qid
int64 1
194k
| question
stringlengths 46
29.5k
| answers
listlengths 2
32
| date
stringlengths 10
10
| metadata
listlengths 3
3
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
11,655 | <p>When writing a manuscript for a scientific article, I often wonder what software I should cite or acknowledge, and how.</p>
<p>The first problem is to make a choice <strong>which</strong> software to cite. On the one hand, there is no way to cite all software, as this would mean to cite my whole software stack (Linux, GNU tools, emacs, git, ...). On the other hand, not citing any software is not fair, either. Furthermore, some software explicitly asks to be cited, some software doesn't. Also, some software is really crucial to the results, some isn't. Another important aspect is that citing software is not only about giving credit to the authors of the software, but also to give other scientists hints on what software they might want to use. So, the choice which software to cite is a problem.</p>
<p>The second problem is <strong>how</strong> to cite the software. Some (scientific) software does provide a classical scientific article that can be cited. However, in this case, no URL to the software is given. Others do not have an associated article. How do I cite these? I have seen people that cite the manual of a software, others just give the URL. What is the way to go?</p>
<p>Another aspect is <strong>where</strong> to cite the software. Some software can be cited in the course of the articles text, but when it comes to more fundamental software, other places may be more appropriate.</p>
<p>Are there any good ideas out there on any of these aspects?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 11656,
"author": "olenz",
"author_id": 8038,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8038",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>After some thought on the matter, my own approach in my next manuscript will probably go like this:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p><strong>Which</strong>: To choose which software to cite, I would try to answer the following questions:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>Is there a scientific article that can be cited and are the authors of the software asking to be cited? </p></li>\n<li><p>Was this specific software relevant to the results of the manuscript? If there are plenty of alternatives to the software and you use it merely because you knew it, this is probably not a reason to cite it. But if I used and profited from the specific features of a software, then it is probably worth citing it.</p></li>\n<li><p>Do I explicitly want to give credits to the software? Maybe I found the software very good to use and I want to tell other scientists to use it, then I would cite it.</p></li>\n</ul></li>\n<li><p><strong>How</strong>: If there is a scientific article, I cite it in the classical way. However, I would also cite a URL of the software, as this makes it significantly easier for a reader to find the software. Otherwise, cite the URL. Citing the manual doesn't make sense to me, the only reason to do so would be to give explicit credits to an author.</p></li>\n<li><p><strong>Where</strong>: If I can cite a software in the course of the text, I do so, otherwise, I would make an appropriate paragraph in the Introduction or Acknowledgements.</p></li>\n</ol>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11668,
"author": "cbeleites unhappy with SX",
"author_id": 725,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/725",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>A few additional thoughts to your answer:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Otherwise, cite the URL.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>cite also the version.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Citing the manual doesn't make sense to me, the only reason to do so would be to give explicit credits to an author.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<ul>\n<li>sometimes the manual is a normal book, so this allows you to cite it in analogy to the \"there is a paper\" strategy. </li>\n<li>manuals usually have the version of the software in their name.</li>\n<li>maybe a practical historical reason: BibTeX has an entry type @MANUAL (since at least 25 years), so for BibTeX users manuals are an easy way to cite the software. </li>\n</ul>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>otherwise, I would make an appropriate paragraph in the Introduction or Acknowledgements.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I use a paragraph \"software\" in the materials & methods section</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 38296,
"author": "Roger Bohn",
"author_id": 28946,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28946",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>An variant of this question was asked today: <em>Whether</em> to cite software. Here is my answer about \"whether.\" </p>\n\n<p>Yes, cite key software that you use! Citing the work of software developers, by their name, is important to some careers. I'm a faculty member at a major research university, and we do a lot of \"counting papers\" and \"counting citations\" when it comes to promotion/pay/tenure cases. (I don't fully approve of how we do this, but that's irrelevant here.) Since open-source software is often not carefully cited, this really discourages aspiring junior faculty (and grad students) from working on it.</p>\n\n<p>If they have written a paper about the software, by all means cite that. Our systems are quite good at tracking citations of academic papers (at least, citations in other academic journals). Otherwise, cite by name + web site. </p>\n\n<p>You are also helping your <em>readers</em>, by being clearer about your methods, and giving them a place they can look if they want to pursue your techniques further. </p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/05 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11655",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8038/"
]
|
11,659 | <p>Are there <em>written</em> or <em>unwritten</em> rules for avoiding the use of first-person while writing research papers? I was advised at the beginning of my grad school to avoid use of first person - but I still don't know why I should do this.</p>
<p>I have seen that, at many places, authors refer to themselves are "the authors" and not "we". At the same time, I have also seen use of first-person to a good extent. </p>
<p>Do these things differ in different Journals and Conferences (and in different disciplines as well - mine happens to be CS)?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 11694,
"author": "earthling",
"author_id": 2692,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2692",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>The <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2945/choice-of-personal-pronoun-in-single-author-papers\">link provided</a> in the first comment above has a VERY useful answer but I will add a little bit as to the <strong>why</strong> part of your question.</p>\n\n<p>In writing research papers, the reader's focus should be on the idea, not the author. Yes, you did the research but the point is not \"Everyone! Look what I did. I am so great!\" </p>\n\n<p>The research paper should be more along the lines of \"Everyone! Look what is new and interesting. This information is really great!\"</p>\n\n<p>So, the purpose of the research report is not \"I did this\" but rather \"This was done.\" For this reason, it is quite common to use the passive voice (this was done) rather than the active voice (I did this).</p>\n\n<p>Personally, I disagree that removing the use of the word \"I\" prevents writing readable English. I do agree that is makes the writing more difficult but lots of things are more difficult when they are done the proper way. That doesn't mean we give up and do it the wrong way because it is easier.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 18333,
"author": "badroit",
"author_id": 7746,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7746",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>@earthling's accepted answer -- to use the passive voice -- is perhaps the convention in certain disciplines, but it is crucial to note that <strong>the active voice is the convention in others</strong>. Using the passive voice will make a paper sound daft and amateurishly pompous in certain communities. </p>\n\n<p>My preference is very much for the active voice, first person (plural in almost all cases). This is also the most prevalent convention in my community (applied CS).</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>The strongest argument (and it is a very strong one!) against passive voice is that it removes all responsibility from the doer: it leaves ambiguity as to who did what, which is crucial for proper attribution in scientific writing. </p>\n\n<p>For example:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>The methods of Franklin et. al. were taken. The software was implemented in Java.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Who implemented the methods? The authors of the current paper or Franklin and his pals? Who should be contacted if there's errors in the software? Who's to credit and who's to blame?</p>\n\n<p>Even aside from ambiguity, in the hands of a deceptive author, the passive voice could be used to subtly claim credit for others' work.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>The methods of Franklin et. al. were taken. These methods were extended to incorporate the inputs previously described.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>... the authors make it sound a bit like they did the extending, but maybe they didn't?</p>\n\n<p>The second argument against the omnipresent passive voice is more subjective: that for many people (including me), it sucks to read, it sucks all humanity from the writing, any modesty it provides is entirely false, and it just generally sounds pompous.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>So if using the active voice, which person to use? Again this is convention, but talking about yourself in the third person is again considered silly in many communities (although mandatory in some journals!). Also using the third-person can introduce the same ambiguities regarding what was <em>your work</em> and what was the work of others:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>The methods of Franklin et. al. were taken. The authors extended these methods to incorporate the inputs previously described.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p><strong>Leaving convention aside, first person is the only voice with a clear <em>objective</em> argument in favour of it: it avoids ambiguity as to who did what!</strong></p>\n\n<p>All arguments for passive voice refer to subjective matters of style or (false) modesty. (Aside from which, I feel that first person active voice is a more natural style!)</p>\n\n<p><strong>However, you should follow the convention of the venue you are submitting the paper to!</strong></p>\n\n<p>See these <a href=\"http://www.sci.utah.edu/~macleod/writing/passive-letters.html\">letters to Nature</a>, for more on the debate. \n(The second author sounds ridiculously pompous to me.)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 20061,
"author": "derelict",
"author_id": 14547,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14547",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The use of \"passive voice\" started to become common in US journals in the 1920's. The reason for this is that science and the conclusions you draw from your analyses should be objective, which comes across more easily in the passive voice. This is actually a heated debate in many academic circles. Most journals encourage the use of passive voice, and some reviewers may give you a hard time if you use active voice in a paper you're trying to publish. </p>\n\n<p>It's best to target your audience and write for them. For example, if you are writing an article for a science magazine, the active voice might be more suitable. It certainly comes across as more exciting. </p>\n\n<p>Some good reading on this matter can be found <a href=\"https://cgi.duke.edu/web/sciwriting/index.php?action=passive_voice\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">here</a> and <a href=\"http://www.sci.utah.edu/~macleod/writing/passive-letters.html\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">here</a>. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 20068,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Saying \"a method was used . . . \" doesn't make the method, or your use of it objective. Nobody who is stupid enough to be fooled into thinking that will be reading your journal article. Besides, what you want is to <em>be</em> objective, not just <em>sound</em> objective. If you have a firm grasp on your method, your data and your conclusion, then the objectivity of the results will be obvious. </p>\n\n<p>For instance,</p>\n\n<p>\"My hypothesis is h. Since h implies p, I used method m, since m will tell us whether p or not because m works by . . . . And when I used m, it clearly reported that not-p. So, my hypothesis turned out to be false.\" </p>\n\n<p>Sentences like this create a narrative with helpful guideposts, showing how you arrived at your conclusion and bringing the reader along with you. Narratives help you attract readers outside the immediate small circle of people already familiar with the problems, methods and principle results of your sub-discipline. </p>\n\n<p>As a humanities guy who occasionally really wants to find out what's going on in relevant empirical literature, I find it really difficult to discover the information that I want because I simply cannot discern <em>why</em> we are using certain experimental or statistical methods, <em>how</em> those methods imply the conclusions the authors claim, or <em>what</em> the ultimate significance of the results of the individual experiments are for the overall conclusion that the paper is ostensibly about. Tell a good story that includes how the experimental work and mathematical analysis all fit together, and you'll attract a broader audience, I promise. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 20073,
"author": "Nate Eldredge",
"author_id": 1010,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In mathematics, <em>we</em> is used in a few subtly different ways:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>To mean <em>the author(s)</em>: \"We are not aware of any previous work on reticulated splines.\" (But maybe we just didn't look hard enough.)</p></li>\n<li><p>To mean <em>the author(s) and the reader</em>: \"We see from Theorem 5 that every snark is a boojum.\" (You are supposed to be able to see it too.)</p></li>\n<li><p>To mean <em>the mathematical community</em>: \"We lack a complete classification of cromulent blobs.\" (No such classification exists, but it sure would be nice if it did.)</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>Usually it is clear from context which meaning is intended. But occasionally third-person phrasing like <em>the authors</em> will be used to emphasize or clarify that the sentence is only referring to the authors, and not anyone else. \"We cannot prove Conjecture 6 using these techniques\" could be ambiguous: is it an absolute claim that it is impossible to do so, or merely an admission of failure by the authors? \"The authors cannot prove Conjecture 6 using these techniques\" resolves it in one direction. To make an absolute claim, you might use the passive voice: \"Conjecture 6 cannot be proved using these techniques.\"</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 72157,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This is highly field dependent. Actually, in certain social fields such as women/gender studies, African American studies, ethnography, etc. it is <strong>required</strong> to use \"I\", to disclose any biases. \"I am a 30 year old white male\" etc. </p>\n\n<p>I know advisers that would outright reject a thesis that <strong>doesn't explicitly use \"I\"</strong> in this manner (or at least something like \"the author is ___\").</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/05 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11659",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5851/"
]
|
11,660 | <p>Many students arrive at University and struggle with the transition from school. </p>
<p>Has anyone run/attended a lecture in which some or all of the following topics - or similar - were covered? Note - I am envisaging a mandatory single lecture for first-years which is independent of course/faculty. </p>
<p><strong>How to behave in class</strong></p>
<p>e.g. little/no talking while the lecturer is talking; what to do if arriving late (go in through a rear door, and/or apologise), </p>
<p><strong>How to ask help of a lecturer/tutor</strong></p>
<p>e.g. make an appointment and arrive on time if you want to ensure you get attention; don't arrive unprepared - show that you've done some reading and/or attempted to solve the problem yourself; have a series of well-defined questions ready, rather than just "can't do it"; don't show up 24 hours prior to a deadline set a month ago asking for help that should have been sought weeks ago and expect miracles;</p>
<p><strong>How to engage with lecturers</strong></p>
<p>e.g. forms of address - initial formality (e.g. "Hello Dr/Prof. X") is very likely to be appreciated and then met with an invitation to be more informal (call me "Phil"). Remind that lecturers are often engaged in other teaching and/or research and may often be too busy to chat if you just drop by their office.</p>
<p><strong>How to engage with students</strong></p>
<p>Remind the students that they are adults, this is not school, there are now serious consequences for breaches of behavioural codes. </p>
<p>Note, this subject material is not course or subject specific, nor am I envisaging the lecture as part of a lecture course, where only a subset of the year group attends. I envisage a mandatory class that all first-year students must attend at the start of the year. Furthermore, it sets out only the basic requirements of behaviour - specific lecturers might have their own additional policies on behaviour that they follow in their class.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 11670,
"author": "eykanal",
"author_id": 73,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/73",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>These are four very different topics, with distinct answers for each.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>How to behave in class</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>This is typically deliniated by each professor on a class-dependent basis, as expected behavior will vary from course to course.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>How to ask help of a lecturer/tutor</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>This is pretty low-level etiquette, and these sorts of things are typically tacitly conveyed through interactions with the community rather than being formally discussed in a lecture.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>How to engage with lecturers</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Again, varies from lecturer to lecturer.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>How to engage with students</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I've seen this discussed in a wide variety of settings, including seminars, course lectures, lab meetings, and individual advisor discussions.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11688,
"author": "J. Zimmerman",
"author_id": 7921,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7921",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I attended such a course during my first semester at a community college. It was mandatory for all incoming students, in all fields/majors.\nThis course covered most of the topics you mentioned, plus effective study habits, time management, basic computer and research skills, and brief experience with PowerPoint and givng a presentation. A major focus of the course was introducing students to resources they could use if they ran into difficulties with studies or life experiences. For me, the course was not very useful, since I already had a strong foundation in those essential life skills. However, to other students, the course proved very useful.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13166,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I set up an introductory lecture for students. Some of it was along the lines you outlined but there were some additional points which I will mention.</p>\n\n<p>I had the possibility to run a short written anonymous survey asking for (up to three) keywords about their (1) expectations, (2) reason for studying in general, (3) reason for choosing the topic, (4) what they are elt uncertain about with their coming studies, (5) what they considered most important about studies, (6) listing differences and similarities between higher ed. and lower ed., (7) their roll as student, (8) the lecturers roll, and (9) what they look forward to the most. This was collected and could be summarized in an an hour before my lecture so I could use the outcome to discuss their answers directly.</p>\n\n<p>First, I had students discuss in groups of four in the lecture hall to briefly answer the questions: why get an univ. ed.? How does a univ. ed. work? and what distinguishes university from lower level ed.? This formed the basis for going into, and this could possibly differ slightly between systems, the very clear differences between school and university. In school teachers are there to teach you and it is their job to make sure you understand. At the university, lecturers are there to present, help explain and structure material. The learning is the job of the student, not the lecturer. The lecturer facilitates learning. So, bluntly speaking, the difference is that if you do not learn in school it could be blamed on the school but if you do not learn at a university, you need to primarily blame yourself.</p>\n\n<p>I also pointed out the importance of skill such as the written and spoken word, study habits and computer skills (many other specific to the particular education could be mentioned). These skills are usually not mentioned anywhere but are outcomes of almost every course in one way or another.</p>\n\n<p>Second, I outlined the many rolls of someone working at a university: teach, develop teaching, teach and advice graduate students, research (including writing proposals), administration, maintain national and international contacts, and research information to society (please add if you can think of more tasks. It is important to understand the conditions under which the lecturers live.</p>\n\n<p>Third: <em>Professional attitude</em>. Pointing out that studies are serious but also that they should be fun through good social interactions and that students and lecturers in a way are colleagues in a common project, to complete a successful and useful education.</p>\n\n<p>I also re-ran the survey once they were done with the course (which ran a full term) and could then repeat and highlight the differences in their answers. The main point of this is to get everyone to at least have heard the same \"truth\" about what they were about to embark upon. For some it was no news but many expressed that they received a better picture of what it is all about. There certainly was a lot more understanding for the lecturers reality than earlier.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/05 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11660",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1424/"
]
|
11,663 | <p>How can I motivate my undergrad students to do research?</p>
<p>Since these students are at an undergrad level, I don't expect any extraordinary results. However, I would like if they get something published (even in low impact publications).</p>
<p>Undergrads almost never do research in our country. It's not even a requirement of the course. But, I want to motivate them for research. If they get something published, it would encourage them in the future.</p>
<p>In our country, research at the undergraduate level is almost non-existent. I want to introduce this concept at the undergrad level, but I don't want to force anything upon them. I just want to show them the benefits of research.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 11664,
"author": "Swagatika",
"author_id": 8047,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8047",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would say, as a teacher, you can allot a project as a mandatory part of course. This project should count towards the final evaluation of the course. You need to do a bit of design and planning about the project and research idea that you want to implement. Then you may divide the work among students based on their strengths and weaknesses. You may assign one group to the whole project and assign individual modules to the students or you may create many groups and each group an individual module. Once this phase of project is over, you will be able to assess the students by their research caliber and motivate the good students for further work, which may be another project with more intensity. In addition to this, you can motivate them to go to better universities and industries for project work. This will really broaden their outlook. They will start looking beyond getting some CGPA and grabbing a job. I hope I could give you some idea :P</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11665,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Perhaps teach it to them as doing research leads to potential publications, which in turn leads to them increasing their 'research profiles' - which will provide a great advantage for if they wish to pursue postgraduate studies, as there is often a lot of research necessary in Masters and PhD programs.</p>\n\n<p>This won't necessarily get all of the students motivated (as some may not be interested in further study), but may be a stepping stone in making this a normal practice in the undergraduate course.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11689,
"author": "J. Zimmerman",
"author_id": 7921,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7921",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>One of my favorite undergraduate classes had a original research requirement, as well as a publishing requirement. Neither was very stringent; the original research requirement was that we collect some data on our own, while the publishing requirement was to provide proof of submission of a manuscript. It gave us a taste of research and publishing, which in some caes led to in-depth, sophisticate research while the students were still undergrads. \nDon't be afraid to make some research a requirement for your students. They will learn that they are capable of more than they thought, and it is likely that a few students will run with the opportunity and produce results that may surprise even you.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11693,
"author": "debray",
"author_id": 7974,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7974",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Have you considered making it some sort of contest? Students will go to astonishing lengths to win a competition. :-)</p>\n\n<p>I'll give you an example. One of the undergraduate classes I teach is a C programming class, and towards the end of the term we spend a couple of weeks on performance optimization. For the corresponding assignments the students are asked to speed up a slow program given to them. Their score on those assignments depends on the speedup they are able to get, and -- here's the kicker -- if they can beat the performance of my solution they get a 20% bonus. I've seen students explore exotic data structures and algorithms, figure out how to embed hand-tuned assembly code, and teach themselves how to write multi-threaded code, just so they can say they beat the instructor. It's really terrific watching them push themselves to excel.</p>\n\n<p>Your situation is almost certainly different from mine, but I think it's still fair to say that students will self-engage, and push themselves to think creatively and explore different solutions, if the motivation to excel is coming from the inside -- which is really what research is all about.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11704,
"author": "Antillar Maximus",
"author_id": 2678,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2678",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I've discovered that an effective way to engage undergrads is to give them a tour of your lab and let them shadow a grad student or other undergrads for a few days. Speak with them as often as you can to gauge what they are interested in and let them get a feel for your research group. Handing students off to a grad student or a postdoc and not speaking to them for a month is not going to work. It would be nice if you can give them a short term goal, say a poster presentation. </p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/05 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11663",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6273/"
]
|
11,666 | <p>Suppose that a systematic review on a topic X was published some (3-8) years ago by someone else, and it is currently still a useful source for what has been made before it was published. However, more recent works were also published later.</p>
<p>Generally, how can I decide whether it is a good idea to work on a newer systematic review for publication, taking into account that the newer review could be (somewhat) similar in methodology and would be based on extended and more recent literature (including that already reviewed in the published one)?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 11674,
"author": "justtthinking",
"author_id": 8053,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8053",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would include only the work done after the other publication, with the occasional exception of including papers which would be too important to leave out. Of course, if you think the previous review was not a good one, you can do it all over again. Before starting, check what are the main implications of the other review: were there some open important question, which have now been solved; bad practises in the reviewed field, which have been corrected; etc.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11676,
"author": "Parker",
"author_id": 8056,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8056",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p><strong>When?</strong> </p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Whenever there is a set of papers that has significantly extended or changed the topic of interest.</li>\n<li>If you have to do it as part of your thesis.</li>\n<li>If you are contributing with a new approach/method in a publication (the literature review would typically be part of the Introduction).</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>My advice: do not spend too much time on writing and trying to publish a literature review if the problem has not evolved significantly during this time. Most of this kind of works get lost in an ocean of surveys.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/05 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11666",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4018/"
]
|
11,675 | <p>I have been reading in different forums now and searching for the advice that can give me an answer to my dilemma of quitting or continuing my PhD. In this search I did not find any entry to why I should stay in the PhD.</p>
<p><strong>Profile</strong>: Female, 29 years old. Undergraduate in agricutural engineering and MSc in environmental studies</p>
<p><strong>CONTEXT</strong></p>
<p><strong>I started my PhD</strong> on political economy 14 months ago. At the beginning I did not like the topic at all. However <strong>doing a PhD has always been my dream,</strong> as I am very curious and I love learning something new everyday. So despite my lack of theoretical foundations on this discipline, I was so passionate about politics that I considered it was the gap I needed to cover on my interdisciplinary education in order to understand the state of the agriculture nowadays. </p>
<p>At the start, I was not convinced of the reputation of my host university so I decided to search for a second supervisor who was internationally well-known and recognised in the field. Then, I engaged in different theoretical courses in order to acquire the background I was lacking and started working with both my supervisors.</p>
<p><strong>After my preliminary fieldwork,</strong> I came back depressed, demotivated and wanting to quit. I realised that I did not have any other alternatives, so I started job hunting while I was giving my last change to the PhD. Steadily I brought the topic to a terrain I like more and I became a bit more enthusiastic about it. However it is not (and has never been) the topic I am passionate about. On top of that it implies the need for more fieldwork (1 year) and living in harsh situations that are not appealling anymore. Furthermore I realised that jumping into a new and so abstract discipline <strong>is representing to me a more major challenge than I initially expected and I feel that I am much slower than my other colleagues.</strong> I realised <strong>I am no longer the bright student that I used to be before</strong> and maybe I am not made to deal with the construction of knowledge that academia represents. I also started questioning the power relations in the academia and how hard and competitive it may become. I start feeling a lot of stress and <strong>lose more and more self-confidence</strong> on what and if I can do it. And finally I questioned if I really want to do a PhD? For what? What are the reasons that hamper me to quit? Why I am staying?</p>
<p><strong>DILEMMA: TO STAY OR NOT TO STAY?</strong></p>
<p><strong>The reasons why I am staying</strong> is firstly because I love research (but I hate academia). I love learning something new everyday and engaging in discussions with very interesting people. However I hate the competitiviness that academia embodies and the constant show-off it implies. It makes me feel terribly insecure and to not enjoy the learning process.
I love the people I met along the way and I adore and admire my supervisors. However the topic is not the one that makes me feel super motivated in the tough moments.</p>
<p><strong>The reasons that hamper me from quitting</strong> are the compromise I felt I have acquired with my both supervisors. The amount of money and time they have invested in me makes me feel I owe them to finish... Additionally both of them are very recognised people in the field, so in case I would decide to quit this PhD and change into another one where my passion is... I wonder what my credibility as an scholar would be if I keep changing without completing things. </p>
<p>So I asked constantly since a long time ago: <strong>whether or not I want to do a PhD?</strong> I get to the conclusion I can work in research in many other places (i.e. think tanks, international organisations) that even if, and most likely, might be also competitive and with power relations involved, I don't have to deal with the theoretical issues that are killing me now. I realised that I am more an action, hands-on person that search for solutions to problems and don't like so much revolving around a problem for so looooooong (which is one of the things why I can not find the passion in my topic). I realised that I don't need a PhD for doing so and that the labour market can not absorb so many Doctors.</p>
<p>So having reflected on what I would like to do in my life (which I can not now see how it will be in academia), <strong>my fears about quitting the PhD are</strong>:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>I don't have alternatives now. I searched for them but I see it is incompatible to be job hunting while trying to make sense of my PhD (in terms of emotions and time).</p></li>
<li><p>I am scared of regretting quitting the academia and not being able to work in research in the future.</p></li>
<li><p>I don't know if I can stand the disappointment of my supervisors for quitting.</p></li>
<li><p>I don't want to lose contact with the wonderful people I met along the way.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>And <strong>why do I want to quit</strong>?</p>
<p>I am fed up of theory. I am not good at engaging with it and I don't understand it. This is stressing me incredibly and is becoming a very painful process.
I don't want to defend myself in everything I elaborate putting all my intellectual effort, because someone else may find many things in my work to criticise.
I am not passionate about the topic.
I don't want to go back either to the fieldwork or to my host university.
I feel I have many other skills that are hidden in academia. However when I develop those skills I feel much happier (like social skills).</p>
<p>So what shall I do? I would appreciate any advice (apologies if I did spelling mistakes but I am not a native english speaker)</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 11677,
"author": "Parker",
"author_id": 8056,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8056",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This sort of dilemmas are very common among PhD students. The reasons for this and possible solutions widely vary for different people. The best thing to do is to attend therapy. Many universities offer this service for free, and the psychologists involved with this are very familiar with this sort of problems. If this service is not offered by your university, then you may want to spend some money on this. It is an important decision and you should not take it lightly.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11680,
"author": "debray",
"author_id": 7974,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7974",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Given how little I know about the specifics of your situation, it would be inappropriate of me to advise you on a life decision of the magnitude of whether or not to stay in your PhD program -- if at all possible, please talk to people who know you well: friends, family, colleagues, advisors, mentors.</p>\n\n<p>You mentioned four reasons for not wanting to quit. It seems to me that, of those four, you should disregard (at least) the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p><em>\"I am scared of regretting quitting the academia and not being able to work in research in the future\"</em> -- if you want to return to academia in the future, usually you can. There may be a cost, but note that there is also a cost to maintaining the status quo.</p></li>\n<li><p><em>\"I don't know if I can stand the disappointment of my supervisors for quitting.\"</em> You are not responsible for your supervisor's happiness, only your own.</p></li>\n<li><p><em>\"I don't want to lose contact with the wonderful people I met along the way.\"</em> Staying in touch with people you like is independent of earning any academic degree.</p></li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 15146,
"author": "Luta V",
"author_id": 10303,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10303",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><strong>You</strong></p>\n\n<p>The dilemma here is more of what you feel in class than what your life should entail. I'm going to sound vague but I beg that you pick points from it. First, about feeling incapable, you should never let anything or anyone make you feel inferior. You have a life and your academia should not dictate much of it. The people you've met and those who you will meet will be in touch with you because they like you personality and not your PhD. As for your supervisor, lecturer etc, they are doing their work and you are liable to their happiness or disappointment. </p>\n\n<p><strong>Job Market</strong></p>\n\n<p>I see that you're looking at the job market while making the decisions about what you want to do; on this, kindly know that the job market is ever changing and you should therefore do what you like. The labor market may require specialist in political economy now and by the time you complete your PhD, the political economy labor market becomes saturated and less rewarding. Doing what you like has an advantage in that you can always do something with it no matter the situation in the labor market. There is this discussion among HRs that always sound vague and shallow but it is important. It is about the zeroth and first degree. These two degrees are more important than the rest (other degrees). You will most likely get a job based on your first degree (undergraduate degree) than with the PhD or Masters degree. Just in case you intend to be a lecturer in political economy, the question is; What do you intend to lecture yet you lack most of the foundation around the subject of political economy. Most foundation are found in undergraduate level. I suggest you do a PhD that will built up to what you did in undergraduate and masters level. The lack of foundation is what is making PhD more harder for you but remember that there is no easy subject in this world.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Money</strong></p>\n\n<p>I understand how you feel after spending your time and money for this long. You're young (Only 29 years. Sorry if I sound rude) and can still start a new. I suggest that instead wasting time and money on a subject, that makes you loose what you've built for the last 29 years, you should change to a PhD that relates or is more relevant to your undergraduate and masters degrees. You will learn to love the other subject with time (Example: individual's ambitions and targets change over time after interacting with several things i.e you may find that at 10 years, you wanted to be a doctor but at 18 years you want to be an engineer). Don't base most of your decision on the money because you will end up missing the point.</p>\n\n<p>You are better place for the future by studying a PhD that is more related to your undergraduate and masters degree than by studying other PhD subjects. The future is about specialization and not diversity.\nI can give so many reasons but think this is enough for now.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 15846,
"author": "Matt",
"author_id": 10903,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10903",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As a PhD quitter, I can relate to your situation. Before discussing the main topic, I’d like to state that I didn't notice you were not a native English speaker before you mentioned it. Neither am I. And I haven’t read the other answers before writing mine.</p>\n\n<p>Back on topic: I was confronted to some of the same issues when I was working as a PhD student in the U.S., originally coming from France. My decisions were made easier because I believe the professor who supervised me despised me. I quit after 3 years, leaving the field of research completely. At the time the logic was:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>There just were not enough jobs in research, even for the top tier of students.</li>\n<li>I was slower than other students.</li>\n<li>I was not motivated and had no support from my supervisor.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>If you have a tendency towards procrastination (like I do), you can spend ages staying in a position that you don’t like.</p>\n\n<p>What I suggest is giving some thought to the following questions, which I think are those that matter the most:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>What do I want to do in the next years? Don’t limit your options yet. Think freely.</li>\n<li>How do I get there? Imagine what could be the best strategy to get there.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>If point 2 involves quitting your current position, think about it as a career move. No one wants to hurt feelings, but we’re talking about your life, not anyone else’s. If you explain that your decision comes from logical thinking, this should not be an issue. Offer to leave your notes in pristine condition; offer to train or work with a new student for a couple of months. You may be surprised by your supervisors being supportive with the new direction you want to take. An experienced supervisor will certainly try to step in your shoes.</p>\n\n<p>Where I currently work, we've had 4 directors (the top guy in the company) in two years, each one quitting after 3 months or less. They are supposed to care the most about the company, but they have no problem moving along if there’s something wrong.</p>\n\n<p>A PhD was a childhood dream for me too. Now I don’t care. In my field a PhD means going from one postdoc position to another until the age of 35 or more. Sixteen years have passed since I quit. I’ve been working for years as an independent contractor in IT. I was recently hired by my main client, but I’m not sure if I’ll stay. (If 4 directors can resign, I can too!)</p>\n\n<p>About learning every day, be sure that you can still do it at any age, whatever your job is. I never gave up doing “research” on a personal level. So many books are written on everything. The internet is a blessing. YouTube is a great source of knowledge with lectures, documentaries, video blogs.</p>\n\n<p>Addressing some of the specific issues you mention:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>There is a world outside academia. Academia is like a box, but it is only after you get out of the box that you realize this. The academic ways of thinking are very formatted. Being successful in academia requires diplomatic and political skills that are not involved in research.</p></li>\n<li><p>About regretting academia: just think about the miserable times you had. This should cure you.</p></li>\n<li><p>About your supervisors disappointment: don’t worry too much about them. Your mother is going to be a lot more disappointed ;-) No, just joking. When I told my father I was quitting my PhD, I was expecting he would be upset. He just said, “Oh, I see. Okay.”</p></li>\n<li><p>About losing contact with the wonderful people: you will lose some contacts whether you get a PhD or not. Even if you stay around, some won’t. But you’ll stay in touch with the best.</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>I’m not pretending to offer a turnkey solution, only a few ideas to think about. Obviously my answer is biased in one direction: this is from my personal experience, but you really look like you have had enough of this.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 16343,
"author": "FraserOfSmeg",
"author_id": 11359,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11359",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Since no answers are supposed to be opinion base on this site, this answer comes with a warning: the following is my opinion. Take it for whatever you will.</p>\n\n<p>A lot of the above answers seem to be aimed towards quitting, either because they think that's what you should do or they've decided that's what you're going to do (it seems this way to me anyway).</p>\n\n<p>A word of advice from a fellow PhD student: <strong>Do not quit</strong>. Irrespective of how much you're enjoying your PhD, it's a qualification of your ability to research and approach a problem. Not the specific subject matter. Yes it shows you have a depth of knowledge in the specific subject of your PhD, but it's also used as a proof of your capacity for research. I'm a lowly PhD student as yourself, so this advice isn't coming from me. I've spoken to a few lecturers at different university before starting my PhD (and since) and this was the consensus. A final reason to stick with it is the human factor. As other answers have said, you <em>shouldn't</em> be turned down for future research positions just because you left this one - you shouldn't, but you may be. The Lecturer who's managing the future PhD is going to want to fill the position with someone who will fulfil the job. They may not say they'll turn you down because you've left a PhD before but it will be part of the consideration.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/05 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11675",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8055/"
]
|
11,678 | <p>There's no way to evade having a lot of acronyms in a scientific paper, often already in the title.</p>
<p>I use the <a href="/questions/tagged/latex" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'latex'" rel="tag">latex</a> package <code>glossaries</code> to automatically expand the first use of every acronym (except usage in the title), but for a scientific paper, I do not include a table of acronyms (for my thesis I do). In a long paper, if someone does not remember all acronyms or does not read sequentially, it could be difficult to look up the meaning.</p>
<p>If I use a not very well known acronym in, say, line 100, and again in line 500, should I expand it again, or is it a better style to stick with expanding only and exactly once?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 11681,
"author": "cbeleites unhappy with SX",
"author_id": 725,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/725",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<ul>\n<li>(I've been using a table with abbreviations also in a paper, that was no problem at all)</li>\n<li>For longer texts (thesis) I give long version and abbreviation again if the abbreviation has not been used for \"a while\" of the text. E.g. introduced in the introduction, but next used in chapter 7 (400 lines ≈ 10-11 pages, that I'd consider probably close enough for not giving the long form again).</li>\n<li>It may be a good idea to have the long forms in parts of the text that are expected to be read without the rest (obviously in the introduction, but also in summary and outlook)</li>\n<li>I also consider how widely-used and how ambiguous the abbreviation is: Does PCA mean principal component analysis or polymerase chain reaction? Is LDA linear discriminant analysis or latent dirichlet allocation?</li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11682,
"author": "Rex Kerr",
"author_id": 669,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/669",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Ask the journal or conference where you're going to publish the paper. Some specify that it is, indeed, exactly once at the first use. (Shorter-format journals especially prefer this.) Others prefer \"upon first use and where necessary for clarity\" instead.</p>\n\n<p>Regardless, in a long work with many acronyms that may be referenced out of order, there is no substitute for a table. Likewise if you define specialized symbols, a table of symbols greatly simplifies out-of-order reading. It's often worth devoting a table to such things even if your allowed number of figures and tables is limited.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11685,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>First, try to avoid acronyms unless you repeat it frequently. </p>\n\n<p>In the case you mention, occurring twice, an acronym is not warranted. New acronyms may be useful if it is likely that it will be used over and over again, both in your paper and in subsequent ones. It is difficult to say how many repetitions is needed before an acronym may become a viable option. </p>\n\n<p>Acronyms generally make a paper less readable. We all know some like DNA or UN and particularly in the first case the acronym is easier to remember than the actual words. So use acronyms sparingly, be careful about what you abbreviate, and avoid publishing acronyms that only your research group uses unless it starts to become a standard (identified by other people also using it in presentations etc.). I think many acronyms start by it becoming jargon first. Trying to be restrictive is the best measure.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/05 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11678",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1033/"
]
|
11,679 | <p>I recently graduated and am temporarily employed as a lecturer at the school I graduated from (9 hours a week of teaching, not counting prep time). There's a weekly seminar on my field of interest, and I've been asked to take over hosting it. This would involve handling various logistics like planning the meetings, planning lunches, booking the room, etc. etc. It would be a lot of work... On the other hand it might be a neat opportunity to network/make connections/etc., but not that much better than the opportunity one would get just by attending the seminar.</p>
<p>Should I do it or should I save that time for working on my own research/jobhunting?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 11683,
"author": "Thomas",
"author_id": 6984,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6984",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It's in your interest to focus on research, then job search, then teaching, then service. This is service, so lowest priority. See if you can get a student assistant (grad or undergrad) to do a lot of the grunt work, while you handle the higher level logistical stuff. If you can't get some help, doesn't sound like it's worth your time.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11695,
"author": "Anonymous",
"author_id": 6110,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6110",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would suggest that you decline. If there are enough researchers in your group to host a decent seminar, then there are enough people with job security to handle the grunt work.</p>\n\n<p>Offer to help out, say, by seeking out and inviting people, chatting them up, and going to dinner with them, but I would avoid any and all grunt work. You have a good excuse.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11730,
"author": "StasK",
"author_id": 739,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/739",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Think carefully. If you are not successful with your job search (and that has already happened to you once, apparently, as you did not find the job around the time you defended), and you decline to run the seminar, you will spoil your relations with the department chair/head.</p>\n\n<p>To other previous responders: come on, guys, don't you know who's who in the academic food chain positions? The leader of the group considers him/herself busier than other members of the group. Other professors are busy with the research, their own grad students, and other committee assignments, and don't like to be bothered by additional service (which they also view as the lowest priority job, as clearly, and to the point, <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/11683/739\">communicated by Thomas</a>. So the group leader went to the person with the least negotiating power and the greatest amount of time, at least as perceived by other professors -- the new Ph.D., arguably with no other service assignments, no students to teach, etc.</p>\n\n<p>So the overall advice is to weigh your options. If you are certain that you'll find a job elsewhere, feel free to decline. Keep in mind that this is an intertwined issue in that your group leader is to write your recommendation letters, and if you are perceived as non-cooperative colleague, that will make a way to the letters and (fewer) interview invitations. I was given the department seminar series to run in my first year out of Ph.D. tenure track job, considered it fun, but got kicked out of my tenure-track job two years later as I was perceived as doing too much service, and too little research. If you will have the opportunity for a greater deal of interaction with the invited speakers than just sending email on your leader's behalf, this could be valuable. If all you will find yourself doing is reservations and such, then this may not be as good. However, if you have a regular date and time for your meetings, you should be able to reserve the room once for the whole semester.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/05 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11679",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8058/"
]
|
11,687 | <p>I'm in the process of listing and comparing all the graduate schools I am interested in. What should I be comparing, gathering, etc. And what is the best way to keep all the information together?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 11690,
"author": "Anonymous",
"author_id": 6110,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6110",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Here are some ways in which different schools differ from each other:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>Size. Both small schools (personal attention) and big schools (lots of seminars, people to talk to) have their advantages. Which is more important to you?</p></li>\n<li><p>Research focuses. Even large schools will be dominated by a couple of research groups. Do you find their work interesting?</p></li>\n<li><p>Program structure. Some programs are very structured, with lots of requirements; some are more free-form. Which is best is a matter of individual preference.</p></li>\n<li><p>Competitiveness. Some departments are friendly and competitive, some departments are friendly and less competitive. (And a couple of departments are unfriendly and you should avoid them.) Do you thrive under pressure? If so, choose a competitive place.</p></li>\n<li><p>Quality. (This one is obvious.)</p></li>\n<li><p>Geography. Some places (Harvard, Wisconsin, Michigan, Washington, among many others) are located in towns where it's a lot of fun to be a grad student. Some are not.</p></li>\n<li><p>Support. Some places offer more money, and/or less teaching requirements in exchange for funding. (Typically private schools fare better than public in this regard, but not necessarily.)</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>All things to keep in mind when you compare schools.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11705,
"author": "Chris Gregg",
"author_id": 4461,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4461",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>What is the best way to keep all the information together?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>You've got a number of options here, but I would suggest two:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>A spreadsheet (as Thomas mentions in his comment) for the logistical issues. I had a spreadsheet with the following columns:</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>Name | Website | Location | Due date for application | App. complete? (Y/N) | Letters sent? (Y/N) | Accepted? (Y/N/Waitlist) | Visit date | Primary contact name | Primary contact email | Thoughts (this was a one-liner column where I would put \"great location!\", \"no funding...\", or \"perfect research fit\", etc.</p>\n\n<p>2. A folder on your computer for each school, underneath an overarching \"Grad School Applications\" folder. This is where you can drop all information pertaining to the school, including: a document with jotted down thoughts, your personal statement personalized for the school, a cover letter, the application form (if offline), correspondence you've received from the school (printed emails work pretty well), etc.</p>\n\n<p>I would put everything in a Dropbox so you can access it on the road (and for backup).</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/05 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11687",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8060/"
]
|
11,692 | <p>I am currently finishing my undergraduate math studies, and I am really interested in computer science (especially theoretical). However, I realize that most CS departments expect their applicants to have a CS major or at least a significant amount of coursework in CS. I have taken a couple of programming courses and a course in data structures, languages and machines, and design of algorithms, but all very basic (so I would probably be rejected because of insufficient background). Therefore, I have been looking for math departments that do theoretical CS research, but I have found very few.</p>
<p>Is is possible for a mathematician to successfully enter a program of theoretical computer science with few previous experience in CS?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 11697,
"author": "Suresh",
"author_id": 346,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I thought this question was asked and answered before, but I couldn't find it. In any case, people with a strong math background can do very well in TCS. The only stumbling block might be the breadth of CS material (including things like architecture, compilers and operating systems) that might be required of a CS grad student. </p>\n\n<p>However there are certain programs (CMU/Georgia Tech/Waterloo) in which TCS is a separate discipline: if you applied to one of these programs, you might be able to to circumvent core CS requirements that you don't have. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11699,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Just to add to Suresh's excellent answer, a couple of practical steps you could consider doing:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>Contact the admissions people at your favoured universities; at the same time, caontact potential supervisors and ask about your concerns.</p></li>\n<li><p>Read more about the topics related to the research interests of potential advisors, this is to gauge your level of knowledge and confidence in the topics (this is what I did before my MSc, now I have followed through into my PhD).</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>I hope this helps.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11706,
"author": "J..y B..y",
"author_id": 1318,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1318",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Many people in Theoretical Computer Science have undergraduate (and sometimes graduate) degrees in Mathematics, and some do not know how to program at all: do not be afraid and go on. Having a solid background of both mathematics and computers is an asset. </p>\n\n<p>The only warning: be ready to learn by yourself, especially as you might be asked to TA or teach courses you never took (e.g. I had to learn a lot for teaching Operating Systems, or Networking, as this was never taught in my undergraduate degree in Mathematics). But if you go to Academia, you should be ready to learn by yourself anyway...</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/06 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11692",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8062/"
]
|
11,696 | <p>As we enter a new school year, I'm wondering if the is any evidence to support or contradict the idea that putting a poor-performing students on academic probation improves their performance. Does anyone know of any such evidence?</p>
<p>I can imagine that schools are naturally concerned about eliminating students whose tuition keeps the doors open and my school does not have any formal rules on academic probation. I'm thinking of proposing some, but only if there is evidence that it will actually improve performance. If it demotivates students (for example creating a stigma which is a very serious issue here in Asia) and bounces students who might otherwise just pass then it does not seem so appealing.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12068,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>I'm wondering if the is any evidence to support or contradict the idea\n that putting a poor-performing students on academic probation improves\n their performance</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Whose idea is this? I quick look at what US universities think academic probation means does not suggest that its purpose is to improve performance.</p>\n\n<p>At <a href=\"http://studentsuccess.utk.edu/crisis/probation.shtml\">University of Tennessee Knoxville</a></p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Probation serves as a serious warning that your academic performance\n needs improvement, alerting you that you are in jeopardy of Academic\n Dismissal.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>At <a href=\"http://static.fas.harvard.edu/registrar/ugrad_handbook/current/chapter5/ad_board.html\">Harvard</a> Academic Probation is defined as</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>a serious warning to a student whose academic performance for the term\n is unsatisfactory. Academic probation is a formal action of the\n Administrative Board and becomes part of the student’s official\n record.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>It seems that in general \"academic probation\" is an administrative state between \"good standing\" and \"academic dismissal\". The purpose is to warn the student if they do not improve that they will be dismissed.</p>\n\n<p>A potentially relevant question might be are things like the <a href=\"http://studentsuccess.utk.edu/crisis/docs/SuccessPlan-Probation.pdf\">Success Plan</a> of University of Tennessee Knoxville successful. This, however, is a really broad question. Each University is going to have a different \"success plan\" and implement it differently. You might also wish to consider how to build and implement a successful success plan.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12491,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>This is only a part answer</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://ls-probation.berkeley.edu/definition.html\">University of California Berkeley</a> applies a probation when the cumulative GPA goes below 2.0 and are within grounds for dismissal. But, they give a semester and advise the student to:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>The College of Letters and Science encourages students who have been placed on term probation to seek advising at the Office of Undergraduate Advising for help with schedule planning and to discuss any issues that may have caused poor results in the first place. Although this web site may be helpful to you, it is primarily designed to assist probationary students whose cumulative grade point average has fallen below a 2.0.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>An example from Australia, Brisbane's <a href=\"http://www.griffith.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/82774/Academic_standing_flyer.pdf\">Griffith University</a>, it seems that a similar constraint may be applied:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>The minimum standard for academic performance is a Grade Point\n Average (GPA) of at least 3.0 for undergraduate students and at least\n 3.5 for postgraduate students. Students who meet this GPA standard\n are said to be in ‘good academic standing’. If a student’s GPA is below\n this level their performance is ‘unsatisfactory’.\n The first time a student’s performance is below the required\n standard, the student is placed on probation for the next semester.\n The second time a student’s performance is below the required\n standard, the student will normally be excluded.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>In the Princeton article <a href=\"http://theop.princeton.edu/reports/wp/FletcherTokmouline_2010.pdf\">\"The Effects of Academic Probation on College Success: Lending Students a Hand or Kicking Them While They Are Down?\"</a> (Fletcher and Tokmouline, 2010), found that often there is an improvement, but then their </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>findings also suggest that this short term boost in performance fades out over time and students who are on academic probation following their first semesters of college do not have higher rates of persistence or graduation.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>They also found that an overall model (indeed a definitive answer) is hard to come by due to inconsistency of heterogeneous effects, particularly </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>pre-determined student characteristics as well as high school of origin.</p>\n</blockquote>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 19571,
"author": "user14334",
"author_id": 14334,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14334",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I saw it more as \"a notification that we're working on kicking you out\". In my first term of college, I failed a calculus 1 class (passed 3 others, but that F pulled my gpa down to a 1.6). and was therefore placed on academic probation. My advisor then forced me to register in the second semester into 2 classes for which my failed calculus 1 class was a prereq (calculus 2 and physics), virtually ensuring that I would fail. I signed an agreement to enroll in the class, added the class, dropped it 15 minutes, and then enrolled in several easy classes in order to boost my gpa. I actually got over a 3.0 my second semester because the classes were so much easier, but I no doubt would have received F's in both the calc 2 class and the physics class had I taken them. After my second semester, I transferred out in good standing, went to the local community college for a year, and transferred to another university. Had I followed my advisor's advice, I almost certainly would have experienced academic dismissal. My take is that they were trying to get people to flunk out.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/06 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11696",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2692/"
]
|
11,709 | <p>If a paper has 3 weak accepts (in all evaluations, a weak accept in each evaluation), will it be published in the conference? If this is the case, what is the difference if it has 2 weak accepts and a strong accept or 3 strong accepts?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 11712,
"author": "Irwin",
"author_id": 5944,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5944",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This largely depends on the conference. The way that conferences usually work (at least in my field for computer science - subdiscipline software engineering or human-computer interaction) is that once the reviews come in, the program committee meets and then discusses which papers will be accepted and which ones are rejected. This often comes down to how many papers there are, how many they can accept (subject to things including a mandatory acceptance rate, how big the conference can be, etc) and what other papers are like (if your conference has very few \"strong accepts\" that year then weak accept is pretty good).</p>\n\n<p>Usually, a paper with few \"strong accepts\" could end up around the \"middle\" of the pack are more likely to be held up for discussion where they have a chance for rejection. Most PCs won't extensively discuss a paper where all of the reviewers say \"strong accept\".</p>\n\n<p>So, we don't know if it'll be published in the conference. However, in general, the more strong accepts a paper gets, the more likely the paper will be accepted.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11713,
"author": "Shion",
"author_id": 1429,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1429",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><strong>Note:</strong> My answer is computer science and specifically HCI relevant.</p>\n\n<p>This depends on the conference, the discipline and the conference committee. There are variables which determine the acceptance of a paper in a conference.</p>\n\n<p>A paper with three weak accepts may be rejected if there are stronger papers out there or if the committee feels that another paper which describes something really new must be given an opportunity to be presented.</p>\n\n<p>A paper with three strong accepts is most likely to be accepted because this means that there is an almost unanimous consent among the reviewers and the paper is most likely very strong and very relevant to the subject matter.</p>\n\n<p>A paper with any such combinations in between the previously described examples may or may not be accepted depending on various factors. Ultimately, the decision is upto the organizing committee. For instance, I have seen papers in <a href=\"http://chi2014.acm.org/\" rel=\"nofollow\">CHI</a> be rejected finally with three 3.0 scores (borderline accepts) but seen papers with one 4.0, one 3.0 and one 2.0 get accepted finally after the revisions were made.</p>\n\n<p>Therefore, ultimately, my first sentence remains valid. It depends on a bunch of factors most of which are out of your direct control. The only thing which you can control is the revision of the paper.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/06 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11709",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4442/"
]
|
11,710 | <p>I am currently in the process of applying for PhDs. My question is whether it is frowned upon to have done a degree in a subject completely unrelated to my main studies. I just completed two masters at top universities concurrently, one in biology and the other in English literature. I did the literature degree to please my parents, my real passion is in biology. I steered my English degree somewhat towards the biology by writing my dissertation on the representation of tropical diseases in literature. I am wondering whether I should list this degree on my CV or just leave it off? I thought that it might prove how hard-working I am to do two masters concurrently. I also scored the highest mark out of my class in my biology master, so the other master did not affect my primary master.</p>
<p>Any advice would be appreciated. </p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 11711,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I would say to list it, for a couple of reasons:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>It does show that you are hardworking, 2 concurrent Masters degrees completed and completed to a great standard.</p></li>\n<li><p>Practically, it further demonstrates the abilities necessary to research, synthesise information, draw valid conclusions from a wide range of sources.</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Also, you put in the effort, why not 'show off' your good work. By steering your Literature Masters in a biological direction with your topic of tropical diseases, you have also shown how this long-standing and serious issue (tropical diseases) have been portrayed to the non-scientific community.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11714,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As Damien have stated you should list both and for the reasons provided in that answer. In addition, I think it is worth thinking about how well you can second guess how anyone on the receiving end will percieve your CV. Basically, you cannot know. It is therefore important to list everything and in cases such as that about which you ask, provide a brief account to honestly describe why you did it. If you managed to do a masters with flying colours ina topic you do not like, that is a very strong show. I am impressed and so will others. So look through your CV, list everything that indicates stamina, effort, ambition, perseverance etc. and where you think things can be misinterpreted, add some sentence explaining why you claim it is a plus. You can easily do this in a short narrative that summarizes your CV and strong points. You can then put everything in the light in which you want them to be seen.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/06 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11710",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8072/"
]
|
11,715 | <p>We need to hire a computer scientist with a very particular specialty as a consultant for a long term industrial research project. We've read the relevant papers and so know who does good work in it. But we don't know the first thing about hiring a professor as a consultant.</p>
<ul>
<li>Do I just email them and say "Hi, Dr. So and so, I've read your paper about X and want to discuss hiring you as a consultant"? Or do I need some type of introduction? Specifically, if I'm coming from a small business (with the funds to hire them, mind you, but a small business nonetheless), will they take it seriously?</li>
<li>How can I evaluate their abilities to be a good <em>consultant</em>? I know they have the brains and the know-how, but I need more than that: I need someone who will work on the problems we have, giving us a reasonable assessment of their likelihood to solve them, keeping us up to date, and clearing communicating their results.</li>
<li>Once hired, how do we effectively manage them towards our goals?</li>
<li>Currently, we have funding to hire them only for the initial stages. With good results, we have investors to approach, and we'd like to say "We're working on this problem; we have Prof. X on it, who's done this so far; with another $1M, we could get here." Will academics be supportive of such an arrangement?</li>
<li>How do we protect our intellectual property? Our plan is to leverage existing research towards new technological applications. What's to stop our consultants from taking our ideas on their own? This is especially a concern in the initial evaluation stages, where we don't have a business relationship, but need to discuss our applications in some detail nonetheless.</li>
</ul>
<p>Finally: Are there any resources on how to do this? Books, articles, services? We'd really like to benefit from someone's experience on this.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 11716,
"author": "earthling",
"author_id": 2692,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2692",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>As an academic with a history of consulting, the proper way to approach the person in question is to contact him directly. Email might work but for initial contacts phone might be better. If he/she is geographically close, a face-to-face would be even better. The initial conversation is really about whether he/she is interested in consulting in his/her area of expertise. If yes, then you can start to dig a little deeper into the project.</p>\n\n<p>Be clear and up front with what you have and what you hope to achieve. Make it clear what the limitations of the project are and that the project might or might not move past the initial phase.</p>\n\n<p>It is unlikely that the size of your business would be an issue but that really depends on his/her personality. You'll know when you ask.</p>\n\n<p>About evaluating if he/she can be a good consultant, explain very clearly what your concerns are. There is no reason for the Prof to be concerned since you do not know each other there is not an issue of personalities and you are not doubting him/her, you are simply saying what you are concerned about. If you have read this person's work you should have an idea of his/her ability to communicate clearly.</p>\n\n<p>As far as managing this person toward the goal, handle him/her as you would any other employee. Normally consultants expect a little bit more freedom but, to repeat myself, be clear with what you want and that might include an update every 2-3 days (more or less depending on the nature of the project - you might want daily updates).</p>\n\n<p>As for protecting your intellectual property, have the Prof sign an NDA/non-compete. This <em>might</em> be an issue if it will in any way limit the Prof from exploring his/her own work. For this, you will need to negotiate what kind of legal protections you feel you need. If you write the non-compete in a narrow enough way, the Prof might feel comfortable enough (he/she is getting something out of the deal).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11751,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>One key question to keep in mind is why someone would want to work as a consultant, since that determines how you interact with them. You're hiring someone who already has a full-time job, and who has chosen to work in academia despite having skills that are valued by industry, so you need to convince them that this is worth their time. It's possible you can find someone short of money who is specifically looking for a part-time job on the side, but that will greatly limit your choices. (The best consultants are often already the best paid faculty to start with, and they generally have many consulting opportunities to choose from.)</p>\n\n<p>In practice, I see three main reasons why someone might value a consulting job, in roughly decreasing order:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>You offer something they just can't get in academia. For example, unique data or experiences, extensive resources, dramatic real-world impact, etc. A computer scientist might work with Facebook to get access to their social network data, or Google to be able to study search and indexing on a vast scale. This lets them advance their understanding of the field in ways they could not have done otherwise (and hopefully they can publish the results).</p></li>\n<li><p>Even if you can't offer anything unique or unavailable in academia, you may still be working on cutting-edge problems that help inspire and shape their academic research program. The difficulty here is that the world is full of cutting-edge research problems waiting to be solved. To convince someone to work on your problems rather than their own ideas, you need some argument. Maybe your problems are especially exciting or important, maybe they are a perfect match for this researcher's background and interests, or maybe you are offering enough money to outweigh other considerations.</p></li>\n<li><p>If what you want is really routine (with little or no academic research significance), then you may need to offer a lot of money.</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>This only deals with the first part of your question, on approaching faculty, but I see that as critical: once you establish mutual interest, you can work out the other details. Getting to that point is the hard part, and how you frame things can make a real difference. When you first approach someone, it's much better to say \"Here's an opportunity in which we'll pay you to do exciting things that will advance the field and your own research\" than \"Here's what we need and how much we would like to pay. Would you be willing to do it for us?\"</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/07 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11715",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8075/"
]
|
11,720 | <p>I am a visiting faculty, professor in B-schools. How does one go about in designing or compiling an open book exam, ensuring that it's not tough and neither too easy. At the same time someone who has not read the book will not be able to answer the question. What at the pointers or measures that should be taken care? Isn't designing an open book exam difficult compared to traditional exam?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 11723,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><strong>Open book exams</strong> are actually very easy to design (at least I think so, and I favor them in my own teaching): just design it the same way you would design regular exercises. The goal is to <strong>evaluate the students’ understanding and skills</strong>, i.e. how they analyze and solve problems, rather than the facts they have memorized. To do so, I usually design exams as <strong>problems</strong> rather than series of trivia questions.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11734,
"author": "earthling",
"author_id": 2692,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2692",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>When designing an assessment, it is helpful to look at something like <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloom%27s_Taxonomy\" rel=\"noreferrer\">Bloom's Taxonomy</a>. Since you mention B-school, I assume you are assessing a management or finance module. I always thought finance modules in particular should be open-book because of the extensive use of formulas and, as pointed out by F'x and others, simply testing if the student can remember some information is not really the most interesting (for teachers or students).</p>\n\n<p>Sticking with Bloom's Taxonomy, remembering is the lowest form of assessment. If the students do not have to worry about getting the formulas right, then you can start something more complex. For example, have them make recommendations or create a plan for whatever the subject is. For example, if you are assessing leadership, give them a scenario with enough background knowledge and ask them to recommend (with justification of course) a particular leadership style for the situation. Remembering the standard leadership styles is not what is most important. What is important is that they can see a situation, assess the more important elements of that situation with respect to leadership, evaluate the pros and cons of each option, and decide which would be the best of all the choices to be used, which may include creating their own leadership style.</p>\n\n<p>Basically, for open book tests, move further up towards evaluation and creating and away from rote memorization.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 95954,
"author": "s n tekur",
"author_id": 79858,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/79858",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Open book questions should be able to evaluate student understanding. Should be able to test the ability of the student to think and come up with innovative solutions. It cannot be completely open ended. there should be a sufficient number of constraints within the question to enable convergence and a positive solution.\nIt is more difficult to set a question paper for an open book exam than a closed book one.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/07 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11720",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8081/"
]
|
11,726 | <p>Inspired by the following question: <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/6130/co-authorship-for-not-very-involved-supervisor">Co-authorship for not very involved supervisor</a></p>
<p>I have got to ask a slightly different question: I have a past supervisor while I did my masters and she wasn't really involved or as active as I would have liked. Also, I received no funding from this professor. I did however receive a scholarship from the university to fund my masters; not sure if these facts change anything. Naturally, this person would also like to believe she was involved, so had I finished the research while I did my masters there I would have listed this individual as a second author and even the author of correspondence. But now I am pursuing a PhD and in fact in a slightly different field at a different university.</p>
<p>While preparing for my qualifiers I came across some fresh new ideas and had a light bulb moment. Consequently, I have made significant progress in my old project as of late. I believe by the end of the summer I will have results ready for publication. On the one hand, I feel I should notify my old professor of these results once they come in... I think it would be wrong or even unethical to let them find out through the grape-vine or just through reading to keep up with the field. On the other hand, I fear this person will want authorship or even write the editor and demand it; this person is a Reader at a prestigious university while I'm just a little PhD student. I feel it will be a case of he-said she-said with the Editor which will ultimately result in me losing (even though I completely believe I'm justified and the recent progress was 100% mine). </p>
<p>Maybe I'm over-reacting but I'm not sure what to do. And I certainly don't want this person to "read over" my paper or attempt to "edit" it, because I think then they would have more grounds to put their name on the paper. Any ideas?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 11728,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>First, <em>should</em> you include her as a co-author? <strong>Customs in this are journal- and field-dependent</strong>, so you should check with others in your field (you didn't tell us what it was) and also with the <strong>authorship policy of the journal</strong> you intend to submit. You may also want to check with the <strong>department where you did your Masters</strong> what their policy is on authorship and affiliation for students' papers. At the very least, if you're going to have someone be cross at you, know in advance where you stand!</p>\n\n<p>I'll sum up <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/11494/2700\">my answer to another question on the site</a> by stating that <strong>graduate students oftentimes dismiss too easily an advisor's role</strong> in the research. Selecting a problem/project for you to work on, even guiding you in the selection of a problem can be considered a big intellectual contribution to your research. <strong>Conception/design of research is an integral part of the research</strong>, and usually explicitly calls for authorship in resulting papers.</p>\n\n<p>It's okay to be proud of your work, and to think your contribution in it was crucial, but be sure not to be biased against your supervisor when evaluating her contribution. One person who may help you do that is your current advisor!</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>Now, that being said, let's suppose you have made the decision not to have her as coauthor. How do you manage that? The guiding principle should be: be upfront and clearly state where you stand.</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>Including her name in the acknowledgements of the paper, specifically stating her contribution. (<em>“SG thanks Dr. Jane Doe for initially pointing him to this challenging problem.”</em>)</p></li>\n<li><p>When the paper is published, be sure to send her a preprint, along with a nice email.</p></li>\n<li><p>If you are worried about her reviewing the paper, list her in the list of potential reviewers to exclude (if the journal submission has space for that). But… having her in the acknowledgments may already be enough for the editor not to pick her.</p></li>\n</ol>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11729,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This is a somewhat difficult situation, but I believe the most salient issue is the one that you originally mentioned in your comment: the master's advisor did not fund your research in any way. As a result of this, the demands placed on the advisor for authorship become even more stringent. </p>\n\n<p>The criteria that becomes significant here is whether or not the advisor contributed materially to the development of the ideas you've carried out. If you decided upon the topic yourself, without assistance from your advisor, then it's appropriate not to give co-authorship. </p>\n\n<p>However, there is also the issue of politics to consider. If, as you suggested, you are worried about the influence of your former advisor on spiking the paper, it may be worthwhile to consider the possibility of adding your advisor on at least the first paper; any future papers could be done without citing your advisor on the future papers (except as an acknowledgment, as F'x suggests).</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/07 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11726",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8084/"
]
|
11,731 | <p>I know you can apply for fellowships for individual students, but I'm not talking about funding only for one's self. Let's say I noticed a grant that was solicited on grants.gov and I wanted to apply for it. Can I do that?
