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thread-28868
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/28868
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Is it a good idea to connect data points on a plot to increase readability in slides?
|
2014-09-22T08:38:43.913
|
# Question
Title: Is it a good idea to connect data points on a plot to increase readability in slides?
I have a graph of points from a set of experiments, that I want to present on a slide.
The important information in the graph is both the values of the points, and more significantly, that the green points are above the blue points.
It is quick and easy to get my plotting framework (matplotlib) to connect each point to the next:
It should be fairly clear to anyone that the relationship between points is not expected to be linear.
I thought I could want to put the line in to make it clear that one is below the other. It can be hard to see the point markers on the projector screen.
**Is this a good idea? Does showing plots this way enhance the visibility of the them for presenting, or does the fact the that lines themselves are fairly meaningless distract too much?**
### Audience concerns:
The whole presentation is for graduating engineering students and must be simple. While they would normally have the capacity to deal with complicated plots, the content of the presentation is complicated enough that I don’t want to distract them with anything that might waste thought time. I have already rejected the box-and-whiskers plot as too complicated; this is a plot of the mean values of that data.
# Answer
### Concerning the general question
Yes, it is acceptable to connect points, even if only discrete data points exist in theory and there is no continuum. If there is reason to expect that somebody misinterpretes your visualisation due to this or if you can expect the audience to be picky about this, add the sentence (on the slide or spoken):
> Lines are for eye guidance only.
### Concerning your special diagram
* As already remarked, the colours are not well chosen (and will probably look even worse when projected). I recommend to use colours with a strong contrast, for example a white or almost white background and for the data 1) black or almost black, 2) pure red. (Be careful about pure green though, since most projectors will screw it up – dark green is better.)
* Depending on how important you consider certain things:
+ Use a logarithmic scale (or similar) for the abscissa (*x*-axis). This way points do not cluster that much for small *x* and will be easier to read.
+ Use a logarithmic scale for the ordinate (*y*-axis). This way, the exponential relationship you mentioned becomes apparent immediately. However, the points for small *x* will get even closer to each other.
> 12 votes
# Answer
Drawing the lines implies a continuous relationship between the parameters. So if you can expect continuity, then connecting the points is fine. A second point to make is to avoid colours that are as similar as the green and blue you have chosen. One reason the difference is hard to see in the first scatter plot is due to colour. Try to experiment with colours that contrast better and your problem may be solved by just altering colours for one or both of the data sets.
> 25 votes
# Answer
You say you want to compare your data sets *qualitatively*, that is make clear which is "better". Since they seem to follow similar functions and are close together, *normalisation* can be a good tool.
Consider, for instance, this plot:
<sup>Note how the defaults of Mathematica 10 end up creating a far clearer plot.</sup>
Knowing both functions are basically 1/√n you can multiply the value by, say, n:
Now the "winner" is more clear.
Similar effects can be achieved by (other) axis transformations, cut-offs, zooms, etc. You have to be transparent about what transformations you apply, though, because you can easily end up with a plot that says "A is thrice as good as B!" even though the real difference was miniscule.
> 7 votes
# Answer
I'm going to bring particle physics practice to the table and say ***never*** connect-the-dots. Nor should you run splines through data. Run *meaningful* fits through the data or nothing.
These rules reflect the understanding in that discipline that individual points can have significant error or uncertainty associated with them, and the reader needs to see the data *in toto* without focusing on individual anomalies. If you know the data can't have these issues then relaxing these rules probably doesn't cause a lot of harm.
So what can you do.
1. Use more visually distinguished markers. A combination of shape, fill and color (with as color-blind friendly a palette as you can of course) gives the reader several ways to hook into the difference.
2. Use a different plotting (normalized, anomaly from theory, linearization of power-laws, etc). This is what Raphael suggested. Finding these can be a bit of an art.
3. If you have a well justified theory (or even a good seat of the pants model), draw fit lines: those automatically reflect the whole data set (good!).
---
Some points on the basic drawing of your figure.
1. Ditch the gray background. It only makes the data harder to read *and* makes Tufte cry.
2. Using filled circles for both series is a way to cause maximum visual confusion.
> 5 votes
# Answer
For display purposes, a smooth curve is the most logical thing to use. There are some nice spline fitting routines that allow you to create a fit that can be constrained to minimize curvature (in the process missing points that don't quite lie on the smooth curve), or you can simply eyeball the data and come up with a reasonable fit (for display - not for analysis).
I spent just a couple of minutes on this, but came up with the following:
This is basically an overlay of an Excel plot that I created (making the axes invisible) - using a simple 4 parameter model:
For the blue and green curves, I found parameters
```
blue green
A 0.8 0.8
B 1.0 1.0
C 1.0 0.5
D .05 .03
```
Obviously since you have the raw data and matplotlib, you must know how to do a better fit, but this works well.
In general, I like to show only as much information as is needed on a plot. If the point is "this is a rapidly decaying curve and green is above blue", then I would definitely leave off the grid, and maybe even most of the numbers (run the X axis from 0 to 100, with just two labels, and the Y axis from 0 to 1).
I think that your data probably doesn't go negative - so I would definitely want to fix that X axis.
If you want to further make the point "we measured this data", then leaving the points on the graph as well as the smooth fit is an OK thing to do. I would consider adding error bars to show that the fit is good - and that the points are bad.
Again - you want to make it so that the information is "only what you need". My personal preference would be like this:
So fewer ticks on the axes, but do add a legend (I call them "blue" and "green", but you should use a more meaningful name) and do label the axes - numbers alone are not enough.
> 3 votes
# Answer
Grids are an obsolete fossil that should no longer be used. Back in the days, they helped to make the plots, and also made easier to manually retrieve the data from the graph. Nowadays, it is no longer necessary, as tables with the data are available elsewhere.
And if and when they are necessary, they should be as little intrusive as possible. Your grey-blue background is just too heavy.
Once that is out of the way, you can try a log scale for the x axis, as many points are accumulated near 0:
I think here is pretty clear that blue is always greater than green. Whether adding a line or not is good, is a matter of taste:
In my opinion, and as a general rule, I would say that the lines are acceptable as long as the "wiggling" is due to the actual shape of the function, and not due to noise. That is, when adding more points (taking more measurements) will not change significantly the shape of said curve (or we don't expect it to).
> 2 votes
# Answer
An alternate approach to connecting the dots: insert a line between the datasets to illustrate that one set of points is above the line and the other below. If it is not inappropriate to the data, use a log scale for X to gain some space between the packed points at the left to improve visibility. Use of higher contrast colors and marker shapes was previously suggested.
> 2 votes
# Answer
Normally it is better to use some kind of curve fitting (splines, etc), as we are not assuming that the measurements are absolutely accurate and the connecting lines should go from point to point.
However measurement points must also be present and very clearly visible, as they are our results and the line is our hypothesis, interpretation. Ideally showing error bars (confidence intervals) would be a good idea.
> 0 votes
---
Tags: graphics, data, presentation
---
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thread-28979
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/28979
|
Can a successful grant application be considered a publication in academia?
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2014-09-25T02:33:24.867
|
# Question
Title: Can a successful grant application be considered a publication in academia?
I have spent most of my professional life writing proposals for improving the living and studying conditions of the constituents I served (community members, students, curricula and higher education institutions). Well, after 25 years serving as a teacher, professor, dean, and chancellor I find myself looking for a job in academia as an education professor and my publication count is extremely low compared to the number of successful grant proposals that I have in my credentials.
**Can I count successful grant proposals, which actually changed the lives of thousands of people, as part of my publication or research record?**
# Answer
No. Count them as part of your funding record.
Based on what you have said of your record, people will expect you to look for a job in research administration. E.G. Vice President of Research, or Director of Research Facilities.
If you want to go back to teaching, the usual strategy I hear about in the news is to get an admin/leadership job and then demote yourself after a few years.
> 31 votes
# Answer
Successful grant proposals should certainly be part of your CV as you search for a teaching job. **However, grants are NOT considered publications in academia.** For example, see this CV, where a friend of mine details his publications, and follows that with a section of successful grant proposals. This is the correct way to present them on your CV.
You may want to put the grants front and center on your CV, to highlight your expertise at bringing in funding, which few institutions will count as a negative! You may also want to follow @guest's advice and look for a job in research/leadership/administration, and then demote yourself to a teaching position after a few years.
> 12 votes
# Answer
To add to @guest's answer: employers will generally not count them as publications, but that does not mean you cannot publish them. There is a growing trend of "publishing" grant proposals, usually by non-traditional means. For instance, I have put some of mine on Figshare:
> 5 votes
# Answer
Well, it is kind of reviewed and you definitely can mention successful grant applications on your CV. However they are normally not counted as publications. Usually it is possible to have publications describing scientific results obtained using the grant.
> 0 votes
---
Tags: publications, funding, application
---
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thread-28993
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/28993
|
publishing a conference paper in a journal
|
2014-09-25T12:21:41.123
|
# Question
Title: publishing a conference paper in a journal
some years ago (2007) I have published a paper in a conference as a poster paper. Now I want to send it to a journal and change the affiliation, or maybe some minor changes. I didn't see any policy about a previous published paper in a conference, however there is a policy as the following:
> The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).
Could I send my paper to this journal?
Is it a normal thing to first publish a paper in a conference and then trying to send it to a journal?
# Answer
> 6 votes
In my field this would be not only acceptable, but expected, as the review process for conferences is less stringent and the submitted abstracts are substantially less detailed than a full manuscript. A conference presentation is viewed almost as a necessary step to publication: present the first interpretation of the results, get feedback from colleagues, and incorporate changes into the full-length manuscript.
My only concern would be if the conference paper was closer to a full manuscript, both in length and in the rigorousness of the review process.
# Answer
> 0 votes
A conference poster is a publication. At the very least, it is most likely in the Conference programme. It is unethical to publish the same material twice - and if the editor of the journal finds out, it is likely you'll be blacklisted. However, if you make changes to the poster - improvements, generalisations, etc. - then it *might* count as a new publication. Of course, you'll have referenced the poster in the new publication so the referees (and editor) will be able to tell if it's new material and suitable for publication.
---
Tags: publications, journals, conference
---
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thread-28996
|
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/28996
|
Is it appropriate/safe to ask for help on major theorem proof of my paper online?
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2014-09-25T14:21:10.943
|
# Question
Title: Is it appropriate/safe to ask for help on major theorem proof of my paper online?
I have been stuck on the proof of a major theorem in my forthcoming paper for about two weeks. Since offline help is limited, I'm trying to see if there is more help online. But I have two concerns.
1. I am the author of the paper and am supposed to work out the heavy-lift proof. I want to see if someone has worked on similar proofs who may point me in the right direction. What if someone comes up with the complete proof, rather than just suggestions/comments? Should I offer co-authorship or just appreciate their help in the acknowledgement?
2. For others to offer concrete help, I may have to disclose the proposed algorithm as they suggested. So there is the risk, even remote, that someone just uses it for their publication purpose before my paper is submitted.
How should I proceed, keep grinding hard on the proof offline, or solicit help online with the still-to-be-published algorithm, or something in between?
# Answer
This answer is meant to apply to graduate students (like the OP).
**Talk to your advisor.** She is the designated person to help you with your research. You should do so because:
> 1) Your advisor will probably have some help to offer. Give them more than one chance to do so, and be clear in communicating how much help you want/need at any given time.
In your case I believe you said earlier that you talked to your advisor and got some but not enough help, because she only thought about your problem when you were there. To me that is the opposite of strange: being a thesis advisor myself, I recognize it as the classic tension inherent in the job. How much help do you give the student? How much time you do spend thinking about the student's problem so as to be able to give help? *There are usually no easy answers to these questions.* Even in dealing with the same student, over time I often find myself: giving too much help; giving too little help; being put in a situation where the question they ask is too hard for me to give an answer on the spot and then having to try to find time for outside thoughts about their question.
When you talk to your advisor, make sure she understands that you feel **so** stuck in your research that you are considering seeking outside help.
> 2) If you get outside help without telling your advisor about it, it could be embarrassing to her.
It can be tough to ask the same person for help on the same thing more than once. But it is part of the advisor/advisee relationship. If my students showed up on SE sites asking questions that I feel that I could have answered, I would not feel great about it. (Most of my negative feelings would be directed to myself rather than at them, but still: not great.)
> 3) If you are truly stuck, your advisor needs to know. It very often happens that the best thing to do is to switch to working on a different aspect of the problem, or perhaps a different problem entirely. Your advisor is the one to help you with that.
Let me also say that in the realm of mathematically-related research, two weeks is a fairly short amount of time to be working on something. If after two weeks you are completely out of ideas and don't even know what else to try, then you should address that. If you simply haven't proved the "major theorem" yet: join the club. To prove a major theorem usually takes me **at least** two months; two years is not at all unheard of, and is not a maximum. As long as you're making some progress thinking about the problem, I don't necessarily see anything wrong here.
**Added**: The lack of directness of my answer was intentional, but let me add one comment. In my opinion the greatest risk in asking in the internet community for help in solving your mathematical research problem is....that someone will solve your mathematical research problem. As mentioned above, your advisor is optimally briefed in the matter of how much help to give you / how any one question fits into the larger scheme of your research program, and *still* advising a student is a matter of successive errors and corrections (i.e., helping too much and too little). Being a PhD student has a highly egoistic aspect to it: you are *not* just trying to find solutions to problems; you are trying to find them **yourself**. There is a real risk that the right expert will simply leave you without a problem to be working on. This is why talking your advisor is so critical: she may in fact decide at some point that asking for help is best, but in that case she will know exactly what and whom to ask in such a way that the rug is least likely to get pulled out from under you. This is very important!
> 35 votes
# Answer
I think the answer depends on this:
> Do you hope to become an expert at mastering the kind of difficulty you're facing with the proof?
If your answer is:
* **Yes**: Then go ahead and work it out on your own. *(In particular if you're a grad student and this is your thesis problem... and in this case also consult your adviser as @PeteL.Clark advised.)*
* **No, I usually focus on a different subarea, and I realistically expect to keep it that way**: Then it may be a good idea to ask online:
+ Use a "minimal working example". That is, don't describe your entire project but reduce your difficulty to a simple to state problem that you feel is far away from your own specialty.
+ Offer co-authorship to whomever helps you out.
> 18 votes
---
Tags: research-process, computer-science, mathematics
---
|
thread-705
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/705
|
How do I create a workshop/conference?
|
2012-03-13T08:45:11.937
|
# Question
Title: How do I create a workshop/conference?
I have noticed that there is no real workshop or conference in my particular field of research, that tends to be across different fields (for instance, security and risk). There are of course general conferences where I can submit a paper, but they are very general (i.e. either security, or risk), and somehow, I'd sometimes rather gather at the same place and the same time the small community who is working on this particular topic.
So, my question is: how do I create a workshop/conference? In particular, how to define the steering committee/general chair/PC chair/PC Committee? Is it better to be attached with a major conference? (I know some conferences have "call for workshops").
I'm interested both in technical answers and in useful advices (for instance, I guess that technically, you could create PC with only postdocs, but I can imagine that in practice, you need a good ratio of established researchers).
# Answer
Creating a conference is a very worthwhile activity—however, even organizing a two-day workshop can be a logistical nightmare that requires a dedicated support staff to pull off efficiently. If you don't have it, you can still get it done, but it still requires a lot of planning and a lot of effort.
I was invited to participate in the scientific committee for a workshop to be held here on campus and hosted by my institute. Even though we had the administrative staff taking care of organizing room reservations, hotel blocks, catering, name badges, preparation of the formal program, and so on, there's still a lot of work involved, particularly if you're the chair. You'll need to contact (and sometimes harass) speakers, look for funding, recruit attendees, advertise like crazy, and so much more.
However, if you can make your workshop a part of someone else's existing conference, then you can remedy many of these problems—the existing conference's infrastructure goes a long way in supporting your workshop and its goals. Frankly, if I was going to try to start a new workshop that would take on its own independent existence, that's the route I'd choose. If the workshop inside of another conference received good feedback, only then would I try to make it an independent event in the future. In that time, you'd also have figured out who the other "major players" are who could serve on future scientific committees.
---
The conference we started was created by our institute, so dividing up the responsibilities was relatively natural: the head of the institute was the head of the conference, and we divided up the work of programming the sessions among the members of the committee. If you don't have that option available—if, for instance, you're the primary mover and shaker behind the workshop—that puts more work on your plate.
If you're doing a workshop under the aegis of a larger program, then I would think you would be the chair of the program. You could select other people to be on the organizing committee, but as the person doing the recruiting, you're going to be the one the others look to for guidance and decision-making—at least at first.
So I think the "founder" is going to be the general chair or the organizational chair, at least the first time around. Should the conference survive to have a second iteration, then at that point establishing some sort of successorship makes a lot of sense, because nobody really wants to go through the process of organizing all of those details every other year; it's too much work.
But, if you want to know, the order did go something like this:
* Steering committee of institute decided to hold conference
* Steering committee appointed emeritus faculty member as program committee leader.
* Steering committee appointed junior faculty as committee members.
* Program committee came up with several tentative plans.
* Steering committee decided on final overall structure.
* Program committee scrambled to find speakers to fit new structure decided on by SC.
* Program committee puts together advertising, recruits speakers, organizes poster session, organizes conference structure, and performs other duties as needed.
* Organizing team handles payments, attendance and registration issues, travel and accommodation issues, operation of conference, and so on.
The other thing to consider is that the planning for something like this typically requires on the order of 12 to 18 months, even if you're just doing an event locally hosted at your university (like ours was). For something more complicated, you may need even more lead time.
> 20 votes
# Answer
Depending on your field, sources of funding and/or professional organisations can provide a lot of logistic support to organising a workshop. In mathematics for example, the mathematics institute of Oberwolfach runs workshops and miniworkshops in all subfields. The organiser propose a workshop, and if it gets approved, the institute takes care of most of the logistics. Other similar opportunities in mathematics include the Mathematical research communities program of American Mathematical Society, and the SQuaRes program of the American Institute of Mathematics, as well as workshops organised by the Clay Mathematical Institute or the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute in Berkeley CA.
> 8 votes
# Answer
I'd like to add some info to the above provided answers, that are, IMHO, very well-explained and helpful.
If your research field is not very mature yet, you could also think about organizing a "summer school", in which you could invite some well-recognized researchers to serve as lecturers, especially with some practical experience (not only from the research env.), for you (and your attendance, as well) to have a broader view on the field.
The environment provided by a summer school is really nice (I've got the experience of organizing a series of summer schools in my research field, for a couple of years), and you may provide your attendance with an opportunity to "keep in touch" with good "names" in the specific research field, most of them that we usually reference in our papers.
Regarding the organization, a summer school is usually not paper-driven, i.e., you don't have to care about steering and program committees, so it may save you some effort. In addition, you don't have to care about proceedings (usually expensive to prepare, and to print... even if you think about publishing it online only, you will have some effort and costs to deal with).
Indeed, you must care about funding, in order to pay for the hotels/airline tickets/food, etc, that, sometimes only counting on the money from registrations is not enough.
> 4 votes
# Answer
Here's some insight on the behind-the-scenes at NIPS:
Inverse Probability. 'NIPS: Decision Time'. Last modified 2014. Accessed September 27, 2014. http://inverseprobability.com/2014/09/13/nips-decision-time/.
> So the decisions have been out for a few days now, and of course we have had some queries about our processes. Every one has been pretty reasonable, and their frustration is understandable when three reviewers have argued for accept but the final decision is to reject. This is an issue with ‘space-constrained’ conferences. Whether a paper gets through in the end can depend on subjective judgements about the paper’s qualities. In particular, we’ve been looking for three components to this: novelty, clarity and utility. Papers with borderline scores (and borderline here might be that the average score is in the weak accept range) are examined closely. The decision about whether the paper is accepted at this point necessarily must come down to judgement, because for a paper to get scores this high the reviewers won’t have identified a particular problem with the paper. The things that come through are how novel the paper is, how useful the idea is, and how clearly it’s presented. Several authors seem to think that the latter should be downplayed. As program chairs, we don’t necessarily agree. It’s true that it is a great shame when a great idea is buried in poor presentation, but it’s also true that the objective of a conference is communication, and therefore clarity of presentation definitely plays a role. However, it’s clear that all these three criteria are a matter of academic judgement: that of the reviewers, the area chair and the quad groups in the teleconferences. All the evidence we’ve seen is that reviewers and area chairs did weigh these aspects carefully, but that doesn’t mean that all their decisions can be shown to be right, because they are often a matter of perspective. Naturally authors are upset when what feels like a perfectly good paper is rejected on more subjective grounds. Most of the queries are on papers where this is felt to be the case.
Also has some other articles that are relevant, such as on NIPS Reviewer Recruitment.
> 0 votes
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Tags: conference, workshop
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thread-29007
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29007
|
How much can/should quotes from student evaluations be edited when preparing a teaching statement?
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2014-09-25T20:36:53.857
|
# Question
Title: How much can/should quotes from student evaluations be edited when preparing a teaching statement?
I'm writing a teaching statement and want to include quotes from student evaluations. How much can/should I edit these (for grammar)?
# Answer
> 24 votes
In general, quotes should always be edited **as little as possible.**
The only changes you should make are:
* *Truncations* to remove sections of quotes that aren't relevant for your purposes.
* Edits to *fit the grammatical structure* of the existing sentence.
* Correcting small errors in the original text.
However, any changes to the quotation **must** be clearly indicated. Truncations should be marked with an ellipsis (" . . . "), while all other changes should be indicated using square brackets.
# Answer
> 8 votes
A quotation is, by definition, explicitly *what someone else said or wrote*. If you modify a quotation so that it's no longer what someone else said or wrote then you are deceiving your audience. On this basis you should edit as little as possible and if you do need to edit you should make it clear to your audience.
It is reasonable to truncate if it does not change the sense of the quote. If you omit parts in the middle of a quote you should indicate this with ellipses '**...**'.
It's okay to correct minor spelling errors *if* they're not relevant to the quote.
You can add in a missing word, but it's usually best to indicate where you've done so, if the student said "the lecturer overpaid fool" you could quote as "the lecturer is an overpaid fool" but it would be preferable to quote as "the lecturer \[is an\] overpaid fool" so it is clear you have edited the quote.
You can add context but should indicate where you've done so, for example if asked the question "Did you like the lecturer?" the answer you're quoting is "He is an overpaid fool" you could quote it as "He \[the lecturer\] is an overpaid fool" or "\[The lecturer\] is an overpaid fool".
You can also add emphasis but you should indicate where you've done so. For example: "I'm writing a teaching statement and want to include quotes from student evaluations. How much can/should I edit these (**for grammar**)?" (emphasis mine).
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Tags: faculty-application, teaching-statement, course-evaluation
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thread-29015
|
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29015
|
Am I allowed to republish / distribute abstracts?
|
2014-09-25T23:58:24.663
|
# Question
Title: Am I allowed to republish / distribute abstracts?
Example: I have a document containing 1,000 abstracts of research articles from different publishers. Am I allowed to distribute this document for free online? If not, has anyone being sued for doing so?
# Answer
> Am I allowed to distribute this document for free online?
I'm not a lawyer, but I doubt it. Copyright certainly applies, but you might be able to argue that this falls under fair use, depending on what you are doing with the abstracts. As I understand it, some things are definitively covered by fair use, while others may fall in a grey area. If this matters to you, then you should consult a lawyer, because no one else can give you a definitive answer.
> If not, has anyone being sued for doing so?
In the U.S., I doubt you'd have to worry about being sued or facing criminal charges for this sort of copyright violation in practice (although I repeat that I am not a lawyer). The most likely scenario is a DMCA takedown notice. If your university or ISP receives such a notice from a publisher, they will remove the file from your web site. You could try to convince your university to take a stand based on fair use, but it's not at all clear that you would succeed. Even aside from whether it really is fair use, universities can be risk averse and may well decide it's not worth the effort to contest the issue.
Perhaps you could restrict your attention to papers with a suitable Creative Commons License. For example, PLOS journals use the CC BY license, which allows this sort of reuse (with attribution). If you just need some collection of abstracts, for example as a test case for text processing or data mining algorithms, then this might work fine.
On the other hand, you may want to use very specific abstracts. For example, you might want to compile the abstracts of all the papers you can find in your subfield. This seems riskier, since big commercial publishers typically don't want competition for their search tools. You could always try asking the publisher for permission (I have no idea how likely they would be to grant it).
> 6 votes
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Tags: copyright, abstract, legal-issues
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thread-11536
|
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11536
|
How to find OA free to publish journals with a JCR ranking?
|
2013-07-30T17:47:45.287
|
# Question
Title: How to find OA free to publish journals with a JCR ranking?
I would like to find journals that:
* are ranked with JCR (no matter how low) *and*
* have open access (anyone can access the papers for free) *and*
* are free to publish (authors are not required to pay)
Maybe I am asking for a unicorn, but I think this should be feasible. If I'm not mistaken, arxiv.org only fails in the first point. If someone could provide (a link to) a list of such a kind of journals that would be awesome. If such a list does not exist, how would I go about creating a list.
# Answer
Please feel free to edit anything.
> 4 votes
# Answer
This is perhaps not exactly what you look for but, as a partial answer, the Advanced Search feature of the directory of open access journals (DOAJ) lets you filter the open access journals by subject AND by publication fee. Unfortunately, you cannot infer from the DOAJ data whether these journals are on JCR.
In particular, the DOAJ search results for open access journals in Computer Science with zero publication charges are at this URL.
In principle, as a next step one could compare (by hand or perhaps using some software) the list resulting from the DOAJ search with the list from JCR for (a given branch of) computer science or search in JCR (e.g. in the list of full journal titles) for specific journal names.
Also, the DOAJ listing includes links to home pages of journals and often data about the journal impact factor (if any) or JCR listing are available at these home pages.
To give a specific example resulting from a quick attempt to compare the lists, the Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research is open access with zero publication charges and has a 2013 IF of 0.904.
> 3 votes
# Answer
There are many journals that satisfy your criteria… here's how to find them!
1. Use Journal Citation Reports
2. Search journals by publisher:
3. Choose an open access publisher, such as “Public Library of Science”
4. Enjoy!
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**Edit:** as JeffE wisely noted, this does not address the criterion of “no publishing charge”. You'll have to check the various journals, but some have no publishing charges, including some published by Hindawi Publishing Corporation for example. To find out which, **cross-reference the JCR data with this list maintained by Berkeley**.
> 1 votes
# Answer
Sherpa Romeo, http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo/, might be helpful to you, as well. I think you'd still have to do your cross-check against the JCR, though.
> -2 votes
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Tags: publications, journals, open-access, ranking
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thread-28990
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/28990
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A level as entry requirement to PGCE program
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2014-09-25T11:49:37.713
|
# Question
Title: A level as entry requirement to PGCE program
I would love to pursue Maths teaching but I am unsure whether I would be accepted onto the programmes and whether I should complete an A Level in Maths with a view to apply for PGCE or Schools Direct Route in 2015.
Will getting my A Levels in Maths help to get admitted to a PGCE program?
As background: I'm 26 and hold a 2.2 degree in Biomedical Science from a British university. I took my A Levels in Biology and Chemistry but only got an AS Level in Maths and Art. My work background is that I have been a carer for family members for many years.
# Answer
> 2 votes
In the UK it should definitely be possible for you to become a maths teacher with your background, but I'm not completely sure whether you would need to do A-level maths first. I would expect that most maths teachers would actually have a degree in maths or a very closely related subject, but I don't know this for sure.
You might find helpful information on the UCAS website (the link is to the page about entry requirements for teaching).
From that page:
> Obviously, you'll also need a strong understanding of the subject you want to teach before you start training. If your degree subject doesn't link closely to your chosen teaching subject, we'd advise you to take a subject knowledge enhancement (SKE) course before starting teacher training. You can only do these in England and in certain subjects.
# Answer
> 1 votes
I do not believe taking A level maths will help you gain admittance to a PGCE program. The entry requirements for Goldsmiths PGCE program in Mathematics are:
> The extent of mathematical understanding you bring to the programme is important. You should have a degree in Mathematics or a related subject. Engineers can generally offer enough Mathematics, as can actuaries and physicists. Those with qualifications in Business, Accounting or Computing need to be able to show a substantial amount of Mathematics in their degree. It is also important that you have some knowledge and experience of UK secondary schools. Some applicants may be referred to a TDA subject enhancement course.
The amount of mathematics in a Biomedical Science degree can vary substantially, however, even the most mathematically rigours biomedical science course, probably is not enough. Further, many PGCE programs also require you to have obtained a 2.1 or higher. I think the combination of those two factors will put you at a substantial disadvantage. I think a Mathematics Enhancement Course would serve you much better, in terms of gaining admissions to a PGCE program, than A level maths.
# Answer
> 0 votes
It depends, where. If you just want to teach very young children, that much of Maths probably everybody knows. However you may need to complete the minimum required pedagogical education. How much is required, is largely country and often school dependent. Normally it may be additional courses during studies, or independent studies lasting for a few years.
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Tags: graduate-admissions, mathematics
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thread-28982
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/28982
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Find information about research grant calls from around the world
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2014-09-25T04:26:32.570
|
# Question
Title: Find information about research grant calls from around the world
I am based at a southern European university where little local research funding is available. Other than Horizon 2020, how can I find out about programs designed to sponsor research in any country?
# Answer
Here are several options:
* Research Raven. This site focuses on calls for papers and conferences, some of which include funding. Most of the listings relate to medical and healthcare related opportunities.
* ScanGrants. This is a sister site to Research Raven, and is "designed to facilitate the search for funding sources to enhance individual and community health.... Funding sources most frequently listed here include those of private foundations, corporations, businesses, and not-for profit organizations. Finding and listing less traditional funding opportunities is also a priority. Federal and state funding sources are typically not included on ScanGrants™ because they are readily available on other sites." Their listing are somewhat US-centric, though.
* European Research Council. I am not very familiar with ERC. The website states "ERC grants are open to researchers of any nationality in the world, any scientific field, any age. ". It seems well worth checking out.
* The Wenner-Gran Foundation suppports collaborative research with a focus on anthropology. You have not specified your field, but depending on your circumstance this may be worth looking at.
* Conference Alerts will provide you with a free alert system for conferences in your field, for any or all countries. Although this is not a grant-finding/listing service, the individual conferences may have funding available to you.
* Finally, this Google search may bring some useful results.
> 4 votes
# Answer
One possible resource is EURAXESS. I know this agency because they run the EURAXESS-japan network to promote exchange between European countries and Japan. In their bulletins there is always plenty of information on grant opportunities.
In the "Services" section there is various information, including a section for funding. In this section there are links to several funding agencies. Well, there is a lot of information in this portal but this may be a good starting point.
> 3 votes
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Tags: funding, europe, announcements
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thread-29016
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29016
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What metrics do universities use to evaluate their performance?
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2014-09-26T01:48:00.087
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# Question
Title: What metrics do universities use to evaluate their performance?
I am curious how different universities evaluate their performance. I am curious to know if there is a standardized (or even just generally accepted) set of metrics that universities use to rate their performance or to determine if their college is succeeding ("succeed" being a very open term here and likely varying between institutions).
* What does it mean for a university to perform well? (High graduation rates? Low dropout rates? High endowment? High fill rates for their classes?) Is this even a well defined question?
* What sort of metrics do universities typically use to evaluate themselves?
I keep mentioning universities but knowing how two year colleges approach the problem is also interesting (I'm less interested in the primary/secondary schools). The question is also not location specific and might even be more intriguing to see how non-US universities measure themselves.
# Answer
> 4 votes
The strategy of my UK university seems to be to improve on all available metrics that do not require them to spend more money. At our most recent faculty meeting we were told that we needed to simultaneously increase our student numbers, increase our admissions standards, increase the number of contact hours, and decrease our average class size. They also pointed out that we should also strive to increase our grant capture and publication rates.
I think from an inward facing perspective universities evaluate academic staff on on whatever makes them look the weakest, while from an outward facing perspective they evaluate themselves on whatever makes them look strongest.
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Tags: university, evaluation
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thread-29005
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29005
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Sending a *digitally signed* email to prospective employer/supervisor
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2014-09-25T18:27:20.933
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# Question
Title: Sending a *digitally signed* email to prospective employer/supervisor
I have been digitally signing (and encrypting, whenever possible) my official emails for sometime. While I am not extremely paranoid (but serious, certainly) about cryptographic security, I also think signing the email is a signature \[pun intended\] that I take such aspects seriously. On a like-minded recipient, this *could* therefore make a good impression.
