cover letter goes into more detail as to what qualifies you and explains your interests in the position/study.
I hope this helps (and best wishes with your application and studies!)
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Tags: phd, graduate-admissions, application, application-cover-letter
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thread-10201 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10201 | Publishing in one vs. many journals | 2013-05-24T11:57:11.183 | # Question
Title: Publishing in one vs. many journals
I have started publishing papers this year - 3 so far, of which 2 are in an international journal, the 3rd in a local journal.
My question is, is there any particular disadvantage with publishing the majority of papers in one or a very limited array of journals? Or is it a case that it makes no difference either way?
# Answer
I am sure opinions and traditions vary concerning this question. For me the quality of the journal (say, impact factor) is the most important, you try to get published in good journals. In some cases, the field may be so narrow that only one or a very few journals may be good. In such cases the selection may result in a single journal.
To publish in a variety of journals seems to be a means by itself for many but I think the reasons still vary. There may be advantages in getting published in many journals to show that the research has wider applications and is accepted more generally. It may be a way to avoid the suspicion that you have a back way into a single journal (not that that would be true). In some cases, you may select different journals because you know your ideas are not favoured by someone in a specific journal's editorial board (strategic reason).
So reasons for spreading the publications may vary quite substantially. The main point for me is, however, still that primarily the quality of the journal will decide. I would not chose a different journal just to get a new journal mentioned in my list of publications.
> 12 votes
# Answer
In my field (mathematics), the quality of journals is a quite fuzzy notion; we do not rely very much on metrics like the impact factor, but have a subjective and qualitative sense of prestige of journals. Inevitably, the way a given journal is regarded changes from one person to another. As a consequence, publishing in a variety of journals increases the odds that someone looking at your publication list will think "whao, she published in X!".
Another point is that if one publishes a large fraction of its research in one journal, people can wonder whether she has a friend in the editorial board that help her getting accepted there.
All in all, it seems preferable (and possible, given the large amount of journal in the field) to publish in a variety of journal for hiring, promotion and more generally evaluation matters. Of course, the picture is certainly different in other fields.
> 7 votes
# Answer
I agree with @PeterJansson that impact factor is certainly an important factor in selecting a journal. But I would also think about who you want to reach with your paper. Although Google Scholar and similar search engines now ensure a much higher probability of finding your paper based on its title, abstract and keywords, it will only be found by people actively searching for terms associated with your work.
Most researchers still subscribe to specific journals in their field, even if only through e-mail alerts, so I target a journal also for its audience (while trying to select the highest impact factor from this subset). This is especially important if your work bridges several fields.
For example, my research is about human-robot interaction, so I have to decide whether to publish an article in a journal that is read primarily by roboticists or social scientists/psychologists.
In this case, it is also vitally important to adjust the paper to its target demographic. Psychologists don't know (and likely don't care) about my implementation details while roboticists are more likely to be interested in nitty gritty details about the code and less about the nuances of the social psychology theory behind it.
> 1 votes
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Tags: publications, journals
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thread-10331 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10331 | Can I publish research in a peer-reviewed journal if parts of it have previously been published in a self published book? | 2013-05-31T01:08:26.113 | # Question
Title: Can I publish research in a peer-reviewed journal if parts of it have previously been published in a self published book?
The book was not published in English, and I am using a different perspective in the paper, but the same qualitative data.
# Answer
> 5 votes
I didn't find any formal policies addressing this specific case, but my intuition is that it would probably be all right. It could be analogous to publishing sections of a thesis, which is generally accepted.
If you have a journal in mind for the paper, you could contact the editors and ask their position on the issue. If and when you eventually submit the paper, you should include a note to the editor explaining the situation, and probably mention this in the text of the paper as well. If you disclose everything, there won't be any ethical issue; the editor can make the decision, and I expect there would be some good journals that won't have a problem with it.
Factors that might be relevant:
* Was the book offered for sale publicly, or distributed privately among colleagues?
* How many copies were produced/sold?
* Did you retain the copyright on the book?
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Tags: research-process
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thread-9026 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9026 | “making it look good”- is it always important? | 2013-03-31T18:13:14.510 | # Question
Title: “making it look good”- is it always important?
Recently I created a project report for the project that me and my classmate are working on. The project report goes to the external examiner to whom later we have to give a demo on our project.
Me being inclined to designing (web designing, graphic design, etc) I decided to make the project report look really good. A nice clean report with good choice of paper. And care taken while choosing font etc.
It turned out to be much much better than anyone else's report. BUT! The first thing I heard from other classmates was. ***"Making project report look good is of NO USE. Your project (Application) should be good enough and it's all that matters"***
Is it true? from a general perspective of people. Does "making it look good" matter at all?
I couldn't find any other section more relevant enough to discuss this question. Please let me know if there is any.
# Answer
A good-looking report will put me in the mindset that you took the assignment seriously, and aimed to turn in quality work. I think that counts for something, not nothing.
That said, if a report is just that – good looking, with little substance behind it – I will see through the façade very quickly, and all those superficial niceties might even count against you.
Assuming that's not the case, though, if two people turn in equally good work, yet one is formatted much more professionally than the other, that *might* earn an extra point or two – assuming I'm grading with some level of subjectivity, and not merely following a strict rubric. Shame on me, though, if I let mere appearance carry much more weight than that.
That all said, your classmates seem to be very shortsighted. Okay, maybe your extra effort will get you a 94 instead of a 93. Or maybe you'll just get a 93, with nothing more than a mental note that I thought your report looked really good. However, what you do in my classroom might – and perhaps should – extend far beyond my class. Presumably, you're in my class for an education, not merely for 3 or 4 credits. Get in the habit of turning in good work, and that might turn into something that translates into a valuable life skill.
One more thought: what's going to happen after you graduate, when all those folks from human resources ask you to include the names of three professors on your job applications? One of them might well call me, and ask, “What do you remember about this guy?”
Perhaps I'll answer, “Oh, I remember him. He always turned in exceptional work.”
Those two sentences might prove to be worth far more than an extra point or two on an assignment.
Incidentally, I had one student bring her term project into a job interview. They hired her, largely based on what they saw in that class project. Just a couple weeks ago, another student asked if my name could be listed as a reference.
“I hope they call me,” I replied in my email. “I distinctly remember how your work always seemed to go above and beyond what everyone else was turning in.” Imagine how that will sound in the ear of a corporate recruiter who is sifting through a pile of job applications.
It's your call. It's also your future.
> 37 votes
# Answer
If your content is as good as the cover you used, it is ok. But if you are trying to create a good looking report about a badly implemented project, it is just a waste of time and shows that you concentrate on the trivial things rather than on important ones.
Those who judge your work won't judge it by its cover, I hope. That said, if the report is about a project aptly implemented, it shows that you are a perfectionist and is a good thing.
> 11 votes
# Answer
The answer by Abraham is spot on. I would just like to add the following: Good design will not kill anyone but bad design can. By design I am primarily thinking typography and illustrations. I am not so concerned about reports made during your studies but rather when you are in the work place. A report, no matter how well conceived can become overlooked if it is hard to read and if illustrations are not clear enough. There is of course a risk of over-doing the design and a somber tidy look is usually the best. So if your work is good and your design of the report also allows people to grasp the content with ease, you are doing very well!
> 7 votes
# Answer
In my honest opinion,it's impossible to separate content from presentation. They may be two separate aspects of one thing but they are not two separate things. Taking your classmates' view to extremes would have us turning in work without bothering to check for spelling or grammar.
> 4 votes
# Answer
You heard *from your classmates* that the look of the report is of no use.
But your report was better. I.e. they turned in work inferior to yours.
In life, you can generally disregard the worthless advice and nay-saying of your inferiors, and just do it your way.
> 1 votes
# Answer
There are two key elements in a report: content and structure. These can boost each other. A better content will make a judge (referee, reviewer, etc.) feel that the person has something to say, and thus the judge can overlook small mistakes in structure, and only ask for corrections. On the other hand, when a moderate content is prepared really good, the judge will give credit to the work and instead of rejecting it, (s)he would ask for betterment of the content. Usually those who prepare a very good-looking project, pay sufficient or professional attention to other aspects (the content) of the work too. At least they show they are fond of this work, no matter how their content is moderate or even not so good.
So I suggest you keep up the good work and always make your (important) reports super good-looking. That works most of the time. It has worked for me all the time.
Besides, it is normal for people to try to underestimate people who are very superior to them. :) So don't take them seriously.
> 1 votes
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Tags: graduate-school, presentation, abstract
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thread-10337 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10337 | Is it necessary to send a corrigendum? Does it make my paper look ugly? | 2013-05-31T09:03:00.723 | # Question
Title: Is it necessary to send a corrigendum? Does it make my paper look ugly?
I have a paper which is accepted without any minor or major revisions in a good journal (lucky me). It is fully published. Since I had no chance to revise it, many small mistakes slipped into the proof. During proofreading I tried my best to catch any mistake and correct it. But these were two problems: 1) There were too many small mistakes so at least one of them slided my attention. 2) I couldn't ask the copy-editor to remove a whole "sentence".
If I had the chance to revise it, I would easily fix that up. But now the erroneous sentence is there in my beloved paper. It is now fully published (as online and hard copy). I am tempted to send a corrigendum on that paper, saying that the line is incorrect and should not be there. But on the other hand am afraid that it would make my paper look not-perfect or even ugly.
Do you suggest me sending a corrigendum? Or should I wait until someone notices that and writes a letter to the editor and then I answer in a reply to that letter, saying that "yes you are right, that sentence should not be there in the first place"? And if no one noticed that, I leave that error alone.
Which other ideas do you have about this?
Thanks a lot.
# Answer
Given your clarifications , , and , I would suggest leaving it alone.
The modern trend is for the *corrigenda* and the *errata* to be used more for "serious" stuff, and less so for "cosmetic" changes. The guideline, for example, given by the American Physiological Society is:
> if the author determines that it is scientifically necessary
While *Nature* uses the following definition for a corrigendum:
> *Corrigendum.* Notification of an important error made by the author(s) that affects the publication record or the scientific integrity of the paper, or the reputation of the authors or the journal.
Unless the venue in which you published your work states otherwise in their publication guidelines, a stray sentence that is not factually false, does not invalidate your claims, and does not impinge on the efforts of other researchers to reproduce your work is likely not "scientifically necessary."
Even if you insist on perfection, you should also be aware how corrigenda are viewed by other researchers in your field. If in your field the prevailing view is that corrigenda are used for "scientifically necessary" changes to your article, then you need to be prepared to answer questions about your correction in the future (usually of the form, "Why is there a corrigendum issued for your paper? Are you *sure* it doesn't change your conclusions?")
Lastly, a minor point is that if you published in a journal which charges publication fees, quite often your corrigendum will come with a not-so-small price-tag also.
> 16 votes
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Tags: publications, journals, errors-erratum, proofreading
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thread-10320 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10320 | Gnuplot in thesis and articles or not? | 2013-05-30T12:57:57.463 | # Question
Title: Gnuplot in thesis and articles or not?
I'm doing an astrophysics thesis with a lot of programming in Python. I'm currently using gnuplot for my plots, but I wonder if this is actually looking quite professional. Are there other options which look better and are still easy to use?
Here an example of a figure in my thesis:
The vertical line I got with the following command:
```
set arrow from 4861.3,-1200 to 4861.3,2000 nohead lc 2
```
I know it reaches out of the figure, but I use this command for all of my script and I know only at the end what the upper and lower boundary of the y-axis will be. Every peak is different.
# Answer
> 17 votes
If you do the programming in Python, you could also do the plotting in Python with matplotlib. With a little adjustment of the plotting parameters, it is possible to produce publication-quality plots with this software.
Alternatively, if you need fancy annotations etc., I can recommend the pgfplots package for tikz/LaTeX. You could export data from your Python program to a csv file, and then use that as data source for plotting with pgfplots. If you are also using TeX for the main text, it allows to to produce graphics which nicely fit the formating of the text.
# Answer
> 7 votes
It is difficult to produce professional-looking output from Gnuplot (even harder than it is from Matlab, which I also wouldn't recommend).
Since you're already using Python, matplotlib is the obvious choice. You you can even make a decent attempt at producing full figures, not just one panel.
Typically astrophysics doesn't have much reference to astronomy these days. However, if your thesis does, you might also want to check out APLpy which adds on to matplotlib.
# Answer
> 7 votes
For the plot you've shown, I have a couple of suggestions to make it look more "professional". (Maybe you're already doing some of these in the actual document.)
* Use a vector-based file format; your lines will look smoother, up to the resolution of your printer. I suggest `set terminal pdf`.
* Set a meaningful title for the curve: `plot "tkrs.txt" using ... title "Dilithium flux density"`. Or omit it completely: `plot "tkrs.txt" using ... notitle`.
* If plotting a mathematical function (rather than a dataset), `set samples 5000` or something similarly high for your final output.
* Try to choose a font for the labels that matches the paper's text as closely as possible. See `help term pdf` for more info, and other interesting tweaks. You can also use non-ASCII characters (e.g. `Å` instead of `angstrom`).
* Set the plot to a size and aspect ratio that fits nicely on the page, preferably so that your word processor (or LaTeX) doesn't have to rescale it.
* For your vertical line, you could cheat and use a parametric function, so that it will be clipped to the boundaries of the plot. It's a little tricky because if you make the line extra long, by default the plot will be rescaled to fit all of it. But there is a way to avoid this:
```
set xrange [ ] writeback
set yrange [ ] writeback
plot "tkrs.txt" ...
set parametric
set trange [-1200:10000]
set xrange restore
set yrange restore
replot t, 4861.3 notitle
```
# Answer
> 3 votes
The choice of plotting choice will depend on several factors. First, it is important to state that there are many options, from GNUPlot, through commercial plotting packages such as Grapher and Origin, plotting capabilities of Matlab and R to plotting using specific packages such as pgfplots (LaTeX) or graphics packages accompanying programming languages (e.g. PSPlot). What you chose will depend on other factors such as what your peers use, what you may have become familiar with and perhaps what you can afford (thinking of open source vs. commercial).
My personal experience has been that there is no single software that can do everything and so for me the key has been to identify what I need done and to minimize the number of software I need to accomplish it. This has led me to choices that are not common to my peers and has also left me to find my own solutions, not dreawing so much from other pesons experience (thank heavens for sites such as stackexchange)
So stick to what you know as long as it can do what you want but always keep an eye out for new solutions and try to figure out what others are doing that may impress you.
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Tags: publications, thesis, writing, graphics
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thread-10347 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10347 | How to engage students in oral presentations? | 2013-05-31T14:58:47.463 | # Question
Title: How to engage students in oral presentations?
Paper-based exams are not fully representative of knowledge, and it is good to consider oral presentations of students as a factor for the final grade to some extent. This is somehow the case in graduate courses, where the number of students is lesser, but how to follow this strategy for crowded classroom of inexperienced undergraduate students. I mean a classroom of 50+ size with students who do not have experience in scientific discussion!
# Answer
> 1 votes
I've had classes of this size where I have each student do an individual presentation. It is **very** time consuming but I also feel it can be **very** worthwhile.
If you give each student 10 minutes to present some information and you have 50 students then you will have 12-13 hours for presentations (allowing 15 minutes total per student including Q&A, changing students, etc.) If you teach in 2-hour sessions then it will consume 6-7 sessions. If you have 30-32 sessions per semester it is doable but it also removes a significant chunk of time from lecturing.
In my case, I lectured for several weeks (giving the students time to do their research and giving them the foundations they needed for their presentations) and then had the students give their presentations. Then I continued lecturing with other assessments later on. The module was not about presentation skills but I do feel that in each subject, we need to teach the students some general skills (structuring an argument, how to format text, how to research, giving a presentation, etc.) in addition to the module content.
The students ended up understanding the material quite well when judged by their presentations and I found many of them quite eager to learn how they could improve their presentation skills.
In the end, I was happy with the overall results and plan to do it again.
# Answer
> 2 votes
I would like to add to earthling's answer. If you have **teaching assistants**, please do make good use of them in this aspect.
As a TA, I have had excellent experiences in mentoring undergraduates to prepare research presentations, final papers, projects and proposals for these papers and project. Of course, we were generally in a class of 120-160 students so that speaks to a classroom scale higher than what you are suggesting. There were 3 graduate TA's, usually and we each had about 50 students to mentor. We found that we could devote significant amounts of time to each student when we met them on a one-on-one basis. Of course, the professor also met them one-on-one and there were a couple of rounds of iteration of their final presentations - which was very, very useful for the professors, the TA's and the students. As mentioned previously, it was a time sink, but very well worth it.
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Tags: teaching, university, undergraduate, education
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thread-10361 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10361 | Is there a "scientific" online source for famous direct qoutes? | 2013-05-31T19:55:52.063 | # Question
Title: Is there a "scientific" online source for famous direct qoutes?
I'm searching for an online source that is considered "scientific" to look up some well-known quotes such as "There's no such thing as a free lunch." (Milton Friedman).
I may want to use kind of an insinuating quote about risk in my term paper.
# Answer
How about Quotedb? It seems awfully relevant although risk might be quite a specialized area to be included in it. Quotes tend to be rather general.
> 2 votes
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Tags: writing, online-resource, quotation
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thread-10363 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10363 | Is a combined BS/MS in math a good idea for pursuit of PhD? | 2013-05-31T21:31:17.513 | # Question
Title: Is a combined BS/MS in math a good idea for pursuit of PhD?
If I want to continue mathematics into a PhD program, would doing a bachelor's and master's combined program be a good idea? Would I be required to retake some graduate courses in the PhD program? This would add only one year to my degree from my current uni as opposed to the two from doing a BS and MS separately.
A bit of background information: I am a dual enrollment US student who has completed two years worth of college courses, and so I'll be entering as a freshman with junior standing taking upper division undergrad math courses. Thus, a standalone BS would take me only two years, leaving me to graduate at age 20. Is this too young to start applying to grad school?
Also, I plan to do an undergrad thesis; is one year of familiarizing myself with the faculty too little to choose an adviser? I'm not even sure which math I would want to write about. Will three semesters of intro analysis and intro algebra grad courses be enough to decide on the thesis for my fourth semester?
# Answer
I finished my undergraduate degree at 20, and I know a number of others who have finished undergraduate considerably younger than I did. So, no, 20/21 is **definitely** not too young to apply for and begin a graduate degree program.
Since you list yourself as a US college student, here are a few questions to ask yourself before embarking on a dual-degree program:
* Who is going to pay for the MS part of the program? You may not want to have to pay out of pocket the extra costs of the master's, when it would normally be covered if you picked it up "on the way" in the PhD program.
* Are you happy with your choices for a research advisor for your master's thesis? (No point in being miserable by working for the wrong advisor—even if it is a semester or two, a miserable time is not what you want.
* Where do graduates of your school's master's program end up for PhD programs? Are these schools you'd want to go to? (You can ask the same question of the bachelor's program, of course.)
* Who will write your letters of recommendation? Do you have people who know your work beyond the classroom well enough to recommend you for external graduate programs? If not, this may vote in favor of staying for the master's program.
* Do you have to make a decision about which program to do before you apply for external programs? No point in making a tough choice if you can keep it as a "fallback" option.
As for topics and coursework, I will leave those answers to the mathematicians.
> 2 votes
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Tags: phd, undergraduate, thesis
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thread-10357 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10357 | Find out author’s name in foreign writing system (Chinese, etc.) | 2013-05-31T17:37:06.467 | # Question
Title: Find out author’s name in foreign writing system (Chinese, etc.)
I have some literature written by Chinese authors who I would like to attribute in my bibliography with their names in Chinese characters (汉字). The problem is that, as the literature itself is not in Chinese, their names appear only in their romanized form (Pīnyīn or Wade–Giles).
What resources can I use to find out the correct characters for their names, e. g. library catalogues with both forms given, author lists, etc.?
I am not only looking for Chinese names but Japanese ones as well.
**UPDATE:**
Examples include:
* Pao, Erh-li / Ying Cheng (1982): *Wörterbuch der chinesischen Redensarten. Chinesisch–deutsch; Tetragramme des modernen Chinesisch* \[= 漢語成語\]. Berlin, New York: de Gruyter.
* Huang, Yankai (1964): A dictionary of Chinese idiomatic phrases. Hong Kong: Eton Press.
* Hisa, Michitaro (1896): Some Japanized Chinese Proverbs. In: *The Journal of American Folklore* 9, 33, pp. 132–138.
# Answer
I don't know much about other languages. I'll answer the question in Chinese case since I am a native Chinese speaker.
The literature you have is not in Chinese. The best way is to contact the authors. They will give you the correct answer.
As far as I know, there is no such reliable resources at the moment. There is no unique and consistent way of translation between English name and Chinese name. As you already know, Pīnyīn and Wade–Giles are two of them. I don't think there is one-to-one correspondence relation. There are other issues, such as traditional Chinese character and simplified character. You won't know the correct answer unless the author tells you.
If you have no way to contact them, try their collegues or others who might know. Don't use the Chniese name unless you are sure. Use whatever the name appears in the literature if you are not sure.
> 3 votes
# Answer
Transliteration between major East Asian languages and Latin alphabet orthography is not a bijection, which means that the exact same spelling of an Asian name in Latin alphabet can correspond to many different spellings in their native language and vice versa. It's somewhat similar to how you can't tell if it's "principal" or "principle" by just hearing the sound /prɪnsəpəl/. In this example, pronunciations and spellings are not a bijection.
This problem is particularly severe for certain names such as typical Chinese names, so some journals allow Asian authors to write their names in their native languages to mitigate the difficulty in identifying a researcher. For instance, see this editorial by American Physical Society: Which Wei Wang?
I was born, raised, and educated all the way up to my Ph.D. in Japan. But I can't tell how my namesakes in Latin alphabet would spell their names in Japanese because they may not be namesakes in our native language. The exact spelling in Latin alphabet may not always mean the same pronunciation in Japanese either.
So, there is no easy resource to resolve names in Latin alphabet back to their original spellings. Sometimes you might be able to make a fairly reliable educated guess if you're as proficient in the Asian languages as native speakers. But you'd run into the Asian version of Steven vs. Stephan and Erica vs. Erika. So, I'd recommend you ask the person(s) directly unless you have definite evidence such as a copy of a recent paper written by them in their native language.
> 2 votes
# Answer
> I am aware of this
If you're already aware of the transliteration problem but still asking the question, then I assume you have other information about the authors to help identify them, e.g., affiliations. If that's the case, I'm curious why you don't use the most useful searchable database, namely https://www.google.com/ Depending on how much information you have (and possibly how proficient in the target languages), you'll eventually be able to identify them in their native languages unless you're talking about very obscure or older-than-the-internet authors. Since the authors you want to identify wrote something in foreign languages, I think chances are they have personal or official websites that have their names both in Latin alphabet and in their native languages. If they don't, you may find some pages that help you identify them in their native languages.
I don't get why you think a database on literature is particularly useful for that purpose either. You can use any available resource. For instance, if the authors you want to identify are active Japanese researchers, you can search them in one of the researcher databases found here: http://read.jst.go.jp/ (in Japanese) http://read.jst.go.jp/index\_e.html (in English). (The English version is the first hit on google for "japanese researcher database" by the way. You'd run into these sites very frequently if you google Japanese researchers, too.)
Anyway, as an example, assume you want to know, say, the Japanese spelling of my former Ph.D. supervisor Masakazu Jimbo at Nagoya University. And you want to avoid navigating the internet in Japanese as much as possible while searching. Then, you go to the English version of Read & Researchmap, click "Researcher Search" to get to the researcher search page, and do the usual search with the information you have (i.e., the name is spelled Masakazu Jimbo and he's at Nagoya University). You'll be directed to his information in English. Then you switch to the original Japanese page by clicking 日本語 to check how to spell his name in Japanese.
Of course, you don't need to use the Read & Researchmap to know his name in Japanese. You can simply google him. If you know publication titles and his name in Latin alphabet, you can surely locate his personal website, where you can see how to spell his name in Japanese.
Exactly what kind of situation are you in? You talk about literature, so I assumed you wanted to cite/quote works by Chinese and/or Japanese authors. And you say those works are not in their native languages, which, I assume, means that you know more about the authors than just their transliterated names (unless you're trying to cite/quote them without reading them). Was the additional information you have not enough to identify them through google? Are libraries' databases and such on books etc. really the only kind you can identify them with what you already know about them? Maybe, they're from 19th centuries or something or way too obscure for the internet to be of use? Or is this question "What resources can I use to find out the correct characters for their names?" asked as a very very broad inquiry for Internet Search 101? If that's the case, it's too broad to answer because you don't tell us what you already know about the authors and why you can't identify them through usual means like google.
> 2 votes
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Tags: research-process, citations, language, quotation
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thread-10369 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10369 | Do you have to have a PhD to be a PI on a grant for your own funding? | 2013-06-01T05:17:50.240 | # Question
Title: Do you have to have a PhD to be a PI on a grant for your own funding?
Do you have to have a PhD in order to become a PI on a grant for your own funding?
What if you only have a Bachelor's or a Master's degree, and are not even working towards a PhD?
# Answer
> 9 votes
As Nate Eldredge points out, who qualifies as an eligible PI varies widely between different programs. However, in general, one important distinction can usually be cited: you must be a *professional* researcher (as opposed to a student or trainee) to be eligible to submit a direct grant. Students would normally need to have their advisors submit the grant proposals on their behalf.
You need to consult the specific rules of the grant you're interested in applying for. Moreover, if you are at an institution that often applies for grants, you should check with the local grants administration office for more guidance. They may have internal policies regarding for whom they will submit grants.
