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[ { "answer_id": 2183, "author": "Anonymous Mathematician", "author_id": 612, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612", "pm_score": 5, "selected": true, "text": "<p>At least in mathematics (and presumably in other fields, although I have no direct experience with that), they are evaluated in the same pool as all the other proposals. In practice, there seem to be two key differences in how they are treated:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>Panel members can be a little more forgiving for certain aspects of RUI proposals. For example, if the PI publishes excellent papers but not very many of them, then this low publication rate would probably be considered a bigger drawback in a non-RUI proposal.</p></li>\n<li><p>The NSF may give some degree of preference to a few RUI proposals, as described below.</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>The review panel classifies proposals into three categories: roughly 10% that are highly recommended for funding, 30-40% that are recommended for funding, and 50-60% that are not. The available funding is never sufficient to cover all the proposals recommended for funding, so further decisions need to be made after the panel.</p>\n\n<p>The ones not recommended for funding are automatically eliminated, and the ones highly recommended for funding are more or less guaranteed to be funded. The ones in the middle are ranked in order by the panel, but the NSF is not required to follow this ranking. They largely follow it, but they adjust it based on their own criteria (for example, balance of fields, geographical diversity, etc.). My understanding is that if no RUI proposal in a given panel would otherwise be funded, then the highest-ranked RUI proposal may be bumped up in the rankings. However, this is not guaranteed, and it depends on having a high enough ranking from the panel. The program officers may also compare how panels in different areas ranked their RUI proposals, to see which ones seem most worthy of funding. However, there is no RUI-only panel.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2228, "author": "user1155", "author_id": 1155, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1155", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>My experience with Computer Science panels (IIS Division) is similar.</p>\n\n<p>However, in IIS, acceptance rates are typically somewhat lower:\n10 % Highly competitive (HC),\n15 % Competitive (C),\n75 % Not recommended for funding by panel (NRFP)</p>\n\n<p>NRFP proposals are immediately discarded.<br>\nSometimes some of the NRFP proposals are classified as Low Competitive (but still\nimmediately discarded).\nHighly competitive proposals are usually, but not always funded.\nSome (approx. one third) of Competitive proposals are funded.\nTotal funding (acceptance) rates (e.g., for III) are typically around 15 percent, sometimes a bit higher (up to 20%) for Early Career proposals.\nFunding rates in Computer Science vary widely across programs, solicitations, size classes,\ndivisions, year submitted, etc. \nranging from 10% to 50% (depending on budgets, number of proposals\nsubmitted, etc.) In general funding rates decline with increasing size (budget) class\nof the proposals.</p>\n\n<p>RUI proposals are considered together with other proposals but\ntreated somewhat more leniently.\nProposals from all of the review panels for a particular cluster (group), e.g., III in IIS Division of the CISE directorate,\nfor a particular solicitation (and size class) are considered together when\nmaking funding decisions.</p>\n\n<p>Panel recommendations are only advisory to NSF staff, who also consider geographic\ndiversity, programmatic priorities and balance, institutional diversity, etc.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2182", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/924/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2197, "author": "Ben Norris", "author_id": 924, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/924", "pm_score": 6, "selected": true, "text": "<p>Think of your first meeting as a mutual interview. The adviser wants to know if you are worth spending time and money on. You need to ask questions to determine if the adviser is worth spending years of your life on.</p>\n\n<p>Good topics for the first meeting are:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>The adviser's expectations of you (including hours worked per week, number of papers to publish before graduating, etc.)</li>\n<li>Your expectations of your adviser (Do you get vacation time? How long does it take your students to graduate? How much grant funding do you have? What earns me authorship on papers? etc.)</li>\n<li>Your potential project (What are the long-term goals? What are the short-term objectives? Have other students worked on this project before?)</li>\n<li>What preparations do you need to make? (Should you take a particular course? Should you read certain papers or books?)</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>You should also try to get candid answers to these questions from the students who already work for your potential adviser. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2198, "author": "eykanal", "author_id": 73, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/73", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>This question should be asked during your interview, in a polite but directed manner. The question is simply, \"How do you assign authorship on papers co-authored with graduate students?\" The answer should address who is on the paper, the ordering of the authorship, and what criterion is used to determine who is a co-author.</p>\n\n<p>You should also <em>definitely</em> ask his current graduate students the exact same question, preferably students who have gone through the process of writing a paper with the advisor at least once, just to make sure that what the advisor says is mostly mirrored in what the students report.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 84396, "author": "xmp125a", "author_id": 51476, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/51476", "pm_score": 0, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I assume the main issue for you is the question of authorship.</p>\n\n<p>In academia, there are rules about authorship, and they differ between the disciplines slightly. You can expect that supervisor will request to be last author of every paper. I very much advise against trying to bargain around that, this is the only scientifically relevant reward your supervisor will get for supervising you. And since professors talk to each other, you may unknowingly ruin your reputation by trying to negotiate on this.</p>\n\n<p>There are details about authorship of other people who might give you research ideas (like other grad students in the lab, outside collaborators) but I don't believe the general answer can be provided to you by the professor in a way that would protect you in the future if he will be trying to coax you into accepting another author that you don't see as having significant contribution to the paper. Usually can people agree on everything in general, but then it is always down to the question, what amount of work does qualify someone to demand co-authorship.</p>\n\n<p>For example, a person who does some simple physical/electrical measurements is certainly not justified to be a co-author, but if someone performs experiment for you that requires trial of toxicity of the chemical substance including 50 live mice, and you depend on his knowledge and experiences to actually design the experiment properly, then such person will probably be expected to be co-author, especially if you only took the results and ran them through SPSS.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2185", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2190, "author": "Suresh", "author_id": 346, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346", "pm_score": 4, "selected": true, "text": "<p><strong>As soon as is reasonable.</strong> </p>\n\n<p>Think of it this way. There are possibly other students competing to work with this advisor, and they might have funds only for one new student. There might be other considerations - maybe the advisor is going on sabbatical, or isn't taking new students, and so on. </p>\n\n<p>So as soon as possible, set up a meeting with the potential advisor, indicate your potential interest (and why!), and ask them point blank if they're taking students, and how they prefer to screen students (some do it through course work, some might like to work with you on an independent study project, and so on). </p>\n\n<p>Depending on what they say, you can take further followup action - maybe they want you to take their class, and maybe they have a research group that has open meetings, and so on.</p>\n\n<p>Bottom line: don't wait till your year is over, because it is quite possible that someone has made a decision already. </p>\n\n<p>Caveat: if this year-delay is institutionalized, it might be that all advisors wait till the end of the year to even think about new students. I suspect this is unlikely, but in any case that first meeting will help clarify it. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2193, "author": "Ben Norris", "author_id": 924, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/924", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>It is never too early to contact potential advisers. If you have your heart set on a particular individual, you may even want to initiate contact before you start (and perhaps as early as right after you have applied). Early contacts usually come from motivated students. </p>\n\n<p>Waiting a while gives you the ability to get to know the adviser and helps them get to know you. This could be beneficial, but you should not wait too long. Last minute contacts suggest a variety of behaviors that are unappealing in a graduate student, like laziness, forgetfulness, lack of dedication, etc.</p>\n\n<p>If the program lets graduate students choose, then the advisers are well aware of how the system works. A short email requesting more information and an in person interview would be appropriate. If you know the adviser better (you have already taken a class with this person), then an informal stop by their office would be fine, too. Most advisers expect this kind of contact in this situation. An initial contact by email does not have to be anything more than:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Dear Professor {X}, I am (or will be soon) a graduate student in your department. I am interested in joining your research group. I have read about your work in the field of {Y} and found it interesting, and I want to learn more. Are you available to meet with me at one of the following times {suggest three specific times}? Thanks.</p>\n</blockquote>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2187", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2194, "author": "Suresh", "author_id": 346, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>If you found a book that discusses the statement, and you really can't track down where it comes from (does the book cite anything?), then citing the book (with chapter/page numbers) is acceptable. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2196, "author": "Ben Norris", "author_id": 924, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/924", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>If the statement/concept/idea that you think you want to cite is covered (without citation) in the introductory undergraduate textbook(s) on the subject, then it is likely common knowledge in the field. This is particularly true in science and social science. For example, you should not need to cite things like the following:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Fluorine atoms are more electronegative than carbon atoms.</li>\n<li>Asexual reproduction of eukaryotic cells usually occurs by mitosis.</li>\n<li>Force is a vector quantity, while power is a scalar quantity.</li>\n<li>The free market equilibrium price for a commodity is found at the intersection of the supply and demand curves for that commodity.</li>\n<li>Sigmund Freud is commonly considered the founder of psychoanalysis. </li>\n</ul>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2216, "author": "StrongBad", "author_id": 929, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929", "pm_score": 5, "selected": true, "text": "<p>You don't need to cite common knowledge. If you think it is common knowledge, wait for the reviewer to ask for a reference, before going to all the trouble of sorting out the history. Often if a reviewer doesn't think the statement is common knowledge he/she will suggest a reference or provide a conflicting reference.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2253, "author": "Dan C", "author_id": 1069, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1069", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>One helpful approach can be to ask a few people that you think of as familiar with the field (in your case, this could be professors or certain other students). Even though most schools offer no class in recreational mathematics, you can ask 3 or 4 people who you see as at least \"intermediate\" level (whatever that means) in recreational math. If all of them immediately recall the information in question, then it's a good bet that you don't have to cite it. Alternatively, if most of them don't know it, then perhaps you should cite it.</p>\n\n<p>Specifically for recreational math, I recommend that you ask around on the website Art of Problem Solving: <a href=\"http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.artofproblemsolving.com/</a> (from the front page, click on \"online community\"). This site is focused on contest mathematics, which is distinct from recreational math, but a close cousin (and many people interested in one are also interested in the other). </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2289, "author": "Pete L. Clark", "author_id": 938, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I will answer your question in a somewhat sideways manner: I think anyone who is trying to write a math research paper who does not already have a PhD in mathematics or a closely related field should do so in close consultation with an <strong>adviser</strong> who does have such a PhD. It is not practical to learn all the standards of journals and publishing on your own. Virtually every undergraduate is also in the following situation: their own perspective on mathematics is not yet mature, and thus if they submit a paper to a research journal they will be submitting their work to an audience with far more experience and background knowledge. (A few truly brilliant undergraduates do work up to the standards of other mature, professional mathematicians, but even for them the work is probably much less than what they will be capable of later on. I can't think of a single instance of a professional mathematician whose undergraduate work was in the same league as their later research.)</p>\n\n<p>In fact -- and I don't mean to be discouraging by saying this -- most research done by undergraduates is not of a publishable quality. This does not mean that undergraduates should not engage in research -- I think it is very valuable and enjoyable for them to do so (if anyone cares: I did research as an undergraduate, had a blast doing it, and did not try to publish it) -- but only that formal publication should probably be a goal for later in one's career than that, especially nowadays when it is so easy to put your work on the web.</p>\n\n<p>In particular, you write</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>a particular statement/fact is commonly known to all and its discoverer/inventor is not known, and that there exists no research paper that introduced the concept but there do exist various books/websites that discuss the very concepts and a few derivatives of the concept?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Honestly, this sounds unlikely to me. The vast majority of mathematical topics that are discussed in books are also discussed in research papers (maybe it is somewhat different in recreational mathematics, but even there I imagine it's still mostly true). How do you know that no research paper treats the concept in question? Searching the mathematical literature is itself a skill that takes both general experience and specific expertise in the subfield you're searching in: as a research mathematician it is common enough for me to come across a mathematical concept, try to find it in the literature, and only find it several weeks or months later when I have become more familiar with the local terminology and standard results. Similarly, most mathematical concepts <em>are</em> traceable to a specific discoverer/inventor, although admittedly the generic mathematician does not feel as honorbound to track down primary sources as academics in most other fields (in my opinion this is a rare \"character flaw\" of the generic mathematician!). </p>\n\n<p>Even if you have done all the mathematical research yourself, consulting an experienced adviser on how to write up and submit your work could save you a lot of time and headache. Some journals/editors/referees are relatively supportive of authors writing their first paper (everyone who has published a paper was in that situation at one time!), but if your paper is, or looks to be, below the level of papers they want to publish, it will probably get bounced back to you with little constructive criticism. An adviser can be much more kind...</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2192", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2242, "author": "Dan C", "author_id": 1069, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1069", "pm_score": 0, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Does this webpage have some of the information that you're looking for?</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https://www.noellevitz.com/papers-research-higher-education/student-recruitment-and-financial-aid\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.noellevitz.com/papers-research-higher-education/student-recruitment-and-financial-aid</a></p>\n\n<p>(I recommend the \"Factors to enroll\" report; it asks for a login, but you can continue as a guest.) Alternatively, you might also find the following pdf useful.</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://www.edgeip.com/media/edgeip/graphics/Research0404.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.edgeip.com/media/edgeip/graphics/Research0404.pdf</a></p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2276, "author": "Bravo", "author_id": 411, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/411", "pm_score": 3, "selected": true, "text": "<p>There is a nice survey report online: <a href=\"http://cpe.ky.gov/NR/rdonlyres/AFA304F0-C125-40C2-96E5-7A8C98915797/0/WhatMatterstoStudentSuccessAReviewoftheLiterature.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">\"What Matters to Student Success\"</a>, a report from the Government of Kentucky.</p>\n\n<p>The work analyses the factors most crucial to student success in a college. It also discusses recruitment of students. For example,</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Consumerism colors virtually all aspects of the college experience, with many colleges and universities “marketizing” their admissions approach to recruit the right “customers” — those who are best prepared for college and can pay their way (Fallows et al. 2003)</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>It does not exactly answer your question on strategies for selection, but gives some insight to what makes a successful student pool, for which admission process is one determinant. </p>\n\n<p>I am sure the reference papers cited in the journal (and their citations) will assist you in an extensive literature survey.</p>\n\n<p>For a relevant journal, I found this: <a href=\"http://www.nacacnet.org/research/PublicationsResources/Journal/Pages/Journal-of-College-Admission.aspx\" rel=\"nofollow\">Journal of College Admission</a>. I do not know about the quality, but I was able to find this discussion (or thereabout) in a few papers herein.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2204", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/924/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2214, "author": "Dave Clarke", "author_id": 643, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/643", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<ul>\n<li>Getting experience at a top university is good for your CV and for you as a researcher.</li>\n<li>Getting more research experience under your belt can increase your chance of getting a job in the future, but there are no guarantees.</li>\n<li><p>A post-doc will give you a chance to write more papers and to find out what topic you really want to do your research on.</p></li>\n<li><p>Taking the assistant professorship now would get you immediately on the track to full professor, which may be delayed if you spend years doing a post doc.</p></li>\n<li><p>Working at a non-top university might mean that the students you have access to, for example, as RAs or PhD students, to develop your research vision, will not be as good as at the top university. That said, as a post-doc, you will generally not have access to such students anyway, except perhaps as part of a collaboration. </p></li>\n<li><p>The pressure to succeed at a top university is much greater than at a non-top university. </p></li>\n</ul>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2215, "author": "StrongBad", "author_id": 929, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>A post doc is merely a step towards getting a tenure track position. I would always suggest taking the tenure track job. The only time I would even suggest thinking about it is if the tenure track position has a heavy teaching load (e.g., 3-3 or higher in the sciences and 4-4 or higher in the humanities). Even with a ridiculous teaching load I would still suggest the tenure track position.</p>\n\n<p>Not everyone with a postdoc at a top university gets a tenure track job afterwards.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2227, "author": "eykanal", "author_id": 73, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/73", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>A postdoc is not a career goal; it's yet another step in training, with the purpose of preparing the trainee for the eventual faculty role. With that in mind,</p>\n\n<h3>Postdoc is good because:</h3>\n\n<ul>\n<li>You're associating yourself with some top-notch researchers and gaining valuable research experience.</li>\n<li>You're learning new techniques and methodologies from a well-known and well-respected professor. </li>\n<li>You're writing grant proposals that are X times more likely to be funded because &lt;well-known researcher&gt;'s name is on them.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<h3>Faculty is good because:</h3>\n\n<ul>\n<li>You're running your own lab and getting experience managing teaching, research, mentoring, and administrative duties.</li>\n<li>You're proving that you can do it by yourself.</li>\n<li>You can do research on your own interests, without having to worry about what your PI wants you to do.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Additionally, think about the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opportunity_cost\">opportunity cost</a> of both choices... it really depends on where you want your career to go.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2206", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/77/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2210, "author": "Nobody", "author_id": 546, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/546", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>First of all, I would like to sincerely thank you for your consideration on behalf of all Chinese (I am a Chinese myself).</p>\n<p>Now, to answer your questions. One of the best ways to pronounce the individual Chinese names correctly is to ask them - those Chinese students. They would be glad to tell you.</p>\n<p>In its nature, Chinese is hard for English speaking people to pronounce. This site is not the right place to discuss the details. There is a better <a href=\"https://chinese.stackexchange.com/\">Stack Exchange site</a>.</p>\n<p>There are many Chinese dialects. Mandarin Chinese is the most common one. I just did a search, <a href=\"http://mandarin.about.com/od/pronunciation/a/How-To-Pronounce-Mandarin-Chinese.htm\" rel=\"noreferrer\">this site</a> seems to be a good place to use. I tried some of the audio sound clips and they sound fine.</p>\n<p>Again, asking them is the best way. My Chinese last name is Hu. The correct pronunciation is like &quot;who&quot;. Many non-Chinese speaking people pronounce it wrong. I already got used to it but I am always happy to tell them the right way when they ask me. So, thank you again for asking.</p>\n<p>Your second question is how to recall Chinese names. This is even harder for a non-Chinese speaking person. My suggestion is to ask individuals what names they go by. If they have English names, would they prefer you call their English names?! I believe most of them would say yes. If they insist on you calling them by their Chinese names, I am afraid the only way is to ask their names every time you meet them. I am not sure they would like it but if that's what they want, that's the way they get.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2211, "author": "Suresh", "author_id": 346, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>There's a <a href=\"https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~zhuxj/readpinyin.html\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">specific site</a> that has examples of Chinese names. You might find that quite helpful. There aren't audio files though, and there seems to be a disagreement between the site and the one linked above about the correct pronunciation of 'zh' (as 'dr' or 'j').</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 54544, "author": "nathanielng", "author_id": 23382, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/23382", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p><strong>Learning how to pronounce</strong></p>\n\n<p>As has already been mentioned, the best way is probably to ask the person yourself. As a Chinese, I don't expect a non-Chinese to be able to pronounce my Chinese name correctly; pronouncing the <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinyin\" rel=\"nofollow\">pinyin</a> is good enough. Furthermore, I wouldn't expect a non-Chinese to know how to get the <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_tones_(Chinese)\" rel=\"nofollow\">four tones</a> correct.</p>\n\n<p>However, if you're curious, and if you know the exact Chinese characters, one convenient resource is to use Google Translate's audio tool to play back Chinese words:</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https://translate.google.com/#zh-CN/en/\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://translate.google.com/#zh-CN/en/</a></p>\n\n<p>You'll need to either cut and paste the characters into the text box, or use the handwriting tool to input the characters. Note that the accuracy of the handwriting tool is likely dependent on getting the <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stroke_order#General_guidelines\" rel=\"nofollow\">stroke order</a> correct.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Remembering Chinese names</strong></p>\n\n<p>Unless the Chinese name is very common, it's likely very hard to remember a person's Chinese name without writing it down. In academic circles, if the person has a publication record, you could get hold of this indirectly by getting a journal reference to a paper authored by the person. Alternatively, with social media, you could add/follow the person via Research Gate, LinkedIn or Facebook. Now that you have the name in writing, you could also check on the web as to how it is pronounced.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 150883, "author": "Oleg Lobachev", "author_id": 46265, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/46265", "pm_score": 0, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Well, as I was some sort of a foreigner myself, I can tell you:</p>\n<h1>Ask them</h1>\n<p>The best way to pronounce someone's one in a foreign language is how they tell you it is pronounce. Notice, that this &quot;first-hand&quot; pronunciation might not correspond with the official one. (For the latter: basically, the way how our X-language tongue reproduces Y-language sounds might not benefit the recognition.)</p>\n<p>Also, specifically for Chinese: some of them specifically adapt &quot;easier&quot; names for the communication with Westerners. So, fully expect something like:</p>\n<p>&quot;How should I call you?&quot;<br />\n&quot;Oh, my actual name is XY, but please call me just Z.&quot;</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 150885, "author": "Noah Snyder", "author_id": 25, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/25", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>This isn't about pronunciation, but one thing I used to find myself confused by was not knowing which name was the family name and which was the given name (since sometimes people use the Chinese convention of family name first, but sometimes they westernize it by putting the family name last). A pattern that really helps for this is that family names are almost always 1-syllable, while given names are usually 2-syllables. This won't always work, it won't help you with Jiang Qing say, but as a quick sample it does work for every president of the PRC.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 150890, "author": "roger-reject", "author_id": 94173, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/94173", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>To those commenting &quot;ASK THEM,&quot; yes, obviously. However, this doesn't exactly address the OP's issue, because this only provides a one-off for each individual name, but doesn't provide a framework for learning to pronounce new names in the future. It's also endlessly frustrating for a student to have to be like &quot;my name is pronounced X,&quot; english speaker: &quot;S?&quot; Chinese student: &quot;<strong>X</strong>&quot;, english speaker: &quot;<strong>S</strong>??&quot;, etc.</p>\n<p>The key issue for Chinese names from the perspective of native English speakers is that <strong>pinyin does not exactly map onto English pronunciation</strong>. I can't count how many times an English speaker has encountered pinyin like &quot;qi&quot; and subconsciously inserted a u, morphing it into &quot;qui&quot; or some other monstrosity.</p>\n<p>It can be helpful to learn some basic Mandarin linguistics for name pronunciation. For example, each Chinese character is made up of a final and optional initial phoneme. The allowed phonemes are super small, thus all possible Mandarin pinyin can be written in a compact table:\n<a href=\"https://chinese.yabla.com/chinese-pinyin-chart.php\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">https://chinese.yabla.com/chinese-pinyin-chart.php</a></p>\n<p>Obviously this doesn't cover the tones, but comparing a student's name with this table and practicing the pronunciation (such as by recording yourself and comparing your recording with the audio file for the same pinyin) will get you much further than 99% of native English speakers.</p>\n<p>As for remembering the names, this is challenging because as you mention memory is related to how many external connections you have to the word. Since Chinese names typically have no connections inside of a native English speaker's memory, to remember them you need to actively create those connections through simple/stupid mnemonics. As an English example: &quot;His name is Joe, joe is another word for coffee, java is another word for coffee, Java is an island in the Pacific.&quot; or something similarly inane. It's remarkable how effective this has been for me personally.</p>\n<p>As a conclusion, the important point is that you are making an honest effort and most people will appreciate that you are trying to do the right thing, no matter how far away you are from the &quot;perfect&quot; pronunciation. I once overheard an introduction between a Chinese person and English speaker, in which the English speaker came out with this gem: &quot;Don't bother telling me your name, I'll never remember.&quot; If that had happened to me, that would stick in my craw for the rest of my life, and quite possibly beyond!!</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 150899, "author": "Szabolcs", "author_id": 11907, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11907", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>This answer is going to address not only Chinese names, but all unfamiliar names.</p>\n<p>Most answers say &quot;<em>Just ask them!</em>&quot;, but personally I found that to be insufficient and only marginally helpful. I have the same experience when people ask me about my own name, which many find confusing to pronounce. Repeating it back to them many times at their request does not appear to be the best way to help them remember.</p>\n<p>Here's what works for me:</p>\n<ol>\n<li><p>Do not try to remember sounds (what you hear). Write it down, and remember the written form instead. We are better at handling structured, abstract information than an unfamiliar amorphous sound blob.</p>\n</li>\n<li><p>Once you wrote it down, <em>learn</em> the basics of how to read the language in question, i.e. how to convert written letters to spoken sounds. This is easy with phonetic writing systems, such as Chinese <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinyin\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">pinyin</a>, and shouldn't take more than 20-30 minutes. Once you have the knowledge, you can apply it to all Chinese names: just ask the person to write it down for you in pinyin. If you are a teacher with many Chinese students, it's a worthwhile investment of time.</p>\n</li>\n</ol>\n<p>The key is: (1) Remember a formalized, abstract representation. This helps with memory. (2) Learn the basic rules about how to read out this representation aloud, e.g. from Wikipedia. This provides some certainty and takes away the anxiety about &quot;pronouncing it wrong.&quot;</p>\n<p>Your own native language may not have all the required sounds. You may struggle with some of them. If you do, simply find a &quot;good enough&quot; approximation and stick to it deliberately. The purpose is to take out the anxiety from pronouncing the names. For example, if you are an English speaker and you can't roll your <em>r</em>s, simply substitute an English <em>r</em>. If you try to get that <em>r</em> right every time you talk to &quot;Carlos&quot;, you may eventually find yourself avoiding saying his name.</p>\n<p>Mandarin Chinese does not have many sounds that are especially difficult or unfamiliar to English speakers. The big one I can think of is ü, as in pinyin <em>yu</em>. Just ask someone to pronounce that sound for you, decide on the best approximation you can produce, and stick to it deliberately, even knowing that it is far from perfect. For <em>xi</em> and <em>qi</em>, most will naturally and easily substitute the English <em>sh</em> and <em>ch</em>. Of course, Chinese tones are also difficult, but again: skip them deliberately.</p>\n<hr />\n<p>I find that this method works well for me in practice, both for remembering <em>names</em> or <em>words in foreign languages</em>. It also seems to work for helping others remember my own name. Many find its spelling intimidating, but once I explain that <em>sz</em> and <em>cs</em> are both indivisible units that represent a single sound (<em>s</em> from snake and <em>ch</em> from child, respectively), people find it much easier.</p>\n<p>Unfortunately, in my experience, some English speakers struggle tremendously with the very concept of phonetic writing, or rather putting it into practice. Instead of consistently applying the rules of pronunciation specific to the writing system / language in question, they keep sliding back into trying to read it &quot;the English way&quot;. They can't seem to segregate in their head two separate sets of pronunciation rules (for two languages) for the same set of symbols (Roman letters). I could never quite understand why, therefore I could never find an efficient way to help them. If you are one of them, then this might not be the best method for you. However, if you are a native speaker of a language that uses a phonetic writing system, understanding the basics of a different phonetic system will be trivial to you.</p>\n<hr />\n<p>This method won't work well for a language that is usually written in Roman letters, but does not use a consistent phonetic system, such as French. In that case, you may need to make up your own phonetic representation. Languages that are not written in Roman letters usually have standard romanizations that tend to be consistent and phonetic (such as pinyin for Mandarin Chinese), so the only problem is knowing <em>which</em> Romanization you are dealing with, in case there are several.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 151065, "author": "Finley Huaxin", "author_id": 125630, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/125630", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>To be honest, unless you learn Chinese, it's always hard for you to remember a Chinese name. Let me give you an example. Apple is apple in English, while in Chinese it is spelled as Ping Guo [苹果]. The apple in Chinese consists of two Chinese characters and seven English letters in Chinese Pinyin (the Romanization of Chinese). Either of the two Chinese characters can be assembled with other Chinese characters to make up a new Chinese name. And unlike western names, Chinese names often do not have a fixed meaning defined by ancestors or convention although each Chinese character has its own meaning solely or multiply. You may hear lots of Chinese boys called Junjie and cannot identify who is who since in Chinese Pinyin their given names are completely the same. But in Chinese per se their given names can be written in different Jun [e.g. 俊, 骏, 隽] and different Jie [e.g. 杰, 洁, 捷] and so the meaning of the names might be wholly different as well. So the best way to remember a Chinese name is to understand the meaning of the names, while to understand the meaning, the best way is to know how they are written in its original language. As each Chinese character may look like a picture to English speakers, it might be still hard for you to link the 'picture' with the romanizations.</p>\n<p>However, instead of given names, just remembering the most popular surnames may ease you. Most Chinese people are named by a handful of surnames. Of course, the drawback is that you may be confused again once two or more Chinese you meet up have the same surname. But at least this is a little bit of progress, isn't it? If you still want to have a better understanding, then there is no more suggestion than learning this language.</p>\n<p><strong>1. familiarize yourself with popular Chinese surnames</strong></p>\n<p><strong>2. ask the meaning of their names and let them write it down in its original language</strong></p>\n<p><strong>3. learn the language</strong></p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2207", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/62/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2212, "author": "Suresh", "author_id": 346, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346", "pm_score": 5, "selected": true, "text": "<p>If you have access to the LaTeX source, there are a number of packages that will help you. Some include <a href=\"http://www.tex.ac.uk/tex-archive/help/Catalogue/entries/todonotes.html\">todonotes</a> and <a href=\"http://www.tex.ac.uk/tex-archive/help/Catalogue/entries/fixme.html\">fixme</a>. </p>\n\n<p>However it's more likely that you have a PDF only. In that case, you need a PDF annotating package. A free cross-platform solution is <a href=\"http://xournal.sourceforge.net/\">Xournal</a>, which runs on windows/linux (and maybe Mac). </p>\n\n<p>If you're on a iOS device, then <a href=\"http://www.goodiware.com/goodreader.html\">Goodreader</a> is a nice app that does annotations. \nThere's always <a href=\"http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat.html\">Adobe Acrobat</a> as well. Both of these solutions are not free though. </p>\n\n<p>Update: (by @atiretoo)</p>\n\n<p>One issue to be careful with providing comments on a pdf or other document is maintaining anonymity. <strong>Adobe Acrobat (and probably other software), automatically flags your annotations with information about you unless you are careful to remove that from the document before commenting</strong>. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2213, "author": "David Ketcheson", "author_id": 81, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/81", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>The approach taken by many reviewers (myself included) is to simply reference the page and line number, or to insert a copy of the statement in question in the referee report, e.g.:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>On page 7, line 6, the word \"mispell\" should be \"misspell\".</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>This is probably the easiest approach if the number of such comments is not too large, since it doesn't require any extra software and doesn't require the authors to search through the PDF for your annotations.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2209", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/411/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2220, "author": "Suresh", "author_id": 346, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346", "pm_score": 7, "selected": false, "text": "<blockquote>\n <p>Does it get better with time and experience?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>sort of, in that you become smart enough to realize that there ISN'T anyone smarter who would have figured it out in a couple of minutes :)</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Is this a sign that research is not for me and that I should\n seriously consider a life outside academia?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Certainly not !</p>\n\n<p>Research is hard work. You're on the cutting edge, charting territory no one has explored before. It takes courage, persistence, energy and a VERY THICK SKIN for rejection. After all, (and this pertains to CS), probably 95% of your job applications will be turned down, 75% of your papers will be rejected the first time, a grant proposal has a 1 in 10 change of succeeding. </p>\n\n<p>But it's the small sublime moments of joy when you realize that you've discovered something that no one else knows that make it fun. And the feeling, as time goes on, that you're immersed in a wonderful lake of , with beautiful new ideas around you as far as you can see. </p>\n\n<p>p.s the advice you were given is very sound. Take breaks, find fulfilling things to do outside of work, and realize that everyone (even seasoned researchers) feel the same frustrations and highs that you do. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2221, "author": "JeffE", "author_id": 65, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65", "pm_score": 10, "selected": true, "text": "<blockquote>\n <p>The fact is research is hard. It appears to consist primarily of staring at a problem for days and days and days without getting anywhere. Sometimes, rarely, I do figure something out and that feels wonderful, but the overwhelming majority of my time appears to be spent banging my head against a mostly figurative wall.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Yes. This. And it wouldn't be so damn tempting if those bricks didn't wiggle just a little bit every time I slammed my forehead into them. Sometimes I think my eyes must be playing tricks on me, what with the repeated cranial trauma and all. But then I remember how good it felt the last time my head actually went <em>through</em> the wall, and so I keep plugging away.</p>\n\n<p>I've found it extremely useful to have two or three walls to bang my head against at any given time. Surprisingly, sometimes banging my head against one wall actually makes one of the other walls weaker. But most walls prove considerably stronger than my head; so it's helpful to have options, so I don't feel so bad about walking away with some scalp intact. </p>\n\n<p>If you're very lucky, one good smack on the bricks will actually bring the <em>ceiling</em> crashing around your ears. That takes a long time to clean up, but sometimes the debris will knock down other walls for you. And then you have a whole new set of even bigger walls to bang your head against!</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>I find myself thinking along the lines of \"Oh, if only someone actually smart were thinking about this problem they would have solved it in moments\" and so on.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p><strong>Do not listen to the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impostor_syndrome\">Impostor Syndrome</a>.</strong> Everyone \"actually smart\" is hearing <em>exactly</em> the same voice in their head saying \"Oh, if only someone who actually knew how to hit walls with their forehead hit this wall, it would come down like a stack of cards.\" when in fact the wall really is made of brick.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Does it get better with time and experience?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Yes. Eventually, you'll move from hoping that you'll be able to knock down a wall with your head someday, to being surprised at how often the walls you hit with your head actually fall, to finally believing that you really can knock down walls with your head sometimes. (For me, the second transition happened some time after tenure.)</p>\n\n<p>But your head will still hurt.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2222, "author": "Anonymous Mathematician", "author_id": 612, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612", "pm_score": 8, "selected": false, "text": "<p>It definitely does not mean research isn't for you. Research is hard, and it takes some getting used to. Your experiences sound normal, and it will indeed get better.</p>\n\n<p>Part of the problem is that it's tempting to focus too much on the destination: proving theorems, writing papers. These things happen only occasionally, and thinking about them (or their absence) too much is an easy way to become depressed. Instead, you want to reach the point of enjoying the journey itself. This takes some perspective and confidence, but it will come with time.</p>\n\n<p>For example, imagine that one day you mention a difficulty you're having to your office mate, who tells you about a wonderful theorem that's relevant. If you're feeling insecure, this is awful: you think about the time you wasted not knowing about this theorem, and you worry that your office mate knew it and therefore you should have. On the other hand, if you're confident in yourself, then it feels great: you learned something beautiful that will help your research, and how can it be a bad day when you learned something like that? This confidence can take time to develop, but as you feel more relaxed and bolder, everything will become more enjoyable.</p>\n\n<p>Another thing to keep in mind is that progress is difficult to measure when you don't know where you're going (which is what research is!). Grad students sometimes feel bad because they don't think they're en route to solving their thesis problems. Often they're right, but that's not a problem. If you knew in advance that you were going to solve it, then it wouldn't be research. The goal isn't to solve the problem you started with, and indeed you often won't. Instead, the goal is to find something exciting along the way. Once you're used to this, you can say to yourself, \"OK, probably I'm not going to solve this problem, but it's worth a try, and in any case I'm sure that if I think hard enough about it, something interesting and worthwhile will come out of that work.\"</p>\n\n<p>Basically, I think of this as a phase transition that happens in a certain point in one's development as a researcher. Before the transition, you think \"Oh no, there's so much to learn. How can I ever learn enough to be a good researcher?\" Afterwards, you think \"Well, I don't know that much in the overall scheme of things, but I seem to be doing research anyway. And I'm so glad there's a lifetime supply of great mathematics to learn, so I'll never be bored.\" The key is to relax and trust that everything will work out, even when it feels overwhelming.</p>\n\n<p>I know this is easier said than done, and I struggled with it myself. For years, I felt like I wasn't a real mathematician, and I would tell myself I would be one if only I could accomplish some goal: publishing a paper, learning some difficult topic, publishing a paper I was proud of, getting a job, etc. However, it was never enough. I thought the end game was deciding I was a real mathematician, but it turns out it's developing the confidence not to worry about this, and I've been much happier since that point.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2223, "author": "Michael Mtizenmacher", "author_id": 1140, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1140", "pm_score": 7, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I love the answers above, but here's another possible bit of advice: find ways to work with others. </p>\n\n<p>Research on your own can be isolating. Working with other graduate students can make the process much more enjoyable. Staring at a problem on your own is both less fun and generally less productive than trying to work through it with a colleague. Synergy happens. Two brains isn't just better than one; it's better than two brains working separately. </p>\n\n<p>In graduate school there's an artificial sense that you should be working on your own to get \"your\" PhD for \"your\" work on \"your\" problem. This mindset is counterproductive, but it may be unavoidable depending on your field and school. If you have to keep some problems to work on on your own, but then find one or two problems to work on with your officemates or others. Once you're done with graduate school, the artificial \"work on your own\" constraints will start to disappear. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2248, "author": "aeismail", "author_id": 53, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53", "pm_score": 6, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Your situation was once mine. I suffered through the challenge of having a project that just wasn't working, while at the same time <em>both</em> of my advisors happened to be on sabbatical. Adding to the indignity, it was a theoretical/modeling project, which meant that the failure wasn't because some experimental device wasn't working, but because <em>I simply wasn't clever enough.</em> If I were, of course I'd see exactly what's wrong, and figure out what's going on! And, to make the pressure worse, I found out that the next semester, I'd be responsible for giving the very first departmental seminar among the graduate students in my class. So, yeah, it was a bit of a perfect storm brewing there.</p>\n\n<p>Ultimately, though, the \"Eureka!\" moment <em>did</em> come—I was literally walking around campus when the idea struck. And, the next time my advisors were back (a few weeks later), I had a working prototype simulation to show them!</p>\n\n<p>What am I trying to say? Well, a few things:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Don't give up.</strong> The course of true research never did run smooth.</li>\n<li><strong>Failure is normal—and even to be expected.</strong> Just about nothing works exactly as you predicted it would. More importantly, if something <em>doesn't</em> go wrong, then your project has been badly designed, and in fact, I would argue that you're only doing <em>development</em>, not research!</li>\n<li><strong>Don't be afraid to fail!</strong> Failure teaches you lessons that you will never learn from success. I needed a few really abysmal grades in college to get me on the right track—the proverbial kick in the pants that allowed me to realize I couldn't coast through college the way I did through high school.</li>\n</ul>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2268, "author": "Louiqa Raschid", "author_id": 1191, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1191", "pm_score": 5, "selected": false, "text": "<p>The research experience varies considerably across disciplines. I hold appointments in a computer science department and a business school and also collaborate with biologists and medical researchers. In some disciplines you are expected to work solo but in other domains, collaboration and working with a team is encouraged. The depth of the problem being addressed also varies widely. Plant biologists may spend years working on a specific gene and I believe this is true for mathematicians as well. The pace is much faster in computer science and in business schools breadth and applicability to the real world is often favored over deep thoughts. </p>\n\n<p>It is good that you are asking these questions now. I have seen many faculty asking these questions long after they have received tenure and realizing that research is not for them.</p>\n\n<p>Keep in mind that a doctoral degree does open many doors beyond research and that the skills that you have required (logical thinking, formal reasoning) apply widely.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2615, "author": "morgan", "author_id": 1344, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1344", "pm_score": 6, "selected": false, "text": "<blockquote>\n <p>The fact is research is hard. It appears to consist primarily of\n staring at a problem for days and days and days without getting\n anywhere.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Here is what I found helpful in this regard: consider switching to a different <em>style</em>\nof research. Instead of studying problems, study <em>techniques.</em> Avoid focusing on questions\nlike \"Is X true?\" Instead, focus on questions like </p>\n\n<p>\"No one seems to have observed that object X is as an instance of object of type Y. Does the available theory about objects of type Y say anything useful about X?\"</p>\n\n<p>\"There seems to be a parallel between techniques used to prove statements of type U and statements of type V. How deep does the parallel go?\" </p>\n\n<p>\"Objects A and B appear to both satisfy property Z. Can we prove a general theorem about when property Z is satisfied? What are the really important parts in the proofs that A and B satisfy Z? \"</p>\n\n<p>I don't mean my advice to apply generally - this is only my personal experience. I found working on questions of the type \"Is X true?\" to be very frustrating - immensely rewarding if I succeeded in resolving them, but they felt like banging my head against the wall most of the time. When I changed my research style to study techniques, there was a lot less blank staring involved and research became more fun. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2627, "author": "user244795", "author_id": 1352, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1352", "pm_score": 5, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I love the answers here, and I just want to add that I find the following things helpful. </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Read the literature. You can get a lot of good ideas from seeing how other people have solved similar problems before. (It's also rather frustrating to have your manuscript rejected by a journal because you didn't do enough reading. It's better for you to find these things out on your own.)</li>\n<li>A related point is that learning the vocabulary in another discipline may show you that your problem was actually already solved, but other researchers just called it something else. </li>\n<li>Describe your problems to a colleague. Just restating the problem to a third party can help you to see something new. (\"<a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_duck_debugging\">Confessional debugging</a>\").</li>\n<li>Find something bigger to procrastinate on. You can fool yourself into working on an unpleasant task A if you feel like you're avoiding a harder task B.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>YMMV because my research is engineering, not math. Good luck!</p>\n\n<p><strong>Edit:</strong> I forgot to say that for a short term boost of morale, consider reading all of the <a href=\"http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=1\">Phdcomics</a>. They're funny, cathartic, and painfully true. If you like posting to a forum to complain about the problems in academia, <a href=\"https://chronicle.com/forums/\">The Chronicle of Higher Education</a> will show you that you're not alone at all. Finally, if you want proof that your problems have occurred before, <a href=\"http://irp.nih.gov/catalyst/archived-issues\">The NIH Catalyst</a> goes all the way back to 1994 with hilarious comics about <a href=\"http://dentcartoons.blogspot.com/2008/02/nine-types-series.html\">the types of people in academia</a>.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 8074, "author": "Theresa Liao", "author_id": 5988, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5988", "pm_score": 6, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I have a perhaps different view, I guess, from most people here...hopefully my experience can be helpful.</p>\n\n<p>Like Louiqa said, it is better to think about it now than later. And it is not about whether you are good in research, of whether you are smart enough (don’t underestimate yourself!). It could come down to what you see yourself doing in the future, perhaps in the next 5-10 years.</p>\n\n<p>I used to be very sure that I wanted to be a researcher for the rest of my life. I did quite well, and actually went straight into a PhD program after undergrad. But I am a very project/task-oriented person (like to “complete” things) and I really enjoy talking to people about science - the basic science research work I did didn’t give me many of such opportunities (long hours at the bench not talking to anyone else). I also don't see myself becoming a post-doc and do more research work. It took me a while to realize that it is not just another PhD student day (and this happened after I passed my PhD qualifying exam with flying colours). I decided to wrap up my project and apply to graduate with a MSc instead. </p>\n\n<p>After everyone went into shock, I freaked out for a week, and then started to look into my past experiences, trying to combine what I liked doing with what I had the skills for. I now work as a Communications Coordinator at a physics dept and I LOVE my job (despite occasionally hating the fact that I don’t have a PhD and cannot lead my own research project) I cannot be happier that I decided to do something else.</p>\n\n<p>To be honest, everyone is different. Another friend of mine just finished PhD, and became a research scientist for a hospital and loves what she does now (she said she also had some really bad moments). In the end it comes down to you. My advice is to start looking at your plan for the next 5-10 years. Do you want to stay in research in academia (post-doc, faculty position, etc). Do you like teaching and inspiring students (teaching only positions?)? Do you want to go into industry? Perhaps you have other skills (a lot of what I do now depends on the soft skills I acquired during grad school, so still time well spent) that might lead to something that you want to do? What are the qualifications required for what you want to do? These are questions that you can ask yourself now, instead of later.</p>\n\n<p>Good luck and I wish you the best!\n(btw, a lot of the other advices you got here are also very good, and were found useful by my other PhD friends)</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 41392, "author": "King", "author_id": 28366, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28366", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>All researchers-in-training must constantly grapple with:</p>\n\n<p><strong>Uncertainty</strong> – You have no idea whether the hard work you are putting into your project even matters.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Isolation</strong> – Nobody around you understands or empathizes with what you are doing, since they either lack technical context or are too busy with their own creative struggles.</p>\n\n<p>If you can properly manage these two emotions and make consistent forward progress every single day, get private feedback from a mentor every week or two, and get external feedback from paper submissions a few times per year, then you can successfully finish your Ph.D.</p>\n\n<p>The bad news is that it's impossible to fully eliminate uncertainty and isolation when doing research. But if it's any consolation, recognize that these feelings are completely normal; <strong>all of your fellow grad students are facing them as well.</strong></p>\n\n<p>Additionally, you have to deal with discouragement. The very fact that there are others like you can be encouraging.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 69230, "author": "techmsi", "author_id": 7198, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7198", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Obviously research is difficult but the gratification, though not instant, is worth the effort in the end. Problem solving requires you to bang your head on the proverbial wall. You have to experience failure because working through an obstacle builds resilience. Resiliency stems from your beliefs &amp; attitudes about yourself and your experiences.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p><strong>Does it get better with time and experience?</strong></p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Yes, it does. You learn how to cope with not finding the answer. You will also stretch your brain to find other ways of arriving to the answer. As you progress in your career &amp; continue to build your knowledge base you will have more information to pull from when you get \"stuck.\"</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p><strong>Is this a sign that research is not for me and that I should seriously consider a life outside academia?</strong></p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I would advise exploring other options not because \"research is not for you\" but because it is necessary to see what life is like in the industry. Then after having experienced both you can make an educated decision. Furthermore, nothing is set in stone. You could start in academia and then move to industry or the reverse.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 103819, "author": "Shahensha Khan", "author_id": 58669, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/58669", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>If at any time you feel</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>You are not understanding what supervisor is saying.</li>\n<li>You are not on the right path.</li>\n<li>Your colleagues are performing better than you.</li>\n<li>Only you don't understand a thing and lagging behind in deadlines.</li>\n<li>Your supervisor is not happy with your work.</li>\n<li>Your advisor is rude to you but you saw him laughing with another student.</li>\n<li>Your work seems easy but others' work is very impressive.</li>\n<li>You just want to quit.</li>\n<li>You can't quit because of social pressure.</li>\n<li>You just wanna go with flow.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Any symptoms like above mean you are doing PhD and almost every student get such mood swings any time. I almost gone through all but when I talked with my colleagues they were thinking exactly like me, some even saying my work is very nice and their work is easy etc... So don't worry just work and read.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 186629, "author": "kamilazdybal", "author_id": 98345, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/98345", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>A <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/88208/ph-d-work-seems-like-a-drag-sometimes-is-this-normal\">duplicate question</a> directed me here. My answer adds another piece of evidence that doing research (in mathematics) can be a drag and it is normal. I've recently read the <a href=\"https://books.google.be/books?id=s_l6VK1ZPtMC&amp;lpg=PP1&amp;pg=PR13#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">preface</a> to the textbook &quot;<em>All the Mathematics You Missed: But Need to Know for Graduate School</em>&quot; by Professor Thomas A. Garrity. I recommend reading the entire thing, but in particular, these few sentences made it clear to me that struggling is part of the journey for everyone:</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Math is Hard. Unfortunately, people are just not that good at\nmathematics. While intensely enjoyable, it also requires hard work and\nself-discipline. I know of no serious mathematician who finds math\neasy. In fact, most, after a few beers, will confess how stupid and\nslow they are. This is one of the personal hurdles that a beginning\ngraduate student must face, namely how to deal with the profundity of\nmathematics in stark comparison to our own shallow understandings of\nmathematics.</p>\n<p>(...)</p>\n<p>Mathematics is exciting, though. The frustrations should more than be\ncompensated for by the thrills of learning and eventually creating\n(or discovering) new mathematics. That is, after all, the main goal\nfor attending graduate school, to become a research mathematician. As\nwith all creative endeavors, there will be emotional highs and lows.\nOnly jobs that are routine and boring will not have these peaks and\nvalleys. Part of the difficulty of graduate school is learning how to\ndeal with the low times.</p>\n<p>Thomas A. Garrity - <em>All the Mathematics You Missed: But Need to Know for Graduate School</em></p>\n</blockquote>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2219", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/948/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2226, "author": "Stat-R", "author_id": 453, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/453", "pm_score": 4, "selected": true, "text": "<p>Mendeley does it actually. I did not try properly before. \n<img src=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/LuKEr.png\" alt=\"enter image description here\">\nThen I had a problem with getting the authors correct. What you need to do is put them as follows</p>\n\n<pre><code>Last Name, First Names\nLast Name, First Names\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>and so on.</p>\n\n<p><strong>After Edit-1:</strong><br>Another useful thing in Mendeley is that, you just have to select the authors from the pdf and Mendeley will give suggestions on the syntax based on existing authors in the current database. See the following image.\n<img src=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/8BHxC.jpg\" alt=\"enter image description here\"></p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2229, "author": "David Ketcheson", "author_id": 81, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/81", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>If you use bibtex, then you can batch edit with things like sed, awk, or simple find/replace in any text editor.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2233, "author": "bobthejoe", "author_id": 319, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/319", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>In my experience, the author syntax changes if you're using DOI or PMID. In addition to the method that @Stat-R suggests, if you filter by authors, you can simply drag and drop author names onto each other and they will merge into your designated syntax.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2225", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/453/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2235, "author": "Suresh", "author_id": 346, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I can't see the actual article, but if it's an MAA article by Martin Gardner, it's probably a list of interesting puzzles. Peter Winkler also writes a column of this kind. </p>\n\n<p>These might not be \"research papers\" in the sense of proving new theorems on a topic, but they're interesting communications. You can of course cite such a paper as a reference if you use some material from it (and you should!)