qid
int64 1
194k
| question
stringlengths 46
29.5k
| answers
listlengths 2
32
| date
stringlengths 10
10
| metadata
listlengths 3
3
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
9,341 | <p>I would like to ask Prof. X, a distinguished scholar at a top school, for a recommendation for a tenure-track academic position. However, I only want him to write me a recommendation if he is going to write a <em>good</em> one. If he will write me a mediocre or just insufficiently positive recommendation, I would prefer to have someone less famous than X but more positive about me write the letter.</p>
<p>If I simply ask Prof. X for a letter, there is the possibility that he will agree and then write something that is not as positive as I would like. I want to avoid this. </p>
<p>One way to solve this problem would be for me to ask Prof. X if he is sufficiently familiar with my work to write me a strong letter. If he does not wish to write me a strong letter, he can simply reply that he is not that familiar with the whole body of my work. By giving him an easy way to decline, this makes it more likely that he will write a strong letter if he accepts.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, in this case this little strategem will not work, as Prof. X and I have been working on the same questions for years, so there is little question of him being unfamiliar with my results. </p>
<p>Another possible solution would be to have someone else approach him to ask whether he can write me a strong letter. Sadly I have no one who could do this for me. </p>
<p>What would be a good strategy to use in this situation? More broadly, what are some general tips for asking people for recommendation letters which ensure you only get strong letters, besides the two I mentioned above?</p>
<p><strong>Edited</strong>: Maybe I should mention a couple of other strategies that crossed my mind:</p>
<p>A. Mention to Prof. X that I'm going on the job market in unrelated conversation and see if he volunteers to write me a letter. </p>
<p>B. Ask him for a letter in an email and see how he responds. If he responds enthusiastically, e.g., "It would be my pleasure to write you a letter..." or "I'd be extremely happy to..." this is good. If he only responds neutrally, e.g., "Sure, I can write you a letter" then simply neglect to follow up with him and ask someone else for the letter. </p>
<p>Both of these strategies are decent, but they are not perfect. They might work, but they also might cause me to miss out on a good letter from a well-known scholar. Anyway, I'd welcome thoughts, corrections, additional strategies to use that I haven't thought of, etc. </p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9343,
"author": "Sylvain Peyronnet",
"author_id": 43,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/43",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I assume here that Prof X knows you (and not only your work). I also assume that you work is strong enough to ensure that you are eligible for a tenure-track position somewhere.</p>\n\n<p>One thing you can do is contacting Prof X, asking him for advice regarding your application. More specifically, you can ask him to read your research project and giving you some hints about what can be done to make it \"sexier\". That way, you will certainly have a good idea of his opinion on your work. Afterwards, you can decide to ask him for a letter (in the best case scenario, he will volunteer before you ask). If he doesn't even want to read your research project, this is a good clue that he will not write a very good letter.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9353,
"author": "JeffE",
"author_id": 65,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>One way to solve this problem would be for me to ask Prof. X if he is sufficiently familiar with my work to write me a strong letter. </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p><strong>No. Do not play mind games.</strong> The best approach is to be completely straightforward.</p>\n\n<p>If you already <em>know</em> that he is <em>familiar</em> with your work, suggesting otherwise is dishonest and potentially insulting. What you really want to know is whether he's <em>impressed</em> by your work. <strong>The only way to find out is to ask directly.</strong> If possible, ask in person, preferably over coffee/beer or in some other informal neutral setting; conferences are really good for this. Be straightforward about your desire for a strong letter, but use the opportunity to develop a stronger collaborative relationship. Ask for honest feedback on your work. Ask about future opportunities to work together. Ask where he thinks you should apply. Be sincere in asking whether he can write you a <strong>strong</strong> recommendation letter; he knows what that means. Be sincerely ready to be turned down. Listen.</p>\n\n<p>If you're not comfortable asking him directly, or you think that he might not be comfortable answering you, ask your advisor to informally sound out Prof X's opinion of you first. (Ideally, your advisor already has some idea what Prof X will say.) But the actual letter request must come directly from you.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>If he only responds neutrally, e.g., \"Sure, I can write you a letter\" then simply neglect to follow up with him and ask someone else for the letter.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p><strong>No. Do not play mind games.</strong></p>\n\n<p>First, unless you already know Prof X <em>extremely</em> well, you should not attempt to read his mind through email. \"Sure, I can write you a letter\" says <em>nothing</em> about his level of enthusiasm. If his response to your request makes you hesitant to use his letter, ask him again. Second, if you decide, for <em>whatever</em> reason, that you don't need his letter after you've asked for it, you <strong>must</strong> tell him directly, so that he doesn't waste his time.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9355,
"author": "bill s",
"author_id": 6308,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6308",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Here's another variation: email prof X and tell him you are thinking of applying for faculty positions. Ask if he has any suggestions of who might be willing to write you a letter of recommendation to help you achieve your goal. </p>\n\n<p>This is pretty straightforward. If he is willing to write a strong letter, he will offer. If he is not willing to write a strong letter, he will not offer. And he might have some good suggestions for other possible letter writers.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/13 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9341",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6786/"
]
|
9,344 | <p>I have graduated nearly 5 years ago and I want to get a Computer Science Master's degree from an above average school in U.S. or Canada, preferably a thesis based degree.</p>
<p>However, I am having difficulty in getting recommendation letters since I graduated long time ago. And, even if I get any letters, my professors are not professional, they ask me to write them myself. Long ago when I asked for a position they did so and sure they will do the same now. So I got stuck in an handicapped position for my future grad school pursuits.</p>
<p>Please recommend me some ways to overcome this situation. Should I go for a one term non-degree program in U.S. or Europe to get a letter from a professional member of an academic community who is capable of doing this job.</p>
<p>End Note: I am in a third world country.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9345,
"author": "Fomite",
"author_id": 118,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/118",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would not necessarily assert that professors asking for you to write your letter for them are 'unprofessional'. It's quite possible, and even common for professors to request this for a number of reasons:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>You know you better than they know you - a letter written by you has the full depth of your experience available to be written about. This is especially important in a circumstance like yours, where their direct memory of you might have faded with time.</li>\n<li>You likely have a better understanding of what parts of your CV, studies, etc. you'd like to be highlighted. For example, while they might think X about you is important, if you're trying to craft a narrative in your application materials that's all about your skills in Y, it's important they know that.</li>\n<li>Professors are busy people, and crafting a good letter requires a great deal of effort. Providing them a framework with which to work off of as they add their own language, opinions, etc. will save them a great deal of time.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>I wouldn't automatically assume it's a sign of unprofessionalism. I've been asked to write my own letter by professors who I worked extremely closely with because of some of the reasons I outlined above.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9349,
"author": "JeffE",
"author_id": 65,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It's important to have at least one letter from a former professor, but especially for a professional master's degree, strong recommendation letters from work supervisors can also be effective, as long as they're tuned correctly. <strong>I did this.</strong> It's probably best to ask someone with an advanced degree if possible — not for the pedigree, but because they might remember academic culture/goals better than someone who hasn't spent time in the ivory tower. It's important that your letter does <em>not</em> simply praise you as a <em>programmer</em>, but as a potential <em>computer scientist</em>. The letter should emphasize your intellectual and creative contributions, your problem-solving skills, and your potential for further academic study.</p>\n\n<p>Remember that writing academic recommendation letters is <em>not</em> a standard part of most industry management jobs; you are asking for a significant favor. Nevertheless, you should strongly resist requests to write the letter yourself. Have an open and frank discussion about the purpose of the letter, their perceptions of your matching strengths, the points that you think should be emphasized. Give them your CV with appropriate points highlighted. <strong>Then ask them again</strong> if they are willing to write you a strong recommendation letter; be sincerely willing to take no for an answer.</p>\n\n<p>Signing up for a short non-degree program in U.S. or Europe is an excellent idea, but it's important to take proper advantage. Don't just sit in class and get an A. Talk with your instructors <strong>early</strong> about your goals for graduate study. Try to get involved with faculty research, or at lest an independent study project.</p>\n\n<p>Finally, I'd recommend pursuing both of these avenues simultaneously. Give yourself as many options as possible!</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/14 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9344",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6789/"
]
|
9,361 | <p>Important scholars (e.g. Nobel laureates) regularly receive honorary doctorate from different universities. I know that the Board of Trustees (or a similar board) reviews available nominations and awards an honorary degree to a person, but I wonder how the nomination process is conducted.</p>
<p>It seems to be very chancy, as there are many universities and many famous scholars. Usually there were no previous relationship between the awarding university and awardee.
For example, it is common for a Nobel Prize winner to receive honorary doctorate from 30 universities. He/she could have previous connections (e.g. collaboration, contribution, etc) with only a few of them.</p>
<p>How does a nominator suggest awarding to an eligible but irrelevant scholar?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 10149,
"author": "Shayna",
"author_id": 7157,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7157",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Some universities allow faculty to nominate those chosen for honorary degrees. From what I understand, some even allow certain members of the graduating class and/or student council to nominate & vote. At other institutions, the senate, department heads, deans, president or chancellor may pick the candidates. Some institutions may have a nomination body and a voting body. I would think that it depends upon the size of the institution.</p>\n\n<p>To find out for sure, check out websites for specific universities. Often times universities have focused areas of research or a campus wide research goal for which they have TONS of funding. On most occasions, honorary degrees are awarded to those who are conducting research in that field. They often award honorary degrees to those who are active in their communities as well.</p>\n\n<p>Another common thing with honorary degrees: once an individual has been granted one other institutions will sometimes scramble to recognize that person as well. This is especially true if both institutions are located in the same area, or if they largely focus on the same research matters. People who make a difference on a global scale are often chosen as recipients of honorary degrees not only because they've made a difference, but because a university is, after all, still a business. If they give someone famous an honorary degree, you can bet it will be on the news. It will even get better coverage if other universities have also awarded the person with honorary degrees! Sometimes they look for a unique person to give an honorary degree to- because that will also get more coverage (for example, people from minority groups or from third world countries).</p>\n\n<p>Each university has their own policy regarding nominations and different criterion, but they're all about creating a buzz. They may pick a First Nations community leader as a recipient in hoping that they will attract more students from that community. They also use honorary degrees as a way to network. If they want to meet their idol, they award them with an honorary degree so that person has to come and meet them to accept it (it is, after all, only polite, right?).</p>\n\n<p>If you're curious about individual schools, you can look up the honorary degree recipients - they will often state why the person was given the degree. The key thing to remember is that they could come across anyone and find a reason to nominate them. They may see a firefighter on the news who saved the lives of people by rushing into a burning building. They attribute great courage to that person, so they nominate them to receive an honorary degree in emergency service operations. Their spouse, friend or neighbor may tell them an inspiring story which urges them to do more research on the person. Then that person ends up nominated! Yes, they have criterion, but it is flexible. They can word their statements for nomination in such a way that anyone would be fit for an honorable degree.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 70887,
"author": "Chris Johns",
"author_id": 54896,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/54896",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Often honorary degrees are awarded because an individual is seen to have done some service to the field in question, often outside the normal confines of academia. </p>\n\n<p>A notable example is <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Clarkson#Recognition\" rel=\"nofollow\">Jeremy Clarkson</a> who holds an honorary doctorate in engineering form Brunel University, even though he clearly doesn't have the equivalent technical or academic knowledge. In this case it is more about his prominence as a motoring journalist and broadcaster. Note that this was a bit controversial at the time. </p>\n\n<p>This is often a two way street, with an academic institution recognising a person who has some links to the institution itself or the local area and may be a way of attracting or rewarding high profile patrons. </p>\n\n<p>On one hand an honorary degrees is a 'free' form of currency for a university to dish out at virtually no cost to themselves, but of course they don't want to dilute it too much or it will loose it's (already rather vague) value. </p>\n\n<p>The actual decision making process will depend on the management structure of the university but would normally need to be approved at a high level ultimately by the Vice-Chancellor via the Senate, or Equivalent body and it is fairly reasonable to assume that formal nominations originate at Chair or Head of Department level vial whatever political structures exist in any given institution. </p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/15 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9361",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/406/"
]
|
9,362 | <p>I recently received an invitation to a conference and I'm trying to determine how reputable it is. Is there a good way to go about this?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9584,
"author": "JeffE",
"author_id": 65,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I'm assuming you are really asking how to check whether a conference is <em>reputable</em> (meaning not a scam), not how to check whether a conference is actually <em>good</em>.</p>\n\n<p>Short answer: <strong>If you don't recognize the conference or its organizers, stay away.</strong></p>\n\n<p>You should already know a relatively short list of established, reputable conferences in your research area. If you don't, ask your advisor to give you such a list. (If your advisor doesn't know, you need a new advisor.)</p>\n\n<p>If this conference isn't on that list, it <em>might</em> still be reputable, but either very new or slightly outside your research area. In that case, take a serious look at the organizing committee. If the members of the organizing committee are well-known active researchers, the conference is probably fine. Otherwise, it's probably a scam.</p>\n\n<p>You mention that you were invited to submit to the conference. At least in computer science, such invitations are almost unheard of; conferences are normally advertised by impersonal calls for papers. Did the invitation come from someone you already know, at least professionally? Does the invitation mention specific technical details of your work (more than just a paper title)? If you answered \"No\" to both these questions, the conference is almost certainly a scam.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9585,
"author": "Bitwise",
"author_id": 6862,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6862",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>What I usually do is look at the list of speakers in the current and past years. If the conference is in my field, I usually can tell if the speakers are well-known and what the level of the conference will be. If the conference is not in my field, I google some of the speakers and check out their websites to get an impression.</p>\n\n<p>Another thing which is often helpful to do, is to simply ask someone with knowledge of the field which conferences are good.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9588,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Maybe I will add to JeffE’s answer. I agree with him that, <em>in your field</em>, you probably have established your own list of reputable conferences after a few years. However, it does happen that you get invited or submit a paper to a conference that's outside your natural “comfort zone”. One reason is because of a joint work with other authors from that area, another may be that you are shifting the focus of your research, or you published a paper that has potential applications in another field.</p>\n\n<p>Anyway, if that happens, you want to check out the <strong>organizers and speakers</strong> (keynote speakers if it's a large conference). One or two serious people doesn't mean anything though, especially if the conference is held in an attractive touristic area (Caribbean islands?). Some people accept conferences that they know are not good, if they see a nice opportunity for a holiday in them. However, if half the organizers or speakers are well known, or have well established research groups, then you're probably good to go.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 55098,
"author": "WBT",
"author_id": 36320,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/36320",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Looking at the program committee, organizers, other presenters (e.g. keynote speakers) and what work they've done is one helpful approach. Asking your advisor is often quite useful. </p>\n\n<p>Also consider if you've read papers from that venue in the past and found them helpful enough and high-quality enough to be citing / using as a basis for your work.</p>\n\n<p>Finally, there's the Computing Research & Education conference ranking portal <a href=\"http://www.core.edu.au/conference-portal\" rel=\"nofollow\">here</a> which might be another signal to consider.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 80307,
"author": "ff524",
"author_id": 11365,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11365",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In addition to the other answers, it's worth taking a close look at conferences that tick several of these boxes (although <em>some</em> may turn out to be OK on further inspection). These can be warning signs of conferences that are basically scams, or that will be a waste of your time/money/energy.</p>\n\n<p>Items 2-5 are indicators of insufficient peer review, and are problematic only for conferences that claim to publish peer-reviewed proceedings.</p>\n\n<p>Items 6-9 are warning signs that the aim of the conference organizers is profits, not academics.</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Organizers, program committee members, or keynote speakers are not established researchers in the field (as per some of the other answers on this page).</li>\n<li>It has an extremely short review period (e.g. submissions due November 1, author notification November 10).</li>\n<li>You receive reviews that are very short and/or don't say anything insightful about the paper.</li>\n<li>The technical program committee is small, but the conference accepts hundreds of papers. </li>\n<li>If the conference proceedings are published or indexed by a well-known publisher, look at past editions of the proceedings and check if multiple papers have been retracted or withdrawn for plagiarism and/or for being <a href=\"http://retractionwatch.com/2014/02/24/springer-ieee-withdrawing-more-than-120-nonsense-papers/\" rel=\"noreferrer\">computer generated</a>.</li>\n<li>The scope of the conference is extremely broad, such that people who work in one of the areas of interest are not likely to be interested in presentations from the other areas (this can be a tactic to get a lot of submissions, at the expense of conference quality).</li>\n<li>The conference organizer also organizes many other conferences, on a very diverse range of unrelated topics.</li>\n<li>The organizer holds many conferences on unrelated topics at the same time and place.</li>\n<li>The organizer is also associated with one or more <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/17379/what-are-fake-shady-and-or-predatory-journals\">predatory journals</a>, or selected papers from the conference are published in a predatory journal.</li>\n</ol>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 152149,
"author": "kurtosis",
"author_id": 126689,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/126689",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Note: This answer was merged from a duplicate question.</p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2158/how-to-identify-predatory-publishers-journals\">previously-referenced post</a> on detecting predatory journals is helpful, but incomplete. The duplicate question asked about conferences which were overt about accepted papers being able to be published in conference proceedings with an ISBN. While I cannot speak for all fields, I can say that in social sciences and statistics, that description alone sounds like a low-quality conference.</p>\n<p>In my experience, there are a few markers ("red flags") for low-quality conferences. This list is by no means canonical, but is based on over a decade of my experience.</p>\n<p>The first red flag is the note that accepted papers will be published in conference proceedings with an ISBN or ISSN number. Sure, some very good conferences allow for dual submission to a journal or a journal publishes conference proceedings. However, the explicit mention of an ISBN number (often required by accreditors for a professor to remain academically qualified) is something I have seen only at low-quality conferences. Good conferences know that you may want to publish your work elsewhere and assume you are not desperate for any publication. (<strong>Caveat</strong>: Some fields like engineering tend to publish their work more as conference papers or in proceedings. In those cases, the overt mention of publishing in proceedings may not be a red flag.)</p>\n<p>The second red flag is when a conference folds many costs into a high registration fee. This can let dishonest academics claim a food per diem while the "registration fee" can be paid out of a research budget even though that fee also covers food and parties. I'm not talking about a $150 fee; rather, I have seen conferences with a $750 or $1000 fee which covers swanky parties. Most serious researchers getting their work into more than a couple of conferences won't want to blow their research budget on one conference with a bunch of parties. (Besides, most academics can make party enough talking with other academics over some wine or beer.)</p>\n<p>The third red flag is the conference's call for papers: if they spam people with the CFP and the deadline does not allow much time for review, that's likely a low-quality conference.</p>\n<p>A fourth red flag is if the conference has an unusually broad focus. Some big conferences may cover a wide range of topics; however, you probably already know the reputable big conferences which do that. Less well-known conferences tend to be more focused.</p>\n<p>A fifth red flag is if the conference is held in a nice and <em>unusual</em> place. Sure, lots of conferences are in nice places to attract academics, but I'm talking about unusual places like a conference on a cruise ship or a tropical island with no local university. If there is no local academic community organizing the conference, the expected quality is lower.</p>\n<p>Suppose a conference does not raise any (or many) of these red flags. How can further check the quality? Usually, this is easy: see who the organizers are and look for prior year agendas to see if there are many good academics presenting (or people from industry/government, in some fields). Essentially, check if the organizers and presenters are people you would want to see and comment on your work. If those people are there, you probably also should want to be there. If none of the names are familiar, you may want to consider if that is a good outlet for getting feedback.</p>\n<p>Finally, you ask if you can submit your work to the proceedings and then later extend the work and submit it to a journal. Sadly, that depends on the journal and I do know of people who were told their work could not be accepted since most of it had been published earlier in conference proceedings.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 193445,
"author": "lordy",
"author_id": 105950,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/105950",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>One answer that I'm missing above is quantitative methods (as for example used for journals in other fields). This less common for conferences but also exists e.g. via Google Scholar. For example if you're looking for top conferences in AI:</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=top_venues&hl=en&vq=eng_artificialintelligence\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=top_venues&hl=en&vq=eng_artificialintelligence</a></p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/15 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9362",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1537/"
]
|
9,365 | <p>When writing an abstract for talks at conferences, workshops, etc., I often wonder if it would be considered a self-plagiarism if I copied a few sentences from a paper that is already published. Sometimes those abstracts are "published" in one form or another (proceedings, workshop schedule in print and/or on the web, etc). What is a general guideline?</p>
<p>Can I copy and paste an abstract from a published paper I wrote, and submit it as an abstract for a talk at a conference? Or is it necessary to paraphrase my own writing?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9366,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In general, do not copy from your previous publications. At the same time, I would say that the severity of \"self-plagiarism\" depends on what you copy. If it is a description of a tool or site, it is not very problematic (after all there may be only so many ways to describe it). If you copy conclusions and items of creative importance then I would say it is more severe. I personally rewrite everything just because I am fine with that, even site descriptions. At some point I will have to go through and see if I unknowingly copied myself in those trivial sections at some point.</p>\n\n<p>So in short, don't copy, rewrite. Who knows, you may find that you improve your formulations that way.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9367,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>In papers themselves, there is absolutely no reason why you should ever copy any previously published text (including yours) without explicit acknowledgment, along the lines of \"The background material in this section is a nearly verbatim adaptation of Section 3.2 of X\". Assuming you make it perfectly clear what you have copied and from where (not hiding this information in a note later in your paper, for example) and you have permission from the copyright holder, then this is ethical, while it's not ethical without these conditions. </p>\n\n<p>Of course talk abstracts are not quite the same. Let's assume we're talking about relatively ephemeral abstracts. I.e., they might appear on the web or in the conference program, but they aren't carefully archived, citable contributions to the research literature. (This distinguishes them from \"extended abstracts\" in CS conferences, which are actually short research papers, and there may be other intermediate cases.) These sorts of abstracts generally don't list any references within the abstract, and they aren't considered published or treated nearly as formally as published material.</p>\n\n<p>In mathematics, I doubt anyone would get upset about recycling a paper abstract for this kind of talk abstract. Customs vary greatly between fields or sorts of abstracts, so you should seek advice from colleagues in your area, since \"someone on the internet said it was OK\" is not a compelling argument.</p>\n\n<p>If you are worried about self-plagiarism, you can simply append something like \"(adapted from the abstract of <em>paper citation</em>)\" at the end of your talk abstract. However, that might stand out in its formality.</p>\n\n<p>It's probably a good idea in any case to rewrite the abstract at least a little, since a talk abstract has different goals from a paper abstract.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9412,
"author": "StasK",
"author_id": 739,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/739",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Uhm... discipline specific tag missing??? In economics, you can often see an acknowledgement like \"I would like to thank [the list of 15 specific people, may be a Nobel prize winner or two thrown in], audiences at [10 universities in which this talk was given] and [4 more international conferences] for their helpful comments\". So an economist won't even get what it is that you are asking; presenting the same stuff over is their daily business.</p>\n\n<p>Generally, I think it is basically your own self-discipline and commitment to moving research further with new work (as opposed to just selling your name with one or two successful papers that everybody keeps wanting to hear about). I usually present the same research two-three times, which means copying and pasting the abstract, but once I hit all the major audiences with it, I move on to something different.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9415,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>Can I copy and paste an abstract from a published paper I wrote, and submit it as an abstract for a talk at a conference? Or is it necessary to paraphrase my own writing?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>This depends <em>very</em> much on who holds the copyright to the published work you're copying. Some publishers may give you the right to reuse the text however you see fit. Others may not be so liberal.</p>\n\n<p>But in general, the longer the snippet you want to reuse, the worse the idea it is. </p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/15 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9365",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/386/"
]
|
9,372 | <p>Textbooks take a lot of time and effort to write, so why would a university support their faculty to do so? The author can make a good profit from a textbook and I am guessing the institution doesn't get any of these profits. </p>
<p>What about the grad students that edit and also work on the textbook? It seems as if they are working to fill the faculty member's pocket while being [partially] supported by the department/university and expected to do research.</p>
<p>All of this seems odd to me since it seems like the author is just using the university's resources to generate personal revenue, so <strong>why do universities support/allow their faculty to write textbooks?</strong></p>
<p>If you need context, I am talking about in the US and specifically a freshmen/sophomore CS course's textbook.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9373,
"author": "Samuel Russell",
"author_id": 4429,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4429",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Australia's university system, a centrally funded multiple university system, quite simply does not support staff doing this. Australia had prior to the late 1980s a broad based academic publishing culture that included diverse ancillary publishing by academics in terms of social opinion, literary and arts engagement, and text book publication. However, under the Dawkins era reforms, Australian higher education research output became subject to a measurement metric (the \"Publications count,\" a quantity count, currently known as the HERDC publications collection) which then informed the distribution of a significant pool of money. The metric was originally described as a \"proxy\" for real activity, but increasingly the metric is taken to be the indicator of real activity. As the metric, funding, and fund seeking imperatives have become tighter—in part as a labour discipline / productivity effort—since the late 1980s, the level of University management intervention into the publishing mode of academics has increased. Currently, research activity measures within Universities, modelled strongly on the federal funding metric, strongly motivate academic staff to not publish uncounted books such as undergraduate textbooks. The penalty for failing to achieve the metric includes increased teaching loads and (eventual and sometimes constructive) dismissal. The effect of this has been academic disengagement from social and aesthetic opinion forming, and a move away from textbook authoring.</p>\n\n<p>By inverting the above example, the reasons why institutions may tolerate staff producing textbooks would be:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>an absence of external funding drivers dictating publication modes</li>\n<li>an absence of internal management pressure dictating publication modes</li>\n<li>the presence of external funding or internal management pressure, but measured against a metric that accepts textbooks as worthwhile activity</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Further work can be found in <em>Vestes</em> / <em>Australian Universities Review</em> on the metrification of academic output and funding changes in Australia. The relevant federal department, and other bodies, have a variety of reports on the actual publication measure.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9375,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>Textbooks take a lot of time and effort to write, so why would a university support their faculty to do so? </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Why wouldn't they? Writing textbooks is an important form of scholarship, with great influence on the field, and this is something universities should strongly encourage. The only reason I can think of not to support textbook writing is the profit issue, but this is not generally an important factor, since very few textbooks make a lot of money.</p>\n\n<p>The fact that U.S. faculty are allowed to keep the royalties from textbooks they write is a historical contingency, and there's no reason why the system has to work that way. However, I think it's a good system in practice. Overall, the incentives to write good textbooks are too low, since both the financial rewards and the academic rewards are generally small compared with the time commitment. Removing the (small) profit motive would leave the incentives even lower, and I think the net effect would outweigh the tiny increase in university funding.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>What about the grad students that edit and also work on the textbook? It seems as if they are working to fill the faculty member's pocket while being [partially] supported by the department/university and expected to do research.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>If grad students are being enlisted as unpaid labor, then that's a real problem, but in my experience it's not common. If there's any prospect of nontrivial royalties, then it's unethical to ask students to work without compensation. Furthermore, the arrangement needs to be formal enough to include a copyright transfer (otherwise, the students will own the copyright to their contributions).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9377,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>To widen the perspective (fully understanding the limitations imposed by the OP), I will try to be more general in my reply. All university systems do not support writing text books. In some systems it is up to the researcher to either try to find funding to at least cover some costs or simply try to squeeze it into whatever time can be found. </p>\n\n<p>There are also different scenarios for what to write. If one intends to write a basic introductory text, it would involve providing lots of examples and figures over a broad area. While the text may be relatively simple to write (subject matter not on a difficult level) the amount of text and illustrations will make it an arduous task. If, on the other hand, one writes an advanced textbook, the volume of text is smaller and, I would assume, more focussed on ones own research field. I would therefore think that it is relatively easier to write such a book than an introductory one. Having only written one book, a intermediate level specialist text on my research topic, I have little to compare it with, but it took 2.5 months (in parallel with full time work) to write, and I had someone paid to do the illustrations.</p>\n\n<p>So the situation will vary quite a lot between systems, which is also reflected by the types of books that come out of them. Advanced books come from almost all systems, while introductory texts probably are more commonly produced in systems where such book production is supported at some level in the system.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9428,
"author": "Jashan",
"author_id": 6512,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6512",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>i think the Universities are for improving the skills and knowledge of the mankind not only for financial growth :) its their duty to make the knowledge reachable to everyone and also make the knowledge grow, find more and develop more.. The books are the medium which all of these are possible. And also in the view of financial case, may be a university dont get any profits straightly but they will get it via the fame of the author who is a faculty of that university. He will attract more students. thus it will help the university :D :)</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/16 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9372",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/746/"
]
|
9,378 | <p>One of my colleagues told me authors after acceptance can negotiate about the intellectual property (IP) rights. It is frustrating to wait for peer review long times, and after acceptance publisher asks you to agree with his copyright without any modification. </p>
<p>I am keen to know <strong>when is the best time to negotiate my IP rights?</strong> Can I write to the publisher when the paper is under review (or even before submission)?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9380,
"author": "David Ketcheson",
"author_id": 81,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/81",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would not try to negotiate author rights before the paper is accepted, for two reasons. First, from the point of view of the editor and the publisher, it is premature and may be a waste of time (since, statistically at least, your paper has a significant chance of being rejected). Second, this negotiation could, in principle, influence the decision about whether to accept your paper (though of course it shouldn't).</p>\n\n<p>Instead, educate yourself on what the publisher will allow, beforehand. Use the <a href=\"http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo/\">Sherpa/RoMEO database</a> to know what rights a publisher will allow you, before you choose where to submit. If you choose a journal that already allows you the rights you want, then you will avoid the problem altogether.</p>\n\n<p>Finally, after acceptance use the <a href=\"http://www.sparc.arl.org/author/addendum.shtml\">SPARC addendum</a> to assert the rights you intend to retain.</p>\n\n<p>For one story of negotiations where I didn't follow my own advice -- but things turned out fairly well -- see <a href=\"http://www.davidketcheson.info/2012/12/06/reproducible-research-standard.html\">this blog post</a>.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9435,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would only submit a manuscript for publication when I was confident that there will not be any IP/copyright issues. For some types of publications, for example books, publishers will need to see the manuscript, and possibly get it reviewed, prior to making decisions about IP and royalties. I am not aware of any journal that needs/wants to see the manuscript prior to discussing IP. There tends to be things they will do and things they will not do, and it doesn't matter how good the manuscript is. The reason for dealing with IP issues (and publication fees) up front is that you do not want to waste time waiting for a publication decision that you might ultimately turn down. Further, as a reviewer, I would be completely pissed if I spend time reviewing a manuscript to see the authors publish someplace else.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 96412,
"author": "einpoklum",
"author_id": 7319,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7319",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>At the moment, authors are at a terrible disadvantage relative to publishers with regards to this issue, since there's no collective, organized, resistance action to what publishers demand (that I know of, anyway). So you are not likely - from my limited experience, anyway - to get far with these negotiations; why should they make an exception for you? Lots of other fish in the sea.</p>\n\n<p>I'd say the most important thing you can do is <strong><em>circumvent</em> the copyrights issue</strong>: Publish a version of the paper which is exactly the version you initially submit to the journal on your website, university paper repository, or ArXiv, possibly with an appropriate license (e.g. see the <a href=\"https://arxiv.org/help/license\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">ArXiv license page</a>) - but not with the template used for the journal submission, i.e. as a plain-vanilla article. </p>\n\n<p>Having done so, surrendering your rights via a contract witht he publisher no longer means all that much, because everybody in the world has the rights you allowed them with your free license - including yourself. The paper will thus be publicly-accessible and updatable by you without the journal being able to say anything about it. The only thing you will likely not be able to do is re-publish it in another for-pay journal etc.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/16 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9378",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5644/"
]
|
9,381 | <p>For instance, if someone is working as a Phd in computer-science, but on a neuroscience related topic, she might need to take some neuroscience related courses. And some CS courses might not be any help at all for the area she is interested in. Do universities put a lower/upper limit on the number of courses one can take?
Also, does this differ from university to university?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9389,
"author": "Chris Gregg",
"author_id": 4461,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4461",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This is going to be school- and program-dependent. In my Computer Engineering program, we had to take two 1-credit overview courses (not intensive) our first semester, and then my advisor told me the courses he expected me to take during that semeseter. I ended up taking three full classes, which was probably excessive. Of course, then I took three the next semester, too... After the first semester, I chose courses that fit in with my research, and also courses that were required for the degree.</p>\n<p>Here are some pros and cons to taking multiple courses and courses outside your field:</p>\n<p>Plusses:</p>\n<ol>\n<li><p>If you take more courses when you haven't yet begun research, you will have more time for research when you're more advanced (if you fulfill any requirements early).</p>\n</li>\n<li><p>Taking courses tangentially related to your field or outside your field leads to a greater body of knowledge in which to find interesting problems. This can lead to better research.</p>\n</li>\n<li><p>You'll meet more professors, and this can lead to other research opportunities.</p>\n</li>\n</ol>\n<p>Minuses:</p>\n<ol>\n<li><p>You can easily become too busy to get research done, and research is what will get you the PhD. One of my fellow student's advisor tells his students, "No A plusses!" and what he really means is, you can study too hard on a course with a detriment to the more important research. During grad school, I only had one semester where I didn't take any courses (and it was nice, I'll admit).</p>\n</li>\n<li><p>You could lose focus entirely. Remember, getting a PhD is all about focusing on a particular problem until you are the expert on that problem. Spread yourself too thin, and you'll have a harder time reining in that one problem. This really is a minor minus, though, especially during your first year.</p>\n<p>The bottom line is that you need to tailor your schedule to account for a number of factors, including your own sanity and your ability to do research. How your schedule is determined will largely be up to you, but each school will have its own individual requirements and policies.</p>\n</li>\n</ol>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9390,
"author": "Nate Eldredge",
"author_id": 1010,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It varies dramatically, by university, field, and country.</p>\n\n<p>It can be any of:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>There is a fixed curriculum that everyone takes</p></li>\n<li><p>There are a few required courses and the student can choose the rest</p></li>\n<li><p>The student has a committee which recommends courses to take</p></li>\n<li><p>The student can take any courses but has exams to pass</p></li>\n<li><p>No coursework at all (I understand this is common in Europe, where Ph.D. students come in with a Masters)</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Usually there are upper and lower limits on the number of courses to take. In the US, one usually has to take at least 3 or 4 courses to be considered a \"full time student\" and be eligible for funding. (But one can often count research as one or more of these courses.) And it is often not allowed to exceed 5 or 6 courses without special permission.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9417,
"author": "StasK",
"author_id": 739,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/739",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You will likely piss people off at your major department if you take more courses outside than at the department itself. This will be viewed as lack of respect to them -- what kind of know-it-all are you??? One course is probably OK, especially if you \"negotiated\" that upfront by stating your multidisciplinary interests, but I wouldn't risk any more; not at least until you are done with the comprehensive exams, or whatever they may be called in your program. Passing them should be your top priority. You can also excuse yourself by declaring a Ph.D. minor in an additional field, or working towards an MA/MSc in that field. Again, that's something that needs to be discussed with your Director of Graduate Studies and adviser (which you may not have in the first year).</p>\n\n<p>In my program, I took about 15-18 courses in my main department (statistics), another 6 in a graduate certificate program, and a scattered number of 1-2 courses in four or so other departments (economics, biostatistics, sociology, taking their [whatever]metrics courses), and graduated with some 70+ credit hours instead of required 45 or 48. I don't think they liked it very much... but then my tuition coverage came from another research center on campus that appreciated my breadth. Do as I say, not as I do, though, as I now work in industry after having failed the tenure track.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/16 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9381",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6803/"
]
|
9,382 | <p>I would like to get some advice on what may or may not be a problem, namely the lack of unique identifiers for scientific authors.</p>
<p>So there is a researcher with the same first and last name as myself, who works in a different field (physics vs computer science), but is in a similar stage of academic career (PhD candidate).</p>
<p>Are there potential problems? Is there a danger that publications are associated wrongly, with negative consequences for either one of the authors? Will this cause confusion in databases like arXiv?</p>
<p>What would you suggest?</p>
<ul>
<li>don't care?</li>
<li>disambiguate by adding middle initials to future publications? </li>
<li>... </li>
</ul>
<p>When I add initials for future publications, is there a change that I might somehow "lose" 3 earlier publications?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9383,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I have the same problem. First, I would make a decision on how many initials to put on the papers and then stick to it. There are many different \"standards\", some use two initials (US?), some three (British?), while in, for example, many central European countries one intial seems ot be the norm (there may be more to it than this). In any case, you can use as many as you feel comfortable with and so that you feel you can be distinguished from others in the same or related fields. </p>\n\n<p>If you have namesakes in other, to yours, non-related fields, it would normally not be much of a problem since the article titles would give it away.</p>\n\n<p>The important thing is to make a choice and stick with it. It will then be easier to find your references in databases etc.</p>\n\n<p>An associated problem may occur if you marry and change name for that reason. You then have a different problem to sort out. See for example the question <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/9003/4394\">Indicating a name change after publication</a></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9384,
"author": "Dave Clarke",
"author_id": 643,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/643",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Definitely do what you can to ensure lack of ambiguity. It will make so many things easier: getting promoted, finding number of citations, etc. It is better to have a unique name, even if you lose 3 earlier papers. It is only 3. The future has more.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9386,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>First, you don't lose anything by adding initials. They will make it easier to search for your name in databases, until the day comes when academia has a unique/canonical researcher ID scheme in place.</p>\n\n<p>If you have a middle name (or middle names), you can use those. If you don't, <strong>just choose a \"pen name\" by adding initials</strong>, chosen to make the combination of your name + initials unique (for now, of course… you cannot do anything about someone having the same name and starting to publish in a few years). I recommend doing that.</p>\n\n<p>What can happen is that other people searching for your publications in the future might miss your first three papers. But if you have a publication list on your webpage (you have a webpage, right?), it's no big deal. Also, three seems like a large number now, but it will not always be that way.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9387,
"author": "al_b",
"author_id": 5963,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5963",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Open Research Contributor ID (analog of DOI to researcher names) has been proposed recently to solve the problem. - <a href=\"http://orcid.org/\">http://orcid.org/</a>\nHowever, it is just out and is not yet widely adopted in industry. If you change your \"academic name\" to disambiguate then you can always contact arxiv and other systems asking to merge two authors. I did that for DBLP which is very important in Computer Science.\nBut in general, if you are not John Smith, having not so unique name is not a problem in academia:)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9391,
"author": "Mikael Vejdemo-Johansson",
"author_id": 519,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/519",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>After having just one publication out of my MSc and during the early years of my PhD studies, I married. One of my decisions was to change my name; from Mikael Johansson to Mikael Vejdemo-Johansson, adding my wife's name.</p>\n\n<p>One of the larger reasons I did this was because there is already a well established Mikael Johansson in a nearby field of research, with whom I had already been confused in academic contexts.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9394,
"author": "Piotr Migdal",
"author_id": 49,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/49",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>One, which is a common solution, it to have a webpage and make it explicit who you are (and who you aren't). See e.g. contact info at <a href=\"http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mejn/\">(one of) Mark Newman's webpage</a>:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>I am not the only professor called Mark Newman at the University of Michigan. I'm the physicist who works on networks. There is another Mark Newman in the UM School of Information who works on human-computer interaction.</p>\n</blockquote>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9395,
"author": "Noah Snyder",
"author_id": 25,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/25",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There are several other scientists named \"Noah Snyder\" and I've never had any problems with confusions. Obviously if you were in the same field you'd need to do something, but my 2 cents is that since you're in different fields why worry about it?</p>\n\n<p>One simple thing you can do is set up a google scholar profile, so that google scholar will be able to distinguish which papers are yours. Note that you'll need to do that even if you add initials.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 14941,
"author": "Stephanie Holmgren",
"author_id": 10133,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10133",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Get an ORCID ID - <a href=\"https://orcid.org/register\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://orcid.org/register</a>. This is an international, non-profit initiative to \"provide a persistent digital identifier that distinguishes you from every other researcher and, through integration in key research workflows such as manuscript and grant submission, supports automated linkages between you and your professional activities ensuring that your work is recognized\"</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/16 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9382",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/704/"
]
|
9,385 | <p>Especially if you are someone who is entering a PhD with very broad interests and little depth of knowledge in your field.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9413,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you are talking about the writing of a formal proposal document, the rules vary from department to department. If you are talking about the idea for a project, then that needs to be developed very early on—the tentative idea should already be in place by the time work starts. </p>\n\n<p>In my department, for instance, students had roughly one year from the completion of the qualifying examination to submit the research proposal. This was a fairly substantial document (25-30 pages). Other schools I considered required the submission as late as the third or fourth year (in what was nominally a five- to six-year program); in that case, the research proposal was almost a first draft of the thesis, as it was typically anywhere from 50 to 100 pages in length!</p>\n\n<p>In my current department, students receive fellowships to work on projects with their advisors. In such cases, the advisor typically plans the basic outline of the project, and the start of the work plan. Later years are left for the student to devise.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9431,
"author": "Legendre",
"author_id": 1190,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1190",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>For PhD in the United Kingdom:</p>\n\n<p>It is not uncommon for students submit a PhD research proposal as part of their application for the PhD program. They can also find a supervisor to work on the research proposal together before submitting it as part of their application.</p>\n\n<p>I have applied for a PhD in another field before and was able to write a proposal in 2 weeks that was good enough to get an interview for the program. This was with the help of a supervisor who gave me the research area, open problems he is interested in, relevant literature and he read several of my drafts.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9433,
"author": "StasK",
"author_id": 739,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/739",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In the department where I got my degree at, the proposal was expected in the third year, had to represent about 30% of dissertation work, and qualified as a Master's defense should the student drop out of the program and yet being able to walk away with <em>something</em> in hand. In the department where I worked, the proposal was expected half a year before the defense (i.e., in the fall of the fifth year), had to constitute about 80% of the work, and basically was a rehearsal for the job market talk (the winter of the fifth year). So yes, rules and traditions vary from department to department and from discipline to discipline. Ask your Director of Graduate studies (or chair if the department does not have a designated officer for this role) as to what the expectations are.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/16 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9385",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6803/"
]
|
9,388 | <p>If someone has bad grades and limited programming experience, can they afford to rely on their first year of coursework to come up to speed with the field? Or is it a better idea to take some time off before starting your PhD and improve your skills?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9405,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This is phrased as a question about first-year coursework, but it's actually a question about admissions. Specifically, a department won't offer admission to someone they feel has inadequate preparation, so this situation should not arise (assuming the admissions process works well).</p>\n\n<p>From this perspective, the reformulated question is: if you have bad grades and limited programming experience, is admission to a CS PhD program still possible, or do you need to take some time off to improve your skills?</p>\n\n<p>At this level of detail, there's no way to say for sure. If your application shows nothing but bad grades and lack of programming experience, then admission is presumably out of the question. On the other hand, why would you even want to enter a PhD program without some other background that indicates it's a good idea? In which case the admissions decision comes down to what that background is and whether it outweighs the grades and programming experience. It would take something impressive, but it's possible in principle.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25630,
"author": "user812786",
"author_id": 5929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5929",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Current CS PhD student here, I can at least speak to the content of coursework. It does depends a lot on what sort of programming experience you have, and what field you are planning to go into - e.g., if all you've done is some web dev and you want to work on compilers, you're going to have a lot of catching up to do. But if you wanted to do HCI and you can pick up new syntax relatively fast, you'd probably be fine.</p>\n\n<p>Personally, while I had both decent grades and a fair amount of programming experience in undergrad, I was primarily a physics major and hadn't taken any courses on topics that everyone already seemed to know about, like parallel computing or crypto or even networking - starting out with grad courses on those topics was one of the hardest things for me, not learning a new language. Classes move a lot faster and assume a lot more background knowledge at the graduate level vs. undergrad. For example, in my programming language course, we spent two days on an introduction to OCaml, where the undergrad level course spent about two weeks. It's certainly possible - and schools do admit people with limited CS experience but demonstrate promise in other ways! - but it will mean you have to work a little harder to catch up. As an example, in my \"advanced database manangement systems\" course last semester, I was in a project group with two other CS PhD students, one of whom knew only MATLAB (he was going into theory), and the other had a some experience (an intro class or two) with Java. However, they were both either planning to or taking undergrad-level programming courses. So that is one option, although of course it'd be more work on top of your classes. I would say the most important factor in deciding to take time off to \"get up to speed\" would be whether or not you feel you know enough about your desired field. If it's just \"wow [x] sounds so cool, I wanna work on that!\", you might want to take time to get your feet wet and see if you really do like it before committing to a Ph.D. program. But if you are sure enough, apply away, and be confident in knowing that an admission offer means they think you're ready to go!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 25632,
"author": "Ricky Sharma",
"author_id": 19404,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19404",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I came into my PhD in CS (JHU) with a solid background in mathematics (12+ graduate courses, 8 undergraduate courses) but little programming experience (I had data structures and theory of computation). I worked a few hours a day just on catching up. It was difficult my first year. If you feel confident about your ability to learn and are able to work extra hard (zero other responsibilities) then I would just begin. </p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/16 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9388",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6803/"
]
|
9,392 | <p>Some days ago I was talking with a friend of mine, who is currently a post-doc at the illustrious <a href="http://www.iit.it">Italian Institute of Technology (IIT)</a> working on humanoid robotics.</p>
<p>He was quite disgruntled because he recently spent a lot of time testing his latest discoveries and writing a scientific paper to submit to an important artificial intelligence conference, but on the day of the deadline, his supervisor asked him not to submit the paper. Indeed, his supervisor felt the experiments were not good enough, or the results were not excellent.</p>
<p>Anyway, he did not want him to submit the paper, and so he did not do it.</p>
<p>We discussed about it and we both stated that, even if the paper and the discoveries were not excellent, they should have sent the paper anyway. The eventual rejection maybe would have come later, by the reviewers, together with the important review notes.
This way, they would have <strong>probably</strong> got a <strong>paper rejection</strong>, but they would have been able to <strong>treasure the reviewers' review notes</strong>.
Instead, with his supervisor initial rejection, they won't get anything except their opinions.</p>
<p>So we thought that his supervisor had a bad idea.</p>
<p>My question is: <strong>why did his supervisor suggest him not to submit the paper?</strong> Why did he not think about the possibility of <strong>getting at least the reviewers' comments</strong>?</p>
<p>Is a paper rejection so <strong>grave</strong> a fact?