It is also important to note that different countries and different agencies have varying standards. Here in Germany, for instance, you *must* have the equivalent of a doctoral degree to be eligible to be the coordinating Principal Investigator of a proposal. You can participate as a team member without a doctoral degree, but not be a principal investigator.
# Answer
> 6 votes
It very much depends on the grant in question. For example, while most grants in the United States need a PhD (and often university rules dictate more than a PhD, like not giving grant-writing privileges to adjuncts), there are often smaller grant programs that expressly allow non-PhD PIs.
For example, my university has a translational research program that has pilot project grants, to help researchers generate the preliminary data that is so important for major grant submissions. Whole the $5,000 and $50,000 tiers are restricted to non-adjunct faculty, there is also a $2,000 tier that merely requires a faculty mentor on the project, and is specifically targeted toward graduate student PIs.
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Tags: funding
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thread-10381 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10381 | Is it possible to recover after a career setback such as this? | 2013-06-01T22:30:39.127 | # Question
Title: Is it possible to recover after a career setback such as this?
My husband got a math PhD in 2009, and could not get a research post-doc in his chosen field. We had young children at that point, and he spent two years as a lecturer, applied for hundreds of jobs, and finally took a tenure-track job at a teaching university. Now, he honestly believes that a research position is impossible for him. He loves to teach, but hates the endless grind of "administrivia", the low pay, and the mental laziness of the students he's required to teach.
I have insisted on him getting counselling, but he refuses to take anyone's encouragement that other jobs are possible, saying things like, "You just don't know the academic world. If I go to the NSA, no one will hire me in an academic position. If I become an actuary (because we do need more money) then all of my time will be sucked into studying for exams, and I still won't be able to do research." In his mind, no one in our circle of loved ones has the authority or experience to give him accurate encouragement. Is a research position possible after spending time at a teaching university? Would he be able to get back into academia if he had to leave to do actuarial work/industry/something that helps pay the bills?
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Update.
He spoke with a mentor of his from undergrad, and was given incredibly specific guidance on where to go from here. His teaching load is so heavy, (4/4 or 4/3) and the mentor gave him a few places to apply to in his field where the teaching load is more conducive to *some* research, but is not at a research-specific university. (3/3 or even 3/2!!!) He plans on speaking to his advisor, getting some *glowing* letters of recommendation, and starting a job search soon.
# Answer
> 88 votes
The situation you describe is unfortunately common. It is an unfortunate reality that the number of people well qualified for research jobs is greater than the number of jobs.
A few notes:
* Hiring committees will be looking for good publications, and for recommendation letters coming from leaders in the field attesting to your husband's impact and further potential. If he continues to do good research, publish it in well-known venues, and speak about it at conferences, then he has a good chance. If not, then unfortunately he is competing with people who are.
* Most of the complaints you mention are common at research jobs as well. I teach at a large state university, where we have our share of poorly prepared students, and/or students who are just going through the motions. Indeed a Harvard professor once quipped to me that "we have remedial classes here, too".
* I do know people who have successfully moved from one teaching position to a different teaching position, and been much happier afterwards. Some departments have more motivated students, pay better, and/or do a better job of keeping the paperwork down, and your husband could look for one of these.
* I know people who have taken a variety of non-academic mathematical jobs, and for the most part they are quite happy with them!
The bottom line is that your husband can probably get a research job *if* he can sustain a very strong research program during the interim. Otherwise, there are likely to be appealing alternatives as well.
Good luck!
# Answer
> 76 votes
> Is a research position possible after spending time at a teaching university?
Yes, it's possible. There's a mild stigma to applying from a teaching university, since it advertises lack of success getting a research job in the past. Because of the high ratio of candidates to positions, academic hiring is often risk averse and the perception that nobody else wants a candidate will worry search committees. However, this can be overcome.
One thing to keep in mind is that the past difficulties could simply have been bad luck. Even very strong candidates typically do not get many job offers, and bad luck can easily change "a few" into "zero".
It's possible to strengthen one's application by writing additional papers, but this generally requires *better* papers or more papers *per year*, since search committees will normalize for time: if you've spent longer they will expect more. However, the focus is more on the future than the past. If you have a productive few years and show signs of maintaining that productivity in the future, it can make up for fallow periods in the past. If you quit publishing, then the chances of a research job will rapidly drop to zero until you resume publishing. (There are a lot of people who would like to do research but aren't prepared to actually do it, since they aren't up on the current research literature. You can't get a research job unless you demonstrate that you aren't one of these people.)
In an ideal world, search committees would also normalize for the applicants' circumstances. For example, research productivity at a teaching university would be viewed as evidence that the candidate would be even more productive at a research university. Unfortunately, in practice these effects are often underestimated or not taken into account at all.
One possibility is that there's something wrong with your husband's application. For example, maybe his research statement is not compelling, or one of his letter writers is insufficiently supportive, or maybe one of them does not know how to write an effective letter of recommendation. (You'd think that should never happen, but some well-established mathematicians simply do not know how to write effective recommendation letters. If his thesis advisor is one of them, and the other letter writers are less energetic since they assume the advisor will make a strong case, then it could be really bad for his job search.) I'd guess that 5-10% of job applicants have something seriously wrong with their application that they seem totally unaware of. This is a low fraction, so your husband probably isn't one of them, but if possible he should discuss all aspects of his application with a trusted mentor who has guided numerous students to the sort of job your husband would like. Sadly, he may not have such a mentor, but it's good to keep an eye out for one. For example, if he strikes up a conversation at a conference with a senior mathematician who seems approachable, it's worth asking for job search advice.
> He thought a hiring committee would scoff at the lower output of papers done by someone in a teaching job vs. someone churning out problems in a research post-doc. He even wondered if not having "XYZ Awesome Post-Doc" on his CV would trump any research he did.
Lower productivity because of other duties is a serious factor here. The CV prestige issue is real but considerably less important: prestige might serve as a tie breaker but won't get anyone a job if their actual accomplishments aren't commensurate.
Letters of recommendation will be by far the most important factor. What your husband needs is really strong letters that address his circumstances, talk about how impressive his research is and why, and explicitly make the case that he belongs at a research university. Letter writers generally recycle letters from year to year with some updates to incorporate recent papers. If his letters are not updated to address the teaching/research university issue, then they will not help him. In particular, if they don't say in strong terms that he ought to be at a research university, then they'll be viewed as damning him with faint praise.
This is something he can discuss with each letter writer, along these lines: "As you know, I've been working at University X for the last couple of years. It's great to be in a tenure-track job, but I'd really like to work at a research university. To move to one, I'll need letters of recommendation that address this issue and make a strong case that I should be at a research university. Would you be comfortable writing such a letter for me? Of course I'll understand if you can't write one, since I know I'm asking a lot, but I'd rather ask someone else than waste everyone's time with an application that doesn't have the support it needs."
This is an awkward conversation, but it's much better to ask than to leave it to chance.
> Would he be able to get back into academia if he had to leave to do actuarial work/industry/something that helps pay the bills?
It's possible he could get another teaching-oriented job, although it's by no means a sure thing. It would help a lot if he could spin the other work as informing his teaching. For example, he could teach actuarial mathematics or incorporate realistic industrial applications. In that case the non-academic experience could be an advantage; otherwise applying from outside academia would put him at a moderate disadvantage.
Unfortunately, the chances of getting a research-oriented academic job from industry are low (assuming the industrial job is not at a prestigious research lab like Bell Labs). There are people who have done it, but it's not likely or easy. Few people can maintain a high-quality research program on the side with no support while holding a full-time job, and this is necessary for returning to a research university. In particular, there's virtually no chance of returning based solely on having done research in the past, without having actively continued in the meantime.
The way it typically plays out is that you reluctantly go to industry intending to maintain your research and keep applying for academic jobs. For the first year or two, you complete and write up work you began in academia, and it feels like everything is going well, but your job applications don't do any better than they had before: you've got a more substantial research track record, but your industrial position emphasizes your inability to get a job in the past. Still, you figure that accumulating more papers will eventually tip the balance in your favor. Unfortunately, the next few years don't go as well. It's hard to find the time for research, you have few people to talk to or derive inspiration from, and progress is slow. However, you're gradually getting somewhere, so you figure it will just take a little longer. A few years after that, you start to lose your resolve to do research at all. Even if your applications were successful, would you really want to take a 50% pay cut, give up your job security, and move to another city to restart your career? And it's hard to keep your focus on an incredibly time-consuming hobby that seems like it may never lead anywhere professionally. You quit applying to anything but dream jobs you're pretty sure you won't get, and eventually you give up on them as well.
The good news is that this path doesn't generally end in depression, but rather the discovery that there are plenty of fulfilling life paths outside of research universities. It's by no means a bad outcome. However, leaving academia for industry can be really stressful if you want to return to a research university, since you have to either give up or work like hell to maintain your research program.
# Answer
> 23 votes
I'm going to disagree a little bit with the other answers. This is a frustrating situation. Unfortunately, as Anonymous stated, the number of qualified mathematicians exceeds the number of academic research positions. This makes a difficult position.
I fear your husband might have accurately assessed the situation. While I appreciate the suggestion others made of continuing to do research on his own time, this is very difficult. If you have a full-time non-research position and a family, that doesn't leave a lot of time for research -- so it's very hard to sustain a level of research output that will be competitive with the competition. Also, others who do have a research faculty position may have students and collaborators, which further boosts their research output; your husband won't have that advantage. So, while in principle your husband could continue research on his own time to try to build a research portfolio in hopes that this leads to a tenure-track academic research position, in practice your husband is at a disadvantage. He would be climbing up a steep hill.
My suggestion would be for him to get advice from someone more senior who he respects. Is it worth his time for him to continue his research on his own time, and continue applying to hundreds of research positions each year for the next few years? Maybe, or maybe it's a waste of time.
Alternatively, perhaps he might consider other career alternatives. Rather than being entirely set on an academic research position, maybe he should consider other career paths. Even if he has his mind set on an academic research position right now, I suspect there are a number of other directions where he could be happy. Maybe he should consider the actuarial path, or consider a NSA job? Or consider Wall Street (a job in the financial sector)? Maybe he could teach himself computer programming on his own time and pursue a job in the computing industry? Perhaps there are other opportunities. This kind of change is scary and requires some courage, which is undoubtedly especially difficult when you are depressed: your support will undoubtedly be helpful to him.
A third option is to find things to love in his current teaching position. I certainly sympathize with the trials; they are real, and a drag, to be sure. On the other hand, there's a lot to love about teaching, too. You get to help young students discover the beauty of mathematics: even if it's just one out of a class of 30 students who finds a real passion, that can be very satisfying and rewarding. Unfortunately, the administrivia and the laziness of students is a constant in academia and would probably be present even if he found a research position; the trick with dealing with them is to find other things in his life that are rewarding and satisfying, and focus on them. For instance, perhaps he might enjoy doing math research in his own time, not with the goal or any illusions that it will lead to any research position, but entirely for its own sake: for the love and pleasure and beauty of it. Or maybe he might offer to set up a special enrichment seminar or program for students who do love math to learn more: maybe run a program to prepare for the Putnam exam or Math Olympiad. If he offers to do this on his own time, as an overload, I imagine his department chair would jump at the opportunity, and it might provide a chance to do something rewarding and fulfilling for him and be a great inspiration to a few students. Or maybe he might find something else in his job that is rewarding and worth doing.
# Answer
> 17 votes
Yes. It is possible. Because I know this guy who had been in exactly the same situation except that he got his math Ph.D. a few years earlier than your husband, and got a job at a reputable research university. If he's somehow believing that a prestigious postdoc position is necessary, I know a person who ended up in a gratuitous position for a short while and then landed on a very prestigious postdoc job in math. In both cases, they had strong publication records and also convinced other researchers in the same fields that they are something.
Of course, there must be way more math Ph.D.'s who wanted jobs at research universities but got stuck somewhere else than those who succeeded. So, it's true that, statistically speaking, chances are very slim, especially if he himself doesn't think he can make it. But there are things he's in control of, and he can make the probability fatter. Do good research, publish it, and show others what you're made of.
Ah, I almost forgot. If he's looking for a job this year in combinatorics, information theory, coding theory or quantum information science, well, sorry, but he should wait another year. There is a talking duckling in California looking for that sort of job this year, and that duckling should get it. I know your kids are super cute, and they want their dad to be happy, too. But this duckling is even cuter. If your husband's field is different, then no problem. Kick his butt and tell him to apply to as many jobs as possible with his awesome publication list he's going to develop and strong recommendation letters he's going to get (unless his depression needs a professional help. In that case, that should be fixed first, I think). Good luck!
# Answer
> 12 votes
I am in a very similar situation as your husband, as a high school teacher very much wishing to be in research. So, I can empathise with your husband's and your dilemma (as it definitely affects family and friends as well).
Everyone's situation is different, but I can tell you how I cope in general. Knowing that postdocs are few and far between, I cope by continuing my own research as much as I can in the spare time I have - getting papers published and continuing to build my research profile.
Research positions are indeed possible after teaching, but as an insurance I would advise still publishing work and developing his research profile.
I hope this helps (and I hope good luck finds you and your husband).
# Answer
> 0 votes
I've not read other opinions however here is mine,
Since your husband wants to do research in Math, he is lucky, because he does not require high end instruments to do his stuff. So he basically can do research wherever and whenever he wants, meaning, he need not be in a specific place to do his research. In the mean time he can get employed in a place where he can earn money using his skills.
So while his research is done at home, he can work elsewhere till he feels that his research has matured enough to require a lot of attention. Once his work is publicized I'm sure there will be a lot of people to come forward and assist. Some of us developers use and believe in open technology as the future, hence we publish whatever we do for the benefit of the world. He can create a blog to update the world about his research.
He can use social media to find and meet people with similar interests or even conduct teaching sessions to people whom *he* wants to teach for a fee or for free. Example Google hangouts. Using the internet will give him better exposure than the closed walls of any university.
I help my father with his automobile business and then follow my passion at home, I don't know if any of my work is worthy of being called research but bits of it I publicize is certainly helping people who wants to learn :) .
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Tags: mathematics, career-path
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thread-10396 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10396 | Am I too old for academia after a PhD? | 2013-06-02T07:22:11.123 | # Question
Title: Am I too old for academia after a PhD?
Currently, I am applying for PhD positions at United States and Canadian Universities. I will be 35 when I start my PhD in Computer Science/Machine Learning, and probably I will finish it around the age of 40.
Will I be banished from academic positions considering a possible PostDoc time and what about industry positions ? Should I plan my study towards industry or academia from the research perspective ?
# Answer
## No.
Age discrimination is illegal in the US and (I assume) Canada. If you're worried, just don't put your date of birth on your CV. Most people don't.
Hiring committees just don't care how old you are. All that matters is the quality and impact of your research.
> 11 votes
# Answer
I doubt you'll get banished, then again, I am in the same boat - though I'll be finishing my PhD by the time I am 37. Though, I think it will be a bit harder for us, but not terribly so.
Look at it this way, I presume you have alot more practical workplace experience, that will be to your benefit.
> 4 votes
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Tags: graduate-admissions, graduate-school, age
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thread-10398 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10398 | How is a Masters different from the first two years of a PhD in the same field? | 2013-06-02T08:07:55.590 | # Question
Title: How is a Masters different from the first two years of a PhD in the same field?
I'm interested in Neuroscience research but haven't quite made up my mind about what sub-field I want to specialize in. I think taking courses from various sub-fields will help me take a decision. Should I go for a Masters first or a PhD directly? If I go for a PhD, will I have enough time at the beginning of my PhD to explore different areas and then choose a supervisor, say after around 2 years into the program?
# Answer
> 0 votes
There are two different types of Masters - taught masters and research masters.
In England, a research masters allows you to work, on rotation, around 3 labs in the year, and you can pick and choose from different sub-fields. This is hugely beneficial because it exposes you to different sub-fields, but more importantly because it exposes you to different work dynamics and environments, allow you to cope better in your PhD; furthermore, you'll make more contacts (which is all that matters in research - reputation and recommendations) and learn from different people. It'll give you the confidence to know, during your PhD, whether you are right or wrong.
The downside is that it takes you one more year and there is no guarantee you'll get a PhD after, and there is also the extra cost - most funding bodies do not fund a one year masters. However, if you apply for a 4-year Masters with PhD, funding options are more generous.
I can only speak for England, unsure about other countries, but the same principles apply. (my own opinion is that MRes is good if you can afford it)
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Tags: phd, masters
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thread-10401 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10401 | How do you cite articles from a "database?" | 2013-06-02T09:39:48.660 | # Question
Title: How do you cite articles from a "database?"
Cochrane reviews are great to cite in academic publications due to their systematic nature but I have no idea how to cite them in APA style because there's no obvious volume or issue to use in the citation. Here's a reference I've already tried, albeit awaiting on the volume and issuing numbers I'm meant to give.
```
Linde K., Berner M. M., Kriston L. (2008). St John's wort for major depression.
The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD000448.pub3.
PMID 18843608.
```
# Answer
> 8 votes
The first two sources of information about such questions are
* The publisher of the database may have specified how they want to be cited.
In fact, The Cochrane Collaboration has such guidelines:
* The APA style guide may have said something already about this data base.
This is also the case:
+ How to Cite Cochrane Reviews in APA Style
They explain how a journal article style should be used with year as volume and monthly issue:
> Singh, J., Kour, K., & Jayaram Mahesh, B. (2012). Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors for schizophrenia. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2012(1), 1–101. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD007967.pub2
* If these would not have lead to the required information, a more general idea is:
Following the DOI of your example, I end up at a page of the Cochrane library that also has a tab "Cited by". You could have a look there how other people actually cite the report.
* If all this had failed, I'd propably have gone for a technical report style citation.
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Tags: citations
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thread-10354 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10354 | Scientific presentations - black or white? | 2013-05-31T17:06:38.270 | # Question
Title: Scientific presentations - black or white?
At most scientific conferences and talks I have attended, the speakers generally present black text on white backgrounds, which I personally find rather dull. Is there any reason / explicit convention which should stop one from presenting light coloured text on a dark background?
# Answer
Conferences tend to take place indoors in dimly-lit rooms. Dimly-lit rooms are a good place to fall asleep. Using a white background helps avoid this. Also, dark text/lines on a white background are easier to read (I've seen more than one study showing this).
If you are going to be showing a lot of astronomy or fluorescence biology images, where the image is mostly black with some interesting colorful things in it, you probably want a black or dark background for at least those slides; at some point you should just switch over. Also, if it is essential to understanding for the viewer to discriminate many shades of color, it's easier with a black background because you can use a wide variety of discriminable pastel colors that would be washed out to invisibility on a white background. You can't even use saturated yellow or cyan on a white background and expect it to be seen.
But for most scientific presentations there are good reasons for a light colored background.
> 17 votes
# Answer
In HCI/information science many conference presentations, especially in the best conferences like CHI or CSCW, tend to have nice colored backgrounds. I would even argue that in certain sub-fields of HCI or information science, just having a vanilla black or white colored background tends to be the exception rather than the norm.
This is a brilliant compilation of best paper awards in many sub-disciplines of computer science. A simple google search will often yield the conference presentations and slides of them. Under CHI, you will find that very often, the slides are rather innovative when it comes to the color scheme.
> 1 votes
# Answer
Most private companies have their specific color schemes and logos that must be shown on every slide. That's just the way it goes in industry. So it's just a matter of hitting the right conference :). I am pretty sure that at communication science conventions, you won't see any single white background presentation (or black background, for that matter).
Ideally, the color scheme should be a nice touch to your presentation, not a decisive point. The content should play the more important role, and the font size is arguably more important than the color it shows in: if nobody can read your font 6, what's the point of the slide? On some ways to make your presentations more effective without using multiple nested hierarchies of bullet points, see this multiple award winning one.
> 1 votes
# Answer
Whether light foreground on dark background or vice versa is easier to see depends on the light conditions of the presentation room.
Projectors are still not very powerful: the white of a projector will usually not stand out even against a comparably dim room illumination.
If it is really dark, bright foreground on dark background allows to show more shades of colour and brightness. Because the projectors are not too powerful, the risk of uncomfortably bright foreground is not very high.
If the room is not really dark, bright foreground on dark background may be very hard to see, as the eyes adapt to the overall light conditions and few projectors are powerful enough to make white text on a black (= grey because of surrounding illumination) stand out enough to be easily readable.
Note how the projectors becoming more powerful allowed a transition from white-on-black in really dark rooms (which were needed because the white was not that bright) to black-on-white in rooms with a dimmed overall illumination.
> 1 votes
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Tags: presentation, seminars
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thread-10340 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10340 | Is it illegal to share publications not in the public domain with collaborators? | 2013-05-31T10:18:15.360 | # Question
Title: Is it illegal to share publications not in the public domain with collaborators?
Back in my university days, I got into the habit of saving papers I had to read to my hard disk. At first I did this simply to organize them more conveniently, and have quicker access to them.
However, my reasons for saving those papers to disk gradually changed as graduation approached. In the end, I saved ***a lot*** of papers, because at one point I realized that I had unrestricted, unlimited, free access to an absolutely fantastic source of richness, and that soon after graduation, I'd lose all of that.
Years later, I now frequently end up in discussions, or get asked questions, or otherwise end up at a point where a common access to one of those papers really helps to progress the discussion. I often just send that paper around without thinking twice about it, more because I believe that's how science should work than anything else.
I believe most of those papers are however *not* in the public domain, meaning, people not associated with a university or other institution that has access, can *not* access the paper without some payment to its official publisher.
So is any of this legal? If not, what are the possible repercussions for me personally, and for the people I sent it to?
I realize this is a touchy issue, and there are many initiatives to open scientific publications up for the general public. A related question would be: do these initiatives (like all of these) exist partly because of this reason?
# Answer
> 8 votes
> So is any of this legal?
Unless your sharing falls under fair use in your particular country (and with the Internet, sharing online is a tricky business anyway), you should not share the papers.
If you want to share the papers, linking to the original source is the best option, and Google Scholar or other online repositories can get you pretty far with a lot of material. If you can't find an online source, you are limited to providing a cite and hope that whoever wants to find the article can use their library to source it.
> If not, what are the possible repercussions for me personally, and for the people I sent it to?
Practically? Unless you are sharing the files openly to a broad audience (i.e., so they are available online), no one is going to track you down to sue you. I would avoid linking directly to articles that aren't behind a paywall, but emailing them to people you are collaborating with is unlikely to cause you any trouble.
# Answer
> 5 votes
As your user page indicates that you are in Germany, you may be interested in §53 UrhG:
> (2) Zulässig ist, einzelne Vervielfältigungsstücke eines Werkes herzustellen oder herstellen zu lassen
>
> 1. zum eigenen wissenschaftlichen Gebrauch, wenn und soweit die Vervielfältigung zu diesem Zweck geboten ist und sie keinen gewerblichen Zwecken dient,
(Rough translation:
*(2) it is permitted to make or let be made single copies of a work<br>1. for personal scientific use, if and as far as copying is needed for this reason and is not for commercial reasons,*
)
which is a kind of continental european fair use policy.
Working in science I think that putting papers I read in a personal private archive is needed - if only to be able to answer specific claims or questions about papers I cite in my papers, presentations, ....
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Tags: publications, copyright, legal-issues
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thread-10406 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10406 | Should I add descriptions of courses taught on my CV | 2013-06-02T13:50:11.700 | # Question
Title: Should I add descriptions of courses taught on my CV
I'm working on my CV right now. I have been teaching EFL at a university for 2 years. It has been my first university position. I am planning on applying at universities back in the States soon. I am educationally-qualified (meaning, I have the degrees required), however I do not have much experience (6 years teaching, only 2 university). I wanted to list as much information as possible, so I have been writing about each course I have taught (about 6 different courses). I have included course name, objective, textbook, and course highlights (meaning unique projects that would set my courses apart). I am wondering if this is necessary or useful?
# Answer
A brief description of the courses you've taught is never remiss, as it helps reviewers place your teaching work into context. This is especially important for teaching-primary positions. However, for many positions, you also have the ability (or requirement) to submit a "teaching statement." This would be a place, for instance, where you could discuss your unique projects.
What I would certainly want people to know about in the courses I taught:
* Full course name
* Whether they were required or elective
* The intended audience (e.g., "freshmen" or "upper-year undergraduates and graduates in the major")
* How long (how many times) you taught the course
* Did you have sole responsibility, or was it co-taught
* Format of the class (lecture, seminar, laboratory, etc.)
* A brief description of the course, if its nature cannot be inferred from the title (for example, "Introduction to US History to 1865" doesn't need an explanation; "The Critical Period" would.)
Other information could be listed on a "courses taught" appendix, but I might not necessarily include it directly in the CV.
> 10 votes
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Tags: cv
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thread-10409 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10409 | Waiting until MS thesis is Published before applying to PhD? | 2013-06-02T20:23:50.860 | # Question
Title: Waiting until MS thesis is Published before applying to PhD?
I was wondering if it would be a good Idea for me to wait until after my MS program is completed and my thesis is published before applying to a PhD program. There is no chance of me publishing my thesis before the December/January deadline of the fall 2013-14 admissions cycle as I am only 2 semesters into my program and the project I am doing doesn't necessarily move as fast as other projects.
Its important to note that I have NO publications at this point, but I do have two presentations at international conferences. Also, my ugrad Gpa was slightly higher than a 3.0... and my Masters GPA is a 3.7. I'm also in the Geosciences, if that matters
So with all that in mind, would it be a good Idea to wait until that publication comes in before applying to PhD ?