</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2237, "author": "Vittorio Patriarca", "author_id": 1009, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1009", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>This is the description of the Journal:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Math Horizons is intended primarily for undergraduates interested in \n mathematics. Thus, while we especially value and desire to publish \n high-quality exposition of beautiful mathematics, we also wish to \n publish lively articles about the culture of mathematics. We interpret \n this quite broadly—we welcome stories of mathematical people, the \n history of an idea or circle of ideas, applications, fiction, folklore, \n traditions, institutions, humor, puzzles, games, book reviews, \n student math club activities, and career opportunities and advice.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>So, it don't contain research papers.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2238, "author": "JRN", "author_id": 64, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/64", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>As the others have stated, what you refer to is an article in a magazine, and not a research paper in a journal. If your goal is to show that you came upon an idea while reading this article, then you should cite the article. (Research papers do sometimes include magazine articles in their bibliographies.)</p>\n\n<p>However, research papers usually cite sources where ideas were first published, and it is rare for original ideas to be first published in magazines as articles. So there is a good chance that the ideas you found in the article were published earlier. I recommend that you search for earlier sources and cite them also.</p>\n\n<p>I also recommend that you read a few issues of the three publications I mentioned in <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/1440/64\">this answer</a> to see how they cite work in recreational mathematics. (In my opinion, the most prestigious place to publish work on recreational mathematics is the <em>American Mathematical Monthly</em>.)</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2244, "author": "Dan C", "author_id": 1069, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1069", "pm_score": 4, "selected": true, "text": "<p>A number of people have correctly told you (I can see the article) that this is a collection of mathematical puzzles, rather than a research paper. So let me tell you a little more about this type of article. Martin Gardner is considered by many to be the biggest popularizer of recreational mathematics in the 20th century (perhaps ever). For 25 years (1956-1981), he wrote a column for Scientific American called <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Gardner#Recreational_mathematics\" rel=\"nofollow\">Mathematical Games</a>. Many of his columns have been collected into books (such as <a href=\"http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0883855453\" rel=\"nofollow\">Martin Gardner's Mathematical Games</a>). Some other well-known examples of similar writing include that of <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Hofstadter\" rel=\"nofollow\">Douglas Hofstadter</a>, <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Stewart_%28mathematician%29\" rel=\"nofollow\">Ian Stewart</a>, and <a href=\"http://www.maa.org/devlin/devangle.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">Keith Devlin</a>.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2234", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2240, "author": "mankoff", "author_id": 185, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/185", "pm_score": 6, "selected": true, "text": "<p>No. Not sufficient. Kindle DX, an almost full-sized page, was not big enough. Refresh rates are not fast enough for flipping back and forth. Zooming interface is terrible. E readers are good for simple flow text, one page after the next. That is not how I read papers. Tablets do much better. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2241, "author": "Jeff", "author_id": 1171, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1171", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>While I still prefer to have a printed copy, I find that my Kindle Fire (which I bought for this particular purpose) works wonderfully. It's a little pricier than a standard kindle, but the touch screen allows you to zoom and scan on pdf pages with ease. It's far superior to reading the same paper on a laptop or desktop monitor.</p>\n\n<p>It's also nice to be able to carry around so many papers without additional weight or bulk!</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2243, "author": "Community", "author_id": -1, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Although my experience in this field is limited, here are a few points I learnt : </p>\n\n<p>The mode of learning should be active. You should scribble, underline, highlight, gnaw or circle or whatever to make sure you understand each and every point the author makes. One can't read papers like a fiction novel. It's not a spectator sport.</p>\n\n<p>Any device which allows you to do the above is good. </p>\n\n<p>On PC you can use xournal. It works really well on Linux flavours.\nOn tablets, you have many options for markup.\nA somewhat related question regarding the review of papers was asked and gathered some interesting answers:\n<a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/2209/107\">Useful software resources for reviewing papers</a></p>\n\n<p>Either way the point is to get involved.\nPersonally, my productivity is highest on dead tree version but if that's not possible. I strongly prefer my tablet over the computer since distractions are lower. On my computer, any \"instant glorification\" distraction is one alt+tab away</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2246, "author": "Dave Clarke", "author_id": 643, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/643", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I started reading scientific papers on my iPad and now I hardly print any papers at all. I use an application called <em>PDF reader</em>, which also allows one to annotate the pdfs, which is really useful for commenting on student papers. One can make comments using a pen or type them in.\nApart from saving trees, it is very handy for collecting and carrying around hundreds of papers (that I'll never have time to read).</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2249, "author": "Mallow", "author_id": 1184, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1184", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>The nook doesn't allow you to highlight things, make notes, or bookmarks. If you just read one paper at a time and leave it on it's fine, otherwise carry a piece of paper to remember the page you are on.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2260, "author": "Roaring Fish", "author_id": 864, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/864", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I would go with iPad too. My experience with trying to use an ereader was horrible. The page turns are far too slow for flipping backwards and forwards, but mainly the claimed advantage of eInk - it doesn't glow - became a problem when trying to research in the evening.</p>\n\n<p>That, plus the iPad's ability to access Google or JSTOR or whatever on the same device, means that I now use the iPad exclusively. The Kindle might get dragged out to read a novel now and then, which is what it is designed for, but for documents? Never.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2273, "author": "Dirk", "author_id": 529, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/529", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I use a <a href=\"http://www.pocketbook-int.com/de/products/pocketbook-912\">PocketBook 912 Pro</a> (which is an ebook reader). The display is almost 10\" and that is large enough (even too large for, e.g., SIAM papers, but zooming in persistent). Reading is great, reading outside in the sun is even better. The battery is great; I use it for more than a month now and I did not need to charge it (the small time I connected it by USB to upload paper was enough). The stylus allows you to highlight and scribble on papers. DJVU is supported. </p>\n\n<p>Downsides: Paper turning is indeed slow (for me this is not too bad, it slows me down and helps to read more carefully). Taking notes is sometimes slow, erasing notes is very slow. Hyperlinks do not work in pdf documents as well as the table of contents (this is a software issue and I hope, it will be fixed some day). </p>\n\n<p>My conclusion is that if you need a device for traveling which allows you to read something when you only have a few minutes (at a bus stop or so) but also to read a little longer, than an ebook reader is a good option. I use it both to read papers and books and found is especially convenient to referee papers.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2279, "author": "Willie Wong", "author_id": 94, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/94", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>To answer the specific questions in the OP for the <strong>Kindle DX</strong>.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Size: if the original journal article is printed on B5 (which is also about the size of many textbooks in mathematics) or smaller, then the auto-zoomed display on the Kindle DX is more than sufficient. If the original article or book is two-column A4 with small font, it does not look so great. If the journal or magazine includes \"navigational tools\" in the PDF file, they become extraneous header and footers that make things even worse (<em>American Scientist</em>, I'm looking in your direction). </li>\n<li>Maths and Graphs: so far everything displays well. This includes digital scans of old (1950s and 60s) mathematics articles, modern journal articles from Springer and Elsevier journals, arXiv downloads, as well as European Mathematical Society and Cambridge University Press eBooks. </li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>For some caveats:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Bookmarks: yes. Use them plenty, since internal hyperlinking doesn't work. The reader does remember where you \"left off\" automatically.</li>\n<li>Notes and highlights: no. </li>\n<li>Page turning: slow, but is something I willingly put up with for the convenience. (It is lighter and cheaper than a netbook, and also lighter and more compact then deadwood format.)</li>\n<li>Battery life: great, one charge lasts me usually several weeks. Of course, the main energy consumption in eInk is the page flips. So if your paper reading habit is lots of back and forth page flipping, you will use up your battery much faster. </li>\n</ul>\n" }, { "answer_id": 9532, "author": "willus", "author_id": 6868, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6868", "pm_score": 0, "selected": false, "text": "<p>There is software that will help to better format an academic PDF for a 6-inch reader screen. See the MobileRead.com PDF forum (sticky entries): <a href=\"http://www.mobileread.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=184\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.mobileread.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=184</a></p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 75270, "author": "MOON", "author_id": 11374, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11374", "pm_score": 0, "selected": false, "text": "<p>If you have many PDF files, then you better find a way to organize them on your device. Thus, the software or digital library which you like to use determines which operating system is better for you and hence which device you should pick.</p>\n\n<p>I personally prefer Zotero to organize my PDF files which is only avaiable on Windows. As a result, I bought a 10 inch touch laptop which can be detached from its keyboard. One example is acer switch 10.</p>\n\n<p>If you like Mendeley, then you have three choices, Android, IOS, and Windows. I did not work with Mendeley on IOS. I think between Android and Windows Mendeley works better on Windows.</p>\n\n<p>Consider that the battery on Android and IOS devices last longer than laptops and you can charge these devices via power banks but you cannot charge a laptop with a power bank.</p>\n\n<p>One advantage of Windows is that you can install full MS office on it. Pay attention that some laptops have Windows RT. They usually have MS Office preinstalled, which might need a license, but you cannot install .exe files. </p>\n\n<p>I tried to read papers on my touch laptop for a year. At the end I prefer to read short articles printed on paper. I only read books and long articles on my device.</p>\n\n<p>I think you should first consider which software you need, then decide which device you should get. With regards to e-book readers such as Kindle,forget them. You cannot install apps or software on them.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2239", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/117/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2255, "author": "aeismail", "author_id": 53, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53", "pm_score": 5, "selected": true, "text": "<p>It sounds like the journal wants you to identify in what manner your paper has expanded the state of knowledge in your field. Have you contributed a new experimental method? Or perhaps you've provided new insights into some sort of phenomenon, or measured data for a new material, or so on. These contributions should be collected in this \"novelty file.\"</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2256, "author": "Dan C", "author_id": 1069, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1069", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I think they're asking for an \"explanation for non-experts\". Often, the abstract of a paper gives only enough information to be fully understood by an expert in the field (or at least in that problem). Part of your job in explaining your work is <strong>explaining why it's important</strong>. Think about how you would explain your work to a student with roughly the same background as you, but who hasn't thought much about your project. Now think about how you would explain it to a researcher working in a completely different field... in 5 sentences or less. Your novelty file should say something like that. Emphasize <strong>here's what we added</strong>.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 25643, "author": "aaragon", "author_id": 19409, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19409", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I recently submitted a paper to IJNME. In the 'File Upload' section, it states the following:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>\"Author's Novelty File\" - All Authors are now required to supply an additional\n file. Please briefly describe, in a bullet pointed list, the new contributions\n of your paper to the field. Do not repeat for this purpose the content of your\n abstract. Instead, provide a brief itemized list of these contributions in a\n separate file.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I hope this helps.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2254", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/897/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2259, "author": "TCSGrad", "author_id": 79, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/79", "pm_score": 5, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Here are some of the less severe options that you can try out first:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Research the whereabouts of his former students. How many of them graduated, and if so, what was the quality of their work (publication venues/citations etc) and where are they now? Contact them individually, and talk to them about how they resolved this situation.</li>\n<li>Try talking to him, privately at first, in a pleasant, non-accusatory manner. Tell him that you tend to find his method of working rather discouraging, and ask for ways in which both of you can improve your working relation</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>If nothing else works, consider changing your adviser. As your institute is a reputed one, its almost sure to have a formal procedure which can be initiated by the student to change one's adviser. Before doing that, look around the department and find out, albeit discretely, if there are openings in other groups doing similar kind of work - after all, if no-one is ready to take you in the same dept., you may have to look at other institutions entirely!</p>\n\n<p>Most importantly, do NOT give up on your research/look to find faults with yourself without any valid reason - a lot of researchers have faced similar issues with their advisers at first, and they have successfully either worked out all issues or simply changed to a more suitable adviser down the line!</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2261, "author": "eykanal", "author_id": 73, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/73", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>What you describe, unfortunately, somewhat of a common problem in academia, particularly with senior faculty. My advisor and I had a somewhat similar relationship, but he was far less harsh than what you describe.</p>\n\n<p>The following isn't a solution, but just a few points to think about as you consider your options:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>It is almost certain that you will <em>not</em> be able to chance your professor's attitude. He's been managing his lab like this for years, and this is his way of doing things. I would strongly suggest speaking to other students about him before approaching him directly; I would venture a guess that talking to him about this issue and your feelings on the matter have a good likelihood do you more harm than good, as he likely will not care and will only think the worse of you for it.</p></li>\n<li><p>You should have a research committee; speak to one of the members of your committee about your concerns. Personally, almost all of the useful advice I received during my PhD work was from a committee member, both in terms of direction and in terms of actual research work.</p></li>\n<li><p>You can switch labs whenever you want. Yes, it will set you back a few years, but that may be a necessary cost. Always keep that in mind; you're not bound to him by any means. </p></li>\n<li><p>On the other hand, sticking it out may be worthwhile, as you'll have a good name behind your PhD, and this is a personality type you will likely come across again in academia (and elsewhere). It's definitely worth getting to know how to deal with this type of individual.</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Do realize that his critique of your research doesn't mean it's bad by any stretch, it just means that he's focusing on your mistakes. To get more positive feedback, try joining other journal clubs and lab meetings around the university, and present your ideas there; most would be happy to have you, and would give you useful feedback.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2262, "author": "StrongBad", "author_id": 929, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929", "pm_score": 6, "selected": true, "text": "<p>Every PhD student suffers mental trauma. You say your advisor \"scolds\" and \"taunts\" you. I think of scolding and taunting as personal attacks, and hence unacceptable. That said, your English makes me unsure if he is attacking you or your work. Attacking someones work is a common occurrence in academia. We tend to get one sentence notifications about our successes and pages and pages of feedback about our failures. Even the best researchers fail more often then they succeed. The key thing to remember is that, in general, it is not personal. You need to identify if your advisor is attacking you or your work.</p>\n\n<p>You say your advisor \"is not impressed with my good academic record and my hard work\". Successful academics tend not to be impressed by academic records and hard work since it is par for the course. This doesn't mean they do not respect you. The best way to find out what your advisor thinks about you is to ask. Ask what you are doing well and what you can work on. Also say that you are feeling unsure of yourself and looking for reassurance. Some advisors will give you reassurance and a shoulder to cry on, others will simply tell you that you are not failing. Not failing is another word for a major success.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 8109, "author": "Ana", "author_id": 6075, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6075", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I came across your post as I was looking for information on the same subject - too much pressure from my supervisor. </p>\n\n<p>First of all it's good to know I'm not alone... and the comments from all the others really helped.</p>\n\n<p>One thing that helps me is to think that in the end, it's not my supervisor who's going to evaluate me. I'm going to present my thesis to a jury,not to him. He'll probably won't even have any word to say in my final presentation. He's suppose to be a help to get me through, not the person who will judge me.</p>\n\n<p>So try to keep your eyes on the goal instead of making all this efforth to adapting to your supervisor and ending up writing and researching as if him was the one I have to impress. He's not.</p>\n\n<p>Good luck:)</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 54007, "author": "John_dydx", "author_id": 8901, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8901", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>You can either keep him and find other secondary supervisors to help you out with your research. Alternatively you can find a new supervisor but I guess you're nearing the end of your PhD so this has to be taken into consideration. I'm sry to hear about your ordeal though. </p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2257", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/897/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2503, "author": "Magpie", "author_id": 1248, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1248", "pm_score": 2, "selected": true, "text": "<p>WebCT is probably about as user unfriendly as it gets so you'll probably find moodle pretty easy to pick up after that!</p>\n\n<p>Try this <a href=\"http://moodle.org/course/view.php?id=5\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://moodle.org/course/view.php?id=5</a></p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3648, "author": "Francisco Morales", "author_id": 2775, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2775", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<h1>Moodle</h1>\n<p>I recommend you to try a demo site of Moodle. It would be specially helpful to try one that has content. <a href=\"http://school.demo.moodle.net/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\"><strong>Here you can find one</strong></a>. You can choose which role to use, so you will be able to see what students see and to see some settings for each activity.</p>\n<p><a href=\"http://docs.moodle.org/23/en/Main_page\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\"><strong>Moodle's documentation</strong></a> is the bible for using Moodle. You just have to make sure to review the documentation of the current version of your site. For instance, the capabilities of versions 1.9 or lower are much more limited than those of versions 2.0 or higher. However, if you are beginner I suggest you to visit first the demo site. Moodle's documentation could be more difficult to grasp if you do not know how a site works.</p>\n<h1>Contents</h1>\n<p>I am not sure if you are going to use Moodle as a support for classes (&quot;blended learning&quot;) or if you are going to teach an e-learning class. However, regardless of the kind of use, <a href=\"http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/869/1575\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\"><strong>here</strong></a> you can find interesting ideas and concepts about distance education using Moodle. These ideas will be useful even if you are teaching a blended learning class. This document explains some principles for distance education (e.g., the course interface should be simple and intuitive).</p>\n<h1>Tips</h1>\n<ul>\n<li>The module called &quot;<strong>Lesson</strong>&quot; is very flexible to show and assess content. Some creative users have used it to simulate a situation where students have to make choices. Depending on those choices the module shows them different contents or questions.</li>\n<li>The &quot;<strong>Workshop</strong>&quot; module allows you to implement a peer review system in a class.</li>\n<li>The &quot;<strong>Assignment</strong>&quot; module can be used as an &quot;electronic mail box&quot;. Students can submit their project reports online.</li>\n<li>In the newer versions of Moodle there is an option to create a &quot;<strong>Rubric</strong>&quot;. So you can quickly evaluate projects clicking on the rubric.</li>\n<li>You can set up a &quot;<strong>Wiki</strong>&quot; in the course's page. For instance, you can ask students to use the Wiki to document their progress on a project, so you can directly comment in there.</li>\n<li>You can create <strong>groups</strong> of students in the course's page. One of the advantages of this is that you can implement forums for each group, so students can exchange messages within their groups.</li>\n<li>If you are teaching a class that uses a lot of math, you can write in Moodle using Latex syntaxis.</li>\n</ul>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2258", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2264, "author": "Baz", "author_id": 1172, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1172", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>As a recent graduate in CS I can only provide my experience with grade assignment methods I came across during my studies.</p>\n\n<p>I think the worst method is to let the grade solely depend on one exam at the end of the semester. The students will most likely put no effort in learning for this exam during the semester and will instead invest a couple of days before the exam to repeat the lecture's content.</p>\n\n<p>The most promising method I came across was using (bi-)weekly assignments out of which the student had to reach at least 50% of the points. This way, they have to focus on the topic in order to solve the assignments to be able to take part in the exam.</p>\n\n<p>In addition to this method, some lecturers awarded students with more than 80% of the overall points a bonus in the exam, i.e. they will obtain (let's say) 10 points bonus within the exam. I for myself think this really motivated me to invest time into the assignments and consequently into the lecture content.</p>\n\n<p>Finally, there was one lecture where students could pose questions with possible answers in an online learning platform. The other students could use these questions (after review by an assistant or professor) to learn for the final exam. Students posing very good questions gained a bonus for the exam, similar to the above approach.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2348, "author": "Oran", "author_id": 1217, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1217", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>A good place to begin research on grading methods is under such topics as \"formative assessment\", \"educational assessment/evaluation\" and more general headings would be \"evaluation\" and \"educational measurement\". From memory, there have been favorable results from formative assessments given periodically throughout a course session. Such tests or quizzes help provide numerous chances for students to demonstrate their learning, as well as giving themselves feedback on how well they are or are not progressing. Finding out early that the subject is beyond them is always helpful, as is giving the more capable opportunities to improve over time. There is little merit in giving single, end of course exams or projects, assuming that you value students' opinions and their mastery of the course objectives. </p>\n\n<p>Note that there are a variety of alternatives to \"tests\" these days, many of which can provide students with the chance to show their learning way beyond the mastery of the facts. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 4904, "author": "Fuhrmanator", "author_id": 3859, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/3859", "pm_score": 0, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I've used several <a href=\"http://www.pedagogicalpatterns.org/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Pedagogical Patterns</a> in my courses, namely <a href=\"http://csis.pace.edu/~bergin/PedPat1.3.html#gradeitagainsam\" rel=\"nofollow\">Grade it again, Sam</a> that is part of <a href=\"http://csis.pace.edu/~bergin/patterns/fewpedpats.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">Some Pedagogical Patterns</a>. They're oriented towards computer-science curriculum, but could be adapted to other areas.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2263", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/61/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2270, "author": "aeismail", "author_id": 53, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Assuming your field is relatively small, the odds are good that your advisor's fate is known to the community. Unfortunately, such events do happen, for all kinds of reasons—just a few weeks ago I learned that a relatively prominent academic in my field basically had his group wiped out because he was arrested on some rather nasty charges!</p>\n\n<p>While it doesn't seem that your original advisor befell such an awful fate, it is clear that, for whatever reason, he is no longer in academia. However, given that he is probably known to many of the people working in your field, it might still be helpful to try to get a letter from him, even if he's doing something completely different. If you can't, because he has refused to do so, then you are entitled to explain the situation in your CV or cover letter. Be succinct and to the point, and stick to the facts; do not make it into a \"sob story,\" which will not endear you to a hiring committee or postdoc advisor.</p>\n\n<p>And good luck—such situations are always stressful, and are always unfortunate for the students caught up in them. It's one of the pitfalls of academic life, and I don't know of a good way to deal with it.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2284, "author": "JeffE", "author_id": 65, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p><strong>Your current advisor's letters are killing you. Do not ask him for any more letters. Do not list him as a reference in your CV. Don't walk; run.</strong></p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>I will add here that I have a number of publications (>5) including single authored ones-which for my field is significant- as well as an excellent track record of funding and in presenting my research. </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>In that case, you really should have no trouble finding enough other good references to overcome any concerns raised by not having a letter from either of your advisors. Everyone reads advisor letters with a grain of salt anyway; strong letters from well-known senior researchers outside your home department have much bigger impact.</p>\n\n<p>Of course, if anyone asks why your current advisor isn't writing you letters, you should answer honestly, but I think adding an explanatory note in advance is unnecessarily defensive.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2285, "author": "Noah Snyder", "author_id": 25, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/25", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>You should definitely get rid of the letter from your new \"advisor.\" I think it would be reasonable to list only your original advisor as your advisor on your CV (not the new advisor). </p>\n\n<p>I think you should make sure that one of your letter writers includes a short paragraph explaining that your advisor left academia and this is why you do not have a letter from your advisor. I would look into whether there's someone you can ask for a letter who feels some responsibility for your original advisor, for example, your advisor's advisor or a frequent coauthor of your advisor.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2269", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1192/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2283, "author": "user823", "author_id": 823, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/823", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Generally, many publishers and fields have rules against reuse of one's own text if that use is a (a) substantial; (b) not disclosed/attributed; (c) published.</p>\n\n<p>How these terms are interpreted varies among publishers and disciplines. Most publishers would not consider a thesis or dissertation to be a \"publication\" for this purpose (hence the still widespread practice of converting dissertations into \"book\"). However, to avoid misunderstandings and keep definitively within the rules it is good practice to cite one's thesis, and to provide a brief summary of what content was reused and the extent it was updated, in the cover letter and in an introductory footnote. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 32359, "author": "choener", "author_id": 8826, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8826", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>In Computer Science, many publishers (well all of those I published with) have an automated system of requesting re-use permissions. For inclusion in a thesis, these tend to be 'as published' or 'post-review, but not typeset' which allows verbatim copies. Verbatim as in: insert the pdf from the journal into the thesis.</p>\n\n<p>You should check for your field but might be pleasently surprised.</p>\n\n<p>Please check with your advisor what he allows you to do.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 32387, "author": "Brian P", "author_id": 17232, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17232", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>You are in a unique position if you can literally copy-and-paste from your thesis directly to a journal article. If that is the case, take that opportunity and don't worry about self-plagiarism. The issue is whether your work has been previously published in some fashion. A thesis that has been submitted to a university is not considered a publication and, generally speaking, no copyright agreements have been signed. This is, indeed, your work. You are plagiarizing yourself when you publish an article and then lift text directly from that article. If your thesis has not been 'published,' then shape it into a journal article and send it off ... </p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2281", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1200/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2291, "author": "Community", "author_id": -1, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Although there are not as many features as on SE, one possibility could be to <a href=\"http://www.reddit.com/reddits/create\">create a sub-reddit</a>. You can restrict the access of the sub-reddit only to the concerned students if you want to, you can ask questions, you can comment (recursively), you can upvote/downvote the best questions/answers/comments, there is an RSS feed.</p>\n\n<p>I don't know if it covers all the features you want, but that could be a good start, since it's very easy to setup. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2293, "author": "410 gone", "author_id": 96, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/96", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Yes it's possible. Yes it's been done. There are plenty of StackExchange clones such as OSQA to use - <a href=\"https://meta.stackexchange.com/q/2267/164022\">there's a question over on meta-stackoverflow that lists them</a>. You can pretty much pick your favourite platform, and there will be a StackExchange clone for it.</p>\n\n<p>But:</p>\n\n<p>You might well find that take-up rates are very very low (maybe one in 20 if you're lucky). And you need a lot of people to give a Q&amp;A site enough critical mass to sustain itself.</p>\n\n<p>They're all reasonably easy to use, for the end-users. As to how hard they are to install and maintain, that's a question of the kit and talent you have available. If you've already got a server serving Django apps, then OSQA is easy. If you've got a *AMP stack, then any of the PHP clones should be pretty easy. Installation and management is the really easy part of the process. Drumming up, and sustaining, partcipation is the really hard part.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 16300, "author": "landroni", "author_id": 10726, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10726", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I don't know how straightforward it is to deploy, but you can use the open-source SE-like <a href=\"https://github.com/ialbert/biostar-central\" rel=\"nofollow\">biostar-central</a> developed at GitHub. It is used to host <a href=\"http://www.biostars.org\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.biostars.org</a>.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 57333, "author": "Franck Dernoncourt", "author_id": 452, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/452", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p><a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piazza_(Q%26A_platform)\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Piazza</a> is to my knowledge one of the most popular to Q&amp;A platform used for a university subject. Many courses use it in my university and we are quite happy with it.</p>\n\n<p>Some features:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>free</li>\n<li>take less than a minute to create</li>\n<li>edit questions to improve them</li>\n<li>cross-referencing of questions</li>\n<li>voting for good answers</li>\n<li>notification emails</li>\n<li>students and instructors can write answers</li>\n<li>endorse student's answer</li>\n<li>etc</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Missing features:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>allow to comment</li>\n<li>markdown support</li>\n<li>no rss subscription options</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Screenshots:</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/2SP2x.png\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\"><img src=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/2SP2x.png\" alt=\"enter image description here\"></a></p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/8DeaA.png\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\"><img src=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/8DeaA.png\" alt=\"enter image description here\"></a></p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 67431, "author": "elviejo79", "author_id": 52864, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/52864", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I think you should take a look at Discourse. It is by Jeff Attwood the other coinventor of Stack Overflow.</p>\n\n<p>In his blog he has mentioned all the design decisions that went into its development.</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://blog.codinghorror.com/civilized-discourse-construction-kit/\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://blog.codinghorror.com/civilized-discourse-construction-kit/</a></p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2286", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/62/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2296, "author": "Dan C", "author_id": 1069, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1069", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Your answer to this question will depend somewhat on your long term goals. Everything you mention: talks, journal articles, blog posts, tutorials, magazine articles, etc. can be worthwhile in the right circumstances. Most of what you describe consists of taking variations on the <strong>same theme</strong> to <strong>different audiences</strong>.</p>\n\n<p>In what circles do you most want to be known? More generally, <strong>how will you measure success?</strong> Say for example that your primary goal is to get tenure. If you're at a high research school, then publishing an expository article for undergraduates may well be viewed (by your tenure committee) as a waste of your time. In contrast, if you're at a liberal arts school, this may be considered just as valuable as getting a research article in a top journal.</p>\n\n<p>You asked about incorporating this into project planning. I suggest that you <strong>decide which audiences you are most excited to reach</strong>. This will likely be largely <em>independent</em> of the particular project. Then as you start on each project, think about how you can <strong>tailor your message to suit each of these audiences</strong>. You may be surprised by how often you find you have something valuable to say to each of your target groups.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2299, "author": "Dave Clarke", "author_id": 643, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/643", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I've heard of more than one team who produce for each chunk of research</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>a workshop paper describing what is planned, the challenges, requirements, etc.</li>\n<li>a conference paper describing the results.</li>\n<li>a journal version of the conference paper, expanding on the results, providing more detail, etc.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>I think this is not a bad approach, as it certainly helps to give better shape to the ideas by the time they reach the journal version. (I don't use this approach, though.)</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2287", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/62/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2290, "author": "Jeromy Anglim", "author_id": 62, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/62", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I have seen this format work well in colloquia.</p>\n\n<p>The speaker generally says at the start that they are happy to answer any questions during the talk.\nIf needed at various points the speaker can also ask if anyone has any questions. Ideally, after asking the speaker pauses for a couple of seconds to give people a chance to ask before moving on to the next section of the talk.</p>\n\n<p>It can also sometimes be necessary to close off a particular discussion if it is going on for too long and is not of particular interest to the general audience.</p>\n\n<p>In general, I think the format works best when the presenter knows the material well, and the audience is reasonably well informed.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2294, "author": "Dan C", "author_id": 1069, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1069", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I use a version of this in the weekly research seminar that I run.\nThis format typically works best when </p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p><strong>the speaker knows ahead of time that he/she is likely to get questions during the talk</strong> and </p></li>\n<li><p><strong>at least a few of the audience members feel comfortable asking such questions</strong>. </p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>If the speaker is a regular attendee of the seminar, then <strong>(1)</strong> works itself out naturally; otherwise, I recommend that the organizer mention this ahead of time to the speaker. Generally, more experienced speakers are more comfortable with this model. As I'm asking questions during the talk, I watch the speaker's responses. If the speaker starts to get flustered or is unable to answer well a few questions in a row, then I often will stop asking questions. Actually, I usually talk a little with the speaker ahead of time about what I'm hoping for from the talk, who the typical audience is, how long the talks usually go, etc. I find that a few minutes beforehand can save you from the awkward experience of having a talk that is at too low or too high a level.</p>\n\n<p>For <strong>(2)</strong>, I am usually quite comfortable asking questions, and I generally find that at least one other faculty member in the audience is. As Jeromy mentioned, typically this model works best when the questions are asked by well-informed audience members (since they can more easily discern which questions will and will not be helpful to the rest of the audience). If you find that no one else in the audience is asking questions, I suggest that you talk with a few of the regular attendees and ask if they would be willing to start asking questions. (This conversation probably will work better <em>outside</em> of the actual seminar.)</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2288", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/319/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2301, "author": "user823", "author_id": 823, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/823", "pm_score": 5, "selected": true, "text": "<p>To build and maintain a network of professional relationships, one should develop, maintain, and express genuine interest in other people and their work. Introducing oneself at conferences is a good start, as is recording and updating contact information, and setting up a system to remind yourself to reach out to people regularly. (There are various tools for this, ranging from a spreadsheet, to social network services, to CRM software. If you use gmail, you may want to try \"contactually\" for the mechanical part. ) </p>\n\n<p>Sending your contacts updates on your work is useful. And these should be targeted... it's ok to use a broadcast medium like twitter to announce new work to the world, but avoid sending out mass-email -- instead target those people who are likely to be most interested, and include a brief personal note that puts the new work in the context of their interests.</p>\n\n<p>Most important, keep track of what others in your network are doing -- new publications, new projects, working papers, promotions, etc. (Social networks can be useful for this in some fields for tracking people directly, tracking working papers in your discipline, and disciplinary news can be quite useful, google scholar can also help alert you to new publications from people in your network. ) And when someone in your network is starting something of interest, re-connect -- with congratulations, a useful comment, and possibly some information on your own work (if it really is of interest with respect to their new project). </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2302, "author": "Sylvain Peyronnet", "author_id": 43, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/43", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Maybe this is obvious, but never forget to wrap your networking cover ops in real social ops. In a conference, go talk to people, than go drink a coffee, beer, discuss with them about anything but work at the lunch, etc.\nIf you do that, it is really simpler to send a thank you mail and to reactivate a contact afterwards.</p>\n\n<p>Regarding the action of sending your work around, why not, but you must target carefully who you are contacting. Be sure that your work is really of interest for the person, this is what will make the difference between a spammer and an interesting contact.</p>\n\n<p>Another way to ping is to ask genuine questions on new papers authored by your contacts.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2300", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2304, "author": "aeismail", "author_id": 53, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>If you're going to be doing a master's degree <em>by research</em>, then admissions committees are going to want to see evidence of any previous research that you've done. That way, you're less of a risk for them to admit you, because you've already learned many of the skills you'll need to be successful.</p>\n\n<p>The \"currency\" for establishing this are patents and research publications. I assume you're familiar with patents, since you ask for a comparison. Basically, research publications will be considered at least as important as patents, as they generally represent a significant amount of original research. (Patents may be a matter of <em>development</em> rather than <em>research</em>.)</p>\n\n<p>As for how and where to release research publications, that depends on your field. In CS, my understanding is that generally means that you have to publish your research in conference papers, which means that you'll have to get your research work written up and submitted to a conference. Then you'll need to get your paper accepted, and then you can publish.</p>\n\n<p>If you don't have any publications, don't worry. If you still have research experience, a recommendation letter from a research supervisor can also help to establish your qualifications. (Absent some evidence, though, most graduate programs will remain skeptical.)</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2305, "author": "Dave Clarke", "author_id": 643, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/643", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I think they are asking for your publications in case you have any, but I highly doubt that publications will be necessary to get into a masters program. It just something to add to your application to give a more complete picture of you.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2306, "author": "mankoff", "author_id": 185, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/185", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>List your patents in the place where they ask for publications. It is a good substitute at this point.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2303", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1207/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2308, "author": "Community", "author_id": -1, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>According to the thesaurus of my dictionary: </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p><em>a program of study</em>: course, syllabus, curriculum.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Basically, it's just another word for curriculum, although I've heard it mostly associated with graduate studies rather than undergraduate ones. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2309, "author": "Aru Ray", "author_id": 948, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/948", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>In this context, it is referring to the particular department or school, that is to say, \"don't go to graduate school unless you get into a good university, or rather a good department.\" Don't go to graduate school for the sake of going to graduate school - make sure you're going somewhere which does good research, where faculty members publish frequently, has a history of graduates doing well for themselves, etc. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2310, "author": "user823", "author_id": 823, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/823", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>One should interpret \"program\" broadly in this case to includes <em>curriculum</em>, <em>faculty</em>, and <em>placement record</em>. </p>\n\n<p>More generally, consider what your objective is for entering the program. If the primary goal is to pursue research, the program strength is particularly important. If the primary goal is to obtain a tenure-track position -- pay particularly close attention to the placement record of the department, and to its reputation in the discipline. If the primary goal is to obtain credentials, overall program strength may be somewhat less important, if the school is accredited and has a good placement record. </p>\n\n<p>Finally, as practical considerations, you may also wish to consider the completion rate, time to completion, level of student support offered, and RA/TA workload. </p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2307", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/347/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2314, "author": "David Ketcheson", "author_id": 81, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/81", "pm_score": 5, "selected": true, "text": "<p>There is no such site because it is unnecessary. In Europe, a Ph.D. student is like an employee and is admitted to work on a specific project. In the USA, a Ph.D. student is admitted in a manner similar to an undergraduate (based on general considerations) and is not necessarily attached to a particular project or even a particular advisor.</p>\n\n<p>Hence, you could say that every US department has a number of studentships available each year, always at the same time (start of fall semester) and you apply for all of them simply by submitting an admission application to the program.</p>\n\n<p>Thus the answers to your numbered questions are</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>No.</li>\n<li>No.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>Disclaimer: there are probably exceptions, but what I've written applies 99% of the time.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>One additional note: I disagree with the comment below that claims that individual faculty do not decide which students are admitted. In every program I know, a small committee of program faculty makes <strong>all</strong> the decisions. If some faculty member (whether on the committee or not) really wants a particular applicant, that applicant will be admitted. My own admission came on the same day that I contacted a faculty member (and as a direct result). Of course, you should always follow <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/924/contacting-professors-for-phd-vacancies\">this good advice</a> when contacting faculty you'd like to work with.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2318, "author": "aeismail", "author_id": 53, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>The closest that you can come to this in the US is listings of graduate <em>fellowships</em>, which is more closely related to the issue of funding rather than admissions. Pretty much every department has an annual cycle for admitting students, as David mentions.</p>\n\n<p>However, funding models vary widely, so acquisition of an external fellowship can make a significant difference in the kinds of projects one can take (since positions tend to be closely tied to specific projects, as a result of the grant model in the US). </p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2313", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1190/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2316, "author": "Lars Kotthoff", "author_id": 12, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>It depends :)</p>\n\n<p>I would invest effort proportionally to the potential benefit for me (in terms of number/quality of publications) as well as the fun I would have doing it. Where the limit lies depends only on you and I can't really give you any advice on it. You should also consider other factors, such as how your own research is progressing. If you have an important deadline coming up, you shouldn't be doing something unrelated, even if it might lead to a good publication or be a lot of fun.</p>\n\n<p>In any case, you should be very upfront about the level of commitment. Leaving them hanging half way is IMHO a bad idea. Not only in terms of you not being able to participate in any successes after that, but also in terms of letting someone down who asked you to help them. If you don't particularly like the project or don't want to invest any effort in it, tell them.</p>\n\n<p>That said, I've been involved with a few such projects and always found it very rewarding.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2317, "author": "Community", "author_id": -1, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1", "pm_score": 5, "selected": true, "text": "<p>You forget one consideration: do you enjoy using that skill? To take your own example, I enjoy programming, and even though I might not learn or get anything technical from it, I enjoy solving someone's else problem with some lines of code :) Of course, one should be careful of the time spent and the reward you can get from it, but doing something you enjoy is very different than doing something you can, but don't particularly enjoy doing.</p>\n\n<p>For instance, I can probably install a server and manage a website (with a CMS) for someone, but I don't enjoy it, so I would be very explicit about the benefit (I do that for you if you do that for me). But I could do some cool coding on my free time. </p>\n\n<p>On a completely different aspect, it also depends if you intend to stay in academia: it's a very small world, and the person you're doing a favor to today might be the one sitting on your tenure committee in 20 years (if you work in the same department and all stay in academia, it's quite likely that your paths will cross again at some point in the future). </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2343, "author": "InquilineKea", "author_id": 77, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/77", "pm_score": -1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>One idea: If you could ask the student if it's okay to record your sessions helping them (sort of like what Salman Khan did with Khan Academy), and then maybe save your sessions, then maybe you can then re-run those sessions for later students (so that you won't have to repeat yourself as much, and so that you can always show yourself when you're explaining the concept at your best). That way, you can do that and spend your time giving more personalized instruction to who-ever you're helping.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2349, "author": "bobthejoe", "author_id": 319, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/319", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Usually when I help other students I put a large time investment making sure that they are capable of caring on the rest of the project without my help. I see my job is to help them get the ball rolling while maintaining the illusion that I'm the local \"expert\". An analogy would be dressing yourself up as a consultant rather than a mercenary.</p>\n\n<p>Coding is a particularly good example of this. While you can just code away and have it do the job, claim victory, and get endless praise and thanks, I think that its worth writing quality well commented code so that your peer can take it and do their own thing mostly without your help. At the sacrifice of a lot of initial effort, you get some valuable practice time with teaching and writing interesting projects and they won't feel totally abandoned when you have to do something else.</p>\n\n<p>An additional plus is that you can establish yourself at a person only to inquire when there is a worthwhile need for you skill and that should filter out the \"hey dude, can you code this up real quick\".</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2315", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2321, "author": "Lev Reyzin", "author_id": 10, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10", "pm_score": 5, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Oftentimes, the referee will not find out the editor's final decision unless she checks up on the status of your paper herself. Furthermore, the editor could have initially chosen to ask for many referees, and there is often disagreement, so it is commonplace that some referee recommendations are not followed.</p>\n\n<p>Moreover, and perhaps most importantly, don't worry about a referee getting offended that your paper got in. You could have just as easily gotten offended that your own paper got rejected. We all have to learn to live with not always getting what we want, referees included.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2322, "author": "JeffE", "author_id": 65, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65", "pm_score": 6, "selected": false, "text": "<p>No, you should not worry. Referees offer <em>opinions</em>. The actual <em>decision</em> to accept or reject a paper rests with the editor. The referee may very well be offended by the editor's decision to ignore her opinion, but that's certainly not <em>your</em> problem.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 20233, "author": "RoboKaren", "author_id": 14885, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14885", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Most journals solicit half a dozen referees hoping that two or three will respond. (I'd be worried about a journal that only uses one referee.) In any case, referees do not usually know how many or who the other referees are, so the person in your case may assume that the vote was 2:1 against them. </p>\n\n<p>In either case, the editor has absolute discretion. They've been known to override even majority negative reports and go with the .... (drumroll please).... minority report.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2320", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1209/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2327, "author": "Anonymous Mathematician", "author_id": 612, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612", "pm_score": 5, "selected": true, "text": "<p>It varies tremendously, based on the type of talk.</p>\n\n<p>To a first approximation, anyone can invite a speaker if they have grant funding to pay for the travel costs (or if there are no costs). The limiting factor is getting an audience - it's embarrassing for everyone if few people show up - so this typically happens only if it's clear there will be real interest in a talk.</p>\n\n<p>Departments in research universities typically have a number of ongoing seminar series, and often a departmental colloquium as well. There will be one or more organizers for each of these, who invite speakers and introduce them before the talks. How the organizers are chosen varies: sometimes they are volunteers, sometimes they are appointed by the chair, and sometimes they got a grant that's paying for everything. The organizers can then ask whoever they want to speak, although they often solicit suggestions from other department members.</p>\n\n<p>There may also be special distinguished visiting positions or lecture series. These are quite a bit more prestigious and speaker selections are often made by a special committee.</p>\n\n<p>How far in advance invitations are made can vary: typically many months in advance for a prestigious lecture series, but a seminar invitation may have less advance notice.</p>\n\n<p>As for how often an invitation is turned down, it's rare for someone to express a lack of interest in principle, but it's common for them to be too busy or for it to be impossible to arrange a mutually agreeable date. I often suggest that someone should come speak sometime in a seminar I organize. Sometimes they immediately start arranging a date, sometimes they defer it to another time but eventually come, and sometimes it never works out, but even in that case it's never certain it won't happen someday. If a speaker can't make it, it's no big deal: you just invite someone else.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2355, "author": "Dan C", "author_id": 1069, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1069", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Let me add to @anonymous-mathematician's <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/2327/6924\">answer</a>. If you're interested in having a researcher come speak at your department, the seminar organizers are often open to suggestions, especially if the potential speaker isn't looking for much in the way of travel costs. Conversely, if you're interested in speaking in a seminar, it can be completely appropriate to invite yourself. This often works better when you've at least met the organizer of the seminar where you'd like to speak; however, you definitely don't need to know him or her well. On more than one occasion I invited myself to speak somewhere. The two or three times I can think of off the top of my head, the organizer was happy to have me. (I think it helped that I didn't ask for any travel reimbursement.) And in each case, I enjoyed my trip and I think my audience enjoyed my talk.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 49781, "author": "Thomas Arildsen", "author_id": 6924, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6924", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>At my department, we often have talks by speakers who are already visiting anyway for example to serve on a PhD committee or as part of a collaboration with one of our researchers. This is usually a good opportunity to invite them to speak as they are already here anyway, their travel paid for by the PhD defence or by a research project of someone they are visiting. </p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2325", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/77/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2328, "author": "Anonymous Mathematician", "author_id": 612, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<blockquote>\n <p>So why don't people specify the source of a citation as detailed as possible in books?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Well, sometimes they haven't thought about this issue. Sometimes they know something is in a certain book but don't have a copy handy to figure out exactly where. Sometimes they do have a copy handy, and they know they should look it up, but they are too lazy.</p>\n\n<p>In many cases one can easily locate the right section using the table of contents or index, but when this fails it's really annoying.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2329, "author": "Suresh", "author_id": 346, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346", "pm_score": 5, "selected": true, "text": "<p>It's always good practice to cite as closely as possible, especially in a book. LaTeX makes it easy to do this with the <code>\\cite[]{}</code> form. For a paper, it's often not necessary since one typically cites the main result of a paper. But even with a paper, if what you're citing is a lemma buried inside (and that is not obvious from the abstract) it's good to say <code>[23, Lemma 3.1]</code> or something like that. </p>\n\n<p>As to why people don't do it, AnonymousMathematician already answered that above. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 29893, "author": "jakebeal", "author_id": 22733, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>There is also often a good positive reason to cite a book without reference to specific chapters or subsections, and that is if one is pointing the reader to a source of review or introductory material. I personally often find it much better to point to a comprehensive survey (which is equally often a book rather than a journal paper), rather than a giant and certainly incomplete list of individual references, especially in formats where the number of pages or reference counts is limited.</p>\n\n<p>This is especially the case when doing cross-disciplinary research. For example, I recently had a reviewer query how our paper could assert something that is such common knowledge in my field that I wouldn't have even thought to cite it. Thus, in the revised paper we cite an appropriate undergraduate textbook. Pointing to a specific element inside the book wouldn't have made sense, since you really need the whole foundation. It would be absolutely inappropriate, however, for us to attempt to reproduce an undergraduate class in the text of our paper.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 29905, "author": "Fomite", "author_id": 118, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/118", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>One reason to not cite a specific page is if the information isn't on <em>a specific page</em>. Books, far more than papers, can communicate not only facts or single points of information, but ideas presented as a coherent whole.