Is it so <strong>dishonorable</strong> to get a paper rejection?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9397,
"author": "walkmanyi",
"author_id": 1265,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1265",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Let's start from the latter questions.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Is a paper rejection a so grave fact? </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>No. Unless you are not resilient enough and ready to become depressed because of a paper rejection. Happens in early PhD, later it usually gets easier to swallow.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Is it so dishonorable to get a paper rejection?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>No it is not.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>why his supervisor suggest him not to submit the paper? Why did he not think about the possibility of getting at least the reviewers' comments?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I can't know what the particular reasons were, but here are my own personal considerations in situations like this.</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>As a reviewer I value my time. I am very frustrated with papers which are obviously substandard and I have to waste my time to deliver a high quality review. Remember, also low quality papers deserve a high quality review. A review is a standalone artifact too and as such it has to be crafted too. Over time we develop a good feeling what is the required standard for a given venue.</p></li>\n<li><p>My name is connected to a paper when I submit it. You are submitting and delivering a piece of work. Most people with high personal integrity attitude want to deliver only their top pieces of work. I certainly do not want my name to be attached to a piece of work I am ashamed for. Therefore, sometimes I stop myself and don't submit a paper when I know it is not up to scratch. It happens to me quite often. </p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>Notice, <em>as a frequent reviewer, I very well know what the reviewers' response would be</em>. If you are desperate and in a need of a yet another publication, OK, frivolous submissions is a game you can play. If you have a high standard on yourself and your surroundings, playing this game is no good. Delivering good work is what counts, delivering yet another insignificant paper doesn't. In this case we do not speak about rejection on the ground of correctness, or projected significance, but on the ground of not being up to the minimal standard.</p>\n\n<p>Later edit: the above stance is about subjective attitude to things, therefore point 2 applies also to conferences with double-blind review policy. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9401,
"author": "Chris Gregg",
"author_id": 4461,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4461",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Reviewers almost universally volunteer their time, and if you are sending a paper that you feel will be rejected because it isn't ready for publication, and/or has serious flaws, then you'll waste the time of a number of people trying to get one or two nuggets of feedback.</p>\n\n<p>Blind review is not the time to elicit feedback on your work; it is meant to ensure a forum for reviewing <strong>publishable</strong> work. If you want feedback on your work, make the contacts with the right people who will help you, and don't try to abuse the review system by submitting immature work under false pretenses or with an ulterior motive.</p>\n\n<p>p.s. There are places for work that isn't quite ready: conference workshops. Many times they are blind review, but with a high acceptance rate and with the hope that workshop attendees will provide good feedback on the work and it can be improved for conference or journal publication.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9403,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Paper rejections are far more common than one might think. A rejection rate of 50% is not uncommon in most average journals that I know about. In some high-reputation journals it may be over 90%. So rejection is not uncommon. There are of course different reasons for a rejection, some worse than others (incomplete and in approximately falling order): the manuscript (MS) content is not appropriate for the journal; the MS (and/or figures) is poorly formated (to the point that it is hard to follow); the MS has severe language problems; the science is poorly supported by references and/or the discussion; the MS contains scientific errors or misconceptions; and then more shady problems such as falsification and plagiarism.</p>\n\n<p>Now to send in a MS just to get comments from reviewers. As an editor, I really would resent this behaviour. After all what is happening is that the Ms would take up at least one editor and a couple of reviewers (free) time (none are usually paid for the work). There are authors who send in their half-baked manuscripts just to have reviewers help them iron out things they were too lazy or incapable to do themselves. I know such cases personally. The risk is that the paper gets rejected but if not then someone pours in a lot of work for very little credit (which in turn is taken up by someone else).</p>\n\n<p>So from the description above, I would say that the advisor may have done the honest thing and wanted to prepare the paper as best he/she could, you be the judge. It is of course a grey zone when something may be good enough to become accepted for review or just not good enough and head for rejection. Where one draws this line is perhaps personal but it is far better to stay away from the grey zone altogether. I would therefore suggest that discussing this matter with the advisor may prove to be both a fruitful and interesting endeavour.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9404,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The other answers mention that submitting a paper only to get some feedback is a waste of time for the reviewers, and it can be particularly damageable for your reputation when the submission is not double-blind. Remember that academia is a small world, and reputation a very important aspect. </p>\n\n<p>In addition, submitting a paper to a venue usually prevents to submit it to other venues, at least during the reviewing process. When you're pretty sure that the paper will be rejected, you might miss other opportunities. </p>\n\n<p>Finally, there is another risk: the paper might be accepted! Of course, at first, you might think it's a good thing, but if the results are not good enough, it might hurt your reputation, and there is of course the possibility that you're wrong. Publishing wrong results (and I'm only talking about mistake, not fraud) is far worse than getting a paper rejected. On top of that, if the paper is published, it might be harder to publish only the improved results, as they might not consist a novel contribution on their own. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9418,
"author": "Manishearth",
"author_id": 1035,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1035",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>When I was 16, I had a rather nice idea for a quantum mechanical experiment. At the time, my theoretical foundations were shaky, and I just wanted to know if there were any flaws in it. Unfortunately, I didn't have any contacts in the physics academia, so I had nobody to talk to. Instead, I went ahead and submitted it, and mentioned that I only wanted input. Here's the mail I received:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Dear Prof. Manish Goregaokar,</p>\n \n <p>We have received your submission [id] entitled [title]</p>\n \n <p>Before entering a submission to the reviewing process, we check\n whether it obeys criteria such as the following:</p>\n \n <ul>\n <li>Is the topic of research suitable for this journal?</li>\n <li>Does the paper contain original ideas and new\n results?</li>\n <li>Are the arguments and calculations accurate and\n correct?</li>\n <li>Is the exposition sufficiently well organized, and\n worded well?</li>\n <li>Does the overall quality agree with our very tough\n standards?</li>\n </ul>\n \n <p>I regret to inform you that the editors had to conclude that this work\n is not suitable for publication in Foundations of Physics.</p>\n \n <p>I would like to thank you very much for forwarding your manuscript to\n us for consideration and wish you every success in finding an\n alternative place of publication.</p>\n \n <p>With kind regards,</p>\n \n <p>Gerard 't Hooft Chief Editor</p>\n \n <p>Specific comments from a member of the Editorial Board:</p>\n \n <p><strong>It is not considered a task of the editorial office to evaluate\n unpublished, or unpublishable, research.</strong></p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>(emphasis mine, I have removed references to the specific paper)</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>If I had not mentioned that I was only looking for input, then I may have gotten a more detailed rejection. However, it is clear from this that the priority of the editors is not to help researchers along, but rather to focus on publishable stuff -- which is perfectly understandable.</p>\n\n<p>Regarding your specific situation (different from mine since you were planning to submit <em>without</em> mentioning that you only wanted an eval): My guess is that the supervisor did it out of courtesy. He did not feel that the editors should waste their time on something which does not benefit them -- sure, helping others is a good thing, but forcing (or tricking) someone into to helping you isn't.</p>\n\n<p>I wouldn't know much about whether or not paper rejection is dishonorable, though.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/16 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9392",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/379/"
]
|
9,393 | <p>In the past, when forming student groups in class I've always allowed the students to form their own groups, which has certainly made them happy as they tend to form around social circles. As a side note, students at my school go together as classes so they have years where they know all the other people in their class quite well.</p>
<p>However, I'm considering doing things differently this time. I'm thinking to actively form the groups in such a way that strong students are in groups with weak students and average students - that is, groups are balanced and there are no 'strong' or 'weak' groups. I believe I can simply randomly pick students for each group and as long as strong, normal, and weak exist in roughly equal numbers, I will naturally achieve my goals, at least for the most part.</p>
<p>What I'm really wondering is if anyone knows the effects of student groups being formed by teachers as opposed to being formed by students themselves when those students have a strong social connection because of traveling though university as a group.</p>
<p><strong>Edit: The class size is 70 and the group size is five.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Edit(2): While the studying will be done in teams, individual members are assessed individually - social loafing will hurt the loafer the most.</strong></p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9425,
"author": "Nobody",
"author_id": 546,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/546",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I am not sure this is a good idea in your case,</p>\n\n<p>They <em>go together as classes so they have years where they know all the other people in their class quite well.</em></p>\n\n<p>So, there is a long story in their social circles. You really don't want to be part of that story.</p>\n\n<p>For example, if student A and student B happen to be dating the same person, where do you put A and B?</p>\n\n<p>In addition to balance skills, I can understand one of your purposes is to let them work together as professionals regardless their personal relationships. In the real world, it would work if there is a good group leader. </p>\n\n<p>In your case, how do you find 14 good leaders from 70 students? (group size is 5)</p>\n\n<p>Note that you mention strong, average and weak students. I would like to emphasize that it is not too hard to find 14 strong students from 70 students. However, it is not an easy task to find 14 good leaders from a 70 student class.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9426,
"author": "Suresh",
"author_id": 346,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you choose the groups, then in a sense you have taken responsibility for their success. A group that perceives themselves as \"weak\" will subconsciously or consciously blame you for their predicament, absolving them of the need to work hard. </p>\n\n<p>You also open yourself up to charges of favoritism or worse. Again, your perception of strength and weakness might be quite different to the students' own perception, and this has little to do with what the \"right\" answer is. </p>\n\n<p>It's not clear that the pedagogical benefits of explicit grouping (even assuming you're able to separate weak from strong, which I am dubious of) balance all the downsides of grouping in this manner. While your goal is honorable (balancing groups so that they're of roughly equal strength), it's a doomed goal.</p>\n\n<p>You can never force equality in the classroom. What you can aim for is fairness. A group formed by students is fair in the sense that the students can't complain that you forced them into it. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9427,
"author": "Irwin",
"author_id": 5944,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5944",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>My armchair researching dug up a lot of articles about this. I'm not an education scholar but here's a brief slice of some results from some research in the business education literature.</p>\n\n<p>From <em>Randall S. Hansen (2006)</em>: Benefits and Problems With Student Teams: Suggestions for Improving Team Projects, Journal of Education for Business, 82:1, 11-19</p>\n\n<p>In their related work section, their works surveyed suggest that professor-selected groups appear to have a more positive experience.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>However, Muller (1989) stated that student preferences are not\n necessarily the most important criterion for successful group work,\n whereas Koppenhaver and Shrader (2003) suggested that\n instructor-assigned teams lead to more stability in membership, and\n that stability enhances each team’s ability to perform effectively.\n Contrary to earlier researchers, Hernandez (2002) stated that student\n teams should be formed by the instructor, and that students are more\n likely to have a positive learning experience when groups are selected\n by the professor.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>In an empirical study by <em>Praveen Aggarwal and Connie L. O'Brien (2008)</em>: Social Loafing on Group Projects: Structural Antecedents and Effect on Student Satisfaction, Journal of Marketing Education. 30:255, they hypothesize that self-selection of groups might reduce social loafing, based on some related work below:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>[...] This prediction has some precedence in the pedagogical\n literature. Groups formed by the students instead of random assignment\n by the instructor are assumed to be more cohe- sive, more productive,\n and experience a lower incidence of social loafing (Strong & Anderson,\n 1990). Mahenthiran and Rouse (2000) found that paired groups of\n friends had less incidence of social loafing than randomly assigned\n groups.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>However, after their empirical study of 420 students in marketing and marketing-related fields, they conclude that there's no effect of student self-selected teams on social loafing.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>In this study we proposed four such factors: reducing the scope of the\n project, reducing group size, allowing students to self-select group\n members, and including multiple peer evaluations. Three of the four\n factors were found to have an impact on social loafing.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>The only one that didn't have an impact was self-selection.</p>\n\n<p>So one paper says that self-selection is worse, another says it generally doesn't matter. This might suggest that there are other factors that you may want to consider first with respect to making teams perform.</p>\n\n<p>However, as mentioned, I'm not a business education researcher, and these projects might not generalize to other domains either. For example, the fact that these two papers don't cite a similar body of work might suggest that there's a lot more stuff out there. If someone out there is able to expand on this that would be excellent.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9429,
"author": "penelope",
"author_id": 4249,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4249",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I have a practical suggestion based on a course I used to attend.</p>\n<p>It was a natural continuation of another course (which was a requirement), and the majority of the student body from the first course was proceeding to take the second course.</p>\n<p>The <strong>only team leaders were picked by the professor</strong>, in a sense that the best students from the previous class were team leaders, and were <strong>free to form their group</strong> as they wanted.</p>\n<p>This ensured several things:</p>\n<ul>\n<li><p>no "elite" team with only the top students</p>\n</li>\n<li><p>the groups were formed mostly to students liking</p>\n</li>\n<li><p>some degree of balance was naturally present</p>\n<p>(e.g. we grouped on purpose with 6:4 in favor of "stronger" students, because we were allowed to distribute the assignment grade on our own, and that way non-perfect score still meant everybody got approximately the grade they wanted <em>which coincided mostly</em> with their effort: non-perfect project was not a tragedy)</p>\n</li>\n<li><p>on the previous class, a small number of students were actually "pushed" to go the extra mile, do exceptionally, and provide a team leader for their social group</p>\n</li>\n</ul>\n<p>From the student perspective, at least, it worked pretty well. If you say the student body is not changing that much from class to class, maybe something similar could work.</p>\n<p>The downside might be that an "elite" group is clearly identified, but if it is based on objective criteria, and not seemingly the random whiff of a professor, it does not seem so bad.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9436,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Balancing skills is very different from balancing past performance. Strong students will, by definition, be strong at most things. Weak students on the other hand will have different strengths. For example, a group of weak students who are all bad at X, will form an extremely weak group. A group of weak students where student A is bad at X but excellent at Y, student B is bad at Y but excellent at Z, and student C is bad at Z but excellent at X could actually form an extremely strong group. Better than grouping on past performance might be for students to rank their strengths at X, Y, and Z and create groups based on this. This will alert students to the strengths required to do well and also allow them to see the strengths/weakness of their groups.</p>\n\n<p>An alternative, which was used during my undergraduate education, is to use a personality test to create groups. This way the students are aware of the benefits/difficulties of personal interactions, which is of high importance to success.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/16 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9393",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2692/"
]
|
9,396 | <p>I was reading <a href="http://mor.journal.informs.org/content/37/1/111">this paper</a> titled "Optimal Symmetric Rendezvous Search on Three Locations." While talking about the history of search problems, the author mentions the following anecdote in passing.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>In 2007 a letter writer to the Guardian newspaper queried, “I lost my wife in the crowd at Glastonbury (a music festival). What is the best strategy for finding her?” A reader replied, “Start talking to an attractive woman. Your wife
will reappear almost immediately.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>While I found it quite amusing to read this, I do not often come across papers with such witticisms. Is there an unwritten rule about the tone of sobriety that is considered appropriate in academic papers? Are jokes or anecdotes fine as long as they do not appear forced?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9398,
"author": "walkmanyi",
"author_id": 1265,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1265",
"pm_score": 7,
"selected": true,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>Are jokes or anecdotes fine as long as they do not appear forced?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>To me, there is a single measure for this: <em>does a sentence X contribute to the paper, or not.</em> If the answer is <code>no</code>, it shouldn't be there at all. </p>\n\n<p>To apply the principle to the joke: <em>if the joke illustrates a common problem which needs a solution, or illustrates a common (perhaps insufficient) solution to a well stated problem, then it certainly has a place in a research paper.</em></p>\n\n<p>I understand scientific writing as a form of literature. I do not see any reason for literature (including scientific discourse) not to be entertaining as well, when appropriate. But everything has its time and place. However, it shouldn't be forced and has to fit the main contribution of the paper, hence the filter rule above.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9400,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>To add to walkmanyi's good answer: To make jokes in a scientific article is \"dangerous\". It is similarly a bad idea to use \"quotes\"! In both cases the reader may interpret the written text in many different and unforeseen ways. It is particularly problematic since readers come from many different cultures and different ways of expressing themselves, for example, figuratively. Since clarity should be a key aspect of an article, it is best to stay clear of jokes and such, keeping the somber tone you refer to.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9402,
"author": "Noah Snyder",
"author_id": 25,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/25",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Quoting <a href=\"http://terrytao.wordpress.com/advice-on-writing-papers/write-professionally/\">Terry Tao:</a></p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Overly philosophical, witty, obscure or otherwise “clever” comments should generally be avoided; they may not seem so clever to you ten years from now, and can sometimes irritate the very readers you want to communicate your result to.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>However, you'll always be a little embarrassed looking back at yourself, so this is a pretty mild warning. I think there's nothing wrong with a little humor in papers.</p>\n\n<p>That said, your example joke is definitely inappropriate to put in a formal paper because it's a joke that assumes the audience is all straight men. There may be a place for mildly sexist humor, but that place is not the workplace.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9409,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Humor should be used sparingly, and when used, should not be obviously offensive. If you can imagine that someone could <em>reasonably</em> take offense to something, then it shouldn't be included in a formal research article. I would even avoid such a joke in a formal talk. </p>\n\n<p>That said, humor <em>does</em> have its place in a scientific delivery. I often include a few wry remarks in my classroom lectures, but they are used sparingly, and only to lighten the mood. (I might make reference, for example, that you could do something, but only if you want your work to end up in the <a href=\"http://www.jir.com\"><em>Journal of Irreproducible Results</em>.</a>)</p>\n\n<p>But tasteless and overly lewd jokes should be saved for a stand-up comedy routine.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9419,
"author": "sds",
"author_id": 5829,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5829",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There was a physicist(?) in the Soviet Union who always sited a non-existent paper by Cheyne and Stokes (\"irregular respiration brings relief\"?) in <em>all</em> his publications (and also thanked them in acknowledgements). He was imprisoned in the GULAG in 1953 when it was announced (on March 5th) that Stalin had <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheyne%E2%80%93Stokes_respiration\" rel=\"noreferrer\">Cheyne–Stokes respiration</a>. Another inmate, a physician, explained to him that this meant an inevitable death, and, thus, a hope for a change in their fortunes.</p>\n\n<p>I am not sure if this qualifies as \"humor\", but I see no problem with it.</p>\n\n<p>More to the point, you want your paper to be read to the end, and you want the readers to understand and appreciate the results. If a joke would illuminate your point, making it clear and unforgettable, go for it!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9420,
"author": "Nick P",
"author_id": 6821,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6821",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The truth is that it depends on your institution. My college required us to keep a somber tone, avoid dressing up how we presented things, etc. In other words, it had to sound incredibly boring. We were taught that academic papers were meant to deliver factual information. These other things didn't contribute to the facts or analysis, so they were unnecessary. I'm sure many other institutions might have variations of these rules. Break the rules, your paper doesn't make it. :(</p>\n\n<p>Here's why I think that's ludicrous. ;) The purpose of any written work (excluding entertainment) is to convey a message. The writer must get the reader's attention, adequately get the message across, HOLD reader's attention while doing so, and (optionally) leave a lasting impression. Requirements 1, 3, and 4 are all in the presentation. So, it stands to reason that a witty, funny, or just somewhat unique presentation of content is entirely justified. </p>\n\n<p>The irony of it is that many other classes taught us these principles of effective writing and captivating penmanship, then the academic papers we wrote were to avoid these things to be more successful. Makes a lot of sense, yeah? </p>\n\n<p>Bonus thought. Academic papers also don't usually happen in a vacuum: many papers published in journals are competing with others. Different institutions want to make the best papers, find greatest discoveries, have highest acclaim, etc. It's not all that different from people publishing books. In light of this, I think academics have even more justification for going the extra mile to make their work stand out. Just a thought. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9422,
"author": "Julian",
"author_id": 6823,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6823",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The driest book I ever read was the revised report on Algol 68. It was liberally salted with quotes. The best one was the \"Merely corroborative detail\" line from the Mikado, used to introduce pragmas (a kind of semantically meaningful comment). Quotes like this stopped one wanting to slit ones' wrist while reading the meat of the document.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9423,
"author": "Samuel Russell",
"author_id": 4429,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4429",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Answering from a Humanities, Arts and Social Science (HASS) focus, to contrast the STEM focus of previous responses:</p>\n\n<p>Humour may play a vital role in both the dissemination of, and methodology of HASS discoveries. HASS fields tend to deal with multiple overlaid meanings, whether they reference social meanings or cultural meanings or pure ideas. Things that simultaneously mean many things tend to be funny. </p>\n\n<p>Umberto Eco's sly fable, <em>In the Name of the Rose</em> is a useful case here. Eco is otherwise a scholar in a field where multiple meanings are vitally important. His novel is a Sherlock Holmes pastiche, a piece of pulp fiction, while also being a sly attack on Stalinism and Academic life. Perhaps most importantly for this question, the issue of whether the innermost nature of reality (God, art / the least worst empirically tested description of external reality) can only be approached in a reverent and serious fashion, or whether the seriously funny kind of levity also gives us access to reality? Now <em>In the Name of the Rose</em> may not have been the best way to communicate new linguistics findings; but, a serious exegesis of <em>In the Name of the Rose</em> as a post-modern novel might reasonably try to recreate some of the levity of its evidentiary text.</p>\n\n<p>I wouldn't suggest writing a paper full of the Big Bumper Book of Jokes, but if your evidence is naturally funny (anti-government jokes as representative of public sentiment); or, if there's an obvious irony in the case study that you can state clearly for the reader; or, if the proper presentation of your findings calls for wit; then, use it within the broader genre conventions of your discipline's writing.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13447,
"author": "Chris H",
"author_id": 8494,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8494",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If it makes your point well, then a comment that is humorous can add to the paper. The cutoff for this is rather more permissive in a conference presentation, though sprinkling a few semi-relevant jokes into a presentation is best left to the keynotes.</p>\n\n<p>The more eminent the author, the more they can get away with in terms of grabbing the reader's attention: How about the abstract to <a href=\"http://iopscience.iop.org/1751-8121/44/49/492001/article\" rel=\"nofollow\">Can apparent superluminal neutrino speeds be explained as a quantum weak measurement?</a></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 15593,
"author": "Marc Claesen",
"author_id": 7173,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7173",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Sometimes humor can help readers to remember the essence of an approach. The best example I can give in this regard is from Leo Breiman's original paper about bagging predictors<sup>*</sup> (paper available <a href=\"http://statistics.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/tech-reports/421.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">here</a>). In the conclusion he summarizes the paper like this:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Bagging goes a ways toward making a silk purse out of a sow's ear, especially if the sow's ear is twitchy.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p><sub>* Used to make a stronger model by combining a set of weak ones, which is particularly effective when there is high variability between the weak models.</sub></p>\n\n<p>On very rare occasions, authors go even further and write a paper about a humorous topic, such as <a href=\"http://www.math.upenn.edu/~ted/203S10/Projects/Zombies/Zombies.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">WHEN ZOMBIES ATTACK!: MATHEMATICAL MODELLING OF AN OUTBREAK OF ZOMBIE INFECTION</a>. Humor can be a good way of bringing abstract matter under the spotlight for laymen to appreciate.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/16 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9396",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/411/"
]
|
9,408 | <p>I'm currently finishing up my J.D., and I plan on practicing law for at least a few years. However, I'm also considering returning to school to study CS. In the meantime, I plan on researching and attempting to publish at least a few articles - perhaps some related to cyber law. </p>
<p>Given the less rigorous nature of law review, how would an admission committee view these? </p>
<p>Also, does the prestige of the journal matter - i.e. <em>Harvard Journal of Law & Technology</em> vs. <em>Michigan State Law Review</em>?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9410,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The higher the quality the journal you can publish in, the better—but that's a truism.</p>\n\n<p>On the other hand, I don't know how much weight an admissions committee would give to a law review publication, because these tend to be <em>synthetic</em> papers rather than <em>creative</em> papers: that is, a law review acts much like a literature review paper, instead of a paper where you've done original research and found an interesting result. Consequently, it's not fully reflective of what you would be doing as a researcher, and thus may carry less weight overall than a traditional research article.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9416,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>First, I don't agree much with aeismail's assessment that <em>review articles “may carry less weight overall than a traditional research article”</em>. A <strong>good review article</strong> is very hard to write, because this requires a very high level of understanding of the existing research and literature, as well as strategic thinking to discuss what will be of importance in times to come. To me, this is actually very much harder for a PhD student to have than publishing a “regular” research article. I think most committees would agree.</p>\n\n<p>Now, how will the committee recognized a good review article? Ideally, by reading it and being impressed at the clarity and level of the discussion it displays. <strong>In the real world? Probably by the name and prestige of the journal it was published in.</strong></p>\n\n<p>So, my advice is: publish good stuff, in good venues. It matters more that you get to publish things, than what exactly you publish, as long as it is good! <em>(Yeah, that sounds trivial, but you asked for it!)</em></p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/16 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9408",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6815/"
]
|
9,438 | <p>Today, I read the name “Howard University” on a list, and since I had no idea where it was, I looked it up. I was amazed from their website because, well, most people on the photos there are black!</p>
<p>Since I assume it does not reflect the ethnicity of the local environment (Washington DC), I went to search for an explanation. Wikipedia says it's a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historically_black_colleges_and_universities" rel="noreferrer">“historically black university”</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>established before 1964 with the intention of serving the black community</p>
</blockquote>
<p>So, I understand that segregation-era black universities might have a predominantly African American faculty and student body after the end of segregation, but it's now almost 50 years ago. So, <strong>what factors explain how an institution such as Howard University didn't get more ethnically/racially diverse, while multiculturalism seems an important part of academic way of life?</strong></p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9441,
"author": "Anonymous",
"author_id": 6110,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6110",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The excellent book \"Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?\", by Beverly Daniel Tatum, offers an explanation of -- well, the question posed by the title of the book, but as a general phenomenon, for example why HBCU's continue to appeal to African-Americans. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9443,
"author": "Noah Snyder",
"author_id": 25,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/25",
"pm_score": 7,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I just don't think HBCUs are all that unusual in terms of having a student body that's not a random demographic sample of the United States. Brandeis has a higher than average percentage of Jewish students, Cardiff has a higher than average percentage of Welsh students, and Duke has a higher percentage of southern students. Students pick schools in part by cultural and social match, and ethnicity plays a role there. Furthermore, people go to schools that their family members and friends went to, and a black kid is more likely to have grown up hearing \"keep up the good work and you'll get into Howard/Morehouse/Spelman\" from their alumni parents and teachers while a white kid's role models are less likely to be Howard alums. Finally, demographic shifts happen slowly: Sarah Lawrence has been coed since 1968 and it's still 3/4s female.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 158173,
"author": "user131051",
"author_id": 131051,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/131051",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As a Black graduate of Howard University, I think this best sums the factors and answers your question. The United States of America, has embedded within its socio-economic and political systems, systemic racism. The reasons for Howard University, in fact all HBCUs existence still remains. Until the systemic racism is directed to all OR until it is significantly removed, there is no reason for any HBCU to become a PWI (predominately white institution).</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/17 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9438",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700/"
]
|
9,439 | <p>I decided fairly late in life (21) that I feel like studying mathematics. I've always been interested in higher maths, I've just been daunted by some of the esoteric notations and theorems. But, no longer a philistine, I'm infatuated with pure mathematics. Right now I'm pursuing a Bachelor's degree in English. Is there a way I can get a Phd via an MSc? </p>
<p>I guess what I'm really asking is this: <strong>Is it possible to get into a Masters program without having a Bachelors in the field?</strong></p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9440,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>From my experience, it is possible to get into a masters program without a bachelor in the field. What you do need to do though display an aptitude for the subject. Also, if you were to be admitted into a masters program, you would likely be required to take undergraduate courses to get \"up to speed.\"</p>\n\n<p>Since you are still in undergrad studies, why not make the switch now by taking mathematics courses. The additional advantage to this is if it turns out that you don't like the area, you had not invested a significant amount of effort and time.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9450,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Yes, it's possible to get a graduate degree in mathematics even if your undergraduate degree is in a completely unrelated field. (Everything I say will be assuming you are in the U.S.; otherwise, I don't know.) In practice, you'll need to acquire much of the knowledge from an undergraduate degree in mathematics before starting, although you can fill in a few gaps during a master's program.</p>\n\n<p>If you have unlimited time and money, then it's straightforward. You take undergraduate courses until you have completed most of a math major, either by delaying your graduation or by taking courses as a special student (i.e., not in a degree program) after your bachelor's degree. At that point, even thought you won't have a degree in mathematics, you'll be able to make a compelling case that you have equivalent background. You may not have a strong enough application to get into a top Ph.D. program directly, but you should be able to get into a master's program in a decent department, and if you do well enough there you can apply to even stronger departments for your Ph.D.</p>\n\n<p>The drawback with this plan is that it's slow (you might spend two years or more taking courses before even applying to master's programs) and expensive (you'll be being charged tuition for these courses). Instead, the real question isn't whether it's possible in principle, but rather how to get to a Ph.D. program as quickly as possible, since at that point you'll no longer need to pay anything.</p>\n\n<p>How efficiently you can do this depends heavily on your background and experience. If you are just starting to take college math courses, then it may take several years to prepare yourself for a master's program. If you already have a lot of experience, then you might be ready to apply this fall. I'd recommend consulting with faculty in your math department to see what they think of your background and what they would advise.</p>\n\n<p>There exist certificate or post-baccalaureate programs designed to prepare people from other fields for math grad school. (See, for example, <a href=\"http://departments.columbian.gwu.edu/math/certificates/gradmath\">http://departments.columbian.gwu.edu/math/certificates/gradmath</a>.) Such a program could be useful, depending on how well it fits with your background and preparation.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9462,
"author": "StasK",
"author_id": 739,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/739",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I got into MSc program in Economics having my base degree in Engineering, and then moved to get a Ph.D. in Statistics with these two degrees. But all of them are highly math-intensive. You are at about 5-8 years disadvantage compared to Chinese and Korean applicants, and at about 3-5 years disadvantage compared to US applicants (again, assuming that you are in the U.S.). While Anonymous Mathematician, obviously, has a more in depth knowledge of what kind of applicants are being admitted to his or her department, I would say that it seems very difficult to me given your non-technical background. You can take courses in math, but if you have not been trained to think as a mathematician, you won't be able to fit into math world. (A girlfriend who was majoring in math dumped me when I was an undergrad saying \"You don't think like a mathematician\". So be prepared that this is a different bunch than the people you are used to in your English classes.) This had to happen throughout your secondary school; if you start math in college, you could still do engineering and economics, but pure math is nearly impossible. Furthermore, you would have to seek proof-based courses, and you may not see them until the senior year even if you major in math. (I was stunned to hear from one of my students that he only saw epsilon-delta formalism in calculus as a senior in college; I had it as a junior in high school.) If you apply to a graduate math program with just three semesters of calculus, you won't be taken very seriously. I personally think that one cannot seriously call themselves mathematicians unless they know abstract algebra and complex analysis, as these keep reappearing in pretty much every field of mathematics. (Folks at math.stackexchange might be able to give you better pointers as far as specific courses go, though. Your question being moved to Academia made some sense, but it is still very much discipline-specific.)</p>\n\n<p>To get a glimpse of whether you are prepared to work in a math grad program, take GRE Math subject test. If you don't get some 80+%, you are not ready yet (folks <a href=\"http://www.mathematicsgre.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1003\" rel=\"nofollow\">here</a> with scores below 60% don't go anywhere; even folks with 80+% percentile don't get accepted left and right).</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/17 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9439",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
]
|
9,442 | <p>I don't want to stay in academia after finishing my PhD. My current research field is not exciting to me anymore, but also I am too old to change fields. Although my research and my interest were so far quite theoretically focussed, I would like to find a more applied job in R&D in a big prestigeous company, helping improving future technologies. </p>
<p>Now: How do I tell my supervisor? I want to avoid leaving the impression I think our research field is boring.
My supervisor tries already finding Postdoc positions for me, and probably thinks I'm quite qualified for staying in academia. So I fear to be disappointing.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9444,
"author": "Suresh",
"author_id": 346,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Different fields have very different attitudes about academia vs industry. In computer science, for example, research jobs in industry have a lot of respect (and pay incredibly well). Moreover, given how few academic jobs there are out there, it would be foolish not to look for opportunities wherever you can find them.</p>\n\n<p>You don't need to go into academia just because your advisor thinks you should. And you <em>definitely</em> should not take a job that you're not interested in pursuing. As an advisor, I'm happy when my students get good jobs anywhere, and I'd imagine that your supervisor would be that way too. </p>\n\n<p>Most likely your advisor is in \"default mode\" assuming that you'll continue in academia. If you were to tell him/her that you'd like to explore other options, I wouldn't be surprised if he/she had good contacts to help you find good industrial jobs. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9448,
"author": "Nobody",
"author_id": 546,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/546",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Whatever you are going to do after PhD is <strong>your</strong> business. You <strong>own</strong> the decision. Nobody else does.</p>\n\n<p>You want to avoid leaving the impression your research field is boring, then don't say it that way.</p>\n\n<p>Tell him it is your will to go to industry. It is your future at stake.</p>\n\n<p>You would like to <em>find a more applied job in R&D in a big prestigious company, helping improving future technologies</em>. <strong>This is good enough reason to go to industry.</strong> Tell him that. If he disagrees, ask him why.</p>\n\n<p>If he had the impression that you are interested in staying in academia, it's time to tell him the truth. Honesty is the best policy. Tell him you will be much happier if you work in industry.</p>\n\n<p>Be honest. Be frank. Be polite. He is your advisor after all. If he disagrees with you. let him convince you otherwise. Listen to him. He would provide the opinions from his perspective.</p>\n\n<p>Use his advice as the opinion from your advisor (the person who advises you).</p>\n\n<p>Then, make your own decision.</p>\n\n<p>The most important thing for you right now is to <strong>find a job to do whatever you want to do</strong>.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9452,
"author": "walkmanyi",
"author_id": 1265,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1265",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>How do I tell my supervisor? I want to avoid leaving the impression I think our research field is boring.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>The other answers are already very good. You don't have a specifically academic problem, yours is a communication strategy issue.</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><strong>be honest:</strong> in your specific case, tell your advisor as soon as possible in order to avoid a situation when too individuals want/wish each other only good and due to a misalignment it ends up in a clash;</li>\n<li><strong>focus on the positive side:</strong> Communicate that <em>you are motivated to go for an industry position</em>. It's easier than to focus on why you <em>don't want to stay in academia</em>.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>There are always two sides of a coin. Your question sounds as if you wanted to avoid something (staying in academia) and that is always difficult to communicate, since it <strong>pushes</strong> you to defend your decision. Try to formulate it as if you were positively <strong>pulled</strong> to somewhere else. Then it's not you who is on defense, you took the active part in the conversation and usually it will be the other party to defend their position why not to do something (going to industry) is a bad move. As pointed out by others, you own a decision to do something (subjective, hence any reason is good enough), but there usually arises a need to explain why you don't want to go the default route (calls for more objective arguments, which are much harder to formulate). Your motivation for being pulled somewhere can stay vague, I wouldn't even hesitate to invoke emotions, such as <code>I feel like I would like such a job and want to give it a try</code>.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9487,
"author": "Ram",
"author_id": 6853,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6853",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>To be completely honest, I faced a similar situation towards the end of my PhD - I wasn't exactly bored with the research field but simply felt I should try out the non-academia. And I am glad I took that decision. But beware: there is a definite getting-used-to phase wherein you need to come to terms with your ego satisfaction etc. I also know of instances where people have gone back to academics after a 2-year stint at the industry. My 2 cents will be to pitch your am-getting-bored-of-this-stuff down and promote a wanna-try-this-out-too.\nHTH!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9488,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The only way to mention it is to go ahead and actually discuss it with your advisor frankly. You should be prepared to explain why you don't want to go into academia.</p>\n\n<p>However, it may just be the case that your professor assumes you want to go into academia because you haven't told him otherwise! It's quite possible that if you mentioned wanting to go down an alternate career path, he'd help with that, too. (Although that does depend on your advisor.)</p>\n\n<p>You may also need to have this conversation more than once. I've known a few fellow graduate students who have had that issue with their advisors not \"getting the hint\" and continuing to recommend academic positions, <em>even after they've moved on</em>!</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/17 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9442",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7758/"
]
|
9,446 | <p>There are some journals, such as <a href="http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJournal?jid=BBS">Behavioral and Brain Sciences</a>, that publish a single target article per issue, followed by 20 to 30 commentaries on that article, and then a rebuttal/synthesis from the target article authors. Their rough workflow seems to be:</p>
<ol>
<li>Authors submit a target article.</li>
<li>Target article is peer-reviewed as in a normal journal, with a focus on if it is of sufficient interest to warrant discussion in such a forum setting.</li>
<li>If accepted, the editors send a massive number of invitations to associates of the journal, soliciting commentary proposals on the target article. A dark-net link to the final version of the target article is included.</li>
<li>Authors submit commentary proposals, and the editors review them, selecting a subset that would make a good discussion.</li>
<li>Selected commentators write their articles and submit them to the editors</li>
<li>Editors do a quick review of commentaries and pass them on to the target article authors for a rebuttal.</li>
<li>Target article authors write a rebuttal.</li>
<li>Everything is published at the same time (this is the stage that BBS makes anything directly publicly available from their site).</li>
</ol>
<p>At stage [3], the number of commentators contacted is significantly in excess of what you would for soliciting peer review. A link to the post-review paper that is accessible without any logins is also distributed, but this link is on the 'dark net' -- nothing on the main site links directly to it. The contacted associates are encouraged to share the article with their colleagues and bring non-contacted collaborators on board if they want to write a commentary. </p>
<p>My question is: <strong>to what extent can the sharing in step [3] be taken?</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><p>Can you share the article privately as much as you want? I.e. can a non-associate that was sent the article by an associate (but not the editor) then forward it to another non-associate?</p></li>
<li><p>Can you contact the authors of the target article with questions or comments that make it obvious that you've read the article? (Note, that you wouldn't be able to do this for an article you are peer-reviewing)</p></li>
<li><p>Can you write a blog post about the article before it comes out, making a summary of it, and referencing it as (to appear)?</p></li>
<li><p>Can you share the link that was emailed to you publicly (say on your blog)?</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Note that the target authors often have a preprint of the target article linked from their website, kind of like a white paper (although it isn't always exactly the same version as is sent out by BBS). I am interested in answers to the above questions in both cases: when a preprint is available from the authors and when only the BBS dark-net link exists.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 10150,
"author": "Shayna",
"author_id": 7157,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7157",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you are unclear on the matter, I would ask the person who sent you the article. Asking the editor or authors may get the person who sent it to you in trouble. In most cases, the first answer is probably no. However, it may be true in some cases where there are no provisions on the confidentiality of the article. When sent out to be peer reviewed, they usually stamp the title page of the article with the confidentiality clauses. I don't think you should contact the authors until the peer-reviewing process is over, but that doesn't mean you can't. They might just refuse to comment. The last two questions you have posted... You most definitely cannot do that. You could get in major trouble for early distribution of research, especially if the project is not finished. You may face academic dis-accreditation which would make it very difficult for you to ever be involved in the academic community. This would be especially true if you wanted to peer review articles for that journal in the future or if you wish to publish articles with them. You would likely also face difficulties publishing in related journals, which may be problematic if you choose to work in an academic setting. If the author has a link to the article on their webpage, I would suggest you contact them and ask for their permission to post it on your blog. Doing so without their permission is an infringement on their property.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12242,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><strong>If the paper is not publicly accessible, and you were not given explicit permission to share it, I would consider it confidential</strong>. It was sent to you (and few others), so assume that it is not yours to share. If you want to, ask the editors (not the authors, in case your identity was not yet given to them).</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/18 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9446",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/66/"
]
|
9,453 | <p>I have noticed that the copy editors of at least two publishers (the American Institute for Physics and American Physical Society) do something weird when they copy-edit my submitted papers. For all references to papers in <em>Nature</em>, which I include in my references as such:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>J. W. Doe, Nature <strong>197</strong>, 412 (1974)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>they replace “Nature” by “Nature (London)”:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>J. W. Doe, Nature (London) <strong>197</strong>, 412 (1974)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I do not understand why they do that! I know it is customary in they style for <em>books</em> to have a city next to the publisher name (though I don't think it is very relevant in this day and age), but why do it for journals? Are there multiple <strong>different</strong> editions of <em>Nature</em>?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9459,
"author": "walkmanyi",
"author_id": 1265,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1265",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Indeed, according to both <a href=\"http://www.aip.org/pubservs/style/4thed/AIP_Style_4thed.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">AIP style guide</a>, as well as <a href=\"https://publish.aps.org/files/styleguide-pr.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">APS style guide</a>, references to journal articles should be referred to without a place of publication. However, in the <a href=\"http://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/bk-2006-STYG.ch014\" rel=\"nofollow\">ACS style guide</a> on page 9, you can read the following:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>For some periodicals whose CASSI abbreviation includes a place of publication, you need not add the place of publication unless its omission would\n create ambiguity. If CASSI lists only one journal with a given main title, there is no ambiguity in omitting the place of publication.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>And indeed, the <a href=\"http://cassi.cas.org/search.jsp\" rel=\"nofollow\">CASSI</a> tool <a href=\"http://cassi.cas.org/publication.jsp?P=LglBQf5Q2NQyz133K_ll3zLPXfcr-WXfgiNFJ_JXtGlPxOTvACeoFzLPXfcr-WXfimSBIkq8XcUjhmk0WtYxmzLPXfcr-WXfOVmSOhs8-IG1XmrSkgbolw\" rel=\"nofollow\">entry for Nature</a> reads as follows:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Displaying Record for Publication: <code>Nature (London, United Kingdom)</code> </p>\n</blockquote>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9461,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>For these journals, the copy editor is correct. \"Nature (London)\" is listed in the American Physical Society's house style for <a href=\"https://authors.aps.org/STYLE/style_jabbr.html\">abbreviations</a>, which makes it the standard abbreviation for APS journals, and it is also in the American Institute of Physics's <a href=\"http://www.aip.org/pubservs/style/4thed/appg.pdf\">list</a>. It's not part of a general pattern of including locations, but rather a special case.</p>\n\n<p>Presumably the inclusion of \"London\" was originally intended to avoid some long-ago ambiguity, perhaps with <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Nature\">La Nature</a>. It sounds like La Nature was more of a popular magazine about science than a modern scientific journal, but then again <a href=\"http://www.nature.com/npg_/company_info/mission.html\">so was Nature</a> in its early history.</p>\n\n<p>There is no serious ambiguity about the name Nature today, but publishers are reluctant to change abbreviations, partly out of fear that if you've been using a specific abbreviation for many decades, a careful reader may wonder whether a different abbreviation is a mistake or even refers to another journal.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/18 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9453",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700/"
]
|
9,454 | <p>I am submitting a Ph.D. thesis fairly soon and my supervisor has flagged my use of capitalisation in "Section" and "Chapter" as possibly incorrect. I have googled about a bit and I see mixed opinions.</p>
<p>So my question is, when writing a computer science Ph.D. thesis, what is the correct way to capitalise "Section", "Chapter", "Appendix", "Figure", "Table", ... ?</p>
<p>For example, what is the correct capitalisation for the following:</p>
<ul>
<li>"In Chapter 3, it was shown that..."</li>
<li>"In the previous Section, a method was presented to..."</li>
<li>"The graph in Figure 3 shows..."</li>
</ul>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9455,
"author": "Dave Clarke",
"author_id": 643,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/643",
"pm_score": 7,
"selected": true,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>\"In Chapter 3, it was shown that...\" </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>This seems correct. \"Chapter 3\" is the name of the third chapter. Names are capitalised.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>\"In the previous Section, a method was presented to...\"</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>This seems wrong. \"Section\" is not referring to the previous section by name, therefore no capital.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>\"The graph in Figure 3 shows...\"</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Correct. Same as the first example.</p>\n\n<p>So the rule (I use) is, if it is a proper name, then use a capital. This means, if it is of the form \"Section $n$\", where $n$ is a number, then it needs a capital.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9465,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It is a question of style. The most accepted custom is that given by Dave: you capitalize logical divisions if you refer to them by number.</p>\n\n<p>However, I've never believed that there is any real logic behind that rule, other than emphasis. Identifying things by a number doesn't make them proper nouns: as an example, you don't commonly capitalize “page” as “see Page 10”…</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12496,
"author": "Lii",
"author_id": 8514,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8514",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>A search on Google Scholar reveals that both the forms </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>in chapter/section 3</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>and </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>in Chapter/Section 3</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>exist in published scientific articles. </p>\n\n<p>For \"chapter\" the capitalised version seems to be a little more common. For \"section\" the capitalised version is much more common.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/17 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9454",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6838/"
]
|
9,463 | <p>I did not get accepted into any good graduate programs. For various reasons, I feel I could do much better if I reapplied next year. This question isn't about the <em>feasibility</em> of doing so, but of the affect on my professional reputation and network.</p>
<p>It is an investment for the university to give me funding, so it would be a jerk move to transfer simply for the increase in prestige. But <strong>how much</strong> of a jerk move would it be? Would it burn my colleagues and advisors so hard that I would scar my reputation for the rest of my career? Would I simply lose these people as connections, but have no lasting affect other than that? Or would everyone be understanding that this is a professional choice, that I am looking out for my future? (If so, could I request recommendations from professors in the program?)</p>
<blockquote>
<p>If I transfer to a better school either at the end of my first or second year as a graduate student, how much will this piss people off?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>To be clear, I am talking about transferring from a mid-ranked state school to somewhere good, at least top 20 hopefully top 10. And since I am sure this matters, the discipline is mathematics.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9464,
"author": "Anonymous",
"author_id": 6110,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6110",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This is fine. Don't feel guilty at all. I say this as a math professor at a mid-ranked state school, who has written rec letters for students who, for various reasons, wanted to transfer out.</p>\n\n<p>Be sure not to speak ill of the place you're leaving, but you owe it to yourself to seek out the best opportunities available. Good luck!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9472,
"author": "JeffE",
"author_id": 65,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<h2>No.</h2>\n\n<p>It's <em>your</em> degree. As long as you are honest with <em>everyone</em> about your intentions and your motivations, and you don't speak ill of your old department in your application, nobody has cause to label you a jerk. I recommend asking your current advisor for a recommendation letter, so that the program you're applying to knows (1) that you're not trying to sneak out, and (2) that your current department isn't kicking you out.</p>\n\n<p>Moreover, changing departments is no reason to stop collaborating with your old advisor; that collaboration can pay off handsomely later. Strong recommendation letters from faculty <em>outside</em> your PhD institution are <em>extremely</em> helpful for the post-PhD job search.</p>\n\n<p><strong>I did this. Some of my former students have done this. We're all fine.</strong></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9483,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In my field, which is not mathematics, externally funded studentships are quite common. Leaving an externally funded studentship is completely unprofessional and very bad form. If a student withdraws the PI will generally lose the remainder of the funding and potentially be band from applying in the future.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27806,
"author": "Alex",
"author_id": 21251,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/21251",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Provided you are cordial and tread cautiously, no, it won't. (I know this is a late answer, but since people think of doing this fairly often, I figured I might give my two cents. While I am not a professor, I figured it might help to have a current graduate student's perspective.)</p>\n\n<p>I myself have transferred between math graduate programs at different schools. Furthermore, I know three or four others who have transferred between math programs at different schools, two people who have transferred from a math program to a non-math program at a different school, and two people who have left math programs for a non-math program at the same university. (And no, these people weren't all transferring to or from the same university.) I know many others who have changed advisors or left graduate school entirely. And people often transfer for reasons other than the reputation of the schools, myself included. (Such reasons may include moving to be closer to significant others, dissatisfaction with the geographical location of the school, changing research interests, advisors switching schools and bringing their students with them, advisors ceasing to work with students, and interest in a specific advisor at a different school, among others.) As much as it would be ideal for all graduate students to arrive precisely where they belong and know exactly what they will do over the next four years, it's probably an understatement to say that this doesn't always happen. And many professors are sympathetic and understanding.</p>\n\n<p>I would, however, caution you about the following. Keep in mind that if you don't get accepted into any transfer schools, you probably want to still get good funding and work with an advisor that fits you at your current school. You may indeed later find that you want to stay at your current school, even if you've been accepted to other places! So, informing those who determine your funding that you're thinking of transferring before you actually have been accepted into another school doesn't necessarily seem like a good idea to me. Depending on the perspective of the department, it can be like telling your romantic partner that you're thinking of breaking up well before you make the actual decision. (On the other hand, they might appreciate being informed early and may be very kind and understanding. It's tough to judge, since it all depends on the people involved.)</p>\n\n<p>But if you <em>do</em> get accepted into a transfer institution and decide to go there, you should make sure to have a conversation with the heads of your current graduate program and department, to notify them that you are leaving, and to politely express why you are making this change. I'd recommend being brief (you don't need to tell them your life story), but clear, and always polite. It may be a good idea not to hold off the decision until the last minute (i.e. the April 15th deadline) like I did. Keep in mind that they need to find someone to replace you, and the closer to the deadline, the harder it is for the school to find qualified candidates.</p>\n\n<p>And I agree that you should be sure not to denigrate your current institution in any of your applications, or when you tell people at your current institution why you're leaving. I also agree that when you apply to other institutions, you should very honestly express why you're making this switch (without denigration, of course). </p>\n\n<p>Edit: Also, regarding Anonymous Mathematician's comment under the question: I transferred after my second year and it's worked out fine, but certainly it is best to be actively pursuing a backup plan for research at your current institution if you're attempting to transfer any later than your first year. That is, keep looking for possible advisors and research projects at your current university even after you've submitted your transfer applications.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/18 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9463",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6843/"
]
|
9,474 | <p>For something I'm applying to, I need to know if I'm considered a student, a part-time employee, or a full-time employee.</p>
<p>I am a graduate research assistant with a yearly stipend. No other employment is allowed. 20 hours a week of research is expected according to the contract.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9475,
"author": "Chris Gregg",
"author_id": 4461,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4461",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>For your purposes, I would use either \"full-time employee\" or \"student,\" depending on which answer gives you the most benefit. Because you aren't allowed other employment (the legality of whether that is enforceable is disputable), your position is full-time because it implies that the other 20 hours a week of 40-hour a week employment* will be spent on studies. You can certainly claim to be a student, as I assume you have a student ID that demonstrates that.</p>\n\n<p>*if you make it through graduate school working only 40 hours a week, you're either brilliant, or not working hard enough, or both.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9479,
"author": "walkmanyi",
"author_id": 1265,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1265",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>For something I'm applying to, I need to know if I'm considered a student, a part-time employee, or a full-time employee.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>The answer could heavily depend on the country you are located in.</p>\n\n<p>The following is obvious:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>do you have a proper work contract with the university? If yes, then check your contract and see what kind of employee you are;</li>\n<li>are you officially enrolled at a university as a student? If yes, the program you are enrolled in tells you what kind of a student you are.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>Now to the non-obvious part. As pointed out by others, in some countries you would be a either a full-time, or a part-time employee, but despite that, for many purposes (grant applications, student fellowships, conference registration, etc.) you could be considered a full-time student. This is the case for Germany (among others) where your contract would stipulate an amount of hours you are paid for, but you would be nevertheless expected to work full-time as a PhD. student and the university would have no problem issuing a certificate about your \"studentship\" for you. So to tackle your question, the first instance to consult is your supervisor/adviser, and the second one would be your department/faculty administration.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9480,
"author": "Shion",
"author_id": 1429,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1429",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I don't have citable information to give you but being a doctoral student and usually being on a research assistantship, anecdotally, I can tell you that in the United States, if you are a full time MS/PhD student and are on a research assistantship then it is not considered a full time job. Your full time job is that of a \"student\".</p>\n\n<p>This was confirmed by an HR representative of my university because I asked her this exact question.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/19 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9474",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5958/"
]
|
9,476 | <p>I am writing a conference paper of the first time, and the conference I am targeting requires anonymized submissions for the peer review. But at the same time, we (as in, my research group) are required to acknowledge the grants and support of our funding agency in all our publications. Plus, I also need to refer to a previous work of our group. </p>
<p>Is it appropriate for me to <em>leave out</em> the acknowledgements section and the reference to my work while sending the paper for review, but <em>add these details later on</em> if and when the paper gets accepted? </p>
<p>Is appropriate to add details (the acknowledgments section, for instance) which were not a part of the paper when it went for review?</p>
<p>I could think of this as the only way to satisfy all concerns. Are there better suggestions from more experienced people in academia? </p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9477,
"author": "Chris Gregg",
"author_id": 4461,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4461",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>To your best ability, you should remove all identifying information for the blind review. This includes removing author names and affiliations, avoiding phrases such as \"in our previous work,\" and removing acknowledgements. During the camera-ready portion of the review process (should your paper be accepted), you will add in that information. You'll almost certainly have to make some changes to the paper, so if you are concerned about leaving space for an acknowledgements section, don't be, as you can't really predict the exact text right now.</p>\n\n<p>As for referring to your previous work, make it as anonymous as you can. In general, you should refer to your other work as if it was any other work--i.e., don't link it directly to yourself at all. Although it may sound odd for an author to talk about himself/herself as if he or she was a different person, it's acceptable and expected in academia.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9478,
"author": "Suresh",
"author_id": 346,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>You're required to acknowledge grants and grant agencies in your <strong>publications</strong>. Right now, all you have is a <strong>submission</strong>. If and when the submission becomes a publication will be the time to add the grant information in, especially if the venue has a strong anonymization policy for submissions.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12898,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would go about it slightly differently. I would write the manuscript as you wish it to appear and then redact any identifying information. The redaction process should given a sense of what has been redacted without revealing the identity of the authors. See for example: <a href=\"https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/41995/efficient-ways-to-anonymize-a-document\">https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/41995/efficient-ways-to-anonymize-a-document</a>.</p>\n\n<p>In summary I would not leave the acknowledgement section out, but would rather do:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Author XXX was funded by XXX and Author XXX was funded by XXX. We thank XXX for help with the fancy piece of hardware.</p>\n</blockquote>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/19 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9476",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5851/"
]
|
9,484 | <p>I just got into a PhD program and was asked to give a presentation to my juniors regarding grad school applications.</p>
<p>In my country (Asia region), people are fanatical about non-academic extra curricular activities that are totally not related to their topic (sports, debate team, run charities etc). E.g. A student with good grades and is the captain of the school's basket ball team can get picked for a mathematics PhD scholarship over the top mathematics student with zero non-academic activities. The belief is that scholars should be "all rounded".</p>
<p>I think the situation is different in the USA. I would like to encourage my juniors who have excellent academic records but without significant non-academic extra curricular activities to try for the USA because of this.</p>
<p>I understand there are scholarships like the Rhodes which do look at non-academic achievements. But is my general understanding of non-academic activities for USA PhD admissions correct?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9485,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>In general. non-academic activities are <em>not</em> considered for admissions for schools and most fellowship programs in the US. The primary reason for this is that graduate programs are looking for people who will become excellent scholars and researchers (and sometimes even good teachers!). Success in sports and other highly non-academic activities is less likely to have significant influence in assessments of one's ability to do research, and therefore is not strongly considered. </p>\n\n<p>However, there <em>are</em> exceptions. People can choose to fund activities however they choose, and can place whatever restrictions on the use of the money they donate. For instance, an alumnus could fund a fellowship for PhD students who play the tuba in a college marching band. While this doesn't happen often, it can be done. But typically admissions committees aren't concerned with such issues, and don't take them into account in making admissions decisions.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41096,
"author": "sevensevens",
"author_id": 14754,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14754",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>In my country (Asia region), people are fanatical about non-academic extra curricular activities that are totally not related to their topic (sports, debate team, run charities etc). ... I think the situation is different in the USA.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Its not actually that different. Universities are generally looking for engaged graduate students, so showing involvement outside of classes is generally a positive thing. Extra-curriculars should be noted in any application.</p>\n\n<p>Holding a leadership role in a student organization is seen as positive, and should be especially noted in any graduate school application. This includes leadership positions in Fraternities or Sororities. See below for the one exception to this rule.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Think carefully before listing religious, political or fan clubs</strong></p>\n\n<p>Be careful listing activities that involve either religion or politics. Its a fact of life that some people are prejudice, and listing a republican, democratic, LGBT, or any other club that would imply a strong religious or social viewpoint opens you to attack. Do not give someone on the admittance committee reason to hate you.</p>\n\n<p>Also be careful listing fan club activities like your Quiddich team, or presidency of the Star Trek club. These activities may make you appear immature to the admittance committee.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/19 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9484",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1190/"
]
|
9,489 | <p>I finished reading a textbook of about 250 pages. For my personal reference, I created a summary in note form of about 30 pages. Formulations are close to the original text with some variation on my part, and there are literal quotes. I don't consider it a replacement of the book (obviously?).</p>
<p>What can I do with this summary? Is it fair to give it to friends who are interested in the topic? What about students? Can I even publish it online?</p>
<p>I am aware that laws may play into this. The book has been published in the U.S., I live in Germany.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9492,
"author": "seteropere",
"author_id": 532,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/532",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You can: </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Criticise it:</strong> Do you disagree with the authors about some topics/methods? Do you have some ideas on how to enhance the book? Discuss them with your peers.</li>\n<li><strong>Rephrase it:</strong> You can rewrite the summary with your own words and publish it as <strong>Notes on XXX</strong> where XXX is the book topic.</li>\n<li><strong>Publish</strong> a <a href=\"http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0004370209001325\" rel=\"noreferrer\">Book Review</a> out of it. </li>\n<li><p>KEEP it to refresh your knowledge about the topic. In case you forgot or its not directly related to your research. </p></li>\n<li><p>Depends on the topic, you might write a blog about it; if you have one.</p></li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9494,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>There are two questions, namely what you can do legally and what the community would consider acceptable.</p>\n\n<p>Legally, distributing such a summary is probably a copyright violation if you borrow too much from the original; in the U.S., it would be considered a <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derivative_work\">derivative work</a> (the legal definition includes \"abridgment\" and \"condensation\" as forms of derivative work). In that case, it would be illegal to distribute it without permission from the copyright holder. On the other hand, you are not likely to get in trouble unless you offend the author or publisher. The easiest way to offend the publisher would be if they view your summary as competition that might decrease sales of the book, but they might take a strict approach to copyright enforcement in any case (it depends on the publisher, and I would guess that a nonprofit publisher might be more understanding than a big commercial publisher). In practice, the worst case scenario is probably being forced to take down any copies you had posted online. You could be sued, but that seems unlikely to me.</p>\n\n<p>The research community is likely to take a less strict approach than the law. If you distribute the summary privately (e.g., just to friends or students), then nobody is likely to find out or care. If you post it online, then it's more likely to attract attention, but it won't necessarily be negative attention. That depends on how you've written it.</p>\n\n<p>You should keep several things in mind to avoid causing offense:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>You should be absolutely clear about what you have done: what's a direct quote, what's a mildly reworded version of the author's words, what's a summary in your own words. You need to be careful about distinguishing your own interpretaton from the author's, and you can run into trouble in two directions, either by seeming to take credit for observations that are explained in the book, or by seeming to attribute your own ideas or organization to the author. This is a difficult balancing act, which is easy to mess up. Even if you are very careful, the author may still feel that you are distorting the emphasis on different topics, for example.</p></li>\n<li><p>You should be very careful about correctness. I would be unhappy if someone circulated a summary of a book of mine that had mistakes in it.</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>I would <strong>not</strong> recommend asking the author for permission, since that would put the author in an awkward position (of having to either endorse or object to your summary). If the author discovers your summary and complains, then I feel professional courtesy requires you to make changes or take it down.</p>\n\n<p>Personally, I would probably not post it online, but opinions could differ.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/19 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9489",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1419/"
]
|
9,495 | <p>I realize that this sort of question has been asked before and I have read through some of the other threads but I figured I'd see if there are any more perspectives out there. I am currently a research embryologist for a small fertility clinic with a Bsc in molecular biology. I have about 2 1/2 years of experience and have been accepted into an Masters in Bioinformatics program. I am very excited to begin taking classes but l have recently begun second guessing whether I should have tried to get into a PhD program. I will not be able to continue working at my current job while I am in school so I will likely be paying for school with loans unless I'm able to find a job after I relocate.</p>
<p>Those of you who have Masters degrees, would you do it again or go for a PhD? From what I have found searching around the site many people say PhDs are more academically focused while Masters degree holders tend to find more positions in industry. Is concern over the cost of a Masters degree a good reason to consider a PhD instead or do most of you find you were able to offset your education costs with the job you eventually found? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>Thank you in advance!</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9831,
"author": "earthling",
"author_id": 2692,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2692",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>When I was studying for my MBA I also thought about this choice. However, a PhD is long and I was looking forward to working with my new-found knowledge sooner than a PhD would allow. For me, I prefer to balance practice with theory. That is, I did not want to wait for longer than I had to before being able to use my knowledge in the 'real world.'</p>\n\n<p>That said, I'm now looking seriously at a PhD and I certainly do not regret my decision. I could work while I was studying during my MBA. Now, I do understand that one can take some time off during a PhD but I wasn't really looking forward to starting something which would likely require a break. I prefer the clean completion which the master gave me.</p>\n\n<p>Since I could work while studying my MBA, finances were not much of an issue. The cost of my education was easily offset by the higher salary which came with the degree. The payback period (considering the increase in my income directly related to my additional qualification) in my case was less than 18 months.</p>\n\n<p>It is a little different from your situation in that many people who study business for work in the real world do not go beyond an MBA. I will, but I also teach.</p>\n\n<p>In short, I'm glad I got my MBA before pursuing a PhD.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9890,
"author": "Faheem Mitha",
"author_id": 285,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/285",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>First, disclaimer. I'm not sure I'm qualified to be giving anyone advice of this nature. But since you asked, here are my 2 cents.</p>\n\n<p>The bottom line is that people do a PhD if they want to do research. Otherwise, probably not. I believe this is true in both academic and industry circles - if you want to do research type stuff, you need a PhD. I could be wrong about industry - if people know of counterexamples, please comment. So, a relevant question is whether you want to do research.</p>\n\n<p>My experience is that in practical terms, at least in the applied sciences, research translates into more autonomy pursuing questions which you find interesting. In general, not having a PhD means less autonomy. Of course, having a PhD does not mean anything like total independence - there are always people you have to answer to. However, with just a Masters, you are much more likely to be taking direction from people in the choice of projects you pursue, and how you pursue them. You should try to figure out how happy you will be doing this. I used to think I would be Ok with that, and discovered later that I really wanted to be making my own decisions. So, you might think now that you are happy to do what you are told, you you may later discover that you do not consider these decisions that others make for you to be all that great. It really depends on your personality and inclinations.</p>\n\n<p>It seems ridiculous that people will treat you differently on the basis of a piece of paper, but that is how human beings, at least the more bureaucratic variety, are constituted - they like to pigeonhole and put labels on people. </p>\n\n<p>Having said all of the above, of course, if you do a Masters and then decide you want to do a PhD, you can always do it later, but I suppose you are trying to figure out the more efficient path to follow.</p>\n\n<p>One fairly obvious question - is there some reason you can't go into the PhD program and leave with a Masters if you decide you don't want to do a PhD? I have done that (left a PhD program with a Masters), and it seems like a relatively common thing to do. I think that some Masters degrees do require a thesis, but others may just require coursework which you will be doing as part of the PhD program anyway. You can check with the programs you are considering what the rules for pursuing these options might be. If you could do this, it might be your best option. You can leave yourself some space and time for figuring out what you want to do, not pay lots of money in tuition, and not burn any bridges.</p>\n\n<p>I have a PhD in Statistics, and know a fair amount about programming and related things (check my SE accounts), though my primary background is mathematical. I've also done some bioinformatics work. Given that, I'd say the comment by @Bitwise above is right on the money. With a big interdisciplinary field like bioinformatics, you need a lot of background and a fairly substantial and diverse skill set to get moving - cramming all that into a masters degree will be brutal unless you know a lot already. After a masters degree you might not know enough to do anything really interesting. Of course, you might be able to get an industry job where they will be willing to give you the space and time to learn more and develop. I don't have any experience of industry jobs; however from what I have heard, those sorts of conditions are more easily met in academia.</p>\n\n<p>Also, personally I would not consider the cost of a MSc as a major factor when making such a decision, though of course it is a factor. I would think bigger picture, myself. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9915,
"author": "cbeleites unhappy with SX",
"author_id": 725,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/725",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Just a side note from a central european (Germany) perspective. Although things have similar names now (Bachelor, Master), things work a bit different over here. </p>\n\n<p>While we know that this is possible in the anglo-american education systems, people here wonder whether someone who has not completed a Master (or Diplom) is actually fit for tackling a PhD project (in terms of subject knowledge, working techniques, and experience you learn during the Master's).<br>\nHowever, most PhD projects here have a Master's or equvalent degree as prerequisite. In your case you may argue that your work experience in research should be counted as equivalent. Over here, this would likely lead to an invitation to take a bunch of oral exams before you are officially accepted into a PhD program.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/19 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9495",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6855/"
]
|
9,496 | <p>Marking exams can be long, boring, and un-engaging. </p>
<p>It is important one remain focused though to ensure that the evaluation is fair to each student.</p>
<p>What are some methods one can employ to maintain focus and not zone-out while reading answers?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9497,
"author": "Honest",
"author_id": 6856,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6856",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>True story: a bottle of wine (well, maybe just half a bottle). Spirits are not a good choice since they go quickly to your brain.</p>\n\n<p>Sorry if I hurt feelings with my answer but the truth is that this technique is more common in the academia than I would like it were.</p>\n\n<p>Another technique consists of splitting the marking into several short sessions.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9498,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Your own website says:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>My primary area of research is the application of mathematical methods to educational testing</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>so I'm sure you have much more experience (first-hand or second-hand) and have given it more thought that you let appear in your question ;-)</p>\n\n<p>Of course, it heavily depends on the type of examination being marked, but unless it is very short, I tend to simply split it into many short bursts, and do those at a time when I am well rested (morning) and when I am outside my regular “work” setting: public transportation, waiting room of a doctor, café, in a garden when it's sunny, etc. The mood of the place I'm in helps, and gloomy settings just get me bored faster.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9499,
"author": "Sylvain Peyronnet",
"author_id": 43,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/43",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There is two issues in your question.</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>How to be fair to each student when it comes to this boring task of evaluating them</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>My own policy is the \"mark-one-question-and-shuffle\" : I correct the first question/problem for all the students, then I shuffle the whole stack and go for another question that I also pick at random. This way if I am tired or in a bad mood, it will impact everybody, so it will be fair.</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>How to stay focus for a long marking session</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>I cannot answer to that and I guess it depends of many personal factors. Personally, I find marking tasks boring but easy to do and easy to focus on. It's like driving, some people can drive for hours, others can't. To tell the truth, marking is somehow relaxing for me. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9500,
"author": "earthling",
"author_id": 2692,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2692",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I suspect my answer will be less applicable to math (your subject) but your question is not specific so I'll cover my subject (business management).</p>\n\n<p>First, I find the more I can process in a single session the more fair my marking is overall. In my field, answers are not so clear-cut. That is, there is rarely a right and wrong answer but rather the process of application/evidence that is evaluated. Because of this, there is a risk of being inconsistent when marking in different sessions.</p>\n\n<p>Second, I try to process 10 or so exams before actually marking any of them. The reason for this is that I need to understand the general level of the group. If I don't do this, I find that I am much stricter on the first few exams and get easier as I find everyone is at a lower level than I had anticipated.</p>\n\n<p>Third, I try to give my eyes a break between exams. That is, stare at a point some ways off so that my eyes are not constantly focusing on a point to close (which causes strain and can cause lasting problems).</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/19 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9496",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
]
|
9,503 | <p>I have looked at this <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/897/travel-grants-for-international-students-in-the-us">travel grant question</a> but it talks about when the OP already was pursuing his PhD.</p>
<p>I am from India and have a different scenario as I have just received my PhD offer in Computer Science. Are there institutions that can fund my going there (even just the flight)? I do have good academic records as well as papers published.</p>
<p>I have searched on the internet and have found one from <a href="http://www.srtt.org/individual_grants/education_grants.htm" rel="nofollow noreferrer">tata</a>. But, Are you aware of any others that do provide support?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9905,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I am not aware of any relocation only independent grants, but there are a number of other ways relocation expenses could be covered. There may be funding available via the University, Department, or PI. If you are being funded by an external grant relocation \nexpenses may be allowable (e.g., the <a href=\"http://grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/nihgps_2011/nihgps_ch7.htm#preaward_preagreement_costs\" rel=\"noreferrer\">NIH</a> allows relocation costs).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9912,
"author": "JeffE",
"author_id": 65,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you have already been in contact with your future (potential) advisor, you might raise the issue with them. They might have funding they can use, or (more likely) they might be able to pull strings with the department or university to provide travel funding.</p>\n\n<p>However, I do <em>not</em> recommend raising this issue as your <em>first</em> contact with a potential advisor.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/20 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9503",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6860/"
]
|
9,504 | <ol>
<li><p>I'm wondering are there any PhD programs (specifically in machine learning) in the US that are structured more like the European ones, i.e. where you immediately start doing research and don't spend your first two years or so on something very similar to Masters' program (lots of coursework, less research).