On the other hand, if seeing the
> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
>
> Hash: SHA1
header has a high likelihood of annoying or confusing the person (to the point of them simply deleting my email), then I certainly do not mind sending an unsigned message.
I recently started applying for jobs (in the area of quantum information/communication to be precise) and was wondering **if I should, in my first email contact with a potential employer or (postdoc) supervisor, also sign that email**?
# Answer
> 5 votes
I cannot imagine anyone being too put off by the digital signature, although I would probably go with a detached signature.
I think if you are going to digitally sign your emails, you may want to make sure you understand what you are doing. This would definitely be the type of thing I might bring up as a "safe" small talk topic during a campus visit. Often the small talk conversations can influence a decision in a tight job search since the search committee is not only looking for someone who can teach the required classes and do great research, but also someone they want to work with.
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Tags: job-search, etiquette, email, correspondence
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thread-29035
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29035
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What is a Pro-Chancellor?
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2014-09-26T15:25:01.803
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# Question
Title: What is a Pro-Chancellor?
I was looking at a document describing setting arrangements for a ceremony and ran into the phrase:
> The president of the Student Guild shall sit in the front row, with the Vice-chancellor, the Chancellor, and the **Pro-Chancellor**
What is a Pro-chancellor? I've never heard of one before.
In-case this is a regional term, I am at a Australian university.
# Answer
A "pro-chancellor" (or similarly a "pro-rector," which we have in Germany), is a deputy to a chancellor (or rector), who handles certain duties on behalf of the chancellor (or rector). In the particular case of Commonwealth countries from which you hail, the pro-chancellor is the person who heads the university's executive council on behalf of the chancellor.
> 3 votes
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Tags: titles, administration, job
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thread-29037
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29037
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What are the duties of the Chancellor
|
2014-09-26T15:37:36.620
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# Question
Title: What are the duties of the Chancellor
After asking this question, I've realised I don't really have a good grasp on what exactly the Chancellor does.
I know the Vice-Chancellor runs the university, but what does the Chancellor do?
I've been told it is something like: If the Vice-Chancellor was the Prime-minister, then the the Chancellor would be the Queen. Though that doesn't really say all that much.
Is it also similar to the corporate analogy of: the CEO and the Chairperson of the Board of Directors?
# Answer
> 1 votes
The analogy you postulated is a good one: the commonwealth Chancellor in such systems is pretty much a figurehead and PR person for the university, if he or she so chooses. He or she may or may not also run the executive council meetings; if not, such a duty devolves to the "pro-Chancellor."
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Tags: titles, administration, job
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thread-26793
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26793
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Should I do a thesis, no thesis, or a capstone project in a master's in statistics?
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2014-08-04T18:02:10.687
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# Question
Title: Should I do a thesis, no thesis, or a capstone project in a master's in statistics?
I intend to work in industry after finishing my Masters in Statistics and am considering some universities in the United States. How will a Masters in Statistics with thesis, no thesis or with capstone project impact my career prospects? I've read that having written a thesis that is relevant to the employer's business would be beneficial. But how does that compare to a capstone project? It sounds to me that a capstone project and thesis mean the same thing as both involve research.
# Answer
> 1 votes
Could you give us some more detail about what the capstone project would entail? That seems pertinent to the question at hand. I'd say that you should try to get a perspective from people currently at work in the industry, rather than academics. My two cents worth is that a thesis would look good if it could showcase your written communication abilities and demonstrate an ability to do self-directed work. But consider the time involved and ask if the time spending acquiring/demonstrating these skills might be better used doing something else equally or more applicable to entering industry, such as networking, internships, or the like. The question isn't whether a thesis is good: it is. The question is whether it's the best use of your time, which we aren't going to be able to tell you a priori, I don't think.
# Answer
> 1 votes
In my experience, the only time your academic credentials matter very much (if you go to work in industry, which I did) is at the very beginning of your career. At that point, it's more or less all the company has to go on. One or two jobs in, they are only looking at your past experience.
One thing to consider, though, is for those first jobs, it is quite possible that the person doing the interviewing/screening is going to be knowledgable in your academic field, and they will know the difference between a project and a thesis.
Another thing to consider is that a thesis is a real commitment with a bunch of picky requirements and you should be sure you really believe in its value before deciding on that course.
I would, at the very least, talk to some people in industry who hire people with master's degrees like the one you are considering and see if it matters to them (this would help inform the decision that shane describes regarding whether your time might be better spent focusing on finding a good internship.
Tim's comment on your original post is a good thing to consider, and I've heard other people say things along that line as well--completing a thesis is proof that you can actually complete a substantial project. If they are looking at a dozen recent master's' resumes, that could make yours stand out and be a selling point for you.
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Tags: thesis, career-path, masters, mathematics, united-states
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thread-29056
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29056
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How should a teacher approach a student with distractingly strong perfume?
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2014-09-26T23:10:49.157
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# Question
Title: How should a teacher approach a student with distractingly strong perfume?
How might a professor approach a student who comes to class and/or office hours wearing perfume or cologne that is distractingly or overwhelmingly powerful?
Certainly, different people have different thresholds for this sort of thing. Lets say that in this case it is unclear the extent to which this is distracting other students in class but it is clear to the teacher that it is strong enough to distract the teacher. Of course, it might be affecting other students as well.
# Answer
> 17 votes
I might ask quietly and privately to speak to the student immediately after class. At that point, when no one else is present, I would politely say, "I am sensitive to the strength of your perfume". After that, I would let the conversation unfold. When the student would be defensive, I would just politely repeat the one statement "I am sensitive to the strength of your perfume". I might add "This is a health-related issue for me, as much as an allergy might be. It could eventually affect how I could continue to teach in the class". I would NOT ask or even suggest the student should NOT wear the perfume or take any action. I would hope the student would volunteer that step.
# Answer
> 2 votes
I feel that this could be treated differently depending on if the student is spending a lot of time at the department during business hours, or if the student is only going to a class. If you are only seeing the student in one class you may want to endure? I could easily see a student complaining about a teacher that is having opinions about his/hers perfume. If you are to complain I would open the conversation with *"I am terribly sorry to bring this up but I have an allergy and.."*. It doesn't matter if it is true or not but it is a smooth way of handling it, which would save the student any embarrassment, and settle the issue effectively.
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Tags: teaching, etiquette, social-skills
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thread-3563
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/3563
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What are the key features of a short (15 min) conference presentation?
|
2012-10-04T00:31:20.377
|
# Question
Title: What are the key features of a short (15 min) conference presentation?
I am preparing to give a conference presentation from scratch.
What is an effective ratio of introduction / methods / results / conclusion slides?
How can I balance the details of research without loosing the audience on key points?
In my experience, 90% of conference talks are dull and there may be one or two at any given conference that are really inspiring. What makes a "great" talk?
# Answer
> 21 votes
(edited to extract the key points from the main reference)
Ian Parberry's guidelines were always essential for me. Firstly I will give a personal replies to your answers and subsequently I will extract the main points of the Ian's guidelines which are the basis for my answer.
# Personal perspective
> What is an effective ratio of introduction / methods / results / conclusion slides?
My own rule of thumb is to allocate 2-3 minutes per slide, which gives max. 6-8 slides *including* the envelope (the "title" and the "end+questions?" ones). That is, we have about 5 real content slides of which for introduction I allocate 1 for motivation&context, and 1 to problem definition.
The body gets whatever it needs, but shouldn't exceed 4 slides, with at least a single one dedicated to a sketch of a *worked example*. The audience doesn't need to know how exactly I am doing the magic, I must however make them trust me and see what I am doing as *plausible*.
The summary/conclusion/future work gets 1 slide.
> How can I balance the details of research without loosing the audience on key points?
*Stress the motivation, the relevance of the problem and only sketch your solution so that an example which you provide will be plausible enough.*
Your talk is an advertisement for your paper. You are doing your best to assure that people learn something and you *imprint* some key points in their heads (the problem description and a sketch of the main idea solving it). You don't need to explain the details, just sketch the main principles. You want to compel the audience to either read your paper that day in the evening and base their own work on it (hence citations!), or ensure that sometime in the future when they will face a problem, they'll remember that there was this guy speaking about something along the same lines, so let's check it (hence possible citations!).
> What makes a "great" talk?
For me, it's **grounding in reality**. Show me what impact your stuff has on me. Speak about an application I might care for, even if it will be only a hypothetical one. If the result cannot be framed as a machine, or software, such as a lot of (non-computational) game-theory, then speak about implications to the society. Strike whatever chord, which makes your results **tangible**. It all boils down to answering a single question for every single person in the audience: **Why should I care?!**
But even if you do the all the positive advice right, there's a more important point, namely what you shouldn't do. For example I tend to speak a lot (see my posts at this site :-) ). My main drill during preparation of a talk is to throw away everything non-essential. Moreover, I am often writing down notes about *what **not** to say*. Many otherwise great talks are ruined by the presenter **speaking too much\* and \**showing off**. I don't want to be impressed by your smartness, or charisma per se, I want you to simply **educate me**!
---
And finally the key points from the Ian Parberry's guidelines for giving a good talk, emphasis mine.
# General advice
1. *Communicate the Key Ideas*: select 1-2 main high-level ideas and present them in a **crisp and crystal clear** way.
2. *Don’t get Bogged Down in Details*: do not even attempt to discuss the details, unless you you have brisk answers to possible questions you open that way.
3. *Structure Your Talk* & *Use a Top-down Approach*: go the least-surprise path, i.e, the audience needs a story a wants to be able to follow it. The structure should stay crisp: 1) solid motivation/intro, 2) main points/body, 3) technicalities, if really necessary, 4) conclusion.
4. *Know Your Audience*: allows you to skip some common-knowledge in the audience, as well as select what is important to them and what do they care for.
# Structure of the talk
I added the emphasis to the points which I consider crucial.
## The Introduction
1. **Define the Problem**
2. **Motivate the Audience**
3. Introduce Terminology
4. Discuss Earlier Work
5. **Emphasize the Contributions of your Paper**
6. Provide a Road-map
## The Body
1. **Abstract** the Major Results
2. Explain the **Significance** of the Results
3. **Sketch** a Proof of the Crucial Results
## Technicalities
1. Present a Key Lemma
2. Present it Carefully
## The Conclusion
1. Hindsight is Clearer than Foresight
2. Give Open Problems
3. Indicate that your Talk is Over
---
# Answer
> 34 votes
> How can I balance the details of research without losing the audience on key points?
From my perspective, the key to giving a 15 minute talk is to omit all of the details. Many audience members don't care, the few who do can read your paper, and in any case it's impossible to convey any serious details clearly and correctly in such a short time. If you try, then much of the audience will stop paying attention; you'll end up wasting their time and missing a great opportunity to present your work. Instead, your goal should be to ensure that everyone leaves with some understanding of what you've done, and that some of them are inspired to learn more.
This means you should focus on the big picture. What did you do, how and why did you do it, and what have we learned from it? In mathematics, I'd focus on context, motivation, definitions, theorem statements, examples, and intuition. It's OK to give a brief proof outline or sketch, but nothing detailed or complicated. If you can't summarize it in a few sentences, it's too complicated.
There are various ways short talks can go wrong. For example, some of them try to compress 30 minutes of content into 15 minutes by talking fast and barely explaining anything, while others simply omit the background and context needed to understand the presentation. However, there's a common difficulty behind many bad talks: they focus on the speaker's desires and goals rather than the audience's. Ultimately, you need to design your presentation to fit the background and interests of the audience and the time available, rather than what you wish you could tell them.
# Answer
> 19 votes
While 15 minutes is on the longer side for what I'm about to suggest, I think it's still useful.
In a 15 minute presentation you don't have time to think of things to say on the fly. It's important that you have a story nailed down fairly tight. While you don't need a full script for what you're going to say, you should have a fairly detailed plan of what you're going to say (even upto key sentences and transitions).
As others have pointed out, you'll have to eliminate most details. **THIS IS OK !** The audience will only (at best) get a high level idea of what your work is about and only the briefest glimmer of a technique or tool. So in order to decide what to say, you should ask yourself the following:
> Why should I (the listener) care about your work ?
Answering this question will help you decide what to keep and what to throw.
As for your last question, a great talk is a strange mix of details, high level concepts, and inspiration. If it were easy to describe it, all talks would be great :). But if you shoot for a talk that people will remember, that is both more attainable, and easier to construct.
# Answer
> 16 votes
Consider the point of the talk; you want to convey to the audience what it is you did and what your results were. Similar to a paper, you'll want just enough background to bring those who aren't familiar with your subfield up to speed, and barely any conclusions as the audience will draw their own conclusions.
With that in mind, you'll want something similar to the following:
* 1-2 min — background
* 5-6 min — methods
* 3-4 min — results
* 1 min — conclusions, thanks, etc
Note that you'll probably want to leave some time for questions, so you should err on the side of shorter rather than longer.
From my experiences, you will want to *really* prepare for this. As discussed in more detail in this answer, this is really the main forum for you to sell your work. You'll want to make sure you put forward your best possible face. All the usual points related to public speaking apply here as well: talk slower (yes, slower... slower than that, even), be concise, be clear, make good use of slides, etc.
# Answer
> 9 votes
I think the other answers state it quite clearly: eliminate most details! Some key points I've found across different sources and observed at talks I've enjoyed:
* You don't want to *explain* your paper, you want the audience to want to read your paper.
* You need to be comfortable with your talk. I've attended great short highly technical talks, and great short high-level talks. What made the talks great was not the technical content, but the capability of the speaker to convey his/her enthusiasm for the content.
* I particularly like AnonynousMathematician's "\[bad talks\] focus on the speaker's desires and goals rather than the audience's". At a conference, the audience is not here to judge you, or to evaluate your work, but to attend an hopefully interesting talk. The point is not to show how good you are.
* It might depend on the technical field, but a good way to interest an audience is to present them with a problem, usually illustrated with a simple example, and then to give the guidelines of how you solved that problem.
Finally, read many advices you can find on this topic. For instance, I'd suggest you the page of Simon Peyton-Jones, recently pointed out by walkmanyi.
# Answer
> 8 votes
I think in *any* conference presentation (whether it is 10 minutes or 60 minutes), there are only two parts that are absolutely necessary:
* **What is the problem that you studied.** Explain it as carefully as possible, in the simplest possible form; make it as easy to understand as possible. Do not assume that some parts of the setting are obvious to the audience; make everything explicit.
* **What is the new result that you obtained.** Again, explain it as carefully as possible, in the simplest possible form. Proceed slowly; even if you could state the result in 5 seconds, spend much more time on it. Make sure the audience has enough time to digest what was your new main contribution.
If these parts necessarily take 15 minutes, it is OK. I do not think anything else is absolutely necessary.
Of course there are lots of things that would be nice to have, time permitting: background, motivation, related work, a very rough overview of some methods that you used to obtain the results, conclusions, etc. But none of these parts are as important as explaining what was the research question and what was the new result.
---
By the way, if it appears that this approach results in a boring talk, most likely *your own idea of what is your research question is wrong*. Think big, go one level up.
**Example:** You have studied thingy X (something technical and complicated) and your work shows that X has property Y (something easy to understand), and this is cool, as it is the first example of a thingy with property Y.
**Bad:**
* *Problem:* We study the properties of thingy X. (But explaining X takes forever. It is complicated, technical and boring. And why would you want to study it anyway.)
* *Result:* We show X has property Y. (But now you would still have to explain what is Y. You are already running out of time, and you have already lost your audience.)
* You feel like you would have wanted to talk about motivation, related work, and methods, but you are already overtime, and nobody is following anymore.
**Good:**
* *Problem:* Is there a thingy with property Y? (Now this was much easier to explain. You have got plenty of time to also mention that this is a famous open question posed by Professor Bigname in 1950s.)
* *Result:* Yes, we give the first example of such a thingy! (That was easy. And now to make sure that everyone gets the big news, you can spends some time explaining that in prior work others have come close, but nobody has been quite there.)
* And now you still have lots of time left, so you can tell something about the particular thingy X that you put together. All of this is extra. You can be sketchy, just give some highlights of the main ideas. Everyone in the audience already knows where you are aiming at and what is the big picture; they can fill in the details or look it up in your paper if it matters.
# Answer
> 4 votes
Some things to think about (from the point of view of a mathematician, but I hope some of this might be relevant in other fields too): Does your main result have a special case or two that would be easier for your audience to understand than the general result (without being trivial)? If so, you might just present that (or those) special case(s), and add at the end one sentence to the effect that your full result is more general.
Does your result require terminology that people might not know? If so, does it really *require* that terminology, or could you perhaps get by without it? If you *really* need the terminology, budget enough time to explain it and, if possible, relate it to something your audience already knows.
The background information (previous results, open questions) that motivate your work is likely to be too much to present in full in the limited time available. Select just enough of that information to be understandable and to provide *some* (not necessarily all) motivation for your work. Having presented some motivation, you can add one sentence saying that there is additional motivation, which you don't have time to explain in the talk.
In two places, I've suggested adding a single sentence saying "there's more"; you should indicate your willingness (or even eagerness) to discuss the "more" later with anyone who is interested.
# Answer
> 3 votes
A nice discussion on this can be found here: http://presentations.catalysis.nl/presentations/presentation.php.
If your talk is in mathematics, you might also want to look at https://mathoverflow.net/questions/29866/presenting-a-paper-dos-and-donts.
Some other tips I've heard:
* Use one slide per minute. For a 15-minute talk, use only 15 slides.
* The first part of your talk should be understandable by any adult (if your target audience consists of adults). The next part should be understandable by your peers (same field as yours, e.g., mathematics, but not necessarily the same subfield, e.g., number theory). The next part should be understandable by your peers working in the same subfield. The last part should be understandable by you. (Although some believe this last part is too much).
# Answer
> 3 votes
My goal when giving a talk is to convey information in a way none have presented or expressed before. The constraints being:
* easy to understand for complete novices
* interesting for experts
My mindset is also to aim for 10-12 minutes when allocated 15 minutes. It is always better to finish early than it is to go over your time. It **ALWAYS** leaves a bad taste in my mouth when a speaker exceeds their allotted time. It's disrespectful and inconsiderate of other people's time.
I also subscribe to the *1 slide per 1 minute MAX* philosophy. In terms of time per section (borrowing from @eykanal's reply), but whichever section has your contribution then the time spent there should be doubled (e.g., I assume in the Methods section):
* 2 min **Background**
* 4 min **Methods**
* 2 min **Evaluation**
* 2 min **Results**
* 2 min **Conclusions**
* 1 min **Future Work**
# Answer
> 2 votes
There are many good answers. I especially like the second half of the answer from @walkmanyi, especially as concerns the structure of a short talk. I disagree with most the time amounts given. I have found great success with:
* 7 minutes of background
* 5 minutes combined methods, results, conclusions
* 3 minutes of questions
If a separate time is given to questions, then 9 to 6 in favor of background.
# Answer
> 1 votes
An interesting comment about presentations can be found here. The author is professor of Computer Science, thus some things may not apply in all cases. Moreover, I think that the advice is very extreme, which actually makes it interesting.
In the case of the area of management, this resource may be helpful. These notes were the result of a session at one of the Academy of Management meetings.
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Tags: conference, writing, presentation
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thread-29068
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29068
|
Will US graduate schools accept me retaking a GRE subject test in the spring?
|
2014-09-27T16:17:02.607
|
# Question
Title: Will US graduate schools accept me retaking a GRE subject test in the spring?
I just took the GRE Mathematics exam and I think I didn't do very well. I answered only 39 of the 66 questions due to lack of time (I knew I could answer a lot more but it would take some time to do the calculations so I left them for the end and never managed to return-I didn't even get to question 60). What I want to say is that I know I can do better but I am not that fast. I tried to register for the October exam but it is impossible-everywhere in my country! So I want to ask:
1. Will my score be sufficient to at least have a chance in good PhD programs (my goals were UCLA, UIUC, Berkley, Stanford...)?
2. Do you think that these universities could accept my application if I say I will retake the test in April?
# Answer
> 3 votes
A poor test score is not disqualifying if the rest of your application is strong.
However, an April test date **will not work** for admission next fall. The reason for this is that the US admissions cycle requires acceptance decisions around mid-April. Since the test is in mid-April, and scores won't be available until mid-May, they would have to accept you "blind," without knowing what your scores would be. So you're essentially "stuck" with the scores you have, at least for admission for the upcoming fall semester.
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Tags: graduate-admissions, mathematics, gre, deadlines
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thread-29076
|
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29076
|
Releasing all lecture materials at once vs. releasing materials lecture by lecture
|
2014-09-27T20:47:40.293
|
# Question
Title: Releasing all lecture materials at once vs. releasing materials lecture by lecture
Some teachers decide to release all lecture materials (e.g. prepared lecture notes, slides for presentations) at once at the beginning of the term, while some others release their materials gradually (i.e. releasing the lecture materials a few hours/days before the corresponding lecture), even though all materials are the same as the previous year.
What are the pedagogical advantages of not releasing all lecture materials at once at the beginning of the term?
I am especially interested in graduate-level computer science (machine learning) education in the US, in case the answer is country, field or level dependent.
# Answer
As a CS student, I experienced both types. In my opinion, there are many practical disadvantages and psychological effects to consider when releasing everything at the beginning of the semester.
*However, it is very nice to be able to view the materials from previous years in full, and almost none of the disadvantages listed below apply for this case.*
Practical considerations:
1. If everything is available at the beginning of semester, students might deem it not necessary to check the course website during the semester, as they already know that "everything is there". They will miss announcements and updates to the website.
2. If the lecture materials are changed or revised during the semester, students might miss these updates if they downloaded everything at the beginning of the semester.
Psychological effects:
1. Information overload: Students may think that the course will be too difficult if they take a look at later slides at the beginning of the semester and thus might drop the course.
2. Frustration: Eager students may try to understand the contents of later slides (e.g. a few weeks in advance), but get frustrated if the slides are not completely self-contained and there is information missing (that would have been given in the lectures).
3. Lazyness: If everything is there at the beginning of the semester, students may not feel the need to keep up with homework/reading week by week, as there is less of a weekly reminder that things have changed (the page is static and does not change every week). If the materials are released weekly, there is more of a motivation to not fall too far behind, as students are reminded every week of how far behind they are. Also, students might not be motivated to go to the lecture if they already know that all the material has been released.
4. Inattentiveness: Students that have already read the slides of the coming weeks may be bored or inattentive during the lectures. This may be important if the slides "give away" too much of the thought process if students read ahead. In some lectures, homework is only mentally stimulating if the slides of next weeks' lecture are not available in advance.
5. Students may also get the impression that the professor is just "phoning it in" for this year, even if that is not the case. If slides are released every week, this gives more of an impression that the lecture was tailored to this specific year, and to the questions asked during this year's lectures.
> 9 votes
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Tags: teaching, presentation, lecture-notes
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thread-29078
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29078
|
Advice for teaching older "non-traditional" undergraduate students
|
2014-09-27T21:42:22.387
|
# Question
Title: Advice for teaching older "non-traditional" undergraduate students
I will be teaching a class in my university's evening degree program. The students are undergraduates but are what I've heard referred to as "non-traditional" students. Basically, the students are all older than the 18-22 year range common in undergraduate programs and most of them have full time jobs. I have taught older students before, but only in the context of masters programs targeted mostly at students with professional experience (e.g., a part-time executive MBA program).
I'm looking for advice, or links to resources with advice that you have found useful, on teaching older working students. In particular, I am interested in techniques, approaches, or things to keep in mind that *are different* from teaching (a) traditional undergraduate students (i.e., ~18-22 year-old) students and (b) working professional master students.
# Answer
In my experience, you will find four things happen to various degrees. One is, non-traditional students are less distracted by issues that we know overwhelm the minds of 18-22 year olds. This means, they can bring more focus to their studies. The second thing is, non-traditional students are less inclined to believe they are entitled to something easy from you with no responsibility from them. This means, they can bring a stronger sense of mutual respect to the class room. The third thing is, non-traditional students have some lag or lack of knowledge in pre-requisite information for the course. This means, you may have to spend time to help them remember the missing background information. Finally, non-traditional students are more involved in higher-level and higher-intensity demands in their lives. This means, they can have less time to study during your course as though that responsibility is supposed to be ingrained in their full-time career path for the coming semester.
You might plan in general how to balance these changes during your course presentation and curriculum development. Then, consider how, because you know these changes are coming, you will make specific changes in such things as the pace of your lecture presentations, the number of or time scales of your assignments, and the options you will offer for off-line tutoring.
Overall, teaching non-traditional students is a different experience that can end up being a far more rewarding one than teaching traditional students.
Best regards, and have fun!
> 11 votes
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Tags: teaching, undergraduate
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thread-29082
|
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29082
|
Do I need to keep my high school transcripts?
|
2014-09-27T23:24:49.553
|
# Question
Title: Do I need to keep my high school transcripts?
I graduated high school in the United States and I have a bachelors degree from an accredited university in the United States as well. Would I need to keep my high school transcripts for any purpose? For example, Grad school in the US or abroad or any other need?
# Answer
> 2 votes
Grad school applications typically only want your undergraduate transcript since that is your highest level of education (and most recent). This is the system in Canada, and I can't think of a reason it would be different in the US.
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Tags: transcript-of-records
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thread-29085
|
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29085
|
Applying to grad school for mathematics with low GPA, but reluctant to bring up the health issues that caused it
|
2014-09-28T01:16:42.247
|
# Question
Title: Applying to grad school for mathematics with low GPA, but reluctant to bring up the health issues that caused it
I'm currently a 3rd year undergrad majoring in math/physics. I was admitted to my university through an honors program due to outstanding high school achievement (my university is a large public one, moderately well known in the US) with several scholarships.
But after my first semester, I fell back into a recurring bout of severe depression, and did not get help. My grades ended up tanking that next semester (C average). I thought I had overcome it by my second year, but soon developed psychosis and could no longer focus on studying; I neglected my health and hygiene, and I couldn't even get up some mornings to get to class. None of my professors are aware of my situation.
I finally sought help last spring and I've been doing better (keeping up with work, getting better grades, etc), but I feel like nothing will ever make up for those two years of mediocre grades. My overall GPA right now is sitting around a 2.5. I feel like while this is possible to explain away, I'm reluctant to divulge information about my severe mental illness to admissions because there is still a lot of stigma associated with it. I've seen mixed answers as to whether or not it's a good idea to do.
My question is, is there still a way for me to pursue applied mathematics in graduate school? Is graduate school aiming too high? And if so, do I talk about my limitations as far as my health is concerned?
I love math, and love learning. I've done a few practice Math Subject GRE exams, and they were fairly easy (as long as I study for the parts I'm not 100% on, of course). I've also done a few small math projects with grad students and I've worked in a lab since I was a freshman; I feel like I'm passionate enough about the subject to succeed but I'm afraid admission committees will not look past my GPA to see that and wouldn't risk having someone like me in their program.
# Answer
> 5 votes
You certainly have no obligation to mention your depression when applying. You can say nothing about the subject and let your recently improved work stand for itself, or you can allude to personal issues and reassure the committee that they are no longer troubling you. If you do well in your last two years of college, then difficulties in your first two will matter far less.
On the other hand, I think it could be worth mentioning. In mathematics there's less stigma surrounding depression than you might expect (at least in the U.S.). Compared with the rest of society, the mathematical community is unusually tolerant of various forms of psychological variation, provided that you can do good mathematics. A number of famous mathematicians have suffered from depression, so it would be foolish to dismiss an applicant for that reason, and many mathematicians know colleagues who have been depressed. The key question is whether you have found treatment that keeps it under control. If you leave your situation vague, then you leave open the possibility that whatever was causing the bad grades might return. If you explain that you sought treatment for depression and found it successful, then that will reassure the committee that your recent improvements are likely to be long lasting.
If you do mention this issue, I'd keep it brief. A single sentence in your personal statement would be enough (the committee doesn't need or want any details about your health or treatment). And, as I said above, there's no need to say anything at all if you aren't comfortable with it. However, I don't believe doing so could hurt your application, and it might help explain your grades.
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Tags: graduate-admissions, mathematics, gpa, health
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thread-29092
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29092
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Is paper reviewing for journals that are not JCR-listed worth the time?
|
2014-09-28T07:38:35.093
|
# Question
Title: Is paper reviewing for journals that are not JCR-listed worth the time?
Is it worthwhile to spend some time as reviewer of journals which are not JCR-indexed? I do not know in the rest of the world, but in Spain all that matters are those listed in JCR.
NOTE: I am a robotics PhD student yet, and I probably should focus on my research now.
# Answer
My general answer would be yes. Doing reviews provides several benefits, first, you will see manuscripts before they are published. You will spend time reading new research in detail in a way you probably would not otherwise. You can use the experience to learn about how to write (or how not to write) a manuscript. You will contribute to your field as is expected from all scientists. Being appointed to review also signals someone has identified you as a possible expert in the field.
There are, however, some possible caveats. You should not spend time on manuscripts from disreputable journals. One way to gain insight into this is to ask your advisor about the journal if you do not feel you have the insight yourself. If the manuscript is far removed from your own work, you should probably also decline with the comment that it is not within your expertise.
It is true that this will take time off from your PhD work to some extent but you will be able to learn from the experience if you consider the process of evaluating work and assessing the standard in which manuscripts are submitted. Of course, one review, will not give you all insights, but given that you do a few during your PhD time, you will gain new insights into the publishing world other than submitting and revising your own work.
A final point: reviewing for a JCR journal or a journal that is not listed should not differ. The review work is equally important for all publications. A journal that is not listed can become listed if published work is of high quality and thereby referenced sufficiently.
> 6 votes
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Tags: journals, peer-review, bibliometrics
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thread-29096
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29096
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How to increase the reach of my bachelor thesis with little effort?
|
2014-09-28T11:53:19.297
|
# Question
Title: How to increase the reach of my bachelor thesis with little effort?
I wrote my bachelor thesis about a topic that recently deserved a lot of attention because of global media and geopolitical development (See Title below \[1\]). Therefore I know would like to publish it. But because I changed my research field from *European Studies* to *Sustainable Development*, I am not in the right networks anymore to get official assistance with the publication and I am not really aiming for a peer-reviewed paper either. But I still would like my finding to be "out there". Therefore **reach** is also my priority. If possible I would of course not be upset, if I could be financially **reward**-ed for each download, but that is rather a minor priority and bonus.
So far, I have found and considered platforms like *StackExchange*, *Scribd*, *reddit*, *Academia*, *ResearchGate* or *LinkedIn*. And now I would like to get some insights from practitioners or experienced academics what to do. Thanks in advance.
---
EDIT: I have decided to go with GRIN now. Thanks for all people commenting and taking time. \[2\]
---
\[1\] "Theories of Democracy in Comparison: The Russian Case - Output-oriented Legitimacy, Defect Democracy, Political Culture, Path Dependence and Public Opinion" - Why would Russians, interested in democracy, vote for Putin, while being aware that he is not beneficial for a democratic future of the country?
\[2\] *Theories of Democracy in Comparison: The Russian Case. Output-oriented Legitimacy, Defect Democracy, Political Culture, Path Dependence and Public Opinion*, Bachelor Thesis, 2013.
# Answer
*In the following, I will assume your thesis is indeed of excellent quality, and brings interesting new insight into the field.*
First, your goals: you say you are primarily interested in **reach**, with potential for (I am assuming financial) rewards being a nice-to-have. The options you have proposed were:
**StackExchange** and **Academia**
Not the right place. More or less by definition, Stack Exchange sites do not want to have original research. Your research would also definitely be out of scope here.
**Scribd**
No personal experience. Maybe somebody can edit this in?
**ResearchGate**
As I and others here have experienced, ResearchGate is a terrible place to communicate ideas. Honestly, this one is probably just a waste of time.
**LinkedIn**
In my experience this is similar to ResearchGate, but, for academic topics, even worse. I do not know anybody who uses LinkedIn to discover interesting content. Probably also a waste of time,
**reddit**
This could be an idea, but not to *write* the content on, but as a means to advertise the content you have hosted elsewhere.
What *I think* you should try is make a blog. First, start off by summarising your main theses and results in a poignant way (and linking to your full thesis for those interested in details). Keep the blog up-to-date by following recent events (in your topic, there are new events almost daily at the moment). If you get questions, address them.
