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6,028 | <p>Where and how can an independent researcher search for research problems in a paticular field, assuming that a person doesn't have direct contacts with anyone knowleageable about that field?</p>
<p>And once you get a research problem , how can you get an idea about the approximate time that will be required to solve that problem? My area of interest is mathematics.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 6031,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
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"text": "<p>Reading recent papers is a good way to come up with ideas for things to work on. For example, the last section of a paper often lists open problems and possible topics for future research, and they may also be scattered throughout the paper. Of course the author or other readers may be working on them, but that difficulty is unavoidable for any problem that isn't communicated privately to you. Some of the advantages of this approach are:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>You have some evidence that the answer isn't already known. Of course maybe the author just didn't know it, but at least you are getting an expert opinion (which is particularly helpful if you aren't an expert yourself).</p></li>\n<li><p>Your work may be of interest to other readers of this paper. This avoids the difficulty of making up a topic and then discovering that you are unable to interest anyone in it.</p></li>\n<li><p>The published papers on the topic let you calibrate your level of knowledge. If you can read them, then you probably know enough to work on extensions. If you can't, then you need to learn more.</p></li>\n<li><p>There's some reason to think progress may be possible.</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>By contrast, I would absolutely avoid working on famous problems. They satisfy 1 to 3 nicely, but the \"famous\" requirement specifically filters out any reasonable likelihood of a full solution, and progress towards a solution may be very difficult. Unless you are extraordinarily talented or lucky, choosing problems because of their fame is a big step in the direction of becoming a failure as a researcher or even a crackpot. Even if you are extraordinarily talented, there's no harm in starting with a warm-up goal, and this avoids the difficulty that many people have trouble estimating their own abilities.</p>\n\n<p>As for how long it will take to solve a research problem, this is unanswerable. If you are really lucky, you might make important progress within a few weeks. If you get stuck in a rut or are missing some background, you might work fruitlessly for years on a problem that's not actually all that difficult. And of course problems vary enormously in their difficulty. With enough experience, you might be able to estimate how difficult or time-consuming certain problems might be, so you could guess what might make an appropriate Ph.D. thesis problem, for example. However, even experts are sometimes wrong, and developing this sort of feeling takes substantial research experience. When you are starting out, I don't think there's any reliable way to guess these sorts of things. This is one reason why Ph.D. advisors are important: they can offer feedback and advice based on intuitions the student is still developing.</p>\n\n<p>If you are working on research without experience or expert guidance, you could use the following guidelines. Don't give up too quickly: anything worth publishing is worth spending weeks beating your head against with no apparent progress. (Of course I don't mean staring at a blank piece of paper, but trying ideas and discovering they don't work, looking at special cases and examples, studying background that may be relevant, etc.) Once you have a solid background in the relevant mathematics, which could take a long time depending on the field, you should probably be getting somewhere over a period of months. By \"somewhere\", I don't necessarily mean clear progress towards a solution, but you should be able to articulate an understanding of the problem you didn't have when you started, you should be coming up with tangential or spin-off ideas that may not solve the problem but could be interesting in their own right, etc. The ultimate test of successful research isn't whether you accomplish your original goals, but rather whether you find something interesting along the way. On the other hand, if months go by and you don't seem to be coming up with any interesting ideas or understanding, then this is probably not a fruitful research topic with your current level of background and experience.</p>\n\n<p>Of course you shouldn't take any advice like the last paragraph too seriously. Research is a highly personal topic, and many people have different research styles. However, it may give you an idea of one reasonable approach.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 6045,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
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"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In addition to the excellent answer from Anonymous Mathematician, I would add another point: finding an interesting problem that is worth spending time on is sometimes one of the hardest part of academic work. It's perhaps a bias from my field (Computer Security), but most researchers I have met are not working on a specific problem they chose years ago, but are constantly shifting between asking new problems/questions and addressing problems/questions (raised by them or others). </p>\n\n<p>There are of course some known problems, but if they are known, it's likely because there is no obvious solution, and perhaps no solution at all. One can choose to work on one of them (I heard there are people working all the time on the P/NP problem), but it's probably better to create your own problems by challenging existing assumptions (X solve this problem by assuming P is true, but I know a case where P is not true, and therefore I want to solve it also in this case), by opening new approaches (would a quantum computer help solve this problem?), by looking at the future work proposed by other researchers, etc. </p>\n\n<p>It might again be a bias from my field, but I have always felt that solving problems was never a big problem (and it's actually the funniest part of the job), while finding problems worth solving is actually hard, because it requires to have a global understanding of the field, of what exists, what doesn't, why it doesn't, and what could be possible. </p>\n"
}
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| 2013/01/04 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/6028",
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|
6,029 | <h2>Disclaimer: The GRE Program <a href="https://www.ets.org/gre/subject/faq" rel="nofollow">discontinued the Computer Science Test</a></h2>
<p>If I have already passed a GRE Subject Test for Computer Science, do I still need to pass the general GRE test?</p>
<p>Which test should I take first (general GRE or GRE Subject Test) and why?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 6030,
"author": "Ben Norris",
"author_id": 924,
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"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>If I have already appeared for GRE Subject Test for Computer Science, do I still need to take the general GRE test?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p><strong>Short answer:</strong> Likely, yes. If your school asks for the general GRE, then you need to take it. Without the general GRE scores, your application would not be considered complete, and, thus, may never get forwarded to the department's admissions committee. If in doubt, call or email the department(s) you are applying to and ask.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Which test should I take first(general GRE/GRE Subject Test) and why?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>It does not matter. Usually the general GRE is offered more frequently than the subject GREs, so many people take it first. There is no reason you have to do it this way. Take them in an order that is convenient for you, but do not wait until just before your application deadlines. Your scores will not get to your schools in time.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 6033,
"author": "Dan C",
"author_id": 1069,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1069",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The tests are essentially independent, so <strong>you can take either one first.</strong> </p>\n\n<p>Some schools want the subject test, but others don't care. This varies from one school to another. I got a PhD in computer science from a good school, but I never took the computer science GRE subject test. On the other hand, I did study a bit to improve my scores on the GRE general. If you want to know which tests to take (and how heavily they'll be weighted in your application), I think your <strong>best option is to contact the school directly (or just read the application checklist on its website)</strong>.</p>\n"
}
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| 2013/01/04 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/6029",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
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|
6,032 | <p>Is it possible to switch from one area of graduate study to another in US universities? For example, suppose someone has enrolled in a computer science phd program. Can he switch over to math(or physics) phd program in the same school later?(or say from applied mathematics to pure mathematics?)</p>
<p>What are the steps for doing for doing that?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 6034,
"author": "Suresh",
"author_id": 346,
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"pm_score": 3,
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"text": "<p>In general, transferring to a different department requires a fresh application. While many departments will be sympathetic to applications from students alresdy at the university, they will still require all the formalities associated with a new admission. </p>\n\n<p>However, the procedures vary wildly from place to place, and you must check with your local institution (if you have one already). </p>\n\n<p>Other factors that can mitigate or complicate this process: if there's a standard procedure for doing this, if the two departments historically are comfortable with movement back and forth, if the departments are in the same college/school within the university, and so on. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 6082,
"author": "Ray Trygstad",
"author_id": 4523,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4523",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In most cases you have to apply for admission to the new program, as most American universities admit by department or college for graduate studies.</p>\n\n<p>It is much more difficult to switch from one PhD program to another, as you not only have to apply again and be admitted by the department offering the degree, but you must take the PhD qualifying exam in your new program. Also, depending on how closely aligned the fields are, coursework taken in your original program may or may not be applicable to your new program. It is generally easier to switch Master's programs but still will normally require a new application.</p>\n\n<p>Many departments or colleges limit the number of courses you can apply to a graduate degree taken in another program. In the Master's program I teach in, it is three, and they must be courses that would have reasonable application to our degree. We routinely accept students changing programs, unless their academic performance was sub-par in their previous program, i.e. any Cs, even if their GPA is satisfactory, and/or any course failures.</p>\n"
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| 2013/01/04 | [
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6,035 | <p>Quite often, graduate level research is done by researchers from different institutions, whether different universities or cooperation between a university and a private corporation. </p>
<p>How do the researchers get to know each other? How does the collaboration begin?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 6037,
"author": "JeffE",
"author_id": 65,
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"pm_score": 6,
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"text": "<p>Go to a conference/workshop. Ask intelligent questions in talks. Talk to speakers afterwards. (Have your advisor introduce you if you're shy.) Eat lunch with them and their students. Hang out in the hallways. Talk about your research. Listen to other people talk about their research. Listen to gossip. Throw in a few dirty jokes. Grab some coffee, or beer. Scribble on napkins. Go out for dinner with the students. Drink. Play pool. Try that new absinthe place around the corner. Scribble on napkins. Throw up in the alley. Stumble home. Sleep. Grab coffee. Run into someone you met at the absinthe place. Commiserate about your hangovers. Talk about your research. Scribble on napkins. Have a good idea. Skip the next four hours of talks. Fly home. Exchange drafts over email/github. Chat on Skype. Revise, revise, revise. Submit to the next conference. Repeat.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Very important:</strong> Do <em>not</em> skip the first 15 steps.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 8883,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 3,
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"text": "<p>The key is really to widen your connections and make yourself known, and this can be done in several ways. To socialize in meetings (a la JeffE) is certainly one way. Personally I have never found collaborators that quickly, sometimes you strike up a conversation (at a meeting or through other means) and maybe years down the line, the right idea comes up where this collaboration gets started. So as with many scientific discoveries, collaborations may start where you least exepct it and with persons you have known for long for other reasons. Hence making yourself known for good science may attract other persons to contact you as will you with those you can see common ground. Becoming a \"known player\" (however you want to interpret it) in the field is also likely to provide results in the long term. I would also add that you should listen and learn from colleagues about other people. I do not mean gossip, but rather the way other scientists are thought of. This will prepare you for contacting them. Another example of get known and know your surroundings. Finally, also remmeber that we are all different in how we interact and there is therefore no single way to strike up collaborations.</p>\n"
}
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| 2013/01/04 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/6035",
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|
6,036 | <p>I do understand that citations should be as precise as possible (including e.g. edition of a book or a page number), so that ideally, the reader can find the information exactly as I found it when writing.</p>
<p>I also understand that the problem with citing webpages is that they can change. But how does including the date when I accessed the page help anything? The reader still won't be able to read the same version I did (unless the page includes history, which is very rare). And comparing the accessed date with the current date isn't very helpful either: some webpages change multiple times per day, some aren't modified for years.</p>
<p>Or is the accessed date useful for some other purpose?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 6039,
"author": "L. Amber O'Hearn",
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"text": "<p>A URL does not refer to content, it is only an address. Since you are making a claim about what was written at that address, you must associate a date with it, or it is meaningless.</p>\n\n<p>If you do such a thing, you should also save the content, in case it is not recoverable and you want to refer to it again or support it further.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 6074,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
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"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I am not aware of any published accounts of how style rules are developed. If you really want to know why a particular rule was developed, you need to ask them directly. That said, there are a number of different styles for dealing with electronic materials and these styles are changing:</p>\n<ul>\n<li>MLA: You always need the date of access for electronic resources.\n<ul>\n<li>At some point the since 2014, the requirement has been dropped: <a href=\"https://style.mla.org/access-dates/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">https://style.mla.org/access-dates/</a></li>\n</ul>\n</li>\n<li>APA: You rarely use the date of retrieval, although in previous versions (APA 5) you always did</li>\n<li>CMS: You never need the date of access/retrieval. I am not sure if you ever did in earlier versions.</li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 32733,
"author": "Jeffiekins",
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"text": "<p>If you know the URL and date, you may be able to use <a href=\"http://archive.org/web/\" rel=\"noreferrer\">The Internet Archives</a> (a.k.a. the Wayback Machine) to see the page, if it didn't change too frequently.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 32765,
"author": "Davidmh",
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"text": "<p>Most URL cited are institutional sources, the kind of guys that can provide reliable information*. If a reader finds that your claim does not coincide with the information they can find at the moment, they can contact the administrators of the page and ask. Certainly, it is easier to get the correct copy if you have an specific date.</p>\n\n<p>In Bioinformatics it is common to use web servers to run some programs (<a href=\"http://octopus.cbr.su.se/\" rel=\"nofollow\">example</a>). In this cases, the dates are important for replicability, even when citing the program version, because the specific software versions it depends on may not be public (say, before March 15th, AwesomePredictor.com had installed BLAST+ 2.1, and after then they installed v2.2).</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<ul>\n<li>One could cite less formal sites to support side points like \"this and that have been in the focus of popular culture\", but these are ephemeral by nature.</li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 181688,
"author": "Laurel",
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"text": "<p>I found an answer directly from a style guide. According to the <a href=\"https://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2014/08/when-to-include-retrieval-dates-for-online-sources.html\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">APA Blog (6th edition)</a>,</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>[W]e usually don’t ask, “<em>When</em> did you consult that source?” One exception to this rule would be for material that is subject to frequent change, such as <a href=\"https://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2009/10/how-to-cite-wikipedia-in-apa-style.html\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Wikipedia entries</a>. Because this information is designed to be constantly updated, it’s important to let readers know when you retrieved it.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>You can check the revision history of Wikipedia (though usually a poor academic source) but it isn't the only site that has a public record like that. Stack Exchange sites do too, as do many software documentation sites (through GitHub). Still other sites have private revision histories that an admin has access to. (For example, WordPress sites.)</p>\n<p>Another answer brought up archival sites like <a href=\"https://archive.org/web/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">archive.org</a>. If the page wasn't updated, but the URL no longer works, then most likely you will only need to check one entry to find the information: the first. (You may also be able to search the internet instead to see if the page moved by using the other details, namely title and author.) But with a frequently updated source, it's possible that the cited information only appeared in a single revision of the page. Without knowing which, you'd have to check every snapshot (excluding those after the citation was published). And with an external archival site, the page could have changed between snapshots, so it's a good idea to save the page yourself if you're citing it. However, the comments on the APA article indicate that they believe archival sources to be secondary sources, so the URL of the original is what should go in the citation list.</p>\n"
}
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| 2013/01/04 | [
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6,038 | <p>Recently, I was involved in an engineering research project where I significantly extended the <em>main</em> functionality of the work. As my other team-mates were not involved in that aspect of the project, I thought I would leave them to do the write-up. I don't want to complicate things but lets just say their contribution matters <em>less</em>, at least according to my advisor.</p>
<p>This work is now being readied for publication and there's the matter of ordering the authors. Initially I thought we may be doing things alphabetically, but on the recent draft the order appeared to prioritize those who are doing the write-up, listing them first. My advisor raised no objection to this. If we are going down this road, it seems to me those who have done the most work should be first authors (i.e. me), rather than those who are doing the write-up.</p>
<p>I'd like to avoid any potential conflict with the people involved, and so I wonder if one acceptable compromise here is to specify the contributions of each author in the paper. Alternatively, we can do the alphabetical thing and make explicit mention of this as a footnote. I don't have any problem with either of these options.</p>
<p>First, am I correct in thinking that the ordering here is misplaced?</p>
<p>Second, are the compromises I list reasonable enough to propose?</p>
| [
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"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>I thought I would leave them to do the write-up</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>In my experience, the person who writes the initial draft is first author when the author order depends on contribution. There may be discussions/\"fights\" over who deserves to write the initial draft, but it is generally understood that this person becomes the first author.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 6055,
"author": "JeffE",
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"text": "<p><strong>You must discuss this issue with your advisor and all coauthors as soon as possible.</strong> The right time to have the discussion would have been <em>before</em> the first draft is started, but unless you have a time machine, you have to have it now. Since there are differing opinions, and the outcome matters, conflict is inevitable. Welcome to adulthood.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 6057,
"author": "aeismail",
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"text": "<p>I have been in the situation where I have been the primary author on a few papers where others have been the primary personnel involved.</p>\n\n<p>In one of those cases, the PI was the primary worker, and therefore allowed me to be first author. In the other case, the primary worker was still the first author, and I was the second author. I was fine with this, because I was getting the credit in exchange for making sure the work got published.</p>\n\n<p>However, I do agree that the primary person whose work is being presented <em>should</em> be first author. At the same time, if you do not have an active hand in writing the manuscript, the claim that slightly less scientific work plus more work preparing the manuscript could be persuasive.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 6068,
"author": "Community",
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"text": "<p>I think you should had discussed this issue before starting the research. For example you could have agreed that anybody who solves the main part of the problem (project) will be the first author. But now that it is done, I think you should talk about it with your advisor and you might have to be a little flexible about the order of authorship.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 18599,
"author": "okw",
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"text": "<p>Ordering names in publications is a very delicate matter and should always be discussed among the research team before submission.</p>\n\n<p>Typically, every co-author needs to have taken part in each part of the research: </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>background research</li>\n<li>methodology</li>\n<li><strong>experiment</strong></li>\n<li>analysis</li>\n<li><strong>paper writing</strong></li>\n<li>proof-reading</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>The importance of those elements determines who will be the first author. The most important parts are definitely the experiment itself and the paper writing. Whoever didn't take part in both of those can hardly be considered an author. This might be considered a bit controversial sometimes, but other researchers who only took part in a small part of the process should be added in the acknowledgements instead.</p>\n\n<p>Now, in many cases nowadays not everybody takes part in each part of the research process. This usually creates ambiguities, that should be solved in the best way, asking for advice from a research authority, with the enough experience and information to judge on the situation.</p>\n"
},
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"answer_id": 18605,
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"text": "<p>In my opinion, whatever the order of authors, the contributions should be individually stated, as it is common in some fields and journals. This avoids problems like yours, and also (real cases):</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>The first author just provided the research money, but did no actual work.</li>\n<li>The first author is the PI in a collaboration. He overseed the research and gave orders, but the bulk of the job was done by his PhD students.</li>\n<li>Someone is important in the group, so he gets to be amongst the first authors, even though he did nothing. Students that actually did work have their names after him.</li>\n<li>The data was processed using a program that has been in use for three years. The programer was not involved in the paper, or finetuned the program for the purpose of the particular study, but he gets to coauthor.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>But also, situations like:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Three or more researchers designed independent critical steps, all of them equally important to the results.</li>\n<li>Multidisciplinary collaboration, where new analysis techniques suggest new experimental techniques, that are implemented for the first time.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Where they all deserve large credit, and it is impossible to order them fairly.</p>\n"
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"answer_id": 53832,
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"pm_score": 2,
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"text": "<p>Author ordering is a common source of friction and is very tricky. In science and engineering most big universities place critical emphasis on the intellectual contribution over all else. The standards for authorship, and the ordering, do vary somewhat by discipline and institution. In Computational Geometry (a branch of Computer Science), for example, it has been commonplace to list authors alphabetically. In most of the rest of Computer Science, authors are usually listed by the \"size\" of their contribution. </p>\n\n<p>If the paper has a very \"big\" important idea then conceptual contribution will be relatively more important. If the paper describes a fairly well-understood concept (which means it might have limited impact) then the author ordering may depend more heavily on other factors like doing the writeup. If team members made very different kinds of contributions it can be very hard to determine the ordering, but then the relative positions aside from first and last are likely to matter less.</p>\n\n<p>In my opinion, doing the actual writeup is usually not the most important factor, but it sometimes becomes the dominant factor since it is easy to measure as a contribution, come last (which makes it easy to remember), and because the people doing the writeup have the initiative and control of the manuscript. Since it is such a delicate and awkward issue, the writers who put the names down in the document first often manage to set the precedent. Notably, the most important positions in the author list are first and last position (both are generally seen as good).</p>\n\n<p>To quote from the Harvard Med School authorship guidelines: </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>\"Examples of authorship policies include descending order of\n contribution, placing the person who took the lead in writing the\n manuscript or doing the research first and the most experienced\n contributor last, and alphabetical or random order.\"\n <a href=\"http://hms.harvard.edu/about-hms/integrity-academic-medicine/hms-policy/faculty-policies-integrity-science/authorship-guidelines\" rel=\"nofollow\">Harvard</a></p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>The IEEE authorship guide states:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Typically, the first author listed is the person who has taken the\n most responsibility for the work. Other authors are listed in order of\n the level of their contribution.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/authors/author_guide_interactive.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">IEEE link, PDF file</a></p>\n\n<p>(which doesn't actually help you much since the definition of \"contribution\" is not apparent.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 53850,
"author": "vonbrand",
"author_id": 38135,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/38135",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think it is very strange if people \"who didn't do the work\" get to do the writeup. Whoever did the research is intimately familiar with the methods and results, and is in best position to make the judgement calls of what to include or leave out, were exactly the difficulties and successes are, what is the real contributions are and what is incidental. Sure, somebody periperally involved can look it over and do proofreading or editing, but not structuring and initial writeup.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/04 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/6038",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4499/"
]
|
6,049 | <p>My University is currently on break, so I'd be making the appointment by email, and then meeting separately to discuss it.</p>
<p>In the email, is it a good idea to say explicitly that the appointment is regarding letters of recommendation? It seems like it would be, but on the other hand that seems tantamount to "asking via email," which of course is frowned upon when we're in the same city. Any thoughts?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 6051,
"author": "Ben Webster",
"author_id": 13,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Just write the email right now asking for the letter. If you feel sheepish about \"asking over email,\" just say \"I'm sorry I didn't have a chance to ask you in person, but because we're on break, I wasn't sure how long it would take to set up a meeting.\"</p>\n\n<p>The number 1 courtesy issue with asking for letters of recommendation is promptness and giving your writers as much time as possible to write and submit the letters. I think that completely overrides any concerns about medium, especially when it's not necessarily easy to meet with the person in question right away. I'd certainly much rather get an email about submitting letters than to go to the trouble of specially setting up a meeting with some amount of delay. (In fact, when students do ask me in person, I usually tell them to sent me an email about it so I have a permanent record of the request).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 6052,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>This may vary between departments, countries (I'm in the U.S.), etc., but I'd say:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>When making an appointment, it's almost always a good idea to specify what it will be about. When someone doesn't have a lot of time, this helps them figure out how soon the meeting needs to be scheduled, and it gives them a chance to prepare for it. The one exception I can think of is very delicate topics. For example, if you are meeting with someone to discuss an ethical matter, there might not be a short description you can give that wouldn't risk be misleading or omitting important context.</p></li>\n<li><p>I'm not aware of a belief that asking for a letter of recommendation via e-mail is rude or problematic (although of course this may depend on the local culture). In fact, I would prefer to be asked by e-mail. Partly it's just because I generally prefer e-mail for things that can be handled that way, since it's less disruptive. Partly it's because awkward situations are a little easier for me to handle by e-mail. For example, if a student didn't do well in my course, I may point this out and ask whether there's someone else who could write a more compelling letter. It's easier for me to find the right words in writing, rather than on the fly in a conversation.</p></li>\n</ol>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/05 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/6049",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4506/"
]
|
6,059 | <p>I am in Computer Science. I read a <a href="http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/articleDetails.jsp?tp=&arnumber=4553339&contentType=Conference+Publications&searchField%3DSearch_All%26queryText%3DA+brave+new+world+synchronization+games">survey</a> today. The author gave such a good result by the end of the article that I think the research question can be called "closed": the result performance is ideal and I think the problem is not worth researching any more; future developers can simply use the algorithms proposed and things should be fine. However, the <strong>author of the survey</strong> did not say so -- they did not say that the problem is solved, nor did they said anything about future work.</p>
<p>I believe (in this specific case), that the problem is solved:</p>
<ol>
<li>The research goal is to reduce network latency. By the time the survey was written (year 2008), the result latency was 100ms. With such latency, human users won't notice a network delay, because that only happens when the latency exceeds 150ms.</li>
<li>The authors of the survey did not publish any paper on optimizing the algorithms after that survey.</li>
</ol>
<p>Does these mean that the problem is safely closed? If so, why didn't the survey authors say that? If not, why didn't they continue working on it? How would I know whether a research question is solved or not?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 6064,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
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"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I don't think a research question is every “closed”, as you say, though it's of course a matter of vocabulary. In the example you mention, it seems clearly that there is <strong>no current incentive to design better solutions</strong>, but unless it is actually proven that there can be none, it's not a solved-and-closed question, it's a “we don't actually need to do better” question. This makes all the difference in the world.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13359,
"author": "Blaisorblade",
"author_id": 8966,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8966",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I'd like to expand on Pieter Naaijkens's answer, because your question and his answer bear on a more general problem: when is a problem worth solving? Or viceversa, should one care about a paper solving this problem? I'll present the answer I've grown up with (as a PhD student), though I've seen wildly different opinions on this, so I don't think there's a fully objective view (though characterizing the spectrum of opinions is what matters here).</p>\n\n<p>I've learned that it's up to the author to motivate the reader to care about the paper (\"sell one's research\"), though others might disagree; nowadays this is necessary because of the research-literature overload we live in. In applied fields, a common motivation is a set of (possibly indirect) applications. Different kind of motivations exist, but I'll conjecture that even good theoretical work should matter to other theoretical work to be good, and then leave other motivation out of scope.</p>\n\n<p>Would you accept a paper (1) solving this latency problem for websites interacting with users? By your reasoning, I wouldn't (at least, not at a top venue). But let's assume that again Pieter Naaijkens submits a paper (2) on the topic. It first convinces readers that better latency matters by describing some application (say high-frequency trading, assuming this actually applies). Then, paper (2) solves the problem exactly like paper (1) above. The second paper could get past the same reviewers. I might even argue that with that motivation (assuming it's good), he might create a research question. And in some cases, simply motivating well a research question might be enough for a paper.</p>\n\n<p>To demonstrate that wildly different opinions exist, I'll offer two opposite examples.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>I've seen a reviewer explain that a paper was good research but he wasn't sure whether it addressed any relevant problem; the reviewer concluded with a strong accept judgement. (Of course I won't share details).</li>\n<li>On the other hand, Tanenbaum's Modern Operating Systems book explains that some research had the only point of <a href=\"http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1410217\" rel=\"nofollow\">keeping otherwise unemployed graph theorists off the streets</a>, because (it is hinted) the problem lacked actual applications.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Other examples of researchers questioning the motivation of other research abound, but I won't add further anecdotical evidence.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/06 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/6059",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/773/"
]
|
6,060 | <p>In recent years, several organizations (publishers, arXiv, universities) started pushing for systems of a reliable author identification, gaining considerable traction with the recent launch of ORCID. This works by assigning IDs to persons. In some cases, the person itself can then connect his/her articles to the person ID. In other cases, publishers ask / plan to ask for the ID upon manuscript submission.</p>
<p>Examples:</p>
<ul>
<li>ORCID (supported among others by Spinger, Elsevier, American Physical Society, American Chemical Society, IEEE, Institute of Physics)</li>
<li>ResearcherID by Thomson Reuters</li>
<li>Scopus Author ID</li>
</ul>
<p>There are some obvious advantages of a precise and machine-readable author identification. These pros are strongly advocated by the big organizations, which are of course very interested. But what about the cons? Before all researchers become obliged to using such IDs, we should discuss the cons and potential problems.</p>
<p>What do you think and what are the biggest potential disadvantages for the authors? Do you know some nice article / blog / discussion about disadvantages?</p>
<hr>
<p>Related texts:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2009/03/11/the-author-id-dilemma/">http://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2009/03/11/the-author-id-dilemma/</a></li>
<li><a href="http://blogs.plos.org/mfenner/author-identifier-overview/">http://blogs.plos.org/mfenner/author-identifier-overview/</a></li>
</ul>
| [
{
"answer_id": 6063,
"author": "F'x",
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"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Your question is long and somewhat argumentative. I'll answer here to a small part of it. You say: </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p><em>“Are you sure that you will still be proud of your last paper in 20 years time? In some cases you might prefer to not include a certain article in your next grant/job application.”</em></p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>To me, the sounds very contradictory with the principles and aims of scientific publishing, regardless of how identification is performed. Once something is published under your name, it is part of the academic record and should not disappear, even if you don't like it anymore.</p>\n\n<p>It is actually a <strong>very good thing</strong> that the integrity of the academic record, including published literature, is maintained throughout history. It is even part of scholarly publishers' duties to do so. That it is associated with your name and affiliation(s), or with a unique identifier, doesn't change naught. To given an example, if an academic were to produce a full list of publications (as part of a long CV or grant application) and willingly omit a publication from this list, I would consider it unethical (though I don't think it is something that often happens).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 6066,
"author": "Craig Peterson",
"author_id": 4509,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4509",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>A few possible problems:</p>\n\n<p>1) Such an ID system seems a little intrusive. It would impose something like an obligatory Facebook for researchers.</p>\n\n<p>2) Everyone's research output could then be identified reliably (in machine-readable form) and used for all sorts of data mining. Among the possible uses some may not be desirable for everyone:</p>\n\n<p>2a) Algorithmic rating of a researcher's output becomes very simple for\nanyone interested. It might reinforce the tendency for people to judge by some computed rank, instead of actually looking at the content of the articles.</p>\n\n<p>2b) Authors might be tempted to optimize their (machine generated) rankings by annoying tricks.</p>\n\n<p>2c) People could easily study the \"graph of your collaborators\" etc. (adding to point 1).</p>\n\n<p>3) You lose every control over the communication about your publication list. Instead of being able to present it yourself to others it is stored in a public database to which you have no access. Hence, you cannot choose anymore whether you want to present your publication list to others in machine-readable form or not, and whether you want to present the full list, or (for what ever reason) a certain subset.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 6083,
"author": "Federico Poloni",
"author_id": 958,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/958",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>One downside that hasn't been mentioned yet: <em>if</em> the administrators of this system collect and record everyone's email addresses, then this has some disadvantages for researchers.</p>\n\n<p>A big targeted database with e-mail addresses, research interests, institutes and whatsnot has a great value for advertising companies.\nI am sure we all get enough spam, and a fraction of it is researcher-targeted spam: vanity press, dubious publishers, cash-cow conferences. Wouldn't they all like to have more addresses?</p>\n\n<p>Moreover, many of us are going to be working actively to keep our profile up-to-date and accurate; we will be basically working for free to build and check such a database. Many of us are already doing this for Google Scholar.</p>\n\n<p>If the database contains email addresses, access to them needs to be strictly regulated; any form of machine and automated access in particular. If there is a commercial entity behind it, that is another major concern. A private firm can be sold to evil stakeholders, or can go bankrupt and have to sell the database. Even if the database owners do not do anything, a simple hacker attack can expose a well-structured database of the e-mail addresses of most professional researchers.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 6085,
"author": "Carl Mummert",
"author_id": 4519,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4519",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In mathematics, we already have a database of this sort - two them, in fact, with in <a href=\"http://www.ams.org/mathscinet\">MathSciNet</a> and <a href=\"http://www.zentralblatt-math.org/zmath/en/\">Zentralblatt MATH</a>. Both aim to be comprehensive for mathematics publications, going back to the 1940s. It is completely standard for me to use this to get a list of every publication (in mathematics) by a fellow mathematician, and anyone can do it about me. These data have indeed been used to perform scientific analysis of collaboration patterns, which are somewhat fascinating, as in <a href=\"http://www.siam.org/pdf/news/485.pdf\">this paper</a>.</p>\n\n<p>So, if there were going to be cons, this might be a fruitful place to look for them. As someone in the field, the main cons that I see are not with the fact that the database is public and complete - after all, the point of publishing is to make a paper public. The main issues I have are with the relationship between the database and my day-to-day workflow:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>Occasionally, publications outside academia may not be present. For example, if someone publishes a chapter of a popular book, or writes editorials based on their professional knowledge, these may not be indexed. </p></li>\n<li><p>The system is still only marginal for getting actual copies of the papers that are indexed. This has gotten slightly better over time, but I generally still have to google the title of the paper to look for preprints, copies on the author's webpage, etc. The system has slowly been adding links to the publisher's canonical page for each paper. </p></li>\n<li><p>As far as I know there is no way for me to add a link to my personal webpage to either system. </p></li>\n<li><p>Papers only appear in the database after publication, which can be years after they were presented at conferences and well known to the research community. So someone in a distant location would find it hard to keep at the cutting edge of research solely looking at the databases. </p></li>\n</ul>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/06 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/6060",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4509/"
]
|
6,067 | <p>Let's list important factors for evaluation of a job candidate (for research post doc, assistant professor, tenure track, etc):</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Research experience (research articles, research talks, expository articles, perhaps books).</p></li>
<li><p>Teaching experience (tutoring, undergraduate courses, graduate courses, etc).</p></li>
<li><p>Academic background (grades, the university of graduation, current affiliation, etc).</p></li>
<li><p>Reference (who is writing reference letter and how he is writing it).</p></li>
<li><p>Personal (natural) features (nationality, race, language, etc).</p></li>
<li><p>Social and family status (connections, marriage, etc).</p></li>
<li><p>Other factors (you name it).</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I have been in job market for several years. I was always wondering how do the above factors affect my job application in different academic institutions? I would like to know the approximate percentage of importance of these factors in different institutions. </p>
<p>And my second question is How the hiring committees evaluate a candidate? Is it based on reference letters, CV, list of publications, research statement, teaching statement?</p>
<p>My impression is reference letters are very important at least for the first job after PhD. Am I right?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 6071,
"author": "Suresh",
"author_id": 346,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Your question is fairly general, but the title implies that you want to ask about mathematics. I think the more general question makes sense, so I'll answer that one, based on my experience in computer science in the US</p>\n\n<p>Among the criteria you list, (1) and (4) (research and letters) are usually the most important in research-oriented universities. (3) academic background (but not grades) plays a role in initial filtering but usually takes second place to (1)/(4) once people get some familiarity with the candidate. </p>\n\n<p>It is rare that (2) plays a role, unless the job calls for significant teaching, or is in a teaching-oriented university. Since math folks teach a lot more than CS folks, this might be one point of difference.</p>\n\n<p>Many of the factors listed in (5) cannot be considered legally, and rightly so. I seriously doubt that (6) plays a direct role, but personal connections can help open doors, much like (3). </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 6073,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I'll second Suresh’s generic answer (I'm a chemist myself), but I'll add a few points: first, one of the reasons that teaching skills usually play little role in hiring decisions is that they are much harder to evaluate/quantify than research skills. Most people in the hiring committee will be researchers or think they know how research should be evaluated. Most of them don't know how to evaluate teaching skills (and if they did, they hardly have time to do it anyway).</p>\n\n<p>Regarding 5, it probably depends on the country, but some of these can be serious barriers for employment: language is the most important one, especially if teaching is involved. At least in France, most university won't recruit at the junior level someone who doesn't speak French, as that is the language in which undergrad courses are taught. Nationality can also be a stopper in specific circumstances (nuclear research, for one thing).</p>\n\n<p>Finally, I think an important factor you did not list is the performance of the candidate in interviews with the hiring committee: self-assurance, conveying the impression of someone well-prepared, etc.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 6076,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I don't have anything essentially divergent to say from the other answers, but since you inquired about mathematics specifically and I am a mathematician who has been (and currently am) involved in postdoctoral and tenure track hiring, I thought it might be useful for me to weigh in as well. Lacking true inspiration, let me just comment on your criteria.</p>\n<p>(Let me also assume that we are talking about jobs at a "research university", as it seems you are.)</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Research experience (research articles, research talks, expository articles, perhaps books).</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>Mathematicians are judged on a combination of research <em>promise</em> and research <em>success</em>: as you get older, one looks increasingly for evidence that the former has been converted into the latter. However, for every kind of research job in mathematics, they are hiring you on the basis of the work they expect you to do in the future. So, for instance, if you have already solved a major problem, you can coast on that for a time but after a while people want to hear what you are working on now. Research talks are probably the best way of exploring the dichotomy between past and future research: as such, they are very important whenever they exist, which is almost always on the tenure track job market and in a small (but perhaps increasing?) minority of postdoctoral jobs.</p>\n<p>Expository articles generally do not count towards the research component of your application. (If someone is counting papers, then if you have 8 research papers and 1 expository paper then people will probably say you have 9 papers altogether, so it counts a little bit. But <em>if pressed</em>, its value could contract considerably: e.g. if there are worries that a candidate has too few papers, than a paper viewed as expository will probably not allay this worry.) Strategically it is probably best to advertise expository articles as having some teaching / mentoring / service component, if at all possible.</p>\n<p>With regard to writing books: one of my most distinguished colleagues, Dino Lorenzini, wrote <a href=\"http://alpha.math.uga.edu/%7Elorenz/book.html\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">an excellent and rather successful book</a> near the beginning of his career. He now tells anyone who will listen that junior faculty should not write books. Of course sometimes the heart wants what it wants, but from a strategic perspective I think this is eminently sound, and I say this as someone who may turn around and write some books now that I am solidly into my mid-career.</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Teaching experience (tutoring, undergraduate courses, graduate courses, etc).</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p><em>Successful teaching experiences</em> are indeed valued for a research job. At most research universities teaching is still a main component of one's job and, especially, of one's promotion and tenure packages. Most research departments are looking most of the time for <em>thoroughly solid</em> teachers rather than especially brilliant or innovative ones. Your teaching dossier should convey most of all that the department who hires you will never have to think about your teaching in a negative way.</p>\n<p>Some graduate students do not get to do instruction at all (as opposed to TA work: grading, leading problem sessions, and so forth). There is a big difference between TA work and instruction, and as a hirer I am very wary of candidates who attempt to convince me that they will be a successful instructor based only on TA experience. I would strongly advise every math graduate student to be the instructor of record for at least one successful undergraduate course (where "successful" means you can get a strong teaching letter out of the experience).</p>\n<p>Teaching experience at the graduate level is almost unheard of for graduate students and is far from guaranteed in postdocs. Even within my own department, some of my colleagues feel strongly that postdocs should teach topics graduate courses in their areas of interest, whereas other colleagues feel that it is the job of the tenure track faculty to teach these courses. I lean more towards the latter, and I don't feel that teaching graduate courses is an important part of a tenure track job application: I would be equally impressed or more with other kinds of interactions with the graduate program, e.g. participating in or organizing seminars, reading theses, and so forth.</p>\n<p>I'm having a hard time thinking about how tutoring experience could play a significant role. If you have founded the Khan Academy or the <a href=\"http://euclidlab.org/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Euclid Lab</a>, you would probably get some attention / consideration for this. Much less and your employers are unlikely to care.</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Academic background (grades, the university of graduation, current affiliation, etc).</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>No research university that I know of asks for grades or transcripts for candidates for faculty positions. Of course your <em>pedigree</em> -- i.e., where you did your undergraduate and graduate work, and your current institution -- is of some importance, but not <em>that</em> much importance. Anyway, what's done is done here: presumably you took what opportunities you could to attend / work at better, rather than worse, institutions!</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Reference (who is writing reference letter and how he is writing it).</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>Or she! When you are applying for your first postdoc, your adviser's letter may well be the <em>most</em> important part of the application: most graduates, even very strong ones, cannot speak about their research accomplishments and near future goals as convincingly as their advisers can. Later on your adviser's letter gets less important, but you probably get more letters overall, and they are always a key part of the application.</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Personal (natural) features (nationality, race, language, etc).</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>In the United States it is illegal to discriminate on the basis of race. Nationality is probably a no-go as well. Language issues are important: if English is not your native language, employers will (or at any rate, should) look carefully at your skills.</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Social and family status (connections, marriage, etc).</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>Professional connections can be important; e.g. they come out in recommendation letters and in your academic pedigree. It is illegal for employers to inquire about your marital status, sexual orientation, or whether you have children. It is not illegal for you to bring these things up, and if you have a "two-body problem" -- i.e., a partner who is also an academic -- than you should do so at some point, and that brings an extra layer of complication to the process. But if a candidate is not looking for an academic job for her partner, I honestly don't care at all whether she is married, gay, celibate, and so forth. I can assure you that in most American departments any such talk about these matters in the context of a hiring discussion would be rapidly quelled.</p>\n"
}
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| 2013/01/06 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/6067",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
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|
6,086 | <p>I have just completed a PhD by research, which I think has some merits in being available as a book (This is, of course, my personal opinion). The research cuts across several fields (e.g. sociology, public policy).</p>
<p>I am wondering what I need to do to take the next step.</p>
<p>In particular:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>How do you turn an academic piece like the dissertation (which is written for the examiners) into a book (which is for the general public)?</p></li>
<li><p>How do I find publishers who specialise in my field?</p></li>
</ol>
| [
{
"answer_id": 6089,
"author": "Luke Mathieson",
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"text": "<p>Your first question is quite tricky (to answer and to do). It depends on what you mean by \"the public\". A version for academics needs little change from a thesis. For students you need to consider how to highlight what can be learnt from your work. For the <em>general</em> general public, you'll have to start thinking about rewriting perhaps quite a bit, keeping your language accessible and building a narrative. As I am in a different field, perhaps some or all of this is already a part of your thesis.</p>\n\n<p>The second question is simpler, who publishes the books that you read for your thesis?</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 6091,
"author": "RSG",
"author_id": 4462,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4462",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As a partial answer, Springer used to publish (theoretically) outstanding PhD thesis in Mathematics in its 'Lecture notes in Mathematics' as research monograph. However I do not know how many of the published volumes are Phd thesis. Definitely a (math) thesis requires a lot of polishing and rewriting before publishing.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 6123,
"author": "Paul Hiemstra",
"author_id": 4091,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4091",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If your university does not require you to publish your dissertation as a book, I would be very reluctant to invest the time needed to get your dissertation published. I would put the PDF of your dissertation on your own website, making it available to everyone who wants to look at it. I would spend the time needed to rewrite your book on writing more peer reviewed articles. Either by publishing chapters from your dissertation, or by doing new research. I think publications are more important than a book, especially for someone like you who still has only a few publications.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 6153,
"author": "mgalle",
"author_id": 4552,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4552",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Why do you want the book? </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>For prestige?: publishers who contact you, don't do any review and charge high prices will only increase your prestige to those that don't know them (and these are probably not those you want to impress).</li>\n<li>For dissemination?: why not just put the pdf available (as was already recommended)?. Those who are interested will find it, those who are not will probably not buy a PhD thesis</li>\n<li>For money?: I doubt you will really make much out of it.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>My recommendation: put it as a pdf on your website / your school's dissertation repository. If you see that lot's of people download it, consider an improved version as book.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/08 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/6086",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4475/"
]
|
6,087 | <p>In my research, I've found two articles that are completely identical, except the abstract and authors names. They are published on different conferences, with one year between.</p>
<p>What should (must) I do in this case?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 6088,
"author": "Luke Mathieson",
"author_id": 1370,
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"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The programme committees for the conferences would be the appropriate authorities to contact (it is their responsibility to deal with plagiarism within their conference). This is of course complicated by the fact the conferences are in the past; the current programme committee may have little or nothing to do with the earlier committee, the steering committee may be more appropriate in this case.</p>\n\n<p>If neither are responsive, contacting the publication venue may be required. If the proceedings are published by a journal or reputable publisher, they should be able to resolve the issue (they have copyright laws to deal with!).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 6104,
"author": "silvado",
"author_id": 3890,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/3890",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If the author sets on the two papers are disjoint, then it looks like a case of real plagiarism. If you are not an author on any of these papers, I'd suggest notifying the authors of the earlier publication of the other paper, and leave further steps to them. Alternatively, if the conference of the earlier publication has been sponsored by a reputable organization, you could try to inform this organization.</p>\n\n<p>If the author sets are not disjoint, we have what is typically called \"self-plagiarism\". I don't like this term, because this is by far not as severe as real plagiarism. Still, in case the earlier publication has a copyright mark by some publishing company or scientific organization, you may consider informing them.</p>\n\n<p>Note that you are not really obliged to take any action. Just if you want to cite the work, you should make sure to cite the original, not the plagiated work. This would normally be the earlier publication.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 83099,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Actually it sometimes occurs that essentially the same paper is published multiple times in the proceedings of different conferences sponsored by the same society and handled by the same publisher. </p>\n\n<p>I personally disagree strongly with this but it is tolerated in some cases, on the grounds that proceedings to different conferences reach different audiences (especially if the events are well separated in time). In the case I'm familiar with, it was enough for the authors to indicate in a footnote to the 2nd paper that this work has already been presented at conference YYY. Obviously such duplications cannot involve two <em>completely</em> distinct sets of authors. (I've never heard this done \"across publisher\" as this could be problematic from a copyright perspective.)</p>\n\n<p>You need to contact the publishers with this information, and let them deal with any follow up inquiry.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/08 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/6087",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4529/"
]
|
6,092 | <p>Currently I am finishing my masters (one year) in economics at a Canadian university and am intending to apply to Canadian universities to do a PhD. </p>
<p>The issue I have is that in the courses I had taken last semester the professors were closed to student contact making it near impossible to build relationships. </p>
<p>For my applications I intended to rely upon professors from my undergraduate university that know me quite well and who I know will write high-quality letters.</p>
<p>A colleague of mine mentioned that when applying for a PhD program, it is expected that my references will come from my masters university and it is generally not acceptable practice to have references from the undergraduate one.</p>
<p>Is this actually the case? If so, what is the best course of action?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 6096,
"author": "D.W.",
"author_id": 705,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/705",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>A Ph.D. program is about research. Have you done research? If not, how do you know you want to study for a Ph.D.?</p>\n\n<p>It is <em>your</em> responsibility to seek out opportunities for research.\nProtestations that your professors were not open to communication are not likely to be viewed positively by an admissions committee.\nIf you've had some research experiences, have you considered asking those you worked with for a recommendation letter? If you haven't had any research experience, that will make it significantly harder to be admitted into a Ph.D. program, no matter who writes your letters.</p>\n\n<p>And if you haven't been inspired to seek out opportunities to get involved in research, that would make me wonder whether you will truly enjoy a Ph.D. program. Going to a Ph.D. program \"by default\" or because \"that's what everyone is doing\" is a terrible idea; you should only join a Ph.D. program if you are passionate and excited about doing research, because that's what you are going to be spending most of your time doing in a Ph.D. program, and that is what Ph.D. programs are designed to prepare you for. So, you might also want to do a little bit of soul-searching to figure out whether a Ph.D. program truly is the right direction for you. If it's not, it's much better to find out now rather than after spending several years in a Ph.D. program.</p>\n\n<p>It is acceptable to have letters of reference from a mixture of your undergraduate and your masters university. People would probably ask questions if all of your letters were from your undergraduate university and none were from your masters university. That might make the admissions committee wonder: What were you doing with your time at the M.S. program? Why didn't you seek out opportunities to get involved in research and other activities beyond coursework? Is there some hidden story? (For instance, did you completely alienate all the professors in your M.S. program? Or, do you have little self-drive to do research? Or, maybe you have little experience with research, and thus no idea whether you are good at and enjoy research, and thus little basis to judge whether a Ph.D. program is a good fit for you.)</p>\n\n<p>That said, the most important thing is to have letters from people who know you well, and who know well how to evaluate candidates for Ph.D. programs. So, which professors (or other established researchers) know you well and can best comment on your research ability or research potential?</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 14907,
"author": "Hedge Fund",
"author_id": 10098,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10098",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Not really. It is assumed that if you are a good student you would be able to get good reference letters from your masters courses. It would have to be from your undergraduate thesis advisor or some sort of exceptional activity you did during undergrad, not just a regular class with a good grade, if at all.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/09 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/6092",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
]
|
6,100 | <p>Every journal has strict rules about duplicate submissions, and I do not mean publishing the paper in 2 venues.</p>
<p>My approach is mostly from an economics point of view: Given the fact that most reviews take between 2-3 months, plus any number of months for a resubmission, limiting yourself to only one journal seems not only a waste of time for the individual, but an overall drag for the scientific community. Even if you make a groundbreaking discovery, it won't get published until about a year later.</p>
<p>Multiple submissions dramatically increase the chances of getting your work published, and if you get accepted in both, you can always pull out your paper. From a marketplace point of view, this makes sense, since in this way, journals would be fighting for authors and not the other way around. </p>
<p>Models like Arxiv have proven that this is not such a crazy idea</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 6101,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
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"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>One possible answer is that the referee process of a paper is a very professional and time consuming job (at least I am sure it is in mathematics). Therefore it is not fair you submit your paper to several journals and make them to referee your paper by different experts and then you withdraw your paper just because your paper got accepted by another journal. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 6102,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think there are three reasons.</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>From the publishers' perspective they want to squash competition.\nThey want to know that if they invest the time and resources to\nevaluate the paper that they have a very good chance of publishing\nit. I don't particularly like how the publishing industry currently\nworks and I might argue that this is in fact a reason to double\nsubmit.</li>\n<li>The second reason is about the reviewer and editor resources. These\nare our colleagues and wasting their time is not fair. As a reviewer\nI want to know that if I put time and effort into a review, that my\ncomments will be considered. Even if my review leads to a rejection,\nyou will likely think about the feedback before resubmitting.</li>\n<li>Having little or no cost associated with multiple submissions reduces\nthe effectiveness of the peer review process. You increase the\nchance of finding a set of reviewers who miss flaws and potentially\nignore reviewers who find flaws.</li>\n</ol>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 6109,
"author": "Suresh",
"author_id": 346,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If the point of publication was to get it published as quickly as possible, then there might be some merit to your argument. But the point of <strong>peer-reviewed</strong> publication is to have the community vet your work and certify its basic soundness (not value/impact necessarily - that's a different story). </p>\n\n<p>In that case, the delay involved in publication is a problem that needs to be fixed, but you shouldn't fix it by allowing multiple instances of peer-review.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 6132,
"author": "user13107",
"author_id": 2643,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2643",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>One reason could be- if the paper gets accepted at both the venues, then you'll have to decide which venue is better. You could have thought about this before submitting also, so to avoid loss of time of the reviewers, you should do it before.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/09 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/6100",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2806/"
]
|
6,110 | <p>When you accept a tenure-track position in the USA, how long are you expected to stay? Does it look bad if you change jobs a couple times after a few years at each university? Is there an unspoken standard?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 6112,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This can be a little tricky. There are two issues: what your obligations are to the university, and what could look bad on your CV and hurt future job searches.</p>\n\n<p>Your legal obligations may vary depending on the country or the details of your contract, but my understanding of the U.S. social norms is the following:</p>\n\n<p>Once you have accepted a job, you must show up for it. (I.e., you will offend people if you try to change your mind and accept another job instead.) You should stay for at least a year, except for health emergencies and the like, and preferably for a couple of years, since it looks bad if you apply for other jobs immediately upon arriving. Beyond that, the department may be unhappy if you leave, but you won't be doing anything offensive.</p>\n\n<p>On the other hand, you shouldn't make a habit of this. When a department hires someone for a tenure-track job, they are looking for a long-term colleague. It's still possible to get hired even if the department knows you are unlikely to stay long, but you have to be extra-brilliant to make up for this. If you leave a couple of universities quickly, then it will look like a pattern, and everyone else will be less interested in hiring you than they might otherwise have been.</p>\n\n<p>If you end up in this situation through bad luck, then the next time you apply for jobs you should try to explain what happened in a way that makes it clear why it is unlikely to happen again.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 79873,
"author": "Inde",