The nature of these grants is to supply the awardee with funding for experimental set-ups, student funding (undergrad/grad), and other various research supplies. </p>
<p>& As a follow up question, is it possible to apply, if your PI is applying for this funding as well. Basically, could I send in a proposal and my PI could as well? Are there some restrictions here? I've read through the solicitation's eligibility and couldn't find anything about multiple names being on different proposals, or if we were to apply separately, then having the funding go to the same group under different names.
Just curious if anyone knew.
I'll write back, if I find more info.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 11728,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>First, <em>should</em> you include her as a co-author? <strong>Customs in this are journal- and field-dependent</strong>, so you should check with others in your field (you didn't tell us what it was) and also with the <strong>authorship policy of the journal</strong> you intend to submit. You may also want to check with the <strong>department where you did your Masters</strong> what their policy is on authorship and affiliation for students' papers. At the very least, if you're going to have someone be cross at you, know in advance where you stand!</p>\n\n<p>I'll sum up <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/11494/2700\">my answer to another question on the site</a> by stating that <strong>graduate students oftentimes dismiss too easily an advisor's role</strong> in the research. Selecting a problem/project for you to work on, even guiding you in the selection of a problem can be considered a big intellectual contribution to your research. <strong>Conception/design of research is an integral part of the research</strong>, and usually explicitly calls for authorship in resulting papers.</p>\n\n<p>It's okay to be proud of your work, and to think your contribution in it was crucial, but be sure not to be biased against your supervisor when evaluating her contribution. One person who may help you do that is your current advisor!</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>Now, that being said, let's suppose you have made the decision not to have her as coauthor. How do you manage that? The guiding principle should be: be upfront and clearly state where you stand.</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>Including her name in the acknowledgements of the paper, specifically stating her contribution. (<em>“SG thanks Dr. Jane Doe for initially pointing him to this challenging problem.”</em>)</p></li>\n<li><p>When the paper is published, be sure to send her a preprint, along with a nice email.</p></li>\n<li><p>If you are worried about her reviewing the paper, list her in the list of potential reviewers to exclude (if the journal submission has space for that). But… having her in the acknowledgments may already be enough for the editor not to pick her.</p></li>\n</ol>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11729,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This is a somewhat difficult situation, but I believe the most salient issue is the one that you originally mentioned in your comment: the master's advisor did not fund your research in any way. As a result of this, the demands placed on the advisor for authorship become even more stringent. </p>\n\n<p>The criteria that becomes significant here is whether or not the advisor contributed materially to the development of the ideas you've carried out. If you decided upon the topic yourself, without assistance from your advisor, then it's appropriate not to give co-authorship. </p>\n\n<p>However, there is also the issue of politics to consider. If, as you suggested, you are worried about the influence of your former advisor on spiking the paper, it may be worthwhile to consider the possibility of adding your advisor on at least the first paper; any future papers could be done without citing your advisor on the future papers (except as an acknowledgment, as F'x suggests).</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/07 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11731",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8086/"
]
|
11,737 | <p>As described in <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11715/hiring-a-faculty-consultant">Hiring a faculty consultant</a>, we need to hire a faculty consultant. The initial stages are perhaps only 100 hours, but subsequent stages may blossom to ten times that.</p>
<p>Will good professors be able to deliver that much consulting time? Would I be better off with a grad student or postdoc - could they deliver that much time? Or with a less accomplished professor with more time on their hands?</p>
<p>One alternative we've considered is to hire a fresh Ph.D. looking to enter industry. The problem is that we are not ready to commit to a full time employee - it's only if we get good results in the initial stages (and our investors agree!). Is there a solution for this?</p>
<p>One last alternative is to work out a research arrangement, where the professor would direct some of their research towards our needs. They'd get to publish the papers (with the application details removed, but the algorithms there) and we'd get ownership of the IP and control over the research agenda. Is that an option?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 11779,
"author": "Nate Eldredge",
"author_id": 1010,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Professors at <em>all</em> levels of seniority and accomplishment are very busy.</p>\n\n<p>They have courses to teach, institutional committee service, and their own research programs. Neglecting any of these for any length of time can have a permanent impact on their career. Professors who are less accomplished or have fewer duties in one of these areas will typically have more in the others.</p>\n\n<p>Even a professor who is very motivated to work on your project may only have a few hours per week to devote to it. One day per week would probably be a maximum. Teaching schedules are often inflexible, so it may be particularly hard for them to visit your site, especially if it is far away from their home.</p>\n\n<p>Senior people (tenured full professors) may be more likely to be able to make time for your project, but they also have lots of other interests.</p>\n\n<p>One thought: you might consider approaching an expert who has recently retired. They should have the time available, and may be interested in your project as a way to continue their work in the field and earn some extra income. But they also may not be interested in working a lot of hours per week, and they may demand a fairly high hourly rate (as they're probably not in desperate need of money).</p>\n\n<p>Keep in mind, also, that research by its nature is very hard to predict. It may be difficult or impossible for your consultant to accurately estimate how much time they will need to solve your problem, unless it is so straightforward that they can solve it almost at once. </p>\n\n<p>As far as fresh PhDs, note that a new PhD has just spent several years working long hours for low wages. It may be hard to entice them with an offer of unstable, part-time work, unless you can offer some other perks like stock options or an unusually enjoyable work environment; startups are a dime a dozen. Of course, a lot will depend on the overall strength of the job market in your industry.</p>\n\n<p>Your third option (\"research arrangement\") doesn't strike me as particularly feasible. A major reason for being in academia is the ability to choose the direction of one's own work. I don't think you'll find many professors amenable to being told how to direct their personal research program. They not only have to publish papers, they have to publish <em>good</em> papers which are novel, interesting to the research community, and spur further work in the area. If your project doesn't lend itself to that, in the professor's view, then the right to write papers about it is useless to their career and won't be seen as a benefit. Moreover, if they're going to work on your project as part of their own research, which is on their institution's time, then you can expect the institution to get involved in any IP issues, and they often have lots of lawyers. Not to mention outside funding agencies.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12358,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Foreword: I smell a contradiction… you talk about <em>“very large industrial projects”</em>, but <em>“we are not ready to commit to a full time employee”</em>. </p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>You need to hire a consultant… but <strong>why a <em>faculty</em> consultant?</strong> In pretty much any field of science, you can find decent consultants outside academia, working in, well… <strong>consulting firms</strong>. From what you describe, it seems than you need a rather large amount of work done, rather rapidly, and the benefits for the academic would not be immediately clear. That doesn't align well with the constraints and career goals of most academics, as Nate Eldredge explains very nicely. However, <strong>consultants from outside academia do not have such constraints</strong>, and it seems like a better fit for your specific case.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 15391,
"author": "Noah Snyder",
"author_id": 25,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/25",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think hiring a new Ph.D. to a full-time job is the best approach. For the initial consult you may be able to hire a current Ph.D. student or two to a temporary summer job. They would both be able to help you sort out if the idea is likely to pan out, and let you determine whether that person would make a good hire.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 28760,
"author": "BrianH",
"author_id": 6787,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6787",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Let's deal with the 'easy' part first: hiring someone for ~100 hours of consulting.</p>\n\n<p>How easy or difficult this will be is going to be based on what answers you need to the questions \"When can you start?\" and \"For how many hours are you available per week?\" If you need them to be available during set hours, this will also effect the situation.</p>\n\n<h2>When can you start?</h2>\n\n<p>Most busy/qualified/established professionals book their time out in advance, very often 3-6 months out or more. I'm not some super-in-demand expert or a professor, and yet I've turned down four offers in the last few months because I have already dedicated myself to things that would make my first availability to be summer of next year - unless it was just an amazing offer with triple the money, at which point I'd still only be available a fraction of the time for the next 3+ months.</p>\n\n<p>Especially with teaching, grants, budgets, and research schedules, finding someone who could dedicate more than a few hours a week within 3-12 months will not be common.</p>\n\n<p>If you only need someone for a few hours a week spread out over the next 3-4 months, you will likely have a much easier time of finding someone who is at least available and potentially interested.</p>\n\n<h2>Sabbaticals, Summers, Internships, and Finding the Time</h2>\n\n<p>If the initial stages go well and you need hundreds of hours of consulting or extensive research, this will not fit into the schedule of a professor under normal circumstances. It's not to say it can't be done, but if the person is really interested - both by the project and by how much money they stand to make - there are a few ways to make it work.</p>\n\n<p>One way is for academics who have flexibility in the summer. While senior faculty will often direct labs, summer research, and some even have teaching duties 4-5 days a week over the summer, there is still often more time that can be squeezed out for consulting than other times. If this has been arranged a year in advance, or if the person happens to have already arranged for a light/no summer load, they would potentially be available for consulting for this larger work load.</p>\n\n<p>Once you start needing more than 20-40 hours a week of consulting, it is reasonable to start considering having more than one person. It would not be unheard of for a professor - especially in fields that are highly tied to industry like in technology/computer fields - to arrange for a summer internship/research project where they and their hand-chosen grad students might be available to do work.</p>\n\n<p>This sort of arrangement would allow sufficient time and expertise, and allow a faculty member to get a sufficient return for their invested time - teaching, helping students, conducting applied research/work, and bringing in some extra personal wealth.</p>\n\n<h2>Approach a Prospect and Be Open, Honest, and Straightforward</h2>\n\n<p>You have a situation where the industry lags behind the state of the art research, and you feel you have a great financial opportunity if you can close the gap - and need an expert to help you do it. That's great!</p>\n\n<p>Professors and researchers are humans too, and are interested in things like making money (especially when it brings the potential for even more money), working on interesting problems, etc. If it is applying existing knowledge/research to a problem it might not result in interesting research, but this is very field-dependent as case-studies and applied techniques are standard in some fields and unpublishable in others.</p>\n\n<p>Most people who have any experience in industry also understand the funding cycles are surprisingly similar to academics - you have a little bit of funding available to invest into exploration, and what happens from there depends on the results you get. So be open about this - if you know you have budget and money to pay them for the exploration phase, say so. If that phase doesn't work out then it will mean you don't expect to have any more immediate work - say so. And if it works out and you get the funding you are shooting for and will need a lot more work done - again, just say so.</p>\n\n<p>Start a conversation and see where it leads. As with most professional tasks, it is not uncommon to have an offer come across your desk that just isn't something you are interested in, but perhaps you know someone who you might refer the opportunity to. Perhaps you'll find the professor who wrote the papers that attracted you to them in the first place will say that they actually don't feel they are the expert, and that actually the student they were working with would be better able to help you. Maybe they'll insist they are a package deal - you hire them and their collaborator. Perhaps they just aren't interested. Perhaps they already had a sabbatical planned and haven't 100% decided what they wanted to do, but this would fit the bill nicely...etc.</p>\n\n<p>With a clear plan, seed funding in hand, and an open and honest discussion about your situation, goals, and what you can offer, most professors will be happy to take a meeting with you and discuss the matter! Few people are so busy as not to be able to talk about extra money, and most higher-level professors reserve a portion of their schedule for consulting gigs anyway (again though, this varies by field). </p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/08 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11737",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8075/"
]
|
11,738 | <p>Long story short, my transcript is quite the spectacle: I started off getting really good grades, but due to a lot of personal issues ended up graduating with a respectable, but lackluster GPA. Unfortunately, I have a downward trend. While my final GPA is slightly below 3.5, I have failed quite a few courses. I'm getting a MSE in computer science, coming from an applied math background. My undergraduate computer science GPA is really high, but my GPA in everything else is pretty low. I'm confident that I will do exceptionally well in the CS MSE, but I have a few questions:</p>
<ul>
<li>Are undergraduate courses unrelated to one's discipline factored into the PhD admissions decision making process?</li>
<li>Despite doing poorly in some math classes in my undergrad, will taking graduate level math courses and doing well in them essentially negate the fact that I did poorly in some classes as an undergraduate (did well in most of them)?</li>
</ul>
<p>For reference:<br>
I'm currently conducting research and should have good to outstanding recommendations.</p>
<p>I understand that for PhD programs, a common order of applicant evaluation is: </p>
<ol>
<li>Recommendations</li>
<li>Research</li>
<li>Transcript</li>
</ol>
<p>and that I have valid reasons for my poor performance, nonetheless, I'm scared that they're going to look at my undergraduate transcript and just get scared off. Any insight or advice would be greatly appreciated. </p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 11739,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I have had an almost identical situation:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>not spectacular overall score in undergraduate (nor in my Honours for that matter)</p></li>\n<li><p>Did well in my MSc (in a different field). Got great references and did very well.</p></li>\n<li><p>Now are about to complete my PhD, with several publications under my belt.</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>The advice I can offer is:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>Be honest, if they ask for the transcripts, show them what they need - the improvement in your grades would be evident. More than likely they'll probably be more interested in your highest level of attainment (Masters).</p></li>\n<li><p>If unsure, ask the admissions people and even approach professors that have the same field as what you are interested in pursuing.</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>I wish you the best of luck!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11747,
"author": "JeffE",
"author_id": 65,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>You're right to be concerned. Some places <em>will</em> be scared off—or more accurately, won't even see your application—because of your undergraduate record. <strong>But some won't.</strong> Some will see your strong record in computer science, in graduate classes, and in research, at the expense of other classes as a sign of passion/focus/geekery (which is a strong advantage in research) combined with immaturity (which most people grow out of).</p>\n\n<p>PhD admission is a random process, a numbers game. You have a high-variance record, so to be reasonably confident of admission, you should apply to a wider spectrum of places than someone with a more consistent record with the same average.</p>\n\n<p>I <strong>strongly</strong> recommend discussing your concerns directly with your letter writers. They have to make the case that the admissions committee should ignore the black marks in your record and focus on your considerable strengths—good performance in graduate classes, excellence in your chosen field, strong research ability, and so on. (You can't really make that case yourself.) Your references may also be willing to contact colleagues directly, to convince them to pull strings on your behalf.</p>\n\n<p>Also: <strong>PUBLISH!</strong></p>\n\n<p>Best of luck!</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/08 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11738",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8022/"
]
|
11,740 | <p>I am a first-year PhD student in Biology and I am currently working in a lab for a very hard-to-please PI (a new PI who started a couple years ago and only just recruited her first few graduate students). I am very interested and excited about this line of research and I really want to do what I am doing. But my PI's way of managing people makes everyone miserable and I am not sure what to do.</p>
<p>Background: Last fall, I rotated in a lab which I really enjoyed working in and generated some great data, but had to leave, along with the other rotation student, because PI had no funding. In the spring, I rotated with a brand new PI, whose lab I helped set up and started on a project, but did not stay in his lab because his management was very poor - was never around, didn't know or care what was going on with projects, etc, and I was also advised to join a different lab by the academic coordinator who said they thought this PI was not "ready" to handle a graduate student. So then, I started a THIRD rotation in another "new" PI's lab and have been here for three months. </p>
<p>This person's research is really great, but their management seems to focus heavily on threatening language and negative reinforcement. They often send very angry emails to the lab. When this person is feeling "iffy" about you because you didn't get fantastic results or you responded to an email too slowly, they will tell you to your face that you are not worth their time to mentor if you don't "try harder." I recently gave PI a sequence alignment, but accidentally gave them the wrong version of the sequence, and as a result, they said they would not be willing to fund me as an RA. PI actually made the same mistake when they did the sequence comparison (which is OKAY! It is an easy mistake to make!), but they were just so harsh on me for the mistake. All their communication with me makes me feel that, despite my good merits, progress or improvements, they disapprove of me or are angry with me. They deal with my labmates in the same way and my labmates have often expressed their worries and stresses to me over this. I should note that some of my labmates are well-accomplished, highly dedicated post-doctoral researchers who devote ALL of their time and efforts to their work. The dynamic in the lab overall is not very good, in part because people feel increased anxiety from the PI's anger or lack of professionalism in expressing themself. It is really a huge distraction from my work whenever PI is talking about kicking me out of the lab. I go from focused on an experiment to panicking about what to do or who I should talk to. </p>
<p>I still respect this person as a scientist, but I feel at times that this harsh style of management/dealing with people is too much for me. I am not perfect, but I am trying very hard and have made so much progress on my work, I just wish PI would recognize this. Almost in my second year of graduate school, and with the school potentially not able to support me with a TA in the future, and with me working in my third lab, I am extremely stressed out by this situation. I feel that, if I do not make it work in this miserable lab, I will be kicked out of the school and then lose my chance to earn a PhD.</p>
<p>What is a good way to deal with this type of advisor and how to keep clam and focused in the lab with this kind of stress? Any advice is appreciated.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 11743,
"author": "posdef",
"author_id": 5674,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5674",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>First off, I'm really sorry about your situation. It's certainly not a nice boat to be on, metaphorically speaking... </p>\n\n<p>Since you have omitted any information about where you live and work, I don't really know what rules and regulation apply, likewise what the \"norm\" of a PI - grad student relationship is over there. So I will try to keep it as general as possible. </p>\n\n<p>Let's start by looking at your options, you can:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>keep wishing that the PI will eventually realize your efforts and give you a break</li>\n<li>accept the constant stress and harassment (yes threatening someone is a form of harassment)</li>\n<li>leave the lab</li>\n<li>communicate your concerns to the PI</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>(1) and (2) are pretty self-explanatory. Let's consider (3) for a second, why would you want to work in a lab like that? I know that cultures vary and level of respect and fear professors command is scary at certain countries/cultures but I honestly don't get why you would be willing to put up with that. Let's assume, for the sake of argument, that working in a lab like that will make you work harder and get better results (and I sincerely doubt this will be the case in the long run), who cares that you got a publication in a fancy journal if you hate your life every day. I am possibly dramatizing it a bit to make my point clear. Honestly if you have been doing research with 3 different PIs and none are sound to work with, I'd consider some other uni/lab. </p>\n\n<p>Lastly (4); communicate your concerns. You have mentioned that other people have similar problems with this PI. Gather some good arguments; enriched with facts, numbers that cannot be easily denied... Then try to get a 1-to-1 meeting with the PI, and simply tell the person that s/he is terrorizing the lab, and it's hurting peoples mood and ultimately effectivity. If you make good, logical points without diving into emotions and thoughts and beliefs, you could actually make your concerns heard right there and then. </p>\n\n<p>If the PI in question completely ignores your concerns, and ultimately tells you \"my way or highway\" then one option would be go pursue your legal rights. I don't know what the situation is where you work, but in Sweden PhD students are actually employed by the university, and thus by the state (exceptions exist, but that's beside the point). So you have certain rights assured by your employment. Even without a formal employment, i.e. <em>only a student</em>, you should have some rights and some representation towards the faculty. The student unions here in Scandinavia are pretty strong and well connected. They actually work together with the faculty and university administration to catch up, and deal with issues like this. I would recommend you to try and see if there is a similar concept in your university. </p>\n\n<p>That's all I got, hope the situation resolves itself soon.\nGood luck!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11745,
"author": "Joop Eggen",
"author_id": 8092,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8092",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You would not come here, if you thought the situation acceptable. Unfortunately the isolation of the PI will have given rise to a wrong self-perception. If you are ready to search for yet another PI, and again some criticism on <em>another person</em> arises, wait (not too long) till you can talk to the PU alone, and say:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>you are the best PI till now, you have gotten,</li>\n<li>I have no experience, but isn't the tone quite harsh? - especially as there are still professional unsurities on the side of the coworkers,</li>\n<li>I am a bit longing already for a bit collegual tone at work</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>English is not my native language, so formulate the above as short and open as feasible, maybe in question form.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>that you are missing a bit of lightness, humour, in the day-to-day operation,</li>\n<li>whether the current team is a bit disappointing; in what respects.</li>\n<li>Also be sure to give the PI his say, listen: if the PI does not react on a pause: what do you think?</li>\n<li>Stop if the PI cannot reach over (in that moment). Leave the case open \"just wanted to air my mind; thanks for the patience\".</li>\n<li>On a negative reaction: \"you are the best PI I had till now.\"</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>I doubt, that such a deviation of normal lab behaviour, will come easy, and the appropiate formulation will be difficult.</p>\n\n<p>Of course this advice is a risk, but all other measures are less direct, being less open-minded towards the world.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11754,
"author": "Jack Aidley",
"author_id": 5614,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5614",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><strong>Don't walk, run</strong>.</p>\n\n<p>This kind of behaviour should be viewed as entirely unprofessional and unacceptable in any working environment; it astonishes me what gets politely overlooked in the academic world. What you describe is <em>bullying</em>. While the work may be exciting, it is doubtful that you will ever be able to flourish as an independent researcher facing daily abuse from your supervisor and suffering the toxic secondhand effect of your supervisor abusing your colleagues. I cannot imagine that after several years of that you will still be able to maintain the same level of enthusiasm for your work, and perhaps for academia altogether.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11756,
"author": "Faheem Mitha",
"author_id": 285,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/285",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It really does sound like you are better off leaving. For one thing, since he really does kick people out, what will you do if this person does kick you out later on in your PhD? I'm assuming here what you seem to be implying in your question, but have not stated explicitly - that this lab will be your home for the remainder of your PhD.</p>\n\n<p>I've also suffered abusive conditions, though as a post-doc. (Although the PI in question did not generally kick people out.) I think it is unlikely to get better. These kind of people don't change unless they are forced to, and academia tends to be very undemocratic, and my experience is that department officials are loath to interfere unless they benefit in some way. E.g. if they want to get this person for some reason, they may use his behavior towards his juniors as an excuse, but they won't really care. (Something like this actually happened in a department I was in.) Your setup certainly sounds very undemocratic. Even if the PI is pressured into behaving better (unlikely by the sound of it) it will still probably not be a positive working environment.</p>\n\n<p>If if it already late in your PhD, I suggest you discuss funding problems with your department, and sooner than later. Maybe something can be figured out, but the longer you wait, the more difficult your position will become.</p>\n\n<p>As I said in a comment above, if you do move again, check the PI in question out, as far as practicable. </p>\n\n<p>Also, as Jack said, there is a significant possibility that this treatment will end up ruining your appetite for research altogether. You should take that possibility seriously.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 45249,
"author": "roalddahl14",
"author_id": 34396,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/34396",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Sorry to hear about your situation. But as others pointed out, based on my own experience, I have following pointers:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>In my personal experience, there is no way the situation will get better. Your PI is less likely to be punished for her behavior. So when a thief is not caught while stealing from a cookie-jar, the encouragement for the thief is to steal more, and more, and more. So, you should assume that you are in for abuse for a very long time. It would be a wishful thinking that she would change, and you cannot base your decision on something that you can't control (i.e. change in behavior of your PI).</p></li>\n<li><p>The second question: How common are these situations? Answer: Shockingly common. It is one of the biggest shames of modern academia. It really stems from a general culture of immunity and impunity - a \"cozy club\" in which faculty members operate and protect each other. This does not mean you have to accept it as a fact of life and continue to take abuse. Road accidents are also common. It does not mean we stop driving in a car. The key is to be more careful while driving, more careful while choosing the next PI: do your research, meet students, email former students/postdocs, keep thinking of alternatives. Academia is like a lawless country: if you complain against your adviser, her friends and colleagues would be the judge, jury and prosecutor. There is no hope of a fair trial. During the course of your complaint process, you will face character assassination, slander and even more harassment. So, do not even try to \"handle\" the situation by going through the official complaint process unless you have resources for legal recourse. </p></li>\n<li><p>Things have gone so bad these days that I see news of lawsuits by grad students every now and then. For example, check these ones out:</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://chronicle.com/article/My-Adviser-Stole-My-Research/135694/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">http://chronicle.com/article/My-Adviser-Stole-My-Research/135694/</a></p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://www.gwhatchet.com/2014/02/23/in-rare-court-appearance-gw-will-face-former-graduate-student-alleging-emotional-distress/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">http://www.gwhatchet.com/2014/02/23/in-rare-court-appearance-gw-will-face-former-graduate-student-alleging-emotional-distress/</a></p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https://www.yalealumnimagazine.com/blog_posts/1747\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">https://www.yalealumnimagazine.com/blog_posts/1747</a></p>\n\n<p>As is the case with other fields/sectors, only appropriate laws and legal action can flush the corrupt advisers out. Turns out there is more awareness on such issues these days, and this has not escaped the attention of even some lawmakers. For example, see this:</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://www.wyden.senate.gov/news/photo-gallery/student-right-to-know-before-you-go-act-introduction-and-discussion\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">http://www.wyden.senate.gov/news/photo-gallery/student-right-to-know-before-you-go-act-introduction-and-discussion</a></p>\n\n<ol start=\"4\">\n<li>Suppose you decide to stay and take the abuse for several years or even a decade. Would that make you a successful researcher? Most likely the answer is in negative. Your PI's exploitative conduct and toxic work environment would not let you think independently. The very fact that you currently think this is a good lab and you are working on the best topics is already a sign of some brainwashing you might have suffered. A lab is not good if its citizens are mistreated. Period. A thesis topic or research field is not good if you work on it in an environment of fear. Period. Compare this with scientists forced to work in a concentration camp: they are mistreated, they don't publish and nobody knows such researchers. Look around you - you will find that most the successful students who came from reputed labs have stories of how good their relationship with their advisers were. Do you have such a story to tell? No. Would you eventually have a nice story to tell? Less likely.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>Having analyzed the situation, let's come to the solutions:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>Is there a way you could quit this lab, say today, and have your studies continued? Is there any such way? If the answer is yes, then you have to \"run\" to that solution. Like someone said, \"don't walk, run\". The sooner the better. </p></li>\n<li><p>As a student, you don't want to lose any of your years, and want to build on whatever best you have got. People like your PI know this and take advantage of the student's psyche by making false promises, threats, baits and harassment. You have to liberate yourself from this psyche. If you could transfer to another university, may be credit a few more courses, go through the admission again, it would benefit you as an independent person and researcher. You have to understand that the situation would not improve, and there is a good chance you will get a better PI in a better place.</p></li>\n<li><p>Finally, instead of feeling inferior, you have to realize that your PI indeed likes your work. But she thinks it is beneath her to appreciate your efforts. Also, she has figured out that she can get more work out of you by berating you. That itself tells you two things: you will not gain anything by trying to \"impress her\", and that you are really good to go somewhere else. </p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>I encountered an abusive adviser in my PhD. It took me five years to come to terms with a sad fact that I was being exploited, that there were no returns or brighter future prospects, and that I was really a good student who could easily transfer to other universities. So, I changed to a better university and benefited a lot from working with the best in my field. Looking back, I feel I could have taken this decision much earlier if there was a stackexchange thread on this topic :-) It is never too late. Run, run and run to something, not away from something.</p>\n\n<p>However, the \"clean break\" that I was looking for didn't happen: after I quit my previous lab, my adviser tried to take back my thesis citing \"national security concerns\" (yes, he did play that card). I complained to the Dean, and my thesis was published. My adviser contacted my new advisers and tried to put a negative recommendation. He slandered my character before my colleagues. When he found out that there was not much he could do, he turned to something completely unthinkable: my brother was a PhD student in the same department. My adviser contacted his adviser (who was another jerk) and conspired to kick my brother to out of the university on false accusations - all in broad daylight. I and my brother went through the official complaint process, but nothing happened. No one heard our side of the story. In the meantime, 8-10 more students quit my former adviser's lab in less than two years. A few months later, the university gave the highest recognition to my former adviser. This is what a \"cozy club\" does.</p>\n\n<p>I wish you good luck. Just RUN.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 45301,
"author": "bfoste01",
"author_id": 19610,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19610",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Here's my quick story with a nightmare PI: </p>\n\n<p>I'm at an R1. </p>\n\n<p>I switched labs after my first year because my advisor was a tyrant. This PI was very unethical and emotionally abusive, and I would have reported her to our IRB in regards to research integrity issues that I saw if my program had a way to do that anonymously (as an aside: it still baffles me that they don't have such a process!). I talked with our department chair who helped facilitate me leaving the lab when I gave her the ultimatum that I'd be leaving the program if I could not move labs. Schools don't like that, especially when you are pre-dissertation because it makes their programs look bad. The department chair basically told me not to speak up to higher levels in the university about what I was experiencing, and quietly helped facilitate meetings with other PIs so that I could move to another lab. </p>\n\n<p>After that, she lost an existing student every semester. Another student took the issues to the Dean, and things seemingly \"hit the fan\" with this professor and our Department. Two years later she had no students, and was finding it hard to recruit. The thing that still baffles me to this day is that she faced NO repercussions from the graduate school. She lost 5 students in 2 years, and nothing happened to her. They tried to convince her to take an easy high paying administrative position and cruise into retirement, but she refused. Now she has a beautiful lab space that no one occupies, and she still brings in private funding that no one does any work with other than failed post-docs who take a side gig with her as a consultant to move something along for her ever so slightly. I guess this kind of behavior really is tolerated in Academia? </p>\n\n<p>Honestly, I think the best thing to do is leave the lab and go somewhere else. I won't lie and say that it always works out, it might not. Your current PI might make a stink in the field and you might find that moving to another lab doing related work is not possible. You might find that in the department if the PI brings in enough money and has power that moving to another professor is difficult. You have to leave quietly and make it about your interests and a lack of a match in where the work was going, etc. You have to play the hand you have been dealt as shrewdly as you can. </p>\n\n<p>Best of luck to you. </p>\n\n<p>P.S., if your PI is not a rational person then don't expect any direct conversation with him/her to go well. The best predictor of new behavior is...?</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/08 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11740",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8088/"
]
|
11,744 | <p>I'm an undergrad in Australia, and at this stage I want to go on to do further study in maths (or maybe physics/CS, still have a few years till then).</p>
<p>Should I do so, I imagine that I will want to complete a PhD overseas. Possibly at a university in the US or maybe Oxbridge in the UK.</p>
<p>In Australia, PhDs typically take 3 or 4 years, and I would be eligible to go straight into a PhD upon completion of my undergraduate degree (it is research focused and includes an honours year, see <a href="https://studyat.anu.edu.au/programs/4660HPHB;overview.html">here</a>).</p>
<p>But, much of what I have found for overseas institutions has been in the range of 5-7 years, or maybe a 3-4 year PhD with a few years doing a master's degree beforehand.</p>
<p>Does this indicate that the level of rigour and amount of work produced is significantly different for various PhD programs, or is it the case that some programs are more relaxed and simply spread the same amount of work over a longer period of time?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 11748,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The length of the PhD program depends on how the bachelor's and Master's programs are structured, and what additional demands are placed on students in terms of teaching and other assignments.</p>\n\n<p>For instance, in the US, you can gain admission to a PhD directly after a bachelor's degree, but you will also be expected to take courses for one to two years. In mathematics especially, you will likely have significant teaching duties as well. in Europe, PhD programs in math will still likely require significant teaching, but no coursework, since it is presumed you took the requisite courses as a Master's student.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11750,
"author": "paul garrett",
"author_id": 980,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>In addition to @aeismail's points, in the U.S. the undergrad degree (B.S. or B.A.) in math is typically rather thin, due to \"breadth\" requirements, so a year or two of a PhD program is spent catching up, in comparison to most other educational systems in which specialization occurs earlier (and perhaps high school math education is more intense).</p>\n\n<p>Some decades ago, it was the style in elite places in the U.S. to have people finish a PhD degree as quickly as possible, often in three years, as proof of ... something. This was plausible under the hypothesis that students at such places had an unusually good background.</p>\n\n<p>In fact, given the way professional mathematics has evolved, spending more time learning things and maturing before hitting the job market may be wise. In any case, no one is creating artificial obstacles to any student's quick graduation! In my current institution, there really are no \"required courses\", in the sense that there are some modest proficiency exams in standard material that need to be passed, and courses help prepare for those, or can substitute for proficiency exams to some extent. Thus, a well-prepared student can \"test out\" of requirements.</p>\n\n<p>One underlying problem seems to be that people take as much time as is allowed, so if it is understood that one may take six years \"if necessary\", then most people plan to use up that time. Not that they're \"forced to\" or \"kept from graduating earlier\". And then there's the reasonable fear of facing the job market that leads to \"avoidance\".</p>\n\n<p>I would claim that \"having to teach\" is not a serious impediment to quick graduation. However, its relatively immediate gratification can seduce people away from the far-less-immediate gratification of research and study.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11758,
"author": "posdef",
"author_id": 5674,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5674",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Another aspect that's worth mentioning is that there's PhD and there's PhD. Even though the name of the title is essentially the same when translated to common English, the \"content\" of the dissertation and diploma could differ significantly. If you have more time to do your research you're more likely to produce more publications (although this is not a given). I would even argue that the potential increase in your publications is not linear to the number of years in grad school, considering the rather steep learning curve. </p>\n\n<p>Similarly the expectations during post-grad applications could also vary based on the degree. You might, and probably will, be expected to do more years of post-doc research before getting a faculty position, in comparison to if you had a longer PhD period (for instance 5 years instead of 3). </p>\n\n<p>Yet another aspect is the funding; most PhD programs are limited in years, because the funding is usually limited in years. In other words, if you have means of sustaining yourself without grant money, or if your supervisor/group leader has the possibility to fix some other source of funding, I am pretty sure actual dissertation time would not be a huge issue (again it depends on the supervisor).</p>\n\n<p>Lastly, none of this is written in stone, and there will always be exceptions to the rule. I would advocate that there is really no shortcuts to success, and instead of worrying about number of years to a particular title, one should focus on getting \"really good/competent\" at the field of research.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11759,
"author": "Thomas",
"author_id": 6984,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6984",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Having moved from the US to Europe (Denmark specifically), I was surprised that doctoral degrees here are standardized. Whereas in the US degree times vary considerably for all the reasons stated in the other answers, in Europe the length of PhD degrees is increasingly zeroing in on three years. Indeed, in Denmark no one is permitted to take longer than three years.</p>\n\n<p>This is due to an international European standard known as the <a href=\"http://ec.europa.eu/education/higher-education/bologna_en.htm\" rel=\"nofollow\">Bologna process</a>, which aims to standardize academic qualifications across Europe. In order to enter a PhD in Bologna process countries, students must have a sufficient number of ECTS points (equal to a master-level degree), thus reducing the variance in times (common in the United States) due to differences in additional courses (minimal), teaching obligations (minimal), etc. between students, departments, and universities.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 19815,
"author": "Noah Snyder",
"author_id": 25,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/25",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In the UK system (or similar systems, like Australia) students enter their Ph.D. program with a stronger background due to earlier specialization, and they typically leave their Ph.D. program at a less advanced level than a Ph.D. from a comparable American school. The difference is not in how fast people learn, but rather differences in what a bachelor's degree means and what a Ph.D. degree means.</p>\n\n<p>Note that on specialization for undergraduates the US is the outlier, but in terms of Ph.D. outcome it's the UK that is unusual. For example, <a href=\"http://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/435/1/RedefiningTheDoctorate.pdf\">Chris Parks writes</a>, \"Across Europe the view prevails that the three-year UK doctorate is too short and thus of inadequate quality compared with the more common four-year doctorate.\"</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 19849,
"author": "Thomas",
"author_id": 6984,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6984",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>For those interested in why the U.S. is an outlier compared to Europe in terms of PhD length, it's important to keep in mind that European countries used to have not only widely varying standards for doctorates but also widely varying degrees (i.e., many countries had degrees that did not even map onto the BA-MA-PhD system). European countries are now increasingly standardized around a 3-4 year doctorate because all degree programs in (most) European countries are expected to follow the standards set by <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bologna_Process#Qualifications_Framework_of_the_European_Higher_Education_Area\" rel=\"nofollow\">the Bologna Process</a>, which fix the ECTS credit hours for particular degree programs. As a result 47 European countries (as of 2014) now have relatively standardized and transferable degree requirements, which differ quite dramatically from those in the U.S. higher education system.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/08 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11744",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8039/"
]
|
11,746 | <p>I am willing very much to make a transition to a scientific position, but I am not sure what's the best way to do it. I would like to ask for your advice.</p>
<p>Let me describe my situation (it is quite specific, but it can be generalized):</p>
<ul>
<li>I have completed PhD in Russia (at some provincial university, on knowledge representation and high-performance computing) which I am unfortunately not quite happy with (it could be better and I did it during my work at a company).</li>
<li>I have some publications, but none in top journals/conferences.</li>
<li>I have very diverse interests that span machine learning, knowledge representation, AI, algorithms, parallel programming, performance analysis, etc. I am trying to stick myself to just one direction: scalability problems of machine learning of big data sets, but well, there are so many interesting topics! :-) I visit summer schools on these diverse topics.</li>
<li>I live in Russia (province, so to say) and I still do some teaching and research advise in local university, but I am not a faculty staff and I refused to be one. The reason is that it only involves teaching, but I want to do research. Also, faculty members at Russia have extremely low salary that will not allow me to survive. But there is one group doing research in machine learning there (not a famous one by all means).</li>
<li>At the moment I am a software development engineer (in one of the top companies) doing research-like work in high-performance computing, but which is very applied. It is not always possible to publish a paper for the outcomes of this work, that's why it is not completely scientific/research. Also there are some software development tasks (previously I did it a lot, ~10 years).</li>
<li>I have a family (wife + son of 8 years + plan to have another baby in some future).</li>
<li>At the moment I am trying to do research work during my free time as much as I can, but it is not always very effective of course, because it is not my job. But I am trying to use every minute for this. </li>
</ul>
<p>My goal: do scientific research. I believe that it is not very effective to do it as a hobby, so I am searching for a way to have a scientific position. I am ready to give a lot for it; I will be happy to have a medium salary, enough to support my family.</p>
<p>Possible ways to meet this goal:</p>
<ol>
<li>Go to Europe/US and do a PhD there. Not possible, because I already have a PhD and I won't be able to support my family.</li>
<li>Go to Europe/US and do postdoc work. Somewhat possible, but:
<ul>
<li>Need to produce at least 2 good publications first.</li>
<li>Will I be able to support my family?</li>
<li>Postdocs are temporary positions. This could mean switching countries and it could be difficult for my son at school (due to language).</li>
</ul></li>
<li>Join research group at local university. I am going to do this, but it is temporary, I wanted to work with top people in this field. But it's good for the start.</li>
<li>Join some research lab or faculty in university in Europe/US. Well, that's a dream, but I need to be more prepared for this.</li>
</ol>
<p>My current plan is to do 3), do research and write papers on my own or with this group and then... I'll see. Though, doing research and writing papers on one's own is quite difficult, because you don't know what is important.</p>
<p>What could be your proposal in this situation?</p>
<p>My concerns are supporting my family and school studies of my son.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 13410,
"author": "Dexters",
"author_id": 6033,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6033",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Since you already have a phd, you don't need to prove your skills, if you are REALLY PASSIONATE about research, then you can do some soul searching to select a field, target a research lab, apply to a university in that country for a Master's Degree on a particular topic. Write to the professor famous in that research. Do your research home, spend 1 year on Masters , write a brilliant thesis on your field of interest. Publish it and try to apply for the lab that interested you. Usually MS students are not preferred, but since you have a Phd and you have a Master's thesis to prove that you are capable of research as well as proof to your passion for research, you can get a research job. </p>\n\n<p>Worth a try, since you wont be spending another 5-6 years on Phd. Also this thesis publication could be your entry to a post-doc.</p>\n\n<p>Regd your family and Son - you should save for your family and work part-time to cover for them. Depends on if your family is ok with you taking a risk for 1 year and leaving them in their own place. </p>\n\n<p>If you indeed get post-doc, thats easily should be your choice. Since your son is only 8 years old, he should be able to pick up the language or teach him the language before you make a move to any country.</p>\n\n<p>Edit:</p>\n\n<p>Always remember that you can always live a normal life after a failure trying to get to top or to chase your passion. So it doesn't make a difference unless your family objects to it. Its just that most people so afraid of failures before even trying it.</p>\n\n<p>All depends on how much you love doing research :)\nGood luck with your efforts!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13539,
"author": "Sylar",
"author_id": 9072,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9072",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Since you already have a PhD, and have a strong work experience with one of the top companies with the research-like work, not to mention your published work that you have mentioned, you should be able to get a grant from one of the prominent universities in Russia. If not, then try a country where you can happily continue your research while still supporting your family. As Dexters above has suggested that, with your passion you have nothing to lose, it stands true if you keep trying and not give up just yet. In the meantime you could try to publish your work with the top journals.\nGood luck with your endeavours.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/08 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11746",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8093/"
]
|
11,749 | <p>I am fortunate to have a very nice, easy-going advisor (the last because I have seen some horrible PhD advisors). He respects me and my work (I did my master degree under his guidance). Then, I went to another university and returned to him again last year. I am a first year PhD student now. However, I have some issues regarding <strong>my research</strong>. </p>
<p><strong>First,</strong> my advisor does not know much about my area even though he's encouraging me to pursue on it. To make it clear, I can't consult him in my specific area (I do consult him on other things though).</p>
<p><strong>Second,</strong> he's not aiming high (top conferences) on publications. He mainly publishes on mid/ lower mid conferences and happy with that. </p>
<p>On the other hand, I have met a professor who is a <strong><em>big name</em></strong>, <strong><em>expert in my area</em></strong>, <strong><em>affiliated with a top university</em></strong> and <strong><em>my work is highly influenced by his research</em></strong>. He also seems to have a very nice personality (I have chatted with his students). I met him several time on different occasions. and he showed an interest to work together for a joint paper.</p>
<p><strong>Most importantly,</strong> I believe changing university will result in a better research experience <strong>for me</strong>. In particular, I will join a lab with different enthusiastic grad students with critical guidance unlike my current situation where it is only me and my advisor. </p>
<p>About funding, I have external funding and will continue regardless where I am.