</p>\n\n<p>For example, a paper I wrote cited Karl Popper's <em>The Logic of Scientific Discovery</em> when talking about the process of scientific reasoning. There's not a page where that takes place - it's the whole book.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2326", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/218/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2333, "author": "Suresh", "author_id": 346, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<ul>\n<li>More images, and less text. A poster is a highly visual, two dimensional medium, and you should use the real estate as such. Since poster viewers will be skimming it while you explain something to another viewer, it's best to have lots of pictures so they can get a gist of the ideas. </li>\n<li>PPT slides are the poor man's way of making slides on the quick. But they're not ideal. Again, it's best to use the entire real estate as a continuous medium, rather than as a set of tiles (unless you can do some creative flowing with the set of tiles). </li>\n<li>Having said all of that, readers still like some sense of progression through the poster, so it helps to have visual cues (arrows, arcs, etc) that help the reader understand the order in which to read things. </li>\n</ul>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2334, "author": "410 gone", "author_id": 96, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/96", "pm_score": 6, "selected": true, "text": "<ol>\n<li><p>The title is your bait, the first paragraph is your hook. Make the bait big and tasty, make the first paragraph catchy.</p></li>\n<li><p>A poster is primarily an advert for you. Secondarily, it's an advert for your research. Thirdly, it's an advert for your department. And it will succeed at those things best, if it gives the casual reader an easily accessible introduction into what's novel about your research.</p></li>\n<li><p>Know the flow: it should be clear to anyone reading, what they should read first, then second, and so on.</p></li>\n<li><p>Make it clear that it's <strong>your</strong> work. Get your name and affiliation in big letters, with a photo of you. Include your contact details, and make sure you can be reached on them during the conference.</p></li>\n<li><p>Don't use powerpoint. A poster is graphic design, so use a graphic design package such as InDesign. If you don't have an eye for graphic design, design the poster with someone who does. Most departments have at least one natural talent. It's often the person who keeps winning the \"best poster at conference\" prize. It's orthogonal to (i.e. independent of) quality of research.</p></li>\n<li><p>Use a big, clear typeface. Not everyone you need to reach has the healthy, clear vision that most students have.</p></li>\n<li><p>Briefly state the problem, the method, the results, and the implications.</p></li>\n<li><p>Pretty pictures are crucial. The words are there just to supplement the explanation of your work given in the pictures.</p></li>\n<li><p>Test, test, test. Print it out life-size (tiled sheets &amp; sticky tape are your friend), show it to a couple of colleagues (one hot on your area of research, and one hot on design), watch the order in which they read things, ask for feedback. Implement any advice on content that comes from the one who is hot in your area of work. Implement any advice on design that comes from the one hot on design.</p></li>\n</ol>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2337, "author": "Ana", "author_id": 322, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/322", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Apart from the excellent advice you already received, here are some additional points:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Bulleted lists instead of flowing text helps make your points more concise. They are also easier to read. </li>\n<li>Don't be <em>too</em> concise. Although text should be minimal and the poster is not a stand-alone thing (i.e. you're there to present it), take into account that people who are interested in your work will ask you to mail them a pdf of it after the conference. They should be able to reconstruct your work from it (after having heard you present it once).</li>\n<li>Make the research question and conclusion stand out. Circle them, put them in bold, give them a different color, anything. A person looking at your poster should be able to read the title, the question and the answer at first glance. </li>\n<li>Make the data as easy as possible to read: circle the important parts in the graphs, point arrows to them, write in words what they tell you.</li>\n<li>Avoid putting tables, unless they are really small. Tables are difficult to read. Wherever possible, replace them with graphs.</li>\n<li>Avoid trying to tell your audience everything. Choose one key point to present.</li>\n<li>Aesthetics have a slightly different logic than usually. An ugly background color might work in your favor for example, as long as it makes your poster stand out. Symmetry, however, is highly valued. Also, I wouldn't go for more than 2 colors (apart from the background color and letters).</li>\n<li>I've heard that sans serif fonts are considered better for posters, though I'm not sure why.</li>\n</ul>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2338, "author": "Pedro", "author_id": 495, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/495", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I broadly support most of the tips given in the previous answers, but I'd like to add some more general concerns which I feel that you should think of before you even draw the first line:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p><strong>Take-home message:</strong> Think about this long and hard. If you had to describe what was exciting about your work in one single sentence, what would it be? What is the one thing you want people to remember about your work? About your presentation? Make sure you're 100% clear about this before you start writing your poster.</p></li>\n<li><p><strong>Clarity:</strong> Once you have your take-home message, make your entire poster subservient to it. Place it prominently in your title and make it crystal clear in your first paragraph, as <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/96/energynumbers\">EnergyNumbers</a> and <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/322/ana\">Ana</a> suggest. Anything that's on your poster that does not contribute directly to the take-home message shouldn't be there.</p></li>\n<li><p><strong>Lead your readers/viewers</strong>: If your main argument requires a chain of explanations, display these prominently and mark them as such. Make the text flow follow the flow of your argument or reasoning. Place figures where they nail a point home, and nowhere else. Clip arts and colour can be cool, but don't use them if it will distract your readers from your take-home message or otherwise make their eyes wander.</p></li>\n<li><p><strong>Preparation:</strong> Try to think of the three questions people will ask you when you present your results, and try to answer them pre-emptively in the poster. Also try to be as prepared as possible to explain stuff while standing next to it, e.g. make sure it still has all the data you need to point to when making an argument.</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>This may all sound a bit reductionist, but remember that apart from the space restrictions, you're also dealing with <em>time</em> restrictions. People usually just browse posters while on their coffee break. Your job is to captivate them and make the most of that short break.</p>\n\n<p>This might also all sound a bit too much like leading the viewer/reader like mindless cattle. Don't worry, though, they won't care. I've yet to hear anybody complain about an argument being presented <em>too</em> clearly. If anybody wants details beyond the take-home argument, you'll be standing there to give them, which is why you should be prepared and ready for questions.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2367, "author": "DavideChicco.it", "author_id": 379, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/379", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Here you have a great article for the <em>Ten Simple Rules</em> series, by Thomas C. Erren and Philip E. Bourne:</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://www.ploscompbiol.org/article/info%3adoi/10.1371/journal.pcbi.0030102\" rel=\"noreferrer\">Ten Simple Rules for a Good Poster Presentation</a></p>\n\n<p>Take a look!</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2330", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/77/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2332, "author": "Suresh", "author_id": 346, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Maybe you should get your advisor to use something like svn or cvs with the ability for anyone to edit the \"master copy\". Then you can slip in your refs as you see fit. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2335, "author": "Steve P", "author_id": 315, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/315", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>This probably sounds defeatist, but you might just have to accept the fact that some people would rather do things the hard way because they fear that the technology will eat up more time than it's worth. Maybe after building more rapport with him, you will have an opportunity to demonstrate the value of your method...for example, if a paper gets rejected from one journal and you can reformat the references in a few minutes, whereas it would have taken him much longer.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2340, "author": "JeffE", "author_id": 65, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65", "pm_score": 6, "selected": true, "text": "<p><strong>Turn the tables.</strong> For your next paper, <strong>you</strong> maintain the master copy. Make sure all the infrastructure is in place, including a fairly solid draft of the paper, before you involve your advisor in the writing process at all. Use whatever version control and reference system you find most useful.</p>\n\n<p>Your advisor may simply refuse to use your tools; fine, you can still incorporate their emailed inputs. Or they may just need someone else to figure out the infrastructure and teach them how to use the tools, instead of figuring it out themselves from the manuals. Either way, you'll have some extra work to bring your inexperienced (and possibly resistant) coauthor up to speed, but that's a standard part of the student-advisor relationship.</p>\n\n<p>In the worst case, your advisor may simply refuse to give up control of the master copy. (Never mind that it's already too late.) In that case, you may need to encourage them to look for another student.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2341, "author": "Ran G.", "author_id": 324, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/324", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I'd like to give the opposite answer than JaffE's. \n<strong>You can't</strong>, give up.</p>\n\n<p>unfortunately, the relationship between you and your advisor is not symmetrical. You can try to make him/her change his/her ways, but if s/he is not willing to change (and habits are difficult to change), you'll end up just fighting windmills</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 43409, "author": "Chris Jefferson", "author_id": 20453, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20453", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Endnote doesn't work on linux. Refworks came into existence in 2001 and is a website, it could disappear any time. Zotero is only 6 years old.</p>\n\n<p>Programs come and go, websites come and go. Text files keep working. They are easy to search, easy to maintain, easy to move between operating systems.</p>\n\n<p>Your supervisor has been around a lot longer than you. Perhaps they have discovered that fancy databases are not worth the extra work they involve, particularly if (like me), they've had a couple of products they love get discontinued over the years.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 43424, "author": "Anonymous", "author_id": 11565, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11565", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<blockquote>\n <p>Any suggestions on how I can help bring this faculty member into the 21st century without seeming presumptuous?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>You can't. Your attitude <em>is</em> presumptuous.</p>\n\n<p>I, for one, still live in the 20th century. I personally prefer the copy-paste method to BibTeX, despite having used BibTeX for multiple different projects. This is on the grounds that it doesn't give me additional files to juggle, and if I have weird references I can easily put them into the bibliography as I think they should look without having to look up the BibTeX documentation.</p>\n\n<p>I'm happy to use BibTeX in my joint papers whenever my collaborators prefer. Typically, when it was `their turn' to handle the document they separated out the bibliography into a BibTeX file, and then I followed suit by adding to it whenever I had additional references to cite. Sometimes my collaborators stopped to ask my permission, which I've always cheerfully given.</p>\n\n<p>I also used a more sophisticated online collaboration tool once when another one of my collaborators set up our document using it. Once again, I prefer to do things the old-fashioned (i.e. ten years ago) way but I was happy to adapt to my collaborator's preference.</p>\n\n<p>Can you \"fathom\" my preference? Whether you do or not, I concur with JeffE -- if you want things done your way, ask to be in charge, set things up yourself, and then let your advisor know what you've done. Maybe your advisor will adopt your tools permanently if he/she ends up liking them, maybe not.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 43429, "author": "awsoci", "author_id": 28324, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28324", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I agree with anonymous. </p>\n\n<p>I'm a young academic but I actually prefer the old copy and paste/formatting by hand over a program that will do it automatically. For me, I've found that generally, the copy and paste format helps in catching errors and is easier to use than an embedded software program that has the potential to crash/become buggy. </p>\n\n<p>I've found that with a variety of those bibliographic programs, they are great for data-basing your entries but not very intuitive or easy to use when it comes to actually writing papers in programs like Word or OpenOffice. They don't always do well in crossing other computers depending on the programs various individuals use (i.e. some might have a mac and use OpenOffice, while the other author has windows and uses Microsoft). The compatibility can cause issues, and many academics use different programs (for example, you use BibTex, my university uses Endnote, my undergraduate uni uses Refworks). </p>\n\n<p>I've also found that while programs such as Endnote can 'technically' adopt styles for a specific journal, the output is never 100% to what the journal requires. It's just easier to type it in right the first time for me, than to try and use a finicky program that can actually cause more, rather than less problems. </p>\n\n<p>You should not rely on these programs to provide you the EXACT formatting required for a journal, in many cases you need to go back and fine-tune. For example, I recently submitted a paper to a journal that wanted a particular style, my referencing program was able to 'output' to this style for the journal, but it wasn't exact even though it had the journal listed as a type of output format. I had to go back and manually format each entry to ensure consistency with the latest printed issues. As I was hand-typing my in-text citations in the exact way as the journal wanted, it wasn't much formatting that needed to be done for the end.</p>\n\n<p>I don't have any issues in keeping track since I use a bibliography program for a database, but tend to add the entries in after the journal article is submitted for review. I just keep track using a plain old word doc, and part of my revision strategy is to go through the paper and find every reference and cross match to make sure I haven't missed any. This also allows me another chance to see any language etc issues that might need fixing up. </p>\n\n<p>I think you need to take a step back and consider that not everyone works in the same way and what you might consider as 'easy' could actually be more difficult for someone else who may have a different way of thinking. Some academics use a multitude of programs, some still prefer more traditional methods and some might jump on board with innovation, and this isn't necessarily a generational gap either. </p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2331", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2339, "author": "JeffE", "author_id": 65, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65", "pm_score": 6, "selected": true, "text": "<p>No. Specific coursework (whether formal or informal, online or in-person) does not belong in an academic CV.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 16968, "author": "roland", "author_id": 4210, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4210", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>If the online course is relevant to your current field of work/study it would help. For example, a graduate student of science could mention a course on scientific computing but a course taken on criminal law would be irrelevant. Also online courses taken can only be shown under professional development and not under academic qualifications since these are non-credit courses.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 75878, "author": "Ébe Isaac", "author_id": 40592, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/40592", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p><strong>Yes</strong>. The <em>certified</em> courses that connect to skills that doesn't directly apply to your mainstream degree <em>deserves</em> to be in your academic CV. It will show, to an extent, an interdisciplinary qualification that you possess. \nThere are many real life instances where this has helped a lot, especially in industrial placements, career change, and interdisciplinary research.</p>\n\n<p>There are some courses from MOOC you ought not to add in your CV. These include those that overlaps the courses you've already completed as per your educational degrees, minor introductory courses, and those that wouldn't prove a significant impact in your career point of view.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 170385, "author": "phoxis", "author_id": 922, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/922", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Interesting to see how things have changed since 2012 when I asked this question. I started with some artificial intelligence and machine learning coursework in my masters, and afterward attended the first machine learning and probabilistic graphical model courses, which started Coursers (the first ones before Coursera was founded).</p>\n<p>Although I did not need to list these courses in my CV, I think if it is certified, it is definitely worth having it in the CV depending on what position one is targeting to apply for. For example, if someone wants to apply for a position where statistical analysis and modeling skills with R are needed, then it is worth listing relevant courses (preferred certified) in the CV. I believe that it will show that the candidate has some skills with R and statistical analysis. It is good to have this is a CV for the industry that may add real value.</p>\n<p>Although for an academic CV, I somewhat agree with @JeffE . It may be good to have this in an undergraduate or master's CV if the course is certified, and you want to showcase that specific knowledge that probably is not covered in the curriculum and you want to highlight it. Afterward, when things become more specific, these definitely become pointless.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2336", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/922/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2344, "author": "Suresh", "author_id": 346, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Personally, I think the fact that you've published a technical paper would carry more weight for a CS Ph.D admissions committee than whether you did a thesis or practicum, since that's the demonstration of your ability to do research. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2345, "author": "JeffE", "author_id": 65, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p><strong>Thesis.</strong> Thesis, thesis, thesis.</p>\n\n<p>(But I do agree with Suresh. The fact that you've published is more important.)</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2342", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1043/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2347, "author": "Suresh", "author_id": 346, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>There are many factors that go into figuring out the answer. </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>location - different countries/systems have different ways of paying </li>\n<li>area: salaries vary HUGELY across areas. You didn't mention your area, but you can expect that salaries in the humanities are less than those in engineering which might in turn be less than those in law/business/medicine</li>\n<li>private/public: in the US salaries of profs at public universities are public knowledge - if you look up the university of Utah you can get my salary and that of all my colleagues. Public universities usually have public scales - private universities are - well - private. </li>\n<li>level: I assume you're starting at the lowest level, but based on experience/demand things can vary a lot. </li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>To get information, best to lookup surveys that are usually run by professional organizations in your area - they'll give you good ballpark estimates. </p>\n\n<p>Ultimately you have to remember that a faculty salary, like any other salary, is a market-driven quantity with value set by the market. So it's very important to understand the local economy that drives the numbers - the above factors are some of the main drivers. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2350, "author": "Anonymous Mathematician", "author_id": 612, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612", "pm_score": 6, "selected": true, "text": "<p>For the United State, see <a href=\"http://cra.org/resources/taulbee/\" rel=\"noreferrer\">http://cra.org/resources/taulbee/</a> for salary survey data in computer science. Of course, <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/2347/2740\">as Suresh points out</a> there's enormous variation. The median salary for a tenure-track assistant professor in computer science at a US research university is about $90k, but some make quite a bit less.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2351, "author": "Fomite", "author_id": 118, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/118", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>There's enormous variation in both field and university. I would however suggest that professorial salaries are not entirely \"hush-hush\". For example, the University of North Carolina system has all their salary information available to the public:</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/02/24/1011452/university-employee-salaries.html\">http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/02/24/1011452/university-employee-salaries.html</a></p>\n\n<p>Look up the department you're interested in, get some names of their lower ranked faculty, and look them up to give yourself a ballpark estimate.</p>\n\n<p>They also break down State and Non-State funding so you can get an idea of how much of the salary is hard money and how much of it is based on grant support.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2352, "author": "Bravo", "author_id": 411, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/411", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>While it is a good question which people naturally would like to know before committing for a PhD, a definitive answer is next to impossible. </p>\n\n<p>Your question on <strong>Indian public sector</strong> is best answered by Prof Giridhar Madras's blog. In <a href=\"http://giridharmadras.blogspot.in/2009/09/one-more-post.html\">this post</a>, for example, he talks about a new professor getting Rs 52000 per month plus accommodation. Then there are scholarships, consulting work for many small companies (whose numbers are bound to be high in a rising economy), vacation period of 3 months when you \"get paid in international currency\" (ref:GM's blog), paid conference trips, travel allowances within India, etc. </p>\n\n<p>You cannot directly compare this with any private sector company: you are obviously going to get paid more, but you are stuck inside those cubicles with monotonous work and you are likely to lack intellectual freedom.</p>\n\n<p>Regarding <strong>Indian private sector</strong>, things are hush-hush, and depend on your personality, education, job offers, negotiations, etc. But I would say deemed universities in India are particularly wealthy given India's population and the general affordability to pay high fees. On the flip-side, your colleagues and students are unlikely to be intelligent or sharp, as most of India's intellectual wealth generally lie within the IITs (and at times, the NITs, CEG, etc). </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2358, "author": "user1220", "author_id": 1220, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1220", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Australian starting salary with a PhD is around 70-80K USD. Up to 100K after 5 or so years, ++ if you are a super academic/head the faculty etc.</p>\n\n<p>Cost of living is quite a bit higher than the US.</p>\n\n<p>Tenure doesnt exist in Aus, you will be an academic as long as you can bring in research dollars/you teach important subjects that bring in students. There are no private universities here. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2360, "author": "Community", "author_id": -1, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Following this question: <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/221/102\">What&#39;s the net income of a W1/W2 german professor?</a>, and according to <a href=\"http://www.myscience.de/en/jobs/salary\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">this link</a>, in Germany and in 2008, the monthly gross salary could go from 3500 euros per month up to 7000 euros per month. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2369, "author": "Jeromy Anglim", "author_id": 62, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/62", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p><strong>Australian discussion</strong></p>\n\n<p>Pay scales are available on most university web sites: </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http://www.deakin.edu.au/careers-at-deakin/assets/resources/why-deakin/benefits/salary-rates-academic.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">Deakin</a> </li>\n<li><a href=\"http://adm.monash.edu.au/enterprise-agreements/academic-professional-2009/s1-academic-salary-rates.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">Monash</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"http://www.hr.unsw.edu.au/services/salaries/acadsal.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">UNSW</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>The first challenge is to get a job. You may need a year or two post doc experience before you can get a level B lecturer position. For reasonable performance you'll typically go up one increment each year (i.e., B1, B2, etc. to B6). To go to C (Senior Lecturer), D (Associate Professor), or E (Professor), it is not automatic. You need to meet more criteria. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2380, "author": "mike", "author_id": 1236, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1236", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>in Spain you can max out some 35k€ / year</p>\n\n<p>Some details to complete the answer:</p>\n\n<p>I am \"Profesor Titular\" (senior lecturer with a tenure position, like a second class Professorship). I have 15 years experience\nMy total income last year was EUR 45ooo. That included 2ooo for an extra course, 27oo for a positive evaluation of research and 86oo for the 15 years. That gives a basic salary of about EUR 31ooo when you start. But when you start you have a lower category, so the first salary is lower. There are also variations depending on the region.\nI pay about 12ooo for taxes and insurance. That leaved some 33ooo as true income. \nWith the cutbacks, I expect some 30ooo this year.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2453, "author": "walkmanyi", "author_id": 1265, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1265", "pm_score": 5, "selected": false, "text": "<p>First of all, you assume that after finishing a PhD, your chances for a professor position are good. As far as I can say (a CS post-doc@EU university), this is generally not straightforward unless you deliver a star PhD. Otherwise, expect at least one post-doc appointment. After a return from industry, unless you were <em>very</em> active in the research community during your time with a company, again post-doc is what you should expect.</p>\n\n<p>Now to the answers, a European perspective. Generally in the EU, probably except for the UK, the academic salaries are governed by tables subject to annual change. In many countries these would be fixed without a variable component based on performance. </p>\n\n<h1><strong>Germany:</strong></h1>\n\n<p>The positions of research assistants underlie <a href=\"http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/TV%C3%B6D\">TVoeD regulation</a> (BAT in the past). There is no special category for a post-doc, all research assistants are treated equally. The salary scale reflects the individual's experience, that is, officially years of employment. Generally that should include also academic experience abroad too. Find the current tables also <a href=\"http://oeffentlicher-dienst.info/tv-l/west/\">here</a> - note the scales differ for West Germany, East Germany, Berlin and Hessen. You are interested in the class E13. </p>\n\n<p>Professorships are remunerated according to the <a href=\"http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Besoldungsordnung_W\">W scale</a>. Again the salary differs from state to state, but according to <a href=\"http://www.w-besoldung.net/informationen/wie-hoch-ist-das-grundgehalt/\">this</a>, we speak a baseline of about <em>EUR 47k</em>, <em>EUR 53k</em> and <em>EUR 65k</em> a year for W1, W2 and W3 professorship positions. W1 is for a <a href=\"http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juniorprofessur\">Juniorprofessor</a>, roughly equivalent to an assistant professor. W2 and W3 are two different levels of full professorship, the particular difference is mainly an experience/salary issue. The salaries are again graded in steps according to the number of years of experience at the particular position. You start at 0 and from there your grades increase. </p>\n\n<p>Note however, at least in CS and generally in STEM, Germany does not fare very well in terms of foreigners on senior academic positions. It's relatively rare to encounter a non-German (or Swiss/Austrian) holding a professorship at a German public university.</p>\n\n<h1><strong>Netherlands:</strong></h1>\n\n<p>The system is slightly simpler than in Germany, the salaries are fixed according to CAO (Collective Labour Agreement) regulation and subject to annual/bi-annual negotiation and modification. You can find the information on CAO <a href=\"http://www.vsnu.nl/cao-universiteiten.html\">here</a>. Salary-wise you are interested in the <a href=\"http://www.vsnu.nl/files/documenten/CAO/Salarisschalen_2013IenII.pdf\">salary table</a>, columns H1 and H2 (Professor 1 and Professor 2). These are full professorships. Here we speak about <em>EUR 65k</em> and <em>EUR 58k</em> respectively as a baseline from which the annual grading increase starts. For a assistant professor, the columns of interest are 11-13, so the variance is big. E.g., 11 is also for post-docs, though sometimes assistant professors get that as well. Depends on the particular position.</p>\n\n<p>Now considering positions in the Netherlands taken by foreigners, you are eligible for a so called <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_tax_in_the_Netherlands#The_30_Percent_Rule\">30% rule</a> which basically states that you do not have to pay taxes for 30% of your income. That leads to a significant salary increase for foreigners in the first years of their employment in the Netherlands so even the assistant professor salary grades might not look extremely interesting, considering the 30% rule, they turn out to be fine.</p>\n\n<p>All the quotes should be understood brutto before taxation and social system/healthcare/++ deductions.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2456, "author": "StrongBad", "author_id": 929, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Your expectation should depend on both the potential salary (which the other answers are provided reasonable estimates of) and the probably of the outcome (which most of the other answers have not touched on). If you have not started a PhD program yet, your expectation about how much you will make as a professor should be $0 since the probability of becoming a professor is essentially zero. Even using generous numbers 0.5 get into PhD programs, of those 0.5 finish PhD (0.25 of those who apply). Of those only 0.5 will get a post doc position (0.125 of those who apply for a PhD). Then you have TT position (0.06) and tenure (0.03). </p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2346", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/407/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2354, "author": "Suresh", "author_id": 346, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>It is highly unlikely that you'd get a permanent research position in CS with a bachelor's degree. It's also unlikely (though not impossible) that you'd get one with an MS degree (for example, it might be possible to enter an organization after an MS, and then move internally into their research wing). The most common path to getting a research job at an institute is after a Ph.D. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2359, "author": "Renaud", "author_id": 1222, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1222", "pm_score": 4, "selected": true, "text": "<p>You could aim at <strong>technical universities</strong> (in Germany and Switzerland, they are called \"<em>Fachhochschulen</em>\", Universities of Applied Sciences). Their focus is more on applied research and teaching. I worked 2 years there as a researcher without a MS in CS.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 51202, "author": "h22", "author_id": 10920, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10920", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I would propose to target a PhD student position. As a rule, this requires master degree. </p>\n\n<p>PhD is not required and will actually decrease your chances significantly, as (following unwritten or written rules) you cannot become a PhD student second time, if you already have one degree. You must then aim to the post doctoral position that has much more requirements. </p>\n\n<p>It is not very difficult to get a PhD student position in Europe, and it is not complex to get a few post doctoral positions afterwards, but getting a permanent position in science later is much more problematic. </p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2353", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1219/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2366, "author": "eykanal", "author_id": 73, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/73", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>In the US, everything you list above—and more—can affect salary. (Do note that, in the US, age discrimination is illegal. Not that it doesn't take place anyway...) The only thing I'm not sure of is \"number of years as a PhD\", that's more of a proxy for \"work done during PhD tenure\", which is included in the impact factor.</p>\n\n<p>A few factors I thought of, not likely exhaustive:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Masters/PhD/postdoc alma mater</li>\n<li>Masters/PhD/postdoc advisor</li>\n<li>Number and quality of publications</li>\n<li>Grant history</li>\n<li>Existing grants</li>\n<li>Collaboration history</li>\n<li>Teaching experience</li>\n<li>Field of research (psych vs history vs engineering vs etc)</li>\n<li>Type of institution (public/private)\n<ul>\n<li>Economic environment (budget cuts in state funding, etc)</li>\n</ul></li>\n<li>Teaching load</li>\n<li>Location (Dallas, TX vs Palo Alto, CA vs etc)</li>\n<li>...?</li>\n</ul>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2374, "author": "JeffE", "author_id": 65, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65", "pm_score": 5, "selected": true, "text": "<p>In addition to @eykanal's list, there are several factors that can lead to salary variance even within a single department:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p><strong>Negotiating ability</strong> — Some profs are simply better at negotiating for better salaries than others, even with comparable publications, funding, students, teaching evaluations, etc. Conversely, some people have lower salaries simply because they don't realize they <em>can</em> ask for more.</p></li>\n<li><p><strong>Time in the department/time since PhD</strong> — All else being equal, the longer you've been here, the higher your salary. But as usual, all else is never equal. In particular, faculty hired with more post-PhD experience are generally paid more. </p></li>\n<li><p><strong>Performance</strong> — In most departments, faculty are reviewed annually, if only very lightly, to make sure we're doing our jobs. Salary is one of the few levers that department chairs have to reward faculty who are doing exceptionally well, or motivating faculty (especially with tenure) who aren't (seen to be) pulling their weight.</p></li>\n<li><p><strong>Offers from other institutions</strong> — This is one of the biggest sources of salary jumps. If a valuable prof in your department starts getting offers from other places, you department is very likely to raise their salary to keep them.</p></li>\n<li><p><strong>Administrative bonuses</strong> — Faculty who hold significant administrative positions (like associate head, or chair of the undergraduate program) often get a salary boost.</p></li>\n<li><p><strong>Variance in the job market</strong> — New assistant profs are generally hired at the prevailing salary rate for new assistant profs. Departments do not collaborate explicitly, but information does flow through applicants who get multiple offers. For example, about 10 years ago, a top-rated US CS department (not mine) decided to significantly increase its salary offers to new profs, to gain a strategic advantage over other departments. It didn't work; other departments (including mine) just raised their offers to compensate. It took several years to correct the resulting salary inversions.</p></li>\n<li><p><strong>Variance in university budgets</strong> — When times are good, faculty get raises. When times are not so good, faculty don't get raises. These times do not necessarily align with fluctuations in market rates.</p></li>\n<li><p><strong>Intramural politics</strong> — Academics are human, and subject to human failings. Everyone who reaches a position of power arrives with their own agenda; sometimes that agenda favors certain people or groups over others, for reasons that are more personal than objectively fair. In some departments, fights over limited resources can be ugly and brutal (\"<a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sayre%27s_law\">because the stakes are so low</a>\"); sometimes that ugliness is reflected in salary differences.</p></li>\n</ul>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2356", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/411/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2362, "author": "410 gone", "author_id": 96, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/96", "pm_score": 4, "selected": true, "text": "<p>I'm afraid I've got to say that many of the things that one might consider an asset, are in reality going to be a hindrance.</p>\n\n<p>Rigour, consistency, reason, domain knowledge, ability to describe uncertainty, always prepared to put appropriate caveats on findings: these are all encumbrances in almost all management consulting.</p>\n\n<p>What you need to cultivate is the ability to form strategy on the basis of a fairly superficial understanding of a business; and the ability to persuade people to pay you lots for you to borrow their watch and then tell them the time.</p>\n\n<p>Oh, and do watch <a href=\"http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1797404/\" rel=\"noreferrer\">House of Lies</a> through, end to end, a couple of times, to get a feel for it.</p>\n\n<p>Having said that, there is a tiny niche in management consulting available for the skilled technician who's prepared to say no to clients who want \"regular\" management consulting, and only take on clients who want a thorough, rational, informed job done. There aren't many of those clients, whch is why it's a tiny niche. And it's more likely to be a boutique subject-specific consultancy. But if you find one (or found one, i.e. you are the founder), and it gets the right kind of clients, you'll be very happy (and completely exhausted much of the time), and financially very comfortable while the clients are there.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2363, "author": "Dave Clarke", "author_id": 643, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/643", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>A management consulting company once tried to recruit me (I have a PhD in computer science). They said they wanted me for my brain and they didn't care so much about my background. That said, I didn't have a PhD at the time, so maybe my brain is now spoiled.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2365, "author": "eykanal", "author_id": 73, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/73", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Your most likely bet is to sell yourself as an operations management specialist. There's an entire field called <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_engineering\" rel=\"nofollow\">Industrial Engineering</a>, which is essentially business optimization techniques. There are many aspects of this field that you've likely covered in your coursework, such as optimization methods and probability theory. Emphasizing this in your portfolio can help land you positions in a vast array of fields, ranging from broadly-defined operations management to process engineering to personnel management.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 133345, "author": "sheth7", "author_id": 110843, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/110843", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Looking at the current set of responses, they seem to be heavily biased. As someone having spoken to several PhDs in management consulting, let me try to clarify some of the nuances.</p>\n\n<p>First, it is not true that you have to let go of rigor, but rather need to be time-sensitive. This is because the management consulting model works on an hourly-basis and therefore, while consulting on a project, your time determines your payment. Most companies, have several reasons to hire external consultants. At times for the expertise, sometimes for an external perspective, and at other times for helping them communicate capabilities and constraints to their superiors. Regardless, one thing is sure that the time-sensitive nature of the field leads to shorter project life-cycles and at times lack of implementation, which is a stark contrast from a PhD experience where the candidate is the sole worker and implementor.</p>\n\n<p>Second, it is completely false that consulting firms consider PhDs as overqualified. In fact, in top-tier management consulting, advanced degree holders (PhDs) enter at the 'associate' level rather than the 'analyst' level, and generally speaking, move up faster.</p>\n\n<p>Third, and logically following the last point, it is a misconception that consulting firms do not entertain advanced degree holders. In fact, the last I checked, ~10%+ of Mckinsey &amp; Co's total employees were PhDs (as listed on their website). Further, most top management consulting firms have a special set of recruiters meant to be hiring advanced degree holders. You may find them on the company websites. </p>\n\n<p>Finally, I admit that as a field, management consulting has its lows such as those mentioned in the answers thus far, but it would be naive to think that other fields (specially academia) do not have their own shortcomings. Overall, I think that the world needs more PhDs and the management consulting world needs more PhDs working to make corporations better, especially since corporations affect several aspects of our lives.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 133358, "author": "guest", "author_id": 110854, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/110854", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Other than Sheth's answer, all the responses (including the green checkmarked one) are misleading. 25+ years out of date and written by people hypothesizing versus having experience. I recommend to any students looking into this avenue to talk to your college career center and to just read some recruiting websites (start with McKinsey).</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>In the late 90s, McKinsey was bringing in 1/3 (real number) of US associates as APDs (alternate professional degree, non MBA). And the global percent was higher. They had a well established recruiting and training process. Other firms were slower but starting to do the same (more the top firms than the lower tiers).</p></li>\n<li><p>Even for top tier MBA students (HBS, etc.) the odds are hard to get consulting jobs, especially at premier firms. Same applies to Ph.D.s, perhaps made more difficult that they have less option to go to lower rung firms (that just bring in MBAs). Note, there's a 2012 comment about \"I had a Ph.D. and no phone interview\". So? Just having the union card itself is not distinctive. Most ballplayers don't get a combine invite either. It's just odds, just numbers. If you don't get it, you don't have the case interview solving analytical instinct they are looking for</p></li>\n<li><p>They're just looking for willing, trainable brains and the ability to do the work. Figure something out from a blank slate. Problem-solve, etc. Specific technical or field training is irrelevant. They will put the English major into a fab or the material scientist into a film studio in a heartbeat. After all most of the MBAs are generalists without specific industry focus also.</p></li>\n<li><p>Sameness: Job is the exact same gig as what an HBS MBA gets. Same salary and bonus. Same assignments. Same offices. Learning curve is fast so after a gig or two, there's no difference. Plus the case interview selection process has already screened for candidates with qualitative analytical ability within the Ph.D. pool. </p></li>\n<li><p>Slight differences: They do/did have a 3-week training program to give the MBAs the basic toolkit (learn some micro, learn how to do DCF and what goes into the WACC). Good deal. There's maybe a slight disadvantage in not having the MBA for some post consulting interviewing (just dependent on HR departments), but still plenty of options where they just look at people post consulting, not worrying about the MBA. Also, maybe the MBA students sort of \"want it more\" as their dream job. That was Marvin Bower's observation. One other small difference is that most MBAs have pre-MBA working experience (often at the sort of client you serve) so at least they've had a \"real job\". Plus, you can consider the argument that it's a waste of a Ph.D. (the actual subject matter technical training). And that you ought to be \"curing cancer\", not analyzing merger synergies.</p></li>\n<li><p>Note that consulting has its good/bad aspects, including for the MBAs. Sure, read House of Lies book. Author was a Booz associate so he'd seen the sausage get made. (He was also the popup video show producer for MTV, which explains the zany writing style.) It's an OK expose and anyone who has been there will read parts that ring true to them. But I also wouldn't assume you know what it's like from a book versus from doing it. Like all the 23 year olds who think they know what an I-bank is like because they read some Michael Lewis. If anything we need a trenchant expose of academia. It's not like it's all daisies there either...</p></li>\n</ol>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2361", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1226/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2368, "author": "eykanal", "author_id": 73, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/73", "pm_score": 4, "selected": true, "text": "<p>First of all, you will spend virtually your entire career doing this (trying to remember stuff you forgot), so this is a question that's worth really working on. You'll hopefully receive a good few answers; try them all over the course of a year or two in different situations and choose the one that works.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>My personal method is very similar to your (2); review the specific parts of the material that you need to know for that specific situation. In most cases, you'll find this to be sufficient for solving a particular problem. If you don't understand your material, then either Google the topic and try to read someone else's overview, or simply take a step back and go over the more fundamental material, working your way back up to the topic at hand.</p>\n\n<p>Note that this will not work for situations where you need everything, such as interviews. For those, you'll want to read outlines and try to summarize contents for yourself. I've also gone back and looked at homework problems, which (assuming they were well-written assignments) can provide you with a good overview of the material that you need to know about the topic.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2371, "author": "Suresh", "author_id": 346, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>You didn't really mention WHY you need the material for your research. </p>\n\n<p>One case is when you have this vague feeling that there's a concept from statistics (in your case, hypothesis testing) that you need for your work. In that case, eykanal's approach and strategy (2) is best. Focus on what you need, and do deep search, taking detours when needed to understand ancillary concepts. </p>\n\n<p>Another case is when you're moving into a new area and expect that you'll need a firmer base in the material before you can continue (to develop the right intuitions and so on). In that case, strategy (2) is still ok, but it helps to do some background work on the side. I find that working through problems is a good way of keeping you focused on learning by doing, and also tests your fundamentals. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2373, "author": "Dan C", "author_id": 1069, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1069", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Let me answer a different (but related) question. How can you learn material now so that you'll be better able to recall it years from now? Here I recommend that you explore to discover your own <a href=\"http://www.learning-styles-online.com/overview/\">learning style</a>, which has a couple key advantages. </p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>Using the right style can help you to absorb information more quickly and retain it longer. </p></li>\n<li><p>Perhaps more importantly, by recreating the techniques you used to learn the material, you can more easily recall it. </p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>A simple example of (2) is that if you learn certain material while listening to classical music, then later you'll be better able to recall it while listening to similar music. This may sound obvious, but far too few people make use of it. Let me give a personal example. Like many people, I retain information far better if I interact with it: take notes, draw diagrams etc. This process can be time intensive, so you have to find a balance. What was terrible though, was that I would often lose my notes, so that when trying to recall the information later I'd be stuck. </p>\n\n<p>Only after I was well into grad school did I settle on marking extensively in my books. I underline, draw arrows, mark key ideas with boxes and stars, etc. The magic is that when I reread later, my markup helps me to quickly remember what I was thinking when I first processed the concepts. So whatever epiphanies I had the first time around are more readily accessible. My point isn't to tell you to mark in books (though I find it invaluable). My point is to tell you to <strong>recall</strong> information in a way similar to how you <strong>learn information</strong>.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2378, "author": "InquilineKea", "author_id": 77, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/77", "pm_score": 0, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Tablets make it a lot easier to go through old materials. If you can find ways to download your textbooks and lecture notes as PDFs and then use a tablet to heavily annotate your textbook (you can even insert extra pages too), you can come up with an easily-searchable annotated version of your textbook that you can re-use again for years to come.</p>\n\n<p>I use a Lenovo ThinkPad because of its large screen size and stylus pen, which makes it very easy to annotate and highlight textbooks and lecture notes. I also put my textbooks in my Dropbox folder so that my annotations are auto-saved in my Dropbox (and in case I ever lose my tablet, I won't lose my textbooks along with them). </p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2364", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2379, "author": "Nobody", "author_id": 546, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/546", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>This answer is from a retired software engineer’s point of view. In 60’s and 70’s, not too many people had a close look at real computers. I wrote my first few FORTRAN programs on punched cards without actually seeing what a computer looked like.To me, a computer was like a black box. There was a magician living in the computer room, could understand the DO loop instructions in my program and do the job for me. There were a lot of students thinking the same way like me. The professors in CS department were facing tough choices. There was limited time for the students to take the courses. You teach them math and science first, or programming first? What would the industry think if your computer science graduates could not even write programs? Naturally, the curriculum had to be focused on computer science itself.</p>\n\n<p>In late 70’s, micro computers came out. In 90’s, PC became house furniture. A lot of software packages were available. Programming became everybody’s skill like driving a car. In the mean time, the industry found out CS graduates are hard to use because they don’t have enough application domain knowledge. I, for example, had to borrow books from the library to learn how radar operates. In the last few years before I retired, I didn’t need the programming language manual because I knew them. But I had to get on Wikipedia web site many times everyday because I was not familiar with the application I was working on. And I know I was not an exception. Many of my colleagues were doing the same thing. Naturally, the industry and academia have to train the undergraduate student math and science so that they would be more useful.</p>\n\n<p>The above is my observation and my experience. I would not say who is wrong or right. The OP was wondering what happened. I believe it was a gradual process and a basic economics rule, demand and supply.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2395, "author": "Thomas Owens", "author_id": 1229, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1229", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Since I asked this question, I studied a number of factors. I believe that the two primary factors are the age of the disciplines and the education reform in the United States in the 1980s. I also believe that the growth of multi-disciplinary education and the prevalance of computers have spurred these changes more drastically in the computing related fields (although I don't have sufficient knowledge at this time to be as confident in this assessment).</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>The first thing to consider is the age of the disciplines. At the time of the publication of the first articles, in the 1970s, the fields of computer science and software engineering were relatively new on the scene.</p>\n\n<p>The first computer science degree program was started in 1953 at the University of Cambridge. In the US, the first computer science program wasn't founded until 1962. However, some of the papers noted that computer science education didn't made significant advances until 1969, with the publication of the ACM Curriculum 68 and ACM Information Systems Curriculum, which established the central topics to computer science. That's over 15 years between the first CS program and significant advances in CS education.</p>\n\n<p>Software engineering as a separate discipline wasn't even a thought until the NATO conferences in 1968 (Garmisch, Germany) and 1969 (Brussels), and it took another 10 years (1979) before the first graduate program and it wasn't until 1996 that an undergraduate software engineering program existed. If SE as a discipline follows similar trends as computer science, I wouldn't expect significant advances in the education techniques before the late 1980s or early 1990s, after the central topics have been identified and disseminated. As a point of reference, the IEEE's <a href=\"http://www.computer.org/portal/web/swebok\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Guide to the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge (SWEBOK)</a>, which outlines the core knowledge areas and related disciplines of software engineering, wasn't even started until 1993, which puts it at roughly the same time-to-development as computer science.</p>\n\n<p>I'm not an academic, but I would suspect that it's rather difficult to design a curriculum that's relevant to students seeking careers in industry without a solid framework, especially when the goals are to produce a solid, reliable curriculum that stands up to the rigor of engineering. In addition, there is the additional work related to validation and accreditation of the programs. The papers from the 1970s were typically laying the groundwork for the work to come over the next 15-20 years by proposing the key topics and content. Upon further examination, nearly all of the topics presented in the papers were identified as essential knowledge areas of software engineering or as a related discipline in the Guide to the SWEBOK.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>I believe that educational reform also plays a role in the changes. According to Wikipedia, <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_reform\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">education reform</a> was occurring around the world, starting in the early 1900s. Considering that the majority (all but one or two) of the papers that I read were written by someone in the United States, I focused my research on the educational reform that started in the 1980s and still continues.</p>\n\n<p>In 1983, a report titled <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Nation_at_Risk\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">A Nation at Risk: The Imperative For Educational Reform</a> (<a href=\"http://datacenter.spps.org/sites/2259653e-ffb3-45ba-8fd6-04a024ecf7a4/uploads/SOTW_A_Nation_at_Risk_1983.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">PDF</a>) was published. Although the bulk of the paper is centered on primary and secondary education (in the US, kindergarten through 12th grade), it also mentions a decline in SAT scores, a decline in College Board (AP) test scores, an increase in the teaching of remedial mathematics courses in public 4 year universities, and millions of dollars being spent by businesses and the military for remedial education and training programs. The report found that the average graduate (of secondary schools as well as higher education) is not as well-educated as the average graduate of the previous generation and smaller proportions are completing high school and college.</p>\n\n<p>This report presents the \"Learning Society\". A learning society has \"a basic foundation the idea that education is important not only because of what it contributes to one's career goals but also because of the value it adds to the general quality of one's life.\" The focus become on life-long learning, well beyond the end of schooling. In contrast to this \"learning society\", they find that the American education system is expressing standards in \"minimum requirements\" and students who do the minimum amount of work to get by.</p>\n\n<p>To report also finds problems:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Students are taking \"general track\" courses instead of vocational or college preparation courses in secondary education, but only small percentages complete courses like Algebra II, French I, and Calculus</li>\n<li>Large numbers of credits are gained in physical/health education, remedial courses, and courses for training for adulthood</li>\n<li>Grades rose as amount of required effort to complete work rose</li>\n<li>Science-oriented students (4 years of science/math in secondary school) in the US are spending significantly (1/3) less time than any counterpart in many other industrialized nations</li>\n<li>A significant number of public colleges must accept all high school graduates from their state</li>\n<li>Textbooks aren't being written by experienced teachers or scholars</li>\n<li>Many textbooks don't challenge their readers.</li>\n<li>School years are significantly shorter (in length and total days) than many other industrialized countries.</li>\n<li>Teacher preparation curricula are focused on \"educational methods\" instead of subject matter</li>\n<li>Shortages of teachers, especially in mathematics and science, leading to under-qualified teachers teaching these subjects.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Although many of the recommendations point to changes in secondary education, it only makes sense that ripples flow throughout higher education. Vocational schools, colleges, and universities most likely adjusted their curricula in two directions. The first would be to meet the needs of the students who might have been underprepared by their secondary education by adding courses for subject matter that might have previously been expected by a high school graduate. The second direction would be to create the environment of the Learning Society by creating courses to expand the mind and enable students to \"learn to learn\" in the future.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>I believe that <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/2379/1229\">scaaahu might be onto something in his answer</a>, as well. As mentioned in several of the papers in the 1970s, industry can drive academia. This is even evident today with things such as Industrial Advisory Boards, which allow representatives from industry to meet with departments at universities and provide feedback on the quality of the graduates and suggest curricula improvements to allow graduates to ensure they have the skills needed in the workplace.</p>\n\n<p>Specifically, I'm looking at domain knowledge. After reading some work regarding how in the early days of the computing profession, computing professionals were expected to know computing. However, the modern workplace is often cross-functional. Having domain knowledge seems to be more important in these cross-functional teams to facilitate communication.</p>\n\n<p>However, going back to the idea of a Learning Society, even if the education isn't necessarily in the domain of work, the ability to learn to learn along with critical thinking, problem solving, and collaboration (themes that are cross-cutting across nearly every discipline and things that are difficult to teach outside of practice) is critically important to success.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2396, "author": "Mark Ardis", "author_id": 1242, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1242", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>In the late 1970s when Freeman, Wasserman and Fairley wrote about software engineering curricula they were talking about graduate education. They assumed that most students would be working professionals returning to school to learn those things that they should have learned earlier, but which were not being taught when they had been in college. Those ideas were implemented in the early MSE programs at places like Wang Institute (where Dick Fairley and I met). We felt at the time that undergraduates could not appreciate some of the problems and techniques we taught, so it was not worth trying. I remember having arguments with Gary Ford at the SEI about exactly this point.</p>\n\n<p>By the 1990s people were beginning to believe that software engineering <em>should</em> be taught to undergraduates, so that they wouldn't have to unlearn bad habits when they went to work. There was also an increasing interest in professional licensing of software engineering. Licensing would require ABET-accredited undergraduate programs, among other things. The focus on society is related to the interest in developing a discipline of software engineering aligned with ABET accreditation and professional boards of engineers.</p>\n\n<p>This is not to say that we weren't interested in serving the needs of society in the 1970s and 1980s. We even had a version of a code of ethics that we taught Wang Institute students during orientation. But we assumed that students already knew their role in society. They had come back to school primarily to learn new methods and tools.</p>\n\n<p>By the way, SWEBOK was actually started in 1998 as part of an effort to professionalize software engineering. The software engineering code of ethics was published at about the same time. Both of these projects were meant (by some of us) to support the eventual licensing of software engineering.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2370", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1229/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2376, "author": "Artem Kaznatcheev", "author_id": 66, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/66", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>There are several ways in which conjectures propagate, and each has its own method for publishing.</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>As future work/further direction on a set of theorems you proved. In this case, you submit the paper based on the set of theorems, and the conjecture is just a bonus. Your primary contribution is the <strong>original theorems</strong>.</p></li>\n<li><p>As a reasonable technical lemma to use to prove a difficult theorem. One again, submit as you would a paper proving any other theorem. Your primary contributions is the <strong>interesting/non-obvious consequence</strong>.</p></li>\n<li><p>As a consequence or expected result based on a novel model. In this case the empirical model is usualy motivated by some sort of science, attempt to publish in the relevant scientific or applied math journals. Your primary contribution is <strong>evidence in the reasonable model</strong>.