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21,846 |
<p>I was wondering what it really matters for a university to climb in the university rankings, for example in Science fields such as Mathematics, Physics or Computer Science?
I found that there are the following different services to let people know about lecturer's research in a Faculty:</p>
<ul>
<li>Google Scholar, I believe that one can put here even articles not peer-reviewed</li>
<li>Scopus, the service indexed by Elsevier</li>
<li>WebofScience, I have not used directly, but I believe is somewhat like Scopus</li>
</ul>
<p>But I believe that services like Google Scholar are like arXiv, in the way that one can put a link to any research paper that one has made irrelevant if it was a good conference or not.</p>
<p>It is not better to aim to conferences that would be indexed in Scopus, DBLP, or that will use Scimago to raise the score of an institucion? </p>
<p>So what is the recommendation in these cases, to try that the papers are indexed in well known sites or a new faculty should only aim to have web presence?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 21856,
"author": "xLeitix",
"author_id": 10094,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10094",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As ff254 correctly mentions, you are asking two different questions. \"Climbing the rankings\" is sort of a science of its own, and making your research be more visible to the outside is only a very minor part of it. I am not an expert on ranking optimization (I am happy to say that university rankings are not particularly relevant where I work), but if you really want to noticeably improve the ranking of your faculty, serious money and management commitment will be required (and better consulting than is available in an Internet forum).</p>\n\n<p>Now, assuming that you are really more interested in making your faculty internationally more well-known. I sort of disagree with Simmy that ResearchGate is a good vehicle to achieve this goal. At least in my community, ResearchGate is not considered a \"serious\" source at all. Nobody goes to ResearchGate to discover new researchers (and the technical Q&A forum there is a joke). People go to <em>conferences</em> to meet up and coming as well as established researchers. That is, if you as a new faculty want to improve your international visibility, you should:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Produce excellent research. This should be obvious, but having a bunch of mediocre papers listed in Scopus or DBLP will not make you stand out. One top paper will.</li>\n<li>Go to as many reasonable conferences as you can. Skip on the spam ones (no interesting people will be there and publishing there will not help you in any way), but even smaller conferences usually have a lot of interesting professors in attendance. Definitely go to whatever the big conference in your field is, even if you do not have a paper to present.</li>\n<li>Socialise. Don't be the person that just works all day in a silent corner of the conference room. Your task at the conference is not to write the next paper, but to get in touch with other researchers.</li>\n<li>Have a nice-looking web page. Publish all your papers as preprints there. Plus points if you do nice write-ups of your published or ongoing research in a recurring blog.</li>\n<li>(In some communities) have a Twitter account, and follow the big wigs and engage in discussions if appropriate.</li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 21874,
"author": "Fomite",
"author_id": 118,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/118",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In terms of trying to increase ranking, there are ways to do it, but they're somewhat tangental to research visibility.</p>\n\n<p>Informally, from talking to the people who worry about things like that, the easiest way to increase your ranking, like the easiest way to increase your journal's impact factor, is to realize that all rankings are algorithms that can be gamed. Pick <em>an aspect</em> of the ranking and maximize that.</p>\n\n<p>For rankings based on peer surveys, this is somewhat more difficult, and is going to be a rather long slog.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/02
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/21846",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6144/"
] |
21,860 |
<p>According to the de facto standard book for typography, <a href="https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0881791326" rel="noreferrer">The Elements of Typographic Style</a>, when we write abbreviations with 2 or more letters like SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope), small cap should be used and in LaTeX this would be <code>\textsc{sem}</code>.</p>
<p>Another case are old style numerals. When we write Arabic numerals in the passage, according to the book, old style numerals should be used and in LaTeX this would be <code>\oldstylenums{1234567890}</code>. I know mathematical equations or numerals in a table should not use old style numerals as they are considered standalone and do not disturb the flow of passage.</p>
<p>For me, I have never seen any publications with small cap abbreviations and old style numerals, and this seems to go against the typographic style suggested. The author of <a href="https://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0881791326" rel="noreferrer">The Elements of Typographic Style</a> said actually there is no rigid rule for typography when we aware we are breaking it. <strong>So my question is why are small cap abbreviations and old style numerals not used in technical writing when they appear on the passage? Why are these rules are broken in technical writing?</strong> </p>
<p><strong>EDIT:</strong>
The papers I usually read are from natural science like physics, chemistry and biology without computational nature. It seems to me the use of small cap and old style numerals is very rare in these fields.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 21863,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>The answer lies in a combination of technology and efficiency. In the old days when all was typeset \"by hand\" and not electronically, switching between Roman numerals and old style ones was not difficult. When electronic publishing became available, typography as a whole was ruined because everyone thought they now could make professional looking typography on their own personal computer and laserwriter. For a long time the digital typefaces did not include old style numbers because the character sets were too small to include those (E.g. <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PostScript_fonts\">PostScript Type 1</a>) but now with the <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicode\">unicode</a> standard, much more is included in a single type face. Thus, for a long time one had to switch from one type face to another to include these effects. In LaTeX, this was a little easier as you point out than in, say, Word.</p>\n\n<p>The use of old style numerals was thus partly lost through the \"digital revolution\" but I also think it was lost because they simply went out of fashion. As with everything else typography and ideas within typography changes over time. I am not sure that the loss is entirely due to the introduction of digital tools but this introduction was a sort of final \"stab in the back\" from which it is hard to recover. In fact we are still seeing the effects of the PC in many publications since everyone is now the typographer without knowing much about the trade.</p>\n\n<p>So to cap off, in the scientific publishing world, where speed is a key ingredient, attention to these details have simply not been considered as worth the time. One therefore must look at publications with more aesthetic goals to find fine typography.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 21864,
"author": "Davidmh",
"author_id": 12587,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12587",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Without any evidence to back it up, my guess is that people don't know it, so they don't use it. As a consequence, it becomes a <em>de facto</em> standard of the field not to use them.</p>\n\n<p>One would expect editors to at least be aware of this rules, but if they are not experts in typesetting, or don't personally like some of the rules, they may not be interested in enforcing them.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 21867,
"author": "Wrzlprmft",
"author_id": 7734,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7734",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><strong>There are actually good reasons to break the general typographical rules and use uppercase numerals in technical writing.</strong></p>\n\n<p>In usual texts, uppercase numerals are considered ugly or negatively affecting the readability as they form one block without ascenders or decenders and as they stand out from the text and are more difficult to read (for the same reasons that all-caps are more difficult to read). However, the properties of uppercase numbers are often desirable in technical writing:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>You may actually want numbers to stand out.</p></li>\n<li><p>In a formula, you usually want a number consisting of more than one numeral to be perceived as one element at first. For example:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p><em>x</em> = 1234 + 5678</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Here the first thing you want the reader to see is that <em>x</em> is the sum of two numbers and not the exact values of these numbers (which would be more emphasised with lowercase numerals). Also, from a readability’s point of view, most formulas are a chaotic mess – using lowercase numerals would only add to this.</p></li>\n<li><p>There are several mathematical notations that do not mix well with lowercase numerals, such as indicating repeating digits in a decimal fraction with a bar above the number.</p></li>\n<li><p>You usually would not want to use lowercase numerals for super- and subscripts, as it makes it more difficult to recognise whether something is a super- or supscript or not. (Note that this is not the same as for lowercase letters, as they are easier to distinguish from their uppercase counterparts and exceptions, such as the letter <em>o,</em> are usually not used as variables for that very reason.)</p></li>\n<li><p>Using lowercase numerals for axis tics would make them optically less regular and thus be more emphasised, which is usually not what you want.</p></li>\n<li><p>In tables, uppercase numerals help outlining the rows, while lowercase numerals obfuscate the structure. (On the other hand, lowercase numerals may make some aspects of the data easier to recognise.)</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>While you could use uppercase numerals for tables and figure legends specifically, there is a gray zone between</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>formulas in which lowercase numerals do not work well</li>\n<li>formulas in which lowercase numerals are no problem</li>\n<li>just numbers.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Therefore using lowercase numbers not at all or only in a few special cases like page numbers or affiliations is arguably the only way to achieve consistency.</p>\n\n<p>A similar thing applies to super- and subscripts: While in normal writing no consistency issues arise, as a super- and subscripted numbers is always super- or subscripted, the semantically same number often appears in normal size as well as super- or subcripted in technical writing. Therefore using uppercase numerals only has a larger impact on consistency than in normal writing.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/03
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/21860",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14682/"
] |
21,868 |
<p>While writing the literature review for my paper, I found another paper which is closely related to my research. Unfortunately, the paper’s publisher is on <a href="http://scholarlyoa.com/publishers/">Beall’s List</a>. Hence, I wonder if citing the paper will have any negative impact on my paper.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 21869,
"author": "Dirk",
"author_id": 529,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/529",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As said in the comments: Read the paper and decide on the ground of the content of the paper and not by the reputation of the journal. Don't get me wrong - I do not support predatory or fake journals in any way. But it happens frequently that \"quality of the paper\" and \"quality of the journal\" (both understood in a vague sense) do not match. Good journals sometimes publish not-so-good papers and also it may be that the authors of the journal you mention simply were not aware of the listing in Beall's list.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 21870,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 7,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Do not think about the journal where the paper comes from. Just forget about it for a while.</p>\n\n<p>Now, read the paper. Even better, be a reviewer for that paper. Evaluate it. Is it a good related work for you? Is it a not-so-good related work, so that you can criticize it? Does it help you to build some hypotheses, etc.? Then, just cite it. Otherwise, don't.</p>\n\n<p>This is what you are supposed to do as a researcher. Build on top of other's work.\nBad papers are in every kind of journal. Good papers are, as well.</p>\n\n<p>Beall's list is useful up to a certain point but it has got limitations. One of which, it is a one-man's work. I do not want to criticize the list here because it does not even matter how good that list is. Be your own judge for the work you cite. Where the paper comes from is, in my opinion, the least of the issues you could ever encounter.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 21871,
"author": "Cape Code",
"author_id": 10643,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10643",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Journals get listed there for various reasons, and there is off course a subjectivity factor. One of Beall's pet peeve is aggressive marketing strategy, which is indeed annoying and suspicious, but has also been frequently used by established publishing groups. Check whether there is a <a href=\"http://scholarlyoa.com/2012/02/24/world-science-publisher-a-serials-crisis/\">post</a> that describes <em>why</em> this particular journal/publisher is on his list (in this case the post is outdated and does not point out major misconduct). </p>\n\n<p>While the presence of a journal on Beall's list does not in itself mean that the work you read is of bad quality, a lot of the 'journals' listed there have <strong>no peer review</strong> and <strong>no editorial process whatsoever</strong>. Most of these 'journals' will publish <em>anything</em>. </p>\n\n<p>Which means that the burden of judging quality is on the reader only, as the other answers pointed out, but also that there are <a href=\"http://scholarlyoa.com/category/plagiarism-2/\">frequent cases of plagiarism</a>. Chance are that the original content has been published somewhere else before, on a preprint server, or a university website as part of a dissertation, or even in a legitimate academic journal. Therefore, if I where you, I would google chunks of the text and make sure that you cite the original version.</p>\n\n<p>Now, from an ethical point of view, a majority of the journals listed by Beall have as business model to pray on the necessity for researchers to have long lists of publications to raise their chances of getting funded or awarded tenure. Citing these, in a way, encourages that sort of behavior, which I personally find harmful to science, dishonest towards funding agencies and taxpayers, and unethical.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/03
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/21868",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6064/"
] |
21,875 |
<p>I teach all of the writing courses for one of my college's STEM department. Occasionally, students bring me questions related to their field, e.g. they are doing some project for another course and they want to know what tools I used for a similar real-world project I did before.</p>
<ul>
<li>If I help the students (which would amount to suggesting some books, tools, Web sites), perhaps the department will feel I am interfering in matters where I should not, as this is not my teaching area.</li>
<li>If I turn away the students, perhaps the department or (students themselves) will feel I am not committed to serving the students.</li>
</ul>
<p>What is the accepted procedure for such a situation?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 21876,
"author": "Paul",
"author_id": 931,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/931",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There's no shame in saying you're not an expert in their domain specific knowledge. It's more important to know your limitations than to give advice you're not directly qualified to give. Direct them to a professor in that specific field. </p>\n\n<p>If you feel you have sufficient experience to give (at least) a starting point, by all means share it with them. Just always make sure that you are clear about the limitations of your expertise.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 21877,
"author": "Davidmh",
"author_id": 12587,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12587",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As an undergrad, in my first year I had a great professor that was very good at explaining almost everything. For many students, he became another resource to solve doubts and get help, specially for those subjects where the lecturer was not so clear. If you asked him politely, he would gladly help if he knew the answer. I will always remember him as one of the best contributors to my education.</p>\n\n<p>For some of his comments, I imagine he may have had problems with some other member of faculty. So he changed his policy: whenever he explained anything from another subject, he would close the door. Being realistic, anyone complaining because you are sharing knowledge of their domain, will probably have a bad attitude to many things. Whatever you do, something will upset them.</p>\n\n<p>The only drawback of free help is that takes time from you. If this becomes a problem, you can just ask the students to come at another time because you are busy at the moment. You are doing them a favour, and they will not have any problem with it.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 21881,
"author": "penelope",
"author_id": 4249,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4249",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think there should be <strong>no problem</strong> as long as the <strong>question can be framed <em>so that it is in the scope of your subject</em></strong> (even if the project that "produced" the question is not directly related).</p>\n<p>This should ideally be done by the student, while asking the question, but if there is an obvious part of the question related to your subject, it would be okay to gently push your answer in that direction.</p>\n<p>You said you do a writing class, so for me, these would be good examples of viable questions (independent of the concrete project related to those questions):</p>\n<ul>\n<li><p>Questions about writing tools (like LaTeX). If the student wants to know pros and cons of learning a new tool <em>in context</em> of a specific project, that is a valid question (as long as it was not explicitly covered in class). Even if it was covered during the lessons, a discussion based on a concrete example can be very useful.</p>\n</li>\n<li><p>Questions about best presentation of data: given a great amount of raw data, what would be the best way to present it? (graph, table, raw format, just description) If the student comes with the concrete data, he probably has either some ideas or some doubts about what representation to use.</p>\n</li>\n<li><p>Tools for analyzing or representing data. Again, no matter where the data came from, if there are some commonly used analysis tools (in the wide area), or representation tools, the question is related to the writing up the idea / project results, more than the project itself.</p>\n</li>\n<li><p>Questions about general structure of the piece of writing. Sometimes the content of the work makes the most common practice not applicable, or some other structure simply better.</p>\n<p>For example, one of my articles has the <em>Related work</em> as a second-to-last section, because it simply didn't fit in naturally at it's "usual" second paragraph place. The discussion with my supervisors help clarify that and <em>why</em> it was okay.</p>\n</li>\n</ul>\n<p>Basically, any questions where you are the best suited to answer, independent of where the question comes from, is not misplaced. Those kinds of questions show that the students are applying and synthesizing their knowledge, and <em>looking at it from a different (not-required) perspective</em>, which is a good thing. (If I ever was in that kind of situation,) those questions would make me proud of my teaching since it meant the students are applying what I taught them "outside the box" I gave them.</p>\n<p>Of course, if it is not that kind of question, there is nothing wrong in turning the student away, perhaps pointing him to the right person to talk to. Simply saying that there are people who are better suited to answer their questions, while making it clear that you would be more than happy to help within your area of expertise, should be enough.</p>\n<p>Students that you are directly responsible for (i.e. your supervisees) might be a different story, but that might be out of the scope of this question :)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 21892,
"author": "JTP - Apologise to Monica",
"author_id": 6708,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6708",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In my opinion, if you are not time constrained and have the expertise, by all means, help the student. </p>\n\n<p>I am a math tutor in a local high school, and often a student will walk in with a science book to ask a question. If it's something I can answer, I'm happy to help. No science teacher would be offended, although they might be surprised as human nature is to pass the buck. </p>\n\n<p>In general, it's great that a student looks up to you and values your advice. I'd just accept that and be glad to help. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 21931,
"author": "David Richerby",
"author_id": 10685,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10685",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The whole purpose of having students at a university is for them to learn things. Your university cannot reasonably object to you teaching the students things solely on the grounds that it was somebody else's job to teach them those things.</p>\n\n<p>They could object on other grounds, such as you giving bad advice or spending so much time on this that you're not doing your own job properly but, as long as you guard against that, what real problem could there be?</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 21934,
"author": "DatingExpert",
"author_id": 16067,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16067",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>One of the best ways for a university professor to aid a student's learning is to point them where they themselves could discover such tools. </p>\n\n<p>Additionally, you could point them in the direction of your SME colleagues, experts in topics outside of the scope of your expertise.</p>\n\n<p>Lastly, to maximize your likely full schedule, helping students identify resources could be something you provide to them as a group during advisor hours. Schedule a group resources time during your office hours so that you don't get overtaxed time wise.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/03
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/21875",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/600/"
] |
21,880 |
<p>As a master's student in computer science, I would really like to go for a PhD at a good CS department. However until now, I have no publications and really have no idea how to start research. I'm interested in many subjects but I have not yet been able to narrow down the choice to a specific one. For someone like me who just began his or her master's studies and wants to plan for a PhD, what is the real number one priority besides a good GPA?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 21876,
"author": "Paul",
"author_id": 931,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/931",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There's no shame in saying you're not an expert in their domain specific knowledge. It's more important to know your limitations than to give advice you're not directly qualified to give. Direct them to a professor in that specific field. </p>\n\n<p>If you feel you have sufficient experience to give (at least) a starting point, by all means share it with them. Just always make sure that you are clear about the limitations of your expertise.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 21877,
"author": "Davidmh",
"author_id": 12587,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12587",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As an undergrad, in my first year I had a great professor that was very good at explaining almost everything. For many students, he became another resource to solve doubts and get help, specially for those subjects where the lecturer was not so clear. If you asked him politely, he would gladly help if he knew the answer. I will always remember him as one of the best contributors to my education.</p>\n\n<p>For some of his comments, I imagine he may have had problems with some other member of faculty. So he changed his policy: whenever he explained anything from another subject, he would close the door. Being realistic, anyone complaining because you are sharing knowledge of their domain, will probably have a bad attitude to many things. Whatever you do, something will upset them.</p>\n\n<p>The only drawback of free help is that takes time from you. If this becomes a problem, you can just ask the students to come at another time because you are busy at the moment. You are doing them a favour, and they will not have any problem with it.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 21881,
"author": "penelope",
"author_id": 4249,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4249",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think there should be <strong>no problem</strong> as long as the <strong>question can be framed <em>so that it is in the scope of your subject</em></strong> (even if the project that "produced" the question is not directly related).</p>\n<p>This should ideally be done by the student, while asking the question, but if there is an obvious part of the question related to your subject, it would be okay to gently push your answer in that direction.</p>\n<p>You said you do a writing class, so for me, these would be good examples of viable questions (independent of the concrete project related to those questions):</p>\n<ul>\n<li><p>Questions about writing tools (like LaTeX). If the student wants to know pros and cons of learning a new tool <em>in context</em> of a specific project, that is a valid question (as long as it was not explicitly covered in class). Even if it was covered during the lessons, a discussion based on a concrete example can be very useful.</p>\n</li>\n<li><p>Questions about best presentation of data: given a great amount of raw data, what would be the best way to present it? (graph, table, raw format, just description) If the student comes with the concrete data, he probably has either some ideas or some doubts about what representation to use.</p>\n</li>\n<li><p>Tools for analyzing or representing data. Again, no matter where the data came from, if there are some commonly used analysis tools (in the wide area), or representation tools, the question is related to the writing up the idea / project results, more than the project itself.</p>\n</li>\n<li><p>Questions about general structure of the piece of writing. Sometimes the content of the work makes the most common practice not applicable, or some other structure simply better.</p>\n<p>For example, one of my articles has the <em>Related work</em> as a second-to-last section, because it simply didn't fit in naturally at it's "usual" second paragraph place. The discussion with my supervisors help clarify that and <em>why</em> it was okay.</p>\n</li>\n</ul>\n<p>Basically, any questions where you are the best suited to answer, independent of where the question comes from, is not misplaced. Those kinds of questions show that the students are applying and synthesizing their knowledge, and <em>looking at it from a different (not-required) perspective</em>, which is a good thing. (If I ever was in that kind of situation,) those questions would make me proud of my teaching since it meant the students are applying what I taught them "outside the box" I gave them.</p>\n<p>Of course, if it is not that kind of question, there is nothing wrong in turning the student away, perhaps pointing him to the right person to talk to. Simply saying that there are people who are better suited to answer their questions, while making it clear that you would be more than happy to help within your area of expertise, should be enough.</p>\n<p>Students that you are directly responsible for (i.e. your supervisees) might be a different story, but that might be out of the scope of this question :)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 21892,
"author": "JTP - Apologise to Monica",
"author_id": 6708,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6708",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In my opinion, if you are not time constrained and have the expertise, by all means, help the student. </p>\n\n<p>I am a math tutor in a local high school, and often a student will walk in with a science book to ask a question. If it's something I can answer, I'm happy to help. No science teacher would be offended, although they might be surprised as human nature is to pass the buck. </p>\n\n<p>In general, it's great that a student looks up to you and values your advice. I'd just accept that and be glad to help. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 21931,
"author": "David Richerby",
"author_id": 10685,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10685",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The whole purpose of having students at a university is for them to learn things. Your university cannot reasonably object to you teaching the students things solely on the grounds that it was somebody else's job to teach them those things.</p>\n\n<p>They could object on other grounds, such as you giving bad advice or spending so much time on this that you're not doing your own job properly but, as long as you guard against that, what real problem could there be?</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 21934,
"author": "DatingExpert",
"author_id": 16067,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16067",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>One of the best ways for a university professor to aid a student's learning is to point them where they themselves could discover such tools. </p>\n\n<p>Additionally, you could point them in the direction of your SME colleagues, experts in topics outside of the scope of your expertise.</p>\n\n<p>Lastly, to maximize your likely full schedule, helping students identify resources could be something you provide to them as a group during advisor hours. Schedule a group resources time during your office hours so that you don't get overtaxed time wise.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/03
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/21880",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16034/"
] |
21,884 |
<p>Suppose you were to find what you think are serious flaws in a preprint (arXiv or something similar). What should you do? Now, after the obvious first step of contacting the authors and letting them know, what should you do if you were basically told off ("thanks for your interest" without addressing any of the technical concerns)? </p>
<p>Were this a regular journal, one might write a letter to the editor, or a comment (<a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12774/publishing-a-comment-or-contacting-the-authors-privately">one might go this route even without contacting the authors in the first place</a>), but how should you deal with preprints, whose contents is in a way still evolving? Would a "comment" paper uploaded to the preprint server not be considered rather aggressive (I don't remember seeing anyone doing this)? <strong>Is there anything one can, or should, do <em>before</em> the (eventual) publication of the paper in some peer-reviewed venue?</strong></p>
<p>Stretching this well into the hypothetical, suppose that one did write a "comment" paper and uploaded it onto the preprint server. Would the authors of the original preprint be ethically obliged to cite this and address the concerns raised therein when submitting to peer-reviewed journals (assuming that they were to submit after being let known of the existence of the comment)?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 21886,
"author": "adhalanay",
"author_id": 981,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/981",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There are plenty of papers on arxiv.org titled \"Comment on... \"\ne.g. <a href=\"http://arxiv.org/abs/0811.3876\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://arxiv.org/abs/0811.3876</a> (and also some titled \"Response to ...\") some addressing paper not yet published. </p>\n\n<p>Regarding the last part of your question:pointing errors in a preprint is not rudeness. Ignoring such concerns is rude. A real life story is that of the flaws in two papers of Daniel Biss found by Nikolay Mnev (it seems that at first his private communications were ignored) and that forced Mnev to put a paper on the arxiv. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 21894,
"author": "eykanal",
"author_id": 73,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/73",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You have no need to do anything. By contacting the author, you pointed out what you believe to be a flaw. It could be you are incorrect, it could be that they deal with this in a future version, it could be that they simply don't care. To me, this situation is akin to the following <a href=\"http://xkcd.com/386/\" rel=\"noreferrer\">xkcd comic</a>:</p>\n\n<p><img src=\"https://i.stack.imgur.com/TGMck.png\" alt=\"enter image description here\"></p>\n\n<p>People perform research, good and bad, every day. Once it's published you can feel free to write an article refuting their conclusions, but until then it's just informal academic discussion, and there's nothing you can really do about someone else being wrong.</p>\n\n<p><em>Disclaimer: Some disciplines may treat preprints as actual publications, and if so, the preceding does not apply. I do not know of any fields for which this is the case, but then again, there's a lot of things I do not know.</em></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 21906,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As I understand it, the point of distributing (including posting, as on the arxiv) preprints is that one wants to both speed up and enhance the publicity of their paper and the feedback they get on it. A very common practice is to post preprints on the arxiv, see what kind of reaction you get, and then submit them for publication anywhere from a week to a few months afterwards. </p>\n\n<p>So I think that it is fair to assume that if someone posts a preprint on an electronic server, they are interested in feedback from any interested party. Thus you were being helpful in contacting the authors about what you perceive to be a problem in their work. I think that in most cases, what the authors do with your feedback is their business, up until the point where it becomes submitted -- and you are an editor or a referee -- or published. </p>\n\n<p>In particular, there is no \"standard temporal scale\" for modifying arxiv preprints: there are some famous examples of papers on the arxiv that have been known to be flawed for years but have not been \"withdrawn\". I would advise against that, but that's the authors' choice. At what point to make what you regard as less essential changes is really nebulous. To give one brief example, I found a lapse in the exposition of a paper I submitted to the arxiv last month just a few days after submitting it. I really wanted the paper to be understandable to everyone, so I did upload a new copy. More recently I discovered that a result that we attribute to mathematician X was also earlier done by mathematician Y (the two works were independent and use different methods). I certainly want to straighten this out before publication. But I have not yet uploaded a new version of the preprint: it's a judgment call. </p>\n\n<p>Maybe the authors <em>are</em> addressing your comments. Maybe they happen to know that they're right and you're wrong. Or maybe neither of you is wrong and you're just not understanding the language in the same way. (I have seen this happen again and again.) It's hard for you to know what the authors are doing, and I wouldn't assume that your criticism hasn't gotten through: a bland acknowledgment of receipt is a pretty good first response to an email like that.</p>\n\n<p>Should you upload a critical arxiv preprint yourself? Probably not, most of the time. Exceptions:</p>\n\n<p>1) The mistake in the author's preprint is specifically detrimental to your own research. For instance if the information that the author's preprint is critically flawed is important to the refereeing of one of your papers, that's a reasonable call to action.</p>\n\n<p>2) If the paper does something extremely important and is getting widespread \"public\" attention. For instance, if the preprint purports to solve the Riemann Hypothesis, everyone else believes it, but you have identified the flaw, then you'll be doing the community a great service by getting this information out.</p>\n\n<p>These exceptions are fairly exceptional. Even in those cases I would counsel repeated contact with the authors rather than uploading the preprint straight away. </p>\n\n<p><strong>Important Note</strong>: I fear that my advice may be somewhat field specific. In mathematics, we really don't place a premium on openly critiquing each other: all other things being equal, that's a distinct negative. There are some academic fields where pointing out the flaw (or arguable flaw) in someone else's work is a really good paper of yours.</p>\n\n<p>Finally, you ask if the authors would be ethically obliged to cite your hypothetical preprint. I think this is easy: you are ethically obliged to cite any source that you have specifically and substantively used in the course of doing your work or (especially) that has made you modify your work. So the authors would have to cite your preprint if they respond to it in any way. If their perspective is that your criticism is without merit, they do not need to cite it in their submission and it may in fact be inappropriate to do so.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/03
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/21884",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15151/"
] |
21,888 |
<p>As a graduate student in the PhD program (I will be graduating in about 2 months), my research has covered a wide range of topics rather than nailing down one specific topic (super-specialized). In fact, my thesis is broad enough that my current working title is something along the lines of "Toward the Application of Electronic Structure Theory to Solve Relevant Chemical Problems." (Can it get any more general?) There is nothing informative from that title as it completely leaves out details. The problem is, each paper I've published is its own research focus without any connection to the next outside of the fact that computational chemistry was used for each.</p>
<p>I've read in other places that a thesis topic is critical because it is the basis on which you launch your career. Is it bad to look like a 'jack-of-all-trades' person? There must be a better way to handle this.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 21895,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Overly broad topics usually make for unsatisfactory thesis subjects, because it becomes substantially harder to make a significant intellectual contribution in a larger field than in a narrower one. More importantly, it can take much longer to build a \"does-it-all\" solution.</p>\n\n<p>However, that doesn't mean that your research can't <em>evolve</em> in such a direction—some topics broaden significantly once means of \"generalizing\" it are discovered and applications to different systems and cases can be developed. But it's not normally a good idea to <em>start</em> with such a broad topic.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 21901,
"author": "410 gone",
"author_id": 96,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/96",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>A PhD thesis is all about focus and depth, more than any other degree I know of. It is the antithesis of the jack-of-all-trades.</p>\n\n<p>You say that you are two months from completion.</p>\n\n<p>But you do not have a specific research question.</p>\n\n<p>Nor do you have a very focused thesis, just unrelated papers in the same field: your words were: <em>\"each paper I've published is its own research focus without any connection to the next outside of the fact that computational chemistry was used for each\".</em></p>\n\n<p>It will depend on the institution, but at the institution I work, you would not be two months from completion. You'd be two years from completion.</p>\n\n<p>If your supervisors are happy with your work as it is, then they've either completely screwed up, or your institution is happy to offer PhDs for theses which do not meet the standard that I and others expect: that they study a very specific question, deeper than anyone else has. I think you need to work out which of those two is the case, before you submit.</p>\n\n<p>Not that there's anything wrong with being a jack-of-all-trades. But that really is the polar opposite to a PhD, which should be providing novelty, rigour and depth.</p>\n\n<p>This does look bad for your future career, because it looks like you've spent several years being a jack-of-all-trades across a field, when you should have been very focused on a specific research question: at many institutions, that would mean that you simply would not be getting your doctorate; and having spent the time, and coming away at best with an MPhil, will look like a fail.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 21904,
"author": "WetlabStudent",
"author_id": 8101,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8101",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The answer to your question is field specific. You should show some specialization in your PhD and in many fields (probably the vast majority) this will be delving deep into one very specialized topic. However, this does not mean other types of dissertations are necessarily bad for your career. I have heard anecdotally the following: If you are a theoretician in an experimental field, often a diverse set of interests is a good thing. Why? In some fields, especially particular branches of biology, the vast majority of people on the hiring committee will know very little math/theory, so there often isn't that one person fighting for you. However, if you applied your methods/theory to solve a wide variety of questions, you might peak the interests of many people on the hiring committee as a future collaborator. Sometimes the set of methods or theory is the unifying/specialized aspect of the dissertation even if the applications are seemingly unrelated.</p>\n\n<p>That being said, this is the type of question that is best answered by your advisor, and ideally in your first year of a PhD program. If your advisor is good, as you say he is, and he knows your goals, he wouldn't allow you to go down the wrong path with your thesis subject, so hopefully, you specifically are fine. However, you should spend some considerable time thinking about how your thesis chapters are related, as such deep thought will greatly help you write a research statement, and perform well in job interviews, regardless of your field's general view on the structure of the thesis.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 21910,
"author": "adam.r",
"author_id": 9669,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9669",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The answer is completely dependent on what the next step of your career is. If you a seeking a post-doc position, then what matters is if people with money are hiring researchers with your skill set. If so, you are set for now and you can build more expertise as a postdoc. If you are seeking a faculty position at a research university, then your research needs to have a direction that excites people -- are you able to address important problems that other people cannot (or have not)?</p>\n\n<p>Since other people are commenting on whether your research constitutes a \"real PhD\", I'll give my two cents: what matters is that you have applied your creativity to solve a difficult problem. If you have simply learned techniques that others have developed and applied them in a mindless manner, then you are a technician, not a scientist. If your thesis has demonstrated creative problem solving, then you should be fine (see first paragraph)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 21912,
"author": "David Bullock",
"author_id": 10353,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10353",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The working title \"Toward the Application of Electronic Structure Theory to Solve Relevant Chemical Problems\" produces a bit of yawn factor for me. Regarding your career, a bad thesis and an unread thesis might have similar outcomes on reputation. \"Electronic Structure Theory relevant to chemical problems which exhibit at least property P, but seemingly not when Q is present\" would be better, even if you've only managed to notice and characterise the matter, and have yet to account for why it is so despite ruling out the obvious questions by systematic research.</p>\n\n<p>'Towards the application of' (vague) and 'solve relevant' (hedge) are signals that I am not likely to find anything interesting to read in the thesis. I will most likely find a summary of some research that was done. Probably I already read the papers documenting such research when they were published, and I'm not really wanting to read about the same research again. Rather, I want to hear a definitive statement that hasn't been heard before, which has the potential to shed light on my own pursuits for the truth. If the title doesn't come right out and make some concrete statement, it seems unlikely that the rest of the text is going to get any better. At the very least, I want the title to hint at <em>which</em> chemical problems are relevant and why.</p>\n\n<p>What your peers require of you is some (falsifiable, useful, bold) statement which hasn't been made before in your field, and your best effort to put that statement above reproach. Most likely, you'll reference your own research as part of trying to make your case - but really, aside from the fact that your head has necessarily been places the research has forced it to be, it would be stupid to assume that the thesis must therefore rely mainly or exclusively on that research which you were personally involved in. The thesis-statement comes as a consequence of research (by you and countless others), but the mere result of your research (already documented in other papers) is not itself the thesis-statement that you will be making. </p>\n\n<p>If you've got multiple statements to make which are not related in an interesting way, write multiple theses. Why not?</p>\n\n<p>In well-established fields, all the existing ground has been staked out, and your role is maybe to just do some (entirely necessary) chipping away at the edges - adding some qualifications to previous statements made in your field, or (more interestingly) attempting to account for why previous statements with good pedigrees yet still differ. In this case, your thesis statement will <em>necessarily</em> be quite specific (not merely to conform to expectations).</p>\n\n<p>Now if application of Electronic Structure Theory has not previously been applied to chemical problems before (which would seem odd, but I'm outside that field), and your thesis is proposing the terms on which this may in fact be done (thus birthing a whole new sub-field) then your 'apply(x,relevant-y)' title might fly. I'd not expect it from you on your first serious paper though. In this case, I'd still want some clue as to how it's done, which problems are relevant, and a little more ... enthusiasm .</p>\n\n<p>Maybe you're not quite at the point where you have a candidate thesis-like statement to make, or unfortunately, still have some systematic research to do, because your research to date, while good and useful in its own right, isn't useful as a systematic exploration supporting <em>your</em> thesis statement.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 21924,
"author": "Trylks",
"author_id": 7571,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7571",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Finding something is harder when you search for something specific than when you simply search for \"something\".</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Is it bad to look like a 'jack-of-all-trades' person?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>That depends, for all trades individually, yes, it's bad. If you research on topics A to Z and people focus on only one of them, then for any job related with one single trade you will be at a disadvantage.</p>\n\n<p>There are several good things, though. First one is diversification. It is much more likely that there will be some position in any topic from A to Z than in one particular topic from A to Z. It is also more likely that one of those positions is hard to cover because there are no good candidates, or for what matters you, there are no better candidates than you. So you get it. </p>\n\n<p>Q: Are those topics with fewer candidates the not-hot boring and bad topics?<br>\nA: They are to the standards when people started their PhDs, but things may be different now. Starting a PhD is an act of speculation (to some extent) you have diversified your time investment, this has pros and cons.</p>\n\n<p>The second good thing is the broadness of your knowledge. Who would you pick to be the head of the department in computational chemistry? Someone who knows a lot about one particular topic in computational chemistry or someone who has a reasonably vast knowledge in the whole area? Probably someone with management and political skills, but assuming no differences wrt in the candidates, then the second one with a broader knowledge.</p>\n\n<p>In short, a broad or a deep knowledge about something is not a good or a bad thing, both have pros and cons. The objective is setting some goals that make the best use of the pros of your assets and in which the cons don't really matter so much. This last statement is so broad that it can be applied to almost everything (e.g. on Saturday night in a club) but that doesn't make it worse, that makes it better, maybe not an universal law, but I'd like to think it's somewhat close.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 21925,
"author": "cbeleites unhappy with SX",
"author_id": 725,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/725",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>short answer: <strong>I think the title is not suitable as it is</strong>, and thus may harm your career: currently it doesn't look like a jack-of-all-trades, but the title looks like jack-of-no-trade.\nHowever, it may not be a problem if you are already comparably well known for your work (i.e. people know jack has his trade(s)). </p>\n\n<p>But I think it would be good to put in some effort to <strong>make it more precise about your contribution to the field.</strong></p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>long answer:</p>\n\n<p>Disclaimer: I'm chemist. Not theoretical chemist, but chemometrician which means that I also do calculations (though of a different kind) in order to solve application problems.<br>\nI believe my situation is similar to the OPs in that we both work at problems where in order to solve application questions some method needs to be developed further. I call these 2 aspects of my work the \"theory\" and \"application parts of the work. </p>\n\n<p>In my experience you can easily end up with the title of all or most papers emphasizing the application, and thus looking very diverse while the common topic (the theory) is de-emphasized. Several reasons can cause/contribute to this: </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>the application problem may be understandable and important to a much wider audience than the small field of experts on the theory you use and advance to solve the application question.</li>\n<li>therefore, the pubications are targeted to journals the application audience reads</li>\n<li>and you do not want to frighten them away by heavy theory terms in the title.</li>\n<li>Also, in my field it is much easier to get funding for working towards the solution of <em>some medical application</em> (and doing the necessary data analysis theory development under that hood) than to get funding for <em>developing data analysis theory</em> (and demonstrating this with the medical application).<br>\nAnd this of course may bleed through to the paper and thesis titles. </li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>In the end, the theory development - thus the common topic of the papers - is mainly to be seen inside the papers. Of course in this situation it would be good to have also a theory paper out that brings together the theory developments and just touches the applications as examples. However, this may look like one more disjoint topic on the first glance. </p>\n\n<p>For example, my publication list has a whole lot of medical application (though I always try to sneak in the theory developments also into the title of the application papers), and a few papers which focus on data analysis methodology - while the common points of all these papers exists: chemometric data analysis and vibrational spectroscopy. </p>\n\n<p>Two more points to consider:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>The very general title you give sounds like a typical working title to be put into the forms at the beginning of the PhD before the specific line of the thesis is known. I don't see anything unusual in a situation where at the end of the work this working title is updated by a specific title.<br>\nTo me, this seems to be the underlying question here. </p></li>\n<li><p>If you are in a theory group or are <em>the one</em> in your group who does theory development, the fact that you actually do theory development may be so obvious that you didn't think of stating it. But the fact and preferrably also the specific type of theory development should be in the title. </p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>So my questions to the OP are: </p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>Does this description of application vs. theory aspects reflect your publication situation? </p></li>\n<li><p>In particular: by unrelated topics, do you mean something like the application question/chemical problems you solve are unrelated? Or do you mean that neither the chemical problems nor the methods you used to solve them are related?</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>My recommendation without knowing more specifics is:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>Explain to your non-chemist grandma what you've been doing. Make a list of the points.</p></li>\n<li><p>Fill in the sentence: My papers tackle application problems about ...., but what I've really been doing is .... </p></li>\n<li><p>Don't be afraid of a long title. My guess is that the working title you posted is shortened too much: as you say it is not informative any more as the specifics have been cut out. Put them in. </p></li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 21943,
"author": "paul garrett",
"author_id": 980,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Coming from a somewhat different field (mathematics), I have seen some theses that were essentially bundles of not-strongly-related papers, each good enough to get published, and considered (by the advisor and the department) good enough to earn a PhD. Ok.</p>\n\n<p>But this is indeed different from \"getting a job\". From what I have seen, job applicants don't succeed so much with \"broad appeal\" alone, but also must have <em>strong</em> appeal to a particular research group/interest. Thus, a too-diffuse body of work, <em>especially</em> if <em>described</em> in a fashion that makes it appear diffuse _and_unfocused_, will not get up to the thresh-hold of having a good chance at job opportunities.</p>\n\n<p>To my mind, the point is how one <em>portrays</em> such work. If (in contrast to the situation of the question) the papers really are completely disjoint and unrelated, it is not easy to describe them as fitting together into a coherent research program. If, indeed, as apparently is the case in the questioner's situation, there <em>is</em> a coherence to the body of work, it is <em>very</em> important to re-describe things to emphasized that. \"Novel computational methods whose potential is illustrated by making progress in several important problems\"? That sort of thing?</p>\n\n<p>After all, presumably/often the author of several papers <em>does</em> have some underlying theme/principle/concept/whatever that is merely <em>manifest</em> in various way ... that may superficially appear very different.</p>\n\n<p>So, in summary, the <em>description</em> of the body of work would best emphasize the common thread(s) underlying the several instances. Although often labels are simplistic, hiring committees do use them, so figuring out how to position oneself among those labels is probably smart. (In effect denying the relevance of admittedly simplistic labels and categorizations is most likely just self-sabotage.)</p>\n\n<p>One's advisor's approval of the body of work as meriting the PhD is a different issue from getting the advisor's recommendations about an appealing coherent description of the <em>whole</em> of the work. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 21976,
"author": "Martin - マーチン",
"author_id": 13372,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13372",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Working in the field of computational chemistry, it is not unusual, that one focusses on many different topics. The field itself is as broad as chemistry itself as it may be applied to any experimentally raised question. It may be considered as one of the most advanced tools up to date in chemistry.</p>\n\n<p>Its applications may range from simple things as the elucidation of the molecular structure, developing accurate bonding models, or deriving physical and chemical properties. It may also be used to derive complicated reaction mechanisms, characteristic reactions of compounds, classification of novel compound classes and prediction of yet unobserved molecules. Taking this as a basis it may be used in the development of more effective catalysts, it is used in drug design, deriving kinetics and many more.</p>\n\n<p>All of the above is connected via electronic structure theory or more general the approximate solution of Schrödinger's equation. The field of computational chemistry focusses on applying approximations derived by theoretical and/or quantum chemistry to real life questions.</p>\n\n<p>Working in many of these fields is neither uncommon nor unwelcome. Sometimes one particular subject of the starting hypotheses evolves into a huge complex, that may be carried on for years to come, while some other projects are helping in a shorter timescale. Both of them are equally important. </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>The problem is, each paper I've published is its own research focus without any connection to the next outside of the fact that computational chemistry was used for each.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>In this you state, that you already published papers about your subjects. I am guessing these publications were peer reviewed, so they are already proven to be valuable to the scientific community. </p>\n\n<p>Applying quantum chemical calculations to various problems proves, that you are fit in the field. You know how to tackle different questions, you are versatile and your knowledge about the field you are working in is as broad as necessary. It may also show that you are not narrow minded and thinking out-of-the-box.</p>\n\n<p>If the content of your thesis is already published in peer reviewed journals, you will have quite a good chance, that your thesis will remain unread by your peers. Scientific articles tend to be of much higher importance, than the actual thesis.</p>\n\n<p>If your career options include doing a postdoc, than you will still have enough time to specialise yourself. If you want to become a professor yourself you should use that time to develop a specialised, yet versatile and broad research field.</p>\n\n<p>If you plan on working in the chemical industry, the employers are probably more interested in you as a person, your ability to adjust to certain problems, and working according to their standards. Having a broad thesis should not be a hindrance in that case.</p>\n\n<p>However, the title you are currently using may not be very well chosen, since \"Relevant Chemical Problems\" is a very fuzzy term. On the contrary to some other opinions offered in this thread, I would be very scared of using a long title. Make it as short as possible, while keeping it as precise as necessary.</p>\n\n<p>In conclusion, I do not expect that the title of your thesis will harm your career in any way once you have published in peer reviewed journals.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p><strong>Addendum</strong></p>\n\n<p>I know LordStryker from chem.se and therefore I know at least one publication he suggested I read, upon a request of mine. (I will not disclose this source here, because this is up to him.) I am certainly no expert in this particular field of computational chemistry and my understanding might be incomplete. However, I do see the significance of this particular work not only to our community but also to tangenting fields. </p>\n\n<p>I found two other publications, one appeared in a top level journal of our field, the other I cannot judge. From what I understood the presented work is thoroughly, concise and well prepared. I could also see that connecting all these samples is very difficult from a concise topical point of view. However, these all are applications of quantum chemistry, so they all emerged from the same field.</p>\n\n<p>Not receiving a degree for this work is absolutely out of the question.</p>\n\n<p>On a personal note, I would like to state, that it was my own personal decision to get involved in this \"discussion\" - I was never approached by LordStryker, nor do I have any affiliations with him. Our communication is solely through the se network. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23382,
"author": "Tom Au",
"author_id": 755,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/755",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I am someone who dropped out of a PhD program, so I am answering on the basis of others in the program that I knew.</p>\n\n<p>One student was pleased that his thesis was \"broad\" because he planned to carve several papers out of it. (From what I understand, he did.) Your situation reminded me of his model.</p>\n\n<p>Another focused his thesis and research efforts around a narrow area so they would \"all point in the same direction.\"</p>\n\n<p>These were two of the best regarded students in a class some years ahead of mine.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/03
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/21888",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9569/"
] |
21,889 |
<p>This is something I've been confused ever since I started my undergraduate research.</p>
<p>My research related to User Interfaces. Based on some of the previous years undergraduate research or from some research in the same year as me, as far as I see, have these steps:</p>
<ol>
<li>Suppose we wants to design new interface for a system-X</li>
<li>We do the survey about the interface of system-like-X (but not X) to the users</li>
<li>From the survey, we get the data: what the users don't like from the present system interface, which part should be improved, etc</li>
<li>Then, we propose the new design based on that data</li>
<li>We then, again, test that new design with users</li>
</ol>
<p>And now, my steps, according to my advisor</p>
<ol>
<li>You design the new interface</li>
<li>Test it</li>
</ol>
<p>I'm so confused, because, based on what would I design the interface? What standard or principle I should used? Also, in my case, I have to implement or develop the testing tools myself, which means that I got more work to do compared to my friend's workload. Could that be why step 1-3 skipped? But this is academic, I can't say the reason I choose that design is because "well, because that feels good/looks nice!". But my advisor never told me by what should I based my design on, she just "Yes, you design it first". But that's not my question here.</p>
<p>My questions are:
In this case, where if I do not base my research on data, by what should I based it on? Should I use a principle to back it on or what? Is there a research method like this? What is the name of this research method? </p>
<p>In case I ask in wrong place or there's lack of information, please tell me.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 21890,
"author": "Bhavin Doshi",
"author_id": 6946,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6946",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>You can base it on the data collected by other people already. There are many facts about user behaviors available in various research papers. <a href=\"http://www.usertesting.com/blog/2014/03/14/30-top-ux-conferences-of-2014/\" rel=\"nofollow\">This list</a> has a seemingly good compilation of conferences.</p>\n\n<p>So you base your design on facts and observations and user preferences that someone has published. Then your contribution can be using those principles to create a user interface for a domain, device, or a situation that no one else has explored yet.</p>\n\n<p>I am not a usability person, but since the question was on research method, I thought I would provide my opinion.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 21935,
"author": "Andy W",
"author_id": 3,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/3",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In addition to bkd.online's answer, from your limited description I would call the extra steps in the first list <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilot_experiment\" rel=\"nofollow\"><em>pilot testing</em></a> the user-design. Pilot tests are typically constructed to have a low time and cost data collection to get immediate feedback to improve the design. </p>\n\n<p>In terms of research, the pilot study is typically not considered research in and of itself, but basically the same strategy can be used later on down the line to conduct actual research. For instance, you may have a question about the location of a widget in your design, and whether the location impacts users behavior. You can then set up a proper experiment where you randomly expose different uses to the different widget locations and then measure users behavior under these different conditions.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/03
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/21889",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15236/"
] |
21,897 |
<p>[This looks like something that might have been asked already, but I have not found a question like this on this site.]</p>
<p>I recently had a paper rejected with resubmission from a top Bayesian Statistics journal. This was not a surprise. My main reason for submitting to the journal was to obtain feedback, which I did obtain. I received two reasonably detailed reviews, one more detailed than the other (the longer a bit over 3 pages), as well as a very short and somewhat cryptic (one short para) comment from the Associate (Area?) Editor. Also, these reviews were delivered very fast, which was good. I submitted the manuscript on 27th of April, and it was rejected on the 3rd of June.</p>
<p>The general tone of the reviews is captured by the EIC's one line summary</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Your paper has been read by an AE and two referees. They have all found the topic interesting but with several major flaws in the methodology and implementation</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Now, some points in these reviews are unclear. Would it be reasonable to write to the editor asking for feedback on those points from the referees? Perhaps something along the lines of</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Is this what you meant? If so, the answer is this. If not, can you clarify, please?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>or maybe just</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I don't understand what you mean here, can you elaborate?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Assuming the message is forwarded and the referee replies, I suppose there could conceivably end up being a bit of a back and forth with the reviewers via the editors.</p>
<p>On previous occasions I have not tried doing this, but I have come to believe there is no sense in being too shy in such matters. If you want information, ask for it.</p>
<p>However, I wonder if this is considered unorthodox, improper or inappropriate procedure. It is relevant to note that I am not an expert in Bayesian methods. However, the editors and referees apparently thought my paper worth the trouble of reviewing in detail. Regardless, my lack of experience/expertise may hamper me in understanding the finer points of what is expected in the field.</p>
<p>I will of course do my due diligence in trying to understand the content/purport of the comments, but I don't see the point of my spending hours trying to guess what is meant when the referees could (hopefully) clarify the point in a few minutes.</p>
<p>So, to summarize, the upsides are:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>If I get a response, my eventual fixes will be better and more targeted</p></li>
<li><p>I don't waste a lot of time trying to guess what someone meant. Maybe it was even based on a miunderstanding</p></li>
</ul>
<p>The downsides are:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>The reviewers/editors will not want to be bothered with responding to me. This will be especially true if this is not considered normal procedure</p></li>
<li><p>They might be annoyed by my (possible) cluelessness in the area.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>If I don't ask for any clarifications, then I will just end up making my best guess as to what the referee means. I don't think that the results would be as good as if I was to get clarifications.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 21890,
"author": "Bhavin Doshi",
"author_id": 6946,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6946",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>You can base it on the data collected by other people already. There are many facts about user behaviors available in various research papers. <a href=\"http://www.usertesting.com/blog/2014/03/14/30-top-ux-conferences-of-2014/\" rel=\"nofollow\">This list</a> has a seemingly good compilation of conferences.</p>\n\n<p>So you base your design on facts and observations and user preferences that someone has published. Then your contribution can be using those principles to create a user interface for a domain, device, or a situation that no one else has explored yet.</p>\n\n<p>I am not a usability person, but since the question was on research method, I thought I would provide my opinion.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 21935,
"author": "Andy W",
"author_id": 3,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/3",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In addition to bkd.online's answer, from your limited description I would call the extra steps in the first list <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilot_experiment\" rel=\"nofollow\"><em>pilot testing</em></a> the user-design. Pilot tests are typically constructed to have a low time and cost data collection to get immediate feedback to improve the design. </p>\n\n<p>In terms of research, the pilot study is typically not considered research in and of itself, but basically the same strategy can be used later on down the line to conduct actual research. For instance, you may have a question about the location of a widget in your design, and whether the location impacts users behavior. You can then set up a proper experiment where you randomly expose different uses to the different widget locations and then measure users behavior under these different conditions.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/03
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/21897",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/285/"
] |
21,900 |
<p>I'm frequently put in an awkward position by my advisor: he communicates pretty badly (vague, doesn't give enough information, isn't clear with what he wants, references things that could mean many things), and then I have to interpret what he means. If I interpret it incorrectly, I often get chastised because from his point of view, he gave me directions and I didn't follow them correctly. If I ask for clarification, I often get chastised because he sees nothing wrong with the bad directions he gave me.</p>
<p>I'm of course open to the possibility, but I don't think it's just me -- I've been in meetings with him and several other people, showing information that everyone clearly understands but he's very confused. Inversely, I've also seen other people be confused by what he's trying to say. To try and find a positive example, the people who seem to work best with him are people who mostly do their work independently (postdocs, for example).</p>
<p>It's very frustrating to me because I'm genuinely trying to work hard and please him, and I do think he has good ideas -- he just acts like the things in his head that are clear to him are thus clear to everyone else.</p>
<p>I know he tries to stress independence as well, which I understand is a valuable trait -- I know too many grad students who are basically passive "gophers" who just go down the list of what their advisor tells them to do and never end up thinking for themselves. And I appreciate that, but it can go just as badly in the opposite direction, when I'm pulling out my hair because I just have so little information about what he wants, but he thinks I have a lot.</p>
<p>Is there anything I can really do? I'm usually all for it, but I don't think talking to him directly and specifically would really accomplish anything here: he's successful and seemingly pretty set in his ways.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 21902,
"author": "WetlabStudent",
"author_id": 8101,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8101",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Now I can't be certain that what I'm about to say applies to your advisor, but it does apply to many interactions. I've learned that with any advisor (given that you have adequately prepared yourself for your meetings) always err or the side of \"appearing stupid\" to trying to \"interpret vague directions\". Science is all about clarifying confusion, and asking \"dumb questions\". In fact, some of the best research has it's origin from scientist questioning something that \"didn't quite make sense\" to them. Most likely the questions you ask aren't dumb, and even if they are, hiding the misunderstanding will only lead it to be revealed at a later time. Even worse, something might seem vague or confusing because the advisor is wrong or hadn't thought out all the details. Never set out do something your advisor told you, when you don't understand, that usually leads to problems down the road. Instead ask for clarification, even if you think it will tarnish your reputation a bit. If he appears fussy now, oh well, you still need to learn. If you think he is the one who is wrong or vague, asking (politely) specific questions is the best non confrontational way of approaching the situation, so you two can discuss the issue and mutually come to a consensus (which might be a consensus to disagree - for now - and come back to it later). If he is a good advisor he will respect someone asking him questions.</p>\n\n<p>I know you said \"If I ask for clarification, I often get chastised because he sees nothing wrong with the bad directions he gave me.\" What exactly does he say? I can often think I am being chastised by someone who doesn't intend on that being the case. Without more detail than this, I'd like to give your advisor the benefit of the doubt. It's possible that he really is frustrated, but that may not be the case here.</p>\n\n<p>Note that many advisors can appear agitated when they aren't in the slightest bit upset or annoyed. This can occur for a bunch of reasons, but two common ones are (1) the advisee is projecting his own feelings of inadequacy onto the advisor and assuming the advisor thinks bad things of the advisee, when he actually doesn't, (2) he makes scowling or upsetting facial expressions when he is confused or thinking hard (this may have nothing to do with you).</p>\n\n<p>I suspect (1) is especially at play here. Graduate students (and sometimes even professors!) frequently suffer from an impostor syndrome (me included), and the description of your advisor relationship could go along these lines.</p>\n\n<p>If your advisor focusses on fostering independence, his students are going to fail a bunch of times; he (hopefully) knows this and views it as a good thing (and I agree independence is a very good thing to foster!). Your advisor most likely knows that asking a \"good research question\" and coming up with procedures and algorithms on your own, with only vague tips, is very difficult. He has likely had many students fumble around for years with nothing to show for it until one day, with their hard work it eventually pays off. You will come to your advisor with \"strange\" ideas; that comes with the territory of being this kind of advisor. The key for you is to not let your frustration lead into thoughts about what your advisor thinks of you. I often spin stories in my head about how my advisor thinks about things I do. These thoughts are unhelpful, and while it's easier said than done you should try your hardest from going down this path. Beyond working hard, what your advisor thinks of you is out of your control. Ask him the stupid questions, the people who ask stupid questions are often the people who get ahead in life.</p>\n\n<p>When I was in undergrad I asked professors, grad students, and peers all types of questions. I thought, what do I have to lose, I'm just an undergrad. When I got to graduate school, I all of a sudden shut the \"question asking off\" out of intimidation and now realize that this was a major mistake which hindered my success during my earlier years of graduate school.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 21903,
"author": "Suresh",
"author_id": 346,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As an advisor who often thinks I'm giving clear instructions when I'm not :), here's one thing that will require a certain amount of pain, but might help long term. </p>\n\n<p>You might have tried this already, but when you're given somewhat vague instructions by your advisor, try to spell them out as precisely as you're able to and repeat them back to him on the spot. </p>\n\n<p>So your advisor says, \"maybe you should try (vague idea) X, Y, Z\". </p>\n\n<p>You say, \"so you mean that for (vague idea) X I should try A, B, ??\". </p>\n\n<p>Your advisor might say, \"no no, I really meant D\" while frowning fiercely at you. But at least then you've managed to get something precise out of him. </p>\n\n<p>Or (and this has happened to me), your advisor says \"Hmm. you're right: X doesn't make any sense: ignore that\". In which case you've successfully eliminated one unclear option. </p>\n\n<p>The \"pain\" here is that your first few meetings might go quite badly while you both struggle to learn to communicate with each other. But I suspect that if your advisor is merely not thinking carefully enough about the ideas he's suggesting, this will force him to think more clearly about them. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 21905,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Every graduate student I have ever met or been spends more time than is ideal wondering exactly what their advisor wants them to do. Similarly, all advisors used to be graduate students, so they are familiar with the phenomenon, whether they presently have it in mind or not. As MHH says, graduate students tend to err on the side of \"not wanting to look stupid\". Again I speak from personal experience: my advisor was (and is) one of the quickest and deepest thinking mathematicians on the planet, and -- despite the fact that he is one of the warmest people I know -- I was powerfully intimidated in our meetings for several years. At one point I decided that he thought that I was a little bit quicker and lazier than I actually was...and I decided to nurture the \"quickness\" and reveal my very solid work ethic at a later, more appropriate time. In retrospect I am amused by the fact that I had such a psychologically astute approach -- indeed, I still believe that opinions about people's abilities are earlier formed and less mutable than opinions about people's practices -- which was nevertheless distinctly -- obviously, really -- counterproductive. </p>\n\n<p>Because many students approach meetings with their advisors with a lot of trepidation, they also want to err on the side of having the meetings go as smoothly as possible, again in a distinctively unproductive sense. If your advisor says something that you think is not a good idea or outright false, it's so tempting to swallow it in the moment, go back and spend a week or two making sure that it's problematic, and then spending another week trying to figure out how best to break the news. But again, though psychologically understandable, that's exactly wrong: why are you spending weeks exploring an idea that you immediately perceive is bad?!? Instead if you have a thought like this, you should share it with your advisor right away. It might make him frown or momentarily dampen his enthusiasm: but that's all obviously worth it.</p>\n\n<p>That advice is slightly off-center for your question, but let me return to center in repeat it in a context which makes it even harder to follow: if your advisor tells you something and you don't understand it, should you really go away for a day, a week or a month trying to implement the thing you didn't understand? Of course not. You should ask for clarification. </p>\n\n<p>In your particular situation you seem fixated on the fact that it's not your fault that you're not understanding your advisor. In my view if you really see it that way, you're more than halfway to the decision of choosing a new advisor, which may in fact be the right one for you. Sometimes two intelligent, competent, friendly people who want to work together in practice can't interlock professionally. That's really a bummer when it happens -- I've been there -- but a certain point you have to acknowledge it and move on to a better relationship.</p>\n\n<p>In your case though it sounds like you're not there <em>yet</em>. I think you included in your question what in some sense you know you should do and then brushed it off: you need to talk to your advisor about the the lack of precision in your communication. (You say that he <em>seems set in his ways</em>. Okay, but who cares? What matters is -- <a href=\"http://www.shakespeare-online.com/quickquotes/quickquotehamletseems.html\">hat tip to the Prince of Denmark</a> -- whether he <strong>is</strong> set in his ways.) It's either that or finding a new advisor, and since the latter is a larger undertaking in every way, definitely try the former first. In preparing for this critical meeting, you should practice conveying the problematic lack of precision without making either party \"to blame\" or individually being accused of being \"unclear\". This is actually true: in any communication, the onus of understanding lies on both parties. Rather, bring it up in a very positive way: you have perceived something that you feel will make things work much better. In the conversation, listen carefully to how your advisor feels and especially how he feels about you. If he is not open to this conversation or explicitly enunciates frustration with you for needing too much hand-holding: okay, you gave it a try. But if you phrase it in the terms that I did above -- you're serious, he's serious, but it's got to be better to spend a few more minutes to make sure you understand each other properly before you go off and spend all kinds of time and energy implementing those partially understood suggestions -- I really think your advisor should be receptive. In fact, as others have pointed out, I would go into that meeting with at least the hope that he's not actually at all unwilling to be more explicit and your perception of that is part of the miscommunication. </p>\n\n<p>Good luck.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 21948,
"author": "Murphy",
"author_id": 16078,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16078",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The problem isn't unique to academic circles. </p>\n\n<p>One person telling another exactly what they actually want without confusion on either side is one of the hardest problems in the world. </p>\n\n<p>So perhaps stick up an grad-student version of this old chestnut with \"what the supervisor asked for\" and \"what the grad student heard\" substituted for some of the silly ones to remind everyone that it's a common problem that's nothing to be embarrassed about but does have to be handled. </p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://community.secondlife.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/37541i926E3612BA3F8DFA/image-size/original?v=mpbl-1&px=-1\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://community.secondlife.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/37541i926E3612BA3F8DFA/image-size/original?v=mpbl-1&px=-1</a></p>\n\n<p>(it's been floating round the net in various forms for a long time)</p>\n\n<p>I was lucky enough to be doing my postgrad in a different area to my undergrad so wasn't so embarrassed to keep digging detail out of my supervisor but you have to both invest the time in making absolutely sure you know what's wanted.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 21955,
"author": "f.thorpe",
"author_id": 16083,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16083",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>For situations like this, I think its important to rely upon other members of your committee for clarification. You probably aren't going to change the way your adviser communicates, but you might be more successful overall if you consistently communicate with your other committee members... or make sure one of them are present when you meet with your adviser. I was quite intimidated by my adviser in my PhD program, but my other committee members helped to keep things in perspective and clarify goals in ways that my adviser never could.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/03
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/21900",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
] |
21,907 |
<p>I submitted a manuscript to an established ecology journal and received reasonable reviews. The reviewing editor requested a revision. However, the comments from the reviewing editor were abysmal. First, the literacy and analysis were, in my judgment, poor by high-school standards. Second, based on the comments, I seriously doubt the reviewing editor read the manuscript. I have published 10 papers (mostly in higher impact journals than this one) and this reviewing editor stands out. I think I would rather withdraw the paper than deal with this person. Is it possible to request a different editor? I have never heard of that, but I have no desire to work with this person. </p>
<p>EDIT: The email from the journal contains 3 sets of comments. They are labeled "Reviewer #1", "Reviewer #2", and "Associate Editor." I am referring to the comments from the Associate Editor, who is not named. The comments from the AE synthesize the comments from the reviewers, which is his/her job, of course. However, it reads like the AE was busy and let his 12 year old son write it for him. </p>
<p>EDIT 2: Thank you for the input. I asked this question because A) the comments from the AE were unusually bad and B) it will require more finesse to deal with a bad editor than a bad reviewer. However, I have decided to proceed as normal anyway. I have already invested the time to get reviews and I need to deal with reviewer comments regardless. Once you are halfway into the forest, forging ahead is the quickest way out. So I will play the journal-review roulette even though I think it will be more random and aggravating than usual.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 21915,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As chief editor of a journal, I can say that I would see such a request as reasonable under certain circumstances (and it has happened). However, in the case you describe I do not see what it is that the editor has really done. The reviewers comments form the basis for your revisions and the editor should judge if any comments are more important than others and summarize what the editor sees as important revisions you should make. It is then up to you to do these as you see fit and if you disagree argue against those that need such action. </p>\n\n<p>Change of editor requests come when an author feel a paper has been unfairly judged (usually rejected) and I know of one case where an editor rejected a paper after using a set of reviewers that were marked as \"non-preferred\" due to a conflict of interest. I also know of cases where a zealous copy-editor has modified the language to a degree that the science was almost completely lost. In your case, it is not clear what has happened to the manuscript, has it been rejected? have you written a rebuttal and argued against changes imposed? </p>\n\n<p>I would suggest that you make the revisions you think are reasonable and provide a rebuttal on the <em>suggested</em> changes to your paper. If you encounter more unreasonable resistance from the editor, I think it is only fair to write to the Editor-in-Chief and state that you think you have been unfairly treated and wish to get a second opinion on the handling.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 21961,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>You clearly have a very low opinion of the competence of the anonymous Associate Editor (AAE). It might be worth looking through some issues of the journal and asking around about the quality of the journal: does it really have the stature that you previously thought?</p>\n\n<p>If so, then I would draw a distinction between the impression that the AAE has made on you and the effect this will have on your manuscript and your own revision process. The relevant question is: is it going to be more trouble to push this paper through to publication -- is it even headed in that direction? that wasn't completely clear to me from your description -- than to start fresh with a different journal? </p>\n\n<p>It sounds like you think that the <em>referees</em> made reasonable comments, comments that you would have to address anyway before resubmitting. So what is the downside in preparing a revised version that addresses the <em>referees' comments</em>, together with a brief, unconfrontational reply explaining that the AAE's suggestions were considered but ultimately not followed? To me it seems strategically best to try this first and see what happens.</p>\n\n<p>As a final point: let me address the question: How do you communicate to the journal your professional opinion that the AAE is truly incompetent? I would say that criticizing an unknown editor of a journal is difficult or impossible to pull off in a way which is likely to be productive: the risk seems too high that you would simply be writing to the person you are complaining about and informing them that their work is \"poor by high-school standards\". I tried to imagine a person who might respond well to that...and I did not succeed. In my experience, the current journal system makes the process of complaint / appeal / seeking of restitution so awkward as to rarely be worthwhile for anything other than a cathartic (Festivus-style?) airing of grievances: too much of the process happens out of your sight. The point at which you feel like you <em>need</em> to complain is probably the point to resubmit somewhere else. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/04
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/21907",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16048/"
] |
21,909 |
<p>The topic of Wikipedia contribution has come up before, but I am interested in the community's opinion on peer-reviewed wiki publishing (e.g., Scholarpedia). I would like to know if there is any advantage for a PhD student to publish in such an online venue versus the traditional journal publication for review content. The advantages I see to the wiki approach is free of charge publication, open access for all, not necessarily being limited by character limits. However, the disadvantages I see could be the citation being completely ignored by the intended audience and therefore missing out on the benefits of scientific communication and the possible loss of accompanying reputation for the publication. I would also worry these publications would be ignored or minimized by future supervisors and review committees.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 21911,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Scholarpedia has adapted many of the <em>processes</em> of a peer-reviewed journal. However, it is still a <em>kind</em> of <strong>encyclopedia</strong> and not a research journal at all. Note that I'm not making any kind of judgment or evaluation in the previous sentence: the main page of the site reads </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Welcome to Scholarpedia, the peer-reviewed open-access encyclopedia,\n where knowledge is curated by communities of experts.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>So you seem to be asking: \"Should I publish my paper in an encyclopedia rather than a research journal?\" I think that's a kind of strange question: have you really written something which lies ambiguously between a research paper and an encyclopedia article? </p>\n\n<p>The above is not a rhetorical question: please let us know!</p>\n\n<p>It is also possible that I have fixated too much on \"scholarpedia\" and it is not the type wiki publication that you really intended. If so, please let us know. It would be helpful to give at least one specific example of the kind of \"peer-reviewed wiki\" you have in mind as a plausible alternative to a research journal.</p>\n\n<p><b>Added</b>: @MHH has helpfully clarified that the OP is probably talking about a <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10467/what-is-the-difference-between-review-paper-and-research-paper\">review paper</a>, or what in my field would be called a \"survey paper\". (The word \"review\" was also used at least twice in a different sense in the OP's question, and that was enough to confuse me.) I must begin by admitting that review/survey papers are rare in my field (mathematics), and that they would be written by PhD students is almost unprecedented. So I am almost at the point of wanting to delete my answer for lack of understanding and relevant expertise. </p>\n\n<p>However, let me first try this: \nit seems to me that a review paper should be published in a research journal if it contains <em>original research</em>: i.e., some kind of synthesis, analysis, new perspectives, helpful simplifications, and so forth are being added. Of course \"original research\" is exactly what is not wanted in an encyclopedia article, although I don't see why this would necessarily be the case for all peer-reviewed wikis. So going more from general academic common sense than specific insight (i.e., <em>caveat emptor</em>), I would say that this should be the deciding factor between publishing a survey paper in a research journal or in a wiki. Let me further say that most or all of the advantages cited by publication in a wiki can be achieved by publishing in <em>certain kinds</em> of research journals: \"free of charge publication, open access for all\" certainly. Many electronic journals do not advertise hard \"character limits\", but of course there must be some kind of upper bound must exist, right? No one wants a 5000 page survey of the literature. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 21914,
"author": "Dirk",
"author_id": 529,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/529",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think there is no definite answer at the moment since one can not judge now how scholarpedia will develop. At the present stage I think that the impact will be low and many colleagues may not know about scholarpedia. However, this may change in the future and the outcome will depend a lot on the quality of contributions. If you think that scholarpedia is a valuable resource, a good project and that you can contribute something, I'd say: Go ahead.</p>\n\n<p>I also remember a quote by Gian-Carlo Rota: \"You'll be better known for your expository work.\" I am not sure if this applies to everybody equally but it is a point.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 34656,
"author": "Aubrey",
"author_id": 26682,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/26682",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Both answers are excellent, I would like to add that today is too soon to answers because we don't know how the <em>publication system</em> will evolve. </p>\n\n<p>Right now, we are following a traditional, centuries old system in with scientists gain reputation from their publications, which in very recent years were (and in some countries and some disciplines still are) just in paper.</p>\n\n<p>Open access is \"disruptive technology\" for this system, but it may regard not only the licenses of research publications, but the very <em>shape</em> they can assume. There are experiments with <em>peer review</em> too. We can definitely imagine a future when sites like academia.se (or math.se, or others) will be taken into account for evaluation a scholar profile. For coders, is somehow customary to look at their GitHub or StackOverflow account... </p>\n\n<p>And I remember at least one case (I don't have a reference, sorry) in which, among other things, a professor gained his tenure also for his concrete and excellent contributions to Wikipedia. </p>\n\n<p>It is a matter of customs, habits, technology and <em>culture</em> of academia and his communities. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 34733,
"author": "Daniel Mietchen",
"author_id": 11244,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11244",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>What I find most interesting about wikis is that they are collaborative platforms with a public version history. This allows updates in addition to the \"version of record\" functionality of traditional publishing.</p>\n\n<p>Scholarpedia has both, though if you are after Open Access in the sense of the <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Budapest_Open_Access_Initiative&oldid=607344549#Definition_of_open_access\" rel=\"nofollow\">Budapest definition</a> (which allows reuse by anyone for any purpose), it is not there yet.</p>\n\n<p>I am involved with a scheme in which the version of record (of review articles) is published classically in the journal, but in a way that allows the article to lead a second life as an updatable article on the English Wikipedia. Further details can be found <a href=\"http://wikiambassador.jiscinvolve.org/wp/2014/03/28/publishing-scholarly-wikipedia/\" rel=\"nofollow\">here</a> and <a href=\"http://blogs.plos.org/biologue/2014/09/25/topic-pages-collection-in-plos-comp-biol/\" rel=\"nofollow\">here</a>.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 83043,
"author": "Pete Forsyth",
"author_id": 67485,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/67485",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I want to focus on one point touched on in a couple of the other answers: wiki is a class of software that tends to have a certain set of features (though the features vary from one wiki to another). The technical features might impact the value to the <em>audience</em>, but I don't think they have inherent advantages or disadvantages like those described, from the perspective of the <em>author</em>.</p>\n\n<p>A wiki-based publication, a traditional journal, or other formats may have any number of approaches to charges for publication, open access to readers, character limits, and may have varying reputation.</p>\n\n<p>I'd urge PhD candidates considering questions like these to focus more on the specific publication, as measured against criteria like this, rather than worrying about the technical underpinnings of the journal. A publication's policies, processes, and record will have more of an impact on its value to you, than will the technology it uses.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/04
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/21909",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
] |
21,922 |
<p>I'm writing a research paper in my native language, Serbian, on a specific electrical engineering and applied mathematics topic. Moreover, there are two published papers in English that hold much of the information I need.</p>
<p>Now, the topic itself is quite new and is unknown in Serbia, and consequently at my university. My plan is to sum up the results of the two papers, further expand on the theory behind it (which is only arbitrarily mentioned in the English papers), and finally encapsulate the whole idea. </p>
<p>So, strictly speaking, I won't be doing any original research, in terms of experiments or mathematical breakthroughs, but rather synopsize and provide a desired perspective on a modern topic that is novel to my national academic environment. </p>
<hr>
<p><strong>Q:</strong> If I reference the two English papers and their authors at the end of the paper, do I commit plagiarism? </p>
<p>For example, if I see a nice sentence in one of the papers, and I translate it into my paper, are the references at the end enough for crediting the author?</p>
<p>Finally, is using the pictures from the two papers (with referencing them naturally) accepted practice? Or do I need to get the authors' permission to use them? </p>
<hr>
<p>Furthermore, does my paper still hold some kind of value, even though it doesn't provide original results? At the very least, it introduces a new, and very interesting topic to my faculty, and is generally a field I'm interested in researching, and eventually achieving some real and relevant results.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 21929,
"author": "Suresh",
"author_id": 346,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Your paper lies somewhere between</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>a true translation, much like how a book in one language might be translated into another. In such a case, the article is usually credited to the original authors, with a note mentioning who did the translation</p></li>\n<li><p>a review article that surveys some fragment of the literature, possibly adding a larger perspective to the material being presented. </p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>In my view, your work is closer to the latter than the former, especially if what you're trying to transmit in Serbian are the ideas in the papers, and not the literal words. </p>\n\n<p>What might therefore be your best option is to convey the ideas in the works, clearly marked (for example a section header, or even some introductory text saying what you're doing), but without any need to cite specific translations (unless the occasional turn of phrase is so useful that you might as well put it in quotes). </p>\n\n<p>In this case, you're clearly not plagiarizing, since credit is being given clearly and copiously. </p>\n\n<p>I'm not sure about the copyright issues involved in reproducing pictures. Fair use should cover use of a few pictures (but <strong>IANAL</strong>). In any case, it's the copyright holder who needs to be asked (and this might be the authors, or the publisher: the paper should have a note about this). </p>\n\n<p>Does such a document have value ? Well based on the context you describe, sure ! If it helps an audience gain access to material they'd otherwise be unfamiliar with or unable to read, definitely. This is no different from other review articles in other disciplines, and has the added bonus of language translation. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 21933,
"author": "Arno",
"author_id": 12047,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12047",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><strong>Referencing the papers at the end is not sufficient.</strong></p>\n\n<p>Generally, the litmus test whether or not something is plagariasm is whether the reader is given an adequate impression of how much of the text is other peoples work. Readers don't always read entire papers, and in particular may not make it to the end.</p>\n\n<p>In your case, I would suggest to state at the beginning what your two main sources are, and give some indication of how heavily you are drawing from them. Then, throughout the paper reference each bit you've taken from elsewhere by where it is coming from.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/04
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/21922",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14435/"
] |
21,938 |
<p>I'm a foreign (non-EU) student enrolled at the CS master's program in a European university.
