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thread-31859
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/31859
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What should one do if they've discovered a "breakthrough" but lack academia credentials?
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2014-11-17T18:15:06.970
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# Question
Title: What should one do if they've discovered a "breakthrough" but lack academia credentials?
Let's assume someone has a very thorough knowledge of a particular field of science but they have absolutely no formal education in this background.
This individual one day realizes a very novel approach to solving a somewhat complex problem. After developing independent tests and coming up with rock-solid evidence that her method is groundbreaking, and consistently produces test results that would be impossible without a legitimate solution, what can she do with her research to both share the information with the world and retain some form of credit for the discovery?
In other words, how can one be both a hobbyist contributing to a field of scientific study and yet also retain the respect they deserve for their work if it is of great use and benefit?
To be clear, this isn't about having one's name appear in a Science Journal without the necessary credentials. I think it's respectable to maintain certain sets of rules and standards for journalistic publications. However, it also isn't fair for such a person to have to divulge this information to someone who is "qualified" and have them receive all or most of the credit for someone elses work, just because that other person hasn't earned a piece of paper.
How can hobbyist both share, and maintain, the recognition they deserve if they make a legitimate scientific breakthrough?
# Answer
I see a few approaches you could take (or some combination):
* Write up the idea as a white paper and submit to http://arxiv.org (or something similar). This gets the idea documented, public, timestamped, and allows people to easily cite it.
* Reach out to researchers in the field to see if they would be willing to help you form a scientific paper based on your idea. Not all professors are scary!
* Submit to the industry track of a research conference if you have an industry background (if not, then maybe a workshop). Some conferences elicit papers from industry that can get your idea out there, generate discussion, and allows you to get feedback. These tracks are often less competitive and very open to non-researchers. For example, Software Engineering In Practice at the International Conference on Software Engineering
> 9 votes
# Answer
I guess there are quite a few scientists that have not graduated in a certain field and later prominently published in it. The best thing to do is to talk to people about it e.g. on conferences or seminars. Because in the end that is what you want: Get feedback/support/critique from other experts in the field. If you have discovered a breakthrough, writing it down in an abstract or discussion paper should be the easiest thing. Hand it in at conferences or local university faculties in order to get the chance to speak about it. If it is good, they will tell. If it aint, they will let you know. Most people I met in academia are open minded and willing to give you a chance (whether or not you have a degree in the field) if they found your abstract/paper interesting enough.
> 2 votes
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Tags: publications
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thread-31844
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/31844
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University making unreasonable demands with regards to external undergraduate research opportunity
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2014-11-17T12:15:20.597
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# Question
Title: University making unreasonable demands with regards to external undergraduate research opportunity
Here's my situation: I'm a fourth-year undergraduate at an Asian university, and next semester, I'll be hoping to conducting research in order to publish a senior undergraduate thesis. Now, since my university doesn't really possess the facilities for research in the field I'm interested in, I applied to a lab in a university in the United States, and I've been accepted in and told that I can join up in February. It's a fantastic opportunity for me to gain relevant experience in a field I'm interested in, I can help out in a lab environment conducive for research in the field, and along the way, I can get my thesis done under a really brilliant professor as well. That's the good part.
The bad part is, I spoke to one of my university deans (the one in charge of coordinating senior undergraduate theses) earlier about this opportunity and my intentions to spend the next semester at that research lab, saying that this a fairly niche field, I'll be gaining a lot by spending a semester there and that I'll still be publishing my thesis here in my university.
He says that the new policy of the university administration is that they're unwilling to permit students to go out of the university and spend a semester abroad, and the reason behind this is that it's unfair for something like this to benefit just one student, and it has to help other students as well for them to sign off on something like this. The dean wants a formal understanding between the research lab and the faculty at my university, stating that the professor at the research lab would be willing to take qualified students from my university in upcoming semesters to work in his lab. There is apparently to be no communication between me and the professor in all this, and any potential trip of mine is to be entirely determined by my faculty.
Now, I get where the dean is coming from, considering it from the university's perspective. But opportunities like this don't come around very often, and I took immense efforts to obtain it. Why should my potential achievements be determined by how much they benefit other students? It's a bit like saying, *if you want a job, everyone has to get a job as well.*
More importantly, how could I possibly get the professor at the research lab to agree to this 'formal understanding'? He does not take undergraduate students very regularly in his lab, and to suddenly impose this proposal on him, would almost certainly make him hesitate about allowing me to spend a semester at his lab, all due to no fault of my own. How could he possibly agree to taking in other students in the future, when he doesn't know my university very well and the type of students in it?
At the same time, I don't want to antagonize the administration at my university either. What do I do, and where do I go from here?
# Answer
> 3 votes
You need to sell this as an exception to their policy in terms of benefiting the college and it’s students. Be as positive as possible with all of this. Talk about the great opportunity you found and how it will benefit your education, further learning and your career. Make a big list of pros for why this opportunity is great for your education and for you but don’t mention cons. Not for the opportunity or for the college research. Don’t make a direct comparison. “Aboard is better because \[reasons the college research sucks\].” will not go over will. Stick to the positive moral high ground. Think in terms of this is right thing to do and tell them why.
Now that you have a better opportunity, you need to convince them to allow it. Try to find anything unique to your situation that can be used as grounds to make a case for an exception. Sounds like research opportunities are scarce at the college in your field. Push that point or anything else unique. What would happen if the college research opportunity fell through or was delayed? It’s understandable to cultivate options to not miss anything in terms of your education. An exception in your case doesn't make it something that needs to be repeated for other students. Stress that point. You are presenting a unique, one time exception. Letting you go aboard allows them to build up better research opportunities while not having improvise opportunities as the need arises.
You mentioned being in niche-field. It’s difficult for the college to give the same level of focus much less research opportunities as a more mainstream career. This makes it harder for you to find an opportunity at the college or aboard. Letting you go can benefit other students. By letting you go aboard another student has a college research opportunity.
Reach out to your professor first. If they support you, it will be much easier with him/her on board.
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Tags: undergraduate, research-undergraduate
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thread-27757
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/27757
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Should I mention that I have a Bipolar disorder in my statement of purpose?
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2014-08-28T18:33:30.760
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# Question
Title: Should I mention that I have a Bipolar disorder in my statement of purpose?
Should I mention that I have Bipolar disorder in my statement of purpose and ask my lecturers to mention it in their letters of recommendation(I am doubtful that they will) ?
Bipolar disorder was a critical roadblock in my academic life man. When I was having maniac episode I was like "I am God, I don't need to study, I can clear this test without studying" or it just felt like I am overdosing on caffeine, I couldn't focus. When I was feeling depressed, I was just too withdrawn to study, I was almost suicidal. Either way, I was too emotional to do anything !
The aggregate GPA of my undergrad courses is 3.216 and the simple average of my last 4 semesters GPA is 3.106. It was in the last two years that I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. I tell you its not easy managing meds and life. Most psychiatrists in India are idiots. Some of these psychiatrists even diagnosed me with adult ADD :| Its because of these drugs and incompetency of my shrinks that I feel my GPA dropped. Should I mention that too, cause in US I would even have access to better shrinks than here ..
My GRE score is 322/340. I honestly feel I could have got a much better GPA and GRE score without this disorder man. I even got highest grades in all my practical exams too.
# Answer
I would not put it in the statement of purpose as it is a forward looking document (what do you want to study, what qualifications do you have, why study at X university, etc.).
If you must include it, then the diversity statement is a good place.
That being said, I would recommend that **you do not include it.** You can mention that you “struggled with some health/personal issues” in college but are now prepared for university, but you do not need to give details beyond that. This is your health privacy at stake. You should talk to your letter writers to make sure they know they should not disclose your personal history without your permission.
Once you are accepted, you can inquire about student health services and reasonable accommodation for your needs.
> 11 votes
# Answer
Probably not, and even from reading your question alone - with full respect to the legitimacy and seriousness of your illness - you are using it as an excuse. And in a grad school application, you are making an excuse for failing before you even start. That is not good.
Sometimes these personal facts make sense to share as part of a narrative of resilience or overcoming challenges, but you are not building that narrative right now. You need to convey that you understand the world cares more about outcome than handicaps, and, for instance, blaming psychiatrists in India, does not help.
> 4 votes
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Tags: graduate-admissions, statement-of-purpose, health
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thread-31873
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/31873
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US statute of Higher Education System
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2014-11-18T01:05:57.080
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# Question
Title: US statute of Higher Education System
I'm taking for granted several fact about higher-education system in the US, such as:
* Professors can move freely between universities, even ones outside US. They are in this regard like professional football players. (Not every country wholeheartedly allows this.)
* Lecturers can obtain tenure position. (Some countries are in the habit of "perpetually in 5-year contracts")
* There is such a thing as liberal arts education. (Not all countries have this!)
* An undergraduate student can take a major and a minor in their study. (Some countries prefer to have only majors)
* ...
**My question**: where can I find documents regarding all these higher education system rules and statute? Which part is governed by the government (state/federal), and which part is decentralized to the univ. management?
Links to such documents (US/UK/Australia/Can.) or Wikipedia pages would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
# Answer
One of the key things about U.S. system of higher education is that it is, for the most part, *not* regulated by statute. For all of the "rules" that you explained, there are institutions that do not follow them (except the freedom to depart, which is guaranteed not by regulation, but by the lack of regulation, which creates a free market).
In theory, anybody in the US can found an institute of higher education, at any time, for any reason. People in fact *do* create all sorts of new institutions all the time: some turn out very well, and some do not. In practice, admission to the "club" of credible institutions is regulated by accreditation organizations, such as this one. Every institution that can meet the fairly basic requirements for accreditation can set its rules as it wishes. Public universities are typically regulated by the state that runs them (e.g., U.C. Berkeley) or the relevant federal agency (e.g., the Naval Postgraduate School), but private institutions like Harvard have a great degree of freedom in how they organize themselves.
In short: there is no document for the rules on how the system works, because the nature of the system is that there is no system, only a market loosely managed by accreditation.
> 14 votes
# Answer
Much of what you've mentioned is simply customary within the US system of higher education rather than being mandated by law.
The federal government does have some involvement in higher education in the US, most importantly through the system of federal financial aid for students. Without federal financial aid, most public and private institutions would cease operations. The federal government also provides some funding for educational activities to universities through the Department of Education. Historically, the federal government provided support for the establishment of universities through the land grant acts of 1862 and 1890.
An additional important influence on research universities is that the federal government (through the National Science Foundation, Department of Defense, National Institutes of Health, and other agencies) sponsors research at universities- universities must follow the rules of these agencies in applying for grants and research contracts and conducting the research. For example, there is a "common rule" (common among the funding agencies) concerning ethical activity in research involving human subjects.
The Higher Education Act is the federal law that sets the policy of the US federal government on higher education and finacial aid in particular. The act has been repeatedly amended with the most recent substantial changes in 2008.
At the level of the 50 states, many states provide a substantial fraction of the funding for public universities. However, in recent years state appropriations to the universities in many states have decreased and in some cases the remaining percentage of state funding is very small- these institutions are becoming effectively independent of state funding.
> 6 votes
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Tags: university, professorship, education, international, legal-issues
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thread-31807
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/31807
|
How to find out who were the reviewers of an article?
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2014-11-16T17:15:33.523
|
# Question
Title: How to find out who were the reviewers of an article?
I understand the concept of (peer-)reviewing as helpful to guarantee a good quality result. Clearly it makes sense that journal articles are reviewed by someone before publication. Yet, what I am still unclear about is who the reviewers are? The focus of this question is not who can peer-review articles, as I am not interested in who qualifies for being a reviewer, but rather about **how to find out about the actual people having been involved in the review process?**
It disappoints me to not be furnished with a list of the reviewers as it would help me tell if the article is likely to be well-reviewed or not. In academia, where reputation is paramount, it would seem imperfect if the people behind the reviews are kept secret. Yet I have not yet encountered a list of reviewers for a specific article and the best place to put this information seems to be with the article itself.
Another worthwhile information connected to it would be **the number of reviewers**. After all the more people investing time into a review of some contribtion the higher I assume to be the chances that flaws and problems become corrected and again the more interesting the contribution may become. Since unfortunately there is an excess of publications from people needing to make a career and reading through all of those articles constitutes an obstacle more than an accelaration of the scientific progress.
# Answer
> how to find out about the actual people having been involved the review?
By and large, you can't. This is guaranteed by the anonymous (or "blind") peer review process used today by most publishers. I guess the main reason for blind reviews are that publishers fear that well-known professors will not be judged harshly by more junior researchers for fear of repercussions.
There are individual publishers out there that share your frustrations with the model, though - most importantly, PLOS One and PeerJ have recently started to experiment with a semi-open review model, where reviewers can choose whether to reveal themselves to the authors.
> 37 votes
# Answer
Although @xLeitix answer is spot-on, I think you are missing the main point. Anonymity is directly linked to any democratic process. Likewise, your election vote is anonymous. In this sense, a review is just a vote of confidence for the reviewed article and therefore it has to be and remain anonymous for a more objective opinion.
Another point is that anonymity in reviews not only protects the reviewers against repercussions but also protects against nepotism and mutual exchange of favors. Moreover, anonymity also ensures that all reviews are (almost) treated equal. So, a favorable, short review from a professor (who just said ACCEPT because he might personally know the authors) might count less than an informed, in-depth review even if that review comes from a PHD student. So, although the editor knows the reviewers, one reviewer cannot argue / discard with the other reviewer based on their individual status. In this sense, anonymity also protects the reviewed, since if the paper is actually good, it is more probable to be reviewed based on its merits then the authors' public relations.
> 40 votes
# Answer
In terms of conflicts and deliberate sabotage, it is the **responsibility of the editor** assigned to your paper to moderate this. The reviewers and authors are known to the editor, and the editor has the ultimate power to accept or reject a paper. If there appears to be a conflict of interest, or a reviewer is unduly harsh, or misunderstands the content, the editors have the power to overrule the reviewer, and the editor-in-charge has the power to overrule assistant editors.
You will see this in some journals where each paper has a name under "communicated by". It lets the reader know that the named editor is responsible for the review process.
Finally, the number of reviewers *is* disclosed. All journals I've ever worked with have a policy of providing reviewer comments unedited to the authors. Just count the number of reviews you receive. The editors should have no problems telling you how many reviewers were involved; I've frequently received e-mails saying "I got 2 reviews back and am waiting on one".
> 10 votes
# Answer
*The short answer is "you can't". Unless somehow required by local law, editors will not reveal the reviewers' names. This answer focuses on the reasons behind this.*
So far, two benefits of blind peer reviewing have been mentioned:
* It (maybe) avoids a situation where junior researchers are afraid to criticize senior researchers.
* It (maybe) avoids the issue of exchange of favors, where reviewers help each other by giving overly positive reviews. This is similar to a benefit of secret ballot voting, which helps prevent "trading" votes with another person, because the secret ballot makes it impossible to tell whether the other person actually voted the way they agreed to vote (as long as the vote isn't unanimous).
I see two other benefits:
* Many research areas have a small number of researchers. The anonymity of peer review (maybe) helps to avoid personalizing the peer reviews. My own subfield of mathematics has under 100 researchers in the world who could realistically referee my papers, and only maybe 25 who could claim to be experts in the specific area. I know many of these 25, and they know me. So we are often asked to referee papers for authors whom we know - there are not that many experts to do the reviews, after all. In small research fields like mine, the inevitable disputes over rejected papers could otherwise be toxic to the common good.
* The editor is responsible for choosing appropriate reviewers. Keeping them anonymous to the author cuts off an avenue of appeal where, instead of responding to the content of the reviews, the author instead just tries to impeach the reviewers. Of course, the author can already tell the editor "I don't think the reviewer understands the field". But they can't directly refer to the reviewer's identity when doing so - they have to look at the actual review.
> 8 votes
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Tags: journals, peer-review
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thread-31879
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/31879
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How can I keep my ideas of a new theorem safe?
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2014-11-18T02:21:46.520
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# Question
Title: How can I keep my ideas of a new theorem safe?
This post is similar to this one except this is a little bit of a special scenario, I have yet to graduate high school.
I know what you're thinking, oh THIS conversation again, check if it exists, make sure your theorem works, etc. etc.
I have gone through all of this, for over a year I have looked for my theorem online and nothing has come up. I have tried disproving my theorem for over a year, and I have contacted professors and have conversed about this and they all say that it is definitely publishable, but that I should prove it myself. My big worry is that due to my position my ideas can easily be stolen, and I am starting to get a little on edge.
How can I ensure that my ideas are not stolen, Can I provide direct proof that the idea is mine somehow? Should I just publish it without a proof, Can I even publish without a proof? I am kind of stuck at this point.
I have a document that has the theorem on it written in permanent ink, dated, and it is signed by a witness. But what more can I do?
EDIT:
For those curious about my conjecture click here, there are two pages so click next to see the other page.
Feel free to comment
# Answer
The word "theorem" implies that there is a proof. If you do not have a proof, you do not have a theorem. Let's call it a **conjecture** instead.
> I have tried disproving my theorem for over a year.
That's a slightly strange thing to say: how long have you spent trying to prove your conjecture?
> Should I just publish it without a proof, Can I even publish without a proof?
It is possible to publish conjectures, but it is significantly harder to do so than to publish theorems. I would not recommend that a young researcher -- especially, a high school student! -- try to do this.
> I have contacted professors and have conversed about this and they all say that it is definitely publishable, but that I should prove it myself.
It's no help if I'm not honest, so: this sounds fishy to me. It is often not so easy for (even) a professional mathematician to know what is "definitely publishable": after more than a decade of submitting math papers I find that I still have some things to learn about this. But anyone who is telling you that your mathematical work is "definitely publishable" if it does not contain a proven theorem is either giving you bad advice, or you are misinterpreting the advice.
> How can I ensure that my ideas are not stolen, Can I provide direct proof that the idea is mine somehow?
With probability extremely close to 1, professional mathematicians simply do not steal ideas in the manner you are worried about. The "I did something great, but oh no I can't show it to anyone" train of thought is a sad one that amateurs often fall into. Rather, if you do something great, show it to more than one person, and you're fine. One way to do this is just to upload it to the internet in some public or semi-public location. For instance, if you have an account on facebook, just post a scanned copy of the paper as photos. Facebook posts are archived with date and time, so that's that.
I will extend to you the following offer: after you archive your paper publicly on the internet, send me a copy. I will spend up to one hour looking at the paper and tell you one of the following:
* The mathematical content of your work is such that you should *try* to publish it. I will then tell you some places you might send it.
* In my opinion your work is not publishable in a reputable, professional mathematical journal.
* I am not qualified to judge whether your work is publishable, but I recommend that you send it to third party X.
You should understand that unless the work is very directly connected to my own I will not have the time to help you with it, nor to send more than one email. (I simply can't: I have a lot of other people who are counting on me to spend my time on them. In many cases I am being paid to do so.) But I will give you a professional evaluation of your work so you can (probably) know where you stand.
> 56 votes
# Answer
For mathematics finding a "Theorem" without a proof has very little to no value. With very few exceptions, a Theorem becomes (somewhat) important when it is proven.
The hard part of mathematics is not finding Theorems or statements which seem plausible, the hard part is proving them. And the most important skill as a researcher is finding results which **can be proven**.
For many Theorems in mathematics, over the years there were many people which discovered and re-discovered that a certain result seems plausible, but no proof. Most of the times noone remembers them, and they don't often care. People usually remember who proved the Theorem, not who discovered first that this could be true.
I wouldn't worry about your Conjecture being stolen, unless you find a proof. And this is probably what those profs suggested: if you want to publish it you need to find a proof.
Also keep in mind that this applies to mathematics, might be different in other fields.
> 17 votes
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Tags: publications, research-process, ethics
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thread-31882
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/31882
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Could it be a problem years later if I forgot to include some things in my thesis?
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2014-11-18T03:19:46.097
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# Question
Title: Could it be a problem years later if I forgot to include some things in my thesis?
I graduated 3 years ago with a MS degree and a thesis. I recently discovered that I forgot to include some data - tables and list of datasets. All my final analysis has been included. Can there be some problem about this in the future? I have a couple of sentences such as : "For the list of datasets used in this experiment, see table xx". I do not have that table. I guess I was in a mad rush at the end and forgot to include those.
# Answer
> 19 votes
> Can there be some problem about this in the future?
What sort of problems do you mean? It could certainly inconvenience someone in the future if they try to build on your work and have to reconstruct this data. I'd recommend writing to your advisor to send the additional data tables in case anyone could benefit from them, assuming you don't have in mind doing anything else with them yourself. You don't have to describe it as material you forgot to include (although, in light of the edited question, there's no way of saving face since you referred to it in the thesis as if it were included). Instead, you could reasonably say something like "While going through old files, I discovered some potentially useful material that never made it into my master's thesis, which I've attached to this e-mail. Feel free to make use of it if any future students work on related projects."
On the other hand, you don't need to worry about being punished or having your degree revoked, assuming there was no dishonesty or fraud involved. There's always more material you could have included in your thesis but didn't, and this is not relevant once the thesis has been approved. Omissions or even mistakes won't invalidate your degree.
# Answer
> 14 votes
If you are asking, "Can somebody claim my degree is improper?" then no, you are in no danger. You really did the work and advisor and your institution have accepted the work as worthy of an MS degree. Your degree is real and solid.
If you are asking, "Can somebody have real problems trying to build on my work?" then yes, it could be a real problem. If you want to be a good scientific citizen, then you should get in touch with your advisor or the department staff and find out how to add a correction; in these days of digital documents, it should be possible.
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Tags: thesis, data, errors-erratum
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thread-31891
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/31891
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Handling editor sent me a review invitation
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2014-11-18T09:35:27.747
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# Question
Title: Handling editor sent me a review invitation
From your experience, is it some kind of sign when handling editor of your manuscript (which is under review) sends you a review invitation for other manuscript?
# Answer
> 22 votes
Yes, it's a sign that they don't think you're a complete crank. That may not sound like progress, but it is a good thing nevertheless. It doesn't mean anything else about the handling of your own paper.
And remember, part of the art of getting published is keeping on the good side of editors.
# Answer
> 12 votes
No, it's no sign at all other than that the handling editor thinks you are qualified to review the article you were invited to review.
# Answer
> 5 votes
Apart from the fact that you are seen as a person qualified for providing a review, this *CAN* (half-jokingly) be the sign of desperation of laziness from the side of an editor. Knowing that you are currently enjoying the services of the journal you are perhaps more likely to accept doing the journal a service as a reviewer. The situation you mention has happened to me quite a few times where a rush of requests from a specific journal has followed after submitting a manuscript to that journal. Of course an eaqually or more likely explanation is that the editor is running thin on good contacts that have not been asked already and now finds a new fresh name that can cover topics that correspond to manuscripts of the editor's desk.
In the end, you will never know, but as alrady stated elsewhere, you are deemed as a person with a standing or reputation that qualifies you to provide valuable input as a reviewer and that is all that you need to know.
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Tags: journals, peer-review, editors
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thread-31814
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/31814
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Is it unethical to ask for homework help on StackExchange?
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2014-11-16T20:23:19.390
|
# Question
Title: Is it unethical to ask for homework help on StackExchange?
Sometimes when I have been struggling on a problem set for a while, I'll post a question on StackExchange, openly acknowledge that it's homework, and ask for hints (not the full solution). Typically people give good advice and help me think about the problem in several different ways, and I end up learning a lot by asking the question.
Now the thing is, we are probably not supposed to ask the Internet for homework help. But in my classes it is perfectly acceptable to go to TA office hours, where most of them will tell me the entire answer instead of giving hints. Often I've seen TAs present the solution on the blackboard in front of about 20 students (because all the students need help on the same question). We're also encouraged to "collaborate" with other students, who will usually tell you the entire answer instead of giving minimal hints to help you along.
Is it unethical to ask for homework help on StackExchange given that I learn a lot more than I would using officially sanctioned methods?
(If it matters, I post on math.stackexchange, and this is for classes like real analysis and abstract algebra.)
# Answer
This might depend on your university's policy on cheating and plagiarism.
For our university (though the precise details may vary from course to course), you are allowed to use StackExchange to help you to understand concepts, but you are not supposed to use it to help you solve assignment questions.
We tell the students that if there is any risk that they may have read an answer or some code or whatever that might have influenced their answer, then they need to cite it. With a proper citation, they cannot be accused of plagiarism. We may, however, ask the student to answer extra questions in such a case, in order to demonstrate their knowledge.
> 9 votes
# Answer
Asking for help is ethical, asking for solutions isn't.
The entire goal of homework is to increase your understanding of new material you've been presented with, usually by using the theory in practical examples. Discussing material with others and "thinking out loud" are time-proven practices to help in grasping new concepts and techniques and as such it's perfectly ethical to process your homework in a way that most efficiently helps you to understand the exercises. As you say your university explicitly supports 2 classic methods help you on difficult assignments: TA assistance and collaboration.
Regardless of the method you employ, *as long as your goal is to increase your understanding*, and not to get out of doing the work at all, you're ethically in the clear.
Three caveats to this:
* Graded homework: it's my belief that grading homework is a way to enforce students to keep up with coursework and ensure that their understanding of the material is at the required levels to eventually complete the course. Seeking help, no matter the source, should not be frowned upon here since you're still accomplishing the majority of the work (i.e. learning it) yourself. Ethical.
* Assignments: coursework that is a sufficiently large part of your grade as to move beyond simple homework and into assignment territory is different. Seeking assistance about the general concepts involved is ethical, asking help on the details of the assignment itself most likely isn't.
* Legality: as some of the other answers and the comments mention, whether or not your university allows you to seek help from online resources is an altogether different question and it's sensible to check your university and course regulations on this or ask for confirmation from the professor or TA.
> 8 votes
# Answer
> Is it unethical to ask for homework help on StackExchange given that I learn a lot more than I would using officially sanctioned methods?
Deliberating over the ethicality of the situation is frivolous. You know that StackExchange helps you to learn. So use it. Do not allow your school to restrict your ability to learn. Clearly the school would be bad, and not you, if its policies prevented you from learning.
> 4 votes
# Answer
The ethical solution here depends completely on the context. If you're using that information to complete an ungraded assignment there is absolutely no ethical gray area. Any information (tutor/book/the internet/study group) is an entirely valid resource.
However if you're turning it in for a grade the gray area immediately becomes black as you are passing off someone else's work as your own.
I would question the structure of a class that forces you into a situation where you're stuck solely with the text book but I have seen it. Talk to the professor, but if there's no grade seeking knowledge isn't an ethical violation.
> 2 votes
# Answer
Personally, I don't feel there's anything unethical about it. Sure, you might be breaking your university's honor code, but I think the only ethical conflict there is that you are breaking a code you at least implicitly agreed to, not in the act itself. That is, your ethics or ethical principles in general do not necessarily align with the honor code, and I would say in this case they most certainly don't.
I namely think that the stock standard honor code imposed by universities is a dinosaur that needs to revised, and I think many professors are recognizing that. For example, one of mine mentioned explicitly that he realizes that students use the internet for solutions, and that we should just reference the source when doing so. On one of our homework problems, he also gave us a hint in his office hours and then just added "or just look up a proof on the internet", saying either way is going to be fine ultimately.
In addition, I do not see a difference between looking something up on the internet and consulting a physical book in your library. I assume no one would take issue with the latter, would they? After all, the goal is to learn the material.
Plus, research shows immediate feedback is necessary for learning, and by not asking for help on homework (be it your friends, your professor, or "the internet") you're only hurting yourself. You probably have to at least attempt the problem in earnest to get something out of it, but if you can't get it, you gain nothing by puzzling over it without success. On the other hand, if you do stumble upon a solution on the internet, you might find a new trick or a new way of thinking about it, since you'll have to interpret it on your own. Often, answers here are also given by people with a different background, so you don't get the answer served on a platter, but, instead, you have to really look into it and interpret it so that it fits with *your* specific background and the tools you are allowed to use.
So, basically, I don't think that there is anything, and I mean anything, unethical about asking for help on SE in and of itself. It just might be against the honor code. And as I mentioned earlier, the only unethical thing then is that you're breaking an agreement, which I think is an obsolete one anyway.
> 2 votes
# Answer
Pretty much what everyone else said. I dont think there is an ethical issue unless your code of conduct forbids it, and you make it clear that it is homework and you need some guidance versus the whole solution. However keep in mind that what your prof is looking for in terms of answers may not be what the internet comes up with. Often your prof is just wrong but good luck trying to get them to accept it (this happens especially in lower level courses). In higher level courses such as yours I wouldn't worry too much about it, its not like one problem solution from the internet is going to make or break your grade.
> 1 votes
# Answer
Asking for a direct answer would be unethical. Asking questions to gain knowledge and/or understanding should never be unethical. The goal of any class is to learn the material. Different people learn differently. It’s perfectly understandable for anyone to be stuck or confused on different points. When you need help, you need to ask someone that knows more than you. They can help you understand. Strictly speaking for ethics and knowledge transfer, you’re fine.
Past knowledge transfer it can get grey. Basically, don’t plagiarize and site appropriately. Course and college policies become grey as things like stack exchange aren’t completely adapted into the education system yet. So they don’t always have a clear or accepted fit. Because of that, it may be wrong per their policies. Then ethically, I think their policies aren’t ethical. That’s a whole other debate. However, I believe that if you follow what the point of the policies are you are fine. That’s typically, are you cheating or plagiarizing. As long as you aren’t doing activities down those paths you should be fine.
Think of stack exchange as your instructor. Can you ask these types of questions of your instructor? If you have no ethical problems with asking the same questions of your instructor, then you have nothing to worry about. Is asking questions on stack exchange really any different from asking a friend or colleague? Is it unreasonable to use the friend of colleague as a source of information? No on both. Use every tool to your advantage to learn.
> 1 votes
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Tags: ethics, education, homework
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thread-21033
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/21033
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After a PhD in biotechnology/engineering - more opportunities in industry or a postdoc positions?
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2014-05-16T04:53:24.877
|
# Question
Title: After a PhD in biotechnology/engineering - more opportunities in industry or a postdoc positions?
Currently, my fiancee are both currently pursuing our PhD's in bioengineering and materials science and engineering, respectively, at the same university. She wants to eventually have an industrial research position and I want to do a post-doc with the intention becoming a professor. We are ~3 years away from needing to have the serious version of this conversation, but which route of the two would be the bottleneck in our eventual decision? Are there more industrial jobs available than post-doc positions? Are there any other dual-academic-career couples out there with advice for us? I hope the content of this question is appropriate for this stackexchange. Thanks so much.
# Answer
I don't know much about bioengineering and materials sciences. In my area (CS) there are many more industrial positions available than academic positions.
However, industrial positions often tend be clustered in regions, and there might not be too many academic jobs in those regions (or they might be very highly competitive).
Sadly though, I suspect that basing your decisions on where you might do a postdoc is a problem, because a postdoc itself is a temporary position, and so you're really only deferring the real problem. One argument would be that if postdocs in your area take a while (say 3-4 years vs 1-2), then you might as well operate as if that were the permanent job, and then reevaluate after your time is done and you're on the academic job market.
Good luck: two-body problems are tricky, and when one partner is on the academic track it gets even trickier.
> 6 votes
# Answer
First of all I would like to mention that I am a PhD student in a Bio-Engineering department and this answer contains information about the issue from that perspective.
When I have started to my PhD I was thinking of pursuing an academic career in my field and would like to conduct research on tissue engineering. Then I saw that there is no straight way to this career. The first thing that disappointed me was that the field that I would like to improve myself was a the field of expertise of anyone in my institution. Due to lack of experts on that field in the institution I couldn't study on that field. If you ask why I didn't try to find an another institution, I can only tell that there are not many institutions in the country that have that sub-field of Bio-Engineering. I then choose to studied a very different field than my original intent and now I am close to the graduation.
I am looking to industrial jobs and also to the post-doc positions and I can tell that there are more post-doc positions for our field than industrial jobs. The problem is that those post-doc positions almost always require publications in Nature, Science etc. so it is very competitive. I wish you and your fiancee could find the place that you can fit. Me and my fiancee are not successful at finding it yet, but I have not lost hope.
> 1 votes
# Answer
I am in a similar situation @tquarton. I'm a BME phd and my fiancee is a medical student. 2 comments that i don't think have been made about the academic route.
1. I've been told, and seen a few times already, that post-docs in our field are actually less likely to make the jump to assistant professor at their current school. The reasoning I've heard is that your colleagues making the decisions are often unconvinced of how important your research is to the field since they cannot possibly stay up to date on your niche, so they expect that you should be able to find jobs at other universities to "prove it"... If you do get external position offers, I think you are more likely to bargain for a 'raise' at your current location. I say this because I am in a similar situation and I tell my fiancee that I expect my post-doc will not be my final landing spot, which is important for our future planning.
2. also, it is common, if one of you is especially talented or lucky for that matter, that universities will accept you as a couple. This is a nice situation when it happens, and I've seen it once at both locations i've been so far in my career.
I'm very interested in this question, and this is my perception so far (4th year phd). If one or both of you are willing to take an industrial job, this will certainly increase your chances. Good luck! :)
> 1 votes
# Answer
The main advice that I have on this topic is that it can be difficult to return to academia after a stint in commercial enterprise (i.e. "industry"). There are exceptions -- some people do publish from commercial positions, or otherwise develop some exceptional expertise that gives them opportunities as academic researchers. My impression is that returning to academia is easier for engineers than for basic science researchers (such as biologists, like myself).
The flip side is that if you want to go into industry, you might as well get started ASAP, unless you think your post-doc project will make you an attractive candidate for companies.
So at least for biology, my understanding is that if you shouldn't leave academia until you are sure that you want to. This is especially important for biologists, since there aren't very many "biology" jobs outside of academia, so leaving academia often means leaving biology.
> -1 votes
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Tags: postdocs, career-path, industry, engineering, biotechnology
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thread-31912
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/31912
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4th year phd in BiomedEngineering - How do I maximize my chances of getting an assistant professorship in my hometown?
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2014-11-18T17:02:38.580
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# Question
Title: 4th year phd in BiomedEngineering - How do I maximize my chances of getting an assistant professorship in my hometown?