# Answer
## No.
Why rob yourself of potential opportunities? Your chances of admission might be less than if you had a publication, but they're certainly bigger than if you don't apply at all. If you aren't admitted anywhere, you can always apply again next year, after your thesis is done.
> 10 votes
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Tags: phd, graduate-admissions, career-path
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thread-10415 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10415 | How to get a .edu email address as an independent mathematician? | 2013-06-03T06:53:21.497 | # Question
Title: How to get a .edu email address as an independent mathematician?
I am a hobbyist mathematician in China. I study maths by myself and make some course videos to teach commutative algebra, functional analysis and other topics on the internet, like the Khan Academy and MIT open courses.
Now I need a .edu email to get into some sites such as ResearchGate and arxiv. Is there any organisation that will help me like this: I show them some material, such as videos and papers, and if they think I am no weaker than some college teachers at least, they would give me a .edu email?
# Answer
Of course, becoming a student or staff member is one way to get a university email. Some institutions provide alumni email.
Many universities have various unpaid affiliates. Such affiliates are sometimes eligible for a university email. However, such affiliates are often expected to contribute to the school, faculty, or university. For example, you might publish with the university as your affiliation or you might give occasional lectures or you might supervise a research student. These sorts of affiliations are typically obtained by building up a relationship with some academics in a given department and making enquiries.
> 8 votes
# Answer
As a researcher whose is that of a very small university in Europe, whose domain name and institutional email addresses do not end in `.edu` (nor in `.ac.uk` or any other recognizable pattern): **any website that uses email domains as filters has a fallback mechanism** (or exception handler) that you can reach if your own email address doesn't fit into the patterns they recognize. It may take some explaining, though…
> 7 votes
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Tags: email, independent-researcher
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thread-10420 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10420 | Academic bullies | 2013-06-03T10:27:07.743 | # Question
Title: Academic bullies
A question if I may, about appropriate methods of dealing with academic bullies (or as one of my students call them "wannabe nemesis"). What would be the best, most dignified way to 'overcome' them, while protecting your own research interests andreputation?
To clarify what I mean by an academic bully - first and foremost, I am not referring to those that offer critiques in any constructive forms (even in an aggressive manner), I am referring to the academics that who, for whatever reason (usually due to disgreeing with research findings or feeling threatened by 'newcomers' to the research field), decide to go on the offensive with insults, threats, and the like.
Finally, I am referring to, if the communication is direct (by email. letter or in person).
# Answer
As you point out there is usually some personal (psychological) reason for such behaviour, particularly if it is repeated/continuous. I believe the first thing to do is to avoid to go by insinct and "fight back". Obviously the correct response will rely on the type of communication/accusation but keeping a calm and cool tone is the best. Keep all replies very short and avoid emotional touches at all costs. "Thank your for your opinion." (or something along those lines) is enough to have provided a response while practically ending the correspondence since there is nothing more to reply to. To try to "kill" the conversation by not providing fuel is the way to go. In verbal communications a simple "OK" can be enough. Then try to walk away at the first opportunity.
Bad behaviour is otherwise best fought with good science and academic professionality and one must try to find moral support in situations like this so that ones self-confidence is not shattered. There are many destructive behaviours that affect us, some temporary some part of (or deficiency in) a personality. There is however, no reason to go into mud-slinging with such persons unless they express clearly unethical opinions but then the question is at a different level.
> 17 votes
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Tags: etiquette
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thread-10423 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10423 | Planning nondegree classes | 2013-06-03T11:11:50.307 | # Question
Title: Planning nondegree classes
I am thinking of registering for nondegree classes at a local university to give an impression to future admission comitee that my GPA does not really reflect me. But I have some concerns. How should I choose which courses to take.
If some *internationally **known*** professor gives an introductory course e.g. Introduction to Algorithms and if another *internationally **unknown*** one offers advanced graduate course, which one should I choose first ? Consider the future recommendation letters to United States schools I would expect from them.
# Answer
The reputation of the faculty member helps somewhat, but is nowhere near as useful as the *quality of the recommendation letter.* A letter from a famous person who doesn't really know you outside of the classroom (or doesn't know you at all) isn't nearly as helpful as an in-depth evaluation from someone you know well, and who knows you well.
However, I find the notion that you would taking an introductory course versus an advanced elective somewhat concerning. In general, if you are looking to buttress a graduate-school application, evidence that you can handle graduate-level work in the field matters far more than having a Big Name write you a weak letter.
> 5 votes
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Tags: graduate-school, graduate-admissions
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thread-10411 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10411 | How to cite lecture notes? (and should I even do this?) | 2013-06-02T19:32:00.080 | # Question
Title: How to cite lecture notes? (and should I even do this?)
When learning a new subject, I would frequently use lecture notes found somewhere in the Internet. When writing a paper (or a master thesis, as in my case, but the rules should be similar, I believe) one should give some reference for used results which are not common knowledge, if I understand correctly. This make me wonder: what do I do if I want to reference a result I found in some notes?
The natural thing to do would be to just add these notes to bibliography. What format would be preferable for this? Note that there will generally not be much publishing information, perhaps not even a definite year and place. (A BibTeX template would be .)
Secondly, is it OK to cite such materials as a reference?
# Answer
You should make a good-faith effort to find and cite original source of the results (to give proper credit). You should only cite the lecture notes if (1) they *are* the original source, or (2) the original source is inaccessible, either literally (out of print or unpublished) or figuratively (written in a foreign language, with excessive generality or formality, or just badly).
Finding the original source may require significantly more scholarly diligence on your part than the author of the lecture notes, since most lecture-note authors (including myself) are fairly sloppy with references. Such is life.
> 18 votes
# Answer
To my taste, citations are fulfilling several purposes, some of which may not be fulfillable simultaneously. So, one should be honest about where one found a result, even if the source is not widely available. Thus, cite (in the best, most usable form possible) the lecture notes. Still, yes, *accessible* sources meet another criterion, namely, helping readers reproduce/understand your results.
Edit: in light of various comments and other answers... another purpose served by spending *some* (not unlimited) time finding original sources (even while being honest about the source one actually *used* or \_learned\_from\_) is to give at least a lower bound for the age (and locale of origin) of the idea. Nevertheless, at the same time, it certainly *can* happen that a much later exposition does a much better job of explaining... after all, benefiting from hindsight.
Yet another reason to exert some effort to credit original sources is to dampen a bit a tendency that otherwise can dominate, namely, some form of "Great Man/Woman" syndrome, in which a very few people are portrayed as being responsible for nearly all good, big ideas.
> 8 votes
# Answer
From a general point of view, lecture notes are gray literature, meaning they might **lack standard bibliographic metadata** (you mentioned the year and place), may be harder to track down for readers, or not long-term available. Thus, one should generally **prefer to cite conventional literature** (such as books or articles in journals) over gray literature.
For a masters thesis, it should be fine to cite gray literature, but do check with your advisor. When you do so, you might as well discuss the format he'd recommend for citation. If you found the lecture notes online, one idea would be to **cite it as online source**, where key metadata would be the URL and the date of access.
In contrast to a masters thesis, many publishers **discourage or forbid the citation of gray literature** for journal papers. So if you want to make a paper from the thesis and the citation is essential, you would have to find the original source.
> 5 votes
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Tags: publications, citations, reference-request
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thread-10428 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10428 | How much value do papers without new scientific information have, i.e. seminar papers such as overviews of or examples for current methods in CS? | 2013-06-03T15:08:04.153 | # Question
Title: How much value do papers without new scientific information have, i.e. seminar papers such as overviews of or examples for current methods in CS?
So I wrote a seminar paper in grad school (MSc) with examples on how companies use method x to improve their security. It includes zero *original* research, no new methods and it would never ever be published in a journal, because the substance is really not there.
It gives a theoretical background of the problems itself and then different current examples from 2 companies that I researched over the internet and a conclusion. Thus, not only academic sources but also other sources (companies) are used and it basically shows the **application of academic concepts**.
Other researchers could use this paper to potentially find ways on how to dig deeper and how to address some problems specifically, but I did not point something like that out myself.
**My question:**
Does this count as research and does it make sense to hand those kind of papers to PhD admission departments?
# Answer
> 11 votes
This is akin to a *review article*, in the sense that you're interpreting and reporting on existing work, rather than creating something new. There's nothing wrong with a review article, and many scientists do write them during their careers (but usually not before they've started a doctoral program!).
That said, while I believe that it is not nearly as good as a "standard" research paper in establishing one's capabilities to do *original* research, it may have some merit. If the schools to which you are applying allow you to submit additional documentation, then you could consider sending it in, if you believe it is of sufficient quality.
# Answer
> 3 votes
I would also say yes, primarily as your research and analytical methods could be considered as original research - this aspect could possibly be refined and submitted as a paper. Definitely do submit your work as part of your PhD application, perhaps with a focus on the methodology that you used and an evaluation of the method.
# Answer
> 2 votes
I would say yes, it is good to show this if you are planning to apply for grad school as a way to show your capability for conducting research, your interest, knowledge of the topic and dedication. It might, or not, give a potential adviser a hint of your capability. Then, if the paper is or not mature or appropriate for a peer-reviewed journal would not, in principle, be an issue for the purpose you mention.
# Answer
> 2 votes
In the Definition section of Research Wiki page,
> A broad definition of research is given by Martyn Shuttleworth - "In the broadest sense of the word, the definition of research includes any gathering of data, information and facts for the advancement of knowledge".
I think your paper counts as research. I would hand those kind of papers to PhD admission departments if I were you. At the very least, the paper shows that you have the research potential even if it contains no original idea or new methods.
However, you need to make sure the paper is of good quality. If the quality is poor, it could have negative effects. You probably want some experts (like your advisor) review it before you send it out.
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Tags: computer-science, seminars
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thread-10451 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10451 | Is it advisable to upload theses to the arXiv? | 2013-06-04T17:37:06.720 | # Question
Title: Is it advisable to upload theses to the arXiv?
I'm currently uploading my MRes thesis to my university website, but I have some doubts regarding the permanence of the link as it may change after I graduate. I do not have many illusions over who may want to read my thesis in the future, but I would like to have a link to give to people or to put on papers in the future without fear of the link breaking in the near/mid/far future. Additionally, I know that having it available in a place spiders are more likely to look makes it (marginally) more visible to web searches and thus more discoverable.
A quick search turns up a good bunch of PhD theses, but it doesn't say how many there aren't very many MSc or BSc theses in there. My reading on this is that it is OK but by no means a standard practice.
Before I upload it though, I would like to know if there are reasons *not* to put it in such a public place. I am after all a bit of an arXiv fanatic and there may be factors I'm not considering. Any thoughts?
# Answer
There doesn't seem to be any real restriction on publishing theses of any kind to arXiv. Therefore, whether you choose to do so is a decision that should be made between you and your advisor, taking into account any regulations your school may have. If your work has been funded by an external agency or company, you should also take their requirements under advisement.
However, so long as your topic falls under arXiv's category guidelines, and there are no restrictions preventing you, there isn't much to lose by submitting the *final* version of your thesis to a public repository. It would ensure far greater visibility for your thesis than if it's left on your university's website alone.
> 23 votes
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Tags: thesis, arxiv
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thread-10452 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10452 | Prolonging undergraduate school to do research | 2013-06-04T18:29:48.077 | # Question
Title: Prolonging undergraduate school to do research
I am an electrical engineering (communications) undergraduate student. But my main interest is physics ( and/or CS, esp. it's common fields with physics - *but it doesn't affect my question here* ), and I want to pursue my graduate studies in physics or computer science. However for application, as an engineering student I'm at a disadvantage as
* I think my major is not considered *rigorous enough* by people in those fields
* I don't have much (official) coursework in those fields, although I have studied (and am studying) even more than is expected from physics majors
* because of the time I've put in studying ( and more importantly, exploring different areas of) physics and computer science, my GPA so far is not good in electrical engineering.
So with these circumstances, I think the best or maybe the only way is to continue my studies in physics (and/or related areas) more seriously to do more rather good quality research projects and this way, show my ability and qualification for graduate studies in physics (and/or CS).
But, doing so I'll need more time for these additional studies and projects, and I think I have to stay one year more at undergraduate school (5 years). Is this considered a negative point in application for graduate school?
# Answer
> 8 votes
## No.
**Nobody cares how long you took to graduate.** There is no advantage to graduating early, and there is no disadvantage to graduating late. It is *extremely* common for students to take more than four years to get an undergraduate degree, especially if they change majors, as you are effectively doing.
# Answer
> 2 votes
I think there are a lot of students who spend an extra year as an undergraduate, and I know of a number of very good students who have done so, and will almost certainly get into very good graduate programs.
However, that said, I think the value of the extra year as an undergraduate depends largely on what you spend that year doing:
* Will you be taking classes that will help your application to a physics program?
* How much research will you be doing, and how will it help your application? (Is it physics-related, or EE-related?)
* How strong is your GPA in your physics classes? (This won't make up for a weak GPA in EE classes, but it can at least partially mitigate it.)
* How much will it cost you to spend an extra year before starting graduate school?
As for rigor, I don't think there's as much stigma as you might think. There's far more overlap between fields now than there used to be, and engineers do things that used to be primarily in the province of physics, chemistry, and even mathematics.
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Tags: application, research-undergraduate, computer-science
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thread-10440 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10440 | Should I tell my supervisor that I will consult someone else? | 2013-06-04T10:12:57.033 | # Question
Title: Should I tell my supervisor that I will consult someone else?
I need an specific advice on a specific area (not the main one) in my PhD research (e.g. is it a good idea to include the factor x in the review and analysis of the topic y?).
As far as I know, my supervisor is not an 'expert' in this specific area.
I think that someone else, who has recently done a PhD in my department and has *good connections* with my supervisor, is an expert in that area and can help.
In academic etiquette: should I make my supervisor aware that I am asking an advice from that person?
# Answer
I would approach your supervisor with request for advice and depending on what the problem is, (s)he may recommend you speak to some other scholarly expert in the field. If (s)he doesn't, you could suggest yourself that it might be an idea to speak to some expert. Your supervisor and you could work out a viable solution.
This has happened to me numerous times during my PhD - the nature of the project meant that other scholars had to be consulted. My supervisor had no problems with this, but I made sure that I always let him know, and in many cases, he had recommended I speak to other scholars and was also able to recommend various experts.
It is always polite to keep your supervisor in the loop.
> 19 votes
# Answer
Yes. In the same tone that you use to describe finding a helpful book in the library. Consulting experts, whether in the flesh or through their published work, is a normal and expected part of doing research.
The tone of your question suggests that you are worried that your advisor might be insulted by not being consulted first. If this is a real concern, you need a new advisor.
> 18 votes
# Answer
Yes. I am a graduate student and I have done this quite a number of times. Usually its no problem. In fact my advisers have always encouraged reaching out to various people in their specializations to ask for advice.
What I do is bring up the topic and then say something like "What do you feel about me reaching out to Dr. XX or Prof. YY about feedback regarding this analysis? Or this writing?"
Usually, they are very happy to agree or suggest alternatives. I recommend that you try this approach and see what comes of it.
> 4 votes
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Tags: phd, etiquette, advisor
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thread-10448 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10448 | How do you comment on rapid improvement in a student's performance? | 2013-06-04T16:58:33.387 | # Question
Title: How do you comment on rapid improvement in a student's performance?
Sometimes, it can happen that a graduate student who is struggling on a project finally sees everything "click," and becomes far more productive. It might be due to a change in attitude, an improved work ethic, serendipitous success, or some combination of all of the above.
In writing recommendations, how do you comment on the student's rapid turnaround, without making the previous state of the work (in which the student *was* working, and clearly understood what needed to be done, but didn't have the results to show for it) seem like it was a weakness or liability *on the part of the student*. Given how real signs of weakness can cause problems for people reviewing the letters, how do you call attention to the fact that the student underwent such a startling transformation, while acknowledging the previous struggles and not harming the student's chances?
# Answer
> 12 votes
I agree with JeffE's comment -- this is an opportunity to show fantastic improvement, which looks great in a letter. If the improvement really was because of "serendipitous success," it seems that it would be difficult to sustain, unless it happens that the groundbreaking work was so monumental that it is prize-worthy (and even then, chance favors only the prepared mind).
If I'm writing a positive letter (which is almost always the case--I'll try to convince a student that I'm not the correct person if I feel I won't be able to justify a strong letter), my goal is to convince the letter-reader that I'd hire/accept the person *now*, and why. Something like the following might fit this case:
> I have been particularly impressed by X's recent work on her project, *Nuclear Powered Time Travel via a Modified Consumer Vehicle*. Despite a frustrating set of circumstances that returned limited results in the early stages of the project, her hard work and persistence led to a breakthrough that she is currently preparing for submission to *The Twin Paradox Journal*, and will undoubtedly lead to further successful results. Specifically, she was finally able to properly shield the flux-capacitor plutonium containment compartment in her design, reducing temporal errors by 99% and leading to far greater box office returns.
If the student's previous attitude, or struggles don't put her in a particularly good light, don't include them explicitly. Again, it goes back to *would I hire or accept the student now?* If you believe that by not including the specifics you're not being honest, then maybe you wouldn't feel comfortable with such a positive letter anyway.
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Tags: recommendation-letter
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thread-10458 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10458 | A comprehensive question about personal statement | 2013-06-05T02:35:07.437 | # Question
Title: A comprehensive question about personal statement
I have some questions regarding my personal statement for graduate school in math. I hope this is not the wrong place to ask. My question(s) are comprehensive and long, as the title suggests, thus I have numbered and sub-numbered the questions.
Note that these questions are targeted at schools that do not allow me to upload a CV otherwise I think half of these questions would go away.
1. **Courses**
1a) Is it silly or a waste of space to talk about your math background? Or should I assume the graduate committee already has this?
1b) Some schools I have checked out actually asked me to list out all my junior/senior courses along with their books, I guess for those schools I don’t need to? What about those who do not?
1c) Should I write or mention courses I have self-studied? Or is this completely irrelevant to them?
1d) Should I also bother explaining one W and one ‘bad’ mark that happened in the summer?
1e) Should I mention my math department is understaffed and I tried to take as many “hard” classes as possible? How understaffed? We have only at most four math classes at the senior level every year. We are so small that most junior/senior classes stop only at the introductory level.
For example, we only have: introductory PDE, introductory Number Theory, introductory Algebra, and Topology does not even exist at my university.
Very rarely do we get continuations to those courses. In comparison with all the other areas, we have quite a lot of Analysis courses, but all of them are focused in Optimization (excluding Real Analysis, we usually have one to two Analysis classes).
We have no Calculus of Variation, no Measure Theory, almost nothing.
FYI, I had to go out my way to bug a professor to request an extra Analysis course this year to the unit head and even then I am short on Math classes next year.
1. **TA experience**
2a) Should I talk about this? How will they even verify me? Because I have done some things that most TA don’t do at my university – writing exam solutions. The prof I TA’d for left everything for me to do, except the teaching and actually writing the midterms/finals. I never had a class with him, so I am not so sure about asking him to write a letter for me.
2b) I also TA’d for another prof at another campus during one summer term(same university, but different Math department), should I mention this?
**EDIT**: **I can provide a link of my exam solutions through the prof's site. I think he will give me permission, should I include this?**
3) **Research Experience**
I have *very very* little experience, so much that I could probably only write one or two short sentences about it. I also have no publication, but I think the prof I worked for can
confirm that I did do research under him.
By the way, the “research experience” I had was a problem the prof had written by hand on a math paper and he asked me to answer the question he posed. It was not an analytic problem, it was coding, graphing, and writing a report.
4) **Area of Interest.**
4a) I already know my area of interest, I am wondering if it is a good idea to write why I got interested in the first place or is this completely irrelevant to the graduate committee?
My reasons are rather absurd, I am going into my desired area because of a textbook writer and the textbook I read by him isn’t even the area I was interested in, although the writer did write a book in the subject and I was simply in love with his style of writing.
I later found out the writer’s background and plus some neat stuff I read on the Internet sealed the deal for me. If people think this reason isn’t silly or “cliché” (e.g. “I liked puzzles when I was young”), then please tell me.
4b) Also one major problem is that I can’t talk too deeply about my area of interest. i can mention specific subfields, but that's about it. For instance, if I liked Number Theory, I could mention "Analytic Number Theory" and the "Riemann Zeta" or if I liked Differential Geometry/PDE, I could mention "Geometric Analysis".
So would it be better to omit the details if I can't comment too much on the details of the subject and simply write "Number Theory"?
5) **Thesis Advisor**
I can find people and mention their names easily on my personal statement. I am just curious if I should narrow it down to only ONE person? Does it look bad that I am just listing out the people whom I want to work with instead of writing down just one name?
6) **Scholarships/Award**
I have never liked the word 'Award', so i am going to use 'Scholarship'. Do I need to mention about a scholarship I got from a professor? Again, how can I be verified for this? I think I could ask the prof who gave it to me (whom I did reasearch for) to mention/confirm this?
7) **Skills**
How much will it add to my application if I tell them I can use LaTeX (honor's thesis not required for honors degree at my university. I asked one of my profs why and even he doesn't know.), high proficiency with Mathematica, Maple, Matlab, etc...? I was going to add Photoshop, but then I realize how pointless and irrelevant that is. I can also use Python, but since I am postponed my 1st year computer science requirements till my last year I do not think they will buy this. Also my school teaches Java.
Thank you very much for reading and taking this time to read this ridiculously long question(s)
**EDIT CLARIFICATION:** I am applying to US/Canadian universities
# Answer
Some ideas on your statements/questions:
(1a)-(1b)-(1c): It seems to be your undergraduate university is not a very well known one and/or even not considered strong in mathematics. Graduate schools may be wanting to be sure you covered what they consider necessary as undergraduate mathematics. Upon being asked I'd consider sending along a short syllabus of the courses you took. I'm almost sure your university must have these things.
(1d)-(1e) Don't even mess with this unless specifically asked, which I think it's unlikely to happen.
The lack of any topology/measure theory (and perhaps more) courses in your university (or college...?) is a rather serious one, imo, and it may point, again, at some lack of elementary basis most mathematics depts. are supposed to have. in fact, I think it is likely some universities could require from you to complete several courses before they considere you as an actual candidate for graduate school in mathematics...are you sure that what you studied in that school of yours was "mathematics"? Perhaps it was something like "applied mathematics"?
I don't think serious graduate schools require TA from undergraduates. In fact, mentioning you TA'd some course before being a graduate could be considered as (another) sign of a low mathematics level in your school.
To require research? From an undergraduate? I don't think there's such a university. What could be required, imo, is good skills to "hunt" for books, papers, etc. in a mathematics library and, in our days, perhaps also in the web.
No need to dwell a lot with your area of interest. Perhaps mentioning some of the wide areas (analysis, topology, algebra) could be enough, though imo most decent graduate schools require from graduate students to take two or more rather hefty, year-long course in some of these areas, and only *later* you begin to drift towards your love... The same applies, imo, for thesis advisor.
Please do mention any scholarship-award you got that's connected to your studies. This may be rather important.
About skills: I don't think anybody will really care about it. Most probably schools will be more interested in finding out about your seriousness, love for the subject, responsibility, etc.
Good luck!
> 6 votes
# Answer
Responding to questions approximately in order:
It is not a waste of space to talk about your mathematics background. Mere course titles tell almost nothing, so it's good to explain more. Telling the *authors* of the texts used explain a lot to experienced mathematicians.
Especially if your school has a relatively weak program, and even if not, telling what self-study you've done is very important. It is all the more important as an indicator that you take initiative, are driven by curiosity about mathematics, independent of grades and structured programs.
Explaining briefly that you've had TA experience is a small plus, because almost all grad students in math are supported by TA work, so knowing in advance that you can communicate will ease the minds of admissions committee members.
Despite the contemporary pretense that undergrads "do research" between their junior and senior years, it is very rare that any sort of genuine research occurs. Sometimes, but rarely. After all, if research only takes 8-10 weeks in the summer, with almost no prior background, why does a PhD takes years? :) (There *is* a good purpose served by the summer programs, though, of giving undergrads the idea that mathematics is not confined to a classroom and textbooks, as well as creating social connections with other undergrads seriously interested in math. But these situations don't really produce cutting-edge research.)
About "specific interests": of course it is vastly better to have tentative, ill-formed, and inevitably ill-informed, "interests", rather than *not*. :) I'd encourage you to tell how these interests arose, giving the admissions committee some insight into your approach to mathematics.
It's good to mention scholarships. People will not be so skeptical that you need to document it.
Computing skills are a positive, and deserve a brief mention. Again, there is little need to offer "proof".
In summary, it is a mistake to think that one's transcript explains what the admissions committee wants to hear or needs to know to make a reasonable decision. An informative personal statement makes a huge difference, especially in communicating your motivations and learning outside classrooms. Also, letters of recommendation from mathematicians well-acquainted with you, from contexts of relatively advanced mathematics (rather than elementary) are very important to give an idea of how well you'd fare with more advanced/sophisticated work. (After all, many people do well-enough in undergrad material, but find that graduate-level mathematics has a slightly different nature... of less interest...)
> 5 votes
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Tags: graduate-school, graduate-admissions, application
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thread-10459 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10459 | Is it legal/ethical to use data grabbed from a Stack Exchange site in a paper? | 2013-06-05T03:26:52.550 | # Question
Title: Is it legal/ethical to use data grabbed from a Stack Exchange site in a paper?