I am really wondering which path to take. I am addicted to what I am doing but need the guidance and research experience which I am greatly lacking with my current supervisor. </p>
<p>Update: </p>
<p><strong>The question is: How to approach this professor for acceptance ?</strong> specially without saying anything bad about my current advisor. </p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 11786,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>How you approach the professor for acceptance would be very similar to how you speak to your current advisor (should you choose to*) about your decision:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Be objective, there is no need to mention anything about either academic in a personal way, this decision is purely one for an academic reason - you want to be 'closer' to where current <em>active</em> research is happening and amongst those <em>actively</em> involved in research in your field.</li>\n<li>Related, be polite and direct to the point.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>The fact that the professor has expressed interest in writing a paper with you is a strong indication - perhaps accept this offer and at that stage mention that you wish to pursue your research under his guidance and to work within his labs.</p>\n\n<p>Once it is definite that you'd get in and although you are not obligated to explain to your current advisor, it is advisable to explain clearly and positively about the opportunity to work directly with one of the top researchers in the field - I am sure your advisor would understand.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12619,
"author": "Alice Liddell",
"author_id": 8565,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8565",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Maybe you can ask your current advisor (the easy-going guy), to be your co-supervisor. This is done by many Ph.D. students and sometimes the co-supervisor is even from a university in a different country. It could be a good solution to work under the supervision of this expert in your area and at the same time maintain the collaboration with your current supervisor with whom you get on so well. That's what my supervisor suggested for my future Ph.D.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/08 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11749",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/532/"
]
|
11,755 | <p>I just finished my master and am about to start a funded PhD in October. Thing is that the reason I am doing this PhD is because I missed the deadlines for the PhDs that I am truly interested in. I was thinking that it would be better to do something academic this year and get paid than to do nothing until the next application cycle.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Is this extremely dishonest to start a PhD without the intention to finish it? Will this put me on some blacklist at that university?</p></li>
<li><p>How should I portray my position in my other PhD applications? I was thinking of saying that I was doing a funded student placement program or something?</p></li>
</ul>
| [
{
"answer_id": 11757,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>Is this extremely dishonest to start a phd without the intention to finish it? </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>It depends if you talk about your situation with your current advisor. If you clearly stated <em>\"I'm more interested in another position, but I couldn't get it, and it's likely I'll try next year\"</em>, then, no, it's not dishonest. If you said you were interested in doing a full PhD there, while you actually were not, then, yes, it's dishonest. You're taking a funding opportunity for someone who would be interested, and in some cases, for instance when the funding is associated with a project, you will leave your current advisor with a partial funding, that cannot be used to hire a new PhD student. </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Will this put me on some blacklist at that university? </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Again, it depends how you explained the situation, but I would not hope much for any recommendation letter from your current advisor (which is a shame, because recommendation letters can be <em>very</em> useful later on). </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>How should I portray my position in my other phd applications? I was thinking of saying that I was doing a funded student placement program or something?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>As I said <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/5447/102\">here</a>, lying is always a bad idea. Academia is a very small world. If you want to change position, then you have to explain why. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 68968,
"author": "Sathyam",
"author_id": 24064,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/24064",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>For some of us, being able to research as a paid job is one of the best that could happen, for some others its <em>just another job</em>. No matter what advise you will get from here, your decision will depends on the way you look at it. From the spirit of your question, I think that you will fall into the later with an <em>extra intention</em> that you would be able to contribute to academia.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Is this extremely dishonest to start a PhD without the intention to finish it? Will this put me on some blacklist at that university?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>That will depend on the nature of project and the type of contract you would be signing. For me, the contract is for 3 years and the project was designed such that there would be experiments and analysis during these years. As you would expect, the first few months would be learning the necessary tools and methods. If I chose to quit, that will put the whole project in jeopardy and if the group decides to take another candidate for the same project, unless they couldn't find someone who already know the tools to work, it is a huge waste of productive time.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>How should I portray my position in my other PhD applications? I was thinking of saying that I was doing a funded student placement program or something?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Well, I suggest you tell the truth. Everything else would be trying to suppress what you had been doing. You really don't like the whole idea, do you?</p>\n\n<p>You will never know if the person who would have been accepted instead could contribute more than you will in your proposed year, is passionate, or just another candidate looking for just another job. I am sure that you got the position because you are eligible for it, and you are in full liberty to choose what you do with it, but as I mentioned the first part, an ethical dilemma occurs when your intentions could jeopardize the whole project.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/08 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11755",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8096/"
]
|
11,760 | <p>In <a href="http://jchyip.blogspot.be/2013/08/the-most-interesting-things-ive-learnt.html?view=classic">this</a> recent blog post the author lists several interesting concepts he has discovered pertaining to learning. One thing he mentions is the following:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Mastery is more important than passing grades. You will reach limits
in learning when you have a "Swiss cheese" foundation full of
misconception holes. Master each concept before building on top.
~Salman Khan</p>
</blockquote>
<p>(This is actually from Salman's TED talk which you can view <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTFEUsudhfs">here</a>.) My questions is as follows: I graduated about a year ago with a Master's in Applied Physics from a reputable university. I've been a B student throughout my academic career and I feel like I started building on un-mastered concepts somewhere towards the end of <em>high school</em>. Despite obtaining a relatively <em>tough</em> engineering degree, I cut corners whenever possible. If I could pass an exam by being able to do all the exercises, I would get to that level and stop there. I would rarely - if ever - go for complete mastery. As a result I feel like I have Swiss cheese holes in my understanding that date back to high school. </p>
<p>If Albert Einstein's quote is anything to go by: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I'm afraid I can't <em>simply</em> explain a whole lot. For instance I would not be able to explain simply:</p>
<ol>
<li>What is the proof of Euler's identity? </li>
<li>Why can you express a wave as an imaginary exponential? </li>
<li>How does a photon have momentum, but not mass?</li>
<li>What is the intuitive understanding of eigenfunctions, eigenvalues and their physical manifestations?</li>
</ol>
<p>With the wealth of knowledge available today on the internet, I could look up any one of my knowledge gaps, and with some effort I feel confident I would be able to fill them. My question is, would that be worth it?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 11761,
"author": "paul garrett",
"author_id": 980,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>First, for context, I'd disagree strongly with a too strict notion that \"mastery\" is required before \"moving forward\", for several reasons. It is easier to understand the purpose of something <em>after</em> one sees how it is used. It is all too easy to acquire a fake mastery that is not <em>functional</em>, but only refers to some artificial tasks created for a textbook, and, all the worse, may be wastes of time. And, finally, the kind of \"mastery\" we are often led to think we should attain is basically unattainable... That is, unless one keeps ones list of things-to-master really short, very elementary, and uncomplicated, this \"mastery\" is just unreachable on the terms a novice or even journeyman conceives.</p>\n\n<p>So... don't over-interpret \"mastery\".</p>\n\n<p>On the other hand, _of_course_ it is good to go back and fill in. And one will find oneself doing this many times, as one discovers, upon \"stressing\" one's knowledge, that what one thought one knew \"well enough\" was not quite good enough. </p>\n\n<p>For that matter, even with an excellent memory, things slip out of a person's head.</p>\n\n<p>My bottom line recommendation is to maintain (at least) two \"threads\", one to review and backfill, the other to move forward.</p>\n\n<p>The latter is surprisingly useful at helping review make more sense! :)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11771,
"author": "J. Zimmerman",
"author_id": 7921,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7921",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The ancient Hebrew wisdom of Solomon applies here: \"Of making many books there is no end, and much study is wearisome to the flesh.\" (Ecclesiastes 12:12b) There is no end of making books, so we can never completely master anything. Mastery is an ideal that no one ever really reaches; it is more like a compass to steer by. So if those holes are bothering you, why not fill them in as you run into them? You'll never reach a place where there are no holes left, as paul garret implied in his answer. This fact should not stop us from trying, though. Enjoy the journey....</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 27947,
"author": "Flounderer",
"author_id": 5842,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5842",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>When you have collected discouraging quotes from authorities, it is a good idea to find other authorities who have held the opposite point of view. I suggest that the arch-experimentalist <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Heaviside\" rel=\"nofollow\">Oliver Heaviside</a> would be a good match for you.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Mathematics is of two kinds, Rigorous and Physical. The former is\n Narrow: the latter Bold and Broad. To have to stop to formulate\n rigorous demonstrations would put a stop to most physico-mathematical\n inquiries. Am I to refuse to eat because I do not fully understand the\n mechanism of digestion?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Or:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>The prevalent idea of mathematical works is that you must\n understand the reason why first, before you proceed to practice.\n That is fudg e and fiddlesticks. I know mathematical processes\n that I have used with success for a very long time, of which\n neither I nor any one else understands the scholastic logic. I have\n grown into them, and so understand them that way .</p>\n</blockquote>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/08 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11760",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8098/"
]
|
11,765 | <p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impostor_syndrome" rel="noreferrer">Imposter syndrome</a> is a psychological phenomenon wherein an individual is convinced that they do not deserve the success that they have achieved despite (perhaps extensive) empirical evidence to the contrary. Some people with imposter syndrome doubt their own ability level. For me, this usually manifests in the thought:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>I've somehow convinced everyone into believing that I'm actually good at this.</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<p>followed by the horrifying notion that eventually I'll be found out and my world will collapse.</p>
<p>I believe that the imposter syndrome is not uncommon in academia. I'm interested to know how other people here have experienced and dealt with it.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>In particular, I'm looking for <strong>actual tactics</strong> that someone might
use to combat imposter syndrome.</p>
</blockquote>
<hr />
<p><em>Why I asked this question:</em></p>
<p>Beyond the obvious reason that this is something I have struggled with for many years and only recently gotten a handle on myself, there's also some evidence that merely realizing that other people experience imposter syndrome helps fellow imposters. As a grad student, I've managed to meet a fair number of people who are in their own struggles with imposter syndrome; however, the tactics and self-trickery that have helped me don't always speak to them and perhaps someone else's methods might.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 11766,
"author": "Aru Ray",
"author_id": 948,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/948",
"pm_score": 7,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It's hard to even think of a time when I didn't feel like an imposter. I would tell myself constantly that I was succeeding only due to luck, or having spent more time working as opposed to having any actual ability, or the fact that as an international student I had a very different background from my peers and therefore had an unfair advantage, and so on. At some point in graduate school when I came across the phrase 'imposter syndrome' I finally realized that I am not alone and started to get over it, to some extent. </p>\n\n<p>Here are some things that have helped:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Knowing that this is a real thing (I'm not alone!)</strong> The mere fact that there is a name for what I was feeling was a big deal. Imposter syndrome is a documented phenomenon that many people have to deal with. I sometimes go back to the wikipedia page just to remind myself of this.</li>\n<li><strong>Knowing that several bigger, brighter academics have felt (or feel) similarly inadequate on occasion</strong>. It's easy to convince oneself that while imposter syndrome is common among grad students, maybe only the 'non-imposters' actually go on to succeed - knowing that even the academic superstars I look up to sometimes doubt themselves helps to remind me that this is false. </li>\n<li><strong>Forcing myself to look at the empirical data.</strong> I imagine some other grad student, with exactly the same achievements as mine and ask myself what I think about them. </li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>However, honestly, this is very much work-in-progress for me. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11768,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As Aru Ray said, knowing that this is actually a quite common feeling is helpful in overcoming it. Ways you can achieve that include <strong>discussing it with others</strong>, including accomplished researchers, and reading about it. Here are a few texts and resources on the topic, which I recommend heartily to both students and faculty:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>A recent article in the <a href=\"http://chronicle.com/article/An-Academic-With-Impostor/138231/\">Chronicles of Higher Education</a>, which sums it up nicely. And also, some reactions on the web: <a href=\"http://www.hookandeye.ca/2013/04/academic-imposter-syndrome.html\">1</a>, <a href=\"http://ianmilligan.ca/2013/04/16/an-aside-an-academic-with-imposter-syndrome/\">2</a></li>\n<li>A personal experience <a href=\"http://thebluereview.org/impostor-syndrome-in-academia/\">is related here</a></li>\n<li>The <a href=\"http://mentalfaculties.wordpress.com/2013/04/21/on-impostor-syndrome/\">references over there</a> make for pretty good reading too…</li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11769,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The way you have phrased your statement \"I've cleverly fooled everyone into believing that I'm actually good at this.\" makes me think of two different situations.</p>\n\n<p>The first is when you have low self-esteem and simply do not think you are worth much as a person. With low <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-esteem\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">self-esteem</a> comes also low <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-confidence\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">self-confidence</a>, which is a very common situation in academia -- I recognize it from myself. Self-esteem can be a sign of depression and can in such cases be medicated. Self-confidence is something one can build through positive feedback from others so that the value of ones work is seen. It is possible to have reasonably good self-confidence but still have poor self-esteem. In such cases you have to keep up a facade to seem confident although you do not feel as such.</p>\n\n<p>The second case I think of is more of a psychological (permanent) condition, akin to <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissism\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">narcissism</a> where you deliberately thrive from deceiving people that you are more than you really are. In such cases you thrive to fool other into thinking something and the goal is the manipulation and nothing about the truth. I think we can see some of this as well (of course since it is a human aspect) in persons who try to cheat more or less successfully. I would not be surprised if some of the more famous scientific cheats suffer from this affliction although peer pressure could certainly play a role.</p>\n\n<p>So in the end, regardless of type, you will find these feelings/afflictions because they are all part of the human psyche and becomes a burden if not in balance.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11773,
"author": "J. Zimmerman",
"author_id": 7921,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7921",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This question struck a nerve...I didn't know that this feeling is an actual diagnosable syndrome! As an undergrad who is attempting an ambitious course load, including research projects far beyond what most undergrads in my school tackle, I often struggle with feeling that the praise, recognition, and high grades I receive must be mere kindness on the part of the professors, who surely are just impressed by the amount of effort I put in! I <strong>know</strong> I am not a genius, so those who say I am must be mistaken.</p>\n\n<p>Remembering what the famous inventor Thomas Edison said is always helpful when I begin to feel like an imposter. \"Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.\" Knowing that I have put in a large amount of 'perspiration', I realize that even if others are being generous in their applause, I have earned <strong>most</strong> of it through sheer hard work, and I can accept the rest of it being providence or luck or whatever it is to which you want to attribute unearned success.</p>\n\n<p>In short, realizing that most success is due to hard work, and accepting that a small part of success will always be unpredictable and unearned has helped me deal with Imposter Syndrome. I realize that depending on the situation and the severity of your symptoms, this may be of no help at all...</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11774,
"author": "eykanal",
"author_id": 73,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/73",
"pm_score": 9,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I found two practices helped me a lot:</p>\n<ul>\n<li><p><strong>Reinforce what you know</strong>. The biggest problem with being an academic surrounded by other academics is that you're constantly being confronted by things you don't know. Even worse, it often seems like everyone else knows something that you don't know.</p>\n<p>You don't need me to tell you how demoralizing that is. The fight is to go back and review what you <em>do</em> know, and reinforce your expertise in your subject area. Most academics are polyglots; choose some random thing you've studied, learned, or even just considered previously, and review it every now and then. It'll help you view the progress you're making.</p>\n</li>\n<li><p><strong>Engage non-academics</strong>. You don't realize how much you know until you talk to the other 99.99% of people who don't know what you know. (Confusing sentence...) Write blogs, offer to give visiting lectures at a school or workplace, work as an intern or consultant in industry, champion a political cause related to your research. There are so many ways you can make use of your knowledge, and doing so will definitely help massage your ego which has been bruised by many semesters of feeling inadequate.</p>\n</li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11776,
"author": "Steve P.",
"author_id": 8022,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8022",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": false,
"text": "<h1>The Harsh Reality: They Do Exist</h1>\n<p>Before I met my roommate, I thought that I was one of the most intelligent people that I've ever met, pretentious, I know, but just being honest. When the material was upper-level undergrad or graduate level, I studied, but even at a top tier university, I got amazing grades with much less effort than most of my peers, which was convenient but in an odd way depressing and isolating; however, my grades dramatically changed after a lot of personal losses (this is relevant, see below).</p>\n<p>I'm sure a lot of us are in awe of well renowned professors--if you're an academic, they're like rock stars, at least to me they are. I've always looked up to these people, they make me feel like there's a place for me in this world. Anyway, as a result of being extraordinarily depressed, I lost almost all of my confidence. Unfortunately for me, this was when I met my (now) roommate, which made me feel so much worse.</p>\n<p>There are people who say that they don't study when they really do. There are people who appear to be really smart when they're really not. There's a major difference between knowing a lot of facts and actually being intelligent. My roommate is quite literally the most brilliant person I've ever met, including several Nobel laureates. After living with him, I discovered that he actually doesn't study, at least not like most people do. He can read something once, at a ridiculously fast speed--quite literally he can read a full textbook page in under 20 seconds and comprehend everything. This is not limited to any particular domain. There are countless times that I have gone to him with high level mathematics problems from disciplines that he's not too familiar with, and he's able to not only understand everything almost immediately, but he can synthesize beautiful solutions and explain the concepts to me better than my professors who've been in the field for years. I know it sounds unbelievable, but I assure you that it's true.</p>\n<p>My roommate was a major stumbling block for me. After meeting him, I began to doubt my intelligence even more. If people like him exist, what the hell am I going to do? How could I possibly compete with him? I went to speak with a few of my professors to essentially ask them if they were like my roommate. If they all were, then I knew that I had no place in the academia. Fortunately, out of all of the professors that I talked to, every single one of them said that they struggled a lot. While some of them knew one or two people like my roommate, they reassured me that not only did they put a ton of work in and struggle, but they also doubted themselves all the time, and most still do.</p>\n<p>I guess what I am saying is that sometimes it can make sense to feel like an imposter. Some people are just <em>geniuses</em>, and I do not use that term lightly. In the end, 99% of the best of the best of the best still struggle a lot. It's okay to struggle, it's good. It means that you're learning. For what it's worth, if you're accepted into a PhD program or lab or what have you, the admissions committee/PI made a conscious decision to say that they believe that you are good enough. I don't care if you think that you got in because you knew someone, and that person recommended you. (A) that happens all the time, and (B), they actually went out of their way to recommend you. They put their reputation on the line for you. They wouldn't do that unless they believed in you--these are really intelligent people, you didn't trick them. Finally, for the people who only think that they got to where they are because of hard work and not natural intelligence, I say to you (A) that's probably not true (smart people tend to think that because they struggle with stuff and finally understand it, that everyone can and that's patently false) and (B) you're more likely to be successful than someone smarter who doesn't put in as much work. Sorry for the really long answer, but I hope it helps someone. It made me feel better just writing it. Cheers!</p>\n<p><strong>EDIT:</strong><br>\nOne last thing, the more one travels down the rabbit hole, the more one realizes just how little they know. This can lead people to question their intelligence. It's pretty ironic, you're becoming more informed and because of it you feel less informed. In this case, you just need to take a step back and realize that true mastery is impossible. It should be a good feeling to learn that which one did not know before. It's doesn't mean that you're stupid, it means you're getting smarter. If you think that you know everything or even can know everything, <strong>then</strong> perhaps you are not that intelligent.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11780,
"author": "dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten",
"author_id": 440,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/440",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Personal take on this, or why I don't feel quite as much like an imposter these days. </p>\n\n<p>I've spent years toiling away in the salt mines of my choice convinced that I was just scraping by at every stage that didn't involve a formal \"exam\" (I'm good at those). Certain that I was surrounded by my betters. Because I'm in big science I got to do this in settings that involved a lot of close work and socializing with my peers; I've worked closely enough with scores of people at various points on their career arcs to get to know our relative strengths and weakness.</p>\n\n<p>And I've slowly come to a realization which has taken (some of) the pressure off:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Yes, I suck and I'm really only good at a couple of the bits of this job and other people make me look like piker in almost everything involved in this work </p>\n \n <p>... but ...</p>\n \n <p>with only a couple of exceptions<sup>1</sup> <strong>they suck too</strong>.</p>\n \n <p>I really am better than average (even among my peers) at a couple of things. They are not big flashy things, they don't draw the admiration of crowds, but they are things that need doing and I'm pretty good at them.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>So, I've become content (at least some) to be a worker bee: I've got a part to play in this enterprise, I know how to do it and people will ask me to do it because in these little corners they are even worse.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p><sup>1</sup> The only thing I can say about these folks is that they are few and far between and there aren't enough of them to keep me from getting work. And I try not to think about them. And I think I'll have another drink.</p>\n\n<p>But it is inevitable for most of us. If you are N sigma above the norm, then there is one person who is N+2 sigma for every ten people like you. Unless you one of the ten smartest in the world there are going to be people who make you look like you can barely walk and chew gum at the same time. That is just the way it is.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 87849,
"author": "Art B",
"author_id": 71986,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/71986",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The more productive question may be, \"Is the present situation better with me or without me?\" If you believe your participation is actually detrimental, step aside... but in most cases you'll realize that, whether or not you're the Platonic Ideal of whatever you're striving to be, the situation is still better with you there making that effort. </p>\n\n<p>In other words, worry more about the world and less about yourself. Like paranoia, self-doubt is itself inherently somewhat narcissistic.</p>\n\n<p>Or to put it another way: That which we would become we must first impersonate. Viewed in that light imposture isn't necessarily such a bad thing. We all have to fake it till we make it. And a robust appreciation of our ignorance is the foundation of wisdom.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 139676,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Having struggled with imposter syndrome since what feels like my birth (\"How have I fooled everyone into believing I deserve to exist and participate in society?!\"), I frequently revisit these answers for a moral boost, especially during conferences, where I fear the concentration of experts looking at my work all at once will somehow trigger my pending demise. (Thankfully, so far, that hasn't happened; quite often, the opposite happens, and I make friends who want to talk more about our mutual interests.)</p>\n\n<p>Since it wasn't mentioned in any of the other answers, I wanted to add something I've discovered for myself.</p>\n\n<p>It's very important to have a life outside of work. This is true for any job, but especially a career in academia, where the work culture can often feel cultish. I've found that it's especially important to have self-improvement goals completely unrelated to my research: training for a 5k, meditating 10 minutes a day, learning a language, forcing myself to break a social rule/take a risk/look stupid/get rejected at least once a day. (The latter is to help combat my OCD, which often triggers imposter moments, through a kind of exposure therapy.)</p>\n\n<p>Investing in other people-- family, friends, scuba diving club, neighborhood clean-up groups-- is also absolutely essential. Anxiety (a sinister companion of imposter syndrome) inherently causes the sufferer to focus on themself and their safety and their needs, often at the expense of others' well-being. So it is also essential to make time for these other people-- e.g., by banning work outside of the lab, avoiding checking work e-mail on evenings and weekends, scheduling appointments and holding them sacred.</p>\n\n<p>The consequence of having non-work related self-improvement goals and people to invest in is that my identity is less wrapped up in my \"success\" as a researcher. It depends more on who I am holistically as a person, as well as the joy and appreciation I experience from living live more fully in community with others.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/09 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11765",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/948/"
]
|
11,775 | <p>I am a postdoc and will be up in the tenure-track job market in the near future. Just want to know what the average duration one has to work on tenure-track. Is this duration negotiable or there is a strict rule for this duration?
Thanks!
--Dave</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 11782,
"author": "debray",
"author_id": 7974,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7974",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>AFAIK it's usually six years, but people can get extensions due to major personal events like the birth of a child. There's usually a limit on the total number of such extensions someone can get.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11783,
"author": "Matt Reece",
"author_id": 6108,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6108",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There's quite a spread: where I am it's seven years (sometimes extended to eight when someone has a kid), but I've heard of other places where it's as short as four. Six is probably the median. It's not unheard of for people to go up for tenure early if they think they're likely to get it and their department chair (or other relevant people) agree.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11833,
"author": "StasK",
"author_id": 739,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/739",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I've heard of a (very top) school/department that is fine with promoting everybody to Associate Professors, but the real tenure decision comes about three years after that, and you really have to be an international star to be granted tenure. So in effect, the tenure track is about 9 years.</p>\n\n<p>On the other hand, I was thrown out of the tenure track after three years after my 3rd year review. When you negotiate your contract, make sure that it states the full term, rather than \"annually renewable\".</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 42024,
"author": "Wolfgang Bangerth",
"author_id": 31149,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/31149",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The \"standard\" at Tier-1 Research universities in the United States is 6 years. This is, in principle, negotiable if you have prior experience that is comparable to what an assistant professor does. However, I always think it's inadvisable to do so. First, if you satisfy the criteria for promotion and tenure at a point earlier than your sixth year, then you can ask to go through the tenure proceedings. Departments that recognize that you're right with your request will accommodate this. In other words, you don't lose very much by not negotiating an earlier tenure date. </p>\n\n<p>Second, if you previously negotiated that you should go up for tenure after, say, your 3rd year, but you've run into trouble getting funding or getting results published, then you may not get tenure and have to leave. In other words, you lose a lot by negotiating an earlier tenure date.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 49480,
"author": "Peter",
"author_id": 37709,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/37709",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The probationary period/tenure-track is commonly six years, with review taking place throughout the 6th year. (Materials are typically submitted by the probationary faculty at or before the start of the 6th year and a decision announced at the end of the 6th year.) Part of the reason for this timing is the following: </p>\n\n<p>\"Under the 1940 'Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure,' this [probationary] period [tenure track] may not exceed seven years.\"</p>\n\n<p>See <a href=\"http://www.aaup.org/file/RIR%202014.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.aaup.org/file/RIR%202014.pdf</a></p>\n\n<p>The probationary period, as pointed out above, might be effectively extended due to prior tenure-track service at another institution, but this is negotiated at the time of hire, so the faculty member has some say in it. </p>\n\n<p>It is also frequently extended due to child birth and personal or family medical issues because such accommodations are required BY FEDERAL LAW (<a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_and_Medical_Leave_Act_of_1993\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_and_Medical_Leave_Act_of_1993</a>). </p>\n\n<p>University employers have an incentive to extend the probationary period because probationary faculty are paid less, can be more easily fired, and (therefore) can be more easily controlled. </p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/09 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11775",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8108/"
]
|
11,785 | <p>Is the Australian academia following the same system as the US one? i.e., tenure track for a few years, and then tenured? Or it is more like the British one where there is 'probation' period?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12211,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><a href=\"http://www.eui.eu/ProgrammesAndFellowships/AcademicCareersObservatory/AcademicCareersbyCountry/Australia.aspx\">Australia does not have a US-like tenure system</a>. Academics at all levels are occasionally \nscrutinized, and advancement is not automatic.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12799,
"author": "Samuel Russell",
"author_id": 4429,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4429",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Australian Academics do not have tenure. They are either appointed on an on-going basis (\"Permanent\" staff) or on contract (year-to-year, three-year to three-year) or casual (hour to hour) bases. All three categories of staff can effectively be dismissed at whim by management.</p>\n\n<p>Appointment to permanent positions in Australia is on the basis of:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Merit selection to externally advertised positions (with a probationary period)</li>\n<li>Corrupt selection to unadvertised strategic appointments (with a probationary period and the possibility of \"non-conversion\")</li>\n<li>Absence of selection or merit selection to contract or casual positions followed by a lengthy union fought conversion process</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>While the conditions of appointment to ongoing positions vary from field to field, you should expect that the conditions of appointment for a Level B \"Lecturer\" are broadly similar to the requirements for either entry to a tenure-track position or achievement of tenure in a tenure track position. (Varies by field and labour supply). Appointment to Level C \"Senior Lecturer\" often occurs 3 to 6 years after first appointment on the basis of another unit of research output equivalent to the unit of research output required for initial appointment.</p>\n\n<p>Academics may be dismissed at will by forced or \"voluntary\" redundancy processes covered by weak industrial provisions in Enterprise Bargaining Agreements (site specific industrial instruments). These dismissals need a fig leaf of reduced student numbers or institutional renewal; but are effectively managerial dismissals. Individual academics are constructively dismissed through bullying processes, change fatigue, and general managerialism. Management has the power to entirely defund teaching streams and then claim that positions are no longer required due to the lack of teaching. Australian University management is adept at manufacturing both immediate and long-term funding crises to achieve fundamentally political ends in terms of attacking specific work-cultures or disciplinary research programmes. In addition, freedom of research has been significantly eroded by quantity and quality audits of research output which often involve politicised sub-disciplines indicating their preferences (Consider the Business Dean's journal quality list, for example).</p>\n\n<p>The only defence Australian academics have against management is unity in the National Tertiary Education Union.</p>\n\n<p>Sources: Industry experience, NTEU membership, 40 years of union journal back-issues.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 18529,
"author": "Dicky Mills",
"author_id": 13434,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13434",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I don't want to contradict Samuel too much, but his account of what can happen has definitely happened to some people. But it is extremely rare and I would argue a little over-simplified.</p>\n\n<p>For starters, my paycheck from a major Australian university has the word \"tenured\" on it. So my first point is, yes, continuing positions are \"tenured\" - but lets not get bogged down in semantics because tenure def means something different in Australia. Indeed I believe the union considers this to be a f(ph)urfy so let's say there is some subjectivity there.</p>\n\n<p>Having tenure does not guarantee that you cannot be fired though. You can be. But as one manager said to me once, it is more expensive to fire an under performing academic than to simply retain them as long as they keep doing their teaching etc. I work with lots of unproductive academics and many have been asked to leave. They simply said no thanks and stayed. The only time I have seen academics forced out, they left with large redundancies and, simply put, wanted to leave. When you read about retrenchments at Australian unis in the newspaper, often more want to leave than are given packages.</p>\n\n<p>Gross incompetence or dangerous behaviour? Yes you can be sacked. But as far as I have seen you cannot be fired on a \"whim\" as someone suggested. A business case would be made (declining enrolments, lack of research activity, lack of administrative roles)</p>\n\n<p>And yes, as Samuel said, management teams will go after departments at times. But redundancy packages are often generous and often people from an eliminated department will be shifted to another department (good academics stay, crap ones move to a lower ranked uni).</p>\n\n<p>I also don't want to make this a peeing contest, but I have worked in the US system too and the Australian system is more protectionist of staff than the US system. But indeed tenure is probably harder to lose than in Australia.</p>\n\n<p>I am tenured at a Australian uni. I say this to people regularly and no one corrects me. But yes, I know union types that tell me my tenure is not tenure. I heard this a lot 5 years ago, but not recently</p>\n\n<p>In short, to answer the initial question, the Australian system, broadly speaking, is the British system. Tenure with probation (3 years, recently raised to 5 I think)</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/10 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11785",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8034/"
]
|
11,789 | <p>Following some tips about graduate study, I have contacted the professors before the admission cycle, and managed to secure some appointments with them. I have read through their publications that match my research interests, and prepared some brief write up about my research experiences (though I had sent them my CV beforehand).</p>
<p>I am just confused about what I should expect from such meetings. To be frank, do you think to impress them to the point that they agree to accept me is a feasible thing? Or I should aim for something simpler, like maintaining relationships with them through this semester?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12211,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><a href=\"http://www.eui.eu/ProgrammesAndFellowships/AcademicCareersObservatory/AcademicCareersbyCountry/Australia.aspx\">Australia does not have a US-like tenure system</a>. Academics at all levels are occasionally \nscrutinized, and advancement is not automatic.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12799,
"author": "Samuel Russell",
"author_id": 4429,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4429",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Australian Academics do not have tenure. They are either appointed on an on-going basis (\"Permanent\" staff) or on contract (year-to-year, three-year to three-year) or casual (hour to hour) bases. All three categories of staff can effectively be dismissed at whim by management.</p>\n\n<p>Appointment to permanent positions in Australia is on the basis of:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Merit selection to externally advertised positions (with a probationary period)</li>\n<li>Corrupt selection to unadvertised strategic appointments (with a probationary period and the possibility of \"non-conversion\")</li>\n<li>Absence of selection or merit selection to contract or casual positions followed by a lengthy union fought conversion process</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>While the conditions of appointment to ongoing positions vary from field to field, you should expect that the conditions of appointment for a Level B \"Lecturer\" are broadly similar to the requirements for either entry to a tenure-track position or achievement of tenure in a tenure track position. (Varies by field and labour supply). Appointment to Level C \"Senior Lecturer\" often occurs 3 to 6 years after first appointment on the basis of another unit of research output equivalent to the unit of research output required for initial appointment.</p>\n\n<p>Academics may be dismissed at will by forced or \"voluntary\" redundancy processes covered by weak industrial provisions in Enterprise Bargaining Agreements (site specific industrial instruments). These dismissals need a fig leaf of reduced student numbers or institutional renewal; but are effectively managerial dismissals. Individual academics are constructively dismissed through bullying processes, change fatigue, and general managerialism. Management has the power to entirely defund teaching streams and then claim that positions are no longer required due to the lack of teaching. Australian University management is adept at manufacturing both immediate and long-term funding crises to achieve fundamentally political ends in terms of attacking specific work-cultures or disciplinary research programmes. In addition, freedom of research has been significantly eroded by quantity and quality audits of research output which often involve politicised sub-disciplines indicating their preferences (Consider the Business Dean's journal quality list, for example).</p>\n\n<p>The only defence Australian academics have against management is unity in the National Tertiary Education Union.</p>\n\n<p>Sources: Industry experience, NTEU membership, 40 years of union journal back-issues.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 18529,
"author": "Dicky Mills",
"author_id": 13434,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13434",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I don't want to contradict Samuel too much, but his account of what can happen has definitely happened to some people. But it is extremely rare and I would argue a little over-simplified.</p>\n\n<p>For starters, my paycheck from a major Australian university has the word \"tenured\" on it. So my first point is, yes, continuing positions are \"tenured\" - but lets not get bogged down in semantics because tenure def means something different in Australia. Indeed I believe the union considers this to be a f(ph)urfy so let's say there is some subjectivity there.</p>\n\n<p>Having tenure does not guarantee that you cannot be fired though. You can be. But as one manager said to me once, it is more expensive to fire an under performing academic than to simply retain them as long as they keep doing their teaching etc. I work with lots of unproductive academics and many have been asked to leave. They simply said no thanks and stayed. The only time I have seen academics forced out, they left with large redundancies and, simply put, wanted to leave. When you read about retrenchments at Australian unis in the newspaper, often more want to leave than are given packages.</p>\n\n<p>Gross incompetence or dangerous behaviour? Yes you can be sacked. But as far as I have seen you cannot be fired on a \"whim\" as someone suggested. A business case would be made (declining enrolments, lack of research activity, lack of administrative roles)</p>\n\n<p>And yes, as Samuel said, management teams will go after departments at times. But redundancy packages are often generous and often people from an eliminated department will be shifted to another department (good academics stay, crap ones move to a lower ranked uni).</p>\n\n<p>I also don't want to make this a peeing contest, but I have worked in the US system too and the Australian system is more protectionist of staff than the US system. But indeed tenure is probably harder to lose than in Australia.</p>\n\n<p>I am tenured at a Australian uni. I say this to people regularly and no one corrects me. But yes, I know union types that tell me my tenure is not tenure. I heard this a lot 5 years ago, but not recently</p>\n\n<p>In short, to answer the initial question, the Australian system, broadly speaking, is the British system. Tenure with probation (3 years, recently raised to 5 I think)</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/10 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11789",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7401/"
]
|
11,794 | <p>I am advising an outstanding graduate student who is currently doing a summer internship with a government agency. He is also applying for a permanent job with the same agency, for which I was quite proud to recommend him strongly. That said, his prospective employer has been the subject of recent news reports which have led me to oppose its work.</p>
<p>I will certainly not renege on my duties as an advisor. But I don't have a good poker face, and I'm afraid that my changed attitude will be all too clear. What would be the kindest course of action? To share my thoughts once and once only, or to keep my mouth shut?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 11798,
"author": "earthling",
"author_id": 2692,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2692",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If your student is very talented perhaps you could help him to find a better position than the one with the government. If you know what your student cares about then find a better use for his skills and propose it to him.</p>\n\n<p>If that doesn't work you could always have a heart-to-heart talk with him to help him to see your concerns.</p>\n\n<p>I believe it is our job to educate our students on more than simply module content (should teach critical thinking, proper citation formats, etc.). I would not recommend cramming your value structure down his throat but I think giving him your ethical perspective to think about is quite reasonable.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11800,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I don’t really understand what part of your “support” your question is about. In short: is the problem how to support him personally (in your discussions with him, in your work relations in general), or how to support his PhD work, or how to support his job application?</p>\n\n<p>For his PhD work, I hope you are able to prevent outside circumstances from impacting negatively your work. As an advisor, this probably happens at some point with any student… and any coworker, really.</p>\n\n<p>For his job application, you don't need to state to support his future job, just to say he would be excellent at it. Just to give an example, stating that “Dr. Martin has all the skills necessary to excel in numerical simulations of deep offshore oil drilling” doesn't require you have to state “I strongly support offshore drilling”, nor does it imply it. Moreover, most recommendations are done in written.</p>\n\n<p>Finally, regarding overall personal support throughout his graduate studies: that's a bit harder, but you truly have to put it past you, and it may not be easy. The best approach is clearly to be upfront with him: discuss it, preferably in an informal manner (i.e. don't make it a big deal). Points that seem important to mention:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>I have strong feelings about your future employer, and I think it is best that I am frank with you about it.</li>\n<li>It shouldn't change our work relationship, and I don't expect it to. I continue to support you wholeheartedly.</li>\n<li>If you think you notice a negative impact in the future, please come and discuss it with me, we'll work it out.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>But honestly, it's not a nice situation to be in. I'm a bit surprised as to how what could gather so much distrust from you that you cannot simply separate it from your work.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11801,
"author": "Nick S",
"author_id": 7624,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7624",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In my opinion it is a tough situation, and no answer cannot be complete without knowing more details about the situation. </p>\n\n<p>Before deciding there are few things for you to consider. As earthling said, we should typically educate our students on more than just academical things, but you should also keep in mind that when it comes to many government agencies, opinions vary a lot. Is not necessarily that our opinion about one agency is the right one.</p>\n\n<p>What matters most is your student's goals. If he really likes the position, and it fits his goals for the future, that should matter more than your personal views [there are few exceptions to this rule, if the agency contradicts the basic morale codes of everyone and everything, again it really depends on particulars of the situation].</p>\n\n<p>Last but not least, I should point to you that your student worked there for few months, his inside knowledge about the agency is most probably much more accurate than what you found out in the news. Since he applies for a permanent job there, I would guess that he enjoyed the experience, and he didn't find anything wrong with its work.</p>\n\n<p>As you are the only one to know the specific details of the situation, you should try to find the answers alone, we can try to guide you towards it but don't value too much the very general answers we can give, they might not apply to this situation.</p>\n\n<p>In my opinion there are few things you should ask yourself, answering those will tell you what to do:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>What does the student really wants?</li>\n<li>Is this a good opportunity for the student or not?</li>\n<li>Do you think the student can get a better position? Note that better should be \"better\" in his opinion, not yours?</li>\n<li>Is this agency really bad, or just your opinion? How much can you trust the news you heard about this agency?</li>\n<li>What does your student thinks about these news?</li>\n</ul>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/10 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11794",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6110/"
]
|
11,802 | <p>Similar to my previous question <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10969/strategies-to-overcome-academic-apathy-in-the-final-stages-of-the-phd">"Strategies to overcome “academic-apathy” in the final stages of the PhD?"</a>, one thing I am noticing as I am drafting papers and the thesis, I seem to becoming overcome by 'drafting fatigue' - where things that usually don't bother me, for example:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Punctuation and grammar fixups</p></li>
<li><p>especially when my supervisor (advisor) suggests a change, I make the change, then he suggests changing it back on the next draft.</p></li>
<li><p>wanting to add additional figures</p></li>
</ul>
<p>and all things like this. After the 2nd draft, I find I am getting 'over it' (for want of a better term). So, this leads to my question - what practical effective strategies are there to overcome this 'drafting fatigue'?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 11804,
"author": "Andy W",
"author_id": 3,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/3",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Having similar experiences, the only approach I have found effective is to <strong>leave it alone</strong> for an extended period (week to a month typically - with fresher eyes the longer I wait). You can dig into another project for that amount of time, so it isn't wasted doing nothing.</p>\n\n<p>The bullet points jive with my experience as well, e.g. reading the same draft over and over again makes one less likely to see grammer mistakes, minor supervisor input is annoying, and you always want to do <em>alittle more</em> (like add in another figure). </p>\n\n<p>For copy-editing sometimes I will ask my wife or a friend for a look over, which is nice because it gives you alittle respite from the draft as well.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 16488,
"author": "J. Zimmerman",
"author_id": 7921,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7921",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<ul>\n<li><p><strong>Tackle one aspect at a time.</strong> For example, on one pass, concentrate on fixing punctuation and make a conscious effort not to do anything about the other things that will inevitable jump out at you. (You can flag them for later attention if you're afraid you'll forget, but it is important not do too many things per pass.)</p></li>\n<li><p><strong>Vary your focus.</strong> Shift from looking at the big picture to looking at the details. One on pass, evaluate each paragraph in light of the entire paper. On the next, evaluate each sentence or phrase in light of the paragraph; you don't necessarily lose sight of the larger structure, but it is less important on this pass.</p></li>\n<li><p><strong>Ask others for help.</strong> This may mean asking your advisor to critique for you and/or have friends and family members proofread. Another set of eyes is invaluable; I am indebted to those friends and colleagues who have patiently answered my demands for feedback and blunt criticism!</p></li>\n<li><p><strong>Leave it for a while.</strong> To echo the thought of Andy W above, there are times when stepping away from a paper is the surest cure for drafting fatigue. One caveat; don't stay away too long! When you put the paper away, have a clear idea of how long you will be away, what you will do during that time, and what needs to be done on the manuscript when you come back. (Attach a note as a reminder for yourself!)</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>One final note: YMMV. Every author works differently, and what works for me may not work for you. While I struggle with trying to do everything on one pass, I have worked with others who were fine with the minutiae, but absolutely could not see the problems with the big picture except with help from friendly critics. The tips above work for me,and I offer them in the hope that others may learn from my success without needing to endure my failures! :)</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/11 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11802",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
]
|
11,808 | <p>I'm currently a MSc Computer Networking student and I recently became acquainted with the internet of things. I've fallen completely in love with this new area and I would love to base my dissertation on this area. </p>
<p>The problem is, I'm unsure if "The internet of things" falls academically within the scope of computer networking at the MSc level. My school is currently "closed" for the summer break, so getting to a lecturer before September is rather difficult. I'll like to know if this is an "okay" topic for me to base my dissertation on for my course, so as to use my summer to do some deeper reading on the subject.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 11818,
"author": "debray",
"author_id": 7974,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7974",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I expect you'd have to argue that (some aspect of) current approaches to networking either won't scale to an Internet of Things (IoT), or else will need to be done differently because of device characteristics -- in other words, the networking aspects of IoT will have to be done differently somehow. If you can do that, that could form the basis for a thesis.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11820,
"author": "AJed",
"author_id": 4472,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4472",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This question can be better answered in cs.stackexchange.com. I suggest that the moderators move it there if they dont find it suitable.</p>\n\n<p>The Internet of Things is very huge for a Master or PhD thesis. It's like saying I want to solve the problem of the <em>Internet</em>. You should be more specific about what you want to solve. The problems of IoT are separated into <em>layers</em>. What will interest you the most is the <em>networking layer</em>. This layer is very similar to the OSI model of the Internet. There are tons of unsolved problems in this layer, and tons of others already solved (because they are old problems already found in the Internet). </p>\n\n<p>Suggested problem domains: the services in the Internet of Things, naming resolution in IoT, objects integration in the IoT, objects networks in IoT, security and privacy in IoT, ... </p>\n\n<p>or simply look for conferences about IoT, collect a set of similar papers, read them carefully and find an idea of a good thesis. </p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/11 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11808",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7576/"
]
|
11,809 | <p>Obviously being a teaching assistant as an undergrad or a masters student looks good, but <em>how good does it look</em>? Is it merely a nice little bonus, or does extensive TA experience have a large impact on one's acceptance?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 11811,
"author": "Exapp",
"author_id": 8132,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8132",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It may depend on:</p>\n\n<p><strong>Where?</strong></p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>For instance, teaching is compulsory in most American universities while in the UK you are only \"encouraged\" to teach, with some exceptions.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p><strong>PhD on what?</strong></p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>It may not be that important if you are going to do a PhD in theoretical mathematics or a more \"industrial topic\", while the opposite may happen if the PhD is in Education.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p><em>how good does it look?</em> It looks good, but it doesn't represent a huge advantage. In my opinion, as long as you get all the requirements, the most important part of the application are the reference/recommendation letters.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11813,
"author": "Aaron",
"author_id": 1228,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1228",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>From my perspective admitting students to CS PhD programs:</p>\n\n<p>TAing for CS classes will be a small positive signal that you did well in those classes and were well thought of by the instructor (who presumably asked you to be his TA, or at least accepted your application). It might also let you get to know the professor teaching the class better, which will be helpful for your application if he/she can write you a letter of recommendation. But beyond that, it won't be a huge bonus in and of itself -- its mostly a signal correlated with other good things. </p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/11 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11809",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8022/"
]
|
11,812 | <p>I did my undergraduate degree in the US and am heading to graduate school here in less than a month, so I myself have taken the Graduate Record Examinations (the general as well as two subjects tests) and I guess it always just seemed as a sort of un-avoidable formality that nothing could be done about, and so I just took it and got it over with.</p>
<p>In the intervening year between undergrad and the start of my Ph.D. work, however, I traveled overseas to Cambridge where I found that I was quite mistaken: the GRE is very, very avoidable. The solution is simple: don't apply to universities in the US.</p>
<p>By the time I had arrived there, I had already gotten it over with myself, but for most of my peers there, this was not the case, and quite a few of them had simply decided to not even bother applying to the US because of the inconvenience that comes along with that in the form of the GRE.</p>
<p>This made me wonder: are admissions committees at US universities aware of the number of highly qualified candidates they miss out on because of the GRE?</p>
<p>I could understand being willing to miss out on the potential recruitment of these students if the GRE were a significant part of one's application, but I have yet to find any US professor tell me that the GRE scores are weighted highly when it comes to making admissions decisions (perhaps I just haven't asked around enough?). In fact, I've often been told it's the <em>least important</em> factor when deciding whether someone should be admitted. (Indeed, my impression is that the general GRE is more or less a joke and only serves as a convenient way of tossing out applicants who would have been found un-qualified for other reasons.)</p>
<p>Putting aside for a moment the issue of those who decide not to apply to US universities, let's consider the inconvenience faced by those who do. Once again, if you're from the US, I can imagine simply not being aware of this (I know I wasn't), but I now know of several people who have <em>had to fly</em> (sometimes the flights have even been inter-continental!) in order to sit to take a GRE test. And even for those who don't (like probably most of us in the US), there is the ridiculous price: almost $200 for the general and an extra $150 per subject test. I was under the impression that admissions committees encourage people from all backgrounds to apply, rich or poor, but how can they honestly expect this to happen if even those who don't have to fly have to shell out anywhere from $300-$500 in addition to the application fee? (I personally find it a bit nuts that these tests cost several times more than the application itself.)</p>
<p>So, could somebody please explain to me why we still require students to take these things? Do they really add information about the applicant and their abilities that could not be found out any other way?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 11814,
"author": "paul garrett",
"author_id": 980,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This is a good question. I have not been a fan of the GRE for 20+ years, although (through whatever luck I had a good-enough number on it myself that it didn't harm me...) many are. Having been on admissions committees and very much involved with graduate programs for 30+ years, I've had ample opportunity to see the (non-) correlation of success in graduate mathematics with GRE subject-test scores. (The other parts are often useful as tests of English fluency, mainly.)</p>\n\n<p>Of course, the world would be a simpler place if GRE subject-test scores really <em>could</em> show talent for higher mathematics. We note that the Educational Testing Service (in NJ, that makes the GRE and other stuff) is a for-profit that has a vested interest in maintaining its products' apparent importance.</p>\n\n<p>The cost is unfortunate, and certainly discriminates against people whose currency doesn't compete well with USD.</p>\n\n<p>The vaguely useful bit of information provided by GRE is that, well, yes, it is the only thing that most applicants will have done, thus, if one insists on \"simple comparisons\", it is the only thing that allows that. It is clear that comparison of GPAs is even more pointless. </p>\n\n<p>I have known admissions committees that simply ranked applicants by GRE subject test score. There! Done! :)</p>\n\n<p>No, I do not care very much about GRE numbers, but in a way I am glad that some admissions committees do, in a fashion to the way that under-valued stocks are good investment values.</p>\n\n<p>I do think that the elite graduate programs use GRE subject test as a convenient filter, because it selects somewhat for \"quickness/cleverness\", and they can afford to \"lose\" some prospects, because they have so many who are \"quick/clever\".</p>\n\n<p>In the U.S., having a GRE subject test score is also a sign of awareness that people expect you to take it. Thus, it doesn't matter so much what one's score is, but that one _is_aware_ ... even if it is only of \"expectations\".</p>\n\n<p>But, in summary, no, I see no point in it. But there are economic incentives for ETS to keep making money. And a great number of admissions committees in math have personal predilections that lead them to be fond of (over-) simple numerical quantification, so... there-we-are.</p>\n\n<p>Edit: As @msw observes in a comment, indeed, if GRE measured significant academic achievement cumulative over several years... it would be odd that one could usefully do the \"prep\" courses ETS provides. :) </p>\n\n<p>Yes, performance on GRE probably <em>is</em> a good indicator of how well a kid can do on a multi-hour, timed, multiple-choice test, etc. Yes, if we make subsequent coursework resemble this (!?) then we <em>give</em> the GRE predictive power. No, I do not recommend making everything multiple-choice! But, amazingly, some people do believe that this could be done, and purportedly save us all a lot of work.</p>\n\n<p>Sure, these things measure <em>something</em>, and produce numbers that can be manipulated. There are people who are inexorably drawn to the possibility of making final decisions in those terms, even when the significance of the numbers is unclear. Meanwhile, reading letters of recommendation and personal statements is obviously not easily quantifiable. Of course!</p>\n\n<p>If it were really the case that \"standardized testing\" could tell what its promoters like to insinuate, it would be convenient, indeed. But, again, some decades of experience indicate that these tests do <em>not</em> indicate whether or not people can sustain interest over 4+ years, work hard for 4+ years, continue to develop scientific sensibility, and so on. <em>And</em> the latter issues prove to be vastly more important for completion of a PhD. In direct observation of about 700+ grad students, I'd estimate that fewer than 20 dropped out or failed due to lack of intellectual capacity or lack of prior knowledge. Rather, loss of interest in the subject, or personal issues (mental/physical health) dominate. This \"sample\" of mine includes a very wide range of GRE scores and even GPA.</p>\n\n<p>More anecdotally, several specific examples stick in my mind, of very low percentile on GRE subject test (bottom 10 percent or smaller...) but exceptional achievement in coursework, prelims, and thesis work. These peoples' potential was easily visible in letters of recommendation and personal statement. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11815,
"author": "debray",
"author_id": 7974,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7974",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In my department, GRE scores are used mostly as calibration for students who have good grades but are from universities/programs that we are not familiar with and whose quality we are therefore not sure about. For students with good credentials from strong programs the GRE is pretty much irrelevant.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11817,
"author": "Jeromy Anglim",
"author_id": 62,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/62",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": false,
"text": "<h3>Empirical evidence on the relationship between GRE scores and post-graduate performance</h3>\n\n<p>There is a massive meta-analysis by Kuncel et al (2001) that empirically evaluates the correlations between various aspects of the GRE with multiple post-graduate performance criteria. </p>\n\n<p>Based on hundreds of studies and thousands of participants, GRE shows reasonable correlations with post-graduate GPA (i.e., around observed r = .21 to r=.43). Similar correlations emerged between GRE and faculty ratings of the student.</p>\n\n<p>Correlations of GRE with research productivity and publication citation counts were smaller, but still positive. This is not surprising given that these are more distal outcomes and there are many non-academic reasons why people may or may not pursue an academic career or have publishable results.</p>\n\n<p>The authors thus concluded that GRE was a valid predictor of a wide range of graduate outcomes. They also noted that \"subject tests tended to be better predictors than the verbal, quantitative, and analytical tests.\" </p>\n\n<p>In general, selection decisions are assisted by standardisation, and a big part of academic achievement involves measuring baseline ability. Thus, the GRE combines both standardisation and competence measurement.</p>\n\n<h3>Response to comments</h3>\n\n<p>There have been a few points made in other answers and in comments, which I'll comment on here:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Conflict of interest:</strong> @msw wrote that they \"consider the cited paper to be junk because ETS provided all available data\". In general, I don't find the results in the meta-analysis surprising. Most tests like the GRE tend to have fairly strong correlations with general cognitive ability. It is well established through thousands of independent studies that IQ scores correlate fairly well with both school grades and job performance (i.e., in the r=.50 range; see Neisser et al 1996 for a field consensus review). The results show correlations less than .50, but that's not surprising given some of the issues around standardisation, practice, range restriction, domain specificity and so on.</li>\n<li><strong>Belief there is no correlation based on personal observation</strong>: Note that if the correlation is around .20, that means that 4% of variance has been explained. That leaves a huge amount of variance in performance to still be explained. It would not be surprising to meet many people that did well on GRE and poor in graduate school or vice versa. Thus, it is problematic to rely on personal experience when it comes to evaluating the validity of tests where such correlations are likely to be only modest. </li>\n<li><strong>Small correlations are useful</strong>: While a .20 correlation is small, it can still help make selection decisions. In particular, when evaluating the suitability of selection tools, you need to contrast the validity of a given tool with other available tools (e.g., interviews, GPA, references, and so on). I'm not as familiar with results in the graduate selection domain, but certainly in the employee selection domain, which is quite analogous, cognitive ability tests tend to correlate more highly than interviews, references and so on (for a comprehensive meta analysis of employee selection, see Schmidt and Hunter, 1998). That said, the best selection decisions are typically obtained by integrating multiple selection tools. Furthermore, the small correlation also should highlight to individuals who score poorly on the GRE that it is not that predictive, and therefore it shouldn't discourage an individual from pursing post-graduate study.</li>\n<li><strong>Does training invalidate the GRE?</strong>: @user8134 wrote \"many people significantly improve their GRE scores by taking courses with prepping companies like Kaplan. So it seems GRE test does not measure any intrinsic ability/talent necessary for grad. school.\" I agree that individual differences in training and preparation for the GRE may influence test scores. That said, if you characterise test scores to be determined by true ability, training, and error variance, then I would expect that true ability would remain the much larger source of explanation in test scores. This is based on general observations about testing for ability based assessment. In general, the degree to which training is an issue would depend on how much the test materials teach to the specific test. Overall, I would assume that this would reduce the potential validity of GRE, but that the GRE would still be useful. Furthermore, training and nuisance factors can be used to do better on many selection instruments. For example, people can be coached on how to frame their CV or how to answer questions in interviews. Such training is potentially a source of error variance, but it doesn't invalidate CVs and interviews completely.</li>\n<li><strong>Why would anyone care about post-graduate GPA? (@JeffE)</strong> @JeffE further notes \" in PhD programs, the only thing that really matters is the student's research output.\". Some post-graduate courses include meaningful graded coursework and others don't. For the courses that do include meaningful coursework, then such coursework provides a more standardised way of measuring post-graduate performance. So the validity of GRE in predicting such outcomes is not surprising. And thus, presumably we could generalise this to being indicative of how people perform in less standardised aspects of post-graduate performance. Of course, there's an inferential leap here, but in general, performance in related domains tend to correlate (e.g., coursework in mathematics with research performance in mathematics); it's not perfect, but it's still a positive correlation. Furthermore, if the validation study includes some post-graduate coursework where everyone gets top marks and such data is mixed with studies where grades are valid measures of performance, this would only serve to attenuate the observed correlation. Thus, this would suggest that the correlation between GRE and post-graduate GPA is higher than reported by the meta-analysis. Also, the meta-analysis does report correlations with research output and they are weaker but still positive. It also reports correlations with supervisor ratings.</li>\n<li><strong>Better alternatives to GRE</strong>: None of my comments above are necessarily advocating the use of the GRE. Developing an effective selection and recruitment system whether it be for employment or post-graduate admission is a complex task. That said, most post-graduate selection systems would want to get a reliable and valid measure of academic aptitude. GRE, IQ tests, other ability tests, undergraduate GPA, all have reasonably validity evidence. And in general standardisation and efficiency are important. So, for example, administering your own selection tools takes more time, whereas taking pre-existing measures like GPA and GRE is more efficient. </li>\n<li><strong>Ethics of requiring applicants pay money to complete GRE:</strong> Several people are critical of the GRE on the basis that it costs several hundred dollars to complete. I think that this is a perfectly legitimate question, but that the question of predictive validity can be answered separately. Such a fee could potentially discriminate against low income applicants. That said, presumably the fee in comparison to forgone wages associated with completing a post-graduate degree is fairly small.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<h3>References</h3>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Kuncel, N. R., Hezlett, S. A., & Ones, D. S. (2001). A comprehensive meta-analysis of the predictive validity of the graduate record examinations: implications for graduate student selection and performance. Psychological bulletin, 127(1), 162. <a href=\"http://web.uvic.ca/~slindsay/teaching/499/readings/kuncel.pdf\">PDF</a></li>\n<li>Neisser, U., Boodoo, G., Bouchard Jr, T. J., Boykin, A. W., Brody, N., Ceci, S. J., ... & Urbina, S. (1996). Intelligence: Knowns and unknowns. American psychologist, 51(2), 77. <a href=\"http://www.gifted.uconn.edu/siegle/research/correlation/intelligence.pdf\">PDF</a></li>\n<li>Schmidt, F. L., & Hunter, J. E. (1998). The validity and utility of selection methods in personnel psychology: Practical and theoretical implications of 85 years of research findings. Psychological bulletin, 124(2), 262. <a href=\"http://mavweb.mnsu.edu/howard/Schmidt%20and%20Hunter%201998%20Validity%20and%20Utility%20Psychological%20Bulletin.pdf\">PDF</a></li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11819,