Preface: I know
* how how difficult is to get any professorship
* that i should write really good research papers etc...
* that its not smart to plan on this and only this
My hometown is middle of the country, only 2 universities in my field. Help me out, how do I maximize my chances of being near my family and getting my ideal job?
# Answer
> 2 votes
Take a good, hard look at the research being done in the department, and the specialties of the professors. Are there any subfields where the department is weak? Are there cross-field collaborations that could be done, but aren't? Is there an emeritus or soon-to-be emeritus professor that will leave a gap in coverage?
What you're looking for is a niche that you can fill.
# Answer
> 2 votes
One you've found specific gaps to fill in your own department, take a look at how you could get experience in those areas by post-doccing at a more prestigious university ( or even industry). A lot of selection committees require that candidates have moved around during their training. Also ask your current supervisor what the department looks for when they do selection committees for new professors.
Then take a long, hard look at your situation and decide whether it will even be feasible. You will have less than half a dozen shots at this, and the competition for every one of those will be steep. If your primary goal is to stay in your home town, make backup plans for if the professorship doesn't pan out. Look into becoming a lecturer, or staff scientist, or working in industry in your home state.
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Tags: postdocs, engineering, academic-life, work-life-balance
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thread-31851
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/31851
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Should we trust a journal article that does not cite any previous work?
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2014-11-17T15:01:01.843
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# Question
Title: Should we trust a journal article that does not cite any previous work?
My area of interest is not so well-researched in the US, but it attracts more interest in some developing countries where the topic is more relevant, but also where academic standards tend to be different, and I must proceed with much more caution.
In EBSCO, recently my searches have turned up a number of articles published in journals abroad that either: (1) contain no in-text citations, but present entries in the reference list related to material discussed earlier in the paper or (2) contain no citations at all and no reference list at the end.
Is the lack of citations in an article sufficient criteria for casting aside a paper, even if I think some of the ideas relate to a paper I am writing?
# Answer
I think it depends what you mean by "trust".
A modern academic paper which references no other paper is unusual and *possibly* fishy, but at least in my field (mathematics) there is nothing *inherently* faulty about the practice: perhaps you really are answering a question that you thought up yourself and for which the answer does not require you to use or cause you to refer to any published result. (There must be some examples of this: anyone?)
If you're being asked to *evaluate* a paper then, sure, read it much more carefully if there are no citations. That's not a good sign. If you know the field well enough to know specific papers that the paper you're reading *should* have cited, then you should evaluate the paper negatively for not citing them. If the paper has been published in a reputable journal you might consider writing to the editors to suggest missed citations.
On the other hand, a lack of references (or in-line citations) does not cause a paper to cease to exist. If you want to cite the paper then you still can, and if you do use the material in the paper then you must cite it, as usual.
> 5 votes
# Answer
If you strictly ignored papers that had no references, then one of the papers you'd be ignoring would be Einstein's 1905 paper in which he originated the theory of special relativity. But times have changed since 1905, and it is now extremely unusual to see any academic paper without references; high-quality journals simply wouldn't consider such a paper seriously. Because of this, my experience has been that when kooks write papers, they do include references. From the examples I've seen in my field (physics) the telltale signs of a kook paper are not a lack of references but one of the following.
* Most of the references are to the author's own previous work.
* Where other people's work is referenced, the references don't show familiarity with the current state of the field. Instead, the references are to papers from the 1940s, or to sources such as textbooks.
> 2 votes
# Answer
Is there any kind of formal or empirical validation of the information that the paper contains? Citations and peer-reviews are standard today, as well as the reputation of the venue. Trust is often correlated with these, but this leads to the perversion of the whole system.
Many systems pervert when there is some discrepancy between how things are and how they look. E.g. economic bubbles, perceived and real value of some goods.
IMHO, trustworthiness comes from verifiability (and I think that is the whole point of science). Verifiability implies replicability, reproducibility, falsifiability, etc.
In short: no, you should not trust a paper that doesn't cite any previous work, but you should not trust a paper that cites many others just because they are there. You should, in general, trust no one, and check whether what they say is true by yourself, whether it is coherent with latter studies, whether latter studies could have contradicted it, whether it is possible to see if what they claim is true or not (open data, open science, open source, etc.)
Related and recommended: Top Ten Reasons to *Not* Share Your Code (and why you should anyway)
PD: a whole different point (as pointed by @petelclark) is evaluating a paper, in that case you have to consider whether what the paper says is true, but you have to check as well whether it is original research (or it was published before). Citations help to understand the context and the state of the art previous to the paper, and to see that the authors know the state of the art.
> 1 votes
# Answer
There are certainly non-traditional publications that have a high value and that you may wish to cite. For example, one of the important driving scientific analyses in biotechnology right now is the Carlson Curve, which is the DNA synthesis equivalent of Moore's Law. The up-to-date versions of the analysis, however, are not published in any journal article that I am aware of, but rather on Rob Carlson's blog. Not only is it not a "proper" article, but it has no "proper" citations---just links to various sources and related work. As such, it clearly preserves the intent and the value, just not the form. It's also not even vaguely peer reviewed, but it's an important work that is sometimes necessary to cite.
For the cases that you describe, coming from areas where the academic traditions are weak or different, it will typically be harder to determine the difference between low quality work and work that is high quality but fails to conform to the norms of scientific presentation. You should *not* discard something just because it fails to follow forms.
You should, however, treat non-conforming publications with heightened suspicion: publishing according to typical standards in well-known peer-reviewed publications can be viewed as a form of costly signalling. Conforming is no guarantee of quality, and failure to conform does not prohibit it, but failure to conform with publishing norms is strongly *correlated* with poor quality work for many different reasons.
> 0 votes
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Tags: literature
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thread-31924
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/31924
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Does it look bad if letter of recommendation comes from an emeritus professor?
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2014-11-18T21:31:52.317
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# Question
Title: Does it look bad if letter of recommendation comes from an emeritus professor?
I wonder is it a good idea to ask for a letter of recommendation from a emeritus professor who I took his course and knows me well?
I was wondering is it bad to get a letter from someone who is not in Academia anymore?
# Answer
The best reference is the one that is both honest and based on extensive firsthand knowledge of your qualities. Emeritus status would seem irrelevant to me.
> 17 votes
# Answer
I think the answer to your question hugely depends on your application and resume.
If you are having advisers who are writing you strong letters of recommendation (for instance, your masters thesis advisers or professors you have worked in their research group and have publications with them), then you will probably do not need a letter from a professor with whom you'd only passed a course.
On the other hand, if you have not worked with a professor, probably your advisers of your thesis, then you really need a letter of recommendation from a professor that knows you and you had passed his course. So that emeritus professor can write a good letter of recommendation for you. Of course, it is better that nothing.
To the best of my knowledge, students usually need two or three letters of recommendation for their PhD applications.
> 1 votes
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Tags: graduate-admissions, recommendation-letter, professor-emeritus
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thread-31869
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/31869
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Consideration for MS if PhD rejected
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2014-11-17T23:03:19.997
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# Question
Title: Consideration for MS if PhD rejected
I am a undergraduate student interested in doing my higher studies in USA. I am tempted to apply for PhD program offered by the colleges but I am skeptical of my selection due to high competition. So, I was planning to first do MS from a reputed college and then later do a PhD. This will improve my chances of admit as well. However, while going through the FAQs of some colleges I came to know that there is a possibility of applying for PhD in a college, and in case the application gets rejected they consider the application for MS as well. So, I just wanted to know which is a wiser decision? To apply only for MS or to apply for PhD and hope that they select you at least for MS. Also, does the chances of being selected for MS reduce if the applicant follows the latter procedure?
# Answer
> 1 votes
It depends on the discipline and which country/institution you are coming from. In my experience, most foreign PhD students in US physics programs have master's degrees from their home countries. Therefore I think PhD admissions committees are expecting a master's degree.
MS programs in the US are usually not selective. Most international students choose to get the MS in their home country because it is usually much cheaper.
# Answer
> 1 votes
At the several institutions at which I have worked or attended, the graduate application and core course requirements are identical for MS and PhD students. I know of a number of cases where students applied for a PhD and were admitted to the Master's program (usually on the basis of lacking experience or grades/GRE cutoffs). I also know of a few where students were admitted to a PhD program pending taking a semester of pre-req courses to address a specific weakness in their application.
A PhD student generally has more access to career experience, teaching and research assistant-ships, tuition wavers, and a stipend. Thus it is far more financially viable to be a PhD student.
Considering that the application is no different, that there is a possibility of being admitted to the Master's program if you are not accepted to the PhD program, and that being a PhD student is the more beneficial state, I would say that there are key benefits to initially applying to a PhD program.
I am unaware of any circumstance in which applying for a PhD first would hurt your chances at applying for a Master's later.
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Tags: graduate-admissions
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thread-30228
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/30228
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How much emphasis should be put on programming ability in a letter of recommendation for CS graduate studies?
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2014-10-19T19:16:33.240
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# Question
Title: How much emphasis should be put on programming ability in a letter of recommendation for CS graduate studies?
I have a little computer science background. In one of my statistic courses we did significant data analysis with SAS and R coding. I'm getting this professor to write a LOR for me. He wants me to draft the LOR for him.
How should I write this letter so I don't come across as someone who confuses computer science with coding?
In other words, I want to convey how this course makes me a good candidate for a computer science graduate program.
# Answer
Let us put aside the question of you vs. your letter writer, because the same question could apply to your statement of purpose.
The notion of "programming ability" per se is a bit of a red herring. The problem is: how do you actually measure what a "good" programmer is? The only meaningful answer that I know of is to illustrate what somebody has accomplished that required programming. Any other assertion of programming ability, I regard as a red flag. In fact, one of my litmus tests for whether somebody is a good programmer is to ask what languages they know: if they can readily and simply answer the question, they probably aren't a good programmer (the logic behind this: getting significant things done with software tends to, over time, involve being forced to deal with lots of random types of code in order to get things done).
Thus, I would recommend you instead focus on emphasizing *what you have accomplished using programming.* This way, you will show not just "programming ability" but also personal organization, ability to accomplish difficult and complex tasks, ability to think in a computer science manner about problems, and other such qualities that actually matter a lot more for demonstrating your potential in a program. If you did a cool and complex project in the class, that is what you should be talking about, with SAS and R being mentioned in passing as the tools you used. If all you did was problem sets, well, I would have a hard time seeing how this could be a strong LOR in the first place.
> 2 votes
# Answer
Let's ask the right question first.
Do you think this is a situation where *you* should know, and know, what the application committee at the target program wants to hear, or where your *professor* should know these things? If the latter, then you're in a very difficult situation. My personal recommendation would be to discuss the matter frankly with the professor, and try to develop a constructive understanding. If the professor says something like:
> yes you should emphasize X Y and not Z, all of which I would give you glowing praise for, and I'll make sure the committee is receptive to it. I just don't have a lot of time and want you to help out a bit, so thank you for asking since that saves me time too.
then you are in very good shape.
If you don't know, and they don't know, then you need to find another writer.
Now, asking your original question is actually off topic here (although I think why it is off topic and what to do about it is very on-topic... nevermind the meta). You *cannot* answer this question without domain-specific knowledge. It would need to be answered, basically, by someone who has done admissions work at a CS graduate program. Not a physics graduate program nor a biology graduate program. Furthermore it will probably depend on the nature of your target school. Some schools are engineering focused (and programming ability may be more important if not a sign of brilliance) and some schools are theory focused (and programming is a necessary nuisance). This is why I'm emphasizing that it's more important for you to use more general resourcefulness to solve this question, as it's far more specific and situational than you may realize.
In particular, **ask this question to your rec letter writer.**
> 0 votes
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Tags: graduate-admissions, computer-science, recommendation-letter, code
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thread-31941
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/31941
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How important is primary authorship in judging someone's research contributions?
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2014-11-19T12:02:34.303
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# Question
Title: How important is primary authorship in judging someone's research contributions?
I wanted to know how the research profile of a doctoral student or a post-doc is usually judged in academia. In the list of peer-reviewed conference or journal publications, how crucial is the **position** in the authors list, to judge the research calibre.
I am aware that being the first (primary) author is most important. As an example, consider a case where a candidate has 4-5 publications. In all these publications he/she is neither the primary author nor the supervisor of that project. On the other hand, assume he/she has 2 highly ranked publications as the first author. Which of these two cases can be used as a comparative study of the candidate's research contribution.
I see these days a kind of rat-race for papers, where each publication has more than 4 authors. Is the "number of papers" parameter lone enough? Agreeing that working on multiple projects is important, should the focus be more on publishing one's own work rather than collaborating on multiple papers where the contribution is not significant.
# Answer
> 3 votes
First, it is worth mentioning that there are several models for authorship in use. In some fields alphabetaical is used, in some the last author is considered the important person (usually project leader), in some single author is used even when collaborations are performed. That said, however, the most common form is by weight and I mean *weight* in an ambiguous way because this is what is usually the problem, *weight* can be input but also importance or even by bullying.
So, the way in which to judge placement in an authorship list has shown signs of collapse, not to mention inflation. To remedy this many journals start to ask for accounts of the contributions made by each author. The notion of contributorship rather than authorship is emerging (see e.g. the BMJ description of their use fo the terms in practise). The ideas are based on the (expanded) Vancouver Protocol definitions of authorship which is as follows
> * Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work;
>
> AND
>
> * Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content;
>
> AND
>
> * Final approval of the version to be published;
>
> AND
>
> * Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.
This has been reproduced numerous times in replies on Academia.sx so you may want to do a search on the tag and on the term contributorship to see more discussions.
So as the idea of contributorship and the definition of what contributions mean the view on author order might become closer to what it originally was intended. There is thus good incentives for listing contributions in paper even if it is not requested by journals. My suspicion (any certainty will have to come with time) is that when publications are assessed for job applications and promotions, the contributorship will be increasingly important, and by that coherence between author order (including appearance as author) and actual contribution.
In the end being high on the list is important, clearly showing author's contributions is necessary to judge the placement. This, I would argue, is particularly important for early career scientists.
# Answer
> 4 votes
Your focus needs to be on accomplishing significant work, and then receiving appropriate credit for that work. Number of papers is often a reflection of that, but is not, ultimately, the metric on which you will be judged by anybody who is actually thinking of *hiring* you. More distant reviewers of various sorts (e.g., for a grant or a tenure case) are more likely to apply publication-based metrics out of a lack of knowledge or imagination. Anybody who is considering hiring you, however, should be less interested in what your rank order in authorship is and more interested in what you have accomplished (which is partially reflected by author order).
For example, in your question about comparing a candidate with middle authorships vs. first authorships, I would want to know what, exactly, either candidate had done. Did the first author candidate actually conceive the work and do most of the writing, or were they just acting as a lab tech on behalf of the more senior authors? Was the middle-author candidate just along for the ride, or was it a complicated project where their contribution was critical, but others happened to be more critical.
Thus, in a statement of purpose or other self-presentation, I look for a candidate to be saying, "I accomplished all of these things (as reflected by these publications)", rather than simply "I have all of these publications."
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Tags: publications, authorship, collaboration, reputation
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thread-31900
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/31900
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How do advisors typically apply pressure on PhD students to get work done?
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2014-11-18T13:24:29.320
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# Question
Title: How do advisors typically apply pressure on PhD students to get work done?
I tend to get much work done when some external force (a teacher) applies pressure. Skills such as speed reading and rapid writing come to me only while working under pressure. Also, sometimes the best solutions only come to me immediately before deadlines. I am interested in starting a PhD, but nervous that there will be long stretches where I will not have to submit progress or there might not be much pressure for me to get work done.
Do students working towards a PhD thesis typically face frequent deadlines and pressure in the form of specific targets? How do advisors typically apply pressure to their PhD students?
# Answer
> 44 votes
> I am interested in starting a PhD, but nervous that there will be long stretches where I will not have to submit progress or there might not be much pressure for me to get work done.
Congratulations for having identified one of the major differences between research projects on the PhD level and earlier levels even before starting a PhD! In my opinion, dealing with problems on your own and without real pressure for weeks ore maybe even months is really a characteristic feature of PhD research. One of the competences which you should acquire before the PhD degree is to go through such phases successfully.
That said, there's of course different types of *support* (or *pressure*, if you prefer to call it so) from your supervisor and your fellow researchers, mostly your supervisor's group or collaboration partners.
* Your supervisor may ask you or suggest to submit a paper to a specific conference, which has a submission deadline.
* You may be involved in a collaboration project, where regular meetings with project partners take place, and a presentation of the latest results will be expected.
* A third-party funded project may require regular reports on research results, which you may be asked to provide if you work on that project or a related topic.
* Many groups have regular meetings where people discuss their latest research results. You'll be expected to contribute some results of yours from time to time.
But of course, how much pressure is built up by such expectations varies from place to place. Also, a difference to undergraduate research or coursework is that consequences usually do not come immediately if you fail to "deliver", but will only be visible on the long run, over the course of one or two years maybe.
Generally, I'd say that a young supervisor with a growing group will put more pressure on you to deliver research results than a more established researcher with a large group, because the young supervisor depends more on your results for his own progress, and should have more time to work with you closely.
Also, the group you're involved in matters a lot, because discussion with colleagues stimulates research ideas, and also puts you into a mode of "having to deliver something". Check a potential group for jointly authored publications (not only PhD student + supervisor) to get a feeling for how active it is in terms of collaboration. The latter point is especially important for a large group with an established senior supervisor.
# Answer
> 21 votes
In my opinion, the most important thing that one should learn during the course of a Ph.D. and postdoc is how to be an independent researcher, directing one's own line of research. Part of that is learning how to acquire your own motivators. If you need external motivators, the academic world is *full* of deadlines that you can apply to yourself: conference deadlines, journal revision deadlines, project review deadlines, grant application deadlines, collaborators who need you to hold up your end of a bargain.
If you find a framework of deadlines is important for you, you should be able to arrange for weekly meetings with your advisor, which can provide a running set of deadlines for you to target. Early on in your program, much of the goal-setting is likely to come from your advisor. Later, as you mature as a researcher, hopefully it will shift to be more coming from you. Depending on your field, your advisor, and your personality, that may come sooner or it may come later (which is why I included postdoc above).
At the same time, I will warn you that deadlines and short-term goals are a good way to avoid one of the hardest things about research: finding the perspective to step back, take a look at the bigger picture, and figure out what is actually important to do. At one point in my Ph.D., my advisor told me that now was the time that I needed to just go sit under a tree and think for a while. He was right, and I didn't like what I found when I stopped *doing* and thought seriously about how those things related to my actual dissertation goals.
It's entirely possible to do a Ph.D. and postdoc in an entirely project-focused and deadline-driven way, while never developing as an independent researcher, but instead becoming sort of a "super technician." In fact, pressure from grants provides incentives for professors to push their students to do so, creating deliverables rather than learning to self-direct. You can have an excellent career in industry or a non-PI position in academia on the basis of such work, and that's fine. If you want to be an independent investigator leading your own line of research, however, then at some point across Ph.D. and postdoc, you will need to learn how to handle the dreadful freedom of managing your own time and expectations.
# Answer
> 6 votes
I would offer two suggestions.
First, the structure of the relationship between a grad student and their advisor is partly dependent on their individual styles, but is largely what they make it. So don't expect that your advisor would automatically set deadlines, targets, etc (some might and some might not), but if that is something that would be helpful to you, ask your advisor to help you by doing it. You could arrange a system where at each meeting, the two of you agree on what you will have finished by the next meeting (or by intermediate deadlines in between if needed). You might find it helpful to describe it as "accountability" rather than "pressure".
More broadly, I completely understand your tendency to "work best under pressure" (I sometimes feel the same myself), but I would suggest that ultimately, rather than relying on people around you to impose that pressure, you might consider working on changing that aspect of yourself. In my own experience, I found that saying "I work best under pressure" turned into "I *only* work when there is pressure, and until then I procrastinate." (Sometimes this is due to the work being consciously or subconsciously stressful; perhaps paying attention to a project brings up the fear that maybe I'm doing it all wrong, I must be an idiot, I'll never graduate, etc. So it's easiest to avoid these thoughts by avoiding the work until it can't be avoided any longer.)
The work got done in the end, but it wasn't my best work: it was last-minute and only marginally acceptable, and had I started earlier I could have produced something better. It's not easy to change one's own habits and thought patterns if they are ingrained, but it's something that can really be a long-term benefit.
# Answer
> 4 votes
For your coursework, if any, you will face the same sort of deadlines you'd find in any college course. Expect little or no slack on late or sloppy work, though. In one of my courses, grades were 100% or zero. For the dissertation, it will depend on your supervisor. Mine required biweekly reports. When you get near the dissertation stage, ask potential supervisors or committee chairs how they do that.
# Answer
> 2 votes
There is no unique answer for this question of course. So I would like to add also my view:
Some supervisors "apply pressure", by being very passive and not setting any deadlines at all, but giving students a lot of self-responsibility. For some people there is no greater pressure then the pressure they set themselves. So the idea is they are learning you to create your own pressure.
It is kind of in the same way as the most horrible teacher, can in the end be the best teacher. Because in case you didn't understand anything of his/her horrible explanation, you had to figure it out yourself, and after you did, you never forget it. Whereas the good flowed story of the great professor, saved you a lot of time, and boosted fast understanding but might have hindered you to question important assumptions, or to study fundamental aspects firmly.
If supervisors help you by setting a lot of deadlines, chopping up the work in small pieces, and specifying the targets, it may help you, but also it could hinder independence. This is why I think its very difficult to compare PhD's because even of 2 people would have done the same work, but under completely different supervision, and resources, the grade or rating, should be different.
My recommendation is that you tell him, how you liked to be supervised. In my case I would have asked for a gradual transition from very structured with deadlines in the first year, to complete freedom in the last year.
# Answer
> -1 votes
Don't bother. You will be wasting your time and others, and possible stopping someone more deserving from the getting opportunity of a lifetime. I expect someone with or aiming for a PhD to be telling me what needs to be done, not expecting me to tell them.
The whole point of having a higher level certificate is not to prove that you can be taught, it is to prove that you can learn and you can work. As an employer, I want someone that I can present with a problem and get back a solution. If I have to stand over your shoulder asking "have you done it yet?" then you wont enjoy my company, and I certainly wont enjoy yours.
**---- edit to address some of the comments below ----**
I was being deliberately harsh but not (intentionally) insulting, I apologise for any offence taken. I did not criticise the OP for his or her self-organisation, only their self motivation, and it is this I am hoping they will re-evaluate. In academia, as in commerce, it is expected that a junior will have to be told what to do, and that a senior will already know and be getting on with it. This is often the most useful distinguishing feature between them. I would expect a PhD candidate to be a senior, or one their way to becoming one, but I accept that opinions can differ.
I do not understand how the certificate of achievement can be considered as anything other then a significant accomplishment. In industry, I do not much care what subject you have mastered as it is unlikely to be relevant, and extremely unlikely that I will be able to ask you meaningful questions on it, but I do care *that* you have mastered a subject, and I will want to know how you solved problems and approached difficulties. For it is that ability to overcome obstacles in the pursuit of knowledge the makes you a master in the eyes of your peers.
To the original poster, I suggest you find a way to internalise those external pressures you say you need. Whether it is your diary or your professional pride that is applying the pressure, you need to find a way to keep focused and keep working when you are bored, tired, distracted and/or frustrated. When not only is no one pushing you, but when people are telling you that you are wasting your time, wasting their time, that you are wrong or that you have already failed.
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Tags: phd, thesis, advisor, motivation
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thread-31954
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/31954
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What are assistant professors called in North America?
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2014-11-19T15:57:46.407
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# Question
Title: What are assistant professors called in North America?
We've had discussions on this site about the German tradition of Prof. Dr., but I'm unclear on how it maps over to the North American academy.
My question, therefore, is whether a North American assistant professor (PhD holding, tenure-stream) would be considered a professor, a doctor, a professor doctor, or some other form when registering for an event there.
# Answer
> 21 votes
In North America, one would only mention an academic's rank (assistant professor, associate professor, full professor, etc) in formal contexts where it is important to describe their exact job title (in a CV, business card, news article, etc).
Otherwise, the word "professor" is used generically to refer to any tenure-stream university faculty members, and in some cases also non-tenure-stream. For example, "Susan Jones is a biology professor at Harvard." That would still be correct if her rank is assistant professor. Or: "The conference was attended by 300 professors from across the country." They need not all have been full professors.
It is also the word used to address any of these people. ("Professor Jones, I thought your paper was very interesting.")
"Doctor" is also used as a term of address, assuming the faculty member in question holds a doctoral degree. ("Doctor Jones, please tell me more about your experiment.") Whether "Professor" or "Doctor" is to be preferred is a matter of local custom which varies from one institution to the next. But "Doctor" is not used to refer to the job itself. You would not say "Susan Jones is a biology doctor at Harvard."
In North America, titles are *never* stacked. One does not say "Professor Doctor Jones".
# Answer
> -4 votes
In North America, all professors at all levels seem to just use the salutation "doctor", and nothing more. Does this answer your question?
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Tags: etiquette, united-states, titles, assistant-professor
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thread-31934
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/31934
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How do project supervisors address the "freeloading" problem in group projects?
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2014-11-19T06:57:59.017
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# Question
Title: How do project supervisors address the "freeloading" problem in group projects?
I am currently leading a three person team to tackle an undergrad engineering project that involves several parts. I am responsible for data analysis using sophisticated computer algorithms, another is responsible for creating a software graphical display and another is involved in the programming of a piece of hardware.
**The problem is that both of those other students are freeloading on my efforts and neither has contributed much since the project started in May of this year (that's 6 months of doing next to nothing).**
In the lasts couple of months, every two weeks we would have a team meeting with our project supervisor. The team meeting involves a submission of progress since last meeting. Here's what would happen: one or two days before the meeting, a person will do something that is tangential to what he is assigned to do. For example, it could be setting up a piece of software, or trying someone else's code. Nothing is ever successful and in every single progress report I would see them putting down "investigating alternatives" or "still under research". What? You have been researching for more than half a year.
The most irritating issue for me is that they are both freeloading on my efforts. Because data analysis requires a huge amount of experiments and organization of the data, every once a while I would get them to spend less than 30 minutes with me (amidst whining and complaining and playing with cellphone) on organizing about 4 TB worth of data, while I spend the next week incessantly work on the data analysis, organization of the data, and preparing for presentation at project meetings. You've guessed it, this is exactly what they would put down on the progress report - "helped team member X to perform data organization". In addition, when they are stuck on their parts, I am often forced to take over just to meet the deadline. To be honest, I have single handedly spear-headed every single aspect of project (even though I have never done GUI or hardware programming!) because things are never delivered and there are no immediate, effective checks to keep them from not delivering their work.
MOST irritating aspect: they have put my work onto their LinkedIn profile!
The top excuse that they give is that they are busy with other courses. Since this project is over a long period of time and graded based on overall success, they do not think it is as important as their other half semester courses. They keep on telling me how they are so busy with their courses and everything is due on the next day and midterms is next week they never think that I have the exact same workload (if not more). I also don't have any financial power or control over their grades as we do not have any official reporting system put in place to get them working. Also it is impossible to kick them off of the team without shutting the project down.
I want to signal to my project supervisor that they are not performing AT ALL. This will definitely come as a surprise to him since every meeting there are enormous progress (all from my end) and the project has been an overall success. I am also kind of upset that my team members are going to chip in on a potentially big prize at the end of this year.
From your experience, what is commonly done for a supervisor to spot freeloaders in a group project and how are penalties handed down? How can I work with my supervisor now (who maybe completely unaware of the situation) to effectively put these people back to work?
# Answer
> 49 votes
> From your experience, what is commonly done for a supervisor to spot freeloaders in a group project and how are penalties handed down? How can I work with my supervisor now (who maybe completely unaware of the situation) to effectively put these people back to work?
As somebody who taught many courses with a similar structure to what you described: **the common approach for supervisors to handle this situation is to do nothing** (at least not on their own initiative). You are likely not aware of it, but you are in the middle of learning something that will presumably be more valuable to you than the hard technical skills of the project. You are learning how to handle team work that isn't going smoothly.
There is a good chance your supervisor is already aware that things are not working out in your project (your team mates have been reporting that things are "under research" for half a year while you have been delivering results - any half-decent supervisor knows what that means). He does not step in because one of the main learning outcomes of such a project is that he expects you to learn how to handle such issues.
So far, you are not handling it well. You are clearly very annoyed by the situation, but you do not mention any clear steps to resolve the issue. You cover their asses by taking over their work, and have as far as I can tell not formally escalated the problem. Instead, you are hoping that the "higher-ups" will figure it out on their own, and step in without you having to take responsibility. *This is exactly how you should also **not** handle this situation in the real world.*
And, I should add, do not hope that this situation will not come up when you work in industry. Replace *"we don't have time for this because of other courses"* with *"we don't have time for this because of other projects"*, and you will have the exact same problem in the real world. Only in industry, the stakes for failing will be higher. As usual, university gives you a comparatively low-risk environment to train working on the same kinds of problems that you will also routinely face later on.
To end this with a practical remark: stop focusing so much on what *they* do, and what your *supervisor* should do. Start thinking of your environment as a context that you can't (directly) change, at least not without effort. Your task is to figure out what *you* can do to work in the environment you are given. This may include taking more responsibility for managing the group, or getting into a big, potentially productive fight with your team. This may also include formally escalating the problem.
# Answer
> 24 votes
I teach a design course. We have a number of checks in place to discourage this from happening.
Perhaps the biggest is we give a little practice team experience before assigning real teams. We ask each team member to evaluate their peers on the team. Students are then surprised to find out that their grades for the team portion of the overall grade are adjusted by up to a full letter based on these evaluations. We then let them know that this is how the rest of the year will be graded. This gets the grade-motivated students participating.
The rest comes down to making sure that each player has some buy in on the project. Our course is customer driven, with students applying to work on specific teams. Once the real teams are formed, I give a mini lecture on project management skills, based on a book by Heerkens (Project Management, from the Briefcase Series -- especially the section on "Accidental Managers"), and we discuss as a class why people participate more or less on teams. I point out that our starting assumption is that since everyone applied to participate on the team they ended up on, that everyone wants to make the customer happy. We also discuss that different people are motivated by different things. I ask the students to think about if they would be disappointed if they got less than an A in the class. After they think a bit, I ask them to consider whether their teammates feel the same way. I point out that some students have real obstacles that a team as a whole can help deal with -- like the student that lives off-campus and can't make 11PM meetings, or even a student that might be supporting a family the team doesn't know about, and has an entirely different priority set.
Once the projects get kicking, I ask for lists of weekly action items and who is to carry them out. If a TA (I have a fleet of TAs) notices that someone isn't taking action items, or not delivering on them, we'll intervene to see how we can get the student some more buy-in on the project, often by making sure there's an aspect of the overall project they can call their own.
Is this 100% effective?? Obviously not, but I feel I have some grip on such issues.
In this particular case, one must consider the possibility that the original asker might be part of a poisonous team dynamic that I see over and over and over (usually in the practice team experience, and then I teach about it in my project management lecture so it comes up less often on the real projects). This is where one team member becomes the self-appointed leader without really understanding what that role means. When this happens, you can end up with one person who assumes leading means doing more work, and sometimes can make other team members not want to work with that person. So, without trying to analyze the team, the person who believes that the others aren't doing their fair share might want to reflect on the situation and ask himself if he's done anything to help create this situation. A leader works hard to make sure he's getting the most that can be gotten from every team member, and the teammates are eager to work with him or her.
**To offer simple advice for this case** -- you seem to have periodic meetings and progress reports. That's a start. I recommend Gantt Charting the whole project, so you can start showing which parts of the project are moving along and which are not. This way, your teammates see it staring them in the face. Make it clear which tasks you are willing to work on and which parts you are not. When it becomes clear that there are gaping areas, figure out which teammates are going to handle what's left. Help them break up the big tasks into bite sized subtasks, with each tasks assigned to a responsible person. While you're doing this, you might consider asking your teammates if you're doing anything that is pushing them away from the project. If there is, figure out how you can make that stop happening. Apologize, if its called for, and let them know you don't want to dwell on it, but want to move on.
Every meeting should end with a list of ACTION ITEMS, along with the party responsible for each, and a target date of completion.
This way, assuming your teammates want to help (unless you've really alienated them!!) but simply are overwhelmed and don't know how they can best take a bite out of their project, you're actually helping them through the process (i.e., actually leading). Also, you'll have a record of who's supposed to do what, and it will be clear to everybody where progress is happening and where it's not.
Lastly, when you really sit down and start Gantt Charting, you might figure out that the plan is overly ambitious for the remaining time. If this is the case, no use tilting at windmills. Reestablish a new scope of the project that's actually achievable given the time and resources (human or otherwise), and talk this over with your teammates and supervisor.
In the long run, depersonalize it and stop working on blame. Your team is at point A, you need to be at point B. Figure out how to best get there with the resources you have.
Good luck.
# Answer
> 14 votes
The issue you are referring to is called "social loafing" and is a very common problem in teamwork. To fix this, us need to do a number of things but the most important is to shine a spotlight on everyone. When people are anonymous, they tend to do things the would not otherwise do (or tend to avoid things they would otherwise not avoid).
So, ideally, when forming the team, you would **set out the ground rules for what is required to join the team and what are the rules for continues membership**. However, this does not seem to work in your current situation (and the nature of your work might have made this unrealistic at the start).
The next thing to do is to **ensure that everyone is responsible to everyone else in the team**. That is, the members do not simply answer to the supervisor but they also answer to everyone else. In this case, they answer to you (and you answer to them). If they are not fulfilling the requirements for continued membership, then they get warned or removed from the team. However, again, this seems difficult in your situation.
If you do have the option of solving the problem through team design, then **you need to resort to coaching/leadership**. That is, you need to find a way to motivate them. Of course, nobody can you tell you what it takes because we do not know them. You need to find out what really motivates them and then you should work with that to try to get them inspired enough to actually get their jobs done. Of course, leadership ability does not happen overnight but it can be developed. The first thing you should do is to take a stand. That is, tell them that enough is enough and it is unreasonable and unfair that you are doing the lion's share of the work while they are trying to take an equal share of the credit.