</p></li>\n<li><p>As a synthesis of connections between many different areas of math that your conjecture brings together. Publish this as a survey that unifies the areas of interest. Your primary contribution is <strong>the connections between fields</strong>.</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>If your paper does not have any results apart from the conjecture, then such are usually disseminated informally. Tell your friends, colleagues, publish a blog post, ask for a proof on MO. This is a great way to find someone to work with in helping you turn your conjecture into a theorem.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2398, "author": "Benoît Kloeckner", "author_id": 946, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/946", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>If your conjecture is supported by partial result, then as pointed out by Artem Kaznatcheev, a journal suited to this results is the good choice.</p>\n\n<p>If it is supported by numerical computation, you can aim at \"Experimental Mathematics\".</p>\n\n<p>If it is not supported, or supported only by previous results, then it would probably be difficult to publish. Sometimes conference proceedings can be a suitable place, but informal dissemination would probably be the most common practice.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 188713, "author": "Felipe G. Nievinski", "author_id": 28125, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28125", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Try <a href=\"https://beta.briefideas.org/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">The Journal of Brief Ideas</a>.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2375", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1234/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2382, "author": "David Ketcheson", "author_id": 81, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/81", "pm_score": 7, "selected": true, "text": "<p>I think there are two kinds of reproducibility:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>The ability of someone else to run your code and obtain the same output.</li>\n<li>The ability of someone else to write their own code that does the same thing as yours based on your description and on examination of your code (reproduction from scratch).</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>The second kind of reproducibility is much more convincing, since <strong>the main point of scientific reproducibility is to verify correctness</strong> of the result. For science that relies on code, it is usually impossible to include <em>every</em> detail of the code in the paper, so verification requires examination of the code.</p>\n\n<p><strong>If you use proprietary software, your code probably makes use of closed source code, and therefore it cannot be verified or reproduced from scratch.</strong> If you use open source software, then all of the code that your code calls is probably open source, so it can all be verified or reproduced by someone else from scratch.</p>\n\n<p>At present, it is probably true that the first kind of reproducibility is more achievable with proprietary, widely-used software. I am optimistic that the current trend will lead to open-source software catching up in terms of wide use (consider <a href=\"http://www.sagemath.org/\">SAGE</a>, for example).</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>Addendum, in light of Epigrad's answer below, which I mainly agree with:\nThe problem with relying on closed-source code <em>isn't</em> that someone else won't know what that closed-source code <em>is expected to do</em>.</p>\n\n<p>The problem is that if you have two closed-source implementations of <em>the same algorithm</em> and they give <em>different results</em> (trust me, they usually will), then you have <em>no way of determining which (if either) is correct</em>.</p>\n\n<p>In other words, closed-source code would be fine for reproducibility if it were bug-free. But it's not.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2384, "author": "410 gone", "author_id": 96, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/96", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Listen to your colleagues &amp; peers.</p>\n\n<p>They've already told you what is most suitable for them, in order for them to be able to reproduce your results.</p>\n\n<p>That answer, in your particular case, is Matlab.</p>\n\n<p>There will be some others who want to port it to Octave, SciLab, Excel, Fortran or whatever. That's fine too - but if you're flexible about which platform you code in, and coding in Matlab won't make you less productive (or the small reduction in productivity is a price worth paying for the increased reproducibility), then code in Matlab. Because your colleagues have already told you that that's what enables them to reproduce your work, easiest.</p>\n\n<p>There are plenty of good reasons (and maybe some bad ones) why many of your colleagues prefer Matlab. Sometimes the cheapest things can cost you most.</p>\n\n<p>For anyone else reading this, with a similar problem, the gist of the answer is the same: listen to your peers.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2392, "author": "cbeleites unhappy with SX", "author_id": 725, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/725", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Agreeing with most that has been said by EnergyNumbers and David Ketcheson, I'd like to add some slightly different points:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>the fact that code is written in a particular language (Matlab) does not make it closed source per se.<br>\nJust as using Scilab on closed source Windows (or using a closed source BLAS) doesn't make Scilab closed source.<br>\nThere are journals that require reproducible research and open code and accept Matlab code.</p></li>\n<li><p>likewise, popular and free do not exclude each other, nor does proprietary imply that it is popular </p></li>\n<li><p>neither of the two imply that the respective software is suited for the reproducible data analysis. </p></li>\n<li><p>The choice on the language should be based on several factors</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>how suitable is it for the problem at hand</li>\n<li>here also: how suitable is it for reproducible data analysis (I'm experimental scientist, so reproducing a data analysis is just a part of reproducible research for me)</li>\n<li>particularly if talking about sharing code: infrastructure considerations (can code be packaged into libraries? How can data and code and the text be bundled into a reproducible paper?)</li>\n<li>popularity = size of peer group using this software (which somehow includes the cost of a license)</li>\n<li>you may also want to consider what the peer group that is interested in reproducible research is using (In my field(s), the reproducible research crowd coincides much more with the open source (R) crowd, while of the peer group working on the same kind of problem probably the majority uses Matlab) </li>\n</ul></li>\n<li><p>My old supervisor used to say that the cost of a license is no scientific argument.<br>\nBut of course you may need to consider it.</p></li>\n<li>Likewise, popularity is not a scientific argument, but you should critically examine whether the propularity does actually indicate that lots of good reasons exist to use that software.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Examples: </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>In my field, R is increasingly popular (by now popular enough to publish in R) and to a certain extent replacing Matlab. </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>So R is both free and popular (yet most people from my field don't make use of the fact that you can look into R's source if they discuss reproducible data analysis)</li>\n</ul></li>\n<li><p>Reasons IMHO include</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>most importantly: R is well suited for our kind of problems (I think it is better suited than Matlab, others differ slightly in their opinion and use Matlab. Even others do think it may actually be better suited but not as much as to outweigh learning R right now)</li>\n<li>Being well suited includes the availability of methods we use at CRAN vs. commercial Matlab toolboxes and Matlab file repository</li>\n<li>Being better suited includes the fact that I cannot adapt the code of proprietary Matlab toolboxes (p files) to particular needs.</li>\n<li>Being well suited includes the ease of report generation </li>\n<li>infrastructure: e.g. R's package concept enforcing a minimal standard and allowing to rely on examples and tests actually being runable vs. a folder full of .m files (I heard that recently a more package like concept was introduced). This helps a lot with sharing the code (whether to reproduce your findings or to use it on their own data)</li>\n<li>license costs come in indirectly: it is more that you don't need to worry if you install it on your private computer as well and you can tell students to install it on their laptops than worrying about the cost of a few licenses for computers at work. </li>\n<li>probably far more costly than license fees themselves are the time to get the license manager working or to transfer licenses between computers, and if you just want to give a toolbox a try before deciding whether to buy it or not, the hassle of a) asking the vendor for a demo version and later on b) of filling out order forms and writing justifications why you need to spend money on that license.</li>\n</ul></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Note how many of these arguments are \"soft\" and in fact have more to do with being used to one system or the other or using a feature is easier, more obvious, or more common among the peer group of that software's users: noweb <em>can</em> work with Matlab, documentation of m-files is possible and encouraged (though not really enforced), unit tests are possible in Matlab, Matlab Central has lots of free code, etc. Just R users always know of CRAN, whereas not all Matlab users know of Matlab Central, there's a good culture of citing scientific papers about the implemented method in R help files, shipping code together with example data sets and/or giving actually running example code.</p>\n\n<p>Examples of invalid arguments:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>if my peers did not use version control for coding, I wouldn't consider that an argument <em>against</em> using version control (as there are lots of good reasons for using it)</p></li>\n<li><p>Or, if the ones refusing to use version control were programming in Matlab, neither would that be an argument against Matlab - but I'd check whether there is any reason that prohibits using version control for Matlab code.</p></li>\n</ul>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2394, "author": "Fomite", "author_id": 118, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/118", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>To supplement @David Ketcheson's answer with a \"Yes, but...\"</p>\n\n<p>I agree that there are two types of reproducibility - CrossValidated discusses them with some degree of frequency. There is, as has been mentioned, \"Can I click 'Run' and get the same answer you did\" reproducibility, which I generally don't find very compelling.</p>\n\n<p>There's also \"Could I repeat your analysis from what you have provided from Step 1 to Step End, and get the same or a similar answer?\" I think this is the one we should be aiming for.</p>\n\n<p>That is <em>often</em> helped by using accessible, non-proprietary code, but not always. Consider the following example of an infectious disease dynamics model, expressed as a system of ODEs:</p>\n\n<p>Here, in order to replicate (or fail to replicate) my findings, the software I used doesn't matter. What matters is the equations and parameter values I chose. If I provide those, then the only reason for code being needed is because someone <em>doesn't</em> want to implement the study from scratch, and does want to just run the code and see if the results match, tinker with the assumptions a bit, etc. In that case, everyone benefits from the code being in a form people use.</p>\n\n<p>I think the same is often true for statistical analysis that doesn't use novel methods. At this point, what matters is that the <em>data</em> is available, and that the code is implemented in a language people understand and use. If 95% of people use SAS, even if it is proprietary, then the way to make your results most accessible, and most easy to replicate, is to have an implementation in SAS. Because if you pick an obscure but free language, what you've done is replaced the \"Money\" barrier with a \"Time to understand\" barrier - which for most people equates to the same thing.</p>\n\n<p>The summary is this: I don't think \"Free/Open\" vs. \"Proprietary/Closed\" is necessarily the deciding distinction. I think that distinction is accessibility, and trying to maximize that. If there is both an open, free and popular software package that's used (R for example) then great! - use that. But if the field uses primarily one commercial package, picking an obscure alternative just because its free doesn't fix accessibility, it just shifts the burden.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2402, "author": "Rody Oldenhuis", "author_id": 1243, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1243", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>My two cents: </p>\n\n<p>I often compare code with a scientific paper. The purpose of a paper is to describe your results and approach to the problem in such a way that your peers can validate/refute your findings, <em>in whatever way they see fit</em>, so that a collaborative effort can take place to make progress in the field. </p>\n\n<p>Who cares whether the paper's author has used LaTeX to write his paper, or MS&nbsp; Word? Who cares if the data was processed with MATLAB, or Excel, or Pascal? It is the truth(s) in the paper that count(s), <em>not</em> the tools used to get there (although many would gladly jump in here and start a fierce discussion on this point...but in my experience, the arguments used in such discussions tend to be more like religion than anything else).</p>\n\n<p>What is <strong>very important</strong> however, is the means of getting through to your peers. For example, if you write and publish a paper in Esperanto (supposing for the moment that would get accepted), simply because you think it's beautiful and elegant and everyone should speak it. Plus there are many books about how to convey meaning in Esperanto right? </p>\n\n<p>Not many of your peers will be able to understand the paper, let alone get the message and reproduce your findings. You'll have to wait until someone comes along in your field who shares your views on Esperanto, which might take half a lifetime. Altogether this is a very poor way of making progress in your field. </p>\n\n<p>This I think is the crux of your predicament -- if your peers mostly use MATLAB, you'd best stick to MATLAB, because you'll reach the most peers the quickest. Leave it to (other) engineers to sort out whether MATLAB actually produces good (enough) results for your case, and leave it to one of your peers half a world away to translate your code to C++ and verify your findings. </p>\n\n<p>It's not the code that counts -- it's the knowledge that is contained in it.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 7468, "author": "Faheem Mitha", "author_id": 285, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/285", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Let me start with a disclaimer. I generally subscribe to the free software community perspective that proprietary software is questionable ethically, and best avoided if possible. I realise this perspective is not commonly held in scientific circles. Having said that, sometimes proprietary software is a necessary, or at least not easily avoided evil, and I'm generally pragmatic about using proprietary software when no good alternatives exist. I've used proprietary software in the past, though currently the only proprietary software I'm currently (sporadically) using is Skype, for which no good free alternatives exist.</p>\n\n<p>However, special considerations apply in a scientific context. One of thse has already been covered by @David, namely that in general you can't \"see inside\" proprietary software to see how something is implemented. Having said that, sometimes proprietary software is written in an interpreted language, as in Splus, and one may be able to see part or all of an algorithm implementation. Regardless, the point holds generally.</p>\n\n<p>A separate and obvious issue, which I don't think anyone has raised, is that using proprietary software forces others who want to use your software to buy the proprietary product you use. These products can be quite expensive, especially for people from poor countries. For example, Matlab, which has been mentioned in this thread, runs to thousands of dollars if one has to pay for a license oneself. Western academic institutions often have site licenses for such popular software, so researchers don't have to pay for it themselves. I personally am quite unhappy when I am expected to use a piece of software written using some proprietary language or package that has to be purchased.</p>\n\n<p>A related issue is that much, if not most research, is done using public funding, i.e. taxpayer money. It seems undesirable to me to use such funds to buy proprietary software, thus adding to the profit of some corporation. In general, there is some movement to make academic work that is done using public funding free. And one can easily make the argument that the usage of proprietary software makes ones scientific product less free. For example, I believe the NIH now has some such policies in place. Similar arguments could be applied to the usage of software tools.</p>\n\n<p>A tangential technical issue is that it is often difficult to get proprietary software to play nice on free software platforms such as the free Unix-like systems currently popular in scientific circles, e.g. the Linux based systems, and the BSD systems. These difficulties include, but are not restricted to</p>\n\n<p>a) ABI problems. If one wants to compile a C/C++ extension for Matlab, for example, one has to use exactly the version of the compiler that the Matlab program has been compiled with</p>\n\n<p>b) The program requires obsolete libraries or requires libraries to be in non-standard places.</p>\n\n<p>I mention this issue in part because my understanding of the question is that it is asking about proprietary vs free in the context of pragmatic usage.</p>\n\n<p>So, to respond to the question directly:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Assuming I'm starting a new project and I wish to make it as\n reproducible as possible. Should I be using relatively unpopular free\n software or extremely popular proprietary ones?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I don't think there is a clear answer. If there is no viable alternative, then one would have to use the proprietary software, as I do with Skype. If there a viable free version, I would use it. Bear in mind that if more people start using the \"relatively unpopular free software\" it will become more popular. :-)</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 77647, "author": "David", "author_id": 62652, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/62652", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>You can do whatever you damn well please, but there are a few considerations:</p>\n\n<p>1) You might have an obligation to disseminate your work. If you are supported by an external funding agency such as the NSF or NIH then dissemination is an obligation. Many private foundations and other funding sources also provide support with the intent of dissemination, whether it's stated explicitly or not.</p>\n\n<p>If you have such an obligation, then absent any other consideration this would suggest you use the most accessible software possible, regardless of whether that is proprietary or free.</p>\n\n<p>2) Open source-ness is important for some kinds of research, but for most research it's irrelevant. Unless you're doing computer systems research, where it really matters how the computer arrives at an answer, the method does not matter so much as correctness. Sometimes it can matter (e.g. if your work is heavily dependent on numerical methods), but it probably doesn't.</p>\n\n<p>3) Communities establish standards of validity and integrity. If everyone else uses MATLAB, then the community has deemed it accurate. Absent evidence to the contrary, using open-source software does not make your results seem more correct or more verifiable in anyone's eyes.</p>\n\n<p>As as side note, Mathworks has a strong reputation for working with researchers. If you really felt that MATLAB was giving you incorrect results, and you had examples to show it, they would be knocking down your door to fix the issue. I've had Mathworks issue me a custom support patch the very same day I called about an obscure hardware incompatibility that was causing incorrect behavior. </p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2381", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2386, "author": "Fomite", "author_id": 118, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/118", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Might I suggest <a href=\"http://scicomp.stackexchange.com\">http://scicomp.stackexchange.com</a> ?</p>\n\n<p>While the StackExchange system isn't the best - and indeed isn't designed - for \"discussion\", I've found that many \"What did you think of this paper\" type questions can be phrased in SE-compatible formats. CrossValidated has a semi-periodic \"Journal Club\" bit, and questions and musings about scientific papers come up a fair amount there.</p>\n\n<p>I think if framed correctly, they might find a useful home here.</p>\n\n<p>Generally though, I think the online discussion of scientific papers suffers from a few problems. Generally, the two I find the most problematic:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Lack of a clear community to talk about papers in. Essentially, the problem your question is looking for an answer to. I haven't found a really good general purpose one, though I would love to if I did find it. There's blogs and the like, but even the ones talking about peer-reviewed papers are somewhat one sided in terms of their communication, and not great for anything but transient chatter.</li>\n<li>A hesitation to talk about that online. Among colleagues, it seems somewhat easier to summarize things like \"Bad paper is bad\", or slice apart someone's methodology. I'd be somewhat more hesitant to do that anywhere where my identity is both traceable and the conversation is saved for eternity (the internet).</li>\n</ol>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2406, "author": "jurassic", "author_id": 14, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I haven't used it personally so I can't vouch for its quality, but I know several people in another research group using a site called <strong><a href=\"http://journalfire.com/\">Journal Fire</a></strong> for this purpose. Might want to check it out. </p>\n\n<p>Also, I think the citation manager and social network <strong><a href=\"http://www.mendeley.com/\">Mendeley</a></strong> has some limited discussion capabilities, but I prefer to manage my references with BibDesk so I haven't use it much.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 13364, "author": "David Ketcheson", "author_id": 81, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/81", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>The <a href=\"https://selectedpapers.net/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Selected Papers Network</a> is a new effort in this direction that intends to federate content from all over the web. To post something to it, just write a Google+ post with #spnetwork and the paper's arxiv ID or DOI in the body. You can also post things directly at the site. The developers are working on interfacing with other social tools like Twitter.</p>\n\n<p>You can read more about the thinking behind it here: <a href=\"http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3264905/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3264905/</a>.</p>\n\n<p>Edit: The site was shut down several years ago.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 24501, "author": "Christian Fritz", "author_id": 9763, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9763", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>We have just extended BibBase.org to allow papers to be discussed in a fashion heavily inspired by StackExchange: <a href=\"http://bibbase.org/blog/stackoverflow-inspired-scientific-discourse\" rel=\"noreferrer\">http://bibbase.org/blog/stackoverflow-inspired-scientific-discourse</a></p>\n\n<p>What's different about BibBase compared to several other sites is that authors integrate bibbase directly into their own homepage. It keeps links to collaborators up to date, and it links to pages on bibbase.org for keywords, and now also for discussion. We want it to be the <em>unobtrusive</em> research network that just helps scientists show their publications online on their own pages as they normally would, but with additional features that make it more than that. We think that it is important to facilitate discussion about one's own papers, and therefore this is now a feature provided by bibbase.</p>\n\n<p>[This is an old question, but it seems that most listed solutions have been shutdown by now one way or another.]</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 28669, "author": "Piotr Migdal", "author_id": 49, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/49", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>For public discussions on arXiv preprints there is <a href=\"https://scirate.com/\" rel=\"noreferrer\">SciRate</a>.</p>\n\n<p>For general discussions, also private, there is <a href=\"https://peerlibrary.org/\" rel=\"noreferrer\">PeerLibrary</a>.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 28730, "author": "daaxix", "author_id": 4572, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4572", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I use <a href=\"http://i-librarian.net/\" rel=\"nofollow\">I, Librarian</a>. It is a reference manager, kind of like Mendeley but with a free option.</p>\n\n<p>They have both a paid service option and a free self host option (like wordpress).</p>\n\n<p>It can be private and they have per paper discussion capability.</p>\n\n<p>For a private/semi-private group of collaborators I think it is quite decent.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 115756, "author": "mo-user", "author_id": 97215, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/97215", "pm_score": 0, "selected": false, "text": "<p>For theoretical physics (or closely related) papers, one possibility is to use the Reviews section of <a href=\"https://physicsoverflow.org/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">PhysicsOverflow</a> (note that it is possible for the registered PO users to <a href=\"https://physicsoverflow.org/submit-paper\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">submit</a> there papers for review).</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 147515, "author": "Sylvain Ribault", "author_id": 90168, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/90168", "pm_score": 0, "selected": false, "text": "<p><a href=\"https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Research\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Wikiversity</a> has useful technical features (the same as Wikipedia): collaborative editing, referencing tools, discussion pages, version control, email alerts, etc. It can very well be used for discussing scientific papers. </p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2385", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/81/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2389, "author": "Noah Snyder", "author_id": 25, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/25", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Sometimes people avoid taking students if they expect to retire or move before the student would graduate.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2390, "author": "Aru Ray", "author_id": 948, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/948", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>In general, I strongly believe that this depends on the professor and department in question. One imagines that there is a time that professors <em>would like to</em> stop taking students and a time that they <em>actually</em> stop taking students, and these do not necessarily coincide. In a small department where there are many graduate students and a shortage of advisors, presumably there is \"peer pressure\" from other faculty members to continue to advise students. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2393, "author": "aeismail", "author_id": 53, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53", "pm_score": 5, "selected": true, "text": "<p>There are no hard and fast rules for this. However, in general, the question is not so much time-after-PhD, but rather time <em>before retirement.</em> Most faculty advisors in the final stages of their careers stop taking students, so that they can wind their research groups down gracefully. Frequently, the last years before retirement will be spent writing and teaching, and mentoring a few additional students. The amount of time depends on the average career of a graduate student in the professor's particular discipline, but somewhere between three and seven years before retirement, the \"wind down\" will begin.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2533, "author": "paul garrett", "author_id": 980, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Whether or not one comes up with a number of years since PhD, since tenure, etc., for faculty to stop taking students, that is not the determining mechanism... except in a few cases where the cause <em>is</em> simply fatigue or disillusionment with the whole enterprise. But the latter seems uncommon.</p>\n\n<p>Rather, the absolutely dominant cause is senior faculty' estimated time to retirement. Not only would it be bad to retire while one has a PhD student still in progress, but, further, it would be bad to retire while one has a former PhD student pre-tenure. Thus, taking on a student is approximately a 12-year commitment, at least, I think.</p>\n\n<p>And, then, it becomes hard to clearly picture one's own energy level and frame of mind 12 years into the future...</p>\n\n<p>Edit: as to why it might be bad to retire when one has a not-yet-tenured former student: very often, unless the student has taken a sharp turn away from the general enterprise of their advisor relatively quickly, the advisor will still be a leading expert concerning the topic. Even with the presumption that the advisor will be positive rather than negative, that opinion is important. If the advisor is retired, or is operationally retired, the expert-ness of their opinion, e.g., toward the future and future developments, is weakened, and their credibility in appraising <em>future</em> contributions of their former student is weakened. One wants to be visibly sufficiently engaged so that one's opinions are connected to current and future events, not only archival or historical or nostalgic stuff!</p>\n\n<p>... and to have this presumably-positive, presumably-helpful letter simply due to retirement or disengagement is a loss that many could not afford. Nothing overtly bad happens, but one has lost a great deal.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2388", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2401, "author": "eykanal", "author_id": 73, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/73", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I would strongly recommend speaking with your advisor as a first step. He may be able to initiate collaboration between you and the researcher running the other lab while you're still performing your PhD work, allowing you to kill two birds with one stone.</p>\n\n<p>If this is impractical for any reason, I would recommend reaching that, as soon as you think you have a strong enough knowledge base to be able to demonstrate expertise in your field, you should reach out to the professor at the second lab and express your interest. Research grants often take many months, and demonstrating your interest in his work at an early stage may give the professor more interest in writing a grant in which you could participate. Note that I would definitely recommend waiting until you can impress the professor with your knowledge. Postdocs are hired to get stuff done. While it's true you still are a PhD student, you're essentially applying for a position as a postdoc, and if you're not an expert (or close to one) in your field, he will likely be wary about bringing you in to your lab.</p>\n\n<p>This last reason is why people typically wait until they're pretty far along, if not outright finished, with their graduate work before looking for postdoc positions.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2404, "author": "JeffE", "author_id": 65, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65", "pm_score": 5, "selected": false, "text": "<p>You want to establish substantial professional contact with the head of your target group <em>long</em> before your doctoral period is about to end. They need to know who you are already when your postdoc application crosses their desk. It is never too early to start. Here are a few suggestions.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>Ask your advisor to invite the head of the group to give a talk in your department. Meet with them one-on-one. Ask about the possibility of a short visit to their lab to give a reciprocal talk. <em>(Prerequisite: Have something compelling to talk about; be a good speaker.)</em></p></li>\n<li><p>Ask about the possibility of summer internships. <em>(Prerequisite: Be a good candidate for a summer internship.)</em></p></li>\n<li><p>Ask your advisor to suggest a one-semester student swap. <em>(Prerequisite: Be someone that the other person would want to hire as an RA.)</em> More generally: Convince your advisor to collaborate with the other group.</p></li>\n<li><p>Ask the head of the group to be an external member of your dissertation committee. Ask at least two years before your defense. <em>(Prerequisite: Have a thesis topic that they will care about.)</em></p></li>\n<li><p>Talk to the head of the group and/or his students at conferences. Join them for lunch, or dinner, or coffee, or beer, or whatever. <em>(Prerequisite: Be an interesting human being. Know a few good places to get lunch/dinner/coffee/beer/whatever.)</em></p></li>\n<li><p>Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Cultivate <em>multiple</em> colleagues. Some may develop into future employers, others into future research collaborators, still others into letter-writers, still others into mentors, perhaps a few into friends, and most into nothing. <em>(Prerequisite: Know more than one person.)</em></p></li>\n<li><p>Most importantly, <em>don't</em> think of this process primarily as \"cultivating a postdoc position\". Think of it as <strong>cultivating a research community</strong>. People <em>will</em> notice if your motivations are mercenary, if only subconsciously.</p></li>\n</ul>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2400", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/379/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2437, "author": "Zenon", "author_id": 257, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/257", "pm_score": 4, "selected": true, "text": "<p>I think this will depend highly from the publisher himself, but any problem will probably result in delay before publication. </p>\n\n<p>If the publisher sees for the first time at the final draft slightly new figures, he might still ask for a few modifications. As such, I prefer to do before the next revision as much as possible to make sure that the publisher is happy and everything is done as soon as possible.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2444, "author": "aeismail", "author_id": 53, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>As a referee, if figures are in a rough shape, I will absolutely call the paper out on that, and <em>demand</em> improvements. This will potentially set the acceptance back by weeks. Unless the figures will take weeks to get right—and in this day, that would usually imply that more data needs to be collected—then it's better to just do it right the first time.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 126085, "author": "jerlich", "author_id": 62052, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/62052", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I agree with <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53/aeismail\">aeismail</a>. Your figures should be as polished as possible before submission. As a reviewer, I am dedicating my time, for free, to improve your paper (if possible) so that it is appropriate for publication. Every problem that you leave unfixed is something that I feel like I have to mention, and it makes me angry/frustrated that the authors didn't take the time to correct obvious problems.</p>\n\n<p>I ask my own lab members to spend time making figures polished and clear even for internal discussions. It is a good exercise in visual communication for them and saves everyone else (other lab members and myself) time since we don't have to waste time. </p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2403", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/344/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2407, "author": "Andy W", "author_id": 3, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/3", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I think this has been covered here in prior questions, but to continue on anyway ...</p>\n\n<p>You should read material with a purpose or a goal. If the material is helping to achieve that goal (learning new or foreign material that you have a desire to learn) then reading all of the material is fine. There is no point in reading material though if it has no purpose or a goal (e.g. topics you are not interested in, material you already know sufficiently).</p>\n\n<p>Personally for me it is a mix, some material I skim in large parts, some material I read only portions that I'm directly interested in, and if I'm really engrossed in some material I will read it front to back. Currently I'm reading an introduction cartography text book and really enjoying it and reading every chapter! It would be torture for me though to read though an intro textbook for criminal justice, criminology or sociology.</p>\n\n<p>Same goes for journal articles, posts on Q/A forums, etc. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2409, "author": "Dan C", "author_id": 1069, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1069", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p><strong>What do you want to gain from reading that book?</strong></p>\n\n<p>I typically find that I only read books (or articles) <strong>cover to cover when I hope to work on a very closely related topic</strong>. For example, if I'm trying to improve the result in a paper, I will often read most or all of the details. However, the vast <strong>majority of the time all I need is the big picture</strong>. In that case, I often read the introduction in detail, then skim the remainder to understand the structure of the actual proofs.</p>\n\n<p>In your case as a math grad student, it may be important to understand the types of questions and answers common in topology. So I would probably recommend reading the book well enough that you can at least solve the easier exercises. However, if you don't plan to work in that area, and you aren't preparing for a qualifying exam or something similar, then likely the time you'd take to read the book cover to cover could be spent better elsewhere.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2410, "author": "Rex Kerr", "author_id": 669, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/669", "pm_score": 5, "selected": true, "text": "<p>You stop reading books cover to cover when you don't need all the information between the covers of the books.</p>\n\n<p>If you take a textbook on topology and flip to the middle, it will probably be largely uninterpretable because you don't know the terminology, previously proved theorems, and so on. You can still glance through the chapter on the material that you really need to know to get an idea of what you're completely missing. If you can select a subset of earlier chapters that let you understand the later one, great! If not, read the whole thing. If that's still not enough, get another textbook or talk to someone who knows the subject well.</p>\n\n<p>You'll have to make the call regarding when it's better to proceed in this way and when it's more efficient to simply start at the beginning and go through it all. If you need to know something well, this is often the approach to take not because the other wouldn't work as well <em>in principle</em>, but because in practice the temptation to be less thorough than one really needs to be is often too great.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2405", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2411, "author": "Alexander Serebrenik", "author_id": 882, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/882", "pm_score": 0, "selected": false, "text": "<p>My expectation would be yes. Of course, you will have to explain in your application letter that your undergraduate grades do not really represent you any more, etc.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2413, "author": "Noah Snyder", "author_id": 25, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/25", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>The odds of a career in academia are long in general, and certainly your situation is going to make the odds even longer. </p>\n\n<p>That said, people tend to only look at your most recent degree. It seems pretty likely that if you got into a masters program and did very well there, you'd have a good shot at getting into a solid Ph.D. program. But you'd actually have to do very well in the masters program (probably \"best in several years\" level). Furthermore, even once you get into a solid Ph.D. program the odds are against your getting a job in academia.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 120813, "author": "user101278", "author_id": 101278, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/101278", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I flunked out twice as a undergrad engineering student at a major mid-western university. The second time it was a \"go away and don't bother to reapply\" situation. </p>\n\n<p>I was determined to be a graduate engineer, my dream since age 10. I went to work as an adult technician at the university to save a few $$. Six months later I started night school as an \"adult special\", determined to learn everything I had missed during the first two years. For the next year, I basically did every example and every problem over in a special set of notebooks I kept, using the open tutoring office in the old department whenever I had a question. I bought or checked out similar math textbooks to get extra problems to work where I was not perfectly confidant of my ability.</p>\n\n<p>I never got less that an A or A+ (95+) in any class, repeating all the classes that I had received C's or worse in, and met informally with each member of the admissions committee to let them know of my progress. They were encouraging but non-committal. I then re-petitioned for admission to a bachelors upper division degree program and requested that my night school grades by substituted for failing ones. I was readmitted on probation but with the old grades.</p>\n\n<p>I continued on that same track for my junior year - all high A's, all homework triple checked before submission, lots of all-nights, no parties, few weekends.</p>\n\n<p>At the end of that year I was taken off of academic probation. A few months later the department head and the chair of the graduate admissions committee/vice department head separately approached me with an invite visit their labs and discuss their research. I had previously made the acquaintance of some of their other grad students to get an idea of what was happening. Both visits resulted in offers of an RA in a PhD program. So no teaching, just $$ support for my Masters research (optical physics/lasers).</p>\n\n<p>After the Masters thesis I was recruited by a local startup - I made a choice not to go the academic route for a number of reasons. the chance to be in on the ground floor in a new technology, money, a new wife, and a desire to start a family among them.</p>\n\n<p>I was lucky to get a third chance. Good luck to you. </p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2408", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1246/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2422, "author": "Dave Clarke", "author_id": 643, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/643", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Some people do further study because they are interested, indeed passionate about the topic matter. Others do it to improve their job prospects/career outlook/ultimate pay packet.</p>\n\n<p>Ask yourself which category you fall into. If you are not interested, then you may not enjoy it and may not succeed unless your motivation is more financial.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2423, "author": "aeismail", "author_id": 53, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53", "pm_score": 5, "selected": true, "text": "<p>An unmotivated graduate student will usually be a lackluster student at best. These students will be more likely to be distracted by whatever their true interests are. </p>\n\n<p>Moreover, in a program like the one you are describing, you will be making a <em>very</em> significant career detour. You would be advised not to make such a move unless you are <em>absolutely</em> sure that it's something you'll want to do for the next four years, since you will have a payback requirement. If you're not sure about it, this is the kind of move that can wreak havoc on your career—particularly if you (re-)discover your dissatisfaction after the classwork is complete, and the service period begins.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 148285, "author": "Ryan James Carson", "author_id": 123306, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/123306", "pm_score": 0, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Some students (especially graduate students)\nmight take a few courses for credit to see how things \ngo. Invariably, at a later time they can usually be \nused toward a degree or transferred. </p>\n\n<p>The standard to be admitted as a special student varies.</p>\n\n<p>Within the Ivy League, applying as a graduate level\nspecial student, say at Harvard University, \nis competitive.</p>\n\n<p>See my answer regarding this as stated on this forum\nbelow:</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/61120/123306\">https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/61120/123306</a></p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2416", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1252/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2420, "author": "Community", "author_id": -1, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I think that in most conferences/project meetings I attend, there isn't an overwhelming preference on one side or the other (I'm working in computer science, in case that matters). In other words, there are many academics happily working with linux, and many academics happily working with mac (some are even working with both), so in your case, there is no real wrong choice. </p>\n\n<p>From what I've experienced, in some places, there could be a preference for apple computers because of the way some universities order their hardware: if you ask for a PC, you might not be able to choose which one exactly, and you might end up with a low quality, cheap product, whereas if you ask for a mac, the quality is better (at least, that was true a while ago). But I don't think it can explain why the proportion of apple laptops in the academic world is higher than that of the general population. </p>\n\n<p>In any case, I don't think that working within on environment will prevent the students to switch to another one later one if they need to. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2421, "author": "eykanal", "author_id": 73, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/73", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I do not think there's any appreciable difference. Both types of machines are able to perform the tasks you require more than adequately, and neither has a significant learning curve for students unfamiliar with the platform. I would choose the one that your IT staff has more experience supporting and the one that has the fewest associated costs.</p>\n\n<p>If all costs really are equal, ask the students; they'll probably have a strong opinion one way or the other.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2424, "author": "Vittorio Patriarca", "author_id": 1009, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1009", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I think that neither apple nor Thinkpad T420 have a reasonable advantage for a programmer. A 13\" screen is too small for an activity that it is often done with, much bigger displays (at least in my limited experience). I think that a standard programmer doesn't see any difference between these laptop and a good 750$ 15\" laptop; but you can buy two of them at the same price of the T420 or the macbook pro. And you can lend them at a lower rate. If you need more computational power, then probably they are not enough. An OpenCL or OpenGL programmer, for example, cannot seriously use them for his job; expecially without a ssh connection to a high performance desktop or a connection with some cloud computing server.</p>\n\n<p>So, my opinion is that you can find a cheaper laptop, with adequate performance, and increase the number of laptop that you buy. Obviously, if the number of laptops is fixed, there is no advantage in a cheaper laptop, even if I think a bigger display can be useful. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2427, "author": "StrongBad", "author_id": 929, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Does your donor have a preference? Neither will look like good value for money, but Macs are sexy looking. What about buying Macs and dual booting them? This way your students can get experience in both environments.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2431, "author": "Sylvain Peyronnet", "author_id": 43, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/43", "pm_score": 0, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I don't think that there is technically a real difference between the two alternatives that you mention. \nNow, you have to find other ways to choose. I guess that buying macs can seduce prospective students easily (at least more than T420): \"Hey Bob, do you now CS dpt XYZ? Sure Alice, this is the coolest on earth, <em>they even give macbooks to their students</em>...\".</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 138076, "author": "Boaty Mcboatface", "author_id": 112033, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/112033", "pm_score": 0, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Couple of reasons I would go with thinkpads are the following. Please keep in mind I have no CS background.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>Longevity: thinkpads (particularly T series) have a good track record. They can be repaired, reused and upgraded. Apple computers are almost the opposite. A failure in a component often warants for an entire motherboard (since everything is soldered).</p></li>\n<li><p>Thermals: Apple has terrible termals. Thinkpads are not particularly superb but they are still significantly better than apple computers. If any of your students needs to do something computation heavy for their research it will be benefical to have some thermal performance.</p></li>\n<li><p>Rigidity: I don't know much about apple chasis materials but there is a cult around thinkpads' (reddit r/thinkpad) admiring their rigid, reliable construction. If you go in the afforementioned subreddit, you will see people ressurecting very old thinkpads. On the other hand a significant portion of Apple laptops are now under an <a href=\"https://support.apple.com/keyboard-service-program-for-mac-notebooks\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">extensive keyboard replacement program</a> because their keyboards fail. They say it is a small portion of their keyboards but people around me seem to have this issue more often than they make it sound. And when their keyboards fail, it is absurdly long, expensive and hard to replace them. You do not want your students to go through keyboard issues in their busy periods (final weeks etc.).</p></li>\n<li><p>Upgradability: As mentioned, Apple solders every component to their motherboards. Upgrades are near impossible. T series thinkpads usually have really upgradable motherboards. It is not uncommon to see thinkpad lovers using a 10 year old IBM thinkpad with the new CPU, rams, IPS screen and SSD they installed. </p></li>\n<li><p>Repertuar: You have mentioned that you would like to give your students \"environment close to how it is in the real world\" but it is likely the case that they will need to be familiar with a good range of hardware and software. Certainly, thinkpads with linux is the less common choice between the two. </p></li>\n</ul>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2419", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1254/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2429, "author": "Community", "author_id": -1, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>What defines a PhD dissertation can change from one field to another, from one university to another. However, in my case, one chapter of my PhD thesis corresponds to a condensed version of my Master thesis, and as far as I can tell, it's not an unusual practice from where I come from (computer science, france). </p>\n\n<p>It makes sense when the PhD is somehow an extension of the Master thesis, that is, the Master thesis is used to study a particular aspect of the PhD research problem. That being said, the better for you is probably to check some PhD dissertations coming from your department, and check the intersection with the corresponding Master thesis. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2430, "author": "eykanal", "author_id": 73, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/73", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Seeing your question, I guess this can vary from field to field, but the practice I've seen (engineering, neuroscience, and psychology) is that the PhD work <em>often</em> is an extension of the masters research. The masters work explores one facet of the research problem, and the PhD thesis explores two or three more. This is often a practical matter, as sometimes the masters is one step towards the eventual granting of a PhD.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2434, "author": "aeismail", "author_id": 53, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>In general the master's thesis and the doctoral thesis should not be on exactly the same topic. On the other hand, it is entirely rational for earlier theses to provide the inspiration for later work in one's career. </p>\n\n<p>What you can't really do is retread the same ground—you will need to develop a different topic, with different literature citations and original research. But the move doesn't have to be radical—in literature, for instance, you don't have to go from Sophocles to Virginia Woolf. But you probably shouldn't do <em>The Winter's Tale</em> for your master's thesis and then <em>Cymbeline</em> for your PhD thesis, either.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 12573, "author": "Moriarty", "author_id": 8562, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8562", "pm_score": 0, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I have never heard of any institution imposing a restriction such that your doctoral research is in a different field to your Master's research.</p>\n\n<p>As long as your PhD research is a significant body of original research that greatly extends your Master's experience and appropriately cites any previous findings, there should not be a problem.</p>\n\n<p>Indeed, in some countries it is possible to <em>convert</em> your Master's research into a PhD. For instance, if you are 6 months into a project and decide you want to greatly extend the scope of your research, you may be allowed a conversion. Bear in mind that where I live, a Master's degree is not a requirement to begin a PhD (you only need an honours degree, which is 1 year of postgraduate lectures and a small research project).</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2428", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1256/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2445, "author": "aeismail", "author_id": 53, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>You should check with the statistics departments in question about their admission requirements. In some cases, it may be required; in others, it may not be.</p>\n\n<p>As for recommended scores, that's even harder to say. Different schools will expect different results, depending on the caliber of students they attract. In any case, though, you should aim to get the highest score you can, rather than aiming for a particular target. But at a minimum, you won't want to show a score that results in a below-average score; that probably won't help you at any competitive program.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2478, "author": "Aaron", "author_id": 1228, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1228", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I would say that a good score on the Math GRE subject test is always a good signal. That being said, test scores in general have relatively little importance in PhD admissions -- they can disqualify you, but barring that, won't do much to get you in the door. Its something to optimize only after you have optimized the other, more important parts of your application. In your case, it might be helpful to alleviate any concerns someone might have about your math background.</p>\n\n<p>By the way, you might want to check out CMU's PhD program in Machine Learning: <a href=\"http://www.ml.cmu.edu/\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.ml.cmu.edu/</a> -- none of those pesky systems course requirements!</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 15359, "author": "Matt Brenneman", "author_id": 10491, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10491", "pm_score": 0, "selected": false, "text": "<p>1) Most stats programs do not require math GREs.</p>\n\n<p>2) The majority of math GRE is not from advanced mathematics. I strongly suggest you read up on it.</p>\n\n<p>3) Stats programs generally do not require a lot of math background. A solid background in linear algebra, calculus, and multivariate analysis, along an upper level stats sequence is more than sufficient. </p>\n\n<p>4) Your references and any research you've done are going to be the important factors. Did you distinguish yourself in your math classes? Were you the top student? If not, applying to a top 20 school may be an unrealistic goal for you.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 15366, "author": "Community", "author_id": -1, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1", "pm_score": 0, "selected": false, "text": "<p>A GPA of less than 3.0/4.0 will make you ineligible for any top 20 grad school in the US (and Canada), no matter if you apply for a Master's program or a PhD. The lack of math is not as big of a problem as your GPA. If a school accepts you but doesn't think you have enough math in your background, they will put you in a qualifying year instead of the grad program directly.</p>\n\n<p>A good GRE score is good to have, however the cut-off for considering your application is 3.0. If you don't have a minimum 3.0, chances are your application will be disqualified no matter what your GRE score is. These cutoffs are stated clearly at each school's admission requirements page. </p>\n\n<p>For admission consideration, your only option is to talk to the supervisor at your current school and ask if he/she knows anybody at a US school and could put in a good word for you. Otherwise, I am afraid that you are wasting your time. </p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2435", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1260/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2439, "author": "JeffE", "author_id": 65, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>This may vary from country to country, but I think a simple \"thank you\" is sufficient. Writing letters is part of their job.</p>\n\n<p>I'm actually <em>forbidden</em> from accepting gifts from students, on the grounds that an outside observer might interpret the gift as undue influence. But then, I work for a state whose <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governor_of_Illinois#Corruption\">last two governors are in prison</a> for various flavors of corruption.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2441, "author": "Nate Eldredge", "author_id": 1010, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010", "pm_score": 5, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Here's how I would feel about various expressions of thanks, for something like writing a letter of recommendation:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>No response at all: I might be a little disappointed but if I am busy I might not even notice. Some people might be more offended.</p></li>\n<li><p>Email saying thank you: Feels perfectly sufficient to me.</p></li>\n<li><p>Handwritten note: A very thoughtful gesture.</p></li>\n<li><p>Token gift (small box of candy, desk trinket, etc): Appreciative but slightly embarrassed.</p></li>\n<li><p>Gift of non-negligible monetary value: Quite embarrassed. I would probably gracefully try to decline it.</p></li>\n<li><p>Gift of money, in any amount: Very uncomfortable. Feels like a bribe. I'd refuse.</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>Of course this could vary by culture (I'm in the US).</p>\n\n<p>Regarding gifts for an advisor: A common tradition is to give your advisor a nicely bound copy of your dissertation, for their reference and as a memento. (Also be sure to thank them <em>in</em> the dissertation!) You could accompany it with a nice personal note. But again, I wouldn't suggest anything of significant value.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2438", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/77/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2449, "author": "Dan C", "author_id": 1069, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1069", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Many people have different opinions, even among those who are native English speakers and/or think a lot about what makes for good exposition. That said, here are a few rules of thumb:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p><strong>Your thesis is possibly the most formal writing you will ever do.</strong> Survey articles and expository articles (especially for undergrads or other non-experts) are often written less formally. Even many conference proceedings and some journal articles omit some details, and thus can feel less formal than your thesis.</p></li>\n<li><p><strong>No one will fault you for avoiding contractions altogether.</strong> If in doubt, leave it out (the contraction, that is). I hate some techniques common in formal writing, such as overuse of the passive voice, or nearly any use of the pronoun <em>one</em>. But lack of contractions doesn't bother me.</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>As a more general resource for non-native English speakers, consider Doug West's <a href=\"http://www.math.uiuc.edu/~west/grammar.html\"><em>The Grammar</em></a>. West has written two textbooks and over two hundred papers, as well as having served as a problem editor for the Math Monthly for the last 20-something years. Surely many people will disagree with at least one piece of advice he gives, but what I find helpful is that West <em>explains his motivation</em> for each piece of advice he offers. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2450, "author": "aeismail", "author_id": 53, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>The best advice depends upon the style of your thesis. If you are working in a field where you might be expected to publish your thesis, then something aimed at experts should be written in a formal tone (avoiding contractions whenever possible, outside of direct quotations). However, if you're aiming at a wider audience, then a more conversational tone might be completely appropriate. The same logic applies if the chapters of your thesis are planned for publication. </p>\n\n<p>However, you should also check with your advisor about his or her expectations when writing. It would be better to get a sense of what will be allowed <em>before</em> you get too far along; major structural changes are always a pain afterwards.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 5643, "author": "Pete L. Clark", "author_id": 938, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>If you are <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_%28Star_Trek%29\" rel=\"nofollow\">Lieutenant Commander Data</a>: <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datalore\" rel=\"nofollow\">your brother can but you can't</a> (or, as you would say, \"cannot\"). Otherwise: I see that you can use contractions in your informal writing, so it would be very strange if you were not able to use them when writing your thesis. If you can't, maybe contact <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Sacks\" rel=\"nofollow\">Oliver Sacks</a>: he should get at least an article about this, and maybe part of a book.</p>\n\n<p>More seriously: obviously you can. Should you? Speaking as someone who has both written and carefully read theses in a STEM field (mathematics): one generally needs to worry first that the content is complete and correct and second that the writing is good enough so as not to detract (or distract) from the content. The use of contractions would be at least a level below anything I would worry about when reading a thesis...provided they are used correctly. </p>\n\n<p>It's best to stick to language within your comfort zone (especially as a non-native speaker). But your post above indicates to me that you have more than enough facility with English to pull off contractions if you want to. You'll be fine. </p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2447", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/323/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2451, "author": "aeismail", "author_id": 53, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Sometimes flight attendant staff will be willing to hold a poster for you, since generally they can't safely go as checked luggage, and may not fit in the overhead compartment. You should inquire as to what will be allowed.</p>\n\n<p>One useful alternative I've taken advantage of is to use a printing service in the city where you will be presenting your poster, and picking up the poster there. Nowadays, many will accept things sent by email, file transfer service, or web site. This makes the transfer process easier than before, and avoids the problem of last-minute delays (provided you send it ahead of time!). </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2452, "author": "Community", "author_id": -1, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I've seen many people checking a poster in, since the size limits for checked-in luggage are larger than those for carry-on luggages. Another solution would be to send the poster by mail (preferably with a tracking system) a few days before to the hotel where you're going to stay, or even directly to the conference organizers, who can check that everything went fine. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2455, "author": "Fomite", "author_id": 118, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/118", "pm_score": 6, "selected": false, "text": "<p>There are a couple solutions to the \"transporting a poster tube on a plane\" problem:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Most flights allow a second piece of hand-luggage, so that bit is fine. And while it is larger in the length dimension than is usually allowed, I've never had this be a problem. In not-very-full flights, it can be stored on top or behind other bags. On fuller flights, I usually just ask a flight attendant for help. So far the tubes have ended up behind the seats in the last row against the bulk head, and in the coat closet usually reserved for first class. Generally, I find they give you \"credit\" for trying not to be a problem.</li>\n<li>As has been mentioned, you can get your poster printed or shipped to the conference location.</li>\n<li><strong>Cloth posters</strong>. These are becoming more easily accessible. While more expensive than paper posters, if carrying a poster on forces you to check a bag, and your airline charges fees for those, the cost difference vanishes swiftly. These can be folded and stored flat in a shipping envelop or bag. Just make sure to take them out and iron them on a <em>very low</em> setting to get the creases out before you hang them.</li>\n</ol>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2466, "author": "PhD", "author_id": 407, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/407", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I recently flew with a poster to a conference. The dimensions for hand-luggage usually are Height+width+length &lt;= 42\" (inches) (maybe 45\", don't quite remember accurately). If the 'tube' sums up to less than this you should be good.</p>\n\n<p>As is mentioned in another answer, most airlines allow two pieces of hand-luggage e.g. A laptop bag and <em>maybe your tube</em>, if you don't have anything else.</p>\n\n<p>You are free to carry it with you in the hand unless the tube is arbitrarily long i.e. it exceeds 42 inches in length. If you are below that by length, I doubt the other 2 dimensions would be all that big.</p>\n\n<p>At times they may take it from you right at the boarding gate and ask you to check it in there and then. That's fine. It'll be safe and given to you the instant you exit the aircraft rather than at the carousel. </p>\n\n<p>Some aircrafts are small and may have a separate luggage are for hand bags towards the tail. You can put it there. </p>\n\n<p>If it's a small flight and the tube is not too big (diameter and length wise) just prop it by your leg if you are in a window seat or put it below your seat.</p>\n\n<p>As long as you are within the dimensions and allowable limits of hand luggage (count = 2 weight &lt;= 7kgs) you should be fine</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2476, "author": "Rex Kerr", "author_id": 669, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/669", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Almost every airline allows \"a personal item\" in addition to your carry-on luggage; otherwise people with purses wouldn't get any carry-on. Your poster tube is probably not \"a personal item\", but your carry-on could be if it's small enough to fit under your seat. (That's the real reason: there's not enough overhead bin space, but there's plenty of under-seat space. Many people hate having stuff at their feet, though, so the airline can't count on that space being used; saying that you can take a personal item that fits under the seat works for you.) In any case, the way this all works out in practice is that if you're lugging a huge amount of stuff that doesn't look like it'll fit, you'll be asked to check some at the door. Otherwise, it's all okay as long as it will either fit overhead or fit under your seat without sticking out inordinately. I've never seen problems even with backpack (personal item) + carry-on (overhead, fitting strictly within size limits and without requiring lots of shoving to get it to pretend to fit) + poster tube, except on really small regional airplanes with desperately tiny overhead bin space.</p>\n\n<p>Also, if the poster tube doesn't fit in the overhead luggage--it nearly always does--they'll be able to check it at the door to the airplane, just like they do with other overly large and slightly fragile items like strollers.</p>\n\n<p>And, finally, almost everywhere you will present has its own poster printing facilities within a few miles. Any institution of respectable size will have their own, and any city of respectable size--and you're rarely far from one in the EU--will have a copy store of some sort at which you can print at poster size.</p>\n\n<p>So just take the item with you as carry on, and in the extraordinarily unlikely event that something goes wrong and the poster is destroyed, get it printed at your destination. (If you are extra-paranoid, you can get a somewhat tougher plastic poster tube instead of the cardboard ones--bearing in mind that I have yet to see a cardboard one get so crushed that the poster was significantly damaged.)</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2488, "author": "cbeleites unhappy with SX", "author_id": 725, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/725", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<ul>\n<li><p>I only encountered problems once (with Ryanair - I think they wanted to make me pay for late checked luggage). Fortunately it was going back home. I had to make the poster roll small (it then fit into their hand luggage frame) and I loosely folded the poster. As soon as I was in the cabin I unfolded it again and put it into the roll. Someone frome the cabin staff even asked why the poster was folded and said that this was crazy. Fortunately the creases were not that bad.</p></li>\n<li><p>I'd always take the poster with the hand luggage: I once attended a conference where at the first 2 days about 1/3 of the posters had an A4 sheet saying: The poster can currently be found at Alitalia's lost luggage department... </p></li>\n<li><p>You could print the poster at the place of the conference. I once presented a poster that was printed by the poster printing service of the conference hosting university (who actually allowed orders from the outside). </p></li>\n</ul>\n" }, { "answer_id": 32580, "author": "wycx", "author_id": 25013, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/25013", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Format your poster so it can be printed as three strips, either vertical or horizontal. Roll them up in a small poster tube that is short enought to fit in your luggage.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 41358, "author": "Calchas", "author_id": 31491, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31491", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>It depends on the airline's policies, but I have never had any problems on any of AA/AF/AZ/BA/DL/JL/KL/EK/QR/US, and I travelled extensively on all of them as a student, often with posters. The hand luggage restrictions are principally about overhead bin space: but a rolled up poster is small and can probably be squeezed in somewhere on the plane or in the coat cupboard if needs be. Therefore the fact that the tube exceeds one of the dimensions is not really of great interest to most airlines.</p>\n\n<p>If you are travelling on a low cost carrier like RyanAir or EasyJet, that may be a different matter. I know that EasyJet is trying to be \"business friendly\" now so they probably will not be so interested in a small item like a poster tube. The one time I travelled on Ryanair with a poster I voluntarily checked it in at a very large fee rather than have an argument about it.</p>\n\n<p>Now the warning I do have is: if you do check your poster tube, expect it to go missing. I lost three poster tubes (one permanently) by checking them. Somehow the baggage systems in many airports are not designed to transport tubes (especially if they have straps on them) and so they tend to get jammed somewhere and torn to pieces.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 107125, "author": "cactus_pardner", "author_id": 88197, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/88197", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I'm returning to this old question because I now know the <strong>best</strong> solution! It's actually Fomite's third solution: <strong>fabric posters</strong>.</p>\n\n<p>How to do it:\nAstroBetter has an excellent blog post on this (<a href=\"http://www.astrobetter.com/blog/2015/03/25/fabric-conference-posters-ftw/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">http://www.astrobetter.com/blog/2015/03/25/fabric-conference-posters-ftw/</a>) which in turn takes you to the how-to from the company Spoonflower (<a href=\"https://support.spoonflower.com/hc/en-us/articles/204266984-How-to-Create-a-Fabric-Poster-from-a-PowerPoint-or-PDF\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">https://support.spoonflower.com/hc/en-us/articles/204266984-How-to-Create-a-Fabric-Poster-from-a-PowerPoint-or-PDF</a>).</p>\n\n<p>This is an even better option than it was a few years ago when Fomite mentioned it, because I've found the fabric printing to be slightly <strong>cheaper than traditional poster printing</strong> (this may depend on your campus printer) and on the fabric recommended by Emily Rice on AstroBetter, <strong>no ironing is needed</strong>. It is incredibly fun to be able to stow the poster in the corner of a suitcase and bring it out to show to friends or relatives I'm staying with on the way home from the conference.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>Historical note: I came across this post several years ago and followed the advice, when creating my first printed conference poster! It ended up being awkward: I asked the flight attendant politely about putting it in a closet or overhead, and she said to put the tube on the floor at my feet (and the feet of the two passengers next to me). As it turned out, I was sitting next to (and inconveniencing) a professor headed to my conference (though he was nice about it). For the return trip, I decided to fold it up and mail it home and avoid having to deal with a poster tube ever again.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2448", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/49/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2460, "author": "Aaron", "author_id": 1228, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1228", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>It is difficult because there are more graduating PhDs than there are faculty positions. This is because by and large, academic departments are not growing very fast. </p>\n\n<p>Consider a department that has 40 faculty positions, and is not growing. Suppose each faculty member has a career that spans 40 years (Say, ages 28-68). Then in a steady state, this department will hire 1 new faculty member every year. On the other hand, say each faculty member graduates 1 student on average every three years. (This is conservative: say each professor has only 2 students at a time, and each one takes 6 years). So this department graduates 13-14 students every year.</p>\n\n<p>This is what happens in general: each department produces many more PhDs than it consumes, so there must be many who leave the system. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2461, "author": "Dan C", "author_id": 1069, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1069", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>The short answer is that there are many more people that <em>want faculty positions</em> than there are <em>positions</em>. Any time <em>demand</em> is higher than <em>supply</em>, cost tends to go up. So why is demand so high? Partly it's because being a professor has lots of attractive qualities. However, partly it's because that's what our professors tell us we should be (some do this very explicitly, and some more implicitly). As a result, many students (especially stronger students) decide that the only way to succeed is to become a professor.</p>\n\n<p>Another aspect that makes becoming a professor hard is that most professor jobs require a combination of skills: teaching, research, article writing, grant writing, advising and mentoring, networking, etc. However, grad school generally fails to teach us many of these skills. Most grad schools focus almost exclusively on research, and possibly teaching.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2462, "author": "JeffE", "author_id": 65, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65", "pm_score": 6, "selected": true, "text": "<p>One of the strange effects of faculty hiring (and graduate admissions) is that offers do not necessarily go to the strongest candidates. Departments have limited resources to interview, recruit, and hire faculty. Interviews are expensive; startup packages are <em>really</em> expensive; faculty job offers burn political capital <em>even when they aren't accepted</em>.</p>\n\n<p>So hiring committees make strategic decisions based on the perceived probability that candidates will accept the position. The University of Southeast North Dakota at Hoople would most likely <em>not</em> interview superstar applicants, because they don't want to waste their time interviewing someone who's \"obviously\" going to get offers from stronger schools. As with any self-selection process, this assumption is partly justified and partly Institutional Impostor Syndrome.</p>\n\n<p>So no, selecting an MIT grad is <strong>absolutely not</strong> a no-brainer for U-Cal-XYZ.</p>\n\n<p>And yes, sometimes reasonable PhD students from very strong schools fail to get faculty jobs, or even interviews, because they don't quite have the research record to get an interview at the best departments, but their pedigree scares off weaker departments.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2457", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/411/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2459, "author": "David Ketcheson", "author_id": 81, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/81", "pm_score": 5, "selected": true, "text": "<p>Don't worry, administrative responsibilities will find you unless you flee them, and even then you probably won't avoid them. At most universities, young faculty are expressly spared administrative responsibilities so that they can focus on research and get tenure.</p>\n\n<p>If you're really looking for them, generally all you need to do is vocally speak your mind on every issue that comes up. Most of your colleagues will feign apathy in order to avoid being assigned to a committee.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2464, "author": "aeismail", "author_id": 53, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Administrative duties are considered \"service\": that is, something that everybody is expected to do. However, that also means that, if you're a junior faculty member under consideration for tenure, having extensive administrative duties won't help advance your case. In many ways, it can, as David says, get in the way of productivity.</p>\n\n<p>That said, you can probably get a sense from your colleagues about the amount of administrative duties you are required to take on. And there is one potential advantage to making your preferences known to the chair (provided he or she is friendly with you, and is working in your best interests): if you have a particular preference for committee duty, then announcing that may make it easier to actually get it!</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2465, "author": "Ben Norris", "author_id": 924, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/924", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Contrary to JeffE's comment and David's answer, at four-year institutions, opportunities to engage in administrative duties within and outside your department will usually come up long before tenure. And, at four-year institutions, <em>not engaging</em> in governance activities will usually hurt your tenure application. </p>\n\n<p>The particulars, of course, vary by disciple, department, and institution, but aeismail's advice about following your colleagues' leads is a good way to gauge what you should be doing. If you feel like your department is not the best example, look at others on campus.</p>\n\n<p>Also, as is likely true everywhere in academia, if you voice your \"good idea,\" said idea and the committee developed to implement it will be your for some time.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2458", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/411/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2468, "author": "Nate Eldredge", "author_id": 1010, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010", "pm_score": 7, "selected": false, "text": "<p><strong>Pure Mathematics</strong>: All authors are assumed to have contributed equally and are listed alphabetically. The American Mathematical Society has put out a <a href=\"http://www.ams.org/profession/leaders/culture/CultureStatement04.pdf\">statement</a> to this effect.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2469, "author": "Ana", "author_id": 322, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/322", "pm_score": 6, "selected": false, "text": "<p><strong>Cognitive neuroscience.</strong> The first author (most of the time a PhD student or a post-doc) is typically involved in designing the experiment, running it, analyzing data and writing up. The other authors are mostly involved in some but not all of these steps. They will usually help out but not do all of the work (e.g. they might show the first author how to do some analyses, or they might make many useful comments on a draft of the manuscript). In the institute where I'm studying (in The Netherlands), all the papers where I am first author will also be chapters in my thesis, and all the unpublished chapters in my thesis could potentially become papers where I am first author. Those where I am only partly involved will be a chapter in someone else's thesis, and I will not be first author.</p>\n\n<p>The <em>last author</em> is as important as the first one. It is typically the supervisor, and ideally the supervisor is heavily involved. In labs that grow too big, a post-doc (once trained by the supervisor) might take over this role, but the last authorship still goes to the supervisor. It's like a brand name, it tells you whose lab the work is coming from. If you know a bit about the field, you will know the general ideas the paper will revolve around. If two supervisors are involved, they have to work out whose name will be last. I know of one situation where the two believed in different outcomes of the experiment, and decided beforehand that the person who turns out to be right will get last authorship. Most of the time, though, the decision is based on who did more supervision, which is ideally agreed on beforehand. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2470, "author": "David Ketcheson", "author_id": 81, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/81", "pm_score": 6, "selected": false, "text": "<p><strong>Applied mathematics.</strong> The first author is <em>usually</em> the one who contributed the most. However, sometimes the pure mathematics convention of alphabetical ordering is used; this may be expressly declared in a footnote. There are no official guidelines from SIAM.</p>\n<p>There is no significance to being the last author, and only those who contribute substantially are listed as authors. If the supervisor is not directly involved in performing the research and writing the paper, he is typically only listed in the acknowledgments.</p>\n<p><strong>opposing view:</strong> The above statement as completely misleading. The authorship order in applied mathematics is usually alphabetical, irrespective of the quality of contribution. This seems to be the common practice, for example, in the SIAM journals.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2472, "author": "Alexander Serebrenik", "author_id": 882, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/882", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p><strong>Computer Science</strong> This really depends on the institution and the group. In one group I've been working in the ordering was <em>always</em> alphabetical and doing otherwise would have been considered impolite. In another group, the PhD-first-boss-last principle was used. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2473, "author": "Sylvain Peyronnet", "author_id": 43, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/43", "pm_score": 6, "selected": false, "text": "<p><strong>Computer Science.</strong> Computer science varies by field:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p><strong>Theoretical computer science</strong> generally follows the same conventions as mathematics: the ordering of authors is alphabetical. Cryptography follows the same conventions.</p></li>\n<li><p>In <strong>programming languages</strong>, <strong>computer systems</strong> (e.g., operating systems, databases, computer security, etc.) and other applied fields, the order of the authors is significant. The authors are often listed in order of decreasing contribution; faculty or senior folks are typically listed last. The first author often has led the design, implementation, and experiments presented in the paper or has contributed the most to these elements. Other authors may have contributed more in total, or even individually, to these components, but sometimes at the direction of the lead author. The lead author may also have been considered to be primarily responsible for the writing of the paper, though not always.</p>\n\n<p>In cases where the lead is shared between several people, papers can have multiple \"first\" authors, listed alphabetically, followed by an alphabetical listing of the other junior authors, followed by the senior authors. I have seen this fact listed explicitly on a CV. Usually, a PI comes last even if he or she provided the bulk of the leadership of the project; a PI coming first is indicative of an unusually high level of contribution from the PI / low level of contribution from the junior authors.</p>\n\n<p>Overall, the meaning of first authorship ends up being vague enough that usually you have to explain the level of contribution explicitly in reference letters as such.</p></li>\n<li><p><strong>HCI</strong> (human-computer interaction) follows similar conventions to those in computer systems. The authors are listed in decreasing order of contribution. The first author is generally the person who both had the \"main idea\" and led the effort to ensure that the efforts to carry out the research and write the paper occurred properly. The authors are generally then decreasing in order of their contribution.</p></li>\n</ul>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2474, "author": "aeismail", "author_id": 53, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53", "pm_score": 5, "selected": false, "text": "<p><strong>Engineering</strong>: A first author is usually the lead student or worker on the particular project from which the paper originates. If there are multiple people working on a common project, then the authorship goes to the person whose results are most prominently featured, and who has done the most work in preparing the manuscript for publication.</p>\n\n<p>A significant exception might be in multi-part papers, in which the first authorships may be shared among different people to recognize equality of contributions throughout the combined work.</p>\n\n<p>The <em>last author</em> is often a professor, who advised or directed the lead author, but may have done little work on the project themselves.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2475, "author": "Suresh", "author_id": 346, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p><strong>Microbiology</strong>: Similar to cognitive neuroscience: Ph.D student is first author by virtue of having done most of the work, and the PI is the last author. If it is agreed upon that more than one person did \"first-author-level\" work, then the authors are listed alphabetically with a footnote noting this fact on the title page. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2481, "author": "Akshay Bhat", "author_id": 1279, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1279", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p><strong>Chemical Engineering:</strong> The first author is generally considered as the main contributor. In case there are multiple students who made equal contributions, then this is specified as such in the list of authors. (Mostly by adding an asterisk on the names and a footnote explaining the asterisk). Certain groups follow a policy of Adviser first and then rest, though it is considered as arrogant (This is prevalent in mostly Chemistry related sub fields).</p>\n<p>In Machine Learning/Applied Computer Science the policy is again similar as Chemical Engineering with Student first and Adviser last, if there are multiple advisers then the advisers tend to rotate between different papers from the same project.</p>\n<p>Finally in Medicine especially in General Medical journals, There is a detailed statement of contributions.</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>E.g. Author Contributions: Dr De Wals had full access to all of the\ndata in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the\ndata and the accuracy of the data analysis.</p>\n<p>Study concept and design:\nDe Wals, Deceuninck, Toth, Boulianne, Landry, De Serres. Acquisition\nof data: Deceuninck, Toth, Boulianne.</p>\n<p>Analysis and interpretation of\ndata: De Wals, Deceuninck, Brunet, Boucher, De Serres.</p>\n<p>Drafting of the manuscript: De Wals, Deceuninck.</p>\n<p>Critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content: De Wals,\nDeceuninck, Toth, Boulianne, Brunet, Boucher, Landry, De Serres.</p>\n<p>Statistical analysis:\nDeceuninck. Obtained funding: De Wals, Boulianne, De Serres.\nAdministrative, technical, or material support: De Wals, Deceuninck,\nToth, Boulianne, Landry.</p>\n<p>Study supervision: De Wals, De Serres.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>Another important point is how are paper cited, from what I remember esp. in chemical engineering. A paper is generally mentioned as Last_name et al. and if there are only two authors or two equally contributing authors then it is mentioned as Last_name_1 &amp; Last_name_2 et. al or just Last_name_1 &amp; Last_name_2.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2487, "author": "miura", "author_id": 1281, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1281", "pm_score": 6, "selected": false, "text": "<p><strong>Medicine:</strong> The first author is <em>the</em> author. He or she is credited with the bulk of the work, and some even consider first authorship to be the only authorship of value. This may be partly due to the fact that a medicinal paper often has many authors, with some having done next to nothing for the paper (maybe read it). Although journals would like to discourage this, people write their colleagues' names on their papers, so maybe their colleagues will do the same for them and both get a more impressive publication record.</p>\n<p>Sometimes you see asterisks above the first two authors' names, indicating that &quot;both authors contributed equally&quot;, although it seems to me that this is in general not well recognized. I've been told journals want one main author. Also, for many academic positions a given number of publications is required, with some minimum number <strong>first authorships</strong>.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2489, "author": "Ben Norris", "author_id": 924, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/924", "pm_score": 5, "selected": false, "text": "<p><strong>Chemistry</strong>: similar to cognitive neuroscience and microbiology and many other fields - the first author is usually the individual who put most of the labor into the work. The PI, usually the last author, may have come up with the idea, but the first author usually does most of the following work: designing the experiments, synthesizing and purifying the compounds, collecting and analyzing the data, and writing the paper. The other authors might be: A student in a collaborating group that conducts an important, specialized experiment for the first author, a junior student in group who prepared some of the intermediates and collected routine data to help the first author and to learn the workings of the group, or a consulting professor offering expertise in an area that the first author and PI are weak in. The last author is usually the PI.</p>\n<p>Some journals are beginning to ask for specific descriptions of the contributions of each author to combat vanity authorships. You also occasionally see the note that two or more authors may have contributed equally, but some journals discourage this practice also. As an example of this sort of declaration, the following statement was attached to the final article from my thesis:</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Author Contributions</p>\n<p>B.N.N. and S.Z. were coequal in their contributions and should both be considered first authors. B.N.N., T.Y.M., and G.R.H. proposed the project and designed the experiments. B.N.N., S.Z., J.T.A., and P.C.M. performed the synthesis and characterization. C.M.C. and G.R.H carried out the calculations. B.N.N., S.Z., T.Y.M., and G.R.H. assembled the data and wrote the manuscript.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>Historically, the practice of putting the PI last is relatively recent. The PI used to be listed <strong>first</strong>, so that the PI was easier to identify and the collective works of the PI were easier to find in printed catalogs systems (where articles wee often indexed by the first listed author only). The historic order would have thus been: PI, first author, second author, etc. The advent of electronic databases removes the need for the PI to go first, though there are <a href=\"http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jo901459t\" rel=\"noreferrer\">some who still do it that way</a>.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2515, "author": "Fomite", "author_id": 118, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/118", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p><strong>Epidemiology</strong>: First author generally means the author who did the bulk of the writing, and is likely directly responsible for the analysis of the data. The last author is (often but not always) the project's PI, a senior member if its a multi-site collaboration, or a place where someone who contributed heavily in some aspect, but not as much as the first author, goes.</p>\n\n<p>Generally speaking, first authorship is considered the most important, last authorship has some benefit in terms of establishing a mentor role or the concept of the author as a senior researcher.</p>\n\n<p>The exception for this is a small number of \"pairs\" of methodologists who tend to write papers together, which end up getting seen as a kind of equal contributors.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 8575, "author": "Irwin", "author_id": 5944, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5944", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>In the <strong>computer science/software engineering and human-computer interaction</strong>, the first author is generally the person who both had the \"main idea\" and led the effort to ensure that the efforts to carry out the research and write the paper occurred properly. The authors are generally then decreasing in order of their contribution. There is generally no consistent policy of putting the PI last in SE or HCI.</p>\n\n<p>Thus, the policy is very similar to the Applied Mathematics answer posted above and quite different from the theoretical Computer Science areas.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 8590, "author": "Peter Jansson", "author_id": 4394, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p><strong>Earth Sciences</strong> (Physical Geography, Geology etc.). Authors are listed according to their intellectual contribution to a paper. The first author named on the paper is thus the person who has contributed intelectually the most to the paper. The second, third etc, names have decreasing importance (contribution). If more than one person can be considered first author, those names are listed alphabetically and a note to the fact is made in the acknowledgement.</p>\n\n<p>Only persons who have contributed intellectually to the paper are included. Lab assistants, techncians etc, are thus not included (although it still happens).</p>\n\n<p>If a leading scientist, project leader etc. is not first author the lead role may be indicated by refering to that person as \"Corresponding Author\". This is common when first authors are junior contributors (students).</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 11120, "author": "Bitwise", "author_id": 6862, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6862", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p><strong>Biology:</strong> I felt the answers for medicine, microbiology, and epidemiology may not give the complete picture. Of course this is my own opinion, as there are no real formal rules.</p>\n<p><strong>The unofficial rules:</strong> In biology, the first author is the person whose contribution is larger than that of any other author. It is cannot be the author that contributed more than the combined contribution of all other authors - this definition doesn't even work mathematically (a 25%/35%/40% contribution paper would have no first author).</p>\n<p>However, the situation is more complicated. Usually, the subsequent order of authors is according to decreasing contribution. Also, at the end of the authors list the scenario is mirrored: The last author is the senior author (i.e. the PI) that contributed the most, with the order of senior authors again reflecting their contribution (mirrored).</p>\n<p>Then, it gets even more complicated. In some cases, you can have co-first authors. This is usually marked by the journal, indicating that these authors had equal contribution. Then, there is the &quot;corresponding author&quot; mark. Some (but this is less widely accepted) use this is to signify equal contribution of the senior authors, so for example you would mark both last 2 authors as &quot;corresponding authors&quot;.</p>\n<p><strong>Practical issues:</strong> While it may seem to be silly to people not used to this method, the order of authors is actually quite important. For graduate students and postdocs, fellowships and prizes will often only consider your first-author papers as your &quot;real&quot; papers - this is usually written in the rules (you may asked to list only first-author papers). Furthermore, if you are co-first (equal contribution), you will often be required to detail your exact contribution (sometimes your supervisor needs to detail it as well in these cases). For PIs, the situation is similar - funding agencies will often only consider your last author papers.</p>\n<p>Another less important issue is association with the paper. A paper will be generally referred to by the first author's name, e.g. &quot;Smith et al.&quot;. If you are the first author you will be immediately associated with the paper. If your paper is high-impact, there can be benefits to this in terms of establishing your name in the field. This is one reason why even &quot;equal contribution&quot; may not be considered really equal by some.</p>\n<p><strong>Biology vs. other disciplines:</strong> Finally, I want to explain why this practice might be useful in biology and how it is different than math or CS, for example. First, any graduate student or postdoc is always under supervision. It is customary that regardless of the actual amount of involvement of the supervisor in a project, the supervisor is always listed as the senior author. You have to remember that it is quite rare for PIs in experimental labs to actually do any actual work themselves (this is different from theorists). This is not to say they cannot be highly involved. Then, many projects are collaborations between multiple research groups. It is very common to see 15-20 authors on a paper, and recently there have been many papers published by research consortiums, having hundreds of authors (although in that case the order of the author list is slightly different). One author could really be doing much more work that some other author, which is on the paper just because he/she contributed some biological sample or ran some program.</p>\n<p><strong>Is it good?</strong> I don't think this system is optimal. It can lead to personal conflicts and affect people's careers. Some journals try to bypass this system by adding a section detailing the individual contribution of each author, but this isn't widely recognized. Some funding agencies ask you to quantitatively mark the contribution in percentage of each author - but how do you do that? It is extremely difficult to quantify. One author spent a lot of time doing experiments, and another spent a lot of time analyzing the results - who should be first? It is very subjective and in the end is often settled by politics.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 56713, "author": "Community", "author_id": -1, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>In <strong>physics</strong>, different sub-fields treat this differently.</p>\n<ul>\n<li>In the <strong>sensor physics</strong> sub-field, the order of the authors are typically listed in a similar manner to Earth Sciences, (as described earlier by Peter Jansson). The first author is often the corresponding author. The first author is usually the scientist who not only initiated the project, but also performed much of the experimental practice and analysis. Then, the order is based on the intellectual contributions made - usually of the same research or collaborative group. Oother people involved, such as technicians, lab assistants are mentioned prominently in the Acknowledgements.</li>\n<li>In <strong>experimental particle physics</strong>, all results are published &quot;by the collaboration&quot;, and the entire collaboration is published in alphabetical or otherwise arbitrary order. For some collaborations, the author list can have thousands of names, most of which have not read the paper (and may even be unaware of its existence). Further, there is a lengthy internal review process for all published papers. Thus, letters of recommendation are crucial to determine quality of research.</li>\n<li>In <strong>Atomic, Molecular and Optical (AMO) physics</strong>, the trend is that the grant holder/advisor will put their name last, and the grad student who did the bulk of the work will be first author, and other contributors go in between. For notable groups, when you see Author X's name last, you know this is stuff they've been working on for decades, that it's their idea, etc. Putting the students name first is a small gesture of recognition for their hard work and a way to help them start to establish their own reputation.</li>\n</ul>\n" }, { "answer_id": 177431, "author": "Azor Ahai -him-", "author_id": 37441, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/37441", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p><strong>Psychology:</strong> There are two distinct traditions to determining author-order in psychology, which we might label the APA and the biomedical traditions. The APA tradition orders authors by level of contribution. The biomedical approach places special importance on the last author, who is often the supervisor of the work. Finally, given the clash of these two traditions, a hybrid model is also emerging where first authors are most important, second and last authors are equal-next-most important, and then third through second last are in descending contribution.</p>\n<ul>\n<li>The <strong>first author</strong> is usually the person that led the project, analyzed the data, and led drafting of the manuscript. They may or may not have collected the data personally.</li>\n<li>The <strong>second author</strong>: The meaning depends on the author-order tradition applied. Under the APA tradition, they would typically be the second-most important contributor, and where the project is a student or post doc paper, they are often the supervisor. Alternatively, in the biomedical tradition, their contribution is typically not considered to be as important as the last author.</li>\n<li><strong>Other middle authors</strong> are usually involved in one part or another, lending statistical expertise, or subject-matter knowledge. They may also be junior people that collected the data (e.g. interviews, operating technology like <a href=\"https://www.egi.com/research-division/geodesic-sensor-net\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">EEG nets</a>, etc.).</li>\n<li>The role of <strong>last author(s)</strong> depends on the author order tradition implied. They may be the least important contributor. Or they may be the supervisor or PI whose lab collected the data, obtained funding, etc. Data collection in psychology can be expensive and difficult, and take a long time. There can be multiple.</li>\n<li><strong>Corresponding author</strong> is determined by various rules and is given minimal significance with regards to contribution. Corresponding author is most commonly the first author. If it a student-led work, it is also common for it to be the supervisor. Finally, it might simply be someone with a permanent position who might be able to answer questions years later after the first author has moved on.</li>\n<li><strong>Shared first authorship</strong> is rare, but it is becoming more common. Alternating first authorship in close collaborations also does occur.</li>\n</ul>\n<p><strong>How do you determine whether last or second authorship implies a greater contribution in a psychology manuscript?</strong></p>\n<p>In general, there are a number of indicators that may suggest which author ordering principle was applied on a given paper. Last authors are more commonly important (a) in fields aligned with medicine, neuroscience, and health, and (b) in papers with many authors (e.g., 6+). Second authors are more commonly important (a) in more prototypical psychology subdisciplines like social psychology, personality, experimental psychology, and industrial-organisational psychology, and (b) in papers with fewer authors. In general, this seems to reflect patterns of collaboration. For instance, if academics are collaborating with the biomedical field, they absorb that tradition.</p>\n<p>More generally, second and last authorship tend to be more important roles where the first author is a student or post-doc. In those cases, it is often the case that either the second or last author supervised the work.</p>\n<p>Given the ambiguity in psychology about the relative importance of second and last authorship, some academics in psychology will highlight the number of times they have been a lead author, which is often specified as first, second, or last authorship.</p>\n<p><strong>APA Style Manual 7th Edition</strong>\nThe Style Manual has the following to say in Section 1.22\nWith regards to professional authors (e.g., where it is not the work of a doctoral student):</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Principal authorship and the order of authorship credit should accurately reflect the relative contribution of persons involved... The general rule is that ... principal contributor appears first, with subsequent names appearing in order of decreasing contribution. In some cases, another principal contributor appears last. These conventions can vary from field to field and from journal to journal... If authors played equal roles in the research and publication of their study, they may wish to note this in the author note.</p>\n</blockquote>\n" }, { "answer_id": 177433, "author": "Rob", "author_id": 74658, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/74658", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p><strong>Astronomy:</strong> Generally alphabetical author lists are reserved for collaboration papers. The largest ones may even have the first author as the collaboration's name (See for instance this <a href=\"https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2015CQGra..32g4001L/abstract\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">LIGO paper</a> or this <a href=\"https://arxiv.org/abs/1710.05832\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">arxiv version</a> though the journal version ended up with <a href=\"https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2017PhRvL.119p1101A/abstract\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Abbott et al</a> just to confuse things).</p>\n<p>For papers with smaller author lists, the order would be expected to be in order of contribution.</p>\n<ul>\n<li><p>The <strong>First author</strong> will have done most of the work, written most the paper, and built the idea to start with. They are also usually the corresponding author.</p>\n</li>\n<li><p><strong>Middle authors</strong> will usually be in order of contribution (sometimes its alphabetical depending on the size of the author list).</p>\n</li>\n<li><p><strong>Last author</strong> Does not convey any explicit meaning.</p>\n</li>\n</ul>\n" }, { "answer_id": 178341, "author": "Parever", "author_id": 88617, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/88617", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p><strong>Art history:</strong> The humanities are still heavily invested in solo authorship. The first author is generally considered to be the one who researched and wrote the vast majority of the paper.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2467", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2482, "author": "Alexander Serebrenik", "author_id": 882, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/882", "pm_score": 4, "selected": true, "text": "<p>I'm usually backtracking, i.e., I try to read a subsequent chapter, then I usually discover that there are some definitions/concepts that I do not understand, so I go backwards to look these up, and, once I've understood these notions I can resume the reading of the subsequent chapter.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2490, "author": "Roaring Fish", "author_id": 864, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/864", "pm_score": 0, "selected": false, "text": "<p>How do you judge that the chapter is unnecessary or insignificant without reading it?</p>\n\n<p>I know it is tempting to skip the boring stuff, but I don't see how you can decide that a section is not needed except in hindsight.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2492, "author": "Dan C", "author_id": 1069, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1069", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Often <strong>the authors will tell you</strong> which chapters or sections are prerequisites for others. The most common place to find this is in the preface or forward. If you don't find it there, you may also find this information throughout the book. One book that I'm working through right now has 25 chapters, grouped into 9 sections. At the start of each section, the authors spend about a page outlining the goals of each chapter. <strong>Nearly any time I plan to read much of a book, I first read or skim the introductory material.</strong> These sections usually don't take much time, and they often give me a decent sense of what to expect from the rest of the book.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2528, "author": "paul garrett", "author_id": 980, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>There is absolutely no compulsion to force yourself to read every section ... on a first pass, or second, or on any particular pass through a book. Often, seemingly obscure choices become clearer only later, and, even then, often only on the fifth or tenth time through. That is, genuine reading of sources is essentially never linear, and takes many passes through, both to get an idea of the content, and to absorb it in varying degrees. Certainly we should not feel bound by artificial rules, although the physical linearity of books and papers perpetually misleads us.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2759, "author": "Michael Hoffman", "author_id": 1418, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1418", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>In addition to the existing suggestions, if you know someone else who has read the book they might have very good advice on which sections are essential or can be skipped.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2479", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2491, "author": "taylor", "author_id": 1284, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1284", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I've always thought that one good indicator of whether or not you even have the motivation to complete an entire PHD is whether or not you do the practice problems in text books. If you enthusiastically do those practice problems, like you solve them in the shower, then I would say that, barring talent, you at least have the requisite level of enthusiasm for the subject. In other words if your not a fan of practice problems, your prolly not gunna like the 300 page writing part of the PHD, nor the fact that not all 100% of the work you do will make it into that writeup (there's alot of tangential calculation and verification). In this way, personal interest and commitment to mathematical activity is absolutely requisite.</p>\n\n<p>You should wait until you finish that course in topology. Math takes on a different character when you get into analysis, manifolds, algebra and beyond. For me, smooth manifolds was as far as I needed to go in the analysis route to satisfy my curiosity. Then I became interested in other things. If I had had that shift of interest midPHD then I don't think I would have been able to finish.</p>\n\n<p>You should also just sit down, learn LaTex if you haven't already, and write about something that interests you, exploring it to the absolute highest level of detail while always leaving an obvious path for generalization and application. Make it lucid and interesting. Convince the reader you have an idea and entertain them with it. Put it on the Internets, have a proff edit 1 or 2 pages, show it to a friend or classmate, stick it in a library book, whatever. This is one defining characteristic of a mathematician, communicating your thoughts to paper so that they may survive.</p>\n\n<p>You should read this <a href=\"http://www.amazon.ca/Best-Writing-Mathematics-2011/dp/0691153159/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1342529450&amp;sr=8-1\" rel=\"noreferrer\">The Best Writing on Mathematics 2011</a>, it will give you a good idea of what doing math as a profession is like. Regardless, you may have an excellent academic record, but what makes a good mathematician is a commitment to doing math and that should be your primary focus, grades second. Although there's nothing wrong with being competitive academically, if that's your thing then go for it.</p>\n\n<p>Personally I didn't like Spivak's manifold calculus text. I went Munkres' Topology, to Lee's Topological Manifolds, and have yet to finish Lee's Smooth Manifolds. If your looking for a reliable publisher, just stick with the yellow covers.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2531, "author": "paul garrett", "author_id": 980, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>If you have a thin B.S. background in math, it is definitely very helpful to get a M.S. in math before (re-) applying to Ph.D. programs. (I say this having been on the Grad Admissions cte, and having been Dir Grad Studies in two different incarnations...) In the U.S., <em>many</em> undergrad programs are really very thin, due to the requirement (otherwise wholesome) of \"breadth\".</p>\n\n<p>The \"undergrad research\" episodes in summers, and during the academic year, are good for generating enthusiasm and camaraderie, and especially for getting outside the rigid classroom/textbook atmosphere, but (apart from very broad features) are not at all good indicators of what serious research is or will be like. Those programs are <em>designed</em> to be fun (pizza parties, etc), so \"doing research\" in that sense is fun for nearly everyone.</p>\n\n<p>So, apply to MS/PhD programs at the top 30-50 schools, and do the best job you can in the standard/required PhD curriculum (usually, there is no distinction between PhD curriculum and MS, except that the latter is designed to accommodate, if necessary, weaker students, perhaps weak enough so that the MS will be their last degree in Mathematics... don't be misled into taking an \"easy route\"). And, in the course of doing the coursework, don't be a stranger to the instructors of those courses, who will be your letter-writers for either re-application to \"better\" schools in a year or two, or will be your letter writers if you need to re-apply to that institution itself for the PhD program, for bureaucratic reasons.</p>\n\n<p>Grades in non-math courses, and grades in calculus and lower-division courses don't matter much, although obviously good grades are a not a bad thing. Admissions committees are well-acquainted with the changes people go through around age 20 and so on. The question is not so much what silly things one has done a few years back, but where one is heading <em>now</em>, and what documentable evidence there is for this.</p>\n\n<p>In particular, although self-learning is the most significant long-term way to develop scholarship, it is obviously hard to document. Perhaps the best way is to sign up for courses that appear to re-iterate (serious) content you've already studied. Presumably, you absolutely ace the material and draw the instructor's attention... since self-study beyond \"requirements\" is, strangely-or-not, extremely rare. Evidence of non-passivity is excellent, if it really proves to be what you feel it is (rather than, say, mere obsessiveness).</p>\n\n<p>So, again, yes, think about \"proving yourself\" during a year or two of \"MS work\". No downside, really.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2840, "author": "Legendre", "author_id": 1190, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1190", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I was in a similar situation 1.5 years ago: made a series of bad decisions, have 0 publications or research experience, nothing outstanding about my academic CV. I was in fact wavering between pure and applied mathematics, not really knowing much about research in either area.</p>\n\n<p>After doing a 1 year mathematics MSc at a top-tier university, would I say that in situations similar to yours and mine, doing an MSc is a <strong>very</strong> wise choice. Doing well in a good MSc will <strong>certainly</strong> overshadow what you did in your undergrad.</p>\n\n<p><strong>The primary goals of the MSc are:</strong></p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Obtain good grades and recommendations letters.</li>\n<li>Do Research! It is absolutely vital that the MSc has a significant research component.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p><strong>Things I wished I knew back then:</strong></p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>Take courses to maximize your grades. This could mean taking courses you have already taken before. Its not strictly a waste of time: you can see this as a test to see if you can perform in the topic at a graduate level. Also, if you're interested to do research in it, this would seriously help reinforce your knowledge in that area and you can take the opportunity to know the professor teaching it, even doing your dissertation in it.</p></li>\n<li><p>DO RESEARCH. Grab any chance you have to do research. In fact, be prepared to stay behind for a few months after graduation to turn your dissertation into publishable material or for an internship in the department.</p></li>\n<li><p>Pin down your interests ASAP. Do your MSc dissertation in that area if you can. It is such an advantage to have a dissertation project in and a letter of recommendation from someone in the area you're applying to. Contact relevant professors about graduate applications asap.</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p><strong>Advice for applications:</strong></p>\n\n<p>IMHO you should aim as high as possible when applying for MSc. Top tier self funded MScs are a lot easier to get into if you don't have terrible grades.</p>\n\n<p>Its not about the prestige of the department. Rather, more competitive places tend to attract highly motivated and competitive people. Being in that environment would seriously inspire you to push harder and accomplish more. Also, they tend to have more \"intellectual resources\" - brilliant professors, brilliant classmates etc for you to learn from.</p>\n\n<p><strong>P.S.</strong></p>\n\n<p>I am a student still in the process of applying for a PhD in Applied Mathematics.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2480", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1278/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2484, "author": "Alexander Serebrenik", "author_id": 882, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/882", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I guess that this would strongly depend on the culture within your scientific domain. In my case (software engineering) making this assumption would be inappropriate. You can suggest to read your paper if, e.g., there are some technical details you are not going to present since they might not be of general interest, but you cannot assume that this already happened. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2485, "author": "aeismail", "author_id": 53, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>In general, the broader the audience, the less you're able to assume about the audience's knowledge of your work. For example, at a general meeting for your profession or a department-wide seminar, you'd have to be more careful to provide background and context than at a smaller, more specialized event like a <a href=\"http://www.grc.org\" rel=\"nofollow\">Gordon Research Conference</a>.</p>\n\n<p>However, time limitations will also be a major consideration—and in some cases, can outweigh the specialization issue. If you only have ten or twelve minutes to give your talk, then you don't have time for more than a minute or two of background information, regardless of how complex or novel your topic may be.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2486, "author": "Dan C", "author_id": 1069, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1069", "pm_score": 6, "selected": true, "text": "<p>This really depends on your audience. </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>At a department colloquium, I assume very little background, probably an undergrad degree in math, but not even an undergrad class in my research area. Here the audience will often be <em>smart</em>, but ignorant of the relevant background.</li>\n<li>At a research seminar with lots of undergrad and/or masters students, I still don't assume much background, maybe an undergrad class in the area, but even then I \"remind\" the audience of important information they \"should\" know.</li>\n<li>At a research seminar with mainly PhD students and active researchers I assume more, but even here I usually don't assume that they're familiar with the problem or the relevant literature or techniques.</li>\n<li>A conference special session (or minisymposium) is similar to a research seminar with mainly PhD students and active researchers. Here I often expect that much of the audience is familiar with the background and the techniques, but I still usually review them at least briefly. <strong>I've never gotten complaints about giving too much background and context.</strong></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>I <strong>never assume the audience has read any of my papers</strong>.\nI typically view my talks (at least in part) as advertisements for my papers. The audience will never want to read my paper if they don't see why it's important (so that's my job during the talk). For those few that already want to read the paper, I hope they leave my talk with an outline of the paper, which will make it easier to read. Any time you're talking to an audience with varied background, it's good to briefly describe the key definitions. If you can do this quickly, perhaps only verbally, you don't bore those who already know, and you give the rest a fighting chance to keep up.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2516, "author": "Fomite", "author_id": 118, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/118", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>In general, when giving a talk, my only assumption about the audience is that they found the title (or me) compelling enough that they decided they didn't have anything better to do with that hour (or 15 minutes).</p>\n\n<p>Or at a conference, that they can't be bothered to get up and leave before the session ends, and decided to stay.</p>\n\n<p>While I will give references to papers I've written, it's always a \"For more information...\" rather than a \"As you all know...\"</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2530, "author": "paul garrett", "author_id": 980, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I think the causality is probably reversed: a talk at any level is a chance to \"advertise\" or \"promote\" ideas (whether \"your own\" or due to a larger enterprise) far more dynamically than in a paper. Thus, a good talk will <em>motivate</em> people to read your (or others') papers. Papers and talks are not in the same currency.</p>\n\n<p>Further, if you have any reason to believe that most people in the audience have read your paper that you intend to talk about... you'll surely be boring them, and making them sorry they attended, no? Certainly if the talk is just an abbreviated form of a formal paper.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2483", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/319/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2495, "author": "StrongBad", "author_id": 929, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>In the UK everyone receives a university-wide cost of living increase. If you meet or exceed expectations, you also get a raise. Generally one point on the pay scale for meeting expectations and two or three points for exceeding expectations. It is rare not to meet expectations. There is a little politicking involved in being assessed as exceeding expectations.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2496, "author": "Dan C", "author_id": 1069, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1069", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Your goal whenever you ask for a raise (inside or outside of academia) should be to <strong>convince your boss of your value to the company</strong>. (It's highly recommended not to start with a phrase like \"I need more money.\") Much general <a href=\"http://www.wikihow.com/Ask-for-a-Pay-Raise\" rel=\"nofollow\">advice</a> on asking for a raise, applies well within academia.</p>\n\n<p>Obviously you should be consistently meeting expectations. Additionally, most administrations (both at the department level and the college or university level) have <strong>favorite goals or pet projects</strong>. Many such folks drool over the word \"interdisciplinary\"; perhaps at a liberal arts school this list of hot topics might include \"undergraduate research\". At my school, we have a strategic vision, with 5 goals. Whenever you can <strong>present your accomplishments as fitting into one or more of these goals, they are viewed more favorably</strong>.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2504, "author": "Suresh", "author_id": 346, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p><em>This is quite possibly both US and CS-centric.</em> </p>\n\n<p>Negotiating raises as an academic is rather tricky. You don't have the same kind of leverage that you have in industry unless you are actually willing to go out there and acquire another offer. In fact, the only times I've heard of faculty getting non-scheduled raises (i.e tenure, or when everyone gets a raise) is by </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Threatening to leave</li>\n<li>Participating in senior administration work and negotiating a deal before signing on. </li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Having said that, you might be able to increase the raise you get relative to others when there's a general raise if you can argue that you're underpaid relative to your peer group, or have done exceptional quality work. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2508, "author": "Ashish", "author_id": 1296, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1296", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Short of making a credible threat to quit and go to a competing University, I don't think you can negotiate a meaningful salary raise based on excellence or need, at least in engineering schools. You have to demonstrate that you are adding value which is beyond what you are supposed to do for your own research/teaching program.</p>\n\n<p>For example, you could try finding an activity that is aligned with your research interests but even more beneficial to the University. Then go to your Dean and propose doing that in return for more salary or a bonus. It has to be something that benefits the University as a whole rather than you. Examples are: offer to start an industrial affiliates program, and negotiate xK a year for each 25K a year affiliate that you bring in; start a corporate certificate summer program and ask for a large fee to organize and charge it; offer to start a partnership with a foreign University, etc.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2713, "author": "Jeromy Anglim", "author_id": 62, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/62", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p><strong>Pay rises in the Australian context</strong></p>\n\n<p>In Australia, many universities have a system of increments and levels: </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Level A: Associate lecturer / research assistant</li>\n<li>Level B: Lecturer</li>\n<li>Level C: Senior Lecturer</li>\n<li>Level D: Associate Professor</li>\n<li>Level E: Professor</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>See this example from <a href=\"http://policy.unimelb.edu.au/UOM0115#section-1.1.1.1\" rel=\"nofollow\">University of Melbourne HR with pay information</a>.</p>\n\n<p>Within each level there are multiple increments. You will tend to get an increment each year for reasonable performance. For exceptional performance, you might get a double increment. </p>\n\n<p>However, moving up a level is considered a promotion and is not automatic. Thus, you might sit at the top of a level for a while if your service, teaching, and research does not meet the requirements of a higher level. Promotions at early levels are generally handled at departmental or school levels. As you go up, promotions are progressively more likely to require department, faculty, and university support and review.</p>\n\n<p>Thus, if you want to earn more in the Australian context, you may have to work out a way of meeting the requirements for promotion. Your university should have detailed information about how this occurs (see for example the <a href=\"http://www.hr.unimelb.edu.au/careers/development/academic/promotions\" rel=\"nofollow\">University of Melbourne example</a>).</p>\n\n<p>While there are extensive guidelines for what is required for a promotion, there is still presumably some scope for how they are applied. Thus, it helps if you have the support of key decision makers who will be involved in approving your promotion.</p>\n\n<h3>Some other examples</h3>\n\n<ul>\n<li>I have heard of cases where an academic has been given a job offer at another institution and has used this to leverage a promotion at their current institution. </li>\n<li>Likewise, changing institutions is one way of getting a pay rise. E.g., I've seen many examples of people changing universities in order to move from associate professor to professor.</li>\n<li>Some departments have special bonus schemes which permit you to earn additional money for publishing, etc.</li>\n<li>Some departments are more tolerant of external paid consulting work.