I have already a Master's degree and research experience and would like to start working on my thesis from the start. </p></li>
<li><p>Also I'm wondering are there any non-university research institutions in the US that grant PhDs? (For example, something like German Max Planck research institutes)</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Thank you!</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9505,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It should be noted that the reason for the difference between the US and European style programs is primarily <em>philosophical</em>, and has to do with the way master's degrees are considered.</p>\n\n<p>In Europe (or at least those countries part of the Bologna treaty), master's degrees \"follow on\" from the bachelor's degree program, and usually programs are designed so that students who complete the bachelor's degree will continue on to the master's at the same institution before beginning a doctoral program.</p>\n\n<p>By contrast, in the United States, the master's degree is very weakly coupled to the bachelor's program. Instead, in many places, it's viewed either as a separate degree in its own right, or as a stepping stone to doing a doctoral degree. Moreover, because the bachelor's degree program is only four years, while the European bachelor's-master's system includes five years of coursework, there is a bit of a discrepancy between the coursework a bachelor's degree holder in the US would have, versus that of a master's holder in Europe. Consequently, most schools tend to require roughly a year of coursework for students entering a doctoral program, as it acts as completing the master's program at a European university. </p>\n\n<p>Also, because graduate admissions are almost always organized at the <em>departmental</em> level in the US, rather than the research group level, there is usually a \"qualification\" procedure which must be completed at American universities that aren't found in European universities. The coursework phase of the doctoral degree often figures into the material tested in the qualifying exam, and therefore schools often are reluctant to waive these coursework requirements.</p>\n\n<p>However, reluctance is not necessarily the same as refusal. If you have questions about how things work, and whether a particular department would be willing to waive some of the requirements for you, you should contact them. If you can demonstrate that you have most of the work already in place, they may be able to let you skip some of the classes, or at least replace them with other electives (which may be of benefit—you shouldn't assume you're done with classes and learning just because you have a master's or even a doctoral degree!). </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9508,
"author": "Suresh",
"author_id": 346,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Many graduate programs in the US allow you to either waive coursework by claiming prior credits, or waive coursework by taking a series of examinations. If that's a primary concern, you should look into programs that offer such a format for what's usually called the \"breadth\" or \"comprehensive\" requirement. </p>\n\n<p>In answer to your second question, the <a href=\"http://www.ttic.edu/\">Toyota Technical Institute in Chicago</a> is a non-university research institute that offers a Ph.D program in Machine Learning. </p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/20 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9504",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6861/"
]
|
9,506 | <p>I know peer-reviewing research papers is a lot of work, but it is something that as a scientist in academia you must do. However, you are not required to become an editor of a journal. It seems to be tons of work, and I am trying to understand what people gain from it and whether it is worth the effort.</p>
<p>I mean, I can understand how being an editor for Science or Cell would be helpful in terms of prestige, connections, and exposure to top science, but what about for lesser known journals? And how is that integrated with research and other duties?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9507,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>As you alluded to in your question, there are several things to be gained by being a journal editor:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Greater familiarity with ongoing research in your field</li>\n<li>Credit for \"service\" within your department institution</li>\n<li>Greater visibility within your research community</li>\n<li>In some cases, monetary compensation (some editor positions are paid, some are unpaid)</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Being a journal editor <em>can</em> be a very time-consuming job, and it's certainly not for everyone. However, it can also be an interesting and rewarding experience, even if it's not a journal at the level of <em>Science</em> or <em>Cell</em>. (Then again, many of the journals at the level of <em>Science</em> have in-house professional editors, rather than part-time staff from academia!)</p>\n\n<p>Editing a minor journal can also offset other forms of outreach service, particularly if you are still developing a tenure dossier. In those situations you may find editing more (or less) rewarding than the duties you would take on (or be assigned) otherwise. (You should check with your department chair, however, that such service would be considered acceptable before committing to a position!)</p>\n\n<p>Whether or not the connections are worth it at a particular level of journal is not something we can directly answer. You should consider the time commitments relative to other priorities that you might have, and make a decision accordingly.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9536,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Aeismail have listed several gains as reasons for becoming a journal editor. I think there are also several personal reasons which likely vary between persons. For me, I found that my experience as guest editor for several issues of journals was extremely rewarding. I found I was involved in handling new science at a detailed level unmatched by other venues. I also found myself getting new contacts in the form of authors and reviewers. All along the lines of Aeismail's answer. I strongly recommend trying to get involved in guest editing a single issue if the possibility arises. This might give you an insight into what is involved and how you might like it.</p>\n\n<p>Before continuing, I should perhaps point out that editorships comes in several flavours (with varying names). Editors that are responsible for journals are often called Chief Editors, whereas a staff of other editors may handle reviews and not be involved in making the final decisions for publications and the journal itself. This will vary from journal to journal. The point of saying it is because getting involved as an editor can happen at different levels with differing tasks to perform.</p>\n\n<p>When the opportunity came around for me to shoulder a journal as Editor-in-Chief, I did not need much convincing, but the reasons were more personal than anything else. One could say it is a position of power (to ultimately decide the fate of manuscripts), but I rather think of it in terms of responsibility. I saw it as a challenge to improve the journal and its standing, and to get a chance to implement several ideas I had developed over the years. Assembling a team around me and the second co-chief editor of the journal was also awarding and interesting. So more than anything else, the rewards now come as I can see the Citation Index rising and (hopefully) the standard of the journal improving. </p>\n\n<p>In my case I (really \"we\" since we are two) get reimbursed for the editorship corresponding to one half day per week. The job is literally 365 days a year, and so far I have not seen this as a problem. The compensation is by no means corresponding to the time I spend on the task but more of a symbolic sum for the responsibility involved. Money is certainly not a reason for me.</p>\n\n<p>To sign up as chief editor likely means signing up for a longer period, at least 3-5 years, to be able to fully embrace the flow of articles and handle all problems that may occur. This is particularly true if you wish to see any results of your work while you are still associated with the journal; it takes time to influence the reputation of a journal in a positive direction. I am not planning to stay forever, so somewhere between 5 and 10 years is likely a maximum. To sign up as review editor (or whatever it may be called) may not require such a long period since the task is more hands on.</p>\n\n<p>So, as you can see I think becoming an editor is not something you just choose, you need to see if you personally get something out of the job that makes it worth your while. For me, just money or personal credit would not be enough, the challenge and sense of contribution associated with leading and improving a journal is.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 61863,
"author": "curioussoul",
"author_id": 47754,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/47754",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I agree with previous posts that being an editor has several benefits, fame, service, and recognition, to name a few. </p>\n\n<p>I know a division in a society has a division journal. The Editor-in-Chief is paid over $65000 per year and several associate editors are paid ~$3000 each per year. These EIC and AEs are usually scholars/professors who have a full-time job in their own universities. They have different responsibilities. (These numbers are clearly specified in their bylaws). </p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/20 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9506",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6862/"
]
|
9,509 | <p>When establishing yourself as a researcher, the importance of independence from your PhD supervisor and focusing on a niche area (to establish popularity in a particular sub-field) are fairly well-established. For longevity of research career the polar opposite criteria of collaboration and breadth have been suggested.</p>
<p>Defining the terms field and subfield etc. is important, so taking the following hypothetical example:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Subfield - PhD research uses a common computational method applied to a number of closely related problems. </p></li>
<li><p>Related Subfield - Other PhD students in the group apply the same method to different problems.</p></li>
<li><p>Field - Computational methods related to PhD yet distinct applied to any problem in the super field</p></li>
<li><p>Superfield - Broad area of research encompassing theoretical, computational and experimental work, eg superconductors, photonics, etc.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>After PhD and prior to tenure, how specialised should one aim to be and how closely related to the PhD should the specialty be?</p>
<p>If given the choice, is it best to focus exclusively on a related subfield topic (generally project based research typical of most post doc positions), or take on another topic in the field, or to develop breadth by researching multiple related sub field topics in collaboration with other groups?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9512,
"author": "JeffE",
"author_id": 65,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><em>This answer warns against being too narrow; see <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/9513/65\">aeismail's answer</a> for reasons not to be too broad.</em></p>\n\n<p>The precise answer is going to depend on your institution and your field. But as a first order approximation, you <em>must</em> establish yourself as an independent intellectual leader in a broad enough research area to attract good tenure letters. An obscure subsubfield beloved by only ten researchers probably isn't going to be enough, because not all of those people will be credible references — well-known, active, full professors (preferably with named positions and Academy memberships) at top-ranked US departments (assuming you're at a US institution) who are not your advisor (and preferably are not your coauthors or from your PhD department either).</p>\n\n<p>So your question becomes:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>How large a field do you need to consider to include a sufficient number of viable tenure writers?</p></li>\n<li><p>How you establish a world-class reputation within that field?</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>As a general rule in my field, you should move as far away from your PhD thesis as possible while still being visible and productive. But other fields may have different expectations.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9513,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The advice that I've received from my own PhD advisors, as well as from my interim review, was not to broaden one's activities <em>too</em> much before tenure. There needs to be a convincing thread to the work efforts that you're doing. </p>\n\n<p>The danger of spreading your efforts too thinly is that nobody knows which \"box\" to put you in. This is a problem, as JeffE suggests, because you need to be able to get good letters of recommendation in your tenure case. However, spread out over too broad a region, you won't have nearly enough papers in any one area to make a significant dent.</p>\n\n<p>So, having many subfields is probably a bad idea. If, however, you can find and exploit a common theme to these different subfields, you can probably make a much more convincing case (perhaps because you will be addressing a problem that they all have in overlap?).</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/20 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9509",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4503/"
]
|
9,510 | <p>I have a BSc degree from a private university in Egypt. The university offered me a scholarship at the beginning of the program but that scholarship applied only partially to a subsequent MSc degree.</p>
<p>There's an overlap in the degree requirements for the BSc and the MSc, which means that the 5th year of the BSc is also the first year of the MSc. By doing research for 6 more months, the MSc degree is complete. The scholarship applied to everything but those 6 months, yet the tuition for that was very expensive.</p>
<p>Since I was a top ranked student, my dean said that if I did research at an associate research institute abroad he will ask the university's top management to </p>
<ol>
<li>officially enroll me in the program,</li>
<li>delay payment of the tuition,</li>
<li>and consider offering me a scholarship for the remaining tuition </li>
</ol>
<p>with one caveat: He will not know their decision until the very end of the program.</p>
<p>I took that risk, and successfully defended and submitted my thesis at the end of the program. While the university agreed to #1 and #2, my dean's attempts at #3 were fruitless. I have proof that I was enrolled as an MSc student and the university printed my degree's certificate but they will not hand it to me unless I pay the full tuition, which I can not.</p>
<p>My question is: <strong>Do I have a MSc degree or not? How should I address this on my CV/Resume?</strong></p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9511,
"author": "JeffE",
"author_id": 65,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<h2>No.</h2>\n\n<p>Unless your university is willing to provide proof that they granted you a degree, they didn't. Listing an MSc degree on your résumé that your university is unwilling to confirm invites accusations of fabrication, which would be nearly impossible to refute and which could cost you your job <em>many</em> years in the future.</p>\n\n<p>On the other hand, nothing stops you from publishing your thesis, or asking your dean for a recommendation letter explaining the unfortunate situation.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9533,
"author": "Ilmari Karonen",
"author_id": 496,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/496",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>First of all, I agree 100% with <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/9511/\">everything JeffE wrote</a>, so I won't repeat it here.</p>\n\n<p>As for how you should describe this in your CV / résumé, I'd suggest describing your M.Sc. studies as <em>in progress</em>, with a brief parenthetical note explaining the details (e.g. \"studies completed in 201<i>X</i> with GPA <em>Y</em>, thesis approved with grade <em>Z</em>; formal completion delayed pending resolution of financial issues\").</p>\n\n<p>After all, that's what your situation technically is: you haven't received your Master's diploma yet, but you've completed some of the requirements for it, and may receive it in the future once you complete the rest. The fact that, in your case, the missing requirements are financial rather than strictly educational does not affect this main point.</p>\n\n<p>I wouldn't dwell too much on the specific details in a CV, since it's supposed to be a <em>brief summary</em> of your experience. In particular, you do <em>not</em> want to come across as bitter or accusatory, nor as financially irresponsible. A short and neutral phrase like \"financial issues\" is probably best: if the prospective employer is curious, they'll ask you about it. (Do expect it to come up in an interview, if you make it that far.) Or just do as JeffE suggests, and get someone else, like your dean, to write a letter of recommendation for you explaining the situation.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/20 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9510",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6864/"
]
|
9,514 | <p>This may be a question repeated many times, but I want to know your opinion. </p>
<p>I submitted a journal paper for an algorithm (Computer Science). Fearing that the review process take too long, I decided to submit a short-version conference paper, while the long version is under-review. I received the journal review comments, and re-sent the modifications to the journal. Meanwhile, the conference paper was accepted. But the camera-ready is not sent yet. </p>
<p>The problem is that both papers are about the same idea. There is also some copy-pasted parts in both papers. But:</p>
<p>1) the editor of the journal was not informed about the conference paper (I heard that I should tell the journal about any published papers - but note that the conference paper is not yet published - not even the camera ready is submitted), </p>
<p>2) the organization organizing the conference, is not the same that manage the journal. I have been told that there are conflicting copyrights. </p>
<p>The proposed solutions (that colleagues told me about): </p>
<p>a) submit both as is ! </p>
<p>b) submit both (but with change in text). </p>
<p>c) do not submit the conference paper (but I heard this can be harmful)</p>
<p>d) tell the editor now (but honestly, the journal is way more important than the conference).</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9515,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There is no \"easy answer\" here nor is there a \"right answer\". You can </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>take the high road and say \"It's unethical of me to publish similar papers in two competing publications, so I'll withdraw one\", which might make you feel good, but leaves you 1 paper less. You don't get brownie points for \"feeling good\"</p></li>\n<li><p>publish both the conference and journal paper and do your best to have some differences between them (i.e., they're not word-for-word identical or don't have passages copied wholesale).</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Honestly, the most important issue here is that you're not copy-pasting content verbatim and submitting to multiple journals hoping that neither knows of the other and get it passed through both review processes. </p>\n\n<p>If I were you, I would have (and have)</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>submitted a conference paper discussing the objectives, a brief sketch of the methodology, significance of results and some figures if any, and </li>\n<li>submitted a journal paper with a deeper literature review, in depth explanations of methodology with proofs, if any, detailed figures <strong>that are different from the conference submission</strong>.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>This is a perfectly acceptable practice and strikes a fine balance between the need to disseminate information quickly, stake your claim to being \"first\", and being fair to the academic process. </p>\n\n<p>However, also be aware that if your field of research is narrow/small, then it is highly likely that there is an overlap of reviewers among journals. I recently reviewed a manuscript for journal A which eventually was rejected, because although 3 reviewers (including myself) gave it an \"acceptable\" rating, the fourth reviewer who happened to also review the authors' previous similar submission to journal B (which was accepted a few weeks prior), notified the editor. It turns out, that they tried to do something similar to what you're doing, except that journal A would've been preferable to journal B, but things didn't turn out as they had hoped (i.e. 2 publications). So be wary of this happening to you as well.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9521,
"author": "Jukka Suomela",
"author_id": 351,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/351",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The problem is that you have painted yourself into a corner.</p>\n\n<p>You have made a very serious mistake by submitting simultaneously to a conference (with formal proceedings) and a journal. Most likely <em>both</em> the conference <em>and</em> the journal have explicit rules forbidding this, and in any case any kind of simultaneous submission is highly unethical: you are abusing the peer-review system.</p>\n\n<p>No matter what you do, someone will be upset.</p>\n\n<p>If you are a student, perhaps the best approach is to play stupid. Contact the conference organisers, apologise sincerely, explain that you were not aware that simultaneous submissions are not permitted, explain that you are just a student, apologise again, and withdraw the conference paper.</p>\n\n<p>The conference organisers will be upset. But maybe this is much better in the long run than proceeding with the publication of both versions, in which case you will make your mistake <em>public</em> and anyone is able to see it (conference submission & acceptance dates are public information, and journals typically publish the submission & acceptance dates of the articles).</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/21 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9514",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4472/"
]
|
9,516 | <p>Some friends and I were discussing a certain conference that has a "rebuttal" phase, in which the authors can see the reviews and reply to them. We realized that this rebuttal phase probably couldn't happen before e-mail was common, which lead us to think on the question</p>
<blockquote>
<p>How did conferences "work" before everybody had e-mails?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I don't know about other fields, but in computer-science, some of the conferences are dated to early 60's. Back then there was no email and internet (were fax machines common enough?).</p>
<p>I have plenty of questions about how the process worked back then:</p>
<ul>
<li>How did one submit a paper? (I assume one had to print the paper and mail it? Was the "deadline" determined by the post-date, or maybe there was no deadline?)</li>
<li>How did one get the reviews back, if at all? </li>
<li>Where did one send his paper? To the program chair? How did the reviewers get a copy of the paper (I assume the chair would first need to look at the abstracts and then assign to other PC members/reviewers? or maybe the entire committee would get copies of all the papers, and there was no sub-reviewing?)</li>
<li>How much time did the entire process take (seems like the overhead of mail adds quite a lot to the already-long process)</li>
</ul>
<p>(maybe I'm taking it all wrong, and conferences back then were not peer-reviewed, and anyone that came could give a talk??)</p>
<hr>
<p>Some things that I (think that I) know, and might help to complete the atmosphere of 'making science without the supporting technology':</p>
<ul>
<li>How would the program committee make the decision? - they'd meet in some place together, and decide.. Which means that one had to travel quite a lot to be on a committee.</li>
<li>Proceedings were sent to print months <em>after</em> the conference, so they actually described what had happened during the conference.</li>
<li>Presentations were done using a projector and transparent slides (it's funny to think about it..)</li>
</ul>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9517,
"author": "Suresh",
"author_id": 346,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I have heard many stories of people rushing to the FedEx station at the airport to ship off papers at the last possible minute. I've also heard stories of grad students driving from Boston to New York with all the submissions from MIT to submit them. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9519,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There are some vestiges of the pre-electronic era still out there. For instance, the <a href=\"http://www.aps.org\">American Physical Society</a> continues to this day to have an annual \"Sorting Meeting\" for their conference, where anyone interested in helping to organize the meeting comes together. At that meeting, all of the abstracts, which have been printed out, are available, and need to be \"sorted\" and collected into groups that would become different sessions. </p>\n\n<p>You will also sometimes see references to manuscripts needing to be \"camera-ready\"; this is also a reference to how production of conference proceedings worked. The manuscripts were photographed and then turned into material that the publisher used to make the final printed copies. </p>\n\n<p>Of course, even after the advent of the fax, many things would still have to be done by mail. However, I think that ultimately things had to be done \"on site,\" as it was simply too impractical to mail everything around to all of the reviewers. However, I also think it would have been much more difficult to ask for full papers, just because of the logistics of having to deal with so much material in one sitting. You would need to rely on abstracts (regular or \"extended\"), and then ask for full papers from the accepted papers. </p>\n\n<p>(And, because of the poor quality of faxes, anything that would be submitted to a publisher would have to be done by mail. Note that this was true even after the advent of the email era!)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9538,
"author": "JeffE",
"author_id": 65,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Conferences were organized pretty much as they are now, only slower and with lots more paper.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>Conferences would advertise by <strong>physically mailing paper fliers</strong> to potential authors (primarily past attendees) and perhaps some department chairs. Postage was a significant portion of the conference budget. Professional society publications (like <em>Communications of the ACM</em> and <em>SIGACT News</em>) would include several pages of calls for papers with upcoming deadlines. These calls for papers were typically prepared and sent to publishers/printers about a year in advance of the conference.</p></li>\n<li><p>Authors would send <strong>multiple physical paper copies</strong> of each submission by post (or FedEx, or whatever) to the physical address of the program committee chair. Typically, the author would send one copy for each member of the program committee. Papers usually had to be <em>received</em>, not merely <em>postmarked</em>, by the submission deadline. (Hence the probably-not-apocryphal stories of grad students flying to the PC chair's city with a box of last-minute submissions from their home department.)</p></li>\n<li><p>Submission deadlines were typically about six months before the actual conference date, just as they are now.</p></li>\n<li><p>The PC chair (or more likely, their secretary and/or students) would collate the received submissions into boxes/binders, which would be <strong>physically mailed</strong> to each program committee member. Thus, each PC member would receive a copy of each submitted paper. Shipping costs were a non-trivial portion of the conference budget. (Having never been on a committee organized this way, I don't know how review assignments were done. I assume the now ubiquitous practice of sub-reviewing was very rare.)</p></li>\n<li><p>A couple of months later, the entire program committee would fly to a <strong>central physical location</strong> with their submission boxes/binders, to decide which submissions to accept. Conference budgets <em>sometimes</em> included travel costs for the program committee, but not always.</p></li>\n<li><p>The PC chair (or more likely, their secretary and/or students) would send <strong>a physical letter</strong> to each submitting author informing them of the committee's decision about their paper. Often this was the <em>only</em> feedback from the program committee. Authors who wanted more information about <em>why</em> a paper was rejected often had to contact one of the committee members directly.</p></li>\n<li><p>About three months before the conference, authors of accepted papers would <strong>physically mail</strong> camera-ready copies of their papers to the publisher, after following formatting instructions received by physical mail. The publisher would duplicate (using an actual camera!) and bind these papers into books, along with front and back matter prepared by the PC chair and also physically mailed to the publisher.</p></li>\n<li><p>The publisher would ship <strong>physical books</strong> containing all the camera-ready papers, which would be distributed to the conference attendees. (Again, shipping costs were a non-trivial portion of the conference budget.) Faculty attending the conferences would often buy extra books to distribute to their students who could not attend. Other copies of the same book would be physically mailed to hundreds of university libraries and other subscribers.</p></li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 10552,
"author": "David Johnson",
"author_id": 7398,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7398",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Typically, each program committee member would receive ALL the submissions (100-200 back in the 1970s and 80s), when STOC and FOCS did not have parallel\nsessions and were only accepting 30-36 papers.\nAuthors with accepted papers would receive a mailing tube\ncontaining large size sheets into which their papers were to\nbe typed (or pasted), with blue guidelines indicating the margins for the\n2-column format. These were then sent to the publisher, who would photograph\nthe pages - the proceedings pages were reduced-size versions of the\n\"camera-ready\" versions. Figures were often hand-drawn, as you can see if\nyou look at some of those old proceedings, scans of which are available in\nthe relevant digital libraries.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/21 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9516",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/324/"
]
|
9,518 | <p>The American Mathematical Society (AMS) has quite a few journals titled "(something) of the AMS".</p>
<p>The research journals include:</p>
<ul>
<li>Journal of the AMS</li>
<li>Proceedings of the AMS</li>
<li>Transactions of the AMS</li>
<li>Memoirs of the AMS</li>
</ul>
<p>How do these journals differ in terms of scope?</p>
<p>Some information about the roles of these journals can be found on the AMS <a href="http://www.ams.org/journals">journals website</a>. However the only distinctions given are that JAMS is for "research articles of the highest quality," while PAMS, TAMS, and MAMS are for short, medium, and long articles respectively.</p>
<p>Are there further differentiations between these journals? If a mathematician wants to submit a paper to an AMS journal is the decision process for which one really as simple as "If my paper isn't good enough for JAMS I'll check its length and ship it off to the appropriate one of the other 3?"</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9520,
"author": "Nobody",
"author_id": 546,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/546",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I found a paper <a href=\"https://faculty.math.illinois.edu/~hildebr/reu2009/journals.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Mathematical Journals</a> by A.J. Hildebrand</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Journal of the American Mathematical Society is one of the elite journals</li>\n<li>Proceedings of the AMS and Transactions of the AMS are society journals \ncome in pairs that have a single editorial board, and which complement each\nother in that one specializes in shorter articles, whereas the other publishes\nmainly longer articles</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>There are interesting descriptions for other math journals in that paper as well.</p>\n\n<p>According to the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memoirs_of_the_American_Mathematical_Society\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Wiki page</a></p>\n\n<p>Memoirs of the American Mathematical Society (ISSN 0065-9266) is a mathematical journal published in six volumes per year, totalling approximately 25 to 30 individually bound numbers, by the American Mathematical Society. It is intended to carry papers on new mathematical research between 80 and 200 pages in length. Usually, a bound number consists of a single paper, i.e., it is a monograph.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9522,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This is not an answer, but it is too long for a comment. I am not going to compare the quality and scope of the AMS journals, but I would like to share an experience. Once an editor of PAMS told me that he receives about 100 papers every year and he can only accept about 10 papers each year, so he has to reject so many of (good) submissions. My estimation is more than half of the submitted papers (to PAMS) contain some interesting results and deserve publication in a respectful journal, but most of them will be rejected, just because there are better papers. </p>\n\n<p>Regarding this point of view, I think one should submit a paper to an AMS journal only if he is sure that his paper is among the top 10% papers submitted to the journal. Otherwise, he is wasting his time. </p>\n\n<p>There are so many other nice mathematical journals which provide authors with professional services and have way less traffic. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9529,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>If a mathematician wants to submit a paper to an AMS journal is the decision process for which one really as simple as \"If my paper isn't good enough for JAMS I'll check its length and ship it off to the appropriate one of the other 3?\"</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Yes, more or less. Journal of the AMS is a special case (as you observed) because of its extremely high level, and Memoirs of the AMS because it will consider incredibly long papers. In both cases, there are only a small number of competing journals with these properties. On the other hand, Transactions and Proceedings have substantially more competitors. The primary distinction between them is length, but from my perspective there's also a difference in prestige. Proceedings of the AMS gets some great submissions, but the length cut-off is pretty short for mathematics papers and this means it gets fewer great submissions than Transactions does, so the prestige level is a little lower. Other than length and prestige, they are pretty much identical, for example in topics covered (a broad spectrum of pure mathematics, but limited coverage of applied mathematics).</p>\n\n<p>So for Proceedings/Transactions papers, there's a four step decision procedure:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>Is your paper on an appropriate topic? (To a first approximation: is it pure mathematics?)</p></li>\n<li><p>How long is your paper?</p></li>\n<li><p>Do you have a realistic shot at acceptance?</p></li>\n<li><p>Is the journal prestigious enough that you would be happy publishing your paper there?</p></li>\n</ol>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/21 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9518",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/993/"
]
|
9,523 | <p>I am reviewing the second revision of a paper and am getting tired of this incredibly slow process of me pointing something out that requires clarification just to hear back from those authors two or three months from now (at the earliest).</p>
<p>Do you think I would insult gravely the academic spirit and / or authors of that manuscript if I just e-mailed the corresponding author saying "Look I still don't understand X because of Y can you please explain?"?</p>
<p>Personally, I think that doing so would just be what science is about: a bunch of people interested in similar scientific topics talking to each other.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9525,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>No, you should not, but there is of course no law that prevents it. Peer review is a process where the editor appoints reviewers because of their expertise to provide independent and knowledgeable views on the submitted manuscript. As such the reviews should pass through the editor since they are not only made to improve the manuscript from the point of the author but also prepare it to be worthy of publication in the journal to which it is submitted. Making such contact is thus breaking an understanding with the editor/journal and integrity of the journal review system and quality assurance. The correspondence needs to go through the editor.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9528,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>I am reviewing the second revision of a paper and am getting tired of this incredibly slow process of me pointing something out that requires clarification just to hear back from those authors two or three months from now (at the earliest).</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>You don't need to e-mail the authors directly to get the information you want. The several month delay you are talking about is the time it takes to collect all the reviews, send them to the authors, and wait for a revised version of the paper. However, in the journals I'm familiar with you could request clarification by asking the editor to send a short message to the authors now and relay the response to you. Going through the editor might slow things down by a day or two, but not by months.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Do you think I would insult gravely the academic spirit and / or authors of that manuscript if I just e-mailed the corresponding author saying \"Look I still don't understand X because of Y can you please explain?\"?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>The phrasing of your question is hyperbolic, but yes, this is something that could be considered offensive or unethical. Sending queries through the editor slows things down only slightly, while it avoids various difficulties:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>Reviewers might bypass the editor on requests they would rather not call to the editor's attention (for example, suggesting that their papers be cited). Along similar ethical lines, announcing to the authors that you are reviewing their paper might help you pressure them for favors elsewhere. For example, it would be unethical to write \"Dear X, I'm a reviewer for your recent submission to Y. I'm having trouble understanding it, so I fear it might take a while to arrive at a decision, but it could help to know blah blah blah. Can you supply any additional information? Regards, Z P.S. Have you reached a decision about participating in the joint project I proposed?\"</p></li>\n<li><p>It's important for the editor to be aware of all relevant information. If several reviewers request clarification about something, then that is itself informative about the clarity of the manuscript, even if they all agree in the end that it is correct. It's also valuable for the editor to see and judge the response itself (and not just to know whether it convinced the reviewer).</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>As Daniel Shub pointed out in the comments, you can always ask the editor whether it would be appropriate for you to contact the authors directly (it may depend on journal policy, customs in your field, or the editor's judgment of the particular situation). If the answer is yes, then you are all set. However, if the answer is no or you don't ask, then you should relay all communication through the editor, and I would expect that to be the usual answer.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9530,
"author": "walkmanyi",
"author_id": 1265,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1265",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>Do you think I would insult gravely the academic spirit and / or authors of that manuscript if I just e-mailed the corresponding author?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>You are \"hired\" as a reviewer by the responsible editor hence by default you should obey the journal editorial board/conference programme committee rules. In your particular situation, I do not think contacting authors is appropriate. Obviously, <em>they did not communicate their ideas/results clearly enough for the target audience</em>, which is a reason for rejection (or at least subtracting \"points\" in the review). As a referee, that's just about what you need to care for. <em>You are not supposed to do the authors' job, or invest more energy than any other interested expert reader would.</em></p>\n\n<p><strong>Communication with authors:</strong><br/>\nGenerally speaking, sometimes there are sound reasons for starting a communication link with the authors (for example when the referee process is friendly, such as for invited contributions to journals, or chapters in an edited book). If that is the case, then you have at least the following options:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><strong>anonymized channel</strong>: preferrably channel all the communication between you and authors via the responsible editor who will \"anonymise\" your messages. Of course the editor has to be OK with such a setup;</li>\n<li><strong>direct communication link</strong>: ask the responsible editor for approval whether establishing a direct communication link is fine with her/him and if so, obey by whatever restrictions (s)he puts in place and keep the editor in the loop too - you need to keep a good track of the communication should there be a dispute later on. Sometimes communicating with authors is outright forbidden in guidelines to referees. Check the journal's rules carefully! Or finally,</li>\n<li><strong>after-review contact</strong>: you can finish the review on the basis of what is submitted as is usual, but you identify yourself in the review. Again, ask the responsible editor for approval first. Authors might choose to contact you, or not. It will be their decision.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>In the past, I went the route #3. It worked well. But remember, reviews are blind in order to allow reviewers to be frank. Sometimes (most of the time?) such a feedback causes pain and friction. You need to think twice about this and <strong>always</strong> obey the editor's guidance. The reason is, <strong>sometimes with a best intention, you might cause harm!</strong> Such as rejection of the paper on the grounds of a mismanaged review process.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9537,
"author": "JeffE",
"author_id": 65,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>I am reviewing the second revision of a paper and am getting tired of this incredibly slow process of me pointing something out that requires clarification just to hear back from those authors two or three months from now (at the earliest).</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>So what? Your understanding is not one of the required outcomes of the refereeing process.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Do you think I would insult gravely the academic spirit and / or authors of that manuscript if I just e-mailed the corresponding author saying \"Look I still don't understand X because of Y can you please explain?\"?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Perhaps not, but you would subvert the whole point of refereeing, which is to <strong>judge the paper on its own merits</strong>. The typical reader is not going to have access to the authors to clarify any confusing aspects of the paper. If the paper is confusing, it is simply not ready to publish; contacting the authors would not change this fact. If the authors have not addressed your concerns despite multiple rounds of reviewing, the appropriate response is to <strong>recommend rejection</strong>.</p>\n\n<p>Others have raised additional ethical issues, so I won't repeat them.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/21 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9523",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/907/"
]
|
9,524 | <p>When reading about people who have studied at Oxford the word "read" is used instead of study. Example:</p>
<p>"He read Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford"</p>
<p>Why when discussing study at Oxford (and maybe other universities) is the word "read" used?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9527,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>This is just a peculiarity of British English that <em>read</em> can have this particular meaning. The <em>New Oxford American Dictionary</em> says:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p><strong>read</strong><br>\n 3. <em>chiefly Brit.</em> study (an academic subject) at a university: <em>I'm reading English at Cambridge</em><br>\n [ no obj. ]: <em>he went to Manchester to read for a BA in Economics</em>.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>So, it's more about language itself than the official title of the diploma or an academic custom.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p><em>— Hey, wait, but where does this idea come up to associate <em>“read”</em> with <em>“learn, understand”</em>? Surely there is a reason? And why is it English only?</em></p>\n\n<p>Well, as it turns out, <strong>the meaning of <em>“learn, understand, think, explain”</em> is actually the original meaning of the Old English word</strong> from which we inherited <em>read</em>! The Old English word is <em>rædan</em> (“explain”, amongst its meanings), from Proto-Germanic <em>raedanan</em>, from Proto-Indo-European root <em>re(i)-</em> (“to reason, count”).</p>\n\n<p>Now, in many languages, the words derived from this root kept their original meaning. In German, <em><a href=\"http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/raten#German\">raten</a></em> means “to advise, counsel”; in Icelandic, <em><a href=\"http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/r%C3%A1%C3%B0a#Icelandic\">ráða</a></em> means “advise, decide, solve”. </p>\n\n<p>Now, at some point something in Old English went sideways. <a href=\"http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/read#Etymology\">Wiktionary</a> states very clearly:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>The development from “advise, interpret” to “interpret letters, read” is unique to English</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://etymonline.com/index.php?term=read&allowed_in_frame=0\">Etymonline</a> is more specific:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Transference to “understand the meaning of written symbols” is unique to Old English and (perhaps under English influence) Old Norse <em>raða</em>. Most languages use a word rooted in the idea of \"gather up\" as their word for \"read\" (cf. French <em>lire</em>, from Latin <em>legere</em>).</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Now, the original meaning of the word <em>read</em> is retained in some contexts in British English, but was lost in other forms of the English language, such as American English.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>As a summary, the hard question is not really “why can <em>read</em> mean <em>study</em>”, but instead: <strong>why did <em>read</em> come to mean “read”?</strong></p>\n\n<p><sup>(source for the above: my memory, which is backed by the most excellent <a href=\"http://etymonline.com/index.php?term=read&allowed_in_frame=0\">Etymonline</a>)</sup></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 160493,
"author": "Dr Phil Crosby",
"author_id": 133220,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/133220",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The respondents so far have missed a crucial point. When one ‘reads’ for a degree in the sandstone Unis in the UK, it is different to a normal course of study. Reading for a degree involves few lectures or tutorials, and consists mainly of being allotted texts by an academic supervisor, who then discusses what you have learned, and possibly sets essays for you to demonstrate logical argument and research. There’s no classroom study as such. It’s more about analytical thinking to earn your ‘Oxbridge’ degree.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/21 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9524",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4360/"
]
|
9,526 | <p>How does one call postgraduate studies in countries where the appropriate degree is not PHD? It can't be PHD scholarship. Can I use "postgraduate studentship" in this sense in official papers? Maybe "postgraduate scholarship" is better or there are some other variants?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9531,
"author": "Paul Hiemstra",
"author_id": 4091,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4091",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This really depends on where you are going to use this term. The goal is to make clear to people what kind of degrees you have. So if you communicate with people from the US, you can just say you are working on a PhD. If you are communicating with people form your own system, just use the title that is appropriate int that context. </p>\n\n<p>For example, until recently the Netherlands did not have the Bachelor-Master system. This did not prevent people from using the MSc title abroad when that was the title people where familiar with.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9534,
"author": "walkmanyi",
"author_id": 1265,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1265",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>How does one call postgraduate studies in countries where the appropriate degree is not PHD? </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>You need to be precise about which term for the title/degree you would use. In the follow-up comment you reveal that the degree is \"candidate of sciences\". In Eastern Europe there were such degrees given in the past, in most countries this was one way or another changed to PhD, or similar. In the past, the process towards the \"candidate of sciences\" (CSc. degree in a country I am familiar with) was called <code>candidature</code>. <code>\"I work on my candidature.\"</code> Just like that. You would also call it <code>postgradute studies</code>, but see also <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7469/undergraduate-graduate-or-post-graduate-student-is-that-bachelor-master-phd-o/\">this question</a> for potential caveats.</p>\n\n<p>However, as Paul Hiemstra points out, you would use this in your system, but when communicating with the world you should use the equivalent term. Most countries have a signed international treaties regarding education and professional degree recognition and equivalence with most other countries (at least in Europe and OECD). In those treaties (usually public material) you should be able to find the exact tables of equivalent degrees, possibly with various stipulations about their use. Look for such a treaty which your country signed with the country where you want to use your title/study term.</p>\n\n<p>P.S.<br/>\n<code>Scholarship</code> is usually the funding you get to perform your <code>studentship</code>.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/21 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9526",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6866/"
]
|
9,540 | <p>From a technical stand point, what do I need to show up to a conference with (in general) to ensure that my presentation will go smoothly?</p>
<p>Two things I can think of:</p>
<ul>
<li>Presentation remote </li>
<li>Equipment to connect my laptop to the projector</li>
</ul>
<p>The remote is simple enough, it just needs to work with my computer and be reliable. Connecting my computer to the projector is not trivial since a lot of laptops don't come with DVI or VGA output any more (mine doesn't!). What kind of output do I usually need, DVI or VGA? Do I need something like <a href="http://amzn.com/B00ABNLEWO">this</a> which supports all output methods (seems like over kill but might be a good investment)?</p>
<p>Is there anything else to make sure I am prepared to deal with the technical aspects of a presentation?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9541,
"author": "Suresh",
"author_id": 346,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>From less esoteric to more (I've seen all these things happen):</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Make sure you know how to \"send the image to a projector\". Not all laptops do this automatically, and I'm surprised at how many people don't know how to do it. I've also seen people be confused by the mirroring feature on Macs.</li>\n<li>Verify that there's a power outlet or some place to plug in your laptop. Driving a projector eats power, and you don't want to drain your battery during the presentation</li>\n<li>Turn off screen savers. at the very least it's annoying, and sometimes the screen saver does wonky things to the projector display.</li>\n<li>Turn off your notifications (mail, facebook, twitter, skype...). It's amusing for an audience (but not for you) if during a job talk they all get to see a subject header of the form \"Interview at University X\" where X is not where you're at :)</li>\n<li>Make sure you have the right display converters. Usually something that converts your laptop to a VGA is standard. Macs are particularly difficult in this regard. </li>\n<li>Watch out for resolution issues. Most laptops are smart enough to drop resolution to deal with a projector, but sometimes they're not. </li>\n<li>Keep a backup copy of the slides in a portable format (PDF or PPT) on a usb stick. In the worst-case you can always borrow a laptop (from the previous speaker even) and load up the slides. Dropbox/a web page is ok but not great because it requires an internet connection. </li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>And above all, as David M. R. says, check the setup beforehand if you can. Even that doesn't guarantee a smooth presentation, but it eliminates a lot of the potential problems listed above. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9552,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In addition to Suresh comprehensive answer, and understanding you are referring primarily to the technology, would add the following which concerns the presentation:</p>\n\n<p>Do not include media (video, sound etc) in your presentations unless absolutely necessary. If you do, make sure in advance (before the conference or some time before your talk that everything will work. This is particularly true if you need to switch platform from whatever you use to whatever the conference might run (unless they let you use your own computer (which is rare).</p>\n\n<p>Make copies of your presentation in alternative formats. for example. if you make a presentation in PowerPoint, save it also as PDF (and make sure the PDF looks ok). Moving PowerPoint files between Win and Mac can be far from trivial. Not even PDFs are fool proof, particularly if media players need to be involved.</p>\n\n<p>To add a technical item:</p>\n\n<p>Be aware that older projectors may not resolve the color space you have in your presentation. This may render certain colours invisible and make other look identical. Therefore be careful and avoid choosing too many similar colours in plots etc. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9553,
"author": "Ben Norris",
"author_id": 924,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/924",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In addition to Suresh's and Peter's advice, there is one other unlikely scenario to consider. Be prepared to give your presentation without the assistance of technology. Depending on the venue, if the projector fails, it may take longer to get a new one in place than you have to speak. If the talk is for an interview, being able to seamlessly switch to the low-tech version is a big plus for you. If you are at a conference, then the attendees at your session will still get to hear about your work. If the presentation is your thesis defense, then you absolutely must be able to continue in the analog fashion.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9564,
"author": "Carolyn",
"author_id": 6088,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6088",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The other answers are all great. Also keep in mind:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>If you don't know what kind of room you'll be presenting in, keep all the vital info in the slides on the top half or top third of the slide. You never know when you'll get a room where the screen is at the same level as the audience seating. When that happens, no one behind the first row will be able to see the whole slide.</li>\n<li>When microphones are provided, do a sound check before your presentation starts. Use the microphone. </li>\n<li>Be prepared to present on a machine other than the one you bring. Have your presentation materials on an external drive AND in the cloud. </li>\n<li>If you created your presentation on a mac and you'll be presenting on a pc, or vice versa, try to do a practice round on that operating system. Even if both OS's are running PowerPoint, certain features or slide transitions might not be supported.</li>\n</ul>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/22 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9540",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/746/"
]
|
9,542 | <p>As a grad student, I just find it tremendously frustrating when emails are ignored by faculty (both at my institution and at other places). Is this acceptable? I'd be content with a simple response with one line along the lines of "I have read this email and am busy right now, will respond in X days when I can write a more detailed email." I understand that, as a first year student in my field, I'm not really in a position to request anything of anyone, but it just seems like common decency.</p>
<p>Instead, I never hear back, as if my email has been jettisoned off into oblivion.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9543,
"author": "Paul Hiemstra",
"author_id": 4091,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4091",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I agree that it can be frustrating, but this is not uncommon in a big organisation (I don't think this is specific to academia). People get a lot of e-mail, and are very busy. Answering each and every email can be a lot of work in an already fully packed day. This either leads to people forgetting, or simply ignoring their e-mail to some extent. Also remember that something might be a really high priority for you, but a relatively low priority for the person you mail. So I don't think ignoring mails is acceptable, but sometimes understandable. </p>\n\n<p>I think the best way to deal with it is to try and work with the system. If you see that professor X is very unresponsive to his mail, approach him in person. If a department does not return your mails, give them a call. This kind of personal approach makes it harder for those persons to ignore you, an email is very easy to ignore.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9544,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>E-mails are not easily ignored in all systems. In Sweden, e-mails sent to public agencies and organizations must be answered in \"due time\" (mostly meaning within days). Since many or most of our universities are public, we as faculty fall under the same rules and must answer all mails sent to us. In our case, this of course only concerns matters dealing with university matters, no need to worry about spam etc. We are even requested by law to file all correspondence although there is no clear indication on how this should be done with electronic correspondence.</p>\n\n<p>I have kept tally of my e-mail correspondence for years and receive about 10k mails per year and send about 2-3k. If I do not respond to mails relatively quickly they may soon become forgotten even though they are marked as not read. But, I do not miss more than probably around a few tens of mails every year, a pretty ok \"percentage\" in my own opinion. I believe all senior staff have similar numbers regarding e-mail harvest.</p>\n\n<p>In my department I have colleagues who's e-mail discipline ranges from \"may occasionally answer\" to \"seems to use e-mail instead of a telephone\". In the first case, the persons are by no means not answering out of malice. The persons in the latter category are simply annoying. So regardless of the circumstances, some people are notoriously poor regarding answering, even to relatively close colleagues.</p>\n\n<p>So as was stated by Paul Hiemstra, try to catch the person who is unresponsive in person. it may turn out this is their preferred way to communicate.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9545,
"author": "Samuel Russell",
"author_id": 4429,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4429",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Within limits of my experience as an administrator, who regularly asks large numbers of academics for responses by email (eventually, by deadlines, or immediately with harsh consequences):</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>if you directly address correspondence on a topic to a person who has no competence or responsibility for that topic, they are likely to ignore your email as spam.</li>\n<li>emails can cover both \"please action X\" and \"please action X in a manner which requires response.\" Some email cultures do not respond to the first, as a response is not implicitly or explicitly required; other email cultures explicitly respond to the first.</li>\n<li>your email may lie within your correspondents' area of discretion, for example, in my University system requests to discuss research are normally considered to be discretionary—people are unlikely to discuss research with members of the general public, and most likely to discuss research with colleagues in coaligned fields. Your correspondence may fall into the gap between \"must answer\" and \"don't have to.\"</li>\n<li>my experience of general society is that most cold calls fall flat; this tends to be true in academia unless you have something to give someone.</li>\n<li>academic work is a high stress and \"sweated\" industry in Anglophone countries at the moment. Out of the hundreds of things academics are obliged to do, answering emails often comes last out of the immediate obligations. The penalties for not answering email are low and eventual. The penalties for failing to deliver coursework or publish research are more immediate and severe.</li>\n<li>following on from the above, one long term coping mechanism for many academics is to push deadlines and delay. Some academics rely on these time bargaining tools. Email is an easy victim.</li>\n<li>\"that Guy\" still exists in the academy. Your correspondent could just be that guy.</li>\n<li>even the harshest consequences for failing to answer emails won't necessarily summon a response from someone on sabbatical or funded research relief from teaching. An academic's line manager in the immediate chain of management can't always summon responses.</li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9548,
"author": "Sam",
"author_id": 6878,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6878",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>For a grad student/young people/etc the amount or received mail counts in dozens per day (100 emails a day is something that I've never ever seen in my inbox)</p>\n\n<p>However, people with larger academic networks, industry links, or just a bit older, receive thousands emails per day (this is actually common place, not strange exception). It means that just reading them all may take hours each day, not to say writing an answer. (Even hundreds emails is a bit too much to handle)</p>\n\n<p>And even among those who are not flooded by emails, there are many that do not 'catch up' with technology - they have a default email address but never or seldom use it.</p>\n\n<p>Some people use smart tools to help them manage the deluge (automatic filters, canned responses, secretary, etc)</p>\n\n<p>Some are simply overwhelmed, and just ignore most emails, except those for a weekend beer with an old friend.</p>\n\n<p>Now, you cannot blame them (you'll be in their shoes soon). What you can do about it is to follow some of Paul Hiemstra's recommendations and use some other, less busy channel to contact them. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9558,
"author": "enderland",
"author_id": 5845,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5845",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<h2>The Problem</h2>\n<p>People who are super busy don't have the time to spend minutes first reading, then processing (and/or rereading), then responding to your email. This is simply life, there is only so much time in a day, and some people have way more constraints on their time.</p>\n<p>Spending lots of time parsing/processing/understanding/formulating responses/replying to emails from people they don't know or have reason to care about? Probably not high on their list of priorities - which for the record is probably already completely overloaded anyways.</p>\n<h2>The Solution</h2>\n<p>Write shorter emails (or electronic content) which are easy to answer. This ability is an art, get used to practicing it if you want responses.</p>\n<p>Make it <em>easy</em> for someone to respond.</p>\n<h2>Practical advice from this question</h2>\n<p>Notice that even in this question, the important part</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Why is this acceptable?</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>was buried in a large paragraph (assuming this is even your primary question, which I'm <em>assuming</em> it was). Plus, it was filled with irrelevant information which suggests other things are what you are interested in.</p>\n<p>If I'm a really busy person getting hundreds of emails a day, you just made me read, then reread the email after finishing to figure out what you want a response to. You can't do this if you want responses consistently - and this is relatively SIMPLE with minimal text.</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>I just find it tremendously frustrating when my emails are ignored by\nfaculty (both at my institution and at other places) and I don't hear\nback at all. I understand that I'm not really in a position to\nrequest anything of anyone, but it just seems like common decency to respond rather than say nothing at all</p>\n<ul>\n<li>Why is this behavior acceptable?</li>\n</ul>\n</blockquote>\n<p>This is considerably more clear and makes it easier to respond to.</p>\n<hr />\n<h2>tl;dr</h2>\n<p>If you are not naturally able to write clear, concise, and easy to respond to emails, practice and spend time rewriting them until you feel they are.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 30108,
"author": "POEDPHD",
"author_id": 23013,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/23013",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This is an old question but one that speaks to me as a former graduate student who was puzzled and very frustrated by the same thing. Ignored emails are the norm in graduate school--unless a faculty member wants you to email something of course. Yes, it is frustrating to turn in a dissertation proposal or chapter and not hear back for months in spite of several friendly reminders. You need questions answered, problems pointed out, or just a few words of reassurance that you are going in a good direction before working six more months on what might be wrong. (And the blame for not getting finished in a timely manner will only fall on your head.) As a new student, you also probably have scores of questions about the program, policies and procedures, and many other things and you, too, have a busy schedule of classes, teaching, perhaps another job, maybe even family, and deadlines of your own. However, as others have said, answering students' email is not high on the list, even if it is possible. Sadly, many faculty do not have time (or inclination) to help you. </p>\n\n<p>So my advice is to memorize the handbook. Then get friendly with other graduate students, especially those who have been there longer, for they can be valuable sources of information. If the issue is very important and can only be answered by a faculty member then drop by during office hours and see if the person can spare a few minutes or make an appointment. It is hard not to see the blatant ignoring of one's communication as just rudeness and arrogance--and maybe it is. But that's the way it is and there is nothing to be done without risking your career so your option, until you have that diploma and job recommendations, is suck it up and not complain. Good luck with it.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 119739,
"author": "Joe Woodburn",
"author_id": 100411,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/100411",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>From my experience in industry, one reason I think many emails go unanswered is that it's become <em>common</em> (though, in my opinion, not <em>acceptable</em>) for a lack of a reply to mean \"no\"/\"I don't know\"/\"I can't help\"/\"I don't understand your request\". If I analyse the emails I sent which never got replies, it seems that around 40% of such cases could be explained by such a phenomenon.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 138874,
"author": "user115388",
"author_id": 115388,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/115388",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>At my university professors are required to respond within 24 hours or they can get in trouble, especially if it is an ongoing issue.</p>\n\n<p>Source: a previous professor told me this little important tid bit of information & I have had to use this information to my benefit a couple of times for lazy or asinine instructors.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/22 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9542",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
]
|
9,547 | <p>Every time I apply for a job I write a new cover letter, research statement, and teaching statement. While each statement is personalized for the specific job, I tend to do a lot of cutting and pasting and little new writing (yes I have a whole collection of past statements). This seems like something that might be useful to keep under version control. how do people manage the different versions of the cover letter, research statement, and teaching statement?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9550,
"author": "Chris Gregg",
"author_id": 4461,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4461",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>While I keep my correspondence in version control, I don't have the same document for cover letters that go to different schools. I simply prepend the name of the school to all of my correspondence for that school, and/or file everything into folders with the school's name.</p>\n\n<p>As you point out, you end up personalizing almost everything (even CVs), so we aren't talking about one document for which you need version control. You want version control for <em>all</em> the documents, but each document has its own identity.</p>\n\n<p>Now, if you do have a unique document that will be sent to different schools, you would want to create one document, and then create a <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbolic_link\" rel=\"nofollow\"><em>symbolic link</em></a> (or an <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alias_%28Mac_OS%29\" rel=\"nofollow\">alias</a>) from one original to each school folder where it will be sent. Then, when you update the original, all the symbolic links point to the same file.</p>\n\n<p>Finally, you may want to consider using a word processor that has the ability to use templates, but I find that is sometimes just as much work as simply duplicating a file and changing the duplicate.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9551,
"author": "Nicholas",
"author_id": 1424,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1424",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>My research and teaching statement have a lot of commented text (I write in LaTeX). This is because I amend each document specifically for each job application - as you do. </p>\n\n<p>The detail in which I describe each topic changes depending on what job I am applying for. I comment out text which is too detailed for the job to which I am applying. However, for other job applications, I might like to have that text put back into my statement, or write new text, to be perhaps commented out in a future application for a different job.</p>\n\n<p>I now have documents with a lot of phrases from which I can \"pick and choose\", depending on the specific job to which I am applying, and amend appropriately. It isn't really version control, I know, but I find it useful to have a selection of wordings to choose from <strong>in one place</strong> so that I can compare and contrast things like the level of detail and the tone. This isn't particularly onerous as these documents do not total more than 2 - 3 pages in my case. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 59788,
"author": "Alejandro Erickson",
"author_id": 43156,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/43156",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I am in the middle of my job search and I do the following to keep myself organised:</p>\n\n<p>Directory structure: ('#' for comments and '/' for directories)</p>\n\n<pre><code>/Interested\n /<deadline>-University1\n #job ad and README.txt in here\n /<deadline>-University2\n/Not Interested or Expired\n /<deadline>-University3\n/Submitted\n /<deadline>-University4\n /Application Materials #pdfs, copied over from git repos\n/RS-git #git repo\n #possibly a generic Research Statement in here\n /<year>\n /University4\n #Latest Research Statement in one of these\n#similarly for TS, CV, CL\n/TS-git #git repo for Teaching Statements\n/CV-git #git repo for CV\n/CL-git #git repo for Cover Letters\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>For each job ad I have a directory for the ad, a readme with notes to myself, and a directory for the application I am building/submitting. I then create related directories in each of the RS, TS, CV, CL directories, so that I can quickly start the application without affecting other concurrent ones. Importantly <strong>I never have to pull an earlier commit or mess around with branches to switch between job applications</strong>. This last bit is important because I often work on two applications at the same time, either to copy-paste between them, or simply to meet simultaneous deadlines.</p>\n\n<p>One last note, my are in ISO format, so they appear in order of submission deadline.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/22 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9547",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929/"
]
|
9,549 | <p>Academia values <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_freedom">academic freedom</a>. However, there may be some practical limitations on academic freedom. What repercussions might an academic face for voicing unpopular or offensive views in the name of academic freedom?</p>
<p>For example, how might a professor's academic reputation be impacted by publicly expressing views that support dictatorships (and other type of politicians) and their established crimes and violation of human rights?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9555,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>First, <strong>academic freedom</strong> as it is commonly understood does not refer to one's views and publicly stated opinions, but to the freedom in which they conduct teaching <strong>in the classroom</strong>. The reference in US is the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_freedom#In_the_United_States\">1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure</a> stating that</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Teachers are entitled to freedom in the classroom in discussing their subject</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>But as a rule, <strong>academics do not get special treatment outside of the classroom with regards to freedom of speech</strong>. It's certainly not the case in the US, and I am not aware of any other country where it might be the case.</p>\n\n<p>Now, regarding the impact of unpopular or offensive views on reputation, it will heavily depend on your colleagues! I personally find that, while freedom of speech is highly valued in academic circles in general, Academia as a system is a rather conservative institution and I suspect you would not find much more sympathy for extreme views than in any other workplace.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>NB: Academic freedom is also used to refer to a <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_freedom#Academic_freedom_for_colleges_and_universities\">US jurisprudence applying to universities and colleges</a>; in that sense, it is unrelated to rights and duties of an individual teacher.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9556,