The last recommendation I would make is to **bring up to your supervisor what is actually going on**. I assume he/she is bright enough to be able to monitor what's really going on. After all, yours is not the first team of students to encounter the issue of social loafing.
If you have no penalties (your supervisor should have these tools available) then your only option is leadership/coaching. Best to use both, if you can.
# Answer
> 7 votes
Fire your team. Tell your supervisor that you're going it alone. The other team members are free to take what you've contributed so far and finish it up, which they probably will have trouble doing. I had a programming partner who basically dropped out of school to do drugs and so I submitted the final project with only my name. He complained to the instructor but I responded with how he abandoned the project to party and do drugs. The instructor let him take what I had given him to that point and try to complete it. He could not.
"Leadership" can't solve most problems like this. Next time choose your partners more carefully. No amount of inspiring leadership will make incompetent team members competent. The key to leadership is choosing the right team. If everyone on the team is good then the other problems take care of themselves.
In the private sector, it is the supervisor's job to find dead weight and either put them somewhere that they can be productive or get rid of them. Dead weight is incredibly corrosive to any team and once a few people start getting away with it spreads like a cancer to everyone around them. "If so-and-so can get away with hardly doing anything, then I will too!" If the whole company is like that, and I've seen it happen, then the solution is to find a better job.
xLeitix mentioned this is like the real world with competing project priorities. If it's a matter of resources available due to project priorities, then the supervisors will have to work out as a company which people need to be working on which projects. If your supervisor tells you someone can't help you with the current project, then you tell him or her it will take longer since you'll be doing it all alone. And if company politics don't allow you to work on the other guy's technology stack, then the project will simply have to be on hold until that changes.
# Answer
> 5 votes
I was with a similar group in uni. Instead of seeing it as a hindrance, I embraced it. Their lack of input and interest meant that I had full autonomy and control over the project. Yea you have to work harder personally, but what you produce will be top quality, and lets face it, if they did contribute, it would probably be so half-assed it would drag your grade down anyway.
I embraced it so much that I elected the same lazy f\**ks for all of my group projects. I enjoyed having full control. I was never disappointed with any of my grades, that's for sure.
# Answer
> 4 votes
## Group dynamics are the responsibility of the group
The short answer to "How do project supervisors address the “freeloading” problem in group projects" is that they don't. It's generally the responsibility of the group to allocate the tasks and the share of effort. If they are unable to do it in a way that's satisfactory to everyone (such as your example) then the solution is to change groups - if everyone really is freeloading off of you in the manner described, then you obviously are capable to do the project on your own. Due to the problem of sunk effort, it's preferable to identify such cases early and split up before too much work is done - giving this advice is something that the supervisors should be doing.
Other than that, the only long term effect is to avoid doing common work with those people in future. For such cases, it helps if such projects are organized not a single event but rather multiple smaller projects with possibly different groups - where functioning groups can stick together for multiple projects, and conflicting groups can re-form in a possibly better configuration.
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Tags: undergraduate, supervision, projects
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thread-31944
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/31944
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Should I cite every study that supports my point?
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2014-11-19T12:57:33.157
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# Question
Title: Should I cite every study that supports my point?
Suppose I'm writing a paper and at some point in the paper (e.g. the background section), I write that "Vanilla ice cream is healthier than chocolate ice cream." I search EBSCO and find check all research studies that tested this and find and skim through 15 papers all supporting this claim, including the earliest pioneer research in the area up to the most recent. Is it then appropriate to affix in-text citations for all 15 of those studies to that sentence? What about if I find 50 studies?
# Answer
It depends on the purpose of the paper.
If it is a review article on the effects of different flavor of ice cream, it may well be appropriate to cite far more papers than it would be if you are merely establishing the point in a paper containing your original research on the subject. In the latter case you may even be able to cite someone else's review.
Generally speaking, new papers in a field only get published if there is an element of novelty to them. Thus it is unlikely to find 50 different papers saying exactly the same thing. If you need the citation to support your own project, you should be able to find a small subset of those that are most relevant to the question at hand (e.g. if I am using mouse models, I should probably cite prior work in mice over prior work in rabbit models). If you are reviewing a topic, you should be able to find the most important papers out of the group (e.g. the ones that were transformative to our understanding of ice cream health effects).
Additionally some papers will vary in quality or scope. Citing an initial, limited scope paper might be appropriate if you are discussing the history of a topic, but if you are just trying to establish a basis for a claim you may want to go with a later, more definitive study.
Many publications will give you a citation limit when writing for them. So you often won't have a chance to cite an entire library of previous work. You need to be able to pin down the papers that are best suited for your specific need.
> 12 votes
# Answer
The purpose of a citation is twofold:
1. It prevents you from taking credit for other person's work.
2. It can serve as an "external appendix" (the interested reader can read more in ...)
Neither requires that you cite everybody. If there is a large body of work done already, then typically one or more overview articles have already appeared. You can cite those, and combine both purposes: you indicate that it is not your finding and the interested reader can find a complete list of references in the overview article.
> 11 votes
# Answer
In my field (particle physics), at least, when you give a citation for a result, it's traditional to cite the *original* result. Many papers that come later might also give the same result, some with the original derivation, some with updated derivations, some with experimental evidence (though that is really considered a separate result from the theoretical discovery in its own right), but they don't all get cited for that one result.
So it probably depends somewhat on the conventions of your field.
> 3 votes
# Answer
It depends on how important is that point to your paper. If you are studying the consistency of ice cream, and you find that vanilla has a better consistency, and furthermore, is healthier, you just need one good reference.
On the other hand, if that is a central point of your article (you are researching how to condition children into choosing vanilla instead of chocolate), you should make a strong point. In this case, is beneficial to put things in perspective:
> The first work by Jones in 1976 suggested that Chocolate was not so healthy...
If there is a review, it can mostly replace all the older papers:
> The fact was well established since the work by Marks, "Ice cream flavours, health, and little humans", 1998.
and possibly special mention mention those papers that are a substantial breakthrough or strength:
> Smith 2003 followed the ice cream preferences of 10 000 white children...
> 3 votes
# Answer
+1 to Maarten's answer.
In addition: likely enough, the more recent of the 50 studies you mention already cite most of the earlier ones, so the reader can just follow the breadcrumbs back - no need for you to essentially repeat the literature survey that was already done in the papers you cite. Stick (mostly) with the recent literature.
Of course, you *should* cite papers that are most relevant to your study (e.g., similar protocols, similar questions etc.), and if you manage to find a relevant study that everyone else has overlooked, by all means include it.
> 1 votes
# Answer
**Usually one reference is best; sometimes you want more**.
In general a single, well-chosen, citation is all that is needed. Select a paper that (a) you've read (b) clearly supports your assertion and (c) is well written and the job is done.
However, sometimes you may wish to include more than one references. The appropriate time to do this is if there is historical reason to do so (e.g. you may wish to cite the original paper and a more recent update), if you wish to emphasize the breadth of support for the point, if the point is - in your view - controversial or if you're giving a historical view and want to cite multiple papers to give the historical perspective on the point.
> 1 votes
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Tags: citations, literature
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thread-31889
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/31889
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Teacher takes pictures of students during exams and posts them on social media
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2014-11-18T09:09:33.183
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# Question
Title: Teacher takes pictures of students during exams and posts them on social media
There's this teacher who takes pictures of his students during exams, and posts them on social media, with the knowledge of the students. A lot of people enjoy these pictures (including the students), but I'm not sure how I should feel about this.
This also includes editing pictures to make them into *meme*s of some kind. There is no foul play involved, just for fun.
Is this behavior alright? Should it be tolerated?
Addition :
The students were not asked for their consent. There have been no verbal objections, so far.
# Answer
> 79 votes
Doing this without permission is unprofessional, and it may be illegal, depending on your jurisdiction.
Asking for students' permission first is still unprofessional, especially in an exam situation, where students are already nervous, and given the power imbalance between the professor and the students. Who among the students will dare to object right before the exam? (This could depend on your local culture.)
You write that "There is no foul play involved, just for fun." - What is fun for one student could very well be harrassment for another, especially if pictures are edited. I don't see how this furthers the academic enterprise, so I would avoid doing this, at the risk of coming across as a spoilsport.
I surmise this question could soon be closed as opinion-based.
# Answer
> 23 votes
> Is this behavior alright? Should it be tolerated?
Well, it certainly does not seem very professional to me, and I would neither do it nor suggest it to any other lecturer. That being said, I can certainly imagine small, informal master-level classes, where doing this *may* be perceived as a fun gimmick and not as outrageous.
Whether you should tolerate it probably depends on whether you are personally offended, and to what degree. If you personally don't care (and don't know somebody else who clearly cares), I do not see a reason to make a big preemptive fuss. If you would really rather not have your picture taken, or you expect the shy guy at the back to be really bothered by that, then you can (and should) talk to the lecturer in private and explain the situation to her/him.
# Answer
> 10 votes
I would bet that this is surely a FERPA violation in the U. S.
This is not based on my detailed knowledge of the law, but only my past experiences (and vague recollections from the FERPA quiz my university has everyone take).
Here's an example of how strict these laws can be: once I got an email from the parent of an autistic student in my course. The parent wanted to know how the student was doing in class so the parent could help her child stay on top of things. On a hunch, I contacted the disability services office to see if I could speak with the parent about the student in this case. I was told that it would be a violation of FERPA to even confirm with the parent that this student was enrolled in my course!
Since posting a photo of someone taking an exam is certainly evidence that they are taking a particular course, it is very likely posting the photo is not okay.
# Answer
> 5 votes
Rather than assuming consent, or requesting it on a short timeframe right as the exam starts, the professor should get consent this way:
> In the first or second lecture, show a series of pictures from previous years, including the memed ones. Further, explain where these go (public blog or twitter? private facebook page for students in this class this year? The physical wall outside the profs office?) Then say "if you're cool with being the subject of one of these pictures, please \[email me and say so, or put your name on this list at the front, or go to this web page and enter your student id, or something relatively unspoofable.\]
The onus is now on the prof to ensure that pictures are taken and cropped so that they only include students known to have agreed to this. (Don't recognize third-from-the-left? Can't remember if that's Ashleigh or Ashley? Not a usable picture.)
At most one reminder later in the term for new arrivals would be ok. Other than that, there shouldn't be any haranguing like "7 people still haven't filled out the ok-to-make-a-meme-of-me form, please try to get that done today."
Approaching this any other way at best risks leaving some students unhappy and feeling mocked; depending on where you live it could have worse outcomes including legal and financial liabilities. **There is no upside to assuming consent and saying it's all for fun.** The prof and students are spending 4 or 8 months together, there is plenty of time to collect non pressured optional true consent if this really is so much fun.
In addition, a role model showing people that "hey, this is fun, don't be a spoilsport, just go along" is no longer the way universities operate will be doing a larger public service for those who will hear the same words around alcohol, drugs, vandalism, coerced sex, and the like. Just because something will be fun for some of the people participating in it, that doesn't mean everyone should participate regardless of their feelings or preferences. Demonstrating that with something relatively minor like pictures of funny faces during exams is probably a really good life lesson. True consent matters.
# Answer
> 2 votes
I got a picture of me taken during the entrance exam for my undergrad. The photographer tried to capture the environment where 1000+ candidates sit in this huge hall and compete for a place at the institution. The photo shows a portion of the seats, but as the photographer stood right in front of me, I happened to be in the first plan. This photo was posted on the institution's official web site. It is quite dear to me as it captures a moment which you wouldn't expect to be documented in such a way and I see nothing wrong with it. The same reasoning might apply to your professor. Of course, editing the picture might be another story, especially if it is done with malicious intent. As I see it, you or any other student could approach the professor afterwards and ask them to remove or not disclose the pictures taken. This is a viable option even if those pictures were posted on social media.
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Tags: ethics, teaching, exams, social-media, technology
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thread-31953
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/31953
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How do you refer to someone whose title has changed?
|
2014-11-19T15:37:55.493
|
# Question
Title: How do you refer to someone whose title has changed?
I am writing a personal statement for a PhD application and I’d like to refer to my previous lecturer. He was a Dr. at the time he taught me but he is now a professor at another institution.
Is there a neat way of referring to someone like this or do I have to go with something clumsy as:
> I was taught by Dr. X (now Prof.) on his course about Y.
# Answer
> 9 votes
The person is now a professor, so refer to them primarily as that. If you are concerned about confusion, you can add the additional information in the sub-clause, where it reads more smoothly:
> I took course Y from Prof. X, while he was a \[lecturer, postdoc, whatever\] at \[instutition\]"
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Tags: etiquette, titles
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thread-31973
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/31973
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If I use most of the references from a thesis but not the exact same sentences, is it plagiarism?
|
2014-11-19T21:45:05.163
|
# Question
Title: If I use most of the references from a thesis but not the exact same sentences, is it plagiarism?
There is a PhD thesis which is inline with my MSc thesis topic.
The author has collected and classified a huge number of references for the background. While I am writing the background section, if I use the references he used, but not the sentences and organization, is it still plagiarism?
I am talking about 50-60 references out of 250. They are very well classified and right-to-the-point.
I also cited his thesis. However, referring to one thesis for 40 references is silly.
What should I do?
# Answer
> 49 votes
Working from a bibliography in another paper is not plagiarism. It's actually a good research technique. As you read those papers, check *their* bibliographies, too, and so on. Pretty soon you will have thorough coverage of the subject.
Do note that you cannot just plop those 50-60 or so references into your own bibliography but do nothing else, nor paraphrase what someone else has said about them, but without reading them. That's called reference padding and is academic misconduct. You have to actually *read* the papers. When you do that, you may find that some of them don't fit your needs as well as you may have at first thought. You will also find it easy to write your own thoughts about those papers, and so will not have to worry about paraphrasing another author.
# Answer
> 15 votes
Using references that someone else used is not plagiarism.
That said, if you made significant use of the thesis text itself (not just its bibliography) in understanding what the references were and how they might be relevant, it's worth citing the thesis as a source for more information. For instance, if you got some ideas by looking at a chapter in the thesis titled "Cake-baking", reading its summary of different cake-baking techniques, and then looking up the references in the bibliography to get more detail, then you didn't just use the bibliography, you used the textual explication/summary of the cited material. It's common in articles to see a discussion of previous research with various citations, and then something like "See Jones (2000) for an overview of relevant research in this area."
# Answer
> 10 votes
No. Taking someone else's bibliography, reading those papers, and writing some words of your own about those papers is not plagiarism.
Don't restrict yourself to just those papers, though. In all likelihood, the thesis writer won't have cited every resource that is useful or relevant to your work. If there has been a recent review published on the topic, that's usually the best place to start your own literature survey.
# Answer
> 8 votes
> The author have collected and classified huge number of references for background. While I am writing the background section, if I use the references he used, but not the sentences and organization, is it still plagiarism?
It's not clear to me what you mean. If you just mean you learned a lot of references from the thesis and then cited those references when they seemed appropriate in your own writing, then there's nothing wrong with it. On the other hand, it's less appropriate if you are repeatedly imitating someone else's nontrivial choices about which papers to cite. I'm not sure where to draw the line between plagiarism and other inappropriate behavior, but you should avoid it in any case.
For example, suppose someone has carefully chosen ten representative references for each of six topics and made these citations when introducing these topics. If your background section includes different paragraphs describing the topics (so there's no copying of text) but offers exactly the same citations, then you're taking unfair advantage of that person's work by giving the impression that you chose and organized these references yourself. It's arguably not as bad as copying chunks of text, but it at least doesn't seem like good manners. (I'd be annoyed if I noticed that someone else's background section cited the exact same sixty papers as mine without giving me any credit.)
If this is the sort of thing you're talking about, then you should give credit by explaining the source. For example, you could write something like "For further background material, see \[that thesis\], from which I took many of the citations in this section."
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Tags: thesis, plagiarism
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thread-31982
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/31982
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Is there any formal format for statement of purpose?
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2014-11-20T01:43:06.580
|
# Question
Title: Is there any formal format for statement of purpose?
I'm about to submit my application for various PhD programs and I was wondering how should I format my statement of purpose.
Should it be addressed like a formal letter? Just contain my name and say 'Statement of Purpose'? Should I end it with something like 'Sincerely, ...' ?
# Answer
When I applied to grad school I didn't give my SOP a title or address it to anyone in particular, or include any closing salutation. Some schools required me to put my user id at the top, which I did.
(I was accepted to several places so I think the way I did it should be fine.)
> 1 votes
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Tags: graduate-admissions, statement-of-purpose, writing-style, formatting
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thread-31999
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/31999
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How should I address other people in languages with a tu/vous distinction?
|
2014-11-20T08:57:42.380
|
# Question
Title: How should I address other people in languages with a tu/vous distinction?
For some context:
> In sociolinguistics, a T–V distinction (from the Latin pronouns tu and vos) is a contrast, within one language, between second-person pronouns that are specialized for varying levels of politeness, social distance, courtesy, familiarity, age or insult toward the addressee.
So for example in French there is "tu" and "vous", in Spanish there is "tú" and "usted", etc.
In general one uses "tu" (I'm going to use French as an example throughout) for peers or friends, and "vous" for strictly less or more senior people (so for example a professor would use "vous" with their students and vice versa). As a general rule of thumb, if you would call someone "madam/sir", you would use "vous".
In academia however, interactions are usually more relaxed: it's not unusual to call everyone by their first names, even as a PhD student addressing a professor. Similarly, I would expect that use of "tu" would be more prevalent in academia.
But as a new PhD student, it would have been unthinkable to use "tu" with a senior professor just three months ago, for example. And using someone's first name doesn't necessarily imply that I should use "tu" with them.
* Should I use "tu" or "vous" to address more senior people? I guess it's probably safe to use "tu" with other grad students, postdocs or young faculty, but what about other people?
* Does the answer change depending on if you see the person face-to-face or if you write them a letter/email?
PS: This is all probably language-dependent. I'm mostly interested for the answer in French, if it can prevent this question as being closed for being "too broad", but if it's possible to answer it in generality that would be great too.
# Answer
> 7 votes
Unfortunately, there is no general rule covering every situation (or every language).
However, a good rule of thumb is to just use the "vous" when you are not sure which one to use and then imitate the other person.
If you are more senior you probably can also offer using "tu", especially at the university, but with the rule from above you can be sure that you are not being considered rude.
The generally accepted way to address professors unfortunately differs from university to university (in my experience more than from country to country), so I suggest you use the rule from above.
With fellow graduate students and postdocs, you are right, you can in general use "tu".
> Does the answer change depending on if you see the person face-to-face or if you write them a letter/email?
No.
*(This might be specific to Germany and France, but I guess at least in Spain this behavior would also be fine.)*
Addition: If you are on a first-name basis that usually means that you are allowed to use "tu" (at least in Germany this is generally accepted and from my observations this is also true in France).
# Answer
> -1 votes
Even when addressing professors by their first name you should use "vous". That is not uncommon. I'm not that familiar with French (I had it in high school), but in German that is described as "Hamburger Sie". In my experience, it is considered quite rude to address older unfamiliar people, let alone your supervisor with "tu". So, go with "vous" regardless whether you are on first-name basis with the person. There is of course the exception when they insist on being addressed with "tu", but that is in the case of professors quite rare in my experience.
As for postdocs, students and young faculty I would consider it safe to use "tu", but would opt for the more "safe" option by addressing them with whatever they're addressing me. The once established addressing routine shouldn't wary when communicating face-to-face or via e-mail, unless for specific circumstances (e.g. the e-mail is very formal and is sent to many senior people)
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Tags: etiquette
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thread-31995
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/31995
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Is it ethical to ask the postdoc employer to cover my trips for visa purposes as well as my main travel fees?
|
2014-11-20T08:44:45.947
|
# Question
Title: Is it ethical to ask the postdoc employer to cover my trips for visa purposes as well as my main travel fees?
I will soon start doing a postdoc in country A, and the employer says there will be a generous relocation package. My home is in country B and I did my PhD in country C.
The question is: in order to apply for the entry visa for country A, I had to first return to my home country B and apply from there, instead of applying in C, as my PhD visa for country C ran out. So the relocation involves two travels, from C to B, and then from B to A.
Would it be ethical to ask the employer to cover my flight from C to B as well? Yes, the primary reason for coming back to country B is visa application, but this can also be considered visiting family and therefore not related to work. Any suggestions?
# Answer
> 2 votes
In the cases the I have known in the U.S., the relocation allowance is a fixed amount of money, and the university is fine with it being spent on anything reasonably related to relocation. If this is the case with your university as well, then they'll probably be fine with it being spent on your combination of expenses---but if they combination of flights is expensive, you are likely to hit the cap and have some of the costs become your own responsibility.
The exact rules and regulations, however, can vary highly from place to place, so you really need to ask your university.
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Tags: ethics, postdocs, visa, fees
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thread-32008
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32008
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How should I facilitate a panel discussion?
|
2014-11-20T11:27:14.323
|
# Question
Title: How should I facilitate a panel discussion?
I've been asked to facilitate a panel discussion at a conference I'm presenting a paper at in a few weeks, and I'm thrilled at the idea, but I really have no idea what to do. I've never facilitated a panel discussion before, and I'm wondering:
1. What is it like?
2. Is this something I can (or should) put on my CV?
3. Are there any benefits to me for doing so besides exposure (which I'm assuming is already a big plus)?
# Answer
Moderating a panel can be a lot of fun!
First: are the panel members already chosen, or do you get to choose them? If you get to choose them, then look for a group of people with diverse backgrounds and viewpoints. For example, different camps of scientific thought, different career stages, academia vs. industry vs. government, different subfields. Try to pick people who you think will both have interesting thoughts to share and who will be willing to *stop* sharing them---one blatherer who insists on telling a ten-minute anecdote every time they talk can ruin a panel. Also try to look for panelists who will be respectful to one another, even when they violently disagree: a fight might be "fun" but it generally less productive and interesting than a respectful argument.
It is also critical to be aware that due to the availability heuristic, your first thoughts on who to invite are likely to be biased towards socially dominant groups (typically: white men from Europe and America). To avoid being racist and sexist in your picks, also make a list of people who are *not* members of this group, and ask yourself who in this list would also be a good panel member. You may be surprised how many qualified people there are with more diverse backgrounds than you thought of at first. Then, from your set of qualified people, pick a mixture that is significantly closer to the diversity that you *want* there to be in the field, rather than its current average.
Once the panel is running, as moderator, you have three responsibilities:
1. Get the panelists to start talking about the subject at hand.
2. Keep the discussion at least vaguely related to the subject of the panel at least much of the time.
3. Make sure the talkative panelists don't keep the less-talkative panelists from contributing.
A good technique to support all three of these responsibilities is the prepare a list of open-ended questions related to the panel topic. You can start things off by throwing a question out to the panel to break the ice. If the panel starts running down or (badly) drifting off course, you can feed another question into the mix to keep things going on track. Let them drift a while first, though: the purpose of a panel is interesting scientific discussion *related* to a topic, and drifting a bit may get you somewhere important. Finally, if somebody on the panel isn't getting enough chance to talk, you can inject a question targeted to them: "The next question, I want to start by hearing from Prof. Quiet."
Some panels also are expected to start with mini-presentations, in which case you also have a session chair job, to make sure that the panelists keep their presentations short enough that there is time for a good discussion. If they are giving slides, collect them onto one machine beforehand, so that you don't lose time to A/V changeover.
As for the benefits: sure, you can put it on your C.V. (it doesn't count a lot, but it doesn't hurt). The primary benefits, however, are exposure to the audience, networking with the people on the panel, and the fun of running a nice event.
> 2 votes
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Tags: conference, cv, presentation
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thread-31988
|
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/31988
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How should I reply and thank a potential supervisor's email?
|
2014-11-20T07:40:27.990
|
# Question
Title: How should I reply and thank a potential supervisor's email?
This is a mail I received from my potential supervisor who is willing to supervise my PhD study. I want to thank him for the email.
> Dear XXX,
>
> I would like to know how it goes with your scholarship. Is the schedule already known/clarified?
>
> I would be happy if you would keep in touch with me on the further progress of your fellowship.
Is that OK to say `Thank you for showing concern` or `Thank you for your time`?
Please suggest something because I want to write him back with thanks.
# Answer
> Dear Joshua (or Dear Prof. Smith or whatever you use to call him),
>
> I have submitted all the necessary documents to Agency ABC and I am awaiting the file to be processed. I will let you know whenever I get any more information. They told me that it's expected by the end of November.
>
> Since I was assured that the application will be eventually accepted, I would like to ask you if we could meet to discuss the topic of the PhD in more detail, so that I can start to study the related literature.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Best regards,
> Charlie
This is just an example of a reply I would make. The level of politeness you choose should reflect your previous communication and your relationship.
As well, you're not going to say that the application is accepted if it is not. So in general, just inform him about the status and show your interest in the cooperation. You don't need to make it long, he's basically asking for a status of the thing and he's most probably expecting a short and on-the-spot reply.
> 3 votes
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Tags: phd, advisor, etiquette, email
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thread-31984
|
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/31984
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Can you list a "last-minute" invited talk on your CV?
|
2014-11-20T04:10:09.717
|
# Question
Title: Can you list a "last-minute" invited talk on your CV?
A session at an annual professional society meeting that I regularly help to organize includes an "invited" talk to anchor the session. Some years, the invited speaker is unable to attend the meeting (due to illness, travel problems, etc.). If we are able to arrange a last-minute substitute speaker to fill the time slot (rather than canceling it and risking losing the audience to other parallel sessions), would that speaker be able to list the talk as an "invited" talk on her CV, even though it's not been advertised or listed anywhere?
# Answer
Why not? Of all the possible people to give the (new) talk, you invited that person, and even trusted them to give a good talk on short notice!
> 6 votes
# Answer
I think that there is no difference between first and last minute invited speakers. Nobody mentions in his CV that he is invited in the last days. The important is that he has talked in that conference and this is of value to be mentioned in his CV.
> 2 votes
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Tags: conference, cv, presentation
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thread-31993
|
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/31993
|
How were people able to graduate with a PhD at a such young age in the past?
|
2014-11-20T08:23:37.073
|
# Question
Title: How were people able to graduate with a PhD at a such young age in the past?
When I read up the bibliography of the mathematicians and scientists in the early 19th to 20th century, I am always shocked at how they were able to graduate university with PhD(s) at such a young age.
For example, John Von Neumann graduated from two universities simultaneously at the age of 22 with two PhD degrees and critical papers published.
John Forbes Nash graduated with a PhD at 22 on game theory. Enrico Fermi finished school at 21 with thesis on X-ray diffraction. Kurt Gödel finished school at 23 with dissertation on predicate calculus. Abel finished at 20 with thesis on quintic equations. Galois never graduated but created a field of his own before dying at the young age of 20 and the list goes on and on...
I am not knowledgeable of the trend in the social sciences but I suspects much of the same.
* Can someone tell me if there has been a major shift in how university education is conducted such that university across the world takes longer to get through than it used to be
* or is it truly because these people are unusually talented and are able to get through university purely based on their almost unnatural abilities?
Most importantly (and relevant), why is there such a decline in these young PhDs (I've never heard of a professor at my university who graduated at 21) and is it still possible for people to graduate at such a young age nowadays?
# Answer
One relevant aspect is the shift in the socially acceptable career schedule of people. The age of adulthood has been shifted from 13-15 y.o. to 18 in Europe and 21 in North America. This is not only true of scientists, but of *all other professions*. In the early 19th century, people started their professional career at 15 and peaked around 30, blacksmiths or scientists.
This shift likely happened during the 20th century. One example from the UK\*:
> the minimum school leaving age increased from 12 to 14 in 1918, to 15 in 1947 and 16 in 1972.
I've heard it's 17 now.
Nowadays, kids spend years filling coloring books and playing the recorder awkwardly before they first hear of mathematics, natural sciences or philosophy. And even after that, it's socially accepted to enjoy teen years riding a skateboard and playing beer-pong. So, we can certainly argue that we had a more laid back childhood than our 19th century counterparts, but it sure delays PhD graduation.
Some still go faster than others. For example this guy did his PhD in 2 years, got hired as a faculty at Columbia at 25 and got a tenure track position at EPFL at 29.
\*Education: Historical statistics, Standard Note: SN/SG/4252, available: http://www.parliament.uk
> 20 votes
# Answer
There are several issues:
1. Your examples are somewhat biased, since you've selected researchers who were not only brilliant but also prodigies. By contrast, Riemann finished his Ph.D. dissertation at the somewhat older age of 25, and Weierstrass didn't start his research career until he was 39 or so. Brilliant researchers are more likely to get an early start than average researchers are, but the correlation is far from perfect. Focusing on prodigies gives a misleading picture.
2. There are plenty of prodigies today (Terry Tao, Noam Elkies, Akshay Venkatesh, Erik Demaine, etc.). If they occupy a smaller fraction of academia, it's probably because academia has grown enormously even relative to the population. The faculty in the top departments today are stronger on average than a hundred years ago, but there are many more departments nowadays, so the average professor is overall probably not as talented.
3. The amount that's known is steadily increasing, so getting to the 19th century research frontier takes quite a bit less time than getting to the 21st century research frontier. This is not as relevant in very new fields, but finishing a Ph.D. in algebraic geometry in two years is a more impressive feat today than it was a hundred years ago. This increase in knowledge doesn't translate perfectly into an increase in time to degree: people also compensate by specializing more and then broadening later in their career. However, the obstacles to a quick Ph.D. are certainly increasing over time.
> 34 votes
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Tags: phd, university, age, credentials
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thread-32027
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32027
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My current LOR is "good but not great". Should I switch to a LOR whose doesn't know me well, but certainly thinks I'm a top student?
|
2014-11-20T16:34:05.767
|
# Question
Title: My current LOR is "good but not great". Should I switch to a LOR whose doesn't know me well, but certainly thinks I'm a top student?
I'm applying for graduate school in a hard science this year, and most things on my application are pretty good so far. Two of my letters should be strong, but regarding the third one, the professor told me in the interest of full disclosure, that his letter will be a positive one, but certainly not the best he's written. This particular researcher is well known in his subfield, which isn't the field I'm applying to, but it's not very far away either. I've taken many of his graduate courses, and also did an independent reading course with him. The graduate courses went pretty well, but the reading course didn't unfortunately, (mostly due to a difference in style) and as a result of all this interaction, he knows me well, and he thinks I'm a good but not great student. Now I'm really hoping I can get into at least one of the better schools on my list, and it's insanely competitive, particularly in my subfield.
**Another option of mine is** asking another professor who doesn't know me that well and is in mathematics instead than the hard science I'm applying to, but he certainly thinks I'm a top student, since he was responsible for many of the math awards I got and I did really well in the one class that I did take with him.
**Q**: Would having two great and one good letter hurt me at the top places? My impression is that students who get admitted to top places have their professors say that they're the best student they've seen in many years, and not having such a letter could result in rejection. Which recommendation should I go for? Is it advisable that I even do both and send in four letters?
# Answer
> 20 votes
I think professor "you're good but not great" is doing you a great service by letting you know in advance that his letter will not be one that you want in your application. If you are applying to an insanely competitive program, then indeed such a letter would jeopardize your application. I've done graduate admissions at the 50th best math department in the US, and we can do better than "good but not great".
A letter from someone in an adjacent field is definitely not as good as a letter from someone in your field, but getting a letter from someone who was responsible for "many of the awards" you got is certainly strong. The sentiment that you have award-winning mathematical skills should be a positive one on an application to graduate school in the sciences.
I would definitely switch the letters. Also remember that the first professor really helped you out. It is not the sort of help that is worth an effusive thank-you on your part, but it is worth keeping in mind and perhaps remembering to do for someone else someday.
# Answer
> 3 votes
"Not the best I've written" is probably a huge understatement, and he's letting you down easy. Pretty much all letters of recommendation are positive ones, so he's basically saying he'll write you a bad or mediocre letter.
I would definitely go with the one who doesn't know you as well but will say good things about you. I think people understand that most undergrads aren't going to get to know three different professors on a super personal level. But it would be bad if you did get to know professors and they said bad things about you.
Besides, it's nice to have someone who can attest to your mathematical ability, since that trait is strongly prized in many of the hard sciences.
# Answer
> 3 votes
I can tell you from personally witnessing the contrary that even a professor who writes your recommendation letter can't really predict whether or not you'll be admitted into his *own* department correctly. So don't expect that to jeopardize your application.
That said, if you think your second recommendation will be stronger then send that one in instead of this one which you know isn't great; I don't see the benefit of not doing so.
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Tags: graduate-admissions, recommendation-letter
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thread-32006
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32006
|
A theorem exists in a book but not in a journal - is this considered as a publication?
|
2014-11-20T11:07:45.317
|
# Question
Title: A theorem exists in a book but not in a journal - is this considered as a publication?
When I was undergraduate I proved something which was non trivial (but I have to be honest, it was not something very important) in mathematics and i presented it to a professor at the university. He found it correct and he included the theorem in his new book (it *was* new - this happened in 2008) with my name along the theorem. Now you can find this theorem in another book published from Springer.
1. I was wondering if this is considered as one of my own publications.
2. If I submit it to a journal, should I mention the situation with the books?
# Answer
> 34 votes
First, you should take pride in proving a theorem that was significant enough for someone to attach your name to it. Even if it was "not very important", as you say, it was still enough to be worth mentioning. Not many undergraduates achieve that.
When you submit to a journal, you don't submit a theorem, of course -- you submit a complete paper. A typical paper has more than one theorem, unless the one theorem is particularly good. In this case, if you describe your theorem as nontrivial but "not very important", it seems unlikely to make a paper on its own.
If you write a paper, you could certainly include the theorem in question. Because the original book attributes the theorem to you, everyone knows it's your theorem, so there is no issue with 'stealing credit'. In the paper, you could say something like
> The following theorem has appeared in Smith \[1, Theorem 4.5\].
just before you state and prove the theorem. This sort of thing is routine, and as long as the theorem fits nicely into the paper it is unlikely that the referee will complain. To answer part of the question, you *should* mention that the theorem has appeared in the book already.
At the same time, you will need to make sure that the *new* content of the paper is enough to merit publication (that is, the previously unpublished results that you put in your paper). As you read more papers in your area, you will get a better sense of how this works in practice.