I would like to take 2-3 courses that my university doesn't offer, and the first idea that came to mind was to take them at another university (preferably also European) in another country.
Obviously I want these courses to be counted in my diploma (assuming that they fit my program).</p>
<p>What you would do if you were in my place? Is there any "general" approach to my problem?</p>
<p>From what I've found there are a few ways:</p>
<ul>
<li>Go as a free mover and enrol to the courses individually (seems that not all universities offer this option)</li>
<li>Go as an Erasmus student (not sure if I qualify being non-EU citizen)</li>
<li>Go by direct exchange program to the university that have bilateral agreement with my university (in my case, I'm not satisfied with offered transfer destinations, so it's not really an option)</li>
<li>Something else?</li>
</ul>
<p>UPD:
I assume there are 2 general cases: </p>
<ol>
<li>My university and the university I wish to go are "partner
universities", i.e. they have some sort of mutual agreement </li>
<li>They are not "partners universities"</li>
</ol>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 21942,
"author": "Dirk",
"author_id": 529,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/529",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You should ask your dean of student affairs (or whatever this is called at your institution), if your university will accept these courses. Usually they should (if these courses fit in the curriculum) but this, of course, depends.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 24404,
"author": "The Almighty Bob",
"author_id": 16086,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16086",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>Go by <strong>direct exchange program</strong> to the university that have bilateral\n agreement with my university (in my case, I'm not satisfied with\n offered transfer destinations, so it's not really an option)</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>That would be the easiest way.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Go as an Erasmus student (not sure if I qualify being non-EU citizen)</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>If you are not qualified for <strong>Erasmus</strong>, you are certainly qualified for <strong>Erasmus Mundus</strong>. Just talk to the Erasmus coordinator at your university. If you are going with Erasmus they (should) have already taken care of the getting credits problem.</p>\n\n<p>If all that does not work out, you could also <strong>organize it yourself</strong>. That is more work but sometimes worth it. Then you have to take care of most of the things yourself:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>Funding: 3 possible sources come to mind: the country you want to go\nto (for Germany that would be <a href=\"https://www.daad.de/deutschland/en/\" rel=\"nofollow\" title=\"DAAD\">DAAD</a>, but similar options also\nexist in most EU countries, e.g. France or Belgium <a href=\"http://www.baef.be\" rel=\"nofollow\" title=\"BAEF\">BAEF</a>), the\ncountry you are comming from, or your home country.)</p></li>\n<li><p>Credit: Talk to the director of your program/ the dean of student\naffairs / international relations person</p></li>\n<li><p>Enrollment in the foreign university. You also have to apply there.</p></li>\n</ul>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/04
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/21938",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14563/"
] |
21,939 |
<p>Our paper was due submission for second revision at a BMC journal. The communicating author, as I understand is responsible for handling all the communications between all authors and the journal, while also making suitable arrangement to cover any open access charges. </p>
<p>However, the communicating author in our case, without informing any author, removed 4 out of the total 6 authors while submitting the second revision. How should we deal with this? isn't it a academic fraud by the communicating author? Can't we, as students do anything to stop this?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 21940,
"author": "avid",
"author_id": 15798,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15798",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This sounds like an unpleasant situation.</p>\n\n<p>If this happened to me, I think my starting point would be to ensure I had copies of anything that might be useful as evidence. Then, I would write (formally) to the person concerned, asking for an explanation of why they thought it appropriate to remove you all from the author list. I think this has to be the first step: it is always possible that there is a rational explanation (although it's difficult to imagine what it might be). You might choose to copy the letter to the head of the relevant university department, and perhaps to the editor of the journal - particularly if the paper has not yet been published, and so can be put 'on hold' pending resolution of the authorship dispute. </p>\n\n<p>Of course, you will have to weigh up the benefits of asserting your rights to authorship against any potential cost arising from 'causing trouble'. You are <em>completely</em> within your rights to create a major fuss here, and your department <em>should</em> be entirely supportive. I think you <em>should</em> do something. However, there is a risk that some of the people involved will seek revenge, if they have any power over you (e.g. if you are still a student at the university). I am <em>absolutely not</em> condoning such behaviour - it is quite clearly bullying, and an abuse of power. However, it would be irresponsible to advocate taking action without encouraging you to also consider whether there are any potential adverse consequences.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 21941,
"author": "Dirk",
"author_id": 529,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/529",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I say yes, this is academic fraud. I suggest to contact the corresponding author and inform him/her that your are going to inform the editor of the journal about the issue. Depending on the answer from the corresponding author you should indeed write to the editor and explain the case. </p>\n\n<p>However, I am not sure what will happen then. Presumably things will get difficult and it would be much better if you could sort this out directly. Also you should communicate your strategy with the other authors and act open for all involved people.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 21957,
"author": "A Jack",
"author_id": 15616,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15616",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>We recently had an extensive discussion of how to deal with such an issue, should it arise, in a postdoctoral seminar I attended. A number of senior faculty contributed their ideas regarding how to deal with such an incident. </p>\n\n<p>I would recommend a more gradual escalation than others have suggested. For example, I would not copy the editor of the journal or the head of the department on your initial communication requesting more information. I would start with communication just within your author group: for example, an email to the corresponding author asking for an explanation of why they removed your (and others) authorship without notification, CCing all other authors of the paper. This gives you a paper trail but also allows you to first address the issue without airing everyone's dirty laundry. </p>\n\n<p>If the corresponding author's response is not to the removed authors' satisfaction, you should then, together, think about escalating your complaint (for example, by contacting the editor). I agree with avid that while you would be in your rights to do so, there is a very real possibility of a negative backlash. I think as a consequence the other dropped authors should be on board with such a decision, and you should have excellent documentation of your complaint.</p>\n\n<p>Finally, this type of incident is a very good example of why every paper should start with an authorship meeting where everyone sits down, agrees on authorship and order, and what constitutes the responsibilities of authorship at each level (e.g., \"first author will be so-and-so, and that means her responsibilities are to do x,y,z...and if she finds herself unable to meet all of those responsibilities, then authorship decisions will need to be revisited\", etc.) Concretizing expectations prior to the work tends to lead to better working relationships and can prevent some very bitter arguments.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 21996,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The initial reaction to your problem is that it is wrong. There are, too many unknowns to say why this has happened, if you are deadling with negligence, absent mindedness, some more serious personality issue or whatever. I would suggest the following</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Discuss with the other authors how you all became co-authors in the first place and compare your contributions to see if they fulfil some basic critteria such as those of the Vancouver Protocol (given by for example ICMJE and reproduced at <a href=\"http://research-ethics.net/topics/authorship/#regulations-and-guidelines\" rel=\"nofollow\">Resources for Research Ethics Education</a>. This will help you gain leverage for your authorship/contributorship. Of course, if you had some form of agreement to start with, then that should suffice. The important thing is that it is unethical to publish someone else's intellectual property without consent so establishing such claims can be important. This is why authorship or contributorship agreements should follow the Vancouver Protocol to begin with (I know they rarely do).</li>\n<li>Approach the first author and ask him/her to explain the reduction in authors without prior discussion.</li>\n<li>If 2 fails to yield results, write to the chief editor of the journal and describe the problem and that you wish to see the paper stopped. If the paper contains materials that can be attributed to the authors who have been dropped, that should be grounds for halting the process and starting an investigation, perhaps through <a href=\"http://publicationethics.org/\" rel=\"nofollow\">COPE</a>.</li>\n</ol>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 21999,
"author": "Fintan",
"author_id": 16126,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16126",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I'm assuming that by BMC you mean a BioMed journal? You should read the BioMed Editorial Policies page( <a href=\"http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/editorialpolicies\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/editorialpolicies</a> )\nwhich lists 4 requirements for qualifying as an author: </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>to qualify as an author one should have:</p>\n \n <p>(1) made substantial contributions to conception and design, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data;</p>\n \n <p>(2) been involved in drafting the manuscript or revising it critically for important intellectual content;</p>\n \n <p>(3) given final approval of the version to be published. Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content; and</p>\n \n <p>(4) agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.</p>\n \n <p>Acquisition of funding, collection of data, or general supervision of the research group, alone, does not usually justify authorship.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>So if you can satisfy these criteria (especially the first two), you should be an author. </p>\n\n<p>The same page also addresses authorship changes:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>In line with COPE guidelines, BioMed Central requires written confirmation from all authors that they agree with any proposed changes in authorship of submitted manuscripts or published articles. This confirmation must be via direct email from each author. It is the corresponding author’s responsibility to ensure that all authors confirm that they agree with the proposed changes. If there is disagreement amongst the authors concerning authorship and a satisfactory agreement cannot be reached, the authors must contact their institution(s) for a resolution. It is not the Editor’s responsibility to resolve authorship disputes.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>So you need to deal with this in your institution; pointing out that is contrary to journal policy for authorship to change without consultation is a good place to start.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/04
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/21939",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16074/"
] |
21,944 |
<p>I'm choosing reference writers for my math PhD application this year, and need to decide between the 2 following professors: </p>
<ul>
<li>Professor X is a young professor with whom I took measure theory and
did a research project in my freshman year. The project went pretty
well - we obtained some results earlier than he expected, and
published a paper. He moved to another university and no longer
worked with me, but we still keep in touch.</li>
<li>Professor Y is a fairly well-known professor whom I met at a 1-month
summer workshop. I didn't interact much with her outside of the
classroom, but she seemed to like me: after the workshop, she said she
was really impressed by me and voluntarily asked if I want a
recommendation letter from her.</li>
</ul>
<p>Neither professor works in the field that I plan to study in grad school.</p>
<p>I often hear that "good at research" letters are way better than "do well in class" ones. However, in my sophomore year, I applied to some REU programs with professor X's letter (and another not so strong "do well in class" letter), and was rejected by all of them. Of course the recommendation is just one factor, but I think my course work was not bad - probably better than many of my junior friends who were admitted. My Putnam score was pretty good too, although I don't think it mattered. The following year I reapplied with both professor X's and Y's letters, and got first round offers from most of the programs.</p>
<p>Do you think this indicates that professor Y's letter substantially strengthened my application, or actually REU programs looked at some other factors I wasn't aware of? Do grad schools and REU programs look at recommendations the same way? Which letter would you recommend me to use? I can't use both because I have 2 other letters already, and many grad schools say they may not read more than 3 letters.</p>
<p>Thank you very much.</p>
<p><strong>Edit:</strong></p>
<ol>
<li><p>About the 2 other reference writers that I've already chosen: both did research with me, one of them also taught me several courses.</p></li>
<li><p>The other letter I used in my sophomore year (along with professor X's) was probably not that bad. The reference writer said he was pretty impressed that my course grade was 95% or something, while everyone else got less than 60%. It's just that I didn't do research with him.</p></li>
</ol>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 21949,
"author": "David Z",
"author_id": 236,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/236",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The standard wisdom about getting letters from people you worked with rather than those who merely had you in a class is only approximate, of course, and it doesn't mean that every recommendation you get from someone you worked with will be better than every recommendation from someone who you took a class with. To me, the fact that professor Y voluntarily asked if you wanted her recommendation is more important in your case. She wouldn't offer to do that unless she was confident that she could write you a good recommendation. So I think there's a decent chance that her recommendation letter actually helped you more than the one you got from professor X.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 21950,
"author": "vadim123",
"author_id": 7222,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7222",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Your REU evidence that X wrote you a weak letter is not very strong. I run an REU, and we accept less than 3% of our applicants. Our target participants are either legendary at small colleges (best in a decade), or excellent at top universities (top 25% this year at Harvard). Plenty of excellent people get turned away for essentially random reasons. Maybe one of your letters was submitted late. Maybe you forgot to list a course on your application that was considered essential that year. Maybe I had a bad burrito for lunch and hated your essay when I read it. Maybe there were just lots of really good applicants that year. And yes, maybe professor X (or professor Z, the other letter-writer) said or implied something negative about you.</p>\n\n<p>In addition, Professor Y offering to write on your behalf after a one month course says more about her than it does about you. This does not guarantee that she will write a strong letter, and if she does she may write strong letters for a lot of people, which might be known by the people reading her letters.</p>\n\n<p>Here is my advice. Go to Professor Y and tell her that you did research with Professor X and published a paper together. Then, ask her whether you should ask for X's recommendation or hers. If she really feels that you are spectacular, she will insist on writing the letter herself. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 98638,
"author": "James Peng Liao",
"author_id": 38854,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/38854",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The fairly well-known professor Professor Y is better. The academic world emphasizes on the credibility of the recommendation.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/04
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/21944",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16066/"
] |
21,945 |
<p>I am directly quoting a sentence from an ebook. Thus, I want to add the page numbering to its citation. However, different to the print version, which I do not have, this ebook (Amazon Kindle version) does not have page numberings but rather "positions".</p>
<p>Do I just pretend it's a page numbering and note in the bibliography that it is a Kindle version? Or is there another way?</p>
<p>In case this is of interest, I am using Latex with Bibtex.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 21947,
"author": "Wrzlprmft",
"author_id": 7734,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7734",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>You are not providing page numbers with citations for their own sake, but to help readers to locate the cited passage, e.g., if they want to verify it or see it in context. (Therefore page numbers are already diminished in their usefulness for regular books as soon as there are two editions with significantly different paging.)</p>\n\n<p>The arguably easiest way to locate a verbatim quote in an e-book is to just feed a few words into a full-text search. Thus giving page numbers or similar information has no purpose anymore. However, you could ease finding the location of the quote in a classical book by giving edition-independent location information, such as chapter and section numbers.</p>\n\n<p>Note that this is a “utilitaristic” approach to citations. A relevant reader of your publication (e.g., a supervisor or reviewer) might have a “dogmatic” view on such things and thus require page numbers or similar for their own sake.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 21952,
"author": "enthu",
"author_id": 15723,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15723",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In my opinion, in this case, it may be a good idea to cite your reference regarding the section and part from which you are directly quoting a sentence. I mean, you may cite the ebook the same as you used to do before, but, when you want the reader to be informed about the exact part in which your quotation exists; you may refer to the section and part instead of page numbers which do not exist. Another good idea may be mentioning the phrase: \"PDF file position: Page ???\" in the same place of citation in which the page number is mentioned and the reader will easily find the part of the reference.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 21962,
"author": "yo'",
"author_id": 1471,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1471",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Since your quote is direct, I would not bother myself so much about it. Just cite the book and give a note that it's an <code>e-book</code>. You can add a chapter or section number if it exists. Anyways, it's a direct quote: people should trust you that it is there. And if they needed, then can use full-text search if they needed.</p>\n\n<p><strong>However, it is necessary to provide as precise version information of the file as possible!</strong></p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/04
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/21945",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12560/"
] |
21,951 |
<p>I just finished a PhD in Math and I am starting my postdoc in September. I am currently just working on a few collaborations--working on projects that are follow-ups from my dissertation that are mainly strengthening my results or applying my results to interests of my collaborators. I hear a lot about the difficulty and stress in transitioning from PhD to postdoc and how the "clock starts."</p>
<p>I have a few questions about these statements:</p>
<ul>
<li>What are some concrete changes that you experienced when you transitioned from PhD to postdoc? Bonus points for math-related experiences.</li>
<li>How real is this "clock starts" claim and what does it really mean? Math-related answers are more useful.</li>
<li>Are there any adjustments I can actively start to make now to make the transition better?</li>
</ul>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 21959,
"author": "Henry",
"author_id": 8,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>My understanding of the \"clock\" comment is that math postdocs are almost all time limited, and, if you're staying in academia, the quality of the next job you get depends heavily (not exclusively, of course) on the work you do as a postdoc. The extreme way to look at it is that you have about two and a half years to conceive, write, and get accepted the work that will justify your next job. This is a big contrast to most PhD programs in math which take \"5 or so\" years; if you're making decent progress but not done after year 5 (or, depending on the program, 6, or 7, or 8...) you can scrape things together to keep going. As a postdoc, on the other hand, the time limit is fixed---at the end of it you're back on the job market with whatever you've done, whether you're ready or not.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 22016,
"author": "Oswald Veblen",
"author_id": 16122,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16122",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>The main difference I noticed when I began a math postdoc is that postdocs are expected to act much more independently than graduate students. Math postdocs are viewed as (young but) full members of the research community, not as apprentices. You will need to choose your own goals and set your own deadlines. </p>\n\n<p>One important change to make quickly is to develop (additional) professional relations with established researchers from other institutions. Some of these relations may turn into research collaborations, but others may just be discussions at conferences that lead to other discussions or to invitations to speak at other conferences or departmental colloquia. Keep in mind that you will need to ask for letters of recommendation when you apply for jobs again, and that others in your field will be reviewing your grant applications when you submit them. </p>\n\n<p>In terms of research, as a postdoc you should also expect to always have multiple research projects underway, whereas many grad students only work on their thesis. You should also aim for projects that have a high chance of giving positive results quickly. Don't spend too long on famous open problems or on results that would take a decade to complete. If you apply to research positions, you will be judged on your productivity in the time since you earned a PhD, and you only have a few years in your postdoc.</p>\n\n<p><em>The \"clock\"</em>: in an important sense, your vita begins when you finish your PhD. If possible, decide what sort of employment you want to have after your postdoc is over. Find well established colleagues you respect who took the path you are interested in, ask them for advice, and try to emulate them. You want to leave your postdoc with a vita that will make you as competitive as possible for the type of job you plan to apply for. A generic vita is unlikely to be competitive in the current job market. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/04
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/21951",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12656/"
] |
21,953 |
<p>How liberal are institutions with regard to doing research in a different (unrelated) field than the person's diploma?</p>
<p>For example, if a person with a diploma in pure mathematics wants also to do research and programming in IT (specifically in XML), can he do it in his work time?</p>
<p>Does it makes sense to obtain a second diploma (Is Bachelor enough?) in order to be able to refresh the brain by switching between two different jobs during work time?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 21959,
"author": "Henry",
"author_id": 8,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>My understanding of the \"clock\" comment is that math postdocs are almost all time limited, and, if you're staying in academia, the quality of the next job you get depends heavily (not exclusively, of course) on the work you do as a postdoc. The extreme way to look at it is that you have about two and a half years to conceive, write, and get accepted the work that will justify your next job. This is a big contrast to most PhD programs in math which take \"5 or so\" years; if you're making decent progress but not done after year 5 (or, depending on the program, 6, or 7, or 8...) you can scrape things together to keep going. As a postdoc, on the other hand, the time limit is fixed---at the end of it you're back on the job market with whatever you've done, whether you're ready or not.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 22016,
"author": "Oswald Veblen",
"author_id": 16122,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16122",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>The main difference I noticed when I began a math postdoc is that postdocs are expected to act much more independently than graduate students. Math postdocs are viewed as (young but) full members of the research community, not as apprentices. You will need to choose your own goals and set your own deadlines. </p>\n\n<p>One important change to make quickly is to develop (additional) professional relations with established researchers from other institutions. Some of these relations may turn into research collaborations, but others may just be discussions at conferences that lead to other discussions or to invitations to speak at other conferences or departmental colloquia. Keep in mind that you will need to ask for letters of recommendation when you apply for jobs again, and that others in your field will be reviewing your grant applications when you submit them. </p>\n\n<p>In terms of research, as a postdoc you should also expect to always have multiple research projects underway, whereas many grad students only work on their thesis. You should also aim for projects that have a high chance of giving positive results quickly. Don't spend too long on famous open problems or on results that would take a decade to complete. If you apply to research positions, you will be judged on your productivity in the time since you earned a PhD, and you only have a few years in your postdoc.</p>\n\n<p><em>The \"clock\"</em>: in an important sense, your vita begins when you finish your PhD. If possible, decide what sort of employment you want to have after your postdoc is over. Find well established colleagues you respect who took the path you are interested in, ask them for advice, and try to emulate them. You want to leave your postdoc with a vita that will make you as competitive as possible for the type of job you plan to apply for. A generic vita is unlikely to be competitive in the current job market. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/04
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/21953",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1637/"
] |
21,958 |
<p>Suppose two papers were published by fledgling researchers, perhaps PhD students, who are yet unknown in their field. One is Asian, has a surname which is long and difficult to pronounce, and perhaps also comes from a relatively unknown university. The other has an English name, and comes from a well-known university. But otherwise, the two papers are similar in content and on par in terms of quality. </p>
<p>Ideally, there should not be any preference with regards to citing either of the two papers. That means, in the long run, the expected citation counts of the two papers should be about the same. However, I am interested to know whether this is the case in reality. From my limited experience, I seem to have seen papers that referenced only other papers whose authors are European. Has there been any study that suggests whether the name and/or affiliation of an author affect the visibility and hence the citation count of his/her paper? I am aware that the answer might be different for different fields.</p>
<hr>
<p>To ask the question in another way, is our perception of a paper influenced by the authors' names and/or affiliations? Do we not tend to infer the quality of a paper by these factors?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 21963,
"author": "xLeitix",
"author_id": 10094,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10094",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>Has there been any study that suggests whether the name and/or affiliation of an author affect the visibility and hence the citation count of his/her paper? I am aware that the answer might be different for different fields.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I have no study at the ready, but I have often wondered the same and can provide some speculations.</p>\n\n<p>You bring up the following factors that might play into whether a work may be higher cited:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Status of the researcher</li>\n<li>Name </li>\n<li>Status of university</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>For computer science, the first point is usually not all that important, as the vast majority of papers have both PhD students <em>and</em> professor(s) as authors. I also don't believe that the status of the university very much plays into the decision whether a paper will be cited. At least for me, I never even remember which institution(s) an interesting paper comes from, unless I know the authors personally. I just don't consider that particularly relevant information. Interestingly, I remember universities more for papers from asian authors (see also next paragraph), as \"National University of XY\" is much better discriminator for me than most asian names. However, it's not that better universities stick more in my mind than smaller ones. To be honest, I can hardly judge the quality of asian universities outside of Singapore (where I stayed for a research visit once) anyway, except for absolute top institutions.</p>\n\n<p>Now, whether the \"memorability\" of the name is relevant is an interesting question. For me it is certainly easier to remember US / european names than asian or indian ones. Critically speaking, I also have the strong impression that I cite more European or US authors than asian ones. However, I am 100% convinced that this also works the other way. Whenever I browse over papers by asian authors, they also seem to cite almost exclusively other asian authors, presumably for similar reasons. Whether this all evens out in the end I don't know, but I also don't really know whether there is anything that can really be done about it.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 21964,
"author": "The Almighty Bob",
"author_id": 16086,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16086",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The short answer (from the view of an economist) is: Probably not. At least not in the way you suggest.</p>\n\n<p>However, for most (i.e., not the most influential papers/journals) papers most of the citations (especially for PhD students) are \"generated\" by feedback from conferences, referees, supervisors, ... .\nTherefore, someone from Europe is more likely to encounter someone who knows the European paper and therefore only cites the paper from Europe. In addition, researchers from well-known universities have more visibility and are more likely to know the topic of papers from PhD students at their department.</p>\n\n<p>So, even if there is is no discrimination with regards to the name and the affiliation we could observe the effect you described.</p>\n\n<p>I do not know of any study covering your question, and I do not think there is a way to do such a study.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>To ask the question in another way, is our perception of a paper\n influenced by the authors' names and/or affiliations? Do we not tend\n to infer the quality of a paper by these factors?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I guess that depends on the person. I (and most people I know) are heavily influenced by the journal it is published in, not at all by the authors' name (to clarify: We are influenced by the fact if we know the person or not, but not by how the origin of the name / how the name looks like.) and maybe a little bit by the affiliation of the author if it is a top 5 or top 10 institution in the specific field of research.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 21966,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>For multi author papers coming from well know labs I would be surprised if the surname of the junior author had much impact on citations since the popularity of the paper is going to be driven by the PI. For single author papers or unknown labs there could be a noticeable effect, but again I doubt it. I think most people search for literature based on key words wether it is an electronic search or a skimming of table of contents. If the authors or university Is know that clearly will increase the chance of citation. For unknown authors and universities, there is enough bias in this world, both justified and unjustified, that my guess is that there would be a correlation between citations and names.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/04
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/21958",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10936/"
] |
21,965 |
<p>By the end of the term, I always end up with quite a number of D and F students who want to improve their grades. Meanwhile, I usually have lots of menial tasks on hand during the summer, e.g. data entry, translations, proofreading, photo tagging, etc.</p>
<ul>
<li>None of these tasks is work I am assigned or paid to do.</li>
<li>All of the tasks relate to my courses in some way and the resulting efforts would benefit the next group of students who attend my courses in the subsequent terms.</li>
<li>My school has no official "dead week", but naturally these tasks would occupy time that presumably the students would otherwise use for final exam preparations.</li>
</ul>
<p>Is there any ethical or professional reason deeming it inappropriate to assign such tasks as optional extra credit, allowing students to move their 50 to a 60 or 60 to a 70 after ~10-15 hours of repetitive work?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 21967,
"author": "BrenBarn",
"author_id": 9041,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9041",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>My feeling is that it's sort of a sliding scale based on the amount of time they have to put in, the amount of credit they get, and the relevance of the task to understanding course material.</p>\n\n<p>It's not uncommon for professors to allow (or even require) students to act as participants in a study (e.g., fill out a survey, be part of an experiment) for credit, on the theory that such participation helps them to \"understand the research process\". If the tasks they're doing have some relevance of that sort, I think you have an easier case. If it's totally mindless work with no connection to the class, it's more dubious.\nAlso, at least at my school, every such opportunity <em>must</em> (by human-subjects rules) have an alternative credit opportunity that takes roughly equal time but doesn't require such participation (e.g., write a paper). This kind of alternative is designed to ensure that students aren't forced to work for the professor's benefit in order to improve their grade.</p>\n\n<p>Also, assuming by \"50\", \"60\", \"70\", you're referring to their overall course percentages, that seems like a massive amount of credit to me. When I've given or received extra credit, it's usually been much less than that -- equivalent to maybe 2% or at most 5% of the overall grade. The intent is not to allow students with a flat D to move to a C, but to allow students who have a <em>high</em> D to move to a C. I think offering extra credit that allows students to raise their grade by an entire letter sets some dangerous precedents, especially when combined with the mindless-task aspect.</p>\n\n<p>In the same vein, extra credit assignments usually were the work-time equivalent of say, one homework problem, or at most one homework assignment, expected to take the students maybe 3-5 hours tops, and often an hour or less. 10-15 hours of mindless work sounds like a pretty awful prospect to me. I think it's a bad idea to misuse the extra-credit leverage to have students slaving away for hours and hours.</p>\n\n<p>So basically, I think it is possibly defensible, but more so if the tasks are not truly mindless but have some reasonable connection to the class. Also, I think the amounts of time and credit you suggest are a bit high, and especially so if the task is just grunt work.</p>\n\n<p>Incidentally, as an example, I once was a TA for a class where the professor assigned homework in which the students had to take a spreadsheet and perform certain category-coding tasks on the data. I suspect (but do not know for sure) that the professor was using the coded data for his own research. However, the data was relevant to the class topic, and the coding task, although not exactly an intellectual challenge, was a realistic encounter with this sort of data, in that if students were to later write a paper using such data, they might well have to perform such a task as part of the project. Also, the amount of data coded was rather small (about 50 spreadsheet rows per student, as I recall). My own opinion was that, although such an assignment was perhaps not the best way to get students interested in the class, or enhance their understanding of the material, it wasn't unethical, because it was small in scale and legitimately (if uninspiringly) relevant to the topic of the class.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 21969,
"author": "Jim Conant",
"author_id": 9464,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9464",
"pm_score": 7,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As I see it, the grade in the class is supposed to measure a student's mastery of the material. Letting students improve their grade via unrelated menial work is not consistent with this standard and seems dangerously close to letting the students wash your car for extra credit.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 21977,
"author": "Ian",
"author_id": 9902,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9902",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It is not ethical, you are <strong>misleading</strong> future possible employers about how capable the student is. A degree is a measure of how well someone can learn and how well they know their subject, not how well they can tag photos.</p>\n\n<p>You are also devaluing the degree, so making it harder for other students at your university to get a job. A course that few people fail is of little value to the people that pass. </p>\n\n<p>(Proofreading may be OK in a English degree)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 22057,
"author": "Trevor",
"author_id": 16161,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16161",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you do it, make sure the kids who have B's have the same opportunities. They probably care more about their grades, and would more ambitiously take the opportunity to do something dumb for the A.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 22082,
"author": "Adam Merberg",
"author_id": 16186,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16186",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It's funny to me that you mention Mechanical Turk in the question because it suggests where things might go if you were to implement something like this. You'd give students tasks. They'd post them to Mechanical Turk, offering a few cents in return. Your tasks would get done, and the students would get extra credit.</p>\n\n<p>But it seems better to just post the tasks to Mechanical Turk yourself instead of inviting students to buy a passing grade in your class.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/04
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/21965",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/600/"
] |
21,972 |
<p>I have been told by our head of department, a veteran academic with <strong>a lot</strong> of publications behind his name, that I am not allowed to write my masters dissertation with TeX/LaTeX, as many journals do not accept TeX/LaTeX documents, and now I have to use Word. I work in thermoflow research.</p>
<p>I can almost not believe that journals would prefer Word over TeX/LaTeX, or is this in actual fact true?</p>
<p>I would appreciate answers from people actually working in academic publishing.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 21973,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>The answer is that in some fields (La)TeX dominate whereas in other fields (La)TeX is largely unknown. Obviously any field where equations are required is more likely to be using (La)TeX for writing and publishing. However, it is not uncommon that journals, or rather, type-setters of journals, use LaTeX for final production regardless of submitted format. The same applies to book publishers. But, the fact is that the use varies and one needs to check with the journal to which you wish to submit.</p>\n\n<p>The fact that you are not \"allowed\" to write your thesis with (la)TeX is perhaps because your advisor does not use it. I am an avid LaTeX user and am struggling to convince both colleagues and students in my department to at least try using it so I know how difficult it can be. In the end, I need to use both to be able to communicate with my colleagues and peers. So although I do not see why you should not set the thesis in (La)TeX in the end, you probably need to use word for the manuscript so that your advisor can provide input on files you supply. But, check how many journals actually use LaTeX in your field and strike up a discussion with your fellow students and your advisor. I think it is worthwhile to be fairly fluent in using many tools.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Edit:</strong> I will just add that I was convinced by a friend to use TeX (not LaTeX, it was a long time ago) when I wrote my thesis (a monograph at a US university) while almost no-one in the department used TeX; but then my advisor always provided feedback from double-spaced printouts which were platform independent. Those were the days.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 21978,
"author": "L Platts",
"author_id": 9117,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9117",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Yes, journals that do not accept LaTeX do exist. If LaTeX is not widely used in your field you might have surprises even with those journals that claim to accept it, since they in fact almost never have to. I recently submitted a manuscript in LaTeX to a Taylor & Francis journal which stated it did accept LaTeX submissions, only to find my piece \"unsubmitted\" the next day with a request to re-submit in Word.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 21995,
"author": "Fomite",
"author_id": 118,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/118",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There are many journals that do not accept, or actively discourage LaTeX-based submissions. I've always found the assumption in LaTeX heavy fields that it's ubiquitous to be an interesting quirk.</p>\n\n<p>For example, two journals that will accept LaTeX based submissions, but would rather you not:</p>\n\n<p><em>American Journal of Epidemiology</em>:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Prepare your manuscript, including tables, using a word processing\n program and save it as a .doc, .rtf or .ps file. All files in these\n formats will be converted to .pdf format upon submission. Please note:\n This journal does not accept Microsoft Word 2007 documents at this\n time. Please use Word's \"Save As\" option to save your document as an\n older (.doc) file type.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>On LaTeX:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Prepare any other files that are to be submitted for review, including\n any supplementary material. The permitted formats for these files are\n the same as for manuscripts and figures. Other file types, such as\n Microsoft Excel spreadsheets and Powerpoint presentations may be\n uploaded and will be converted to .pdf format. It is also possible to\n upload LaTeX files but these will not be automatically converted to\n .pdf format (and are therefore discouraged). The journal staff,\n editors and reviewers will only be able to view these unconverted\n files if they have the appropriate software, which cannot be\n guaranteed.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p><em>Epidemiology</em>:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Manuscripts should be in a standard word processing format. We prefer Microsoft Word but we can also use RTF, TXT, LaTeX2e, and AMSTex. Application software programs released before 2001 are not supported.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>The <em>New England Journal of Medicine</em> actively doesn't accept them, at least not unless converted to a PDF:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>All text, references, figure legends, and tables should be in one\n double-spaced electronic document (preferably a Word Doc). You may\n either insert figures in the text file or upload your figures\n separately. We prefer the former, but this may not work well for\n complicated graphics, which should be sent separately. It is\n permissible to send low-resolution images for peer review, although we\n may ask for high-resolution files at a later stage. </p>\n \n <p>Legends for all figures should be included in the file with the text\n and should not appear on the figures. </p>\n \n <p>Our preferred file type for new manuscript submissions is a Word or\n text document with all figures in the same document. We will also\n accept Adobe Acrobat portable document format (.pdf) , WordPerfect\n (.wpd), text (.txt) documents, or .rtf file format.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p><em>Clinical Infectious Diseases</em> doesn't even want your PDFs:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>The preferred format for submitting manuscripts online is Microsoft\n Word (.doc files). PDF files are not acceptable for submission.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>These are all very good journals in my field - a happy, healty, high-impact, tenure friendly career could very easily be had never touching LaTeX.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 22000,
"author": "Paul Smith",
"author_id": 16116,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16116",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This sounds like a minor miscommunication. Your mentor is correct in that many publications do not accept TeX documents, but you do not (usually) submit the latex version of your document in the first place. You compile it to produce a PDF which is what you submit. The publications that want to edit your PDF will normally have the tools to convert from PDF to word or whatever other format they work with. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 22028,
"author": "StasK",
"author_id": 739,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/739",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Out of my ~12 publications (spanning statistics, and applications of statistics in economics, psychology, sociology), I vividly recall at least two being rewritten in the publishing house from LaTeX into Word, with an innumerable typos, mistakes, etc. that I had to weed out comparing their proofs to my beautiful PDFs. There may have been more than two that were retyped into something else, actually, but these two were obvious downgrades.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 22043,
"author": "Memming",
"author_id": 386,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/386",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As many mentioned already, yes, there are journals that would not take LaTeX submissions. Even if they take PDF submissions, they will sometimes redo the type-setting and create ugly final equations and texts (e.g. Journal of Neuroscience).</p>\n\n<p>However, that should not be the reason to not use LaTeX. You can always convert it to RTF or DOC format. <code>latex2rtf -M12</code> usually does the trick (there are other solutions, too). It converts equations to bitmap (png) images, so they can't edit the equations, but the text is editable. If your advisor wants to give you feedback using 'Track changes' in MS word, that's great. It's usually much better than directly getting the modified TeX file, actually. So you get the best of both worlds: beautiful typesetting of the final product, and easy to track text changes.</p>\n\n<p>TL;DR: use LaTex and convert to other formats if needed.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 112582,
"author": "Vincent Breton",
"author_id": 94936,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/94936",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I wrote some books in LaTeX and another one with Word. I lose plenty of time with Word and I don't like to renew this experience. In october I'll give a course about LaTeX for an association in amateur radio with Smith diagrams examples. I'm not sure I could draw them easily with Word. For the moment publications in this amateur radio association are made with Word; some people in this association know the LaTeX name and its potential but they haven't yet the level required to use it. In my experience some Editors don't like LaTeX because they haven't internal knowledges but undoubtly they are frightened with its tremendous potential. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 123110,
"author": "Rodney Atkins",
"author_id": 63519,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/63519",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I've worked in journal publishing (for a large STEM publisher, a large STEM printer, and now a scientific association) for almost 25 years, and LaTeX is always a problem. Typesetters have standardized around Word because there are literally millions of users, possibly a billion. But standardizing around Word means that there are going to be problems with <em>any</em> non-Word submissions. In most cases, TeX manuscripts will be converted to Word, either through some automated means or through double-keying (i.e., two poorly paid people in the Pacific rim will rekey the manuscript; the two versions are merged because it's unlikely—though not impossible—that they will make the same mistakes). Also keep in mind that there are more manuscripts that do not contain math than do, so the publisher, again, is not going to standardize around a niche.</p>\n<p>However, in reading the above answers, I note the common expression of how beautiful and pleasing the final TeX product is. Here's the problem: if you want to be published, the <em>manuscript</em> is not the final product. Think about it from a journal publisher's point of view: They want their final product to be beautiful, too, subjective as that may be, and there is some beauty in uniformity.</p>\n<p>Once your article has been accepted for publication, it is in many senses no longer your article. There are certain things over which you no longer have any say, such as typefaces, whether a serial (Oxford) comma is used, or whether hyphens are used in compound adjectives (which is a surprising point of contention for authors).</p>\n<p>TL;DR: The publisher has found the easiest path to get to its desired result; even if you insist on deviating from the path, the product will be the same, and you and everyone else will be frustrated along the way.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/05
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/21972",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15332/"
] |
21,979 |
<p>Are students allowed to complete a large portion of their research independently, then enroll in a PhD program, apply for a defense panel within the first semester, and quickly finish the thesis? Has this been done before?</p>
<p><strong>Update:</strong> Question trimmed. I'm looking for an answer whether students can be admitted with much prior work on the thesis already complete, to finish in a short time (perhaps one year fix and improve the work), and whether there are real examples of people who did this. I not asking whether I myself am personally capable of completing this prior work to sufficient quality.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 21981,
"author": "xLeitix",
"author_id": 10094,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10094",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In principle, this <em>may</em> be possible at some universities, but not in all. My current employer, for instance, requires students to be inscribed as PhD students for a certain minimum number of semesters before handing in their thesis.</p>\n\n<p>However, I would assume it an almost impossible task to find an advisor that would roll with this model. Doing a doctoral study is as much about the process as it is about the end result, and finding an advisor that would just accept your final thesis without having <em>seen</em> you doing the research (and without being able to provide input on the general direction) will be difficult. From a practical point of view, I would honestly also be surprised if you would be able to actually produce an acceptable dissertation from scratch without <em>any</em> input from senior researchers, or at least other PhD students.</p>\n\n<p>Finally, and I am aware that this is field-dependent, but in many fields, doing your literature survey is really only the very first step to doing research (and really not the hard part). Hence, I would reckon that you are still far away from the 90% completed dissertation that you mentioned.</p>\n\n<p><strong>EDIT:</strong> to answer your concrete question:</p>\n\n<p>I am sure <em>somebody somewhere</em> has already done this, but I am not aware of anybody, and, as I said, it would formally be entirely impossible in my current university. I would also assume that it would be very much frowned upon by the rest of the faculty should a professor agree to this model.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 21982,
"author": "Moriarty",
"author_id": 8562,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8562",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I can't speak to whether this is possible, but I can advise as to why I think it's a bad idea.</p>\n\n<p>Firstly, PhD Comics is a largely satirical and humourous representation of life in academia. Some of those comics can be scarily true, but you can probably find a comic that parodies any job you care to imagine. It doesn't mean they all suck.</p>\n\n<p>Even if you could do this, for most people and disciplines it's not a good way to get a PhD. You really should find an advisor to help you guide your research. Colleagues are great to bounce ideas off of. Having an office to work in and access to a good library is a huge advantage. You will have access to high-performance computing and lab facilities, if needed. If you're lucky, you'll find someone to <em>pay you</em> to do your research.</p>\n\n<p>At the end, you will graduate being well-absorbed into academic life. You'll have networking skills, have been to and presented at conferences, your research will be of a higher quality, and you will overall be a much more well-rounded and knowledgeable researcher than had you stuck at it alone. The skills you learn as a PhD student are <em>essential</em> if you wish to have a career in academia. If you wish to go on into an industry job, they're still pretty darn useful.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 21987,
"author": "greenfingers",
"author_id": 15184,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15184",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You have no interest in becoming a PhD student just because you read some comics? It so, it just indicates that you didn’t do your research (about what being a PhD Student means) properly. </p>\n\n<p>If you are doing independent research because you find it interesting, it might be beneficial for a PhD project. Find an academic who works in that area, contact them, present your research and see if they are willing to become your supervisor. They can advise you what the rules of their university are regarding the minimal period between enrolling in a PhD programme and submitting a thesis. This period might be different for full time and part time students. In one of the UK universities I used to work, part-time students (university employees) were required to be enrolled for at least 12 months.</p>\n\n<p>If you want to do as much work as possible before enrolling into the programme, I would advise against writing the literature review (or at least against writing its full version), as it might turn out to be waste of time. Read “everything” in the topic, do some experiments or develop a prototype (or do whatever practical work can be done in your area), come with an idea about your research and speak with a potential supervisor. If you manage to persuade them that the idea is good, this is great, but the discussion might give you a different direction, you might want to modify the idea. </p>\n\n<p>Another thing to consider – some universities (in UK) have 2-stagies process – the students are supposed to submit a transfer report after an year/an year and a half and have a viva, which usually leads to a MPhil degree, if it is successful they can proceed further to the final thesis. A transfer report typically consists of description of the problem, short literature and an overview of your ideas about the research/experiments/methodology, etc. with a schedule for conducting it. You can write in advance the bigger part of it but don’t do it before speaking with a potential supervisor.</p>\n\n<p>If you are going for a full-time PhD, you might need funding. Check first what funding is available, the specific requirements of the funding bodies might mean that your idea has to me modified to fit them. </p>\n\n<p>Last but not least – chose your supervisor carefully. The importance of having a good work relationship with them can’t be overestimated. Your overall experience as a PhD students hugely depends on it.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 21989,
"author": "davidswelt",
"author_id": 16105,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16105",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Most US and Canadian universities require four semesters worth of coursework, and passing candidacy and/or comprehensive exams before you can propose a thesis. Some of this is different in other places, e.g., in the UK, where you would typically come in with a MSc degree. Doing a PhD while working elsewhere is much more common there. One university there (\"The Open University\") specializes in distance learning. What you suggest is also more common at German universities, where you can find top-notch professors, and won't have to pay much in the way of tuition. But, be warned, it often takes a very long time, and you would first enroll and then work with your advisor on developing your thesis work. Plenty of people never graduate.</p>\n\n<p>As someone has pointed out - doing a literature review is not research. It's the beginning of it, particularly in the sciences and engineering. </p>\n\n<p>In my experience (I am tenure-track faculty at a US institution), people outside of academia call a lot of work \"research\", and beginning graduate students confuse programming, prototyping, reading with the <em>contribution</em> that is inherent in successful and publishable research. </p>\n\n<p>Second, keep in mind that doing a PhD is about so much more than handing in a thesis. It is about laying the foundation for a career in research. A PhD involves going to conferences, meeting people, publishing, hearing guest speakers at your institution, critiquing your lab mates' work in lab meetings, writing a proposal or two with your supervisor, and so on.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 21992,
"author": "Trylks",
"author_id": 7571,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7571",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Short answer: life is short, reduce the risks of wasting your time.</p>\n\n<p>Long answer:</p>\n\n<p>You are free to do as much as you please before starting a PhD. There are usually requirements about some minimums, but the good thing is that you are likely to stay close to those minimums and not get to the maximums (sometimes infinite) if you start your PhD from scratch.</p>\n\n<p>You may also enjoy some spare time if all you have to do during your PhD is waiting for the minimum time to pass.</p>\n\n<p>However, you should be aware that if you do independent research this may be neglected by your supervisor or simply everyone in the world. That is potentially possible and for a number of reasons:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>bad quality, e.g. being unscientific or ignoring an important part of the state of the art.</li>\n<li>it's on an irrelevant topic about which nobody cares about.</li>\n<li>it's not aligned with their interests</li>\n<li>it's independent and they don't like people trying to bypass them (oligopolistic practices, they have the key to research, if you don't go through them, you are not doing research)</li>\n<li>the fragment of your thesis that you do at the university is on a different topic and becomes a whole thesis on its own</li>\n<li>it's already done</li>\n<li>whatever</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>The point is, all the time that you invest before starting the PhD may be wasted, actually a large chunk of the time that you invest during the PhD (at some university) will most probably be wasted as well. This is what happens with investments.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 22020,
"author": "Tom Au",
"author_id": 755,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/755",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In general, it is not a good idea to do a whole lot of work on a PhD thesis before taking the PhD program. The reason is because your earlier research/exposition will likely not be up to the PhD standards that you will learn by taking the required courses.</p>\n\n<p>That said, there are some topics that are very data intensive, and if you do a lot of the data <strong>gathering</strong> before taking the PhD program, and most of the data \"processing\" and interpretation after you're in the program, that's a different story. Here, the ratio might be 50-50, not the 90-10 that you hypothesized in your question.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 22061,
"author": "Jukka Suomela",
"author_id": 351,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/351",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In many places (e.g., here in Finland) the following two things are largely independent from each other:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>Doctoral student status (i.e., being enrolled as a doctoral student). You have got the <strong>right</strong> to take courses, there is a professor who is willing to <strong>advise</strong> you, etc. There are of course high expectations but very few formal obligations — you are your own boss and you can do whatever you want, at your own pace.</p></li>\n<li><p>A job as a doctoral student or a similar position (i.e., having a working contract with the university). You receive <strong>salary</strong>, and you are also expected to do something in return. Formally, your advisor is your <strong>boss</strong> and tells you what to do during your working hours.</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>Of course 2 usually implies 1. However, it is perfectly well possible to take 1 without 2. In that case you can get your salary from whatever source you want. Typical examples include:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>working part time elsewhere and doing your studies part time</li>\n<li>working full time elsewhere and doing your studies part time (and having no free time or holidays)</li>\n<li>working full time in a job that somehow also supports your PhD studies</li>\n<li>getting a personal research grant and doing your studies full time.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>I do not recommend this for a typical student, but in atypical cases all of these are possible. And yes, you can certainly defend your thesis as soon as you, your advisor, your university, and the external reviewers are happy with it (whether you finished it 6 monts or 6 years after formally starting your studies).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 22067,
"author": "T K",
"author_id": 12656,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12656",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>To give you examples of short PhDs, there are instances for some prodigies in mathematics that they got their PhDs in about two years, e.g., Noam Elkies. Elkies also published in (one of the) top math journals in the world when he graduated, so it made sense for them to graduate him. There are some one-year PhDs in the history of mathematics, though these are typically nominal PhDs given to Russian mathematicians that needed one to leave Russia, to come to the US, and to find a new academic position.</p>\n\n<p>Clearly, these are exceptions to the typical rules and these were only done at top tier universities for top tier talents. I believe the intent for these short PhDs seems a lot different from what your intent is. </p>\n\n<p>FWIW: The five years I spent in grad school are the best five years of my life. You may be not allowing yourself to have the experience of a lifetime.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 22088,
"author": "Anon",