For example, I download all the content of Academia@SE, later analysis it in a data mining paper, and submit the paper in the end. Is it OK to do so? Do I have to ask the permission from the administrator of the website? And does he or she have rights to forbid my academic use? Thank you.
# Answer
Your University may have an Institutional Review Board (IRB) that reviews how you conduct experiments. This board may be known by various names (Ethics Committee, Experiment Review Board, Human Subjects Research, etc.) but they are generally the ones that you would go to to consult about whether what you are doing is within the scope of ethical behavior and good treatment of human subjects data.
As StackOverflow and associated StackExchange repository data is available under Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike (as @piotr\_migdal linked above) and is publicly available, your IRB will probably tell you, "It's fine" and not require review. However, it depends on the IRB and the institution and the nature of the data.
There are entire research disciplines built on scraping web sites, software repositories, and social media, so don't feel bad for doing it.
> 8 votes
# Answer
Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer. If you are seriously concerned about this issue, you should consult one; your institution probably has intellectual property lawyers on staff.
There is a general principle that "you can't copyright facts". Wherever you get your data set, you probably can legally publish any analysis of that data, without requiring anyone's permission. However, you may not be able to legally reproduce the data itself.
Of course, by standard academic ethics, you must properly cite and attribute the source of the data. And if you can't guarantee that the data will remain accessible, it could affect the reproducibility of your results and hence the quality of your paper.
> 4 votes
# Answer
I believe you can do it with StackOverflow data, as long as you cite/attribute it properly. This article affirms it. However, I do not know whether this can be extended to the rest of StackExchange. A question to the mods or to the support team might help you clarify.
> 3 votes
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Tags: data
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thread-10474 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10474 | How to suggest reviewers for a journal? | 2013-06-06T04:05:21.007 | # Question
Title: How to suggest reviewers for a journal?
I recently tried submitting a paper to a journal. It was mandatory to suggest three reviewers. Is this a norm in journal submissions? If yes, how should one choose reviewers if I do not personally know any experts in the field? I have been submitting papers to conferences and never found such conditions there.
# Answer
Being editor of a journal where authors can provide preferred and non-preferred reviewers, I can provide some "inside" thoughts on the subject based on what has happened in "my" journal. Note that it is possible to suggest names for review but also provide names which are not preferred. The latter can be because of a scientific disagreement, personal issues or whatever. Such suggestions appear but not often and we usually follow the suggestions (not that we have to!).
When it comes to the preferred or suggested reviewers, I have been tempted to use such reviewers on occasion when it has been hard to identify reviewers directly. Sometimes because the topic is local and where it would make sense to have local input. In these cases, I cannot remember a single reasonable review that has come out of such reviewers. This can be for several reasons but most often the review is a close colleague who might have an incentive to help the author. In some cases the preferred names have been very senior scientists who, I am afraid, has lost touch with the subject and provide poor and in some cases almost non-existent reviews. Out of all immediate "Accept" review recommendations I get, the vast majority have come from these reviewers. So, I not longer trust these names and avoid them at all costs unless I personally know or know of the reviewer and his or her good reputation.
In addition to what I just describe, I also must state that it is often the weakest manuscripts that have listed several suggestions. This can be identified by the disparate review results, sometimes one accept (by the suggested reviewer) and one reject.
Now, in principle, there is nothing wrong with suggesting reviewers, I have done so myself when being requested. I have then as a principle gone for established and well renowned names in the community. The problem lies in suggesting names for a purpose other than to get a fair and objective review.
It is clear that the system can and is abused and since I became Editor-in-Chief, I have come to rely less and less on these suggestions and now mostly look upon them with suspicion and make selections from my own understanding of the field and investigations into the subject literature. The best suggestion, I can provide is to not avoid mentioning names but pick names that in your opinion can provide good constructive critique on your work (and not just favorable). A note on why you have selected names as preferred or non-preferred would greatly help as well since it puts your choice in a perspective.
> 36 votes
# Answer
I was asked to do that several times by an editor after being told (s)he couldn't find referees for my submission (to the point that I now spontaneously tell the editor upon submission that I can suggest referees if need be), but I don't know of any journal (or conference) for which this is *required*.
Anyway, you don't need to know experts personally: you are *suggesting* referees, not *forcing* them on the editor (or your work on them), and whether or not you actually know them should be irrelevant (it's even better if you don't). Read your bibliography, see which authors come up most often, or whose work form the most important basis for your submission, or who would be the most interested in reading it based on their own work, and I'm sure you'll have plenty of names to suggest.
> 16 votes
# Answer
Some journals explicitly ask about suggestions for reviewers with a submission, some will consider any suggestions that you make in the cover letter, and others (probably) will just ignore any such suggestion.
There are in fact scientific studies about the comparison between reviewers suggested by the authors, and those selected by the editor, for example this article in BMC Medicine. The overall conclusion seems to be that reviewers suggested by authors provide reviews of equal quality than those selected by the editor. While they are more likely to suggest acceptance in the initial review, at later stages these suggestions seem to equalize.
As an author, you should have a high interest in getting over that initial review, and if you do it well, suggesting reviewers is a very good opportunity for that. I'd always suggest to make use of such an opportunity, since you probably can judge best which potential reviewers **will look favorably** at your paper. And that's of course what you want.
If you know an expert personally, that's usually a good option. It has to be handled with care though. When you're too close to a suggested reviewer, the editor will give significantly less weight to the recommendation of that reviewer if he knows about personal ties. But if you go to conferences and talk to people about your research, you could suggest them as reviewers afterwards if they have similar interests. Or look at your reference list, as suggested in the answer by Anthony Labarre.
> 10 votes
# Answer
In my opinion, this is a practice that should be strongly discouraged. While on average reviewers selected by the author give fair, high quality reviews, that doesn't mean that the unscrupulous can't exploit this opportunity to select reviewers that share opinions that are far from the scientific mainstream in order to get dubious arguments into the peer-reviewed literature. This is especially the case where the paper is on a contentious topic that is only tangentially relevant to the journal, so the action editor may not be able to easily find adequate reviewers from within their own field.
As an example, there are numerous papers published on climate related issues in energy, astronomy or general physics journals, which can easily be shown to be fundamentally flawed. Where the journal asks for the author to recommend reviewers, it does raise the question of how much this contributed to the evident failure of the review process. It seems to me to be better to avoid the problem ever arising.
Ultimately if the action editors cannot identify satisfactory reviewers by themselves, the work probably doesn't belong in the journal in the first place.
Being able to specify people who *shouldn't* be used as reviewers is, of course, another matter entirely.
To answer the question directly, suggests the names of reviewers that you consider to have the required expertise in your field and who can give you a rigorous, but constructive review. Don't choose people you know personally if there is someone equally well qualified that you don't know. I recall reading that when you receive reviews you are getting advice for free from experts who's time you couldn't afford to buy, so why not attempt to get the most value from it as you possibly can?
> 7 votes
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Tags: publications, journals, peer-review
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thread-10479 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10479 | How to determine similarity score of new manuscript against own yet-to-publish manuscripts? | 2013-06-06T07:04:42.263 | # Question
Title: How to determine similarity score of new manuscript against own yet-to-publish manuscripts?
Considering the ethical and professional implications of self plagiarism, it is very useful to check new manuscript against old ones (which are under review and not yet published) to decrease self plagiarism. In a white paper by ithenticate (download from http://www.ithenticate.com/self-plagiarism-free-white-paper), one way to avoid self plagiarism is to significantly paraphrase those text which are need to be used in new article. However, I have difficulties in identifying the similarity percentage of my current work against yet-unpublished works. Online tools (that I know) check the manuscript against published works. I have 3 journal papers, 1 is published, 1 is under review, and 1 is under preparation. Now, I need to check the third one to see the similarity score. Any suggestion?
# Answer
> 3 votes
*First suggestion*: Never copy-paste material from earlier works, always write everything from scratch.
This prevents you from moving critical passages from one paper to the other. It is of course still possible to end up with a similar or even identical sentence by accident, particularly if you describe a method or something similar. If you end up using the same method for several papers it is also possible to simply reference your original description in subsequent papers. The Ithenticate white paper mentioned by you provides good advice. Yuo can slso visit the COPE (Committee On Publication Ethics) web site and search for self-plagiarism.
*Second suggestion*: Use the softwares such as *iThenticate*, *turnitin* or the like depending what you are looking for. But, I would not blindly just look at percentages of overlap but focus on where the overlaps occur. If it is in the methods section describing a series of steps ina process it is clearly not as critical as if it is in the discussion or conclusions. If you find overlap and you can identify what it is, then go to my first suggestion and critically review if you need to say it again.
# Answer
> 1 votes
Does the paper make an original disciplinary contribution to scholarly knowledge? Has any reused material been rewritten from scratch? Has the reused material been cited in relation to the paper under review?
If so, it should be fine. The first one is the big one, I assume that people with a doctorate in their discipline should know whether this has been achieved. One nostrum I use is meeting at least one of the three: new evidence set, new theoretical tools, new analysis.
As an example of this nostrum: Case A organisation demonstrating with Marxist class analysis concept Q.
* Case B with Marxism demonstrating Q is novel
* Case A with Patriarchy analysis demonstrating Q is novel
* Case A with Marxism demonstrating R is novel
# Answer
> 0 votes
Sourceforge offers a few free tools aimed at detecting plagiarism (see http://sourceforge.net/directory/os:linux/freshness:recently-updated/?q=plagiarism) for various platforms.
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Tags: publications, paper-submission, plagiarism, self-plagiarism
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thread-10486 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10486 | Is searching in article references considered a systematic way of literature search? | 2013-06-06T14:04:00.783 | # Question
Title: Is searching in article references considered a systematic way of literature search?
Doing a systematic review, either quantitative or qualitative, requires developing a well-defined protocol as a method of conducting it. This includes defining the search methods used in the identification of eligible articles, which include two methods:
1. *database search* using *search queries* (a main method)
2. searching in the references and cited-by sections of the selected articles (which are already retrieved by the first method)
Let's assume that an author (of a large review) does their best to formulate the *search queries* to better represent the review question, but later they realized that **considerable amount (e.g. 50% or more)** of the relevant articles are found *only by using the second method* (searching in articles);
Is the second method less 'systematic' than the first one? Does it compromise how much 'systematic' the resulting review is?
If so, does the above scenario affect the validity of the *search queries* used (i.e. should they be reformulated to increase the recall of search and retrieve more of relevant articles)?
**Edit:** More extremely: If 90 out of selected 100 articles are found only by using the second method, how much does this affect the quality of the systematic review?
# Answer
I would add to the other answer(s) that you could validate the first approach using the second approach. If your search criteria systematically miss relevant articles *in the journals covered by the database*, then that's a clear sign you need to reformulate your search criteria because they're clearly not sufficient.
The second thing to add is that any search should also try to find unpublished articles. These are definitely not going to be in databases, but may be cited in papers (thus the importance, at least in my view, of the second approach). It might be worth adding a third approach that involves search conference abstracts, where unpublished (especially recent) work is likely to be found.
> 5 votes
# Answer
Databases are not complete and published articles do not necessarily reference all pertinent literature so it seems unlikely that one would necessarily capture everything relevant by using just one method.
Databases are probably relatively complete when regarding more recent publications. I would not like to define "recent" however but I see it as mostly post-1990's. But my guess is that databases are centered around more widespread journals and more local journals may not be well-represented. This means that depending on the search area they may be more or less complete. Going back in time more and more will likely not be found in databases so if the topic has a vital history then database searches will cover the "recent".
Reference lists may pick up more older material but that is of course dependent on the authors willingness to research literature. It is possible one might pick up more esoteric references this way but I fear the selection will be fairly random and not comprehensive.
So to use both methods seem like the safest way forward to me. Depending on the subject matter, having deeper understanding for where and when things might have been published in the past may be vital in order to capture most relevant literature on the subject. To venture so far as to say everything will be found is difficult. Particularly during the cold war much was published in for example Russian journals that never reached the west. Many discoveries published in the west were therefore missing out on the eastern counterparts and may not even have been first. Much has thus been lost by lacking translation and that goes for many if not most languages. One must also remember that the publication scene as we see it today was not utilized earlier, when internal reports and local journals may have taken up much research. To rely on just one of the two parts for methodology may therefore be inadequate.
> 4 votes
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Tags: review-articles, literature-search
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thread-10481 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10481 | Reproducible research and corporate identity | 2013-06-06T09:11:05.863 | # Question
Title: Reproducible research and corporate identity
My university is on a drive to unify its corporate identity (it makes me sick just typing that). This drive includes branding our lecture slides, research talks, and research posters. The branding templates are not released under an open license and utilize a copyrighted logo and proprietary fonts. I think this prevents me from releasing my talks and posters under a free and open license (e.g., CC BY) which is one of the tenets of Reproducible Research.
Apart from creating two versions of everything, is there any way to reconcile this apparent incompatibility?
Is my understanding of licenses like CC BY wrong? Can I release something (e.g., a research talk or poster) with a copyrighted logo that I don't hold the copyright on under a free and open license?
# Answer
> 9 votes
My university has had enforced its "corporate identity" since the 1990s. It is described in details on a web site and available in a series of templates. Although I get a sense of tiredness when I read the material surrounding the "identity" I can also see benefits, to recognize the university "products" (sorry) among other materials at a congress etc. But, the question was about reproducing material.
As I see it I would want to have the logo on material such as posters or presentations so that people can identify my affiliation. I am free to post presentations and posters or other materials on my university site with the logos on them. If I want to put some material out that is mine I simply would not use a unversity logo. An example: I have written several hopefully useful booklets on scientific writing to be used by students. This material is my initiative and is not the result of the university asking for it. These booklets are distributed for free using our web-page and I would gladly distribute them more widely if there was demand. So from this perspective I can see two different "products" where one benefits from the logo and one where I do not want it.
Now the rules of my university says the logo is copyrighted which means others cannot use it. this still means I can post material with the logo in public places. The problem arises if someone takes my, say, presentation and uses it as their own. Then they break the copyright and make themselves guilty of a kind of fraud by associating themselves with an organisation to which they do not belong. I still have done nothing wrong, posting material is fine and even encouraged. The copyright also prevents people from the taking the university logo and adding it to their own "product" fo rexample showing it on their web-page or using it for commercial uses.
So now, the content. You seem to indicate that you will be prevented from displaying your work without the branding. I do not think this is correct. The laws on copyright and particulary intellectual ownership in my country is very clear. If you have created something it is yours. In a commercial company you may end up sign off this right by becoming employed so that the things your develop within that company belongs to them, not you. That is how research in pharmaceutical companies work, for example. My university system has made attempts to gain rights to lectures etc. but this has so far failed miserably due to the strong laws. You need to check these laws that apply to you since I do not know how they may vary internationally; I would expect them to look fairly similar.
You mention "proprietary fonts". This means the university has selected fonts and bought them from a font foundry so that you can use and copy them for free within the university system. This does not mean other cannot use them, they must simply buy them first so providing copies to persons outside of your university would be illegal. Since fonts are not included in Office templates or in pedfs resulting from your templates there is nothing illegal about distributing such documents. If you were to take the fonts and produce a product that you were to sell for your won personal gain, you will, however, break the law.
The bottom line, then, is that you can put your material in the creative commons as long as you avoid the logo (ater all who would want to use a figure with somebody elses logo in it?). I cannot see the university preventing you from doing this unless they explicitly ask you to waive your rights. Material with logo has its place when you want to make sure your afficilaition is clear. If you do not want that, then I believe you are free to post things in another style.
Finally awareness of the laws and regulations concerning intellectual rights are important and I strongly believe it is good to carefully look at whatever applies in each of our cases so that we can react if someone tries to infringe on such rights.
# Answer
> 4 votes
My suggestion is to follow your school's guidance as much as you have to, but figure out a way to remove (by script, macro, by hand, or otherwise) the branding for distribution. Have both versions available on your website. If you have a presentation that you may want to distribute, put a note at the bottom of the title slide, or at the end:
> A freely distributable version of this presentation is available here: \[web address\].
If your branding mechanism is a master/template slide, it is trivial to remove this for a non-branded version. I have a hard time believing that printing issues (for posters or handouts) should be a big concern for redistribution -- if it isn't digital, very few people are going to scan/copy for redistribution anyway.
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Tags: copyright, creative-commons
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thread-10505 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10505 | Referencing forum comments and translating citations using the Harvard citation style | 2013-06-07T15:09:54.960 | # Question
Title: Referencing forum comments and translating citations using the Harvard citation style
I'm using the Harvard citation style for a paper for the first time in my life, and I can't figure out how to cite specific comments on a web forum. Can I simply treat in like any other web resource, and do something like this:
> On the forum "Name of forum", user "John" says that "Quoting something John wrote on Name of forum". (Name of forum 2013)
I also wonder: When using direct quotes, is it okay to translate these from one language to another or must a direct quote always appear in the language it was written in?
# Answer
This University of Birmingham document has a comprehensive guide as to cite references from different sources, specifically pages 5-6 have how to cite a forum post.
With regards to your second question, I would translate the quote to the language you are writing in and in the intext reference state "(translated from author, year)".
> 1 votes
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Tags: citations, translations, citation-style
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thread-10494 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10494 | Does it amount to plagiarism by supervisor? | 2013-06-07T05:45:42.693 | # Question
Title: Does it amount to plagiarism by supervisor?
I have been working on an idea for last 2 years almost independently along with other research works. My advisor did not believe in my work much initilally, so I did not get an RA for two years even after requesting. Recently, I am getting encouraging results with some specific examples and scenarios with good hope for success to solve a complex problem using that idea. I have not published the work yet. Initially, my advisor was not interested in the idea partly because the work is not his area of expertise and insisted that I spend my time in other research projects with a senior colleague. I pursued it with my interest in spite of RA support, but with new results and potential benefits of the approach my advisor became extremely interested and even described the work as the next big idea in our lab meetings. I am happy about it or maybe he says it to make me happy. However, recently I encountered a situation which was difficult for me to comprehend. I found my advisor present a perspective paper along with many other renowned experts in the field, proposing and highlighting the approach I have been working on as the future direction and visionary in the field along with other important developments in a conference. Even though I was not a co-author in that paper and my work was not cited or even acknowledged, I consoled myself as my advisor was alluding me that he was promoting the idea; it was an advertisement of the work (of course with out any acknowledgement).
As he was not the first author of the perspective paper and there is a possibility that first/other authors can make claim of it, he asked me to file an updated technical report in the department before the paper is published. It looked to me like he wanted to promote himself among his colleagues with that idea with out acknowledging it to me before the audience and greater scientific public where it matters.
I happened to attend the conference as a PhD student, and found that the presenter of the perspective paper (whom I don't know) presented more than half of his talk on my idea with my slides that I shared with my advisor, and there was no acknowledgement or mention of my report or work. It was even worse to see that some of the terminology that I planed to use, was disclosed and few misinterpreted while explaining.
Even then, people really seemed to liked the idea and the approach and many are convinced that the idea is going to impact the field. While I saw a very drastic change in the way my advisor treated me recently, but what really made me sad was when my advisor asked me to refer to this perspective paper (to which I was not a co-author) in my impending submission (on the idea).
I feel like it was unfair but I don't know if research is done this way in academia or if it is perfectly legit to do something like that. I decided not to cite the perspective paper with possible consequences. I just wanted to know how other students handle such situations effectively and if such a thing is a common practice.
Edit: I do have all email traces and even a previous publication explaining part of the idea and a recent technical report submitted to the department with the complete idea.
UPDATES
June 2014: I have continued with the situation I described above honestly because as a student I hardly have any options and as suggested by many that it would be an academic suicide. But, it had impacted me severely, mostly because I believe that any good idea I will bring to the table will be stolen or misrepresented and there will be cleaver manipulations to take ownership of them. I will take two steps forward and three steps backward. I could hardly perform in my potential. I will let you know my ordeal soon and many thanks for your kind help and support.
# Answer
As far as I understand the situation, it seems to me that your advisors' behavior is borderline, even if likely on the wrong side of the border. Since it does not look like a very clear and frank misbehavior, even if you are perfectly right it would be tremendously difficult to prove it beyond doubt. In case of doubt, you could end up being seen more as the trouble maker than as the one who came up with that great idea; the surrounding people to whom you could complain (department head, etc.) would hesitate *a lot* to go against tenured faculty when the misbehavior is not crystal clear, etc.
With this in mind, I would strongly advise you not to confront to wildly with your advisors. You can (and should, as advised by Shion) discuss with them the fact that you are uncomfortable with the way they presented things, with the use without permission of your slides, and so on; but **always let them a way to discuss it calmly**. If they feel cornered, there will be little chance of the situation not degenerating into a conflict, and it would be very difficult for you to survive professionally a conflict with your advisors.
You could cite their perspective paper in a way that friendly makes explicit that the idea is yours. Your aim should be to get decent credit for your idea, even at the cost of letting your advisors benefit from it: think about what you have to gain or loose first, rather than about what they have to unduly gain or what you can cost them.
If everything goes smoothly, you can get into a good position to build on your idea, and be on track for your career. Once you're a respected tenured faculty, you should remember this episode and be supportive of young researchers.
> 24 votes
# Answer
I was in a similar situation before (in biology) about 5 years ago (and this was an ivy league school on the East coast of US) – I had paper A published and paper B (following from A) in the works, when the advisor tries to work on paper C (following from A, borderline with B). The deal is that neither B nor C would've been possible without A, and one of B or C was necessary to show the full impact and worth of A (think detailed theory paper A vs lab experiments B and C). For other reasons, it couldn't be written as a larger A+B or A+C paper, but that's besides the point. The problem here was that the advisor, being faster at churning out a paper, finished C before I finished B despite starting later and then he insisted that we focus on polishing and submitting C before returning to B (I was 2nd author). Indeed that's what happened and we cited C in B when B was also eventually published (thus changing the "science order" from how it was). Note: I was not actually worried about publishing C, just its appearance before B.
My issues were:
* A was my idea, my work.
* The idea for C was also mine (leading from A), but was shelved (by me) until I had the time to run the experiments for those (the assays and lab experiments weren't a small deal).
* I'm the student needing advising, not poaching of ideas.
* publishing order of C before B looks like it was the advisor's bright idea, when it was not (no, really... this didn't start with the "here, work on my old unfinished idea")
The advisor's view was:
* A is already published, so it's "out there" for everyone including him.
* B and C are not exactly the same, so what's the big deal?
* In the long run, precedence differences of O(weeks) won't matter, period.
* I'm also an author and I now have 3 papers instead of 2.
In the end, I came to terms with it and in hind sight (after 5 yrs), should not have made such a fuss because
* I got 3 papers instead of 2
* It was a fresh change of roles (he did do the work, and I was in an advisory role)
* In the long run, precedence differences of O(weeks) didn't matter (might be different in other fields), and since I continued publishing in the same field, it now looks like I'm the man behind the plan.
* Resentment never did anyone any good.
* The dude is a hell of a supportive advisor in all other ways, so this wasn't worth burning bridges. Maybe he genuinely didn't see things from my PoV and didn't intend to poach.
The bottom line is – what you're describing, while borderline, might not be uncommon. Especially, using graduate students' results in a presentation to a funding agency, but passing it off as their "project" is very common, because despite what you might want to think, a lot of times, it's the reputation of the PI that brings in the money than the merit of the idea itself (i.e., a mediocre idea from a rock star PI has more chances of getting funded than a rock star idea from an unknown researcher).
However, it was absolutely wrong of them to have not included your name or acknowledged your contribution (which has never happened with me). You might want to bring that up, but you should think if you really want to burn bridges for a "small" reason. I say "small" in quotes because while yes, from a strict ethical PoV, they might be in the wrong, you're justified in your anger and is *not* a small issue for you, in the long run, the objective function of life is a multivariable function. Don't just fixate on one and make a decision (that you might come to regret) based on a local minimum that you're stuck in now.
> 19 votes
# Answer
While the other answers are good, I have an alternative approach for you.
Have you actually gone and spoken to your advisers about this? A *perspective* paper is just that. It talks about concepts and the ***next big thing*** \- which very well may be your work.
I suggest that you have a nice, sit down, frank discussion with your advisers about this and make clear what future directions and expectations are regarding publications, collaborations and co-authorships. That would clear the air quite a bit, which frankly now, is rather hazy.
> 9 votes
# Answer
The only way you're really going to be able to establish some sort of claim to recognition is if:
* Your advisors did not independently come up with the idea, and choose to change their stance and give you credit for the idea; or
* You can establish conclusively that this was *your* idea, and not your advisors'.
The best way to do this is if you have a *verifiable* documentation trail supporting your claim. This means that you have conclusive records showing that the work exists. This would include things like emails, *verified* laboratory notebooks, and other documents that can be dated and that demonstrate that you came up with the idea. The challenge, of course, will be showing that you came up with it *independently* of your advisors (which would require that you have documented proof showing that they discouraged you from working on it.)
> 6 votes
# Answer
Check the policies of your university when it comes to intellectual property, specifically for the faculty you are studying under. Make sure you fully understand the guidelines, and I mean absolutely certain.
**If** you find that there is a discrepancy, meaning that this is frowned upon, then you have your original presentation (although, to be honest, I am not sure how credible this would be as evidence).
Perhaps, you cold speak to your supervisor about completing a co-authored paper on the topic to be peer-reviewed published in a journal (This is what my supervisor and I do).
> 2 votes
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Tags: advisor, plagiarism
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thread-10519 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10519 | in which language should I write my first draft a paper? | 2013-06-08T14:33:45.033 | # Question
Title: in which language should I write my first draft a paper?