I think you have also asked whether you can include the book in your vita. The answer is no. But at various times you are asked to write a research statement or research narrative. Because the book attributes the theorem to you, you can state and take credit for the theorem in your research statement. This is particularly relevant if you are applying to graduate schools.
# Answer
> 5 votes
> 1. I was wondering if this is considered as a publication.
Yes this is a published work and can be referenced by other publications. You are not the author of the published work in this particular case.
> 2. If I submit it to a journal, should I mention the situation with the books?
Yes it should form a part of your bibliography / references or some other citation within the paper as it is relevant
# Answer
> 3 votes
If you ask whether the theorem is considered as published, then the answer is yes, it is, and it can be cited from either of the two sources you know.
If you ask whether it can be considered as your publication, then the answer is no, it cannot. Proving a theorem and having a publication are two different things. It is just a bit strange that the professor published it in his book without your consent (or have he asked you beforehand?), as a matter of politeness, I would consider it better if he asked you beforehand. You could have asked him to list you as a co-author for instance of the chapter in the book; then you could list the chapter as your publication.
I would be very careful about submitting it to a journal, since it is obviously a *previously published work*. It probably can be treated similarly as a conference extended abstract re-published as a full paper so you may be fine, but the journal may as well decide to reject the publication as "not containing original work"/"previously published". Certainly, however, you can publish it on arXiv or similar repositories; this is not a full publication, but it can be cited and included in your list of publications.
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<sup> Originally, I said that it was unprofessional from the professor. After the comment by Oswald Veblen, I realized that it's really not so uncommon.</sup>
# Answer
> 1 votes
I see that you have published a paper in the arxiv. You could certainly write up your theorem, optionally with background and/or example(s), and submit it. That is certainly a common thing to include in a publication list.
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Tags: publications, books
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thread-32013
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32013
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During applications, how can I prove I was the first author of the papers that I couldn't become first author for various reasons?
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2014-11-20T12:50:15.587
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# Question
Title: During applications, how can I prove I was the first author of the papers that I couldn't become first author for various reasons?
One year ago, I started working on a subject with one of the professors of our department. The idea was mine, and all of the subsequent steps including modellings, simulations, generation of figures, writing the paper and even responding to the reviewers were done by myself completely, and the professor just reviewed the paper and reminded some typos and minor mistakes of this kind, and also added a short paragraph (completely unnecessary in my opinion) to the Introduction section.
But at the end he wrote his name as the first author and submitted the paper. He told me that being second author for him means getting no credit from the department.
Anyway, I'm going to apply for grad school, and he told me he will *compensate* in the recommendation he will write for me.
As this is my only published paper as an undergrad, and being first author means everything for me in my application, is there any way for me to prove to the admission committees (or the professors; whoever will review my application) that I was the main contributor of the paper?
# Answer
> As this is my only published paper as an undergrad, and being first author means everything for me in my application, is there anyway for me to prove to the admission committees (or the professors; whoever will review my application) that I was the main contributor of the paper?
Short answer: no. Aside from the professor writing in his letter that he did indeed not do the work and just put his name front to brush up his CV, I see no way how you can *prove* that you were indeed the "actual" first author. And, given that this would essentially mean that the professor confesses unethical behavior, I see very little chance of this happening.
Anyway, I am not so sure whether being first author means "everything" for you. Undergrads are often not the first authors of publications (for many reasons, not just the unethical reason that you were denied first authorship). Further, if I see a paper with a senior author and an undergrad, I am not assuming that the professor did most of the hard work and undergrad just advised - independently of how the authors are ordered. I would assume your average admission committee to be similarly realistic.
> 31 votes
# Answer
Your question breaks down into distinct subquestions and assumptions, we need to call out each of them separately, especially because you have the importance wrong:
1. **How important is being first named author** \[as long as you're second, obviously\], in your field. You claimed *"being first author means everything for me in my application"*
2. **Is fighting this fight worth it?** Is it strategically worth picking this one or letting it go? 2b) Also: is it important going forward to preserve your relationship with professor (especially if it sounds like you'll stay in the same dept?)
3. **How do you actually prove you originated the work/ideas?** (This is pretty self-evident and is the least important question)
Answers from experience (almost all of us know people who've been in this situation):
1. **You seem to be making a huge wrong assumption** here, seems like you extrapolated the application's artificial format **to believe in general you will not get any credit unless you're first-named**. Generally everyone knows the deal with academia and tenure-track, it's an imperfect little world, people will understand he is under pressure from his own tenure-track metrics. Yes it's somewhat bad ethics, but this is utterly different to omitting your name entirely, stealing your idea for a startup or patent, esp. when rejecting the associated thesis, stealing your funding and redirecting it to other purposes etc. Outside in the real world noone gives a \**** if you were first named author; at interviews or in applications you will be given adequate chance to demonstrate whether you were/were not the prime mover; in fact people may respect the team-member vibe if you diplomatically say "we" and "our idea" while making it blatantly obvious you did the work and wrote the professor's promotion ticket.
2. **To quote Def Leppard's fine song, "Let It Go..."** You have to answer this question: on a scale of 1-10, how was prof's behavior overall, and factor in "he told me he will compensate in my recommendation". Sounds like an 8/10 to me. Believe me, there are scumbags out there, and it ain't him.
3. Pretty self-evident, and irrelevant. Notebooks, notes, SCM checkins, emails, drafts. If in future you get a really clever idea \[while in academia\], send a dated email to yourself (/burn a CD and certified-mail it yourself, unopened). Read also about the concept *Reduction to practice* in US patent law, for the future when you're working for a company.
> 3 votes
# Answer
If you kept a stack of drafts, produce them. While not definite proof, it would be very hard to overcome even if the professor were to try. Likely, he won't and you win by default.
> -3 votes
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Tags: publications, authorship, research-undergraduate
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thread-32045
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32045
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Getting a Mentor
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2014-11-20T23:53:12.700
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# Question
Title: Getting a Mentor
I'm starting my Maths undergrad and I've been told by several people (other, older students, mainly) that I should really apply myself at getting a "mentor", finding a good teacher/researcher and making a good impression on him/her so later on maybe he/she will consider having me as his/her assistant, someone who'll be willing to answer my questions and give me a good recommendation letter when I need one.
There's a researcher at my college whom I think is brilliant, he wrote one of my favourite algebra texts and I have a very good friend who knows him and says he is incredibly nice - the kind of man who'll answer silly questions without making you feel silly-.
What I want to do is find a really good question, go to his office, and ask for his help. Kind of open a door so that later on I can go and ask him other questions and if he gives a course at my level the following year I'll take it with him and he'll already know me.
That's my plan, but I have no idea as to whether it's a good plan, or even if it's a good idea to try, or just sort of let it happen naturally. I don't know if a researcher, no matter how nice, will find it annoying or if it's something that happens all the time and they're used to it. I don't know if there's a better way to approach him, either.
I know that perhaps I should try to win over someone who is already my teacher, but non of the teacher I have right now does research, and my first semester classes are so large it's almost impossible for the teachers to pay attention to any of us individually, besides this researcher works in an area that I find really interesting.
So if someone here can give me some good advice (as a teacher, researcher or student) about how to proceed I would really appreciate it. Perhaps this is a dumb question. Am I worrying to much about this? Or is it good that I'm thinking ahead?
Thanks a lot.
# Answer
> 1 votes
These are just my scattered opinions, if I misread what you mean, feel free to just take whatever useful.
**A "mentor" should not have conflict of interest in any of your decisions**
I believe you're not talking about an academic mentor, but more like how-and-what-to-do-with-my-life kind of mentor. In that case, it's better to find someone who has no vested interest in your decisions. From those kinds of relationship it's easier to get unbiased advices. That means faculty members from the same department do not usually make good life mentors. Employers and seniors in the same company or institution also don't make very good mentors.
**The means does not seem to justify the results**
Not that I doubt your intention being impure, but I wouldn't hope for any favor in return from any mentor (academic or life, but especially life mentors.) Starting off with RA position and reference letter in mind seems a bit too calculating.
In additions, there are other ways to become an RA and get reference letters other than befriending a faculty member. Some departments may collect CV from students who wish to become RA or TA. You can also start making your CV stronger by becoming a private tutor. Your assigned academic adviser may be happy to write your recommendation letter. And in future if you become a TA the instructor can also write recommendation letter for you.
Instead, I'd suggest reorienting yourself to think about what you can learn from that esteemed faculty rather than what you can get.
**I don't think you need to prepare a good question, but that does not hurt**
If you do truly admire this person, learn his work well. If his field does inspire so much, it is perfectly acceptable to ask for a short meeting (15-30 minutes) to obtain some advices from him and make a first impression. You can ask for recommendations on reference books, go-to journals, prominent figures in this field. And if the situation warms up you can also ask about his career development, why he is interested in this field, a couple tips to survive in college, etc.
I don't think you need to come up with a ground-breaking theorem in order to meet with him. If you try too hard and the question was a flop, the meeting can turn awkward pretty fast. However, if you really do have a question that he may be able to help, do casually bring that up.
Generally, most people appreciate students who would so-called "like to become them." I believe he should be happy to chat with you. If he is truly that awesome that the meeting itself should already be an inspiring experience.
Good luck!
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Tags: teaching, advisor, undergraduate, mentoring
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thread-32051
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32051
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Any disadvantage to multiple applications?
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2014-11-21T03:22:39.430
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# Question
Title: Any disadvantage to multiple applications?
I am considering applying for PhD programs in CS. I've been reading about the process, reading the sorts of things that programs want and I would say that I am an OK (but not stellar) applicant. For instance, I'm missing some math classes that I could take next year. I've also been working in industry, so I could certainly get more involved with research (I'm working on a few in-progress papers now). I think that if I waited a year I would be a more competitive applicant. Is there any particular reason not to apply now, see how I do, and then potentially reapply in a year? If anything, applying a second time (as a stronger applicant) would show that I really want to do this. Right?
# Answer
I don't think there is anything wrong with this, as long as on the 2nd application a year later, it is made clear that something changed in the year prior. This could be additional courses taken, higher test scores (GRE for example), etc. I think if your application is legitimately improved over the year, no one would ever have a problem with this, but a potential reviewer might be annoyed if they receive the same application year after year without notable changes/improvements.
> 3 votes
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Tags: phd, application
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thread-32057
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32057
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Paper accepted in journal, should I remove style file for arXiv preprint?
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2014-11-20T19:32:55.703
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# Question
Title: Paper accepted in journal, should I remove style file for arXiv preprint?
I recently sent a paper to a journal (which I put on arXiv beforehand) which has now been accepted with some corrections. I want to put the corrected version on arXiv. The corrected version is written using the style file supplied by the journal.
Should I remove this style file? Does it matter if I don't? Will the journal get mad?
# Answer
> 5 votes
**Legally**, the style file at first only is the software which you use to *generate* your paper and thus there should not be any problems in most cases, for the same reasons that you do not need to ask Microsoft for permission each time you publish something generated with Word. I see three problem cases, however:
* If you use TeX, and ArXiv does not have the style file and thus you need to supply it, which would make it be published alongside your article. In this case you may be distributing a software that you are not allowed not distribute. In my experience, many style files are free to distribute though; have a look at it whether it contains some license.
* The style file includes a logo or similar (e.g., Royal Society Publishing’s style file does this), which in turn may not have a license that allows you to distribute it and also probably is a problem because of the next point.
* The style file makes your paper mention the journal’s name, publisher, or similar, which creates the false impression that your preprint is actually a publication of that journal.
**Will the journal get mad?** – Of course you need to regard the journal’s copyright agreement (which you accepted) with respect to publishing preprints in general or on ArXiv in specific (Sherpa Romeo is a database that helps you to find this out). But if the journal allows you to publish a preprint content-wise, I do not see any reasons why using its style file would enrage it, given that the above problem cases do not apply. Some journals even allow you publishing the journal’s version of the paper on ArXiv, e.g., the Physical Review series.
Finally, a **stylistical** argument: If the journal has a single-column layout but your paper has no long equations or something else that would make such a format a good idea, you may want to opt for a two-column layout for your preprint.
# Answer
> 2 votes
I think what matters in most cases is whether the journal staff (i.e., not just the external peer reviewers) made some corrections and improvements to the paper. If they did, you generally can't post the fruit of their labor on arXiv without violating the journal's rights. But you can post a version without those corrections and improvements -- and then you can even add additional other improvements of your own that were not in the journal's published version.
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Tags: publications, arxiv
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thread-31987
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/31987
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Professors who use their own idiosyncratic names for things
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2014-11-20T07:01:25.250
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# Question
Title: Professors who use their own idiosyncratic names for things
I sometimes have professors who use their own names for things. For example in lecture one kept referring to the "perfect marriage algorithm" but after talking with him I'm fairly certain he was referring to the Stable marriage problem. This is a challenge for me as I prefer to learn a little about a topic before going to a lecture, or read up on points discussed in the lecture after it. Are there any suggestions on how to approach this? The prof from the example above told us not to use Google to learn material for the class. With that said, he's a very reasonable and intelligent man, but I've been in other classes where profs have used nonstandard terminology (such as in math saying solve a problem by symmetry) and it would be difficult to talk to them.
I don't want to offend them by suggesting the name their using is wrong, but it makes studying from other resources hard and I don't think it's practical to try to learn everything just from lecture.
# Answer
This is a tough one because it is a topic that meanders into psychology. I have encountered similar problems when professors insist on calling, that thing that everyone else calls agrees on as blue, pink. I will also add that I agree that this is an "academia" problem, as it relates to distribution and comprehension of information.
Three techniques for clarification that I have tried. YMMV.
1. Ask the professor why they feel the need to be an opaque and pedantic prat. Tell them to stop making up new names for things to feel better about their pathetic little existence and use the language of the field. This method has been met with some ... "resistance". :-P
2. Ask the professor is X has any adjacent concepts or theories that might be good to look up. This is dangerous as sometimes the prof. will decide to wax poetic on the art of Edvard Munch when you started out talking about impedance mismatch. Use with caution.
3. Ask the professor about the similarities and differences between X and Y. On a few occasions I have been VERY surprised to learn that I had completely misunderstood the point they were trying to make. All I needed to do was ask the simple question of "is this like such and such?" This has worked several times. BONUS: This approach has also led to some interesting discussions that worked back around to my area of research.
Jokes aside, the common theme here is 'to ask'. :-) As for "don't use google"... I don't know what to say about that. I guess you could ask for other reference material to gain a better understanding of the topic but google scholar is a pretty awesome/terrible research tool to use as a handicap. (IMHO)
Good luck with your class.
> 8 votes
# Answer
Politely asking for a little clarification has worked well for me. Is "term x" similar to "term y"? Sometimes this is met with "Yes, term x is what I call term y."
For example, my Data Structures professor was using a term that I would deem "non-standard". He was discussing "k-trees", but it was clear from the context that he didn't mean k-trees from graph theory. I asked him if "k-trees" were similar to "k-ary trees". That led to him explaining the similarities between what he calls "k-trees" and "k-ary trees".
Then again, not every professor is so helpful.
> 7 votes
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Tags: language, lecturer
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thread-32035
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32035
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Cumulative versus monographic dissertation
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2014-11-20T19:40:05.123
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# Question
Title: Cumulative versus monographic dissertation
I am in the beginning of my phd studies in computer science. Specifically, I am in the area of machine learning and linked data. I have talked with my professor about these both types of dissertations, however, it\`s on my own which format I choose.
Any recommendations, when to choose a cumulative and when to choose a monographic dissertation? What\`s your experience with each format?
# Answer
If I had had a choice, I would have chosen to write a cumulative thesis.
Results are in the papers. And converting papers into a monograph takes a lot of time with relatively low added value. (When someone asks me about the result I still point to publications.)
One advantage of monographic thesis is when it is on a new field (with publications being very coherent on one topic) - then it can serve as an introduction for the others. (However, it seems that not many theses fit this criterium.)
> 8 votes
# Answer
There are advantages with both. It is worth starting by stating that a research education is not about writing papers but to educate a person to become a self-reliant researcher. The thesis or dissertation is the document that shows the result of this effort.
From the perspective of showing the result of the education as such, the monograph probably better reflects the work done since articles normally brush away methods and other aspects through referencing. Articles often focus on a core piece of data and have no space for additional data that may have been collected. or shows data in a very condensed way. In a monographs much of this can be expanded upon and more of what was actually achieved during the study can be documented thoroughly. I occasionally bump into monographs that ha excellent detailed descriptions of methods or other aspects where I can really learn something new in a good way. This is of course not why anyone should write a monograph but the monograph can be an appreciated publication.
So the monograph provides possibilities for the PhD candidate to show the knowledge gained in a detailed way.
The cumulative thesis can probably also have different looks. In Scandinavia, the thesis consists of about 3-5 papers at different stages of completion (a basic rule is that they should be at least in shape to be sent in for peer review in a journal). Most students end up with a couple of published papers and a couple of manuscripts in their thesis. There is also a cover paper to be written where the different papers are shown in a larger perspective and which should tie the thesis together.
The benefit of this format is that the PhD candidate has publications under the belt by the time he/she finishes. This can also be true for anyone writing a monographs but then that person has to write on two things in parallel although much of it is likely a matter of reformatting. But the focus on papers is, regardless of how one feels about it, a necessity since almost everything that concerns evaluation in academia involves counting number of publications. So the more publications the better, basically. Doing a cumulative thesis is thus a more direct way into the "after-life" of scientific publishing.
Another point to bring up is the actual writing of a monograph. Since the monograph is a single entity the author has full control over the progress (bar intervention by the advisor) which makes it easier to complete with a set deadline. With a cumulative thesis, focus is on manuscripts which often involves more or less responding co-authors which in the end can complicate things and most importantly make deadlines more difficult to assess.
One should, however, not forget that it is possible to combine these to some extent. The cover paper for a cumulative thesis can probably look quite differently in different countries (academic cultures). There is, however, nothing that says that the cover paper could not contain just the parts I described are more or less unique to the monograph. This would then provide the best of both worlds.
> 8 votes
# Answer
I'd recommend to check out the associated burocracy for each version.
* I did a monograph: this was the usual thing to do at my old institute, and I would have needed to apply for permissions to do sandwich thesis and another permission to submit in English. I changed institutes, but kept with the monograph as large parts were written already.
* One colleague told me that he had quite some trouble obtaining the necessary copyright transfers for his cumulative thesis. Many publishers have theses explicitly listed as allowed reuse on their copyright transfer agreements (important also for monographs if the same figures are used!). However, there was one that just gave permission for the required number of *prints*, so the pdf of the thesis cannot be made available by the library.
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In my experience, there are now to subpopulations in the monographs:
* Monograph had no influence on the expected number of papers published (in English, of course) in my old institute. Compared to what the link in @Austin Henley's comment says, the procedure was the other way round: we did publish like other people that go for cumulative thesis, and the monograph refers to the publications ("These results were published in \[CB3\]").
* However, where cumulative theses are the default I've also seen people hand in monographs *because* they do not have the required publications for a cumulative thesis.
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To reinforce @Peter Jansson's point that monographs often give more details:
* My monograph thesis holds a number small experiments and results that were not published in detail in any of my papers, e.g. some findings about sample storage and far more detailed descriptions of the practical lab stuff for the experiments and in some aspects is further advanced than the corresponding papers because I gained some more knowledge between submission of the paper and writing up the monograph.
* Actually, I've looked up a number of monograph theses to read up on new subfields and if I need to actually implement the discussed methods - I often found them far more readable than the corresponding publications. Just like I have a look also at the Tech Report if both paper and technical report are available.
* And yes, I sometimes tell students to read up details in my thesis (or to read up the introduction for a crash course of what we are doing).
> 3 votes
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Tags: phd, thesis, writing, monograph
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thread-32082
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32082
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Pursue new PHD program
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2014-11-21T15:25:57.273
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# Question
Title: Pursue new PHD program
I was dismissed from vet school because a few professors felt I was not professional. I completed almost 4 years before this decision was made. I have tried to reapply but they won't take me back. With all the credits and knowledge I have, I feel it would be a waste if I did not apply to another PHD program. What should I say in a letter about why I was dismissed? Do I have a chance of getting into another program? I have good feedback from some of the professors.
# Answer
> 1 votes
The only thing you can say is the truth. Period.
Your reflection on the possible err in judgement you had may help in explaining the situation, but your use of brevitiy and candor will speak towards your professional growth.
If you were dismissed because of a moral err in judgement, you may be "SOL" as this tarnish is hard to scrub off. however, if it is simply because you are brash or brazen with your opinion, this is a correctable flaw.
be open within your letter, cite the references from the professors that support you and spend some time thinking about their position about **why** you were dismissed.
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Tags: phd
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thread-32084
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32084
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What is the next step after received acceptance from the Editor
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2014-11-21T15:56:29.557
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# Question
Title: What is the next step after received acceptance from the Editor
I received an acceptance from the Editor by email, but when I checked the status of my manuscript in the journal website it is "Editor Decision", even after week of receiving the email.
what does that mean? and should I talk to the Editor?
# Answer
If the editor emails you an acceptance, the paper is accepted. Don't worry about the website not updating.
The acceptance email should contain instructions as to what you have to do next: presumably, make any changes suggested by the reviewers and submit a final version of your manuscript. If it doesn't, wait another week or so to see if you get an email that does have the instructions (this might be sent automatically by the management system when the editor updates it). If not, email the editor then.
> 5 votes
# Answer
Yes. Talk to them. Hanging out fretting about it only causes yourself undue stress. I would simply write an email to them... It sounds like the "switch" may be a manual one on their web site? Perhaps the programmer/designer is on holiday break?
Remember... the individual maintaining the status or entries themselves may not be the actual web master in charge of the programming and edits on the site. It's probably an entirely different department and the batch of edit tickets to the site have yet to process.
Still, even if the individual who sent the email **IS** the one in charge of the web site...I'd trust the letter over the web site any day.
> 0 votes
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Tags: journals
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thread-32046
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32046
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High school student scooped by PhD student in the same lab
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2014-11-21T00:06:47.163
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# Question
Title: High school student scooped by PhD student in the same lab
When I was in high school, I spent one of my summers working in a lab. The professor had a small lab, so I was given my own project, and made enough progress on it to publish a paper.
While I was working there, one of the PhD students started taking a keen interest in my work, and she kept wanting to discuss the problem, asking about details of my methodology, etc. She even started replicating my work and literally rewriting my code to produce the same graphs that I was getting. She was not originally assigned to the project, but I was happy to discuss the problem with her, because I enjoyed my project and wanted to talk about it with as many people as possible.
At the end of the summer she asked me to send her the slides from the talk I gave at group meeting. A few months later my supervisor told my brother that she presented my work at a conference without mentioning my name. (He never told me directly, probably because he thought I'd be sad.)
Anyway, my dad (who is a professor) was very mad about this, and told me I should write a draft of the journal paper myself so the professor would feel obligated to give me first authorship instead of that PhD student. A few months later I sent him the draft, and he didn't give me first authorship, but did give me coauthorship on three different papers, one of which was only marginally related to what I did. I got into my top choice of college (and graduate school), but this was one of the more traumatic experiences I had as a teenager, and ever since this incident I've sworn off academia as a career option.
Do you think I should have done anything differently, and what would you have done in this situation?
# Answer
The situation that you describe sounds like extremely unusual and improper behavior on the part of the professor. The graduate student is part of the problem, but the real responsibility lies with the professor who committed two major instances of misconduct:
1. Allowing the graduate student to co-opt your work without giving you credit.
2. "Giving" you authorship on a paper that you did not participate in.
Whether or not you should have been first author is not necessarily clear---one would have to know a lot more about the final form of the work to judge for certain.
As for your actions, I think that the primary actions that you took (raising the issue with the professor, then walking away from the situation when the problem was not addressed) were appropriate. I think that you should probably feel uncomfortable about the paper that has your name on it when you don't feel you deserve authorship. You can get that fixed by the publisher, if it makes you uncomfortable enough.
I think that you are making a mistake, however, in allowing this experience to sour you on academia. Unethical people who will take advantage of you can be found in every profession, and in academia at least there are clear rules on what the ethics are *supposed* to be. You won't necessarily find that in the business world, where it is often considered *ethical* to exploit people for money (see: fiduciary duty to stockholders).
> 44 votes
# Answer
Take the rough with the smooth.
Yes, it seems the other student took advantage, and if you had been an adult you would perhaps have been more wary. But you were a child, so I don't think it's your fault.
However, you did get your name on several papers, which is very unusual for a high-school student, and there is still some question over whether your work would have been at the same standard as the PhD student; it is easy to think that the idea is all that mattered.
On balance, it worked out well for you. And you clearly have academic aptitude. So my advice would be to go into academia; you are in a rare position of having published already, and having experience of some of the pitfalls of coauthorship in research.
Put the past behind you, it will not be your greatest work and digging over the coals serves no constructive purpose. If it prevents a great academic career, the tragedy will be yours, not hers.
> 7 votes
# Answer
Personally, I feel mad as well as your father.
This is not only about you but about the fraud of the lab you have worked in. Even the professor approves this behavior by bribing you.
I would never, ever let this go.
Please do not think that I'm winding you up or anything. But this behavior is unaccaptable.
> and what would you have done in this situation?
1. I would accept that this has happened and do not try to change the situation.
2. I would not accept the authorship of the papers I have not participated in.
3. I would tell the story in every possible media tool without hiding the names, institutions etc.
4. I would save all the proofs that I can, that approves the work was mine.
Besides all these, I would carry on with my works, not spend a lot of time on this matter (it seems that (3) contradicts with this, but you can write in a blog and copy+paste the link).
> 6 votes
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Tags: ethics, authorship, interpersonal-issues
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thread-32097
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32097
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How to cite a dataset, when my calculations relied on the data?
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2014-11-21T23:54:50.417
|
# Question
Title: How to cite a dataset, when my calculations relied on the data?
Occasionally I need to present some figures that I calculated with custom scripts against a dataset, such as a dictionary, text corpus, or some form of lexical database. The calculations are my own, but the dataset was created by other researchers. When presenting my figures, how can I write an APA-style in-text citation in a manner which makes it clear that I relied on the dataset, but that I did not take the figures from somewhere explicitly stated in the dataset? I do not wish readers to blame that source I cited if my figures are wrong.
Here is a simple example:
> 'E' is the most frequently occurring vowel in the Spanish language and appears most often after the letter 's' (Brown, E. K., 2014).
# Answer
If you are computing something from a dataset, then you need to explain what you have computed and how. This should resolve the question of citation fairly naturally. For example, with the example you have given, you might say something like:
> Using the Spanish-language corpus in (Brown, E. K., 2014), n-gram frequency computation indicates that 'E' is the most frequently occurring vowel in the Spanish language and appears most often after the letter 's'.
Because the computation is yours, you need to explain and attribute it correctly, as you may have made a mistake in your interpretation, or the dataset itself may be biased. Thus, it is best to use a few more words and given the reader a clear explanation of the relationships.
> 6 votes
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Tags: citations, citation-style
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thread-12227
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12227
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What are good database/grade book software?
|
2013-08-27T20:44:37.923
|
# Question
Title: What are good database/grade book software?
I am in the market for a (hopefully free!) grade book software and would like to see some suggestions. This would be used for a math class and I am planning for many grades (15+) per semester.
In particular, if a gradebook has any features that make it stand out from other gradebooks or spreadsheet solutions, I would appreciate knowing that information.
# Answer
> 1 votes
I'm guessing this question will get closed, but there are many options (as **earthling** highlighted in the comment). When I taught high school, I invested in Easy Grade Pro and was happy with it. It is not free.
Lately, I've been using a home-made Excel spreadsheet, which has been pretty easy to do, although I have a fair amount of experience with Excel. As **F'x** said, OpenOffice has a spreadsheet and it is free, and Google Docs also provide a free spreadsheet solution. You can also find pre-made Excel spreadsheets for grading, which you can tweak for your own use.
Another option is to see if your school has a gradebook built-in to it's student-database system. This is a nice solution because you don't have to transfer grades from one system to another, and the students have easy access to grades along the way so they can explicitly track their own progress.
# Answer
> 1 votes
If the solution has to be webbased, I think Google Docs (https://drive.google.com/) makes a lot of sense. At the very least, the learning curve is very easy and being a complete spreadsheet solution it has complete flexibility.
I can even imagine that if you create quizzes based on online forms (created from google docs) you could have grades going automatically into your form in some way.
# Answer
> 0 votes
I have found good results in using Edmodo's grade book. Even if you do not wish to use the site's other features, such as on-line homework submission or on-line quizzes, you can still add grades to this from work that students submitted on paper.
Edmodo's grade book does not have a great deal of advanced grading features, however, the advantage of using this over software-based grade books is that students can log into their own accounts to check their grades as often as they like. After I began using this, I stopped getting weekly E-mails from students asking me to tell them their grade. Additionally, by providing such transparent access to grades, it gives students pressure to get their work in. If you want to compute adjustments to the grades once the grades are finished, you can export them to a CSV and analyze the figures in a spreadsheet.
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Tags: software
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thread-32067
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32067
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Are there any universities in US/Europe which will give PhD in Engineering in 3-4 years?
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2014-11-21T10:12:30.200
|
# Question
Title: Are there any universities in US/Europe which will give PhD in Engineering in 3-4 years?
I know that PhD is not like other degrees which ends in a span of 2-4 years. Also, one cannot control the span of the program which entirely depends on topic and guides.
But I heard from some where that some universities offer PhD within 3-4 years and there is no minimum journal requirements.
I would like to know if such universities really exist and a comment on the university will be highly appreciated.
# Answer
In Europe a Phd normally last from 2 to 4 years. But to be admitted to it you must have a Master degree. The American and the European system are pretty different I think.
check this link about education in Europe: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bologna\_Process
> 12 votes
# Answer
This seems to be a trick question. Are there universities which will "give you a PhD" in a short time? Well, yes. If you work hard enough to "earn a PhD" in a short time.
That said, it is quite common in continental Europe for PhD positions to be offered for a period of 3 years. That's nice if your Masters degree has already prepared you with the relevant graduate-level concepts. You will still have to find a PhD topic and complete your investigations in the stipulated time.
On the down side, PhD supervisors (who may even be a Postdoc or a researcher with individual grant) usually find it difficult to arrange for additional funding if you are unable to produce satisfactory results within 3 years. At good universities, and in well-funded disciplines, this is usually not a problem. But this really happens, and if you do not come from a first-world country, it may get difficult to sustain yourself.
Publication limit? It again depends upon your field. In theoretical fields, like pure mathematics, theoretical physics, some branches of computer science, etc. it is difficult to publish, so you may get a PhD with one or two papers. But in experimental fields, it is difficult to put a number. That shouldn't bother you though, because your supervisor is usually there to help you out.
And PhD is after all a training in becoming an individual researcher. So why bother about number of publications already? What you should worry about is, do you really want a PhD? There, your query suggests only a superficial motivation.
> 10 votes
# Answer
In the UK, it is common to go straight from a Bachelors degree (3-4 years) to a PhD (minimum 3 years). Not many complete their PhD in 3 years, but in that time you are expected to reach independent research level and have published papers. Certainly I and my colleagues followed this path and published papers in that timescale, although some of us took a lot longer to finally finish.
At our university, you start technically on an MPhil (Masters) course, and there is a review around 12-18 months in; if your work is on course for PhD grade (i.e. you have published or are soon to publish), you are switched to the PhD. If it is not going so well you can just finish the Masters and move on.
The best option in the UK is to get a sponsored studentship with a company; they will pay a lot of cost of the degree (we got a bursary whichever way) and usually assist with materials, funds, direction during the course itself.
> 4 votes
# Answer
In the Netherlands, PhD programs are usually salaried four-year programs (though typically requiring 3-4 journal publications to get the degree in the end). For example, good universities for engineering are located in Delft and Eindhoven.
> 3 votes
# Answer
In France the average length of a PhD in engineering is ~3.5 years
Source 1:
> Dans le domaine des « sciences dures », la durée moyenne des thèses est de 42 mois (3,5 années). Le taux d’abandon est de 5%. Le taux d’insertion professionnelle est de 90 %
Source 2:
> une durée moyenne de thèse de 41 mois
In the US, in most places it is hard to be complete the PhD in less than 4 years.
> 0 votes
# Answer
In Cambridge University in the UK it is (well, was, in the '80s) not uncommon for students to do most of the work for their PhD in 3 or 4 years - but nobody "gives" you a PhD, you have to work for it (quite hard), and earn it.
A PhD, in the end, is a piece of paper that testifies you have a "license to learn on your own". You are expected to have developed the skills needed to be a successful researcher; while it is important to develop your ability to document your work and write coherently about it, I don't think it should be necessary to have first-author publications to graduate.
Skeptically, one might suspect that organizations that demand publications may be more concerned about their own publication rates, than about the careers of their students (but see below)...
Having said that - if you want to get a job as a postdoc, it is advisable to have some publications under your belt. This may be less important if you want to work in industry - not an unlikely course of action with an advanced engineering degree. And given the salary jump from student to industrial engineer, you may want to "get it over with" quickly.
In summary, you need to take a look at your own career aspirations before choosing a program based on their graduation requirements. The piece of paper is just that - but whether you will have, at graduation, the demonstrated skills needed for the next step is something only you know.
> 0 votes
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Tags: phd, university
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thread-32024
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32024
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Is it fine to cancel class on days before national holidays, due to low attendance?
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2014-11-20T16:03:41.570
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# Question
Title: Is it fine to cancel class on days before national holidays, due to low attendance?
So, thanksgiving break is coming up. On my campus, a large portion of the students leave early Wednesday to get back home. The break doesn't officially start until Thursday, but since that is the holiday the students (understandably) leave earlier.
I teach on Wednesdays (among other days). I had forgotten about this poor attendance when I planned my syllabus and am currently planning to teach new material next Wednesday.
Now, I anticipate about 75% of the class (50 total students) will be absent. They knew I would be teaching new material that day, since it was on the syllabus.
Do I cancel class so that the majority of students don't miss a lecture? Do I hold class but post my lecture notes so that the students who missed could (theoretically, at least) make up the work they missed on their own?