"author_id": 64834,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/64834",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Future employers might interpret your flightiness as your acknowledgement that you won't meet tenure requirements, thus leaving before it can be denied. Sooner than later they'll stop short listing you. </p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/09 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/6110",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4539/"
]
|
6,115 | <p>I understand there are a number of specialised ePrint archives or repositories where scholarly works could be posted for wider dissemination (for example, <a href="http://arxiv.org/">arXiv</a>).</p>
<p>I am wondering if there is a preferred one for PhD dissertations in the social sciences?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 6118,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>You can publish an eprint of your dissertation in <a href=\"https://www.researchgate.net\" rel=\"nofollow\">Researchgate.net</a>. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 6119,
"author": "JeffE",
"author_id": 65,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You can always put a copy of your dissertation on your professional web page. Google will find it.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27215,
"author": "fmark",
"author_id": 178,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/178",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Your university is likely to have an institutional repository. This is probably the most important place to lodge an electronic copy of your dissertation and should definitely be used. </p>\n\n<p>However, but it won't hurt to lodge the manuscript in other places. As others have noted, there are various ad-hoc options here (e.g. commercial networks like Academia.Edu and ResearchGate, your personal webpage, etc.). </p>\n\n<p>To the best of my knowledge, there is no open access repository for the social sciences that has the same recognition as ArXiv. However, there are a few repositories like <a href=\"http://www.ssoar.info\" rel=\"nofollow\">SSOAR</a>, <a href=\"http://www.ssrn.com/en/\" rel=\"nofollow\">SSRN</a>, <a href=\"http://www.econstor.eu/?langselector=en\" rel=\"nofollow\">EconStor</a> and <a href=\"http://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/index.php?langue=en\" rel=\"nofollow\">HAL-SHS</a> that are becoming more widely used.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27326,
"author": "Jeromy Anglim",
"author_id": 62,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/62",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><a href=\"http://figshare.com/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Figshare</a> is an easy and free option. It is not field specific. It has an backup archiving system. Submitted work tends to get indexed by Google and Google Scholar.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 75048,
"author": "E.P.",
"author_id": 820,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/820",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>One more recent place for this is <a href=\"https://socopen.org/2016/07/09/announcing-the-development-of-socarxiv-an-open-social-science-archive/\" rel=\"nofollow\"><strong>SocArXiv</strong></a>, currently found <a href=\"http://socarxiv.org\" rel=\"nofollow\">here</a>, which was started in July 2016, so it is still in development. I'm not sure whether they will end up accepting theses or not (but, in principle, I'd go for a ¿why not? response), but it's worth a look.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/10 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/6115",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4475/"
]
|
6,116 | <p>As an academic in the university, how do you organize your self from the beginning of a semester?</p>
<p>For example: </p>
<ul>
<li>How do you take the absent students names?</li>
<li>How do prepare your materials?</li>
<li>How do you write a syllabus for students and do you hand them out?</li>
<li>What computer programs do you use to plan your lessons?</li>
</ul>
<p>I started my career as a lecturer last semester and I found myself not organized so I need to learn from your experience. </p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 6117,
"author": "Community",
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"text": "<ol>\n<li>For teaching it is a must that you prepare a syllabus. Actually you should also have a time schedule for your syllabus. I would also rethink about the order of the topics and the depth of my presentation as well as the example and exercises that I want to give students.</li>\n<li>Besides syllabus, I suggest you explain your methods of evaluation including your exams, homeworks, class presentations, etc. </li>\n<li>Giving a list of useful books and other reading materials is also helpful, especially in advanced courses. </li>\n</ol>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 6120,
"author": "JeffE",
"author_id": 65,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>How do you take the absent students names?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I don't. If a student finds my lectures boring or useless, they shouldn't waste their time coming to class. <em>(As others point out, there are very good reasons to require attendance in laboratory-, studio-, and discussion-based classes.)</em></p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>How do prepare your materials?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Coffee and LaTeX. Lots of coffee and LaTeX.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>How do you write a syllabus for students and do you hand them out?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>When I started out, I modified the syllabus from the previous iteration of the course, which was taught by an experienced instructor, so I could be sure to include all the necessary details. I used to hand out the syllabus on the first day of class, but now I just post it on the well-advertised course web site.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>What computer programs do you use to plan your lessons?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I write everything in LaTeX (specifically, TeXShop) and distribute everything as PDF files on the course web site. (See the first question.) I also use SubEthaEdit to edit the course web pages themselves.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 6121,
"author": "Suresh",
"author_id": 346,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>One issue is not mentioned above, and is very important. </p>\n\n<p>Make sure to state and post policies ahead of time for:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>how you'll deal with late submission of homeworks</li>\n<li>what your policy on cheating/plagiarism is</li>\n<li>any related university policies that students need to be made aware of.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>These are more important than you might imagine. At the very least, having the policy allows you to be consistent when dealing with student excuses, and prevents you from having to make up policy as you go along. If someone is caught cheating, it will be important to have an up-front policy that you can point to, otherwise it will be difficult to penalize the student. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 6124,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This semester I'm teaching a brand new course at my university. It's an elective course, so I can be much more of the \"mad scientist experimenting.\" </p>\n\n<p>I have a generic list of topics, and a general plan for the number of lectures during the semester. That means I can organize things loosely, rather than specifying in exhaustive detail what will be covered in each lecture before the start of the semester. Some topics have taken me much less time than I anticipated, and others have run much longer. </p>\n\n<p>I have been using a combination of LaTeX and <a href=\"http://fletcherpenney.net/multimarkdown\">MultiMarkdown</a> to prepare my lecture notes. I have also made the conscious decision <em>not</em> to use slides, but instead to go \"old-school\" and lecture at the blackboard. I've found this makes the pace of the course slower, and allows me to focus on the major concepts, rather than trying to cram too much material into a single lecture. However, I do publish the lecture notes following the end of each lecture, making it easier for students to keep up with the material. </p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/10 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/6116",
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"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4524/"
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|
6,125 | <p>Sorry if this is off-topic, just close or delete this thread if that is the case.</p>
<p>Is anyone aware of 2-year Masters programs in mathematics that sufficiently prepare a student for a potential PhD, and accepts students who did not do so well (achieve the equivalent of an Australian honours degree) or did not major in mathematics?</p>
<p>It seems to me most masters programs in the UK and Australia are done over 1 year, and require at least Honours div. 2A for entry. While the masters programs from the well-known US universities require the same, and some even need students to pass PhD entrance exams for entry. Anyone familiar with programs that fit the description in the previous paragraph? Prestige really isn't a factor here.</p>
| [
{
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"author": "Luke Mathieson",
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"pm_score": 2,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>From a (nostly) Australian perspective:</p>\n\n<p>Do you want Masters by research, or by coursework? I assume by 2A you mean 2nd class 1st division (normally this would be called a 2-1). </p>\n\n<p>Most research Masters degrees (in Australia) are 2 years, and you typically need a 2-2 (or a Desmond... geddit?) for entry (a credit average equivalent), a 2-1 is only needed for the vague hope of an APA scholarship (in practice a 1st is needed for that).</p>\n\n<p>Coursework Masters are typically aimed at professionals to enhance CVs and skill-sets, so they're normally not the route to a PhD (especially in maths), and are usually 1 year.</p>\n\n<p>My experience of the UK system is that it's largely similar to the Australian, though I have spent less time in it, a 2nd class degree is all that's required for entry into a Masters (so 2-2 would be sufficient).</p>\n\n<p>The US system is somewhat different though (but warning, my experience with the US system is from the outside, so take this with a grain of salt). For those looking at a PhD, you typically join a graduate programme, which has 2 years of coursework followed by 3 years of research largely as a single continuous (or at least contiguous) programme. Often the 2 years coursework will gain you a Masters degree, but this is a \"Masters in passing\", and is not strictly necessary for progression (this set up is also why the entry exams might turn up at the start in the US).</p>\n\n<p>So after all that, what you want to look for is \"Masters by research\" programmes, normally each department at the university will have some information about it on their website under something like \"Postgraduate Study\", or similar (perhaps \"graduate school\" in the US, but read carefully). These are the ones aimed at PhD preparation, though in Australia and the UK, there is typically no or minimal coursework, so if you need to catch up, it's up to you and your supervisor to ensure that this happens.</p>\n\n<p>The less pleasant part is that if you only have a 3rd class degree, then you're going to have a tougher time of it. In this case you may want to talk to academics at the university you're interested in about what you can do to demonstrate appropriate ability. Another option is to bite the bullet and complete a 1 year masters course to attempt to demonstrate that you have the skills and knowledge required. A really extreme suggestion would be to complete another undergraduate degree specifically in mathematics (many universities offer a specific BMath or similar) to close the gap.</p>\n\n<p>Finally, if you're in a position to go for a Masters by research, take some care picking a university that offers research in an area you're interested in. Think about what areas of maths you like, see where the people who do that are and talk to them. The vast majority of academics in Aus./UK/US are keen an interested to talk to people who want to get involved in their area and they tpyically don't stand on ceremony, so you don't have to be too worried about formalities (but be polite of course!).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 38520,
"author": "Beginner",
"author_id": 29082,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/29082",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would suggest the online master program of John Hopkins University. GRE is not required, and if you are not a math major, you can start with the undergraduate courses. </p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/10 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/6125",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2784/"
]
|
6,127 | <p>For a grant I am writing, I need to describe how I mined data from social media sites. I collected data from sites such as Twitter using each site's API and a Python wrapper. In writing my methods, I assume that I should mention which APIs I used, or at least that I used an API. </p>
<p>Do I need to provide a citation if I refer to using, say, the Python wrapper for Twitter's API. If so, how do I do that? </p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 6128,
"author": "eykanal",
"author_id": 73,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/73",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I don't think you'll find any documented correct way to do this. Personally, I would write a sentence saying that I did it, a sentence describing what an API is, and a link to the version-specific API documentation website (i.e., <code>https://developers.google.com/youtube/v3/</code> for the API Version 3 instead of <code>https://developers.google.com/youtube/</code> the general Youtube API help website).</p>\n\n<p>If you're including code in the submission, consider adding the API code in an appendix.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 6140,
"author": "Leon palafox",
"author_id": 2806,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2806",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I don't think there is a standard way, some APIs have a notes sections that have things like citations, and things like that.</p>\n\n<p>Sometimes, the API comes attached to some paper, in which case you should cite the paper. </p>\n\n<p>I've mostly seen people citing the webpage itself if no other resource is available</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/10 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/6127",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28/"
]
|
6,129 | <p>I am not based in academia so unsure what the protocols (and the underlying and unwritten conventions are) in regard to getting my first paper published in a peer reviewed journal.</p>
<p>The paper will come out of my PhD dissertation.</p>
<p>How do I start the ball rolling?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 6131,
"author": "Luke Mathieson",
"author_id": 1370,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1370",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>The procedural parts are pretty simple:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Select the journal you're interested in submitting to.</li>\n<li>Read their \"Instructions for Authors\".</li>\n<li><em>Follow</em> those instructions.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>It may sound trite putting it that way, but journals are typically pretty good at being clear about what they want, both in terms of content areas and format & typography.</p>\n\n<p>What you also need to do is identify what you want to take from your PhD, and determine what the \"narrative\" structure of that material is - a paper that's just a bunch of random things with no through-line is not a great paper.</p>\n\n<p>You may also want to take the time to look at the editorial board of the journal you're interested in, find who is knowledgeable in the topic of your paper and be sure to indicate (in the manner proscribed in the instructions for authors) that you'd like them to be the editor in charge of your paper. A good choice here can help ensure that it's reviewed by the right people for the job.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 6136,
"author": "RSG",
"author_id": 4462,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4462",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Luke Mathieson covered all the necessary points. I am just adding a few supplementary ones. As a PhD student, I can assure you that opinion of your guide regarding the choice of the journal also matters (I mean, he/she wants to send somewhere and you somewhere else can create conflict and better avoided). If you have followed up works of some earlier works, then you can try in the journals where the those earlier papers were published. </p>\n\n<p>One more point. Sometimes it is important to get a quick publication. For which you need to sacrifice a little and go for a journal with fast publication. You did not write your field. In Mathematics and some Theoretical Computer Science journals take an year or more for publication. TCS conference proceeding are faster and many of them are referred (and something like FOCS publication can change your life). Physics journals (theory) are generally fast. To be in safer side, keep a copy in arxiv. </p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/10 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/6129",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4475/"
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|
6,130 | <p>I have now completed my PhD by research. </p>
<p>I received support from my supervisor in the form of advice on my chapters (for which I am indebted to him; we have a very good working relationship).</p>
<p>The advice mostly related to clarity of arguments. My supervisor was not actively involved in my research and he did not amend or add to any chapters. He just provided broad advice on the contents of each chapter so that I can fulfil the requirements of my degree.</p>
<p>In this case, should I credit him as a joint author in any paper I may publish from my dissertation? I cannot see a case for joint copyright of my work!</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 6141,
"author": "Paul Hiemstra",
"author_id": 4091,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4091",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think this kinds of discussions boil down to if a person has had a significant impact on the paper. This can be in either of the following categories:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>conception and design of the project</li>\n<li>data collection</li>\n<li>data analysis and conclusions</li>\n<li>manuscript preparation</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>These are the categories in the quantitative uniform authorship declaration (QUAD) system (Verhagen JV, Wallace KJ, Collins SC, Scott TR (2003) <em>QUAD system offers fair shares to all authors</em>. Nature 426: 602., or <a href=\"http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1299064/\">this link</a> for some information). THe QUAD system quantifies what each author has contributed to. Ofcourse, where you put the line when someone is a co-author or not is debatable.</p>\n\n<p>If your supervisor does not tick a lot of boxes, you could put him in the acknowledgements of your papers. Alternatively, if you feel his contribution is significant in either of the above categories, or more than one, add him as an author. </p>\n\n<p>In addition, co-authorships come reasonably cheap. You have collaborated on your project, and you make your supervisor happy with an additional publication. Also, your supervisor is probably more well known in your field of study. If he associates himself with this paper that might mean more attention for your paper, although how valid this point is depends on the reputation of your supervisor.</p>\n\n<p>In regard to copyright, often you sign the copyright of your paper over to the publisher of the paper. Maybe you do not mean copyright, but attribution. You did the work, and adding him as a co-author makes it look like you did not do it alone. If you feel like this, it looks like you feel his contribution has not been significant enough to make him co-author.</p>\n\n<p>A lot of things to consider.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 6143,
"author": "anon",
"author_id": 4549,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4549",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>From your description it sounds like your supervisor was acting as a supervisor, not as a collaborator; however without knowing the exact details of his contributions, and what the etiquette/standards of your field are, it would be impossible for us to assess whether or not he should be a co-author. Why not just ask him? </p>\n\n<p>Also, keep in mind that in certain fields it may look bad if your post-PhD publications are all joint with your supervisor - people sometimes assume that means the supervisor did all the work, or question your ability to perform independent research. For this reason, even if his contributions to your work were substantial, your supervisor may prefer to forgo being a co-authour to help your career. Best is to just ask. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 6145,
"author": "Pedro",
"author_id": 495,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/495",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I'll assume that you have a good relationship to your PhD advisor and that you can have a reasonable discussion with him. If this is not the case, then ignore the following as you will potentially have much bigger things to worry about.</p>\n\n<p>It sounds as if the papers have not been written yet, so I'd suggest you discuss this with him as soon as possible. Lay out to him which papers you want to write, what will be in them, and where you plan to submit them, and ask him if he would like to be a co-author on any of them.</p>\n\n<p>Now, the important thing is that this co-authorship you're offering is <em>not a free ride</em>. I would assume that a good supervisor knows that this will imply a significant contribution to the preparation of the manuscript and/or any follow-up work that still needs to be done. If he is willing to <em>actively</em> contribute to the papers, then you have a <em>bona fide</em> co-author and nothing to worry about.</p>\n\n<p>If your supervisor is not willing to contribute anything to your publications, then there is no reason to add him as a co-author.</p>\n\n<p>In any case, you should be open and honest about your intentions. Your supervisor is a very important person in the critical post-PhD phase of your academic career, and even if you leave academia, he is your previous employer. In any case, he will be writing all your letters of recommendation, so don't do anything that may have a negative influence on your relationship.</p>\n\n<p><strong>In summary</strong>: Ask him first, and if necessary, remind him that co-authorship implies active collaboration. If he does actively collaborate, you have a good and valuable co-author, and if he does not, he will either not want co-authorship, or you will have a valid reason not to add him.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 167157,
"author": "HE Pennypacker",
"author_id": 139209,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/139209",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I know this is quite old, but I am providing an answer as I have experienced something similar recently. Given your description, it looks like you have done the majority (>90%) of the work and, as such, I see no reason why you should even bother with asking your supervisor if they like to be a co-author.</p>\n<p>I strongly disagree with Pedro's suggestion, as if you do ask them, they're unlikely to say no (who DOESN'T want to be a co-author on a paper?). And if they say yes, then you have no guarantee that they will do the amount of work necessary for said authorship. In fact, and from my experience, listing someone as a co-author <em>in the hope</em> that they will, along the way, contribute in a way that makes them deserving of that authorship is counterproductive and poor project management. As you said, you've already done the majority of the work - what makes you think that someone who wasn't actively involved in the research will do a good job writing the paper?</p>\n<p>PhD students vary. Some of us are self-motivated and know what we're doing and thus require next to no-input from supervisors. Others are not so fortunate and require significant input from supervisors. I see no reason why supervisors should be included as co-authors in the case of the former. Hope it's all sorted now.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/10 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/6130",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4475/"
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|
6,133 | <p>I have been invited to write a book chapter in an edited volume, relating to my field of work. I have a paper ready that I have not published and was planning to submit it soon. So, I am wondering is it worth to use that article for the book chapter, as both are on the same topic, or is it in a sense a waste of a journal paper, as book chapters might not be seen to have the same academic value? What should I do? Should I, instead, send the ready paper to a journal for a review and write a book chapter, based on a couple papers I have published, for instance?</p>
<p>Generally speaking, where does a book chapter stand? Is it something between a conference paper and a full-fledged journal article? Or, does does it have the same value as either of the above-mentioned publication types, in your opinion?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 6137,
"author": "Luke Mathieson",
"author_id": 1370,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1370",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Like a lot of things in academia, I think this will heavily depend on what discipline you're in. In computer science for example, while there's nothing wrong with a book chapter, a paper at a conference or in a journal is typically more valuable.</p>\n\n<p>The reason normally given is that papers are peer reviewed (as compared to edited), so they are somehow more 'valid'.</p>\n\n<p>Having said that, there's always myriad exceptions. Writing a whole book that everyone uses is much better than a few papers. Later in the career, book chapters perhaps gain value as they're a mark of respect and prestige (once you've already proven your research ability).</p>\n\n<p>As a counter-point though, from my limited experience, it seems that book chapters are much more common in bioinformatics and operations research, and thus are viewed more highly.</p>\n\n<p>Talk to fellow academics in your area, their opinion will be the best guide.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 6147,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In my field a peer reviewed article counts for a lot more than a chapter in an edited book. That said, a published chapter in an edited book counts a lot more for job searches than a working/submitted/under review/under revision manuscript. Often edited books lead to a publication in press much quicker than a journal. I would definitely look into the time scale of the book chapter.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 50019,
"author": "Jim Conant",
"author_id": 9464,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9464",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It may depend on the book. If the other chapters are being authored by big shots, then their prestige could rub off. On the other hand, if the other chapters are authored by less well-known people, then it might not be seen as that great. Another thing to consider: your university or department might weight impact factors in their assessment of your research quality, which means publishing in a good journal will be of the most benefit. In the end, the strength of the article itself will say a lot, independent of the publishing venue. If it becomes a classic in the field with lots of citations, then that's pretty good, no matter what.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 65432,
"author": "Antonio",
"author_id": 50992,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/50992",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It's based of field but the general rule is to pump articles because they are peer reviewed. However some publishers have a review process so if the chapter is in a handbook or in a collection that will be important to the field then you're good. Look at publisher rankings and try to only publish chapters under top ranked book publishers. If you're a junior tenure track then ask colleagues and dean for tenure and promotion info. I will say that in the humanities or social sciences you are more likely to have your chapter cited by another person in their work than an article. Hope some of this helps.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/11 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/6133",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4467/"
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|
6,134 | <p>My course require students to take 2 mid-term exams and one final exam. What should I do if some students didn't attend the first mid-term exam or the second one. Should I mark them Zero or repeat the exam for them? What is the best strategy in this regard?</p>
<p><strong>Update:</strong> Although I gave them instructions from the beginning of the course. Some of them said that they were absent when I gave those instructions. Some of them said that they were sick and some said that they had an appointment with a dentist at same time of the exam, for example!</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 6138,
"author": "Javeer Baker",
"author_id": 4475,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4475",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would argue for consistency and responsibility. </p>\n\n<p>You need to be consistent on how you apply the rule (i.e. what you told your students about missing exams at the beginning of the semester).</p>\n\n<p>It is the responsibility of students to ensure they meet the requirements of the course (in order to obtain a satisfactory outcome). If there are any adverse circumstances, they need to be able to give you evidence (e.g. doctor's certificate).</p>\n\n<p>Do remember, though, that we are all humans. A good teacher is also one who understands! (You hold the power in this case.)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 6139,
"author": "Leon palafox",
"author_id": 2806,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2806",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I will talk from my own experience:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>Being absent in the first class, is by no means a good excuse, back in my student days (before ubiquitous email information and professor's webpages) if you missed the first class, you would at least ask the sensible question of when the hell the midterm exam is.</p></li>\n<li><p>As a student, their prime responsibility is to, well.. study! And while I understand that some of them would have conflicting issues if they have to work (which are usually solved if you have a nice enough boss), other scheduling issues like an appointment with the dentist (that can be done any other day) are also not a valid excuse.</p></li>\n<li><p>Being a teacher of a 50+ student class, has a high likelihood that at least one of them may be sick the day of the exam, in those cases (hell, I've had teachers that were sick on the mid term's day), I agree that there should be some kind of Doctor's certificate around. </p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>If you think the absence is somewhat justified, you can always make them retake the exam.</p>\n\n<p>In my school, most teachers would make the student do this over finals.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 6142,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>If the instructions were only given orally, and <em>not recorded</em> in written form that is globally accessible (either in a printed syllabus, or an online forum), then you don't have documentary evidence of the instructions being given. </p>\n\n<p>If this is the case, I would follow the standard university procedures, if there are some available, governing this situation. If there are none, then <em>For this offering only</em>, and only in the case where no printed instructions were given, I would allow students to take a make-up exam. </p>\n\n<p>On the other hand, if there is documented evidence of your policy, then you should follow the policy as it's given.</p>\n\n<p>In any case, however, it's always a good idea to allow \"documented\" reasons (for example, illness, court appearances, schedule conflicts if exams are scheduled outside of regular time slots) to be excused, with a clear policy for what will happen (students can take a makeup exam; other grades are reweighted).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 6162,
"author": "Ricardo Segovia",
"author_id": 4560,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4560",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Depending on the reason they weren't present at the tests, i would take the decision of giving them a Zero unless they provide a plausible reason on why did they end up missing those tests, and apply common reasoning. If they were sick or somewhat binded by \"higher forces\", you can lend them a hand, but if they missed because of something else (even a doctor's appointment) and did not justify themselves BEFORE the date was due, a Zero it is. You might be their teacher, but you have to tell them to be open about things and be able to <strong>ASK YOU</strong> if they need help on something.</p>\n\n<p>As someone already said, you are not at fault for them not showing to your first class (Sylabus class), and they could simply \"ask around\" for information about your class (at least ask you about some guidelines). Take it like an employee: If someone misses a day of work, they must bring themselves \"up to speed\" on whatever happened on that missing day, and cannot abide by the \"i wasn't here\" to cover their asses. University courses should not be considered an exception (you can consider that for students, their courses should be like having a job, and adjust accordingly to those responsabilities).</p>\n\n<p>Now, if you gave sufficient notice on which dates your tests would be done, and they have the means to contact you and let you know of any problems they might have, then there is no excuse for them to miss your tests.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 176330,
"author": "Tu Poa",
"author_id": 147736,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/147736",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If the information regarding the exam was published, then fail them and if no other screw ups, allow for makeup on last day of class. Kidnaping and torture by evil Nuns may be excepted with video proof. Life is tough and it is very unforgiving and it is their job to grow up and become responsible, it is not your job to teach them responsibility. It is your job to impart knowledge. You are not doing your job by allowing them leniency, nit to mention it is unfair to the others.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/11 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/6134",
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|
6,144 | <p>I have a student who failed an exam I gave three months ago and was supposed to show up for a remediation exam this week. The date was announced long in advance, and the student neither showed (all the others did show up) nor warned me. Now, she is asking for a new exam date, saying she was absent due to “medical reasons”. She produced a certificate that she was seeing a doctor at the time, but nothing indicates that it was an urgent need (rather than, say, a scheduled appointment).</p>
<p>How would you handle such a case? I asked the administrative staff at my institution, and they told me to proceed as I saw fit. Should I ask a more specific justification? In what form?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 6146,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In my experience dealing with these types of things correctly takes more time and effort then letting them slide. Continue scheduling exam times for her until she takes the exam or the incomplete automatically converts to a fail. I would even reuse the last remediation exam instead of making a new exam. I would only schedule the exam at times that are convenient for me.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 6148,
"author": "Nobody",
"author_id": 546,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/546",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>To answer your last question, <em>Should I ask a more specific justification?</em>, I think not.</p>\n\n<p>If you do so, it may constitute a case of intrusion of privacy. She has the right to not tell you any details. And it does not matter what form the justification is. Besides, you might not be able to verify it.</p>\n\n<p>If I were you, I would fail her. You did everything you could including announcement in advance and the administration allows to do so.</p>\n\n<p>Also, you need to look at this issue from other student's perspective. It's <em>not</em> fair to them if you allow her more chances because she would have more time to prepare for the remediation exam than other students who already took it.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Edit</strong></p>\n\n<p>Everybody deserves a second chance. The first line of this question, <em>I have a student who failed at my exam three months ago</em>. I suspect that's why the remediation exam was there for.</p>\n\n<p>In the OP's question, the student missed it without prior warning. She wants it back. It's <strong><em>her</em></strong> responsibility to convince the prof that she has good execuse for missing it. However, <em>nothing indicates that it was an urgent need</em> on her document. The prof wasn't convinced that she had a good reason. So, he asked the question, can he request for more info? He really shouldn't because of privacy concern. The burden is on the student's shoulder, not the prof's. </p>\n\n<p>I would agree that in the general cases, the prof should not fail the student just because of his/her medical conditions. However, in the OP's question, it was a remediation exam already. IMO, one is enough. You missed it. Do you have a good reason? No?</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 6149,
"author": "Leon palafox",
"author_id": 2806,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2806",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If I understand correctly, your student had previous knowledge of her appointment, and I do agree that perhaps it was an appointment that was hard to get (some doctors or conditions may justify it).</p>\n\n<p>I agree that you should not pry, and respect her privacy, and she is entitled not to tell you.</p>\n\n<p>Now, that said, it seems as it was not a medical emergency, so she had full knowledge at least a day ahead of said appointment. If we were living in 1970/80s with no cellphones/email/sms, etc, she might have some justification on not notifying you. But we are not, she should have sent an email (out of sole courtesy for the time you already set apart so she does not fail).</p>\n\n<p>If it were me, I would fail her, it gives 2 messages, you should do well on your first try and, if given a second chance, you cannot get really picky, it also teaches to respect other people's times. (Oh my, three lessons in one go, that is more of what she gets if you keep giving her chances)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 6150,
"author": "paul garrett",
"author_id": 980,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would allow rescheduling, but be sure to use a different exam.</p>\n\n<p>As some other answers indicated, one probably does not want to get embroiled in the details of the student's medical situation, and it may be inappropriate, besides. (I think it would be illegal in the U.S. to ask for details beyond a general note from the doctor.) Thus, one simply cannot have the information to know whether missing the exam was frivolous or not.</p>\n\n<p>With regard to communication, yes, in principle one imagines that the student would have been able to contact you <em>in advance</em> to explain that (s)he'd miss the exam. But, again, without prying, one cannot know.</p>\n\n<p>Yes, the odds may be good that the situation is due to student negligence than medical emergencies... and we should hope so, in the larger scheme of things. But, since we cannot be sure, my choice would be to treat the situation as a medical emergency, whose details I will not know. <em>And</em> allow further exam retake.</p>\n\n<p>As to whether allowing further exam retakes is fair to the students who've managed to do things on schedule... if there was a genuine medical emergency, we are attempting to compare incomparables. If not, my consolation is that, in my experience, students who miss exams due to their own negligence or disorganization similarly fail to \"profit\" by extra chances.</p>\n\n<p>Thus, I take claims of medical/personal emergencies at face value, and do not restrict re-takes of exams.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 6151,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>At the university where I teach, a student who fails to show up for a registered exam will be given a failing grade <em>unless</em> he or she presents a medical excuse. I suspect it works similar where you are (given the system you're describing).</p>\n\n<p>In this case, I think your best bet is to offer an additional remediation exam, but also indicate that there is a time limit to the extensions she can take—if she has not passed the exam by the end of the semester, a \"did not take\" or failing grade is to be submitted instead, as appropriate.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 6152,
"author": "DrProfZeusHammer",
"author_id": 4553,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4553",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>It seems you have the answer with regard to procedure. The question now is what you should do in terms of \"fairness\" or ethics.</p>\n\n<p>Educators and students should approach the work from the same perspective - for the student to learn. Academics should not be punitive, nor should they be a race to the bottom between the \"good kids\" who do everything right and hand their work in on time and the \"slackers\" or \"hot messes\" who can't seem to get anything in on time (flanked by the excuse-makers who suffer heavily from the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect\" rel=\"noreferrer\">Dunning-Kruger effect</a>). The most pleasurable students to teach are those who truly care about the subject matter. Unfortunately, a lot of students forget this and are instead overwhelmed by the stress of grades, lack of structure, etc.</p>\n\n<p>Your best bet is to have a frank discussion with the student. Is she currently in danger of failing the class? Is she a borderline case? Whatever you do, don't assume that she's being manipulative. Instead, tell her that you would like to reschedule, but you're concerned that this might happen again. Ask her how <em>she</em> thinks she's doing in the class and what she would like to have happen. From there, talk options. Does she have the option to just drop the class (at most places, faculty can get around deadlines rather easily)? What is her worst case scenario? Is she prepared for the final? She should have the option to take the exam, but it might be a good opportunity to talk about actions she can take to prevent this sort of thing from happening in the future. Talk about learning from failure and taking measures to prevent this in the future. It's possible she's a pathological liar, but it's also possible that she's a kid who needs more guidance navigating the adult world.</p>\n\n<p>No matter what, you ought to give her a chance to take the exam again and open communication about her status in your class. Invite her to your office hours to talk and tell her to email you back if she can't make it. If she fails to respond, then you have to fail her, but making sure that it's an emotionally neutral experience is probably your best bet.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 6155,
"author": "Raye Keslensky",
"author_id": 4555,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4555",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I've had friends in this situation -- the thing about medical problems is that some of them are quite chronic (and thus, what happened before could happen again), as opposed to the one-time medical emergency that the system seems designed for. </p>\n\n<p>Compound this with the hardness of getting THAT doctor for THAT date to prevent medications from running out or to avoid being dropped by that doctor, and even a prescheduled appointment becomes a non-neogitable enterprise (although if that were the case, I'd think she could have warned you!)</p>\n\n<p>Let her retest, but I see no need to redo the exam unless you have reason to believe she is using this as a way to cheat or otherwise buy time. </p>\n\n<p>If she does it again, well... you can keep retesting, but I've known professors that failed someone for less. At that point I think it's more a case of whether you like this student enough not to autofail her for something unrelated to the actual material.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 6158,
"author": "Peter K.",
"author_id": 3965,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/3965",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>When I was in this situation, I just allowed the student to reschedule, but that the exam format would change to an <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_exam\">oral exam</a>.</p>\n\n<p>I've found (after a bit of practice) that oral exams are a great way of deciding grades or making pass/fail decisions. I even started to use them in my regular assessments.</p>\n\n<p>The content of the oral exam should be based on the remediation exam that the student missed, but can be more free-ranging in terms of what extra questions you can ask.</p>\n\n<p>I also suggest allowing the student to have a companion present in the exam room. The companion can be there, but cannot speak (unless asked by you). Many students get freaked out by oral exams if they haven't done them before, so allowing a trusted companion to be there often (somewhat) alleviates their stress.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 6166,
"author": "Tobias Kienzler",
"author_id": 442,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/442",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>While the involved doctor most certainly is not allowed to tell you <em>why</em> she was there, I wouldn't be too surprised if they (or their receptionist) might confirm <em>if</em> the appointment was made long ago or not. That will of course not protect you from them being somehow related to your student and lie, but it's hopefully unlikely.</p>\n\n<p><strong>edit</strong> As mentioned in the comments, the doctor/receptionist is not obliged to provide any information and may refuse to do so for their own sake. You could ask your student for a prove <em>if</em> she claims it was not planned long ago, but then again, <strong>in dubio pro reo</strong>.</p>\n\n<p>You could ask her to either wait until the next year's exam (if possible), or invite her to an oral exam quite soon - after all, the visit to the doctor is supposed to have been spontaneous, so she should be prepared enough to manage that while you can infer whether the student was trying to gain time or not.</p>\n\n<p>And while it would suck to later learn she lied, it would suck even more if you turned out to be wrong. She'll have enough other exams to prove her honesty, I suspect.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 6178,
"author": "earthling",
"author_id": 2692,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2692",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In my school, redo exams have a maximum grade of the minimum grade to pass. The idea is that if a student can't pass the first time, they best they can do is 'just pass' and not more. For medical reasons, maybe consider the first redo an actual first attempt. However, the latest seems like a bit more than reasonable (someone that sick should stop attending classes and focus on her health). </p>\n\n<p>So, I would give her another exam but her maximum grade would be the minimum passing grade.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 18721,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This student has already had three opportunities to get a better outcome:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>She could have learned the material and passed the original exam.</p></li>\n<li><p>She could have shown up for the remediation exam.</p></li>\n<li><p>She could have contacted the instructor in a timely manner about the doctor's appointment.</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>She blew all three opportunities. There is no need for further hand-holding. The appropriate response is to let her grade on the original exam stand. Any other response is unfair to the other students, who played by the rules.</p>\n\n<p>Speculation about the difficulty of scheduling a doctor's appointment at a particular time is beside the point. She still could have contacted the instructor in a timely manner.</p>\n\n<p>Speculation that it could have been an emergency is beside the point. She hasn't asserted that it was an emergency.</p>\n\n<p>Concerns about her medical privacy are beside the point. For example, if it was a life-threatening situation or an unforseeable situation, then she could have asserted that without volunteering the details. She didn't.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 109955,
"author": "Brian Borchers",
"author_id": 4453,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4453",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>She's had plenty of opportunities to study and prepare for the exam. My response would be something like \"Have a seat and take the exam now.\" There's no reason for you to be at all flexible about rescheduling and no excuse that the student can have for not immediately taking the exam. Having the student take (and most likely fail) the exam would settle the issue once and for all. </p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/11 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/6144",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700/"
]
|
6,154 | <p>Often I've come across rules of thumb about maintaining active publication record. The advice I've most often been given is that one should have at least two papers under review at all times? What's your strategy? I am in the social sciences.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 6156,
"author": "user2643",
"author_id": 3847,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/3847",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As many as you possibly can (as long as they are quality submissions).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 6160,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Saying you should always have <em>N</em> papers under review is foolish. Say <em>N</em> = 2. You've just submitted a paper, and then a few days later, the other paper comes back from review with an acceptance notice well ahead of schedule (in two months instead of four). Does that mean you have to submit another one immediately, in order to have two in the pipeline? That doesn't make sense to me, as it makes your work subject to arbitrary deadlines that are orthogonal to producing high-quality publications. </p>\n\n<p>You should keep a general track of how the work in your group (or your own work, if you report to someone else). You should also keep track of the general expectations of someone <em>at your current career stage</em>, and make sure that your publication output is consistent with your peers. (Don't worry about exact agreement: producing 80 or 90% of the total output is not really a big deal; producing 25 to 50% is likely to be an issue.)</p>\n\n<p>Beyond that, however, you should focus on making sure your publications have quality, with a much lesser emphasis on quantity. One <em>Nature</em> or <em>Physical Review Letters</em> (or equivalent journal in your chosen field) article is probably worth a lot more than two or three publications in other journals.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 6163,
"author": "JeffE",
"author_id": 65,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><strong>You're simply asking the wrong question.</strong> Your goal should be to do the <strong>best</strong> work you can, not the <strong>most</strong> — quality, not quantity. One revolutionary paper is worth far more than dozens of incremental papers that nobody reads.</p>\n\n<p>To put it another way, if you find yourself submitting so many papers that you're worried about being overwhelmed, you're doing something wrong. Aim higher. Publish fewer, bigger chunks of work. Spend less time writing and more time thinking and digging. Stop just writing papers and develop a research program. The CV bullets will take care of themselves.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 6169,
"author": "Benoît Kloeckner",
"author_id": 946,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/946",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I somewhat agrees with JeffE, but on the other hand it's not like one can just decide to write a ground breaking paper.</p>\n\n<p>Having a steady stream of visible work is something positive to get a job, and one should neither publish dozen of small papers nor stall on a very important problem he cannot solve.</p>\n\n<p>One way to get a good balance is to aim for a given stream of papers : if you get them easily, then try harder problem, if you don't, then maybe you should try something more manageable. Of course, what you aim at is very dependent of your field (and even sub-field).</p>\n\n<p>I am in fundamental mathematics and personally like to have, at any given time, at least one paper under review, one paper that mostly needs writing, one idea to develop that could make a paper. In that way, I can focus each (non-absorbed-by-other-task-than-research-)day on what I feel like: writing, reading to back up the idea, do the needed computations, etc. Moreover, having a submitted paper makes me feel more comfortable trying things that take time but have a good chance to fail.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11485,
"author": "Anonymous",
"author_id": 6110,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6110",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>JeffE's answer is excellent, and probably the most "correct". Nevertheless, as food for thought I offer the following anecdote from Bayles and Orland's <em>Art and Fear</em>:</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>The ceramics teacher announced on opening day that he was dividing the class into two groups. All those on the left side of the studio, he said, would be graded solely on the quantity of work they produced, all those on the right solely on its quality. His procedure was simple: on the final day of class he would bring in his bathroom scales and weigh the work of the "quantity" group: fifty pound of pots rated an "A", forty pounds a "B", and so on. Those being graded on "quality", however, needed to produce only one pot - albeit a perfect one - to get an "A".</p>\n<p>Well, came grading time and a curious fact emerged: the works of highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity. It seems that while the "quantity" group was busily churning out piles of work - and learning from their mistakes - the "quality" group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay.</p>\n</blockquote>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11489,
"author": "Ana",
"author_id": 322,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/322",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The advice I've been given for cognitive neuroscience is to (1) make sure I have at least one publication every year, (2) invest the rest of my time in high quality work. </p>\n\n<p>The reasoning is that a full year's publication gap in your CV looks bad, but on the other hand, what people mostly look at when you apply for jobs is where you published the handful of your best papers. One or two high-impact publications are more likely to impress people than ten low-impact ones, but a publication gap looks bad regardless of where your best work got published. How many papers you should have under review at any given moment to fulfill this goal will depend you your research area and the duration of the review process.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/11 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/6154",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4554/"
]
|
6,161 | <p>The French <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classe_preparatoire_aux_grandes_ecoles" rel="noreferrer"><em>classes prépas</em></a> system includes, during the first two years of undergraduate (post-baccalaureate) education, a series of regular oral exams, known as <em>colles</em>. Basically: every week during your first two years, you have two oral exams, each lasting one hour, with one teacher examining two or three students, each using a blackboard. A science student would typically have math and chemistry on week A, then physics and another topic (engineering, foreign language, …) on week B. This system prepares students for national competitive exams after their second year, which includes both written and oral components.</p>
<p>Now, whenever I have to explain that system to a foreign colleague, I have to do it from the start (as above) because I do not know any other similar system they might know (especially, I don't know of any equivalent or similar system in the US). Is there one?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7617,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>The correct answer to this question is either <em>yes</em> or <em>no</em>. To answer <em>yes</em> one would simply need to provide a single example of another country with an oral exam system similar to the French system. To answer <em>no</em> we would need confirmation that no other country uses a similar system. To start the alphabetical list:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>United Kingdom: Undergraduate students at the top universities tend to begin their studies immediately following their A-Level examinations which do not have a substantial oral component. </li>\n<li>United States of America: Undergraduate students at the top universities tend to begin their studies immediately following their high school/secondary education. Admission is based upon performance throughout high school and standardize test neither of which have a substantial oral component.</li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 10418,
"author": "anais",
"author_id": 7338,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7338",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I'm from Serbia and study at the Faculty of Philosophy. Almost all exams are oral, except for some that require you write a paper on a topic of your choice. We also have a few courses that require tests, that you have to pass so you can take an oral exam. This system is used for all humanities studies and other social studies as far as I am aware of.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 10447,
"author": "lcrmorin",
"author_id": 6588,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6588",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There may be oral exams in others country but as far as I know there is nothing like \"colles\", colles aren't \"exams\", they are trainings for the oral part of a national competition. </p>\n\n<p>The reason is simple: the classe prépa / Grande Ecole system is unique to france. The main reason to go to \"classe prépa\" is not to learn but to go to the best \"grande ecole\". </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 161039,
"author": "user133726",
"author_id": 133726,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/133726",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This is the same system in Russia and it’s the standard. Although not once every two weeks as you describe. They are more like end of semester exams. Usually students will be given a list of 30 questions on the subject. Let’s say it’s chemistry.</p>\n<p>The students will have to know how to answer all these questions, as 2 will be asked at random by the professor on exam day. Students should talk for about 5 minutes for each question. So actually the professors have the longer working day going through all the students. And students come in for their 10 minute slot. I believe this system is only in universities.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 170434,
"author": "belluno44",
"author_id": 142241,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/142241",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In Italy almost all exams are oral. We get used to it since elementary school.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/11 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/6161",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700/"
]
|
6,164 | <p>I have an MSc degree and I work at university as a lecturer. However, the university has a policy where you should do your PhD within a given time frame. The problem is that I'm not interested in any area yet, nor am I interested in doing the work associated with a PhD.</p>
<p>Should I just go with it because the university forces me to do it, or should I just quit from the university and look for another job? </p>
<p>What do you think? Can I succeed if I start doing my PhD while i feel that I'm forced to do it?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 6165,
"author": "Leon palafox",
"author_id": 2806,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2806",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>In my university back in Mexico, they had something similar, if professors want to get ahead (income, professional, etc) they had to an additional degree (Masters, PhD)</p>\n\n<p>I think that if you do not have the motivation, you'll have a lot of problems, doing a PhD is already a taxing endeavor, in the sense that many times you'll start wondering wether this was a good idea or not. </p>\n\n<p>As in many things in life, if you do this because you are made to (like students that go to college because their parents want to) you'll have lots of resentment.</p>\n\n<p>However, not all is lost, you can try looking for something you are really passionate about, and then try to do a PhD on that.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 6167,
"author": "Javeer Baker",
"author_id": 4475,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4475",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>A PhD has the potential to open many doors. Its better to do it when there is some motivation than regret later. Think six years from now and where you want to be and whether it would require a PhD.</p>\n\n<p>Do note that it is not easy. It requires hardwork and dedication. There would be many times when you would want to quit. So have a strong reason to pull you through when this happens. </p>\n\n<p>Most importantly, in my view you would be better placed in whatever field you choose with a PhD. You may be afraid of sacrificing three years of your life now but what about the rest of the years ahead. As the say, time flies. Only you can make the call.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 6168,
"author": "Paul Hiemstra",
"author_id": 4091,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4091",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Above all, a PhD is about learning how to become a researcher. You mention that you have a lecturer position, does it include doing research? If you want to become a researcher in addition to teaching, a PhD is the way to go. If performing research is what you want, doing a PhD is logical, and should be worth it. If you have no ambition in being a researcher, a PhD is going to be a very painful process, similar to doing any other job you do not enjoy. </p>\n\n<p>In the end, it is all about what you want. If you want to be a reseacher, do a PhD. If not, I would not recommend it. </p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/12 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/6164",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4524/"
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|
6,170 | <p>I'm not sure where to ask this so I thought I'd ask you here.</p>
<p>I'm in my 3rd year at university doing maths and some of the modules are a bit tricky. I know this and I know the way that I need to work in order to understand the material and pass the exams well. Due to this, I try and spend a lot of time learning the theory (and recently its been through loads of questions on here). However, what I noticed with some of my friends is that they don't put in the same amount of effort as me (quality wise).</p>
<p>Let's take the example on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semidirect_product" rel="nofollow">semidirect products</a>. A lot of us have been struggling with constructing SDP's, however I've tried very hard to learn the theory on them and what the answer's are looking for and what the methods I need to do (and why I'm doing them) to try and learn how to construct them. A lot of that has been on <a href="http://mathematics.stackexchange.com">Math.SE</a> but I've been referring to online PDF's and lecture notes as well. Now, my friends know that I put this in and try and learn it and so I can do the work properly, so I think they're trying to take advantage of that. </p>
<p>Today I showed one person how to do a question regarding compositions on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%B6bius_transformation" rel="nofollow">Möbius transforms</a> and they just refused to think for themselves. I said "think about it, because I'm not going to tell you what the answer is" and they still wouldn't think (just kept saying "I don't know"), so I didn't tell them the answer. Eventually, after some BIG hints, they got what to do. Now I've noticed people are relying on me to tell them how to construct SDP's (as this is a main question in the exam). From my history, you can see that I've struggled a lot with this and I think I'm close to solving this problem now, but at the same time I can tell that my friends aren't going to learn it themselves. Mentally they've given up and so won't even bother learning it. </p>
<p>My question is this: <strong>Should I tell them the answer, when (it is when and not if because I WILL get it!) I figure out how to do it?</strong></p>
<p>I feel bad because obviously I don't want to lie and say "I don't know how to do it" or mess up their exam, but at the same time, I feel like they had the exact same time as me to do this, and the same resources (online, books, notes, ask the lecturer, etc.) yet they still didn't do it. So it's their own fault. Plus, the time it'd take me to teach and explain it to them, I could spend that couple of hours doing my own work. Other examples, revise another module, etc.</p>
<p>What should I do? Do you academics have any tips?</p>
<p>I'm sure you feel like this sometimes when people ask questions on here clearly without thinking about and just expect you to answer it.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 6171,
"author": "Paul",
"author_id": 931,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/931",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I've run into this situation far too many times. You're right to be frustrated, and you shouldn't have to devote your precious time to endeavors that bring you no benefit. </p>\n\n<p>Be honest and say something like \"I'd really like to help you, but I just don't have the time. If you'd like, I can share with you the resources that helped me understand it, but I have enough on my plate already.\" </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 6172,
"author": "Vics",
"author_id": 1098,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1098",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you have found certain resources useful in your quest to teach yourself then create a zip file containing the most useful to pass out to anyone who asks you for help. This is YOUR qualification and if you feel that you need to spend more time on your own studies in order to get the grade you deserve then don't waste that time spoon feeding others that are unlikely to be a part of your life 2 days after graduation.</p>\n\n<p>Your facility should have some form of online discussion forum so if you really feel responsible for the outcome of your cohorts exam then create a potted version of your findings on there so that everyone can benefit and you can just direct any people with further queries there - the added bonus to this is that your tutor may well add some clarification to what you write so if you have misunderstood something you also gain from doing this.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 6173,
"author": "Zenon",
"author_id": 257,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/257",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I do agree partially with Paul, when he says that you can feel frustrated and you shouldn't feel forced to answer every question for them. </p>\n\n<p>Although, I've noticed to be able to explain something, you need to understand them quite well. Even some times, you are forced to attack a problem from different point of views depending on who asks, since the same explanation won't be convincing to everyone. By doing so, you might make a new link between different part of the material, and increase your own understanding. In my experience, helping other students has almost always a net benefice and is a really good way to improve yourself.</p>\n\n<p>Also, as you continue, having only the answer will not get you much further and especially in math where concepts build upon each others, you will have a net advantage over all the others.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 6177,
"author": "earthling",
"author_id": 2692,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2692",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In my experience, undergraduate students are a lot like children. They will be as lazy as you allow them to be. They will resist learning. They will resist doing the work and putting in the time. It's human nature...and it is something we, as teachers, must get the students to change.</p>\n\n<p>Were I in your shoes, I would make it clear how to do something (as any teacher should) but I would certainly NOT do the work for them. If they keep saying \"I don't know\" then you should tell them \"It's OK. Not everybody gets it their first time. Perhaps you get it when you take this class for a second time.\" I usually see my students' eyes open a bit on this one as they see that you are being so compassionate and understanding while still being refused to be manipulated. They also get the clear understanding that they will fail if they don't do the work.</p>\n\n<p>We need to help students. That includes helping them to not be so lazy.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 15257,
"author": "Frames Catherine White",
"author_id": 8513,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8513",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I suggest repressing the natural urge of \"<em>They don't deserve this, I put in the work. They didn't, I deserve this.</em>\" as while it may feel good, it won't get you anywhere. You might like to keep enjoying the fact that you have shown you are a hard working independent learner, to feel satisfaction (that you deserve).</p>\n\n<p>Look at if from a Advantages and Costs of teaching</p>\n\n<p><strong>Advantages:</strong></p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Teaching is a fantastic way to cement your knowledge. (Many say it is the best way.)</li>\n<li>This gains you friends, or at least positive acquaintances. These people become your colleges, and industry contacts once you graduate.</li>\n<li>Gaining a reputation as a self-less helpful person, can open up doors to you.</li>\n<li>Teaching is a valuable life skill, that will help you rise through your chosen career</li>\n<li>Improving the quality and reputation of your institution. Obviously this is only a small step, but a journey of a thousand miles begins that way. If it becomes known that \"Graduates from X, really know there stuff.\" then you have increased the value of your degree, wrt getting jobs etc. </li>\n</ul>\n\n<p><strong>Costs:</strong></p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Time (this is a big one)</li>\n<li>Boredom, repeating stuff over an over, one you have completely got it, gets you no where.</li>\n<li>Grade Scaling: If your university scales the final grade, so that only your position relative to class average matters, letting other people fail will improve your score (by driving the average down). However you really have to cripple someone (or many people) especially in larger classes, to see any really benefit. It's a pretty cold strategy.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p><strong>Actions:</strong></p>\n\n<p>Look at the costs vs benefits, and be honest with your fellows, if it is not to your benefit to help them .</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>if you don't have time, tell them (that you don't have time).</li>\n<li>If you have got bord, tell them you can't keep going over the same stuff, you've move on the other things.</li>\n<li>If you are a harsh enough person to be motivated by Grade Scaling, tell them \"We're in direct competition, helping you is only hindering myself.\"</li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 28970,
"author": "learningaddict",
"author_id": 22218,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22218",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Students who don't put much effort in, do so usually because the material does not interest them. If you can make the material interesting enough to get them excited about it, they will begin to put in more effort.</p>\n\n<p>And to answer your question, should you tell them the answer? In most cases, no, you should not. No one learns by being told the answer. People only learn by coming to an answer using their own mind.</p>\n\n<p>On the other hand, if YOU don't know the answer, then you should first find the answer yourself, and THEN still don't tell them the answer but use the fact you now know the answer to help them reach the same conclusion (without telling them the answer).</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/11 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/6170",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4567/"
]
|
6,175 | <p>As a PhD student in CS I will have advancement to candidacy soon.
I am looking for information which helps me on the advancement exam.