"author": "Paul Hiemstra",
"author_id": 4091,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4091",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In addition to getting flak from your colleagues, some views might also get you fired or forced out of your position. For example, if you publicly state that the best solution for Africa is to drop a few nukes, the university might force you to resign. </p>\n\n<p>I think what is important is that you can provide rational arguments for your opinion, as science is based on facts (and the interpretation of those facts).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9559,
"author": "Piotr Migdal",
"author_id": 49,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/49",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>For propagating unpopular view (which can be considered offensive) a professor may lose a position (see e.g. <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Watson#Controversies\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">James Watson's case</a>). And in general, sensitive topics (e.g. like gender and ethnicity) may be risky, regardless of the scientific value of a statement one is making.</p>\n\n<p>Moreover, sometimes there is a particular ban on some ideologies (e.g. propagation of Nazism in many European countries). However, it this case it is (usually) not a limitation on academic research, but only on political activity. (Similarly, \"encouraging or assisting crime\" is an offence and it does limit what one can say.)</p>\n\n<p>As a side note, a humoristic slide from a presentation <a href=\"http://offtopicarium.wdfiles.com/local--files/v2:program/beauty.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Beauty and the beast</a> at the <a href=\"http://offtopicarium.wikidot.com/v2:program\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">2nd Offtopicarium</a>:</p>\n\n<p><img src=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/298Pc.png\" alt=\"enter image description here\"></p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/22 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9549",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4018/"
]
|
9,557 | <p>I receive about 10k emails per year and send about 2-3k. In my department (the sphere I can influence) there are those who almost never respond and those who respond as soon as I have hit the send button. There are also those who send mails on weekends, in the middle of the night, seemingly expecting answers fairly immediately. The record was probably the mail that was send shortly after midnight on a Sunday night about stuff that needed to be sorted out by Monday morning. In short, different person have different views on how and for what email should be used. I should add that in my system, the university email is strictly not to be used for private emailing.</p>
<p><em>I am therefore interested in hearing about if and if so how one can establish an email policy which provides guidelines for reasonable emailing practices within a department.</em></p>
<p>I have heard about guidelines against sending mails from off duty hours, about avoiding disputes over email, and about reasonable (expected) response times, etc. but have so far failed to locate any good sources for such practices and guidelines.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9566,
"author": "Irwin",
"author_id": 5944,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5944",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I've heard of a few trainings that help new employees get integrated inside a large organization. In my case, it was an offshore division of a large, IT company who was training its employees on how to communicate effectively.</p>\n\n<p>That said, the goals of your organization, a University, would be very different from a multinational.</p>\n\n<p>Nonetheless, here's some of the notes from that training:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>When you write email, write email about one topic only. If you need to discuss another topic, that should be in a separate email.</p></li>\n<li><p>Ensure that the contents written in the body of the email are about the subject.</p></li>\n<li><p>Write very clear, descriptive subject lines. (\"ex: Problems with implementing FooBar\" vs. \"Got a problem\"). Often it is helpful to include square brackets that describe the project of your email as well. Ex: \"[Budget 2013] Need review of the FY03 proposals by Friday.\"</p></li>\n<li><p>If someone asks you for help and you know who to contact, instead of just telling them to contact John Doe or Jane Doe, reply to the original sender and CC John and Jane as part of your reply.</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>I don't know if these are helpful at all - this is mostly a list of examples rather than an actual straight-up policy.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9567,
"author": "Nate Eldredge",
"author_id": 1010,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Do issues like this really need a policy to govern them? If someone in a department has a problem responding to emails in a timely manner, it seems to me that it would be better to counsel them directly. Creating a policy for it may come across as passive-aggressive.</p>\n\n<p>Corporations may have formal policies about how to answer email, and how to organize your desk, and how to change the toilet paper in the restroom. But academics are used to a considerable degree of autonomy, and dislike being micromanaged.</p>\n\n<p>My humble opinion.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 15190,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>After searching and collating ideas from numerous internet sources (a simple search provides plenty of sources of variable quality and usefulness) I have come up with the list below. In my own case there are over-arching rules about usage of university e-mail, which for example makes it clear that the university mail should not be used for private purposes and that all e-mails are public documents. Since each organization probably have such central rules, I have omitted such points and concentrated on good practises in the professional email correspondence.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p><strong>Be courteous</strong>. Beware that written communication is more likely to be misunderstood than personal communication. Include courteous greetings and closings to prevent your e-mail seem demanding or terse. Don't hesitate to say <em>thank you</em>, <em>how are you</em>, or <em>appreciate your help!</em> Sign your name and include contact details in the footer of the mail.</p></li>\n<li><p><strong>Be concise and clear</strong>. Keep e-mails brief and to the point. Make sure your point(s) is (are) clear from the beginning. Be sure to fill out the <em>Subject:</em> field and that it accurately reflects the content of your email. It is sometimes better to write several mails than to fill one mail full of questions on different topics, alternatively number them. Save long conversations for a telephone/Skype/personal meeting. </p></li>\n<li><p><strong>Proofread</strong>. Read your email out loud to ensure the tone is that which you desire. Avoid spelling and grammatical errors. Try to avoid relying on formatting for emphasis; rather choose the words that reflect your meaning instead. A few additions of the words \"please\" and \"thank you\" go a long way! </p></li>\n<li><p><strong>Avoid emotions</strong>. Do not attempt to solve emotional problems or issues over e-mail. Instead, suggest a personal meeting. Always wait at least a day before attempting to send or answering emotional e-mails. Keep copies of all such correspondence and seek advice from colleagues to prevent issues to build.</p></li>\n<li><p><strong>Received e-mails</strong>. Always try to answer an e-mail within a workday or two. Always acknowledge the receipt of a mail as soon as you can if you are not able to provide a comprehensive reply within a day or two.</p></li>\n<li><p><strong>Sending E-mails</strong>. Never use an old email to hit reply and start typing about an entirely new topic. Do not send e-mails during weekends or off hours since this may give off the wrong signals or excuse yourself if you do. Do not expect immediate answers to your e-mails. A couple of days is a reasonable delay. Use a phone or visit the colleague if something is urgent.</p></li>\n<li><p><strong>Using <em>Cc:</em>, <em>Bcc:</em> and <em>Return Receipts</em>.</strong> Include addresses in the <em>To:</em> field for those who you would like a response from. Include addresses in the <em>Cc:</em> field for those who you are just informing. Remove the addresses of those who your reply does not apply to when replying to an email with multiple recipients noted in the <em>To:</em> or <em>Cc:</em> fields. Use <em>Return Receipt</em> sparingly since it can be viewed as intrusive and annoying; save it for when you really need to know.</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>These points can be summarized by: <strong>Mail others as you would have them mail you!</strong></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 15191,
"author": "Argalatyr",
"author_id": 9748,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9748",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Being highly responsive (and attentive) to email may be in direct conflict with productivity; only some messages have truly high priority (and senders often don't have full perspective on this). </p>\n\n<p>For some faculty, the measure of productivity is funding and publication, which are unlikely to correlate strongly with email responsiveness in general.</p>\n\n<p>Other faculty may have a role that requires responsiveness.</p>\n\n<p>Faculty should have clear overall goals, and expectations for mundane tasks (like email) should be set with those goals in mind. For some, email might best be relegated to short bursts once a day (with selected emails assigned high priority, of course).</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/22 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9557",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394/"
]
|
9,565 | <p>As many universities provide funding covering only part of the tuition fee or living expenses, especially in the UK where tuition fees are different for UK/EU and international students while most scholarships only cover the first one, i.e. international students have to pay the difference. My question is whether it is possible for PhD funding to be updated/upgraded (to cover more expenses) if a student performs well, e.g. produce high quality publication, while doing his PhD.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9568,
"author": "Shion",
"author_id": 1429,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1429",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I cannot speak for the UK/EU but in the US, your funding is not generally \"updateable\". It always increases by a non significant inflationary rate amount every year.</p>\n\n<p>The only way in which funding is generally updated is if you acquire for yourself some other funding sources which replace your base funding because they have a higher stipend level eg. NSF graduate fellowship, MSR fellowship, Facebook fellowship etc.</p>\n\n<p>The other way in which my funding has been supplemented at least in my case is my ex-adviser used to give me some more funds as research expenses out of his discretionary funding (or other grant funding, I am not sure) because I was involved in extra projects (not directly related to my own but I was brought in as an analyst) on his request.</p>\n\n<p>I do not think that publishing in great journals/conferences will bring in more funding for you (<em>in general</em>)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9575,
"author": "Stephen Tierney",
"author_id": 4360,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4360",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Is it possible? YES.</p>\n\n<p>Will it be likely? NO.</p>\n\n<p>The funding model depends entirely on the institution who is funding you. It is ultimately up to them as to how you will be compensated for your time and effort.</p>\n\n<p>If you are concerned about sustaining yourself through your study there are other avenues which candidates pursue such as lecturing/tutoring, marking and being a research assistant. Additionally there may be other scholarships available to you from the university or from external institutions.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/23 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9565",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6064/"
]
|
9,571 | <p>Several times in the past, after publishing a paper, I have sent email to several people which I thought might be interested in the results obtained in the paper. Usually I have emailed some of the people whose result I was citing in my paper and to people who were working on related problems.</p>
<p>I such a practice ok, or do people consider emails like this too intrusive?</p>
<hr>
<p>When I did this in the past, some of the people answered to me with a brief email (along the lines of "thanks for letting me know"). In a one or two cases the answer indicated that this person is interested in similar emails in the future, if I have some updates on that particular topic. And in one case I was even asked about possibility of collaboration on some problems.</p>
<p>So from these answers it seems that it was ok. But if there were some people who did not like receiving such emails, they probably did not bother to answer. </p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9572,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I think there are two important factors to keep in mind when writing <em>unsolicited email</em>, which could be taken as spam by the person who receives it:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>Whether <strong>you believe, in good faith, that the receiver will find the information useful</strong>. That test is not as easy as it may seem, because what seems obvious to you (<em>“this guy in field Y will be happy that we're developing somewhat related concepts in field X that may generate a new vision of his field”</em>) may not be to him (<em>“why is this X specialist writing to me to promote his recent work I don't care about?”</em>). Messages need to be tailored, so that people can immediately see how your paper can be of interest to them.</p></li>\n<li><p>The <strong>frequency</strong> of such messages: if you write 5 papers a year on a given topic, and send a nice informative email each time, that is a lot of mail! Consider doing this only once in a while, maybe for high-profile articles or reviews.</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>Now, regarding whether it's accepted practice (and common practice): I receive a dozen such emails of this nature per year, from colleagues in my field, and every time I am actually interested in their paper. I have not yet received spam of that sort, i.e. notification of new papers I couldn't care less about (I receive lots of spam job applications, on the other hand).</p>\n\n<p>I also do it myself, once or twice a year: sit back, think about my recent papers, and ask myself “what colleagues do I have that may be interested in this and that?”. Usually, I then write a few different emails, depending on the specific interests of the colleagues in question, so that the email is personalized. I also use that occasion to ask questions to them , if I have any of relevance, asking their opinion on recent developments (by them, me or other groups) in our field.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9576,
"author": "Anonymous",
"author_id": 6110,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6110",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Yes, I think this is absolutely acceptable, and indeed if you are at the beginning of your career, highly encouraged. When I was a graduate student I was shocked when my advisor asked me to e-mail my paper to most of the famous people working in the field. I was even more surprised when several of them wrote back with very substantive replies.</p>\n\n<p>To make sure you're not being intrusive (which I recommend if the recipient is famous, and/or you don't know him/her personally), word your e-mail in such a way that suggests that you would welcome, but don't expect, a reply. i.e., \"If you have any comments I would be grateful to hear them.\"</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9577,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As is indicated by other answers, the practise is acceptable in general but there is a fine line when it becomes intrusive. </p>\n\n<p>In addition to what has been stated already, I would add that if your paper is published in a journal that is well known to anyone in the field, the paper is less likely to come as a (pleasant) surprise. If it is published somewhere where it is less likely that many would normally find it, then the information is more likely positive.</p>\n\n<p>Another factor is how you write your mail. If you send the paper to persons who do similar research you could point out the common interest from your side and use that as an \"excuse\" to provide a copy of your paper. It is easier to accept getting stuff if the there ios a clear reason or coupling explicitly stated in the mail.</p>\n\n<p>The worst that can happen is otherwise that someone tells you not to send more material, I doubt anyone would get annoyed to the point where it may affect you negatively (unless you persists despite wishes to the contrary). Despite internet access, RSS feeds etc, I still find that I miss good papers, particularly from journals more peripheral to my subject.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/23 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9571",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/648/"
]
|
9,579 | <p>I'm an Australian maths undergraduate student, and our academic year ends at the beginning of December. I understand that PhDs in the USA (and elsewhere?) generally start before this time, about September. So, if I want to pursue a PhD overseas, I have a long time to kill in between my undergrad and postgrad degrees.</p>
<p>Consequently I've been investigating the possibility of cramming the remainder of my undergraduate degree into one fewer semester, so that I can graduate at the beginning of July (2014), just in time to start a PhD overseas.</p>
<p>However, this would mean I would have to send out applications in December this year, before I have actually finished my degree. I am particularly concerned because in Australia the last year of an undergraduate maths degree is an "honours" year, which comprises the main research component and the most serious coursework.</p>
<p>Does anyone have advice or experience?</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Would I be substantially more competitive for a top university if I delayed for a year and had an honours thesis and good results from many advanced classes under my belt, compared to applying early and having only a promise of an honours thesis? Or, would it be a minor issue with good letters of recommendation?</p>
</blockquote>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9582,
"author": "Tara B",
"author_id": 5955,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5955",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The academic year does start around September in the USA and I think most European countries. At least in Europe, this doesn't necessarily mean that you would have to start your PhD in September. For example, I did my PhD in the UK and started in June.</p>\n\n<p>Note that your 'competitors' won't have finished their degree yet either when they are applying. They will be slightly further along, having already started their final year, but not significantly so, I think.</p>\n\n<p>Is cramming the rest of your undergraduate degree into one semester less at all a realistic option?</p>\n\n<p>I do think you are likely to get stronger letters of recommendation once you are in your final year, because you will have been doing more advanced work and will probably have closer contacts with faculty.</p>\n\n<p>I don't think that having some time between your honours year and your PhD is necessarily a bad idea. My husband started his PhD only two weeks after finishing his MSc, and he really could have done with more of a break. I had almost a year between my MSc and PhD, but I spent six months of that doing research.</p>\n\n<p>One of my friends from Australia managed to get part-time teaching work at his undergraduate university until he went to the UK for his PhD. Or if money isn't too much of an issue, you could take the opportunity to go travelling.</p>\n\n<p>EDIT: I'd just like to add, along the lines of Dave Clarke's comment, that you should bear in mind that your honours year will likely be a lot more challenging than previous years, and so 'accelerating' this year might turn out to be a bad idea. I certainly worked harder in my fourth year of university (honours in New Zealand, so quite a similar system to Australia) than I have in any year since.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9583,
"author": "Dave Clarke",
"author_id": 643,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/643",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would not accelerate things, to avoid getting worse grades that you want.</p>\n\n<p>If you find that you have a half year of free time, fill this usefully either by working (earn some cash, gain some experience), travelling (spend some cash, gain some experience) or by doing research (perhaps a professor will even pay you to do something useful for 6 months, or maybe you can get a 6 month RA position). </p>\n\n<p>Getting good scores will obviously help you. Working or travelling ... well, you'll thank yourself later. And research experience will help your application (and CV).</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/23 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9579",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6282/"
]
|
9,589 | <p>I could have written this question in some other stack places, but prefer to do here because the affinity with the audience. I am the head of a research group, 38 years old, engaged in a lot of things and working on average 12 hours per day on research and all related stuff. My son (first one) was born last week and we really enjoy it. My only concern is: how will I be able to cope with my workload and scientific output after my paternity leave (in two weeks)? I really never thought about this and wonder whether other academics could give advice.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9590,
"author": "Dirk",
"author_id": 529,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/529",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I was close to vote to close for this question, however, in view of the upvotes, I'll give my two cents.</p>\n\n<p>I think you are asking yourself the wrong question. You should not ask \"How will I be able to keep up with my workload and scientific output?\" but rather</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>What I am willing to do for my work and for my family? How do I and the rest of my family should arrange our life including work hours, family time and all the rest?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>You may come to the conclusion that a reduced scientific output may be a \"good price to pay\" for a richer family life. On the other hand, if you are pre-tenure for example, you may also reach the conclusion that a year or two of \"not so rich family life\" and more hours at work are worth it.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9593,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Can you <em>produce</em> as much, or even more, with less time available? Yes. </p>\n\n<p>Is it easy? No. </p>\n\n<p>What generic advice can be given? Little, especially in such short space. Numerous entire books have been written on the topic of time management. Read the advice of others, decide whether it can apply to you, try it out.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>Now, the above isn't very helpful. Not in the short term, at least. Below are a few tips from my own experience, maybe you will find them helpful:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>First, <strong>decide what your priorities are</strong>, what you are willing to compromise, what you aren't. When I read <em>“engaged in a lot of things”</em>, it sounds like a warning to me. Honestly, the first two years of a baby's life are hard on the parents. Social life is hard to maintain, work output too, etc. Decide which you want to keep most, and focus there. <strong>Don't set your expectations too high across the board.</strong></p></li>\n<li><p>Second, learn to say <em>no</em>. People at your department probably ask you to participate in all sorts of research-related work (committees, etc.). If you have been playing ball ’til then, probably they can understand if you say <em>“I'm sorry, right now is not a time I can take some extra work, I need to focus on my family”</em>. Don't use that as an excuse to get out of every commitment, or avoid anything that is thrown your way, but strategically get a bit more time that way. <strong>Most people are quite understanding of the hardship of having a newborn baby</strong>. (Or my colleagues and bosses are extraordinary people; knowing them, it's also quite possible!)</p></li>\n<li><p><strong>Delegate stuff</strong>. You lead a team, so you have some responsibility in sharing the load. You can try to offload yourself a bit, by getting others to step in.</p></li>\n<li><p><strong>Work whenever you can (read: when the baby sleeps). Adjust your work style.</strong> I'll give only one example: when the baby gets to cry real bad in evenings or at night, I noticed I could get her to sleep if I had her in a sling against my chest and rocked from one foot to the other:</p>\n\n<p><img src=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/K0KB5.jpg\" alt=\"enter image description here\"></p>\n\n<p>(the sling was as in the picture, except I needed to be standing and rocking). Well, I put my laptop on top of a high table (bar table), and quickly adapted to type and rock the baby. That way, I had time to work at night, while her mother could rest. I wrote quite a few grant proposals and articles that way.</p></li>\n</ul>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/23 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9589",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/284/"
]
|
9,592 | <p>In Philips and Pugh's <a href="http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=k-K8SzpEaRgC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA54#v=onepage&q&f=false" rel="nofollow"><em>How to get a PhD</em></a>, the authors describe the general philosophical concept of <em>research</em> 'in all disciplines'. I have two questions in this context.</p>
<p><strong>A.</strong> They said that an activity that tries to answer a question like</p>
<blockquote>
<p>'What are the age, sex and subject distributions of doctoral students in
British higher education?'</p>
</blockquote>
<p>is considered descriptive, intelligence-gathering activity, but not research. This is pretty clear and agreed upon. However, they attribute that to the <strong>'what'</strong> nature of the question.</p>
<p>Later, they said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Research goes beyond description and requires analysis. It looks for explanations,
relationships, comparisons, predictions, generalizations and theories. These are the <strong>‘why’</strong> questions. Why are there so many fewer women doctoral students in physics than in biology? ...</p>
<p>All these questions require good intelligence-gathering, just as decisionmaking and policy formulation do. But the information is used for the purpose of developing understanding – by comparison, by relating to other factors, by theorizing and testing the theories.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Is it sound to consider only 'why' questions as research? How about some 'what' and 'how' questions?</p>
<p><strong>B.</strong> In the same text:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>All research questions have comparisons in them</strong>, as the words ‘fewer’, ‘different’ and ‘less’ in the examples above illustrate.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Should all real research questions really contain <em>comparison</em> (explicitly or implicitly)?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9595,
"author": "Samuel Russell",
"author_id": 4429,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4429",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The Australian <em>Higher Education Research Data Collection specification</em> (2012)[1] (ie: HERDC) defines research as</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>the creation of new knowledge and/or the use of existing \n knowledge in a new and creative way so as to generate new concepts, \n methodologies and understandings. This could include synthesis and analysis of \n previous research to the extent that it leads to new and creative outcomes. </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>and uses the OECD Frascati Manual[2][3] to support that definition as:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>consistent with a broad notion of research and \n experimental development (R&D) as comprising of creative work undertaken on a \n systematic basis in order to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of\n humanity, culture and society, and the use of this stock of knowledge to devise new \n applications</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>HERDC and the Frascati Manual focus on the generation of new understandings, of new knowledges. There's a commonly agreed purposive utility to knowledge that is lacking in the generation of data and information.[4] I would suggest that as knowledge lies in a network of other knowledges, that any production of knowledge is implicitly or explicitly comparative to the existing body of literature. HERDC goes on to suggest that apart from \"increasing the stock of knowledge\" and being in a form suitable for the dissemination of knowledge, that research publications must \"evidenced by discussion of the relevant literature, \nan awareness of the history and antecedents of work described, and provided in a \nformat which allows a reader to trace sources of the work, including through \ncitations and footnotes.\" This explicit comparison between the production of understandings as knowledge and the past production of understandings as knowledge would be the basic comparison at the heart of scholarship and research.</p>\n\n<p>While the HERDC specifications are normative, and punative (they're about divvying up a pot of government research money), there has at least been an attempt to cover them with a fig leaf of collegiality, and for them to reflect academic practices. The absence of protest over their unfairness is an indication that they \"work\" as a punative practice.</p>\n\n<p>[1]: HERDC (2012) <a href=\"http://www.innovation.gov.au/Research/ResearchBlockGrants/Documents/2012HERDCSpecifications.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.innovation.gov.au/Research/ResearchBlockGrants/Documents/2012HERDCSpecifications.pdf</a> at page 7-8, 1.3.10</p>\n\n<p>[2]: OECD (2002), <em>Frascati Manual: Proposed Standard Practice for Surveys on Research and Experimental Development</em>, OECD: Paris. </p>\n\n<p>[3]: Cited in HERDC (2012)</p>\n\n<p>[4]: DIKW models, Zins, Chaim (2007). \"Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge\" <em>Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology</em> 58 (4): 479–493. doi:10.1002/asi.20508 cited in Wiki.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9601,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There are lots of different types of research. Some research is hypothesis driven other research is not. <strong>What</strong> questions generally are not hypothesis driven while <strong>why</strong> questions usually have a related hypothesis. Comparison words are useful to indicate both sides of the hypothesis (i.e., the null hypothesis which you are often attempting to reject and the alternative hypothesis which you are often attempting to provide support for). Hypothesis testing is the basis of the scientific method. Typically doctoral research leads to a thesis/dissertation which historically has been about hypothesis driven research. Things like design based research in the sciences and performance based research in the arts, however, are now often being submitted as dissertations. Whether this is a bastardization of the term dissertation is not clear to me.</p>\n\n<p>Within the wider realm of research, the quoted material is wrong. Within the realm of getting a PhD the quoted material may be historically and technically/etymologically correct, but it is clearly a dated view.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9621,
"author": "Bitwise",
"author_id": 6862,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6862",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In biology, <strong>what</strong> questions are extremely popular, even though they can be largely descriptive. The point is, that knowing descriptive details of a system is the first step in understanding how it works, and can often raise many interesting hypotheses. In fact, this trend of questions is increasing as high-throughput experimental methods are used to collect more and more data (which by itself is only descriptive).</p>\n\n<p>Some famous examples of such <strong>what</strong> questions are \"what is the structure of DNA?\" and \"what is the sequence of the human genome?\".</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 109492,
"author": "Anyon",
"author_id": 17254,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17254",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I agree with the other responders and commenters that it's silly to generalize over all disciplines like this. What makes it particularly funny to me as someone in physics, is that it is <a href=\"https://physics.stackexchange.com/a/54918/49107\">often said</a> that physics is concerned with the <strong>'how'</strong>, not the <strong>'why'</strong>. I guess we, along with people in other hard sciences, don't do research at all then... At least philosophically, we're in the business of describing how nature behaves, how a particle moves and interacts, but can't really tell you why our models work, only that they more or less \"fit the data\". (Then there's the problem of <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model-dependent_realism\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">model-dependent realism</a> - do our models actually reflect what's going on in nature, or just happen to predict the same outcomes?)</p>\n\n<p>For example, in the words of Feynman</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>While I am describing to you how Nature works, you won't understand why Nature works that way. But you see, nobody understands that.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Sometimes you can ask 'why' questions that lead to unifying principles, with better explanatory power. For example, \"why do these properties share property X?\" rather than \"what properties do these materials have?\", but generally, you don't get one without the other, and both are considered research. Even if you manage to answer this 'why' question, however, you'll be left with a more fundamental 'why' question that we don't know how to begin to answer. And many levels of the more accessible 'why' questions are beyond the scope and time frame of most PhD studies.</p>\n\n<p>As for the statement that all research questions should have comparisons in them, I don't even know where to begin. Consider e.g. the 2017 Nobel prize in physics for the observation of gravitational waves. The LIGO project attempted to answer questions like \"do gravitational waves exist?\", \"can we see them?\", and \"can we use them for new kinds of astronomy?\". If you really want to twist things, I guess they could be rephrased \"are there more than zero gravitational waves in the universe?\" and so on. It still wouldn't be a 'why' question as described above though.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/23 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9592",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4018/"
]
|
9,594 | <p>At the moment I'm using Zotero to organize my paper collection and for my current work I'm very happy with it's possobilities to organize content (folders and tags).</p>
<p>However, working on bigger projects a hierarchical tag structure would come in handy where subtags can be assigned to lead-tags (or something similar). Is there any reference program that can do that?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9596,
"author": "Shion",
"author_id": 1429,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1429",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This is a question which has often come up on the webz.</p>\n\n<p>I am not really sure of your exact requirements but Mendeley has <em>some</em> of the functions or you could develop a workaround. See <a href=\"http://www.quora.com/What-are-the-differences-between-Papers-and-Mendeley\" rel=\"nofollow\">this</a> and <a href=\"http://blog.mendeley.com/academic-features/searching-vs-filing-managing-your-library-the-modern-way-with-tags-and-filters/\" rel=\"nofollow\">this</a>. I have also heard good things about <a href=\"http://www.joachim-scholz.com/academipad/2012/04/09/sente-papers-best-pdf-management-system/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Sente</a> but I have not used it.</p>\n\n<p>These are solutions for Macs though. I am not sure about Windows and do not know if that is a constraint which you have. Personally, I use a hierarchical folder system in Mendeley and export to BibTeX and add tags - which, so far, seems to work well enough.</p>\n\n<p>Are you seeking more, in general of optimizing your academic workflow? In case you haven't heard of it, I suggest visiting <a href=\"http://blog.macademic.org/\" rel=\"nofollow\">this</a> blog. It updates sporadically but most of the good stuff is in there. I hope this helps.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9600,
"author": "silvado",
"author_id": 3890,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/3890",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><a href=\"http://jabref.sourceforge.net\" rel=\"noreferrer\">JabRef</a> is a reference manager using the BibTeX format. It uses the concept of <strong>groups</strong>, i.e. papers can be put into groups, and it allows to create a hierarchical group structure. Since one paper can be put into any number of groups, it is essentially hierarchical tagging.</p>\n\n<p>With JabRef, one can even configure for individual groups whether a group will automatically include the content of any subgroups (analog to tagging), or will include the content of any supergroup (refining), or just include the papers assigned exactly to this group (as in a classical folder structure).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 54375,
"author": "Suzanne Soy",
"author_id": 41155,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/41155",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It seems that in the current version of standalone Zotero (4.0.28), you can nest folders in the left pane, and add a document or reference to several such folders.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 63932,
"author": "pahi",
"author_id": 49704,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/49704",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Check out Citavi.</p>\n\n<p>It supports keywords, categories, and groups. Categories can be organized hierarchically.\nAmong many other features, Citavi also allows you to save quotations, comments, summaries, and your own ideas, and to organize and structure them before you start writing.\nCitavi is Windows-only at the moment, but a web version is being developped.\nThe video \"Citavi 5 in a nutshell\" explains the main features: <a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3vbWIcljDQ\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3vbWIcljDQ</a></p>\n\n<p>(I work for Citavi)</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/23 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9594",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6444/"
]
|
9,602 | <p>There's a well-known paper in academic circles that features a rediscovery of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trapezoidal_rule">trapezoidal rule</a> for numerical integration by a medical researcher:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“A Mathematical Model for the Determination of Total Area Under Glucose Tolerance and Other Metabolic Curves”, Mary M. Tai, <em>Diabetes Care</em>, <strong>1994</strong>, <em>17</em>, 152–154.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I think the paper's only figure says it all:</p>
<p> <img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/PkAiP.png" alt="trapezoidal rule in action"></p>
<p>You can find comments on many blogs about it, most of them along the lines of <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2011/11/10/apparently-calculus-was-invented-in-1994/">“turns out calculus was invented in 1994”</a>. I think it truly is a bit sad that the paper made it past the researcher, her immediate colleagues and friends, a Yale professor of electrical engineering who is thanked for “his expert review”, and most importantly reviewers, without someone giving the author a hint.</p>
<p>In my opinion, the most optimistic view is to see it as an educational paper: the method is not new, but that particular medical community didn't know about it, so it was worth publishing. However, that is <em>not</em> what the paper states: the author clearly presents the method as new and names it after her.</p>
<hr>
<p>Okay, I think I have explained the context. My question is: <strong>after that peer-review failure was exposed, what should have happened to the paper?</strong> What happened is that the same journal published a <a href="http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/17/10/1223.2.full.pdf+html">series of comments</a> on the paper, and a reply by the author to the comments. Was that the correct/ethical way of handling the issue, as an editor? Or should the paper have been retracted?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9608,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Personally, if I had anything to do with the acceptance of a paper such as this, I'd want to suppress any knowledge that I had anything to do with this paper at all as thoroughly as possible.</p>\n\n<p>I would certainly hope that in such a case the author in question would be so embarrassed by \"rediscovering\" something known for hundreds of years that the author would willingly retract the paper. But if that has not happened, there's not much that can be done. The peer-review process failed, but it would be up to either the journal editor or the author to demand retraction. Newton and Simpson are dead, and nobody else could realistically make a claim to be \"injured\" by this momentous \"discovery.\"</p>\n\n<p>If you want to ask the question <em>must</em> the paper be retracted, then the answer is no, unless there was actual bias or foul play in the peer review process. If the reviewers <em>knew</em> there was a problem, and intentionally allowed the paper to move forward, then a retraction is necessary. Otherwise, though, the paper should not <em>de rigueur</em> be retracted. It should be shunned by the academic community, however, and people should refrain from citing it (except perhaps for articles and works showing how <em>not</em> to do research!). </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9610,
"author": "Bravo",
"author_id": 411,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/411",
"pm_score": 7,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>The answer to this question depends on what we should term a <strong>peer-review failure</strong>. There are tons of journals in the academic market: some journals are happy to publish results as long as they are correct even if they do not push the boundary of innovation. There are some journals that are happy to publish unsound experimental work, and on the other hand, some that encourage theoretical models that are severely impractical and are essentially mathematical mumbo-jumbo. </p>\n\n<p>Publishing something blindingly obvious even to a high-school student is ridiculous, but we could infer two things: one, the editor and the reviewers had not found this so obvious, and two, the journal did not (or does not?) have high standards on innovation anyway. Given it is a field that potentially could have practitioners who know not a thing about calculus, the publication should not come as a big surprise.</p>\n\n<p>The reality is that <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7360/how-common-is-it-to-inadvertently-reinvent-the-wheel-in-academia\">publication of known facts</a> is not all that uncommon in academia. The hoo-ha over this paper is basically because of the elementariness of the concept. One could expect apologies from journals for wrong results but not necessarily for stale ones. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9622,
"author": "StasK",
"author_id": 739,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/739",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Online publishing, at the face of it, should be giving editors some room for maneuver. In this case, they could append the online version of the paper with an editorial note like</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>EDITORIAL NOTE: Citing this paper as \"Tai's method\" is strongly discouraged, as the method is actually known under the name of trapezoidal rule. See also <a href=\"http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/17/10/1223.2.full.pdf+html\">Comments</a> for further explanations.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>The academic community affected by this rediscovery should have taken actions accordingly, and editors in other journals should have made sure that citations to the paper are only given if something other than the trapezoidal rule is being discussed. </p>\n\n<p>John Paul II <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_apologies_made_by_Pope_John_Paul_II\">apologized</a> for a number of misdoings by the Catholic Church. The editors should've apologized to their research community for committing this peer review failure. It's OK to be wrong from time to time; science moves by rectifying things that come into contradiction with other bits of knowledge. However it's not OK to withhold knowing that you are wrong and insisting on it.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 103197,
"author": "iwakun",
"author_id": 86645,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/86645",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There is an even a bigger problem than the lack of innovation, with this paper.</p>\n\n<p>Any academic publication is a form of communication within a particular scholar community. If that community is not aware that a mathematical tool known for ages can solve one of their problems, there certainly is some merit in pointing that out. Maybe not enough to name the tool after her, but still enough to acknowledge her with citations.</p>\n\n<p>However this is not the case, here. I was so curious to check out those other methods she claims having superseded with her \"invention\", that I decided to have a quick look at a couple of them. I was particularly interested in the method that apparently gives only 3% of the true value <strong>(!)</strong>. Well, it turns out the number obtained with this method is not at all meant to be an estimation of the area under the curve: to make the calculations simpler the authors simply decided to take out a time factor, which in their study was always the same. As for the other method, it was yet another implementation of the trapezoidal rule, with the addition of some complications due to medical considerations about the correct time interval that should be used, which she obviously misinterpreted.</p>\n\n<p>Basically everyone in her field was using the same algorithm, but she didn't realize it, and to prove her point she completely misrepresented the work of the authors she cited. I think the reviewers should have spotted that even if they didn't know anything about the trapezoidal rule! When an author builds an argument using the work of other researchers, the reviewers must always check whether this work is presented fairly or not.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/24 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9602",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700/"
]
|
9,604 | <p>Let's start with background: I'm European, don't know much about undergrad educational systems, and especially grading, outside my own area. So, I receive a CV from an Indian undergrad with the following section:</p>
<p> <img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/5o6Cv.png" alt="enter image description here"></p>
<p>Now, I have no idea whether the scores displayed here are dismal, average, good or excellent. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_grading_in_India" rel="noreferrer">Wikipedia</a> doesn't know what CGPA is, except in Nepal (and the student in case was not educated in Nepal), so I turn to you, Academia Stack Exchange, to help me solve this riddle!</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9606,
"author": "Bravo",
"author_id": 411,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/411",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Two factors can be used to get a broad idea about an Indian engineering student - one is the college and the second is the CGPA.</p>\n\n<p><strong>College</strong>:</p>\n\n<p>The <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Institute_of_Science\">Indian Institute of Science</a> and <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Institutes_of_Technology\">Indian institutes of technology</a> are top technical institutions in the country. Of late, multiple IITs have been set up, leading to (arguably) diminishing quality. The <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Institutes_of_Technology#Institutes_of_Technology_Act.2C_1961\">original seven IITs</a> boast of excellent faculty in most departments and are understood to be better than the newer ones.</p>\n\n<p>Besides, there are regional colleges like <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Institutes_of_Technology\">National Institutes of Technology</a> and <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College_of_Engineering,_Guindy\">Anna University</a> and <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BITS_Pilani\">BITS</a> which are also among the top engineering colleges in the country. </p>\n\n<p><strong>Grading System</strong>:</p>\n\n<p>Most of the above colleges use the CGPA system for grading. Students are awarded grades ranging from S (=10) to D (=6) in various courses that they enroll over a period of 4 years. In a course, the top performers could expect an S, the students who have scored 80%-90% could score an A and so on. Obviously, the exact grades depend on the instructor and the overall performance. A student that scores S in all his courses over 4 years ends up with the perfect CGPA of 10.0. A 9-10 CGPA indicates mostly excellent track record and so on.</p>\n\n<p>It should be clear that the CV in the question reflects a mediocre score in a top college.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 14976,
"author": "Saurabh Rana",
"author_id": 10163,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10163",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I'm from India and I must say that getting into IIT's is a pretty much of a big deal here. You can be sure of the fact that the kid is hard working. But a GPA of 6.96 ~ 7 is Okay-ish. Average. 9-10 is brilliant. 8-9 is about average and very good.\nYou can ask what other things he excel in. Extra activities he participate in etc..etc..\nReport cards don't show someone's potential. Do they?</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 16245,
"author": "Tejaswi R",
"author_id": 11241,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11241",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I am a graduate from BITS Pilani, India. We have a 10-point Cummulative GPA. Here is a table converting the CGPA to GPA <img src=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/7XUi5.jpg\" alt=\"enter image description here\"></p>\n\n<p>Source: <a href=\"http://gmatclub.com/forum/how-to-convert-indian-gpa-percentage-to-us-4-pt-gpa-scale-124249.html\" rel=\"noreferrer\">http://gmatclub.com/forum/how-to-convert-indian-gpa-percentage-to-us-4-pt-gpa-scale-124249.html</a> This has some detailed insights into the CGPA and the method. </p>\n\n<p>Hope this helps. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 42061,
"author": "user",
"author_id": 31973,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31973",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I completely agree with all the answers that an Indian student can be judged keeping in mind both the college and the grades. IIT's (Indian Institute of Technology) are among the best schools of India. For the grading scheme however, the following guide is issued by the <b><a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_Grants_Commission_(India)\" rel=\"noreferrer\">University Grants Commission(India)</a></b> which is in charge of the coordination, determination and maintenance of standards of university education in India.</p>\n\n<pre><code> Letter Grade Grade Point\n O (Outstanding) 10\n A+(Excellent) 9\n A(Very Good) 8\n B+(Good) 7\n B(Above Average) 6\n C(Average) 5\n P (Pass) 4\n F(Fail) 0\n Ab (Absent) 0\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>The Universities can decide on the grade or percentage of marks required to pass in a\ncourse and also the CGPA required to qualify for a degree. You might also see some students mentioning their SGPA. This is how CGPA and SGPA is generally computed: </p>\n\n<h3>Computation of SGPA and CGPA</h3>\n\n<p>The SGPA is the ratio of sum of the product of the number of credits with the grade\npoints scored by a student in all the courses taken by a student and the sum of the\nnumber of credits of all the courses undergone by a student, i.e</p>\n\n<p><code>SGPA (Si) = ∑(Ci x Gi) / ∑Ci</code></p>\n\n<p>where <code>Ci</code> is the number of credits of the ith course and <code>Gi</code> is the grade point scored by the\nstudent in the ith course.</p>\n\n<p>The CGPA is also calculated in the same manner taking into account all the courses\nundergone by a student over all the semesters of a programme, i.e.</p>\n\n<p><code>CGPA = ∑(Ci x Si) / ∑ Ci</code></p>\n\n<p>where <code>Si</code> is the SGPA of the ith semester and <code>Ci</code> is the total number of credits in that\nsemester.</p>\n\n<h3>Illustration of Computation of SGPA and CGPA and Format for Transcript</h3>\n\n<p>Ilustration for SGPA</p>\n\n<pre><code>Course Credit Grade letter Grade point Credit Point\n (Credit x Grade)\nCourse 1 3 A 8 3 X 8 = 24\nCourse 2 4 B+ 7 4 X 7 = 28\nCourse 3 3 B 6 3 X 6 = 18\nCourse 4 3 O 10 3 X 10 = 30\nCourse 5 3 C 5 3 X 5 = 15\nCourse 6 4 B 6 4 X 6 = 24\n ----- ------------ \n 20 139\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>Thus, SGPA =139/20 =6.95</p>\n\n<p>Illustration for CGPA</p>\n\n<pre><code>*-----------------------------------------------------------------------------*\n| Semester 1 | Semester 2 | Semester 3 | Semester 4 | Semester 5 | Semester 6 |\n*-----------------------------------------------------------------------------*\n| Credit: 20 | Credit: 22 | Credit: 25 | Credit: 26 | Credit: 26 | Credit: 25 |\n| SGPA:6.9 | SGPA:7.8 | SGPA: 5.6 | SGPA:6.0 | SGPA:6.3 | SGPA: 8.0 |\n*-----------------------------------------------------------------------------*\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>Thus, </p>\n\n<pre><code>CGPA = 20 x 6.9 + 22 x 7.8 + 25 x 5.6 + 26 x 6.0 + 26 x 6.3 + 25 x 8.0\n _______________________________________________________________ = 6.73\n 144 \n</code></pre>\n\n<p>Sources: <a href=\"http://www.du.ac.in/du/uploads/Guidelines/UGC_credit_Guidelines.pdf\" rel=\"noreferrer\">http://www.du.ac.in/du/uploads/Guidelines/UGC_credit_Guidelines.pdf</a></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 58276,
"author": "Janus",
"author_id": 44428,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/44428",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>All schools are not same. Getting into IIT is very very tough. A CGPA of 6 is not the same ( simply because the cohort is far more competitive with an acceptance rate of 1%-2% esp at the 5 IITs) as CGPA of 6 at another school. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 76300,
"author": "IITian RAJ",
"author_id": 61351,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/61351",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Yes IITs are good technical institutions in India. But you can't recruit a person simply because he came from a good college. He should possess the skills required for your job. That's the main thing you should look for rather on his background. </p>\n\n<p>I would like to say that getting a good grade in IIT is very challenging. A 7 grader would be comparable to a 8.5 or even 9 grader in private colleges. IITs are not made by its faculties (which many IITs are facing shortage of and also of quality) or infrastructure but by students.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 105005,
"author": "Sadanand",
"author_id": 88513,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/88513",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>CGPA or Cumulative Grade Point Average should be considered in relation to the class curve. If we assume that the top edge of the curve denotes 8.2, then we should preclude that 6.96 as B+. And if we try to calculate this to the US GPA, 6.96/10.0 would co-relate to 3.3/4.0. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 105015,
"author": "Wilbert",
"author_id": 66118,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/66118",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In my experience at a top European university, many grades even from top tier Indian universities don't have the same explanatory power as grades from European or American universities. </p>\n\n<p>We regularly got applications with grades in the 9-10 ranges and 99.x percentile scores. However, many students we interviewed were not up to our standards. Basic knowledge even in core topics such as programming, cs theory, mathematics and statistics was lacking, and while we noticed that many 'famous' algorithms could be reproduced, tasks involving writing new algorithms for specific problems were generally not solved or solved inadequately. </p>\n\n<p>Of course, the sample size was not large enough to form a proper sample, and there might have been a selection bias in what students even applied for a position with us. Still, all other things equal, I would rate an 9-10 / 99.x grade from a good Indian university about on par with at most a 'cum laude' degree (non-magna/summa) from a good European university.</p>\n\n<p>My conclusion therefore is to <strong>invest additional efforts into the interview and selection process</strong>, and I would suggest to <strong>not consider any mid-range marks as in the application in question</strong>.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 105630,
"author": "Joe Black",
"author_id": 26868,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/26868",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>IITs (the original 5 at Bombay, Delhi, Kanpur, Madras, Kharagpur) are the best UG institutes in India bar none. There are more now but they don't have as good a reputation as the first 4 in the original list (Kharagpur has lagged somewhat recently). If this person is from one got an All India Rank under the General Category (not under any reservation/quota scheme) then you can be assured that he has raw intelligence and smarts.</p>\n\n<p>Some IITs are notorious for rigorous grading very unlike ivy leagues in the US where grade inflation is rampant. GPA of 6.96 is mediocre but if it's in a hard stream such as Electrical Engineering or Comp Sci then it may not be that bad (one has to obtain an All India Rank within top 300-400 kids from all over India to obtain admission to these stream in the first 4 IITs). The peer group is simply extraordinarily competitive -- think of hand picking top few hundred students out of a country of billion and have them take tests under a common roof.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 192504,
"author": "whoisit",
"author_id": 162494,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/162494",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I presume one can easily search about the quality of the university and its faculty through the internet.</p>\n<p>The problem might be how to interpret the score. <br />\nIn such cases, it is best to ask the student for an official transript.</p>\n<p>Official transcripts usually have all the information about how grading is done. It will describe the grading scale (e.g. 4-10), whether any courses are just pass/fail, whether there's some "exceptional" grade, and what does a grade number X usually mean.</p>\n<p>Once you get a sizeable number of applications from such a university, you can interpret the results for yourself.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/24 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9604",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700/"
]
|
9,611 | <p>I am a Masters degree holder in Computer Science. Where I live, the most popular way of receiving research grants is from the government. There are two problems with that.</p>
<p>First, You have to be enrolled in a Masters or doctorate degree program at the time of applying for funding.</p>
<p>Secondly, the researcher only gets a small amount of pay from the grant(Like about 2 or 3 percent). About 10 to 15 percent is for research supervisor. And remaining is equipment and other costs.</p>
<p>So is there any way of applying for research funding as an independent researcher?
I am currently enrolled in a Masters program and am very close to getting a grant for my research. But I would like to continue work as a researcher after completing my Masters and would like to apply for funding independently.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9613,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It can be very difficult to get government financing depending on where you reside. For instance, here in Germany, only qualified workers affiliated with a \"recognized\" institution, such as a university or a government research organization, can apply for grants. Moreover, only PhD-level staff can act as a principal investigator. </p>\n\n<p>So, the basic upshot is that you need to see what the official rules are in the country where you are working. In general, you cannot work around the qualification rules for such programs!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9616,
"author": "Piotr Migdal",
"author_id": 49,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/49",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Having only a MSc (and not doing a PhD) it might be hard to get an official research funding (although, there are many different programs and maybe there is one for someone with your status; especially if in some way you are still affiliated with an university of institute).</p>\n\n<p>Sadly, (as Paul Hiemstra pointed out) there no such thing as a scientific freelancer. Science market is very far from an unregulated, free market (and the supply is higher than demands, so it is not a place for freelancer jobs).</p>\n\n<p>However, there are two options which may make sense to you:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>doing a part-time PhD, or some PhD where you are not expected to be at the univ. all the time; effectively, it may work for you (though, then it will need to be rather at a low-rank univ.; most likely the most important thing is to find a univ. with no to low teaching load + an advisor who does not care (sic!) or one who understands your situation <em>and</em> is willing to participate in such relationship),</li>\n<li>considering crowdfunding - i.e. describing you project on a website and gathering from all interested people (like on <a href=\"http://www.kickstarter.com/\">Kickstarter</a>); here is <a href=\"http://science.okfn.org/tools-for-open-science/\">a list of sites for crowdfunding in science</a> (then it is not from government).</li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9619,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The biggest obstacle is that you haven't been through a Ph.D. program. Not (just) because of formal qualifications, but also because a Ph.D. program is where one learns how to manage an independent research program. The reason Ph.D. programs are a de facto requirement for research positions is that very few people learn how to do this in a bachelor's or master's program. It's not impossible, but it's certainly rare. (It's already difficult for recent Ph.D.s to get research grants in competition against much more experienced researchers.)</p>\n\n<p>Aside from appropriate research experience, what you need is a formal affiliation with a university. In the U.S., it's called a \"soft-money position.\" This is a position paid for entirely by research grants, without salary or funding from the university. (Soft money is money that depends on outside grants, while hard money is budgeted from the university itself.) If you can get the grants in the first place, it's much easier to get a soft-money position than a regular job, since there's no risk for the university: as long as your grants continue, they can collect overhead to pay for office space, computer and library access, etc., but if your grants end then so does your job. Of course nobody will give you a soft-money position unless they are impressed with your work and think you would be valuable to have around (and would not hurt the department's reputation), but this is a much lower bar than convincing them to spend their own money on you.</p>\n\n<p>A soft-money position is the closest thing I'm aware of to applying for funding as an independent researcher. (It's not completely independent, but about as close as you are likely to come to independence.) However, in the U.S. it would be nearly impossible to get such a position with just a master's degree.</p>\n\n<p>Whether this path is feasible at all depends on your research area, and of course your funding agency's policies. In the U.S. it's pretty common in medical research, but almost unheard of in mathematics (where there is much less funding available). In computer science it's somewhere in between, depending on the specific subfield.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 14913,
"author": "Hedge Fund",
"author_id": 10098,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10098",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you are in the US, what you are requesting is highly unlikely. There is no peer-review that is institutionalized enough to keep control of research quality and avoid people taking advantage. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 20712,
"author": "David M W Powers",
"author_id": 6390,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6390",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There are two obstacles:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>The funding body - sometimes their rules specifies you must work for a university or research organisation or worse a registered research organisation (if it doesn't say registered, then invent a business name or found a consultancy/company; if it does say registered, then try to get your research organisation registered). Sometimes the rules will also specify a proportion of the \"marks\" for rating the researcher/team and the institution/infrastructure. If you register a commercial entity, you however now have access to commercialisation funds and programs which often have more money that is easier to obtain (government funding programs, angels and VCs). About half my funds comes from non-traditional funding sources, often with matching private and public funding.</p></li>\n<li><p>The referees - the referees will in general know nothing about your work, will know a little about the general area but will have specialist expertise in some other area, they will not understand every point of the grant application, they will have some part of their rating based on who you are which will be judged from CV-type information, including your publications, grants and affiliations. They will take into account your lack of a research record one way or another, often negatively when there is no evidence to support you can do the work, often positively when you have done well with the little you have for the stage in your career.</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>Some funding programs (or referees/committees) will explicitly make allowance for early career researchers, or even actively encourage and support them, which mitigates against the disadvantage. The idea is that the success rate of ECRs should be commensurate with the overall success rate (where other things being equal it could be less due to the lack of runs on the board). Many grant processes (and referees/committees) specifically operate on the basis that assessment of the research team should be on the basis of \"opportunity\" - and so no special ECR category is needed.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/24 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9611",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6273/"
]
|
9,617 | <p>As my bachelor's thesis, I'm developing some software (a mocking framework for MATLAB). As such, I often need to reference software documentation - both from MATLAB and the software which serves as my inspiration. It would also be nice to be able to reference the documentation of the specific feature I'm referring to (the analogue of referencing a specific page in a book). However, I mostly access this documentation online and by its nature it tends to exist just in electronic form, which is not really recommended in publishing. So far, the best I've come up with is this:</p>
<pre><code>@misc{mockitoFeatures,
author = {{\em mockito} developers},
title = {Features and Motivations},
note = {\url{https://code.google.com/p/mockito/wiki/FeaturesAndMotivations}},
urldate = {2013-04-24},
}
</code></pre>
<p>(ok strictly speaking, this isn't part of the official docs but it serves the same purpose: it's a specific page and it's only available online)</p>
<p>Specific questions:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Who should be the author?</strong> In the case of MATLAB I guess it's Mathworks or somesuch; I guess listing open-source projects as "xx developers" is the best I can do. </li>
<li><strong>How should I mention the version?</strong> Urldate helps in general, but if I'm referring to a particular software version, where should I put this info? In the title?</li>
<li><strong>Are there any "official" MATLAB citation recommendations?</strong> MATLAB is used in research a lot, perhaps there's a suggested way of doing it and I'm just missing it. The rest of the question still applies for other software, though.</li>
</ul>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9618,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In general, I would treat software documentation depending on how it's distributed.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>If it's published in book form, then it should be cited as a book. The version number goes where you would put the edition, and the company that manufactures the software is the \"publisher.\"</p></li>\n<li><p>If the manual is distributed electronically, then you should cite the website from which it is obtained as the \"source.\"</p></li>\n<li><p>An exception to this is if you are asked in the documentation to reference a specific work (for instance, a research article, or a website) when citing a code. Then you should follow the specific guidance provided.</p></li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9675,
"author": "cbeleites unhappy with SX",
"author_id": 725,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/725",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In addition to @aeismail's answer:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>In my field it is common to refer to Matlab in the text \"Matlab version X.Y (The Mathworks, USA)\"</li>\n<li><p>as @Bitwise comments, scientific FOSS often specifies how cite. So we refer e.g. to R as a normal book. R's recommended citation includes the version.</p></li>\n<li><p>If the version is not included in the recommended citation, I put it into the note field (Bibtex) - that's the R way of putting together such citations:</p>\n\n<pre><code>> citation (\"cbmodels\")\n\nTo cite package ‘cbmodels’ in publications use:\n\n C. Beleites (2013). cbmodels: Collection of \"combined\" models:\n PCA-LDA, PLS-LDA, etc.. R package version 0.5-20130417.\n\nA BibTeX entry for LaTeX users is\n\n@Manual{,\n title = {cbmodels: Collection of \"combined\" models: PCA-LDA, PLS-LDA, etc.},\n author = {C. Beleites},\n year = {2013},\n note = {R package version 0.5-20130417},\n }\n</code></pre></li>\n<li><p>If there's a \"normal\" publication, I combine the normal citation data with additional URL and version information:</p>\n\n<pre><code>> citation (\"softclassval\")\n\nTo cite package 'softclassval' please use:\n\n Claudia Beleites, Reiner Salzer and Valter Sergo: 'Validation of Soft\n Classification Models using Partial Class Memberships: An Extended\n Concept of Sensitivity & Co. applied to grading of astrocytoma\n tissues', Chemometrics and Intelligent Laboratory Systems, 122\n (2013), 12 - 22, DOI: 10.1016/j.chemolab.2012.12.003, arXiv:\n 1301.0264, R package version 1.0-20130318,\n http://softclassval.r-forge.r-project.org.\n\nA BibTeX entry for LaTeX users is\n\n @Article{,\n title = {Validation of Soft Classification Models using Partial Class Memberships: An Extended Concept of Sensitivity & Co. applied to Grading of Astrocytoma Tissues},\n author = {Claudia Beleites and Reiner Salzer and Valter Sergo},\n year = {2013},\n number = {122},\n pages = {12 -- 22},\n journal = {Chemometrics and Intelligent Laboratory Systems},\n note = {R package version 1.0-20130318},\n url = {http://softclassval.r-forge.r-project.org},\n doi = {10.1016/j.chemolab.2012.12.003},\n eprint = {http://arxiv.org/abs/1301.0264},\n }\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>(Here, I don't need an additional date, because the release date is included in the version number.</p></li>\n<li><p>I've been using other FOSS software where I did not find a specification, so \nI asked the developers how they want to be cited.<br>\nThe experience is that the developers usually are very happy about this kind of question.</p></li>\n</ul>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/24 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9617",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6920/"
]
|
9,623 | <p>When I was starting out in my Masters degree, I had an idea of a publication that could be completed in a small amount of time. I was starting out and I felt it would get me at ease with research after publishing this idea.</p>
<p>My idea was like a comparison between two different techniques of solving a problem and the paper could be completed in a week. However, My supervisor told me that I could get a publication for this idea but he recommended me not to waste my efforts on a low quality publication and focus on a long term high to medium quality publication.</p>
<p>So my question is would it have badly affected my research career if I had published that paper?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9627,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>First, regarding your comment that <em>“if [the paper] was so bad it would not have been published”</em>: in my experience, pretty much anything is publishable, it all depends on the journal. Don't overestimate the field: there are journals out there that publish absolute crap. And that is not only my opinion, e.g.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>in many cases, <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bentham_Science_Publishers\">Bentham Open journals</a> publish articles that no legitimate peer-review journal would accept</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Now, the initial question is: <em>how bad can it be?</em> Well, it can be bad. As a researcher (or wannabe researcher), <strong>your publications list is like an artist's portfolio</strong>. When you look for a job, apply for a grant or try to recruit new team members, this is what they will judge you on. </p>\n\n<p>Now, <strong>for a young student</strong> (say undergrad or MSc level), <strong>one <em>weird</em> paper would not completely freak me out</strong>. It would mostly speak to me about the quality of the tutor/advisor/program director: a newbie can sure get a wrong idea at some point, but how come noöne was there to tell him it was a wrong idea? On the other hand, if he was told and did not listen, it might speak to his character!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 83933,
"author": "einpoklum",
"author_id": 7319,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7319",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Not if you published it as a non-peer-reviewed technical report / note on your webpage, or even a adapted it into something like a blog post.</p>\n\n<p>However, it's quite often the case that small results can be augmented with related small results, or added to more significant results, too build up a paper that' more worth of publishing \"for real\", i.e. in a respectable conference or journal.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/25 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9623",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6273/"
]
|
9,624 | <p>Let's say I invented a system to solve a problem. To run this system, I made my own algorithm.I also created some other things for that system. The main contribution was supposed to be the system.So is it a good idea to have as many research papers out of the project as I can? Or to publish a single research paper?</p>