If I cancel class, I could shift around material so that nothing is lost (by moving a review day). However, something feels "wrong" about cancelling a class that the university has scheduled to occur because the students decided they wanted to start their vacation early.
Is it fine to cancel a class because you don't expect many students to attend?
# Answer
I have known a number of professors who took a third approach: on an expected low-attendance class day such as the day before Thanksgiving, they held a lecture, but did not make it part of the "standard" curriculum. Instead, they would schedule some sort of fun and exciting "bonus material," like a notable guest speaker or a cool demonstration. That way, those students who showed up got something out of coming, but the ones whose plans prevented them from being there didn't have any missed "core" material to make up.
> 58 votes
# Answer
I agree with other answers that, in general, it is defensible either to hold class on such a day, or not hold it. However, your question is different because you're asking it *now*, less than a week before the day in question. I'd like to make the point that, if you are making the decision at this late date, I think you are honor bound to do something to compensate the students who *would have* attended because they have already planned their shcedule in order to do so.
Many students arrange rides, trains, plane flights, etc., to go home for Thanksgiving, and if they know they have class on that day and thought it was important, they may already have configured their schedules to attend. As someone who has not forgotten what it is like to be a student, I can say that it really sucks to be in that situation and then have the professor cavalierly cancel class, leaving you (the student) in the position of having postponed your trip home for no reason.
Realistically, the only way you can do this is to hold class and make it worth attending. You could do this by making it "fun" (although I think that has to mean more than just "a cool topic" -- at least bring muffins or something to reward the diehards) or, preferably, by making it genuinely useful. Depending on what the class is about, you could spend some extra time on a difficult topic, perhaps go through some example problems (if it's that kind of class), so that those who attend will get extra practice that will actually help them in the class. If your syllabus always clearly showed that class was scheduled, and you haven't given any hint of it not being, it could also be defensible to hold some sort of trivial "pop quiz" that would give a few extra points to those who attend. (You can find other questions on this site with opinions on the ethics of this, but if you have reserved a portion of the class grade for attendance or participation, this is the time to use it to give people a bonus for showing up.)
In short, *in general* it is defensible to cancel class on a day when few people are expected to show up, but if you do that you have to telegraph your intentions early on. I don't think it's acceptable to cancel class for such a reason on less than a week's notice, when students may have already arranged their schedules based on their belief that class will be held. To do so is unfair to students who took you at your (and your syllabus's) word, and penalizes exactly the stalwart and upstanding students who made their plans in order to be able to go to class as scheduled, while rewarding those who had already made the decision to play hookey.
I do think, though, that you could possibly announce what you are doing on that day. In other words, you could say, "Oops, I forgot about Thanksgiving. We'll still be holding class, and it will be \[whatever -- review session, quiz for participation points, etc.\]." This will make it clear to the students who *are* coming that they are going to get something out of it, and also make it clear to the students who aren't coming that they are going to miss something that will actually be relevant to the class and aren't getting off with nothing. In a way, this can be a good litmus test for whether what you're doing on that day is legit --- if students who already planned to skip have a decent chance of thinking "Oops, that might have been helpful, oh well", then the class is meaningful enough to compensate the students who do attend.
> 21 votes
# Answer
You should make it worthwhile for the student that have made an effort, so you could just do what you would have done that day, but insure the contents is covered by an exam question, so as to reward the good students.
Or you could **take advantage of a smaller number of students**, and do something like a review of how to answer exam questions from past years on topics you have already covered.
> 6 votes
# Answer
The fact is students have a life beyond school. They also each have their own set of circumstances, issues, whatever. You might have those who live thousands of miles away and must leave early to get a flight to see family they haven't seen in months, some may need to go home to work during breaks, others might not want to drive all night.
Cancel class, email your students tomorrow so that those who planned on staying can leave earlier if they want.
> 3 votes
# Answer
Hold the class just like any other day. If you offer some special content that day, you may end up disappointing those who show up or those who don't. And you can't just cancel class if the class is in the official schedule.
But you could agitate politically for the schedule to be changed institution-wide starting next year.
> 3 votes
# Answer
There is nothing wrong, in my opinion, with canceling class and being honest with your students. Just tell them the holiday slipped your mind when you were planning out the syllabus. You are human after all. Besides, you don't want to look like some sort of scrudge do you?
> 1 votes
# Answer
I would hold the class and make it available as a podcast if the class were after say 2PM. But that's actually being a bit generous. The holiday is after all a 4 day weekend. It isn't a 5 day weekend. *If it were a workplace, they would be expected to report to work* and I don't see university studies being held to a lower standard as being good preparation.
My concern stems from having seen too many grads from "name" university programs (health care field) - ill prepared for work and life and death responsibilities. They did not know enough to work safely *nor survive their 90 day probationary periods*. Staff who are seasoned instructors of such students are very concerned that recent grads increasingly show inadequate preparation and too lax attitudes to be safe in patient care. It was not just one or two individuals. Ones education at advanced level is preparation for life and work - it needs to reflect that reality.
> 0 votes
# Answer
My attendance policy is if you miss more than 20% of the class FOR ANY REASON, you fail. That ends up being 3 classes in a 15 week semester. Everyone gets the same three classes. If you miss that Wednesday and no more than one other class during the semester, no problem! If you have missed two other classes and then you miss that Wednesday, you fail the class. Everyone can plan accordingly. You should probably not teach new material but you've put the decision to make or miss that class squarely in your students' hands without unfairly rewarding or penalizing anyone for their travel plans.
> -3 votes
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Tags: attendance
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thread-32114
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32114
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Can I upload my open access publications on researchgate.net or academia.edu?
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2014-11-22T13:37:54.973
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# Question
Title: Can I upload my open access publications on researchgate.net or academia.edu?
Maybe my question is naive, but:
If my paper was publish as open access (for example in Springer - http://www.springer.com/gp/open-access), could I upload the paper in researchgate.net and similar sites?
# Answer
> 2 votes
Open access:
> Open access comes in two degrees: **gratis** open access, which is free online access, and **libre** open access, which is free online access plus some additional usage rights.These additional usage rights are often granted through the use of various specific Creative Commons licenses. Only libre open access is fully compliant with definitions of open access such as the Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities.
See Gratis versus libre for more ideas.
As a result, it depends on the contract you agreed to when submitting your article to the open access journal.
# Answer
> 6 votes
Maybe. But not necessarily. It depends on the exact terms and conditions of the open access paper: there are many different variants (Springer use more than one, as do many other publishers). It also depends on the exact terms and conditions of the site you intend to upload to.
So there is no general answer, beyond this:
1. Read and understand the licence on the paper.
2. Read and understand the terms and conditions of the site you want to upload to.
3. Work out whether they're mutually consistent, and whether you want to accept the T&Cs of the site you want to upload to.
# Answer
> 2 votes
If you are uncertain, then with a truly open-access paper you can also choose to avoid the question by simply linking to the official publication page - there is often a direct PDF link, and putting that on an external webpage gives no significant difference in user experience than uploading the PDF directly.
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Tags: publications, copyright, open-access, social-media
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thread-8717
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/8717
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How can I get copies of library of congress's archival manuscripts?
|
2013-03-19T02:52:09.920
|
# Question
Title: How can I get copies of library of congress's archival manuscripts?
I require photocopies of "Archival Manuscript/Mixed Formats" from the Library of Congress. They have a collection from one author which has otherwise unpublished technical documents that are very relevant to my area of expertise. Judging by the indicies, there are at least 20 boxes (out of 106) that are relevant. None of these are digitized and most are very technical documents with information not seen by people in my field.
I'm not sure the best way to attack this problem because travelling there is far from where I live now (6 hrs by plane) and the librarian I spoke on the phone with didn't think that our library could request it. LoC seems very restrictive about working with their material, that is they won't let me personally go the stacks and browse the boxes, and they say they only allow 5 books to be reviewed at a time.
Are there any tips or alternative ways to get the materials? Our research team is rather large for an academic team, so would it be worthwhile to ask a Congressperson to request it on our behalf? Just looking for input.
# Answer
*This is not an answer, but too long for a comment.*
I used to live around Washington DC metro area. I went to Library of Congress very often. They don't have open shelf policy. You sit in one of their reading rooms and pick a desk. You request for materials to read. The librarian will find them and put on a cart. Somebody moves the cart out to the desk you sit. After you finish, they'll put them back to the shelf. I never checked out books from them. Don't know their check out policy.
I remember there was a certain limit number of books for the request. 5 seems to be correct because you can only load a certain number of books on the cart.
It is definitely worth while to ask a Congressperson to help if you live in the US. But, it sounds like it's worth making a trip there to examine everything they have. 106 boxes is a lot. It takes half a container. I am afraid no libray is willing to take such a huge task - I assume you're thinking of inter-library loan. My 2 cents.
> 2 votes
# Answer
The Library of Congress offers duplication services, but that would be phenomenally expensive for twenty boxes. I don't do archival research myself, so maybe I'm off base here, but I think there's no way they'll ship you the material to examine at your home institution. Instead, people who need to sort through large quantities of rare material in archives typically travel there to do it in person. Flying six hours is not so inconvenient or expensive in the overall scheme of things: examining twenty boxes carefully is a big project, and adding travel makes it only a little harder.
> 2 votes
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Tags: research-process, literature-search, library
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thread-29551
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/29551
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Can one of your letters of recommendation come from a professor in a department unrelated to your field of study?
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2014-10-07T15:39:57.877
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# Question
Title: Can one of your letters of recommendation come from a professor in a department unrelated to your field of study?
I took a research writing course at my university (which is required of most students) and did extremely well in the course, winning a writing award for the work I did in that class and having it published in the school's textbook for their introductory English courses. I went on to be a TA for that professor for two semesters afterward and did extremely well, and I think his recommendation would be nothing but glowing.
However, I am an Electrical Engineering major applying for an MS in Computer Science, and while his recommendation shows my ability to write and teach, the work I did was entirely non-technical. Would it still be worthwhile to ask for a recommendation from him, or should I focus on getting more letters from my EE/CS professors instead? I currently have one excellent letter from my employer (a small company that I worked for a little over a year during school, was able to lead development on a few projects and teach some people, mostly industry), but sadly don't have a good enough relationship with enough of my other professors beyond "got an A / did well on some projects".
# Answer
I can't think of how an excellent letter of recommendation from a professor in an unrelated field of study could hurt you. Perhaps if it was the only (excellent) letter of recommendation, maybe then. But you mentioned you have an excellent letter from your employer and can (I assume) get at least one more good letter from someone else, so I think you are in a good position.
You are right, his letter of recommendation would not be about your technical skills related to EE, but it would mention your characteristics, work ethics, teamwork ability in a very good light. Research writing course is also not that far away from EE. It shows you are more diverse than the stereotypical programmer or engineer. You worked with this specific professor for 2 semesters, he could give you an outstanding letter of recommendation. I think his letter will give you more than any single average/solid letter from other professors.
> 12 votes
# Answer
It is always a good thing to have letters from faculty who are wholly enthusiastic about your performance. However, if the performance is in a different subject from the one in which you're applying for graduate study, their relevance will be at least somewhat lessened compared to letters from faculty in that subject. One reason that this is true is that the admissions faculty are more likely to know faculty in the same subject personally. Even if they don't, they have a lifetime of training at evaluating people in the same subject: e.g, when I read a striking letter from someone I don't know, I often look them up to find out their research profile.
It may be that my field -- mathematics -- is snobbier than most when it comes to discounting letters from those in adjacent fields. But with the exception of physics, statistics and computer science, if I get a letter from someone in a different academic field, they simply can't directly convince me that the candidate they're writing for will be successful in my PhD program because I can't be confident that they know what it takes to be successful in a (let alone my) PhD program in mathematics. They can convince me that the candidate is a very strong / talented / accomplished student in general, which is certainly a good thing, and what they tell me about their skills in Subject X might make a positive impression on me. I would be delighted to hear that a candidate was an award-winning writer. But this would not be a good substitute for a letter from a mathematician telling me that the candidate has what it takes to succeed in my math PhD program. (And you don't need a faculty letter to list the awards you've won; that information should be included elsewhere in your application.)
So I would say: sure, get the letter from this faculty member in a different subject. But use it *in addition to* other letters from faculty in your subject, not as replacements for it. (In most programs I know, you can freely turn in more letters than are asked for.) If you really can't find more than two strong letters from faculty in your field -- that's a separate issue, by the way -- then it would probably be better to use this letter in place of a letter from someone who is not going to rate you highly. In my opinion you should not use the letter to replace a letter from a faculty member who will say you are strong even though they don't know you well enough to say anything really insightful about you. We don't need deep insight from every letter: merely being vouched for by someone that we know (at least, by reputation) and respect may be good enough. "Got an A / did well on some projects" is not actually a bad letter from the right person.
> 7 votes
# Answer
The two relevant points are: 1) you took the course and 2) you had the professor. And may I add a third, you may well get your best recommendation from this professor.
"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth." That is, don't overlook the opportunity to get a very good recommendation from somebody. It's better if it is in a related field, "all other things being equal," but all other things AREN'T equal.
In a graduate school situation, it is quite important that you can (and did) excel "somewhere." That it is in an area close to your field is certainly of some importance, but it's not the only thing. And good writing skills are relevant in engineering, science, or ANY technical skill.
It's hard enough to get good/great recommendations as it is. Don't pass this one by. Then, of course, try to get good recommendations in your field as well in order to produce a strong, all-around package.
> 1 votes
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Tags: graduate-admissions, recommendation-letter
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thread-32129
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32129
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When should I appropriately use adjectives and adverbs?
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2014-11-22T23:36:51.470
|
# Question
Title: When should I appropriately use adjectives and adverbs?
I heard using adjectives and adverbs should be avoided; which scenarios should I use adjectives and adverbs?
# Answer
> 11 votes
This advice, taken literally, is absurd. Adjectives and adverbs are perfectly reasonable parts of speech, and there is no inherent reason to avoid them. If you pick up any piece of academic writing, it should be clear that nearly every sentence includes them, and could not reasonably be expressed without them.
I count four in your question itself: "academic", "another", "specific", "proper". I can't imagine how you would express your question without any.
It is generally good advice in academic writing to write concisely and avoid *unnecessary* words. And it is a little easier to add unnecessary adjectives and adverbs to a sentence than some other parts of speech, so they may deserve some extra scrutiny. But avoiding them altogether? Nonsense.
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Tags: writing, writing-style
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thread-32130
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32130
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How to ask a professor to join a project in a way that leaves him a "graceful out"?
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2014-11-22T23:45:23.423
|
# Question
Title: How to ask a professor to join a project in a way that leaves him a "graceful out"?
This is a follow up question to a previous question I have asked about co advising : professor will agree to be my thesis advisor but only if I can find a co-advisor . After sitting in on this professors lab meetings I would like to work on two projects that he is getting off the ground in collaboration with another professors lab. How can I ask him in a way that gives him a graceful out even though he agreed to co-advise on my master's thesis? I would really like to work with him since I am really interested in his research, but I do not want to end up trapping either of us in an advising relationship that would be bad for both of us in the event he was just trying to be nice when he agreed to be co-advisor on my master's thesis.
# Answer
> 7 votes
> I do not want to end up trapping either of us in an advising relationship that would be bad for both of us in the event he was just trying to be nice when he agreed to be co-advisor on my master's thesis.
Give him some credit and don't assume he would agree to a bad advising relationship just to be "nice."
Ask him directly. If he wants to say "no," there are any number of ways in which he can say it.
---
Tags: research-process, graduate-school, thesis, masters, advisor
---
|
thread-32029
|
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32029
|
Should I include having taken free online courses without credit or certificate in an application for a master's programme?
|
2014-11-20T16:54:39.067
|
# Question
Title: Should I include having taken free online courses without credit or certificate in an application for a master's programme?
I just finished my Bachelor in Psychology and the master's programmes I am interested in pursuing require some experience with at least one programming language. Of course, at no point in my studies was there a course related to programming and I am considering taking free online courses. Since there have been some questions on MOOCs with certificates, I want to make a question about MOOCs without enrollment, credit and certificate of completion.
* Does one gain anything by mentioning attendance at such courses or will a reviewer of an application dismiss it as an unverifiable claim (since there is no proof that one has actually attended the course)?
# Answer
There are many masters programs where programming is not formally required, but still very helpful. Beginning programming is definitely not a masters level skill (nor is it final year bachelors). From that perspective the most interesting questions from an admissions point of view is first of all: do you have affinity with programming (many people, even computer science students) hate programming.
To know that you did additional work shows that you know what programming is and that you are willing to invest some effort into your studies. If you fake this will make you miserable on the course.
The course will however not be relevant in assessing your intellectual abilities (your bsc will) as not only is it hard to verify, it was not designed to test them in the first place.
> 1 votes
# Answer
You may be interested in taking a MOOC on http://www.coursera.org . Coursera offers several beginning classes in programming. There is one starting this Febuary entitled "Programming for Everybody" offered by the University of Michigan that teaches python which is a relatively easy programming language to learn. You will receive a certificate of achievement signed by the instructor for the free version.For some courses there is also a verified certificate available if you are willing to pay a little extra. A verified certificate is a method of proving that you and only you did the work for the course which is good for putting on your resume.Your coursera profile will show which classes that you have taken and allow visitors to see how well you have done. You can mention on your resume that you have some experience in python from this class providing a link to your coursera profile just like you would provide the address to your own website if you have one. You will need to make sure that you make your profile visible to the general public though.
I would say that taking a MOOC class will help in showing that you have some experience in a given programming language so it will count for something, but it won't count for nearly as much as an accredited course from your university. That said if you combine it with examples of programs you wrote using the language you learned on the class on github this would be in my opinion enough to lend credibility to your claim. You may not be familiar with www.github.com it is a website where you can host your source code and make it visible to the public. Making an account is free. Here is a website with some resources for learning github. Similarly to coursera to include it in your resume provide the url for your account on your resume.
> -1 votes
---
Tags: graduate-admissions, application, online-learning, mooc
---
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thread-32118
|
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32118
|
How to improve writing skills when writing a manuscript for the first time?
|
2014-11-22T18:41:24.560
|
# Question
Title: How to improve writing skills when writing a manuscript for the first time?
After a year of researching for my Masters project, I am writing a manuscript for publication. I have spent nearly 3 months writing it now. My advisor has read my drafts, but after nearly 4 drafts that I thought were successively better, he says that I am in still the pre-draft stage and that I don't know how to write a manuscript properly. Of course, he gives me adequate guidance and is very helpful, but I am demoralized by my own shortcomings.
I have a hard deadline of 3 weeks to submit my edits to my advisor, after which he has said he will finish editing for me.
I understand this sort of thing happens to all new writers, especially in technical writing, and I could hear tons of personal stories about how difficult his/her experience was - but in the end, pain is very personal.
Anyways, the purpose of this post is not just to get motivated or feel better - it is to ask for concrete advice on where and how to begin, especially given that I don't have that much time?
# Answer
> Concrete advice on where and how to begin, especially given that I don't have that much time
I work in biomedical science so my advices may not fully apply to you, feel free to take whatever that is useful.
**Don't write too much:** Most students I work with who are trying to turn their paper into a journal article tend to write too much. It's usually described as a painful process because it would feel like chopping off a lot of work from their thesis (which was done with much blood and sweat.) But the trimming and refinement need to happen because thesis format is not suitable for journal.
Concretely, these newbie articles tend to
1. Have an introduction that is overly long
2. Contain abundance of details in the methods section, documenting the conception of the idea to every little details, with meticulous follow up of citations
3. Justify every single decision, some of which trivial
4. Cover too many hypotheses or fail to boil down the structure to bite-size, thinking everything in the chapter has to go into the paper
5. Elaborate lengthily in Discussion, failing to highlight the most important aspect
**But also don't write too little:** And yet, most students tend to overlook these components:
1. The paper goes into technical way too abruptly, doesn't account for the fact that some non-specialist may be reading this. And this is really an art, you'll need to see your target journal and get a sense of who are the readers, and then decide how broad to start with
2. Fail to explain the "so-whats" in the Discussion
3. Did not address the strengths and the weaknesses of the study. Or quoting weaknesses that actually can be alleviated but were not. For instance, I have a lot of students stating weaknesses like "this is a cross-sectional study so causal inference is not feasible," which I tend to agree; but some may say "in this analysis we did not adjust for income levels" while the income level variable is actually in the data set. In those case I'd request a re-analysis. In short, if you can have done something about it, don't list it as weakness.
**General style mismatches:** Sometimes the articles have nothing really wrong about it but the style just make it clunky as a journal article. For instance:
1. Overly sensationalizing or flooded with emotional adjectives. E.g. "the obesity epidemic is indeed a human tragedy," "our results are surprisingly encouraging."
2. Mixing up facts and arguments, ending up with a lot of statements that are not backed up or statements that are accompanied with a tsunami of facts without a trace of synthesis.
3. The objectives and the conclusion do not match. And this is very common in theses because we set off with a plan and things may fail to work in the middle and we have changed direction. In journal article, the objective statement and the conclusion need to resonate so that they read nearly like Q&A.
4. Trying too hard to make the whole paper self-contained and complete. Common signs are including too many details that can be included in the form of citations.
5. Calling the same concepts or things with many different names. In English composition we are often encourage to diversify our word selection but this is a big no-no in scientific writing. If the variable is "occupational stress," call it so throughout. Do not use variants such as work-induced stress or even worse: work-related mental problems or job-site related depression, etc.
6. Drafting, writing, and editing at the same time. Most of the students lost steam because they want to churn out perfect sentence from the get go. This causes the process extremely slow and painful. It's easier to do a brain dump and then come back to edit the work. On a good day you may save 50-60% of the dump, on a bad day maybe 10%, but I found it worth it because I can be more focused in either laying out ideas or perfecting the wording, separately.
---
So, how to start? Before writing, read a bit. Download the "guideline to the authors" from the target journal and use a highlighter to indicate all stylistic requirements. Follow them to the t.
Then, download about 3-5 articles related to your fields from that journal, and read for word-uses and syntax. Generally, when reading each paragraph, ask yourself "Why did the authors put this information here?"
Now, when it comes to writing/drafting. I find it easiest to do in this sequence:
1. Identify 1-3 main analysis outcomes (table, graph, regression model, etc.) Paste them on a wall or a board and they will be the staple of this article.
2. For each of these output, write about 2-4 main points or interpretations people should take away with. Imagine you're at a conference manning a poster. What would you tell the audience to focus on in each table or each graph? If one of them has overwhelming amount of talking points, you are trying to pack too much. Consider breaking the analysis output down, and trim, trim, trim. In this stage, *do not throw away unused outputs,* put them aside in a folder or a box in case you have a second thought.
3. For each of these output, write out the methods. Remember to only contain enough information to allow readers to replicate, not too much so that the readers have to endure the whole story. For instance, reason for picking a certain concentration or threshold can be explained with a citation rather than writing it out.
4. Now combine your selected output into the Results section. Write it in the driest style you can think of. No interpretation, grievance, celebration, defense whatsoever, just plain, hard, cold data.
5. Break Discussion into segments A, B, C, D, and E. In A, use one paragraph to summarize what you found. In B, incorporate the talking points you generated for each of the output, so that the first paragraph makes sense. In C, compare and contrast your work with other literature and discuss the potential differences. In D, delineate the strengths and weaknesses of your study. For each weakness, discuss what you had tried to make it less a matter, or what else could have been done in future work. Finally, in part E, go slightly wider and wilder: elaborate what these results mean to your target audience and their field. You can quickly see that this section can get overwhelming if you have too many objectives. For starters, one main objective with a sub objective will be a good challenge.
6. Write the Introduction. Focus on some "what's known" to bring your audience to the same page so that they can understand your work. Then, discuss what is not known or what challenges the field is facing. After that, explain how your work may help, and lastly, lay out your objectives clearly.
7. Cut and paste the objective at the end of the paper (or use split screen so that you can see the objective section), and start writing the Conclusion. Introduce no more new information there, simply answer the objectives point by point. Make sure the objective part and the conclusion part resonate. When you feel it's good enough, you can then take out the reference objective you just pasted there (or close the split screen function.)
8. Go back to write the abstract.
---
**Other nitty-gritty**
Don't feel bad that people are not happy with what you write. A lot of the time they do not even concretely know what's wrong with the piece. Ask for actionable suggestions and then thanks for their comments; take whatever applies to you.
Your supervisor may not appreciate your writing quality, but will definitely appreciate your attention to details. So, make his/her life easier by following the journal's guideline tightly when it comes to formatting.
Check if all the figures and tables are correctly indexed.
Check if all the pronouns connect well and leave no room for misunderstanding.
Use subtitle to introduce another layer of structure if you feel too overwhelmed.
It's true that some papers can take years to write. But you have been working on it for more than 3 months and it is more than probable to write a decent article in 3 months. Some other users may say a paper can take years, but remember the duration is also a factor of i) how much time the person is putting in every day, ii) how much the work is being held up by co-authors, and iii) personal writing style. I myself have papers that were done in the span of 2 months to 6 years; there is pretty much no rule when it comes to time.
> 24 votes
# Answer
A great online course called "Writing in the Sciences" is now available free of charge, and it provides really great advices. When I was writing an article recently, I just had the time to watch the first week's lectures, and it helped me a lot to finish my manuscript.
To summary some quick tips to do a good writing:
1- **Read papers and copy** (everything but the content) from the ones you like. This will give you hints on how to structure a paper, style you can have and many other things. Mimicking is a fundamental learning mechanism of humans that helped us achieve the knowledge we have, don't overlook it.
2- **Just get to write**, even if you don't feel like it. A good paper is reworked several times before it's ready for publication, so just get going on your first pass, you'll enhance later.
3- Don't try to make overly long or complicated sentences. Just try to make short sentences, and try to use simple formulations (present tense instead of past tense, standard sentence form: subject-verb-object). Also **avoid jargon** and initials as much as possible, this will be one less burden for your reader (even when they're specialized in the domain you're writing in).
4- Be **logical** in your progression. Try to be logical and gradual from chapters to chapters (for this, generally there are common templates, like the OHERIC methodology: Observation/Problem introduction, Hypothesis/Your Model, Experiment/Simulations, Results/Interpretation, Conclusion/Opening) but also inside each chapter, so that the end of a chapter naturally leads to the next.
Usually, the introduction is the hardest part and usually too much overlooked so you should really focus on this part ; the conclusion is the easiest part (just summary what problem you tackled, what you did and what you've found and potentially future avenues that could extend the findings on this problem) ; and the abstract and title are done at the very end when you already wrote the whole paper.
5- Add lots of **pertinent** references. A good example is any well-developped article in Wikipedia (since this encyclopedia follows some common editorial guidelines that are just as well used in scientific publishing). For any claim you make that isn't yours, try to reference, and most importantly, your reference must be pertinent (avoid referencing an article you barely read or that isn't focusing at all on the claim you are making, ie: an article about brain's memory making an hypothesis about consciousness at the conclusion as an opening isn't fit to be referenced for any claim about consciousness since this is just speculation).
6- **Be yourself**. This can be difficult if you are not comfortable in the language you're writing your article in, but if you are comfortable enough, try to keep (or create) your own writing style.
7- I think this one is less important at first, but later if you want to be a pro: **uniformize your editorial line**. For example, if you use American English words in your abstract, don't use British English words suddenly in later parts. A very good listing of editorial tips can be found here: http://www.iaria.org/editorialrules.html
8- Use a **spellchecker**, always.
9- **Ask other people to read your paper**, and be open to feedbacks. This is crucial and the final step to make a good paper, as it is very difficult to see the big picture and the small glitches yourself. If possible, try also to get your paper read by non-specialized persons, like your relatives, they will tell you if your work is pleasant to read even if they can't grasp every technical subtletlies.
Good luck for your paper. And remember: **writing is always painful and feels unnatural for most people (including professional writers)**, so don't feel out of place, just try to do your job and try to be proud of the result.
> 6 votes
# Answer
Three months? Try two years!
I'm trying to write a manuscript since two years. This is because my advisor is a perfectionist, which makes me an extremely lucky guy (in this case, you as well). I have a friend whose advisor's expectations are below the average and he ended up submitting a thesis even lower quality than below the average.
Believe me, what you go through is a perfectly normal stage, for who wants to be in academia. At least, this is what I've seen so far.
I suggest you to do the following:
First, write the core of your work. Not the intro, not the conclusion, not the experimental results or methodology. Just tell what your work is about and why is it precious. Tell it like you're telling it to a five-year-old. Try to tell it using the least number of sentences as you can. If possible, tell it in only one sentence.
Afterwards, read. Read until you memorize it. You will realize that it sucks (unfortunately). Then, change it. Try to change your point of view.
I have written at least thirty manuscripts if not fifty. And I have started over at least ten times. Now, I got "OK" from my advisor for the last version of, wait for it, **introduction chapter**.
"The most important thing is organization of the manuscript", my advisor told me. "It should both teach and entartain the reader." By entertaining, of course, he means that the reader should tell to himself "this is good job!" Like reading a really good novel.
I suggest you to keep your expectations low at this stage, since your last work is still a pre-draft. In a period like three weeks, it is extremely hard to complete a work. Besides, if you do not rush, you will complete it in a shorter time.
I hope I'm wrong and you publish your work.
> 4 votes
# Answer
It is surely painful, as you're being assessed on something as intimate and self-defining as cognitive potential, and think you're not measuring up. And academia is a rather terrible environment when it comes to taking into account how this sort of thing affects productivity and happiness. But.
The thing is, the goal is not to make the manuscript good for your supervisor, it's to make it good for a research journal. In this process, the supervisor will help. The help will come in the form of a very red, very re-written manuscript, but it will be useful. For me, the single most helpful event in academic writing (and I have taken courses on it previously and I generally like writing) was when I received my first manuscript back all in red. I looked at it sentence by sentence, and paragraph by paragraph, and man have I learned a lot! So don't look at that deadline in three weeks as the end of the road, but as the beginning. After all, it's not as if the supervisor doesn't know your output so far. So take it exactly for what it is: feedback that's more detailed than what you have received so far.
Other than that, it's very helpful to find similar papers, papers you thought were particularly clear, and look for hints there. Personally, I like short papers that try to drive a single point home, where the intro is short and to the point and where the discussion doesn't go too much beyond the data obtained. Such papers give up on telling you everything the authors know about a question, or even discussing all possible implications of the data, in order to keep concise. But that's just me.
> 2 votes
# Answer
To echo cagirici. THREE MONTHS IS NOTHING!!!!! I, took, over a year to finish my first manuscript.
My biggest advice is to put the paper away for a week and revisit it after you've done some reading (and not necessarily in the area that you are writing in, but in areas surrounding that topic). I cannot emphasize enough how putting away your work for a bit of time can help clarify the process and help things become clear within your writing.
> 2 votes
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Tags: writing
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thread-32148
|
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32148
|
Should I send a copy of a closed-access paper requested on academia.edu?
|
2014-11-23T13:56:19.210
|
# Question
Title: Should I send a copy of a closed-access paper requested on academia.edu?
What is an appropriate response to a request for a copy of a closed-access paper on academia.edu?
For the paper in question, I only provide a link (doi) to the publisher's site on my academia.edu profile, since uploading an actual paper would be illegal. Academia.edu allows other users to request such papers, which sends an auto-generated email to me informing me that someone would like a copy of my paper - if I reply, the copy would be sent to this person only.
Here are my options, the way I see them:
1. **Do nothing (ignore/reject the request)** \- as much as I don't like publicly-funded research being hidden behind a paywall, people requesting the paper are all associated with universities that should be able to provide them with access to the journal that hosts it. On the other hand, many labs make copies of their published papers available on their sites, even if they are not open access, so this seems to indicate some other aspects of academic paper-sharing culture. Besides, all parties use a full name, and I don't want to come off as inaccessible or unresponsive.
2. **Send the person a copy**. I don't know if this would be the right thing to do, but then again I have no experience with such situations.
I'm strongly leaning towards the first option - ideally, I would provide the recipient with an explanation on how to access the paper legally and explain why I cannot provide him with a copy, but I don't know if the message would even make it across given the auto-generated nature of the inquiry.
As a side note, while looking for an answer to this question, I learned that academia.edu has brutal terms of service and am in the process of closing the account anyway, but in the meantime I'd still like to handle this situation.
# Answer
**I'd send the article.**
I am not a lawyer. However, it's quite common for people to send me e-mail messages requesting reprints of my papers. The Academia.edu and ResearchGate websites have mechanisms to request a reprint of closed-access papers for similar reasons.
Now I think it depends a bit on the journal. The chemistry (ACS) journals that I tend to publish in, allow 50 reprints in the first year, and unlimited reprints after that point. So far, I haven't run into trouble with exceeding 50 requests for a paper in the first year. I'm happy to e-mail PDF reprints or handle them - in my case through ResearchGate.
Your mileage may vary (i.e., depending on the journal). Personally, if the journal expressly forbids sending such reprints, I'd find a different journal for my work.
In my opinion, blocking such infrequent requests for reprints impedes scholarly work.
> 10 votes
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Tags: publications, etiquette, social-media
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thread-32144
|
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32144
|
My name was misspelled in a citation, what should I do?
|
2014-11-23T12:45:07.930
|
# Question
Title: My name was misspelled in a citation, what should I do?
Recently, a newly published paper in a journal cited one of our papers and managed to misspell my name in the reference list. How should I deal with this? Simply ignore this? Or should I contact the authors or publisher to mention this?
# Answer
> 34 votes
In addition to sending an e-mail to the journal, as suggested already, you should **check the most common academic databases** such as Scopus and Web of Knowledge/Science and **submit corrections** to them so that they pick up the citation correctly. They have a form to submit this kind of corrections automatically; it will then take a few weeks to apply them.
People often (way *too* often, actually) rely on these databases to measure the performance of academics, so it is important that they don't miss any of your citations.
# Answer
> 7 votes
You may send an email to either the publisher, editor of the journal or even the corresponding author of the paper and inform them about the misspelling. They *may* edit the misspelling.
# Answer
> 1 votes
There are a number of services that assign unique identifiers to authors and then associate publications with a particular author. This is particularly helpful for identifying publications of authors that have common names (“John A. Smith.”) For example, Thomson Reuters (who publish the “Web of Science” database) have “ResearcherID”. Another important service is ORCID. You should register yourself with these services and establish your connection to your papers. You should also decide now on one version of your name (e.g. whether to use a middle initial or full middle name) and try to stick with it through out your career.