This might sound like a silly question, but I am not a native speaker of English, so I find it sometimes difficult to write my first draft in that language. What I usually do is write my first draft in Italian, my mother tongue, and then translate it into English. Once I went to a short course on writing in English, where the lecturer advised us that it is better to write the first draft in English, even though it can be very difficult for some people.
What would be your advice in this case? Should I still stick with writing my first draft in my mother tongue and then translate it into English? I feel more productive in that way, but any advice would be helpful.
# Answer
> 14 votes
**Personal opinion from a non-native english speaker:**
You should write it as much as possible in *english*. Start working with bullet points of your ideas and then transfer them to full sentences after you are done. Since most academic papers are in english, it has already been mentioned on this platform a ton of times, that you should get used to the language, i.e. the vocabularies and the way people reason, in your field.
# Answer
> 9 votes
For better or worse, the lingua-franca of science nowadays is English. If you plan on staying in science, you can use all the English training you can get. So, I would advice writing everything in English. Do try and get feedback from someone who is good at English, preferably a native speaker, to point any language errors you might not see yourself.
# Answer
> 9 votes
I think I understand how you're more comfortable drafting in Italian first then translating it to English, however I believe this is a mistake. Many terms and ideas don't translate properly from your mother tongue and it often shows.
Go ahead and draft it in your best English and if you have trouble expressing some ideas then make the note in Italian and you can go back and work those into your most colorful English with your final draft.
It turns out that English has a vast variety of words at your fingertips when writing and this allows you to be very unique while maintaining creativity and genuineness, that's why most books now are written in English.
# Answer
> 8 votes
Not only I suggest you write everything (research related) in English, but I also suggest you use English in your personal research notes, or even in your thinking process. In this way you skip the unnecessary step of translation and therefore you can read, learn, speak and write faster and easier. In fact when I started reading English books in my undergraduate, I realized it is better I skip translation and try to understand everything in English and try to solve problems in English. Since then, all my practices and my personal notes have been in English. When I am thinking about a problem or a statement I automatically switch to English and avoid my mother tongue.
# Answer
> 4 votes
On the one hand, writing in English is better because the phrases and sentence structures you will end up using will sound more natural to the reader. On the other hand, if you are writing the first draft before having a crystal clear idea how your argumentation will flow (i.e. if, for you, writing is also a tool for *thinking*), then writing in English might take take away from this process because it's difficult.
I would certainly agree with everyone else that using English for the first draft is a good idea. But when I write, I also write an outline of the draft in a separate document. This outline summarizes each paragraph I plan to write, usually in a single sentence, so that it gives me a good overview of the structure the manuscript is going to have. I use it to combine the points I want to make with other findings I think are important to mention (usually I find that these don't match up very well on the first try!), and then I shuffle things around, add and remove items, until I have a story that will flow naturally from the questions I ask to the conclusions I make. And only then do I start writing the draft. And this outline, I would recommend writing in your native tongue. It should be easier to switch to English afterwards, when you begin writing the draft, because you'll already have a clear idea of what you want to say.
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Tags: writing, language
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thread-10512 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10512 | What could be a possible next step after a bachelors in Economics and Business Administration? | 2013-06-08T09:26:32.213 | # Question
Title: What could be a possible next step after a bachelors in Economics and Business Administration?
I've degrees in International Economics and Business Administration.
I consider myself an entrepreneur, certainly my past degree did give me perspective but I feel it lacked solid practical knowledge, so in my entrepreneurial career it didn't help me much.
I was thinking to go for computer science degree. But having bachelors degree in Economics/BA it will be hard for me to go directly for masters? (even though I've fairly good knowledge of the subject). Restarting bachelors degree in a completely different field could be a total waste of time for 26 years old.
Also I'm aware that allot of students do it the other way around, first they get science degree and than they do masters in business administration. Do you think my way will be harder and more intense? as master in computer science can be much challenging than masters in business administration or computer science bachelors?
# Answer
I can think of a couple of options off the top of my head:
* Apply for a Masters in CS anyway and see how you go, you *might* get credit for your experience.
* perhaps do a postgraduate certificate/diploma in CS (if available) and use that as a stepping stone to the Masters degree that you desire.
* Perhaps consider a MBA that has a strong focus on CS (as a major).
It would also depend if you are intending to pursue your proposed Masters by coursework, research or as a mix of the two.
> 3 votes
# Answer
Another option is going for a **masters degree in business informatics**, a lot of european universities would admit you in it. I do not know if this kind of discipline is big where you live, but it is one of the biggest disciplines in a lot of universities in germany and austria. A study from the university of vienna has shown that graduands from business informatics earn the most in the industry and have the least problems to get jobs out of all graduands.
You would have to take roughly one semester worth of courses in algorithms, software development etc. extra, but that should neither be an intellectual problem, since you already know a lot about it, nor a practical problem, because you will get a more academic and thus systematic idea of what matters in computer science.
Even if you got into a computer science master right away, well how would that help you? You seem to have many practical skills from CS, but you would likely end up doing it just for the degree, because the students who have a bachelors in CS will most likely be much better prepared for doing the necessary methods for a masters program in that field. If you want the pure CS, you are likely much better off just starting with a bachelor, maybe aside working if you are already really good at CS.
If you care about how *hard* a master will be, well that can't be answered right away. But you have to keep in mind, that economics is a social science and thus not as exact as a technical science.
> 3 votes
# Answer
As a serious question: **what do you hope to gain from the additional degree**?
You haven't really indicated *why* you want to get a master's degree in computer science, other than "it's the next step." You also haven't indicated why you think you'd be able to get into a master's degree program (do you have enough CS courses to convince a committee?).
But, most importantly, the question to ask yourself is whether or not there is anything really to gain from the two years or so spent earning a master's degree that you can't obtain via another route. If you can do that, then it's probably worth trying. If, on the other hand, it's just to improve programming skills, there are *lots* of better ways to do that than to spend two years in CS (which doesn't really do much in that regard).
> 2 votes
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Tags: career-path, economics, business-school
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thread-10536 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10536 | How to develop your own argument in a literature review? | 2013-06-09T18:17:37.280 | # Question
Title: How to develop your own argument in a literature review?
In a literature review, we look at recent publications and put what other researchers have said in this context. However, how can I develop my own argument? Should I write it with my own words or should the argument be based in what others have said?
# Answer
> 5 votes
Damien Igoe's answer is very accurate, however, I would add that I think it is possible to interpret what someone wrote in a different way than others have previously interpreted. However, your arguments should not be confused with the other authors' arguments.
Originality in analysis is often welcomed. However, originality in structure should be done very carefully. Common structures exist for a reason. In my field, it is common to switch between the reviewed author's points and your own:
> Jones (1991) claimed that the primary motivator for workers was public recognition while Smith (2004) believed that workers were more concerned with monetary compensation. I will show that both were correct by showing that workers really care most about their compensation being publicly higher than the average for their position.
# Answer
> 4 votes
The literature review is just that, a review of the published literature - synthesised and analysed. Developing your own arguments should occur after this review as you then have something to refer back to when developing your stance.
A study technique I use, is as I am reviewing the literature for this chapter, I keep a notepad near by and jot down parts of my argument as I proceed.
# Answer
> 2 votes
I would offer a slightly different answer from either of the others, both of which are excellent. Each of these answers and my own are probably (at least somewhat) discipline-specific.
Rarely, in my view, should a literature review be just that - a simple review. Instead, the best structure for papers in my field is an introduction, followed by a single section that provides theory and specific hypotheses derived from that theory, followed by empirics, etc. There is no "literature review" per se.
Instead, literature that is relevant for establishing a problem is cited in the introduction and literature relevant for building new theory, elaborating existing theory, and/or challenging existing evidence/arguments is cited in the course of making one's theoretical argument. From that argument come testable hypotheses, all of this being stated in one section (possibly with subsections, depending on the scope of the paper) between introduction and research design.
In this way, relevant literature is reviewed in the course of constructing arguments, with quotes and references both bringing credibility to your arguments and being used to demonstrate weaknesses in extant work. Thus, your review should be your own argument largely in your own words, with others' work cited and sparingly quoted where it helps you.
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Tags: literature, literature-search
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thread-9516 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9516 | How did conferences "work" before the e-mail era? | 2013-04-21T01:04:56.227 | # Question
Title: How did conferences "work" before the e-mail era?
Some friends and I were discussing a certain conference that has a "rebuttal" phase, in which the authors can see the reviews and reply to them. We realized that this rebuttal phase probably couldn't happen before e-mail was common, which lead us to think on the question
> How did conferences "work" before everybody had e-mails?
I don't know about other fields, but in computer-science, some of the conferences are dated to early 60's. Back then there was no email and internet (were fax machines common enough?).
I have plenty of questions about how the process worked back then:
* How did one submit a paper? (I assume one had to print the paper and mail it? Was the "deadline" determined by the post-date, or maybe there was no deadline?)
* How did one get the reviews back, if at all?
* Where did one send his paper? To the program chair? How did the reviewers get a copy of the paper (I assume the chair would first need to look at the abstracts and then assign to other PC members/reviewers? or maybe the entire committee would get copies of all the papers, and there was no sub-reviewing?)
* How much time did the entire process take (seems like the overhead of mail adds quite a lot to the already-long process)
(maybe I'm taking it all wrong, and conferences back then were not peer-reviewed, and anyone that came could give a talk??)
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Some things that I (think that I) know, and might help to complete the atmosphere of 'making science without the supporting technology':
* How would the program committee make the decision? - they'd meet in some place together, and decide.. Which means that one had to travel quite a lot to be on a committee.
* Proceedings were sent to print months *after* the conference, so they actually described what had happened during the conference.
* Presentations were done using a projector and transparent slides (it's funny to think about it..)
# Answer
> 28 votes
Conferences were organized pretty much as they are now, only slower and with lots more paper.
* Conferences would advertise by **physically mailing paper fliers** to potential authors (primarily past attendees) and perhaps some department chairs. Postage was a significant portion of the conference budget. Professional society publications (like *Communications of the ACM* and *SIGACT News*) would include several pages of calls for papers with upcoming deadlines. These calls for papers were typically prepared and sent to publishers/printers about a year in advance of the conference.
* Authors would send **multiple physical paper copies** of each submission by post (or FedEx, or whatever) to the physical address of the program committee chair. Typically, the author would send one copy for each member of the program committee. Papers usually had to be *received*, not merely *postmarked*, by the submission deadline. (Hence the probably-not-apocryphal stories of grad students flying to the PC chair's city with a box of last-minute submissions from their home department.)
* Submission deadlines were typically about six months before the actual conference date, just as they are now.
* The PC chair (or more likely, their secretary and/or students) would collate the received submissions into boxes/binders, which would be **physically mailed** to each program committee member. Thus, each PC member would receive a copy of each submitted paper. Shipping costs were a non-trivial portion of the conference budget. (Having never been on a committee organized this way, I don't know how review assignments were done. I assume the now ubiquitous practice of sub-reviewing was very rare.)
* A couple of months later, the entire program committee would fly to a **central physical location** with their submission boxes/binders, to decide which submissions to accept. Conference budgets *sometimes* included travel costs for the program committee, but not always.
* The PC chair (or more likely, their secretary and/or students) would send **a physical letter** to each submitting author informing them of the committee's decision about their paper. Often this was the *only* feedback from the program committee. Authors who wanted more information about *why* a paper was rejected often had to contact one of the committee members directly.
* About three months before the conference, authors of accepted papers would **physically mail** camera-ready copies of their papers to the publisher, after following formatting instructions received by physical mail. The publisher would duplicate (using an actual camera!) and bind these papers into books, along with front and back matter prepared by the PC chair and also physically mailed to the publisher.
* The publisher would ship **physical books** containing all the camera-ready papers, which would be distributed to the conference attendees. (Again, shipping costs were a non-trivial portion of the conference budget.) Faculty attending the conferences would often buy extra books to distribute to their students who could not attend. Other copies of the same book would be physically mailed to hundreds of university libraries and other subscribers.
# Answer
> 11 votes
I have heard many stories of people rushing to the FedEx station at the airport to ship off papers at the last possible minute. I've also heard stories of grad students driving from Boston to New York with all the submissions from MIT to submit them.
# Answer
> 6 votes
There are some vestiges of the pre-electronic era still out there. For instance, the American Physical Society continues to this day to have an annual "Sorting Meeting" for their conference, where anyone interested in helping to organize the meeting comes together. At that meeting, all of the abstracts, which have been printed out, are available, and need to be "sorted" and collected into groups that would become different sessions.
You will also sometimes see references to manuscripts needing to be "camera-ready"; this is also a reference to how production of conference proceedings worked. The manuscripts were photographed and then turned into material that the publisher used to make the final printed copies.
Of course, even after the advent of the fax, many things would still have to be done by mail. However, I think that ultimately things had to be done "on site," as it was simply too impractical to mail everything around to all of the reviewers. However, I also think it would have been much more difficult to ask for full papers, just because of the logistics of having to deal with so much material in one sitting. You would need to rely on abstracts (regular or "extended"), and then ask for full papers from the accepted papers.
(And, because of the poor quality of faxes, anything that would be submitted to a publisher would have to be done by mail. Note that this was true even after the advent of the email era!)
# Answer
> 6 votes
Typically, each program committee member would receive ALL the submissions (100-200 back in the 1970s and 80s), when STOC and FOCS did not have parallel sessions and were only accepting 30-36 papers. Authors with accepted papers would receive a mailing tube containing large size sheets into which their papers were to be typed (or pasted), with blue guidelines indicating the margins for the 2-column format. These were then sent to the publisher, who would photograph the pages - the proceedings pages were reduced-size versions of the "camera-ready" versions. Figures were often hand-drawn, as you can see if you look at some of those old proceedings, scans of which are available in the relevant digital libraries.
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Tags: conference, email, technology
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thread-10537 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10537 | Should an assistant professor negotiate for a larger yearly raise before receiving tenure? | 2013-06-09T20:49:15.573 | # Question
Title: Should an assistant professor negotiate for a larger yearly raise before receiving tenure?
At my university, we are informed of our yearly raise with a letter mid-summer. There is no scheduled meetings with the chair or anyone else to discuss performance or the raise -- as far as I can tell, we just wait and see what it is. It tends to be a small cost-of-living raise in the range of 3%.
Should a pre-tenure assistant professor actively seek to meet with the chair and ask/negotiate for a larger raise, or is this not done in academia?
# Answer
> 17 votes
> Should a pre-tenure assistant professor actively seek to meet with the chair
## **Yes!**
You should *insist* on meeting with your department chair at least once a year, if not once a semester, to discuss strengths and weaknesses in your evolving tenure case. Make no mistake—your tenure case started evolving the moment you signed your offer letter. If you are doing the right things to get tenure, you need to hear that. If you are missing something important, you need to hear that as well. Symmetrically, if you think things are going well, your chair needs to hear that, and if you think things are going badly, especially if something in the department is proving to be a burden, your chair needs to hear that, too.
> and ask/negotiate for a larger raise
Oh, I suppose, if you have good pitch. You're not going to get a bigger raise just because you ask for it.
# Answer
> 12 votes
As in most fields, you only have so many negotiating "chips". You can spend these chips on whatever you want, but some things cost more chips than others. For example, a raise probably requires your chair to get approval from the dean and is therefore "expensive". Asking for some extra research/travel money is "cheap", especially if it is at the end of the fiscal year and there is extra money in the budget, since the chair likely controls that pot of money. Teaching load is often controlled by the chair, but does require someone else to pick up the slack so do cost some "chips". Basically you have to decide what you want and if you are willing to spend the chips to get it. What makes it difficult is knowing exactly how many chips something will cost.
# Answer
> 11 votes
It only makes real sense when you have a competing offer, which means you have been on the market this year, which means you are considering leaving, which means that the chair either knows this or will get to know this when you come to talk to them. It is unlikely that the chair will be excited to give a raise to the person who is going to leave, anyway. On top of that, as Daniel Shub put it, negotiating a salary increase means going at least one level up to ask for the extra money for the chair, and there should be a very good reason for this. Even if you just got the NSF Career award, the chair will just say, "Great, you now have the research money to support yourself -- congratulations! No salary increase, though".
Most likely, if you are going to complain about your pay being too low, you will hear a story about salary inversion, i.e., the tenured faculty in your department making less than you do, which is only justified a small fraction of the time for the deadwood faculty. So the priority will be to raise the non-deadwood inverted salaries -- these guys are here to stay -- and then address your concerns -- you are not here to stay yet, sorry -- subject to any remaining money. Having heard you complaining is not likely to make the chair want you to stay, either.
In a very rare event, you can come up with a scheme in which you bring the department more money, and then your request to see an extra cut of the pie may be legit. This could mean creating a new program/degree/track that is going to be the nations first program in interdisciplinary bubble sort or bean scouting or some other BS, but then it means that you are committing to a teaching track rather than a research track. If your research is stellar, and you want to diversify into teaching, that's probably OK; but most of the time proposals like that from a junior faculty will look weird and awkward.
As JeffE said, you MUST talk to your chair once in a while, and the annual review time is one of the best opportunities to do so. Your case was reviewed by the faculty not so long ago, so the memories of your file are reasonably fresh in the chair's head; it would be easier for them to connect the dots than it would be say in September when the new semester starts, with new students and new courses and all other hectic stuff happening in the department.
# Answer
> 9 votes
My feeling is that it should not hurt to ask, as long as you ask in the right way.
Negotiations are always tricky but having an open conversation with 'the boss' should always be a choice.
You might want to meet the chair with another issue and bring up the salary question as an additional point, as opposed to the main reason for the meeting. Also, approaching it as a question: You're looking to better understand school norms and who better than the chair to explain them to you.
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Tags: tenure-track, salary, assistant-professor, negotiation
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thread-1682 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/1682 | Releasing one version of a Scientific Paper under an Open License | 2012-05-24T11:13:56.630 | # Question
Title: Releasing one version of a Scientific Paper under an Open License
I am going to release a Technical Report that will be archived and made available online by the university's library. An abridged version of the work was accepted by a peer-reviewed conference and will be published in the proceedings. For this to happen, I have to sign a copyright form, assigning to the publishing institution all rights under copyright.
My questions:
a) What is the best way to grant readers of the Technical Report the freedom to quote (unlimited length), distribute, and build upon the work? And point out that they have this freedom without asking for my permission?
b) Is a Creative-Commons License the way to go? If yes, in what form should include the lincense in the work?
c) Is there any conflict between the copyright form for the conference paper and releasing the Technical Report under an open license?
# Answer
A Creative Commons License is a good way to achieve this. It doesn't really matter how you convey this information, as long as it's clear. (A footnote on the first page is fine, for example. Whatever you prefer.) The attribution license (CC BY) sounds like a good choice for what you're looking for.
However, this definitely conflicts with the copyright form. You can try asking the IEEE for permission, and there's some chance they will agree, but they tend to be picky about copyright. If you can't come to an agreement with them, then you will have to decide whether publishing in this conference is worth giving up copyright, and they will have to decide whether it is worth losing your paper over this issue. (If you have already signed the form, then there's nothing you can do except ask them.)
> 3 votes
# Answer
Similarly, I'd also recommend the Creative Commons Attribution Licence (CC BY). A good guide explaining *why* this is best, written by the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA) exists here. This would fulfil all the criteria you ask for in a)
However, it *does* matter *how* you convey this licence. For example if you included just a CC BY 'badge' as an image in the PDF, it would be difficult for a web crawler or machine to detect that the manuscript is Open Access. Thus it's good to signpost the licence in a clear machine readable way
e.g.
> This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
(specifically including a URL link to full terms of the licence, and make sure you choose the unported license, rather than any of the country-specific variants)
With respect to c) the trick is (if it's not too late now) to upload your CC BY version as a preprint *before* you submit to the journal & their draconian terms & conditions. Journals can't stop you uploading your work *before* you've signed any agreements with them. Some journals don't 'like' this and will reject submissions that they know are openly available on the web prior to submission, but these journals represent a small-minded, old-fashioned minority in my experience. Even Elsevier allow preprints!
> 3 votes
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Tags: publications, copyright, open-access, open-science, creative-commons
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thread-10529 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10529 | How to start writing a literature review? | 2013-06-08T18:16:46.673 | # Question
Title: How to start writing a literature review?
I have 2 months where I should write the literature review for my PhD thesis. However, I don't know how to write one.
In general terms, what would be a good way to start the literature review? For instance, how can I organize the reading and divide it in topics?
I would appreciate any helpful ideas, books, or articles.
# Answer
Since you don't say what field you are in, this may not work for you - but I'll describe how I do a literature review in the biomedical sciences. I've tried to be general, so it could apply to other fields, but if you're not in science at all it might not work for you.
The first step to writing a literature review is defining your topic. What is the key question/ concept you are trying to explain or summarize? This can be difficult if you are really starting from zero on a topic, and will probably need to be refined as you work on your review. But it's important to define this at least in draft form before you start.
The second step is coming up with search terms. Begin by searching your question/ concept on Google Scholar or another large database - if it's a biomedical topic, Cochrane Reviews is a good place to start. I'm not sure if there are similar review databases for other fields. Look for a few key papers in the area, read those, and look at their reference lists. Also, record their 'key terms' (usually below the abstract) - these will help you define search terms. Pull relevant papers from their reference lists and repeat. Once you've gone through ~ 10 papers you will probably have a good sense of the type of key words that are important for your topic. Use these terms to build an improved literature search.
Third, you need to actually do the literature search. Your field probably has a database of journals - use this and your search terms to identify all relevant papers over whatever time frame you are interested. You'll probably need to refine as you go, so you don't get swamped with papers. I prefer to go use a systematic search strategy, even if I'm not doing a systematic review, since this removes some subjectivity. This means going through all results, and reading any papers which have titles or abstracts that suggest they may be relevant to your question.
Fourth, you need to read and take notes. Make sure your notes are indexed by paper, so that you always have the citation of the original paper with whatever facts you note down. I find OneNote is a great way to do this, but there are other tools I'm sure.
For me, once I've read 20 or so papers, I usually have a pretty good idea of what the answer to my question/topic is, and what the nuances are. Then it's just a matter of organizing the notes that I've already taken into a rough outline of what I want to say (remembering to keep label all the facts/opinions with their citations). After that, you're ready to start writing, and it's not too difficult since you've already got a good sense of what to write as well as a rough draft in the form of notes.
One important caveat is that you should always re-write all your notes in your own words as you go through the outline converting it into a paper. This way, if you occasionally just copied the original author's text when taking notes, you won't end up with their words in your paper (which would be plagiarizing).
> 11 votes
# Answer
Depending on your topic, I recommend that you start taking the basics from books. After that you can get more specialized information from articles or journals. Do not forget to keep a list of the references that you are obtaining, maybe with a little summary of each of one. Another advice is that you start writing about the information that you get, then cluster your information by similar sub topics, so you avoid the formation of information islands. Good luck!
> 1 votes
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Tags: phd, literature-review
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thread-10548 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10548 | Penalties for disclosing student grades without consent | 2013-06-10T13:18:10.670 | # Question
Title: Penalties for disclosing student grades without consent
Is it illegal to share students' grades with somebody else (e.g their parents) without their consent in the US? What are the most common penalties for such a violation of privacy? Is jail time possible as a punishment?
# Answer
> 24 votes
In the US the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) protects the privacy of students. This "act" is not a law (on further reading it is a law), but rather a stipulation by the Department of Education that universities must obey in order to receive funding. As such, I do not believe that violations are classed as a criminal offense and hence cannot lead to jail time. Universities which violate the FERPA can lose their funding and likely have grounds to dismiss employees who violate the act. The university might even be able to seek damages against those individuals, but again, not jail time.
I would suggest that you not violate FERPA. If you intend to, or have done so (accidentally or otherwise), I suggest that you seek legal advice.
# Answer
> 9 votes
A number of people have mentioned FERPA. Looking at the text of FERPA and at this University web page suggests what some others have said: violations of FERPA can result, ultimately, in withholding funding from the university but the law does not list criminal sanctions for either individuals or institutions for violation. That is also my understanding.
That said, there other privacy laws or other kinds of laws that might be violated by disclosure of educational records. There are a variety of other state, local, and federal laws — plus plenty of common law tort law, that could take effect. And besides, people sue for all kinds of things including things that aren't even in violation of a law.
To be clear: I am not a lawyer nor a legal expert and this is not legal advice. But, as a non-lawyer that likes to believe that world has certain common-sense limits, it seems *insane* to suggest that telling a parent a grade could result in jail time. If you're worried and need a "real" answer, you should find a lawyer and ask.
# Answer
> 9 votes
This is not legal advice... If only people giving mathematical or dietary advice without credentials could be sued for failing to make a similar disclaimer! :)
There are two parts to this issue. First, is it ok to tell people students' grades? In the U.S., almost entirely "no", if the student is 18 or older. FERPA. It doesn't matter whether or not the student's parents are paying the tuition, the student's grades are privileged personal information.
It *is* acceptable use to disclose student grades for (e.g.) intra-math-departmental function, such as advising, admission committee work, and other "privileged" use.
A traditional practice that is no longer ok is posting grades on instructors' doors, for example.
For "old" people, the idea that one is not in fact legally entitled to know the grades of the student whose tuition you're paying will seem strange. Indeed, decades ago, the grades were sent to the parents directly, in paper mail.
But, now, 18-or-over people are essentially legal adults in the U.S., and their school records (and medical records) are not automatically open to their parents.
Thus, despite intuition to the contrary, simply do not give grades to parents, ... without seeking legal advice about extenuating circumstances, such as emergencies.