<p>I have seen a lot of researchers where they were targeting a single problem and they proposed a single solution. Now, what they would do is write a research paper for every component separately. Then they would write a single research paper showing how all the components would fit together.</p>
<p>So is it a good idea to try and increase the number of publications you can have out of a single research project? </p>
<p>My own personal opinion is that the quality of your research matters not the quantity. But I have also seen a number of institutions requiring a specific number of publications to even apply for their jobs.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9625,
"author": "posdef",
"author_id": 5674,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5674",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>The way I see it, there are a number of factors at play: </p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>Your goals: Do you want your paper to be published in a high-impact journal? If so they will most likely be interested in the whole story rather than a small piece of it. </p></li>\n<li><p>Readability/General appeal: Can you make a coherent story with individual components? Will they all be interesting for wider audience on their own? In other words, if you opt for multiple papers out of one project; can you make sure these will be able to stand on their own? I personally think going for multiple papers is only valid when combining them into a single big paper would push aside some of your interesting results (or methods) to a metaphorical corner</p></li>\n<li><p>Limitations imposed by the target journal: Can you actually put together all that in a single manuscript? In biomedical research you always get a limit on the number of words in the manuscript, and there is only so much you can put in supplementary. </p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>With regards to quality-vs-quantity, I heard that early on in your career quantity is more important while as you become more and more senior, quality becomes the main concern. I am often told that as a PhD student I can, and should try to get involved in as many papers as I can. Around the time I do post-doc, however, it's time I pay a lot of attention to where I put my name and try to work on a good paper, preferably in a high-impact journal. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9626,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think we all want fewer but high quality publications but many aspects of academia seems to favour quantity. We should also not forget that apart from numbers of publications, the impact of them through different index measures such as the \"<a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H-index\">h</a>\" and number of citations play a vital role in evaluating your output. A paper with no citations is not \"good\" for your record. I think one has to consider when our publications count and I can think of two and a possible third case (in the following I am concentrating on numbers/quality not impact/h but one could (should?) argue that quality = high impact/h):</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Publications count when you seek employment. The publications will be scrutinized by peers and in this case the quality definitely counts since the publication will be the key evaluation parameter of your scientific capacity, possibly in parallel to your ability to attract funding. </li>\n<li>Publications count when you apply for funding. In this case it is not likely that your publications will be read and evaluated; your proposal will. And, your publication list will be looked at as a sign of productivity. So in this case I would argue that numbers count (not even first/leading authorship may be critical although must be present).</li>\n<li>Publications may be important when it comes to promotions and particularly salary discussions. Here it is less clear if quality or quantity counts but I would argue that quantity is more important since your productivity can be shown as a statistic ( by the dept. and univ.) whereas quality is more difficult to quantify directly. </li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>Since you are likely to seek funding more often than switch jobs, one might suspect that quantity is a must. In my funding system, a certain productivity is expected and in this case it is merely a number/year (on average; if you fall short it will be taken as a negative). At the same time you may lose opportunities when applying for jobs if quality does not enter the picture.</p>\n\n<p>So there is need for a balance between quantity and quality. Very few can survive in the long term by writing few but high profile quality papers and it is also not likely you will survive only on quantity if that is at the expense of quality. We of course need to remember that all papers that count are peer reviewed and as such have formally passed quality control. </p>\n\n<p>My personal reflection is that most of us do as much as we can to produce good quality science. If one were to try to constantly push low-quality manuscripts to gain quantity, ones reputation would probably soon suffer, so there may be additional equalizers at play. </p>\n\n<p>So to answer the question: yes quantity counts but cannot be gained at the expense of quality. To \"squeeze\" as much as possible out of your research is good in the sense that your experience gets out to the public but negative if your research becomes fragmented across several publications that are lost in the background noise. Finding a good balance and seeing how many quality publications can be produced from a project idea is important.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9630,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The UK is rapidly moving to a low quantity high quality model. The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is an exercise that is conducted every 4 years and is used to rate the research quality of \"departments\" (they are not truly departments, but the details are irrelevant). For the REF each researcher is expected to return 4 items (i.e., 1 per year on average) and these items are rated on a 4 star scale, with 4* being the best and encompassing about 10-20% of the submitted work. Given how REF computes value, an person who publishes a single 4* paper and nothing else over a 4 year window is more valuable than an individual who publishes 100 3* publications. For the REF quantity above 4 is completely valueless and quality trumps all.</p>\n\n<p>Research councils in the UK are following suit saying that they are uninterested in funding 2* research.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9641,
"author": "Vic",
"author_id": 6928,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6928",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It depends on many factors. People may love to have a single \"great\" article, but there can be obstacles:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>Many institutions or countries have objective measures such as the number of publications, being published in a journal which is indexed in Web of Science, and has a high rank among the competitors, etc. These limit the authors.</p></li>\n<li><p>Journal limitations. I personally love to have perfect articles. But those will be very long, Journals would not love them very much because the reader gets bored. So a way is to split it. As a matter of fact in some instances, it was the reviewer or editor who asked me to remove many parts of my article. I could not stand seeing they are going to be flushed away forever, so I published them as another article.</p></li>\n<li><p>And finally, note that it is difficult and sometimes impossible to \"subjectively\" judge the quality of a paper and say \"well this paper is high-quality and is worth three average papers\"... I have seen strange judgments from senior researchers. For example, I have seen the results of a nation-level contest, where a very poor paper was selected as #1 by 5 judges and another paper which was absolutely unique in its field and very high-quality, was chosen as #2, because the judges were not familiar with the content of the latter (or whatever other reasons they might have) [they later changed their minds when the researcher explained the research to those idiots! but the grant was already given to the poor research!]... So in such situations, objective scores are the only tool for qualification, and the notion \"quality\" is not even applicable! This is why some researchers would prefer split</p></li>\n</ol>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/25 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9624",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6273/"
]
|
9,631 | <p>I have once, some time ago, received a rejection notice in which the journal editor made what I thought was a peculiar comment. The reviewers all found that the work was good, but one emitted a doubt that I had chosen the right journal for it, saying the paper might not appeal to the broad readership of the journal (it was a general physics journal). So far, nothing out of the ordinary.</p>
<p>However, the editor indicated that his judgment to reject the paper was based on the fact that <strong>very few of the citations in the manuscript actually referred to the journal I had submitted it to</strong>. (Like, 2 citations out of 35. Some of the other citations were to other general physics journals, some to more specific journals.)</p>
<p>Back then, this looked very weird to me. To some extent, <strong>it could be interpreted as a push by the editor to increase self-citation of his journal</strong>. It has never occurred to me since.</p>
<p>Is it common practice? When does it become ethically wrong?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9632,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Answering as editor of a journal (albeit not in Physics) I have never heard of such comments. It seems misdirected. The one possible and reasonable (in some sense of the word) reason for it might be that the editor considers the journal so specialized that most relevant literature in the field would be published in the same journal. As a result, one could conclude that if the manuscript lacks references to papers in the same journal it is peripheral to the field. I am by no means suggesting that this would be a good way to make such assertions.</p>\n\n<p>Sometimes, and I am now speaking in my experience as an author, I have felt that such comments are excuses for other reasons to reject the paper. Without seeming too paranoid, I think this can be the result of a rash decision by the editor based on confidential comments by a reviewer but which cannot easily be conveyed. As an editor, I see different comments from reviewers which almost say that I (as an editor) would essentially be stupid if I did not reject the paper and where it seems clear some personal reason rather than scientific arguments are the basis for the judgement. What I am trying to say is that there may be reasons that are far from clear as to why you receive such comments. Unfortunately there is not much one can do about it unless you feel comfortable asking the editor to provide some background for why? I think such a question is reasonable, if for no other reason than to avoid \"burdening\" the journal with \"off topic\" questions in the future (quotations meant from journal/editor perspective).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9633,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It is not unheard of. For a journal that I submit regularly to the instructions for authors state</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Given that the Journal has been in existence for over 80 years and has\n published of the order of 35,000 papers on a wide variety of\n acoustical topics over its lifetime, the absence of any references to\n previously published papers in the Journal raises a flag signaling the\n possibility that the paper lies outside the de facto scope of the\n Journal</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I think it really is a scope question and not a self citation question. That said, the handling editors of this journal often alert authors during the later stages of review of potentially relevant in press publications within the journal. Most have been relevant and I am happy to add the sentence or two to the background, but I also think of it as a clear attempt at increasing self citation counts.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/25 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9631",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700/"
]
|
9,634 | <p>This question is in spirit a very general one. When a person (say in CS) is choosing among multiple options for gradschool, which one would experience and prudence point towards? Along with research interests and all that, things to factor in would be the extra strain involved, to be honest.</p>
<p>Case in point:</p>
<ol>
<li>Choice A: PhD advisor in the field of computer vision and machine learning. My undergrad experience was mostly in image processing, with one instance of training a rather vanilla backprop neural network. So this would be pretty much be building on the base of undergrad research experience. Yeah, the school is a tough one, and my math background is rather sparse. lots of catching up to do on the maths front.</li>
<li>Choice B: PhD advisor does work in graphics. mostly interactive graphics, lighting models and all that. These are topics i am vaguely familiar with, never having taken a graphics course during undergrad. Nor did any research project on that. Its a fresh topic for me, but I am not qualified enough to judge whether to pursue this or not. </li>
</ol>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9635,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you start by thinking about what's <em>safe</em> as an undergrad/grad, I think you may experience (unpleasant) surprises down the road. <strong>Do what you like best!</strong> Grad school is not an easy path, and motivation is sometimes hard to maintain throughout, so the best way to help your chances of success is actually to do something that you enjoy (and hopefully will enjoy for the next few years).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9638,
"author": "Bitwise",
"author_id": 6862,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6862",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Personally, I think grad school is as much about learning than it is about doing research. Don't be afraid to learn new things and expand into new fields - grad school is exactly the time do that. My main regret from my own graduate studies is that I focused too much on doing research and not enough on learning. Of course it requires hard work, but if you don't want to work hard I would say grad school is probably not the right choice for you.</p>\n\n<p>As Fx writes in his answer, you should pursue whatever interests you the most. Of course it is also important to have a good advisor - so if you have no knowledge of the field you might like to ask around.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/25 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9634",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/84905/"
]
|
9,642 | <p>I would like to attract more discussion, comments or reviews of my papers and so would like to add the ability for comments or reviews to be made by the public in relation to my papers. Ideally I would like a comments section similar to those found in blogging software which allows comments to be moderated. I would like to provide this ability in an easy to maintain way but also maintain mediation control. I would rather not use blogging software. </p>
<p>What would be the best way of allowing open comments/reviews on my work? What are the pros and cons of allowing open, but moderated comments like this?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9645,
"author": "Anonymous",
"author_id": 6110,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6110",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I agree that blogging would technically be the way to go.</p>\n\n<p>However, realistically speaking, I don't think you are going to get many comments unless your papers are truly outstanding. See for example <a href=\"http://terrytao.wordpress.com/\">Terry Tao's blog</a> -- one of the best-written and widely admired math blogs out there -- the number of comments is often in the single figures. Presumably that is an upper bound for what you should expect.</p>\n\n<p>The best way to get comments, in my opinion, is to e-mail your paper to individually selected people and invite them to offer comments. Most people won't reply, but you might get a couple of interesting responses.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9649,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Okay, this is totally <em>not</em> an answer to your specific question, but I think it is an interesting answer to the broader question of getting comments and feedback on your published papers…</p>\n\n<p><strong>Go to conferences, present your work</strong> (either at oral or poster presentations), and make sure you stick around and are welcoming enough so people will ask questions, give you feedback, engage in discussion about your methods and results, etc. I have received tons of insightful comments on my own work in conferences, and still find them an extraordinary tool to gather feedback on your published work.</p>\n\n<p>Also, <strong>do not hesitate to engage with other researchers</strong> with research interests close to yours, and after you get to know them, <strong>ask them clearly what they think about it</strong>. I mean, if you discuss with top-notch people in the same area, they will have read your paper (unless it's really very recent); I have started very insightful conversations with lines like:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Hello, professor Smith, it's nice to meet you. Since the 2011 conference, when we last met, I saw your nice paper on X in <em>Flagship journal of your field</em>. It was really an improvement over existing methods. Actually, there was a question I wanted to ask: you may have seen that we published a different approach with the same goal last year in <em>International journal of our field</em>, and we are getting slightly different convergence properties. I haven't had yet the opportunity of asking you what you thought of our approach and the way it may prevent the issue of Y…</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Just remember, that's not a conversation everyone is willing to have. So, if it looks like they are trying to bail out, help them get out easily! Manners, always :)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9733,
"author": "silvado",
"author_id": 3890,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/3890",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In fact, a number of scientific publishers are experimenting with online comments on their publications. Examples are the <a href=\"http://www.plos.org\" rel=\"nofollow\">PLoS</a> or <a href=\"https://www.biomedcentral.com\" rel=\"nofollow\">BioMed Central</a>. This is of course mostly suitable for online-only journals, and depending on your field they me be more or less reputable. I guess the publishers are also moderating comments on these articles. So a good approach on getting comments on your articles is publishing with a publisher that offers this functionality.</p>\n\n<p>If you check on a few articles with comments enabled, you will quickly learn that the typical number of comments is: <strong>zero</strong>. I think it is just not that suitable for scientific communication, and the approaches mentioned in F'x's answer would be more useful to get into scientific debate about your paper.</p>\n\n<p>Maybe in the future the scientific culture will change to have more public online interaction, but at the moment this possibility doesn't seem to draw much attention.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9737,
"author": "Jeromy Anglim",
"author_id": 62,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/62",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><strong>If the topic of your paper aligns with a StackExchange site, you could post questions related to your paper on that site.</strong></p>\n\n<p>For example if you you wrote a paper in a psychology journal you could post a question about it on <a href=\"http://cogsci.stackexchange.com\">cogsci.stackexchange.com</a> . As a moderator and active user of cogsci.SE, I'd like to see academics posting questions about their papers on the site. </p>\n\n<p>I imagine this would take some thought. You'd have to understand the norms of the site and you might want to post on meta if you felt that this format was a little different to usual questions. You'd also want to be upfront about your motivations. </p>\n\n<p>I think the stackexchange format provides an excellent commenting, spam management, and quality sorting system, and there is often an active community around the topic. That said, you might need to encourage others not familiar with StackExchange to direct their comments to particular pages.</p>\n\n<p>In the post, you'd want to provide a link to the full-text of the article.</p>\n\n<p>You'd also need to think about how to frame a given question so that it is not too open ended.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 17255,
"author": "mart",
"author_id": 7971,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7971",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I've seen researchers posting their papers on <a href=\"http://www.researchgate.net/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Researchgate</a>, explicitly asking readers to submit questions or criticisms.</p>\n\n<p>Resaerchgate aims to be a social networks for scientists. While posting your paper there may draw the attention of people who don't already follow your work, I'd see it as an additional channel to communicate with collegues, and not as a replacement for beeing present at conferences or similiar.</p>\n\n<p>Disclaimer: I'm an engineer, not an active researcher, so the dynamics on researchgate might look different to me than to they would to you.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 54108,
"author": "Tommy Otzen",
"author_id": 31282,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31282",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I recently asked a similar question <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/54022/is-there-an-open-crowd-based-peer-review-tool\">here</a>. Although I haven't received any answers, I came up with some possible answers myself.</p>\n\n<p>I use a service named <a href=\"http://www.academia.edu\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Academia</a>, who describe them self this way:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Academia.edu is a platform for academics to share research papers. The\n company's mission is to accelerate the world's research</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>When you have uploaded your paper, you can then invite people from your network, or outside your network, to participate in a review and discussion of your paper. An example of how to do this, can be seen at this <a href=\"https://www.academia.edu/s/8ccbb0cf80?source=work\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">example</a>.</p>\n\n<p>Academia is also a sort of social network, which mean you can \"follow\" other researcher with same interest and then invite them to review your paper.</p>\n\n<p>If you want to expand your reach further, you can see in the above example, that it can be shared on twitter. You are probably already familier with twitter and know how hashtags work.</p>\n\n<p>If not, I will simply explain:</p>\n\n<p>Lets say your research area is webdesign, then you add hashtags like #webdesign, #webdevelopment etc. </p>\n\n<p>As above, I'm also an engineer and have only used it, as a part of my master, so it might not be as relevant for you?!</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/25 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9642",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6915/"
]
|
9,644 | <p>I asked a potential advisor for possible research projects but I haven't received a reply.</p>
<p>What is the appropriate thing to do?</p>
<ul>
<li>Reply with my previous mail quoted, and say something like I having heard from you... and try to arrange a personal meeting to discuss the topic.</li>
<li>Or simply forward my previous email hoping that somehow my email wasn't read the first time. </li>
</ul>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9670,
"author": "Nicholas",
"author_id": 1424,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1424",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>First things first: whenever you write again or otherwise contact your potential advisor, stay polite and respectful. Conduct yourself in the most professional manner you can. <strong>While you might feel your correspondent is acting unprofessionally in not responding at a rate that pleases you, asking again in anything that looks like a demanding tone is not going to reflect well on you.</strong></p>\n\n<p>There are many possible reasons why your correspondent hasn't replied to your first email yet, even 10 days down the line. You are probably already quite aware of the possibilities, but here are a few:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>He/she is simply busy. Is it a busy time of year? Is it examination time? Is he/she likely to busy marking/providing feedback. providing lectures?</li>\n<li>Is he/she on holiday? A quick check with the Department/School/Institute administration should answer this.</li>\n<li>There could be personal reasons. You don't want to appear a demanding person when the academic is making preparations for a family member's funeral - for example! Extreme sitation, yes, but not impossible.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>With these possibilities in mind, you could write again to your potential advisor, reminding him/her that you are very keen to work together. <strong>I do not advise simply re-sending your original email unless you have good reason to believe that the original didn't reach its target</strong> - e.g. you have received a mailhost error relating to an undelivered message. I suspect this is not the case. In your follow-up email, <strong>refer</strong> to your previous email. Resending an email is similar to saying to someone \"I SAID....!!!\".</p>\n\n<p>In your follow-up email, I would acknowledge that the academic might well be very busy and that you would gratefully appreciate any time the academic could spend talking with you about research opportunities. Offer alternatives - you've hinted at this - such as arranging a meeting or a telephone call at a time convenient for the academic. </p>\n\n<p><strong>At this stage, be reasonably formal. Your spelling and grammar should be as good as you can make it. This indicates that you are taking this correspondence seriously, as should he/she.</strong></p>\n\n<p>It is very easy to appear demanding, annoying or otherwise negative in an email, even if that is not your intention. <strong>Turn up the politeness up a few notches</strong>, even if you think it's starting to be sickly and ingratiating. In emails, it is extremely easy to appear demanding or accusatory. You don't have the advantage of being present in a conversation to send all those little non-verbal clues which make up the vast majority of human communication.</p>\n\n<p>I think that it is appropriate to <strong>mention that you have some expectations</strong> when you'd like to have this interaction. You could mention that you are meeting with other advisers (if true) and that you'd like to be in a position to make a decision in one/two month's time. For this reason, you'd like to have a meeting sometime in the next 1-2 weeks, if possible.</p>\n\n<p>Summary: </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>You be unfailingly polite and professional,</li>\n<li>You put effort into your next email - don't just resend a previous one,</li>\n<li>You suggest as many alternatives for an interaction you can think of,</li>\n<li>You provide some kind of time-scale for action.</li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9697,
"author": "Anonymous",
"author_id": 6110,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6110",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In my opinion, it would be worthwhile to seek the advice of someone at your institution: the director of graduate studies, an older graduate student, anyone with more experience than you whose experience you trust.</p>\n\n<p>Please keep in mind that institutional cultures and advisors' personalities vary widely, and also some professors are notorious for ignoring their e-mail. Someone who knows the advisor in question will be able to better guess what this \"means\".</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/25 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9644",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5894/"
]
|
9,646 | <p><em>As a follow-up to "<a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/9624/285">Whether to publish one big paper or many smaller papers for a given research project?</a>":</em></p>
<p>Suppose one wants to generate a number of publications from a single research idea or project, because other things being equal, more publications is better. What is a reasonable way to do so; one that does not dilute or compromise the quality of ones papers?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9647,
"author": "Faheem Mitha",
"author_id": 285,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/285",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you have a specific research question/problem, and devised a technique, method, algorithm or system, to address it, then I think it makes more sense to showcase that method in a way that seems natural, in a single self-contained publication, to the extent that it is possible within space limits, rather than artificially breaking it up across multiple publications solely to increase the number of publications. This will, first, annoy readers, who don't care about your publication rate. It will likely also make editors/reviewers unhappy. Of course, if the method <em>naturally</em> breaks up into more than one paper, than that is fine.</p>\n\n<p>To generate multiple publications around a single method, I think a good way to go would be to write additional papers that supplement and possibly enhance a single major publication. For example, suppose you were to devise a new technique to analyse some data set(s). Then additional publications could be, for example, an extension of that technique to analyze additional, different, data sets. Also, you could have a separate publication which just describes the details of the software implementation. This would not fit well into a (say) statistical research paper, but could be a perfectly viable publication on its own.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9680,
"author": "cbeleites unhappy with SX",
"author_id": 725,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/725",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Of course it depends how narrow or wide you define what a \"project\" is.</p>\n\n<p>I'm chemometrician working with vibrational spectra of biological samples.\nSo there are:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Applications (e.g. a particular biological/medical question)<br>\n<a href=\"http://softclassval.r-forge.r-project.org/2011/2011-07-01-ABC-Glioma-paper.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">We write papers about medical diagnostics</a> or biochemical characterization of samples or biochemical changes that occur with some disease, ...<br>\nEven within this \"application\" topic, there may be distinct subtopics. E.g. basic research about a disease is different from developing a diagnostic method.</li>\n<li>As chemometrician, I develop data analysis methods (often triggered by the application).<br>\n<a href=\"http://softclassval.r-forge.r-project.org/2013/2013-01-03-ChemomIntellLabSystTheorypaper.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">We write methods/theory papers.</a></li>\n<li>We also develop instrumentation to measure our samples.<br>\n<a href=\"http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00216-013-6726-3\" rel=\"nofollow\">We write papers about that as well</a></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>These separations are sensible to me: \nA reader who wants to learn about a particular disease may not want to dive into chemometric theory development but instead wants to see biochemical findings. Another reader may be interested in the chemometric details but not in the particular disease. Readers looking into instrumentation details may not care about the disease or the particular statistical model applied to our data.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9681,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There is one trend that I see around me, which is in some cases to <strong>split a piece of work in two pieces: a high-impact letter, and follow-up full paper</strong> with all the details.</p>\n\n<p>There are many reasons why this might be a good idea. Increase in number of publication is one of them, but there are others:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>If you work in a rapidly developing and highly competitive field (i.e. you risk being scooped if you wait 3 more months to publish your idea), this allows you a fast publication of the idea and first results (proof of concept, if you will). Also, letters tend to be reviewed more rapidly, which also decreases publication time. Then, you will publish all the details, influence of method parameters, etc.</p></li>\n<li><p>If your work would be interesting to a wider community, it allows you to deliver two different messages (or at least, the same message at two different levels) to two communities. This increases the overall impact of your research.</p></li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9682,
"author": "eykanal",
"author_id": 73,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/73",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This will probably vary from field to field, but I've seen instances of publishing different analyses in different papers. One rich data set can yield many different analyses which may be largely unconnected with each other.</p>\n\n<p>By way of example, a single longitudinal study of depression may collect data on a number of fronts; information about the participants (gender, age, location, etc), their depressive episodes, family history, genomics, neuroimaging, etc. Each of these can result in a different set of analyses, many of which would be of interest to completely different fields. A neuroscientist interested in activity patterns in the brain would not necessarily be interested in a study examining instances of suicide in high-SES vs. low-SES populations.</p>\n\n<p>By thinking carefully about study design <em>before</em> collecting data, you can position yourself to examine questions in many different fields, leading to numerous publications.</p>\n\n<p>As a final point, I'll just briefly mention that cross-disciplinary collaboration is a wonderful thing, and is very relevant to this discussion.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/25 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9646",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/285/"
]
|
9,648 | <p>How does the scientific output of PhD’s who work in industry compare to that of PhD’s who stayed in academia (professors, mainly). I mean, in terms of number of publications, conferences, etc.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9650,
"author": "Suresh",
"author_id": 346,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><em>Disclaimer: this answer applies to computer science. I suspect things are dramatically different in the natural sciences</em>.</p>\n\n<p>It's hard to measure these things, and a bit unfair. If you work as a professor, publications are the base unit (along with funding) for measuring your performance as a researcher. You also are encouraged to grow research groups that in turn will produce more and more papers.</p>\n\n<p>If you work in industry (even industrial research labs) (and I've done both), you are evaluated not just in terms of paper output, but in terms of internal metrics relating to how you help the company. </p>\n\n<p>So the incentive structure in industry is different. </p>\n\n<p>Bottom line, since I haven't really answered the question: I expect that the average number of publications/researcher will be slightly less in industry than in academia, but the average will get closer as the lab characteristics become more \"university-like\": think MSR vs (say) Walmart Labs.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9653,
"author": "Shion",
"author_id": 1429,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1429",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I voted Suresh's answer up because its holistically very good and just wanted to add that in the field of scientometrics (a field I am somewhat familiar with and still getting familiar with), there has been some past work done on this general topic including academia-industry productivity and collaborations.</p>\n\n<p>Reading some of these literature might be useful for you if you are looking at quantitative evaluations of such productivity and impact. Mind you though that quantitative evaluations do not always yield the complete or \"true\" story behind things. Regardless, <a href=\"http://www.akademiai.com/content/p685537285403341/\" rel=\"nofollow\">this</a>, <a href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048733399000554\" rel=\"nofollow\">this</a>, <a href=\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166497207000697\" rel=\"nofollow\">this</a>, <a href=\"http://www.akademiai.com/content/y7525125557242k7/\" rel=\"nofollow\">this</a> and <a href=\"http://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/B%3aSCIE.0000041651.26664.14#page-1\" rel=\"nofollow\">this</a> might be useful for you. </p>\n\n<p><strong>Note:</strong> This is only a small sub sample of such scientometric research and is not meant to be comprehensive or representative.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9679,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The ability of industry and other non-academic personnel to publish and present papers can often be restricted by intellectual property concerns, security restrictions, and other concerns. Therefore, even though the amount of high-quality scientific research being performed in non-academic settings may be comparable, the \"measurable\" amount—as seen in conferences, papers, and other \"recorded\" means—will often be somewhat lower than an academic group of comparable size.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/25 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9648",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6930/"
]
|
9,651 | <p>I have recently been told by the professor of a particular course of mine, that our final grades will be withheld (given as an "Incomplete" which is later replaced by the final grade) until we individually submit our semester papers in the course to a conference.</p>
<p>This has a few issues to go with it:</p>
<ul>
<li>I defended my MSc and passed, however without this credit I will not receive my degree this semester.</li>
<li>I do not want a low-quality publication on my record, especially since it appears past students in the course published in pay-to-publish conferences.</li>
<li>I am far, far from an expert in this field. I took the course to learn about the subject and have only been spending the last few weeks on this research paper. To give more context, I don't even have a publication in my PhD work yet and I am 2 years in.</li>
</ul>
<p>The situation prompts two questions from me:</p>
<ol>
<li>Is it <em>ethical</em> for the professor to <strong>require</strong> a student to submit a paper to a conference for a course? (This requirement is not mentioned in the syllabus.)</li>
<li>Is it <em>allowed</em> for a professor to require this? Are there any rules or regulations in the US (state school) to prevent it?</li>
</ol>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9652,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Your question is missing the following info. Obviously, you have approached the professor and talked to him about the specific issue you are facing: your paper is ready, you <em>could</em> submit it to a conference, but what you really want is to be able to get your degree this semester. There is no reasonable expectation that, if all the work is done, you should just postpone your degree waiting for an upcoming conference.</p>\n\n<p>So, the missing information is: what did he answer about your specific issue?</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9656,
"author": "Suresh",
"author_id": 346,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It's a little odd to require something that is not mentioned in the syllabus. I understand that things can change in the course of a semester. But this is a rather draconian requirement and as such should have been specified up front in the syllabus. </p>\n\n<p>If (as appears to be the case) the professor is willing to \"soften\" the requirement, then this entire question might be viewed as an overreaction. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9677,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This is highly suspect behavior—particularly when it is not published in the <em>original</em> course syllabus, or written down anywhere. </p>\n\n<p>In general, however, this requirement seems highly impractical—most conferences operate on a schedule far longer than a typical semester. Therefore, it would seem that almost every student's grade would be held up waiting for the work to be accepted.</p>\n\n<p>While I can understand (perhaps) the logic behind such a move, I don't agree with this. A scientific conference presentation is a serious undertaking, and should be an <em>option</em>, not a requirement!</p>\n\n<p>However, whether it is allowed will depend upon your university's regulations. You should check first within the department, and escalate only if necessary.</p>\n\n<p>(However, under such circumstances, if there are no proceedings published, and no formal record, I would be entirely comfortable leaving such a presentation off of my CV.)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 17110,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I am a professor at a state school in the US, and American professors are currently the targets of a lot of undeserved grief (e.g. it is currently fashionable to believe that we are \"lazy\" and work much less than a full \"business week\"; that is not only a mistake but likely a dishonest, politically motivated mistake). So keep that preamble in mind when I say:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>This is one of the most unambiguously unacceptable behaviors from a course instructor that I have heard.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Let me try to count the ways (but there are so many that I may get tired before I finish):</p>\n\n<p>1) One of the most basic understandings between the student, the instructor and the university is the duration of the course. By a certain extremely public, agreed upon, well-publicized deadline, all of the coursework must be complete, and by a slightly later date that your instructor has been carefully informed of, the course grades are due. Planning to defer submission of the course grade after this date is just not the way the American academic system works.</p>\n\n<p>2) Giving a grade of \"incomplete\" is not withholding a grade: it is assigning a certain kind of unsatisfactory grade. [Once in college a rather elderly professor literally did not submit any of the grades for the course I was taking. It was a little strange -- in these days we actually received transcripts in the mail over the break so the inquiry was less immediate than it would now be -- but he apologized and submitted the grades very soon after the start of the next quarter. <em>That's</em> withholding a grade.] In order to assign an incomplete, the student must not have completed the official coursework.</p>\n\n<p>3) The instructor is not suitably respectful of the obvious problem which can occur if you assign students' grades too late: you may prevent them from graduating. Many American universities have policies to <em>expedite</em> final coursework and grading for (would-be) graduating students. Moreover, in the universities I've been involved with, beyond the written rules there is an unwritten culture that as an instructor you should think twice about any course practice that interferes with a student's timely graduation. (Sometimes it turns out the student <em>fails</em> your course and therefore does not graduate on time. That's \"okay\", but most of instructors would indeed think more carefully about assigning a failing grade under these circumstances and feel honorbound to convey the failing grade to the student sooner rather than later. What if their parents show up in town only to learn that the student did not actually graduate?) This practice is not hard to understand: one of very few commonalities among American academics is that we were all students at one time, so we should have some sympathies for the student perspective.</p>\n\n<p>4) This course requirement is unusual and potentially problematic, and it is not listed on the course syllabus. I think that the whole point of the course syllabus is so that instructors cannot totally change their course requirements / grading schemes in the middle of the course, and that seems to be what is happening here.</p>\n\n<p>5) Teaching a university course is not like playing a game of Truth-or-Dare: it does not give you authority to compel the student outside of the classroom and the dorm room / study carrel. Submitting a paper to a conference is a real-world action with real-world ramifications (the OP is rightly aware and concerned about this). It is creating work -- possibly rather pointless and frivolous work -- for other busy academics and/or professionals. It is setting a student up for harsh critique even up to the point of ridicule. It is also bullying a student into publishing something they didn't actually want to publish.</p>\n\n<p>Okay, I got tired. What should a student do in this situation?</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Talk to the faculty member in question.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>This is an in-person conversation. You should think carefully both about want you want to say and how to behave in such a conversation. Your goal is to convey the specific problems and hardships this course policy will impose on you. (You don't want to frame it as an ethical or hypothetical discussion.) Be calm but very specific. Bring in a copy of the course syllabus and refer to it at some point during the discussion. Bring in a copy of an academic document that says you need to have your grades by a certain date in order to graduate. Say specifically: \"I'm concerned that this course policy will jeopardize my graduation. Can we address this?\" If your instructor says \"Don't worry about it right now\" then explain why you are worried about it right now. Talk about your family's travel plans, talk about the financial implications of having to enroll for another semester....</p>\n\n<p>(The point of the above strategy is this: I imagine that your instructor likes this course idea from his perspective. Clearly he has not taken the time to think about it from your perspective. If you make him see the negative consequences, he is much more likely to repent.)</p>\n\n<p>You should not be brushed off in your meeting: this is a serious matter. If in the course of the meeting you don't see things working out to your satisfaction, you should let him know that you intend to talk to (e.g.) the department chair about it.</p>\n\n<p>By the way, apparently this took place almost a year ago. What happened??</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 54038,
"author": "Robert Serpell",
"author_id": 40810,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/40810",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Your two reasons strike me as very intelligent and responsible:\n1. I do not want a low-quality publication on my record, especially since it appears past students in the course published in pay-to-publish conferences.\n2. I am far, far from an expert in this field. I took the course to learn about the subject and have only been spending the last few weeks on this research paper. To give more context, I don't even have a publication in my PhD work yet and I am 2 years in.</p>\n\n<p>I recommend drawing them to your course instructor's attention, and requesting him to guide you in finding a low or zero-cost relevant conference to which you could submit an abstract without spending too much time when you are busy working on your PhD.</p>\n\n<p>At my university, submitting an article based on the student's research is a graduation requirement. The idea is (a) to get graduands familiar with the different demands of presenting research to a conference (probably something that would benefit you since you have moved on to doctoral studies), and (b) to get more of the Masters level research out into the research literature which in many cases tends to never get beyond the university library (something in the interest of the \"knowledge economy\" and also beneficial to the public image of relatively young universities struggling to gain acceptance in their own nations and in the wider international arena.</p>\n\n<p>The concern you raise about some of your contemporaries taking the short-cut of submitting their work to \"pay-to-publish conferences\" is particularly hazardous with regard to the objective (b), and your professor may find it instructive to reflect on the wisdom of your reluctance.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/25 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9651",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/746/"
]
|
9,654 | <p>I do a lot of qualitative coding and assessment as part of my research activities. Usually my colleagues and I simply use generic tools for this process like text editors and spreadsheets, but I know that there's a lot of software out there (NVivo, Atlas.ti, etc.) that is designed for making qualitative data analysis "better".</p>
<p>If these pieces of software were inexpensive, I'd probably buy a package and try it out, but they're very costly (about $600 per seat) and appear rather intimidating.</p>
<p><strong>Can anyone with experience in qualitative data analysis comment on whether these tools are useful (or not useful) and are worth the high price?</strong> (And you get a cookie if you can describe a use case that really highlights why the tool is powerful!)</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9655,
"author": "Shion",
"author_id": 1429,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1429",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>My answer might not be as useful to you because it only deals with my personal experience. I often deal with mixed methods work and qualitative data analysis is something I do about ~25% of my time.</p>\n\n<p>I have used Atlas.ti because it is provided free on my school server. However, realistically, I used Excel to code themes, categories etc. following a <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grounded_theory\" rel=\"nofollow\">grounded theory approach</a> (Glaser and Strauss, 1967). I don't find much use for it but I know significant numbers of professors and graduate students who swear by it. It seems to be the SPSS of the qualitative world.</p>\n\n<p>One <em>powerful use</em> of Atlas.ti that I can attest to is organization, search and visualization of categories, codes, themes and performing some simple reliability measures (<a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cronbach%27s_alpha\" rel=\"nofollow\">Cronbach</a>, <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krippendorff%27s_alpha\" rel=\"nofollow\">Krippendorf</a>) etc. </p>\n\n<p>However, the same can also be done in Excel with some elbow grease. :)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 111116,
"author": "curious",
"author_id": 11673,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11673",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I've used <a href=\"https://www.dedoose.com/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">DeDoose</a> in the past and found it helpful as there is a feature that can easily tell you of some codes are more or less associated with others. Although it's probably feasible to do this broadly, using a visual assessment, getting a clear confirmation was nice. </p>\n\n<p>Another upside of DeDoose is that you can import audio/video and code these types of media. </p>\n\n<p>I thought it was greatly helpful to code interviews and fairly straightforward textual data. I'm currently trying to coerce it into coding tables from Excel and it just won't do what I want (which is how I ran into your question), so it definitely is not perfect! </p>\n\n<p>What I find helpful is leveraging the free month trial on some of these applications to see if I can actually import the data that I want to analyze.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 150235,
"author": "Daniel Turner",
"author_id": 28573,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28573",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The tools can be useful, but note they are designed to help you manage and 'tag' qualitative data: you still have to do the analysis yourself. </p>\n\n<p>A typical use case would be where you have transcripts from dozens of interviews. The software will help you go through and find quotes about particular topics, so you can quickly find them all later. Then you can read all the quotes on a topic, and see if there is consensus or difference of opinion, or if certain respondents (eg. from one area, or over a certain age) differ.</p>\n\n<p>While some of the tools are expensive, other <a href=\"https://www.quirkos.com\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">qualitative data analysis software like Quirkos</a> are quite cheap, but they all have free trials so you can see if they will help you. You can find <a href=\"https://www.surrey.ac.uk/computer-assisted-qualitative-data-analysis/resources/choosing-appropriate-caqdas-package\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">independent reviews</a> from the University of Surrey. There are also open-souce tools like Transana and Taguette.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/25 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9654",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5944/"
]
|
9,657 | <p><strong>Here is the story:</strong></p>
<p>After working on a project for a couple of months, I put the results in a scientific paper format in case I would submit it to a conference or yet this is a good practice for my writing. The paper is about a specific software engineering topic for which you could not find many scientific events to submit. However, I sometimes check <a href="http://www.wikicfp.com">www.wikicfp.com</a> to not miss any deadline if there is one. Finally I found one, read the details about the conference and submit the paper.</p>
<p>This week I got the results. It was positive, I think this is great because I am warming up for academia. However, when I received the review (only one), I felt that this conference could be fake or bogus. They sent me a text file that has the following review (with the name and some strange gmail address as the reviewer email):</p>
<blockquote>
<p>paper quality is good different models are explained but this is not a
result oriented paper no comparison results for different models with
graphical point of view</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Thank God I had a paper rejected before. I had submitted it to a workshop on a different topic and the reviews were detailed, well explained without reviewer strange email addresses.</p>
<p>Besides the acceptance email has details more about the registration details, bank accounts, fees etc., than preparing final draft or other scientific related issues.</p>
<p>So right now I am a bit confused about what to do next or how to react. But my question is the following:
<strong>What are the good indicators of fake/bogus conferences?</strong></p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9658,
"author": "SteveK",
"author_id": 6931,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6931",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I have many years of academic experience and I have been a reviewer of submissions for conference presentations and scientific journals. Speaking from experience, often times the reviews given in response to a conference abstract submission can be extremely brief. This is often due to the reviewer having way more submissions to review than they ever dreamed of and a deadline of say \"tomorrow\" - YIKES! Serious though... Okay so moving past that, to judge the merit of a conference, I would make most of my decision based on the conference hosts or sponsoring group. If they have a large or influential membership within the discipline, who is directing the group of conference and their professional reputation, the size of the conference venue, etc... if that is all positive then I would go for it. </p>\n\n<p>You might call up a colleague or two of yours in academia within your discipline and ask them if they would like to attend the conference with you. Sometimes those that are currently in the academia loop have insight about the \"perceived impact\" of a conference or sponsoring group.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9665,
"author": "DavideChicco.it",
"author_id": 379,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/379",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think there is no definitive way to understand if a conference is a fake or not, but here I can suggest you a strategy.\nSurely the most important indicator is the <strong>experts' and community's opinion</strong>: if you know someone expert in your field (maybe your supervisor?), you can ask him/her information about that conference.</p>\n\n<p>Maybe you can ask also to online community members, too.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9668,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>In your description, there are three telltale signs that the conference might not be very good:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>The reviewer email is revealed: <strong>a conference that doesn't protect reviewer anonymity</strong> (blind review at least) <strong>is probably not very good</strong>.</li>\n<li>The review itself is, frankly, not high quality. It may make sense for a standard conference scientific committee to appoint another reviewer if the first one didn't do his job properly.</li>\n<li>Financial details appear very important to the organizer…</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>To make your final decision, see answers to <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/9362/2700\">this question</a>: check out the organizers and invited speakers.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9673,
"author": "Diomidis Spinellis",
"author_id": 6934,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6934",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Seek the opinion of third parties. Here are some suggestions.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>See if the conference is indexed by a major digital library, like <a href=\"http://www.scopus.com\">Scopus</a>.</li>\n<li>See if the conference is sponsored by a reputable professional organization, like the <a href=\"http://www.computer.org\">IEEE Computer Society</a> or the <a href=\"http://www.acm.org\">ACM</a>. Although these societies sponsor all types of conferences, from top-rank to less illustrious ones, I haven't heard them sponsoring \"fake\" ones.</li>\n<li>Have a look at the <a href=\"http://core.edu.au/index.php/categories/conference%20rankings/1\">Conference Ranking Exercise</a> that has been performed by the Computing Research and Education Association of Australasia (CORE). If the conference is there, you'll get a (subjective) rank of its importance as a publication outlet. Note that the list is somewhat dated.</li>\n<li>Similarly, look at the <a href=\"http://webdocs.cs.ualberta.ca/~zaiane/htmldocs/ConfRanking.html\">conference ranking list</a> compiled by Osmar R. Zaïane at the University of Alberta</li>\n<li>Consult the <a href=\"http://academic.research.microsoft.com/RankList?entitytype=3&topDomainID=2&subDomainID=0\">automatically-compiled list</a> created by Microsoft's Academic Search engine.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>An <a href=\"http://www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/~wp/beware_of_VIDEA_mail.txt\">alternative approach</a> that a group of researchers followed back in 1995 is to submit silly or gibberish papers (e.g. \"The Footprint Function for the Realistic Texturing of Public Room Walls\", \"Visualization and Intelligent Design in Engineering and Architecture \", \"Distributed Multiprogramming System for Pen Selectors with Error Probability\") and see whether they get accepted.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/25 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9657",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/399/"
]
|
9,661 | <p>I am working on a research project that all total will probably end up lasting about two years. As the research progresses, I am writing articles about each new discovery/study, with each article becoming more relevant to current interesting trends (for lack of a better description).</p>
<p>What I mean by this is that in the plan for publications my group has, the first article discusses just the structure, dynamics, etc. of some new interesting carbon/silicon/etc. system. The second article will elaborate on this for an even more novel, more developed structure than the first. Then the last article will (hopefully) provide a deep new insight into how this structure can be used for energy storage/transport/etc.</p>
<p>As I'm sure you can tell, each article gets more interesting, and thus I think each article has a better chance than the previous one of making it into a more highly ranked journal. Our current strategy is to submit the article to a succession of less prestigious journals (each getting rejected) until it eventually gets into one. This way, it ends up getting into the journal it probably deserves to be in, and not something lower, and there's always the chance it is accepted into a highly ranked journal as well.</p>
<p>However, I am curious if this is a bad idea in the long run. Will editors remember "Oh, they already submitted articles to us twice and got rejected; what are they doing it for again?" Will they be quicker to dismiss the next article they receive even though it is higher-quality/deeper research than the previous one?</p>
<p>Or do the editors give each new submission a fair chance for acceptance, with no memory of previous submissions?</p>
<p>I know some of you all are journal editors, so any insight you can reveal to me about your thought process would be quite appreciated.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9662,
"author": "Bitwise",
"author_id": 6862,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6862",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I am not an editor so I don't think I can definitely say how editors treat this, but I suspect that if you keep sending manuscripts that are not appropriate to the journal, it won't be helpful in promoting your next submission and won't gain you respect. Consider the fact that you have to convince the editor why your manuscript is important in the cover letter - you don't want to keep sending a paper every week saying it is the most important paper of the decade. Even as a reviewer I can tell you it is annoying to review a paper that is clearly not suited for the journal (although maybe it is the editor's fault that it passed to review in the first place).</p>\n\n<p>If you think your manuscript fits a high-impact journal, it is fine to try a few journals to increase your chances. But try to be sincere with yourself - many papers belong to specialized journals, and that is fine.</p>\n\n<p>Another fact you might want to consider is that high-impact journals tend to get recognized experts in the field as reviewers. You probably don't want to gain a bad reputation in those circles. Second, the pool of experts can be pretty small which could mean that when you resubmit to a different high-impact journal, you will get the same reviewer or someone who already heard about the paper and is biased (yes, sometimes reviewers mention papers they review to colleagues).</p>\n\n<p>So the bottom line is: <strong>it is ok to resubmit a few times, but be careful not to overdo it</strong>.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9663,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>My general answer is to try to go for a higher ranked journal first and then successively go to less prestigeous journals IF you get rejected. I think such a strategy is sound. The problem lies in identifying what would be your highest ranked journal where the specific manuscript (MS) would be appropriate.</p>\n\n<p>Then, as an editor; I do not think editors remember if you get several MS rejected unless they somehow are sub-par. Remember that rejections come in different flavours ranging from MS being unsuitable for the journal (non-critical) to the science (or description thereof) being really poor (critical). In the latter case, the editor will certany remember.</p>\n\n<p>So (and I just state this to make the answer more complete) make sure your paper is in really good shape, follow instructions for authors (IFA) to the point and has a clear conclusion that fits the journal scope. This relatively sinple step is missed by many! In your case, you need to try to assess why your MS get rejected and try to improve whtaever aspect might be at fault. A well written paper with a well-conceived idea and properly defined conclusion, should be publishable in my opinion. If you get a rejction on av unclear basis where the reason is not clear, ask the editor for clarifications so that you can improve the paper.</p>\n\n<p>Also, (and this is more difficult) assess what journals may be appropriate and if you have the time, send it to a higher ranked journal, understanding the risk of getting a rejection might be higher. Do not forget to check out journals that is farther from you home base (Europeans look at US-based journals and <em>vice versa</em>); there is a tendency to stick to \"home\"-journals in some fields. In th eend the journal should be indexed to give you the official credit you may want/need.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11449,
"author": "Namey",
"author_id": 7930,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7930",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I personally think it's a bad idea to just keep throwing papers at the door of a good journal just because it is a good journal. You seem to have a publication plan:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>What I mean by this is that in the plan for publications my group has, the first article \n discusses just the structure, dynamics, etc. of some new interesting carbon/silicon/etc. \n system. The second article will elaborate on this for an even more novel, more developed \n structure than the first. Then the last article will (hopefully) provide a deep new insight \n into how this structure can be used for energy storage/transport/etc.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>If your new work is too similar to your earlier work previously rejected, many venues (especially top journals) may ding you because it is not different enough for them to consider it a completely different paper. No journal wants to re-review one they've outright rejected (even if half of it is new).</p>\n\n<p>So then, look at the journals that you are targeting and check out the last 2 years or articles they have published. Be honest with yourself in thinking: \"Which of my articles would look entirely in-place among these other examples?\" This is not just about the importance or quality of your research, but also the scope. If they want certain data or tests, make sure you have that data. If they want formulas, better include them. If everyone cites Dr. X, better make sure he's in your lit review. Etc. Ignore the junk the journal says about its' \"official\" scope. Look at what they actually accept as a regular (not special issue) paper. Find the one of yours that is the best match for a particular good journal. Submit that one.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/26 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9661",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5958/"
]
|
9,664 | <p>For my project I rely on several sources of information including such that is not peer reviewed (conference proceedings, industry reports, master thesis, interviews). I wonder if I should mark them as being not peer reviewed in the bibliography, for example adding the nature of the publication:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Boo 2013: "A question on grey literature". Stack Exchange April 2013. <strong>Forum post</strong>.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>or</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Boo 2013: "A question on grey literature". Stack Exchange April 2013. <strong>(not peer reviewed)</strong>.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Are those sources included within the list of peer reviewed articles or is a separate chapter within the bibliography necessary (as is often done for websites)?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9669,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>References are references, and the reader already has all the information needed to make his decision on the quality of the source (the trust he has in the source) without you adding information. You don't need to separated references in different “sections” (which would make it much harder to read), or adding information. It is clear from the reference itself:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>boo2060, “A question on grey literature”, Academia Stack Exchange (<code>http://academia.stackexchange.com/</code>), 26 April 2013</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>that it is not a peer-reviewed journal paper, which would have a very different style:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>T. T. S. Boo, “A question on grey literature”, <em>Academia SE Monthly</em>, <strong>17</strong>, 13-14 (2013)</p>\n</blockquote>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9744,
"author": "Samuel Russell",
"author_id": 4429,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4429",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Sectionalised bibliographies are very common in history, where a variety of different literatures are brought together at the same time. For example, a standard bibliographic section headings I'd contemplate would be:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Major archival sources (\"Deposit A from archive B\")</li>\n<li>Secondary archival sources (\"That one letter from file X collection Y archive Z\")</li>\n<li>Published primary sources</li>\n<li>Secondary sources</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>If I felt there was a benefit in breaking down Secondary sources by white / grey / black; theory / non-theory I would. I probably wouldn't consider doing this, because I would assume a reader would know how to tell if texts are theory or pop-history or \"grey.\"</p>\n\n<p>Breaking down a bibliography like this may be field specific due to the sources being the \"evidentiary\" or \"empirical\" element of the work.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/26 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9664",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6444/"
]
|
9,674 | <p>Suppose I write a paper and submit it to a conference. The paper gets some weak rejects and weak accepts and lots of criticism, but the conference is not that prestigious, so they accept it anyway.</p>
<p>Obviously, if I agree with the reviews, I will want to change the paper (which is in part what the reviews are for). But how far can I go with these changes? If the paper is computer science, for instance, I may easily run additional experiments, or slightly change the setup and re-run the existing experiments. If I submit the paper with these results, I will basically be publishing experiments that have not, in their current form, been peer-reviewed.</p>
<p>At what point do changes to a submitted paper post peer review become unacceptable? </p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9676,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Following the acceptance of a paper, I would not make any changes that go beyond \"editorial\"—that is, improving the grammar, or adding a recently published citation. These do not change the \"technical\" content of the paper.</p>\n\n<p>Anything where you make edits that change the actual research or results presented in the paper should be presented to the editors of the journal or conference in question, with a request for guidance. The individuals in charge can then make a determination whether or not additional peer review is required.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9678,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Once you submit a manuscript (MS) and have had it reviewed, you are not supposed to make any substantial changes such as adding data, running additional model runs or anything that would negate earlier reviews and make new reviews necessary unless specifically asked to by the editor, for example, in response to reviews.</p>\n\n<p>If you receive reviews, no matter of what sort, but so that the editor allows you revisions, you should make the revisions necessary to sort out the problems. This could mean rewriting to clear out fuzzy formulations or improving figures and potentially remaking calculations, runs whatever. But, remember that typically there is a specific time frame for such revisions and any experienced editor would also judge if the revisions necessary may fit in such a time frame. If they don't rejection would probably be the proper verdict. This means that revisions cannot be extremely large and thereby time consuming for a MS to be revised.</p>\n\n<p>If you think your necessary revisions need a lot of work you should possibly withdraw the MS.</p>\n\n<p>In essence the editor will (or should) determine what changes are sufficient and provide you with directions. If you think (significantly) more is necessary you MS may become so different that it essentially is a different MS. You do need to discuss this with the editor to make sure this is acceptable. After all, the editor should be able to tell you what is within reason and the time frame of the publication of papers for the conference or journal to which you submit.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/26 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9674",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6936/"
]
|
9,683 | <p>Academic scholars have written many books guiding managers at different business/industry positions. I wondered that I was unable to find any noticeable book describing the roles of a department head, dean, vice presidents, etc.</p>
<p>Academic scholars always guide managers in different sectors to use academic (scientific) methods for managing an organization; then, why there is no academic advancement to classify the role of university managers/administrators?</p>
<p>The main resources, as I searched, are few scholarly journals devoted to higher education in general.</p>
<p>If you know any book/resource on this matter, feel free to share.</p>
<p><strong>My question is:</strong> if someone is just appointed as a department chair or decided to implement changes to his management system, where he can find books/guides on this matter?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9684,
"author": "Dirk",
"author_id": 529,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/529",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I am not sure if this is helpful since I don't know for which academic system you are asking. Anyway, this question may also be found by other people searching for an answer to the same question, here is an answer for the German academic system:</p>\n\n<p>There is the book \"In Forschung und Lehre professionell agieren\" by Lioba Werth and Klaus Sedlbauer. A German description is available <a href=\"http://www.hochschulverband.de/cms1/?id=828\" rel=\"nofollow\">here</a>. I haven't read the book myself, but it has got a few good reviews <a href=\"http://www.amazon.de/In-Forschung-Lehre-professionell-agieren/dp/3924066973\" rel=\"nofollow\">here</a>.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9685,
"author": "Shion",
"author_id": 1429,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1429",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><a href=\"http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0674057333\" rel=\"nofollow\">How Professors Think: Inside the Curious World of Academic Judgment</a> might be very helpful for you although it does not answer your question directly. However, it generally critiques the thought and decision processes in academia. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9690,
"author": "Nate Eldredge",
"author_id": 1010,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Mathematician John B. Conway has written a book: <a href=\"http://www.ams.org/bookstore-getitem/item=AHEAD\" rel=\"nofollow\">On Being a Department Head, a Personal View</a>.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/26 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9683",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/406/"
]
|
9,686 | <p>Imagine that you want to conduct your undergraduate classroom in a more creative way and introduce practical projects as a part of the final grade. However, students are lazy to embrace extra activities, and all of them decide not to deliver any report.</p>
<p>The department does not like the trouble of failing all students in a course because of an extra project.</p>
<p>What would you do to implement change when students are widely resisting?