Advertise your blog heavily, on Reddit, on Twitter, on Facebook, and on other suitable platforms. In terms of monetization, you can either get your own server going, host the blog yourself, and make some modest money via ads, or use a free Wordpress (or similar) account. In the latter case, all ad money will go to Wordpress, but you will have very low setup effort and do not need any upfront investment.
**To wrap this up, one word of warning - having a blog, or really any widely known published material, on such a sensitive topic may well be *actually, physically dangerous to you*. People have certainly been threatened and harassed for less than publishing unpopular opinions about Russia.**
> 4 votes
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Tags: thesis, online-publication, bachelor
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thread-29019
|
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29019
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Reference for use of name@math.univ.edu for mathematics department email addresses?
|
2014-09-26T03:46:18.697
|
# Question
Title: Reference for use of name@math.univ.edu for mathematics department email addresses?
I have noticed that many mathematics departments (a little over half of the public and private Group I departments) follow the name@math.univ.edu format. Does anyone know of a reference to a discussion in Notices of the American Mathematical Society or elsewhere about this common practice?
# Answer
> 5 votes
I don't have a reference about this. The split in email addresses is often because mathematics departments were among the early adopters of computing. I don't know whether this applies to your own institution, but it applies to several I have been at, of different sizes from 5,000 to 50,000 students.
When computing technology began to be available, mathematics departments were among the first adopters. Computers and mathematics go together. At quite a few schools, the computer science department is still part of the department of mathematics; at others, the two departments started together (when the math department began to hire computer scientists), and split apart later.
In the period before PCs became ubiquitous in the 1990s, mathematics departments often found funds (often via grants) to operate computer labs, web servers, and email servers on their own. At this time, especially in the 1980s, university-wide computing services were often quite primitive, and often consisted of terminal servers instead of PCs.
Over time, as computing became ubiquitous, universities hired their own IT staff, and began to run their own web servers and email. This is how, at several institutions I have been at, I had two different email addresses (one for the university and one for the math department) and two web pages (same split)
Now that email and web servers are viewed as a basic service that the university provides to faculty, it is more difficult for mathematics departments to justify having their independent systems. Administrators correctly look at the separation as an inefficiency, asking why the department can't use the same system as everyone else.
In my opinion, math departments that want to continue to have separate systems will need to present a very strong case for why the separate systems are necessary, beyond the historical developments that led to the separate systems coming into existence. As email and web services become more and more of a staple commodity, this argument gets more and more difficult.
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Tags: mathematics, email, reference-request
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thread-29072
|
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29072
|
Does deferring admissions to PhD affect future (post-PhD) career path?
|
2014-09-27T18:55:52.103
|
# Question
Title: Does deferring admissions to PhD affect future (post-PhD) career path?
I'm currently in my final year of undergraduate study, and will be applying to physics PhD programs (for condensed matter theory) soon. Without going into details, I am convinced that deferring my admission for a year, i.e. taking a "gap year", would be beneficial for me personally, and it is my understanding that most schools permit a one-year deferral. I would most likely work in the tech industry for this time.
I am *not* worried about my physics/math abilities atrophying; I plan on actively keeping up with my studies independently during this time.
Assuming I am permitted to defer for a year, are there any negative perceptions related to time off before graduate school that might affect my future academic career, after the PhD?
Will some people in the community look down on me for taking time away from academia, or is this considered a fine thing to do? Could this hinder me in the future when applying for postdocs (both the year away from academia and the fact that I am probably finishing my PhD a year later than I otherwise would)?
I am asking about the general perception of a gap year as it pertains to and affects a career path, not about how a gap year impacts a PhD application (which is addressed in this question).
# Answer
In general, there is very little effect from taking a year off between undergraduate and doctoral studies, so long as you complete your graduate studies in a "normal" manner. The primary concern is how you did as a graduate student on your particular project; after you've received the PhD, the particulars of how you got there are much less important in determining your future career path. There may be some people who are prejudiced against people who deviated from what they consider a "normal" trajectory, but I wouldn't expect this to be a major fraction of potential employers. (And more to the point, you probably wouldn't want to work for such an individual anyways.)
> 2 votes
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Tags: graduate-admissions, career-path, time-off, deferral
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thread-29090
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29090
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Is it considered unethical/bad etiquette to contact another potential PhD supervisor while waiting for a response from my first choice?
|
2014-09-28T06:00:10.810
|
# Question
Title: Is it considered unethical/bad etiquette to contact another potential PhD supervisor while waiting for a response from my first choice?
I have contacted a potential PhD supervisor and currently he is reviewing my work, however this evaluation process seems to be taking too long.
Is it ethical to give my research proposal to another professor (another university) while he is reviewing my work? Will this reflect negatively on me if he finds out about it?
There is a good chance that these two professors are in contact with each other ( though I can't be sure!)
He is the foremost expert in my field and I would prefer to have him as supervisor. I just don't want to lose my other opportunities.
Note : I have already secured funding for my PhD. I am only looking for a reputable school (and supervisor). I am considering two institutions in Europe, in Netherlands and Germany.
# Answer
> 13 votes
Finding a PhD advisor, like finding a job, is not a serial process. You can—and **should**—have multiple applications out simultaneously. If you get an offer you find acceptable, then you should take it.
If you are concerned about missing out on an opportunity with your first-choice advisor if someone else makes you an offer, then you can send a polite email informing the first-choice advisor something like:
> I would really like to work with you, but I am starting to receive offers of admission from other advisors. They would like to have an answer by \<*date*\>. While I understand you need time to make a decision, would it be possible for you to give me an answer by then?
If they're serious about having you as a PhD student, they'll respond.
# Answer
> 3 votes
I'm assuming you are a normal student, i.e. you don't have single-author papers in science or something similar. If you have, contact your only choice again, if he has money he should hire you.
Assuming you are a normal student, then yes, contact other Professors and programs as well. This is normal (at least in the natural sciences) and increases your chances of actually having a position in the future. Don't worry about this reflecting negatively. If someone does, you maybe wouldn't want to work with this person anyway. Honestly, however, there are many applicants that individual withdrawels don't bother us too much.
Also, consider being less picky. If your choice of Prof. is indeed the foremost expect the (prior) probability of him actually hiring you is rather low. To increase the (posterior) probability of being hired, you need to stand out.
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Tags: phd, ethics, advisor, etiquette
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thread-29104
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29104
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How to find the most relevant publications in field/topic
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2014-09-28T14:17:35.453
|
# Question
Title: How to find the most relevant publications in field/topic
What is the most reliable way of finding the most relevant publications in scientific field and particularly a specific topic?
Does Google Scholar citing results suffice?
# Answer
IMHO, it is difficult to say which search strategy is most reliable. The Google Scholar (as well as Web of Science, Scopus, etc.) citations are a good place to start but they definitely should not be your *only* guide.
Another item to look at are survey papers and research monographs in your field of interest (and, nowadays, Wikipedia, Scholarpedia, etc.; note also that sometimes plain Google search instead of Google Scholar search brings more helpful results) and the references therein.
There are least two reasons to do so:
* sometimes an important result makes it straight into surveys and monographs which get cited instead of the original paper(s);
* a paper with an important *negative* result (e.g. one which closes certain research avenues) is sometimes not particularly well cited just because people move on to other research directions.
Yet another way to find relevant references is the so-called snowballing method a good description of which is given at this answer (without using the term *snowballing*).
And, of course, it is a good idea to ask your colleagues, especially after you've already done some searching on your own and just want to make sure that the search results you have are reasonably complete.
> 1 votes
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Tags: publications, literature-search
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thread-29022
|
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29022
|
Are professors at a public university in the U.S. considered to be "employed by the U.S. government"?
|
2014-09-26T10:38:14.980
|
# Question
Title: Are professors at a public university in the U.S. considered to be "employed by the U.S. government"?
Also, is a grad student who is being funded by an NSF grant considered to be "employed by the U.S. government"?
I ask because I'm submitting a paper, and I have to state whether or not all authors are "employed by the U.S. government".
# Answer
The reason this question is asked by journals is that except in some limited cases, the US government may not, by law, hold the US copyright in a work created by its employees, and, therefore, cannot transfer it to the publisher of the journal as is traditionally done in most academic publishing agreements. As such, the journal can't ask those authors who are US government employees to sign the copyright transfer and must use a different agreement. If one or more of the authors is not a US government employee, then those authors will still need to make the transfer.
Employees of US state governments, which includes most public university employees in the US, do not have this limitation, and can make the copyright transfer or other licensing arrangement that the publisher requires.
> 46 votes
# Answer
The question is really asking about employees of the *federal* government. At least, whenever I've seen a question like this, that is what they wanted to know; and this is the usual meaning of the words "U.S. government" in the American context.
As a rule, if you don't know whether you're a U.S. government employee - then you're probably not. An easy way to find out if your coauthors are government employees is to ask them.
The federal government does operate a handful of academic institutions (e.g., the Naval Postgraduate School) and there are other federal employees who publish regularly (e.g., scientists at NASA). There are lots of U.S. institutions which are run or chartered by *state* governments, and this category represents the majority of "public universities" in the country. Whether or not professors there are considered employees of the *state* \- in most cases they probably are - they are still not *federal* employees. (Well, unless they happen to be on temporary assignment to NSF as a program director, or something.)
As stated in the sibling answer by Oswald Veblen, receiving money through a federal grant does not make you a federal employee.
> 44 votes
# Answer
No, grad students and faculty with NSF funding are not employed by the U.S. government. NSF funding is sent directly to the school. The school then employs the researchers itself and pays them using those funds.
> 15 votes
# Answer
In almost all cases, no, they are not. The vast majority of public universities in the U.S. are owned and operated by the individual state governments, not the U.S. federal government. Within the U.S., the state governments are considered to be entirely separate legal entities. In most (but apparently not all) cases, employees of state-owned universities are considered employees of that particular state. The exceptions where a public university professor actually would be a U.S. federal government employee are professors at the handful of universities actually owned by the federal government, such as the various military academies, as well as dual-employees of both a university and some part of the federal government, such as a federal government research institution. One of my advisors, for instance, is an employee both of my university and of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, so he's an employee both of the State of Tennessee as well as of the U.S. federal government.
> 7 votes
# Answer
It is not clear that public university/college employees are officially considered state employees by the respective states. In Minnesota, for example, the University of Minnesota faculty are, apparently, *not* considered to be state employees.
Among other aspects that make this seem reasonable, the fact that the state supplies only a small fraction of the funding contributes.
> 2 votes
# Answer
The department secretary or perhaps a grants officer at your university should be able to give you guidance on these sorts of things. Aside from the particular problem of federal employment, you might have to credit grants and authors in a way that the journal doesn't require or track.
As a graduate student, the department secretary should be your best friend. They know how everything works where the academic staff might not (because they rely on the administrative staff).
> 1 votes
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Tags: university, professorship, funding, united-states
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thread-13831
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/13831
|
Etiquette for effective workshop comments
|
2013-11-03T14:57:37.640
|
# Question
Title: Etiquette for effective workshop comments
After a few years of graduate school, I've noticed that I may not be asking questions and making criticism in the workshops in the best way. By "best," I have two goals for comments. The first (selfish) goal is to develop a reputation for being a intelligent, insightful colleague with good comments. The second goal is to effectively communicate my concerns to help others improve their research. Luckily these goals are mutually reinforcing.
Observing others in my department's weekly workshop, the questions that usually get the most attention are those that are phrased quite strongly, even aggressively.
My tendency has always been to be polite and not try to put someone on the spot about their work. I gently communicate the problems I see with the work. As a result, presenters often do not listen. They brush off the questions as if they are unthreatening and thereof of limited concern.
I do not want workshops to be a threatening or aggressive environment, but it seems like only questions that get the presenter's adrenaline flowing regularly warrant proper consideration and response. Maybe I'm going too soft and I can find a middle ground without being one of the aggressive (sometimes rude) ones.
# Answer
I am not sure that your questions at a conference are necessarily a major concern. If you look at how science is propagated, conferences are typically a step before publication. Therefore, it is noble of you to think of it as a point where you can provide constructive comments to authors about their work. However, the most critical point comes when work is published and peer-reviewed.
Based on your experience at conferences (which I to some extent share) you can ask yourself the following: Is the author/presenter interested in your comments. If he/she is, then it would be counter productive to ignore your questions. The question-and-answer format, on the other hand, is too brief and fragmented considering the time constraints of a presentation schedule to be the forum for constructive criticism. That is probably also why the more aggressive questions dominate. In the end, there is nothing wrong with approaching a person during a break to initiate a deeper discussion. you will then also get a better feeling if your comments are welcome.
A final thought. I tend to think as the saying: *it is sometimes better to be silent and seem a fool than to speak and prove it*. You can exchange "fool" by whatever trait you wish.
> 6 votes
# Answer
Just a couple of thoughts on this (not so recent) question:
> The first (selfish) goal is to develop a reputation for being a intelligent, insightful colleague with good comments.
If everyone went into a workshop or conference talk with the primary goal of "developing a reputation for being an intelligent, insightful colleague with good comments", then...yikes. Chaos would ensue. Luckily I've never seen this; the closest I have seen is in faculty meetings, where often I feel that being a good colleague requires me to say something from time to time just to be heard, rather than because I think I am contributing something absolutely essential to the discussion. It is, frankly, one of my worse habits: I shudder to imagine what would happen if all of my colleagues behaved the same way.
You should speak up in a talk because you think that something you say will be directly helpful to the speaker or to others, or because you didn't fully understand something the speaker said **and** you have reason to believe that a quick question and answer could set you back on track. I don't think that you should aim to make yourself heard specifically to impress your colleagues: that seems too likely to backfire, *either* because what you say is not as insightful as you think or because the speaker and the audience will not appreciate your commandeering more than your fair share of the speaker's time.
> The second goal is to effectively communicate my concerns to help others improve their research.
Yes, that's a good reason to speak up. What you say about "too soft" questions getting brushed off by speakers sounds like a "local phenomenon" rather than a general truth about such talks. Where I come from, too-pointed questioning is more likely not to have the desired effect: a speaker either becomes flustered and the entire talk becomes (at least!) temporarily derailed, or to avoid that they say "I don't know" and move on without really thinking about the question. For several years this type of thing happened often in response to questions of mine that I didn't even realize were so pointed, so I have (somewhat) learned to correct in the opposite direction: by trying to ensure that my questions are friendly and do not come off as quizzing or challenging the speaker. But mine is not a universal truth either: I think it just depends on the local culture involved, maybe even the specific group of people in the room.
> I gently communicate the problems I see with the work.
If you feel like you see a *problem* -- rather than just asking a question about something that you may not properly understand -- then pointing this out during the talk itself may not be ideal. The following **is** in my experience a universal truth: people don't like being told they're wrong. Do you want them to stop short and try to "fix" their work on the spot? I think that if you really have something to say which vitiates a substantial part of the talk, it will be better for all involved if you wait until after the talk and speak solely to the speaker about it. (Admittedly, *j'accuse* moments in talks can be pretty entertaining for the spectators: see e.g. the beginning of this wonderful story. Spoiler alert: as amazing as this beginning event is, yet more amazing is that it is not what the story is really about at all.)
I might go so far as to say that it is not really "fair" to raise a serious objection during a fixed-duration talk. The speaker has other things on her mind and plate besides understanding and addressing your specific concern. Often in a talk it turns out that the brilliant professor's lightning-quick refutation of the speaker's work is not actually a refutation of the speaker's work: it was based on some kind of misunderstanding or miscommunication (e.g. people using terminology in subtly different ways or elided technical hypotheses). When this happens the majority of the audience cannot really follow what happened and goes away with a vague impression that something was wrong with the speaker's work. That's not really fair.
> 4 votes
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Tags: etiquette, communication, workshop
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thread-29094
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29094
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Are there any restrictions on applying to the same graduate school in two consecutive years?
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2014-09-28T09:47:25.463
|
# Question
Title: Are there any restrictions on applying to the same graduate school in two consecutive years?
I have the following dilemma: I am finishing my Master's degree in pure mathematics this academic year (summer 2015) and I hoped to apply to a PhD program (US schools) starting from September 2015. Therefore, I have to apply this fall (till December 2014 in most places).
However, I have the following problem - my first article has just been completed and I have to go through a painful publication process which will not be finished in time (surely not till December). Second problem is that I have not particularly high GRE Math results (around 750 I guess, still waiting for results); the exam can be retaken only in April 2015.
Therefore, the only strengths I have are high GPA and solid letters of recommendation. I guess I could send the article to Arxiv.org, but I am not sure if that is acceptable to admissions committee and I am not familiar with the process of placing the article there.
So my questions are:
Is it OK to apply this fall and in case I am not accepted to the desired program, reapply next year, in the fall of 2015?
Or there is some kind of cooldown like the one you have in industry jobs and it is wiser to skip this year's admissions and apply in 2015 with a solid application profile?
# Answer
A solid GPA and letters of recommendation is nothing to sneeze at—particularly if one of the people who wrote your letter of recommendation is a co-author on the publication.
You don't need to publish the paper on arXiv if you and your co-authors don't feel it is appropriate; however, you can mention that you have a manuscript available, and submit it along with your application (if the department to which you're applying permits it!).
However, I wouldn't wait an extra year just to "improve your odds." Apply this year—if you don't like the results, try again next year.
> 4 votes
# Answer
From context, I'm going to assume your field is mathematics and you are applying in the US.
I don't see any reason why you shouldn't apply this year. In particular, don't worry about your paper not being accepted in time. Just having a paper submitted is already pretty good for a PhD applicant. People in mathematics are well aware that the peer review process takes a long time, and will not fault you for the fact that it isn't finished. And many applicants are accepted without any completed papers at all.
However, it would be a good idea to make sure at least one of your letter writers is familiar with your paper and can give a credible assessment of its quality.
Posting to arXiv is really orthogonal to the publication proces. Most people post to arXiv *at the same time as* they submit to a journal (not "instead of"). It's a convenient way to distribute a paper that has not yet been published, but it isn't at all the same as publication itself, because arXiv doesn't do any peer review. So it's perfectly fine to upload your paper to arXiv. I think an admissions committee will see that as a sign that you (and your coauthors, if any) are sufficiently satisfied with the paper that you are willing to share it with the public, but in itself it doesn't signify much more than that.
And to answer your title question: yes, if you do not get accepted to any place you like this year, you can certainly reapply next year, typically without prejudice. Of course, it will help if your application next year is significantly stronger, so the committee can think "Wow, look at all the progress this person has made since applying last year."
But often a better alternative is to apply to a variety of places this year, so that you have a better chance of being accepted at somewhere that's reasonably good. If you are rejected by your first choice but accepted somewhere that's decent, it's probably a better idea to go to the decent place rather than waiting another year to try again. The grad school process is long enough without delaying it by a year to try to go to a slightly more prestigious place (which you might not get next year into anyway).
> 4 votes
# Answer
As long as you meet the minimum requirements otherwise, go ahead an apply as often as you want. You may be able to have your application put forward to the next review cycle if it is rejected in the first. In all cases, acceptance of your application would be helped when you have a faculty member who knows of you and wants to take you as their graduate student.
> 1 votes
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Tags: phd, graduate-admissions
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thread-29126
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29126
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Can I submit my mark sheets as academic transcripts?
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2014-09-28T20:03:44.820
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# Question
Title: Can I submit my mark sheets as academic transcripts?
I have not yet received my academic transcripts from my University and the application deadline for a PhD program that I am interested in is already near, and I won't be receiving my transcripts before it. Can I submit my mark sheets to the University? If yes, then should I mention it somewhere that I am submitting my mark sheets instead? And where should I mention it? They have asked for a CV and a cover letter, so those are the two other documents I'll be sending. Or should I first contact the University and find out if it is okay to do so?
# Answer
Most universities realize final grades aren't available, and will usually accept an partial transcript showing what's been completed up until that time.
However, not all programs will be willing to accept "unofficial" transcripts such as grade sheets and printouts from the registrar's office. If there's a concern on this point, you should contact the specific departments and programs to which you're applying and ask them for guidance.
> 3 votes
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Tags: graduate-admissions, transcript-of-records
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thread-29089
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29089
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What is the gender distribution of those who perform potentially hazardous scientific experiments?
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2014-09-28T03:52:37.393
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# Question
Title: What is the gender distribution of those who perform potentially hazardous scientific experiments?
It comes as known that some experimenters have died or suffered other ill effects because of consequences of their experiments, such as Marie Curie. What is the distribution by gender/sex of those who perform potentially hazardous experiments in academia? How does their compensation for their work in terms of salaries or other benefits compare to other academics who have less physically hazardous jobs?
I'd like research with supporting citations if available.
# Answer
While I'm not aware of any research on employees *exposed* to safety risks in the academic workplace, there are statistics on actual workplace injuries in a variety of occupations, including scientific occupations. *If* the incidence of injury is uniform across gender among those exposed to safety risks (I don't know if it is), then you can take this as a proxy for the gender distribution of those exposed to risk in the scientific workplace.
In particular, the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics collects information on workplace injuries, which you can query at will.
According to their statistics, here are the numbers of nonfatal occupational injuries involving days away from work among employees whose occupation is classified as "Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations":
I was also interested in the ratio of the number of injuries to the number of thousands of people of each gender employed, again in "Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations":
Please visit the BLS website to learn more about how they collect these statistics and what they mean.
You can query their dataset yourself if you're interested in getting numbers specific to one area of science or another.
> 11 votes
# Answer
Academia is unusual (in some countries possibly unique) in that it typically does not need to offer additional reward for exposure to hazards.
That's because of academia's fairly unusual characteristics: the people who expose themselves to the hazards are very well-informed about them, and uniquely positioned to mitigate them. And academia is not a profession that the unskilled and economically vulnerable are forced into by hardship: instead, it is very often an active choice.
In addition, several countries, including Britain, have pay structures that do not, and have never needed to, incorporate risk as part of compensation.
So, in Britain at least, there is no "danger money" or other compensation for exposure to risk: the market doesn't require it, and employees are far more empowered than most to handle the risks.
In terms of exposure by gender, STEM fields continue to have a problem with entrenched sexism (predominantly inherited from the 20th century), being very male-dominated at the top levels, where the power and money concentrates. Even today, STEM is still majority male at the level of undergraduate admissions in many countries at many universities: in Canada, the USA, Britain and globally, men dominate STEM subjects. And the risk exposure concentrates in STEM subjects- no physical risks in maths; but science, technology, engineering are where the physical risks concentrate; and those that expose themselves to them, do so with knowledge of what they are doing, and the ability to mitigate those risks.
> 3 votes
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Tags: reference-request, health, gender
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thread-18816
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/18816
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Good questions for post-class survey
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2014-04-01T19:48:54.287
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# Question
Title: Good questions for post-class survey
In order to get feedback more quickly, I've seen some teachers run a quick (certainly no more than 5 minutes), entirely optional, anonymous survey for students at the end of each of each class, meeting, or session. The idea is to get feedback on what is working and what isn't on a per-week basis before mid-term or end-of-term evaluations. What are good questions or prompts to use on a survey like this?
For example, I am currently planning to ask something like:
> Any feedback on the **BLANK**? (e.g., was it rewarding, challenging, about the right about, etc.)"
Where **BLANK** will be the readings, lecture, and discussion for the class session. I will also ask a general question like:
> "Any other feedback or things you think I should know?"
# Answer
> 2 votes
My class sessions each had a lecture and a period of time devoted to discussion. As a result, I ended up using a Google form with the the following four questions each followed by a text box:
* **Any feedback on the readings?** (e.g., was it rewarding, challenging, about right, etc.)
* **Any feedback about the case and/or the other class discussion?**
* **Any feedback on the lecture?** (e.g., about the right length, too dense, etc)
* **Any other comments, ideas, questions, concerns, or reflections?**
I sent a link to the survey every week after class and kept it online so that students could fill it whenever they liked. All answers were anonymous.
About half the class filled it out the first week and there was decreasing numbers who did so in subsequent weeks. Since I used feedback to make adjustments to the class over the quarter, this worked out just fine. I felt that the survey was successful enough that I plan to ask it again, in exactly this form, in my class this quarter.
# Answer
> 6 votes
I've always used the following in ALL of the classes I teach:
1. What did you like most about quantitative basket weaving? \[free text\]
2. What would you most like to see changed for quantitative basket weaving? \[free text\]
3. How valuable do you feel your time has been in quantitative basket weaving? \[1-10\]
4. Do you have any other comments about the module?
To these I will often add 3-5 other questions which I'm curious about. Sometimes it is to test the waters on new things I'm planning on trying with them or future classes.
The key is to keep it short. ~5 minutes is way too long. If you take more than 1-2 minutes of students' time, you are very unlikely to get many responses.
I usually ask these questions at mid-point and after the final class. However, if you want more frequent feedback, I'd suggest the "one minute paper" where you ask two simple questions (paper, electronically, whatever fits):
1. What do you think is the most important thing you learned today (or this week)?
2. What did you find the most difficult point to understand?
One minute papers are useful for constant course corrections while the earlier questions are more to find out how to change the design of the module next time (or next half).
# Answer
> 4 votes
The K12 definition of this is an "exit ticket," though it can be used effectively at any educational level.
Skim this article from Brown's Sheridan Teaching and Learning Center for ideas?
# Answer
> 3 votes
* 3 things you liked the most in X.
* 3 things you liked the least in X.
* Other comments.
See my answer on How to improve myself as a lecturer?.
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Tags: teaching, feedback, evaluation
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thread-11633
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11633
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If a paper or software is released to the public, can the university still file a patent?
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2013-08-04T00:12:11.530
|
# Question
Title: If a paper or software is released to the public, can the university still file a patent?
It is my understanding that patents can be invalidated if there is prior art to the technique at hand; DJB has a piece that would suggest that this way authors can inadvertently invalidate their own patents, if not being careful with information disclosure.
http://cr.yp.to/patents/us/4200770.html
> Diffie disclosed the idea of public-key cryptography at a conference in June 1976. Diffie and Hellman also distributed preprints of their \`\`New Directions in Cryptography'' paper, which disclosed the Diffie-Hellman system, at that conference and by mail. For example, Mike Matyas received a copy in August 1976. The patent was filed in September 1977.
>
> Under United States case law, a document has been published if it \`\`has been disseminated or otherwise made available to the extent that persons interested and ordinarily skilled in the subject matter or art, exercising reasonable diligence, can locate it.'' A patent is automatically invalid if the patented invention was published more than a year before the patent's filing date.
>
> It appears, therefore, that the Diffie-Hellman-Merkle patent was invalid. In the subsequent court case MIT v. Fortia, another patent was invalidated for the same reason: the inventor handed out six copies of a preprint at a conference fourteen months before applying for the patent.
How does this work in the general case? Is it important that in both examples a whole year has passed between the publishing and the patent application?
Is it necessary for a significant amount of time to pass between the publishing of a paper, and the patent application, for the patent to be subsequently declared invalid?
Specifically, if one's university explicitly claims that it has no interest in one's copyrighted work (whether books, articles or software), and no interest in any part of any revenue from such copyrights, but that patent revenue sharing and disclosure to the university of the patentable ideas is mandatory (IU), **can one get around of any future claims for patents by simply releasing everything open-source and publishing all pre-prints before the university's patent office can get their hand on any of the research?**
# Answer
> 15 votes
Yes, in most cases, dissemination of a patentable invention by academic publication (papers, talks, code) constitutes prior art and will result in a later patent application being rejected. That is why people and institutions who intend to patent their discoveries are very careful about what they publish, and when. (Basically, publish after the patent application is filed.)
Regarding your patent evasion scheme, it would probably work in practice, but could lead to severe retaliation from your institution. You said yourself that the policy is to report all patentable inventions. By not doing so, and publishing without first enquiring whether your employer wants to patent the invention, you violate the policy... And, given your question, you would be doing so willingly and in bad faith. This sort of thing could get you fired. And, it could get the papers retracted (look at some of the examples of this on Retraction Watch).
Finally, one piece of advice: if you're so afraid that your employer owns the IP you create, enough to look for strategies to remove from them some of the IP they pay you to create, **you should consider quitting**. It doesn't look like you have a healthy relationship with your employer.
# Answer
> 3 votes
In response to your specific questions, yes, it is significant that the disclosure occurred more than a year before the patent was filed. In the U.S., there is a one-year "bar-date" after public disclosure of the invention covered by a patent. Most of the rest of the world does not allow any period between disclosure and patenting; once you've disclosed, the invention is no longer patentable in those countries (though it may still be patented in the U.S. for up to a year.)
As noted by F'x, sabotaging your employer's patent claims is a sure way to make a lot of trouble for yourself.
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Tags: computer-science, united-states, intellectual-property, legal-issues, patents
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thread-28390
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/28390
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On the verge of being "fired" from post-doc position, how to act towards supervisor?
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2014-09-11T18:25:25.420
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# Question
Title: On the verge of being "fired" from post-doc position, how to act towards supervisor?
I am in month 5 of an extremely unfulfilling post doc position in France. My sole responsibility is debugging 10k+ lines of spaghetti C++ code. I am a mechanical engineer and although I did my PhD with a focus on numerical simulations, debugging isn't what I envisioned myself doing.
My current supervisor has been "controlling my life" by controlling when I leave from work by strategically placing meetings at such times. He has also suggested on numerous times, quite explicitly that I must not leave work until he does; and he is a workaholic - works 12 hours a day. This has continued for the last 4 months and this has severely affected my health. I am now depressed, balding and have lost 15 pounds of body mass.
Today I had a conversation with the director of my research lab and he hinted that since things aren't working out, "I may be given enough time to find employment" and leave.
I am confused, hurt and extremely displeased to say the least.
Losing my job would be very problematic for me, as I am an Indian citizen and it would affect my ongoing H1B processing for a faculty position in the US starting next fall.
My current contract doesn't state what the "rules of being let go" are. All it says is that I am required to work 35 hours a week. I have consulted a lawyer "friend" and he tells me that most contracts are at will anyway and for foreign nationals, once your contract AND work status are revoked, you *may* not be able to fight the system.
Considering that I will be given a few weeks to a month or so perhaps, how do I behave towards my supervisor. Should I show up for work or just say screw it?
# Answer
There are two problems here. An academic dilemma and a legal issue. The latter is specific to country's immigration, workplace rules, your residency status, etc., therefore I will politely keep the focus to the first one. There are also good comments to your post, so keep them in mind as well. Needless to say, the legal problem could be more intimate to your situation but you will find actual support from a legal authority as you yourself have stated. Now, to the academic dilemma at hand: first of all, I suggest talking with your supervisor and make your position clear in an honest sober way. Your problem is a practical one and need not to be emotional. Here, I would suggest and stress on keeping the best of relations with your supervisor (even if you decide to leave or they decide to let you go), especially if this is your first ever post-doc position. This is important for two reasons: first, you want to leave on good terms even if it didn't work out for you and so you don't need to give an impression of personal grudge. Second, there might be opportunities in future where you will have to work/collaborate with the said supervisor or the university. You also don't want to ruin the possibility of good references for your own future work from this university - hope things will work out for you, and my two cents help. Good luck.
> 1 votes
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Tags: career-path, postdocs, workplace, international
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thread-14992
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/14992
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Survey or original article: Which one is more important to get postdoc or tenure-track position?
|
2013-12-22T11:16:46.853
|
# Question
Title: Survey or original article: Which one is more important to get postdoc or tenure-track position?
There are two main opinions about originality and contribution of ISI (journals which are indexed and listed in JCR report by Thomson Routers)\* survey/review journal articles compared to original articles in ISI journals. Some scientists consider survey papers lacking originality while others think the opposite especially for survey articles presenting the state-of-the-art and research challenges. So, I am wondering, in general, which type of article has the most impact on an applicant's success when applying for a postdoc or tenure track position; survey or original article?
\*It was asked earlier, so it is wise to put its meaning for clarity. -Certainly having both of them is the best, but among these two which one has more impact.
# Answer
There's no simple answer to this question, because there are a lot of variables left undefined. I think this is what we can call an example of a "false dichotomy." For instance, consider the following examples from physics:
* A first-author "original" publication in a journal such as *Physica A* might not be as useful as a first-author review paper in *Reviews of Modern Physics*.
* Being third author on a review paper in *Reviews of Modern Physics* might not be as useful as first author on a paper in *Physical Review Letters*.