Edit: but, then, "jail time"? Who knows? But maybe monetary damages if someone sues you for violation of their privacy rights. Apart from the risk of this, if we think it through, maybe kids' grades (if they're "adults") should not be divulged to anyone... So don't do it?
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Tags: united-states, privacy
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thread-10567 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10567 | Scholarship effects on later applications | 2013-06-12T07:02:51.137 | # Question
Title: Scholarship effects on later applications
I have the choice to either apply for a sholarship or get a regular salary. Economically, the position is slightly favorable (mainly due to pension prospects), but I also want to consider secondary effects such as prestige in the CV w.r.t. lateron applications.
I know it's hard to put a value on such a thing, so I'm interested in your opinions.
# Answer
> 8 votes
Your situation describes a situation that is relatively common here in Germany, with the choice between "fellowships" at *Gradiuerterkollegen* and traditional degree programs within faculties and departments. If this is in fact your case, I don't think I would make too much of a difference between the statuses—they are both graduate degree programs, and would effectively carry the same weight. It's largely viewed (correctly) as just different means of internally financing graduate studies. Thus, it would not really make a big difference on your later career.
What *can* make a difference, however, are the *duties* assigned to the different programs. Scholarship students may have a substantially reduced set of responsibilities, particularly with respect to teaching and other non-research activities. This may mean that you finish your degree program more quickly and efficiently than someone who has to do substantial teaching as part of the standard graduate program.
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Tags: graduate-school, career-path, funding
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thread-10570 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10570 | Publish a thesis that summarizes papers on arxiv - copyright issues? | 2013-06-12T10:34:46.720 | # Question
Title: Publish a thesis that summarizes papers on arxiv - copyright issues?
Suppose one has written a master's thesis that summarizes several articles, and works out their details, on a complicated topic. It would be of general interest to have this thesis (in polished form) available for the general public.
Under what circumstances would it be acceptable to publish that thesis on arxiv.org? All sources are cited appropiately, down to each lemma, but I wonder whether rephrasing could actually lead to getting sued for copyright infringement.
# Answer
> All sources are cited appropiately, down to each lemma, but I wonder whether rephrasing could actually lead to getting sued for copyright infringement.
It depends on what you mean by "rephrasing." If you are genuinely writing in your own words and citing everything appropriately, then there is no problem at all. Copyright does not protect ideas, just how they are expressed, so writing your own version is not copyright infringement. Academic norms require citation, but it is certainly OK to write expository papers on other people's research. Your thesis sounds like a valuable contribution that should be made available to the community, and arxiv.org would be a fine place to do so.
On the other hand, if by "rephrasing" you mean starting with their text and editing it (rearranging a little, changing some wording, making additions, but keeping the underlying framework), then your paper would be considered a derivative work under copyright law. I've never heard of anyone actually being sued for this in an academic context, but you might be asked to take down your paper, depending on how closely you followed the original papers. You might also offend the authors if you copy too much from them, even if there's no legal trouble.
The basic question I'd ask is whether you had the other papers (or near-verbatim notes on them) open in front of you while you were writing yours. If not, then you should be fine, because everything you wrote came from you. If you wrote your paper while actively studying theirs, then there's more risk: the fact that you needed to constantly look at their writing suggests you hadn't fully internalized their work. In that case, you should look through your paper and make sure you didn't accidentally paraphrase too closely.
> 9 votes
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Tags: thesis, copyright, arxiv
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thread-10547 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10547 | University Teaching Certifications for Different Countries | 2013-06-10T12:35:10.977 | # Question
Title: University Teaching Certifications for Different Countries
A while back I asked this question which was about teaching certifications. As I dig into the subject more, it seems teaching certifications are quite rare for university teachers in many countries.
1. The UK has the PGCHE (post graduate certificate in higher education) - optional
2. Canada has the UTC (university teaching certificate) - optional
3. I'm unaware of the US having anything required or anything optional for university teachers
4. In Switzerland I don't see any information on university teaching certificates
I'm curious about European countries, especially Switzerland, and what teaching qualifications are accepted or required for university teaching.
Is anyone familiar with this topic in that geographic region?
# Answer
Traditionally, the formal teaching requirement at universities in continental Europe is the so called Habilitation. It's a formal exam which requires submitting a thesis and defending it in a colloquium much like the PhD, but (supposedly) on a higher level. Usually it also includes a teaching-related element. The habilitation used to be a requirement for being appointed as a professor, but in recent times also other criteria, which represent a comparable achievement to a habilitation, are being used. In Germany, having passed the habilitation allows you to use the title "Privatdozent" (even before being appointed as professor), with the same teaching entitlements as an ordinary professor.
However, also other personnel may teach at the university. Even fresh graduates from one study program may find themselves in front of a class of students who could be just a year or two behind them. However, that will always be under the supervision of a professor, or on the formal commission of the department dean.
In addition, there are recent efforts to offer a more formal teaching education for university staff, including certificates for those who take part in the programs. I'm mostly familiar with the situation in Germany, for example this or this (in German), but I imagine similar efforts exist in neighboring countries. At the moment, these certificates are however **not a requirement** for university teaching, and I even doubt that they will become so in the near future. Yet, in some announcements for professor positions it seems to be included as a desirable applicant qualification.
> 3 votes
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Tags: teaching, europe, certification
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thread-10579 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10579 | How can I make sure that the words I write are my own? | 2013-06-12T21:26:16.003 | # Question
Title: How can I make sure that the words I write are my own?
Well, I don't know how to confirm to myself that the words which I'm writing are my own words. Now, maybe those words are based on what I have read recently because if not there won't be anything to say. Should I for example just comment in what other researchers say which I'm paraphrasing what they wrote or can I also write as if I was talking (words which are based on what I have read)?
# Answer
> 11 votes
I don't know what the purpose of your writing is, so the answer really depends on that. It sounds like you're writing some kind of review of prior work (either as a survey or as part of a paper) ? In that case, the goal here is not to regurgitate (in your words or via paraphrase) what others say. Rather, you should be reading what they say and thinking about it (and seeing if you're convinced by it).
Only after that should you even attempt to describe the work. And when you do so, put all reference material away. If you can't describe someone else's work without referring to it, then you don't really understand it yet. In this way you'll ensure that you use your own ideas/thoughts to express what's gone before.
# Answer
> 6 votes
I second @Suresh's remarks, but/and the situation is truly more complicated, as your explanation of your question correctly indicates.
For example, complicated, sophisticated things are often so easy to mis-represent that it seems as though there's almost a unique path, a unique narrative, that is correct. And it may be non-trivial to learn what this path is. Thus, in effect, the phrasing of a high authority is not only "burned into one's retinas", but, also, seems the only correct thing to say.
So, first, do *not* try to "say something else", just for the sake of avoiding "quoting", because that seeming paraphrase may be wrong, or deficient, or ...
But, at the same time, extended passages should not be quoted, unless put in quotation marks. It's best to internalize ideas well enough to give "the standard definition" and such things, even if that ends up sounding very similar to other sources. Similarity is inevitable in many cases.
As in many scenarios, honesty is a clarifying criterion. That is, is what you write coming out of your own head, even if it resembles other sources, or are you quite literally copying? The latter is not so good.
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Tags: research-process, writing
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thread-10583 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10583 | Research Design Help: Measuring the effects of plagiarism intervention | 2013-06-13T01:39:39.833 | # Question
Title: Research Design Help: Measuring the effects of plagiarism intervention
(Background: I am a full-time EFL instructor at a university in S. Korea. I want to do independent research, as most faculty would not be interested to collaborate with someone who only has an MA.)
Korea is known as the plagiarism capital of the world. Since I work with student writers there, I am very interested in the subject. I am trying to devise a research project which can measure the efficacy of plagiarism intervention strategies, namely teaching paraphrasing, summarization, and citation skills. I have done a small literature review and have ideas for getting student perspectives on plagiarism using already validated surveys. However, since I want to focus on effect, I was wondering if anyone had suggestion on how to actually measure this?
I was thinking some kind of pre-test/post-test, but would really love some more ideas.
Edit: to expand on the pre-test/post-test idea, I had thought about giving them a number of short paragraphs which they would need to paraphrase and cite correctly (assuming paraphrasing is a vital referencing skill) pre-intervention and then post.
# Answer
I am just improvising on the fly here but does Korea have software like TurnItIn which measures (in a few different ways) the level of plagiarism in a particular paper or a set of papers usually from online sources.
If you do, then you could think about devising an experiment where, in a class, you inform the students that you will be trying to reduce their "plagiarism tendencies" and take a pre-test perceptions survey. Next, you set a particular class paper as an assignment and note the different measurements on TurnItIn (or equivalent). Then, you make your intervention (in whatever form you choose) and finally set another class paper as an assignment and note the different measurements on TurnItIn this time. Finally, you set a post-test debriefing and follow up survey.
I think this would make for a very nice repeated measures model (from the TurnItIn or equivalent data) and some nice latent variable analysis from your surveys.
I hope this helps you in some meaningful way.
> 1 votes
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Tags: plagiarism
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thread-10586 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10586 | General structure of Research Statement (applying for faculty position) | 2013-06-13T10:45:37.173 | # Question
Title: General structure of Research Statement (applying for faculty position)
I'm going to apply for assistant professor positions (in theoretical computer science) soon, and I'm trying to get a feeling for how to write a good research statement.
1. Should it contain a detailed overview of my (recent?) publications?
2. If the answer to 1 is yes, should I highlight my specific contributions in multi-author papers - as opposed to "we proved this and that..." ?
3. If the answer to 1 is yes, I must list the references here that I'm mentioning, which are also stated (in the full list of publications) in my CV, right?
4. Assuming there's no page limit, what's an appropriate length for a research statement?
My current plan is to group my work into topics and then, for each topic, provide a short overview of the respective papers ("What I've done so far") and some outlook on some future work ("What I would like to do").
# Answer
> Should it contain a detailed overview of my (recent?) publications?
**NO.** It should contain a detailed overview of your **research program**, including both your past accomplishments and your future plans/vision. Of course you have to describe your published results in technical detail, but as part of a larger narrative, not as stand-alone pieces. Focus on the big picture, not on the tiny technical details. Remember that your audience is *not* just other theoretical computer scientists.
> If the answer to 1 is yes, should I highlight my specific contributions in multi-author papers - as opposed to "we proved this and that..." ?
**NO.** "My coauthors and I proved..." is fine. The public dogma in theoretical computer science is that in every paper, each of the authors contributed 100% of the work, which is why they are listed alphabetically. You *own* any paper that has your name on it. Your narrative will naturally focus on the parts of the paper that you are the most proud of, which are usually the parts that you worked on the most.
Of course, if you're writing papers with your advisor or other more senior coauthors, there is a natural tendency for people to wonder if your aren't really just riding their coattails. This is why you need a larger narrative in your statement—to convince the reader that you understand your results at a deeper level than someone who merely *read* the papers. This is also why you have papers with different sets of coauthors—so that the common thread through your work stands out as *your* contribution. In particular, you have at least one paper without your advisor. Right?
> If the answer to 1 is yes, I must list the references here that I'm mentioning, which are also stated (in the full list of publications) in my CV, right?
The approach I always recommend is to treat your CV as your bibliography, and to include a footnote like "Numbered references indicate papers listed in my CV." Of course, this means that your research statement never cites anyone else's work, except in broad narrative strokes, but for a brief document intended to sell *your* research program, I think that's appropriate.
> Assuming there's no page limit, what's an appropriate length for a research statement?
Aim for three pages. Less than two is too short. More than four is too long.
That may not seem like a lot of space, but that actually works in your favor. You want to give the impression that you've done just *gobs* of really amazingly cool stuff, but dammit there just isn't room to write about everything.
> 15 votes
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Tags: computer-science, job-search, cv, research-statement
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thread-10589 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10589 | Mention engagement for mentally disordered people in application? | 2013-06-13T12:10:09.413 | # Question
Title: Mention engagement for mentally disordered people in application?
Im not sure if I am right on academia so please forward this topic to another page if necessary.
A friend of mine is writing her application for a job in research, e.g. studies about medications, diseases etc. Though she has lots of experience and a very good degree (diploma + master thesis) in public health it is not easy for her to find a job.
To increase her chance for an interview she thought about to mention her high engagement for mentally disordered people. She founded a self-help group at the university which is well established and has several dozen members. She does it almost by herself in her leisure time after university and sideline. She herself is not handicapped but has therapies running, but nothing which speaks against working regularly. On the one hand she could point out that she has a high level of soft skills and does a lot work voluntarily. But the problem then is how would an employer react about these facts? Wouldn't he think she has problems herself and therefore isn't a suitable candidate?
I think it isn't good either to mention only vague information about this. What should she do?
# Answer
> 6 votes
Many medical research jobs require interfacing with patients, stakeholders, family members, potential study subjects, etc. Therefore, people-skills can be a great asset. Furthermore, it sounds like your friend started a support group on her own initiative and successfully ran this group for some period of time with a fairly large number of person. This speaks to being a 'self-starter', and to good organizational and time-management skills, since she was doing this will completing her degree. The volunteering aspect is not as important as the other aspects, in my opinion since volunteering usually provides evidence of being motivated/'self-starter' which creating the group already emphasizes.
My feeling would be that this is a good thing to mention as it highlights several desirable qualities. In my opinion, whether or not your friend has mental health issues is her own personal business and not that of potential employers, unless it requires special considerations, so I would advise her to describe this work without reference to her personal health situation, framing it in terms of interest rather than personal experience - i.e. her interest in mental health issues led her to create this group which she managed for a certain period of time with however many clients.
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Tags: job, university, application, interview
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thread-10600 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10600 | Can I recover after a really bad first year? | 2013-06-14T00:55:46.350 | # Question
Title: Can I recover after a really bad first year?
Going into college I had a great record, 3.65 GPA and a 30 on the ACT and about 18 AP and concurrent credits in statistics, calculus, literature, and Spanish. However, trying to balance religious callings and duties during my first year of college left me very unbalanced academically, and as such I failed two major classes, one of which being college, a class that I had already passed in high school and was simply taking to help acclimate myself to the college environment.
The following semester was about the same. I ended up deferring for two years to serve full time under a religious calling, I was able to do this because the university is owned and operated by my church. Going back I am resolved to do better this time, but I am wondering if there is any possible way to wipe away my record of my first year and start fresh again, maybe by applying to a new college instead of transferring, is that possible? Or could I petition on part of my ADHD and Aspergers syndrome for the first year to be overlooked?
# Answer
> 9 votes
If you do really well from now onwards, then a couple of poor years can be overlooked, for instance if you are going to apply for PhD studies.
Also, it seems that the problem is not necessarily ADHD or Aspergers; it seems to be taking on too many different activities. So prioritising your time and commitments during your degree studies seems to be the solution to the problem and then working very hard, not getting the record wiped.
# Answer
> 4 votes
Another big question here is in what classes those bad grades are, relative to your major. IF those are intro classes in your intended major, this is a very, very bad thing, as it will have to be explained to anyone who looks at your transcript (admissions committees or prospective employers). On the other hand, if these are classes outside of your major, while still not ideal, they can at least be viewed as temporary aberrations or difficulties in the transition from high school to university.
# Answer
> 3 votes
I can tell you from experience that one can recover from a bad first year, though it would be up to the university what options there are regarding your GPA. Having said that, it is very unlikely that the university would wipe the results without making you repeat the subjects.
You would need documentary evidence for ADHD and Asperger's Syndrome to be considered as reasons for wiping the first year's grades. Even then, I am doubtful that a university would allow it.
A major option is to learn what you can from the first year, apply those lessons as part of your resolve to do better in coming academic years.
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Tags: university
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thread-10611 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10611 | How do journals and conferences verify if the results in paper are genuine | 2013-06-14T19:20:14.193 | # Question
Title: How do journals and conferences verify if the results in paper are genuine
Most of the conferences and journals doesn't ask for code to be submitted along with the paper. How common is it to detect fake or incomplete results in such conference/journal review ? In my field of study in Computer Science, sometimes overwhelming claims are made in some papers, but since the field is still growing, how do reviewers/editors determine the authenticity of the results ? Is it common to ask for code or working demo in such cases.
# Answer
> 14 votes
Since you're referring to computer science, I'll talk about conferences. Peer review, as Dave Clarke mentions, is primarily how papers are scrutinized. But conference reviews are often on a severe time constraint. So for an experimental paper, the reviewer looks at the main ideas, sees if the experiments are convincing and handle the cases that the reviewer thinks are important, and evaluates the overall work for "general excitement". But the reviewer has no ability to check if the work is correct.
In a theoretical paper, a reviewer might skim proofs, and see if the main claims pass a "smell test". If the result is important, or surprising, the reviewer might try to verify key claims in detail, and expect the authors to argue why their techniques should work. But even there, no formal proof checking happens (that happens in the journal review).
Ultimately, there are two (imperfect) safeguards against incorrect claims:
* author reputation - you don't want to get a rap for writing faulty papers
* reproducibility - I might reproduce your work, or ask for your code, when writing my papers.
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Tags: journals, conference, writing
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thread-10595 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10595 | Is there any difference between journals and conferences which charge money vs those which don't? | 2013-06-13T17:30:53.823 | # Question
Title: Is there any difference between journals and conferences which charge money vs those which don't?
Some journals and conferences charge money before/after paper acceptance, similarly there are some which don't (like Open Access Journals). Does money matter in judging such journals/conferences before sending paper ? Unfortunately my organization is on a cost cutting and isn't funding for any such activities. Is there a list of journals which do not charge fees or charge modest fees, so that I can publish there on my own ?
# Answer
I must disagree with the CS folks in the comments. Whether a journal charges or not is immaterial to the quality of the journal. You can only gauge its quality by being an active researcher in that field, not by silly metrics (this is an order of magnitude worse than impact factor).
Different journals from the same publishing house might also charge different rates for publications. For instance, AIP publishes both the Phys. Rev. series (+ PRL) and the J. Acoustical Society of America. While there are no charges for the former set, JASA has "voluntary" charges for publishing.
Such "voluntary" charges are very common (some flagship and top-of-the-line IEEE journals come to mind) and serves primarily as an opt-out for researchers from low income countries in Asia/Africa/S. America. Researchers in N. America, Europe and Australia/NZ are *expected* to pay the publishing charges, since with the way grants are structured in these countries, there is almost always a specific budget earmarked for publishing costs. Of course, if a researcher has no budget or is publishing in his spare time or as a secondary interest, then they're also welcome to not pay the charges, but I've never seen anyone that's on a grant decline to pay charges.
<sub>† Opinions on this site seem to be overrun by CS folks, who generally state them as facts of life. From my years of experience in a variety of fields, I've found their customs to be more of an outlier than the norm (perhaps only mathematics has something in common).</sub>
> 6 votes
# Answer
Generally speaking, whether a journal charges money for publication or not should **not be a criterium** for judging the quality of one journal compared to another one. Use other means for that, for example checking where good papers are published, the academic reputation of the editorial board, opinions of colleagues, and, yes, even numeric factors such as the impact factor of the journal.
There are very high-quality open access journals, for example the PLoS series of life science journals, but also no-quality open access journals, for example the ones produced by most of the publishers on Beall's list. Some very high-quality non-open access journals ask for page fees (or even submission fees, as I learnt recently), others don't.
I am not sure whether there is a specific list of journals which don't require paying fees, or an overview listing publication fees for a range of journals. There is the quite well-known SHERPA/Romeo list, which distinguishes between different levels of self-archiving. I guess most of the green journals (highest self-archiving rating) listed there will be open-access journals and ask for publishing fees, so you could go and check the other journals in more detail, by looking at their instructions for authors.
> 3 votes
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Tags: research-process, journals, conference, writing
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thread-10622 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10622 | Role/importance of letters of recommendation for PhD-applications in Europe? | 2013-06-15T06:57:37.900 | # Question
Title: Role/importance of letters of recommendation for PhD-applications in Europe?
In the US PhD prospects apply to several universities and those select an amount of applicants from that pool according to how many open spots the universities have for that term. Criteria for admission are GPA, GRE/SAT and research experience documented by 2-3 *letters of recommendation*.
In Europe the application process is often times quite different in the way, that not a selected number of applicants get admitted each year, but each available research/teaching assistants position is treated individually. Because the requirements differ vastly, a lot of the times the only **formal** requirement for application is a 'good' or 'very good' masters degree and/or experience in field x or with technology y.
I wonder, are letters of recommendation expected, if so how many, and how important are they actually?
# Answer
We can distinguish two different kinds of doctoral graduate studies in Europe:
* Programs through "graduate colleges" and "graduate schools" with centralized admissions policies
* Individual PhD positions in the research group (or institute, chair, etc.) of an individual professor
In the first case, everything is essentially along the lines of an application to a US-based graduate program, and letters of recommendation still carry the same weight.
For an individual position, letters of reference may be important, but as you suggested, it depends on the individual professor doing the hiring. For some research groups, the posting of an application is a formality, as they're only interested in hiring "internal" candidates (that is, people who have already worked in the group as bachelor's or master's students, and who thus can be "directly" evaluated). For people doing real searches, however, letters of recommendation are also important, because they can provide information about a candidate's research abilities in a way that is not possible just looking at a transcript or set of certificates.
> 8 votes
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Tags: graduate-admissions, recommendation-letter, europe
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thread-10624 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10624 | Do Fall Courses Count in PhD Admission? | 2013-06-15T08:38:52.600 | # Question
Title: Do Fall Courses Count in PhD Admission?
I am currently an undergraduate at a university. I am looking at graduate programs in Mathematics, and if I am applying for math graduate programs for the year 2014-2015, are fall courses (2013) taken into consideration for graduate applications?
If so, could you elaborate according to your knowledge and experiences. I'm sure this question is applicable to other graduate programs other than Mathematics, so any comments pertaining to this question would be appreciated.
# Answer
The easiest way to tell if fall grades will be taken into account is to *look at the application instructions*. If you see instructions asking you to provide your mid-year grades, then that's a pretty clear indication that they will be taken into account during the admissions process. If you are not asked to submit it, then follow that guideline.
If it's *optional* for whatever reason, I would assume that you should plan as if it were a mandatory submission.
> 4 votes
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Tags: graduate-admissions, coursework
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thread-10610 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10610 | How to survey recommended course readings? | 2013-06-14T14:51:33.403 | # Question
Title: How to survey recommended course readings?
I am interested in analysing the selection and distribution of course readings given to students of middle eastern studies in universities internationally.
By course readings I am referring to subject bibliographies given to students as background reading to accompany lectures, etc. I suspect this would be difficult to investigate, since most course readers are not available online.
Does anyone know of lists, bibliographies, methods or other resources which may help to conduct such a survey of course readings?
# Answer
> 1 votes
This is indeed a tricky task, as you are quite correct, many universities won't necessarily publish online and there are scant compilations for course readings specifically.
However, having said that, I found this Middle Eastern Teaching tools link list from the University of Portland and this compilation by a Dr. Alan Godlas.
At the bottom of the 2nd link is information regarding listserv's which may be of help.
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Tags: citations, data
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thread-9978 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9978 | Keeping marking unbiased when work is not submitted anonymously | 2013-05-14T03:05:03.657 | # Question
Title: Keeping marking unbiased when work is not submitted anonymously
I'm used to a system in which all important exams or pieces of coursework are marked anonymously. (That is, papers are identified by candidate number, not by name, and the examiner does not know which number corresponds to which student, at least until the marks have been submitted.) This has obvious advantages in terms of reducing bias by making sure marks are awarded based only on the quality of the work and not influenced by the name of the student.
I was surprised when I joined my current department to find that no attempt is made to keep work anonymous -- students hand in their final exams with their names at the top and their lecturer marks them.
Are there any advantages to knowing which student's paper you are marking?
In a system where students' names are on their papers, what do people do to prevent bias while marking?
# Answer
I've worked both ways and I'm unsure which way is best. There are clearly benefits to each way.
You already understand the benefits of 'blind' marking - you are more likely to be unbiased. However, by knowing the student behind the writing there are some benefits (along with the danger of bias).
One benefit is that you can authenticate more easily. That is, if you keep reading papers from one student and you see a sudden jump in quality (up or down) it can alert you to the possibility the work is not theirs (hired writers, etc.). Another benefit is that you can watch the development of each student over time. This is a little more difficult if you do not know while you are marking. Of course, you can go back over the papers after you submit the grades but that requires double reading (and not many want to do that for each student). There is the added benefit of seeing something which jumps out, like a special quote or comment you made in class. You can see who is getting it and who is not while you are marking. This last point is less of an issue because for stand-out cases you are more likely to read twice and it would be less work since it's a one-off event.
For exams, there is less of a benefit to the authenticity point above (since they were in the exam room) but it does still allow you to keep an eye on students. There is the obvious administrative benefit of not having to anonymize the exams.
As for preventing bias when papers are not anonymous, I consider each mark quite carefully and ask myself if I am being biased. When I look over all the marks and I see that I passed students I cannot stand and that I failed students I really like, then I feel fairly confident that I am keeping my bias in check.
> 11 votes
# Answer
Maybe a bit different than the types of exams that you are thinking about, but notice that for some classes like for instance art classes where the exam is based on something they have worked on for a longer time in class, or acting, it is actually impossible to have an anonymous exam (unless of course if only external persons are used to give marks).
From my experience, I have always had anonymous markings on the paper bases exams I have taken, but for my practical acting exams the marks were set by both the teacher and one external person, so I guess that gave the best of both worlds.