Particularly:</p>
<ol>
<li>What does a committee expecting to hear from me?</li>
<li>What should I focus on during me presentation: should I tell them about work I have done or what I am planning to do?</li>
<li>If I need tell them what I am planning to do, then how to do that? I mean, research is vague, there is no clear guidance, and you don't know what will be in the end.</li>
</ol>
<p>Any comments that help better understand what to expect and how to prepare are very welcome!</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 6176,
"author": "seteropere",
"author_id": 532,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/532",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><em><strong>Ask your advisor and the program coordinator</em></strong>. Usually, each institute has a guide for the candidacy exam. The guide lists some general requirements and the method of examining. The answers to your questions depends upon your department regulations and policies. </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>What does a committee expecting to hear from me?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>They expect you to be expert in your field and answer their tough questions. Also, they expect you to agree with their opinions and not try to be too smart. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 6179,
"author": "JeffE",
"author_id": 65,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The only goal of the candidacy/qualifying/preliminary exam is to convince the committee that you deserve to pass the candidacy/qualifying/preliminary exam. The passing criteria differ, sometimes radically, from one university to the next, from department to the next, from one research area to the next, and even from one committee member to the next. It's the academic equivalent of Calvinball, only you don't get to make up the rules. <a href=\"http://www.picpak.net/calvin/oldsite/images/roz3.jpg\">Do not question the mask.</a></p>\n\n<p>The <em><strong>only</strong></em> way to determine how to prepare for the candidacy/qualifying/preliminary exam is to <strong>ask your committee members directly</strong>. Individually. In person. I <em>strongly</em> recommend scheduling a one-on-one meeting with each committee member at least a month in advance of the actual exam.</p>\n\n<p>Same goes for the <a href=\"http://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/faq-the-snake-fight-portion-of-your-thesis-defense\">thesis defense</a>.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 6187,
"author": "Javeer Baker",
"author_id": 4475,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4475",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Have a solid research proposal and present it well. There is no other way to convince your assessors.</p>\n\n<p>In my case, I had to do a public presentation with the assessors sitting in the audience. It was not an easy exercise but I took on the challenge head-on (really, there was no other option). And I prepared, prepared and prepared.</p>\n\n<p>I asked my supervisor what the likely questions would be and how can I make my proposal better. I attended presentations by other students and studied the vibes.</p>\n\n<p>Just be aware that not everything always goes to plan. I had chosen a concept that was highly contested in the literature so had several question on how I would handle it. (One of my assessors was an expert in that area!)</p>\n\n<p>Most importantly, show a willingness to learn. If you cannot answer a question, be honest about it. Say something like \"Thats an interesting angle and I will certainly take your comments on board\". And mean it. Be honest and polite.</p>\n\n<p>Confirmation of candidature is to show you are ready to do advanced research. Your assessors would most likely overlook a few flaws in your proposal (no research is perfect) but may not \nbe that generous if they realise you are not ready. Believe me, they are amazingly quick at the latter.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/13 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/6175",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4570/"
]
|
6,180 | <p>(This is a junior researcher's question.)</p>
<p>Scientific publications contain a part discussing related work and the context of the paper. However, it is not clear where to put the section discussing related work of a paper. </p>
<p><strong>Where does the section on related work belong in a scientific publication? Is there any universal standard, or is it arbitrary?</strong></p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 6181,
"author": "Per Alexandersson",
"author_id": 2794,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2794",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Generally, put it in the introduction. This partly motivates further study of the field, i.e., by showing that previous experts have worked on similar problems, \nand that such problems are well established.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 6182,
"author": "mgalle",
"author_id": 4552,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4552",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Like so many times, it depends on the field. The options in general are either at the beginning, after the intro; or at the end, before the conclusions. \nLook at previous issues of the journal/conf you are targeting.</p>\n\n<p>Also, ask your advisor.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 6186,
"author": "JeffE",
"author_id": 65,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you're writing a conference paper, put it in the same place as it appears in the conference papers you read. If you're not reading any conference papers, you're not ready to write one.</p>\n\n<p>If you're writing a journal paper, put it in the same place as it appears in the journal papers you read. If you're not reading any journal papers, you're not ready to write one.</p>\n\n<p>If you're writing a dissertation, put it in the same place as it appears in the dissertations you read. If you're not reading any dissertations, you're not ready to write one.</p>\n\n<p>If you're writing a <code>$PAPER_TYPE</code>, put it in the same place as it appears in the <code>$PAPER_TYPE</code>s that you read. If you're not reading any <code>$PAPER_TYPE</code>s, you're not ready to write one.</p>\n\n<p>Also: <strong>Ask your advisor.</strong></p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/13 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/6180",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4442/"
]
|
6,184 | <p>There are a few reference citing formats around but I'd like to know what's the relevant information to put in a reference in general. If I want to cite a book, what should go in the reference other than the title which is obvious, same for other media? By formatting I mean content, punctuation, font, size, typography, etc...</p>
<p>My second question is: do references undergo any modifications when the medium in which they are referenced changes (paper, article, tutorial, etc...). </p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 6185,
"author": "Suresh",
"author_id": 346,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Formatting and desired content depend mostly on the publication venue. Most journals have a citation style, and will often provide a style file for the bibliography manager that you use. So it depends on what venue you have in mind. </p>\n\n<p>If you don't have a venue in mind, then you can use any standard format that's used in your area of study. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7233,
"author": "silvado",
"author_id": 3890,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/3890",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Every publication type has some specific metadata that should be given in any citation. </p>\n\n<p>For a book, these would be:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Authors or editors for an edited book</li>\n<li>Title</li>\n<li>Year of publication</li>\n<li>Information on the publisher (mostly name and address)</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>For a journal article, you should include:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Authors</li>\n<li>Title of the article</li>\n<li>Title of the journal</li>\n<li>Volume of the journal</li>\n<li>Page numbers or article identification number for journals without page numbers.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Generally, looking at the required fields for a bibtex entry may give you an idea of what are the required pieces of information for any publication type.</p>\n\n<p>Note that some journals don't generally include the title for journal citations, but I find that inconvenient for the reader. There may by additional information depending on the citation style, for example the issue number for citing journal articles, URLs, ISBN/ISSN. But these additional pieces of information, the formatting and even the ordering of the information in the reference generally depend on publication venue, as Suresh wrote in his answer. The key information however should be the same for each citations style.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7234,
"author": "Peter K.",
"author_id": 3965,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/3965",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Check out the <a href=\"http://www.ieee.org/documents/ieeecitationref.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">IEEE citation reference</a> [PDF] for an example of how the IEEE (Institution of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) does its citations for different media.</p>\n\n<p>They definitely change what information appears, depending on the medium.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/13 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/6184",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4577/"
]
|
6,188 | <p>I am writing a peer review exercise and I am not sure when referring to specific parts of the paper whether it is better to quote or paraphrase them. What is the correct protocol on such this?</p>
<p>The review decides whether the paper gets published in a small magazine, whether that makes any difference to these things, I am not sure. </p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 6189,
"author": "Suresh",
"author_id": 346,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>For a review it doesn't matter that much, but it's safer to quote, so that there's no chance of misinterpretation. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7225,
"author": "user168715",
"author_id": 5596,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5596",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>It depends why you are quoting/paraphrasing.</p>\n\n<p>Usually I structure my review in two parts. The first part summarizes the paper, the major contributions, and the high-level strengths and weaknesses of the submission. In this part I paraphrase. This shows the authors, and the editor, that I have read and understood the paper well enough to describe its ideas in my own words.</p>\n\n<p>In the second part I get into the details, i.e. you forgot citation X, formula Y has an error, these sentences are confusing, etc. In this part I quote.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/13 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/6188",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1248/"
]
|
6,190 | <p>About a week ago, I went to submit the application for the mathematics PhD program at one of my top choice schools. The form told me I had missed the deadline, which was December 15th. I had January 5th written down on my list of application information, but when I looked it was indeed Dec. 15 on the department website.</p>
<p>I distinctly remembered seeing Jan. 5th, however, so I looked it up again and found the website for general graduate admissions where I found the deadline to begin with. It said/says January 5th, and is even program specific (under the "PhD in Mathematics"). So I emailed my application to the mathematics department graduate admissions email address explaining there was an incorrect deadline on another part of the website, provided a link, and requested that I still be considered.</p>
<p>I should note that this is a big school which will probably get a lot of applications, so hopefully they haven't gotten far through review yet. Also, everything except my personal statement was on the website before the Dec 15 deadline, but of course the submit button was not hit so I don't know if this helps.</p>
<p>I haven't heard back from them aside from an automated "we'll get to this eventually" email, and it has been about 7 days now. I think I have a strong application for this school in particular and really don't want to lose my chance to apply. What do I do? Should I try to call the math department? Submit it to a different email? Or am I just boned?</p>
<p><strong>Update:</strong> I called the department's admissions office and was vigorously informed that they refuse to consider my application under any circumstances and that they "didn't care what my excuse was." The prof I was corresponding with talked to somebody and I guess they're going to fix that part of the website. Doesn't do me any good, but it's nice to know. I would up getting into (and completing) a PhD program somewhere else.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 6192,
"author": "Paul Hiemstra",
"author_id": 4091,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4091",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I would try and personally contact someone at the school, like @gerrit commented, call them. Try and explain your situation, and say that you hope you will still be considered for the program. Do mention that it was not that you simply forgot the deadline, but that an official document stated the wrong date and include this piece of evidence. Stress that you are very enthusiastic about the program, and that you would be disappointed if this communication error would prevent you from having a chance to enter the program. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 192644,
"author": "jerlich",
"author_id": 62052,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/62052",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Sorry to disappoint you but Dec 15 to Jan 5 is a long time in the graduate admissions process. We (in neuroscience) try to read and short list (hundreds of) applications within a week of the application deadline so that we can send out invitations for 2nd round interviews, which generally take place at the end of January.</p>\n<p>It is pretty bad that they had conflicting information on their site. I think the "call them" advice is good. But it would be even better if one of your letter writers knows someone personally at that school and can intervene on your behalf.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 192656,
"author": "cgb5436",
"author_id": 147616,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/147616",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I probably would have explained this to one of your recommendation letter writers to see if they could write to someone in the department.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/13 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/6190",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4545/"
]
|
6,191 | <p>I'm a sixth form student, and one day I would like to call myself an academic.</p>
<p>Do you know of any academic journals that are specifically for students, or would accept work from a student? I would be very much interested to hear about an organisation that does this.</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 6193,
"author": "Paul Hiemstra",
"author_id": 4091,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4091",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I have never heard of an academic journal specifically meant for high school students. There might be magazines directed towards publishing projects of high school students, but I would not call these academic journals. </p>\n\n<p>In regard to publishing, in principle if you have something that is of sufficient level to be published, you could just submit the paper to any journal. It would then be reviewed. The major hurdle would probably be that you do not work for a reputable institute or university. You could try and remedy this problem by looking for a supervisor who already works at an institute/university who would be willing to collaborate with you.</p>\n\n<p>That said, realistically I do not know many 3rd year <strong>university</strong> students who have the level to write good and relevant academic papers. So, it might be a little far fetched to write an academic paper in high school. Than again, if you feel that your contribution is worthwhile, please feel free to ignore this advice. </p>\n\n<p>Good luck!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7191,
"author": "410 gone",
"author_id": 96,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/96",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<h1>Publishing in early career</h1>\n\n<p>If the research is good enough, it <strong>will</strong> get published. The challenge is to do good-enough research as a sixth-form student. Actually, that's a challenge for any of us, at whatever stage we're at. The best example I know of, of young researchers getting published, is a paper in Biology Letters from <a href=\"http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-12051883\">a class of 8-10 year olds</a>. The paper, <a href=\"http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/early/2010/12/18/rsbl.2010.1056.full\">Blackawton Bees</a>, is a good bit of research <em>and</em> an entertaining read.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Principal finding ‘We discovered that bumble-bees can use a combination of colour and spatial relationships in deciding which colour of flower to forage from. We also discovered that science is cool and fun because you get to do stuff that no one has ever done before. </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Actually, never mind the rest of this answer for now. If you're reading this, whoever you are, and you haven't read the paper before, <a href=\"http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/early/2010/12/18/rsbl.2010.1056.full\">just go read it now</a> - it's free to view for all. You'll thank me (so remember to come back here afterwards ;-).</p>\n\n<h1>Journals for students</h1>\n\n<p>As far as journals specifically for students: well, they all are, really. Pretty much all of us who are reading them, are reading them for study. God knows, they're almost always so dryly written that no one would read them for pleasure.</p>\n\n<p>There are exceptions. For easier reading, there's <a href=\"http://www.newscientist.com/\">New Scientist</a> and <a href=\"http://www.scientificamerican.com/\">Scientific American</a>; though the science sometimes suffers in the cause of circulation-friendly journalism, particularly for New Scientist.</p>\n\n<h1>More digestible science</h1>\n\n<p>And there are quite a lot of science blogs on the web, which make for more digestible reading of recent research. Unfortunately, there's also a much higher number of <strong>pseudo</strong>-science blogs on the web, that, unless you know a lot about the subject, are hard to distinguish from real science, but contain pure unadulterated nonsense. For example, <a href=\"http://www.realClimate.org/\">Real Climate</a> is respectable science by respected scientists; <em>Watts Up With That</em> is unadulterated pseudo-science nonsense; but to the unwary, they are both climate science blogs. So, for finding new science blogs, <strong>reader beware</strong>. Even well-established science blogs sometimes go off the rails, when they stray outside their area of immediate expertise.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7192,
"author": "gerrit",
"author_id": 1033,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1033",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Specific answers depend on the field. There exist <strong>conferences</strong> that have special categories for students. For example, the <strong>European Space Agency</strong> offers logistical support for students' balloon and rockets experiments, and related conferences have dedicated categories for students of any level. Those conferences include proceedings, which means that it's possible to publish a proceedings paper. This is different from a peer-reviewed paper, and slightly less ambitious because it's not peer-reviewed; it is, however, checked for basic quality by the session convener.</p>\n\n<p>An example of such a conference is the <a href=\"http://spaceflight.esa.int/pac-symposium2013/\" rel=\"nofollow\">ESA PAC Symposium</a>. As mentioned, this is a quite specific answer for a quite specific field. However, depending on the field you're interested in, perhaps such conferences exist for you too. You're best bet in this case would be to browse websites for relevant conferences and see if they have special student categories.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7198,
"author": "eykanal",
"author_id": 73,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/73",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As the others have suggested, this is pretty field-specific. The IEEE organization has two publications aimed at college-level students:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p><strong><a href=\"http://www.ieee.org/membership_services/membership/students/potentials.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">IEEE Potentials</a></strong>, a journal which discusses both research and careers. The articles are quite thorough and are written in the same form other IEEE journals, but assume less background.</p></li>\n<li><p><strong><a href=\"http://spectrum.ieee.org/magazine/\" rel=\"nofollow\">IEEE Spectrum</a></strong>, a publication which is a cross between a journal and a magazine. There are in-depth articles on engineering topics, but also more light discussions of fun side projects. I strongly recommend this for any high school student interested in engineering.</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>These are both geared towards engineering with a focus on electrical engineering, although other subdisciplines are covered as well. Again, I strongly recommend both of these for any undergraduate or advanced high school student interesting in engineering.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7223,
"author": "Fixed Point",
"author_id": 4335,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4335",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>What subject are you interested in? In mathematics I know of <a href=\"http://www.maa.org/pubs/cmj.html\" rel=\"noreferrer\">College Mathematics Journal</a> published by the MAA and despite its name, I think a good chunk of its material is accessible to high schoolers.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7376,
"author": "Jonathan C. Chen",
"author_id": 5671,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5671",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I started one with that goal in mind back in high school (I'm in college now). Although it definitely cannot compare to fully funded, top tier journals, we strive to provide a learning experience. The journal is edited by 2 sets of people, professors and other students. The professors are there to help teach both the author and the student reviewer about the journal process, and provide his or her experience when it comes to publishing and academic work. </p>\n\n<p>You can check it out: <a href=\"http://www.nhsjs.com\">The National High School Journal of Science</a></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 105088,
"author": "PartialOrder",
"author_id": 81747,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/81747",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Check out...</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>The National High School Journal of Science <a href=\"http://nhsjs.com\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">http://nhsjs.com</a> </li>\n<li>Journal of Emerging Investigators <a href=\"https://www.emerginginvestigators.org\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">https://www.emerginginvestigators.org</a></li>\n<li>Journal of Experimental Secondary Science <a href=\"http://jes2s.com\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">http://jes2s.com</a></li>\n<li>The Concord Review <a href=\"http://www.tcr.org\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">http://www.tcr.org</a></li>\n<li>Journal of Young Investigators <a href=\"https://www.jyi.org\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">https://www.jyi.org</a> </li>\n<li>Journal of Student Research <a href=\"http://jofsr.com\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">http://jofsr.com</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>See also...</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Berkeley Undergraduate Journal <a href=\"https://buj.berkeley.edu\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">https://buj.berkeley.edu</a></li>\n</ul>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/14 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/6191",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4579/"
]
|
7,200 | <p>I have received a manuscript to review for a journal. The interesting thing is, I had already reviewed this article (exact same title, abstract and author list, almost exact same content) for <em>another</em> journal a few weeks ago where I recommended that it be published, but only after major revisions of both form and content. When I first reviewed it, I wrote a two-page review, listing some questions and several “actionable” comments, ranging from some concerns about exactness of the text (some conclusions didn't seem fully backed by the results) all the way down to trivial stuff (grammar, a few typos, graphic issues with the figures, etc.).</p>
<p>Now, the manuscript has come to me for review again, but it is almost unchanged from the first version. None of the serious stuff has been addressed, and even most of the trivial stuff was not fixed (there's at least one remaining typo, and the figures still aren't fully legible). However, I think this behavior from the authors is clearly a bad signal, which should be somehow conveyed to the editor: they're not willing to amend their work, and would rather do some journal-shopping.</p>
<p>What would you suggest me to do? Should I just re-send my earlier review? Add a note to the editor about my knowledge of the “history” of the paper? Or maybe even include it in my review, so the authors are aware that people know of their behavior, and maybe feel bad enough to change their ways?</p>
<hr>
<p><em>PS: I wrote it in the present tense, but it's actually a story from my past. I'm not sure I did the right thing at the time, and I think it's better to actually formulate it as an open question…</em></p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7201,
"author": "gerrit",
"author_id": 1033,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1033",
"pm_score": 8,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Personally, I would inform the editors of both journals. For the new editor, I would attach your earlier review, and recommend rejection.</p>\n\n<p>Then it's up to the new editor to decide what to do in this situation. This falls in the category of ethical problems, and I think most journals recommend that reviewers contact the editor immediately in such a situation. Perhaps the journal has a policy for this, or the editor may discuss the matter with other editors or the chief editor.</p>\n\n<p>Let me add why I find it unethical. Peer review relies upon the volunteer labour of anonymous reviewers. Reviewers may invest significant time, and do not really get anything in return. If authors of a manuscript completely ignore reviews, and instead submit an unchanged manuscript somewhere else, I would, as a reviewer, be quite annoyed. At the very least they could reply to the reviews, state point-by-point that they disagree, refuse to change anything and <em>then</em> submit it somewhere else; but completely ignoring is wasting peoples time.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7202,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I see nothing wrong with authors choosing to submit to a new journal instead of making changes suggested by reviewers, although not fixing typos just seems silly. I also think that if authors choose to go this route, they deserve to get a new batch of reviewers. While I like to think of myself as reasonable and impartial, I am happy to have authors confirm this by submitting someplace else. When I receive requests to review a manuscript that I have already reviewed, I turn the review down with a note to the AE that I have already reviewed the manuscript for another journal. I do not to say what journal or anything about my recommendation.</p>\n\n<p>If for some reason I agree to review a manuscript and later find out that I have previously reviewed it, I would immediately contact the AE and explain what has happened. I would offer to provide a revised review. I would acknowledge in the review that I was reviewer <em>N</em> for the previous journal.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7203,
"author": "Henry",
"author_id": 8,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I was recently on the something like the other end of this: a paper I wrote was rejected with a number of comments and one major objection to the content. I made the small changes, but not the big one, and resubmitted to another journal. The new journal sent it back to the same referee.</p>\n\n<p>The referee may well have felt I was engaged in journal shopping; in fact, in response to the report, I'd consulted with other people in the area, and gotten very positive feedback in support of the way the paper was written. I therefore thought it was reasonable to try again with a different journal, since there seemed to be genuine disagreement over the right approach.</p>\n\n<p>The situation was handled quite well, and I'd recommend something like it to anyone on the other end: the editor was notified, and made the decision to ask for the report from the original referee, but also got a second opinion from a new referee.</p>\n\n<p>In this case the story has a happy ending: the original referee didn't just resubmit a variant of the original report, but went above and beyond by explaining their main objection more clearly. The new explanation actually convinced me, where the old one hadn't, and I made the changes.</p>\n\n<p>The moral being, the author <em>may</em> have actually taken the referee report seriously but honestly disagreed. That's not always the case, but in that situation you should consider the possibility---and that's why you definitely want to notify the editor, who should probably get a second opinion.</p>\n\n<p><strong>added</strong>: Just to be clear, I'm trying to address the general case of a referee in this situation, not just the particular instance that happened to F'x. There's a range of possible behavior by the paper author which could sound similar to what F'x is describing, and which some future referee reading this question might be experiencing, from the case where the author has resubmitted a paper unchanged to the case where the authors have incorporated many minor suggestions and given careful consideration before not taking some more important ones. F'x is describing a situation which sounds like it's closer to the first, I'm describing one which leans closer to the second.</p>\n\n<p>A particular referee, in a particular case, may be able to judge which scenario is more likely, but <em>it doesn't matter</em> for the referee, because the correct answer is the same: notify the editor.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7208,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I'll add here as an answer the course I did follow, so people can comment on it and help me see its pros and cons (obviously, I saw more pros than cons to it, as I did decide on it after some thought).</p>\n\n<p>I went the last option mentioned in my question: I sent a review which consisted of my earlier review, with an added text clearly delimitated at the top explaining that I had already reviewed the paper for another journal (I didn't say which, as it seemed a breach of reviewer ethics). I also insisted that even uncontroversial changes hadn't been made, and I thought this shed bad light on the author's good faith participation in the peer-review process.</p>\n\n<p>Finally, I watched later to see where the paper had been published: after being dropped from journal A to journal B (and maybe others), it ended up being published in a third, obscure journal with very few changes (but at least the typos were removed).</p>\n\n<p><em>As a side note: given that I was not such a big name in that particular subfield at the time, and the two editors who picked me for review didn't know me personally, I believe I was twice listed by the authors as “potential reviewer” upon submission of their work. Which means, either they didn't really think it through the second time, or they naturally assumed that the review they had received wasn't my type.</em> </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7217,
"author": "Kaz",
"author_id": 3900,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/3900",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Since you're being asked to review exactly the same object that you already reviewed, your task is simple: simply respond with exactly the same review. Your review is a function of the content. That function should produce the same value when applied to the same input. Just like when a browser is asked to load the same page twice, it can just fetch it from its cache (subject to expiry checks, which are clearly not applicable in this analogy).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 14021,
"author": "user9402",
"author_id": 9402,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9402",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This situation has happened to me in both directions. As a reviewer, I always inform the editor first, and then only if they insist do I send them the earlier review. But I prefer to avoid it because otherwise it constitutes double jeopardy for the authors. </p>\n\n<p>As an author, if I resubmit to a new journal, I expect to get a new set of opinions. There's no point in resubmitting if you're just going to get the identical comments. As to whether one should or should not revise a paper before resubmitting, that depends on many factors. Obviously factual errors or typos should be corrected. But I don't necessarily agree that one should go through a huge revision to address concerns raised by one set of reviewers, because a new set of reviewers may have a completely different set of issues, and maybe even object to some suggestions made by the first set of reviewers. Moreover, the second set, not knowing what issues were raised by the first set, won't know why certain things were included. For instance, if one reviewer asks me to add a paragraph favoring a particular interpretation (theirs of course) and I include this, but the paper is still rejected and I then send it to a new journal with a new reviewer, that person might completely disagree and reject the paper based on that interpretation which I only put in for the now-irrelevant reviewer in the first place!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 185558,
"author": "Deipatrous",
"author_id": 119911,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/119911",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Yes, resend your earlier review, just as verbatim as their MS. An explanatory note, no matter how diplomatically phrased, can be misconstrued / dismissed as you moaning and complaining, so I would not bother if I were you.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/14 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7200",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700/"
]
|
7,204 | <p>I completed my Masters' from Penn State University (US) last year in Industrial Engineering and I'm looking to enroll in a PhD. Here's the onion, I do not want to leave my full-time job to enroll in school full-time and complete the coursework requirment (as case with most US university), hence I was contemplating if there exists any PhD degree where coursework (or <strong>on-campus presence</strong>) is <strong>not</strong> required, either in US or Europe. </p>
<p>About research - I've already talked to my boss and he's quite okay with me performing research in-house (in company) for my PhD, better than that, he might even pay for it. </p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7206,
"author": "Pieter Naaijkens",
"author_id": 22,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In Europe it is quite common to do a PhD without course requirements. You will generally have to have a Master's degree though, before you can start. This answer is about the situation in Europe (or at least, the Netherlands).</p>\n\n<p>To do a PhD while working for a company can be possible, if you can find a professor that is willing to supervise you. It will be hard though if you are not in regular contact with the advisor. The most realistic option would be to do research on a joint project with academia and industry. I don't think though that this would be feasible if you work in the US, and the university is in Europe.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7958,
"author": "walkmanyi",
"author_id": 1265,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1265",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As Pieter says, at many European universities you can get through PhD without any coursework. That, however, is a different issue than not being present on campus. </p>\n\n<h3>Coursework</h3>\n\n<p>In the past, in countries like German, it wasn't customary to complete coursework during PhD. The idea was that a PhD student was being trained by the supervisor and the pursuit of doctoral degree was meant as a true \"assistantship\". It is however changing in the recent years and more and more students are introducing graduation colleges, or other lecture programs aimed specifically at PhD students. So times are changing, but it still is possible at some places.</p>\n\n<h3>On-site presence</h3>\n\n<p>Some countries, like Slovakia or Czech Republic (not sure about others) have a form of a distant PhD study. How efficient that is, however, is another story. In Germany, it also is possible to be a PhD student without being employed at the university, this is quite normal for students enrolled at a Universities of Applied Sciences (Fachhochschule). The idea is that the student does everything as any other PhD student would, however, since the institution he/she is employed at does not have accreditation to award doctoral degrees, he/she has to be additionally enrolled at a university which has this right. I know that this is how it works also in e.g., Norway.</p>\n\n<p>There is also a possibility to be a PhD students and at the same time being employed at a company. I know of few students like this in the Netherlands.</p>\n\n<p>Now with both options discussed above, there always is a requirement of presence on-site. It is not strictly necessary to be daily, but at least part-time is mandatory. I did not hear of a place where it wasn't, though there might be instances where this would fly. The underlying idea is anyway that the student in the end produces dissertation and research supporting it in the same quality as an \"in-house\" student would. You won't escape this one and this is the main problem you should try to solve. Your question rather is: \"<strong>will my non-presence and no coursework allow me to produce quality research to finally deliver a good dissertation, or not?</strong>\"</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7960,
"author": "mako",
"author_id": 5962,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5962",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>My understanding is that course works is nearly always required for US PhD programs and very often not required for UK and other European PhD programs. For many European programs, you essentially apply to the program with a PhD proposal and you can think of it as almost starting the PhD post-qualifiers or generals. You'll be expected to have a Masters and to be an advanced student before starting and you'll generally do this by finding a particular advisor and applying directly to them.</p>\n\n<p>That said, not wanting to be on campus at all is going to be a challenge — especially if you want to end up in a top program. In theory, this will be possible but most potential advisors may be afraid that by trying to maintain a full time job, you won't be able to put an adequate amount of energy and effort into your program. Honestly, I'd share those concerns as well!</p>\n\n<p>I will add that although I know about a number of fields, I don't have any specfic knowledge about Industrial Engineering.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7979,
"author": "cbeleites unhappy with SX",
"author_id": 725,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/725",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>A few more points on German PhD programs</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>universities are more and more moving towards PhD programs with course-work, the ones without are usually the \"old\" programs.<br>\nThe old programs usually take the point of view that the PhD thesis is your \"private fun\", you usually do not get paid for the research work. This leaves you free to have whatever daytime job you have. However, the experience is that unless your daytime job is to do the research, such theses often took/take <em>decades</em> (I'm speaking of 10 or 20 years; which is reasonable if you consider that the \"modern\" 3 years of 8 - 12 h / working day correspond to (4 - 6) x 3 years at 2 h / day). </p></li>\n<li><p>Some of the programs without course-work will require you to take a final exam, which can be replaced by the exams of course work. </p></li>\n<li><p>your search term would be \"external PhD student\" (externer Doktorand)<br>\nAs walkmanyi already wrote, external PhD students are usually in research projects that involve a collaboration between industry and university. And external PhD students usually have to show up every few months to give their presentations, and they may be asked to attend the research group's seminar regularly. With seminar hours outside \"normal\" work schedules, this is possible if you live reasonably close. </p></li>\n<li><p>In the old \"PhD is private fun\" programs, PhD students are not paid for the research. However, they are/were frequently paid for teaching. Some PhD programs now require teaching experience - which means on-campus presence. </p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>As far as I know, Italian PhD programs require the students to have a special kind of working contract with the university, so no external PhD there. </p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/14 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7204",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5585/"
]
|
7,211 | <p>In Medicine, an Impact Factor of a journal is important indicator (IF) of journal quality.</p>
<p>Are there examples of conference proceedings that have a formal IF figure computed?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7212,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Yes, the impact factor being usually the number of citations divided by the number of publications, it's possible to calculate the impact factor of conferences too. I know <a href=\"http://citeseer.ist.psu.edu/index\">Citeseer</a> used to keep a \"Venue impact ranking\" in Computer Science, but the link seems to be broken now. I found however a <a href=\"http://www.cs.iit.edu/~xli/CS-Conference-Journals-Impact.htm\">cached version from 2003 </a>. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7213,
"author": "walkmanyi",
"author_id": 1265,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1265",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>Are there examples of conference proceedings that have a formal IF figure computed?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>There is nothing like <strong>the</strong> \"formal IF\". What you are referring to is probably the <a href=\"http://thomsonreuters.com/products_services/science/science_products/a-z/journal_citation_reports/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Thomson Reuter's Journal Citation Reports</a> impact factor which is one of the most respected measures in the academic world. As such, to my best knowledge there is no such thing for conferences.</p>\n\n<p>However, there are other sources which could prove useful as an estimate of conference quality:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>As already Charles pointed out, there are exist cached versions of <a href=\"http://www.cs.iit.edu/~xli/CS-Conference-Journals-Impact.htm\" rel=\"nofollow\">Citeseer's estimated impact factors for computer science</a>, but this is too old to be useful. </li>\n<li>Furthermore, Google Scholar lists ranks of top venues mixing journals and conferences in their listings. <a href=\"http://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=top_venues&hl=en&vq=eng_artificialintelligence\" rel=\"nofollow\">Here is an example of top publications for AI</a>, as you might see, there are several conferences mixed in. They list <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H-index\" rel=\"nofollow\">h-index</a> of the venue instead of an impact factor. </li>\n<li>Another very useful, resource for ranking conferences is <a href=\"http://academic.research.microsoft.com/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Microsoft Academic Search</a>, where you can find profiles of conferences, such as <a href=\"http://academic.research.microsoft.com/Conference/64/ijcai-international-joint-conference-on-artificial-intelligence?query=international%20joint%20conference%20on%20artificial%20intelligence\" rel=\"nofollow\">this one for IJCAI</a> and they also publish rankings for different categories of venues, see <a href=\"http://academic.research.microsoft.com/RankList?entitytype=3&topDomainID=2&subDomainID=5&last=0&start=1&end=100\" rel=\"nofollow\">an example here</a>. </li>\n<li>Finally, you might find useful the Australian Research Council's <a href=\"http://www.arc.gov.au/era/era_2010/archive/era_journal_list.htm#2\" rel=\"nofollow\">ERA conference rankings</a> from 2010. In 2012 they decided not to rank conferences any more, but the 2010 list is still very useful and at least somewhat authoritative. They would rank conferences into categories according to their own quality metrics, which however (at least in my area) correlate with the community's perception. </li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7229,
"author": "Jan W. Schoones",
"author_id": 5599,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5599",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>At the moment, there are 56 proceedings-journals which have an Impact Factor according to the only source of Impact factors, the Journal Citation Reports (Thompson Reuters). These journals have the word proceedings in their title, and presumably concern conference proceedings. </p>\n\n<p><strong>Later edit:</strong> This list is just a suggestion which might help to gather some additional information. The titles have not been checked they really are Conference Proceedings.</p>\n\n<pre><code>- ALLERGY ASTHMA PROC\n- ASLIB PROC\n- J INVEST DERM SYMP P\n- MATH PROC CAMBRIDGE\n- MAYO CLIN PROC\n- P ACAD NAT SCI PHILA\n- P AM MATH SOC\n- P BIOL SOC WASH\n- P COMBUST INST\n- P EDINBURGH MATH SOC\n- P ENTOMOL SOC WASH\n- P EST ACAD SCI\n- P GEOLOGIST ASSOC\n- P I CIVIL ENG-CIV EN\n- P I CIVIL ENG-ENG SU\n- P I CIVIL ENG-GEOTEC\n- P I CIVIL ENG-MAR EN\n- P I CIVIL ENG-MUNIC\n- P I CIVIL ENG-STR B\n- P I CIVIL ENG-TRANSP\n- P I CIVIL ENG-WAT M\n- P I MECH ENG A-J POW\n- P I MECH ENG B-J ENG\n- P I MECH ENG C-J MEC\n- P I MECH ENG D-J AUT\n- P I MECH ENG E-J PRO\n- P I MECH ENG F-J RAI\n- P I MECH ENG G-J AER\n- P I MECH ENG H\n- P I MECH ENG I-J SYS\n- P I MECH ENG J-J ENG\n- P I MECH ENG K-J MUL\n- P I MECH ENG L-J MAT\n- P I MECH ENG M-J ENG\n- P I MECH ENG O-J RIS\n- P I MECH ENG P-J SPO\n- P IEEE\n- P INDIAN AS-MATH SCI\n- P JPN ACAD A-MATH\n- P JPN ACAD B-PHYS\n- P LOND MATH SOC\n- P NATL A SCI INDIA A\n- P NATL A SCI INDIA B\n- P NATL ACAD SCI USA\n- P NUTR SOC\n- P ROMANIAN ACAD A\n- P ROY SOC A-MATH PHY\n- P ROY SOC B-BIOL SCI\n- P ROY SOC EDINB A\n- P STEKLOV I MATH+\n- P YORKS GEOL SOC\n- SADHANA-ACAD P ENG S\n- TRANSPL P\n</code></pre>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 8918,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Some years ago Thomson Reuters decided to drop Proceedings from their regular citation index list and start a separate proceedings index. This caused a lot of problems for journals that published papers from meetings but where the review procedure was as stringent as in a regular journal. I guess Thomson Reuters thinking was that proceedings would be lower quality in general. The solution to the problem for one particular journal (that did not have any wordings in its title that referred to proceedings) was to state in the journal \"selected papers from the 'so-and-so' meeting\". It would then pass as a proper journal. </p>\n\n<p>I do not know how the proceedings index faired but obviosuly this meant that many journals were dropped from the index and they were thus not resulting in impact factors any more.</p>\n\n<p>So from the point of Thomson Reuters, they wanted to separate possible lower quality proceedings journals from higher quality refereed journals and create a separate index for the proceedings. What the main reason for this was in unclear since it struck both higher and lower quality journals without distinction. </p>\n\n<p>(I must admit I feel awkward using high and low quality in this reply but think of it as a relative term)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11870,
"author": "usman",
"author_id": 8177,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8177",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>hye PPl! \nExcellent blog , Actually conference proceedings have no IMPACT factor .\nIf you are still aint buying it then read the link below\n<a href=\"http://conferenceseries.iop.org/content/quick_links/Policy%20on%20Impact%20Factor\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://conferenceseries.iop.org/content/quick_links/Policy%20on%20Impact%20Factor</a></p>\n\n<p>Policy on Impact Factor\nUnder current policy, Thompson Reuters (the owners of ISI Web of Science) do not calculate Impact Factors for ANY proceedings titles. Therefore, proceedings journals are not issued with Impact Factors.\n hope it clears the ambiguity</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 16926,
"author": "ToJo",
"author_id": 11892,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11892",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As I just came across this questions. I think walkmanyi already came up with a nice overview. However, I realized that the SCImago Journal Rank indicator was not mentioned so far. According to <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCImago_Journal_Rank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Wikipedia</a> SCImago uses the same formula as that for the calculation of the Thomson Reuters impact factor. SCImago also features many <a href=\"http://www.scimagojr.com/journalsearch.php?q=conference&tip=jou\" rel=\"nofollow\">conferences</a>.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/14 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7211",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1537/"
]
|
7,214 | <p>I was always wondering why is the impact factor of mathematical journals "often" lower than the impact factor of journals in other disciplines? I come up with some guesses that I would like to know your opinion about them.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Mathematics papers are so hard to read and follow (or so specialized) that only a few people can read and apply their results.</p></li>
<li><p>There are relatively a large number of subfields and branches of mathematics and only a few people are working in each branch. </p></li>
<li><p>The number of journals and papers in mathematics (divided by the number of active mathematicians) is relatively higher than other disciplines. </p></li>
<li><p>A mixture of these.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Please, share your insights about this issue.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7216,
"author": "walkmanyi",
"author_id": 1265,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1265",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>why is the impact factor of mathematical journals \"often\" lower than the impact factor of journals in other disciplines?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Besides your observations 2 and 3, my take on this would stem from the observation that the pace of work in mathematics tends to be a longer shot than in disciplines, such as biology where often there would be several competing groups working on a very close subject. The impact factor is calculated as \"recent\", but in disciplines with slow pace of development, sooner than a paper gets cited, it already falls of the considered recent period (2, or 5 recent years).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7221,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>There are a lot of different factors, and I know of no reliable way to determine which is the best explanation. For example, one theory is that mathematics simply has less impact (in the non-technical sense) than most scientific fields. I don't believe this, but it's hard to give a principled refutation. The whole subject strikes me as a little silly, with lots of opinions and numbers with no clear meaning.</p>\n\n<p>One important factor is clearly that mathematicians write fewer, often longer papers than most scientists. Another is the two-year cycle mentioned by walkmanyi (citations after two years do not count for impact factor, which is incompatible with both the time lag in mathematics publication and the time required to carry out research in mathematics in the first place).</p>\n\n<p>Another factor is the size of the field. The highest impact factors should occur in an enormous field with some incredibly important research and also a ton of less important papers that cite the great ones. Mathematics is just not that large a field (compared with biology or medicine, certainly), and it furthermore fragments into a lot of subfields it's difficult to move between. When someone makes an amazing discovery in algebraic geometry, you aren't going to get a flood of mathematicians from other areas rushing in to take the next steps, because algebraic geometry requires a lot of background. I don't think that's a bad thing for mathematics as a whole (the things the would-be algebraic geometers are doing instead are probably as valuable as following the latest trends would be), but it cuts down on the opportunities for amassing citations quickly.</p>\n\n<p>Ultimately, I doubt there's any conclusive or satisfying way to determine how much of a role each of these factors plays.</p>\n\n<p>For some published commentary on impact factors in mathematics, see <a href=\"http://www.ams.org/notices/201103/rtx110300434p.pdf\">Nefarious Numbers</a> by Arnold and Fowler and <a href=\"http://www.ams.org/notices/200603/comm-milman.pdf\">Impact Factor and How it Relates to Quality of Journals</a> by Milman. The first paper focuses on the flaws of impact factors and their abuse/manipulation, while the second explains how impact factor calculations relate to mathematical publication practices (and some of the incentives for journal editors). Neither directly answers the question here, but they both shed some light on it.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7230,
"author": "Benoît Kloeckner",
"author_id": 946,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/946",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I must admit that I tend to disagree with the previous answers: while the description of the specifics of the mathematical community are accurate, I do not see why this should affect the impact factor (except for the time needed before an article is cited, whose influence is clear). In particular, size of the field does not have any impact per itself on the average impact factor of papers. In fact, papers are less cited mainly because <em>papers cite less</em>.</p>\n\n<p>Let me back my point, first assuming we are looking in a field that is closed (only cites itself and is only cited by itself) and stationary (no evolution of the number of papers published or the average number of references per article). Consider the publication graph of a given year : it is a bipartite graph, whose vertices are papers published year 0 (first partition) and years -1 and -2 (second partition) and whose edges are citations from the first ones to the second ones. Then the (article) average of impact factors AIF in this domain is the ratio </p>\n\n<p>AIF = (#citations from year 0 papers to year -1 and -2 ones)/(#year -1 and -2 papers)</p>\n\n<p>which is equal to (#edges)/(#papers published in two years), since the field is assumed to be stationary. This is also twice the average number of references to the two preceding years that a paper in the fields has.</p>\n\n<p>So <strong><em>the article average impact factor of a closed and stationary field is solely governed by the references habits in the field.</em></strong> In particular, this is not affected by the overall size of the field (e.g. math as opposed to biology).</p>\n\n<p>Given the distribution of references, an expending field will tend to have bigger impact factor, as will a field that is often cited by other ones. I do not feel that speed of expansion is an important factor for math compared to other fields, but fondamental mathematics are probably seldom cited outside itself. This has little impact if one consider maths against the rest of the world, though, since math papers seldomly cited outside the field too.</p>\n\n<p>Another factor can be the distribution of papers among journals: for example, if a field has only two journals, one very large and one very small that only gets the very top articles, then the (unweighted) journal average IF will be extremely high. I doubt this explain much of the difference between math and the other fields, since mathematics have a strong hierarchy of journals.</p>\n\n<p>So, what we really have to explain is why math papers <em>cite</em> less papers in the two-years range than papers in (most) other fields. This will explain why they are less cited.</p>\n\n<p>Then the answer seems quite clear: maths papers are often long to read, and take time to be digested. The core of a biology paper is usually easy to understand and such papers are more easy to cite. There is also a <em>small subfield</em> effect: mathematician can work on problems that involve few previous papers. This is different from the size of fields, because it is more about the degree of specialization.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 124329,
"author": "David Roberts",
"author_id": 8881,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8881",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>An interesting perspective here: </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Antonia Ferrer-Sapena, Enrique A. Sánchez-Pérez, Fernanda Peset, Luis-Millán González, Rafael Aleixandre-Benavent, <em>The Impact Factor as a measuring tool of the prestige of the journals in research assessment in mathematics</em>, Research Evaluation <strong>25</strong> Issue 3 (2016) pp 306–314,\n <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1093/reseval/rvv041\" rel=\"noreferrer\">https://doi.org/10.1093/reseval/rvv041</a></p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Stating the obvious:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>A great difference among the journals that publish pure mathematics and the specialized journals in other sciences is that there are very prestigious mathematical journals that publish a little number of papers per year. In other sciences, a typical leading journal publishes hundreds of papers per year.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>And</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>The index of obsolescence of the papers in mathematics is very long, and the articles start their influence in the mathematical research later than in other sciences ( Bensman et al. 2010 ). A 10–20 years old paper may be completely in order for a research that is starting now. On the other hand, the papers ‘start to live’ later than in other sciences. In the first 2 years the articles may have no citations at all. </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Mathematicians also don't disdain old sources</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Mathematicians do not believe that only recent papers can be useful for their research interest. In fact, old papers and books appear in the bibliography of almost all papers in pure mathematics. Consequently, even the 5-year IF involves a too small evaluation period ( IMU 2008 ). This means that in practice, researchers take into account all the mathematical literature for their research, without considering that new references are in any sense better than old ones. Moreover, sometimes an old paper of a prestigious author is preferred to a new paper with similar results. Classical books in well-established mathematical disciplines are considered as primary sources and appear in the list of references of almost every paper. Also, bibliographic material that is never considered as primary sources in other disciplines—specialized books, doctoral thesis, (even unpublished) lecture notes—are usual references in mathematical papers. These sources of information are not considered for the computation of the IF. Summing up all these aspects, it can be said that mathematics are in a sense more similar to classical humanistic disciplines than to the scientific ones. In any case, the 2-year IF is considered in general as inadequate for researchers in mathematics ( IMU 2008 )</p>\n</blockquote>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 124361,
"author": "Greg",
"author_id": 14755,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14755",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>While I am not familiar in detail with mathematical literature, there is a factor I often see when I compare different branches of Chemistry, Physics or Medicine. Depending on the nature of research, it can often be built heavily on other papers and cite them extensively. For example, it is not rare that a short Chemistry letter of 2-3 pages cites other 20 papers, which includes important experimental details, reviews of other experiments etc. Longer paper, of course, can include much more. </p>\n\n<p>What I see often with theoretical papers that they rely much less on others papers, therefore often cite far fewer - in exchange they are also far less cited on average. I can easily imagine that the situation is similar to mathematics, where proofs are not built on extensively on others work. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 124396,
"author": "Miguel",
"author_id": 14695,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14695",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I recently started working at the intersection between physics and chemistry. As a physicist, it struck me that the impact factor of chemistry journals of a given quality is always significantly higher than the impact factor of physics journals of similar quality. The explanation is simply down to different citation habits in these fields. Typical chemistry papers will contain about twice as many bibliographic references as typical physics papers of the same length.</p>\n\n<p>In an ideally isolated field where papers only cite other papers within the field, the average number of citations a paper attracts must equal the average number of references that a paper contains. Obviously, this simple models does not take into account interdisciplinary citations, and the fact that IF only considers citations received during the last 2 (or 5) years, but it helps to explain why the IF of chemistry journals is much higher than the IF of physics journals.</p>\n\n<p>In a field like mathematics, where I expect the specific subfields to be fairly isolated in terms of citations, I think that lower IF can be easily explained and understood in terms of short reference lists being the norm.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/14 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7214",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
]
|
7,218 | <p>I am currently an undergraduate math major in my 3rd year (in America). I have taken lots of pure math courses, and anything I put in my resume tells potential employers I'm probably going to be an academic. </p>
<p>However, I still would like to know from current researchers what is it like to be a math professor. More specifically, I have already guessed at basically what they do (research approachable problems, teach zero or one or two classes at a time, go to conferences and seminars to get ideas, life is probably easier after tenure and more stressful before, pay is sufficient but probably less than industry). When I look up career-related questions on this site, I generally get questions dealing with the items mentioned above.</p>
<p>But what is the job satisfaction like (people probably get impressions from colleagues)? What sorts of things should one consider before committing to an academic career (as it's a long road)? What is the work environment like (what sorts of people with which one has to interact)? Which types of people generally like an academic environment?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7219,
"author": "JohnD",
"author_id": 5591,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5591",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In my opinion, it really depends on the type of academic job that you want/are able to land. Professional life in (1) a top tier research university, is different than in (2) a medium tier Ph.D. granting department, is different than in (3) a Master's granting department with a more modest research agenda, is different than in (4) a predominantly teaching oriented, four year college.</p>\n\n<p>The teaching load/research expectation continuum certainly varies across the four. On one end of the spectrum, say at (1)-(2), the teaching load will be light (as you describe) but with research expectations in terms of papers in top tier journals and landing external funding that is very high. However, even if the actual <em>course load</em> is less, you will spend a chunk of time working with graduate students in reading courses, research seminars, their thesis, etc. As you move from (2) to (3), the research expectations decrease as teaching loads increase. In (4), you very well may have no requirement to produce original mathematical research in the form of journal articles, but instead be expected to demonstrate \"continued scholarly activity\" which can take a variety of forms. On the other hand, you may be teaching 4 classes a semester. </p>\n\n<p>Pay, generally---but not always and certainly not uniformly---decreases from (1) to (4). The autonomy of academic life is usually very attractive and serves to counterbalance a salary that is less than what people in some mathematical specialties could garner in industry.</p>\n\n<p>In my opinion, the type of job one shoots for (and will eventually find success/satisfaction in) is a combination of one's passions (research vs. teaching vs both), innate talents (again, in both research and teaching), aspirations, competitiveness, willingness to deal with pressure, and geography, to name a few.</p>\n\n<p>As a nod to pragmatism, one thing to keep in mind is that the <em>vast</em> majority of jobs are in (4) and (3). Jobs in (1) and (2) are highly competitive to land. I have many friends in all four categories who are happy and very few (none?) who are unhappy, although admittedly the latter category probably self-selected out of academia.</p>\n\n<p>Finally, since you are a third year undergrad, you will get a MUCH better sense of how much you really like mathematics in graduate school. During that time all of this should crystallize greatly. You will also get to see the profession much more up close than you do as an undergrad. It is great that you are thinking of these things now; keep your eyes and ears open in the coming years.</p>\n\n<p>This is all just my two cents. Certainly others may have very different opinions, experiences, and perspectives...</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7220,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think it would be useful to read <em>Letters to a Young Mathematician</em> by Ian Stewart. It gives a great deal of insight into the mathematical community and the teaching profession in particular.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7224,
"author": "Dan C",
"author_id": 1069,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1069",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I agree with most of what JohnD wrote, but let me mention some additional points.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Many people that leave academia do so less because they're not \"smart enough\" and more because it doesn't suit their personality</strong>. Research often involves long stretches of work with no clear signs of progress. To quote Hans Bethe: \"Two things are required. One is a brain. And second is a willingness to spend long times in thinking, with a definite possibility that you come out with nothing.\" You may enjoy reading Paul Seymour's article: <a href=\"https://web.math.princeton.edu/~pds/papers/howtheperfect/howtheperfect.pdf\">\"How the proof of the strong perfect graph theorem was found.\"</a> (This is an account of the backstory of solving one of the biggest open problems in discrete math in the last 20 years.)\nParticularly early in your career, this can be scary. Pre-tenure you <strong>have to balance a desire to hold yourself to a very high standard versus your desire to get tenure, which requires publishing papers</strong>, even if they don't always meet your ideal.</p>\n\n<p>To succeed in research, you need to learn how to chart your own agenda. No one tells you what topics to work on, who to work with, how long to spend on a question, where to submit your papers, or which speaking invitations to accept. Personally, I enjoy making all of these decisions. But <strong>for some people, this lack of structure is very difficult</strong> to handle. It's <strong>essential that you develop a clear vision, perseverance, self-confidence, and the ability to solve odd miscellaneous problems that arise</strong>. </p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/03 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7218",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5593/"
]
|
7,226 | <p>I am a PhD student in <strong>artificial intelligence</strong> from an European university. This year I am going to finish my PhD program, so I am looking around to search for a <strong>suitable Postdoc position</strong>. </p>
<p>I would like to apply to an important American university, named X.
In my research group here I have important professors that follow my work. One is my supervisor, an expert of artificial intellingence, and follows my work. The other is an expert of <strong>operating systems</strong> (i.e. different field from artificial intelligence).</p>
<p>This operating system professor in the 90s spent some years <strong>working at the preminent university X</strong>, and he still has a lot of contact and collaborations in that field.</p>
<p><strong>Should I take advantage of this and ask him to contact my potential Postdoc advisor at the university to which I want to apply, even if he is from a different field?</strong>
Would it be worth?</p>
<p>His mail would be something like "Some decades ago I worked at your university in the operating systems field, and now I would like to recommed this candidate from artificial intelligence..."
Would this have <strong>sense</strong>?
Would this be <strong>useful</strong>?</p>
<p>Or would it be better that I <strong>contacted personally by myself</strong> this professor for the Postdoc position?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7228,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Put yourself in the shoes of the professor: what would they like best in a candidate? Contacting them yourself demonstrates more commitment than having your advisor do it for you. There may be cases where an introduction by a third party is best, but it seems to me it's better to use that only if really needed: guy is a superstar, your introductee knows him very well, or you are just trying to strategically probe whether a candidature would be well-received without actually getting involved yourself.</p>\n\n<p>Also, you can get your advisor to follow up if you don't receive an answer, or just to help you when/if they are contacted as a reference.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 170495,
"author": "RegressForward",
"author_id": 128924,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/128924",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You are asking about having a professor contacting someone on your behalf, which is generally good and positive.</p>\n<p>There are other similar notions you may have preferred to ask that have formal terms:</p>\n<ul>\n<li>"Should I ask my supervisor to write a <strong>letter of recommendation</strong> for me, even though they are not from my field?" to which, the answer is <em>absolutely</em>. You usually get several letters. It would be prudent to consider that a writer who knows your audience will be particularly influential.</li>\n<li>"Should I ask for <strong>an introduction</strong> from my supervisor?"- This is also very common, but less formal than a letter. Your supervisor, if he gets along with you and has contacts in the right area, can send an email and CC you on it. You ask/answer questions and can passively demonstrate that you are amiable and intelligent.</li>\n</ul>\n<p>I would recommend doing either or both of these things, so long as you are sensitive to a polite refusal by your advisor. They may not have the positive relationships you think they have, and do not want to embarrass you by a negative association.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/15 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7226",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5597/"
]
|
7,231 | <p>I just received a PhD invitation letter from a German University which mentions that my remuneration will be 2/3 of full TV-L 13 position. I do not know what a TV-L 13 position is (Google is of no help here), and didn't want to be rude, so I am asking here first.