"author_id": 16190,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16190",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>PhD student who never completed here (so take what I'm saying with a grain of salt). I would advise <strong>against</strong> what you're describing because I do not believe it is in the spirit of the system and it raises issues for all who know what you are trying to do.</p>\n\n<p>Like life itself you can choose to shortcut the system but if people find out what you've done they can punish you for it.</p>\n\n<p>If you completed a significant amount of your research before doing your PhD then published it as part of your PhD thesis what on earth was your supervisor doing? What would your PhD examiner(s) say if they found out - do another year of new research then submit again? What are the ethics involved of what you have done? How does that look for those who are involved in what you did? What does it look like for the University and what will academics in other departments say?</p>\n\n<p>A further issue crops up if the University is funding you. If I give you funding for three years and you said you were done in less than two as your supervisor/funder I would simply turn round and say do additional research for another year so you have a greater body of work published.</p>\n\n<p>Another wrinkle is that in certain Universities it is not possible to submit a final dissertation for a PhD before two years (\"thems the rules\").</p>\n\n<p>It <strong>is</strong> possible for people to finish PhDs early compared to the average of that university/country (I knew a talented faculty member who did this) but I do not personally know of anyone who managed to do this in under two years.</p>\n\n<p>To answer your questions directly:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Are you allowed to do your research before your PhD enrolment and be viva'd after one year?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Theoretically you can do anything so long as you will find people who will agree to it. Practically it's very unlikely you would find a well regarded department who would want to this in anything but the most exceptional circumstances (proposed PhD student is already held in high esteem by the department and the entire field of academics in the field they wish to publish in (because your external will come from there)). If you withhold the fact that the work was done prior to the PhD you step into ethical issues.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Has this been done before?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I don't personally know of it happening in field I was researching. You <strong>can</strong> finish faster than average (three and a half years where I was) without prior work and I know part time students who have done so (but...).</p>\n\n<p>One extra note: you had better make sure that your work is novel and hasn't been published anywhere else before before you submit it or there's another can of worms waiting for you...</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 22093,
"author": "Steve Jessop",
"author_id": 11440,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11440",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Since you've changed the question, my comment transforms to an answer. There are many people far more qualified than I am to talk about this, but none of them have answered in this way, so here goes:</p>\n\n<p>In some UK universities (I happen to be in the UK) and also elsewhere in the world, there is an alternative route to a PhD called a \"PhD by publication\", which you can find out about under that name in the UK and presumably other names in other countries / languages. There's also a rarer \"PhD by practice\", which I believe is intended to cover work that isn't as such \"published\" at all, such as fine arts, architecture, theatre and whatnot.</p>\n\n<p>I sort of doubt that a paper that \"should\" be peer-review published but that you haven't published, or in general work that you keep entirely to yourself prior to submitting for the PhD, would qualify even for \"by practice\". But it's largely down to the regulations of the individual institution, so if you're interested then you should contact specific institutions for further information. The general theme, though, is that you don't get a PhD <em>just</em> for working in a field. Your work should have enhanced the field, in the same way that a traditional PhD is an original contribution to the progress of its field.</p>\n\n<p>Either route requires that you have already produced work that is deemed worthy to contribute to a PhD. You will demonstrate this work as part of the application. Of course there's quite a lot of detail and judgement as to what's deemed worthy. It may also be deemed necessary to submit new written work to bring together multiple separate publications into a coherent thesis. There is no guarantee at all that work you think is good, will be considered good by the institution when you apply. That, after all, is one of the roles of a PhD supervisor, to assess the academic value of your work before you do it as well as afterwards.</p>\n\n<p>This is the way to quickly be awarded a PhD based on past work. It is intended for a professional in some field that does research outside academia, or someone within academia but who for some reason has not been enrolled in a PhD program while publishing. It's suitable for example for research scientists in industry, or authors whose work contributes to some field even though they aren't employed as academics. It is not construed as a means to avoid the main part of a PhD program, and indeed it <em>doesn't</em> work by enrolling you in the program and immediately examining you. It's a distinct, designed route to a PhD.</p>\n\n<p>In the same way that people might weigh the value of your PhD based on where you got it from, people might weigh the value of your PhD based on the route you got it. Which is a diplomatic way of saying that a PhD by publication is not <em>universally</em> accepted to be as good as a conventional PhD. In particular it makes no attempt to prepare you for professional academia, and academics will know this.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 22094,
"author": "Peteris",
"author_id": 10730,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10730",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<h2>The main part of a thesis is publishable and published research</h2>\n\n<p>There are \"PhD by publication\" options that others have mentioned. If you have a number of solid peer reviewed publications, then that is an option that you can take to get a degree quicker. If you don't have such publications, then your thesis <em>can't</em> be mostly completed, it has all of the nontrivial work yet to be done.</p>\n\n<h2>Unpublishable things can't be \"much of a PhD thesis\"</h2>\n\n<p>No matter how much work you've put into 'research'-as-in-reading-and-reviewing, data gathering, etc, all of that is just preliminary background work, even if you have put it in a nicely structured 200-page document and label it a \"thesis\". The main and time consuming part of a PhD is obtaining <strong><em>novel</em></strong>, relevant and thus publishable results; if you don't have them, then that's not a PhD thesis, and not even a half-done thesis.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 140756,
"author": "cbeleites unhappy with SX",
"author_id": 725,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/725",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This is possible in Germany, where enrolling as PhD student is usually not necessary (but possible on a volountary basis) - but it has nothing whatsoever to do with \"finishing quickly\" since you anyways have to do the usual amount of research work. \nHowever, formally all that is really needed for a PhD over here is a professor who will \"take\" the thesis. In theory, you may arrive there with your thesis written, have that professor read and approve it, and then start the formal process of submitting and defending. </p>\n\n<p>While arriving \"out of the blue\" with a written thesis is unusual (and would be risky in terms of whether the thesis does fulfil the required standard), there are some situations that are formally similar but are far more common:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>PhD student does normal PhD research & publications at \"their\" institute, but does not enroll as PhD student since that is volountary. Also, a supervision agreement is typically not a formal requirement (unless the funding asks for it). So the first point where formal university burocracy meets the candidate is when they ask for the forms to hand in. </p></li>\n<li><p>Similar: PhD students who do their research at a non-university research institute or in industry. Those institutes cannot grant a PhD, so the thesis is handed in at a university. Again, in practice, such a PhD student typically had the normal amount of supervision, but may not be known to the university until just before handing in.</p></li>\n<li><p>This applies also (with less supervision) to people who after years of industrial research decide to put those results together to get a PhD. </p></li>\n<li><p>I've done something like this as well: started a normal PhD without enrolling, got some jobs (full time research) before handing in*. Years later, I handed in at another university closeby to the non-university research institute where I was working at the time (and with the professor who is also director of that research institute), taking my \"original PhD work\" from the 1st university plus some bits and pieces from the ongoing full-time research jobs that thematically fitted in.</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>* getting a full time job as \"almost finished\" PhD student happened to about half the PhD students in that group.\nSome of them finished years later, others never as the importance of the PhD often lies in the work rather than the formal certificate (\"we see from your publications that you do have the proficiency required for the PhD, and that's what we really care about\") and further diminishes with ongoing professional experience in the field.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/05
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/21979",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/600/"
] |
22,006 |
<p>Consider the concept of opportunity cost.</p>
<p>There are two possible situations:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>I program everything, do the evaluation with a benchmark, tell nobody, write everything and publish alone.</p></li>
<li><p>I program everything, do the evaluation with a benchmark, write something and publish with four other authors, that mostly write the paper.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>What should I do?</p>
<p>To answer your possible questions:</p>
<ul>
<li>They are not going to program, no matter what, so that doesn't help to save any time.</li>
<li>Publishing without telling them anything may be perceived in a suspicious way, specially by external reviewers and considering there may be past papers in which I wasn't alone.</li>
<li>It may also be perceived as if I'm not a good team player, which worries me, as finding a new job may be harder due to this.</li>
<li>The order of the authors is alphabetical, and I'm not lucky in that sense.</li>
<li>They are more reputed than me.</li>
</ul>
<p>PD: the original idea for the paper either comes from me or it comes from someone else. The implementation is always my task. At this very moment I could refine one of those ideas and improve it (the previous version is submitted but not reviewed). I'm very confused about how to proceed.</p>
<p>PD: I am a postdoc now but I am a PhD in a different institution (I haven't defended my thesis, it's nearly finished).</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 22029,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I had discussion with several well-known professors with experience (30+ years in research) about this sort of thing, how did they list authorship in their early papers where they were the less well known authors. I started publishing only several years ago, so I will give their opinion (which I agree with I should add). <em>Their response was the same across the board</em>: the person who did most of the work they ought simply list themselves as first author when writing the paper and if the coauthors ask them about it, then they just discuss their concern with their coauthors honestly. If your coauthors are real scientists (regardless of whether they are more well known than you), and if your claim is true, they will agree with you. </p>\n\n<p>If your coauthors are administrators mostly, and it's convention in your field and location, that they are added to your paper and listed ahead of you, consider working elsewhere, otherwise the problem cannot be solved in that environment. </p>\n\n<p>There is another option: publish with them according to whatever convention is appropriate, and if you did not get listed as first author when you did actually most of the work, then at the same time also extend the work (>40% different material) on your own and publish a second paper in another journal as single author, covering both new and old material. (This is how you also find out who the major contributing author was on a particular work, where there are both team and individual papers at once.)</p>\n\n<p>The first solution minimizes opportunity cost; the last solution requires more time and hassle for you, but you don't forgo anything academically, only some time writing a second paper and doing a bit more work.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 22036,
"author": "Nobody",
"author_id": 546,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/546",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>My answer is straight foward.</p>\n\n<p>If the original idea was from somebody else and the implementation is yours, publish the paper with the people who had the original idea. Of course, you'll be one of the authors.</p>\n\n<p>If both the idea and the implementation are yours, publish the paper as you are the sole author. Pure and simple.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 22052,
"author": "Faheem Mitha",
"author_id": 285,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/285",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I can relate to your question. I've also works in projects where I'm the person doing all the programming/implementation. Actually, in some of those cases the people in question don't even want to work on the paper, so I guess you are doing better with your people.</p>\n\n<p>I think that one issue to keep in mind is that an active collaboration, assuming the other people are in there with you, is helpful, because it helps keep one focused. I don't know if you have experience working on a project alone, but it can get pretty lonely. And working on an applied research project which requires both writing a paper and an implementation is a lot of work, usually over a long period of time, and it can be hard to keep focus. If you have actual reasonable collaborators (even if they don't do programming) as opposed to people who just want to put their name on your paper, they can definitely help to keep you focused, so in theory in can be an easier, faster, more pleasant process.</p>\n\n<p>I do think that if both (a) much of the ideas come from you, and (b) you are doing the entire implementation, then you should be first/main author, so you should try to find some way to be recognized as such. Some journals now require a section where the author contributions are listed. Even if they don't require it, perhaps you could add one? Just a thought. This could help to emphasize that the bulk of the work is yours, if that is indeed the case. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/05
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/22006",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7571/"
] |
22,014 |
<p>As an undergraduate, I wasted a ridiculous amount of time due to a combination of being distracted by part-time work, lack of focus, not knowing what I wanted to do with my life, and just plain being stupid and lazy. Several times I tried to "get it together" but by then it was too late as my grades were ridiculously low (mostly around 0) and I could never have gotten into grad school anyway.</p>
<p>Eventually I dropped out as I realized I wasn't getting anywhere. I had a lot of awards from things like programming competitions, so I used that to get some decent jobs. My intention was that I would work for a few years, clear my head, save up some money, and go back later. </p>
<p>Well, later is here. After 5-6 years work experience doing mind-numbingly boring menial programming jobs, I applied for and got accepted into a master's program at a fairly respected university. It's only a 1-year program, but if it goes well I'd definitely consider applying for a PhD.</p>
<p>Obviously it's very important to me that I do things right this time around, so my main questions are:</p>
<ul>
<li>Will the total lack of a BSc degree be a problem when applying for a PhD program?</li>
<li>I spent the last half a decade mostly doing tasks which required no creativity or deep thought. Sometimes I feel like my mind is like an ex-boxer who has been sitting on a sofa eating KFC and donuts all day for 5 years.. completely out of shape! How do I get the gears spinning smoothly again?</li>
<li>I need a plan for making the transition into "research" mode. To be honest when I was at university I never paid attention to what any of my friends were doing when they were reading papers so I have no idea how the whole thing works. e.g. Do I start by making friends with some professors? Should I volunteer to be a TA?</li>
<li>At what point will I be able to apply for a PhD?</li>
</ul>
<hr>
<p>Master's degree will be in Computer Science.</p>
<p>Several people have expressed doubts about the legitimacy of a degree program that gives you a 1-year master's degree with no undergraduate degree. I just want to clarify that it's not some "IT shop under the railway bridge" giving the degree, it is a very respected university. It's a 1-year degree because masters programs are generally one year in the UK. Also, I didn't just walk in with nothing. I demonstrated in my interview that I had knowledge in CS topics, I had a couple published papers, as well as half a dozen international awards from my time as an undergrad, and work experience from top-tier Fortune 100 companies; I just never finished my degree.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 22048,
"author": "Cape Code",
"author_id": 10643,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10643",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>Will the total lack of a BSc degree be a problem when applying for a\n PhD program?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Chances are that it will. Your situation is uncommon, you will need to convince that your industry experience and your 1-year Master program* are somehow equivalent to a full undergraduate degree. You will be in competition with younger candidates who have a more traditional background, and a good grade record. This is not at your advantage. Note that some graduate schools/universities will simply not consider your application without an undergraduate degree, even if you found a professor willing to mentor you.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>I spent the last half a decade mostly doing tasks which required no\n creativity or deep thought. Sometimes I feel like my mind is like an\n ex-boxer who has been sitting on a sofa eating KFC and donuts all day\n for 5 years.. completely out of shape! How do I get the gears spinning\n smoothly again?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>You might have a too critical view of your work, it's unlikely that your everyday coding routine didn't include a bit of creativity. Even if you didn't recognize it as such. Plus, you probably have been in contact with software or techniques that are original. </p>\n\n<p>But you're gym analogy is correct, practice is important. I would suggest to read papers (start with the most cited or most downloaded ones of the reputable journals in your field). Try to theorize the algorithm you would write to address or compete with the one presented, and maybe try to code some prototypes.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>I need a plan for making the transition into \"research\" mode.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Have a look at these: \n<a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/17781/why-do-many-talented-scientists-write-horrible-software/17788#17788\">Why do many talented scientists write horrible software?</a> or <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/21276/best-practice-models-for-research-code/21287#21287\">Best-practice models for "research" code?</a>\nThey are full of excellent information about the difference between coding a commercial product and being a computer scientist.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Do I start by making friends with some professors?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>That's not how you start, but it might happened along the way. More seriously, meeting professors during your Masters is an excellent idea. You will need to understand who's doing what and how you could be a part of it. If a professor knows you and is interested in your skills, it's going to be helpful, but <em>it might not be enough</em> (see above). </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Should I volunteer to be a TA?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Teaching and administrative work will come by themselves soon enough, should you be accepted in a graduate program.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>At what point will I be able to apply for a PhD?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>That depends of many factors, but having some sort of degree is certainly the first step. </p>\n\n<p><sub> \n*In fact, an institution that gives Master degrees, in 1 year, to people without a bachelor would probably not be highly regarded by reputable graduate programs.\n</sub> </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 22051,
"author": "Ari Trachtenberg",
"author_id": 15885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15885",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I'm a bit surprised that a good school accepted you into an MS program, much less a 1-year MS program, without a bachelors degree. These days, some schools use their MS program as a cash cow, and the value of such programs is limited, in my opinion.</p>\n\n<p>Regarding your specific questions:</p>\n\n<pre><code>Will the total lack of a BSc degree be a problem when applying for a PhD program?\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>Not necessarily ... if you do interesting work in your MS. This will require not only good grades but, ideally, an MS thesis or very serious project, even more ideally ending up in a publication. The problem is that with a 1-year MS, you will have no time to do anything but take required courses, and good grades in courses plus a mediocre industry experience and no BS will <em>not</em> make you a very appealing PhD candidate.</p>\n\n<pre><code>I spent the last half a decade mostly doing tasks which required no creativity or deep thought...How do I get the gears spinning smoothly again?\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>Do an MS thesis as part of your degree. Write some papers and impress your advisor.</p>\n\n<pre><code>Do I start by making friends with some professors? Should I volunteer to be a TA? At what point will I be able to apply for a PhD?\n</code></pre>\n\n<p>You should make <em>professional</em> friends with some professors (taking them to a ball game will not get you far). There are several ways to do this: take a particularly challenging course and be the top student or even less than the top student but demonstrate some unusual positive quality; do an interesting thesis that results in publications in <em>respected</em> venues.</p>\n\n<p>Volunteering as a TA will help you expand your knowledge and experience with course material, but it will not, in itself, do much to help you get into a PhD program. PhD programs at good schools are extremely competitive, and to get into one you have to demonstrate skills that others do not have.</p>\n\n<p>Incidentally, I would qualify your ability to survive at a mind-numbing job for 5-6 years as one of those skills. In research, perseverance is no less important than intelligence - I've seen very bright students leave a PhD program because their research wasn't advancing and they were sick of trying.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 22060,
"author": "Jukka Suomela",
"author_id": 351,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/351",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Why don't you simply start with BSc studies?</p>\n\n<p>If you know the stuff, you can do it quickly. Don't waste time with the lectures — just self-study and take exams. It does not need to take that long.</p>\n\n<p>On the other hand, if you don't know it, then it will be very important to study it properly before starting your MSc & PhD studies.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 22065,
"author": "I Like to Code",
"author_id": 8802,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8802",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As a current PhD student, my advice is to first ask yourself several questions before you decide that you want to apply to do a PhD.</p>\n<h3>First, why do you want to apply for a PhD program?</h3>\n<p>For some, the PhD is a stepping stone to a tenure-track job in academia.\nFor others, the PhD is seen as a mind-enriching experience, even though the student wants to work in industry.\nFor some industrial research jobs, having a PhD in a related field is a requirement before they will even consider hiring you for that job.</p>\n<h3>Second, what level of PhD program are you willing to accept?</h3>\n<p>There are also different levels of PhD programs.\nIf you want to get into a good PhD program (MIT, CMU, Stanford, etc),\nyou could take a look at current students of those programs and look at their CVs.\nUsually, these students would have graduated from a top school with a good GPA,\nand have had some undergrad research experience and maybe even a publication or two.\nIf you want to get a job in academia, you usually would have to graduate from a good PhD program.\nIf you only want to do a PhD to get a job in academia,\nit may not be worth your while to get a PhD from a less reputable school.\nHowever, this is a personal decision based on what is important to you.</p>\n<h3>Finally, are you both competent and interested in doing research in computer science?</h3>\n<p>The way that most people realize that they want to do research\nis that they have some sort of undergraduate research experience,\nor maybe even do a Master's.</p>\n<h3>Conclusion</h3>\n<p>If you think that you would want to get into a good PhD program in computer science,\nyou should first get a BSc in a good school,\nand try to obtain some research experience while you are studying\nin order to get a feel for what research is like and whether you are able to do it and whether you really like it.\nI think that getting a BSc in a good school would probably be helpful in your career development\neven if you decide not to get a PhD.</p>\n<p>At the end of the day, you make your own decisions and deal with the consequences.\nGood luck!</p>\n<h3>In response to OP's edits</h3>\n<p>A couple of thoughts:</p>\n<ul>\n<li>You didn't mention in your original question that you had several published papers.\nIf you have some research experience and published papers, that definitely helps your PhD application.</li>\n<li>I don't have personal experience being on an admission committee.\nIf you were able to meet someone on the admission committee of a university PhD program which you were interested in,\nyou could ask him/her how they would evaluate your application.\nSince it is very rare for a PhD student not to have a BSc,\nI don't know how open they would be to accepting you as a student.</li>\n<li>Could you go back to the university which you dropped out of and finish of your degree in a year or two, by just completing missing requirements?</li>\n<li>From what I understand, most master's degrees are based on course-work, and have no research component.\nIn that case, doing an MSc may not prepare you to do research as a PhD student.\nOn the other hand, if you were able to do a perhaps 2-year MSc which includes research with an adviser/supervisor,\nthis could be a great stepping stone into a good PhD program.</li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 22080,
"author": "Bob Brown",
"author_id": 16183,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16183",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>Will the total lack of a BSc degree be a problem when applying for a PhD program?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>If the institution that has accepted you for the MS also offers the Ph.D., then <em>if you do well</em> in their master's program, you can almost certainly get into their Ph.D. program. If that seems to be a likely path, ask about their Ph.D. program and about how their Ph.D. graduates have done in academia.</p>\n\n<p>If the Ph.D. is not available at your master's institution, then ask about their master's students who have gone onward to the Ph.D. and where they went. Ask a couple of <em>those</em> institutions whether your lack of the B.Sc. would be an absolute barrier to acceptance into their Ph.D. program assuming you've done well in your master's program. (Nobody is going to tell you whether they <em>will</em> admit you until you have that master's degree, but they probably will tell you whether the lack of the B.Sc. is an insurmountable barrier, which is what you need to know at the moment.)</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>I need a plan for making the transition into \"research\" mode</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Talk to the people who put your name on their paper about how they came to the particular research they did and the process of completing it. Even if bioinformatics is not your field, the process is very similar for large areas of academic research. Some professors in Ph.D. programs publish lists of potential doctoral research topics. If you have an area of computer science in mind for your Ph.D. research, find professors who have published in that area and check their web pages. (Google Scholar is your friend.)</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Do I start by making friends with some professors?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Even though you may be the same age as some of your professors, they're likely to want to keep a certain distance between themselves and their students. The advice already given is extremely good; that invitation to a social event isn't likely to be helpful.</p>\n\n<p>If, in your career as a master's student, you come upon a professor whose research rings your chimes, and you have a cordial relationship with that professor, ask whether there's anything you can do to help with the research. If there <em>is</em> anything, expect it to be scut work, like programming others' algorithms, at least at first. Do not be dismayed; do the best job you can.</p>\n\n<p>My own experience is similar to yours, but in the United States. I made a false start at an undergraduate education, worked in industry, finally completed the BS and MS degrees, and later the Ph.D. I have an academic job, and expect it to be the career from which I retire.</p>\n\n<p>I don't know whether this is true in the U.K., but in the U.S. the master's degree qualifies one to teach in community colleges. Some universities, often lower-ranked, will also hire faculty with only the master's degree. That's how I got my start in academia. Check the credentials of the faculty at the institution that's accepted you for people without that Ph.D. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23156,
"author": "I Like to Code",
"author_id": 8802,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8802",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I am going to make another attempt to answer the question.</p>\n\n<p>The first question which you need to ask yourself is:\n<strong>Why do I want to do a PhD?</strong></p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>If you want to do a PhD because you want to be a CS researcher,\nthen you should aim to be admitted to a PhD program in a good CS department\n(eg top 10-15).</li>\n<li>If you want to do a PhD because you want to be a CS lecturer in a teaching university,\nit is possible to be employed at this job with only a MSc\nso getting a PhD may even be a waste of time.</li>\n<li>If you want to do a PhD because you want to get an industry job,\nthen it is not vital to be admitted to a PhD program in a top CS department—any reasonably reputable CS department would suffice.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>If you have decided that you want to get a PhD,\nthen you probably want to get in the best CS department that you are able to.\nThus, it is natural to ask the next question:\n<strong>How do I make a strong PhD application?</strong></p>\n\n<p>Chris Blattman <a href=\"http://chrisblattman.com/about/contact/gradschool/\" rel=\"nofollow\">says</a>,</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>In short, focus on getting good recommendations, experience, grades and GRE scores.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>You asked the question: <strong>Why should I spend 4 years to do a BSc, rather than spend 1 year to get an MSc?</strong></p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>If you just want to get into a reasonable PhD program,\nand you are qualified enough to do so,\nthen I agree that getting a BSc is a waste of time.</li>\n<li><p>If however you have decided that you want to get into a PhD program at a good CS department,\nthen it may make sense to get your BSc.\nWhy?</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>You could overload (do more courses in each semester) and get your BSc in fewer than four years.\nAnecdotally, I have heard of students at MIT finishing in three years for example.</li>\n<li>Even though you are confident that you know everything that there is to know in an undergraduate CS education,\nunless you have the grades to back it up,\nPhD admission committees would be naive to just take your word for it.\nEarning a BSc is a certification that you are competent.</li>\n<li>As part of your undergrad education,\nyou have the opportunity to be involved in undergrad research programs.\nThese programs are great in giving you the chance to work with professors and/or PhD students,\nfor you to get a sense of whether you really like research,\nand for them to get to know you so that they can write you an outstanding recommendation letter,\nand if things go well for you to publish research paper(s).</li>\n</ul></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Finally, I realized as I answered this question\nthat Chris Blattman has a very long and detailed <a href=\"http://chrisblattman.com/about/contact/gradschool/\" rel=\"nofollow\">post</a>\nthat is a superset of my advice.\nI recommend that you take a look.</p>\n\n<p>Good luck!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 72304,
"author": "J. Roibal - BlockchainEng",
"author_id": 47985,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/47985",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>On some of the Ph. D. Applications I have seen, not only did they require a BSc. degree, it was required to have a 3.0 or above cumulative GPA in the undergrad.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 78708,
"author": "virmaior",
"author_id": 19769,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/19769",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Another concern for others similarly situated that is not mentioned in any of the answers is that admission to a PhD requires meeting at least three criteria:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>The right to study in a given country</li>\n<li>Selection by the department</li>\n<li>Approval by the university of the department's selections.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>University approval may or may not be pro-forma depending on the institution, but it is possible that a university regulation might prevent the selection of a student without an undergraduate degree.</p>\n\n<p>The right to study in a given country can also present a barrier. Obviously if you are a citizen, you don't need to worry, but many countries have requirements for issuing visas that might make this prohibitive. I have a Japanese friend who tried to study abroad in Norway, but he was unable to do so because he lacked the necessary number of years of education back in Japan. (14 rather than 12 were necessary and he similarly had not graduated undergraduate).</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/05
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/22014",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15541/"
] |
22,023 |
<p>Where I did my PhD, typically two PhD students shared an office room. In constrast, where I am working as a postdoc now, about 50 PhDs and postdocs share an open-plan office. </p>
<p>I find it difficult to concentrate in the latter kind of arrangement because of the noise. Some people use head/earphones, but I guess not everyone likes to listen to music while working. I am wondering if this is a common arrangement in academia. My guess is that while it might work elsewhere, the nature of academic research precludes an open-plan type of office.</p>
<p>In any case, is it appropriate to ask my supervisor for a room or a smaller/quieter space to work in? I don't think I would ask, though, because everybody else seems to be fairly content, but I'm just wondering.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 22026,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Although a 50 person office is larger than I have seen, open plan and shared offices are not uncommon in academia especially for graduate students and post docs. For individuals with teaching and supervisory responsibilities, open plan offices become less practical due to the need for privacy. The advantage of shared offices is that they help to foster interactions. Of course you can just leave your office door open, but many departments you can walk down the hall and all the doors are shut and you rarely get to interact with colleagues.</p>\n\n<p>As for asking for a different office, it cannot hurt to ask. In one group I used to work in there was a 15+ person office with two small 1 person offices for hot desking at. It might be possible to wall off an area for hot desking. The idea behind hot desking is that multiple people can share a one person office since you will not need a quite office all the time. With networked computers or laptops it doesn't really matter what desk you are sitting at. This way you can setup small offices for dedicated tasks (e.g., reading, writing, and programming). Groups that spend a lot of time in a wet lab or a clinic often benefit from hot desking.</p>\n\n<p>If you don't ask, then people will not know how to make the work environment better.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 22062,
"author": "Jukka Suomela",
"author_id": 351,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/351",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There is plenty of research showing that open-plan offices are a very bad idea, not just in academia but everywhere (see below for some examples).</p>\n\n<p>Unfortunately, they are also much cheaper than proper offices (mainly because you can <a href=\"http://www.smh.com.au/national/how-many-workers-can-you-fit-in-an-office-20091130-k176.html\">pack people much more densely</a>).</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>Danielsson et al. (2014): \"Office design's impact on sick leave rates\", <em>Ergonomics</em> 57(2), doi:<a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00140139.2013.871064\">10.1080/00140139.2013.871064</a>:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>The cumulative evidence thus indicates that traditional open-plan offices are less good for employee health.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Oommen et al. (2008): \"Should Health Service Managers Embrace Open Plan Work Environments?: A Review\" <em>Asia Pacific Journal of Health Management</em> 3(2), 37-43:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Research evidence shows that employees face a multitude of problems such as the loss of privacy, loss of identity, low work productivity, various health issues, overstimulation and low job satisfaction when working in an open plan work environment.</p>\n</blockquote>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 98832,
"author": "Franck Dernoncourt",
"author_id": 452,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/452",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>Is open-plan office for academia at all?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>There is a pretty clear scientific consensus that open spaces has an overall negative impact on employees.</p>\n\n<p>Some quotes from scientific studies on open space:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>{2}: \"Despite perceived privacy, irrelevant speech contributes to mental workload, poor performance, stress, and fatigue\"</li>\n<li>{4}: \"Fewer words were remembered with working high noise compared to low noise. The participants were more tired after work in high noise compared to low noise.\"</li>\n<li>{5}: \"Noise has repeatedly been shown to be one of the most recurrent reasons for complaints in open-plan office environments\"</li>\n<li>{6} gives a nice overview of several scientific studies:\n\n<ul>\n<li>\"In 2011, the organizational psychologist Matthew Davis reviewed more than a hundred studies about office environments. He found that, though open offices often fostered a symbolic sense of organizational mission, making employees feel like part of a more laid-back, innovative enterprise, they were damaging to the workers’ attention spans, productivity, creative thinking, and satisfaction. Compared with standard offices, employees experienced more uncontrolled interactions, higher levels of stress, and lower levels of concentration and motivation.\"</li>\n<li>\"When David Craig surveyed some thirty-eight thousand workers, he found that interruptions by colleagues were detrimental to productivity, and that the more senior the employee, the worse she fared.\"</li>\n<li>\"Psychologically, the repercussions of open offices are relatively straightforward. Physical barriers have been closely linked to psychological privacy, and a sense of privacy boosts job performance.\"</li>\n<li>\"Open offices also remove an element of control, which can lead to feelings of helplessness. In a 2005 study that looked at organizations ranging from a Midwest auto supplier to a Southwest telecom firm, researchers found that the ability to control the environment had a significant effect on team cohesion and satisfaction. When workers couldn’t change the way that things looked, adjust the lighting and temperature, or choose how to conduct meetings, spirits plummeted.\"</li>\n<li>\"An open environment may even have a negative impact on our health. In a recent study of more than twenty-four hundred employees in Denmark, Jan Pejtersen and his colleagues found that as the number of people working in a single room went up, the number of employees who took sick leave increased apace. Workers in two-person offices took an average of fifty per cent more sick leave than those in single offices, while those who worked in fully open offices were out an average of sixty-two per cent more.\"</li>\n<li>\"But the most problematic aspect of the open office may be physical rather than psychological: simple noise. In laboratory settings, noise has been repeatedly tied to reduced cognitive performance. The psychologist Nick Perham, who studies the effect of sound on how we think, has found that office commotion impairs workers’ ability to recall information, and even to do basic arithmetic. Listening to music to block out the office intrusion doesn’t help: even that, Perham found, impairs our mental acuity. Exposure to noise in an office may also take a toll on the health of employees. In a study by the Cornell University psychologists Gary Evans and Dana Johnson, clerical workers who were exposed to open-office noise for three hours had increased levels of epinephrine—a hormone that we often call adrenaline, associated with the so-called fight-or-flight response. What’s more, Evans and Johnson discovered that people in noisy environments made fewer ergonomic adjustments than they would in private, causing increased physical strain. The subjects subsequently attempted to solve fewer puzzles than they had after working in a quiet environment; in other words, they became less motivated and less creative.\"</li>\n</ul></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>The list of scientific studies showing the negative impacts of open spaces is endless. I would argue that the nature of the job of a researcher makes open space even more harmful to their productivity. </p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>References:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>{2} Smith-Jackson, Tonya L., and Katherine W. Klein. \"Open-plan offices: Task performance and mental workload.\" Journal of Environmental Psychology 29, no. 2 (2009): 279-289. <a href=\"https://scholar.google.com/scholar?cluster=1320841413872385547&hl=en&as_sdt=0,5\" rel=\"noreferrer\">https://scholar.google.com/scholar?cluster=1320841413872385547&hl=en&as_sdt=0,5</a> ; <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2008.09.002\" rel=\"noreferrer\">https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2008.09.002</a></li>\n<li>{4} Jahncke, Helena, Staffan Hygge, Niklas Halin, Anne Marie Green, and Kenth Dimberg. \"Open-plan office noise: Cognitive performance and restoration.\" Journal of Environmental Psychology 31, no. 4 (2011): 373-382. <a href=\"https://scholar.google.com/scholar?cluster=2806953389437638934&hl=en&as_sdt=0,5\" rel=\"noreferrer\">https://scholar.google.com/scholar?cluster=2806953389437638934&hl=en&as_sdt=0,5</a></li>\n<li>{5} Seddigh, Aram, Erik Berntson, Fredrik Jönsson, Christina Bodin Danielson, and Hugo Westerlund. \"The effect of noise absorption variation in open-plan offices: A field study with a cross-over design.\" Journal of environmental psychology 44 (2015): 34-44. <a href=\"https://scholar.google.com/scholar?cluster=12448706430490137819&hl=en&as_sdt=0,5\" rel=\"noreferrer\">https://scholar.google.com/scholar?cluster=12448706430490137819&hl=en&as_sdt=0,5</a></li>\n<li>{6} <a href=\"https://web.archive.org/web/20171109203333/https://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/the-open-office-trap\" rel=\"noreferrer\">https://web.archive.org/web/20171109203333/https://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/the-open-office-trap</a></li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 98842,
"author": "Forever Mozart",
"author_id": 54843,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/54843",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It has a very negative effect on me since I'm an extreme introvert. When people so much as look at me while I'm doing mental work (mathematics) it's incredibly distracting and energy draining. </p>\n\n<p>I usually just walk around the building, find an nice empty classroom, and set up camp there</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 98851,
"author": "Fomite",
"author_id": 118,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/118",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I've experienced a large number of open-plan offices in my time in academia - the student offices in graduate school, almost all of the offices in my postdoc, and now where the students and postdocs in my lab are.</p>\n\n<p>Generally speaking, I don't like them, but there's one very real reason why they exist: Space is at a premium.</p>\n\n<p>This is the same rationale used by many businesses, except universities don't have the possibility of changing offices when their leases come up for renewal. Offices, inherently, take up more space and are less flexible in their configurations. The ability to <em>give people desks at all</em> might offset the cost of them not being the ideal desks for productivity.</p>\n\n<p>That being said, there's no reason you can't ask. But in my experience, there's a large degree of politics regarding who has offices and who doesn't, so I'd be prepared to have the answer be \"No.\"</p>\n\n<p>The one time I tried it, the answer before I got the question halfway out was \"Don't even ask.\"</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 128211,
"author": "Liam Zehilic",
"author_id": 106796,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/106796",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As a Spatial Designer that designs university interiors in the UK, I will keep this brief: University's cannot afford singular offices. Researchers and academics need to realise this. The energy costs for the institutions are crippling, heating and lighting hundreds of small offices (which are often empty) is financially and environmentally unsustainable, never mind the maintenance. Meanwhile undergraduates: the paying customers, have to make do with poor quality learning environments and tired social spaces because all the money is being spent behind closed doors. What university academics often fail to realise is that there are many many people in the commercial world that do very high level research in contemporary and efficient open office environments - not hidden away behind a wall of yellowing books and completely unaccountable. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/05
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/22023",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10936/"
] |
22,025 |
<p>I'm not interested in becoming an academic. Rather, I'm interested in opportunities for a Computer Science (or related) major to work in research, either in industry, but also particularly in academia, and particularly in fields where CS skills/knowledge could be applied to social sciences (or cognitive science). This includes anywhere from simply being a programmer that happens to work in a research setting to doing actual dirty work with computational modeling that may even require some domain knowledge of the topic at hand.</p>
<p>My problem is that I don't really know what sorts of opportunities exist out there and how to get to those opportunities. I'm not opposed to getting a graduate (master's) degree in a specific field, getting research experience, and developing broad expertise around a subject area. In fact, that could be great.</p>
<p>However, I get the impression that in academia, you center your research around highly specific areas and that becomes your life. To be honest, there is not one highly specific area of interest that I have (at least not yet) where I would be passionate enough to dedicate and invest such a huge portion of my life towards studying and researching, not to mention I don't want to tie myself down to any specific subject nor the poor job market of academia (sucks, I know).</p>
<p>I'm more interested in breadth and the ability to work on interesting projects. Part of the reason I went into Computer Science was because of how applicable it was to many fields. While I find Computer Science and programming to be incredibly engaging, my heart truly lies in the study of people, and it would be a dream to merge the two worlds together. In some sense, you could say I would love to work in academia without becoming a full-out-academic, by leveraging my background into another field. <em>But I would like to make it a viable career path.</em></p>
<p>A random list of subjects/areas/words to capture my interests: cognitive science, computational models of narratives/belief/reasoning, agent-based modeling, complex systems, social network analysis, human computer interaction.</p>
<p>I know a field like bioinformatics or computational biology is pretty huge, and I've often read about ways to enter those fields (e.g. be a CS person who enters from the outside and picks up the biology knowledge as they go along, or someone who has done biology research their whole career and is now learning and picking up CS/programming skills to assist their research). I'm interested in opportunities to be more of the former, for the reasons I have outlined above. Though I would say, the more I can wet my feet into the domain area, the more preferable.</p>
<p>What paths can I take? What are some emerging fields? What jobs exist and in what numbers? How can I get there?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 22030,
"author": "user3079666",
"author_id": 11719,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11719",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I merely skimmed through your post, but from the title already I find the answer to be straightforward and very interesting. As a CS student and having done plenty of research, I feel that CS is a great field but other fields are equally interesting. CS will allow you to inject yourself into more or less anything you like. The simplest example is simulation, even though physicists and other specialists are usually hired to automate all the formulas and programmers merely implement, you could easily have those specialists show you everything you apply and have them explain it to you. Then you just go on to simulate something else and pick up knowledge from another field. <br>\nEven more obscure and theoretical things can use CS, a simple example is artificial speech, combine it with AI and you could get into interesting concepts. However simulation also could apply, with some more difficulty, to sociology.<br>\nI find that game programming is a field that allows one to get into anything he likes, loop up the term <i>serious games</i>, they are games that are made for training professionals and are often used by the army or corporations. Try some out and see what skills are needed from non computer related specialists to get an idea.<br>\nAs for getting masters degrees and such, you can go for many different ones that combine sciences, creating a chain between them. You do not necessarily need to specialize, if you invest serious time and effort you could prove to the world that you specialize in just applying CS to anything. <br>\nAbout Job opportunities, often it is helpful to create your own, you can find people interested in a specific area that are willing to help you out and start up your own project, this will help in more than one ways, first is that you might actually get something good out of it and eventually make a living from the project, second is you get hands-on experience which goes straight to the CV and proving you are serious about this, and third is that this may well attract academics and professionals to call you in for collaboration. <br>\nI personally have more or less the same problem, I am mostly into CS, am aiming for game development, but I am immensely fascinated by economics, forensics, chemistry, engines, history, even shipbuilding, so I have started making my own games. It has payed off very fast, I get to become a microsoft student partner in October while I have had a proposition from a professional to collaborate - even though on a small project. <br>\nFinally, you can fill in your spare time with online courses, I picked up forensic science on Coursera, from the university of Singapore, it takes little time, I've learned many things from different fields and it shows you're more into learning tons of stuff than just getting something satisfying and then lying around. A master of course is worth a thousand of these as the rest of the community here told me, but it's fast, fun, effective, and it's worth something.<br>\nHope I helped, sorry for the length of the text, felt that it was necessary to cover your questions and show as much as possible of the immense flexibility imaginative people have with CS. Cheers.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 166380,
"author": "A rural reader",
"author_id": 136702,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/136702",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Summer internships will help with a bit of the insight you need.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/05
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/22025",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16131/"
] |
22,032 |
<p>I am now in the middle of my master's degree and I plan to graduate in August 2015. I currently study in Germany and for most engineering students here it is common to finish the five-year program (3 or 3.5 years for the bachelor's degree and 1.5 to 2 years for the master's). I'm thinking about applying for robotics PhD programs at different US universities but I noticed that most of them have a deadline in December for programs starting 9 months later. I don't have any publications in any international journals because in Germany this is mostly done by PhD students. But I have worked a lot during my studies (1 year internship, part-time research in university).</p>
<p>I don't want to lose one year waiting to start my PhD but in the same time I think that my master thesis will be a great asset while applying for such a program, especially when I will be willing to continue my research and PhD thesis in the same field as my master thesis. Do you think I should take the GRE and apply for next December or wait until getting my master's degree? And how this would influence the selection process.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 22033,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>It's not a big deal for you not to have publications—remember, many of your peers also will not have published anything, either!</p>\n\n<p>Moreover, it's important to note that in the US, most of the applicants for graduate school do so in the fall of their <em>fourth</em> year of studies—which would, contentwise, typically line up with the <em>third</em> year (or sometimes even second year!) of study in a German program. So, in many ways, you're already much more experienced than your counterparts.</p>\n\n<p>If you're interested in doing this, I would recommend that you just go ahead and apply. The worst that can possibly happen is that you're not accepted, in which case you find another means of achieving your goals. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 22063,
"author": "Dr Pangloss",
"author_id": 6556,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6556",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In the US in many fields, it is common to go directly for the PhD. So by all means hurry up! The fact you are in a master is a plus. The only potentially negative thing I can imagine is if your current supervisor or the other professors might feel afraid you will not complete the masters or will not put as much effort after being accepted into a PhD and as a result they may not write enthusiastic letters of recommendation. Side comment: Europeans tend to write lukewarm recommendation letters (probably more realistic), they don't understand that can hurt the applicant a lot.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/06
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/22032",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14662/"
] |
22,037 |
<p>I want to add some description of a technology (Node.js = server-side JavaScript) in my thesis. The description is about what exactly this technology is, how it works, what it can do etc. </p>
<p>I want to use Node.js Wikipedia page, a blog page, one of my supervisor's lectures for gathering information. </p>
<p>Should I cite these sources, given the fact that they say pretty much the same things and these things are just observations, not scientific contribution? </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 22039,
"author": "gman",
"author_id": 12454,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12454",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>If something can be deemed common knowledge in your field there should be no need to cite it. </p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://integrity.mit.edu/citing-your-sources/what-common-knowledge\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">MIT</a> define common knowledge as;</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Broadly speaking, common knowledge refers to information that the average, educated reader would accept as reliable without having to look it up. </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>There is further detail on that link about Common Knowledge and it's applications. They also say that there best advice is: 'When in doubt, cite your source.'</p>\n\n<p>That said if you are taking something verbatim from a source you should cite it.</p>\n\n<p>Just on your sources; in academia you tend to shy away from citing from wikipedia etc. You can see a discussion on that issue at <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/7768/how-should-i-cite-something-learned-second-hand-eg-from-wikipedia-when-i-have\">this question</a> </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 22045,
"author": "Peteris",
"author_id": 10730,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10730",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<h2>Add a footnote</h2>\n\n<p>This is supplementary information that isn't required for your thesis, but for some readers might be useful for understanding the context.</p>\n\n<p>This isn't realy a citation - most likely you aren't using Node.js documentation as a <em>direct source</em> for something that you are writing there, unless you're comparing details of some API descriptions. You probably are using a part of node.js technology, and the reference is to extra information about that part, for people who don't know a prerequisite. So it's something where using a footnote would be the most appropriate way.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 22046,
"author": "eykanal",
"author_id": 73,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/73",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This is the same as citing any other software; you would follow the standard guidelines for such citations. APA guidelines follow, from <a href=\"https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/10/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">this Purdue website</a>:</p>\n<blockquote>\n<h1>Computer Software/Downloaded Software</h1>\n<p>Do not cite standard office software (e.g. Word, Excel) or programming languages. Provide references only for specialized software.</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Ludwig, T. (2002). PsychInquiry [computer software]. New York: Worth.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>Software that is downloaded from a Web site should provide the software’s version and year when available.</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Hayes, B., Tesar, B., & Zuraw, K. (2003). OTSoft: Optimality Theory Software (Version 2.1) [Software]. Available from <a href=\"http://www.linguistics.ucla.edu/people/hayes/otsoft/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">http://www.linguistics.ucla.edu/people/hayes/otsoft/</a></p>\n</blockquote>\n</blockquote>\n<p>As usual, you should check with your journal to see whether they have any specific formatting requirements/require any other specific information for such citations.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/06
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/22037",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15987/"
] |
22,054 |
<p>My mathematics department apparently gets pressured by the university to have more people take courses during the summer. We are also encouraged to take on TA responsibilities to make extra cash during the summer which is great.... except that they have this rule that if we want to teach/grade (or do any paid work during the summer) we have to enroll in courses. The options are slim and so is the stipend; I'm a grad student currently trying to prepare for my final prelim exam and do some research during the summer; I'd like to make a little extra cash.... but I crunched the numbers and it looks like I'll net about $600 for an entire summer, not exactly a living wage. </p>
<p>I should also add that our department (mathematics) brings more funds (in course work and its associated tuition) than any other department (I'm sure biology/chemistry pulls more in research grants), .... so it seems very tawdry of them to "get money back" by forcing us to enroll in classes.</p>
<p>So my question is: <strong>Is this normal?</strong> I've spoken with some of my professors and they said it is not; but just curious what this community has to say and if this is ethical or are there any statistics on this sort of thing. </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 22096,
"author": "Ari Trachtenberg",
"author_id": 15885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15885",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The policy of requiring you to take classes in order to work for the university is not normal, and I have not seen it anywhere else.</p>\n\n<p>That said, the summer is a good opportunity for students to get outside jobs and/or internships. As you no doubt know, there are very few jobs in pure math, and the jobs that do exist are <em>extremely</em> competitive. In my opinion, It is best for a student like you to establish connections with possible post-graduate employers during the summer, rather than TAing a math course, unless the course you are TAing will directly help with your immediate educational needs (e.g. it is preparatory for your prelim or can help your eventual thesis).</p>\n\n<p>Regarding the ethics of the university's behavior, there is very little\nyou can do. Graduate students are in a very bad position of leverage\nvis-a-vis the university, and this is especially true in disciplines like mathematics where many departments bring in many more students than can ever graduate (much less get a job), in part because of undergraduate teaching needs.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23096,
"author": "Neo",
"author_id": 6898,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6898",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This is completely normal: every place I have been (albeit 3 departments) require Graduate Student Assistant (Research Assistants, Teaching Assistants, and general Graduate Assistants) to be both students and registered at the level of full time graduate students while working on those assignments. The reason being: Those jobs are student jobs. </p>\n\n<p>My masters institution requires me to be registered for 8 credits a semester while I TA/RA/GA, which I pay student fees of about 2k a year on. </p>\n\n<p>My PhD institution requires me to be registered for 12 credits a quarter while I TA/RA/GA, which I will pay ~750 a year on student fees. </p>\n\n<p>That doesn't mean you have to take traditional classes: About 40% of my classes have been thesis hours and independent studies. For summer classes, I usually work out some sort of independent study that is very tangential from my thesis, meaning I can use it in both my thesis defense and perhaps even publish it. </p>\n\n<p>So yeah, it's normal.</p>\n\n<p>I also think its wrong to charge graduate students who are also employees student fees, but it is the way the books are drawn. Your student fees, I doubt, are so large that you cannot find a way to live off the summer stipend. My master's institution has the highest student fees that doesn't include healthcare I have ever seen in the USA.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23097,
"author": "paul garrett",
"author_id": 980,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Having observed several places in several different decades: summer funding is always weird and maybe non-existent or not-a-good-deal.</p>\n\n<p>During the 9-month academic year, in the U.S., yes, indeed, people working as TAs/RAs have to be registered as students (because as other people said, these are student jobs), and this entails <em>fees</em>. Most often, tuition is included in the \"benefits\", but not invariably. </p>\n\n<p>At every university I've been, grad students registered in the 9-month academic year did not have to explicitly register, nor pay tuition, in the summer, in order to work as summer TAs/RAs. This part is quite anomalous, and looks like a way for some layer of the institution to suck money out of people.</p>\n\n<p>My experience indicates that there's never enough summer support to go around, which effectively creates a labor surplus, which, predictably, leads to certain abuses. For that matter, the usual double-time rate of summer classes is pretty nasty, and not fun to see. A bit taxing to teach, but almost uniformly near-disastrous for the students, who cannot simply \"decide\" to assimilate things twice as fast.</p>\n\n<p>In some cases, the funding and flow of money for summer teaching/classes is different from the 9-month year, so it is not necessarily deliberately abusive, though possibly irresponsible or negligent, of your dept to not tell you your net pay. If it's really just 600 dollars, it's a ridiculous situation, yes.</p>\n\n<p>But the net pay <em>should</em> be substantial, not next-to-nothing. <em>That</em> aspect strikes me as odd.</p>\n\n<p>In summary, the situation you describe is unusual in that the net pay is so low. Having to sign up for courses and pay summer fees (or, worse, tuition) is unusual. The vagueness is less atypical, since sometimes control of summer classes is not in the hands of the department. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/06
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/22054",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8084/"
] |
22,058 |
<p>How hard is it to adapt to post-graduate studies after an academic pause of 16 years working in sort of relevant industry?</p>
<p>I graduated back in 1998 with B.Eng. in computer engineering, worked for 16 years in IT related jobs, and decided to go back to school this fall (2014).</p>
<p>Is it hard to be ready after such long academic pause?