> 5 votes
# Answer
When marking exams, I mark question by question, focusing on the requirements of the question. By doing this, while marking, don't take heed of whose exam I am marking - just the question.
> 3 votes
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Tags: teaching, grading, anonymity
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thread-10558 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10558 | Should I continue with this research? | 2013-06-11T14:19:53.950 | # Question
Title: Should I continue with this research?
I was appointed to make some programming outside of a research group to see if I can be accepted for doctoral studies. The task is to mimic the results of one paper and from that point to carry more research about it.
Because of some personal problems, that project got delayed. The thing is that when I got the results of my program, and I compared with the ones that I was supposed to get, there were some differences (it was a medical related project). When I started comparing those differences I saw that some of my results were backed up by some medical papers.
Now the initial project has ended, because there has been published one software tool that do almost the same thing. And that research group is focusing on other projects.
My question is, is there any way I can publish the results I obtained with the program I made? I have spent more than six months doing that, without payment. How can I name it? Is it a model? Should it be published like a technical report? Any help will be great.
# Answer
> 2 votes
As JeffE said in his comment, you will need to seek permission from the director of the research group - if permission is given, I would suggest to get their input as to how to develop the research into a paper, and even suggest having the director as a co-author.
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Tags: research-process
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thread-10643 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10643 | Half good and some not good results in a research paper? | 2013-06-16T22:47:04.463 | # Question
Title: Half good and some not good results in a research paper?
I have made some research about a computer science topic. The initial idea seemed good, but when I implement the idea; this works in some cases and in some others it does not bring conclusive results.
How can I write a paper about this subject in particular? I mean, I do not want to hide the bad results. I want to include them, but I feel scared that my paper could not get accepted because of that.
I was thinking also to submit it in a not so prestigious conference, but also I do not see any advantage on doing so.
# Answer
It's important to remember that a paper is supposed to make some kind of contribution. It's not merely a report on "things you did". So if you have some good results and some inconclusive results, what's the contribution ? As sr3u says, you need to work out what's going on and come up with some answers. It's entirely possible that you fail in this endeavour and end up with NO paper. That's not fun, but it's something that you must accept as a possibility.
> 10 votes
# Answer
It would be good to dig a bit deeper and analyze why the idea works in some cases and not in some others. More than the fact that your idea seems not to work in some cases, a conference PC may be less than impressed by the fact that you have not worked out all its ramifications and clearly identified the structure of the problem for which it is good. In all CS research conferences and journals of some reasonable quality, it is the responsibility of the author(s) to present ideas as well as to work out their consequences in some depth -- it is in general not acceptable to present a bare idea (or an idea not thought through properly) with the expectation that the audience/readers will take it forward on their own.
Presenting more analyses would also make your submission stronger by adding some other theoretical results to the paper. You could also identify future research directions for addressing the cases not covered by your current work, which could add gravitas to your current paper as well as suggest your own future direction.
> 8 votes
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Tags: conference, writing
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thread-10649 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10649 | Advantages of second marking | 2013-06-17T12:24:37.223 | # Question
Title: Advantages of second marking
In the UK a portion, and in some cases all, work is "second marked" where an independent marker also marks the work. In cases where the 1st and 2nd marker disagree, a 3rd marker may be used. Finally, the entire work of each student over the course of his/her studies is evaluated by an exam board with (sometimes) 2 additional independent markers. These exam board markers tend to only consider cases that are on the border of different degree classifications.
From my understanding of statistics, having all of these different markers will regress marks towards the mean. As I am currently faced with the daunting task of 2nd marking a large stack of off topic papers, I am curious what are the advantages of second marking?
# Answer
Double marking has many roles, but mostly it is to ensure accuracy and fairness. The main way of achieving this, and avoiding the statistical anomalies alluded to in the comments is to produce an effective marking scheme, so that academics with sufficient background can grade the exam and produce virtually the same grades. *Easier said than done.*
More details can be found on the Internet, for example, on Swansea University's website.
> 5 votes
# Answer
Like the other answers, I don't think it is an issue of regression to the mean (in the sense that the mean is the mean of all the students in the module). It is an issue of finding the true quality of the student's work.
In my current university we do sampling in that one marker will check maybe 1/3 of another marker's work. The point here is clearly not to catch every mistake a marker might make but rather to check for signs of abuse of power. Because everyone marking knows that *some* of their marks will be checked by another is supposed to keep the original marker from giving inappropriately high or low grades to any students, since the marker does not know which of the marks will be checked (admins actually do the selection of the sample).
I've worked at other universities where all work is double marked and in this case my experience is similar to Peter Jansson's.
Again, as I see it, the purpose of double marking (whether full or sampling) is to simply make sure that the student is getting marked fairly. Unfair marks can happen with intent (bad marker) or on accident (marker interpreting an ambiguous question differently from the student).
> 4 votes
# Answer
I will provide some little experience I have had. I am sure details will differ depending on how the system of two graders are set up.
In the system I experienced it is a custom to have the course responsible plus someone external (in my case even from a different country) do the grading. The grading was completed by having a discussion between the two graders about possible deviations. In the system grades are given as a number between one and six in steps of 0.1, so very detailed.
My experience was actually quite remarkable; it concerned a masters/PhD level course. We were most often within 0.2 of each other except in one case (answer) where one had given a 1 and the other a 6. In that case it turned out the question was ambiguous and could be interpreted in different ways. The grades were basically calculated as the average of both but only after we had discussed the problems/deviations. This is, for example, how we discovered the ambiguous question formulation.
From this, albeit miniscule, experience, I felt that the benefit of having two persons grading is that ambiguities in terms of questions and answers can be sorted out. It is also possible to discuss the apropriateness of the interpretations of answers given by students. The method also provides what I can call "legal certainty" since the grades will be based on two persons view rather than one. Of course the degree to which it is certian depends on the transparency of the process and to what extent the two gradings become official. The point in "my" case is that both graders have to agree so it is not signed by just one person.
As a grader I also appreciated the possibility to discuss the grading and the corrections jointly made were fair and made the process worth while. I would personally like ot see the system used more, but fear it will be difficult from a financial point of view in many universities (-y systems).
> 3 votes
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Tags: assessment
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thread-10652 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10652 | Ways of developing non-core skills during PhD studies? | 2013-06-17T15:00:01.310 | # Question
Title: Ways of developing non-core skills during PhD studies?
Working on a cross-disciplinary project, in an increasingly cross-disciplinary field, I often find myself wondering whether or not I am developing skills in multiple different areas of my work. I intend this question to be as general as possible, but for the sake of clarity I will give my case as an example:
I have a MSc in applied mathematics, and have been working with biomedical research for three years now. Being branded as a *bioinformatician* I feel very appreciated on one hand, and absolutely disregarded on the other. In many cases I am expected to learn more of the biology and develop an understanding of "the real science" while all the tools and analysis should just work. I mean many of the seniors have absolutely no idea of the time and effort it takes to develop at software tool, maintain and further develop it. It appears as all that is given once and for all in the engineering school, after all programming is just programming... (please note the sarcasm here)
Be as it may, I have been trying to improve my knowledge and experience in the technical aspects of the work on my own; learning new algorithms, new languages, new tools... It is surprisingly hard to get accustomed to these when you are not in the university anymore. Consequently, I have given up on learning Maven for my Java projects, or Perl for speeding up my day-to-day scripting.
So my question is; what are good methods for learning or developing techniques that are not immediately in the scope of your project but is still very relevant in your development as a scientist?
Follow up question: am I mistaken in thinking that I should develop a broad set of skills in order to become as efficient and competent as possible?
# Answer
> 17 votes
My goodness, but this is a tough one. We all learn and maintain our skills in our own unique way. Especially in industry or when operating independently, so it's difficult to say what would work for you. I'm in a similar situation except that I'm a developer first and I've been tasked with 'just making security happen'. Much like with you and bio-med, there is an awful lot that is changing in the landscape of info-sec and staying sharp in both domains is a real challenge.
That said; your mileage will vary but here are some techniques that work for me.
**Find overlapping areas:** When I started to move toward developing a new aspect of my skill set I looked for areas where the old and the new overlap. Luckily for me; this was a pretty easy thing to do with infosec and software development. The benefit here is that it allows you to leverage your existing skills in a new area. If can can find areas where you can turn two jobs into one you can ease your way into it, rather than just sitting down one weekend and deciding "I'm going to learn X.".
**Sit down one weekend and decide "I'm going to learn X.":** Sometimes there is no easy overlap to ease your way into a new tech or topic. In those cases I've found that a couple of days in power study mode can be a real benefit. Strap on the headphones, coffee up it that's your thing, and just read the literature & work problems. If it's tech then do tutorials. If it's topic then vacuum up as much as you can.
**Find mentors:** Maybe you can't find the all encompassing guru of everything you want to do, but that's OK. Someday that guru will be you. In the meantime find people with expertise in your subject areas to help you fill in the gaps.
**Keep it fun:** If at all possible and whenever possible. If you hate what you're doing then you're not going to do it well. At least that has been my experience.
**Don't give in to the temptation to 'dumb it down':** You're a smart person. You've taken the time to learn a new skill. You've actually read the materials. You work hard to develop and maintain a system that crosses a number of subject matter domains. Don't let people off easy when they ask hard questions; give them hard answers. My approach is to ask them 'do you want an answer or a response?' If all they want is a response that's OK. I give them a short and succinct response. If they want an answer then I do my best to provide the most exhaustive and thorough explanation of what I do, that I can. When I work hard to learn a new skill I don't need to show it off but I won't let it be taken for granted either.
Well, that's what I've got. All the best to you in your endeavors. If you ever need Java help feel free to grab me on chat and I'll get you an email address.
# Answer
> 6 votes
My understanding from "I am not in the uni anymore" phrase is that you work in some of sort of industry or semi-academic environment. If that is indeed the case, you are probably filling in time sheets for you work; if that is the case, you should be telling your superiors, "*This feature that you requested requires 10 hours of immediate development, and another 20 hours to test it properly. How high do you want me to put it on the priority list?*" It is unfortunately a little late for you to start talking like that, as you have been used as an ultimate programmer-who-can-code-anything-without-any-problem for three years now. But you can also bring it up in the sense that "*I am getting a variety of requests that I must process one by one*", and then put the feature value-vs-development time trade-off.
What you are asking, actually, is even more advanced: you need to reneg for some 5-10% of your time to be spent on professional development so that you can continue improving as the applied mathematician on the job. Again, you can say that this process will eventually pay off as you will do things on the projects faster. That's a tough sell given that your time is needed for actual research.
You might want to ask something like that on the "main" StackOverflow website: how people continue training themselves on the job. In an academic setting, you as a student could just commit yourself to write your next thing (be that a research publication or a term paper) using the new tool. In a production environment, you don't have that luxury of being able to make some errors and give yourself some time to recover from them. So once again, that's tough.
# Answer
> 4 votes
Some methods I have found:
1. Taking courses in the field you want to learn.
2. Learning from books in the field you want to learn. Best done in a learning group of people with a similar background.
3. Working with experts in the field you want to learn.
4. Taking on research projects in the field you want to learn.
Remember that your PhD is the best time to gain this knowledge - later you will be much more busy with other things.
Finally, bioinformatics and computational biology is a bit of an odd field because you need to know math, biology, chemistry, physics and computer science (I won't detail all the subfields, but there are dozens). My point is that this is a HUGE field - don't expect to be an expert in every possible aspect. Instead, it is better to find a niche which you enjoy and become an expert there - but always keep your mind open to learning new things.
# Answer
> 2 votes
Am in a very much similar situation as you, doing a PhD in physics - however, there is strong connections to biology, photography and signal processing - but very specific topics therein.
A couple of methods that I use on top of what has been mentioned are:
1. Join stack exchanges, forums and discussion groups of similar topics
2. Set myself challenges to determine something new, partly relevant to my studies, but also to build my skills in that topic.
3. Attending conferences, workshops and seminars (as many as time and funds allow).
4. But one main method that seems to work particularly well is setting up 'Google alerts' of specific topics - I always have a great reading list.
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Tags: research-process, career-path
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thread-10660 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10660 | What does "principled approach" mean in papers? | 2013-06-18T07:26:36.867 | # Question
Title: What does "principled approach" mean in papers?
I encounter this term "principled approach" in some papers of computer science. Since I' m not a native speaker, I don' t quite understand what this means. And I didn' t find any results online.
I' m not sure if this site is appropriate for such questions. Please let me know if I posted at the wrong place.
# Answer
> 7 votes
A 'principled approach', at least the way that I've been exposed to this term, implies due care and diligence with regards to the rigor and discipline used in the materials context. A paper that describes a principled approach would be one that is presenting a procedure for the execution or evaluation of a given subject matter. For example, if I picked up a paper titled 'A principled approach to algorithm selection and implementation' then I would expect the contents of that paper to clearly enumerate a system of algorithm analysis, with exhaustive supporting documentation.
Conversely, a paper which uses a principled approach would be one that follows such a detailed and rigorous methodology that the data collected from its research may be considered to be functionally with out bias and with a low probability of corruption or inaccuracy.
# Answer
> 9 votes
(I am in mathematics, but similar language is used roughly similarly, I believe.) As a place-holder answer: a "principled" approach in science is at least *opposite* to a quick-and-dirty, or *ad* \_hoc\_, or "kludge-y" approach, the latter three synonymous expressions meaning that the priority is getting *some* result out, perhaps even finding some rationalization for the conclusion one *wants*. Obviously a non-principled approach more lends itself to corrupted (but also quick, desired, easy) results.
The "principled" approach "takes the high road", does not bias conclusions, does not rationalize-away weaknesses or flaws in methodology or information.
That is, one could hope that a "principled" approach involves *no* conflict of interest for the parties involved, and could be trusted. At its worst, "unprincipled" approaches (which no one would ever admit to, except perhaps as a mildly perverse claim to fresh unorthodoxy) produce completely untrustworthy outcomes, because those outcomes are chosen in advance, and whatever results are obtained are "interpreted" to support the original premise.
A hilarious example I witnessed was a computer science M.S. (details elided to protect privacy), on which I was an "outside examiner", in which "the goal" was to prove that two bunches of events were correlated, thus proving that the people who were promoting the one as "cause" of the other were right, and people should invest in their product. (Nevermind that correlation is not causality.) The guy failed to find any correlation in any of the first twenty or so statistical tests he applied... but he kept at it, until he found a statistical test that *did* seem to assert a slight correlation.
Of course, what he had *really* proven was that there was apparently no correlation... but, taking an "unprincipled" approach, claimed the opposite of what his own evidence showed, etc.
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Tags: computer-science, terminology, methodology
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thread-10173 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10173 | Does membership of academic honour societies carry any professional weight / recognition? | 2013-05-22T23:22:41.970 | # Question
Title: Does membership of academic honour societies carry any professional weight / recognition?
I understand **honour societies** have been around for years and it is a tradition more prevalent in the western world to recognise outstanding academic talent.
The largest honour society is perhaps the Golden Key which operates worldwide and has over 2 million members. It provides a range of services to members, including leadership training, networking and the opportunity to do good. Membership is by invitation only and only those who are in the top 15% of their class or high performing graduate students are eligible. The eligibility is based solely on academic performance.
I presume being invited to join a honour society is an 'honour' in itself, as the mere mention of this affiliation on the CV would indicate that you are a top achiever.
**Question 1:** Does membership of honour society carry any professional weight?
(i.e. does it give any additional advantages?)
**Note:** Honour society is not the same as professional society. The latter, as I understand it, is open to all persons in a particular field (irrespective of their academic achievement but as long as certain criteria are met, e.g. successful registration as a teacher to join a teacher's union).
**Question 2:** Are there other honour societies in addition to the Golden Key (which seems to be the most dominant one)?
**PS:** I am unsure of the tag, so putting CV. Please update!
**Disclaimer:** I am not associated with Golden Key.
# Answer
> 18 votes
> Does membership of honour society carry any professional weight?
No, not in general. At a very early stage in your career, for example when applying to graduate school, it may be useful as a quick indication that you have received high grades. However, the grades themselves are more meaningful than the honor society membership, and in any case grades only matter so much. It's worth mentioning the honor society on your CV, but it won't make a big difference.
Once you are more than a few years past undergraduate studies, neither grades nor honor societies matter.
# Answer
> 11 votes
In general, I think honor societies (including Golden Key) carry very little weight. One exception is Phi Beta Kappa, which (unlike Golden Key) does not require paying a fee to be inducted. I would be suspicious of any honor society that requires payment for membership.
# Answer
> 3 votes
Listing "prestigious" societies like Phi Beta Kappa or Tau Beta Pi is perfectly acceptable. While it probably won't do a whole lot of good, it also won't do any harm. Do avoid listing any societies where you have to pay dues or pay to be inducted: they are a double-whammy since they give the perception that 1) you are padding your CV with inconsequential honors, and 2) are exhibiting poor judgment by paying to do so.
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Tags: cv, honor-societies
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thread-10646 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10646 | Overcoming nerves from anticipating conference questions | 2013-06-17T09:38:48.713 | # Question
Title: Overcoming nerves from anticipating conference questions
My field is atmospheric physics.
The irony is that I have been a school teacher for over a decade, but soon, I'll be giving a presentation of some of my findings at a conference. I think that the nerves stem from speaking about my own research in front of my peers - something that I have not done to a large audience.
The questions that will no doubt be ask fill me with anticipation in both positive and negative ways.
Asides from being prepared, making sure the presentation is seamless and that I have a good night's sleep beforehand and 'knowing my stuff' inside and out. What are some strategies to anticipate the type of questions that would likely arise from a conference presentation?
# Answer
There are a few obvious questions to ask yourself in planning for questions:
* What are the inherent weaknesses in the current work? (Almost no research is completely "airtight," so figuring out where the weak spots are will make a difference.)
* What are the ramifications of whatever assumptions I have made? Are they logical? What happens if I strengthen, relax, or eliminate some of those assumptions? Will everything still work in the more general (or more restricted) case?
* How would I apply this work to other problems? How will it help others in the field?
And then, with respect to the presentation:
* Have I left anything out in the interests of time that would potentially interest the user? Is the research methodology clear?
If there's anything in the last point, you may want to plan on having additional "backup" slides which highlight that info, but that aren't part of the "main" talk.
> 15 votes
# Answer
One strategy to adopt when answering questions is to first repeat back the essence of the question to the questioner:
> If I understand correctly, you are asking ....
This will have two effects. Firstly, it ensures that you are actually answering the correct question. Secondly, it will buy you a little bit of time to gather your thoughts and think a bit about an answer.
Take your time when answering questions, rather than rushing to the first answer that pops into your head. In the end, it is okay to say, "I don't know" or to ask to discuss the question off-line, but the latter can seem like a bit of a cop-out. Try to answer the question, but only if the message is not getting through can you suggest to take it off-line.
But the real key is to practice your presentation extensively. If you deliver a good presentation and you know it, you will feel great and thus comfortable to answer questions.
> 10 votes
# Answer
In addition to strategies for anticipating questions, I thought it would be helpful to suggest how to cope with the nerves. I find that it sometimes helps to remind yourself a couple of things:
1. Remember that you have been working and thinking about your specific question probably more than most people hearing the talk - they are just hearing about your work for the first time. Even if there are important and smart people in the audience, **you are the expert on your work**.
2. Personally, I find that I am similarly anxious before giving talks regarding my work. However, it somehow always plays out fine - the atmosphere is usually relaxed and the questions tend to be either simple clarifications or interesting discussions. I suspect I am not the only person who experiences this.
> 5 votes
# Answer
Most of the questions you'll receive will either 1) ask for clarification about your methodology/results, or 2) suggest avenues of future work. Questions of the first kind are usually very easy (presumably you did the research and know the answer ;) ) and the second kind can be very helpful for identifying new research directions and collaborators! If you've already thought about the proposed direction, obviously chip in any insights you might have, but if not, "that's an interesting suggestion, and something I'd be interested in looking at in future work" is all you really need to say.
There are only a few realistic ways the Q&A session can go off of the rails. You might get questions like
* "How does your work compare to \[Foo et al 2003\]" (you have no idea who Foo is or what his method does)
* "Does your work account for (some factor you don't understand)?"
* "How might your work apply to (some area you know nothing about)?"
You can fall into the trap of feeling that you *should* know the answer, and that admitting ignorance is embarrassing... but the worst thing you can do is to bluff or make stuff up. If people "smell blood in the water" and get the impression that you are being misleading, they *will* come back with even more hostile questions. Instead, remember that you are in control of the conversation, and hold the ultimate trump:
* "Unfortunately I'm not familiar offhand with the method of Foo et al, but I'd be happy to chat with you offline about it after the session."
* "I don't know offhand, but I'd be happy to chat more offline."
* "Unfortunately I'm not too familiar with (area X), but I'd love to talk to you later about possible applications of my work there."
> 3 votes
# Answer
There is absolutely nothing wrong with not knowing the answer to a difficult question; if we know the answers to all the questions, then by definition it isn't research. Being comfortable with not knowing the answer should help with nerves. The questions are generally asked out of genuine interest, rather than as a test, so the person asking the question is not necessarily expecting you to have a good answer anyway. User168715's suggestion (+1) of saying "I don't know offhand, but I'd be happy to chat more off-line" is a good one", and is a good way of exchanging ideas with others interested in the same sorts of work as yourself.
> 2 votes
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Tags: conference, presentation, answering-questions
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thread-10686 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10686 | Restriction on working hours for full-time students | 2013-06-19T13:16:18.283 | # Question
Title: Restriction on working hours for full-time students
I know that 20 hours/week when school is in session and 40 hours when school is out is the legal maximum working hour for international full-time students in United States. I was wondering whether this also holds for students other than international students. The website of U.S. Department of Labor mentions the same, but it is not clear whether it holds for all. Here is the extract from the website.
> "**Full-Time Student Program**
>
> *This program is for full-time students employed in retail or service stores, agriculture, or colleges and universities. The employer that hires students can obtain a certificate from the Department of Labor which allows the student to be paid not less than 85% of the minimum wage. The certificate also limits the hours that the student may work to 8 hours in a day and no more than 20 hours a week when school is in session and 40 hours when school is out, and requires the employer to follow all child labor laws. Once students graduate or leave school for good, they must be paid at least the federal minimum wage. There are some limitations on the use of the full-time student program..."*
# Answer
> 10 votes
The extract you have linked is specifically for a program that exempts employers from paying the full minimum wage. There is, in principle, no *law* stating that students can only work 20 hours per week when school is in session. In fact, it's quite the opposite—students can work as many hours as they would like.
On the other hand, it *is* possible for universities to place conditions on financial aid recipients that they not work more than some number of hours per week, and in general it's not really that smart of an idea to be studying full-time and working full-time on top of that. And the university may also have limits on what students can do with on-campus student aide positions, whether or not they are on financial aid.
But as far as the US government is concerned? I don't think they really care.
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Tags: international-students, working-time
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thread-10692 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10692 | How much detail to include for an award listed on a CV | 2013-06-20T03:03:58.457 | # Question
Title: How much detail to include for an award listed on a CV
I would like to have a section titled 'Awards/Honors' in my CV and I am confused about how much detail to include for the items in this section. Here are some formats and levels of detail I am considering:
1. Harry Potter scholarship.
2. Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Harry Potter scholarship.
3. Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Harry Potter scholarship: awarded to one student every year for demonstrated excellence in horcrux-gathering.
For certain things, I feel like the first does not include enough context, beyond some very well-known things (such as a Fulbright or Goldwater, neither of which I have received). For some particular names I have in mind the second looks pretty clunky and does not always fit on a single line. The third option is even clunkier, and might be perceived as an attempt to add fluff to inflate the CV. I am personally leaning towards the second option, but I don't know that it adds much value beyond the first option.
Is there an accepted way to list awards/scholarships? Should I even be listing them at all?
**Some context.** I am a PhD student in Mathematics and I will be on the academic job market this coming year. I am currently based in the US and intend to apply to jobs here as well as internationally if I find any that are interesting. I am wondering both about the CV I keep that lives on my professional website and the one I hope to send as part of my job applications.
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**Edited to add**: The first couple of answers suggest that one might choose the format/level of detail based on the type/prestige of award. If I were reading a CV and came across inconsistent formatting within a section, I would find it quite jarring. Is this something that only worries someone mildly-OCD such as myself (I notice things like en-dashes and em-dashes) and therefore perhaps to not be worried about, or should I be careful about such things (e.g. consistency of formatting) when creating a CV?
# Answer
I will disagree with Dan C's answer above and state that you should only be choosing between options 2 and 3. At the very minimum, you want to indicate **who** gave you the award. Otherwise, it's not all that valuable to the reviewer of your CV, as they may not know whether an award is a big deal or not. If it's a major award, I'd default to option 3 if it's "non-obvious" how it works.
So, in general, I'd opt for option number 2, unless there's some specific information that needs to be shared, in which case I'd go for number 3.
> 19 votes
# Answer
The **amount of detail** you give should be **proportional to the award's prestige**. So for example,
* If you were recognized as an "excellent" teacher, among a list of 100s at your university, that's worth mentioning, but it gets formatted as option 1.
* If you won a best student paper award, that probably gets option 2.
* If you won "best PhD thesis in your department" from a department with more than say 10 graduates each year, that might merit option 3, although it's likely to fit easily in format 2.
* If you won a prize from a professional society (awarded to very few each year), that might merit option 3.
> 17 votes
# Answer
I would go so far as to give the opposite of Dan C's advice: the more prestigious the award, the less detail you need to provide.