It may or may not be possible to get the journal to correct the spelling of your name in the online version of the paper. It certainly will not be possible to get this fixed in printed volumes that have already been distributed. That is why it is particularly important to check this information in reviewing page proofs before the paper is published.
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Tags: citations, errors-erratum, personal-name
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thread-32157
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32157
|
Should someone giving a second opinion on an article be a co-author or just acknowledged?
|
2014-11-23T18:08:51.137
|
# Question
Title: Should someone giving a second opinion on an article be a co-author or just acknowledged?
I decided to write an article extracted from part of my master’s thesis. This will be my first time trying to get published, so obviously I’ll never think it is good enough therefore I’ll need a second opinion. I’m thinking of contacting my previous supervisor and ask him if he can read it before I try to submit it to a journal. And if things goes well, I’ll ask one of my colleagues (an assistant professor) to read it as well.
My question is, if they are willing to read it, should I include their names as co-authors or just in the acknowledgment?
# Answer
> 18 votes
To just evaluate a manuscript should not result in co-authorship. Authorship implies a certain contribution to the article. There are many interpretations of what is sufficient and some are really bad. Criteria for co-authorship that has gained support has been given by the Vancouver Protocol (see e.g. the BMJ description of their use of the terms in practise)
> * Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work;
>
> AND
>
> * Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content;
>
> AND
>
> * Final approval of the version to be published;
>
> AND
>
> * Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.
An advisor for a master's project sounds as a reasonable candidate for co-authorship since that person likely has provided much input on original ideas through to the final written product. How that applies in your case is for you to decide.
It is, however, never wrong to add a new person as co-author, if that person provides contributions that qualify them according to the list above. So consider who may be considered co-author and do not promise co-authorship without explaining the terms.
For additional input, please search on the here on Academia.sx and look into the concept of contributorship, a concept more clearly related to contributions than what the term authorship implies, by also searching the internet.
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Tags: authorship, acknowledgement
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thread-32124
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32124
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Is use of the word "via" appropriate in an academic essay?
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2014-11-22T21:11:31.880
|
# Question
Title: Is use of the word "via" appropriate in an academic essay?
In many cases the words *via* and *through* are interchangeable. However, is *via* viewed as acceptable to use among the academic community, typically?
I personally have a distaste for it, but that doesn't really mean much.
# Answer
> 20 votes
There is nothing wrong with the word "via," and in fact I personally have a weakness for it: sometimes it just feels more elegant and specific than alternatives like "through" or "by means of." I also, however, have a weakness for a lot of somewhat archaic phrases, due to spending a lot of my childhood reading old books.
The general principle which I think academic writing should subscribe to is Orwell's notion of "transparent prose," in which the words are as clear as a window, letting one through to the ideas with minimal obstruction. Using too many unusual words, such as a lot of "via" and "thus" can be distracting, particularly for an international audience. Sometimes, though, a word is simply fit and elegant in its context, and there is no reason to avoid using it.
# Answer
> 11 votes
I am skeptical that the \[anglophone\] *academic community as a whole* has clear preferences on word choices beyond what is considered good English usage. Specific academic fields and communities of academics certainly do have preferred and deprecated word choices (and these choices are not necessarily viewed positively by the larger world: cf. "jargon").
Might some particular professor like one word more than another? Of course, but that is just about the *ne plus ultra* of a question which is "too localized" to be useful on a site like this one. Moreover, even if she likes "through" better than "via" or vice versa: so what? Is she going to think less of your academic essay because of it? That would be most unreasonable.
Having said all that: the words "via" and "through" are not fully synonymous: see this question on another SE site for a good discussion. As the answers indicate, "through" is the much older word in English usage and has a much larger range of uses. The word "via" is much more specific: it means **by way of; by the route which passes through or over (a specified place)** or **by means of, with the aid of**. In academic writing one often wants to express that two things (concepts, ideas, problems...) can be related to each other by means of a third thing. Given that the word via has as its origin a Roman road connecting point A to point B, this usage is very appropriate for making such connections. In spoken language, "via" is somewhat uncommon and may perhaps be viewed as stilted or pretentious. In academic writing it is extremely common and unobtrusive (when used appropriately): the eye passes right over it. The idea that this particular word would be objectionable to an academic is especially strange to me. (There are a lot of words like this: in my academic writing I use "thus" and "hence" all the time; in nonacademic speech, not at all.)
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Tags: writing, writing-style
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thread-31991
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/31991
|
Is it possibly considered weakness in my statement of purpose if I mention that I would like specific people to advise my PhD programme?
|
2014-11-20T08:06:19.390
|
# Question
Title: Is it possibly considered weakness in my statement of purpose if I mention that I would like specific people to advise my PhD programme?
I'm writing a statement of purpose for my PhD applications and in some cases I'd be very happy if any person from a certain group (say the Algebra Group) would take me as his/her student. Could this be considered a weakness in my application? How should I handle this?
I've been researching people and groups for over 4 months and I know (as much as I can right now) what I want to do and who does it. It's just that some universities and programs have some amazing faculty.
# Answer
> 6 votes
I would include which certain aspects of the faculty would support your intentions and why, especially if you can include meaningful references to their previously published work.
For example
"I believe that University X would be a great place to undertake my research into topic Y because it has a great reputation in this field. For example books A and B published by person C are well known texts in the field and I believe the research of person D in the area of E would compliment mine."
# Answer
> 6 votes
You should definitely mention your research group preferences. At my university, PhD applicants are required to do so. This implicitly forces the applicants to learn more about the research groups that are offering PhD positions. If your application get through the selection process, you will be interviewed by the professors of your choices. It would be a big plus if you can make an impression that you have general understanding of their research work. It shows that you have **passion** for the topics and also increases your chance of being accepted.
If none of the professors think that you are a match for them, then let it be and choose different PhD Programme. You should not do your PhD in a research group blindfolded, just because you are accepted there. If you don't like the topics, you could run into the risks of not being able to finish your PhD and wasting few years of your life. Academia is all about passion, without it your chance of success is very small.
# Answer
> 4 votes
I think this is a high-risk high-reward scenario. I did this; I called out one particular professor, and I nailed it because he accepted me, but this same tactic failed on another graduate school application. At least where I went, when an application letter mentions a specific professor, internally that application gets sent to that professor for review. If you are a match for them, you have just won a spot on the team of your choice. But if you call out this professor and they are not hiring or do not like your application, you will probably alienate others. So, I think it is risky due to potentially alienating others who may have seen your application if you didn't specify, but can be rewarding because it can land your application on their desk.
# Answer
> 3 votes
The sad, but true, situation is that admissions committees are often aware of the needs and funding status of the faculty they are serving. If the people you list are actively looking for students, you might have an easier time with admissions, but if the people you list are in funding trouble, or their labs are full, that might be a bit of a negative.
In the long run, though, programs are looking for good people. The impact I describe is more of a nudging effect than the big decision maker.
I'd recommend mentioning your interest, but also mentioning that you're flexible. It shows good planning.
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Tags: phd, application, statement-of-purpose
---
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thread-32108
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32108
|
Professor will agree to be my thesis advisor but only if I can find a co adviser, what does this really mean?
|
2014-11-22T08:55:11.303
|
# Question
Title: Professor will agree to be my thesis advisor but only if I can find a co adviser, what does this really mean?
I am in my first year of my master's program in computer science. I have been sitting in on one professors lab meetings whose research I am really interested in when I asked him if he was comfortable working with me on a master's thesis he gave a response which I am having trouble interpreting. He said that he felt comfortable in the sense that he felt I would do great, but he didn't feel comfortable being the sole adviser due to the number of current master's students he was already advising. He said he would be my thesis adviser if I could find a co-adviser. He is a new professor at my university and does not yet have tenure as this is his first year.
My question is was this a gentle way of letting me down or is it common for busy professors to suggest co-advising?
# Answer
> 11 votes
As Peter Shor indicates, one cannot uniquely decode the professor's intent from this response. You'll have to get more information from him to be confident of his motivations.
Let me say that taking on a coadvisor *could show* a lack of confidence in the student, but more commonly it shows an advisor's lack of confidence in her own experience or is done for a good, subject-oriented reason (i.e., to bring in specific expertise). My first PhD student -- taken on when I was not yet tenured -- was coadvised with a more senior faculty member. This was because I was nervous about myself, not about him (he was really great), but independently of my own gingerness it turned out to be a very good idea because his second adviser imparted some key technical knowledge that got used in his thesis in a very nice way. Now (I am tenured and) I have four students who are solely advised by me: I got a little older is the main difference. So I can understand this faculty member's perspective.
On the other hand, at least in my field (mathematics) advising a master's student is much easier than advising a PhD student: they stay for 1/3 to 1/2 of the time and the whole experience is not as intense. Because of this, "splitting" a master's student is less common (and no examples spring to mind, but then again in mathematics, a master's degree is more likely to be done rather casually *en route* to greater things or as a terminal degree).
From a neutral (read: uninformed) outsider's perspective, I would say that if you're already sitting in this guy's research group then that's pretty close to taking you on as a master's student. One thing you could try is just to organically increase your interactions without "putting a label on it". In other words, instead of sitting in on the group, can you actually do some work for the group? If so, you basically are this guy's master's student, and after a couple of months of work it will be much easier for all involved to call it that. If on the other hand you express an interest in doing work for his group and he tells you why you can't at the moment....then there's your answer.
Another tack to take would be to ask the professor for a specific suggestion of who could co-advise you. Then you can take it up with that person...who of course may suggest single-handedly advising you. I think the suggestion to co-advise without a specific person in mind to do the other half of the advising shows that he is not very enthusiastic about advising you.
Good luck.
# Answer
> 9 votes
We've used co-advisors in our department for several reasons:
* When the student's work crosses into two specialties -- for example, if someone wanted to study Islam in Russia -- we might have Prof. A who is a Russia specialist with no particular knowledge of religion work with Prof. B who does Islam, but predominantly in the middle-east.
* When Prof. A has too many advisees and needs someone to share the administrative burden. I don't think grad students realize how much of an administrative burden they can be. We have to file progress reports, grant proposals, sign off on expenditures -- not to mention letters of recommendation.
* When there is some doubt of Prof. A's long term plans. Whether they have eyes on becoming provost -- or maybe a transfer to another university -- sometimes either Prof. A or the department itself will proactively make sure that Prof. A's students aren't orphaned.
* Related to this, if Prof. A expects a sabbatical or other leave, they may proactively try to make sure that the students in the first several years of their grad work are properly mentored in their absence.
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Tags: graduate-school, thesis, masters, advisor
---
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thread-32186
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32186
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Requesting a recommendation before the end of the course
|
2014-11-24T14:53:46.793
|
# Question
Title: Requesting a recommendation before the end of the course
I am applying for PhD school and I need to 3-4 reference letters. I have 3 references but 2 of them are from my undergraduate institution and the 3rd is my current master's thesis advisor. I was told that it is not good to have just one recommendation from my graduate institution. I decided to try to get a fourth letter.
I took courses with many professors during my master's study but none of them really know me that well. I am taking a course this semester with a professor for the first time and I don't know what he thinks of me, but we have a final project which I tried to do so well that I can get a very good recommendation. After showing my project to my peers who already took the course they said that he will like it a lot and you can expect a very good impression. The problem that I have now is that the deadlines are very close to the final project presentation (only four days apart).
Also, We still have a final exam so I really don't know if it would be ok to get a recommendation is such a circumstances.
Is it OK to explain the situation to the professor and give him an early presentation of my work so that he can use it in his recommendation?
# Answer
I don't see how what you suggest isn't worth a shot, if you explain the professor your reasons? It's what I would naturally try. I would go further and *offer* to hand it in early. Just be ready to back off gracefully if you hear that he is too busy now or doesn't want to do it like this, in which case I would ask if he has suggestions how to handle this respecting both your schedules and commitments (after confirming that he is open to help in principle).
> 2 votes
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Tags: application, recommendation-letter
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thread-30252
|
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/30252
|
Should I list GRE scores on my CV?
|
2014-10-20T04:50:06.277
|
# Question
Title: Should I list GRE scores on my CV?
If someone scores quite high on the GRE, how and where would they list it? Or would they even list it at all?
# Answer
Copying my comment:
I don't think you should. I can't recall ever seeing test scores listed on a CV. Nobody really cares about GRE scores except graduate admissions committees, and they get the scores straight from ETS anyway.
> 7 votes
# Answer
A C.V. should list everything that is significant in your accomplishments at your stage of career. Before you get into grad school, a good GRE score may be significant. After you're in, not so much.
> 1 votes
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Tags: cv, gre
---
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thread-32200
|
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32200
|
Is the editor-in-chief's advice sincere?
|
2014-11-24T19:35:25.483
|
# Question
Title: Is the editor-in-chief's advice sincere?
After submitting my paper to a reputable journal, the editor-in-chief sent me the following e-mail:
```
I am writing to let you know that I have briefly read your paper. It appears
that your submission is better suited to (and will be better appreciated by) the
IEEE Transactions on X, or Y. I am, therefore, recommending that you submit it there.
```
Both recommendations are also reputable journals and since the work is inter-disciplinary, such a reply does not surprise me very much.
However, I wonder if I can interpret this also as a kind of quality evaluation for my work, because after all she recommended high-impact-factor journals? Or am I reading to much into this and the only message is that this is off-topic for the particular journal.
In other words, is this a common type of response or do editors base their responses also on the quality of the work (e.g. recommending lower ranked journals, conferences or straight forward not to publish anywhere)?
# Answer
> 7 votes
I would not interpret the message as a statement about quality. If the editor felt your article was below par for the journal you will most likely get such a message.
That journals reject papers because they are not suitable is not uncommon. In this case, as you say, the alternatives are also good quality publications and so it seems like good advice. The fact that the editor recommends these journals could actually mean that your paper is seen as suitable for publication in them and thus can be taken as a positive evaluation, however, not a guarantee for success.
I will finish by saying your editor does the job well. The alternative of accepting a paper for review although it may not be suitable for the journal could lead to a drawn out process leading to rejection and loss of much time.
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Tags: publications, editors
---
|
thread-32181
|
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32181
|
In peer-review, is it common for a reviewer to be shown and asked to comment on other reviewers' reports?
|
2014-11-24T12:59:21.053
|
# Question
Title: In peer-review, is it common for a reviewer to be shown and asked to comment on other reviewers' reports?
Some months ago, I was asked to review a paper for a computer science conference. I submitted my report about a week before the deadline, and I strongly recommended acceptance subject to a few minor corrections.
Just after the deadline, I was contacted by the programme committee member who originally asked me to review the paper. He sent me another reviewer's report (without a name or other identifying information) and asked for my opinion of it. The other reviewer had recommended rejection on the grounds that an example in the paper supposedly contradicted the claim of the main theorem. I explained that the other reviewer has misunderstood the example (in fairness, the authors of the paper could have stated it more carefully), and I see that the paper was ultimately accepted.
I have never before seen or been asked to comment on another reviewer's report, but my field is primarily mathematics, where there is often only a single reviewer for a paper, and I have only reviewed a few computer science papers.
So my question is this: in fields where it is usual to have multiple reviewers, is it common to be shown and asked to comment on other reviewers' reports?
A secondary question would be: if it is not uncommon, does it mainly occur when reviewers take opposing positions on a paper, like in the situation I describe?
# Answer
> 33 votes
I don't know about other fields, but this is a fairly common practice in computer science. Computer science has a very strong culture of significant publications in conferences, which have significantly different reviewing challenges than journal publications.
The key problem is that conferences typically have a large number of papers that all need to be dealt with by a fixed deadline and with a single iteration of revision. This generally means that:
1. You have to cast a wide net for reviewers, and are likely to be trying out a "new" reviewer on several papers at once, rather than iteratively.
2. People typically commit to reviewing far in advance, when the program committee is formed, and may find themselves with less time than expected and no opportunity to ask for an extra couple of weeks to produce a review.
3. There is no opportunity for the cycles of dialogue between reviewers and authors that happen during the journal manuscript revision process: generally there is no "major revision" option, just "accept with minor revisions" and "reject."
All of this adds up to getting a collection of reviews with more uneven quality and less chance to work the differences through in dialogue. Outlier reviews can be problematic: a very low outlier can cause an otherwise good paper to be rejected; a very good outlier can cause the authors of a rightfully rejected paper to feel that they were robbed of a publication.
One of the typical ways to try to deal with this (supported nicely by platforms like EasyChair) is to ask the reviewers to look at each others' reviews and to discuss differences. This way, when there are major differences of opinion, the more careful and informed participants can influence the others to adjust their opinions, just as happened in your case. Another mechanism (less commonly practiced, due to time constraints), is to allow the authors to write a rebuttal, which the reviewers are then asked to consider and see whether it leads them to adjust their scores.
There are other, more experimental methods as well---many computer science subfields take their conferences pretty seriously, and are constantly tinkering to try to improve them.
# Answer
> 10 votes
It's common for conferences that use the EasyChair system, for example, to show all reviews to all reviewers of a paper. Once you submit your review, you can see any of the others. With these kinds of conferences, the Program Committee (or a subset of it) often actually meets in some form, online or in person, to discuss all the papers under their scrutiny. This gives them an opportunity to figure out these kinds of problems. A good committee chair may ask one reviewer to revise their review in light of others if there was a mistake or misunderstanding.
That being said, I've never had this happen with journal reviewing. There, it seems more common for editors to take all the reviews into consideration and make these kinds of calls for themselves.
# Answer
> 6 votes
This isn't exactly the same situation, but in the first round of a paper I submitted in applied math, I received a glowing and a lukewarm/slightly negative review. When it came back to me, there was also what seemed like a tie-breaker opinion pretty much only saying "clearly worth publishing, but not in current form" (the paper was essentially copied and pasted from a thesis chapter which that review continued to say what it looked like). As the 3rd review made no substantial other comments, someone had clearly been asked to opine on the other 2 reviews, also underlined by, in later rounds, only getting feedback from the first two (obvious because of cross-references they made).
This gives anecdotal feedback to your question 2 - for journals, not conferences. It was a good journal in a rather dead field, in case that matters. I went to industry after and cannot provide insight into how common the above is.
# Answer
> 3 votes
It is fairly common in computer science for program committee members to have a large number of papers assigned to them for review. They will often review some subset of these papers themselves and send the others to sub-reviewers. (EasyChair makes it easy to do this and to keep track of everything.) Usually, the program committee members will see all the reviews, whether from other members or from sub-reviewers. The committee will discuss the reviews and try to iron out any disagreements. In some cases, but usually fairly few cases, this may involve going back to sub-reviewers, making them aware of disagreements, and asking for their help in resolving the issues. From your question, I infer that you were a sub-reviewer for one of the program committee members. In that case, being shown other reviews and asked to comment on them is not the most common situation but it happens for a small percentage of the papers in a typical conference (well, typical among the conferences that I have some experience with).
# Answer
> 3 votes
It is apparent that the standards vary between fields. In field with which I am familiar (in the Sciences) seeing and commenting on other reviews is not at all common (in fact I had not heard about the process before). Reviews typically go to an editor and is conveyed to the authors. Even in publications with open reviews where anyone can comment on the manuscript, there are specifically appointed reviewers that provide reviews that will be posted online as the manuscript is closed for further comments. this is the time when the authors get to respond and adjust their manuscript for continued consideration.
So the procedure you describe is not common to al fields by any means.
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Tags: publications, peer-review, computer-science
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thread-32160
|
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32160
|
Are there any "tells" for faculty hires?
|
2014-11-23T20:42:12.477
|
# Question
Title: Are there any "tells" for faculty hires?
I was curious to find out if there were any "tells" in faculty searches that someone is going to get a formal offer before the official paperwork is received. Are candidates who are about to be hired asked to fill out extra forms or provide additional documentation that might not have been needed earlier in the process, or something similar?
# Answer
Positive early signs:
* you helped write the job specification;
* one or more of the selection panel advised you to apply for the vacancy;
* they take up your references;
* you hear through the grapevine that members of your target department have been asking around, about you, after your interview;
* you get an additional interview, where the main topics of discussion are pay & other benefits, when you could start, and what facilities you'd require in post.
Regarding formal paperwork,: all applicants at our place are required to show eligibility for employment, at time of interview. So there's no additional requests for paperwork between final interview and job offer.
> 12 votes
# Answer
For many searches the "official" paperwork is often only received very late in the game such that at the time you receive the contract nothing is left to negotiate. There will often be a very early congratulatory call saying saying we would like to make you an offer (which is not quite the same as making an offer), let's talk about salary and startup. Searches often move quickly once they decide they want to make an offer. Sometimes there is a hold up, for example, waiting for Dean's approval, but generally, I would say once a decision has been reached, they let the candidate know ASAP.
I suggest asking at the interview when a decision will be made. You can then follow up when that date passes and sometimes find out if things are not promising.
> 5 votes
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Tags: job-search, faculty-application
---
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thread-32177
|
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32177
|
Is it a good idea for an international student to use his master's thesis preprint as his writing sample?
|
2014-11-24T08:40:08.067
|
# Question
Title: Is it a good idea for an international student to use his master's thesis preprint as his writing sample?
I am applying to doctoral programs in the US.
I would like to use my master's thesis preprint as my writing sample because it was written in English and is in the field on which I intend to concentrate in my possible doctoral studies.
Though my advisor, who is not a native speaker too, feels it is okay for my thesis to be my writing sample, I am afraid, because I did not make the English in my thesis polished by native speakers, that using it as my writing sample would backfire.
# Answer
Yes. If an applicant to a doctoral program has written a master's thesis, it will be assumed that the thesis is the applicant's best work. Therefore admissions committees will expect to receive the thesis as the writing sample. If your thesis is long, you may wish to send a polished excerpt; the expected length may be field dependent.
> 3 votes
# Answer
English language proficiency is important for any PHD candidate and a writing sample can help them. Since you mentioned the language of the pre-print not upto the mark, you could get it reviewed form someone who has strong english language. It is important to clearly and concisely state your goals and language plays an important role at that. Send in your best writing sample.
> 0 votes
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Tags: phd, graduate-admissions, united-states
---
|
thread-32190
|
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32190
|
Is it self-plagiarism to reuse my own unpublished material?
|
2014-11-24T15:47:58.320
|
# Question
Title: Is it self-plagiarism to reuse my own unpublished material?
If I reuse unpublished work in new unpublished work, would this be considered self-plagiarism?
Examples would be:
1. Use the same paragraph of text in more than one cover letter for job applications
2. Use the same unpublished results in more than one funding application
I would usually say *better safe than sorry* but it just seems silly to state *I previously used this text/material in \[unpublished work X\]*, in contexts such as the examples I gave above.
# Answer
> 26 votes
**No.** Unpublished work is unpublished. It's almost as if it doesn't exist. Given that it is your work, there is no case of plagiarism. I don't even think you need to cite yourself --- what would you actually be citing?
*Indeed, how would you prove that you plagiarised yourself?*
If your unpublished work has been circulated among other authors and has been cited by them, maybe you can cite it too. But that seems a bit odd.
# Answer
> 20 votes
Self-plagiarism is attempting to pass off your own words as previously unpublished original work when they are not. If you are copying text from a work that is *not intended for publication*, then it cannot be a prior publication, and thus it cannot be self-plagiarism. Likewise, it is OK to take text from one of your rejected works if you have decided not to publish it. If the other work is not published but is also aiming for publication, however, then it would be self-plagiarism (though which of the two works would be "original" and which "self-plagiarized" could depend on the details of the progress of each toward publication).
Many pieces of text, however, do not expect the work to be original, in which case you can *plagiarize*, but not *self-plagiarize*. Taking your example: if you create job application letters by modifying a base template, the duplication from letter to letter is perfectly ethical, because there is no expectation of originality in a job application, just for truthfulness.
Funding applications are a funny in-between state. They do not have the same expectation of originality in text as a publication, but most funding agencies require that you not be attempting to fund the same proposed research through any other application. Thus, you would be safe to use the same preliminary work text as part of pitching two different ideas (though it will probably need to be customized for context in any case). Pitching closely related ideas, however, even with different text, would typically be a violation of the funding agency rules. Since there is a decent chance that some of the same people will see both proposals, it's a fast track to rejection and burning bridges with funders. Don't do it.
# Answer
> 2 votes
**Yes, technically you CAN plagiarize yourself.**
According to this page on the Lancaster University's page, for example, they say: "Duplication of your own work:It is possible to plagiarise yourself by directly copying a section from a previous essay you have written and submitting it as part of your new essay."
You need to check the student policies of the school you attend, most likely there is a clause that specifically forbids you from handing in two separate essays that share sections containing the same work.
I'm not sure if this is really what you are asking though, because you make it sound more like you will be paraphrasing previous work within a new context, which I believe would be acceptable use.
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Tags: plagiarism, self-plagiarism
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thread-32210
|
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32210
|
How to make a mathematical text more concise?
|
2014-11-24T22:41:36.307
|
# Question
Title: How to make a mathematical text more concise?
My PhD thesis has 175 pages A4 and I shall provide also a compilation that will summarize the main results on 20 pages A5. My thesis contains algorithms and theorems examining their properties.
After ignoring figures, proofs, illustrative examples, chapter-motivation-paragraph, and major part of introduction and conclusion I have still 48 pages.
Any idea or guidance how to present the results on a very limited space? How to balance the readability (towards marketing) and the scientific strength of the content (towards technical documentation)?
# Answer
> 9 votes
In writing a summary of a thesis, I would actually go about this the opposite way. Don't start with 175 pages and try to cut it down to 20. Instead, start from 0 and try to write a document that will be useful to a reader who wants to know whether to pick up the entire thesis.
I would probably do something like this:
* Background description that explains why your problem is interesting. 2-3 pages maximum.
* General description of what your algorithm achieves, why it is useful, and how it improves on the previous state of the art. Don't try to explain the details of how the algorithm works. Consider *including* a brief illustrative example if space permits at all; that will be very helpful to the reader who wants to know what the heck you are doing.
* If space remains, state main theorem(s), preceded by any definitions needed for them to make sense. If necessary, gloss over the less interesting parts of those theorems. E.g. a complicated set of conditions can be encapsulated in "under mild assumptions" (assuming they are mild), a complicated formula could be replaced by "there exists a constant".
* If space still remains, consider including a very high-level overview of your methods. Specifically mention any parts that you think are especially interesting or novel.
This isn't my field, but I gather that in computer science it is pretty common to publish results first as relatively short conference papers, and then to give more complete details in follow-up papers in journals. You might try reading such conference papers (and compare them with their extended versions) to see what details people focus on. Writing this summary will also be good practice for eventually producing page-limited papers based on your work.
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Tags: phd, thesis, writing, mathematics
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thread-32216
|
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32216
|
Difference between official and unofficial transcripts
|
2014-11-25T01:04:23.787
|
# Question
Title: Difference between official and unofficial transcripts
What is the difference between the official and the unofficial transcripts that are required for graduate studies?
I assume that both documents should be in English (if you study in a foreign university). Thus, unofficial means that you can make the translation yourself whereas official means that the translation is being made by an authorized person?
# Answer
> 6 votes
If I want a copy of my records, I have two options: one, is to log in to the university website and generate a up to date PDF; or I can pay the university for a signed copy, that consists on a copy printed by them, signed by two or three officials, and rubber stamped. The reason admissions usually want the second, as it is more difficult to forge, but it usually takes time (from a week to more than a month).
I want to bring attention to the Stockholm University system. Whenever you generate a transcript, it includes a code and a website. Anyone receiving that transcript can verify its authenticity easily. Reliable, fast, and free.
Depending on the university, they may want a translation, a certified translation (made and stamped by some official translator, usually expensive), or nothing at all. In my experience in Europe, in most cases, they only need a certified version for making things official when they have decided to hire you -if any. I know for a fact that my supervisor has not ever looked at my transcript, and they never requested a translated version.
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Tags: graduate-admissions, application, transcript-of-records
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|
thread-32217
|
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32217
|
How does supervisor contribute to students' papers
|
2014-11-25T01:31:32.240
|
# Question
Title: How does supervisor contribute to students' papers
I know my question maybe too broad, but as someone who's planning to stay in academia, I want to ask anyone who is supervising PhD students about how you contribute to their papers in order to be included as authors.
Do you just need to discuss the problem (e.g what is it? Is it feasible or worth to be solved), point them to potential directions and review the drafts? You can also help writing other sections which don't directly involve in solving the problem such as: introduction, motivation or conclusion. This is the approach that my supervisor and most lecturers in my department are taking.
Or, do you have to directly take part in solving the problem such as analysing it, designing system, performing experiments and evaluating results?
# Answer
This depends enormously on the field. In mine, mathematics, I never, ever claim co-authorship on my students' published papers arising from their PhD theses, nor from papers immediately afterward. I do expect to use my expertise, such as it may be, to help students identify feasible-yet-worthwhile projects, and to help them understand both the feasibility and worthwhile-ness, and this can continue beyond the PhD.
(My model for this behavior, which many people disagree with, or find "unethical", or find "degrading-to-students", is that the advisor's responsibility is well described by master-to-apprentice in an archaic sense. Or, similarly, parent-to-child in a more modern sense (since in antiquity children were not quite as valued as nowadays, apparently). I do understand that many people enjoy the idea that students are junior peers, etc., but, in fact, I claim that this possibly-seemingly-respectful attitude is almost always used as a rationalization for abrogation of responsibility... rather than the positive senses one might hope for.)
I do understand that in some fields advisors are invariably co-authors, even if their contribution is no more than funding.
The point is that, given this range of actualities, one can only look at the conventions within one's specialty, because it is simply not possible to predict that expectation from an abstract quasi-academic notion of "who should be a co-author".
> 4 votes
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Tags: authorship
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thread-32209
|
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32209
|
What to do with papers after misconduct allegation was resolved?
|
2014-11-24T21:36:14.213
|
# Question
Title: What to do with papers after misconduct allegation was resolved?
I was alleged in scientific misconduct in form of authorship abuse. More details are in my previous questions
How to respond to allegations of misconduct in authorship dispute?
Should I put my supervisor as coauthor of a paper?
The good news is that the investigations have ended in the inquiry stage (the dean have informed me by email).
There are several probable reasons why they have stopped:
1. The article was indeed done with different methodology, which had nothing to do with the approach described in the grant application.
2. At the interview I have revealed several facts of abuse, namely I was ordered to work on the projects not connected to my funding project.
3. They are afraid I could become a whistleblower.
After receiving the confirmation from the dean, I immediately informed the editor of the journal. Unfortunately, the editor rejected the manuscript, stating that:
> This is useful information for us, but the question before the journal is not one of personal scientific misconduct, but rather whether the authorship on the paper is the correct one, and whether we should proceed with the external review process, which may lead to its eventual acceptance and publication.
>
> Based on the information available, we have decided not to go further with the review of your manuscript. There are still significant concerns being raised about whether the manuscript should have been submitted with its current authorship, and we do not believe there is any clear path to removing these concerns. The scientific reviews we have received are mixed and would place the manuscript in an unclear position regarding acceptance or rejection based on its content. These two factors together give us sufficient cause to issue a rejection. Because the manuscript did not reach the publication stage, no other action is necessary, and we would like to also consider the case closed.
My questions are:
1. Should I try to resubmit the manuscript as is into some other journal; should I redo all the calculations, reanalyze, and rewrite it first; or should I just abandon it?
2. I have another manuscript, for which my ex-supervisor sent me an email stating that "he assumed that I was going to publish it by my myself", in spite of the fact that he supported me. This seems to be the evidence that he resigns his authorship. Should I try to publish it also?
3. Can they reopen the misconduct case if they would like to do that?
# Answer
> 8 votes
If you would like an academic future, you should ask these questions your (former?) PI, and do your best to make up.
Some answers to related earlier questions you asked gave you advice that saw this only from a David taking on Goliath perspective, and wrote what I felt would only further egg you on. With additional information added in the newer questions, however, you really found yourself in the extremely rare case of your PI taking action against you at your own school. It is time to stop acting on guesses and interpretations, with some Internet forum feedback. You need to get a clear answer from that PI, ideally in writing: for 1 and 2, ask if this means he agrees you can go ahead and submit the 2 papers under your single-authored name?
However, that isn't what I would do. 2, at least, could be read as a conciliatory outreach by your PI: I assume you want to publish this by yourself? (...but do tell me that no, you would like to go together).
Even if that is not true, publishing something (anything) with your PI now matters more than a publication by yourself. You write they are "afraid" of you. They are not. Whistleblowers (if you even could blow a whistle) are a nuisance and embarrassment, rarely more; and in the cases in industry I know of (a friend was a fairly high profile one in banking), they eventually only come back to bite the whistler. It may take years and seem differently; but they eventually do.
Justly or not, the whole incident reflects poorly on all participants (a petty adviser; and a student setting off a petty adviser). For an academic future, in all cases I am familiar with you *need* your adviser's support. You had a falling out; you should try to mend it. The situation will not help the PI to recruit in the near future; and how are you going to get recommendations that matter? You both have an interest in making up: that is what you should focus on. It may be hard, it may be impossible; but it doesn't seem that you have tried, or tried hard enough. It's your life and future, and phyrric victories and a single publication don't matter in the big scheme.
If you really just want to know if you can ignore all this, and publish alone based on that email and the result of the proceedings: I find it risky, but not very so as there is no way your PI is going through with another case...at least it's extremely unlikely. But I don't think that's what will serve you best.
# Answer
> 2 votes
1. You should probably continue trying to publish it. Presumably the results will be useful to somebody, and it will help your career.
2. Probably, but you should ask for explicit permission.
3. Surely this depends on your institution's policy. Ask the dean.
If I were in your place, I would seek to repair relationships and maximize the number of publications.
---
Tags: publications, paper-submission, research-misconduct
---
|
thread-32223
|
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32223
|
Placing a paper under review on my website?
|
2014-11-25T03:58:31.557
|
# Question
Title: Placing a paper under review on my website?
I am wondering if it would be fine for me to place my paper that is currently under review on my website? Since I did not see there is any specific instruction on this issue in the journal's website, my main concern is I am not sure if this contradicts any ethical rules.