* The stage in one's career also makes a difference in some fields: a postdoc might not be asked to do a review in some fields, but might in others. (Tenure-track professors are a separate category in this respect.)
So I think there are a lot of issues to be considered in this process. However, if one is a postdoc, this is also a conversation to have with one's research supervisor. In general, such articles would be written with their involvement and participation.
> 7 votes
# Answer
Generally, for the most selective positions, original research is more important. If you apply for a top-tier tenure-track faculty position, the conversation will focus on questions like: What has their contribution been to the field? How impactful has it been? What are their prospects for future contributions?
Survey articles can sometimes have an impact on a field (e.g., if they reframe a problem in a new way or present new connections), but most commonly, they don't offer a major new contribution. As such, it is unlikely that they will be considered a major contribution. For a typical job candidate, when people ask about their contribution, the first answer will typically be original research they were involved in. I'm not saying this is a hard-and-fast rule, and I'm not saying survey articles are pointless (not by a long shot!), but I think it is rare for a candidate to be hired on the basis of a survey article; usually, candidates are hired because of their novel research contributions.
> 7 votes
# Answer
It would be quite unusual to write a survey article in a field where you have not already made significant original contributions yourself. Indeed, I would suggest that **if you have not worked in an area already for several years, you probably do not have the perspective and depth of knowledge to write an influential review paper**. It's not impossible, of course, especially if you have more experienced co-authors.
In order to get a post-doc or assistant professor position, you will need to have made significant original research contributions to your field. Writing an influential review article is often most beneficial later on (e.g., when you're evaluated for tenure) because such papers tend to be highly cited and administrators who don't know your field will give a lot of weight to citation counts.
> 3 votes
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Tags: publications, job-search, review-articles
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thread-17721
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/17721
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Should I attend a job interview after I've already accepted another offer?
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2014-03-04T21:14:42.467
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# Question
Title: Should I attend a job interview after I've already accepted another offer?
I applied for several postdoc positions recently. One made an offer which I accepted. Since then I've been invited for an interview for one of the other positions. Is there any benefit to attending? Is it an opportunity to make potentially useful contacts (in a relatively small field)? I should add that I have no experience with academic interviews (the position I secured was through contacts). Expenses will be paid.
# Answer
Once you've accepted a job offer, you are supposed to inform other places that you've applied that you would like to withdraw from consideration.
If they still want to invite you over to give a talk knowing that you can not be considered for the position, go ahead. But, **you must tell them**.
To do otherwise would be a **serious breach of ethics**. You do *not* want to gain a reputation as someone who engages in unethical behavior (don't assume they won't find out).
> 57 votes
# Answer
Let me emphasize a point made in other answers.
As soon as you accepted one offer, you should have withdrawn your application from the other employers **immediately**. If you had done so, this situation would not have arisen.
You should immediately write an email to the school offering this interview, saying you have accepted another offer, and apologizing for not letting them know sooner. They have a right to be a little annoyed with you; you've wasted some of their time, and if they'd known you were off the market, they could have moved on to pursue other candidates.
So you made a mistake; well, people are human and these things happen, but you should act quickly to put it right.
In a comment on another answer, you consider the possibility of not telling them, and attending the interview anyway for the experience (and the free trip). **Don't do that.** In academia, attending an interview for a job you know you won't take would be considered **extremely** unprofessional and possibly unethical. Interviewing a candidate is expensive, in terms of time, money, and opportunity cost (time they spend interviewing you is time they don't spend interviewing candiates who might actually come; the longer they take to get to those candidates, the greater the chance they will take another job first). Don't think they won't find out; academia is a small world, people talk, and you can easily make enemies doing something like this. Moreover, the people at your chosen instituion can find out too (the other institution's colloquium schedule is probably public) and it won't make them think well of you.
In principle they could ask you to come anyway just to give the talk, but it's unlikely. They will probably want to use that time and money right now to speak with another candidate. It's quite possible they are still interested in hearing about your work, but they'd be more likely to invite you to visit sometime in the future, after job season.
> 36 votes
# Answer
You **must inform them** that you've accepted a position.
If they *still* invite you for a talk, you should go because presenting to new people will give you more visibility, more feedback on your work, and if you make a good impression then a potential place of employment in the future.
They might still invite you for a talk because it is fun for them to attend good talks and learn about interesting papers. Even if you don't work for them, by spending a day there you might meet someone interesting and you might wind up co-authoring with someone there on something in the future. Only good things can come out of spending a day with other researchers who are excited about stuff similar to yours.
> 9 votes
# Answer
\< But why not take advantage of those benefits by not telling them I've already accepted a position?
The fact that you are asking that question after seeing the answers here, and acknowledging that it is "unfair" (actually it is dishonest), raises serious questions in my mind about your integrity and character. To be fair, you are possibly a young man who haven't quite made up your mind whether you are also going to be an honest one.
If you feel that you have something to gain by dishonesty, you're in a great deal of company (see Nick's answer, for example). You will always find those who applaud your dishonesty as willingness to make "tough decisions", "take on the grey areas", "get the job done" and so on, who all the while find ways to manipulate you in dishonest ways for their own perceived gain, and to your perceived loss. If you wish to be that sort of person, then you may expect to draw persons of like mind into your circle of acquaintances.
You will also find that honest people do not respect and trust you; you will furthermore find that dishonest people pretend to respect and trust everyone and actually respect and trust noone.
We are in a phase of existence where we as a society are deciding whether to base our actions on "survival of the fittest" or "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts." To not decide is to decide for the former. Cast your lot and reap as you sow.
> 9 votes
# Answer
For reasons everyone has mentioned, you must let the second place know that you've accepted another offer. In addition once you have accepted that offer, you really must commit to it.
However, if this second place is truly amazing, you can inform them that (1) you've already accepted another offer and (2) would still be interested in giving a talk (as people have mentioned) and (3) would be **interested in taking this position if it were deferred for a year**, in the chance that they don't find a good candidate this year (this is rare for post docs but does happen on occasion, depending on the funding source). This assumes that your current job only has a 1 year commitment (many jobs these days are 1 year with a possible extra year of support). This is a huge long shot. They most likely will say no, unless they have no other qualified candidate. This is the only situation I could imagine it being ethical for you do do the interview (with their knowledge).
> 3 votes
# Answer
**Going to the second interview:**
* Gain: insight about the other position, experience, networking.
* Lose: time, energy, your reputation, especially if it is a small field.
**Declining the second interview:**
* Gain: energy, integrity, "you play nice".
* Lose: you don't know what you miss, experience, networking.
People usually recommend to "not to lose reputation", and therefore decline the second job interview, after you accepted a job offer already. This what I would do, too.
However: **you only really got the job on the first day after the probation period.**
Until then, anything can happen. They can cancel your application before you sign the contract (happens many times) for many reasons: budget cuts, change in management, change in priorities, etc. Or they decide during the probation period that they don't want you (happens also).
Therefore, I recommend not burning all your bridges! There are different ways of saying no - how about doing it in a way that shows professionalism, and keeps some doors open for you for the future.
I recommend the following:
**Write a letter to the other employer saying that**
1. You have already accepted a job offer that fits your expertise.
2. However, you truly appreciate that they considered you for an interview, seriously like their organization, could have imagined working for them, and would like to be in touch.
3. If for whatever reason your current offering doesn't realize, you will contact them again.
You can also offer to keep in touch for professional reasons, and/or offer to forward their job announcement in your network. If it's a small field, and people are hard to get with the right expertise, they will appreciate it.
It happened to a friend of mine that during the probation period, it turned out that the position was not as advertised, and he quit. He re-contacted the previous parallel interview offering. The company was happy to call him in again - the original position was not available, but they offered him a similar one.
If you just simply say "No", they won't know that you would have been interested.
> 2 votes
# Answer
I personally don't see the harm. However, if that interview went well and you were to be offered the job, accepting it would obviously be a crappy thing to do.
But I don't see any issue in going for an interview, even with no intentions of accepting the role. Experience in interviews is really important. And on the plus side, you don't have to go in completely nervous because you've already got a job, so it'd be easy for you to sit back and relax!
> -3 votes
# Answer
The second interview: Of course you can't tell ahead of time if they will make you an offer, or if their offer would be one you would accept, but the question is, if the second interview resulted in a job offer, would you ***consider*** accepting their offer?
Perhaps for you, the second place is the place you'd rather work. Maybe it's the place you've always dreamed of working. If this is the case, you should go to the second interview, without telling them about the other position you have accepted, and see what comes of it.
In regards to the "second place", there is nothing wrong with that. In light of their offer to interview you, you are reconsidering your acceptance of the previous job offer. It is not a "wasted effort" on their part.
In regards to the "first place": If the second place offers you a position, and you accept it, you will have to tell the people at the first place that you have reconsidered their offer and have decided to accept another position. I can tell you that this should not shake them up too badly. I'm sure it's happened to them before.
They are free, and many places often do, continue interviews in spite of making an offer to you that you have accepted. You may not work out for them, or they might find someone "better" that they would rather have working for them. Unless there is some sort of "contractual obligation" that you have not described, if you were to go and work for them, they could replace you, and you could move on to another position, at any time.
On the other hand, if you really want to work at the first position, or if you feel you have some "social obligation" to proceed with the position at the "first place" due to your relationship with your "contacts" there, and wouldn't consider any offer the second place might make, you should tell the second place you have accepted another offer before the second interview so they could decide if they want to proceed. And they might... If for some reason, they really want you, they might feel they could woo you away from the other position with a great offer.
> -3 votes
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Tags: ethics, job-search, postdocs, interview
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thread-29146
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29146
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How do I modify the title of a paper I submitted to ArXiv?
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2014-09-29T07:54:19.877
|
# Question
Title: How do I modify the title of a paper I submitted to ArXiv?
I submitted a paper to the ArXiv, but after it has already been announced, I realized that there is a typo in the title (nothing catastrophic, but still..)
Do you have any idea how to slightly modify the title?
# Answer
*Short answer*: I believe the only way is to submit a revision.
*Long answer*: As per this page:
# It is not possible to make changes without generating a new version
Why? To allow authors to make changes to the comments and other metadata fields of publicly announced articles without generating a new version, and hence date stamp, would effectively mean that all changes would be backdated to the time the last version was submitted. This is open to abuse and thus not allowed.
The ***exceptions to this rule are the addition of journal reference and DOI information***. The journal reference field may contain only full publication information for the article; the DOI field may contain only a DOI.
---
*My suggestion*: Although this replacement process would not be time consuming, it would be quite redundant and generate a new version of the paper. Since that would anyway happen whenever you revise your paper (say, after you incorporate the comments of referees), I would suggest -- *under the assumption that the typo does not look **glaringly bad*** -- to wait until you have a next version ready.
> 15 votes
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Tags: publications, arxiv, errors-erratum
---
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thread-28216
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/28216
|
How often should I review my notes?
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2014-09-08T21:11:25.250
|
# Question
Title: How often should I review my notes?
Many years ago I was studying with the Open University. During that time I bought a revision aid. The basic principle was that you wrote out all you knew about a topic immediately after learning it. The note pages were marked so that they could be referenced against a sort of calendar. The idea was that you read through your notes something like the next day, again a week later and again something like 4 weeks later.
I recall that the thinking was that the frequency set coincided with the way your brain moves stuff from short- to long-term memory.
I'm just about to start studying again and I wondered if anyone might know what the frequency for reviewing one's notes might have been.
# Answer
There are several algorithms for scheduled repetition of information on flash cards. It's possible that the software you liked uses one of these. This Wikipedia article on spaced repetiton discusses Pimsleur's graduated-interval recall and Leitner system, among others. This isn't the easiest topic to search for, but the Wikipedia article calls it "spaced repetition", and includes a list of alternative names. That should help you do further research.
> 2 votes
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Tags: productivity
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thread-29125
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29125
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Advisor says I shouldn't expect to finish thesis soon, but won't offer specific feedback on what is missing; how to react?
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2014-09-28T20:02:39.627
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# Question
Title: Advisor says I shouldn't expect to finish thesis soon, but won't offer specific feedback on what is missing; how to react?
I have a rough draft of my PhD dissertation, on which I was working on and off for about a year, but mostly I was doing other coursework. I have about 90 pages so far.
My dissertation advisor tells me that what I should do is pretty much make sure it is well-written and apply the theory to a few examples. By my estimates, if I go berserk on this, I can finish all that in under one month.
However, the dissertation advisor says that usually, it takes about 3 years to complete a dissertation in my department, and I should not expect to complete it soon. Also, he says that the level of my draft was intermediate (some time ago) and not yet advanced (but he hasn't reviewed the current one yet).
When I ask or suggest about expanding the scope of the dissertation / adding additional chapters, the dissertation advisor says he does not think it is necessary.
So, it appears that the dissertation is almost complete, but I should not expect to complete it soon. How should I interpret this apparent contradiction?
# Answer
> 5 votes
My PhD advisor once told me that one aspect he considers when rating a thesis is how much the candidate did try to go beyond the initial idea or goal. If they are like "I solved the initial problem, here's the thesis, I just want to finish a fast as possible" then they will earn an intermediate grade at the end. Only if they try to go beyond the initial problem, try to at least estimate the further implications or steps or apply the outcome of the initial problem to further problems, they really can earn a top grade.
To my experience, to successfully finish a physics PhD within roughly a year, you have to have had really great luck to find something really excitingly new that provided a huge progress to your specific field. In most cases after one year you can't even tell for sure what the final focus of the thesis will be. Those applications of the theory to some example cases can easily take up more time than the whole development of the theory as there might come up issues and flaws that you were not expecting. Also their importance is not necessarily reflected in the number of pages they make up in the final thesis.
Therefore it seems to me, that you are somewhat belonging to the first type of people mentioned above who are just heading to leave before really having understood the implications of what they were working on.
# Answer
> 5 votes
Science is really a publication driven field, not a dissertation driven one. I would *highly* encourage to you to put your time in to turning your research into peer-reviewed scientific publication, instead of doing just enough for a dissertation. If you can publish 2-4 papers out of what you have written in established journals your adviser will most likely graduate you. However, I imagine, since this was my experience too, that as you start to write your papers you will find holes that need to be fixed, etc., and fixing those holes will be a substantial part of the work.
Bottom line: focus on doing publishable research and getting published first! After you've done that, the dissertation will be easy and you'll graduate without a problem.
# Answer
> 2 votes
Trying to get a PhD in a year or two is a bad idea, because employers will not take such a degree seriously. The only exception is if you're a once-in-a-generation talent (and the odds are you're not the next Albert Einstein or Lev Landau), in which case you'd already have a number of publications to your credit and enough work to justify a PhD.
So I would echo Benedikt Bauer's advice and not try to rush through things. Instead, focus on the **quality** of your thesis project. Have you completed publications? Have you personally explored the ramifications of the work you've already done? What else have you done "beyond the basics" of the original problem?
# Answer
> 1 votes
In all the programs I am familiar with, **you become a "doctoral candidate" (or something similar) only after having successfully proposed a topic for your dissertation**. Usually that proposal includes several pages of detail regarding **what will be accepted by your committee as successful completion**. Of course, research is uncertain and there must be some flexibility, but your proposal can be viewed as the basis for deciding when you are done.
If you have such a document, you should reference it specifically in discussions with your advisor. If you do not, perhaps you should create one and iterate with your advisor until he/she is willing to agree to it.
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Tags: thesis, advisor
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thread-29151
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29151
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How to know when you should change what is taught during a lab classes
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2014-09-29T10:52:21.790
|
# Question
Title: How to know when you should change what is taught during a lab classes
I teach a lab class that is only constrained by some broad learning objectives. I have been using the same project now for 5 years. It now runs very smoothly and I know what difficulties the students are likely to have. I think that is an advantage, but teaching the class is beginning to feel stale and I am worried that hurts the students. Given I could easily chose a brand new project and still deliver the learning objectives, how do I know when it is the right time to change topics.
# Answer
> 18 votes
The interesting question is, does the project feel stale for *you* or for the students? The students are, after all, only doing the project once, so there is in principle no harm in using the same project year after year.
Of course, there is the possibility that the project that was cutting-edge when you defined it is now an old relic, using methods and technologies that nobody actually cares about anymore. In this case, you should of course move on, but if this is not the case, I see no inherent value in changing the project (especially since any change also means that the first iteration of the new project will be a bit rough around the edges).
# Answer
> 7 votes
My high school Physics teacher changed his course every two years. The reason was that after that time, he would start thinking that what he was teaching was way easier than what it actually was, and he wanted to remind himself of that. Of course, the content was almost the same, but the notes and the preparations were brand new.
A lab is of course very different, and having a rock solid set up is very useful (better than spending an hour just to find out that one of the cables was broken inside, happened to me).
You could take advantage of your knowledge of the instrumentation by using the same machinery, but slightly changing and improving the experiment. For example, instead of reading values from the LCD screen of a multimeter, you could upgrade to a USB one and get the full stream of values (budget allowing). Then, one could try to do a finer analysis of the data. Another option is to look into the residuals of your data from the theoretical curve, and see if there are any patterns beyond noise, and try to figure out why.
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Tags: teaching, syllabus
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thread-14156
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/14156
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How can I get all my papers under the same Scopus profile?
|
2013-11-16T03:15:05.807
|
# Question
Title: How can I get all my papers under the same Scopus profile?
I have recently searched my publications in Scopus and I have found that they are all scattered around. The reason behind that maybe is because I have a compound last name. The situation has gone pretty weird also in one of my papers, where they have put one of my last names to another author that I do not even know.
The question that I have is how I can make to put all my papers under a same profile, and also delete that "ghost" author from one of my papers.
# Answer
As Federico indicates, the contact form (“Ask a question”) has a field for suggesting correction to the index:
You can directly send them the papers in question:
> Please attach a copy of the missing or incorrect document, this is essential for us to verify the changes and make the corrections.
While I don't have any direct experience with Scopus in that area, they are generally serious and I think they will act on your request. I have once contact another index provider (Web of Science) with a correction, and they updated the data within a week.
> 5 votes
# Answer
An easier way would be to "request to merge". Let's say that both 2 and 3 in the attached screenshots are you. Just mark the checkmark and click the "Request to merge" link. You might want to click "Show Profile Matches with One Document" before you look up all of your entries.
> 4 votes
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Tags: publications, personal-name, scopus
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thread-28850
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/28850
|
Are informal inquiries about postdoctoral positions liable to be perceived negatively?
|
2014-09-21T23:27:15.740
|
# Question
Title: Are informal inquiries about postdoctoral positions liable to be perceived negatively?
I will graduate in 6-8 months with a PhD in physics and am looking to contact potential postdoc advisers. I will be applying to positions without an advertisement or prior contact with the potential advisers. I have been told by my current PhD adviser that if I wait until I just a few months before graduation, he will make the initial contact for me. I am conflicted because I understand many postdoc positions are planned and filled up to a year in advance.
I don't want to lose out on these positions, so I first want to make informal contact on my own. However, I don't want to jeopardize my chances of getting a position by sending out a poorly received informal email. I'm wondering specifically how informal emails are typically perceived in these situations. Are they liable to be perceived negatively by those professors expecting a more formal process?
# Answer
**Informal inquiries are not liable to be perceived negatively:** An informal inquiry is a very good way to make first contact before sending over more formal items such as a CV, letters of recommendation and proposed research ideas. A thoughtful email with some very brief and basic information about yourself and your interest in the potential lab is more likely to be read and replied to (no information overload). After initial contact is made, the more formal process will then be more directed as information about timing and funding may be provided.
> 7 votes
# Answer
If you were contacting me, the degree of formality wouldn't matter (so long as the salutation isn't "wassup, dude!") Two things would matter:
1. Does your email demonstrate clearly that you have put some thought into working in my group, and you're not just mass-mailing a form letter? If you fail this test, I may not open the attachments.
2. Do you have strong qualifications for the job?
As long as you're reasonably polite and your writing is not atrocious, everything else is relatively unimportant at this stage.
If your advisor has a good relationship with the person in question, his/her involvement can help considerably. But you making contact first generally won't do any harm.
> 4 votes
# Answer
**Informal inquiries are liable to be perceived negatively** The process should be formal from first contact, and initial inquiries should include proposed research, letters of recommendation and a CV. Sending a hard copy of these items can create a strong impression that is essential to getting hired. Formality is especially important for countries like Germany where it is expected at each step, and also for big-time researchers who receive a flood of inquiries each day.
> 1 votes
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Tags: job-search, postdocs, email
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thread-16486
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/16486
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What to wear on one's shoulders to interviews? (bags, backpacks, etc.)
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2014-02-02T23:00:17.123
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# Question
Title: What to wear on one's shoulders to interviews? (bags, backpacks, etc.)
There has been quite a few questions about how to dress to an academic interview. However, no answer to these questions addresses what one should use to carry their things in. For example, is it acceptable to carry your things in a backpack, cheap shoulder/messenger bag made of synthetic materials, briefcase, expensive leather bag, purse etc? A backpack with a suit would look awfully strange. Maybe a cheap messenger bag would still look OK. Links to photos of acceptable/preferred bags would be nice. Is the etiquette different for post-docs vs. faculty positions?
# Answer
I have seen them in all in faculty job talks in our department for the last few years. I have seen messenger bags, backpacks and briefcases; some of them have been made of expensive leather and looked really classy/professional and I have even seen them made of cheap, fraying materials.
Either way, it does not matter - except maybe in incredibly conservative departments. We hired one of the folks who had a pretty cheap looking backpack. The fact that they had multiple publications in the top journals and conferences in their area probably mattered more. They were all wearing suits though.
> 40 votes
# Answer
I think, at least in the UK (I couldn't be sure about other countries), this probably matters a lot less in academia than it would for a corporate job. The most important thing is probably that you feel comfortable with your choice. It's extremely unlikely that you would fail to get the job simply because of your choice of bag, but if you are feeling uncomfortable all day about, say, wearing a backpack with a suit, then that could end up having a negative effect on your interview performance.
When I interviewed for my current job, I carried my larger items in my backpack, and I did feel a bit silly wearing a backpack with a suit, but fortunately I was offered to leave my backpack in the secretaries' office for the day, and I had all the things I really needed to keep with me in a small leather handbag. I think I would have felt uncomfortable carrying the backpack around with me all day (even though it was a good-quality and quite new one), especially as the other candidates were quite smartly dressed and didn't have backpacks.
> 30 votes
# Answer
Bags, shoes, hats, it's all the same answer as for clothes. Post-docs vs faculty positions, it's the same answer. If you've any specific instructions from the panel who will interview you, follow them. Otherwise, follow local customs for smart professional attire. Err on the side of looking smarter and more professional.
> 13 votes
# Answer
If you wear a backpack on both shoulders with a suit jacket, it will make the suit bunch up in front and the sleeves look too short. Also, you will probably pop the button(s) if you wear the jacket closed. If you don't need to bring anything heavy to the interview and strongly prefer your backpack, then wear it on one shoulder only.
As someone else said, choose to bring what you are most comfortable with. By comfortable, I am referring to the ability to quickly find whatever you might need during the interview. It is awful to be dredging through a bag or purse, trying to find something while one or more potential employers are waiting! I have done that, and it was flustering, distracting. The same is true about latches on a briefcase or satchel, if you choose that.
An academic interview is so important. Even if you don't wear a suit, or don't have one, make sure that your shoes fit well, hair is combed, and your socks match. No one is likely to notice or care, but doing so costs you nothing and will minimize self-consciousness, especially if you need to stand to write something on a whiteboard.
> 9 votes
# Answer
Borrow a professional looking bag or briefcase. I borrowed a nice black (synthetic material) shoulder bag for my interviews that looked better than my Chrome bag I use for commuting on my bike. Even as they say it should not matter, other answers suggests that faculty remember how professional or non-professional the bag a interviewee brought was for long periods of time afterward.
In a job interview, you are trying to communicate that (a) you are professional and competent, (b) that you are taking the interview process seriously, and (c) that you the kind of person that faculty can imagine as their colleague (as opposed to their student). Looking professional and professorial is one way you can do all three things.
Keep in mind that the way you appear is a sort of a package deal. If you have an less than professional backpack that looks like something a student would bring, it's probably not going to tip the scale either way, but it's not going to help and it probably will be noticed. If you are a student or a post-doc, people understand that you don't have the cash for a fancy bag. That said, if there's any way you can borrow a nicer looking bag from somebody for your interviews, the downside is low enough that I don't see why you wouldn't.
> 5 votes
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Tags: job-search, interview, outward-appearance
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thread-29181
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29181
|
How to organize a good "special session" at a conference?
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2014-09-29T21:32:29.577
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# Question
Title: How to organize a good "special session" at a conference?
Many organizing committees set aside time and space at the conference for *special sessions*, which are often planned and organized by select individuals that have been invited to highlight a particular subject or scientific direction.
For example, if you work in computer science and you're specializing in deep learning, you might propose (or be asked) to organize a deep learning special session.
Once your proposal has been accepted, you have to spread the word to interested researchers, issue a call for papers, collect papers, invite an important speaker, and make sure the event runs smoothly.
For those of you that already had this experience, *what are your suggestions and advice for organizing a good special session?*
For instance, should you get in touch with potential participants before the session is announced?
# Answer
> 6 votes
A useful start is to try to get some well-known researchers to commit to providing talks to a session. It could be one person or maybe a few more depending on the size of the conference and the session. The point of doing this is basically two-fold. First, you gain interest from others when they see names they recognize. Second, by having someone well-established involved, the session gains a certain amount of credibility. People who may be very selective in choosing how they spend their time are likely less inclined to go to a session filled with people they do not know than one where they at least know one or a couple.
Once you have established a core for the session, the rest might solve itself. You do of course have to consider the main direction of the conference so that the session theme does not deviate to the extent that any person interested in the session finds the rest of the conference of marginal interest. So chose the venue with some care.
Getting the ball rolling is the hard bit. An invitation is usually not enough. It may involve pulling strings left and right to entice a core of attendees to show. In one meeting I co-organized, we managed to get an international group to attend that were looking to also run a project meeting at the same time. This meant the meeting gained a wider interest.
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Tags: conference
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thread-29179
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29179
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How to apply with past postdoc or PhD positions which did not result in publications or recommendation letters due to conflict with supervisor?
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2014-09-29T20:59:09.913
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# Question
Title: How to apply with past postdoc or PhD positions which did not result in publications or recommendation letters due to conflict with supervisor?
To make the long story short, at the end of my PhD (Just 3 months before my viva), I realized that my PhD supervisor is liar and totally dishonest, probably he has his own reasons, but this is what I realized. I talked to the head of the department to quit my PhD and I was told it is better to finish it, as it is too late. He asked why I did not report the problem sooner and I replied that even I could not imagine this situation one year ago. My supervisor and I are from same country, but he is a professor at a European university.
I decided to talk to my supervisor, but the discussion was too strong and I told him he is not eligible to be a teacher (professor), because he is not an honest person; the most important criterion for being a teacher.
Any way, he did not support me to get a reasonable postdoctoral position and as a result, I ended up finding myself in one of the very well developed East Asian countries. The PI was a young scientist without proper experience (we were his first group members). He assigned me a computational project and when I asked him what we are looking for, he said just do what I have asked you, run the simulation and at the end you will realize. Repeatedly I talked to him and told him there is nothing special in this simulation and we should carefully know what we are looking for before pushing the enter key and running the simulation, but he insisted to running the simulation. I asked him to change the project, but he refused.
I have finished the extremely heavy simulation, which took 1 year, analyzed the data and extracted what I could extract from the simulation. I presented the results and it was clear that there was nothing interesting in the simulation. He said “you are postdoc and you should think about what you are going to do”. I was aware of the fact that in East Asian culture I should not criticize my PI, but I believe in science community we can and we must do that. Science means working with the facts and reality. After a couple of more wrong information and recommendations that he gave me, I eventually told him he was wrong. It triggered a personal war between us and he fired me – after two years of hard work without any publications.
I was lucky enough to a new position in Southern hemisphere. Now whenever I look for a new job, I am asked for 2–3 letters of recommendation and specially some of them asking for letter from my PhD supervisor.
How can I handle this situation? What should I say when I apply for a job? Should I mention the conflicts or does it make the situation worse? Should I say that I only have one letter of recommendation? What should I say about my low number of publications?
I should mention that at each stage I have changed my research field; my PhD and the postdocs all are different topics in physics.
# Answer
As you may realise, telling the story as outlined here to people asking for references may not be sufficient to convince them. If you know an area in physics where you will be applying for jobs, you can make contact with professors in this area and offer your help in some small project (2-4 weeks). Make sure you do a good job and have a good interaction with them. After you are finished, ask them if they could be your reference. If this area in physics is very close to the tasks in the job it should be a more relevant reference, and therefore it will not be too strange that they are your reference instead of your supervisor from the PhD.
> 3 votes
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Tags: job-search, postdocs, recommendation-letter
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thread-29185
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29185
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Is it possible to use one thesis for two degrees?
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2014-09-29T22:49:24.420
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# Question
Title: Is it possible to use one thesis for two degrees?
I am currently a masters physics student and doing my master thesis abroad during an exchange. At the moment my master thesis will be graded by my home university, but I have the option to enroll on the exchange university, thus being a master student there (and my master thesis will be graded there, too). Furthermore I will get a master degree from this university, and not from my home one.
Now my question is: Is it theoretically possible to use this master thesis for graduating at my home university, too (getting me two master degrees)? If not, should I still enroll on the exchange university and only get my masters degree there (it would not result in a loss of time; I would finish as I would have finished my masters degree at my home university)? Why?
# Answer
> 8 votes
Yes, it is theoretically possible that a university accepts a thesis that has been used to acquire another degree (I even know cases where this happened for two different fields). Usually, the only way to find out is to ask the responsible people at your home university *and* your exchange university. The latter matters because it might cause trouble if they have some regulations about you “reusing” your thesis. I can imagine that some universities have existing regulations for this matter, so you might check them first to avoid annoying people by asking something that you could have looked up easily.
If this is not possible, I can think of some factors to consider as to which university’s degree you want to get:
* One university’s degree might have a generally higher prestige.
* Relatedly, a foreign degree might not be accepted or be less valued by potential future employers (be they academic or not). This might even hold, if there are international regulations to make degrees comparable (I know somebody who did a second thesis partly due to this).
* Finishing the degree at a foreign university while not completing the degree you originally set out to achieve might be regarded as unfinished studies by some bureaucrats, which is more likely to be negative than positve. Even worse, this may ring title-mill alerts to some. And yes, this would all be rather silly but unfortunately very real.
So, if this is any realistic, make as much decisions about your future as possible and ask potential employers as to whether they have any preference regarding this.
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Tags: thesis, masters, degree
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thread-29175
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29175
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How to prepare for a math exam in a course without homework or tests?
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2014-09-29T19:30:13.187
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# Question
Title: How to prepare for a math exam in a course without homework or tests?
Here are the features of an advanced graduate mathematics course:
* 24 hours of optional lectures over the course of the term;
* No homework, labs, guided assignments, quizzes, tests, previous year exams, or sample solutions;
* A concise syllabus;
* A list of recommended reading with about 5 items, with titles such as a Harvard University Press textbook;
* The final exam lasts three hours and consists of several problems with sub-items.
What would be an advisable way to properly prepare for the exam?
# Answer
> 0 votes
In my experience, a study method in this case would include the following
* Be present at all lectures if possible.
* It is especially important to be present at the first and last lectures, where key information about the course and the exam is likely to be conveyed.
* A good idea in such a case is to record the lectures in audio or audio and video format, to have a reference to every detail; an alternative would be to write everything down verbatim.
* Read the textbook, if the course has one, or at least the one or two of the items from the reading list, cross-referencing the material with the syllabus. Some relevant material may be skipped with careful discretion without substantial decrease in quality of exam preparation.
* Make a notebook, which summarizes all important items from the lectures and the literature, such as all major theorems, formulas, concepts, and other items that can be expected on exam.
* Find problem sets, which fit well the course syllabus. For example, those can be end-of-section problems in the items from the reading list or problem sets from a similar course offered elsewhere. Also, students that took the same course before might still have exam problem statements.
* As you work through lecture notes, reading list, problem statements, and problem solutions, highlight and annotate the items of relevance to the exam (to the extent of that being possible), so you can quickly go over it later and recall auxiliary information that is not in the text.