Is this a common position or specific to Germany? If anyone knows, currently how much remuneration corresponds to a TV-L position?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7232,
"author": "Mikael Vejdemo-Johansson",
"author_id": 519,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/519",
"pm_score": 7,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>TV-L is the German public servant remuneration grade table (<em>Tarifvertrag für den Öffentlichen Dienst der Länder</em> (TV-L)). It is how civil servants Germany are graded for their salaries and similar conditions for their work.</p>\n\n<p>Depending on where your position is, you'll be under TV-L West, or East, or Berlin, or Hessen. Something in your letter might specify this. Either way, there is information on the details at the <a href=\"http://oeffentlicher-dienst.info/tv-l/\" rel=\"noreferrer\">Öffentlicher Dienst website</a>.</p>\n\n<p>Assuming you'd be in West Germany, taxed as a single (i.e., not married or living with a life partner or children), this boils down to a basic salary of €2103/month with a net salary after all taxes and health insurance payments of €1383/month.</p>\n\n<p>This will increase as you remain hired, you'll go up the staircase of salaries, going from 1 to 2 after 1 year, from 2 to 3 after an additional 2 years, etc. Each step is a monthly salary increase of about €150/month net. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13983,
"author": "VirajD",
"author_id": 9381,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9381",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Found this link after Googling for \"Tarifvertrag für den Öffentlichen Dienst der Lände\" (Thanks to <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/519/mikael-vejdemo-johansson\">Mike</a> for explaining first )</p>\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarifvertrag_f%C3%BCr_den_%C3%B6ffentlichen_Dienst_der_L%C3%A4nder\" rel=\"noreferrer\">Tarifvertrag für den öffentlichen Dienst der Länder (Collective agreement for the public sector in the countries)</a></strong></p>\n\n<p>According to this, 13 is the pay group for Ph.D. students and postdoctoral associates. And the gross pay is from 3200 Euros upwards. (Basically it would be about 2000 Euros for 2/3 of that). </p>\n\n<p>BTW, in one of the invitations, it says \"E13\". I'm not sure what this refers to but, I guess it's same as TV-L 13.</p>\n\n<p>Hope this helps, and if you took this position, please explain further about TV-L 13.</p>\n\n<p>Cheers....</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/15 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7231",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5601/"
]
|
7,236 | <p>In submission forms of academic journals, I often see the possibility to give names of desired / non-desired reviewers for the submitted papers. But very rarely I see fields for choosing an editor who handles the submission from the journal's editorial board.</p>
<p>When the submission form does not offer the choice of a handling editor, should one indicate a desired editor in the cover letter? Do some researchers (e.g. specific fields) commonly do so?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7237,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I would only do so if you have a very good reason to want a particular editor (or to avoid another one): while there can exist valid such reasons, it could also be a warning sign for editors. For example, if you ask that the editor not be the “usual” editor for your particular subfield, it may be regarded as you trying to avoid careful scrutiny. So, <strong>if you are not asked about it, and you don't really care</strong> (or trust them to make the right call) (which should be the majority of cases), <strong>just don't do it</strong>.</p>\n\n<p>Regarding usage: most of the chemistry journals I know allow you to pick your handling editor directly from a list (although availability and workload management might lead to changes after submission), and some journals allow you to pick both preferred and non-preferred editors.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7239,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In general, I agree with F'x's answer—special requests for editors beyond the standard process should generally be avoided. The exception to this rule would be if you feel that your paper, may end up being improperly assigned if you do <em>not</em> specify an editor. The primary reason I can think of why this might be the case would be if your paper is multidisciplinary, and you would prefer it to be in a different section of the paper than the one it is \"normally\" affiliated with. Again, however, this would appear to be a rare enough circumstance that there's little to be gained, and more to be lost (for the reasons F'x has laid out).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7241,
"author": "Noah Snyder",
"author_id": 25,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/25",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In my experience, more often than not math journals ask you to submit to a specific editor or indicate which editor is closest. If you're asked then it's certainly best practice to do your homework and suggest the right editor. As the other people's answers indicate this seems to vary by field.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7243,
"author": "Leon palafox",
"author_id": 2806,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2806",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I actually have been in this situation, but it was mostly a \"Conflict of Interest Issue\", since my adviser was the appointed editor for the journal I was sending my paper to, and he was also an author on it. There had to be some email exchange, and it did took sometime. I agree that it is quite unorthodox. Mostly because it reflects on the editor as well.</p>\n\n<p>Once, actually, I could not submit for some conference because he was the organizing chair of the session and the conference had strict rules against it.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/15 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7236",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/3890/"
]
|
7,238 | <p>I'm going to have my first presentation in some weeks. Therefore I read some papers and now I'm building the presentation with LaTeX.</p>
<p>In the papers, I found some very useful graphics. But for quality reasons I don't like to take Screenshots of the PDF's. So I rebuild the graphics to have them as vector graphics.</p>
<p>Can I cite them just like I took a screenshot, or is there a difference?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7240,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>There are <strong>two parts</strong> to this question: <strong>citation and copyright issues</strong>.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>Regarding citation: cite the source of the data/graphics/charts/schemes.</p></li>\n<li><p>For the copyright part, if the presentation of the data is really identical, most journals liberally give permission for reüse (you have to ask for it), but require an acknowledgement of the form <strong><em>“Reprinted with permission from …”</em></strong>. That should cover modifications in format (bitmap to vectorial, or bitmap downsampling, etc.), but I have already seen people actually note the difference by using <strong><em>“Redrawn with permission from …”</em></strong>. Now, if the figure is based on the first one, but with substantial modifications, you can be happy with only citing the source, or possibly adding <strong><em>“Figure based on X with permission from …”</em></strong>.</p></li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7263,
"author": "Piotr Migdal",
"author_id": 49,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/49",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>For presentations, when you are using graphics from other papers, you refer to the paper. The most important think is not to pretend that it's yours and to point to the source (perhaps your whole point of this slide is to refer to a specific paper).</p>\n\n<p>You may add \"from [cite]\" but usually it's \"obvious\".</p>\n\n<p>Also, if the graphical differences are not trivial (i.e. programs almost <em>always</em> modify graphics anyway), you can add something like \"redrawn from data from [cite]\". </p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/15 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7238",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5608/"
]
|
7,242 | <p>I have more than one hundred pages of handwritten notes. </p>
<p>I made these notes while writing different chapters of my PhD dissertation. The notes include summaries of journal articles, my thoughts, suggestions by others and anything that I thought could be potentially useful for my research.</p>
<p>I am wondering what is the best way to organise and store them. Converting them into pdf is one way of doing it but I want to organised them in some way e.g. by chapter, or date or key words.</p>
<p>Is there any program or software that can be useful in this regard?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7246,
"author": "Leon palafox",
"author_id": 2806,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2806",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I use Endnote, which allows you to take pictures of the notes and put tags/dates/More Notes! on top of it. </p>\n\n<p>It is very device independent, and you can do all the digitization process using an iPhone or and Android phone, of course if you have a good camera, it will be better for the resolution issues.</p>\n\n<p>There is a company that does OCR for Endnote compatibility, but you have to buy their special paper, which is a bit pricey.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7257,
"author": "rmounce",
"author_id": 651,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/651",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Perhaps <a href=\"http://www.qiqqa.com/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Qiqqa</a> might be worth looking at.</p>\n\n<p>It's a PDF / reference management system with particular emphasis (useful, novel features, not found in other such programs) on notes and links between notes on your various research papers.</p>\n\n<p>...and STOP writing notes on paper! Write your notes on digital media and it'll make your life so much easier, especially WRT organization / linking / archiving / indexing... </p>\n\n<p>If you're a scientist and want to keep track of notes you make, <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_notebook_science\" rel=\"nofollow\">Open Notebook Science</a> software solutions may also be worth looking at.</p>\n\n<p>I wouldn't recommend EndNote. It's changed relatively little in years and years. Many of the newer PDF management systems have far better user interfaces and are in general more modern (and often free!).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7260,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p><em>It's not an answer, but it's too long for a comment…</em></p>\n\n<p>I have one word for you in the future: <a href=\"http://www.moleskine.com/\"><strong>Moleskine</strong></a>. Good quality notebooks, organized either thematically or chronologically, is a great way to store that sort of information. For notes, <strong>long term conservation</strong> is a big issue, and you have little guarantee that bells-and-whistles software X will still be working on your computer in 10 to 20 years. Simple solutions (both electronic and not) are the best for that purpose. </p>\n\n<p>Finally, I have managed my notes electronically for some time (I tried many combinations, including iPad/Evernote/Dropbox, text files, LaTeX), but wasn't satisfied for the reasons above. I went back to dead wood storage (aka paper) with delight!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7272,
"author": "mankoff",
"author_id": 185,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/185",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I scan my notes to PDF and then use LaTeX to <a href=\"https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/11082/adding-table-of-contents-to-existing-pdf\">add a custom Table of Contents</a> that helps with navigating the PDF.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7274,
"author": "Paul Hiemstra",
"author_id": 4091,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4091",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You could also have a look at Evernote, this does a nice job of organizing notes. I think it even supports making pictures with the Evernote app (android or iphone), and upload it (e.g. for a poster on a conference). I use to store computer typed notes, but you could also upload and store scanned handwritten notes. Evernote has a free account with limited bandwith, so depending on what you want this might or might not be enough.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7276,
"author": "scientifics",
"author_id": 1081,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1081",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would second <a href=\"http://evernote.com\" rel=\"nofollow\">Evernote</a>. They provide really great handwriting OCR, the key is to remember to scan your notes in as JPGs (or convert them to JPGs) as Evernote doesn't OCR handwriting in PDFs. With their OCR, you don't even need to organize in the app, you can just search for keywords to find what you are looking for. If you are looking for an easy way to get your notes into Evernote and you have an iPhone, I highly recommend <a href=\"https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/jotnot-scanner-pro-scan-multipage/id307868751?mt=8\" rel=\"nofollow\">JotNote Scanner Pro</a>.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7298,
"author": "DQdlM",
"author_id": 248,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/248",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Since you already have the notes written, it seems that mainly what you are looking for is a digital reference management system - akin to the digital card catalogs of the library. </p>\n\n<p>This would allow you to search your notes for a key word or subject and then know that it is in notebook A on page 20. There would be lots of ways to do this but <a href=\"https://www.zotero.org/\" rel=\"nofollow\">zotero</a> is very flexible and should be able to accommodate your needs.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11585,
"author": "user8005",
"author_id": 8005,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8005",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would scan them and save them to evernote. An alternative is that you find a freelancer (for example on odesk) that types your notes (software is not very good at recognizing handwriting).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 16574,
"author": "Larry",
"author_id": 11635,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11635",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Even though this thread is old, this may be helpful info. You can use the Onenote program incuded in MS Office. It tries to do OCR on any document you either scan and drop into a Onenote page or \"print\" from pdf into a Onenote page. For notes that it cannot OCR, you can add annotations with searchable keywords. To separate pages of a large pdf document you can use a program like PDFill Free. Not a perfect solution, but can still be a big help in making handwritten notes into electronically searchable documents.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/16 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7242",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4475/"
]
|
7,245 | <p>First of all, I've already asked my adviser about this, but I just want to see what is the overall idea of the community on this.</p>
<p>In Mexico it is usually required for the student to do this, but that is about the only place I have references of people doing defenses.</p>
<p>I was thinking of bringing bottled water, but since is the middle of the winter I thought coffee might be a better choice.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7247,
"author": "Fomite",
"author_id": 118,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/118",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It depends on the department I would expect. Mine for example <em>bans</em> food and drink at a PhD defense, both because they think is puts an undue burden on the student (why should you have to cater your defense?) and creates an inappropriate atmosphere. Cookies, generally, are a celebratory food for example, and while you <em>should</em> pass your defense, having already broken out dessert suggests that its a foregone conclusion.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7248,
"author": "Suresh",
"author_id": 346,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In mine, there are no conventions per se, but I've seen people get food ready for just after the defense. Since it's extremely rare to get to a defense and fail it, I'm not too concerned about the 'foregone conclusion' problem. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7249,
"author": "Federico Poloni",
"author_id": 958,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/958",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think it's highly country-dependent. In Italy, it is normal to offer food after defending a thesis (not only phd, also bachelor and master), either directly on the place or by taking all the friends attending to a bar after the defense. Sometimes the university itself even offers a small part of the refreshment.</p>\n\n<p>Often there is enough food that you can skip your lunch (if it's in the morning).</p>\n\n<p>If you find it weird to bring coffee and cookies <em>to</em> the defense, you can simply move to a bar, a common room or another place to celebrate.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7250,
"author": "Luke Mathieson",
"author_id": 1370,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1370",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Another variant:</p>\n\n<p>My defense (UK) was informal, but very much an examination and as such there was no food or drink. However in the evening my supervisor invited myself and my examiners to a restaurant (not sure what would've happened if I hadn't passed!).</p>\n\n<p>I have also heard of situations where the examination was particularly long and the examiners and candidate broke for lunch and came back - again there was no repast <em>in</em> the examination room.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7251,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>How I have seen it handle in France: usually, no food and drinks is given out during the defense, except for a bottle of water and a glass who are set on table of each member of the defense committee. However, as you say, it may be cold outside and committee members may be glad for a hot drink and/or maybe something to eat (depending what time it is). So, it is quite customary for the thesis advisor(s) to actually invite the committee members to join him some time before the defense starts, where they can make small talk and drink coffee. If the defense starts early afternoon, they committee can even go to lunch together, giving them an opportunity to discuss practical stuff (who will chair the committee? what order will people talk in? etc.).</p>\n\n<p>Then, after the defense is concluded, there is a celebratory “cocktail” (buffet and drinks) to which the defense committee is invited, and to which they usually attend at least for half an hour.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7264,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As a grad student in the US the tradition in my department was that all meetings involved a snack (usually doughnuts for morning meetings and cookies for afternoon meetings) and coffee. The snacks and coffee were set out before the meeting started. Our thesis defenses included a public and a private portion. The snacks at defenses were sometimes a little fancier (if I recall correctly, I sprung for a $20 cheese and fruit platter and a couple bottles of fancy water). As a post doc in the US the meetings typically only involved coffee. I think this was because a number of faculty in the department had strict dietary requirements (e.g., a number of vegans and kosher people), but I am not sure. In my current department in the UK we never have snacks or drinks. I really miss it.</p>\n\n<p>I would suggest you ask other people in your department what is the norm. If the norm is not to bring snacks and drinks, think if you want to start a new tradition: everybody likes cookies/biscuits.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7265,
"author": "walkmanyi",
"author_id": 1265,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1265",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As others pointed out, the answer depends on the country, particular university, as well as local habits at the department.</p>\n\n<p>Just to complete the international picture:</p>\n\n<p>In Germany (at places I had an opportunity to observe), it was customary to provide a treat in a style of \"wine & cheese\" of course modified to local tastes (meat in Germany :-) ) including a glass of sparkling/normal wine (usually \"Sekt\"), but all that <strong>after</strong> the defense. People would normally order the food by a local butcher (many of which specialise in this kind of stuff as a side business). </p>\n\n<p>The same would go for some Eastern European countries, like Czech Republic, or Slovakia. </p>\n\n<p>In the Netherlands, at places I saw, there is often a small reception after the defense too.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7314,
"author": "Xiaofei Rao",
"author_id": 5632,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5632",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I don't think there is a set rule prescribing the food and drinks that are welcome in the doctoral defense rooms/halls but I am afraid it is culture- and convention-dependent. I have never heard of such a thing that doctoral students can bring in any food or hot drinks when they defense their dissertation. Bottled water is ok. However, personally I don't reject any idea of taking food to defense rooms as long as the chair and the committees think it is fine. Food and drinks sometimes ease nervousness and anxiety and may make the whole process an easier one, as we all know. So why not food and drinks? </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 130750,
"author": "Erkin Alp Güney",
"author_id": 67026,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/67026",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It is illegal for a student to bring jury food. It is considered bribery, even if you give it after you are successful.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 130754,
"author": "Guest",
"author_id": 108180,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/108180",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It varies in the U. S. by field and department. Most at my school did not but I had relatives with opposite experience. Use your judgment and don't go overboard. </p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/16 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7245",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2806/"
]
|
7,252 | <p>When I did my undergraduate thesis, my adviser was expected big on students expecting them working really hard, so it ended up as a reduced master's thesis (most of the reviewers said that it was an overkill for a B.E).</p>
<p>So because of this, I did my master's thesis pretty much in the same way I did my bachelor's thesis; the PhD dissertation was a different story.</p>
<p>What are the principal differences between these three pieces of research?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7255,
"author": "silvado",
"author_id": 3890,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/3890",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>In a Bachelor or Master thesis, you have to show that you are able to apply the knowledge of your field to solve a typical problem in your field.</p>\n\n<p>In a PhD thesis, you have to show that you are able to extend the knowledge of your field to solve new problems.</p>\n\n<p>The distinction between a Bachelor and a Master thesis may be a bit subtle. Generally I think a Master thesis should show a significantly greater level of independent working. While for a Bachelor thesis your advisor could tell you which methods to use to solve a specific problem, for a Master thesis you could be expected to choose the methods on your own, and maybe adjust existing methods to better fit the problem at hand.</p>\n\n<p>These are the principle differences I see, but of course its also depending on the specific student. A good Bachelor thesis can be better and include more independent work than a bad Master thesis.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7277,
"author": "Javeer Baker",
"author_id": 4475,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4475",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would see the differences as follows:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>Undergraduate thesis demonstrates the capacity to apply basic research skills in an area of interest to you. At this level, the focus is on gaining broad competencies (akin to an overview of what research is all about). </p></li>\n<li><p>Masters thesis demonstrates the capacity to apply advanced research skills (i.e. move beyond basic research skills) in an area of interest to you so that you are able to incorporate some critical insights in your study. At this level, the focus is on developing critical thinking in a subject area.</p></li>\n<li><p>PhD thesis demonstrates the capacity to apply specialised research skills (i.e. expert knowledge of a particular concept or method) in an area of interest to you so that you can make significant and original contribution to knowledge. At this level, the focus is on identifying a 'gap' in knowledge and addressing it, hence you advance knowledge in a field of study.</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>These are are arbitrary descriptions as there are overlaps (i.e. all levels require critical thinking); however, the three levels are distinct and require difference level of competencies.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/16 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7252",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2806/"
]
|
7,253 | <p>I am working on my MPhys thesis, on a certain dataset. Part of this dataset has been analyzed by my current supervisor during his PhD, with published results. He asked me to expand on that work by completing the analysis on the whole dataset.</p>
<p>When I repeat the analysis on the part he had already worked on, I get different results. Unfortunately he has not published any detail about <em>how exactly</em> he tackled the problem, and instead relied on his memory. He gave me advice like: put this parameter to 50, use feature A, use feature B, disable feature C and so on.</p>
<p>I was able to reproduce his result to within 10%, but yesterday I was horrified when I discovered that this was done without using one of the features he recommended, let's say feature A. I have played with the data since and am totally unable to reproduce the result (it is off by a factor of 2 when using my supervisor specifications).</p>
<p>Using feature A totally makes sense, so I am not sure on what to do: I am afraid that should I tell him about this problem, he would delay my upcoming viva. This has a lot of unwanted consequences, for example would force me to pay extra money to the University</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7254,
"author": "Zenon",
"author_id": 257,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/257",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You should talk to your advisers, and in good faith expect that, since everything is from memory, there is a multiplication by 1/2 missing or some minor detail. Else, falsifying data is the <a href=\"http://neuroskeptic.blogspot.fr/2010/11/9-circles-of-scientific-hell.html\">9th circle of hell.</a></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7256,
"author": "gerrit",
"author_id": 1033,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1033",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><strong>In my opinion, it is absolutely essential that you are completely open about this</strong>.</p>\n\n<p>If you cannot reproduce his results, at least one (possibly both) of the following are true:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>You are doing something wrong. You are a student and he is your supervisor. It's his job to help you if you are doing something wrong. There is nothing to be ashamed of. It's better to be delayed with correct results, than on time with wrong results.</p></li>\n<li><p>He was doing something wrong. Don't be afraid! You are not accusing him of anything unethical (*). If his previous results or his understanding are genuinely in error, he should be very interested in knowing this, and grateful if you discover such an error.</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>(*) If you do suspect unethical behaviour, the question is entirely different and better asked separately.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/16 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7253",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5609/"
]
|
7,258 | <p>I'm currently a postdoc (in computer science) and planning on applying for faculty jobs soon. During my 3 postdoc years I've had a couple of papers with 2 "superstars" in my field, whereas my current boss is somewhat less renowned. Most job ads seem to require 3 referees. </p>
<p>Now my question is, who should I list as referee? </p>
<ol>
<li>my PhD advisor + the 2 superstars</li>
<li>my PostDoc supervisor + the 2 superstars</li>
<li>A different combination? </li>
</ol>
<p>Would option 1 or 2 be perceived as unusual?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7259,
"author": "A.Schulz",
"author_id": 1467,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1467",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>List all 4! </p>\n\n<p>People will find it odd if you PhD advisor is not under the list of referees. The same holds for the host of your last position. If you are limited to 3 references then get rid of one of the \"superstars\", but typically job descriptions say \"at least x referees\".</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7261,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Yes, if you have worked for your current boss for at least a year, not listing him as a reference will look weird. Same for not listing your PhD advisor, unless you obtained your PhD a long time ago (say, you have held 3 different positions since then). Thus, I would advise to drop one of the superstars if you are limited to 3 names.</p>\n\n<p>Another thing to consider: you have worked with superstars, but if your relationship with you has been less close than your boss/advisor, will they write a glorifying enough reference letter for you? Unless you have made quite an impression on them, or you had an close relationship, I don't think the odds are in your favour (though you have more information to answer this question than I have).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7262,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I am not sure to what extent a letter from a \"superstar\" is that useful. Often superstars are only stars within their fields and not know more broadly. If you have a publication with these superstars, that will speak for itself. If there is a pending publication, maybe the letter would help. If there is no publication coming, it is not clear why you would want them to write a letter.</p>\n\n<p>Unless there are odd circumstances you need letters from your PhD and Post-Doc supervisors. These people are going to be in the best position to write a letter for you since they likely know you the best and have the most invested in your success. As for a 3rd letter writer, you need to think about what the perceived weaknesses are in your application and who can best comment on them. For example, if you have limited teaching experience, you might want a letter from someone who has seen you teach or at a minimum given talks. Maybe your research is weak, then a letter from a research superstar might be useful.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7267,
"author": "JeffE",
"author_id": 65,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I agree with @A.Schulz: List all four. You <strong>must</strong> get letters from both your thesis advisor and your postdoc advisor.</p>\n\n<p>If you <strong>have</strong> to choose only one of your superstar coauthors to write a letter for you, consider the purpose of the letter: to help the committee make an informed judgement of your <strong>long-term potential for high-quality, high-impact research and intellectual leadership</strong>, or to put it more bluntly, <strong>your likelihood of getting tenure.</strong> The best recommendation letters draw <em>direct</em> comparisons between your research ability/quality/reputation and that of other people in your subfield at similar career stages. For that reason, the most useful letters are from people who have a broad perspective on the field, with <em>direct</em> experience with <em>many</em> other people at the same career stage as you. For example, someone who has served on lots of recent program committees can offer a good perspective on your <em>current</em> competitors. Someone who has worked in a strong department for many years can offer a good perspective on people who had records comparable to yours in the past, and how their careers progressed. <strong>The research reputation of your letter-writers is secondary to their credibility in judging <em>your</em> potential.</strong></p>\n\n<p>Also, in the interests of objectivity, each of your letter-writers should focus as much as possible on the work that they were <em>not</em> involved in. In particular, what you do <em>not</em> want is a letter from a superstar coauthor that talks about the fantastic paper that the two of you wrote together; such a letter will not be taken seriously, because <em>of course</em> they think their own paper is good. So ideally, you should only ask a superstar coauthor for a letter if they are willing to write a strong letter about your <em>other</em> work.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/16 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7258",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5611/"
]
|
7,269 | <p>If a student acquires a good score in GRE, does it guarantees that he has a good merit to earn a good grade in a taught graduate program?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7275,
"author": "cartonn",
"author_id": 5613,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5613",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><strong>Short answer:</strong> No, not at all.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Long answer:</strong></p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>What I understood from the official GRE manual:</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>GRE, just like any other multiple choice exam, requires fairly specific preparation. You need to understand how to go about analyzing their standardized types of problems, methods of elimination of the answer choices, and even sometimes think like the person who's writing the question. Getting a good score means that you've acquired these skills and can use them rather efficiently in the 3 hours you took the exam. This is what I understood by reading their official manual.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>My personal opinion:</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Doing well on GRE does probably also mean that you can, in fact, learn how to do other things, given that they are presented to you in \"standard packaging\". But so does an undergraduate degree where you get to take classes and prove by taking exams that you can efficiently use what you learned in those classes.</p>\n\n<p>However, none of these (and no other single thing) actually \"guarantees\" that you will do well in graduate school, regardless of what program you go into. It's just a metric that you should be able to do well, if you are passionate enough to do well in graduate school.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7295,
"author": "Leon palafox",
"author_id": 2806,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2806",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>My answer would be depending on which GRE are you referring to?</p>\n\n<p>If it is a specialized GRE, like the one of Computer Science, I do agree that it shows some merit, since it test basic knowledge the students should have in order to start doing useful things as soon as they start their PhD.</p>\n\n<p>If you are talking about the general GRE, I think it does not reflect well in some abilities like problem solving and scientific comprehension, since its math part evaluates how fast can you make calculations, not how deep is your knowledge of basic math.</p>\n\n<p>Again, there are a plethora of factors that will affect whether you get in or not in a Grad Course, as far as I remember GPA also affects in some extent, since top universities want people that were at least in the top 1%</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7305,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The problem I see with the GREs is that the scoring range is highly compressed. The difference between scoring in the bottom quartile and the top quartile tells you a fair amount. The difference between the 90th percentile and the 99th percentile, where the vast majority of graduate students score, tells you very little. It is the difference of a couple of questions.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/16 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7269",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
]
|
7,273 | <p>I submitted my final year research paper for a national level conference as well as international level IEEE conference. I was notified that my research paper has been accepted for the national level conference before 2 weeks ago. And I submitted camera ready papers, registered and ready to present the paper next week on the national level conference. </p>
<p>But yesterday I received a mail from IEEE conference by mentioning my paper is accepted for the conference and asked for camera ready papers based on their template.</p>
<p>Is this situation normal? Can I publish my paper on national level conference as well as international level IEEE conference?</p>
<p>Please note that there will be proceedings for both conferences.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7290,
"author": "silvado",
"author_id": 3890,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/3890",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>You cannot publish the same paper at these two conference. For an IEEE conference publication, you have to transfer copyright on the paper to the IEEE, which precludes publication in another proceedings.</p>\n\n<p>You shouldn't have submitted the same paper to two places simultaneously. It's clearly against ethical standards in academics. It is not your fault, if there wasn't a clear indication on the conference submission site, and your advisor hasn't intervened (he should have). Still you have to deal with the consequences now.</p>\n\n<p>And the consequences are that you have to withdraw your paper from one of these conferences. If you have the choice, it would probably be better to withdraw from the national conference. Call yourself lucky if you don't get into deeper trouble from this.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7294,
"author": "Leon palafox",
"author_id": 2806,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2806",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In Japan, they have a loophole for this, and is based on what Silvado mentioned on preclusion. They basically say in the website that the conference is not indexed, and they only give handouts and digital proceedings with no ISBN number.</p>\n\n<p>The document the IEEE holds the copyrights of is the document you have submitted after doing all of the modifications the reviewers suggested, that is the reason some authors get to publish their papers in their own webpages, as long as it is not the same document.</p>\n\n<p>I would advice against doing any modifications to any of the papers, since it has already been accepted and it is not the papers the reviewers choose, it would be unethical and you can get in more trouble. </p>\n\n<p>I do agree that you should withdraw one of the papers.</p>\n\n<p>Edit: I forgot that the IEEE updated its copyright policies, you actually cannot do that anymore</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/16 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7273",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5615/"
]
|
7,278 | <p>I have no academic (peer-reviewed) publications to my credit but close to 6 years of industry-based experience. I have just completed a PhD in sociology.</p>
<p>Does my work in industry carry any weight in academia?</p>
<p>My work in industry included activities such as developing codes and operational manuals in a particular field to be used by operators in that field (e.g., a health and safety manual).</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7286,
"author": "silvado",
"author_id": 3890,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/3890",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Weight in academia is carried mostly by peer-reviewed research publications, published in academically reputable venues such as research journals, conferences, books with reputable publishers, reputable preprint servers, ... If you get these publications from industry research, you get academic weight. A famous example for prominent research in electrical engineering done in industry are the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_Labs\" rel=\"nofollow\">Bell laboratories</a>.</p>\n\n<p>Codes and operational manuals are not academic publications, and typically carry little weight. In order to get that, you have to publish academic papers about the codes and manuals, or publish papers about research results obtained with them.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7288,
"author": "410 gone",
"author_id": 96,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/96",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Does industry research carry any weight in academia? It varies. It varies by subject, by institution, by the individuals doing the hiring.</p>\n\n<p>Are there subjects, places, people where industry research can get you a post even with no journal papers? Yes. Are such appointments common? Not anywhere I know of.</p>\n\n<p>A good employer (those are the ones you want, right?) will be able to look past the traditional indicators of a good researcher (PhD, journal papers, career in academia), and look at other, non-traditional ones. But that takes time and effort, and hiring can be a drain on those as it is, so you'd need to give a potential employer some really good reasons up front why they should put the effort in to establishing your abilities.</p>\n\n<p>A personal recommendation from a senior academic, or from a retired senior academic - one who's already trusted and respected by the employer you're targetting - is the sort of thing that can help open doors for you.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7315,
"author": "D.W.",
"author_id": 705,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/705",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The problem here is with your use of the phrase \"industry research\". Writing codes and manuals isn't actually research.</p>\n\n<p>Research is research: if it is good research, it counts and definitely carries weight in academia. Research is evaluated by its merit (e.g., intellectual depth, correctness, importance) and its impact (how has it changed practice? how has it changed the course of research done by other researchers?). The names or affiliations of who did the research is irrelevant. It doesn't matter whether the work was done in a university or in a company. It doesn't matter whether the affiliation on the title is a university or a company. What matters is the <em>content</em> of the paper.</p>\n\n<p>If it's good research, it carries weight with academia. It also carries weight with industry research labs.</p>\n\n<p>However, writing health and safety manuals is not research. You shouldn't call it \"industry research\". You should call it \"writing health and safety manuals\". And if it's not research, it doesn't count towards your research record and doesn't carry weight.</p>\n\n<p>A good indicator of research is that it is (a) novel, and (b) published in a highly regarded, (c) peer-reviewed forum.</p>\n\n<p>(The question gets more interesting if we are talking about people who do novel, scientific research that could have been published in a peer-reviewed forum, but isn't, because the company wants to keep the results secret. This kind of research is harder for academics to evaluate, and thus might not carry as much weight with academia, because it isn't published. In that case, it's not that the research was performed in industry so much as that the research was never published. In any case, it sounds like that's relevant to you, based upon what you've told us here. Writing health and safety manuals is most likely not something that could have been published in a peer-reviewed conference or journal.)</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/16 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7278",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4475/"
]
|
7,282 | <p>This may be a naive question but it would greatly assist me in preparing my first paper for a peer-reviewed journal.</p>
<p>I can identify at least 4 papers that I can extract from my recently completed PhD dissertation in the social sciences.</p>
<p>What do reviewers look for in order to assess that a paper is suitable for publication in their peer reviewed journal?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7283,
"author": "seteropere",
"author_id": 532,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/532",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Generally speaking, they are looking for something <em>new</em> which contributes to the current literature of the field.<br>\nIf your paper fits in this context (i.e. you believe your paper will enhance/improve current methods or even solve particular problem, then you got <strong><em>publishable</em> work</strong> regardless of the reviewing output. </p>\n\n<p>For a particular journal, other factors are added to the significance of the work (for example journal scope, writing level, paper format and methodology). </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7292,
"author": "walkmanyi",
"author_id": 1265,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1265",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This is definitely not a naive question.</p>\n\n<p>The best you can do is to understand the position of a hypothetical (ideal/unbiased) reviewer and immediately from that you will get answers to your question. Particularities could depend on the field (theoretical vs. experimental, etc.). Hence, look for answers to the question \"how to review?\". Already answers <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/peer-review\">here at academia.SE</a> provide lots of relevant points. <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/498/scope-for-the-role-of-peer-reviewer\">Answers to this question</a> are probably the best starting point.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 68403,
"author": "Coder",
"author_id": 53762,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53762",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This varies from venue to venue where you are publishing the work. For top tier conferences and journals, the reviewers look for something very new and adds to the current research literatures and if the work could help researchers of other domains then its the most important point.</p>\n\n<p>For example, If my work is on say 'X' for engineering discipline. Now, if the reviewers think that this work X could be applied to some other field say (MEDICAL SCIENCE), then there is a fair chance that X is going to be praised by reviewers.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/17 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7282",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
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|
7,293 | <p>I was talking to a friend of mine, and he just feel in a deep depression due to finishing his PhD.</p>
<p>He will be defending in the coming weeks, and there is a high likelihood he will pass. </p>
<p>In his words, he doesn't really feel he has learned anything PhD worthy, he only has one Journal paper and no conference papers (in his area conf papers are not worth much anyway). According to him, one of the postdocs kept his research at bay by denying him access to the machines he need to do experiments (something CMOS related, not really sure what). And in his own words, the same guy basically did the same experiments he was planning and wrote a couple of papers. </p>
<p>Of course he tried to tell his professor, but apparently he couldn't care less. </p>
<p>By now, he just feels that he lost 3 years of his life doing a PhD. And he mentioned that he might sue the Professor/University for this.</p>
<p>I take his word for all of this, and I have no real means to corroborate it to be truth. But it kept me thinking about one thing.</p>
<p>Is a student entitled to sue/demand a reimbursement/etc if he/she feels like the past years have been an utter waste of time?</p>
<p>Is there any mechanism in your universities to do this?</p>
<p>I've heard of similar cases of professors abusing of students in the same way in some US Universities (big/fancy ones by the way)</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7296,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
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"selected": true,
"text": "<p>There sure are cases, every now and then, of researchers (professors or other) abusing students in various ways. As everyone, I have heard stories, and I know at least a couple of people who have been put in dramatic situations during their PhD. However bad the behavior of the advisor is, it turns out that there are multiple venues one can try, during the PhD, when the alarm flag is raised. These depend on the institution and type of employment, but they include:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Going to see the PhD program director, explaining your situation (diplomatically) and asking for advice (read: help).</li>\n<li>Finding a friendly researcher/professor in your department, and ask him for advice (and possibly help) with your issue. They know the people and local “politics”, and might have efficient advice.</li>\n<li>Your employer's HR department</li>\n<li>Going to your professor's hierarchy (department chair, dean, …). As a last recourse, file a formal complaint.</li>\n<li>Get someone to speak for you: a union representative, a member of the local “PhD association”, etc. That can help if you are worried about the fallout of intervening directly.</li>\n<li>Changing your plans to work on a more “independent” research. In your example, your friend was denied access to a given experiment. If the experiment had broken down beyond repair, he sure could reörient his research, so the same thing could be done in the case at hand (I'm not saying it's easy).</li>\n<li>Walking out (or, as JeffE would surely say: <strong>don't walk, run!</strong>)</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Regarding legal action: I don't think this avenue can lead anywhere, unless there is factual evidence of gross misconduct or unethical activity. The burden of proof relies on your friend, and I think it will actually be harder to complain after the fact if he did not raise his concerns formally during his PhD.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 55735,
"author": "Jake doe",
"author_id": 42281,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/42281",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Strangely enough it depends on the legal system, as that describes the burden of proof. My advise is go see a lawyer... But...</p>\n\n<p>I have had a harrowing experience with what l can best describe as a macho thesis advisor, a personae dramatica. Much of the assault was verbal, but that does not mean that there is no evidence. I have annacodotal emails, he even sent me threatening Emails and lied to my mum! shitty behaviour.</p>\n\n<p>Instead of attacking the problem as if it's is you against the world, think about it differently. </p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>Does the school have a contractual system in place with the student and thesis advisor? In my previous UK school, that is not the case, so in most common law jurisdictions and quiet a few civil law jurisdictions too, that is a no no...</p></li>\n<li><p>Case law, yes ask your lawyer to look into case law, in fact it's so easy nowerdays, you can do it by yourself. You need to find some precedent, even in civil law, which generally has a rule, that says contracts that cause undue hardship are illegal, and when there is no contract, and you have suffered undue hardship because you were unable to complete your thesis, tends to be sufficient evidence.</p></li>\n<li><p>Malpractice suites in medicine and the police turn around the expertise embedded in a expert, or someone with special skill and experience. The school has a greater duty of care under common law and under certain civil law jurisdictions, that is an avenue to pursue.</p></li>\n<li><p>Increasingly in many jurisdictions, when it comes to experts as thesis advisors, the burden of evidence has come down, and you can use here say, and indirect evidence. So this line of mechanistic thinking is wrong. The law is not black letter, and if it is, then it would surely be unjust. </p></li>\n<li><p>What are you aiming for? Be like a Vulcan and think about it logically. My thesis advisor, was sure of his superior position, and that he could bully me around, and lie to me in my face, that is a breach of conduct, and that is easy to prove. If it's sexual, then it's even easier. You should not think about suing to win, you should think about suing to damage someone's career and the reputation of the school instead. It's a bit like opting for a constant stalemate, like in chess, to prolong the game, and await your opportunity to strike. Then, mind the Star Trek cliche, a legal case can said, to be revenge, and that is best served cold.</p></li>\n<li><p>You should look at the schools previous record with dealing with thesis advisor problems... Like in my previous school they swept everything under the carpet, even plagerism, and used the data protection act in the UK to avoid dealing with a problem, you have them! When a institution hides behind privacy issues, and does not deal with the real issues, they are not fair or just.</p></li>\n<li><p>Read through the student booklet and if it says, that they will fairly and justly deal with complaints and they have not, even with small complaints then they are breaking their own contract with you. In our student book it says, l must go to make the complaint to a staff member, and and and... And they would resolve it fairly, but if they blame you, and don't listen, in your and other peoples case, there is a pattern of political game playing and failing to do the right thing. A lot of the contractual relationships can not be put down on paper, and is open to interpretation. You may not be able to sue your thesis advisor, but you can sue the school for they employ him, on grounds other than the thesis advisor. </p></li>\n<li><p>Think about it this way, you can damage your opponent. A lot of the education you receive, is based on an unwritten contact for services. And even if there is a contrAct, you can poke holes into it. Maybe you can sue them for an unsafe work environment, and force the lab to be closed down. If l were a school, l would be very upset, but you, as an innocent whistle blower with a slightly alter our, but ethically just motive, well the law will see you in a good light. Also if the school fails to give you an adequate answer to a problem, or does not help you, but protects the to hear that is a good grounds to sue on. </p></li>\n<li><p>Remember in law nothing is the way it seems... Smoke and mirrors.</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>you are thinking about it all wrong, remove the emotion, and think about maiming and hurting your opponent. My thesis advisor is very confident he is safe because of his position, well he has another thing coming. Not through anger and emotion, but through cold hard logic, find a flaw in the system and pursue that, and do it to damage the schools reputation. If they damage you, you damage them back using the law, and above all doing the right thing, because as institutions they must not think they can get away with abuse.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 59920,
"author": "Aumit",
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"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I am not sure at what stage of PhD your friend is. Has he finished the number of years necessary to do the PhD? If yes, he can submit the thesis. One really need to find the fault in the system if he/she want to sue a PhD supervisor. Once he finds the faults of Professor with supporting concrete evidences he/she could be on safe side. If your friend has decided to sue a PhD supervisor at any stage of PhD, beware of rules and regulations of university. In PhD, when you submit a thesis, the first thing comes is the acceptance or the rejection of thesis from examination. If your thesis is accepted by the examination committee, you can go for examination. If it is not accepted, you can not go for examination. In case of the rejection of PhD thesis, they will inform you about the reasons of rejection. Go through them carefully. Find out the faults in their own research articles and their own books or dissertation. Write them in a contradiction report. Send it to them. You must wait for the appeal decision of the university. If you are not satisfied with their decision you can go to the court.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 60114,
"author": "Captain Emacs",
"author_id": 45857,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/45857",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If it is likely that he will pass, your friend should go for the defense first, every other aspect put on hold. As for a court case, it is risky; they will have to prove that they were harmed intentionally or through negligence (I am not sure the latter counts in a supervision process - I am not a lawyer!). </p>\n\n<p>They will also have to prove that the postdoc basically took the ideas from them. This is quite possible and definitively does happen, however, keep in mind the possibility that it might have been the other way round: sometimes students underestimate how much they have absorbed from the research group and their superviser and believe that they have had an original idea, whereas they only had the final \"flash of understanding\" about what their supervisors and group colleagues have been talking about for months. </p>\n\n<p>An emotional situation may cloud their self-judgement with respect to their contribution and taking it to court is not recommended, unless they are absolutely sure their idea was taken and they can prove it. Even so, it might not be a good idea, because these are murky waters. I have known a case of a student being upset at their supervisor only to come back a period later - with more life experience - to complete a joint paper broken off in anger, because he understood how much the supervisor had contributed in the first place.</p>\n\n<p>Finally, not every PhD is a success story in terms of concrete scientific achievements - this may depend on talent, luck, circumstances. However, if your friend passes, they have achieved a PhD in 3 years and, no matter what, that's a pretty good achievement. Some PhD's (esp. in Europe) drag on for 6-7 years, others never materialise. So, while it may not look like it at this point, after the PhD, things may look brighter to your friend.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 116934,
"author": "mathreadler",
"author_id": 42750,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/42750",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Learning is not an instantaneous event. You prepare and practice your brain for growth and development but there is a lot of inertia involved and it takes time. He will probably gradually realize what the studies has made him able to do, say over a.. 5-10 year period, maybe. Studying is planting the tree. If fertile land and skilled gardener and good care it will slowly grow, become majestic and sprout flowers or whatnot.</p>\n\n<p>Heck some courses I took even 10 years ago I don't realize until now what some of the clever comments during professors lectures were about until this or last summer.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/17 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7293",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2806/"
]
|
7,297 | <p>On one hand, this seems like the obvious thing to do: no one is going to be able to better testify to your teaching ability than a previous student. On the other hand, I've never heard of anybody ever doing this, and for some reason, it seems a bit silly.</p>
<p>So what does the academic community large think about this? Is it okay to list previous students as references when applying for a teaching position in academia?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7304,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I don't see why you couldn't do this, as long as you made it clear what you were doing, but I think it would probably be a mistake unless it is in addition to the usual documentation (teaching evaluations, teaching letter from a faculty member).</p>\n\n<p>At the very least, you would have to choose an unusually thoughtful and articulate student, someone who could discuss what's distinctive and valuable about your teaching. Even if you did that, there would be some concern that the student is not someone with a letter writing reputation they have an incentive to protect, or that you may have chosen a student because you couldn't find faculty willing to vouch for your teaching. However, I think there's a more fundamental difficulty.</p>\n\n<p>Any half-decent teacher can find at least one student every few years who really thinks highly of their teaching. Maybe it's because the teaching style is a perfect match for the student; maybe it's because the student deeply loves the class material and is somewhat awestruck by the professor. However, there's always someone, so getting a great recommendation from a student or two tells little about how the other students felt.</p>\n\n<p>If you have broader evidence too, such as strong teaching evaluations from your students overall and a positive letter from a faculty member, then this would not be a difficulty. (However, if you have these things then the student letter would probably not be needed.)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7312,
"author": "Eric Marsh",
"author_id": 5631,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5631",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Many academic jobs (and certainly ones with a focus on teaching) require a teaching portfolio and statement to be submitted with application materials. It is definitely appropriate to include any correspondence from students with this information. The teaching portfolio will also include student evaluations and any other material and thoughts relevant to experiences in the classroom.</p>\n\n<p>I do not think it would generally be a good idea to use a student as an actual reference, however.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7313,
"author": "Javeer Baker",
"author_id": 4475,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4475",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The look of horror by my PhD advisor said it all when I suggested I could be a referee for him. </p>\n\n<p>This was in a casual conversation as he was applying to get to the next level and we were talking about our career pathways.</p>\n\n<p>I hold a senior executive position in the industry so this was not far fetched in my mind. </p>\n\n<p>Tell me about professional regrets!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7340,
"author": "StasK",
"author_id": 739,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/739",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>One of the best references written for me was produced by an A+ student of mine. It featured a great level of detail about my teaching style, and clear explanations as to why he thought I was a good teacher. (This guy went on to work on a Ph.D. in the top US school in his field, computer science; no wonder his analytic skills were top-notch.) He wrote this letter half a year or so after having completed my class, and he mentioned some off-class interactions we've had afterwards when I helped him solve his CS problem, so it was clear that we had an effective work relation. Faculty who came to sit in my class to oblige with the required \"peer review of StasK's teaching\" would write some crap in their evaluation letters, frankly, as their reviews would be way more superficial.</p>\n\n<p>When I was applying for the faculty positions, I would ask the search chairs whether they wanted the teaching letter from my former student, from my mentor on the tenure track, or from the director of a teaching training program I went to in my University (yes, I did have all three handy, and I cared enough about teaching to enroll in such a program). About three quarters said they wanted the student letter.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7341,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I wouldn't recommend doing it, for a simple reason: you want your reference letters to be from indubitable experts, who can vouch for the quality of your work. However, <strong>students are not experts in pedagogy</strong>. True, they can tell the difference between a teacher who care and one who doesn't, someöne who invests time and those who don't, but that's it. A reference from a student would most likely comment on the </p>\n\n<p>Yet, it's hard to find a good reference that speaks for the quality of your teaching. You could consider:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>asking the head of a specific program in which you have developed course material (or department dean)</li>\n<li>asking a colleague with whom you have taught a lot</li>\n<li>not a reference letter, but close: quoting from a professional evaluation of your teaching (if such exist in your educational system), done by an expert (professor in pedagogy)</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>In research, you would definitely consider having a reference from your supervisor. So, do the same for the teaching part!</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/17 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7297",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5622/"
]
|
7,299 | <p>My research paper has been accepted for the IEEE ICCSE conference. I am planning to change the title of the research paper before the submission of the camera-ready version. This would be a slight modification which will not affect the context of my research. Would it be possible to do so? Is it okay if I request to change the title of my paper?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7301,
"author": "walkmanyi",
"author_id": 1265,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1265",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Generally, you can do this, but you need to get an explicit permission from the programme chair(s). I would also suggest thoroughly explaining the change, as such a change request might indicate that you did a lousy job preparing the paper before the submission itself.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 106762,
"author": "Coder",
"author_id": 53762,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53762",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I don't have experience with conferences in this regard, but, I have done once with one of my journal paper.</p>\n\n<p>After second revision (minor), I felt that the title was too long. So, I shortened the title that does not change the intention of the paper. For this, while submitting the cover letter (to the Editor/Editor in Chief), I declared that I have intentionally changed the title that does not necessarily change the goal of the manuscript. The paper was accepted and was subsequently published.</p>\n\n<p>As others point out, even though it is a conference paper, you should explicitly state or inform the program chair about this.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/17 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7299",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5615/"
]
|
7,300 | <p>From my research internship experiences (my previous University didn't really focus on research much) and what my current advisers told me, a <em>general flow</em> of a PhD is like any other long(er)-time project:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>familiarize oneself with state-of-the-art on the subject</p>
</li>
<li><p>generate your own ideas (by trial-and-error) and integrate with current approaches</p>
<p>(with this phase becoming a lot fuzzier the more advanced your "project" is)</p>
</li>
<li><p>write it up for the world to know.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>As a fresh PhD student, I'm currently in the middle of familiarizing myself with the state of the art, following the advice of many older students (<em>"be a brave soldier in the beginning and do and read everything your advisers throw/send/e-mail your way"</em>). And I do understand the importance of it (in fact, more often than not, I love it). But, it does give one an impression of self-uselessness sometimes (I have a talk with myself every few weeks or so to remind myself of my motivation and resolve the "uselessness" issue).</p>
<p>So, my question is: <strong>Typically, how much time would a fresh PhD student spend on going through state-of-the-art at the beginning of his/her PhD?</strong></p>
<p>And some sub-questions:</p>
<ul>
<li>is it expected/typical to produce some kind of output (articles?) <em>during</em> this period?</li>
<li>what kind of output is expected at the end of this period?</li>
<li>what would be some indicators that this period is ending which a student himself can notice</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<p>In the end, just to provide some context: I'm doing a PhD in Europe, and we have a limit of 3 years for a PhD (sometimes extended for up to 6 months) and I'm studying Computer Science.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7302,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I don't think there is a clear transition between “familiarizing oneself with the subject” and “being an expert in this topic, and generate new ideas and approaches”. <strong>The transition is gradual, and it's called “the PhD”</strong>.</p>\n\n<p>However, there are ways to quantify this evolution. For example, ask yourself: in a discussion with your advisor and a few other experts on a topic related to your PhD, how able are you to make useful comments and suggestions? How often do you come to your advisor saying “I have tried to do X because I read about it and I think it can apply to my issue”?</p>\n\n<p>Regarding the written “output” of the beginning of a PhD, it pretty much depends on you and your advisor. Mostly, the output is knowledge in your mind, but it can also be useful to make notes (both for yourself and your advisor) on each subtopic you discover. For myself, as an advisor, I ask students to contribute bibliographic notes (written or orally) every now and then, for me and other students of the group who work on related topics.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7303,
"author": "eykanal",
"author_id": 73,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/73",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I'm hesitant to make broad generalizations across disciplines, but I've seen this pattern a few times in a number of fields, so for what it's worth:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>You can expend to spend the better part of a year (or more) familiarizing yourself with the field itself.</p></li>\n<li><p>You can expect to spend <em>another</em> better part of a year (or more) familiarizing yourself with the state-of-the-art in that field.</p></li>\n<li><p>You can expect to spend the rest of your life staying up to date on what's being done.</p></li>\n<li><p>While you're doing all this, you will also be implementing some of the research you're reading about, doing coursework, teaching, grading, writing grants, and doing actual research. This will take time away from simply reading up on stuff.</p></li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7308,
"author": "Rex Kerr",
"author_id": 669,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/669",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Initially, you should really just seek to understand. Thousands (or tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands) of brilliant people have been working on problems for many years. If you're going to contribute, hadn't you better understand what some of them did, and why? So read, think, ask questions. Your initial goal is not to produce anything except familiarity with the core concepts and techniques. Or, to put it another way, you should be producing ideas and questions, hopefully to talk about with another lab member or your mentor. If you skip this phase, you'll either be slavishly following your mentor's directions without understanding why; duplicating work that's already well-established, probably (though not necessarily!) in an inferior way; or working on something that is fun for you perhaps, but not particularly relevant for anything. (Many Ph.D. students, in my experience, do end up falling afoul of one or more of these.)</p>\n\n<p>Now, you ought not expect at the end of this period that you'll have as keen a grasp of the field and directions as your mentor; the point is to start getting the perspective you need to understand why, for instance, your mentor suggests using a bayesian analysis of job-completion times to help with load balancing.</p>\n\n<p>At this point--unless your mentor is highly concerned about this--I wouldn't fret too much about producing papers. Get yourself in a position where you can produce good papers. Once you're there, then work out the next part of the plan (you'll very likely find that it depends heavily on what you're planning to do, which you won't know until you understand the literature and appropriate techniques).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7309,
"author": "Javeer Baker",
"author_id": 4475,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4475",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>My advice: don't read everything otherwise you will never finish! Finishing your PhD should be your goal. </p>\n\n<p>Become familiar with the dominant themes in your field and continually think how your PhD fits in the scheme of knowledge.</p>\n\n<p>Focus on what is relevant to your research.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7310,
"author": "Suresh",