</li>\n<li>There are some exceptions to the standard context where salaries are negotiated a bit more. </li>\n</ul>\n" }, { "answer_id": 110559, "author": "grumpy", "author_id": 93413, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/93413", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>In academia, sometimes a mere interview at a better department can get you a raise. </p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2494", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1287/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2499, "author": "Aru Ray", "author_id": 948, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/948", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Field: <strong>Mathematics</strong>.</p>\n\n<p>Transferring is possible although you might have to 'start over' at your new university. For example, perhaps you have completed the first year sequence of courses in University A and passed some prelims before transferring to University B. At University B you might either be required to go through their first year sequence, or take (and pass) the relevant prelims to have the courses waived. This can be difficult since first year courses and topic and prelims tend to vary across departments. In addition, depending on how much prior experience you have before coming to University B, they might require you to finish your degree in less than usual time (say, 3-4 years instead of 5). In particular, folks with Masters degrees applying to PhD programs are often required to get a second Masters in their second university.</p>\n\n<p>Source: A friend of mine transferred from Rice Mathematics to UW Madison Mathematics; additionally this was a topic of conversation at a Nebraska Conference for Undergraduate Women in Mathematics where a breakout session leader had transferred universities mid-PhD. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2500, "author": "Suresh", "author_id": 346, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p><strong>Computer Science</strong></p>\n\n<p>It's not uncommon for a student to transfer, usually earlier in the program. The reasons can be as you mentioned, and often there are non-academic reasons as well. </p>\n\n<p>You do have to apply again from scratch, although its possible that admissions committees will look more generously on the application. You might be able to apply out of cycle for spring admission as well - there are fewer applicants and each application gets more careful scrutiny. </p>\n\n<p>But in any case it is important to have a reason relating to the desired destination. If you want to work with professor X it will help immensely if professor X can speak on your behalf by writing a letter. In other words, don't think of transferring out, but think about transferring in to maybe one or two targeted placed. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2501, "author": "JeffE", "author_id": 65, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65", "pm_score": 5, "selected": false, "text": "<p><strong>Computer Science</strong></p>\n\n<p>Yes, PhD students transfer for <em>many</em> reasons besides moving advisors. Sometimes the reasons are purely professional; for instance, I've seen several students successfully transfer because they discovered a passion for a subfield that didn't match the interests/experience of the local faculty. Sometimes they're more personal things like <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Two-body_problem_%28career%29\">two-body problems</a> (especially when they become <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infant\">three-body problems</a>). Sometimes advisors die or leave academia. Sometimes it's because of an irreconcilable disagreement between student and advisor/committee. Sometimes the student just thinks they can do better than their current department (and has the publications to prove it).</p>\n\n<p>Probably the most painless time to transfer is immediately after completing a master's degree. (I did this.) That's a natural time to switch research directions, and many PhD programs allow their students to pick up a Master's degree along the way, even if they don't have a separate Master's program. (Mine didn't.) </p>\n\n<p>Still, applications from MS students in PhD departments will face skepticism, especially if the applicant already has a good track record with their former advisor.* (Why do they want to leave their current advisor? Shouldn't we offer this slot to someone who doesn't have one?) So it's important for the applicant's research statement to explain why the new department would a better match, <em>without disparaging the old department</em>. It's also important to have a strong and supportive recommendation letter from the former advisor, to address possible concerns about technical weaknesses or personality conflicts.</p>\n\n<p>(*And if a PhD applicant <em>doesn't</em> have a good track record with their MS advisor, they're not likely to be admitted anyway.)</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2502, "author": "Anonymous Mathematician", "author_id": 612, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612", "pm_score": 7, "selected": true, "text": "<p><strong>Mathematics</strong></p>\n\n<p>Let me specify that by transferring, I mean moving to another university in the middle of a graduate program. Switching universities between undergrad and grad or between a master's degree and a Ph.D. is very different. Basically, those are the only mainstream opportunities to move, and anything else will require an exception.</p>\n\n<p>Transferring is certainly not unheard of, but there are some serious caveats:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>It's difficult to transfer to a substantially more prestigious department. It can happen, but the admissions committee will be very skeptical, and it's just not going to work out unless the application is outstanding. In particular, many committee members specifically do not want to reward rolling the dice again and seeing what happens, so for transfers the question is not \"Does this application look better than our weaker students?\" but rather \"Is this application so obviously wonderful that we would be shooting ourselves in the foot if we accepted someone else instead?\"</p></li>\n<li><p>Expressing any unhappiness will make it much harder to transfer. You may think you'll be happy at the new school, but they will worry about ending up with an unhappy, unproductive grad student on their hands. And they are right to worry about that: the best predictor of future happiness is past happiness, and many unhappy people have unrealistic beliefs about what would make them happy.</p></li>\n<li><p>It's hard to transfer once you start seriously working on a thesis. If your work isn't going well, then that's a reason not to accept you. If your work is going well, then that's a reason you should continue working with your current advisor. Unless your advisor has died or left, it will be tough to convince anyone you are a good candidate for transferring.</p></li>\n<li><p>No matter why you say you want to transfer, there will be some suspicion that your goal is to end up in a stronger department or a more desirable location. If you have another reason, you'll have to make a powerful argument for it.</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>I've heard of people transferring between graduate schools because of their advisor moving to another school and taking their students with them. </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Sometimes they transfer officially, and sometimes they still get degrees from the previous school but complete their theses while in residence at the new school. The latter is generally easy to arrange when an advisor moves.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 41632, "author": "Engineering", "author_id": 31721, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31721", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I transferred during the first year of my PhD program successfully. My project at my original department was fully funded and my adviser was also great. However, I did not like the department and my PhD major was not in line with my interest. Thus, I applied for another major which I liked more. </p>\n\n<p>One problem that may arise is recommendation letter. I asked my MS adviser (in another school) to write letter. I also asked my PhD adviser for recommendation letter. This part is a bit tricky, but I suggest to be honest and tell the truth and provide detail explanation for your decision. </p>\n\n<p>I talked with 4 faculty members about my application in a conference. Three of them did not have any problem whatsoever with the fact that I am a PhD student from another school, and they recommended me to apply whereas one of them told me that the department does not accept transfer student. I finally got admitted into one school. I applied from a mid-rank school to top rank schools. </p>\n\n<p>My personal view is that there is nothing wrong with transferring from one school to another, but you should have a good reason for doing that. In any case, some faculty members understand that a student could have many reasonable reasons for moving away from a school and joining another one while others are not very open-minded and think that it is wrong. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 41636, "author": "Trixie Wolf", "author_id": 31729, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31729", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Selection of graduate students is hard.</p>\n\n<p>It's fine to switch programs, but it's a lot like switching jobs after a short period. If you start a job somewhere, then immediately leave it, you need a decent reason in your narrative. The program you're applying to needs to believe that you're interested in sticking around when crunch time comes, or you're not worth the investment.</p>\n\n<p>It helps if you have a legitimate-sounding reason in your personal statement that makes it sound like the reason you left the previous institution is unlikely to recur. It <em>definitely</em> helps if you have an LOR from your former advisor.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 71591, "author": "Белякова Анастасия", "author_id": 56909, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/56909", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p><strong>Science (chemistry).</strong></p>\n\n<p>It is very hard, up to impossible, to change PhD program in science after you started one, as well as starting over after a failed attempt.<br>\nThe only option is before you enroll in any.\nEven if this is not directly stated in requirements, selection comity will be very suspicious and very unlikely to admit such a student. \nFor the most part already enrolled applicants or applicants that were enrolled and quit are not considered eligible be programs and in almost all cases you are not eligible to apply for a scholarship. \nI now as I am trying to change the PhD program. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 71604, "author": "iayork", "author_id": 26671, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/26671", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p><strong>Molecular Biology</strong></p>\n\n<p>The only time I can think of when PhD students changed universities was on the unexpected death of their advisor. In that case, former students of the advisor who had since started their own labs took on the students, in some cases temporarily until they could find a better fit, in other cases until graduation. For the \"better fit\" cases, I believe both student and new supervisor approached the better-fit lab and explained the situation. </p>\n\n<p>In the case I'm thinking of, the deceased advisor was very well known, came from a highly prestigious university, and had many former students in strong positions. I don't know how well it would have worked if all those points were not the case.</p>\n\n<p>Aside from that instance, it's very rare for PhD candidates to move locations without your advisor moving as well.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 95290, "author": "Science", "author_id": 79206, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/79206", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I am currently trying to transfer too. My story isn`t the nicest neither. I met one guest speaker at my current university and just loved her work. My lab is stacked in old technologies and I feel we aren't innovative at all. \nI talked with this guest speaker and her answer was very positive regarding getting me as her student. However she asked me to tell my supervisor before applying: bad idea.</p>\n\n<p>Maybe because I am in Asia and here the culture is that your professor is a God, he was really unpleasant and rude with me. He even said he would write bad recommendation letters for me if I change universities. For me that was harassment. His main reason was the money invested and how bad this looks for him and for the university.</p>\n\n<p>My advise is: be sure you can move and then talk with your adviser. The only positive thing was that after talking with him, I was certain that I was at the wrong place. I am positive I can change. So if you aren't happy or the program isn't aligned with your future goals and perspectives, change! Don't waste your time.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2498", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1291/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2507, "author": "Suresh", "author_id": 346, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>The short answer is NONE. A longer answer is \"to get the scientific excellence of an author, read their papers and understand their contributions\".</p>\n\n<p>The problem here is in expecting a number to characterize the contributions and quality of an individual researcher. Probably the only way in which these measures can be useful (and that's stretching it a LOT) is if they are viewed in aggregate (for a department/university) to get a very crude picture of <strong>research productivity</strong> (not excellence).</p>\n\n<p>But the signal is so noisy as to be useless. </p>\n\n<p>Really, there's no shortcut for the hard work of reading, researching and asking in order to assess the \"scientific excellence\" of a researcher. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2509, "author": "Alexander Serebrenik", "author_id": 882, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/882", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Indices are (unfortunately) liked by managers, administrators and funding agencies rather than by researchers. Hence, you should ask these managers, administrators and agencies which indices they trust (and why). I am not sure that academia.SE is the right place to find managers...</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 9788, "author": "Benoît Kloeckner", "author_id": 946, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/946", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>You can trust them all, equally. Each index has a precise meaning that is well defined (once the database used is given). For example, if a researcher has h-index 3, you know that she has at least 3 papers with at least 3 citation each, and that she has not 4 papers with more than 3 citation each, and this is quite reliable informations.</p>\n\n<p>Now, what you probably mean is whether we can trust some index to say something else; but what? Research productivity? Academic success?</p>\n\n<p>It's just like the number of books sold by a novelist. You can trust it to tell you how many books she sold, and it may help you decide whether you want to publish its next one if you are only interested in sales. Of course if you want to decide whether she deserves the Nobel prize, you might not want to base your decision on this index. </p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2506", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/379/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2511, "author": "Baz", "author_id": 1172, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1172", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>The first advantage that comes to my mind is that emailing the author and getting an answer will only help you, while commenting on the paper and getting an answer in the open discussions might help other readers as well.</p>\n\n<p>But I really understand your concerns. One does not want to embarrass oneself or the author.</p>\n\n<p>Which leads me to the inconclusive result of <code>+1</code> for both methods.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2512, "author": "eykanal", "author_id": 73, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/73", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I would try to answer this from the standpoint of a cost-benefit analysis.</p>\n\n<p>A private conversation with the author will benefit you in that you now know the answer, and can harm you in that if your question is completely boneheaded the author will think you're an idiot.</p>\n\n<p>A public conversation has the added benefit that you <em>and</em> other people both benefit. This is somewhat of a questionable added benefit, as oftentimes the question being asked isn't relevant to most people, but still, added discourse is often a good thing. Public discussion also has the added cost that more people can see your boneheadedness. While typically this wouldn't be a problem, as most people wouldn't ever encounter the discussion, anything on the internet can go viral, even if only within a smaller community (such as your research field). Personally, that cost strongly outweights the potential benefit. I would definitely stick with personal correspondence.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2519, "author": "David Ketcheson", "author_id": 81, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/81", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>By openly and intelligently commenting on many new papers in your subfield, you might gain respect among your peers, which is the currency of the academic world. I can give at least one example: <a href=\"http://nuit-blanche.blogspot.co.uk/\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://nuit-blanche.blogspot.co.uk/</a>.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2529, "author": "Igor Carron", "author_id": 1304, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1304", "pm_score": 3, "selected": true, "text": "<p>As I pointed out recently in <a href=\"http://nuit-blanche.blogspot.com/2012/07/problem-with-pre-publication-peer.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://nuit-blanche.blogspot.com/2012/07/problem-with-pre-publication-peer.html</a> , the problem with the current peer review system is not the rejection and all the horror stories that go with it, it is the secrecy that goes with the process. Make anonymous the reviews but hold the reviewers accountable is the surest way reviews can be both effective and provide some \"currency\" as +David Ketcheson points out. </p>\n\n<p>In short If I were you, I would send the author some questions, then (after her/his approval) make the whole discussion available on the interwebs (after you have edited the parts that are sensitive or the ones that make you look really clueless). I do this often on Nuit Blanche with good results. Make sure you run the whole thing you are going to publish through the person you talked to as you are not a journalist. If you ask questions, you surely are not the first or the last one and remember what you publish must enlight both the people of your community and your future self.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2510", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1033/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2514, "author": "Anonymous Mathematician", "author_id": 612, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612", "pm_score": 8, "selected": true, "text": "<h2>No.</h2>\n\n<p>Publishing a thesis this way has no academic value whatsoever. (I.e., it will lead to no prestige, respectability, credit, etc. For academic purposes, it will not count as a published book, except for interfering with other forms of publication.) LAP's business model seems to be collecting as many theses and other unpublished academic documents as they can and then selling printed copies. I don't see much value to this, but it could be harmless if you do not plan to publish the thesis in any other form. If you like the idea of seeing your thesis for sale on amazon.com, then you should investigate other options as well and choose whatever seems like the best deal. However, it's unlikely that you'll make any money from this, and certainly no more than a small amount, so you'll be contributing more to the academic community if you make the thesis available for free online.</p>\n\n<p>See also <a href=\"http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2014/03/lap_lambert_academic_publishing_my_trip_to_a_print_content_farm.single.html\">I Sold My Undergraduate Thesis to a Print Content Farm</a> for a detailed account of LAP's business practices.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 15579, "author": "user10648", "author_id": 10648, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10648", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Publish them online for maximum impact or try a genuine academic publisher for prestige. Lambert will basically offer to print out individual copies of your thesis for a very high price (thus making a lot of money). Plus they use fake accounts in social media among other shady practices:</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://journalology.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/lambert-academic-publishing-or-how-not.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://journalology.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/lambert-academic-publishing-or-how-not.html</a></p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 15582, "author": "Cape Code", "author_id": 10643, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10643", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>No, it is not.</p>\n\n<p>See this review from Jeffrey Beall:</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://scholarlyoa.com/2012/11/05/lambert-academic-publishing-a-must-to-avoid/#more-921\">http://scholarlyoa.com/2012/11/05/lambert-academic-publishing-a-must-to-avoid/#more-921</a></p>\n\n<p>(I highly recommend checking his list of 'predatory academic publishers' and reporting any new one you see to him).</p>\n\n<p>Or this blog entry:\n<a href=\"http://chrisnf.blogspot.com/2010/06/lambert-academic-publishing-continues.html\">http://chrisnf.blogspot.com/2010/06/lambert-academic-publishing-continues.html</a></p>\n\n<p>It's what people started to call a 'predatory publisher'</p>\n\n<p>It will bring you nothing but an expensive hard copy of what you apparently already published. Your local printing joint will probably do a better job, for less $.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 62817, "author": "Christopher Bond", "author_id": 48745, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/48745", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Good god, no, avoid anything from Lambert like the plague.I bought a Lap Lambert publication online from Amazon without checking on the publisher first. It was on a topic that was relevant to my thesis and I felt I should check this book out. It's called \"Aspects of Neuroses in Pat Barker's Regeneration Trilogy\" by a Mona Radwan from Cairo university. I paid a lot of money, a total of $154 for quick postage, because I was anxious to read it, thinking it might cover material in my own work, necessitating changes to my own thesis. I also thought that if it was an astute and well researched piece of work it might be very useful and take my own arguments in new and fruitful directions. But when I read the book I was appalled. You can see my one star review of it on Amazon if you care to read it, at <a href=\"http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/3848406403\" rel=\"noreferrer\">http://www.amazon.com/Aspects-neuroses-barkers-regeneration-trilogy/dp/3848406403/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1454636030&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=mona+radwan</a> \nI could not believe a publisher would allow its name to be associated with such a shoddy product. Even the blurbs on the back cover are very badly worded and punctuated. The contents of the book are poorly formatted. There are terrible problems with the thesis itself, in punctuation, structure, citation, referencing, style and level of research, indicating either that Radwan submitted it before her thesis was examined or before receiving comments from supervisors, because so much is wrong with this as a doctoral thesis. I am making this comment to warn everyone away from anything that comes out of this dreadful shambles of a publishing house. Avoid it like the plague. I have been burned. Save yourself.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 85214, "author": "João Matos", "author_id": 69090, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/69090", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Although it may seem harmless at first, there is one thing that is very important to bear in mind when you intend to publish your work: You do NOT want your name nor work associated with any dubious publishers, editors, conferences, journals, etc, as it may be harmful, e.g. you may end up having your high-quality work published amongst several low-quality ones. </p>\n\n<p>Therefore, in my opinion, you should not risk Lambert, as they do not have any peer reviewing nor seem to enforce any quality standards. </p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2513", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/682/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2518, "author": "StrongBad", "author_id": 929, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>My guess is that non-open access publications will not be able to be counted towards the REF (or whatever replaces the REF), used in annual progress reports, or be considered by grant reviewers when evaluating your track record. If Research Councils (RCs) catch you publishing in a non-open access journal, they likely will be able to charge the university for the costs associated with making it open access and possibly black list you from further funding.</p>\n\n<p>I think these punishments will be rare, because I don't think the UK RC model is very different from the US NIH model. The US model requires open access after an embargo period. It is not clear if the UK model allows for an embargo. The US system allows for the version accepted by the journal, but not yet copy edited and typeset by the journal, to be made open access. Many journals just make the final copy available after the embargo, but not all do. It sounds like the UK system will require a creative commons licensing, which I think would allow publishers to copy edit, typeset and sell the open access version. Complying with the US regulations is relatively easy, so I doubt it will be hard to comply with the UK regulations.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2521, "author": "David Ketcheson", "author_id": 81, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/81", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Every scientific grant I know of has a clause stating that continued disbursement of funds is contingent on compliance with the the terms of the grant. So the most likely result of violating those terms is that they'll stop funding you. I think there would also be a strong effect on your professional reputation, since you signed an agreement to abide by those terms and then willingly violated them.</p>\n\n<p>If you violated the terms of the grant <em>after</em> it expired, you would probably not get funding from that agency in the future.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2522, "author": "Willie Wong", "author_id": 94, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/94", "pm_score": 5, "selected": true, "text": "<p>It seems slightly annoying, but not insurmountable. From the UK Research Council's <a href=\"http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/research/Pages/outputs.aspx\" rel=\"noreferrer\">Policy on Access</a>, I quote,</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>The Research Councils define Open Access to mean unrestricted, on-line access to peer reviewed and published scholarly research papers. Specifically a user must be able to do the following free of any publisher-imposed access charge:</p>\n<ol>\n<li>Read published research papers in an electronic format.</li>\n<li>Search for and re-use (including download) the content [<em>N.b.: footnote specifies including but not limited to the text, data, images, and figures</em>] of published research papers both manually and using automated tools (such as those for text and data mining) provided that any such re-use is subject to proper attribution.</li>\n</ol>\n<p>Open Access therefore allows unrestricted use of manual and automated text and data mining tools, as well as unrestricted re-use of content with proper attribution – as defined by the Creative Commons CC-BY license. The Research Councils acknowledge that some publications may need to amend their copyright\nconditions if they are to meet this definition of Open Access.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>Furthermore, about compliance by journals:</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>The Research Councils will continue to support a mixed approach to Open Access. The Research Councils will recognise a journal as being compliant with their policy on Open Access if:</p>\n<ol>\n<li><p>The journal provides via its own website immediate and unrestricted access to the publisher’s final version of the paper (the Version of Record), and allows immediate deposit of the Version of Record in other repositories without restriction on re-use. This may involve payment of an ‘Article Processing Charge’ (APC) to the publisher. The CC-BY license should be used in this case. <strong>OR</strong></p>\n</li>\n<li><p>Where a publisher does not offer option 1 above, the journal must allow deposit of Accepted Manuscripts that include all changes resulting from peer review (but not necessarily incorporating the publisher’s formatting) in other repositories, without restrictions on non-commercial re-use and within a defined period. In this option no ‘Article Processing Charge’ will be payable to the publisher. Research Councils will accept a delay of no more than six months between on-line publication and a research paper becoming Open Access, except in the case of research papers arising from research funded by the AHRC and the ESRC where the maximum embargo period is 12 months.</p>\n</li>\n</ol>\n</blockquote>\n<p>For individual grant recipients, the most important bit is probably the following:</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>RCUK have in the past provided support for APCs through both direct and indirect costs as part of grant funding. From 1st April 2013 and until further notice, RCUK will support the payment of APCs and other publication charges related to Research Council-funded research solely through block grants to UK Higher Education Institutions, approved independent research organisations and Research Council Institutes. Research grant applications will, therefore, no longer include provision for Open Access publication or other publication charges.</p>\n<p>In all cases universities and research organisations upon receipt of funding should transfer these charges to\ntheir institutional publication fund. A university or research organisation can then access these funds to pay\nfor APCs for any article resulting from research council funding.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>and from the &quot;guidance&quot; document:</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>The Research Councils will be amending their conditions of award to reflect these new requirements and will be extending existing mechanisms which capture research grants outputs (such as the Research Outputs System) to include compliance monitoring on this policy.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<hr />\n<p>To summarise: much as Daniel Shub <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/2518/94\">anticipated</a>, the policy allows for <em>either</em> a fully open access publication <em>or</em> publishing in a pay-walled journal which allows you to deposit the Accepted Manuscript in certain repositories, with an acceptable embargo delay. And enforcement of this will be much in the same way other conditions for grant dispersal are enforced. (They tell you what you can do with the money; if you don't follow the rules, they take the money back and/or not give you money ever again.)</p>\n<p>The only thing to additionally note is the small caveat that <em>pay-walled journals, to qualify for the second option of &quot;open access&quot; cannot charge article processing fees</em>. (Which is not too unreasonable: a journal is to charge either the author or the reader but not both.)</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2517", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2523, "author": "David Ketcheson", "author_id": 81, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/81", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p><strong>Scraping Google Scholar</strong></p>\n\n<p>I found this:</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https://github.com/tonybreyal/Blog-Reference-Functions/blob/master/R/googleScholarXScraper/googleScholarXScraper.R\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://github.com/tonybreyal/Blog-Reference-Functions/blob/master/R/googleScholarXScraper/googleScholarXScraper.R</a></p>\n\n<p>I also wrote something a while back, though it's not pretty:</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https://github.com/ketch/scinet/blob/master/gss.py\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://github.com/ketch/scinet/blob/master/gss.py</a></p>\n\n<p>Using either of these you could trace citations forward through the literature.\nNote that Scholar will block you if you hit it too many times, too quickly.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>You can download thousands of records at a time from Scopus, if you have access:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Run a search.</li>\n<li>Tick the box to select all documents.</li>\n<li>Click \"create bibliography\".</li>\n<li>Export to desired format.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>However, this doesn't include citation information, so it's probably useless to you.</p>\n\n<hr>\n" }, { "answer_id": 97256, "author": "Finn Årup Nielsen", "author_id": 36757, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/36757", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Our WikiCite project uses Wikidata to store bibliographic information including citation information. The data from Wikidata is free under CC0 license and you are able to access the data via XML dumps, RDF dumps, the web API and the Wikidata Query Service with a SPARQL endpoint.</p>\n\n<p>While the bibliographic data in Wikidata is certainly not complete as of October 2017, Wikidata editors have done considerable work so Wikidata now contains over 8 million scientific articles and over 36 million citations. The coverage may be somewhat ok'ish for a start in Magnetic Resonance Imaging while quite bad in fields such as Mechanics, Signal Processing and Geophysics.</p>\n\n<p>The Wikidata Query Service is used in our Scholia webservice to aggregate and display scholarly information in tables, plots and graphs, including citation graphs. Scholia, via the Wikidata Query Service, allows you to zoom in on a topic and create co-author graphs and co-occuring topics graph with respect to a topic. For instance, for the machine learning concept of \"embedding\" you can see the graphs here: <a href=\"https://tools.wmflabs.org/scholia/topic/Q29043227\" rel=\"noreferrer\">https://tools.wmflabs.org/scholia/topic/Q29043227</a>. Small partial citation graphs are displayed on the 'work' pages, see, e.g., <a href=\"https://tools.wmflabs.org/scholia/work/Q21090025\" rel=\"noreferrer\">https://tools.wmflabs.org/scholia/work/Q21090025</a>.</p>\n\n<p>It is possible to extract the bibliographic data with the Wikidata Query Service. For a co-author graph of the big connected component I used a SPARQL query against the Wikidata Query Service and Gephi on the downloaded results. The resulting image - and the SPARQL queries - are available here: <a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Scholarly_co-author_graph_via_Wikidata,_2017-05-26.png\" rel=\"noreferrer\">https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Scholarly_co-author_graph_via_Wikidata,_2017-05-26.png</a></p>\n\n<p>You can read more about the approach of using Wikidata for scientometrics work in this paper: \"Scholia and scientometrics with Wikidata\", <a href=\"https://arxiv.org/abs/1703.04222\" rel=\"noreferrer\">https://arxiv.org/abs/1703.04222</a></p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2520", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1301/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2526, "author": "Dan C", "author_id": 1069, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1069", "pm_score": 4, "selected": true, "text": "<p>If your goal after grad school is to get a job, then during grad school </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>you should <strong>do the things needed to</strong> impress the people you want to hire you and to <strong>be accepted and esteemed in their community</strong>. </li>\n<li>Slightly more concretely, <strong>find people who now have the career that you would like to have</strong>, and during grad school <strong>do stuff that they have done</strong>.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>I still think <em>networking is key</em>, but now you may be networking with a different group of people.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2547, "author": "Aaron", "author_id": 1228, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1228", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I think the number one thing you can do is plan your internships appropriately. Want a job at Google? Spend a summer there in a product group. Ditto for twitter, facebook, ebay, etc: all of these companies have large internship programs open to PhD students. Not only will this give you contacts inside the company, it will give you an idea for the kinds of problems that they need to solve, which can (if they are interesting), inspire the direction of your research. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2563, "author": "StrongBad", "author_id": 929, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I think it is really critical that at each stage of academia you are thinking about the next stage and how to get there. For those interested in staying in academia, I take the often controversial view that you should do everything possible to delay getting to the tenure review (extra time as a student and post doc). For someone interested in an industry job, it is all finishing asap. For industry, PhD and post doc experience just isn't that valuable. With that in mind ...</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Relation with Advisor</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>You should tell your advisers that you are interested in industry jobs. This will help them tailor how they market you to your colleagues. It might mean they are more receptive to adding an industry contact to your committee or changing your topic slightly. They also might help you finish faster.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>How I spend my summers</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Summers should be spent working on your PhD (i.e., trying to finish as quickly as possible) and picking up skills useful for industry.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Conferences</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>If your goal is industry, conferences are no longer about meeting colleagues and selling your research. It is about hanging out with the vendors and industry reps. Small conferences, which are great for meeting a post doc adviser, are probably less useful.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Publications</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Back burner them. Take second authorship and let someone else spend the time writing them. They are not going to be critical for getting you an industry job or promotion.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2564, "author": "eykanal", "author_id": 73, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/73", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>From my own experience:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>Do well in all your courses. Those who will be hiring you in industry generally places a higher importance on grades than those in academia.</p></li>\n<li><p>Publications are still important, but not nearly as much as in academia. Having a few papers under your belt will demonstrate that you know what you're talking about and that your research has been reviewed and accepted by your peers.</p></li>\n<li><p>As was stated in other answers, find out what skills are necessary in the field you wish to enter, and master those skills. Oftentimes this will involve familiarity with a set of techniques or understanding of a very specific field. This is significantly different from academia. Remember, people in industry will want to hire you so you can help their business make money. The faster you can do that, the more easily you'll find employment.</p></li>\n<li><p>Network, network, network. If you know specifically what you want to do in industry, talk to everyone you can (people in your academic program, friends, relatives) about possible leads in industry. If you don't know which field you want to enter, start talking to people very early on so that you can appropriately customize your training to your needs.</p></li>\n</ul>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2525", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2535, "author": "paul garrett", "author_id": 980, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Edit, again: The question seems to have changed, yet again. :)</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>A student can reveal their own performance in an exam. That information is their property.</p></li>\n<li><p>Faculty cannot publicly reveal students' performances, as that would, indeed, violate the \"FERPA\" laws. (As parent of over-18 college student, whose tuition I'm paying, I do not have access to her grades without her permission!)</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>Edit: Hm... the sense of the question is radically changed. [Initially, it was about faculty publicly disclosing students' performance results. When this answer was written, it had become about whether one could disclose one's <em>own</em> results.] Sure, one is at liberty to reveal one's own quality-of-performance on an exam in the U.S. The \"FERPA\" laws would only prevent your examiners from revealing your performance publicly or to anyone who did not have a legitimate operational professional reason to have access.</p>\n\n<p>It might be that the <em>content</em> of the exam might be partly confidential, but that is a different issue.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2559, "author": "StrongBad", "author_id": 929, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I can think of three reasons why a faculty member might reveal how a student performed on a qualifying examination.</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>When writing letters of recommendation requested by the student. Ideally you will have students provide you with written or electronic documentation stating what areas will be touched upon in a letter of recommendation. Assuming the student consents to you mentioning the qualifying examination, then you should be covered from litigation.</p></li>\n<li><p>When approached for a reference that the student hasn't informed you that they have requested. Often students list individuals as references, but then don't let the potential referees know. As of two years ago, my school has advised us to say nothing in these cases. While this initially hurt our students, they are now aware of the policy, and the number of surprise requests is greatly diminished. If you chose to ignore school policy and reveal information about the student, then you can presumably be held liable.</p></li>\n<li><p>Gossip. It can be accidental where you implying that someone failed his qualifying examination: \"John is no longer a student here\". It can also be intentional: \"Don't be so quick to write off John's theory, he aced his qualifying exam.\" Both can get you in trouble. As with most gossip, you need to be careful with what you say and who is listening.</p></li>\n</ol>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2534", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1306/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2537, "author": "Anonymous Mathematician", "author_id": 612, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612", "pm_score": 7, "selected": true, "text": "<p>In a typical university in the <strong>United States</strong>:</p>\n\n<p>An assistant professor is an entry-level faculty member. They are generally on the tenure track (although the term \"assistant professor\" does not guarantee this) but do not have tenure yet. Typically, within about seven years an assistant professor will either be promoted to associate professor or will leave the university, although the timing can vary a little and it's theoretically possible to remain an assistant professor forever.</p>\n\n<p>An associate professor is one step up from an assistant professor. This promotion is usually the same as getting tenure, but not always. (Some universities, like MIT, frequently have non-tenured associate professors.) The final step for most faculty is a full professorship.</p>\n\n<p>As for what an associate professor can do that an assistant professor can't, that varies even more than the terminology. In many US universities, the only additional power an associate professor has is voting on who gets tenure, but I wouldn't claim this is universally true.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2538, "author": "Alexander Serebrenik", "author_id": 882, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/882", "pm_score": 6, "selected": false, "text": "<p>In the <strong>Netherlands</strong> both assistant and associate professors are frequently tenured (= have a permanent position). Associate professors are expected to develop their own research line, while assistant professors can work on the topics of their bosses (full professors). Neither assistant nor associate professors can formally supervise PhD students: they can only co-supervise. There are some more minor differences: e.g., associate professors can be members of the Ph.D. assessment committee, assistant - not, unless they are co-supervisors of the candidate.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Update 2018</strong>: As of last year associate professors at some universities have been granted the right to formally supervise PhD students. Details of the implementation are however left to the universities, and, e.g., Eindhoven decided to grant this right only to <em>senior</em> associate professors.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 16783, "author": "Jeromy Anglim", "author_id": 62, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/62", "pm_score": 5, "selected": false, "text": "<p>In <strong>Australia</strong>, the typical hierarchy is:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Level A. Associate lecturer</li>\n<li>Level B. Lecturer</li>\n<li>Level C. Senior lecturer</li>\n<li>Level D. Associate professor</li>\n<li>Level E. Professor</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>In the typical Australian ranking system, there is no \"assistant professor\" . In this academic ranking system associate professor is a high ranking. I think that both associate professor and professor in Australia would correspond roughly to professor in the United States. </p>\n\n<p>As is noted in the comments, a small number of Australian universities have adopted (or adopted and then reverted back from) the American system. So you may find Assistant Professor is used occasionally. Assistant Professor probably maps onto Australian Level B (Lecturer).</p>\n\n<p>Supervision of a PhD student depends on university regulations. At my university in Australia, there are several requirements in order to be a principal supervisor. In particular, (a) you need to have completed your own PhD or in rare cases be of equivalent standing, (b) have been an associate supervisor of PhD student to completion, or completed a set of training and experiential activities. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 16815, "author": "penelope", "author_id": 4249, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4249", "pm_score": 5, "selected": false, "text": "<p>In <strong>France</strong>, the position <em>Assistant Professor</em> is a permanent position. As research activities are also done in labs in addition to the universities, the positions are:</p>\n<ul>\n<li><p>assistant professor <em>(maître de conférences)</em> : permanent teaching position, but can not supervise PhD students alone.</p>\n<p>Is typically working towards a <strong>habilitation</strong> (HDR, <em>habilitation à diriger des recherches</em>), a longer-lasting standalone research project of about 5 years, during which the person co-supervised a few PhD students. After defending the project in front of the jury a person with an HDR can supervise PhD students alone.</p>\n</li>\n<li><p>professor <em>(professeur des universités)</em> : permanent teaching position, can supervise PhD students alone.</p>\n</li>\n<li><p>full researcher <em>(chargé</em> or <em>directeur de recherche)</em> : permanent research position without teaching, can supervise PhD students alone if holder of the HDR.</p>\n</li>\n</ul>\n" }, { "answer_id": 16816, "author": "yo'", "author_id": 1471, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1471", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>In the <strong>Czech Republic</strong>, and I suppose that in some other \"former Eastern block\" countries it's similar, there are 3 types of university permanent positions:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p><strong>asistent</strong> -- usually translated <strong>assistant professor</strong></p></li>\n<li><p><strong>docent</strong> -- usually translated <strong>associated professor</strong> -- you become a docent when you do your habilitation</p></li>\n<li><p><strong>profesor</strong> -- usually translated <strong>full professor</strong> -- you become a profesor when the president of the Czech Republic promotes you.</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>There are no other distinguished levels at the universities. However, the Academy of Sciences is completely seperated, and it's different there. Nobody is, however, called a professor there.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 45256, "author": "stefferz", "author_id": 34407, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/34407", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>In Uruguay, it is not really related to tenure:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Grado 1: ayudante de clase (only for basic subjects)</li>\n<li>Grado 2: asistente de clase (like an assistant prof, for 4 yrs, they can renew the position once)</li>\n<li>Grado 3: profesor adjunto</li>\n<li>Grado 4: profesor agregado </li>\n<li>Grado 5: profesor (aka: catedratico or chairman/head of the department)</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>The last 2 are more administrative/in charge of lectures than clinical in med-school, though they do perform surgeries with residents.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 52108, "author": "Alfonso F R", "author_id": 35071, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/35071", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>In Spain you get:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Level 0: Classroom assistant (usually talented students who may, or may not, receive a grant for their work)</li>\n<li>Level 1: Assistant Professor\n(usually short term, part-time)</li>\n<li>Level 2: Professor (usually mid-term, full time)</li>\n<li>Level 3: Doctoral Professor (same as before, but requires a PhD title)</li>\n<li>Level 4: Professor Researcher (requires publications in journals and related research activities, besides teaching. It accumulates tenure)</li>\n<li>Level 5: Catedrático (Cathedratic/\"Full Professor\" in the English system. In Latin it means \"the one with a (guaranteed) chair\")</li>\n<li>Level 6: Department Director (typically a cathedratic, but oftentimes occupied by Researchers or Doctors)</li>\n<li>Level 7: Vicedean (depending on the structure of the university, it may\nsupervise several departments/areas, or just some narrow ones, such\nas student recruitment. If the latter, then its professional category\nis actually around level 3 or 4)</li>\n<li>Level 8: Decano/Dean (the top position within a faculty area i.e: Medicine. In Latin it means: ten straight years)</li>\n<li>Level 9: Vicerrector (Vice Chancellor: it follows similar rules as vicedeans, but for the whole university)</li>\n<li>Level 10: Rector (Chancellor/Provost/CEO: the top position at a university, chosen by democratic elections among students, docents and other workers of the university)</li>\n<li>Level 11: Some public officers from the Ministry of Education (such as the Secretary for Education or Universities), including the Minister (who is chosen by the President of the country right after national elections, and sometimes more than once during a mandate).</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Also bear in mind, that universities in Spain and elsewhere are usually highly politicized environments that conduct regular elections at university, faculty and department levels, so a Professor Researcher might be Dpt. Dr. for some years, then be a Researcher and later be elected as Rector, finally staying as Cathedratic, for instance. the highest staff rotation occurs at the lower levels, while the top levels are the most political. Of course, technical and scientific knowledge plays a role of paramount importance as well.\nThe situation, however, may differ from one university to the other, particularly according to their size and their public or private nature.</p>\n\n<p>Supervision of PhD students is usually performed by levels 3, 4 and 5, with some cases of level 6 and above. Actually, the more the thesis supervised, the more likely it is to climb up the ladder.</p>\n\n<p>Remember as well that, in Spanish, there exists a single word for both the terms \"teacher\" and \"professor\", which is \"profesor\" (with the accent on the last syllable), so denominations may vary; for instance: all High School teachers are generally called \"profesor\" even if they didn't earn a doctorate degree (\"doctorado\"). This is so again because of the latin origin of the verb \"profesar\" which means \"the one who declares, or speaks publicly\" and is typically use as a synonym to \"perform\" (some kind of job or occupation) with devotion and commitment.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 77927, "author": "Jacob Ahlstrand", "author_id": 62948, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/62948", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>At the University of Wyoming, associate professors have tenure while assistant professors do not. Full professorship is a time thing, not a standing thing here. We have associate professors as department chairs, as doctoral advisors, and they can vote on tenure. Full professors just have a raise and have been there awhile.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 77942, "author": "Community", "author_id": -1, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>In <strong>France</strong>, there is no position equivalent to assistant professor. The position closest to associate professor is a permanent position.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p><em>Maître de conférences</em> (MCF, ~ associate professor): Permanent research and teaching position. Can not supervise PhD students alone without an HDR (see next point). Can serve on committees for recruiting new MCFs in the university.</p></li>\n<li><p><em>Habilitation à Diriger des Recherches</em> (HDR): A longer-lasting standalone research project of several years, sometimes requiring to have co-supervised a few students. Not a position per se, but allows to supervise PhD students alone and is often necessary to move on to the next position.</p></li>\n<li><p><em>Professeur des universités</em> (PR, ~ full professor): Senior permanent research and teaching position. In most cases, requires an HDR (which is still necessary to supervise PhD students alone). Can serve on committees for recruiting new MCFs and PRs.</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>In national research institutes such as the CNRS, two equivalent positions exist: <em>Chargé de recherche</em> (CR, \"Junior Scientist\") and <em>Directeur de recherche</em> (DR, \"Research Director\", \"Senior Scientist\"). Both are roughly equivalent to maître de conférences and professeur, respectively; one main difference is that there is no teaching load for these positions. An HDR is also necessary in most cases to be promoted directeur de recherche. An MCF can become DR (rather rare as far as I understand?), and a CR can become PR.</p>\n\n<p>For more information see the Wikipedia article <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_ranks_in_France\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Academic ranks in France</a>.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>(The <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/16815\">other answer about France</a> is somewhat misleading, and I've been <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/review/suggested-edits/42329\">told by a moderator I should post a new answer</a> rather than edit the old one.)</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 77943, "author": "itzmebibin", "author_id": 52859, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/52859", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>In India, at regional universities and institutes, <em>Assistant professor</em> is an entry level position in colleges. For this you need to have a master degree. After 4-5 years of experience as an Assistant Professor you may be promoted to <em>Associate Professor</em>. That depends on your knowledge and passion in this field. </p>\n\n<p>If you have a Ph.D. in any subject, then you can directly become an Associate professor.</p>\n\n<p>If you want to become a Professor you need to have at least 3-5 years of experience as an Associate Professor with PhD.</p>\n\n<p>You can do Ph.D. along with your Assistant Professor Career.</p>\n\n<p>The positions are in the following order:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Assistant Professor (Master Degree + 0 or more years of experience)</li>\n<li>Associate Professor (Ph.D.)</li>\n<li>Professor (Ph.D. + 3-5 years of experience)</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>However, at top-notch institutes (like IITs and IISc etc.) or the best universities ( Delhi Univ., Cal. Univ.), a faculty member must hold a Ph.D. degree.\nIn fact, in IITs, at least 2 post-docs from reputed foreign schools are necessary even for an entry level assistant Prof.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 94102, "author": "Lou", "author_id": 78015, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/78015", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>In Venezuela, both assistant and associate exist, and both are full professors, but you move from one category to another due to the amount and quality of research you perform, as well as the degrees they hold:</p>\n\n<p>The positions are:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p><em>Instructor</em> : Mostly, they are in charge of teaching up to three subjects or three classes, conducting researches and participating in community service projects as tutors. This position is based on tenure (0-2+ years).</p></li>\n<li><p><em>Asistente</em> (Assistant): They are in charge of teaching up to three subjects or three classes, conducting researches, participating in community service projects as tutors, tutoring another researchers, being part of an academic group (Student Recruitment, Post-graduate Programs, Community Service Development, Cultural Affairs, etc). Professors get to this position once they hold a master's degree.</p></li>\n<li><p><em>Agregado</em> (Aggregate): They are in charge of the same responsibilities as an Assistant Professor, but can be the Head of a Subject/Area and a Lab Coordinator. Professors get to this position either holding a master’s degree or conducting a research that gets reviewed and approved by some experts (professors from higher positions, including the Dean). They can also get to this position by getting a research paper published in a distinguished academic journal. Papers are also reviewed and approved by some experts from the Faculty (professors from higher positions, including the Dean).</p></li>\n<li><p><em>Asociado</em> (Associate): They are in charge of the same responsibilities as an Aggregate Professor. Professors get to this position once they get two research papers published in a distinguished academic journal. Papers are also reviewed and approved by some experts from the Faculty (professors from higher positions, including the Dean).</p></li>\n<li><p><em>Titular</em>: They are in charge of the same responsibilities as an Aggregate Professor, but they can be Head of a Department. Professors get to this position once they hold a PhD, but they can also get to this position by getting three research papers published in a distinguished academic journal. Papers are also reviewed and approved by some experts from the Faculty (professors from higher positions, including the Dean).</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>To get to those positions, a professor must have gotten a <strong>full contract</strong>. \nAccording to their contract type, they can be:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p><em>Tiempo Convencional</em>: Teaching hours vary from 6, 8, 10 or 12. They do not hold any other academic/administrative responsibility beyond teaching. They are all Instructors.</p></li>\n<li><p><em>Medio Tiempo</em>: 12 Teaching hours + 6 hours that can be for research or community service tutoring. They are all Instructors.</p></li>\n<li><p><strong><em>Tiempo Completo</em></strong>: 35 working hours weekly (12 for teaching + 23 for the other academic/administrative responsibilities). They must be at least Assistants.</p></li>\n<li><p><strong><em>Dedicación Exclusiva</em></strong>: 38 working hours weekly (12 for teaching + 26 for the other academic/administrative responsibilities). They are not allowed to have another job. They must be at least Aggregate.</p></li>\n</ol>\n" }, { "answer_id": 112688, "author": "Prof. Lazarus M. Ojigi", "author_id": 95013, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/95013", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>In NIGERIA the academic positions are in the following order of hierarchy:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Graduate Assistant</li>\n<li>Assistant Lecturer</li>\n<li>Lecture II</li>\n<li>Lecturer I</li>\n<li>Senior Lecturer</li>\n<li>Associate Professor </li>\n<li>Professor</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>There is therefore no \"assistant professor\" in the academic ranking system in Nigeria. However, by comparison associate professor is a higher ranking of about 7-9 years above Assistant Professor. In my opinion, I think both Associate Professor and Professor in Nigeria would roughly equals to Professor in the United States; similar to the situation in Australia. The UK university/academic ranking system is practised in Nigeria.</p>\n\n<p>Supervision of a PhD depends on university regulations. At my university in Nigeria, there are several requirements in order to be a lead supervisor of a PhD, in particular, (i) you need to have completed your own PhD with relevant post qualification experience, (ii) have been a member of supervisory committee(s) of PhD candidate(s) to completion, or completed a set of training activities in related research area.</p>\n\n<p>Promotions from one academic rank to another takes a minimum of three (3) years in addition to the required or relevant research outputs and publications. There are guidelines by each university on the minimum requirements for promotions across the academic hierarchy. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 113761, "author": "aeismail", "author_id": 53, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>In <strong>Germany</strong>, faculty belong to a special class of civil servants known as <em>Beamter</em> and the positions they hold are categorized according to the labels they are given in the pay system for the civil servants: W1, W2, and W3, respectively.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>W1 positions are always untenured positions that may offer a tenure-track option and correspond to assistant professorships in the US. In some states, after a positive interim evaluation, they are eligible to be the supervisor of record for a thesis defense. Since three years is typically the minimum time needed for a PhD, this basically means a W1 professor can begin supervising students as soon as she is hired. The position is normally term-limited to six years, but this can be extended by the university.</p></li>\n<li><p>W2 professorships vary; some are term-limited while others may be permanent; they are the “associate” professors of Germany. They are functionally the same in terms of duties and responsibilities in most states, but how the position is reckoned in terms of providing budget support from the university differs. Some universities count W2’s and others don’t, resulting in significant differences in the level of budget support.</p></li>\n<li><p>W3 positions carry the most responsibility and correspond to the US full professor. They receive the lion’s share of funding and support, and some of the “chairs” or “institutes” they oversee can have dozens or even hundreds of researchers. To some extent they can be closer to CEO’s than faculty, except for the requirement of direct contact hours with students giving lectures and overseeing research. (Typically, they may have teaching loads of 12 to 15 contact hours per week.)</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>There are also other positions within the system known as <em>außerplanmäßige Professoren</em> that correspond to adjuncts and lecturers, but they do not have lifetime appointments. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 120549, "author": "luchonacho", "author_id": 69863, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/69863", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>In the United Kingdom, the terminology is different from the US:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>Senior lecturer (equivalent to associate professor)</p></li>\n<li><p>Lecturer or clinical lecturer (equivalent to assistant professor)</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>For more details, see <a href=\"https://academicpositions.com/career-advice/uk-academic-job-titles-explained\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">here</a>.