"author": "user8134",
"author_id": 8134,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8134",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>A couple of issues:</p>\n\n<p>Re Mr. Anglim's comment, a suspect issue re. any correlation between GRE scores and success in grad. school is that many people significantly improve their GRE scores by taking courses with prepping companies like Kaplan. So it seems GRE test does not measure any intrinsic ability/talent necessary for grad. school.</p>\n\n<p>Another issue is that the GRE is a form of forced labor: ETS uses one of the sections in the exam (just which section is unknown to the test-taker) as data for future exams, i.e., the section is not counted for the score of the test. So one is expected , basically, to work for ETS for free, producing high-quality data they would have to pay a lot for, or may not be able to produce themselves. GRE also puts out books to prepare for the exams, which cost above $20 each.</p>\n\n<p>Now, ETS could find a way around this by asking, say, \"There may be a section in this test which we use as data for future exams: if there is one, would you be willing to take it, or do you prefer to skip it?\". This - asking you to work for them for free - is unethical, IMO, if not illegal. And ETS' BS response to this (I called them) is to tell you: \"Well, if you disagree, don't take the test.\" The problem is some programs require you to take it in order to apply for their grad. programs; ETS is the Frank Burns of testing.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11834,
"author": "StasK",
"author_id": 739,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/739",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>@Jonathan, if you were to ever come to the other side, you will see a great number of glowing applications from top students of the top university in Bolivia or Madagascar. How do they fare compared to the top student of the top university of Idaho? Or a top student from a mediocre university in Massachusetts? If you admit grad students planning to use them as TAs, how do you know that this student from Nepal will be understood by your students in Tennessee, who heartily laugh at both New York and Californian accents? </p>\n\n<p>The GRE fills the role of such a filter, and as such is the cheapest, easiest to use tool available to graduate schools in the US. If you can get any UNESCO money to design and implement a version of it that would be free to international applicants, maybe you can get a <em>Nobels fredspris</em> for your efforts. (This is not such an unrealistic idea as it sounds: an alternative, freely available operating system known as Linux has been developed by enthusiasts, and in many dimensions has replaced UNIX.)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11835,
"author": "Robert LeChef",
"author_id": 8147,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8147",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Explains the quality of our PhDs, doesn't it. I have personally found the American education system far more wrapped up in silly and actually dangerous formalities than schools in Europe, generally speaking. I was surprised to find this out first hand because the common consensus is that Europe suffers from a great deal of pointless formality that the US does not. The problem is that it's a category mistake: elaborate bureaucratic formalities: yes; greater social formality: sometimes, depends; educational formality, not necessarily. Also, there is a difference between formality and rigidity. While titles are more important in Europe when addressing one another, they actually can enforce a very healthy relationship between the student and the professor which enables a healthy flexibility and informality to emerge. The casual \"buddy\" culture of the US is actually too chummy which encourages disrespect and I think the reaction to it is a certain kind of seething rigidity that manifests in the student-professor relationship which is unhealthy and domineering many times. But I digress. When I experienced American education first hand, it seemed infantile in its execution and the GREs belong to this set of things which contribute to the culture of pettiness (other things include the \"publish or perish\" doctrine which has resulted in the explosion of BS and CV padding nonsense and the \"career academic\" (hopefully that translates into English properly). While there are entrance exams in Europe, graduate school acceptance is according to other criteria. It's not always optimal, but certainly less irritating than this test taking nonsense.</p>\n\n<p>Btw, I find the correlations mentioned above to be exactly the problem. They make the same mistake of drawing rigid and often erroneous inferences from a very poor selection of data.</p>\n\n<p>I find that university education everywhere have been ruined by the pressure to put everyone through it. What you have are glorified trade schools in most cases with millions of applicants pushing through as if through a military entrance exam where narrow indicators sacrifice complexity for measures of simple routine. It's highly corporate and prone to the rat race. Graduate school should be the last place where this kind of pettiness manifests, and yet...</p>\n\n<p>Summary: GREs are a result of the culture, of modern (American) university culture like the silly innovations of the German university which sought to label and shelve every person for particular slots in the machine of the the Reich. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11930,
"author": "J.R.",
"author_id": 780,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/780",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In a word, standardization. </p>\n\n<p>I once asked this question to a colleague, and I appreciated the response I received.</p>\n\n<p>Essentially, the faculty member told me, \"What I like about the GRE is that it's the only way I can compare apples to apples.\"</p>\n\n<p>He went on to explain, \"How can I compare a 3.2 GPA at University X with a 3.7 GPA at University Y? I can't. But, at least with GRE scores, I can compare the two students on an even playing field.\"</p>\n\n<p>My retort was that a high GRE score isn't necessarily a good indicator of potential in graduate school, although it might be a good indicator to determine the amount of time a prospective student spent preparing for the test. (I got a lot of milage out of my <em>How to Ace the GRE</em> practice book.)</p>\n\n<p>He readily agreed, and assured me that it's just one piece of the puzzle. An admissions office only has so much to go on: a transcript, a GRE score, and perhaps a \"Why I want to go to graduate school\" cover letter.</p>\n\n<p>We could throw out the GRE, but then there would be that much less information to base admissions decisions on.</p>\n\n<p>My gut tells me that the negatives include the expense and hassle for the applicant, and a limited ability to predict how the student will actually perform. But I must admit my colleague had a point with his \"apples to apples\" perspective.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/11 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11812",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5622/"
]
|
11,822 | <p>I am a undergraduate student who is trying to publish something so as to facilitate my PhD applications in the future.</p>
<p>I have a few seniors who help out in the lab and have been included as non-1st authors in some publications. Basically, what they do is helping the PhD's do some implementations. Thus, actually there is not much real research involved. But at least in the end, they are the authors, although not 1st authors, of some publications. It is quite nice for undergraduates to have such publications.</p>
<p>As for me, I am currently working on an <strong>individual</strong> project under a supervisor, who is extremely busy every day. Instead of being a helper, I am actually initiating the research all the way. I am also working towards publishing a paper to present the work.</p>
<p>Nice as it may sound, I am facing a lot of difficulties. As a undergraduate, my knowledge is so limited, and meanwhile I have to attend lectures. My time is also very limited. <strong>So I am really afraid I can publish nothing at the end of the research.</strong></p>
<p>Since I have already started the research, no matter the decision to initiate one project my self is wise or not, I have to fight to the very end. </p>
<p><strong>Could anybody help give some suggestions to make my work get published more likely?</strong></p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 11824,
"author": "silvado",
"author_id": 3890,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/3890",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think working on your own project is a very good thing to get started with research, and it is a good basis for publishing something. But when you have little experience with the research and publishing process, it is important to have someone with more experience who is able to invest some time in advising you. As your supervisor seems to be very busy, he probably cannot take that role. </p>\n\n<p>My advice would be to get someone senior, like a PhD student or, even better, post-doc with related research interests on board. It's probably best to get someone from your supervisor's group. You should also discuss this with your supervisor first, maybe he/she can even recommend someone. This would of course mean that you add someone else as coauthor, but it should allow you to learn much more about the research and publishing process than when you do it on your own.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11959,
"author": "UseTheFloss",
"author_id": 8223,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8223",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This may not be a magic solution but I would suggest focusing on a project than involves more applications and simulations than theoretical results. You would also need to find a suitable, likely small, journal that replies fast. Note that top journals may take years to get back to you with a first review or even an automatic rejection.</p>\n\n<p>P.S. I got some <em>interesting</em> results after googling your profile picture.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11962,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>One alternate strategy that could help is to see about trying to present a poster of your work at a conference. Even if that doesn't have quite the same prestige as a paper in a journal or an accepted paper at a conference (if you're in CS), it still is a sign of doing significant amounts of research. An especially good sign would be if you could win a \"best student poster\" or \"best student talk\"-type award. </p>\n\n<p>However, the important thing for you will be to be able to discuss what you have done with authority in your statement of purpose to graduate schools, and to get a good letter of recommendation from your advisor that clearly outlines your contributions to your project. Having a publication is nice, but it's not an essential component for graduate school admissions.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12023,
"author": "Fomite",
"author_id": 118,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/118",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As some people have suggested, it may be worth your time to see if you can get the research into a conference - while in some fields they're less prestigious than a paper no one is going to scoff at undergraduate research that ends up there.</p>\n\n<p>That being said, I did author several papers as an undergrad, and it was immensely beneficial both to my job prospects and my outlook on research. It's tough, but if you want to do it you can - and no, you shouldn't rely on PhD students to get you a few papers with your name buried in the middle.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/12 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11822",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8079/"
]
|
11,825 | <p>I've heard from people saying that while applying for PhD, you need to have past experience in researching something and should have international publications. I was like more concentrated towards practical experience and have't had any publications. If I am aspiring to do PhD and want to apply, it would be impossible if such a criteria exists!</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 11826,
"author": "Chris Gregg",
"author_id": 4461,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4461",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>Is it mandatory to have published papers while applying for PhD?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>No.</p>\n\n<p>However, if you have any research experience (working in a lab, research you've done for classes, undergraduate thesis, capstone project, etc.), you should highlight that on your application, both in your personal statement and on your resume / CV. More importantly, your letters of recommendation should discuss your <strong>potential</strong> for research. Your recommendation writers should know this, but it would be worthwhile to highlight this in any material you provide to them when you ask them for recommendations, and when you discuss it with them. Trust me, the more information you can give your letter writers, the better their letters will be. I explicitly ask students what their goals are when I'm writing letters of recommendation so I can tailor them appropriately, and you should make sure your letter writers understand that you're applying for a PhD and what your research goals are.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>I was like more concentrated towards practical experience and have't had any publications.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>If by \"practical experience\" you mean that you worked on an unsolved problem, then that counts as research. If you simply re-applied knowledge in order to learn how to become proficient in that field (e.g., you programmed a microcontroller to turn lights on and off via voice commands), then the research angle is harder to spin. But, do the best you can to highlight on your applications why you believe you have the preparation to do quality research.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11828,
"author": "PatW",
"author_id": 7357,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7357",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I agree with Chris Gregg here, and I would like to detail my personal situation, as it might be relevant here.</p>\n\n<p>I am about to get my Master's degree in CS and will start my first year of PhD in October with only a four-month experience in R&D (and not really research <em>per se</em>) during an exchange program and with no publication. In my opinion, there are three points that played in my favour while applying :</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Four-month experience is still experience, and you should highlight it in your resume and cover letters. In my case, this experience was at the roots of my choice to get a PhD; reading articles, getting to learn of tons of great ideas on a single subject, then trying to develop your own idea and finally publishing it are the reasons why I have decided to get a PhD. But more importantly, thanks to this experience, I got to know what it was like to work in the industry (through internships) and to work in research, and it allowed me to justify my choice more easily.</li>\n<li>You have to narrow down the subjects that interest you, as a PhD is a long-term engagement. During my applications, I have specifically targeted the Human-Computer Interactions domain (HCI) and have been lucky enough to find a subject on Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) that is related to HCI and to learning sciences (which is great because I want to be a teacher, eventually).</li>\n<li>Choose wisely your recommendation writers. They have to testify your ability to work in research and academia. I have been accepted for a subject only because the contact knew a PI who wrote a letter.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>So the answer to your question is no, but prior experience in research and clear future career goals have to be emphasized in your applications in order to get not only what you want, but also what suits you.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11853,
"author": "Ubiquitous",
"author_id": 6879,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6879",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think a general answer to your question is \"no, it's not essential (but it won't hurt!)\". </p>\n\n<p>It's important to bear in mind that this will be more true for some disciplines than others. In a lab science, for instance, it is fairly common for undergraduates to show up on the publications of group leaders on whose projects they have worked during some kind of internship. This is in stark contrast to a discipline such as economics, in which most students do not have any publications even at the time of completion of their PhD! Try to find out what the norms are in your discipline of choice.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/12 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11825",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8138/"
]
|
11,836 | <p>I am encountering some problems for making my research in English, due that this is not my native language. Even though my ideas are crystal clear in my language I find it extremely hard to express them in English.</p>
<p>For checking issues related to grammar and syntax I have been using Proofread Bot, it is an online grammar and syntax reviewer, but their results are not so accurate. I have been checking some persons that make this task, but their fees are pretty high (almost 200 USD for a 3 pages articles); and I would not like to be paying this amount every time that I want to submit something.</p>
<p>Does anybody knows another software reliable english editor tools online?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 11837,
"author": "Federico Poloni",
"author_id": 958,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/958",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I am sympathetic to your problem since I had (and have) it, too, as a non-native English speaker.</p>\n\n<p>Spellcheckers are easy to use and reliable, so use them everywhere you can. Even as I am typing this answer I get a squiggly line below every incorrect word.</p>\n\n<p>Grammar is completely different though. As far as I know there is no easy way to check it in an automated way. Some software tools are listed in <a href=\"https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/6333/grammar-checking-tool-for-use-with-latex\">this thread</a> on tex.se, but even an intermediate English speaker would find most of them disappointing; they do catch some missing 's', but with so many false positives and negatives that it's hardly worth the effort to go through the results.</p>\n\n<p>My suggestions would be: either (1) find some English exchange student willing to proofread at much cheaper rates, or (2) ignore the issue; it's not so important. I am not a native speaker myself, so I am not in the best position to judge, but your English looks clear enough to me. As long as the paper is understandable to the referees, it shouldn't be a problem if there are occasional grammar errors. After acceptance, the journal's copy editors should make a full grammar check and proofread for you for free as part of the publication process. By going through their correction you can identify the typical mistakes in your English prose and try to improve when writing the next paper.</p>\n\n<p>I work in mathematics; if you are in the liberal arts the situation could be very different though.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11880,
"author": "fedja",
"author_id": 6118,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6118",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Whatever spelling or grammar checkers you use, you may rely only on their ability to detect a problem, not on their suggested solutions. Alas, if your paper is not completely trivial, this applies to most human professional editors as well no matter how much they charge or how many years of experience they claim. So, in the end, it'll all come back to you no matter what. I have been writing and speaking in broken English for 20 years and the only people who complained were the undergraduate students who, as far as I can judge, would hate me even if I had spoken with perfect Cambridge pronunciation and Oxford grammar. Just write in short simple sentences and you'll be fine. It will not be an exaggeration to say that, no matter what field you are in and what subject you are writing upon, the probability that an attempt of expressing your thought in an overly flamboyant manner, including all nuances and sideline remarks into a single sentence, and alluding to the arguments described in several previous passages at once (especially when the the latter are structured similarly to the phrase under consideration and the references to them can hardly be called unambiguous), will not throw the reader off for good somewhere in the middle of an elaborate construction you have built with utmost patience and verified against all spelling and grammar tools at your disposal is nearing that of the event that a layman be able to recite a sophisticated ten page legal contract with all details including each and every involved party and covenant therein in a single outpour flowing as effortlessly and graciously as a wide river in a deep valley after a quick look at it, i.e., zero. Just make sure that your thought is clear. Then yor massage wll cam thru evn if wrds r misspld and wrng grmmar. </p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/12 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11836",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6144/"
]
|
11,841 | <p>I finished my B.Sc in CS about 6 month ago and now I am writing a paper for a conference. before when I was a student I put my university and department name below my name as an author. but now I am not a student. I saw somebody put their IEEE membership on the paper something like <em>"member of IEEE Computer society"</em> or something similar, but I am not a member in any society yet!</p>
<p>What I used before:</p>
<pre><code>Sajjad Gerami
Department of Math and Computer Science,
Shahid Bahonar University, Kerman, Iran
Email: [email protected]
</code></pre>
<p>What I may use now:</p>
<pre><code>Sajjad Gerami
Email: [email protected]
</code></pre>
<p>Can I do that? Can I publish a paper just by my name and email (which is a Gmail one) without any institutional affiliation?</p>
<p><strong>Update:</strong> For information about email address check these questions:</p>
<p><a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/8984/what-should-a-proper-email-signature-look-like-for-graduate-students/">What should a proper email signature look like for graduate students?</a></p>
<p><a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2872/e-mail-address-to-use-in-publications">E-mail address to use in publications</a></p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 11844,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>The standard practice is to list the affiliations under which the work was performed. If you performed the work as an undergraduate at your undergraduate institution, then you <em>should</em> continue to list it in work related to that effort. However, you can \"update\" your address by listing a \"current address\" along with the old affiliations.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11886,
"author": "fileunderwater",
"author_id": 7223,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7223",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I have published together with authors that only used their personal home address + email address as contact information, so your second option should not be a problem. You can publish in scientific journals without a formal affiliation. </p>\n\n<p>However, if the work was performed at a previous location (e.g. as a student) where you are not currently working, you should include both the previous affiliation along with the current address (as others have also suggested).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 59980,
"author": "Karl",
"author_id": 45983,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/45983",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Give your former university (where you did the work), and add \"now Companyname Inc., Newtown)\".</p>\n\n<p>It's only fair to tell the reader (instead of hiding it, which might be suspicous), and your boss will likely love the company name to appear, too. Of course you should ask beforehand.</p>\n\n<p>And your email address doesn't matter, because your professor will be the \"corresponding author\". Right?</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/12 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11841",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8149/"
]
|
11,847 | <p>If I read a scholarly paper and find it interesting and beneficial, should I write a short thank you letter to the author? Should I send the thank you letter from a <code>.edu</code> email address?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 11851,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>It certainly wouldn't hurt, and as a published author myself, I would say it would be very nice feedback, particularly if you include details about:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>specifically any particular points/methods you found useful.</p></li>\n<li><p>A brief outline of how you are extending the work.</p></li>\n<li><p>Perhaps any question you have about the article.</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>This could be a good way to make yourself known in Academia, especially if the author is an influential scholar in your field. However, a caveat, don't overdo it - in terms of being 'over the top' complementary or too many 'rapid fire' letters/emails.</p>\n\n<p>But, it would more than likely be appreciated as it would be a validation of the author's work.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11856,
"author": "Bitwise",
"author_id": 6862,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6862",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I want to try to give some background to convey the perspective of the researcher on this matter.</p>\n\n<p>For a scientist, the publishing of a paper is usually the culmination of <strong>a lot</strong> of hard work. The scientist has gone through coming up with the project, implementing it, solving all the problems, summarizing it all into a paper, and then through a long process of peer review. Each of these steps involves major effort.</p>\n\n<p>Then the paper gets published. I personally found this to be very anti-climatic. The paper summarizes so much effort, but you rarely get any personal feedback about the paper, except maybe at meetings and conferences. Since we are all publishing our work openly for the benefit of mankind, I think every scientist would be happy to get feedback from people on his/her paper and hear that it was helpful in some way.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11860,
"author": "Matt Reece",
"author_id": 6108,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6108",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Given that most of the correspondence I get when putting out a new paper goes something like \"I have just read your very interesting new paper. I want to inform you of my related works [....],\" and thus is very transparently a request to be cited, the rare message that just says something like \"I liked your new paper!\" is always a welcome change of pace.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11863,
"author": "MattQ",
"author_id": 8163,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8163",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Please do. The author will likely be pleased to hear about any specifics you found particularly interesting or helpful. </p>\n\n<p>As a scientist one of the main goals is to disseminate your findings and spur interest in your work.</p>\n\n<p>It is especially good to send a letter if the paper becomes a significant inspiration for your own research. But, in this case you will also complement the authors by citing their work in your papers.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11875,
"author": "fedja",
"author_id": 6118,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6118",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would certainly be very pleased to receive 1 or 2 of such letters but I would hate to make it a standard academic practice (The image of Jean Bourgain reading \"fan mail\" sends shivers down my spine. Brrrrrr....). </p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/13 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11847",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8152/"
]
|
11,850 | <p>I'm nearing the completion of my undergraduate degree in mathematics. The handful of experiences I've had tutoring students are among the most satisfying ways I've applied math to real problems. My academic record is good but not honors material. I'm convinced that teaching mathematics at the secondary school level is an excellent way to apply my math degree where it's needed. </p>
<p>I am applying to a 13-month Master of Education program at an American university. Through coursework and internships teaching at a local school, students are fully prepared to certify to teach Secondary Education. </p>
<p>This is a highly selective program. Applications, essays, PRAXIS scores, and interviews are all part of the application process. </p>
<p>Does inexperience teaching totally defeat one's chances of admission to an education program? This may also apply to teaching at a university. Is there any way to convince them to see past the inexperience? How does one overcome this? </p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 11852,
"author": "Chris Gregg",
"author_id": 4461,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4461",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>Does inexperience teaching totally defeat one's chances of admission to an education program?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p><strong>No.</strong></p>\n\n<p>I have direct experience in your situation: I entered a MEd teaching program at a top-5 U.S. university with zero teaching experience. I did have five years of military experience, and I emphasized the leadership skills I gained from that, as well as the personnel management skills I learned. My college grades were mediocre (3.2 GPA in Electrical Engineering), GRE scores were decent but not phenomenal, and I entered the program to be certified in high school physics.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Is there any way to convince them to see past the inexperience? How does one overcome this?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>You are in the enviable position of wanting to teach math, and <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STEM_fields\" rel=\"nofollow\">STEM</a> teachers are highly sought-after and needed right now. That isn't to say that you won't be competing against highly-competitive peers, but for what it's worth you will probably be competing against <em>fewer</em> peers.</p>\n\n<p>To overcome the lack of teaching on your resume, you should highlight any experiences you have had working with students or children (e.g., did you TA a class? Were you a camp counselor? Think outside the box to find something relevant, but don't stretch it too thin -- e.g., lifeguarding probably wouldn't quite fit the bill, but mentoring junior acolytes at your church might). You should certainly discuss why you enjoyed the tutoring, and how that informed your decision to pursue a teaching career.</p>\n\n<p>Furthermore, you need to demonstrate your passion for teaching -- talk about the middle school algebra teacher who opened your eyes to the beauty of mathematics, or the calculus teacher who gave you the first real taste of a formal proof. Talk about why you love mathematics, and how important you think it is for upcoming generations to get quality mathematics teaching.</p>\n\n<p>The admissions committee needs to see something special in your application that will make you a great teacher, and personal experience means a lot -- do you have 26 cousins that flock around you during family reunions to hear stories (you're a great story teller! This is a fantastic skill for a teacher!). Did you wake up every morning in tenth grade salivating at the thought of fifth period trigonometry class? (you've got legitimate passion! [and may be the only person in the world who loved trig at that age...]).</p>\n\n<p>MEd programs are one of the few programs where I believe a well-written personal statement can truly make a difference in your application, so make it good. Have one or more people read your statement and give good criticism. Write it one week and re-read it a week or two later, and edit it if you don't see the passion coming out. Ask your reviewers to look for passion (or, rather, ask them after they've read it what they thought, and if \"passion\" doesn't show up in any reviews, re-write it).</p>\n\n<p>Your letters of recommendation are extremely important, as well. You should make sure your letter writers know that you are applying to teaching programs (<em>not</em> research programs), and that's what you would like them to focus on. You <em>don't</em> want a letter that says, \"X is a brilliant mathematician who can focus intently on minute details of complicated mathematical proofs for hours at a time. He has the potential to produce award-winning mathematics.\" What you want is something along the lines of, \"X was one of my most passionate students, who has a knack for coming up with succinct, meaningful explanations for complicated mathematical topics. I routinely saw him during office hours where we had enlightening discussions about the course. I learned as much from him as he did from my own teaching.\"</p>\n\n<p>Your interview is obviously important, too. I suggest preparing something to teach for five minutes (high school level--if I were preparing something, I might choose compound interest -- you can teach it in about five minutes to a willing audience, and you end up with the beautiful definition of <code>e</code> in the end), and practicing it on someone. If I were interviewing candidates, I'd ask them to teach me something (maybe something particular), and if you have something in your back pocket that you've practiced, you'll be ready for the question if it appears. Be prepared to discuss why you didn't have the opportunity to teach (what did you do during your summers? Were there TA opportunities that you could have taken?). Obviously, do a lot of smiling and be as personable as you can without going outside your normal personality. Have a very succinct answer to why you believe you will be a great teacher -- 30 seconds that will wow an interviewer. (one further tip: if you have an interview with multiple people, <strong>remember their names</strong> and address them with their names during the interview--this can make a very good impression).</p>\n\n<p>Good luck!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 47269,
"author": "TeachingHopeful",
"author_id": 35915,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/35915",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Personally what has worked for me is to take small steps toward the profession and use them as evidence of a commitment toward your goal. For example, my state requires CPR, First Aid, Child Abuse training, and specific courses towards a teaching license. Technology training is required also, but treated as an elective in graduate programs (not part of the 5 core courses you need for a license). So I did the training, took the tech course at community college (effective and cheap), and have continued to tutor as a volunteer. I plied that into getting a paid job as a tutor and am I now using that and some spin on unrelated work from three years in another career (i.e. listing parts relevant to the new career), in my graduate applications. It already worked to get me into non-degree graduate study (visiting student status, grad courses without the full commitment) this summer, credits I could transfer directly into whatever program accepts me. </p>\n\n<p>This last part is something worth investigating for future readers. The thing is that many graduate programs cap transfer credits fairly low (6-9 credit hours), but if your undergrad GPA is lower like mine having good grad grades can tip the balance for program admission. These \"non-degree\" programs are not always advertised so make sure to ask and check with the schools you're applying to to make sure the credits will transfer.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/13 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11850",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6089/"
]
|
11,854 | <p>I currently have on my CV a list of conferences I organized, or co-organized, a list of invited talks, a full list of talks, etc. Recently I have been asked to chair a session in a prestigious conference. I am very honored, and thus wondered: is this something I can feature on my CV? If so, would somewhere along with the conferences organized be "standard"?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 11855,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The short answer is yes. Anything that can be considered meriting can (or should) be added to a CV in my opinion. I have a heading \"Other meriting academic miissions\" in my CV where I list things that I consider meriting but do not fit under other headings where the list is longer. this includes, invited talks, tenure evaluations, etc.</p>\n\n<p>My strategy with my CV is to add everything into a \"master CV\" and then remove parts depending on the purpose of the CV. Therefore, add the meriting tasks you are asked to do. It is easy to remove them if they are irrelevant for the specific purpose.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11871,
"author": "Xline",
"author_id": 8180,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8180",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Chairing a session during a prestigious conference is certainly a good indication that you are recognised within your community (at least to the conference committee) and they value your contributions to the field. It should be definitely part of your CV (and online CV if you do have one). </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11874,
"author": "fedja",
"author_id": 6118,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6118",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I see absolutely no reason why not. It fits perfectly well into \"other academic achievements, honors, and activities\" (or whatever else your title of this part is). Just don't declare it the biggest achievement in your lifetime and provide the relevant details (conference name, level, session, etc.) in a reasonably full and concise format so that people can appreciate what you are talking about.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 94469,
"author": "Tom Au",
"author_id": 755,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/755",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>These conference chairmanships speak well of your \"administrative\" ability. Some universities prize this, whether or not they say so. So list at least this one, and possibly others, on your CV.</p>\n\n<p>This don't help your \"scholarship\" credentials per se. But even scholarship is about networking, and many professors will therefore value you for the contacts you have and the doors that you can open for them.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/13 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11854",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700/"
]
|
11,861 | <p>In academia, one is forced to read papers that come out. Some of the papers I read are directly related to my work and then it is reasonable to read them in my working hours. Others are completely irrelevant and I read them just for the pleasure and to broaden my knowledge in other areas. These, I think, should be read in one's free time.</p>
<p>But then there are papers that are not directly related to what I am doing but may turn useful for my work, e.g., they may use a method that might come handy although they deal with a slightly different field. Should I read such papers at work as well or should I read them in my free time? How do I decide where the border between work-related and leisure-read papers lies?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 11864,
"author": "Aaron",
"author_id": 1228,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1228",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>A perspective from (theoretical) computer science:</p>\n\n<p>One of the things that distinguishes academia from some other lines of work is that there is no well delineated line between \"working hours\" and non-working hours. Since you can probably be better paid elsewhere, academics tend to enjoy research. You seem to as well, since you read papers during your free time. </p>\n\n<p>But that is the great thing about academia. Reading papers that you enjoy is work, since as you observe, reading in a field different from your own can nevertheless give you tools useful for your own work. So, I would say that you can read any paper you like during \"working hours\" and not feel bad about it. </p>\n\n<p>Incidentally, one can always switch areas. If you feel that you are \"forced\" to read the papers that come out in your area, but there are other areas that you read for pleasure, perhaps you should work in those areas!</p>\n\n<p>(Disclaimer: needless to say, to have a <em>successful</em> academic career, you can't spend all your time reading -- you have to spend some of your time writing! But there is no need to arbitrarily partition the reading into a work and pleasure pile.)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11866,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>There may of course be differences between different academic cultures and systems but in essence you should be free to read whatever you want. Yes, you will of course <em>need</em> to read some literature to keep yorself up to date with your field to the extent that you can teach whatever courses you need to teach. I assume teaching is something you are <em>ordered</em> to do. Your own research adds the need to read other papers but since you decide your field you also decide what you need to read. If you find other areas of interest (still within your or related fields) then I cannot see that as a problem. There are many aspects of science such as methodology that can be extracted from, for example, neighbouring fields.</p>\n\n<p>In my own case, I find I have a different problem: simply not time enough to keep myself updated to the level I would like. So, reading literature irrelevant to my major field is simply not imagineable.</p>\n\n<p>So in the end the answer will depend on what your job situation looks like and what the expectations are, what you are ordered to do and what is your own initiative as well as what might result if you do not fulfil the goals of your employer.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11868,
"author": "fedja",
"author_id": 6118,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6118",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>In academia, one is forced to read papers that come out. </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Not in academia. You are not <em>forced</em> to read anything at all after you get your PhD. As a graduate student, you may have regular reading assignments given by your adviser, but those are just like any other class assignments, so I don't think you are talking of them here.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Some of the papers I read are directly related to my work and then it is reasonable to read them in my working hours. Others are completely irrelevant and I read them just for the pleasure and to broaden my knowledge in other areas. These, I think, should be read in one's free time.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>One funny thing in academia (if we are talking about academia and not about an industrial job that pretends to be one) is that you <em>never know</em> what exactly your work is. Any time a colleague may stop by and ask a question, a paper may come for refereeing, etc., which may give you an opportunity (not \"force\", because you can reject anything you don't want either bluntly or in some fancy way like \"Interesting problem but, unfortunately, it is outside my area of expertise\") to think of something you've never heard of before. Another funny thing is that there is no work time (except teaching and meeting hours) and free time. You can wake up at 2AM and work like crazy if you have a good idea, or you can lock your office and go for a long stroll in the town if you don't feel like sitting and bumping your head against the brick wall will result in anything any time soon. I read whatever I want and wherever and whenever I want, and suggest that you do the same, provided that you meet your obligations and do not go on reckless reading (or non-reading) sprees.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>But then there are papers that are not directly related to what I am doing but may turn useful for my work, e.g., they may use a method that might come handy although they deal with a slightly different field. </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Zillions of them! No chance to read them all, of course, but, by all means, look out and around whenever you have a chance. </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Should I read such papers at work as well or should I read them in my free time? </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Whichever you prefer. I like reading when lying on a sofa and I don't have one in my office, so I read everything at home. Some people prefer to clearly separate the work and the social life, so they do all their reading at the office. There are no rules and no obligations in this respect. </p>\n\n<p>How do I decide where the border between work-related and leisure-read papers lies?</p>\n\n<p>Currently there is no such border in academia. We enjoy the total absence of the \"reading police\" and the internet made everything (well, almost: the copyright still spreads its shadowy tentacles far and wide but they are cut out one by one every day) available at a click of a button. The real danger is not in the \"legal issues\" but in the effective management of your time, which is the reverse sign of the freedom coin. But that is a totally different story...</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11892,
"author": "TheFiddlerWins",
"author_id": 8190,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8190",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>My take (for profit company) is anything that clearly improves your domain knowledge in a way that can be tied back to your business. </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>One funny thing in academia (if we are talking about academia and not about an industrial job that pretends to be one) is that you never know what exactly your work is</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>This is true in the business world as well. My boss has no idea that we need to consolidate user directories, set up a configuration management system or implement a system that lets us visualize netflow information. He comes to me with problems, I need to read to be able to reply with answers.</p>\n\n<p>So work related stuff is almost always good. </p>\n\n<p>Oh, and xkcd. Anyone should be allowed to read xkcd at work. Except bus drivers, but that should be obvious.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/13 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11861",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8164/"
]
|
11,865 | <p>I just finished the 2nd year of a PhD program. I was planning to present a poster at the national conference but (probably) need to cancel. Now I'm deciding whether to attend the conference anyway. On the one hand: I'll meet people and probably enjoy myself. On the other hand: I could use the time for other work, would prefer not to spend $$ on the hotel, and I'm years away from being on the job market. </p>
<p>$$$. My plane ticket is non-refundable. My hotel is refundable. So I could save some money by skipping the conference.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 11867,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Attending conferences is very useful for several reasons. Usually, the work presented at conferences involve the latest developments in the field. This may provide you with new ideas or tools for your own research. It will give you a good overview of what is happening. You will also become familiar with who is doing what. In addition to this you also have the possibility to get in touch with colleagues and strike up new contacts with persons working on questions for interest to you. This can become useful in the sense that you can possibly start up collaborations or simply become known to others in the field. The latter can be important, for example, when you publish since reviewers might easily be someone you meet during the conference. Obviously, presenting something makes this even easier but being there is far better than not.</p>\n\n<p>The reason I can see from not going is if you do not think the conference is of major interest or if you do not think you will meet people interested in similar questions to yours, in other words if you cannot see any academic benefits from going. Saving money is of course also a valid question if you think you can use that money more wisely on, for example, another conference.</p>\n\n<p>But, in general, go to good conferences regardless of whether you have something to present or not.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11869,
"author": "fedja",
"author_id": 6118,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6118",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I prefer to rely upon the grapevine, the internet, and the personal communication more than on formal meetings but if you like socializing, by all means go. Just make sure that</p>\n\n<p>1) You know which talks you want to attend and to which people you'd like to talk and are prepared to both sitting through the talks and the conversations. Nothing is as meaningless and time-wasting as sitting through a talk in which you understand only the speaker's name and affiliation, and nothing is as pathetic as a graduate student who tries to communicate with some expert and either has no idea of what he (student) is talking about or has nothing more interesting to say than \"My name is ..., my adviser is ... , it was nice to meet you\".</p>\n\n<p>2) If you've made a poster already, take it with you anyway. Even if it is not displayed in the main hall, you may still have an opportunity to show it to some people (of course, it shouldn't be 8 by 10 feet in this case, so you may want to downsize it a bit).</p>\n\n<p>3) In spite of what I said in 1) and 2), do not take the whole affair with beastly seriousness and have some ideas about what to do in the town or nearby for fun. </p>\n\n<p>As to work, in most conference places you may find a quiet room or two (in the worst case scenario, just return to your hotel) where to spend some time alone between the events that really interest you. Unless you fly trans{atlantic/pacific}, you can reduce the wasted time to just a few hours, not days. As to the job market, if you are any good, the earlier you appear on the radar screens, the better. As to dollars, it should be your own decision: I suspect you'll not end up in the bankruptcy court or become a millionaire either way :). </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11873,
"author": "Willie Wong",
"author_id": 94,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/94",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It also depends a lot on your field. </p>\n\n<p>In my field (mathematics), I largely agree with everything <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/11869/94\">fedja had said</a>. Having been to (and organized a special session for) a big national conference, I found that the best part about it is the social aspect, and some of the cool stuff you get to see at the vendors. In terms of talks I listened to they generally fall in one of two categories: </p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>Someone I know (or know of) speaking on a subject I am (quasi-)familiar with at a level that is slightly lower (more general) than what they would say in a seminar or smaller, more specialist oriented conferences and workshops. Which is rather comforting to hear but often I don't learn much (though there are a few wonderful exceptions) more than what I already know. </p></li>\n<li><p>Someone whom I don't know speaking on a subject I am unfamiliar with at a level that is slightly lower (more general) than what they would say in a seminar or smaller, more specialist oriented conferences and workshops, yet still flies <em>entirely over my head</em>. </p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>In some fields conferences are a lot more plentiful, and missing one conference, even a \"national\" one, will not be that big a deal. And if you are short on money, you may well want to be picky about how and where you travel.</p>\n\n<p>But in some other fields (take Geology for example), <em>the</em> <a href=\"http://sites.agu.org/meetings/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">National Conference</a> (fully deserving of the capital letters) is the place to be and everyone in the field, from graduate students to emeritus faculty, who doesn't have a very good reason <em>not</em> to be there tends to be there. (The AGU fall meeting attracts more than 3 times the participants than the <a href=\"http://jointmathematicsmeetings.org/jmm\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">largest mathematics meeting in the world</a>.) If your field is anything like that, I'd say you probably should make an effort to participate. </p>\n\n<p>Lastly, when it comes to money (though this may be a bit late), many of the national conferences have special funding set aside for graduate students, and in addition many graduate programs have some limited travel funding provided. You may also want to talk to your advisor about travel funding. Both my wife and I are in academia, and neither of us have ever paid out of pocket for conference attendance as graduate students. (Of course, in your field the situation may yet be different.)</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/13 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11865",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7934/"
]
|
11,876 | <p>I have submitted a paper at a conference and it is currently under review. Can I use this paper as a 'scientific report' (asked to assess candidate's writing skills) for a Ph.D application ?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 11877,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>So long as this is for an internal evaluation process that doesn't involve any form of \"publication,\" it's hard to see how this could be a problem. You retain rights as the author of a paper, especially if it hasn't been published. </p>\n\n<p>If you have concerns over whether it is allowed, you can always ask the conference organizers if it's acceptable. On the other hand, if you are concerned whether the department you are submitting to will accept it, <strong>ask the department</strong>.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11889,
"author": "Fortuna",
"author_id": 8189,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8189",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Submit it as a preprint in ArXiv and cite the corresponding document (I am assuming it has the minimum quality to be submited here). Producing preprints is a good practice (specially for countries with limited access to co$tly journals).</p>\n\n<p>In my opinion: do not cite \"submitted to TOP JOURNAL\" papers. Only <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyche\" rel=\"nofollow\">Tyche</a> knows what is going to happen with that submission (e.g. maybe the referee is your arch enemy).</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/14 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11876",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8183/"
]
|
11,881 | <p>I'm trying to submit a latex document to a SAGE journal using ScholarOne.</p>
<p>I'm having a hard time.</p>
<p>The (poor) documentation says that it accepts tex files, but the pdf it produces says that it cannot turn my tex into a pdf.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Note: The following files were submitted by the author for peer
review, but cannot be converted to PDF. You must view these files (e.g. movies) online. </p>
<p>response.tex</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Is this just what it does with tex files? Should it compile them? I don't know. If it is not compiling, how do I get the error message?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 11882,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As far as I know the Scholar One Manuscripts (S1M) system can convert Word files into pdf, it does not contain a LaTeX engine but will accept PDF files. In the journal I work (which uses S1M), we accept LaTeX manuscripts but explcitly ask authors to produce a pdf of the document for reviewing purposes. It is a mistake or omission by the journal to not explain that the file for review must be either Word or PDF. The LaTeX files can be uploaded but must be marked as \"Not for review\" which means they are not included in the file sent to the reviewer. You need to check with the journal how they prefer to handle it. In my case, I do not need the LaTeX files until the final revised manuscript so uploading them is of minor use; this, however, might vary between journals.</p>\n\n<p>I do not know of any commnercial manuscript system in use that produces PDF from submitted LaTeX files but then I do not know all journals. In any case, the proper way with S1M should be to submit your files in LateXed PDF format (e.g. PDFLaTeX).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11883,
"author": "Faheem Mitha",
"author_id": 285,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/285",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>[This might be more ontopic at tex.stackexchange.com.]</p>\n\n<p>What you received sounds like an error, but is vague. First, of course talk to technical support if you can get hold of any. These systems are often set up to only accept a minimal set of LaTeX packages. If you are using any non-standard packages, see if you can remove them or include the functionality in the document itself. And of course talk to technical support if you can get hold of any.</p>\n\n<p>See also <a href=\"https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/12554/submitting-a-journal-article-as-a-single-tex-file\">Submitting a journal article as a single tex file</a>.</p>\n\n<p>EDIT: Peter says the system is not trying to convert at all, and he should know. However, I'll leave this answer here for now. If anyone thinks it should be removed, let me know.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11884,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Both the Royal Society of Chemistry journals and the American Chemical Society journals use ScholarOne Manuscripts™ as their web submission platform. In both cases, <strong>the system is able to compile LaTeX documents into a PDF file</strong>. There are, however, strict requirements about the type of LaTeX document you can use. These are spelt out in a specific help section entitled <em>“Preparing and Submitting Manuscripts Using TeX/LaTeX”</em>.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>ACS Authors have two distinct options for submitting work authored in TeX:</p>\n \n <p>FAST Submission: Submit your own PDF file—and provide the native TeX and figures in a .zip file—and your own PDF file will be used for the review process.</p>\n \n <p>STANDARD Submission: Submit a complete and properly styled TeX file, figures, and references using the achemso style package. The TeX files will be converted to PDF by ACS Paragon Plus and used for the review process.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>The help further states:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>When you upload your TeX/LaTeX Manuscript File, the system will analyze the file, and identify additional resource files referenced within the file (such as image files and bibliographic files) that are necessary to complete the document.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>and </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Manuscript files prepared in TeX/LaTeX (Version 2.02 and earlier) will be used in journal production provided you adhere to the following guidelines:</p>\n \n <ul>\n <li>Use only LaTeX2e. Use of plain TeX and RevTeX is discouraged.</li>\n <li>Use generic style files whenever possible. Minimal formatting is all that is required in the document.</li>\n <li>Include all sections of the article in a single file. Include the list of references within the LaTeX file. Captions must be created in the TeX/LaTeX document.</li>\n <li>References should be cited in text using <code>\\cite{}</code>, and the list of references should be itemized using <code>\\bibitem{}</code>.</li>\n <li>Use <code>\\frac</code> to build fractions. Do not use <code>\\over</code> or <code>\\stackrel</code> to build fractions in displayed equations.</li>\n <li>Use <code>\\sum_{}^{}</code> for summations and <code>\\prod_{}^{}</code> for products.</li>\n <li>Use the array environment only to build true matrices, not for aligning multiline equations.</li>\n <li>Use characters/symbols in the generic LaTeX character set only. Symbols from other sets may not translate correctly.</li>\n <li>Avoid extensive use of <code>\\newcommand</code> and `\\def .</li>\n <li>Some style files (text and bibliographic) that are available in the public domain may be used for most ACS journals, e.g., jacs.sty and jacs.bst; jpc.sty and jpc.bst; achemso. The use of the achemso style package is strongly encouraged. Please note that the ACS does not provide support for using these files.</li>\n </ul>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>A further requirement, which is not actually listed, is that all figures should be in the same directory (you cannot upload a directory structure). And, as noted, if you use bibtex, you have to run it manually and include the content of the <code>.bbl</code> file into your <code>.tex</code> file before upload.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>So, in conclusion: <strong>ScholarOne Manuscripts™ has the capability to support LaTeX compilation</strong>. Whether this is enable or not for your specific journal/publisher, I cannot know. In any case, check the documentation! (or ask the editorial office)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 19321,
"author": "DrErko",
"author_id": 14134,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14134",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>For me, ScholarOne (Wiley submission) did not accept PDF upload and did not convert the latex sources. My solution was to convert the PDF to PS using pdf2ps (GhostScript). This was then properly converted back to PDF by ScholarOne. I absolutely do not understand why they are using such a stupid and confusion submission system, sorry...</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 66932,
"author": "Deborah Apthorp",
"author_id": 52407,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/52407",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I finally figured this out after about 3 hours. Thing is, even though the system tells you there was an error, it actually HAS uploaded your files. You can see this if you click \"Update file order\", and here you can download the LaTeX log to see what went wrong. In my case it was because the system didn't have all the figures yet, because it only lets you upload 3 files at a time. Once I'd uploaded all the figures, and deleted all the extra files I'd uploaded in frustration, I was able to force it to compile by clicking \"View PDF\". Finally submitted. I hope this helps someone, somewhere. </p>\n\n<p>Worst. Manuscript. Submission. System. EVER. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 151499,
"author": "abhisrkckl",
"author_id": 126119,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/126119",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I encountered this problem while trying to submit a manuscript to Publications of Astronomical Society of Australia (PASA) via ScholarOne. When I uploaded the latex source from Overleaf, the submission system complained "Unable to find any suitable files to generate the proof". It is sad that this old problem still exists.</p>\n<p>The problem seems to be with ScholarOne's latex compiler. I have found it to be more restrictive than other similar systems and tools like overleaf. The problems are the following:</p>\n<ol>\n<li><p>ScholarOne does not work well with .bib files. Their tech support told me to add the citations directly to the main .tex file rather than putting them in a .bib file. This amounts to replacing the <code>\\bibliography{}</code> command with the contents of the .bbl file generated by BibTeX. This is quite surprising since the PASA template in overleaf uses a .bib file for bibliography.</p>\n</li>\n<li><p>ScholarOne does not work well with <code>\\include{}</code> statements. I had to create one big .tex file by manually copy-pasting the contents of the .tex files which are <code>\\include</code>-d in the main .tex file.</p>\n</li>\n<li><p>ScholarOne does not use pdflatex. This means that if you add PDF or PNG images in your manuscript, the compiler won't be able to determine its size. The safe option is to use images in the EPS format. I also had to flatten the EPS files (using Photoshop/GIMP) since their latex compiler can't deal with layers. I also added <code>\\usepackage{epstopdf}</code> to the preamble.</p>\n</li>\n<li><p>File names can't have spaces in them. (Which is in general good latex advice.)</p>\n</li>\n<li><p>Some packages may not be supported or may not work as expected. In my case, the tcolorbox package did not work.</p>\n</li>\n</ol>\n<p>TL/DR: ScholarOne needs a lot of handholding to compile any decently complex latex document.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/14 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11881",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4332/"
]
|
11,894 | <p>What is the best way to conduct a training seminar inside a computer laboratory without a projector?</p>
<p>Is there an existing software program that could achieve the same results as conducting a training seminar with the aid of a projector?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 11898,
"author": "mankoff",
"author_id": 185,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/185",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>CLI or GUI? If GUI, you can have everyone watch your screen w/ a remote desktop client. Other solutions for CLI too (screen program) but I guess you're using a GUI.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11900,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Put your seminar material online, and just have people view it at the same time as you talk. It can be any easily readable format, like PDF file or simply series of web pages. If you are not sure that people will follow, just put large bold numbers on each page, and announce what page you're at when you change page. (A bit like kids' audio book!)</p>\n\n<p>Either that, or hard copies of the material.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11919,
"author": "cbeleites unhappy with SX",
"author_id": 725,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/725",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I'm not sure I get the situation:</p>\n\n<p>Does \"no projector\" (and no whiteboard) mean </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>You do not want to use a projector (nor a whiteboard)?<br>\n=> IMHO you should then know what you want (and tell us why), without that we'll not know what to answer</li>\n<li>Or: just there is no projector available<br>\n=> borrow projector somewhere</li>\n<li>or is it no possibity to project to a suitable space<br>\n=> borrow projector and screen, </li>\n<li>no possibility for placing a screen, neithr<br>\n=> or go for a different room?</li>\n</ul>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/15 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11894",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8191/"
]
|
11,895 | <p>My friend submitted a paper to a well-known computer science conference. One of the reviews was very short - only 2.5 lines of text, extremely general and vague, and rejected the paper. The review is so meaningless, that the author cannot even respond to it, or use it to improve the paper. Additionally, the review includes little justification to the rejection recommendation.</p>
<p>The other two reviews were balanced - there was one positive and one negative review.</p>
<p>The author feels that the short review should get a smaller weight in the final decision. How can he communicate this to the conference organizers? Is it a good idea to contact them directly by email?</p>
<p>The conference is organized by an automatic web-based submission system that allows the author to write a single response to the reviewers, but it is not clear if this response gets to the organizers or only to the reviewers.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 11897,
"author": "Chris Gregg",
"author_id": 4461,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4461",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Unfortunately, when submitting to a conference, you don't have control over the process to the detail you are talking about. It will probably be the case that the useless review does indeed get less weight during discussions (unless the reviewer happens to be one of those reviewers who holds a lot of sway and can get a paper rejected with a vague and general review!).</p>\n\n<p>I would urge against sending an email to the conference chair / organizers -- unless you are extremely tactful, any attempt to sway them with this method will come off as whiny and will only hurt your case (or, rather, your friend's case).</p>\n\n<p>The best option is to write a rebuttal as you normally would: fix all the critical comments from the other reviewers, address each comment specifically in your rebuttal response, and thank the reviewers for their consideration. The good news is that you got one positive review. While this is not normally sufficient for a paper acceptance at a very competitive CS conference, you have the chance to improve the paper as much as you can, and send in your rebuttal, and you should make the most of that opportunity.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11902,
"author": "fedja",
"author_id": 6118,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6118",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>It reminds me of a review we got recently, in which, among other (reasonable and meaningful) things there was the phrase</p>\n\n<p>\"5) The argument at the top of page 7 is not as clear as it should be.\"</p>\n\n<p>My immediate response was</p>\n\n<p>\"The referee's remark in section 5 is too vague to take any action upon it.\"</p>\n\n<p>(I believe, my co-authors finally put it in a slightly nicer form, but the meaning stayed).</p>\n\n<p>I completely agree with Chris that your friend should just ignore the \"content empty\" review and act properly upon the other two, but, before everything, ask yourself honestly whether the paper in question is good enough and written well enough? I don't want to know the answer but you should know it yourself before you proceed in any way or give him any advice. Only one positive review out of three is a clear signal of trouble unless your friend had quarreled with each and every influential colleague of his by the moment of submission.</p>\n\n<p>The last thing: whatever your friend <em>feels</em> the organizers <em>should</em> do, most likely, trying to convince them of that directly won't accomplish anything. I believe that the indirect comments like the one I quoted above yield better results (especially if your friend's tact and sense of humor are not as terrible as mine :)).</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/15 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11895",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/787/"
]
|
11,896 | <p>I'm a 2nd-year grad student in a US PhD program in one of the social sciences. Coursework has forced me throw out the initial ideas I had about research, which I proposed in my application nearly two years ago. Now I'm actively hunting for the "right" topic. </p>
<p>People ask me all the time, "what's your research on?" and I'm not sure how to answer.</p>
<p>This is not about "how to pick a research topic" as much as <strong>how to professionally present one's very tentative research idea(s) before one has a topic.</strong></p>
<p>Should I:
1) Preface any response to the question with "I'm still early in my program and haven't written my dissertation prospectus yet, but I'll probably focus on ..."