* Add all concepts and patterns from problem solutions, as well as, preferably, all concepts and patters from the relevant material in the reading list, to the notebook.
* Ask the instructor if there are any questions in regards to preparation for the exam.
* Before the exam, go over the lecture notes, reading list items, and especially the notebook. In particular, reread the entire notebook several times the day before the exam and several times about one hour before the exam.
# Answer
> 2 votes
Hopefully you went to lecture - in my experience, in courses like this, the best you can hope for is that the professor draws questions directly from the lectures notes/questions that he raised during lecture. You can attempt to read the books, but there's probably too much material there. Focus on the lectures notes, and hope the prof is just trying to test "how smart you are", i.e., just doesn't give you a bunch of hard questions tangentially related to any material discussed in class.
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Tags: mathematics, coursework, exams
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thread-29155
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29155
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Could publishing a book on a subject prior to a PhD reflect negatively on me later if it has errors?
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2014-09-29T12:50:53.103
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# Question
Title: Could publishing a book on a subject prior to a PhD reflect negatively on me later if it has errors?
I noticed that some scholars in my field are best known for their earliest writing, even if their ideas were later found incorrect.
I am writing a book in my area of interest and hope to publish within a year. The target audience is not academics, but practitioners, although I suspect academics would be the first to seek out a book of this kind.
Year by year, my understanding of the subject matter grows, through reading and experience. It is highly likely that in a few years time I will realize I made many mistakes in the book. Perhaps, for example, I was not aware that some of my described solutions to problems in the field did not actually work as well as I thought they did.
If I later started a PhD in the same area, would such a past publication create problems for an academic career?
# Answer
> 9 votes
Anything you write places you at risk of being wrong somehow. Certainly a book of this kind is asking for a wider audience that then might be aware of those mistakes. Alexandros points out in a comment that you certainly need to do your due diligence now to assure that what you write is as correct as it can be. No one is going to blame you if you suggest a response to a certain legal framework which is overhauled in three years but if you describe a chemical solution that could never react in the way you claim that one is on you. So how certain you can be that your work will remain correct/useful is somewhat field dependent.
The big question is about this hurting your ability to start and pursue a PhD after writing such a book. I don't think it would. Except in the rather extreme case of your book becoming well enough known and wrong/controversial enough to annoy members of a PhD admissions committee. For the most part I would suggest that already being an active member of a practical field (read: has published work discussing the field) would be a very helpful piece of an application for a PhD program.
# Answer
> 2 votes
Yes, publishing a book full of inaccuracies will make people consider you as a person that publishes inaccuracies.
If you read a book by someone that wasn't even a PhD yet and their book was full of errors, wouldn't you think less of them?
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Tags: publications, books, errors-erratum
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thread-29195
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29195
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How to treat an under-performing coauthor?
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2014-09-30T08:10:34.850
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# Question
Title: How to treat an under-performing coauthor?
I am a postdoctoral researcher in a lab, having person (e.g.) X as a colleague, also a postdoctoral researcher like me, having obtained a PhD two years after me.
Here is the problem: In the last two years, I have taken initiatives that have led to a number of publications. My collaboration with X was not so close, since I ended up doing 80% of the work, in addition to having the original ideas, and he/she was only helping by e.g. writing a Section, having general discussions, or giving general comments.
I have tried "pushing" (with frequent emails, meetings etc.) but it did not have a good result, as I understand that he/she does not feel motivated by me: the result has included some "ugly" emails, not an oral though.
I have been doing this, waiting that in exchange, X would include me as a coauthor in one of the papers that would occur from his/her research (none so far and nothing in-progress from their part, as far as I know).
How to treat this person, given that he/she will not leave, as the professor seems to have some special interest in them.
In my domain, the order of the authors in publications matters, so in our "joint" publications I am the first author, but is this enough? I am thinking that if we both continue independently we would both lose, but do not know how to motivate him/her. I suppose the pressure has to come from the professor, who let's say that cares but has other more important priorities. I have mentioned the problem to the professor, he/she just told to X that they should produce more, and that's it.
How to handle this situation?
# Answer
You might simply consider that the current situation is fine: you say that you do get help from your collaborator, so there is little reason to stop working with him or her; you lead the collaboration and, for this, get first authorship. This will earn you much (well deserved) better opportunities; by comparison, your collaborator will have a hard time, because no recent first-author publications will look bad on his or her CV.
You might have wanted a more active collaborator, and it is a good idea to try to help him or her do better, but you just cannot push someone against their will. It is possible that he or she does not have what it takes to handle more core tasks, or that so he or she believes. In this case, pushing too hard would amount to cornering him or her into an impossible situation, no good would happen.
Learn to change what you can (e.g., if you have the option to start another collaboration with someone else it might be a very good idea; if you have another job available with potentially better co-worker, you might want to try it, etc.) and do with what you cannot change. Ultimately, you have the upper hand on your own work, and that is how it is supposed to be.
Ho, and about getting co-authorship in exchange for your work: no one is supposed to *give you co-authorship* in exchange for anything; you can rather be *invited to work on a project*, and then this work is what grants co-authorship. I am not sure how you meant it, but giving co-authorship as a mere reward for something unrelated to the publication is a serious academic misconduct.
> 25 votes
# Answer
(Peter Jansson's answer is interesting, and I personally do like the idea of documenting contributions more explicitly than is currently fashionable. But I think it is fair to say that this more like tomorrow's solution than today's: though people like us would like to see these protocols followed, at the moment those who follow them assiduously seem to be in the minority, so it will probably not be effective in the short term to try to hold a "lagging" collaborator to this standard.)
In my opinion there is relatively little you can do to force your colleague to pull his own weight on your current and past projects, but on the other hand your situation is not so bad.
> Here is the problem: In the last two years, I have taken initiatives that have led to a number of publications.
That is certainly not the problem! Rather, that sounds great for you.
> My collaboration with X was not so close, since I ended up doing 80% of the work, in addition to having the original ideas, and he/she was only helping by e.g. writing a Section, having general discussions, or giving general comments.
At least X did 20% of the work; that's a lot better than nothing. Seriously, a lot of people on this site are complaining about being pressured or forced to add coauthors who have literally done nothing helpful on the paper, or who have even dragged them down / wasted their time. I think that in most academic fields, 20% contribution is certainly sufficient for coauthorship.
> In my domain, the order of the authors in publications matters, so in our "joint" publications I am the first author, but is this enough?
That's really the good news: by consistently appearing as first author, you are getting the lion's share of the credit. If it makes you feel better: I work in a field in which author order is alphabetical, and in my experience it is relatively common for some coauthors to have contributed less than 20%. So cheer up. By the way, your quotation marks around joint look a little uncollegial: your coauthor did some of the work, so it is joint work. This and other clues make me think that you may be overly worried about this and perhaps pushing a little too hard.
What *can* you do in the situation?
1) If you don't value someone's contribution, don't pressure them to include you on their own projects. Moreover, if you feel like someone is not pulling their own weight on a project, adding a project where you don't pull your own weight may seem just with respect to the two of you, but from the perspective of the larger academic world you're each trying to take credit for more work than you actually did. It would be easy for most of us to multiply our apparent productivity simply by "exchanging more papers" with our collaborators. We must resist that.
It sounds like you are, or perceive yourself to be, a more productive / serious / insightful researcher than Dr. X. If so, the story you want to tell is that Dr. X did some work with you but that his contribution is not a major part of your research program. You accomplish that by doing your own work, not letting your interactions slow you down, and making sure that in your joint work the primacy of your contribution gets documented (as it has been).
2) Make sure that your supervisor knows the situation and can speak and write accurately about your respective contributions.
If you are getting first authorship every time and your supervisor has told Dr. X that he needs to work harder, then you are laying groundwork for him to describe you as being the prime mover in your collaborative work with Dr. X. It would be a good idea to speak to him explicitly about this. Assuming he agrees, he is then ethically obligated not to try to characterize Dr. X's contribution as equal to your own. If you are in doubt that he might not see it that way, I would suggest erring on the side of showing (not telling) your supervisor how capable and productive you are. You do this not by complaining about Dr. X -- just get the facts across; don't rub it in or be bitter about it -- but by going on to do more and better work.
3) If you don't want to collaborate with Dr. X in the future unless he does at least X% of the work -- you can choose a specific value of X, at least up to 50 -- hash that out with him now, before you work on any new projects. You are more than within your right to do so. Indeed, as Peter Jansson indicates, that is a best practice.
> 17 votes
# Answer
I believe one possible solution is to bring in understanding of what the scientific community puts in the terms authorship and contributorship. Note that the term contributorship is gaining interest because it focusses on the entire research process, not just the authoring, which can be misread as writing.
The Vancouver Protocol (exemplified here by the ICMJE version; you may find it worthwhile to do a search on "contributorship", "vancouver protocol" and "authorship") provided a first stated criteria for accepting someone as author. Putting this on the table for discussion is always a good idea. Many will probably not like the quite strict rules but when one considers them they do provide a good framework for accepting someone as author. Defining what you or the group within you work sees as acceptable grounds for being listed on papers should definitely help avoid discussions in the future. Anyone disagreeing will have to set their contribution in the light of the rules and convincingly show they fulfil them. Of course some may have a very inflated view of their own contribution but within a group such discrepancies will be harder to maintain.
An interesting idea for establishing is also provided by the authororder.com (I am not in any way associated) site.
> 6 votes
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Tags: publications, research-process, authorship, collaboration
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thread-29214
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29214
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Am I allowed to write an essay about a scientific theory without violating the copyright?
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2014-09-30T13:21:49.803
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# Question
Title: Am I allowed to write an essay about a scientific theory without violating the copyright?
I have in project to write an essay on the Special Theory of Relativity. My idea is then to publish it as an ebook.
I would like to know if I can freely write about this topic or I need to take into account some problems related to royalties or copyright. Can I write about a topic like that without any problems of this kind? Can I include quotes and information about Einstein's life?
Thanks in advance!
# Answer
> 4 votes
### Yes.
Scientific principles are **never** subject to copyright—you cannot copyright a scientific idea, theory, equation, or concept.
That said, you *do* have to worry about copyright if you extensively quote from copyrighted primary or secondary resources as part of your text. If you are not directly using their language, then you need only cite the works, and no royalty or copyright issues should arise.
(Note that in the particular case of the special theory of relativity, it is more than 95 years old (as it was announced in 1905), and thus is no longer under US copyright protection in any event, so you could in principle reuse or even reprint the entire text of his article.)
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Tags: writing, copyright, legal-issues
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thread-29178
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29178
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Is volunteer lab work a good practice?
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2014-09-29T20:41:12.143
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# Question
Title: Is volunteer lab work a good practice?
I met a professor last year through an online search and expressed my interests to his research and his advanced lab technique, in which I lack of experience.
I also asked for a PhD opportunity from him, he says that he has no money or limited funding now, so I agreed to work for 3 months for free. Would be practical that this volunteer experience could lead to a PhD after this 3 months? On one side I am not happy with working for free, as I had employment for 1 year as a research assistant. On the other side, this potential professor appears nice to employees around and keeps his words, and has good tracks of papers.
But am I just wasting of time, what actions should I take to figure this out before too late?
Supplementary information: He said that he was on travel, so I was off for a while. He did not contact me till I found him. Is this normal or just my altitude should be changed? I feel not well, maybe he does not really want me as a fellow at all?
I am really frustrated, should I go further or not, is he just being polite to accept me to practice the techniques in his lab for 3 months? Am I wasting of time to even practice these test methods?
# Answer
If you *WANT* to volunteer in the lab as a learning opportunity, it can be a great practice.
If you don't want to, decline the offer and either look elsewhere or come back when his budget can handle bringing someone else in... and hope that he hasn't already found someone who was pleased to work as a volunteer and delighted to be paid.
The world is what it is, not what we wish it should be.
> 2 votes
# Answer
Ultimately, the decision is based on what you feel comfortable doing and at the same time, is consistent with what you want to achieve in research. The fact that you have mentioned that you are feeling frustrated and are having doubts that the volunteer work will even eventuate are not good signs at all - especially as you have indicated that you are not comfortable working for free.
So, some things to consider:
* How important is learning and practicing this lab technique for your future goals?
* Is it possible to ask to collaborate on any research that will also allow you to learn the test method?
* Have you checked any other similar labs?
* What is a new aspect of research that uses the test method that you could offer as a PhD project?
Some suggestions:
* Look at other opportunities while you are waiting to hear back from the researcher (do not pester them).
* Best not to second-guess the researcher's intentions, give them the benefit of the doubt.
* Read the researcher's papers and at least master the theory.
Remember, to take on a volunteer may require permission from the researcher's Dean/Human Resources, and may involve aspects such as safety induction (for the lab) etc (and as Moriarty said in his comment, taking on a volunteer may be forbidden).
> 0 votes
# Answer
The most important thing I would work out is what do you want to gain for this opportunity? From your question it sounds like you would like to get a PhD afterwards.
You say the professor has no/little money at the moment. You need to work out if this is likely to change in 3 months. The best way to do this is probably just to ask him.
Such a role may still be useful even if it doesn't lead directly to a PhD position with this professor. He may provide a good reference or may result in a publication. However, you must way up these benefits against the cost of working for free for three months.
Things to consider are what is the reputation of the professor/how much do you want to work with him? What is the likelihood of you getting a similar (paid) role in reasonable amount of time.
Finally, before taking unpaid work it is important to consider how you will support yourself financially. If you can't afford to eat you may need to do something else.
> 0 votes
# Answer
Besides all that has been mentioned, the liability issues stand foremost. Imagine that you work for free and get injured while on that job. The university has no obligation to pay you any compensation. Imagine that you damage a major piece of research equipment. You and the faculty member could be personally sued by the university for the repair costs.
The other side is, what do you get from this? Sure, experience is a great thing, but it only goes so far. Suppose you work for free and have no achievement from the work. What exactly are you going to put on your CV? Do you believe that a future job interviewer will really care to discuss what you "experienced" in your own "free time" versus what you have a valid record of doing?
For the first reason, I do not accept students that offer to work for free in my labs. For the second reason, I always attach credit hours for either formal research or a special topics course to the transcript of students who work for me doing research.
> 0 votes
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Tags: phd, research-process, graduate-admissions
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thread-29212
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29212
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What to do with a result too small to be publishable, but interesting nonetheless?
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2014-09-30T12:46:13.050
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# Question
Title: What to do with a result too small to be publishable, but interesting nonetheless?
Let's assume, for the sake of example, that I have found a new figure of merit which is of the same complexity as the one currently used, but is much more justified from a mathematical and physical standpoint. However, the whole development barely goes over one paragraph (maybe two), as the "proof" is extremely simple and straightforward.
Now, I was planning on saving this smaller result for a bigger paper on the same topic, where I'd introduce this new figure of merit along with other results, but the future of this other paper has become quite uncertain lately.
Is there any way I could still present this new (small) result?
# Answer
> 25 votes
The reason why you're publishing is because you think you have a new way of doing things that is better than the old way of doing things. Simply publishing a derivation of the new way isn't sufficient to convince people of that fact. You need to **convince** people that your new way is better.
So yes, your derivation is a simple one to two paragraphs, but in addition to that you should spend several paragraphs explaining why your new way is better. Why was the old way used? Why weren't the deficiencies not considered a problem until now? (Or if they were, how were they addressed with the old way, and why is your way better?) What are some of the objections that the people used to doing it the old way will raise? Why might they not want to switch to your new way? What do you say to those potential objections? Are there possible use cases might your new way not be appropriate for, and if so, how do you choose between the old way and the new way?
You'll probably also want to spend several paragraphs in an introduction, explaining how the field got to the old way, and outlining the deficiencies. You probably also want to include and example of using your new way, comparing it to the old way, illustrating why the new way is better.
Basically, you think your paper is too short because you're planning on just presenting the derivation and assuming its merits are obvious to others. They won't be. In all likelihood you'd be chewed up in review - not because your paper is too short, but because you won't have convinced the reviewers that your new method is worthwhile. Fleshing out the paper with necessary background and discussion to presents a coherent argument for your new method can easily take you into the 1-2 page range which is the typical size of "brief communications" (depending on field, journal, etc.)
Don't pad your article just to increase its size, but don't omit things which will bolster the arguments in favor of your new method.
Edit: In response to comments, here's an attempt at clarification: An academic paper is not *just* about presenting results. It's also about presenting a story and an argument. How does this result change the field? How should it change how the readers think about the topic?
I'm guessing that the original questioner thinks their paper is only one to two paragraphs because they were anticipating presenting just the short proof/derivation of the new figure of merit. My point was that the proof itself is insufficient for a decent paper. In addition to the proof you also need to convince the reader that the new figure of merit is better than the old one - and to do so for people who may be unaware that there was anything wrong with the existing way in the first place. Doing this properly can easily extend the paper from 1-2 paragraphs into a size which is more typical for a standard journal article. Write a proper paper, and it's no longer "too small to be publishable".
# Answer
> 25 votes
You can think of publishing it as a *short communication*, many journals accept this kind of contribution (they can be designated in different ways, depending on the journal). As I recall, the shortest article ever published was of about 3 lines \[1\] ;-)
\[1\] F. Lenz, "The Ratio of Proton and Electron Masses", *Phys. Rev.* **82**, 554, 1951.
# Answer
> 2 votes
I would submit the manuscript as a short paper, or even a poster in a workshop. Workshop papers and posters in my domain (computer science) usually demonstrate more early results of ongoing research.
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Tags: publications
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thread-29209
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29209
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Can you cite other master's theses when writing your own?
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2014-09-30T11:50:09.913
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# Question
Title: Can you cite other master's theses when writing your own?
I am completing a master's by research (in Humanities), and thus shall be writing a thesis with no class work. I am using both a mixture of primary and secondary source but one item that has me a bit unsure is the use of other master's theses. Is there an expectation at the master's level that you would only consult documents at a higher level (PhD and up)? I know the simple answer would be to ask your advisor, which I intend to do, but I wondering it their any accepted academic practice or principle on the issue?
Should or can I refer to (and cite) other master's thesis as source material or should I be only using material that would be considered above the master's level, such as PhD theses?
# Answer
> 8 votes
In general, there is no such widespread requirement or expectation anywhere in academia. (Perhaps a particularly unusual advisor might have such an expectation, but even then, I doubt it.)
If you note the citations of research papers, a decent number of them will cite master's theses—some of my papers certainly do! And if I can submit a paper to a major journal that cites a master's thesis, why wouldn't another student's master's thesis?
# Answer
> 7 votes
Yes, you can cite another master's thesis. You also should, if it is relevant to the work. And no, don't just pillage that other thesis for sources and ignore it. That would negate the benefit of access to that thesis, which you should make available to future readers of your own thesis.
Above all, don't think like a student. Think like a writer, which is what you are. Your work, and those of other writers, should be treated with due consideration no matter the pedigree of the writers. Stop thinking of academia like some sort of sacred place where "students" are lesser beings. There are no gods here; only flawed men and women with nary a grasp of purpose.
# Answer
> 4 votes
Firstly, I would ask your supervisor/advisor for advice.
But, generally speaking this should be fine, as Masters thesis are examples of completed and verified research (in that they have either undergone defense or are peer reviewed - as was my case).
One thing you could do though, is to use the thesis almost like a well-referenced Wikipedia page - in that you find the main referenced points that are relevant to your research and seek and peruse the paper that was used - chances are, you may find more information to assist in your specific research.
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Tags: research-process, citations, thesis, masters, writing
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thread-29197
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29197
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When reviewing a resubmission, can I request a version with changes highlighted if the journal does not require it?
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2014-09-30T08:44:07.540
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# Question
Title: When reviewing a resubmission, can I request a version with changes highlighted if the journal does not require it?
Reviewing is time-demanding. It makes huge sense to re-review if comments and changes are submitted. While first review takes a lot of time, the second can be very quick.
If authors provide a version that shows the changes - this makes re-review very fast. They also don't have to spend too much time on resonse-to-reviews letter.
Can I simply reject to re-review if such changes-highlighted version is not provided?
# Answer
You can certainly ask for it but if the journal does not require authors to provide such files, you are not likely to get one. So why ask? Well, by asking you provide the editors with the wish from reviewers to see this as a permanent feature and in the end such changes may be made by the journal in their instructions for authors.
The reason why I think it is unlikely your request will be immediately heard is that editors usually handle many articles and may work under severe time constraints (often on their free time outside of work). Communicating back and forth with authors of varying background requesting new versions of manuscripts is usually a time consuming venture that could delay the process by weeks, depending on the responsiveness of the author.
So, there may be a good reason to make a request but I would not expect the wish to be heard in many cases.
> 11 votes
# Answer
What format for such "changes-highlighted version" would you like? Maybe you could just use a tool like DiffPDF?
Another problem with your original intent is that you're going to re-review by looking only at the "changes highlighted". What if there are other changes, not highlighted by the author?
> 1 votes
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Tags: publications, peer-review, editors
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thread-29219
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29219
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How to address a mistake in an old paper in a very prestigious scientific journal?
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2014-09-30T14:34:14.077
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# Question
Title: How to address a mistake in an old paper in a very prestigious scientific journal?
A *Nature* paper published in 2000 currently has around 400 citations, but there is a mistake in the paper and surprisingly, still it gets citations. The mistake affects the result of the paper in a way that half of the arguments in the paper are invalid.
I warned the authors two years ago and they confirmed the mistake. I expected them to put some announcement that there is a mistake in the paper to avoid misleading researchers, but unfortunately they have not done so.
How should we address these situations? Should we send a comment and report it to the editor? Is it rude? Or should we simply dismiss it because it is an old paper?
# Answer
> 26 votes
Some journals accept a type of short correspondence or comment in which objections to some published material can be submitted. If you can articulate your objections in a scientific way suitable for publishing you may try this approach. For example, imagine the original analysis has some error. Reanalyzing the data gives different results and invalidates the previous publication. Conversely in this approach the authors of the original study have the opportunity to reply to your complaints.
An example of this is a commentary published in *Nature Genetics*, where the authors highlight important deficiencies in the design of the experiments in an earlier publication that can lead to incorrect conclusions. Of course, the authors of the original paper are allowed to respond to the comments.
Correspondences have the advantage that can be very short. I am not sure at this moment if *Nature* also accepts this format.
If the material that demonstrates the error in the original publication is substantial it may grant an additional publication. This is for example what happened with the paper that demonstrated the divergence between human and mice inflammatory responses, which led to a response paper analyzing the same data, and arriving at the opposite results.
# Answer
> 25 votes
In addition to the excellent suggestions above, I'd also suggest blogging about it. A recent study found that corrections to the literature were 8x as likely to occur if blogged about, as opposed to corrections that had gone the traditional route (contacting editors, authors, etc).
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Tags: publications, errors-erratum
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thread-28863
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/28863
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What are the masters funded opportunities for a British citizen living abroad?
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2014-09-22T06:38:20.173
|
# Question
Title: What are the masters funded opportunities for a British citizen living abroad?
Since I have been living in Pakistan for the past 6 years (completed my Bachelors of Electrical Engineering from here), I find myself not eligible for most academic scholarships in the UK.
1. For international students, the scholarship criteria usually states that I should not be a British Citizen
2. For British students, the scholarship criteria usually states that I should have been nominally residing in the UK to be eligible for the scholarship or even for standard UK/EU student fees
So I am at the worst of both ends! What do I do?
I am looking for an opportunity preferably in the UK but would be willing to go elsewhere
# Answer
> 2 votes
As an EU citizen, you are eligible for free education in Sweden:
https://studyinsweden.se
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Tags: masters, funding, international-students
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thread-29244
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29244
|
Is it appropriate to ask a professor via e-mail for a letter of recommendation?
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2014-09-30T20:31:10.777
|
# Question
Title: Is it appropriate to ask a professor via e-mail for a letter of recommendation?
I have been out of school since May now, and I am considering applying for graduate school. I currently live nowhere near the university I attended.
Would it be appropriate for me to ask for a letter of recommendation via e-mail? If not, what would be the best option?
\[Suggestions as to how I should approach such a communication would be appreciated as well.\]
# Answer
> 6 votes
In-person requests are always the best route, because you can gauge willingness and eagerness to write the letters much more directly than via telephone or email.
However, if you can't be there, because you've moved away, then it is of course appropriate to ask for letters by email. Whether or not the professor will grant the request or not is of course a question. However, I would mention that you've moved (and where you currently are) as part of your request, so that the professor knows why you're not able to come in for a meeting if asked.
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Tags: etiquette, recommendation-letter
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thread-29070
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29070
|
Is there any way to pressure textbook publishers to reduce price?
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2014-09-27T17:48:28.433
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# Question
Title: Is there any way to pressure textbook publishers to reduce price?
I am an instructor in a medium-sized state school in the USA. The price for the textbook to the introductory math course that I teach just increased. Again. A new, paperback copy costs 170 USD. I want to put pressure on the publishers to reduce their price, but I am not sure what the best strategy is.
Has anyone had any success in such an endeavour? Any ideas? A strongly worded letter, signed by the faculty?
# Answer
> 45 votes
If you don't have the authority to change the textbook on your own, at least for your own section, then your target should be, not the publisher, but the person or committee that *does* have that happy power.\*
Show them this: http://aimath.org/textbooks/approved-textbooks/ and propose that you teach a section of your course using the appropriate open access textbook. (Edited to add: Pick out the appropriate book and an alternate before you talk to the committee or coordinator and be prepared to defend your choice vs. the approved text.) In the following semester, compare how well your students did in the next course in sequence vs. those who used the standard text.
Your secret weapon: work like hell to be sure your students are well prepared for the next course.
In the comments, Ben Crowell has said: "Here is a catalog I maintain of free books, including many open-source textbooks: http://theassayer.org" I've edited it into my answer so it doesn't get lost. Thank you, Ben.
* <sub>Hat tip to Professor Severus Snape for "happy power."</sub>
# Answer
> 16 votes
I suspect—although I don't have actual proof for this—that the number of textbooks being sold has been rapidly declining, forcing upwards pressure on prices as publishers try to maintain their profit margins.
That said, I fully understand why teachers are reluctant to ask students to spend hundreds of dollars on a textbook. (Books that I spent $50 on as an undergraduate less than two decades ago now regularly sell for $150-$200!) I think this has also led to more and more instructors providing alternatives:
* Having departments order limited quantities of texts, and depositing them as "restricted reference" materials in the university library.
* Producing their own reference materials, either by making lecture notes and slides available online, or producing "prepared" materials closer in style to a textbook.
* Reducing the reliance on *individual* textbooks, so that students can choose whichever appropriate reference they wish.
I know from personal experience that all three approaches are useful (and I've used them in different classes, depending on the nature and structure of the course).
# Answer
> 6 votes
At my institution, we asked a publisher to make us a "custom edition" of one of their expensive texts. The content wasn't really any different (I think we had them omit a chapter or two that wasn't in our curriculum) but they printed it in black and white, and it was somewhat cheaper than the four-color standard edition and still perfectly adequate.
We did encounter some difficulty in communicating to the bookstore what exactly they were supposed to order and stock.
I think the publishers like doing this because (a) it makes them feel more responsive to the needs of their customers and (b) it further fragments the used market. So I couldn't really say it turns the tables; maybe just wobbles them a little.
# Answer
> 6 votes
Many publishers will publish the same book at a much cheaper price for sale in markets in the developing world. These copies will be exactly the same (even down to the typesetting and graphic design) except that the paper, printing and binding will be of inferior quality, and the cover will be a generic design.
I've bought the South Asian editions of third year physics textbooks for $20 from various sellers on AbeBooks, whereas these textbooks would retail for over $150 in my university bookshop. I've only done this on AbeBooks, but this might be possible on other websites as well.
Perhaps you could search online to see whether cheaper editions of your text are available, and if so, recommend that students purchase their copies there.
# Answer
> 6 votes
I have never *had to* buy a book for a course¹. All the lectures were absolutely self contained, and I only used the books when I needed a clarification or a different explanation on a particular thing, in which case I borrowed it for a few days from the library. I did buy a few books, but only these that I though would be useful as a reference beyond the particular course.
The best way to reduce the impact on the student's pockets is not to require purchasing the book at all. The library should have a bunch of copies of different books, so the students can compare and choose what suits them best.
---
¹ Actually, once I did. It was not *compulsory* per se, but the professor was referring to *his book* every day. He was a bad lecturer.
# Answer
> 4 votes
If there isn't too much of a difference, or if the differences aren't relevant, use the previous edition. This is always cheaper, and will be available second-hand.
# Answer
> 3 votes
Two comments here ...
I know a professor who once wrote a popular textbook. When he wrote the next one, which was expected to be equally successful, he asked several publishers who could promise him the *lowest* sticker price. It might even have been a smart business move, because the next textbook was another bestseller by textbook standards. The author had bargaining power and used it for the benefit of his students.
On the other hand, I know that some textbooks have relatively low print runs and complicated layout/typesetting. Computers can only do so much, a good textbook needs manual attention. These overheads have to be divided over the print run in order to make *any* profits, and they might dwarf the costs of paper, print, and binding.
# Answer
> 3 votes
One "easy" way to pressure textbook publishers to reduce price for a textbook about a given topic you know a lot about is by writing a textbook yourself and giving it away for free. So you become the publisher.
I did so for a German lecture about Geometry and Topology. I am a student and the professor did not provide a textbook. So I create one from my lecture notes (he prepared the lectures very well; but it still was a lot of work).
Here is the result:
Students now have something that fits exactly what is taught in lecture (plus some very small extras I've added) together with training material. They can print it for **less than 10 Euro**. If they build groups / if the institute would decided to print 200 (which should not be a problem) I guess the price could go down to **5-7 Euro**.
Another advantage of this OpenSource / science / education approach is that it gets easy to create derivates. In my case, another student asked me if it would be possible to create index cards for definitions. It turned out that it was quite easy to do so (index cards for this project). I could imagine that students or other teachers could come up with other variations of the text.
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Tags: united-states, books, publishers, fees
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thread-28565
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/28565
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Finding good statistics for computer science matriculation (drop-out) rate
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2014-09-15T21:20:02.147
|
# Question
Title: Finding good statistics for computer science matriculation (drop-out) rate
To satisfy my professional curiosity, I'm trying to find a reliable statistic as to the number of students that declare their major as computer science and graduate with a degree in 6 years.
I was wondering if any organization compiled data on a per-major basis. I'd like the info partly to satisfy my own curiosity, and possibly use to motivate students (i.e. you made it through a tough class).
# Answer
> 2 votes
The National Center for Education Statistics in the United States surveys cohorts of first-time, beginning students at the end of their first year in post-secondary education, and then three and six years after first starting.
Per their official report, 59% of beginning bachelor's degree students in computer and information science in 2003-04 had either left post-secondary education without a degree (31%), or switched to a non-STEM field (28%) by 2009.
However, this number doesn't identify those who switch from computer science to a different STEM field as drop-outs. It also doesn't differentiate between
* students who persisted in computer science and earned a bachelor's degree by 2009,
* students who persisted in computer science but were still enrolled in 2009, or
* students who persisted in computer science but earned an associate's degree or certificate by 2009.
Fortunately, the NCES also allows you to create custom tables from this dataset using the PowerStats tool on their website. (You have to create an account to use the tool.) This is a valuable tool if you're interested in exploring these statistics further.
Using PowerStats, I found out that among those who enrolled in a bachelor's degree program with a computer/information science major in 2003-04:
* 51.3% had earned a bachelor's degree by 2009
* Of these students that earned a bachelor's degree by 2009, 67.6% said that their major when last enrolled was computer/information science.
So, 34.7% of beginning bachelor's degree students in computer and information science in 2003-04 earned a bachelor's degree in computer and information science by 2009 and 65.3% did not.
Here's part of the data table I generated for this answer:
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Tags: teaching, computer-science, reference-request
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thread-29227
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29227
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Writing articles based on the "Least Publishable Unit"
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2014-09-30T17:12:15.400
|
# Question
Title: Writing articles based on the "Least Publishable Unit"
I have heard the term "Least Publishable Unit" used to describe the amount of scientific information that holds enough merit for a publication. From my understanding, there are two sides to publishing with this term in mind:
1) The positive aspect of this concept is the fact that the article remains focused on the research question and tends to be concise.
2) The downside, at least for me, is this notion of only obtaining enough data simply to produce publications.
Has anyone else heard of this term used when discussing publications? If so, is my interpretation of it correct?