# Answer
> 14 votes
The answer depends critically on your field: you need to talk to your advisor and find out what the general policy is. Three examples along the spectrum of radically different possibilities:
* In mathematics, theoretical physics and theoretical computer science, papers under review are circulated publicly long before being published. This practice is a key motivator behind arXiv.
* On the more empirical/applied side of computer science, making a paper under review publicly available wouldn't be a problem except in case of double-blind review, but would generally be considered rather gauche. Circulating privately in advance, on the other hand, is quite accepted.
* Many biology journals aim to tightly control the timing and release of information. In many cases, posting a paper under review could actually be considered prior publication, and result in the paper being disqualified as a submission and automatically rejected.
Find out which are the practices of your field and follow them.
---
Tags: publications, paper-submission
---
|
thread-32228
|
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32228
|
What happens if my GRE scores arrive after the deadline?
|
2014-11-25T08:11:35.273
|
# Question
Title: What happens if my GRE scores arrive after the deadline?
There is a possibility that my GRE scores will reach the admission office 2 or 3 days after the specified deadline- Although the university will only start taking decision in April- Will my application be set as incomplete?
# Answer
> 6 votes
*Ask the university*. If they know your situation in advance, they will probably be able to accommodate you. Ask if you can either submit the whole application late, or if you should submit the rest of your application on time and send just the GRE score through when it arrives.
---
Tags: graduate-admissions, gre
---
|
thread-32222
|
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32222
|
Is applying to 20 graduate schools too much?
|
2014-11-25T03:53:14.310
|
# Question
Title: Is applying to 20 graduate schools too much?
I am applying to math graduate programs, have a list of schools of different range, but I am so worried about being accepted to a grad school, that am considering to apply to 20 schools.
My undergraduate institution is one of the top schools in math, #1 or #2 in several math fields.
My worry is that I messed up grades of some important classes, also totally messed up my gre sub, since I didn't prepare for it at all. But I do have lots of research experience in fields related to applied math (I want to do applied math, now I am pure math major).
Should I apply to 20 or there is no point in applying to so many, maybe just 15? I also don't want to disturb my rec letter writers so much. I am not thinking about the money I have to spend on the application process
Thank you :)
# Answer
> 5 votes
Just my opinion: Do you really need to apply to 20 schools? I think it is very hard to be focused when applying to many schools. You also have to spend lots of money, and more importantly, you have to find referees willing to write 20 recommendation letters!
I have read many articles and most of them suggest 6-8 school: 3 reach schools, 2 match schools, and 2 safe schools and that seems reasonable.
20 seems to be too much and a waste of your time and money.
# Answer
> 1 votes
If you are worried about being accepted narrowing your choices would be better than enlarging them. Focus on the ones you think will be more successful. Despite you messed up some grades your researching experience should be taken into account.
> I also don't want to disturb my rec letter writers so much
You'll definitely disturb they by applying to 20 schools.
---
Tags: graduate-admissions, graduate-school, mathematics
---
|
thread-32232
|
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32232
|
Should a formal academic grievance list what an action the student hopes will occur?
|
2014-11-25T10:22:32.173
|
# Question
Title: Should a formal academic grievance list what an action the student hopes will occur?
I have a problem with a course, but my informal communications with the instructor and chair led nowhere.
My student handbook shows a policy for filing a formal grievance, which seems more like a legal process for solving problems. I must mail a letter to my instructor and wait for a reply from them.
In the letter, I will explain my complaint regarding the course. Should a formal grievance letter also list which actions I hope they will take to resolve the problem? Such as, "My grade should be raised." or "Let me retake the course without record of the first time." or "Tuition refund."
# Answer
> 5 votes
The reason that the grievance process sounds like "a legal process for solving problems" is that it is indeed a pseudo-legal process for solving problems. In particular, it is used when the instructor has done something that violates university policy - unfair grading is a frequent complaint.
These grievances typically follow a detailed policy to try to ensure that student complaints are treated fairly. The first step is often to formally notify the instructor in writing, and that seems to be the purpose of the letter.
In the letter, you should lay out the facts as you see them, and you *should* include the resolution you would like to see. Try to write the letter in a businesslike way - you want to advocate for yourself, but keep to the facts and try not to say things that you cannot justify later.
If the instructor and department chair cannot or do not resolve the issue, it will move up to the next level, which is typically review by a dean. If the dean cannot resolve it, it goes to the next level, which may involve a hearing of some sort. In my experience many complaints are resolved by the department chair or dean, particularly when the situation is clear cut (e.g. a professor didn't follow the grading policy from the course syllabus).
I cannot say what remedies will be available at your school - this will vary by school. There are certainly colleges where the higher-level administration could allow you to take the course again, or drop the first course from your transcript. The instructor will not be able to do those things, but you have to work through the process one layer at a time in any case.
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Tags: coursework
---
|
thread-32241
|
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32241
|
Master's Thesis Adviser Co-Authorship?
|
2014-11-25T13:51:11.457
|
# Question
Title: Master's Thesis Adviser Co-Authorship?
I have just completed my Master's Thesis and am hoping to publish an abridged version. My adviser has been very supportive of this and upon approving my thesis asked what I would think about her being a coauthor. I don't really know what to think about this. She was very helpful, but she certainly didn't contribute to the research questions or methodology. On the other hand, I also don't know why it would be bad to have her name on it with me. Any information would be appreciated.
# Answer
> 2 votes
From a formal point of view co-authorship should involve a certain definable contribution. The Vancouver Protocol makes the following definition (here in the form presented by the BMJ:
> Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND Final approval of the version to be published; AND Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.
You state that your advisor did not contribute much to the research questions or methodology. I further do not know your background so I can only judge from your question and provide general comments on your question. Writing up your research from a thesis to a publishable manuscript is a skill which is normally learned through graduate school. I am therefore thinking that you may still need quite a bit of guidance to manage the transition of your thesis material to the manuscript format. If your advisor is willing to help you with this part and the scientific input required to do so then co-authorship may well be warranted. So the co-authorship question should be answered on the final product and the contributions that went into it, and not necessarily what went into just your thesis.
---
Tags: publications, thesis, writing, advisor, authorship
---
|
thread-32246
|
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32246
|
Must one find references to fit knowledge already known from education or experience?
|
2014-11-25T15:03:14.020
|
# Question
Title: Must one find references to fit knowledge already known from education or experience?
Recently I wrote a course paper on a subject connecting my major to my current major. In the background section, I listed quite a bit of essential information I think is information that is readily available, and which I can confirm through many years of life and work experience, but which my instructor knows nothing about. The instructor has accused me of not providing references for this information.
Do I need to fill my paper with citations to people who wrote books saying the same thing? How do I know where to draw the line between what gets a reference and what does not?
# Answer
Here is the general principle for citations: anything that is not considered "elementary knowledge" to the community *reading* the paper must have a citation. This means that different communities need citations for different things. For example, when I write for a biology community, I often end up including citations to basic computer science textbooks, to give a grounding for things that are simple undergraduate information in my background, but that would be highly unintuitive to an experimental biologist. The reverse applies as well, for a biologist writing to a computer science audience.
Something that you know through experience **definitely** needs to be backed up with citation. One of the critical values of the scientific method is that it lets us separate statements supportable by facts from myths based on cognitive biases. We humans are very, very bad at learning from experience, in the sense that we draw many conclusions that are simply not true. Folklore is full of these types of experience-grounded myths, some of which turn out to be true (willow bark does help with pain: that's the basis for aspirin), and some of which turn out to be false (mercury turns out to be terrible as a medicine).
If you can find things backing up your experience in reliable literature, you can cite them. If not, perhaps you have a good subject for study, if you can figure out how to design an appropriate experiment...
> 6 votes
# Answer
**The standard rule of thumb in this situation is not whether the information is readily available, but whether it is common knowledge.** If the majority of people on the street (or beginners in your field) will know the information, then you probably don't need to cite a source for that information. However, if it is information specific to your subspecialty, you do need to cite a source, even when this is 'common knowledge' to you and others in your sub-specialty. The rest of the world--and in this case, your instructor--do not simply know this information, and thus you need to provide them a way to evaluate the validity of your claims.
Where this really gets tricky is when you are writing for a specialty audience. You do not need to provide a source for background information that your audience already knows and has known since beginning their studies. For example, I would not expect to need to provide a definition of, or citation for, third spacing to an audience of healthcare professionals, but if my audience may include other disciplines then I need to address this because third spacing can mean more than one thing.
> 3 votes
---
Tags: citations, writing
---
|
thread-32227
|
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32227
|
Does having external funding raise your chances of getting accepted ? ( Masters )
|
2014-11-25T06:40:06.287
|
# Question
Title: Does having external funding raise your chances of getting accepted ? ( Masters )
My UG university have awarded me a scholarship for master's degree ( I'm an international student ) the scholarship pays for all expenses of the master's degree for the whole duration of the study.
I would like to know if this raises my chances to get accepted for a masters program ? Does being a "risk free" student gives me more leeway?
# Answer
In the science and engineering fields in the US, where nearly all graduate students are supported by teaching or research assistantships (TA/RA), academic departments have to decide whether an applicant is adequately prepared to be a successful student in the program and whether the student can do the TA/RA job. When the student comes with their own funding, that second question doesn't have to be answered.
In my department (mathematics) it's quite common to have an applicant whose academic preparation is good but whose English isn't good enough that the student could be successful as a TA. We would typically admit the student without offering the student an assistantship. Most applicants that are offered admission without an assistantship don't enter the program. However, if the same applicant came to us with their own funding, we'd admit the student. So, having your own funding might help.
There are some costs associated with having a student even if the student has their own funding for tuition and living expenses. Supervising a graduate student takes faculty time, and some faculty are only interested in supervising PhD students and less willing to work with MS students.
Also in the lab sciences and engineering students need access to research facilities, equipment, and supplies to conduct their research. Students who are funded as RA's under a grant also come with grant funding to cover these costs. Depending on your area of study, you might have to convince the department (or perhaps an individual faculty member) that you would be able to contribute enough to the research activity to justify these expenses.
> 3 votes
# Answer
It may depend upon what field you are in, but in biology in the USA most universities I know would be much more interested in a student if they brought their own funding!
> 5 votes
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Tags: graduate-admissions, graduate-school, masters, funding
---
|
thread-32250
|
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32250
|
Is it okay for the author field to contain names of research labs?
|
2014-11-25T15:39:19.340
|
# Question
Title: Is it okay for the author field to contain names of research labs?
I find most articles through EBSCO and similar search tools, then export the BibTeX details to my own `bibliography.bib` file. Recently, I found some BibTeX files with a strange author field, containing not just the name of a person, but also of a research lab or a college. E.g.:
> Author = {White, R. R. and West College Child Development Laboratory}
When compiled in APA format, it looks very odd:
> White, R. R. and Laboratory, W. C. C. D.
Are there situations in which it is correct to place such lab or school details directly in the author field? If not, where do I need to relocate this information to?
# Answer
I have seen labs signing papers in cases of very big collaborations. If that is how it is cited in the journal, you should adjust your bib file like so (thanks to Federico Poloni for the fix):
```
Author = "White, R. R. and {West College Child Development Laboratory}"
```
> 5 votes
# Answer
What does the article itself look like if you pull it up from the journal itself? You should probably adjust your record of it to match whatever the article actually says. This could be a problem with the machine parsing of the original document, or the journal may have accepted the "authorship" of the lab as a convention in that field.
> 2 votes
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Tags: citations, bibtex
---
|
thread-32254
|
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32254
|
Encouraging students to be more social with each other via course wall exchanges
|
2014-11-25T16:13:31.117
|
# Question
Title: Encouraging students to be more social with each other via course wall exchanges
I find that students do not always use the course walls to talk to each other. I want to help them be more social, but don't necessarily want to tie this to class participation grades. I want them to create a sense of connection with each other, foster peer support, and decrease some of their dependence on me as the instructor. What are some creative ways that others have succeeded at making the course walls a robust and vibrant social and learning space?
# Answer
> 2 votes
One idea that I have employed with adult learners, is to gently redirect them when the opportunity arises. For example, if a student asks me a question that I know is relevant to other students, and also doesn't require my decision making skills, then I will ask them to post that on the wall, and to address it to their colleagues. Then, to keep things moving, I might also encourage one of their peers to respond.I might pick another classmate that I know (or I might guess) has a certain POV on the question posted. To everyone else, this "crafted discussion" is inspiration, and shows a certain level of activity. Yes, it is contrived, but it can motivate others to enter into authentic discussion.
Also, a rating system that encourages good answerers to build reputation might help. ;-)
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Tags: teaching, tools, social-media, group-dynamics
---
|
thread-32262
|
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32262
|
Is it right to submit a conference abstract knowing that I will not attend but my advisor will give my talk instead?
|
2014-11-25T17:54:36.990
|
# Question
Title: Is it right to submit a conference abstract knowing that I will not attend but my advisor will give my talk instead?
My postdoc finished 9 months ago. My former supervisor has asked me to submit an abstract on my work to a conference next year.
No-one intends that I will attend the conference. My ex-supervisor has an invited talk there, and basically wants current and former group members to also submit contributed talks that can also be presented if the main authors don’t show up.
The supervisor essentially wants to be able to give three or four talks for the cost of one attendee. I don’t really feel this is right. On the other hand I also want to remain on good terms with them, as they are a reference on my current job applications, and we are also still working on papers together.
Should I refuse to submit an abstract? Or just bite the bullet and write something?
# Answer
> 3 votes
I think it can be acceptable if and only if it is clearly communicated in the submission that the former supervisor is the intended presenter. Deliberately misrepresenting who will present at the conference is dishonest. If in doubt, contact someone at the conference.
# Answer
> 2 votes
I would say it is right: I have never seen any conference put a cap on the number of talks a speaker can give, and it's quite commonplace that the speaker is not the primary author.
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Tags: ethics, conference, abstract
---
|
thread-32265
|
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32265
|
What to do about a Master's thesis where most of the introduction is a literal translation of my own work?
|
2014-11-25T18:14:21.560
|
# Question
Title: What to do about a Master's thesis where most of the introduction is a literal translation of my own work?
I have just discovered the introduction of an Engineering Master's thesis defended some months ago in my ancient university has been made mostly by "cut & paste" (and literally translate from English to Spanish) part of a book chapter I wrote some time ago. About 80-90% of 10 pages have been copied verbatim from my work.
It is true the author of this thesis cites my work when he copies text without any reference in the original. But since he fails to include such sentences (or any other copied and translated text) as quotes, it seems as if he originally wrote those sentences. The order of the sentences has been somewhat modified, but there is no paraphrasing.
I understand this constitutes plagiarism and I would like to do something about it. I do not intend to undertake legal action or to report this to the university (I do not think it has any normative on the subject, anyway). So, what could I do? Writing the author and explaining him the seriousness of what he did and why? Warning the advisors (whom I know well) about it? Your suggestions will be much appreciated.
# Answer
> About 80-90% of 10 pages have been copied verbatim from my work.
## 80 TO 90%?!
This is a significant amount of content. Even translated, I feel like it demonstrates purposeful intent to plagiarize (akin to using Word's auto-summarize feature to summarize an article), rather than paraphrasing an amount of text to show a point. Translating word for word, as per my APA link above, with proper citation, for a single point is one thing, but when the bulk of the introduction is someone else's work, this seems to me as academic misconduct rather than poor use of citations. I mean... EIGHT TO NINE PAGES. It is literally 8 pages worth of your work, translated, as his introduction. It might as well be YOUR introduction, given how much you've put in, and someone else translated it.
Translated books are still accredited to their original author, with a translator tagged. The way this sounds cited, he's basically taking credit for what you've written, citing you as the person who provided information for the idea, as opposed to the person who actually wrote it and facilitated by his translation.
Unless he's cited and mentioned that it's a direct quote translated after every sentence, this seems like willful plagiarism.
I would recommend you talk to the advisers about this issue now that you've demonstrated the scope of the issue. While you may not have a significant vested interest in the outcome of the situation, the advisers definitely will, and they will likely know how to handle the situation. Also, confronting the student in question is not a good idea. The university awards the degree to the student (and the degree's worth is determined by the integrity of how it is awarded), so it is probably in the best interest of the university as well to determine the action resulting from something like this.
> 18 votes
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Tags: thesis, ethics, plagiarism, translations
---
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thread-32274
|
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32274
|
Is it better to submit a paper to a journal "normal" issue, or wait 4 months and send it to a more focused "special section" of the same journal?
|
2014-11-25T19:49:12.880
|
# Question
Title: Is it better to submit a paper to a journal "normal" issue, or wait 4 months and send it to a more focused "special section" of the same journal?
I am a recently PhD graduate student in computer science.
In the last months, I wrote a paper about an aspect of my thesis, with the collaboration of my former supervisor. We found a call for papers for a **"special section"** of an important journal, that is a section focused on the data set we are exploiting. The submission deadline was set to the end of November 2014, but surprisingly we just discovered that it has been **post-poned** to the end of March 2015. So a **4 months delay**.
**Our paper is ready and I don't know what to do with the submission.**
I would prefer to submit it now to the **"normal"** track of the journal, to move on to new projects and close this. But my former supervisor thinks that it's better to wait and submit it to the March 2015 "special section", because he says we will have more likelihood to get it accepted, even if this will make our paper more outdated.
What should I do?
**Submit it to the "normal" track now with less chances to get it published, or wait 4 months and submit it (more outdated) to the easier "special section"?**
# Answer
> 7 votes
**There's another alternative. You can submit to the special issue early.**
Usually journals don't have "easier" submission to a special issue or section. Most journals try to have the same review and editing criteria for such contributions as they do for other articles. (Consider that having different criteria makes it harder for them to process and track such articles.) I can attest - I had a manuscript that was asked for significant revision and it didn't make the "special issue" by the time we'd revised it.
But you can submit the article and ask for inclusion in the special issue and explain that you have the manuscript done now. They will probably send it for review, etc. but it won't be published until the remainder of the special section is finished as well.
I've done this. It gets the paper off your desk and lets you move on to other things.
What are the pros and cons?:
* **Pro**: Usually a special section or special issue gets added attention and publicity. I haven't seen analysis, but one would hope that articles in this section or issue would have more readers and potentially more citations than in a normal issue.
* **Con**: You will have to wait for the special issue to finalize, while if you submit to the "regular" journal, publication will probably happen sooner. On the other hand, if the journal publishes accepted articles before publication, or you can put the manuscript on a pre-print server, there's little downside.
Personally, I'd submit early, indicate in the submission letter (and online forms) that the article is for the special section and be done with it.
# Answer
> 7 votes
I would strongly recommend choosing the special issue unless you are studying something time sensitive due to competition (e.g., you have a known competitor who might publish tomorrow) or emergence (e.g. an ongoing natural disaster).
First, depending on how the journal works, you might not actually have any delay in publication. Check and see whether the journal has a "just accepted" or "online first" section. If so, then your article will not have to wait for a special issue package to become available and citable. Instead, special issue articles will become available asynchronously as they are processed, and then packaged later.
Second, special issues, while they are reviewed no less tightly, have a specified audience that improves your chance of acceptance. You can much more readily pass the "audience interest" bar that many high-profile journals apply, since somebody else has already made the case that work in this area is of broad interest. Also, because reviewers are picked with expertise in the subject, you are less likely to get a bad match with a reviewer who knows little of your subject.
Third, you are likely to have a higher long-term impact from the publication, as it is grouped in a package with others like it, where it will be easier for people to discover or seek it out.
Finally, in most fields, four months is just not a long time. Finish your paper now, send it to the journal special issue before the deadline, and move on with your work.
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Tags: publications, journals, career-path
---
|
thread-32275
|
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32275
|
What do profs actually think when writing a letter of recommendation for an average student for grad school
|
2014-11-25T20:02:57.633
|
# Question
Title: What do profs actually think when writing a letter of recommendation for an average student for grad school
Grad school application starts now along with all the anxieties associated with it.
One of the question I ask myself and repeatedly get asked by my peers is that what would the profs think when the transcript and resume reveals that they are just an average student (i.e. 3.3 GPA, at minimum of grad school acceptance requirement).
Of course, the top factor here is that we are being evaluated by people who are exceptionally talented and likely the top students back in their days. And plus we may have built an amicable relationship over a long period, no one wants to appear like a useless person. Lastly, there may exist a significant time period between when an application is sent out to when the letter is received, during this time I find a lot of students will question whether the profs are still open writing the letter for them.
What if a professor doesn't like what he sees in the transcript, or feel that the resume does not reflect any exceptional talent, what would a prof usually do in this case?
# Answer
**If you want to go to graduate school and think you will be successful, you should apply. Let the admissions committee decide your package.**
I've written plenty of recommendation letters for more "average" students and I suspect most other faculty have too.
The only time I turn down a recommendation letter is if the student really did poorly (e.g., sub-3.0 GPA) in my classes. Then I gently suggest students find another letter-writer. This has only happened once.
Plenty of average students go to grad school and most of them get Ph.D.s. The degree is not necessarily an indication of exceptional brilliance. There are brilliant Ph.D. recipients, and there are less stellar Ph.D. recipients. Instead, the Ph.D. indicates a number of factors, including the ability to do independent research, a great deal of learning and advancement beyond a master's or bachelor's degree, and a ***huge*** amount of perseverance.
So I will write a letter appropriate to the student. I will indicate the grade they received in my class, or the research work they did in my group (e.g., "top third" or "top half of the graduating majors").
In terms of writing the recommendation letter, I try to stress positive points, but I am also honest to the admissions committee.
On the other side, the admissions committee knows how to read recommendation letters. There are *many* graduate programs, and not all programs expect the truly top students. So they can translate your application package into an evaluation of how likely you are to succeed in their program.
> 12 votes
# Answer
I have written letters for average students as well, but I consider a few things before doing so. I believe it is easier for me to determine who I will write a letter for or not because I coordinate a tutoring program and have a working relationship with the students.
1. Did this student make a significant impact on campus?
2. Did this student contribute something tangible to the program?
3. Did this student apply training properly?
4. Did this student maintain their curiosity?
> 5 votes
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Tags: graduate-admissions, application, recommendation-letter
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|
thread-32260
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32260
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Independence as a postdoc working with former PhD supervisor
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2014-11-25T17:41:38.473
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# Question
Title: Independence as a postdoc working with former PhD supervisor
Having recently finished my PhD, I have now secured funding to act as PI on a project.
I continue to work alongside my former PhD supervisor, with the old supervisor listed as a collaborator on the new project.
The former supervisor frequently refers to me as *their* 'postdoctoral fellow'. **Question 1: Is this appropriate, given that I am the PI on the new project?** The former supervisor is certainly in a higher position than I (Professor, whereas I am indeed a postdoc), but I feel that I should not be considered 'their' worker.
The current project requires me to use equipment owned by the former supervisor, and we closely collaborate on a lot of work. I value the impact my former supervisor has had on my career so far, and would hope to continue to work with them in the future. **Question 2: How can I best make clear (respectfully) that they are now a colleague?**
(UK based)
# Answer
> 6 votes
Working with former advisors can result in unexpected issues as you clearly point out. The reasons can be a question of (bad) traditions or just not reflecting on the new position to which you have arrived. The "once a PhD student, always a PhD student" is a common syndrome.
What appears to make your situation worse is the fact that you depend on your former advisor even though you are now a PI. I have a colleague who went through the same thing. Sadly things did not improve until he left and that was with a large bang. Clearly the resolution depends on the personality of your advisor and an answer is therefore slightly difficult to pin down.
Communication is always good and so if your former advisor is sensible and has a reputation as being so then a short to the point discussion should suffice where you can state your obvious gratitude to the former advisor for supporting the application and providing facilities in the collaboration but that you want to be appreciated as a peer, albeit perhaps inexperienced, but not a student. That is the simple way in a good situation.
Now if you know your former advisor is less susceptible to good two-way communication, then the problem is more difficult. You should know your environment by now and should probably know of other peers to whom you can talk and ask for additional advice concerning the situation. I would see this as the second port of call. In the worst case, the problem might not be possible to remove until you remove yourself and then it is an endurance test.
Since you have finished your PhD and still opted to seek funding with your advisor I suspect reality to be located away from the last scenario. Finding colleagues, with insight into the actual conditions to talk things over and seek advice is the best step forward you can take.
# Answer
> 11 votes
> The former supervisor frequently refers to me as *their* 'postdoctoral fellow'. Question 1: Is this appropriate, given that I am the PI on the new project?
I have never encountered a "postdoctoral fellow" that does not have a supervisor. But my experience is far from global. As this article on postdoctoral research says, "Depending on the type of appointment, postdoctoral researchers may work independently or under the supervision of a principal investigator." Later it says "In the US, a postdoctoral scholar is an individual holding a doctoral degree who is engaged in mentored research and/or scholarly training for the purpose of acquiring the professional skills needed to pursue a career path of his or her choosing."
If you are the PI on your project then yes, I suppose that must mean that you do not have a formal supervisor. However you can still have a **mentor**...and you should. Your former PhD advisor's description of you as "theirs" need not imply that they view themselves as your boss; it may only mean that they are affiliated with you and are taking a role of mentoring you, as seems to be the case here.
Let me also say that in that this person who is formally associated with the grant is your former PhD advisor and in that he owns (you say) the equipment that you are using both give him more oversight than some other independent researcher would expect. If I borrow my friend's car that does not make her my boss, but it does give her some supervisory role over my use of the car. A senior academic who owns equipment you are using *should* have some supervisory role in your work.
> Question 2: How can I best make clear (respectfully) that they are now a colleague?
I don't see what behavior of the supervisor indicates that he does not view you as a colleague. I have a postdoc, and I view her as a colleague: a junior one, in which I have some supervisory role, but still a colleague: I have some projects she is not involved in, she has some projects I am not involved in except to hear her talk about them, and there are some projects we do together. If she decided tomorrow that she only wanted to work on her own projects alone, that would in my view be suboptimal for both of us, but it would be her right.
In some fields postdocs are treated rather differently: they are the highest level of workers for the PI professor. But since you are a PI, that is not your situation.
Having a senior colleague who can mentor you is extremely valuable. I continue to mentor my PhD students after they get the PhD -- well, so far I have one, but soon two more -- but this mentorship is limited by my time and energy. Any mentor should be guiding his/her mentees towards greater mastery, independence and autonomy. Gradually the influence of mentors wanes: when I was an untenured assistant professor I had a research mentor and a teaching mentor; as a tenured associate professor I have no formal mentors anymore....which is a shame, since to paraphrase Yoda, *much to learn, I still have*. But my work is still evaluated by more senior people -- that is a ubiquitous phenomenon in academia -- so it is still important for me to maintain good relationships with senior colleagues. Unless people are literally telling me what to do, I tend to let it slide when people treat me with less "seniority" than I think I have.
I am a little worried that you may have your eye on the wrong problem. You have a one year position: what happens next year? That's the key question, and your future relationship with your advisor is a key part of the answer. You don't need to kowtow or be subservient to him: on the contrary, you're the PI, so when it comes to the work itself you get to call the shots (and you should). But you are still looking for a lot of help from your supervisor -- help landing the best possible future job, if nothing else. So trying to insist "You're not my mentor; I am fully independent from you" in a one-year position seems really to be a strategic mistake to me. Instead you should apply yourself and show your former PhD supervisor how much stronger and more capable you have become, and then they can write you an excellent recommendation because all of your post-PhD growth and maturation took place before his eyes.
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Tags: advisor, postdocs, workplace
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thread-32282
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32282
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Should I Postpone Graduate School?
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2014-11-25T21:43:57.110
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# Question
Title: Should I Postpone Graduate School?
I have a goal: It is to be a mathematical physicist. I dream to work in field related to the Amplituhedron.
*This goal is non-negotiable.*
From what I've read, it is difficult for a theorist to get a job, and this field is apparently very competitive. As it stands now, my student paper-trail is bad. My physics GRE score is *bad* but my GPA is *solid.* I think I would be able to get good recommendation letters, including a very strong one from the professor under whom I currently work.
I do not doubt that, if I tried, I would be able to get into *some* graduate school, but I have been toying with another option. Here are the two primary possibilities:
1. Get letters of recommendation and apply to grad. school. Then, go to whichever grad. school will accept me. In order for this to be viable, I'd have to go to a school which would, at least, allow research in something heavily mathematical. In order to get to the position I'd like to be later in life, I'd have to *excel*. This is not a problem, but is unfortunately more difficult at a less reputable school.
2. Graduate and work for a couple of years—mostly to pay off my exorbitant student debts, get a \[much, much\] better GRE score, and study (I am not as good at things as I'd like to be, and this studying would serve to drastically improve my ability). With a somewhat improved paper-trail, dampened by my taking a couple of years off, I would apply to graduate schools. I think my chances of getting into a better school are higher, but getting into a good school is not necessarily my goal.
My problem is that I don't know which one would maximize my chances of being a mathematical physicist. I do not know the dynamics of graduate research, or how large the differences are in excelling at a good school and excelling at a mediocre school. I'm, basically, totally ignorant in regards to what would be the better decision—and I'm hoping someone with more knowledge could help me make a decision.
*Which career plan is best for me to enroll in a cooperative mathematical physicist PhD program?*
# Answer
> 2 votes
Some opinions that may be helpful. I assume this is in the US because as far as I know other countries do not use the Physics GRE.
* The Physics GRE is a stupid test.
* You seem to have what you need except for a good Physics GRE score. (Assuming you attend a reputable school.)
* Not all good programs require a GRE score. Maybe you should apply to the the ones that do not.
* There is no point in getting your PhD in a mediocre department. Do what it takes to get into a good program.
* Don't postpone a physics PhD for financial reasons. Assuming you go to a good department, you will be reasonably paid while you are a student, and you will make a lot more money after you finish. Loans may be deferred whine you are in school.
* It should only take a few months to improve your Physics GRE score a lot.
On the whole, I suggest a one year postponement.
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Tags: graduate-admissions, graduate-school, career-path
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thread-17379
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/17379
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What are "fake", "shady", and/or "predatory" journals?
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2014-02-25T02:52:03.330
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# Question
Title: What are "fake", "shady", and/or "predatory" journals?
This question is in response to this very interesting question. The original post mentioned that they wish to retract their paper from a "fake" journal. I don't know what a fake journal is but better safe than sorry so I want to make sure what defines a fake journal. In the comments, other people also mentioned "shady" journals and "predatory" journals. This is the first time I encounter these descriptions so I would like to know more about what they entail. I would be interested in hearing about your experience with such journals as well, if any.
# Answer
> 95 votes
A "fake" or "shady" journal is a low-quality journal that does little or no quality control.
They are often called "predatory" because they prey on people who are under a lot of pressure to publish, charging high author fees for promises of quick publication. (Since they do little, if any, peer review, the time from submission of a paper to publication is often very quick in these journals).
They often engage in deceptive practices to make themselves appear legitimate, such as:
* Pretending to be affiliated with a reputable professional society
* Claiming an "impact factor" when they do not have one, or when they have an "impact factor" from some entity other than Thomson Reuters ISI
* Listing important academics on their editorial board, when these people never agreed to serve in this capacity.
Publishing in one of these journals can be very damaging to your academic career. At best, it shows that you don't know what journals are considered reputable in your field; at worst, it makes you look like you are trying to "get" publications without doing the work required to publish in a reputable, high-quality journal.
An academic librarian named Jeffrey Beall kept a list of open-access journals and publishers that **he** considered to be "predatory." (The links are to archived versions of the pages). His lists were quite well-known - you may hear people refer to "Beall's List" when talking about predatory journals.
Between the growth of open-access and the Internet making it possible for literally anyone to start a "journal," these "journals" have been popping up at an alarming rate. The NY Times even ran a story about it recently.
# Answer
> 39 votes
Jeffrey Beall, who works for the University of Colorado, Denver, maintained a list of predatory journals. He also publishes his criteria for determining which journals/publishers are predatory. (both links are to archived version of the pages) The criteria are numerous (and I find many of them amusing). The main thrust of the criteria are such things as:
1. Lack of transparency (in both business model and editorial process)
2. Disregard for intellectual property
3. Promise to publish anything in exchange for money
4. Dishonesty (in business model and editorial process)
5. Poor (or no) peer review
# Answer
> 26 votes
... and a very good question indeed. The present answers do a good job, but it's worth emphasizing that there is a whole continuum between legitimate journals and what amount to conning schemes.
"Predatory" is used to describe a journal that hinges its business model on getting article processing charges from authors, whilst providing a very low quality journal. "Fake" is less defined, but it carries the connotation of a journal that pretends to carry out rigorous peer review but in fact doesn't (which is what makes it damaging on a CV: it looks like you too want to skip formal peer review but pretend you still did it).
"Shady" is a much more informal term, and denotes a journal anywhere in that continuum. I intentionally used this term in my answer to keep it broadly applicable, in terms of any journal of possibly not-so-good standing which is, after publication, thought to have a negative impact on one's CV.
# Answer
> 12 votes
There is a special class of 'fake journal'. Some long-standing real (but minor) journals, which are listed on the Web of Science, but only have print editions and haven't moved online, are having fake websites created by criminals, which are purporting to be the official website of the journal. In essence, the identity of a real journal has been 'hijacked'. Obviously, the websites charge 'article processing charges', which is why these scams exist, but the articles 'published' are NOT listed as part of the output of the journal on the Web of Science. Most of these journals have been forced to very quickly enter the internet age to try and fight this! This is surprisingly common - see the (archived) list of hijacked journals here: https://web.archive.org/web/20170111172313/https://scholarlyoa.com/other-pages/hijacked-journals/
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Tags: publications, journals, disreputable-publishers
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thread-26585
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26585
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What are the possible causes of a faculty position not being filled?
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2014-07-30T18:37:14.657
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# Question
Title: What are the possible causes of a faculty position not being filled?
I applied for a tenure-track faculty position at a particular institution in the U.S. I was selected for a skype interview, but was not invited for an on-campus visit. I snooped around on the department seminar web page, but did not find any evidence that this particular department actually ever invited anybody for an on-campus interview.