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2536", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/703/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2543, "author": "Community", "author_id": -1, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1", "pm_score": 6, "selected": true, "text": "<p>As a non-native English speaker myself, I've faced similar situations during my PhD. Some pros/cons of writing not in English, and then translating. </p>\n\n<p><strong>Pros</strong>: </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>If you're working with people who don't speak English very well, it can make it easier for them to write in their native language first, so that they can focus on explaining the idea, rather than trying to find a correct vocabulary. </p></li>\n<li><p>You might be able to publish the work twice: once for a Chinese-speaking conference (or journal) and another time in English. </p></li>\n<li><p>If you plan to have this paper read by undergraduate students later on, then it might be easier for them to understand it if it's in their native language. </p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p><strong>Cons</strong>:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>This is a waste of time, since you're basically working on the same thing twice. </p></li>\n<li><p>Translating is hard, in general, and speaking two languages does not necessarily make you a good translator. In practice, it might give a structure, but you might have to rewrite entirely each paragraph. </p></li>\n<li><p>If you're working with people who aim at staying in academia, they they need to be able to write directly in English. It's hard in the beginning, but it gets much easier with time and practice. </p></li>\n<li><p>It could make complicated any external collaboration (I've been collaborating with some people who write their papers in English, but their comments and ideas in another language, it was really frustrating). </p></li>\n<li><p>It's probably a subjective perception, but I think that a paper is not only a technical idea, it should also be an interesting piece of work to read. It might be specific to CS (I don't have the same feeling when talking with people in maths), but I feel that we're already reading A LOT of papers (probably due to the multiplication of conferences/journals in CS), and at some point, it becomes harder to focus on those that are not pleasant to read. The best way to make your paper pleasant to read is to think it in English from the beginning. </p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Note that in the Cons, I assumed that you would translate the paper yourselves, and that you're not particularly trained for translating technical documents. Of course, that would be quite different if you were to delegate the translation to some professionals. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2548, "author": "aeismail", "author_id": 53, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>As a native English speaker working in a country of non-native English speakers, I come from a slightly different perspective than Charles. I've also done some translations of abstracts (from English to French, although arguably this isn't so advisable, since I'm not a native French speaker—but being the only option in the company makes for little choice).</p>\n\n<p>Based on my collective experiences in the last few years, I agree with Charles's main point: if the paper is to be submitted in English, it should be written and commented on exclusively in English. Doing a bilingual job makes for a mess. I recently went through two proposals written \"by committee.\" One was done exclusively in English; the other was a \"mixed-language\" proposal. The all-English proposal was not only finished faster, but it was easier to work on and understand. I think ultimately it was also a higher-quality proposal. </p>\n\n<p>However, I do want to take exception to a point that Charles made: with respect to undergraduates, I believe that it is more codifying than assisting undergraduates to give them \"natively written\" materials, when the originals started out in another language. You cannot really do science in academia today without being able to communicate in English; getting experience in doing so—in all of its forms—is an essential part of the training process.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 46649, "author": "Ahmad", "author_id": 21885, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/21885", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>As a non-native English speaker myself, based on some experiences I recommend you to first write some drafts in your native language.</p>\n\n<p>Yes, being able to directly think and write in English is a great skill and it is recommended, but if you are not mastered with this skill, it may evade you from writing down your ideas. For a paper, the cohesion of ideas is the first matter and the language is the second.</p>\n\n<p>You don't need to write it completely in your own language, but you can use it to keep focused on your ideas and organize your paper (without being drifted by finding proper words), the flow of information, the reasons, arguments, etc. Then replace these sections with proper (not necessarily translation) paragraphs in English. </p>\n\n<p>And till you don't write down your thoughts you are not sure of what is in your mind.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 88995, "author": "ebosi", "author_id": 50010, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/50010", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>In addition to existing answers, I would advise you to write in English from the beginning for two reasons: </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>First, it is less effort. Your primary sources might indeed be mostly written in English. Translating these concepts from English to X, then reasonning about them in your mother tong, and then translating back from X to English is a lot of work. Yet if your brain reasons in English, you avoid two of previous three steps (both translations). And when you're drafting your paper, it is much easier to be able to compare your work with what is written in papers (i.e. English vs. English). Even if you might go more slowly at the beginning, it might still be more efficient. <br/>\nMoreover some words/concepts or technical terms are not easily translatable. Reasonning in English only would help you keep clear and accurate ideas.</li>\n<li>Second, it's a two-in-one. Beeing fluent in English is often a required skill for any job. Using a pure-English workflow will thus also help you improve your English. By directly writing in English, you will also tend to use more idiomatic expression or sentences structures - i.e. write better English. Indeed, writing styles differ quite a lot among languages (e.g. German academic writings make an extensive use of passive voice, when English ones prefer short and simple sentences).</li>\n</ul>\n" }, { "answer_id": 114587, "author": "Mariana", "author_id": 96617, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/96617", "pm_score": 0, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I have a pretty good level of English. However, my Spanish is way richer and I can elaborate ideas and concepts with deeper arguments and a more generous vocabulary.</p>\n\n<p>If I need to prepare a short blog article or a Stack response, I just do it in English. But if I must write a long document, I use to think of it in Spanish to come up with better ideas.</p>\n\n<p>Otherwise, I feel that the result is quite basic from a language point of view.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2541", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/879/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2551, "author": "Fomite", "author_id": 118, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/118", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I don't do CS specifically, but I do research in computational/mathematical Epidemiology, which similarly lacks a clear format for a \"lab notebook\" and where the electronic tools designed for something like chemistry and biology doesn't necessarily suit.</p>\n\n<p>Honestly, I've tried a number of systems. A private Wiki, a variety of other electronic systems, etc. And when it came down to it, I went back to a traditional paper notebook.</p>\n\n<p>I've ended up with a bound paper notebook where I keep notes about experiments and simulations being run, thoughts on direction for the project, and the occasional printout of results taped inside. This has, for me, worked far better than electronic systems.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 103879, "author": "Community", "author_id": -1, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I devised this method when trying to organize story ideas (as a side project). It (for me, at least) is adaptable to my robotics projects and Neural Net research.</p>\n\n<p>The basics for are as follows:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Feeds</li>\n<li>Phase 1 - [Discovery][Hacking]</li>\n<li>Phase 2 - [New Frontiers][Learning]</li>\n<li>Phase 3 - [Flagship][Publication]</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>\"Feeds\" is a Word Document containing... tweets. For example:</p>\n\n<pre><code>20180214_1322. Hyperbolic TanH is outperforming Sigmoid for the 2-input XOR.\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>I try to keep each one short and to the point. There are hundreds of them. If I think of something on the go, I type it in Google Keep on my phone and move it to the Feeds later. These include comments, observations, thoughts, opinions, expectations, and agenda items. If something requires later attention, I mark the line bold (to do). If I am looking for ideas, I scroll down through the file and mark \"interesting\" entries bold.</p>\n\n<p>Phase 1 is the discovery or hacking phase. Here, I keep files documenting each beginning step. Example CAD drawings, initial literature, code that was \"hacked-together,\" and short writings are kept here. During this phase, I figure out if a project is worth exploring, and often get my hands dirty.</p>\n\n<p>Phase 2 is the learning and refining phase. In the event of a robot, all mistakes are documented. New code is created. Conference papers are prepared. Experiments are outlined. Characters are further developed.</p>\n\n<p>Phase 3 is the publication or deployment phase. My robot is refined and ready for competition or \"showing off.\" The book is now in the drafting phase to be presented to a publisher. A full research article, concluding a specific sub-area is research, is prepared for submission to IEEE. </p>\n\n<p>The key, for me, is to name everything by the date it was originally created (meaning expansion from Feed to [whatever file is necessary]). If significant changes are made, create a new file. Sorting files by date would be OK for most, but I jump between clouds and operating systems too often, and this metadata is often lost. Significant versions of code are zipped away when seriously updated. Experiments (source code, raw output files, and Excel files) are zipped and dated accordingly.</p>\n\n<p>Again, this is how I manage my projects and research. I imagine that a post-grad researcher would need to split these phases by each publication. The part I would recommend above all else to maintain is the Feeds. A chronological-order \"change log\" of all ideas, thoughts and changes has become indispensable to keeping things organized.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 103900, "author": "Chris", "author_id": 54264, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/54264", "pm_score": 0, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I use <a href=\"http://jupyter.org\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Jupyter Notebooks</a> as my (almost) all-in-one research environment. Jupyter is a locally-hosted webapp designed primarily to write code in a convenient interface in a web browser. The native language is Python, but there are <a href=\"https://github.com/jupyter/jupyter/wiki/Jupyter-kernels\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">kernels for many languages.</a> Jupyter also supports writing text with Markdown and MathJax inline with your code. The notebooks can be exported as HTML, PDFs, slides, Markdown, .rst, or .tex files (especially useful when drafting papers for journals/conferences that provide a .cls file!). And because a notebook is stored as a plaintext JSON file, it's VCS friendly.</p>\n\n<p>The next iteration, <a href=\"https://github.com/jupyterlab/jupyterlab\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">JupyterLab</a>, is currently in the late-stages of development and is in beta.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2546", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1316/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2555, "author": "Suresh", "author_id": 346, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>As with anything, it depends: </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>How hard is it to get a job in industry, when you are middle aged and\n have no relevant work experience?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Is that really true ? It of course depends, but academics even in very theoretical disciplines have skills of value to industry (witness for example the number of math PhDs getting jobs on Wall Street). Of course, if one presents oneself as having no relevant work experience, it's going to be very hard to find an industry job, but I question the premise. Maybe the right fit is not obvious, and maybe it will take some networking and talking to people to find the right niche, but it's more a matter of repositioning one's skills. It's easier said than done, but it's possible. </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>How hard is it to get another job in academia? Who wants to hire\n someone who was denied tenure at their home institution?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I know of many people who get faculty jobs after being denied tenure elsewhere. Universities don't operate on the same scale or with the same criteria or needs. It might need some time (again) to reposition oneself, and it might require some digging into the circumstances leading to tenure denial in the first place (painful, but sometimes yielding useful information). </p>\n\n<p>It's by no means a definite thing, but it can be done. It will take some time though, also because without a job, one lacks leverage to dangle in front of another institution. </p>\n\n<p>p.s The question was asked in the abstract, and the answer is thus necessarily vague. The real point is that every case is different, and there are always ways to move forward, if not exactly in the direction one is hoping for. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2556, "author": "paul garrett", "author_id": 980, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980", "pm_score": 5, "selected": false, "text": "<p>First, I hope this has not already happened, but is only a <em>potential</em> concern.</p>\n\n<p>Thus, I'd first address \"how to <em>avoid</em> having this happen\". As with failing oral prelims and such things, this results primarily from failed <em>communication</em> between the junior person and one or more relatively senior people. Ignoring for a moment department-politics-motivated tenure-vendettas, which do occur, departments are not collectively happy to deny tenure, since it reflects a kind of failure on their part, as well. Although the details of the expectations are different at \"research universities\" versus \"small colleges\", departments have <em>expectations</em>. Usually these expectations are communicated fairly clearly, although sometime not too forcefully or formally.</p>\n\n<p>A pre-tenure person should have senior people to talk to about their situation in the department, about expectations, and about progress-so-far. Unfortunately, often there is no systematic implementation of this sort of mentor relationship, and the default is that the dept chair has a yearly talk with pre-tenure faculty. If this defaults further into an absolutely pro-forma, content-free interaction, there is potential danger, especially with a pre-tenure person who is oblivious to exactly these issues.</p>\n\n<p>The worst cases I've witnessed, apart from those involving some political motivations, involved pre-tenure people who were surprisingly disconnected from the department in which they worked. Plausibly doing worthwhile work, but not interacting with local people.</p>\n\n<p>Another kind of disconnection is that the pre-tenure person does receive fairly blunt advice from the dept chair, but decides to ignore it, as though some abstract notion of \"virtue\" would supercede the dept chair's recommendation!</p>\n\n<p>Nevertheless, even if one <em>has</em> paid attention, it might be that one's research program just didn't <em>quite</em> measure up to hopes... Or there might be political/scientific shifts in the dept which (rightly or wrongly) marginalized your field/work \"out from under you\". In such cases, the external perception usually is fairly well informed, and the stigma is not too great, and there is hope for other academic opportunities.</p>\n\n<p>If one <em>hasn't</em> paid attention, and, in some sense \"rightly\" was denied tenure, then this situation is externally understood, too, and it is in this case that one's academic prospects are dim.</p>\n\n<p>Although I've had the good fortune to not need to look for non-academic employment, my several students who have deliberately (or due to vagaries of the job market, grudgingly) found non-academic positions emphasize that it's possibly not your specialized knowledge that you can \"sell\", but the point that you can learn very complicated things, and do things with them.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2553", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1320/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2562, "author": "Brian Ballsun-Stanton", "author_id": 6, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>According to the developer, the non-free version of easychair can support something like this:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>We have a similar functionality in the registration module (non-free).\n All your requirements are related to conference registration, not to\n paper submission.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>However, the \"registration module\" is very difficult to find.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2574, "author": "ShadowWarrior", "author_id": 675, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/675", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>You can use <a href=\"http://www.openconf.com/\" rel=\"nofollow\">OpenConf</a> for your purpose. It is free but you have to buy license for upgraded features. Going through the demo, it seems impressive. Bear in mind that you have to host this on your event website.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2588, "author": "Brian Ballsun-Stanton", "author_id": 6, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p><strong><a href=\"http://pkp.sfu.ca/?q=ocs\">Open conference systems</a></strong> supports a nuanced registration module.</p>\n\n<p>While arbitrary checkboxes are not supported out of the box, there is an area for \"optional registration types\" which we have repurposes into an area for us to track the various optional things we need. </p>\n\n<p>The rest of the system supports abstract management and scheduling.</p>\n\n<p>Also, this <a href=\"http://pkp.sfu.ca/support/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&amp;t=6310&amp;p=34232&amp;hilit=registration#p34232\">forum post</a> has literal instructions of how to hack registration.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 73215, "author": "Federico Poloni", "author_id": 958, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/958", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I just found out the existence of <a href=\"http://indico-software.org/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Indico</a>, an open-source conference management software developed at CERN for their own needs. I have just played with the sandbox for now, but it seems impressive.</p>\n<p>EDIT: six years later, I have used Indico as an organizer for two small conferences and as a user for 3-4 more. I confirm that it is powerful and simple to use; for my needs (in applied mathematics) it seems the best choice. I confirm it supports <a href=\"https://indico.docs.cern.ch/conferences/registration_config/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">custom fields</a> in registration, in particular, as OP requested.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2557", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2561, "author": "gerrit", "author_id": 1033, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1033", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Do you only have a single supervisor? In Sweden, we always have at least a primary and a secondary supervisor. I know some people where the primary supervisor has little time, and the secondary supervisor(s) actually spend a lot more time in helping out. If it's for publishing a paper, you could offer co-authorship to other faculty if they can contribute to helping/advising on the paper.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2590, "author": "Nobody", "author_id": 546, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/546", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>First, I have questions for you.</p>\n\n<p>Your (1): \"he has too many students.\"\n Why would you be bothered? Is it because he is too busy to pay attention to you? If so, why (3) (sabotage)?</p>\n\n<p>Your (4) and (5): \"he discourages me from attending conferences\", and\n \"refuses to introduce me to anyone in his network.\"\n Can you talk to your secondary adviser to help you? Do you really need your primary adviser to introduce you to people? Do you need his approval to attend conferences?</p>\n\n<p>Your (3) \"he is trying his best to sabotage TA or RA opportunities that are my only source of funding\" is a problem. You need funding to support your study. I am not familiar with German. Can you find a job somewhere to support yourself? Would it have to be TA or RA?</p>\n\n<p>Your true problem is (2) \"never reads my chapters.\" You need him to finish your dissertation. For that, you need to talk to him.</p>\n\n<p>I do believe there are some serious misunderstandings between you and your adviser. Generally speaking, a student and his adviser are on the same side. Do you believe he would be proud of your failure? I would like to tell you this, if you fail, he fails, too.</p>\n\n<p>I would urge you to have a sincere talk to him. Tell him what you want to achieve. Tell him what you'll do and where you will be after you get your PhD is really your own decision. Ask what he thinks of you and what kind of problems he thinks you are having so that you can improve yourself. Maybe he thinks you have not done research in depth enough so your chapters are not ready yet. So on and so forth. Once you two can have an open talk and clear up the misunderstandings, it will be a happy ending.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2591, "author": "Stefano Borini", "author_id": 5, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<blockquote>\n <p>I am three years into the program and have a nearly completed thesis. Without his comments on my chapters, I fear that I will end up with a lower grade (PhDs are graded here) which marks an end to my academic career.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>You won't miss anything. Trust me.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>I was the top student in the Masters program and that is why I was offered a fully funded PhD. My adviser was very happy with me until I spoke to him about trying for a job in Germany or in Europe. Since then he is distant because I think he expected me to go back to my Third World country and create links for him.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Which third world country ? </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>What can I do? Should I drop this PhD and apply for another one in the US or Canada?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>No. You are too far in the thing to pull out. Complete it, get the money and the title, and then reconsider your path. Career is not something you pursue, it's something that happens. There's nothing wrong with it, and academia is not that paradise so that you will miss it. </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Any other ideas. Please help. I am severely depressed.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>If you are depressed as in depression, seek medical help. If you are in a bad mood, just finish and look for something else. Life is more than that.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 8492, "author": "Sylvain Peyronnet", "author_id": 43, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/43", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>My 2 cents :</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Graduate as soon as possible, The fact that this is with high or low grades is not relevant here</li>\n<li>Apply for a postdoc position in a place where PhDs are not graded (France for instance)</li>\n<li>Publish the (very good) stuff that you intentionally kept hidden until your graduation </li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>After step 3 your record will be clean, and all this \"hell stuff\" will be far from you. To obtain a position in academy, the only thing that matters is the quality of your research (that can be seen in the papers) and of your teaching (for that you requires references), nobody will care about what happen during your PhD.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2558", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1048/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2566, "author": "aeismail", "author_id": 53, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53", "pm_score": 4, "selected": true, "text": "<p>I don't think there's a single answer to this question. Ultimately, departments look for the candidate who will be the best fit for a given position, and for the department as a whole. If you also subscribe to the view that the department would rather choose a candidate who is more likely to accept a given position, then that also changes the decision calculus.</p>\n\n<p>For the most part, however, I don't think hiring committees are doing \"hard\" comparisons of citations; that would just be foolish. Grant-winning experience also does matter, obviously, but that's also something that can be learned and developed over time.</p>\n\n<p>So, ultimately, hiring tends to be a subjective process—you can view the data in whatever \"objective\" light helps you get to the conclusion you want.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2569, "author": "Sylvain Peyronnet", "author_id": 43, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/43", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I can speak for France. </p>\n\n<p>We do relativize the application with the corresponding experience. In fact this is sometimes easier for the \"younger\" applicant to have a junior position since after a while, the committee expect someone with a lot of experience to have shown more than the ability to conduct research. To tell the truth, if you apply for a junior position with 6 years of postdoc, I will find suspicious that you was not hired before, and ask about that issue. Similarly, if you have 6 years of experience and if you never led a team or had a grant, I will find that highly suspicious (and so will be the rest of the committee).</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2576, "author": "paul garrett", "author_id": 980, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>In the U.S., currently, the usual \"tenure guidelines\" as well as surrounding department policies in math departments, mostly create pretty narrow windows for competition. For example, \"post-doc\" positions are only open to those within 1-2 years of Ph.D., tenure-track assistant prof spots for people less than 6-or-so years out. Already-tenured hires are a much smaller fraction of all hires, I think.</p>\n\n<p>Yes, there is the point that someone 10 years out is considered perhaps-essentially-ineligible for merely tenure-track, not <em>tenured</em>, positions. This arose originally as a device to protect junior people from being strung along indefinitely without tenure. But, through the obvious process, now it is essentially against HR rules to hire anyone \"too far post-PhD\" without tenure.</p>\n\n<p>Thus, the relevant \"competitions\" are between not-too-disparate populations: people 3 years post-PhD and those perhaps 6 or 7 years post-PhD. Certainly these are looked at in relative terms. If anything, the more-years-out people are looked at more critically, because they really have had an opportunity to get their research program going, while someone just 2 years out could understandably still be getting their first papers through peer-review, etc.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2565", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2572, "author": "eykanal", "author_id": 73, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/73", "pm_score": 5, "selected": true, "text": "<p>In this case, you should let your advisor know, because the time spent in the classroom is time not spent in the lab. Since he's paying you for your time, if you will be doing daytime activities that will take time away from research he has a right to know about it. On a different note, depending on how auditing works in your university, there may be costs associated with your auditing the course, and he (or his grant) would be covering these costs.</p>\n\n<p>Generally speaking, the more communication between you and your advisor, the better.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2573, "author": "StrongBad", "author_id": 929, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>You should definitely tell your advisor about the potentially job related courses. As for the fun courses, if they are at your university and/or taught during regular working hours (9-5), you should tell him. If the courses are outside regular working hours and at a different school, then it is up to you. In either case, I would suggest telling him. These are the personal details that don't make anyone uncomfortable.</p>\n\n<p>If your advisor is going to have an issue with you taking courses, you are better off knowing right off the bat.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2575, "author": "aeismail", "author_id": 53, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>In general, what you do in your \"off-duty\" hours are not subject to your advisor's wishes. So long as you're getting your job done, and are not using group resources to carry out those other activities, then what you do is your own concern.</p>\n\n<p>However, if you're doing it during the daytime, or doing it for credit, then you should definitely let your advisor know. This is especially true of things related to your research program, as he or she may have helpful hints or suggestions about what is the right set of courses to take.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2578, "author": "Aru Ray", "author_id": 948, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/948", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>As far as I can tell, having pursuits and interests that are fun and relaxing and not-research are helpful to one's continued sanity and (research-)productivity. Since your work isn't suffering and if you're not spending excessive amounts of time on these pursuits, why not just mention it to your advisor? It might be nice for them to see you as an individual with varied interests as opposed to a research-doing machine. </p>\n\n<p>As for job-related classes, perhaps there is a worry that your advisor wants you to go into academia but you want to say, go into industry - perhaps your additional classes are geared towards the industry side and you don't want your advisor to know about them as a result. In this case, I would say that it's better to just let your advisor know your intentions. If there is no discrepancy between the two of you about the courses being beneficial to your future, then letting your advisor know you're spending time and effort bolstering your background and knowledge sounds like a very positive thing to me!</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2579, "author": "PhD", "author_id": 407, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/407", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Just let them know! It's okay to be in pursuit of knowledge or hobby but DON'T let it interfere with your research. See, you can take everything from Physics to Fine art and everything in between but at what cost? You will spend more money and more time to complete your PhD and it won't be worth it. The charm is for the first few years/semesters, but when the research takes over and you start loving what you do, you won't find time for other courses.</p>\n\n<p>Your auditing unrelated courses is for your \"personal gratification\" only and doesn't help your advisor. It's okay to do it sometimes, but keep it at a minimum. For example, I love fine art and thought of auditing a fine art course. It won't cost my advisor and will only be for 1 hour per week in the evenings. I've never got around to doing it! I love my research and spend a lot of time working on that - so much so that my hobby can be put on hold.</p>\n\n<p>Be sure you understand what is being lost and what is being gained - it should be valuable in some form or the other. If it keeps you sane, then a course once in a while is fine. But if you are auditing a lot more, you are going to take a longer time to do your Phd and when you look back you'll realize that you could've done with it.</p>\n\n<p>Whatever you do TELL your advisor - they are your friends (most of the times :)</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2582, "author": "paul garrett", "author_id": 980, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Just a paraphrase of some other remarks: you should not get into the habit of thinking that your employer/boss \"owns\" you, or has priority to <em>all</em> your time.</p>\n\n<p>It may be that you and your boss began the relationship with some explicit or implicit understanding, say, that M-F 8-5 your time <em>is</em> their time, maybe with an hour for lunch. Or, starting down a slippery slope, perhaps it's 60 hours per week, or even understood that there's no upper limit? That \"the larger enterprise\" takes precedence? That people who \"sacrifice everything now will be rewarded later\"?</p>\n\n<p>Although there's non-trivial content there, it is unwise to \"buy\" that propaganda too easily. For one thing, very few people are able to function at a high level more than a handful of hours in a day. The usual \"40-hour workweek\" is not predicated on _high_level_ function every minute of that time.</p>\n\n<p>At the same time, yes, some of us are aware that we are just messing around, or just fretting, or just hanging out at the coffee machine, or water cooler, or... That this happens surprises no one, especially with confusing, large-scale projects where the novices participating find it very hard to understand what they're supposed to be doing.</p>\n\n<p>Nevertheless, your employer does not own you, and does not have a claim to all your waking hours.</p>\n\n<p>Yes, your demonstration of commitment to your employer/advisor/mentor's goals makes a positive impression on them. Self-deprivation is not the same as constructive work! Some sort of false converse. :)</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2571", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2580, "author": "paul garrett", "author_id": 980, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>True, <em>some</em> federal funding of grad students in the US is restricted to US citizens or permanent residents, but, in mathematics, most funding of grad students is as TAs (=Teaching Assistant) supporting lower-division mathematics courses.</p>\n\n<p>The question of <em>admission</em> itself is mostly separate from federal citizenship requirements. Let me explain some things an admission committee wonders about, statistically, at least, about international applications, that would not be relevant to an applicant already in the US and with no visa issues: </p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p><strong>It turns out that quite a few applicants simply want to get to the U.S.,</strong> in effect as informal political asylum, while having limited genuine interest in mathematics, and this creates visa and other complications subsequently. I have no objection to fairly open immigration policies, but I <em>do</em> object to adding that noise to applications to our graduate program. </p></li>\n<li><p>Given that the bulk of funding is as TAs, <strong>problems with <em>understanding</em> colloquial spoken English</strong> cannot be taken lightly. This isn't about \"cultural bias\", but about the practical features of teaching in this environment.</p></li>\n<li><p><strong>Minimum funding to generate visa papers:</strong> The INS (U.S. \"Immigration and Naturalization Services\", which controls visas of non-US-citizens) mandates that we promise a certain annual stipend for international grad students... ok... except that that number is several thousand dollars above what the university sets as the ceiling for standard stipends. Not hard to imagine the craziness and injustices this leads to.</p>\n\n<p>Edit: Theoretically, the university is not necessarily responsible for guaranteeing the (needlessly high) minimum, but different universities develop policies designed to keep them at some safe distance from \"trouble with INS\", and sometimes/often such policies create complications not originally intended, and not due directly to INS. (Also, interpretations and policies drift over years, and I'm refering to a situation from a few years ago...)</p></li>\n<li><p><strong>International students demand resources for their spouses.</strong> We have repeatedly \"discovered\" that an admitted international student is married, \"needs\" a visa for a spouse, the spouse needs admission to something, etc. It is easy to understand the desperation that leads to such situations, but it also corrupts things, and absorbs resources.</p>\n\n<p>Edit: Yes, if things are done right, as noted in comments, it \"should not be\" the university's responsibility to \"take care of\" other family members. Nevertheless, for reasons I do not fully understand, it somehow has come to this on many occasions. (The quasi-legal details are mercifully slipping from my mind! :)</p></li>\n<li><p><strong>Many other college-university cultures have a hugely different emphasis on problem-solving versus memorization, and relation of teacher and student.</strong> Thus, although in one sense the U.S. system generates the weakest outcomes <em>in specialty</em>, because of all the other required coursework for \"breadth\", the balance of demands, and the goals, of upper-division coursework is mostly compatible with what happens at the beginning of grad school. Further, the less structured parts of the rest of grad school have counterparts in some undergrad projects. In contrast, we have found that several other traditions give students not prototype whatsoever for coping with ambiguity, and this can lead to strange crises well into a PhD.</p>\n\n<p>Edit: Again, not to be claiming that all non-USA programs are the same! For this last point, let's say \"traditions which emphasize memorization and reciting, of definitions, theorems, proofs, and examples\", as opposed to problem-solving as at least <em>a</em> component of activities. It seems that getting into the habit of thinking that there is a \"sacred canon\" of results, even perhaps including wording, is not a good habit of mind. Similarly, an exaggerated impulse of \"following orders\" or \"compliance\", while a habit highly rewarded in some situations, is <em>not</em> so much the desired methodology after the very beginning of grad school. Thus, success in a prior situation may be misleading <em>to a student</em>, when further adaptation and growth is needed.</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>Don't misunderstand me: I understand how such things come about. Nevertheless, with limited resources, not only money but energy to help people get in sync with their responsibilities as grad students, there is a serious question about how to allocate. Thus, we can capsulize this by saying that grad school applicants from within the US system are more \"known quantities\", are already fairly in-sync with the system, are cheaper dollar-wise, <em>and</em> are rarely or never under the threat of returning in disgrace to a genuinely dangerous situation in their home country if we stop renewing their TA!</p>\n\n<p>A small further edit: At a university receiving state funds (although this amount is ever-decreasing), the state legislature, and the electorate, take the viewpoint that the university has an obligation to give priority to students from the region, if not literally the state, and to serve the state's and region's goals. This has become less idealistic during economic downturns, unsurprisingly.</p>\n\n<p>Edit: in response to some comments... I certainly do not claim that \"all\" non-USA undergrad programs are the same, \"bad\", etc., nor that all in-USA programs are \"good\". At the same time, I didn't want to single out specific traditions for criticism. And, certainly, applicants in the U.S. can easily \"achieve\" weaknesses for no particular reason. As I understood the question, it was inquiring about the realities of the situation, advantages that in-USA applicants <em>tend to have</em> over not-in-USA, at least in the minds of admissions committees.</p>\n\n<p>I do not think literal xenophobia or cultural bias plays any role in admissions, in case people wonder. If anything, the generally stronger undergrad prep of people from non-USA programs has created a \"bias\" <em>against</em> US students on that criterion alone. The practical and prosaic considerations mentioned above diminish post-PhD, so that \"nationality\" plays no detectable role in post-doc hiring or tenure-track hiring. (For that matter, examination of the faculty at most \"research\" universities shows a pretty international population!)</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2581, "author": "Suresh", "author_id": 346, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>At the grad level in CS, fully 80% of admitted students in most universities (funded or otherwise) are from foreign countries. So any department that prefers domestic students is going to have a tough time attracting students :). There are numerous funding opportunities limited only to domestic students - in addition to the ones you list, the IGERT funding program is specifically for domestic students, but it's to encourage more domestic students to go to grad school. </p>\n\n<p>At the postdoc level, visa requirements can make selecting a foreign student a little tricky but not impossible. </p>\n\n<p>At the faculty level, I am not aware of any issues involving hiring non-US citizens. In our last round, we hired Chinese, Croatian, Turkish, and South African researchers ! </p>\n\n<p>It is true that DARPA money can be limited to US citizens, but in CS before tenure, this is not necessarily a bad thing :). It gives you an excuse NOT to go after DARPA funding which can be very difficult to get and even worse if you get it. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2602, "author": "Keithsoulasa", "author_id": 1323, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1323", "pm_score": -1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I'd say none , actually since the high-school system in the United States is an absolute disaster you might have an advantage . This really depends on you though , when did you start learning English , how comfortable are you in a conversation with native speakers , etc . </p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2577", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1324/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2584, "author": "paul garrett", "author_id": 980, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Many people know what I'll say here, but I thought the re-format of the situation was appropriate...</p>\n\n<p>For mathematics and \"hard\" sciences, PDF (portable document format) is absolutely standard now. Until a few years ago, PS (postscript) and DVI (device independent) formats were typical, but no more.</p>\n\n<p>In mathematics, \"Word\" format was never common. </p>\n\n<p>Currently, traditional (meaning various things) mathematics journals want a PDF file to send to referees. Everyone has software that can convert PostScript files to PDF, and so on. In fact, \"OpenOffice\", for example, can convert/export \"Word\" files to PDF.</p>\n\n<p>So, in sciences, PDF, though \"Word\" may be forgivable.</p>\n\n<p>The question of future readability of these or any other file formats is hugely non-trivial. (Similarly, kids-these-days, such as my almost-20 daughter, have great difficulty reading \"cursive writing\" of \"old\" people. :)</p>\n\n<p>So: modulo issues that the original questioner can't afford to worry about, the current answer is \"PDF, and tolerance for Word files, esp. from the humanities...\". </p>\n\n<p>The long-term answer about survivable file-formats... is troubling. :)</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2585, "author": "Andy W", "author_id": 3, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/3", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>binary/plain text</p>\n\n<p>Other things to consider (for the future) is the movement towards standard meta-data items contained with the research articles (e.g. structured abstracts, specific research repositories, meta-analyses), and supplemental material for reproducible analysis. These suggest to me the conversation should likely include more than one data file.</p>\n\n<p>IMO we can be more imaginative than word or pdf files. For instance open access journals frequently have everything right there in html on the page. I even think this idea <a href=\"http://yihui.name/en/2012/03/a-really-fast-statistics-journal/\" rel=\"nofollow\">for a fast journal</a> by Yihui Xie using markdown for revisions and compiling to html is a good idea.</p>\n\n<p>This is forward thinking though. Realistic constraints force collaborations to work with WYSIWYG file formats and PDF <em>for writing</em> because such behavior has not permeated enough in many fields (although for exceptions in some fields that extensively write in Latex see Jeffe's comment below). That may change in the future though, especially if journals adapt submission standards that encourage such actions. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2586, "author": "Dan C", "author_id": 1069, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1069", "pm_score": 5, "selected": true, "text": "<p><strong>plain text/markup language</strong></p>\n\n<p>For mathematics, I think TeX/LaTeX is the way to go. This is the standard way to write papers in nearly all areas of math (perhaps not biomath, where collaborators necessitate Word), so there's little extra cost. One advantage of this approach is that it's easy to automate outputting in almost any format you want. Furthermore, as new formats develop, we will almost certainly develop tools to convert TeX source to these new formats. The arXiv is a great example of this model.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2583", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2589, "author": "StrongBad", "author_id": 929, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>My guess is that with research universities the ranking is not going to matter much in terms of the overall experience. At all research universities you teach, do research, and do service. The relative amounts vary, but I don't think it is strongly correlated with ranking within research universities. The quality of the students and colleagues and the available resources will have some affect on the experience, but in my opinion the personal work environment is much more important to the experience.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2597, "author": "JeffE", "author_id": 65, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65", "pm_score": 5, "selected": false, "text": "<p>(Since I've only been faculty in one department, my answer involves a bit of extrapolation...)</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p><strong>Quality of students</strong> — It is much easier for top departments to attract the strongest students to their PhD programs, so the average quality of students tends to be higher. Faculty at top schools can spend less time bringing their PhD students up to speed and more time interacting with them as mature colleagues. This has a big impact on the productivity, research quality, and enjoyment of the faculty. (Of course, the strongest students are not all concentrated in the top few departments.)</p></li>\n<li><p><strong>Quality of faculty</strong> — Similarly, it is much easier for top departments to attract the top faculty in their respective subfields, so the average quality of faculty tends to be higher. Again, this has a big impact on productivity, research quality, and quality of life. (Again, the strongest researchers are not all concentrated in the top few departments.)</p></li>\n<li><p><strong>Rock star culture</strong> — See my previous answer about the <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/90/university-rank-stature-how-much-does-it-affect-ones-career-post-ph-d/154#154\">benefits of being a PhD student in a top department</a>. The same comments apply to faculty in top departments. <em>Of course</em> everyone publishes in the top conferences and journals. <em>Of course</em> every assistant professor gets a CAREER award. <em>Of course</em> everyone has a few best paper awards. <em>Of course</em> everyone sends their PhD students to academic positions in top departments. <em>Of course</em> the faculty got another umpty-dozen-million dollars in grant money this year. That's not exceptional at top places; that's just normal business. That assumption of excellence is both incredibly powerful and incredibly stressful, just as it is for students. Impostor Syndrome is rampant.</p></li>\n<li><p><strong>Center of the world</strong> — Top departments are more likely to attract the best researchers to visit, either as informal collaborators or as formally invited speakers. This opens up many more avenues for collaboration.</p></li>\n<li><p><strong>Administrative support</strong> — Because top departments are well-funded, they tend to have more administrative resources. For example, my business office (paid entirely by \"indirect costs\" from grants) takes care of <em>all</em> the financial and administrative details in my grant proposals, letting me concentrate entirely on the 15-page narrative. </p></li>\n</ul>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2587", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1327/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2594, "author": "JeffE", "author_id": 65, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65", "pm_score": 5, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Yes, promotion and hiring committees look at Google Scholar, especially in fields like computer science where Google's citation data is more comprehensive than other sources like Scopus, which misses many citations of and by conference papers. In this respect, Google Scholar hasn't really changed the way people are evaluated, though; we've just replaced one unreliable (and expensive) source of questionable statistical data with a slightly less unreliable (and free) source for almost (but not quite) the same data.</p>\n\n<p>Much more importantly, though, Google Scholar makes it easier to find electronic copies of papers, which makes it easier for committees to judge each candidate's work directly. In this respect, Google Scholar has had a significant impact.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 3295, "author": "user454322", "author_id": 1353, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1353", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Since the criteria is the same (citation count, H-index, G-Index...) I think <em>Google Scholar</em> is not changing anything, just making much easier to find/evaluate; therefore it might have a considerable impact.</p>\n\n<p>But should be noted that, due to many errors like mixing authors with similar names and counting citations that shouldn't be counted, <em>Google Scholar</em> can't be used as a definitive source of evaluation. </p>\n\n<p>Recently I have found <a href=\"http://academic.research.microsoft.com\" rel=\"nofollow\">Microsoft Academic Search</a> more useful.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 13513, "author": "Deepak Kaushal", "author_id": 9064, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9064", "pm_score": -1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>At my place, people who are doing well have public Google Scholar profiles, while those who shouldn't and probably wouldn't get tenured hide their profiles, probably because their publication — and thus citation — records stink.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2592", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1333/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2598, "author": "Keithsoulasa", "author_id": 1323, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1323", "pm_score": -1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Generally if it’s for a PHD program they want letters of recommendations from a professor . \nIt depends on the program though, so it’s better to ask the admissions office at the school your applying to . </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2599, "author": "Aaron", "author_id": 1228, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1228", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>A letter of recommendation absolutely does not have to be from someone at your university. It <em>should</em> be from someone you have collaborated with. In general, a letter of recommendation will be most valuable if:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>It can speak to your potential as a researcher: letters from supervisors of research projects are much more valuable than letters from people who have only had you in class</p></li>\n<li><p>It is written by someone well known in the field that you are attempting to enter. When this person says you have potential to be a researcher, it is much more credible if they have experience working with excellent researchers in the field.</p></li>\n<li><p>It is written by someone who knows you well. They should be able to point to specific things you have done with them, specific conversations you have had, specific ideas you have had. </p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>You should pick your letter writers by seeing how well they optimize these three properties. It won't matter if they are at your home institution or not. The only reason not to get a letter from \"someone you have collaborated with online\" is if they don't satisfy these criteria. In particular, I might be concerned that they don't know you well enough if you have never met them.</p>\n\n<p>That being said, it might raise a red flag if <em>none</em> of your letter writers are from your home institution. But if you have one of these, that should be enough. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2600, "author": "eykanal", "author_id": 73, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/73", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Schools want a letter that demonstrates that you are a smart, hardworking individual, whose presence will be a net gain for the program specifically and the university generally. In most cases, the people most able to write such a letter are from the institution where you received your undergraduate (or masters, as the case may be) degree. These people have interacted with you in a classroom (and possibly research) setting, and they know you well enough to write a good letter.</p>\n\n<p>To that extent, if there is another individual—with stature enough to be recognized by an academic institution (i.e., a professor or recognized researcher)—who can write such a letter, that's fine.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2596", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1306/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2606, "author": "David Ketcheson", "author_id": 81, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/81", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>It hasn't begun operating yet, but Cambridge University Press's <a href=\"http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displaySpecialPage?pageId=3896#.UA74BTGe66A\">Forum of Mathematics</a> will work that way. The journal will launch later in 2012.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2665, "author": "Dan C", "author_id": 1069, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1069", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I don't think American Journal of Neuroradiology does this yet, but here is <a href=\"http://www.ajnr.org/content/30/1/1.full\" rel=\"nofollow\">an editorial</a> from their Editor-in-Chief, discussing the merits of such a system.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2667, "author": "David Ketcheson", "author_id": 81, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/81", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Journals of the American Diabetes Association (found this through the second hit via Google):</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://www.diabetesjournals.org/site/misc/AdvertisingRates.xhtml\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.diabetesjournals.org/site/misc/AdvertisingRates.xhtml</a></p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2671, "author": "JRN", "author_id": 64, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/64", "pm_score": 3, "selected": true, "text": "<p>According to their <a href=\"http://www.e-jams.org/\" rel=\"nofollow\">website</a>, the \"Journal of Academy of Medical Sciences, a publication of Osmania Medical College, is a peer-reviewed online journal with Quarterly print on demand compilation of issues published.\"</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2604", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1335/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2607, "author": "Alexander Serebrenik", "author_id": 882, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/882", "pm_score": 5, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I've found a rather old survey (1982) of David L. Rowland, Larry J. Crisler and Donna J. Cox that claimed </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Of the 184 respondents (59.8% female and 41.2% male), over\n one-third of both sexes reported flirting with their instructors,\n while 46% of females and 32% of males felt that instructors had\n flirted with them.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Flirting is, of course, is not the same as a romantic relationship. Patricia A. Rupert and Deborah L. Holmes (1997) survey earlier studies of the sexual relations between faculty and students:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>in a survey of 807 male faculty, Fitzgerald, Weitzman, Gold, and\n Ormerod (1988) found that 26% of the 235 respondents reported \n having sexual encounters with students; in a similar study of\n 483 male and female psychology professors, Tabachnick, \n Keith-Spiegel, and Pope (1991) obtained a rate of 11%. Although \n there was a considerable difference in these rates no doubt in part\n due to the inclusion of female faculty in the second survey - \n both indicate that sexual encounters between faculty and their \n students are commonplace on our campus</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>One <a href=\"http://abovethelaw.com/2012/02/a-law-school-love-story-prominent-professor-marries-columbia-3l/\">notable example</a> is the marriage of Professor Philip Bobbitt (Princeton (A.B.), Yale (J.D.), and Oxford (Ph.D.)) and Maya Ondalikoglu,Columbia Law School graduate.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2609, "author": "jurassic", "author_id": 14, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I don't have references and statistics, but I know of one MIT PhD who later married their advisor and now they are both tenured faculty in the same department. They did divorce later in life, but that doesn't seem to have outwardly affected their working relationship. </p>\n\n<p>Nobody talks about it much; it seems like a nonissue, although perhaps it was different before the dust settled. She never changed her name, so you probably wouldn't know they'd ever been married if you weren't close enough to know they have teenage children together.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2616, "author": "Bravo", "author_id": 411, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/411", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I think the closing votes are because of the statistics and the \"notable examples\" the OP wants, but this is an important ethical and psychological issue specific to academia.</p>\n\n<p>With regard to the issue, I came across <a href=\"http://ojs.ed.uiuc.edu/index.php/pes/article/download/2132/827\">this paper</a> by <a href=\"http://education.illinois.edu/epol/people/crh4\">Prof Higgins</a> published in 1998. One key issue seems to be the age difference between the teacher and the student. The second point is the drama it creates in the mind of the student, which is supposed to be focused on learning. </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>We [teachers] should be responsive to the fact that one of our students is going through a drama that will affect her learning and ought to be heeded in the handling of the relationship. This does not mean that we should treat a student’s avowal of love as something which calls for a life decision on our part. To do that would be to respond in kind and to lose sight of the fact that classrooms are in part like the playground of the analytic situation, a place in which we can express ourselves without every utterance leading to immediate action. When someone is in process, and you have devoted yourself to witnessing and facilitating that process, you are wary to treat as definitive any one version of the evolving being before you.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>It is unlikely that faculty members at graduate schools will be punished for just having a romantic relationship. But frequent problems in romantic life will surely be noted by colleagues and some curb be introduced when the academic pursuits of the prof suffer heavily.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2605", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1336/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2622, "author": "Lars Kotthoff", "author_id": 12, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I have never heard of any weight given to contributing to Wikipedia for any aspects of academic evaluation. I personally wouldn't attach any weight to it either, especially given that many articles have a long history of edits and figuring out exactly who contributed what can be difficult.</p>\n\n<p>If you want to include this on your CV or similar, I would mention it under \"Misc.\" or \"Other\" or something like that. If you have made significant contributions to other similar sites (e.g. stackoverflow) I would put that into the same paragraph. I would definitely avoid trying to make it appear as one of the major things you have done. Wikipedia is regarded rather suspiciously in general because it can be an unreliable source. While contributing to it could be a bonus, it won't be a significant one.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2624, "author": "Aaron", "author_id": 1228, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1228", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I agree with Lars: contributions to Wikipedia will receive zero weight. It may even hurt you if you try and emphasize this too heavily on your CV, because it will suggest that you are attempting to compensate for lack of more traditional accomplishments. </p>\n\n<p>If you want to get credit for expository writing, write survey articles, and try and get them published, or at least post them on arxiv. Survey articles also won't count very heavily as \"publications\", but will certainly count towards evaluating your skills as an expositor. A good survey article in a field lacking in one may accumulate many citations as well. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2625, "author": "eykanal", "author_id": 73, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/73", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>As an addendum to Lars's answer above, academics place a high value on peer-reviewed literature and professional activities (book chapters, conference proceedings, invited talks, professional workshops you've taught). Non-professional activities, such as being cited in the popular press and appearances on TV and radio shows are nice, but usually aren't big factors... such invitations are only given to those who are big in their field, which itself comes from professional activities and publications, so they're not needed to make a judgement. Personal activities such as volunteering in your community are simply measures of your character. Blog postings and Wikipedia editing would fall in that category for the reasons he states.</p>\n\n<p>One area not mentioned is being the maintainer of a popular analysis/experimental package used by researchers (e.g., <a href=\"http://www.martinos.org/mne/\">MNE</a>, <a href=\"http://fieldtrip.fcdonders.nl/\">FieldTrip</a>, <a href=\"http://www.fil.ion.ucl.ac.uk/spm/\">SPM</a>, or <a href=\"http://psychtoolbox.org/HomePage\">Psychtoolbox</a>; there are hundreds of others in different fields). These activities will be looked upon as being a contributing member of the community, and are nice to demonstrate, but ultimately have a small weight in the final decision.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2626, "author": "JeffE", "author_id": 65, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65", "pm_score": 5, "selected": true, "text": "<p>Contributions to Wikipedia (or Stack Exchange) are best viewed as community service. Like other kinds of community service, <strong>significant</strong> and <strong>sustained</strong> contributions can have a positive effect on hiring and promotion decisions. The effect is not likely to be major, unless <em>maybe</em> your outreach efforts rival Neil DeGrasse Tyson's, but it won't be zero.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Edit:</strong> I have to agree with Anonymous Mathematician's warning. Significant community service of any kind is best offered after tenure. Unfortunately, some people view significant service (or teaching) accomplishments as <em>prima facie</em> evidence of a lack of research focus. (Indeed, the case that I'm familiar with was a post-tenure promotion.)</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2637, "author": "Anonymous Mathematician", "author_id": 612, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>There are definitely cases where Wikipedia contributions have helped someone's academic career (like <a href=\"http://blog.wikimedia.org/2011/04/06/tenure-awarded-based-in-part-on-wikipedia-contributions/\">this one</a>). However, I think it's exceedingly rare at major research universities.</p>\n\n<p>Once you have tenure, it's worth looking into this. Then your department is already stuck with you, and they are likely to be somewhat more flexible in evaluation. For example, full professor promotions can be quite a bit less rigorous than tenure cases, and they are sometimes approached from a perspective of \"Professor X has been a good departmental citizen and put in their time. We want them to be promoted to full professor eventually, so what basis can we find for justifying the promotion?\" (This can happen even in departments that would never consider approaching a tenure decision that way. The big difference is that people who don't get tenure leave, while people who are stuck as associate professors may hang around the department feeling bitter for decades.) If you've done some unusual community service, then that might be when the university decides to recognize it.</p>\n\n<p>However, I'd be wary of doing more than briefly mentioning Wikipedia before tenure. It's just not respected or valued by many professors, so the downside is greater than the upside. A lot of hiring isn't based on totaling up some sort of abstract value for the different parts of the application. Instead, it's based on an overall feeling you create of being a desirable colleague. If anyone rolls their eyes and wonders why you waste your time on something, then that will actually hurt your chances. If 20% of the department reacts this way, you've got a real problem.