If you won the NSF fellowship or the Hertz, or got best paper at your national conference, everyone will understand what the award is and its significance, and belaboring the point has the risk of looking desperate or inexperienced.
On the other had, if you won your department's annual \[famous former faculty\] Memorial Award for Excellence in Teaching, the award is still worth listing and you should include at least that much information on the CV. Assume nobody is going to take the time to Google your awards.
I would say, as my rule of thumb, that each award should fit on one line. If explaining an award's significance requires more than one line, that is a red flag that perhaps the award is not pulling its weight. Understating your accomplishments and aggressive mediocrity will both kill your chances in the job market, but in my opinion the latter is the most dangerous of the two.
> 12 votes
# Answer
You got good answers. I just want to add that it is usually a good idea to list the relevant year(s). I typically use this format:
Mickey Mouse Prize. Institute of Advanced Cartoons. 2010. Extra comments if needed.
> 3 votes
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Tags: cv
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thread-10705 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10705 | How might I improve my math department as an undergrad? | 2013-06-20T23:23:08.207 | # Question
Title: How might I improve my math department as an undergrad?
I am an undergraduate math major at a small state university in the US. Our math department has about 20 tenured/tenure-track faculty, including applied mathematicians and statisticians. We have only 3 current NSF grants, two in statistics and one in biomathematics. According to MathSciNet, only 4 of our faculty have published something this year. Additionally, our current department head mainly does applied interdisciplinary research, but I suppose it is not rare for math department heads to be in some kind of applied math field. To be fair, my university was founded less than 50 years ago, but I still want my department to become better.
Is there anything I could do as an undergrad to help improve my department? It's hard to say exactly what would make my department "better", but to be somewhat vague, I would consider research productivity and funding to be important factors to improve on.
# Answer
> Is there anything I could do as an undergrad to help improve my department? It's hard to say exactly what would make my department "better", but to be somewhat vague, I would consider research productivity and funding to be important factors to improve on.
There's not much you can do as an undergraduate to help improve research productivity or funding. It's not clear whether the department wants to improve in these ways, or should want to: there's nothing wrong with focusing on teaching. Even if the faculty do want to become more research active, or the administration wants them to, it's not easy and there's little you can do to make it easier. I'd be careful with how you frame things, since you could easily cause hurt feelings by giving your professors the impression that you consider them substandard.
Instead of focusing on what might improve the department in some abstract sense, I'd focus on what would create a stimulating, exciting environment for the current students. You don't want to be too demanding, and some things just might not be feasible, but it can't hurt to ask what could be possible and what it would take to make it happen. You could look into various sorts of activities:
1. Advanced courses or independent study.
2. Undergraduate research supervised by faculty.
3. Informal mathematical activities: math club, Mathematical Association of America student chapter, Putnam team, etc.
If all of these things are regularly available, then your department is doing pretty well. Otherwise, you could try to initiate or reinvigorate some of them. You aren't likely to get clubs or courses for just one student, so you'll probably have to gather some other enthusiastic students. This may be the biggest way you could contribute, as a catalyst to bring together a group of students the department hadn't realized wanted or needed these activities.
> 21 votes
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Tags: research-process, undergraduate, mathematics, funding
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thread-10688 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10688 | How to search for graduate schools that have Masters in Complexity Science/Complex Systems? | 2013-06-19T15:03:21.363 | # Question
Title: How to search for graduate schools that have Masters in Complexity Science/Complex Systems?
I'm an undergrad student who is interested in pursuing a Masters degree in complexity science/complex systems in the U.S. I know some schools put this program under physics, math or computer science departments.
I'd like to know which schools that provide such a program. Unlike physics, maths or cs programs, it is not straight-forward to find out such a list. Any recommendations on how to get a complete list of schools that provide a masters degree in complexity science/complex systems?
# Answer
Try looking at speakers from conferences dealing with complex systems, e.g.:
You can also search for other conferences (e.g. at http://www.conference-service.com) and then check the speakers. Furthermore, looking at affiliations from recent (say - last few years) papers you like my lead to some good trails.
When it comes to webpages being hubs from complex systems, try looking at:
Some positions (including doctoral programs) and other resources are at http://www.barabasilab.com.
Also, some group websites are in my collections of links (Delicious: complexity and networks or search at my Pinboard).
> 4 votes
# Answer
Though Santa Fe Institute doesn't have a Master program, it has a Complex System Course.
> 0 votes
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Tags: graduate-school, masters
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thread-10714 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10714 | Official abbreviations for CS conferences | 2013-06-22T06:57:09.227 | # Question
Title: Official abbreviations for CS conferences
Some journals like to abbreviate journal names in the papers they publish, and the AMS maintains a list of abbreviated journal names for those who need them. Is there a similar resource for conferences (in computer science)?
EDIT: to clarify, I'm not looking for acronyms (SODA, STOC, ICALP), but rather for something like "Proc. 6th Ann. ACM-SIAM Symp. Discrete Algorithms".
# Answer
> 3 votes
I am not aware of any *comprehensive* list of abbreviations for CS conferences. One way to see many abbreviations is through CS conference listings and ranking. For example, here and here. The most obvious way is googling the name of the conference then checking the conference website.
# Answer
> 2 votes
AFAIK, there is no such resource, and even if it existed, it would not be very useful.
In general, people do not know the full names of the conference, only their acronyms. The full names tend to change slightly every now and then, while the acronyms are much more stable.
You can safely write pretty much anything that resembles the correct name, as long as you include the acronym. You can often save some space by removing useless words such as "Annual", "International", "ACM", "IEEE", etc.
For example, *"Proc. 6th Symposium on Discrete Algorithms (SODA)"* would be perfectly fine and unambiguous.
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Tags: journals, conference, computer-science
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thread-10713 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10713 | About email contact with prospective advisors who are yet to join the institute | 2013-06-22T02:42:23.340 | # Question
Title: About email contact with prospective advisors who are yet to join the institute
I am a second year grad student who is trying to find advisors in two people (quite brilliant scientists!) who are going to join my grad school as faculty. They are going to be in campus only rarely now but will be full-time here from the next year.
* Does this situation sound very bad or scary or depressing or something wrong?
* Am I late into the game?
So I have done studies and have written up research drafts in areas related to these scientists and have been trying to get into discussions with them over emails. Both sounded quite interested in me - one of them met me for a few hours of discussion while in campus about a month ago - and the other one said "we should keep in touch and meet when I am there the next time" etc.
* But I get very scared and nervous when I don't get replies from them after even a week from the last email (stating my progress in their respective subjects)- I am always thinking if they struck me off from their mind - did they just forget me - did they decide I am not worth it etc. etc.
\[...I am getting sick of just the unbearable tension of the fear of having been dropped...\]
Anyway is the implicit expectation that I am going to read up all current papers in their fields and be able to come up with a paper on my own? (...thats what I am trying to do but clearly thats not easy!...) I don't know how "advising" is supposed to work with so little contact (...may be there is a culture conflict because in my previous institute one met one's professors daily and even multiple times a day at times...)
\[just a side information - may be irrelevant but still for completeness of information - I think I am way ahead of my peers in terms of depth and breadth of knowledge and speed of learning new papers and my grad school grades are all at the top..\]
# Answer
> 9 votes
I personally would be a little *too* concerned about a graduate student who keeps trying to "hard sell" themselves *before I arrived.* Partially this is because, if I were just starting a new position, I'd be worried about a million things, including winding down my previous employment situation, preparing for a move, figuring out all the different things that have to be done in the new position, and so on. Others may very well be different, though!
Note that I don't think it's wrong to be active when you sense a good opportunity, such as working with a scientist you hold in high regard as an advisor. However, being too aggressive may be just as damaging as being too passive. Steer clear of both extremes. For instance, have the advisors in question *asked* you to send them weekly updates? Have you asked them to schedule a phone or Skype chat? Do you know if they are even "at home" or if they're on travel when they're not responding?
Advisors have their own personal styles, and your style should mesh with theirs. If it doesn't, it will likely be an unproductive and unhappy situation for both of you.
# Answer
> 4 votes
Understand that faculty, even junior faculty, can get over a hundred emails a day, and even dealing with only the most urgent of these, such as
* Bureaucracy from the department chair / funding agency program director / etc.
* Requests from existing students and collaborators
* Reminders about late paper reviews
* Conference and travel logistics
* Letter of reference requests
* Complaints about grades from undergrads
takes up a huge chunk of their time. Recruiting good students is also usually a high priority... but if you've already agreed to work together next year, and have established an outline of what you can be doing until then to prepare yourself, I wouldn't read too much into a slow response to your follow-up emails, especially if they are in the form of long reports.
The best approach is probably the direct one: ask them what you can do between now and the fall to get a head start on the research project, and what kind of updates, if any, they would like from you between now and then.
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Tags: phd, graduate-school, advisor
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thread-10733 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10733 | What to do (years later) with otherwise good student who has accidentally plagiarised part of PhD thesis? | 2013-06-24T00:44:57.460 | # Question
Title: What to do (years later) with otherwise good student who has accidentally plagiarised part of PhD thesis?
Here's a not so hypothetical situation. International student x is very talented but comes from a background where technical writing is not taught or understood very well. She writes a great thesis with a good literature review and nice results. However, the results are based on two key papers from previous students in the group. She decides to give credit to the papers in a special chapter, which she starts by saying "I need to give credit to this and that paper" and proceeds with copying paragraphs wholesale to describe what those other students did.
This was a few years back; X is now faculty at a good school and she contacts me (past advisor) in teary-terrified voice to let me know that she plagiarized in her thesis. I am now in a panic as well. How could I miss those? And how could she do that?? We both risk losing our jobs, and she is at risk of losing her degree as well (which, by the way, was a very strong thesis with a good number of top journal publications).
As far as I know there's no process for revising a thesis after it's been submitted and I don't know what else to do short of turning ourselves in - which I feel morally obligated to do.
Please advise.
*Edit* Thanks all for weighing in on this. I spent the night going through the thesis and there appear to be three more sources that are suspect of being plagiarized, all in the same wretched chapter; one is a thesis of a colleague, the other is a textbook and the third is a book I wrote a while back. So this is more serious than I thought.
She has unfortunately not used quotes for the material, i.e., instead of saying "\[paper i\] says ," she just went on with "\[paper i\] says this and that."
She has *not* been accused of plagiarism by anybody. I am guessing that she has finally come to grips with good writing standards and upon looking through her thesis she realized that her "summary" was actually plagiarism. I have every reason to believe that she did what she did in good faith (she has proven her honesty on many occasions).
# Answer
Did any of the plagiarized material make it into journal papers, or was it all literature review that was never published outside of the thesis?
If some of it made it into papers, then it's important to contact the journals and publish corrections. This is more straightforward and predictable than dealing with the thesis itself. If the plagiarism is confined to background material, then I don't think retracting the papers would be necessary. Instead, I expect it would be possible to publish a correction that indicates the plagiarized portions and provides citations. This would be embarrassing and would hurt her reputation a little, but it would solve the problem as far as the papers were concerned. It would also strengthen the student's case for dealing with the thesis if she can say she voluntarily corrected the publications and did not need to retract any of them.
If none of the plagiarized material was published elsewhere, then it's trickier. Once all the original results are published in research papers, I doubt anyone will read the thesis and discover the plagiarism. Even if they do, they might take pity on the student and ignore the plagiarism. (I once ignored some mild plagiarism of my writing in the background sections of a thesis at another university. The student had already graduated, and I found no evidence of plagiarism in any of his research papers. If I knew for sure he could just file a correction to the thesis, then that would make sense, but I wouldn't want to potentially destroy his career over this mistake.) So she might well get away with it if she doesn't say anything. Still, I'd advise her to officially confess to the university. Turning herself in is likely to lead to a *much* better outcome than being caught by someone else. Plus it's the right thing to do, and it will save her from years of worrying about getting caught.
> We both risk losing our jobs, and she is at risk of losing her degree as well (which, by the way, was a very strong thesis with a good number of top journal publications).
Unless your university is extraordinarily strict, I don't think your job is in jeopardy. On the other hand, the student's degree or job might be, depending on how the university handles the situation. Based on your description, I think it would be unfair for her career to be ruined, but I can't predict what will actually happen. I hope your administration's sense of fairness is the same as mine, in which case a correction will suffice.
The hardest situation will be if she decides to remain silent. In that case you probably have an obligation to turn her in, and it would look terrible if anyone found out that you knew but didn't say anything. On the other hand, turning her in would be a tough decision. Much better for her to turn herself in voluntarily.
> 40 votes
# Answer
First off, just to make it clear, this is plagiarism. Providing a reference and then long string of text implies that the text is YOUR description of ideas of someone ELSE. To give full credit to someone else requires some sort of formatting distinction (typically block indentation or quotation makes). Potentially the plagiarism was accidental, but it is still plagiarism.
**Supervisor**
A doctoral dissertation is generally a single author piece of independent work. Plagiarism in a dissertation should have little direct impact on the career of the supervisor. It might have some indirect consequences like people questioning how you can be so unfamiliar with your students work that you do not catch plagiarism, but I think most people would be pretty understanding about this. If the thesis was not single author or if the work was published with your name on it, that is a different story since co-authorship implies you have BOTH plagiarized.
Failure to report academic misconducted (whether it is your student or not) can impact your career. At my university we do not classify failure of a student to report academic misconducted of another student as academic misconducted. I don't know the disciplinary process when faculty are involved. Personally, I would say that we all have a responsibility to the scientific process to report ALL cases of academic misconduct that we are aware of.
**Student**
At my University, the penalty for plagiarism by a current student is zero on the piece of work. This would mean the student would have failed her dissertation. As a department we would deem this penalty too severe and push that she would be able to re-submit a new dissertation that reuses the non-plagiarized material. The University would push back and ask for a completely independent dissertation. I have never experienced this with a PhD student, but this occurs regularly with our final year undergraduates and about 70% of the time the student is allowed to reuse the non-plagiarized material.
I don't know what would happen if the plagiarism was found after the degree was given. My guess is the University would have to retract the dissertation from the library and any electronic database. They may revoke the degree, but they could also look at other work and count those towards the dissertation.
The current university may try and fire or penalize her, but this seems harsh compared to the typical penalty of plagiarism in a dissertation of not getting/delaying a degree.
> 21 votes
# Answer
Take what I say below as a perspective, I am by no means an expert in how to deal with plagiarism.
I will say (as someone who has been plagiarised before), detecting and preventing plagiarism is the responsibility of all involved. But, having said that, we are human and we make mistakes - is it just that special chapter that has the plagiarism? How much did she copy?
I think being open and upfront is the best (and most probably, the *only*) course of action, as it would be far worse for both of you if it was detected by another academic, or worse still - the authors of the papers plagiarised. It may be best to be *honest* about both of your *mistake*, rather than being *perceived* in trying to cover it up.
Perhaps, find out what options are available in terms of resubmitting the thesis, or even the chapter in question. The original research in your former student's papers may also be in both of your favour in that it would show no malicious intent.
> 9 votes
# Answer
Well, here is the responsability of two persons: the advisor and the student, but the amount of responsability is somehow lesser for the advisor. I am pretty sure that your past student has signed a non-plagiarism form or put an statement that she was not plagiarizing anything in her thesis work, so she was doing that on purpose. It seems harsh my opinion, but it seems that way.
The only solution is to tell the truth to the Dean and for what I know, the penalty will come sooner or later. According to what you reply, that person plagiarized about 10 pages and also parts of the appendix, so in that case the only way out is to inform about the accident.
I do not think that she will lose her degree, remember the scandal that happened in Germany a few months ago?. The worse thing that could happen is that she get somehow "banned" from the journals that she has been cited, but only for a certain amount of time. About your case, I think that is not so probable that you will get into trouble.
Wish you the best.
> 6 votes
# Answer
Um, I'm not sure it is worth bothering about. She gave credit for the results, it was in the context of describing other people's work, it seems to only involve the language. This is not a literary topic, so I would tell her to not worry about it but learn how to write.
> -4 votes
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Tags: phd, thesis, plagiarism
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thread-10745 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10745 | when should I stop searching the literature? | 2013-06-24T17:21:27.110 | # Question
Title: when should I stop searching the literature?
I'm seaarching the literature at the moment to write a literature review but I don't know when should I stop searching and start writing?
# Answer
The facile answer is **you don't stop searching the literature**. Even as the review evolves, you should be including new references *if* they are noteworthy in addressing questions within the field. This process should continue as long as you are working in the field of the problem.
Of course, from a practical standpoint, you do need to select a cutoff. There should be a reasonable point in time in which you've set the outline of the review, and decided on the main topics and questions to be discussed. At that point, it would be fair to set aside adding more references, and stick to what's been published. However, you should continue to monitor the field, and if further revisions or updates of the text are necessary, then you should include the papers published in the interim as part of your updates.
> 6 votes
# Answer
1. Start writing the review **before** (or at the same time) as you start searching the literature.
I'd suggest to determine the scope of the review before you start searching the literature, and **already write it down**. This would answer questions like *Which problem am I looking at?* or *Why is this problem relevant now?* Answers to these questions will also guide your literature search.
2. Stop searching the literature when you stop writing.
Writing is not a linear process - it is going from a rough outline to a focussed text. As you go into focus, you will need to research more and more specific references. While you define your questions, search for literature dealing with these questions, and when you develop an argument, search for literature that would support (or contradict!) that argument.
My key suggestion would be to not view the literature search as shopping around randomly, but more like a visit to the grocery store with the shopping list in your hand.
Note that these suggestions apply to writing a literature review. Staying on top of recent literature or reading to get into a new field would be a different story.
> 5 votes
# Answer
You need to be very productive in terms of knowing your area. ***knowing*** what is happening is different from ***understanding*** it. This includes utilising every available tool which makes it easier to keep updated with what is published. An easy way , in Computer Science, is setting alerts (both on Arxiv and Google Scholar) and following pioneers in your area.
As a personal experience, I spent plenty of time gathering, reading and understanding related papers/books. I came across many interesting ideas. But finally, I found some of my ideas are published in others papers. Some were exactly the same! This is the curse of PhD. Try to publish before others as long as you have the required knowledge and a clear contribution. The literature is then translated to the cumulative process of publishing different papers related to your thesis problem. You stop when you do the defence (assuming you will change the area thereafter).
> 3 votes
# Answer
You should develop an outline, in consultation with your advisor, of what is to be included in the literature review - this should be based on the research foci and priorities of your research.
What I do when writing a literature review, is to actually write the review at the same time as doing the research.
When should you stop? when you have covered each of the foci and priorities to the point when you (and your advisor) are satisfied that you have synthesised the scope of each of the foci and priorities.
> -1 votes
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Tags: literature-search
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thread-10759 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10759 | Letter to the editor from the referee | 2013-06-25T11:17:54.950 | # Question
Title: Letter to the editor from the referee
Nowadays most journals use electronic forms for the referees to submit their recommendations to the editor.
However, if that's not the case, how should the letter to the editor be structured?
In the referee report I have already mentioned some points I consider should be revised. But, do I have to explicitly state these points in the letter? or should I just say that the points mentioned in the referee report should be considered before publication?
# Answer
> 4 votes
The cover letter should probably state:
* The title and authors of the article you have reviewed (short list of authors "X et al." is fine)
* Your recommendation for the disposition of the article (accept as is, reject, recommend major changes, etc.)
* Any other important information that you wish to note. This could be anything exceptional, whether that be good (perhaps the article should be considered for "cover" status) or bad (for example, if you suspect something dishonest).
All other points can be addressed by referring the editor to the referee report.
# Answer
> 4 votes
The letter to the editor should summarize what you outline in your review comments. You should outline why you think the manuscripts should be judged the way you recommend based on your comments. I, as an editor, find that it is useful to get a personal view point and often these are more explicit than what the reviews show. That said, remember, however, that your review is one of two or more and that they are an expert's *view*. Anything you express has to be supported by facts. Emotional outpourings are not very constructive and will likely devalue the review.
So, I do not see a particular structure very important it is more the content. It is important to get a summary and conclusion of the review outlining the major short-comings. It is good to provide a sensible justification for the suggested "verdict" based on the major points. If the work contains serious problems, particularly of an ethical nature, it is necessary to provide a very good case.
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Tags: peer-review
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thread-10758 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10758 | Does your institution have a policy regarding policing online student feedback? | 2013-06-25T11:06:28.130 | # Question
Title: Does your institution have a policy regarding policing online student feedback?
There has been a lot of recent comment regarding the UK release of the "Rate Your Lecturer" website. This website allows users to comment on and rate their lecturers. Comments are submitted anonymously.
I do **not** want to enter the debate on whether this sort of anonymous online reviewing of lecturers is good, bad or indifferent.
My question is whether your institution has a policy regarding how to deal with demonstrably untrue, insulting or unfairly negative comments about lecturers posted online, and what that policy is.
# Answer
No policy that I am aware of at any of the four universities and two high schools I've been associated with. When the sites first appeared in the U.S. about ten years ago, questions came up about whether anything could be done about it, and the institution I was associated with then decided that there wasn't anything legal that could be done. I believe that libelous material can be appealed directly through some of the websites, but I've never heard of anyone having success with that.
Personally, I love anonymous feedback, and I've had my share of good and bad reviews. I've tried to use the bad reviews as a means for informing where I can improve, and I've tried to limit my head from getting too big at the good reviews. Teaching takes a certain amount of thick skin, and sites like these can be a good way to test if you've grown enough of that calloused layer to ward off any long-term effects.
> 7 votes
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Tags: teaching
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thread-10769 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10769 | How to properly point out the M.Sc. thesis in a Ph.D. application | 2013-06-26T15:05:47.833 | # Question
Title: How to properly point out the M.Sc. thesis in a Ph.D. application
Having personally contacted a professor about the possibility of a Ph.D., he asked me to send him a cv and a copy of my M.Sc. in order to evaluate.
Instead, in the online application form of "other" Ph.D. programmes, I have found that I need to include a cv, among the other things, but there is no possibility to attach a copy of the thesis. So, preparing the cv, I thought to imbed an hyperlink to the thesis.
> I would ask you: if it is acceptable, or is counter-productive?
# Answer
I would advise to add the links, because I don't see what you could possibly lose by doing so instead of not doing so.
You can add links in `LaTeX` using
```
\href{link.to.thesis}{My MSc thesis title}
```
In my opinion, this is a nice way to link to everything relevant that can not be properly adressed nor otherwise included in your CV. You can for example provide references such as the homepage of your advisor, your department, your other software projects etc. - all just by putting links behind their names.
> 9 votes
# Answer
Fill out the application form as far as possible. You could choose to include in your application a link to an online copy your MSc thesis, as you and others have suggested.
However, **as your potential professor has explicitly asked you for it**, I would send him a copy of your MSc thesis directly, as an email attachment if possible.
> 4 votes
# Answer
Send an admissions office the information they ask for. If they give you the option to provide additional information as a text field, then you could list a link to a version of your thesis on Dropbox or on a university web site (or similar) as part of your "additional statement."
However, given the number of applications that a centralized admissions committee might receive, they are probably reluctant to get copies of master's theses and publications—it would be too much extra work to read them all.
> 1 votes
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Tags: phd, application, cv, thesis
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thread-10748 | https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10748 | Finding number of publications in a subject | 2013-06-24T22:04:58.187 | # Question
Title: Finding number of publications in a subject
I have often seen in review papers in which the author mentions that there are more than # number of publications in the subject, to highlight the importance of the subject.
How are such numbers determined? While searching for certain keywords in websites such as Scopus or ScienceDirect may be useful, it does not necessarily give an accurate number, as some publications may mention the keywords but not actually deal with the subject, while others may use synonyms of the keywords.
# Answer
> 3 votes
First, I would argue that a precise number would be virtually impossible to obtain. This is because there is a large grey-zone between work published in established journals and work "published" in more "questionable" sources. Obviously the way to obtain a number would be to use search services such as Web of Science, Scopus etc. or reference data bases. But, for example, Web of Science only covers works published in ISI listed journals or papers referenced by ISI listed papers and on top of that only back in time for as long as journals have submitted reference information. This means such searches will be incomplete. Hence to arrive at a number may require quite a bit of work unless one would state the limitations imposed on a search sich as limting it to Web of science.
The choice of key word(s) will also be important and it is not certain keywords are systematically applied between sources or over time.
A claim to have found "all" literature is very questionable and I would argue that when one makes such a claim one must provide a picture of the limitations of the search because there will certainly always be such limitations.
# Answer
> 3 votes
In medical/life sciences, the situation is slightly better than in other fields since indexing in PubMed is the standard for a manuscript to be considered a "real" publication. I suspect that in life sciences, stating that there are more than *x* publications on a subject means counting the number of hits found when searching for that term on PubMed.
# Answer
> 2 votes
I agree with @Peter answer.
Moreover, I really doubt this relation of **more publications = more importance.**
Actually, I see it very weird information in my field (Computer Science) regardless of its source.
To show the importance of a subject, refer to some main papers/findings in that subject, show how and why its important to the general audience of your field. For example, in Computer Science, this can be done through listing some applications/real world scenarios of the subject.
# Answer
> 1 votes
In my field (mathematics) this can become even more questionable because there are papers that consider related problems, papers that consider problems that are essentially equivalent with a different terminology, and so on. The issue of different terminology is especially troublesome because you cannot search for consistent keywords.
Nevertheless this is an important metric. In mathematics you typically cannot point to real-world applications (any way, that is not the kind of importance you necessarily want for your paper). But it can provide context that the problem you are studying has been analyzed before, it gives you some other results that you can compare your paper to, and so on.
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Tags: publications
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