"author_id": 346,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The problem with the general outline you describe is that it's top down, and doesn't reflect the bottom up nature of doing research. In other words, while it's useful to familiar with the state of the art, you shouldn't necessarily start by assimilating the state of the art in the field. That's too overwhelming !</p>\n\n<p>The best approach early on is to start small, and work on something concrete. Doing a Ph.D is really like doing an apprenticeship to hone the craft of doing research. Starting with assimilating the state of the art is akin to reading lots of books on music theory before touching a piano. </p>\n\n<p>So start with a small problem. Try different approaches. Talk to lots of people. Read papers that might have ideas to help you with the problem. Talk to lots of people again. Try more ideas. Solve a piece of the problem. Discover it's been solved before ! Realize that you've been able to recreate someone else's original research. Realize that <strong>this is a good thing</strong>. </p>\n\n<p>There will come a time when you suddenly realize that you're familiar with most of the state of the art. And that you've been adding to it. </p>\n\n<p>And then it's time to graduate :). </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7325,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Your question likely indicates that you need to work on your communication with your advisor. Hasn't he told you what is expect and how you are progressing?</p>\n\n<p>I will try and keep this answer focused on the question, but I apologize if it strays.</p>\n\n<p>Some indicators that your are becoming familiar with the field:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>When you talk to your supervisor you are familiar with some of the\nreferences mention and names start to mean something to you. Better\nfamiliarity is when this holds when you talk to colleagues and go to\ntalks and seminars</li>\n<li>When you have read/glanced at most of the references in articles that\nyou read. Better is when the most exciting thing about reading new\nliterature is finding a reference to something you didn't know about</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>As far as output, ideally during the course of your dissertation you should become familiar enough with the relevant literature to write a literature review article. You should feel like you could write a review at the end of the familiarization stage. Actually writing a full review is probably a bit premature, since you want the review to tie in with your eventual dissertation. I would suggest that a useful output is a dissertation proposal with a strong literature review based motivation. This is not a publishable output, but it is tangible.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/17 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7300",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4249/"
]
|
7,320 | <p>I submitted an article in a Reputed journal in mathematics. It is in review process. After 4 months, i realized that there are some trivial mistakes... Article is still under review with journal. What should I do?</p>
<ol>
<li>If I have a corrected version, should I send that one?</li>
<li>Or should I share this situation with Editor?</li>
</ol>
<p>I am feeling very bad because of me editor and reviewer are (will be) wasting their time with wrong article...</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7321,
"author": "Leon palafox",
"author_id": 2806,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2806",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>First of all, when you send a Journal to review, is not a trivial matter, and you must be sure all the math is correct, that is the reason you are supposed to have it checked by colleagues and people who can give you thoughtful insight, it would come as unprofessional to an editor if suddenly an author says: \"sorry I made a mistake, lets do it all over again\"</p>\n\n<p>In the best case scenario, the mistakes will be so trivial that the reviewers will realize it and accept it given that you correct the mistakes.</p>\n\n<p>In the worst case scenario, is because of these mistakes that the journal would get rejected.</p>\n\n<p>You can always try and resubmit, put I would try a different journal.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7322,
"author": "Suresh",
"author_id": 346,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>You should do both. Namely, send an email to the editor, explain the error and how you fixed it, and attach a revised version, and ask them how they would like to proceed. They might</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Send the revised version to the referees</li>\n<li>formally \"reject\" the incorrect version and consider the new version a resubmission </li>\n<li>reject the incorrect version and the corrected version. </li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>In any event, you must contact them. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7323,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Do not worry about this situation. It happens to best of us. The best strategy is to write a note explaining the mistakes and the modifications you have made to correct them. Then send the note and the revised version to the editor. </p>\n\n<p>Please note that it is very important to list all the modifications of the revised version. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7324,
"author": "Nate Eldredge",
"author_id": 1010,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think it depends to some extent on the magnitude of the error, and the complexity of the correction.</p>\n\n<p>If you have found a serious error in one of the results, and the correction involves major changes to the proof, or requires a significantly stronger hypothesis or weaker conclusion, then I agree with the other answers that you should contact the editor and ask that the corrected version be sent to the referee (include a list of the changes you made). Otherwise the referee may waste a lot of time sorting it out, or just reject the paper.</p>\n\n<p>If you have found some typographical errors, or a stray factor of 2 in a constant, or omitted an obvious hypothesis in a lemma, then I would not bother the editor and referee with it. Minor errors like this should not affect the acceptance of the paper; the referee should have no trouble realizing what you meant (or may overlook it completely). If the paper is accepted, you can include the correction with any other revisions requested by the referee (as before, include a list of all changes). If the paper is rejected, it wouldn't be because of these errors, and you can simply fix them before submitting to a new journal.</p>\n\n<p>You'll have to decide where your corrections fall between these two. </p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/18 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7320",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5635/"
]
|
7,326 | <p>I finished my (german) Dipl.-Ing. (FH) degree after 4 1/2 years of studying. After that I started to work and studied parallel via a correspondence course. I'll now shortly (hopefully ;-) ) have the additional title of a MSc. That took me 2 1/2 years but only in part time, so the amount of time I invested was much less, than that for my Diploma.</p>
<p>So in order to reflect the increase in qualification I'd put the degrees like that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Dipl.-Ing. (FH), MSc.</strong> Firstname Lastname</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But as the Master is sometimes regarded as a higher form of qualification than the Diploma, it might be correct like this:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>MSc., Dipl.-Ing. (FH)</strong> Firstname Lastname</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>What's the correct order?</strong>
<br /><br /><br /></p>
<hr />
<p>edit: <br />
Like it was pointed out the MSc. is written after the name. So the choice is between:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Dipl.-Ing. (FH)</strong> Firstname Lastname, <strong>MSc.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Dipl.-Ing. (FH)</strong> Firstname Lastname</p>
<p>Firstname Lastname, <strong>MSc.</strong></p>
</blockquote>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7327,
"author": "walkmanyi",
"author_id": 1265,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1265",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It seems there are not strict rules for this (speaking about Germany). There are few ways to deal with this:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>do not use titles at all except for documents like your CV. Why to list them anyway, isn't it just vanity issue at play here?</li>\n<li>if you want to use titles still (well, it's Germany, right?) list only the highest title you achieved as if it superseded all the lower-grade ones. In the case you have several on the same level, choose one. Should be good enough to get all the respect you are after (since you decided to use titles)</li>\n<li>if you should list the titles of different academic levels, then list them in the order of importance/level: [honorary titles] [prof equivalents] [dr. equivalents] [MSc. equivalents] [BSc. equivalents] [whatever else] Name [whatever comes after the name]\n<ul>\n<li>well, now it comes to my mind, that how the ordering \"after the name\" should look like is even more confusing. </li>\n</ul></li>\n<li>if you live in Austria, list everything you want and need in any arbitrary order (half-joke, of course)</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>For references check also <a href=\"http://www.bmwf.gv.at/startseite/studierende/academic_mobility/enic_naric_austria/faq/fuehrung_akademischer_grade/\" rel=\"nofollow\">here</a>, or <a href=\"http://de.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080204062132AAZnURQ\" rel=\"nofollow\">here</a>, or <a href=\"http://www.haktulln.ac.at/ifom/sites/default/files/OeNORM-Aenderungen_Textdesign.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">here</a> (part Anrede).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7328,
"author": "A.Schulz",
"author_id": 1467,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1467",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>You should notice that in Germany academic titles such as <em>Dr., Dipl.Ing, Mag</em> are writen in front of the name, whereas titles such as <em>M.Sc., B.Sc., M.A., etc.</em>, a written behind the name (see <a href=\"http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akademischer_Grad\">here</a>). So if it all I would say the correct order is</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p><strong>Dipl.Ing (FH)</strong> Firstname Lastname, <strong>M. Sc.</strong></p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>However, I would just ignore the <em>Dipl.Ing (FH)</em>.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/18 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7326",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4051/"
]
|
7,329 | <p>Nowadays, in almost every scientific field, there are hundreds of conferences. Many call for papers emails fill our mail boxes.</p>
<p>Freedom of choice is great, but, <strong>how to choose to which conference send a paper?</strong></p>
<p>Should I choose one...</p>
<ol start="2">
<li><p>based on the <strong>scientific relevance</strong>?</p></li>
<li><p>based on the scientific <strong>vicinity</strong> to your paper theme?</p></li>
<li><p>based on its <strong>prestige</strong>?</p></li>
<li><p>because of some official <strong>ranking</strong>?</p></li>
<li><p>because it provides <strong>the best food</strong>?</p></li>
</ol>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7333,
"author": "Ricardo Segovia",
"author_id": 4560,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4560",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In an ideal world, you would like to choose your conference by their relation to your paper's main topic, and the possibility of impact to your field.</p>\n\n<p>Now, you might be inclined to choose according to other filters:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Based on its \"possible attendants\", such as a highly-esteemed\ninvestigator you might want to know and get feedback from, in a more\npersonal way.</li>\n<li>Your own \"travel experiences\" (such as wanting to travel to a\nfar-away location, or to re-visit some beautiful place).</li>\n<li>Most conferences consider acceptance as a \"at least one of the\nauthors must attend and present their work\" binding commitment, so\nunless you are going with your college's support, you must\nconsider the ongoing rates on inscription, hotel rates and\nadded values (such as travel expenses or food, among others).</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Some other reasons might apply, but your main filter must be to choose a conference in which your work is closely related to.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7334,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Not a complete answer, but is substantially reduces the number of conferences to consider, the first things I consider are: timing, location, duration, cost. It has to fit into my teaching schedule and I have to have results and enough time to write them up, but not so far off that I want them out (timing). A one or two day national conference is much easier to deal with than a week long overseas conference (location and duration). I have to be able to afford it (cost).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7342,
"author": "walkmanyi",
"author_id": 1265,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1265",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>Why choosin' a conference instead of another?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Conference is a social event. Even in computer science where conferences really matter, attending and presenting a paper either in a talk, or as a poster is still a personal dissemination of results. With this prelude, I argue that you should choose also (if not primarily) on the basis of what kind of audience you expect to attend your presentation.</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>sometimes, your paper is a message to the community (incremental works or methodological remarks come to mind). In that case you want to target precisely the community your paper speaks to. So even if it would be a small workshop without proceedings, if your result matters to the small community, you should speak primarily to them.</p></li>\n<li><p>most of the time, you have a standalone research result. Q: What are you after with it? A: impact = citations. Hence, go to a place attended by those guys who are likely to cite your work. Usually, that is correlated with the position of the venue on the Top-XYZ ladder = badge (see below).</p></li>\n<li><p>sometimes, you want to get a badge = have a paper at this prestigious conference which will shine on your CV. Fair enough, there you have the way to decide.</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>Ideally, you should go for a place providing both 2 and 3. Honestly, I see little good from choosing a conference based solely on its focus. Doing so, you might end up at C-tier venue full of people who are interested in the location and the buffet.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 121096,
"author": "David Ketcheson",
"author_id": 81,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/81",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you are new to research or new to a particular field, you should <strong>discuss this question with a colleague</strong> who has experience in that field (for students, this is your advisor). They know which conferences are the most important/useful/well-attended. After some time you will know this too and can decide based on <strong>personal experience</strong>.</p>\n\n<p>Outside of expert advice or personal experience, here are my criteria, in order of importance:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>It is sponsored by one of the major relevant <strong>professional societies</strong>. Which are relevant depends on your field. In mine, this means SIAM.</li>\n<li>The work I would like to present is <strong>relevant</strong> to the focus of the conference.</li>\n<li>The <strong>timing and location</strong> make sense. This can depend on many things, but it is less convenient to travel when you need to be in class (as a teacher or a student). You may have limited funds, or limited tolerance for long flights and layovers. Choosing a conference because you have some particular desire to visit that location is not generally a good idea unless the other factors here align too.</li>\n<li>The <strong>size</strong> of the conference, in number of attendees and also breadth of scope. After many years I have come to the conclusion that smaller, more focused meetings are more useful to me, but I know people who feel just the opposite.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>In fields where conference submission acceptance rates are relatively low (i.e., the process is highly competitive), conference prestige or rankings should indeed be an important factor. In others (like mine, applied math) conference submissions are not really competitive and there is not a hierarchy of conferences in terms of prestige.</p>\n\n<p>For small thematic workshops, criterion #1 above is often irrelevant; but for anything larger it is essential.</p>\n\n<p>Don't choose a conference based on the food.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/18 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7329",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/379/"
]
|
7,335 | <p>All content under Stack Exchange is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license. Does this mean that any academic paper that uses content from Stack Exchange must also be licensed under said Creative Commons?</p>
<p>If not, what is the actual rule on this part?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7336,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><strong>Making a reference</strong> to CC Attribution-ShareAlike content <strong>is always okay</strong>. In fact, referring to <em>any</em> work is okay, regardless of the copyright status. Only content is copyrighted, not bibliographic elements (including author names and title). For example, the <a href=\"http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-protect.html\">U.S. Copyright Office says</a>:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Copyright does not protect names, titles, slogans, or short phrases.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>Quoting is a more complex matter. It depends on copyright laws, and thus your country. In most cases, if the material is quoted raw and the quote is kept short, most academic use should fall under the doctrine of <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use\"><strong>fair use</strong></a>. By contrast, read also the article on <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derivative_work\"><strong>derivative work</strong></a> to get an idea of these two extreme cases.</p>\n\n<p>This is mostly a theoretical question, however: the scope of fair use is grey are in US Copyright Law, and provided you do it for academic purposes and in a good faith, you won't get into trouble.</p>\n\n<p>Finally: <strong>if you really want to quote in a bulletproof way</strong>, either (a) consult with a lawyer or (b) <strong>ask the copyright holder for a waiver to relicense his content to you.</strong></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7337,
"author": "silvado",
"author_id": 3890,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/3890",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>For quotations that are covered by \"fair use\" of the copyrighted work, you don't need to get a license. Even if you already have a license to use the work (such as a CC license), you don't need to stick to the terms of the license for this type of usage. </p>\n\n<p>So, even if your paper may be a derivative work, you don't have to apply the terms of the license, and you wouldn't have to put your work under a CC license. As soon as your quotations go beyond fair use, you would in fact have to put your work under the required license.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/18 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7335",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5647/"
]
|
7,345 | <p>I am currently writing a reference letter for a colleague applying for a US green card. Given that I don't know much about the process and expectations of the immigration bureaucrats who will handle the application, I asked around for examples of such letter. Obviously, they are all glowing, and I started writing in the same style.</p>
<p>Now, don’t get me wrong: she is truly a great researcher, I wish her the best of success with her application and hope to help as much as I can (at least, not to let her down). But… at the same time, as I finished writing my letter, I wondered: <strong>is it possible that I went over the top with praise?</strong> Is it even possible, in such a case? And if so, how can I tell? I mean, I did not write anything factual wrong, but if read very literal (and outside context), it might sound more like the eulogy of a Nobel prize winner than the recommendation of a mid-carreer researcher (even a very good one).</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7346,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There a few signs that you might have gone over the top:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Have you used many <em>absolute</em> superlatives (\"<em>the best</em>\" rather than \"<em>one of the best</em>,\" \"the most dedicated\" instead of \"extremely dedicated\", and so on)?</li>\n<li>Is your letter too long or too detailed, given the length of time you have known the person (four pages is probably too long for someone who worked for you on a summer project, unless you've known that person independently in other contexts before then).</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>and most importantly</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Would such a letter, if you were the one <em>receiving</em> it rather than <em>writing</em> it, cause you to have an unfavorable or skeptical reaction about the candidate?</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>In other words, if it makes you think \"nobody's that good,\" you've probably gone over the top. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7351,
"author": "Suresh",
"author_id": 346,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Letters written for a green card application are very differently structured to letters written for other purposes. As was explained to me when I went through the process, the structure of a green card letter is usually </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>I am awesome</li>\n<li>here are all the ways in which I am awesome</li>\n<li>because I am so awesome, you should trust me when I say that this person should get a green card</li>\n<li>and oh yeah, they're pretty awesome, which I can tell because I'm awesome. </li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>I'm only slightly exaggerating here. The point is that GC letters are not read by academics - they are read by lawyers who don't evaluate technical skills so much as achievements and strength of recommender. So there's no way to go over the top really. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7359,
"author": "Peter K.",
"author_id": 3965,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/3965",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Having been the recipient of a few recommendation letters when applying for a US Green Card, I can assure you it is impossible to give too much praise. The letters I received from my colleagues were humbling and, to put it mildly, embarrassing!!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7364,
"author": "Nobody",
"author_id": 546,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/546",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The purpose of a recommendation letter for green card application is to convince the application reviewer that the applicant is a person the US wants for its national interest.</p>\n\n<p>As long as you don't lie, I think you're fine.</p>\n\n<p>For example, you can say <strong>you think</strong> she is the best scientist you ever met. This would be your own subjective opinion. You think that way. Others may not think the same. No one can say you lie because it's just your opinion.</p>\n\n<p>Basically, you can say anything you want. But, be careful. You don't want to step on your own toes. You better have evidences to support whatever you say in your recommendation letter. For instance, she'd better be good enough to be called the best scienist you ever met. The evidences would be something like, she received some outstanding awards from well known organizations, etc.</p>\n\n<p>Remember, you'll have to sign on the bottom of the recommendation letter and send it to the US government. Would you be careful when you submit a document to any government?</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/19 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7345",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700/"
]
|
7,348 | <p>I'm doing a masters course at a different university than I did my undergrad (both in maths). I did well in my undergrad but now I'm finding it very difficult. The shock of the change is hard to cope with.</p>
<p>I'm not just finding it very difficult, but I get zero feedback: we don't have any tests and I was not able to make friends so I don't know how others are finding it. I'm starting to think that I might be an idiot.</p>
<ul>
<li>How can I build some confidence in my abilities at the same time as I rush and struggle to keep up with the massive rate of new material I need to learn?</li>
<li>How might I get myself some reassurance that I can actually pass, or stop worrying about this so much? (I feel terribly guilty using so much money from my family to be here) It's possible that I don't really have a chance at all but knowing that would be fine. </li>
</ul>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7349,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Feelings of inadequacy are quite common when starting a new graduate program—you are surrounded by talented people (if they weren't, presumably they wouldn't be graduate students!), and there is often a big leap in expectations between the requirements of a bachelor's program and the corresponding graduate program, particularly if you're at a top program in your field.</p>\n\n<p>As one of the commenters mentioned, talking to your professors or teaching assistants may be one good way to get help, or to get at least some reassurance about how you're doing. Depending on what your university or department provides, they may be able to provide you with resources to help you study or prepare for your exams. This might be as much as arranging a tutor for you, or as simple as providing you with sample exams from previous course offerings. If your department has a \"graduate student council\" or \"society\" or something like that designed to help out the students, then a lot of these may have already been collected by students from previous years for use by students in later years.</p>\n\n<p>In general, though, don't get too discouraged. It is recognized by most instructors that graduate school is harder than an undergraduate, and the grading tends to match that view. There are very few graduate school courses that are not graded \"on a curve\"; otherwise everybody would have bad grades! (When the top score on an exam is 60/100, most schools won't let you fail everybody!)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7350,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I guess the level of undergraduate courses at your new university is higher than the ones at your previous univ. So it is better you audit some of the undergraduate courses or you study them by yourself. For example, if you have taken algebraic topology this semester you might need to audit general topology too or you maybe should study some advanced algebra as well. Ask the professors about the background necessary for master courses and how you can get this background.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7861,
"author": "Ivan P.",
"author_id": 5623,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5623",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>My advice is to befriend a second year or older grad student. \nI was in the exact same spot as you are now and unfortunately for me, there was nobody there to help me (I am in a foreign non English speaking country, where people were anything but friendly). </p>\n\n<p>I am in my 3rd in grad school and I have learned the following golden rules (the hard way).</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>If you are not sure what is expected of you - ask as many people as possible. No one will come and tell you what you need to know. If you are not confident doing this in person, an email is also acceptable.</li>\n<li>If there is a problem you don't know how to solve, always approach the person you are going to ask, with a possible solution. Nobody is going to do your work for you.</li>\n<li>Grad school can be a lonely place. Find some colleagues to share the pain.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>My lack of confidence was usually a direct result of the complexity of a certain task. Just because something seems too complex, doesn't mean that there is no solution. \nWhen I find myself in such situation, I like to step back a bit and clear my head. I usually go out with friends or do some sports. This should jump start your motivation.</p>\n\n<p>Next step is to break down a task into smaller junks that are easy to swallow. I use a free web tool called <a href=\"https://trello.com/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Trello</a>, it also has a smart-phone app and supports collaboration.\nDecide on a deadline for the big tasks and try to fit the smaller once into a schedule.</p>\n\n<p>A series of small successes is relatively easy to achieve and can do miracles for your motivation and overall confidence. </p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/19 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7348",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
]
|
7,352 | <p>Should I put on my CV papers (or "talks") that appeared in (peer-reviewed!) conferences that have no proceedings? Should I avoid duplicates if the same paper also appears in another conference (with proceedings)?</p>
<p>Should I make it clear that the conference has no proceedings, or just list it in the "Conferences" section? If it changes anything, my field is Computer Science.</p>
<p><strong>EDIT</strong>:
some conferences are peer-reviewed but have no proceedings. Call it workshops if you wish. You submit a paper, and a committee selects 30%-40 of the papers - each submission gets a slot in presenting the results during the conference/workshop, however no formal proceedings is issued.<br>
(I'm surprised no one heard of such conferences; maybe I'm using the wrong terms; sorry for that)</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7353,
"author": "Leon palafox",
"author_id": 2806,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2806",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If the conference has no proceedings, it is indeed unpublished. Usually those kind of conferences do not have any problems with you submitting the same paper to a Journal or other conference that do have proceedings.</p>\n\n<p>Be sure to check with the conference regulations, and if you never did any copyright transfer, there should not be any problem at all.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7354,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I don't quite understand what you mean by \"appeared in conferences\" but have \"no proceedings\", but I'll chalk that up to differences between fields. I'll answer your question of whether one should add this to their CV. In my opinion, you should absolutely add it if you're a grad student or in your early career phase. If it has a DOI, you can list it under the peer reviewed section, otherwise simply list it under conferences (or the equivalent).</p>\n\n<p>At this stage in your career, a CV not only conveys what you've accomplished (peer reviewed publications, awards, degrees, etc.), it also is a measure of your \"scientific activity\". It answers the question: \"Are you someone who is capable of doing research, publishing, attending conferences and presenting your results in front of an audience of your peers simultaneously or are you someone who simply holes up in their office and publishes in solitude?\". It demonstrates that you (possibly) will be someone who networks with their peers, is capable of establishing collaborations, thus broadening their research horizon, etc. It doesn't matter if you've not done these already — it gives a better impression that someone who has done nothing at all.</p>\n\n<p>If you're an established researcher, you probably might not worry too much about it, as by then there are several other metrics that more reliably demonstrate your scientific worth than conference publications/abstracts/talks. Nevertheless, even they have to indulge in this cat-and-mouse game — the difference being that now they have to tout every mundane activity (membership on department committees) as somehow demonstrating their \"interest\" in the university's affairs.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7355,
"author": "gerrit",
"author_id": 1033,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1033",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I would not put such a \"paper\" in the publications section. After all, there is no publication, apart from an abstract.</p>\n\n<p>In my field, conferences usually <em>do not</em> have proceedings, and if they do, proceedings papers have very little value. Also, conference abstracts are not peer-reviewed. I've only heard of a single rejected conference abstract, and this was for political reasons.</p>\n\n<p>If you have a dedicated <em>conferences</em> section, then I would put the \"paper\" there, as to not suggest that there is a publication.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7356,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In that case, <strong>the text you wrote as part of your submission is not published</strong> (except maybe in some cases in a book of abstracts distributed to participants, but it doesn't count). So, in your CV or scientific production listing, you can add an item for your talk in the “conference talks” section, but not the same as a paper.</p>\n\n<p>In the fields familiar to me (physics and chemistry), it is actually very common for early and mid-career scientists to list “conference talks” in their CV. Later in the career, you may list only “invited talks”, though you should still maintain somewhere a complete list of your scientific production, which includes all conference talks.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7357,
"author": "JeffE",
"author_id": 65,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I assume that you're in computer science, since otherwise you probably shouldn't list <em>any</em> conference papers as publications. So I'll answer as a computer scientist.</p>\n\n<p><strong>No, you should not list such papers as publications in your CV,</strong> because those papers are not actually published. Moreover, there is likely an expectation that the same paper <em>can</em> be published at a different conference. <strong>You must not list the \"same\" paper at more than one conference.*</strong></p>\n\n<p>I know of several conferences/workshops like the one your describe in computational geometry (my home field), including <a href=\"http://eurocg.org/\">EuroCG</a>, the <a href=\"http://www.umiacs.umd.edu/conferences/fwcg2012/\">Fall Workshops</a>, and the <a href=\"http://socg2012.web.unc.edu/computational-geometry-young-researchers-forum/\">Young Researchers Forum</a> at SOCG. At all three venues, submissions are <em>lightly</em> peer-reviewed, only a subset of submissions are accepted, and a booklet of abstracts is distributed to participants and/or on the web. But no formal proceedings is issued at these events, because it is <a href=\"http://www.ibr.cs.tu-bs.de/alg/eurocg13/cfp.html\">expected</a> that accepted papers will later appear in more polished form at a <em>more formally</em> reviewed conference. (Some early iterations of EuroCG did have <a href=\"http://www.informatik.uni-trier.de/~ley/db/conf/ewcg/index.html\">formal proceedings</a>, despite the expectation of later publication, but other conferences were unwilling to accept papers that appeared in those proceedings.)</p>\n\n<p>As others have said, it's perfectly fine to list those talks under \"Unpublished Workshop Talks\", especially early in your career. You might even include the acceptance rate if you want to emphasize that the venue carries some prestige. Alternatively, if you did publish the paper elsewhere, you might include the phrase \"Also presented at ...\" after the publication info.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>*...but journals are different. In most subfields of computer science, conferences papers <em>can</em> be published later in refereed journals, usually in a more expanded/complete form. Even so, I recommend listing each paper only once in your CV, including all publication venues for each paper, rather than listing the same paper once under \"conference papers\" and again under \"journal papers\".</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/20 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7352",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/324/"
]
|
7,360 | <p>When engaging in research, I know its a good idea to read lots of papers and talk to others about what has been done before and what is currently being researched to avoid "reinventing the wheel". That is, to avoid researching/publishing a result that has already been discovered. </p>
<p>In fields where physical experiments are common, replication studies are necessary. But in theoretical/computational research, originality is key and duplication seems to be generally frowned upon. How common is it to inadvertently publish a finding that was already discovered? What do you when you happen to find yourself in this situation? Should you just scrap your work if your methods are too similar to someone else's?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7361,
"author": "JeffE",
"author_id": 65,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65",
"pm_score": 7,
"selected": true,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>How common is it to inadvertently publish a finding that was already discovered?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p><strong>Far more common than anyone realizes or wants to admit.</strong></p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stigler%27s_law_of_eponymy\">Stigler's Law of Eponymy</a> states that <strong>No scientific discovery is named after its original discoverer.</strong> (Stigler's law was proposed in this precise form in 1980 by Stephen Stigler, who self-referentially attributed it to Richard Merton, but of course similar statements were made earlier by many others, <em>including Stigler's own father.</em>) I wouldn't go as far as claiming that <em>every</em> scientific discovery is misattributed, but there are hundreds of examples. Off the top of my head: Fibonacci numbers, Pascal's triangle, Gaussian elimination, Euler's formula (both of them!), Voronoi diagrams, Markov's inequality, Chebyshev’s inequality, Dijkstra's algorithm for shortest paths, Prim's algorithm for minimum spanning trees, the Cooley-Tukey FFT algorithm, the Gale-Shapley stable matching algorithm (for which Shapley recently won the Nobel Prize in economics), ...</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>What do you when you happen to find yourself in this situation?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p><strong>Be brutally honest, both with yourself and with the scientific community.</strong></p>\n\n<p>If your work has already been published, post a reference to the prior art in your web page listing your publications. (You do <em>have</em> a web page listing your publications, don't you?) If possible, publish an addendum to your paper. Email anyone who has cited your paper already, giving them the earlier reference. When asked to review papers that cite your paper, include the earlier reference in your report. Become a walking advertisement for the earlier work.</p>\n\n<p>If your work <em>hasn't</em> already been published, try to figure out which parts of your work have actually been done before. Some of your results will appear verbatim in the earlier work, so you can't take credit for them. Some of your results will be easy corollaries of the earlier work, so you still can't take credit for them. But perhaps some of your results will take the old work in a new nontrivial direction. Build on that.</p>\n\n<p>Also, if your results were previously known <em>in a different field</em>, there may be some value in bringing those results to the attention of your research community.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Should you just scrap your work if your methods are too similar to someone else's?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p><strong>Of course not!</strong> Now you have evidence that your methods actually work! Push them further!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7366,
"author": "walkmanyi",
"author_id": 1265,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1265",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Besides the excellent JeffE's answer, I would like to add one more point to the phenomena of reinventing a wheel. It touches more \"research towards an already invented wheel\", rather than \"publishing a reinvented wheel\".</p>\n\n<p>You have a problem and need to crack it. Your problem is practical and novel, you know that. But in order to solve it you need to invent some machinery and you just do not know whether it already exists, or not - simply because you do not have a good feeling for all the subtle aspects and issues of your problem. In such a situation, it is often easier to steam ahead, learn as you go, invent something for your problem and then, when you already are familiar with all the quirks and dark corners of your problem, look around carefully to find out how's the thing you invented actually called. The odds are, it already exists in some form, most probably invented in a different niche for different purposes, but it happens to be very similar to your problem.</p>\n\n<p>Of course the above does not work for everybody, because it can be a frustrating experience to find that somebody else already invented what you did too (usually already long ago and in a better quality than you). My angle on this is to be always proud of myself, because those early solutions tend to come from very smart people, so if I managed to independently come up with the same thing as they did, it's a reason to feel better.</p>\n\n<p>At that moment, however, one should realize, his/her approach and angle to the whole issue is slightly different than that of the guys who invented it earlier. You simply came to the same junction from a different direction and you are heading elsewhere. At that point it's just great to proceed in your direction, because you can be almost sure, that your direction is original and unexplored territory - otherwise the earlier work would be cited and that's easy to find out.</p>\n\n<p>The process I describe above also partially explains why inventions tend to be named after guys who arrived to the junction later. They simply had a perspective which took them farther in terms of social impact than was that of those who originally solved the problem. Often solutions get named after the guys who popularize them and make their applications bloom, not those who solved them originally.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7383,
"author": "Phil",
"author_id": 5676,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5676",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Reinventing the wheel may be beneficial if you explain something better than the previous studies, release your code/software, etc.</p>\n\n<p>In computers science it can be frustrating when people publish a summary of their methods, provide results, but no code so that others can apply this to other data sets. So you end up reinventing the wheel.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/20 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7360",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/931/"
]
|
7,362 | <p>Is it a good practice to include an abbreviation in a title of a research paper.
for example : PC , IDE , RAM </p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7363,
"author": "Community",
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"selected": true,
"text": "<p>It is acceptable if (Edit: and only if) the abbreviation you are using is common (in your field or in general) and there is no risk of confusion. </p>\n\n<p>I have two papers whose titles contain the abbreviation (RD) which stands for (Rapid Decay). Since it is an acceptable abbreviation in our field these titles are fine.</p>\n\n<p>The best way to find out is to check similar papers or titles in your field. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7367,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
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"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There is a big difference between can and good practice. I can think of no reason why it should be considered good practice and a number of reasons why it would be bad practice. despite this, many journals will allow you to use abbreviations in titles, but you will need to check with the editor to see if you can. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7368,
"author": "Leon palafox",
"author_id": 2806,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2806",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would go against the checking similar papers in the field, and more with checking the submission guidelines.</p>\n\n<p>For example the IEEE Trans in Evolutionary Computation will <a href=\"http://cis.ieee.org/component/content/article/7/125-ieee-transactions-on-evolutionary-computation-information-for-authors.html\">reject any paper with Acronyms in the title.</a></p>\n\n<p>Yeah, it just happened to us recently, that is the reason I know, however it was our first time submitting to that Journal, and we had no trouble with acronyms before.</p>\n\n<p>A friend even told us that the very same journal asked him to put the explanation of S.O.S. since it was an acronym as well.</p>\n\n<p>So, I would recommend checking the submission guidelines.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 62054,
"author": "Neven",
"author_id": 47930,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/47930",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Using acronyms/abbreviations in title is very bad practice. Doing it also in abstract and highlights, which are all separate documents used by indexing services, is also bad. Avoid it. </p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/21 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7362",
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"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5615/"
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|
7,365 | <p>I have been notified by the IEEE organizing committee that my paper has been accepted for their conference and requested to register. and the status of the paper is <strong>AAR</strong>. Please see the quotation below.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>[AAR]This paper need thorough revision to be accepted as a full paper
for the conference.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I have attached an image of their review process.</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/GvwOa.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/GvwOa.jpg" alt="IEEE review processe" /></a></p>
<p>What will happen to my paper after the submission of the camera-ready paper? Is there any possibility for my paper not to be published in the proceedings and IEEE Xplore? Or is it guaranteed to be published after the submission of camera-ready paper?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7369,
"author": "Leon palafox",
"author_id": 2806,
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"selected": true,
"text": "<p>If the Journal/Conference editor/chair has accepted your paper, it is guaranteed to be published, given that you make the changes. That is the reason they emphasize the \"review\" part.</p>\n\n<p>Some papers have only minor revisions, so if the changes are not made, it won't affect that much the quality of the conference. But if the changes are major, it usually indicates that you have to step up the level of the paper following the suggestion of the reviewers.</p>\n\n<p>In conclusion, as long as you make the changes, your paper should be accepted in the conference, but if you neglect to do them, probably it wont.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7370,
"author": "410 gone",
"author_id": 96,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/96",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think the flowchart in your question is pretty clear as to what happens next. But I'll break down the relevant part of the flowchart into words.</p>\n\n<p>You have to make thorough revisions to your paper, and then resubmit. It will then be reviewed again. As a result of the review, it may be accepted, and it may be rejected.</p>\n\n<p><strong>AAR</strong>: your paper's current status - accepted after revising. It's now up to you to make the thorough revisions, and to then submit the revised paper</p>\n\n<p><strong>REV</strong> is the status your paper will have once you have submitted the revised paper.</p>\n\n<p><strong>RVI</strong> will be its status when the revised paper has been sent out to review. Judging by the flowchart, it will get sent to the same editor and reviewers as before, because a revised paper does not pass through the <strong>WFR</strong> stage of waiting for review, where reviewers and editor are assigned.</p>\n\n<p>It may then be accepted (<strong>ACC</strong>), rejected (<strong>REJ</strong>), or conceivably, according to that flowchart, get returned to you once more as <strong>AAR</strong> for further revisions.</p>\n\n<p>The flowchart also suggests that whether it's accepted or rejected, you still prepare a camera-ready version. That would seem to be very unlikely: I find it very hard to believe there's any use for a camera-ready version of a rejected paper; only an accepted paper would need a camera-ready version.</p>\n"
}
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| 2013/01/21 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7365",
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]
|
7,371 | <p>First of all, I know that your work speaks for you, and if you have really good papers, you have better chances, but just bear with me, and for the sake of argument lets assume that your research is only one of the points to consider.</p>
<p>I did my undergrad in what could be considered the best University in my Country (Mexico)and got a Magna Cum Laude.</p>
<p>And then, I did my Graduate studies in the University of Tokyo publishing a couple of Journal Papers (I'm really pushing for that 3rd one!)</p>
<p>This question is directed to people in the US, since I'm looking to find a permanent position.</p>
<p>What is the perception Universities in the US have of foreign Universities? I happen to know that UK Universities like Cambridge and Oxford have no problem (for obvious reasons), but a professor friend of mine told me that other Universities are just not that well known. And having a degree from the Hawaii University was better than having a degree from Tokyo University. (As a side note, he is a professor at Haw Univ, and he wanted me to apply over there)</p>
<p>I just want to know how true or false this is, and realistically speaking how hard/easy is to get a position as a postdoc and eventually a full time professor if you are not from a US univ.</p>
<p>For example, do I have the same chances as someone who graduated from a top University (your Ivy leagues, Public Ivy League, MIT, Stanford, etc) or do I least have the same chances as middle range Universities?</p>
<p>As a side note, I have a postdoc in the UCLA lined up, so I guess that'll boost my chances a bit.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7369,
"author": "Leon palafox",
"author_id": 2806,
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"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>If the Journal/Conference editor/chair has accepted your paper, it is guaranteed to be published, given that you make the changes. That is the reason they emphasize the \"review\" part.</p>\n\n<p>Some papers have only minor revisions, so if the changes are not made, it won't affect that much the quality of the conference. But if the changes are major, it usually indicates that you have to step up the level of the paper following the suggestion of the reviewers.</p>\n\n<p>In conclusion, as long as you make the changes, your paper should be accepted in the conference, but if you neglect to do them, probably it wont.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7370,
"author": "410 gone",
"author_id": 96,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/96",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think the flowchart in your question is pretty clear as to what happens next. But I'll break down the relevant part of the flowchart into words.</p>\n\n<p>You have to make thorough revisions to your paper, and then resubmit. It will then be reviewed again. As a result of the review, it may be accepted, and it may be rejected.</p>\n\n<p><strong>AAR</strong>: your paper's current status - accepted after revising. It's now up to you to make the thorough revisions, and to then submit the revised paper</p>\n\n<p><strong>REV</strong> is the status your paper will have once you have submitted the revised paper.</p>\n\n<p><strong>RVI</strong> will be its status when the revised paper has been sent out to review. Judging by the flowchart, it will get sent to the same editor and reviewers as before, because a revised paper does not pass through the <strong>WFR</strong> stage of waiting for review, where reviewers and editor are assigned.</p>\n\n<p>It may then be accepted (<strong>ACC</strong>), rejected (<strong>REJ</strong>), or conceivably, according to that flowchart, get returned to you once more as <strong>AAR</strong> for further revisions.</p>\n\n<p>The flowchart also suggests that whether it's accepted or rejected, you still prepare a camera-ready version. That would seem to be very unlikely: I find it very hard to believe there's any use for a camera-ready version of a rejected paper; only an accepted paper would need a camera-ready version.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/21 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7371",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
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|
7,374 | <p>Going to conferences induces some costs on a researcher's personal budget. In all places I know, expenses directly related to travel and accommodation are usually covered (travel, hotels, food), but there are also some indirect expenses that aren't typically covered.</p>
<p>I'll only give one example, that is directly applicable to me: when I'm away I have to get a baby sitter for the kids (for the days where my wife can't pick them up, say). However, I'm sure there must be other examples.</p>
<p>Are there institutions that cover these “hidden” (or indirect) expenses? What rules do they follow? It must be difficult to know where to put the limit… (<em>“hey, I'm going on a conference in Sweden in December, which means I have to buy myself a new coat! can I get it reimbursed?”</em>)</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7375,
"author": "aeismail",
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"text": "<p>Usually, if an \"indirect cost\" will be reimbursed by the university, it must be a cost that would normally be allowed if it <em>weren't</em> occurred on travel.</p>\n\n<p>So, for instance, something that would be considered an \"equipment\" purchase—such as a battery for a laptop to replace one that dies—might be allowed, but babysitting costs might not.</p>\n\n<p>However, most institutions do have a \"travel manual\" or regulations that cover what costs are permitted for travelers to have reimbursed. If you have any questions about the policy, you should consult your institution's travel office for guidance. (These regulations often change, usually in response to someone else going overboard and exploiting loopholes in the regulation, which are then tightened for everybody.)</p>\n\n<p>My instinct, however, tells me that such policies are probably quite rare for any institution that accepts government financing for its operations. Usually, those funds have significant restrictions on what sorts of expenses can be associated with travel, and thus it's easier to adjust the institution's policies in accordance with that. For institutions that are privately financed, it's a lot easier to institute policies that are more liberal. But you'd probably have to go to an extremely \"progressive\" institution (maybe a Google?) to find one that will reimburse you for these sorts of costs.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7377,
"author": "Jukka Suomela",
"author_id": 351,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/351",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>The usual solution is very simple: you will get a daily allowance (\"per diem\"), which is a lump sum of money that covers all small costs related to travelling.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>A concrete example: a researcher at a Finnish university, travelling to a conference in Germany. You will get a daily allowance of 61 euros per day, tax free. This should cover food and all other small expenses related to travelling.</p>\n\n<p>Direct costs related to travelling (conference fees, hotel, transportation, etc.) are covered based on the receipts. However, lunch & dinner is <em>not</em> covered, as they are included in the daily allowance. Corner cases have special rules (e.g., what if lunch & dinner is included in the conference fee).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7380,
"author": "user4231",
"author_id": 4231,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4231",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Sometimes conferences actually organize child care services or provide support of child care that you pay yourself. See examples: <a href=\"https://www.hr.cornell.edu/life/support/conference_care.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.hr.cornell.edu/life/support/conference_care.pdf</a> and <a href=\"http://www.aps.org/programs/women/workshops/childcare.cfm\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.aps.org/programs/women/workshops/childcare.cfm</a> The last one says:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Examples of Allowed Expenses</p>\n \n <ul>\n <li>Daycare expenses at the March Meeting</li>\n <li>Extra daycare expenses incurred at home because the primary caregiver was attending the March Meeting (e.g., cost of a sitter)</li>\n <li>Expenses incurred in bringing a babysitter (or grandparent) to the March Meeting</li>\n </ul>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Other than that I don't think many employers explicitly reimburse those costs. <strong>People tend to consider that they are part of the \"package\" that you accept when you start a career in research</strong> (I am not saying it is a good thing).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7384,
"author": "Leon palafox",
"author_id": 2806,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2806",
"pm_score": 1,
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"text": "<p>Disclaimer one. I'm from a big Japanese University with lots and lost of Money.</p>\n\n<p>Here, like Juka suggests, travelers get paid a daily expense, for example, I went to Australia last year, and I got paid the exact sum for the airplane and a daily allowance that is supposed to cover meals and lodging. The thing is, unless you eat like a king and sleep in a 5 star hotel, you'll usually end up with extra money. (around 200 USD-300 USD more).</p>\n\n<p>I ask my adviser and he told me that this was normal, and postdocs and profs get even more money, because they consider they have families.</p>\n\n<p>I think is a good practice, but then again, if your University does not have a huge endowment, it may get tricky.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 89859,
"author": "einpoklum",
"author_id": 7319,
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"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>Are there institutions that cover these “hidden” (or indirect) expenses? </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Yes, but not necessarily all such expenses, and specifically I don't know about babysitting costs.</p>\n\n<p>To give some concrete examples, I have had the following expenses covered:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Personal insurance having to do with my travel</li>\n<li>Laundry during travel (although that was from a commercial research outfit so might not apply)</li>\n<li>Membership in a professional society which enables reduced registration fee for a conference</li>\n<li>A tube for carrying posters (as opposed to an actual poster which is a direct expense)</li>\n</ul>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>What rules do they follow? </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Individual institutions have their own rules, and if these are not in writing - people in charge of budgets have some set of rules in their heads which you would need to query...</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>It must be difficult to know where to put the limit… (“hey, I'm going on a conference in Sweden in December, which means I have to buy myself a new coat! can I get it reimbursed?”)</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Actually, I just asked a <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/89849\">related question</a>. I would actually think that if you live, say, around the equator and need to be at a conference in Sweden you should indeed be reimbursed for the cost of coat - either partially or fully. After all, you're unlikely to need that kind of coat in your daily life and perhaps not even when you travel.</p>\n"
}
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| 2013/01/21 | [
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|
7,378 | <p>I am about 1, 5-2 years in my Ph.D. studies in the no-man's-land between bioinformatics, systems biology and proteomics. (If you are not sure what those terms are, read: "biomedical research")</p>
<p>Coming from a more mathematical/technical background I was thrilled to work in this field, and my M.Sc thesis was pretty successful. Now diving deeper and deeper into the field I feel much less motivated to go on. What frustrates me most, is how little we really understand of complex biological systems, and all our efforts in the field are essentially just waddling in the darkness, trying to find the "holy grail" that may or may not exist. I personally feel that there is an undeniable lack of rigor even amongst the most respectable of scientists out there: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>most biologist really have no clue beyond pipetting liquids left and right, as soon as it comes to data analysis they expect something along the lines of: "computer says yes/no" (see: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4A18tUUb2Y" rel="nofollow noreferrer">little Britain's famous sketch</a>)</p></li>
<li><p>computer scientists/mathematicians can't really cope with the uncertainties in the data</p></li>
<li><p>statisticians are essentially the con-artists of the field, rambling on undecipherable monologues. Sorry if I offend someone but it feels like one can prove/disprove anything with some creative use/interpretation of statistics. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>Putting my rants aside, I went up and talked to one of the younger group leaders in our dept. I feel close enough to the person to give my honest opinion and respect his thoughts on the matter. The first thing he asked me after I was done rambling on, however, was how long it has been since I started. When I told him it's been about a year and a half, he smiled and said: "well, it was about time". According to him, it's common for a Ph.D. candidate to become jaded with his/her work somewhere between 18-months to 2 years in. He claimed that one simply gets deep enough into the field to see all the potential problems/pitfalls in research, and feel negative about it all.</p>
<p>Which brings me to my question(s); is there such a thing as 18-months syndrome, in your experience? Could it be a discipline-dependent phenomenon or applicable to other disciplines? How can one avoid getting stuck in a tailspin (negative spiral)? </p>
<p>PS: I wanted to tag this question as "research-psychology" but don't have the rep to create a new tag. If someone with more rep agrees with me on the tag, I would appreciate the help :)</p>
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"text": "<p>Everything is possible: I'm pretty sure, from a large enough population of former PhD students, most will tell you that they felt demotivated at some point, but the timing will depend on the individual and the particular circumstances.</p>\n\n<p>It is true, however, that mid-PhD corresponds to a particularly large number of negative factors, and it is common to feel bad about your thesis around that time. Heck, it's common even that there is a <a href=\"http://www.phdcomics.com\" rel=\"noreferrer\">PHD Comics</a> that <a href=\"http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=125\" rel=\"noreferrer\">highlights it</a>:</p>\n\n<p> <a href=\"http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=125\" rel=\"noreferrer\"><img src=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/txcg6.png\" alt=\"Graph - Motivation level\"></a></p>\n\n<p>(Don't mind the exaggerated <em>x</em>-axis scale. The area highlighted corresponds to mid-PhD.)</p>\n\n<p>Now, why is that? Well, among your rants, most of the factors are actually listed in your question: Now, you know the field well enough to see not only the good, but also the bad in it. The initial elation has left, and you are left with the doubts. This is sometimes accompanied by deep questioning about your progress: Have I done enough? Have I taken the right course of action? etc.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>But the most important point is: how to get out of it? Well, part of the problem is a natural “oscillation”, which means this is probably actually just a low point, a bad moment, and it will actually get better. Don't have too much fear of “spiraling down”: you've made it thus far, and you're aware of the issue!</p>\n\n<p>As for more actionable advice, I would say:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Now that you are more knowledgeable of the field, you can actually start to make better choices: if you don't like a given approach, just steer away from it. You still have some time to do so, and it is part of your PhD to learn making strategic decisions (if you haven't already).</li>\n<li>You may not see it, but you will be much more efficient during the second half of your PhD than the first, mostly because you have learnt a lot already and can make better decisions.</li>\n<li>Pick a few challenges (one or two) that you would like to meet, and focus on those: you'll feel much better if, instead of chasing some holy grail, you can help solve these specific issues that you care about.</li>\n<li>And remember: completing a PhD means becoming an expert in your field, and that actually means being able to critique its practices, recognize the good and the bad. It sounds like you have actually achieved this goal!</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>I hope this helps…</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7381,
"author": "user4231",
"author_id": 4231,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4231",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>For long projects it is common to feel frustrated or even desperate after some time. You cannot continue for years only with the energy that you had originally. Some of the initial magic is fading and you realize there are bad sides. Do not worry. You will also start seeing new good sides on this too. Maybe you and the other researchers in your field are not going to save the world right there right now. But you <strong>are</strong> all part of a collective effort that advances knowledge.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 185565,
"author": "user11130854",
"author_id": 120647,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/120647",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Every PhD is a series of ups and downs, and it might just be that what you are experiencing. If that's the case. don't worry, it'll pass.</p>\n<p>However, reading your rant... as someone with a very similar background, I might be able to offer some perspective. I have seen this exact same thing before, and I've heard that rant, not least from myself, several times. Obviously, I can only guess, so please forgive me if I am making assumptions about you which might not actually apply.</p>\n<p>Most likely, there is a mismatch between how you view yourself and what the field requires.</p>\n<p>You have chosen an interdisciplinary field, which requires you to be a generalist, yet you come from a specialist background. Given that you've switched gears, I'll assume you are more of a generalist.</p>\n<p>Now, you need to understand that many people in the relevant subfields are specialists, however, you put them down for not being well-versed in everything you consider important in a generalist setting, rather than accepting that they will be more skilled in their area of specialization than you might (be able to) recognize. I'd call that Dunning-Kruger if that wasn't thrown around so much these days. Especially your statement about statisticians is concerning in that regard. Calling established researchers con-artists 2 years into your grad program is, shall we say, questionable.</p>\n<p>Most likely, you consider yourself a "big picture" person, given the field you have chosen, which often goes along with a more individualistic (perhaps even a bit confrontational) personality, that sole author on that one important paper, rather than one item on a page-long list of 3 consortia. This will not work in biomedical research, or any larger research effort for that matter. It is vastly complicated, a big team effort, and you need to learn how to become a player in that community. If you cannot find a role for yourself in that setting, you are very likely to become ever more frustrated. You will also be considered arrogant if you don't adjust your views on the perceived shortcomings of adjacent disciplines, meaning at some point people might just not want to work with you.</p>\n<p>In an interdisciplinary field, that's a career ender...</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/22 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7378",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5674/"
]
|
7,385 | <p>I wish to apply for M.Sc studies in Computer Science to 3-4 universities. Only one of them requires the applicants to take a GRE (general test), and my question is as follows: is it a good idea to send the scores to the rest of the universities even though they do not specifically require it? Will it affect my chances?</p>
<p>FYI: I did one practice test and didn't get a good Quantitative Score (only 145), although I took the test without preparation, without paper (soon after taking the practice test I've read that is allowed scraps of paper) and after 4-5 years after finishing undergraduate studies. I think with 2 months or so of moderate studies I can get about 160. What do you think I should do?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7386,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>A good GRE score <em>can</em> help your chances at admissions; a poor GRE score does not do anything to help your chances, but they can hurt you, particularly if you're already a somewhat \"borderline\" case.</p>\n\n<p>However, if a school does not require GRE scores, then I would only submit them if they are strong (well above average). Otherwise, you're introducing at best a neutral \"fact\" into the conversation. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7387,
"author": "posdef",
"author_id": 5674,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5674",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>My philosophy in application processes is what you present should only serve to strengthen your case: <em>\"that you should be admitted/accepted to .... \"</em>. If you look at it with this perspective, I would say submit only what's required of you and what you think gives a fair but good image of your intellectual/social abilities. Anything else has the potential of raising questions in the admission officer's head.</p>\n\n<p>Overall I agree with @aeismail's answer. Submit scores/GPAs/transcripts only if you are confident in them.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/22 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7385",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5678/"
]
|
7,389 | <p>As my field, Computer Science (CS), has many sub-areas and specializations. I found myself having a <em>not-so-good</em> impression about different areas within CS. For example, I see working on Software Engineering as a waste of time while working on Artificial Intelligence (AI) is much more worthing an investigation.</p>
<p>This is not a field-specific question, I wish hearing whether this exists on other fields as well. Is it common in academia for individuals to find some subfields of a more broader research area more interesting and relevant than others? Relatedly, how does one avoid thinking that way? </p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7390,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Just like the grass is always greener on the other side, it is somewhat usual for people to think that their particular area of expertise is somewhat more valuable than others. I have seen it in all fields I have heard of…</p>\n\n<p>And it's not restricted to academic life: I'm sure the cardiac surgeon feels that his work is so much more important than that of the family physician, while the later thinks that he's the one tasked with stopping epidemics and diagnosing the important stuff to save lives.</p>\n\n<p><em>But I'm sure you already knew that… so, what is your question exactly?</em></p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p><strong>Edit: <em>how does one avoid thinking that way?</em></strong></p>\n\n<p>The most difficult part, for me, in thinking objectively about other fields is to be able to correctly identifying the challenges they face. I find that it is altogether too easy to think <em>“hey, that's a trivial optimization problem”</em> or <em>“know that they know the compound formula, I wonder why it takes them so long to synthesize it”</em>. Better overall understanding of other fields helps a lot avoid this way of thinking. It takes a lot of effort to acquire such a broad general knowledge: reading, listening to conferences outside your area of expertise, chatting with colleagues, …</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7391,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think a part of being a human is assigning different values for different things (or preferring, or choosing something among other things). So I do not worry about valuing some field of study more than others. </p>\n\n<p>I think the real challenge is to be realistic. I mean one should know his abilities, his interests and find a (scientifically rigorous) field which matches with his abilities and interests. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7392,
"author": "Paul",
"author_id": 931,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/931",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The same thing happens in many different fields, mathematics, physics, etc... Many in academia criticize computational scientists like myself as too interdisciplinary (i.e. we are jack of all trades, but masters of none). </p>\n\n<p>I think it naturally emerges from the competitive nature of academia these days. We're all competing for precious resources, such as funding, tenure track positions, prestige and attention, etc. To be competitive, we must assert that our work is more worthwhile than others. In the face of criticism and competition, people of the same field sometimes are tempted to assert their worth by belittling the value of other fields.</p>\n\n<p>There's no better way to avoid doing this than to distance yourself from others who engage in the \"we're better than them\" attitude. Unfortunately, it can be difficult if you're already surrounded by people with this mentality already. In which case, it might be worthwhile to just get out of your comfort zone and attend research seminars and presentations in completely unrelated fields. Sometimes, if you surround yourself with others who value a topic that you don't, you can learn how to appreciate it in ways you've never thought of before.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7394,
"author": "Suresh",