Any particular skills I should work on while waiting for the program to start?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 22059,
"author": "mhwombat",
"author_id": 10529,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10529",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I graduated back in 1984 with a BSc in Computer Science. Went back for a MSc by research 25 years later, in 2009. Finished that in 2011, and now I'm doing my PhD.</p>\n\n<p>Will you be doing an MSc by research? If you're the sort of person who likes learning things on your own, I'm sure you'll find it easy enough to adjust. Reading scientific papers is a skill that takes a while to learn. (Writing them, even more so!) You can use <a href=\"http://scholar.google.com/\">Google Scholar</a> to search for papers in the are you're interested in. (Many articles will be behind paywalls, so you probably can't access them until you start, but many articles will be freely available.) Expect it to be tough going at first, so don't get discouraged. Also, I hope you like (or at least don't mind) writing, because in many fields an MSc thesis involves a lot of writing.</p>\n\n<p>If you're doing an MSc by coursework, I don't have too much advice to offer.</p>\n\n<p>Your experience in industry will help you a lot. You'll probably have more resiliency than your fellow students, due to your life experience. This will help you deal with stress. You'll probably find that teachers and students are asking for your real-world perspective, which is great for your self-confidence. Also, you probably have a very clear idea of why you're doing an MSc, which will help you stay focused.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 22092,
"author": "Anon",
"author_id": 16190,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16190",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Former MSc by coursework student here but with a shorter gap between my BSc and MSc.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>How hard is it to adapt to post-graduate studies after an academic pause[...]?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>It's not easy but it's perfectly doable. It is more dependent on you as an individual and your approach to the particular course you choose to do than anything else.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Is it hard to be ready after such long academic pause?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Depends entirely on you and the course you choose. Did you do well back in school? That helps. Did you do well at University? That helps far more. Can you afford to do it (you'll likely be paying and not just in terms of money)? Are you doing something that you have always did poorly in and never learned to overcome (life will be hard)? Can you adapt to the academic style (reading, writing and interacting)?</p>\n\n<p>(Life) experience helps but it's not a complete shortcut.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Any particular skills I should work on while waiting for the program to start?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Not really (perhaps know how to get along with younger people?). So long as you have the right approach you'll do fine - most Universities want to give you what you need to pass given that you're paying them money :-)</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/06
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/22058",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16160/"
] |
22,066 |
<p>I have started writing my thesis ( just yesterday:) ). My advisor asked me to submit it in one or two months. Now am wondering should I start applying for jobs at this time period. I plan to talk about this with my advisor. But I thought of other opinions as well. Please share your experience also. </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 22070,
"author": "David Ketcheson",
"author_id": 81,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/81",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Yes, you should start applying for jobs. You should have started several months ago, since it can take time to find a job, and after you do it may still take some months before the job actually starts. This depends strongly on what kind of job it is.</p>\n\n<p>Of course, if you are looking for an academic job in the US, the interviewing season is roughly November-March, so you want to time things around that. For industry jobs and academic jobs elsewhere, there is not usually a particular season to focus on.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 22074,
"author": "avid",
"author_id": 15798,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15798",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I agree with @DavidKetcheson. You should be able to get some sense of the \"lead time\" on jobs of the sort you're interested in by browsing current adverts: what is the typical \"start date\"? For competitive academic positions, this might be as much as a year ahead. </p>\n\n<p>However, there may be strategic reasons to delay, accepting the risk that you can't start working (and earning money!) as early as you wish. For example, you might feel you're likely to be able to secure a much better job if you publish a particular piece of work before going on the job market. There's also the issue that job-hunting can be a time-consuming business: plenty of people decide that they'd prefer to concentrate on completing their thesis first, and then focus on finding a job. I don't think this is an <em>a priori</em> unreasonable approach to take, particularly if you're in a system where there is some significant amount of \"dead time\" between submitting your thesis, and having the defence.</p>\n\n<p>Regardless of the approach you take, you should certainly be looking at job adverts now, to get a sense of what might be available, and what people are offering/looking for.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/07
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/22066",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13193/"
] |
22,068 |
<p>I am a postdoc working in a lab where we are finishing a large project with multiple measures (psychological, behavioral, etc). Some of the measures didn't turn out to have significant results (primarily for methodological reasons I believe). I suggested to the Lead Investigator that we write up some of these as "we tried these measures and didn't get the results we expected for various reasons: here are some lessons we have learned". The reply was:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>My immediate response is not all that positive – especially if it undermined our published papers ... if you’ve published a result then further publications shouldn’t raise more limitations that should have been mentioned in the original publication. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>I don't believe the results will undermine anything but, that aside, is his reasoning for not publishing results valid? Also, to be clear, we haven't yet published anything from this work.</p>
<p>I understand him to mean that he doesn't want the results published because they might go against previous work and completely object to such a thought. Have I possibly misinterpreted his words?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 22069,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>The statement you quote sounds terrible. It points in a direction where things approach the unethical. Publication of negative results are less common that positive although, I suspect, negative results ARE more common than positive. Since I am in an experimental field, I have never obtained the perfect results and always end up describing what went wrong; and I am not alone. Anyway, I think your idea of writing up your experience is good. Naturally, I cannot judge the merits of the experiences in terms of publicability.</p>\n\n<p>So I think your intention is very sound and the reaction of the lead investigator suspect (or at best narrow-minded).</p>\n\n<p>To me \" further publications shouldn’t raise more limitations that <em>should have</em> been mentioned in the original publication\" (if verbatim from the lead investigator and with my emphasis) sounds as if limitations were not included on purpose in the original study. So, if that is true then I can understand the nervousness. It sounds almost fraudulent.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 22071,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If I understand you correctly, what you want to publish doesn't \"go against\" the previous work. It's fully consistent with it, but what is being added is what are often called <strong>negative results</strong>: namely, the discovery that a certain plausible method or established theory <em>cannot</em> be used in a certain manner to solve a certain problem.</p>\n\n<p>In every branch of academia I know of, it is -- unfortunately -- very difficult to publish negative results. In the abstract, most people agree that this is a shame: convincingly arguing that researchers should not go down a certain path is obviously a service to the community. However, in a competitive publication system negative results are somehow not very, um, competitive. So trying to publish these results may not be the best use of your time unless you package them carefully -- very crudely, you will probably need to bundle them with \"positive results\".</p>\n\n<p>The above is a relatively benign interpretation of your Lead Investigator's comments. It is alas also possible that he is saying that you should not try to publish your negative results <em>because that information will reduce the prestige of your previously published paper</em>. I agree that this sounds ethically dubious, yes, but depending on the field it is not clear that you are ethically required to publish further work explaining the limitations of your previous results. Here I would make a distinct between <em>limitations</em> and <em>errors</em>: <em>errors</em> are things that you should have known better than to include in the original version, and in many fields it is appropriate to print a retraction, erratum or corrigendum when you learn about them. On the other hand, that a publication contains ideas that are not completely definitive and whose future value is the subject of informed speculation....well, that's how research works. </p>\n\n<p>I would say that the ethical issues become more acute depending upon the reaction that your published paper has received. If your paper has been very influential to researchers and is causing them to spend a lot of time exploring what you know to be a blind alley, then formal publication or no, it seems ethical to relate this information to them. If your publication has present nonacademic ramifications -- e.g. if you are in some kind of bio-medical field and your publication has resulted in patient protocols that you know to be suboptimal -- then you should be thinking about how to get the word out ASAP.</p>\n\n<p>Anyway, it sounds like you need to have a conversation with your Lead Investigator about this. Find out what he meant and why.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/07
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/22068",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15673/"
] |
22,075 |
<p>I am in the second year of my PhD in mathematics and I have recently decided I want to go into industry after I'm finished. I feel like a lot of what I'm learning in the program does not have direct, real-world applications, and I'd like to remedy this problem by getting some work experience while I'm still in graduate school.</p>
<p>I have some programming background (but not as much as a CS grad) and a couple years experience doing simple data analysis programming. I also have a BS in physics. It seems like there should be a place in industry for me somewhere, but I don't know how to go about finding it.</p>
<p>I would like to work part-time, or as a consultant, so that the job won't greatly hinder my progress towards my degree. (Of course, some time will be lost that could have gone to my dissertation, but this is made up for by gaining marketable skills.) I'd like to work in science or in software. I am aware of internships, but it seems like most are either for undergraduate students or engineers.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Can a math grad student work part-time in industry during his PhD? If so, how would one go about finding jobs?</p>
</blockquote>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 22079,
"author": "David Ketcheson",
"author_id": 81,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/81",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think it would be very challenging and unusual to work part-time at a job <em>and</em> be taking graduate classes or doing thesis research.</p>\n\n<p>But it's quite common for graduate students to work full-time (as interns) at government laboratories or in industry during the summer (or at another time of year) for perhaps 3 months. Mathematics students I have known have worked at</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Google</li>\n<li>Microsoft</li>\n<li>US Dept. of Energy labs (Sandia, Los Alamos, Livermore, Oak Ridge, Argonne, etc.)</li>\n<li>Oil companies (Schlumberger, Total)</li>\n<li>US NSA contractors (cryptography)</li>\n<li>US Geological Survey</li>\n<li>NOAA</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>and many other places that I've forgotten. Talk to your advisor and to other faculty in the program. Your university may also have someone who coordinates these things.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23121,
"author": "tobyodavies",
"author_id": 1233,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1233",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I can say that I am currently doing this and it works very well for me, but you <em>have</em> to discuss this with your supervisors.\nMy consulting work is in optimisation/operations research (part mathematics, part computer science) and directly relevant to my PhD. I use these experiences to motivate my research and I'm convinced it makes me a better researcher.</p>\n\n<p>I work for the company I worked for before starting my PhD, but part-time consultants can be valuable to smaller consulting companies if you have the flexibility to work when they have more jobs, and not work when they don't.</p>\n\n<p>I will second the call to apply for internships: a couple of the interns I worked with at Google last summer were mathematicians who could code, and one or two of us were PhD students.</p>\n\n<p>It should be noted that I'm doing my PhD in Australia, where PhDs nominally take 3 years and teaching/research assistant work is not a condition of any scholarship, so your mileage may vary in other countries.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/07
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/22075",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16174/"
] |
22,085 |
<p>I am currently a rising 2L law student who passed up an opportunity to do a joint JD/MS in Economics. I didn't think I was adequately prepared to take on the Economics degree, though. (Not enough math background.) I am considering pursuing a master's degree part time after finishing law school, though, because it seems to be more interesting and more valuable in the job market than law.</p>
<p>What bearing will my law school grades have on admission to a master's program, and would that calculus change if I took the requisite math courses (Calculus I, II, and potentially III,), as well as a remedial stats course? </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23995,
"author": "Tom Au",
"author_id": 755,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/755",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The most critical law school grades for you are those that have a bearing on economics. Contracts, come to mind, and maybe public policy. In your shoes, I would concentrate on doing well on these, as well as \"corporate law\" courses. In an application/cv, I would set the GPA in these courses apart from the rest of the law program in say criminal or civil procedure, torts, etc.</p>\n\n<p>Math courses might have a similar impact on your application as \"commercial\" law.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23998,
"author": "The Almighty Bob",
"author_id": 16086,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16086",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The effect of your law grades probably depends a lot on the program you are applying to. I guess (really just a guess here) the overall GPA might in most cases serve as a signal for being a good/bad student, so they probably matter.</p>\n\n<p>I think it doesn't really matter what the courses are. Most law courses have nothing in common with economics courses even if they cover the same topics. And to be honest, people are lazy and probably are not try to figure out which of your courses are useful for an econ degree. That is of course different for a law/econ master or a specialized econ master.</p>\n\n<p>However, most master programs require you to have a sufficient knowledge in math.</p>\n\n<p>But, as I already said that depends on the university/department/program.\nSo, my advice would be: ask the top 1-3 universities on your list what the necessary conditions are.</p>\n\n<p><em>A minor remark: I can't think of my econ MS being useful in a real job (i.e. not governmental or in academia) but maybe that is just me. Maybe don't pick a research master's degree.</em></p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/08
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/22085",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16188/"
] |
23,099 |
<p>I work at an educational institution where exam papers are considered protected. Leaking the exam question sheet and taking photocopies or camera shots is considered illegal and is strictly prohibited. I am not here to argue about this policy but to ask about the best ways to enforce it. Students have been taking pictures of exam papers during exam time, leaking them to subsequent sessions or posting them with solutions and often selling them to students of subsequent semesters. Though we don't use the same questions between semesters, they do exhibit some similarities at times for some courses. </p>
<p>Even with strict invigilation and requests not to bring cell phones to the exam room, there have been some incidents. Lockers are out of the question, as is collecting all cell phones before exam time. I would welcome any suggestions.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23103,
"author": "Moriarty",
"author_id": 8562,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8562",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>Make the punishment for being caught well-known. Make every effort possible to track down the perpetrators, and make the offence\n and punishment publicly known.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>You could set up one or two cheap cameras to take high-resolution photographs at set intervals, say every 15 seconds (making sure it's all kosher legally, and warning the students). I know that Canon compact cameras \"hacked\" with the CHDK software can do this. Don't use an SLR, they have noisy shutters. If you find out an exam has been leaked, you should be able to comb the archive and catch the perpetrator. Yes, it's an extreme solution -- but also a scare tactic.</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://www.bvsystems.com/Products/Security/PocketHound/pockethound.htm\">Cell phone detectors</a> are another possibility to catch offenders in the act, though by no means foolproof. Turning on airplane mode would render them useless.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Make offending harder by confiscating cell phones at the start of the exam. This won't stop pre-meditated offending, though -- you can't do pat-downs!</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Yes, you claim this is out of the question. But I am truly surprised that this is not an institutional policy to collect all cell phones before an exam. Put this back into the question. My undergraduate institution also had a substantial fine (NZD $70, IIRC) for the owner of a cell phone that rang during the exam. It should go without saying that phones must be turned off.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Place a subtle random symbol somewhere on each exam paper, that is unique to each individual.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Your average none-too-bright cheater might not take much notice of a \"⎋\" symbol in the corner of a page. But, it would be a pain to implement for a large class and will only work until someone catches on. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23104,
"author": "AndrejaKo",
"author_id": 9653,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9653",
"pm_score": 7,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I'm going to be a bit harsh and say that your cause is doomed to fail if you want to solve the problem just by policing students. </p>\n\n<p>What happened is that some factors contributed to atmosphere where it is considered advantageous to have a copy of past exams and your students are motivated enough to risk getting a copy. The tradition of having a monetary incentive makes things even worse. </p>\n\n<p>At my previous university, I had opportunity to witness the evolution of hi-tech copying systems. At first, nobody was checking for cell-phones because they had bad cameras and weren't as popular, then cell-phone copying became popular. Then cell-phone detectors of various levels of sophistication came into use. After that, cheaters moved on to other devices.</p>\n\n<p>Today, spy devices are cheap and commonly available and they are next logical step from cell-phone cameras. Are you going to start checking your student's <a href=\"http://www.dx.com/s/spy+watch\">watches</a> next? How about <a href=\"http://spy-cam-review.toptenreviews.com/mini-spy-button-camera-review.html\">buttons</a>, <a href=\"http://www.spytechs.com/spy_cameras/glasses-hidden-camera.htm\">glasses</a> or even <a href=\"http://hidden-camera-review.toptenreviews.com/camcorder-pen-review.html\">pens</a>? What about say <a href=\"http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/B0063PGCBW\">calculators</a> (OK, that one in particular isn't the best example, but if there's demand, supply will come), whose use might even be allowed in some examinations? Are you going to have a spy-equipment expert on your staff to check what your students are using? What if they home-brew some equipment?</p>\n\n<p>What if someone actually <em>steals</em> a physical copy of questions? That actually happened at my previous school. Guy (not a student at the school) came to a lecture hall where an examination was being conducted, waited for TAs to hand out the questions and then proceeded towards the exit with a question sheet, running over anyone who tried to stop him. There was even a recording from video-surveillance of him doing the deed and a wanted poster was placed at the school entrance, but it didn't do any good. That particular problem was solved by asking for IDs before handing out questions, but it shows the trend of escalation that can happen. </p>\n\n<p>Next, what if a group of students organizes with the idea of memorizing questions in detail without any technological aids? There's literally no way of preventing that.</p>\n\n<p>The more you press the anti-technological/anti-cheating offensive without taking away the incentive to cheat, the greater is the risk that you'll instead form a core of semi-professional cheaters who will have connections to the sources of appropriate cheating equipment and serve as a cadre which will train future generations and make problem even worse. For example, in my hometown, a sure way to detect presence of a higher education institution is the high concentration of flyers advertising rent and sales of spy equipment. </p>\n\n<p>The only sure way (that I at least can think of) to solve the problem is to cut it at its source and take away the incentive to have the pictures of past exams. Try to take time to analyze all factors that could lead to such behavior and see if you can actually affect any of them in a meaningful way. Although questions aren't repeated, it's obvious from the response of students that seeing past exams is beneficial in some way. It's normal for questions to be similar, since there are probably some underlying concepts that students should learn and that knowledge needs to be tested. If the students are already aware of what they're going to find at the exam, then there isn't much need to see how exactly the sheet with questions looks like. If the exams is supposed to be a surprise, then you should reconsider if you're actually preparing your students properly for the exam.</p>\n\n<p>If going in-depth when solving a problem such as this isn't real motive, then it would be best to take advice from Moriarty's answer. You'll be doing something \"direct\" and you probably won't challenge existing policies too much.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23105,
"author": "Village",
"author_id": 600,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/600",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>When designing the exam paper, place fewer items per page. To reduce paper waste, this can be achieved by using A5-size exam papers, created by putting two exam papers on a single sheet, then cutting the pages in half. This will not prevent students from taking photographs, but it will mean that each photo they take will be obtaining less information about your exam. The student will need to take their camera out more often to get the whole exam, increasing the chances that your proctors, who should be watching the room carefully, will catch them.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23108,
"author": "sapi",
"author_id": 16097,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16097",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Do you have the option of conducting the exams centrally? At my institution, all final exams and major mid-semester exams were conducted at the same time for all students, under the supervision of external monitors.</p>\n\n<p>Any person who was seen using a phone or unauthorised notes would be guilty of serious misconduct, and likely get zero for the exam at the very least. Similarly, no person was permitted to leave the room until all papers had been collected, so it wasn't possible for the question sheets to go walkabout.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>Unfortunately, that will be difficult if there's not institutional support for it. (Although I'm constantly amazed to find out that it's not the norm elsewhere.)</p>\n\n<p>What I have seen work in the past, though, is to use subtly different question sheets for different students. On numerical exams it's easy enough to change a few numbers, but people who intend to copy answers out probably won't notice the difference.</p>\n\n<p>Of course, that won't help if there's later sessions of the same exam, but honestly that's not something that should be happening at university level anyway. No technical solution is going to be able to stop students from talking.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23112,
"author": "boatcoder",
"author_id": 17210,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17210",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I had a professor that solved this problem nicely when I was in college. This is all based on what he did.</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Before the Final, tell the all the periods that everyone is getting the same test. And that all the grades will be scaled across all periods. If the second period class does better than the first period class, it will suck to be in the first period when the mean will be substantially higher.</li>\n<li>Repeat this warning on the day of the test.</li>\n<li>Hand out a substantially different test to the 2nd period students.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>Yes, he lied to all the students, but he had watched the 2nd period Antennas class consistently score higher than the 1st period.</p>\n\n<p>I've met people that had that second class, they studied our test exclusively and more than one of them lost 2 letter grades in their final class grade over it. Studying the other test exclusively wasn't a problem for this teacher after that.</p>\n\n<p>His tests were deep in theory and derivation of where the equations come from, and Antennas is a very complicated subject. Might not work with all classes, but when word of this kind of apocalypse gets out, it will live in the history of the folklore for many years.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23118,
"author": "Paul",
"author_id": 2649,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2649",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Exam questions can be shuffled, or reparameterized (being careful to make both versions equally difficult) to obtain at least 2 versions of the same exam. </p>\n\n<p>But <strong>don't</strong> mark them version A/B. Let the cheater try to figure that out.</p>\n\n<p>Start playing this game early. Do it on quizzes and midterms. </p>\n\n<p>This doesn't eliminate cheating, but may make it not worth the trouble. </p>\n\n<p>If you think there might be spies within your department who are leaking the exams, give one version of the exam to the assistants to photocopy, and say nothing about an alternate version. Photocopy the alternate exam version yourself, and substitute at time of test. You won't be questioned about wasting trees, but if you are, say you thought there was an error in the test or that it didn't cover things with the correct weight, and you wanted to correct that.</p>\n\n<p>It is a bit of work, but it is not 2x or 3x the work and if it seems like it is, rethink what to change. A side benefit is a larger pool of example questions is generated as time goes by.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Alternative:</strong> Make the exam open book, no time limit (i.e. this should take about 3 hours but you have all weekend if you need it), and the questions impossible, like what you would expect at Caltech or MIT.\n<strong>Contraindications:</strong> Requires working honor system; honor.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23128,
"author": "Trylks",
"author_id": 7571,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7571",
"pm_score": 7,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This is not the answer you want but I have to get it out of my chest. (My background is engineering).</p>\n\n<p>The best, most effective and easiest way to completely avoid students taking pictures of exams, selling them and making a profit out of that is:</p>\n\n<p>Publish online <em>all</em> previous exams as an exercise book.</p>\n\n<p>The questions in an exam and the exercises done before the exam should not be more different than an exam and a previous exam, actually old exams make for perfect exercises and practice.</p>\n\n<p>The point is that studying the courses and making a few exams/exercises to practice should be easier and lead to greater success than checking the <em>whole compilation</em> of past exams, which should anyway lead to a good knowledge of the contents of the course (in a more tedious way than reading the theory and checking this with <em>a few</em> exams).</p>\n\n<p>Personal story: When I was in high-school the homework would be much harder than the exams, anyone making the homework (optional) would get good qualifications and the qualifications would reflect actual good knowledge about the subject. In the university there were exercises, but they were explanatory and very basic, the questions in the exam were much harder. This made the exercises useless, students needed exams from previous years just to practice in answering the questions, and I hated that.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23143,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>To prevent questions being copied from one test period to another is relatively \"simple\"—just make sure that classes taking the same test take it at the same time. (This requires some central planning of course, but should be something the university would in principle approve of.)</p>\n\n<p>As for the use of cell phones, we take care of that by making sure that students can't access them during the exam. Because our protocols require a \"gap row\" between students taking the exam, that gives us an extra row of desks. We ask the students to put their extra materials in the gap rows. That way it's immediately obvious if students start reaching for the materials, because they have to stand up or visibly get out of their seat to access them.</p>\n\n<p>In addition, it is announced that cell phones are <strong>not</strong> allowed material, and that any violation of the exam regulations results in an automatic failing grade. (Thus, any use of a cell phone gets you in trouble.)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23161,
"author": "peter",
"author_id": 17246,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17246",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>I am not here to argue about this policy but to ask about the best ways to enforce it. </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Like some of the other excellent answers, I am going to argue about this policy as I do not see a good way to enforce it.</p>\n\n<p>Like many other institutions (entertainment industry, telegraph ) you are clinging to an old model in the face of overwhelming technology and a client base (students) that simply don't care about your rules (copying exams is not illegal: your institution is not the government and cannot enact laws).</p>\n\n<p>Focusing on cellphones will accomplish nothing. I have a high-res camera in my laptop that is smaller than a shirt button. While I personally cannot hide it under my hairline, many 20 year olds can. See other answers (or amazon.com) for more places to hide a camera.</p>\n\n<p>Your end goal seems to be to reduce cheating, meaning knowing the answer to question 17 before going into the test. You reduce cheating by making the contents of question 17 irrelevant because everyone gets a different question 17. </p>\n\n<p>Any decent-size institution will have a large question bank built up over the years. Digitize it if you haven't done so already, and get the IT department to make a system that prints out 200 different tests with questions drawn at random from the database. Randomize the order. If you want to be really fancy, have the system randomize values if that is appropriate. This is not a complex process, I would probably quote you delivery within a week excluding the questions themselves.</p>\n\n<p>Administration will probably whine about running costs, but there are none. Printing used to cost more than copying but today it's exactly the same machine.</p>\n\n<p>So, 200 students each getting a different set of 50 questions drawn from 1000 in a random order with random values -> copying any particular test is of no value to others and the problem largely goes away.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23171,
"author": "Agent_L",
"author_id": 17255,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17255",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In many jurisdictions student's answers are his/her intellectual property and he/she is legally entitled to copy and reproduce them. You need to consult with local lawyer ASAP, because your institution may actually be asking you to prevent students from exercising their rights.</p>\n\n<p>(I do understand that students transfers some of their rights to the institution. But depending on local laws, some rights cannot be transferred nor relinquished, like the right to make a copy for personal use. There is also a possibility that university might have no rights at all to student's work - until he/she submits it.)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23278,
"author": "Ian",
"author_id": 9902,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9902",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If a student submits the same essay for two courses they get into <strong>big</strong> trouble.</p>\n\n<p>Therefore why are you allowing your staff to cheat the system and not do the work they are <strong>paid</strong> to do by using the same exam for more than one presentation of the course?</p>\n\n<p><strong>The solution is to remove any member of your staff that are too lazy to do the job they are paid to do.</strong></p>\n\n<p>And then publish all past exams, as is done for every exam I have taken in the UK, for some reason the UK does not allow the same lazy and cheating by it’s university staff.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/08
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23099",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15328/"
] |
23,109 |
<p>I read through the forum and the opinion seems to be that doing a MOOC is equivalent of reading a book on that subject. This is largely because of that you can cheat through a MOOC. </p>
<p>So what if I join a signature track on a MOOC such as the one of Coursera ? I haven't ever tried a signature track out, but they capture your photo and recognize the way you write to ascertain if you have genuinely gone through the work or not. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/02/07/ace-deems-5-massive-open-courses-worthy-credit#sthash.cLY7jQSF.dpbs" rel="nofollow">Even american council of education is acknowledging this ....</a></p>
<p>How is this a duplicate of that question :|</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23183,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>At best, MOOC's are going to be viewed just like any other course on your transcript—they're not going to make it or break it anymore than any other course that you can take. However, as many people have pointed out, MOOC's are also viewed with substantial suspicion, in part because of their low completion rate and because of the difficulties with quality assurance. </p>\n\n<p>So I would ultimately say that a MOOC probably has little or no advantage over a comparable course offered at your university. If it's something that is both highly relevant and not available at your university, that's another story—but then that should be clearly stated in your application as well! </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23185,
"author": "Brian P",
"author_id": 17232,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17232",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It is unlikely that listing the completion of a MOOC on your CV will have any meaningful contribution to admission into a graduate program. The weight of this type of educational experience does not parallel that of credit-based coursework. However, in your narrative, you can describe a MOOC experience as evidence of your motivation and independence in learning / work. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23188,
"author": "Davidmh",
"author_id": 12587,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12587",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I am not in any admissions committee, so I am more or less guessing here.</p>\n\n<p>A MOOC shows you have interest in the subject, and that you have a basic knowledge (you are familiar with the topics and some vocabulary). This knowledge is very easy to test in an interview by a few basic questions, so having a signed track will not add much to it.</p>\n\n<p>Nevertheless, the skills learned during the course can be a good point if they are a good complement for your degree. For example, if you are a physicist wanting to get into experimental data analysis, knowing machine learning is very useful; but most Physics programs do not include this as subject. On the other hand, taking a programming course for a CS adds next to nothing.</p>\n\n<p>An advantage of MOOCs is that you can take them for free, and you can just sign up for several of them just to see if the topic interests you, so they have a very low cost of opportunity. If you sign up for a university class, you have to pay for it (depending on the country) and/or actually see it to completion. Even if you find the topic too hard, too easy, completely irrelevant, or poorly taught.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/09
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23109",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15418/"
] |
23,110 |
<p>Question is in the title.</p>
<p>More specifically, do emeritus professors (generally) check the emails which are listed on their university websites? I have emailed a few professors lately, asking about points in papers that they wrote, and none of the emeritus have responded.</p>
<p>I am assuming that they do not check their emails often, if at all - in this case, would it be appropriate to contact the university, requesting contact information for the professor? Or should I leave them be in their retirement? :)</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23124,
"author": "xLeitix",
"author_id": 10094,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10094",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Chances are, if they are not answering their university mail address, they are either busy or can't be bothered. They are retired, so <strong>both is completetly ok</strong> (it is sort of the point of retirement that you do not have an obligation to react to work mail anymore). Trying to get in touch with them over different media is probably fruitless, and somewhat obnoxious. Besides, I would really hope that the university administration does not give out private addresses to the request of random people.</p>\n\n<p>Edit: an almost completely unrelated side notice: emeritus profs can be <strong>insanely</strong> busy in some cases. There is a <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinz_Oberhummer\">famous austrian physics emeritus</a> who is now writing popular science books, breeding alpacas (!), touring Austria with a science-based stand-up comedy show (!!), producing and starring a TV programme, and waging an ever-lasting war against the catholic church (as head of Austria's atheist movement).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23127,
"author": "avid",
"author_id": 15798,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15798",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you think that there is a good chance that this professor <em>doesn't</em> check email, <em>and</em> you genuinely believe that your message is important, contact the department secretary/similar and ask if they'd be prepared to pass a message to the person. You could also ask if they know whether email is likely to be read by that person.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/09
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23110",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17206/"
] |
23,114 |
<p>I am currently reviewing a conference paper, which I found is just extended version of a previous conference paper. I have heard that a journal paper can be a new version of a conference paper with some new stuff added, while the paper I am reviewing is something like this. Would this paper be rejected simply because of the copyright issue?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23197,
"author": "brechmos",
"author_id": 17266,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17266",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>It would seem that you should contact the organizing committee of the conference and get their advice. To me it seems kind of low to write papers that have very similar content but it does happen. If you are questioning it that much I would bring it up with the Organizing Committee and see what they say. You don't even have to mention names or specifics but just get their general opinion. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23199,
"author": "Ari Trachtenberg",
"author_id": 15885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15885",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This depends entirely on the conferences involved. Some conferences will allow an overlap of up to 30% with other works (for example), and others require entirely original products. In either event, it is imperative that the earlier paper be referenced in the later one, ideally with an explanation of what is new.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 30520,
"author": "yo'",
"author_id": 1471,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1471",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I don't know if I read the question correctly. You are the reviewer? Not the author?</p>\n\n<p><strong>If you are the reviewer, the thing you should do is:</strong> Open your e-mail client, write to the jounral/conference editor that asked you to make the review, and tell them that you found this, and ask them if they will even consider it for the publication or not. It would be good to give them a link to the other paper, or send a copy attached (if you're legally allowed to do that).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 30527,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The only case in which it is intellectually honest for conference paper to be an extended version of another is if:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>There is a major difference in the length of the two papers (e.g., 4-page extended abstract vs. 10-page full paper), and</li>\n<li>The paper declares the relationship up front with a proper citation (e.g., \"This paper is an extended version building on the results already presented in [XXX]\").</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>I see the relationship between conference and journal versions as different. In computer science, where the principle is typically \"30% new for the journal version,\" the theory is typically that the journal version is a final and archival version which ties up all of the critical loose ends and inserts all of the portions omitted for space purposes in the conference paper. Thus, it essentially supersedes the conference paper. A second conference paper, on the other hand, should generally present a new piece of work not previously shown.</p>\n\n<p>Thus, for a conference, if both of these criteria are not fulfilled, then you are dealing with a case of <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Least_publishable_unit\" rel=\"nofollow\">salami-slicing</a> and possibly also self-plagiarism and the paper should be rejected.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/09
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23114",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14280/"
] |
23,116 |
<p>I have a MSc degree in Computer Science from a well known university, but the problem is that my degree is, for example in Computer Graphics. Now I would like to study PhD in computer Science, but related to another topic such as Green Computing. </p>
<p>How I can convince the admission committee or the Professor in charge of the research group that I can be a good student in his group?</p>
<p>One friend told me that one important thing is the motivation letter others about the research proposal (which for me is somewhat not so clear, because for what I know one do a research proposal only when one is inside a group)</p>
<p>Any help will be valuable? I have applied to a lot of PhD positions and the frustration is getting higher with each rejection.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23197,
"author": "brechmos",
"author_id": 17266,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17266",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>It would seem that you should contact the organizing committee of the conference and get their advice. To me it seems kind of low to write papers that have very similar content but it does happen. If you are questioning it that much I would bring it up with the Organizing Committee and see what they say. You don't even have to mention names or specifics but just get their general opinion. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23199,
"author": "Ari Trachtenberg",
"author_id": 15885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15885",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This depends entirely on the conferences involved. Some conferences will allow an overlap of up to 30% with other works (for example), and others require entirely original products. In either event, it is imperative that the earlier paper be referenced in the later one, ideally with an explanation of what is new.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 30520,
"author": "yo'",
"author_id": 1471,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1471",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I don't know if I read the question correctly. You are the reviewer? Not the author?</p>\n\n<p><strong>If you are the reviewer, the thing you should do is:</strong> Open your e-mail client, write to the jounral/conference editor that asked you to make the review, and tell them that you found this, and ask them if they will even consider it for the publication or not. It would be good to give them a link to the other paper, or send a copy attached (if you're legally allowed to do that).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 30527,
"author": "jakebeal",
"author_id": 22733,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22733",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The only case in which it is intellectually honest for conference paper to be an extended version of another is if:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>There is a major difference in the length of the two papers (e.g., 4-page extended abstract vs. 10-page full paper), and</li>\n<li>The paper declares the relationship up front with a proper citation (e.g., \"This paper is an extended version building on the results already presented in [XXX]\").</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>I see the relationship between conference and journal versions as different. In computer science, where the principle is typically \"30% new for the journal version,\" the theory is typically that the journal version is a final and archival version which ties up all of the critical loose ends and inserts all of the portions omitted for space purposes in the conference paper. Thus, it essentially supersedes the conference paper. A second conference paper, on the other hand, should generally present a new piece of work not previously shown.</p>\n\n<p>Thus, for a conference, if both of these criteria are not fulfilled, then you are dealing with a case of <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Least_publishable_unit\" rel=\"nofollow\">salami-slicing</a> and possibly also self-plagiarism and the paper should be rejected.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/09
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23116",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6144/"
] |
23,119 |
<p>Is there any university in the United States (or Europe) fully committed to graduate programs (master and PhD)?</p>
<p>Why this is not a common scheme? Why research universities are not interested in this model? Without huge number of undergraduate students, a university can save money on campus expenses, and heavily uses its resources for research.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23120,
"author": "ff524",
"author_id": 11365,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11365",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There <em>are</em> some universities that offer primarily postgraduate degrees; <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_postgraduate-only_institutions\">Wikipedia</a> has a list. Some notable examples on this list are Rockefeller University (US) and the Weizmann Institute of Science (Israel).</p>\n\n<p>However, this doesn't necessarily save money; undergraduates in the United States typically pay tuition, after all. Other sources of income for universities in the United States (such as federal Pell grants) also apply only to undergraduate students. Furthermore, having a local population of undergraduate students allows budding academics (PhD students) to get teaching experience.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23123,
"author": "xLeitix",
"author_id": 10094,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10094",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I don't think it's a common scheme, but such places do exist (e.g., the <a href=\"http://www.ait.ac.at\">Austrian Institute of Technology</a>).</p>\n\n<p>In Europe, the main reason why there are not more of these places is that it is damn hard to get public funding for them (and most universities around here are funded almost exclusively by the state). Simply put, the main incentive for the government to fund universities is <strong>undergraduate teaching</strong>, hence getting them to pay for a university without any of those is a tough sell. We tended to half-jokingly mention that teaching undergraduates is our day job, which we do to support our breadless research.</p>\n\n<p>The above-mentioned AIT is a special case, in the sense that it is pretty young and mostly the result of a political process. That is, it was not a \"scientific decision\" to get the AIT started, but a political reaction to divert public attention away from the ever-sinking buget for the regular universities.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23125,
"author": "Nate Eldredge",
"author_id": 1010,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Behold the <a href=\"http://www.cgu.edu\">Claremont Graduate University</a> and the <a href=\"http://www.kgi.edu\">Keck Graduate Institute</a>.</p>\n\n<p>It's a little of a cheat, though; both are part of the <a href=\"http://www.Claremont.edu\">Claremont Colleges consortium</a> whose other five members are undergraduate-only institutions.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23146,
"author": "Piotr Migdal",
"author_id": 49,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/49",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>What you call is a research institute, not a university.</p>\n\n<p>For example, my institute <a href=\"http://www.icfo.eu/\" rel=\"nofollow\">ICFO - The Institute of Photonic Sciences</a> does not have undergraduate students (except for some visitors/interns). Some Master's and mostly - PhD students.</p>\n\n<p>And at least in Europe such institutes are common (or at least - not uncommon).</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>a university can save money on campus expenses</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Undergrads are the ones bringing money, if anything. ;)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23155,
"author": "Guest1",
"author_id": 17242,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17242",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><a href=\"http://insideguide.ucsf.edu/admissions\" rel=\"nofollow\">University of California at San Francisco</a> offers only graduate degrees. From the aforelinked web page:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>UCSF is unique in that it only offers graduate degrees (meaning it does not have an undergraduate student population).</p>\n</blockquote>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/09
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23119",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13854/"
] |
23,130 |
<p>I'm currently applying for a Ph.D in Germany. Next week I'm sitting down with my potential Ph.D advisor to have a talk about the program. </p>
<p>Currently I'm collecting questions about things like</p>
<ul>
<li>teaching duties included?</li>
<li>working hours </li>
<li>what's the salary?</li>
<li>vacation?</li>
<li>budget for conferences?</li>
</ul>
<p>I think I'm missing some important stuff.</p>
<p>My real question is: <strong>What should I ask my potential Ph.D advisor in advance, before actually signing a contract / starting?</strong></p>
<p>(The question <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/8507/what-questions-should-one-ask-to-the-former-current-students-of-a-professor-befo">What questions should one ask to the former/current students of a professor before deciding whether to do PhD under him/her?</a> is related, but I feel it doesn't fit my situation)</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23131,
"author": "xLeitix",
"author_id": 10094,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10094",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would add:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>What the average time-to-PhD is, and how many percent roughly drop out (although this is a question that is much better asked to other PhD students, as you may easily hear somewhat \"tuned\" numbers here)</li>\n<li>Paper authorship policy (via mhwombat's comment) - however, note that theory and practice may diverge quite strongly in this topic. This is again something better asked the colleagues.</li>\n<li>Grant / project duties - if you are e.g., paid by an FP7 or H2020 project, your project work may cost you <em>much more</em> time than teaching duties</li>\n<li>Administrative duties</li>\n<li>How free you will be in choosing whom to collaborate with, and what topics to collaborate on</li>\n<li>Whether you will be required to work on other projects on the side (e.g., consulting work, paid research, etc.)</li>\n<li>Whether you will be expected to help with writing grant proposals (time sink number one if yes)</li>\n<li>Whether there is a culture for working from home</li>\n<li>What office / lab space you will get, how many other students you share it with</li>\n<li>Whether it will be possible for you to do an internship, e.g., over the summer.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>There may be more. I will extend the list once I remember more important things.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23132,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In addition to xLeitix's list, here are a few more considerations:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>With whom in the group will you be directly interacting?</li>\n<li>How often can you expect to be able to meet with the institute leader, as well as your direct supervisor?</li>\n<li>What are the expectations for you to be able to graduate (paper output, etc.)</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>To directly answer two of your questions:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>Vacation time is regulated by German law. You should expect to be able to take between 5 and 6 weeks of vacation per year, with the amount of time escalating with age. This should be in addition to the official holidays. How your advisor expects you to take the time, however, may be a suitable subject for discussion. </p></li>\n<li><p>Salary depends on your funding source and field. If you are funded as a standard <em>Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiter</em> (academic employee), then your salary and benefits are calculated according to <a href=\"http://oeffentlicher-dienst.info/c/t/rechner/tv-l/west?id=tv-l-2014&matrix=1\">Group E13 of the TV-L scheme</a>. Your salary will be some percentage of this—typically 50% or 100%, depending on field. Presuming you have not been employed full-time for at least a year somewhere prior to beginning your position, you will probably start at TV-L 13/1. (Note, however, that this determination is largely made by the HR staff at the university; a professor can recommend a higher starting position with a valid reason.)</p></li>\n</ul>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23149,
"author": "Stephan Kolassa",
"author_id": 4140,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4140",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you are interviewing for a Ph.D. position in Germany, the supervisor will probably already know what you will be working on, since he will have gotten a grant on some particular topic, and you will be the warm body to actually do the work. So, in addition to everything else already mentioned:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>What is the specific project that will pay your salary? Can the supervisor send you a copy of the successful grant proposal? Read that proposal carefully, especially concerning any timetables and financial information.</p></li>\n<li><p>How much leeway will you have in actually implementing the grant proposal?</p></li>\n<li><p>Presumably, the grant proposal builds on previous work by the supervisor's working group. Can you talk to current Ph.D. students working on the topic? What are the specific challenges in this topic? Would it be possible to get any additional information, like manuscripts? Will you have to take over existing stuff, like experiments that are already running, or legacy code (which pretty much nobody wants)?</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>The goal would be to get a feeling for the topic you will be working on for the next couple of years. Will this be something you can get sufficiently excited about?</p>\n\n<p>And of course there are additional questions. In no particular order:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>What kind of supporting infrastructure is in place? Is there a full-time sysadmin, or will you keep your IT running by yourself? Is there a statistician to help you with data analysis? Somebody technical to keep the apparatuses running? Someone to feed the lab rats? Or will all this be your responsibility?</p></li>\n<li><p>If you are interested in this kind of thing: is there a possibility for you to work in a different lab for a few months, perhaps abroad? This kind of thing can be enormously valuable for your network.</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>@aeismail already mentioned asking how often you will meet with your supervisor, and I think this is one of the most important questions. If your supervisor tells you that he meets with each and every Ph.D. student once a week for half an hour, great. If you only meet once a semester when you give a seminar talk... not so great.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/09
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23130",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17221/"
] |
23,133 |
<p>I am currently having a disagreement with a coauthor on a paper over the matter of significant figures.</p>
<p>He would like to specify (for example) that a certain organization has an environmental footprint of 7,622 gha. Environmental footprinting rests on a tonne of assumptions and is not a precise methodology, so I don't think we have anything like 4 significant figures of precision in our calculations - more like 2 at most. So I would like to publish that figure as 7,600 gha.</p>
<p>I have pointed out that doing otherwise implies a level of precision we don't have. Currently we are publishing an executive summary prior to peer reviewed journal paper, so I also said it would be embarrassing if the precision issues were picked up at peer review stage and we thus ended up publishing two different sets of figures. He responds that he has never had a problem with publishing more accurate figures in previous journal publications.</p>
<p>The coauthor does not have a quantitative background so has limited understanding this issue, however he is more senior.</p>
<p>So two questions</p>
<ul>
<li>does this issue even matter?</li>
<li>what would you do about it?</li>
</ul>
<p>UPDATE</p>
<p>It looks like you all agree with me that this matters. Good, I'm not insane :) </p>
<p>As we are currently writing an executive summary/press release for the general public, there is no place for scientific notation or estimates of error - they will make it harder to read and likely put off some people.</p>
<p>Can someone link me to a good, polite and authoritative rant on why this matters that I can show to my colleague? The trouble with almost all material I have seen on significant figures, is that it doesn't discuss rounding off digits left of the decimal point. i.e. it talks about turning 7.36654 into 7.4 but not 736654 into 740000. I suspect my colleague draws an arbitrary line in his head at the decimal point, being unaware that the position of the point is just a function of the units used. And I doubt they would be open to that sort of argument.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23135,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><strong>Just because you have the additional digits, doesn't mean you should report them.</strong></p>\n\n<p>Accuracy and precision are extremely important concepts in the reporting of scientific data. Excessive precision, as you suggest, implies too much reliability in the accuracy of scientific data. For instance, someone turned in a report to me saying that a particular parameter was known to be:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p><em>E</em> = 1.3405987423423 GPa</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>If this were to be published in a paper, it could be rejected out of hand for incompetence, because the parameter <em>E</em> is often known only to one or two decimal places, let alone four. </p>\n\n<p>In general, you need to make your reporting consistent with the assumptions and the accuracy of the measurement techniques. One way to figure this out is to note the <em>accuracy</em> of your measurement—what is the expected error in the measurement? If the error in your measurement technique is, for instance, plus or minus 1 global hectare, then by all means report it to the nearest hectare. If it's plus or minus 1000, though, reporting to the nearest hectare will look quite silly.</p>\n\n<p><strong>How do you deal with this?</strong> (I've actually had to do something like this before. Similar argument, but not exactly the same.) In this particular instance, engaging in a little hyperbole might be useful. Instead of reporting it to four significant digits, show him a version of the text that lists the data to the full precision you have available—something clearly ridiculous that reports things down to six or seven decimal places, if possible. Then, when he argues that what you're doing doesn't make sense, you can argue \"what's the harm in reporting extra digits?\" That should be enough to have your coauthor \"see the light.\" </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23136,
"author": "nivag",
"author_id": 14115,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14115",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Ideally you should give an indication of the uncertainty to go with your value e.g. 7600 ± 100 (or whatever) even if the uncertainty is only a rough estimate.</p>\n\n<p>The problem is that your proposed solution doesn't really give any indication of your accuracy is 7600 the true value, have you rounded to 2s.f or 3? On the other hand the other solution suggests too great an accuracy which is also wrong. </p>\n\n<p>If you do state an uncertainty the actual value you put matters slightly less. Ideally you should still give the answer to similar levels as that in your uncertainty, as you suggested, but my putting more your not actually creating any ambiguity.</p>\n\n<p>As for whether it matters I suspect in lots of fields people don't really care about this sort of thing. But it does matter so they should care and so should you.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23137,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This will be an addition to aeismail's answer with which I agree. When reporting numbers like 7600 the trailing zeros are not significant but there is no way to know it. Therefore, writing the number as 7.6 kgha or 7.6 x 10^3 gha directly points to the significant numbers. A key point of publishing information is to provide the reader with an accurate picture for the results and providing quantitative information in its proper context is key. Using appropriate notation to present numbers is therefore important so rather than removing digits that are not deemed significant, it is better to present the data in a different notation by either using established <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SI\" rel=\"nofollow\">SI-prefixes</a> or <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_notation\" rel=\"nofollow\">scientific notation</a>.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23142,
"author": "Andy W",
"author_id": 3,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/3",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Just to add to the answers with some academic citations, style guides for Tables often list this point. Although they often give examples of extraneous fractional digits (as these tend to be the most egregious examples of where they are illogical), the logic behind the rounding extends wherever the significant digits are location.</p>\n\n<p>For instance, <a href=\"http://dx.doi.org/10.1198/jcgs.2011.204a\">Feinberg & Wainer (2011)</a> suggest that <em>at maximum</em> only 3 digits should be displayed in the table, as humans have a hard time making comparisons among any more digits (and they strongly suggest two or less). So here is advice extending beyond just decimals. (In Table 3 they give an example of rounding to the billions.)</p>\n\n<p>They also appeal to the trivial amount of error introduced by such rounding. In your example the error would be <code>22/7622 ~ 0.003</code> - I think 0.3 percent is alright for a wide variety of circumstances. </p>\n\n<p>To justify reporting all 4 digits from a statistical perspective the standard error of the estimate would need to be <em>less than</em> <code>0.5</code>. If the error is more than <code>50</code> you really <em>shouldn't</em> report any more than the hundreds.</p>\n\n<p>I provide more citations in my blog post for the stats site; <a href=\"http://stats.blogoverflow.com/2012/02/some-notes-on-making-effective-tables/\"><em>Some notes on making effective tables</em></a>, although not all are applicable to this question. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23144,
"author": "avid",
"author_id": 15798,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15798",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you're specifically interested in the case of writing for a general audience, I think this problem can be usefully resolved by thinking about your choice of units. I have very little sense of what a <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_hectare\" rel=\"nofollow\">global hectare</a> actually is, or how to visualize it. So can you express these quantities in terms of units/objects that might be more accessible to your readers? See <a href=\"http://www.economist.com/blogs/johnson/2010/06/units_measurement\" rel=\"nofollow\">this</a> and <a href=\"http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/mind-your-language/2010/may/17/mind-your-language-david-marsh\" rel=\"nofollow\">this</a> for a discussion. Presumably, once you've moved to non-scientific units the arguments for precision fall away...</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/09
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23133",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13793/"
] |
23,138 |
<p>All countries have visa waiver for certain nationals, but it is only for touristic purpose. People use this scheme for attending scientific meetings (isn't it some kind of business trip?).</p>
<p>Anyway, academic visits, in which the guest is paid, is definitely a business trip. For example, when an academic organize a paid two-week course in the host university, or when visiting for a join project in which he is paid.</p>
<p>For example, a German academic traveling to the United States for two weeks for working on a NSF-funded project in which he is paid.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Is it theoretically illegal to travel without Business Visa for such academic visits?</p></li>
<li><p>If yes, how often it happens in practice?</p></li>
</ol>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23140,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Each country might have different rules, but in the example you're considering, you can benefit from the <a href=\"http://travel.state.gov/content/visas/english/visit/visa-waiver-program.html\" rel=\"noreferrer\">US Visa Waiver program for business purposes</a> if you would qualify for a <a href=\"http://travel.state.gov/content/dam/visas/BusinessVisa%20Purpose%20Listings%20March%202014%20flier.pdf\" rel=\"noreferrer\">Business Visitor Visa (B-1)</a>:</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><strong>Lecturer or speaker</strong>: No salary or income from a U.S. based company/entity, other than expenses incidental to the visit. If honorarium will be received, activities can last no longer than nine days at any single institution or organization; payment must be offered by an institution or organization described in INA 212(q); honorarium is for services conducted for the benefit of the institution or entity; and visa applicant will not have accepted such payment or expenses from more than five institutions or organizations over the last six months.</p>\n<p><strong>Researcher</strong>: Independent research, no salary/income from a U.S. based source, or benefit to U.S. institution.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>Researchers who receive US payment should apply for a Temporary Worker (H-1B) Visa or Exchange Visitor (J) Visa.\nSo, to answer your first question: <strong>if the guest is paid</strong> (other than an honorarium, and in addition to have his/her expenses covered), then <strong>travelling on the visa waiver program is theoretically illegal</strong>. Otherwise, if could be legal. Check with the legal team at the US institution.</p>\n<p>About whether it happens in practice, I doubt you'll find plenty of people who are happy to claim they are doing something illegal.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23141,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The visa waiver program of some countries allow for business trips.</p>\n<p>For the <a href=\"https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/esta/WebHelp/ESTA_Screen-Level_Online_Help_1.htm#vwp3\" rel=\"noreferrer\">USA</a></p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>You are eligible to apply for admission under the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) if you:</p>\n<ul>\n<li>Intend to enter the United States for 90 days or less for business, pleasure or transit</li>\n<li>Have a valid passport lawfully issued to you by a Visa Waiver Program country</li>\n</ul>\n</blockquote>\n<p>For US passport holders to the <a href=\"https://www.gov.uk/check-uk-visa/y/usa/work/six_months_or_less\" rel=\"noreferrer\">UK</a></p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>You don’t need a visa if you’re coming to the UK for activities allowed under the following visas:</p>\n<ul>\n<li>a business visitor</li>\n</ul>\n</blockquote>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23159,
"author": "peter",
"author_id": 17246,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17246",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>To clarify the comments on the original question, there is a huge difference between attending a conference, speaking (uncompensated) at the conference, and being a headline item at the conference.</p>\n\n<p>If you are simply attending a conference / meeting you can typically use a visitor visa. These are short-term, no-money-to-you events that happen daily, immigration has a standard process.</p>\n\n<p>If you are doing something and getting paid <strong>by your home country / primary employer</strong> for it, most places will consider it to be the same. A company in their country hired a company in your country to do something, you are the something. Technicians, trainers etc. are similar.</p>\n\n<p>If you are doing something and getting paid <strong>in the other country</strong> then you do not fall into the (slightly expanded) Tourist/Short term visitor category. A featured speaker would be considered \"working\" no matter how the money is handled. Another way to think about the distinction is \"Can another person do the job just as well?\" In the case of a technician, the answer is usually \"yes\".</p>\n\n<p>Also note that immigration in many places (UK, AU, CA, US etc) interpret \"compensation\" rather broadly. If you received anything of value in exchange for your services, you are working. If the local contact is charging money for you specifically, you are working. Plenty of people have been bounced because their plans were building a deck in exchange for accommodation & entertainment (items that normally have value). </p>\n\n<p>Notable examples you can find on YouTube:</p>\n\n<p>A puppeteer was refused by the UK because he was intending to do a weekend seminar that charged participants. No work visa.</p>\n\n<p>A chef was refused by AU because she had \"tools of the trade\" (kitchen knives) in her baggage. Knives are not a problem, but when you are a chef and also have 30 resumes in your bags......</p>\n\n<p>A very large (all muscle), tattooed German man was going to AU to supervise work his company in Germany had been contracted to do. Immigration had no problem with the work - it fell under the technician principle. They refused him because of several criminal convictions and a decent amount of jail time, all of which he noted on his documents. And he probably scared them (although he was actually very pleasant and polite, that could probably change very quickly). They also said that if he applies for a formal visa through the embassy he will likely be accepted.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23169,
"author": "Relaxed",
"author_id": 11596,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11596",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>One answer is that what people commonly call “tourist visas” really aren't. The distinctions are more complex than business vs. tourism.</p>\n\n<p>For example, short-stay Schengen visas are valid for many different purposes (you do need to declare what you intend to do on the application form and if you are going to work you also need a separate authorization but they are by no means restricted to tourism). The US B1/B2 visa also covers various purposes.</p>\n\n<p>Similarly, visa waiver programs or their equivalent also cover many purposes. So if your citizenship allows you to visit the Schengen area without a visa, you can certainly do it to participate in an academic conference or meet colleagues for a joint project.</p>\n\n<p>At the same time, as others already wrote, working usually follows other rules and it seems your scenario would fall under this category in many countries. In the US, even a “business visa” is not enough in that case. In the Schengen area, you would use the same visa than for a conference (or no visa at all, if your citizenship allows it) but you would also need a separate authorization to get the visa. You wouldn't get the visa without either lying about the purpose of the trip or presenting that document.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/09
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23138",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13854/"
] |
23,150 |
<p>I am asking myself the question "Should I do PhD or should I leave academia and go for an industrial career?"</p>
<p>My life-goal is being a professor. And I love to do research. </p>
<p>PhD is surely a bite that not everyone can chew.
But I wonder <em>who</em> can chew it?</p>
<p>I never was good at tests and exams. My BSc. GPA was 2.84/4.00 but finished my MSc. with 3.50/4.00</p>
<p>However, currently I am working on a conference paper and I feel like even that is too much for me. It has been nearly 3 months and still, the paper draft is to be improved (not the wording but the content).</p>
<p>I am surely a hard-worker but not always. Sometimes, I let go of my work and absorbed in other stuff (composing, amateur radio etc). If this period is too wide, I have to spend double effort to warm-up and remember where I left.</p>
<p>I don't know how things work in PhD. It usually is 5-6 years. It is the one of two most-challenging milestones in academic career (the other is getting the title Assoc. Prof).<br>
Should I completely be a "nerd" and work on my thesis systematically (something I could never make in my entire life) or working periodically but with extra effort is still sufficient?</p>
<p>So, here's my question: If I say "I'm considering to do PhD" and ask your advice, what would you ask me? What kind of skills/characteristics do you look for a potential academician?</p>
<p>I know it is way too late for me to ask this kind of question, as a person who almost finished his master's degree. But better lose the saddle than the horse. </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23153,
"author": "The Almighty Bob",
"author_id": 16086,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16086",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>So, here's my question: If I say \"I'm considering to do PhD\" and ask\n your advice, what would you ask me? What kind of\n skills/characteristics do you look for a potential academician?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>The first questions I would ask is: are you really interested in the subject? Can you imagine spending the next 5+ years thinking about pretty much nothing else?\nWhy do you want to do a PhD in the first place?</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>However, currently I am working on a conference paper and I feel like\n even that is too much for me. It has been nearly 3 months and still,\n the paper draft is to be improved (not the wording but the content).</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Now imagine the same thing but replace 3 month with 3 years.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Sometimes, I let go of my work and absorbed in other stuff.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>This is also not very helpful for pursuing a PhD.</p>\n\n<p>I think in most fields (that might be different for some fields of science) getting a PhD is only for people who want to do research. Apart from that it is only a waste of time and money. So the question you should ask yourself is not: Am I able to get a PhD? But rather: Do I want to get a PhD?</p>\n\n<p>However, if you decided that you really want to give it a try: talk to someone from your university about it, maybe the supervisor of your thesis. Grades are not always a good indicator of the quality as a researcher.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>EDIT:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>My life-goal is being a professor. And I love to do research.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>That answers most of the questions.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>But I don't know if I'm capable of doing a Ph.D.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>No one here can answer this question. You should try to talk to a professor at your university, the supervisor of your Master's Thesis, or someone who is doing research you are interested in. However, do not let your grades disencourage you, I know many students who had pretty bad grades but are great as PhD students and many excellent students who struggle with their research.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23157,
"author": "Cape Code",
"author_id": 10643,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10643",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Among the people who should pursue a PhD degree are the ones who can write:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>My life-goal is being a professor. And I love to do research. </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>This is the number one reason to get into grad school. However, it's not clear at this point that you have an accurate idea of what it means, on a daily basis, to work in research.</p>\n\n<p>Sure there are fun times fiddling with the knobs of expensive equipment, drawing equations on napkins until late in the night, traveling to exotic conference locations like Baltimore, etc. There are also these brief moments when you feel like an undergrad actually learned something from you, and those where you share inside jokes that you can tell for sure only your advisor and yourself can understand. I recall a quote from a senior researcher in my field saying \"Can you believe that they pay us to do what we love?\".</p>\n\n<p>But there are other aspects that are less glamorous. Administrative work, data bookkeeping, <em>actual</em> bookkeeping, wondering what you will do with your life, filing grant applications, etc. There is the anguish about funding, the frustration of aborted projects, the time and energy wasted in dealing with department politics.</p>\n\n<p>And there is teaching which can be both a joy and a pain in the neck.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>My BSc. GPA was 2.84/4.00 but finished my MSc. with 3.50/4.00</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I don't know what GPA is, nor how to interpret your grade, but the context tells me that you think they could be better. Passing exams and conducting research are different jobs, not being excellent at one does not mean you can't be good at the second one (a) although it often helps; b) the reverse is also true). It will make things harder for you when applying to grad school, but after that it becomes irrelevant. What matters more is <em>what you actually learned</em>, some people have ok grades but understood a great deal of the concepts.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>I let go of my work and absorbed in other stuff</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>That you will have to work on. There is an <em>infinite</em> number of things that you can do but work on your research. Nobody will force you to do it since pretty much the only one who will suffer from your procrastination will be you. The good news (sort of) is that <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/5786/10643\">you are not alone</a>...</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>What kind of skills/characteristics do you look for a potential\n academician?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>There are many, and most of them overlap with what it needs to achieve a successful career in the industry. But I don't know any successful researcher who is not <em>thorough</em>. Being creative sure is necessary, but it's the easiest part. What will make you stand out is when you can discipline yourself into rigorously testing them.</p>\n\n<p>It also help if you know how to sell your ideas. Researchers hate to admit it but a significant factor in their success relates to how well they can convey a message. (Note that bad communication is an indicator of bad science, but it gives a lot of false positive).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23177,
"author": "Phil H",
"author_id": 12183,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12183",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You sound a lot like me when I was thinking about doing a PhD, albeit you aim to be a professor, and while I like the idea I'm not so fussed about the administrative side of being in a university.</p>\n\n<p>If you have a tendency to concentrate on whatever is the most interesting thing in front of you, then I would very strongly advise proceeding if and only if you find a good, hands-on supervisor. Ask their previous doctoral students how often they met with them in the first few years - some supervisors will see you once a month or so, others I have heard meet their students individually or collectively several times a week.</p>\n\n<p>In the UK, PhDs are usually 3 years. And the rough schedule is that for the first year you look at one or more problems, trying to understand how you might make some progress. In the second year, you make some small advance on one project and try in vain to develop the project into a more concrete thesis. In the third year you accept that your small advance was all you are going to get, and write it up. The slow pace of progress in the second year commonly causes distress or apathy.</p>\n\n<p>In order to complete such a project, you either need to be personally very disciplined or be part of a team (you, your supervisor, perhaps some peers) that can keep you honest - remember that rubber-ducking is a vital part of academic work; most academics in the UK will congregate in the department kitchen once or twice a day just to talk to other academics, because often just explaining yourself gets you closer to a solution. Similarly, you need people to ask you where you've got to so that you don't just disappear off for a month because you're faced with something annoying and your symphony suddenly seems fascinating.</p>\n\n<p>I struggled with this; my supervisor was hands-off, my peers were in very different fields (I was a theorist among experimentalists for a start) and I didn't really understand my own character enough to see what was happening.</p>\n\n<p>One of my peers had a supervisor who used to take students through rigorous textbooks, and expect them to grasp whole chapters to be quizzed on - the sound of it terrified me, but in retrospect the foundations are well worth laying. Instead I often disappeared down dead-ends because I was unaware of entire fields of research, and just didn't have the terminology or context to find them.</p>\n\n<p>So, in sum, you have some well-placed concerns, but the answer is not just whether you are capable of a PhD but whether you are in the context of your supervisor, peers and department.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/09
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23150",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15949/"
] |
23,160 |
<p>I've got to cite the author of a text and her full <a href="http://emba.ust.hk/academics/faculty-lecturers/" rel="noreferrer">title</a> is </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Jeanne Brett, DeWitt W. Buchanan, Jr., Distinguished Professor of
Dispute Resolution and Organizations; Director of the Dispute
Resolution Research Center</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I'm at a loss, her name is Jeanne Brett so why is this person's name in her title? When I google "dewitt w. buchanan" all I get is entries for <code>DeWitt W. Buchanan</code> or this professor. What does it mean in academia terms, is this a prize, the name of an institute, an honorific title, is it important to cite it when talking about the professor? </p>
<p>I could have posted it to ELU, but it seems something very idiomatic to academia. So...help ?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23162,
"author": "Chris Sunami",
"author_id": 12743,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12743",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It looks like the professorship she holds was named in honor of Mr. Buchanan. You shouldn't need to include it when you cite her. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23182,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>You would list the \"DeWitt W. Buchanan, Jr., Distinguished Professor of Dispute Resolution and Organizations\" if you were, for instance, issuing a press release about Prof. Brett's accomplishments, or writing very formal correspondence. You might also mention it if you were introducing Prof. Brett in a seminar. </p>\n\n<p>Under most normal circumstances, however, such information is not needed, and could come across as being almost pretentious.</p>\n\n<p>As for what the \"Dewitt W. Buchanan, Jr., Distinguished Professor\" represents, it's what's known as an <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12607/what-is-an-endowed-chair-exactly-how-does-it-compare-to-a-normal-position\"><em>endowed chair</em></a> or <em>named chair</em>. Mr. Buchanan was the person honored by the chair—either because he gave the money to establish the chair himself, or others gave the money on his behalf or in his honor. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23193,
"author": "Tom Au",
"author_id": 755,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/755",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This is a so-called \"chair\" professorship, where the \"chair\" was endowed by a wealthy man named DeWitt W. Buchanan Jr. </p>\n\n<p>That means that the donation given by Mr. Buchanan Jr. was large enough to pay the holder of the \"chair\" over her probable tenure, so he gets to have his name attached to the work of that one professor.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23160",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15837/"
] |
23,164 |
<p>A PI started a study and collected some data. The study was originally meant to evaluate the effectiveness of a treatment. After a year or so of collecting data, the PI decided to do some analyses. When I looked at the design of the study, I informed the PI that this design will not be able to provide any meaningful evaluation of effectiveness.</p>
<p>Some time later, I came across a novel method to analyse this data and tried it out. The results were quite interesting and with the PI's agreement, I decide to try and publish it.</p>
<p>My question is this:
Since the PI was not involved at all in the conceptualisation of this novel method and did not contribute in the interpretation of the results, should he be granted authorship? According to ICMJE guidelines, the answer should be no but I am unsure.</p>
<p>Addendum:
I would like to add, while thinking about this problem, I thought of big studies like the Framingham Heart Study, the Global Burden of Disease study. The PI of these studies are not automatically authors on every paper that came out of the data they collected. Would this be any different from my situation?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23165,
"author": "Oswald Veblen",
"author_id": 16122,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16122",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>This doesn't seem to be related much to the fact that the other person is a PI. According to the question, someone collected data, and you have analyzed it. </p>\n\n<p>Unless the data was published elsewhere, you cannot cite it. So you will need to include the person who collected it as an author in order to have a source for the data. It's hard to expect otherwise, if you want to use unpublished data as the source for a paper. </p>\n\n<p>The ICMJE guidelines agree; one of their criteria for authorship is:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>The other person has met this point through acquisition of the data.</p>\n\n<p>The most gracious thing to do would be to offer the other person a co-authorship, which will then allow them to meet the other three bullet points in the ICMJE guidelines. </p>\n\n<p>The other person can then decide whether to accept the co-authorship, or whether to take a smaller form of acknowledgment for the data collection. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23166,
"author": "Alexandros",
"author_id": 10042,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10042",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Let me get this straight:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Your PI (who is on a different institution than you) made a study and\ncollected some data </li>\n<li>He gave his data to you </li>\n<li>He proposed some ways to process the data which did not work out </li>\n<li>You made a better method and you plan to publish without him.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>From what I understand, this is not the way collaboration works. Even the fact that he proposed some methodology to process the data (even if it did not work out) it still proves that this work is a joint work and he did not simply handed the data, in the notion that you can do what you want with it. </p>\n\n<p>After all, those simple facts remain:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>If you were in his shoes, would you ever collaborate again with a guy who takes your data and does not give you co-authorship, even if you were part of the entire process? The answer is a big NO, because there is nothing to gain from such a collaboration. </p></li>\n<li><p>What do you have to lose by sharing co-authorship? You will be first author, he takes credit and he will willingly share his data again if needed. Then he will be a reference for you which in the long run, means more papers for you. </p></li>\n<li><p>What if your paper gets rejected and he finds out? You got nothing and you just burned a bridge with this man.</p></li>\n<li><p>Imagine the other case. Even, if the other guy was an undergraduate student and he collected the data under your supervision, would not it be unethical not to include this student as a co-author? </p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Do not be short-sighted. Share co-authorship</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23195,
"author": "brechmos",
"author_id": 17266,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17266",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I remember seeing a paper or Letter to the Editor discussing the requirements to be an author on the paper. They came up with the 5 types of contributions towards a paper, as I remember they were:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Initial Idea</li>\n<li>Data Acquisition</li>\n<li>Data Analysis</li>\n<li>Write the paper</li>\n<li>Revising the paper</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>As long as someone made a significant contribution toward two of these items they should be an author on the paper.</p>\n\n<p>It completely depends on conventions in your particular area. For example in my field the supervisor is always the last author. I know some fields might have them as first author. </p>\n\n<p>But, what it comes down to is what many others have said... don't burn your bridges. You need collaborations!</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23164",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
] |
23,170 |
<p>I received a scholarship from a funding organization to do my PhD. I chose a department within a reputable research center to do my PhD at, and I did start working there 2 months ago. </p>
<p>My career ambitions are to proceed in the academic career path, eventually becoming a professor in my field. </p>
<p>As far as I know, your experience as an academic (or as a researcher) is defined based on your h-index, citations count and publications count. The more strong papers I publish during and after my PhD, the better position I can get in the future. Please correct me if I am wrong about this.</p>
<p>Now in the place I started working at, turned out to be more of an engineering department. They are not concerned with publishing as much as they are concerned with applications to show off to the industry. Most of the PhD students working here intend to work in the industry (factories or companies). Absolutely no PhD student here is intending to work in Academia. </p>
<p>I am very concerned that I might be at the wrong place. I was hoping the place where I do my PhD at would encourage publishing, and involve me in their publications. I still need to learn how to do proper evaluations in our field, I thought that's how I learn it, by getting involved in papers they submit at top venues (not necessarily being a co-author, but just to learn by observing). They are not concerned with submitting papers to top venues because they think their work is more of applications than the research such venues would expect. Moreover, from their perspective it is not worth the effort, because it won't give them better chances in the industry.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, they understand my situation and they will support me financially and by providing resources if I decide to publish at top conferences. But I just feel now there's no hope I can learn to write a high quality paper given these conditions.</p>
<p>As I mentioned at the beginning, my funding comes from a third-party organization. Technically I can switch to a different department, and there is a department I have in mind that belongs to another branch of that same research center, located in a nearby city, they are more research-oriented and they work in the same field. It will not be easy to do that and I will have wasted a lot of time by the time I move out, but it is still doable.</p>
<p>So.. is it worth the hassle?</p>
<p>P.S. These events are taking place in Europe, where in most of the cases you spend your entire period as a PhD student working on your thesis, unlike the courses-then-thesis style in USA.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23172,
"author": "Suresh",
"author_id": 346,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>I did start working there 2 months ago.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>and </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>It will not be easy to do that and I will have wasted a lot of time by the time I move out</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>don't fit well together. If you're worried about the 2 months you've spent, I'd say that's insignificant. If you're worried that it might take (with application processing etc) upto a year, I'd say the same thing. Think of a 30-40 year long research career. A year (or 2 months) is not a long time. </p>\n\n<p>It sounds like you've done your homework and have a plan for what you want to do, and you're just worried about taking the leap. Take it ! You only get one career, and taking action to further it is always \"worth the hassle\". </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23181,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Not all choices are binary. This may be one of those situations where this applies.</p>\n\n<p>Is there a way for you to \"transition over\" from one group to the other? If the group you're currently working with is supportive (and this seems to be the case), would they be OK with you starting a collaborative project with the new group while you complete the paperwork process? That way you can get started on research before everything is formalized, and perhaps your old group can find some new collaborators for future projects.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23170",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/703/"
] |
23,176 |
<p>I am PhD student and the main author of a research-in-progress report in computer science. The paper is already published at a <em>workshop</em> (in the proceedings, this is not a journal paper) and was presented there a few months ago.</p>
<p>While continuing to work on the topic of the paper, I discovered a mistake I did in the already published workshop paper. A value that is referred to twice in the paper is wrong; it is still unusually high but lower than reported. The value is also mentioned in the summary of the paper. First I told my coauthors who sit in the next room in the same institute. </p>
<p>Now I want to publish an Erratum on my academic website.</p>
<p>My first idea is to publish a text file next to the download like that is labeled "erratum" (it is a single mistake). As an example for this "text file", I looked <a href="http://pauillac.inria.fr/~herbelin/articles/index-eng.html">at the following webpage</a>.</p>
<p>My second idea is to change the author version of my workshop paper that is downloadable as PDF file from my website. My current idea is to solve this via a footnote in the PDF version of the paper. So how would I handle that? Do I correct the value and add a footnote saying that the original published value was wrong and explain the mistake? The other option that I think is unsuitable is the following: to leave the wrong value in the paper and add a footnote that explains that this value was a mistake and give the correct value in the footnote?</p>
<p>Also, are there websites on how to handle errata for conference/workshop papers in technical fields like computer science? Please note also that in my field conference papers are quite important (e.g., the POPL conference) while in some other fields only journal papers count (sort of). </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23179,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>A published paper is a published paper so if your paper has a unique identifier (e.g. doi) and is considered an official publication, I do not think it is a good idea to make versions of the paper with differing information. That would just cause confusion since the reference would still be the same (you cannot publish the same paper twice with only a number changed). </p>\n\n<p>If you publish with a regular journal, it would not be problematic to publish an errata in the same journal explaining the error. It is also possible to publish a correspondence where the error is discussed and hopefully convincingly shown not to alter the conclusions made in the original paper. Which way is applicable in each case can be discussed with the editor of the journal and also the best way to proceed. So contacting the journal and editor is a good first step to find out the best way forward.</p>\n\n<p>You are of course entitled to provide this information on your own web site but the problem may be that it will be lost to most people reading your paper that way. Hence trying to get a published correction is the best way forward. A journal should be able to link the errata to the original article so that anyone interested in the paper will find the correction at the same time.</p>\n\n<p>How this relates to a conference is unclear to me and is something you need to research for your specific case.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23184,
"author": "yo'",
"author_id": 1471,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1471",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Mistakes happen. I would say that since it's a conference proceedings, therefore often the presented work is short of proofs, it's work in progress and it's very quickly baked, mistakes happen.</p>\n\n<p>It is probably impossible to post errata to the paper. I would suggest the following steps:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>If you put it on arXiv, upload a new corrected version.</li>\n<li>If you put it on your personal webpage, add the errata there.</li>\n<li>Make sure that once you sumbit it for journal publication, the mistake is correted.</li>\n</ul>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23176",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1570/"
] |
23,190 |
<p>I started a collaboration with some other research group, where the main objective was to model some data. The project was very interesting to me, since I had obtained that data. After some months I got no news from them, I wrote them and they always told me they were very busy and had no time. I understood they were not interested anymore, so that I contacted another research group for the same collaboration objective, and this time, the collaboration progressed quickly, and we reached the stage where we are writing the paper about the modeling of the results. At this same point I got news from the other group, telling me they had obtained very interesting results with their modeling technique, and regretting the previous lack of contact. It turns out they have obtained much better modeling results than the "second" group. My problem is that I do not know what to do now. One option would be to publish two papers, one with each group, that would be very similar. Other option would be to decide for one of the two groups and go ahead, forgetting the other, but that would not be ethical. Perhaps a last option would be to publish both papers, bur giving them very different focus and audience.</p>
<p>What would you do here?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23191,
"author": "Behacad",
"author_id": 15261,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15261",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I'm surprised you did not mention the option that I would probably do: combine all data into one paper. Based on your description it sounds as if both data support a similar hypothesis/line of enquiry. If that is the case, publish one much stronger paper using two independent sets of data. All authors would need to be included. You could check with both teams to see if they agree. Speaking of which, have you asked them what they want to do?</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 170506,
"author": "Jeffery ",
"author_id": 132809,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/132809",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Well, Your two research team could do the research together again and combine all research data, then write a paper. Because one research papers must be rigorous, as you know, there would be many scholars will read it and cite it, only rigorous academic writing will not mislead them. At the same time, the paper needs to be peer reviewed by at least 3-5 professional reviewers, which could help you to improve the quality of the paper.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23190",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/284/"
] |
23,192 |
<p>I am currently a PhD student who will graduate in July.