Or as <code>@JeffE</code> suggested, How to deal with a department that does not give its instructors autonomy in assigning grades?</p>
<p><strong>Additional Description:</strong> In fact, I want to change the grading system to reduce the weight of final exam, and add to small projects (e.e.g writing a one-page about the topic under consideration). The lazy class prefer to deal with one final exam instead of continuing homework. The school does not support this method, but they do not stop me as long as there is no trouble.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9687,
"author": "Chris Gregg",
"author_id": 4461,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4461",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>First things first: what did your syllabus say, and what did <em>you</em> say when you assigned the project? If the assignment was a part of the final grade, and getting a zero on the project means that all the students will fail, and they <em>knew</em> this when the class began and when the project was assigned, and the project was assigned with enough time for them to produce an adequate result, then no one should complain when you fail them (or at least no one should have a legitimate reason to complain). I have a feeling that if this is not a hypothetical case, there is more to the story.</p>\n\n<p>I have been guilty of deviating from the syllabus in various ways over the years, but the students knew the ramifications of that deviation, and I was always fair in my grading because of it. I find it hard to believe that an entire class skipped an assignment that guaranteed they will fail, unless of course <a href=\"http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/02/12/students-boycott-final-challenge-professors-grading-policy-and-get\">it guaranteed they all receive an A</a>.</p>\n\n<p>I think you need to provide more information for a better answer, but the bottom line is that if the students failed the class legitimately, then fail them. Just make sure you've got the means to back up your reasoning for those failures if it is indeed the entire class.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9688,
"author": "earthling",
"author_id": 2692,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2692",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>It's a very difficult position you are in. The school does not want you to fail all the students and it seems the students might know that and are cooperating to overrule you. This is the like the two prisoners (in the Prisoner's Dilemma) finding a way to coordinate their actions. In this case, as I said, you have a very difficult situation.</p>\n\n<p>It seems to me that three major issues in this case:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>The school says they give you power but they really don't. If this is the case, then you must deal with your boss (or higher) to find out what you can do and what you cannot. One way to test that power is to tell your boss that you will fail all the students because they are actively resisting course requirements. If your boss says that you <em>must</em> find a way to get the students to do the work, then you know you do not have any power and you must decide if this is acceptable to you or not. If not, go somewhere else (if you can). Otherwise, you have to live with it.</p></li>\n<li><p>You may be out of touch with what the students are capable of doing. This is quite common for new teachers. For myself (when I was starting to teach undergraduate students), I thought the students would all be hard-working and dedicated to their studies but later found that they were just like most undergraduates trying to get around the work and they didn't understand the importance of studying or the importance of their university degree. I was comparing them to my graduate-level classmates (since those were my most recent memories) but that was clearly wrong of me and I was far too expecting and too strict. If you are putting on them more than they can do, then perhaps you need to reflect on the requirements you've created. Are they really reasonable for the students you are teaching?</p></li>\n<li><p>The students might simply not understand how to do what you are asking them (this is related to point 2). Some students (especially 'unprepared students') need more attention and more explanations in order to do the work required in higher education. You might need to spend more time on general study skills (inside and outside of class) and less time on course content. That is, teach them how to research, how to write a lengthy report, etc. as opposed to simply teaching them about Theory A, B, and C.</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>There is a fourth issue which I raised in the initial paragraph and that is the students might be working together to overpower your authority. If this is the case, you must balance between finding out why they feel the need to do that - see points 2 and 3 above - (and solving the underlying problem) and maintaining your own power of authority (which requires you to challenge them back but then you're back to dealing with point 1 above).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9699,
"author": "Layla",
"author_id": 6144,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6144",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>One direct way to solve this problem it would be to put in the final exam questions related to the projects that you have assigned. Of course, you should tell this before hand so your students know about it.</p>\n\n<p>The problem of changing the weight of the final exam would be that if you have not say that clearly, at the beginning of the course; some students will take it that is not a fair measure, because maybe other lecturers are assigning a great weight to the final examination and that is also a policy of the department.</p>\n\n<p>Other advice would be to write reports informing to your Faculty coordinator or Dean about what is the current situation, but also proposing solutions. In some institutions when the number of falling students is very big they blame directly to the lecturer, and that can bring problems to your academic development in that place.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9713,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Grades are best used as a formative tool to highlight areas in which students need to improve and not as a proverbial stick to punish students. You should be commended for introducing a project that you thought would be a proverbial carrot, but the problem is the students didn't see it that way. It now sounds like you want to beat the students with the stick for not liking the carrot. Instead of punishing this years students, I would suggest you talk to them so you can figure out what they did not like about the projects and work together to make the project work in the future.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 49382,
"author": "ewormuth",
"author_id": 37649,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/37649",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It sounds to me as if you are fighting not only the administration, here, but somehow going against the established school culture with your change to small assignments. If all other teachers are requiring only a midterm and final and you switch to weekly graded assignments, students are likely to rebel, feeling that you are requiring them to do more work than students in other classes.</p>\n\n<p>This is not to say that your idea is wrong; it may be a very good one, but clearly you haven't sold it to either the administration or the students. Do they understand the benefit of learning/mastering something in small bites, rather than trying absorb everything for a final? Why do you think that these smaller assignments will increase their learning, in the end?</p>\n\n<p>I was a teacher educator at the high school and college levels for many years. I always told my teachers-in-training that if all or most students fail an assignment, the problem is yours, not theirs. And I include myself in this -- it took me a number of semesters to enable students to be successful at a large, semester-end project; what it required was for me to break it down into smaller parts and have due dates for each of those.</p>\n\n<p>But as others have said, whatever you do needs to be built into the syllabus, so students know about it from Day One. If you do change your mind about your curriculum midstream, you must present it to students as an addendum to your syllabus, in writing, but . . . that might lead to an impression that you're changing things on the fly. Give it thought ahead of time, get it into your syllabus, or wait until next semester to make what appears, in your school culture, to be a fairly big change.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 123919,
"author": "Floella",
"author_id": 63974,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/63974",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I know this was posted years ago, but I'd like to throw in my two cents, as I can relate to this question. I'm usually in a similar situation: administration not too keen on changes or failing too many students, and sometimes even the other teachers (as I don't work alone) not wanting any extra work in order to grade projects in addition to exams.</p>\n\n<p>I don't think there's a magic solution here, as every group of students is different. But usually they are mostly interested in passing tests by studying as little as possible (and blame this on education systems, that focus on grades and exams instead of students learning at their own pace).</p>\n\n<p>However, you can turn this into something you can use: when you give them a project, you can tell them that it will affect the kind of exam they will be doing. You can even tell them the grade will not only depend on how good or bad they did on those extra activities but will also take into account other stuff, like turning in assignments or completing a phase of a project, presenting to the class (even when it's just showing and explaining the work they did), peer reviewing could also earn them some credit. The better grade they get on the extra activities, the more benefits they will earn. So when it comes to exam time, those that worked the hardest will get the most rewards.</p>\n\n<p>For instance, students that got less than a C in extra activities will have an extra question on their exam (and maybe this question will have a great impact on the overall score, or maybe they will just fail if this question is not correctly answered even if their answers to other questions are correct). Those who got a B will be granted the ability to have a helping sheet (with some information that could help them in the exam -not giving away answers but providng some hints). And finally, those that got an A would have extra points added to their exam.</p>\n\n<p>As I said, every group is different and you might find out this strategy works great one year and not so much the next.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/26 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9686",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/406/"
]
|
9,694 | <p>In my bibliography, I want to link the ISBN number to an actual website. My question is: which website is recommended to be used? Is there some 'neutral' source that I can expect to be still functioning in 5 years and that will return reliable results? </p>
<p>IBSN numbers are apparently provided by the <a href="http://www.isbn-international.org/">International ISBN Agency</a>, so this would clearly be the best source. Turns out, however, that they do not offer an ISBN lookup! I am currently considering two options:</p>
<p>Google Books: <a href="http://www.google.comco.uk/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=isbn:0060930314&num=10">http://www.google.comco.uk/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=isbn:0060930314&num=10</a></p>
<p>ISBNSearch.org: <a href="http://www.isbnsearch.org/isbn/0060930314">http://www.isbnsearch.org/isbn/0060930314</a></p>
<p>Both appear to have their commercial interest, but they appear to be reliable enough. I would prefer Google. Or is there any other more recommended website? </p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9695,
"author": "Tobias Schula",
"author_id": 6948,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6948",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Google Books is a great website and there’s nothing wrong with using it for your purpose. But if you don’t want to be dependent on Google you could use the following sites:</p>\n\n<p>Wikipedia: <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ABookSources&isbn=0060930314\">http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ABookSources&isbn=0060930314</a></p>\n\n<p>The downside for Wikipedia is that it doesn’t show the book title and one has to search another time for the book. But it’s ad free and certainly still online in five years.</p>\n\n<p>But I’d suggest OpenLibrary: <a href=\"http://openlibrary.org/search?isbn=0060930314\">http://openlibrary.org/search?isbn=0060930314</a></p>\n\n<p>Non-profit, ad free, part of the Internet Archive. Also high possibility of availability in five years.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9696,
"author": "matth",
"author_id": 4187,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4187",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>You could use <a href=\"http://www.worldcat.org\">worldcat.org</a>, it is built and maintained collectively by the participating libraries around the world (see <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worldcat\">Wikipedia</a> article). \nThey offer ISBN search, e.g. <a href=\"http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=isbn:0060930314\">www.worldcat.org/search?q=isbn:0060930314</a></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9988,
"author": "hlovdal",
"author_id": 738,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/738",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><a href=\"http://www.bookfinder.com/\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.bookfinder.com/</a> has been around for a long time and they claim they never charge a markup from search results, so although not neutral as such maybe useful?</p>\n\n<p>There is also <a href=\"http://www.openisbn.com/\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.openisbn.com/</a> which says</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>OPENISBN is a personal project dedicated to provide its users ISBN search services and ISBN data, introduction, book reviews, book preview, free ebooks and book price comparison for your specific book.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Possibly something that will not be around for decades, but it sounds at least very neutral.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/28 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9694",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6949/"
]
|
9,698 | <p>I have published some papers in some conferences, but the problem is that the people in charge put them in bibliographic repositories, such as DBLP, and they take too much time to do that.</p>
<p>I would like to know how I can allow more people access to my publications, so they would be able to review them, use them if they want, maybe bring more ideas or even suggest that I correct something.</p>
<p>Initially, I was putting them in a personal webpage that I have created, but I took them off because I also got some papers accepted by ACM and IEEE and they require a payment to see them. In this last case, if I upload them for free (on my personal webpage) could I be charged with something by these institutions?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9700,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You need to check with the specific rules of the journals to which you submit to determine what is or is not allowed. For instance, journals published by the <a href=\"http://journals.aip.org\">American Institute of Physics</a> allow you to publish preprints that are not created by the journal on servers like <a href=\"http://www.arXiv.org\">arXiv</a> without having to pay any fees and without other major limitations. By contrast, <a href=\"http://pubs.acs.org\">American Chemical Society</a> journals do not allow you to post preprints, <em>even on your own homepage</em>. You can link to their site, and after twelve months, the link becomes effectively \"free.\" </p>\n\n<p>But, beyond that, if you want to advertise your work, you will have to do it yourself. You can mention in it in presentations, and cite it in abstracts that you submit to other conferences. You can email colleagues or use social media (sites like <a href=\"http://academia.edu\">academia.edu</a>, <a href=\"http://linkedin.com\">LinkedIn</a> or even <a href=\"http://facebook.com\">Facebook</a> to announce your paper. If you have specific colleagues you think would be interested in the paper, you can send it directly to them as well!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9701,
"author": "JeffE",
"author_id": 65,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>From the context of your question, I assume you are a computer scientist graduate student. (Computer scientist because you mention DBLP, and graduate student because you're worried about people finding your research <em>quickly</em>.) My answer is specific to computer science, <strong>especially the first two points.</strong></p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p><strong>Just post your papers on your web page already.</strong> Among other things, posting your own papers will allow Google Scholar to find and index them after only a few days. Despite scary legal language to the contrary, neither ACM nor IEEE (or SIAM, or AMS, or Springer, or Elsevier, or...) has any interest in suing individual researchers for providing copies of their own papers. </p></li>\n<li><p><strong>Post preprints of your work to the ArXiv and/or your institutional preprint server.</strong> Again, despite scary language to the contrary, granting a license to the ArXiv to publish your papers does not deprive ACM or IEEE (or SIAM, or AMS, or Springer, or Elsevier, or even ACS) the right to later publish peer-reviewed version of your papers later. Many publishers explicitly allow you to publish post-reviewed but pre-copy-edited preprints on the ArXiv and similar servers. Posting camera-ready versions is technically illegal, but neither ACM nor IEEE has any interest in suing individual users for such violations.</p></li>\n<li><p><strong>Post publication announcements on Facebook/Google+/Twitter/your blog.</strong> Yes, this works. Really.</p></li>\n<li><p><strong>Give lots of talks.</strong> At a minimum, you should give talks about your results in an appropriate local seminar. But especially for really strong results, you (or your advisor) should also <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/1944/how-to-invite-yourself-to-present-at-another-university\">arrange to have yourself invited</a> to a few other institutions to give a talk.</p></li>\n<li><p><strong>Send copies of your work directly to a few colleagues.</strong> Just send them email with a link to your web page. (<em>Don't</em> blindly send papers as attachments; remember that some people read email over the phone and pay by the byte.) But don't just spam the whole world. Limit your email to the small handful of influential people that you are <em>sure</em> will be interested — other researchers working on the same problem, people whose results you directly improve or extend, your advisor, and—<strong>if</strong> you're nearing a point like graduation or tenure where you need letters—a few potential letter-writers.</p></li>\n<li><p><strong>Take the long view.</strong> It really is not important that see your results RIGHT NOW THIS MINUTE ZOMG NOW NOW NOW !!!!111¡¡¡CXI. Relax. Yes, DBLP and other indexing services operate with a delay of several months. (Although my impression is DBLP has gotten faster, thanks to some outside funding that allowed them to hire more than one human being.) And yeah, that's frustrating. But in the long run, those few months of publication delay are not going to make a bit of difference.</p></li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9702,
"author": "matth",
"author_id": 4187,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4187",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You should check the conditions of your journal using the <a href=\"http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo/\" rel=\"nofollow\">SHERPA/RoMEO</a> list. Most journals allow to publish your <strong>final draft</strong> (designed and typeset by yourself) on your institutes server right after publication and on open-access servers like <a href=\"http://arXiv.org\" rel=\"nofollow\">arXiv.org</a> 12 month after publication. Your institutes open-access server will also be found by e.g. Google Scholar.<br>\nMany journals will also send you an <strong>authors copy</strong> of your article which you can share with colleagues (e.g. via email) but you should not publish that one on the internet.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9717,
"author": "Jukka Suomela",
"author_id": 351,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/351",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You should <strong>read the copyright transfer contract</strong> that you have signed.</p>\n\n<p>In general, the major publishers tend to be fairly permissive nowadays as regards to online posting.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>With <a href=\"http://www.acm.org/publications/policies/copyright_policy#Retained\"><strong>ACM conference publications</strong></a>, you can (and <strong>should</strong>) do all of the following:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p><em>Before</em> you submit the paper, post it to <strong>arXiv.org</strong>.</p></li>\n<li><p><em>After</em> your paper has been accepted, post your <em>own</em> version of the paper (with an appropriate copyright notice) on:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>your own <strong>personal web page</strong>, and</li>\n<li>your <strong>university's open access repository</strong>.</li>\n</ol></li>\n<li><p><em>Later</em> you can prepare a journal version (\"major revision\"), and you can do with it whatever you want — for example, submit it to an <strong>open access journal</strong>, post it online, etc.</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>With <a href=\"http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/copyrightmain.html\"><strong>IEEE conference publications</strong></a>, the main idea is similar: you <em>can</em> post your work to <strong>arXiv.org</strong> before submission and to your <strong>own home page</strong> and a <strong>university-wide open access repository</strong> after revision.</p>\n\n<p>However, some details are a bit different. My reading of the policies is that with ACM you <em>cannot</em> update arXiv.org with a revised version, while IEEE <em>requires</em> that you update arXiv.org with the accepted version of the paper.</p>\n\n<p>However, don't take my word, read the copyright transfer form (and additional explanations available on the publishers' web pages).</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/28 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9698",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6144/"
]
|
9,711 | <p>This <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9706/journalscomputer-science-that-are-suitable-for-low-impact-publications">question</a> and this <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9651/professor-withholding-course-grade-until-submission-of-conference-paper">question</a> suggest that it is not uncommon/unheard of for departments to require publication by students (generally masters and doctoral) either to get credit for a course or graduate. </p>
<p>This seems to me like a way of off loading the assessment of students to peer reviewer, and therefore it seems ethically questionable. Is there a pedagogical reason to require externally peer-reviewed publication?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9714,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The problem certainly seems fishy and whether it is unethical or not probably depends on what the (local) rules and regulations governing courses will be as well as the possible ramafications of the process relative to those regulations.</p>\n\n<p>The main issue for me is what will be the purpose of having publications as a requirement for students (not at graduate level). There is of course nothing wrong if undergraduate papers can be published, and experiencing the publication process can be valuable. But as one of the posts referred to in the question states, it seemed as if the requirement was to submit, not to publish. I do not see any particular value in that experience that could not be replicated within the department itself.</p>\n\n<p>Since any publication process requires quite a chunk of time I can see a major problem in the timing. In my system, a course should be possible to complete within the stipulated time (corresponding to the number of credits). Imposing a system where publication is part could (really would) clearly violate such limitations. So, a follow-up question would be \"are there systems where courses can be open ended?\" or \"can courses be required to last until an un-controllable goal is achieved?\". If the system allows such cases, then the requirement would be ok from a legal point of view. I would still think it is in a grey zone.</p>\n\n<p>Your point of off-loading the assessment is part of the shady picture. I would have thought that each university regulatory system would have some, at least, recommendations on how quickly assessments must be done and, again, assessing through journal peer review would require at least as much time as the length of a typical course itself. So as a whole, I think that using paper submission and/or publication as part of course requirements can be violations of local assessment regulations and very poor behaviour. I would call it unethical if it means unnecessarily prolonging the students graduation or impacting on their ability to get student's loans (equivalent) due to not getting credits in time (impacting their ability to take responsibility for their timing).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9719,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>For an individual course (assuming a time-limited scenario, e.g. a semester, quarter, or even year), it's certainly ridiculous to have a publication requirement. The timing is far too variable, and even the best researchers can have papers rejected or discover before submission that they've been scooped. If it were possible to reliably publish a worthwhile paper within the timespan and amount of effort required for a typical course, then there would be a lot more papers published.</p>\n\n<p>A requirement of submission is not as absurd, but still unreasonable. I see no advantages over a mock submission sent to the professor teaching the course, but there are severe disadvantages: it can put pressure on students to make inappropriate submissions, and it can waste the time of editors and reviewers on submissions that may be withdrawn once the course requirements are complete. My cynical interpretation is that submission requirements deliberately use the threat of professional embarrassment to encourage students to work harder, and that seems unethical.</p>\n\n<p>The one scenario where publication requirements can make sense is for a degree program. For example, some PhD programs require that a dissertation must be based on peer-reviewed publications. Of course that's reasonable only in fields with a sufficiently rapid publication cycle, and even there I'm not fond of this idea personally (but I wouldn't call it unethical).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9724,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>First things first: a doctoral student <em>should</em> be expected to publish something other than a thesis. Even if she has no desire to enter into a research profession after the PhD, publication of scholarly articles should be an important milestone in the process.</p>\n\n<p>Beyond that, however, expecting that a student—whether a master's student or a PhD student, or even worse, an undergraduate—publish a paper as part of a single \"course\"—is absurd for a multitude of reasons. First, in the context of a single educational course, the time spent will almost certainly be unsuitable for the preparation of a manuscript; moreover, given the lag times in between submission of an article to a journal or conference and its acceptance, it is unlikely that it can be completed within either a trimester or even a semester, which means that incomplete grades will likely be par for the course. </p>\n\n<p>Thus, since it serves no real valid educational purpose for the students—since the work isn't being evaluated by the educational staff whose job it is to provide instruction—such behavior is extremely questionable, and very likely unethical. This is doubly so if the only criterion for grading is the acceptance of the paper in an external journal, particularly since there are so many \"pay-to-publish\" journals out there that will publish anything, given the page charges.</p>\n\n<p>Now, I <em>do</em> require that students prepare something like a research article for one of the courses I teach. However, I do that as an exercise in <em>preparing</em> them for writing research articles. I have <em>no</em> expectation that they would bother to submit these papers to actual journals—the material just isn't sufficient for that. However, in terms of learning how to write a paper—mentioning relevant literature, explaining their methodology, clearly demonstrating and illustrating their results, there is nothing comparable. You learn to be a researcher by <em>doing research</em>—and that includes writing about research!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27217,
"author": "O. R. Mapper",
"author_id": 14017,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14017",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The answer to this question <em>may</em> depend on the country and possibly on the field. The following is based on a European CS perspective.</p>\n\n<p>As other answers have noted, asking for a publication within one year or within one semester is - at least for comparably inexperienced (pre-Master) students - a rather unrealistic or at least highly uncontrollable goal (because successful publication is dependent on a number of external factors, not the least of which is what else is submitted to the same venue).</p>\n\n<p>Asking for publications as a prerequisite for graduation, on the other hand, is partially a different topic, which depends highly on the degree aimed for:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>A Master's degree is commonly thought of a certification for specific verifiable skills. Everyone who invests the necessary effort and fulfils the pre-defined requirements is supposed to be able to achieve that degree. As such, I agree it is ethically questionable to outsource the evaluation of a part of the preconditions for that degree to an external body rather than evaluating the work oneself in a somewhat stable manner (i.e. in a way that two students who did more or less the same work get more or less the same mark). Peer reviews wouldn't judge the work by its fulfilment of the rules imposed for the Master's degree, but based on its contribution, suitability to the venue, and its relative value to all other current contributions.</p></li>\n<li><p>A doctoral degree, in contrast, is not a degree you can reproducibly achieve for doing certain defined tasks. In a way, upon starting to work for a doctoral degree, one leaves the world of studying and doing things in order to fulfil pre-defined requirements, and one enters the world of being an active researcher who does things in order to find new knowledge - which of course means that the final result is partially outside of one's realm of influence. A doctoral degree is a degree that is granted as a result of <em>contributing to the body of knowledge</em>. Hence, any particular work effort that served for someone to get their doctoral degree will not do for anyone else (because that particular contribution is not new any more), and in the hypothetical situation that all knowledge in the universe has been discovered, no-one can get a doctoral degree any more. This has rather nicely been illustrated in <a href=\"http://matt.might.net/articles/phd-school-in-pictures/\" rel=\"noreferrer\">a webcomic</a>. In this case, requiring peer-reviewed publications makes sense in several respects:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Peer reviewers evaluate the work exactly by the desired criteria, i.e. whether the work is a contribution that is currently notable enough to warrant publication.</li>\n<li>Rather than being just an idea that someone uttered, the new finding is validated by the reviews and thus has reliably extended the overall amount of knowledge.</li>\n<li>Due to the aforementioned fact that the amount of knowledge that mankind is familiar with is constantly changing, what was a disadvantage in the case of the Master's degree is exactly the desired outcome here: By trying to make it a peer-reviewed publication, the work is evaluated in comparison to the current state of the art and all other work currently being done.</li>\n</ul></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p><strong>tl;dr:</strong> Binding a <strong>Master's degree</strong> to successful peer-reviewed publications is questionable as the degree should be granted whenever you prove your skills by completing a pre-defined set of conditions such as exams. Binding a <strong>doctoral degree</strong> to successful peer-reviewed publications, on the other hand, is the entire point, because a doctoral degree says <em>This person has successfully expanded the knowledge available to mankind.</em> These accomplishments are not measured by exams, but the same way as the quality of all research is measured: by peer reviews.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27218,
"author": "Wrzlprmft",
"author_id": 7734,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7734",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would like to add some argument to the existing answers, which I first give in distilled form for clarity and on whose details I will elaborate afterwards:</p>\n\n<p><strong>Main Argument</strong></p>\n\n<p>As scientific publications are reports of research, requiring students to publish essentially requires them to successfully perform research. The essence of research is to explore the unknown and thus its results (and success) are not predictable. Relatedly, successful research requires amongst others luck. And luck is something that successfully finishing a course, degree, etc. should not depend on too much.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Some comments</strong></p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>I think publications which do not require original research such as reviews are not what we are talking about here. (It may be a way out though: I know somebody, who at some point strongly considered fulfilling the publication requirement of a PHD by publishing a review after many unpublishable research approaches.)</li>\n<li>While failed research idealistically is also worth reporting (as it has produced the knowledge that some approach does not work), it certainly is much more difficult to publish (leading to the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Publication_bias\" rel=\"nofollow\">publication bias</a>). This holds even more so, if the reason for failure is not that you have run into some long cul-de-sac but there are many short culs-de-sac.</li>\n<li>There is some research which is very straightforward (and thus has little luck involved) as it basically consists of applying some established method to a new object where no big surprises are to be expected. For example: <em>Determine the distributions of volumes of organ A of rats fed with diet B.</em> Such research is however arguably better published in one big study going through a series of objects (e.g., organs and diets) instead of thousands of small publications, which all are essentially the same.</li>\n<li>When the impact of luck is sufficiently low that assessing students by publications can be considered fair depends on several factors such as the publication threshold of the field or the typical duration of experiments. Arguably this only happens at PHD level in most fields, if at all.</li>\n<li>Another related problem is that people being pressured to produce successful research are more likely to fake data, plagiarise or commit other types of fraud. Now, while this is a general and not totally unavoidable problem with students, requiring this to be published may also harm others who try to build upon the respective publication.</li>\n</ul>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/29 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9711",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929/"
]
|
9,712 | <p>I am a Final Year Mechanical Engineering student.
I want to do my Masters in the <strong>Design Engineering</strong> field.
Currently I can see 2 options:</p>
<ol>
<li><p><strong>Master of Science</strong> - offered in many Universities ex: <strong>GeorgiaTech</strong>.
It deals more with research. It requires a research thesis most of the times.
It gets completed in about 2 years.</p></li>
<li><p><strong>Master of Engineering</strong> - offered in few Universities ex: <strong>Cornell University</strong>.
It deals more with developing your skills required for doing a job in that field.
It does not require a research thesis. It gets completed in a year.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>So, my question is:
1. What exactly do we learn/develop skills/improve/do, etc in each of these programs. </p>
<ol>
<li><p>I am unable to get a clear picture as to what exactly will be the change in me brought by each of these programs?</p></li>
<li><p>What distinguishes a M.S. Graduate from a M.Eng. Graduate & vice versa?</p></li>
<li><p>And which one of these Graduates get jobs in Companies easily in the related field?</p></li>
</ol>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9715,
"author": "Chris Gregg",
"author_id": 4461,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4461",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>The main practical difference between the two degrees, as you point out, is the requirement of a research thesis for the MS degree. Generally, if you have aspirations of eventually getting a PhD, you should strongly consider the MS, as research experience or potential is a large factor in being admitted to a PhD program.</p>\n\n<p>To answer your specific question, you should be a better researcher after completing an MS, and you will be better prepared for further graduate work. With an ME degree (considered a \"terminal\" degree), you'll simply have a Master's degree and (potentially) may have spent more time on your coursework. Whether or not this prepares you better for a position in industry is debatable -- as you say, many ME programs are one year, which may actually include fewer classes than an equivalent MS (although I've generally seen ME programs that have one or two more classes as a requirement than the equivalent MS degree).</p>\n\n<p>As to which degree leads to more jobs in industry, I'd say it's probably about the same. Getting an MS will certainly <em>not</em> limit your competitiveness for industry jobs, while (as I already mentioned), an ME may limit your competitiveness for PhD programs.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24041,
"author": "user17954",
"author_id": 17954,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17954",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I have studied a MEng which is accredited by the engineering Council UK for chartered status. I disagree that in a MEng you don't do research, as I recall I did two group projects and a Thesis. With varied coursework and subject matter and examinations. You can do a PhD from both a MEng and MSc, it does not matter how you start, it's how you finish is the old saying.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24044,
"author": "user17954",
"author_id": 17954,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17954",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>MSc, MEng and a PhD are all high level degrees, in the UK the highest you can be in industry from the engineering council Uk is a chartered engineer. Minimum qualification for this is a MEng or a Msc accedited by the engineering council. Even with a PhD the maxium in industry is a chartered engineer, unless you intend to go into high level research or goverment, or a big multinational or a Research and Development role then a Phd is usefull. Saying this you dont learn any new core subjects as such on a PhD program rather you research it and draw from you exsposure, experiance, and academic knowlege. After all what can they teach you academia after you get a master.., it say's what it is on the tin if you like .., you have mastered your trade.</p>\n\n<p>'Chartered Engineers develop appropriate solutions to engineering problems. They may develop and apply new technologies, promote advanced designs and design methods and introduce new and more efficient production techniques, or pioneer new engineering services and management methods. The title CEng is protected by civil law and is one of the most recognisable international engineering qualifications'.</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://www.engc.org.uk/engcdocuments/internet/Website/CEng%20Leaflet.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.engc.org.uk/engcdocuments/internet/Website/CEng%20Leaflet.pdf</a></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 82244,
"author": "user66909",
"author_id": 66909,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/66909",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>MSc - focuses on theoretical work, research and is thesis based\nMEng - focuses on practical applications of theories, less research compared to MSc, mostly course based work.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/29 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9712",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
]
|
9,718 | <p>I have a bachelor degree in Computer Engineering. I worked as a Research Engineer in a Research Center. It was a fully paid Engineering position funded by European projects.</p>
<p>However, my contract ended, and because there are not any more projects available at the moment, I can't be re-contracted.</p>
<p>My question:</p>
<p>Is it possible for someone to work as a freelance researcher? I have an idea of a platform I would like to work on. The idea, I think, could easily even become a paper. Is it possible that I could continue to work in the research center without being paid, and try to perform some research of my own? Of course I could ask my supervisors about it, but the thing is, I don't know how to ask it.</p>
<p>What I was thinking was they could provide me tools like the computer, mobile devices and a working desk to develop my idea (things that I was provided while working there). In the end it would be something that the university could present, but I would get credit for it for my CV, and it could be especially helpful in getting a good candidate position next year, in a Masters program I am aiming for.</p>
<p>How could I present an idea like this to my supervisor? Is it something that actually happens? </p>
<hr>
<p>Some notes in response to comments to clear things a bit: The problem is not that I need any kind of equipment to make my idea reality. At work I was provided a simple laptop and some mobile devices, that I can easily have access on my own, so nothing special there.</p>
<p>The reason why I would like to continue work there is as simple as that:</p>
<p>I want to propose an idea of a platform that I would like to create and according to my estimates would be 9-12 months of work. I could do that from my house or by going to work at the research center. <strong>However</strong>, I need my supervisor to draw public/scientific attention, make a paper with him out of it etc. I want to be able to write in my CV that the last 9-12 months I was working on a project at "that" research center in cooperation with "that" researcher and not that it was a "home" project that I developed.</p>
<p>I haven't made the proposition to my supervisor yet for the following reasons :</p>
<ol>
<li><p>I am afraid that my supervisor could simply use my idea with the engineers that still have a contract there.</p></li>
<li><p>What I would like is to be the only one working on the project. Like a PhD thesis. I want to get credits of it. Not the research center. I want to get the credit as the main developer/author of this thing, and of course my supervisor be the one that would present it and his name next to mine. Is this even possible? I mean I don't want any other engineers sniffing their nose on it, I don't want my supervisor to demand things on the project. I am thinking of proposing a complete solution of exactly what I have in mind, let me work on it with my time, without any funding, but the supervisor be the one to present it and draw attention on it.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>In the end all I am saying is to have this project on my CV to open some doors on the future and my supervisor being the mentor of this thing.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9720,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I cannot see any reason why you could not be a freelancer as such. Since researchers are usually employed by an academic institution or a (even one person) company and you could have your own company if you will, there obviously is no problem from that perspective.</p>\n\n<p>There is obviously a big question regarding how you sustain your life. Are you planning on doing this in your spare time? In any case, supposing financing for living is not a problem I would turn the focus on affiliation. If you want to publish the material/product at some point, having an affiliation would greatly help. You mention talking to your former advisor and that is probably a good idea if you think you have a good connection there.</p>\n\n<p>Before contacting a person/organization to which you would like to be affiliated, you should try to work up a good plan for your project so that there is a clear path for what you will do, where you want to arrive and also provide an analysis of how your work fits in with other work. This is essentially a project plan as you would expect from a doctoral or masters candidate. Having such a text and preliminary work/results would make the project easy (easier?) to assess and hence provide your target person/organization with a good foundation to build your project. </p>\n\n<p>I have to add that I have not heard of anyone doing this but if someone came to me with an well-founded idea and told me they needed an affiliation, I would seriously consider it. If that person needed office space and resources it may be a little trickier since in my case, no office space comes free, and so there would be a financing problem. This would vary hugely between organizations and persons so I cannot say what could be expected. You do of course need to provide any requests for support in the form of office space, computer/computing facility etc clearly. How such \"demands\" would affect your success would have to be evaluated against how interesting the project is to the organization/person. In the case of an academic advisor, I think how closely the idea ties in with existing work affects your chances. If it is completely off the beaten track of the person, I deem chances smaller.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9728,
"author": "JeffE",
"author_id": 65,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Of course anyone can be an independent researcher. Just do it. But that's not what you're really asking. The question you're <em>really</em> asking is this:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p><strong>How can I convince my former supervisor to let me continue using their equipment and resources after my current contract ends?</strong></p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>And the only reasonable answer that question is to turn in on its head. <strong>What's in it for them?</strong> How would <em>they</em> benefit from giving you an office and access to their equipment? Is the payoff <em>for them</em> worth more <em>to them</em> than the resources that you would expend? The fact that the project is good for <em>you</em> isn't enough.</p>\n\n<p>There's an even more basic question: <strong>Do they have resources that they <em>can</em> give you access to?</strong> The equipment that you want access to may be tied to the specific project. They may not be <em>able</em> to give you access. But the only person that can answer <em>that</em> question is your former supervisor.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>Some updates in response to the updated question:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>However , i need my supervisor to draw public/scientific attention , make a paper with him out of it etc.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p><strong>No, you don't.</strong> You can write and submit a paper yourself. You can publicize it yourself. You can ask your former supervisor to help you publicize it; if your supervisor was your <em>advisor</em> and not just your boss, they'll be happy to help you, because your success makes them look good.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>I am afraid that he could simply use my idea with the engineers that still have a contract there.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>You don't trust your supervisor. So don't work with him. Your mistrust is probably misplaced, but that's your call. To quote Howard Aiken: \"Don't worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you'll have to ram them down people's throats.\"</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>of course my supervisor be the one that would present it and his name next to mine</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Why \"of course\"? Just do it yourself.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>i dont want my supervisor to demand things on the project.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>No, that's not how it works. If you want your advisor to put his name on something, you <strong>must</strong> give him partial responsibility for that something. That's what coauthorship <em>means</em>.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>I am thinking of proposing to him a complete solution of exactly what i have in mind , let me work on it with my time , without any fundings , but he ll be the one to present it and draw attention on it.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>In other words, you want to do all the fun stuff, using your supervisor's resources, and leave the hard work of writing and presenting to your supervisor, but not allow them any actual input, and then claim credit for yourself.</p>\n\n<p>That's just not going to happen. If you want something from someone else — working space, laptops, Internet connection, help with writing and presentation, anything — you have to offer them something in return. Either offer to make your supervisor a full partner, including veto power, or you do the work yourself, including all the writing and presentation, with your own equipment, on your own time.</p>\n\n<p>Having the project on your CV will open more doors if you do it <em>without</em> your supervisor.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9730,
"author": "cbeleites unhappy with SX",
"author_id": 725,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/725",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<h1>About doing Research (without being payed)</h1>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>Whereever I have worked so far, we'd have gladly let an office table for a good student who wanted to stay. (Computer may be more difficult, in many places students prefer to bring their laptops which are better than the university computers).<br>\nActually, where I'm now we try to keep the good students with small paid jobs between their research practica / theses, because it is a lot of effort to train a student. Of course, noone wants to keep a bad student. But wanting to go on with research has a strong positive correlation with being a good student.<br>\n=> talk with your supervisor about possibilities.</p></li>\n<li><p>Just BTW: I was lucky enough to experience workplaces where the supervisors considered it unethical to let people work without payment.</p></li>\n<li><p>Another issue is insurance. As long as you sit just somewhere with a computer, things are usually fine. However, without a proper contract (work or research practicum), you usually cannot work in any kind of lab. </p></li>\n<li><p>Depending on the kind of work you propose, there may be possibilities to get some funding (if it is programming rather than scientific, maybe <a href=\"https://developers.google.com/open-source/soc/\" rel=\"nofollow\">GSoC</a> would be worth trying). Talk to your supervisor. Search the internet. </p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<h1>About Freelancing</h1>\n\n<p>You need to check the freelancing rules in your country. You mentioned only that you were previously \"funded by european projects\". Maybe someone can tell you more if we know your country.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>A first step towards successful freelancing could be attending start-up business lectures/courses at your university/local vocational school/<a href=\"http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/IHK\" rel=\"nofollow\">IHK</a> (though as a freelancer you'd want to avoid joining them). My university offered such lecture series in the evening, so people could attend regardless of their studies/job.</p></li>\n<li><p>Find out whether/how much jobbing/business your university allows (you don't want to loose the possibility to enter the master courses)</p></li>\n<li><p>Find out what formal rules you have to follow: e.g.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>do you need to get a particular tax number?</li>\n<li>what information needs to be written on your business communication/invoices (e.g. said tax number)?</li>\n<li><em>tons of other things to be aware of</em></li>\n</ul></li>\n<li><p>E.g. in Germany unless you have private health insurance you want to be careful that your health insurance doesn't put you into the full-time freelancer category: this comes with a <em>minimum</em> fee that corresponds to a gross wage of about 1900 €/month!<br>\nAs student, you want either to stay in the student (lowest & fixed fee) or in the PhD student category (lower minimum fee).</p></li>\n<li><p>In Germany, if you want to be a freelancer and work exclusively for your university, you'd better learn about <a href=\"http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scheinselbst%C3%A4ndigkeit\" rel=\"nofollow\">Scheinselbständigkeit</a> and how to convince the social insurance that this is not the case with you. Best way to do that is being able to point to another customer.<br>\nThis is another point why your supervisor may not want to enter such a business relation with you: if that suspicion comes up, not only you but also he'll have a lot of trouble.</p></li>\n<li><p>Many German universities have a very bad reputation wrt. paying late.<br>\nI can attest to that from experience, and I also know some closeby resaurant who'd not allow university to pay by bill - normal companies could, but university had to pay in cash for exactly this reason. </p></li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9738,
"author": "Nobody",
"author_id": 546,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/546",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>JeffE's answer is absolutely correct and excellent. I want to say more about what you can do.</p>\n\n<p>In your question,</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>i dont want my supervisor to demand things on the project.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>and</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>my supervisor being the mentor of this thing.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>contradict to each other.</p>\n\n<p>You want a mentor and you don't want him demand things. <strong>Why would somebody spend time and resources for you without knowing what you're doing? How would he know your platform idea is really good and workable without you presenting the idea to him first?</strong></p>\n\n<p>You need to make a choice between the two options.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Either</strong></p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>If you want him to be the mentor, present your platform idea to him. He and you can work together to decide what to do next. You want to do something like a PhD thesis. Do you realize that every PhD student have to go through admission procedure (you need to be admitted) and most PhD students have to pass qualified exams (you need to be qualified)\n before doing thesis?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p><strong>Or</strong></p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>If you don't want him demand things on the project, you work on your platform idea <strong>on your own</strong>. Go all the way by yourself. All you need are <em>tools like the computer, mobile devices and a working desk</em>. You should be able to afford to them. At the end, write a paper, put it on <a href=\"http://arxiv.org/\" rel=\"nofollow\">arXiv</a>. Once you have the arXiv version, go to your former supervisor. You two can work out how to present it.</p>\n</blockquote>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9766,
"author": "Joshua Kast",
"author_id": 6976,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6976",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Your research contract ended, and there is no option for renewal. You want to work on a project which is your idea, but you need some technical and human resources from your position to realize the idea. You want to self-motivate your work, which is not related to an idea of the institution or your advisor, but you then want him to author a paper with you?</p>\n\n<p>What you really need to do, I think, is nail down exactly what this is that you are building, and decide what you want to get out of it. In academia, the standard deliverable is a paper or conference discussion, but in freelance, you are typically trying to build a specific working product for a customer.</p>\n\n<p>If you want to build this product, and think it has value for other customers or users, then go right ahead. It sounds like, though the institution would be helpful, you can do it on your own. If that's the case, and you believe you have a novel, valuable product, then you have no time to waste: pack up your desk, open your home office, and get coding. Maybe you start an open source project, maybe you sell a proprietary application. By being out of the institution, you make sure that you have complete control of your invention, in case it takes off.</p>\n\n<p>I guess what I'm asking is, if you have a great idea, is an academic paper really the best place you can put it? Of course, academic researchers have to publish their work: it attracts funding and attention to their work, and allows their ideas to spread. If you're not an academic researcher, though, why publish (in a journal)? Microsoft doesn't publish their findings, they publish software on disks. CocaCola doesn't publish their secret formula, they bottle it and sell it.</p>\n\n<p>Coming out of undergraduate, I can see why you feel pressure to publish. Published papers seems to be a litmus test for a researcher's efficacy. Do you think, however, that your having started an open source project or software company will look bad on your future job or grad school applications? Of course it won't.</p>\n\n<p>The other thing that you'll get from being straight from undergrad, is the idea that you will be able to write a publication quality paper, one that your advisor will be comfortable with his name on, without any external support. Mentoring a paper is not simply a side job or friendly favor from your advisor. Even if your advisor did agree to mentor you on your paper, do you think his supervisor would want the institution's time, name, and resources going to something which does not have the institution's approval or funding?</p>\n\n<p>If you are still feeling that you'd like to go for an academic publication, then by all means, do so. Many, many students decide they'd like to work on full-time research after undergraduate. What do they do? They go to grad school, where a research mentor advises them on a publication, which sounds exactly like what you're looking for. If you already have an area of research and a project in mind, you can set yourself apart from many other applicants. Look for schools or institutions with closely related research, contact the researchers and see if they have spots!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 148329,
"author": "Joooeey",
"author_id": 122249,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/122249",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><strong>Consider applying to do a research master's degree at that university!</strong> Many universities will accept any master student if they don't require funding or secure their own. And they'll provide a desk. 9-12 months is the effort typically required for a master's thesis (assuming you meant full-time). As a master student you can usually do your work at a university research center. And you'll have to take a few courses that you basically choose yourself.</p>\n\n<p>So, just apply for a master's, and start working on your platform (and your thesis book) right away. I'm sure while you develop, you'll soon figure out that there are things you want to learn more about. So you take courses or directed studies on these topics along the way (your supervisory committee needs to approve these). And bang 20 months later you might defend and walk out with a degree. Being in a formal master's program also gives you lots of handy support such as: having a supervisory committee that gives feedback on your project every couple weeks, your supervisor that is regularly available for questions, fellow students you can co-operate with, access to university counsel for help with writing your platform's terms of use, the journal access provided by the university library, access to presentation and writing training, and many more.</p>\n\n<p>And if you end up disliking the process or the courses or whatever, finish your platform, publish it, and quit the program.</p>\n\n<p>If that option is financially viable depends a lot on the circumstances. Like are you studying in your home state? Does the university charge tuition? 1k or 50k? Do you qualify for financial aid? Are you willing to TA? Can you secure your own funding? Seriously, figure out if there is a software foundation that might give you a grant! Who knows, you might find a fund that will pay your student living expenses.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/29 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9718",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6956/"
]
|
9,722 | <p>We had prepared the paper and applied for National Conference. After some days came to know about the International Conference and improved the paper and applied for it. After a month we got an accept mail from Springer Conference(Not expected as we are beginners). Today we presented our paper in the National Conference and our paper was selected as the Best Paper as well as got shortlisted for the International Journal. Now we are totally confused what to do ? Can we accept for publishing in the Journal but the Slight Modified (Improved) paper will be getting published in Springer Conference in July this year. Will this lead to any problem ?</p>
<p>This would help a lot in boosting our resume and also getting an Admit from Good University for my Masters.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9725,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>The only thing you can really do here is to contact the organizers and publishers of both journals, and indicate what is going on. More likely than not, you will need to withdraw one of the papers, as publishing both papers under very similar titles with identical scientific content (or very nearly so) is considered inappropriate. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9726,
"author": "JeffE",
"author_id": 65,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><strong>You <em>must</em> withdraw the second conference submission.</strong></p>\n\n<p>Simultaneous submission of the same paper to multiple conferences or multiple journals is completely inappropriate. If you do not withdraw, you run the very serious risk of having <strong>both</strong> submissions rejected and your invitation to the International Journal rescinded</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>This would help a lot in boosting our resume and also getting an Admit from Good University for my Masters.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>No, it wouldn't. In the long run, publishing the same paper in multiple equivalent venues will only hurt you. To put it bluntly, that's a form of academic fraud. If I discovered that a graduate student in my department had done this, <em>even before they were admitted,</em> I would recommend immediate dismissal.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/29 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9722",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
]
|
9,729 | <p>I am an undergraduate student doing independent research. My research work is selected for presentation at a very reputed conference in the US. I am from India. <strong>I cannot afford to attend the conference at all. How should I fund my trip?</strong> The travel grant for students available from the conference is very low. It can hardly buy me a one way ticket. What are my options?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9734,
"author": "Dave Clarke",
"author_id": 643,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/643",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The only option I can see is:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>start a PhD at a place that will have money</li>\n<li>get them to pay for your trip.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>There may not be enough time to carry out this plan. But having a paper accepted at a reputed conference certainly will contribute to you getting a PhD position at a good university.</p>\n\n<p>This assumes that you want to do a PhD.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9735,
"author": "John Doucette",
"author_id": 1125,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1125",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I've seen several solutions to problems like this.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>Ask someone else to present it. Your supervisor, or another professor at your university may be able to travel. Alternatively, they may know someone else nearby who is attending the conference already. As a final alternative, they might know someone in the US who is planning to go. I have seen people add the presenter as an additional author on papers. Not sure about the ethics of this, but it could be used as an incentive. </p></li>\n<li><p>Contact the conference organizers directly, and explain your situation. Their general travel grants budget may not be the only source of funding available. You might be able to get some funding in exchange for helping with the conference registration desk, for instance.</p></li>\n<li><p>If your paper made it into a top tier conference in the US, it is likely it will be accepted at other top tier venues. Consider a journal publication (no travel required). I also see many top tier conferences in places like Beijing these days, so you might be able to find one closer to home.</p></li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9736,
"author": "Shion",
"author_id": 1429,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1429",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>There are several strategies for this in addition to the usual ones outlined previously. I assume you are in CS/IS/IT from your profile. Your primary costs are conference registration fees, air fare and living expenses.</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>If its a top conference, it will have student volunteer positions. For instance, <a href=\"http://chi2013.acm.org/organizers/student-volunteers/\">this</a> and <a href=\"http://cscw.acm.org/participation_sv.html\">this</a>. This defrays cost of registration (free) and some of your living expenses (food and some cost of living). Apply for it immediately.</p></li>\n<li><p>You mention that you are getting some travel grant from the conference. Thats a good thing. Keep it for airfare.</p></li>\n<li><p>If its a ACM/IEEE conference, it will be sponsored by a SIG. SIGs have their own funding. For instance, see <a href=\"http://www.websci12.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/SIGWEB-StuTravel.pdf\">this</a> and <a href=\"http://www.podc.org/student-travel/\">this</a>. If you are an ACM/IEEE member then you can apply for these funds which are independent of conferences.</p></li>\n<li><p>Sometimes, in limited ways, industrial research labs and other government labs have funding. Search for and apply for these. For instance, see <a href=\"http://www.siam.org/meetings/da10/mstsupport.php\">this</a> , <a href=\"http://dbtctep.gov.in/index.php?option=proposal_instructions&proposal_type=50&instruction=1\">this</a> and especially <a href=\"https://research.microsoft.com/en-us/collaboration/global/india/travel_grants.aspx\">this</a>.</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>I was once a poor student and had to make use of multiple sources of funding to go to conferences. You can also do it ! Basically, apply for everything that you find and see. Of course, the best way is to simply ask another co-author or someone actually visiting the conference to present the paper.</p>\n\n<p>Another way is to just pay the registration fee (which is comparatively less). That way your paper is still indexed in the ACM DL or IEEE Xplore etc.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/29 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9729",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6959/"
]
|
9,740 | <p>On <a href="http://arxiv.org/" rel="noreferrer">arXiv</a> one can license a preprint on one of the following (see also <a href="http://arxiv.org/help/license" rel="noreferrer">a note on arXiv on licenses</a>):</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/license.html" rel="noreferrer">arXiv.org perpetual, non-exclusive license to distribute this article</a> (Minimal rights required by arXiv.org. Select this unless you understand the implications of other licenses.) </li>
<li><a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/" rel="noreferrer">Creative Commons Attribution license</a></li>
<li><a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/" rel="noreferrer">Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-ShareAlike license</a></li>
<li><a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/publicdomain/" rel="noreferrer">Creative Commons Public Domain Declaration</a></li>
</ul>
<p>For cases when it is fine to submit a paper on <em>arXiv.org perpetual</em> (see also <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7/does-publishing-a-paper-on-arxiv-prevent-me-from-submitting-it-to-a-non-open-acc">Does publishing a paper on arXiv prevent me from submitting it to a non-open access journal?</a>), when I can safely use <strong>CC-BY</strong> (Creative Commons Attribution license)?</p>
<p>Ideally, I would use it all the time, as it is the most permissible (=open) license, which requires attribution. (However, <a href="http://arxiv.org/abs/1009.1031" rel="noreferrer">I used it only once</a>, it a case where I don't intend to send it to a journal; so, except for that case, when one should (or shouldn't) be afraid of using CC-BY on arXiv?)</p>
<p>EDIT: Here the emphasis is on <strong>arXiv perpetual</strong> vs <strong>CC</strong>, not on choosing between CC licenses.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9742,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There's no way to know except by checking with the journals you have in mind. In mathematics, almost all journals will be OK with the default arXiv license, but most of them have copyright terms that would be incompatible with the CC licenses. Some may make an exception for you, but I would guess that many commercial journals would not (and probably some non-commercial ones, too - for example, the ACM is not friendly towards this sort of thing). Because this would often involve an exception to posted policies, I don't think there's any way to find out systematically besides asking individually. They may also be reluctant to make any general statements that could be interpreted as a precedent.</p>\n\n<p>So in mathematics, I would be wary of the CC options unless you are sure you will submit only to the minority of journals that allow this. (And, of course, you should never choose any license without agreement from all coauthors.)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9743,
"author": "silvado",
"author_id": 3890,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/3890",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Using a <strong>CC-BY</strong> license on arxiv.org will be fine whenever you don't need to retain exclusive rights. <strong>CC-BY</strong> is a non-exclusive license, and you are free to grant as many non-exclusive licenses as you wish. However, you won't be able to grant a exclusive license thereafter, which is what most commercial publishers are looking for. The typical \"<em>transfer of copyright</em>\" would essentially be an exclusive license in these cases.</p>\n\n<p>If you intend to publish the paper submitted to arxiv.org with an open access publisher, it should generally work with a CC-BY license. Most open access publishers require only a non-exclusive license to publish a paper, so there would be no conflict here. It may however not be possible to go to a publisher which requires either an exclusive license or a copyright transfer afterwards.</p>\n\n<p>Interestingly, a copyright transfer may be less restrictive than an exclusive license in this case. In principle, it should be possible to transfer copyright even if a license have already been granted to someone else (that's how a company would buy software from another company that has already been licensed). So, why not try the following with your next paper: </p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Submit it to arxiv under a CC-BY license.</li>\n<li>Submit to a commercial publisher, and add a statement like this to the copyright transfer agreement:</li>\n</ol>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>\"This agreement is with the understanding that a non-revocable, non-exclusive license under the terms CC-BY has been granted to a arxiv.org.\"</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I wonder how they'd react...</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/04/30 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9740",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/49/"
]
|
9,745 | <p>I've been thinking about how to improve attendance in my classes as well as how to get my students do the expected work outside of class. I've tried a lot of sticks but the weak students care very little and I end up failing what seems like too many of them.</p>
<p>Lately, my mind has turned to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamification" rel="nofollow noreferrer">gamification</a> (that is, using elements of the gaming world such as badges, points, and similar things used even here on SE sites) to encourage student engagement.</p>
<p>While reading in English, a lot of what I found is about students in western countries. There has been plenty of research showing that there are significant differences introduced by culture, and to paraphrase Blaise Pascal, what is true in one country is false in another.</p>
<p>Since I teach in Asia, I'm wondering if anyone knows of any studies (or has any experience) using gamification in Asia to improve students' performance.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9746,
"author": "Shion",
"author_id": 1429,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1429",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I don't have any citations or literature for you and I can only base this off personal experience. So, consider this answer as a single data point and completely anecdotal. I went to one of the top Indian schools for statistics as a masters student. Usually, it was all about doing math in each one of our courses.</p>\n\n<p>However, in one of courses, we had a really cool professor who had just returned after spending about 10 years teaching in various other universities internationally. He didn't use any techniques like badges etc. However, we had a online running tally of points based on certain things in class - homework, data analysis, coding etc. - based on the understanding that he would take the top students out for lunch as a reward for doing well all semester.</p>\n\n<p>Anecdotally, it was a lot of fun. :)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9750,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>While not exactly an answer to your question ...</p>\n\n<p>I should start by saying I am not an expert in the field of education or learning sciences, but it appears your gamificiation strategy is based upon extrinsic motivators. In my opinion, Malone and Lepper (1987) make a pretty clear case that intrinsic motivators are the way to go. Therefore, asking a question about how to optimize extrinsic motivators seems like a premature optimization problem. The framework that Malone and Lepper (1987) set out with individual motivators (challenge, curiosity, control and fantasy) and interpersonal motivators (competition, cooperation, and recognition) seems like it should be universal, although how to achieve those motivators, and the relative strengths of them, will likely vary with culture.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9751,
"author": "Nobody",
"author_id": 546,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/546",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I am not aware of any study on using gamification in Asia to improve student performance. The following is based on my observation of college education in Taiwan in Asia.</p>\n\n<p>Gamification can certainly be used as a tool to assist you with encouraging the student engagements. I don't know how effective it will be and how long its effects can last.</p>\n\n<p>Everyone knows that students' motivation is the key reason for students to learn. Gamification will make the game awards to be one of the motivations. You make them learn for the game points they earn. I am not too sure this is a good thing in your environment. There is one difference between Western world and Oriental culture. Gaming is generally considered a not serious good thing. Some students/parents/school officials would resist it. You could get back fire when you use it. You need to be careful. I would use it as the last resort when everything else fails if I were you.</p>\n\n<p>Many Taiwan students attend college because their parents want them to. They are in your classroom not by their own will. They lack motivation to participate in your class. All they want is to graduate to make their parents happy. And then they can do the things they truly want to do.</p>\n\n<p>For those students, I seriously doubt gamification would do any good. I don't believe their parents will be much happier when they see that their kids earn some game points in the classroom. What they truly want to see are degree diploma and good transcripts.</p>\n\n<p>Now, my suggestion as how to encourage the students to learn. </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p><strong>Talk to them to find out what they truly want to do after graduation. Convince them what they learn in your class will be helpful to their future.</strong> </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>For example, many college students in Taiwan want to run coffee shops after they graduate. (Please don’t laugh, this is for real. I don’t understand why either.) As a business professor, you can tell them they need to learn business management so they can run coffee shops successfully.</p>\n\n<p>I have reasons to believe whatever happen in Taiwan may have happened in other places in Asia because the cultures are similar. The problem you are seeing in your area may be different. I believe my suggestion would still be helpful, that is, talk to them to find out what’s the best interest for them. Once you find the root cause, the solution will be right there.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/05/01 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9745",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2692/"
]
|
9,747 | <p>I am currently a first-year graduate student, now in the process of figuring out who I'd like to have as my thesis advisor. Of course, compatibility of research interests is quite important, but personality and work style are too.</p>
<p>The issue I'm currently facing (though it sounds odd to cast it in a negative light) is that the professor with whom I'm most compatible research-wise, is the most polite, nice, and soft-spoken person I've ever met. In lecture and in conversation, he is self-effacing, will go out of his way to make things comfortable for you, never says a bad thing about anyone, etc.</p>
<p>Now, even though I love my field, I've been a procrastinator for as long as I can remember, and my concern is that I'm eventually going to lose my focus / energy if my advisor is constitutionally unable to say things like "You ought to have read more this week", "You should do a better job of this write-up", etc</p>
<p>My question is, should I opt for Professor Tough Love whose research I like slightly less, but who will do a good job of keeping me working, or should I go with Professor Nice Guy? If I do go with Professor Nice Guy, what strategies could I employ to make sure the effect of his coddling is minimal?</p>
<p>I've discussed this with peers, and I received the following advice:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>You're going to have to become self-driven eventually - might as well start getting practice now.</p></li>
<li><p>Meet with Professor Tough Love regularly, sort of as an unofficial second advisor, who (besides discussing technical material, which is of course beneficial) will give me the impetus I need.</p></li>
<li><p>Directly ask Professor Nice Guy to give me more structure, and to be more demanding of me. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>Thoughts about these? Any other suggestions?</p>
<p>I realize there's some overlap with <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/5786">How to avoid procrastination during the research phase of my PhD?</a>, but I suppose I'm asking specifically about what to do when my advisor is not automatically going to be a resource for helping me avoid procrastination.</p>
<p>Thanks for all of your help in advance!</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9748,
"author": "Suresh",
"author_id": 346,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Given the number of questions on this forum about dealing with intransigent advisors, I'm surprised you even have to ask. I understand your concern about Professor Nicenik, but ultimately the first and third pieces of advice you mention are what I'd suggest as well (ie you're going to need to be self motivated, and you can ask your advisor to help, as long as you don't rely on it). </p>\n\n<p>I wouldn't necessarily recommend consulting with Professor Toughski on a regular basis, although informal chats from time to time might help. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9749,
"author": "Chris Gregg",
"author_id": 4461,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4461",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>To be sure, <strong>chooosing your advisor is one of the most important decisions in your academic career</strong>. That is not to say that people don't switch advisors for one or more reasons (they do), but it's probably best to take the time to figure it out now (which it sounds like you are doing by asking the question in the first place!) so you aren't faced with that decision later.</p>\n\n<p>It seems to me that you may be asking the wrong question, to some extent. Relying on your advisor to push you is more or less the opposite of a good way of growing into being an independent researcher -- who is going to push you when you become that assistant professor and you're on your own? Furthermore, the last thing you want your advisor writing in his/her recommendation letter is, \"Great researcher when pushed to complete the work!\" You also don't want your advisor to think that he/she <em>has</em> to push you -- this may just lead to a poor working relationship between the two of you.</p>\n\n<p>My advice is to ask Professor Nice Guy to be your advisor, but also start working now towards limiting the procrastination on your own. That advice is predicated on your comment that your research matches his the best; that should be the driving factor and not some grand idea that you'll get pushed harder by one prospective advisor or another. Tips for how to get a good plan together are outside the scope of this topic, but at the very least you could start by fixing a date you'd like to graduate and working back from there.</p>\n\n<p>As for meeting with the other professor regularly, by all means do that if he is amenable to the idea. I met regularly with my advisor and another professor and all parties were happy with the arrangement.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9756,
"author": "Jelena Aleksic",
"author_id": 6970,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6970",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I'd say it depends on the ultimate outcome you want? Academia is one of the most unstructured professions you can find, so I'd say that unless you can overcome some of the procrastination, it'll be pretty difficult to keep going with it. On the other hand, I have friends who intentionally picked supervisors that would push them, for exactly the reasons you described, and were in technical fields with intention of going to industry. I don't see anything wrong with that course of action either. It depends on what works for you too. Personally, I find encouragement really motivating, but hate being told what to do, so actually think that Prof Nice Guy sounds better all around. That's a personal choice though. </p>\n\n<p>If you're doing a PhD with the intent of going into academia, here's an excellent article with a few more factors to consider too: <a href=\"http://genomebiology.com/2013/14/4/114\" rel=\"noreferrer\">http://genomebiology.com/2013/14/4/114</a></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11330,
"author": "adbar",
"author_id": 7760,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7760",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I gave an answer <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/11328/7760\">here</a> that could interest you. In short:</p>\n\n<p>You need to determine how much time you want your advisor to spend on your case. Maybe someone who has a lot of time to discuss various issues with you is preferable even if he/she is too 'nice'...</p>\n\n<p>And nice or not, your advisor has to be firm and polite, as he/she will more or less be your mental punching bag, so with whom can you imagine to live in your head during 3+ years ?</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11332,