"author_id": 346,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It's important to distinguish \"what I find interesting\" from \"what someone finds interesting\" from \"what I think is important\" from \"what is important to others\". </p>\n\n<p>It is perfectly acceptable to find other fields uninteresting - that's just the nature of subjectivity and personal preference. Or more poetically, \"vive la difference\". </p>\n\n<p>It is less acceptable to go from \"I personally find this area boring\" to \"this area is boring\". At that point, as others have suggested, you need to understand why others in the field find it interesting. Ask them ! Put yourself in their shoes. (I will often say, \"I'm glad someone is working in area X and I'm glad it's not me\" :). </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7405,
"author": "walkmanyi",
"author_id": 1265,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1265",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<h3>Is valuing one field over another is a common behavior in academia?</h3>\n\n<p>The other answers clearly answer <strong>yes</strong>. There can be <em>subjective</em> reasons to such an observation (e.g., a cardiologist could feel more superior to a gastroenterolog), but there might be also an objective part to the observation (as you example goes, the results produced in software engineering are somewhat <em>shakier</em> than those in graph theory).</p>\n\n<h3>How does one avoid thinking that way?</h3>\n\n<p>Besides an excellent point by other answer saying \"you should try to better understand the challenges of the other field\", I also argue that you should <strong>better understand the dynamics of scientific pursuit in general</strong>. </p>\n\n<p>Kuhn, in the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Structure_of_Scientific_Revolutions\">Structure of Scientific Revolutions</a> argues that scientific work in any given field has <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Structure_of_Scientific_Revolutions#Three_phases\">three phases</a>. The first, <em>pre-paradigm</em> and subsequent transition to <em>normal science</em> are relevant for this answer:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>The first phase, which exists only once, is the <em>pre-paradigm</em> phase, in which there is no consensus on any particular theory, though the research being carried out can be considered scientific in nature. This phase is characterized by several incompatible and incomplete theories. If the actors in the pre-paradigm community eventually gravitate to one of these conceptual frameworks and ultimately to a widespread consensus on the appropriate choice of methods, terminology and on the kinds of experiment that are likely to contribute to increased insights, then the second phase, <em>normal science</em>, begins, in which puzzles are solved within the context of the dominant paradigm. Etc.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Often we observe somewhat substandard results and works in fields which clearly fall into the category of those still being in the pre-paradigm phase. Your specific question is relevant to this due to the fact, that whole of computer science is still a young field and many problems we are solving are new, often vague, or ill defined, etc. This is is especially the case for the fields and communities tackling applications of applied-mathematics-style computer science to real-world applications, i.e., software engineering. Your reference to software engineering is clearly the case here, large parts of artificial intelligence fall into this category as well, and I am sure other fields and subfields too. </p>\n\n<p><em>Even if you find yourself working in a \"soft\" field, it does not necessarily mean the niche community is not tackling a sound problem (though sometimes it is the case, but you need to look very carefully into it). Sometimes working on such can be even more demanding/challenging/satisfying than routinely solving puzzles in the normal-science context.</em></p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/22 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7389",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/532/"
]
|
7,395 | <p>I teach an undergraduate course in thermodynamics. In class pop (surprize) quizzes account for about 10% of the grade. I use <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instructure#Canvas" rel="nofollow">canvas</a> for my in-class quizzes (and to collect homework assignments, start discussions).</p>
<p>The class room I teach in doesn't have computers so when I set up an pop quiz on canvas, I generally let the students out of class during the last 10 minutes to log in to one of the several campus computers to take the quiz.</p>
<p>However, I know that our computers aren't top notch and one can easily spend about 5-7 minutes just logging in and another 2-3 minutes launching a web browser to access canvas. </p>
<p>Given these technical issues (that can't be sorted out because of a lax IT department) I generally keep my quiz open for about 9 hours. This also takes into account the other classes that my students may have to rush in to right after mine which might prevent them from attempting the pop quiz until later that day.</p>
<p>Isn't this unfair to students who take the quiz immediately? By keeping my quiz open for 9 hours, it takes away the <strong>surprise</strong> component of it substantially. Is there a way I can do this without having to have quizzes on paper and in-class?</p>
<p>Should I just be mean and keep my quiz open for only the 20 minutes or so at the end of my class?</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Edit:</em> I was thinking about this and I thought of a couple of things that I'd like to add:</p>
<ol>
<li>One way to nullify this is by announcing that there would be a quiz in the next 3 days. That way, the students will try and learn and not just haphazardly flip through their textbook as I assume they would if it were a true pop quiz.</li>
<li>I could tell them that the examinations which account for 70% of the grade will be tough and it would be sensible to be honest with pop quizzes.</li>
<li>Borrowing from Zenon's comment below, why not mix multiple choice questions with single valued answers with only 1 attempt?</li>
</ol>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7396,
"author": "Zenon",
"author_id": 257,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/257",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Given the limitations of the material of the students and at your disposition why do you do a quiz on internet? You can be assured that students talk between themselves. I think that you should simply do the quizz in class with pen and paper to be really fair. </p>\n\n<p>If you have a large number of students, you could do most of the quizz as multiple choice questions and use a device (scantron?) to correct them automatically. As a complement you could have a few questions with <em>one word</em> answers.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7415,
"author": "user4231",
"author_id": 4231,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4231",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>First it is only unfair if not all students had the same information. If you say \"the quizz will be open for 20 minutes\" and leave it open for 9 hours, it is somewhat unfair. If you are clear, then they have equal chances. However that does not solve your other issues such as students chatting or cheating.</p>\n\n<p>I think your real solution is: <strong>if you don't have the resources to make them take the online test in a decent way, just do it the old fashioned way</strong>.\nI have never worked with scanning machines, but if they work fine it sounds like a good solution. </p>\n\n<p>Another way of not having to grade everything is to have students take the test, then shuffle the papers so that another student grades them. You cannot have all your evaluation performed in this way, but you can do some. If you want to further decrease the chances that they do not grade tests honestly, you can announce that you will perform yourself a second correction of 10% of the tests, and that graders found cheating will have their own mark diminished or invalidated.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 47143,
"author": "virmaior",
"author_id": 19769,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19769",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>An alternative not yet mentioned (caveat: this is a method I've done some work on) is to use a combination of QR codes and google forms. Then, the students can take it on their cell phones in class and the remaining students can take it pen-and-paper.</p>\n\n<p>It does have the weakness that particularly savvy students can cheat by texting each other answers, but there's tradeoffs to every possible method of testing.</p>\n\n<p>This could be more helpful than sending them off to the computer lab. Their entries will also be time-stamped so you can say you won't accept anything not finished before a certain time.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/22 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7395",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/21/"
]
|
7,397 | <p>Does using a bibliography software actually save you time aside from when converting citation style? </p>
<p>I have used refworks and endnote for years and from 3 years ago I decided to ditch them both and do the whole referencing business by hand because of frustrating problems they caused many times (references showing up incorrectly, having to manually add papers, references suddenly missing etc.). I only dump pdf files in them to keep a record of the references. I have been doing fine and I think it has been pretty efficient in three years I have had two change citation style manually twice which was painful but that was it. </p>
<p>I decided using endnote today again because i am writing a major review article. And already its painful! After inputting 15 references manually as the pdf files that can not be identified correctly (beats me why! clear pdf with OCR) and spending 30 minutes inputting the references, and then searching them to add them back in the paper I am doubting my decision! </p>
<p>Can anyone give me some motivation on why to use these tools really? I mean yes style change and finding duplicates can be good. But is that it? I feel like going back to basic but think there must be something wrong with me as it seems everyone else is using them without going insane! </p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7406,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>How easy it is to manage references depends a lot on your working conditions.</p>\n\n<p>If, for instance, you're an academic in a humanities field, where the \"standard\" bibliographic style is the Harvard or MLA styles, where you just quote an author's name and the page number, then bibliographies are relatively simple, since citations are straightforward, and the bibliography itself is simple and can be created on the fly.</p>\n\n<p>If, on the other hand, you are working in a field such as mathematics or physics, which uses the \"numbered\" style, putting together the bibliography can be a royal pain in the neck. You need to add a new reference at the beginning of the document, and now <em>all</em> of the reference numbers have shifted throughout the rest of the paper. Then having a tool that will do the referencing for you automatically is a major help.</p>\n\n<p>IF you need to use a package, and your choice thereof is up to you—you should find one that best suits your needs. But the important thing is finding a method that works both for you as well as for any colleagues you might be working with in the near future.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7407,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>It depends what you mean by using bibliography software. I think of bibliography software as doing three things:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>They help you organize, search, and find your references. While\nPubmed and Google Scholar are quite efficient at finding references\nfor my field, I often prefer to search my own library of papers I am\nfamiliar with when looking for a reference. I use JabRef for this\npurpose and it saves me loads of time even when not converting\ncitation styles.</li>\n<li>They help you create a reference list at the end of a\nmanuscript/grant/etc. If you have a database you simply need to tell\nthe software what papers have been referenced and what format you\nwant the reference list in. This saves you time when you convert\nstyles (and the first time you create a list). I don't think it\nreally does anything else. The key is that in my opinion ALL\nbibliography software does this stage well for ALL styles. I see no\nreason not to use bibliography software to create a reference list\nat the end. This is the section where it is easy to make minor\nmistakes and can waste a lot of time getting the style correct</li>\n<li>They help you with formatting in text citations. This is where most\nof the software falls down. In text citation styles have a lot of\nvariability (book, chapter, article, first time citation, subsequent\ncitation on a page, citation in a foot note, etc) that make\nautomation hard. Defining an automated system that can implement an\nin-text citation style is no small task. Even if you can create such\na definition, many publishers have small in house tweaks. Create\nsoftware that is fully compliant with a style and allows for tweaks\nto be made easily, is even harder. If you are lucky enough that your\nsoftware has the style you need, or that your target publishers are\neasy going enough, then using bibliography software for your in-text\ncitations is a no brainer. If you are not so luck, you may not want\nto use that feature.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>In summary I would always use bibliography software for 1 and 2, but only for 3 if I am lucky.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/23 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7397",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
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|
7,399 | <p>The question of <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/1192/2700">how to choose PhD committee members has already been asked and answered</a> in general terms, but I have the following more specific questions regarding the choice:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Is it more important that your advisor already know your committee members or that you do (e.g., your advisor knows them but you've never met them before vs. you know the member but your advisor doesn't have a strong or pre-existing relationship with them).</p></li>
<li><p>Is it better to get someone in your discipline or someone doing more related work (e.g., if you're getting a computer science degree, you ask computer science faculty vs. you're getting a computer science degree but everyone except for your advisor is from the English department)?</p></li>
<li><p>Should you pick people who are already invested/interested in you succeeding or is the dissertation process supposed to be a chance for you to win people over to your side?</p></li>
</ul>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7400,
"author": "Suresh",
"author_id": 346,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You first have to check to see what the university rules are for a Ph.D committee. Many universities have rules that limit the number of external members, the number of members not from the department, the number of members that are not \"regular faculty\" and so on.</p>\n\n<p>Assuming that you've checked all those constraints, then you should definitely discuss this with your advisor, who will have more experience in constructing committees in your area. </p>\n\n<p>Which brings up another issue: community norms. In your field of research, are there customary roles that committee members play ? that's something you need to discuss with your advisor. </p>\n\n<p>Finally, after all of the above, to answer some of your questions: </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Should you already know them?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Not necessarily, although that helps with the first approach. It helps if they're familiar with your work even if you don't know them personally.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Should they be doing research related to your dissertation topic?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Not necessarily, but they should have <em>some</em> connection to your work, otherwise they won't be able to provide any kind of useful feedback for you. </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Should they be in your discipline?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Definitely, unless your topic is interdisciplinary and you want the input from someone in the other discipline. </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Should they be selected more for how much they'll help you get a job?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>That's definitely a factor. It's not a critical factor for all members of your committee, but it can be a factor when looking for an external member. Ideally, if you're able to do some research with members of the committee, they can write a letter for you. </p>\n\n<p>Bottom line:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>talk to your advisor and discuss all of this with him/her</li>\n<li>Different members of the committee can play different roles. The mix is what's important</li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7420,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>There are many ways to build PhD committee, which depend on the local system (country, etc.) and your field. But, here are some general principles that should apply broadly. You need to bring a mix of <strong>highly competent yet diverse</strong> evaluators, with <strong>not too much proximity</strong> to yourself or your advisor lest it be thought that you are cherry-picking a partial (friendly) jury for your work.</p>\n\n<p>Regarding your questions:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><blockquote>\n <p>Is it more important that your advisor already know your committee members or that you do</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I don't think it's a very important part of the decision-making. Certainly, you don't want the advisor's best friend (or yours!), that could make people think you're scared of unbiased questioning.</p></li>\n<li><blockquote>\n <p>Is it better to get someone in your discipline or someone doing more related work</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Here's one of the factors that play a very important part, for me, in picking committee members. First, all members need to be able to have a good understanding of your work. However, it is good that not all of them are precisely expert in particular field of expertise. It helps to have people from other (related) fields, because they will bring a different perspective, and give you the opportunity to highlight not only the very technical details of your work but also its significance for other fields.</p></li>\n<li><blockquote>\n <p>is the dissertation process supposed to be a chance for you to win people over to your side?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p><strong>No.</strong> It's good to bring people who don't necessarily agree with you on everything, but you should also avoid as committee members anyone overly critical of your approach of things, <em>unless you know them well and they can keep it under control</em> and agree to disagree. Otherwise, you risk that person actually coming to your defense to win you over. I have seen defenses being “derailed” (though all ended well) by a committee member who was overly argumentative, and it wasn't a nice experience for anybody involved.</p></li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 66292,
"author": "Fomite",
"author_id": 118,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/118",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>Should you choose your committee members or should your advisor?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Yes.</p>\n\n<p>Choosing your committee is a collaborative process ideally, and should take place with input from your advisor, but also accounting for your own preferences.</p>\n\n<p>The first thing you should do is check about the constraints on your committee put in place by university rules. This can be quite complex, and will often limit the freedom of choice you have in the selection process - for example, your hypothetical \"Degree is in CS, everyone but your advisor is from English\" example is simply outright impossible at the institution I got my degree from.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Is it more important that your advisor already know your committee\n members or that you do (e.g., your advisor knows them but you've never\n met them before vs. you know the member but your advisor doesn't have\n a strong or pre-existing relationship with them).</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p><em>Someone</em> should know your committee members. That can be you, or that can be your advisor, but someone should know if they're likely to be problematic for this particular dissertation (it's a theory dissertation and they hate theory, etc.)</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Is it better to get someone in your discipline or someone doing more\n related work (e.g., if you're getting a computer science degree, you\n ask computer science faculty vs. you're getting a computer science\n degree but everyone except for your advisor is from the English\n department)?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>The \"perfect\" committee member is someone in your discipline doing related work. When those people don't exist, you should probably aim for a mix - you want a committee that can go \"Yes, this is clearly a project worthy of a degree in $Discipline\", but also people who can provide input on the specifics of your project.</p>\n\n<p>Your advisor can probably talk to you about people who \"should\" be on your committee for various reasons, including political ones (\"It will look strange if Y isn't on your committee...\")</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Should you pick people who are already invested/interested in you\n succeeding or is the dissertation process supposed to be a chance for\n you to win people over to your side?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Your committee should be people already interested in your success - believe me, even people really excited by your work and interested in you moving forward can cause problems. Someone whose an outright skeptic, and might be inclined to just dismiss the whole project? That is <em>not</em> someone you want on your committee. You have the rest of your career to try to win people over to your side <em>after</em> you have your degree. </p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/23 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7399",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4318/"
]
|
7,401 | <p>For example, I am interested in the research related with "Quantum Hall Effects", and want to have a list of institutions/universities that have good contributions in this topic, with number of publications during the recent years. Any idea how? Is there any website provide such searching service? Google scholar, arXiv?</p>
<p>I tried <a href="http://publish.aps.org/search">APS search</a> by searching "Quantum Hall Effects" in Abstract/Title. It shows all related papers. But now I just want to know the statistics of the institutional contributions.</p>
<p>Any idea how? </p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7402,
"author": "Leon palafox",
"author_id": 2806,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2806",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This is not that good, but is the closest I can think of something like that.</p>\n\n<p>Microsoft Academic is very good, and have tons of features like that.</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://academic.research.microsoft.com/RankList?entitytype=7&topDomainID=2&subDomainID=6&last=0&start=1&end=100\" rel=\"nofollow\">Here is a list of the most cited institutions on Machine Learning</a></p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://academic.research.microsoft.com/RankList?entitytype=7&topdomainid=6&subdomainid=14&last=0\" rel=\"nofollow\">Here is a list of the most cited institutions in NeuroScience</a></p>\n\n<p>However, I think it only works for preloaded topics.</p>\n\n<p>Other problem is that MS database of indexed papers is rather small compared with Google's one.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7403,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Statistics on institutions should be taken with 14,000,000 grains of salt: some institutions have changed name over time (including many recently, e.g. in France many institutions were forking twenty years ago and are now merging back), and affiliation rules vary widely between authors (you'll see below huge contributions from state-wide agencies like “Russian academy of science” or “CNRS”, they are not the same as universities or labs). But, you can do it with many bibliographic search tools.</p>\n\n<p>Here's how to do with <em>Web of Science</em>:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>Make a regular search (here I chose “title”, but you can do something more complicated)<br>\n<img src=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/oJk83.png\" alt=\"enter image description here\"></p></li>\n<li><p>On the results page, click on the “Analyze Results” link<br>\n<img src=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/bs9aF.png\" alt=\"enter image description here\"></p></li>\n<li><p>Choose your field of interest (here, organizations)<br>\n<img src=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/YAHtr.png\" alt=\"enter image description here\"></p></li>\n<li><p>Enjoy!<br>\n<img src=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/xVamY.png\" alt=\"enter image description here\"></p></li>\n</ol>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/23 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7401",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5717/"
]
|
7,408 | <p>My research lab organizes monthly “internal” seminars, where we give the opportunity to talk to PhD students around the middle of their PhD, as well as newly arrived post-docs (who can talk about what they did before and present their project). However, attendance is a big problem, and it's the same people who never show up, unless the speaker is from their group. I suppose good team leaders encourage their whole team to show up, while a few others have told me point blank that they consider it “wasted time”, because it decreases the time students can work at the lab bench. So, while they cannot forbid them to attend, they just discourage them.</p>
<p>So, I am wondering what we can make to help increase student turnout. What do you use to attract people to seminars? We have tried coffee and sweets, which didn't work very well.</p>
<p>Some specifics, if it can help: research lab is about 25 permanent staff, and between 2 to 3 times that number of students and post-docs. Seminars are held every month, rotating between teams.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7410,
"author": "Zenon",
"author_id": 257,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/257",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In my university, we have the students seminar around 12pm with pizza at the end. Using a time slot when most people are free usually helps. And although sweets are good you can't survive on that, free lunch on the other side is always a plus.</p>\n\n<p>Else we also have seminars friday around 4pm with snacks and beers afterward. It is a time when most people are not as productive as the rest of the week, and the ability to socialize afterward with the rest of the department is always a plus.</p>\n\n<p>Of course, the best way would be to engage the <em>leaders</em>. Maybe invite them to give a talk and try to make it worth their while so they can see that the goal of those seminars is not only giving the talk but the discussions that can flow out of it.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7411,
"author": "walkmanyi",
"author_id": 1265,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1265",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>So, I am wondering what we can make to help increase student turnout. What do you use to attract people to seminars?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Short answer: <strong>Make the seminars useful for the group members.</strong> </p>\n\n<p><em>First, the diagnosis:</em> The group members are probably too narrow-minded and do not understand that getting insights from currently irrelevant topics does in fact become often very useful in the long-run. The group members seem to optimize in a greedy manner for their short-term interests, shooting themselves in foot in the long-run. It seems, they do not understand that <strong>seeing connections between dots at some future timepoint is much much easier if you saw the dots and their contexts before.</strong> But this does not come by direct explanation, they need to realise it by themselves. It's your task to set the example and at least showing how at least you benefit from the seminars. This is a long-haul task and has to do with your general attitude to world. In the short term, you can perhaps do the following:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>push for <em>all</em> group members (including the professor(s)) giving <strong>conference rehearsal talks</strong> - if you are in an area where going to conferences makes a difference. At the talks encourage giving the speaker not only content-relevant feedback, but more importantly methodological feedback on <em>how to speak</em>.</li>\n<li>invite <strong>external speakers</strong> and <strong>actively support networking</strong> of the group members with the speaker. Especially in informal interactions (which are often started by interactions during, or right after the talk), people tend to find common interests and receive feedback on their own work. Possibly start even a small collaboration. The idea here is to, over time, show the group members that attending tangentially relevant talks is useful for <em>cross-breeding of ideas</em>. </li>\n</ol>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7412,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>I suppose good team leaders encourage their whole team to show up,\n while a few others have told me point blank that they consider it\n “wasted time”</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>First I wouldn't put a quality judgment on the team leaders. Hopefully all the team leaders are \"good\". Further, hopefully all the team leaders have done a cost-benefit analysis of their staff attending and have simply come to different conclusions.</p>\n\n<p>The problem does not seem to be the junior staff, but rather the example set by the senior staff. I would argue that you do not want to encourage the junior staff to \"disobey\" their team leaders by offering sweets. The permanent staff needs to come to a consensus as to whether or not these meetings are useful and who should attend. The possible outcomes are as follows:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>The meetings are a waster of time and should be canceled</li>\n<li>The meetings are critical for all groups and attendance should be\nmandatory</li>\n<li>The meetings are useful for some groups but not others ant those\nthat want to attend should attend</li>\n<li>The meetings are critical to some groups and require participation\nfrom all groups and attendance should be mandatory.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>Once a decision is reached, it is the lab director (the person responsible for the 25 permanent staff) to see that it is carried out.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7413,
"author": "user4231",
"author_id": 4231,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4231",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>One thing you can do is also use this time slot to present additional information that people will want to hear. For example, you can add a 5 minute \"news cast\" about the lab: who's new, who is leaving soon (and what they will be doing), general announcements, lab babies, whatever announcement people will have. We are doing this at my group.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7416,
"author": "DQdlM",
"author_id": 248,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/248",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><strong>Identify the needs/wants of the people you want to attend.</strong></p>\n\n<p>You are currently phrasing the benefit of these seminars from the perspective of the speakers (i.e., to provide an opportunity for PhD students and postdocs to present their work). This is a noble goal and I would keep it as a goal but if you are having attendance problems then perhaps the other members of the lab do not see this as a useful activity (you mention that some have clearly expressed this). </p>\n\n<p>So you need to identify what they would want from the seminars. Perhaps more informal chalk-talk discussions, a journal club where each paper is based around the work of a student or postdoc, etc... would generate more interest. </p>\n\n<p>If those that do attend are consistently talking about how useful the experience is, then attendance will go up.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/23 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7408",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700/"
]
|
7,417 | <p>For example, University of Maryland, Baltimore County <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Maryland,_Baltimore_County">is said to be</a> a <strong>research university</strong>. (Same thing for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rice_University">Rice University</a>, for example.)</p>
<p>Are there "non-research universities" also? What is the difference?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7418,
"author": "walkmanyi",
"author_id": 1265,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1265",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In the US context (and many other countries) the difference can be somewhat foggy. However, in the past (1900-1930's), US university landscape adopted that invented in Germany (c.f. <a href=\"http://books.google.com/books?id=xbztTkGKOHEC&dq=pasteur%27s%20quadrant&source=gbs_navlinks_s\" rel=\"noreferrer\">here, Chap. 2</a>), therefore looking how Germans do it can be indicative. </p>\n\n<p>In Germany, Austria and Switzerland you would see a distinction between a <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University\" rel=\"noreferrer\">Universität</a> and a <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fachhochschule\" rel=\"noreferrer\">Fachhochschule</a> (or sometimes just called <em>Hochschule</em>), also translated as <em>University of Applied Sciences</em>. <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fachhochschule\" rel=\"noreferrer\">Citing from</a>:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>It (Fachhochschule) differs from the traditional university (Universität) mainly through its more application or practical orientation and less research. ... The Fachhochschule represents a close relationship between higher education and the employment system. ... Nevertheless, in Germany the right to confer doctoral degrees is still reserved to Universitäten.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I guess, the difference applies to different countries as well, though the nomenclature would differ.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7419,
"author": "Suresh",
"author_id": 346,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In the US, the <a href=\"http://classifications.carnegiefoundation.org/descriptions/\">Carnegie classification</a> is used to describe different kinds of academic institutions. The system changed in 2005, but under the previous incarnation, universities that had significant research components were called \"R1\" universities. Under the new system, universities with research components are called \"RU/H\" or \"RU/VH\" (Research University/(V)ery (H)igh research). It's most likely that the term 'research university' is an indirect reference to this. </p>\n\n<p><strong>Update</strong>: The <a href=\"http://classifications.carnegiefoundation.org/descriptions/basic.php\">Carnegie classification</a> has many categories of institution: only three of them are predominantly research-focused. So there are many more \"non-research\" institutions than there are research institutions. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7441,
"author": "Austin Henley",
"author_id": 746,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/746",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>There are <strong>research</strong> universities and there are <strong>teaching</strong> universities.</p>\n<ul>\n<li><p>Research universities have graduate programs and their focus is on doing research. This means most professors teach one or two classes (some have 0!) but have other obligations.</p>\n</li>\n<li><p>Teaching universities on the other hand don't typically have graduate programs (if they do, it is just a Master's program) and the professors have full teaching loads (I think 3-4 courses is the norm) with little expectations to publish.</p>\n</li>\n<li><p>For example, Austin Peay State University, where I did my undergrad is considered a teaching university. Every professor has a full course load and not a single one of the professors I had has published in the past 5 years.</p>\n</li>\n</ul>\n<p><strong>UPDATE:</strong> chronicle.com defines <strong>teaching university</strong> as one where professors have "a standard teaching load of four courses a semester", from <a href=\"http://chronicle.com/article/Interviewing-at-a-Teaching-/45217/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Interviewing at a Teaching University</a>.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/23 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7417",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
]
|
7,421 | <p>It is an expectation that the PhD would make an original contribution and/or advance knowledge in a given field. I understand this is a universal assumption for this level of study across all universities.</p>
<p>One of my friend's research experiment has not produced a single positive result. This was a science experiment, so it is easy to quantify whether the result is positive or negative.</p>
<p>[It is a bit different in the social sciences, where the outcome (result) would be that either the null hypothesis is supported or rejected (with some analysis on the effect size to make the analysis meaningful in a given context). In other words, the data analysis either supports or does not support the proposition that is being investigated.]</p>
<p>My question is: What should a student do if none of the research outcomes or results are positive? </p>
<p>Simply writing that nothing new was found does not add or advance knowledge other than to just confirm the status quo (which I guess is a form of contribution, but there has to be more than this at this level of research!). </p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7422,
"author": "Suresh",
"author_id": 346,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Your friend might not want to hear this, but there's nothing you <em>can</em> do except for start over - with a different experiment. Research fails - and should ! If there isn't a risk of failure, you're not out on the cutting edge doing research. </p>\n\n<p>But in most failures, there's a grain of something to build on (\"<a href=\"http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062803/\">from the ashes of disaster come the roses of success</a>\"). Maybe the student is too demoralized right now to see it, but almost always there's some clue in the failure that leads to a different research question worth asking. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7423,
"author": "Leon palafox",
"author_id": 2806,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2806",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think there is a case to be done to report negative results, since it gives at least a blueprint of what does not work.</p>\n\n<p>However, as Suresh mentions, usually a PhD is measure on its contribution to expand knowledge. If your friend is already 5 years into his PhD however, I think there is some adviser's fault, since he should have had some kind of insight that this thing was not working and a different course might have been wiser. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7424,
"author": "seteropere",
"author_id": 532,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/532",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Technically, you have nothing to face failure except doing <em>another experiment</em> as @Suresh said, Consulting supervisor and other acknowledgeable people and carefully looking again to the problem <strong>formulation</strong> and to your solving method. Here the goal is to identify the error. </p>\n\n<p>More importantly, at least to me, is the non-technical reaction for such failures. I reward myself by relaxing, playing more with the kids, sleeping early; playing some games or sometimes watching movie. I try my best to forget the problem for one or two days.. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24539,
"author": "dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten",
"author_id": 440,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/440",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>A defensible null result (that is being able to definitively say that something isn't there as opposed to not being able to say anything either way) <em>is</em> a result and <em>does</em> advance the frontier of knowledge. </p>\n\n<p>This should be obvious. </p>\n\n<p>If that kind of thing can't be published in your friend's discipline then there is something seriously wrong with the culture of that discipline. </p>\n\n<p>To be sure, null results are generally not sexy and can't expect to get into a first rank journal unless there was a widespread expectation that this was a shoo-in, but it is still real science.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 64018,
"author": "Fomite",
"author_id": 118,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/118",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Two major thoughts:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>A negative finding is still a finding. Publishing failures is a harder road to publication, but still a valuable contribution to science as a whole.</li>\n<li>While this might be a little late for your friend, I always advise looking for \"fail-safe\" research questions for dissertations or other research projects where a student's success depends on a single finding. What I mean by fail-safe is that research questions should be chosen where \"Yes\" or \"No\" are both interesting and publishable answers.</li>\n</ol>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 102199,
"author": "xmp125a",
"author_id": 51476,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/51476",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I work in the field where publication of negative results is frowned upon, and basically impossible. The result is huge positive bias which severely impacts the ability of the field to properly judge its own advances and perspectives. This field is Artificial intelligence, and it already experienced two \"winters\" (check wikipedia for AI winter phenomenon). I personally think the third winter is due in two to three years, maybe sooner.</p>\n\n<p>So publishing negative results is crucial to keep out the bias. In AI, every approach just works, if you read the papers (except for the approaches before the one published in the paper, those don't work well, that's why we really need to publish this one). Yes, I am being sarcastic.</p>\n\n<p>On a more serious note, in engineering studies the point of obtaining PhD is inventing a new and better method for something. Of course, the theory goes, if you invent something useless (that it does not work), there is no point in publishing it. However, often people refrain from publishing methods that don't work, but they <em>should</em>, given the general ideas in the field. And that is wrong.</p>\n\n<p>So the main difference is not humanities vs. hard sciences, the main difference is usually engineering (basically hellbent on <em>inventing</em> something new and reporting about it) vs other sciences. For example, the mere fact that some substance does not affect cancerous cells (is therefore useless for curing cancer) can be very important in medicine research, so other people will not waste time examining it further.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 163873,
"author": "RegressForward",
"author_id": 128924,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/128924",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/156495/128924\">This is similar to another question on the topic</a>.\nThere is nothing wrong with publishing null results.</p>\n<p>The goal of research is not to have positive results, the goal of research in an academic setting is to be <strong>published, read and cited</strong>. Having null results is only a minor inhibition on that. You can still get published and have a successful dissertation if:</p>\n<ol>\n<li>The methodology was sound.</li>\n<li>The argument that one could have expected your approach to work was clear and agreeable to your audience.</li>\n<li>The paper was well written and clearly outlays the conclusions and implications for the field that practitioners care about.</li>\n</ol>\n<p>Having an interesting and successful thesis helps, no doubt, but it is not the sole issue here. The demands of 1,2,3 are very high.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/24 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7421",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4475/"
]
|
7,428 | <p>This situation is not uncommon; in my case, I have to submit abstract for conference in September by the end of January already. But the problem is I have no results yet. I'm pretty sure that in those 8 months I will get pretty interesting results. But..</p>
<p>How to write smooth abstract without reporting results?</p>
<p>I started something along these lines:</p>
<ol>
<li>This and this is an important factor ...</li>
<li>However, few studies on this topic have been done ...</li>
<li>In our study, we compare this and this </li>
<li>??</li>
</ol>
<p>Now the problem comes in point 4, where I should report some results.</p>
<ul>
<li>How should I go around that? </li>
<li>What formulations should I use?</li>
<li>Shall I speak in present, future, or past tense? The studies are usualy written in past tense like "we analysed, we compared...", but in this case I would tend to present tense.</li>
</ul>
<p>Thank you for your help. Examples are welcome!</p>
<p>P.S.: <a href="http://scientopia.org/blogs/drbecca/2012/05/09/the-art-of-the-ambiguous-conference-poster-abstract/">this is an interesting discussion</a> however didn't give me actual guidelines of how to write it.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7429,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 7,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p><strong>Don't write results you don't have</strong>. Neither in the present, past or future tense. Just don't do it. Yet, I agree with you that there are circumstances where you <em>do</em> need to write an abstract on on-going work. For example, many big conferences in my field now ask for abstracts to be submitted up to 10 months in advance of the conference itself! If you are a post-doc staying on a 12-month project, you want to present something but you might not yet know how things will turn out. So, two techniques I propose:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>Just write about the methodology, and present your goals in a general way, without “predicting” particular results but insisting on the importance of the topic. That is, <strong>emphasize strongly your points #1 and #2, and then describe point #3 as you would your “results”</strong>. Things like:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>In this particular study, we compare the efficiency of methods A and B on given subsets of a reference database. We use a large number of different criteria for measuring efficiency, including …, … and … We also discuss in detail the implementation of subprocess X in method B, because its has not been specifically optimized in the existing literature.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I know it sounds vague, but that's the best you can achieve honestly, without pretending to know what you expect to find.</p></li>\n<li><p>Bait and switch: if you have existing results in a closely related study, you can incorporate them as part of your results. Mix this approach with above, so that you have at least a few specific results to list in your point #4. Then, when you will make your presentation, just present your new results alongside the old (some people would remove completely the old results, but that makes it too much of a “bait and switch” for my taste). It is, after all, quite common for people to include newer results in orals/posters that they obtained after the original submission. It is not frowned upon, as long as you keep a decent agreement between the original abstract and the final content.</p></li>\n</ol>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7435,
"author": "Tobias Kienzler",
"author_id": 442,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/442",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><strong>You cannot predict the future</strong>. You may obtain the results you hope for<sup>1</sup>. But things can also both go horribly wrong (your laboratory burns down, your samples mysteriously evaporate,...) or extremely interesting - you may happen to measure something beyond your dreams. Let your abstract only tell truths - what your (vague) setup is, what you want to measure and what you <em>expect</em> to happen. But don't pre-claim results when you cannot even foretell their existence for sure. Just be honest - say that you will present the results obtained by them, whatever they may be. I don't like <a href=\"http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CliffHanger\" rel=\"nofollow\">cliffhangers</a>, but they tend to work...</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p><sup>1 </sup>But make sure you don't \"accidentally\" measure only what you expect to be measured!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7444,
"author": "seteropere",
"author_id": 532,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/532",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><strong>Short Answer:</strong><br>\nWriting something you didn't do as the time of submission is a <strong>lie</strong> even if you are sure you <strong>will</strong> have it eventually (I believe uncertainty exists everywhere).<br>\n<strong><em>It's simply not your turn this year</em></strong>, target another one or wait for the next year.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p><strong>Long Answer:</strong><br>\nI would speak from Computer Science (CS) perspective.<br>\nSubmitting an abstract in CS conferences is one of two:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Submitting to the abstracts (short papers) track of the conference.</li>\n<li>Submitting an abstract (i.e. 250 words) first then submitting the full paper. For example, these days AI has the <a href=\"http://ijcai13.org/submission_instructions\" rel=\"nofollow\" title=\"big guy\">big guy</a> submission deadline.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>I assume you mean the first case otherwise you will have no time for preparing your results. </p>\n\n<p>Then the missing results is one of two:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Part of the contribution (method)</li>\n<li>Evaluation (support) of the contribution (method)</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>In the first case, I really recommend not to submit at all unless your results are ready. <strong><em>You just do not have something new in this case</em></strong>.</p>\n\n<p>The second case I will be more tolerated about it. In CS, you can <em>play around</em> it by:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>In case your missing results are the experiments of your method, you can do initial experiments and believe its the general case. Thus write your abstract based on it. </li>\n<li>Illustrate with examples and/or real world scenarios. </li>\n</ol>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7448,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The challenge with ever-earlier deadlines for conferences (sometimes six months <em>or more</em> in advance of the actual date!) makes planning for a conference a very difficult prospect.</p>\n\n<p>You're left with only a handful of options, none of them particularly appealing:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>Submit an abstract on incomplete research, and hope that the work is completed in time for the conference. In this case, you say something like \"we will present our work on X, Y, and Z.\" You make no claims about the <em>findings</em> related to your work in those areas, though. You also try to edit the abstract, as appropriate and if possible, to better reflect the subject material that you will <em>actually</em> present at the conference.</p></li>\n<li><p>Submit an abstract on already completed work. The advantage is you know you will have the results and you can put together a good presentation. The downside of this is that it means you will be presenting last year's results at this year's conference. If you are in a \"hot\" field, this can mean ceding significant ground to your competitors if they get just a little bit luckier than you, and they have findings just before a deadline and you don't.</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Ultimately, there's no right answer to which option to take. You have to decide this based on what is expected of you in your field, and what impact this will have on you and your career (if you can opt for the safer track, or if you have to go for the higher-risk option). The only thing that you should <strong>never</strong> do, as I said above, and as other posters have mentioned, is make claims that you have not obtained.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7475,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I commented on the original question</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Don't do it. No results means no abstract.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>While this received many upticks, I have also been told</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>That sounds incorrect. Any references or related experience?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>and that statement also has some upticks. While this is not an answer to \"how to write an abstract\" it attempts to clarify my comment (but is too long to be another comment). Hopefully it is helpful.</p>\n\n<p>I think there are so many things wrong with writing an abstract without results that it is difficult to explain my thinking. The apparent reason for wanting to write an abstract without any results is</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>No abstract means missed opportunity; I cannot afford that. I have to present results I'm sure I will have by the time of the conference.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Which has recieved essentially the same number of upticks as my comment not to do it. I disagree with \"I cannot afford that\". I have never seen or heard of someone being denied tenure or a job because they didn't present at a conference one year. Hiring decisions are never so close that a single conference presentation (no matter how prestigious) sways the decision. I would argue that there are very few upsides to submitting an abstract without results and potentially some downsides.</p>\n\n<p>Submitting an abstract without any results will not get you a place at a highly prestigious conference or a keynote address. It will get you a place at a conference that essentially accepts all abstracts, but not much more than that. In fields that I am familiar with conferences happen at least every 6 months and more often every 3 months. This means that by not submitting now you are merely delaying your presentation by 3-6 months. Therefore the cost of not submitting is a 6 month delay and a slightly different conference that is potentially slightly more prestigious (e.g., with results you might be able to get a talk instead of a poster).</p>\n\n<p>In slow moving fields 6 months is essentially meaningless. In fast moving fields, 6 months is a long time, but in the fast moving fields I am aware of you don't present results until they are about to be published. This means you don't want to submit an abstract of results you don't yet have. Therefore I see very little cost of waiting for the next conference.</p>\n\n<p>So what are the benefits of waiting. Again they are not great. The abstract will actually represent what you are going to talk about. You will likely get put in the correct session. There is a higher chance of getting a talk. If everything goes tits up, you will not have to withdraw. While most people will not remember, some of your close colleagues will and this could hurt future references. Withdrawing also screws over the conference organizers and they will not forget.</p>\n\n<p>There is also the issue of how long do you need to get results. If the abstract was due the day of the conference, presumably you would want to have results before submitting the abstract. What about a week? A month? 6 months? Where is the line?</p>\n\n<p>Finally there is the issue of integrity. While one can write the abstract to make no promises and only state the current truth, this is in fact difficult. If you do this frequently enough you will likely eventually make a statement that is a lie.</p>\n\n<p>In an attempt to answer the question, what about:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>We don't have any results yet as it is still N months before the conference. By the time the conference rolls around we are sure we will have something interesting. If not, we will present some old data or just not show up.</p>\n</blockquote>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9067,
"author": "psm",
"author_id": 6657,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6657",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The results for my project were not a pretty as expected, but I had months to optimize. Unfortunately the abstract had to be submitted asap. So I added great detail to background and methodology, some vague noises about the results, and ended with \"preliminary results are discussed.\" It wasn't perfect, it sucked actually, but it did the job, and the results are now where they need to be for the conference in the summer. </p>\n\n<p>I realize this feed was originally discussed in January, but figured anyone desperate on Google would see this and maybe see a glimmer of hope.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 28169,
"author": "user21569",
"author_id": 21569,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/21569",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Here is an example of an abstract with no results that was accepted for a conference <a href=\"http://www.aacrmeetingabstracts.org/cgi/content/abstract/2004/1/254\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">source</a>:</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><strong>Evaluation of genetic susceptibility for non-Hodgkin lymphoma in the InterLymph consortium</strong></p>\n<p>The incidence of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) has steadily increased worldwide for many years and is still present after taking into account changing diagnostic patterns and HIV infection rates. Although most other important risk factors have yet to be identified, there is substantial evidence suggesting a relationship with conditions that alter the immune system. A consortium that includes essentially all case-control studies currently being carried out in Europe, North America and Australia has recently been formed (InterLymph) to help stimulate and coordinate etiologic studies of lymphoma. Studies are using the new WHO classification of lymphoproliferative disorders and have comparable questionnaire data for most key lifestyle and environmental exposures. InterLymph will have substantial power to study the main effects of less common SNPs, gene-environment interactions and rare sub-entities. Most studies with complete enrollment plan to carry out genotyping of an initial group of SNPs in genes that play a role in regulating the immune system, including IL1A, IL1RN, IL1B, IL2, IL6, IL10, TNF, LTA, and NOD2. The SNP list will be expanded based on interest and resources over the coming years. A set of DNA samples from 102 ethnically diverse individuals that have been sequenced and analyzed on one or more platforms as part of the SNP500Cancer project (<a href=\"http://snp500cancer.nci.nih.gov\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">http://snp500cancer.nci.nih.gov</a>) will serve as gold standards. Further, a round-robin of sample exchange will assure genotyping consistency across participating laboratories. Initial results from the analysis of SNPs in the above genes will be presented and analytic issues will be discussed, including an approach that will help evaluate the probability that statistically significant associations are false positive findings.</p>\n</blockquote>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 107839,
"author": "Vivian Morgan Mitchell",
"author_id": 91119,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/91119",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I agree that you shouldn't report results you don't have, much of the advice on this thread is sound. I would say don't get too into the literature review either...this doesn't necessarily belong in the abstract. The methodology and reasons why are probably key here.</p>\n\n<p>I too am in this boat (though I realize this is an old thread, I'm sure people like me will come here in the future, just as I did).</p>\n\n<p>What some of the people here don't quite seem to understand are mandatory requirements. I don't have data for my thesis yet at all but I'm required by my program to submit an abstract in a few weeks, and I have to submit the abstract for a grade in my class right now. I have no way to get any results at the present time--it's not an option for all of us. Being in academia and research may require you to write an abstract without results. That's okay. Improvise--we're all here to learn, and you won't succeed without that skill. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 107867,
"author": "guest",
"author_id": 91156,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/91156",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Just keep it vague and talk about the topic and that results will be presented. Don't make any predictions or guesses. Yes, this makes the abstract a bit more nebulous, but who cares, it is a conference abstract, not a journal abstract. And it's better than lying or predicting.</p>\n\n<p>This is no big deal. Write up the abstract. Go to the conference. Have fun.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/24 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7428",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/410/"
]
|
7,430 | <p>Like many professions, academia is a challenging environment for women. In some disciplines (e.g. computer science), the number of women remains low despite efforts to increase it. Have there been any academic studies on the ways of improving the working conditions for women, specifically focussing on women in academia? As an academic working in hard sciences (i.e. not gender studies), what book or review could I read on the topic, to help me get a better understanding of these issues (and possibly improve my own behavior)?</p>
<p>I'm not interested in “advice” (in part because I am not a woman), but in studies of how effective are various possible ways of improving the working conditions for women (in academia). Like “we study universities implementing policies X and Y, and show that they do increase gender diversity bu xx%”</p>
<hr>
<p><em>The question <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/1363/2700">“Women in academia”</a> is related, but I'm asking for material with a totally different perspective.</em></p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7431,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In the UK there is <a href=\"http://www.athenaswan.org.uk/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Athena SWAN Charter</a> which</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>recognises commitment to advancing women's\n careers in science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine\n (STEMM) employment in higher education.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>They have a number of reports that could be of interest including <a href=\"http://www.athenaswan.org.uk/sites/default/files/Athena%20SWAN%20Impact%20Report%202011.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">Measuring Sucess</a> and a whole section devoted to <a href=\"http://www.athenaswan.org.uk/content/good-practice\" rel=\"nofollow\">good practice</a>.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7445,
"author": "mkennedy",
"author_id": 5705,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5705",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You may want to check out the <a href=\"http://www.awis.org/\">Association for Women in Science</a> (AWIS) website. There's a resources area on the right side of the page which includes publications and factsheets. Elsewhere, there's a link to relevant committee or groups for different STEM fields.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7743,
"author": "Sylvain Peyronnet",
"author_id": 43,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/43",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think that you read French, so there is this book: <a href=\"http://www.amazon.fr/Parcours-femmes-luniversit%C3%A9-Perspectives-internationales/dp/2296010482\" rel=\"nofollow\"><em>Parcours de femmes à l'université : Perspectives internationales</em></a> and also this study: <a href=\"http://www.efigies.org/wp-content/uploads/2007-11-24_je-efigies-anef_formation-doctorale-rapports-pouvoir_actes.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\"><em>Les femmes à l'université:\nRapports de pouvoir et discriminations</em></a>.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7763,
"author": "Amy",
"author_id": 167,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/167",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>The most recent paper to make a big splash on this subject was \"<a href=\"http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2012/09/14/1211286109.full.pdf\" rel=\"noreferrer\">Science faculty's subtle gender biases favor male students</a>\", by Moss-Racusin et al. You can start there, and dig backwards through the references - you'll hit most of the major reports on this topic. </p>\n\n<p>A few notes on the topic of this paper itself:</p>\n\n<p>It is the same gender biases that academics have towards their students that they also demonstrate against their peers, so don't narrow your research too much. And if your question is \"why are there so few academic women in the sciences?\" you need to look at the problem from top to bottom. Women aren't going to want to become professors if they are already noticing the bias in undergrad. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7856,
"author": "Irwin",
"author_id": 5944,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5944",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>A Google Scholar search of \"academia women\" seems to reveal a number of potentially-relevant studies.</p>\n\n<p>Below are primarily retrospective/introspective qualitative articles, but some quantitative articles exist.</p>\n\n<p>‘We make the road by walking’: a collaborative inquiry into the experiences of women in academia\nElizabeth Drame, Jennifer Mueller, Raquel Oxford, Sandra Toro, Debora Wisneski, Yaoying Xu \nReflective Practice \nVol. 13, Iss. 6, 2012\n<a href=\"http://www.tandfonline.com/action/showCitFormats?doi=10.1080%2F14623943.2012.732939\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.tandfonline.com/action/showCitFormats?doi=10.1080%2F14623943.2012.732939</a></p>\n\n<p>Inspiration From Role Models and Advice for Moving Forward\nMichelle G. Newman, Lata K. McGinn\nBehavior Therapy, Volume 43, Issue 4, December 2012, Pages 721–723\n<a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.beth.2012.03.001\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.beth.2012.03.001</a></p>\n\n<p>Kleihauer, Sarah, Carrie Ann Stephens, and William E. Hart. \"Insights from Six Women on Their Personal Journeys to Becoming Deans of Agriculture: A Qualitative Study.\" Volume 11, Number 1–Winter 2012 (2012): 64.</p>\n\n<p>Silander, C., Haake, U. & Lindberg, L. (2012). The different worlds of academia: a horizontal analysis of gender equality in Swedish higher education. Higher Education (18 december), 1-16.</p>\n\n<p>O’Brien, K. R. and Hapgood, K. P. (2012), The academic jungle: ecosystem modelling reveals why women are driven out of research. Oikos, 121: 999–1004. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0706.2012.20601.x</p>\n\n<p>Multi-Institutional Study of Women and Underrepresented Minority Faculty Members in Academic Pharmacy\nMarie A. Chisholm-Burns, et al.\nAm J Pharm Educ. 2012 February 10; 76(1): 7.\ndoi: 10.5688/ajpe7617</p>\n\n<p>You may also wish to check out well-known blogs and sites that discuss the academic environment, including <a href=\"http://theprofessorisin.com\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://theprofessorisin.com</a> and <a href=\"http://chronicle.com/section/Home/5\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://chronicle.com/section/Home/5</a> and <a href=\"http://www.phinished.org\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.phinished.org</a>.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/24 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7430",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700/"
]
|
7,432 | <p>I had an inteview day for a PhD program at a US institution. I met 4/5 professors and a few phd/post docs students. Should I send a thank you email to my host professor or not? What about the other professors?</p>
<p>I think the interaction we had that day was good enough so I am not sure if an email follow up is really that necessary.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7433,
"author": "posdef",
"author_id": 5674,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5674",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It depends a bit, I guess... I personally think that it's always nice to send a mail and thank the person for the hospitality. I don't think it will increase your chances for the position but hey it's good manners :) </p>\n\n<p>Whether or not you get a position is often related to not only how good you are as an individual, but also:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>whether or not you will bring some new expertise/perspective to the lab/group</li>\n<li>whether or not the group leader believes you will fit into the existing group (socially/culturally etc..)</li>\n<li>whether or not it will cause them an extra effort to get you there (in case you'll require work/residence permit, specific equipment etc)</li>\n<li>whether or not they already have a more suitable candidate in mind (it's pretty mean for the individual but also very understandable for professors to have interviews with other candidates when they have already made up their mind about a particular one. Motivation behind something like that could be to plan for future projects or bureaucratic reasons)</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>These are only a couple of factors I can think of. But to come back to your question; I think you'll have nothing to lose and if anything it'll show that you have appreciated the chance to visit the lab and talked to people, which is a positive thing. ;)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7434,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>A polite and courteous thank-you email is never inappropriate. Also, if you've left anything out of your interview day (or promised to follow up on something), it's a good opportunity to do so. </p>\n\n<p>However, you shouldn't turn this into an opportunity to go overboard and plead or beg for a spot, or oversell yourself. That is unlikely to go over well, and can undo the good job you did on your interview day. </p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/24 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7432",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4050/"
]
|
7,436 | <p>I'm sorry if this is a bit subjective, but I really don't know where to find the truth.</p>
<p>In my hometown, lecturers usually will only approve research in computer science & information system where the result is new software. The goal is creating a software that can be used directly by business. Usually, research that can't be 'seen' and used directly will be rejected and considered useless. </p>
<p>As in my university, lecturers said that creating new software is a type of research called a quasi experiment. Students are expected to perform the following activities: gathering requirements, designing UML models, and implementing the source code. In the seminar (final exam), lecturers will ask a lot about business process and customer satisfaction. No maths. Most questions are subjective and hard to prove.</p>
<p>Is it true that creating a fully functional software or web site like this is a kind of quasi-experimental research?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7437,
"author": "Zenon",
"author_id": 257,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/257",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>As undergraduate research, you mostly don't have the time, experience nor support to create a full fledge project from scratch. By that I mean creating original work in you field. Thus, given the scope of the project, implementing a software is a valuable exercice that can also be really useful for research. For exemple, in my domain (bioinformatics) there is a special issue of NAR (Nucleic Acids Research) solely devoted to webservers. The latest issue can be found <a href=\"http://nar.oxfordjournals.org/content/40/W1.toc\" rel=\"nofollow\">here.</a></p>\n\n<p>I think one of the big issues you are facing (in almost every field) is that the amount of knowledge you get when leaving the bachelors has been pretty constant for the past 50 years. At the opposite, the level of new research has grown exponentially in these time. Thus, the gap to create something new is constantly growing.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7438,
"author": "user4231",
"author_id": 4231,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4231",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Depends what your definition of an experiment is:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p> 1. a scientific procedure undertaken to make a discovery, test a hypothesis, or demonstrate a known fact</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>This covers scientific programming, but not a lot of other areas of software development.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p> 2. a course of action tentatively adopted without being sure of the eventual outcome</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Well, for sure all software development is done without being sure of the eventual outcome! You have hopes, you try stuff, you analyze its consequences, you find a way of improving the software or mitigating the issues, and you learn something.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/24 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7436",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5702/"
]
|
7,439 | <p>I am reading a paper and have questions about the details of the procedure described. I have read other papers by the same team but they don't explain too much about that procedure anyway. I think it might be common, but my supervisor doesn't know it too.</p>