I am currently applying for academic postdocs,
with the goal of taking a tenure-track job at the end of my postdoc position.
In my field (operations research),
most of the postdoc positions are for one year
with a possibility of extension to two and sometimes three years.</p>
<p>If I am given the choice, should I spend one year as a postdoc, or two?
Would I be able to make a significant contribution to a research project if I were to only work as a postdoc for a year?</p>
<p>Currently, I am leaning towards a two year postdoc.
If I were to only spend one year as a postdoc,
I feel that it is a rather short period of time
in which to start and finish a research project.
If I spend two years as a postdoc,
then I would be applying for tenure-track jobs one year later,
and I am also hopeful that at that point,
I would have done some research which I could submit in my job application
in addition to my existing PhD work.</p>
<p>What advice would you have for me?</p>
<h3>Edited in response to question in comments</h3>
<p>As David Z mentioned, in my field, a postdoc appointment is for a fixed term (typically one or two years, or one year with a possibility of extention).</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23194,
"author": "brechmos",
"author_id": 17266,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17266",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Your goal is to get a faculty position somewhere, assumably :-)</p>\n\n<p>Given that, at least the field I work in, you need publications and a good record of academic research. This might be slightly different in other fields. If you can get a few papers out and prove yourself then 1 year might be sufficient. If the PI is good then stay a second year to make yourself even better. </p>\n\n<p>Again, I think it comes down to what it will take to get a faculty position. </p>\n\n<p>Your best bet might be to talk to some current post-docs in your research area as they might have the best advice as it will likely depend on your specific research area and conventions there.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23202,
"author": "avid",
"author_id": 15798,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15798",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>One year is not very long. You will lose some time at the start while you settle in and get 'set up' for doing research; you will lose more time at the end as you make preparations to move on. You also need to factor in time spent on securing your 'next job'. I would therefore strongly encourage you to take a two-year position rather than a one-year position, all else being equal.</p>\n\n<p>Remember, it's generally much easier to resign a position <em>before</em> the money runs out than it is to secure an extension!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23218,
"author": "JeffE",
"author_id": 65,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<h2>Two.</h2>\n\n<p>In the United States, at least in computer science, most postdocs are synchronized with the academic calendar. A typical postdoc starts in August, and faculty application deadlines start in November. So for purposes of applying for faculty positions, <strong>a one-year postdoc is really only three months long</strong>. A two-year postdoc gives you <strong>five times</strong> as much time to strengthen your faculty application!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23228,
"author": "Martin - マーチン",
"author_id": 13372,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13372",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As this question may receive more attention over time - and it deserves that - I'd like to add a more wider scope to it. </p>\n\n<p>There are reasons why one year is fine for a post-doc. For example, if you are going to work in a very similar area as you did your PhD in and since then it may take only little time to familiarise yourself with the research. If you are staying in the same country, settling in will be minimal. It might also be that you are working on a very concise subject and a year would completely suffice. You might also think about doing another post-doc somewhere else, then you probably want to consider a shorter period, as it allows you intensify your professional network.<br>\nYou should always also keep in mind, that a post-doc might not work out as you expected it. Going for only one year is a safe bet then. In most cases however, since you are a professional, there will be workaround for this problem.</p>\n\n<p>There are probably many more reasons to choose the longer period. Most of them were already mentioned by avid. Sometimes doing a post-doc is leaving the comfort zone, i.e. you are working much more freely than during a PhD and probably working on something completely new. Settling in is probably the biggest worry you will have. You may be wasting a lot of time in that procedure - very much depending on where you go, there might be a lot of paperwork involved. If you are planning on going abroad, this may take ages. When I started my post-doc I had about a month before I actually could start with my research. It might also take time to get yourself acquainted with the local infrastructure and/ or command structure.<br>\nWhen you finally started your research there might occur other problems along the line. Distractions you cannot plan, for example you might have more responsibility in many more related fields. Most likely PhD students and undergraduates of your new research group will ask your advice often. If you are the only post-doc, you <em>are</em> the go to guy, when your advisor is not around.</p>\n\n<p>Another point to consider is cooperations with other groups, writing manuscripts, attending conferences, developing new research proposals, maybe write a grant application, prepare for your future plans. But apart from this all, a key role in the beginning will also be socialising, become part of the group, member of the faculty/ institute. (I underestimated that a lot when I started - there was a lot of \"shake-hands\" involved.)<br>\nDuring a post-doc, you should be able to develop yourself, your methods, your profiles. You are already a contributing member of the science community, keeping that up is a lot of work. That all only works if you are comfortable with your surroundings and make the best time you can possibly have. One year might have flown by, without you realising that. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23192",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8802/"
] |
23,196 |
<p>I just finished a PhD in mathematics and am about to start a postdoc in the fall. My question is pretty straightforward (although the answer might not be), namely:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>What should one do to have a successful mathematics postdoc (apart from perhaps doing as much math as humanly possible, or more)?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I expect this will be different depending on one's goals post-postdoc, such as staying in academia vs leaving, research vs teaching focused jobs, etc. </p>
<hr>
<p>Some possibly related questions: </p>
<p><a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/3327/what-is-expected-of-a-postdoc">What is expected of a postdoc?</a></p>
<p><a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/21951/transitioning-phd-to-postdoc-and-productivity">Transitioning: PhD to Postdoc and Productivity</a></p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23201,
"author": "Ari Trachtenberg",
"author_id": 15885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15885",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I'm not sure that your parenthetical comment (\"doing as much math as humanly possible\") is necessarily correct. In my opinion, you are best looking for a postdoc in an area that is as far removed from your PhD areas as you are willing to tolerate. Unless you are an unassailed leader in the field (in which case, skip the postdoc and just get an academic position directly), your postdoc is a good time to:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>diversify your interests</li>\n<li>set up connections between disparate fields</li>\n<li>and, in the words of the great Arnold Ross, \"think deeply of simple things\"</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Believe it or not, after your postdoc it will be a long time before you can actually devote a similar amount of uninterrupted thought to academic interests (possibly not until retirement).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23269,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Aru,</p>\n<p>Your question is phrased in rather general terms. There are different kinds of postdoctoral positions in mathematics, and two mathematical postdocs hired side-by-side in the same department may have different career goals. So advice which is guaranteed to be applicable must be rather general. Here goes:</p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>What is the point of a postdoc in mathematics?</strong> I think it is this: the position of "tenure-track assistant professor" at a US math department is really much different from what it used to be. It used to be an extended apprenticeship combined with an audition for a permanent job. Now the job market is so competitive that institutions at all levels tenure the vast majority of the assistant professors they hire: I could easily name hundreds of people who have gotten tenure over the last ten years; I'm not sure I could name ten who were denied tenure. The "apprenticeship" that used to take place at the beginning of these positions is now somewhere between immensely abbreviated and completely absent: in my own department (UGA) we have "graduate faculty" status, which must be conferred separately, but every tenure-track hire in last eight years has been given that status immediately upon arrival. In my department you cannot tell the assistant professors from the associate professors (and from some of the full professors) without your scorecard: the job is really identical, including supervision of PhD students.</li>\n</ol>\n<p>Even most brilliantly talented and competent PhDs need time to perform the laundering process from student to faculty. In particular, 99% of the time it just doesn't work for your PhD advisor to have just gotten her own PhD a couple of years ago. This laundering process is what the postdoc is for.</p>\n<ol start=\"2\">\n<li><strong>How does a postdoc work towards the goal of tenure-track readiness and marketability?</strong> In what follows I will assume that the desired tenure track job has substantial research expectations (keeping in mind that "substantial research expectations" is still a continuum).</li>\n</ol>\n<p>To attain your goal of a tenure-track position, you need to concentrate on two things:</p>\n<p>2a) <strong>Research</strong>.</p>\n<ul>\n<li>Put out product -- accepted papers. Both quality and quantity matters.</li>\n</ul>\n<p>Many people get a PhD in mathematics before having a single accepted paper (I did), and if they have an eminent advisor who goes to bat for them, having no papers need not be much of a strike against them in the postdoctoral market. Things change tremendously when you apply for tenure-track jobs: you need to show conversion of your research promise into research success. With multiplicity. Publication standards vary significantly among mathematical disciplines (topologists and algebraic geometers publish fewer papers; combinatorialists and applied mathematicians publish more) but I think that at least one publication per year is a reasonable lower bound for almost everyone.</p>\n<p>Most math postdocs have not published all the work that appears in their thesis before graduation (my understanding is that this is almost the complete reverse of what happens in most other STEM fields). There are good reasons for this: mathematics is such a technical, specialized field that you spend 90% of your time as a PhD student attaining mastery of one specific subfield, and the PhD is awarded within a very short time period of that attained mastery (in some cases, it is awarded when the advisor feels confident that such mastery lies in the student's near future). So many if not most math postdocs spend the majority of their research time in their first year working on the papers that come from their PhD research. Why does it take so long given that the thesis has already been written? One reason is that they are usually not just transcribing the work but also significantly <em>improving</em> it: again, this goes in hand with the observation that as soon as you know what you're doing you're out the door with a PhD. If you compare a PhD thesis and the paper that it results in, you often see stronger results, simpler and better proofs, and so forth.</p>\n<p>Spending time in your postdoc working on publishing your thesis can be tricky: you are in a new environment with new distractions, and after you give a talk or two about your thesis work, many of your research conversations will be about the research interests of those around you, who will probably at least want to involve you in seminars and may in fact want to collaborate with you on further projects. And it's good to do that...but not at the expense of getting your thesis work done. There is even a bit of a trap here, since as a PhD student you get so much care and attention on every aspect of your work, including someone whose job it is at times to tell you to slow down and be more careful: that you haven't yet fully nailed down what you thought you had. Most postdoctoral advisors don't work as closely with their postdocs as thesis advisors do with their students, and when they do it is probably not on the topic of their thesis (they may not even have enough expertise on that to work as closely as the thesis advisor did). So the first priority of any postdoc is to make sure that they actually write up for publication all the work that was "promised" in their thesis, and the second priority is to figure out how to continue this thesis work in a meaningful way.</p>\n<ul>\n<li>Acquire a research program -- distinct from your thesis advisor's program.</li>\n</ul>\n<p>I think this is really the hardest part. It is a well-known fact that the most common number of MathSciNet publications for any given author is one. In some cases this just means that some bright young person passed through mathematics on the way to something else -- e.g. <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danica_McKellar\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">this one-hit wonder turned out fine</a> -- but it is distressingly common to see one strong, cutting-edge publication followed by dead silence. What this means is that the work was -- in some suitably high-level sense, at least -- really that of the advisor rather than the student. A lot of postdocs follow the previous bullet point -- i.e., they get their thesis written up -- and then they just can't see their way to a continuing research <em>program</em>. In some cases this means that they still publish some papers, but they have just switched from being one person's apprentice to a different person's apprentice. This is still not good enough for a research-intensive academic job nor, increasingly, a job at a nationally reputable liberal arts college.</p>\n<p>It is here that I must disagree with another answer to this question, which says:</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>In my opinion, you are best looking for a postdoc in an area that is as far removed from your PhD areas as you are willing to tolerate.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>That really doesn't sound right to me. It is a relatively easy path to give up on what you've already done and start fresh on something unrelated, for which you can get local supervision. As above, this is not good enough. You want your research program to be considerably deeper at the end of your postdoc than it was when you got your PhD. Sometimes that involves a significant course correction, yes: in my case I spent less than 1/3 of my time as a postdoc working on the subject of my PhD thesis, but the other material that I worked on was material that I had already been interested in and even started writing up for publication as a student. Moreover the two areas were related because I was interested in both of them, and that allowed me to work towards closer relations. Finally, by the time I gave job talks I was able to talk about Hasse principle violations for Shimura curves (my thesis was on Shimura curves) alongside Hasse principle violations for torsors under abelian varieties (which is what I spent most of my postdoc working on). Moving to something "as far removed from your PhD areas as you are willing to tolerate" would have moved me several orders of magnitude farther away, just as I was experiencing a rapid improvement in my understanding of the part of arithmetic geometry in which I did my thesis work. (Eleven years after my thesis, I am now <em>also</em> exploring parts of mathematics that are considerably farther away but I still do some work on things closely related to my thesis.)</p>\n<p>A research program has some breadth to it as well as depth. But the ideal way to develop breadth is to expand outwards from your current position, not give up and move to a new position chosen for its substantial distance from your current one.</p>\n<ul>\n<li>It is good to have done more than one thing, or at least to know more than one trick.</li>\n</ul>\n<p>I want to reaffirm that <em>after</em> establishing depth, the next thing hirers look for in a research program is indeed breadth. If you're working on what looks to all outsiders like <em>exactly</em> the same thing now as you were three years ago, that's less than exciting, and it creates concerns about your future trajectory: mathematics does move on, and long-term colleagues grow together in their research interests and expertise. However, if you're working in a hot, technical area and doing well with it, then you probably don't want to diversify out of that area as a postdoc, but you do want to take steps to show that the potential for diversity is there. Often digging deeper in exactly the same spot requires learning new tools, even basic things that early career graduate students in other fields learn. I think it's important to continue that kind of learning as a postdoc (and beyond) and show that you're doing it: for instance, in any job talk you should showcase the variety of knowledge and techniques that go into your results, especially if the results themselves look narrow and specialized.</p>\n<p>2b) <strong>Teaching</strong> Teaching is challenging for a postdoc because for a certain range of intended careers it is less important than research...but it is still important, and in fact increasingly so. You have to crank up a different kind of professional vibe to be a successful teacher as a postdoc: whereas for research you are trying to burn the midnight oil to make the transition from excellent to outstanding, what a disaster it would be for you to vow to be the best calculus teacher ever and devote all your time and energy to that. (Part of the disaster is that vowing to be the best calculus teacher ever and putting three times as much time in as your office-mate will not necessarily result in teaching evaluations that are any better than hers: unfortunately they might even be worse.) Rather you need to set a more temperate teaching mark and learn to hit it while leaving plenty of time for your research.</p>\n<p>Your specific teaching goals will depend upon what kind of tenure-track job you have. On the other hand, you may be hoping for a job at an elite research institution but may have to settle for a job with higher teaching requirements. A good all-around plan is to showcase at least competent teaching across a fairly broad range of levels, including: calculus courses / service courses for non-majors; courses for undergraduate math majors; and graduate-level courses. If you can cover those bases by teaching fewer courses, that is probably better. In three years of postdoctoral work I taught five semester courses: this was close to ideal, but if I magically had control of my own teaching load, I would have cut it down to four. Because your overall teaching responsibilities are relatively limited, it is good to start thinking about where your teaching letter(s) will come from right away. If you feel that a course is going especially well, by all means invite some faculty in to watch you teach it. That together with good evaluations is sufficient for a strong teaching letter in many cases.</p>\n<ol start=\"3\">\n<li><strong>You've written a lot, but actually everything you've said is fully consistent with "doing as much math [including math teaching] as humanly possible". So I still suspect that doing a tremendous amount of work -- of the right kind -- in a relatively short period is the key to a successful math postdoc. Am I mistaken??</strong></li>\n</ol>\n<p>No, you're quite right. Being a math postdoc should not stop you from having a satisfying personal life, but professionally speaking it is one of the most intense, work-intensive points of a mathematical career. There's no secret remedy for that.</p>\n<p>One could give a lot more advice for math postdocs, and this has been done. The <a href=\"https://www.youngmath.net/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Young Mathematicians Network</a> has lots of information on this. Google searching reveals that several mathematicians have math-specific postdoctoral advice on their webpages, including Sara Billey and Terry Tao. I tend to think that it is better to talk to people -- lots of people -- and get advice rather than just read about very generalized advice (including this answer, of course). A lot of times you don't even need to explicitly ask for advice: look for young, successful mathematicians (that includes most people who have recently gotten tenure-track jobs nowadays) and talk to them about their experiences. By comparing the backgrounds of multiple role-models you can get a sense of what the "market wants".</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23196",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/948/"
] |
23,198 |
<p>In Academia, a <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/8557/1033">sabbatical means a leave to do only research</a>, as opposed to an unpaid leave to do anything you want.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://workplace.stackexchange.com/q/27097/1898">recent question over on The Workplace SE</a> raises the situation where someone <em>has too much money and just want to have more time.</em> — like working for 6-9 months per year, which would earn one enough to spend the rest of the time travelling. Regardless of the relatively low pay in parts of Academia, the same situation may apply, in particular to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DINKY" rel="nofollow noreferrer">DINK</a>s. </p>
<p>The answers mostly boil down to: <em>be a consultant or freelancer.</em>. That may work in the software industry or other private sectors, but it doesn't translate very well to academia.</p>
<p>Is a career which includes one or more extended unpaid leaves, such as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabbatical" rel="nofollow noreferrer">sabbaticals in the classic meaning of the word</a>, or unpaid leaves in the order of 3 months or more in a row, compatible with working in academia at all? If yes, how?</p>
<p><strong>Clarification:</strong> I am interested in answers considering <em>either</em> a career that contains specific gaps (such as a year to see the world, either between jobs, or interrupting a job), <em>or</em> a fixed job that contains less than 12 months per year (minus holidays) of work.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23213,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Frequent, extended periods of unpaid leave are easily compatible with certain types of academic careers, such as teaching as an adjunct on a course-by-course basis. However, this involves low pay and no prestige or job security, so it's far from an ideal solution.</p>\n\n<p>There will be a lot of obstacles to doing this with a tenure-track job. Your collaborators will be unhappy when you put the collaboration on hold to go do something else. You colleagues will be unhappy when you aren't available to teach courses or supervise students (thereby making the department work around what they consider to be your eccentricities). Wanting to take substantial amounts of time off will be considered a bad sign, and everyone will worry about what you might do once you have tenure. Your chances of getting tenure will go down.</p>\n\n<p>Taking time off can also make you a less productive researcher, even normalized by the amount of time you spend on research. The problem is that keeping up with the field takes a certain amount of time and effort. If you work on research for only six months per year, you still need to keep up with twelve months of progress by others, so it's as if the rest of the world were moving twice as fast.</p>\n\n<p>It's not impossible that you could find a flexible academic job. You might end up with a specially negotiated soft-money position (funded by grants under whatever terms the funding agency will agree to), you might take a job at a less prestigious university than you could have (who are so eager to hire you that they are willing to make a deal), or you might happen to find an unusually accommodating department. Unfortunately, this isn't something most people can reasonably expect to work out. I don't know what the chances are, but I expect they are pretty low on average. The academic job market is tough, and adding non-standard constraints makes it even tougher. If you can't be happy without frequent, extended leaves, and you have good non-academic employment options that fit your needs, then that might be the way to go.</p>\n\n<p>Another theoretical option is to take advantage of tenure: work hard, don't tell anyone your plans, and then quit doing any academic work over the summer once you get tenure. You shouldn't do this. Your colleagues will feel resentful, the administration will be upset, and you'll be manipulating the system in a way tenure is not intended to support (and thus weakening the case for having tenure at all). If you're too extreme, you could run into trouble with a post-tenure review, depending on your university's policies.</p>\n\n<p>[I'm assuming you intend to use the leaves for something entirely unrelated to your academic career. If it's more closely related, such as applying your scholarly expertise to government service, then you may have better luck. However, it doesn't sound like that's what you're talking about.]</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23215,
"author": "Suresh",
"author_id": 346,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/346",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>One case when this does happen in an academic setting is when faculty get on a glide path to retirement. In such cases, it's possible to negotiate a reduced workload (and pay). The incentive here is that the department can sometimes use this (along with other funds) to support hiring a new faculty member: since faculty slots are expensive commodities, such an arrangement works for everyone. </p>\n\n<p>Your question doesn't indicate the level of the person who might want to do part-time academic work. I think it goes without saying that doing this before tenure is a BAD IDEA for reasons already outlined above. But if someone is tenured but far from retirement, it might be possible to pull off such an arrangement if the department sees an opportunity to cash in on it via new hiring. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 28085,
"author": "Herman Toothrot",
"author_id": 4050,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4050",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think the previous answers were focused on academic positions focused on research. However I know of colleges and some universities where the teaching load drops off dramatically in the summer and during certain summers it's possible to be off for at least 8 weeks without pay. To me this is very acceptable considering that you will also get 3 weeks around Christmas.</p>\n\n<p>You can also consider working remotely for some periods, if your research allows you to do so. I think also that traveling hard every year for 3-6 months might be hard to pull off, physically and mentally for many years. But if you could rent a house for 2 months on the beach of Fiji and work from there, that doesn't sound too bad :-)</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23198",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1033/"
] |
23,203 |
<p>I graduated from a reputed North American university with a master's degree in 2013. Due to severe personal problems (deaths/illness in the family, war-torn homeland, divorce, financial issues, and so on), it would be fair to say that I did not perform well. My thesis had a critical error which was duly pointed out during my defense by my examiner. My advisor had not noticed it before. I managed to pass but with major corrections to the thesis. </p>
<p>While I was waiting for the situation in my home country to settle down, we improved the results significantly. We wrote much of a paper with the agreement that we would correspond over email when I go back home to finish it and send it for publication. </p>
<p>This was a year and a half ago. I am back home and I have been trying to get her to finish writing her part but to no avail. Once every couple of months she responds with "I need more time" but that's about it. It would be a huge help in my career to have a paper published. But I am paranoid about being rude to her and keep nagging her because I need her reference if and when I decide to apply for a PhD later. Also I believe she's a genuinely a nice person! So my questions are, </p>
<ol>
<li>Is a year and a half a normal amount of time to write on a paper in
which the research is finished? </li>
<li>How do I politely convince her to hurry up?</li>
</ol>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23208,
"author": "Mad Jack",
"author_id": 11192,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11192",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>Is a year and a half a normal amount of time to write on a paper in which the research is finished? </p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p><strong>No</strong>, this paper should've been finished a year ago. </p>\n\n<p>The research is done, so you are not waiting for something else to fall into place for your paper. You already tried writing your former advisor's portion of the manuscript to no avail. Your former advisor did not even catch a critical flaw in your thesis. I hate to say it, but it sounds like your former advisor is quite a bozo.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>How do I politely convince her to hurry up?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>If you've not already done so, send your former advisor your \"final\" draft of the manuscript (including the parts you wrote for her). Give her a timeline for returning suggestions/modifications to you. If that doesn't work, you might have to get on the phone and talk to her about how important it is for you to submit this paper. If this fails, you may need to move on, and hope that at some point in the next year or two that she finally matures enough to help you out.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23210,
"author": "xLeitix",
"author_id": 10094,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10094",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I guess your advisor is not really \"procrastinating\", just not working <em>on your paper</em> for one reason or another. She may very well be working on other things.</p>\n\n<p>Now, of course the interesting question is <em>why</em> she is ignoring the work on your paper. Some potential reasons that come to mind:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>She simply is swamped with teaching or administrative matters</li>\n<li>The paper is outside of her research interest</li>\n<li>The paper is still too much work</li>\n<li>She thinks that the results of the paper are not very strong, and she honestly does not give the paper good chances of acceptance / impact</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>You say she is a \"genuinely nice\" person. In my experience, all too often this also implies some avoidance of confrontation (I am certainly guilty of that), which makes the third and the fourth reason more likely. Yes, in theory she should simply tell you when she thinks that material is too weak or the current draft too bad, but for her the \"easier\" out might be to ignore the paper, especially since you are far away.</p>\n\n<p><strong>Edit:</strong> the fact that your advisor apparently did not even read / check your thesis carefully (and missed a critical flaw) rather indicates the second reason.</p>\n\n<p>As for what you should do I agree with user11192 - after such a long time, it is time to essentially give up on getting her to do \"her part\". Write it for her, and send it to her only for review. Since it has become abundantly clear that the paper is not a priority for her right now (for whatever reason), you can either do it alone or not do it at all. You have no leverage over your old advisor to get her to do her part, <em>especially</em> if you are afraid of burning any bridges.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23203",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11731/"
] |
23,204 |
<p>I have been asked to review a paper that I know to have been authored by a friend and former colleague. Is it my responsibility to inform the editor and decline to review the paper?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23205,
"author": "The Almighty Bob",
"author_id": 16086,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16086",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>Is it my responsibility to inform the editor and decline to review\n the paper?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Yes. It should also be stated somewhere, but there is no other way.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23207,
"author": "mako",
"author_id": 5962,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5962",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Some journals have rules about reviewing the work of former colleagues. For example, I've seen journals claim that papers will not be reviewed by people that have been at the same institution over the last five years. You have to check with the editorial policies of the journal to see about this but if the editor has made a mistake by sending the paper to you, they'll appreciate you pointing it out.</p>\n\n<p>The bigger issues are that (a) you know who the author is so the review will not be blind and (b) the author is your friend which might reasonably be seen as a conflict of interest. If you know the author because you have seen the work in the paper before, that is a third problem. I would not review papers that I know are written by my friends for all of these reasons and I think it is in the interest of the journal and of the peer review process to defer review to someone else.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23209,
"author": "paul garrett",
"author_id": 980,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>All other things the same, it would be better to inform the editor and decline, yes. </p>\n\n<p>Similarly, if the author is not a \"friend\", but some sort of opposite to that, ideally one would decline for the opposite reason.</p>\n\n<p>It starts to become trickier when the author is \"a competitor\".</p>\n\n<p>In any case, with time, it can easily happen that many people in a given field are well known to you, \"good acquaintances\" (or \"bad\"...) if not \"friends\". That is, the ideal of dispassionate opinion due to lack of personal connection becomes impossible, not matter the ideal.</p>\n\n<p>Thus, in practice, although it is harmless to inform the editor, they probably won't be surprised, and most likely would <em>not</em> at all insist that you decline... although you are within your rights to do so in any case.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23211,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Assuming you reviewing the paper would not violate any guidelines of the journal or conference in question, the primary issue is <em>objectivity</em>: can you review the paper on its own merits, or will your association with the author in question \"color\" your opinions?</p>\n\n<p>Personally, I would never review a paper written by a former <em>co-author</em> or <em>personal friend</em>. However, I may accept the review of someone whom I know professionally but have not worked with in any formal capacity, provided that I am not working on a similar project.</p>\n\n<p>In this particular example, you claim that the person is \"a friend.\" If that is the case, then I would recommend leaning against accepting the review.</p>\n\n<p>The issue of informing the journal editor is a separate matter. You may explain that the reason is you know the author, but you are not necessarily obligated to do so. If you want, you could simply say \"I don't have the time right now,\" and that would be just as valid a reason as \"it's a conflict of interest.\" But I don't think there's anything lost by informing the editor of why you don't feel comfortable providing the review.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23222,
"author": "Ari Trachtenberg",
"author_id": 15885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15885",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>Is it my responsibility to inform the editor and decline to review the paper?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>It is your responsibility to inform the editor of the situation, but the two of you can decide together whether or not your should decline the review.</p>\n\n<p>The editor may ask you whether you feel that you can objectively review the work (the <em>real</em> answer is that none of us are truly objective, but the question here is whether you would feel comfortable rejecting the paper if you think it is bad <em>and</em> accepting the paper if you think it is good).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23225,
"author": "Dennis",
"author_id": 17284,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17284",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It depends. Is this a double-blind refereeing system? If so, how do you know the paper was written by a close colleague? (Technically, everyone working in your discipline is a colleague, but some colleagues are closer than others.)</p>\n\n<p>In some disciplines, blind reviewing isn't used or single blind reviewing is used. In that case, you know because the author's name is on the manuscript.</p>\n\n<p>In either case, I would notify the associate editor who asked me to review the paper that I have a (potential) conflict and explain the situation exactly. If I felt I could maintain a disinterested perspective on the paper I would say so and leave the decision up to the associate editor. If I felt I could not maintain a disinterested perspective, I would say so and decline to review the paper.</p>\n\n<p>With all that said, my perspective on my duties as a referee is a little different from the norm. I review work for technical correctness and point out any errors and limitations I might find. I comment on whether I find the work interesting. I will not make publication recommendations. I see that as the editorial board's job, not mine. That perspective reduces the potential for conflict of interest in my mind. I basically won't tell an editor anything I would not say directly to an author.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 37178,
"author": "ImCaptainNow",
"author_id": 28093,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/28093",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It depends on the journal. Some Elsevier journals do not consider this as a conflict of interest:</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://www.elsevier.com/reviewers/reviewer-guidelines\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://www.elsevier.com/reviewers/reviewer-guidelines</a></p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Avoid a potential conflict of interest\n A conflict of interest will not necessarily eliminate you from reviewing an article, but full disclosure to the editor will allow them to make an informed decision. For example; if you work in the same department or institute as one of the authors; if you have worked on a paper previously with an author; or you have a professional or financial connection to the article. These should all be listed when responding to the editor’s invitation for review.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>So, unless you feel that you cannot provide an objective (to the extent possible) review, you can take the job. However, when you write the letter with your decision, you have to specify your connection with the authors or the paper. I am taking the word \"friend\" in a more relaxed sense. If, for instance, one of the authors donated you or your parents one of his kidneys, then it may be difficult to provide a useful review. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 123846,
"author": "Kit Harbinger",
"author_id": 103590,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/103590",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I guess if this were a double blind review you would not run into this problem! I have been in a small community of scholars for more than 30 years. It is impossible for me to avoid this conflict. I have to decide for myself, or let the editor decide. If the conflict might be perceived as significant, I usually leave it to the editor, telling them of the conflict and asking if they want me to continue. The entire review process is inherently subjective, and there are many reasons one can have bias when reviewing a manuscript, for example, what if their results contradict yours, but are well supported and it's a good paper? You have to use your best judgement in all cases.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 123849,
"author": "guest",
"author_id": 103365,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/103365",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Inform the editor. If he is OK with it (and you are) than you may still review the paper. After all he knows you are conflicted and will weigh your response. </p>\n\n<p>It is not the only form of conflict. Rival groups, subject of critical papers, etc. Good editors know how to involve such parties, including when to cut off unfair reviews, get another opinion, etc.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23204",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17271/"
] |
23,212 |
<p>In my class, we have project groups of 4 or 5 students. This period has everything to do with game development. The project is to build a XNA game for children at primary school.</p>
<p>Now, there is one group of students in my class, who snitched a game from the internet and are going to hand that in. I saw a Facebook post from one of the students about "their" game, and a fellow student found almost the exact same game on a Dutch game site.</p>
<p>What is according to you the right way of handling this -in my eyes, plagiarism? Should I inform the project teacher, to have them exposed to the exam committee?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23214,
"author": "ff524",
"author_id": 11365,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11365",
"pm_score": 7,
"selected": true,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>Should I inform the project teacher, to have them exposed to the exam committee?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Yes. Tell the teacher exactly what you know: that there is a game that seems very similar to your classmates' project.</p>\n\n<p>As a student, it's not your responsibility to decide what is and isn't plagiarism, or to decide who should be punished for dishonesty and who shouldn't, or to start a \"movement\" to let the cheaters know you're onto them. If you believe you have evidence of misconduct, report it and let the administration handle it from there.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23223,
"author": "Pixiestik1",
"author_id": 17281,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17281",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Teachers have the resources to check for plagiarism and would be able to check for such things. I would recommend checking the project through one of these resources and let them know if you could spot it, so can your teacher. Then, you protect your reputation and put the responsibility back on them. So that once your teacher spots it, you will have proof you let them know in advance how you felt about the submission. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23230,
"author": "jwg",
"author_id": 5824,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5824",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Mind your own business - it's not your problem. </p>\n\n<p>If someone working in <em>your</em> group suggests or does plagiarism, or someone tries to plagiarize your work, or does something which could affect <em>your</em> mark or <em>your</em> academic record, go ahead and report them.</p>\n\n<p>But you shouldn't get involved with this. It's not your job to police other students behaviour. It doesn't prevent you from learning, nor does it prevent you from getting the grade you deserve.</p>\n\n<p>You are laying yourself open to unpleasantness and ill-feeling between you and your classmates. Other students who are honest, might resent you or feel that you will be surveilling them in future. You might end up with your own behavior being closely watched by classmates who are trying to get you in trouble. It is also possible that the information you have is wrong or that you have misinterpreted it. For someone who is innocent of cheating or who has been co-erced to be disciplined for plagiarism is a serious thing to have on your conscience. In some (rare) situations various forms of cheating are tacitly being tolerated by the teacher, and you will be seen by them as 'rocking the boat'.</p>\n\n<p>In short, you have a lot to lose and very little to gain by reporting them.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23234,
"author": "Aaron Hall",
"author_id": 9518,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9518",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>College is competitive enough without having to compete against cheaters lazy enough to represent an entire work that is freely available online as their own. Grading is often quite subjective, and your work should not be compared to work of those working outside your class's structure.</p>\n\n<p>You don't need to give the information to the instructor with your name on it. You can leave an anonymous note to the professor (and give a copy to the department chair if you want to ensure they will at least investigate, because the temptation is to sweep it under the rug). </p>\n\n<p>You need to be careful not to overstate your case. Just state that you believe they <em>may</em> be passing off that particular work as their own, point to the evidence, and let that stand and do not pursue the matter (<sub>unless you have hard evidence, the instructor and the department sweep it under the rug, and you feel the need to act further, but be careful because you may quickly become a target for political retribution yourself.</sub>)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23243,
"author": "Jakob",
"author_id": 17310,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17310",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I agree with jwg. I don't intend to be rude, but I would call this squealing. It shouldn't be your stuff as it doesn't hold you from achieving what you want to achieve. Actually after the grading took place, if you detect that your grade has been dimished because of the 'exceptional' work of the other group, well then it is another situation. In this case you could still think about reporting the issue.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/10
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23212",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17259/"
] |
23,231 |
<p>So, I'm just now finishing my master's thesis. When thinking about who helped me aside from my official supervisors some of the StackExchange fora (especially Stack Overflow and TeX) came into my mind.
I asked some questions in these fora but most of the time I was just looking for information in older posts (and finding it most of the time). Now one the one hand it feels weird to me to acknowledge a site I browsed to, e.g., find out a certain programming command (like I would not really think about acknowledging Wikipedia). But on the other hand I am really grateful for some of the quick and professional answers I got from StackExchange users.</p>
<p>So what do you think, should I acknowledge StackExchange in my thesis? </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23232,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Your acknowledgement is a place where you are free to thank anyone or anything (I have seen dogs being thanked) you think deserve mentioning. To acknowledge StackExchange is highly appropriate since it is a community driven open site where help can be obtained to solve problems from many different perspectives.</p>\n\n<p>In my PhD thesis, I, perhaps a bit over-ambitiously, thanked Donald Knuth for creating TeX. Had StackExchange been in existence back then, some of the terror of writing my thesis in plain TeX would have been eased and it would have been placed along-side Knuth in the acknowledgement.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23235,
"author": "Christian Clason",
"author_id": 13852,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13852",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Think of it not as acknowledging the site but of the community that contributes and curates the content. (From the way you asked the question, I think this is what you have in mind as well.) I'm sure a correspondingly worded acknowledgment would be appropriate (and appreciated -- in particular the TeX.SE community is by a wide margin one of the most helpful and welcoming I have ever seen on the internet, and they deserve the recognition).</p>\n\n<p>Also, keep in mind that some future student might read your thesis when preparing her own; if she reads your acknowledgment and learns of the value of StackExchange, you are doing her a service. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/11
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23231",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11487/"
] |
23,233 |
<p>What if my PhD advisor doesn't want to give me a letter of recommendation, because he doesn't want me to leave on postdoc? None of his young assistants have ever been on any postdoc or fellowship exchange.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23286,
"author": "Bill Barth",
"author_id": 11600,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11600",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Based on your comment responses, I think that you are working for a young faculty member who is trying to build his group and encouraged his first two PhD students to stay on after they graduated. It's an admirable goal to start building a research group, but in the US it would be discouraged to do so by keeping all of your own students in my experience. US academic research has a bias towards sending one's students out into the world to cross-pollinate ideas and avoid stagnation and closed-mindedness.</p>\n\n<p>That being said, refusing to provide a letter of recommendation to a good student for this purpose is borderline if not outright professional misconduct and wouldn't be tolerated at most US universities (though I'm constantly surprised what weak administrators let star faculty get away with sometimes). </p>\n\n<p>I think you should sit down with your advisor and explain your life goals to him. Include the fact that you are eager to get out into the world and learn more in a different environment. Try to convince him to see it from your perspective without getting antagonistic. If that doesn't work, go see your department chair, but only as a last resort. </p>\n\n<p>You are in a bit of a tenuous position since your advisor could refuse to sign off on your dissertation (or let you defend, or drag his feet on revisions, etc) if he becomes scared by feelings of abandonment in your desire to leave. Bringing in higher authorities could make this worse. It would be best to convince him with the power of good arguments than to make the situation adversarial. </p>\n\n<p>The timing of this can be tricky. He's probably going to find out that you applied for postdocs with out his recommendation and blessing, and given the usual schedule for postdoc recruiting, I'm assuming you will have to apply before you defend. I think it's probably better to be open with him that you are definitely going to apply, find a postdoc, and leave than to do so behind his back. Maybe when he sees your resolve to do so, he will change his mind about writing you a good letter.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 170290,
"author": "Anonymous Physicist",
"author_id": 13240,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13240",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>A small portion of postdoc positions do not require a letter of recommendation. People who have not got access to a letter have received those jobs.</p>\n<p>It is not always possible to identify if a job requires a letter until after you have applied.</p>\n<p>Normally, a PhD supervisor would only refuse a PhD student a letter if the student committed major misconduct. Not writing a great letter reflects poorly on the supervisor.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/11
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23233",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1/"
] |
23,237 |
<p>I just started reading some papers (Computer Science, specifically Computer Vision) and thought "now let's look at the source code" and was quite astonished that most of the papers don't have any source code implementing the described methods to look at, while claiming some performance or being better than other papers.</p>
<p>How do these papers get accepted in journals / conferences? Do people have to submit their source code privately to the reviewers at least, so that they can reproduce the experiment if possible.</p>
<p>Do most journals / conferences just "trust" that people who submit the paper really implemented the theory and got those exact results?</p>
<p>I always had this idea that any experiment should be reproducible by others else it's not scientific justified. Been wondering about this the last few days.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23238,
"author": "Piotr Migdal",
"author_id": 49,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/49",
"pm_score": 8,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>For me it seems that the reasons are two:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>the belief that code is only a tool, a particular implementation being secondary to the idea or algorithm,</li>\n<li>the historical residue (it was unpractical to print a lot of pages; especially as no-one could copy-paste it).</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Additionally:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>many scientist seems to be afraid to show their code in public, as they are aware of its poor quality (see also <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/17781/why-do-many-talented-scientists-write-horrible-software\">Why do many talented scientists write horrible software?</a>), so they don't want to risk reputation (for both quality and catching possible errors).</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Moreover, things related to current incentives in academia (where publications, not code, are related to one's career possibilities):</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>sharing code may mean risk of being scooped (instead of milking the same code for years),</li>\n<li>cleaning up code takes time, which can be used for writing another publications.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Do people have to submit their code privately to the reviewers at least, so that they can reproduce the experiment if possible.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Typically - not. If the code is not made public, almost for sure no reviewer have checked its existence; much less - correctness.</p>\n\n<p>However, many scientists are starting to notice the problem (and they see how open source culture flourishes). So, there are new initiatives addressing such issue, like <a href=\"http://sciencecodemanifesto.org/\" rel=\"noreferrer\">Science Code Manifesto</a>:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Software is a cornerstone of science. Without software, twenty-first century science would be impossible. Without better software, science cannot progress.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Or e.g. <a href=\"http://figshare.com/articles/Reproducibility_PI_Manifesto/104539\" rel=\"noreferrer\">this manifesto</a>. Try to search for <em>reproducible research</em> or look at things such as <a href=\"http://yihui.name/knitr/\" rel=\"noreferrer\">knitr for R</a> and this intro to <a href=\"http://nbviewer.ipython.org/github/batterio/intro_ipython_notebook/blob/master/notebooks/index.ipynb\" rel=\"noreferrer\">IPython Notebook</a>, or read about <a href=\"https://github.com/blog/1840-improving-github-for-science\" rel=\"noreferrer\">using GitHub for science</a>. And <a href=\"http://statwonk.github.io/blog/2013/12/15/are-academics-adopting-github/\" rel=\"noreferrer\">it seems it is taking off</a>.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23239,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>What field are you talking about? A CS paper describing the design and performance of a computer vision algorithm is different from a sociology paper that used a spreadsheet to crunch demographic data.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Do most journals / conferences just \"trust\" that people who submit the paper really implemented the theory and got those exact results?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Yes. The presumption is always that there is no scientific fraud involved.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>I always had this idea that any experiment should be reproducable by others else it's not scientific justified.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>If the algorithms are fully described in the paper, then the result is reproducible. To reproduce it, you have to reimplement the algorithm.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>I just started reading some papers and thought now let's look at the code and was quite astonished that most of the papers don't have any code to look at, while claiming some performance or being better than other papers.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Presumably the better performance is because the algorithm described in the paper is a more efficient algorithm. For example, when sorting a large amount of data, a quicksort is a better sorting algorithm than a bubble sort. The quicksort has O(n log n) performance on the average, while the bubble sort has O(n^2), and this is true regardless of the details of the implementation.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23250,
"author": "Dikran Marsupial",
"author_id": 2827,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2827",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think an issue that is related to that raised by Piotr (+1) which is that research funding is not generally available to cover the costs of producing highly reliable portable code or the costs of maintaining/supporting code produced to \"research quality\". I have found this to be a significant issue when trying to use code released by other researchers in my field; all too often I can't get their code to work because it uses some third party library that is no longer available, or that only works on a Windows PC, or which no longer works on my version of the software because it uses some deprecated feature of the language/environment. The only way to get around this is to re-implement the routines from the third party library so that all of the code is provided as a single monolithic program. But who has the time to do that in an underfunded \"publish or perish\" environment?</p>\n\n<p>If society wants high quality code to accompany every paper, then society needs to make funds available so that good software engineers can write it and maintain it. I agree this would be a good thing, but it doesn't come at zero cost. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23262,
"author": "rumtscho",
"author_id": 103,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/103",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You seem to think that we <em>should</em> request code, because without code, any crazy result, be it fraud or honest mistake, can be slipped into the journal. But this is not so. Including code is a nice-to-have feature, not a must-have feature. The other answers silently assume this and explain the (good and not-so-good) reasons which lead to the current situation of uncommonly included code. I think I can complement them by explaining why it is not a must-have feature. </p>\n\n<p>For theoretical results, you don't need any empirical tools like code to reproduce them, as others mentioned (e.g. proving that an algorithm has a better big O behavior than another). Of course, there are also empirical results, which cannot be replicated that way. </p>\n\n<p>But your reviewers will have an expectation of what your idea will result in. If the current best performance for wugging zums is 3 zums/s, and you add a minor tweak and report 300 zums/s, your reviewers are supposed to notice that your claim is unusual, and do something (possibly demand to resubmit with the code). This is not foolproof, but with multiple reviewers per paper, it is effective, because the magnitude of most empirical results is predictable once the reviewer sees the idea and understands how it works. </p>\n\n<p>For this class of paper, both honest and dishonest mistakes have a good chance of being caught, with bad results for honest scientists (reputation loss, especially if caught after publication) and worse results for dishonest scientists (end of career if proven!). Moreover, the graver the mistake (as measured in the size of error), the higher the chance of being caught. It is less likely that you will get caught if your algorithm manages 4 zums/s and you report 5 zums/second, than if you report 300 zums/s. So, scientists are disincentivized from submitting incorrect papers, leaving less incorrect ones in the submitted pool, and the reviewers catch lots of the remainder. </p>\n\n<p>There are cases where it is totally unknown why an observation is the way it is, and in these cases, it is very important to describe the exact test setup perfectly. But I have never seen this kind of paper in computer science, it is associated with natural sciences. So no code there. Even if you got such results in computer science (e.g. you observed that users are capable of reading a 12000 word EULA in less than 30 seconds, which contradicts common reading speed observations, and you have no explanation for it), it is unlikely that including the code you used to obtain the result will be pertinent to replication. </p>\n\n<p>To put it together, among a large mass of computer science papers, the theoretical ones and the natural-phenomenon-observation ones don't need code inclusion for replication, and the remaining ones will contain only a low percentage of incorrect-but-uncaught papers. Aggregated, this leads to an acceptably low level of incorrect papers being submitted. Requesting the code to go with them will increase quality for one class of paper, but it will be an increase of an already high quality level. It is not that not having this feature makes the current quality too low. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23263,
"author": "Phil Perry",
"author_id": 13080,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13080",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would think that most readers/reviewers would find a sufficiently detailed algorithm enough. You write your paper showing, oh, C++ code, and I use SPSS in my shop -- your code is useless to me. Not that most readers would <em>enjoy</em> reimplementing the code (especially for non-CS papers), but with a specific code that runs on a specific platform, there's bound to be a lot of clutter to wade through. An algorithm reduces it to its bare essentials.</p>\n\n<p>If my paper is showing the improvement in speed of my new Quicksort method over the standard Bubble Sort, showing algorithms for the two methods would make it easier to support my claims for <em>O</em> (n log n) vs <em>O</em> (n^2) speedup. If my paper is on population age distributions in wealthy vs developing economies, unless there's a really neat trick I used to process the data, most readers probably wouldn't even care about the algorithm, except in very broad brushstrokes.</p>\n\n<p>It's going to depend on the subject area (general, say, Computer Science) and the specific subarea (say, sorting methods), as well as how heavy an impact the algorithm used has on the results, as to whether the algorithm is necessary. If I'm showing compiler differences in Fortran code, then it would be good to include actual code. Otherwise, code itself is rarely of interest.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23265,
"author": "cbeleites unhappy with SX",
"author_id": 725,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/725",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I'd like to add a slightly different point of view from an experimental field (chemistry/ spectroscopy/ chemometric data analysis).<br>\nHere, the study starts in the lab (or maybe in the field), with an old-fashioned type of notebook. Old-fashioned typically still being paper + pen. Data analysis is often done with GUI programs in an interactive fashion. Records are kept just like in the lab: paper + pen. Maybe with some saved and/or printed figures. As already the part in the lab was recorded this way, not having a log-file or even a script of the data analysis is not seen as a problem. Anyways, asking for the code to be published is only one part of what you need to re-run the analysis: you'd also need the actual data.<br>\nAlready the suggestion to type in the data analysis and at least save either a log of the matlab/R session or type it in script form is still kind of new (though people love the <code>knitr</code> generated reports I produce...). But IMHO things are moving quite fast now. I'd say that with tools like <code>git</code> and <code>knitr</code> the largest practical obstacles are almost solved at least for the type of person that prefers code over clicking. However, it is not that all already works smoothly (consider large binary raw data and <code>git</code>, and I frankly admit that I have no idea how to practically set up a \"real\" database server in an efficient way that it keeps track of changes). This is from my perspective as a scientist that just needs tools for reproducibility as a <em>user</em> - and thus I understand my non-programming colleagues who nevertheless need to analyse their data: they just do not have (or know of) the tools that would enable them to log their analyes with reasonable effort. </p>\n\n<p>The traditional estimation of where the big difficulties lurk also focuses on the lab part. I think many researchers are just not aware of the reproducibility issues with the calculations/data analysis. To be honest, I usually share that point of view: IMHO in biospectroscopy one of the big important problems is the far too low number of individuals in the studies. \nIf you have only 4 mice in the study, the precise handling of the data will cannot affect the practical conclusions too much. There is a gray zone where not doing a proper validation may affect the conclusions, but again: everyone I know who does the validation according to the best-known practice does spell this out very explicitly - so again (and accepting some risk of <em>falsely</em> discarding few papers as \"probably not reproducible\") I tend to think that the practical conclusions are hardly affected.</p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>On the other hand, looking at the requirements that e.g. the <a href=\"http://www.rsc.org/Publishing/Journals/guidelines/AuthorGuidelines/JournalPolicy/Journals/CC.asp\">Chemmical Communications</a> put up if a new chemical substance is to be published I don't see why there cannot be computer science journals that require the code in a similar fashion.<br>\nLike e.g. the <a href=\"http://www.jstatsoft.org/\">Journal of Statistical Software</a> does. (I'm quite sure other such journals exist, but I don't know them.)</p>\n\n<p>To me this falls into a much larger field of reproducibility issues. Of course, if the data analysis cannot be reproduced there's big trouble. </p>\n\n<hr>\n\n<p>Yet another point: although publications about software are still very rare in my field, I recently had such a paper for review. Unfortunately, the software is proposed to be distributed by contacting one of the authors - which, as an anonymous reviewer I obviously could not do.<br>\nThus, the actual software may be even less accessible for reviewers than for normal readers!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23285,
"author": "Floris",
"author_id": 15062,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15062",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Usually \"performance\" of code relates to \"how well it scales with the size of the problem\". This means, in my opinion, that a paper claiming \"algorithm A is faster than algorithm B\" needs to show timing for both A and B _ for different size problems_. While there may still be inefficiencies (and errors) in the implementations, this will at least demonstrate whether the underlying algorithm is more efficient (lower big-oh).</p>\n\n<p>Where software is they key to the paper (the product, not the tool) I would expect it to be available (github or other). So a paper that says \"I can sort in order 1/n by kerfugling the dargibold number\" needs to show how that was done; the paper that claims \"when I sorted these two data sets, the one from Whoville had bigger flubbits\" does not need to show how the code was sorted - they need to focus on explaining what is significant about the flubbits from Whoville.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23292,
"author": "StasK",
"author_id": 739,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/739",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As an associate editor of a journal (bridging statistics and psychology), I requested the authors to submit the code when they proposed new algorithms and procedures, and then sent the code to the experts in the statistical package to check that (a) the code does what the paper describes, and (b, secondary) that it is a good code (robust to bad inputs, computationally effective, etc.). I was also asked to review some papers for <a href=\"http://www.stata-journal.com\">Stata Journal</a> whose focus <strong>is</strong> the code, and did the same. There were times when (a) failed, so I had to return the paper and say that the authors had to align the methodology and the code. There were times when (b) would fail, and in case of Stata Journal, this would also mean returning the paper. There were times when the code wouldn't come. </p>\n\n<p>Most of the time, I would be happy to share my code, but it is complicated enough (with internal meta-data-based checks, customized output, etc.) that a researcher less proficient with the packages I use won't be able to edit it to make it work on their computer.</p>\n\n<p>Going back to your main question -- reviewers are <strike>lazy</strike> pressed for time, and have their own research to push to their journals, so few of them go into the effort of fully verifying the results. This is just how the world is. May be these full professors could request the code and give it to their graduate students to play with, break and debug, as this would be a good educational opportunity for the latter. But again this does not happen very often, as the confidentiality clauses for accepting the reviewer role usually preclude one from sharing the paper with anybody else.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23322,
"author": "Roy T.",
"author_id": 16175,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16175",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Because some researchers do not like to think about the real world and reviewers do not want the hassle.</p>\n\n<p>(What's next is a bit of a rant)</p>\n\n<p>I've recently done a survey of a specific type of geometry related algorithms. In all the papers the program was described as working perfectly but once I requested the source code from about a dozen authors things became ugly.</p>\n\n<p>50% of the software was missing important advertised features. For example the software would only work in 2D while the paper showed 3D examples. (Which in my case really makes things a lot more difficult). After inquiring why these features were missing they had usually never been implemented or had been implemented but proved unstable/non-working. To be clear: it was 100% impossible to generate the results shown in the paper with software that was often even improved after the paper was released.</p>\n\n<p>75% of the software wouldn't work perfectly in normal cases. In my case this usually was because the algorithm was designed with 'perfect numbers' in mind but the algorithm was implemented using normal floating point numbers and thus had representation problems which resulted in large errors. Only a few papers mentioned these problems and only two tried to (partially) address them.</p>\n\n<p>85% of the software wouldn't work in scenarios specifically designed to find problem cases. Let's be honest; if a 'mere' student can find a scenario in a few weeks that totally breaks your algorithm you probably already know about this.</p>\n\n<p>Not supplying code makes it possible to lie and to my disgust (I'm new to the academic world) this is done extremely often. My supervisor wasn't even surprised. However testing code is a lot of work so this behavior will probably go unchecked for a while longer.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23342,
"author": "Kaveh",
"author_id": 163,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/163",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This is a view from Computer Science/Theoretical Computer Science/Mathematics.</p>\n\n<p>Ask yourself: <strong>who is the target audience of an academic paper?</strong> </p>\n\n<p>It is <em>not</em> end-users. It is <strong>reviewers</strong>! \nDo reviewers want code? Depends on the situation. Sometimes they do. Often they don't.</p>\n\n<p>Think about this: why mathematicians don't provide formal proofs but use informal arguments? </p>\n\n<p>It is costs vs. benefits. Providing a formally verified proof is possible but usually needs too much work, work that authors are not trained for and don't have much experience with. On the other hand, what do authors gain from it? Does it help convince the reviewers about the correctness of the results? No, usually reviewers prefer short informal explanation that allows them to understand and <em>see</em> why the result is true. A formal proof usually will not help much. There are people who don't like computer-assisted proofs which cannot be verified and understood directly by humans.</p>\n\n<p>The same costs vs. benefits thinking applies to programs. If providing code will not help convince the reviewer about the correctness of the paper, then why waste resources (time/money/pages/...) to do so? Do reviewers have time to read codes with thousands of lines to check there is no bug in them? </p>\n\n<p>On the other hand, sometimes the software resulting from the paper is of primary interest. Having the code is helpful in verifying the claims. E.g. you claim you have a faster algorithm for SAT. Then it is helpful to provide the code. In such cases authors provide their code. This is mainly in more experimental parts. We don't care about the correctness of the code but obtaining results better than existing algorithms. In such situations there are typically standard benchmarks to compare algorithms. (See for example <a href=\"http://www.satcompetition.org/\" rel=\"nofollow\">SAT competitions</a>.) If there aren't established benchmarks then why publish code? If it is a theoretical result where the asymptotic benefits take place over instances which are too large to test what is the benefit of have the code? More so considering the fact that large code developed by non-professional programmers is highly likely to be buggy? Employing professional software developers to develop quality code is costly (<a href=\"http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2013/09/10/219372252/the-most-and-least-lucrative-college-majors-in-1-graph\" rel=\"nofollow\">the median annual income for a person with a bachelors in CS is around 100K in the US</a>) (except possibly as graduate students ;) and doesn't typically have any profits afterwards.</p>\n\n<p>But does code need to be included in papers? Of course not! There are better ways to publish code, e.g. having a link in the paper to an online copy (on their website or a public repository like github). Why would one prefer to include a code with thousands of lines inside a document which is supposed to be read by <em>humans</em>?</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 71614,
"author": "Alessandro Jacopson",
"author_id": 56931,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/56931",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Taken from the book SKIENA, S. The Algorithm Design Manual: Springer. 2008:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>After a long search, Chazelle [Cha91] discovered a linear-time\n algorithm for triangulating a simple polygon. This algorithm is\n sufficiently hopeless to implement that it qualifies more as an\n existence proof.</p>\n \n <p>[Cha91] CHAZELLE, Bernard. Triangulating a simple polygon in linear time. <em>Discrete & Computational Geometry</em>, 1991, 6.3: 485-524.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I think that the authors consider costs and benefits and avoid the submission of code when the costs outweigh the benefits.</p>\n\n<p>According to <a href=\"https://github.com/davidwhogg/DataAnalysisRecipes/blob/master/sharing/sharing.tex#L230\" rel=\"nofollow\">David W. Hogg</a> costs are:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>you might get scooped</li>\n<li>you can be embarrassed by your ugly code, or by your failure to comment or document</li>\n<li>you will have to answer questions (and often stupid or irrelevant ones) about the code, and spend time documenting</li>\n<li>you will have to consider pull requests or otherwise maintain the code, possibly far into the future</li>\n<li>you might have to beat down bad and incorrect results generated with your code</li>\n<li>your reputation could suffer if the code is used wrongly</li>\n<li>there could be legal (including military) and license issues</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>Benefits are:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>more science gets done, more papers get written; all measures of impact increase</li>\n<li>you get motivation to clean and document the code</li>\n<li>results become (more) reproducible and (more) trustworthy</li>\n<li>outsiders find bugs or make improvements to your code and deliver pull requests</li>\n<li>you get cred and visibility and build community</li>\n<li>citation rates might go up</li>\n<li>code is preserved</li>\n<li>code becomes searchable (including by you!) and <em>backed up</em></li>\n<li>there are good sites for long-term archiving and interface</li>\n<li>can establish priority on an idea or prior art on a method</li>\n</ol>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 85079,
"author": "Sefu",
"author_id": 68819,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/68819",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Because in truth most academic researchers in technical fields can't code to save their lives. In computer vision, they just hack something together in a single Matlab file. They like to think that coding is for undergrads. They believe it's beneath them to waste their time on such trivialities. Most of them never learned good software engineering practices and don't have an understanding of the complexity and skill it takes to write good code.</p>\n\n<p>The major problem is that this is supported by researchers because all academia cares about is publishing, quantity over quality. Success is measured by how many citations you have, not by how good your contributions are. At the end of the day, when the only people citing you themselves don't produce anything useful, it doesn't matter. It's not science anymore as much as it is \"research for the sake of doing research\".</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/11
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23237",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17302/"
] |
23,240 |
<p>I'm currently writing a paper that is based on work that I won't be following up on, as I'm changing career directions. I believe that the work raises a number of questions and ideas for future work, and my program solves a number of the boring problems without getting into the interesting applications. However, I've previously been told that raising an idea in a "Future Work" section effectively 'reserves' that work for me, and it would be considered rude for readers to begin research on those areas. </p>
<p>How can I signal (without flat out saying that I don't care) that I hope others will pick up and run with the ideas I'm presenting?</p>
<p>If it's of any importance, it's a Computer Science paper.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23241,
"author": "Ari Trachtenberg",
"author_id": 15885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15885",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I've never heard this about \"Future Work\". Items that you put in this section are simply things that you are currently considering, and someone else who does them should at least cite your original work. However, anyone who beats you to actually doing the work should be able to publish it.</p>\n\n<p>If you want to make it absolutely clear that you do not intend to work on this material (and, you never know, you might end up going back to it later anyway!), simply call the section \"Further discussion\" or just \"Discussion\".</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23244,
"author": "brechmos",
"author_id": 17266,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17266",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Maybe it is just a matter of wording and rather than word it that <em>you</em> are going to do this \"Future Work\", maybe word it as <em>anyone</em> could do this future work. That way it shows you are thinking ahead (good thing) even though you may not want to do it. </p>\n\n<p>To me, the Future Work would show that someone is thinking and would convince me that this work you have done is beneficial to the field and opens doors to other work.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23266,
"author": "BMS",
"author_id": 10371,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10371",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>\"While there is no further research planned by the author, there are several avenues that...\" </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23267,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I have been told that you should not put your best, novel idea for future research in 'Future Work', you don't give away your state-of-the-art research ideas for free right? Experience teaches me that researchers often put stuff like 'investigate in new industry/product/setting' 'investigate longitudinal' 'go out of the lab and test with secondary data' 'add obvious moderator' 'control for variable Z that we did not account for' in this section.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/11
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23240",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17307/"
] |
23,242 |
<p>Why do admissions committees consider the Statement of Purpose to be important? Anyone with a command of English should be able to write a Statement of Purpose, in principle, so it seems a poor way to compare applicants' research potential. If I were to judge an applicant (obviously I've never been in this position), I would much sooner at grades than at their Statement of Purpose, simply because grades cannot (in general) be 'faked'.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23245,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>One excellent reason for requiring a statement of purpose is to make sure that applicants have \"done their homework.\" Have they taken into account who works in the department, and what can be done there? Can they formulate ideas for projects they'd be interested in working on? Furthermore, writing ability is a very critical factor for success as a researcher; someone who writes a very poor statement of purpose is likely to have a very difficult PhD candidacy.</p>\n\n<p>Grades are somewhat objective, but they're also subject to a lot of external factors (\"grade inflation,\" \"scaling,\" sample size, and so on). But that doesn't mean they're not also considered. <em>All</em> parts of an application are usually considered, although the weights given to the various factors may differ greatly between departments.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23246,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It may be simple for some to write good English but to actually write something valuable is a lot harder. There are of course no perfect single tools to evaluate applications so having a multi-pronged approach provides some improvements in the weeding process. Grades provide insights into some aspects, particularly someone's ability to perform on exams. Such ability is not necessarily equated with ability to, for example, think critically or creatively (we do of course not know of the assessment methods underpinning the grades). A Statement of Purpose provides insights into the person's own insights into a research problem or field. Hence combining these two aspects with CV, letters of recommendations or whatever else is required, forms a more complex picture of the applicant than what each and every part of the application does on its own. The Statement will perhaps be the part that most closely reflects on the persons ability.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23249,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>Why do admissions committees consider the Statement of Purpose to be important?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>This question assumes they do consider it important, but how it's actually viewed varies enormously between departments. In mine, it's not considered particularly important for most applicants. If your statement is pretty good, then that's good enough (nobody was ever admitted by writing a great personal statement). However, it can matter in special cases:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p>It gives you a chance to address anything non-standard or potentially worrisome about your application. It can be really valuable for you to make a case for why these things are not in fact a problem.</p></li>\n<li><p>It gives you a chance to shoot yourself in the foot. For example, applicants occasionally sound like arrogant jerks, demonstrate that they like to talk about mathematics they don't understand at all (without admitting their lack of knowledge), or reveal that they have no idea how graduate school works. The first two are major problems, and the third is worrisome.</p></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>It can also be helpful to learn things like the intended specialization or advisor, but we ask for that elsewhere on the application as well.</p>\n\n<p>If you apply to a department that takes this approach, then you shouldn't stress out too much about the statement of purpose. But of course other departments may do things differently, so you can't relax entirely.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23270,
"author": "paul garrett",
"author_id": 980,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As a complement to other useful answers, I'd say that it is <em>not</em> possible to \"fake\" a good personal statement (unless one enlists already-successful mathematicians, and, even then, it's not clear...). The issue of grammatical correctness is non-trivial, but minor. The tone, the affect (all the more subtle in written language), speaks reams. The implied/assumed context? Etc, etc, ... And, indeed, all the better that most applicants do not effectively see how to \"game\" the personal statement. That's what I look at first, for graduate admissions. :)</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/11
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23242",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15142/"
] |
23,253 |
<p>I published some research papers in an ISI Journal during the past years. But due to the lack of precise knowledge of the correct referencing, and particularly due to attending an “unintentional plagiarism class” in my university, perhaps in some places of my papers, referencing rules unintentionally do not meet correctly and exactly. It seems that I have to modify some parts of my papers if possible.