"author": "paul garrett",
"author_id": 980,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In addition to other good answers: It's not entirely clear but that two issues are being blurred here. After all, a person can give useful critical feedback while still being positive, and, oppositely, can be a jerk without imparting useful advice. However, it seems to happen quite often that at least in our mental constructs (as in @adbar's answer) over-simplify or caricaturize.</p>\n\n<p>\"School\" often has the strange effect of encouraging an odd passivity, that people take no initiative, but only respond to \"threats\" (of bad grades, of embarrassment). Obviously this is undesirable, but seems to be what we have. Years of conditioning in such a system creates an unfortunate frame of mind. Equally obviously, unless one plans to take a job in which \"motivation\" is a boss standing over you and threatening you, being a self-starter is a critical virtue to <em>cultivate</em>. Academe, vaguely-structured or unstructured as it is, may be an extreme case.</p>\n\n<p>Clearly one cannot instantly become a self-starter, and, equally, some degree of procrastination seems universal. Requires some degree of vigilance to fight back.\nGrad school might be the time to change the source of \"motivation\", depending less on \"teachers' threats\" and more on personal goals.</p>\n\n<p>If/when that part of the question is recognized as separate from \"personality\", there does remain a very serious issue of getting useful information from an advisor. I believe that it is possible to remain completely civil and <em>personally</em> respectful, even sympathetic, while giving accurate technical/scientific opinions. If it is the case that the nice-and-polite person is also not imparting information, that's bad, and it would also be bad if an intimidating, mean person didn't actually impart useful information (but was just scary).</p>\n\n<p>So I'd try to be sure to separate the issues of motivation and information-acquisition.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 19345,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Different advisers have different styles. Choose the one that works for you. </p>\n\n<p><strong>Tough Love.</strong> </p>\n\n<p>Pros: Will push you to get results. By virtue of being pushy, may also have grant money. May also push other people to have your thesis defense go smoothly and/or find you internships or a job afterwards. </p>\n\n<p>Cons: Can take advantage of you by, effectively, asking you to do \"menial\" work for him such as preparing Powerpoint presentations, coauthoring papers with you where you did all the research, etc.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Nice Guy.</strong> </p>\n\n<p>Pros: Won't waste your time. Also, a nice to be around a nice person ;-) You may end up becoming good friends. </p>\n\n<p>Cons: If you are not sufficiently organized or self-motivated, you may end up with nothing. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 19349,
"author": "FraserOfSmeg",
"author_id": 11359,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11359",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I'm a procrastinator too, in fact I'm procrastinating right now! I'm also a 3rd yr PhD student with a Prof. Nice Guy style supervisor. If you think your supervisor wont be able to 'force' you to do the work then that's not really a problem. You just have to know how to work with it. Here's a tip:</p>\n\n<p>Tell you supervisor at the end of each meeting where you expect to be by next meeting. If you're anything like me you don't plan on procrastinating, it just happens. You'll be motivated to say you'll do the work in the meeting because you have the best intentions. You'll then have to stick to it out of the meeting because Prof. Nice Guy will be expecting you to have completed what you said you'd complete. It's a hack to force you to act like Prof Nice Guy is Prof Tough Love!</p>\n\n<p>Hope this helps, I should probably get back to work now. Oooo youtube.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 43422,
"author": "SmugDoodleBug",
"author_id": 12294,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12294",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This is the weirdest question. Motivation should come from within!\nWhy are you relying on others to direct and dictate your goals in life?\nIf you want to be truly successful with your degree, stop worrying about\nthe \"Nice-Guy\" being too nice, and start being interested in your chosen \nfield. If you have sufficient interest in the field, you'll not require \nanyone to drive you.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 187769,
"author": "Deipatrous",
"author_id": 119911,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/119911",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><strong>You're going to have to become self-driven eventually - might as well start getting practice now.</strong></p>\n<p>Yep, this.</p>\n<p><strong>Meet with Professor Tough Love regularly, sort of as an unofficial second advisor, who (besides discussing technical material, which is of course beneficial) will give me the impetus I need.</strong></p>\n<p>Might help, but as a seasoned procrastinator you may find it easy to dismiss their tough love as a wooden spoon (if I may mix metaphors).</p>\n<p><strong>Directly ask Professor Nice Guy to give me more structure, and to be more demanding of me.</strong></p>\n<p>Could try, but technically s/he is doing all these things, just in the nicest possible way. You can ask a person to be more scary, but I don't think you'll get very far.</p>\n<p>Warning: Prof Nice Guy may be nice, but that does not mean they are stupid. They can see things are not progressing, and at some point pull the plug -- always in the nicest possible way. Or blithely allow you to fail the whole thing.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/05/01 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9747",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6966/"
]
|
9,757 | <p>When applying for post-doctoral and faculty positions you are typically asked for three (sometimes more) reference letters to support your application. </p>
<p>Given that it is competitive out there, it also makes sense to apply for all positions that are good matches to your qualifications and career development goals (in the case of post-docs).</p>
<p>Sometimes this may mean asking for several reference letters (or pre-application "can you support me if required?" requests) in a short space of time.</p>
<p>Also, there may only be a small pool of people (i.e. 3 or 4) who know your work sufficiently well to give an excellent reference.</p>
<p>I have also been told that referees want to help you out, and that there is no reason to fear asking them. And, that in many cases once a letter is written it can typically be quickly repurposed. But there must be a breaking point.</p>
<p>How do I manage this without being disrespectful? How many requests in a given unit of time is too many, or harms my credibility? I am asking this question in this forum, as I am interested in the norms in the academic world, which are often somewhat different than the rest of the working world.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9758,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I am not sure what would be called a norm since it is likely to vary from place to place, but more importantly person to person. I think a person is more liely to write many letters if you have worked more closely with that person, through for example thesis work etc. If you ask someone who has had little contact then the number is less. The basis for this i sof course that a person with whom you have worked much has more to say than someone you have barely talked to duing, say, a class. </p>\n\n<p>The best approach would be to actually talk this over with the persons you wish to have writing letters. Explain what you will do and ask if they would be willing to write provide the letters for you. If you are open and frank about it they could provide you with a routine around the job that would work for both of you. What I personally feel frustrated about is if I am pressed into writing letters over-night, but if I have a say in when and with what head time I can expect then it is less of an issue. So, provide the basisi for a good working relationship.</p>\n\n<p>A final point is that what is too much in this case highly depends on how you communicate your wishes or expectations and showing that you understand that writing these letters takes time and effort on behalf of your references.</p>\n\n<p>So, sorry, no number can be given.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9765,
"author": "Anonymous",
"author_id": 6110,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6110",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Will the same letter do for many of the jobs to which you're applying?</p>\n\n<p>In math, many jobs are on MathJobs, the recommender can upload a single letter, and the applicant cannot read it but can have it sent anywhere. I also know that some departments maintain files of letters on behalf of their students, with a similar purpose. There are also commercial services that do this, such as <a href=\"http://www.interfolio.com/services/recommendations/\">Interfolio</a>. </p>\n\n<p>I recommend seeing if similar services are available to you, and are acceptable to the institutions to which you'll be applying.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9775,
"author": "Ben Webster",
"author_id": 13,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You should just ask. I'm sure the professors have all dealt with this many times, and will not have a problem with it; it's understood that sending out letters of reference is part of the job of being a professor and that candidates will be applying dozens of places. I'm sure your references will already have solutions they're comfortable with. If you're in a field where many physical letters need to get sent out, it's quite normal for a professor to simply give a copy of the letter to a secretary and have him/her make copies and send them out.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9784,
"author": "Rex Kerr",
"author_id": 669,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/669",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>For faculty positions it is not uncommon to ask for letters to be sent to dozens of institutions; I know someone who applied for around 80 positions, for example (which was noticed to be rather a lot by the people who wrote him letters, but they still sent them).</p>\n\n<p>For postdoctoral positions, you should plan on fewer; in most cases, the letter is not the first step. You have a CV and presumably publications; you may have met your advisor-to-be at conferences; and so on. If the person/people in charge of hiring you seem potentially interested and you are serious about the position, go ahead and ask for a letter. If you are merely curious, try to do your part of the work first, especially if your former advisors etc. will have to tailor their letter each time. Sending one letter to eighty institutions is easier in most ways that writing five letters with different details. Still, that said, as long as you're pursuing reasonable opportunities and you're gracious, most people willing to write you letters will send as many as it takes. (Keep in mind, though, that if you ask for dozens of letters for postdoc applications and are never offered a position, it is probably not the case that you just need to ask more!)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9786,
"author": "JeffE",
"author_id": 65,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>How do I manage this without being disrespectful?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p><strong>Just ask.</strong> Ask <em>at least</em> a month before your first deadline. (Ideally, your writers should be people who know you well enough not to be surprised by your request.) If possible, ask in person. Give them as much information as you can about where you're applying, including your <em>complete</em> application package — CV, statements, sample papers, names of your other references, everything. Ask for feedback. Listen. If they agree to write you a letter, keep them regularly updated as your CV and application targets change. </p>\n\n<p>Most importantly: <strong>Given your references a way to tell you which letters they've sent.</strong> This could be as simple as \"Please send me email when...\", or a private Google doc listing your application targets and deadlines. (From personal experience: Having a common Google doc for <em>all</em> your letter writers is particularly effective, since each writer can see when the <em>other</em> writers have sent their letters.) Check regularly that your references are actually sending their letters, <strong>and bug them <em>mercilessly</em> if they haven't yet.</strong> This is <em>not</em> being disrespectful; this is helping them to do the job they agreed to.</p>\n\n<p>Finally, keep your references updated whenever you get an interview, get a job offer, or accept a position. <strong>Don't forget to say thanks.</strong></p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>How many requests in a given unit of time is too many, or harms my credibility?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>That's entirely up the the individual writer. But as Rex says, it's common for one applicant to apply for dozens of positions. When I agree to be a reference for someone's faculty search, I generally expect to send letters to <strong>30–50</strong> different targets. I can use (nearly-)identical letters for most targets, but inevitably there are major variations. For example, tenure-track faculty positions, industrial research lab positions, and postdoc positions all require different letters, even when the applicant is applying to all three types of jobs.</p>\n\n<p>Moreover, there is no standard mechanism for submitting letters. Some places want letters submitted in parallel with the application; others ask automatically when the application is submitted; others ask only when the application passes an initial filtering stage. Some places want letters by email; others use standard services like MathJobs; others use home-grown web pages; a rare few still require paper letters with wet signatures.</p>\n\n<p><strong>This is what agreeing to write a job letter <em>means</em>.</strong> Most faculty already know this and won't agree to act as your reference unless they're willing to do this much work. Still, just as it's important to ask \"Can you write me a <em>strong</em> letter of recommendation?\", it's important to be completely up-front about the <em>scale</em> of your request.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/05/01 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9757",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6670/"
]
|
9,761 | <p>What's the expected level of paper to be submitted to top level conferences in theoretical computer science (FOCS/SODA/STOC)?</p>
<p>I think there should be four main concern:</p>
<ol>
<li>Is it a novel results?</li>
<li>How hard is the paper?</li>
<li>Generality and extension of the results.</li>
<li>Is it an interesting topic?</li>
</ol>
<p>But actually I cannot imagine how reviewers are going to measure above concerns, e.g, If in some paper there is 10 mediocre result means is good? ...., also I don't know is there any other important thing that we should be careful about it for top conferences.</p>
<p>Actually someone can try to send the paper to the FOCS/SODA/STOC and see if is rejected then send it to some other conferences, but IMHO this is not appreciated. It's good if referees to related conferences help to understand what did they expecting for top conferences?</p>
<p>P.S1: Actually one of an important things in all the conferences is writing style, but suppose all preliminary stuffs like writing are OK.</p>
<p>P.S2: I could talk about this with my adviser, but also it's very appreciated to see other top conferences reviewers/participants/... opinion about this.</p>
<p>P.S3: Also experience of reviewers in similar fields would be very appreciated.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9762,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>When I review a paper for a conference or a journal, this is how I answer these questions: </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Is it a novel results?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Do I know something equivalent? Do the authors make a good job to compare their approach with related work? Is the difference with related work important enough? </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>How hard is the paper?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>It depends on what you mean by \"hard\". If I read a paper where everything seems obvious/trivial, then I might question the actual contribution of the paper (and I'm talking about obvious/trivial here, i.e., where every result in the paper does need any justification). Of course, a paper can be extremely simple and elegant, and be a very powerful contribution.<br>\nOn the other hand, if I can't understand the results of the paper, then I'm probably not the right reviewer for this paper. </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Generality and extension of the results.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Can I reuse the results of the paper for something else? Are the simplifications/assumptions of the authors reasonable? </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Is it an interesting topic?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Did the authors make a good case to motivate their contribution? Am I personally interested in this topic? </p>\n\n<p>There are of course many other aspects to take into account. Personally, the only difference I make when reviewing a paper for a top-conference compared to a small workshop, is that in the latter case, I understand that \"the authors leave that aspect for future work\" more often. The other different is the threshold: for FOCS 2012, <a href=\"http://www.lamsade.dauphine.fr/~sikora/ratio/confs.php\" rel=\"noreferrer\">169 papers were <em>rejected</em></a>. So, if I classify a paper as a \"weak accept\" for a small workshop, it might passes, whereas the competition might be much tougher for a top-conference. </p>\n\n<p>Just write the best paper you possibly can within the deadline, and don't think \"hum, this level should be enough\": if you can improve it, do so! </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9764,
"author": "JeffE",
"author_id": 65,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>What's the expected level of paper to be submitted to top level conferences in theoritical computer science (FOCS/SODA/STOC)?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p><strong>Top. The top level.</strong></p>\n\n<p>My experience on program committees for STOC, FOCS, ITCS, SODA, SOCG, etc., is that there are <strong><em>FAR</em></strong> more submissions of publishable quality than can be accepted into the conference. By \"publishable quality\" I mean a well-written presentation of a novel, interesting, and non-trivial result within the scope of the conference.</p>\n\n<p>For example, I was on the STOC 2013 program committee. We accepted 99 out of 361 submissions. Program committee members were specifically instructed to limit the top rating to only the top 20% of the papers we reviewed; at least for me, that meant some <em>very</em> hard choices. Most of the discussion in the last week of the review cycle revolved around papers that were clearly very strong, but were not obviously \"competitive\" with other papers that were already accepted.</p>\n\n<p>There are several questions that come up over and over in the FOCS/STOC review cycle:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>How surprising / novel / elegant / interesting is the result?</li>\n<li>How surprising / novel / elegant / interesting / general are the techniques?</li>\n<li>How technically difficult is the result? Ironically, FOCS and STOC committees have a reputation for ignoring the distinction between <em>trivial</em> (easy to derive from scratch) and <em>nondeterministically trivial</em> (easy to understand after the fact).</li>\n<li>What is the expected <em>impact</em> of this result? Is this paper going to change the way people do theoretical computer science over the next five years?</li>\n<li>Is the result of general interest to the theoretical computer science community? Or is it only of interest to a narrow subcommunity? In particular, if the topic is outside the STOC/FOCS mainstream—say, for example, computational topology—does the paper do a good job of explaining and motivating the results <em>to a typical STOC/FOCS audience</em>?</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>As a general rule, for a paper to be accepted to STOC/FOCS, at least one person on the program committee must be willing to pound on the table and <em>demand</em> that the paper is accepted, with strong answers to all these questions. Which means that as a minimum, <em>the authors</em> must have compelling answers to all these questions, even if professional modesty forbids writing those answers into the paper.</p>\n\n<p>Specific criteria vary between different conferences, and not only because of the obvious differences in topical coverage. A well-written paper that combines existing techniques is a surprising way to obtain an elegant proof of a novel and interesting result, but does not introduce new techniques or require much technical sophistication, is much more likely to be accepted at SODA than at STOC or FOCS. (I've seen more than one paper rejected from STOC and accepted to SODA with precisely that review summary at both conferences.) ITCS favors conceptual contributions — new approaches, new models, new problem areas — over technical difficulty. </p>\n\n<p>But at its core, conference reviewing is a random process. (As Baruch Awerbuch put it: \"...whose expectation depends on the submissions, and whose variance depends on the program committee.\") Every submission is a gamble. Your chances of winning the lottery may be small, but they're infinitely larger if you actually buy a ticket than if you don't.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Write the best papers you can.</li>\n<li>Keep your target audience in mind when you write.</li>\n<li>Especially if you're submitting to a conference for the first time, get feedback on your paper from a community expert well before you submit.</li>\n<li>If you believe you have a <em>reasonable</em> chance of acceptance, submit it. Be respectful but brutally honest with yourself. Do not listen to the Impostor Syndrome.</li>\n<li>Regardless of the outcome, take reviews and other feedback seriously. Don't just revise your paper; also revise your writing habits <em>and your mental model of the audience</em> for future submissions.</li>\n<li>Rejection is not the end of the world. It's only one paper; you'll write dozens more.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Actually someone can try to send the paper to the FOCS/SODA/STOC and see if is rejected then send it to some other conferences, but IMHO this is not appreciated.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>It's a bit more subtle than that. Submitting a paper that <em>might</em> get in is fine. What PCs really don't like is being asked to review submissions that are clearly below threshold, especially papers that were previously submitted to comparable conferences but were not updated to respond to previous reviews. (Even when a paper is submitted to several different conferences, it's not uncommon to have overlapping sets of reviewers. I've been asked to review four different submissions of the same paper.)</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/05/01 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9761",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6972/"
]
|
9,769 | <p>The essential gist of my question relates to what the real, unvarnished realities are of graduate, post-graduate, research, fellowship, and professorship attainment - <em>when you aren't a single person with no pressing demands other than feeding yourself</em>. </p>
<p>[<strong>EDIT</strong>: <em>I am humbled by the incredibly helpful and thoughtful responses so far, all of which are +1 from me. I'll leave the question open a few more days before clicking 'accept' on any one, but you all have my gratitude and I hope others will benefit anywhere near as much as I have.</em> ]</p>
<p><strong>What I don't know</strong> is what succeeding in this path truly requires in time committment and family support. </p>
<p>Right now I can handle a 12-14 credit course schedule with 3.7-4.0 GPA (in the top 5-10% for college and program, dean's list, etc), work part-time, and still have time to be home and not have a burn-out/breakdown - and the academics are the easy part by far! I could do more, but I need to work more too. </p>
<p><strong>What I really need to know</strong> is how sharply different is the time/dedication curve of graduate work and above. I realize each step is a filter that removes most of the entrants (most people don't get a degree, most who do don't attend/finish graduate school, most who do don't seek a PhD, most who do don't seek/gain professorship...and on and on). But I don't know how severe the stepping is - I'm not talking "tenured professor at MIT or bust" - I realize that bar is many orders of magnitude higher.</p>
<p><strong>Background Details:</strong> As an "adult, returning" undergraduate student with a (disabled) wife and kids, I'm halfway through a bachelor degree now. I've located a field of study (in a focus of Industrial Engineering) that has made me very interested in altering my life path to include seeking a Masters and maybe even a PhD/professorship (my father was a professor, so its not a purely novel concept to me). I've met and spoken with my advisor and 2 other professors with experience in related fields, and all is encouraging; I have a graduate school in mind, I've received lots of great advice on preparing for school (on this forum and in person), I test well (no GRE fears remain), good grades/class rank, good prospects for future strong referal letters, etc - a comparitively charmed existence for which I am very grateful! I just have to investigate whether I can make it through with an intact, cared for family!</p>
<p>Any guidance you could provide me, and other aspiring "non-traditional" students alike, would be appreciated immensely - thank you! </p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9770,
"author": "Javeer Baker",
"author_id": 4475,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4475",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I cannot resist the urge to answer this question or at least provide some insights based on my experience. </p>\n\n<p>I am an adult and married with two kids, both of them born during my candidature. I work full-time in a high pressure advocacy company. I have been in my adopted country for less than 10 years (so that brings the question of settling in, finding your way around etc.) To cap it all, English is my fourth language.</p>\n\n<p>I completed my PhD on a part-time basis and I have now graduated. The key is to enjoy what you do, so choose a topic that grabs your attention. There are long and lonely periods of solitary work and unless you like what you do, you will never get through.</p>\n\n<p>Look after your family and fit your studies around their needs. This may mean not starting your study until after 9 pm when the kids are in bed.</p>\n\n<p>Enjoy the little things in life, like going to the park and spending some quality time with your family. You still have a life even if you are studying.</p>\n\n<p>If your study relates to your work, it makes things a lot easier as you can continually think about what you need to do and when it comes down to studying, you can start with a bang.</p>\n\n<p>Adapt. Go to your work an hour early and leave an hour late so that you can use that time for studying. If you have one hour lunch, take a nap to compensate for your sleepless nights!</p>\n\n<p>Have a supportive supervisor. Do not be afraid to make non-traditioanl arrangements. Instead of going to the university (which was 3 hours drive from my workplace), I found that my supervisor made weekly visits to a place near my home (to visit a relative). So I offered to have coffee with him every now and then.</p>\n\n<p>Be kind to your self and careful of your self talk. Give yourself a break or a reward or whatever motivates you. If you don't feel like studying, make a conscious decision and spend the same time with the family. In this way, you will not have regrets.</p>\n\n<p>Finally, don't lose sight of your end goal which is completion of your study. </p>\n\n<p>So yes, it is possible and even though the reality is harsh, it is worth it!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9776,
"author": "Chris Gregg",
"author_id": 4461,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4461",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Javeer has provided a great answer. I did a little searching around for any studies that might address pursuing an advanced graduate degree while supporting a family, but I was unsuccessful (and if there aren't any, it sounds like low-lying fruit for a budding social scientist!).</p>\n\n<p>You might consider checking out the lively discussion on the Chronicle of Higher Education Forums: <a href=\"http://chronicle.com/forums/index.php?topic=81697.0\">Having a baby while in a PhD program</a>.</p>\n\n<p>When I was in graduate school, one of my Electrical Engineering professors with a wife and three children had a strict 9am-5pm policy, which he had apparently also kept during his PhD studies at MIT (though I do recall him telling stories about all-nighters the day tape-outs were due, so it couldn't have been set in concrete!). Bear in mind, he is also the most efficient person I have ever met, and when he was at work he was <strong>at work</strong>. I never once saw him dilly-dallying around, and for every hour that us graduate students put into real work, he probably put in three times as much.</p>\n\n<p>So, I know it is doable for the right person, but it almost certainly takes an extremely high level of concentration while at work to pull it off successfully.</p>\n\n<p>p.s. To address your actual question, I found that graduate school work comes in stages (at least in the U.S., and for me): </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>First, you have a number of hard classes, which takes most of your time, but not more than undergraduate school (except for the projects...). If you get an advisor early, you may start research immediately, or at least have other duties such as reviewing papers, and, of course you may have TA responsibilities. You're definitely busier than in undergraduate school altogether.</p></li>\n<li><p>Once you finish your classes, research really takes over, and the work can come in spurts, especially around the time conference and journal submissions are due. I've seen graduate students disappear for weeks at a time, and they don't seem too harmed by it in the end. Keep in mind that summers will be taken up by research or internships, too, so you don't have much of a break (although academia definitely slows down to some extent during summer, with lots of people out of the office).</p></li>\n<li><p>The spurts continue until you really get down to writing your dissertation, which is a constant weight that you could spend every hour working on. I got some reprieve when I sent my advisor chapter updates (and you have to take breaks for sanity), but there is always that next chapter to work on, or the bibliography to fix up, or the figures to modify, or the defense presentation to practice. It can be a rough time for many students, just because your dissertation can seem like the Eye of Sauron looming in the distance. This is probably the time where you need to tell your family that Dad might be more stressed than normal.</p></li>\n<li><p>The few (possibly longer) weeks after you graduate are some of the most relaxing days of your life. :)</p></li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9778,
"author": "Kyle S.",
"author_id": 6980,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6980",
"pm_score": 7,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I feel for once I am somewhat qualified to give an answer here.</p>\n\n<p>A bit of background to know where I am coming from and hopefully give some insight to my situation. I am currently finishing my second year in a MA Mathematics program and beginning my first year of my Ph.D. in Mathematics in the fall. I am married with two children(a 3 year old and an 8 month old). I had my first child during undergrad and my second child came two weeks before the current school year started. I attend a smaller department that is most certainly less intensive in regards to the expectations that another school would have(such as a top tier research university). I've been a Research Assistant for the past two years doing active and successful research with an amazing supervisor. This past year has been the most stressful since I decided to take three core year long sequences, which is a great deal of work to keep up with.</p>\n\n<h2><strong>Above all, put your family first</strong>.</h2>\n\n<p>I would hope this goes without saying, but it can be easy to lose sight of this when you're up to your neck in homework/deadlines. When something comes up with my family, I drop my schoolwork to deal with it. I make it a point to always put my family before school. I'm sure there are professors out there who would argue otherwise, but I'm grateful that my professors seem to (hopefully) understand the situation and that I just can't put in the hours that other students can. I generally score lower on average than other students but I think I do fairly well. Could I do better? Absolutely...if I were to put in the hours and sacrifice time with my family I could score better on my tests and homework, but that isn't what really matters in the long term to me. Of course I want to do well in school(and I generally do!), but sometimes I have to make a choice and school gets the axe. </p>\n\n<p>In the end, you choose your own priorities, and I would suggest opting for spending time with your family over finishing that HW. You just can't get those moments back.</p>\n\n<h2>Having a Strong Support System</h2>\n\n<p>I would <strong>absolutely not</strong> be able to do this without the support of my wife, family, and friends. Without my wife to help out with the kids and pick up some extra housework when studying for tests/finals/my oral MA exam, I would certainly have dropped out or (worse) ruined my marriage or become a terrible father. I make sure to try and do extra work whenever the stressful times pass and try to make it up to her as I can.</p>\n\n<p>We are lucky to have family close that can help out with childcare and babysitting when I need to go in on an off day or want to stay late for a seminar. Without the support system we have in place, I'm not sure I could physically do it. If you have a similar support system, then it will be a huge relief to your stressed.</p>\n\n<p>I should also mention that without some amazing people at my department, I wouldn't be able to succeed. Professors have been amazing with deadlines if the time just wasn't there for me some week. My RA supervisor has been absolutely amazing as well. She's extremely understanding with the kids and even being cool with me bringing the little one to meetings if everything just fell apart for that day. If I had a less understanding supervisor, I probably wouldn't have made it.</p>\n\n<h2>Time Management</h2>\n\n<p>This is probably the trickiest part. Time management is always important, but it's extremely important to successful manage school and family. You just don't have all the time that other students do so when it's time to work you need to remove all distractions and get as much done as possible. I arrive at school between 8-9am and in between classes I work nonstop on homework or studying until I leave at 3-4pm. I have a computer in my office, but I purposely keep it off unless I absolutely need it on. I disable the wifi on my smartphone and removed nearly all the time wasting apps(facebook, games, etc..). I check my e-mail probably twice, once near the beginning of the day and once around the time I'm getting ready to leave for the day.</p>\n\n<p>I do take small breaks from work to socialize with other students or check in with professors as needed, but I strive to make sure that I don't waste an hour doing absolutely nothing in someone else's office. Socializing is an important part of graduate school, so don't neglect it but don't let it consume all your precious time.</p>\n\n<p>When I come home after school I shut off school mode. I spend the rest of the night with my family, eat dinner, and help get the kids into bed. Once the kids are in bed then I'm free to do homework. I don't always go straight into homework though because it's important to me to spend time with my wife relaxing and watching an episode or two of TV shows to wind down. It doesn't happen every night, but I usually make an effort to take it easy on weeknights when I don't have school the next day. The \"school nights\" I usually retire upstairs to work on homework. I'll work until midnight or later depending on how early I have to get up and I'll average around 6 hours of sleep. It's not great, but sacrifices have to be made somewhere.</p>\n\n<p>Finally, in my opinion, <strong>give yourself the weekend</strong>. Once I leave school on Friday, I'm done with math until at least Sunday night. The weekends are prime family time and we spend every weekend visiting the zoo, science center, art museum, the park, or virtually anything else the kids would enjoy. I initially thought it would be impossible to take the entire weekend off schoolwork and still succeed, but I've been doing it for 2 years. This past year was the worst, but I stuck to it and I can safely say I managed to survive it and do just fine in my courses.</p>\n\n<h2>Dealing with Stress</h2>\n\n<p>Let's face it, you'll be stressed. Grad school is stressful as all hell to begin with, but then you go and toss kids into the mix? It's insanity, and you have to handle it somehow. I'm a fan of exercise, which takes up that precious time but is totally worth it. You have to feel as good as you can and any sort of activity is a great way to relieve stress. You could also do another hobby, or something that you do to relax. I'm also an avid reader, so losing myself into a book every now and then is great. The time I have to read varies, but it's one of my top hobbies. Find something you enjoy and do it frequently to relax. </p>\n\n<p>Sometimes it just can't be helped. If you find yourself <em>really</em> freaking out, you really should seek out the school's counseling center. They are no doubt used to overworked students and having a place to lay all your problems on the table and have a trained therapist help you sort it out is probably exactly what you need.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>To sum it up, I put my family before everything else. School takes a high priority but there are far more important things in my life than getting an A in every course. Schedule your time wisely, remove distractions, and work when it's time to work. Do something relaxing for yourself on a regular basis. Give your family the attention and time they deserve. You can't get those moments back and no letter grade in the world is worth that sacrifice.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Above all, make sure you are happy.</strong> It's such a small thing but I've seen students absolutely miserable hating what they are doing. <em>Don't be that person</em>! Life is too short to waste it being miserable. I suggest every 6 months or so, take a step back and evaluate how you feel about your situation(this should apply to anyone, not just graduate students). For instance, I vow to myself that if there ever comes a time when I begin to genuinely dislike what I'm doing, I will quit and find something else.</p>\n\n<p>Good luck and don't forget what's really important. Grad school has a way of giving you tunnel vision and destroying you emotionally...just don't let it do it too often. :)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9787,
"author": "StasK",
"author_id": 739,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/739",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Getting excited about a field of study is a great intrinsic motivator. But, as a grown-up, you know that the things that get your children excited (ice cream?) may have side effects (sugar rush that the parents have to manage? longer-term obesity risks?). So unlike a 20-something out of undergrad who can afford spending a few more years in school, you have a different perspective on what works in your life, and how things <em>should</em> work. While it may be true that Ph.D.s pay better, if you are say in your mid-40s, it is not entirely clear if the 5-7 years you will spend on the program with an income of $15-20K (losing $50-60K opportunities) are worth the gain from $50K to $80K that you will only enjoy for about 15 years. Having a better mid-age income may be especially important to get your kids through college (unless you really get a professor job with accompanying discounts; that's probably 10-15 years down the road for you, and may be worth factoring in.) You must realize that few research schools will hire Ph.D.s of age to tenure-track positions -- by being burdened with a family, you are putting yourself at a disadvantage of not being able to put 100+ hour work weeks like single fresh Ph.D.s in their late 20s would be able to (or ship your kids to China to be brought up by grandparents, as some married profs can do). An example of an MIT grad with a strict schedule that Chris gave is terrific, but is likely to be an exception; in some places, if you try to pull something like this, you will be asked <a href=\"http://www.lettersofnote.com/2011/03/i-expect-you-to-correct-your-work-ethic.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">to correct your work ethics</a>.</p>\n\n<p>Talking to professors is all fine -- they all will be very happy to see you go in grad school, get a Ph.D. and become one more professor (more so important if we are talking about a country native working on an STEM field; you have seen all sorts of discussions of how bad the shortage of STEM qualified personnel is in the US -- I assume we are talking about US here by your references to MIT :) ). To put it differently, they will want <em>you</em> to become one of <em>them</em>, and frankly I would not expect any different answer. Keep in mind that they are the success stories, at least in the sense of academia. To balance things out, find a few Ph.D. working in industry in your designated field (industrial engineering, heh?), and ask them (i) if the degree really helps in their jobs; (ii) if the degree was necessary to propel them to where they are (things are changing here: you must have a Ph.D. to hold some of the higher positions, and you hit a glass ceiling at some point with lower degrees); (iii) why they went to industry rather than academia.</p>\n\n<p>When I taught at a university, I used to have a much greater respect for adult learners in my classes than for the \"mainstream\" students. These students are way more focused and have a much better idea of why they are in college, to begin with, and what they are going to do with their degree. They obviously have better social skills, which is important in every walk of life, and more so in engineering which is traditionally considered a nerdish discipline. You would want to play to these advantages that you have over the teenagers surrounding you in your classes.</p>\n\n<p>As a matter of qualifications for this particular question: my wife and I came to do our Ph.D. programs with a 1-year old son, and we had another daughter the year before the job market. My wifeis a tenured professor now, I work in industry, and have a great degree of skepticism about academia, as you can easily tell :).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 10083,
"author": "Vizadahe",
"author_id": 7127,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7127",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I can share my personal experience as it relates to your question. I am 42 years old and hav decided to return to the world of academia to pursue a PhD in Computational Science part-time after earning my BS twenty years ago in Computer Science and Math. My wife and I have been married twenty years and we have four children ranging in age from six to eighteen (the oldest is actually starting college in the fall at the same college I am attending). Oh yeah, I have a full time management job.</p>\n\n<p>As the other posters have commented, time management is a must. It takes a lot of planning; we had to work out a schedule of who is going to bathe at what time, what time dinner is, what time each child gets help with homework, and so on. And as one person mentioned, it means not starting your class work until the family tasks are dealt with - even if it is 10 PM!</p>\n\n<p>I am still in graduate school, but have a few real world bits of advice to share.</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Research your program's requirements on completion time and lay out your class schedule ahead of time. We had to submit a proposed course of study at the beginning. Our program had a time limit of ten years, and I paced myself to finish in seven. This leaves a few years of breathing room.</li>\n<li>Look for any residency requirements. The program I am in requires two consecutive semesters \"in residency\". Basically you have to take a full course load (nine hours) for two semesters. My plan is to do those with my Dissertation hours.</li>\n<li>Find a good advisor who has a schedule that works with yours.</li>\n<li>Honestly I have found the coursework easier overall. This might be a maturity factor and not procrastinating as much as I did as an undergrad.</li>\n<li>Talk to your employer. My boss is pretty understanding, and I can deal with a lot of work-related tasks in the evening. This gives me the freedom to go to campus to deal with homework and projects.</li>\n<li>Don't forget your family! Sometimes you have to make sacrifices, and it is easy to cut family time in order to finish an assignment. This is okay every once in a while but do not make it a habit! Don't forget to bring your wife flowers and tell her thank you for putting up with your late nights.</li>\n<li>Talk to your instructors. Tell them about your situation. I was pleasantly surprised by how understanding they are when I needed to turn an assignment in late because I had to go out of town for business or when I skipped class to take a child to the doctor.</li>\n<li>Involve your family! There are numerous family oriented activities on our campus, and the kids enjoy going to campus and seeing where you go to class, do research, etc. Let them meet some of your professors. Our campus has a movie theater and a Dunkin Donuts - two instant wins for my kids! My wife enjoys walking around campus and reminiscing about our years as undergrads and showing the kids where we went when we lived there.</li>\n<li>Take advantage of every second of spare time. Going on a trip? Take a paper to read or notes to study. My two youngest kids love going to McDonald's to play on the indoor playground when the weather is bad outside. I carry my laptop and work on homework or research. Sometimes you also need to find a few minutes just to relax!</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>I hope this bit of insight helps! Good luck!</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/05/02 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9769",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6977/"
]
|
9,771 | <p>I'm a PhD student in physics, and I sometimes tutor undergrads in introductory physics classes on the side. Now, there's widespread agreement among people who teach or tutor physics that the only way to effectively learn the material is to <em>use</em> it, generally by working through practice problems in homework assignments and sample exams.</p>
<p>But recently I was contacted by a student who was interested in "tutoring," where by use of the quotes I mean that what she wanted was for <em>me</em> to do problems, and she would watch and ask questions when she was confused about something. At one point this student wrote a long email full of what seemed like psychological mumbo-jumbo trying to justify her assertion that she actually learns that way, and that the normal method of having <em>her</em> do the work would not be effective. I didn't believe it (thus I declined the tutoring assignment), but was I wrong? Are there actually students who don't learn by doing the work, and for whom it <em>is</em> a more effective strategy to just show them how to go through a problem? I would definitely appreciate pointers to educational psychology research on the matter, if anyone knows of any.</p>
<p>Note that I'm not talking about how to teach a topic for the first time, to a group of students who have never seen it before. In that case I know a bit of demonstration is necessary. The situation I'm asking about is reviewing for a final exam, where the student would (or should) have already learned the material in class and completed a homework assignment or two on it.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9772,
"author": "Shion",
"author_id": 1429,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1429",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I am not an expert in cognitive science or psychology but I have a few years of teaching assistant experience behind me so I will have a go at this one and I suspect that a few others might even agree with me.</p>\n\n<p>My general roles are in leading discussion sections and in lab sessions (information science: so combination of coding and data analysis in context with social science literature)</p>\n\n<p>Now learning by watching aka <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Observational_learning\">observational learning</a> is not a <a href=\"http://psuc0e.wordpress.com/2013/02/11/learning-by-watching/\">new</a> concept. Scientists have been studying this for a long, long time. However, note the example literature cited in the previous links. There is a marked difference in learning how to strike a <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobo_doll_experiment\">Bobo doll</a> and acquiring a complex <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skill\">skill</a> such as deriving <a href=\"http://www.ehow.com/how_7804623_derive-newtons-laws-motion.html\">Newton Law's of Motion</a></p>\n\n<p>Having laid all of this expository work, I would like to argue that personally, I <strong>believe</strong> that observational learning exists and happens in the natural world around us. I just don't believe that one can acquire complex mathematical notions and concepts just by observing (unless this girl is some sort of a savant).</p>\n\n<p>I think that this student was just trying to make you do her homework problems for her.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9779,
"author": "fhyve",
"author_id": 6983,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6983",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I have done almost all of my math learning so far this way. Consequently, I know a whole lot of math and I know a whole lot <em>about</em> a lot of areas of math, but I suck at proving things, and my knowledge isn't terribly deep. Thankfully, I am finally going to be taking some pure math courses where I will have to prove things and develop my skills.</p>\n\n<p>Less generally, I think that one can learn facts and knowledge and problem solving strategies by watching, but they will not develop skills. For that they need practice.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 10027,
"author": "earthling",
"author_id": 2692,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2692",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think the student is reasonable, up to a point, then she is unreasonable.</p>\n\n<p>When tutoring a student (teaching of any kind, really), you should give some examples in order to give her the key information she will need in order to do the work which will be expected of her. However, after you have covered the key points, which includes showing her how to work through a problem or two (or three, depending on the situation) then you must assess her learning (and your teaching).</p>\n\n<p>The natural way to assess is to have her produce, for example by solving problems. If she only wants to watch you and does not want to produce then it seems she is not interested in you assessing her and she is not interested in assessing herself. I would not start (or continue) tutoring this kind of student.</p>\n\n<p>So, yes, perhaps she does learn best that way...but part of the educator's job is to see if the education is actually taking hold and the only way to do that is to have the student produce something.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 10030,
"author": "paul garrett",
"author_id": 980,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If one were to wager, the smart money is that it's a con. However, in principle, an exceptional person certainly does not need to be subjected to the orthodox fake-rigor fake-serious pretense. That is, a person with some natural talent catches on very, very, very quickly, while other kids are effectively resisting and thinking of something else anyway.</p>\n\n<p>By this point in my life, I am inclined to give people a chance to \"be talented\", rather than to doubt that they are, even while I might privately bet against their self-estimate or pretense. After all, letting a few people \"game\" the system while we treat serious people well is better than brutally policing everything, crushing sincere talented people, just to be sure that no one \"gets more credit than they deserve\".</p>\n\n<p>Btw, I think it's not about \"learning styles\", but about degree of engagement, optimistically. (Or else it is a con, but it's better for all of us to try to believe it's not...)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 10031,
"author": "posdef",
"author_id": 5674,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5674",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would like to provide another perspective to this question; regardless whether or not the student is trying to fool you into doing her work for her, you can take a look at it from a practical perspective. </p>\n\n<p>You (=tutor) are required to teach to her (=stuent) and presumably to many others like her. Likewise you are expected to read articles and do research. I would even argue that your primary task is to do research, not to teach undergrads. So, while your responsibilities are to prepare material and give lectures etc, their responsibility is to go through the material and do the work (hw/assignments). Given that you provide enough examples during the lectures, I don't see why you should go through the review or homework assignments for the student(s). </p>\n\n<p>After all it's probably not feasible (time) or reasonable for you to do all that. Are you going to have individual sessions for every single student, so that their thoughts don't get disturbed by others who might ask questions? A compromise could be to hold <em>one</em> lecture where you solve old exam questions for the whole class. Our calculus teachers used to do that. THey would take an old exam, and solve each question, explaining as they go.</p>\n\n<p>I am all for helping people with special needs (hearing aids, dyslexia etc) but <em>\"I don't want to do the homework assignments, you do them for me and I watch you solve them\"</em> is not a special need, it's good old laziness. </p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/05/02 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9771",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/236/"
]
|
9,773 | <p>I am in my 4th year of PhD. Few months ago I presented my thesis proposal which already included some of the results (that are actually published). I proposed to add another chapter (call it Chapter x). </p>
<p>One of the committee members told me that the results presented are sufficient for a thesis. He said that chapter x is not necessary, or it can be replaced by a literature survey (instead of presenting original work - as I proposed during the thesis proposal). He said that original work can be done during a post-doc instead. My thesis supervisor agreed. </p>
<p>Right now, I am in the middle of of the Chapter x [and some other stuff] (and I think I have original results that are not complete - they would be complete, if everything goes fine [which is never the case in research]). </p>
<p><em>My question is:</em> should I write my thesis without novel results in Chapter x and then do a postdoc based on Chapter x ? Or: should I continue working on Chapter x even if this will result in a longer PhD ? </p>
<p><em>The source of my confusion:</em>
Wouldn't adding novel results in Chapter x improve my research CV ? but at the same time, will the long period of PhD negatively affect the research CV ? Plus, will I find the chance to work on this topic as a postdoc ! </p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9774,
"author": "David Z",
"author_id": 236,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/236",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As a grad student myself, I can't be entirely sure, but I would look at it like this: based on the information you've given, it sounds like the only significant difference between the two options is whether this new research is part of your PhD thesis or not. In the long term, I don't think it will matter. The project will show up on your research CV either way, whether you do it as a PhD student or as a postdoc.</p>\n\n<p>But if you choose to do it as a postdoc, then you will be partway through a postdoc in, say, two years, whereas if you choose to do your research as part of the PhD, you will not yet be a postdoc in two years. All other things being equal - and I think they are in this case - I would think it is better to advance through the stages of your career (PhD, postdoc, professorship) more quickly. By this logic, you should go with your committee's recommendation and omit this project from your thesis.</p>\n\n<p>I have also read things which suggest that completing a PhD more quickly is correlated with greater academic success later in life, although I can't remember a link to give you. I'm not even sure it matters, though, since there isn't necessarily a causal relationship.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9785,
"author": "Irwin",
"author_id": 5944,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5944",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I've known of a few cases of people prolonging their Ph.Ds to improve their CVs.</p>\n\n<p>I have spoken with professors and students who \"felt their students had not published enough\" and held them longer to ensure that their CVs would be strong enough so that someone would hire them for a postdoc or a faculty position - the reasoning being that if someone zips through their Ph.D in a few years but doesn't have enough work on their CV, then that student is going to be damned as far as an academic career goes.</p>\n\n<p>Thus, one thing to ask yourself is if that work you're doing for your dissertation will eventually become a paper that might have some impact. In other words, if you write about this in your dissertation, will you eventually publish it?</p>\n\n<p>Also, as part of your academic \"development\" so to speak, you should have a good idea of how much is \"enough\" as well, and that is to know what is \"important\" and what is not. In your stated case, maybe X isn't that important of a research gap if both of them think that you can investigate it with related work instead of doing research work to that end.</p>\n\n<p>Another possible reason that it's mentioned as not being necessary is because they both feel that it will take much, much longer (in other words, the investment isn't worth the reward). Or, if the results merely incremental, they may not be enough of an improvement to warrant a new publication.</p>\n\n<p>I realize that this isn't an answer and it's more of \"things to consider\" but I hope it helps you eventually come to a decision.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9790,
"author": "JeffE",
"author_id": 65,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As Irwin suggests, prolonging the PhD to improve your research track record is a standard strategy, especially for students who are interested in pursuing an academic career.</p>\n\n<p><strong>The minimal requirements to get a PhD are fundamentally weaker than the minimal requirements to get an academic job.</strong> Despite all high-falutin' talk to the contrary, the only <em>real</em> requirement for completing a PhD is convincing your thesis committee to sign the requisite paperwork. Most faculty have an image in their heads of the necessary work; for example, in computer science, a minimal PhD thesis is roughly equivalent to two solid conference papers.</p>\n\n<p>On the other hand, the academic job market is a true competition. Only people with truly outstanding research records (and strong recommendation letters) get invited to interview for faculty positions, or accepted for research postdoc positions. It doesn't matter whether you're \"good enough\"; lots of people are \"good enough\". What matters is how you compare against other people on the market. So it's actually quite rational to delay completing the PhD past the point where you have a viable thesis, in order to improve your research record.</p>\n\n<p>That said, phrasing the delay in terms of \"making your thesis stronger\" is totally missing the point. <strong>Your PhD thesis is an administrative hurdle.</strong> At least in computer science, if you're lucky, three people will <em>ever</em> read your thesis, including you and your advisor. (The standard joke ends \"...and your mom.\") Your colleagues will see and judge your track record through your peer-reviewed publications in conferences and journals.</p>\n\n<p>So, the short answer is: <strong>Do more original publishable research, and then publish it.</strong> And then I guess you could show off to your committee by including those results in your thesis, but whatever.</p>\n\n<p>Also, please slap your advisor for me.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9791,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There are a lot of details left unmentioned in your psot:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>How many papers have you <em>already</em> published? Is it only the three chapters of the thesis?</li>\n<li>How long would you extend your PhD program to add the additional work?</li>\n<li>How many publications or conference papers would you get out of this work?</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>If you already have four or five major publications after four years, then prolonging your stay for, as an example, two years for one paper might not be worth the time. However, if you only had to extend a year to get two or more publications, and you <em>know</em> that they will be accepted into top conferences or journals, then it would well behoove you to take the extra time.</p>\n\n<p>However, there might be other reasons behind the sudden change in attitude. Do you know how the remaining time would be financed? Is it clear that your advisor would be able or willing to support you for the remaining time you'd want to spend? </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 14916,
"author": "Hedge Fund",
"author_id": 10098,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10098",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Just do what your advisors told you. They are going to grade you anyway and give you letters of recommendation. Why would you want to do something different after already asking for what you are proposing? Would you want to annoy them just to get more material in your dissertation. Do you think it actually advances your career opportunities?</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 14919,
"author": "Nate Eldredge",
"author_id": 1010,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I'm a bit late adding this, but another reasonable option is: let the market decide for you.</p>\n\n<p>Apply for postdocs this year, based on the research you have already finished. If you get offered something good, then write up your current results and defend. If you don't, then spend another year in grad school improving your research, and hopefully you'll be in a better position to reapply then.</p>\n\n<p>Of course, you'll want to have your advisor on board with this plan, and make sure you have funding available for the extra year.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 14920,
"author": "Amatya",
"author_id": 6674,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6674",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Let the market decide. If your results are ready when the job market comes along then your adviser can feature them prominently in his/her letter, whether or not it's a part of your thesis. You can complete the high quality work as a post-doc as well. If your adviser can see that your chapter-x has potential then so can the professors in schools trying to hire you. </p>\n\n<p>Staying in school a year longer only makes sense if it will significantly impact how you are valued by the market and if it enables you to significantly improve your portfolio of working papers. Your committee member's comment that \"original work can be done in post-doc..\" makes me think that he/she was being euphemistic and was perhaps worried that you maybe be trying to delay facing some harsh job market truths in the guise of doing \"original\" \"chapter-x\" stuff .. if everything goes fine \"which is never the case in research\".</p>\n\n<p>The point of a thesis is to get a job to enable you to contribute in research. If your current thesis gets you a job then move on and don't look back.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/05/02 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9773",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4472/"
]
|
9,792 | <p>Other than the possibility of waiving registration fees, What is the objective of graduate students volunteering at conferences?<br>
For instance, I am considering volunteering at <a href="http://ijcai13.org/students_mentoring/volunteers">IJCAI</a> these days and wish to do it at least once (never done it before) but do not really have a clear motivation for it. </p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9795,
"author": "Shion",
"author_id": 1429,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1429",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p><strong>tl;dr</strong> No registration fees, networking and attending relevant sessions.</p>\n\n<p>There has been some talk and background informationabout this already. See <a href=\"http://s2013.siggraph.org/volunteers/student-volunteers\">this</a>, <a href=\"http://chi2013.acm.org/organizers/student-volunteers/\">this</a>, <a href=\"http://2013.icse-conferences.org/content/student-volunteers-0\">this</a> and <a href=\"http://sc13.supercomputing.org/content/student-volunteers\">this</a> for some background. With this background, IMHO, the primary reasons why PhD students should be volunteers for major conferences in their line at least once are:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>First up, no registration fees. Yay ! Primary reason one.</p></li>\n<li><p>Networking with other PhD student volunteers who are likely to be PhD students in similar departments working on similar stuff. For instance, most student volunteers at CHI 2013 are PhD students from HCI/CS/IS/ischools working on HCI stuff. Its great to meet with peers and bond with them. [Yay for student volunteer party !]</p></li>\n<li><p>Possible networking with relevant faculty. This could be someone from the organizing committee or the program committee or someone else who you come in close contact with for the duration of the conference. There might be a certain someone who is a good researcher in your line and whom you might want to keep in touch with in the future. Getting in touch as a student volunteer in a conference might be one such strategy.</p></li>\n<li><p>Picking and choosing conference sessions/tracks to attend. You could, with some dexterity be the student volunteer in charge of a track or a session or a panel which you are really really interested in watching. As a student volunteer pretty much, you stand and assist and you do get one of the best seats in the house, albeit by standing. :)</p></li>\n</ol>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9800,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Again, this is one of those things that might be different from conference to conference, but in the ones that I frequent, here's how it works:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>Only local students, in particular, students from the local organizer's university (if there's more than 1 university in the city) get to volunteer. It's not that others are barred, but just that the email gets circulated within the department. If you manage to hear about it and contact the organizers, then you can be a part too.</p></li>\n<li><p>You agree to be a room help/PA support/IT support/etc. for different sessions. If you're interested in the sessions, you get to pick and choose which ones you want to go to (i.e., you can help out at a session you were going to attend anyway).</p></li>\n<li><p>The best part — you get paid <code>$minimum_wage_in_state</code> for the hours you work. That meant that if you managed to pitch in 3-4 hours/day for a 5 day conference, you get something like 120-150 bucks for attending something that you like. Considering that PhD pay (in the US) is only a little above minimum wage and that local students don't get per diem compensation, this is not a bad proposition at all.</p></li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9812,
"author": "Jeremy Miles",
"author_id": 6495,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6495",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Volunteering can be fun, it's a change, you get to meet new people. Volunteering is good for you - you feel a part of something bigger, and like you've achieved something useful and immediate (unlike, say, a thesis or a paper). </p>\n\n<p>It's probably good for your career in the long term - getting a reputation as a person who says \"Yes\" to things is always going to help. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9814,
"author": "Nobody",
"author_id": 546,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/546",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>From the IJCAI link you provided, I found the following on the travel grant application web page,</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>In the event that travel grant applications exceed available funds, preference will be given to students who have an accepted technical paper, and <strong>then to students who are actively participating in the conference in some way</strong>.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I take it to mean that you have more chances to get the grant if you volunteer.</p>\n\n<p>Send the application form now before it's too late if you did not get support from your department and you don't have an accepted paper. I would run to register for volunteering if I were you. </p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/05/02 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9792",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/532/"
]
|
9,802 | <p>Teachers in primary and secondary school usually are called as Mr.[surname] or Miss/Mrs.[surname]. However, cases in universities are more complex. It seems we need to call a teacher who is a professor professor or prof.[surname], and a teacher who is not a professor but a doctor Dr.[surname]. But not all teachers are professors, so what about </p>
<p>1)one whose name we know but neither a professor or a doctor?</p>
<p>2)one whose name we know but we do not know whether he/she is a professor or a doctor?</p>
<p>3)one whose name we do not know?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9803,
"author": "Austin Henley",
"author_id": 746,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/746",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<ol>\n<li>Mr/Ms</li>\n<li>Why not ask what they prefer to be called?</li>\n<li>Again, ask them.</li>\n</ol>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9804,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Within an academic setting while you might run into a Dean or a Duke, generally Professor is the highest honorific you will need. Therefore, I suggest calling everyone you do not know Professor. If they are not a Professor, or do not want to be called Professor, they will correct you. It seems to me to be a lot less pompous to say \"actually, I am only a doctor\", then it is to say \"actually, I am a Professor/Dean/Duchess/King\".</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9808,
"author": "Jeremy Miles",
"author_id": 6495,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6495",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Everywhere I've attended and worked in Britain, I've called teachers by their first name and been called my first name.</p>\n<p>It also depends on what you mean by a college. Most universities are not called college (and if they are going to, say, Birkbeck College, one would say one is going to university. Most colleges are technical colleges, or colleges of further education (I've attended or taught at <a href=\"http://www.burton-college.ac.uk/%E2%80%8E\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">http://www.burton-college.ac.uk/</a>, <a href=\"http://www.nulc.ac.uk/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">http://www.nulc.ac.uk/</a>, <a href=\"http://www.southstaffs.ac.uk/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">http://www.southstaffs.ac.uk/</a>), which have no professors, and few staff with PhDs - although there are also colleges of higher education which would have professors and where most staff would have PhDs (but most of these have become universities).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9813,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Here's an answer based on my experience in the United States. I don't know how well it generalizes to other countries, but some issues may be similar.</p>\n\n<p>You can't go wrong calling someone Professor or Doctor unless you know for sure that it is inappropriate and they know that you know.</p>\n\n<p>At the college level in the U.S., it's common to refer to your teacher as Professor X regardless of whether their official job title includes the word professor. (The primary teacher of a college course is considered to be acting as a professor for that purpose, even if their official title is visiting scholar or postdoctoral associate or whatever.) This may not apply to grad students, but it can cover just about everyone else.</p>\n\n<p>When possible I'd avoid gendered titles like Mr. or Ms., and specifically Ms. The issue is subconscious sexism: some people tend to use fancier titles to address men than to address women in comparable positions, and calling someone Ms. may make her wonder whether you are one of those people. (If you are such a person, then you should mend your ways, and even if you're not you could still be mistaken for one.)</p>\n\n<p>On the other hand, Miss and Mrs. are far worse than Ms., because they indicate marital status. You should never address an academic as Miss or Mrs. unless she has explicitly indicated that this is what she prefers.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9874,
"author": "Magpie",
"author_id": 1248,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1248",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In the UK a professor is higher status than a Dr. and not nearly as common So a Dr. won't be offended but they might be snippy about the lack of local knowledge about them if get that wrong.</p>\n\n<p>I spent a while worrying about this when I first got to university as it seemed like a minefield. With that in mind I can tell you UK universities usually list the staff on their websites and often a Dr/Prof will have their own page which tells you all about them and their publications etc. So, you can usually find the answer to this without having to worry. Just in case though, I'll give you an answer for each one.</p>\n\n<p><strong>1) one whose name we know but neither a professor or a doctor?</strong></p>\n\n<p>Mr/Ms (Ms is best for women because it can offend someone if you assume anything about marital status when you don't know them)</p>\n\n<p>(and sign off your mail 'Yours Sincerely,')</p>\n\n<p><strong>2) one whose name we know but we do not know whether he/she is a professor or a doctor?</strong></p>\n\n<p>In this case google is your friend. You will be able to find out. I would not advise emailing an academic to ask them for anything without first finding something out about them (or their research at least) first.</p>\n\n<p>(and sign off your mail 'Yours Sincerely,')</p>\n\n<p><strong>3) one whose name we do not know?</strong></p>\n\n<p>Dear Sir or Madam (and sign off your mail 'Yours faithfully,')</p>\n\n<p>In all three cases how they end their letter to you will tell you how you can relax. If they sign off as 'Jim', you can lose the formality (especially if that's not even their real name ;-))</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/05/03 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9802",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1064/"
]
|
9,809 | <p>The problem is I completed a work earlier and did another work which extends this work. However, I haven't got the earlier work published. I plan to send these two papers to a conference but I do not know how to cite the work of first paper in second paper.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9810,
"author": "Shion",
"author_id": 1429,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1429",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I don't know or have information about the writing style or style guide that is usually followed in your field and you should follow those style guides to find out how to cite unpublished works . </p>\n\n<p>To get you kickstarted in the right direction, I have provided information about the <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/APA_style\" rel=\"nofollow\">APA</a>, <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chicago_Manual_of_Style\" rel=\"nofollow\">Chicago</a> and <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_MLA_Style_Manual\" rel=\"nofollow\">MLA</a> styles and how to cite unpublished works. Of course, your field may use completely unrelated style guides but they should have typical information for unpublished works. See <a href=\"http://linguistics.byu.edu/faculty/henrichsenl/apa/APA14.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">this</a>, <a href=\"http://nova.campusguides.com/content.php?pid=114919&sid=992797\" rel=\"nofollow\">this</a>, <a href=\"http://www.ehow.com/how_2315829_cite-unpublished-sources-chicago-manual.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">this</a> and <a href=\"http://www.ehow.com/how_4450351_cite-unpublished-work-mla-format.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">this</a> for more information.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9811,
"author": "Yury",
"author_id": 332,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/332",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Many people, including myself, use the following style:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Author. “Paper Title,” manuscript, year.</p>\n \n <p>e.g.:\n [13] A.N. Author, “Paper Citation Rules,” manuscript, 2013.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>If it's your paper you can also cite it as</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Author. “Paper Title,” submitted, year.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>The proper citation style may depend on the conference you submit your paper to. In my area, theoretical computer science, there are no strict citation rules.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/05/03 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9809",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6998/"
]
|
9,819 | <p>We are a research group from some private university and we offer research contract services. The problem is that when we get customers, the contract is signed by the highest authority of the university, and we appear on the contract as second players. Also they get 20% on the budget, and all intellectual property that might come from our work. I do not know whether the same situation is in public universities, but we do not like this and we are thinking about other alternatives, for instance, since we have now a lot of potential customers and contacts, to sign the contracts through a smallest possible company that we would create, so that our university would never know about this. The problem is that with this approach, we can not hire people for working on the projects in our university, so they should work out of academia, and we would never get officially recognition for this work. So it seems we have only two options, we stay in this university and accept the situation, or we leave completely and create a spin-off. I would like to know your opinion or advice about this, or what would you do in our situation. </p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9823,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>The situation you describe is fairly typical of research contracts—if you are employed at a university, then normally the university is the one that negotiates contracts on your behalf. This is usually for legal reasons, although it does, as you indicate, usually come at the cost of having to give the university some of the money in the contract as \"overhead.\"</p>\n\n<p>As you also indicated, however, it <em>is</em> possible to form a start-up company; there's nothing wrong with doing so in most countries, and such companies can engage in contract work with private firms. However, there are often restrictions on receiving government research awards unless they're partnered with universities or other approved non-profit organizations.</p>\n\n<p>Some points to consider:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>How much of your business leads are the result of the identification of your group with your host university? </li>\n<li>Will you have enough outside business to support your staff through this outside research income?</li>\n<li>It is quite likely that much of what you save in overhead payments to your university may go out to your government in the form of taxes as well as to pay for other business expenses you have. </li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>You <em>cannot</em> expect to run a company while on-campus, using university resources. If this is discovered, you can almost certainly expect to be terminated for misuse of university resources (and worse, possibly public resources as well, depending on what country you're in). At a minimum, you would expect to have to have off-campus resources, and employ your contract employees separately, if you want to maintain this arrangement.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9830,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>Also they get 20% on the budget, and all intellectual property that\n might come from our work.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Only 20%, that is a dream rate, are you sure it is right? For research related activities from fedral agencies in the US 70% is not unheard of. See this table from <a href=\"http://osp.fad.harvard.edu/content/fa-cost-rates-federal-sponsors\" rel=\"noreferrer\">Harvard</a>. Charitable foundations often get discounted <a href=\"http://osp.fad.harvard.edu/content/fa-cost-rates-non-federal-sponsors\" rel=\"noreferrer\">rates</a>, while industry partners often have to pay extra. At my country university industry contracts usually carry at least a 100% overhead rate.</p>\n\n<p>As for the IP, universities tend to be willing to let you give away the IP, they just want to make sure they get a cut if you try and make money on the IP. Whether or not the support the university puts in makes them a reasonable investor is a hard call. You have to make a business case to determine if you are better off going independently.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/05/04 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9819",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/284/"
]
|
9,820 | <p>I have always wondered why a person is given the title of Dr after completing a PhD in a non-medical field. This is especially because of the confusion over the medical title of Dr. Why hasn't a better distinction been formulated by now?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9821,
"author": "Sylvain Peyronnet",
"author_id": 43,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/43",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It seems that the real question should be \"why the title of doctor seems to be now more associated to medical sciences than other fields\".</p>\n\n<p>Doctor comes from doctum, that is a derivative of docere, Latin verb for \"teaching\". \nThe first doctors in the very first universities studied in four faculties: arts, medical sciences, law and theology. We still use PhD (Philosophiae doctor) but the meaning of the word philosophy has changed over the centuries. During the renaissance, the word philosophy had a broader meaning since philosophy at that time encompasses the whole spectrum of science. </p>\n\n<p>In some countries (France for instance), it is forbidden to use the title of Dr for those who are not MD. In this case, Dr is a degree but not a title. Why do we not use MD everywhere instead of Dr (which seems to be the way to suppress the ambiguity while respecting history)? I don't know.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9822,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 7,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>It's actually exactly the opposite: \"doctor\" is Latin for \"teacher\" and the title originally had no special connection with medicine. Instead, a doctor was anyone qualified to teach at a university (in medieval Europe teaching qualifications were typically determined by the church). The concept of a formal PhD degree came much later, but it continued this earlier terminology.</p>\n\n<p>The confusion in English is irritating, but not problematic enough to make universities give up a 1000+ year old tradition. It's not clear why this situation arose. One natural explanation is that if you want to emphasize your medical skills, you can do it by explaining that you are not just a healer, but in fact someone qualified to teach other people the healing arts. In other words, you're a doctor of medicine in the academic sense of the word \"doctor\". Until very recently universities were fairly exotic, and most people didn't talk about academic doctors very much, so the medical usage was much more salient for the general public and for most people it became the standard meaning of \"doctor\".</p>\n\n<p>Of course this difficulty with this story is that it doesn't explain why, for example, German does not confuse the terms the same way English does. Maybe it's just chance, or maybe there's some cultural reason.</p>\n\n<p>In any case, though, academia had the title first and is reluctant to change it.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/05/04 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9820",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4475/"