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2621", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/411/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2629, "author": "Alexander Serebrenik", "author_id": 882, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/882", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I would guess that this depends on your <em>domain</em>. In computer science, talks at conferences present peer reviewed papers. Posters are also reviewed (e.g., <a href=\"https://sites.google.com/site/icst2011/posters\">ICST 2011</a>, <a href=\"http://www.sefm2010.isti.cnr.it/posters_call.php\">SEFM 2010</a>). However, in my experience, there are not that many candidates submitting posters, i.e., the reviewing may be less stringent. At some conferences, posters are combined with, e.g., tool exhibitions and/or doctoral symposiums. Advanced PhD students are sometimes encouraged to prepare a poster and to give an overview of their work so far.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2630, "author": "Suresh", "author_id": 346, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346", "pm_score": 5, "selected": false, "text": "<p>A poster session is a good way to <em>disseminate</em> your work: but it has nothing to do with how you get <em>credit</em> for your work. </p>\n\n<p>Some computer science venues have moved to a model where papers are reviewed and accepted, but the vast majority of papers only get a poster presentation at the conference. Another model is where all accepted papers are invited to a poster session. So it really depends on your area and venue. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2631, "author": "gerrit", "author_id": 1033, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1033", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>My personal experience (atmospheric science / remote sensing) is that poster sessions have little significance. You can present your work, maybe you will have some interesting discussions with scientists or get interesting ideas from others. In my field, posters are not peer-reviewed and virtually always accepted, if not clearly off-topic or rejected for political reasons. For me, the main point of going to a small (&lt;300 people) conference where I have only a poster is to be able to speak with famous scientists in my field (who of course have talks), do networking, etc.</p>\n\n<p>My advice: do your best on your poster, make it informative and attractive (not too much text please!), but don't expect a huge attention or exposure. The conference consists of more, much more, than just the poster session where you present your work. Use the opportunity to be with senior scientists in your field!</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2643, "author": "Szymon Bęczkowski", "author_id": 1312, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1312", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Sometimes a poster session is better than an oral presentation due to time constraints in the latter. During a typical oral presentation you will have 10-15 minutes for questions and comments while a poster session lasts for few hours, allowing for more in-depth discussions. </p>\n\n<p>Moreover, not all people will manage to make it to your oral presentation because there will probably be many panels running in parallel. Poster session will typically run after all oral presentations have been finished.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2644, "author": "paul garrett", "author_id": 980, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980", "pm_score": 5, "selected": false, "text": "<p>It might be better if things change in the direction of making \"posters\" and \"poster sessions\" have greater weight, but, at the moment, in \"research\" mathematics, I fear this is not so. (This does not deny that undergrad \"research\" is typically showcased in exactly this way.)</p>\n\n<p>The questioner's potentially-cynical-sounding quoted \"market analysis\" is I think perfectly correct, if slightly exaggerated. That is, every enterprise \"needs to\" support itself, and this is typically by giving larger numbers of people the impression of participation.</p>\n\n<p>I have no experience whatsoever of anyone in graduate admissions or post-doc hiring or... caring at all about any poster-session contribution. A \"contributed talk\" is also of essentially zero weight, exactly (as other answers mention, and the question anticipates) there's no filter (a.k.a. \"peer review\"). </p>\n\n<p>On the other hand, \"doing things\", as opposed to \"not doing things\", is a plus. Passivity and quietude are vastly less valued than activity, whether peer-reviewed or not. Ok, the market drives certain conceits, so don't be fooled by these, but, still, \"being seen\" is a good thing. Maybe not a resume-padder, but better than <em>not</em> being seen, by far.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2681, "author": "walkmanyi", "author_id": 1265, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1265", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Recently, several AI/CS conferences, such as AAMAS, or IJCAI put quite a bit of weight on poster sessions. Either each paper is required to be presented as a poster as well (AAMAS), or only selected papers get oral-only presentation and the rest poster-only presentation without making any difference in the conference proceedings (IJCAI). Poster sessions serve for dissemination of good quality work, being either promising, but still relatively preliminary, or targets a narrow audience, instead of general community.</p>\n\n<p>Personally, when planned and executed well, I find poster sessions very useful and at times even more useful than plain oral presentations. Interactions by posters allow for more involved discussions with the authors. Of course this requires a good thought at logistics of poster sessions from conference organizers.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2690, "author": "Fomite", "author_id": 118, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/118", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I will speak toward my experience, as a poster presenter, and a poster reviewer. My experience is primarily in the domains of <strong>Epidemiology</strong>, <strong>Public Health</strong> or <strong>Medicine</strong> so take that for what you will.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>\"Does this mean they liked my work?\". It means they don't <em>hate</em> your work. While conferences do need people, and their only rate-limiting factor is the size of whatever room they're having the poster session in, they don't accept all posters. I've reviewed posters, and some of the posters I marked down heavily didn't end up getting accepted. Admittedly, you'll see reject rates of like 20-25%, but that's still not nothing.</li>\n<li>\"Is it as good as a talk?\" Probably not. But keep in mind an abstract gets accepted as a talk because it fits <em>two</em> criteria: Quality and Theme. The talk has to be good. But as importantly, the talk has to be on a subject that fits well within a session, so an organizer will grab it. It's possible this doesn't happen, even if your abstract is amazing - sometimes, it just doesn't fit in somewhere.</li>\n<li>\"Is it important?\" <em>Yes!</em> It's not the most important thing you've ever done, and it's not going to change your career. But from standing next to posters I've gotten complements - and critiques - of my work that have made it better. I've made contacts that have turned into collaborations. I've talked to important people, and had my work in front of them. Someone I know got a \"Here's my card, why don't you shoot me an email after the conference...\" Admittedly, I've gotten all that from talks as well, but a poster isn't just some sad way to justify your registration fee.</li>\n</ul>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2693, "author": "Dan C", "author_id": 1069, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1069", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I basically agree with Rule 4, and analogously feel that giving a contributed paper doesn't count for much (and carries almost no evidence that your work has been vetted). </p>\n\n<p>However, I would encourage you to see a poster presentation (or giving a contributed paper) as an <strong>opportunity to practice your presentation skills</strong>.<br>\nOne advantage of a poster session is that you can try explaining a concept in different ways, and see which explanation is most well received.\nAlthough you're obviously honing your ability to communicate verbally, you should also be honing your ability to present information visually in a simple way. Many of the same principles that make for a good poster also make for good slides. And these principles are far from obvious to most people when they start out.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 10909, "author": "J.R.", "author_id": 780, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/780", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>One thing that seems to be missing from this discussion is the maturation process of a research effort.</p>\n\n<p>A poster session is ideal for the early stages of the research, when you may not have much more than an idea, and you stand to benefit a lot from discussing your idea with other researchers from the same field. You may get some valuable pointers, and perhaps other conferencegoers will find your idea interesting. I've had some productive conversations with presenters at poster sessions.</p>\n\n<p>A conference talk is better after you have some findings, formed some conclusions, and your are ready to present your results to other experts. </p>\n\n<p>If you have a chance to collect even more data to bolster the validity of your research, you could eventually get it published as a journal article.</p>\n\n<p>So, if you've been working on something for six or seven years, then, indeed, a poster session wouldn't be anything to write home about.</p>\n\n<p>I agree with rule's overall sentiment: Poster Acceptance Means Nothing. In other words, a dozen poster acceptances won't put you on the fast track for tenure. However, that doesn't mean the activity has no value. Poster sessions can be especially beneficial for budding researchers, getting them used to talking about their research with experts from outside their university – maybe for the first time. Plus, some conference attendees will be interested in what they might see talked about at next year's conference.</p>\n\n<p>So, are poster sessions a crowning acheivement? Hardly. But they still can be a productive stepping-stone, which is why I think it's sad when they are looked down upon.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 17031, "author": "Peteris", "author_id": 10730, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10730", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I'd say that there is a big difference in breadth vs depth. If you have a paper on a broad subject that is interesting to 50%+ of the researchers in that conference, then obviously a speaking slot is needed, but if you have some advances that are important but in a niche that really interests 5% of the attendants... then a poster would be more efficient in dissemination than a speaking slot.</p>\n\n<p>I've been to conferences where I'm interested in something like 5 out of 50 posters, but those 5 topics were very important to me - it's impractical to have everyone speak, but it would be bad if those poster presenters wouldn't be there.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 75956, "author": "Stuart Golodetz", "author_id": 9320, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9320", "pm_score": 0, "selected": false, "text": "<p>It's very field-dependent and conference-dependent. I can only answer based on the field in which I work (computer vision).</p>\n\n<p>Generally speaking, the way big computer vision conferences like CVPR work is that you submit a paper, which is peer-reviewed, with the reviewers indicating whether they feel your paper deserves an oral presentation, a poster or rejection. In terms of prestige, it's seen as being distinctly better to get an oral presentation than a poster, but getting a poster is a non-negligible success: the important thing is that your peer-reviewed paper got accepted, and will be published in the conference proceedings. Indeed, most of the papers at conferences like CVPR are presented as posters rather than talks, but they're still very much seen as high-quality work.</p>\n\n<p>Unlike in fields with different conference cultures (e.g. that mentioned by @J.R.), you won't get to present a poster at a conference like CVPR if your work is at an early stage: you'll just get your paper rejected. It's certainly not a medium for disseminating incipient work. Moreover, if you have twelve CVPR papers, most people would think you're doing pretty well, regardless of whether they were presented as talks or posters (primarily because in this context, poster acceptance => paper acceptance, and papers at major conferences are valuable).</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2628", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/379/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2636, "author": "eykanal", "author_id": 73, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/73", "pm_score": 5, "selected": true, "text": "<p>Most successful career researchers choose their field fairly early on in their career. This is often due to their approach to research; they have a fundamental question they're attempting to answer, and they spend years attacking different parts of the question through various projects. Pursuing research in this manner allows for flexibility in the research and can lead to some very interesting breakthroughs.</p>\n\n<p>From what I've seen, those who do change areas of interest often do so within a single field, so that the majority of their expertise is still relevant. Yes, data analysis skills can transfer, but much of a researcher's expertise is in the form of a deep understanding of what the past and current state of the field; knowing important (and less important) papers, what different lab groups are researching, what's been tried and what hasn't. Since such a knowledge base can take many years to gain, people are often reluctant to switch.</p>\n\n<p>I would venture that it's more common for a <em>field</em> to shift than for a single researcher to shift; i.e., some new technology or methodology allows a whole group of researchers in a given field to investigate something new or different.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 29699, "author": "jakebeal", "author_id": 22733, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I think that a lot of this depends on what you define by \"change fields\".\nIn my observation, there is generally a lot of commonality even in a change, when the change is successful.</p>\n\n<p>For example, somebody might have a mathematical toolkit of skills that they are very good at, and discover that it is useful in an application area that they didn't originate in. As they work in that application area, it exposes them to new problems that they find they need to solve to make progress, which leads to developing new skills and interests. From those one might move again, and so on.</p>\n\n<p>The researchers whose work I respect most have often been through several of these types of transitions over the course of their careers. There are always uniting themes, but the topics, techniques, and intersecting communities may well change over time.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 166902, "author": "FLonLon", "author_id": 99896, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/99896", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>As someone who has changed fields completely, I wanted to chip in. In my experience, changing <strong>between</strong> fields (rather than <strong>within</strong>) is extremely <em>uncommon</em>. I have only met one other person in the last 10 years who has also done so; this is all in Europe, mind you.</p>\n<p>The entire system of getting a PhD is about (aside from becoming a researcher) gaining very specific knowledge in a specific area- after having gained all this skill and knowledge, it is very costly to then leave the field to something that does not build on those skills nor the knowledge.</p>\n<p>My advice would thus be to focus on transferable skills (such as the ones you mentioned) if you know that you want to switch. I knew before I started my PhD that I would never end up in the field- thus, I focused heavily on those and less so on expanding topic-wise. When applying for my post-docs, knowledge wasn't even considered- it was all about my technical skills. It all depends on the post-doc and the field, of course. As a personal note, while I don't regret switching, it was (and still is) a lot of work making up for essentially missing education in the area you work in.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2632", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1033/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2634, "author": "Bravo", "author_id": 411, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/411", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I have not performed a literature survey, but the only solution that looks viable is to choose a large and well-connected city like London with plenty of scope for both fields.</p>\n\n<p>It is very common in India to find faculty couples, especially in the IITs. It is advantageous for the university as they are, in a way, settling the couple and ensuring their long-term stay. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2635, "author": "Aaron", "author_id": 1228, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1228", "pm_score": 5, "selected": false, "text": "<p>This is a very difficult, and unfortunately common problem. It is dealt with in many ways, including all of the ones you mention. Solving the problem almost always involves a serious compromise by one or both parties. Couples can take many approaches:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>Not compromise on their jobs: both take the best academic jobs they can find. This usually involves living apart, in different cities, sometimes for years. They end up with lots of frequent flyer miles. </p></li>\n<li><p>One becomes an academic, the other leaves academia: this makes it much easier to live together, but might require a major sacrifice by one of the couple, if they had their heart set on an academic career. </p></li>\n<li><p>Both compromise on placement quality: couples can commit to both finding academic jobs together. Since it is difficult to find two jobs at the same university, this often involves taking jobs at a lower ranked institution, or less desirable location than either could get on their own. Some universities specialize in recruiting couples: this can be a coup for the university, since they get two researchers who are both higher quality than they would normally be able to recruit. </p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>A long (daily) commute for each person can represent an extremely successful outcome of type 1), or a less successful outcome of type 3). For example, it is possible (although grueling) for a couple to live in Princeton, and have one commute to Philadelphia and one commute to New York. </p>\n\n<p>This is not to say that it is impossible to achieve perfect success: there are academic couples, both of whom are in the same department at the top university in their field. But this requires an extraordinary amount of both talent and luck. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2638, "author": "JeffE", "author_id": 65, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65", "pm_score": 7, "selected": true, "text": "<p>Many universities (like the one where my wife and I work) have dual-career hiring programs explicitly to address this issue. It's definitely worth asking—<em>carefully</em>—whether the universities you are considering have such a program.</p>\n\n<p>Here's how our system works. Suppose Department X offers a faculty position to Partner A, and later department Y offers a faculty position to Partner B. Then Partner B's salary is paid 1/3 by department Y, 1/3 by department X, and 1/3 from a general campus fund.* (Note that X and Y may be the same department.)</p>\n\n<p>So Department Y has a significant financial incentive to hire Partner B. On the other hand, Department X must be willing to pay extra for Partner A; in practice, however, once an faculty offer to A is actually on the table, most department chairs find it hard to refuse to help hire B.</p>\n\n<p>This is why you have to be careful how and when you ask. It's illegal in the US to discriminate against a job candidate because they're married—we're not even allowed to ask—but it is completely legal to hire a cheaper candidate over a more expensive one. If department X already knows that you have a two-body problem, they also know that hiring you will be more expensive. The safest strategy is not to mention that your partner needs a position (or even that your partner is another academic) until an offer is on the table.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>*When I originally posted this answer in 2012, this financial arrangement was de-facto permanent, but my university has recently refined its policies. <a href=\"https://provost.illinois.edu/policies/provosts-communications/communication-8-dual-career-academic-couples-program/#_Toc432164824\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">As of June 2018, the joint funding arrangement is permanent (“recurring”) if Partner B has a tenure-track faculty position, and limited to three years otherwise</a>.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2633", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1033/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2641, "author": "mankoff", "author_id": 185, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/185", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>This will not hurt your future plans. International experience and second language skills like this will likely help, even if they are not related to your undergraduate or graduate career.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2647, "author": "Anonymous Mathematician", "author_id": 612, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612", "pm_score": 4, "selected": true, "text": "<p>This might have a small negative effect on your chances of admission, by making you look less committeed or sure of your long-term goals. However, I believe the effect would be quite small, and in many cases it wouldn't be an issue at all.</p>\n\n<p>One way to avoid this issue completely would be to apply to grad school and then defer for a year after admission. Deferring may or may not be possible, depending on the field and university. In my department, several grad students defer each year, usually for things like Part III of the Tripos at Cambridge. I don't recall a case where someone was teaching English for a year overseas, but I imagine deferring for that would be allowed.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2652, "author": "Suresh", "author_id": 346, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I don't think a gap year of the kind you describe would influence my admissions decision adversely. If anything, it would make me more intrigued. As with all things, you should make sure to articulate your story well in your personal statement if you think it needs explanation. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2659, "author": "Aaron", "author_id": 1228, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1228", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>As others have said, a year teaching English won't look bad on its own. </p>\n\n<p>That being said, if you are thinking of graduate school, you might want to figure out who will write you letters of recommendation, and ask them to write the letters now. You want your letter writers to write for you while their memories are still fresh, rather than having to remind them of what exactly you did with them a year later, by email. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 14484, "author": "adam.r", "author_id": 9669, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9669", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>In my experience (biology), I think that taking a couple of years off before grad school provided me with an advantage during applications. Granted, I was working at a biotech company, so I was still developing \"relevant\" expertise (though in the end, it wasn't really relevant to what I worked on for my dissertation).</p>\n\n<p>I think that the most important consideration is that you continue to learn during your hiatus. Fluency in a foreign language can be very valuable in academia -- I expect that there are a lot of top-notch computer scientists in Japan. Ideally, you would be able to establish relationships with Japanese CS students/researchers; I'd bet that many of the students are itching for help learning/practicing English.</p>\n\n<p>There are a few reasons that older applicants may be more attractive in general:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>They are not continuing in school by default/inertia, and so are more likely to complete the program</li>\n<li>They are more mature, so they are less likely to cause drama in the department.</li>\n<li>They can bring outside perspective into their research. The academic career machine places a big emphasis on \"shaking things up\" and learning from a wide variety of situations/mentors.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>I also see a couple of possible downsides:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Some fields have a youth cult, where they think that radical thinking comes from young researchers. Specifically, I'm thinking of <a href=\"http://www.massey.ac.nz/~rmclachl/overthehill.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">mathematics</a>, though this may apply to CS. In contrast, the conventional wisdom is that biologists value experience and perspective.</li>\n<li>You will be older when you graduate and start your academic career. This may not be a big deal if your grad programs are short (5 years). A low salary and the need to chase jobs across the country/globe may not seem like a problem when you are 21 and healthy, but things are different when you are 30 and have responsibilities and are not as strong as you once were.</li>\n</ul>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2640", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1365/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2646, "author": "Anonymous Mathematician", "author_id": 612, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612", "pm_score": 6, "selected": true, "text": "<blockquote>\n <p>Similarly, why don't reputable journals introduce a comment space for their published papers, where fellow researchers could appreciate/criticise/query the works?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>They don't need to create such a space, since these comments can already appear elsewhere on the internet. Nevertheless, some journals have tried, but they typically attract <a href=\"http://blogs.plos.org/everyone/2012/07/23/no-comment/\">very few comments</a>, and nobody knows how to create a viable community this way. See that link (and the blog posts it links to) for further discussion.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>What hinders us from having a reputation system for published papers - something where registered users could vote based on their perceived utility?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>One major obstacle is that not enough people seem to want to use such a system. There have been many attempts to set one up, but none have caught on.</p>\n\n<p>However, there's a deeper obstacle. In order to get any meaningful results at all, you need to solve at least three problems: ensuring that votes come only from competent researchers, ensuring that nobody can deliberately manipulate the system or cheat, and ensuring that voters have the right incentives even if they are not trying to be dishonest. In principle, it might be possible to solve these problems, but it would take a nontrivial infrastructure. However, the more elaborate the system becomes, the harder it will be to get lots of users. A large majority of researchers won't pay any attention to a system like this, and some of the ones who do care will be strongly opposed, so getting widespread adoption will be an uphill battle.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2658, "author": "Gabriel Landi", "author_id": 1367, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1367", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>As a follow up to Anonymous Mathematician's answer, I think the answer lies in Arxiv: a lot of people already use it, there is no profiting involved and even if a paper is moved to a given journal, the paper's page main remain online with all discussions In it (except that the PDF is replaced with a link). So it can create a solid up/down voting system. </p>\n\n<p>As for reputation, everyone may start equally but a Web of Science citation analysis,for example, may be used to yield a larger starting reputation to get things going. </p>\n\n<p>Going further, this may also replace the reviewing process: the paper is uploaded, everyone may read it and someone who thinks it is interesting may then apply as a candidate reviewer. This would avoid reviewers who don't really understand about your work (as is certainly not uncommon to happen). </p>\n\n<p>It is a leap of faith to trust a reputation system rather than a faculty hierarchy. Notwithstanding, note that the current review system is already embalmed in such trust: even a high school student can publish a paper if it is reviewed to be interesting; conversely, if you publish nice papers you are invited to review nice papers. </p>\n\n<p>In a sense, this shifts the focus away from the periodicals themselves.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2663, "author": "paul garrett", "author_id": 980, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Also complementing Anonymous Mathematician's answer: one of the main uses of the \"peer-review system\" is \"allocation of a scarce resource\", namely, academic positions and grants. For that matter, it is not really accurate to talk about \"peer review\" in that regard, because typically it is not one's peers but one's \"seniors\" or \"competitors\" that reject one's paper, whether or not with good reason. But it is pleasanter to talk about \"peer review\" than \"gatekeeping\".</p>\n\n<p>Another corruptive influence is that journals themselves vie for \"reputation\", which drives an odd jousting-for-position between authors and editors, wherein each tries to acquire as much status as possible, by connecting to higher-status \"others\"... Let's ask ourselves whether the same impulse wouldn't corrupt nearly any publication-for-status structure. I have no idea how to design-against, or design-around this.</p>\n\n<p>If the status rewards are reduced beyond a certain point, we might indeed find ourselves with the \"hermit gatekeepers\" who simply have nothing better to do... as mentioned in the comment by John Moellner. Given human nature, it seems that the broad pattern demands incentives that are not entirely idealistic.</p>\n\n<p>As it is, we can easily see that on Math Overflow, MathStackExchange, and many such vehicles, the most-popular questions are approximate repeats of questions that have been asked many times before. For a year or so, such a site will have a feel of freshness and novelty, but it is not clear to me what happens after some years when the limited repertoire of basic questions (motivated by undergrad or grad courses and such) is fairly completely documented, so that one no longer <em>asks</em> a question, but first carefully does the archival search.</p>\n\n<p>I <em>would</em> advocate that academics who are already established, tenured, etc., think more in terms of the subject matter itself and putting helpful things on-line, rather than continuing to take up quite so much space in the game that beginners must play to <em>get</em> a position, <em>get</em> tenure, etc. True, one won't maximize one's pay raise each year without continuing to play the same game forever, but academic departments could really work harder to figure out how to appraise post-tenure people, which wouldn't upset the tenure criteria per-se at all. \"Get out of the young peoples' way.\" </p>\n\n<p>Edit: In response to \"comment\": I think the sense in which these points address the original question is that, if there were <em>no</em> presumption that the present \"peer review\" system should be supplanted, then why ask the question at all? Just use the \"stack exchange\" or similar software and everyone who wants to put papers or reviews of papers on it, and vote, or down-vote, can do so. There is no obstacle to this, so why ask the question... <em>except</em> to propose also that there be a transition. My remarks above, and some of the other comments, indicate why I think there would be problems. E.g., many of the people one would want to participate would not, for a variety of reasons, which would certainly have the effect of failing to confer one sort of status of a sort currently essential to professional survival at a junior level. </p>\n\n<p>That is, putting the question in a context in which it makes sense to ask it (rather than a more formal sense somewhat disjoint from that context), the other parts of the context prove to be significant in answering the original. If one speculates that the issue is about <em>replacing</em> \"peer reviewed traditional journal publication\" (paper or electronic) with a different structure, then it is reasonable to see why there would be trouble.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 15557, "author": "al_b", "author_id": 5963, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5963", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>For an update, you might want to have a look at probably the largest organized group discussing this and similar issues - FORCE <a href=\"http://www.force11.org/\">http://www.force11.org/</a> - stands for \"The future of research communication and e-scholarship\"</p>\n\n<p>In <a href=\"http://www.force11.org/white_paper\">Manifesto</a> they say that new models of reputation are required, etc. However, a ready to use system is not yet developed</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 15574, "author": "Cape Code", "author_id": 10643, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10643", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>When I submit a manuscript, I value the work of the reviewers a lot. Revision work is, most of the time, an excellent exercise that allows you to question your own work, and improve it. In a way, getting my article accepted in a reputable journal is one of the few signs that what I do is of some quality (or not, if it is rejected). So, peer review <em>is</em> a system in which people 'vote' for your work, and suggest edits, similarly to SO Q&amp;As. When people cite my work, it is the equivalent of the upvotes on SO. Of course, exactly like on SO, the more popular your domain is (your academic 'tag'), the easier it is to get upvotes. But people you care about are usually clever enough to figure that out.</p>\n\n<p>Now, is peer-review a perfect system? No. But neither is SO's voting system. At the end, what one needs to do is use one's brain when reading something: <em>you</em> are probably not too bad at judging quality of the work published in your field.</p>\n\n<p>This being said, I think that it is a good idea to have an alternative system of evaluating research. I find that the discussion of articles on <a href=\"https://pubpeer.com\" rel=\"nofollow\">pubpeer.com</a> to be a good way to anonymously criticize published literature.</p>\n\n<p>I should add that I have the chance (or was it a choice..?) to work in a field where there is little political involvement. So I could imagine that comments of readers would be for the most part constructive and in the worst case, irrelevant. But that is not the case for everyone...</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 15614, "author": "ajm475du", "author_id": 8343, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8343", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>First, I rely on the response of others here regarding nuanced comments. I take it they're saying that if we do facilitate appreciation, critique, and query within a journal, and even if we don't, those kinds of responses will flourish primarily outside the journal.</p>\n\n<p>Second, here is a notable hindrance to a reputation score system for published papers. How you respond to this hindrance constrains how you design, or refuse to design, such a system.</p>\n\n<p>A voting system is a systematic decision about ranking multiple options that is based on multiple individuals' recommendations for ranking those options.</p>\n\n<p>Trick question: Do we accept that definition? Because, if so, the problem is that no satisfactory voting system can exist.</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrow%27s_impossibility_theorem\" rel=\"nofollow\">Arrow's impossibility theorem</a> states that every systematic ranking based on the rankings from each of a group of recommenders is unsatisfactory in at least one of these ways:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>The group's ranking is completely controlled by one single recommender. Comment: we could call this person the \"dictator\", the \"editor-in-chief\", or as @JohnMoeller said above the \"hermit gatekeeper\".</li>\n<li>The group's ranking sometimes orders two options differently from the ordering that was chosen by <em>every single one</em> of the recommenders.</li>\n<li>The group's ranking sometimes orders two options differently, say, A and B, because recommenders changed their recommended rankings overall, even though <em>every single one</em> of the recommenders kept unchanged their own ordering of A and B.</li>\n</ul>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2645", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/411/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2654, "author": "eykanal", "author_id": 73, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/73", "pm_score": 4, "selected": true, "text": "<p>By far the simplest way to get around this problem is to simply give it to a colleague who is more well-versed in the field and have them judge which statements need to be backed up by citations and which don't.</p>\n\n<p>The next simplest way is to read papers on a very similar topic to yours (which, no doubt, do exist) and see what they cite.</p>\n\n<p>On a related note, my advisor gave me the advice of \"when in doubt, cite.\" His point was that the only real downside of an unnecessary reference is added length to the paper. If you get to that point, and the only thing left to cut is citations, then you can start to worry.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2655, "author": "Piotr Migdal", "author_id": 49, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/49", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>There is no easy criterium saying where you should cite, when - a review article or a book, and when - you can safely skip citing anything.</p>\n\n<p>Anyway, ask 2-3 guys within that field. If for any of them it's not 'obvious' - you should cite. If it is old enough that there is a book on it - it's fine to cite it. (Alternatively, you can try asking on a respective StackExchange site.)</p>\n\n<p>Moreover, if for you something is not obvious, you should cite it as well (the chances are a reader of you paper won't know more than you). Note that many well-known results (e.g. results of integration or summation) are referenced for the reader's convenience (and to make it obvious that it is not a novel discovery).</p>\n\n<p>Also, one sanity-check may be if there is a well-written Wikipedia page on the subject. If there is, <em>perhaps</em> you don't need to cite it.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2653", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/924/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2662, "author": "user189035", "author_id": 1380, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1380", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<blockquote>\n <p>And most important, how do I come up with an idea to carry research\n on?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>This, for most people, is a learned skill. Increasingly, Phd programs are where this skill is learned. A non exhaustive skill sets include:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Having the \"right\" way to approach an issue as a research problem. Learn to identify what issues are <em>not</em> fruitful research problems.</li>\n<li>A set of ethic/behavior codes specific to research. </li>\n<li>Developing a strong level of perseverance (research <em>is</em> grinding)</li>\n</ul>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Why are you doing it?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Because, in an increasing number of fields, these skills are necessary. Phd is a form of apprenticeship approach to the acquisition of these skills.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2664, "author": "Luke Mathieson", "author_id": 1370, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1370", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>At the risk of being trite, research is about creating <i>new</i> knowledge (that's really the underlying condition for PhD acceptance, did you do something new - and worthwhile, and enough of it). However, like JeffE commented, how this is done in CS varies from area to area, quite significantly.</p>\n\n<p>For my area, it's quite like a lot of mathematics research, it all revolves around developing new theorems about properties of problems or computational models &amp;c. (so you think, then think some more, write it down, realise it's wrong, go back to thinking, talk to someone else, think a bit, write something done... until you have something that is \"enough\")</p>\n\n<p>For other areas, say data security, research might involve developing and implementing new security protocols, or cryptographic algorithms (though in data security, there's also the mathematical theory part, so it's not all the same).</p>\n\n<p>As for why you do it, that's kind of up to you. At one level you're contributing to human knowledge in a way that will hopefully be useful, however the underlying reason a lot of people go into research is really because they love the area they're in, so the \"why\" is quite personal. You really do have to love it though, as research is usually slow, misunderstood by others and often disheartening - until you get that moment when you have a result (then you go back to the start).</p>\n\n<p>Where the ideas come from is also a tricky thing. If you're thinking far in the future, they come from you, but this isn't as hard as it sounds, once you start to get into a particular discipline, you (should) start asking questions about why things work certain ways, how they can be improved, how they can be combined with other things. Some of these questions will already have answers, others won't, that's where you start the research. In the short term however, you will likely not need to come up with the overall questions and directions for your research, you will be part of your supervisor's research project(s), and they will give you a starting point. Note that they don't necessarily know how to get the answer either, that's why it's research, a lot of excellent students come undone at this point because there's no definite answer, they can't just check things when they're unsure, so you have to be prepared for uncertainty and incomplete knowledge (its your job to complete it!).</p>\n\n<p>Publishing standards you'll also learn from your supervisor, and from reading papers in your area. You'll quickly figure out how much goes into papers of different types.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2670, "author": "JeffE", "author_id": 65, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65", "pm_score": 5, "selected": true, "text": "<p>[This answer is colored by the fact that I'm a theoretical computer scientist.]</p>\n\n<p>As an undergraduate, you are (usually) given crisp, well-formulated problems with definite correct answers that you can reasonably expected to discover in a relatively short time period, using only a very narrow range of knowledge and skills. If you get stuck, your instructor can give you useful hints, because they already know how to solve the problem. Moreover, the instructor can probably explain the complete solution to you fairly quickly (in, say, less than a week).</p>\n\n<p>Research involves vague, half-baked, open-ended problems that may resist progress after months or <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/2221/65\">even years</a> of hard work, regardless of how many classes you've taken or books/papers you've read. Nobody else knows the answer to the problem you're working on (or it isn't really research); nobody can even give you a hint how to proceed. Nobody has a clue what other results or techniques will be helpful, or if you're just going to have to make up a completely new technique on the fly. You don't know if the solution you're aiming for is actually useful or interesting, or even if the problem is formulated so that it has a definite answer. Still, you'd better find <em>something</em> interesting, or you'll never graduate.</p>\n\n<p>If that sounds like fun, research might be for you!</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2661", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1379/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2669, "author": "David Ketcheson", "author_id": 81, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/81", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Some journals insert the submission date and acceptance date in a footnote on the first page of the article. For those, it would be easy to look through the latest issue and see what is typical.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2675, "author": "StrongBad", "author_id": 929, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I would send an email, or ideally go down the hall, and ask someone who has published in the journal how long it took.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2668", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/333/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2684, "author": "eykanal", "author_id": 73, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/73", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p><em>All of the below stems from my own experience mentoring and working with undergrads, both as a grad student and as a postdoc.</em></p>\n\n<p>Firstly, realize that many undergraduate students aren't ready to do research on their own when they first arrive in a research lab. (Heck, neither are many graduate students...) Additionally, many will not <em>want</em> to do their own research, but they're very happy learning what you do and helping you set it up and work through it.</p>\n\n<p>That being said, you'll want to start with simply talking to them <em>during the interview process</em> to determine what they want to gain from the experience. Most won't have a solid answer, but for the few that say something like, \"I want to improve my MATLAB skills,\" or \"I want to gain experience doing cell cultures\", you now know whether they're a match for your lab.</p>\n\n<p>The majority don't have specific interests, though. For those students, consider allowing them to work on a variety of projects with multiple graduate students. This allows them to observe different research techniques, different approaches to solving a research problem, and the different tools used in research. If you have the time, you (and the members of your lab) can take a more hands-on approach and actively mentor the student, showing them the various steps involved in constructing an experiment and the logic behind the data analysis stream.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2729, "author": "Piotr Migdal", "author_id": 49, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/49", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>First, mentoring undergraduate students depend highly on their skills and motivation. </p>\n\n<p>Second, you should expect that an undergraduate needs to learn the technique. Even if there are after many courses, real research involves learning particular theories, techniques, etc.</p>\n\n<p>Consequently, you will need to invest some time in teaching them. Almost for sure it will be beneficial for them (unless there are not smart enough or lazy; or you overshot with a way-to-difficult problem). If they will pay back - it's hard to say.</p>\n\n<p>Out of my experience (as a PhD student) - working was interesting and enjoyable, but I benefited only in terms of learning how to collaborate and lead projects (a crucial skill). In terms of boosting me research - well, I would have done the same (or more) by doing things by myself.</p>\n\n<p>(But the main problem was that it was never so formal, so they had a limited amount of time to spend on the project; OK, once mentoring a high-school student it was <em>very</em> beneficial for them (the first prize in an international competition), but it's a different story than a collaboration.)</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2672", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/847/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2674, "author": "Aaron", "author_id": 1228, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1228", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>This varies by field. In (most) fields that have journal-based publications and no tradition of selective refereed conferences, it might be quite hard to publish a paper in a journal after it has appeared in some proceedings, without substantial changes.</p>\n\n<p>In computer science, in which conference publication is the norm, it is expected that journal papers have first appeared in conference proceedings. This is especially true if the full paper does not fit in the page-limit of the conference proceedings, and proofs or other material had to be left out of the first publication. Typically you have to make some small changes between the conference and the journal version (i.e. include full proofs, include a fuller discussion of related and subsequent work, etc), but in CS, the delta between conference and journal version can be relatively minor. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2680, "author": "David E Speyer", "author_id": 1244, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1244", "pm_score": 4, "selected": true, "text": "<p>In math, FPSAC (Formal Power Series and Algebraic Combinatorics) accepts and referees \"extended abstracts\" for presentations. Presenters are selected based (in part) on the quality of these abstracts, and the abstracts appear in a special issue of DMTCS. The submission guidelines for FPSAC state </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>The authors will retain the right of publishing a full version of their work in another journal. Authors who do intend to publish a full version elsewhere should however make sure that their conference contribution is clearly an extended abstract of this full version.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Several conference centers publish proceedings of their workshops, for which presenters are asked to submit extended abstracts of their talks after the fact; for example, both AIM (the American Institute of Mathematics) and Oberwolfach (formally known as Mathematisches Forschungsinstitut Oberwolfach) do this. Again, the norm is that the abstract should be a summary of your presentation, with less detail than the published version.</p>\n\n<p>I think that the main answer here is going to be \"see if the conference organizers have made a statement, and check with some more senior people as to what the unwritten norms are\".</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2673", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2678, "author": "eykanal", "author_id": 73, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/73", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Aside from writing a letter to their editor, I don't think there's much you can do, particularly if the journal is well-respected. There are plenty of fish in the sea, so to speak. Unless you're the leading researcher in the journal's field, your ideological protest, while commendable, won't make the slightest difference to them.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2679, "author": "Ben Norris", "author_id": 924, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/924", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>The best method to send the message that you disagree with one or more of its policies or practices to a journal is to stop publishing in it (regardless of prestige) <strong>and</strong> to convince as many of your like-minded colleagues to stop publishing in it as you can. Publicizing your intent in a calm, rational, and deliberative way, does not hurt, either. See the ongoing <a href=\"http://thecostofknowledge.com\" rel=\"nofollow\">Elsevier Boycott</a>, which has already gained the attention of Elsevier and earned some concessions from the publisher.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2692, "author": "Dan C", "author_id": 1069, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1069", "pm_score": 5, "selected": true, "text": "<p>You may get the best response by using informal channels. If you know the managing editor of the journal (my field is small enough that I often do), you might send an informal email, or even just express your concern in person. As Ben Norris mentioned, <strong>the key is that you communicate in a calm, rational, and deliberative way</strong>.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2702, "author": "StrongBad", "author_id": 929, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I am answering my own question with an option that hasn't been given yet. If the journal is linked to a society (which it is in this case) with an annual (biannual, etc.) conference, then there may be a special conference session on the journal which the managing editors attend. For the journal in question, the concerns have been raised at the annual meeting for the past few years and there is a growing community of dissatisfied people who are taking stances like mine.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2677", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2686, "author": "Dave Clarke", "author_id": 643, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/643", "pm_score": 4, "selected": true, "text": "<p>Generally the funding agencies provide guidelines regarding the kinds of acknowledgements you need to use. When reporting to the funding agency, some will only accept papers that have been appropriately acknowledged. Others are happy just to see papers produced by the people they fund. </p>\n\n<p>For instance, </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>EU Projects require acknowledgement, and a specific phrase must be used. </li>\n<li>Flemish FWO projects require no such acknowledgement.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>In any case, it never hurts to acknowledge your source of funding.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2688, "author": "JeffE", "author_id": 65, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>The general rule I recommend is extremely liberal: If you write or publish a paper while being funded by a grant in any capacity whatsoever, acknowledge the grant. (\"Work by this author was partially supported by...\")</p>\n\n<p>When in doubt, say thank you.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2685", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/958/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2694, "author": "Suresh", "author_id": 346, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>You didn't mention if you want to do an MS in the UK or the US. If the former, I have no experience of how it works over there. </p>\n\n<p>In general, an MS in CS does improve your chances of getting a decent job, but a lot depends on where you're getting an MS. In the US, the masters program is often viewed as a way to generate revenue via tuition, so your main benefit from the program is if it's very good at placing students. Obviously an MS from a place like Stanford or Berkeley will help you immensely because of the proximity of many tech options. But if you don't go to a place that has a good track record with placement, then the degree itself, while opening some doors, will not have provided you with maximum benefit for the price you're paying. </p>\n\n<p>Also, make sure you go to a place that has strong ties to industry in the areas you're interested in. Since you mentioned games, many universities (including mine!) have specialized MS programs in game design (and we have fairly strong ties to local industry in the game world). That might be too specialized for you, but you get the general drift</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2703, "author": "StrongBad", "author_id": 929, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>In general, I believe, that graduate science education is not a good choice from a purely financial standpoint. Not only do you have the fees, but also a lost year of wages and experience. If you are looking at a year of un/under employment, then it is easier to argue for graduate education.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 27329, "author": "Phil Hannent", "author_id": 15958, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15958", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>There are two factors at play:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>It is going to be the cheapest point in your life to get one. </li>\n<li>Once you have it you've got it for life, like learning to ride a bike.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>If you have the chance to do the course and you have the intelligence to complete it then its a good idea. The extra year not working is nothing compared to the 40+ years you are going to be working afterwards.</p>\n\n<p>An MSc will make you stand out against a BSc for those jobs you actually want. Plus it should allow you to progress faster, not because you have it but because you are actually more capable and able to think with more depth.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 61662, "author": "user47523", "author_id": 47523, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/47523", "pm_score": -1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I was always taught that a year in industry is worth LOTS more than a MSc. 2 years industry experience will bring your salary to £35,000 - £45,000 range, whereas MSc guarantees very little.</p>\n\n<p>If you did a BSc with a year in industry then I would forget a master's all together and just resume looking for work. Only apply for MSc if you cannot find a job.</p>\n\n<p>Also consider that you can study yourself from home, and actually pick topics which are actually used in industry. My popular example is that in university they teach SQL which is old as OO-SQL is out, but in industry it's normal to use NoSQL. So will extra education from a university help with your career...?</p>\n\n<p>After all, have you ever seen a job which requires a master's degree? I have not!</p>\n\n<p>EDIT: First edit was removed. Here is another point: does a computer science course actually teach skills you will need in industry, as it is such a generic course? I would often recommend master's degree, but I do not see how it helps you get a job when it teaches stuff which is outdated or not used in industry...</p>\n\n<p>They teach Java at uni, yet in industry you'll most likely be using a framework like Spring which you either will not be taught at uni, or you will do barely a few weeks. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 61667, "author": "Wetlab Walter", "author_id": 28355, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28355", "pm_score": 2, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Given a 24 year old with a BSc a year in industry, and a good reference, and a 24 year old with an MSc but no reference beyond their tutor's (who has a stake in his student being hired), I would take the industry kid any day.</p>\n\n<p><em>However.</em></p>\n\n<p>Given a 34 year old BSc with 11 years of experience and a 34 year old MSc with 10 years of experience, I would promote/hire the MSc any day.</p>\n\n<p><em>However.</em></p>\n\n<p>Given a life where my activities are dictated by a potential future HR employer and a life where my activities are directed by myself and myself alone, I would choose myself over HR any day.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2687", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1388/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2691, "author": "Jeromy Anglim", "author_id": 62, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/62", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>I know many academics in Australia who obtained their PhD in the United States. In general, I think that overseas experience is seen as a positive, whether it be an Australian going overseas to do a PhD or a PostDoc or a non-Australian obtaining their PhD or PostDoc overseas. Some ranking systems even rate departments based on the number of international faculty members.</p>\n\n<p>Of course, you still need to meet the job requirements. Thus, it is still going to help if you have a great publication track record, have studied or worked in a world-renowned university with world-renowned academics, and so on. Most Australian universities have a job listing site where you can subscribe to job alerts. Also, you would generally need to have good English language skills. </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2698, "author": "Luke Mathieson", "author_id": 1370, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1370", "pm_score": 5, "selected": true, "text": "<p>The proportion of \"homegrown\" to \"...imported?\" PhDs varies depending on your discipline, but at the science end of things (I'm in computer science, but know plenty of mathematicians and also majored in chemistry as an undergraduate) it's quite international. Apart from pathological cases (known \"bad\" universities, or otherwise extremely dubious universities), where you got your PhD is not particularly important. As Jeromy says in another answer, international experience is definitely viewed favourably though. My having done my doctorate overseas has definitely been a boon.</p>\n\n<p>The real criteria are performance based; publications, teaching (especially awards or other recognition) and ability to bring in the grant money! (That last one in quite important, for better or worse). As a recent Doctorate, you'll mainly need to show that you can conduct quality research.</p>\n\n<p>Just for some completely non-statistically-significant stats, my Australian undergrad. chemistry department had about 50% overseas PhDs, my CS department had more like 90% overseas PhDs and my maths department had about 50% too. At my current (Australian) department (CS), it's probably about 70-80% overseas PhDs (though that's a guesstimate at the moment), including me.</p>\n\n<p>Of course the caveat is, again, this will change from department to department and university to university. Some like to only hire their own graduates, others will never hire their own graduates. Your best course is really to contact the academics offering the jobs, establish a bit of an informal relationship and find out what each position is looking for.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 49223, "author": "Phil", "author_id": 21815, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/21815", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Your research publications and the quality of your research are more important than were you got your Ph.D. When recruiting for an academic position, the committee is generally looking for someone with an excellent research record. It can help if you went to a famous university, but if you went to a famous university and do not have good publications, it will not save you.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2689", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/948/" ]

[ { "answer_id": 2697, "author": "David Ketcheson", "author_id": 81, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/81", "pm_score": 3, "selected": false, "text": "<p>A \"non-preferred\" reviewer is typically someone who may have personal or subjective reasons to react negatively to your work, regardless of its scientific content. It is not intended to be a disclosure of potential conflicts of interest.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 2700, "author": "aeismail", "author_id": 53, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53", "pm_score": 5, "selected": true, "text": "<p>It is generally worthwhile to identify people who both should and should not be invited to review a paper. Obviously most journals now require you to suggest names for reviewers—however, the editor is generally under no compulsion to invite these people to review the manuscript, if they feel other people are more suitable (or are more likely to accept the invitation).</p>\n\n<p>The list of \"non-preferred\" reviewers is meant for \"conflicts\" rather than \"conflicts of interest.\" If you have a direct competitor, or someone in the past who has been <em>inappropriately</em> hostile to your work, then you should list them here. However, as the original poster suggests, this could also be used to list \"obvious\" referees who shouldn't be candidates for a given paper <em>if</em> they are also collaborators of the authors (but perhaps not in the present work). </p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 8384, "author": "Peter Jansson", "author_id": 4394, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394", "pm_score": 4, "selected": false, "text": "<p>Just to add an editor’s perspective even though it partially duplicates the other answers:</p>\n<p>Having seen the effect of preferred reviewers in the journal where I serve, I am not altogether happy about these options. The non-preferred category is one that I take seriously because conflicts can lead to bad or poor reviews for reasons other than the science. My problem is instead with the preferred reviewers.</p>\n<p>When I assign reviewers I basically steer clear of the preferred reviewers as a rule. In the past when I have selected from this list, I have been extremely disappointed. Almost exclusively I have received <em>accept</em> reviews (accompanied by <em>rejects</em> from other reviewers), which I have been forced to deem practically useless and look for additional reviewers. I do not mean to say that all persons put on these lists provide poor reviews, but what I perceive as the original purpose namely to provide examples of names of persons whose objective opinion the author highly values is rapidly being drowned by names of friends. This has led me to stay clear of this list unless I myself recognize a name as somebody with integrity. I will nevertheless scrutinize that review with a hint of suspicion based on the experience I have. One way to avoid this could be to add a line or two stating why you have selected these names as preferred. This would help evaluate the usefulness of such reviewers. Sadly many submission systems do not allow for such comments except in the submission letter.</p>\n<p>So I agree with the others answers, provide particularly non-preferred names but feel free to add also preferred but do not count on the preferred names to be used.</p>\n" }, { "answer_id": 153476, "author": "allo", "author_id": 79727, "author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/79727", "pm_score": 1, "selected": false, "text": "<p>An additional reason to list someone as non-preferred may not be a personal conflict or bad quality reviews, but you may suggest to the editor that someone seems to work in the same field, but probably does not have the right focus for reviewing your work. This is not always obvious for someone who isn't that involved in the field and may think that you're works are quite similar.</p>\n" } ]

[ "https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2695", "https://academia.stackexchange.com", "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/411/" ]