Also in some parts of my papers I commit an intentional plagiarism.
Now what should I do? Should I contact the editor of the journal? Do they reject or retract my papers? I am a PhD student and if my papers are rejected or retracted I could not defend my PhD thesis.</p>
<p>Please guide me. I'm afraid of expulsion from the university and loss of honor.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23255,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As it stands it is impossible to say what can happen. Plagiarism is a serious thing but there are places where copied text is less detrimental and there are places where it is definitely so. If your self-plagiarized parts are in, for example methods descriptions where you are describing similar or in fact the same procedure or method, the issue may not be critical, not good either. So you need to assess, or perhaps better, let someone else assess the case. Why don't you contact the person(s) running the class you mention and ask them for advise with your papers at hand?</p>\n\n<p>As for retraction, I am not sure the journal will necessarily retract your papers. Retraction is usually reserve for very serious cases of fraud. I suggest you carefully look at some of the cases written up on the <a href=\"http://publicationethics.org/\" rel=\"noreferrer\">Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)</a>. COPE is for editors and publishers but their cases may give you an idea of how your cases stands <em>vis-à-vis</em> their published cases.</p>\n\n<p>So, try to get some more experienced people to look at your material and provide feedback. This will provide you with a better perspective than what can be achieved through this site since any answer here will be speculation or hypothetical since we have not seen the publications. Once you have a better perspective from your peers, and your case seem to lean towards there being a serious issue, you can consider contacting editors to hear their view. It is of course not impossible to contact them right away but right now it is not possible to evaluate if this is necessary.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23257,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The journals need to be contacted, but I would not do it directly. Hopefully your university has someone, ideally a committee, who deals with academic misconduct. I would approach this panel with a detailed list of the occurrences in the papers where you now believe you have plagiarised. Explain to the committee how you were unaware of the norms of good academic research practice until your recent class on the topic. Have in place a plan that will help you continue your training and demonstrate to them that it will not happen again. While they may expel you, I think most academic misconduct panels would look favourably on a student who comes forth on there own with a plan in place. The committee should then be obliged to bring he matter forward with the presses and will negotiate a settlement.</p>\n\n<p>As for loss of honor, it sounds like you plagiarised because you did not understand the norms. While some people will hold this against you, more will look favourably on your ability to admit a mistake.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23305,
"author": "Murphy",
"author_id": 16078,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16078",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>StrongBad's answer is a good one though I would also suggest that when you approach anyone about it: have completed revisions of the papers with proper references on hand. </p>\n\n<p>Going to them with \"I just realized I made a mistake, these are the fixed versions I'd like to replace my old papers with\" is probably better than just \"I made a mistake\".</p>\n\n<p>Mistakes happen all the time in all fields but I'd be more concerned about the \"intentional plagiarism\" in their shoes, intentional dishonesty is much more serious than unintentional mistakes. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/11
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23253",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17318/"
] |
23,256 |
<p>I have a question regarding a researcher’s practice in writing.</p>
<p>Let me give you some background about this issue. Here’s what this researcher does when writing introductions and literature reviews. He makes certain speculations first and then proceeds to making claims based on those initial speculations. It is worth noting that the claims he makes are sometimes too specific. Following that, he starts looking for evidence to support his claims.</p>
<p>I have tried many times to convince him and have told him that this is not the right way to write a research paper. It’s more like writing a composition rather than an academic piece of writing which aims at making contributions to the world of education.</p>
<p>Here’s part of what he recently wrote in an email in response to me:</p>
<p>“I disagree that making claims and looking for evidence supporting them is "not academic". Maybe I am wrong but this approach is less exploratory than the method you have in mind. For example, [Michael] Kane's framework is based on this method: Claim --> evidence. Kane specifically stresses the importance of opinions/judgments etc. I personally do not prefer to tie my mind merely to the literature --I do not find it much academic in the sense it does not engage me in critical thinking. My method is: "The theory I wish to develop does not exist out there; I develop and support it"”</p>
<p>I would like to have your opinion regarding this issue. Is what the researcher claims really right? If not, can you introduce some published sources which have attacked this practice?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23258,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Claim -> evidence is a perfectly valid approach. It is just that evidence is not the same as only looking for supporting information, it means critically scrutinizing all aspects that speaks for or against the claim and then drawing an educated conclusion on whether the claim is good or not. In the end the \"evidence\" is the net outcome of positive and negative support to the claim. So to me the claim that one should come up for an idea an then look for support is either poorly phrased, leading to misunderstanding, or plainly bad.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23283,
"author": "Peteris",
"author_id": 10730,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10730",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<h2>You'll find some evidence for pretty much anything</h2>\n\n<p>It is okay to make assumptions and verify them afterwards. However, there is a problem with \"looking for evidence to <strong><em>support</em></strong> his claims\" - verifying claims requires looking both for evidence that supports the claim, and also for evidence that would disprove the claim.</p>\n\n<p>Doing only one half of that will be a failure since if the claim is contested, then you'll find only what you're looking for even if the 'other side' has overwhelming support. There are many proven false things that have also some published supporting evidence.</p>\n\n<h2>You don't know if the claim is contradictory</h2>\n\n<p>There are many cases when seemingly obvious things aren't actually true. If a seemingly obvious issue is a core of your argument, you should make sure that it's true - and that includes looking also for contradictory evidence; and you know that it's not contradictory only after checking it. If it turns out false, you'd want to say \"There wasn't any published data about the falseness\", not \"Well, it was on the first page of google but I didn't bother to look for it\".</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23284,
"author": "brechmos",
"author_id": 17266,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17266",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Honestly, I suspect that a lot of research is done this way. Read a <em>couple</em> of papers, get an idea, collect data and then write the paper. During the paper writing one has to do a reasonable literature review (at least in my field) to give context to your work and why it is better. This isn't the best way of doing it.</p>\n\n<p>I believe this really separates researchers from great researchers. The great researchers have a strong knowledge of all the background papers and understand how they relate to their topic. </p>\n\n<p>As someone who has done research for 20+ years, I would really encourage any newer researcher to get a good grasp of the background papers and create an understanding of how they fit together and how your work fits into theirs.</p>\n\n<p>We all build on the shoulders of the past, it is rare to create a new research topic that is not based on past research.</p>\n\n<p>The person you mention, I think, is not creating objective work, it seems a little more subjective (though it is hard to distance yourself from your own ideas :-) ). My feeling is that <em>you</em> need to do the right thing and realize that what they are doing is not a great model (which I think you have realized already). </p>\n\n<p>I think there is a difference between assumptions and hypothesis. Assumptions, to me, seem to be unsubstantiated ideas. Hypotheses, to me, are substantiated ideas. A hypothesis typically comes from a strong knowledge of the background literature and a few good ideas you have come up with.</p>\n\n<p>Just my 2 cents.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23301,
"author": "Brian P",
"author_id": 17232,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17232",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Another way to frame this matter is in the context of the \"confirmation bias.\" This is the tendency to favor evidence to support one's stance, while ignoring contrary evidence. The social psychology literature has produced an abundance of research to show this is a very common (and unintentional) bias. I think it is perfectly acceptable to make a claim (or hypothesis) that is informed by good theory, and then seek out the relevant evidence that can help refine the claim (or hypothesis). </p>\n\n<p>The problem is not in the process of making the claim and then reviewing evidence -- rather, the problem occurs during the actual review of the evidence. If your colleague isn't aware of the possibility of a confirmation bias, it is likely that she or he will look only at the evidence that aligns with the claim. One way of minimizing the confirmation bias is to begin the search process with more of an open question that allows one to capture the full range of evidence, as opposed to just one of many possible sides.</p>\n\n<p>I highly recommend the book \"Thinking, Fast and Slow\" by Daniel Kahneman, which does an excellent job of describing many decision making processes and where people can go wrong. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/11
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23256",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17321/"
] |
23,259 |
<p>I'm a year into my PhD (electrical engineering). I loved my topic from the beginning, and the direction in which my research is going. My advisor is also a really understanding and experienced Prof.. However, I am an international student here (Netherlands) and I don't like living here. I cannot necessarily point out one particular aspect of it, but life in general doesn't "feel happy" and is now getting to me. The place where I live is also kinda dull. I doubt I could go on like this for 3 more years. Normally, in times of stress elsewhere, the social aspects or something outside work always brought up my motivation, without really trying. That here is seriously lacking, at least from my perspective. </p>
<p>I find the university's attitude towards international students a bit indifferent. And, I dislike the graduate school. Its very disorganized. I would like to point out that I have lived in many places before (in and outside my home country) and this isn't the first time I got out of my house. I even have 3 years of work experience. I enjoyed studying in the US and made good friends easily. May be it was just accidental, I don't really know.</p>
<p>To make things worse, my phd is associated with a project, which is a highly disorganized, almost a bloody joke and would mostly get worse over time. I knew this earlier, but thought it would get better. It isn't. People in the project aren't thinking like engineers, sometimes ignoring physics, in short. This causes a lot of stress sometimes and could affect my research output itself. Having said that, my output for the past few months is not great either, due to stress, but I see that as a temporary thing. </p>
<p>I am contemplating quitting the PhD but continue to work on the research, from my home country, without a job/salary, to do justice to the topic. I haven't communicated this to my prof. yet, but he knows I have second thoughts. I came here only for the love of science, to improve my skills and not to escape my country (may be the general mentality in my country towards research, however, its not good here either). Having said that, I'm open to new cultures, people, etc. There are limits though. Reports of rising xenophobia in Europe also bother me at times, worrying about how it would escalate in the future. </p>
<p>In short, I feel the cons are outweighing the pros (funded phd, awesome topic, good prof.) and the cons might invoke lot more stress in the long run. I have no issues with the stress of learning and discovery itself. I understand that this is the essential stress. What I find difficult (and made me quit jobs) is the stress caused by bad policies/ attitude, peers, society, etc. And I find putting up with these things a waste of time and mental energy. </p>
<p>I would appreciate your opinion or recommendation on quitting in such a situation. Thanks for reading</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23276,
"author": "max_heap",
"author_id": 17340,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17340",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I am not international, but understand what you're going through. In fact, when I was in undergraduate, I had an Italian friend in your exact position who left after a year to go to graduate school in Europe...so it certainly does happen. A couple pieces of advice:</p>\n\n<p>1) have a plan for where you are going before you leave. I'm not sure about the Netherlands, but the economy in the US is not completely back to normal and it can take time to find (good work)...even for well educated folks. As you said, having a funded PhDs is a pro, so don't waste it! At the very least, use this time to study all of your interests, not just your dissertation topic. For example, if you want to become a computer programmer, master some languages, contribute to some projects and document your work on (e.g.) GitHub. This can help out A LOT if you decide to leave.</p>\n\n<p>2) having a good advisor and topic are the most important pros. I live in a great place (nyc area) with great friends...but my advisor and I have communication issues (I chose poorly) and my topic is not so interesting. For me, these cons (sort of) cancel out the pros as they make life miserable more often than not. On the other hand, if you live in the middle of nowhere...I can understand why you'd want to leave...but you may not find such a great advisor and topic elsewhere! </p>\n\n<p>At the end of the day, of course, you have to choose for yourself. But I would say that if you are currently doing what you want to do and/or this is the kind of work you would like to do after leaving/graduating, then you should stay. At least until something comes along you know would be better for you. Plus, things could get better for you at school within the next year or so (graduate school is long) and the you would be leaving for no good reason!</p>\n\n<p>Good luck!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23277,
"author": "user3079666",
"author_id": 11719,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11719",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I'll start with telling you in short about my analogous situation and how I cope with it, then I will suggest my ideas for you.<br>Situation:<br>\nIn my country we have a much loathed system where everyone participates in mass exams and the top x people who chose a particular school in a particular university make it in. This has placed me 200km from my home, which in a country about 1000km across is considered a little far from home. I hate the place I stay in but will not move out because it's practically outside the university, in one year of studies I only found one great professor in my field, the other decent professors are into areas indifferent to me (I am into software, they teach hardware), or teach math and physics. As for classes with other professors, they are generally ridiculous and to pass them you have to rely on open courseware and books. Also the school is disorganized and this has cost me, semester exams are incoherent, while it's hard to find out about any papers you might need for a class, changes in the schedule and so on. In short, I can't wait to get out of here.<br><br>My approach:<br>\nWhat I do to compensate is work on my own on stuff, I am aiming to get Microsoft and Oracle certifications in summer, have participated in an international contest held by Microsoft (nothing achieved but they know my name at least, and gave some good comments), and am up-first in the list of new Microsoft student partners for October (the whole Microsoft thing is because it's the only company that opens doors to students in the area). I am more specifically headed for game programming and thus have started learning the systems of Unreal and Crytek, and am trying to write lots of tutorials on my webpage, which I see many others saying that is what earned them their job.<br>The result:<br>\nEssentially, I see this as defying the awful circumstances and trying to surpass the diploma of CS I will get in 4 years (I also have more personal reasons), because professors are indifferent, incompetent, or anything else, and I get to forget about where I am. It is also said that when one gets through something hard, the best chance he's got is getting devoted to work. Looking back at these 8-9 months, I realize that 85% or so of the progress was done in the last 4 months, and the rate with which I advance grows exponentially (though exams have brought it to a halt currently). It has been lots of fun, I now know a few people who are graduating next year and sooner or later will be in the industry, and I have stuff to write about in my CV.<br><br>Bringing it to your needs:<br>\nTalk to the professor and see if the system there will allow you to switch to another project or work on one you pick and start yourself, this way you have a clean project and make sure the team is reliable and serious about it. You can also see if you can reboot the Phd altogether. I will insist on starting your own side projects, and try to see what the world thinks of them, it is very rewarding. It will also prove your point to the professor that you are serious about your work and held back by the others. Even if you do quit, when interviewed for another PhD you can show your work and show them the exact same thing, that you are good in what you do but will require them to give you at least a neutral environment.<br>\nIn any case, see if you can change the project or the team, or if you can reboot the PhD, if you decide it is insufferable and see no way out of it, make sure you have already started your own projects and work, and look for another PhD you are interested in, since you have started for a PhD, make sure you get one, whether it be there or elsewhere, otherwise you are taking a step backwards. Whatever you do though, I insist that you start a project of your own, that fascinates you, straight away, and as soon as you have something you can show, make sure one can verify that you are indeed doing it.\nI hope I helped in any way, I am in a similar situation psychologically so i thought I should share my experience.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/11
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23259",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17323/"
] |
23,268 |
<p>I am wondering how long it usually takes to read a research article. I can see that the answer depends on:</p>
<ul>
<li>The knowledge and intelligence of the reader</li>
<li>The field of research</li>
<li>The journal</li>
<li>The individual paper</li>
</ul>
<p>So I am particularly interested in how long a PhD student or a young post-doc would take to get through a molecular or systems biology paper published in journals like <em>Nature</em>, <em>Science</em>, <em>Cell</em>, <em>PLoS</em> and <em>PNAS</em>. We can focus on papers of typical complexity for the journal, and ignore those that are exceptionally easy to read or exceptionally complex.</p>
<p>On multiple occasions I have been able to skim an 8 page, 5 figure paper in as little as 10-15 minutes. From this I could glean enough information to follow and even participate in a class or journal club discussion (though there would be a lot of asking question like "how exactly did they do this/explain this in the paper? I didn't read very carefully").</p>
<p>However, when a paper is very important (for example I want to use a variation of their methods for my own project) I feel the need to read it much more carefully. It seems worthwhile to closely look at even very trivial things, such as description of standard procedures like cell culture in the methods, exactly how much of each chemical was used for simple, routine reactions, close examination of control experiments from the supplement, what papers the paper has referenced to justify their work, and even what commercial systems were used and from which company, and whether the paper actually followed the protocol in the manual and so on. After putting this much effort, I also feel like I should take notes. This produces a heavily highlighted and annotated paper plus about 4 pages of notes.</p>
<p>All of this takes a lot of time. Occasionally it could take me a few days to work my way through a very important paper (for instance, if their method is unfamiliar to me and I will be adapting it for my own research, or if I want to draw conclusions by reanalyzing their data).</p>
<p>My question is, is this typical? How long do you usually take to read a paper? Should I start putting effort into teaching myself to read faster, or should I just accept it and make time by scheduling other activities to accomodate paper reading?</p>
<hr>
<p>I can imagine an "incremental" strategy for reading at arbitrary depth. For instance, you could read the paper several times, each time reading more carefully, like so:</p>
<ol>
<li>Read only the title, parts of the abstract, and look at the pictures.</li>
<li>Read abstract more carefully, look at title headingfs of results section.</li>
<li>Quickly skim the results section to look for main point of the paper.</li>
<li>Scan introduction and discussion, read results carefully to understand obvious limitations of their conclusions.</li>
<li>Carefully read all sections, including methodology, to make a comprehensive list of all assumptions made and all potential issues with the research.</li>
<li>Carefully go through all supplements, look at raw data if any and consult the other papers cited as justification to contextualize the research.</li>
</ol>
<p>Logically, I see the merit of something like this, but I haven't tried it for the "dense" readings I've talked about above. The reason is that I'm not sure how I can take notes effectively when I do something like the above. It may also be harder to motivate myself to re-read a paper I've already skimmed, because I've given away the punchline to myself and the novelty factor is gone.</p>
<p>I've also written an <a href="https://math.stackexchange.com/a/617995">answer on Mathematics@SE</a>, which I think might be relevant to this question.</p>
<p>Note that I am not asking how to read a paper. This has been addressed in several previous questions already. I am only asking <em>how long it should take</em> a typical junior scientist to read one, so I can benchmark myself and see if I am slower or faster than is usual.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23279,
"author": "Veera",
"author_id": 15993,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15993",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Though not an expert in reading journals, I would like to provide my point of view. Actually the answer for the question can be made from different perspectives. \nWe read journal articles for multiple reasons:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Present in a journal club</li>\n<li>Attend a journal club</li>\n<li>Search for a protocol</li>\n<li>Search for a reference</li>\n<li>curiosity about some novelty in the article</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>In each of these situations the way you read the article would be different along with the time taken to read the article. If I am looking for a particular protocol, lets say, genotyping a polymorphism, I will scan the abstract for the polymorphism name and then I will head straight to the methods to see the genotyping procedure. So this could be as quick as a 30 second search, provided you know for what and where to look. </p>\n\n<p>Lets say, I am looking for data about the prevalence of a particular disease in a specific population. So again, I will scan the abstract for the disease name and the methodology, will head straight to the tables to seen the number of participants diseased out of the total cohort, which also could be a 30 second search provided I know where to look. </p>\n\n<p>Lets say I am attending a journal club and I have the article with me. I will read the abstract, then the conclusion, then glance the tables and figures, then will see the techniques they used just to make sure I know about the techniques before I attend the journal club. It will not be always feasible for the presenter to explain in detail about the techniques in the presentation. This should take around 10 minutes plus the time you spend on search unknown techniques. </p>\n\n<p>Lastly, If am going to present an article in journal club, surely I will be reading the article again and again till I have a thorough understanding for my presentation. Every time I read, I will find a new information in the article. Here the time required will be based on your familiarity with the field and the complexity of the article. It could be hours or days. So according to me its the knowledge about the structure of the journal in your field of expertise matters, than the time taken to read the article. </p>\n\n<p><em>The time factor depends on what is your objective is from reading the article.</em></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23281,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As you have alluded to, there are many ways to \"read\" a paper and the first question to straighten out is for what type of information are you reading a specific paper. A beginner's mistake is to believe you need to read from the first to the last letter of everything you find. This way you never get anywhere and it is the beginning of the learning curve for undergraduates.</p>\n\n<p>If you are surveying a field, you skim through by reading the titles first of all just to spot the ones of interest. This reading takes much less time than to actually find the title. Once you are past this you may take on the abstracts to weed out the ones that sounded right but were off topic. This will take a few minutes per paper. The next step is to read the parts that are of interest to you. Are your summarizing a field then conclusions and the discussion may be what you focus on. Maybe your summarizing methodology then those chapters are of interest. In any case, you will read parts of the paper that are mostly relevant to what you are trying to find out. This may take a on the order of hours, sometimes less per paper.</p>\n\n<p>Sometimes you need to spend time on papers to understand the nitty gritty details. I spent 4 days reading three papers to understand the details. I needed to write down equations and try to see the missing steps between the paper equations to understand the derivations etc. This type of reading is not what you normally do but it certainly happens.</p>\n\n<p>So in the end, what you will learn through your PhD is to hone your skills to be able to focus on the details you really need from any paper. It is rare that one reads one paper at a time, usually it is a collection of papers and one often has to return to check on details that you either have forgotten, or may have missed, or, in fact, the author has missed. The need to go into the smallest detail of a paper depends on what you need to get out of the paper and with time (continuing through your professional life) you will improve on these skills through additional reading.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 51570,
"author": "Suntropical",
"author_id": 38595,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/38595",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Firstly, I agree with the first response, that , in very well written terms the question has pointed out tthe diverse ways to attack a diligently written paper. In fact I would define a typical paper to be read as a slight variation of the same. </p>\n\n<p>I usually let the first read be to grasp the salient points from the paper, and also define:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>whether i need it as ateast a typical paper for my future work</li>\n<li>if the paper needs to be stored in memory and needs to be noted and annotated.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>If the paper does not satisfy the above, it is as good as read.</p>\n\n<p>If the paper satisfies any of these two conditions or both, I would prefer, rather than assigning a long private time for it to be read ( which I have found can absorb as much time as i have) to tackle as under</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>reread it on the flip side of another paper i am conversant with , in a similar area ( I always have more than one paper to tackle) </li>\n<li>reread tougher sections, important sections separately in 20 minute capsules and be sure to carry the conversant science of the paper ( I work in the Finance area and handle complex modelling etc, but I find it also works for any complex management/strategy/organization/communication construct) </li>\n<li>Set down a one hour-90 minute window to annotate all the sections and write out the notes for further dissemination or review</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>Let me know your thoughts on the strategy</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 144461,
"author": "Ian Sudbery",
"author_id": 82972,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/82972",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>So this IS my field, but I can obviously only answer for me. </p>\n\n<p>The first thing to say is that this is going to change a lot during your career, and different people will take different amounts of time to reach various milestones. </p>\n\n<p>Assuming we are not taking about a \"quick skim\", I'd say I now take about an hour to read you average Mol/Sys bio paper. This would be well enough to lead an informal discussion of it (which is how we do our journal clubs), if not quite present a full stand-at-the-front and deliver journal club. </p>\n\n<p>When I started my PhD (17 years ago), reading to the same level would take me a full day. I guess when I started my postdoc it was somewhere in between. Maybe 2-3 hours. </p>\n\n<p>Obviously, if its a paper I need to know back-to-front, inside out, and be able to disect every possible problem or highlight, then its going to take me longer, but I probably wouldn't do that all at once. I'd probably do my 1-hour read, and then come back to particular bits, as and when needed. </p>\n\n<p>Because of my dylexia and dyspraxia, I've never been much of a skimmer. I think this was a benefit when I was a PhD/postdoc, as I was always more aware of the subtleties of papers, and all of the caveats, and methodological quirks of the papers in my field. Now I am faculty, its a real problem, as I just can't keep up with everything I need to be aware of. So different career stages also require different strategies. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/11
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23268",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/244/"
] |
23,271 |
<p>Do a lot of graduate programs provide assistantships to their students (e.g. teaching or research assistantships)? How common is it for graduate students to be paid while going to graduate school? </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23273,
"author": "Brian P",
"author_id": 17232,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17232",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This depends on many factors, including the discipline, the degree, and the institution. Some disciplines have a lot more research dollars to support research assistants. For example, scientifically oriented programs tend to have more money to support students than liberal arts degrees; PhD programs tend to have more money than terminal Master's programs; and, of course, educational institutions exhibit a lot variability in terms of their overall resources. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 30833,
"author": "A.S",
"author_id": 22447,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/22447",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>To answer your first question:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Do a lot of graduate programs provide assistantships to their students\n (e.g. teaching or research assistantships)?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>In my experience, programs do not provide assistantships -- professors do. When you are applying to a program, whether Master's or PhD, your application is considered in relation to work that the faculty of that department have on the table for the next year or several years. For RAships this is grant-funded projects; for TAships these are large-workload courses. </p>\n\n<p>In my understanding, just about all graduate programs (except not so much in professional degrees like business, law, medicine, and perhaps a couple others - although there are definitely exceptions) provide R/TAships. This is so for simple reasons that there is research and teaching to be done, faculty don't have time to do it all by themselves, and graduate students are the cheapest workforce with post-Bachelor credentials for an institution of higher education. </p>\n\n<p>So, yes, a lot of programs provide these assistantships. You should assume the program you are applying to does. This is easily confirmed by reviewing the websites of current grant-funded projects run by the faculty (research groups/labs/centers) and seeing if they have graduate students on their rosters.</p>\n\n<p>To the second question:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>How common is it for graduate students to be paid while going to\n graduate school?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>This largely depends on the size (for TAships) and/or amount of research activity (for RAships) at the institution and the department in question. The typical heuristic applies: engineering and engineering-like hard sciences tend to be better funded, philosophy and theater tend to be barely scraping by, and the social sciences are somewhere in between. (Of course there are exceptions to every rule, and you might find a truly flourishing social science program here and there, just as you might find a relatively cash-light hard science program.)</p>\n\n<p>Beyond these generalities, it depends on the fit between you (your qualifications and goals) and the on-going projects and needs of the faculty who will be advising you and whose research you are interested in. Most likely you will at times have to reconcile the trade-off between seeking an RAship on a project you are not really interested in, or proudly sticking with doing exactly what you want to be doing while paying out-of-pocket or debt financing your studies. This is the nature of the graduate game, and THAT is indeed common. Good Luck!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 30834,
"author": "mako",
"author_id": 5962,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5962",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Generally, if it's a research degree (i.e., a PhD or a research-focused Masters designed to lead to a PhD), some form of assistantship or fellowship will be provided to cover tuition and a stipend. The details including the nature, requirements, stipend size, and other perks will vary by field, institution, and department and sometimes even by how much a department or professor wants a particular student. The degree to which this funding or these assistantships are guaranteed — and the periods during which they are guaranteed — can vary as well. </p>\n\n<p>If the graduate degree is a non-research masters (e.g., an MBA) assistantships will almost never be offered or guaranteed although they are sometimes possible. Most students are expected to pay.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/12
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23271",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14040/"
] |
23,272 |
<p>I am a PhD student studying in the US and I am interested in finding research-grants relevant to the research area to which I have recently switched to, viz. computational geometry problems in robotics. </p>
<p>As of now, I don't want to apply for a grant, but I want to get an
overview for what kinds of problems do public and private research grants get offered to researchers in my field. </p>
<p>While googling I stumbled upon <a href="http://www.grants.gov/web/grants/home.html" rel="nofollow">grants.gov</a> on which different government agencies post funding opportunities relevant to their interests, and that this
database is searchable by keyword. </p>
<p>The NSF website is also very useful. However
their grant solicitations like this <a href="http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2013/nsf13579/nsf13579.htm" rel="nofollow">one</a> seem quite open-ended
and are not more specific on what kinds of problems need to be solved, (but please correct me if I am wrong, I am still exploring this website! :-D )</p>
<p><strong>QUESTION:</strong></p>
<p>Are there similar "messaging-boards" where <strong>private</strong> companies, interested in funding university research for a relevant problem post their funding opportunities? If not, how do you efficiently find such grants ? </p>
<p>I am interested in this because I feel private companies will be more specific on what kinds of problems they encounter and would like to be solved. </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23330,
"author": "Brian P",
"author_id": 17232,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17232",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I suggest that you avoid the message board approach to locating funding and learn about the major funders in your particular area of study. You can do this by looking at the CV's of leading researchers (in your area) and see where they have received their funding. Some areas are pretty clear -- for example, most of the allied health disciplines receive funding from the National Institutes of Health. Other areas might be supported by the National Science Foundation, whereas others might be funded by private foundation with very specific interests. So, learn the entities that are interested in your area of study, as they all do not post to the same message boards. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23333,
"author": "Ari Trachtenberg",
"author_id": 15885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15885",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>In the US, students generally do not apply for grants (except for specific fellowships for graduate students - NSF, DoD, Hertz, and the like); it is the advisor's job to find funding for the student.</p>\n\n<p>If you want to get a general sense of the funding picture in computational geometry, I suggest you look at recently funded proposals on nsf.gov (their abstracts should be publicly visible) and follow up directly (and with due preparation) with the principal investigator of the corresponding grant.</p>\n\n<p>Your best bet is to attract the attention of a well-known researcher in the field, and, given the current academic pressures, they are very likely to have some funding for students.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/12
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23272",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7489/"
] |
23,287 |
<p>Some years ago, I studied in a small training center that had a "cooperative arrangement" with a larger university. I earned a graduate certificate bearing the name of the university along with graduate credits and a transcript from the university, but attended courses in the training center. I put these details on my CV:</p>
<pre><code>2005 Graduate Certificate in X <location>, University of X
</code></pre>
<p>Recently, the training center and university ended their cooperative arrangement and the training center has a new partnership with another university. Do I need to adjust my CV to reflect the change?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23289,
"author": "brechmos",
"author_id": 17266,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17266",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Funny, this just happened to me!</p>\n\n<p>On my CV/resume I now have the title of the section as\":</p>\n\n<p><em>Masters of Science, University of XXXXX (now called XXXX University)</em></p>\n\n<p>My degree <em>is</em> from \"University of XXXX\" and so I feel that should go first. BUT, it would be a good idea to acknowledge the name change, as people will get confused, and so I added it as a parenthetical comment.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23294,
"author": "avid",
"author_id": 15798,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15798",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I think the best approach is to keep the original CV entry, as this represents the <em>actual</em> qualification that you received. However, you might choose to add a note explaining the history, if you think this is likely to be helpful to prospective readers. </p>\n\n<p>I agree that in the case described by @brechmos, where a university has changed its name, providing this information is likely to be useful. It's less clear to me that this is true in the OP's case: it seems (essentially) that the qualification he has used to be accredited by University X, and is now accredited by University Y. It's not clear to me why this would be useful information to someone reading the CV. I guess it might be relevant if the training centre has a high enough profile that people now naturally associate it with University Y, and would think that something listed with University X must be a different centre. Otherwise, I suspect noting the change is more likely to confuse people than help them...</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23295,
"author": "mnemonic",
"author_id": 6696,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6696",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>To use the example provided by brechmos.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Master of Science, XXXX University (formerly University of XXXXX)</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Have used this alternative in my cv. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23344,
"author": "David Richerby",
"author_id": 10685,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10685",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<pre><code>2005 Graduate Certificate in X <location>, at that time affiliated with University of Y\n</code></pre>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/12
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23287",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/600/"
] |
23,293 |
<p>I developed a medical device for my master's project. The general idea was initiated by my supervisor but the rest of the work is mine (Design, build up, test, measurements, results and some additional functions I added to the idea).</p>
<p>After finishing the master thesis my supervisor started to write a paper about my project. The information in the paper comes from my master thesis and it merely rewrites and summarizes ideas from my thesis. Additionally, all the results and discussions were also picked from it. I was away during this because I found a job in a different city. My supervisor then started to contact me and asked me to give him feedback about what he wrote and to explain the results and said that he would name me as the co-author. I was supporting until the point that I got very busy, but soon his questions become orders and he started to ask very silly questions so I stopped responding.</p>
<p>Finally, he threatened to acknowledge my contribution only, that is, to only mention my name in the acknowledgement and not as a co-author, because he was not satisfied with my support / me not responding to his requests for help with the paper.</p>
<p>The whole paper is taken from my thesis and all the results are mine on top of the added support that I gave but finally, he'll mention me in the acknowledgements only. </p>
<p>Is he right in doing this / allowed to do this and if not what can I do?</p>
<p>I am thinking of contacting the journal and explain all of this. What do you think?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23302,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As described by you, the situation demonstrates completely unethical behavior by your supervisor. You should not only be an author, you should be first author. However, your options may be limited by the fact that you have no way to exert leverage on him and/or by your need to maintain a relationship with him.</p>\n\n<p>It's not completely clear what you mean when you say that you \"stopped supporting\" him in writing up the paper. At a minimum, you need to read one draft of the paper and give substantive comments before it goes out with your name on it. If you are willing to do that much, then any threat by your supervisor to remove your name is a major ethical breach.</p>\n\n<p>You say that his questions were \"very silly\" and that his question became orders. Keep in mind that your supervisor wouldn't ask the questions if he believed they were silly. If you haven't told him that it's a problem that he's giving you orders, then he doesn't know that it's a problem. If \"stopped supporting\" just means that you stopped answering his emails, then his reaction becomes more understandable. If you simply stop communicating without telling him there's a problem, then he doesn't know that his style of interaction is a problem for you.</p>\n\n<p>This depends somewhat on culture -- what country are you in? In US academic culture, the way I would suggest handling this is to send him an email saying something like the following.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Joe, I used to be your student, but now I've graduated, and our relationship is a relationship between colleagues. I have a problem with the language you've been using in your emails to me, because your phrasing sounds like you're giving orders. Moving forward, please use more respectful language. I am willing to provide a reasonable amount of help with any difficulties you have in interpreting my old lab notes, etc., and putting my thesis in shape as a scientific paper. But I have a new job, and the time I have for this kind of thing is limited. I would like to advise you formally at this time that it is not acceptable to me for these results to be published without my name as an author; in fact, I should be first author on any paper that comes out of this. It is also not acceptable to me to enter into discussions in which putting my name on the paper is a bargaining chip. That issue is not negotiable.</p>\n</blockquote>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23303,
"author": "Alexandros",
"author_id": 10042,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10042",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I will try to give my perspective, on both sides if possible. In many countries, most incentive professors have for supervising undergraduate or MSc theses, is that some of them (or all if possible) may actually lead to a publication. There is a problem though: Most of the time undergraduate or MSc students leave the university and the paper usually can only be prepared after the student graduates. Unfortunately, at that time the student has already left academia and has really no interest in publishing, since he has more important things to do (like finding a job). This is quite the setting that the OP describes. </p>\n\n<p>Still in your case, your supervisor of the thesis has started writing the paper himself and he needs your help. Initially you provided the help needed but you became frustrated because it was more work than you wanted / expected to do, because (let's face it) the paper really does not make a huge difference to you. On the other hand, you want to stop him from publishing it solo. So, both parties are partially right to be angry at each other. You do not want to take orders from him and he does not want to be treated like an idiot (who calls his questions silly) from his former student. </p>\n\n<p>So, how can you fix this? For me, writing emails back and forth is not the way to discuss details for a paper. Why don't you use a better mean of communication such as skype, face-to-face meeting, phone call etc. You can there discuss all the details and your problem will be resolved. Of course he writes the paper and he will be the first author. But you get a publication and everyone is happy. And who knows? In the future you may collaborate further.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 98733,
"author": "meytal",
"author_id": 82723,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/82723",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Publish the paper by yourself. Just put it in the archive. Don't let him steal your work. Seems like your adviser just manipulated the situation so you lost the will to publish your work. As you mentioned he made it impossible for you to publish and he asks silly questions, its the very same experience that I had with my adviser. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/12
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23293",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17362/"
] |
23,296 |
<p>I am currently writing a thesis in which a lot of derivations are moved to the appendix. To make these derivations readable, I sometimes write sentences like "As we saw in equation X...", where equation X is present both in the main text as well as in the appendix. </p>
<p>My question: should I, while writing the appendix, reference the instance of the equation in the main text, or the one in the appendix?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23297,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>In general, it is always easier if your cross-reference is relatively nearby—flipping between multiple parts of a text makes the whole thing harder to understand.</p>\n\n<p>So I'd lean towards referencing the version in the appendix, all other things being equal. However, if you are referencing a whole series of equations in the main text, including one duplicated in the Appendix, then it would be OK to preserve the main-text reference.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23298,
"author": "Bill Barth",
"author_id": 11600,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11600",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I would reference the appendix number in the appendix so as not to break the flow, but you might also footnote a cross-reference to the place where it appeared in the main text if it helps remind the reader.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23299,
"author": "avid",
"author_id": 15798,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15798",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>My approach is usually to write something like</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>\"... and we arrive at</p>\n \n <p>(A3) E=mc^2</p>\n \n <p>as in equation (42) of the main text. Now, substituting for m in (A3) we obtain...\"</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>etc. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/12
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23296",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10939/"
] |
23,300 |
<p>I have been a PhD student in an institute for the last 4 years and now my deadline to submit my thesis is in another 40 days. When I joined the institute, official papers were signed stating that Professor X will be my first reviewer and will grade my thesis. By regulation, the first reviewer has to belong to the same faculty, but he was not from our group, and we did not have much contact with each other. </p>
<p>Now that I am ready to submit my thesis, he decides to back out on reasons stating that I was not in touch with him (but I was never told by my supervisor or by him that I need to regularly contact him). </p>
<p>Does this happen and is this allowed since official University papers were signed 4 years ago saying he will be my first reviewer?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23329,
"author": "Brian P",
"author_id": 17232,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17232",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Such situations are not uncommon in academia. I would caution you against trying to get this person back as a reviewer, even though you have signed papers from 4 years ago. Simply respect that person's decision to back out, thank her or she for their time thus far, and invest your energies finding somebody that will serve as a reviewer so you can graduate. Perhaps this sounds like rather odd advice. Just put yourself in the shoes of a person who doesn't want to serve as a reviewer but is subsequently forced to do so. You are at risk of getting a very unfavorable review, and the 40 days could become much longer. You have plenty of time to get somebody on board, and you will certainly encounter situations in your future career that are far more egregious.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 161268,
"author": "Blizzard",
"author_id": 91839,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/91839",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This happened to me, too: one of my committee members was suddenly unavailable for several months and unable/unwilling to work with me on scheduling my defense.</p>\n<p>My process:</p>\n<ol start=\"0\">\n<li>Took deep breaths and stopped panicking.</li>\n<li>Reviewed the profiles of all eligible faculty members in the university</li>\n<li>Picked a shortlist of 3 people in related fields that I wanted to meet</li>\n<li>Asked my advisors for feedback (valuable - they knew who was a difficult committee member)</li>\n<li>Emailed my top choice, Prof. S, to be on my committee.</li>\n<li>Got a positive reception, met with Prof. S to discuss my work; they were friendly and mildly interested.</li>\n<li>Scheduled the defense (tough, with five professors).</li>\n<li>Sent my thesis out for reading, defended, and passed!</li>\n</ol>\n<p>I believe this worked out well, and instead of a reluctant committee member, I got exposure to the leader of a significant program in my field. It still wasn't ideal, however, and I would've been in a bad position if Prof. S took issue with me, my other committee members, or my work.</p>\n<p>You could also skip to step (3) and ask your advisors for advice - but I think it's worth taking control of an issue with so much potential influence on your career.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/12
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23300",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17368/"
] |
23,304 |
<p>I want to obtain a masters degree at a certain top university (in Canada).</p>
<p>However, I was kicked out of the department due to my bad performance. Repeated attempts at getting back in were unsuccessful.</p>
<p>I have since then fixed my lack of discipline, achieved top grades at a "lesser" university, graduated with a bachelor's degree, and have worked (in a relevant field) for 7 years.</p>
<p>I was wondering how, or if I should even consider applying to my original university.</p>
<p>The reason is purely for my self confidence and, I guess, my ego. I got into that top university with excellent grades, but I was not ready to become an independent adult; computer games dominated my life until my final semester when I finally couldn't hang on anymore.</p>
<p>Graduating with top grades at another university showed that I picked myself up, but I want to prove to my family, the university, and mostly to myself, that I have the abilities to achieve what I could not 7 years ago.</p>
<p>The university is the <em>top</em> university at the field I study, in Canada. US have a couple comparable or better ones, but I cannot afford to go to those...</p>
<p>I know I can apply to another university, but I really want to find a way back in to my old university, and only apply elsewhere if no other options are available...</p>
<p>Any advice is fully appreciated.</p>
<p><strong>Update</strong>:
Clarification - I am asking this because that university has my status listed as "may not continue in Faculty"</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23309,
"author": "brechmos",
"author_id": 17266,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17266",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Keep trying! I was on academic probation (at a Canadian university :-) ) after my first year of undergrad (2.88 gpa). Thankfully I did not get kicked out. I persevered and now have an MSc and PhD and have been doing medical research for many years. Don't take this as gloating, just trying to say anything is possible :-).</p>\n\n<p>Now, it will depend a lot on the university or department, but if you can convince a faculty member in the department that you want to do research and that you have completely changed your attitude, maybe they will have some sway (at least with the department). In my field, it is primarily a matter of convincing a faculty member (assuming the grades in the \"lesser\" university were good). Again, this will depend on the department.</p>\n\n<p>Alternatively, maybe you can make an appointment with the admissions department and make a case to them why you should be allowed back in to the university. I suspect many would take your 7 years of experience as a growth experience.</p>\n\n<p>Good luck!</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23311,
"author": "P. O.",
"author_id": 15837,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15837",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Usually, in Canada there's a limit for that kind of status. For example if you drop a Master program from Concordia (like I did)there's a five terms period before reapplying. Here's an extract from the regulation that <a href=\"http://web2.concordia.ca/graduatestudies/publications/graduatecalendar/current/graduateadmission/\">applies</a>: </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Re-Admission of Withdrawn Students</p>\n \n <p>Students who have been withdrawn from a graduate program for academic\n reasons (e.g. <strong>low GPA, C or F grades)</strong> may wish to be considered for\n re-admission into the program. Normally, students must have been\n withdrawn from the program for a minimum of five terms in order to be\n reconsidered. A request for re-admission is considered to be a new\n application. Students who wish to be considered for re-admission must\n submit an on-line application, along with the required application\n fee. Documentation (e.g. CV, transcripts) <strong>showing professional or\n educational accomplishments since the student was withdrawn must be\n submitted</strong> along with a recommendation for re-admission by the degree\n program.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>At McGill (in the top 20 of univerties in North-America) it's two years for <a href=\"http://www.mcgill.ca/study/2012-2013/faculties/medicine/graduate/gps_gen_admission_for_grad_studies\">medicine</a> </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>If an individual has not registered for a period of more than two\n years, their student file will be closed. <strong>These individuals and\n those who have formally withdrawn</strong> may be considered for admission.\n Applicants' admission applications will be considered as part of the\n current admission cycle, in competition with other people applying\n during that cycle and in accordance with current graduate admission\n procedures and policies.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Also for Graduate studies in Canada there's a lot of exceptions made, whatever regulation says. Try to contact the head of the department you're interested in. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23334,
"author": "Tom Au",
"author_id": 755,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/755",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I don't know what conditions are like at a Canadian University, but I graduated from a top American university and am basing my answer on this background.</p>\n\n<p>Most universities, graduate faculties included, will base their decisions on an applicant's more recent experience. If you have top grades from a \"lesser\" university, that should be good enough (provided of course, that your target university routinely admits students from the other university). The seven years of work experience further separate you from your unfortunate undergraduate experience. College faculties are aware of \"youthful indiscretions\" with drinking, partying, etc. and are looking for signs that you have progressed beyond that point.</p>\n\n<p>When I was admitted to a graduate school, I was told, \"you only have to prove yourself once.\" That is, you will be admitted (or not), based on your \"high water mark;\" your highest level of achievement. They're not looking to disqualify you for things that happened maybe ten years ago; they're looking to see if your highest level of demonstrated aptitude meets their requirements. Good luck. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/12
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23304",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17371/"
] |
23,313 |
<p>I just finished my first year of my Master's program in Atmospheric Sciences, and during this time I was a teaching assistant. Now that the summer has arrived, I'm starting as a research assistant with my advisor at the university I'm enrolled at, as well as a research assistant with a government organization. I'm currently working at this government organization, but I'm still getting paid equally between my two advisors.</p>
<p>Getting to the point, my research is a bit ambiguous at the moment. My advisor from my university doesn't have a clear project for me to work on, and my other advisor has provided some insight into what I can work on, but it isn't much better. I'm worried that the summer will be unproductive, and my chances of graduating on time (2 years total for me degree) will be put into jeopardy. Can anyone offer advice/insight into this? It would be greatly appreciated.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23314,
"author": "Ari Trachtenberg",
"author_id": 15885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15885",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You need to press your advisors for more guidance. Although it is appropriate (and valuable) to give a PhD student room to develop his/her own research ideas, a Masters student typically needs guidance, at least a promising direction that the advisor can see resulting in a thesis.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23320,
"author": "NauticalMile",
"author_id": 9139,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9139",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I would say this is your opportunity to explore and find a (hopefully small) gap in the literature that you can fill. Reading literature reviews is the best way to start. I had a similar experience a little earlier in my degree (masters), and I was able to pick a topic that I loved, and it kept me going; I am almost finished, and it has been, IMO, a successful endeavor.</p>\n\n<p>If you are applying to a PhD program after, you will have experience exploring a little on your own. Your advisor will be able to say in their recommendation letter that you took initiative in your research.</p>\n\n<p>The difficult part will be carving out something meaningful that you can do in 7-9 months (1 month to research and decide & 2-4 months for thesis writing and defense at the end). Your advisor should be able to help you to narrow the scope to something manageable.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/12
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23313",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17377/"
] |
23,317 |
<p>As a recent B.S. recipient interested in pursuing a PhD in molecular biology in the future, are there any disadvantages to publishing outside of that field? I have a strong background in computer science and have been approached separately by a public health professor and a linguistics professor who are interested in collaborating on their respective projects and perhaps working towards a paper over the summer.</p>
<p>While I enjoy solving computational problems, I'm not sure whether this is a good idea professionally. Does publishing papers in other fields take away from the research I've already done? I've so far only contributed to two papers in my "field of expertise".</p>
<p><strong>What are the downsides to collaborating on a paper outside of one's field?</strong> Is this frowned upon by the academic community/graduate admission programs?</p>
<p>Related question -- <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/814/is-it-beneficial-to-publish-papers-not-related-to-your-primary-research-field">advantages to publishing outside of primary research field</a></p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23324,
"author": "user30295",
"author_id": 15478,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15478",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>Although I cannot speak directly to the field of computer sciences, I can say that in social sciences <em>any</em> peer reviewed publications would be viewed positively on an applicant's CV. At this stage in your career this shows you're motivated, capable of contributing to academic work, and have some familiarity with the writing process. The fact is that many undergraduates may not have access to opportunities to publish in the field they hope to enter, but instead seek to gain research experience and publication opportunities with faculty who are willing to work with and train them. Many academic skills, such as writing articles, are transferable between disciplines, and working with these professors may provide you with strong reference letters when you do apply to graduate school. So long as this opportunity is not coming at the expense of something more directly related to your major, I think it could be a very valuable experience which could positively impact (or at least will not hurt) your future applications. </p>\n\n<p>As a final note, be sure that you are able to explain the project and your role in the project in future application materials and interviews. If this is outside your field of study, don't be shy about asking the professors questions so that you have a solid grasp of the project's purpose. The only time I have seen undergraduate publications backfire is when the person is unable to explain the work, and it becomes clear they did nothing but data entry. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 188601,
"author": "Dikran Marsupial",
"author_id": 2827,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/2827",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Interdisciplinarity is a positive benefit in the sciences, collaborations have the capacity to be more than just the sum of their parts. The thing that is required is the ability for e.g. molecular biologists and computer scientists to have a common frame of reference to communicate effectively, so as a molecular biologist with some computational experience, that is extremely valuable in facilitating collaborations. I'd say there is no disadvantage to this, you are demonstrating a really useful skill for molecular biology.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/12
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23317",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17331/"
] |
23,332 |
<p>I recently got an unsolicited email advertising a questionable-looking mathematics journal. Upon investigation, it looks pretty shady: page charges, manuscripts to be submitted in Microsoft Word (legitimate math journals <em>always</em> use LaTeX), overbroad scope, and a promise for peer review within two months (unreasonably short for mathematics). </p>
<p>In its three years of operation, one particular author has been published in it three times, including an “elementary” proof of Fermat’s Last Theorem, and another paper that appears to be a proof of a statement for which an explicit numerical counterexample is known. (Interestingly, it appears the same author has also published a proof of the Goldbach conjecture in a journal with a nearly identical name from another publisher indexed in MathSciNet, and has also apparently settled the Twin Primes and Collatz conjectures!)</p>
<p>(Since the preceding paragraph may not make any sense to non-mathematicians, let me say: this is roughly the equivalent of a physics journal publishing a paper that claims to have achieved time travel with household materials. I should note that the journal has a subscription fee (which I have no intention of paying), so I can't actually read the articles in question; but their abstracts are pretty damning.)</p>
<p>However, the journal’s editorial board includes some names from reputable institutions; people with many publications in high-quality journals. (There are many other names from institutions I know nothing about.) Giving them the benefit of the doubt, it’s entirely possible that they are not paying attention to what the journal is doing, or they agreed to be editors without checking on the journal, or even that they have been listed without their knowledge (this has been known to happen).</p>
<p><strong>Is it appropriate to try to inform these editors what’s happening in their names? If so, how can I do it tactfully?</strong></p>
<p>On the one hand, if someone was using my name on a shady journal, I’d want to know. On the other hand, I don’t want to offend or embarrass them by just sending an email saying: “this journal you edit is crap”. It’s even possible that they somehow approve of the journal (e.g. they have a philosophy that the world generally needs more journals and fewer barriers to publication), in which case, I fear no good can come of me criticizing it to them.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23335,
"author": "Ari Trachtenberg",
"author_id": 15885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15885",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You could phrase your concern in the form of a technical question:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Dear Prof. So-and-so,\n I noticed that you are on the editorial board of the Journal of Shady\n Results, which recently published the proof of a statement for which\n Other-Person provided a numerical counter-example [1]. Is the journal\n claiming [1]'s counter-example was incorrect?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>If you prefer a more indirect route, write your concerns to Beall to help expedite the journal's blacklisting. Once on the list, you can send an incredulous e-mail to the well-known person asking if he is actually involved with this journal.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23338,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I wouldn't worry too much about tact. There's enough information in your question to identify the journal, and it looks impressively bad, even by the dismal standards of junk journals. It's so terrible that I'd consider it unethical to be actively involved as an editor, and humiliating to be passively involved. Bringing this to the editors' attention would be doing them a favor: if their names are being used without their knowledge, then they'll find out, if they haven't been paying close enough attention, then they'll get a valuable wake-up call, and if they are already well aware of how terrible the journal is, then at least they'll learn that someone has noticed their involvement and disapproves. Of course it would be quite an awkward e-mail. Perhaps the easiest solution is an anonymous e-mail: it won't make things less painful for the editors, but at least it won't affect your relationship with them.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23343,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You are under no obligation to tell the editors, but if you chose to email them, it would not be out of place. The key is to not insult them or the journal. Something along the lines of \"I see you are the editor of X. I research topic Y. Do you think my research is in scope at the journal? It seems like some of the articles take a less rigorous approach than others. Can you tell me about the peer review process and any publication fees?\"</p>\n\n<p>The email handles a number of cases. If they didn't know they are an editor, they now do. If they thought the journal was thoroughly peer reviewing stuff, they now know it is not. If they did it to be able to say they are an editor, they now realise that they have been caught. If they did it because they support this type of publishing model, it will give them a chance to express their views and since they are willing to sign on as an editor, they probably are happy to express their views.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 154008,
"author": "Wrzlprmft",
"author_id": 7734,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7734",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I put this somewhat to the test.</p>\n<p>I stumbled upon a journal with very similar characteristics in another field.\nThe main difference is that it has operated for over three decades.\nI tried to contact all editors, except the top two, who were obviously “in on it”.</p>\n<ol>\n<li>I could find current contact informations for eight editors and assumed them to be somewhat active, though many of those were older than seventy.</li>\n<li>I could not find contact information for five editors, but I could reasonably guess their current or last institution. I presumed those to be very likely dead or at least retired.</li>\n<li>I found three editors to be certainly dead, one since more than a decade.</li>\n<li>I failed to identify or find any information about two editors.</li>\n</ol>\n<p>I started with e-mails to two editors from Group 1, whom I considered least likely to condone the journal’s actions. One month later, I contacted the rest from Group 1 and the last institutions for Groups 2 and 3. Another month later (now), I evaluated this. I should note that none of the editors were even remotely in my own topical vicinity, so there was very little risk of this backfiring at me.</p>\n<p>The basic e-mail I sent was (with some modifications when contacting the former institution and similar):</p>\n<blockquote>\n<h3>A dubious journal lists you as editor</h3>\n<p>Dear Prof. [name]</p>\n<p>It might interest you that a allegedly scientific journal called [name]¹ lists you as an editor. Given the state of the journal², I presume that this is without your consent or that the journal has gone south since. Please note that this is not your typical pay-to-publish predator.</p>\n<p>Best Regards,<br />\n[my name]</p>\n<p>¹ [link to journal]<br />\n² [links to exemplary, recent, and clearly unscientific articles]</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>My result was:</p>\n<ul>\n<li><p>The first two editors I contacted responded:</p>\n<ul>\n<li><p>One was grateful for being informed and quickly managed to get their name removed from the journal’s list of editors.</p>\n</li>\n<li><p>One told me that they edited some special issue for the journal decades ago and never did anything since. They shared my concerns and acknowledge that many papers are “silly”, but rather see the journal as “taking chances”. Their name is still on the list of editors.</p>\n</li>\n</ul>\n</li>\n<li><p>One former institution replied that they were looking into it. The respective editor is still on the list.</p>\n</li>\n<li><p>Nobody else responded and no other name was removed from the list of editors.</p>\n</li>\n</ul>\n<p>I don’t know whether I had a good hand picking the first two editors or whether the journal took some measures after I contacted them and before I contacted the second batch. I also have to assume that many of my e-mails to Group 1 went to inboxes that are no longer used.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/13
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23332",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010/"
] |
23,340 |
<p>I published paper 1 with a co-author A, who drew a very good illustrative figure in the introduction.</p>
<p>I want to submit paper 2 which addresses the same problem (but uses a completely different approach), so the introduction of the problem is pretty much the same. Do I need to ask A for permission to include the figure in paper 2?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23346,
"author": "xLeitix",
"author_id": 10094,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10094",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I was at the \"receiving end\" of such a case once. One of my collaborators has used a figure I have drawn for another paper that I was not a co-author of without asking me first. I did not consider this intellectual dishonesty (the figure was neither particularly brilliant nor a lot of work), but I do admit that it stung a little bit to see my own work (however tiny this \"work\" was) being used without telling. If the collaborator had just dropped a brief email before, I would have certainly not minded.</p>\n\n<p>Bottom line:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Do I need to ask A for permission to include the figure in paper 2?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Strictly speaking probably not, but you really <em>should</em> tell A.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23347,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You need to first check the copyright information (you have probably signed) from the journal/publisher where the figure is published. This will determine where the copyright for the typeset article lies. The figure is art and as such should be covered by an intellectual property, which then clearly belongs to your colleague. This issue seems to be overlooked by many copyright notices. As you probably know many publishers allow authors to post submitted (unedited) manuscripts to be posted on web-sites and repositories, but not the final typeset version. This is because the journal really does not own the intellectual thoughts in a paper but the right to publish and distribute the final version.</p>\n\n<p>To me this becomes quite confused and it is not clear if all publishers have considered the true ownership of figures. It would be useful to survey the copyrights to see how these issues are dealt with and if, for example, country specific rules apply.</p>\n\n<p>Anyway, to answer your question: tell your colleague of your intention. It is good etiquette regardless of whether or not it is necessary. When it comes to copyright of a journal: better safe than sorry; get permission. You of course need to reference your other publication and any permission that is needed. You should add your colleague's name to the acknowledgement as the originator of the figure; again etiquette.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23349,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>When you published the original article the publisher may have required the copyright on the text and all figures to be transfer to them or for them to be granted exclusive rights. Presumably based on this question, you believe that the publisher does not have exclusive rights.</p>\n\n<p>In the sciences figures are often not that valuable, but in the arts, figures can be very valuable. If someone takes a valuable photograph and grants you permission to publish that photo in a single article, then you clearly do not have the right to reproduce that photo in other articles. It is not uncommon for the artist who took the photo to be a coauthor on papers involving their photos. This doesn't change the \"ownership\" of the photo. The person who produces a photo/figure the figure is generally the copyright holder unless they sign the rights away.</p>\n\n<p>You must ask the copyright holder for permission to use the figure again. The copyright holder is likely either the person who created the figure or the publisher of the original article.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/13
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23340",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/15501/"
] |
23,348 |
<p>Is it possible to crowdfund a PhD, like <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/webwise/0/26978816" rel="nofollow noreferrer">crowdfunding business</a>?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23351,
"author": "nivag",