]
|
9,827 | <p><strong>TL;DR</strong>: Young graduate student in his first year of a PhD program who has lost a passion for the academic world. Seriously considering quitting but don't know what to do. Science background.</p>
<p><strong>My background</strong><br />
I'm 21-25, with a Science background, B.Sc in Physics. Took a year off between Undergrad and Grad school and worked full time as a research scientist. Theoretical background (most of my work has consisted of modelling). Strong quantitative and computer skills. Excel in presentation/project focused environments.</p>
<p><strong>General Information</strong><br />
I am currently finishing the second semester of my first year in a PhD program at a top tier US school in an engineering program. I have a full scholarship that pays for all of my tuition and a living stipend (typical graduate student stipend ~$1800 a month after taxes, so quite enough to live off of). I'm not a US citizen (from Canada), so I'm here on a student VISA, so if I decide to stop I have 2 weeks to leave the country. I cannot hold any other employment in the US while here on my VISA. My PhD consists of ~1.5 years of combined coursework and research, followed by a qualifier at the end of that period (research based), then into your thesis (doesn't have to be related to what your qualifier research was on).</p>
<p><strong>Current Academic Situation</strong><br />
I came first semester ready to start a new life...(first time moving away from home- did my undergrad where I was born). I did very well first semester (3.9/4.0 GPA) and research was on track (mostly lit. review). By the end of first semester however, I noticed that I was losing interest very quickly in both my coursework and research - it started to become very hard to get myself through to work on a daily basis. Went home Christmas break for a few weeks and came back to start my second semester and immediately noticed a big change. I started to struggle in my classes and fall behind on research. It wasn't that the material was too difficult, I just had no motivation to do it. No excuses here - just didn't really want to do it so I didn't. I reached the end of the semester and realized just how far behind I was. I am likely going to hit ~C average this semester (A last) and am drastically behind on research. I had weekly-biweekly meetings with my supervisor all semester, but I sort of hid just how bad things were going. Had a long meeting last week where I basically came clean on everything (said I was struggling in classes, behind on research) and the supervisor was very supportive. The supervisor believed in my potential and suggested I speak to a school counsellor and emphasized that this kind of thing was common for doctoral students.</p>
<p><strong>Personal situation/feelings</strong><br />
I come from a family where both my parents have PhDs. Although my parents have always been supportive and open to my life, I feel as though they would be very disappointed if I quit and this pressure is very real to me. I have tried to have the conversation with them and their attitude is mostly: "just put your head down and work through it, it's just a phase". Quite frankly most people seem to think it's a "phase" when I tell them. Outside of school my life is great. I'm not unhappy or depressed, I have hobbies, friends, I work out - it's just school that makes me feel this way. I just don't like the academic world at all any more. I HATE classes (always have) and where in the past research has been the saving grace keeping me interested in school, it now is losing a lot of it's appeal.</p>
<p>Basically, I feel no passion or drive for what I am doing any more. This for me is a huge problem. I'm not the kind of person who lacks passion in life. Quite the opposite in fact. Right now I have no such drive for school. I have a long term long distance relationship with someone from home that is incredibly happy and stable. They visited here many times since I moved and we are doing great. I would be lying if I said it wasn't a factor in me wanting to quit. (Having my partner move here is a lot more complicated). The relationship has been incredibly supportive and is very aware of my current situation and has maintained a very neutral stance, trying to play devils advocate wherever possible and trying to make sure it doesn't influence the decision. I should state that I am pretty sure if I had to choose between school and the relationship, I would choose the relationship immediately with no regrets.</p>
<p>I have just reached a point where I find myself doing just about anything else but school work. I'll get groceries, clean the apartment, watch TV etc... before doing any work. I'm trying to stick around for a couple of months for the summer (to see if not having classes changes anything) but since talking to my supervisor I'm already having doubts about even that. At this point, I feel like moving home and getting any job would make me happier than what I am doing.</p>
<p><strong>Financial situation</strong><br />
I have a few thousand dollars in the bank (enough to get me home /move out etc...) and zero debt. If I move back home, I can likely live with my parents for the first month to get back, then I'd be looking for a job and moving in with my partner. I realize having no debt puts me ahead of a lot of people and I'm not particularly concerned about the situation financially - I'm very lucky to have what I have and am aware of this.</p>
<p>So what's the deal? I know I have this amazing opportunity. I'm at a top tier school on a full scholarship. I wake up every day and get to work with the top minds in my field doing important research. I'm doing something a very small % of the population ever gets a chance at and yet still I have no motivation to do it. I'm not sure if I'm doing it for me any more, or I'm doing it so I don't let down other people in my life. My parents, mentors, friends, all the people who keep telling me how amazing this opportunity is. The more I look back, the more I realize that Grad school was what I did because I basically just didn't have another plan.</p>
<p><strong>What would I like to do</strong><br />
I'd love to find a job. I don't need to make a lot of money to be happy - I live off of 22k a year right now and am perfectly comfortable. Money isn't a major motivator for me. Working in the financial sector, doing quantitative risk analysis, banking, DoD, just about anything sounds more appealing than school to me. I know I'm smart and I've got a strong quantitative background combined with very good personal skills. I'm great with people and one of the things I HATE about the academic world is how under-used that part of my skill set feels.</p>
<p>I have no idea what to do. I want to quit, but I haven't. Maybe I shouldn't? I've been looking into options, but quite frankly I'd much prefer to have some kind of plan before quitting - at the very least this pays my living right now. I'd love advice from anyone. Someone who's been in this situation, someone who hasn't It doesn't matter.</p>
<p>I know that what I am doing does not make me happy. But I don't know what will. Please help.</p>
<hr />
<p><strong>Update two years later</strong></p>
<p>I chose to leave school, and came home. My relationship fell apart but I found a decent job working for a tech startup and did that for about 1.5 years - I saved some money and took some time off and now I'm doing full time analytics consulting work for a website - It's working out well so far and I enjoy the freedom of it (work from home) etc. Though I do often wonder about what would have happened if I stayed, I don't regret it.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9828,
"author": "Chris Gregg",
"author_id": 4461,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4461",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Here is my general advice for graduate students who are thinking about quitting graduate school (and I'll sprinkle in some specific advice):</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>At one point or another, almost every graduate student wants to quit, so <em>you're not alone</em>. The fact that you're not alone doesn't solve any problems, but it may give you some peace of mind. The advice from your supportive advisor to seek out counseling is a very, very good one.</p></li>\n<li><p>The decision to get a graduate degree is personal and different for everyone, but regardless it is a long-term decision that will probably have a significant effect on your future. The five or six years of your life spent doing it could open up many doors; that is not to say that other opportunities aren't worth considering. You really do have to do what is best for yourself, in the end.</p></li>\n<li><p>Getting a PhD really does require passion (and in your case this is weaning right now). You can push through a pretty good chunk of time without it, but if you don't find the passion, it's going to be a long haul. If you were passionate and lost that, try to figure out what it was that you were passionate about before, and see if you can get back in the groove. <a href=\"http://www.physics.ohio-state.edu/~kilcup/262/feynman.html\">One of my favorite Richard Feynman stories is about how he rebounded from a slump because he watched a spinning plate in the dining hall</a>.</p></li>\n<li><p>If you hate classes, make it a priority to finish them up quickly so you can concentrate on the research! Classes, while important, are not why you are in graduate school. A friend's advisor told his students that he would be upset if they were getting A+'s, meaning that they weren't spending enough time on research.</p></li>\n<li><p>You can take time off from graduate school and come back later. This is hard to do (particularly if you have to leave the country), and you can't necessarily expect the same financial support when you return. But, you can do it, and if you need time off, take it. My suggestion for you if you are still on the fence about staying in grad school is to look at an internship somewhere for the summer where you are away from school and can clear your head. Then come back next semester.</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>All of my advice is kind of ignoring what may be your most important statement:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>I want to quit, but I haven't.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>If you've thought through all the reasons why you want to quit, and this is the answer, then you should take time off -- 'quit' is a harsh word, and not really a necessary one (see point 5). Your point is well taken that you shouldn't try to stick it out for anyone but yourself -- we all go through worries about disappointing others, but most people want you to be happy, and they will understand. You will almost certainly find a big weight lifted from your shoulders, and not extra pressure from those around you. Yes, having a plan before moving on is always a good idea, but I've been in a number of places in my life where I decided to do something before having a definite plan, and it all worked out in the end. Good luck!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9829,
"author": "Justjyde",
"author_id": 7008,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7008",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I know how you feel because even as an undergraduate, I once packed my bags. But a friend prevailed on me and I'm still thankful for not quitting. Consider the following: </p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>If you start a count down to finish date and get really excited about seeing the day approach, you'll know time passes really quickly. </p></li>\n<li><p>Our emotions/feeling/circumstances are temporary/passing but our achievements (good or bad) are permanent. </p></li>\n<li><p>Creative/innovative people (like you) get tired of routine. If you take interest in something around you that requires you to learn something challenging (say music) or something alien to you, your PhD vital signs may be positively influence.</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>I am not an expert at these things but I know that when I get tired of routine... I stimulate my creativity somewhere else... Not for the gain but for the challenge.</p>\n\n<p>Good luck man... </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9832,
"author": "giaour",
"author_id": 7010,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7010",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Whatever you decide to do, just keep in mind that leaving a Ph.D. program because it's just not right for you does not represent any kind of failure on your part. I know plenty of people who didn't leave graduate school because they thought quitting would mean admitting that they couldn't hack it; <strong>this simply isn't true</strong>, and if your only reason for staying in school is that you don't want to disappoint your peers, parents, or advisor, then you should think long and hard about taking some time off from school and reassessing what you want to do.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9833,
"author": "Paul Hiemstra",
"author_id": 4091,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4091",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you don't feel any passion or motivation after the second semester, I'd say you have to really take a hard look at if graduate school is something for you as you'd still have a few years to go. If you should quit or not firstly depends on what you want. You need to try and find out why you lost your passion. Was it there first, and did something cause it to leave? Where you ambivalent about graduate school, and now you found out it was not for you?</p>\n\n<p>Please do not stay just because you might disappoint others, live is just too short for that. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9838,
"author": "Javeer Baker",
"author_id": 4475,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4475",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Your issues are real and I do not want to discount them in anyway. </p>\n\n<p>In my view, you are in a privileged position and if you can make the most of it, then it would be not be a loss (as you tend to describe your experience now).</p>\n\n<p>Here is a simple test: think of where you want to be in (say) five years from now? If you want to be in a place which requires a PhD, then start working on it now, other wise get out. </p>\n\n<p>I know this is simplistic but it works when the issues are complicated and there are no easy solutions. At least in this way, you will make an informed decision and will not have the guilt later on!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9839,
"author": "Nobody",
"author_id": 546,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/546",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You are not alone.</p>\n\n<p>Most graduate students are in their 20’s. Many have boy/girl friends and are away from their partners while in school. Many graduate students are international. They go abroad to study. They are away from their home countries. They study in a different environment/culture. They may have language problems. Fortunately, your situation is not that bad. Many graduate students go to graduate school as a family tradition. Their parents/relatives are academics. They were raised to be academics.</p>\n\n<p>Most (if not all) graduate students have trouble with their course/research works in school one time or another. Many graduate students lose their interests in the school. Some quit. Some stay. </p>\n\n<p>Your long post seems to suggest to me that you mixed your personal life with the graduate school life. We are human. We have emotions. We let our personal life interfere with other aspects of our life sometimes. We know we should not let it happen. But, it happens.</p>\n\n<p>You did well in the first semester. Everything changed in the second one. Something happened. No one knows what happened except you. In other words, you are the only one who knows the answer.</p>\n\n<p>I would suggest you to take a break, long or short, to figure out what you really want to do. Then, make your own decision.</p>\n\n<p>There are good answers and commentaries here. I will not repeat them. I would emphasize something very important, your future is yours.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9847,
"author": "user7021",
"author_id": 7021,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7021",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Given the glut of PhD's I would suggest that you get a real job. A PhD is worth only if you are really interested in doing research otherwise you'll waste 4-5 years (then another 3-4 years doing a postdoc). Faculty positions are few and far between and then you'll have to worry about getting funds/tenure. So unless you're highly motivated by research/academia you'll mostly be miserable. In the industry a PhD doesn't make much more then a Masters and significantly less than a MBA, so there is no financial justification. Also there is a very good chance that you'll be working on things which don't even require a PhD. Some are lucky to find a good research environment but not everyone.</p>\n\n<p>On the flip side if you do quit now then at some point you'll regret not getting a PhD. So think about what you want to do in life (besides having and providing for your children). A (PhD) degree is just a means to an end. People sometimes get emotional about it but they should not. Talk to your parents and I am sure they'll understand.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9849,
"author": "StasK",
"author_id": 739,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/739",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>See if you can get a Master's in your second year, so that your graduate studies are not completely wasted. This is but too common in doctoral programs that they let students who are admitted to doctoral programs without being the \"doctorate material\" to finish the required number of courses, take the qualifier as the bottom line as far as qualification goes, and let you off with a Master's degree. They don't like that, but that's likely flight overbooking: you know that some people are not going to make it. Discuss this with your adviser.</p>\n\n<p>For what I see on the earnings curves, there's a notable jump at 4 years of college/getting a Bachelor's degree, where the average earnings jump up by may be 15% from \"Some college\" to \"BA degree\" category. After that, the incomes are pretty flat, with a very modest 2 or so % return per year of education. So you ain't losing much in income, but an unfinished degree puts a big \"L\" across your forehead. I mean, if you drop out and found a Google or a Facebook, that's fine, but the probability of that happening is about 1e-6. (You don't know how funny that 20k figure is going to look like when your new wife asks you: \"As I am expecting a baby, we need a bigger house... and also please open the college saving account for our baby\", so your bold statements about income are totally out of line with real life. Or at least the life you will have in 10 years time.) The engineers that I taught seem to be starting off at $40-50Kpa, and I see no reason why a guy with a decent quant background should be making less than that.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9880,
"author": "joriki",
"author_id": 7043,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7043",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I'm surprised that both the question and the existing answers talk little about what <em>used</em> to motivate you to do research. You wrote, \"where in the past research has been the saving grace keeping me interested in school, it now is losing a lot of its appeal\". So what was that appeal, and how did it get lost?</p>\n\n<p>Here are some possible answers, from my own experience; I'm sure there may be others in your case.</p>\n\n<p>Did you get disillusioned about your field of research? Perhaps in the beginning you thought that if problems in this field were solved it would make a difference in the world, and now it seems that the big problems can't be solved and solving the small problems won't make a big difference?</p>\n\n<p>Did you get disillusioned about academia? Did you have experiences that changed your view of academia? Did you come in the pursuit of truth and found that a lot of it is about the pursuit of publications?</p>\n\n<p>Did you get disillusioned about your own abilities? Perhaps you were used to often being the best at what you were doing, and now you're surrounded by more smart people and your abilities seem less exceptional (and thus less motivating) in comparison?</p>\n\n<p>Or perhaps your motivation had always been to please your parents and now that's not enough anymore?</p>\n\n<p>I think having a clear understanding of what used to motivate you and why it stopped motivating you is a necessary and sufficient basis for the decision you're trying to make. If you lost interest in this particular field, you might have to look for a new field. If you lost the motivation that comes from a strong belief in your exceptional abilities, you might have to learn to enjoy being among the best and not necessarily the best. If your view of academia changed, you might try to find a place where academia is more how you'd like it to be, or if there doesn't seem to be one, perhaps academia isn't the right place for you. If you were only doing it for your parents, perhaps you should just leave. And if you lost interest because it turned out to be harder than you expected, then perhaps you should indeed \"just put your head down and work through it, it's just a phase\".</p>\n\n<p>I think the key to sorting this out for yourself is to keep an open mind about your own motivations. Some of them may have been very pure and just got lost along the way and perhaps you can tap into them again; some of them may not seem so desirable now that you take a new look at them, and you may be glad not to have them anymore; but whatever they are, what's important is that you're honest about them to yourself and figure out how and why they changed, and that might allow you to see where they're leading you and whether staying or leaving is more in line with what's important to you now.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 10099,
"author": "Jonathan E. Landrum",
"author_id": 7134,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7134",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>PhDs are not for everyone. That's why most top-tier schools have about a 50% retention rate, some closer to 25-30%. You need to discover what makes you passionate, and it might not be what a PhD will get you.</p>\n\n<p>I have a friend who is currently getting his Bachelor's degree. His father is a rocket scientist for NASA, so naturally he went into the Physics program. It took only a couple semesters of C's and D's for him to realize Physics isn't for him, so he switched to Computer Science. Then he realized he hates Math, so he wanted to switch majors again.</p>\n\n<p>All this time, though, he has had a creative outlet. He makes things, sometimes out of leather, sometimes out of steel; the other day he came to class with a clay pot he'd just finished. Toward the end of this last semester he went through with changing his major one last time. He already has too many CS credits to give up on that major altogether, but he's dropping the Math minor that comes <em>de facto</em> and is picking up an Art minor instead.</p>\n\n<p>I've never seen him happier than he is now. He found what he's passionate about, and it's not what his father did. You have to discover your passion. And it sounds like the job you had back home is just that.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 10134,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>First and foremost, you have to look out for you, and only you. By this, I mean your well-being, your happiness and your own future.</p>\n\n<p>As many have said, rather than quit at this stage, take some time out from the study. If I may suggest some things to do in your hiatus - volunteer work, teaching in a high school, perhaps try something completely different.</p>\n\n<p>You are definitely not alone - I am a PhD student and have found myself in the exact some situation, took some time - concentrated on my job (teaching), travelled, lived overseas, even did some acting. I felt rejuvenated and ready to tackle the project. In my case, I returned to study. But, all situations are very different - you have to give yourself some time and space to work out what it is you want.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 10138,
"author": "NPcompleteUser",
"author_id": 6346,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6346",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Just suck it in and get it!</p>\n\n<p>After you pass all the formal requirements, you will have a mini-tenure for 3/4/5 years (depending on the Dept you are in). I was thinking to quit first two years but now (in the mini-tenure period) I'm enjoying my life and research (from 9 to 5 only).</p>\n\n<p>Try it, if you don't like it, you can always quit.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 10434,
"author": "Celdor",
"author_id": 7335,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7335",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I read your post and from what I can see you don't sound like you enjoy your PhD or academic life in general. I personally did not find the reason why your situation became so hard. Perhaps you don't feel ok with the fact that your girlfriend is at home and you have to be somewhere else. Perhaps you you don't find the project entertaining. I'd say it might be the research itself that does not motivate you. One thing I am certain about is that you have to feel passion for doing research. You need to be determined and driven. Otherwise, it's easy to lose motivation.</p>\n\n<p>You may need to ask yourself if you really need to stay where you are! PhD is for those who plan to be professional researchers. It's only counts if you plan to stay at any university. Not only will this have to be your everyday job, you will also have to be the person who proposes many new projects and be a leader for others. If don't see yourself in this roll, then it's probably better if you consider quitting. It's nothing wrong with quitting PhD. Besides, you can still begin a PhD somewhere else. You don't need to stick to the one you don't enjoy.</p>\n\n<p>I can tell you that I met many people in my office. Everyone of them had their sort of crisis and this seems quite natural stage in the whole process. The research is also not a usual job and can be frustrating. Things always go wrong. Only determination, enjoyment, and passion make people stay and continue their PhDs.</p>\n\n<p>As some of the others already said, It's nothing wrong when you quit PhD. Taking a longer break, coming home for couple of months, calming down may help you realise and understand a lot of things which are difficult to spot when you under pressure.</p>\n\n<p>Good luck</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 10676,
"author": "grrrck",
"author_id": 7444,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7444",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It seems to me like the fundamental question here is that of whether or not your current feelings are part of a typical grad student \"phase\" or indicative of misaligned life goals, priorities, etc. on a much deeper level. Ultimately, a question you'll have to answer on your own and most likely by trusting your gut and intuition.</p>\n\n<p>There are many, many reasons why you might be feeling the way you do now. From your description it's clear that you started the PhD process knowing you were accepting less than ideal conditions in some areas of your life with the understanding that these would be offset by other benefits. You might be more or less ambivalent about some of those benefits now that you're in the process, and the tradeoffs and benefits would certainly change if you were to switch sides and leave the program.</p>\n\n<p>I would suggest assuming, for the time being, that one-year-ago you made a well educated calculation of the costs-benefits of the PhD program, in particular with a time horizon greater than 5 years. </p>\n\n<p>Staying in the program then means trusting in the vision of one-year-ago you in that the long-term benefits to your life outweigh the immediate suffering (including the less than ideal use of your skills and the momentary loss of passion). On the other hand, your valuation of the tradeoffs and benefits of the PhD may have changed more than you expected, in particular with respect to your relationship or your connection to the research area.</p>\n\n<p>The way to know this, in short, is to trust yourself. If your current path is just <em>wrong</em> for you -- if you feel you're compromising some fundamental part of yourself -- then trust that feeling. Otherwise, trust your prior vision: accept that your feelings are part of the PhD journey and trust that you'll find your passion again soon (when you stop putting pressure on yourself to find it).</p>\n\n<p>One last thought that might really be the crux of the issue is that getting a PhD is a highly individualistic and very lonely experience. <a href=\"http://public.randomnotes.org/richard/PhDtalk.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">Richard Butterworth has a talk</a> that really drove this home in which he says:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>A PhD, by its very nature, is a very individualistic venture. ... The next big surprise for people who are starting PhDs after an undergraduate degree is just how excrutiatingly lonely a PhD is.</p>\n</blockquote>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 21983,
"author": "CaptainCodeman",
"author_id": 15541,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15541",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Finish what you started.</p>\n\n<p>I dropped out of a prestigious program 6 years ago, with much of the same reasoning: </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>\"The degree is just a piece of paper anyway\" </li>\n<li>\"If I want to learn things I can just learn them on my own\"</li>\n<li>\"What's the point? To spend that many years just to get a qualification to impress other people. I don't care about money, and if I want a job I can get a job now.\" (I was making $80/hour on contract work at the time.)</li>\n<li>\"I'm planning on starting my own business\"</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>But here I am, 6 years later, applying for grad school to give it another go.</p>\n\n<p>Here are my reasons for going back: (I welcome people to correct me if I'm wrong about any of these!)</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Most full time employment is mindblowingly dull. As a student you don't fully appreciate this.</li>\n<li>A PhD is not very different from a job in the sense that you have to show up and do some work, most of which you don't necessarily want to do. The difference is, with a PhD you get something at the end, but with a job there is just endless tedium. Also with a graduate degree you get to use your brain a bit more.</li>\n<li>Your job prospects will be severely diminished, and your salary will be lower. It is fairly difficult to get a good research job without a graduate degree, and most opportunities outside of grunt work will be closed to you.</li>\n<li>In academia, you're used to working with smart people and having intelligent discussions, etc. If you leave and enter typical workforce, that goes away. There will always be a significant gap in academic potential between you and your colleagues and this will bother you because it means you are not hitting your potential and are effectively being under-utilized and under-paid. </li>\n<li>Feeling underutilized and unchallenged is very very bad. You will hate your job and therefore hate your life, and it all goes downhill from there..</li>\n<li>Everybody wants money. Most people that want money really badly, have at some point in their lives said \"Nah, I don't care about money, money doesn't make you happy.\" Being broke doesn't make you happy either.</li>\n<li>The fact that you quit will forever haunt you. No amount of \"Bill gates dropped out too\" or \"I'm too independent to need this\" will make you feel better when you see your former classmates graduate with PhDs while you have to live with the fact that you started but gave up.</li>\n<li>In the workforce it doesn't always matter how smart you are. Most places I've interviewed have trouble hiding how impressed they were, and several have told me directly that I'm the best candidate they've ever seen. I always breezed through the most difficult interview questions and I've gotten offers from Google, Facebook, Amazon, Goldman Sachs, etc. BUT at the end of the day all of the jobs they offered were boring menial tasks. You could argue that it's possible to start with a menial job and then work your way up, but as I mentioned before, a PhD is also a job, why not just finish that?</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Also, regarding your note on quantitative finance, please be very aware that the world of quantitative finance is very competitive and most places won't consider you if you don't have a PhD. I know because I tried several times to get a job doing quant work, but every firm I spoke with only offered back-end jobs doing menial SQL work. Your mileage may vary, but be warned that most people don't care about how good you think your quantitative skills are. (One fairly famous hedge fund manager told me very directly \"everyone thinks they're going to be great at a new skill, so why would anyone risk their money on an unknown, unproven entity?\".)</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/05/05 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9827",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7007/"
]
|
9,834 | <p>I am an undergraduate student of electronics and telecommunication engineering in a govt. college in India. But I am extremely interested in physics and mathematics. I want to pursue a research career in physics and mathematics. I generally receive suggestions like taking the GRE test. But I have the following questions:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>What is the minimum amount of physics I am supposed to have mastered at the end of my engineering?</p></li>
<li><p>How much of physics or physics related subjects should I have in my UG course?</p></li>
<li><p>How much is an adequate grade (What puzzles me most is that if I am intending to do physics why should my grades in engineering should be considered?)</p></li>
</ol>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9835,
"author": "AJed",
"author_id": 4472,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4472",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I believe Engineering (communication) gives you a good amount of mathematical tools. It gives you basics in Physics like electromagnetic for instance. In Physics and Math, they concentrate more on the physical aspects and mathematical aspects of Physics and Math. In engineering, they focus more on applications. Moreover, they focus much more on theoretical aspects. For instance, there is a big difference between a probability course for mathematicians and that for communication engineers. </p>\n\n<p>I think you can compete, since engineering students are usually smart. Perhaps you will need to take few courses before being able to compete with students having undergrad degrees in Physics or even Math. </p>\n\n<p>Note: I have an engineering degree (electrical), and then moved to Computer science. I can't really answer your question precisely. But when I started my Master I needed to do study 2-4 CS courses. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9836,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Cross-disciplinary movement does happen fairly frequently, particularly between engineering and the mathematical and physical sciences. Unfortunately, as the academic disciplines themselves become more cross-disciplinary, it becomes much harder to say what <em>specific</em> training one needs to move from one field to another between the undergraduate and graduate levels. </p>\n\n<p>A good way to check for the qualifications you are likely to need is to examine the course requirements of schools you're already interested in attending as a graduate student—if your undergraduate program has sufficient depth in math and physics to allow you to take those courses as a graduate student, then an admissions committee will likely be OK with the lateral movement. </p>\n\n<p>If you have questions about what is necessary, you can contact the person in charge of admissions at some of the departments you're interested in for further clarification.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 10066,
"author": "badz",
"author_id": 7120,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7120",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I am on the same path as of yours. I am thinking of taking IELTS test. Well actually I did Electronics and Comm bachelors and worked for 2 years in embedded systems and now planning for physics masters.To bridge the gap, I am right now taking courses in coursera.org and edx.org. Perhaps you can consider this too.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 10080,
"author": "user774025",
"author_id": 86,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/86",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It is <em>very</em> difficult, almost impossible, to enter into a good graduate program in the US with an undergraduate program in engineering from India. So, instead of preparing for the GRE, you should try to get into the Masters program in Math at \n<a href=\"http://www.isical.ac.in/~deanweb/sample2013.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">ISI</a>, <a href=\"http://www.cmi.ac.in/admissions/\" rel=\"nofollow\">CMI</a> or maybe at the <a href=\"http://gate.iitd.ac.in/jam/\" rel=\"nofollow\">IIT's</a>. If you're interested in physics you should try to get into a Masters physics program at IIT through JAM. So, you should start preparing for their entrance tests.</p>\n\n<p>I would suggest you to choose either physics or math because preparing for both the entrance tests at the same time can be really difficult.</p>\n\n<p>Grades</p>\n\n<p>Since you asked about grades and courses I think these pages will give you a good idea.</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://www.physicsgre.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1847\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.physicsgre.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1847</a></p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://www.mathematicsgre.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1003\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.mathematicsgre.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1003</a></p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://www.mathematicsgre.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=685\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.mathematicsgre.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=685</a></p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/05/05 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9834",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7014/"
]
|
9,840 | <p>I have been discussing with friends and colleagues about the strategy to use to decide, in a research group, who has to go to a conference and with who.
The issue is: if someone in the research group submitted a scientific paper to a conference, and it was accepted, should he/she go all alone to the conference, or with other group members?</p>
<p>Basically, I found two different way of thoughts:</p>
<p>1) since money is always lacking, and it is important to broaden the scientific discoveries and to have new professional relationships, <strong>only the main author of the paper should go to the conference, all alone</strong>. If everyone goes to a different conference, the team works will better scatter, and they will get more visibility.</p>
<p>2) since to work as a group, it is important to think as a group and, above all, to team up (if there is enough money), <strong>all the paper authors or all the research group should go to the conference</strong>. This way the group will team up and personal relationships between the research group members will strengthen.</p>
<p>What do you think?
<strong>Which school of thoughts do you stand for?</strong></p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9841,
"author": "Thomas",
"author_id": 6984,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6984",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Seems pretty simple. If the only reason you are attending the conference is to present the paper, then only one person (the presenter) should go. If there is value to the conference beyond that to more people in the group (i.e., other interesting research is being presented, it's possible to setup helpful meetings), then more people should go.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9842,
"author": "Chris Gregg",
"author_id": 4461,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4461",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If I </p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>had the time, and </li>\n<li>had the money,</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>I would go to every conference directly related to my field that I could. They are a fantastic way to find out where the tip of the spear is in your field, to network and meet new people, and to see parts of the world you might not be able to see otherwise. Additionally, many conferences have workshops, expos, and special speakers that all add to one's professional development.</p>\n\n<p>Why do I bring all that up? Most, if not all of the time, it is professionally advantageous for everyone involved with a paper to attend conferences. Practically, this rarely happens (at least in my field), simply because funds can't support it, and time commitments make it difficult to travel to various parts of the world.</p>\n\n<p>So, my answer is, <strong>send as many people as can practically afford to go,</strong> because they will almost certainly gain from the experience.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9843,
"author": "Nobody",
"author_id": 546,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/546",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>@Chris Gregg explains the importance of going to conferences. I will not repeat them.</p>\n\n<p>I would suggest some practical solutions.</p>\n\n<p>If you only have one accepted paper this year. Send as many as you can. Find cheaper airfares, share hotel rooms. Talk to your supervisor to get support. Apply for travel grants else where, for example, see <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/9814/546\">this answer</a>.</p>\n\n<p>Long term wise, write more papers. Get more accepted papers. Then you guys can take turns. For example, half go to this conference, the other half go to the next one. As a group, you can work it out.</p>\n\n<p>Just don't miss the conferences.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9845,
"author": "Rex Kerr",
"author_id": 669,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/669",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Any answer should work for research groups of all sizes. Sending the entire research group does not: in a large group, people will be spending all their time at conferences and none actually doing work, or people with conference-worthy work will avoid going simply because it takes too much time.</p>\n\n<p>Likewise, everyone who is an author can be too many; there is some very good work done where very many people are on each paper (due, for example, to many different skills being needed, and the required skills being provided by people who specialize in different areas).</p>\n\n<p>So even if funds permit, the \"everyone goes\" answer is not a good answer in general.</p>\n\n<p>On the other hand, going to <em>some</em> conference is a very valuable way to keep up with the field you're in. Thus, a sensible strategy is something like:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>Everyone in the group goes to at least one conference a year--that one which is most relevant to what they're doing. There is usually a default conference that is obvious if a more specialized one does not apply. For example, in neuroscience one could choose to go to the Society for Neuroscience conference if one wasn't working in an area where some other meeting made more sense.</p></li>\n<li><p>The most critical person/people go to any additional conferences that are valuable and where they are presenting. In addition to going because one is presenting, people should go (funding available) when it will be very useful to them, either because they've done the work, or they ought to be doing work in that area so they get up to speed.</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>The key is to not treat this as a purely social event. It is to an extent, but you're also trying to develop people's skills and increase their exposure / interaction with peers, and neither simpleminded model of \"go yourself if you are presenting\" or \"everyone goes\" adequately accomplishes these goals.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/05/06 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9840",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/379/"
]
|
9,844 | <p>I completed my PhD research as an industry based researcher. My employer was fully aware of my research. There was no support given by the employer other than encouragement. However, I used the company information which I had access to as part of my role. My employer had no objection and I was extremely careful of the disclosure I made.</p>
<p>I have now completed my PhD and graduated. My dissertation is publicly available on my university website. A google search can bring it up too.</p>
<p>QUESTION: If my employer wants to use my dissertation, would it be ethical for me to ask for a payment? </p>
<p>EDIT: To clarify some comments below, my company wants to use my dissertation as part of an advocacy campaign. </p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9846,
"author": "Rex Kerr",
"author_id": 669,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/669",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Congratulations on your Ph.D.! You have contributed to humanity's lasting store of knowledge. To a first approximation, this knowledge is now freely available to everyone on the planet who is interested (and, perhaps, who can afford reproduction costs and/or to travel to your university), including your employer.</p>\n\n<p>If they are still employing you, and they found your Ph.D. work valuable, your employer may find it in both your and their interests to increase your salary to retain you and encourage you to perform more similarly useful work for them. But asking them to pay you for using something that is freely available strikes me as counter to the principle of the academic pursuit in the first place.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9848,
"author": "JeffE",
"author_id": 65,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I think your question is best rephrased as follows:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>If <strong><em>someone</em></strong> wants to use my dissertation, would it be ethical for me to ask for a payment?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Assuming you are asking about using the <em>intellectual content</em> of your dissertation, the answer is <strong>NO</strong>. Whether or not that <em>someone</em> is your employer is irrelevant.</p>\n\n<p>However, your actual <em>presentation</em> is protected by copyright, which for dissertations is normally completely held by the author. So if <em>someone</em> wanted to use your specific words and/or figures beyond the limits of <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use\">fair use</a>, then you have the right to seek compensation.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9853,
"author": "Kaz",
"author_id": 3900,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/3900",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The short answer is that it isn't unethical to <em>ask</em> for anything. It's just a question of how comfortable you are, and your relationship with that company. If you have some figure in mind which is can be justified somehow and you feel comfortable asking, then send them an invoice.</p>\n\n<p>Oh, and can I have fifty bucks?</p>\n\n<p>See, that wasn't so hard at all, and I don't feel dirty or anything.</p>\n\n<p>I suspect the real question is \"do I have a moral basis for asking for compensation\"? Based on your description of the situation, I would say yes, especially if in their campaign they make it appear that the material from your thesis is associated with them, through you.</p>\n\n<p>The information that you used in the research is worth something, and use of the research in the campaign is worth something. Dollar figures can be put on it, and a difference can be computed.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9854,
"author": "BrianH",
"author_id": 6787,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6787",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would like to address the title itself - how to benefit from wider distribution/usage/awareness of your research.</p>\n\n<p>First, congratulations on your PhD - and your job!</p>\n\n<p>I think it is very reasonable to want to get more benefit - financial or otherwise - for your work, so I hope I can suggest some ways you can make that happen.</p>\n\n<p>For your dissertation, I believe your full compensation will be considered already paid. You were on staff when you made it, and from the wording I assume your employer let you spend \"company time\" on your work without threatening your pay or position. They also allowed you access and data that would likely have been unavailable to other researchers, and the quality of the data was likely high enough that you would have had to pay a significant sum of money for access to it - unless they have an open-data initiative, which almost no one seems to have in private industry (or at least its very rare). So your employer will almost certainly consider you paid in full, and consider any extra request ungrateful at best.</p>\n\n<p>However, you are in a very good position - not only has the company employed and supported your work for years, but they are now expressing their opinion of your research and the value of it in a very positive way. They are saying its worth additional investment of time and money not just from you, but from other people as well.</p>\n\n<p>Therefore, your potential is in the future work - not your past products. That's the only reason companies employ people anyway - for work to be produced, not out of gratitude for past accomplishments. </p>\n\n<p>Now you are already the subject matter expert, so what would you like? Would you like to do some travel, presentation work, advocacy? How about more ambitious research which could be of even higher value to the company? Can a reasonable case be made for more generous expense accounts, a (larger) research budget, more latitude/authority in data collection or process improvement/alteration? </p>\n\n<p>If nothing else you are in a good position for salary negotiations in the coming year, as you are now officially a PhD, and if they want to embrace and use your research then presumably they have a high opinion of you with good performance evaluations. If you want an administrative role, assistant(s), etc, now would be a good time to start brainstorming and dialog with your employer to see what plans they have for you, or if you just want to do more research you should all be on the same page.</p>\n\n<p>If you want to just focus on your research and go back to work, that's fine too! If you will be doing post-doc work and therefore aren't simply done with school entirely, that's fine, but if you are done and it is implied that you'll be focusing/working with the company more then that is more support for increased pay going forward.</p>\n\n<p>So you can very well get an extra payoff for your accomplishments, but its not likely to be in the form of paying to use your dissertation. You might qualify for a bonus, but that is usually something discussed before the fact. Its also possible that their use of your dissertation is a minor issue to them, so don't think it's worth millions if they are just trying to make use of something they feel they already paid for in a minor campaign that's <1% of their ad/PR budget.</p>\n\n<p><strong>TL;DR</strong> Collect your data, have a bullet-proof case of your value now and increasing value in the future, and I really suggest you not focus on trying to get more pay for past performance but rather take your pay in future salary/bonuses/prestige/etc.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 16558,
"author": "Fomite",
"author_id": 118,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/118",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This kind of question is, incidentally, why it's very good to have a clear \"Who gets to do what?\" document before you set out - for example, I had very frank discussion with some people providing data for my PhD as to what <em>they</em> expected to get out of it.</p>\n\n<p>In terms of the content of your dissertation, my take is not really - the whole point of academic research is to put it out into the world, and its not exactly surprising that the folks who employ you might find it useful.</p>\n\n<p>So no, I wouldn't be inclined to ask for money directly.</p>\n\n<p><em>However</em>, if the company does indeed end up using it, the fact that they did so, and your intellectual output is contributing to the bottom line should absolutely come up in your next promotion meeting/performance review, etc.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/05/06 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9844",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4475/"
]
|
9,857 | <p>Is there a correct or preferred format for indicating 'Dr' or 'PhD' (or both) on a professional business card.</p>
<p>Background: I am employed in the industry and I have just earned my PhD (in social science). My company wants to update my business card. </p>
<p>The following are two options:</p>
<ul>
<li>Dr Name, PhD, University Name </li>
<li>Name, PhD, University Name</li>
</ul>
<p>I am told that it may be a sign of arrogance but I am also told that if you have earned it, you deserve it.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9858,
"author": "Nobody",
"author_id": 546,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/546",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>My time in industry is longer than in academia. I would like to provide you with my opinion.</p>\n<p>I would suggest</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Name, PhD in Discipline name, University name</p>\n<p>Job title</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>I think university name is optional. The discipline name is necessary because people want to know what you know. PhD in physics is very different from PhD in social science.</p>\n<p>Please be aware of the possible negative effects of adding the PhD title.</p>\n<p>There are quite a bit anti-academia attitude in industry. Some people dislike academics. They believe the academians know nothing but theory. They rather do business with non-academians. For me, I deeply respect academics. I believe a company can offer me good quality products if they have PhDs as some of their employees. So, I am more willing to do business with them. However, I think I am minority. Many industry people do not think that way.</p>\n<p>If your employer is a consulting company, your title can be helpful. The PhD title can convince your clients you can offer them high value services. If your employeer is a constructing company, you might want to think twice before you update your business card.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9859,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>\"Dr Name, PhD\" is redundant, so this usage is often discouraged. If you are going to indicate the degree, I'd recommend \"Name, PhD\" rather than \"Dr Name\" since it's more informative (at the very least it will keep anyone from thinking you are a medical doctor). In the U.S. it's not common to indicate the university, but I think I've seen it more often in other countries.</p>\n\n<p>I'd suggest thinking carefully before indicating your degree on a business card. Some people without PhDs may respond bitterly, like you are bragging about your accomplishments or implying that your expertise is more valuable than theirs. At the same time, some people with PhDs will look down on it as well, in a status hierarchy:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>Some insecure people without PhDs feel resentful and don't want to be distinguished from PhD holders.</p></li>\n<li><p>Some insecure people with PhDs try hard not to be confused with group 1, thereby irritating those people all the more.</p></li>\n<li><p>Some better-established PhD holders aren't worried about being confused with group 1, but now they don't want to be confused with group 2, so they pointedly denounce emphasizing your degree as being tacky and in poor taste.</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>As a rule of thumb, I would omit the degree from your business card unless it's important for your credibility (i.e., the skills from your PhD are professionally important and people would otherwise assume you don't have them).</p>\n\n<p>The one situation in which you should absolutely not indicate a degree is if it's irrelevant. For example, if you're an accountant with a PhD in literature, then your business card should not read \"Name, PhD.\"</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9867,
"author": "Irwin",
"author_id": 5944,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5944",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In your case, I would suggest \"Yes, put <em>Javeer Baker, Ph.D</em>\" on your card. You could optionally put \"in social science\" on it if you'd like.</p>\n\n<p>I cannot speak about the culture in Australia, but in the United States and Canada, it is appropriate to put your title (Ph.D) on your business card if the industry generally is supportive of or respects academics, or in which high degrees are not common. I might guess Australia's culture is similar.</p>\n\n<p>Industries that would want to be proud to have a Ph.D on staff especially would be non-profit organizations, advocacy groups, research think-tanks, and consulting. As you said that your employer was an advocacy group, I believe that putting your degree on your business card is beneficial.</p>\n\n<p>Industries in which you would NOT put your degree on your business card would probably be software high-tech (because no one cares) or in academia (not because no one cares, but basically any assistant professor and up basically has a Ph.D and therefore it's not impressive), or, as mentioned above, a construction management company or similar.</p>\n\n<p>(As an aside, a whole bunch of people at a conference I was at rolled their eyes when they saw one of the authors wrote \"<em>name</em>, Ph.D\" on a paper.)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 44674,
"author": "Anon",
"author_id": 33955,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/33955",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The style chosen is at the discretion of the one conferred with the doctorate. These are styles are common in the UK - they can include all qualifications, including professional certifications:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Dr. Name, PhD, MSc, BSc</li>\n<li>Dr. Name, MD, MBChB, BSc DRCOG, MRCGP</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>The doctorate position and its responsibilities are accompanied with certain rights and privileges including the title and style. You can even have your passport include the Dr. It is a legal right. If you have just earned a doctorate, wear it proudly and congratulations, Dr.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 78890,
"author": "CyberFonic",
"author_id": 6215,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6215",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In your particular case, working for a advocacy company and being asked to update your business card, you can overlook the snarky comments. I believe that only medical doctors use the Dr honorific on their business card. So John Smith, Ph.D. seems sufficient. There is no reason to to add university nor discipline. It is a nice ice breaker in a conversation when people ask \"what is your PhD in?\" and you can position your expertise into the context of the meeting.</p>\n\n<p>As for the Dr John Smith, yes by all means that is how you should be addressed on letters and in other contexts, or even simply as Dr Smith.</p>\n\n<p>You have worked hard for your PhD, so you have earned the recognition that goes with it. As for the people with insecurities, it is how you conduct yourself that makes the difference between coming across as a knowledgeable consultant or a pretentious person.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/05/07 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9857",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4475/"
]
|
9,860 | <p>I am wondering what are the advantages/drawbacks of sharing a dissertation on a specialised website (for example <a href="http://www.socialcapitalgateway.org/resources/phd-theses" rel="nofollow">Social Capital Gateway</a>). There are a number of repositories available and they seem to be more widely known. Are these sites more for the benefit of the facilitators than the contributors (who in this case are the PhD researchers).</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9863,
"author": "Nate Eldredge",
"author_id": 1010,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I doubt there are any drawbacks to posting on such a site, other than the time required.</p>\n\n<p>But I also doubt there are very many advantages. I don't think very many people will look on such sites for theses. If I need something from a PhD thesis, my algorithm would be something like this:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>Look for published papers by the student which discuss the work.</p></li>\n<li><p>Google the student's name and thesis title.</p></li>\n<li><p>Look for the student's website.</p></li>\n<li><p>Look on the department's website.</p></li>\n<li><p>Look on the institution's library's website.</p></li>\n<li><p>Try to contact the student (via website or Google search) and ask if they will send me a copy.</p></li>\n<li><p>Try to contact the student's advisor and ask if they have a copy.</p></li>\n<li><p>Contact someone else I know at the institution, and ask if they can find the thesis in their library.</p></li>\n<li><p>Try to get a copy from <a href=\"http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/\">UMI</a> (last resort).</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>Searching other repositories would probably come somewhere between steps 8 and 9. So if you can try to make sure your thesis is findable at some earlier stage of this process, you probably don't need to bother with much more.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9940,
"author": "D.W.",
"author_id": 705,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/705",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You should make the thesis freely available somewhere that Google will find it, and that there are no paywalls or clickwalls.</p>\n\n<p>If you have a web site and you plan to keep it available, putting your Ph.D. dissertationon your web site is a perfect solution.</p>\n\n<p>If you don't have a personal web site that you will keep available, then another great solution can be to \"tech report it\": make it available as a tech report through the institution where you graduated. Many institutions make their tech reports freely available on the web and commit to ensuring they remain available. So, that's a great solution. (If your institution doesn't make their tech reports available over the web, you might want to bug your institution to suggest they do so.)</p>\n\n<p>If neither of those is applicable, a third choice can be to make your dissertation available via arxiv or some other preprint server that is appropriate for your field.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9947,
"author": "Nobody",
"author_id": 546,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/546",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think the question is,</p>\n\n<p>sharing the dissertation on</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>specialised sites vs. widely known repository sites</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>The advantage of specialised sites is that you get experts in your discipline to read your paper. I believe that's the purpose of sharing your dissertation in the first place.</p>\n\n<p>On the other hand, widely known sites would have more visitors. You would have more interested readers. Whether they are experts is another matter.</p>\n\n<p>However, I would like to raise an issue here. Many sites have paywall/clickwall. In particular, many require sign-ups. I often have trouble with links provided by users on this board. I follow the link, then find out I need to sign in to read the full text. More often than not, I give up at that point. I simply don't want to sign up unless I am really interested in the article.</p>\n\n<p>I truly like arXiv because I don't need to sign up to read the papers. The time I need to sign in is when I upload my papers there.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 50003,
"author": "vonbrand",
"author_id": 38135,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/38135",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Check with your school. Legally, the work usually belongs to them (it does so here in Chile), you might not be allowed to share it freely. I doubt they will object (the school is interested in becoming known, like for your work here), but they might place some restrictions on it (say state specifically that this is your thesis at the school, cite your advisor, whatever)</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/05/07 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9860",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4475/"
]
|
9,864 | <p>I am writing a technical paper for my college project. This is my first time so I don't have much experience in this arena.
I am writing about a philosophy used by Mechanical Engineers while designing a product. Now there is a situation where I have to mention a product and the company whose product it is.
I am saying this by:</p>
<pre><code>... so popular that it has been incorporated by ABC Company in their XYZ Product suite ...
</code></pre>
<p>Now I want to ask whether I should mention that:</p>
<pre><code>ABC & XYZ are registered trademark of ABC Inc.
</code></pre>
<p>If yes then where and in what format?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9865,
"author": "Chris Gregg",
"author_id": 4461,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4461",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>No need to mention the trademarks in a technical paper, although you could certainly cite their website if it talks about the product.</p>\n\n<p>I generally cite anything that I think the reader could get more information about that is pertinent to the topic. That said, a paper isn't a web page, and you shouldn't litter it with gratuitous cites.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9872,
"author": "Irwin",
"author_id": 5944,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5944",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you're concerned, then you can say:</p>\n\n<p><code>... so popular that it has been incorporated by ABC Company(R) in their XYZ(TM) Product suite ...</code></p>\n\n<p>with appropriate glyphs for \"registered\" and \"trademark\".</p>\n\n<p>But that said, I don't think it's strictly necessary to mention trademarks unless you have a compelling reason to do so.</p>\n\n<p>(An example of a comeppling reason to do so would be if you had to run the paper by the company's lawyers first and they want you to refer to the product in a specific way. If so then in the best interest of collaboration you should do what their lawyers say.)</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/05/07 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9864",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
]
|
9,868 | <p>A friend of mine applied to a PhD program and luckily they called her for a presentation. They said that the presentation should be a maximum of 10 minutes long and should consist of three slides. These slides should include past experience and research interests, they say.</p>
<p>We are trying to prepare an optimal presentation. We think of,</p>
<p>(1) Presenting a brief CV, including academic background, education etc.</p>
<p>(2) Past research experience, especially during the MSc thesis,</p>
<p>(3) Work experience.</p>
<p>In addition to research experience, we want to emphasize the teaching experience and the experience gained from the courses taken.</p>
<p>However the problem is that research experience and work experience significantly overlap with each other and we are concerned about not using slides optimally.</p>
<p>We would like to hear advice from you about this type of presentations. Or if you know any sources on the web that are specifically for these type of situations, we would be very happy to hear them.</p>
<p>Note that the presentation should be ten minutes long with three slides and should focus on interests & past experience of the individual.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9869,
"author": "Javeer Baker",
"author_id": 4475,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4475",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I have not been in this situation so my answer below may be at odds. I was required to have a chat with a potential supervisor and then lodge a detailed application. The fact that the supervisor endorsed my topic was a sure indication of acceptance by the university.</p>\n\n<p>It appears that you are being over cautious (and I can understand why - you only get one shot at this!). My advice is to follow the simple rule of presentation i.e. keep it clear, concise and relevant.</p>\n\n<p>So I would suggest the following for your three slides:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Slide 1 - Tell them what you want to do and how you will do it (i.e. topic and methods)</li>\n<li>Slide 2 - Tell them why you want to do it (i.e. gap in knowledge you are addressing)</li>\n<li>Slide 3 - Tell them how qualified you are to complete it (i.e. your skills and experience)</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>The contents and presentation skills go hand in hand, so prepare thoroughly. Unless you have a good reason, don't be too defensive of your approach. Give the impression that you are ready. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9876,
"author": "Rex Kerr",
"author_id": 669,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/669",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I also have not been in this situation, but my advice would be to focus on the work done during the MSc--what was the thesis on, why was it interesting, how would you extend it (to research, if it was not a research-based thesis; or to further experiments/work if it involved a significant research component already). If the work experience was related either to what the MSc was on, or to what the PhD will be on, go into that also; otherwise just mention it in passing.</p>\n\n<p>The admissions committee already has all the information they need from the CV about what your friend's background is. What they don't know is how she can think about a research project, and how she comes across in person (in a formal setting like a brief talk). The latter will happen regardless of the choice of topic, so the former is, in my opinion, what to aim for.</p>\n\n<p>Also, your friend should make sure that the presentation is tailored to the appropriate level for the people present! A bit of high-level why-is-this-important is good regardless of level, but if it's a very focused program in the same topic, she should go into more depth than if it's a broad one (e.g. computational neuroscience vs. biology).</p>\n\n<p>Anyway, if I were listening to such a presentation, I would be trying to figure out: is she interested in research? Does she understand it? Is she enthusiastic about it? And, since the near-universal advice is \"show, don't tell\", I'd be looking not for her to say that she does/is any of these things, but for it to be implicit in the presentation.</p>\n\n<p>Finally, I'm assuming she'll be talking one-on-one with a number of people also. That's probably more important! Stressing overly much about the presentation to the point of e.g. getting inadequate sleep is almost surely the wrong way to go.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/05/07 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9868",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7031/"
]
|
9,875 | <p>I applied in Master's programmes in Europe / Asia (mostly Germany) this year and most of them were rejected or are still pending. My GPA in the Bachelor's is 7.19 / 10 while my TOELF iBT score is 100 / 120. Most of the Universities stated on their websites that the GRE (General or Subject) is optional, so I did not take the GRE.</p>
<p>After getting so many rejections and still being unable to figure out why, I am now thinking of strengthening my application to apply again in fall 2014. I have mailed universities / professors inquiring about reasons for rejection / shortcomings of my application, but none have replied. The only reply I get is that there were a lot of applications and mine just failed to compete with them.</p>
<p>I wish to know more about why my applications failed and how to improve? Also, as I don't know anyone around, I prepared my Statement of Purpose, Letter of Recommendations, Research Proposal, etc by going through the internet and information on website of universities (I did not copy-paste, but used the tips on how to write and stuff). I have no idea if the reason for my failed applications were because of low GPA / no GRE score or ill-prepared statement / research plan. Also, where can I get these checked and get suggestions on improving them?</p>
<p>I am very passionate about Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Ubiquitous Computing. I am planning on quitting my job at Oracle Financial Services (where I'm working as as Associate Consultant, writing code since SEP 2011 after my Bachelor's) to prepare for my application and dedicate full time and energy. I am aiming for admission in top 20 universities for Computer Science of the world and also aiming for a good scholarship. I want to appear for GRE later this year and get very good scores to try to compensate for my low GPA. But, when I checked few top universities (like MIT), it was mentioned they don't accept GRE scores. How can I try and get into such universities?</p>
<p>My goal is to complete my Master's, PhD and then continue researching on my areas of interest. Furthermore, the Subject GRE for Computer Science has been discontinued as per the ETS website!</p>
<p>Is there any hope of getting in top universities with a Bachelor's degree from an unknown university which is practically nowhere in the rankings? What to do now and how to do it, I am pretty confused and hope that someone here can help me.</p>
<p>Thanks for your time.</p>
<p>Rahul</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9877,
"author": "JeffE",
"author_id": 65,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p><strong>Focusing on test scores will not get you into MIT.</strong></p>\n\n<p>You need research experience — real, world-class, publication-quality, independent research experience. A paper at a recognizable (from MIT) conference or workshop would be a big plus. The top students from the various IITs have such experience.</p>\n\n<p>You need a statement that clearly and compellingly describes your research interests, experience, and vision, with enough specific <em>technical</em> detail to be credible. As an example: Describe a recent result (not just a paper title!) of your potential advisor, and suggest a credible strategy for applying or improving it. Also, your statement should frame your ambition in terms of \"doing great research\", not in terms of \"getting into MIT\". The top students from the various IITs write such statements.</p>\n\n<p>You need recommendation letters from well-known (at MIT) academics that praise your research potential in personal, specific, and credible detail, with positive comparisons against other students from your home institution who have gone on to a top-10 PhD program. Your recommenders must write the letters themselves; you should never even see them. In particular, you should explicitly waive your right to see the letters later, if such a waiver is possible; most US schools offer such a waiver in their recommendation forms. The top students from the various IITs have letters like this.</p>\n\n<p>You need contacts. Or more accurately, your recommenders need contacts. <strong>Coming from \"an unknown university\" with a \"low GPA\", there is a serious risk that nobody will even open your application.</strong> If one of your recommenders knows someone at MIT, either personally or professionally, ask them to send a quick email (or have a hallway conversation at a conference) saying \"Hey, we have this great student Rahul Thakur who's applying to your department; you should take a look!\" Sending such an email yourself is unlikely to help. CS professors get <em>tons</em> of emails from random students at unknown universities; we call it \"spam\". The top students from the various IITs have these contacts.</p>\n\n<p>You need some strategy. <strong>All else being equal, it is harder to gain admission to top CS PhD programs to study AI than to study other areas.</strong> AI seems to be the default areas for really smart, talented, qualified students who really have no idea what they want to do. Machine learning is either a subset or a superset of AI, depending on your religion. (Theory suffers from the same effect, to a smaller extent.) In your case, you're probably better off emphasizing your interest in ubiquitous computing in your statement. But remember, you need specific and credible technical detail.</p>\n\n<p>Finally, you need luck. Graduate admissions is an inherently random process; <strong>no one</strong> should apply to MIT <em>expecting</em> to be admitted. Coming from an unknown university, your chances of admission are smaller than someone <em>with exactly the same application</em> coming from a highly-ranked school. Aiming only for MIT is foolish; limiting yourself to top-20 departments may be foolish as well. Don't rob yourself of opportunities!</p>\n\n<p>After all, your <em>real</em> goal is to do great research, not to get into a top-20 program. Right?</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 10084,
"author": "user774025",
"author_id": 86,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/86",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Getting into a top-20 university with a GPA of 7.1 from WBUT is an <strong>unrealistic goal</strong>. Instead of trying to get into a phd directly you should think getting a M tech degree first in India. I'll suggest that you should sit for the GATE examination and take admission for M tech in <em>old</em> IITs or IISc. Once you're in IITs or IISc, maintain a <em>very good gpa</em> and try to do some very good research.</p>\n\n<p>To just give you a hint how difficult it is, even students from IISc (which is the best institute in India) with GPA of 6.5/8 with publications don't get easy admissions in top-10 programs.</p>\n\n<p>After getting your Mtech from IITs or IISc you will be in a much much better position to apply for Top-20 phd programs in Computer Science. Many faculty members of IITs and IISc have got their phds from top-20 universities. So, they can give you very good letters of recommendation as well. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 41619,
"author": "Hi Lo",
"author_id": 11938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11938",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It comes down to funding in the UK at least for all but the most prestigious Universities.</p>\n\n<p>Being able to pay the (Non EU band) UK fees does give you preferential treatment despite the protestations to the contrary.</p>\n\n<p>Edinburgh is one of the top Universities in the world for AI and on my (MSc AI) course we had numerous Indian students, one of them was from an IIT, the rest from middling Indian Universities. Did you try Edinburgh?</p>\n\n<p>One of them is currently in Mumbai working and I'm sure could give you some advice, could twitter you his cell#.</p>\n\n<p>As for the <em>\"After all, your real goal is to do great research, not to get into a top-20 program. Right?\"</em></p>\n\n<p>I'd disagree. A top program indicates excellent teaching and the fostering of a good Research environment and great resources as well as far better post-doc opportunities - you will likely not get this at Podunk U.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 65703,
"author": "The Guy",
"author_id": 50533,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/50533",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I will share my story, it is somehow related. I got my BSc and MSc from a very average university in the Middle East (my GPA in BSc was below 2.7!!). So, of course I was conditionally admitted into the MSc program and by the time I graduated (2.5 years later), I had to work REALLY HARD and by then I was co-author of couple of journal and conference articles. When I started applying for PhD, I contacted many professors and applied in US and Canada but got rejections from most universities (although I had high TOEFL and GRE scores). </p>\n\n<p>Before I finished my MSc, my adviser has come up with this idea. To sent me to attend a conference to present my MSc research because he knew that some professors are going to be there. I went and met many of the professors that I have contacted by email (and never got a reply from). To be honest, they did not remember me as they receive 10s of emails from other students on a daily basis. Some have even told that they don't go over them. </p>\n\n<p>With couple of these professors who seemed interested in my MSc research, I have discussed my research interests as well as my BSc gpa and school issue. It turned out that it is risky to accept students with my gpa. The professor has to justify his decision somehow to the graduate committee. So, after one of these professors who saw my presentation, and knew that I was a co-author in couple of publication, said that he would go over my application one he gets back to his Uni. Few weeks later, I emailed him again and it turned out that the graduate committee would not admit me and asked me to redo my GRE and TOEFL to get higher scores! I did that, and finally got admitted! You should know that my school is top 50 in my field (civil engineering), my adviser is very well known, I got fully funded too, and I'm about to finalize my PhD!! </p>\n\n<p>This is the moral of the story;</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Get publications (its one of the only things you can control after you graduate, its too late to fix GPA or school name)</li>\n<li>Contacts matter! Attend conferences and get in touch with people</li>\n<li>NEVER GIVE UP!</li>\n</ul>\n"
}
]
| 2013/05/08 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9875",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7036/"
]
|
9,878 | <p>It is quite common (in some areas) to see the reference to the paper, which is cited as "to appear" or "in prepapation" but never actually appeared. Such citations are treated in the same way as references to unpublished results, conference talks, etc.</p>
<p>However, this approach doesn`t really work for references to preprints. The results <em>are</em> published. The problem is that old preprints (say, from 1985) are now inaccessible, they are often not digitized.</p>
<p>So, it is not clear how to treat such old preprints and papers based on results from them: should I believe the authors citing it or consider it as non-existent?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 9879,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You should try to track down the preprint. Having to track it down is annoying, but it's usually not hard to do by asking around. If your friends don't have a copy, and the author can no longer be contacted, then you should feel free to write to someone who has cited the preprint to ask if they know where to find a copy. (You can also try the author's collaborators, thesis advisor, students, etc.) When I've done this, it has generally led pretty quickly to a copy, and I've always found one eventually, even for unpublished work from 40+ years ago. If necessary, you can also do things like post online requesting a copy from anyone who has one, but this is typically not necessary.</p>\n\n<p>If you can't find a copy, I would suggest giving the citations you have seen the benefit of the doubt and mentioning the preprint in your paper; it's possible that the citations are mistaken, but not likely. If you can't verify the claims, you can note that you have not been able to track down a copy, but it is cited in X, Y, and Z. (You should only say this if you have seriously tried to locate one but failed.)</p>\n\n<p>For some purposes, seeing the preprint doesn't really matter. For example, you may be citing it merely to assign credit, in a situation where all the factual content can be obtained from elsewhere in the literature. In that case, it's perfectly reasonable to follow the consensus in the field about credit, without worrying about investigating it yourself.</p>\n\n<p>On the other hand, if your work depends on the actual content of the preprint in a way that cannot be verified without a copy, then you really need to track one down. Some people may be lazy about this, but that's not a responsible scholarly approach.</p>\n\n<p>The most frustrating situation is when you're told that something you've discovered may be previously known, but you are unable to access the paper that might contain it. In this case you need to try especially hard to find a copy, to counteract your natural incentive to give up and decide the paper doesn't exist or isn't relevant.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 9883,
"author": "earthling",
"author_id": 2692,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2692",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>While I completely agree with Anonymous Mathematicial, it is generally acceptable in my field to say \"Jones found x (1945, cited in Smith 1985).\" This makes it clear that you did not verify the information (from Jones) yourself but someone else (Smith) did claim it to be true.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/05/08 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9878",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7042/"
]
|
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.