2) Should I be honest about having multiple ideas or just pick one in order to better focus the conversation? </p>
<p>Any advice probably differs across contexts -- i.e. talking with peer, talking with senior scholar. All tips are appreciated!</p>
<p>I know this question is subjective, but I think about the situation every day, and I feel like I need some advice.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 11899,
"author": "fedja",
"author_id": 6118,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6118",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You should be honest for sure. If you don't know something, do not pretend you do because you may face a person who really knows what you try to talk about and then, if you have only a superficial grasp of the subject, you are toast. Just say straight that you've heard that X is an interesting subject, that you have already read , that you want to learn more about it and, perhaps, try a research project in that particular area, and that you have this and that idea and wonder what can be made of them. That will get you the warmest response you can expect from the person you are talking to (\"the warmest\" doesn't mean \"warm\", by the way) and you may get some good advice or help this way from a \"complete stranger\". </p>\n\n<p>I admit that many people fail to understand that knowing and openly delineating the limits of one's knowledge and powers is \"a professional behavior\". Nevertheless, those whose respect you should really earn during your academic career (whether they are your professors or your fellow students at the current moment) will judge you from this standpoint. The opinions of the rest may make a lot of difference on the short run but none on the long one. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 13370,
"author": "Blaisorblade",
"author_id": 8966,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8966",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Should you be honest? Sure.</p>\n\n<p>Should you talk about all ideas you have? Most likely not, but it depends on how much time you have. Many people have multiple projects (some simply ideas, some less so) at most times.</p>\n\n<p>Try picking the most promising one. If you have no clue, just pick one, and observe the feedback you get. I believe you need a focused discussion to get useful feedback. If you have enough time with the same person for multiple focused discussions, great! But that's not the assumption.</p>\n\n<p>Finally, you need to take both positive and negative feedback with a grain of salt. Listen to negative feedback! But if they tell you \"this is a bad project, because X\", listen to the X but think on your own whether it can be fixed by improving the idea or you should actually change completely (or something in between). The same logic applies even when papers are rejected (see for instance <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/13357/8966\">Does some degree of stubbornness help for a researcher?</a>, or <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/1799/which-soft-skills-for-research-career#comment2877_1801\">discussions</a> of \"learning from criticism\" skills).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 48624,
"author": "MrMeritology",
"author_id": 17564,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17564",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Before you answer such a question, first decide whether you want to have an extended conversation or not. </p>\n\n<p>Most of the time, you'll only want a brief conversation. The other person may only want a brief conversation, too. Many people ask as a matter of routine because one's research topic plays into our social categories, much like \"Where are you from?\" (born, raised, etc). The question can also be a limited sign of interest, i.e. equivalent to \"Give me a brief summary of what you are working on\". In cases like this, you can answer with <em>any</em> one or two line answer that is both true and comfortable, but you <em>don't</em> have to give the full story or answer unambiguously.</p>\n\n<p>When you want to have extended conversation, giving a clear answer isn't the highest priority. Often the value of those conversations is in the feedback you get or in the opportunity to hear yourself explain your ideas. Rather than give an answer in terms of specific research topics, you might talk about your latest thinking about what interests you and why, and where you are in your decision-making process. You might then ask the other person for their point of view on the alternatives you are considering.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/15 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11896",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7934/"
]
|
11,901 | <p>I was a little bit surprised to read <a href="http://chronicle.com/article/Week-One-on-the-New-Job/141009/">this comment thread</a> on the Chronicle of Higher Education, which suggests (among other things) that faculty shouldn't fraternize with grad students. I think this site has a different slant than CHE, so I thought I would bring up the question here. Is there anything wrong with faculty socializing with grad students?</p>
<p>I agree that professors should definitely avoid getting romantically involved with grad students, or getting drunk with them. Moreover, I agree that a heightened sense of boundaries is important.</p>
<p>But is there any reason for a professor, who would otherwise be interested, to decline offers to attend parties thrown by grad students, or to go hiking with them, or to play soccer with them, or to go to bar trivia with them? I've observed this to be common in math departments, and appreciated by faculty and students alike.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 11905,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In answer to your main question: NO</p>\n\n<p>Depending on the rules of the faculty, there is nothing particularly wrong with academics interacting with grad students, particularly if the boundaries you suggested are adhered to.</p>\n\n<p>I am fortunate enough to see this from the perspective of being a high school teacher and as a grad (PhD) student - in the grad-professor interactions, both parties are adults, professionals in their fields and are largely working together on the project. The supervisors/advisors are not teachers in the traditional sense, but as their role states - advisors (supervisors in Australia) - often as co-authors of mutual papers, effectively a colleague.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11908,
"author": "debray",
"author_id": 7974,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7974",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I suppose it depends on whether one views grad students as <em>hoi polloi</em> who need to be kept on the other side of a \"class boundary\" (as the CHE comment put it), or whether one views them as colleagues who just happen to not be as far along on their academic journeys. I prefer to see them as colleagues.</p>\n\n<p>For what it's worth, when I was a grad student my advisor often had us (his research group) over to his house for dinners and drinks, and I'd often play racquetball with one of my dissertation committee members. This made us feel appreciated and made it much more palatable to put in crazy hours when needed to meet a proposal or paper submission deadline. And now, as a tenured faculty member, I take my students out to lunches and dinners and beers and hiking trips (alas, I'm too old for racquetball now). I enjoy getting to know my students as whole individuals, and find that the socialization engenders a sense of community that makes things more pleasant for everyone.</p>\n\n<p>Socializing with students is very different from being \"buddies\" with them: the relationship between a professor and an advisee is very different than that between friends. But IMHO this is no different than any other professional relationship with any other colleague: there are some things that are fine to share and others that are best left unexplored. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11909,
"author": "Shion",
"author_id": 1429,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1429",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>A rather emphatic \"<strong>No!</strong>\"</p>\n\n<p>I socialize and have socialized with my advisers and other related professors many times. In fact, its rather encouraged in our department. </p>\n\n<p>We have an informal departmental event <em>almost</em> every week called <strong>HBI</strong> (Human Beer Interaction - yes, rather cheesy given the HCI focus of our department) where graduate students and faculty in the past have been known to hang out and talk about different things.</p>\n\n<p>Different professors socialize differently. Some professors have movie nights with their lab. Others organize dinners/lunches/pizza making sessions at their houses. Its a great opportunity to meet their better halves and families. Its also really great to go to the major conferences (CHI/CSCW) in our areas and hobnob with the professors there. I found the linked article to be rather out of sync - at least as far as our department of information science is concerned.</p>\n\n<p>Anecdotally, I know that in other departments in our university, there have been co-ed professor-student intramural soccer/softball teams, ice cream sessions, beers, dinners etc.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11911,
"author": "james234",
"author_id": 7937,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7937",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There might be a problem here. Now this is somewhat related to what happens in corporate . If the student is a brown -noser then that is ok. He might be doing this(socializing ,which often leads to doing personal favors for adviser) to further his career. But if he is a backstabber ,he might get away with that crap , because he is close to that adviser and adviser completely trusts him. </p>\n\n<p>I have personally seen cases where the grad student would go to an adviser's home ,babysit her kids , do her some personal chores and then speak crap about other students .And since the adviser thought this student was sincere, she would believe in whatever he said sans verification.</p>\n\n<p>It is always better to have a friendly relationship with peers but with an Adviser you should be a friendly acquaintance ,but not a friend . A manager (in this case an adviser or mostly lab supervisor) should always keep his distance from his student.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11913,
"author": "fedja",
"author_id": 6118,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6118",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Just know the boundary between \"socializing\" and \"fraternizing\" and you should be fine. I've seen a few examples where crossing this boundary was rather detrimental to the PhD advising process (though nobody got fired or expelled; it just got very difficult to force the student to meet her obligations and to carry out the required assignments because the student got an idea that she had a right to argue with and to question everything she was told to do). However, I don't think that maintaining some \"class hierarchy\" makes much sense at the PhD student level or even during extracurricular undergraduate activities like Putnam training, etc. though I'm all for it in the low level undergraduate classes ever since the time I was being kept on teaching nothing higher than engineering calculus for four years in a row, and the idea of introducing some kind of \"faculty uniform\" like in the military is not altogether alien to my mind. </p>\n\n<p>One thing to remember however is that no matter how friendly you are with your students outside the classroom, when you are lecturing, you are the boss and they are subordinates. The joint soccer game or beer jug yesterday should not become an excuse for not turning in the homework today. If this principle is understood and followed by both parties, I guess that's all \"hierarchy at the graduate level\" we need.</p>\n\n<p>As to the journal article in question, it was written by an administrator, albeit a clever one. Most advices he gave are excellent but at some places you certainly get the feeling I had some twenty years ago when I was pulled over for speeding by a policeman, asked him what would be the maximal speed they would allow in that state (North Dakota), and got the reply \"Sorry son, but all I can tell is that if you go under the posted limit, we won't bother you\").</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 73157,
"author": "Iarwain",
"author_id": 51530,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/51530",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Answering as a student: No.</p>\n\n<p>My teachers and the students at my institute (Life sciences, for reference) socialize a lot. We have a yearly volleyball tournament in which my teachers participate, have drinks with them sometimes, are allowed to call them by their first name and I had dinner at their house for an article in the school newspaper. You could almost describe the relation between the two groups as informal. This isn't always the case at the other institutes at my university.</p>\n\n<p>My point is that socializing helps a lot with the work ethic and morale. Because we know our teachers and professors better, it's easier to have meetings and productive discussions. We also tend to work together as a team more (where the professor has the lead obviously). We're all adults after all.<br>\nAn important factor is that we never forget the <strong>professional distance</strong> between us. They are the professors/teachers and we are students. At the end of the day, the faculty still has the lead and determines what goes down. There's nothing wrong with students and professors getting to know each other a little better but that barrier must be crystal clear.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 135205,
"author": "Stefan",
"author_id": 112274,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/112274",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>One of the issues I have encountered is that PhD students and even professors sometimes like to use their positions as a weapon to prey on younger students, especially the females. For this reason, it is better safe than sorry for anyone older than 30 to keep away from the younger students. </p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/15 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11901",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6110/"
]
|
11,910 | <p>I recently won a scholarship related to my career focus. I was chosen as a winner in part because of a recommendation from a former professor. She is now asking me to draft a press release about winning the scholarship. I am hesitant because I do not want to appear press-hungry, but I would like to allow a write-up to be used as a means of increasing the visibility of the college and this professor. <strong>I do not want the focus to be on myself and my accomplishments.</strong> How should I handle this?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 11915,
"author": "Chris Gregg",
"author_id": 4461,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4461",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>I do not want the focus to be on myself and my accomplishments.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>While many of us (hopefully) have a modicum of modesty, <strong>there will be many times in your career where it is in your best interest to triumph your accomplishments, and this is one of them</strong>. In this case, it is a no-brainer: your former professor asked you explicitly to write the press release, and you should do it. Your university home page or newspaper probably has a news section that demonstrates the type of press release you're talking about (e.g., a short story with a picture and a description of the research and/or accomplishments).</p>\n\n<p>The press release will be primarily about you (if you are the only winner at your school), but you should also include a paragraph about the scholarship itself and about the college and how it relates to the scholarship (e.g., \"The X Scholarship has been awarded at Y College for the past 10 years, and was funded through the generous donation of so-and-so, who graduated from the college in 1954...). If it fits in, you can mention your professor's relationship to the scholarship and your involvement (how did she know to recommend you? Was it her impetus or yours?).</p>\n\n<p>If you're concerned about how to write the press-release, I would reach out to someone with journalism experience, whether it is someone who works for the school paper, or the news-section of the school website.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11922,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>First, look at previous press releases from your institution and department. This may give you ideas.</p>\n\n<p>But use the press release as an opportunity to speak to the public about things you deserve to be publicized. You're right, it doesn't have to be about you, but getting the fellowship is the award that gives you an opportunity to speak up about things you care. Press releases often contain quotes. In this case these could be quotes of other people talking about your involvement in a program you helped launch, or a quote of yourself praising whatever it is you want to praise.</p>\n\n<p>In short: <strong>use that opportunity to promote something you believe in</strong>, in addition to pro outing yourself!</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/16 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11910",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7921/"
]
|
11,912 | <ol>
<li>What is the difference between termination and suspension?</li>
<li><p>Are there "neutral" ways for a graduate student leaving his graduate
school without completing a degree? Is a student voluntarily leaving his graduate school called termination?</p></li>
<li><p>When applying to another graduate school, will the student be asked
if he has ever received a probation and termination? How will that affect the student's chance to be admitted to the new school? For example, he
received a probation because he didn't manage to find a research
direction and research advisor in 2.5 years, followed by a termination a few months later because he didn't
pass his PhD qualification exam without "protection" from an advisor?</p></li>
</ol>
| [
{
"answer_id": 11916,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>There are basically two ways to leave an academic program permanently: <em>withdrawal</em> and <em>termination</em>. </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p><strong>Withdrawal</strong> is a <em>voluntary</em> process, which can occur for any of a number of reasons: academic dissatisfaction, financial, psychological, medical, or family are usually the most common of these. The key factor here is that withdrawal is normally initiated <em>by the student</em>. It is \"neutral\" in the sense that normally the student hasn't done anything wrong, and could have continued in the program had she so chosen.</p></li>\n<li><p><strong>Termination</strong> is an <em>involuntary</em> process initiated by the supervisor or department. Usually, under such cases, the reason is inadequate performance or violating departmental policies. For instance, one might fail a qualifying examination, fail to pass required courses, committed \"academic dishonesty,\" or violated some other regulation. This is the sort of \"black mark\" that you are referring to. Depending on the situation, this can have catastrophic effects on the student's ability to apply and be accepted elsewhere. It all depends on the nature of the situation, and what the student's role in the situation was.</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>On the other hand, <em>suspension</em> or <em>probation</em> are serious issues that require disciplinary action but are not so serious as to require termination. Probation may or may not need to be reported, but an action which leads to a suspension—or temporary removal from the graduate program—probably would need to be reported, if asked about it.</p>\n\n<p>It is not necessarily a given if you will be asked about this in a graduate application—it depends very much on the particular program or school to which one applies. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11932,
"author": "JeffE",
"author_id": 65,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>When applying to another graduate school, will the student be asked if he has ever received a probation and termination? How will that affect the student's chance to be admitted to the new school? For example, he received a probation because he didn't manage to find a research direction and research advisor in 2.5 years, followed by a termination a few months later because he didn't pass his PhD qualification exam without \"protection\" from an advisor?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>It sounds like the student is simply not prepared for graduate school, or at least that graduate program. (Moreover, the department was irresponsible for letting them stay so long without an advisor.)</p>\n\n<p>Unless the student has a <em>very</em> compelling story about <em>why</em> they could not find an advisor, <em>why</em> they did not pass quals, and <em>why</em> neither of those circumstances will repeat in a different department — with all three explanations backed up in the student's recommendation letters — this will almost certainly kill their chances of admission anywhere. Admissions committees are looking for students with strong evidence of research potential, and failing to find a research direction, secure an advisor, and pass quals is a rather strong signal of the opposite.</p>\n\n<p>In light of this answer, the student may be tempted to lie in their application, by claiming not to have been kicked out, or not to have attended the other graduate program at all. <strong>This is a <em>VERY</em> bad idea.</strong> Unexplained gaps in an applicant's academic record are <em>extremely</em> suspicious. And even if the student somehow got admitted, if the dishonesty is discovered later, they'd immediately get kicked out (again), and possibly asked to pay back any financial support they received.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/16 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11912",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/218/"
]
|
11,914 | <p>My research supervisor is a quite strict person who constantly criticizes me for my faults (such as slow progress, or always asking others for help on programming issues).</p>
<p>I don't blame him being a bit too strict with me, because anyway supervisor is here to supervise and give constructive suggestion. I really learn from his lessons for me. In fact, I am very grateful for him being willing to teach me some lessons. His comments are always very helpful.</p>
<p>During the last meeting, he seemed not very satisfied and happy with my progress. I have previously told him about my plan of submitting a paper in November. It seems that he thought this kind of slow progress would fail the aim in the end.</p>
<p>At the end of meeting, after criticizing me for asking others for help too much instead of solving the problems myself, he decided to schedule the originally weekly meeting to two weeks later.</p>
<p>Obviously, I am quite worried as the submission deadline is just in November. Given my poor performance, I have no right to suggest getting the meeting every week.</p>
<p>It seems that my research indeed gets stuck here. I kinda need the supervisors' advice to move on. What may I do to save this situation?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 11917,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There may be several factors at work here:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>First, the advisor may simply have other commitments that prevent meeting on a weekly basis. I know that as my group has gotten larger, I tend to meet only with new members of the group weekly; older members are on an every-two-weeks or as-needed basis (per mutual agreement).</p></li>\n<li><p>Second, the advisor may be cutting back on the frequency of meetings so that you learn to become more independent. I know that the big breakthrough in my own graduate research came at a time when my co-advisors were both completely out of the picture for a while (one was on sabbatical and the other was on a temporary leave of absence). This might not work for everybody, but it can make a big difference if you \"take off the training wheels\" and start working things out for yourself. </p></li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11918,
"author": "fedja",
"author_id": 6118,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6118",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>\"Once every two weeks\" is actually \"quite frequently\" for an individual research project. Your supervisor, probably, just noticed that more often than not you could not tell him much after just one week of work (very few students can, actually) and decided to listen to your \"progress report\" once in two weeks. If you are really doing your work and aren't just dragged by him through it, this shouldn't slow you down in any way and I bet 10 against 1 that if you get something interesting to tell him tomorrow, he will listen to you the day after tomorrow no matter how far the scheduled meeting date is. </p>\n\n<p>The idea of operating from a \"submission deadline\" in an unfinished research project looks totally ridiculous to me. The whole difference between a research project and house cleaning is that you never know how much time you'll need for the former and whether you'll be able to pull it through at all. In my own work, the failure to success ratio is 9 to 1 and that is generally considered quite good. You have to learn that things take time and that you may fail completely when doing research. It is <em>normal</em> and there is no reason to freak out about that. Even in the case when you see the general way to do things and are certain that it must work, the \"little details\" may take forever. </p>\n\n<p>You can request direct help now and then but the request should be not in the form \"I just don't know what to do next...\" but in the form \"I've done this. Now, for the next step I would need something like this. Unfortunately there is this particular obstacle in the approach I am currently pursuing. Do you have an idea of how I can overcome it or I should try a different route altogether?\". You supervisor may share the \"bird's view\" of the road with you (and it is sort of his duty) but to go around trees, to jump over brooks and to climb hills is your job unless you really face an impenetrable thicket, a fast deep river, or a steep mountain on your way). Telling you how to do every little thing every time is no fun for him and takes the most important part of the research experience away from you. Passing the <em>routine</em> work (like programming of a known algorithm) to others is a no-no at your current level. You may \"outsource\" your own work only when you can do it faster and better yourself, but there is yet another task at hand that nobody else can do at all. You may (and should) seek general information, but not ready solutions to your particular problems even if the latter are as trite as \"Why does this stupid while loop stop one step earlier than it should?\". </p>\n\n<p>So, my general advice is to relax, to forget about all deadlines, and to proceed on your own and at your own pace however slow it may seem to you. Just don't stop altogether and give up unless you are ready to declare an official failure and quit completely.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11940,
"author": "Ana",
"author_id": 322,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/322",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Your supervisor is treating you like a grad student. This is very likely a good sign, but it can also be quite hard. Many of the problems you listed are very similar to my own early grad school experiences.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>My research supervisor is a quite strict person who constantly criticizes me for my faults (such as slow progress, or always asking others for help on programming issues).</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I also tend to receive mostly negative feedback from my very amiable supervisor. In the early days he would start out by saying something positive first. As time went by, the positives got mentioned less and less, until they essentially stopped. Now that I am almost done, the negatives have slowed down to a trickle as well, AND I MISS THEM. I learned to appreciate the importance of someone taking a close look at my work and giving feedback which helps improve the end result. Because it's not about me - it's about doing high quality work. Dealing with mostly negative feedback is a typical experience for a researcher, and it takes some time to get through the soul-crushing part of it and start valuing the informational part. The way around it is to have a passion for the truth which overrides the need to feel valued for being right. It takes a while to get there.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>I have previously told him about my plan of submitting a paper in November. It seems that he thought this kind of slow progress would fail the aim in the end.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>It sounds like you set yourself an unreasonable deadline, and that your supervisor could see that you're not yet quite at the level where you can write a paper. But that's OK. It just takes time. Imagine that you're to work on your next paper all alone. Which are the things that would be terribly difficult to do without others? Those may just be the things you need to work on right now. Programming is often a crucial skill for researchers, but it can be really difficult to get through that first period where you get stuck for hours over trivial things such as proper syntax. But that's simply what the learning process looks like. It truly gets easier with time.</p>\n\n<p>All that being said, I am not saying that you're <em>wrong</em> to feel bad in this situation. It could be that your supervisor isn't particularly good at giving feedback and that he has a bad intuition on how difficult it is for a newbie to get into programming. But you're not alone, and you're getting a potentially valuable glimpse of the grad school experience right now.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/16 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11914",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8079/"
]
|
11,920 | <p>I am writing a paper with my teacher and his teacher. I don't know the standard of writing authors name, affiliation and email in the paper. I am using <strong>IEEEtran</strong> template for an IEEE conference. If the authors are in different department or university there is no problem we can use column author name like this:</p>
<pre><code> Author one Author two Author three
Department one Department two Department three
University one University two University three
[email protected] [email protected] [email protected]
</code></pre>
<p>but what if two of them be in a same department and just two of them has a .edu email address? In this situations we can use another style like this:</p>
<pre><code> Author one*!, Author two*! and Author three^#
*Department One, University One
^Department two, University two
!{Author.one, Author.two}@univ-one.edu
#[email protected]
</code></pre>
<p>or it should be like this?</p>
<pre><code> Author one*, Author two* and Author three^
*Department One, University One
{Author.one, Author.two}@univ-one.edu
^Department two, University two
[email protected]
</code></pre>
<p>My question is this: What is the right format in this case when different authors with different affiliation, department and email should be on a paper?</p>
<p>In my specific, we all are from the same Univ. and Department but they both have .edu email and I don't have one.</p>
<p>Thanks in advance.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 11921,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Just look up previous conference proceedings and do the same!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12168,
"author": "Mohamed Khamis",
"author_id": 703,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/703",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>We had a similar complicated case in our <a href=\"http://eswc-conferences.org/sites/default/files/papers2013/hees.pdf\">paper</a>. I'd suggest this as a good way to do it.</p>\n\n<p>For your own case, add a comma after the braces, followed by your email. </p>\n\n<p>Here's how it would look like:</p>\n\n<pre><code>{Author.one, Author.two}@univ-one.edu, [email protected]\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>I am assuming your username tells the reader that it is yours (has your lastname, initials or so). Additionally, do your best to sort the emails such that they follow the same order of authors.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/16 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11920",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8149/"
]
|
11,923 | <p>I had submitted a paper to a reputed Computer Science Journal. The reviewer has a lot of constructive changes, in addition to that he also suggested citing a few more papers, all by the same author. Since this is a double blind process, we don't know each other's identity. So, is it common for reviewers to suggest references in this field or any other field ?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 11924,
"author": "Chris Gregg",
"author_id": 4461,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4461",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I'd say it is a common practice, and I have both been given reference suggestions in blind reviews and given reference suggestions in my own reviews. If you are concerned about a reviewer trying to promote his/her own papers by the suggestions, I'll just say that if the recommendations are apt (i.e., if you read the suggested papers and they do appear to be legitimate references), then it makes sense to cite the papers regardless of whether there is a seemingly disingenuous motive by the reviewer. Even if you don't specifically use the prior work, it makes sense to mention them in your \"Related Work\" section. If you don't cite the suggested papers, provide a legitimate reason in your rebuttal.</p>\n\n<p>Indeed, if a reviewer is chosen well, he or she should be an expert in the topic of the paper, and most likely does have apt references under his or her name.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11925,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><strong>It is very common</strong>. In fact, some journals explicitly ask the reviewer to answer the question <em>“Are the literature references appropriate and up to date?”</em> (in addition to other reviewing criteria).</p>\n\n<p>Proper citation is an important part of academic publishing, and it should not be treated lightly. It is also the reviewers' job to make sure that you did not, in good or bad faith, forget to cite relevant work in the field. As such, <strong>it is common (and desirable) for reviewers to recommend citation of some papers</strong> that the authors may have forgotten, or not know of. It has also happened to me in the past, as a reviewer, to <strong>recommend deleting some references which I believed were irrelevant or too numerous</strong>. (In particular, some overly enthusiastic self-citation or friend-citation).</p>\n\n<p>Now, it may happen that many references you were required to add are from the same author. Maybe it's the reviewer, maybe it's not, but it shouldn't matter to you. Read the papers, and if they're relevant, cite them. <strong>If they're not relevant</strong>, and you really believe citing them would not be correct, then simply <strong>don't cite them and explain your position in the reply to the editor</strong>. Don't make accusations (<em>“the reviewer is trying to improve his h-index”</em>), simply state that you do not believe the references to be relevant for reasons X and Y. Remember, the editor is the one making the final decision, not the reviewer!</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/16 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11923",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2823/"
]
|
11,926 | <p>There's been a case of alleged data manipulation in a recent <em>Nano Letters</em> paper (initial report <a href="http://www.chemistry-blog.com/2013/08/13/alleged-data-manipulation-in-nano-letters-and-acs-nano-from-the-pease-group/" rel="noreferrer">here</a>; now-retracted <a href="http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/nl400959z" rel="noreferrer">paper</a>):</p>
<p> <img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/QSLsu.png" alt="enter image description here"></p>
<p><em>You can surely make your own opinion on whether the images have been digitally modified, given the above snapshots (look for gray rectangles around the rods); I was careful to write “alleged” because the paper’s PI threatened legal action against the blogger who reported the issue.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>Now, this case lead to a large number of comments <a href="http://www.chemistry-blog.com/2013/08/13/alleged-data-manipulation-in-nano-letters-and-acs-nano-from-the-pease-group/" rel="noreferrer">here</a> and <a href="http://blog.chembark.com/2013/08/14/some-very-suspicious-tem-images-in-nano-letters/" rel="noreferrer">there</a> about whose responsibility it was to catch this issue (reviewers or editor). I tend to agree that the reviewer should probably have caught it, but this lead me to wonder:</p>
<p><strong>As editor of a scholarly journal, what measures can I implement to prevent image/photo manipulation? And what about data manipulation?</strong> <em>Organic Letters</em> has made the news two months ago when they <a href="http://blog.chembark.com/2013/06/07/organic-letters-on-the-lookout-for-data-manipulation/" rel="noreferrer">hired a in-house data analyst</a>. Is that the way to go? Are there other measures one could take to reduce the threat of image and data manipulation?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12043,
"author": "None",
"author_id": 8274,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8274",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>\"Kill the chicken, and make the monkey watch\"</p>\n\n<p>Institute an editorial policy by which all convicted offenders are banned for life from the publication in question. Convince other publications to share such info, and act in the same way after definitive proof is presented. No second chances.</p>\n\n<p>Publicize these events far and wide.</p>\n\n<p>That will probably take care of 60-70% of the problem, at least the blatant cases such as the one above.</p>\n\n<p>Unfortunately few publishers have the conviction to do that.</p>\n\n<p>EDIT: \nTo answer your question: \"Who do you ban among N coauthors?\" To first approximation, all of them as co-authorship implies shared responsibility. However, that can be more accurately determined on a per-case basis as the result of detailed investigation.</p>\n\n<p>Detecting instances fraud is trivial if crowdsourced. Blatant image manipulation as the one shown above would eventually have been noticed by a reader of that paper. Same applies to other similar kinds of fraud. Relying on a single overburdened editor and a couple of bored referees for that task makes it much more difficult. Hiring staff to essentially redo part of the research reported in manuscripts submitted to the journal is just laughable.</p>\n\n<p>The point is to demand ethical standards as a publisher, and raise the stakes so high that the penalty of getting caught, guaranteed loss of professional reputation and possibly employment, offsets any gain from publishing a single or a series of papers.</p>\n\n<p>Relying on automatic detection schemes is inherently unreliable. Smart people will always find creative ways to cheat more effectively. To illustrate my point, consider the unending arms race between virus writers and antivirus software companies.</p>\n\n<p>To conclude, and since you seem to be quite green, I suggest you give this a thorough reading: <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schon_scandal\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schon_scandal</a></p>\n\n<p>It won't take many Schönen to drive the point home...</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12045,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It seems to me the only possibility is to subject all or particularly important images to an analysis detecting <a href=\"http://www.cs.albany.edu/~lsw/homepage/PUBLICATIONS_files/ICCP.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">variation in noise levels</a> (see examples <a href=\"http://www.errorlevelanalysis.com/\" rel=\"nofollow\">here</a>; service unfortunately closed). I personally do not know if such an analysis could be automated in an electronic submission system or be used as a tool by the editors. How much effort should be spent looking for fraud will obviously depend on assessments of, for example, how critical images are for the publication(s), the likelihood for fraud (random tests?) and the cost in terms of time and money for doing the testing.</p>\n\n<p>It seems to me there would be much use to have a tool to do such an analysis for all submissions. The problem is of course that the noise level detection also identifies all kinds of manipulation and so it would seem reasonable to ask authors to provide a very detailed account of what has been done to each image so that the analysis can be set in a perspective. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12047,
"author": "cbeleites unhappy with SX",
"author_id": 725,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/725",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I think a search term for this type of manipulation detection is <strong>image forensics</strong>. <a href=\"http://dud.inf.tu-dresden.de/~kirchner/Documents/image_forensics_and_counter_forensics.pdf\">Matthias Kirchner: Notes on Digital Image Forensics and\nCounter-Forensics</a> may be a starting point. </p>\n\n<p><strong>What can you do?</strong></p>\n\n<p>I think a first step is to communicate clearly what image manipulations* are acceptable and which are not:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>is it acceptable to adjust brightness and contrast?</li>\n<li>correct unequal illumination?</li>\n<li>whitelight correction based not on a whitelight measurement but on parts of the image?</li>\n<li>digital sharpening or other enhancement filters?</li>\n<li>where's the border between an inset picture and a fraudulent manipulation?</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>and so on.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Who should detect this?</strong></p>\n\n<p>I agree that the reviewer should have commented and asked about the pictures above, however my experience as reviewer is that I often get pictures in ridiculously low resolution (I comment on that). I'm not sure, but I think that the publishers may ask for high resolution pictures when they spot such problems in the production process. However, that would mean that the reviewers may not have seen the actual picture that is used for printing. </p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>* <em>manipulation</em> in the data analysis sense: calculations that change the information content (e.g. enhance contrast), and cannot be easily undone (as opposed to a transformation where the back transformation is easily possible, e.g. rotation), <em>not</em> in the sense of fraud.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12090,
"author": "Benoît Kloeckner",
"author_id": 946,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/946",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There exist softwares dedicated to this. Journal of Cell Biology seems to have been a precursor in this <a href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/24/science/24frau.html?_r=0\" rel=\"nofollow\">in 2002</a>. </p>\n\n<p>A first simple check suggested in this paper is to open images in a image manipulation software and change \"controls\" (I guess: contrast, luminance, etc.) The problematic regions can then appear clearly.</p>\n\n<p>I would say that, like plagiarism, this is the publisher to check or provide software to the editorial board, as this is technical and not scientific assessment.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/16 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11926",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700/"
]
|
11,927 | <p>Is it OK to have a letter of recommendation from a senior lecturer rather than from a full professor? The lecturer knows me well (I took two of his classes and I'm TA'ing for him) and he really likes me. Unfortunately he is not involved in research, but I should have two other letters from research profs.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12043,
"author": "None",
"author_id": 8274,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8274",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>\"Kill the chicken, and make the monkey watch\"</p>\n\n<p>Institute an editorial policy by which all convicted offenders are banned for life from the publication in question. Convince other publications to share such info, and act in the same way after definitive proof is presented. No second chances.</p>\n\n<p>Publicize these events far and wide.</p>\n\n<p>That will probably take care of 60-70% of the problem, at least the blatant cases such as the one above.</p>\n\n<p>Unfortunately few publishers have the conviction to do that.</p>\n\n<p>EDIT: \nTo answer your question: \"Who do you ban among N coauthors?\" To first approximation, all of them as co-authorship implies shared responsibility. However, that can be more accurately determined on a per-case basis as the result of detailed investigation.</p>\n\n<p>Detecting instances fraud is trivial if crowdsourced. Blatant image manipulation as the one shown above would eventually have been noticed by a reader of that paper. Same applies to other similar kinds of fraud. Relying on a single overburdened editor and a couple of bored referees for that task makes it much more difficult. Hiring staff to essentially redo part of the research reported in manuscripts submitted to the journal is just laughable.</p>\n\n<p>The point is to demand ethical standards as a publisher, and raise the stakes so high that the penalty of getting caught, guaranteed loss of professional reputation and possibly employment, offsets any gain from publishing a single or a series of papers.</p>\n\n<p>Relying on automatic detection schemes is inherently unreliable. Smart people will always find creative ways to cheat more effectively. To illustrate my point, consider the unending arms race between virus writers and antivirus software companies.</p>\n\n<p>To conclude, and since you seem to be quite green, I suggest you give this a thorough reading: <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schon_scandal\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schon_scandal</a></p>\n\n<p>It won't take many Schönen to drive the point home...</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12045,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It seems to me the only possibility is to subject all or particularly important images to an analysis detecting <a href=\"http://www.cs.albany.edu/~lsw/homepage/PUBLICATIONS_files/ICCP.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">variation in noise levels</a> (see examples <a href=\"http://www.errorlevelanalysis.com/\" rel=\"nofollow\">here</a>; service unfortunately closed). I personally do not know if such an analysis could be automated in an electronic submission system or be used as a tool by the editors. How much effort should be spent looking for fraud will obviously depend on assessments of, for example, how critical images are for the publication(s), the likelihood for fraud (random tests?) and the cost in terms of time and money for doing the testing.</p>\n\n<p>It seems to me there would be much use to have a tool to do such an analysis for all submissions. The problem is of course that the noise level detection also identifies all kinds of manipulation and so it would seem reasonable to ask authors to provide a very detailed account of what has been done to each image so that the analysis can be set in a perspective. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12047,
"author": "cbeleites unhappy with SX",
"author_id": 725,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/725",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I think a search term for this type of manipulation detection is <strong>image forensics</strong>. <a href=\"http://dud.inf.tu-dresden.de/~kirchner/Documents/image_forensics_and_counter_forensics.pdf\">Matthias Kirchner: Notes on Digital Image Forensics and\nCounter-Forensics</a> may be a starting point. </p>\n\n<p><strong>What can you do?</strong></p>\n\n<p>I think a first step is to communicate clearly what image manipulations* are acceptable and which are not:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>is it acceptable to adjust brightness and contrast?</li>\n<li>correct unequal illumination?</li>\n<li>whitelight correction based not on a whitelight measurement but on parts of the image?</li>\n<li>digital sharpening or other enhancement filters?</li>\n<li>where's the border between an inset picture and a fraudulent manipulation?</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>and so on.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Who should detect this?</strong></p>\n\n<p>I agree that the reviewer should have commented and asked about the pictures above, however my experience as reviewer is that I often get pictures in ridiculously low resolution (I comment on that). I'm not sure, but I think that the publishers may ask for high resolution pictures when they spot such problems in the production process. However, that would mean that the reviewers may not have seen the actual picture that is used for printing. </p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>* <em>manipulation</em> in the data analysis sense: calculations that change the information content (e.g. enhance contrast), and cannot be easily undone (as opposed to a transformation where the back transformation is easily possible, e.g. rotation), <em>not</em> in the sense of fraud.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12090,
"author": "Benoît Kloeckner",
"author_id": 946,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/946",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There exist softwares dedicated to this. Journal of Cell Biology seems to have been a precursor in this <a href=\"http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/24/science/24frau.html?_r=0\" rel=\"nofollow\">in 2002</a>. </p>\n\n<p>A first simple check suggested in this paper is to open images in a image manipulation software and change \"controls\" (I guess: contrast, luminance, etc.) The problematic regions can then appear clearly.</p>\n\n<p>I would say that, like plagiarism, this is the publisher to check or provide software to the editorial board, as this is technical and not scientific assessment.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/16 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11927",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8208/"
]
|
11,936 | <p>I live and teach at a university in S. Korea. I may have an opportunity to complete my PhD in TESOL or English linguistics at this university. However, I am reluctant because I have heard that PhDs from non-Western universities (in particular, Korea) are not valued or equatable to US PhDs. Anecdotal evidence from my department supports a similar notion: all the PhDs in my department were received in the US. So, my question is, how are PhDs from non-Western universities perceived? Would a university rather hire someone with a US PhD rather than a US citizen with a Korean PhD?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12752,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>Would a university rather hire someone with a US PhD rather than a US\n citizen with a Korean PhD?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Presumably you mean a US university and not a Korean university. The school from which you obtain your PhD has some impact on the hiring process at US universities, but not much. Having a PhD from a top rated department with a \"famous\" advisor can be beneficial, but a PhD with an advisor from a university (whether it is a US university or a Korean university) that the search committee isn't familiar with is pretty common. For research intensive universities the most important factor is your future ability to publish and secure external funding.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 116245,
"author": "Nobody",
"author_id": 546,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/546",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>I may have an opportunity to complete my PhD in TESOL or English linguistics at this university</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>If you decide to do PhD in English linguistics, I would advise you to do it in an English speaking country. The reason is simple, how do you convince others that PhD in English linguistics in S. Korea, where English is a foreign language, is worth something?</p>\n\n<p>On the other hand, if you decide to do PhD in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages), where that \"other language\" is Korean, then I think a Korean university may be a reasonable choice if the quality of both the PhD program and the university are quite good.</p>\n\n<p>Your job opportunity in Korea after you obtain your PhD may not be good if you stay in Korea after you graduate. However, you may actually have advantage over somebody who receives PhD from a Western university because their lack of practical knowledge - teaching English to Koreans if you go to countries other than Korea.</p>\n\n<p>I met many Chinese/Koreans in the US, who had gone to English schools. Many of them told me they wish their English teachers had trainings in their native languages so they would have less difficulties while learning English. I deeply believe those English teachers should have gone through trainings by the PhDs like you.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/17 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11936",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7317/"
]
|
11,937 | <p>My current situation is that I am stuck teaching in a couple of universities that do not support the research at all in my country of origin. I am 38 years old and I have finished a MSc degree in Europe (one year ago), but I find it pretty hard to get a funded PhD position until now.</p>
<p>Sometimes I really feel discouraged and depressed because I really like to do research, but is pretty hard to do it without economical support; and more difficult to share ideas if my current place of work has that null approach to research.</p>
<p>My question is, how I can get feedback from other professors around the world and expose my ideas? Maybe with the hope that they will like to guide me in their field of specialty or maybe doing a paper together. I know that a lot of good professors in their own field are pretty busy, so I think it would be not polite to approach to them, by email, tell them about my ideas and ask for academical support (not monetary, but about guiding and feedback).</p>
<p>The field that I like to do research is Computer Science. I have only 5 publications in different areas, but I would really like to do more.</p>
<p>Any suggestion?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 11938,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Firstly, 5 papers on completion of your Masters is pretty good (for comparison, I had 1 rejected paper at that stage). Even though they are in different areas, they demonstrate your researching skills.</p>\n\n<p>Secondly, in regards to the PhD and in particular, funding - I have a few suggestions:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>Research not only what the academics' specialities are, but also the scholarship/funding opportunities that the universities have on offer.</p></li>\n<li><p>Contact the academics, asking about <em>their</em> research, this way you'll express your interest without giving away all of your ideas. Once you build a rapport with the academics, then enquire about co-authoring a paper.</p></li>\n<li><p>Perhaps look into working at a university (library, research assistant etc), so, look at the job opportunities.</p></li>\n<li><p>most of all, don't give up!</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>This is, by no means an exhaustive list and I am sure, other members here will provide more in depth answers, but it something to think about.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11941,
"author": "fedja",
"author_id": 6118,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6118",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<ol>\n<li><p>Set up a webpage where you put your CV, papers, projects, <em>everything</em> about yourself as a professional. The people should be able to access this information at a click of a button, not through long search or e-mail exchange.</p></li>\n<li><p>Go to conferences and other events where you can meet people and get acquainted with them. Try to give a talk there or, at least, to present a poster. Hang on the CS Stack exchange and other professional sites. About 10% of my knowledge of who is who comes from MO interactions and I suspect that many people there would never hear of me otherwise either.</p></li>\n<li><p>Use the grapevine. Tell your friends about the situation, they'll let their friends know, etc. </p></li>\n<li><p>Direct E-mail is also possible but you'll have to put something on the table at the opening move. Ideally, it should start with \"Dear Prof. ... You asked on/in .... whether .... is true. The answer is .... (see my attached paper).\" Then you may confidently end with \"By the way, I am currently looking for ... \" (just do not request too much) and nobody will be able to resist. You can put a few lower cards on the table as well but starting with \"I have this wonderful idea, I just don't know where to apply it\" will, most likely, earn your mail a guaranteed permanent position in the trash box with possible honorable mention in the spam filter blacklist. </p></li>\n<li><p>Get into the habit of spending some time every day looking at what's going on in the field you are interested in and reading. </p></li>\n<li><p>Read the job advertisements regularly. With math. all you need is to go to mathjobs.org I don't know if there is a CS analog of it but you can find that out. You never know what and when may come your way, so be always ready to move quickly when an opportunity presents itself.</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>In short, get noticed and get your past achievements exposed plus look for every opportunity to engage into a communication and joint ventures with everyone whose work looks decent to you. Remember, however, that, at least in your position, you will need to think of what other people like and are doing, not try to seduce them to think of your own ideas and projects! (By the way, I find this modus operandi very beneficial regardless of one's status). People will go out of their way for you only if you demonstrate that you can go out of your way for them first. </p>\n\n<p>I would advise against applying for grants, etc. until you get known at least a little bit. Rejections won't help you in any way and the free money is so scarce nowadays that even people with established reputation don't always get their awards. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 20715,
"author": "David M W Powers",
"author_id": 6390,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6390",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think the situation described applies increasingly in most countries. My university doesn't fund me for research (in fact some years back our government said - you do 30% research do you? and took 30% from the university budgets and made it grant funding). My standard working week goes quite easily on teaching, supervision and administration. You have to make time for research, you have to do research in your own time as well, and often the writing (papers and grant applications) will mostly be done in your own time.</p>\n\n<p>The short answer is, just do it. Read in the areas of your interest. When you see a problem or an opportunity, jump on it. There are many areas of research where you can work totally on paper/computer (it seems you have access to both paper and a computer). Start with what you can manage yourself, then propose projects that students can work on, then leverage these to get small grants (or just buy small bits of equipment yourself - I do). Then publish, starting at workshops and conferences (where you can meet people and get feedback) and working up to transactions (short papers) and major journals (long paper). These runs on the board will allow you to get increasingly better publications, increasingly bigger grants, better support fro your university, and more chance of getting a job elsewhere.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/17 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11937",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6144/"
]
|
11,951 | <p>So, without giving out the details about the school. I joined a graduate program at school X, because I was really interested in work of professor Y. I met him during the graduate school visit and I accepted the offer to join school X.</p>
<p>Though Prof. Y did not officially accept me as his graduate student, he said come and meet me when school starts and we can figure out your research direction. Now, when I came to start at this school; I found out the professor Y has left and joined a different school Z. </p>
<p>I don't know what do now. My decision of joining school X was based on my intentions to work with Prof Y. Also, on top of that the school X now just has one faculty working in my interested area. </p>
<p>To be precise I am starting the PhD program now (Fall , 1st sem). I am not sure what my next step should be? I would appreciate any suggestions on the given situation.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 11952,
"author": "Anonymous",
"author_id": 6110,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6110",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Yeah, this happens. :(</p>\n\n<p>I would recommend applying to school Z during your first year at school X. This would be very natural under the circumstances, and nobody (in particular, not those at school X) will think less of you for it.</p>\n\n<p>Further, I'd recommend:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>E-mail and ask Prof. Y if he'd be willing to vouch for you with the graduate admissions committee at school Z. </p></li>\n<li><p>Simultaneously apply to a couple of other programs that might be more suitable for you than school X. This goes especially if Z is substantially more selective than X, so you are far from sure that you'll get in.</p></li>\n<li><p>Kick ass in your first year at X. This will keep you sharp, enable you to get a letter of support from someone at X, and better prepare you for the program at Z if you go.</p></li>\n<li><p>Keep in mind that you might not get into Z, or you might find a research area you like at X and decide you prefer to stay. (Another reason to kick ass in your first year at X.)</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Good luck to you!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11953,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>While you may very well want to transfer to school Z in order to work with Professor Y, I'd consider the following point. If you expressed strong interest in working with him, and he made comments in writing that you should talk to him when you arrive at the school, then he was remiss in notifying you that he was no longer, in fact, at school X. Do you <em>really</em> want to work with an advisor who's packed up and moved without letting you know in advance?</p>\n\n<p>However, I would also recommend, as Anonymous does, that you see if there's anyone in your current department who you would be interested in working for. If so, I'd pursue that option alongside the possibility of transferring to other departments. However, I'd also recommend that, <em>before</em> you accept an offer in another department, that you ensure that you have <strong>multiple</strong> potential advisors available to you, if you're working in a field where a commitment is not required before you enroll.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11960,
"author": "fedja",
"author_id": 6118,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6118",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>My PhD student was in exactly the same situation when I was moving from Michigan to Wisconsin but I told him that that move would be likely to occur even before I became his adviser. He just transferred with me (asking me only to confirm to the chair of the new department that I'm, indeed, interested in having him there).</p>\n\n<p>The morals are:</p>\n\n<p>1) Arranging a transfer is not a big headache.</p>\n\n<p>2) You should be sure that not only you want to interact with prof Y, but also that he wants to interact with you before making any drastic move.</p>\n\n<p>Given that Y didn't inform you about his move in any way, I would start with getting a clearer idea of where you stand as far as the second point is concerned. It doesn't imply that you should stay at X, but it may turn out that your best option is really to move to V to work with W...</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/18 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11951",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8220/"