# Answer
To summarise what's in some of the comments... this term is usually used in a cynical, sardonic or derogatory fashion, to describe the practise of "salami-slicing" research into lots of papers, each of which has the minimum amount of content necessary to get published. The aim of this approach is to maximise the number of publications that can be obtained from a given piece of research.
Some believe that this approach is encouraged by hiring practises in universities that depend upon the number of publications a researcher has, rather than their quality.
> 6 votes
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Tags: research-process, writing
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|
thread-29251
|
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29251
|
Does APA style have a simplified short-paper format?
|
2014-10-01T01:33:00.773
|
# Question
Title: Does APA style have a simplified short-paper format?
I teach a course in college writing. My students must learn to write papers for college following APA format.
I recall that, as a student, my instructors were never very consistent in their requirements for the format. For example, some instructors required a cover page if the paper exceeded 5 pages or so, but otherwise preferred a heading like this, even if they said they requested APA format:
```
<name>
<date>
<course>
<assignment>
```
I encountered other instructors who required a complete cover page, abstract, introduction, and conclusion, in 500 word essays.
Does APA have any special specification for shorter essays? If so, at what point is the paper short enough to do away with these extra parts?
# Answer
> 5 votes
From an on-line search of APA style guides it appears that the APA style-guide is set up for research papers that would include a title page and abstract.
It appears though that most universities that I searched either had a defined page count before an abstract page was needed or said to check with the course instructor.
These are just a sample of some;
At this private college the exceptions from an abstract are where,
> * Smaller essays (3 pages or less)
> * Informal writings (in almost all instances, the paper will be 3 pages or less).
> * Papers over 3 pages in length that are formatted in APA style but do not contain a citation or reference.
At Western Oregon University they have two sample papers, one for a short paper (without abstract) and one for a formal paper (with abstract)
Lastly ,as an example, these two colleges Capital Community College and Empire State College state that the student should check if an abstract is needed.
***Connecticut***
> Check with your instructor to see if an abstract and/or keywords are required elements of your paper.
***Empire State***
> Be sure to ask your mentor whether or not s/he requires an abstract.
So while it appears that APA does not have any special short paper format it appears , from samples above, that institutions either have a formal policy or leave it to the discretion of the instructor.
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Tags: writing
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|
thread-27855
|
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/27855
|
where to find the year and conference of a scientific article?
|
2014-08-31T19:39:21.247
|
# Question
Title: where to find the year and conference of a scientific article?
When writing the references at the end of my internship report, I needed to cite all the information that needs to be said about the scientific articles that I used while writing the report. But these articles, most of the time, do not mention the conference or journals in which they were presented nor their publication date. Is there a website in which one can have access to this kind of information about any scientific aticle? BTW, I am talking about the field of computer science.
# Answer
**Background:** Many researchers put their articles for download on their personal web pages. As most publishers insist on not allowing the researcher to put the "official" version there, but rather only the self-made PDF, this leads to articles often not having the journal/conference information on the first page (as this would require changing the article a bit, which is a bit of work to be done). Also, self-archived versions often appear before the conference, so that page numbers can only be missing, and might not be updated later.
**Actual Answer:** For CS, a good strategy is to just type "DBLP " into your favorite search engine. Many papers nowadays are listed on the DBLP page, which also allows you to just download the bibliographic information.
If a paper is not listed on DBLP, just searching for the paper title often yields the publisher's page of the article, which should have the information available.
If searching for the title does not yield any results, then the paper could be a limited circulation pre-print, which is stricly speaking not citeble. However, in such (hopefully few) cases, it makes sense to ask the person who gave you the article for bibliographic information.
> 2 votes
# Answer
Elsevier's Scopus has pretty decent coverage and can also be used to create custom alerts that will email you when new manuscripts(s) matching a set of keywords (or authors) are found. With regards to proceedings it gets trickier as some times they do not get published by a source that gets captured by an aggregator (be it Google Scholar or Scopus or something else).
> 0 votes
# Answer
It's rather unusual that the final version of a published research paper does not display the publication venue prominently on the first page of the paper. If you can't find anything there, try to remember where you got the manuscript from.
* Did you download it from a website? The website should have contained all publication information.
* Did someone give it to you directly? Ask that person for details on the publication information.
* Is it copied out of a book? Try to find that book again.
* If you don't remember where it came from, you simply may want to try an internet search for the article's exact title and all authors - if there's anything to be found, that should come up among the top results.
In some cases, you may have obtained a manuscript which is not formally published yet. After following the above steps to ensure that no published version is available in the meantime, these manuscripts can be cited as "Unpublished", "Technical report", or "Preprint", together with the information how to find them (URL, University where they were prepared, or other) and the year they were written in.
> 0 votes
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Tags: publications, writing, citations, website
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thread-26001
|
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26001
|
How do tuition and credit accounting work in an independent study course?
|
2014-07-17T02:41:42.520
|
# Question
Title: How do tuition and credit accounting work in an independent study course?
I've been talking to one of my professors at a Master's program about enrolling in an independent study course under his supervision.
(An independent study course is a course in which a student engages in guided study on some topic under the direction of a faculty member. Students formally enroll in such a course as part of a degree program, just as they would for a traditional course, and it appears in the students' transcripts, academic records, etc.)
However, it's not clear to me whether independent study courses work the same way as regular courses with respect to tuition and credit accounting:
**Tuition**: Am I expected to still pay tuition for independent studies?
**Credits**: With traditional courses, there's typically some quantitative relationship between the number of credits a course is "worth" and the contact hours it involves. For example, a 4-credit course involves a certain amount of class time.
With independent study courses, where there are no fixed contact hours, is it common for institutions to have some expectation of how much time a student is supposed to spend on the course, per credit hour? For instance, that a 1-credit course expects about N hours a week from the student.
# Answer
Since you ask about 1 or 2-credits, I'm assuming you're talking about doing an independent study ***course*** with the professor and not creating your own independent study ***track***.
Independent studies (also called independent readings, directed research, tutorials, etc.) are essentially micro-classes of one or two students. You come up with your own reading lists, discussion topics, or projects -- subject to the approval of the professor. Whether to list it as 1 or 2 credit hours (or in my university 3 or 4 credit hours) is up to you. In general, you should plan on spending as much (or more) time in your independent study as you would with any other class.
From the registrar's perspective, it's just another class that you are taking. If you pay a flat fee for up to 5 classes a semester, then it can be one of those 5 classes. If you pay a fee for each credit-hour, then it would count as one of those paid credit hours.
I do independent readings with the undergraduate seniors, master's students, and PhD students when they come to me with topics that are of interest to me, but aren't in the regular course catalog. Since **faculty do not get paid to teach independent study courses** (we don't get any more money for doing this, nor do we get course releases for it), we're essentially do them out of the good of our hearts or because the topic is particularly of interest to us and/or we'd like the interaction with advanced students.
> 5 votes
# Answer
Although there are several differences between a traditional course and an independent study course, for tuition and credit accounting, they are considered to be the same. If you receive credit for the course, you will also be expected to pay tuition for the course.
In my experience as a student who did an independent study (as an undergrad, it may be different in higher level courses), I designed the course and decided on the number of credit hours based on the amount of time I expected to spend on it. For example, a 1-credit course is expected to meet for one hour per week, plus 2-4 hours of homework/study out of class, for a total of approximately 4 hours per week. A student is therefore expected to put in approximately 12 hours per week for a 3-credit course. Tuition is then based in the credit hours that the student and instructor together have assigned to the independent study course.
> > With independent study courses, where there are no fixed contact hours, is it common for institutions to have some expectation of how much time a student is supposed to spend on the course, per credit hour? For instance, that a 1-credit course expects about N hours a week from the student.
Yes, as I indicated above, there are usually some expectations as to how much time you are expected to put in to earn a certain number of credit hours. However, as we all know, not all students *need* to put in the 2-4 hours of out-of-class study time to learn the same amount of material. In an independent study, this is also true. If a student in motivated to pursue an independent study, I will expect that you are also motivated to put in the number of hours needed to achieve your objectives for the course. I will also expect that you will put in *more* hours than you might in a traditional course because of your enthusiasm and desire to learn.
> 1 votes
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Tags: coursework, tuition
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thread-29276
|
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29276
|
A note vs a "research paper"
|
2014-10-01T14:35:10.057
|
# Question
Title: A note vs a "research paper"
I had my math paper rejected for publication. From the referee report,
> \[M\]y opinion is to reject this paper. In order to save its positive aspects, I propose: 1) either reduce the length of the paper eliminating superfluous parts, and presenting it as a note (not a research paper), or 2) add new material, so that it becomes a true research paper, and present it again as a new work.
I am confused. Is a note a paper that lacks content or simply one that is short? In what way does a note differ from a research paper, or "a true research paper"?
Would one consider John Nash's famous 2 pages paper *Equilibrium points in n-person games* ~~and Watson and Crick's Nobel-Prize-winning 2 pages paper *A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid*~~ a note or a research paper?
Lastly, how does publishing a note vs a research paper affect a scholar, e.g. prestige and/or income?
# Answer
> 24 votes
The mathematical community often considers a very short, highly focused paper to be a note. A few journals officially categorize the papers they publish into notes and full papers, but usually no formal distinction is made. There is no clear dividing line between these cases in general. Typically it comes down to the author's intent: a note is just meant to record some observation in the literature, even though it may not be important enough to justify a lengthy or detailed paper, while anything else is a full paper. Nash's paper would probably not be considered a note, even though it's short and focused, because it's too important (and arguably wouldn't have benefited from being longer). The Watson and Crick paper is not so relevant, since papers from other scientific fields have completely different length distributions from mathematics papers.
I'm not fond of the term "true research paper" in the referee report, since it suggests that there's a clearer distinction between notes and papers. But what the referee means is simple: you have found something worth recording as a note, but not yet enough to justify the length of your paper (in the referee's opinion).
> Lastly, how does publishing a note vs a research paper affect a scholar, e.g. prestige and/or income?
The prestige depends on the note/paper. The ceiling is vastly higher for papers: the world's best papers are far more impressive than the world's best notes. If you are looking for a job at a major research university, then publishing a note might help a little, but ultimately you will need to have really good papers. On the other hand, there are plenty of mediocre papers out there, and a good note can be better than a not so good paper.
As for income, the relationship between publishing and income is tricky. To the extent your publications help get you a job, promotion, or raise, they can make a real difference for your income. Aside from that, you won't make any money from them. In any case, it's difficult to quantify their effect on income.
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Tags: publications, research-process, mathematics
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thread-28689
|
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/28689
|
Word limit for paper after addressing reviewer's comments
|
2014-09-18T17:12:59.870
|
# Question
Title: Word limit for paper after addressing reviewer's comments
After submitting a paper, receiving comments back from reviewers and revising, the paper manuscript may be longer than the given word limit due to the additional content added (even if it was at or below the word limit in the original submission). For the sake of argument, say the revised paper is 10% or 20% longer than the word limit.
Shortening the paper without loosing any information may be difficult. Moving some paragraphs into the Supplements may be possible, but may make it more difficult to find relevant information or be aesthetically displeasing, such as writing "Additional discussions can be found in the Supplements." in the middle of the text.
Are there any guidelines on how willing journals might be to accept papers above the word limit after revisions? Is word length still strictly enforced or is this mainly checked upon initial submission? Would simply submitting and hoping for a quick response from the editor (in case this is unacceptable) be a good strategy? Or is this a bad idea since either it highly unlikely to be acceptable or has a risk of annoying the editor? Do you have any experience with this issue either from an author's or an editor's point of view?
# Answer
> 13 votes
I can now provide an answer to my own question (I hope this is alright): I recently submitted a revised article that was about 15% longer than the word limit to a small biomedical journal. The original version of the article kept to the word limit. In the rebuttal letter, I explained that the article had become longer due to the reviewers' question. This article was accepted without further comment from the editor.
So it seems that at least some editors do not see a problems with longer articles, as long as the original submission keeps to the limit. I suspect that the rules may vary greatly between disciplines and journals and that no journal will ever explicitly state "we do not care about length for revised submissions". My PI was very confident that the article would be accepted, so it may be advisable to ask an experienced colleague in the field for their opinion.
# Answer
> 11 votes
*Note — my answer is from an author's point of view with experience publishing in IEEE Transactions-type journals. Your mileage may vary.*
> Are there any guidelines on how willing journals might be to accept papers above the word limit after revisions?
The guidelines for revisions are the same as those for the initial submission; that is, there are no separate guidelines for revisions.
> Is word length still strictly enforced or is this mainly checked upon initial submission?
The guidelines I've encountered on manuscript length have dealt with page count specifically, not "word length." So, yes, the page count is strictly enforced on the initial submission and any subsequent revisions. In your case, there is probably a hard limit on word count for the journal you are submitting to regardless if it is a revision or not.
> Would simply submitting and hoping for a quick response from the editor (in case this is unacceptable) be a good strategy? Or is this a bad idea since either it highly unlikely to be acceptable or has a risk of annoying the editor?
You can submit your over-length paper if it makes you feel better; however, the opportunity to annoy is always present when someone doesn't follow the rules. Having said that, the editors I've worked with in the past have been fairly quick to send back to me submissions that did not follow the guidelines.
For example, one journal I submitted to had just changed it's maximum page count while a paper of mine was undergoing the last stages of an internal review. I had not checked the page limit prior to submitting as I was already familiar with what the guidelines said regarding this matter (after all, I structured my paper to be compliant with the guidelines). Sure enough, the editor sent it back within a couple of hours.
In conclusion, there is a balancing act of sorts that goes in to revising papers such that they address referee comments sufficiently while maintaining compliance with the journal's guidelines on manuscript length, etc.
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Tags: publications, journals, peer-review, paper-submission
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thread-29286
|
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29286
|
Is the development of an original/novel method a contribution to knowledge worthy of a PhD?
|
2014-10-01T19:11:09.923
|
# Question
Title: Is the development of an original/novel method a contribution to knowledge worthy of a PhD?
A PhD is supposed to be an "original contribution to knowledge". In my own PhD (in an area of Earth Science) I have so far focused on developing a particular method of computer modeling that will hopefully have a range of applications in my field. In short, my question is: Is the development of an original/novel *method* a contribution to knowledge worthy of a PhD?
The reason for asking this is that my supervisor seems concerned that I am drifting away from the 'pure science questions' in my field - i.e I ought to be trying to address a fundamental research question with this new model, rather than spending most of my time developing and testing a new method.
My instinct says that it should be just as valid, and browsing some of the other PhD theses from the department suggests that a few others have gone down this route. I also see plenty of papers published that are more 'methods-focused' than 'fundamental-question-addressing'. Personally, I get a lot more satisfaction from pursuing the former kind of research, even though I accept I am not directly answering 'the big questions' as my supervisor puts it.
On the other hand, I don't predict an entirely healthy academic relationship down the line if our opinion on what constitutes an interesting PhD thesis differs so fundamentally, and I also consider the possibility that I could just be plain wrong in my interpretation of "original contribution to knowledge".
# Answer
> Is the development of an original/novel method a contribution to knowledge worthy of a PhD?
This depends largely on what you mean with "method". Coming up with a theoretically sound way to tackle a specific class of research problems better than currently possible is likely a good contribution (with potential for very high impact). If "method" means a technical improvement of an existing approach or tool, the contribution may be too technical.
However, as you indicate yourself, this really isn't the important practical question in your case. Even if we all here agree that a new method is a solid research outcome for a PhD student, what good is this to you if your advisor disagrees? At the end of the day, your research needs to make both, you and your advisor happy. Doing something that your advisor does not think is PhD-worthy will lead to no ends of trouble, no matter what we random people on the internet have said.
> 11 votes
# Answer
While developing a method has merit within science, that method needs to be useful to answer a question which is not currently answerable. I too have worked primarily on methods development in graduate school, and got stung by this in some of my early work. So, while it's good to focus on the method, always have the question in front of you: "what do we want to know, that we can't know yet, that my method will be able to tell us?"
> 16 votes
# Answer
Yes. This was the basis of my successfully completed PhD.
Scientific methods must be able to solve something that can not yet be solved, or be (as was my case) an innovative improvement on an existing methodology that is more accurate, more accessible and if possible, more inexpensive. The latter requires considerable validation of the data produced.
It is critical that the method be able to be scrutinized scientifically for repeatability and reliability.
> 6 votes
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Tags: phd, thesis, methodology
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thread-29290
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29290
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How should a student with no research background write a research proposal?
|
2014-10-01T20:17:52.057
|
# Question
Title: How should a student with no research background write a research proposal?
I am applying for Master's degree and I am being asked to make a research proposal. I am having some trouble with this since I don't have any research experience at all. The University I attended was a "No Thesis" University and there are no advisors for research there.
I have thought about wanting to do my research about Multiculturalism in Japan: how it is denied, how they say they are a homogeneous society and how this affects international minorities living there.
However... that's as far as I have gotten, I don't know how to continue.
# Answer
> I don't know how to continue.
Well, there's a lot to do, actually. For example, you can structure your research proposal in the following sections (other points can be added):
1. **Introduction and background information.** Here you should clearly state the goal(s) of your research and give supporting information. For example, since you claim that multiculturalism is denied in Japan, in this first section you shall report this claim and provide supporting references; then, you shall explain that this phenomenon is not well studied and why it would be a good thing to investigate it.
2. **Methodology.** How do you plan to carry out your research? Anonymous questionnaires? Interviewing people? What kind of questions do you want to ask? How do you choose the population sample? How do you plan to carry out the interviews or distribute the questionnaires? Especially, whatever methodology you choose, explain clearly why the chosen methodology is suitable for reaching the goals of your research.
3. **Data analysis.** Here you have to describe in which way you plan to analyze the data you have collected.
4. **Schedule.** Subdivide your research in different tasks and describe the time allotted to each one (Gantt charts are common these days).
5. **Scientific outcome.** Original research is typically published on journals and presented at conferences. Can you name a journal and/or a conference suitable for your research topic? Can you think of other possible outcomes? For example, if the subject of your investigation constitute a social issue, can you think of writing a recommendation suggesting ways to improve the situation?
6. **Possible issues.** Describe what can go wrong in your plans and how you intend to mitigate possible problems (e.g. people not answering to questionnaires).
7. **Resources and costs.** Every kind of research needs money and resources. For example, if you plan to realize an online questionnaire you might need to hire a developer. So, try to figure out what can be the amount of money needed to make your research and write down a small budget.
**Edit:** I've added a couple of points. That said, good luck!
> 5 votes
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Tags: research-process, graduate-admissions
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thread-29293
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29293
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For an industry-sponsored project, should one apply for IRB approval before or after accepting the funding?
|
2014-10-01T23:45:27.550
|
# Question
Title: For an industry-sponsored project, should one apply for IRB approval before or after accepting the funding?
Is there a standard customary timeline for applying for IRB<sup>1</sup> approval with an industry-funded project?
Should you apply for IRB approval first, then accept the funding for the project, or accept the funding for the project and then apply for IRB approval?
It seems the latter could be dangerous if IRB approval is not granted.
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<sup>1</sup> An IRB (Institutional Review Board), also known as an independent ethics committee or ethical review board, is a group that reviews and monitors research involving human subjects.
# Answer
> 3 votes
First note that it's a question of institutional policy whether human subjects research that is not federally funded requires IRB review. The common rule requires that federally sponsored research receive IRB approval but does not require institutions to do IRB review for research not funded by the government. However, many universities require that all research involving human subjects receive IRB approval whether or not it is funded by the federal government.
Assuming that IRB review is required, it is critical that you not begin the actual research until after IRB approval has been obtained- starting without approval is a big no no.
Normally, IRB approval must be obtained before your institution enters into a contract with the funder or the grant is awarded. For example, at our institution, the restricted funds accounting office won't do the paperwork for a research contract involving human subjects research until the IRB approval has been granted. We are also not allowed to submit a proposal to a funding agency without (edited to clarify this) submitting the proposal to the IRB for approval. There's a good chance that your institution has a similar policy.
Even if your institution doesn't have a specific policy about this, you should not try to get your institution to enter into a contract before the IRB approval is granted. If for whatever reason the IRB approval is denied, then you would have gotten your institution into a contract that it can't fulfill.
If I was asked to take on a research contract involving human subjects and wanted to accept the funding, I would tell the funder, "Yes, I would like to accept this funding. However, I will have to get IRB approval (as well as other approvals) before the institution will enter into a formal contract."
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Tags: funding, industry, irb
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thread-29297
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29297
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Is it OK to exclude 'extra courses' from the GPA reported in my CV?
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2014-10-02T03:14:07.567
|
# Question
Title: Is it OK to exclude 'extra courses' from the GPA reported in my CV?
I am a PhD student in a physical science major. I finished ALL of my required courses. Assume my current GPA is 3.5. Currently, I am taking 'extra' courses from another engineering department. Some of these courses are indirectly related to my research, but some are completely unrelated (am taking them for pure personal interests).
Now, say I got less than 3.5 in these course. My official University Transcripts will include these courses and report a GPA of less than 3.5.
However, in my CV, I plan not to do so and exclude these courses, and report 3.5, nothing less. My stand is that these were not required in the first place, and some of them are even not relevant at all. It is not fair for me to have them included.
Is there any problem with this?
# Answer
> 12 votes
If you write
> GPA: 3.5
in your CV, this implies that your official cumulative GPA as per university records is a 3.5. So to write this is misleading, and unethical.
If you want to list your GPA only for courses in your own department, you can write
> Major GPA: 3.5
or
> 3.5 GPA in physical science courses
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Tags: ethics, cv, gpa
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thread-29279
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29279
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Should I anglicise foreign names of people/places/organizations in my research?
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2014-10-01T16:00:40.517
|
# Question
Title: Should I anglicise foreign names of people/places/organizations in my research?
What does academic community think of anglicising foreign names in their research? For example, saying Istanbul rather than İstanbul (with capital "İ"), or, author's name, Tasan, instead of Taşan.
# Answer
> 32 votes
For anything that's not written in the Latin alphabet, use the standard transliteration from the relevant alphabet (e.g., "Vladimir Putin", not "Владимир Путин"). For people's names written in the Latin alphabet, keep the accents if possible. For place names, if there is a standard Anglicization, use that (e.g., "Cologne" rather than "Köln", "Istanbul" rather than "İstanbul"); otherwise, keep the accents (e.g., "Lübeck" and "Şanlıurfa").
# Answer
> 30 votes
**EDITED** to clarify the type of spelling changes I'm referring to, and to address other types of spelling changes.
As someone with an 'é' in my name, I'd say that it depends on whether or not there's a good reason to leave off the diacritical marks.
I'm aware that you may not know how to type special characters, or your keyboard may make it difficult to do so. So if you send me an email, I wouldn't be offended if you leave off the diacritical marks, spelling 'é' as 'e', for example.
I'm aware that computer file systems and programming languages sometimes don't deal elegantly with non-ASCII characters. So if you name a module in a computer program after me, I wouldn't be offended if you leave off the diacritical marks.
*But if you publish something* (e.g. an academic paper), *there's no good reason not to spell my name correctly*. (You can cut and paste, can't you?) I would be annoyed if you didn't take the trouble to do so. Not only have you been lazy, but you've made it more difficult for others to know the correct spelling of my name.
**EDIT:** As for names that aren't written in the Latin alphabet, I agree with David Richerby that it makes sense to transliterate them. Unless the name is extremely well-known, the first time I use the name I would probably add the original name in parenthesis. That way, the reader can search for additional information under both names.
Of course, if Владимир Путин chooses to go by Vladimir Putin, I would respect that. I wouldn't insist on writing Владимир Путин.
# Answer
> 4 votes
As with so many questions in life *it depends*. In Irish there's one major accent, known as a síneadh fada (pronounced sheena fa-da, meaning *length accent*, usually abbreviated to *fada*). It occurs over vowels only i.e. á, é, í, ó, ú are the long equivalents of the vowels a, e, i, o, u and it dramatically changes the sound (and as I'll illustrate below, the meaning).
The canonical example that I use here is the word "sean" pronounced in the Munster dialect as "shan"; this means *old*. Put a fada over the a and it becomes the name Seán (Irish for John, pronounced *Shawn*); put it over the e and and it becomes a verb meaning to *disavow* or *repudiate*, pronounced *shane*. So with ostensibly the same word, the accents create three different words which you can construct a sentence from:
Séan sean Seán \[Disavow old John\]
This is one example why you might want to spell words as they are originally.
Another reason, and this is purely opinion, is that it feels somewhat arrogant to me to insist that your pronunciation and spelling is so much better than the people who live there.
In summing up I'd exhort you to focus on the impact of your message rather than the intent; IOW tailor it for your audience.
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Tags: research-process, translations
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thread-29301
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29301
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Are both GRE and TOEFL a must for a PhD program in the US? Or only TOEFL will suffice?
|
2014-10-02T09:05:53.540
|
# Question
Title: Are both GRE and TOEFL a must for a PhD program in the US? Or only TOEFL will suffice?
I have completed my masters in English Literature from India and now want to do my PhD from the US. Should I take both the tests, i.e. TOEFL and GRE? Or only TOEFL will be enough? And if I need to take the GRE, then is it a must to take the subject test as well?
# Answer
The TOEFL and the GRE are quite different. The 'point' -- in as much as standardized tests have one -- of the TOEFL is to figure out if you have sufficient mastery of English to study (and potentially be a Teaching Assistant/Instructor) in an English-speaking environment. The TOEFL is generally required of all non-native English speakers. Graduate programs often waive this requirement if the student is enrolled in and about to complete a degree from a US institution (or did so recently). It's possible that they might waive the requirement for a similar student from a university in other English-speaking countries such as the UK, Australia/NZ, etc. but I am not sure (I don't know anyone who has tried.) Sometimes graduate programs will state that they will waive the TOEFL requirement for a student from a bachelors/masters program with English as a language of instruction. Most Indian colleges/universities I know of are English-medium, but I've never heard of an Indian student applying from India who has had the TOEFL requirement waived this way. (I am an international student from India. I was an undergraduate in the US, and the TOEFL requirement was waived for me by all the graduate programs I applied to.)
The GRE on the other hand is generally required for *all* applicants, domestic and international. Wikipedia says that it aims to measure ''verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning, analytical writing, and critical thinking skills that have been acquired over a long period of time and that are not related to any specific field of study.''
The TOEFL is more of a checkbox - programs just want all their international students to have some minimal mastery of English so they can perform the usual duties of a graduate student. The GRE is more of an actual comparative tool for all the candidates which can actually affect an admission decision. The two tests are quite different in content and questions --- the TOEFL might contain a question which will play an audio clip of a 'usual' conversation between a student and a professor and ask you whether you can understand what was said; whereas GRE questions might ask you to critique the logic of an argument or perform some high-school level problem-solving task.
Notably the TOEFL obviously does not have a quantitative section whereas the GRE does.
At this point in the US, I believe there are very few graduate programs that do not require at least the general GRE of all its applicants. Subject tests are not as widely required, but in my experience the better programs require them.
tl;dr: you will probably need to take both the GRE (general) and the TOEFL. Look into the programs you want to apply to to figure out whether you should take the GRE subject test.
> 10 votes
# Answer
There is no general rule here. The only solution is to look up the requirements of each program you are interested in applying to. Some schools may require both, others the TOEFL but not the GRE, or vice versa. (As for the subject test, it will most likely be required of all applicants or not required for all students. Domestic versus international likely won't matter.)
> 6 votes
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Tags: united-states, gre, international-students, toefl, language-exams
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thread-29308
|
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29308
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Is it acceptable to only use refererences from other universities?
|
2014-10-02T15:11:13.770
|
# Question
Title: Is it acceptable to only use refererences from other universities?
I am applying to mathematics tenure track positions after a postdoc. I have three research letters from professors at Research 1 universities, and each are AMS fellows. One is my PhD supervisor.
My postdoc department is a midrange mathematics department; its on the rise, but doesn't have a big reputation. My supervisor is only familiar with half of my work, while my other letter writers are familiar with all of my work.
Would it be appropriate to use those three letters from other departments, or would it be a warning sign to search committees if no letters come from my current department?
# Answer
> 4 votes
It is certainly acceptable to not have references from your current institution, but it could raise questions, implying that something went wrong in the current position. Having trustworthy, high-quality researchers, as you've indicated, can overcome this problem, though the question still will remain.
Your references do not necessarily need to be familiar with all of your work, just enough of it, and more importantly, how you are as a researcher and person. Having a more recent reference letter would give a better description of how you are performing now, in particular, after you left the safety of a PhD position. That is, how you are performing now that you've gone out into the world on your own.
My inclination would be to include a local reference for these reasons.
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Tags: mathematics, recommendation-letter, tenure-track
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thread-29315
|
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29315
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Can a US university force a foreign student to obtain health insurance from a specific provider?
|
2014-10-02T17:00:47.440
|
# Question
Title: Can a US university force a foreign student to obtain health insurance from a specific provider?
My wife is doing her MBA at a state university, and they have a requirement that she purchases health insurance from a specific provider (which has a pricing agreement with the university, but that is still very expensive). We have been able to find insurance from other providers at a much lower cost.
This restriction does not apply to local students: they can choose whatever health insurance provider they want. Can the university legally impose this on us, or are they just trying to take advantage of us being foreign? Is there anything we can do?
# Answer
> 5 votes
According to the international student health insurance page at the Colorado School of Mines, which also requires international students to enroll in the school insurance plan, it is legal.
The *legal* rationale they offer is:
1. It's not considered discrimination to have different policies for U.S. citizen vs. international students, so long as the requirements are the same for all international students regardless of country of origin:
> "The University may impose such a requirement on all students who are not United States citizens. Such a requirement is not regarded as discrimination on the basis of national origin by the courts. See Espinoza vs. Farah, 6 FEP 931 (November 19, 1973). This is true so long as no distinction is made between citizens of different foreign countries” (Joseph Goldhammer, Resident Legal Counsel, Office of the Attorney General, Dept. of Law, State of Colorado, regarding Foreign Student Health Insurance).
2. Federal immigration law itself imposes certain health insurance or other requirements on foreign students:
> Most students come to U.S. institutions under an “F” visa. Federal immigration law requires that this subclass of non-immigrants provide proof of their financial ability to support themselves and the cost of their education. These requirements have not been found to violate the equal protection amendment to the constitution. (Anwo vs. Immigration and Naturalization Service., 607 F.2d 435 D.C. Cir 1979). Colorado School of Mines considers medical insurance an integral part of the students ability to support themselves. Federal immigration law also requires that exchange visitors and their accompanying spouse/dependent(s) coming to the United States on a "J" visa carry medical insurance. ( 22 CFR 515.14)
(Note that J-1 visa holders are required to have health insurance meeting certain minimum requirements, not just any health insurance.)
3. Courts have recognized that specifically mandating health insurance for foreign students is not discriminatory:
> Equal Protection Analysis/14th Amendment to the Constitution: The U.S. constitution requires that "no state shall... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the law." Is requiring health insurance of international students discriminatory? Does it violate those students' constitutional equal protection rights? Case law differentiates the legal rights of U.S. citizens and permanent residents from the legal rights of non-immigrant aliens, those persons who are in the United States for a short period of time and for a particular purpose. Courts have recognized that requiring health insurance protects the students' ability to exist in the community, realizing the high costs of health care in this country (Ahmed v. University of Toledo, 822 F.2d 26 6th Cir. 1987). Further, courts have acknowledged that requiring health insurance is consistent with, and supports the purposes of, federal immigration law. “International students do not have a constitutional right to attend American universities without complying with the institutions' reasonable regulations.” (Plyler v. Doe, 457 U.S. 202, 1982).
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Tags: university, united-states, international-students, legal-issues, health
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thread-23360
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23360
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Are there US universities that do not need GRE and TOEFL score for admission in PhD in Mathematics?
|
2014-06-13T15:03:02.630
|
# Question
Title: Are there US universities that do not need GRE and TOEFL score for admission in PhD in Mathematics?
I have completed my Bachelor's degree (3 years) in Mathematics and pursuing MSc(2 years). Currently I am in final year and expect to obtain MSc degree in next May. I am willing to do my PhD (in Mathematics) in USA.
From the information obtained from my seniors and friends, I found that most of the USA institutions ask for GRE and TOEFL score. But are there universities of USA which do not need GRE and/or TOEFL score for admission in Phd in Mathematics?