<p>I am stuck and I want to get out of it. As a student working on my master thesis, can I email the contact author for the manuscript cold out, or should I ask someone to contact him for me? I would ask my supervisor but I don't want it to imply that I'm avoid taking initiatives when I could do it on my own.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7443,
"author": "gnometorule",
"author_id": 4384,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4384",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>You can definitely contact a paper author. They might be of the 'it obviously follows' == after 5 pages of calculations kind, or the empiricist who published the 20 successful regressions or simulations out of 200, with 180 contradicting their result or being inconclusive; and in either case ignore your question. From personal experience though, it can even lead to breakthroughs: in my case, someone sent me his lecture notes which clarified something I was stuck with, and related to the submitted question. However, if your advisor knows the author, or simply is well-known in their field, do mention that you are their student, as it should increase good will on the author's part - after confirming with your advisor that they are cool with it. Showing that you are active, interested, and independent should also go down well with the advisor. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7446,
"author": "eykanal",
"author_id": 73,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/73",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Definitely contact the author. Collaboration is what research is all about. Authors expect these sort of emails when they publish. Also, sending email like this lets people know your name, one person at a time. This way, when you're at a conference later on, you can go over to the author and say, \"hey, I emailed you a while back, nice to meet you in person.\" It's always good to network.</p>\n\n<p>It would be good form to mention your advisor in the email, whether he's well-known or not.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7457,
"author": "Leon palafox",
"author_id": 2806,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2806",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I will give the point of view from Eastern Asian Universities.</p>\n\n<p>Here the Lab culture is too focused on the professor as the head and only public face of the laboratory.</p>\n\n<p>Because of this, many students are not used to being asked directly about their research, and usually they do not know what to do about it, and will end up asking their professor. </p>\n\n<p>The best case scenario is that the professor won't mind and will give the student authorization to mail you back, but the worst case scenario (it happens!) is that the professor will get offended because you contacted a student and not him, and you won't get any answer at all.</p>\n\n<p>This mostly applies to Universities in China, Japan, Korea, etc. I would recommend mailing the professor and asking him directly, it will take time, but is usually your best bet. Even more, it is way better if you get your adviser to contact him for you, and then he can ask for his permission for you to contact the student directly (I'm really not joking about this)</p>\n\n<p>Unless the guy writing the paper is foreigner, then go ahead.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 72979,
"author": "Patrick Sanan",
"author_id": 8796,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8796",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Yes, you can and should contact the author of the paper.</p>\n<p>The more thought-out and coherent your email and questions are, the better chance you stand of getting a useful reply. The risk with a cold email is being ignored, so make sure that you do everything to avoid that.</p>\n<ol>\n<li>Make sure you carefully state your question, and make sure that you actually can't understand it yourself (for example by reading the references in the original paper).</li>\n<li>Make sure the subject line is to the point, send the email from your university address, and don't be afraid to mention your advisor or even cc them on the email - this will give the person you are cold-emailing some immediate context.</li>\n</ol>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 190981,
"author": "Nuclear Chemist",
"author_id": 91891,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/91891",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would encourage you to email the author.</p>\n<p>I have sometimes emailed authors of papers and occasionally I have been mailed by people asking about my research.</p>\n<p>If you write a polite and reasonable mail, most people will be glad to hear from you.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/24 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7439",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4231/"
]
|
7,450 | <p>I am wondering, for full time university teachers (not those who also have research responsibilities), what is <em>generally</em> the number of hours per week that they teach? I currently teach 20 hours per week and find the load quite heavy giving me little time to prep new modules with quality. Adding to that the responsibility of marking and it is not uncommon that I end up working more like 50-60 hours per week to teach 20.</p>
<p>Are these numbers average? High? Low?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7451,
"author": "blackace",
"author_id": 4467,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4467",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>20 hours per week for most teaching only positions is normal. I have seen Profs with major research responsibilities that at times have had 20 hours of teaching as well. </p>\n\n<p>My rule of thumb for a course: You will spend 2 to 3 times the amount of teaching you do preparing the first time you teach a course and this decreases as years go on for that same course (a new course requires considerable amount of time for preparation again). </p>\n\n<p>First time I was teaching advanced thermodynamics and fluid mechanics courses I was spending two full days per 2 hours of teaching actually! but then after three years it was down to preparing 2 hours for 2 hours of teaching. </p>\n\n<p>Your numbers seem right to me. In short 20 hours of teaching = virtually no time to do research.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7453,
"author": "antmw1361",
"author_id": 5644,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5644",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Depends to different parameters, but university generally expects each academic staff works </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>40% research </p></li>\n<li><p>40% teaching</p></li>\n<li><p>20% involvement in committees and university meetings</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Of course, different personalities have different interests to focus on either of research or teaching activities. That's why, some take more courses than others. </p>\n\n<p>In addition to personal interests, needs of school is another issue. For instance imagine one of the lecturers needs to stay at hospital after injury in accident. Head of school asks one of the academic staff to cover his/her absent colleague.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7459,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>There is no “typical” number in this matter. Let's take a few examples:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>UK, lecturer: it's usually a full-time position, so you have to put in 35-40 hours per week. The ratio of lecture time over all the rest (preparation, departmental committees, etc.) depends on the contract, but I have rarely seen it pushed past 1:1 (which means roughly 20 hours of teaching, maybe 25 at most).</p></li>\n<li><p>France, \"PRAG\": this is the position of a high-School teacher detached to a university, and the closest one to a lecturer position. Their nominal teaching load is 384 hours per year, with a weight of 1.5 for lectures and 1 for exercises sessions. But for one the year is very short, from about 23 to 26 weeks, so that means about 15 hours per week, and this is only the nominal amount. In any cases, they (voluntarily or not) have to teach additional hours, which are paid in addition (to a <strong>lower</strong> rate than nominal hours).</p></li>\n<li><p>As a point of comparison: a French high-school teacher would have <strong>18 teaching hours</strong> per week.</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Other comparison points, less relevant to the question as they are for teaching+research positions:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>France, associate professor (<em>maître de conférences</em>): junior-level position, supposed to be half teaching and half research. This has a fixed number of <strong>192 teaching hours per year</strong>. If you consider that those are spread on 30 weeks, it gives <strong>6.4 hours per week</strong>. Even considering it is not a teaching-only position, that number is lower than the one you quote.</p></li>\n<li><p>France, full professor (<em>professeur des universités</em>): same number of hours in theory, but as you gain seniority you can do more full-class teaching (with bigger groups), of which every hour counts as 1.5 hour in your yearly total. Through this, and other mechanisms, senior professors usually have fewer hours to teach.</p></li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7471,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I assume you are talking about in term time teaching per week and not total teaching per year/52. I have never heard of a permanent full time position having a heavier teaching load than a 5-5. Some people then choose to teach summer courses (but this wouldn't effect you teaching hours per term week). Often this type of load includes some repetition so you might only have to prep 7 courses of which only 1 might be a new prep. The amount of classroom contact time for each course might be as low as 3 hours but could climb to 6. There might also be some office hour contact (which you might count as teaching contact). Many full time teaching jobs have lighter loads and can be as low as 3-3. Research intensive departments can have typical teaching loads as low as 1-1. Adjuncts often teach as high as 6-6 in order to make ends meet.</p>\n\n<p>There is so much more than just the number of taught hours that influence teaching load. I think you need to look at number of classroom hours, number of unique preps, office hours, and marking.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 19920,
"author": "Paul",
"author_id": 12503,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12503",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In the US teaching load is assigned in terms of courses or credit hours per year and varies heavily between \"teaching schools\" and research schools. For example, I currently teach undergraduates at a teaching school (i.e., it does virtually no research, but has the name university attached like most institutions) that has a load of 30 credit hours per year, and am moving to another teaching school that has a load of 33 credit hours per year.</p>\n\n<p>At a research school nearby I know lecturers (no research) teach 3-3 (3 courses in the fall semester, 3 courses in the spring semester, and mostly 4 credit courses). Professors (researcher and teaching load) at the same school taught 2-2 (2 courses in fall, and 2 in spring).</p>\n\n<p>A credit hour is approximately 15 lecture hours over the course of a semester, so these loads vary from 33*15=<strong>495 teaching hours per year</strong> (<strong>9.5 hours / week on a 52-week year</strong>), to 6*4*15 = <strong>360 hours per year</strong> (<strong>6.9 hours / week on a 52-week year</strong>). For this spring semester I am currently teaching 11 hours of lecture per week and an additional 4 hours of lab sessions per week. My load is usually lighter in the summers, but not by that much.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 80212,
"author": "Sharon Douglas",
"author_id": 65160,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65160",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It depends on the type of institution. at my university, a post 1992 UK university in Newcastle, myself and some other colleagues teach on average 14 hours a week! yes and you have to research and engage in administration, including marking (lots of it) meeting students, supervising both under and post graduate students. I have broken down finally. it was too much to bear and I am currently on sick leave. Hopefully, my hours of teaching will be reduced after this incident. </p>\n\n<p>In pre 1992 universities, I understand the typical teaching load is 6 hours a week.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 80247,
"author": "Garima",
"author_id": 65191,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65191",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>A university teacher teaches 10-12 hours typically a week. Although this job has vast roles and preparation time for the lecture may vary depending on the topic. </p>\n\n<p>My university lecturers had different teaching hours depending on the additional work assigned to them by university like assessing test papers, results, grad management.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 155420,
"author": "user129567",
"author_id": 129567,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/129567",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In my university in Australia, my 60% time is teaching which translates into 360 hours for one year so about 10 hours per week. The other 20% is research and 20% admin (committees etc.) I feel exhausted.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/25 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7450",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2692/"
]
|
7,460 | <p>I had started my PHD last year on a topic that has several interesting problem to solve in the area, however I don't find the problem interesting enough to spend 4 to 5 years. As time went by and I came across a new problem through my course work and interactions with various professors. I have started liking a different topic that is not very related to the original. </p>
<p>What would be a wise thing to do in such situation? Is it a common situation (changing topics midway)? </p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7462,
"author": "Leon palafox",
"author_id": 2806,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2806",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>First, I've yet to meet a single PhD candidate that actually did what he proposed in his research plan in the first place. Unless he entered for some particular project (and still)</p>\n\n<p>Is not uncommon to look for different topics and think that it may suit you better, and in all fairness, you should be doing something you like, not some topic other person imposed on you.</p>\n\n<p>Now, switching topics, specially if they are unrelated, will have the consequence of delaying your PhD graduation considerably. I switched topics on my PhD 2 year, but I mostly changed the application, while the most fundamental part (in my case, it was the math) was pretty much the same, so I got to use most of the foundations I learned over the first couple of years.</p>\n\n<p>I hope it helps.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7584,
"author": "Fuhrmanator",
"author_id": 3859,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/3859",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>My advice is to talk about it with your advisor (naturally). </p>\n\n<p>When I was narrowing down subjects I, too, was struggling with how much <em>interest</em> I had in various topics. I got some advice from someone who was working at ABB and had recently finished a PhD. It went something like this: </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p><em>A PhD is as much a long process as it is becoming an expert and contributing in a field. If you pick a topic you're enthusiastic about at the beginning, chances\n are, you'll become tired of it before you finish. If you pick a\n topic that seems less interesting, after working on it for a long\n time, you probably will come to love some things about it you didn't see at the start.</em></p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>In my case, the latter was true. I was more interested in finishing on time than having the topic of my dreams. But I finally enjoyed my topic a lot, even though at first it seemed boring and not up my alley.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7587,
"author": "eykanal",
"author_id": 73,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/73",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>To me, the only <em>wrong</em> answer to this question would be, \"throw everything away and start over\", and there may even be some (rare) situations where that approach is justified.</p>\n\n<p>Everything else is basically varying shades of \"right\", depending on your specific situation. </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Talk to your advisor about pursuing your alternate interest as a side project, with the ultimate goal of a few publications on that topic.</li>\n<li>Work with your advisor to identify other labs doing similar work, do a collaborative project with another lab with the goal of publishing.</li>\n<li>On a similar vein, if your program allows it, do a <code>x</code>-month (<code>x</code> < 1 year) rotation in a different lab that focuses on your new-found interest, with the goal of familiarizing yourself more with the intricacies of that field, readying you for a postdoc or professorship role in that subfield.</li>\n<li>Write down your ideas as possible ideas for grant applications for the future (postdoctoral tenure, professorship positions).</li>\n</ul>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/25 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7460",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4340/"
]
|
7,467 | <p>I would like to ask if there is some algorithm how to arrange courses to timetable. I study at the university and we can choose a few different lesson times for each subject.</p>
<p>The problem is how to coordinate all subjects with student's requirements, for example to have school only 2 days a week and/or to select some hours based on capacity.</p>
<p>One subject - you have to select one from the first table and one from the second table (it's lecture and seminar). There can be only one table to select from (only seminar/only lecture):</p>
<p><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/V1bBP.jpg" alt="Image"> </p>
<hr>
<p><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/tkEoM.jpg" alt="Course timetable"></p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7472,
"author": "Nicholas",
"author_id": 1424,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1424",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There are algorithms for timetabling, but I doubt that you would want to get into the level of detail required for understanding them and applying them to your - as I take it - one off situation. Timetabling is a difficult problem for a computer to solve when there are many activities and people to timetable. It is an NP-hard problem, and a hot topic of current computer science research. </p>\n\n<p>Perhaps something like <a href=\"http://www.timetableonline.com/\" rel=\"nofollow\">this</a> would help you? I haven't tried it so I can't comment on whether it is a useful/competent solution.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7581,
"author": "Tom Carchrae",
"author_id": 4355,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4355",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Why did this get moved to <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/\">https://academia.stackexchange.com/</a> ? This is an algorithm question! </p>\n\n<p>Anyway, it so happens some friends of mine have one of the top timetabling algorithms, based on competition wins. Here is a link to the paper (which will include references to other state-of-the-art timetabling algorithms)</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>An automatically configured modular algorithm for post enrollment\n course timetabling Chris Fawcett, Holger H. Hoos, and Marco\n Chiarandini - Technical Report TR-2009-15, University of British\n Columbia, Department of Computer Science, 2009. <a href=\"http://www.cs.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/tr/2009/TR-2009-15.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">[pdf]</a></p>\n</blockquote>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/25 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7467",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5714/"
]
|
7,469 | <p>I received an invitation to nominate students for an award that could be for <em>an undergraduate, a graduate or a post-graduate student</em>. I've seen those terms used before, but never been sure what they mean. I know <em>Bachelor</em> student, <em>Master</em> student, <em>PhD</em> student and <em>post-doc</em>.</p>
<p>The timeline:</p>
<p>Being a Bachelor student → Getting the Bachelor degree → Being a Master student → Getting the Master degree → Being a PhD student → Getting the PhD degree → Being a post-doc → ...</p>
<p>Then what do <em>undergraduate</em>, <em>graduate</em> and <em>post-graduate</em> students refer to? Are <em>undergraduate</em> students exclusively students studying to get a <em>Bachelor</em> degree, or can it also refer to students studying to get a <em>Master</em> degree? After all, that's a graduation that they don't have yet. Literally speaking, it could also be "under" the PhD degree, but that's surely never used as such.</p>
<p>And a <em>graduate</em> student, is that then someone studying for the <em>Master</em> degree, er is it used only for people studying for the <em>PhD</em> degree?</p>
<p>But then what is a <em>post-graduate student</em>? Is this a <em>post-doc</em>? But <i>post-doc</i>s aren't students anymore, so then it could only refer to <em>PhD</em> students. Or are post-docs considered students, too? </p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7470,
"author": "Leon palafox",
"author_id": 2806,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2806",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In many American Universities, the concept of a Master student is that which is enrolled purely in a Master course, and is expected to leave the school after graduation.</p>\n\n<p>A Graduate student is usually enrolled with the objective of doing a PhD, many Graduate students, provided they have the coursework and thesis, might get a Masters degree in the middle of the program along with the PhD. </p>\n\n<p>Usually for postgraduate students I also think is for post docs, but I'm not sure. In Mexico (and maybe France, because we share some characteristics of the language) a postgraduate student is one doing either a PhD or a Master, and a Graduate student is one doing his Bachelor degree.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7477,
"author": "Willie Wong",
"author_id": 94,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/94",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I am almost certain that post doc is <em>not</em> what is meant. </p>\n\n<p>In English speaking systems outside of North America, and especially referring to Europe under the Bologna accords, an <em>undergraduate</em> refers to someone who is studying for, but has yet to receive, his <em>first post-secondary education degree</em>. Typically this degree is some equivalent of Bachelors, but in some cases students maybe enrolled in accelerated programs with a longer term of study that leads directly to (the equivalent of) a Masters degree. </p>\n\n<p>A <em>graduate</em> student can, but not necessarily, refer to someone who is studying for a <em>graduate diploma</em>. In many countries having a Bachelors (or equivalent) is not sufficient in itself to qualify one for starting a postgraduate degree. One often requires a \"good enough\" Bachelors degree (such as one with honors). The graduate diploma is an intermediate step in which a student who has already received his first post-secondary degree studies further in order to qualify to enroll in a masters (or sometimes doctorate? I am not sure about this) degree program. </p>\n\n<p>A <em>postgraduate</em> student refers to someone who has already obtained a first degree, and is now pursuing a second, third, or Nth degree beyond it. See, e.g. <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postgraduate_education\">this Wikipedia entry</a>.</p>\n\n<p>A postdoctoral researcher is generally <em>not</em> considered as a student. </p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>In English speaking North America, an <em>undergraduate</em> typically refers to someone studying for a bachelors, since almost all (if not all) degree programs go through that stage in North America. And a <em>graduate student</em> refers to any student studying for any degree beyond that of the bachelors (so that would be typically the masters or the doctorate). </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 58204,
"author": "Mike C PhD",
"author_id": 44360,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/44360",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In the USA An undergraduate student is one who's working towards a bachelors degree; typically a graduate student is one who has a bachelors degree and is either working on a Masters are higher level degree; a postgraduate degree level refers to someone who has earned a masters degree and is in route to a higher level degree; a postdoctoral Student is when they have completed coursework for the doctor degree but still has other requirements to finish like a thesis or disertation. </p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/25 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7469",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1033/"
]
|
7,473 | <p>I wonder: everyone in academia handles a lot of email, on all aspects of their work. I mean, emails about conferences, emails about journals and papers, emails about research, teaching, supervized students, and so on. So if you have a big announcement to send to many people (eg seminar or conference) does it matter WHEN you send it? I mean, is it better to send it on Wednesday afternoon (middle of the week) rather than Saturday evening (middle of week end)? I imagine if people receive the email at time they are busy they possibly will overlook it.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7474,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>First, <strong>I don't think it makes much difference.</strong> Researchers deal with information, and a lot of that information is communicated through emails nowadays. So, most researchers I know are very careful about their emails and read them thoroughly. Especially if you write to people who know you, your name should be enough for them to read your email through anyway.</p>\n\n<p>But, I can understand if you have an important announcement to make to a large list of people (who don't all know you personally), you may want to “micro-optimize” this. I have done it in the past: having a call-for-papers email ready on Saturday, and waiting ’til Monday afternoon (US time) to send it, thinking people who read it with a fresh mind, and not alongside the batch of “week-end email” that they might triage on Monday morning. (Some people stay connected during week-ends, of course, and for those it makes no matter.)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7476,
"author": "Herman Toothrot",
"author_id": 4050,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4050",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>My short answer is that I only send important email within working hours avoid early morning late afternoon hours. I usually get a very high reply rate with this technique as opposed to send email at midnight.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7506,
"author": "Sylvain Peyronnet",
"author_id": 43,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/43",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Marketing experts advise to send emails on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. They also advise to send the email early in the morning, so that they will be at the top of the pile for those that check their emails right after waking up/arriving at the office.</p>\n\n<p>Sunday afternoon is also a good choice. If the receiver reads emails during the weekend, you will be one in a very few, and if the mail is read on Monday, it will be at the top of the pile.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/25 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7473",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4231/"
]
|
7,478 | <p>One of the master's student is working on a research problem. I am a PhD student. I have an idea which I proposed to my advisor on the same problem. Now he wants me and the masters student to work on that idea and publish a paper. Would I be treated as a first author in that paper or would I be a second author?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7479,
"author": "user4231",
"author_id": 4231,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4231",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You give a partial version of the story using pejoratives instead of trying to stay based on facts. So it is difficult to answer your question with that information.</p>\n\n<p>What we can say is that authorship is something to be discussed with your advisor. It will be his decision, in the end. A good way to help yourself is to work hard on that idea, and clearly make your point. The best way to help yourself be first author is to write the paper, or at least the more significant portions of it! Start already with introduction and methods, and as soon as results are gathered, write it up and then submit it to your advisor. If you have done a large part of the work and wrote the manuscript, you should have no problem being first author.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7480,
"author": "antmw1361",
"author_id": 5644,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5644",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Authorship is always controversial, but the general rule is: <strong>Contribution of authors determines the order of the authors on the scholarly publications</strong>. The first author is the one who has contributed the most and usually writes the paper. The last author is usually a professor or senior researcher who leads the team, and his role is almost supervisory.</p>\n\n<p>In your case, how significant was your idea to produce outputs? If you had a significant idea, you have designed the research. Even if the MS student has made many experiments, you can make a contribution by writing and preparing the manuscript.</p>\n\n<p>Finally, you can ask a senior researcher to judge between you, if still there is any controversy.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7481,
"author": "seteropere",
"author_id": 532,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/532",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>A PhD student insisting on being the first author on a master project is something not welcoming sometimes. <strong>Specially if the master student understands the problem and she can solve it by <em>herself</em></strong>. In this case, unless you will bring a new major perspective to the solving method, you won't be the first author.</p>\n<p>I have worked with master students and my role was very clear from the beginning. I was involved either as</p>\n<ul>\n<li>supporter to the master student<br />\n(i.e. checking the literature, suggesting improvements, studying the problem, brainstorming for better ideas, help with writing)</li>\n</ul>\n<p>or</p>\n<ul>\n<li>the master student is supporter for me<br />\n(i.e. doing code implementation, graphic design..etc).</li>\n</ul>\n<p><em>If the research problem is the student thesis</em>, then most likely you will not be the first author (it is the student thesis, right?)</p>\n<p>The authorship thing is the supervisor responsibility. If you are very concerned about it (i.e. you wouldn't work unless you are the first author), then you should speak with the supervisor before starting. Tell her why you want to be the first author.</p>\n<p>This said, if you took the leading position as an experienced researcher you might be the first author without asking for it (unless alphabetical ordering took place).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7513,
"author": "Peter K.",
"author_id": 3965,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/3965",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Why not see this as an opportunity to supervise an able student? Prod them, needle them, cajole them. Do whatever it takes to get the student to generate a good result. It seems to me your adviser is giving you an opportunity to grow your professional capabilities.</p>\n\n<p>If the master's student does all the research work, then they should be first author.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/25 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7478",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5715/"
]
|
7,484 | <p>I am currently on the academic job market, and scheduling on-campus interviews with institutions that might want to hire me.</p>
<p>Suppose I am invited to an on-campus interview at the University of X, and must travel there by air. They handle travel on a reimbursement basis: I buy the plane ticket, and then they reimburse me.</p>
<p>However, the interview is a few weeks away. Since the job market sometimes moves fast, there is a chance that by the time of the scheduled interview, I may have already accepted another offer (say from the University of Y). Of course I should then decline the interview at X, but I would have already bought the plane ticket.</p>
<p><strong>How should I plan for this contingency?</strong></p>
<ol>
<li><p>I could buy a refundable ticket to X. However, these are normally several times the price of a non-refundable ticket, and if I do end up traveling to X, they might balk at reimbursing me for such an expensive fare.</p></li>
<li><p>I could buy a non-refundable ticket to X. If I end up not going there, I could ask X to reimburse me for the cost of the ticket (or at least the "change fee" charged by the airline to let me use the ticket's value for a future flight). However, I suspect they will be reluctant to reimburse me for a trip I'm not making, and might refuse to do so altogether, in which case I am out-of-pocket.</p></li>
<li><p>I could wait until the last minute to buy a non-refundable ticket for X. But it may still be expensive for them (or may exceed their limits), and the most convenient flights may be sold out.</p></li>
<li><p>I could contact University of X and ask them for guidance. I'm a bit hesitant to do this, as I am afraid that if I bring up the possibility that I might accept another position, they might think I am not seriously interested in theirs.</p></li>
</ol>
<p><strong>Is there a standard way to handle this situation?</strong></p>
<p>This is in the United States, if it matters.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7485,
"author": "user4231",
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"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It is always best to ask. You can use another pretext as a reason for your “hesitation”. Say, for example (in short):</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>I wonder what the restrictions are on travel reimbursement. I could buy a ticket X right now but I am not fully sure about the exact timing of the flight (due to family arrangements not yet settled). However the price might increase if I wait.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>If you do not want to ask you have no possibility other than 1 or 3. Depends on how you evaluate your chances of finding a job before the interview. Probably 3 is worse than 1: if you have a cool new job you will not mind so much losing a plane ticket. I do not think universities would accept option 2.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7487,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>While the cost of buying the plane ticket is expensive, I would look at it as an \"opportunity cost.\" If you wait until the last minute, and <em>don't</em> get a job offer and <em>don't</em> get reimbursement, then you have the worst of all worlds: no job offer, and a very expensive plane ticket to pay for!</p>\n\n<p>It is therefore much better to ask the schools for guidance. However, if the issue is a financial one, you <em>could</em> mention to the school that you might need a travel advance in order to help pay for your ticket. Normally they can work out some sort of arrangement if it is a problem for the candidate to pay for her own ticket. </p>\n\n<p>You <em>are</em> correct, however, in thinking that the school would not appreciate having to ask what happens if you need to cancel because of accepting another job. If you do that, you can save yourself buying the plane ticket, because you're probably not getting a job at that school anyway!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7488,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I have been in similar situations recently, and I have to say first that most of the time, the university was directly taking care of buying the plane ticket for me, so it somehow simplifies things. Nevertheless, I would say that the first point is that whenever you schedule an interview, you should somehow commit to attend it, meaning not accepting any offer before scheduling the interview. If you are expecting soon an answer from a place that you would definitely take if accepted, then wait until having received the answer before scheduling the next interview. </p>\n\n<p>It's also worth mentioning that in many cases, an interview is not just an interview, and you might also give a seminar, meet and talk with people there, so it might be interesting to go there in any case, even if you have been accepted to another place. However, it's quite important to be open about it with the interviewing institution. I have been in this situation, i.e., going to an interview while having accepted another offer before, and mentioning only at the last minute, and it was clearly a rude thing on my side (to my defense, I didn't fully realise it was an actual interview, and thought it was just a seminar to make contact with the team there. It was however a clear fault on my side). </p>\n\n<p>So, to answer your question, let's assume you've already applied to A, and you're waiting for their answer, and you need to schedule an interview for B. Two cases are possible: </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>either A is your preferred place, and in that case, wait until you have received their answer before making any arrangement. Ask A when they plan to give the answer, and if the expected date is close to the interview for B, then explain the situation to B. Academia is a competitive market, and there is nothing wrong in applying for several positions at the same time. Excellent candidates are usually accepted in several places, and as JeffE would say, if you're not excellent, why would they hire you anyway?</p></li>\n<li><p>or B is your preferred place, and in that case, schedule the interview regardless of the date when you receive the decision from A. The only tricky part might be that you receive the answer from A before the interview to B, and that you have to make a decision, but that's hope to you to know the trade-off between accepting A and losing for sure B, or refusing A and risking for B. </p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>So, in both case, go for 3: wait until the last moment to make any arrangement. You should finally consider the fact that academia is a small world, and that if you apply to both A and B, it's very possible that they are both aware of your double application. Anyway, I wouldn't expect a recruitment committee to believe that you have only applied to their opening. </p>\n\n<p><strong>EDIT</strong> Apparently, I wasn't as clear as I wanted to. In no case I'm suggesting not to <em>accept</em> any interview offer, but simply to try, if possible, when you're waiting for an answer from A, which would be your first choice, and you receive an interview offer from B, to wait to have the answer from A to schedule the interview at B. If you can't wait, then schedule it anyway, but be clear with B that you're expecting an answer from A that might arrive, and that you might have to formally accept before the interview at B. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7489,
"author": "Suresh",
"author_id": 346,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you've bought the ticket for an interview that you honestly intended to go for, and you get an offer in the meantime, it doesn't necessarily mean that you should decline the interview. </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>You might be pleasantly surprised by the place and realize that it's more in contention than you think. </li>\n<li>You might make useful contacts that will help you later on in your career even if you don't go there.</li>\n<li>you might get an offer from this place, and having two offers improves your negotiating position tremendously. </li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7597,
"author": "Noah Snyder",
"author_id": 25,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/25",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I'm assuming you're applying for tenure track jobs here. The value of a tenure track job is enough more than the cost of a plane ticket, that I really don't think it's worth doing anything that could compromise your odds at University X. If it's a matter of buying a ticket today or in a couple days, then you can easily drag your feet on buying the ticket without them even knowing. But otherwise, just buy the plane ticket and deal with the tricky situation if it comes about.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7635,
"author": "academic",
"author_id": 5843,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5843",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I am writing to disagree with Charles Morisset's answer. (I signed up just now, and am unable to comment.) At least, I would consider part of his answer to be poor advice for applying to TT jobs in mathematics.</p>\n\n<p>In particular, I believe you should <em>always</em> accept invitations to interview if you think they're in your best interest -- i.e., if you would be happy to take a job there, and if you are not absolutely confident you won't get better offers.</p>\n\n<p>Suppose that I had scheduled an interview at A, and I get an interview offer from B. I prefer A to B, but I also really like B. Then I would <em>definitely</em> accept the interview offer at B, even if you might get an offer from A in the meantime.</p>\n\n<p>I say this as someone who was on our hiring committee this year. It is a difficult and stressful process for us, but surely it is much more difficult and stressful for candidates. We understand that candidates want to get the best job possible and expect that they will look out for their own best interests. We expect honesty, but hesitating to accept an interview offer at a school you like, under almost any circumstances, seems unwise to me.</p>\n\n<p>What if you accept an offer from A before your interview at B, and the plane ticket is bought? I would contact B, tell them you had accepted another offer, offer thanks and apologies, and offer either to come and give your lecture, or to simply cancel the trip. Most hiring committees, I think, would be gracious and kind, would ask you not to come, and would refund your plane ticket. Perhaps they would like to meet you anyway, and give you the option of giving your talk. In the unlikely event that they are rude, this will give you reason to be grateful that you will be working elsewhere.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 16025,
"author": "nagniemerg",
"author_id": 11084,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11084",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The university and hiring committee is already committed to paying for your flight out (plus room and board). As such, I think it would be reasonable to offer to pay for half the cost of the ticket IF you accepted an offer at another university.</p>\n\n<p>I would not ask beforehand about anything, but this gives them the opportunity to not be so out on the money and can pay for someone else's ticket out there -- what's $200 out of a $400 ticket compared to hiring the right somebody?</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 16033,
"author": "WetlabStudent",
"author_id": 8101,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8101",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You should go ahead and book your non-refundable ticket now. If you get a job offer from your preferred school prior to this interview, ask them when they need their decision by. If they say a date prior to this interview ask if you can extend the date until after this interview. They will almost always agree to this if they truly believe you are the best position for the candidate.</p>\n\n<p>You should do this for two reasons. (1) Who knows, while at this school you may fall in love with it! But (2) if you don't, and you get an offer from them, you can use it to bargain with the other school. Note you should do this tactfully.</p>\n\n<p>In the end, if worse comes to worse, you have a job and can afford to sacrifice several hundred dollars on a plane ticket. I'd worry about this scenario only afterwards.</p>\n\n<p>Also, sometimes if you tell a school \"I've gotten a great offer from another university, but I really like your program. Is there any way for me to move up my interview so I can have your decision before I have to get back to the other university?\" They will agree. You should only do this if it is conceivable you could accept their position.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 16034,
"author": "Wakem",
"author_id": 10739,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10739",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I am not sure why you can't just tell them you have already accepted an offer, and leave it to them to cancel the interview. If they cancel the interview on the ticket that they agreed to reimburse you for, then they have to reimburse you. This shouldn't make them mad because they have the choice of interviewing you or cancelling, so they are no worse off than any other scenario in which you accept the first job offer. It is assumed you will have job offers, so its a risk on their part in participating in the process. Additionally, you could ask about this scenario from a different phone number or anonymous email to get what information you can about the university. Disclaimer: I am not a professor. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 133031,
"author": "guest",
"author_id": 110607,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/110607",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Accept the X interview (if the place is of interest) and buy the ticket now (not letting price go up) and with a normal non-refundable class. In all likelihood, you won't be off the market (at least won't have accepted a Y offer yet). It is in your interest to generate more than one offer at same time to drive a competition for your services.</p>\n\n<p>If you do get a Y offer so early and are not able to delay a decision, you can try to get the X trip moved up (after all they know you will be off the market so there is pressure). Or you may be able to get it reimbursed--for instance by turning it over to X uni ticket office or by having Y pick it up (as they are trying to make you decide now). But it really is to your advantage to collect X and Y competing offers...so I would just stall Y after they make the offer). Worst comes to worst, if you have to pay for a few hundred bucks ticket, it's no big deal if the Y offer is very attractive.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/25 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7484",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010/"
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|
7,486 | <p><strong>Observation:</strong> According to <a href="http://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DatasetCode=RFOREIGN" rel="nofollow noreferrer">OECD stats</a>, the number of international students at US higher education institutions is the highest in the world and still rising (see also <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_student#United_States.2C_United_Kingdom_and_Australia" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Wikipedia here</a> and a <a href="http://learningenglish.voanews.com/content/article/1546399.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">report here</a>).</p>
<p><strong>Question:</strong> <em>What are the main factors underpinning the observation above?</em></p>
<p>I am interested in (partial) answers pointing to studies, or sources of statistical information on the topic, not solely opinions.</p>
<hr/>
<p><em>This is a reformulation of <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7455/">this</a> question</em></p>
| [
{
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"text": "<p>Your question is interesting me so I did an hour or so of internet search for academic studies of the reasons behind brain drain in recent years. I will give here some results which I found. It is not a total answer to your question and I do not think anybody can completely answer your question because it is a very complex and highly studied issue. Reasons (driving factors) depend on each individual. Paper 2 makes useful distinction between PULL and PUSH factors and gives a list of useful examples of the two.</p>\n\n<p>-- <em>Brain Circulation Replacing Brain Drain</em> at <a href=\"http://blogs.sciencemag.org/sciencecareers/2012/09/brain-circulati.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">Science CareersBlog</a>:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>\"Brain circulation,\" meeting attendees noted in a consensus statement issued 6 September, is the \"mutli-directional flow of talents, education and research that benefit multiple countries and regions and the advancement of global knowledge.\" In an era when many scientists and scholars move between several countries to pursue training and research, the statement suggests, \"brain circulation\" often more accurately describes international mobility than \"brain drain,\" which implies a unidirectional flow that only benefits certain countries.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>This is in agreement with Charles comment. Maybe the situation is not so disymmetric than it used to be.</p>\n\n<p>-- <em>Analysis and Assessment of the “Brain Drain” Phenomenon and its Effects on Caribbean Countries</em> at <em>FLORIDA ATLANTIC COMPARATIVE STUDIES JOURNAL</em>:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>In order to understand how the “Brain Drain” happens, we must spend some time discussing migration and the reasons people leave their home countries in the first place. The reasons many Caribbean natives go abroad and fail to return home fall within two categories often referred to as pull and push factors. Push factors are circumstances or events in the home countries that result in persons leaving. Examples of push factors are the structural adjustment programs enforced by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank on developing countries that increased unemployment and reduced government funding on social programs in these countries which then led to increased migration. Pull factors are the incentives in the receiving countries that encourage persons to seek employment opportunities there. Examples of pull factors are the immigration incentive policies of the receiving countries that tend to attract higher educated, skilled and trained personnel. For example, the H-1B visa system in the U.S. is often used as a stepping stone by immigrants who want to acquire employment-based permanent residence there. The current immigration policy in the U.S. enables those applying for the H-1B visa to have the dual intent of attaining temporary work status but intending to apply for permanent residency (Kapur and McHale 2005). Other developed countries have similar immigration policies that continue to attract highly skilled workers from developing countries. Currently in Australia, employers of immigrants are not required to prove that domestic workers will be adversely affected by the employment of foreign employees, in fact, all they need to show is that employing the immigrant will be, in some manner, beneficial to Australia (Kapur and McHale 2005).</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>-- <em>China's brain drain</em> is a <a href=\"http://shanghaiist.com/2009/07/28/dang_brain_drain.php\" rel=\"nofollow\">report</a> on a Gallup survey:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>This article argues that education, employment and family are the main reasons behind China’s brain drain. The article also provides useful statistics concerning the issue.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>-- <em>Thai Diasporas and Livelihood Strategies in Thai Society</em> <a href=\"http://www.trf.or.th/TRFGallery/Upload/Gallery/Documents/Files/%201000000022.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">here</a>:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>This article uses traditional definitions of Diaspora to examine the phenomenon of the brain drain in Thailand. It also considers the reasons for emigrating to another country in terms of personal livelihood</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>(last few examples are taken from here: <a href=\"http://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~eroberts/cs181/projects/2010-11/BrainDrain/\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~eroberts/cs181/projects/2010-11/BrainDrain/</a>)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7503,
"author": "yeesian",
"author_id": 5725,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5725",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Not a full-fledged answer, but there was a post (by <a href=\"http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2012/04/why-is-u-s-higher-education-so-dominant-and-why-is-harvard-1.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">Marginal Revolution</a>) pointing to a <a href=\"http://www.isb.edu/faculty/upload/Doc23820121635.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">paper</a> [1] that reports <em>alumni control</em> of the Board of Trustees as a key factor:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>All this is made possible by a model that transfers control to those\n who value it most, that is the alumni, who then drive competition for\n students, faculty, facilities, research, programs, global ties, sports\n coaches and rankings. Conversely, they also provide funds and guidance\n to maintain uniform excellence in all these pursuits. This maximizes\n the value of the degree or the “sheepskin” that the alumni are\n figuratively cloaked in for the rest of their lives.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>[1] “Why is Harvard #1? Governance and the Dominance of US Universities” – Working Paper 2012, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7505,
"author": "walkmanyi",
"author_id": 1265,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1265",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<h2>Abstract</h2>\n\n<p>Firstly, the answer will tackle the question's false assumption that the US is the most attractive destination for international students. Secondly, I will cite some of the factors making a country/region's education system attractive to international students. Finally, to tackle some of the comments, I will present a chart showing number of international students per capita in selected countries.</p>\n\n<h2>USA is not the most attractive destination for international students</h2>\n\n<p>According to the <a href=\"http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/factbook-2011-en/10/01/04/index.html?contentType=/ns/StatisticalPublication,/ns/Chapter&itemId=/content/chapter/factbook-2011-84-en&containerItemId=/content/serial/18147364&accessItemIds=&mimeType=text/html\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">OECD Factbook 2011-2012: Economic, Environmental and Social Statistics</a>, the number one destination of foreign students among OECD countries is Europe followed by Northern American region:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>European countries in the OECD were the destination for 38% of foreign students in 2009 followed by North American countries (23%). Despite the strong increase in absolute numbers, these proportions have remained stable during the last decade.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>To put the numbers above to global perspective, observe also that</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Foreign students enrolled in G20 countries account for 83% of total foreign students, and students in the OECD area represent 77% of the total foreign students enrolled worldwide. </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<h2>Factors driving attractiveness of higher education in OECD countries</h2>\n\n<p>Again, according to <a href=\"http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/factbook-2011-en/10/01/04/index.html?contentType=/ns/StatisticalPublication,/ns/Chapter&itemId=/content/chapter/factbook-2011-84-en&containerItemId=/content/serial/18147364&accessItemIds=&mimeType=text/html\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">the same source</a> (emphasis added):</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p><em>Language</em> as well as <em>cultural considerations</em>, <em>quality of programmes</em>, <em>geographic proximity</em> and <em>similarity of education systems</em> are determining factors driving student mobility. The destinations of international students highlight the attractiveness of specific education systems, whether because of their <strong>academic reputation</strong> or because of subsequent <strong>immigration opportunities</strong>.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p><hr/><hr/></p>\n\n<p>Commenters to the question cite the ratio of international students per capita as an indicator of attractiveness of education system for foreign students. While I do not see any direct correlation between attractiveness of an educational system and the ratio of foreign students per capita (countries can be arbitrarily protective, or non-protective w.r.t. their own citizens), I prepared the following chart from the OECD data (relevant to year 2009):\n<img src=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/O12gl.png\" alt=\"foreign students per capita - OECD countries, 2009\"></p>\n\n<p>The chart was constructed by merging data from the <a href=\"http://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DatasetCode=RFOREIGN\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">OECD.Stat</a> with OECD countries population data from <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/888932502638\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">OECD population 2009</a> as published in the <a href=\"http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/factbook-2011-en/02/01/01/index.html?contentType=&itemId=/content/chapter/factbook-2011-9-en&containerItemId=/content/serial/18147364&accessItemIds=&mimeType=text/html\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">corresponding section of the OECD Factbook 2001-2012</a>. The computation is done on non-citizen students column for the year 2009, except for United States it is the number of non-resident students (due to lack of a non-citizen students datapoint).</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/25 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7486",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1265/"
]
|
7,490 | <p><em>Q</em>: How common is it for a faculty/school to request/demand the good PhD applicants to come in for an interview?</p>
<p>For someone that lives outside of the U.S. and wants to apply to do a doctorate in the U.S., should that person temporarily relocate to the U.S. (at the correct time and for the correct duration of course) with the expectation that they'll have to interview in order to get in?</p>
<p>Do top schools vary from mid-ranked schools when it comes to interview frequency? Does it vary by faculty? </p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7491,
"author": "David Z",
"author_id": 236,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/236",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>In my experience, it's typical for a US university to invite PhD applicants for a visit only <em>after</em> they have been accepted for admission. The purpose of this visit is primarily for the school to make a good impression on the student and try to convince the student to accept their offer of admission. An interview is not normally a required part of the application process.</p>\n\n<p>However, one of the best things you can do to increase your chances of admission to a particular graduate school is having a professor there who wants you to work with them, and who will lobby the admissions committee on your behalf. In order to get this kind of connection with a professor, you will need to meet them and establish a rapport well in advance of applying to the university, and it's possible that the professor will want to meet you in person as part of that process.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7492,
"author": "Suresh",
"author_id": 346,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It's rare to demand an interview. Having said that, I know that in some disciplines (parts of bio, for one), students are brought in BEFORE the final decisions to meet with faculty. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 44629,
"author": "Roger Fan",
"author_id": 20375,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20375",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This is highly field-dependent. In some fields (e.g. psychology), almost all programs do at least a Skype interview, and the vast majority of candidates do on-site interviews (sometimes trips are paid for, sometimes they aren't). Other fields (e.g. math, econ) rarely do interviews, and instead invite students to come to a visit day once they are admitted (often paid for). If you don't know whether interviews are common in your field, I would suggest finding someone to talk about the interview process: your adviser(s), a current graduate student, or even other applicants are all valuable resources.</p>\n\n<p>Almost every program that does interviews will offer some kind of remote interview for candidates who can't make it. However, I think that the majority of the time your chances of admission will be higher if you go to an on-site interview to meet people in person, though the size of that difference is debatable. Also remember that on-site interviews are valuable for you as well, they give you a chance to evaluate the program and the people there.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/26 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7490",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4315/"
]
|
7,493 | <p>One of my advisor's students asked me how frequently I have meetings with him. And since at that time we had very few meetings I replied: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>"We have a very few meetings and the advisor does not allocate time to me." </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The advisor heard it and has started retaliating by reducing those few meetings to zero and complaining about me to other faculty, etc. Do you have suggestions about what I should do now?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7495,
"author": "Suresh",
"author_id": 346,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I'm assuming you can't switch advisors. Have you tried having a heart-to-heart with your advisor about this matter ? Failing that, maybe you have members of your committee who can help mediate ? </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7496,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>First, <strong>do not assume bad faith</strong> and <strong>go talk to your advisor</strong>. There is an issue which you feel threatens the successful continuation of your PhD, the natural person to talk to about it is your advisor. In this case, it so happens that the problem involves him too, which means you have to be diplomatic about it, but he's still the right person to hash it out with. <strong>Behave professionally</strong>, do not accuse him of anything, just state the problem factually (<em>“I need more involvement from you in order to successfully overcome this problem”</em>), and see what he and you can come up with.</p>\n\n<p>Not assuming bad faith at first is good advice in most professional situations. In this particular case, the elements you mention are:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>lack of time, which could be completely explained by other factors such as the advisor being swamped (don't get me wrong, it still needs to be fixed somehow, but it doesn't necessarily mean he's being an ass)</li>\n<li>rumor (<em>“complaining about me to other faculty</em>”), which might be just that</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Now, if after trying in good faith to solve the issue with him (give it a few tries), the situation doesn't improve <em>and</em> it is hurting you <em>and</em> you think he is of bad faith: I listed several possible recourses in <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/7296/2700\">this related answer</a> (and another write-up <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/5849/2700\">here</a>). <strong>But don't jump the gun</strong>, because a lot of the options on this list will mean burning a bridge.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7498,
"author": "Chris Gregg",
"author_id": 4461,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4461",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>On my first day of PhD school, our department chair said</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Never say anything bad about your advisor; he or she will hear about it.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>We all laughed, but it's invariably true--people talk, and word gets around. I've found that the best ways to repair a damaged relationship with your advisor are </p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Talk to him or her directly about the problem</li>\n<li>Produce the best research you can with frequent updates (in person or via email)</li>\n</ol>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7499,
"author": "AndyUK",
"author_id": 5723,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5723",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I go with the other commenters on approaching the matter diplomatically and courteously as a means of getting the feedback and support you need—up to a point.</p>\n\n<p>My experience of academics is that though often bright and accomplished, they can sometimes be a precious lot, flinching from the mildest bit of constructive criticism, often taking things personally. If I could turn the clock back I would have seriously considered changing supervisors. I often think I got my PhD in spite of and not because of him. When you are just starting out in research you need the feedback, support and encouragement. So try not to be stoic about it, look for potential avenue out of your problem: have a chat and get it in the open, or change supervisors if your differences are irreconcilable. It helps to be on the same wavelength, personality-wise.</p>\n\n<p>Nobody is saying they are not human beings. But if you are being neglected, then the issue needs dealt with sooner rather than later. If it is a PhD you are doing this may well seriously delay getting your research out in good time for your final viva.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7504,
"author": "JeffE",
"author_id": 65,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I agree with the others: <strong>Talk to your advisor. Do not assume bad faith. Be professional. Be an adult.</strong></p>\n\n<p>But do not expect the situation to be resolved in a single talk. The response you describe is completely out of proportion to your offhand comment; \"threatening\" a student is <em>never</em> appropriate. It's impossible to tell — <strong>and it's none of our business</strong> — whether your advisor is actually being childish and abusive, or you are just perceiving her (justifiable) annoyance as an attack. But in either case, your student-advisor relationship is dysfunctional. Even if you can resolve this particular situation, you may be better off finding a new advisor.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/26 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7493",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5715/"
]
|
7,508 | <p>I have had a different set of professors every semester and as batch sizes are pretty big ~80, and with every professor dealing with 3-4 separate batches of equivalent size, for barely 3-4 months at a time, it has been hard to develop one to one relationships with professors. In such a scenario,</p>
<ul>
<li><p>How do I decide whom to approach for a recommendation?</p></li>
<li><p>How should I go about this to get a good recommendation, in this specific scenario?</p></li>
</ul>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7509,
"author": "Nobody",
"author_id": 546,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/546",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Given the OP’s situation explained in his question and the following comments that he has trouble with getting recommendation letters written by his professors themselves, if I were him I would</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <blockquote>\n <p>Find the professor who would write the recommendation letter himself.</p>\n \n <p>Find the professor who taught the class which I had very good grade.</p>\n \n <p>Find the professor who taught the class in which I was most interested.</p>\n </blockquote>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Usually, I need three recommendation letters. Now, I have three.</p>\n\n<p>My personal experience is that I tend to have good grades when taking the class I am very interested. If I had good grade in a class I was interested, the chances are the professor would remember me and more willing to write the recommendation letter himself for me.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7511,
"author": "Andy W",
"author_id": 3,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/3",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In addition to <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/7509/3\">scaahu's fine answer</a>, even though I know it is difficult in some places, I would emphasize that students should begin to develop personal relationships with professors <em>long before</em> you need one to write a recommendation letter.</p>\n\n<p>My experience is even with mass lecture classes like you describe (and those aren't even that massive - but 3-4 mass lectures are quite a few per semester) if you take the time to meet with the professor, ask for extra curricular work (e.g. to be involved with projects the professors are conducting), or be very active and engaged within class you can develop that relationship a professors needs to write a quality recommendation letter.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9005,
"author": "earthling",
"author_id": 2692,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2692",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>While both saaahu's answer and Andy W's answer are on target, I will add my thoughts.</p>\n\n<p>Make yourself known to the prof from whom you want the letter. You can do this in many ways. If you sit in the front or are particularly active in that class, the prof will naturally remember you (and naturally feel more comfortable that he/she know enough about you to write a recommendation letter).</p>\n\n<p>If you want a letter from someone whose class you took a while ago and you did not do anything to stand out, then you must take up some extra work now (see if you can help that prof with some projects so he/she can get to know you more).</p>\n\n<p>For me, I don't expect students to develop a relationship with me long before they need a letter but I do expect them to make their abilities known to me. I've had students who are silent in my classes then come to me and ask for a reference. When I tell them 'sorry, I don't know enough about you' they get a little sad but they also understand quite quickly when I explain things to them.</p>\n\n<p>So, if you want a letter, help the prof to help you.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/27 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7508",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
]
|
7,514 | <p>There's perhaps a better title for this question, but I can't immediate think of one - suggestions for amendment welcome.</p>
<p>I'd like to clarify the purpose of reading textbooks. It sounds obvious at first, but what I mean is opaque to me.</p>
<p>I'm currently reading a textbook describing ~35 problem-solving and improvement methods, as part of <a href="http://www3.open.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/course/t889.htm">this course</a>. It is densely packed with definitions, ideas, procedures etc. I'm highlighting as I go through and occasionally making notes in the margins.</p>
<p>When I finish reading, I barely remember what I've just read, let alone what I've learned. If I was asked to describe the characteristics of a technique I've just read about, I would struggle to put forward a coherent and strong answer.</p>
<p>Even if I condense my notes and read through them, the problem remains - there are too many 'facts' to learn, remember and regurgitate.</p>
<p>This leads me to ask what the purpose of reading textbooks is. Is it to learn and understand 'facts' <em>and</em> be able to remember them? Or is it to learn and understand? That is, it doesn't necessarily matter if you can't remember, so long as you can understand ideas when you revisit them and can argue them in your work.</p>
<p>For clarity, I'm a distance-learning student with The Open University, so the textbook I'm referring to isn't a <em>traditional</em> textbook, but one that is perhaps closely identified by F'x as a <em>coursework book</em>. These books are used in place of lectures, and so are meant to be read in a linear fashion on a week-by-week basis.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7515,
"author": "dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten",
"author_id": 440,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/440",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You should be getting several things out of this on the first pass</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>That there are <em>many</em> variation on this theme</li>\n<li>That the problem has odd corners where a specialized approach is <em>much</em> better than a general approach</li>\n<li>You should recall some of the more important ways of categorizing the problem in order to select an approach.</li>\n<li>You should probably remember a couple of the most general methods <em>and</em> their limitations.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>On subsequent reads--and you won't master a complicated field without going over it several times--you should have a better idea of what to be looking for and should start concentrating on either the kinds of problems you expect to deal with (if you know and/or are doing independent research) or the kinds of problems that your instructor indicates will be important.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7516,
"author": "Suresh",