]
|
11,954 | <p>I recently passed the M.Sc.</p>
<p>While I was reviewing a paper I found it interesting and potentially useful. I am planning to adopt the analyses that are utilized at that paper in my area of interest. The applications are quite different.</p>
<p>Is it feasible, usual and professional to propose that paper's first author (he is a post-doc student) to participate in my future work?</p>
<p>How about the contribution, to be more exact, the order of names?</p>
<p>How I can politely ask him for his contribution?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 11957,
"author": "UseTheFloss",
"author_id": 8223,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8223",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p><strong>How I can politely ask him for his contribution?</strong></p>\n\n<p>Just sent him/her an email with a brief summary of the ideas you are interested in and ask him/her if he/she is interested on the project, it has worked for me. Otherwise, try to attend one of his/her talks and approach him/her and the end of the talk, if possible.</p>\n\n<p><strong>How about the contribution, to be more exact, the order of names?</strong></p>\n\n<p>Perhaps it is too early to discuss about this (\"Before one brings home the bacon one must kill the pig\"). Who knows whether he/she is going to generalise or improve the ideas you propose or he/she would barely be involved in the project (you will come across all sorts of characters while doing research). A safe option is to use the alphabetical order. It helps to avoid many ego-fights. Start with a document without the name of the authors. If you end-up with something worthy of publication, put the cards on the table and ask directly \"what order would you be more comfortable with?\" or \"would you be happy with the order '<strong>ME</strong> and <em>John Doe</em>'? \".</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 84021,
"author": "Gavin Rens",
"author_id": 68355,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/68355",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><strong>How I can politely ask him for his contribution?</strong>\nSay, \"I read your paper... It gave me the following idea... Would you be interested in working on it with me?\"</p>\n\n<p><strong>How about the contribution, to be more exact, the order of names?</strong>\nBecause you are initiating the research, chances are good that you will be the main contributor. If you are sure that you will or want to be first author/main contributor, write your name first in the list of authors in the drafts. If you are not sure, write the names in alphabetical order, and in parentheses \"temporarily in alphabetical order\". As soon as it becomes clear that one or two people are contributing more than you, suggest to them that their names should appear before yours (unless you know things will change later). Just keep the discussion open.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/18 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11954",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8041/"
]
|
11,966 | <p>At undergrad level I was short-listed for the most prestigious award at my university (best graduate of that year). I however did not receive it. I did not get any paper or other evidence stating that I was short-listed. I only know this because my personal tutor told me. She also mentions it in her reference letter for me. Should I include this in my CV? Such as: Shortlisted for award X? </p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 11967,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>A CV is a living document that changes over time. early in one's career, there is not much one can put into it but hopefully this changes over time. I argue that one can put anything into a CV which strengthens ones profile at the stage at which one is at the moment. In other words, it sounds perfectly in line to add your short-listing now. At some point later such an item will probably not be worth keeping but that is a judgement call to be made depending on where you are in your career and what else is in the CV. Another factor to keep in mind is that CV content will vary depending on for what you need it.</p>\n\n<p>So if you think something will positively reflect on your capacity in the light of for what you need the CV, add it!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11968,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I will contradict Peter's answer: the CV is a living document, but it's one that needs to be supported by documentation. Something that cannot be proven should <strong>not</strong> be listed on a CV. If you only received a verbal confirmation that you were on the \"short list\" for an award, then you really don't have any documentation that you can provide, if called on to do so by a future employer. </p>\n\n<p>Therefore, as much as it would be helpful to list such an award, I don't think it's a good idea to do so here.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11969,
"author": "earthling",
"author_id": 2692,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2692",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>While aeismail and Peter's answers are both quite good, it strikes me as a very complicated issue. It does seem that you have <em>some</em> documentation that you got it and I agree with Peter that earlier in your career your CV can look quite empty so having anything to put on it can help show yourself in a better light.</p>\n\n<p>On one hand, someone nominated for an academy award would certainly be referred to as 'Oscar Nominated.' On the other hand, to say you were short-listed for an award such as this (since from the title it is not clear how students are compared to each other) may come across as <em>trying too hard</em>.</p>\n\n<p>I do think it would be acceptable and that you have <em>some</em> (albeit weak) evidence. However, were I in your shoes, I would not include it out of concern of looking too desperate to find good things to say about myself.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 104334,
"author": "WetlabStudent",
"author_id": 8101,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8101",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Yes you can, but you need to put contextual information next to the nomination. Writing the contextual information will help you decide whether being nominated for the award is an impressive achievement, and whether it is relevant to whatever you are applying for. For example I was a finalist for a \"Faculty of Science Award\" at my school for research excellence [I'm a postdoc]. I initially thought I wouldn't put it on my CV, because I didn't win. But then I had the idea to email the faculty of science to ask how many academic staff were eligible for the award and how many nominations they received, after hearing the answer I decided to add it to my CV. I now say</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Finalist for X Award [3 finalists selected from 29 nominations, out of 349 eligible academic staff]</strong></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>However, if they told me only 5 people were nominated and there were only 20 eligible people who could have potentially received the award. I wouldn't have added it. If you can't briefly explain the nomination in an impressive way using verifiable facts then don't include it [note that the email directly from the head of Faculty of Science makes the facts verifiable if anyone asks for proof].</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/19 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11966",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8072/"
]
|
11,972 | <p>While reading a series of blog posts on a sub-field in TCS (theoretical CS), I came across a paper recently published by a group of students/faculty that has literally copy-pasted large sections of <a href="http://geomblog.blogspot.com/2007/09/voronoi-trick.html">a blog post</a>, and made it into a <a href="http://www.ijcst.com/vol31/5/a587.pdf">journal paper thats available online</a>. My question(s) are about what I should do about it:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Do I point it out to the author of the blog, and leave it to him
about how to handle the issue?</p></li>
<li><p>Contact the journal in question - but since its not my work, I'm hesitant that whether I have a case </p></li>
<li><p>Leave it alone, finish reading the blog posts, and add the journal to my private list of journals to completely ignore?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>The third option is most hassle-free for me, but I wondered if it'd be ethical to know about plagiarism and not point it out!</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 11973,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Ignoring the journal in question is probably an overreaction.</p>\n\n<p>However, the best route to take is the first one—the author of the copyrighted material is the one that has the most responsibility to assert her rights. Your duty is to notify the person whose work has been infringed upon that the violation has taken place. Once you've done that, you've achieved what's ethically required of you. You are not obligated to take the matter up directly with the journal. (However, you may do so if you so choose.)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11974,
"author": "eykanal",
"author_id": 73,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/73",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><img src=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/hjwHf.gif\" alt=\"Dilbert\"></p>\n\n<p>That being said, personally, I would contact the journal in question and inform them of the suspected plagarism. They may not be aware of the issue, as it's hard to be on top of all possible literature on a topic. The post may have been guest-posted from the original authors on the blog in question. There may be actual plagarism, and it would have to be dealt with. However, any solution relies on the journal being made aware of the problem. To paraphrase a famous quote, \"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by lack of effort.\"</p>\n\n<p>If you are for some reason worried about your being identified as the \"whistleblower\", so to speak, use an anonymous email address when you contact the journal.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11981,
"author": "LarsH",
"author_id": 4373,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4373",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would start with option 4 (loosely based on <a href=\"http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2018:15-17&version=ESV\" rel=\"nofollow\">Matt. 18:15-17</a>, a principle of giving maximal opportunity for people to correct their own goofs):</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Privately contact the apparent plagiarist(s) and point the problem out to them. Most likely, knowing that the plagiarism has been discovered, they will want to fix it ASAP before it becomes public knowledge. It's always conceivable that there has been an honest mistake, at least honest on the part of some of the group of faculty and students. And in that case it would be best to let those in the group address the problem. That's how I would want to be treated if I were in that group (whether I was guilty or not).</li>\n<li>If they don't listen (e.g. if they make excuses) - contact their department or employer.</li>\n<li>If they don't correct the situation, contact the journal, since they've published the material, and have a responsibility toward the copyright holder even if the plagiarists won't do the right thing.</li>\n<li>I would contact the copyright holder only as a last resort, if the plagiarists and the journal both ignore the problem. Or, you could contact the copyright holder after the problem has been addressed.</li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11982,
"author": "Victim",
"author_id": 8239,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8239",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This is very common among obscure journals. I have come across papers copy-pasting entire paragraphs from my papers and not even getting a citation.</p>\n\n<p>It is possible <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/11165/8239\">to do something</a> about it, but it is usually worthless since many of these journals even accept <a href=\"http://thatsmathematics.com/mathgen/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">randomly generated papers</a> (<a href=\"http://thatsmathematics.com/blog/archives/102\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">see</a>).</p>\n\n<p>In this case, I would go for <strong>1.</strong>, the second option might be too risky. Recall:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>The road to hell is paved with good intentions.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>The third one might not give you peace of mind.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/19 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11972",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/79/"
]
|
11,979 | <p>With the desire to obtain a master's degree in Management Information Systems, IT Management, or Computer Science, how do you proceed writing a personal statement when your bachelors degree is unrelated? </p>
<p>With minimal previous technical experience (basic knowledge on programming, some collegiate participation in software club), is it possible to be considered seriously? What can be added to the statement to strengthen your impression? </p>
<p>I ask because a lot of the <a href="http://www.cdm.depaul.edu/Prospective%20Students/Pages/Graduate-Ambassadors.aspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">graduate ambassadors</a> at DePaul have bachelors in different fields.</p>
<p>Related: <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/3153/how-does-one-change-fields-between-undergrad-and-grad-school">How does one change to engineering for graduate school after undergrad in a science field?</a></p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12053,
"author": "JRS",
"author_id": 8279,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8279",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I was recently accepted to a MS program that is different from my undergrad and graduate training. In my personal statement I tried to relate my experience to the field I was pursuing. I had field research experience in public health, but I was applying for a MS in biology. I still used my research experience, but I focused on the general research skills that I developed, things that would be useful in the lab. I mentioned things that are universal to all research. </p>\n\n<p>I think if you convey passion and direction for the new field, you'll be alright. It can be an advantage too. Think of ways you can incorporate your previous field if possible. If not, show them your maturity and passion. It seems like admissions committees can tell who is going through the motions and who is genuine. Make your voice heard.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12368,
"author": "dymanojbabu",
"author_id": 8412,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8412",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Recently I applied for an MS in electrical engineering. I wrote my sop on my own.</p>\n\n<p>Firstly you have to mention how you got interested in this field. Then you mention all about your academics and activities from your schooling to present day. Then you mention about your area of interest and your academic projects and internship(s). At last why you want to do graduation in the area you prefer to and conclude.\nRegarding your projects you have to give brief explanation about the project and the things that you used in the project .</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/19 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11979",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1252/"
]
|
11,984 | <p>I just graduated from one of the older IITs (Indian Institute of Technology), majoring in EE and have a GPA of about 7.8 / 10. I want to pursue a masters degree in computer science from a top 20 university in the US. I have a paper published in an international conference on machine learning and have good test scores(GRE / TOEFL) but I'm worried that my grades could affect my chances. I have some experience in competitive programming, my team finished among the top 10 among 300+ teams in the ACM ICPC regionals and I have a decent Topcoder rating. Not sure if this matters though. I have also made contributions to open source projects and have open sourced some of my projects, some of which have been downloaded thousands of times.</p>
<p>I've seen people from unknown colleges with higher GPAs getting in to places like Stanford, UIUC, Cornell, CMU etc. Realistically, do I have any chance of getting admitted in a top 10 or 20 program. If not, what can I do to improve my chances within a year?</p>
<p>UPDATE: Well, I guess grades do matter, I didn't get into any of the good schools I applied to. I'll have to give up my hopes of grad school now.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12000,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>While your question is not a duplicate of <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/1034/maximizing-opportunities-to-be-admitted-in-top-schools\">Maximizing opportunities to be admitted in top schools</a> or <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/324/how-do-you-get-a-bad-transcript-past-ph-d-admissions/325#325\">How do you get a bad transcript past Ph.D. admissions?</a>, since in general MS admissions is different from PhD admissions, they may be helpful.</p>\n\n<p>As I said in another <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/1900/929\">answer</a>, your approach is wrong and will be a hindrance in maximizing your chances for acceptance. No school wants to accept someone who only wants to go to their school because of its ranking. You need to tailor your application to demonstrate why you want to go to the particular school.</p>\n\n<p>If the MS programs you are interested in have a research component, you need to identified some potential supervisors, ideally one of your recommendation writers can introduce you. You then need to build on that relationship. Talk to them about how your work fits in with their past and current work. As your relationship with the potential supervisors builds, figure out how they fit into the department. They will likely have the inside knowledge needed for writing a really good application.</p>\n\n<p>For purely taught programs you need to identify what it is about the courses they offer that make the program unique and a good fit for you.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12001,
"author": "JeffE",
"author_id": 65,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>Realistically, do I have any chance of getting admitted in a top 10 or 20 program.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>With a publication in an international conference? Definitely!</p>\n\n<p>Of course, I'm assuming that you mean a <strong>good</strong> publication in an <strong>internationally recognized</strong> conference (not just a conference with papers from more than one country), ideally indexed in <a href=\"http://www.informatik.uni-trier.de/~ley/db/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">DBLP</a> and available over the web. I'm also assuming that you will have strong recommendation letters describing your contributions to the paper, in specific, personal, and credible detail, as evidence of your research potential. Ideally, your letters will make direct comparisons with other IIT graduates who have succeeded in strong graduate programs.</p>\n\n<p>I'm also assuming that you have a compelling <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/1555/65\">statement</a> describing your research experience and interests, written in flawless English, and that those interests are a good fit for the faculty at your target departments. Be sure to describe your ongoing open-source projects. (The contest stuff? Meh.) As Daniel suggests, focus on the <strong>work</strong> you want to do, not the ranking of the department.</p>\n\n<p>And of course, I do mean you have a <strong>chance</strong>, not that you have a sure thing. Graduate admissions is a random process; you have some influence on the distribution, but someone else rolls the dice. Machine learning is a particularly competitive area, so if you want to continue in that direction, you should apply broadly. In particular, you should <em>not</em> limit yourself only to programs that appear at the top of some list in some stupid magazine. Rather, aim yourself at departments whose faculty and students have similar research interests to your own.</p>\n\n<p>(I regularly serve on the CS grad admissions committee at UIUC.)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23976,
"author": "user17909",
"author_id": 17909,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17909",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You don't have a chance of getting into a top 20 university because you don't have enough GPA for that. Top 20 universities are for students getting GPA of above 9.5. But in your case, excluding the GPA you have a great chance of being accepted to top 40 universities like University of Virginia but Cornell, Stanford and all ... You can't just dream of that. So please try for the university which you can afford mentally, academically and financialy.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/20 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11984",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8242/"
]
|
11,985 | <p>This fall I will be an senior mathematics major at a small public liberal arts university. I'm trying to finalize the list of schools to which I will apply (to PhD programs in pure math), but I am finding it somewhat difficult. I know that I am not a candidate for admission at top-tier universities. My school is relatively unknown outside of its state, and the professors who will write my recommendation letters aren't very well-known either (although they do publish somewhat frequently in their respective fields). I have taken two semesters of abstract algebra, one semester of real analysis, and two semesters of topology, and received an A in all. By the time I graduate I'll have taken another semester in real analysis and a course in complex analysis, plus several other applied and discrete math classes. I haven't taken any graduate courses since my school doesn't offer them, but I have completed a research project with one of my professors in the area of math which I hope to study in grad school. My GPA is around 3.85.</p>
<p>I think (and please correct me if I am wrong) that I should focus on applying to "mid-tier" programs, but I find it very difficult to determine which programs are at this level. I know that one student from my school was accepted at a program ranked in the 40's by the U.S. News math grad school rankings. </p>
<p>Essentially, my question is this: Do the U.S. News rankings accurately reflect the selectivity of programs, and if so, is there some point in the rankings at which schools become "mid-tier" or at which I would be competitive for admission?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 11987,
"author": "Dan C",
"author_id": 1069,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1069",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p><strong>Yes</strong>, the rankings (roughly) reflect the selectivity of the program, as far as I know. Your choice to focus on mid-tier programs makes sense. (I think defining mid-tier as starting in the 40s is plausible, though I suspect you'll get conflicting answers from different people.) <strong>However</strong></p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p><strong>Don't confuse the quality of the program <em>overall</em> with the quality of their specialty that you hope to study.</strong> Their specialty program could be much better or worse than the program overall. In math departments (as opposed to, say, some computer science departments), students are typically admitted <em>to the department</em>, rather than to a professor's research group or a specialty area. Taking advantage of this could get you into a specialty program that's rated higher than you \"deserve\".</p></li>\n<li><p><strong>Don't exclude a school just because it's too highly rated.</strong> It's good to <strong>apply to a wide range</strong> of schools, some \"reach\" schools that you think it unlikely you'll be admitted to, and some \"safety\" schools that you would be quite surprised <em>not</em> to be admitted to. All sorts of factors influence how likely it is you'll be admitted to a given school in a given year, many of them completely unknowable to you. For example, maybe a new faculty member will be coming and looking for students (or maybe one will be leaving). Maybe the program has all their TA positions tied up with current students who haven't finished yet, or maybe not. Maybe a dean wants to grow the program, etc. Many of these things you just can't know. Most likely, you won't get into MIT, Harvard, Princeton, or Stanford. But once you get into the 20s, 30s and below, the outlook is less clear.</p></li>\n<li><p><strong>Focus on <em>fit</em>, rather than solely on <em>ranking</em></strong>. Think about where the school is located. If you plan to live there for 5 or 6 years, you don't want to hate the place. This can include proximity to your family or friends, climate, scenery, nightlife, etc. If you know what specialty you want to study, the school should have at least 1, but hopefully 2 or 3 folks that you would potentially like as an adviser.</p></li>\n<li><p><strong>Focus on aspects of your application that you can still change</strong>. With a transcript no stronger than yours, I got into a top-25 school. The cool part is that for the specialty I chose, they were top-10. At this point, most of your transcript (and much of your application in total) is fixed. But you didn't mention your GRE scores. (The surprising thing about the GRE is that you can do pretty well if you're just really good at Calculus (through multivariable), Dif. Eq., and Linear Algebra.) I think my subject test was something like 65th percentile. That's not terribly good, but I think it was enough to convince the admissions committee that even though I was coming from a small LAC that no one had heard of, I did know something. The other thing I did, which I highly recommend you try, is get a letter of recommendation from a faculty member at <em>that school</em> (where I was admitted). I wrote code for him for 3 or 4 weeks (about 30 hours/week, I think) during Christmas break of my senior year. In exchange, he wrote a recommendation for me. I'm sure it didn't say that I was a math wunderkind, but whatever it said added just enough to my application to get me in.</p></li>\n</ol>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11999,
"author": "Jeff",
"author_id": 1171,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1171",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Dan C's answer is great, and I just want to echo some points and add a few things to it.</p>\n\n<p>First, I'm not sure why you've decided you're not a candidate for a \"top-teir\" school. It sounds like you've been successful in your coursework, and you can likely get strong letters of recommendation. If you don't bomb the GRE, you can certainly get into a \"highly-ranked\" school! I went to a college just like the one you describe, and my friends and I all did fine when it came to grad school admissions -- one of my friends got into a \"top ten\" department, and we all got accepted by schools in the top twenty or thirty. So don't count yourself out simply because your school is small and relatively unknown. And, most importantly, if you do get into a prestigious program, be sure to base your decision to enroll on more than the US News rankings!</p>\n\n<p>(I've used the quotation marks above because the rankings are all a bit questionable, and one should really consider the strength of a department in your field of interest, like Dan C said.) </p>\n\n<p>Regarding the professors who will be writing your letters of recommendation: They may not be heavyweights in their fields, but chances are they know some people of influence. Take a look at some departments, get a feel for what you'd like to study, and possibly with whom, and then talk to your letter writers. It may happen, when you mention your interest in working with Professor X, that your letter writer was roommates with Professor X in grad school. These little personal connections won't get you admitted, but they will help ensure that your application gets a fair evaluation despite your school's relative obscurity.</p>\n\n<p>Good luck! Aim high.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12128,
"author": "Ben Webster",
"author_id": 13,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I'll just note that my credentials weren't so different from yours when I graduated from college (obscure liberal arts college with little track record, etc.) and I got in to Berkeley, Michigan and Northwestern. Of course, I can't actually compare our cases (and this was a decade ago), but I don't think you should hesitate to apply to, say, Wisconsin, or UT Austin or Rutgers (depending on your regional preferences). If you doubt it, you can always contact the graduate coordinator and ask if they think you're a plausible candidate.</p>\n\n<p>As Dan says, a good range is the best approach; apply at least one place you can't quite believe you'll get in, and at least one place where you feel absolutely confident, and a few in between. This stuff is indeed incredibly unpredictable, but there are a lot of slots in reasonable graduate programs, and fewer good candidates than you might think.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12179,
"author": "Tom Church",
"author_id": 563,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/563",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I'll only address the question of deciding what \"mid-tier\" means. There's one coarse classification that could be helpful to you.</p>\n\n<p>There are 48 math departments considered as <a href=\"http://www.ams.org/profession/data/annual-survey/group_i\" rel=\"nofollow\">Group I</a> under the AMS classification (the older one, deprecated as of last year but the most useful one in my opinion). There's obviously a lot of variation within this group, but I think it's safe to assume that the programs at these 48 schools are stronger than the 56 math departments in <a href=\"http://www.ams.org/profession/data/annual-survey/group_ii\" rel=\"nofollow\">Group II</a>. (The bottom of Group I is probably not separated from the top of Group II by <em>too</em> much, however, so don't stress too much about the cutoff.) However I have a lot less confidence in the division between the bottom of Group II and the top of Group III; in this region the AMS's case for switching to the <a href=\"http://www.ams.org/profession/data/annual-survey/groups\" rel=\"nofollow\">new groupings</a> seems quite strong to me.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/20 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11985",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8245/"
]
|
11,989 | <p>While writing <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/11988/2700">an answer to that question</a>, I realized I don't really have a good list of resources that could be useful to first-time authors, like MSc or PhD students who write their first paper. I often direct my own students to these two papers:</p>
<ul>
<li>G. M. Whitesides, <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adma.200400767/abstract" rel="noreferrer">“Whiteside's group: writing a paper”</a>, <em>Adv. Mater.</em> <strong>2004</strong>, <em>16</em>, 1375–1377 (<a href="http://www.ee.ucr.edu/~rlake/Whitesides_writing_res_paper.pdf" rel="noreferrer">PDF</a>).</li>
<li>P. E. Bourne, <a href="http://www.ploscompbiol.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pcbi.0010057" rel="noreferrer">“Ten simple rules for getting published”</a>, <em>PLOS Computational Biology</em> <strong>2005</strong>, <em>1</em>, 0341.</li>
</ul>
<p>I also make sure that they read the journal's editorial policy and authors guidelines.</p>
<p>What are other sources of good information for students and first-time academic authors?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 11990,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>A book or paper on writing is a good introduction but can usually not solve everything. Reading a book does not mean you can reproduce what it teaches, particularly with writing since it is something that needs lots of practise. One problem is that writing is a question of both knowing how to structure the science but also a question of building and formulating the text, the latter being a language issue. So it is usually relatively easy to teach students how the technical side works and provide explanations for why. Teaching students how to be concise and precise is another question and without lots of practise it is quite difficult to get anywhere. During a thesis much of the language issues are ironed out by constant revisions sugested by the advisor. I also point out to all my students that writing is a life-long learning process and thatit is never to late to develop and change your writing.</p>\n<p>However, I have some sources I fall back to:</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Katz, M.J. From research to manuscript. A guide to scientific writing. Springer</p>\n<p>Day, R.A. and Gastel, B., How to write and publish a scientific paper. Cambridge</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>The <a href=\"https://owl.english.purdue.edu/\" rel=\"noreferrer\">Purdue Online Writing Laboratory</a> OWL is also very useful.</p>\n<p>For language (English) I have (aside of Strunk & White) found</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Glasman-Deal, H. Science research writing for non-native speakers of English</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>of use.</p>\n<p>There are of course lots of books around but all are definitely not good.</p>\n<p>A final gem is a short paper on abstracts</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Landes, K., <a href=\"http://www.aapg.org/bulletin/abstract_scrutiny.pdf\" rel=\"noreferrer\">A scrutiny of the abstract</a>. Bulletin Of The American Association Of Petroleum Geologists. 50 (9), 1992-1999.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>Which provides an excellent description of the abstract.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11991,
"author": "Federico Poloni",
"author_id": 958,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/958",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Specifically for mathematics, good resources are N. Higham's very comprehensive <em><a href=\"http://www.siam.org/books/ot63/\">Handbook of writing for the mathematical sciences</a></em> and (for non-native speakers) a nice booklet by J. Trzeciak, <em><a href=\"http://utvle.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/1995-ems-trzeciak-writing_mathematical_papers_in_english__a_practical_guide.pdf\">Writing mathematical papers in English</a></em>.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11998,
"author": "JRN",
"author_id": 64,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/64",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>A nice article for writing your first mathematics paper is <a href=\"http://www.ams.org/notices/200711/tx071101507p.pdf\">How to Write Your First Paper</a> by Steven G. Krantz in the December 2007 <em>Notices of the AMS</em>.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12003,
"author": "TCSGrad",
"author_id": 79,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/79",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>A resource for writing a paper in natural sciences can be</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"http://www.scripps.edu/milligan/em-journal/pdf/Scientific_Writing.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Scientific Writing: My Approach and Irreverent Opinions</a></p>\n<p>Mark Yeager</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>It has several good resources listed in the bibliography, which I haven't gone through but looks promising!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12004,
"author": "TCSGrad",
"author_id": 79,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/79",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><strong>Computer Science</strong></p>\n<p>For CS, there's a pretty well-written book that addresses the art of writing for a CS conference/journal.</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"http://www.justinzobel.com/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Writing For Computer Science</a></p>\n<p>Justin Zobel</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>I'm reading through it now, and its really an eye-opener for me - as it quotes examples from actual published papers to illustrate its points, which are quite succinct and easy to incorporate once you've read the book! I would enthusiastically recommend it to any CS grad student!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12009,
"author": "Dmitry Chornyi",
"author_id": 413,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/413",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I wish I read this book before writing my first paper: <a href=\"http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0960191038\">The Minto Pyramid Principle: Logic in Writing, Thinking, & Problem Solving</a>. It explains how to better organize and articulate ideas.</p>\n\n<p>Also it is always worth re-reading <a href=\"http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0060891548\">On Writing Well</a>. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12012,
"author": "REFF",
"author_id": 8258,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8258",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>A blog entry, written by Terence Tao, specific for mathematics but with some points that can be used in other scientific branches:</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://terrytao.wordpress.com/advice-on-writing-papers/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">On writing</a></p>\n<p>Another reference, by Paul Halmos,</p>\n<p><a href=\"http://alpha.math.uga.edu/%7Eazoff/courses/halmos.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">How to write mathematics</a></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12274,
"author": "Amyunimus",
"author_id": 5893,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5893",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Daryl Bem has a short, accessible piece on writing articles (in psychology). He gives concrete examples of good and bad choices in writing, often using the paper itself to illustrate his points. </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p><a href=\"http://dbem.ws/WritingArticle.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">Writing the Empirical Journal Article</a></p>\n \n <p>Daryl Bem</p>\n</blockquote>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12292,
"author": "seteropere",
"author_id": 532,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/532",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><em><strong>How to write an academic paper for the first time?</em></strong> </p>\n\n<p>By reading different papers in your field. Pick one good paper which you know very well, Look how the authors organised their ideas into set of pages. How the contribution flows from one section to another in the paper. </p>\n\n<p>Once you are about to write your first paper, try to list the key messages (i.e. contribution) you want to deliver. Start by writing the key messages as sections in your paper. Fill-in these sections. Read it over and over and ask yourself: is this easily understandable to the reader? should I add additional sections/subsections? can I better organize the paper? </p>\n\n<p>Give yourself one or two days break and then ask yourself the same questions. Hand it to your supervisor. Let him/her comment on it and start again the cycle. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12371,
"author": "rochus",
"author_id": 8264,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8264",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Your best start is probably either <a href=\"http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0226823377\" rel=\"nofollow\"><em>A Manual for Writers</em></a> or <a href=\"http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/020530902X\" rel=\"nofollow\"><em>The Elements of Style</em></a>.</p>\n\n<p>I regularly look into those books. Either to refresh my knowledge or just for the pleasure of reading <em>The Elements of Style</em>.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/20 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11989",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700/"
]
|
11,992 | <p>How understanding are American Top-10 universities of different expectations abroad? In the UK, nearly nobody publishes anything before they start their PhD. The master courses are much shorter and usually include mostly courses instead of research. We are not expected to do any teaching. I am therefore wondering whether all of this will count against a UK student applying to the US. Personally, I have a very good profile for a UK student (Top of my class in undergrad and masters), but I only have 2 research internships outside of my courses. Is it expected of UK students to achieve the same things as US students applying to the same universities?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 11994,
"author": "David",
"author_id": 8250,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8250",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you are literally talking Top-10, you will be on equal footing with American applicants, especially with your research internships.</p>\n\n<p>Below that threshold you may well surpass American applicants, as you haven't spent any of your time minoring in side subjects since school.</p>\n\n<p>This may not relate to how well your applications fare, but the larger universities will be well versed in taking on Eurasian applications, and you should expect fair judgement on UKish criteria.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12078,
"author": "Nate Eldredge",
"author_id": 1010,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>This may vary by field; my experience is in mathematics.</p>\n\n<p>Most US students start a PhD program immediately after finishing their bachelor's degree, so they apply during the last year of their undergraduate program. It is less common to complete a separate master's first, especially in the sciences where PhD students are funded and masters students are typically not. The first couple of years of a PhD program are usually coursework similar to a masters program (you would probably be able to skip some or most of these courses, if they are comparable to what you have taken).</p>\n\n<p>Therefore, the US students with whom you are competing are mainly undergraduates in the last year of their bachelors program. At this level a few of them may have published papers, but most will not. They may have research experience from summer projects, summer internships, independent study or lab work, but it is not usually comparable to graduate research. Very few of them will have any formal teaching experience; at most they may have worked as teaching assistants, which usually means grading homework. Some of them may have taken a few graduate-level courses at their undergraduate university, but not to the full extent of a masters degree.</p>\n\n<p>So I don't think you need to be concerned about your level of preparation or experience in comparison with US applicants. If anything, you should be ahead. </p>\n\n<p>As mentioned in comments, at a major US research department there should be people who have either come from UK universities or have experience with them. If they are not already on the graduate admissions committee, the committee members will consult with them if they have questions.</p>\n\n<p>Good luck!</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/20 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11992",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8072/"
]
|
11,993 | <p>I'm a beginning doctoral student in the field of Machine Learning and I've been given several contradicting opinions on whether a PhD is worth it or not. I don't want to spend the rest of my life in front of a desk doing research, but I would like to deepen my understanding on my field. I am interested for a career on industry. Some people say I'm wasting my time for doing the PhD and some people say it is worth it. My plan at the moment is to finish PhD as fast as possible and then continue my career in industry when I'm still young. Any opinions or recommendations on what I should do? :) </p>
<p>P.S. </p>
<p>I want to add to this that I have already 2,5 years of work experience on industry (IT) already. For example I designed and implemented an online language skill tester for my university and have worked as a software engineer. So I wouldn't be entirely newbie in programming after I finish my PhD...</p>
<p>My subject is about applying the techniques of Machine Learning on Big Data. </p>
<p>Thank you for any suggestions and guidelines :) </p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 11995,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This is not an 'official' answer, but one of a revelation of sorts I have had recently. </p>\n\n<p>One thing that occurred to me as I complete my PhD (submit in the next fortnight), is that my PhD is a very practical and successful application of existing technology into very specific scientific functions that the technology was not designed to do. This, and the community benefit aspects have formed the basis of the papers that I have been able to get published. If you can make a focus on practical applications <em>alongside</em> the theoretical constructs - then the PhD <em>may</em> be of benefit of both you and a future employer.</p>\n\n<p>However, this varies from discipline to discipline (as the answers in my other thread linked in the comments suggest).</p>\n\n<p>You have got to look at what benefits are there for you in pursuing a PhD, both in the short and long term.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 11996,
"author": "Chris Gregg",
"author_id": 4461,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4461",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>You haven't really defined what you mean by \"...when considering your career\" in the subject of this post. On the one hand, you say,</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>I would like to deepen my understanding on my field.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>If your goal is to deepen your understanding, one way to do that is to get a PhD. You can also do this on your own, without getting a PhD, but you'll find a more structured path and (possibly) more resources if you go down the PhD route.</p>\n\n<p>On the other hand, you say,</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>I am interested for a career on industry. </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Are you interested in industry because of the money? If that is the case, you're most likely better off earning a full income and \"moving up the ladder\" during the time you would spend in graduate school, which means you should forego getting a PhD to concentrate on the money.</p>\n\n<p>If you're interested in a career in industry because of reasons outside of financial considerations, then you have to think about what kinds of jobs you're looking to take in industry. If you're satisfied that your current skills and educational level will make you competitive for the jobs you want, you should probably reconsider the PhD, and to \"deepen your understanding\" in a different way. Then again, a certain percentage of people want to get a PhD for the challenge and for strictly personal reasons, removed from the job details themselves.</p>\n\n<p>If the jobs you want to get are generally given to PhDs, then you have your answer already -- get the PhD to make yourself competitive for those positions.</p>\n\n<p>I suggest writing down all of your long-term goals, and then weighing them against the time and cost (and opportunity costs) of getting your PhD. If after all that you still don't have a good answer, you might consider continuing with your program for another year and just postponing the decision until then. Eventually, either you will get your PhD, or you will be convinced that it is better off that you stop the program (but the decision may get harder the closer you are to finishing). </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12026,
"author": "Benoît Kloeckner",
"author_id": 946,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/946",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It is impossible to answer your question unless you tell in which country you intend to work in the industry. </p>\n\n<p>In France, for example, a PhD is not very highly considered by industry, where the one important criteria is which engineering school you did. This is slowly evolving. </p>\n\n<p>I heard that in Germany, a PhD is highly valued in industry, even if its content has nothing to do with the job.</p>\n\n<p>I have little knowledge for other countries.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 95385,
"author": "Lesnar",
"author_id": 54125,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/54125",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I completed my PhD recently and I am currently working in the industry. Mine is a PhD in CS and my thesis was on development of newer techniques for real time prediction. Before PhD, I had 5 years of work experience in the analytics sector. Personally, I found the entire experience of the PhD to be intellectually satisfying and worth the effort. Yes, I had to forgo 4 years of income or earning opportunities and survived on an adequate stipend. But I believe PhD in a technical field like Machine Learning will always be in demand in the industry. Post PhD, I got the job as a data scientist with the largest online retailer. I think it varies from individual to individual and one should find their own way. In my country, PhD is not that highly valued in the industry. But I guess one should do a PhD in an area for which they have some passion so that they can develop the skill sets that will make them competitive in the job market.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 113970,
"author": "Brian Tompsett - 汤莱恩",
"author_id": 26708,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/26708",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you have an opportunity to finish your Phd then do so. Failing to continue with a Phd is something that is difficult to change your mind on later in life. In the big scheme of things what you see yourself doing just after graduating is so different from what you may find yourself doing in 10, 20, 30 or 40 years later.</p>\n\n<p>You will never regret having a Phd. You may regret not having a Phd when you could have completed it!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 114038,
"author": "Fraïssé",
"author_id": 20070,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20070",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In my opinion, the <strong>key defining feature of Ph.D. research is to understand a subject in its most fundamental aspects and push the boundary of collective human understanding and knowledge.</strong> There are some things that you only get to explore while going through a Ph.D. degree and some results you only get to publish in academia.</p>\n\n<p>Consider what you have said in your post:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>I don't want to spend the rest of my life in front of a desk doing\n research, but I would like to deepen my understanding on my field.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>The question is what do you mean by deepening your understanding of your field. If by deepening your understanding, you mean, deepening your understanding of the technologies that are used in machine learning, then industry could be a good option. But if you mean that deepening your understanding of how and why things work, then perhaps the industry is not a good place for that. </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>My plan at the moment is to finish Ph.D. as fast as possible and then\n continue my career in the industry when I'm still young.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I think you should examine whether you want to get a Ph.D. solely to satisfy some requirement on a job application, and perhaps to get a higher starting salary, or do you want to create something that lasts and make a name for yourself in the research community. The key question is: \"will the impact of my thesis be felt long after I finish the Ph.D. degree\"? And if your Ph.D. research cannot provide a satisfactory answer to this question, then it is better to go into industry.</p>\n\n<p>I have observed that there seems to be a collective rush to finish Ph.D. in machine learning and computer science departments. In my opinion, this collective habit has greatly cheaped the value of their degrees, and this can be reflected in the quality of their thesis, which consists nothing more than a few equations, some hand-wavy explanation as to why their new equations are better, and some simulations with highly controlled experiments.</p>\n\n<p>I have seen the statistics; nobody cares about their research at all (view count less than some double digit number, years after publishing thesis), because everybody else is also putting up a few equations and doing their own simulation and hoping to get into industry asap - the level of toxicity is high, nobody is building upon or examining each other's work. This kind of research is unsustainable in the long run. </p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/20 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11993",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8249/"
]
|
12,005 | <p>About a year ago I noticed that my PhD supervisor has listed on his faculty page that he co-authored a conference presentation together with me. The problem is, he didn't-- the research itself was entirely mine, and I wrote and gave the presentation alone. (This is in the social sciences, not the hard sciences). He never talked to me before claiming co-authorship on his faculty profile, and in fact, has never mentioned it to me-- nor have I mentioned it to him.</p>
<p>I can understand that he may have felt he needed the "extra credit" to beef up his publications last year while he was trying to get tenure. Now that he's got his tenure, though, and now that I've finished my PhD and am applying for jobs, I am worried that, should my potential employers google the items on my résumé and come across his co-authorship claim, it will contradict my résumé's claim that I was the sole author... making <em>me</em> look like the liar.</p>
<p>I'm really reluctant to "give in" and credit him as co-author for the presentation on my résumé too, because (a) it doesn't feel fair and (b) I don't have many publications/presentations to begin with... so including him as co-author could dilute what little power my résumé has.</p>
<p>However, I am also embarrassed to ask him to take this "publication" down from his faculty page, because I am worried that he may get defensive, which could ruin our relationship-- which would be a problem, because I still depend on him for references as I look for a job.</p>
<p>Any ideas/perspective on how to handle this?? Thanks!!</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12006,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>To be fair, if your advisor had no intellectual involvement in the presentation, then he does not have the right to list it on his CV. However, getting him to agree to take it off is a different matter altogether.</p>\n\n<p>Perhaps the way to begin this conversation is to ask your advisor why the paper is listed on his web page. Don't make it a demand, but instead probe the reasons for doing it, and perhaps drop a few suggestions. For instance, as you mentioned above, you could ask: \"Won't having a single-author credit on my CV be helpful?\" as part of the conversation.</p>\n\n<p>However, I think if you make it more of a \"mutually arrived at decision\" rather than a demand that he take the publication off the CV, you'll get a more favorable response. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12007,
"author": "Ana",
"author_id": 322,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/322",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In a number of fields it's standard for the supervisor to be listed as the last author on papers or presentations that their students produce. This is because the supervisor helps in a number of ways, some of them indirectly: they get grant money, they train you to use the lab, they train you to do statistics... or they might make suggestions for the research design, the main theoretical focus of the presentation/manuscript, etc. If I wouldn't list my supervisor on a conference presentation, the only possible reason would be that it slipped my mind to add his name. </p>\n\n<p>I would therefore ask other PhD students in your department what the standard is in this case, because your supervisor might not think that he's doing something wrong. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12008,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If there is an archival record of the conference presentations then the authors are whoever the authors are. If the conference doesn't have any type of archival record of the presentations, then you are in a grey area. Who is going to be authors when the work is eventually published? It sounds like the adviser expects to be an author. Presumably you have not talked about authorship with your adviser. I cannot stress this enough, <strong>prior to starting any project discuss authorship and funding with your collaborators and advisers</strong></p>\n\n<p>Given that a project has already begun without prior discussions of authorship, you need to work it out ASAP. I would hope that your adviser was not simply claiming credit to \"beef up\" his CV (if he was you have some serious problems). My guess is that he thinks he made an intellectual contribution to the work. You need to have a civil conversation with him to understand what his expectations are about the minimum contributions needed to warrant authorship. If you strongly disagree with this view, you need to consult other colleagues to determine who is being reasonable/unreasonable. Once the authorship parameters are laid out, you need to understand what he believes are his contributions. These then need to be compared to the criteria for authorship.</p>\n\n<p>Do not suggest that your adviser has taken credit he doesn't deserve unless he is substantially below the authorship bar. It is an unfortunate situation but a co-authored paper and a reference is generally much more valuable than a single author paper and no reference. If he is clearly below the authorship bar then you have a <strong>MAJOR issue</strong>.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/20 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12005",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8256/"
]
|
12,010 | <p>What steps are taken to evaluate an applicant's coursework? </p>
<ul>
<li><p>Are graduate-level courses weighted higher?</p></li>
<li><p>Is this a significant part of the decision process (outside the major
components of research experience, personal statement, and LORs)?</p></li>
</ul>
<p>I'm interested in what adcoms look for as good signs, red flags, etc.</p>
<p>Any information, particularly for CS PhD programs, is appreciated!</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12201,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This is more of a general answer.</p>\n\n<p>Graduate-level coursework should carry additional weight in a graduate school application, because it normally suggests that you are capable of doing work at a higher level than the standard undergraduate curriculum. However, it should be pointed out that more weight will be given to a full graduate-level course than a \"shared\" course that regularly offers both undergraduate and graduate enrollment. </p>\n\n<p>The primary red flag would be poor performance in one or more \"core\" courses in your discipline, while encouraging signs are taking more or harder classes and doing well in those.</p>\n\n<p>As for the relative importance of this in an application, I'd put coursework in general somewhat behind the letters of recommendation and research experience. However, this is something that may vary from school to school, and even department to department.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12217,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<pre><code>Are graduate-level courses weighted higher?\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>Relative to your core undergraduate courses, I'd imagine so. Taking advanced graduate courses (preferably, more advanced versions of your core classes, since this will look like an upward trend if you didn't so hot in your core ones), and doing well in them, implies one can do potentially good research in grad school. Courses at this level will tend to expose you to current research that you may work on in the future. Aside from LOR and conference/journal publications, this would be the next best indicator of your potential success in grad school. Which leads to the next question. . .</p>\n\n<pre><code>Is this a significant part of the decision process?\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>I wouldn't say that it's significant (consider that some liberal art colleges may not have available graduate courses to undergraduates, as compared to a research university) but it's still important, if the resources are there. Graduate admissions are aware of that, but they key is to stretch your intellectual vitality as far as possible. Remember that there aren't too many indicators of whether or not an undergraduate can do well in grad school (after all, the \"research frontier\", depending on the discipline, may simply be inaccessible, even to an exceptional undergraduate). This applies to other fields like mathematics, but three factors will always be taken into account by any respectable institution (LOR, statement of purpose, research experience), and you've already mentioned them. </p>\n\n<p>Aside from that (and GPA, which is really more of a \"cut-off\" tool), if all else is taken into account, it will probably come down to best fit; whether or not your research interests coincide with the faculty of your chosen area. If you wanted to do research in artificial intelligence, it wouldn't make sense to apply to a program that (hypothetically) only specializes in mathematical optimization, so you would probably be passed over to someone who does want to do research in AI.</p>\n\n<p>aeismail had a nice answer so I will not add much more regarding \"red flags\" (I would say that even if you did terrible, say, your freshman year, the best thing to do would be to show an upward trend in your grades). However, remember that the <strong>main question</strong> admission committees want to answer is \"Can this person succeed in our program?\" (i.e can this person do research?), so you have to persuade them to say yes. Your application will be scrutinized by professors who want to see if you're worthy. Coursework is important, but demonstrating your research potential in ways that are not just related to coursework is <strong>essential</strong>.</p>\n\n<p>The best thing to do would be to create a check-list of what they expect to see in your application, and meet all of the requirements, then go above the call of duty (whether it's in the form of a publishable senior thesis, which I would argue is always better than chugging coursework, or presenting your work at a conference, or getting an awesome research-based LOR from a professor who knows you well and can vouch for your potential, or all of the above). </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12249,
"author": "David Ketcheson",
"author_id": 81,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/81",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I am part of an admissions committee in the field of applied math. Since there are very few undergraduate programs in applied math, our applicants have a wide variety of backgrounds -- mathematics, engineering, physics, and others. My main interest when looking at the transcript is:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>First, do you have good grades in the most relevant courses?</li>\n<li>Second, how well-prepared are you in terms of course coverage? It's typical for students from outside math to have one or two gaps.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Also, we interview promising applicants, so I look at the transcript to see what the student <strong>should</strong> know, and quiz them on typical course material.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/20 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12010",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5658/"
]
|
12,013 | <p>I am invited to an online interview for a PhD position.
Actually, it is my first time.
What are the contents of the interview?
What issues are usually discussed in these interviews?
Am I supposed to represent a proposal in the context of research, at that time?