# Answer
The truth of the matter is that while you may find many schools that do not require the GRE, virtually every US school is going to require either the TOEFL or a similar test such as the IELTS.
The reason for this is that one of the important criteria for admission to most US graduate programs is the ability to do coursework and interact with fellow graduate students and faculty in their *lingua franca*, which in the US is English. Consequently, schools need to ensure that the students they accept have a certain level of proficiency in English before they enroll. (A number of grad school admissions officers have mentioned that they blacklisted candidates from certain countries because of problems related to fraud—candidates would hire other people to conduct telephone interviews with universities in the US, and the actual candidate would come with hardly any English whatsoever.)
So, for most schools, you will find it a requirement to be able to speak the dominant language of instruction—and not just in the United States. (For instance, all students at our university must show the ability to speak either German or English, depending on the program to which they apply.)
> 14 votes
# Answer
I think you should change your strategy for choosing a doctoral program. That is, determine which programs would provide you with the best training for the work you want to do. It might (probably will) involve these standardized test scores. You run the risk of narrowing your choices by starting with these types of requirements.
Also, you stated that you are "willing to do my PhD." Your decision for doing a PhD should be motivated by your ultimate career trajectory. I think you should clarify this career trajectory (i.e., Why do you want to do a PhD? Because it will prepare me for ...). Then, you should find a PhD program that would be best suited to help you establish this career trajectory. You don't want to get into a PhD program that is inappropriately matched with your trajectory, even though they don't require GRE and TOEFL scores. If you have scores that are not competitive, then it would be a good idea to focus on improving those scores.
Bottom line is you want good training.
> 7 votes
# Answer
To answer your question, **no: all schools of reasonably well-known merit require a GRE**. Shopping for schools that don't is only harmful. I am guessing your mindset is simply wondering if within, say, the top 100 programs there might be exceptions, perhaps because the test is a financial burden, but no, the GRE is *the* standard for admission. It's not the only important factor, but every school will require it. I've heard it described as a "sanity check" to make sure the student's abilities pass a check relative to what the recommendation letters and transcript advertise.
To flip the coin, imagine a school that *doesn't* require the GRE. Why not: what's wrong with it? Does it let students in who would have performed terribly, and risk a remedial first year? Does it let students in who are likely to drop out and simply don't fund them? Is it just really lacking merit? I would be *extremely* leery of such a school.
Regarding the TOEFL, the situation is simple. It would be foolish for a university to not make sure incoming students speak English. Even if you are sure of your ability and don't have the time to study or the money for the test, you should be leery of going to a school where there's a pretty good chance your classmates will include German, French, Japanese and Mexican students who don't actually speak English and went to the only school that admitted them after they failed the TOEFL.
On the other hand it is of course very important that *you* can pass. It would be miserable to marginally fail but not be able to teach a course effectively (which is how you pay for grad school in part) or collaborate with peers.
> 4 votes
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Tags: graduate-admissions, united-states, gre, language-exams, toefl
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thread-29310
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29310
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What are the benefits and drawbacks of fitting one's problem within an advisor's research?
|
2014-10-02T15:29:49.310
|
# Question
Title: What are the benefits and drawbacks of fitting one's problem within an advisor's research?
I am passionate about working on a particular problem and domain, and have an opportunity to complete a PhD that does not require department/university subsidy. However, the problem I am interested in is outside of the domain of the research faculty. I have been encouraged to find a small part of my problem space that fits with the research of available advisors. However, I feel like conducting my research at another institution, where the research faculty are actively working in the same domain as myself, may be a better choice.
What are the benefits and drawbacks may be to work with advisors directly related to one's own area of research, rather than trying to just fit one's research into the scope of available advisors' research interests?
There is some discussion of this regarding the master's thesis, but I feel that the doctoral level is a little different, in that the advisor/advisee relationship is perhaps more important.
# Answer
With regard to choosing to do your PhD research with a group working in your field of interest:-
Benefits:
**In-depth subject specific knowledge**, meaning that:
You will get started faster.
Your early mistakes and false leads identified and corrected earlier.
You will get a faster entree into the best collaborative networks.
You will get noticed by the community faster.
You will be associated with experts in the field.
Disadvantages:
Depending on the supervisor, you might get rail-roaded into doing the science his/her "way", leaving less opportunity for you to strike out on your own path.
You are dealing with a new advisor, and that relationship takes time to cultivate.
For your situation, it seems that you will have to get a source of funding.
> 1 votes
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Tags: phd, research-process, advisor
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thread-29331
|
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29331
|
What is the actual difference between Graduate and Undergraduate texts?
|
2014-10-03T00:59:33.997
|
# Question
Title: What is the actual difference between Graduate and Undergraduate texts?
Whenever I open a graduate text (on pretty much everything), I'm instantly overwhelmed as most topics are not well motivated, book reads like an encyclopedia and extremely high level topics maybe mixed in with an introduction to a specific topic. Oh, the text also tends to be printed in a horrendous font that does not at all induce eagerness of reading!
Think of Springer series on mathematics if you want to know exactly what I'm referring to.
Why are graduate texts written that way? Why isn't there a plethora of classic texts at the graduate level?
Just out of curiosity.
# Answer
> 8 votes
The differences between undergraduate and graduate texts seem to me to be no more dramatic than those between high school and undergraduate texts, and I don't consider it especially problematic. But there are some differences:
> Why are graduate texts written that way? Why isn't there a plethora of classic texts at the graduate level?
There certainly is, but there are also plenty of mediocre books. There's nothing special about graduate texts in this respect. Classic examples of anything will always be rare and noteworthy, more or less by definition.
You should keep in mind that graduate texts cover an enormous breadth of material (far beyond the undergraduate curriculum), and the upper limits of their depth can be impressive. Some books are written for very advanced courses aimed at senior graduate students specializing in a certain area. Of course they won't be easily accessible, since the research community barely understands this material. With luck, fifty years from now we'll have clearer expositions. In the meantime, we should be grateful that the author at least managed to distill the research literature into a coherent textbook, even if it is not yet easy to read.
Other graduate texts are intended for introductory grad courses. Certainly there are some bad books out there, but in my experience there are plenty of beautiful introductions that are accessible to students with a strong undergraduate background. It may still take more effort to read them than a typical undergraduate textbook, the same way an advanced undergraduate book may be tougher than one aimed at first-year students, but that's not a bad thing. The increased difficulty comes with corresponding rewards.
You can also find especially accessible textbooks. For example, some graduate texts are written specifically to ease the transition to graduate school for students with weaker backgrounds. They aren't necessarily advertised that way (to avoid putting off readers), but some books are pretty widely known to be less demanding than others. They can be a great way to fill in any missing background or just get used to graduate texts.
And it's worth having many different texts available for the same material. Undergraduate courses can sometimes be fairly regimented, with clear expectations regarding exactly what students should already know and what they need to learn now. Graduate school is much more diverse. One book may be entirely appropriate for someone with certain preparation, but utterly inappropriate for others.
If there's a subject you'd like to learn about, the best approach is often to ask for reading advice from someone who knows your background and tastes. If you can't get personalized advice, you can always take a look at lists like this. Once you have some candidate books in mind, it's worth going to the library and gathering copies of them as well as any similar books that catch your eye on the shelf. Then you can spend an hour or two comparing them to see which might best serve your needs. It's going to take you far longer to actually master the contents, so a couple of hours is nothing if it helps you find the right book for you.
# Answer
> 3 votes
The font aspect is a rant, not a question; take that up with the publishers. (I don't think I've especially noticed it, but I have a wide tolerance range. It could be worse, it could be dot-matrix.)
For the rest: "Graduate texts" are written with the assumption that the reader already has a fairly sophisticated understanding of the subject and the symbology/shorthands/jargon it uses. They're also often intended to be reference material that supplements a class, rather than tutorial material readable by itself... "prescriptive rather than descriptive". Different audience, different needs, different focus, more context is assumed so informational density can be higher and presented more rigorously.
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Tags: books
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thread-29334
|
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29334
|
Can a PhD student transfer to another graduate school after advancing to candidacy?
|
2014-10-03T03:11:39.017
|
# Question
Title: Can a PhD student transfer to another graduate school after advancing to candidacy?
I am in a PhD program in mathematics, and I am in my last year in the program. This is the last year that they will fund me for. If I need more time, I will either need to pay the tuition on my own, or not complete my degree.
I feel that my advisor and department do not support me well. I am not going to go into the details, but if I had known better, I should have left with a Master's three years ago and applied for another PhD program. **I was wondering how feasible it would be to re-apply into a PhD program at another institution.** Keep in mind that I am entering my sixth year into the program, and I've already passed to candidacy. I realize that this may look bad on my part, that I've stayed at my own institution and at the last moment decided to leave. I am looking for advice and thoughts on this.
I realize that the reasonable thing to do would be to stick it out in my own program and try to finish, and if that doesn't work, then possibly try to apply somewhere else. One of my professors told me that it may be just as hard for me to get a postdoc as it is for me to be accepted into another PhD program. So I am curious if anyone has any experience with a similar situation. The reason why I am considering re-applying to grad school is that I feel that I may thrive at a different institution and have a better possibility of landing a postdoc or an academic job if I started all over.
# Answer
Unfortunately, it's probably not feasible to start over elsewhere in the near future. You can certainly try applying, and it might work out, especially if you have a really compelling explanation. However, I think the chances are slim.
The basic question is how much progress towards a thesis you have made during your six years in grad school. If you're close to finishing, then nobody will think it makes sense to start over from scratch in the same subfield (or even a related one). At that point, you're not genuinely starting over, but just extending your time in grad school beyond six years. In particular, continuing in a similar area will come across as a request for another school to provide the additional funding your current university won't give you, and that won't sound like a good use of money. Most schools wouldn't give their own students a seventh year of funding, so why would they give it to a student from another university?
On the other hand, if you aren't close to finishing after six years, then starting over might make sense, but your track record will look bad. You'll need to present a powerful argument for why you'll do much better the second time around. In particular, there are people who have strong backgrounds and excellent grades but somehow don't end up succeeding at research, and the admissions committee will worry that you may fall into that category. Taking a chance on a fresh graduate student will seem like a much better bet than admitting someone who has already spent six years in graduate school but been unable to finish.
So basically you're stuck. Either you are too far along for starting over to make sense, or you have a track record of failure.
Of course it's difficult to say without knowing more about your specific situation, but I'd guess your best chances lie in two possibilities:
1. Even if you don't get admitted now, you might fare better in a few years. As your previous time in graduate school fades into the past, you can try to make a case that you have increased perspective and maturity and a renewed desire to get a Ph.D. in math. I don't know how likely this is to work, but at least it gives you a chance to explain that you have changed since your first attempt at grad school.
2. You could try radically changing your research area. For example, from algebraic geometry to bioinformatics. Of course this depends on being able to make a good argument for your change of interests. You have to really demonstrate that you've finally figured out what you want to do, in the face of skepticism (many people will assume you are just flailing about looking for any chance to try something new). However, it gives you a ready-made explanation for what went wrong the first time: you were trying to do something that in the end just wasn't suited to your interests and talents, but you've discovered that this new topic is a much better fit.
Whatever approach you take, I expect it will be difficult to get admitted. It can't hurt to try, but I wouldn't get your hopes up. My gut feeling is that it would be easier to try to finish your Ph.D. and then salvage your career (but of course I don't know enough about your situation to say that with any confidence).
> 14 votes
# Answer
While this does not answer your stated question, I think it is important to point out that **the end of the normal enrollment period is not the end of the road**. At a research university, it is often accepted that some students will, for reasons possibly beyond their control, require longer time to finish a degree than typically envisioned. And schools are often willing to accommodate this by offering special enrollment status to these ABD candidates, often at reduced tuition rates, and at effectively part-time or in absentia physical presence, which would allow you to continue towards finishing your graduate degree while at the same time holding on to an external job.
I do not know how close you are toward finishing your dissertation, but I will assume here that
1. You have completed all coursework requirements.
2. You are well into the process of writing your dissertation.
3. By "last year in the program" you meant the last year in the standard program length and not the last year in the standard program length + any additional special terminal status.
Under such assumptions you may want to contact the graduate school of your university to see if they offer anything similar to
* Princeton's DCE status which gives up to two years of additional enrollment past the regular period at a heavily discounted tuition rate.
* Princeton's ET/DCC status where you are actually not enrolled as a graduate student. But you get a little extra time during which you are expected to keep in touch with your advisor and finish your dissertation on your own. In particular, you will not get charged tuition at all.
* Stanford's TGR status in which you remain enrolled but at a reduce tuition rate.
---
I should also remark that while the job market has not yet rebounded entirely to the pre-2008 glory, it has improved sufficiently that this year I saw some advertisements for teaching positions that are willing to take ABD students if will complete their dissertation within one year of the start date. So if you are really close to finishing, but just need a little bit more time, you should consider that as an option.
> 8 votes
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Tags: phd, graduate-admissions, transfer-student
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thread-16970
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/16970
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Is it appropriate to guess page numbers of a book from its translated version?
|
2014-02-14T12:45:11.087
|
# Question
Title: Is it appropriate to guess page numbers of a book from its translated version?
Short: It's easy to find bibliographical info, but how to guess page numbers?
I'm writing a paper in English. I want to cite certain book, originally published in French. It is translated to English and Russian. I own a Russian translation. I'd like to reference English translation. I don't have access to other language versions and I'm not going to purchase them.
# Answer
Regarding your original question, if you have access to a Russian translation and you want to cite the English translation, but you do not have access to the English translation, then you really need to focus on citing what you have access to.
Now, I understand it turns out you do have access to the English version as stated in your answer but for future reference, you should not cite a version of a text you do not have acces to. The reasons are more than simply that you don't know the page numbers. It is possible that there is a problem in the Russian translation but the English version does not have that problem. Likewise the opposite could be true. Basically, the two versions could be slightly but meaningfully different. Because of this possibility, you should only cite what you have access to. Otherwise, cite through a third-party "Jones wrote in 2001 (cited in Simpson, 2005)."
> 13 votes
# Answer
You should cite the version you have available, since section numbering, pagination etc. can get shifted. The proper way to do it is to simply cite both, for instance:
> \[Doe06\] John Doe. *Prostory.* Nakladatelsví XYZ, Prague, 2010, 512 pp. Translation of: John Doe. *Spaces.* Publisher ABC, New York, 2006, 480 pp.
This way, the citation contains the necessary information, and this is completely acceptable. Second option is to make it two citations:
> \[Doe06\] John Doe. *Spaces.* Publisher ABC, New York, 2006, 480 pp.
>
> \[Doe10\] John Doe. *Prostory.* Nakladatelsví XYZ, Prague, 2010, 512 pp. Translation of \[Doe06\].
> 6 votes
# Answer
After expressing my question, I understood that I can find the English translation in Google Books and look into contents with page numbers. So I can have references like `(1998, 36-67)`. Actually I can even search within a book, so I can find exact page numbers for the passages referenced.
> 4 votes
# Answer
Don't cite page numbers, **cite chapter and section numbers**. They won't change irrespective of the translation. Also they are less likely to change after small corrections in reprints.
> 4 votes
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Tags: citations, translations
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thread-29343
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29343
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If co-instructors gave different syllabi with different grading schemes, is this generally considered a valid reason to challenge grade?
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2014-10-03T06:39:42.147
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# Question
Title: If co-instructors gave different syllabi with different grading schemes, is this generally considered a valid reason to challenge grade?
Summary: I am a STEM graduate student taking a soon-ending class that was divided into 3 parts each under different professors, Alice, Bob and Carol.
There is a conflict in the grading schemes set forth by the different professors' syllabuses (plural). Omitting most of the details as being too specific, the result is that one syllabus will grade more harshly than the other, and that is the syllabus that they are proposing to use for the final grades.
Given my current grade, I will pass the course either way. That said, I believe I can make a case that the professors should follow the more generous grading scheme, which would benefit me significantly. Is conflicting grading schemes across different syllabi generally considered a valid reason to challenge a grade?
# Answer
The majority of the question's text concerns minutiae about syllabi and percentages that are unlikely to be of interest to anyone except the OP. The question would be significantly improved by eliding / summarizing this information and concentrating on the core question:
> What happens when multiple, conflicting syllabi are given out for the same course? Does the student have a legitimate grievance when one syllabus is being followed but not the other, at the expense of his grade?
I think these are reasonable questions for our site.
My answer to the first question is: **yikes**. Three different instructors for the same course, three different syllabi, and one of the instructors (the chair!) does not even know about both of the other syllabi? What a mess. In general having courses taught by more than one faculty member makes things harder and necessitates much more explicit, advanced planning. This course does not sound well-planned. As soon as you get talk about which syllabus is more "official" than the others, things are not going well. I don't think there is a standard, easy answer to this question, and I don't see any coherent answer which does not admit mistakes on the part of the faculty. On the other hand I wonder why this issue did not come up earlier in the course: on the first day of class every student was in possession of two contradictory syllabi and no one noticed? I find that curious and am not sure what to make of it.
My answer to the second question is: **yes**, I think so. If you show up to some higher administrative official with two syllabi in hand and say that you want to be held to the standard of the syllabus you were given first, you have a good shot at getting some traction on this. However I would encourage you to try to resolve the matter as non-combatively as possible: if you are a graduate student in the program, getting the chair chewed out by (say) her dean *is* likely to have some effect on your course grade, but it may have other, less pleasant effects down the line. I would begin by doing what you have already done: clearly pointing out the discrepancy between the two syllabi and the significant effect it may/will have on your course grade. You should indicate that you proceeded in the course with an understanding based on the first syllabus that you received and that you would like this to be taken into account in the course grade. Give them a chance to do this for you before you escalate the situation.
Finally, the business about the 75 belonging to two grade ranges: in my opinion you look petty by bringing that up at all (look at the reaction your question has received). The purpose of the grading system being spelled out in advance is for students to be sure they are treated fairly and to be able to have some rough means of predicting what kind of performance will lead to what kind of grade. There is nothing that you or any student would have done differently if 75 belongs to one grade range rather than the other. I agree with other commenters who said that the time you spent complaining about that would be better spent learning the material and improving your performance in the course. Mixing legitimate, serious grading concerns with "grade-grubbing" is not a good strategy.
> 7 votes
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Tags: coursework, grades, grading, syllabus
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thread-29363
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29363
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Who is earning money when users buy access to a research article?
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2014-10-03T16:20:53.693
|
# Question
Title: Who is earning money when users buy access to a research article?
I'm a software engineer, but I used to have to read a lot of papers about neurology. I am slightly disappointed by the high price for access to the full text of research papers. I can understand a pharmaceutical company could pay that amount of money, but I don't think private people can afford to pay $30 for reading a paper.
Does the money from article sales go to the researchers, the journals or somewhere else?
# Answer
Regardless of political considerations, the answer to your question is that **publishing companies** are collecting the revenue from subscriptions and individual article sales. Some publishers are commercial operations, some are non-profit (such as the American Institute of Physics).
The price you pay at this time is related only to the publishing process (organization of submission process and peer-review, typesetting, archival strategies, printing, administration, etc.) and all other aspects of a commercial company including, of course, a margin. Some people have strong opinions about what this margin should be.
The *actual research* is paid for by other means, including government grants, university salaries, non-profit and foundation grants, funding from commercial companies, etc. If you had to pay for the actual research behind a given paper, chances are it would cost you something closer to 30k $.
There are various other business models for publishing, some where the whole process is paid for by an institution, and is thus free for both authors and readers, some where authors have to pay to publish, etc.
There are important aspects in keeping money out of the editorial board - publisher - reviewers - authors relationship, because it reduces the risk of conflicts of interest (although author-pay open-access advocates think otherwise).
Options to obtain scientific papers without paying (yourself) include: going to the library of your local institution, checking out pre-print servers and government-sponsored repositories or ultimately, contacting the authors to obtain electronic copies. More on that subject in this useful thread.
> 36 votes
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Tags: journals, publishers, fees
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thread-29353
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29353
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Poster - should I send the file to all my collaborators?
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2014-10-03T11:30:54.513
|
# Question
Title: Poster - should I send the file to all my collaborators?
I'm a PhD student and I prepared a poster for a conference. Do you think I should send the poster file to all the co-authors? The list is quite long so I mailed the draft only to a few of them.
# Answer
Yes. Everybody who is listed as an author should see and be able to contribute to the poster. You wouldn't want to be listed as an author of a work that you have never seen either, right?
> 15 votes
# Answer
Completely agree with xLeitix's answer:
> Everybody who is listed as an author should see and be able to contribute to the poster.
Also, if it is a big file (assuming your poster is heavy on graphics) perhaps it is best to upload it to dropbox or a similar service and then send the link to all the authors. Depending on their (and your) digital fluency, the team can refine the document right from dropbox without having to send email back and forth.
> 0 votes
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Tags: phd, etiquette, poster
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thread-29360
|
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29360
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Should I mention my co-authors while tweeting about our publications?
|
2014-10-03T16:11:24.993
|
# Question
Title: Should I mention my co-authors while tweeting about our publications?
Assume we have a paper published in a conference or journal. Should I mention my co-authors while posting some content of the paper (or just paper's link) on Twitter or Facebook?
Let's assume I am aware of their Twitter or Facebook accounts.
# Answer
It would be a polite thing to do to at least link the co-authors, for example, something along the lines of:
> Paper title, paper link, #co-author
It also depends on the amount of space available in your tweet - their names will be written on the paper itself in any case. At the very least, let them know that you are tweeting/posting the link/paper, which would give them an opportunity to retweet/share it.
> 7 votes
# Answer
Having trouble considering so many coauthors with 140 characters? Link to the paper, which lists the coauthors. #winningatacademia
> 7 votes
# Answer
I would mention your co-authors, but check with them about how they want to be "linked". Even if they have a Twitter or Facebook account, they may no longer use it, or they may use it for personal contacts only.
> 6 votes
# Answer
Agree with Omen.
Also add the following:
If you shorten the URL of your work (using bitly.com or something similar) and "twitterfy" the title (perhaps make a hashtag combining a few select words from your title and the subject e.g. #semweb\_info\_integration\_newway), you should be able to cite at least 5 or 6 twitter handles easily. I am not sure facebook is a good idea, considering (IMHO) for a lot of people it is more of a personal medium.
> 2 votes
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Tags: etiquette, collaboration, social-media
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thread-29376
|
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29376
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How to contact author whose work I built off of?
|
2014-10-03T18:34:35.603
|
# Question
Title: How to contact author whose work I built off of?
I'm working on a manuscript for a scientific paper that alters/adds onto what another study found over 20 years ago. This old study is highly cited and the graphs are reproduced in a lot of textbooks, but my study says that the old data isn't the whole story. In part of my manuscript I compare my data to that in the old study and I'd like to include a graphical comparison. How do I contact the authors of the old study and ask for permission to reproduce their graph? Do I tell them about my study? Do I let them read my manuscript?
# Answer
> 5 votes
It's appropriate to contact the authors, particularly if they are still active researchers. Before sending them the manuscript or telling the entire story, perhaps ask if they would be willing to keep your results confidential until publication.
As far as formal permission to reproduce their graph, it's very likely that the authors don't hold the copyright. Most authors sign over copyright to the publisher, so you may have to query them. Even so, it would be polite and advisable to notify the authors that you are planning to reproduce a piece of their work for comparison.
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Tags: publications, etiquette, collaboration
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thread-29380
|
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29380
|
How To Volunteer Research Assistant?
|
2014-10-03T19:23:38.260
|
# Question
Title: How To Volunteer Research Assistant?
I am a community college student in Computer Science field who likes to have good resume when I want to transfer to university, I found out this is very useful if I start to work in particular area in my field like Machine Learning, Security, Algorithm, ...and start to work with other professors in this field area like they who publish paper and conference, I couldn't find any professor in community college who works and researches in a serious field, I found out research and research assistant is not part of community college and you have to look for that in university then I started to send emails to other professors in different universities like UC and CSU and ask for volunteer research assistant but I didn't receive any useful response, some of them told me they will let me know if something shows up and other didn't answer me. Now I am getting disappointment because they don't want to give a chance to a college student because I am studying in community college but I want to know is this a common way I am doing if yes how is the correct way to do this?
# Answer
> 1 votes
Disclaimer: The opinions I'm about to express are based on my experience in mechanical engineering, as an undergraduate research assistant, a master's student, and currently a PhD student. I'm quite confident that what I'm about to say should apply to Computer Science as well, but if I am incorrect, then I apologize in advance.
First of all, it is good to see that you are motivated about research. You seem to be interested in fields that are very active today (I know quite a few colleagues that are working on machine learning for instance). Your curiosity and interest in advanced fields are admirable.
Now what you need to know, is that most professors (in my experience), hire undergraduate level research assistants with the prospect that they'll pursue graduate studies afterwards. The reason being, most fields of research are far fetched compared to the knowledge typically available at 2nd - 3rd year level, so you have to spend quite a bit of time reading literature, and your supervising professor will need to dedicate a lot of his time guiding you through it. Moreover, research methodology is very heuristic, and requires experience, because you have to solve open-ended problems. That means there is no solution in a book somewhere that you can look up. So the whole exercise is to train your mind to see a possible path to a solution that you might arrive at after months of work, with occasional milestones that tell you that you're on the right track. So this means that after months, your supervisor may have dedicated long hours of his time supervising you and have nothing to show for in return. The only consolation is if a student plans to stick around for a master's, then it makes sense to invest the time required, because you will have learnt a lot out of this process.
As a community college student, it may not be clear to the people you're contacting that this is your aim. This is due to the fact that most people view community college training as job training, not so much education that could lead to a field of research. As a matter of fact not even undergraduate studies train you for research, which would make the prospective supervisor even more hesitant. You may need to prove to them that you have a path in mind such that you can satisfy the university's admissions requirements for graduate students if it comes to that.
From what you've said in your OP, I can infer that you feel insulted because you are offering free work, and yet nobody seems to be interested. That is noble of you, but for the reasons I stated above, as far as they're concerned, statistically speaking you're likely to be more effort that benefit.
Another aspect that I'd like to touch on is the fact that your grammar is not adequate based on what is expected in academia. I'm making this assumption based on your original post, so I may be wrong if you simply wrote it in a hurry, but if your contact e-mails with the researchers were anything like it, it suggests that they'll have a difficult time communicating with you, and that is another headache for them. A big part of research is being able to communicate your work to people who are from your field, from other fields, and requires nuanced language to express subtleties that exist in most advanced scientific and technological fields. I know it doesn't seem important, but it truly is. You're expected to leave some sort of record of your methodology, present it at conferences, submit to scientific journals, and write grant proposals for which grammar and format is an easy way to dismiss applications at a time when research budgets are getting tighter.
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Tags: research-process, university, research-assistantship
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thread-29384
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29384
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Why are grant indirect costs so high?
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2014-10-03T21:05:37.350
|
# Question
Title: Why are grant indirect costs so high?
I am preparing an NSF grant proposal in mathematics. I am requesting summer salary and a travel budget (and not much else), and after I compute the total I have to add an extra 50% of it and add it as the "indirect costs" of my proposed research.
This feels absurd to me (although it is the same, sometimes with an even higher rate, everywhere in the United States) -- especially since I do not require any special facilities or equipment to conduct my work. Is there a convincing argument to be made that this is reasonable?
# Answer
You can take a more birds-eye view of the question.
Recall that the main purpose of the NSF is to support part of the public policy interests of the U.S. government. Here is a quote from "NSF at a glance":
> NSF's goals--discovery, learning, research infrastructure and stewardship--provide an integrated strategy to advance the frontiers of knowledge, cultivate a world-class, broadly inclusive science and engineering workforce and expand the scientific literacy of all citizens, build the nation's research capability through investments in advanced instrumentation and facilities, and support excellence in science and engineering research and education through a capable and responsive organization.
As the NSF says on the same page,
> We fulfill our mission chiefly by issuing limited-term grants -- currently about 11,000 new awards per year, with an average duration of three years -- to fund specific research proposals that have been judged the most promising by a rigorous and objective merit-review system.
It is true that indirect costs on a grant don't directly support costs of research - that's why they're "indirect costs". But they do support the national research *infrastructure* by passing additional funding to institutions that show merit by winning competitive grant funding. The indirect funding helps these institutions provide a research environment not only to the researchers who are awarded grants, but also to other researchers and students.
Supporting the overall national research infrastructure is certainly a reasonable part of the public policy goals of the NSF, and the indirect costs system is not the worst way I can think of to decide which institutions will receive such funding. Of course, there are also equipment grants and other specialized NSF grants, which also help support the national research capacity.
> 6 votes
# Answer
The indirect costs help to pay for all of the other resources you have access to which are not directly paid for by other costs. For instance, these indirect costs help to pay for administrative assistants, information technology, library subscriptions, utilities, and other costs.
They can also go to pay for the costs of administrators (including the fine folks in your university grants and contracts office who actually submit your NSF proposal).
Whether or not the rate is reasonable for *your* university is hard to judge, but a 50% overhead rate overall is not that excessive. Compare that to industry or the US national laboratories, where the overhead rate can exceed **200%**, and things don't look so bad in comparison.
> 16 votes
# Answer
> Is there a convincing argument to be made that this is reasonable?
One answer is no, it's not based on any real accounting. Indirect cost rates were negotiated individually by universities in the early days of federal research funding in the U.S., and they are very difficult to change now (because many funding agencies have to coordinate on these rates). Some universities genuinely have different costs, for example due to location, while others just negotiated more aggressively. There's little rational basis to it, so you can't hope for a detailed breakdown that indicates exactly why it should cost this amount.
On the other hand, the indirect costs are not meant to cover just special facilities or equipment (in fact, those would be direct costs). They are meant to cover office space, library access, computer infrastructure, administrative support, etc. These are all rather expensive, and taking these costs into account could very plausibly increase the total by more than 50%. So even though the numbers aren't arrived at by adding up actual costs, they really aren't crazy.
> 10 votes
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Tags: funding, nsf
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thread-29326
|
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29326
|
What should I state for "expected salary" in a tenure-track job application?
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2014-10-02T22:31:39.437
|
# Question
Title: What should I state for "expected salary" in a tenure-track job application?
I am applying to a tenure-track assistant professor job in an applied math department, for which the job posting states
> Applicants should state their current and expected salary in the application.
Questions:
* Why does the department ask for "expected salary"? Is it because they are trying to exploit my naiveté?
* What number should I state in my application? If I state a number that is on the low side, will they use that to offer me a lower salary?
At the moment, I am thinking of just stating my estimate of the mean salary for new assistant professors at math departments, which according to a Tenured/Tenure-Track Faculty Salaries Survey is $71,412.
# Answer
> 34 votes
I feel it's kind of obnoxious to ask for an expected salary, and it does raise issues of whether the answer could be used to lower the initial offer (or decrease the applicant's negotiating power). I don't see anything wrong with giving a vague answer or just saying you are flexible. If you specify a number, you should try to choose one that's representative of the type of school you are applying to, as Danny W. suggests.
As for why they do it, one reason is that salaries vary enormously. A regional liberal arts college may pay less than half as much as a leading research university. Some U.S. states scandalously underfund their state universities, so there can be dramatic salary differences between what you'd think are comparable institutions. The net effect is that schools that aren't able to pay a lot worry about attracting candidates who have no idea how little they pay. They don't want to waste time trying to hire someone who will never accept any amount they could plausibly offer. One way to get around that is to announce a salary range. However, some departments are hesitant to do that, perhaps because they don't want to publicly emphasize how little money they get (and thereby humiliate themselves or discourage applicants). Instead, they ask for an expected salary and filter out anyone who names a figure far out of their range. I don't like it, but it seems to work well enough that departments keep doing it.
# Answer
> 6 votes
If it's a public university, look up the local/regional salary website that covers it (like the Texas Tribune site). Record the names and salaries for all of the Assistant Professors in that department. Estimate via Google search when each of them started at the university in question. Add a year (since the salary sites are usually a year out of date). Assume 2%/year annual raise. Work backwards to their starting salaries. Decide where you think you would rank among the tenure-track professors if you were all starting at the same time, and pick that percentile among the salaries and submit it. If public data isn't available for the university you are applying to, model a similar university in a similar town that does have data available, and then adjust for cost of living.
This is an applied math problem *par excellence*. You best option is to use your skills to predict a reliable answer.