Today, I received an email from the department stating:
> Thank you for your interest in the faculty position within the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the University of \[redacted\]. Our search to fill this position produced many impressive applicants. **However, for a number of reasons beyond the department’s control, the position was not filled.**
I can think of a couple of reasons that a department may not fill a vacancy, such as:
* the finalists all ended up taking a job somewhere else
* none of the finalists could agree to the terms offered by the department
So, besides those possibilities listed above, what are the other possible causes of a faculty position going unfilled?
# Answer
> 21 votes
You will probably never know the full reason, because departments are not quick to air their internal issues with job candidates. But here are a few possible reasons:
* The search was halted by higher administration. One possible reason to do this so late in the process is because of funding changes (e.g. the funding for the position disappeared or was reallocated elsewhere).
* The search was halted by the HR department due to some violation of hiring practices.
* The search committee was unable to come to an agreement about who to bring to campus for an interview, or the dean rejected all the candidates before they were interviewed.
* Although this is less likely, someone who had planned to retire might have decided not to retire, or someone from another department may have been moved into the department (e.g. for legal reasons to settle a complaint).
# Answer
> 1 votes
There may have been a change of administration in the middle of a search, and the new administrator didn't like the position description posted.
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Tags: job-search, tenure-track
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thread-32255
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32255
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In the Harvard referencing style, is it wrong to put references in footnotes?
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2014-11-25T15:04:29.473
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# Question
Title: In the Harvard referencing style, is it wrong to put references in footnotes?
I have a discussion with my mate about how to reference with the Harvard referencing style.
I would say it is wrong to do the referencing like in the picture below.
My suggestion was that the footnotes was to explantion of synonyms or something like that and all references should be in the end of the paper work, so the reader have all the references in one or two pages, so it's easier to get an overview of all references.
Am I totally wrong?
# Answer
> 2 votes
As your question is directly about Harvard referencing, I believe all Harvard referencing uses in-text citations. Wikipedia supports this understanding.
Yes, you can use footnotes but they are used for clarification or comments, they are not used for referencing as the image in the question has done \[therefore the author has cited improperly\].
There are several sub-types of Harvard but ALL of them that I am familiar with are in-text, not based on footnotes (except as noted above).
# Answer
> 1 votes
Footnotes are quite common in the humanities, and less so in science and engineering. Putting a reference in the footnotes *can* happen, according to the specific paper and citation style you are using. For example, the *Chicago Manual of Style* can use either footnotes or parenthetical references.
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Tags: citations, citation-style
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thread-32225
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32225
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What does one do if one receives a less prestigious offer while waiting for a decision on a more prestigious one?
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2014-11-25T05:13:48.977
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# Question
Title: What does one do if one receives a less prestigious offer while waiting for a decision on a more prestigious one?
Alice (for argument's sake) is a postdoc in maths in an Australian University, but did her PhD in Europe. She is making two applications for funding. The first is to funding scheme A in her home country, the second is to funding scheme B in Australia. Scheme A is less prestigious and is worth less money than Scheme B. Alice's preferences are obvious: she prefers B to A, and A to whatever her next best option is.
Applications for Scheme A are due in November, the outcome is declared in April, the position begins in October. Applications for Scheme B are due in March, and the outcome is declared in November, the position begins in January. The application to Scheme A must be declared in the application to Scheme B. And, should Alice be accepted by Scheme A, she would have to notify Scheme B before they have made a decision on her application.
Question: Suppose Alice is offered Scheme A, how does she indicate this to Scheme B without prejudicing the outcome? Assume that Alice is willing to resign from Scheme A, say after six months or a year. Assume further that Alice stands a reasonable chance in both schemes. There is no guidance online about how this situation is resolved by the funding body for Scheme B.
TL;DR: What does one do if one receives a less prestigious offer while waiting for a decision on a more prestigious one?
# Answer
Alice should tell scheme B something like "I have won competition A, which shows that I am very well qualified for B."
I do not see how winning A can be all that bad for Alice unless A requires her to commit to stay for some period. In any case, I think she should remember how fortunate she is to have A.
> 1 votes
# Answer
Alice might consider using a "decision tree" to help her resolve the best route to take.
The following resources will aide Alice in making informed decision based on her odds of being accepted (within reason) to B, the risk of rejecting A and not being accepted to B, how much she values the prestige (and pay) of B, and any other relevant factors Alice considers important.
http://vserver1.cscs.lsa.umich.edu/~spage/ONLINECOURSE/R4Decision.pdf http://www.mindtools.com/dectree.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decision\_tree#Advantages\_and\_disadvantages
> 0 votes
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Tags: funding, postdocs, deadlines
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thread-32295
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32295
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Searching for open source literature management software
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2014-11-26T08:08:22.273
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# Question
Title: Searching for open source literature management software
I recently started my PhD and now try to find a convenient software for managing my literature research. What I want it to be able to do is:
* Let me highlight PDFs
* Add notes to PDFs
* Add tags to my literature
* (as a bonus:) load methadata and create bibtex files
I personally really like Mendeley as it does pretty much exactly that. At my institute we have a strict open source policy though, which excludes Mendeley. Is there an open source alternative to Mendeley, which runs under Linux Gnome?
Thanks for your input.
# Answer
> 2 votes
I have been in your shoes before and am currently looking for some form of pdf organization.
Here are a few alternatives : http://alternativeto.net/software/mendeley/
What I use, is dropbox. I even dropped Mendeley because it didn't sync well with android for annotations. I can favorite papers I need to have on my phone/tablet at all times and always have access to them. My fellow cohort feels the same way about the lack of pdf organization as we generally just print out what we need. I've been searching for years and the only thing I can come up with is paper.
Sorry this is isn't more useful, but from my experience, paper is really the way to go.
# Answer
> 2 votes
I would say that Zotero is an obvious alternative. It does all the things you mention and is free (in its basic form) and open. You can store the pdfs locally or buy cloud storage. It can be used to add multiple notes to papers, connect other files to papers (figures etc), add tags, and it will also allow you to extract metadata from pdf files. Individual papers or collections of papers can also be exported as Bibtex-files or other formats. You can run Zotero either as a web browser plugin or as a locally installed program, and it works on Linux.
Personally, I've mostly moved from Endnote to a mixture of Zotero and Jabref for my reference software.
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Tags: phd, literature, reference-managers
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thread-32300
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32300
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Publishing a paper that cites my previous work
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2014-11-26T10:05:11.033
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# Question
Title: Publishing a paper that cites my previous work
How should one cite previous work of his own? If one paper relies on previous work that author already did I suppose that paper should be cited. Given that one paper is a continuation of the one before should the papers that are cited there as previous work be cited as-well?
# Answer
> 3 votes
If I take your question literally, then this would be my answer:
I citation serves two purposes:
1. You avoid that you take credit for work by others, and thus avoid plagiarism. This point also applies to your own work published somewhere else.
2. It can act like an "external appendix" (e.g. the interested reader can read the proof in...).
So, if you make a statement in your current article that relies on findings in your previous articles, then you should cite yourself. If your previous articles contain information you would otherwise have put in an (web)appendix, then you can cite yourself. Otherwise, you should not cite yourself.
However, I suspect you want to know how far back you should go when writing the section "previous research". Here the answer is it depends on what is considered normal in your (sub-)discipline. At the very least I would look at that section from the perspective of a reader: Can they understand how you want to place your article within the research that has been done in this area? Discussing the creation of the computer is typically not necessary to achieve that goal...
# Answer
> 2 votes
A paper should be largely self-contained in its citations. Cite everything that is directly needed to understand the context of the *current* paper. This will typically mean that there are many citations shared between papers, but that is OK.
Let me illustrate by means of three examples. Let's say that you have already written paper A, which presents a method for making widgets. A year later, you write paper B, building on the work.
* **Case 1: Paper B is about a *better* method for making widgets:** In this case, you need to give the context for addressing the widget-making problem. You should not assume that the reader has read paper A, so the citations of paper B should likely be nearly identical, with the addition of paper A. The only missing will be citations that were supporting the method in paper A but that do not apply to paper B (e.g., an analytical technique used for one but not the other).
* **Case 2: Paper B is about applications of widgets:** In this case, you need to keep the citations supporting why anybody should care about widgets, but can drop all of the citations on alternate ways of making widgets. It is enough to say, "we make the widgets using the method in \[cite\]", if the paper isn't about making them.
* **Case 3: Paper B is about using the same method to make gizmos instead of widgets:** In this case, you can drop all of the citations motivating care about widgets, since this is about gizmos instead. You will still need citations to compare this method to alternate methods of making gizmos (which might be the same citations as for widgets, depending).
Thus, you may see that the number of shared citations depends on the type of relationship between the papers, because ultimately it boils down to making sure the reader doesn't have to look up another paper in order to find the critical pieces of related work for the one that they are currently reading.
# Answer
> 0 votes
Your previous work already cites the papers it's based on, so just citing your own paper is implicitly citing the other ones.
I think NO, you don't need to cite them all, just the last.
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Tags: publications, journals
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thread-32318
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32318
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What kind of administrative duties might a postdoctoral associate be expected to take on?
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2014-11-26T17:55:20.770
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# Question
Title: What kind of administrative duties might a postdoctoral associate be expected to take on?
Applying for a postdoctoral research role in the UK, the application says I should demonstrate willingness to take on administrative tasks. Can anyone tell me about what kind of administrative tasks a postdoctoral research associate might be expected to take on? Does anyone have any experience? I'm trying to tailor my application, but I don't want to go into depth on administrative experience that might not be relevant to the role.
# Answer
I think you need to find out exactly what they are expecting from you. I would normally associate postdoc positions with research duties rather than administrative duties. Some exceptions that I have known involve postdocs who are expected to act as the supervisor for a number of graduate or undergraduate researchers, but these are unusual cases. Contact the people offering the position, and find out what exactly the administrative duties mean: otherwise, you won't know how to tailor your application, and (more importantly) you might end up in a position you really didn't want!
> 3 votes
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Tags: application, postdocs, service-activities
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thread-32326
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32326
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Can a professor accuse a student of cheating on an exam without witnessing it firsthand?
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2014-11-26T21:42:09.810
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# Question
Title: Can a professor accuse a student of cheating on an exam without witnessing it firsthand?
Can a professor accuse someone of cheating after checking his or her test? How is that possible, if the professor has not caught the student cheating red-handed?
# Answer
> 7 votes
Generally speaking, the answer to your question is "Yes."
If there is a strong similarity in answers that is highly unlikely if the students worked independently, it can raise suspicions of cheating.
For example, in Reilly v. Daly,
> At the conclusion of the exam period, the professors held the exam papers of Reilly and the neighboring student in order to determine whether their answers matched. A comparison of the exams revealed that the first seven pages, which included twenty-seven multiple choice and matching questions, were identical.
>
> ...
>
> Taking the conservative approach of comparing only wrong answers on only the multiple choice questions, the professors were advised by a statistician that there was a one in 200,000 probability that such a match of wrong answers on the multiple choice questions would occur by chance.
>
> ...
>
> Reilly also presented her own statistical analysis of the exam and brought to the professors' attention the possibility of "lure" questions on the exam which would heighten the probability of the match occurring by chance. The professors thereafter obtained a new statistical analysis taking into account "lure" questions on the exam. This analysis demonstrated a one in 500 to one in 5000 probability of the match occurring by chance.
Whether this kind of evidence is enough to initiate disciplinary proceedings, and what the consequences could be, depends entirely on the detailed specifics of the scenario and the university policy.
For example, in Papelino v. Albany College of Pharmacy vs Union University, while similar statistical evidence raised suspicions, it was not considered sufficient to *conclude* that the students had cheated.
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Tags: exams, cheating
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thread-32335
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32335
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Does the graduate admission committee automatically consider you for a Master's program if they don't accept you for their Ph.D program?
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2014-11-27T01:36:34.277
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# Question
Title: Does the graduate admission committee automatically consider you for a Master's program if they don't accept you for their Ph.D program?
I am applying for Math Ph.D programs, some of the schools say in their websites that they'll consider one for their MS program if one is not accepted to their PhD program.
I was wondering if all schools are like that, or it depends?
Thanks
# Answer
> 1 votes
Some do, others don't. I have heard the term 'cash cows' many times when it comes master's student in graduate schools (Because PhD is almost always full funded in a way or another). Some schools might offer you an unfunded master's admission if you don't get into their PhD program, and many applicants think of this as a polite rejection.
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Tags: phd, graduate-admissions, graduate-school, masters, mathematics
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thread-32344
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32344
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Where can I publish the draft paper of my masters thesis?
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2014-11-27T08:25:28.910
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# Question
Title: Where can I publish the draft paper of my masters thesis?
I'm Iranian and now working on a paper related to my masters thesis. Unfortunately, in my country copyright violation is not unusual and some professors publish students' papers in their own name, excluding the student from the co-author list. I want to publish a draft of my paper including both my name and my adviser in the author list so that I can claim partial ownership of the paper if my adviser attempts to unethically exclude me from the author list at a later date.
*Where and how can I publish my draft paper submitted in my name and my thesis adviser's name?*
**PS:** I eventually want to post my article to JASSS-Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation.
# Answer
> 4 votes
The thing to do is to check your target journal's submission guidelines: what you're looking for, is their attitude to preprints - a preprint is a draft of an journal article, made and distributed before publication.
If they're happy that preprints do not constitute prior publication, you can submit a preprint to a suitable archive (making sure you get the permission of your co-authors first), and this will help establish your precedence.
In the case of your target journal, the "how to submit" page says:
> Posting a manuscript on a pre-print server such as ArXiv or SSRN is not considered to be duplicate publication.
So in this case you're ok to submit your draft article to a preprint archive, to establish that this is your work and not your supervisor's, and it won't damage your chances of getting published in your target journal.
We have a number of other questions about preprints, and you might find lots of useful related information on the answers there.
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Tags: advisor, copyright, preprint
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thread-32327
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32327
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Is it standard for graduate students to get gifts for their advisors?
|
2014-11-26T21:57:30.120
|
# Question
Title: Is it standard for graduate students to get gifts for their advisors?
Is it standard for graduate students to give their advisors gifts around Christmas, like chocolates or bottles of wine? What about other important people, such as their thesis committee members, or department secretaries?
# Answer
> 5 votes
No not standard (at least in Canada) and depends upon the tradition, it may actually seem as an odd thing. If there is a *social* gathering before Christmas then I believe that is fine to bring chocolates or whatever to *all* of attendees. I would be very cautious to give my advisor gift every christmas. A verbal saying before the holiday starts is normal and acceptable; nothing more nothing less.
# Answer
> 5 votes
A secretary is a different question. Especially, if they have been helpful to you personally, you can use christmas to show your appreciation. For example, when I first went abroad the deperatment secratary helped me with a lot of things that wasn't strictly her job (my health insurance for example). If (s)he is "just" good at her job but has not done something "special" for you, you can consider doing something together with the other collegues at your department.
The key difference is where you stand in the hierarchy: Giving "sideways" or "down" is much less of a problem than giving "up".
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Tags: graduate-school, advisor, etiquette, gifts
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thread-32331
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32331
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How credible is an application for a PhD in Computational Fluid Dynamics from an MSc in Computer Science?
|
2014-11-26T23:55:04.880
|
# Question
Title: How credible is an application for a PhD in Computational Fluid Dynamics from an MSc in Computer Science?
I am currently in the second year of a four year Computer Science MSCi program in the UK.
I would like to know how credible is an application for a PHD in Computational Fluid Dynamics, from an MSCi in Computer Science?
I understand that these courses are usually delivered by engineering, physics, or maths departments, but does the computational aspect stand me in good stead?
# Answer
> 4 votes
If at the moment you didn't take any courses in physics and fluid mechanics yet then I think your chances are close to zero.
However, you mentioned that you still have 2 years to go on your MSc program. In that case you still have 2 years to 'reshape' yourself for such a position. I would approach this endeavor in 3 steps:
1. Talk to professors with (open) PhD positions in CFD and ask them what courses they think are prerequisite for the positions that they have. Also ask what courses would be desirable/helpful.
2. Take ALL of the prerequisite courses they mentioned and as many of the desirable ones as possible. Either take them as electives for your current program or just on top of it. This might seem like a lot of work, and it probably is, but if you are serious about the PhD in CFD then this will actually help in your application process, because it shows that you are committed.
3. In many MSc programs you will have some big project at the end. If that is the case for you as well, make it a CFD project for a professor with PhD projects available. Give it your all and you might be able to 'network' your way into one of his/her positions.
# Answer
> 3 votes
If you have had no basic physics courses, no fluid dynamics/mechanics courses, and no courses in PDEs, you're probably going have a hard time with your application. You might be able to work on things that contribute to solving problems in CFD like linear and non-linear solvers, but your background is lacking when it comes to application for a PhD in an engineering, physics, or mathematics department. You might be better off finding an advisor in a CS program who does interdisciplinary work related to fluids and get in with them. Guys like Ron Fedkiw in CS at UCLA and Martin Berzins at in CS at Utah are Maths PhDs in CS departments working on CFD problems. Working with someone like one of them might give you the time and space to pick up the fluids and PDEs through coursework or reading and working problems while you target some of the more CS-ish problems in their projects.
In the end, it can work out, but I think you'll have a hard time with a frontal assault on an engineering PhD program application. You're going to have to be more targeted in your approach.
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Tags: graduate-admissions, computer-science, engineering, changing-fields
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thread-32167
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32167
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What is the equivalent degree of a Diploma in Information Technology from India?
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2014-11-24T05:38:35.907
|
# Question
Title: What is the equivalent degree of a Diploma in Information Technology from India?
After my 10th grade I joined a polytechnic college for a specialization in Infomation Technology (Diploma in Information Technology). Now, I am in my final year of under-graduate studies (Bachelor of Technology in Information Technology), and I want to pursue my graduate studies from the United States of America.
One of the universities that I am applying to did not offer the option of “Diploma in Information Technology” in their online application form. After doing some research I found out that:
> In India, a diploma is a specific academic award usually earned in professional/vocational courses, e.g., Engineering, Pharmacy, Design, etc. In such cases, a diploma is specific in rank than a Bachelor's degree of that discipline but equivalent to general degree in that discipline, e.g., Diploma in Engineering of Electronics Engineering is rated differently than Bachelor of Technology in Electronics Engineering but is equivalent to Bachelor of Science in Electronics.
If so, then what is the equivalent degree of a Diploma in Information Technology in India? Is it Bachelor of Science in Information Technology?
# Answer
It's not "equivalent" to any US degree.The US educational system is sufficiently different that no such equivalent degree exists in the US.
If an online application doesn't have your specific credentials as an option, choose "Other" and specify. Don't invent equivalencies.
> 4 votes
# Answer
I expect that the diploma would be similar to a degree that you would get out of a US vocational college, or perhaps a community college. Those are associate degrees, which are below a bachelors degree - it's a two year degree that could be transferred for credits if you were pursuing a bachelors degree.
I would suggest that you look for an Academic equivalency service that will provide you with a solution to your issue. Of course, you cannot invent equivalencies for your degree. Another option would be to call the international students affairs office at the university you hope to apply to. They may have some suggestions on what to put on the application and what your degree is equivalent to. They may even tell you to use an academic equivalency service.
> 1 votes
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Tags: computer-science, united-states, degree, bachelor, india
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thread-32343
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32343
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Google Scholar: Will having HTML and PDF in different subdirectories lead to incorrect indexing?
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2014-11-27T07:55:41.267
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# Question
Title: Google Scholar: Will having HTML and PDF in different subdirectories lead to incorrect indexing?
I am trying to get our department's green OA repo at my university's web-site properly indexed by Google Scholar.
The PDFs in our repo for a large part legacy scans with no structure. This means that there is little hope of Google being able to scrape usable metadata from the PDF, so having an HTML abstract with metadata linked to the PDF is in our case essential for providing Google Scholar with the correct metadata.
Our repo is based upon on the Drupal 7 CMS: The author fills in the Google Scholar Metadata, which is stored as a regular Drupal node (HTML), and then uploads the full length PDF to the site. The PDF is stored in the server's file system.
The way Drupal works means that the URL of the HTML abstract becomes `http://example.org/node/NNN`, while the uploaded PDF will have an URL like `http://example.org/sites/default/files/XXXXXXX.pdf`. The two are then linked together through the `citation_pdf_url` metatag in the HTML.
I was happy with this, until I spotted the following paragraph in section H of the Indexing Guidelines for Google Scholar:
> The content of the \[`citation_pdf_url`\] tag is the absolute URL of the PDF file; for security reasons, it must refer to a file *in the same subdirectory* as the HTML abstract. (my emphasis)
>
> *Failure to link the alternate versions together could result in the incorrect indexing of the PDF files, because these files would be processed as separate documents without the information contained in the meta tags.* (their emphasis)
Given that this means what I think it means, indexing of my repo will break as `node/` is indeed not the same "subdirectory" as `sites/default/files/`.
However, who keeps HTML *content* in *subdirectories* in 2014? The current webdesign paradigm is to separate content (such text rendered with HTML) from assets (such as PDF files), and only the latter is actually stored in the file system. To me, this requirements is outdated and will also probably break almost every repo that is built on some sort of CMS.
I am prepared to bite the bullet and write the code that is needed in order to spew out static HTML files that can be saved in the `sites/default/files/` subdirectory along with the PDF - if that is what it really takes to make Google Scholar index my repo.
However, before embarking upon this task, I wanted to hear from other that have repos that provide metadata for Google Scholar if this "same subdirectories" is absolutely *required* if you want the HTML abstract and full length PDF to be linked by means of `citation_pdf_url` tag.
Will having HTML and the PDF in different subdirectories really lead to incorrect indexing or no indexing of the PDF files?
# Answer
Google Scholar is pretty smart about these things. On all of the websites I'm involved with, we keep the PDFs in a separate directory from the page that links to them, and Scholar finds them just fine. Of course, we also don't us the `citation_pdf_url` tag, so maybe we're fine because we're low-tech and Scholar does the inference for us...
I recommend doing it the easy way, and trusting Scholar to be smart. If it *doesn't* do the right thing, then you can always go back and drop the tag and wait for a refresh. And then if *that* doesn't work, you can do it the hard way.
> 2 votes
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Tags: google-scholar
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thread-32337
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https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32337
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What are committees looking for in a cover letter for a faculty application?
|
2014-11-27T02:03:44.617
|
# Question
Title: What are committees looking for in a cover letter for a faculty application?
Several small related questions about how to present oneself in a faculty application, and in particular the cover letter:
Should it end by saying something, like "I am waiting for your call" or "I will follow up by phone or email"? I have seen the latter recommended, but for me it seems somehow annoying.
Should the cover letter contain qualifications and skills like highly-motivated, fast learner, etc?
Some recommend mentioning potential members of the department that the applicant can work with in a faculty application. Is this a good idea? If Dr. A is working on topic T, and I want to work on topic T, then should I say that I would like to collaborate with Dr. A, and if so, how?
# Answer
> 18 votes
> (1) For the cover letter, should it end by saying something,
In my experience (~10 years on hiring committees, starting my second year as hiring committee chair), almost nobody will read your cover letter. If you have something to say about your research, say it in your research statement. If you have something to say about your teaching, say it in your teaching statement. If you have something to say about your personal life, don't.
If the department doesn't acknowledge receipt (typically by email), it's reasonable to call or email the department to double-check. But "waiting for your call" is unreasonably optimistic. Each department you're applying to probably gets hundreds of applications for each faculty position.
> (2) Should the cover letter contain qualifications and skills like highly-motivated, fast learner etc?
**Absolutely not!** "Motivated" and "fast learner" are neither skills nor qualifications; they're useless boilerplate. *Of course* you're motivated and a fast learner; otherwise, you wouldn't have a PhD and a publication record consistent with a tenure-track faculty position. Your actual skills and qualifications should be apparent from your CV, your research and teaching statements, and your recommendation letters.
> (3) Some recommends to mention potential drs from the department that the applicant can work with. Is this a good idea? If Dr. A is working on topic T, and I want to work on topic T, then should I say that I would like to collaborate with Dr. A? If yes, what is a good way to say it?!
Don't just say it; make a convincing case. Just dropping a few names into your research statement will be written off immediately as meaningless boilerplate. If your research goals really do converge with Dr. A's research interests, that should be obvious from your larger research narrative, and it should be easy for you to draw specific, technical, and credible connections between your interests and Dr. A's. **Do not fake it. We can tell.**
> (4) For the research statement, should I use "I" or "we" for joint papers, assuming that I was the first author?
"We" or "my coauthors and I"; using "I" for joint work is dishonest. But this is a relatively minor issue.
# Answer
> 12 votes
JeffE has given an excellent answer, but I want to give a slightly differing viewpoint on the purpose of the cover letter, which will address items (1) and (2) in the question. It will take a few paragraphs to motivate the answer; the summary is **"Use the cover letter as an opportunity to show you are genuinely interested in the school."**
Two important caveats: I am writing this from the perspective of "non-elite" U.S. schools. These schools often have a more teaching-oriented mission, and are often located in more remote locations. I am also writing from the perspective of mathematics, where even at such schools there will be a few hundred applications for each advertised position, and certainly over a hundred "qualified" applications even for a relatively specialized job ad. Things are very different in other fields where there may be a lack of applicants in a given subfield.
These non-elite, regional schools have a few common issues during job searches:
* Candidates may have applied to the school only as a "safety net", without really wanting to have a job there. In math, when I was in graduate school, I saw some people who applied to 100 jobs (!) in the same search.
* Candidates who are only familiar with larger, research-intensive schools may have unrealistic expectations about salary, teaching load, amenities, etc.
* Candidates may come for an interview, but turn down the job offer because they get a better offer somewhere else.
* Candidates may leave more frequently than expected to find a "better" school. Of course some turnover is natural and expected, but if the turnover rate is too high for too long then there may be a lack of experienced faculty. Some candidates may stay, but hate the area (e.g. if it is very rural) and wish there were somewhere else (e.g. in a larger city, or closer to the coast).
How does this relate to your cover letter? You can (and should, in my opinion) use the cover letter as an opportunity to address points like these:
* Make it clear that you really do want to work at the school (e.g. by not having a boilerplate cover letter, by bringing up experience at similar schools, or by otherwise establishing a connection).
* Avoid any *faux pas* in which you treat a non-elite school like elite schools (e.g. talking only about research in your cover letter).
* If possible and reasonable, for remotely-located schools, establish why you would be happy to be at the school. Perhaps it is near some of your family. Perhaps you have lived in a rural area before. Maybe they have some sort of outdoor activity that you enjoy.
* Don't say anything that signals you view the position just as a stepping stone. You can always apply someone else, of course, but in your application you should have a plan for what you can do if you stay at the school for some time.
* Remember that even if the search committee only skims the cover letter, the packets for the finalists will often be read by the whole department, and by the dean. At that stage, there are only a few candidates, and every aspect of the packet is subject to scrutiny.
From those bullets, you can guess my answers to (1) and (2).
**For (1)**, you shouldn't say anything like that. Those types of statements go in a cover letter for a business job, not an academic job. When we have 400 applications for one position, we will not call every applicant to say we received their package. And, while you can call the committee, you can imagine the workload if all 400 applicants did so. (For math, with the advent of mathjobs.org, this is less important anyway.)
**For (2)**, qualifications like "fast learner" are meaningless. But you should think about the "extra qualifications" I mentioned above:
* Why in particular did you apply to the school, besides the obvious fact that they have a job ad? What can you contribute in particular to the department?
* Are there any special reasons you'd like to work in that location?
* What are your professional goals for the next 5-10 years, and how do they fit into the mission of the school you are applying to? For example, some applicants are keen on developing online courses, or are interested in various sorts of service. These things would be less relevant to a tenure-track position at a research school, and might even be red flags there, but service and teaching are much more important at non-research schools.
* This is a more difficult choice, but if you have a spouse who is also looking for a job, you need to decide whether to mention it in your cover letter or not.
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Tags: application, faculty-application, application-cover-letter
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thread-32235
|
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/32235
|
I submitted my own code on someone elses account
|
2014-11-25T11:45:39.627
|
# Question
Title: I submitted my own code on someone elses account
I was flagged for plagiarism on a programming assignment. We get 3 submissions a day for the ~3 weeks that the project is open. I finished my project in about 1 week, but on one of those days I used my friend's computer to submit my assignment to the autograder (so I really got 4 submissions in one day). The undergraduate Honor Council at my college found me guilty of cheating on the assignment, and I'll have to report to another Honor Council with 5 professors evaluating my case and asking me questions to determine my ultimate punishment.
In all honestly, I just submitted on my friend's account to see if it would work (I was curious if they checked on submitting on peoples' accounts who weren't in the class). I still had ~2 weeks worth of submissions when I submitted my project for the final time, so I don't really think I had an unfair advantage over my peers.
Is this really a serious offense? The undergraduate council recommended to the official council that I get a 0 on the project (I actually got 100 on it), which would put me at a \<= C- in the class (which is failing) given how heavily weighted this assignment was, but this seems rather ridiculous given it was all my code.
# Answer
> 26 votes
Given that the student Honor Council has already found you guilty of cheating, maintaining that what you did was simply out of curiosity does not seem like a good strategy. I don't find that explanation so convincing myself: your "curiosity" got you an unfair advantage in the grading of the assignment. Your position that this advantage was not relevant to the final outcome is really not the point: many if not most students who cheat on assignments and exams could have reached the same outcome honestly if only they had been more patient (and honest!). If you were really "just curious", you could have asked about it, and you certainly could have submitted only the allowed total number of submissions in a single day.
The real question is whether you deserve the punishment you've thus far been given, of a 0 on the entire assignment. Generally, when students don't follow all the rules of an assignment, they can reasonably expect to be penalized for it in some way, but the penalty need not be the entire value of the assignment. I think your position should be that you agree that you did not follow the rules and that you did this out of a combination of curiosity and stupidity. You can make a reasonable case that you did not violate any fundamental principles of the assignment: all the work you turned in was your own, and you got it 100% correct well before the final deadline. So all in all you did more good work than bad. You did exhibit poor judgment and agree that some penalty is reasonable.
I would suggest that you ask to be given the score that you got on the last attempt *before* you submitted on your friend's computer. This score is undeniably legit, and giving you that score for the assignment seems like a nice compromise between giving no penalty for breaking the rules and ruining your entire course grade.
On the other hand, all this is to answer your question "Is this really a serious offense?" (TL,DR: probably not *too* serious, but you did do something wrong.) What I suggested above is really more a suggestion for what I think a just outcome of the faculty deliberation would be. Depending upon how your system works, you may or may not have the opportunity to suggest a punishment. As others have said, your real strategy here is to remain calm, explain all the facts as clearly as possible, accept that what you did is wrong and convey the impression that you are nevertheless a good student overall. What they decide is really up to them.
# Answer
> 17 votes
What you did, in my opinion, doesn't deserve more punishment than a frown. Your problem now is convincing them that that is exactly what happened. It should be easy to see that the code is all yours, and that you had plenty of extra time. It would speak in your favour if the submission you did with your friend's computer was the same as one done with your account.
Keep a cool head and explain things clearly.
# Answer
> 6 votes
Be ready to explain your code and prove it is yours. It was submitted from two accounts, the council knows it was from the same author, but they don't know who the author is yet. At my school the students are questioned about the code and how it works.
Explain to them what you did was dumb and that you did not benefit from it. Technically, you found a loophole in their system that could give you an unfair advantage. If possible bring the assignment sheet with due dates, and the dates/times of each submission. Have evidence that you didn't do that for fraudulent reasons, and that if submitted the next day it would still be on time.
And as Davidmh said, it is very important to be polite and calm. No one has ever gotten a warning from a police officer after being disrespectful to them. They may very well have not dealt with a situation like this before, and are treating it with a guilty until proven innocent approach. Treat it as a court case and professionally present your evidence and make your case as to why you didn't benefit and that you didn't plagiarize.
Lastly, learn from this. I have painfully learned like you that following your curiosity without either notice or consent from those in charge can end badly. People just see the outcome, with no knowledge of if the intent was malicious, and sadly most the time people assume the worst.
# Answer
> 4 votes
You knew what the rules were (3 submissions a day) and you knowingly violated those rules (by making 4 submissions in a day). This gives them a slam-dunk justification for giving you 0 on the assignment. If this happens your response needs to recognise that you are in the wrong and accept the consequences of your actions.
It does seem on the harsh side however. To convince the council to favour you, I would suggest that you must first convince them that you (a) accept you did something wrong and (b) won't do it again. Once you've done this you may be able to achieve leniency by arguing that these were your submissions and they are of the highest standard.
# Answer
> 3 votes
This does not seem to be a case of plagiarism but identity theft (or "surrogation").
> In all honestly, I just submitted on my friend's account to see if it would work (I was curious if they checked on submitting on peoples' accounts who weren't in the class)
Sure it's all your code, your programming skills may be unpaired, but you are going to be taught a lesson on ethics, protocols and behaviour. Be prepared. This is the result of curiosity, now you learn that and its consequences.
It's really not about the qualification or your skills, it's about sending a message about what is misconduct and the tolerance to that. Basically, you are questioning the rules (I can have 4 submissions in one day and that doesn't make a difference) and they won't like that.
I don't think a 0 in that project is too harsh. For the reference, real plagiarism in my university would imply a 0 in the whole course and waiting for 2 years to be able to take it again. This is not real plagiarism, hence just a 0 seems reasonable to me.
# Answer
> 2 votes
I was a tutor once for a couple of years and I had students like you who tried to push the boundaries, doing things that were forbidden and trying to make excuses similar to yours... Your excuse seems really poor, I'm not sure if they will believe it or even care, as others have pointed out, you could have:
* asked whether it would work
* upload something from your friend's account that is not your code
* upload it on a day where you did not already have 3 submissions
Honestly, did you even think about what you where doing?
I don't mean to be offensive, I want to believe that you didn't mean to cheat or get an advantage, but from the position of a tutor/teacher, such behaviour is annoying. It means more work for them (5 professors have to deal with your case!) because of something that you think is not serious at all. I would probably give you 50% of the points you had on your last legitimate submission.
What I suggest you to do is to apologize (mean it!), say how stupid and unthoughtful that was and kindly ask to get the points you had on your last legitimate submission.
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Tags: ethics, plagiarism
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