Which parameters can increase the acceptance chance?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12014,
"author": "Ziyuan",
"author_id": 2789,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2789",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In my case (machine learning), background knowledge of the field and previous publications are the most important parts. My supervisor enumerated the names of the sub-fields and asked whether I know about them. I need to give different level of introductions or explanations according to my familiarity. As for the publications, I have little publications so I had to explain my thesis at great detail. Actually my supervisor was not satisfied and I had to write several pages of \"abstract\" later. At last, my supervisor asked me to the read the xxx page of his paper and derive the differential of a complex function right away. I made some minor errors but finally got myself through.</p>\n\n<p><strong>UPDATE</strong>: In my case I don't think my supervisor was \"quizzing\" me, but try to obtain a rough impression of my background. For me, the point was to articulate what I have known and not to boast on what I don't know. And I was also asked about the ability of English communication and teamwork.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12021,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I work in a program for <a href=\"http://scicomp.stackexchange.com\">computational science</a>, and we do online interviews with all of the qualified candidates for both our dual-degree (master's-PhD) and doctoral programs.</p>\n\n<p>Because we are a rather broad program, we tend not to favor \"quizzes\" that test knowledge. Instead, we are looking for things like:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Ability to communicate in English </li>\n<li>Enthusiasm for computational science (many people think we're a computer science program, instead of a computational science program!)</li>\n<li>Match for the research interests of one or more of our institute members (particularly for dual-degree candidates)</li>\n<li>Previous experience in computational science</li>\n<li>Evidence of teamwork and ability to fit our program</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>There's no real way to \"game\" the system, at least in my interview, unless you want to invent an entirely new personality for yourself. That's because most of my questions are free-form after the first few, and will try to explore the answers you've given in greater depth. For instance, if a candidate expresses an interest in fluid mechanics, I'll ask what they've done, what makes it interesting, what they'd like to do in the future. If someone happens to express interest in my area (computational materials), things will go in yet another direction altogether. </p>\n\n<p>The best advice is be yourself. If you try to come off as someone you're not, that will likely show up during the interview.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/20 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12013",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8041/"
]
|
12,015 | <p>This question is motivated by the fact that my last research internship was unsatisfactory in my relation with my supervisor. Partly because of me, I may have tried to be too much autonomous, rarely coming to him or sharing what I was doing or reading and never asking feedback. We didn't produce much and by the end he shared with me his disappointment, which strangely was a bit surprising to me, I was blind to the situation and our lack of exchange.</p>
<p>Now, I'm about to start my PhD with a totally new supervisor, and I'd like to learn from this mistake. I'm deeply convinced that the experience will be much more fulfilling for both sides if we maintain stimulating exchanges.</p>
<p>I was thinking about having from the beginning a long discussion about his expectation from me on short, mid and long term, his availability and the way he would like to supervise and push me.</p>
<p>Is this irrelevant or too much? Have you already had similar discussions? Have you tried something else?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12016,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Having a discussion about the PhD project specifically and expectations in general is always a good idea. If there is a clear project lined up it will be useful to discuss the details, possible directions, publications etc. In some cases (systems/programs/traditions) it is useful (in fact mandatory) to write a research plan or to write a review of the field as part of reading up on it. It is necessary that both you and the advisor has the same view of what should be achieved to the extent the specific program allows.</p>\n\n<p>Apart from the science it is useful to discuss expectations so that you can agree on how work should proceed. Should you meet regularly? if so how often? How much feedback should you expect? Well the questions are many but having such a discussion is useful, particularly if you can also note what you agree upon on a piece of paper. In my country, one actually signs an individual study plan that is followed up annually showing progress in terms of course work and research. having such a plan is actually constructive in that it makes it possible to see if you are on track and also identify if and when your plan needs revisions and goals may deviate from the originally proposed. But, of course, all this is something which to some extent is dictated by the traditions in the specific program.</p>\n\n<p>So do take the opportunity to have a good talk about the future collaboration. you will robably sense if the discussion is received well by the advisor and adapt accordingly.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12019,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Just to add to Peter's answer, another that needs to be made clear are practicalities, including any other commitments that you have (e.g. work, volunteer work, family etc). I found having this discussion in the early part of my PhD program has meant that we have been able to adapt deadlines and meetings around my (full time) work schedule. This is also important if you are required to travel or conduct experiments.</p>\n\n<p>Other logistical practicalities include medical conditions, financial constraints - these kind of thing do not need to be divulged in detail, but as they may affect the research (in a practical sense) - just to make the supervisor aware.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12022,
"author": "Fomite",
"author_id": 118,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/118",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>To echo some of the other comments here, I <em>strongly</em> recommend touching on topics beyond just science - your supervisor is going to be a very important figure in your life for several years if all goes according to plan, so in addition to things like the details of the project you're working on, I'd make sure to touch on the following:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Any \"lab policies\" they have, written or unwritten. For example, some folks really prefer if their people work with a particular programming language, operating system, etc. Some people could care less if you work remotely as long as they see you now and again, and some people want geographic proximity, and seeing your face in the office.</li>\n<li>Working preferences. Are they a night owl, or a 9-to-5 type? Will they read drafts the weekend before a conference deadline, or do you need to get them weeks in advance? Do they want progress reports, or will they be happy/prefer with a finished product simply manifesting itself after weeks of silence?</li>\n<li>Authorship policies - how much do they want you writing your own papers, taking ownership of your projects, etc.</li>\n<li>How stable is your funding?</li>\n<li>Teaching expectations, if there are any. Are there courses they think you should take?</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Slightly later on, once you've clarified your own goals, I'd also suggest a talk with your supervisor about where you'd like to end up when you're done. Teaching? Research? Industry?</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/20 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12015",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8148/"
]
|
12,029 | <p>When would someone marking papers (lecturer, etc.) bump a student from just below pass up to the pass line? Do teachers consider things like attendance?</p>
<p>Regardless of the consideration (attendance, participation, etc.) for giving a student a better grade than they deserve, what is the justification?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12031,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>There are a myriad of reasons why a student could have barely passing grades and good attendance. Not everyone is able to grasp the concepts as quickly and as well as others. They may have a learning difficulty, or they are taking on something to extend their knowledge and skills.</p>\n\n<p>An example, my short term memory is no good under pressure, such as in an exam - I barely passed, and had conceded passes twice - does that make me less deserving? I'll let the fact that I am now just finishing my PhD <em>in the same topic area</em> answer that question.</p>\n\n<p>Good attendance is an indicator, albeit, not conclusive of effort, but more conclusive if they had not attended at all.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12060,
"author": "Chris Gregg",
"author_id": 4461,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4461",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>One of the things I like about teaching is that while we draw fine lines at numbers such as 65.0 and 89.5, teachers also get the final word on putting grades into the system, and the ability to look at a student's performance holistically to include non-tangible paper marks such as attendance (in class and office hours), intrinsic motivation, and future goals justifies \"bumping\" grades for particular students.</p>\n\n<p>I don't do it often, but if a student is on the line and showed me high motivation but didn't quite get to the higher grade, I will consider bumping up the grade (but I won't do it because of <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9014/what-to-do-about-grade-grubbers\">grade-grubbing</a>). Sometimes, it comes down to when I'm entering the final grade into the system, and I think, \"You know, that 89.3% for Alice really should be an A-.\" I don't lose sleep over it, and it really is relatively rare.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/21 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12029",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4315/"
]
|
12,030 | <p>In this <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/12007/929">answer </a> it is claimed that authorship is given away for "free" in some fields (e.g., obtaining the funding). The comments to the answer suggest that this is field dependent. I am looking for documentation from a field that suggests that authorship can be given away for "free". For example, the ICMJE has authorship <a href="http://www.icmje.org/ethical_1author.html" rel="noreferrer">guidelines</a> that put a pretty high bar on authorship. Is there any documentation that suggests that supervising a student or getting funding is enough to warrant authorship?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12032,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would argue that the Vancouver Protocol is something most people understand but traditions, peer pressure etc. is what makes co-authorship a sometimes fuzzy decision. So as for documentation, I doubt any exists that is accepted by all. That said, I know that in large consortias such as in physics, for example, accelerator work, one signs a contract that automatically adds your name to all papers produced within a given time frame depedning on your time period involved in the project. Such consortia-authorships usually use the consortia name as author with a separate listing of individuals. The consortia-authorship is something I do not think the writers of the Vancouver Protocol had in mind. </p>\n\n<p>EDIT: </p>\n\n<p>Here is an example from from <a href=\"https://twiki.cern.ch/twiki/bin/view/Main/ATLASAuthorshipPolicy\">CERN</a>.</p>\n\n<p>In the case of large research groups this type of \"contract\" (specific in each case) could be a way to officially outline the policy accepted by participants.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12034,
"author": "Ben Norris",
"author_id": 924,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/924",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This is going to depend on the field. For most fields, the norm is that an author has made \"intellectual contributions\" to the work. ICMJE updates this requirement to \"substantive\" intellectual contributions, but most conferences and journals have a written or implied cut-off for how substantive an intellectual contribution is. Many journals and conferences now ask for detailed list of contributions by the authors to combat vanity authorships. </p>\n\n<p>In some fields, for example my own field of Chemistry, the norm is that the individual who has secured the funding has written one or more grant proposals specific to this project. These proposals may have been written with or without the assistance of the students working on the project. They may have even been written before the student joined the project. In chemistry, the proposal needs to be pretty specific about what types of problems will be examined and what methods will be used. Writing the proposal to get the funding is a substantive intellectual contribution counting as \"substantial contributions to conception and design\" as far as the ICMJE is concerned.</p>\n\n<p>Funding does not necessarily happen this way in every field. As Peter Jansson suggests, a National Lab, consortium, or other funded research center or institute may have a budget process that is separate from the conception and design of experiments. In such a case, the director of the center, whose duties likely include making sure the center is funded, is probably not an author.</p>\n\n<p>Normal behavior for whether the supervisor is an author has been established in every field. Ask your colleagues. Consult your journals/conferences. For example, the American Chemical Society has the following description in their <a href=\"http://pubs.acs.org/userimages/ContentEditor/1218054468605/ethics.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">Publication Ethics (Page 3)</a> (emphasis mine):</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>The co-authors of a paper should be all those persons who have made <strong>significant scientific contributions to the work reported and who share responsibility and accountability for the results</strong>. Authors should appropriately recognize the contributions of technical staff and data professionals. Other contributions should be indicated in a footnote or an “Acknowledgments” section. An administrative relationship to the investigation does not of itself qualify a person for co - authorship (but occasionally it may be appropriate to acknowledge major administrative assistance). Deceased persons who meet the criterion for inclusion as co-authors should be so included, with a footnote reporting date of death. No fictitious name should be listed as an author or coauthor. The author who submits a manuscript for publication accepts the responsibility of having included as co-authors all persons appropriate and none inappropriate. The submitting author should have sent each living co-author a draft copy of the manuscript and have obtained the co-author’s assent to co-authorship of it. </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>To the ACS, the individual who takes responsibility for the validity of the data and the work (usually the student's supervisor in chemistry) is an author, even if that person did not design the experiments, collect the data, interpret the results, or write the manuscript. The supervisor has a more permanent position than the student and is likely to be easier to reach with questions five years from now than the student.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12035,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Short answer: free authorship, also known as <strong>gift authorship</strong>, is a clear violation of research and publication ethics. The limit between “small contribution” and “no contribution” is not, however, easily defined; different fields put it at different levels. </p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>I don't think the answer actually states that. It lists a series of contributions that are, in some field, considered important enough to warrant (in some combinations) authorship on resulting papers:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p><em>they get grant money, they train you to use the lab, they train you to do statistics... or they might make suggestions for the research design, the main theoretical focus of the presentation / manuscript</em></p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>All journals (or publishers) have <strong>policies or guidelines on how authorship should be determined. In all cases, it involves significant scientific or technical contributions</strong> to the work published. Authorship determination has to be weighted <strong>in each individual case</strong>, as no two situations are identical (and not simple rule of thumb can encompass all possible situations, as Peter Jansson highlights).</p>\n\n<p><strong>There are so many ways in which people can contribute to an intellectual work</strong>, such as a research project and academic papers. It happens that <strong>different fields</strong> of research have different habits in authorship determination, <strong>giving more or less weight to different types of contributions</strong>. My own background is in physics and chemistry, where authorship tend to be more generous that, say, computer science or mathematics. I'll thus argue two examples of what you (and some fields) may consider dubious basis for authorship, but which in my field would be considered fairly standard:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p><strong>Getting funding</strong>. In this age, getting funding most often requires writing a grant proposal for a specific research program, with good and novel ideas, and convincing a tough crowd of other scientists (in a competitive environment) that your program is a good use of taxpayers' money. Thus, in most cases, <strong>the person who provides the funding also provides a clear scientific contribution</strong>: they identified an important problem to be solved, and provided a general framework for solving it. That's an important part of research! Identifying the right question to ask yourself is half of the job, <em>it is known. (Yeah, I'm trying my hand at Dothraki style in academic context. By the way, thank you for reading so far down my answer.)</em></p></li>\n<li><p><strong>Supervising</strong>. Whether or not the supervisor actually provided the student with the research project in the first place, <strong>supervision implies guidance</strong> of the student, which is definitely a scientific contribution. The supervisor will, in many cases, provide a broader view of the field and ideas for related problems relevant to the research, scientific background, and advice on how to use one's research time most efficiently. All of that is highly valuable, and contributes to the publication.</p>\n\n<p><em>(I've read somewhere “but the supervisor is paid for this, it's his job, so he shouldn't be awarded authorship” — that's plain stupid, pretty much everyone gets paid to do research, thus by that argument most papers would be authorless.)</em></p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>In both cases, funding and supervising imply scientific contributions, which are the reason for authorship.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/21 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12030",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929/"
]
|
12,033 | <p><strong>tl;dr</strong> I think my supervisor has a severe lack of knowledge, does too many things instead of focusing heavily on just a few things and hence I can't really focus on my research project.</p>
<p><strong>Long Story</strong> I started my PhD a few months back and was hired specifically to work on a certain project. We have a few very outstanding research groups as collaborating teams but all in different research areas. </p>
<p>After a few weeks into my PhD, I was hit by all the different side projects my supervisor tries to kick off. They are extremely time consuming and not research related at all. Besides, I noticed that my supervisor has a severe lack of knowledge in one of our core research areas. As a consequence, I can't discuss any of my ideas with him. As the other PhD students feel the same way, we have mentioned the lack of time quite a few times in our group meetings. And although he agreed that we need more time on proper research, things didn't really change yet. As a consequence, my motivation for the project starts to decline, although I continue to be extremely passionate about the project's overall goals!</p>
<p>So my question is, how I should cope with this situation? I thought about leaving his group, but I'm kind of stuck in a dilemma: I'd love to work on the project, and I don't want to let my collaborating teams down.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12036,
"author": "JeffE",
"author_id": 65,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<ol>\n<li><p>It's your project, not your advisor's. Your lack of progress/motivation and supposed lack of time have nothing to do with him.</p></li>\n<li><p>Nevertheless, you <em>must</em> sit down with your advisor and have a serious talk about both of your expectations. Be honest about your lack of motivation, be honest about your disappointment, be honest about your intellectual loneliness. Ask for suggestions. Listen.</p></li>\n<li><p>You have other senior collaborators that you can work with, so if you need senior collaborators, work with them. Ask your advisor to fly them out to visit you, or to fly you out to visit them. Schedule regular Skype/Gchat meetings. Similarly, get to know other faculty in your department, who might serve as more experienced mentors/advisors, if not collaborators.</p></li>\n<li><p>You're surrounded by colleagues who are excited enough about their research to want to draw you in, and you turn them away because you feel stupid? <strong>What a wasted opportunity!</strong> <em>Of course</em> you feel stupid. <em>Everybody</em> feels stupid listening to other people talk about their ongoing research, because <em>by definition</em>, they're talking about stuff that nobody understands (yet). You're simultaneously complaining about intellectual loneliness and turning away potential collaborators. So what if they're not working on <em>your</em> project?</p></li>\n<li><p><em>Of course</em> you're constantly forgetting important things you once knew well. It is totally unrealistic to think that you can keep everything you've ever learned/read fresh in your mind. Don't even try. Write things down. Maintain a library of papers, or at least a close personal friendship with Google Scholar. Let yourself forget details, confident in the knowledge that they'll come back amazingly quickly when you read them again.</p></li>\n<li><p>Since your feeling is shared by other students in your group, it sounds like your advisor is a bit overexcited and has bitten off more than he can chew. All the more reason to sit down and talk with him directly, and to develop mentoring relationships with other faculty in your department and elsewhere. Also, start looking into other potential advisors, even if it means moving to another university.</p></li>\n</ol>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12038,
"author": "fedja",
"author_id": 6118,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6118",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I see only two possibly justified complaints here: \"supervisor incompetence\" and \"overloading with routine work\". Unfortunately, without knowing both the supervisor and the subject in question, I cannot really tell you anything about the first (beyond the general statement that it may or may not be true and that if it is, nothing short of changing the adviser will cure it). The second can and should be discussed directly with your adviser, or, if it doesn't help, with the department chairman. Remember however that if the load you are talking about is a common rule for all PhD students in the department, you cannot request an exception for yourself without a really good reason laid out in a very convincing way.</p>\n\n<p>I believe JeffE said everything else there is to be said here already.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/21 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12033",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8269/"
]
|
12,037 | <p>I assign my undergraduate students assignments from a workbook as homework. The homework amounts to about 30-minutes per day.</p>
<p>It is impractical for me to collect these workbooks at each lesson, or even weekly, as any days when I am checking the work are days when the students don't have their workbooks in hand. Furthermore, I cannot constantly collect, carry, and redistribute hundreds of workbooks each week.</p>
<p>As such, I've limited my collections of these to twice per term. The results, however, have not been good. A great many students save many weeks of work until the last minute, only to discover then that the task is far more difficult than they anticipated.</p>
<p>How can I motivate my students to complete work daily when it is impractical for me to frequently assess it?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12039,
"author": "hpid91",
"author_id": 8270,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8270",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Some ideas:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>[reward] Give some exam bonus to volunteers who will correct the homework on the board</li>\n<li>[threat] Randomly pick a student to correct the homework on the board and give him/her malus if he/she has not done it</li>\n<li>[threat ++] Make an exam (each week first, then each two weeks or randomly) in class on the given exercises, collect and evaluate the work</li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12040,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><strong>Intrinsic motivation</strong> is always a better motor than threats and coercion. They are, after all, adults. So, try to make them understand that doing this is important for their progress, and thus completion of the course. Also, be open to suggestions from them on how to make it less cumbersome (for example, by skipping a week if they are really hard-worked at that particular time).</p>\n\n<p>You can, however, combine this with <strong>extrinsic motivation</strong> forces, in order to help them see very concretely how the benefits of doing the homework regularly. For example, collect 5 of them at random every week. Another idea would be to tell them in advance that 50% of the final exam will be on problems taken from the workbook: they will understand very easily that, if they have done the homework correctly, it will really help them secure a good grade.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12041,
"author": "Chris Gregg",
"author_id": 4461,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4461",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The other answers are excellent. Without knowing your field or the nature of the workbook assignments, I'll give the following answer:</p>\n\n<p>I have become a big fan of automated online homework systems (although I know some students hate them). If you happen to be in a field where these systems exist (e.g., Physics, Math, Chemistry--WebAssign, MyMathLab, etc.), consider this for a future semester.</p>\n\n<p>The reason I bring up these systems is that (1) they provide a forcing function for the students to do the work, (2) the grading is automatic and immediate, (3) the better systems provide guidance on problem solving, and (4) the math-related problems can be randomized so students can't copy of another student's work (as easily...).</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>Ideas for your current system:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>Do a cursory check of the books every week. By cursory, I mean \"check that there is writing on the required pages,\" and give a check or not. This doesn't preclude them from not putting in much work, but at least they will see that you've got eyes on them each week.</p></li>\n<li><p>Give them a daily 1-question quiz that is straight from the homework (if it is the kind of work that has \"correct answers\").</p></li>\n<li><p>Reassess why it matters that they do the work, and lay it out to them plainly. Do the students who procrastinate on the homework really do more poorly with the material? If the answer isn't an emphatic \"yes,\" then why do you care? If the answer is \"yes,\" then lay this out to them on the first day of class: \"I assign the workbook material because it helps you get a better grade in the class. It's up to you to do the work, and your grade will almost certainly reflect the amount of work you put into the workbooks. I don't collect it because I expect you to do it on your own, and it's your grade that matters.\" In the end, your job is to give them the tools to learn the material, and their job is to use those tools. At the collegiate level, you can expect them to take their education seriously. I.e., \"You can lead a horse to water...\"</p></li>\n</ol>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12042,
"author": "fedja",
"author_id": 6118,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6118",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I usually give short quizzes based on the homework assignments. You do not need to include the exact homework questions there (though you can do it too) but they should satisfy the condition that whoever can do the current homework problems should be expected to pass them and whoever who can not should be expected to fail. I find this system more encouraging and revealing than grading a random subset. For completely routine things (like basic arithmetic, trigonometry, etc.) various automatic online systems are really good. You need to be very careful with how you set up the questions there and it can take a full day for one course but you can do it just once and never think about it again until the time to print out the student scores comes. Just don't forget to make those scores a noticeable portion of the grade. The other advantage here is that you may (but aren't obliged to) allow the students several attempts before they fail an online test, so they can really learn in the process, not just be evaluated. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12044,
"author": "Canageek",
"author_id": 242,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/242",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I had a prof who marked us on completion. He taught 3rd year quantum physics for chemistry and would give out a page of reasonably easy questions that he marked, then several pages of really hard questions he wouldn't, but if you brought him each sheet completed he added 1 to your total grade. So whereas before you were out of 100, now you are out of 101. (Roughly, his marking system was out of more then 100 I think). </p>\n\n<p>You could also complete previous years worksheets for the same thing, or textbook questions, anything like that. One page of questions (not answers) was one mark, or one of his old worksheets was one mark (Since the solutions were online). </p>\n\n<p>This sounds like a lot, but someone worked it out that the first one you did added 0.4% to your final grade or something like that, but each one you did after that added less and less. The class perfectionist misunderstood the system and did 40 pages of textbook questions, and managed to raise her final mark by something like 4%. I just did all the old worksheet questions and got a percent or two, which really isn't much, but damn, did having done all those worksheets really help on the final. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12046,
"author": "Rex Kerr",
"author_id": 669,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/669",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Ask the students to photocopy or photograph their completed work from the workbook each week and email them to you as PDFs/JPEGs. (You may want a dedicated email to receive such files.)</p>\n\n<p>Even if you don't grade the electronic copies, you can make submission a portion of the homework grade, e.g. 10-20%, depending on what your rules are about later changes.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12058,
"author": "earthling",
"author_id": 2692,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2692",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Although there are other answers here which get to this point, I would look at making required things required. If you need the students to do it every week, then make them do it by tying their grade to submitting it every week.</p>\n\n<p>The problem is that you don't have time to assess their work every week. I think everyone here can appreciate that. However, you need to at least partially solve that issue. One key for that is the proper use of technology. Either a Virtual Learning Environment, email, or other online homework systems.</p>\n\n<p>If you cannot assess all of the students, then a random assessment might get what you need. After all, as a teacher, you should be providing feedback to your students. So, have them submit their work electronically (yes, this requires a change from a paper workbook approach) and each week randomly select a few for assessment. If you see some are stars, skip their assessments for several weeks. If you see some are struggling then assess them more often. The students don't know who will be assessed but their grade might not be based on the assessment of the homework, just that they attempted it for that, you can simply scan a list of submissions. Again, you could do this with email if you have no other solution.</p>\n\n<p>Ideally, the students would be intrinsically motivated and you would not have to do any prodding but in my experience some students do need a little prodding to get them to overcome the inertia of laziness. For that, submission might be enough. However, in the end, you will need to assess some. You should assess as much as you can but you have to balance this with your other needs. There's a lot more to teaching that assessment but assessment is a pretty important aspect of what we do.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/21 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12037",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/600/"
]
|
12,048 | <p>I am doing a MS thesis in an engineering lab and I am fully funded by my advisor (tuition waiver plus stipend). We are a small lab and my professor is aiming for tenure. I am ahead of schedule and almost done with my thesis.I am good at programming and completed the project in 3 weeks (my professor thought it would take at least 3 months). Now, my professor is asking me to work on other things which involve developing apps for her other projects. I have protested by saying I am an GRA and I should only be concerned with my thesis project and my work in all other large projects in the lab should be at my discretion.</p>
<p>My advisor replied that I am pretty lucky to work for her since other professors have graduate students who work on 5 projects simultaneously (which of course is load of crap, I have other friends working in other labs who only work on their thesis). The other time I protested, my advisor said that since I am supposed to work 40 hours a week in lab, the project should be completed within 2 weeks easily. (These projects which my advisor wants me to do require some 80 hours of programming sometimes since I first need to learn the language and then write code for it). It's not that I don't want to develop apps, but I am more interested in writing journal papers for IEEE with deadlines in November, and I need all the time I can for that endeavor. I raised this issue but my advisor said that getting accepted in IEEE is remote, so I should concentrate on writing apps since there is a very good chance for her to get funded if I develop them.</p>
<p>I know that even if I refuse development, my advisor might throw a fit but my GRA will be intact because no advisor fires a student who is about to complete thesis. Also, I had asked my advisor if she would be interested in helping me with getting a PhD after thesis and she flatly said no. The advisor said I should probably go back to industry and work for 3-4 years and then decide on PhD. It seemed more like an excuse to make me get out of the lab. So it's pretty obvious there is no chance of a long-term relationship with my advisor.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I am trying to understand what are the other job responsibilities of
an MS student doing thesis? There is no chance of working with my
advisor after MS, so why should i work on her projects? I can very
well try to get some journals papers published as it might help in
getting a PhD admit elsewhere, or should I just develop her apps
because I work in her lab?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Edit: There are 3 people in my lab now (2 MS students and one PhD student), but I am the only programmer.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12049,
"author": "Shion",
"author_id": 1429,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1429",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><strong>tl;dr</strong> Your adviser is not wrong. There are plenty of additional responsibilities and duties of maintaining a matured lab affiliation even as a MS student.</p>\n\n<p>I think you went about it a wrong way. A little hill out of a molehill has been created. </p>\n\n<p>Being a GRA in a lab does not mean that the buck stops with your thesis research. I am a member in a medium sized lab based in a ECE department. Typically, we have 4-6 graduate students, 1-2 post docs and a gaggle of undergraduate and masters students at most given times.</p>\n\n<p><strong>My Responsibilities:</strong></p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>Thesis research. This is primary and takes up most of my time.</p></li>\n<li><p>Collaborative research with another graduate student. This is my secondary project and takes up a little bit of my time.</p></li>\n<li><p>Giving talks in the lab about our works in progress.</p></li>\n<li><p>Guest lecturing for my adviser in his courses when he is away.</p></li>\n<li><p>Mentoring REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates) students when they come in summer.</p></li>\n<li><p>Mentoring undergraduate and masters students from my own university in their own and lab projects.</p></li>\n<li><p>Helping other lab members out with analysis - typically quantitative and some qualitative.</p></li>\n<li><p>Reviewing articles written by other lab members.</p></li>\n<li><p>Social engaging with lab members and lab visitors.</p></li>\n<li><p>Designing presentations for lab funding reports and reviewing said reports.</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>I am sure I have forgotten a few more \"responsibilities\" but I can assure you that my work <strong>does not</strong> begin and end with just my own thesis research. It sounds like a lot but I can assure you that it really isn't and the situation is quite typical for my university and department. I have an excellent work-life balance. Now, I am a PhD student but once upon a time, I was a MS student and I had similar responsibilities.</p>\n\n<p>The situation you describe is <strong>not</strong> atypical. I have seen folks in labs (which develop apps as a stepping stone to doing research) spend a lot of time actually developing the app. You are right. It takes time. Being a member of the lab means contributing to projects which are not just your own. It is a team effort.</p>\n\n<p>Your adviser has actually given you a sanity check in terms of getting a PhD admit and in terms of what other graduate students usually do. Getting a paper accepted in a prestigious IEEE transaction is quite a considerable effort and takes a long time. It seems to me that your adviser does not feel that your research will be accepted into such a venue. I also think you hit a nerve somewhere when you argued about quantum of hours and projects to be worked upon according to your GRA deal. It doesn't work like that. You are not a unionized worker. </p>\n\n<p><strong>Research takes as long as it takes.</strong></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12054,
"author": "JRS",
"author_id": 8279,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8279",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The way that I view my GRA position is that the university is paying your tuition and stipend. There is expectation is that you will provide labor that will contribute to their projects. It's a pretty good deal- you get an education with a mentor in exchange for work that hopefully you are interested in. I would expect them to think of you as an employee. At this stage, you work for someone and they tell you what they need and you do it. It takes time and effort to mentor you, make sure you contribute everything that you can while you are there. </p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/21 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12048",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7937/"
]
|
12,056 | <p>I work as an instructor at a university. I am not a graduate student there and my responsibilities end at teaching. Recently, a supervisor from another department asked me to prepare an article for their department to use, for some extra pay. The subject aligned well with my background and recent research.</p>
<p>When I finished the article, which involved additional research and several weeks of work, I put my name as author, as I would any other paper. After I finished, the supervisor requested that I completely remove my name, as he wished to submit it to the leader of his department, assembled together with some students' work.</p>
<p>Is that at all unusual that someone would request that I remove my name from a paper?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12057,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 7,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This seems to be a blatant attempt to take credit for your work - as far as I know, this is both not common, nor acceptable. To quote @JeffE <em>\"hell, no\"</em>, or a polite variant, is the only response.</p>\n\n<p>I would, politely but firmly, state that as you have done the research and the write-up, then you are the first author, perhaps offer to have them as a co-author, only if they have contributed something.</p>\n\n<p>I would also consider having a quiet word with the head of the department about this.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12059,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This is a \"slam-dunk\" case, <em>provided you have a paper trail.</em> </p>\n\n<p>If you have both done research for the paper as well as wrote the first draft, then your colleague is <em>required</em> to give you co-authorship on the paper. (In fact, there's a strong case that <em>you</em> should be the first author, not your colleague.)</p>\n\n<p>So I would agree with Damien that you should \"politely but firmly\" make your case to your colleague. If he refuses, then speak to the \"leader of the department\" and present your evidence. </p>\n\n<p>I would also make sure not to work with this colleague again in the future! </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12071,
"author": "Tobias Kienzler",
"author_id": 442,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/442",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>My answer assumes the worst case, namely that said supervisor indeed attempts to claim authorship for your work. As <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12056/is-it-common-practice-to-remove-an-authors-name-from-a-paper#comment22313_12056\">LarsH justly pointed out</a>, you might first want to clarify this is not a severe misunderstanding by having a talk with said supervisor, i.e. why would he want you to do such a thing (and please don't go down the path of asking \"ok, assuming I did, what's in it for me?\"). There may be a sensible argument, but personally I doubt it, thus let's assume he basically wants to publish your work as his:</p>\n\n<p>Not only is this unusual and unethical, it is against all scientific conduct and might even be a felony to press charges against. This would warrant said supervisor to face severe consequences like being fired or having their PhD/tenure disavowed. Do however not attempt something stupid like blackmailing them - instead, assuming you have sufficient prove of this, expose them immediately since this is intolerable misconduct. (If you don't have prove, treat carefully though, since this might backfire into you ending up being \"that jerk jealous of the \"real\"<sup>*</sup> scientists\")</p>\n\n<p><sup>*</sup> No offence meant, but unfortunately in the event of doubt rank all too often outranks common sense</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12072,
"author": "Dee",
"author_id": 6534,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6534",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If someone wants to steal your research for whatever purpose, he is a thief. It is not acceptable in academic world to do such thing, but as far as I know, such things can happen quite often in comparison how unethical it is. You have to resist and you have to change or expel your supervisor as soon as possible. If he use your work without your name, you can / and you have to use it against him, (with help of 3rd party, who will \"accidentally\" find this) so such thing will not repeat in the future and you will have no strikes back. Academic world should be (and unfortunately it is not) free of parasites.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12079,
"author": "sds",
"author_id": 5829,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5829",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>An episode I personally witnessed:</p>\n\n<p>A married grad student at a top university in a semi-experimental field told one of her two PhD advisers that she was pregnant 3 months before the dissertation defence (the baby was due 5 months after the defence). He replied <em>\"congratulations, I suppose\"</em> and sent <strong>her</strong> an e-mail (the same day) telling her that he was removing her from the author list in one of their joint papers. To say that she was shocked is an understatement. After much agonizing she replied to him <strong>and</strong> <em>all the other paper authors</em>, listing her contribution to the paper and expressing a surprize that this does not merit her being one of the authors. The advisor apologized and her authorship was reinstated.</p>\n\n<p>In short: <em>never surrender</em>.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12117,
"author": "StasK",
"author_id": 739,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/739",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Just to round up the discussion, there are situations where you <em>want</em> to have your name removed -- when you are not satisfied with the quality of the work in the paper. I am a statistician, and I have heard of cases when a group of substantive researchers would ask a statistician for initial guidance, do the (wrong) analysis on their own, and stick the statistician's name into the list of authors to make their paper more credible. I have also heard of really weird situations when statisticians from pharma industry did not want their names on solid papers so as not to signal to their competitors that their firm is working on this new type of a drug. In either case, the initiative of having the name removed comes from the co-author themselves, not from the lead author.</p>\n\n<p>Other than that, I have +1ed most answers here. As most others, from your description the situation appears to be that of plagiarism and a blatant violation of your authorship rights.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/22 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12056",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/600/"
]
|
12,061 | <p>I have a masters degree in electronics engineering. When I was pursuing my B.Tech (Electronics and Communication) I had a nervous breakdown (to be specific BPAD) which was treated. After successful treatment I was able to succeed satisfactorily in my career. I have had to follow strict medications from then and sleep of 8 hours was must and the doctor warned me not to be in tense situations. I qualified the entrance exam for M.Tech with a 97 percentile and I have a severe love towards research now. I have started to fall in love with subjects like signal processing, linear algebra, statistics and probability, machine learning etc, but one professor from a premier institute of engineering and science warned me not to do a PhD, because competition is so heavy nowadays and people like me may have a second nervous breakdown. </p>
<p>I am currently working as an lecturer at a private engineering college. The management people are bothering me which is creating great tensions. I will give you an example: The vice principal was asking for an explanation letter and apology along with lot of scolding for a malpractice done by a student in an exam where I invigilated. They are also compelling us to do a lot of office works and not allowing us to focus teaching itself. What my argument is that since I can tolerate these humiliations and tensions, couldn't I join for a Phd programme and advance my career? </p>
<p>I have tried comparing myself with my teachers in engineering college and to my colleagues (who are certainly healthier than me). One instant I can explain: I had a teacher who when I asked a doubt on optical communication answered me that a teacher hadn't taught that....meaning they were not willing to take a look to the reference text. I am far better than my colleagues here. I regularly clear most doubts in the department. </p>
<p>As a human being who has the right to exist in this world and to support my poor family, and to do justice to myself, let me ask that couldn't I do a PhD in this present world?</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>Update:</strong> I submitted my Ph.D. thesis in January 2020. Of course, there were tough times. But I survived. I got a postdoc position too. :)</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12064,
"author": "Vedran Šego",
"author_id": 7161,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7161",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I'd love to tell you to pursue your dream, but it's not as easy. As Daniel said, a PhD (almost?) always leads to some tense situations. However, I wouldn't be as pessimistic (or at least as definite) as he was.</p>\n\n<p>First, Jack's comment is right on spot: we cannot give medical advices. IMO, you should discuss this with your doctor. How much stress can you take? For how long would it be O.K. for you to lose sleep? As your PhD draws nearer to the end, the stress will rise, whether you want it or not, and you will get at least few sleepless nights. Is there some medication that can help you with that? A doctor should now that, as well as the risks.</p>\n\n<p>Second, you should look for a potential advisor and talk to him/her. Explain your situation, see if there is something to be done (i.e., give you much looser deadlines), maybe even arrange to meet with both your doctor and your potential advisor together to discuss this. An advisor can point out the potential problems, and a doctor can address them.</p>\n\n<p>Third, what would you do after getting a PhD? In many countries, a PhD is the first real step towards the research career. Such career, while relaxing in some aspects (flexible working hours, for example), is quite stressful in others (paper/conference deadlines, looking for grants, fighting for university positions, your own PhD students, problems in getting results and/or being unable to solve some problem,...). At that phase, you will not be able to have the world adapt to your needs. A journal will not postpone its next issue to wait for your paper, a conference will not be postponed for you, grants will not be just handed to you,... Is this the life you can handle? This is also to be discussed with your doctor (if possible, have someone with such experience along). If not, what does PhD give you and is it worth going for it?</p>\n\n<p>Not to end in such grim tones, there might be alternatives. You can go for a \"normal\" (i.e., non-research) career, but talk to some researcher(s) and see if you can cooperate (see it as a hobby at first), so that you do some research, but without all the pressure. And, if that works out well, you can always discuss doing those additional steps.</p>\n\n<p>But, do remember: communication is everything. Without consulting your doctor and at least one academic, I don't think you should go for a PhD.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12065,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I'll start with the basics: doing a PhD usually implies a lot of stress, and the process is both very competitive and tense. However, it depends a lot on the environment around the student. Therefore, without knowing your specific medical situation (and not being a medical expert, even if I knew all about you), you may not get a more useful answer than: <strong>yes, it is possible</strong>, but you have to be very careful about <strong>ensuring that this is done in an environment compatible with your condition</strong>, and be prepared to <strong>quit if you have to choose between your health and your job</strong> (recognize early on that failure is always an option). It will be hard, but I don't think it's impossible.</p>\n\n<p>If you are to enroll in a PhD (or graduate program, I don't know the details of India’s graduate-level education system), it has to meet certain conditions:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Make sure that the people taking you on as advisor and department head know of your condition, and wholeheartedly embrace the idea of you having special needs</li>\n<li>Discuss it with the doctor that follows you regularly. Also bring into the discussion your future institution's resident doctor, because he is (in most countries, by law) the person who will mediate between you and your institution if problems arise.</li>\n<li>Realize that if you love research, it's not only a PhD, but already think of your career ahead.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>A last note of hope: in many countries, <strong>people with disabilities are allowed by law to obtain work adjustments from their employers</strong>. This is more commonly done for people with physical disabilities, but I know at least one person who successfully obtained very specific (and very large) adjustments to his PhD program because of his mental health (this is in France, if it makes any difference).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12073,
"author": "410 gone",
"author_id": 96,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/96",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<h2>The bad news</h2>\n\n<p>Your doctor has warned you not to be in tense situations.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Listen to your doctor.</strong></p>\n\n<p>Like somewhere around 10-25% of the population, you have challenges to your mental health. Those are challenges you have to live with and work with. For that, you will benefit from medical support.</p>\n\n<p>So listen to your doctor.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Doing a PhD is a lot of stress. A <em>lot</em> of stress.</strong></p>\n\n<p>From what you've written, according to your doctor, you are not in a position to take on that stress. So don't.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<h2>The good news</h2>\n\n<p>There are lots of ways forward from here. There's lots of good evidence-based psychology going on, in India (for example at the CARE Institute of Behavioural Sciences, Chennai) and elsewhere, that may be able to help you develop your own early intervention toolkit to help prevent any recurrence of your former ill health. Such a toolkit might conceivably give you the tools you need to take on a PhD in the future, and to deal with the other challenges that life offers.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<h2>Final caveat</h2>\n\n<p>And life will throw enough stress-inducing events at you anyway: there's no need to go seeking out additional ones, until you've got the tools you need to handle them, so don't.</p>\n\n<p>Just listen to your doctor.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12092,
"author": "JRS",
"author_id": 8279,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8279",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Is it possible to do a PhD at part time status? It usually seems like PhD's in the US work on campus and these usually require being enrolled in a certain amount of hours. I'm not sure what India is like. </p>\n\n<p>I really wish you luck with your condition. Hopefully, over the years, you've learned different ways to stay balanced and handle stress. Exercise and meditation are essential to keep me in balance. </p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/22 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12061",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8284/"
]
|
12,070 | <p>I am a new immigrant and my question is about norms in American universities. I have MSc degree from abroad and in order to improve my chances for admission to a decent PhD program I would like to get published. I would appreciate your answers about the following questions:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Is it acceptable for <em>someone outside a department/university</em> to contact a professor and ask him/her for a research project (as a non-student)? </p></li>
<li><p>I do not have journal publications. What else can make them convinced? </p></li>
<li><p>Finally, what would be an ideal etiquette/strategy for contacting professors with a plan for making such a request, if it is sensible at all. </p></li>
</ol>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12076,
"author": "Iron",
"author_id": 8295,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8295",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<ol>\n<li>It is acceptable, but not the best strategy. Getting the attention of a top professor is like fishing a very picky fish: you need a good bait. In my experience, it is easier to approach them by offering something rather than by asking for something. Also, the approach should be genuine. This is, you approach them because you want to work on something that might fit his/her research interests not just because you want to see his/her name tied to yours in a paper.</li>\n<li><strong>IDEAS</strong>: Professors salivate when they see an interesting idea.</li>\n<li>Just follow all the etiquette rules. Be polite and respectful as you would be with any other person. Also, try to be precise, they are busy people.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>More importantly: Publications are not strictly necessary to be admitted to a decent PhD.</p>\n\n<p>If you have some project in mind, write it and send it to the Professor in question. Tell him/her that you are interested in working on such project and that given his/her research interests, you think that the project would be greatly benefited with his/her ideas and that you would appreciate collaborating with him/her on it.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12123,
"author": "David Ketcheson",
"author_id": 81,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/81",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>@Iron's advice is good, but you will probably get turned down. I get many such requests and none has worked out yet.</p>\n\n<p>The best way for you to get to work with a professor is to first be admitted as a PhD student in his/her program.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/22 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12070",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8289/"
]
|
12,085 | <p>If one is extending work previously published in conference proceedings, what must be changed?</p>
<p>Specifically, does one need to change the Introduction, Background Work, or similar sections that are not actually the new material being presented?</p>
<p>I understand that some journals use a plagiarism detection system that would throw serious red flags if sections were untouched; so, how do editors view this?</p>
<p>It seems reasonable to not have to modify every sentence, especially where the material has not changed.</p>
<p>Thoughts?</p>
<p>Edit: Typically, 25-30% new material should be presented, but does this have to come at the cost of rewriting some portions of the work that remain the same?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12086,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>There is no good reason to simply copy large portions of an existing publication to make a new. By rewriting everything, you have the opportunity to rephrase your thoughts and most likely produce a better paper, at least from a writing point of view. Some journals definietly look at plagiarism and in this case self-plagiarism and the only way to avoid it is to rewrite. I think the benefits of rewriting clearly outweighs the possible time-saving by just copy-pasting.</p>\n\n<p>Just to provide an example. I have written tens of papers about the same natural physical object that I have studied. In each paper, I have to provide a descritpion of the locality and characteristics and not once have this been copied. It is in fact interesting to see how many dofferent ways the same (dull) information can be conveyed.</p>\n\n<p>As for a percentage of new material, I really would advice against relying on a numbr. It is possible this is a silent understanding in some fields but in general, only new insights and conclusion should warrant a new publication. Another year of data or something similar to that is in itself not enough. The paper might be published but such publication strategies are not looked upon favourably in the long term.</p>\n\n<p>So, I strongly recomend rewriting each paper and not rely on copy-pasting. I am convinced you will develop as an author and also generate better papers by doing so. consider each paper a separate new entity.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12087,
"author": "HJM",
"author_id": 5658,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5658",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I agree with @Peter Jansson, and I believe there is significant reason to rewrite the paper. That said, some of it is simply tedious!</p>\n\n<p>I'm just going to add an answer here that I received after reaching out to an editor about this question.</p>\n\n<p>Summary of their response:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Good question! I will give you my point-of-view as an editor:</p>\n \n <ul>\n <li>The delta will be evaluated <strong>semantically</strong> not textually.</li>\n <li>There is no definitive need to rewrite sections; however, since you are not subject to the same limitations as a conference paper,\n detailed explanations are highly welcomed, specifically in unclear or\n shortened sections.</li>\n <li>Also, since an extended paper contains something new, it is unlikely that Intro and Conclusions will be the same, and changes\n should be made accordingly.</li>\n </ul>\n</blockquote>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12088,
"author": "Dave Clarke",
"author_id": 643,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/643",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Quite likely, when you were writing the conference version of the paper, you found yourself having to compress and cut here and there, ultimately telling a different story than the one you would have liked to tell. These cut will have occurred throughout the entire paper. When writing the journal version of the paper, you will have the chance to expand on those previously compressed sections. Indeed, you probably have better ways of explaining things or new insights. Now is the time to give those explanations and insights.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/22 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12085",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5658/"
]
|
12,097 | <p>I see a lot of questions about grad school prospects with poor grades and/or gre but what about the prospects of getting into a funded PhD program with no research experience or professor connections but good grades and gre quant (3.9 and 165 respectively)? </p>
<p>I graduate in December (BS CompEng from 2nd tier US college) and don't really have time to get interested in undergrad research (though i'd love to but I can't afford to quit my job). If I just blanket applied to the top 20 CS PhD programs do I have a good chance at picking up decent funding (say $18k+)? </p>
<p>Also is there an online resource to profile what kind of applicants get accepted to which schools?</p>
<p>Edit: I received some good advice but no one has responded to my original question: can I get into a decent funded cs PhD program with good grades and gre while lacking research experience. I can certainly ask my professors to write letters of recommendation and 'top 20' is a somewhat arbitrary number. I would really be happy in any school that is actively outputting interesting machine learning or combinatorial optimization research. </p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12098,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Your big challenge—and this would be true regardless of the field—is that you have no \"professor connections.\" This is a major challenge for you, because one of the most important parts of a graduate application is the letters of recommendation. If you don't have people who know you and can vouch for your capability to be a successful graduate student, you're going to have a tough time getting admitted to a graduate school, and especially top-20 programs.</p>\n\n<p>The good news is that in most science and engineering graduate programs, if you do get into a reputable program, you should be able to get a guarantee of funding (either as an RA or TA) for the length of your graduate career (assuming you make \"normal progress\" and are a good departmental citizen, etc.). I would be leery of accepting an offer from a school that doesn't make such a commitment!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12171,
"author": "Chris Gregg",
"author_id": 4461,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4461",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>Can I get into a decent funded CS PhD program with good grades and GRE while lacking research experience.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Yes</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p><em>Will</em> I get into a decent funded CS PhD program with good grades and GRE while lacking research experience.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Apply and find out.</p>\n\n<p>Graduate school applications at the highest level are strongly biased random processes. For the good programs, there are <em>always</em> many more qualified applicants than available positions. Many times it boils down to which professors are looking for candidates who are strong in certain subfields, and that changes on a yearly basis.</p>\n\n<p>If you want to go to graduate school in your field, put together the best application package you can (great letters of recommendation, well-written research statement, etc.), and apply to a range of schools that meet your criteria for \"school[s] that [are] actively outputting interesting machine learning or combinatorial optimization research.\" Don't be silly and apply to only the top schools (<em>no one</em> is guaranteed acceptance), but don't feel shy about applying with excellent grades, scores, and letters.</p>\n\n<p>If you're concerned that you'll be throwing money away by applying, there are times in life where you do have to take risks in order to proceed, and spending application money may be one of those times. However, this: \"If I just blanket applied to the top 20 CS PhD programs\" is a bad idea and almost certainly a waste of money.</p>\n\n<p>If your concern is more \"should I spend another semester/year getting some research experience to be more competitive,\" well, that's a bit more nuanced. It can't hurt, especially if you do well in that research (either publish something, and/or demonstrate to a professor that you have good research potential). Are you the perfect candidate now? No. Will you be competing against other students who don't have research experience? Yes. Do students with quality research experience have a better chance of being accepted? Yes.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/23 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12097",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8336/"
]
|
12,099 | <p>I have come across the <a href="http://thesai.org/Publications/IJACSA">International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications(IJACSA)</a>. The <a href="http://thesai.org/Publications/Guidelines">copyright section</a> says that "<em>Authors retain the right to publish their material elsewhere, providing the original publication is acknowledged.</em>"</p>
<p>Can the same paper be sent to somewhere else as well. Given that I have seen that mostly conferences/journals require unpublished material, what does this clause exactly mean ? Is it normal clause in Open Access Journals ?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12103,
"author": "Nate Eldredge",
"author_id": 1010,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>That means that IJACSA will not try to stop you from publishing your work elsewhere. (They'd have little reason to do so, as they are not profiting from it.) It is common for open-access journals to let the author retain the publication rights.</p>\n\n<p>However, no reputable journal will publish an article that has already appeared somewhere else.</p>\n\n<p>You could \"publish\" it on your web page, or on arXiv, or as part of a book (though again, a reputable book publisher will probably balk if the content is just recopied).</p>\n\n<p>Note: IJACSA is published by The Science and Information Organization, which is on <a href=\"http://scholarlyoa.com/publishers/\">Beall's List of Predatory Open-Access Publishers</a>. Its website makes the journal look very dubious, especially the ridiculously broad scope and the promise to complete peer review within 15 days. I wouldn't publish there (<a href=\"http://pdos.csail.mit.edu/scigen/\">or would I?</a>).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12106,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think the more specific meaning of this statement should be that you have the right to:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>publish your work in alternate formats (on-line repositories, your website, internal technical reports, etc.)</li>\n<li>re-use <em>excerpts</em> from your work in alternate venues</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>The latter would be, for instance, to reprint a figure that you used in one publication in a second publication you've written, but simply citing that it came from the original figure.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12114,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It's very important to understand the difference between <strong>copyright law</strong> and <strong>academic ethics</strong>. They give you permission, waiving the normal copyright assignment process, to retain the copyright of the work you produced. You can thus republish it, in full or in part. While doing so in another journal, even with appropriate citation, would be unethical (journals require <em>original</em> content), there actually are some ethical ways in which this could happen: </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>republishing as a chapter in a book, with a clear notice;</li>\n<li>republishing parts of it in course material;</li>\n<li>republishing “as is” in a more prestigious journal 20 years from now, if it so happens that your paper spawned an entire new field of research and is now revered as such</li>\n<li>reformatting it and putting it on your blog (which <em>is</em> a publication).</li>\n</ul>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/23 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12099",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2823/"
]
|
12,100 | <p>I have recently come across this journal <a href="http://thesai.org/Publications/CallForPaper?code=IJACSA" rel="nofollow noreferrer">International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications(IJACSA)</a></p>
<p>The journal provides acceptance notification within 15 days. This raised red flags, but then I performed a <a href="http://scholar.google.co.in/scholar?hl=en&q=thesai.org&btnG=" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Scholar Search for thesai.org</a> and seems that most of their papers have decent citations. So, how reliable is scholar search when evaluating the quality of a journal or how to interpret the results from scholar search ?</p>
<p>EDIT: As pointed out by <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010/nate-eldredge">Nate Eldredge</a> in <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12099/publishing-again-acknowledging-the-original-publication-of-oneself/12103?noredirect=1#12103">Publishing again acknowledging the original publication of oneself</a>
this journal is on <a href="http://scholarlyoa.com/publishers/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Beall's List of Predatory Open-Access Publishers</a>. But this again raises the question how reliable is scholar search then or what are ways to search reliably for a research papers.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12108,
"author": "silvado",
"author_id": 3890,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/3890",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Even in case you generally accept numerical measures such as citation counts or the h-index as a measure of quality, Google Scholar seems to be rather unreliable in them. In the case of evaluating individual authors, let me cite the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Scholar\">Wikipedia article</a> on Google Scholar:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Vulnerability to spam — Google Scholar is vulnerable to spam.[26] Researchers from the University of California, Berkeley and Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg demonstrated that citation counts on Google Scholar can be manipulated and complete non-sense articles created with SCIgen were indexed from Google Scholar.[27] They concluded that citation counts from Google Scholar should only be used with care especially when used to calculate performance metrics such as the h-index or impact factor. Google Scholar started computing an h-index in 2012 with the advent of individual Scholar pages. Several downstream packages like Harzing's Publish or Perish also use its data.[28] The practicality of manipulating h-index calculators by spoofing Google Scholar was demonstrated in 2010 by Cyril Labbe from Joseph Fourier University, who managed to rank \"Ike Antkare\" ahead of Albert Einstein by means of a large set of SCIgen-produced documents citing each other (effectively an academic link farm).[29]</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I'm not aware of a case where this has been exploited by a predatory journal, but if a publisher wants to do that, it doesn't seem to be too difficult.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12122,
"author": "David Ketcheson",
"author_id": 81,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/81",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>By \"decent citations\" I assume you are referring to quantity. Attempting to determine the significance of a journal by the number of citations is a very bad idea; see for instance <a href=\"http://arxiv.org/pdf/1010.0278v4.pdf\">this paper showing that such things can be very misleading</a>.</p>\n\n<p>Just ask any experienced researcher in your field; if they're not familiar with the journal, you should probably stay away.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 72884,
"author": "ogusta",
"author_id": 58148,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/58148",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>IJACSA has been accepted for indexing in the Thomson Reuters Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI), a new edition of Web of Science launching in 2015. and its not indexed in SCI or SCIE. If you are looking for journal indexed in SCI or SCIE, IJACSA is not the journal.</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https://www.researchgate.net/journal/2158-107X_International_Journal_of_Advanced_Computer_Science_and_Applications\" rel=\"nofollow\">https://www.researchgate.net/journal/2158-107X_International_Journal_of_Advanced_Computer_Science_and_Applications</a></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 72888,
"author": "IgotiT",
"author_id": 54013,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/54013",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The reputation of certain journal depends on the fact that who are the peoples who publish their work in that journal. If they are reputable peoples then off course the journal is reputable and hence is reliable. Now how could one guess about the reputation of peoples publishing in that journal?? Well that is the real thing that comes from years of research experience and your supervisor can help you on that.\nThe citation metric are not only sufficient. I have seen math journal with impact factor in fractions are much superior to journal with 3+ impact factor.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/23 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12100",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2823/"
]
|
12,101 | <p>I plan to submit part of my current work to conference A. I then wish to submit my whole work to a more prestigious conference B. As for the part submitted to A, there is no point of repeating it again. So I will just cite my submission to A in my submission to B. </p>
<p>But the problem is that the submission deadlines for A and B are roughly the same. So actually the moment I submit the work to B, my partial work submitted to A has not been published yet. I have not even been notified of its acceptance.</p>
<p><strong>Can I still cite it?</strong> My concern is that even if I can cite it, one will find nothing online.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12104,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You are allowed to cite works in submission as part of your ongoing research; this is something I've had to do on a number of instances for publications I wrote both in graduate school and as a post-doc. </p>\n\n<p>The key here is that you <em>must</em> cite the work only as \"Submitted to Conference A\" rather than a standard reference to a work published in the proceedings. You would then, if possible, provide the conference paper A as an appendix or supporting information for the referees. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12107,
"author": "silvado",
"author_id": 3890,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/3890",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>In principle you can cite other, submitted work in a research paper. Just give the authors, paper title, and either \"Submitted.\" or \"Submitted to [venue].\" in the reference list.</p>\n\n<p>However, both as a reviewer and reader, I usually find this disappointing. I already came across several cases where I wasn't able to find the cited paper even years after publication of the paper with the citation. It is well possible that the cited paper is rejected, and maybe someone just doesn't follow up to really get it published. As a better alternative, check whether you can put a preprint version of the paper you want to cite online (e.g. on arxiv), and just cite that.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12118,
"author": "user8346",