"author_id": 14115,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14115",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>While I'm sure its possible I haven't been able to find any examples of funding an entire PhD. However, there are quite a few examples of people crowd funding smaller individual research projects. I think there are two main reasons for this cost and accessibility. </p>\n\n<p><strong>Cost</strong></p>\n\n<p>It is really quite expensive to fund an entire PhD. If we look at the costs of a PhD (in the UK) we get.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>University fees: ~£4000 per year (~£15000 for non-EU students)</li>\n<li>Living expenses/stipend: ~£12000 per year</li>\n<li>Conferences/equipment/other stuff: ~£2-3000 per year +</li>\n<li>approx £20000 per year for 3-4 years = ~£60000 (>$100,000)</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Compare this to the average successful crowdfunding amount of <a href=\"http://blog.gogetfunding.com/crowdfunding-statistics-and-trends-infographic/\">$7000</a> and you'll see why it'll be hard to raise that sort of money and would require a very strong marketing campaign. Which brings us nicely onto</p>\n\n<p><strong>Accessibility</strong></p>\n\n<p>One of the things a successful crowd funding project needs is a good sales pitch. You need to have a very clear goal that will excite lots of people to fund you. Not many PhD projects I know could possibly fall into this category. </p>\n\n<p>For conventional crowd funding you also need to give something back to supporters to make it worth their while. While I suspect this would be less true for crowd funded research there are many people who might like to support you but cannot/will not without the prospect of some tangible return.</p>\n\n<p>What seems to be more common is to fund smaller individual projects for ~$10-20000. For example <a href=\"http://blog.gogetfunding.com/crowdfunding-statistics-and-trends-infographic/\">http://blog.gogetfunding.com/crowdfunding-statistics-and-trends-infographic/</a> although there are some bigger and smaller examples in this article <a href=\"http://www.onlinephdprograms.com/dollars-for-doctors-a-guide-to-crowdfunding-academic-research/\">http://www.onlinephdprograms.com/dollars-for-doctors-a-guide-to-crowdfunding-academic-research/</a></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23371,
"author": "magallanes",
"author_id": 17414,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17414",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>a) People crowdfunding because they want something in exchange, a better world,clean some shame, a videogame and such.</p>\n\n<p>b) PhD is a personal matter where the only people that earn something is the student. In a personal case, i want to obtain a PhD, however, i don't want others to obtain it, specially colleagues.</p>\n\n<p>So a) and b) are opposite. </p>\n\n<p>Then, the best way to achieve b) using a) is cheating. Like already said, for example, using marketing or being creative.</p>\n\n<p>I believe your question is wrong, because if you are thinking in a PhD then, if you are reached at this stage of your life then you must have enough experience to know how this World works. </p>\n\n<p>PhDs are expensive for many reasons, one of them is to \"separate the wheat from the chaff\", they think that if you are enough smart to accumulate such money then, you are enough smart to take the PhD (IMHO: but not enough smart to decide to not to do it and run your own business). However, it is not always true, some PhD are not quite rich nor brilliants, they are just \"floating around here\" (yes, im recalling some teacher that i had).</p>\n\n<p>PS: it is not a personal attack but more likely an analysis to your question.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 88277,
"author": "mirelon",
"author_id": 29170,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/29170",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There is a <a href=\"http://fundmyphd.com/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">crowdfunding platform</a> for PhD students. Archived version is <a href=\"https://web-beta.archive.org/web/20161017150741/fundmyphd.com\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">here</a>. The portal matches your research topics to the right commercial interests. Right now it contains 6808 students, but only 51 projects and 10 sponsors so I doubt about the activity of the site.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/13
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23348",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7159/"
] |
23,353 |
<p>I'm traveling a lot this summer, and I <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/1944/how-to-invite-yourself-to-present-at-another-university">invited myself</a> to visit and give talks at a couple of universities in other countries.</p>
<p>Do I list these talks on my CV? If so, under what heading? They're not exactly "Invited Talks." I don't have a general "Talks" section on my CV because I want to exclude conference presentations (which are already represented as publications, and which nobody lists in my field). I could have a "Seminars and Colloquia" heading, but people might assume these were invited.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23355,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>What you list on a CV depends on the purpose of the CV. The idea that you have a single CV isn't really accurate. For example, using an <a href=\"http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/phs398/biosketch.pdf\" rel=\"noreferrer\">NIH CV/biosketch</a> for a job application would not be a good strategy. I believe that a \"long\" CV should have everything on it. I add things to my long CV as I do them which makes creating shorter CVs tailored for a particular purpose much easier since deleting is much easier than adding.</p>\n\n<p>There are many things for which there is a benefit of listing talks that you have given at other departments/labs on the CV, the issue is really what \"heading\" they come under. The most critical thing when divining things up is that each item on your CV can only be listed once. You cannot list a conference you attended, gave a talk at, had an abstract published for, and a paper published for four times. It can only go on the CV once.</p>\n\n<p>I try and only divide things into sections based on \"concrete\" criteria. It is clear when you are giving an invited talk at a conference, but it is not clear whether a departmental talk is invited or not. Similarly, it is not always clear whether a departmental seminar is a job talk or not. </p>\n\n<p>The relevant sections on my CV are (a) Conference Papers, (b) Conference Abstracts, and (c) Research Presentations. Each \"presentation\" only goes under one category. I limit the \"abstract\" category to conferences that produce archival abstract books that people have a fighting chance of finding. Talks and poster presentations at conferences that don't have archival abstract, departmental seminars, talks to research groups, and job talks, go under \"research presentations\". I have a separate teaching presentations section for teaching based job talks.</p>\n\n<p>I split the papers and abstracts sections into posters/talks and invited/submitted (someday hopefully I will add key note). The presentations I split into internal and external. I like to keep track of my internal presentations for annual review CV since it lets me demonstrate departmental citizenship. I tend not to split the presentations into posters/talks or invited/submitted since as I mention before, it is too difficult.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23357,
"author": "Oswald Veblen",
"author_id": 16122,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16122",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Younger faculty (with smaller vitas) tend to include less prestigious colloquium talks on their vitas. More established faculty, who have longer lists of more prestigious talks, may just have one line saying \"colloquia and seminar talks at many universities.\" (That's a real example from a senior professor.) I tend to agree: if you have done <em>something</em>, you don't want your vita to suggest you've done <em>nothing</em>. </p>\n\n<p>The main thing I tell my students is that a vita has to pass the \"straight face test\". If someone asks you in person whether some line \"truly\" deserves to be on your vita, you need to be able to justify it with a straight face. This is also how you know whether to include e.g. prizes that you won as an undergraduate: when you can no longer justify them with a straight face, it's time to remove them. </p>\n\n<p>As long as you can do that, it's unlikely anyone will press you too hard on it. Other people in your field will understand how things work, so the main goal of the vita is to present yourself clearly to them. They can make their own judgement about the value of each activity. Unless you can't include something with a straight face, you can only hurt yourself by leaving out \"minor\" activities.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23379,
"author": "JeffE",
"author_id": 65,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<h2>Yes.</h2>\n\n<p>If you discover that a friend in a distant city is having a birthday party, and you ask \"Hey, can I come?\" and they say \"Sure!\", you've been invited to the party.</p>\n\n<p>Same thing goes for talks. When the host institution agreed to let you talk, that was your invitation, which makes it an invited talk.</p>\n\n<p>That said, you may want to distinguish plenary talks at conferences and formally organized departmental colloquia from random seminars run by individual faculty.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/13
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23353",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11365/"
] |
23,354 |
<p>So, last week I refereed a paper for a journal. The paper in question is a reply to a previous paper by a different author: it points out a serious problem in the original paper and then proposes a solution. The evaluation I sent back to the editors is that, while the problem is real (to the extent that a different researcher has independently identified it), there are a number of reasons why the proposed solution is not going to work. </p>
<p>Over the weekend, I started thinking about the paper in question again and suddenly realized that I know how to solve the problem (in a nutshell: you need to use a technique originally developed to solve a mildly related class of problems, but which nobody had yet thought of applying to this particular domain). Right now, I have a bunch of handwritten notebook pages with everything I need to write a paper, and all I have left to do is to find a couple of hours to sit in front of my computer and type it up properly.</p>
<p>The question is, how should I proceed now? On the one hand, given that I've developed my own solution, I'm not plagiarizing the paper I refereed (in fact, I intend to give it proper credit for discovering the problem). On the other hand, if I hadn't been asked to referee this paper, I wouldn't have put enough thought into it to come up with my own solution. More generally, to what extent is it acceptable to write a paper that directly builds on a paper you've been asked to referee?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23356,
"author": "brechmos",
"author_id": 17266,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17266",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You really do have three options: 1) don't write a paper (ok, not an option), 2) write it by yourself (I don't think a great option), or 3) write it with the other person as a co-author. It depends a little on how your field assigns authorship.</p>\n\n<p>Here is what I think I would suggest. Write the paper and when it is basically complete, email the author of the paper you reviewed and let them know you came up with a solution and have written a paper on it. Offer them an authorship on your paper and then send them your paper with a timeline of when to get back to you. </p>\n\n<p>This way you are not burning bridges and you are collegial. Then they can decide if they want to be on the paper or not. </p>\n\n<p>It is a tough position to be in but given their paper got you thinking it is probably best to ask if they would like to be an author. </p>\n\n<p>BTW, if you are a student, discuss with your supervisor. :-)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23361,
"author": "Nate Eldredge",
"author_id": 1010,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010",
"pm_score": 7,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>I think there are two questions that need to be answered first.</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>Is it important to you (e.g. for career reasons) to publish solo, or would you consider publishing with the other author? Keep in mind that publishing jointly may have extra benefits: the two of you together might come up with an even better solution, or it may lead to future collaborations on other projects. Or do you perhaps not care about getting credit at all?</p></li>\n<li><p>Is the manuscript public? Has it been posted as a preprint on arXiv or a similar server, or on the author's website, etc?</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>Depending on the answers, there are a few cases:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p><strong>You don't care about getting credit.</strong> Write your report on the paper: \"The approach to agrobaric frobotzim via PDQ analysis is unworkable because of foo, bar and baz. However, this could be fixed by using QPM analysis instead. [Sketch your idea here.] Pending this fix [and any other suggested revisions], I recommend the paper for publication.\" Expect that when the paper is published, there will be an acknowledgement: \"We thank the anonymous referee for suggesting the approach used in Section 5.\"</p></li>\n<li><p><strong>You want to publish jointly.</strong> Contact the editor: \"The author's approach to agrobaric frobotzim via PDQ analysis is unworkable, and as such I cannot recommend the paper for publication as it stands. However, I have some ideas about how to resolve the problem, and I would be interested in collaborating with the author to work them out. Would you be willing to put me in touch with her?\"</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p><strong>The editor says yes.</strong> Great!</p></li>\n<li><p><strong>The editor says no, and the manuscript is public.</strong> Submit your report pointing out the flaws and recommending rejection. After a decent interval contact the author: \"I saw your preprint, and had an idea to improve the results using QPM analysis. Would you be interested in working together on this?\" Opinions vary on whether you should reveal that you were the referee; it is possible the author will guess anyway.</p></li>\n<li><p><strong>The editor says no, and the manuscript is not public, but you know who the author is.</strong> Submit your report pointing out the flaws and recommending rejection. The next step is a bit controversial. Some would say you should wait until it is public, so as not to break the anonymity of the reviewing process. Others think it is fine to reveal yourself and contact the author directly to suggest collaboration. I am not sure what to say here.</p></li>\n<li><p><strong>The editor says no, and the manuscript is not public, and you do not know who the author is (double-blind reviewing).</strong> You have no choice but to wait until the manuscript is made public (maybe until it is published somewhere else), since that's the only way to find the author and suggest collaboration. If you think you should give up on finding the author and publish solo instead, see below.</p></li>\n</ol></li>\n<li><p><strong>You want to publish solo</strong>. Write and submit your report. Now, is the manuscript public?</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li><p><strong>The manuscript is public.</strong> You may write your paper, citing the other author's preprint and giving her due credit for noticing the problem. This is ethical, but if you meet the author at a conference, don't expect her to buy you a beer: she was hoping to solve this problem but you beat her to it.</p></li>\n<li><p><strong>The manuscript is not public.</strong> You may not proceed. As a reviewer, you received the manuscript in confidence, and to write a solo paper based on it would be to take unfair advantage of that access. You must wait until the preprint appears publicly. (This might be when it is published in another journal, or maybe never.) It's possible that in the meantime, the author will discover your solution independently; those are the breaks. This would be a great time to reconsider seeking joint authorship.</p></li>\n</ol></li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>In case 2, if your field has a notion of \"first authorship\", that would be something you'd need to negotiate with the other author, based on your field's norms. (Mine uses alphabetical ordering almost exclusively, so this issue wouldn't arise.)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23365,
"author": "user40480",
"author_id": 17412,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17412",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Co author.... all the way.\nBut don't ask if he wants to coauthor after you've completed the paper 100% because then you're not really asking, your telling him. Which is generous true... but in a sort of superior way. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/13
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23354",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12314/"
] |
23,360 |
<p>I have completed my Bachelor's degree (3 years) in Mathematics and pursuing MSc(2 years). Currently I am in final year and expect to obtain MSc degree in next May. I am willing to do my PhD (in Mathematics) in USA. </p>
<p>From the information obtained from my seniors and friends, I found that most of the USA institutions ask for GRE and TOEFL score. But are there universities of USA which do not need GRE and/or TOEFL score for admission in Phd in Mathematics?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23362,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The truth of the matter is that while you may find many schools that do not require the GRE, virtually every US school is going to require either the TOEFL or a similar test such as the IELTS.</p>\n\n<p>The reason for this is that one of the important criteria for admission to most US graduate programs is the ability to do coursework and interact with fellow graduate students and faculty in their <em>lingua franca</em>, which in the US is English. Consequently, schools need to ensure that the students they accept have a certain level of proficiency in English before they enroll. (A number of grad school admissions officers have mentioned that they blacklisted candidates from certain countries because of problems related to fraud—candidates would hire other people to conduct telephone interviews with universities in the US, and the actual candidate would come with hardly any English whatsoever.)</p>\n\n<p>So, for most schools, you will find it a requirement to be able to speak the dominant language of instruction—and not just in the United States. (For instance, all students at our university must show the ability to speak either German or English, depending on the program to which they apply.)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23363,
"author": "Brian P",
"author_id": 17232,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17232",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think you should change your strategy for choosing a doctoral program. That is, determine which programs would provide you with the best training for the work you want to do. It might (probably will) involve these standardized test scores. You run the risk of narrowing your choices by starting with these types of requirements. </p>\n\n<p>Also, you stated that you are \"willing to do my PhD.\" Your decision for doing a PhD should be motivated by your ultimate career trajectory. I think you should clarify this career trajectory (i.e., Why do you want to do a PhD? Because it will prepare me for ...). Then, you should find a PhD program that would be best suited to help you establish this career trajectory. You don't want to get into a PhD program that is inappropriately matched with your trajectory, even though they don't require GRE and TOEFL scores. If you have scores that are not competitive, then it would be a good idea to focus on improving those scores. </p>\n\n<p>Bottom line is you want good training. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 29321,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>To answer your question, <strong>no: all schools of reasonably well-known merit require a GRE</strong>. Shopping for schools that don't is only harmful. I am guessing your mindset is simply wondering if within, say, the top 100 programs there might be exceptions, perhaps because the test is a financial burden, but no, the GRE is <em>the</em> standard for admission. It's not the only important factor, but every school will require it. I've heard it described as a \"sanity check\" to make sure the student's abilities pass a check relative to what the recommendation letters and transcript advertise.</p>\n\n<p>To flip the coin, imagine a school that <em>doesn't</em> require the GRE. Why not: what's wrong with it? Does it let students in who would have performed terribly, and risk a remedial first year? Does it let students in who are likely to drop out and simply don't fund them? Is it just really lacking merit? I would be <em>extremely</em> leery of such a school.</p>\n\n<p>Regarding the TOEFL, the situation is simple. It would be foolish for a university to not make sure incoming students speak English. Even if you are sure of your ability and don't have the time to study or the money for the test, you should be leery of going to a school where there's a pretty good chance your classmates will include German, French, Japanese and Mexican students who don't actually speak English and went to the only school that admitted them after they failed the TOEFL.</p>\n\n<p>On the other hand it is of course very important that <em>you</em> can pass. It would be miserable to marginally fail but not be able to teach a course effectively (which is how you pay for grad school in part) or collaborate with peers.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/13
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23360",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17406/"
] |
23,364 |
<p>I was reading <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/23361/103">an answer to another question</a>, which says on the topic of a reviewer potentially contacting an author under a special set of circumstances</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Some would say you should wait until it is public, so as not to break the anonymity of the reviewing process. Others think it is fine to reveal yourself and contact the author directly </p>
</blockquote>
<p>My first thought was "The anonymity is there to protect the reviewer, so of course he can give up the protection and initiate contact". But then I realized that maybe there are other people whose interests might be hurt if this happens. </p>
<p>So, let's assume that the anonymous person (the reviewer, and in some cases also the author), always benefits from his own anonymity. Is there somebody else who is interested in the reviewer remaining anonymous? </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23366,
"author": "410 gone",
"author_id": 96,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/96",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The readers and the editors can benefit.</p>\n\n<p>I know this is a contended issue, and there are many different views.</p>\n\n<p>But as you've asked specifically whether there's somebody else who is interested in the reviewer remaining anonymous, let's just look at that.</p>\n\n<p>As a reader, I want the peer review to have been fair and thorough.</p>\n\n<p>If the reviewer is able to review freely, without fear of comeback, then they can be much more frank. They can shoot down a bad paper, even if one of the authors or one of their colleagues could hold some kind of power over the reviewer, whether it be funding, future job applications, peer reviews with the roles switched, whatever. Anonymity may enable reviewers to be more frank, more honest, and more direct in their reviews. And that directness can be of benefit to the editors, too.</p>\n\n<p>I'm not saying this is the way. I'm not saying this has to be the way. I'm discussing possibilities here.</p>\n\n<p>It would be great to have some solid evidence on the pros and cons of anonymity. At the moment, there seems to be a great deal of discussion, but I don't see much science on the subject.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23369,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Since I do not see benefits this answer will in essence not answer your question. It is possible to imagine benefits but reality is what counts and that tells a different story in my experience. </p>\n\n<p>So, from my experience as editor, author and reviewer, I have to say, I am not impressed by anonymity in this process. Anonymity has a tendency to free some people from much of their socially acceptable behaviour and the review process is not the place for anything other than objective criticism. I should also add that in my field reviewers are more often known than anonymous and the general trend is towards more openness.</p>\n\n<p>When I receive reviews as an author, I find that i am far more likely to take suggestions seriously if the reviewer is known than when there is an anonymous reviewer. There are probably several reasons for this. If I know the reviewer (as a peer in the subject) I can better read between the lines and understand from where the comments come from. with an anonymous review you loose that possibility. If there is a name at the other end, it becomes more of a person than otherwise so I believe anonymity makes it easier to disregard from criticism or take it less seriously.</p>\n\n<p>As an editor, I can see many anonymous reviews containing quite rude remarks. As an editor, you have the right, perhaps obligation, to convey what you perceive as being constructive information to the authors for their revision. If I get a rude review, I may not convey the entire review to the author, or more commonly, I will excuse for the poor behaviour of the reviewer and highlight the parts that the author should focus upon. So an editor has a moderating role in such cases. But, most bad (in one way or another) reviews come from anonymous reviewers. In some ways reviewers may of course feel awkward for providing a very negative review that they wish to remain anonymous.</p>\n\n<p>So to try to look at the big picture, I would say that most reviewers do a good job but anonymity seems to bring out the worst in lots of cases and in ways that are not founded in what should be in a scientific review.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23380,
"author": "paul garrett",
"author_id": 980,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The other answers and comments are completely reasonable, and/but, seriously, there is the obvious synthesis, which we all really know, namely, that human behavior has a certain range...</p>\n\n<p>So, yes, ideally, it would even be better to have a double-blind system... or, wait, ideally, no one would behave prejudicially. :)</p>\n\n<p>Ok, start over. So, assuming people might react prejudicially, the typical single-blind system only protects the reviewer/referee, not the author, from subsequent complaints. No, it does not protect authors from the many different possible prejudices of referees. Yes, it does allow referees to be bitchier than they'd be if they were in a public place. This conceivably has some purpose, but, also, it might just be venting.</p>\n\n<p>And, then, there's the point that with substantial work, the coterie of competent referees is small, and that an observant author can infer the referee by use of language and other mathematical details. \"We're not stupid\". :)</p>\n\n<p>At this point in my life, I think a not-at-all-blind system would work better. In particular, referees <em>would</em> be culpable for blocking competitors' work, or for gratuitously disparaging novices' work.</p>\n\n<p>Next, we can ask why the traditional publishing houses control scholarly \"publication\" ... </p>\n\n<p>... nevermind...</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23410,
"author": "yo'",
"author_id": 1471,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1471",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The only one who benefits is <strong>the community</strong>, or, if you wish, the science itself. Blind review allows more fair reviews, the reviewers need not to fear getting revealed (in the ideal world).</p>\n\n<p>I don't see how I as a reviewer benefit from it. When blind review is dropped, I start to make not-really-honest reviews because I don't want to be frowned at by my colleagues, no gain nor loss for me personally, it's loss for everybody. Unfortunately, the authors often think that the reviewers are responsible for the fact that the article is a crap, which causes all this. We aren't able to accept honest opinions.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 95312,
"author": "O. R. Mapper",
"author_id": 14017,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14017",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I always thought the revised paper will benefit, in that objective comments will be taken into account based on what they say rather than who wrote them. My impression is that keeping reviewers anonymous serves to avoid a certain bias that would be present if certain referees were recognizable as much more senior than others.</p>\n\n<p>When referees are known, a nonsensical suggestion by a well-known researcher might be applied out of the authors' respect for the \"big name\". Likewise, a well-justified comment by a junior researcher could be ignored due to the perceived irrelevance of the referee.</p>\n\n<p>Along the same vein, I feel remarks that might come across as \"rude\" are easier to ignore that way: You can simply discard the respective statement without having to consider the ramifications about a fellow reeearcher's personality or their stance towards your work (which means, probably, overthinking things, anyway). Instead, as an author, you can fully tocus on the provided suggestions and weigh the indicated justifications.</p>\n\n<p>In this sense, the effect of making referees anonymous towards authors mirrors the effect of making authors anonymous towards referees. In both cases, an intention is to avoid a bias based upon the writer's name.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/13
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23364",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/103/"
] |
23,367 |
<p>If I have a DB or set of data, and want to grant access to it to a limited group of experts in a field (not general access), and don't want others using it for their own publications, nor seeing the information being offered for free on the Internet. </p>
<p>What is the best approach to deposit the information somewhere to make sure, in a hypothetical future, that I can claim copyright over it?</p>
<p>Basically, I want to protect myself upfront against <a href="https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/975/my-research-work-stolen-and-published-as-his-own-by-the-co-author-without-my-con">My research work stolen and published as his own by the co-author without my consent</a></p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23370,
"author": "Trylks",
"author_id": 7571,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7571",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This is country dependent and more of a legal question, but basically you have to register your work.</p>\n\n<p>Most of the people in academia SE seem to be from USA, so you can check <a href=\"http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/how-do-you-register-database.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">the process for USA</a>. I was not aware of this, but the site is well ranked in Google and seems properly informing.</p>\n\n<p>Your country should provide some similar mechanism. This kind of mechanisms are the best option if you want to be sure. Otherwise, you can use other kind of mechanism as <a href=\"http://www.proofofexistence.com/\" rel=\"nofollow\">proof of existence</a> or <a href=\"http://ckan.org/\" rel=\"nofollow\">CKAN</a> and then use that as a proof to register the copyright if needed (but you may as well register in the office up front instead of worrying about doing something else and then registering).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23372,
"author": "Nate Eldredge",
"author_id": 1010,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1010",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>See this question on StackOverflow: <a href=\"https://stackoverflow.com/questions/6726382/is-there-a-way-to-digitally-sign-documents-to-prove-they-existed-at-a-certain-po\">Is there a way to digitally sign documents to prove they existed at a certain point in time</a>.</p>\n\n<p>The answer is yes. Several solutions were suggested; <a href=\"https://stackoverflow.com/a/23421215/634919\">my answer</a> involves an Internet time-stamping service which signs a cryptographic hash of your document. So if you keep that version of the document, you can prove that it existed on the date in question; but otherwise, nobody ever sees the document except you.</p>\n\n<p>However, if you are actually expecting copyright or IP challenges, I cannot promise that this will stand up legally; you should consult a lawyer.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23374,
"author": "Anonymous Mathematician",
"author_id": 612,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/612",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>Basically, I want to protect myself upfront against <a href=\"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/975/my-research-work-stolen-and-published-as-his-own-by-the-co-author-without-my-con\">My research work stolen and published as his own by the co-author without my consent</a></p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>What you need is to convince the research community that this is your work, so that if anyone tries to steal it, then it will be considered professional misconduct, they won't be able to publish their theft, etc. I'm not convinced copyright law is the right tool for this. Sure, being able to sue someone for copyright violation could be useful in certain circumstances, but often it won't actually settle the academic issues. For example, collaboration. I might claim to have collaborated with you on the research contained in the database, in which case I would be entitled to be a coauthor on academic publications, and you would be considered to be acting unethically if you denied me coauthorship. There's no way to defend against this using copyright registration, cryptographic time-stamping, etc. You might be able to prove that you already had a copy of the database in the past, but it's much harder to prove that I didn't somehow contribute to it, except in extreme cases such as having had a copy before I first studied this field.</p>\n\n<p>In practice, people often deal with this difficulty by telling <em>more</em> people. If you tell just one person about your work, then they can steal it, and it's your word against theirs. If you tell ten people, then it's much harder for a thief to get away with it, since there are nine other witnesses. If you tell a hundred, then it becomes really difficult to steal your work. Unless someone immediately tries hard to steal it, it will become impossible: the community will react by saying \"Wait, Quora Feans told all of us about this database last year. If it was your work, why didn't you say anything back then?\"</p>\n\n<p>Whether more publicity is a viable solution depends on your circumstances, but there's a fundamental trade-off here. Ultimately, academia cares about credit for the ideas and research, not just who owns the copyright. (If I write a paper about your work, then I own the copyright to my words, but I don't deserve credit for the ideas.) The more you keep your work secret, the harder it is to prove anything about who deserves the intellectual credit.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23400,
"author": "Thomas",
"author_id": 6984,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6984",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>A good institutional data repository should be able to handle this for you. As an example, <a href=\"http://thedata.org/\" rel=\"nofollow\">The Dataverse Network</a> allows you to deposit data, gives that data a persistent DOI, and then allows you to manage permissions. So you could, for example, deposit the data to make it citable and immediately establish your authorship but then only make it available to specified users (who would need to create Dataverse accounts). In the future, you could make the data more broadly available if you so desired.</p>\n\n<p>Other institutional data repositories should be able to handle this process as well.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 89116,
"author": "Geremia",
"author_id": 9425,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/9425",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Use <strong><a href=\"https://proofofexistence.com/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">ProofOfExistence.com</a></strong> to put a hash of your data on the <a href=\"https://www.weusecoins.com/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Bitcoin</a> <a href=\"http://chimera.labs.oreilly.com/books/1234000001802/ch07.html#_introduction_2\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">blockchain</a>. <a href=\"https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/q/42076/4334\">Blocks in the blockchain are time-stamped.</a> </p>\n\n<p>By putting a hash of your data on the blockchain, you are not publishing your data or making it in any way publicly available.* In the future, when you release the data, anyone can perform a SHA256 hash of it and verify that it matches the hash in the time-stamped block on the blockchain, thereby proving your priority.</p>\n\n<p>Cf. the ¶ \"Demonstrating data ownership without revealing actual data\" of <a href=\"https://proofofexistence.com/about\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">ProofOfExistence.com's about page</a>.</p>\n\n<p><sup>*<a href=\"https://proofofexistence.com/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">ProofOfExistence.com</a> does client-side hashing (using a JavaScript library), so even that website doesn't ever access your data-set itself.</sup></p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 125259,
"author": "FuzzyLeapfrog",
"author_id": 68222,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/68222",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You can deposit the data in a research data repository that allows to restrict the access to the data while making the metadata available and citable, e.g. with a DOI. This could be your institutional research data repository (if your institution/institute has one and it has these features) or you could use <a href=\"https://zenodo.org/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Zenodo</a> run by CERN which is open for everyone to register and deposit data and publications.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Restricted Access: Users may deposit restricted files with the ability to share access with others if certain requirements are met. These files will not be made publicly available and sharing will be made possible only by the approval of depositor of the original file. <a href=\"http://about.zenodo.org/policies/\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">Source</a></p>\n</blockquote>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/13
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23367",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8970/"
] |
23,373 |
<p>I finished my PhD program in pure math a few years ago and have been in industry since then. I would love to continue my academic career, but (long story short) I was treated badly by my program and left with the doctorate but without a postdoc or much in the way of a publication record or connections (thus making the doctorate close to pointless) I haven't had much trouble finding jobs in software engineering or government labs, but I haven't found the work there to be interesting or satisfying.</p>
<p>Like pretty much everyone who goes into math, I love math for its own sake, and I love research. Is there anything available outside of academia where I could undertake something close to pure math research? Ideally, I'd like to beef up my publication record and make some connections, but a tech company doesn't seem to be the right place to do that. Although the jobs are certainly there, coding and engineering really aren't my things, and I'd like something more strongly related to math and more academic and research-oriented in nature.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23375,
"author": "just-learning",
"author_id": 10483,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10483",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If you are a US citizen living in the USA, you can work for <a href=\"http://nsa.gov\">NSA</a> (which, if I recall correctly, is known to be the largest employer of mathematicians in the country) provided you pass their background check and satisfy their other requirements. However, your research will likely be classified, so you will not be able to publish it in the regular math journals. </p>\n\n<p>Should you happen to be in the UK, their counterpart of NSA is GCHQ. Many other countries also have similar organizations. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23377,
"author": "Not Quite An Outsider",
"author_id": 10390,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10390",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>My situation is different from yours, but analogous. I have observed a lot of academic discourse on MathOverflow, and even some on Math.stackexchange. I have registered for conferences online and participated, even without a current academic affiliation (industry affiliation is good but not required: check with conference organizers and your employer).</p>\n\n<p>The real key is to find a group of people who will either a) work with you remotely (say by email) or locally (if you are lucky), or b) willing to critique and perhaps mentor you in some arrangement, or c) willing to spend a few minutes of time giving their opinion of what should happen, or d) willing to tolerate occasional communication and friendly interaction, on a fairly infrequent basis.</p>\n\n<p>MathOverflow is a good way to start at d) and work your way up the chain. Answer a few questions, post some good (and I mean GOOD) questions, and you will more quickly find online presence to develop a relationship which may be useful in real life. You can show your technical chops, sometimes get the fast track on research, and get a lot out of it, even some socializing. However, follow the FAQ: MathOverflow is not for discussion, ill-formed questions, or solving homework, and they are not prone to giving hints to graduate exercises, especially if it smells like asking them to do the work for you. There are also some reasons to prefer math.SE over MathOverflow for submitting questions, but I think doing well at the latter will be more beneficial for you. My impression (but I could be wrong) is that your question above would not go over well at MathOverflow, since it deals more with \"sociology of math\" than with math itself.</p>\n\n<p>It might be quicker to reach your goals by hanging out near a large Math department with free food, but I would bet cash money that the above is actually quicker. Good luck at MathOverflow. Once you get to b) or a), you will find out other opportunities outside academia to help you with research.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23388,
"author": "Dan Albertson",
"author_id": 17432,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17432",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Microsoft Research might match your requirements. They have much going on in the way of academic math yet are outside of academia itself. </p>\n\n<p>They have many groups around the world that might match your requirements, but the Theory group in Redmond, USA seems a good start:</p>\n\n<p><a href=\"http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/groups/theory/\" rel=\"nofollow\">http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/groups/theory/</a></p>\n\n<p>Apply directly at [email protected]</p>\n\n<p>From the page:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Description: We work on fundamental problems in mathematics and\n theoretical computer science, interact extensively with the academic\n community and collaborate with other researchers at MSR on challenging\n applied problems. Among our areas of expertise are probability theory,\n combinatorics, statistical physics, metric geometry, fractals,\n algorithms and optimization. We host an amazing array of researchers\n in these areas: see a full list here.</p>\n \n <p>Applying for Positions Applications for a Postdoctoral Researcher\n position for 2014 received by December 15, 2013 will receive full\n consideration. Apply here, and in addition, have your application\n material (including references) sent to [email protected]. Apply\n here for a summer internship and inform us that you have applied by\n emailing [email protected].</p>\n</blockquote>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/13
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23373",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17411/"
] |
23,387 |
<p>Recently I was handling submission of a paper to a journal. I was somewhat surprised that I was asked to return the corrections to galley proofs in 48 hours.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>To ensure fast publication of your paper please return your corrections within 48 hours. ... Note that may proceed with the publication of your article if no response is received.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>How usual is it, that only a short period is left for the authors to return page proofs? Do many journals allow similar time span? Or is a longer period customary?</strong></p>
<p>I can imagine situations in which I would not be able to respond in 48 hours.</p>
<p><strong>What would happen if I reacted only later, not within the time period required by publisher (48 hours in this case)?</strong> Is it probable that they would still incorporate the corrections if I emailed a bit later? (Or if I emailed them that I am unable to complete this in 48 hours and explained the reasons.) </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23392,
"author": "StrongBad",
"author_id": 929,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/929",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>For journal articles 48 hours is not uncommon. I have never experienced less and I have never had considerably longer. If you let most journals know when you can return them, they will generally either allow you to submit them later, but this will often result in the article publication date being pushed back. In some cases the journal cannot comply (e.g., special issues) and then they may attempt to publish without you reviewing the page proofs.</p>\n\n<p>The idea of page proofs is that you are checking to see if any copy edits they made are correct and that the proofs are an accurate representation of what you sent in. It shouldn't take very long to review the proofs (a couple of hours at most).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23393,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>With Wiley, the journal I edit has a one-week period for returning proofs. This is set by Wiley and not by the journal. If proofs are not sent in, at some point within another week, the typesetter will typically ask for the proofs through a production editor. This is because the typesetter has the manuscript along with, I would guess, hundreds of other proofs lined up in a production line and at some point they do not want things lying around for very long. So in this case, not much happens if proofs are late and I have never seen any serious repercussions from the publisher's side affecting authors. In the worst case a paper that has been assigned to a specific issue may be moved to a later issue since the production of issues (physical printing) is not possible to adjust other than under exceptional conditions. In the end, it will the author's loss if the paper is not published as early as it could. Since for most papers, electronic publication occurs before printing, the delay just means the paper appears online later by the same amount of time or more; it can be bumped in the production line of the typesetter in favour of those that come in on time.</p>\n\n<p>In my experience, it is not possible to get corrections done after returning the proof corrections. One can always try but if the paper has been corrected and published online, there is no other option than to live with the problem or if it is in some way critical, go through the journal editors to possibly publish an errata. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/14
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23387",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/648/"
] |
23,396 |
<p>I find that when I writing a paper,
I use the same phrases and sometimes the same sentences
in the abstract, introduction, and conclusions.</p>
<p>When I compare this to non-fiction writing
(e.g. Malcolm Gladwell or Michael Pollan),
my impression is that they do not repeat themselves
in the prologue and epilogue.</p>
<p>However, I realize that they are writing non-fiction books/articles,
whereas we are writing scientific articles,
for a different audience and a different purpose.
My questions are:</p>
<ol>
<li>Does using the same phrases and sentences
in the abstract, introduction and conclusions
make my paper boring to read?</li>
<li>Or is it easier to read and understand a paper if it repeats itself?</li>
</ol>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23397,
"author": "Peter Jansson",
"author_id": 4394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/4394",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There are many examples of papers where there is repetition in these part. While this is not wrong, it is not something one should adopt as a way of writing. It is important to write each part so that the text is adapted to be included seamlessly in that part.</p>\n\n<p>The discussion should lead up to the conclusion(s) of the paper and from this perspective it is the origin of the content that will be repeated (in context) in the other parts. The conclusion should summarize the main findings of the discussion. Since the point is to provide the important points in a brief way, one should at least try to write it with the summarizing in mind. The abstract should summarize the entire paper and lead up to the main conclusion(s) of the paper. This is most often focussing on a subset of what is summarized in the conclusions. </p>\n\n<p>Copy-pasting sentences from discussion to conclusions and to abstract means you build in sentence structures that may not be optimal for the different parts. I therefore suggest at least trying to rewrite the information for each part so that they become optimized in each case. If a sentence you have already written fits very well, then its use is fine but if you simply try to force sentences in the resulting text might not be as clear as it could be. So, in general, write everything as a new text based on the story you are trying to convey rather than inheriting structure from what you have written already stemming from a different context.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23439,
"author": "Norman Gray",
"author_id": 10983,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10983",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>The three things are doing pretty different jobs, and so should be pretty different in content.</p>\n\n<p>The abstract is an <em>advert for your paper</em>. Someone might read a list of titles and abstracts (for example on arXiv) and decide on that basis whether it's worth their while downloading and reading the rest of the paper. The abstract has to be attractive, but not fraudulent ('truth in advertising'!). When you read an abstract, you're trying to find out: (i) is this paper in my area?, (ii) is it asking a question I care about? (iii) does the conclusion sound interesting? You don't have to summarise the whole paper, but you do have to answer those questions.</p>\n\n<p>The introduction gives your reader <em>a map of the paper</em>. By the end of the introduction, your reader should have a pretty good idea of what they're in for, and where they're going to end up. They should know what sections they're probably going to skip, and which ones they look forward to disagreeing with. A paper is not a detective novel: you don't need cliffhangers or mysteries.</p>\n\n<p>After that, the conclusion doesn't have a lot of work to do (at least in my experience). It might be the last thing the reader reads of your paper (that is, unless they care enough about its contents that they'll re-read it), so this is an opportunity for you to frame their memory of it. \"We have shown that ...\" is the sort of thing you'd find here.</p>\n\n<p>Key points:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Remember the reader is a human being, just like you – talk to them, as you'd like to be talked to (far far too many people bizarrely forget this).</li>\n<li>Make it easy for them to read the paper, and easy to agree with you (that's why the introduction has a map of the paper, to ease the reader's way through your golden prose).</li>\n<li>Your reader is asking themself \"why am I reading this paper?\" Make sure they have a good answer to that question by the end of the introduction. If you get a colleague to read your draft, get them to answer that question at that point. If they don't give the answer you want them to, it's <em>your</em> fault; so edit.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>There will probably be some overlap in text in the three parts. That's OK, but it probably shouldn't be cut-and-paste.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23464,
"author": "Trylks",
"author_id": 7571,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7571",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I'm not bothered by the repetition of sentences if they are isolated sentences, that serve as a link. However it is inelegant, you can always put a cross reference and reword what you say in some other place, for several reasons:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li>Style in writing, you should show some knowledge about the language and the capability of paraphrasing.</li>\n<li>Fit better the contents to the context where they are.</li>\n<li>Writing the same thing in several different ways helps people to understand what is written there. English, as most (probably all) other languages has an inherent level of ambiguity, some sentences can have several meanings. If you rewrite some sentence with some different words by doing so you can make clear that the meaning of both sentences is in the intersection of the potential meanings of both sentences.</li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>I find the third reason is the most important and other answers were missing this aspect, so I had to drop another...</p>\n\n<p>Having said this, the repetition of a paragraph is unacceptable for me. If there is some paragraph in some part of the paper and you want to refer to this same piece of information you should summarize the contents of the paragraph in a sentence (sometimes in a term, e.g. when the paragraph is a definition).</p>\n\n<p>This answer isn't very constructive and I feel obliged to provide constructive answers so...</p>\n\n<p>Take the abstract as a reference. It will summarize the paper, as the introduction does and also the conclusions.</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>In the abstract you provide the shortest summary and describe what have you done.</li>\n<li>In the introduction you extend that summary and describe the context of your work (some people include the motivation). It is different from the abstract because you don't say what you have done, but why it was missing, why you have done it and where in the paper you explain into more detail these aspects.</li>\n<li>In the conclusions you evaluate what you have done, how it serves to fill the gap that you identified in the introduction and the gaps that remain (future work).</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>All these are similar but not equal.</p>\n\n<p>BTW: related question: <a href=\"https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/181080/automate-the-description-of-the-paper\">https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/181080/automate-the-description-of-the-paper</a> I should get back to that...</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/14
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23396",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8802/"
] |
23,403 |
<p>I'm interested in pursuing a PhD in a particular humanities field and I feel that my undergraduate GPA is strong enough for me to get into such a program at a top school. However, my path to deciding this has been somewhat circuitous. Along the way, I completed a master's degree in a completely unrelated subject which I became uninterested in and disillusioned by while I was in the program. I decided to complete it anyway and as a result of my lack of passion for the field, I didn't perform very well in my master's program and just did the minimum to complete my degree.</p>
<p>Now when I look at PhD applications, I see that every school's admission page says you must submit transcripts from <em>all university level courses taken</em> even though only a bachelor's degree is required for admission. My question is, if by omitting transcripts from my master's program, would I be violating most admission policies and/or risk having a misleading or unethical application?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23404,
"author": "Davidmh",
"author_id": 12587,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12587",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p><em>\"All university level courses taken\"</em> means <em>\"all university level courses taken\"</em>, so yes, you should submit it too. Otherwise, if at any point they discover that you had been enrolled in that masters, you could be in trouble for lying.</p>\n\n<p>Even if they don't require you to submit it, you will have to explain what were you doing during that time. And a bad master's is far better than sitting at home doing noting.</p>\n\n<p>Now, you don't want it to hurt your application, so you should consider explaining in your cover letter why you did poorly. That shouldn't be too difficult, I think a good bachelor and a bad master is still better than just a good bachelor.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23405,
"author": "ff524",
"author_id": 11365,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11365",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If the requirements say</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>You must submit transcripts from all university level courses taken</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Then yes, you must submit transcripts from your unrelated master's. To do otherwise would be a violation of the policy, which clearly states you must submit all university-level transcripts.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 26973,
"author": "mctylr",
"author_id": 20501,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/20501",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In fact completing a Masters degree is a positive aspect in your application, regardless of not being in the same (or similar) field of studies.</p>\n\n<p>Since the topic of why you believe yourself to be a suitable candidate for the Ph.D. program will be part of your application at some point in the process, you should present the experience as a positive one, where you both demonstrated your ability to do graduate level work successfully, and that it lead (wholly or in part) to your realization that you were not as interested in that subject as you expected to be.</p>\n\n<p>This should be followed up with some justification why you expect to remain focused and interested in the longer and more detailed Ph.D. program, but I view that as an essential requite to anyone's success in a graduate program \nanyhow, so you will need to figure how to make a strong and convincing argument. For own state of mind, as well as your admissions application.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/14
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23403",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17441/"
] |
23,406 |
<p>I have paid $1000 for PhD in mathematics. And I have sent them my book to be considered as a PhD thesis.</p>
<p>Now I suspect that I have lost the money.</p>
<p>But as far as I know they are not accredited by the U.S. Department of Education.</p>
<p>So, is it possible that I will find a job requiring a degree, using this (fake?) PhD?</p>
<p>Now they have told me that the U.S. Department of Education will send my diploma to US foreign affairs department and then they will make some "stumps" on my diploma. Do these stamps mean anything? Are these stamps just a formal thing which mean nothing and don't make my degree "official" ("real")? Moreover, to send my diploma to the departments costs additional $1000-$1750 (dependent on whether I pay right now or later).</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23407,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 7,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><strong>You have lost the money whether or not the \"university\" gives you the degree.</strong></p>\n\n<p>You have given your money to what is known as a <em>diploma mill.</em> A long time ago (nearly two decades!), I received an email offering degrees from \"prestigious, non-accredited universities\" based on life experience. This is a complete and total scam. <em>Even if</em> you have a diploma, it will be useless for professional purposes. Anybody responsible for hiring a PhD will see that there is no work resulting from your \"graduate career,\" which will be a tipoff that the degree is worthless, and you will be unlikely to receive a job offer. Worse still, even if you were to get an offer, it could be rescinded when the truth is uncovered.</p>\n\n<p>Disengage now, before you lose any further money on this situation.</p>\n\n<p><em>Addendum</em>: I should also mention that I am unaware of the US Department of Education doing <em>any</em> certification of diplomas and certificates on an <em>individual</em> basis. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23408,
"author": "Davidmh",
"author_id": 12587,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12587",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In case there was any doubt, I have asked them. This is the conversation I had with them (some irrelevant parts omitted):</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p><strong>Albert:</strong> Hello, I have written a book on Mathematics that I would like to turn into a PhD thesis<br>\n <strong>Albert:</strong> what do I have to do?<br>\n <strong>Their Guy:</strong> What is your highest level of education?<br>\n <strong>Albert:</strong> I have a Masters degree in mathematics<br>\n <strong>Their Guy:</strong> Ph.D degree will cost you $1100.00 (USD)<br>\n <strong>Their Guy:</strong><br>\n • 1 Original Accredited Degree<br>\n • 2 Original Transcripts<br>\n • 1 Award of Excellence<br>\n • 1 Certificate of Distinction<br>\n • 1 Certificate of Membership<br>\n • 4 Education Verification Letters<br>\n <strong>Albert:</strong> how long will it take to complete it?<br>\n <strong>Albert:</strong> I already have the thesis, it is a 300 pages book<br>\n <strong>Their Guy:</strong> When are you planning to enroll?<br>\n <strong>Albert:</strong> as soon as possible<br>\n <strong>Albert:</strong> once the payment and the thesis are sent, how long will it take to have it accepted?<br>\n <strong>Senior Guy:</strong> Alright you have been transferred to senior student counselor<br>\n <strong>Senior Guy:</strong> Shipment Details :-<br>\n <strong>Senior Guy:</strong> 2 set of documents we are going to send you in total in 2 separate shipments.<br>\n -First set of degree documents will be sent in just 15 - 20 working days with all 10 degree documents without attestations.<br>\n -Second set of documents will be sent in only 25 - 30 working days with complete and comprehensive attestations with all above mentioned authorities.<br>\n <strong>Senior Guy:</strong> Total Fee Submission including all registrations would be $1700.00 USD ( $1100 + $600 )<br>\n <strong>Albert:</strong> how long will it take you to review my thesis?<br>\n <strong>Senior Guy:</strong> Well it will take us 24 Hours<br>\n <strong>Senior Guy:</strong> Forward your resume & thesis on [email protected]<br>\n <strong>Albert:</strong> thank you, you have been most enlightening</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>So, they are reviewing 300 pages in 24 h (where it should take like a year). They do no checking whatsoever on what I would be submitting.</p>\n\n<p>I am sorry, but you have lost the money.</p>\n\n<p><strong><em>Edit:</em></strong></p>\n\n<p>I have found something funny. <a href=\"http://www.granttownuniversity.com/about/visiting-faculty/\" rel=\"noreferrer\">The faculty</a> (only visiting faculty seems visible for our university) is the same as, including pictures and order, in <a href=\"http://www.hilluniversity.com/our-faculty/\" rel=\"noreferrer\">another online university</a> and <a href=\"http://www.riverbanksuniversity.com/our-faculty/\" rel=\"noreferrer\">another one</a> and <a href=\"http://www.wacuniversity.com/our-faculty/\" rel=\"noreferrer\">another</a> and <a href=\"http://www.pittsforduniversity.com/our-faculty/\" rel=\"noreferrer\">yet another one</a>, <a href=\"http://headwayuniversity.com/our-faculty/\" rel=\"noreferrer\">¡and</a> even <a href=\"http://www.olwauniversity.com/our-faculty/\" rel=\"noreferrer\">more!</a> (and at least, 5 more, but you get the point); all of them looking equally suspicious. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/14
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23406",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1637/"
] |
23,409 |
<p>My friend recently graduated with a bachelor degree in biology. He is thinking that he can help more people by studying a biomedical engineering Ph.D., rather than becoming a medical doctor. He is wondering, however, about the differences between these two paths from a career perspective. What the advantages and disadvantages of an academic career vs. a medical career?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23411,
"author": "just-learning",
"author_id": 10483,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10483",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>One thing that comes to mind: for doctors, the move abroad is far more difficult than for the researchers in biomed, because the job market in healthcare is usually heavily protected against international workforce by licensing barriers, see e.g. <a href=\"http://immigrationimpact.com/2013/12/17/licensing-barriers-leave-immigrant-doctors-driving-cabs-instead-of-practicing-medicine/\">http://immigrationimpact.com/2013/12/17/licensing-barriers-leave-immigrant-doctors-driving-cabs-instead-of-practicing-medicine/</a> for the US. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23414,
"author": "eikooc",
"author_id": 17448,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17448",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>For medicine: \"A doctor is a medical professional who examines the sick and tries to find a way to help them\" <a href=\"http://www.ehow.com/about_5139119_roles-doctors-nurses.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">[1]</a>.\nFor biomedical engineering: \"This field seeks to close the gap between engineering and medicine: It combines the design and problem solving skills of engineering with medical and biological sciences to advance healthcare treatment\" <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biomedical_engineering\" rel=\"nofollow\">[2]</a>.</p>\n\n<p>So if your friend want to help patients intimately he should be a doctor but if he wants to help the doctors and advance healthcare and thus indirectly helping the patients he should be a biomedical engineer.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23417,
"author": "Korem",
"author_id": 17394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17394",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>As a person who faced a similar dilemma a few years ago, I think there are major practical differences:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>The working environment. Every doctor will spend his early career in a hospital, whether he plans on practising in the community later or not. A hospital environment is really different than the research one. In the former you are constantly on your feet, working long hours, nights, etc. However, you are constantly working with the people to whom you're helping. In a \"lucky\" week (depends on the POV), you might save a life every day. </li>\n<li>Taking work home. While a M.D works long and hard hours at his/er practice, when she goes home - she can rest. Her patients doesn't follow her home. As a researcher I can tell you that I'm even dreaming on my research. </li>\n<li>Independence. The medical environment is a very hierarchical one. Starting out as a M.D, you can't even sign off your own orders (in first world countries, at least :) ), contrary to a graduate student who might be given an independent project very early in his or her study course.</li>\n<li>Goals. As a researcher, you end up working for the sake of science. You might find yourself pursuing a direction which might take decades before it translates into helping people. As a practitioner - you're working for the people in front of you.</li>\n<li>Demand for your skills. In general - there are hardly any M.Ds who go unemployed. Most healthcare systems are understaffed and there is always a demand for M.Ds. I wish we could say the same about positions in the academy, and the industry is never as stable (and here it's field specific and I can't say much about the specific field in question).</li>\n</ol>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/14
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23409",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/1391/"
] |
23,418 |
<p>Almost every theoretical physicist (string theorists) that I meet tells me that it makes no sense to try do a PhD. in these subjects since there are simply no jobs available and things are only going to get worse for those seeking faculty jobs 8-10 years from now. </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23419,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Your question assumes that the only possible job destination for theoretical and mathematical physics is in faculty positions. This is not the case. There are many additional fields (finance, consulting, computer gaming, medical imaging, and so on) where the demand for PhD's with training in mathematical analysis is growing. </p>\n\n<p>Now if your goal is a faculty position, that may be a different matter. But clearly the overall demand is still great enough that people continue to get doctorates in the discipline, which suggests that people are still finding employment. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23428,
"author": "Hauser",
"author_id": 213,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/213",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think aeismail made an important point, also when you didn't ask for jobs outside of faculty. I also started to study myself physics because of astro-/particle physics as many physicists do and did. But before choosing my master thesis, the question came up, how are the job perspectives in this field or other subfields of physics. Many students don't seem to think about this important question. I saw many of my old fellow students pursuing simply the field of their love and/or even doing a PhD in it, also the topic, or, even worse, the methods they learn are barely related to other fields in and outside of physics. Normally you don't have huge problems in finding a job nowadays with a PhD in physics, if your only criterion is finding a job at all.</p>\n\n<p>Getting a faculty position or even professorship at a good university in Europe or US is an odyssey in this field of physics. You compete with very smart, very ambitious graduates from all over the world. If you are not very good, plan to have family life before 35, time for hobbies... I would not start a PhD in this field. Do a master thesis (in Germany you have to) in this field to see how good you are and what experts in this field think of your abilities. But after this really think about what you want to achieve/do the next 10 years in your life. If you want to work in physics research in any case, choose your PhD field and topic wisely. Average physics professor in Germany has around 20-40 PhD graduates during his professorship, so chances are 1:30 you achieve the same. I agree with Pete Clarks comment that most students pursuing a PhD and scientific career probably don't know this, but it's not so hard to find out. In US system, where many start PhD after bachelor degree, this is really a tricky decision so early in your scientific career.</p>\n\n<p>Additionally, this is probably your actual question, the number of faculty jobs in this field is likely to decrease the next decades. <a href=\"http://www.math.columbia.edu/~woit/wordpress/?p=4605&cpage=1\" rel=\"nofollow\">Take this link</a> as a start for google keywords. </p>\n\n<p>Some of my friends did their PhD in astrophysics. Most now have well paid jobs in consulting and programming. Their knowledge of physics (higher math, programming languages, analytic thinking) helps them a lot to make career in their fields outside of physics research. For some it is great, some regret that they have only their spare time to read research articles still and cure their curiosity about nature, universe... You have to be honest, you cannot keep up to date in most physics research fields this way. This was the most important point for me to consider. I want to work my whole life in physics research and was sure I don't want to spend the time to try it and would never get a faculty position in astrophysics, so I did choose some other path. Fortunately there are so many interesting subfields in physics where one will have good options for scientific career and/or physics R&D later in industry that I don't regret my decision much.</p>\n\n<p>This answer probably doesn't help you a lot, even if you have the will and abilities to pursue this odyssey, you need a lot of luck. But I know so many students that were talked into doing PhD in such risky and niche fields dreaming of a scientific career when the real chances are below 1:30 that I want to stress that this is a important, tricky, risky and life decision and that YOU should thoroughly think about it. Look at the CV's of some scholars with faculty position in this field and read the link above. Without a good plan B you stand behind I would not start or get talked into such an odyssey.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/15
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23418",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6683/"
] |
23,420 |
<p>I teach a course consisting of about 50 assignments. These include readings, many short writing assignments, and group projects. Additionally, students complete 2 large projects as the mid-term and final, entirely covering all of the material.</p>
<p>I noticed many students skipped lots of homework. Some skipped 6 weeks of work completely. I assumed the workload was too high, but I surveyed those who did the work and nobody reported spending more than 2-3 hours per week. Some students had determined that each assignment had such a low value, they did not bother to complete the work. These students all did very poorly on the final.</p>
<p>My supervisor will not be happy to find that I am failing 25% of the students. For future terms, how can I motivate students to complete everything?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23423,
"author": "Bill Barth",
"author_id": 11600,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/11600",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Make them worth more! You can do this by shifting more points onto them, or, maybe, by having less than 50 of them for what is presumably a 14 or 15 week semester.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23424,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Whether it's appropriate or inappropriate to fail 25% of your students depends on context. If this is a community college algebra course, then a 75% pass rate is insanely high, and would probably indicate that your standards are not high enough.</p>\n\n<p>In general, it's not your job to motivate your students, nor is it your job to convince them to take a less immature attitude toward their own education. The fact that you assigned the homework put them on notice that you considered it necessary for them to do it in order to learn the material.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23425,
"author": "Bob Brown",
"author_id": 16183,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/16183",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I typically make homework 40% of the course grade and divide the remaining points among midterm, final, and class participation. Then, on the first day, I tell students that they cannot pass the course without doing at least most of the homework.</p>\n\n<p>I do not assign grades to reading assignments; instead, I make an assignment that can be assessed, but that cannot readily be completed without having done the assigned reading.</p>\n\n<p>In a 16-week semester, I might have ten graded assignments, but each one will have multiple parts, so the students <em>do</em> perhaps 50 things, but they perceive that they have ten assignments, each worth perhaps four course points. I also require students to attempt every part of an assignment in order to receive any credit. In other words, half-done means not graded.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23432,
"author": "rumtscho",
"author_id": 103,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/103",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Sure, it is for their own good to do it. But frankly, college students are too immature to realize it, and even the ones who do realize it have to fight with very strong procrastination motivators. You can't expect them to deliver this kind of stuff based on internal motivation only, they don't have it. </p>\n\n<p>If it is your goal to get them to pass, you have to give them external motivation here. The usual method is to make homework obligatory. </p>\n\n<p>The idea behind it is simple. Anybody who gets less than 80% of the possible points on homework assignments is not allowed to take the final. If you want to be mild, or the homework is very tough, set a lower target in percent. If you want to include very interesting but very hard problems in the homework, mark them as \"optional\" and don't make them count towards the required points. </p>\n\n<p>This also has the advantage (from a grader's perspective) that students who cannot muster the dilligence to achieve 80% correctness when working in a relaxed environment with little time pressure and with the help of their friends, their textbooks and the Internet, will not be present at the real written exam where they are only going to waste your time. But it also makes them learn for the homework, spaced over the semester, so the students who have the intelligence to beat the exam but procrastinate until the last two days to learn without deadlines are actually learning well and get their grade based on solid knowledge, instead of passing on bulimia learning or plainly failing. </p>\n\n<p>You can alternatively declare a number of homework sheets which needs to be turned in. E.g. if there are 12 homework assignments for the semester, you can say that they need to turn in at least 10 to be allowed to take the exam. But this is more problematic - what do you do with students who turn in an empty sheet? The percentage system works, I have seen it employed by many departments at two different universities. I have been exposed to it on both sides, as a student and as a teaching assistant/grader. It is well accepted by students and staff alike, it is perceived as fair, and it works. </p>\n\n<p>You will probably have some problems championing it, both from students and faculty, but once you get it established, everybody benefits. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23433,
"author": "Curious1",
"author_id": 17466,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17466",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The best way to motivate students in this regard is to create some form of competition.</p>\n\n<p>Post the grades of the top 5 or 10 students after each assignment. If they choose, you don't have to publish their names but only their numbers.</p>\n\n<p>Update the statistics after each assignment deadline and offer bonus points for finishing in certain positions (e.g. 1st places gets a bonus 10 points etc).</p>\n\n<p>The atmosphere in the class will change quickly. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23438,
"author": "dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten",
"author_id": 440,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/440",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Taking </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Some students had determined that each assignment had such a low value, they did not bother to complete the work.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>serious, it's tempting to suggest that you assign exactly the same work for exactly the same fraction of the course credit, but packaged into a smaller number of assignments so that each assignment looks more important to them.</p>\n\n<p>But there are two issues:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>Frequent feedback is often alleged to be good for student learning, and your many small assignments support that while fewer large assignments do not.</p></li>\n<li><p>I'm also with the others: students who can't figure out that they have to do a large fraction of these assignments to pass are unlikely to be very successful <em>no matter</em> what you do for them.</p></li>\n</ul>\n\n<p>So, perhaps you should just check progress at some early point in the course and lets the slackers know that they are on the road to poor grades if they don't shape up.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23441,