"author_id": 346,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It might helpful to change the question slightly, into </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>What is the purpose of writing a textbook?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Usually a textbook is written to lay out a fairly well codified body of knowledge about a topic. The \"well codified\" part is important: it's expected that this body of knowledge has some lasting value. The textbook is also written (hopefully) in a way that *<em>teaches</em> this knowledge, as opposed to merely dumping it out. </p>\n\n<p>To me it sounds like the book you're reading is of the second kind (a dump of facts). Such a textbook is better treated as a reference book, like a dictionary. No one reads a dictionary (unless they're trying to pass the GRE or win a spelling bee :)), but they will refer to it to get the meanings of words. </p>\n\n<p>Similarly, with a book that describes 35 problem solving methods, maybe reading it cover to cover isn't the best strategy. Rather, you should focus on a few techniques (or even one) and try to understand that well. Then put the book away and revisit it from time to time.</p>\n\n<p>So to answer your question: </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>A textbook can be a collection of facts, but often it's more than\n that: it's a path through the facts that provides a structure with\n which to process the facts. The goal of reading (and learning) is to\n acquire both the facts AND the structure. The facts will be easier to\n remember if you have the structure in place, and the structure makes\n more sense with the facts as examples.</p>\n</blockquote>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7518,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There are many many different types of textbooks, and they have very different goals. Off the top of my head, I can list the following three main kinds:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p><strong>Coursework book</strong>, used as reference material for learning a rather broad topic. You expect it to bring a general introduction of the techniques in one field, broad overview, enough to understand the challenges in the field, identify the most common solutions and be able to work them on your own. This will surely include many problem sets, with or without solutions. It is also typical for this type of book to “highlight” some of the content, which the author deem essential for the reader to learn.</p></li>\n<li><p><strong>“State of the art” book</strong>. They can be very different in scope, content and style of presentation. They exist to give a summary of the extent of knowledge on a given topic. They are written for experts and wannabe-experts, so more attention is usually given to correctness than than pedagogy. Such work is useful not only because of the text itself, but also because it usually offers a large number of references to seminal and important papers in the field, which offer you a good way to get started. As such, they're also useful to people who are already experts, they give good references for common knowledge (<em>“hey, I know it was established in the 1980’s that co-enzyme X accounts for a nontrivial part of this metabolic pathway, but I wonder who did that work… let's check”</em>).</p></li>\n<li><p><strong>Reference book</strong>. In the most extreme case, it's like a dictionary: examples of such are the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abramowitz_and_Stegun\">Abramowitz and Stegun</a> or the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CRC_Handbook_of_Chemistry_and_Physics\">CRC Handbook</a>. Those are not usually called “textbooks”. This is not something you're supposed to read from A to Z, but rather open when you have need.</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>In the first two cases, <strong>if the textbook includes problem sets (or exercises), you should do them. <em>For real</em></strong>, without looking at the answers until you're finished. If you're stuck, give it some time, then come back. Don't give up. This is where you'll learn the most.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7519,
"author": "Kaz",
"author_id": 3900,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/3900",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>The answer to your question is that there is no point in \"brute forcing\" through a text book in this manner, unless you're cramming for an examination.</p>\n\n<p>Do not read textbooks in this way, especially if you do not own them. If you borrow a textbook from the library, and then read it cover to cover, and not remember anything, that is a waste of time.</p>\n\n<p>Good textbooks are worth owning, which implies that they will be in your possession for years. You can use them for reference, and study them over the years in piecemeal fashion as your wandering interest returns to the topics from time to time.</p>\n\n<p>If you really want to absorb the material in your textbook, <strong>you must do the chapter exercises</strong>. You can give yourself a course by going through the book, or you can spread this over years.</p>\n\n<p>Maybe the book is a real <em>tour de force</em> on the subject matter and requires a lot of commitment, such that if you put in the commitment, you become an authority on those problem-solving methods. Is that something you want for yourself, though?</p>\n\n<p>The important thing to memorize from your textbooks is just enough of a summary of the ideas that when you encounter some idea in the world, you can remember which of your textbooks has something to say about that topic.</p>\n\n<p>For instance, this book, let's call it Foobley and Bings, has 35 problem-solving methods. Can you remember enough about the gist of the methods so that when you see a problem, you can think \"Aha! This problem has a general pattern which fits one of the problem-solving methods in Foobley and Bings.\" Even if you don't remember the details of the problem-solving method, this can be a big time saver, and the fact that you recognize the pattern shows that you have knowledge. (Even Foobley and Bings themselves may have to crack open their own book to solve that same problem, if they haven't touched the material in years. Maybe the wrote the book to \"unload\" it from their brains to \"make room\" for something else, while having something to refer to.)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7520,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I read something about this issue a long time ago:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>When you read a book and then forget all the content, what remains is <strong>Intelligence</strong>. </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Unfortunately, I do not remember the name of the person who wrote this;-)) Do not worry about forgetting details, something will settle in your mind. Besides, reading a book (whatever it is) is an exercise for your brain and makes you smarter over the time. But I agree with others, most of the time it is not wise to read a text book from cover to cover. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7530,
"author": "calum_b",
"author_id": 5737,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5737",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>To paraphrase what I was often told at university: a good higher education won't teach you everything you need to know, but it will teach you how best to find it. Even a passing familiarity with the literature on any given topic is a good start down that path.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7541,
"author": "Jonathan",
"author_id": 5761,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5761",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>When I read a textbook, I read through an entire chapter quickly, just getting an overview of what will be shown and then go back through the chapter section by section, doing exercises (if the book has them) and trying out each idea to make sure it fits in with what I already know.</p>\n\n<p>I try to link it to something I already understand well, so that the knowledge \"sticks\". Drawings at this stage nearly always help me. Especially if they're strange links; My mind seems to be better at remembering very odd things.</p>\n\n<p>Once I'm done with a chapter, I revisit it about 20 minutes later, then an hour later, then a day, a week, and a month later. Once the month repetition is done, I tend to find that I can remember everything in that chapter.</p>\n\n<p>Perhaps a little long winded, especially the repetition, but it has been said that repetition is the mother of learning.</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/\" rel=\"nofollow\" title=\"Scott H Young\">Scott H Young</a> has some excellent resources on how to study textbooks. He seems to be very, very good at learning. His free chapter of \"Learn more, study less\" has some excellent tips in.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7542,
"author": "mcbetz",
"author_id": 5758,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5758",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Reading a textbook is reading for academical purposes. In many ways this is very different from reading for leisure.</p>\n\n<p>Unfortunately, they don't teach you that in your first days at university, thus many students still try to read ALL books on a reading list from A to Z - and fail.</p>\n\n<p>What really differentiates academic from leisural reading is, that you have four phases: </p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Prepare what you will read - What questions should the textbook answer?</li>\n<li>Academic Reading itself - Read only the text that may answer your questions. Read it, mark elements, take notes, read again until you got the gist.</li>\n<li>Post-processing of what you read - Did the text answer your question?</li>\n<li>Application of what you read - Academic reading is the basis for academic writing, so archive your notes, tag them, classify them.</li>\n</ol>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 8482,
"author": "avi",
"author_id": 6240,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6240",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I follow this cycle. YMMV. For me, if I am able to solve all exercises then I am good about it. </p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>First I start with reading Wikipedia page [for ex. Process Synchronization]</li>\n<li>Then I try to think about it in practical scenarios</li>\n<li>Then I read the course book which is suggested by my university. I underline important points</li>\n<li>I start solving exercises. Usually I will have answers manuals too, so first I just check whether I am doing correctly or not.</li>\n<li>If I am not able to solve a question, then I mark down the words which are specified/related to the question & read them all.</li>\n<li>Try solving the question again. </li>\n<li>Repeat it till you get the idea, doesn't matter actually if you come up with a wrong answer, but approach should be right</li>\n<li>Read reference books on same topics & underline new points found</li>\n<li>Prepare short notes of underlines points & important keywords</li>\n<li>Try to write everything in own words.</li>\n</ol>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 61546,
"author": "vonbrand",
"author_id": 38135,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/38135",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This is the wrong way around. To <em>understand</em> you need to have the (relevant, important) <em>facts</em> at hand. So \"knowing facts\" comes before (is a lesser ability) than \"understanding\". Also, \"understanding\" includes weeding out the irrelevant facts.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/27 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7514",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1484/"
]
|
7,521 | <p>I am about to graduate with a B.S. in mathematics and will (hopefully) be attending a PhD program somewhere starting in the fall.</p>
<p>What is one supposed to do the summer between? I don't have any money, so I can't "travel." I would love to do another REU, but I don't think they generally admit graduates.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7522,
"author": "Dave Clarke",
"author_id": 643,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/643",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As someone who jumped keenly straight from my undergraduate into graduate school (we could start at any time), my advice is to rest. Even if you cannot travel, spent time with your parents or grand parents or anyone who will give you a room to sleep in. Maybe help out at a local charity. Clear your mind. Read some novels. Go hiking. </p>\n\n<p>This could be the last extended break of your life (before retirement). <strong>Enjoy it.</strong></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7529,
"author": "blackace",
"author_id": 4467,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4467",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I agree completely with Dave on his answer. There is one instance that I think is worthwhile to do some preparation and that is if you are doing a particular grad program and in one of the fundamental areas relating to it you don't have a good foundation. Lets say you are going to do a Master's in Applied Mathematics and you are not good at dealing with differential equations. If that's the case then put in some time now and sort it out rather than later when you will be drowning in coursework, exams, projects and all the rest. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7532,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Your mention of REU makes me think you are in the US and you say you don't have any money. My suggestion would be to get a job. You will come out anywhere between 5-10k ahead. US stipends tend to be low. Not having credit card debit at the outside of grad school is really nice. A small amount of savings will provide a large percentage increase in your monthly budget. Dipping into your savings for 1k extra per year will give you something like a 10 percent increase in your monthly budget. Having savings/reduced debt might be the difference between having to or not having to take a non-academic job. It might also allow you to afford a laptop or self fund a conference trip or buy some much needed reference books.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7538,
"author": "DennisH",
"author_id": 5744,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5744",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I totally agree: <strong>Take a break and enjoy it!</strong></p>\n\n<p>I changed from my masters to doing my PhD on a weekend. The last exam was on Thursday, the first day on monday. </p>\n\n<p>I regret it. I also moved to a new country during that weekend, so this was a very stressful time, with finishing the thesis, a breakup and all. So, compared to that, the first couple of days in my new job where relaxing, even if this was and still is a really hard time. But, with slightly less adrenaline powering me, I immediately became ill. Not a good first impression.</p>\n\n<p>The beginning of a PhD is not a walk in the park, especially if you change topics like me. You want to be fit for this time.</p>\n\n<p>In retrospect I should have taken a little holiday, even if it meant taking up a small loan. Doing my PhD I earn enough to be able to pay something back. A simple relaxing holiday does not require a lot of money. You need a place to sleep, some food and maybe a couple of beers. Try to empty your ToDo-list as much as possible, or it will haunt you in the years to come. </p>\n\n<p>Using this time for preparation is probably a bad idea. You will have time to get to know your topic. If you start relaxed and undistracted (ToDo-list), then you will have a great start.</p>\n\n<p>Good luck!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 63964,
"author": "Cara",
"author_id": 49732,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/49732",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You might want to consider being a counselor at a math camp for high school (or even middle school) students. This is a good job, albeit a fairly relaxed one, as these programs often aspire to achieve the dynamic of a big, happy family that really loves math. You’ll get good practice teaching without facing the administrative issues that one might encounter as a TA. There is something wonderful about seeing students at this age understand a concept for the first time; everything is new to them, and the excitement is infectious. Finally, on pain of sounding overly focused on professional development, experience like this looks great on a CV. Some programs you could consider include MathPath (program for middle school students, rotating location), PROMYS (program at Boston University, focused on number theory), SIMUW (program at the University of Washington), and the Ross Program at OSU.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/28 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7521",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5735/"
]
|
7,523 | <p>When you do a research presentation, what is usually the focus that you take.</p>
<p>Some professors tell me to make the slides as self explanatory as possible, and I quote:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Someone should be able to understand your slides without you being there</p>
</blockquote>
<p>To me, this approach seems counter intuitive to the principle of a "talk". After all, you already wrote a paper that meets that objective.</p>
<p>Other people, for example in things like TED talks or (please bear with me) presentations by Apple, have very bare bones slides, where they only focus on transmitting the main message of the talk. </p>
<p>What is your take, should the presentation be made as didactic as possible or just a cold transference of information?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7524,
"author": "Dave Clarke",
"author_id": 643,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/643",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Matt Might, a rather young professor, has an interesting style, encompassing the minimalistic approach. Have a peek at this video: <a href=\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaPsYmOmgcI\">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaPsYmOmgcI</a></p>\n\n<p>He also provides some useful guidelines for preparing a presentation: one of the most important is considering your audience: <a href=\"http://matt.might.net/articles/academic-presentation-tips/\">http://matt.might.net/articles/academic-presentation-tips/</a>.</p>\n\n<p>It is important to engage your audience, not necessarily to tell them every piece of information, and, in a way, advertise your work so that they will read your paper. </p>\n\n<p>If you are aiming to get feedback, then you need to focus your story on what you want to get feedback on.</p>\n\n<p>If you are teaching, you will need either more details in your slides or accompanying notes. Perhaps in this case, you might want people to be able to understand your slides without being present. But for regular scientific presentations, I would not aim to make the slides all encompassing. That's what the paper is for.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7525,
"author": "Suresh",
"author_id": 346,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I used to take the point of view you refer to, but I don't believe in it any more. In my current way of thinking, slides for a talk are a dynamic accompaniment to the story that you're telling - they're visual aids for what you're saying. </p>\n\n<p>Unlike TED talks or the Apple talks, a technical presentation necessarily has more content on slides, because even a visual aid needs to lay out notation, formal statements, diagrams and so on. But I don't think it's necessary to make the slides completely stand alone. Make the slides relatively clear and uncluttered, and make sure they flow along with your story, and you should be fine.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7526,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 7,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I would say the two most important points are to make slides you are comfortable with and not to limit your oral presentation to reading your slides. </p>\n\n<p>Furthermore, if you are presenting a research paper, i.e., where more written material is available to the audience, then the objective is usually to make people want to read your paper, instead of explaining the entire paper in 20 minutes. </p>\n\n<p>Some people prefer to have full slides, arguing that when members of the audience are not understanding English very well, it can help them to have both the oral presentation and the slides, especially when the speaker does not speak a perfect English. It is also helpful for members of the audience who got distracted at some point, and who can quickly read where the speaker is. Other people prefer minimal slides, arguing that having both the full text and the oral presentation might confuse the audience. In particular, whenever a slide is displayed, the audience tends to read it immediately, and during the reading, to be less receptive of any spoken words. </p>\n\n<p>In other words, the only \"bad\" presentation would be to have full slides, and to limit your presentation to reading them, because you become basically useless. However, you can have long slides, as long as you consider them as an aid for the audience who haven't followed what you said (for whatever reason), and not as your script to read. You can also minimal slides, containing only the key points. In the end, you need to be comfortable with your slides, and to give a presentation like one you would like to attend. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7527,
"author": "blackace",
"author_id": 4467,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4467",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>A slide being self-explanatory? Why would you be presenting then? What's the purpose of YOU being there? </p>\n\n<p>IMHO the slides should enhance your presentation not be the presentation. <em>YOU</em> are the presenter and the slides should help you convey your message better. Having self explanatory slides takes away the attention from you which is a nonstarter for a good presentation. At any given time during your presentation you should aim for having sufficient material on the slide (sometimes just a picture or a formula or at times a couple of bullet points, etc.) to help you convey your message.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7528,
"author": "Pedro",
"author_id": 495,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/495",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Good question, and actually the source of much debate when preparing or discussing a presentation...</p>\n\n<p>As <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/7526/495\">Charles</a> mentioned, you should feel comfortable with your own slides. Different people have different presenting styles, and will rely on different types of slides. It also depends, to a certain extent, on what you are presenting, i.e. if it actually makes sense or not to use pictures instead of text.</p>\n\n<p>I usually make more-or-less self-supporting slides. I put statements in full sentences, equations, and the odd figure. I even have statements in there that I will repeat almost verbatim to the audience. This is a huge no-no for many people, but it all depends on the delivery: If you repeat the statement without reading it, if it just flows with the rest of what you're saying, then there is, in my opinion, no shame in that.</p>\n\n<p>I have two personal reasons for making my slides self-contained. The first is that the slides contain the points/statements that I absolutely need to make, i.e. the stuff that I don't want to forget because I got distracted by a question or some detail.</p>\n\n<p>The second reason is that usually the slides are all that's left after you've given the talk. Unlike TED talks, which are available as videos, most conferences will only put your slides online. If your slides are just a collection of images and keywords, they will be of very little use to anybody who goes over them without you in the foreground.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7533,
"author": "hoang",
"author_id": 5740,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5740",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>From my point of view, a <em>wall of text</em> in a slide that you're just going to read is boring.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>There is no added value in reading it unless your audience is under 6.<br>\nMost people read faster than you can speak which means they are ahead of you and don't care about what you're saying. </li>\n<li>It gives an impression that you don't know about your subject because it doesn't give you opportunities to elaborate. </li>\n<li>It keeps your eyes attached to the wall where you should be facing your audience and looking for eye contact. </li>\n<li>It also removes everything that is enjoyable in a natural speech like rhetoric questions, pauses, small jokes, suspens, etc.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>The best (in fact only but there may be others) resource I know of for making presentations that avoids this concern is the book from Garr Reynolds : <em><a href=\"http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0321811984\">Presentation Zen</a></em>.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7534,
"author": "jdm",
"author_id": 5741,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5741",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The answer depends strongly on your audience. I agree that keeping the slides simple is nicer, and more engaging. Your not tempted to just read your slides, but they serve as a visual anchor for your audience and help them follow the talk. If your doing a sales presentation or similar, a Steve Jobs-style presentation can help you \"wow\" the audience. Also, you can use slides mostly to convey information that you can't with speech, e.g. graphs, screenshots, etc..</p>\n\n<p>However, as I said, you have to consider your audience. In my field (particle physics), typically half of the audience is staring at their laptops during a talk. Some of them are following your slides there, some are doing something completely different. There are dozens of plots and numbers and technical details that you have to show, so the slides are typically pretty dense. In fact, the whole purpose of many talks is to \"present plots\", so your talking is auxilliary to the slides, not the other way around. You explain certain features of the images, guesticulating, and answering questions. The other thing is that our slides serve as documentation for the talks, so people expect to understand the gist of the talk by looking at the slides afterwards. As an (advanced) student, people would even give me their research talk slides instead of papers or books to learn from.</p>\n\n<p>So, giving a \"nice\", \"best-practice\" talk in a work meeting of physiscists, you'd probably confuse and disappoint them, if they are listening at all. If you are in the humanities, you'd probably not use powerpoint at all, or just one or two slides with important quotes.</p>\n\n<p>My tip is to look at what your colleagues are doing, and to start from there. It can never hurt to clean it up a bit, make it concise and legible, but at the same time try not to alienate your audience.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7535,
"author": "utnapistim",
"author_id": 5742,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5742",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There are valid arguments for both sides. What you need to decide is which arguments make sense to your situation:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>were you asked to make your presentation slides available after your presentation? Is it expected? In that case, you should probably add more information to your slides than bare bones (somebody who looks at your slides 6 months after you gave the presentation should find complete coherent ideas inside).</p></li>\n<li><p>are you invited as a guest speaker? that implies that people are more interested in <em>you</em> and what <em>you</em> have to say than your slides (keep your slides minimalistic)</p></li>\n<li><p>are your slides going to be used as documentation later? Are they going to be reference lists? That gives you two options: use minimalist slides with an accompanying document (text / images / movie / whatever) or use an exhaustive presentation.</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>For example, we are often asked to \"prepare some slides\" in the absence of a presentation (in my current workplace). That means making exhaustive slides, with explicit exposition of ideas and as much context as possible.</p>\n\n<p>We also have internal presentations (organized as one hour seminars), presenting general aspects of new technologies, summaries of conferences, the ideas behind some of our projects etc., to our colleagues. Those presentations are made to capture and hold attention and contain images, sometimes a joke or two and so on.</p>\n\n<p>I guess the most relevant questions here are:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>what is the scope of your presentation?</p></li>\n<li><p>who is your audience?</p></li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7536,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I like to play devil's advocate… while I agree in general with the other answers that it's not a good idea to put too much information on slides, I will list <strong>a few of the reasons why <em>sometimes</em>, you might want to have self-explanatory (or at least, rather dense) slides</strong>:</p>\n<ul>\n<li><p>Meeting of a technical nature, with some participants absent but who will be able to read the slides afterward. In such meetings, the slides serve not only as a support for your oral presentation, but also as a <strong>written reference for what was said in the meeting</strong>. As such, they will be consulted later, both by persons who missed the meeting and some who were there.</p>\n<p>In such a case, ideally you would make two different contributions (two versions of your presentation, or a presentation and a “technical note”). However, that's more work, and a good compromise can be to simply have self-explanatory slides.</p>\n</li>\n<li><p>Language issues: <strong>if you fear not being understood by everyone</strong>, either because their language may not be strong enough, or yours may not. I advise this sometimes for students who do not feel sure enough.</p>\n</li>\n<li><p>Language issues, take two: having self-explanatory slides allows you to make a <strong>dual-language presentation, with oral in language A and slides in language B</strong>. I often do that myself, working in a French-speaking country where there are a number of students and post-docs who don't master French. For national seminars/conferences, it is sometimes considered more polite (especially by senior professors) to present in French, yet having slides content in English helps those who do not speak French follow your presentation.</p>\n</li>\n<li><p>If you feel you may get lost, and want to be sure to have a backup under your eyes. I see it as a <strong>last resort</strong>, and prefer in that case to have <strong>a few keywords per slide</strong> displayed on the presenter screen (maybe your laptop).</p>\n</li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7537,
"author": "Shahbaz",
"author_id": 5745,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5745",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would say the slides should be <strong>as concise as possible</strong>. Absolutely no formulas or sentences that go more than 2/3 of the line width. If you can put one picture and spend one minute talking about it, it makes a much better slide than one with the points of what you are saying written there.</p>\n\n<p>I have reasons against texts in slide. The obvious exception being presentations on things that are text in nature, for example programming languages.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>People read the text while you are speaking. If you are going to <em>say</em> that, why make them <em>read</em> it too?</li>\n<li><strong>Text is distracting</strong>. Text and speech are of the same form in our minds. You may listen to music and read a book, you may see a picture and listen to a talk, but <strong>you can't read and listen to a speech at the same time</strong>. You may have had noticed this, if you often found yourself forgetting what the speaker was saying while you were reading his slides.</li>\n<li>Text usually gets long. That means, unless you have a bullet point like \"- Scalability\", anything else you write there becomes a whole at least 10 word sentence or phrase. This makes the effect of the previous points stronger.</li>\n<li>Slides do not replace notes/books. Many teachers do this! They make the slide as if it's a summary of the book they are teaching and students study the slides and pass the exam. That's horrible. There are far better formats for summarizing a book than using slides. That's worse than watching a 100 hour documentary over 10-minute youtube pieces.</li>\n<li>Regarding formulas, they are boring and no one is going to pay attention to them anyway. It may be the most important thing in your work, but again, no one cares. The only exception is during a university course, where the professor may want to explain in details how the formula is derived. If not, again simply presenting it is quite useless.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>It's not just that full slides are terrible, but also that slides are not created for it either. If you have ever tried to talk without slides, you would understand me better. Traditionally, we would use blackboards (or whiteboards!). If during your talk you felt like something would be better drawn, you would use the blackboard. Slides were created so you wouldn't have to waste time during the talk to draw a possibly elaborate image. Or, like I said before, in case of presentations on all things text, you wouldn't want to write by hand a 4~5 line piece of code if you could just type and format it with a computer.</p>\n\n<p>In summary, I would like to emphasize again that <strong>slides assist the speech, not carry them out</strong>. They are there to <em>help</em> you (as the speaker) demonstrate what you are trying to say, rather than <em>replace</em> you by being completely self-sufficient.</p>\n\n<p>Final note is that, some amount of text is usually inevitable. My point is to try to get them to the minimum possible.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7540,
"author": "Peter K.",
"author_id": 3965,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/3965",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>To paraphrase the Bard: \"The talk's the thing\".</p>\n\n<p>If you've already written (and published) a paper about the talk contents, then your aim for the talk is to get across the information to the people in the room.</p>\n\n<p>So, think about what slides will facilitate you oral delivery. Clearly, this will depend on the audience. Some areas of study appear to require 1,000 words per slide; others get away with zero.</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://www.ted.com/talks/larry_lessig_says_the_law_is_strangling_creativity.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">Larry Lessig</a> has a very minimalistic approach to slides that works very well.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7543,
"author": "JeffE",
"author_id": 65,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>When you do a research presentation, what is usually the focus that you take.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Talks are advertisements for papers and (more generally) for research agendas. They are <em>not</em> substitutes for papers. <strong>The primary aim of a research talk is to provide the audience with the <em>intuition and motivation</em> to get involved in the described research, at a minimum by reading the paper.</strong> Technical detail should be kept to the minimum necessary to provide that intuition and motivation. (How much detail is actually necessary depends on your audience. If you give too few details and focus entirely on intuition, your technical audience won't be motivated; on the other hand, if you give too many details, you'll obscure the intuition. But since almost everyone errs on the side of giving <em>way</em> too many details, it's better to aim for too few.)</p>\n\n<p><strong>Talks are not papers; they're performances.</strong></p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Someone should be able to understand your slides without you being there</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I strongly disagree. Slides are an augment to the talk, not a substitute for it. Again, the point of the slides is to help provide motivation and intuition. Text should be kept to a minimum. Technical details should be kept to a minimum. There should be lots of pretty pictures that provide intuition. It's perfectly fine to include complex formulas or charts or graphs <em>as pretty pictures</em>, but don't expect the audience to absorb the fine details. It's also fine to have complex pretty pictures that you can (<em>literally!</em>) point to during the talk, to keep the audience engaged in your story. But the slides shouldn't <em>distract</em> from your presentation, by (for example) giving the audience something to read instead of listening.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Slides are not talks or papers; they're props.</strong></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7544,
"author": "seteropere",
"author_id": 532,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/532",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Slides should be</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><strong>minimal</strong></li>\n<li><strong>goal oriented</strong></li>\n<li><strong>not full of text</strong></li>\n<li><strong>Graphics and Visualizations</strong> are highly appreciated </li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>The key in preparing slides is to <em>know your message</em> and try to approach the audience without burden them with big portion of text slides. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7545,
"author": "zac m",
"author_id": 5763,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5763",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Slides in no way have to be \"self explanatory\". Theres nothing worse than punctuating an energetic presentation with a slide that takes more than 10 seconds to understand. Full sentences on a slide force the viewer to read them, while you are saying them (have you ever watched an english movie with subtitles?). This is pointless and can be distracting. </p>\n\n<p>Slides are there to enhance the talk by adding info that is best presented visually. Graphs and pictures are the most important examples of this.</p>\n\n<p>Unlike what other have said, I believe you should not incorporate what you are saying, into text on a slide. Yes, it might help people with language barriers...you could present the slide in multiple languages, and have have someone doing sign language as well. But back in the real world, the objective should be:</p>\n\n<p>Presenting the information, as clearly as possible, to the \"main\" audience, while captivating them throughout.</p>\n\n<p>Once you accept this objective, you can focus on the presentation itself, not how your slides will hold up on their own or in other languages etc.. </p>\n\n<p>Learning to give a lecture is best done through experience. It is important to actually pay attention to your audience. You have to give new information time to settle in, which may not be natural because you (the presenter) already know the information. You will begin to get a feel for your audience and find a good tempo.</p>\n\n<p>If you want something didactic, it should be put together separately than the talk and have its own clear objectives in mind.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7546,
"author": "Alex S",
"author_id": 5771,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5771",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<ul>\n<li><strong>Less Wordy & Short</strong> Statements / Points on Slides - <strong>Concise, Brief, Clear</strong></li>\n<li><strong>Crisp well-defined visual representations</strong> \n<ul>\n<li><em>Diagrams / Charts - they can eliminate the need for many slides & needed text</em> - as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words</li>\n<li>Even better if you have the ability to <strong>create InfoGraphics</strong> or similar visual representation</li>\n</ul></li>\n<li>Yes, for <em>when you are not around to talk about the slides</em>.. Some <strong>presentation notes below the Slides could possibly add a little fencing or meat</strong> to the <em>brevity of your concise slides</em></li>\n<li>For academic paper presentations, You can <strong>tune up or down the level of detail/ depth & breadth</strong> based on who is the <strong>audience and what/ how much you want to expose them to</strong>.. based on your audience psychology.. It's a fine judgement call</li>\n<li>Again, I cannot stress enough on great <strong>VISUAL representations</strong> that <strong>consolidate CLEANLY</strong> what <em>could have taken many slides of text / points</em> - A great diagram will take effort to build but pay off many times over:<br>\n<ul>\n<li>It also <strong>forces you</strong> to <strong>clearly organize, sanitize and align your matter</strong>. </li>\n<li>It's possible to for different parts of your STORY to not align or flow well when spread over many slides, but <strong>a diagram will force you to refine it</strong> or <strong>will just look wrong</strong> or <strong>become a disaster</strong> </li>\n</ul></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>PS: These are some quick thoughts after a long night flight that can be refined on another fly by. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7569,
"author": "aditya",
"author_id": 5796,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5796",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It depends. If you are going to present the slides, you can keep it minimal and still self explanatory as much as it can be. Because since you are presenting it, you know it in and out so you can explain during the presentation.</p>\n\n<p>If you are going to share the slides with people who could not attend your session or altogether it is for distribution only then it should be self explanatory obviously.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7574,
"author": "Stephan Kolassa",
"author_id": 4140,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4140",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I heartily vote for <strong>(mostly) self-explanatory slides</strong>.</p>\n\n<p>One conference I attend usually has eight parallel tracks. I frequently am interested in different talks held at the same time, attend one of them and afterwards read through the slides of the others. And it is extremely frustrating to then get slides that are unintelligible on their own.</p>\n\n<p>Yes, I understand that I am supposed to just read the paper in this case. To which I reply:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Often the paper is not yet available (or even written) when the authors present work in progess. After all, that is what a conference is there for.</li>\n<li>Reading a few slides is a lot faster than even skimming a full paper. I will usually decide based on the slides and the abstract whether investing the time to read the full paper is worthwhile.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>In addition, suppose that three months after the presentation, you get into a conversation about the topic you presented on. With (mostly) self-explanatory slides, you can just send the other guy the presentation for a first idea and then follow up if he is interested (related to the second bullet point above). With a minimal presentation, the best you can do is to recreate the entire verbal talk... <em>if</em> you still remember what exactly you said back then, since a self-explanatory presentation also serves as a reminder for the author himself.</p>\n\n<p>Finally, preparing a (mostly) self-explanatory presentation also forces me to think beforehand about what I am going to say, how I am going to structure my talk and allocate my time, and it helps me not to forget about important details.</p>\n\n<p>And yes, I do understand that slides will never be completely self-explanatory, which is why I called them \"(mostly)\" self-explanatory. On the other hand, neither will the published article be - a lot of stuff is not documented even in the best published articles. I believe that (mostly) self-explanatory presentations yield a good balance between communicating a rough outline and not going to the whole trouble of writing resp. reading a full article.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7603,
"author": "vladik",
"author_id": 5819,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5819",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I remember one of the most important thing form presentation skills training. Normal human brain is capable to remember 4 things. This means to have simple, goal oriented slides with approximately 3 strategically selected points. Just two is a waste of energy and four can be already to much for some people.</p>\n\n<p>There is a lot of info about this topic. Check this article <a href=\"http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2008/04/the-limits-of-m.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">The Limits of Memory</a></p>\n\n<p>And drawings, pictures, schematics....picture is worth a thousand words. This doesn't apply to super heavy duty cliparts and similar stuff.</p>\n\n<p>There is no simple guideline \"how to make perfect presentation\". Can't be. Every presentation is different, even about the same topic.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7626,
"author": "rfle500",
"author_id": 4503,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4503",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Presentation style is something that I have made a conscious decision to change. When I started doing presentations at the start of my PhD I used to put everything on the slide so that I didn't forget anything. Every graph had about 5 bullet points of text explaining what it meant. Although this is an effective survival mechanism for those new to presenting, it hardly makes the most engaging talk. </p>\n\n<p>Soon after I started my postdoc I attended a conference, and on the way home I found I couldn't remember the message from a single talk, out of the many I attended - almost all of which used the same style with lots of text and information on every slide. At the same time, a senior colleague of mine always gives memorable presentations - partly due to his lively personality but also because he concentrates on a single important idea on each slide, and no more.</p>\n\n<p>As a postdoc I now have quite a lot more experience of giving talks, and so I was determined to experiment and learn how to give better presentations which engage with the audience. Before I usually had very few questions, which is a sign of either the talk was boring, or that nobody understood what you were trying to say. </p>\n\n<p>What follows are my general guidelines for conference presentations to specialists in the field.</p>\n\n<p>Rule number 1 is avoiding information overload. Stick rigorously to trying to present no more than three ideas in a talk. It is important to highlight those important points/results and often tell the same idea in different ways if possible to give it chance to sink in. The objective here is to convince a largely captive audience that your work is relevant to them. If you achieve this then they will invariably follow it up by looking at your relevant papers and hopefully citing them. Also important here is to focus on the executive summary. The full details are available in the paper, so focus on the highlights. Researchers will invariably give you the benefit of doubt, so don't waste time asserting your cleverness by putting up complicated equations or algrithms - you will just lose your audience. </p>\n\n<p>Avoid putting more than a single equation/figure/phrase on a slide. Some ideas are complicated and can take a while to explain, but what you want is for the audience to process the minimal information on the slide and focus their attention back on you and what you are saying. </p>\n\n<p>Presentations which are minimal are much harder to write, as you have to know what you are going to say with minimal prompting, so practise is a necessity. But since adopting this style, I have had a lot more engagement with the audience and questions about the work.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 28751,
"author": "Ooker",
"author_id": 14341,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14341",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I use <strong>no slide</strong> at all when I need to present a work closely in detail.</p>\n\n<p>Many answers above have discussed this question deeply, I don't need to repeat again. For summary, most answers stand on the minimal slides side, and the <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/7536/14341\">answer of F'x </a> is a good explanation of when using self-explanatory slides.</p>\n\n<p>The purpose of slide presentation is for advertising your work. For example, in conference, most of your audience don't know what you are doing. (Yes, in the physics conference, you talk about physics, but most physicists on the room may not work on your field). But what if all of your audience work in your field, know all basic concept and need you to give a presentation in higher detail? Or particularly, your work is highly full of math and math transformation/calculation, which needed to have a close looking? Or when you present to your colleagues, who need to ask you in the middle of the talk, not after the talk like in conference?</p>\n\n<p>When you use slides, you need to condense sentences, break ideas into bullets and slides. Although it is good for getting the ideas, I don't think it's good for getting it fluently. If you have ever seen a long math proving by slides, you will get anxious. Every time an audience raises a question, the presenter needs to go back (and forth) several slides. That will disrupt your thinking. Instead, I just write all I need to say in a document and present it.</p>\n\n<p>I rather not to use slides, than use it with wrong purpose. Its purpose is on the presenting side, not explaining side. For explaining purpose, I make a document (.doc, .pdf) to present.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 81793,
"author": "hugke729",
"author_id": 47973,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/47973",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Most answers focus too much on the merits of text on a slide. More focus needs to be given to other slide elements. </p>\n\n<p>Slides with overly complex or too many figures are far more problematic than slides with text. At least with text, I can understand it quickly if I want. Figures on the other hand are often exactly what you would find in a journal article, making them inappropriate for a talk.</p>\n\n<p>Most people need to <a href=\"https://brushingupscience.wordpress.com/2016/12/16/simplify-your-slides/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">simplify their slides</a>, or at least build up their figures piece by piece instead of presenting everything at once. For example:</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/J2YCa.gif\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\"><img src=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/J2YCa.gif\" alt=\"enter image description here\"></a></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 109275,
"author": "Michael Greinecker",
"author_id": 1588,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1588",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Minimal slides are no slides. That is often fine, but the question is what to put on slides conditional on having decided to use slides.</p>\n\n<p>This is really a pseudo-dilemma. Slides should not be a substitute for your talk. They should not be projected handouts. They should not be summaries of your paper. They should not be your notes to read off. They should not include lots of distracting information and walls of text.</p>\n\n<p>But that does not mean they cannot be self-contained. Let's look closer what that means. That slides are self-contained does not mean that they have \"all the information,\" whatever that is supposed to mean. Your talk will not include all the information from your paper (I hope), so your slides need not do so either. That slides are self-contained means that you can understand what they say without hearing the speaker. That's a good thing, we often do not hear everything a speaker says. Attention is scarce, and it is easy to get distracted for a moment. But for this to work, your slides will need to contain much less information than your presentation. But that little information they do contain should be self-contained. Here are the first four slides from an example presentation:</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/nJqUv.png\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\"><img src=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/nJqUv.png\" alt=\"enter image description here\"></a></p>\n\n<p>It's not a particularly good set of slides, but the slides are clearly self-contained. Hopefully, Holmes can provide more information during his talk then one can find on the slides. They still serve a purpose. If someone gets lost while listening, it should be absolutely clear where Holmes is in the talk and easy to find a way back in.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/28 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7523",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2806/"
]
|
7,549 | <p>If I have works that are almost submitted to journals, or are in journal review, is it appropriate to include these on my CV?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7550,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Don't put anything in your CV you cannot justify if asked. A CV is not just a list of your accomplishments, it's a list of material you can provide to a recruiting committee in order to help them make a decision. </p>\n\n<p>In a same way that if you claim to have a given degree, you should be ready to provide the corresponding credentials, if you claim to you have a paper under review, you should be ready to provide the submission. </p>\n\n<p>In other words, you can list in your CV your submitted work, but not the pieces of work that are \"almost submitted\", unless you're ready to provide the draft if asked (the question is: if the draft is not submitted, that probably means it's not ready, therefore can you provide it?). If it's possible with the journal/conference policy, you can even put your submitted version on a pre-print site, such as <a href=\"http://www.arxiv.org\">arXiv</a>. </p>\n\n<p>On going work can go into the \"research statement\" part of your CV, where you can explain the different ideas you're working on, and even give the key concepts. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7551,
"author": "Suresh",
"author_id": 346,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I will usually list things that are on the arxiv. They can be viewed as tech reports, so I don't see the harm in doing so. </p>\n\n<p>Where it gets tricky is if (for example) you submit to a double blind conference. In such a case adding the paper to your CV might be viewed as a breach of the process. </p>\n\n<p>But in general my view is that if you have the paper posted on your web page (and you should!) or on the arxiv, then it's perfectly fine to list it. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7554,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><em>Okay, it seems I have to play devil's advocate again… because my position on this is different from Charles' answer.</em></p>\n\n<p>My CV lists my scientific production separated between peer-reviewed articles, non-peer reviewed articles (I have none, but it could happen), invited conferences, oral conferences. As such, I would <strong>definitely not put a non-published paper</strong> among the “publications”, especially not among the peer-reviewed ones. In my field, it is rare to publish (in the sense of “make publicly available”) a manuscript before it is accepted (chemists don't use arXiV much, because most journals prohibit it), so I find it weird to list unpublished material in a CV.</p>\n\n<p>So, because you didn't tell us your field, I would say <strong>beware</strong>:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>if your manuscript is <strong>unpublished</strong>, it's not a publication, <strong>don't list it as such</strong></li>\n<li>if it's published (arXiV or your website or other) while in review, clearly mark it as such (and don't list it as <em>peer-reviewed</em>)</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>I would say that the “under work” manuscripts do not add much information anyway. The topic they cover is surely already covered by your research statement (or list of research interests), so why would a hirer care about whether you are writing this paper or that paper?</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7576,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Another thing to think about is the rules of funding agencies and other people to whom you might submit these CV's. In German and EU funding applications, only <em>accepted</em> papers can be listed as part of an author's \"publications\" list. Work that is in review, no matter how far along the review process, cannot be listed until an acceptance notification has been given.</p>\n\n<p>However, it's also not clear what stage of your career you're in. If you're applying, for instance, for a <em>post-doctoral</em> position, then it would probably make some sense to mention manuscripts under review. Normally, in such cases, the CV isn't going to a committee—usually it's just the advisor himself. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 84229,
"author": "Jim",
"author_id": 68567,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/68567",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I have a Publications section on my CV with Peer Reviewed Publications, Submitted for Publication, Conference Publications and Presentations, Invited Lectures and Seminars, and Reports.</p>\n\n<p>For the manuscripts that have been submitted for publication I just put the authors, title, and I put (<em>submitted</em>) as the year.</p>\n\n<p>I see people include the journal they submitted to, but I don't think that's appropriate since it unjustifiably uses the reputation of the journal to bolster your reputation. Anyone can submit anything to Nature or Science. </p>\n\n<p>I also recently had a PhD applicant say they had submitted a manuscript to relatively good journal. I asked for a copy and the article was in no way suitable for the journal they submitted to. </p>\n\n<p>I never put in-prep on my CV, since it's practically meaningless.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/28 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7549",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5776/"
]
|
7,552 | <p>Should I mention my Stack Overflow (and other Stack Exchange sites) reputation in my CV while applying for a post-graduate position?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7553,
"author": "blackace",
"author_id": 4467,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4467",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If I was to hire a Postdoc, Phd student, a Master student or a programmer for my project and that position had a related component (lets say Programming, GIS, Maths, CS, Mathematica etc.) and someone had a very good reputation in the site that I understood, I will definitely see it as a strong indicator. Of course it's easy to check the type of questions that have been asked/answered and the calibre of the person => if someone develops a strategy to just get points by answering easy questions and asking general questions that are bound to get a lot of up votes that would not win a lot of brownie points. Nevertheless I will never penalize anyone for it. It's active participation which is always positive.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7555,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 7,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p><strong>No, you shouldn't. Not yet, anyway</strong></p>\n\n<p> <img src=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/irU5P.png\" alt=\"List of user's SO/SE accounts\"></p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>In general, I think it's perfectly fine to list that information on a CV for an academic position. Depending on the profile of the position itself, I would feature it more or less prominently. Say, if you apply for a scientific programming position (or a position with heavy coding), you could list it under a “Skills” section where you would say:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>C/C++/Fortran with a focus on shared-memory and distributed memory parallelism (OpenMP/MPI)<br>\n Received formal training at XXX National Lab, taught parallelism course at University of YYY, involved in StackOverflow (username: zzz) on this topic.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>(if the format allows it, like a PDF, consider including a hyperlink)</p>\n\n<p>If the position is not one heavily involving code-writing, you could tone it down, or even list it in a “Hobbies” or “Personal” section. Many people like to list hiking or book reading or civil war reënactments, so why not list Stack Overflow!</p>\n\n<p><strong>But…</strong> in all cases, only do it if your account is of the <em>wow!</em> type. You don't have to be <a href=\"https://stackoverflow.com/users/22656/jon-skeet\">Jon Skeet</a> (it may take years of therapy to accept that, but that's the sad truth), but you don't want someone to look up your profile and think <em>“meh”</em>.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7577,
"author": "grauwulf",
"author_id": 5760,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5760",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would say not to. As a hiring manager I really care most about the relevant details such as work experience academic focus. Although SE/SO is pretty darn popular it's also a website and, although we may disagree about this :-), not seen as a professional/peer-reviewed/authoritative/juried/etc. source. I would just see it at fluff and wonder why it was there. If you're going for a research position keep in mind that these people haven't seen sunshine in months, much less a computer that doesn't have Matlab open on it. </p>\n\n<p>I would, however, be interested if somebody explained to me (in the interview) what this whole thing was when I asked the \"so what else are you into\" question. As a hobby this shows that you are a technologist first and that you make your geek part of your life. I would take that into consideration for an academic or a professional position because it shows where your interests are. </p>\n\n<p>In general; I would say that if you feel strongly about something- don't put it on your resume. Save that for the interview and make a good impression with it. </p>\n\n<p>My 2cents. </p>\n\n<p>EDIT: Nate Eldredge made a good comment below. Although it should be obvious, it is worth pointing out that this post is made from an industry perspective. It is provided to frame the topic within the larger context of an interview; any interview. My experience has been that there is very little difference between my professional and academic interviews, ymmv - of course, and therefore I submit that the commentary is germane. </p>\n\n<p>Re-reading my comments I realize that, yes, I was being a bit flippant for comedic effect. No offense intended. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7578,
"author": "gerrit",
"author_id": 1033,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1033",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It depends on the field. Unless you're sure that it's well-known and valued in your field, don't write it as a claim of competence — but you can write it as a hobby.</p>\n\n<p>Let's not over-estimate the value of Stack Exchange. Stack Overflow, by far the largest website, has an Alexa ranking of 86. It's probably well-known among programmers, but probably not among others. Stackexchange.com in its entirety has a ranking of 469. That includes Stats, GIS, Maths, CS... <code>superuser.com</code> has a ranking of 1620, <code>serverfault.com</code> a ranking of 2159. </p>\n\n<p>Most likely, an academic reading your application will not know the website you are mentioning. A CV should focus on the important parts. Any space wasted is harmful to your cause of grabbing their attention. Mentioning a high score on a website they haven't heard about is a waste of space. Therefore, I would not put it on your CV, unless you're sure it's going to impress them.</p>\n\n<p>That being said, I've heard of people writing in their CV that they're among the top 200 in World of Warcraft. It's perfectly fine to write hobbies in the CV — but if you're trying to convince someone of your competence by citing your score on a website they're not familiar with, you might do more harm than good.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7595,
"author": "Noah Snyder",
"author_id": 25,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/25",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I can't think of a situation where it would be helpful to list SE reputation on your CV. Most people won't know what SE is, and so will either not care or think it's weird. If your reputation is not very high then it's also going to look bad. Finally in the one situation where it might help you (the person reading your CV is active on SE and you are a SE superstar), there's no point in listing it because the person will already know who you are. I don't need a CV to tell me that Qiaochu Yuan is a major contributor to MO.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7793,
"author": "Abe",
"author_id": 344,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/344",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I don't think it is a good idea because the value of a \"SO rep point\" is unfamiliar to most of your audience (and varies across sites). Still, SO provides a useful public record of thinking, learning, teaching, dialogue, and social skills.</p>\n\n<p>One way to leverage this would be to point to examples of your teaching, learning, and problem solving - with perhaps a well chosen example in the research and / or teaching statements; if your published results benefited from SO, a reference to a SO question could tell an interesting back-story behind a paper, and be a launching point for anyone who is curious about your other contributions.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/29 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7552",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5790/"
]
|
7,556 | <p>I do not understand what good it does them. A professor said it gives opportunity to read papers he would not read on his own. I am sure there is more to it but I do not see what they gain by participating in peer review process. It takes time, it is not paid and not even publicly acknowledged. Why do they do it?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 7570,
"author": "silvado",
"author_id": 3890,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/3890",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I can think of at least five reasons why doing peer reviews gives an advantage to yourself.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>You get to read recent research results before everybody else.</li>\n<li>It gives you a good opportunity to think really critically about a potentially interesting paper.</li>\n<li>You can put it in your CV and it will show that you are a known expert in the fields of journals you review for.</li>\n<li>You want to stay on good terms with the editor, who may judge your submission to the journal.</li>\n<li>You want to get an editorial position with the journal, which is highly prestigious. For this one typically needs reviewing experience.</li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7571,
"author": "David Ketcheson",
"author_id": 81,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/81",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think <strong>academics are paid to perform peer review, in the same sense that they are paid to do research</strong>. I don't have a boss telling me what to research and paying me when it's complete; rather, my university expects me to perform research that is judged significant by my peers. In the same way, my university expects me to perform peer review. In my annual reports to the university, I report my research outputs and I report the journals for which I have performed peer review.</p>\n<p>You may argue that my continued employment and promotion depends more heavily on my research than on peer reviewing, but the same could be said when comparing any of my service or teaching duties.</p>\n<p>The bottom line is, academia is a <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gift_economy\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">gift economy</a>, and if you want to be part of the community, you're expected to do peer review.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7572,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>silvado gave a good list of “short term” answers, i.e. the reasons why one would accept a given review. Maybe I'll summarize the first two of them, because they are the ones that motivate me the most: <strong>curiosity</strong>.</p>\n\n<p>Maybe curiosity killed the cat, and I'm sure it killed a bunch of scientists too, but for sure it is what makes most of us tick. Whenever I receive a request for review, even if I don't have much time for it, my first instinct is to read the abstract and think <em>“hum, cool, how did they do it in detail?”</em> or <em>“I wonder if they thought about this and that”</em> or <em>“hey, I thought that was guaranteed not to work, how did they manage?”</em>, or even <em>“oh, I had never thought about that”</em>). In all cases, it makes me want to accept.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>Also, there's a long term component to it. Even though the commercial publication model is <em>deadly sick</em>, <strong>peer-review is a very good part of academic publication</strong> (and I mean “good” in the moral, ethical meaning). In days I am fed up with the system, I sometimes think peer-review is the <em>only</em> good part of academic publishing. So… <strong>by submitting papers for review, you opt in this whole peer-review system</strong>, and it becomes a moral duty to do your fair share of the reviewing work.</p>\n\n<p>Don't get me wrong, you're not contractually obligated to do so. But, if you send papers for review and never accept to review any, your colleagues (and the editor) will see you as a free-rider of the system, and will resent it. And I would too.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7573,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The other answers do a good job of laying out the practical benefits and the roles of curiosity and obligation. However, I think there's an additional psychological factor: being asked to review a paper shows that the editor values your expertise, and that feels good. This is a shallower reason, but I think it plays a substantial role in encouraging reviewers.</p>\n\n<p>I can remember the first time an editor I didn't know personally asked me to serve as a referee. It was really exciting, and I thought \"Wow, this famous person has actually heard of me and is interested in my evaluation.\" Of course it's not as exciting the hundredth time, but it still feels good to be a valued member of the research community, and I would be unhappy if the requests stopped coming.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7575,
"author": "Stephan Kolassa",
"author_id": 4140,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4140",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In addition to the other excellent posts here, I find that reading a manuscript in order to write a review is different than reading a published article just to see what is in there. When you write a review, it forces you to actually think about the manuscript, about its internal logic, about possible weak points. After all, it have heard it said that \"the job of reviewers is to kill bad papers and to make good papers even better\", and to make a good paper even better, you first need to understand it and think about the subject matter in a way that not even the authors did.</p>\n\n<p>I find that I learn a lot more from papers I review than from other papers I consume.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7580,
"author": "Tom Carchrae",
"author_id": 4355,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4355",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Nobody mentioned quality yet. One reason I like to review papers is because I can encourage authors to make better papers. </p>\n\n<p>It sucks to read badly written papers. By reviewing them, you can make the world a better place! </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7585,
"author": "Stefano Borini",
"author_id": 5,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>When I asked the same question, the answer was \"control and public relations\". While the second one is obvious, the first is a little more subtle and evil. Having someone's else paper in advance it allows you to:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>establish a \"give and take\" relationship with peers you want on your side. anonymity is easy to break, if you want to and know what is going on in other researchers' offices.</li>\n<li>slow down the publication of a peer by dragging the review process or demanding additional science to be performed, especially if they are scooping you.</li>\n<li>get a sniff of what's going on in someone's else plate, thus granting you a head start that might be useful if you want to attack the same field.</li>\n<li>indirectly control the quality of a journal to reduce its score. In some universities, the current score is used to evaluate the paper production of a researcher to grant him funds. If you can have an effect on the overall quality of a journal, this will reduce the total score of a researcher's past effort, and give an edge to someone else to get more funds.</li>\n</ol>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 7588,
"author": "Pedro",
"author_id": 495,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/495",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Just to state something explicitly that was part of all the previous answers: <strong>Reviewing papers is part of being a good academic citizen.</strong></p>\n\n<p>Compared to other jobs, academia is not something you <em>do</em>, it's a system you <em>enter</em>. It's a community, an ecosystem of sorts, that provides <em>benefits</em> for those who are part of it, at the cost of some <em>duties</em>.</p>\n\n<p>These duties, in academia, usually consist of publishing, teaching, supervising students, organizing and attending talks and conferences, doing some outreach, and, yes, refereeing publications, research plans, and grant proposals.</p>\n\n<p>Of course, as in most communities and ecosystems, there will always be <em>bad citizens</em> who enjoy the benefits without the duties, and if their numbers grow too large, they end up destroying it. Fortunately though, most of us see being part of this community as a privilege and actually enjoy the extra work (see the other comments above), so that risk is, in my opinion, relatively small.</p>\n\n<p>Finally, if you need an analogy, think of this site: You can ask questions and post answers. People usually do both, and actually more of the latter. You yourself invest your time in answering questions and, as an implicit trade, can rely on others to answer when the question is yours.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 151792,
"author": "avid",
"author_id": 15798,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15798",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This is an old question that has re-emerged, but I'll have a stab at a new answer...</p>\n<p>For better or worse, publications are the 'currency' of modern academia. People look at how many papers you've published, and where you've published them, and make inferences about your professional status and calibre.</p>\n<p>If peer review didn't happen, we would all effectively have a licence to print money. Everyone could have a new paper in Science or Nature every day - just write something down and submit it. Clearly, this would lead to rapid, catastrophic devaluation of the 'academic currency', to the detriment of everyone who had invested in it.</p>\n<p>So, I suggest there is a quasi-economic imperative for academics to undertake peer review. It is in our interests to ensure that others are being held to the same standard that we have been held to.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/01/29 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7556",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4231/"
]
|
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