# Answer
> 5 votes
If you want to take the safe approach, it may help to choose the mean assistant professor salary for the kind of school you are applying to, and where the school is: a state school in Wyoming will have a lower average assistant professor salary than a private research-level school in Cambridge, MA, for example.
And, although I haven't been on the job market, I know (from discussion with my adviser about this question) that while this may be a factor, others are more important: how much does the department want you and what your other offers are, being two of the biggest.
# Answer
> 2 votes
Taking the numbers from higheredjobs.com, you'll see that there is considerable variation across types of institutions- the number you quoted was for "research universities", while "doctoral universities" was a separate classification with a lower average salary. The survey also didn't distinguish between private universities and public universities (salaries at top private universities are considerably higher.)
The American Mathematical Society also publishes an annual salary survey that I'd encourage you to examine. The AMS numbers actually show higher starting salaries at the most prestigious research universities (over $80K), but also show much smaller starting salaries at the bachelors and masters level institutions where most of the jobs are. I think this AMS survey is more reflective of the variation in salaries than the CUPA survey that higheredjobs.com reports.
I also searched AMS's web site for job ads that featured this requirement. There were five such ads, Two were for positions outside of the US (where these salary surveys aren't meaningful.) One position is for a department chair (an administrative job that these salary surveys don't cover.) One position is for a postdoc. The last ad is for a named associate professorship (an endowed chair) where the department will be looking to hire talent away from other departments.
Asking candidates for a more senior level position (department chair or the named professorship) what their salary demands are is a reasonable thing to do- you don't want to waste everyone's time interviewing someone who is already much better paid than you can afford. It makes a lot less sense when you're talking about an entry level tenure track position where most of your candidates are applying from temporary positions (VAP or postdoc.)
# Answer
> 2 votes
Just write negotiable. That's it. Then negotiate when the time comes.
As a rule, I avoid salary discussions before an offer. If asked, I answer that I'm flexible and I'm confident we could come up with a mutually agreeable figure. Then I move on and start asking questions about the job.
# Answer
> 1 votes
It's easy for me to say this, since I'm not applying, but I simply wouldn't list anything. There's always some risk when leaving out a part of the application that someone is very bureaucratically minded, but I think in this case, the chance is pretty small. It's very hard for me to imagine the conversation in the hiring meeting going: "This application looks very promising." "But it doesn't list his/her current salary. Well, in the trash it goes!"
It'll be trickier if someone directly contacts you, points out that you missed this and asks you to clarify. At some point, if you decide getting the job is more important than optimizing your salary, you may have to just tell them. I personally find this a pretty insane request, though.
# Answer
> 1 votes
Q.1: The dept wants to know whether you have realistic expectations about compensation for this position. Trying for \>$20k over median for entry level position for institution of this type/location may raise eyebrows.
Yes, they are also trying to exploit an applicant's naiveté (although obviously this should not be taken personally). In particular, a reasonably low figure might suggest to them that salary will be a non-issue. If their resources and room for negotiation for this position are tight, it might tell them which applicant may be worth their time and which might not be worth a significant investment of time if their offer is likely to be out-matched by another institution.
Q.2: If the number was not used at all, it would likely not have been part of the application. So most likely, a very low "self-appraisal" might yield a lower offer.
That said, it does not necessarily mean you should *not* be modest in your self-appraisal. It is unlikely that your final decision will be solely based on salary. Money only matters when you don't have any. As soon as you have a sufficient amount, other things kick in and shape the quality of life. Friendly colleagues in the department. Overall budget situation at the university and on the state level, and projections for the next 5-10 years. Location, amenities, recreation opportunities, and cost of living in the area. How long you plan to stick around at this institution (keep in mind the likelihood of raises, which over 5 years can lift a salary to a level higher than what you may be shooting for now, risking rejecting offers that might not be quite up there from yr1). Good luck and hope this helps.
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Tags: job-search, tenure-track, salary
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thread-29403
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29403
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Should I publish this?
|
2014-10-04T09:25:00.547
|
# Question
Title: Should I publish this?
In the year 2000, someone probed the 3 dimensional quantum dots using a new condition which is important in semi conductor physics. But they basically solved the Schrodinger equation for ground state and discussed the consequences.
I have extended their work for general case , i.e, one can calculate "higher" state energy using those calculations. Also, I have pictured how the wave function looks like at higher states.
But I think that I have done just Math & some computations.
> My query is : Is this result publishable owing to the fact that I am a Junior year student and I did this work without any adviser.
# Answer
> 7 votes
As it is mentioned in the comments, we have no access to your paper to determine whether it is a perfect paper to be published or the content is of value to be published. Also, reviewing papers are off-topic to this website.
But, if you are looking for answers regarding `[you are] a Junior year student and I did this work without any adviser`; my answer will be **YES**.
There is no obligation for anybody to send his paper for a journal to be peer-reviewed or even to publish his research. The content of the paper is more important than the education level of their writers.
However, I would recommend you to show your research paper to a faculty member. He will review your paper scientifically besides to the review he will do on the academic writing of your paper.
Also, if you want to apply for a masters or PhD program or even if you are seeking for a job; you will need recommendation letters from the faculty members (and showing your paper to a professor is one way to show that you are eligible to get one). The professor whom you will show your paper to may be so glad to write one for his smart student who has worked upon Schrödinger's equation.
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Tags: publications, journals, mathematics, research-undergraduate, physics
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thread-29373
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29373
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What is the average teaching load for tenure faculty in mathematics?
|
2014-10-03T18:00:14.380
|
# Question
Title: What is the average teaching load for tenure faculty in mathematics?
I am interested in Math, specifically pure Math, in the USA. I will be on the job market soon for a tenure track position and mathjobs ads usually do not specify the teaching load.
What is the average teaching load of tenured faculty (in pure math say) at a research university? (and let's say we are talking about faculty members who are still very much research active)
I've met faculty who teaches 1+1 (or even 0+0...), 2+1 or even 2+2. But I don't have a good general picture of how much teaching is done (partly because I haven't studied in the US).
# Answer
In mathematics departments at U.S. research universities, typical teaching loads are 1+2 or 2+2, with 1+2 being common at fancier or better funded schools. See this chart for some data; I don't know how accurate it is, but it looks approximately right to me. 1+1 is not absolutely unheard of, but it is very rare. Of course what counts as a "research university" is unclear, and some places that consider themselves research universities may have 2+3 loads, but I don't think any of the more prestigious research universities have 2+3.
Of course there are a lot of other factors that come into teaching load. How much flexibility is there in the course assignments? How does the teaching credit differ between huge lecture courses and small graduate seminars? How many people (if any) get a reduced teaching load? Does the department allow faculty to buy out of teaching using grant funds? Without answers to questions like these, a numerical comparison of teaching loads only tells you so much. What I'd recommend is that you apply for every job you might plausibly want, and then once you start to get interviews or offers you can look into the teaching conditions at these schools in detail.
> 14 votes
# Answer
> I don't have a good general picture of how much teaching is done (partly because I haven't studied in the US
A **lot** of teaching is done. It is easy to get the impression, when talking with faculty from the relatively small number of research institutions, that there is little teaching. But most institutions in the U.S. are not research institutions, and most institutions have teaching as their primary mission.
A two-course-per-semester load would be viewed as extremely light at most institutions; three to four courses per semester is common in mathematics departments at the university level. Higher loads are common at the community college level.
When applying for positions, one of the easiest *faux pas* to make is to try to negotiate an unrealistically low teaching load. It is unlikely that a school will give a new tenure-track professor a load significantly different than the existing ones have. But they will view the request as as a sign the applicant hasn't done their research, or a sign the applicant will not be a good fit.
So you want to know the typical load at a school as soon as possible in the interview process, preferably before you apply. When investigating the typical teaching load at a school, there are several important things to ask about:
### Do they count courses, or do they count hours?
The "N + M" system of counting loads is not universal. Many schools count loads by the credit hour. In these schools, a 12-hour-per semester load is viewed as high, and not compatible with much research -- essentially a 4+4 load. But if the school has courses that are more than 3 credit hours, a 12-hour load might be a 3+3 load. In mathematics, the three calculus courses are often 4-hour (or even 5-hour) courses, and sometimes so is differential equations or linear algebra. You have to research this on a school-by-school basis. Schools with loads higher than 12 hours per semester are unlikely to require any research, but I have heard of some teaching-only schools with 15-hour (or higher) loads (e.g. community colleges).
To find out the "real" teaching load, look up the schedule of classes for the fall and spring and count how many courses the existing tenure track faculty are teaching.
### Do they have "research releases" to reduce teaching loads?
Only the best research schools will guarantee a light teaching load. Many schools have a uniform, heavy load for everyone - but then give "research release time" to reduce the teaching load of faculty who are active in research.
This was true even at the highly ranked institution where I did my PhD - the default load was used mainly for older faculty who were no longer active in research, while the lighter load was used for research active faculty. Research releases have become common even at non-research-intensive schools that want to increase their research profile. In almost all cases, they are not written into the contract, and are handled by a separate policy. So you also have to investigate these on a school-by-school basis.
For example, at my institution the default load is 12 hours per semester, which is typical for this type of institution. But research active faculty receive a reduction to 8-9 hours per semester. Several freshman and sophomore level classes, including precalculus, calculus, and others are 4-hour or 5-hour classes. So, depending on the way the course schedules turn out, the 12-hour load is often a 3+3 load, and the 8-9 hour load can be a 2-2, 2-3, or 3-3 load. For me, this is a quite reasonable load which allows me to publish regularly as well as teach several courses.
Some schools that otherwise have a high teaching load give a research release for first-year faculty, to give them a chance to write up the results of their dissertation and publish those.
### How often do you get a sabbatical?
A sabbatical is a semester or year of modified duties, typically with no teaching.
Some institutions guarantee a sabbatical before tenure, which can help offset a higher teaching load. The main examples I've seen of this are small liberal arts colleges. At other institutions, you will never get a sabbatical before tenure (e.g. regional public universities). So you need to investigate the sabbatical policy, as well, because a semester or year of no teaching significantly affects your average teaching load in the surrounding years.
### Is there a good balance?
The final question about teaching load is whether there is a balance between the amount of teaching and research you would like to do, the amount of teaching and research you are expected to do, and the amount of teaching and research you are able to do with the teaching load at the institution. Low teaching loads, on their own, are not a guarantee of happiness!
> 10 votes
# Answer
Teaching loads of 1+2 or 2+2 (where the courses are 3 credit hour semester courses) are typical of the better research universities. Some institutions do weird things like the quarter system or semester courses that are 4 credit hours, but there are ways to adjust for this.
Teaching loads of 3+3 or even 4+4 are quite common at regional comprehensive universities and liberal arts colleges. Keep in mind that most tenure track faculty positions are going to have those kinds of higher teaching loads.
If I were looking at teaching loads and comparing positions, I'd also be looking at the types of courses that I'd have to teach and the size/format of the classes. For example, I have a 2+3 teaching load, but I get to teach small junior/senior/graduate level courses for science/engineering/math majors in my areas of interest. I'd rather have this teaching load than a 2+2 load where 3 courses per year were large sections of freshmen calculus for business majors and I only got to teach one upper division course per year in my area.
> 9 votes
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Tags: teaching, mathematics, united-states, tenure-track
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thread-29405
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29405
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What should have capital cases in the title of works in the bibliography?
|
2014-10-04T12:45:58.790
|
# Question
Title: What should have capital cases in the title of works in the bibliography?
According to this answer it is a feature that BibTeX converts all characters to lower case for titles in the bibliography. This is confusing for me. What characters in the titles I cite should be upper case?
Here is a screenshot were I marked all characters that I would have written uppercase:
(The first 'r' in recognition was a mistake)
So I think I should write everything in capital that I would write in capital in a normal English sentence. Is that correct?
# Answer
> 5 votes
It depends on the citation style. Basically there are two possibilities: title case, or normal English sentence style.
If you are writing for a journal, it surely has a citation style that you should adhere to. In practice, however, the style of citations won't really matter until the time your paper is accepted, so you do not need to worry about it when writing. If you are writing for yourself, you are free to decide as you prefer, as long as you are consistent. If you are writing a thesis, be sure to inquire because some OCD university committee might have imposed requirements.
Bibtex is essentially a program to abstract out citation styles and apply them programmatically, separating content (in the `.bib` file) from formatting. Using a properly formatted `.bib` file, you just need the command `\bibliographystyle{}` to change from a style to the other.
So, how should the title field be formatted in a properly-written `.bib` file? Like this:
`title = {Handwriting Recognition with Hidden {M}arkov models and Grammatical Constraints}`
Basically you use title case and embed into a pair of braces the characters that should stay in capital even if the text is converted to sentence case. Bibtex can convert automatically title case to sentence case (but not vice versa). Commands for diacritics and special characters (such as `\"a` or `\c{c}`) and dollar-delimited formulas should also go inside an extra pair of braces.
Incidentally, another tricky aspect of Bibtex syntax is author name formatting. Authors should be in the format
`author = {von Lastname1, Firstname1 Middle and Lastname2 jr., Firstname2}`
or, if full given names are not available,
`author = {von Lastname1, F. M. and Lastname2 jr., F.}`
Note that 90% of the bibtex files that you will find on the internet, even the ones from the publishers' websites, are badly formatted. Bibtex's syntax is quirky and complicated to get right.
# Answer
> 0 votes
Some journals use capital letters for All The Words In The Title. Some others (thinking about legacy systems) may put it ALL IN UPPERCASE or all in lowercase.
Really, the case of the letters is completely irrelevant for the reference itself, so it is understandable that BibTeX wants to give it all a coherent format. All in all:
> A. Einstein, The Foundations of General Relativity.
>
> A. EINSTEIN, THE FOUNDATIONS OF GENERAL RELATIVITY.
>
> A. Einstein, The foundations of General Relativity.
Are equally easy to find and unequivocally point to the same reference.
Note that in the comments to the linked question it is stated that the style may override this behaviour, using a different convention, or leaving it as written on the bib.
As always, general rules for English grammar apply:
* Proper names should be capitalised, so Markov is capital.
* Acronyms, like NPEN++, ought to be in all upercase.
* Academic disciplines (like Physics or Biology) should be. It is debatable if "pattern recognition" should be or not.
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Tags: citations
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thread-19298
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/19298
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Do people need to have their PhDs at Harvard to get tenure at MIT (and vice versa) in STEM fields?
|
2014-04-14T02:00:29.710
|
# Question
Title: Do people need to have their PhDs at Harvard to get tenure at MIT (and vice versa) in STEM fields?
My friends and I were just discussing about this question: do people need to have their PhDs at Harvard to get tenure at MIT (and vice versa) in STEM fields? I know theoretically, the answer is supposed to be *"No"*, and *"It depends on many other factors"*. But I just skimmed through MIT's Biology and Harvard's Biophysics department; it appears that those two giants only want to marry each other.
I wonder if there are are any detailed statistics of where faculty from H&M did their PhD and postdoc.
# Answer
> 1 votes
I have never sat on a tenure case at either Harvard or MIT, so my answer is purely conjecture. While it is possible the first thing the tenure committee does is look at where the PhD is from and throws out everyone not from Harvard/MIT, that seems very unlikely. Tenure decisions are about teaching, service, and research. At the point of tenure decisions, the school your PhD is from is essentially meaningless although there may be some correlation between research productivity and where your PhD is from any longer term causative effects are probably pretty limited.
Where the PhD is from plays some role on initial hiring at all universities and if you don't have a TT position it is much harder to get tenure. Additionally, where you work probably has some causative effect on research productivity giving Harvard and MIT PhDs additional advantages (or at least preventing disadvantages). Therefore it is not surprising that lots of tenured faculty have PhDs from Harvard and MIT.
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Tags: phd, job-search, job, tenure-track
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thread-29261
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29261
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What background is necessary to do research in computational linguistics?
|
2014-10-01T07:58:49.470
|
# Question
Title: What background is necessary to do research in computational linguistics?
I'm getting ready to enter graduate school, and I would like to do PhD-level research in computational linguistics and natural language processing. I know that these two fields are very interdisciplinary and draw on various subfields of linguistics, computer science, math, and statistics. I also know that research in comp ling and NLP is done in different departments at different schools, with some schools having it in the CS department, and some in the linguistics department.
Ideally, what background knowledge should someone have in order to do research in computational linguistics or natural language processing? Which areas of linguistics, computer science, math, and statistics are necessary or helpful in studying comp ling and NLP, and is there one field among those four which is overall more necessary than the others?
(Note: per this question from Linguistics.SE, the distinction between comp ling and NLP is pretty blurry, which is why I mention both in my question.)
# Answer
> 1 votes
Linguistics Ph.D. admissions is unusual in that no particular background is necessarily required. The reason is that many institutions do not offer a linguistics major, so the pool of linguistics majors is small. In addition, linguistics is highly interdisciplinary.
To answer your question more specifically, if you want to enter computational linguistics, some programming ability is essential. A bachelor's degree in any of the disciplines you mention may be sufficient. I would also add psychology, anthropology, and foreign language backgrounds as potential entry points for a linguistics Ph.D. You must also be prepared to learn statistics.
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Tags: phd, graduate-school, computer-science, linguistics
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thread-29256
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29256
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How to overcome a much earlier academic dismissal from undergraduate program in graduate admissions?
|
2014-10-01T04:13:45.833
|
# Question
Title: How to overcome a much earlier academic dismissal from undergraduate program in graduate admissions?
I am an international student from Korea and I have a very serious question while I am preparing for graduate school admissions.
I graduated from two years college with 2.8 GPA. After that, I went to a 4 year institution but got dismissed within three semesters due to insufficient GPA. (I was taking more than 18 credits hours because of my greed and exhausted). After the dismissal experience, I went to another 4 years institution without transferring the classes that I took from the 2nd school bur 1st school and graduated from there with 3.87 GPA. In total, I spent two years in two years college, three semesters in the 2nd institution, and 2 years in the third institution.
Now, after some teaching experience while and after my undergraduate degree, I decided to continue and develop my academic career in order for more experience and more effective teaching in a graduate school.
My question is that as I alluded to above, I have a dismissal record from my past school, and this makes me quite scared. What can I do to be wise on my application regarding this fact?
(Please, don't say that I must lie or hide my record because I don't want to take that risk, also that was part of myself and moment that I could learn a lot.)
# Answer
American perspective: Your question shows that you made a mistake, but you corrected it. Your mistake will probably be forgiven if you explain clearly what happened, how you learned from it, and how you will prevent it from occurring again. Include this as a brief statement in your application letter.
> 4 votes
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Tags: graduate-admissions, gpa
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thread-29111
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29111
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How can I migrate a library from Calibre to Zotero?
|
2014-09-28T16:25:40.437
|
# Question
Title: How can I migrate a library from Calibre to Zotero?
I've got a well organized Calibre library, but due to full text PDF search, web clipping and basic bibliography management, I decided to move to Zotero.
I can import .bib records easily, but is there a way to have them linked with corresponding PDFs?
# Answer
> 5 votes
Discussion here suggests that you can export a Calibre catalog as BibTeX
> click the arrow next to convert books and create a catalog in bibtex format. ... (you have to select at least 3 \[books\])
You can then import the BibTeX into Zotero. Whether that transfers PDFs, comments, and tags depends on the ability of Calibre to export that metadata (all of it is supported by BibTeX).
A thread on Zotero forums indicates that Calibre may sometimes assign "silly dates", so you may want to look over your library after import.
> I have identified the origin of these silly publication dates (Jan. 1st, year 101): that's the metadata I have in my calibre database for some e-books, probably a default value assigned by calibre when a specific date isn't available in the imported document and designed to stand out when sorted in ascending or descending order.
Alternatively, if you want Zotero to try and find the metadata for your books, you can just drag and drop the PDFs into Zotero and use the Retrieve Metadata function to look up metadata. May even want to combine both approaches and merge duplicates at the end (by selecting the best metadata from both software).
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Tags: software, reference-managers
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thread-29351
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29351
|
How to cite simple definitions when writing university papers?
|
2014-10-03T10:11:07.070
|
# Question
Title: How to cite simple definitions when writing university papers?
When writing any kind of paper or homework at the university I am supposed to give references for my citations. At the same time, sources like Wikipedia are not considered good for university level. Now let's say I am writing about malware, and I want to give definition about virus. Wikipedia has a good explanation, but I obviously cannot just copy without references (right?), and to give reference to Wikipedia is considered unacceptable.
So how am I supposed to give reference to such an item? Am I supposed to change the sentence in such a way that it cannot be tracked where I took it from?
# Answer
> 4 votes
Standards for papers and homework is not the same as for publications. Moreover, there is nothing fundamentally right or wrong about a definition as long as you introduce it as such ! (in University words mean what you decide they mean -- within reason, that is). You can definitely write something like
> In this paper I will use the definition of a *virus* as a '...' (1)
and refer to a footnote that says
> (1) definition taken from Wikipedia article *Virus*, retrieved on 2014-10-04".
Of course if Wikipedia's definition is taken from a printed reference, use the latter.
If you want to be extra-cautious you can have a look at the change log and discussion of the Wikipedia article.
# Answer
> 0 votes
Two points to remember:
1) Always give a reference for anything which is not your own! Changing the sentence in such a way that it cannot be tracked is NOT an acceptable substitute.
2) For as long as you are a student, the university sets the rules for what is considered an acceptable source.
Since your university, like many others which I am familiar, does not consider Wikipedia to be an acceptable academic resource, you should not cite Wikipedia in papers/homework. (When writing for an audience other than your professor(s), you be the judge. This question provides a nice overview of the pros and cons of citing Wikipedia.) **For the example you've given, the relevant Wikipedia page has many linked references. The usual workaround is to follow those references, find one which contains the definition you need, and cite that reference rather than Wikipedia.** Of course, as JeffE noted, be sure you've actually read the source you are citing!
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Tags: citations, wikipedia
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thread-29423
|
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29423
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How to politely reject a professor's request for work that I was recommended for?
|
2014-10-05T01:50:05.577
|
# Question
Title: How to politely reject a professor's request for work that I was recommended for?
A very high profile Prof. A recommended me to another high profile Prof. B to do some work for him. While normally as a graduate I should be very thankful and jump on this, I simply cannot do the work asked due to time and I also believe there would be a more suitable candidate for the work. Prof A's recommendations hold very high weight in the field I work in (his previous recommendation got me a job as an undergraduate). I feel that Prof A may have misunderstood my skills (he confused Java programming with Java web programming essentially). Prof A knows me somewhat well (I work for him currently), so perhaps this is why he recommended me.
How do I turn down Prof B's request in a polite manner without losing any face to myself or Prof A? In my response, should I also forward candidates whom I think would be able to do the work (e.g. cc them in the email)?
# Answer
> 9 votes
"While normally as a graduate I should be very thankful and jump on this, I simply cannot do the work asked due to time and I believe there would be a more suitable candidate for the work."
That is more or less exactly what you should say. Express your gratitude to Professor A. If you have a major academic obligation taking up your time, like comprehensive exams or something, mention that. Do NOT CC the candidates you have in mind, but do mention to Professor B that you can recommend someone else who you think would be a good fit.
# Answer
> 2 votes
Don't bother going in the detail about Java, just tell both professors that you do not have the available time to commit to prof B.
If they mention changing your schedule with prof A, then recommend your alternative candidate (which hopefully you do anyways), and express your concern that taking on prof B's project may take more time than you have available, even if prof A gives you time off from working for him.
Another possibility (though I don't know how well this would work, since you don't provide any project details), would be to say that prof B's project is going in a different direction than you see your future heading.
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Tags: etiquette
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thread-29401
|
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29401
|
As a teaching-assistant, how can I avoid repetitive teaching?
|
2014-10-04T07:38:19.503
|
# Question
Title: As a teaching-assistant, how can I avoid repetitive teaching?
As a teacher assistant, I am always thinking about preparing my students with up-to-dated teaching materials and examples; however, I can see many TAs in my department who teach the content they used to teach in the past semesters and now it is obvious that because the students have access to the previous year's pamphlets and handouts, they are not encouraged to attend these TAs classes. Even some of these students just copy and paste the problems and assignments from the past homeworks.
> As a teacher assistant, how can I avoid being stuck in repetitive teaching?
However, changing the problems each semester seems really a hard work and is almost impossible because the TA has to revise more than a hundred question or even find such quantity of new problems.
> What are the techniques you use to keep your teaching material up-to-dated and alluring to the interested student; also to avoid lazy student to copy the paste semester materials?
---
As asked in one of the comments,
The courses I do teaching assistantship is engineering mathematics for masters students consisting solution of partial differential equations and also ordinary differential equations for bachelors students of engineering or one or two other subjects related to my major; (each semester I may have only one of these classes, I don't take simultaneous teaching assistantship classes).
I have regular classes each week for instance having two hours a week teaching assistant class.
I usually prepare some problems and after a brief review on the methods, formulas and concept; I solve those problems for students. I usually photocopy my problems for my students. Also, at the end of each topic, I assign them some problems to solve and ask their questions if they have any. Also, I give them two exams, one at the middle of the term and one at the end of each term.
# Answer
> 11 votes
An answer looking at the bigger picture:
**Stop teaching the same class all the time!**
If you've taught the same class so often that you can reuse your material without thinking about it much, then it's time to branch out next semester and teach something else. Teaching a variety of classes is more fun and rewarding (as they say, the best way to learn a subject is to teach it, so this way you learn more subjects). It is valuable experience for an academic or teaching career, and showing a breadth of teaching experience can be helpful in a job search.
Maybe your department just keeps assigning you this course and you assume you have no choice. Try just asking to be assigned something else - contact whoever is in charge of those assignments and ask what else might be available. Of course you might not get what you want, since making teaching assignments is always complicated and requires many constraints to be satisfied, but there's a good chance of having your preferences at least taken into account. If you don't get what you want this semester, you might have a better chance in a future semester as they try to make it up to you.
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Tags: teaching-assistant
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thread-29352
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29352
|
Which is the better scheme for a poster: “tell a story” or “important first”?
|
2014-10-03T10:49:55.487
|
# Question
Title: Which is the better scheme for a poster: “tell a story” or “important first”?
In an attempt to make a poster of my work, I search for tips on the internet and books and I meet two opinions that conflict with each other:
**Tell a story:**
1. Why do we choose this (Objective)
2. How do we do? (Experiment, simulation, etc)
3. What do we find? (Result/Conclusion)
4. What can we do more? (Future work)
5. Reference
**Important first:**
1. Result/Conclusion
2. Objective
3. Experiment, simulation, etc
4. Future work
5. Reference
In my opinion, I will choose *tell a story* if the audience is not in my field, and *important first* if the audience has a good knowledge on what I do. But I am still confused if this is right. And should I apply this to my paper work?
# Answer
Posters are hard to get right. They require design skills and knowing what the core message of your paper is. Presenting them requires people skills. Aside from this, different areas seem to have different criteria and norms when it comes to this so if you want to fit in you should try to follow those.
---
But in general, most scientific posters I've seen are really terrible in terms of tools for communication: they have far too much text and get into far too much technical detail. For example, on this site posted in the comments on the question, there's some nice visuals but all of the posters have, in my opinion, far too much text.
One excuse for a lot of text on a poster I often hear is that people will can read them on their own between sessions or whatever. *In my own area and experience*, I don't buy this argument: that's what the paper is for and I rarely see anyone reading these literal walls of text in their spare time.
The advice you've gotten from the internet seems to follow that thinking: the thinking of printing a full paper on a poster in bullet form. An A0/A1 wall of text is not the best way to sell your work, nor is a boring traditional narrative of introduction, methodology, results, related work, conclusion or whatever.
I say this from the perspective of someone who's gone to too many poster sessions and gotten trapped at a poster where someone for some reason decided I would be interested in spending 20 minutes silently listening to them recite the slightly abridged version of the paper that they had for some reason decided to printed on their poster. One guy even seemed to expect me to leave after he was done. After he had finished reading the conclusions at me he had a look on his face that said "who's next?".
Okay so that's one extreme.
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For me, the secret to a good poster presentation is two-fold: the poster and the person in front of it.
In terms of a poster session, people will probably have some food with them, people might even have some drinks, you should not assume to take more than 5 minutes of their time, they're probably not going to get all the technical details and they're definitely not going to read a wall of text. At least one would hope that they wouldn't read it because that would imply that you'd be talking to yourself since they cannot read text and listen to you at the same time (unless you're reading aloud the text that is).
When I was working with students on posters, I would always advise them to dispose of the idea that they can or should communicate the full technical depth of a work on a poster to a passer-by in five minutes.
Their goal should be to motivate and communicate enough of the core ideas of the work to convince people passing by their poster that the paper would be worth taking the time to read and to teach them something cool.
In terms of that goal, I would bring the student to a white-board and tell them to pretend I was a conference-goer who knew nothing of the work but we met at a coffee break and I asked them to tell me about the work. They can use the board or ... if really needed ... they can point to something in the paper. While presenting, they should appear enthusiastic (without overselling) and emphasise why the work is important ... why I should care, and what the main results were.
They should also listen to what I say ... it should be a conversation. They should make sure that the person they're talking to is following them ... that they don't just launch into a 10 minute soliloquy at the first person that looks in their direction but that there's an element of interaction.
After that exercise whatever they were trying to represent on the board or whatever they needed to point at in the paper: that and pretty much only that is what goes on the poster ... diagrams, examples, main results ... things they can point to help them explain verbally what the work is about.
Then we'd sketch out a poster and try make it visually appealing ... try to tell a visual story with it ... try to make it attractive for people to come over and ask what it's about.
Not that the end result is always perfect, but the approach does lead to a better result in terms of a communication tool than the wall-of-text approach that seems so bizarre to me in the world of scientific posters.
> 2 votes
# Answer
This may be field dependent, but anyway, I'll tell you my (hopefully educated) opinion.
The conclusion should be at the end. It's sometimes criticized that some research starts with a conclusion and then start doing some p-fishing and other unethical practices to support that conclusion. You may present the question that you are trying to answer and as a "spoiler" the answer to that question, as it is not infrequent in the abstract, but that doesn't eliminate the need to present the conclusion in the end, explaining how do you get to that conclusion from everything else, in a very (straight)forward way.
In short, wrt to your question, you may (or may not) introduce the results at the beginning, but the conclusion should be at the end in any case, explaining how do you get to it.
Additionally to your question, it's nice (not required, but definitively good) to explain why the objective set in the first place is important. This may not be needed in some cases, e.g. curing cancer, obviously everybody thinks finding a cure for cancer is important. However, if your objective is deciding whether plastic bottles should be taller or wider then maybe you should explain the impact that a shape change could imply in terms of sustainability, before explaining what are you trying to do (e.g. reduce the amount of plastic needed).
> 2 votes
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Tags: writing, poster
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thread-29434
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29434
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How to make a paper's author willing to help me with his source code like a semi-supervisor?
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2014-10-05T07:32:15.273
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# Question
Title: How to make a paper's author willing to help me with his source code like a semi-supervisor?
I am really in trouble. I am doing my MA thesis on wireless sensor networks, and I have a source code with more than 16 files and each one more than 5000 lines. It's very complex and has no documentation and that source code is all I have to do my thesis.
I am totally dependent on the author's help. I have been working on his code for almost three months now but because of the lack of documentation, my progress is very very slow. Also, my supervisor has no knowledge of the concept or the source code, and I have no time to change the supervisor, concept or source code.
So, how I can tell the author of the code please help me? How can I make him willing to help? What should I tell him in the emails?
By the way, he answered my questions in the past. I asked three questions and he answered them. I've previously asked about the etiquette of repeated emails to him in this question.
But I need his help like semi-supervisor. By the way he is a kind person as far as I know.
# Answer
> 22 votes
No one can really 'make' anyone willing to help you. However, some things to consider that may convince the author to help. In your email communications:
* demonstrate your understanding of the source code.
* Be specific in what you ask - don't do the "I don't get any of this" type of message. Use your understanding, research and testing to help focus your questions.
Make sure you have your understandings and questions ready before you email, do not send multiple emails before they have a chance to reply and try and put most, if not all of your questions in a single email. Be patient when waiting for a reply and be courteous and thankful for information provided.
Have your supervisor/advisor look over your questions before sending it (if you're unsure).
Remember, most of all, the author is under no obligation to even reply, and definitely not under any obligation to do your work for you. Bear in mind that they will have time-taking obligations and duties that take priority.
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Tags: thesis, email, code
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