"author": "JeffE",
"author_id": 65,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/65",
"pm_score": 5,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>Some students had determined that each assignment had such a low\n value, they did not bother to complete the work. These students all\n did very poorly on the final.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>One important way to combat this attitude is to show the actual statistics from the course you just completed.</p>\n\n<p>\"Here is the distribution of homework completion across last semester's course. And here is the distribution of final course grades. Notice that every student who completed less than XXX% of the homework failed the course.\"</p>\n\n<p>Repeat this exercise after every midterm, showing similar statistics for the <em>current</em> class. \"See, here is the distribution of homework completion so far, and here is the distribution of midterm grades. Notice that every student who completed less than XXX% of the homework failed the midterm, which is completely consistent with last semester.\" </p>\n\n<p>In other words: \"I am not bluffing.\"</p>\n\n<p>If you want to be even more direct, you can announce in your syllabus that anyone not completing XXX% of the homework <em>automatically</em> fails the course, regardless of their performance on the final exam. Be sure to read this sentence out loud in class on the first day.</p>\n\n<p>Of course, you also need some carrots to go with the stick. The homework should not only be <em>useful</em>, but also interesting. The students should have access to any resources they need to master the homework material, including rapid and useful feedback. The homework should be realistically tuned to the skill and maturity levels of the students, and you should carefully discuss your expectations with instructors of any prerequisite courses.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>My supervisor will not be happy to find that I am failing 25% of the students.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I assume you mentioned the abysmal homework completion rate to your supervisor as soon as you noticed it, which was relatively early in the semester. Right? So how did your supervisor respond?</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23453,
"author": "Carl Witthoft",
"author_id": 10309,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10309",
"pm_score": -1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>First of all, I'm disappointed that you used the word \"fail,\" which is a reflexive verb, rather than \"flunk,\" which is the correct word to use. </p>\n\n<p>You didn't state what level (college, elementary, etc) you're teaching. For very young kids, I would simply send notes home saying something like \"Your child didn't complete last nite/week's assignment. Please make sure he completes it by XX date.\" For high school and above, my view is that they can dang well sink or swim on their own. If they don't understand that the point of each assignment is to learn something (not to get a grade on it), then they're lost to the world. It shouldn't be your job to babysit them. </p>\n\n<p>If you have concerns about your supervisor's opinion of your teaching methods, the appropriate thing to do is talk with him a month or so into the term, not after the finals. </p>\n\n<p>And finally, a personal viewpoint, but bolstered with a lot of reports from teachers and observations from other parents: groups projects are crap. They've always been crap, and always will be crap. They invariably end up with a few strong players whose efforts are not properly rewarded because the overall project's quality suffers from the slackers or incompetents in the group. School is not military training camp (where it <em>might</em> be justifiable to grade the group on getting everyone safely thru the course). </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23455,
"author": "user17498",
"author_id": 17498,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17498",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I tell the students that two exam questions will come from the homework: one exactly as it was on the homework, and one with only small changes. Doing all the homework is like getting one question on the midterm/final for free.</p>\n\n<p>In class, I mention that usually the one that ends up on the exam with no changes is whichever one the fewest people turned in. Not always, but usually.</p>\n\n<p>Added bonus: it seems to cut down on cheating, probably because if all you do is copy someone else's program, then you don't remember it well enough to reproduce it on the exam.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23460,
"author": "Populus",
"author_id": 10897,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10897",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I'm not an educator, but I have some experience on the matter of a course not engaging students enough to motivate them (I was one of those students).</p>\n\n<p>I know I shouldn't place all the blame on the course material nor the instructor, but I cannot help but feel that if I failed sooner, I wouldn't have had to \"suffer\" as long as I did, hanging on to a diminishing sense of hope.</p>\n\n<p>In my highschool, assignments were mandatory, you'd get punishment for not handing homework on time in addition to 0 marks, for disrespecting your teacher. However, the \"freedom\" I experienced immediately after entering university was too much for me to handle, and not handing in assignments was merely the first thing \"to do\" on my list of rebelliousness.</p>\n\n<p>Different people handle situations differently, so I don't think having a blanket set of rules is good enough to handle all situations. I believe that each student should be treated according to their needs, but obviously that's a huge amount of resource needed, and is definitely not feasible... So I think there should at least be some sort of way to help groups of students with similar struggles, e.g. bored of class because they know it already, not knowing how to prioritise their work and ending up not finishing anything...etc.</p>\n\n<p>Lastly regarding OP's question, my best advice right now is for the instructor to set aside some time to talk to their student's 1-to-1, at least once in a semester, before or after midterms (I'd say before is better, so they become more motivated for midterms). Student's who want to learn, will learn, but sometimes they just want to know that someone cares... a short chat (10min?) will let them feel that you care (whether you do or not... is another matter lol) And if that person didn't need a \"pep talk\", you can use it to learn from your students; yes, teachers should learn from their students as well, sometimes they have the brilliant ideas you could use.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23468,
"author": "Rick",
"author_id": 17506,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17506",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>First, I think it's important to note a difference between external motivation (carrot + stick) and intrinsic motivation (pride in the work + knowledge that it will help). External motivation can increase completion rates in your class, but has been shown to decrease intrinsic motivation so it may have negative aftereffects. Thus, I would try to avoid solutions such as competitions (which have also been shown to actually have a negative effect for girls)</p>\n\n<p>I'm a strong advocate of fostering pride in the work itself. This can be done with 1 on 1 chats as mentioned by Populous, and if there is time, then I would recommend that in addition to the below advice.</p>\n\n<p>As mentioned in dmckee's answer. Frequency of feedback can be an important factor in education, including motivation. When assignments are returned with comments and in a timely manner the students feel that the instructor or grader cares about their work. This support can foster intrinsic motivation. Conversely, when assignments are returned with no comments, returned late, or never returned at all, students can be strongly demotivated.</p>\n\n<p>I know this both from personal teaching (and student) experience and literature on intrinsic motivation.</p>\n\n<p>Also I'd like to make a few comments on jeffE's answer but don't have the reputation:</p>\n\n<p>Statistics may be motivating for the students that understand them in some situations. However, often the simple statistics won't show what you'd like; the highest scoring students may have low homework completion rates because they already know the material and find the homework boring. I know, I personally didn't do a single homework assignment in Geometry, Algebra II, or Pre-Calc, but was the school winner for most of the math competitions in my High School. This is especially true in classes that aren't tracked where there can be a very large variation of abilities. Looking at the test grades vs. homework completion of an inner city public school Algebra 1 class shows a negative correlation. Trying to explain the confounding variables to a class that's not proficient in statistics is a futile exercise, and if they've made it to the point where they are proficient in statistics then odds are they've already learned to be self motivated.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/15
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23420",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/600/"
] |
23,421 |
<p>One day, I spoke with one of my professors about if it were possible for a blind person to obtain a professorship in my university. This was motivated by thinking on the Russian and blind mathematician <a href="http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lev_Semenovich_Pontryagin" rel="nofollow">Lev Poyntriagin</a> who made important work in topological groups and control theory.</p>
<p>So my question, which is hypothetical, is the following one: Suppose that we have a blind person such that is a very "good" researcher in his/her field in the sense that he/she has "good" articles in his/her field, which problems would this person have in applying for a professorship in a University due to his condition?</p>
<p>Ii is important to address the problem that this person would probably need an assistant for continuing doing his/her research and for giving lectures at some extent. So, will this be something that would could count negatively?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23426,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p><a href=\"http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CB8QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ams.org%2Fnotices%2F200210%2Fcomm-morin.pdf&ei=faGdU__oG42nyASaroBw&usg=AFQjCNF8Qd3lofgUJCkY14U8KJLeXAYb5w&sig2=H-u8lqD5yyCrG0OEwnaBSA&bvm=bv.68911936,d.aWw&cad=rja\" rel=\"nofollow\">Here</a> is a very interesting 2002 article on blind mathematicians from the Notices of the American Mathematical Society. Some quick highlights:</p>\n\n<p>1) Although Lev Pontrjagin is the best known blind mathematician -- and was a wonderful mathematician; \"who made important work in topological groups and control theory\" is quite true but may be an under-sell -- there have been others. If we count mathematicians who were blind for a substantial portion of their professional career then even Pontrjagin gets outclassed: there is, after all, <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonhard_Euler\" rel=\"nofollow\">Leonhard Euler</a>. And there are more contemporary examples, such as <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Morin\" rel=\"nofollow\">Bernard Morin</a> and <a href=\"http://spot.colorado.edu/~baggett/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Lawrence W. Baggett</a>. Both of the latter are still living but retired (on the other hand, the article is 12 years old). It would be interesting to have even more contemporary examples. </p>\n\n<p>2) Being a blind mathematician is rare but not singular. In fact there are enough to notice that blind mathematicians tend to specialize in geometry and topology. This is very surprising, as these fields are thought of as requiring visualization skills beyond the norm (I for instance have felt a little locked out of certain parts of geometry and topology because of my limited skills in this area....though my vision is fine). The article really shines in the way it addresses this point: the insight it offers goes far beyond, um, sight. At the same time there are blind mathematicians in other fields: e.g. Baggett is an analyst.</p>\n\n<p>3) Blind mathematicians must in many ways work harder than sighted mathematicians. But of course mathematics is hard for everyone, and much of being a successful mathematician is embracing the struggle and continually pushing yourself out of your comfort zone and beyond your current range. This is a key point of <a href=\"http://terrytao.wordpress.com/career-advice/continually-aim-just-beyond-your-current-range/\" rel=\"nofollow\">Terry Tao's career advice</a>. For that matter, I am suddenly struck by Andrew Wiles's famous description of mathematical research as exploring the rooms of a dark house one by one: you spend almost all of your time in the darkness; when you find the light switch you flip it and go on to the next room. (I don't mean to trivialize the challenges of <em>literally</em> living in the dark, just to indicate that the experience of dealing with and gradually surmounting challenges that to a static observer seem totally insurmountable is a somewhat familiar one.) Reading this article made me wonder about the OP's assertion \"this person would probably need an assistant for continuing doing his/her research and for giving lectures at some extent.\" Some might need or want a formal assistant, but some might not and might be self-reliant and of course reliant on the informal assistance of colleagues, friends and family...as we all are. The mathematicians featured in the article are much more independent than one might have assumed possible.</p>\n\n<p>The question was not specifically about blind <em>mathematicians</em>, but that was the example given, and I am a mathematician, so I ran with that. Off the top of my head I would suspect that blindness would be less of an issue in mathematics than most other academic fields...but as a sighted mathematician, how the heck could I possibly know that?!? I would be very interested to hear about blind academics in other fields and what challenges they face.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23444,
"author": "keshlam",
"author_id": 10225,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10225",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Specifically addressing <em>professorship</em>, as opposed to researcher, the most immediate question that comes to my mind would be one of teaching techniques. Much college education takes advantage of blackboards or other visuals to present the formulas and techniques that students will have to learn, to supplement the lecturer's voice. That could be a challenge for a blind instructor. You should probably be prepared to explain and/or demonstrate to the school how you will address this, perhaps with citation of other instructors who have used the same solution.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23481,
"author": "Thomas",
"author_id": 6984,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6984",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>A professor's principal job is conducting research. Depending on field, blindness may or may not be much of a problem at all. <a href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheena_Iyengar\" rel=\"nofollow\">Sheena Iyengar</a> is an endowed full professor at Columbia Business School and is blind. Her research is fascinating and she seems to be doing pretty well for herself.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23527,
"author": "Anonymous Physicist",
"author_id": 13240,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13240",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The American higher education institutions I am familiar with have put a great deal of emphasis on improving diversity. So I would expect a successful blind researcher to do well on the faculty job market.</p>\n\n<p>Otherwise healthy blind adults do not need assistants. Many sighted faculty do need assistants.</p>\n\n<p>Presumably a successful blind researcher has already overcome significant barriers to access; as a faculty member I think the main barriers they would experience are a few faculty who are ignorant about disability.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23541,
"author": "Dirk",
"author_id": 529,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/529",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I may add personal experience with a blind mathematican I've seen in an invited talk some time ago. He was giving two lectures about the same topic and I could only attend the second one. He worked on the blackboard an turned towards the audience to speak. He needed help in the beginning to get familiar with the size of the blackboard and also had help to clean the blackboard (he was already a senior mathematician but turned blind gradually in the last years). He started his lecture with a crystal clear recap of the previous one, without writing on the board. Then he started the new lecture and as usual, he wrote full theorems and formula at the board. I was shocked. What he wrote was totally unreadable. In most cases one could only read the first few letters of each word while the rest was just a wiggly line. Also he did not have a good orientation on the board. It happend frequently then he wrote directly over his own writing - sometimes three or four times over the same line. The blackboard was a hell of a mess. However, I usually listen more than I read in lectures and my notes reflect more what I hear than what is written on the board. Hence, I started to use the blackboard only for crude reference for what he referred to when he pointed to places where he suspected the formulas he needed, but took notes on the basis of what I heared. It turned out the be one of the best guest lectures I heared - ever. Even the mess on the blackboard was helpful. It gave the lecture some spatial structure although I could barely read the letters. I still knew what he had said at the respective points and could follow the lecture without problems although it was only loosely related to my own area.</p>\n\n<p>Finally, I have been told that he still give lectures to students at his home university and the students are happy.</p>\n\n<p>That story probably illustrates that at least lecturing should not be a great problem without eyesight.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23547,
"author": "RoboKaren",
"author_id": 14885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14885",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There are really two questions here:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>What problems would a blind mathematician have in doing their research?</li>\n<li>What problems would a blind professor have in handling their teaching/service responsibilities?</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>I think the first question has been answered fairly well by others. Since I'm not a mathematician but I am a (sighted) scholar in Disability Studies, let me address the second.</p>\n\n<p>Academia is on the whole much more accessible to blind people than private industry. Most internal department administrative business is conducted over e-mail or in face to face meetings. For the most part, you're mostly doing your own research or teaching. There's little printed media that isn't renderable into an accessible format. For example, I have all of my students submit papers online, so I rarely deal with paper anymore.</p>\n\n<p>However, there are very few scholars with disabilities and there is still prejudice in the academe. It will be key to establish a good track record of publications and some experience teaching so that you can put these fears and prejudices to rest.</p>\n\n<p>Try to network with other scholars with disabilities whenever possible. There's strength in numbers.</p>\n\n<p>Just as a total aside. One of my colleagues wanted to bring in a Deaf scholar to give a talk, but the scholar would give her talk using American Sign Language. While the university will provide enrolled Deaf <em>STUDENTS</em> with interpreters, there was no provision for providing external <em>SCHOLARS</em> with interpreters. We had to bring this up to the provost level in order to accomplish anything. But this is an example of the differential treatment of students with disabilities vs. scholars with disabilities that you might face in the future. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 59654,
"author": "Sarah Blake LaRose",
"author_id": 45727,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/45727",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It is impractical to pose this as a hypothetical question to people who are sighted and who do not understand how a person who is blind does his/her job. If the person is already established as a successful researcher, it should be understood that the person has demonstrated ability with or without assistance to do what is needed to serve in this capacity. The only question left to answer is whether the person actually does need an assistant. This will depend on the individual--some people do and some do not, depending on the skills and technology that each individual person uses--and whether the particular university is willing and/or able to provide an assistant. Many universities provide assistants whether a person is sighted or blind. If a professor who is blind asks their assistant to help with specific tasks related to use of sight, that is an individual matter. A different professor might have the assistant do something else that is equally useful to him/her.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 59663,
"author": "user-2147482637",
"author_id": 12718,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12718",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>You would be surprised by modern technology and methods that a professor already as at her or his hands. Computers can read research papers to the person, they can help navigate the user interface through audio commands and feedback, etc. </p>\n\n<p>The biggest issue I can think of today would be; getting acquainted with the campus at first, so one could navigate on their own. Besides that, I think issues of research would be very field based. </p>\n\n<p>One modern day example (not in mathematics) is Sile O'Modhrain.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/15
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23421",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/7160/"
] |
23,429 |
<p>I have a friend who is applying for teaching positions in biochemistry with no teaching experience. She has a strong research background, with several publications as a grad student and post doc, but is interested in transitioning into teaching (partially to gain employment and solve a two body problem, but also out of genuine interest). The position she is applying for asks for a "Statement of teaching interest". While, I think I can give good advice for someone who has taught before, what should someone write about if they have never taught or TAed a class. She does have some background tutoring and showing faculty, grad students, and undergrads how to use various machines in the lab. But that is about it. So </p>
<p>(1) What is a "statement of teaching interest?" How does it differ from a "teaching philosophy" or a "teaching statement"?</p>
<p>and </p>
<p>(2) How does one write this statement without any classroom teaching experience?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23431,
"author": "Dave Clarke",
"author_id": 643,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/643",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Answering 2 (though perhaps this is more relevant for a <em>teaching philosophy</em> statement): there are a number of resources you could use, but the key challenge is writing something that feels right for you. I would do the following:</p>\n\n<p>1) Write your own version of a teaching statement. What do you feel about teaching? How would you approach it? What does it mean to you? What teaching experiences (as a student, for instance) have really influenced you?</p>\n\n<p>2) Find out what other teaching statements say. You can readily find teaching statements by googling. Lots of people looking for jobs have theirs online. Highlight phrases that appeal to you. (Avoid copying at all cost.)</p>\n\n<p>3) Look what the professionals say about teaching. For example, a book like <em>Teaching for Quality Learning at University</em> by John Biggs and Catherine Tang gives one very modern view on how it should be done. The approach differed significantly from how my lecturers approached teaching. \nPerhaps even consult latest research. I always get surprised and get ideas when I read the teaching research literature. </p>\n\n<p>4) Revisit the teaching statement you wrote in 1).</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23436,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>About your first question, I don't really know if there is a difference, or if those are just different terms referring to the same document. </p>\n\n<p>In context of a training program done at my university, one of our assignments was to write a personal teaching statement. We had several inputs to help us in doing this task, and one I found particularly useful was the following list of questions (credit to the Staff Development Unit of Newcastle University): </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <ol>\n <li>What Higher Education is for: what are students supposed to learn or how are they supposed to develop whilst studying? </li>\n <li>How do you think students learn in your discipline, or in aspects of it? (You may of course be part of an inter-disciplinary area)</li>\n <li>So, based on (1.) and (2.) what teaching methods do you use that reflect this position (with examples)? </li>\n <li>What has informed your thinking here (experience, literature, colleagues, students)?</li>\n </ol>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>You can note that 1, 2 and 4 do not require strictly speaking to have teaching experience (although it's clearly helpful). For the point 3, you can replace the \"<em>do you use</em>\" by \"<em>could you use</em>\", and that should work. </p>\n\n<p>Two aspects of this assignment that were really important for us were to use pedagogy literature (as Dave Clarke pointed out) and to be reflective. Of course, such an assignment is not necessarily evaluated as would be a teaching statement by a recruiting committee, but I think the point was that, as a young academic, you cannot really be expected to be an expert in teaching. But you are expected to learn how to become one, and to reflect on your past experiences, interactions, discussions, etc, in order to improve your practice. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23437,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<blockquote>\n <p>(1) What is a \"statement of teaching interest?\" How does it differ from a \"teaching philosophy\" or a \"teaching statement\"?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I would guess that all three quoted phrases mean the same thing. The \"teaching statement\" is not as formalized a genre as the sonnet: there is a range of reasonable responses, and to my ear all three things are asking for the same range.</p>\n\n<p>Of course, if one is especially interested in a specific teaching position it would be better not to guess but to inquire what they mean. I don't see any reason to be shy about that: just ask politely.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>(2) How does one write this statement without any classroom teaching experience?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Others have given some advice on this. It is certainly possible to literally <em>write a teaching statement</em> without any teaching experience -- one talks about one's teaching philosophy, teaching goals, and so forth, while not mentioning the experiences that one hasn't had. It's not like they're asking for the secret masonic handshake: anyone who has gotten a PhD has certainly experienced enough teaching to be able to write about it intelligibly (let me assume that someone who has gotten a PhD has learned to write intelligibly on academic matters!). </p>\n\n<p>However, isn't there another key question here? Namely:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>(3) What are the chances that someone who has <em>absolutely no teaching or TAing experience whatsoever</em> will be seriously considered for a faculty position with emphasis on teaching?</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>I can answer this question from the perspective of a math department at a research university: it is very likely that I would not seriously consider any such candidate. Let me explain. \"Even\" at a research university, teaching is a big part of the job -- roughly half, according to university directives -- and someone who is a truly unsatisfactory teacher is going to be an eternal liability and problem. Well, you say, what if they are a truly outstanding researcher -- can't they learn to teach? It doesn't really work for me. If by \"truly outstanding researcher\" you mean that they've proven the Weil Conjectures, then they deserve to be at a truly top place which can afford to have faculty who literally never teach, or who only teach graduate seminars to their own brilliant students. Any candidate like that is not going to come to my public research university, and if anything still less is she going to go to a teaching college. If someone is simply a strong enough researcher that I would otherwise be very pleased to hire her, then her complete lack of teaching experience creates an insurmountable fairness issue when one compares her to other candidates with similar or moderately worse research profiles but who have devoted a substantial amount of time and energy over the years to teaching. Even serious research mathematicians work hard to be competent teachers: it takes time and energy. Sometimes people have less than stellar teaching, and it really can ding them a bit even at a \"serious research university\". Someone with <em>no teaching</em> has to get a zero averaged in to her total grade, so to speak.</p>\n\n<p>I explained how it goes for mathematics at a research university. The OP's candidate is changed twice: from mathematics to biochemistry, and from a research university to a teaching college. From what I've heard on this site, teaching experience is valued significantly less in the non-mathematical sciences than in mathematics. On the other hand, I happen to know that teaching experience and credentials are valued way more highly in teaching colleges than at research universities: though I think of myself as a \"serious teaching guy\", when I visit a colleague at such a place I feel like I am hiding in a foxhole doing math all day compared to them. Moreover smaller places are smaller, so the \"ethos of the college\" is something which is more strongly felt by all, whereas being a scientist at a research university is almost a different job from being a humanities professor at a research university. My best guess: <strong>there is little chance that someone without any teaching experience will get any real consideration at a reputable teaching college</strong>.</p>\n\n<p>So I would say to the OP: if your friend wants this job, it's not about how to write the teaching statement, it's about how she can acquire some actual teaching experience. One semester of good evaluations in any reputable post high school academic institution would make a world of difference. If she's not willing to acquire that, is she <em>really</em> that serious about a teaching career? Compared to the other candidates, I mean?</p>\n\n<p>Two final points:</p>\n\n<p>I. I do not want to leave the impression that one should write a \"teaching statement\" that hides the fact that someone has no teaching experience. Although this should come out elsewhere in the application -- e.g. on the CV -- in my view it would be dishonest not to at least remark on this in the statement itself.</p>\n\n<p>II. Others have counseled that a teaching statement should \"[l]ook at what the professionals say about teaching\" and \"use pedagogy literature\". This is good advice, but it can be misapplied. Namely, you need to have real understanding and ideally mastery of anything you talk about in these job applications. Most people know not to talk about locally ringed topoi in their research statements if they do not want to get asked what a locally ringed topos is in an interview. However, at least in my line of work, it is something of a cliche that young people \"use pedagogy literature\" to the extent of absorbing some trendy buzzwords, which they then misuse. If you talk about flipped classrooms, IBL and so forth and reveal that you don't fully understand what these terms mean, that is so much worse than not using them at all. </p>\n\n<p>In fact at my research university (it is a bit different at teaching colleges, I happen to know) most of the faculty are <em>not</em> familiar with the pedagogy literature, and if I'm honest, some people pride themselves on the conjunction of that ignorance and their superior teaching. I don't think pedagogical literature is BS (or not all BS, anyway; every branch of academic literature has some BS), and I do believe that if you actually learn these ideas and articulate them properly and well it will be to your credit. But be careful. Also be aware that the trendy technique that one committee member might like might make another one roll her eyes. So a good teaching statement succeeds independently of its use of this kind of terminology and ideas.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/15
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23429",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8101/"
] |
23,442 |
<p>Bit about me: I recently graduated as an undergraduate in Statistics and would like to pursue graduate school. I will be working as an actuary starting this upcoming month and will be pursuing the GRE and Mathematics GRE Subject Test this September/October.</p>
<p>I'm struggling to write a CV for graduate school. It is not a requirement that I know of currently (I haven't looked at the application requirements yet at the places I plan on applying yet), but I know that I will need to have one ready in case I need it in the future. I have plenty of experience writing resumes for actuarial positions, but none whatsoever for grad school CVs. </p>
<p>I have <strong>bolded</strong> the questions that I would like answered.</p>
<p>Here's what I currently have so far (in chronological order):</p>
<p>Top: name, contact info</p>
<p>Body: Education, Academic Research, Teaching Experience, Volunteer Experience (<strong>if I volunteered as a TA, should I throw this experience in teaching instead if I don't have any other volunteering experience?</strong>), Work Experience (consists of an actuarial position + an assessment position), Leadership and Committee Experience, Actuarial Exams, Languages, Computer Skills, Research Interests</p>
<p><strong>Am I missing anything</strong> that should be in a mathematics CV?</p>
<p>Also, <strong>how much detail am I expected to put in for my experiences</strong>? For example, on my research experience, I have the advisor's name, what I did, how I pursued the research, and in some cases, what the research led up to (e.g., one of my projects was used to supplement an already-published mathematics and music text). <strong>Am I expected to talk about "excellent communication skills" or "teamwork" in any of my experiences, if applicable</strong>? (For an actuarial resume, I would NEVER right anything like this, as it sounds like I'm just trying to fill up white space.)</p>
<p>Lastly, I realize that this isn't the most relevant pertaining to this website specifically, but <strong>are there any online forums where I can get feedback on my CV (mathematics-specific would be extremely nice)</strong>?</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23470,
"author": "PA6OTA",
"author_id": 14839,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14839",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>For a PhD in statistics, the non-math and interdisciplinary experiences are very important. Definitely the fact that you'll have an actuarial internship is good. </p>\n\n<p>Teaching experience: also important. Many departments will like to know if you can teach.</p>\n\n<p>Communication skills are good, if you can substantiate them.\nComputer literacy (beyond html/MS office) is important.</p>\n\n<p>Not directly answering your question, but when you ask for recommendation letters, make sure at least one addresses your teaching. And, if you can have one outlining your interdisciplinary prowess, that will be good, too. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23471,
"author": "Pete L. Clark",
"author_id": 938,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/938",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>First let me say that I have a lot of experience with math department admissions, all of it in a department which is separate from the statistics department. The title question is "Constructing a mathematics CV": I'll answer that. I would not assume that it's the same for statistics.</p>\n<p>For a math admission -- either master's or PhD, it doesn't matter -- the CV is just about the least important part of the application that I can think of. At many places, it is probably being asked for as much out of force of habit as anything else: in academia, CV's are ubiquitous. However, most information that is provided on your CV is also provided elsewhere on the application: grades, coursework, research experiences, relevant personal experiences all have other outlets. I can only remember reaching for a candidate's CV when something was missing from some other part of the application (possibly because of a clerical error on our part) and I wanted to quickly put my hands on it. I <strong>absolutely</strong> don't care how the CV looks, how it is formatted, or anything like that. In fact I don't care about that stuff for any level of academic job. And <em>in fact</em> I myself have one of the more <a href=\"http://alpha.math.uga.edu/%7Epete/cvfeb14.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer\">unimpressively formatted CVs I've ever seen</a>, almost to the point of being unintentionally "unbusinesslike".</p>\n<p>So I would say the key is this: whenever you're wondering whether to put something on your CV, also ask yourself: "If I do put it on my CV, how do I highlight it <em>elsewhere</em> in my application?" Because your CV might not even be specifically read by some (or all) committee members.</p>\n<p>To answer your specific questions:</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>if I volunteered as a TA, should I throw this experience in teaching instead if I don't have any other volunteering experience?</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>You should certainly include all TA experience, volunteer or otherwise. (Whenever you do something as a volunteer that one might reasonably think you've been paid for, it is only honorable to clarify that you were a volunteer.) I find your concern that you don't have any other kind of volunteer experience misplaced: we're not looking for volunteer experience, and volunteer experience that is not math related is not clearly relevant at all and should probably only be included if it is truly notable or substantial. Honestly, we're not selecting for candidates who are unusually socially conscious or unusually well-rounded, so your volunteer work would have to be successful enough to show exceptional drive and/or administrative skill.</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Am I missing anything?</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>No, I don't think so. Your research experience -- if you have any -- is one of the more important things to go on a CV, and you mentioned it. But in keeping with what I said before, it is really <em>too important</em> to just hide in a CV: if you had any research experience at all you should certainly mention it in your personal statement (and if you haven't had any at all, it would be a good idea to address that, at least by saying how excited you are and how much you welcome the opportunity). If your research experiences resulted in actual product, then include the product itself: papers can be part of the application, and you can also include links to websites.</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>how much detail am I expected to put in for my experiences? Am I expected to talk about "excellent communication skills" or "teamwork" in any of my experiences, if applicable?</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>At this point I wonder if you're confusing the CV and the personal statement. You don't "talk about" anything in a CV: it just displays information. There is not a single complete sentence in my (eight page: yours should probably be one or two) CV. Information about relevant experiences should go prominently in your personal statement <em>and</em> you should do what you can to ensure that these experiences are also discussed in your recommendation letters (along with your coursework, these are the most important part of the application). I have no desire to hear about excellent communication skills or teamwork from the candidate herself, no. In fact, writing a personal statement that is literate and moderately compelling is your big chance to show your communication skills. Openly boasting about skills is something that academia largely frowns upon. This can get tricky when in certain contexts -- grant applications, introductions to papers -- you really <em>need</em> to describe your achievements, but in a way which is factual and not openly self-promotional. In a grad school application I would strive to look competent, eager and (reasonably) humble.</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>are there any online forums where I can get feedback on my CV (mathematics-specific would be extremely nice)?</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>You should ask your recommenders for feedback on your CV. They are natural candidates, because (i) they're reading it anyway and (ii) they have already shown an interest in your academic career. The right way to do this is to first give them a CV and make it really clear that you want critical comments and that you've saved plenty of time for it -- more than a month! -- and then after that you would like a recommendation letter.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/15
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23442",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17476/"
] |
23,445 |
<p>Every year, students seem to find new ways to "cheat" on the work. Every year, my course policies section grows longer and longer (a full page now) to match the newfound methods. I list all forms of plagiarism and exam rules and penalties. I additionally post similar rules on assignment instructions, particularly defining areas where I found students "cut corners" while still literally following the instructions. I teach many freshmen and foreign students who are not familiar with college expectations.</p>
<p>Do I need to define all forms of cheating on the syllabus? Is there some way to apply and enforce a blanket, "no other cheating permitted"?</p>
<p>Some examples include:</p>
<ol>
<li>Copying and pasting text from Web sites.</li>
<li>Submitting classmate's returned assignment as late assignment with own name.</li>
<li>Foreign students using machine translation exclusively to write essays for writing courses.</li>
<li>Using TTS for speeches.</li>
<li>Peering at other papers during exams.</li>
<li>Copying from phone during exams.</li>
<li>Submitting work they made in other courses.</li>
<li>Adding names of extra non-contributors to group work.</li>
<li>Doing work for a classmate.</li>
<li>Pretending to be another student during an exam.</li>
<li>Attending different sections during exams to preview the exam or try different versions.</li>
</ol>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23449,
"author": "xLeitix",
"author_id": 10094,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10094",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I think your problem <em>quite literally</em> is that you specify too much. If you provide a long list of things students are not allowed to do, it is natural that students assume that the list is comprehensive (that is, everything that is not on the list has to be legal). If you do what chubakueno proposes and have a single rule <strong>Plagiarising == fail</strong>, most people would be fully aware what that means.</p>\n\n<p><strong>EDIT:</strong> clearly, this does not mean that you should <em>never</em> go into more detail. Of course, if one has unusual or unexpected rules which other comparable lectures in the same university do not have, then of course they need to be explained. However, most of the examples given by Village are IMHO pretty obvious.</p>\n\n<p>Frankly, many of the items on your list <em>cannot reasonably be assumed to be ok</em>, no matter the rules. For instance, did you really have a student tell you with a straight face he thought it was ok if he pretended to be somebody else to write the other guy's exam?</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23451,
"author": "Linear",
"author_id": 14070,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14070",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Does your school not have an academic code of conduct? Usually schools have very comprehensive (but succinct) definitions of \"cheating\" and \"academic honesty\" simply so nobody has to roll their own. Every syllabus I've ever had or used in any school I've ever been to found it sufficient to say \"in addition to the syllabus of this course, you are also required to follow the school's code of academic honesty. Failure to abide by this code will result in immediate failure and referral to the appropriate administration.\" </p>\n\n<p>This is even easier with the advent of web resources where you can explicitly link to the academic code of conduct in the syllabus (or some mirror of it if it's not online for whatever reason).</p>\n\n<p>If not, I definitely agree with xLetix. Providing a comprehensive list of \"bads\" subtly implies that everything else is valid. Certain you can say \"among other things...\", but you should not have pages of examples. Certainly you can give one or two examples of blatant plagiarism, but otherwise give a succinct definition that's broad enough to allow you to catch all cases and leave it at that.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23454,
"author": "jwg",
"author_id": 5824,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/5824",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>These basic ideas should be prominent:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>Your work must be your own.</li>\n<li>Your ideas must be your own - you must identify and give credit for any ideas which are not yours.</li>\n<li>You must be honest and ethical in all behavior related to assessment.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>You might want to provide some separate information about exams. For example, you are/are not allowed to have your book/notes in the exam. Suppose someone for instance has information on their phone (and they are not allowed to have notes or the book), but they claim that phones were not excluded. You can, when discussing it with them, ask them whether they think this was honest and ethical behavior.</p>\n\n<p>Part of the point of this is that it is their responsibility to identify if work or ideas are not their own. If someone claims, for instance, that copying from a website does not mean that their work is not their own, you can ask them where and how they acknowledged the use of the ideas. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23456,
"author": "Community",
"author_id": -1,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/-1",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>There are generic expectations that are widely understood, and you don't need to spell those out. For example, you don't need to explicitly tell your students that it's not OK to pretend to be someone else and take their exam.</p>\n\n<p>On the other hand, I find that there are certain specific things that I want to make clear in my syllabus because they may differ from other teachers' expectations. For example, I teach physics labs, and my expectation is that collecting raw data is group work, but analysis, making graphs, and doing the writeup is individual work. There are other teachers at my school who have different expectations about lab work, so I need to make my own policies clear.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23462,
"author": "Brian P",
"author_id": 17232,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17232",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As suggested by a commenter, I am expanding my comment to that of an answer. Many colleges and universities have an 'academic integrity' policy or standards. For example, here is one such policy at the University of Michigan: <a href=\"http://www.lsa.umich.edu/academicintegrity/\">http://www.lsa.umich.edu/academicintegrity/</a>. You can find many other policies and standards regarding academic integrity. </p>\n\n<p>I would include the exact language of any such policy in the syllabus. When you review your syllabus, you should draw explicit attention to this policy and indicate that all violations will be taken seriously and referred to any judiciary committee if necessary. You can also take it one step further by having students actually sign a statement that they have read and understood the policy. Once you have done this, students assume the burden of ensuring their academic behaviors are entirely consistent with the policy. </p>\n\n<p>The other part of the process is actually following through on violations. I don't have problems with this issue in my class because students are very much aware of exactly what will happen if violations are observed. Of course, some students will claim that they \"didn't know.\" Ignorance of violations of academic integrity are simply unacceptable among college / university students who should be treated like adults. You don't want to give the impression that you are lenient on any such policy.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23494,
"author": "Superbest",
"author_id": 244,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/244",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It seems like in your case, you might just list what <em>is</em> allowed.</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>Imagine you have entered a room for the first time. You did not bring anything or anyone with you. This room has only a desk, a chair, a few blank sheets of paper, and a pencil. Anything that you would not be able to do in this room is not allowed in the exam.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Generally, you could just point out a few non-obvious things to adequately illustrate the spirit of the rule, and then say:</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>This list is not comprehensive. I will punish anything that gives you an unfair advantage. Use your own judgement to decide what would be acceptable, and if in doubt, ask.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>After all, you are not required to have every decision you make in class to have been written in exacting detail beforehand (at least in most schools). You can just say, \"even though I didn't explicitly say copying from your friend is not allowed, it should have been obvious to you that I would consider it cheating\". Also, some things on your list should not even be mentioned. Whatever excuse the student who tried to take an exam for someone else came up with, I guarantee that they knew full well they shouldn't have done it, and they knew you knew they knew. I don't see how </p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>No cooperating, no open book, no cheating</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>Doesn't cover everything except 7 and 8 on your list. Do your students honestly think that they're allowed to copy from a phone during an exam that isn't even open-book?</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23497,
"author": "Colin W",
"author_id": 17538,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17538",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The comments so far all seem to come from the perspective of the educator. Having recently made the transition from undergraduate completing exams and assessments, to postgraduate setting and marking them, I offer the following advice based on my experience.</p>\n\n<p>My university requires every single student to complete an online \"Plagiarism and Academic Honesty\" course each year. This course takes the form of a few dozen slides detailing many complex rules and examples, attempting to cover every form of assessment in every academic department. No-one ever actually reads the content of this course; the old concept of \"TL;DR\" is true even when your academic or professional future is at stake. Based on this experience, <em>I rule out the \"exhaustive restrictive list\" approach</em>.</p>\n\n<p>We also have the polar opposite as a University-wide policy: a very short, to-the-point statement about always behaving with complete academic honesty and integrity. This is always qualified, however, with a link to <a href=\"http://admin.exeter.ac.uk/academic/tls/tqa/Part%208/8Mplag1_old_version.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow\">the full \"legalese\" policy</a>. Again, no-one reads this. There are also numerous loopholes. For example, the policy states that you must not use another student's work without attribution. Copying an entire report and then scribbling \"I copied all this from Dave\" in the margin would therefore appear to be fine. This further leads me to the conclusion that <em>a restrictive list is not the way forward</em>.</p>\n\n<p>So what do I see as the best option from both sides of the assessment process? Assume nothing of your students. They will have come from a wide variety of cultures where \"academic honesty\", \"plagiarism\", \"cheating\" and all related terms have very different definitions. Public exam processes used in schools also vary across the globe, so you cannot rely on \"it's the same as it was before university\". <em>I would therefore advocate a \"permissive list\" as the best policy</em>:</p>\n\n<ol>\n<li>You are <strong>only</strong> permitted to take pens, calculators, and rulers into the examination room.</li>\n<li>All work <strong>must</strong> consist solely of the thoughts, ideas and work of the named candidate (or group, where applicable).</li>\n<li>Using the thoughts, ideas or work of others is permitted <strong>only</strong> where it is attributed and clearly marked as not your own.</li>\n<li>All work <strong>must</strong> be original and created for the purpose of this assessment.</li>\n</ol>\n\n<p>I believe those four rules cover everything in the eleven points above, plus other methods of cheating.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23505,
"author": "WetlabStudent",
"author_id": 8101,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8101",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This is bound to be country specific, but like most people here from US institutions, I refer to the University code of conduct. However, I highlight gray areas. This means I don't list obvious things like (2) or (6) on your list. I would say something like this</p>\n\n<p>\"In this class you must follow the academic code of conduct [link to code], all violations will be reported to the judiciary committee. Note, in college academic dishonesty extends a bit further than you might be used to, so read the code carefully. For example the following things are not allowed [insert a list of two or three non-obvious things - I include 1. not understanding something you write, 2. Turning in basically the same assignment as a collaborator, even when collaboration is permitted].</p>\n\n<p>Don't make it sound like you are giving an exhaustive list, but it is good to highlight some gray areas.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/16
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23445",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/600/"
] |
23,459 |
<p>Early on the research planning process, I would like to make use of the services offered by public libraries. Including online library services, what is the best way they could help a student researcher who is currently preparing a research proposal for a specialization? </p>
<p>Would it be wise to send them an email or give them a phone call, so that they could come up with a list of possibly useful and related research papers at their disposal? </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23463,
"author": "Brian P",
"author_id": 17232,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17232",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>I don't believe that a public library would be a useful resource for an academic literature review. You are likely to be better supported by a university librarian. But, I am not sure why you would be relying on a librarian to assist with obtaining resources for a literature review. My recommendation is that you develop the skills and knowledge to efficiently and effectively conduct a search for relevant resources, as opposed to relying on somebody else. You presumably have more background and knowledge in your substantive area, and this is something you will be doing throughout your academic career. Even if a librarian or somebody else culled sources for you, the burden is still on you to ensure the review was comprehensive. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23465,
"author": "Penguin_Knight",
"author_id": 6450,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6450",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>If you mean \"is it outrageous to ask a librarian to collect research papers for you,\" then no, it's not outrageous; <strong>some</strong> librarians do that, though rarely the librarians working in public libraries.</p>\n\n<p>For most university students (at least in the US. You're in Indonesia so the system may vary,) they go to their school libraries because the collections are much closer to their fields of study. The librarians are also more proficient in handling academics-related questions. If you do have an affiliated university, I'll check with the librarians there first.</p>\n\n<p>If you don't have one, then I'll next try to contact some librarians of state-funded or nationally funded universities (especially if you are a tax payer.) Most of these public schools open their libraries or provide limited consultation to the public. It would also be valuable to ask if they have any kind of borrower program or consortium you can join: later you may need to download a lot of journal articles and having an access to their server can save you a lot of money.</p>\n\n<p>If both of these are no goes, then you can try the public libraries. However, the librarians may not be available to fetch articles for you. Instead, you may ask them for resources (pamphlet, booklet, website) on how to perform a literature search (I'm assuming literature, but they can also show you other curated forms such as microfilm, legal archive, etc.) Most public libraries do not subscribe highly professional/specialized journals due to the high price, so realize that your scope can be limited somewhat.</p>\n\n<p>If all of these yield no results. I'd suggest at least pay a graduate students or instructor for 2-3 hours to give you a general rundown/tutorial.</p>\n\n<p>As I have said, most librarians will not be able to do the search for you. And it's better for you, as the researcher, to have the first hand experience and control of the process. At the very least, try ask the librarians about database you should search, how to select keywords, how to export and keep results, what bibliography software is available, reference books on writing literature review etc.</p>\n\n<p>Lastly, the quality of help you are going to get is proportional to the clarity of your vision about the work. The more concrete you can describe your work, the easier for them. Things you should consider are as follows:</p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><p>What is the topic?</p></li>\n<li><p>What is(are) the main question(s) you want to answer? -- in this\npart, be very explicit about time, location, and other important\nqualifier (think\n<a href=\"http://coe.jmu.edu/learningtoolbox/5w1h.html\">5W1H</a>)</p></li>\n<li><p>How far back in time do you need to go? </p></li>\n<li><p>What is the purpose of the document? E.g. For a blog, for a grant\nproposal, or for an assignment?</p></li>\n</ul>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/16
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23459",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13534/"
] |
23,469 |
<p>Authorship order in life sciences is intricate and has many problems. By convention, order is by the amount of contribution (decreasing). Also by convention, the PI/supervisor/"senior author" appears last. Things start getting complicated when you have many contributors.</p>
<p>I would like to focus on the end of the author list. When there are several PIs, they all appear at the end. However, if you consider the before-last author, a reader would not be able to know whether this is the author with the least contribution or alternatively a co-PI. I have seen different "solutions" to this problem (e.g. marking all senior authors as corresponding authors).</p>
<p><strong>I would like to know what kind of solutions you have seen for this problem, and whether these solutions are recognized by institutions and funding agencies.</strong></p>
<p>For those of you wondering why these intricacies matter - authorship order can play an important role in getting a faculty position, awards, grants and tenure. For example, for some fellowships you may only list publications for which you are the first author.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23472,
"author": "aeismail",
"author_id": 53,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/53",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Actually, I've never seen a paper where co-principal investigators (with respect to a grant) have been distinguished—and I was co-advised as a graduate student in exactly such a circumstance.</p>\n\n<p>However, I don't think this is as big a problem as you think. If you were a co-PI, you would indicate the corresponding grant as part of your CV, as well as the resulting publications. So it shouldn't be too hard to figure out who contributed what.</p>\n\n<p>Also, in my own circumstance, I am actively co-advising several students at the moment. In these collaborations, we assign the \"senior author\" position to the most \"relevant\" author for the publication. For instance, I'm in engineering and one of my collaborators is in CS. When we publish in a CS venue, he's the senior author; when we publish in an engineering venue, I'm the senior author.</p>\n\n<p>If it's really important, though, to indicate the co-PI issue, you could mention this in the acknowledgments section, since that's where you'd list the grant support in any case. You could write something like</p>\n\n<blockquote>\n <p>F.O.O. and B.A.R. were co-principal investigators on grant XYZ from funding agency ABC.</p>\n</blockquote>\n\n<p>or whatever comparable wording satisfies your needs as well as those of the funding agencies.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23500,
"author": "Korem",
"author_id": 17394,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17394",
"pm_score": 0,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>In some papers I've seen, in which there was apparently more than one PI, they were both (last and before last authors) correspondents on the paper. I guess this is a way to signal their equal status. </p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/16
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23469",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6862/"
] |
23,474 |
<p>I am a graduate student, and because of the department's projects, partnerships with other institutions, and conferences, I am often out of office with the senior staff (supervisor, department head, other senior researchers and management, etc.).</p>
<p>After the work (e.g. meetings, presentations), it is often the case to attend social events (e.g. conference dinner or reception), or simply spend the free time with my colleagues (e.g. dinner in a hotel or somewhere out). During such events, which I consider also as partially work but not that official, people drink alcoholic beverages. Since I am often the only graduate student and the youngest person in the group (and usually the difference to the next person in age is >15 years), I am worried that in my case it might not be acceptable to drink and that it may project a bad image about myself. So I am wondering whether to always abstain in such occasions.</p>
<p>Of course this is not about getting drunk, it is about a glass of wine or two along a meal.</p>
<p>This also includes flights. When flying I always have a beer or glass of wine to fall asleep easily and to mitigate my fear of flying, but sometimes I am seated close to my supervisor or colleague.</p>
<p>I am not sure about the customs in academia, so I am asking: is it acceptable to drink alcoholic beverages in front of senior staff? (Again, to a limited extent.)</p>
<p>I could have asked in the Workplace SE, but I think that academia has a different etiquette.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23475,
"author": "Dave Clarke",
"author_id": 643,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/643",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Putting ice in good whiskey is universally unacceptable, but I think the answer may depend on which country you are in. If you are 20 in the USA, then no. Otherwise, you are an adult and you decide.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23476,
"author": "Arno",
"author_id": 12047,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/12047",
"pm_score": 6,
"selected": true,
"text": "<p>There will be people with strong feelings about what is acceptable regarding drinking, and it is impossible to satisfy them all. (I have heard reports of senior faculty expressing disapproval of a postdocs choice to only have two beers.)</p>\n\n<p>When it comes to more institutional acceptance, the situation will vary. For example, when I came to Cambridge,UK, as a PhD student, there was a Wine & Cheese event to get to know the faculty members of the college. So drinking in front of them was not merely tolerated, but actively encouraged.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23484,
"author": "David Richerby",
"author_id": 10685,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10685",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>If the senior people are drinking too, there's no question that it's appropriate for you to. If you're at an event where drinks are provided, but the senior people aren't drinking then it should be fine for you to have a little to drink, unless you believe that they disapprove of drinking. And being on a plane is an event where drinks are provided, for the context of this answer. :-)</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23486,
"author": "Tom Au",
"author_id": 755,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/755",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>The safest rule is \"do what others do.\" (But no more, and possibly less than, what they do.)</p>\n\n<p>If everyone drinks, and you don't, that might be taken badly, as someone else pointed out. And if you drink and no one else does, that might be worse.</p>\n\n<p>When I was younger, my rule was to drink if others did, but to have one or two less. If any one calls you on it, you can point to your \"juniority.\" Otherwise, you're just \"fitting in\" without going overboard.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23491,
"author": "Superbest",
"author_id": 244,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/244",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>This depends not only on where you are, but what group you are in and what people in particular you are speaking about.</p>\n\n<p>I have met both \"senior staff\" who get so drunk that they wouldn't remember whether you were even present, and I've known those who would probably disapprove of an undergrad having a glass of wine. The majority fall somewhere in between.</p>\n\n<p>At the end of the day, it is quite hard to tell. For instance, a very religious person may be against alcohol consumption. Or a person from a culture where deference from juniors is expected may consider drinking when with a senior disrespectful. On the other hand, people who grew up in a culture where drinking is a frequent pastime will have no issue with it (and may even be surprised if you don't participate).</p>\n\n<p>The division is not even a matter of what country the person is from, because even within a given country there is a spectrum of attitudes which varies by what social circle a person interacts with. With the diversity of backgrounds you get in academia, any specific answer you get here is likely to be incorrect.</p>\n\n<p>As Tom Au suggests, your best bet is to do what others do. Especially convenient is if there is someone else of similar status to you, then you know whatever they do is very likely not improper for you.</p>\n\n<p>If you are <em>really</em> unsure (or if you are the only junior member, or if you are new...), you can make a mental list of all the people present who you would not wish to embarrass yourself to. Keep an eye on how much they drink, and make sure to drink slightly less than whichever of these persons drinks the least. It's quite unlikely that they will disapprove of something they themselves do. Of course, if one of them happens to not drink anything at all, that means you shouldn't also, but on the flip side, in that case it's probably safer not to drink in the first place until you have a better idea of what everyone's attitude is.</p>\n\n<p>Contrary to what others said, I doubt anyone will take issue if you drink too little. As I said, it is common to have people from very different backgrounds and cultures in academia, some of which do not drink at all. It is generally considered impolite to make assumptions on such things, so few would risk seeming insensitive by encouraging someone they don't know well to drink. The exception is if you know the other people well, or if you both come from very similar backgrounds so you know with certainty what your attitudes would be. But in that case, you can probably decide better yourself what is appropriate and what is not.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23532,
"author": "Michael Nielsen",
"author_id": 17551,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17551",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>When people serve something and you turn it down, you make them feel bad. So unless your mood turns foul or you become aggressive when drinking beer or wine, you should join the fun. Also, Academic people get very buried in their work, and spare time and work hours blend together. If you can't relax and enjoy the good things in life with your fellows, you risk having a rocky road and face alienation from your fellows.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23589,
"author": "Mitch Kent",
"author_id": 17580,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17580",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>It is in situations like this where a shandy/rattler/spritzer comes into it's own. You're still having a drink, but it's a sociably acceptable way to water it down. It saves you from having to turn down a drink, and makes it <em>very</em> unlikely you'll get too drunk.</p>\n\n<p>Mostly though, you seem to be feeling forced into one situation or another. I would wager that asserting your own opinion as to what is acceptable for yourself will get you more respect in the long term.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23612,
"author": "Julian D. A. Wiseman",
"author_id": 17598,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17598",
"pm_score": 1,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Look around you. Observe the 25%ile pace of drinking. Do that. If everybody is drinking the same thing, you as well. If there’s a mixture (some beer, some wine, some sherry, etc), drink something that isn’t conceptually far from the observed distribution.</p>\n\n<p>You fit in, are part of the team, but not in any way inappropriate. </p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23662,
"author": "Andy",
"author_id": 17640,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17640",
"pm_score": 2,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Isn't part of the point of working in Academia to forward the thinking of the age and challenge predetermined constructs? Whilst the question relates to being judged by others would it not also be appropriate to question the regard for those who would judge, and thus the value of regard for their judgement? To determine your own opinion to be higher than that of another is in my mind not a good methodology starting point unless you have an evidence base to back it up, and therefore should be challenged as a premise. To not question this leads to a lack of development in the area of society most in charge of development, with a hierarchy system of regard no better than that of the private corporation.</p>\n\n<p>And if you can say all that without slurring any of it you've managed to avoid drinking too much!</p>\n\n<p>In my mind it's a case of \"do what you like\". If what you like is to fit in, then fit in. Just don't be surprised if some people realise that this is what you did. I would however stress against the getting very drunk, or indeed being one of the heavier/faster drinkers, unless you don't mind the labelling that comes with this.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/16
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23474",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/13332/"
] |
23,477 |
<p>The announcement below from Japan sounds like one becomes an assistant professor at the end of the tenure process. I thought the tenure is always meant for becoming associate professor.</p>
<p><strong>Terms of Appointment:</strong></p>
<blockquote>
<p>Evaluated in the final year of the term, and if satisfactory, eligible
to become a tenured assistant professor as of April 1, 2018.</p>
</blockquote>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23479,
"author": "Thomas",
"author_id": 6984,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6984",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Tenure is not always associated with the traditional assistant vs. associate/full distinction, especially not outside the United States. Even in the United States Associate does not always mean tenure nor does some other title necessarily imply untenured.</p>\n\n<p>If you're applying for this specific position and it concerns you, you should probably just ask for clarification.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23490,
"author": "RoboKaren",
"author_id": 14885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14885",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Japan's academic system is still closer to the continental system where there is only full Professor (教授） in a department and several assistant professors (助教授）and a mixture of adjunct and full-time readers/lecturers (講師）. The assistant professors can be tenured.</p>\n\n<p>Some schools in Japan are moving to the American system where there can be several full professors in a department and there are now some colleges that are introducing the category of associate professor (准教授）). </p>\n\n<p>Japanese labor laws tend to protect full-time faculty, so you can assume that you have lifetime employment if you pass the first employment review -- if and only if you haven't been hired as a part-time (非常勤) or otherwise term-contract employee (非正規雇用).</p>\n\n<p>In this case, it sounds like they want to emphasize that you are NOT being hired as part-time or other non-tenure track (such as the new \"jokyo\" 助教 which is not the same as a tenure-track assistant professor 助教授).</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/16
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23477",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17516/"
] |
23,478 |
<p>Since the Computer Science GRE exam was dropped, I have to take the normal GRE exam (<em>sighs</em>). I've looked at a few sample questions, and it's something I'm just not good at. I have a Bachelors in Computer Science with a 3.1 GPA (out of 4.0) I have two core questions:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>How well do I have to do to get accepted into most decent universities for a Masters in Computer Science?</p></li>
<li><p>What is the best way to study and practice for GRE exams for a C.S. major?</p></li>
</ol>
<p><strong>UPDATE (02/18/2015):</strong> </p>
<p>I got my scores in for GRE. Verbal: 153, Quantitative: 160, Essays: 4.0. I'm not sure how <em>good</em> this is or not yet.</p>
<p>I studied for about 4 months. First 2 months it was little studying every week. The third month was studying every other everyday. The first 2 weeks of the 4th month studying everyday. The last 2 weeks were heavy studying.</p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23479,
"author": "Thomas",
"author_id": 6984,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/6984",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Tenure is not always associated with the traditional assistant vs. associate/full distinction, especially not outside the United States. Even in the United States Associate does not always mean tenure nor does some other title necessarily imply untenured.</p>\n\n<p>If you're applying for this specific position and it concerns you, you should probably just ask for clarification.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23490,
"author": "RoboKaren",
"author_id": 14885,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/14885",
"pm_score": 4,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>Japan's academic system is still closer to the continental system where there is only full Professor (教授） in a department and several assistant professors (助教授）and a mixture of adjunct and full-time readers/lecturers (講師）. The assistant professors can be tenured.</p>\n\n<p>Some schools in Japan are moving to the American system where there can be several full professors in a department and there are now some colleges that are introducing the category of associate professor (准教授）). </p>\n\n<p>Japanese labor laws tend to protect full-time faculty, so you can assume that you have lifetime employment if you pass the first employment review -- if and only if you haven't been hired as a part-time (非常勤) or otherwise term-contract employee (非正規雇用).</p>\n\n<p>In this case, it sounds like they want to emphasize that you are NOT being hired as part-time or other non-tenure track (such as the new \"jokyo\" 助教 which is not the same as a tenure-track assistant professor 助教授).</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/16
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23478",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17517/"
] |
23,480 |
<p>I've read in multiple places that it is important that your recommenders be known to the admission committee. If I were to have a letter of recommendation from a professor who is quite new (Assistant Prof), would their recommendation be discounted due to their lack of reputation or stature in the field? </p>
|
[
{
"answer_id": 23495,
"author": "OBu",
"author_id": 10941,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/10941",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>As you said: Someone who is well-known is a good choice. If the new professor already has a good reputation in her field, it will most probably be a good decision to ask her. It's better to have a letter of recommendation from someone who knows you and who writes somethong personal, than a letter from someone just looking at your marks.</p>\n"
},
{
"answer_id": 23504,
"author": "WetlabStudent",
"author_id": 8101,
"author_profile": "https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/8101",
"pm_score": 3,
"selected": false,
"text": "<p>An unestablished professor that knows you well, and writes a fantastic letter, is far better as a letter writer than a famous professor that will just write a generic \"he was 3rd out of 38 students in my class\" kind of letter.</p>\n\n<p>There are two types of letters that will really help you in general. (1) A great letter from a professor who knows you well, regardless of their stature. This is likely someone you did research with, and (2) A famous professor that will write you a decent letter, saying you did well in his her/class and you show real potential, ideally you should have done a class project for them, so they can say something beyond basic things like class rank. Letters of type (1) are the most important (if the professor is famous that is a bonus). But you need 3 letters usually, so you are not likely going to have 3 professors that know you well (if you do you are in great shape). Type (2) is another good option for filling out 3 letters. If all your letters are of type (1) and (2) that is a really good sign. Most people will have at least one lackluster letter from an unestablished professor.</p>\n\n<p>The next best bet is an unestablished professor that you did a good class project for or knows you well from a class. Generic letters really do not help your cause.</p>\n"
}
] |
2014/06/16
|
[
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23480",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com",
"https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/17518/"
] |
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