"author_id": 8346,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8346",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Citing something that is not published will prevent reviewers from doing their job, so it's a big no-no if you want to improve your chances of being accepted. The best way to go is to be patient and submit to B next year, having had the chance to improve using the reviews from A. </p>\n\n<p>If this is not at all possible, you may be able publish A right now as a technical report from your lab/department an cite it as such. You'll have to check the guidelines of both conferences, namely if A accepts material previously published as a TR (in CS at least this is very common) and if B accepts citing TRs (usually also true in CS as long as it is easily available online).</p>\n\n<p>Most importantly, when citing from a non-refereed source like a TR, you have to be very prudent in the way you characterize the work. Remember that it was only accepted in your department as an interesting document, not properly validated using the scientific contribution standards of your community. If I read a claim that something was \"proven\", or \"shown\", or \"demonstrated\" by a tech report, I'll probably reject the paper.</p>\n\n<p>In any case, do not just cite A unless it is tangential (and in that case, why cite it all?). If it's actually important, give it an overview in your B submission, sufficient for a reviewer to keep on reading.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12125,
"author": "SteveK",
"author_id": 6931,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6931",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I believe that there a few issues that need to be addressed in this situation:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>You believe that part A is based on fundamentally sound methodology and the findings will be accepted within the community of your discipline.</li>\n<li>Can you cite works in submission?</li>\n<li>Works in submission are not available to the public.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>Whether of not Part A is widely accepted you can site it as a work in submission, the answer to the second concern is: you can also cite it as an unpublished work. For proper format check with the manual of style for your discipline.</p>\n\n<p>An example of an unpublished work not submitted for publication using APA Manual of Style:<br/>\nLincoln, A. (1863). <em>The principles of human equality</em>.. Unpublished manuscript.</p>\n\n<p>An example of a work in progress or submitted but not yet accepted using APA Manual of Style:<br/>\nLincoln, A. (1863). <em>Gettysburg Address: The principles of human equality</em>.. Manuscript submitted for publication (copy on file with author).</p>\n\n<p>As far as the third concern goes, I have reviewed numerous submissions to everything from small local up to international conferences and the equivalent array of professional publications and journals, personally I prefer that a brief description of the \"Part A\" methods and finding be given in a manuscript. However, when it comes to an abstract and space limitations a simple \"previously we (I) found...; therefore, we furthered the body of knowledge with...\" was always sufficient for my standards. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 81841,
"author": "Eilia",
"author_id": 52491,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/52491",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Agreed with @aeismail♦, I just find a solution that indicated in IEEE conference paper template as follows:</p>\n\n<p>\"Papers that have not been published, even if they have been submitted for publication, should be cited as “<strong>unpublished</strong>”.</p>\n\n<p>e.g. K. Elissa, “Title of paper if known,” unpublished.\"</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 175610,
"author": "Joris Guerin",
"author_id": 147050,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/147050",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I usually don't like to have many public versions of the same paper. I prefer releasing papers on arXiv only after receiving reviews and addressing relevant comments.</p>\n<p>To address this issue, a solution I have been thinking about is to share the preprint I want to cite privately, i.e. only accessible for people reviewing the submission. This could be done by protecting paper access with a password that is given in the citation:\ne.g., J. Guerin, “Title of the paper”, unpublished, available at "URL", password:XXX.\nThe citation can then be fixed once the cited papers is actually released.</p>\n<p>Anyone has some comments about why this might be a bad idea? I don't see any problem so far.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/23 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12101",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8079/"
]
|
12,109 | <p>My faculty is starting a mentorship initiative where they match undergrad students with alumni from the same program. I was contacted by one of my old professors, and asked whether or not I could be a mentor. </p>
<p>Now I have been in mentorship programs before; and I currently have a mentor myself, but I have always been the <em>mentee</em>, never the mentor. I have to say I never considered what the mentors have to gain in these programs. Is it mostly charity, in the sense that you selflessly help/guide the mentee, or are the intellectual/practical benefits to mentoring, particularly within academia? </p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12110,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I view this as \"paying it forward\": someone who has received good mentoring advice should pass this onwards to others.</p>\n\n<p>In addition, it's a way of encouraging promising young talent, and making sure they make their way through a challenging transition (from high school to college graduate is a big change!), and prepare them for their careers in the future.</p>\n\n<p>It is also possible to gain new insights and experiences by working with students of varying backgrounds. Helping them has actually helped me to develop closer connections both within the administration of my university, as well as with colleagues at other universities. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12111,
"author": "Chris Gregg",
"author_id": 4461,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4461",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>What can a mentor gain from the mentor/mentee relationship?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p><strong>Altruistic answers:</strong></p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>Passing on learned knowledge and lessons is a hallmark of a society. What you learned as a student, employee, employer, <em>citizen</em>, etc. is important so that once your brain and the brains of others in your generation are pushing up daisies, the knowledge isn't lost, and repeating mistakes can be avoided. Many people consider this a satisfying endeavor.</p></li>\n<li><p>As a role model, you can demonstrate moral, ethical, compassionate, etc. strategies for using the education you got from the school. Knowing that you've led someone down an ethical path is a good feeling.</p></li>\n<li><p>You can act as a sounding board for your mentee's questions about your field, and for the types of questions that don't routinely come up in class. There is a certain satisfaction in being able to answer questions based on your experience.</p></li>\n<li><p>There might be new ideas that your mentee knows about your field that you can learn from. While you pass on your wisdom, you also have the opportunity to learn some of the new ideas that are being taught today.</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p><strong>Less altruistic answers:</strong></p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>Depending on your field, having been a mentor looks good on a resume or in an interview.</p></li>\n<li><p>In your case, you'll gain points with your former professor, who might be more inclined to write you a good letter of recommendation some day.</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p><strong>Decidedly bad answers:</strong></p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>Steer the kid in the wrong direction, and that's one less competitor!</p></li>\n<li><p>You might get your lab cleaned because \"it builds character.\"</p></li>\n<li><p>In academia, if your mentee has good ideas, you can steal them and publish the results yourself.</p></li>\n</ol>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12113,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>From the mentor point of view, I think one important practical benefits of mentoring/tutoring is that it gives you access to a pool of students (your <em>mentees</em>, as you put it), from which you may find future interns/grad students/post-docs. This access can be used to try and recruit them, either for yourself, or within your network (or your field in general).</p>\n\n<p>Also, it gives you privileged (yet indirect) access to the students currently enrolled in the program: if you wish to circulate, e.g., a job or internship offer, it will look more attractive coming from a classmate than sent to them from a stranger.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/23 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12109",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5674/"
]
|
12,119 | <p>Please see <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11031/importance-of-research-in-other-areas-of-study-within-mathematics">this question of mine</a> first. </p>
<p>My question is: Does the admissions committee in grad school consider publications in places like <a href="http://arxiv.org/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">arxiv.org</a> as a significant achievement given the student has only completed bachelors? </p>
<p>I am asking this question because I have seen many math papers in arxiv.org that have not made new contribution to the field. In other words, those papers have not made new discoveries or solutions of the unsolved problems. This makes me wonder whether publishing at arxiv is considered a big achievement.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12120,
"author": "Layla",
"author_id": 6144,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6144",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The answer to your question is not really. This is because the people in Grad schools see if your publication has been submitted to a known conference or journal, or at least that they are peer reviewed. In arxiv.org anybody can publish their own work, being more like a big database of not or pre peer reviewed papers. I mention you this because I usually put my articles, the drafts that has been accepted in conferences, in arxiv.org, but there are some people that put only its ideas and even some articles that do not contribute too much to the developing of an specific field of science.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12121,
"author": "Henry",
"author_id": 8,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>\"Publishing\" on the arXiv is not a big achievement; actually, it's not an achievement at all. In terms of how prestigious it is, it's not really any different from putting an article on your own personal website. The arXiv isn't a publishing venue, it's a preprint server---it's purpose is to serve as a public repository for potential articles. It has various benefits (it's probably more reliable than your own website, it gives credible evidence about when an article was posted and modified, which is sometimes desirable), but it achieves those in part by <em>not</em> refereeing the articles on it.</p>\n\n<p>However, <em>writing</em> an article as an undergrad is certainly a meaningful achievement, and given that it can take a while for a paper to make its way to being in print, an appropriate unpublished article is still a positive for an applicant. Of course, the admissions committee wants to distinguish a good article from a bad one, and since posting on the arXiv isn't a good proxy for quality, the committee will look for others (recommendation letters, for instance, or possibly just reading the article themselves).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12127,
"author": "JeffE",
"author_id": 65,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><strong>It depends on the paper.</strong></p>\n\n<p>If you post a <strong>good</strong> paper to arXiv, it will definitely be valued by admissions committees, especially if you (and your references) make a compelling case to read it in your statement (and their letters). On the other hand, if you post a <strong>bad</strong> paper to arXiv — poorly written, making no new contribution, or both — it will also be valued by the committee, but as an easy excuse to reject your application.</p>\n\n<p>In other words, it's exactly like any other publication.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12129,
"author": "unsym",
"author_id": 4277,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4277",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Putting papers on arXiv is publication, but it is not a referred publication. People use it for various reason but most importantly to timestamp their work and communicate their works with others earlier.</p>\n\n<p>That being said, publishing on arXiv itself is useless, since no one has read on your paper yet. I bet that the admission committee won't read your paper at all. There are hundreds of applications, why do they want to waste time to go to arXiv and read a newbie's paper.</p>\n\n<p>However, situation could be different if you can show your work already \"reviewed\" in other way. For example, it is discussed by journals like Science/Nature, or very well known website like arxivblog before the referred publication. Or, the arXiv version is already cited by independent research groups. Remember to mention that if you have.</p>\n\n<p>In any case, you should put it in your CV if your papers are good. If possible, you can a try to attach a short excerpt from your paper such as abstract or the first page. It might be useful to show your work in progress and support your research interest in your application. In particular, if you already have at least one referred publication, the extra arXiv papers should sound much better.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12131,
"author": "Nobody",
"author_id": 546,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/546",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I agree with JeffE's answer.</p>\n\n<p>One of the things the admission commitee look for is your <strong>research potential</strong> when they review the application.</p>\n\n<p>You need to show that you do have the potential to do research. How do you show that? A well-written paper on arXiv is the evidence. Whoever writes your recommendation letter can use that to say it. You can mention that paper in your application. If the commitee has any doubt in your research potential, they can look at the paper and draw the conclusion themselves.</p>\n\n<p>As long as the quality of the paper is good, I believe it's achivement. Whether or not the achievement is big depends on the quality of your paper. Of course, you may kill your chance to be admitted if the quality of the paper is bad.</p>\n\n<p>In order to improve the quality of the paper, I would suggest you to let somebody (your prof/advisor) review the paper before you put it on arXiv.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12135,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think it is important to highlight one exception to the different answers given above. There are a few subdomains of research, mainly in physics, in which repositories such as arXiv are the primary means of communication. (This applies to topics such as string theory, and I believe some high-energy areas as well.) If you happen to work in one of these areas, then an arXiv publication will carry much more weight. Otherwise, the warnings given above do apply.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/23 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12119",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7580/"
]
|
12,130 | <p>Recently, I noticed that some of the papers actually had their author names listed in the alphabetical order. </p>
<p>Say Mr. Smith contributed more than Mr. Black. Then without noticing the tiny footnote, one will simply take Mr. Black as the first author.</p>
<p>I am wondering whether there exists some certain such scenarios where the authors have to be listed as such. Will it be unfair for the first-author-should-be? </p>
<p>Update:</p>
<p>I am talking about EECS field. I see most of the papers list the authors according to the contributions. But only occasionally, I see alphabetically-listed authors.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12132,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In my field (Atmospheric Physics) it does not happen - the principal researcher is first author, then the list is in order of contributions.</p>\n\n<p>According to <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_authorship#Order_of_authors_in_a_list\" rel=\"nofollow\">this section of a Wikipedia article</a>, it really depends on the field of research, and these seem to be relatively well established within those fields, so I would imagine that there would be very little feelings of unfairness (though I would imagine that such conflict would still occur). It would get trickier in interdisciplinary studies, where this would have to be negotiated, once again depending on the policies of the journal.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12133,
"author": "BSteinhurst",
"author_id": 7561,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7561",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In mathematics authors are almost always listed in alphabetical order. This works, among other reasons, because work groups are organized less by a lab structure so you get more rhetoric of equality between all authors. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12139,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p><strong>It happens when the authors chose to do so!</strong></p>\n\n<p>Journals do not impose the order of authors in the authors list. They usually give guidelines (or policies) on authorship standards, i.e. who should be co-author and who should not, but they leave the ordering up to the authors themselves.</p>\n\n<p>Now, different fields have different customs. In physics and chemistry, alphabetical ordering is very rare (used for example in consortium publications), while in mathematics alphabetical ordering is more commonly, but not exclusively, used. <strong>Unless there is a footnote clarifying the authors’ respective contributions, you cannot definitely tell which system they used.</strong></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12143,
"author": "Aaron",
"author_id": 1228,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1228",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In CS, it varies by subfield. Theoretical Computer Science follows the math tradition and (almost) always uses alphabetical ordering. Many other subareas use some form of order-by-contribution. </p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/24 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12130",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8079/"
]
|
12,137 | <p>Imagine a case where I wish to apply for MIT. I happened to work with a young assistant professor who finished her PhD in MIT. How much will her good words weigh in recommending me to MIT PhD program?</p>
<p>I am asking this because I am facing a choice in asking for recommendations:</p>
<ul>
<li>A recommendation letter from a more experienced full professor OR</li>
<li>One from a young assistant professor who just came back from MIT?</li>
</ul>
<p>I understand that what matters most is whether the professor knows me well or not. But for them two, I think they understand me roughly the same.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12138,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As both the academics know you the same, I would obtain a reference from the more experienced full professor for your application and a reference from the new assistant professor for your records/supplementary notes. </p>\n\n<p>I have found that you can never have to many references/recommendation letters, but strategically use them for what you are applying for wisely. However, use the recommendation letter only if their specialisations are the same or are similar to what you are applying for.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12140,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I disagree with Damien's answer for the specific case of your question. A graduate of the department, who knows you very well and can write a good letter of recommendation, is worth just as much as the \"big name,\" because she is familiar with the department as it is currently operating, and would be able to place your work in context of people also known in the department. So, for the specific case of applying to a school that is someone else's alma mater, I would say go for it, with a caveat.</p>\n\n<p>That caveat is that if a person is not able of writing a good letter of recommendation, then you shouldn't use it. A bad letter will not help you at all. If you have a career services office or academic counselor who can help you sort through which letters are most suitable for graduate school applications, that will help you make the decision.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/24 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12137",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8079/"
]
|
12,144 | <p>I submitted to a journal a couple of months ago. The editorial flow is somehow quick and very transparent. I receive notifications for all events happening to the manuscript.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the managing editor contacted me three weeks ago. They informed me that the assigned editor could not commit to the job and left. Another editor was immediately assigned.</p>
<p>However, I was contacted today by the new assigned editor. I was informed that all the contacted reviewers so far either refused to review the manuscript or did not respond to the invitation. They are now looking for other reviewers.</p>
<p>Despite the bad luck surrounding the manuscript, all of this happened in a reasonable time and I am satisfied with how quickly they react.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, these events made me reflect. Even if an editorial board possesses a fair network of reviewers, there is still a little risk that all the contacted reviewers either refuse or do not reply.</p>
<p>What happens if no reviewers could be found for a submitted manuscript? Is the journal going to reject the manuscript because of a lack of reviewers?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12145,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Short answer: the editor will continue to try and find other suitable reviewers, sending them invitations and waiting for replies. At some point, they may come back to you and ask you to suggest names (additional names, if you had already given some when you originally submitted the paper).</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>It can happen that an editor has a hard time finding suitable reviewers that accept to review a manuscript. There are a few factors in play, such as:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>the journal is not well-know;</li>\n<li>the editor is new, or not well-know in the field, or does not have a very good network;</li>\n<li>the research reported is atypical, in a very narrow subfield, or joins different areas (so that no one reviewer feels confident in accepting)</li>\n<li>the elements sent by the editor (title and abstract) are rather boring or tend to confuse the potential reviewers</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Note that most of these factors do not reflect badly on the manuscript, so there is no need to feel bad about it. The editor is likely to continue his search of reviewers. I see two other options that the editor could choose from, but I judge them as rather unlikely:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Evaluate the manuscript himself, and make a decision based on his own review. After all, it's his job, and the reviewers' role is only to help the editor reach a decision.</li>\n<li>Refer the manuscript to another editor, or to the editorial board, so they can make a decision on it.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>Finally, note that it may take quite some time to find suitable (and willing) reviewers. In the case of one paper of mine, it took the editor 3 months to find adequate reviewers, and that was actually for a prestigious journal. However, the paper was atypical enough (and the research was quite novel) that many potential reviewers did not feel able to review it adequately. <em>(And in case you wonder, it was accepted on the first try, once the editor found reviewers.)</em></p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>Edit (regarding your comment): my advice is <strong>don't retract your submission</strong>, unless you think it's the journal's fault (unwilling editor or unknown journal). I know it's tempting! But especially if your work is multidisciplinary, it will take time to find reviewers, even if you submit it to another journal. Thus, better let the current submission process go to its end.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12146,
"author": "Henry",
"author_id": 8,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>F'x's answer looks right to me, but since this actually happened to me once, I'll add some extra commentary which doesn't sound like it applies to your situation, but might apply to similar ones.</p>\n\n<p>Many journals (at least in math) have a de facto policy that every paper which even plausibly might get published has to go to a referee before a decision can be made. Therefore an article which has problems which make it very unlikely to get accepted---being difficult to read, or highly specialized, or involving multiple areas with few potential referees---but which doesn't have obvious flaws which make it an easy rejection might have trouble getting through the process. The editor keeps asking people to review it, and it looks like a hard job, and the paper isn't so interesting to be worth it, so they keep turning it down. An editor can eventually break this loop by asking a reviewer in a way which implies that the reviewer has permission to give a more cursory rejection for the reasons the editor has identified (perhaps based on comments made by other people when turning down the review).</p>\n\n<p>Once an editor has decided to start nudging potential reviewers in this direction, it becomes faster for everyone if the editor politely suggests that the paper should just be withdrawn. </p>\n\n<p>This (I think---I can't say for sure what the editor was thinking) is what happened to me. I submitted a paper involving two different areas to a journal specializing in one of them. After several months I got back a letter from the editor stating that several people had turned down the paper with negative impressions; the editor offered to look for more referees, but before doing so, wanted to know if I would like to withdraw the paper rather than continue to wait when it wasn't clear the paper would be accepted. I (and people I consulted with) interpreted this as a polite indication that at this point the editor would primarily be looking for an excuse to reject the paper, and therefore that it would speed things up for me if I withdrew it. (And, indeed, the next journal accepted it.)</p>\n\n<p>So a notification that the editor can't find reviewers <em>could</em> be a hint that the editor wants you to withdraw it, but isn't necessarily.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12153,
"author": "Rec",
"author_id": 8358,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8358",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It happened to me once that the editor sent my submitted paper to 5 reviewers (all of them were in my references) and all of them rejected the invitation to review the paper. The editor took this as a sign that my paper was not suitable for publication in that journal and rejected the paper. So, yes, a rejection can actually happen but it is not the rule. As usual, publshing is a combination of good content, a bit of politics, and luck.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 115589,
"author": "Allure",
"author_id": 84834,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/84834",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In my experience, as long as one tries long enough, hard enough, one can always find reviewers. It's just a question of how long it takes. After all, performing literature reviews is standard Masters-level work, and it's a small step from that to finding researchers working in the area. In other words, if the first few sets of invited reviewers decline to review or do not respond, one of these things happen:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>The authors lose patience and withdraw the manuscript.</li>\n<li>The editor loses patience and rejects the paper due to \"unable to find reviewers\".</li>\n<li>Nothing, and the editor keeps trying to find reviewers.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>It takes a motivated editor to keep trying, though. Even if the editor doesn't lose patience, it's possible he'll decide the paper can't be very good because otherwise reviewers would be jumping at the chance to review it.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 149587,
"author": "Dr. Dey",
"author_id": 124540,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/124540",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Well, this happened to me recently. After 2.5 months of reviewer hunting, the editor-in-chief failed to find any reviewer and rejected my manuscript. The funny thing is that during this last 2.5 months, I inquired about the status of the manuscript thrice through the manuscript submission system and also emailed the editor-in-chief at his persona email. I never got back any reply from him. Finally, I emailed Elsevier complaining about lack of enthusiasm of the editor-in-chief and voila, after few days the paper was rejected!</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/24 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12144",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
]
|
12,147 | <p>For instance, my field is Information Technology and I would like to know if it is okay to submit to management and environmental science publication. Of course, it's not purely I.T. but this is a paper on how I.T. can help preserve the environment, specifically on reducing consumption of resources.</p>
<p>What are your thoughts on this?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12148,
"author": "Chris Gregg",
"author_id": 4461,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4461",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>There isn't anything wrong with submitting to a conference that might not be a perfect fit. I would urge you to ensure that the fit is decent enough that you won't be wasting anyone's time, but cross-polination can be great for both fields.</p>\n\n<p>When I was a graduate student and was helping my advisor review papers for a prominent conference, I read an outstanding paper that I didn't believe was on-topic for the conference, and I suggested to my advisor that it should be rejected it even though it had a novel (and cool) contribution. When I discussed it with her, she said that for really excellent papers, program committees will sometimes be flexible. If I was convinced it was that good, she said, I should give it a positive review and let the committee sort it out. In the end they accepted the paper. It was very well-received at the conference, and the authors were excited to get the paper into the competitive conference, where it would undoubtedly be seen by a lot of people.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12149,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think if your work is either <em>interdisciplinary</em> (i.e. has impact in two different fields), or at the border of two fields (e.g., physical chemistry or molecular biology), you <em>should</em> publish in journals and conferences in a way to address both communities. We usually have a lot to learn by outsiders coming into a given field of research, as they bring a new view, new ideas, concepts and methods. Your case sounds exactly like that, so I'd say go ahead!</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/24 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12147",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8357/"
]
|
12,150 | <p>So my student and I are writing a paper, my question is: Among <code>[email protected]</code> vs <code>[email protected]</code></p>
<p>which sounds more professional? </p>
<p>I personally submitted a paper back when I was a bachelor student using my gmail address, although I had a similar student account like the one above. But my supervisor back then advised me <em>not</em> to use an <code>@student</code> account</p>
<p>In <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/164/changing-mailing-and-e-mail-addresses-as-corresponding-author-which-to-include">this related question</a>, a reviewer mentioned that he tends to have a negative a-priori when he sees an author of a paper with a gmail address (he admits that it should mainly be about the quality of the work, but he can't help it)</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12151,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>From personal experience, I have used my gmail account in the papers I have had published, without any hassles (in journals of impact factor 2+). I use the gmail account as it is one I still will be using when I complete my PhD, thus no longer have my university account.</p>\n\n<p>Like with many things, it is dependent on the journal's policies - best to read up on what they expect, if in doubt, write and ask them. They may allow it, but it may be due to email addresses like gmail going to their spam folder.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12152,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>It depends on many things, which I tried to order by descending priority:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Possible journal policy: in most cases, they don't have one</li>\n<li>Possible employer policy: my own institution forbids the use of <code>gmail.com</code> addresses in lieu of our professional ones, because of a national policy forbidding use of commercial email providers for state-paid positions (prohibitions which my institution extends to students)</li>\n<li>Which email address you'll keep longer: students email is temporary, but <code>gmail.com</code> may also be (it may not be hard to imagine that, in some near future, you become infuriated by Google's (or any company's) behavior and close your account). On that note: if you graduated from some institution, you may get a permanent alumni email redirection, which may last longer than all those individual accounts.</li>\n<li>Which email looks more professional: <code>[email protected]</code> sure doesn't do any good for your reputation.</li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12154,
"author": "J. Zimmerman",
"author_id": 7921,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7921",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In general, an institutional account looks more professional than a personal account. However, because of the transient nature of most student accounts, you may want to consider having your student open an account using <code>[email protected]</code> format, especially if their current gmail user-name happens to be something like <code>[email protected]</code>! This account should then be used for all academic/professional correspondence with individuals and institutions outside your university. (Obviously your student still needs to use the <code>@student.university</code> account within your university.)</p>\n\n<p>Of course, also check the policy of the journal to which you are submitting. If they require an institutional email account, then this is a moot point.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12155,
"author": "Chris Gregg",
"author_id": 4461,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4461",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Let me suggest a different direction (even though it doesn't directly answer your specific question):</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Don't put your email address on the paper.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>(obviously, put whatever you want for the correspondence when submitting the paper).</p>\n\n<p>When I was a grad student, my advisor forbid me to put an email address for us on any papers unless it was <em>required</em> by the formatting guidelines. We just left out email addresses altogether, for the following reason:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>If someone wants to find you, a <em>simple</em> Google search will turn up an email address that will be at least as current, if not more current, than the address on the paper.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>\"But what if my old website is still active with my old address?\" you might complain. That's your own fault for not policing old websites. If you have switched institutions, your new website should quickly rise (or will eventually rise, anyway) above your previous sites, cached pages notwithstanding.</p>\n\n<p>Will there be false hits because someone didn't find your up-to-date email? Sure. I'll argue that just as many times the email you put on the paper will be different than the one you currently use.</p>\n\n<p>The fact is that email addresses change, and what you put on your paper may not matter in a year, or two, or twenty.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12163,
"author": "Faheem Mitha",
"author_id": 285,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/285",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>A university email address that I had long used become unavailable in 2011, so I faced the decision of what to use for publications, and indeed what email addresses to use in other places.</p>\n\n<p>My main criteria was that I wanted a permanent email address, and I wanted maximum control over the email address, including reducing the possibility that others are reading/storing my email, and the option to change my hosting if I was unhappy with it while not having to change my email. Changing email is a real drag, and I think it is a good idea to use a permanent address for publications if possible. If someone is contacting you regarding a paper, and it bounces, it is possible whoever it is will just give up. Your prospective correspondent may try to search for a more current address, but why make it difficult? If you have a common name, searching may be more difficult.</p>\n\n<p>The main issue asked in the question is what is more professional. Personally, I think this is a minor issue. Maybe some journals care, but I don't see why they should. They should be more concerned, in my opinion, whether you will be contactable by this email long term. Unfortunately, in many cases it is not possible to update publication email addresses afterwards, even online, so that makes it doubly important. Email to my old address (which I stopped using in 2011) now bounces, which is unfortunate, but I can't do anything about it.</p>\n\n<p>There are many choices available out there. They include:</p>\n\n<p>1) Free corporate email addresses. Google's gmail is a popular example in this category.</p>\n\n<p>PROS: They are free. It is permanent as long as the provider does not close up shop or close your account for some reason.</p>\n\n<p>CONS: They are not university addresses. \n Someone is probably going to read and possibly sell the contents of your email. Otherwise, why would they give away something free? Also, if the email hosting is hosted in the US, the NSA may store your email. As we know from recent news revelations, for gmail, we can assume that both Google and the NSA are going to be going through your email, or at least keeping it.\n You have little or no control over the quality of the hosting. Even access may be problematic at times.</p>\n\n<p>2) University address (possibly using alumni accounts)</p>\n\n<p>PROS: University address, which is generally a good thing for academic publications. The NSA might still sniff through the email, but it is unlikely the university will, though who knows these days?</p>\n\n<p>CONS: Little control over the quality of the hosting or other parameters like the amount of storage allowed. If you want to change to another host, you will have to change the email. Possibly not permanent (for non-alumni addresses). If you don't work at the university any more, they will probably eventually shut down that email address (again, for non-alumni addresses).</p>\n\n<p>3) Create a custom email, including buying ones own domain, and paying for custom email hosting for email addresses of the form [email protected].</p>\n\n<p>PROS: Complete control over the email hosting. If you don't like the hosting, you can change it. One hopes a paid hosting company will not sniff through the email, though again who knows? For US hosts, the NSA is still a concern. It is a permanent address as long as you own the domain. You can make the email address easy to remember and to tell someone over the phone. Mine is extremely easy. Also, you can use [email protected]; i.e. you can choose whatever username you want.</p>\n\n<p>CONS: Not a university address. You have to pay. However, the charge is not excessive; I pay $10.00 a month, and this is on the expensive side. There are cheaper options.</p>\n\n<p>As you can guess, I went with option 3.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12178,
"author": "sr3u",
"author_id": 6448,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6448",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The problem of university addresses getting stale because the linked accounts are not available/active can also happen with other accounts. Gmail may be a bit more sensible than most, but I have suffered for using hotmail.com (Microsoft always knows best, including when to delete all your old saved mail wholesale without telling you).</p>\n\n<p>If your student is a serious scholar, I recommend using an alias from a professional society (acm.org, ams.org, ieee.org, etc.) instead, which can be redirected to whatever actual account one currently uses. My old grad school address of [email protected] also has stayed for years, first as a pointer to my school e-mail account (now of course gone), and now as an alias for my work e-mail address that I use professionally. Your school may have some such option also, check with some local IT guru there.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 88852,
"author": "Fred Douglis",
"author_id": 4246,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4246",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I am publishing at a conference this month, and was surprised to see instructions to authors say email addresses are required and specifically urging <em>industrial</em> authors to use a more permanent address, such as @acm.org. ACM is a CS professional organization and I do agree that it looks better somehow than, say, gmail. I <em>don't</em> think that applies only to nonacademics, and of course a change in address is especially likely for students. </p>\n\n<p>I agree with other answers saying email addresses have no place. The right info to include is an <strong>orcid</strong> to permanently disambiguate each author and provide a link to their current contact information. This looks ugly in a printed paper but should be on the site where it is published. </p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/24 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12150",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/703/"
]
|
12,156 | <p><strong>Question: What to write in a hypothesis that can't claim statistical results of any kind -- only those of engineering nature.</strong> </p>
<p><strong>Explanation:</strong>
In thesis writing, hypothesis is claimed to be one of the most important aspects. I'm not arguing with that but in some cases, it seems a little over-priced. I am currently writing a thesis that deals with enhancing an existing security model. I can't give out the exact idea obviously but please let me explain with the help of an example. </p>
<p>Let's say, I have a security problem that the existing "role-based access control" of MS-Windows does not solve some problems -- so, I come up with time-based constraints for the model used and incorporate them in a new "enhanced" model. In the thesis explaining this contribution, what do I write in the thesis? I can't claim an "N%" increase in security or any other statistic that I can think of. </p>
<p>So, what's the hypothesis in this case? </p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12157,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Effectively, what you are doing is <em>development</em> of existing research, rather than designing something <em>de novo</em>. The notion of a research hypothesis is therefore somewhat inappropriate to such work, and you wouldn't write a paper describing this work specifying a definitive \"hypothesis.\" </p>\n\n<p>Instead, you'd write the paper emphasizing that your model does something \"better,\" \"faster,\" \"more securely,\" or specifying whatever other accomplishments advance your work from the previous state of affairs. Your thesis should then show how that is accomplished, and give some evidence thereof. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12182,
"author": "silvado",
"author_id": 3890,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/3890",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>The hypothesis-model is good for research where you want to understand how something works, but I think it is ill-suited for capturing the full scope of engineering research. After all, in engineering, you're primary goal is not to learn something about how the world works, but rather to <strong>change how the world works</strong>! So, instead of a hypothesis on how something works, I'd put up existing gaps in the ability to do something as a working basis. That will then put a focus on your research result as an extension of technical capabilities. In order to evaluate your research results, you would then have to show that your results actually close the existing gap.</p>\n\n<p>Of course, also engineering research needs to understand something about how existing things work in order to be able to create something new. Hypotheses <strong>are suitable</strong> in engineering to clarify these preliminary things. In your case, you state that <em>\"the existing 'role-based access control' of MS-Windows does not solve some problems\"</em> - that sounds like a perfect hypothesis to test for. But verifying this hypothesis is certainly not the key step in your research, and maybe it has already been done previously. That's why I'd recommend not to focus on a hypothesis as the basis for engineering research (though one might use them to clarify preliminaries), but focus on <strong>identified gaps in current technical abilities</strong>.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/25 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12156",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/501/"
]
|
12,158 | <p>In my dissertation, I have felt the need to illustrate some ideas with the help of figures and illustrations which I have found available in existing literature. I have borrowed a number of them and I give proper citations and everything. My question is:</p>
<p>Will it be considered a negative point to have multiple borrowed figures from existing publications?</p>
<p>Also, in two cases, I found it hard to rephrase the captions for the images and I just quoted the captions(the proper way).
Does that look like I am being lazy?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12159,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>The issue here is not \"laziness\"; the real issue with reusing figures from the literature is that, without appropriate permissions, you <strong>do not have the right to do so.</strong></p>\n\n<p>If you reuse a figure in the literature without the appropriate permission from the rights-holders, you are effectively stealing their work, which is not allowed. Therefore, you need to make sure that you have gotten the right to use the figures, and have the proof to back it up if challenged. Normally, for scholarly works such as theses, such rights are routinely granted and cost-free. However, you <em>need</em> to check with the publisher (or author of the paper, if she holds publication rights) <em>before</em> using the figure. Then, next to the figure you are reproducing, you'll need to have a statement such as \"Figure reprinted by permission of <em>X</em>,\" where <em>X</em> is the person or institution authorized to grant reproduction rights.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 192863,
"author": "Björn Lindqvist",
"author_id": 85163,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/85163",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The legal aspects are fuzzy and varies from country to\ncountry. The American Fair Use doctrine may make borrowing\nfigures (with appropriate citations) permissible in American\ncopyright law. There may or may not be fair use equivalents in\nother jurisdictions.</p>\n<p>However, that is not what the question is about.</p>\n<p>The question is whether it will be considered "negative" or not. And\nthe answer is a resounding no. Few authors would mind you borrowing\ntheir figures, <em>if you appropriately cite them</em>. Even fewer thesis\nreaders would care wheter you drew the figures or someone else did\n(again, <em>if you appropriately cite the authors</em>).</p>\n<p>IANAL, this is not legal advice, just my experience with academics.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 192886,
"author": "Anonymous",
"author_id": 32512,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/32512",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As the other answers indicate, permission for re-use is of paramount importance.</p>\n<p>So much so that my university's graduate college (separate from the academic department where I did my research) had strict established procedures <strong>AND TIMELINES</strong> relative to graduation dates for demonstrating compliance. They were somewhat involved. Without that documentation, the dissertation would simply not be accepted. The committee had no discretion.</p>\n<p>I will note that "fair use" was not an adequate defense <em>at my particular university</em>. Truly open licenses such as Creative Commons were, but still required documentation (although the burden was much lower.)</p>\n<p>I strongly urge you to find out if similar guidelines and procedures exist at your institution. If they do, they will tell exactly what you need to do.</p>\n<p>I realize this is not your primary question, but it is important.</p>\n<p>As to your primary question: Dissertations necessarily build on the work that came before it. We cite papers regularly, and there is no shame or laziness in using some well-designed figures from other sources, provided you have permission. Likewise captions.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/25 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12158",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8360/"
]
|
12,164 | <p>I recently asked two professors by email if I could do an independent study with them. Both of them responded, saying that they can sponsor me for the study. As soon as I received the first professor's response, I replied, saying that I wanted to work with him and scheduling a face-to-face meeting.</p>
<p>Now that both professors have responded, though, I think I would enjoy working with the second professor more. Would it be appropriate for me to tell the first professor that I changed my mind, or would it be wrong to take back the commitment I already gave him? If it would be appropriate to change my mind, how can I handle the situation tactfully?</p>
<p>Although I would prefer to work with the second professor, I know that I would enjoy working with either of them, so I'll be fine if it's too late to change my mind.</p>
<hr>
<p><strong>Edit:</strong> Here is some more information about my specific situation.</p>
<p>I am planning on doing the same project with either professor. I am currently writing the music for a video game, and I would be working with the professors to produce the music and create a graded portfolio. I haven't worked out any specific details with either professor.</p>
<p>Both professors are music professors who have specific knowledge about music technology. The reason I would prefer working with the second professor is because I know he has expert knowledge of the software I'm using to produce the music. In addition, he is skilled with the genres of music I'm producing as well as writing film scores. I'm not sure how much the first professor knows about these specific topics.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12165,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It's a good situation to have to be interested in two projects, and be equally happy to work on either of them.</p>\n\n<p>However, if you have given a commitment to one of the professors, then you really should honor that commitment. Reneging on your commitment will look bad to the first professor, and if the second professor finds out, that could leave a bad impression on his mind, as well. </p>\n\n<p>You could tactfully tell the second professor, \"I would really love to work for you, but Professor X gave me an offer first, and I accepted before I received your offer. I am sorry to have to decline, but perhaps we can work together in the future.\"</p>\n\n<p>I don't think there's a tactful way to say the same thing to a professor after you've made a commitment; you'll come across as very opportunistic instead (note: that's not a good thing!).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12166,
"author": "Suresh",
"author_id": 346,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Do you have a project already lined up ? it sounds like your meeting with the first professor would be to discuss topics for the study. In any case, if no financial agreement has been reached, I see no harm in talking with both professors and then making a decision based on what happens in those meetings. I disagree with @aeismail that you've given a formal commitment at this stage. </p>\n\n<p>You didn't say though why you'd prefer to work with the second professor prior to having a meeting ? is it the subject matter ? general rapport ? </p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/25 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12164",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6030/"
]
|
12,169 | <p>My advisor recently received a pretty major award in our field for a set of four papers that he wrote, and I was a co-author on one of these. He and I both agree that I should receive some sort of credit for this award because my contribution was significant (the nomination for this award was done by someone else, so there is no wrongdoing on his part). What would be the right way, if any, for me to include this on a CV? What should I tell people? I was thinking of saying, "Paper so-and-so that we wrote together received the such-and-such prize"</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12173,
"author": "Layla",
"author_id": 6144,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6144",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The problem is that you were only the coauthor of one of those papers, it would be nice to know how much was your contribution to the paper you co-authored.</p>\n\n<p>For what I see your advisor is a very humble person (thing that you should learn, and not asking that you deserve extra credit for the work you have done); and he just feels that you deserve credit for the award. Only problem is that maybe he is saying that because he wants to be polite.</p>\n\n<p>The paper that you co-authored if it deserves good credit and reputation, that will come with the number of citations you will receive. I think, personally, that is of very bad taste that you want to pull the strings so hard to get a recognition for a work that was not even 50% of your contribution.</p>\n\n<p>Keep the good work and you will see that next time maybe you will get an award for your hard work.</p>\n\n<p>Remember stay a little bit humble and you will be respected and learn more.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12174,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I will take a slightly different view from Layla.</p>\n\n<p>I agree that you <em>personally</em> cannot list your advisor's award under <em>your</em> list of awards. However, you would list an award that a paper won as part of the listing of a paper, or a \"best talk\" or \"best poster\" award, or indicate that a lecture was invited. </p>\n\n<p>Therefore, if the award is expressly given to the winner for a set of papers, and this paper has been cited as one of the papers in the collection that is being recognized, then there would be nothing wrong or misleading about designating the paper in question as \"(a Prize X-winning paper),\" or a similar formulation which expresses the same intent. (That is, that the paper is one of a set of papers so awarded, and that you specifically are not the one being recognized). Also, this designation should appear alongside the paper, not in your \"awards and honors\" section of the CV. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12175,
"author": "fedja",
"author_id": 6118,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6118",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would just write it down exactly as it is: \"I co-authored one paper in the series of four papers for which my adviser got PRIZE_NAME prize\". Then I would read it aloud and wouldn't find it impressive enough, so I would abstain from putting it in the CV at all, though you are welcome to make your own judgement here.</p>\n\n<p>In short: Nothing that doesn't sound good in plain, crude English will fly with people who have brains (and most hiring committee members are no fools). The very first thing I do when I evaluate a CV is to translate every sentence into plain language and cross out all buzz words. The second thing is to verify all easily verifiable statements. So, either say it plainly, clearly, and precisely, or don't say it at all.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 192350,
"author": "Matt",
"author_id": 15762,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15762",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Recommendation letters would be the natural place for your advisor to address this.</p>\n<p>You trying to claim part of an award given to another <em>person</em> seems tacky and gauche. Even if it’s actually true, it won’t initially look like it. Searching for the award will show it went to J. Random Advisor rather than you, and it might take some detective work and assumptions for someone to determine that you were deeply involved in the work as well. However, your advisor can certainly—and credibly—say that you were responsible for his apparent success. Something like this would certainly put you in good stead for future jobs and awards:</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>From 2020-2022, Kirk and I worked together to investigate [<em>topic</em>], culminating in our coauthored <em>J. Awesome</em> paper. Kirk invented the approach we used and did [<em>impressive research things</em>], which I integrated with the framework previously developed by our group. This paper was very well received; in fact, according to the committee, it formed the backbone of my 2023 award of the Big Name Prize. Kirk has identified several exciting future directions for this work and I look forward to seeing the results.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>The situation might be a bit different if the award were somehow explicitly tied to your paper. There, you could potentially write something like “Cited in Dr. X’s award for [whatever].” This looks <em>less</em> like a bald faced attempt to claim credit, but I’d still be wary that it looks a bit like one. You need to balance the prestige of the award versus that possibility. For example, a postdoc using an undergrad coauthor’s “best poster” award as evidence of research prowess would be ridiculous; save that for a teaching statement.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/26 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12169",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8368/"
]
|
12,170 | <p>I am in the process of writing my Ph.D. thesis and struggling with the introduction chapter, what to cover, what not. This is a technical thesis. The broad area is molecular simulation in statistical mechanics. </p>
<p>There are lots of tips available on Internet, but those are very general often. I have found few theses also searching on Google. All those tips and theses vary in style and content and it is difficult to decide which one to follow. Please provide tips on how can I write a good introduction chapter of high academic standard.</p>
<p>EDIT: After reading your valuable inputs, I am adding here few more points. (Thanks everybody). Your comments on these points are highly appreciated.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>I have seen theses where people include background theories. On this matter, I have read that the theory should not be something which others know. Now this is difficult to predict what to include as background theory, what not. I have seen people including theories which are widely available in textbooks. </p></li>
<li><p>The chapter 2 is dedicated to literature review. It is also important to briefly mention background and relevant research works. Here I have found people are giving a little elaborate technical details. </p></li>
</ol>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12172,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I am in a slightly different field to you (atmospheric physics), but have had my PhD thesis approved for submission. Your university should have a style guide available to you - take that advice first.</p>\n\n<p>My introduction comprised the following sections (this was also used successfully for my MSc):</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>Rationale - this comprises an overview of the background knowledge in the field (and was expanded on in the Literature Review that was written after the Introduction). Make sure all variables are explained in detail here (dependent, independent and controlled).</p></li>\n<li><p>Hypothesis - what exactly is the predicted result of the entire project.</p></li>\n<li><p>Objectives - The main outcomes of the research (these related to the main papers that have been written and published along the way).</p></li>\n<li><p>Thesis structure - how the thesis is organised.</p></li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12176,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>My thesis, which does happen to be in the area you are writing about, took a somewhat different approach for the introductory chapter:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Motivations—why is this particular problem important</li>\n<li>Related efforts—in what context was the work done</li>\n<li>A short summary of the main development of the thesis (without a formal hypothesis statement)</li>\n<li>An outline of the remainder of the thesis </li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>The following chapter, which was also an \"introductory\" chapter, but more of a \"preliminaries\" chapter, defines all the major concepts, tools, and ideas used in the remainder of the thesis (which were derived from my published papers, and therefore somewhat briefer than what is needed for a thesis).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12184,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The introduction of a thesis is a good place to give a <strong>bird’s eye view of the problem you face</strong>, its importance, relevance to major challenges in the field, possible applications (including in related fields). You can very briefly explain what other have done to approach it, but I would <strong>definitely not include there a full review of the literature</strong>. You want the introduction to give the readers (and demonstrate to your committee) that you have a high-level understanding of the context and problem at hand.</p>\n\n<p>Then, you can include a section giving a full review of the state of the art in the field (i.e., what others have done so far) later in the manuscript, either as its own chapter, or as part of a “methods” chapter that is structured as such:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p><strong>Methods</strong><br>\n 1. Foundations of molecular simulation<br>\n 2. State of the art for your specific problem<br>\n 3. Methods you have developed</p>\n</blockquote>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12185,
"author": "yo'",
"author_id": 1471,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1471",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In my opinion, all the other answers omit a very important purpose of the Introduction: You should introduce not only the thesis, but <strong>the results of other people</strong> in the Introduction.</p>\n\n<p>A good introduction cites quite a handful of works of other people. Basically, a reader, after reading the Introduction, should have a good idea as what the thesis is going to be about, and in what wider concept of science it fits, and this cannot be done without citing other people. This shows that you are not doing some rubbish nobody is interested in.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12186,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>An introduction is a funnel into your work, bei it a paper or a thesis. The basic idea is to start by providing the wider scope within which your work resides.You then focus in on your part of the field or research question through a few steps.</p>\n<p>The wider perspective of the beginning should also be the perspective in which you will later put your own results, to show how they feed back into some more general perspective. This part should allow the reader to focus in on relevant research and obtain a firm backgroudn of the current knowledge in the field. Once you have established the background you should identify for the reader the gap of knowledge which you have tackled. you then finish of by stating you plan for solving the problem so that your choices of methods etc. can be seen from the perspective of knowns and remaining problems to be solved. We can summarize the text as</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Background</p>\n<p>Gap</p>\n<p>Your approach for a solution</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>Writing a thesis and a paper can mean this approach can be accomplished in several ways. In a research paper all of this usually goes into a single heading "Introduction". When you write a thesis the introduction may be many pages log and it is not uncommon to either have the list above as subheadings under introduction or to outline this part slightly differently.</p>\n<p>When you have a lengthy introduction, you may start out by having a chapter called introduction which does what was outlined above but cuts out the backgroudn details and only summarizes what is known and identifies gaps, almost like a sumamry of the whole introduction. You then follow up with a detailed background in a separate chapter and likewise for identifying gaps and providing the outline of your research.</p>\n<p>The point is that there are many ways to format or partition an introduction but the general idea is still there regardless of what form of publication you are writing: research paper or thesis.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/26 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12170",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6763/"
]
|
12,177 | <p>I'm looking at a job application that asks for the following:</p>
<ul>
<li>C.V. (required)</li>
<li>Statement of Interests (required)</li>
<li>Cover letter (optional)</li>
<li>Statement of Research (optional)</li>
<li>Statement of Teaching (optional)</li>
</ul>
<p>I find this confusing because I don't understand what a "Statement of Interests" is supposed to be, relative to the others. Does anyone know what's expected in a document of this kind? I'm a bit shy to ask the institution in question just yet, for fear that it's something well-known.</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12181,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>That is a rather confusing request, actually. However, what I think the job offer is looking for in a \"statement of interests\" is a description of the research areas you are interested in, while the \"statement of research\" would be a listing of projects you'd plan to start if you were hired. </p>\n\n<p>However, in many job postings, those two items would potentially be conflated into a single statement. So I'd recommend that you contact the department. I'd recommend doing this by phone, if possible—that way, you don't have to give as much identifying information.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12183,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Since I assume it is an academic job you apply for the letters will cover aspects of that type of work. The job profile could possibly also reveal how to interpret the requested information. My general advice concerning the confusion is to contact the employer to get additional information (they may also keep such information on a web-page). It seems the instructions are sub-par in this case, which is annoying. </p>\n\n<p>View the CV as the back-bone and the statements as an opportunity to provide some meat.</p>\n\n<p>aeismail has already covered two of the letters/statements well. How the research statement should be interpreted is less clear, but posdef's comment is good because it may concern what you have already done. If it is then it is common to go through previosu research and highlight what you consider are your major contributions out of your production and how you consider your work original and contributing to development in the field(s) of concern. I would strongly advice asking about the focus for this letter.</p>\n\n<p>The statement of teaching is usually detailing your views on teaching. The purpose is to get a sense of your ideas and understanding of pedagogical aspects of the work. This may nclude techniques/methods you have already used or ideas on such that you wish to develop. It could also include ideas on courses you would like to develop (if you have a sense of your possible coming mandate at the place at which yo apply. If your position is not concerning teaching, such a statement may not be necessary (I assume you received a form letter?). But, if you are pplying for a position which includes teaching then such a statement may be quite important and provide the job committee with a firm picture of your teaching philosophy.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/26 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12177",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8369/"
]
|
12,187 | <p>This has recently happened to an acquaintance of mine. A bit of background, in Australia, we do not 'defend' the thesis, we submit it to be examined by, usually, 3 academics (in the country or overseas).</p>
<p>The situation is, the thesis was approved by the advisor, after several drafts and some feedback. However, when it has come back from the examiners, it has come back as 'failed'. Some of the errors detected are ones that the advisor should have picked up on (as they are within their field of research).</p>
<p>Asides from the appeals procedure (dependent on the policies of the University), what are some practical options? Should they start again? Take her research elsewhere?</p>
<p>Edit for clarification:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>This has <strong>not</strong> happened to me, it has happened to an acquaintance (as said above).</p></li>
<li><p>My acquaintance submitted her thesis well within time and underwent several drafts (as said above).</p></li>
<li><p>The advisor is young/new to the academic scene.</p></li>
</ul>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12188,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>It is difficult to answer the question without also judging the supervision and other aspects of the student-advisor \"relationship\". I have been involved in a case which also resulted in a fail. I, being non-Australian) got the impression the thesis was done either by meeting a time deadline or by the student \"deciding\" so. I cannot imagine any advisor would recommend the thesis as completed in the shape it was. I could not, as examiner, figure out what rules made the thesis judged as competed, it would simply not go in my own system.</p>\n\n<p>In my case we bring in an examination committee from other universities and mostly from abroad. The thesis must stand an international scrutiny. This also means the advisors and students are aware of this requirement. In your case, as well as the one I experienced, I ask myself what sort of system is in palce to safekeep the general scientific standard?</p>\n\n<p>As you can see there are many open questions which makes a simple answer difficult to provide. In some cases it might be possible to use the feedback to improve a thesis. In the US system it is common that a thesis is given revisions to complete. In my system (Sweden) all this quality work has to be made before time, there is no recouperation after a fail. Hence, the options depend on what is possible within the Australian system. If it is possible to revise and re-defend? then that is one way. Tpo take the work elsewhere might be possible but if the work does not stand international scrutiny then that option does not look bright. If there are deeper misunderstandings that lead to the verdict then it might be possible to claim a \"mistrial\" but failinga PhD thesis is not a good thing under any circumstances. I am just left wondering why it happened, not so much to put blaim but it seems something(s) must have failed in the process and finding out the reasons may provide a better view of possibilities to go forward.</p>\n\n<p>finally, start again? another 3-5 years ona different project will require both a strong interest and financing (I would presume). It is possible but usually, I do not think anyone would subject themselves to another PhD period lightheartedly.</p>\n\n<p>EDIT:</p>\n\n<p>An <a href=\"http://www.sydsvenskan.se/lund/disputation-avlyst-i-sista-stund/\" rel=\"nofollow\">example</a> that just occurred.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12213,
"author": "sr3u",
"author_id": 6448,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6448",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This type of thing is one reason that many graduate colleges or departments will not allow an assistant professor (or other non-tenured new academic regardless of formal title) to be the sole/primary advisor for a Ph.D. student.</p>\n\n<p>Other than the obvious ill effects on the poor doctoral candidate, this also reflects extremely badly on, and could hurt, the advisor also (e.g., during tenure review), and even shows the department in poor light. I hope your friend is able to salvage things, but in my opinion this is at least as much the advisor's and department's problem as the candidate's, and they should be actively working to find a proper solution. If they're not, then I regard that as a bigger problem than the thesis rejection itself.</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/26 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12187",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
]
|
12,190 | <p>In a discussion on why subsubsections are evil, egreg <a href="https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/118478/why-are-beamer-subsubsections-evil#comment263534_118478">comments</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>If you have subsubsections, you must have at least two of them in a subsection; you must have at least two subsections and, of course, at least two sections. Draw the tree and you'll understand.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>When I'm writing long texts, such as for my thesis, I might have sections that contain only one subsection. For example:</p>
<pre><code>5.3 Topic X
... bla intro bla ...
5.3.1 Special Case in Topic X
... bla detail bla ...
</code></pre>
<p>Is it considered bad style to have <code>5.3.1</code>, but no <code>5.3.2</code>? Should I rather put the <code>bla intro bla</code> in a <code>5.3.1 Introduction</code> and have the special case in <code>5.3.2</code>? What are the general approaches here, what is considered good or bad style, and why?</p>
| [
{
"answer_id": 12191,
"author": "yo'",
"author_id": 1471,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1471",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>IMHO, it is a bad style in most contexts, and I will try to explain why, on your example:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>5.3 Topic X<br>\n blabla</p>\n \n <p>5.3.1 Special Case in Topic X<br>\n bleble</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>If you write a long work (like a thesis or a chapter of a book), you have to use sub-sectioning, still you should keep a good structure. In your case, I would use</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>5.3 Topic X</p>\n \n <p>5.3.1 General Approach [or a similar title]<br>\n blabla</p>\n \n <p>5.3.2 Special Case [and not \"Special Case in Topic X\", that's redundant]<br>\n bleble</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>One of the reasonable measures whether you have a good structure of your work is the Table of Contents. Just look at it: If it looks good and truly helps in using the text, then the structure is good.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>If you write an article and this would likely be the only subsection in it, just make it a section:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>5 Topic X<br>\n blabla</p>\n \n <p>6 Special Case in Topic X<br>\n bleble</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>If it's too short to deserve a section, it's quite likely too short to deserve a subsection, in the case you don't use subsections to keep some general structure of the works.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p><em>(Needed to say, I speak as a mathematician and as a typesetter of a tech journal. I've seen solitaire subsections a lot. Unfortunately it is out of my privileges to remove these in the articles I typeset.)</em></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 12192,
"author": "F'x",
"author_id": 2700,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2700",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Having a section with a single subsection is usually considered bad style: <strong>most style guides, academic or not, advise against it</strong>. In particular, <a href=\"http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/qanda/data/faq/topics/Subheads.html?old=Subheads01.html\">the <em>Chicago Manual of Style</em> advises against it</a>.</p>\n\n<p>Regarding the reasons why this is considered bad practice, I'll quote <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help%3aWikipedia%3a_The_Missing_Manual/Formatting_and_Illustrating_Articles/Article_Sections_and_Tables_of_Contents#Single_Subsections\">Wikipedia</a>:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p><strong>Single Subsections</strong><br>\n Just as your English teacher told you, if section 2 has a subsection 2.1, there'd better be a section 2.2 as well. If you see a section with a single subsection, you have three choices:</p>\n \n <ul>\n <li><p>If there's a lot of text in the section, followed by the subsection, you ought to be able to carve out a good subsection from the initial material, or even two, to create multiple subsections.</p></li>\n <li><p>If most of the section's material is in the subsection, you may not need a subsection. Just combine the two.</p></li>\n <li><p>If the content of at the top of the section is short and substantially different from what's in the subsection, you might be able to promote the subsection (for example, change the heading from level 3 to level 2). On other hand, if the subsection covers something relatively unimportant, then don't promote it to a level 2 (top-level) heading.</p></li>\n </ul>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Other sources, both style guides and writing advice, say the same thing: <a href=\"http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~pattrsn/talks/writingtips.html\">1</a>, <a href=\"http://writing.engr.psu.edu/other/chap2.html\">2</a>, …</p>\n"
}
]
| 2013/08/26 | [
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12190",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1033/"
]
|
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.